From Across the Pond: "Last Restaurant Standing"

If you're at all like me, you'll already hungry for another installment of Bravo's culinary competition series Top Chef, but with the series' fourth season not slated to kick off for another month, what is a foodie-minded viewer to do?

My suggestion: start watching BBC America's new reality competition series, Last Restaurant Standing, which airs a sneak preview this Thursday evening. The premise: nine couples--some romantically involved, others a mother and son, brothers, etc.--have one week and £5000 to open a restaurant of their own, complete with decor, menus, staff, and, well, paying customers. They're aided in this daunting challenge by renowned restaurateur Raymond Blanc (he of the sinfully delicious Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire) and his three "inspectors," Lee Cash, Sarah Willingham, and John Lederer, who drop by each restaurant in turn to make notes about the quality of the food, the organization of the kitchen and front of house, and the satisfaction of the customers.

Each week, those getting the bottom scores will face off in a challenge to determine which couple will be sent home. After the first week's installment, three teams are tasked with organizing a lavish party for a client on a set budget... in 24 hours. The team that fails to pull off this Herculean request will, to steal a phrase, pack their knives and go.

And, oh, did I mention that they all have to live together in an English country house?

Like watching passionate people implode once they realize what actually goes into making a restaurant work, as opposed to cooking for four people? Then this is the perfect series for you. Last Restaurant Standing's first episode is staggeringly good, a luscious amuse bouche that make me anxiously hungry for the subsequent episode. We meet the nine couples, none of whom have any professional cooking experience. They're all home cooks who enjoyed having dinner parties and making food for their friends... typically a disastrous combination once they get into the kitchen.

The contestants comprise, of course, a wide range of ages, relationships, and skill sets. And so too do the restaurants that they just manage to get up in time for opening night: there's an American-themed cafe, a traditional British establishment in a former monastery, a country inn that's doubling as a base for "hospitality and humor" (and a three-piece jazz combo) called The Ostrich, a French/Scottish hybrid literally next to Windsor Castle. Each restaurant space has it's own pros and cons and it's up to these budding empire builders to device a way of getting the punters in, keeping them happy whilst they're there, and getting them to come back: one fully booked opening night does not a restaurant make.

The result is something akin to a puree of Top Chef and The Apprentice, with a soupçon of The Restaurant (remember Rocco's mama?) thrown in for good measure. At stake for these couples is a partnership with Blanc himself in a new restaurant. Raymond Blanc is a perfect host/mentor for these couples; not only is he well-regarded in the food world and a successful businessman, he's commanding, impressive, and charismatic without looking like he's trying at all. Indeed, Blanc is such a convincing host that he gives the series a deep patina of respectability and seems like he's been doing this for years. He makes suggestions, offers criticism, checks up on the contestants, and issues proclamations like a pro, his deep French inflection never faltering, even as he crushes the spirits of his players.

Speaking of the players, they are a motley bunch. Even after just one episode, it's easy to become attached to some of them... and to already loathe some others. Married couple Jeremy and Jane from Dover are already favorites, even as their nerves begin to fray before opening night and Jeremy's attempt to make souffles for the contestants fails miserably; still, they have an energy and passion that's palpable and are quick to realize their mistakes. Let's hope that they're able to move past these and continue to refine their dream restaurant, which is based around an eight-course tasting menu.

At the other end of the spectrum are newlyweds Sam and Jackie, whom I already want to smack after just a few minutes. Sam is more concerned about getting work as a jazz drummer and setting gigs for his bandmates at the restaurant, the terribly named Ostrich, than he is with overseeing the kitchen, prepping the ingredients, or, you know, cooking. In fact, his priorities are someplace so completely different that his first error is to prepare a menu and print it up... but not actually have many of the dishes displayed there on offer. American Jackie, meanwhile, is an actress, as she reminds us a gazillion times in the first episode and perceives The Ostrich as a place for her to play her grandest role to date: hostess/humorist/raconteur. She's so irritatingly shrill and loud (just wait until she starts jumping around screaming when she sees the restaurant) that she gives Americans a bad name. You just want to muzzle her in the end and slap these two back into reality.

Still, any series that can make you root for and against teams after just one installment is one that I want to be watching, especially when it revolves, as Last Restaurant Standing does, around food. It's an entertaining and eye-opening look at just what is involved with opening a restaurant, though it ratchets up the tension by forcing these couples to do just that in such a brief period of time and with a minimum of funds.

Just the perfect thing to tide you over until Top Chef returns. But, then again, if you're anything like me, you'll be so hooked by then that you'll have to make room on your TiVo for both series as Last Restaurant Standing is too tasty to pass up.

BBC America will offer a sneak preview of Last Restaurant Standing on Thursday at 9 pm ET/PT. Series launches with a two-hour special on Tuesday, February 12th at 8 pm ET/PT on BBC America.