It's down to six chefs, three men and three women, in this season's Hell's Kitchen. If you ask me, none of them are ready to take on the responsibilities of running a fine dining restaurant. None of them.
Julia is a personal favorite of mine. I think that in many areas, she may be the most competent chef all around. Alas, she's not all too familiar with the sort of restaurant which she would win. Plus, while she can take charge, I think her lack of fine dining experience hurts her own self-esteem.
Jen. I don't care for her. Technically, she may have the most experience on the womens' team, but I can't get past her planning to use pasta she retrieved from the trash can. I know I should get over it, but I just can't. Eww.
Then there's Bonnie. Chef Ramsay is slightly right when he implies (being kind here) that she's a bit dippy. She may be creative and have great ideas, but she can't follow through in the kitchen. From her own mouth tonight, "My creativity supercedes what I can do."
Onto the men, I found Brad especially annoying tonight. In the service, they had to make their own menus. He practically took over and wouldn't work with Josh or Rock at all. Then he screws up in the kitchen.
Josh has always been a bit of a non-entity to me throughout the season. He is in no way ready to run anything more involved than a chain restaurant. No, not fancy dining. Nuh-uh.
Now, I think Rock has the talent in the kitchen. But his personal skills are a bit lacking. He gets explosive and boils rather than attempting to actually work with a team.
Get rid of all of them and give us replacements, please.
Tonight the challenge was to serve one appetizer and two entrees out of leftovers provided to them. They had a half-hour to whip it all together. The guys won, partly because Julia made fish and chips which were good but won't fly in a fancy-schmancy restaurant. The men got to go play paintball with Ramsay while the women cleaned and took in the deliveries. They screwed up the checking in of the deliveries and caused themselves even more work.
In setting up the service in which each team chose its menu, the women substitured Julia's choice of NY strip steak at the last minute. Wise choice; it was the most popular dish.
The women got off to a great start while the men faltered. Before the service, Ramsay mentioned teamwork. Neither team knows the meaning of the word. The women refused to talk to each other and the lack of communication loused up their work. With the men, Josh was totally sinking when Ramsay told Rock and Brad to help him. Neither made a move to save their team.
At the end, Ramsay praised Julia and fired Brad. As it should be.
But, if it were me, I'd fire 'em all and give the kid from the fryer at the local roadside stand a chance at the big time.
