Kitchen Nightmares, Season 2, Episode 6: Hannah & Mason’s

Welcome to the sixth episode in the second season of Kitchen Nightmares. This is the show where professional chef and entertainer Gordon Ramsay drops in on various failing restaurants across the United States and shows them how to shape up and fix all of their problems. He leaves them with a high class menu, better cooks, and hopefully a legacy of success.

Tonight we find ourselves in the quaint little village of Cranbury, New Jersey. We soon arrive at a nice little bistro called Hannah & Mason’s. We quickly see a problem since the “n” in the name on the sign is missing.

Friends Chris and Brian are co-owners of the bistro. They were both employees of the previous owner who sold it to them three years ago when he retired. Chris says that he was scared to death to own the place.

He said that when the opportunity to buy the place came up, he jumped at it. Unfortunately he didn’t have enough cash and he turned to Brian. This should have been a good match because Brian worked there and already knew how the place worked. In retrospect, however, he feels that he made a big mistake bringing Brian into the picture.

Brian seems to be rather laid back and doesn’t let anything bother him. We see a short montage of the staff members each saying that Brian is not laid back, he is lazy.

Chris notes that he does everything, including ordering the food, cooking the food, and paying the bills. Brian does nothing and Chris is tired of this unequal arrangement.

Oddly, the restaurant is only open for dinner three nights a week. Brian doesn’t think that is a problem since no one goes out on a Tuesday anyway.

The bistro is losing money fast. The staff tell us that they cannot even cash their paychecks because they keep bouncing. One waitress says that she would not be able to support her daughter if the bistro closed. Hmm. I have an idea – take your waitressing skills to another restaurant! I’m pretty sure that the ability to carry food to a table is welcome at any place with food and tables.

Anyway, who can save this bistro before that poor waitress has to give up her kids for adoption? Yes, it is our knight in gleaming apron, Chef Gordon Ramsay. He comes strolling down the street and immediately notices the missing letter from the sign. Oops!

He steps inside and is greeted by Nick the manager. Ramsay notes that he is awfully young and Nick says that he is 23. But he adds that he busts his ass every day.

Ramsay has a seat and Marie, the desperate mother, steps up to serve him. She notices the photo on the table with Ramsay and asks if that is his wife. He says that it is his lady and that today is the 14th Valentine’s Day that they’ve spent apart.

As always, Ramsay orders a few items from the menu. Today he will be dining on baked onion soup, quiche, and lamb lollipops, whatever those are.

The onion soup arrives and it is, as Chef Chris says, unique. It is topped with an overflowing handful of fried onions. Ramsay has to dig past the onions, cakes of cheese and bread before he finds any actual soup. It is not worth the wait and Ramsay calls it “dishwater.”

The next dish is the lamp lollipops. It seems to be just lamb on a plate. Ramsay notes that the dish is undercooked and the sauce is way too sweet (hence the name “lollipop” I guess). Ramsay has Nick taste the sauce and say that it is delicious. The customers love it and it gets great reviews. Ramsay is not impressed.

Back in the kitchen we find Nick telling the camera that Chris is afraid of anyone telling him that his meals are just not good enough. In fact we get a short montage of Chris threatening to leave if Ramsay doesn’t like the food.

The final dish is the quiche. This doesn’t fare any better as it is very undercooked and is nothing more than a pile of mush.

Ramsay gets up and goes into the kitchen to meet the owners and chefs. The meeting is tense. Ramsay says that being closed four nights a week tells the community that they should be closed all the time. Chris says that they don’t try staying open because they are being super cautious. He adds that Brian just doesn’t have the passion to run a restaurant. After chatting with them for a bit, Ramsay agrees.

A few hours later, Ramsay returns to watch them cook and serve dinner. First off, Ramsay finds the dessert cart and notes that all the items are old and stale. He says that the display items need to be fresh. Personally, I disagree. By definition, the items are just for display. It seems perfectly reasonable to use yesterday’s leftovers as display models today.

The next problem seems to be that food is not being served. We see pictures of finished food sitting on the warming plate for 19 minutes. Apparently, Brian forgot to hit the little bell indicating that it was ready.

Ramsay then finds rotten and unwashed lettuce being served as salad. He is appalled. The next appalling thing is that one of the display desserts has been served to a customer. Oops! I guess that is a good reason to make the display desserts fresh – you never know when an incompetent server will send one to a customer. A closer examination of the dessert case finds bread pudding that is several weeks old and smells rancid.