"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

tkserino · August 19, 2003

I'm trying to understand the editing of the show. One two prior episodes they've shown Ripert eating at the restaurant. On this, the third time, they show him with Bourdain. Just how many times has Ripert eaten at this place? And if it's only once, why show the footage every week. I'm so confused!!

According to the latest post on Uzay Tumer's site, Ripert has been back to Rocco's, this time with Alain Ducasse!
Could it be that the food is more acceptable than we are led to believe. I can't imagine these two guys need the publicity or waste their time eating garbage food.

Let's not leave out morbid curiousity. This restaurant has probably enjoyed more publicity and sheer buzz than any other restaurant in American history. Some people will come to try the food but more will come to be disappointed by it.

TrishCT · August 19, 2003

Hi all,

Speaking of things that blow, I am writing this very quickly from the Opryland Hotel in Nashville... its the hotel that blows, the city of Nashville is actually fun. But that will be for another post, on the Southeast board, when I return home...

Interesting comments from ya'll (see the southern thing is rubbing off on me) about Rocco's, I have dubbed Episode 5: "Rocco's 5th course, Non-Amuse Bouche." I still don't see Rocco coming through as some sort of hero, despite NBC's manipulations... I think the show jumped the shark after episode 3... departure of a major character- (Topher)... The joint just ain't fun... and it shows...

Best regards from the heat wave, :cool:

Trish

Rachel Perlow · August 19, 2003

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."

eGullet Homework Assignment

Interview non-foodie co-workers and family to see if they've been watching The Restaurant. Best to start with those you know already watch reality TV shows like Survivor or Meet My Folks. Some sample questions to ask them:

1) Do you watch The Restaurant? If yes, please continue...
2) Do you like the show? How do you think it compares to other reality TV shows?
3a) If you live in NYC, would you want to go to Rocco's? Even though the cameras are no longer rolling? OR
3b) If you visit NYC on vacation, would you make it a priority to eat at Rocco's?
4a) How much does Spaghetti and Meatballs cost at your favorite Italian-American restaurant? Taking into account that the food at restaurants in NYC tend to cost more due to high overhead, is $15 for Spaghetti and Meatballs too much money, cheap, or an appropriate amount?
4b) Same question for veal parmesean, only the price is $23.
5) If you do go to Rocco's would you expect: the food to be good or bad? the food to be served hot or cold? to see celebrities? to have a good time? the service to be good or bad? to see Rocco? to see Rocco's Mama?

As long as you won't get in trouble at work for asking these questions, I'm really curious for the response of people who aren't as deeply interested in the restaurant itself, but in it just as a TV show. I tried to write those questions to not be leading (i.e. assuming a negative or positive response), try to ask them without expressing your opinion (assuming you haven't already made that opinion known :wink: ).

JesseNYC · August 19, 2003

I am in a Culinary Management Class here in NYC. Every Monday we start our day discussing this train-wreck of a show. Needless to say we can't wait for it to end. I don't think that Rocco know's just how much his reputation has suffered amongst the restaurant and culinary worlds. He is, very literally - a joke.

Just a few comments for now;

1. The firings of he cooks - You would think that instead of finding out what the deal was with the hospital, Rocco woud have concentrated on the reasons they were giving him for quitting. Those were all pretty valid comments that they made - Rocco seemed to have ignored them.

2. Unfortunalty it is still VERY hard to get a reservation at Rocco's - mostly tourists. No self respecting New Yorker will eat there when there are HUNDREDS of vastly superior options. My school is around the corner practically, the other day I was walking by and witnessed tourists taking pictures outside the restauant. It has become a destination. Amazing.

3. Perhaps the most troubling thing is that Rocco stated on national TV the other day that he would consider doing another show. YIKES.

4. I wonder how the kitchens at Union Pacific and Tuscan are doing. Are they just besides themselves with laughter when they watch ? I bet they are. But Rocco isnt in either of those kitchens much either.

tommy · August 19, 2003

1. The firings of he cooks - You would think that instead of finding out what the deal was with the hospital, Rocco woud have concentrated on the reasons they were giving him for quitting. Those were all pretty valid comments that they made - Rocco seemed to have ignored them.
...
No self respecting New Yorker will eat there when there are HUNDREDS of vastly superior options.

what makes you think he didn't take their reasons into consideration? and i don't see that his concern and phone call to the hospital supplanted his meeting with them. in fact, they appeared to be quite separate.

i can't wait to try the place, and i consider myself a "self-respecting new yorker." i don't think i'm alone either.

applehome · August 19, 2003

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 .

M. Bourdain - does that mean that you would be happy to do more - maybe a movie or perhaps an HBO TV series out of Kitchen Confidential? Has anybody asked? (Talk about reality...)

JesseNYC · August 19, 2003

[what makes you think he didn't take their reasons into consideration? and i don't see that his concern and phone call to the hospital supplanted his meeting with them. in fact, they appeared to be quite separate.

i can't wait to try the place, and i consider myself a "self-respecting new yorker." i don't think i'm alone either.]

What i meant was that while he was talking to them he already knew that the hospital story was fake. I feel instead of concentrating on hearing them lie, he should have tried to find out why they were so unhappy that they felt they had to lie. Who knows if he really heeded their concerns, but it wasn't shown on the show.

I have a feeling though that you want to try the place to see if they are going to still be horrible or if they have started moving in the right direction. More of a curiousity that anyting.

JesseNYC · August 19, 2003

I had heard that there was a movie in development last year called "Seared". It was very loosly based on Kitchen Confidential. It had Brad Pitt attached and the director of Fight Club. But I think that the development was put on hold because the director wants to do MI3 or something.

tommy · August 19, 2003

What i meant was that while he was talking to them he already knew that the hospital story was fake. I feel instead of concentrating on hearing them lie, he should have tried to find out why they were so unhappy that they felt they had to lie. Who knows if he really heeded their concerns, but it wasn't shown on the show.
I have a feeling though that you want to try the place to see if they are going to still be horrible or if they have started moving in the right direction. More of a curiousity that anyting.

seemed like he wanted to give them a chance to come clean. and he stated as much.

i want to try it for many reasons. not the least of which is the fact that tony bourdain liked a few dishes.

Jinmyo · August 19, 2003

tommy, I'd then PM Bourdain and find out what two dishes he thought were "great".

Please do go and report back.

PDC · August 19, 2003

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.

In a brilliant stroke of scheduling, this show in on in the US on the Fine Living Network, also owned by Scripps (same folks who own Food net). When is it on? Sundays at 11pm. Right after Rocco, so you can flip right over if you have the channel.

whatevaman · August 19, 2003

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.

first of all, Pete did not say "terrorist attacks" he said "terrorist bombings." i know pete through a friend and i saw him do his terroism set to a new york audience and it killed. he was making fun of terrorists - what's wrong with that? (btw his set up for the joke was completely edited) And if you were eluding to Pete not being sensitive to people who endured 9-11, i know for a fact that he was there and saw things with his own eyes. if you heard Pete's jokes about mideast turmoil (i.e. when more than one terrorist organization claims responsibility for the same bombing...how lazy are these terroists) i'd think you'd laugh and heaven would not have to help us all. :biggrin:

ronnie_suburban · August 19, 2003

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.

Unfortunately, Opening Soon is not going to air in the U.S. on FTV, it's going to air on another Scripps Howard-owned outlet, the fledgling Fine Living Channel which currently has very limited distribution in the U.S.

=R=

TheMan,TheMyth · August 19, 2003

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.
first of all, Pete did not say "terrorist attacks" he said "terrorist bombings." i know pete through a friend and i saw him do his terroism set to a new york audience and it killed. he was making fun of terrorists - what's wrong with that? (btw his set up for the joke was completely edited) And if you were eluding to Pete not being sensitive to people who endured 9-11, i know for a fact that he was there and saw things with his own eyes. if you heard Pete's jokes about mideast turmoil (i.e. when more than one terrorist organization claims responsibility for the same bombing...how lazy are these terroists) i'd think you'd laugh and heaven would not have to help us all.

Pete is a goof ball. Those corny jokes would have bombed at a Taliban Talent Show.

The Man, The Myth

TapItorScrapIt.com

laurenmilan · August 19, 2003

But I'm uncomfortable with the Rocco's "theme"; post-ironic red-sauce-Italian.. And putting Mom in the kitchen of the ugliest, least homey restaurant in Manhattan seems crass--akin to making your wife bus tables at Carmine's. Rocco did really good work in his time at Tuscan. The guy can cook. He KNOWS how to make good Italian.The calculated dumbing down of Italian food at Rocco's doesn't wear well in a town where the Batali/Bastianich Posse are serving higher quality--yet still unpretentious--chow only a few blocks away (sans irony). "Irony"--as someone once said--"smells bad."

Tony, you really nailed the essence of Rocco's - "post-ironic red-sauce-Italian". In the eps I've seen, it feels like a culinary rendition of "Emperor's New Clothes", with a (mostly) compliant staff just busying themselves as they speed towards humiliation, all for fear of being fired for not understanding the chef's vision. Rocco's feels like a theme restaurant, like the one in Manhattan that serves nothing but cafeteria cuisine, or one that does nothing but "White Trash" southern cooking.

Yep, "irony smells bad."

It's a surprise to hear that Rocco does have a legitimate, as opposed to trendy, reputation. From the looks of this show, I'd had him pegged as one of the tragically-hip young chefs that have little to do with food that people enjoy eating. The basil-infused-foam type.

Mark Sommelier · August 19, 2003

In the September 15 issue of the Wine Spectator, Rocco is prominently displayed in a full page Ruffino Chianti ad.

shamrock · August 19, 2003

Hi, eGullet people.

First time poster. Yup, got here through The Restaurant. Hey.

Former FOH & catering alumna in NYC, but my dad ran a culinary school since my birth until last year, so I know from BOH. Thus my interest in "The Restaurant".

Since I'm sure everyone on this thread has had more than their share of reality-show-vs.-reality haggling and Rocco-sucks-vs.-Rocco's-all-right issues... please allow me to merely cackle with glee at the hilariously over the top love poem that the young Edie-Falco-esque waitress (can't remember her name right now) slipped to Perry, the hot young cook guy.

I thought the note was so cuddly and corny -- nay, bordering on psycho -- that virtually any guy who received such a note would recoil in horror.

Why not send him a teddy bearthat said "I Wuv U"? Woulda been a bit more subtle.

Their interaction was cute as hell, though. I was actually surprised that the TV people didn't make a bigger deal about it.

Answer me this, though: was there any actual chemistry between him and the woman, or was she working the cameras? What was the level of contrivance? Zenial or Bothameaboutasteak or GotChianti, or anybody else who was there, do you wanna weigh in? Enquiring minds, etc.

That guy is not so hot on the grill yet, but he is so hot it's almost insane. The camera likes him a lot better than Rocco, I think.

I live in the city. Would I eat at The Restaurant? Maybe now that they've gotten their act together. Sure, I'm curious. But I'm a bit more curious about all the hype re: Schiller's Liquor Bar, the new Keith McNally joint opening up a few blocks away from my apartment on the Lower East Side. It's supposed to be Jewish, or Czech, or German, or something. People are talking about Welsh rarebit on the menu though, so I'm assuming they're going to do a Cafe Lebowitz meets Ratner's type thing. Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope this wasn't too outrageously off-topic for all you serious folks.

tommy · August 19, 2003

tommy, I'd then PM Bourdain and find out what two dishes he thought were "great".
Please do go and report back.

i'd rather go a few times and have fun with it.

i'll report back.

Tim D · August 19, 2003

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.

I'm sure that THEY could but if you or I (or any other AMEX customer) went to them and asked for twenty grand to cover the payroll they'd say no way. Besides, why would they have to borrow the money in the first place? Why wouldn't they just write checks from the business account to pay the employees? It just doesn't make any sense, if they had enough cash to cover the payroll (as they said they did) then why not write business checks and take taxes out after. Sorry, this whole thing is beyond shady. I've been dealing with AMEX for almost 14 years and they don't cut ANYONE any slack. Rocco obviously doesn't have any money left to pay the employees. Baaaaaad business any way you slice it. In front of the cameras or not.

tommy · August 19, 2003

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.
I'm sure that THEY could but if you or I (or any other AMEX customer) went to them and asked for twenty grand to cover the payroll they'd say no way. Besides, why would they have to borrow the money in the first place? Why wouldn't they just write checks from the business account to pay the employees? It just doesn't make any sense, if they had enough cash to cover the payroll (as they said they did) then why not write business checks and take taxes out after. Sorry, this whole thing is beyond shady. I've been dealing with AMEX for almost 14 years and they don't cut ANYONE any slack. Rocco obviously doesn't have any money left to pay the employees. Baaaaaad business any way you slice it. In front of the cameras or not.

tim, we're talking about a business loan here.

tootallfortoques · August 19, 2003

Rocco obviously doesn't have any money left to pay the employees. Baaaaaad business any way you slice it. In front of the cameras or not.

I doubt that's the case. Instead it just served as an ad for Amex. The sad thing is that he would dick around his employees for the purpose of plugging Amex. Unless of course they were all in on it...

ronnie_suburban · August 19, 2003

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.
I'm sure that THEY could but if you or I (or any other AMEX customer) went to them and asked for twenty grand to cover the payroll they'd say no way. Besides, why would they have to borrow the money in the first place? Why wouldn't they just write checks from the business account to pay the employees? It just doesn't make any sense, if they had enough cash to cover the payroll (as they said they did) then why not write business checks and take taxes out after. Sorry, this whole thing is beyond shady. I've been dealing with AMEX for almost 14 years and they don't cut ANYONE any slack. Rocco obviously doesn't have any money left to pay the employees. Baaaaaad business any way you slice it. In front of the cameras or not.
tim, we're talking about a business loan here.

Shouldn't they just have a payroll service (as has been suggested upthread)? Even if they receive a loan from AMEX to fund the payroll....then what? Someone's going to sit down write physical checks for each employee? What about withholding, etc.? If management can't get the preparation of food right, I doubt that they could figure out how to make accurate deductions, withholdings, etc. I can just imagine someone poring over the IRS manuals trying to figure out what to take out of each employee's check.

The moment seemed like a contrived set-up to work yet another product placement into the show. And that's fine with me (they can fund the venture however they see fit), but to act as if it was spontaneous or that AMEX would take care of the 'filing' elements of the payroll was absurd. Let's not even get into the fact that AMEX's rate is likely to be several points higher than that of the local loan shark. But, when you're Rocco, who cares about the cost of money?...I mean, it's not his money anyway. Somehow I get the feeling that Mr. Chodorow (sp?) and his partners don't borrow money from AMEX on a regular basis.

=R=

tommy · August 19, 2003

Shouldn't they just have a payroll service (as has been suggested upthread)? Even if they receive a loan from AMEX to fund the payroll....then what? Someone's going to sit down write physical checks for each employee? What about withholding, etc.?

one can be almost certain that they have an accountant that they can call to, yes, cut the checks manually, with all of the appropriate withholdings. it happens all of the time.

as far as AMEX's rates, i haven't used amex for a loan in quite some time, but i'd imagine they're on par with every other major bank/money lending institution. why would you think otherwise?

Edited August 19, 2003 by tommy (log)

ronnie_suburban · August 19, 2003

as far as AMEX's rates, i haven't used amex for a loan in quite some time, but i'd imagine they're on par with every other major bank/money lending institution. why would you think otherwise?

Previous experience, but I'm certainly no expert.

=R=

Jason Perlow · August 19, 2003

Hi, eGullet people.
First time poster. Yup, got here through The Restaurant. Hey.

Welcome to eGullet, Shamrock!

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"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

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