Chef dishes on working in 'Hell's Kitchen'

By Daisy Carrington, amNewYork Deputy Features Editor | dcarrington@am-ny.com

August 8, 2007

When asked about the atmosphere in his kitchen, chef Josh Emett switches from charming and affable to slightly impatient and reserved.

This is understandable, as the New Zealand-born chef, who is chef de cuisine at Gordon Ramsay at the London, is eager to focus on the food, not his boss' notorious temper.

"It's daunting for any young cook to look inside our kitchen and try to imagine what it's like," he says. "We don't run an aggressive kitchen. We run our kitchens in a very firm, but very fair, way. That's just the nature of the kitchen. If it was all rosy, it wouldn't seem right."

On the contrary, Emett, who has worked with Ramsay for the last seven years, finds the atmosphere exhilarating.

"In the beginning, we worked in a small restaurant, and the guys were packed into one kitchen. It was a fantastic kitchen to work in. There was so much real energy in there, and a lot of those guys have stuck with the company, and are now head chefs," Emett says.

Unfortunately for Gordon Ramsay and his team of adrenaline-loving chefs, it's almost impossible to imagine a Ramsay kitchen without having flashbacks to the barking Scotsman that hosts the popular Fox reality show "Hell's Kitchen."

At least that's how it is in the United States. In Britain, Ramsay's reputation has as much to do with his culinary prowess as it does his volatile personality -- Restaurant Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road is one of only three U.K. eateries to be honored with three Michelin stars.

At Gordon Ramsay at the London (the chef's first U.S. venture), Ramsay has a chance to show Americans that the food is the real star of his show.

In order to do that, he needed someone to head the daily operations of his kitchen in a meticulous, visionary and talented way.

This is where Emett comes in. Since taking over the reins of the midtown restaurant, he has reorganized the kitchen and overhauled the menu.

"What's on the plate is a lot more simplistic now," he says. "It's not crowded with flavors. We don't try to create overly complicated menus for the guests to read either. You don't want them coming in and opening the menu, and then saying that they need an interpreter to understand all the dishes."

No bells and whistles -- just your typical, luxurious, fine-dining experience.

Have you had a chance to get out of the kitchen and explore the city?
I've had a good look around. I've got a bike and stuff, so I bike around the city. I ate out quite a bit before I got here. I came over [on] a couple of trips to see a few places and see what's going on.

Do you have any favorite shopping destinations in the city?
I did like the Upper East Side, but that's a bit snobbish, isn't it? The Upper East Side is nice because it's quiet. I'm looking to do a couple of trips up to the [Hunt's Point] Market. I haven't done that much shopping, because I really haven't had the time, which is frustrating.

How is American fine dining different than English fine dining?
I don't know that's a quite difficult question. I think the chefs here cook a little bit differently than the chefs in the U.K.

Is there a difference in how Americans eat or what they order?
It's a little bit different. For example, lunches here are a lot different. Lunches in the U.K. are big, boozy sort-of affairs, with people coming and drinking a couple bottles of red [per table]. And they have a long lunch. Here, nobody drinks during their lunches, and everyone's a little bit more in and out.

Also, the food here is a lot more health conscious than in the U.K. They can be quite big heavy eaters there. They don't mind coming in and having a big lunch then going back to work. God knows how they do it.