Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay makes second trip to Canada with two Metro Vancouver restaurants

The Hell’s Kitchen host, who has created more than two dozen global restaurant concepts since the late 1990s, and now celebrity chef and media personality Gordon Ramsay is making his way (back) to Canada.

Ramsay will put his successful name to two of his most popular restaurant brands, opening a Gordon Ramsay Burger at Hard Rock Casino Vancouver in Coquitlam and a Gordon Ramsay Steak at River Rock Casino in Richmond, according to a press release issued Aug. 2. The new projects — his first in B.C. — are the result of a new partnership with gaming giant Great Canadian Entertainment.

The casino operator, hoping the Ramsay name will prove a big draw for its Metro Vancouver properties, welcomed the news in a statement: “We are absolutely thrilled to bring Gordon Ramsay’s extraordinary culinary vision to our properties,” said Matthew Anfinson, CEO of Great Canadian.

“This partnership is a major milestone for our company as the addition of Gordon Ramsay Burger and Gordon Ramsay Steak in British Columbia will provide our guests with an unparalleled dining experience and we look forward to the opportunity to introduce more Gordon Ramsay brands to other great Canadian destinations across Canada,” Anfinson continued.

Ramsay has been behind some 150 restaurants in his career, from Michelin-starred restaurants to fast-casual eateries. Ramsay and “Michelin” are often used in the same sentence, as the celebrity chef and television personality is known for his no-nonsense, bold approach to chefs and hospitality, which has been recognized in London by the prestigious restaurant publication. His restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which opened in 1998, has earned three Michelin stars; it is one of his most enduring restaurants among the roughly 150 individual locations of his various concepts that have opened over the past 25 years worldwide.

While some of his ideas are fast-casual multi-unit ventures, like Street Burger or his fish and chips brand, Ramsay also counts fine dining restaurants and several locations of the real-life version of the hit TV show Hell’s Kitchen on his list. (I’ve personally only experienced his food at the now-closed burger joint Fat Cow at The Grove and his (now-closed) upscale cafe and restaurant at London West Hollywood, all in Los Angeles.)