le bistro lighthouse point

Kitchen Nightmares: Le Bistro and the Man Who Can Do No Wrong

This week on the Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsey took on the man who could do no wrong. He was Andy, chef owner of Le Bistro in Lighthouse Point, Florida. Despite mounting debt and customers who never return, Andy was sure that he was doing everything right at his restaurant. Do you know why? Because he was trained in Europe and in Europe they know food.

Yep, this guy says that Americans don't understand good food. That's why they keep returning half cooked steaks and duck pate with bones in it! This guy even had the nerve to tell a customer to order something else when she asked for her steak to be cooked to medium and not rare. No, wait. He didn't have the nerve to tell the customers, he made his wife do it.

That's what really aggravated me about this chef. He thought he was king of the kitchen but he made his staff deal with the angry customers who got bad food or no food at all. The best bit was how only one waiter was allowed to take all the orders in the bistro to make sure the orders didn't come in too fast.

In order to prove how bad the service was, Gordon waited almost an hour after one group had placed their order at Le Bistro, then he went four doors down to a seafood restaurant, ordered an entree, received it and was eating and still the people at Le Bistro had no food. And the fish he ordered even tasted good!

In order to get the chef to listen, Gordon took Andy and his wife Elin out on a lovely cruise, only once they were underway, he sprung a hold full of unhappy customers on Andy, which was a bit mean. He was stuck there listening to everyone tell him how bad his food and service were. Not that it helped.

By the end, though, as is usually the case on Kitchen Nightmares, Andy got the message. He implemented Gordon's new menu, let his sou chef help cook and for awhile, he upped the level of service. But even with this new attitude, you have to wonder if it's too little too late for these places.

I did some checking and Le Bistro is still in business and claims to have won lots of awards (and not just since Gordon was there which seems odd.) But the most telling piece is an article written by the critic who was in the episode where he talks about the process and how chef Andy dealt (or didn't) with the changes Gordon handed down. Check that out right here.

Andy can criticize, but it does seem like Kitchen Nightmares was a dream come true for the business.