Gordon Ramsay explains why he thinks his Hell’s Kitchen restaurants have ‘become the 21st Century Hard Rock Café’

Ramsay judges ‘Next Level Chef’ alongside Richard Blais and Nyesha Arrington, and calls the trio ‘a dream team.’

Terri Peters

·Senior Lifestyle Editor

March 22, 2023·6 min read

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Because food connects us all, Yahoo Life is serving up a heaping plateful of table talk with people who are passionate about what’s on their menu in Deglazed, a series about food.

On Next Level Chef, Gordon Ramsay encourages culinary hopefuls to cook great food that will save them from elimination and get them one step closer to winning the reality cooking competition. But his gentle demeanor and calm way of explaining cooking techniques is vastly different from the Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen fans are used to seeing on their televisions.

The 56-year-old chef and restauranteur says there’s a simple explanation for that. “Hell’s Kitchen’s a boot camp,” he tells Yahoo Life. “These chefs have been given an amazing platform and the chance to take an executive chef’s position … that comes with a half-a-million dollar salary at stake, so there’s a lot more pressure there. That’s the dream. As a 25- or 26-year-old chef, I was never given those opportunities.”

Next Level Chef, he says, is a different type of cooking show with different types of contestants. “We’ve got professionals, amateurs and social media stars,” he explains of the show, which is in its second season’s roster. “A lot of professional chefs were sort of anti that regime of social media stars, because they didn’t think they were serious talents, but they are. They have been. They deserve their own space for the way they are uniquely good at elevating and getting people excited about food on those platforms.”

“It’s captivating,” he says of working with his Next Level Chef team. “I’ve gotta come in with a different brush stroke and a different mentality and understand where these chefs are. It’s about spotting their talent and their weaknesses and getting their talents to the forefront.”

Ramsay judges Next Level Chef alongside Richard Blais and Nyesha Arrington, and calls the trio “a dream team.”

“They challenge me and I challenge them,” he says. “Nyesha is a prolific chef, just her resume alone … we connected immediately and there’s something quite deep about her purpose for food. Richard Blais is this San Diego powerhouse whose knowledge is an encyclopedia. There’s nothing on the planet that he doesn’t know. His energy is electrifying and he turns everything negative into something positive. When the chips are down, he’s one of the best motivators I’ve ever come across.”

“It’s a perfect mix,” he continues, “and we push each other, we get under each other’s skin and we get the very best out of each other.”

Still, Hell’s Kitchen, where Ramsay is often shown yelling and swearing at the chef contestants, remains popular. The reality cooking competition just wrapped Season 21 and Season 22 is forthcoming. “Twenty-two seasons,” Ramsay marvels. “Who gets to 10, let alone 22?”

There are also five Hell’s Kitchen restaurants, the most recently-opened location in Washington, D.C. Ramsay attributes the success of the dining establishments with the fact that “what you see on TV is what you see when you go to the restaurant.”

“In the ’80s I grew up with Hard Rock Café and when I was in Hawaii I went to one, and I was lucky enough to go to one in New York,” he says. “There was something about seeing Sylvester Stallone’s leather jacket, and I think Hell’s Kitchen has become the 21st Century Hard Rock Café.”

“The food is great and the energy is what restaurants need,” he explains. “It’s a family outing, it’s not just fine dining. Whether it’s beef Wellington for a celebration or something unique like a Cobb salad, we’ve got it nailed.”

Just don’t call Ramsay a celebrity chef.

“I’m a real chef that works on TV,” he says. “I don’t blow smoke up my ass but I’ve spent decades crafting my career and I take the hits and take the mistakes and learn from them. I keep my feet incredibly grounded. Everything I do is real … I work hard at my craft.”

“The celebrity chef [term] is a little bit of a myth and the sustainability of lasting as a celebrity chef means you need to be a real chef,” he adds. “With or without TV or books, I’m the same guy and I strive for perfection.”

Ramsay spoke with Yahoo Life as part of his partnership with Triscuit. In a series of ads for the cracker brand, Ramsay plays up the fact that he’s “crunchy on the outside” but “wholesome on the inside,” just like the cracker. But all marketing aside, Ramsay says he does use Triscuits in his recipes, and for good reason.

“[I like] how easy and convenient they are,” he says. “The saltiness and flavor is unlike any biscuit which is crucial for chefs … it’s multi-dimensional and versatile.”

Ramsay says it’s OK to take shortcuts in the kitchen sometimes, adding that “you can’t” make everything all of the time. “There was a moment as a 23-year-old chef where I was standing in the middle of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris and I was making a sauce for the roasted sea bass and I couldn’t understand why it was so vinegary and tomato-y and of course, the sous chef was putting it together and he put a ladle of tomato ketchup in there,” he says. “I’d never have believed it but that’s how Triscuit is — it’s on a whole new level for entertaining and it lets me plate food quicker with a crunchy texture on the outside.”

Ramsay and his wife, Tana, have five children, and the chef says he loves cooking with them. “There’s something quite unique about the freedom food provides for [kids] to develop their social skills,” he says. “That was really apparent growing up with our kids — we’d just teach them the different flavors and give them confidence outside things like French lessons or math or the pressures school has. Cooking is their release and brings them such joy.”

“I’m always so upset when I see kids feeling awful about their different sort of eating habits or their weight or sizes,” he adds. “It’s not the kids, it’s the parents. If we can educate the kids [on how to cook healthy food] they then, in turn, start educating the parents.”