Gordon Ramsay, the incendiary Scottish chef, was pranked recently, according to an article published on the Daily Mail’s website. Ramsay opened his new restaurant, Heddon Street Kitchen in London’s tony Mayfair section, a couple of weeks ago with a full roster of reservations on the books. But, according to Ramsay, the ressies were fake, made by a rival chef or enemy. According to the article, 140 reservations were expected but only 40 showed up. Ramsay has not said who he thinks the prankster might have been. Trouble is, how does he begin to narrow down who that enemy might be — he’s made so many over the years.

I avoid Ramsay’s restaurants. He may be an excellent chef, but he’s quite obviously not a nice person. I have the freedom to spend my money where I want; why would I want to give it to the likes of him?

I was first put off on Ramsay when the Sentinel asked me to do a review of the second season of Hell’s Kitchen many, many years ago. I had not watched the first season, and after viewing the review copy of the first couple of episodes that were to air shortly, I literally felt sick to my stomach. There’s no excuse for someone to treat people that way. Watching Hell’s Kitchen also put me off of “reality” cooking shows forever. People are always surprised when the mention an episode of this cooking show or that chef program and I tell them I’ve never seen any of them. I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.