Gordon Ramsay, the chef from 'Hell,' is back in the TV kitchen

On Tuesday, chef Gordon Ramsay brings back his popular "Hell's Kitchen" reality show (9 p.m. on Channel 40) for a fourth round of competition among aspiring chefs. In a conference call last week, Ramsay said he was very excited about the coming season because of the level of professionalism in the new competition.

"When you look at the setup in terms of the level of professionalism, this year we've raised the bar," said Ramsay.

In the coming season, the prize will be an executive chef position in Ramsay's The London West Hollywood restaurant in Los Angeles.

"I want to put my money where my mouth is and prove to the industry that any winner of 'Hell's Kitchen' is more than qualified and capable of standing alone in my kitchen," said the chef.

Ramsay, 41, has a reputation for high expectations, a combustible temper and an extensive repertoire of expletives. On the show each week, the chef trims the competitors one by one until there's only one left in the kitchen.

Ramsay lives in England with his wife, Cayetana Elizabeth Hutcheson, and four children. In the call from Los Angeles, he answered questions from food journalists about the coming season of "Hell's Kitchen" and his just- completed series, "Kitchen Nightmares." In "Kitchen Nightmares," he visits struggling restaurants and works with the staff and owners to put the restaurants back on track.

Q: Since the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" will be working in one of your restaurants, will you be taking the competition more seriously?

A: The pressure is on. I am taking it more seriously than ever before and the stakes are a lot higher.

Q: What do chefs need to understand to have a successful restaurant?

A: Running a restaurant is something you have to be working at each and every day; it's not a foregone conclusion that you will be a success. How many restaurants do we know across the world that customers visit once and only once? The second visit is far more important. It's not just about the cooking, sadly, and that's what they need to understand.

Q: You invited a contestant from last season, Julia Williams, Atlanta's favorite waffle house chef, to come back. Will she be back in the fourth season?

A: She will be back in the fifth.

Q: Tell us about the London West Hollywood restaurant and what kind of chef you are looking for to run it.

A: I have to say, opening up in New York taught me a lot about that level of attention to detail. London's a tough market, Paris is a tough market, but New York, well, that's extraordinary. Everything I learned and didn't do in New York I would put into place here in the London West Hollywood.

It's fascinating, when you look at the critics' reviews, and we had a great one in the New York Observer and all that, and then the New York Times came and it was a devastation; two stars out of four. They said that I played safe because it wasn't fireworks. Then they judged the persona over the substance that was on the plate.

Here in L.A., trust me, there will be fireworks from the canapés right through to the desserts. It's not going to be sedated, heavy, rich French cuisine; it's going to be a light and American, California-style with a bit of a Japanese influence.

One thing I can't afford to get sucked up in is the trend formation of restaurants here. I've invested heavily. We have a 10-year lease. More importantly, the style, the feel and the décor of the dining room is vibrant. It's very L.A., very cool fabrics, lots of silver, lots of nickel, brushed stainless steel and lots of cream fabric.

Q: You had over 22,000 chefs e-mail and apply to be on "Hell's Kitchen." You have a former chef who's an electrician, you have someone who's a stay-at-home dad, you have a receptionist. I know you believe a lot in second chances. Why is it important to have those types of people in a competition like this instead of executive chefs from various restaurants?

A: I'd like to think now that "Hell's Kitchen" has become synonymous with giving anyone excited about food a level of opportunity. When you think about someone like Julia from the waffle house, how that level of taste and that kind of control and what she perceived, there she is cooking sort of run-of-the-mill, sort of mainstream American cuisine and then competing with an executive chef.

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