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Hell's Kitchen - Meet the New Boss
It really wasn't much of a surprise to me that Christina won. There's a good reason why she won so many challenges and the season as well...she can really cook well! Petrozza may be more seasoned and perhaps even more creative, but Christina makes elegant food that people enjoy eating.
I thought 2 things also pushed it her way last night. The design of their restaurants, and the lack of concentration on Petrozza's part.
Christina's restaurant really looked like a high end locale. If I were to pay the kind of prices that Ramsay charges, I'd hope to do it while sitting in that kind of elegance and comfort. Petrozza's was much more like a casual Italian restaurant that a top notch chef would own to appeal to the more "average" consumer looking for a nice night out, as opposed to someone looking for a true "fine dining" experience.
And then Petrozza ran out of not one, but 2 appetizers. That's no way to win a contest, especially when you're essentially "coming from behind." He did a decent job running his team, and his menu was more complex than Christina's, but what good is a menu if you run out of the choices provided?
I never realized until tonight that Jen is younger than Corey and Christina! She's only 24! And yet she claims to be "all that" and so much more experienced. I thought for sure that she was at least 28 or 29, but I knew the 2 Cs were both 25. I would hate to have her work for me, she's neither consistent nor a team player.
Ben, Corey and LouRoss were all pretty quiet tonight. I liked how Corey and LR seemed genuinely happy for Christina. Who'd have thought that Corey and Christina would end up working so well together. I doubt that they remain in touch, especially since Christina won, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were friends now.
I think that this was the most lackluster season yet, especially compared to Top Chef which had one of it's best seasons ever, and even Next Food Network Star which at least has nicer people. Nobody on HK seemed like they even deserved to win until it got down to the top 4 or 5 when Corey, Christina and Petrozza all seemed to emerge from the dimness of this season. And Christina just kept getting brighter and brighter each week. I felt really happy for her when she won and I think Ramsay made the right choice. Petrozza should make an excellent caterer, and should have some great dishes to offer people. I'm sure anyone would love to have him work for them in their kitchen, as long as he cleaned it up a bit, but he just doesn't seem to have what it takes to run a restaurant.
As I've noted before, Christina isn't really the "Executive Chef" at London:West Hollywood. The Chef that runs London:NY that was on last week is in charge of BOTH "London" restaurants, and there's yet another guy who runs the day to day operations at the new WeHo location (all according to various reviews of the place...lackluster reviews at that!)
Christina will be the "executive sous chef" and will be given some heady responsibilities, but she is not the "executive chef" as traditionally known. She is supposed to start in September. I wonder if she's finishing culinary school, training how to work in a Ramsay place and for her position, or both.
Did everyone catch that really funny commercial with Ramsay and the boom mic for Kitchen Nightmares that they finally aired again? Someone gets arrested this season! I can't wait!
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Jul 9, 2008 6:54 AM
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Good morning! I agree with you. This wasn't their best season of HK by a long shot. Casting could learn a few things from the people over at Next Food Network Star. THOSE people would have been interesting in HK. Maybe next season they'll pick people with talent and let them battle it out for real. Still, I was happy with the two finalists and I think they will both do well. I wouldn't be surprised to find Petrozza hired in one of Ramsay's restaurants.
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Jul 9, 2008 8:25 AM
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I think Christina's restaurant decor was more Chef Ramsay's style and since he was thinking long term, Christina was the right choice. Both of them did very well. It looked like it could have gone either way at times.
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Jul 9, 2008 2:22 PM
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