Foxwoods adding Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen to its restaurant lineup
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Mar. 10—MASHANTUCKET — Foxwoods Resort Casino announced Friday that Gordon Ramsay, the renowned British chef who's become an equally famous TV personality, will open one of his signature Hell's Kitchen restaurants at the Mashantucket Pequot-owned casino this summer.
The news came more than a year after Foxwoods had promised a partnership with an unnamed "celebrity chef" during its 30th anniversary celebration. On Friday, at a belated 31-year, cake-cutting ceremony, Jason Guyot, the casino's president and chief executive officer, identified the partner.
"He's the biggest chef in the world," Guyot said of the colorful Ramsay, who was not in attendance, at least not in the flesh.
Ramsay did appear in a video shown on screens placed on either side of a stage set up for the occasion near Foxwoods' Rainmaker Expo Center. In the video, the master chef said how sorry he was he couldn't be there and how excited he was at the prospect of serving up his signature Beef Wellington dish to the Foxwoods faithful.
"The wonder of it all," he shouted, deploying the casino's slogan as he signed off.
Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen at Foxwoods ― his sixth Hell's Kitchen in the United States and first in New England ― will occupy some 13,000 square feet of space near the casino's Grand Pequot concourse and feature a 40-seat private dining room, a 25-seat luxury bar and 20-foot-high ceilings. It will seat a total of nearly 260 patrons.
The restaurant also will showcase design elements drawn from Ramsay's popular competitve cooking show of the same name. "Hell's Kitchen" first aired in the U.S. in 2005.
Gordon Ramsay North America, Ramsay's U.S. restaurant business, currently operates a total of 21 restaurants in such locations as Las Vegas, New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago and Atlantic City, several of which are in partnership with Caesars Entertainment, the gaming giant. In addition, the Gordon Ramsay Restaurants portfolio includes 50 international locations.
Ramsay, who's been described as "volatile" and "harsh," currently holds seven Michelin stars awarded for culinary excellence. He's received 17 stars over the course of his career.
Friday's announcement was the latest concerning a string of major developments at Foxwoods since its 30th anniversary on Feb. 15, 2022. In July, the casino opened a new 30,000-square-foot, 2,200-seat High Stakes Bingo Hall, converting its former bingo hall into the 75,000-square-foot Rainmaker Expo Center. In September, it revealed plans for a new 50,000-square-foot gaming area expected to open in late summer.
Foxwoods invested $7 million in the new bingo hall and said it planned to pour $85 million into improvements that include the Ramsay restaurant and the new gaming area.
On Feb. 1, Great Wolf Resorts, of Chicago, broke ground on a $300 million indoor water park resort it's building on Mashantucket-owned land adjacent to Foxwoods. Great Wolf Lodge at Mashantucket is scheduled to open in the spring of 2025.
