Shhhh … don’t tell Gordon Ramsay.
There’s going to be some belly dancing action inside the brick walls of Prohibition Gastropub.
Uh-oh. What’s up with that?
It has been more than two years since the mouthy “Kitchen Nightmares” chef came to Everett to save Rishi Brown’s struggling downtown restaurant. He changed the name, revamped the menu and scolded the owner, who’d been mixing her belly dancing passion with business.
“He said my business was not a belly dance, it was a belly flop,” Rishi said. “He made me solemnly swear I would never have belly dancing here again.”
He did his usual swearing as well in the Rishi-Ramsay show that went on behind closed doors at 1414 Hewitt Ave., protected by a base camp of white trucks and security guards keeping fans at bay.
The weeklong makeover itself in December 2012 was a stressful nightmare for Rishi, whose flaws and failings were exposed. But it did the trick. The outcome was a success. The show was a hit. The clip of Rishi trying to explain soup of the day went viral.
Ramsay came back to the scene of the culinary crime seven months later for a revisit episode. He was nice this time. He and Rishi hugged and laughed. He signed autographs. He even signed a fan’s prosthetic leg.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson proclaimed July 31, 2013, as “Prohibition Gastropub Appreciation Day.”
Rishi kept her belly dance sideline going but kept it out of her gastropub … until now.
Bare bellies are not back on the menu. It’s only for one night, May 31, with dancers Suzanna, Amalia and Roxy performing to a live Egyptian band.
Dinner will be served. You can order the bourbon glazed pork shoulder that melts in your mouth and other Ramsay-inspired fare.
Rishi has only good things to say about that 2012 nightmare on Hewitt. She calls Ramsay the best chef ever and credits him with saving the eatery she opened in 2008.
Seems he’s pretty sweet on her as well. He invited her to Tinseltown to the April 22 party celebrating his 500th show taping at Fox TV (#ramsay500), where he’s gone from cussing out restaurant owners to coddling kids in his new series “MasterChef Junior.”
“We were one of only three restaurants that got invited,” Rishi said. “It was fantastic to see him. He told me he was proud of me for following through with his recommendations.”
What did Ramsay say about her upcoming belly dancing event?
“I didn’t tell him,” she said. “He didn’t ask.”
Send What’s Up With That? suggestions to Andrea Brown at 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
Read more What’s Up With That? at www.heraldnet.com/whatsup.
Bare bellies, Gordon Ramsay, glazed pork shoulders, oh my. #ramsay500 http://t.co/ZTLxZzArkJ pic.twitter.com/U69SKRsmzp
— Andrea Brown (@reporterbrown) May 29, 2015
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