'Hell's Kitchen' - A Quick Take on Episode 3

Say it ain't so! Some of the things I saw the "chefs" doing tonight shocked me! I may never eat in a restaurant again. Eep.

The first part of the episode gave Julia a chance to shine and show that she can be a leader. Remember, she's the one who's maligned because she comes from a Waffle House instead of a fancy-schmancy "real" restaurant.

The task was to serve breakfast to the military. Well, not the whole military, of course! The Red Team (women) had to serve to 50 Army soldiers while the Blue Team (men) had to serve to 50 Navy sailors. Julia was in her element and her team actually took well to her lead, but the guys fell apart.

Gordon Ramsay even called Julia's efforts exceptional. I thought lightning could very well strike him, didn't you? The women went off for a day on the Midway with Ramsay. The men stayed behind to do KP duty -- peel over a ton of onions and potatoes... fun, fun, fun! Heck, they couldn't even agree who would chop the ends off of the onions, silly men.

As we all could have guessed, the ambulance shown in the promos carted Aaron away. He fainted, apparently at the thought of the KP as I don't think he had done any actual work. He was removed from the show with a "serious illness" not disclosed to us. The guys, mainly Josh and Brad, decided that Brad would be the leader of their team as Ramsay said someone had to lead. Rock wasn't too keen on that, but said he'd go along... and told us he'd just have to out-think them down the line.

Then there was the dinner service or lack thereof. Both teams were horrible. Joanna thought she'd shine on the appetizers and Ramsay ended up kicking her off that station. Brad burned his Wellington and tried scraping off the burnt bottom when Ramsay caught him. Joanna tried to serve some crab dish with rancid crabs.

But the worst of all was Jen. She threw what she thought was excess pasta in the trash bin. Almost immediately there was a need for pasta. So she took it out of the trash and boiled it to "kill any bacteria." ACK! To me, that was an unthinkable sin in the kitchen. Yeah, Joanna somehow didn't notice the smell of the crabs, but we didn't see any deliberate move on her part. (And I don't like her, but I'm talking pasta from the trash here!)

Ramsay ended up closing down the kitchen early with almost all of the patrons not served. He said there were no winners. There weren't, really... no winners here! He thought the Blue Team was the worst and told them to decide who would be chosen to stand before him.

Now, in this bit I almost found myself liking Joanna as she stuck up for Julia against the ones who think she's out of her league. Joanna admitted she herself should be selected. When Jen started on the Julia kick, Julia told them about the garbage bin pasta incident. Still, the women chose Julia and Joanna.

But upon facing Ramsay, Jen put her name in the ring of fire with Julia and Joanna. Thankfully, Ramsay told Julia to go back with her team. Then he chose Joanna to leave Hell's Kitchen. He mentioned that both should go home. I think he should have stuck with that thought.

You do NOT take food out of the trash to serve folks at a restaurant! You just don't!

There was a promo for a new Gordon Ramsay FOX fall show -- Kitchen Nightmares. No, it's not going to be a show about my personal kitchen. Sheesh! Ramsay is going to go to restaurants and shape up their kitchens.

No, he's not welcome here. Before the show, I made a fine dinner of salmon loaf, Trader Joe's Garlic Mashed Potatoes (mmm!), and cauliflower. And I timed it so all was ready at the same time, plus I didn't take any food out of the trash. So there, Gordon Ramsay!