Thornton's Restaurant

Thornton's Restaurant was opened in the Fitzwilliam Hotel on St Stephen's Green in 2002.[7][8]

Thornton's Restaurant was embroiled in a controversy in 2007 surrounding Thornton's alleged refusal to sell chips to his restaurant customers, sparking comparisons to British chef Gordon Ramsay. A customer requested the food but, upon receiving it, he changed his mind and sent them back to the kitchen.[9] Thornton then allegedly emerged from the kitchen with the chips and slammed them down on the man's table, with the remark: “They were cooked specially for you, so you eat them, you dickhead”. He later is alleged to have called them "wankers" before removing them from his restaurant.[9]

Asked about the incident by broadcaster Joe Duffy on his RTÉ Radio 1 Liveline programme, Thornton stressed that he had not so much been infuriated by the request of chips (he supposedly provides them for younger customers on a regular basis) but that he had been aggravated by the attitude of this particular customer.[9] The incident has since seen Thornton become associated with a dislike of chips and, as recently as 2009, has been crafted as a pun by the Irish media for any other outlet which does not serve the food.[10] Thornton has also spoken out against serving food such as pizza in his restaurant.[11]

Thornton was named Food & Wine Magazine's Chef of the Year for Ireland in 2007.[7] His restaurant had two Michelin stars but it lost one of them; one newspaper at the time portrayed a cartoon of Thornton setting the Michelin Guide alight.[12]

• Kevin Thornton bought the former Michelin starred restaurant Peacock Alley in 2002 after the Fitzwilliam Hotel had cancelled the lease with Conrad Gallagher.[13]