Gordon Ramsay and Partner Move Casual Dining Into Los Angeles' The Grove With The Fat Cow

LOS ANGELES, March 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning Chef Gordon Ramsay and his Gordon Ramsay Holdings Corporate Executive U.S. Chef Andi Van Willigan will partner on their first joint restaurant venture, The Fat Cow, to open this summer at nationally known retail destination The Grove in Los Angeles.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120304/LA64087)

The Fat Cow's relaxed, rustic neighborhood dining environment will offer European inspired, authentic, quality, fresh cuisine utilizing ingredients from all local farms and purveyors.  The family inspired dining will include a rotating roaster, house cured meats, local cheeses, daily inspired dishes from the farmers market, as well as an in house pastry chef offering selections of classic American home desserts with a British pub flare.

Ramsay and Van Willigan's vision for the 200+ seat restaurant will be executed by the design team of AK Design Network and architects Gold Grenade.

"We're really excited to bring this concept to life, a place where people can just relax and enjoy a delicious European inspired meal," said Ramsay.

"Gordon has been an incredible mentor, so to now to have the opportunity to partner on this restaurant with such a creative culinary concept is really exciting," adds Van Willigan.

Gordon Ramsay

Scottish by birth, Gordon Ramsay was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. When an injury cut short his promising career in soccer, he went back to college where his dedication and natural talent led him to train with some of world's leading chefs. In 1993, Ramsay became chef of Aubergine in London and within three years was awarded two Michelin stars. In 1998, at the age of 31, Ramsay opened his namesake restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which quickly received the most prestigious accolade in the culinary world – three Michelin stars. Ramsay is in the minority as one of only four chefs in the UK to maintain three stars. Now internationally-renowned and boasting 11 Michelin stars, Ramsay has opened a string of successful restaurants across the globe, from London to Los Angeles and Paris to Doha. Most recently, Ramsay opened Bread Street Kitchen in London's City district, and just announced the upcoming opening of Gordon Ramsay Steak at Caesars Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Ramsay has become a star of the small screen internationally, with top rated U.S. shows airing worldwide including "Kitchen Nightmares", "Hell's Kitchen" and "MasterChef", and an upcoming fourth series on Fox, "Hotel Hell", as well as UK shows such as "Ramsay's Best Restaurants" and "Gordon's Great Escapes".  He is also a published author boasting a number of books, many of which have become best sellers across the world, notably his autobiography Roasting in Hell's Kitchen.  Ramsay currently resides with his wife and four children in South London, along with their two bulldogs, Rumpole and Romeo.

Andi Van Willigan

Born and raised in Southern California, she began her formal culinary career in the Boston Culinary Group in Pasadena, CA.  She ran her own catering company before joining the Stonehill Tavern, Michael Mina's acclaimed restaurant in Monarch Beach, CA, and spending four years as the Corporate Executive Sous Chef for the Michael Mina Group traveling across the U.S. helping to open 11 multi-million-dollar restaurants for the group in 8 states.

Teaching line cooks to execute over 500 different dishes through 4 different restaurant concepts at a 5 star level with the Mina Group prepared Van Willigan for the next step in her career, keeping the teams and restaurants on task and performing up to Gordon Ramsay's unrelenting standards as his Sous Chef on "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares."  She also serves as Corporate Executive U.S. Chef for Gordon Ramsay Holdings, overseeing all of his new U.S. restaurants.

SOURCE Gordon Ramsay