Gordon Ramsay to Take On NY

[Andy Lynes]

I suspect if GR had realised he would eventually open a restaurant in NYC, he may not have signed deals to Star in reality shows that portrayed him as a holier than thou raving lunatic.

Yes, I imagine that whole opening-a-restaurant-in-NYC thing has really caught Ramsay off guard. If only he'd planned it all better...

[Matthew Grant]

Ramsay had plans to open in America long before he signed TV deals. If I'm not mistaken, the first season of Hell's Kitchen was the middle of 2005 in America? Ramsay has certainly spoken of opening up in New York long before that. The earliest example I can find online is an article from the Scotsman in March 2005, 2 months before Hell's Kitchen aired. But I'm sure I remember him talking about opening in New York a long time before this.

The Scotsman

[Sneakeater]

Ramsay is doing it because NY is the capital of high end in the USA.

yes / no ?

←

Yes.

(You could also have pointed out that his restaurant is in a HOTEL.)

[Andy Lynes]

I suspect if GR had realised he would eventually open a restaurant in NYC, he may not have signed deals to Star in reality shows that portrayed him as a holier than thou raving lunatic.

Yes, I imagine that whole opening-a-restaurant-in-NYC thing has really caught Ramsay off guard. If only he'd planned it all better...

←

British sarcasm - as 99% flawed as our "tasting palates".

[Vadouvan]

(You could also have pointed out that his restaurant is in a HOTEL.)

I dont need to point that out, everyone knows that already......

*JUST* as all the newest high end restaurants in Manhattan in the last few years are subsidized by hotels or real estate developers.

Ducasse..Essex

Gilt...Palace

JG...Trump

Ramsay...Rhiga

Robuchon....Quatre saison

Per Se...Time Warner developer / Ken Himmel ???

Those concepts just seem economically impossible if they all had to build from scratch and pay rent from day 1.

That's why there are 1000 meals almost daily flowing through Buddakan and places like that.

[Vadouvan]

British sarcasm - as 99% flawed as our "tasting palates".

OUCH.... Andy......

Sorry, after several trips through London, if it wasnt for the Indians, Pakistanis and the proximity of Southall, I would have starved to death.

[Andy Lynes]

I know British food has a bad rep, but cannibalism seems rather extreme.

[Sneakeater]

Even an American thought THAT was hilarious.

[jayrayner]

Ramsay had plans to open in America long before he signed TV deals. If I'm not mistaken, the first season of Hell's Kitchen was the middle of 2005 in America? Ramsay has certainly spoken of opening up in New York long before that.  The earliest example I can find online is an article from the Scotsman in March 2005, 2 months before Hell's Kitchen aired. But I'm sure I remember him talking about opening in New York a long time before this. 

The Scotsman

←

Not as I understand it. The first Hell's Kitchen was shot in Los Angeles in October of 2004 (lucky me: I got to eat there on its second night). The deal with Fox to do it predated the shoot by a good few months. Indeed I believe it was only a few weeks after broadcast of the first british one, in May of that year, that the Network contracted him..

And at that point, according to the Ramsay organisation, they had no plans to do anything in the US. And I would challenge you to find anything in the cuts that proves otherwise.

[oakapple]

A couple of months ago, I put up a blog post about my dining experience at The Savoy Grill in London, which is one of Ramsay's restaurants. The house manager there is relocating to NYC to run Ramsay's new restaurant, and we chatted briefly. The link is here.

[Matthew Grant]

Ramsay had plans to open in America long before he signed TV deals. If I'm not mistaken, the first season of Hell's Kitchen was the middle of 2005 in America? Ramsay has certainly spoken of opening up in New York long before that.  The earliest example I can find online is an article from the Scotsman in March 2005, 2 months before Hell's Kitchen aired. But I'm sure I remember him talking about opening in New York a long time before this. 

The Scotsman

←

Not as I understand it. The first Hell's Kitchen was shot in Los Angeles in October of 2004 (lucky me: I got to eat there on its second night). The deal with Fox to do it predated the shoot by a good few months. Indeed I believe it was only a few weeks after broadcast of the first british one, in May of that year, that the Network contracted him..

And at that point, according to the Ramsay organisation, they had no plans to do anything in the US. And I would challenge you to find anything in the cuts that proves otherwise.

←

I'd hazard a guess that if they announced a deal in March 2005 they were probably looking a good long time before that, as I say I remember Ramsay talking about the states a long time ago (I'm from London inceidentally), my only surprise is the amount of time it took him.

[jayrayner]

Ramsay had plans to open in America long before he signed TV deals. If I'm not mistaken, the first season of Hell's Kitchen was the middle of 2005 in America? Ramsay has certainly spoken of opening up in New York long before that.  The earliest example I can find online is an article from the Scotsman in March 2005, 2 months before Hell's Kitchen aired. But I'm sure I remember him talking about opening in New York a long time before this. 

The Scotsman

←

Not as I understand it. The first Hell's Kitchen was shot in Los Angeles in October of 2004 (lucky me: I got to eat there on its second night). The deal with Fox to do it predated the shoot by a good few months. Indeed I believe it was only a few weeks after broadcast of the first british one, in May of that year, that the Network contracted him..

And at that point, according to the Ramsay organisation, they had no plans to do anything in the US. And I would challenge you to find anything in the cuts that proves otherwise.

←

I'd hazard a guess that if they announced a deal in March 2005 they were probably looking a good long time before that, as I say I remember Ramsay talking about the states a long time ago (I'm from London inceidentally), my only surprise is the amount of time it took him.

←

Just telling you what I know from the research I did for the gastronomy goes global piece in OFM which involved talking to all the people involved. But you're welcome to contradict me. I don't honestly care that much.

And Matthew, I do know you're from London.

[slkinsey]

Ramsay has been talking about opening in NYC for at least 4 years. This from the September 2002 edition of Condé Nast Traveler:

Now, after the opening of The Connaught, [Ramsay] is setting his sights on Manhattan. Next year Blackstone, the company that owns The Connaught and Claridge's, plans to open a hotel on Columbus Circle. Ramsay will run the restaurant. But as his friend Alain Ducasse learned when his restaurant got off to a bad start a couple of years ago, New York can be tricky.

'I won't have sixteen pens for signing the check. I won't have twenty-seven rums. And I'll spend more time in the kitchen than Rocco (DiSpirito, the celebrity chef at the acclaimed Union Pacific in Manhattan, who is frequently seen in the society pages and at clubs).'

'You get only one shot at New York,' Ramsay says. 'That will be the biggest test of my entire life. And until I have a crack at it, I'm sleeping with one eye open. But one thing I'm not afraid of is intimidation.'

[Matthew Grant]

And Matthew, I do know you're from London.

←

Apologies Jay, I didn't read properly, I thought I was replying to Vadouvan who had originally raised the issue of the TV deals.

Looks like you need to have words with your researcher

Edited September 12, 2006 by Matthew Grant (log)

[Matthew Grant]

Well, if G.R. is going to be that stiff on the no-photography rule, then he's lost me as a potential client.  I would really like to try his food - but if I can't take the memories I want from a meal that I pay for, then I simply won't go at all.  u.e.

←

Have you stopped going to the cinema/theatre because they prevent you taking photos?

[docsconz]

Well, if G.R. is going to be that stiff on the no-photography rule, then he's lost me as a potential client.  I would really like to try his food - but if I can't take the memories I want from a meal that I pay for, then I simply won't go at all.  u.e.

←

Have you stopped going to the cinema/theatre because they prevent you taking photos?

←

No, but then I am not replying to a query on cinema/theater forum either. Obviously for most people it doesn't matter, but for many with a passion for fine cuisine it does. I tend to agree with U.E. on principle here. It is not that I don't wish to try his food. I do. I wouldn't mind an objection to flash photography, but I find that photographing my dinner really does help me remember it better. If I am going to spend the kind of money that I do on fine dining I would at least like to be able to remember it better. Unfortunately, my memory is not photographic. If it was, I probably wouldn't care. This is not to say that GR doesn't have the right to prohibit photography in his restaurant. He does, but then I have the right to choose to go elsewhere. There are enough great restaurants that see the value in photography that this restaurant won't be missed, at least by me.

[ulterior epicure]

Well, if G.R. is going to be that stiff on the no-photography rule, then he's lost me as a potential client.  I would really like to try his food - but if I can't take the memories I want from a meal that I pay for, then I simply won't go at all.  u.e.

←

Have you stopped going to the cinema/theatre because they prevent you taking photos?

←

No, but the food goes with me in my stomach at the end of the night. In contrast, the reel of film can be replayed to thousands.

My point: there's an expectation that when you buy a meal/food in a restaurant - it's yours to do with as you please. Eat it, don't eat it, photograph it, share it, chew it and spit it out... In a movie theater, it's understood that the ticket allows you entrance to the theater to view the movie only. It's not intended for audience members to take-away.

I can see what you're trying to say - but that logic doesn't work here.

By the way, having come back from China recently, I don't know who in their right mind would buy a bootleg copy that was a hand-held job in a theater.

[jayrayner]

Ramsay has been talking about opening in NYC for at least 4 years.  This from the September 2002 edition of Condé Nast Traveler:

Now, after the opening of The Connaught, [Ramsay] is setting his sights on Manhattan. Next year Blackstone, the company that owns The Connaught and Claridge's, plans to open a hotel on Columbus Circle. Ramsay will run the restaurant. But as his friend Alain Ducasse learned when his restaurant got off to a bad start a couple of years ago, New York can be tricky.

'I won't have sixteen pens for signing the check. I won't have twenty-seven rums. And I'll spend more time in the kitchen than Rocco (DiSpirito, the celebrity chef at the acclaimed Union Pacific in Manhattan, who is frequently seen in the society pages and at clubs).'

'You get only one shot at New York,' Ramsay says. 'That will be the biggest test of my entire life. And until I have a crack at it, I'm sleeping with one eye open. But one thing I'm not afraid of is intimidation.'

←

Hmm. Not much arguing with that is there. As I am my own researcher I will just have to punish myself.

[emsny]

It is my impression that a November opening is planned.

[Sneakeater]

It is my impression that today is the first day they are accepting reservations. Probably all gone by now.

Edited October 16, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[johnder]

I just got a reservation after 15 minutes of hitting redial. Got the first day and time I asked for, Nov 27th, 9pm.

[johnder]

I created a new thread here to talk about the dining experiences of the restaurant itself, now that they are officially open.