Reality AF: New Food Network Series Proves Chefs Are the Worst + What to Watch This Week
Photo Courtesy of The Food Network
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our new column, Reality AF. Every Monday, Terry Terrones will check in and talk about the state of reality TV, plus provide a Top 5 list of what’s coming up this week that you should not miss.
Chefs are the worst.
Anyone who has ever worked in the food service industry can attest that most chefs are egomaniacal, rude, obsessive, and just unpleasant to work with. They’re usually my-way-or-the-highway types that you’ll find in any type of restaurant, from The French Laundry in Napa Valley to the Denny’s a mile from your house.
And no, this take isn’t based on the hit FX series The Bear or the 3,458 reality cooking shows (rough estimate) on TV right now. I’m speaking from first hand experience as someone who worked in a second tier restaurant (slightly better than a Chili’s) for two years in Denver. My wife, who worked as a hostess and waitress for years in a high-end restaurant in Atlanta, and friends and family members who’ve also worked in food service, hold this opinion as well. So every time the wife and I watch a chef-centric show we know exactly what type of narcissist is on our TV screens. Chefs are the type of people you love to hate.
As if to validate this opinion, the Food Network recently premiered a fascinating new series called, Me or the Menu. The relationship docu-series follows four couples from across the country all in different stages of opening their first restaurant. The program makes it clear this is no easy task. Just check out these excerpts from a press release about the show.
Me or the Menu finds four couples trying to beat the odds of ending up in divorce court, while also navigating the unique challenges of the cutthroat restaurant industry…shines a spotlight on some of the reasons that approximately 60 percent of restaurants fail and nearly 50 percent of marriages end in divorce.
Yikes! You know there’s a good chance for high drama when the word “divorce” is prominently used in the first paragraph of a press release.
Starting your own business is hard. Me or the Menu makes it feel almost impossible. Not because the task itself is so difficult but because chefs are so damn stubborn. A look at the relationship dynamics between the four couples on the show perfectly demonstrates this.
Randi and Jeanette (Brooklyn, NY)
If you look up the phrase “pretentious d-bag” at Urban Dictionary you’ll see a picture of Randi. His pretentious d-baggery starts with spelling his name with an “i” and continues with the name of his restaurant (Leland Eating and Drinking House), his love of oversized hats, the speakeasy concept called Whispers (insert eye roll here) that only seats around 4 people, and the reliance on his fiancee Jeanette as both an ATM and free labor. Randi also makes all sorts of promises he has no intention of keeping, making him the worst.
Nicole and Alan (Houston, TX)
Nicole is a self-taught cook opening a vegan restaurant called Greenio’s. Despite having no industry experience she ignores the sound advice of the professional chef she hires for a pop-up to test her concept for an investor, then walks out before it begins and takes off in her boyfriend Alan’s car, leaving him behind. Alan was ready to propose but is now having doubts and deservedly so. Nicole has Greenio’s aprons, t-shirts, and chef coats yet isn’t even close to opening a restaurant. She has the cart but not the horse and says the word “Greenio’s” about 500 times an episode.
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