Celebrity TV chefs’ restaurants are hitting their expiration dates

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Jay Ducote was on “MasterChef” in 2011
Having a name like Gordon Ramsay or Emeril Lagasse on a restaurant used to be a recipe for success. But Bloomberg reports the time of celebrity chefs is waning.
Some chefs have been done in by rising rents, overexpansion, and a shift among foodies toward “authentic” fare that doesn’t depend on having a celebrity in the kitchen. Besides, with locations open for 10 years or more, some restaurants had just grown stale.
“As with every other art form, the tastes and the popularity change,” says Shep Gordon, the agent who nurtured the careers of such celebrity chefs as Emeril Lagasse. “The fireworks can only last so long.”
The list of high-profile restaurant closures includes Gordon Ramsay’s Maze, which plans to shut down in London after 14 years, as well as Daniel Boulud’s eight-year-old DBGB in New York.
Lagasse’s outpost in Orlando closed in July after 19 years. His Table 10 in Las Vegas served its last meal in December. Lagasse declined to comment. A Ramsay spokesperson says the chef will develop a new concept in the Maze space. A spokesman for Boulud said the closing of the Lower East Side eatery was “largely due to the neighborhood not evolving as quickly as we had hoped.”
Even broadcast exposure, which has brought so many cooks mainstream attention, hasn’t always helped. Food Network stars Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri closed their Midtown Manhattan restaurants in January, the latter after enduring withering reviews. Read the full story.

Baton Rouge has seen a few local chefs garner national attention via reality TV shows.
Some, such as Jay Ducote appear to have capitalized on the attention. Following his run on “MasterChef” in 2011, Ducote ramped up his food and beverage business, and earlier this year opened Gov’t Taco in the White Star Market.
Another local chef who appeared on “MasterChef” the same time as Ducote, Jesse Romero, was also initially announced as a White Star tenant but those plans never came to fruition.