Ramsay is known for two things: his masterful cooking skills and his wild, swear-peppered shouting in the kitchen. In more recent years, the truth has come out on social media that his high-octane and sometimes downright rude demeanor is all an act in good fun, and colleagues have revealed that he’s actually a lovely, inspiring person. But that only makes it more entertaining (and less uncomfortable) to watch Ramsay really let the colorful words rip in the kitchen. This behavior is part of what makes shows like Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen” competition series so compelling. That TV show led to a mini-chain called Hell’s Kitchen, part of the overall restaurant empire Ramsay owns, and now, it seems, the chef’s antics have inspired a dish on the menu at some of those locations.
The Idiot Sandwich is on the menu at three of the seven Hell’s Kitchen spots: Miami, Washington, D.C., and the lavish location at Connecticut’s Foxwoods Casino that opened last year. It sounds delicious: braised short rib, both Gruyère and cheddar cheeses, and roasted mushrooms, all slathered with spicy tomato chutney on sourdough. The name, however, really pulls focus. We expect a tasty dish from Ramsay, and perhaps we should also expect a sandwich named for an insult from the oft-cantankerous chef. The words “idiot sandwich” still warrant both a double take and a chuckle when you’re scanning a Hell’s Kitchen menu, though. As it turns out, there’s more than just Ramsay’s reputation in general behind this menu item’s moniker.
The meme that launched an actual sandwich
Back in 2015, Gordon Ramsay appeared on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” Showing that he’s game to poke fun at himself, he participated in a parody of “Hell’s Kitchen,” in which Corden and Julie Chen Moonves were the competing cooks. As is to be expected, the sketch shows Corden and Chen Moonves causing culinary chaos, and Ramsay blowing multiple fuses over it. In the skit, titled “Hell’s Cafeteria” (via YouTube), he takes two pieces of bread, puts them on either side of Chen Moonves’s face, and makes her say, “I’m an idiot sandwich, Chef Ramsay.” The clip blew up and became a meme, beloved enough that references to it persist nearly a decade later. Ramsay has even said that people bring bread to his cookbook signings asking him to do the same bit he did with Chen Moonves.
Idiot sandwich mania led to merch like earmuffs shaped like bread slices being sold at the Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas location. And in the fall of 2023, Ramsay announced he’d be hosting a competition series on YouTube on which he’d be judging contestants’ different takes on what they think is a great idiot sandwich. It might seem like the winning “idiot sandwich” would be some monstrosity between bread, but Ramsay specified he wanted stellar sandwich recipes. The series is out now to watch on YouTube. If watching it makes you hungry, plan a trip to Foxwoods, Miami, or D.C., where you can feast on arguably the best version of The Idiot Sandwich: Ramsay’s own.
