La Frite Gets Total Makeover On Fox TV Friday Night

World renowned chef Gordon Ramsey took his ' Kitchen Nightmares'  television  show to Sherman Oaks Friday night to upgrade and help renovate the La Frite restaurant at 15013 Ventura Boulevard.

"We've been in business for 40 years and we needed to make some changes, so we asked Gordon to come in and suggest things we could do to update the place," said Celene Ramillion, co-owner and daughter of the French restaurant's founder Andre Ramillion.

In his one hour show on Fox television, Ramsey usually offers a critique of the way a restaurant is operating, he will often criticize the food being served and how the kitchen is being run.

"No question about it, he got us to change the menu," said Celene Ramillion, pulling out a new menu that La Frite is now offering customers.

"The food is much healthier, there's less butter in the cooking, lots of new salads,"she added.

 In the past, La Frite received high marks from restaurant critics and it's been one of Sherman Oak's most popular eateries, but recently, the business has been suffering.

But Ramsey has convinced them to make major changes. Sometimes he was brutally frank about the food and kitchen work not being up to the highest standards. Many changes were made.

Alex Ramillion and his sister Celene did not work well together, Chef Ramsey stepped in and taught them to cooperate and enjoy working as a team.

"We used to have one menu all day, now we have a seperate menu for lunch and dinner. Our new lunch menu features authentic French-style crepes, we're also adding steak and eggs, creole salad, and a burger du jour," said Alex, in his kitchen whites, embracing his sister for our picture.

The dinner menu was also changed drastically.

The one hour show aired Friday night at 8:00 p.m. on KTTV, Channel 11.