Attention fans of restaurant reality shows.
It’s tune-in time to see all the buzz and what happens with one of the local restaurants featured on this season of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares" airing on the Fox network.
It was more than a year ago that social media posts were buzzing about Ramsay sightings at two restaurants in metro Detroit.
We now know that Ramsay and a crew were in town filming episodes for “Kitchen Nightmares” at longtime Boodles Restaurant in Madison Heights and the now-closed Firenze’s Restaurant & Pizzeria, a longtime Warren eatery. Firenze’s Restaurant & Pizzeria shuttered not long after Ramsay’s visit.
Boodles is first up on the show. The episode airs 8-9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19. Firenze’s episode airs in
an upcoming episode.
Boodles Restaurant, at 935 W. 11 Mile Rd in Madison Heights, is well known for its prime steaks, tableside Caesar salad and live music. In April, the restaurant celebrated 40 years in business.
“Watch Kevin and the Gang get yelled at and ripped to shreds,” reads a recent post on Boodles' Facebook page.
“Kitchen Nightmares” is a reality show where Ramsay works with restaurants that are struggling or have management, food, or other issues. Ramsay, over a week's time, helps identify what’s wrong with the restaurant’s operations and comes up with a fix.
“This season of Kitchen Nightmares is all about small town, big mess," Ramsay said in a “Kitchen Nightmares” Season 3 first-look Facebook post.
In this season, featuring Midwest restaurants, the owners are facing “enormous challenges, from health code violations and staffing issues to menu errors and kitchen conditions found only in nightmares,” according to a news release, and Ramsay is the featured restaurant’s “9-1-1 call and the last chance for their businesses to survive.”
On his shows, Ramsay is also known for his blunt, often in-your-face demeanor, bleeped-out foul language and harsh criticism.
Ramsay is well known for his restaurants and various hit competitive TV shows, including “Hell’s Kitchen,” “MasterChef,” “MasterChef Jr.”, and “Next Level Chef.”
Over the years, several Michigan chefs and young chefs have appeared on Gordon Ramsay shows.
A few years ago, Ramsay visited the Upper Peninsula to film an episode of his “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” series for National Geographic. For the series, Ramsay followed chefs and traveled to remote places in the world seeking out “culinary inspiration, epic adventures, and cultural experiences,” National Geographic's website said. The episode featured diving among shipwrecks, helping monks at the Holy Transfiguration Skete, a Byzantine Catholic monastery in the Keweenaw Peninsula. It also featured Ramsay teaming up with chef James Rigato of award-winning Mabel Gray in Hazel Park.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SusanMariecooks. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Boodles Restaurant on 'Kitchen Nightmares." Here's when to watch
