According to local newspaper The Montreal Gazette, the Laurier Gordon Ramsay will now be known just as the Laurier. The rotisserie chicken restaurant — which has been a Montreal institution for 76 years — is dropping Ramsay’s star-powered name just seven months after the chef’s first foray into Canada.
“We wish Gordon all the best, but he’s a big star and too busy to come to the restaurant,” owner Danny Lavy told the Gazette in a story published February 16.
After parachuting into the city in August for a whirlwind media blitz, the owner said that Ramsay has been missing in action and that the visions between the two camps clashed from the outset of the partnership.
His lack of presence has also been a continuous disappointment for diners hoping to meet the celebrity chef, Lavy said.
Ramsay’s people, meanwhile, maintain that he’s gone above and beyond their contractual obligations.
It’s not the first time Ramsay has run into trouble with his international outposts. In Australia, the Michelin-starred chef, perhaps best known for his explosive temper and expletive-laced diatribes on TV, left behind a financial mess after shuttering his two Melbourne restaurants Maze and Maze Grill, which reportedly owed US$4.6 million (RM14.07 million) to its local suppliers.
Earlier this year, Ramsay announced he will be opening his first Las Vegas outpost at the Paris Las Vegas casino, to be called Gordon Ramsay Steak. — Reuters
