Gordon Ramsay, the hot headed host of Fox TV’s “Kitchen Nightmares,” returned to Le Bistro in Lighthouse Point this week for what’s known as a "revisit." (Le Bistro was originally featured on the show last March.)

Co-owner Elin Trousdale says Ramsay was mighty pleased with her chef/husband Andy’s more relaxed demeanor. “He was very pleased with everything we’ve done including putting a small bar in the restaurant,” she says.

Ramsay surprised the Trousdales with a bottle of champagne and presented a toast to the couple and the assembled diners on Le Bistro’s 10th anniversary.

“He told everyone that we were doing a very good job during hard economic times,” says Elin. “He made a very strong point of saying that it’s a very good sign that we’re surviving in these difficult times in the restaurant industry.”

It was a far cry from the original July 2009 taping when Ramsay was critical of Andy’s Old World attention to detail in keeping with his European training.

No word yet one when the revisit episode will air, but Elin was told it would be by April.

PHOTO: Andy and Elin Trousdale with Gordon Ramsay

Just returned from a trip to Puerto Rico where I had the most delicious mofongo. I haven't been awe struck by food in a long time but this dish really has WOW factor. Where can I find a good Puerto Rican restaurant in our area that serves mofongo? —Margo Kumpf Pompano Beach

Like you, I believe mofongo is a culinary marvel.

“Who invented this?” I find myself asking whenever I eat it.

If you’ve never tried it, mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish of mashed plantains mixed with seafood, meat or vegetables. It’s most typically made with pork cracklings and lots of garlic, althought I once sampled a lobster mofongo.

To find out the best spots for mofongo, I went to my colleague Deborah Ramirez, who is Puerto Rican and editor of El Sentinel, the Spanish language weekly newspaper published by the Sun Sentinel.

Here are her three suggestions. While none are in Pompano, you and I both know that mofongo is worth drive.

Borinqueya Restaurant, 6875 Stirling Road, Davie, 954-587-2482, borinqueyarestaurant.com.

La Cocina Puertorriqueña, 6742 Pembroke Road, Pembroke Pines, 954-962-0777, lacocinapuertorriquena.com.

Old San Juan Restaurant, 1200 SW 57th Ave., Miami, 305-263-9911, oldsanjuanmiami.com.

PHOTO: Mofongo as it's served at Borinqueya Restaurant in Davie (Sun Sentinel file)

You might call Randy Clemens the master of rooster sauce.

His “The Sriracha Cookbook: 50 “Rooster Sauce” Recipes That Pack a Punch” ($16.99, Ten Speed Press) has just been published.

Rooster sauce, to the uninitiated, is the bottled hot chili sauce (made by Tuong Ot Sriracha) that you’ll find in Thai restaurants and in the refrigerators of college kids across the country.

You’ll also find it on my fridge door.

Clemens is a culinary school grad and food writer who shows how Sriracha can be used in such obvious applications as chicken wings and chili and in much less obvious recipes as Cheddar- Sriracha swirl bread, Tropical fruit salad with Sriracha -sesame vinaigrette and Maple-Sriracha sausage patties.

Included in his compact 50-recipe cookbook is a short history of the sauce in the United States, which was created in 1983 by David Tran, a refugee from Vietnam. Annual Sriracha production now exceeds 15 million bottles. Bon Appetit magazine called it 2010’s ingredient of the year. No wonder Tuong Ot Sriracha has more than 230,000 Facebook fans.

Check out the cookbook blog here.

Leave it to car crazy South Florida. At the 29th annual Greek Festival which starts today at St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, there’s a drive-thru for those too busy to stop and eat inside. It’s the fifth year the church has offered drive-thru.

“We were told by the city of Boca that is the largest event in the city,” says Pat Anthony, co-chair of the event with fellow parishioner Pat Sourlis.. “Probably close to 8,000 people.”

Baking started last month. Cooking began in the new year with Peter Duros and Arthur Barakos of Delray Beach in charge of mousaka, pastitsio, lamb shanks, chicken, meatballs and orzo. Some 30 women do the baking. Altogether, about 200 St. Mark’s members work to put on the festival.

“This creates an atmosphere of fellowship because you’re working on this with each other,” says Anthony. “You see each other in church every Sunday and greet one another and wish them a great week, but this brings everyone together.”

And gives the rest of us the change to sample what Greek food and culture is all about.

The festival runs noon-8 p.m. today, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon-8 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 and free for children ages 12 and. There’s parking at the church, 2100 N.W. 51st Street (Yamato Road), and at Patch Reef Park. A free shuttle service and free parking is available behind The Shoppes at Blue Lake, just east of Military on Yamato Road.

For more information on the festival, call 561- 994-4822 or go to saintmarkboca.net. There's a coupon online for $2 off admission.

PHOTO: with pans of pastitsio

I happened to be out on Fort Lauderdale Beach near Sunrise when I wandered across Pops Corn.

It was the smell of popcorn that first attracted me.

Pops Corn has been selling flavored popcorn for 10 years at Pembroke Lakes Mall in Pembroke Pines and Coral Square Mall in Coral Springs.

This third store (901 E. Sunrise Lane, 954-567-6002, popscorn.com) sells the signature caramel, chocolate caramel and cheddar corn, but also features a Yo Mama's Ice Cream counter.

Like the popcorn, the ice cream is made in house.

If you're a fan of that wonderful mixture of cheese corn and caramel corn, Pops Corn is for you.

Whole Foods Market in Coral Springs is looking for 50 opinionated beer drinkers for its fourth annual beer-off.

The first 50 people to register will be invited to the store at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5 to judge eight different beers, one against the other in traditional football playoff format. The last beer left standing will be declared the Ultimate Taste Test Champion.

Among the beers will be Dogfish Head Midas Touch, Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale, Holy Mackerel Panic Attack and Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA.

Register in person or by phone. Proof of age is required. While the event is free, the store will accept donations of non-perishable foods.

Coral Springs Whole Foods Market is at 810 University Dr., 954-753-8000.

PHOTO: CTampa's ity Cigar Maduro Brown Ale

Our favorite restaurants and the people who own them have a way of winning a place deep in our hearts.

Michael Sereg, a mortgage broker from Pompano Beach, realized this last week when he stopped by Mikado Japanese Restaurant in Oakland Park, where he found a note on a the door. Here's Sereg's email:

I first visited this sushi restaurant at the encouragement of a close friend, in 1980. I was greeted by family, shown a clean table, encouraged to try many different things, and have been coming back ever since. Tonight, I asked the wife what was for dinner and was dispatched to Mikado for a sushi dinner for two.

Upon my arrival, I found a note taped to the door, announcing the untimely death of the owner, Shojiro Minami, on December 17, 2010, and that the restaurant was closed indefinitely.

Thirty years of wasabi tears, family and friendship times, and more evaporated before my eyes, as the owner, ever to ensure your perfect sushi meal, always greeted you on your exit with a simple saying: “See you tomorrow.”

His wife paid attention to all the orders, and his family worked the restaurant in recent years, but regardless of the recession/depression, that man delivered quality product and food relentlessly. I feel as if I lost a brother or distant family member that I wished to do more for. I am in awe for his/their tenacity to stay relevant and running for 30 years, and I mourn the loss of a great man and restaurant.

If there's one thing the old man taught me, it’s treat your customers like family, deliver consistent product at a competitive price and your efforts will reward you. I'm overwhelmed at the loss, ashamed that I took for granted he'd be there forever, and wish I had the chance to say thank you more than I did.

PHOTO: The note on the door at Mikado