Episode Report Card Daniel: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Now That's a Crappy Meatball!
By Daniel | Season 10 | Episode 17 | Aired on 08.21.2012
The kitchen opens, and in addition to the chicken parm, there's also crab capellini, butternut squash risotto and filet of beef with cavatelli pasta.
Despite being called out last week by chef, and despite often screwing up prep and despite not being able to keep orders straight, this is supposed to be Clemenza's time to shine. He produces two beautiful flatbreads, and Ramsay wants to know how he can be such a disorganized mess yet still produce such great food. Barbie's risottos on the same order are delicious, so the chefs are off to a good start.
And then on the next order, Clemenza AGAIN can't repeat the order back right after Ramsay reads it, and Ramsay accuses him of having checked out. Then he says Barbie has switched off after she follows up her great risottos with a shitty one, and then sends another unsalted, undercooked risotto up to the pass, making Ramsay even angrier. Clemenza tries to help make the next one, and then argues with Barbie when she wants him to send it up. He finally does, and Ramsay brings it back, dumps it on the counter for being overcooked. He calls it an insult to Italy, which is pretty bad when you consider it's a country that was run by Silvio Berlusconi three times.
Ramsay tells Barbie that if she serves up another risotto like that, she should just do everyone a favor and fuck right on off without being told. Her fourth attempt passes muster, though, and the service seems to smooth out from there, and they move on to entrees for some, while Clemenza and Barbie continue on the remaining appetizers. Dana's on meat, and she's cooking what looks like an entire cow's worth of beef. She winds up burning a couple (not ones that she served up, mind you), and Ramsay gives her a pep talk that either keeps her going or almost makes her breakdown completely. But she pulls her shit together and the filets she serves are good.
But now it's Christina's turn to screw up, on garnish, burning her underseasoned greens. She does better on her second attempt, with Ramsay mocking her for taking so long to figure out it's a good idea to taste what you're cooking.
Amusingly, when they're down to the last table of appetizers, Ramsay bets Barbie and Clemenza a hundred dollars that they won't get the last order right. It's a sucker bet to make, since Ramsay could essentially just award himself a hundred dollars. Fortunately (or not, since Ramsay is pissed off to actually win the bet) Barbie produces a two-much-capellini, not-enough-crab order that makes it an easy call for Ramsay, who begs Barbie to go home, and then sets up kicking kitchen equipment. I feel bad for the two poor young women sitting there at their table, waiting forever for their order. Probably been looking forward to this for months. And here they sit, an hour and a half into dinner service, capellini-less. Well, at least they get to hear Ramsay foaming at the mouth.