Feb

9

Last Restaurant Standing: Episode 1

Posted by realitycooking

February 9, 2008 |

Last-Rest-Adwoa This week was the premiere of the new BBC America series, Last Restaurant Standing.  World renowned chef, Raymond Blanc offered nine couples the chance of a life time - an opportunity to own their own restaurant.  The couples include a pair of newlyweds, a mother and son duo, and a set of twins.  Some have catering and hotel management experience but none have ever run a restaurant or even cooked for more than a large gathering at home. 

They were set up to fail — an incredibly, they didn’t do all that bad.

My problem with the series lies in the set up of the competition.  After a very slow start, the couples were randomly given keys to empty restaurants all over the area.  One shell had a view of Buckingham Palace, another in an old monastery, some in the city and some way off the beaten track.  The couples were then given a budget and one week to decorate, staff, cook and book.  One week!  Why?  I would have preferred to see the first week devoted simply to decorating and coming up with a theme, the next on cooking, and finally on actual service.  Seeing what some of the couples did accomplish, I find it hard to believe they didn’t have some professional help from the series staff.

In the real world its unlikely that you would get a sign maker to design, build and install a sign inside of a week.  Dishes and linens have to be purchased and delivered and construction crews must have worked overtime to convert these dirty shells into lovely dining areas.

More like a documentary than a reality series, the show was edited to highlight the mistakes of some couples and the potential mistakes of others.  People were shown in tears and the stress threatened to break them — or did it?  Frankly, given the short time period and the pressure, most of the team mates were relatively calm and productive. 

Opening night came and each restaurant was visited by an inspector.  The worst scenario was Lloyd and Adwoa who not only overbooked their night but then served the inspector raw chicken.  They landed in the bottom three.  Other "sins" included allowing sous chefs with clearly more experience take over the kitchen (That’s a mistake?  Sounds like a good idea to me.)  And choosing a silly name for the restaurant — who wants to eat at "The Ostrich"?

In the end three couples were chosen to enter into an elimination challenge and that’s when. . . . my episode ended.  I say mine because apparently everyone else in the world saw a second hour in which the challenge was held and someone was eliminated.  My DVR apparently wasn’t interested.  So - don’t tell me.  I’ve got it set to record on Monday and then I’ll be back with the second half of this review.


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Nesto on February 13, 2008 5:31 am

    I’m a bit miffed and confused as to why the couple that “lost” was sent packing and they obviously felt the same way. I’m sure most everyone knew who should go, hint, its the couple with NO TALENT whatsoever and I don’t know how they came to be together in the first place, let alone how they haven’t accidently killed themselves by now. The time restrictions put on everyone is ridiculous but somehow they managed, clearly they had help and I do have my doubts about it even being an actual week.

    Anyway I really do wish for more of an explanation on why the departing couple was chosen as there was none given. Very, very, VERY disappointing, I’ll check out the next couple of eps to see how it goes, otherwise I’ll wait for Top Chef 4.

  2. jouster on February 13, 2008 2:05 pm

    You meant the actress and the jazz drummer, right?Yeah, I agree. I had them down to go too. He seems more concerned with whichever musical act he is going to have, and comes across as not caring about the menu and so on. I thought she made the best of it given how little support she got from him - for example, being told during service that there’d be an hour wait and some menu items wouldn’t be available.

    As for the couple that was eliminated: Jade did quite well under a lot of pressure (the host was - deliberaely I suspect - overly demanding; to her question about whether she should pay for circular tables to be rented, my response would have been, “absolutely!”) but Chris again dodged the tough tasks. His food did look better than the other guy’s though.

    I don’t hold out much long-term hope for the third couple, though. Lloyd needs to really up his pace, though Adwoa is great! But they won’t succeed until he takes the bull by the horns and starts to assert himself.

    Incidentally, I thought the challenge was unfairly run. I think the winners, Chris and Jade, should have had the *choice* of event, since getting the $50/head one was a poisoned chalice. I knew as soon as I saw the hosts that Lloyd and Adwoa would do best of the three.

  3. joe on February 21, 2008 5:13 pm

    The show is not dedicated to an culinary trained audience. Generally, we know they are receiving help, but as long as it entertains, there won`t be any objection.

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