Gargoyles On The Square chef Jason Santos will appear on this season of Hell’s Kitchen. “I’m super psyched,” Santos tells us. “It was definitely a unique experience. When it’s good, it’s really good and when it’s bad, it’s really bad — there’s a reason they call it Hell’s Kitchen.”
Though Santos is the former executive chef of Tremont 647, he didn’t ask Tremont’s owner (and former Hell’s Kitchen contestant) Andy Husbands for words of wisdom. “I actually told Andy I didn’t make the show because I didn’t want any advice. If he had said “oh, this is how it’s going to be,” I would have dwelled on it. I wanted to go in with an open mind.
Santos candidly admits that “in all honesty, I did the show because I wanted to be on TV. You go from being a local guy to being a national figure almost immediately. I don’t care about being famous, but I’m a very social guy. I love doing interviews and I love putting myself out there. I’d love my own TV show, but I’d only do it if I could be myself. I don’t want to be talking about, like, sustainable grapevines because I don’t care.”
Hell’s Kitchen premieres on June 1. Gargoyles on the Square will host a viewing party that night, at which Santos will serve up three courses of food he made on the show. Dinner will cost $60 and reservations may be made by calling the restaurant. Here’s hoping Santos does better than his old boss did: Andy Husbands was eliminated after nine episodes.
