"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

[guajolote]

guajolote - tomatoes are high in acid, or at least high enough for regular home canning.

Nope:

Tomatoes differ in acidity depending on the variety and growing conditions. Although tomatoes usually are considered an acid food, some are now known to have pH values slightly above 4.6. Therefore, if they are to be canned as acid foods, they must be acidified to a pH of 4.6 or lower with bottled lemon juice or citric acid. Properly acidified tomatoes are acid foods and can be safely processed in a boiling-water bath canner.

To ensure safe acidity in whole, crushed or juiced tomatoes, the USDA/WSU recommends adding acid in the form of bottled juice (never fresh) or citric acid power

from here

Edit: I also read that canned tomatoes usually have acid added to them for this reason. The finished sauce is probably OK to can, but personally I would just freeze it.

Edited August 20, 2003 by guajolote (log)

[tommy]

vox - I didn't say the theme song was "good," I said it was the best part of the show. Not the same thing.

i happen to like the theme song (although it's not half as good as the Queer Eye song).

[ronnie_suburban]

To ensure safe acidity in whole, crushed or juiced tomatoes, the USDA/WSU recommends adding acid in the form of bottled juice (never fresh) or citric acid power

I wonder why 'never fresh'? The preserving quality of bottled lemon juice must have nothing the do with the lemon juice per se...it's probably all about the preservative (sodium bisulfite I think) used in the bottled lemon juice.

=R=

[WHT]

Are all restaurant kitchens run this way?

Only the bad ones.

[WHT]

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

I think that C is the answer. We already know that they did some catch up with Gideon so it would make sense that it is not the first time or the last. Also the whole calling the hospital thing had to be staged. Hospitals do not give details over the phone like they tried to represent.

That new privacy law has stringent rules as to the dissemination of patient info.

[tommy]

I think that C is the answer. We already know that they did some catch up with Gideon so it would make sense that it is not the first time or the last. Also the whole calling the hospital thing had to be staged. Hospitals do not give details over the phone like they tried to represent.

That new privacy law has stringent rules as to the dissemination of patient info.

hmm. rocco's conversation on the cell phone did seem almost fake. very TV-like, where the person repeats what he heard on the other end. how many people do that? of course, the directors could have suggested that they do that whenever possible to make the scenes make more sense.

are you sure you can't find out if someone is in the hospital? what if your wife got into a car accident and you called the area hospital. are you saying they wouldn't tell you if she was there or not there? i know little about these new rules, but that seems extreme.

[WHT]

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

Rent Dinner Rush, much closer to the real thing.

[Minou]

are  you sure you can't find out if someone is in the hospital? 

Dude! Rocco called The Hospital ... and we all know there is only 1 Hospital / Medi centre / Clinic in all of NYC!

And his street-fightin'-booze-brawlin' staff wern't there!

j/k!

[WHT]

are  you sure you can't find out if someone is in the hospital?  what if your wife got into a car accident and you called the area hospital.  are you saying they wouldn't tell you if she was there or not there?  i know little about these new rules, but that seems extreme.

I will try and dig up a link to the law. It does have some rather strange factors in it. In some of the drafts the answer would be NO. I will have to look into this.

You would be notified by the hospital to come in. someone calling “off the street.” Would not be given any information regarding care, status or treatment. This is due in part to muck rakers that would call hospitals to get “dirt” on people. I am not saying that this new law is good or bad, just strange. It would not have allowed Rocco to get the information depicted.

[DPadrona]

are  you sure you can't find out if someone is in the hospital? 

Dude! Rocco called The Hospital ... and we all know there is only 1 Hospital / Medi centre / Clinic in all of NYC!

And his street-fightin'-booze-brawlin' staff wern't there!

j/k!

I am one of the "lying" cooks from the last episode. Although NBC did not show exactly what happened, and the editing was done in very broad strokes, we all stand by our actions. The fight that night was an unfortunate and traumatizing experience. And a large group from the restaurant was there and witnessed the entire thing. Curiously enough, it was instigated by other cooks from a nearby, seafood restaurant who just happened to know where Rocco's staff would be, as well as the NBC cameras. No one at the restaurant was ever told that Tim was admitted into Lenox Hill or any other hospital here in New York. On $10 per hour, who had health insurance? They were told that we waited in the emergency room to be looked at for a concussion, and then left. And while that did not happen during that timeline, it happened afterwards. We had valid reasons for leaving, and felt that we did so in a respectful manner. When we finally picked up our checks, they were for a fraction of the amount due us, and were cut, also curiously enough, from Jeffrey Chodorow's other restaurant. The insane goings on at that point were part instigated rama from the powers that be, and part gross mismanagement. In any event, we were tired of being manipulated. Add this to the reasons we gave Rocco for leaving, and there it is.

[jfd666]

...instigated by other cooks from a nearby, seafood restaurant who just happened to know where Rocco's staff would be

So are you saying they wanted to get on tv, kick some pretty boy reality-tv ass, or both?

[DPadrona]

...instigated by other cooks from a nearby, seafood restaurant who just happened to know where Rocco's staff would be

So are you saying they wanted to get on tv, kick some pretty boy reality-tv ass, or both?

LOL! The ne'er do wells showed up from Rocco's other restaurant to taunt the cooks who were working at Rocco's on 22nd. How they knew where we would be has been a point of debate. What their intentions were, I have no idea....just the results.

[Jinmyo]

DPadrona, welcome.

Can you tell us anything about the scene's where Rocco worked for a living and cooked a few plates? The line was shown frozen in awe before the sheer majesty of the moment. What actually happened?

[Rachel Perlow]

are  you sure you can't find out if someone is in the hospital? 

Dude! Rocco called The Hospital ... and we all know there is only 1 Hospital / Medi centre / Clinic in all of NYC!

And his street-fightin'-booze-brawlin' staff wern't there!

j/k!

Actually, they specifically mentioned Lenox Hill Hospital on the show.

And if you call asking for a specifc patient's room, they wouldn't give you the room number, but they would connect you to their room. They wouldn't give the patient's status, but that doesn't extend to saying we have no patient by that name.

[tommy]

You would be notified by the hospital to come in. someone calling “off the street.” Would not be given any information regarding care, status or treatment. This is due in part to muck rakers that would call hospitals to get “dirt” on people. I am not saying that this new law is good or bad, just strange. It would not have allowed Rocco to get the information depicted.

that call didn't depict any information being disseminated on care, status, or treatment. he was calling to find out if the guy was there, and then presumably might have asked how he was doing. at that point, perhaps they would have said "we can't give that information out over the phone." but considering that not many people know about this rule, i don't think the fact that he made the call to the hospital suggests that it was a set-up. seemed like a pretty normal thing to do as far as i can tell. and, as rachel says, it appears that they were told Lenox Hill.

Edited August 20, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Varmint]

Egad, do you really want me to bore you with the details of the HIPAA Privacy Rules that govern patient privacy??? This is some of what I do for a living!!!

The rule states that a hospital may:

Use the following protected health information to maintain a directory of individuals in its facility:

The individual's name;

The individual's location in the covered health care provider's facility;

The individual's condition described in general terms that does not communicate specific medical information about the individual; and

The individual's religious affiliation.

If a person calls the hospital and asks about a specific patient by name, the hospital may reveal all of the above information except for the individual's religious affiliation.

Of course, a patient can object to including this information in the hospital's directory, and the hospital would then be prohibited from disclosing anything.

Moreover, many hospitals do not maintain such directories anymore, because of the risk of violating HIPAA.

There's your Health Law 101 course of the day.

[tommy]

yet another conspiracy theory shot down.

[Rachel Perlow]

Bravo will begin airing repeats of The Restaurant beginning Sept 8th (I know that link says the 16th, but I checked September's schedule).

[jhlurie]

Apparently Rocco is supposed to be on this crappy "Extra" show tonight. Whoopie!

EDIT - Just saw it. Rocco gets on a mike and invites you into his life. Then we get some crap about how how much Rocco loves his family--how his Mama cooks meatballs, his Uncle makes sausage, and his Aunt makes pasta. Followed by a preview of next week's show--a former customer gets a job as a server, all of the guys salivate over her because she's "hot", and once again "Rocco saves the day" (this last is a direct quote from this piece).

"Extra" and "Rocco", perfect together.

Edited August 20, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[tommy]

LOL!  The ne'er do wells showed up from Rocco's other restaurant to taunt the cooks who were working at Rocco's on 22nd.  How they knew where we would be has been a point of debate.  What their intentions were, I have no idea....just the results.

if you're suggesting that some guys from UP mixed it up with you guys, i'm surprised *that* didn't air. that would be some real drama!

[vox]

i don't think anyone has fault with the reason the cook's left rocco's (ie. the style of food, the fact he wasn't in the kitchen, etc.)

i think it's pretty shafty when peeps don't show up for their shifts though...because that means that you're screwing over your co-workers.

personally, i would have just given my two weeks notice and quit...without all the hospital smack.

[vox]

also...i was kinda sorta hoping against hope that cooks in the states and in froufrou restaurants made more money than i do doing fine dining in canada...

but the $10/hour thing is pretty depresso.

[Jinmyo]

vox, that's how it is on the line.

Sous or exec gets better. But it's still not much for most.

[DPadrona]

DPadrona, welcome.

Can you tell us anything about the scene's where Rocco worked for a living and cooked a few plates? The line was shown frozen in awe before the sheer majesty of the moment. What actually happened?

Thanks for the welcome....great site.

One evening, when we weren't particularly busy, Rocco came down to the kitchen and told me to break down 2 chickens and make a marinade of EVO, oregano, lemon and parsley and leave it in the walk in for 1 hour. He then returned, came behind the line, and threw them on the grill. And that was the famous awestruck cooking demo that NBC spliced together. His total time in the kitchen that night, (and the entire time), was 5 minutes. He didn't even plate the dish, but instead ran upstairs to the dining room. All of those awestruck faces you saw were cut together from previous and post filming. Cameras were in fixed positions all around the kitchen, so we were filmed round the clock for weeks on end. And ANYTIME Rocco entered the kitchen we were dumbfounded! "What's he doing here?"

[Jinmyo]

DPadrona, sadly, that's what I thought.

"When you turn the chicken, salt and pepper it."

Wow!?!

I hope you've found a good spot.

Yes, eGullet is great, isn't it? Continually surprises.