Jorge Quinteros
Blogger, web enthusiast & avid photographer based in Brooklyn.

Article

23rd February 2010

9 Things I’ve Learned from Watching Kitchen Nightmares

Gordon Ramsay is a well-known chef, television personality and restaurateur with a show that I’ve become very fond of watching. It’s called Kitchen Nightmares where he spends a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business.

If you’re not familiar with his advising tactics, you’ll be in for one heck of a surprise in watching an episode but it’s that same refreshing honesty that adds credibility that I as a viewer appreciate. In the process of it all, I’ve learned a few things and that seem to be a resonating theme throughout each episode.

In no particular order -

1. Keep shit simple. Don’t overcomplicate a dish, especially if the purpose is to compensate for how crappy the food may taste.
2. Don’t clasify yourself as a chef if your main tool in the kitchen is a microwave.
3. Choose fresh over frozen ingredients all the time. Customers will know the difference and will talk about it.
4. If saying that you own a business is more important than actuallly running a sucessful one, do yourself a favor and close down the shit because having a title means nothing if you don’t know what you’re doing.
5. There’s a difference between uniqueness and confusion when it comes to a menu.
6. Bad food is not the only thing that can bring down your restaurant. So can the driftwood that doesn’t believe in your vision and that you probably still refuse to get rid of.
7. If you’re running low on food products, don’t always assume it’s being sold because it just may be that an employee is stealing them.
8. If something you created is not working, don’t be against in admitting that it needs fixing. Sometimes swapping some ingredients or replacing the whole dish can be the best option.
9. Gordon Ramsey is one mean SOB but I respect him because of his achievements and because his f-bombs and healthy doses of criticism works.

Article

22nd November 2008

Entourage

The show has become one of my favorites recently despite only being mildly intrigued with the first couple of episodes, until I felt obliged to tune in again after hearing much buzz. The plot of the series, who’s based loosely around Mark Wahlberg’s life, tells of a young actor that hits it big in Hollywood, and brings his friends along for the ride. But there’s particular highlights of the show that keep me endlessly entertained and with the sense of expectancy with every new episode announced:

• Ari (Jeremy Piven) is the loud, straight talking, wild and unpredictable Hollywood agent who always tries to the the best for Vincent. He’s an ass up front but one that you’re compelled to respect because of his knowledge of the business.
• It is Hollywood so you can always expect movie stars to drop by in cameos participating in unusual circumstances and revealing a part of the industry that we as viewers never get to see or even imagine.

The only unfortunate part of the show is that it’s only 30 minutes each episode. I would have preferred an 1hr but I can appreciate that because it’s HBO, we don’t get interrupted by commercials.