HARPERS FERRY – The day after celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay turned 48 in the Eastern Panhandle where he was filming an episode of his Fox reality show “Hotel Hell,” he took to Facebook to praise the Shepherdstown baker who’d created his birthday cake.
“Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes!” he wrote on his official page. “Thx Pressed Flour for the great cake.”
Alisha Hanlin, who owns Pressed Flour at 111 W. German St., said that when the cake order came in at the last minute, she felt the pressure to get it right.
Ramsay, after all, has been known to make restaurant professionals cry with insults like “My gran could do it better! And she’s dead!” and “I wouldn’t trust you running a bath, let alone a *#!@ing restaurant!”
Hanlin, who opened her storefront in downtown Shepherdstown in April, created Ramsay a lemon buttermilk cake with fresh lemon and ginger, filled with a vanilla bean buttermilk custard and topped with an Italian lemon buttercream frosting.
“I always try to make the best product I possibly can,” Hanlin said, “but knowing that what I was making would come under Chef Ramsay’s scrutiny certainly lit a second fire under me.
“It feels good to be pushed to perform, even when you already always try your best. That’s what kitchen work is all about.”
It’s unclear exactly how Ramsay transformed The Town’s Inn, an eatery and bed and breakfast at 179 High St. that Karan Townsend opened in 2007.
Patrons and other participants sign a waiver promising not to talk about the episode until it airs, and there’s no word yet on when this installment will be broadcast.
But Hanlin, who has worked in the culinary industry for more than a decade, predicts “Hotel Hell” will mean good things for the Inn – and the whole area.
“(Ramsay) was very warm and complimentary, and by my judgment, totally earnest. I do believe that he and his team really do care about the outcome of the businesses with whom they become involved,” she said.
“I could see (his visit) serving as inspiration to some local kitchens. Kitchen people usually excel under pressure and love a good challenge.”
Cindi Dunn, whose gift shop The Vintage Lady is located across the street from The Town’s Inn, calls Ramsay’s visit a boon to Harpers Ferry. He and his film crew had lots of praise for the town’s natural beauty, she said, and in talking with producers and other crew members, she said it’s clear everyone wants to lend a hand.
“This is about more than a show,” Dunn said. “He wants to leave the area/town/hotel in a much better place.”
Ramsay would later pose for a photo with Dunn, but it was a shot she snapped of the chef’s arrival at The Town’s Inn that created a big stir – drawing thousands of shares on the town of Harpers Ferry’s Facebook page as well as a record 1,519 shares on the Spirit’s Facebook page.
On Saturday, Ramsay’s official page included a photo of the chef sitting on a fence in the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park with the caption, “What a beautiful autumn day in West Virginia!” It was shared more than 8,000 times.
Dining and Cooking