The Cafe Hon Kitchen Nightmares, watch it now

Actual Kitchen Nightmares intro graphic for Cafe Hon

So here we are folks, less than a few hours away here’s the eagerly anticipated episode of Kitchen Nightmares in which we see the usual histrionics, meltdowns, cursing, et cetera – right here in Baltimore! The Cafe Hon saga, roughly 2.5 years in the making (see below), essentially came to a close this past November when owner Denise Whiting relinquished the HON trademark.

To be honest, I had this whole post ready to go about a drinking game associated with the episode, a bunch of paragraphs about the history of the saga, on and on and on but then I was shown that the video is already available on Youtube so screw it, this post is about watching the video and nothing else for now, because I haven’t even seen it! Maybe I’ll throw in some post-analysis afterward.

SORRY GANG FOX PULLED IT, FEEL FREE TO TALK ABOUT IT IF YOU SAW IT
CHECK IT OUT ON HULU INSTEAD

HISTORY LESSONS:
10/2009
02/2011
06/2011
10/2011

STUFF FROM THE VID:

  • “Hampden is just north of Baltimore” – nice work guys!
  • “There’s one way to do it here – my way.” ~Denise Whiting
  • “Hon was a part of our vocabulary long before it was part of a restaurant.” ~Reagan, MIX106.5
  • (Gordon Ramsey doesn’t know anything about the significance of pink flamingos in Baltimore)
  • 07:40 Manager notes that DW will more than likely pretend to be perfect and not “be herself,” ouch
  • 08:00 On cue, DW assumes the role of Pariah
  • “I was afraid for my life!” ~DW
  • “Denise thinks that she’s a rock star”
  • Zeke’s Coffee in the background!
  • Ramsey loves the crab (that’s good), hates the shrimp (that’s bad)
  • “A lot of the menu items are — crap.” ~Greg, head chef
  • “It’s like a flamingo turd just landed on my plate” ~Ramsey as a reaction to “Better than Mom’s meatloaf”
  • “I’m not going to let anyone in my way, including Chef Ramsey.” ~DW (Jesus, did they pay her to say this stuff?)
  • 10 minutes of pure stress watching DW in the kitchen – 86 THE STEAK / TURKEY / FRENCH FRIES / SWEET FRIES / POT PIES!!

… good god there’s just too much.

20 thoughts on “The Cafe Hon Kitchen Nightmares, watch it now

  1. One more thing. I was done with her post-flamingo, pre-hon. Like many Hampdenites, we didn’t appreciate her going against the entire Hampden Merchant’s Association who did not support the 25th Street Station Development. Which has been soooooo successful. Just like her.

  2. The show was pretty much what I thought it would be. An opportunity for her to pretend to be sincerely baffled by why people hated her, even though they’d been saying the same exact things that “focus group” said for years. Maybe listening via headphone in the back of an SUV opens up neural pathways or something. I’m still not buying her act. 

    1. I don’t live there, but just the sense of her personality gives me the same feeling. At least she will start focusing on her restuarant to start making an honest dollar.

  3. I hate that I would even defend her at ALL, but did you get the feeling he actually just didn’t understand what shrimp salad was supposed to be?  It’s supposed to be cold…

  4. That was a great episode. So glad they revamped that menu. Woo hoo. Now just don’t charge me 3.75$ when I order a soda water and cranberry hon. It’s not just “mostly juice” It’s soda water turned pink.

    1. Yeah if the micromanaging has continued at the cost of the quality of literally everything then he should leave, and she should just walk away semi-permanently. New post forthcoming on this whole thing and the weird schism of hating an owner vs. supporting the staff

  5. Do they mention the many great restaurants a mere few feet away? (*cough* Golden West *cough*) I thought their blue plate stuff was pretty bad the one time I ate there 7 or so years ago. For that kind of food, Paper Moon blows (blew?) them away.

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