By Stone Martindale Sep 13, 2008, 2:56 GMT
Chef Gordon Ramsay is the latest British celebrity to jump the pond and live for awhile in Los Angeles.
British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay laughs after he dropped a swear jar that had just been presented to him at the launch of the BBC Australian Good Food magazine in Sydney, , June 20, 2008. The foul-mouthed British TV chef reacted with typical colour today to news a Senate committee has proposed changes to broadcasting standards, prompted by his expletive-ridden outbursts. EPA/TRACEY NEARMY
Celebrity Chef Ramsay has restaurants in Florida and Manhattan, and his latest is The London in West Hollywood.
Even his Tinseltown pal, Victoria Beckham, will expand her resume and join Ramsay as a restaurateur. Beckham is partnering with Ramsay to open a new eatery in Los Angeles.
Ramsay says, "Yes, it is true that Victoria and I are setting up a restaurant in LA. together. I'm really excited. She's really keen to focus on a traditional English-style menu, like bangers and mash, fish and chips and such."
But ask Gordon how he really feels about the locals and their picky palates, and he reveals his opinions on the cultural divide that separates the Yanks from the Brits.
Ramsay has lots of them about wining and dining experiences in the U.S.
The ex-footballer moaned to the UK Times: "Hardly anyone drinks. You're on your second glass of wine and they're like, 'How long have you been an alcoholic?' "The most irritating thing is when you don't finish your food and the waiter asks, 'Do you want that to go?' I say, 'Sorry? I just had the Caesar salad. What the f*** do I want to take that home for?' The salad lasts for 11, 12 minutes - you're gonna take that slimy s*** out of your fridge 24 hours later and eat it? Bollocks!"
There is more to LA life that qualify as “bollocks” in Ramsay’s book. Other examples include locals who crack jokes about British food.“You think, ‘F*** off; you’ve got just as bad food over here as we used to have back in the UK’” and diners who insist on customizing every order. “Can I have a BLT with no bread?” he tells the Times.
Thanks to his expletive-fuelled tirades on Fox reality show "Hell’s Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares", Gordon is now a huge celebrity in America, and the world’s third highest-paid chef - behind Rachael Ray, the Oprah Winfrey of the food channels, and Wolfgang Puck, creator of the Beverly Hills power-lunching spot Spago.
Ramsay dismissed his very famous profanity as “an industry language” to the Times, and noted, “very few Americans have got to see what it’s like behind the scenes of a real kitchen, and one thing they’ve done is welcome that level of honesty.”
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GreatSep 13th, 2008 - 14:57:33
They play this guy's show so much on BBC America, it seems to take up about half their programming.
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