CABOT — Entering the front doors of Lulav just up the stairs to the left, a group of close friends and family gathered in the VIP room of the Little Rock restaurant to watch Hell’s Kitchen.
The evening began with a champagne toast to kick off the two-hour season premier of the show in which Lulav’s executive chef, Lewis Curtis of Cabot, was a contestant.
It was an emotional night as Curtis, who wore his “blue team” Hell’s Kitchen chef’s coat, and his mother, Barbara Armstrong of El Paso, who wore red horns on her head, greeted guests.
Everyone gathered around the flat-screen television as the show began with the chefs preparing their signature dishes for Chef Gordon Ramsay.
Sadly, Ramsay didn’t like Curtis’ lemon rosemary chicken with herb-infused butter, sautéed asparagus and rice pilaf.
“My dish sat there for 45 minutes,” Curtis told the group. “It was dry; what do you expect?”
The group watching the TV show in the VIP room was served Curtis’ signature dish and praised him for such a tasty entree, despite Ramsay’s bleeped comment on the show.
After the commercial break, the group turned its attention back to the show to witness Ramsay throwing one of his classic fits about a soggy salad that one of the chefs brought to him, and he smashed the plate onto the floor of the show’s kitchen.
“My dish was ruined,” Curtis told the group about the shards of that broken plate that landed in his food. “It may not show this, but the three entrees I did were the only ones that got presented that night [at the dinner service].”
As the first episode of the program concluded, in the show Curtis seemed relieved that he made it through week 1. It was the second one-hour episode that followed where he ran into trouble when he attempted to prepare sushi on the show.
The 16 chefs on the show got a lesson in preparing sushi from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto prior to doing it on their own. Admittedly, it was more difficult to make perfect sushi than Curtis thought.
It was getting close to the end of the show, and Curtis began to exhibit signs of disappointment. It was during the last commercial break when Armstrong stood up to talk to the group gathered to watch the drama.
“He has had such a passion for cooking since he was 10 years old,” Armstrong said about her son.
Curtis stood next to his mother and removed his “blue team” chef’s coat, and she helped him slip into his Lulav chef’s coat.
“I felt like I was torturing him for supporting him and putting him through that,” Armstrong said about his time with Ramsay on the show.
Curtis’ distress was obvious on his face as he watched the return of the show.
It appeared that he was safe from elimination because he wasn’t in the group standing in front of Ramsay. Then suddenly, Ramsay called Curtis from the group of remaining chefs to tell him that he was the one going home.
Several gasps emanated from the crowd in front of the TV as it showed Curtis hang his chef’s coat on the “going home” hook as his photo went up in flames.
Curtis wept as people began to leave Lulav. A line formed to offer support and encouragement for his accomplishments as a chef.
Customers are invited to request Curtis’ signature dish at Lulav to determine for themselves how delectable it is.