Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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To ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ And Back

Posted Aug 16, 2006 by Jeff Houck

Updated Aug 16, 2006 at 06:32 PM

So the winner of the “Hell’s Kitchen” finale, for those who missed it, was Heather, the 25-year-old sous chef from New York. (above, left)

The finale pitted her against, Virginia, a salad chef who, shall we say, was a few crutons short of a full Caesar.

Host Gordon Ramsay gave the women a chance to design their own restaurant (with two days of prep) and create their own menu.

Virginia went for a water theme. Heather went for an elegant motif, albeit one with graffiti on the walls. Oh, and her fact projected on one wall.

Virginia’s service was, predictably, a mess. She picked a bad crew to work with, didn’t order them in a commanding tone and ultimately lost control of her evening. Oh, and the waterfall she asked for turned out to be a minor fiasco. (Everyone knows there are two rules: Never get involved in a land war in Asia and never install “Waterworld” in a restaurant.)

Despite accusations by a previous chef that Ramsay only wanted Virginia in the finals so he could sleep with her, he ultimately chose Heather for the flavor of the food, her attention to quality control and for keeping her line of chefs in order.

Can Heather run a multimillion-dollar restaurant in a Las Vegas casino?

Stay tuned.