The Kitchen Nightmares moments where Gordon likes the food: once, he even cleared the plate
Across the British and American runs, Gordon Ramsay has spat food into napkins, tipped plates into bins, and — at a soul food restaurant in New Jersey — gone to the lavatory to be sick. Approval is the exception, and fans have spent years cataloguing it.
The clearest example comes from a 40-seater near Brighton seafront.
The one where he cleared the plate
Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares series 2, episode 3, first shown on Channel 4 on 7 June 2005. Owner Charita Jones was working seven days a week, £65,000 in debt, with an empty dining room midweek. The food was never the problem.
Ramsay started with catfish goujons and homemade pineapple salsa, which he called light. Then came a platter of ribs, chicken, and succotash — and he emptied it. His fix was to build the midweek offer around exactly that: a fixed "soul in a bowl" table rather than a full menu.
The desserts that rescued a meal
Most of Ramsay's genuine praise on the show lands at the end of the meal:
- Bazzini, Ridgewood, New Jersey (aired 5 February 2010) — the carrot cake was so good he asked for the recipe. Baker Sharyn went on to open her own bakery.
- Blackberry's, Plainfield, New Jersey (US series 5) — after a dry pork chop, microwaved mac and cheese, limp collard greens, and chitlins that sent him to the bathroom, the red velvet cake made by Mary turned the meal around.
- The Handlebar — the chowder was well seasoned and, by his account, exactly right for a winter's day.
- Momma Cherri's revisit (2006) — chef Brian Moyo's new lamb cutlets with beetroot salsa also got a pass.
The Blackberry's verdict has become the most quoted line of the lot:
"Finally, some good f***ing food," Ramsay said on camera in the 2011 episode.
Why it happens so rarely
The format selects for failure. Restaurants apply to the programme because they're weeks from closing, and the kitchen is usually the reason. The British run has a slightly better hit rate than the American one — smaller kitchens, often one competent cook, and fewer freezer-to-microwave menus.
For the record: Charita Jones published Momma Cherri's Soul in a Bowl Cookbook in 2007, including her Cajun seasoning blend, "Love Dust".
Readers bought it specifically to reverse-engineer the plate Ramsay finished.