Hell’s Kitchen Coverage: Bad Burgers

It’s a dining room full of restaurant pros and burgers in this episode of “Hell’s Kitchen.”

This episode started with Ramsay asking the chefs what entrée is going on more and more five-star restaurant menus. Cyndi had no idea, Jon said pork shank and Ja’Nel said sweet breads, liver and kidneys. The answer was burgers. That question was for the day’s challenge.

That challenge was to create a gourmet burger. The guest judges were Jean-Philippe and an entire dining room of maitre Ds, general managers and sommeliers. Now that’s a tough group of judges.

For this challenge, Mary made a short rib burger; Cyndi made an American Wagyu burger; Susan made a “healthy” burger; Ja’Nel made a salmon burger and Jon made a Roman burger (his goal was something like a Caesar salad, but it’s a burger.) Each chef also had to sell their burger to each table. Mary constantly kept calling her burger “creamy.”

Once the voting was done, the worst burger was Susan’s (she even said she rarely makes burgers) and the best was Jon’s. His reward was a day at the spa. He also could choose who he wanted to come with him. He chose Cyndi. The rest of the chefs had to do some chores provided by Jean-Philippe. He had one of those cartoonishly long lists that reach the floor. The chores included ironing tablecloths, polishing silverware and washing his car. His car was full of bird droppings, by the way.

As is usual in these situations, somebody had to take charge. Ja’Nel was that person and she annoyed the other chefs.

This was the first time this season where the chefs would be cooking from one kitchen to serve the entire dining room. Everything went well until actor Antonio Sabato Jr. came into “Hell’s Kitchen.” The entire dining room was booked and there was no room for him. So Ramsay decided to put him in the chef’s table.

After that Ja’Nel promptly made a risotto that was “mush.” This destroyed the food flow and most of the dinning room did not have their appetizers. Among these guests were Challen Cates (“Big Time Rush”) and Ashley Fink (“Glee.”) Mary would then make two slider greasy and one without the patty. Yes, she forgot to put a patty inside a slider bun. Ramsay really gave her an earful. The patty she then gave Ramsay was dry. She would then make a cod that was burned on one side.

Susan even got an earful. It started with her burning the garnish for a cod and then she started calling out entrees. These entrees were for a table that didn’t even have their appetizers yet. Ramsay got so fed up that he told her to take over and left. Truth be told, Susan did a pretty good job at the pass. Ramsay did eventually return to take over.

Ramsay was understandably upset that they had a lousy service directly after a perfect service. As usual, the chefs had to choose two people for elimination. Obviously they chose Susan and Mary. They also chose Ja’Nel for some reason. Susan got the axe.

It’s astonishing that Susan lasted this long. It’s also astonishing that Mary is still in the running. She started off terribly, improved and then took a nose dive. It’s looking like anyone except Mary could win this. It’s a hard choice between Jon, Ja’Nel and Cyndi. Both have improved tremendously.