Gordon Ramsay has been all around the world and across the nation filming a multitude of wildly popular cooking shows, but his most recent foray has been to the far reaches of southeast Brooklyn at The Juicy Box, 2282 Nostrand Avenue, from May 27 – 31.
Excitement mounted as curious neighbors gathered by the corner of Avenue I, where Flatlands borders Flatbush and East Midwood, to try to catch a glimpse of the star. “They heard about our story and of what we’ve been doing in the community, our placement near Little Haiti and they see that we’re Haitian descendants — it’s a family business and they wanted to put their touch on that,” Juicy Box owner Jacques Silvestre, 50, told the Canarsie Courier of the reason why he thought they reached out to him.
Sylvestre, whose parents were born in Haiti, grew up in the neighborhood, went to college and runs The Juicy Box with his son, Naqam, 24. He is the father of nine children, ages 15-25, who are all involved in his nine businesses, consisting of four restaurants and five smoke shops.
The show’s producers want to keep the show under wraps until it airs around September and didn’t share with Sylvestre which show it would be. He was told that it could be one of the shows that focuses on helping struggling or failing restaurants or a completely new show.
He had nothing but praise for Ramsay and his staff, who gave his business a complete overhaul. “They came to fix us up, help us out, fine-tune us and give us help where we needed help.” Sylvestre said. “He showed us that he really cared.”
Ramsay has a pretty tough reputation on his shows, but he was nice to everyone while visiting Brooklyn. He even agreed to take pictures with fans who had been waiting outside all day until about 9 p.m. to see him.
