"It's raw fish, SLICED!"

Semi-enjoyed the season finale last night of Hell's Kitchen, a reality show on Fox that was (like a lot of reality tv) good, dumb fun. I say "semi-enjoyed" because I had been hopeful that Kevin "K-Grease" would pull out the win, but I also thought Heather was the clear favorite from the second week or so. Glad Virginia didn't smile her way into her own restaurant.


Here's a surprise: this is the restaurant where Heather is now the executive chef. How do I know this? Certainly not from the casino or show websites; not a single mention anywhere on either. Doesn't that seem odd? I guess if the Red Rock is trying for upscale, maybe they don't want to advertise that their exec chef is a reality contest winner, but still...I would think they would advertise this a little bit?

So how did I figure it out? I called the Red Rock Casino reservations line and asked; the woman who answered had no idea what I was talking about, nor had she ever heard of the television show, but put me on hold while she asked her supervisor. She came back on the line to tell me that it is the chop house, and then added, "But sir, you know that Hell's Kitchen isn't a real restaurant, right?" I appreciate that the Red Rock is concerned about my ability to differentiate between fiction and reality. I'll remember that when I go to their pool and can't figure out where all the half-naked models are, the ones I see cavorting (that's right, cavorting) on their commercials.