Gordon Ramsay might have risen to prominence with Hell’s Kitchen, but the show that truly cemented his reign on FOX — and served as the bedrock for a fleet of Ramsay-led shows — is Kitchen Nightmares. Ramsay utilized the concept from his Britain-based showRamsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, where he’d travel to restaurants that were suffering from a lack of business due to substandard conditions, delusional owners, or a combination of the two. Switching to an American format led Ramsay to encounter some truly memorable figures, but they were memorable in the “infamous” sense. One owner wanted to be an actor before opening his pizzeria, and the menu was almost as big as his ego. Another episode saw Ramsay visiting a Soul Food restaurant and finding a dead mouse in the walk-in! (It’s also the episode where the iconic “Finally, some good f-ing food” line comes from).
Kitchen Nightmares is also full of some genuinely tear-jerking moments, as Ramsay helps owners come face to face with some issues beyond the restaurant that might be plaguing them. The best example of Kitchen Nightmares‘ emotional turns is the two-part Season 5 episode dedicated to Burger Kitchen, a California-set restaurant. Ramsay came in to fix a restaurant and ended up bearing witness to one of the most dysfunctional family dynamics on the show, combined with workplace issues and owners who refused to see legitimate issues with the food they were serving.
The ‘Burger Kitchen’ Episode Quickly Spirals Into Chaos
An episode of Kitchen Nightmares usually starts with Ramsay visiting the restaurant during its lunch hours, so he can meet with the owners and get a sense of what he’s dealing with. Burger Kitchen is no different, as he meets with owners Alan and Gen Saffron, as well as their son Daniel. Very quickly, viewers learn that Daniel was left a sizeable trust fund by his grandfather, which Alan dipped into to launch Burger Kitchen — and Daniel makes no bones of the fact that he isn’t a fan of this decision. Alan also refers to himself with the haughty title of “meat sculptor,” bragging that Burger Kitchen has great burgers due to using Wagyu beef; he conveniently leaves out the part where they’re pre-brought and frozen, resulting in burgers that taste dry. Ramsay says as much during his lunchtime visit, including that the burgers aren’t fully cooked through or that the buns are soggy.
Things only escalate when Ramsay asks head chef David Blaine (no relation to the magician) to gather fresh ingredients to cook his own burger. Blaine then delivers a burger that not only looks good but Ramsay enjoys enough to put on the menu for dinner service. Said service is a disaster, with things escalating to the point where Daniel fires Blaine after a shouting match between the two. Before he leaves, Blaine launches some incendiary insults at Gen, which is the precursor to Daniel breaking down and screaming at his parents. This scene is a great example of how Kitchen Nightmares can swing from hilarious to heartbreaking at the drop of a hat. Blaine’s remarks, including recommendations that Gen should look into Prozac, are hilarious if out of line. But seeing Daniel suffer under the weight of a responsibility he didn’t ask for, as well as parents who can’t get out of his way, is enough to pierce the hardest of hearts.
The Saffron Family (Eventually) Come to an Accord
The second half of the “Burger Kitchen” episode isn’t any less chaotic: Ramsay gathers customers who’ve eaten at the restaurant to meet with the owners and talk about what went wrong (Gen pretends to be asleep, while Alan accuses the customers of being part of a conspiracy with Yelp.) Things finally boil over when Gen and Alan get in a shouting match with Daniel’s girlfriend Wendy, triggering another meltdown. But with Ramsay’s guidance, Alan finally starts to back off, letting Daniel run the restaurant his own way.
Though the Burger Kitchen did receive an updated menu and decor, the restaurant shut down in 2012, mere months after the Kitchen Nightmares episode aired. Reviews from Yelp slowly started painting a picture: Burger Kitchen apparently abandoned the menu Ramsay had crafted, with service and food preparation more or less going back to the same stage it was in before his visit. But one major revelation surrounding the Saffron family was uncovered shortly after Burger Kitchen closed, throwing a lot of the Saffron family’s behavior in a new light.
Alan Saffron’s Father Was a Notorious Australian Gangster
Early in Burger Kitchen’s Kitchen Nightmares episode, Alan Saffron gives Ramsay his autobiography, titled Gentle Satan. This plays into the discussion with Daniel and his family, with Ramsay telling Alan he read the book, noticing parallels to how Alan treats David with how his own father treated him. The episode left out the full title of the book, which was called Gentle Satan: Growing Up With Australia’s Most Notorious Crime Boss. That’s right, Alan Saffron’s father, Abe, was one of the most infamous gangsters in Australian history, though he was better known by the nickname “Mr. Sin.” The extent of Abe’s crimes wouldn’t be uncovered until the documentary series Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, which revealed his connection to the fire that broke out at Luna Park in Sydney, Australia in 1979 and killed seven people.
It turns out that criminal activity might run in the family, as Alan’s other son, David, recently went on trial for a number of crimes including money laundering and wire fraud. Like his grandfather, Daniel had his own nickname: “Master D” due to the strip club he ran, and tricked his victims into parting with their money by claiming to have been involved with the creation of Snapchat and Uber. As for Alan Saffron, he passed away due to a heart attack in 2020, while Daniel married Wendy and sued his father for fraud after Burger Kitchen closed in 2013. Out of all the restaurants Ramsay visited on Kitchen Nightmares, Burger Kitchen might be the one with the most tragic ending.
Kitchen Nightmares is available to watch on Tubi in the U.S.