In a battle of rich people, multi-millionaire celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is waging war against wealthy homeowners who claim his burger joint is stinking up their homes.
According to a report from the Washington Post, it "smells like fried food" around lunchtime at Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza and Gordon Ramsay Street Burger in Washington's high-end Penn Quarter neighborhood.
This deeply upsets residents of the upscale condominiums above the Terrell Place restaurant, located in a mixed-use building that was once the historic flagship Hecht's Department Store.
"Residents say it doesn’t just smell bad — it’s unhealthy," the Post is reporting. "According to air monitor measurements they provided, levels of particulate matter are well above the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines and are in keeping with the kind of pollutants released by grease exhaust."
Some residents "avoid their units until the restaurant closes and wear N95 masks when home," the Post is reporting. They have suffered from increased coughing and irritated eyes. One resident, who spoke anonymously for security reasons due to "a family member's position in the U.S. government," complained, "The smell just hits you like running into a wall."
Residents want the restaurant to let them inspect the venting and conduct tests to determine the cause, but after months of back-and-forth, the restaurant group and its landlord, Douglas Development, refused.
"In correspondence with the condo association, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and Douglas Development denied a role in the odorous affair, citing conversations with their contractor and knowledge of the building systems," the Post is reporting before adding, "The scents, they said, more likely come from residents cooking in their units."
"I hate when you have to involve lawyers and spend our assessments on attorneys, but at this point, there are people hurting," condo owner Steve Leinwand told teh Post. "They can't just write it off and say, 'Well, there's nothing we can do about it.' Because they are clearly the cause."
A late-July email from Rachel Poyntz-Baker, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Global general counsel, stated: "At this time, we do not agree to provide access to the premises for the installation of equipment or the proposed testing."
Ralph Terkowitz, president of the Board of Terrell Place Condominium Association emphasized this isn't about eliminating the restaurant.
Instead, he said, he remains concerned that one tenant is making the building unsafe and unhealthy for others and won't let them inspect it before pointing out, "To have a situation where Gordon Ramsay won't let us into a unit — I can't tolerate that."