For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, "Hell's Kitchen" is a reality-TV single-elimination cookery contest, hosted by Scottish chef Gordon Ramsay. Known for his hot temper, the celebrity chef's first UK series wasn't called "Gordon Ramsay's Boiling Point" for nothing: He's been known to throw customers out of his upscale London eateries and once hit the tabloid headlines for deliberately skewering the hand of a sous-chef to a chopping board with a kitchen knife. Gordon doesn't suffer fools gladly.
This speaks well of Heather West, who survived the grueling ordeal to emerge the winner of the "Hell's Kitchen" second season, which was filmed over a 28-day period last year at a secret location in L.A. "Doing the show was brutal," she commented in a subsequent interview. "We were sequestered and didn't know where we were. What's more, we had to sleep with the lights on, and they worked us twenty hours a day."
The original plan was that the victor would win an executive chef position at T-Bones Chophouse at the then new Red Rock Resort in Summerlin, but based on Heather's particular talents, it was felt that the property's Italian restaurant would be a better fit and she's now senior chef at Terra Rossa, where guests can see her cooking in the open kitchen five nights a week. She's also added some new dishes to the menu.
Terra Rossa is open from 5-10 p.m. daily. Call 702/797-7576 for reservations.
Photographs appear courtesy of Station Casinos.
