Ramsay, Gordon

▪ 2009

born Nov. 8, 1966, Glasgow, Scot.

 Notorious for his fiery temper and for his outbursts of profanities in the kitchen—and celebrated for his passion for fresh locally grown seasonal ingredients—world-renowned British chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay continued to expand his culinary empire in 2008. Early in the year he opened Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food (in the new Terminal 5 of London's Heathrow Airport) and Gordon Ramsay au Trianon (in Versailles outside Paris). He also announced plans to open restaurants in such far-flung cities as Amsterdam and Melbourne, adding to those in London, New York City, Los Angeles, Prague, Tokyo, Dubai, and County Wicklow, Ire.

      Ramsay was born in Scotland and raised in Stratford-Upon-Avon after his family moved to England. There he played association football (soccer) for Oxford United. At the age of 15 Ramsay was recruited by the Scottish Premier League Glasgow Rangers, but a knee injury ended his three-year stint (1982–85) with the team. After earning (1987) a higher national diploma in hotel management from North Oxon Technical College, he moved to London and began honing his culinary skills under chef Marco Pierre White at the restaurant Harvey's and under chef Albert Roux at La Gavroche. During the early 1990s Ramsay traveled to France, where he prepared classic French cuisine in the kitchens of master chefs Joël Robuchon and Guy Savoy. In 1993 Ramsay returned to London and became head chef of Aubergine, which by 1996 had won two Michelin stars.

      In 1998 he embarked on running his own restaurant, the acclaimed Gordon Ramsay, which within three years had won its third Michelin star (the Guide Michelin's highest honour) and been acclaimed as one of the best restaurants in the world. In 1999 he opened Pétrus, which earned a Michelin star within seven months, and in 2001 he established Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, which won a Michelin star two years later. A growing succession of Michelin star-winning restaurants followed, including the Savoy Grill, the Boxwood Café, Menu, the Grill Room, Maze, and La Noisette. In 2001 he launched his first international restaurant, Verre, in Dubai. His first American location, Gordon Ramsay at the London, opened in 2006 in New York City.

      In addition to his multimillion-dollar restaurant business, Ramsay achieved star status as a television personality. In 2004 he launched the BAFTA Award-winning series Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, in which he endeavoured to turn failing restaurants into profitable enterprises. Later that year he introduced Hell's Kitchen, in which he took on the challenge of turning aspiring restaurateurs into quality chefs. The F-Word (a pun on the word food and Ramsay's well-known fondness for a particular expletive) premiered in 2005.

      Ramsay authored several best-selling cookbooks, including Passion for Flavour (1996), Passion for Seafood (1999), A Chef for All Seasons (2000), Just Desserts (2001), Secrets (2003), and Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy (2005), as well as the autobiography Humble Pie (2006). He was made OBE in 2006.

Barbara A. Schreiber

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