Foodies and even people with less polished palates likely know the name Gordon Ramsay.
The Scottish chef/restaurateur/author/TV personality is best known from his take-no-prisoners shows like “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares,” where he’s been known to spit out a badly done dish as he subjects the cook to a withering diatribe – all before thousands of eyes around the globe.
But when Ramsay and his production company waltzed into Caffe Boa Ahwatukee Italian Restaurant at 5063 E. Elliot Road on the southwest corner of 48th Street last February, he became a kitchen tyrant-turned-Santa.
At 8 p.m. May 28 on Fox 10 Phoenix, people will see why in the second installment of his new show, “Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service.”
Ramsay’s production company and Fox chose Caffe Boa for a show that “gathers raw, unfiltered evidence and gets a 360-degree view of the major issues facing each restaurant.”
Then it transforms the establishment from top to bottom with a re-do that leaves no fork unturned.
“They completely re-did it,” said Patrick Larson, who has owned Caffe Boa for four years with his wife Jenni and his long-time friend, Danny Aceto.
“The whole dining room is painted. All of the tables and chairs are new. Ceiling fans, chandeliers, curtains, lighting, every bar stool are all new. We have all new art and decor and shelving and wainscoting across the restaurant,” he said.
“We had two walk-in refrigerators at one point, and one stopped working long before we bought the place. We were just using it for extra dry storage because the restaurant’s very small. There’s not a lot of things places for things, but they ended up fixing it and a walk-in is very expensive to fix.
“They brought in a new stovetop and oven, and all the plates have been replaced – and the glassware, silverware and pots and pans and all the different kitchen equipment, like food processors and immersion blenders.”
Larson said he was skeptical when he got an email early this year from a casting company that said it was looking for restaurants in the Phoenix area that needed to be refreshed.
“It came from a Gmail address, so I was a little hesitant that it would be some sort of scam or something, but I just decided to respond and schedule a call with them, and if they don’t ask me for bank account information or my Social Security number, I’d see where it went.”
After several Zoom interviews, he waited anxiously, knowing the casting company also was interviewing other restaurateurs in the Valley.
“They decided they liked our story and they picked us and another Phoenix restaurant, Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Café.”
Beaming with pride over the Gordon Ramsay makeover at Caffe Boa are co-owners Danny Aceto, Patrick Larson and Larson’s wife, Jenni.
(Alan Staats/ AFN Contributor)
Larson said the casting company liked the fact that “we do have a good story because the story relies heavily on our family and creating a legacy for Charlotte,” the Larsons’ 4-year-old daughter.
“They were almost more interested in not so much the physical condition of the restaurant, but more in the back story on how the restaurant came to be and how much money we are making and what’s going to happen to the restaurant and our family if we don’t get this refresh and don’t increase sales,” Larson added.
On Saturday, Feb. 1, Ramsay’s people swept into Caffe Boa and ordered everyone – including the Larsons – to leave.
“That’s when they put all the cameras in the restaurant.”
“They came in at 4 o’clock and worked through the night,” said Larson, “and about 4 p.m. the next day they let us back in for the big reveal. It’s all built on that surprise.”
The crew – which told Larson the renovation cost about $70,000 – brought in people for dinner that Sunday, Feb. 2, even though the restaurant is normally dark on Sundays.
Chef Christian Scott busily prepared a lunch order last week at Caffe Boa in Ahwatukee.
(Alan Staats/AFN Contributor)
“They brought in people they found on Facebook or whether so they could film us working and see what the customers were saying, how the employees were getting along, what bottlenecks in service there were.”
On the following day, the same thing happened for lunch as the crew brought in another group of patrons culled from social media – “and that’s when we got some complaints from these quote-unquote ‘customers,’” Larson said.
On Feb. 3, he recalled, Ramsay himself walked in.
“I went up to him, shook his hand, introduced myself, and …he basically shouts that he’s shutting the restaurant down, and he kicks all the customers out,” Larson said.
The show then flips back in time to two days earlier, showing the crew working through the night to transform Caffe Boa with a top-to-bottom update.
Larson said Ramsay “never broke character” while he was in the restaurant and maintained some of his his trademark crankiness.
“He tells us all of the things we are doing wrong,” Larson said. “We argue. He storms off, saying I might be too stuck in my ways to change. Comes back a little bit later. We talk again and he says “OK, I’m going to help you.”
Still, Larson added, “I think he’s calmed down a little bit” from his earlier TV series, though he didn’t want to elaborate with too many spoilers for people who tune into the show.
“I don’t think he’s throwing pots and pans and insulting me but part of the reason I was OK with doing this type of show is because I know how these shows go,” Larson said. “They come in and tell you what’s broken and they wave their magic wand, fix everything and then they all live happily ever after. So I’m not expecting anything different from that in our episode.”
And Larson is grateful to Ramsay and his crew, explaining he’s been spending most of his time on the restaurant’s processes and hasn’t had the time or money to worry about how his restaurant looked.
“We knew it was outdated and needed a brighter look, but not being interior designers, we didn’t know where to start and we really didn’t have the budget for that.”
“So that’s why we jumped on this opportunity and tried to do everything we could to get selected.”
For people who want to get a first-hand look at what Ramsay did for Caffe Boa, reservations can be made at 480-893-3331or caffeboa.com.
Judy Garland popularized a 1931 song titled “Life Is Just A Bowl of Cherries,” but Caffe Boa co-owner Patrick Larson would beg to disagree a bit.