Inqlings: A kitchen nightmare in the city

The crew at 10 Arts restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton cowered a bit late Tuesday when chef

Gordon Ramsay

walked in with his people.

Ramsay had just left Hot Potato Cafe in Fishtown, where he is shooting the Fox restaurant-repair show Kitchen Nightmares. That night, simpering Hot Potato staff served Ramsay for the first time. If history is a guide, Ramsay poked through the grub to quibble with preparation, ingredients, temperature, etc.

It also meant Ramsay left hungry. He ate two of 10 Arts' signature soft pretzels and two mini fish burgers from the lounge menu, served by nervous waiters. (Ramsay, though, was off the clock.)

Hot Potato patrons interviewed Tuesday and last night say it was business as usual, aside from microphones at the tables and camera crews everywhere. Local sports figures and politicos are said to be on the reservation book for tonight.

Opening of Octo Waterfront Grille, the nightclub successor to Rock Lobster on Columbus Boulevard, is delayed.

Jay Tackett

of Tackett & Co., handling design, says owners chose to add lateral support to the pier. That work, along with the sprucing up (as the space was unused last season), will delay Octo's opening till June 11 or thereabouts. A story has been circulating that the snag involved the discovery of threatened red-bellied turtles. Not the case, said Tackett. The turtles could have been a problem had work been done over the winter while they are burrowed in river mud. The turtles may be a factor next winter, when a much more extensive project is scheduled for Octo.

Sharon Pinkenson

of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office has Hollywood heavy hitters shooting movies here this summer, and she needs housing. But owners of luxury homes for sale aren't agreeing to part-year rentals, and many condos restrict sublets to a year's minimum. Have a suitably posh pad for three to six months? 215-686-2668.

A lightbulb moment for Moorestown-bred actor

Kevin Chamberlin

, the two-time Tony nominee (

Seussical

,

Dirty Blonde

). He'll play Uncle Fester in next year's Broadway version of

The Addams Family

, with

Nathan Lane

as Gomez and

Bebe Neuwirth

as Morticia.

Jamie Kennedy's 30 percent tip impressed staff at Cooper's Brick Oven Wine Bar in Manayunk, where the Upper Darby-raised actor and girlfriend Jennifer Love Hewitt had pizza and salads earlier this week after shooting the movie Cafe.

At the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Promise Ball at the Loews last weekend, which brought in $1 million,

Mayor Nutter

auctioned off lunch with himself.

Jeff and Jenifer Westphal

bought it for $8,000. Nutter agreed to sell another, and

Herb and Karen Lotman

put down $8,000. He had more juice than

Gov. Rendell

, whose half-day with himself was snapped up by

Matthew and Lea Cohn

for $6,500.

At last week's Police Athletic League awards dinner at the Sheraton City Center, MC Don Tollefson spent the better part of a half-hour calling anything and everything "awesome." Honoree Mayor Nutter began his speech: "Awesome. Just awesome. Awesome night. Awesome event. . . . He has used that word in more ways - noun, verb, adjective - than any other person." District Attorney Lynne Abraham, whose $7,500 bid won her a Penn State football weekend, took the mike to tell a story that Tollefson had adopted a dog and named it Awesome. By phone, Tollefson corrected. It was a cat.

Awesome.

.