What a wild ride it's been this season on BBC America's hit culinary series Last Restaurant Standing. I was literally on the edge of my seat (and nearly fell right off my perch) waiting for Raymond to announce the winner of this deliciously addictive competition series.
Who would be opening a restaurant with famed restaurateur Raymond Blanc? Would it be twins Jess and Laura whose whole-foods concept was a hit with locals and regular customers? Or Jeremy and Jane who often seemed outdone by their luxurious and ambitious eight-course menu?
A tough decision, even for Raymond Blanc. But before he would decide which couple to award the restaurant of their dreams to, he would put these two teams through their toughest Challenge to date: opening a version of their branded eateries in his French hometown, Besancon, where they would have two days to freshen up their spaces, design a menu, market their eateries, prep ingredients, and serve their food to the locals, including Raymond's family and his petite mere, Maman Blanc.
I thought this was a fantastic and fitting challenge, a chance for Raymond to return to the scene of the crime as it were: the location of his very first culinary job and, in an amusing anecdote about a teenage Raymond cooking crepe Suzette for his mother, the source of his humility as well. It was an opportunity for the teams to prove to Raymond that their concepts worked, even removed from the safety of the British countryside towns.
I was a little worried watching Jane this week. Once again, she seemed to be cracking under the immense pressure that Raymond had placed upon them and I was slightly terrified that they wouldn't be able to pull everything together in time. Jeremy has got to learn to be able to plan a menu in advance or at least have specific ideas in his mind when they go to source ingredients. It's too time consuming to make two trips to the market and, while one needs to be open to inspiration, organization and vision need to go hand in hand in a successful restaurant.
As always, timing wreaked havoc with the kitchen. With many orders of eight courses to produce, the kitchen quickly fell behind and diners were left waiting for hours to complete their lengthy, drawn-out meals. (Cut from the US version: inspector Sarah Willingham's interminable wait for her eight courses.) Still, it didn't look good that Jeremy told Raymond that he would return to England with his tail between his legs as his eight-course menu didn't work. Don't ever show weakness in front of the chef and don't apologize for your ambition. Sure, they could have done four courses and had it been a success, but they shouldn't also feel entrapped by their restaurant name. As Raymond admitted, Eight in the Country is JUST a name. It doesn't need to refer to anything concrete or specific. I do think they would have been better off sticking to four (or maybe five) courses, as it would have given the kitchen a little more breathing room throughout the competition. But live and learn.
Brown & Green's Jess and Laura were diligent and organized, but they did underestimate the appeal of their famous lamb burgers with mint and feta and didn't purchase quite enough food. (What you didn't see in the US edition was Jess summoning Laura from the front of the house to make their gargantuan burgers smaller in order to stretch them out, rather than asking one of her sous chefs.) Still, they created an enchanting atmosphere for their guests, aided and abetted by the delightful musical stylings of the French pianist they hired for the evening. While the classic music (Chopin no less!) didn't quite summon to mind a English garden, it created a relaxing environment and live music definitely added to the ambiance. Laura is also the consummate hostess though I do wish she hadn't worn that medieval serving gown, a costume choice which seemed unnecessarily complicated and unnecessary. (Don't gild the lily, ladies!)
I was really pulling for the twins to win this competition but I was concerned that their restaurant--a casual, laid back whole-foods concept--didn't exactly jibe with Raymond's own portfolio. At the end of the day, I had a hard time envisioning Raymond (who, yes, does have a less opulent line of French brasseries under the Brasserie Blanc banner--along with the delicious Le Petit Blanc restaurant in Oxford which I used to frequent as a student--as well as his high-end eateries) opening a cafe-style venue with the twins. Jeremy and Jane's vision and passion seemed much more suited for fine dining and in line with Raymond's strict, quality-obsessed management of his restaurant empire.
Was it a little staged that John Lederer chose the twins for his pick, Sarah picked Jane and Jeremy, and Lee Cash was "undecided still"? Sure. But it did heighten the tension and make it a little less obvious who Raymond would pick. I do think that both couples showed enormous potential, resilience, and strength of character throughout the competition and could see both teams running their respective restaurants, but I really did want Raymond to give this opportunity to the twins.
In the end, however, I do think Raymond was thinking the same thing that I was: that his culinary aesthetic meshed a little more easily with Jeremy's, hands-down the best chef in the competition from the very first day (despite his ability to get flustered and rely a little too heavily on cookbooks) and so he awarded the prize to Jane and Jeremy.
I was shocked that after congratulations and much hugging from the twins, the episode just... ended. No final interview with Jess and Laura about what's next for them (even though even other ousted couple had the opportunity) or, hell, even with Jane and Jeremy about what this means for them personally. For such a beautifully produced series, this was a little disappointing of an oversight and it just felt extremely anti-climactic to cut away with no real feeling of resolution. Sure, Laura and Jess may have appeared afterwards on spin-off series You're Fried in the UK, but here we got no opportunity to, well, say goodbye.
As for Last Restaurant Standing, I'll miss having this addictive pleasure to look forward to week after week. But rest assure that I will be bugging BBC America to bring the second season of this brilliant series--which begins production in the UK this summer--back to the airwaves quickly. Hopefully, they'll take a page from their own playbook with Torchwood and air Season Two as close to UK broadcast as possible. After all, I'm hungry for more.
And then there were two.
I was on the edge of my seat while watching last night's penultimate episode of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (the finale airs next Tuesday), though it was remarkable to see how much was cut from the US telecast from the original British version, including some scenes that further painted challengers Grant and Jess as slightly coming apart at the seams. But more on that in a bit.
In this week's episode, married marketing professionals Grant and Laura and twin children's entertainers Jess and Laura entered Raymond Blanc's latest Challenge: to cook two of their restaurants' dishes in the kitchens of Raymond's fabled restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and serve it to 30 of Raymond's guests while their teammates worked the front of the house, making sure everything ran smoothly out front. While professional chefs like those on Top Chef could have had this in the bag, it was a quick reminder that the players here are amateurs and that the standards of Le Manoir dwarfed those at their own respective eateries. This is two-star Michelin fine dining at its very best. Would they be able to meet Raymond's rigorous standards or would they collapse under the pressure?
The pressure clearly got to poor Grant, who--as Raymond suggested--seemed doomed from the start, almost as if he woke up that morning and knew he wasn't going to win and therefore didn't put all of his energy into the competition. That said, the revised version of his cullen skink (a Scottish soup of potato, onion, and fish) was absolutely stunning, especially with the addition of serving the soup tableside by pouring it from a beautiful pitcher. Raymond's coaxing and suggestions clearly paid off their, as it transformed the dish from its humble origins into something one would expect to encounter at a fine dining establishment. I do think that he also improved his pollack dish (originally it was crusted and perched atop fondant potatoes and samphire) but the customers still seemed let down by the dish and complained that the fish was overwhelmed by the flavors of the roasted potatoes and samphire. No one called Grant on the fact that he served two fish courses instead of diversifying, a problem I had with his menu from the start. I would have liked to have seen him do something a little bit different, even if his main course wasn't beef.
On the other side of the kitchen, Jess found herself more than a little overwhelmed. I thought her rustic take on a broad bean bruschetta--here elevated to a beautiful broad bean salad with mint and crouton--looked delicious and was fresh and bursting with spring flavors. As for her tuna--marinated in a dry rub of chilies and coriander--being overcooked, Jess wisely didn't send out many of the steaks, which had sat for too long waiting for Grant to catch up. (Quality always over speed.) But she was forced to send some out--which Raymond discovered--when there wasn't enough time to fire off a whole other fleet of tuna to get her dishes and Grant's ready at the same time at the pass. Jess also listened to her commis a little too readily, adjusting the seasoning of the tuna... a major complaint that many had as it was oversalted. In the kitchen, Jess, you've got to realize that you are the one calling the shots and not the Le Manoir commis.
Her explanation for this to Raymond was sadly cut out of the US version, along with some scenes that shed a little more light on what it was like in the kitchen. The scene in which Grant finally unearths a few new potatoes... and realizes he'll need about 5 kilos more for the dinner service was a much longer scene, including an exchange between a downtrodden Grant and Raymond, who tells Grant that he needs to keep his head up and get some energy back. Jess meanwhile has a mini-breakdown in Raymond's amazing vegetable garden but ends up finding inspiration in the freshness and beauty of the garden's bounty (trust me, it's a thing of beauty) to turn her outlook around and gain some perspective. Both are definitely put through their paces in this Challenge and both are forced to present two attempts at their dishes for Raymond to approve before they can be served that evening. That both crucially transform their humble dishes into something more elegant and subtle is a testament to their skills.
Out front, both Lauras dealt with the stress of service in different ways. Scottish Laura, who has always been the consummate hostess throughout this competition definitely crumbled under the pressure, unsure of where to place the cutlery, overlooking crucial details, and fumbling throughout. Twin Laura, on the other hand, really did rise to the occasion, offering a polished, dignified presence in the dining room and never outwardly cracking under the strain, offering a smile and a kind word (albeit sometimes through gritted teeth as John Lederer remarked.)
But only one of these teams would advance to the final round to compete with Jeremy and Jane for the chance to own their very own restaurant with Raymond. Would it be Laura and Grant, whose Scottish-themed restaurant Jacques Tamson's improved the most over the course of the competition? Or twins Laura and Jess whose whole-foods concept restaurant Brown & Green caught on with the locals (and their regulars), even though the place wasn't consistently taking enough profit?
In the end, I do think that Grant and Laura shot themselves in the foot a bit with their pessimism and outward, well, honesty. It's one thing to feel like a fish out of water during a competition of this magnitude, but it's quite another to admit to Raymond and his inspectors that you had no idea what you were doing during the latest challenge. Come on, guys, you're marketing executives. You should be able to sell yourselves better. I knew right then that it would be the twins going into the finals. And that Grant and Laura would be closing their restaurant forever. I do think that the twins do have a stronger brand overall and I am happy that they're still fighting and still trying to win rather than succumb to panic. Will they triumph over Jeremy and Jane? Find out next week.
Next week on the season finale of Last Restaurant Standing, Raymond takes the finalists to his home town of Besançon, France, where they will have less than 48 hours to open their own restaurant here for one night and introduce the French to British cuisine, devising a menu that will appeal to the French and train a new team in a foreign language. Which couple will emerge as the winner and will run their own restaurant with Raymond Blanc? I can't wait to find out.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Farmer Wants a Wife (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Audition: Barbara Walters' Journey (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("Ready for My Close-Up"), in a bit of a switch-up, the four remaining girls must photograph Paulina Porizkova for a challenge and then perform in a photo shoot, directed by judge Nigel Barker, that requires them to impersonate famous movie icons... but the judges aren't at all pleased when none of the pictures are particularly stunning.
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Frequently Asked Questions"), Adam and Danny have only 72 hours to obtain vital intelligence from a mercenary about a missile attack in London but Danny finds himself troubled by Adam's methods.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("Wedding Wars"), a quickfire challenge puts the chefs' knife skills to the ultimate test and then the chefs split into teams to cater a wedding and nearly fall off their feet when they must cook for fourteen hours straight. This elimination challenge looks like it might just be the one to fray several chefs' nerves and possibly lead to a complete and utter mental breakdown.
The competition is heating up on BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing, with only three couples remaining. I think that over the last dozen or so weeks, Raymond and his talented team of restaurant inspectors have managed to cull the wheat from the chaff and I am pleased with the final three teams left standing.
This week definitely put the pressure on all of them to pull out all of the stops, to entertain and delight their customers, to increase their nightly bookings and turn their tables, and--most importantly--to impress Monsieur Raymond Blanc, who dropped into each restaurant unannounced at various points during the weekend service. It was immensely interesting to see how the front of house and kitchen dealt with his arrival and his presence throughout the evening; in every case, the chefs neglected the food to focus on Raymond. Hell, Jeremy stood there for 15 minutes chatting with him pleasantly about this, that, and the other, while pans nearly boiled over and tickets lined up across the board. Ouch.
But the most intriguing element was to see Raymond poking his nose into the behind the scenes action at Jacques Tamson's, Brown & Green, and Eight in the Country to see how well organized and hygienic the chefs were and, for a Last Restaurant Standing first, to taste their food. Did it live up to Raymond's expectations? Was he treated well by the staff? Let's discuss.
Personally, I'd be happy with any of the teams winning at this point but I was slightly disappointed by what Raymond discovered in some of their kitchens. I've been of the mind up until now that the vegetarian haggis served so lovingly at Grant and Laura's Jacques Tamson's restaurant in Windsor (at time accompanied by a Robert Burns poem, no less) was definitely homemade. Not so, as I depressingly learned from this week's episode: Grant buys them in ready-made and pre-packaged in plastic wrap and keeps them in the cooler. I thought this was pretty sad, in fact. One of their selling points is authentic Scottish cuisine (they seemed to have dropped the French influence along the way) and I assumed--incorrectly--that this was a restaurant specialty, handmade with love and, er, sheep tripe. Points off there for inconsistency, Grant, especially since you did run out of the haggis and had to invent another vegetarian menu option for Raymond on the spot. While I wasn't so turned off by the puff pastry idea as Raymond, I do think that Grant could have come up with something more original and Scottish-themed for the dish that just a puff pastry with vegetables and cheese... served with mash and peas.
At Jess and Laura's whole-foods concept restaurant Brown & Green, homemade wasn't the issue but pre-packaged frozen veg was. For a restaurant that claims to be as fresh and healthy as the girls', I was hoping to see them cooking with more farm-fresh ingredients and less of the supermarket-purchased frozen variety, even though they were all organic. Now I get that some ingredients are actually better frozen (baby peas, for example) because they are picked when perfectly ripe and kept in that state rather than sitting around during the trip to the market, but it did seem as though all of the vegetables were bought in that fashion, which did sit slightly at odds with their culinary ethos. I also thought the restaurant's hygiene was called into question by Raymond, who discovered a kitchen landing covered in detritus, a cabinet filled with dirty, broken dishes and cookware, and moldy raspberries (from several weeks back) on the top shelf of the refrigerator. I was definitely disappointed by this sights. I've been rooting for Jess and Laura for a while now but this definitely made me question whether they are quite ready to run a restaurant... plus, they did have difficulty getting punters in the door for the weekend service, despite sending the servers out with vouchers and fliers.
Over in Eight in the Country, Jeremy definitely seems more in control of his kitchen lately and isn't scrambling over cookbooks while preparing dishes as he was just a few weeks ago. Sure, Jane definitely wears her heart on her sleeve, but I do think that these two have come leaps and bounds as a team and their restaurant can run like a well-oiled machine when they don't get panicked. I definitely think that Raymond's suggestion to write down the time a table has arrived, ordered their food, and been served should be on every ticket, especially since the kitchen and front of house have a hard time remembering how long people have been waiting. And a little more care needs to be put into quality control as Jeremy inadvertently fed a dish of undercooked salmon to a child. But their problems tend to be more in the details and timing than in hygiene or freshness. It was no surprise that they would once again win Restaurant of the Week and be assured of a spot in the finals. At this point, I do think they are the team to beat and whoever else ends up in the Final Two will have their work cut out for them.
As for the other teams, I definitely can see why Raymond put Grant and Laura and the twins into the Challenge. Both teams really need to prove to Raymond and his inspectors that their concept works, that they are committed to be in this business for the long haul, and that they deserve a spot in the final round. Who will emerge to battle against Jane and Jeremy for a chance to own their very own restaurant with Raymond Blanc? Find out next week.
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, two couples head to Raymond's celebrated restaurant, Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, where they must work in the kitchens and front of house, stepping up to meet the standards of one of the very best restaurants in the world and producing food and service to rival those of Raymond's in his two-star Michelin establishment. There will be tears, tantrums, and demanding customers and only one team will advance to the final rounds with Raymond's blessing. I can't wait!
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Farmer Wants a Wife (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Boston Legal (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("We Are Spartans!"), the girls train like gladiators for a challenge, with the winner getting a luxe shopping spree in Rome; later, Tyra directs the girls for a photo shoot in a Roman villa.
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Celebrity"), MI-5 is called in to investigate when the baby of a rock star (guest star Andy Serkis) and his supermodel wife is kidnapped.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("Common Threads"), the contestants are tasked with making a healthy meal using a single main ingredient... in the microwave, Table 52's Art Smith drops by as a guest judge, and Mark tells Tom Colicchio that he thinks the Craft guru doesn't like him very much. Ouch. (See below.)
The competition is heating up on BBC America's deliciously stressful culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing, with two of the final four couples going into Raymond Blanc's latest challenge this week.
I knew this week's episode would be a stressful one, with both Lloyd and Adwoa and Grant and Laura strong, competitive teams. If I had to give the upper hand to one of them, it probably would be Grant and Laura, only because Lloyd is still severely struggling in front-of-house. He lacks that "spontaneity" as Raymond dubbed it, so crucial in a fantastic restaurant manager and is far too reactive and not proactive enough in his role; a real shame as Adwoa's cooking is so magnificent and so special and original that put a damper on the entire enterprise.
Raymond's challenge this week was to host a singles event in their respective restaurants; he provided them with 20 young professionals and it was up to the couples to find like-minded individuals with which to pair them and host an evening that would delight and entertain everyone in attendance. After devising their "themes" for the evening--Grant and Laura went with understated elegance and Lloyd and Adwoa with "sexy jungle"--both teams, aided by Jane and Jeremy and Laura and Jess, took to the streets to lure in some singles for the event.
Grant and Laura were very, very smart to demand £5 up front from the punters, in a ruse clearly designed to get them to show up. They also sought out, after looking at the profiles of the guests Raymond provided them, individuals who were of the same age and professional background as their other guests, tailoring the dating pool around the stats of those they were meant to be catering to. Lloyd and Adwoa, on the other hand, did not ask for any money up front and most of the guests that they had spent an entire day wooing didn't turn up that night... or gave them wrong contact information. Ouch. They also cast a far wider net, drawing in anyone who was single, regardless of age or background.
But the real difference had to be (A) the cuisine and (B) the atmosphere. At Jacques Tamson's, Grant and Laura's Windsor restaurant, the food was Scottish with a shared seafood platter (a major misstep, in my book) intended to be a talking point, followed by lamb noisette with mash and minted peas. Not exactly romantic fare; if Grant wanted to stick with Scottish lamb, I would have done something more elegant like a rack of lamb and made the accompaniments a little more refined. After all, this is meant to be a first date for these men and women and you want tasty, easy to eat food that is not overly filling or heavy. On the atmosphere front, Laura did a wonderful job of keeping the event flowing, offering cocktails, ice breakers, chair-swapping, and raffles throughout the evening but always keeping it sophisticated and age-appropriate. She also knew her clientèle very, very well and nearly matched them ahead of time, based on their interests and personalities. Theirs, in my opinion, was far more successful and more in line with what Raymond wanted in the first place.
Over at Spinach & Agushi, Lloyd and Adwoa's Ghanaian restaurant, Adwoa took a different tack with the food than Grant, composing seven exquisite, tapas-style dishes that were delicious, light, and sexy. With 40 dishes to get out each time, Adwoa definitely challenged herself in the kitchen and delivered on all fronts; the food looked absolutely amazing and was a full head and shoulders from Grant's lamb dish.
Lloyd meanwhile was an affable host/MC for the evening but wasn't actually running the restaurant at all. And I have to say that I thought that the Chamber of Love idea that he devised: turning the filthy plastic sheds behind the kitchen into private roosts for wooing couples set the wrong tone for the evening and was, well, pretty creepy. It would have been one thing to transform that space with torches and couches into an outdoors lounge area for anyone... but to pick names at random (including people happily ensconced in conversation with others) and then force them into the "love chamber" for five minutes seemed a little too middle school for me and not really appropriate for professionals looking for a love match. The age range also seemed all over the place and, while the event was a raucous time for many, it was clear that not everyone appreciated the sensibilities behind the evening.
I was really quite sad to see Adwoa and Lloyd go. I think Adwoa is a real talent and has a very strong brand and culinary aesthetic; they were also genuinely nice people even if Adwoa needs to believe in herself and her food more (I could not believe that she couldn't answer Raymond's question about romantic food!). I can see her running a smaller establishment somewhere--hopefully with less serving staff--in a ten-table restaurant that would give her absolute control over the kitchen. I do think that she learned a hell of a lot over the course of this competition and my hat is off to her: she ran the most professional kitchen of the bunch. I actually did get a little teary as Raymond told them that he was closing their restaurant. Sigh.
Only three couples remain. Who will inch closer to owning a restaurant with Raymond Blanc and who will be put into the next challenge? Find out next week.
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the remaining three couples are surprised when Raymond unexpectedly turns up at their restaurants and pokes his nose into every single decision they've made up until that point, tasting the food and seeing if their service is up to his high standards... and uncovers moldy ingredients, undercooked food, and unhappy customers.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("Viva Italia"), the girls--including Fatima after her last-minute travel document debacle--head off to Rome, where they must film a commercial in Italian.
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Outsiders"), MI-5 believes that Islamic terrorists are behind a computer virus plot that is causing chaos.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("Improv"), the chefs are tasked with creating a dessert to satisfy chef Johnny Iuzzini's sweet tooth and they get a lesson in improv from legendary Chicago comedy troupe Second City. Plus, what in the hell is going on with the dinner guests? Find out tonight.
I was more than a little baffled by some of the ideas thrown about in last night's episode of BBC America's addictive culinary competition series, Last Restaurant Standing.
Raymond Blanc had tasked the four remaining couples with creating restaurant experiences that would "surprise and delight" their customers, while increasing the number of bookings (and for the first time start to turn tables), and I expected them to seriously give the matter quite a lot of thought.
One of my favorite elements of the meal at Tom Colicchio's Craft (besides the legendary and delicious food) is when the waitstaff bring you a complimentary cellophane-wrapped pastry for the next morning. It also needn't be free: at Grace, you can order a morning-after box of treats to go or stop by Wednesday nights for "doughnut shoppe," when pastry chef Maria Swan pairs a changing selection of doughnuts with various ice creams and sorbets and a host of other delicious toppings.
Instead, there were ideas both silly (Laura and Jess' cancan) and soggy (LLoyd and Adwoa's chocolate-dipped strawberry afterthought).
Which isn't to say that all of the couples came up with lousy ideas: Jane and Jeremy settled on bringing in a local winemaker to allow guests to participate in a free and impromptu wine tasting with dinner, with the winemaker on hand to discuss his locally produced vintages. It was personalized (he went from table to table), unexpected, and most importantly it fit in with the brand and message of the restaurant. Eight in the Country caters to an upscale clientele and their tasting menu (or even a la carte options) jibed nicely with the casual elegance of the wine tasting. I knew that Jeremy and Jane would be safe from Raymond's Challenge, even if Jeremy did spectacularly mess up with that party of twenty. He had the foresight to go around locally to try to get booking, snagged a woman who wanted to do an al fresco lunch for twenty guests, and then never bothered to call her to confirm the booking or get back to her with a possible pricing, as he had promised. And when confronted about it by Jane, all he did was shrug and say it wasn't his fault. Grr. (I do hope he watched the footage where he tells the woman that he would call her.)
Grant and Laura come up with the idea of a Burns-inspired night for their Scottish restaurant, Jacques Tamson in Windsor. While I agree with Sarah Willingham that it seemed a little too gimmicky (Grant toasts his vegetarian haggis with a Robert Burns poem; Laura traumatizes guests with her off-key rendition of "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose"), at least they tried to do something interesting and risky. Personally, I'd have been a part of the 50% of customers cringing in agony. I don't like theatrics with my dinner unless they're on the plate and being forced to listen to Laura warbling would have put me off my food... especially as the couple believed that the experience was repeatable from service to service. Maybe if there was a professional singer in there, but I'm just not seeing it.
I had high hopes that Laura and Jess would come up with something spectacular to "entertain and delight" the customers but they ended up alienating their female guests when they burst through the doors halfway through service to perform a raucous cancan. (At least it was choreographed.) What they didn't show during the US version of the episode was the (male) guests posing for pictures with the twins; photos that were given away with the restaurant's branding on it. The photography idea was... okay but the notion of giving something to take away is what these guys really needed to focus on. Even more telling: the reason the girls were suddenly crying during their time at the judges' table was cut from the US edition. Inspector John Lederer castigated the girls for their cancan, which he felt played up their sexuality far too much, with two blonde girls flaunting themselves for the public, an accusation which did not sit well with the twins, who said that their dance was innocent, joyous fun. Even I got teary-eyed as the accusation completely threw them for a loop but, in a restaurant that does cater to 60% female guests, that was a major consideration that they overlooked.
And then there was Lloyd and Adwoa. I am so frustrated with these two that I can't even articulate how upset it made me to see that they only had six bookings for Friday night. Not six tables, six people. Especially in light of the fact that some nights during the competition, they've been so busy that there's been a queue of people outside Spinach & Agushi waiting to try their Ghanaian cuisine. Lloyd leaves the restaurant unmanned and ill-prepared for service to go and stand in a supermarket car park, trying to hand out leaflets to people passing by. Ouch. People can smell desperation a mile away and Lloyd just stood there, trying to give drivers a piece of paper as they left the car park. It was doomed to fail from the start and he should have definitely sent one of their many, many staffers out to try to drum up business rather than waste time doing it himself.
As for the "delight," all Lloyd and Adwoa came up with was a melted chocolate dipped strawberry at the end of the meal. This was a shockingly bad idea that smacked of laziness: there was nothing surprising or delightful about it and having customers wait over an hour for food in an empty restaurant counteracted any customer courtesy that they might have been striving for. Poorly done, guys. Even more telling: that the waitress was bossing Lloyd around. While Adwoa's food might be as tasty as can be, these two have got a ways to go before they can consider opening a restaurant.
It's no surprise then that Lloyd and Adwoa, along with Grant and Laura, are put into Raymond's latest Challenge. Unless they're able to pull a miracle out of a bag somehow, it's looking more and more likely that these two won't be making it to the final round. Will they sink of swim in the challenge? Find out next week.
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, two couples enter Raymond's latest challenge: to create a singles' night at their respective restaurants and help their customers find love and have a fun, romantic time in the process. But in order to do so they have to fill their restaurant with suitable suitors for the twenty young execs that Raymond has lined up for them, a task easier said than done.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate (ABC; 8-10 pm); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); American Idol (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("For Those About to Walk, We Salute You"), Paulina turns up to teach the girls how to properly behave during interviews and public events and the girls are then dressed by designer Jay Godfrey and tasked with display their new social skills at a cocktail party filled with to the brim with fashion VIPs. Elsewhere, one of the girls realizes she lost her travel documents and may not be able to accompany the girls to their secret international location.
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Persephone"), Zoe becomes a scapegoat when an operation leads to the death of an undercover police officer and is charged with involuntary manslaughter.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("Tailgating"), the chefs are tasked with creating a dish that not only works with but enhances the flavor of a specific drink; a tailgating task has guests dumping their food in the trash rather than eating it; Ryan claims to not to be a sports fan; Nikki comes undone during the challenge; Spike and Mark take a bubble bath. Yeah, I'm really not sure about that last thing either...
Was it just me or was that just a truly stressful episode of Last Restaurant Standing last night? While I always find the series engaging and informative, I have never been quite so stressed as I was last night whilst watching it before.
Maybe it had something to do with the breadth and scope of Raymond Blanc's latest challenge or the fact that the playing field has been largely cleared of the incapable, with only five couples remaining at the start of the episode. By the time Raymond sat down with the players by the end, another restaurant had closed its doors forever, leaving only four couples left on the series. The heat is definitely on in the kitchen.
Raymond tasked the three couples with translating their restaurant's brand into pre-packaged microwave dinners, which they would then have to cook, design, and package before pitching to two leaders in the package dinner world from Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer's. This was their toughest challenge to date and reminded me of one of the tasks you might see on Top Chef: rigorous, demanding, and filled with little traps for the unsuspecting couples. Branding is one thing but taking that sort of marketing and translating it to the shelves of a supermarket chain (while also keeping the quality high) is quite another.
I was really, really pleased with Jess and Laura's performance. Raymond put them in the challenge to wake them up, accusing them of coasting during the competition and not pushing themselves to take enough risk. I think they definitely excelled at this challenge: they thought outside of the box (heh) and identified a niche market--microwavable, healthy dinners for kids--that wasn't currently being served and molded it to Brown & Green, their own brand of wholesome, whole food that was cheeky and playful as well as delicious. Plus, who doesn't love the name Kiddywinkles? Looking at the packaging, the ingredients, and the quality of the food, I would have bought that meal for my child if I wasn't able to cook for them. It contained the very essence of their brand and didn't skimp on quality; it was risky without being overly ambitious.
I do wish that they had thought about the cod sustainability issue but with less than a day to turn this entire project around I thought that the judges were being a little hypercritical with them. (They did ask the fish monger who told them the cod was from the English side of the Atlantic and was fine.) Their pitch was on target as well (other than the cod issue), presenting the buyers with an appropriate jingle that summed up the product, the demographic, and their core values. Food looked and tasted good but I do agree that the brown rice in the children's chocolate rice pudding could create a heavy feeling in a dish that should be filling but still feel light and airy. But all in all, I thought they did great and was pleased as punch that Raymond declared them the winners of the challenge. Fingers crossed that their win works to keep them engaged and taking risk next week.
As for Jeremy and Jane, their failure to excel at this challenge was dictated from the start. I understand that Jeremy has certain principles about his eight-course tasting menu at Eight in the Country, but he's so damn inflexible about everything that it's impossible for him to succeed. You don't go to a pitch and tell the client--who has a huge stake in whether or not you pass or fail this task--that you don't approve of microwavable dinners and don't like the microwave. No, you keep that to yourself and focus on the task at hand: creating the best possible microwavable dinner that you can. I think that they had it all backwards in this task, focusing far too much on the package and presentation (well, in the photograph, anyway) and not enough about thinking about how the food would look, taste, and cook after being zapped.
Does their high-end culinary philosophy work for a line of pre-packaged dinners? Absolutely not. But Jeremy refused to broaden his way of thinking to find a dish that wasn't overly rich and dated that would work. Plus, why would you again make a dish that's overly complicated that you haven't tried before for something like this, i.e., the white chocolate and black cherry fondant? That's not taking risk, that's just foolhardy. And their presentation to the clients was messy, unorganized, and unimaginative; plus, Jeremy somehow managed to forget his ONE line of dialogue. It was, sadly, an embarrassment.
Finally, there was Emma and Martin, who managed to squeak by in several previous challenges but I had a feeling that, unless Jeremy and Jane's dishes really failed to hit the mark, they'd be going home last night. It was a calculated risk to choose a dish like Lancashire hot pot for their pre-packaged meal, especially as there were a number of other brands already using that very same dish on the supermarket shelves; the point of the challenge was to be innovative and on brand. And I think they failed on both accounts.
Over the past five weeks, this lovable twosome put their heart into this endeavor and yet ended up failing time and time again. Perhaps it was their inexperience with marketing or branding. Or, more likely, it was the fact that they didn't really have a concept for their restaurant at all. They cooked contemporary English food like a zillion other restaurants but had a French name (Bravo!) for their eatery and no twist; they tried to use a bistro concept without understanding the actual terminology or meaning behind that style of cuisine. And yet the thing they seemed to love most was honest, homey Northern fare... but didn't offer a single Northern specialty on their menu. Why were they not serving things like Lancashire hot pot and similar at a place called North? Why did they not use the slogan "From North to Mouth" on their packaging? Even better still: why did it take this long for them to realize what their restaurant concept should have been from the beginning in order to make it unique?
Color me confused. I understand that they are innocents in way over their heads but these are simple, simple questions that they should have had the answers to before the competition began. As much as I love them, I am glad that Raymond called them out and told them that they should never, ever open a restaurant on their own and that they are not cut out for this business. That has nothing to do with the quality of Martin's food but with the lack of business acumen and vision necessary to run a restaurant successfully.
It was only fitting that Raymond close Bravo! after all of this time. I do think that Emma and Martin had a good run and are genuinely good and decent people but it was long time that they left this competition.
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the couples must focus on the customer, devising ideas that will "surprise and delight" every customer who walks through the door, but quickly realize that what pleases one customer alienates another; Jess and Laura attempt to put on a high-spirited dance routine, which upsets some clients, while a singing performance at another restaurant leads to embarrassment. Still bigger problems loom: one couple can't seem to fill their restaurant and control the staff, while another discovers that their food is ending up in the bin.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); American Idol (FOX; 8-10 pm)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Primetime (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("Top Model 10 Confidential"), it's clip show time already as we're forced to sit through an hour of previously unaired footage from the season so far, including model wrestling matches and NYC firefighters practicing runway walks. Gee, I was hoping for a new episode...
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Love and Death"), Zoe and Danny follow a rogue scientist who has the capability to make and detonate a biological weapon over a large population.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("The Elements"), the chefs must complete in a complex taste test and cater an upscale charity event for 230 guests; Dale shows his temper following the challenge; and Jennifer redecorates the holding area by throwing chairs all over the place. Mmmm... smells like drama!
Competition is seriously heating up on BBC America's addictive culinary competition Last Restaurant Standing yet I can't believe how one couple has managed to muddle through this far.
Yes, ladies and gents, I am talking about the lovable but way-out-of-their-depths Emma and Martin who have the natural ability to amuse and charm but whose restaurant Bravo! lacks brand identification, profit, or, well, customers for that matter.
This week, Raymond Blanc raised the stakes yet again for the remaining couples: in addition to filling their eateries with hungry (and cash-holding) customers, they'd also have to perform two tasks: to create a cooking course for at least six pupils and to clearly define their restaurants' brands. Were the teams able to solidify just what makes each of their restaurants unique and what are their individual selling points? Let's find out.
Grant and Laura. I have to say, when this series first started, I didn't have such high hopes for Grant and Laura's Scottish-French fusion restaurant, Jacques Tamson's in Windsor. It was such a risky blend of disparate cuisines and the punters didn't exactly seem to be flocking in numbers to the restaurant. Yet over the last few weeks, these two have managed to pull it together. Laura was right to insist about the waiters wearing Flower of Scotland tartan ties (as much as Grant resented it) and the couple smartly went on a local radio show to promote the restaurant and have fun with their Scottish brand by bringing deep-fried Mars bars on the air... and then sell them with ice cream as a tongue-in-cheek dessert. It was only fitting that they did win Restaurant of the Week this go-around; they completely took on Raymond's advice and made their brand recognizable and concrete... while having to deal with a truculent kitchen porter, no less.
Jeremy and Jane. These two went into this week with such overconfidence that I knew it would all come crumbling down this week. Jeremy's cooking demo was an absolute disaster from the start; beginning by having everyone seated at a table looking at the "paperwork" was a bad enough beginning but it didn't prepare me for the sight of Jeremy continually glancing into a cookbook (!) during his crab cake demo. I have no idea why he would have chosen to make crab cakes if he wasn't familiar with the recipe and had never made them before. I also don't know why he wouldn't have involved the pupils in the actual cooking process. Perhaps then he might have not neglected to include the actual crab in the crab cakes... That said, they did manage to turn a profit this week but, like Raymond and his inspectors, I am not sure if they have a strong enough brand. Eight in the Country's entire identity seems to revolve around the notion of a leisurely eight course tasting menu, but if no one is coming in to order it and most people seem to be in the mood for a quite meal, are you fulfilling your brand by serving one or two courses to nearly all of your customers? They really have to rethink their commitment to the menu if they hope to stay open much longer.
Lloyd and Adwoa. I really don't understand why their Ghanian restaurant, Spinach and Agushi, isn't making more money. Week to week, their profit margin seems to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride yet they always seems to have a crowded dining room... and an excess of staff, unfortunately. While we didn't get to see Adwoa's cooking school in very much detail, it did seem like her young customers were having a blast... which is why I could see that this couple would opt to capture Surrey's student population with a special student meal deal that promised two courses for a low, low, low £9.50. But their big mistake was not limited the offer to specific days or hours. That sort of low price will attract some of the area's 9000 students but they can then choose to fill your dining room during peak hours, not order spendy wine, and take away profit. Lloyd and Adwoa should have limited the usage from 5-7 or so each day in order to fill the tables early and then turn them over quickly for a second seating.
Laura and Jess. I love the twins but Raymond is right: it does seem like they've been coasting for a while now. They have a great brand in their casual whole food eatery Brown & Green and a loyal customer base but they should be more busy than they are. Their cooking course was a definite success from the viewpoint of customer satisfaction: they offered hands-on demonstrations, cocktails, wine, and a full meal... all for free. Why didn't the lovely ladies charge the attendees? Especially as they didn't use the opportunity to leverage the course as a means to getting more bookings at the weekend? Their brand exercise--selling bottles of their homemade hummus, a popular staple at the restaurant--was pretty sub-par, as they only had 10 jars to sell and had a hard time doing that. Yes, it represents the restaurant and is portable and cheap to produce but it didn't lure in any NEW customers. And that was the point of the exercise. For the first time, the twins will enter Raymond's challenge (after twice winning Restaurant of the Week) and I do hope that it spurs them to become more creative and determined about making their restaurant more profitable.
Emma and Martin. Finally, there's Emma and Martin who seem to have more lives than a cat. By all accounts, they should have been sent packing a long time ago but Raymond has a soft spot in his heart for this couple. Still, it was shameful that Emma didn't know what a "brand" was and neither of them could categorize what their restaurant Bravo!'s brand was... or what kind of cooking it offered, especially since Emma's contribution to the brand challenge was the slogan "Where the food we love becomes the food you love," but then Martin couldn't name any specific cuisine he loved (he offered paella) and Emma couldn't name a single dish on their menu or really explain the restaurant's concept.
Of all of the restaurants still open, Bravo! lacks a clear focus. It purports to be bistro-style contemporary English cooking, but those two ideas are definitely at juxtaposition. Putting bistro on a flier doesn't make your restaurant so. Emma's other ideas--offering glasses of wine to random folks on the street and forcing them to take a confusing flier... and a £10 champagne and barbecue dinner--just confused the issue more. I am not sure how champagne and BBQ go together or how they advance the idea of bistro-style contemporary English food. Color me confused. Seeing as they only turned a £7 profit, tt was no surprise that they would be going into the challenge yet again this week and it will take nothing short of a miracle if Emma and Martin make it out of there still in the competition.
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, three couples enter Raymond's latest challenge: to come up with exciting microwavable meals and pitch them to two high street stores, creating an innovative and original dish that also has mass appeal, producing eye-catching packaging, and offer an informative and personable presentation. This could just be the challenge that makes or breaks them when they learn what might fly in the restaurant doesn't work on the supermarket shelves.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("If You Can't Make It Here, You Can't Make It Anywhere"), the models get split into two groups as they head out on go-sees and later participate in a Broadway photo shoot (where they will be shot through a plastic sheet while laying face down in water). Meanwhile, one model gets a second makeover (guess who) and another is injured. Please be Dominique, please be Dominique...
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("A Prayer for My Daughter"), Adam tracks a pro-Israel extremist after a peace negotiator disappears.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("Film Food"), guest judge Daniel Boulud drops by to test the chefs on their knife skills and the contestants have to cater a film-themed dinner party for film critic Richard Roeper.
If you watched last night's episode of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing, I am curious to know what you thought about the latest elimination.
To me, it was a foregone conclusion that brothers Michael and Ed would be the ones to get the chop and their restaurant, the woefully struggling Treacle Well, would close its doors forever. This week, the three teams in the challenge--the brothers, Emma and Martin, and Lloyd and Adwoa--had to cater a three-course dinner for 50 guests at a dinner at Blenheim Palace.
I thought that Lloyd and Adwoa were smart to fuse their trademark Ghanian cuisine with a lighter, fresher menu that reflected what their group--businesswomen from Banbury--would come to expect from a networking dinner. Their only hiccup: that terribly plated dessert of tropical fruit and cream, which looked slopped on the plate without any forethought. Personally, I would have done a parfait, layering their stewed fruit with thick cream, if they wanted something light and simple. As it was, it looked more suitable for a cafeteria than an elegant dinner.
Emma and Martin did a good job cooking for and entertaining their guests, a group of Oxford rugby players... in spite of their lack of organization. Martin neglected to purchase any chef's whites for his agency staff (Grant ended up fashioning aprons for them out of leftover fabric from the tablecloths) and only brought one frying pan with him. Which would have been bad enough, except that he had to cook no less than fifty steaks for his hungry guests. Raymond Blanc was right to scold him and teammate Emma for not organizing themselves better by writing a list of all of their essential ingredients and equipment ahead of time. (As it was, Martin had to sneak into the house to steal that frying pan as he had actually not brought any with him.) Still, their food--salad of warm chicken livers and seared steak with veg for the main--looked gorgeous, though once again dessert proved to be tricky: their pavlova was a disaster and the kitchen ended up serving thick whipped cream and strawberries in the end. Not the best save but serviceable all the same.
Then there was the brothers. Sigh. I knew it was going to be a major catastrophe as soon as I saw Michael being delusional again about his menu, his skills, and his customers. What would you have served a group of Bangladeshis from Oxford, knowing their tastes in advance? Certainly not traditional English fare: chilled asparagus vinaigrette, seared lamb, vegetables en papillote, chocolate truffles? Yet that's just what Michael did, serving underseasoned, bland (at least to the palettes of his guests) food that they were unaccustomed to--0ne man admitted he had never even eaten asparagus before--and which was completely unsuitable for the client. The lamb was also completely undercooked, rare in the middle, which was insulting to the guests; Ed and Michael completely missed the point of using halal meats, if they weren't going to cook them appropriately.
Knowing that he had 30 vegetarians in attendance--more than half of his guests!--why was the vegetarian entree such an afterthought? After his failed attempt at making a vegetable tart (also unsuitable), Michael then came up with the awful idea of shoving some carrots, peas, and leaks into some greaseproof paper with some cream and wine and calling it papillote. The paper parcels completely failed to puff up and the end result was a soggy, greasy mess that baffled the guests and was just utterly depressing. Why not cook a big batch of spicy vegetable curry with fresh veg and loads of heat? Why force your cuisine choices onto the customer?
Even Ed, who is usually logical and realistic compared to his brother, failed to notice how unhappy the guests were and how much food was going uneaten. As much as I had rooted for the brother early on, it's clear that they are in way over their heads and had to be the ones to get cut from the pack.
But what did you think: was it time for them to head home? Should inspector Sarah been quite as insulted and irate about their choices as she was? And who is moving into the frontrunner position to win this competition and earn their very own restaurant with Raymond Blanc?
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the couples have to come up with distinctive brands for their restaurants that will make them stand out amid a crowded marketplace; one wastes all of their marketing budget on printing leaflets that are riddled with errors; others turn up on the radio; Jeremy's cooking class idea is an apocalyptic disaster.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: America's Next Top Model.
On tonight's episode ("House of Pain"), the girls are forced to put on unitards and get pointers from Tyra on "expressing themselves" at the end of a runway; one girl gets to have a photo shoot with judge Nigel Barker while posing nude; three girls gang up on one of the model wannabes who doesn't seem to know how to turn off her alarm clock in the early morning.
9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.
If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Who Guards the Guards?"), a notorious writer is nearly murdered while under MI-5 protection, leading the team to investigate a Pakistani terrorist organization.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
On tonight's episode ("Block Party"), Rick Bayless drops by as a guest judge while the chefs are tasked with putting on a neighborhood fiesta and tensions between the contestants--especially one couple--reaches a breaking point.
I wonder: is it really news nowadays when NBC buys yet another international format?
Regardless of that fact, I was at least intrigued by NBC's latest reality order for The Chopping Block, based on an Australian format to be executive produced by David Barbour and Julian Cress that sounds completely similiar to BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (or, as it was known in the UK, The Restaurant).
In this case, the Peacock has cast, er, highly eccentric retired chef Marco Pierre White (who trained Gordon Ramsay... and then replaced Ramsay on the UK version of Hell's Kitchen) in the Raymond Blanc taskmaster role. White was last glimpsed on these fine shores in the recent Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode when he traveled to England.
The series will follow eight couples as they compete for their own restaurant. However, unlike Last Restaurant Standing, the couples will be split into two teams that will compete head-to-head in adjoining restaurants in Manhattan.
The result is like crossing Top Chef's Restaurant Wars challenge with Hell's Kitchen and LRS, with the teams participating in typical reality challenge fodder like designing their eateries. launching marketing campaigns, and drumming up business for their new ventures... all while working together a la The Apprentice. Their success will be monitored by a group of professional food critics who will act as judges and review the restaurants.
I'll likely check out The Chopping Block when it launches next season--especially if they wisely schedule it when Top Chef is out of season--but this Last Restaurant Standing addict can't help but be stung by the lack of recognition for that BBC2 format, especially as NBC thinks that they are being original by having their teams made up of couples. ("The real novel twist is having couples," said NBC reality chief Craig Plestis. "That's where you're going to see all the drama.")
Paging Raymond Blanc, perhaps?
Still, if you can't take the heat, then chances are you shouldn't be in the kitchen at all.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Beauty and the Geek (CW); It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown/Just for Laughs (ABC); American Idol (FOX; 8-10 pm)
9 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); One Tree Hill (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC; 9-10:30 pm)
10 pm: Jericho (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Miss/Guided (ABC; 10:30-11 pm)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: Beauty and the Geek.
I'm tempted to tune out altogether after the latest disastrous "game-changing twist," but it gets one more shot before I give up on this series. On tonight's episode ("Raps, Rhymes, and Geeks"), the geeks compete against the beauties in a talent show (gee, I wonder who wins), while one of the beauties proves that she'll do anything to stay in the house.
9 pm: Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America.
On the seventh episode of this addictive British import, it's a gruesomely fantastic episode as the remaining teams must motivate and train their staffs with sales techniques but Raymond has a trick up his sleeve and announces that they will have to include a mystery ingredient in their menus and promptly sends each restaurant a batch of live eels, which they must kill and serve to their guests that evening. Will the teams rise to the occasion? Or will they be at each other's throats? Find out tonight.
10 pm: The Riches on FX.
It's the second season opener of a Televisionary fave, The Riches, tonight ("The Last Temptation of Wayne"), Dahlia, the kids, and Cherien's mother hit the road while Wayne remains behind in Edenfalls to deal with Pete and gets an offer from Hugh that may be too good to pass up.
I came home yesterday to discover a large pile of DVDs of culinary competition series, Last Restaurant Standing, from the good folks at BBC America, who know full well my undying obsession with the Raymond Blanc-hosted series.
Despite numerous other television offering (including several series I need to catch up on), I spent the evening with the future Mrs. Televisionary watching several episodes (heaven!) and sitting on the edge of my couch, glued to the television set. Over the course of the next few episodes, the remaining couples will face their toughest challenges yet and nearly reach the brink of collapse.
For those of you not watching Last Restaurant Standing, you really are missing out: it's gripping, tension-laden, and provocative. It also gives you a first-hand glimpse into what it takes to run a restaurant and, I am sure, will deter a few would-be restaurateurs from entering the business after seeing what these couples go through. (For those of you who ARE watching, I'm curious: What about the series appeals to you? And have your post-Top