Restaurant makeovers remain one of the most popular categories of reality TV. The best known, Kitchen Nightmares, featuring Gordon Ramsay, now in its 5th season, taped two episodes in the Pacific Northwest last December; the show devoted to Prohibition Grille in Everett airs on Friday at 8 on Q13 Fox. This week, Cornichon takes you behind the scenes.
Yesterday's post introduced the "dinner show" at Prohibition Grille in Everett: a conga-line of women in gold-lamé bikinis and finger-cymbals.
It didn't quite come off. Gordon Ramsay certainly didn't buy it, no matter how good the intentions of lead dancer (and restaurant owner) Darlene "Rishi" Brown..
Belly dancing is certainly a traditional form of tableside entertainment; in and of itself, it's as valid as a jazz combo or a blues singer. Yet there's more than a little difference between a pretend-speakeasy overlooking an industrial waterfront and a tent in the desert.
But in the smoke-free air-conditioned back room where Cornichon and guest were sitting, the decor was marred only by a sorely neglected ficus. Service was cheerful, and the conversation lively.
We were enjoying a plate of pork "wings," smoked and braised shanks accompanied by a big dollop of restaurant-supply coleslaw and a slab of corn bread, when the percussive sounds of a kitchen confrontation in the front half of the building broke through.
"The restaurant is being shut down," came the announcement. "Stop eating!" Chef Ramsay, in the kitchen with camera teams and sound men following his every move, had apparently found something untoward.
It's not difficult to shut down a restaurant; you can find some sort of health code violation if you look hard enough. We don't know what it was; that will be "revealed" on Friday.
So our first night at Prohibition Grille ends on an uncertain note. Act One is over; now it's time for the physical makeover. As for the personal drama, that's churning as well.
What was Prohibition Grille's flaw? It is (or was, pre-makeover) a old-fashioned bar & grill, the sort of place where a lot of the "fresh" food comes in the back door frozen, and moves via the fryer onto the customer's plate. On trips to research wine-country guidebooks three decades ago, I would have been happy to find well-lighted diners like this, with predictable food. But that's no longer good enough. Stay tuned: tomorrow we take you behind the curtain.
Prohibition Grille, 1414 Hewitt Ave, Everett, 425-258-6100
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