"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

[Bux]

Television is a treacherous, capricious and hungry bitch-goddess--and I understand well Rocco's interest. He's a chef of significant accomplishment and experience, hitting the age where another 15 years behind the stove offers minimal attraction. A mechanism that offers the possibility of someday kicking back, cranking out cookbooks, running branded operations by remote control is a seductive one. ...

That being said, I think ROCCO'S and the show--THE RESTAURANT was a tactical misstep. ... In my case, I have the luxury of not giving a fuck. I was a turn-and-burn utility guy before--and when it all goes hideously sour, I will no doubt be one again. Making television, in my case, is fun. It's a means to an end, an enabling of my travel lust. I had no reputation really to lose.  Rocco, on the other hand, had real credibility as a chef.

All of that is true, but I admire your humilty, false or real. I see the attraction of the media opportunity and I think most chefs would have at least considered doing what I expected this show to be, but I don't know what this will enable for Rocco. I don't see the end as in the sense that Cook's Tour enabled you to travel. Was this what it took to open Rocco's? If so, is Rocco's credibility enhanced? I assume not if this was really a tactical misstep.

Then again, I understand Rocco got a nice pile of change and a well stuffed bank account is an end in itself. It's also not unlikely that Rocco's Momma's Recipes would outsell Union Pacific, the Cookbook. Nevertheless, I see few parallels between where Rocco can take this and say Cook's Tour.

Tell me about the dialogue you had with Ripert though. Was it staged, rehearsed, totally for the cameras or fairly natural? Was it for you or Rocco? Was it poorly edited or did it just feel that way because of the context? The interior design of the restaurant looks as if it were done by the guys who edited that tapes.

[Bux]

Oh wait! Maybe eGullet is in kahoots with Amex, Coors and Mitsubishi!!! Mon dieu!! Quel horreur!!  Jason?

java scrpt error /// If you had the right plug-in, you would be watching a QuickTime movie of Jason in his Mitsubishi, picking up Fat Guy who's standing on the corner drinking a Coor's light in a long neck bottle. As Fat Guy gets in, Jason flashes his platinum AmEx card and says let's go to Rocco's, it's my treat, on the eGullet account.

[corine]

The discussion between Tony and Eric Ripert sounded so interesting. Unfortunately, Rocco's circus-gigolo-act prevailed.

Corine.

[KNorthrup]

We've passed 1,000. But I'm still not watching.

[zenial]

Maybe I'm mistaken in thinking this, but the only person who always seems to have it together is Laurent (sp). Maybe it's just a front, but he seems unflappable.

He is unflappable

[Luv2Eat]

Should have said "I don't think you can afford me, honey..."

Hehe...that would have been a great comeback! Too bad he couldn't think fast enough for that one. He didn't handle himself with panache.

--

re: the firing of the three cooks - Man, they sure looked guilty every time he said "hospital." Did you see how they looked down or away? That was enough of an admission in my book. But I still giggled when he laid into them. I agree, though, that the "You made my momma cry" was over the top.

[Jinmyo]

...but I don't know what this will enable for Rocco. I don't see the end as in the sense that Cook's Tour enabled you to travel. Was this what it took to open Rocco's? If so, is Rocco's credibility enhanced? I assume not if this was really a tactical misstep.

Bux, I don't think anyone will take Rocco seriously as a chef again. Because he's not taking the food seriously.

And he's not good at anything else.

When he was "trailing" the captain, he was a horrible waiter. In fact he didn't wait tables. He schmoozed them, then forgot to place the orders.

And he doesn't even seem to schmooze well. He doesn't seem to understand anyone else's perspective and egregiously ignores their intentions and meanings.

Honestly, I think he's doing too much coke. He has flat, dead junky eyes.

If he goes back to the food, back to what he was good at, he could earn respect once more.

But otherwise he's lost all credibility as a chef. And that's sad.

Still, he might wind up with his face on frozen boxes of Mama's Meatballs and jars of Rocco's Ragu. Which is what I think he sees when he looks in the mirror, darkly.

If this is what he wants, may he be happy.

But he'll get no respect.

[Jinmyo]

By the way, it's hard to tell with the editing but I thought that Bourdain and Ripert had a sequence of dishes of which Tony said, in order:

"This is great."

"This is great."

"I dislike this but I respect them for making the effort." (Or something like that.)

"This blows."

And then:

"This utterly blows."

So it looked like the dishes marked a descent into hell.

I wonder what dish "utterly blew"?

[duckduck]

As much as I enjoyed Bourdain's rant last night, for me it was overshadowed by the whole comedy club thing. What does Pete's life outside have to do with the "restaurant"? Were they trying to take some heat of Rocco? To me, they crossed the line. That should have been in the editing room garbage can! The sad thing is the gutless boy wonder didn't even understand that it wasn't remotely funny. He said the public wasn't ready. When is NY ever going to be ready for the words "The funny thing about these terrorists attacks is..."?????? It goes so far beyond "what the fuck was the idiot boy thinking"... I'm disgusted beyond words right now. It's one thing to have Rocco hanging it all out looking stupid. It's totally another to give a slap in the face to everyone affected by terrorists attacks. That's not entertainment. And if he does find a crowd that thinks it's funny...heaven help us all.

[ronnie_suburban]

As much as I enjoyed Bourdain's rant last night, for me it was overshadowed by the whole comedy club thing. What does Pete's life outside have to do with the "restaurant"? Were they trying to take some heat of Rocco? To me, they crossed the line. That should have been in the editing room garbage can! The sad thing is the gutless boy wonder didn't even understand that it wasn't remotely funny. He said the public wasn't ready. When is NY ever going to be ready for the words "The funny thing about these terrorists attacks is..."?????? It goes so far beyond "what the fuck was the idiot boy thinking"... I'm disgusted beyond words right now. It's one thing to have Rocco hanging it all out looking stupid. It's totally another to give a slap in the face to everyone affected by terrorists attacks. That's not entertainment. And if he does find a crowd that thinks it's funny...heaven help us all.

I was perplexed by that too...someone involved with the show must really hate that guy...of course, the same could be said of Rocco. If TPTB were feeling any love for Rocco, he wouldn't be looking so exceptionally bad right now. I think a lot of Rocco's buffoonery could have been massaged away in the editing if that had been the editorial desire. Not saying it wasn't really there, only that it has been gloriously showcased.

=R=

Edited August 19, 2003 by ronnie_suburban (log)

[madziast]

 

According to the latest post on Uzay Tumer's site, Ripert has been back to Rocco's, this time with Alain Ducasse!

[madziast]

^^^ I can’t help but wonder if they had actually come clean what would have happened.

We’ve all scammed the boss in our “youth” and I think it would have been more riveting t.v. had one of them said, “Chef, yeah there was a fight – no there was no hospital. I’m stressed, tired and choked about work right now and took 4 weeks of frustration out on 1 night of drinking.

It wasn’t smart and it shouldn’t have affected you to the level it did. Won't happen again.”

but then he coudn't have come across all morally superior. obviously somebody knew what was going on because there were cameras when they were talking about quitting and it was NOT at the restaurant. yet another twist in the story. what, line cooks drink, don't shop up for work and lie???? that's news? they forgot to show the lines of coke. yep, this stuff still goes on.

interesting question--what would have happened if they had told the truth? bu the way, i'd imagine line cook would take the job hoping to work with rocco--IN the kitchen

[tommy]

I agree, though, that the "You made my momma cry" was over the top.

i'm not convinced of this (after watching it twice). it seems to me that he was trying to convey just how much they crossed some of the people at the restaurant, who are presumably their friends as well as co-workers. it seemed fair, given their behavior.

what i found odd about his handling of the situtation, was that he went back to everyone to give them his two cents to begin with. perhaps handling it just as he did during his first "talks" with them would have been the high road. let them think they got over. it seemed a bit childish and people like that rarely learn lessons, especially when coming from people for whom they clearly have no respect.

of course, who knows what really happened with the editing and all.

suggesting that rocco does too much coke just seems inappropriate. a lot of people have that look when they're working long hours and are under incredible amounts of stress. not to mention when they have cameras following them around.

Edited August 19, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Bux]

of course, who knows what really happened with the editing and all.

It seemed as if the camera's were on these three, the night they played hookey and didn't go to the hospital.

a) Rocco had to know all about it before hand, as it was scripted, but didn't tell his mother.

b) NBC knew about it all along, but didn't tell Rocco.

c) That scene, perhaps like many others, was "re-enacted" for the cameras after the cooks were fired.

[Gifted Gourmet]

That should have been in the editing room garbage can

and if this piece of nonsense (the stand-up stuff) is being included in the footage actually running... just think about what is "edited out" ....

c) That scene, perhaps like many others, was "re-enacted" for the cameras after the cooks were fired.

maybe it was an easy way to increase their 13 minutes of fame to extend to the requisite 15? ... just a thought ... and certainly not as profound as some of our cynical posters would offer up!

Edited August 19, 2003 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[jhlurie]

it was refreshing to see bourdain and ripert, instead of the usual cast of whining customers.

Indeed. And Bourdain actually pulled off his bit very nicely. A "realist" guest starring on an episode of a reality show? Who'da thunk you'd ever see that?

[Jinmyo]

suggesting that rocco does too much coke just seems inappropriate.  a lot of people have that look when they're working long hours and are under incredible amounts of stress.  not to mention when they have cameras following them around.

Sorry, but I find I just keep thinking that.

[taklbox]

Okay, let's forget that the restaurant was started on a foundation of television appeal fostered by network people who didn't know that basic restaurant culture provides MORE than enough drama without contrived camera shots and dramatic set ups.

I worked in restaurants in NY, NJ, and CA for about ten years and I am here to tell you that you needed contrive any situation to contrive drama. Hiring people with zero or little experience was stupid on a business sense and it had no impact on dramatic situations.

The notion of acting like Rocco as if he should be the best closest friend to all in the kitchen or on the floor is ridiculous. In a small town it's expected that you get into an incestuous seeking approval relationship with the owner but in a big city joint you are lucky if the owner chef acknowledges you. if they do it's cause you have made a mark through good or impressive moves.

The complete retards featured in "The Restaurant" seemed to have been born into reality tv culture and devoid of real restaurant culture or for that matter survival priorities.

For all those who freaked cause they weren't getting paid, they all should've quit.

For all those who sat by and gossiped and enjoyed camera time, you should've been serving your tables and making your customers happy. Your tips are your money.

ANy server with any serious frontline experience wouldn't divide importance between kitchen and server staff, but would instead try to win the favor of the nightly head chefs. Don't you want your food to come out when you need it? Don't you want a rapport with the chefs? Haven't you done stints as a runner or bussed tables? Are you all such princesses that you think duties are actually designated and structured so that you are incapable of doing anything other than griping about the system and not doing anything other than you're 'supposed' to do?

As great a chef as Rocco is supposed to be, where were his brains when he failed to install heat tables and lamps in a cellar station kitchen?

Where was Rocco's gritty experience when formulating this show with NBC? Didn't he realize that you don't need to tweak, alter, recreate or accelorate a damn thing to create Elizabethan drama by just existing to exist?

On the show I heard Rocco say, "this is not a two hour dining experience...customer is acknowledged within 5 minutes, drinks within 3 minutes, apps and specials and orders and etc in time..." but he did nothing to structure a service system that would make that applicable.

Has he not heard of The Hamburger Hamlet? Where such rules are spelled out to the umpteenth degree? Where new hires have to pass a written test on menu items and service issues? Is he such a total neophyte that he failed to consider basic service issues so that they coudl get out of the way of the very thing that his name sits on? His reputation as a chef?

Imagine this: A restaurant reality show: a well known chef opens a new joint in a hot spot in one of the hottest restaurant spots in the world.

He devises a restaurant and leaves off the most basic structural situations to logic and experience because as a master chef he supposedly has such knowledge. After that life takes over.

I was totally unimpressed with the staged garbage that NBC pushed...that Rocco signed off on. I was totally disgusted with Rocco's seeming ignorance created on a service front. I had no sympathy with regards to issues with hiring kitchen and floor staff who had no experience.

What a crock. You can hire the greatest staff in town and drama will happen and what will happen is guaranteed more stirring and intense than the kindergarten preventable, avoidable antics depicted on NBC for the benefit of Mitsubichi, Vespa, Coors, Amex and the like.

For children who are not of working age, it is not a given that you have a personal relationship with your chef/owner. You are not owed a personal relationship or investment. You are there to work and serve and make your way.

Customers came last in this show and they are surely an afterthought at Rocco's which can only brag about "mamma's meatballs" I can make meatballs. I don't want meatballs.

When I go out I want to show up, sit down, be acknowledged, be served in a timely psychic manner and be given an experience that makes me want to return.

In terms of bullshit this show and this restaurant seem to have no connection to the food service industry. Real actual restaurantuers who have a reputation and real money invested would hardly put up with the crap that dragged on as this show depicted.

While the insiders and outsiders declared this a 'chef driven' restaurant they are sorely wrong. This was a tv driven restaurant.

Yeah, it's true that Rocco is right to exploit what he can to make his name and make a place that suits his name, Rocco has nonetheless used this format along with what little his name means in the biz to crap on any authority he might have in the future.

Maybe Rocco thinks it's great to have a show but he's better off having a real restaurant.

His three best chefs had no real loyalty from the get go and they were half fuck ups to begin with and they wanted to quit hoping he'd beg them back thinking tv would magically erase reality. Then Rocco comes on saying, "I gave you a chance to tell the truth....you think you're not good enough for us? rethink that? Don't darken this door again." What door, Rocco?

A door where customers come in and are ignored and not acknowled for ages? A door where they hope to see you or your famed "mamma" and see neither cause the cameras are gone? A door where food comes cold and isn't all that great and isn't infused or enjoined in a tight ideal of menu or style? A door that has a staff without a streamlined communication system? A door that doesn't get it?

You hired people that had no experience cause it suited NBC. You hired kitchen staff with almost equal disregard to basic reality. You had no menu and no architecture on par. The design of your space took precidence over your menu. You obviously didn't taste or test many items on your menu.

You clearly had never sat down and had a great eating experience and relied on your rep as a great chef based on what you came up with.

Dear Rocco, A year from now you'll come clean with all the things you made concessions on but in the long run you failed to have a passion for the main thing. In the end you were about advancing your name.

A good restaurant is about a good experience and you were about having massive tv coverage, massive product placement. While your staff went without pay for three weeks for whatever construed reasons you no doubt lived in luxury. While your momma made meatballs from morning till night your food still overall sucked. Your service sucked. Your kitchen had no serious captain or mentor. You ignored logic and experience and enjoyed the drama of mishap rather than making it work to the best of your abilities.

The only difference between working for Rocco on TV for NBC and working for a new upstart on Melrose AVenue is that Rocco has NBC working for him wanting him to go on.

If you're a skilled chef with a love of food and love of food service you'd not let your outing in this manner deteriorate into a lab experiment where customers are the non control rats who have to take the tumors and diseases. We all know in your fantasy that the rats have a great time and love the meatballs but the reality is people come in and they sit at their tables forever and half the menu is crap and the majority of the waitstaff are looking for a big break in show biz over working for tips. They don't care that the kitchen is cellar level and you haven't got heat lamps for all food and that plate covers aren't necessary when service and food is good.

Your restaurant is a commercial for you and everyone else pays. You've provided nothing.

It 's more satisfying to go to a local diner and get sloppy fries and gravy.

Your TV wanna be staff are deluded and self absorbed dysfunctional children who haven't got a clue as to what it's like to really work in a real restaurant. They don't even know that failing to have an intimate relationshipo with super Rocco means nothing. they percieve a relationship with the great Rocco as being a given, like going to the bathroom in themorning. Give me a break. Give me a local family mainstay restaurant. Give me even a local Burger King.

"The Restaurant" provides only bare nibbles of what it's like to really live in a restaurant. It's otherwise total bullshit.

A good restaurant is about good food and food service. Those two things can be an infusion of many things but they never lack solid organization and rule. they have nothing to do with manufactured drama and major tv network fluff. Contrivance is totally not existent with acutal restaurant life.

It's garbage. I'd have way more respect for Rocco if he opened a small place in a small place with a great plan and solid idea and everything went wrong. This show is total crap and dishonors kitchen staff everywhere who can analyze all the shortcomings of the restaurants' failings from afar on an edited TV screen.

Anthony Bourdain was graceful in only saying that he felt uncomfortable about his participation in the event and I was glad to hear him say that the squid totally blew. He is and was right that good food is not necessarily enough but he would be right in saying that you've got to get the basics right. The Rocco experience was and is crass and phoney and totally LA showbiz. It dishonors everyone who's ever worked hard at a real working restaurant.

[laurenmilan]

The web site for Rocco's is absolute crap too.

http://www.roccosrestaurant.com/

Simple without being elegant, basically a placeholder for possibly the most hilarious menu in New York! I am straining to imagine tragically hip 20somethings pretending they're having some amazing experience paying $14-30 for poorly prepared Italian-American cuisine.

Talk about using a restaurant to sell yourself rather than an experience...

[Tim D]

What I am most struck by is the woeful amount of preparation left undone prior to the filming of the show. According to Rocco the reason no one could get paid was because they "forgot" to form a company?!?!? How is this possible? How could they get liquor licenses, zoning permits, insurance, etc without incorporating? It makes no sense what so ever. When he tells the bookkeeper to "use the amex open account and write the checks" and she replies "I'm going online right now to do that" I was struck dumb, this puts the entire "no paycheck" theme into question, did they do it simply to use that phrase because I gotta tell you, there is absolutely no way amex is allowing anyone to write thousands (ten of thousands?) of dollars worth of checks out of a optima account for payroll. Not to mention, that even if they did you'd be paying interest on your employees paychecks.

Rocco's reputation aside I am inclined to say that dispite our displeasure with the show and the restaurant itself, we just don't know what "mainstream" America is thinking about all of this. They are unlikely to log onto eGullet and voice their opinions. There are probably hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people watching this trainwreck and thinking the whole time that it is "real". So while I myself haven't been watching (other than the TB&ER episode) I am curious to see how it does in the ratings.

Maybe NBC will want to branch out and we'll see a "reality" show based on someone opening a convience store. "Dammit, Billy Jo I told you not to overfill the Slurpy machine, now look at your uniform! You go into the ladies room and change!". Ey Carumba Lucy!

~T~

[tommy]

of course, who knows what really happened with the editing and all.

It seemed as if the camera's were on these three, the night they played hookey and didn't go to the hospital.

a) Rocco had to know all about it before hand, as it was scripted, but didn't tell his mother.

b) NBC knew about it all along, but didn't tell Rocco.

c) That scene, perhaps like many others, was "re-enacted" for the cameras after the cooks were fired.

i'm leaning towards b or c. the fact that cameras were on some sort of drunken meeting doesn't suggest to me at all that rocco knew about it. and i don't think the cameramen/directors/producers were in the habit of running to rocco every minute to tell him what was going on all over the restaurant and manhattan for that matter.

[tommy]

suggesting that rocco does too much coke just seems inappropriate.  a lot of people have that look when they're working long hours and are under incredible amounts of stress.  not to mention when they have cameras following them around.

Sorry, but I find I just keep thinking that.

regardless of the way he looks, he sure doesn't *act* like the junkies that i hang out with.

as far as the payroll thing, i'm sure they have the appropriate type of corporation necessary to start the business and whatnot. i'm thinking that they simply haven't sorted out the payroll in the sense they they don't have anyone doing it yet, or haven't set up an account with an outside company. amex's Open, which we should all know by watching the commercials, provides businesses with lines of credit and loans. so i don't think they're be a problem getting a couple of grand out of them to pay employees. i don't doubt rocco's comment about setting up a company was either edited to the point that it sounded dumb, or perhaps he just didn't really understand the situtation.

this is fun, trying to figure out what was going on.

Edited August 19, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Mark Sommelier]

Tommy,

If they haven't paid the staff in a month, given the size of the staff they have, I dare say the payroll is more than "a couple of grand". The payroll in my 90 seat restaurant is exorbitant.

[tommy]

Tommy,

If they haven't paid the staff in a month, given the size of the staff they have, I dare say the payroll is more than "a couple of grand". The payroll in my  90 seat restaurant is exorbitant.

whatever it is, i'm sure they could get a loan from Open. the restaurant cost what, 4 million? we're not talking about charging it on a credit card. we're talking about a line of credit or a loan. i dare say that i could get a loan for whatever amount it is. i'm sure they could.

Edited August 19, 2003 by tommy (log)

[tootallfortoques]

One thing that has really struck me about this show is how starkly it contrasts with a show on Food Network Canada called "Opening Soon".

The show follows the opening of a new restaurant from site selection, design, staffing, menu creation, equipment installatiion, etc. right to opening night. The show should more accurately be called "Opening Six Weeks Late, $300K Over Budget, With a Whole New Menu".

These are real people, often with their life's savings wrapped up in the enterprise. What it lacks in "drama" it makes up for in reality.

I still find "The Restaurant" entertaining to watch, if nothing else because it provokes these strong reactions, but it's about as real as the daytime soaps all its staff are dying to get on.

Edited August 19, 2003 by tootallfortoques (log)