At The Fairmont Hotel in Whistler with The Hell's Kitchen Final Four: Dave, Ariel, Tennille, and Kevin

Yesterday, I finished penning a column for the WE about a Whistler restaurant that has seen its brand buffed in technicolor by a medium I generally abhor – reality TV. The restaurant is the venerable, 28 year old Araxi, a favourite of mine and near-perennial winner for Best Whistler at the annual Vancouver magazine restaurant awards. The show was Hell’s Kitchen, an expletive-bleeped Gordon Ramsay pressure cooker that sees a bunch of cooks from diverse backgrounds, skill sets, and weight categories thrown together in a bubbling stew of well-seasoned contrivance, all vying for a chance to work under the restaurant’s executive chef, James Walt. I write this tonight after interviewing the show’s final four competitors – Dave, Ariel, Tennille, and Kevin – and joining them at Araxi to watch the finale on the big screen with a few hundred television addicts (admittedly, I watched the last hour or so in bed at the Fairmont with my wife).

It was an odd experience. People were lined up dozens deep and four abreast in the Village Square just to get in. Big searchlights (a la 20th Century Fox) flanked the entrance to the restaurant, where the final four contestants stood for over an hour in the freezing cold to fulfill what I imagine must have been the last of their contractual obligations: smiling with their arms draped around every paid guest as the house took keepsake photos for them. Smile. Click. Brr. Smile. Click. Brr.

Inside, it was beautiful, charming, timeless Araxi with the staff that never changes (there’s Rene at the bar, here’s Steve making the rounds, that’s Samantha looking spectacular), but then on went the televisions, and the bubble popped. “Are you having a good time, Andrew?” one servers asks. Of course, I say, half-wondering if I’ve told the truth. Two of the best restaurant meals of my life were had at Araxi, so seeing its ambiance ruled by two minute commercial breaks every ten minutes was bizarrely uncomfortable, like watching Sophia Loren desperately trying to make out with Seth Rogan. A good time, to be fair, but an altogether weird one just the same.

That distaste isn’t there because I consider all staged, high stress Survivor-type shows to be beneath me. Sure, when the phenomenon hit a decade ago, my life-long love affair with TV hit the skids, but the divorce was way overdue. Instead,  I’ll selfishly prefer to think them beneath Araxi. Either way, in the case of Hell’s Kitchen I’ve seen so many people get screamed at in the kitchens of my lifetime that I’m now unwilling to endure it without being able to buy the victim a beer afterwards. Call me crazy.

Given 10 minutes alone with the finalists (pre-show at the Fairmont), I didn’t know what to ask. I’d seen all of two episodes: the first, back in 2005, and the most recent one, when Tennille was eliminated. At a loss and desperate not to waste anyone’s time, I asked if the show had taught them anything about cooking. All of them shook their heads. This was show business, bro. When asked if they had learned anything at all, Tennille deadpanned “I learned how not to be.” Good answer.

After tonight’s hypno-dramatic ending, what can fairly be described as a major distraction for the superb restaurant comes to a welcome conclusion. The Fox television network got what they wanted – a high end venue willing to go along for the ride – and so did Araxi – media attention like no Canadian restaurant has enjoyed since Rob Feenie won on Iron Chef America in his Lumiere heyday back in 2005.

Oh, plus Dave. Araxi also gets superdude Dave, who won. He was the one I liked, and best suited to survive a year in Whistler with all its late nights, Aussie women, and Olympic Games (Dave would like you to know he’s now single, by the way). The long-haired, skinny Californian skateboarder battled through the series with a broken wrist and charmed the continent with all the tonal variability of a solid brick of good hash.

As you would assume, real storybook stuff.

We hinted at this back in February, but it’s now been made official. The winner of the upcoming season of Gordon Ramsay’s TV cheffing schadenfreude extravaganza (aka Hells Kitchen) will be rewarded with the Head Chef position at Whistler’s venerable Araxi restaurant, working alongside the masterful James Walt (keeper of the mountain awesome). From the soon to be distributed press release:

In each episode, Ramsay will eliminate one chef while the rest remain to fillet their way toward the grand prize of a Head Chef position at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1981, Araxi continues to raise the culinary bar in Whistler. The winning contestant will have the added privilege of joining executive chef James Walt in welcoming the world during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Not a bad gig at all, and quite the PR coup for Top Table. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, et cetera…

The full Fox Network release after the leap, yankee hyperbole and all. The first line is Tuesday nights will sizzle this summer when Chef Gordon Ramsay blah blah blah. I’m really sorry about that.

Sixteen aspiring chefs head into “Hell’s Kitchen To Endure The Wrath Of Chef Gordon Ramsay”

Tuesday nights will sizzle this summer when Chef Gordon Ramsay welcomes the nation’s most talented and trained chefs yet to a sixth course of his unscripted series HELL’S KITCHEN. The cutthroat competition begins with a two-hour season premiere Tuesday, July 21 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX and makes its time period premiere the following week Tuesday, July 28 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

Each week Ramsay grills the ambitious hopefuls, putting them through rigorous culinary challenges and testing them to see who can handle the pressure of a fast-paced kitchen where only the skilled survive. In each episode, Ramsay will eliminate one chef while the rest remain to fillet their way toward the grand prize of a Head Chef position at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1981, Araxi continues to raise the culinary bar in Whistler. The winning contestant will have the added privilege of joining executive chef James Walt in welcoming the world during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

On the two-hour season premiere, Chef Ramsay wastes no time and sends the 16 chefs to the kitchen to create their signature dishes. Unlike past seasons, the signature dish challenge becomes a team challenge, pitting the men against the women. After the signature dishes of each team are presented to Gordon, one team will receive a coveted special prize, while the others will experience the agony of losing in Gordon’s kitchen. Don’t miss when an aspiring chef goes head-to-head with Chef Ramsay for the first time ever in the most explosive, most outrageous and most intense elimination round ever seen on HELL’S KITCHEN.–

———————————————————————————-

I seldom do “process” posts, but thought this might be interesting for the restaurant scene wonks among us as it charts how easily a story can come together and then fall to pieces…

There was some down low Gordon Ramsay chatter in the local restaurantosphere over the last few weeks (if I ever use that word again you can kick me hard in the shins). Plenty of frigate birds, if you know what I mean. Lots of vague emails and anonymous texts. Most of it had Gordon Ramsay partnering up with local restaurateur Jack Evrensel, owner of Araxi, West, CinCin, and the Blue Water Cafe. The “word”, according to the frigate birds, was that The Swearer had been hanging at Araxi in Whistler of late and that he and Jack were stewing something up together. Juicy stuff for food nerds like me (and maybe three of you).

I knew the former to be true. Ramsay had been up in Whistler, and I knew he’d dined at Araxi. But I had no clue as to the veracity of the latter claim, which reeked of rumour. Naturally, I was excited at the prospect of a Ramsay-Evrensel venture, and expended no small amount of energy trying to nail down some more info. As you are probably aware, the international celebrity chefs seem to be picking the West Coast over Toronto when it comes to expanding their empires northwards (witness Vongerichten and Boulud), so this seemed an entirely plausible development. The “who is next” question always brings up the same three names and Ramsay’s is at the top of the list (Mario Batali and Jamie Oliver are the other two). None of this was particularly shocking, but it would be news nevertheless. I’m not a very good gumshoe, but I’d had the good luck to publish the news on Boulud and Vongerichten before anyone else, and I was hoping for a hat trick.

Fuel to the fire was added when I went on Gordon Ramsay’s official website. There I found a headline that read something along the lines of “Gordon Ramsay will appear on CBC’s ‘The Hour’ with George Strombosoandso tonight!”. I was 90% certain – total dumbass that I am – that I might have a little scoop in the works. I had the feeling.

But I didn’t have the story. I couldn’t nail down a third source; my second source conflicted with my first; and the PR people involved weren’t returning my calls (which is generally a sign of promise). I honestly thought that the news of Ramsay and Evrensel joining forces was going to break on Strombosoandso’s show, and I was not the least bit chuffed about it.

When I watched the show (with a growing sense of pointed dread), Ramsay declared something that I wasn’t expecting at all. It was his intention, he said, to open a restaurant in Toronto before Vancouver. He was very non-committal about the timing, so much so that it sounded as if he was just trying to please and appease the Front Street audience.

And with that, thud went the scoop, and poof went the rumour. It didn’t sound like Mr. Potty Mouth Footballer would be coming here or Whistler any time soon. With shoulders thus shrunk, I erased what I’d accrued so far, turned my computer off, and opened a beer.

But in almost every rumour there is a kernel of truth that germinates to make the weed of rumour. The following day on Toronto’s CityNews, Ramsay announced that the winning chef from his television show, Hell’s Kitchen, would be awarded with some work at Araxi. From the lion’s mouth:

I was in Whistler two weeks ago at the Araxi restaurant, which, the new winner of Hell’s Kitchen gets a job there – they source everything within 100 miles. The food, the wine, and everything, all sourced locally. It’s amazing. That’s a template for every restaurant to follow.

Take away the hyperbole (not everything at Araxi is sourced within a hundred miles – the pastry chef, for example, is from Ontario), and it’s not much of a story at all. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea who the “new winner” of Hell’s Kitchen is (I don’t watch the show), so I can’t gauge with any measure of confidence if this is a big deal, a little deal, a gimmick, or Jack just doing a customer a solid.

What do you think?

From the New York Post comes a flash headline on Gordon Ramsay:

Celeb Chef’s Empire in Free Fall

Some excerpts:

His flagship London restaurant, Foxtrot Oscar, has shuttered for two days a week. Reports have also surfaced that two other London restaurants, Ramsay’s Sloane Street and The Devonshire Pub, are for sale – a claim he denies – and documents show he allegedly owes back taxes.

Last year, the charismatic cook was stripped of two coveted Michelin stars when protégé Chef Marcus Wareing split from him, effectively taking the renowned Petrus restaurant with him.

And he was replaced at London’s prestigious Connaught Hotel restaurant by French chef Helene Darroze.

His kitchen nightmares extend to the bedroom, too, with recent embarrassing headline-grabbing accounts that the married Scotsman had a seven-year affair.

To make matters worse, Ramsay, 42, just fired his p.r. guru, Garry Farrow, the man heralded with helping him become the top celebrity chef in the world, not to mention the richest, with a personal fortune of $83 million.

[...]

The culinary world is abuzz with rumors that Ramsay’s restaurants are asking for extended time to pay suppliers – in some cases, as long as six to eight months, though the chef’s reps strongly deny this.

As Ramsay gears up for the season premiere of “Hell’s Kitchen” Thursday on Fox, the unpleasant task of restructuring has been left in the hands of Chris Hutcheson, his father-in-law and the chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Establishing the precise impact of the credit crunch on Ramsay’s business empire is no easy task. Figures for 2007 should have been filed months ago, but the company often sends in late returns, which has prompted legal warnings that prosecution is imminent.

Well-placed figures concede that the company is “finding life pretty tough at the moment,” as evidenced by the fact that there is a newspaper promotion offering dinner at Gordon Ramsay restaurants for just $21 a head.

A chef with $83 million. Somehow I think he’ll be alright…

Video extra: “Gordon Ramsay’s only famous ’cause he swears like fuck.”