Laurier Gordon Ramsey, was evacuated due to a sprinkler system malfunction a few hours into the opening night of his new restaurant in Montreal. The restaurant was a well known, former landmark called Rotisserie Laurier. The newly designed space sustained little damage due to the incident and Ramsay, who is also known for his foul-mouth while appearing on cooking shows, instead offered apologies to patrons who were inconvenienced.

On another front; it seems as if Trader Vic’s will be opening in an undisclosed location somewhere in Los Angeles in 2009, presumably on the Westside?

Yamashiro Restaurant, situated off of Franklin Ave. in Hollywood, is now an official landmark along with the Magic Castle. The land is now on the market however, if the property is sold the buyer cannot demolish either structure.
CC Commons photo by Flickr user CC Chapman

It appears that Gordon Ramsay is struggling with problems at his Restaurant, Gordon Ramsey in the London Hotel West Hollywood. This is an inevitable occurrence in every newly opened restaurant operation. It was mentioned in the press that after the opening night soirée at his restaurant he was spotted dining with David Beckham at Cut in Beverly Hills. His reply, “the staff are under enough pressure without my looking over their shoulders.”

My friend of many years, Michel Richard, has opened a restaurant in Los Angeles called Citrus at Social located on the site of the former Hollywood Athletic Club. He also owns Citronelle in Washington D.C. and a new casual-style operation called Central in Washington D.C. both of which are doing extremely well. He will not be moving to Los Angeles quite yet but will monitor the new restaurant by visiting himself or sending a chef monthly to check on the operation. . .

On Hollywood Blvd and Ivar Tod English’s new Latin-style restaurant Beso, helped out by heavy, publicity hype due to the involvement of investor Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) is opening to lukewarm – to really “horrible” reviews.

Gordon Ramsay, the three-star Michelin chef is one of the most prominent of those who have already opened ventures overseas, and is now in the process of opening another series of restaurants destined for foreign capitals. In his case, the Los Angeles restaurant is under construction and poised to open March 2008 in the London Hotel called, not surprisingly, Gordon Ramsay.

It was not hard to understand that most of these new ventures are targeting the Middle East in cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates; as there are a plethora of investors ready to take the plunge and even more well-heeled customers anxious to make a booking.

Expanding globally is not without its risks, as it is difficult enough to open another branch across the city, not to mention halfway around the globe.

Mr. Ramsay will have his work cut out for him to convince the French that a Brit can succeed in Michelin-starred turf when he opens this spring in Versailles, a short distance from Paris, at the Trianon Palace.