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El Greco: The most heartbreaking “Kitchen Nightmares” of all time?
Ouch.
After hearing months of chatter about Austin restaurant El Greco’s appearance on Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares,” the episode finally debuted last Friday night and it was everything I’d hoped it wouldn’t be.
The family that owned the business didn’t look like much of a family at all, with son/chef Jake Konstantinidis cussing at his mom, Athina, and aunt all the way up until the “make nice” segment, which even Ramsay said he wasn’t sure was going to happen. We find out that Athina and the rest of the family had poured $800,000 into the restaurant since opening it in 2007 and that Jake, who only showed up a few hours a day, was insisting that the food be reheated in the microwave.
After much yelling and name-calling (often times in Greek, with subtitles), the family appeared to have reconciled, and all the way until 35 seconds before the end of the episode, the production team led us to believe that things were looking up for both the family and the restaurant. “In the months that followed, El Greco received positive feedback from the community, and it appeared as though the restaurant was going to be turned around,” the narrator tells us. “But Jake and Athina’s insurmountable debt was too much to overcome and the mother and son were forced to close El Greco.”
No one in Austin had been able to confirm with the El Greco folks that they’d closed the restaurant for good, but customers had been reporting since mid-December that the restaurant hasn’t been open.
Julio-Cesar Florez, the chef behind the newly opened Gusto Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar, says that Anthony, one of El Greco’s primary cooks, is now “doing well” as a cook at his restaurant.
Although it’s interesting to read the back-and-forth on the restaurant’s Facebook page and on a few of the Chowhound boards about who is to blame for the restaurant’s closure and how much Ramsay’s intervention either helped or hurt the restaurant, all we know for sure is that an Austin family has closed a restaurant that they put a lot of money and emotional and physical effort into.
I haven’t been able to get a hold of the Konstantinidis family or any of the other staff to find out how they are doing, but I wish them well. If it was hard for us to watch, I can’t imagine how hard it was for them to see themselves through the lens of a national production team that won’t ever have a lack of struggling restaurants who want to be featured.
Photos from Fox.com.
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By Alexandratx
January 24, 2012 1:41 PM | Link to this
Agreed, Addie. This was a super sad episode with no good outcome.
By mollyjade
January 24, 2012 2:11 PM | Link to this
The episode was so hard to watch.
By Nate
January 24, 2012 2:29 PM | Link to this
This is the first one I’ve seen where they actually said they went out of business. But I’ve read about a few of them that have gone out of business after the Ramsey flare went away.
By Realistic
January 25, 2012 9:14 AM | Link to this
This has nothing to do with food. It is about a really bad reality show. When is the AAS going to get a real food writer?
By Emma
January 25, 2012 9:19 AM | Link to this
I wouldn’t really call them an “Austin family” nor do I think they would appreciate it since they’re really a Greek family. They moved here, what, 4 years ago?
That was a difficult episode to watch, both for how bad food can be (I’ll be looking in kictchens from now on for “Chef Mike”) and for how bad the family relationships were.
I hadn’t heard of El Greco and couldn’t really tell where it was other than in a newish looking shopping center on Guadalupe, so it’s no real disappointment to me. Niko Niko’s in Houston is still the best Greek foor around.
By jimmi
January 25, 2012 11:20 AM | Link to this
Why didn’t Ramsey investigate Jake’s video game addiction that was reportedly keeping him away from the restaurant?
By Big John
January 25, 2012 1:29 PM | Link to this
Good question jimmi- I wonder why Ramsey never confronted Jake on that.
It would seem something like that would be right up Ramsey’s alley and allow him to denegrate and criticize Jake for destroying his restaurant, his mom’s investment, the financial well-being of his employees, etc., for the sake of playing a childish video game.
My take on this (I’m 35) - no adult should play video games. Grow the F#*K up for crying out loud.
By J
January 25, 2012 3:48 PM | Link to this
I’ve spent a lot of time in Greece, and the food El Greco served was about on par for an average, relatively inexpensive tourist taverna- not fine dining, but a decent representation. I’m sure Gordon Ramsey has never eaten at a place like that, but as a poor student looking for pastitsio and dolmades, I did. I liked the food at El Greco quite a bit, but I admit I stopped going because it was a little too expensive for the level of service. Plus, I personally witnessed Jake yelling at his employees (not just his mother and aunt) and storming out to talk on his phone for twenty minutes at a time on the patio, and it made me uncomfortable. Good to hear about Anthony- I felt bad for him and the main server guy whose name I forget during the yelling incident I saw.