The season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares, starring Fishtown’s Hot Potato Cafe, airs tonight at 9 p.m. on Fox. Per the restaurant’s Facebook page, the restaurant is hosting a viewing party at the restaurant from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., where it’s just a “$20 cover to rub elbows with reality television superstars!” It seems Ellen Gray of the Daily News got a sneak preview of the episode and has some bad news for our rep as a great restaurant city…
Gray serves up the bad news:
“It’s best, they say, not to see how the sausage gets made, and the same, it seems, goes for the shepherd’s pie and potato soup, but those who think of Philadelphia as a pretty good restaurant town may cringe at the direction the spotlight’s taking here.”
She also takes issue with the appearance on the episode of a certain PW writer, saying:
“Food critics who strive not to be recognized at the restaurants they’re reviewing also may cringe at the decision by a Philadelphia Weekly writer to be filmed on a repeat visit, but his editors may be mollified by Ramsay’s suggestion that it’s ‘an influential newspaper … [that] closes restaurants, and makes them successful.’”
Except! The certain writer who reviewed the restaurant actually wrote the review while subbing for the regular food critic. Technically, he’s a music critic, not a food critic, and really has no need for anonymity. We’re pretty sure the editors of PW will be way more thrilled than mollified by Ramsay’s great assertion that PW has that much influence.
Earlier: Sneak Peek: Kitchen Nightmares at Fishtown’s Hot Potato
Ellen Gray: A ‘Nightmare’ in Philadelphia [Daily News]
