Yay for a New Season - Hell's Kitchen

I love Gordon Ramsey and his delightfully acidic personality. My husband also likes this show, which is nice because he doesn't like a lot of my shows. I enjoyed Kitchen Nightmares over the summer, but I love Hell's Kitchen. It isn't as high brow as Top Chef, but it's enjoyable, and heck, I'll mention it again, I like Gordon Ramsey. He makes good tv.

This year, the chefs are vying for a position at Ramsey's new restaurant. Nice.

The SAGA of Hell's Kitchen. It's serious this year, if you listen to Voice Over Man. Hilariously, Ramsey is in disguise to listen to the contestants as they get to know each other.

Immediately, Giant Hat Boy (Craig) annoys the crap out of me, as I think he is meant to. Jean-Phillipe's impression of Ramsey was spot on. Having some of the contestants do impressions before he revealed himself was amusing. And we cut to the credits so that Chef Ramsey can get the remnants of face putty off his face.

You would think that after three seasons, the hopefuls would know that they would be cooking straight off. Stupid clothing choices in some cases.

Quick succession of tastings of their signature dishes, let's see what I can catch.

Craig is first, and Ramsey hates his dish, hates his hat, tells him that he will shove it where the sun doesn't shine if he sees it again. He also accuses him of having a small penis and making up for it with a huge hat. That was funny.

Jen (a line cook, fruit carver) is up next, and her rice is ridiculously undercooked.

Corey (a private chef) is boring, looked like a piece of lettuce on a plate.

Jason (sous chef) - not good. Looked like cat food with some garnish.

Shayna (caterer) - burned her dish.

Matt (sous chef) - Caviar and white chocolate? That made Ramsey throw up. Not a good start. He claims to be a culinarian, but I don't get it.

Dominic (Stay at home Dad) - Not exciting, but not puke worthy. That's something, right.

Rosann (receptionist) - The first one to get a good review.

Petrozza (catering director) a cornish hen inside a pumpkin? That's bizarre. The potatoes were hideously greasy. The pumpkin presentation does NOT work in a plated dish like that. Maybe at home. And to top it off, it didn't taste good.

Sharon (room service) - not impressive.

Ben (electirican) - so so, but better than bad.

Christina (culinary student) - badly executed.

Louross (Hotel Cook) - mediocre.

Vanessa (Line Cook) - Nice halibut dish made Ramsey happy.

Bobby (Black Gordon Ramsey?) - Not impressive with deep fried fish. Walk the Walk.

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They have to pick captains, and the women quickly choose Vanessa, while the guys take their time until Bobby elects himself. They all have to memorize a whole menu, and that's challenging.

I officially hate Jason who said that he wouldn't lose anything but an ironing competition to a woman. Booo.

At first glance, the men seem to have it more together in the kitchen, at least for prep, but flounder on the menu. That's stupid. How can you cook if you don't know the recipes, and haven't they been prepping all day? Um, really?

And then Jason is outside smoking and picking at his feet when he should be on appetizers??? Seriously???? I sure hope he washed his hands before going back into the kitchen.

Sharon was all over the place, and so was Jason. Sharon was kicked off the appetizer station and in blue eye-shadowed glory, claims that she "just likes to look nice." Try a little harder, sweetie. 1985 called, they want their make-up back. Ramsey wants Jason to eat the risotto he ruined, and he looks miserable doing so.

Ramsey kicked Vanessa out of the Captain's Chair and Rosann took over. Jen (who told someone to flip the fried eggs) was wondering why he didn't choose her.

Over in the men's kitchen, Bobby shows himself to be a completely inept captain, saying that he "doesn't want to get into that chaos."

Jen manages to get some risotto out, but the men are standing around like idiots. Dominic has been holding a bunch of scallops in his hand like a moron. Louross is made Captain in Bobby's idiocy. He ended up getting things moving, just in time for all the customers to leave. Yipes.

The men lose the first week. Louross is picked as the best of the worst, to choose candidates for eviction. He chooses Dominic and Bobby, and not Jason. Boo. Dominic seems like a real geek, not that there's anything wrong with that, but he might have potential. Bobby sure has a high opinion of himself. It's ridiculous. He so needs to go.

But not this week. Dominic is going back home to his family, wonder if it was because he threw out so many (24) scallops! What a waste.

Overall, a good season start, with some good villians. No one is standing out to me yet as outstanding, but both Louross and Rosann have the potential. We'll see!