- Title: USA: British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is in New York
- Date: 23rd November 2006
- Summary: VARIOUS OF CHEFS WORKING IN THE KITCHEN OF "GORDON RAMSAY AT THE LONDON"
- Embargoed: 8th December 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment,Lifestyle
- Reuters ID: LVA8P6XTZM86ZJA4S7UTJ3JGDT84
- Story Text: British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay opened his first U.S. restaurant on Thursday (November 16), with an assurance he would not try to push New Yorkers into their own kitchens as he did British women.
Ramsay said he would not interfere with the "fascinating scenario" in restaurant-loving New York, even though his television crusade for home cooking struck a chord in Britain, where he said young women had become a lazy "chardonnay and Pringle (potato chip) brigade."
New Yorkers eat out at least four times a week, with the trend growing every year, a Zagat dining survey released last month showed.
Ramsay's new restaurant, with formal dining for 45 people and a bar for more casual dining for up to 70, already is booked for the first two months. The menu feature dishes such as his signature Cappuccino of White Beans and lobster ravioli.
"What excites me about New York is the variety of ingredients. So, I just want to sneak in here and do my stuff and we've been embedded in the community now for the last twelve months, the team ready to to go. The The dining room is beautiful, the bar is beautiful and we've got something different to offer and we're not trying to outdo Jean Georges or outstrip Per Se. They're phenomenal chefs. I'm just very happy to be here and I suppose I want the food to do the talking really," said Ramsay.
While standing in the sparkling 6.5 million US dollar kitchen of "Gordon Ramsay at the London" in the new luxury London NYC hotel, Ramsay told Reuters that he wasn't here to tell New Yorkers that they should get into their kitchens.
"New York is an upbeat vibrant city that has the most amazing eating-out habit scenario. A lot of the flats I have looked at over the last three or four months don't have kitchens in them and if they do they're the half the size of the urinal," Ramsay said.
Ramsay used the latest series of his television show, "The F Word," for a campaign to get women back in the kitchen. The program is aired in Britain and the United States.
"There's a scenario now where with young girls in Britain that, it's become the Chardonnay and Pringle brigade and if they eat, it's cheating. So, the message was clear -- get back in the kitchen, don't be lazy and they are too many convenience foods made it easier for you not to cook. So, yes, it struck a note and I'm not trying to bring that campaign over here in America but you've got to eat properly in order to sustain a busy lifestyle. We can't keep making excuses for ourselves that we're under pressure from work -- it takes 15 minutes to make a bowl of pasta, it takes 9-10 minutes to grill a nice piece of fish, it takes 3 minutes to toss a salad," said Ramsay, who is known as a short-tempered perfectionist.
As scores of chefs worked around him, Ramsay added that cooking can be therapeutic, that it was not a chore and that food should never be a chore.
Ramsay has nine restaurants in Britain, including "Restaurant Gordon Ramsay," the only restaurant in London to have the top Michelin three-star rating. But he said his focus for the next couple of months was in New York, which is his lucky number 10. He is looking for an apartment in Chelsea (in Manhattan). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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