It looks that way. I always liked the space in winter with that massive fireplace. Too bad the food and service has never been quite up to par.
The GR Blend episode airs this coming Tuesday January 14th at 9PM on FOX.
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I can’t wait! I have my dvr set and ready to go.
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Reminder that the show is on at 9 PM tonight…
I turned it off after the first 15 minutes. Couldn’t take it any more… Reminds of me why I stopped watching this crap years ago.
Ok so I did watch the whole the thing mainly because:
- My house was in one of the scenes of the area and I swear some of the other scenes were filmed in my backyard
- I wanted to see if I knew anyone in the restaurant - I did know several diners at the before dinner. It seems the after diners may have not been local,
- I’ve met James Avery several times. He is associated with Asbury Festhalle and Biergarten, Bonney Read and worked on GR’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, and
- I know the chef who became one of the primary focuses of show.
Beyond that, I really wasn’t all that impressed.
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Having watched it, it confirms once again how I don’t like Gordon Ramsey. I loved seeing the town in full color! And other than that, meh.
I’m not a GR fan, but since it was a local restaurant that I’ve read/heard about, I stuck with it. Those first 10 minutes were BRUTAL, though… certainly the reason I’m not a fan of these shows. That said, GR seemed to know how to relate and speak to the chef/owners and staff.
Well since there are several comments on the show, I will admit I watched it too. I have a morbid curiosity with Ramsey which kind of drew me in. I will say I do not think this was one of his finer moments. A few observations:
While I can certainly relate to the stress / anxiety of the owner / chef, that “before” kitchen was a fairly accurate representation of how a majority of kitchens sound/work. Perhaps because he was the owner it was a bit of a bully pulpit for him to yell / curse at others without reprisal, but the vast majority of commercial kitchens are not politically correct environments.
If you noticed as GR was going over the ills of the kitchen, they used a still shot of some fruit which was “going bad” but it wasn’t the usual GR going into a walk in box and pulling boxes of rotting fruit or meat contamination etc. two of his favorite things to point out. My gut feeling is the kitchen was probably in pretty good shape and they threw in a few "stock"photo’s of turning fruit for editing purposes.
Also while “gross” to see the chef tasting the food with his finger, that’s a far more common practice than many of you might want to know. Same with using the rag on forehead and plate, while sure it’s “gross” if you noticed in the “after” shots of the kitchen with the owner expediting vs. cooking, one of the female Chef’s were plating scallops using their bare hands/fingers. By the same rite as the above infractions that would be a big “no-no” too (although a common practice) but GR didn’t chastise her for using her bare hands/fingers.
The entire redesign seemed a bit unnecessary - not sure what his deal is with no table clothes?
Notice at the end of the show when they had the guest chef sample the two halibut dishes? He hardly picked one over the other, instead GR stepped in with the reveal that he didn’t cook the one dish. This tells me the owner/chef’s food must not have been too bad to begin with, so perhaps that wasn’t the problem. I don’t know as I’ve never dined there and to be honest I’m skeptical to go now, since it seems they are just following GR’s cheesy new menu vs. anything original of their own.
Bottom line: I think next week will be a far more entertaining episode.
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This was posted on NextDoor:
“We don’t cower to our customers . Especially the obnoxious ones”. That was from a message sent to me from a Manasquan restaurant called Blend On Main. We went there on 6-20 and one of the servers wasn’t wearing a mask. So, trying to be a good guy, I sent them a message through their Facebook page to express my concern. After 3 weeks, they returned my message and said that the server had some type of health exemption through to the Governor’s Executive Order. I replied that maybe she shouldn’t be serving customers. They gave me a BS reply, so I wrote “Facebook or Yelp next” and they replied with “we will see how well that goes for you” and then “we don’t cower to customers- especially obnoxious ones”. I hope they were just having a bad night because ANY other restaurant would have replied differently. I hope they clean up their act, but that’s my last visit for sure. And you know what? The food’s really good. Too bad.
I’ll continue to be stunned by restaurant owners who are this cocky, ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW.
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Gee, I always liked you. Do I have to look at you in a different light now? 
Capitalism is actual voting with your money. There are too many good options to put up with this sort of attitude. Especially given the nature of the original communication.
In these times, especially given my age, if I don’t feel really safe, I immediately walk.
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Not sure if I’m misreading sarcasm, but to be clear, that was something someone else posted on our local NextDoor board; I just thought it was worth sharing on this board.
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I’m not surprised by the attitude from Blend. It just confirms to me that I don’t need to be going there. And I really would like to eat at someplace outside, but if my health is hinging on someone who doesn’t care to follow the rules and the boss isn’t interested either, then that’s a resounding no from me.
But I’m sure many people don’t care as much and will continue to go. I’ve driven past the outside dining and the tables are not 6 feet apart. He just doesn’t care to follow the rules of safe dining.
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And his food isn’t all that good either!!!
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I hope you didn’t think I was being sarcastic.
Yikes yikes yikes. Is this the definition of how to handle everything poorly??
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Wow. Just…wow.
(sent to me by a friend who wondered if it was a joke)
🤦🤦🤦
Not that I went there before but I’ll never go there again.
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