A TikTok user is putting celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay on blast for being a hypocrite about grilled salad after a clip of the show Kitchen Nightmares resurfaces.
TikTok user Nick Doty (@nldoty) starts the video by saying, “I have a bone to pick with Chef Gordon Ramsay, specifically regarding this clip from an episode of Kitchen Nightmares titled, ‘Park’s Edge,’ which aired on Feb. 3, 2012. Let’s watch the clip.”
In the clip, Ramsay sits down at a table and is greeted by a server at Park’s Edge restaurant in Atlanta. As he examines the menu, Ramsey points to the “grilled Caesar salad,” which server Ami confirms is prepared on the grill. “You’ve never heard of that?” Ami asks. Ramsay replies, “No. It hasn’t hit London yet.”
The clip ends and Doty reappears. “This is an episode and a clip that regularly shows up on highlight reels for Kitchen Nightmares, because it’s obviously absurd, right? Grilling lettuce? Like, on a grill? Let’s just keep watching and see how chef responds,” Doty says.
The clip resumes with server Ami picking up the salad from the kitchen. The chef says you “can’t go wrong” with grilled salad and predicts Ramsay will like it. Amy then brings Ramsay the salad, which he quickly disassembles. Clearly flustered by Ramsay’s annoyance, Ami concedes, “I never thought about it. But it’s true. Why are we grilling lettuce?”
Cut back to Doty. “Who in their right mind is going to grill lettuce? Obviously, Chef Ramsay is going to tear into this and give a scathing review, right? No, it’s so much worse.”
The video returns to Kitchen Nightmares. At this point, Ramsay calls on the rest of the restaurant patrons and asks if anyone has ever heard of a grilled salad. No one responds in the affirmative. Laughter erupts as Ramsay holds the piece of lettuce in the air. “Sorry for interrupting,” Ramsey says.
As Ramsey cuts into his salad, he begins his critique. “I always get nervous when a chef serves me the butt of the lettuce. When you’ve got the butt of the lettuce on you can never clean the lettuce properly. Unfortunately, it’s not very nice this salad. Dry chicken. The salad looks hideous. Why is it spicy?”
Once again, the video returns to Doty. “Other than the salad being improperly trimmed and the dressing being too spicy and the chicken being dry, obviously grilling lettuce is repugnant,” Doty says. “It’s the culinary gaffe of the decade. And no self-serving chef would ever put that on their restaurant menu, right?”
He pauses: “So why the f*ck did Chef Gordon Ramsay do that in 2017 for the Daytona 500?”
@nldoty I’ve waited 3.5 years to expose the truth #gordonramsay #gordonramsayofficial #gordonramsayreacts #ramsayreacts #kitchennightmares ♬ original sound – nldoty
Doty produces a menu from Daytona Day, which features the grilled romaine salad with rajas, polenta croutons, and chipotle horseradish dressing. The flier boasts it is an “Official Daytona Day Recipe by Chef Gordon Ramsay.”
“We have a recipe card for a grilled romaine salad,” Doty says. “In the ingredients section, we have ‘2 heads of romaine lettuce, cleaned & halved.’ And in the directions, we have, ‘Heat grill or grill pan to medium high heat. Brush segments of romaine with olive oil and place cut side down on grill for about 2 minutes on each side.’”
Doty exclaims, “We’re grilling lettuce, folks. So, just to be clear. The idea of a grilled salad was so absurd to Chef Ramsay that he made fun of it during his episode at Park’s Edge. And then he made the entire dining room laugh along with him when it was served to him. And it was still so absurd that he decided to put it on his own menu, and he thought that the best target audience for that would be a bunch of people that want to watch cars drive around in a circle for three and a half hours. Huh?”
In conclusion, “Chef Ramsay, I think you owe that man and the seven remaining people that still watch NASCAR an apology.”
The video has amassed more than 160,000 views since Nov. 21. In the comments, users expressed their own frustration with Ramsay.
“He complained about it to everyone before even trying it? Yeesh,” wrote one user.
“It’s the same energy as him yelling about frozen food but now sells frozen meals at Walmart lmao,” a second user wrote.
“And a horseradish chipotle dressing. He’s like ‘why is it spicy,'” one user observed.
The Daily Dot reached out to Doty via TikTok and to Ramsay via representative for comment.