Episode Report Card Monty Ashley: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Return of Francisco
By Monty Ashley | Season 5 | Episode 6 | Aired on 03.12.2009
Andrea is on appetizers and she has some risotto. No good; not enough mushrooms. Carol offers to make some risotto too, and Andrea will have none of it. After Andrea adds mushrooms until they are plentiful (Gordon's word!), they are acceptable. And now it's time for the second part of the red team's punishment: they have to stop cooking and go out to hold Max's chair for the Celebration Dance. There is clapping and Max shoots finger-guns at people in the audience. Ben tells us that he's Jewish. The women rush back into the kitchen.
The blue team has a hiccup when J neglects to provide a salad with no dressing and J tells us that Chef Ramsay is intimidating. An hour and a half in, all appetizers have been served, but Max has to get his entree before any others can go out. Coi rushes out of the kitchen to get the burgers and put them on, which disgusts and annoys Chef Ramsay. But it doesn't seem like she lost more than thirty seconds here, does it? Besides, Max is shooting baskets in one of those arcade-style games. So is Francisco, who has another staged scene with JP. Coi has some problems with her burgers, and the first round are all deemed uncooked. Chef Ramsay shouts "It's Max's table!" ten or twenty times.
The second round of Coi's burgers are deemed hot enough to serve, and that means everyone else can serve entrees. Danny brings up his burgers, and it seems to me that burgers are getting ordered a lot more than the usual menu tonight. I'm sure part of that is that Max's friends are kids. But I think even the adults are looking at the menu and thinking, "Well, I've seen this show. I think I'm more likely to receive food if I pick the simplest thing on the menu." Danny's burgers (which I mentioned earlier in the paragraph, before the thing about the menu) are sent back because the plates are dirty on the bottom. Danny tells us that they must have gotten dirty at the garnish station because his station is immaculate. Ben calls him a filthy pig.
Coi is late with brisket, and Chef Ramsay blames it on everybody working too close and bumping into each other. I don't know, it seems to me that this kitchen has more room in it than a lot of actual professional kitchens. Admittedly, I'm really just basing this on that one episode of the Anthony Bourdain show where he worked a shift in his old kitchen. That place was tiny! Anyway, Coi runs around and drops stuff. On the blue side, Lacey has some beef that's cold, and it is surprisingly difficult for her to reheat it. Gordon shouts "Where's the Beef?" in a way that would amuse you if you remembered the mid-1980s. Robert correctly identifies it as a Wendy's commercial. If you're curious, the old lady was named "Clara Peller".