Gordon Ramsay at Hell’s Kitchen. {Photograph} courtesy of Gordon Ramsay North America
In his new present Secret Service, movie star chef Gordon Ramsay spies on struggling eating places with covert late-night visits, kitchen cameras, and intel from an inside mole. The first episode options Parthenon, the Greek mainstay in DC’s Chevy Chase the place Ramsay finds rats and filthy kitchen gear, together with a meat noticed crawling with micro organism. (At a watch occasion, regulars appeared… unbothered?) However how do Ramsay’s personal DC eating places maintain up underneath scrutiny? We took a have a look at the newest well being inspection studies for Hell’s Kitchen and Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips on the Wharf, and Avenue Pizza in Penn Quarter.
You’ll be comfortable to know that the eating places look like a far cry from these Ramsay depicts on TV. However they’re not all utterly pristine.
When the well being division visited Hell’s Kitchen for a routine inspection in April of this yr, an inspector discovered 11 violations. Among the many points: no scorching water at a number of hand-washing sinks within the restrooms—on prime of no paper towels or hand cleaning soap. Within the kitchen, slicing boards have been closely broken with burns and cuts, making the surfaces no lengthy washable, in keeping with the report. Different minor violations included unlabeled containers of meals that weren’t simply recognizable and an unprotected show of unwrapped straws on the bar. All of the violations have been corrected inside the allotted time.
The practically year-old Avenue Pizza, in the meantime, was most lately inspected in February and had solely two violations, together with meals that wasn’t saved in a matter to guard from cross-contamination and a mop not correctly hung to air dry. Each points have been corrected through the go to.
Lastly, the fast-casual Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips was inspected in September in response to an unspecified grievance. The lone violation at the moment: moist wiping cloths on the cooking line that weren’t saved in sanitizer buckets when not in use.
Whereas Secret Service‘s first episode primarily centered on Parthenon’s kitchen operations, Ramsay additionally made a degree to work with the employees and homeowners to fix broken relationships. On the subject of his personal front-of-house operations, Ramsay’s eating places likewise have a historical past of needing some severe TLC. In 2023, a gaggle of servers walked out following allegations of a poisonous and racist work setting. They claimed Black clients have been segregated on one aspect of the eating room with lesser views and {that a} supervisor had created a hostile office with alleged name-calling and violent outbursts. “These alleged actions are by no means permitted or tolerated inside the group,” Gordon Ramsay North America stated in a press release on the time.
As Ramsay poignantly says to the proprietor of Parthenon: “I run 100 eating places, and a very powerful factor on my menu is belief. I train, after which I belief.”
Meals Editor
Jessica Sidman covers the individuals and traits behind D.C.’s foods and drinks scene. Earlier than becoming a member of Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Meals Editor and Younger & Hungry columnist at Washington Metropolis Paper. She is a Colorado native and College of Pennsylvania grad.
