What Happened To The Culinary Gangster From Kitchen Nightmares?

The much-anticipated eighth season of "Kitchen Nightmares" has finally premiered, and we've been treated to some absolute doozies. Throughout its many seasons, Gordon Ramsay, a Michelin-rated chef and restauranteur, has butted heads with plenty of the head chefs of the restaurants to which he's come to the rescue. Few have gotten under his skin so completely as Bobby Fortunato, also known as the self-proclaimed Culinary Gangster. 

Bobby Fortunato was the head chef of a restaurant called Bask 46, which was featured in the second episode of season eight. The restaurant was struggling just six months after opening and Ramsay quickly zeroed in on the heaping portions, unnecessary garnishes, and low-quality food that came out of the kitchen, much to Fortunato's chagrin. From there, Fortunato further antagonized Ramsay by sending out his business card complete with chive garnishes on a platter to Ramsay. In the final minutes of the episode, Ramsay instructed the owners of the restaurant to give Fortunato a 30-day probation period to decide whether or not they would keep him on as head chef, a role for which Fortunato received a $100,000 annual salary. Thankfully, we didn't have to wonder for long what became of the Culinary Gangster. The episode tells us that Fortunato no longer works at the restaurant and in fact never came back to work after the film crews departed.

"Kitchen Nightmares" capped the episode off with a two-month-later update from the restaurant, with Ramsay's voiceover explaining that not only did Fortunato never turn back up for work at the restaurant but he had retired from the restaurant industry altogether. In a social media post shared in the episode of "Kitchen Nightmares," Fortunato writes, "It's official people! I'm am [sic] retiring from the restaurant industry and returning back to work with my family ... Culinary Gangsta out!" In a video uploaded to his Facebook page, Fortunato defended his $100,000 salary saying that it was the correct amount and that he was retiring from the industry because he was tired of mistreatment.

However, Fortunato has since announced that he is starting a podcast titled "The Culinary Gangstaz Podcast Cooking Show." No air date has been released, but the flier, which was posted on October 8, 2023, says that it is coming soon. Fortunato has also posted several screenshots from the "Kitchen Nightmares" episode, so we think it's safe to say that he hasn't taken the episode too badly.