Fishtown: Cafe Turns to TV Chef for Survival
The Hot Potato Cafe is located on Girard and Montgomery avenues in Fishtown.
When television host Gordon Ramsay of “Kitchen Nightmares” focused his culinary microscope on a family-owned BYOB in Fishtown, his major changes were to the items on the menu. He used the name of the restaurant, the Hot Potato Café, to create new-spud-accommodating choices that just made sense.
In May, the restaurant, located on Girard Avenue, received a makeover from the crew of “Kitchen Nightmares,” the Scottish chef’s reality show in which he revitalizes restaurants that are failing.“I received a call from a producer for the show saying that somebody anonymously nominated us,” said Claire Keller, co-owner of Hot Potato Café.
Claire; her sister, Kathryn; and their sister-in-law, Erin Keller, opened Hot Potato Café in March 2007. They have not seen a profit in two and a half years and thought that appearing on the show could turn their situation around for the better.
“I personally didn’t really want to be on TV,” said Erin, “but I considered it an opportunity so I wasn’t going to veto the idea.”
Chef Gordon Ramsay and Erin Keller at the Hot Potato Cafe.
The premise of the Fox television series, shortly approaching its third season, is to spend a week and undertake a restaurant in trouble and expose the nerve-racking realities of trying to run and manage a successful food business.
Basically, restaurant owners who accept Ramsay’s help just have to sit back, watch and learn.
“Because of the nature of the show, we didn’t have any input,” said Erin.
One day the owners were invited into their kitchen to cook with Ramsay, who asked them to create a potato topping for the stuffed potatoes that would be added to the spud-themed menu. It was just one of many instances where they were caught off guard by his requests; they did not find out until that day they would be assisting him in the menu makeover.
“That I think would be the only input,” said Erin. “Two of the potato toppings that were created that day were put on the menu and are still there today.”
The Keller sisters opened their restaurant because they saw a need for a casual, sit-down atmosphere and BYOB in the neighborhood.
“There are pizza places and Chinese take-outs, but there wasn’t a place to sit and order a salad or an appetizer,” said Claire, who lives in Fishtown. “We saw the need for a place like this.”
It seemed like a good idea. In the last decade, Fishtown has been accredited several times with being an up-and-coming neighborhood experiencing a cultural and economic renaissance. The Fishtowners, who have lived here for generations, say it is a place that has always had culture and that this transformation is more only prevalent with the influx of newcomers, moving in from Center City and expanding into surrounding neighborhoods. The Kellers’ saw this trend and thought that opening a restaurant in the center of it all at Girard and Montgomery avenues would cater the neighborhood’s interests and add to the buzz.
The clientele seemed to be there, but the money was not.
Damien Tenalio, a waiter at the Hot Potato Café, has worked there for two years starting as a dishwasher and working his way up. He and the only other waiter trade off every other day because the clientele just isn’t there to support both of them in one night. If it weren’t for his lone shifts, Tenalio might not make a decent buck.
Damien Tenalio and his Co-workers at the Hot Potato Cafe
“There are nights where I make good money, but there are also nights where it’s just OK,” he said. “Altogether I’m satisfied with the money I’m making.”
He said that after the show airs, he hopes that the restaurant will get more publicity and the customers that it deserves.
The Keller sisters, however, are not satisfied.
“At this point, because we have cut our expenses so drastically, we squeak by without having to contribute personal monies,” said Erin, who wanted to own a successful restaurant and be her own boss. “I’m not sure what our plans are right now; we’re just hanging on ‘til the show airs. But if somebody walked through the door and offered to buy the business, I know we would seriously consider selling.”
This is the first business the Keller sisters have owned and each one of them works other jobs in addition to the Hot Potato Café. Erin has been a nurse for 24 years and currently works two days a week in the doctor’s office, E.N.T. Associates, where she has worked for 11 years. Kathryn works at Finnegan’s Wake on Spring Garden Avenue and Claire works at the Hyatt Hotel and the Four Seasons Hotel.
The sisters said they had many patrons pass through the restaurant after the Kitchen Nightmares crew filmed the episode, but that since then interests have died down. The hope is that after the episode airs that interest will come back and they will see an increase in sales and finally make a profit.
Can Ramsay really save the Hot Potato Café? In the British version of the show, only eight out of the 22 restaurants that he worked with remain open with the same owners. In the United States, only nine of the 21 eateries that he renovated in the first two seasons remain open with the same owners.
The café now has a front-seating area with many candles that create a warm ambiance and colorful, acrylic paintings that adorn the walls and create a comfortable atmosphere. The menu, once cluttered with differing entrees, ranging from pasta dishes to seafood, now concentrates on a potato theme while incorporating other food groups and palate pleasers. Ramsay saw that the neighborhood was changing and what once could strictly be a meat- and-potatoes menu should now offer vegetarian options. He changed their staple item, the Hot Potato Soup, which was once made with bacon bits, to a vegetarian soup.
Claire said that after their menu changed, their regulars also changed from the older Fishtowners to a younger crowd.
“We’ll take anybody,” she said with a laugh as she recalled the new taste buds frequenting the BYOB.
The Hot Potato Café’s episode of Kitchen Nightmares is scheduled to air in the upcoming third series on the Fox Broadcasting Network.
The restaurant opens at 4 p.m. every day except for Sunday when it can be reserved for private parties.
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