Waking up from a Kitchen Nightmare

The visited the Spanish Pavillion things didn’t exactly go smoothly.

The notoriously mercurial celebrity chef and reality show host had a laundry list of criticisms for the Harrison Spanish restaurant. Filming what became the season opener of “Kitchen Nightmares” at the restaurant, Ramsay upbraided the owners, Springfield Township Committee member Jerry Fernandez and his brother Michael, for squabbling with each other, offering uninspired fare and improperly maintaining their facilities.

And, perhaps most memorably, he found a live pigeon in their kitchen and a dead lobster in their tank.

Ramsay’s second visit, by contrast, was all smiles.

“He was very, very positive,” Fernandez said.

Ramsay returned with his crew last month to film a follow-up episode about the Spanish Pavillion to find all of the shellfish was living and all of the birds were outside of the building.

“He said a couple of times that there weren’t any dead lobsters,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez said that Ramsay was complimentary about the food and the atmosphere. 

Ramsay also returned to find the fraternal tension dialed down considerably than his last visit. The tension between the Fernandez brothers was a major part of the original show. Since then, Michael Fernandez has left the restaurant to take a job with the Cheesecake Factory chain.

Fernandez was mixed on the results of having his restaurant take part in the show. The restaurant was in a slump before the show aired, and the Fernandez brothers hoped being in the spotlight would invigorate the business.

Fernandez said the publicity drew in curious new patrons and that the menu and decorative suggestions were largely positive, but the negative portrayal of the Pavillion kept some regulars away during a time when restaurants were experiencing a slump overall. 

Fernandez hoped the return show would provide doubters with any reassurance they would need.

The show is slated to air in September.