Last year when Hammond and I had our one week deluge of media requests due to our willingness to eat cicadas. It was interesting to watch the different media crews go about their business. Our first entrée was the crew from Good Morning America at Marilyn Pocius’ home. There were two cameramen, a producer, an assistant producer and an on-air talent. While they may have had an image in their minds on the outcome, it wasn’t apparent to us. Their shooting was helter skelter enough one couldn’t precisely predict the outcome. Late into this shoot, they commented there would be footage for their segment and stock footage that could be fed to the network for local editing and programming. Consequently our efforts were seen on Good Morning America, local WLS-TV and at least in California. Why California? My good friend Helen was visiting relatives, turned on the television to find my cheery self eating a cicada.
The crew from WTTW’s Chicago Tonight was simply a cameraman and a producer who acted as director and later film editor. They had a well thought out idea of how the piece would evolve with some input from Hammond. While I participated, I spent a lot of time observing and learning. The Chicago Tonight’s filming was linear enough I was pretty sure of the segment’s outcome. I was also far more impressed by their low budget thoughtful approach than their larger budget network associates.
When Louisa Chu recollected for last week’s Chicago Foodway Roundtable meeting her experiences filming with Bourdain as well as for the Diary of a Foodie. It was again the small focused crew on budgets who had to make every effort count. Her first interaction with Bourdain, there was a crew of 5 people: cameraman, producer, assistant producer, driver and Bourdain. The success of his show has allowed the expansion of his crew to a princely 7 people, though I have no recollection what those other two do.
Last Saturday afternoon, Louisa, Helen and I set off to see the Kitchen Nightmare set in LaGrange. Those who reported initially on the Kitchen Nightmare experience had focused on their meals and service details. They commented little on the production environment leading me to believe there were maybe several small crews unobtrusively working there. What a surprise to turn onto Calendar Court to find a small tent city in the municipal parking lot. There were at least 4 heated tents: crew dining, staging area for restaurant guests, equipment and unknown purpose for the 4th. There was a mobile home serving as headquarters, a luxury Kohler his and hers toilet trailer marked ‘production’ and a UPS delivery truck sized portable kitchen. When we casually inquired with a kitchen crew member how many mouths he fed, he shot back it was 60-70. To clarify further I inquired if this was 60-70 meals for the day or 60-70 diners per service, he said 60-70 diners per service.
We approached the intersection before Café 36 to find a police officer redirecting traffic. Just past him was a crane on wheels with robotic camera to film exterior shots. What little crew we saw was indifferently doing their work and taking no notice of us. We walked around noticing nobody challenged us, we then walked up to the restaurant windows trying to look in. Louisa and I walked into the vestibule and could look into the restaurant. We knew they had already changed over the restaurant, though never having been there before could not begin to understand how significant any changes may have been. There was a glass enclosed poster declaring, ‘The New Café 36.’ I wasn’t so much reading it, but studying how to take a picture due to ambient light and glass tendency to reflect. Deep in reflection I didn’t pay much attention to the men who walked in from the street and quickly past us. Louisa far more alert to their presence later advised I missed Gordon Ramsay walking past with a cell phone stuck to his ear. The tail end of the party began a conversation, “What are you doing here? What is so interesting?” Louisa quickly injected, “We were hoping to have dinner tonight.” My mental Mary Jane was ready to blurt, “But your voicemail says you are booked up,” but I hushed her for the moment. This man directed someone to accompany us to the restaurant staging tent to see if arrangements could be made to get us dinner in the restaurant tonight. This was certainly an opportunity we never expected to be offered.
We were handed over to Kevin, the lion at the gate, who was very pleasant. He informed us there was no seating available tonight though he appreciated our interest. Louisa interjected, “There is always a chance a party may not arrive.” Kevin acknowledged this was true, then suggested we could return around 7:30 PM to check if someone indeed did not arrive. With our nose in the tent, Louisa and I went into full colorful characters tag team. Louisa inquired if there was a dress code, Kevin informed us there was no dress code. While Louisa dressed in black looked quite chic was never going to have a problem. I gave a sigh of relief before revealing I was wearing my red ‘Year of the Pig’ shirt from the Pork Council, whose logo I lowered my coat to reveal. Of course I reminded him I could have been dressed even worse! I had considered wearing my black shirt with the big pink pig on the back. Kevin was appearing to warm us to us more and more as we got more and more animated. He again said we should come back at 7:30 and winked. Our spirits rose with the hopes his gesture meant a guarantee of dining in Café 36. Noticing the stack of releases on his table, I inquired what was the protocol. He said after signing the releases, they took a still photo and maybe an on-camera interview that might be used for promotional purposes. We learned signing the release did not obligated us to keep our mouth shut. Kevin said, “We want you to go out there talking up your experience and talking up the show.” We left thrilled there was a chance to dine at Café 36. We were also the only ones who were taking an interest in this production. There were no other gawkers on the street following the production’s progress. Our little trio was just about as close to groupies as could possibly be evidenced, if we could even be defined as such.
We left to tour the vicinity, visit Vie and generally tour LaGrange, which we thought was far more upscale than some prior comments had led us to believe. Upon returning to the staging area a bit after 6 PM, we met Kevin again who reminded us to come around 7:15 PM. Louisa smartly observed that once we are in their clutches, there was no certainty we would be eating very soon. Walking toward the restaurant, we had our second Gordon Ramsay citing. He was on the sidewalk with his arms flailing walking into the restaurant. We could barely make him out in the windows with those arms still flying. A few moments later, Ramsay is back on the street repeating his temperamental entry to the restaurant. We smiled at each other looking forward to whatever antics we might observe up close later.
We opted to share some appetizers and drinks at La Pinta Mexican restaurant directly across from Café 36 commandeering a window table. Again, we were the only people taking an active interest in the production. There were no restaurant patrons, nor crowds or even teenagers hanging out to see the production on the street. Clearly the town was thoroughly unimpressed, because the tent city and equipment did not allow a low profile and yet nobody was there. From our perch, we could see the bottom halves of people dining in Café 36 across the street. There was one restless little boy who was peeking beneath the privacy screen onto the empty street populated only by the crew and camera crane. Our view was partially blocked by an SUV. It ceased to be a problem when the crew rearranged the cars to vary the streetscape, which they did several times during the evening.
Louisa suggested we arrive back to the restaurant staging tent by 7:05 and not much later. She had a keen sense of how to approach this situation better than I, so we followed her lead. When we returned Kevin reported dinner service was already delayed. The people he had camped in the tent may never see dinner, because the crew may decide they’re finished before those customers make it inside. We understood we had a slim chance to get in, thus we were not too terribly disappointed. We gave Kevin our visit cards and he promised to send us an update e-mail sometime soon.
We decided to return to La Pinta Mexican restaurant to continue comfortably observing from their picture window. We found when we returned there was a couple interested in the window seat, too. They had a friend who did have a chance to dine in Café 36 due to her association with the local chamber of commerce, though this woman knew nothing of the show. She visited her friends before going to the restaurant to learn about Gordon Ramsay, how the show is conducted and what to look forward to. This lucky woman spent quite a bit of her visit to Café 36 text messaging to her friends across from us. She also spent the briefest time in the restaurant because they claimed to be out of food. Yet we saw others go later into the restaurant and not come out. I will venture to guess her preoccupation in texting her friend earned her an early dismissal.
Shortly before this woman was dismissed, we had our third Gordon Ramsay citing. Gordon ran from the restaurant with an attendant toward the trailers. A few minutes later he did another quick dash back. While it was chilly outside and certainly time was a premium, the necessity to run seemed more like evasive tactics as if followed by admiring crowds. Except there was nobody else on the street who wasn’t paid to be there and they could care less he just ran past them. The whole scene conjured up comments made about Bourdain’s visit to Chicago a few years ago when maybe two dozen people came for a book signing. Recently there was a long line ringing the store to get his autograph. Despite the movie scene setting, Gordon Ramsay’s star has not yet risen enough to draw crowds. It may be different in the UK, but he hasn’t taken off here.
Our entertaining moments from our window seat would approach watching paint dry in many people’s estimates. The camera crane was positioned to the west of the restaurant, which allowed them to film people walking from behind toward the restaurant. Apparently people’s strolling techniques didn’t appeal to them because the same people kept getting sent back to do it again. Later they moved the camera crane to the east of the entrance to film these very same people approaching the restaurant. Recollecting Kevin’s comments the crew might shut down the restaurant before those in the staging area ate. I was hoping these people were not being teased, then sent home hungry. Eventually over time they finally did go into the restaurant to dine, though there was at least 90 minutes spent walking back and forth periodically. It made us feel somewhat better not to be stuck in that Twilight Zone of oh so near and yet not right now vector.
Eventually the exterior shots were concluded and the equipment was packed up. The manager of La Pinta Mexican restaurant came over to look out the window, too. We asked him what physical changes he had observed to the restaurant’s façade. On the wood carved marquee, he pointed out the words ‘American Bistro’ had been covered with medallions. In the restaurant’s window was a gilt frame with two decorative panels where once the menus were displayed. The windows had been papered over for a day, so he couldn’t comment on any interior design changes. The street now effectively empty, we decided to pay our tab and try to see a bit more from a closer perspective.
Cameras in hand with the flash turned off, Louisa and I started taking pictures of the small changes the manager had observed. We tried to look into the restaurant, though the privacy screen only allowed a dim view. We could barely make out the second half of the restaurant was closed with camera crew and production staff resting. It seemed any production action was coming from the vicinity of the kitchen in the rear. Of course, you really couldn’t make out much, which meant they could hardly be aware of our presence, too.
We were on the edge of departing when we were approached by 4-5 men whose leader said, “What are you doing here? What is so interesting? Why are you taking pictures?” We indicated we were looking around to see what was going on. We were advised to move on, which we didn’t exactly jump to. When the lead person held his hands together in faux pleading, “Please don’t make it difficult. Go home.” When we advised we were doing nothing to obstruct them, he retorted, “We have had to re-shoot three major scenes because of your getting in the way. Are you going to make this difficult?” It was unimaginable we were party to any interference because we very purposefully kept to the fringes. When there was no budge from our side, he said to his colleagues, “Get the police!” A LaGrange police officer came forward to advise we were loitering. Louisa took the lead on this matter inquiring on the definitions of loitering while taking down his name and badge number. What had been an amusing if relatively uneventful evening dissolved into an unpleasant experience as we finally moved on to our car and home.
If Gordon Ramsay was truly a hot commodity, then this protection of his being, the set and environs would be understandable. There was simply no interest taken by the surrounding public beyond the three of us. The crew’s power play seemed more ego driven than by any serious intrusion we may have offered. If you juxtaposition their guarded behavior against Kevin’s suggestion to, “Talk up the show,” they seriously misjudged the situation. If they really wanted to promote the show, then letting those three ladies dine and mingle with Gordon Ramsay would have reaped them dividends.
Louisa learned there will be a surprise visit by Chef Ramsay. I joked if they come this heavily laden with crew and equipment. Cafe 36 will have some advance notice of his visit.
Of course the best part of the evening was my having yet another good story to tell and the delightful company of friends.
La Pinta Restaurant
25 W Calendar Ave,
La Grange, IL
(708) 354-8100
(edit to correct spelling from Ramsey to Ramsay per sundevilpeg)
Regards,
Last edited by
Cathy2 on March 9th, 2008, 8:31 am, edited 2 times in total.