This was it! The main meal ticket! Rock vs. Bonnie to the death. Both chefs worked really hard to get to the finale. One went home as the winner of their very own restaurant in Las Vegas.
The chefs had 10 hours to prepare their teams, prep the dinner service, and finish their restaurants. Bonnie really didn’t do anywhere near as much prep as Rock did. He had things organized and ready to go. He also had a better team. The guys (Brad, Vinnie, and Josh) may not have been as technically strong as the girls but, all three of those guys really wanted to do their best to help Rock win. Because Bonnie didn’t do as much prep as Rock she was counting on her team more than Rock was. This was bad for Bonnie because was having a much harder time with her team (Jen, Julia, and Melissa). Julia was still bitter that she was not in the final two. Melissa was nervous that Bonnie didn’t have recipes for all of her dishes.
An hour before dinner, Chef Ramsay came through for a final check of their menus. Chef Ramsay thought Bonnie’s was elegant and well balanced while he described Rock’s as substantial and robust. Overall he was more critical of Rock’s menu but all of the items he pointed out where easily fixable before the dinner service began. Then with only 30 minutes to go before the start of the dinner service Chef Ramsay did a final inspection of their restaurants. He described Bonnie’s as “simplistic but classic and elegant”. He felt it was the sort of place that you could relax right away. Rock’s restaurants was described as “elegant, rich, and sumptuous,” by Chef Ramsay.
Just before Hell’s Kitchen was open for business Chef Ramsay called Bonnie and Rock out of the kitchen. He gave them one final piece of advice, “There is only one way to run a kitchen, you run it or it runs you.” He then presented Bonnie and Rock with their own master chef’s jackets. Then it was time for Jean-Phillipe to open the doors.
From the outset, Bonnie was having communication problems with her team. She had to make them respond to her but she did it. Julia was totally not interested in being there and admitted that she was not even paying attention. Of course, Bonnie was not listening to here staff either. Half way through the dinner service, Bonnie runs out of fettuccine, which is a problem when your signature dish is well, fettuccine. She had to resort to boxed spaghetti instead. She couldn’t even tell Chef Ramsay how many of fettuccine they started the night with. This was all the result of her poor prep. The fact that they ran out of prawns a few minutes later didn’t help matters. Especially when Jean-Phillipe returned some of the prawns to the kitchen because they were cold and undercooked. Julia continued to give Bonnie lip and outright refused to do something very simple that Bonnie asked.
Rock’s biggest problem of the night was Josh. He was working the fish station which meant he was making the crab cakes. I have no idea how many he burned but it was a lot. He was pulling down the whole kitchen because everyone had to wait for him. Rock finally switched Josh and Vinnie. Vinnie was not prepared to make the dishes at the fish station, but he pulled it off. With Josh safely on another station which only required him to heat up food, not actually cook anything, Rock’s team was on the way to recovery. Half way through dinner service Rock’s team was finally firing on all cylinders and they were had caught up.
After the dinner service Chef Ramsay addressed the assembled chefs. When he asked Rock what he would do differently, Rock said he would have chosen Jen as his first pick and would not have taken Josh at all (which pissed off Josh). Bonnie of course would have stocked more fettuccine and prawns. I agree with both of these statements.
When the chefs were asked to open the doors to their restaurants, it was Rock who was able to walk through to a new life as the new head chef of the Green Valley Ranch and Resort, earning a hefty $250,000 a year. I think Rock deserved to beat Bonnie. He was prepared and organized, he dealt with the problems on his team, and overall had a successful dinner service. I also still think Bonnie made it to the finales more because there was always someone who screwed up worse than she did each week. Good for Rock. If I was Rock, the first thing I would do after I took over the restaurant at the Green Valley Resort would be to hire Jen and Brad. Other than Rock, Jen and Brad are the two chefs who are both talented, professional, and hard-working.
I doubt anyone was really surprised since week 1 Rock has always been one of the front runners. I have to give Bonnie credit though, she was really good at creating dishes. Bonnie was also very classy after Rock won. She said she was so happy for Rock and she thought Chef Ramsay made the right decision. I really believe she meant it. In summing up why Rock won, Chef Ramsay said that Rock is a very confident cook, he can create, and has become a really great leader.
Wild Bluff Media Congratulates Rock on his Hell’s Kitchen win!
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Posted on: Monday, August 13, 2007
