Restaurant Impossible lives up to its name. Diner closes 5 months after renovation.

[Baitball Blogger]

Lake County diner that appeared on TV's 'Restaurant: Impossible' closes

TAVARES — The struggling Soup to Nuts Diner closed Sunday, five months after celebrity chef Robert Irvine highlighted the eatery for an episode on the Food Network show "Restaurant: Impossible."

Owner Sharon Whitmore said Monday that she couldn't keep up with "ballooning" mortgage payments and high employee-payroll taxes. She said she's moving to Maryland to be close to her 6-year-old granddaughter.

Irvine and his crew spent two days and $10,000 renovating the 1950s-themed diner. Whitmore, 55, was losing $1,000 a month on the restaurant while her home was in foreclosure, according to the show. In the episode, which aired in March, Irvine called the restaurant "dangerously dirty" and ripped into Whitmore after he found kitchen equipment caked in grease.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-restaurant-impossible-diner-closes-20130513,0,3661976.story

[Baitball Blogger]

1. This is a test.

[OriginalGeek]

2. Damn

we were thinking about driving up there to see it.

Not EAT there, mind you...just see it.

[olddots]

3. Some of the places they sort of fix are destined to fail

The restaurant bizz has to be one of the hardest businesses to be successful in .

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I love the show, but I had a hunch that that one was going to fail.

[Phentex]

5. Do you ever check them out after?

I like to read reviews (yelp or other) about 6 months after the show airs to see what's happening. A lot of them revert to their old menus after a short time.

The show makes me watch for signs when I go to a restaurant. I've been known to criticize a menu that's just way too large, lol.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. How do you look them up?

You mean, online?

[Phentex]

8. Yes, I go to yelp in the city of the restaurant and

see what people have to say. You can see the "new" menu or see if they changed it back, etc. Many get a small boost from the show and still close. It really is a tough business.

[gvstn]

22. This blog is pretty good at updating

They usually have gone through Yelp and others for updates before the show even airs, so you can get immediate updates after watching a new show.

Forgot link: http://www.foodnetworkgossip.com/p/restaurant-impossible-updates.html
Their homepage is good too, for recent reviews: http://www.foodnetworkgossip.com/

[KurtNYC]

7. Someone did a study on the restaurants used in Ramsey and Irvine's TV shows

Most of them close within months of the show taping. Some don't even stay open until their episode airs.

Season 3 of Ramsey's fodder updates here:
http://theashleysrealityroundup.com/2012/10/04/kitchen-nightmares-season-3-where-are-they-now/

Nightmares is such a formula and it is getting tired -- stubborn/burnt-out/alcoholic owner who can't cook is losing $2,000 to $10,000 per week. Ramsey poops on all his food. The walk-in is a disaster. 40 minutes into the show the owner has an epiphany. They paint the walls, strip the menu down to 15 very generic items. Ramsey walks away. Mission accomplished.

I watch the show knowing it is basically a fraud -- how could any restaurant owner who signs up NOT know that Ramsey is going into your walk-in? You have remote bubble cameras all over your restaurant but somehow you just don't think they will use the one you let them put in your walk-in?!

It should be no surprise that putting tired stuff like beef wellington on your menu, showing the world the gunk in your walk-in and getting screamed at by a potty-mouthed TV celebrity won't fix your restaurant. But perhaps most of the owners know that they are closing regardless so why not do a fake TV show and go out with a bang?

[davsand]

9. Get your 15 minutes of fame outta the deal.

I watch those shows sometimes if I'm home in the afternoon or while I'm eating my lunch. I completely agree with you that it follows a formula every time, and that anybody that invites those shows in should be prepared for an inspection along with a critique of the food. (Did you SERIOUSLY think your food or service was that good if you are dropping a few thousand a month in restaurant losses?)

What I do NOT get, however, is how any restaurant could pass a health inspection if they really are that bad. Maybe our local health department is especially strict, but having survived any number of those type of inspections over the years I worked in food and bar service, I'll tell you point blank that there is NO freaking way those guys would still be open if one of our local inspectors found that kind of stuff going on. I am not a chef, nor have I ever had any formal food sanitation training beyond the workplace. Having SAID that, I sure as hell don't cook and store food that way in my own kitchen or else my entire family would be dead by now! I keep on wondering if this isn't just a HUGE put up to provide drama.

Isn't there some kind of old saying about just spell my name right and you can say anything you want about me...




Laura

[KurtNYC]

14. I worked in 5 different restaurants, a ski resort and a caterer

The cleanest walk-ins were at the big chains -- Del Taco. The other end of the scale is pricey (wanna-be) mom-and-pop owned places where the owners don't go into the kitchen or are afraid of their cooks. Generally cleaning out the walk in has to be done at night, after closing because you have to take a lot of stuff out to get at the racks, the floors and the walls so it doesn't happen all that often.

I'm in a small town now and restaurants are only inspected once a year. You can have 7 violations or so each time before there are any consequences at all. Many people who work in kitchens do not understand biology or cross contamination. And whenever I see a place that makes their employees wear laytex gloves I just avoid eating there because you can't even feel the crap on your hands when wearing those gloves and the gloves provide the illusion of healthiness so there is very little hand (glove) washing and plenty of opportunity for cross contamination.

[davsand]

15. Local inspectors are out twice a year.

There are some violations that are an instant closure, most are just points off an over all score that has to be above a certain number. If the violations are clear and present dangers to health and safety they can and do shut down a restaurant until those violations are corrected. They also go back a couple of weeks later to re-inspect to make sure that violations have not been left uncorrected.

Usually, the stuff cited is a mix of things--like raw meats being stored above produce in a walk in and a bus tub of dirty dishes placed too close to food prep areas. Sometimes it is more serious like an improper final rinse temp on a dishwasher or a final rinse in a three sink that doesn't test out to have enough sanitizer. Sometimes it is evidence of pest infestation, sometimes it is just plain lack of cleaning, sometimes it is absolutely dreadful like drains backing up in a kitchen or sewer back flow issues. I have seen restaurants cited because the inspector observed improper hand washing (not just hand washing, but IMPROPER hand washing!) They check holding temps on steam tables, and they check temps in reach-ins and walk-ins. (I got nailed one year at an outdoor chili cook-off for having about a foot of cooking table area that was just outside the cover of an awning. We moved the table a foot and everybody was happy...)

I've been in chain kitchens--hotel kitchens or restaurants--and I've seen stuff that grossed me out hugely. I've seen trained chefs with poultry sitting out for hours at room temp in a marinade, and I've seen mom and pop places that you could literally, eat off the floors and probably be safe. I've never been able to generalize who was likely to have a nasty kitchen--at least here in our area, anyway. The only thing that makes me comfortable eating out is that the restaurants are required to post inspection scores in the public areas.

Evidently, there are big differences in local standards for food safety.



Laura

[OriginalGeek]

18. Speaking of inspectors

we used to frequent a local Mongolian BBQ chain that had both the Mongolian BBQ thing and a couple rows of hot tables with all the standard Chinese food - noodles, egg rolls, chow mein, etc...

Our standard practice was to go in and get all the hot table stuff and eat that while we waited for the BBQ to cook our other stuff. One day we went in and the hot tables were virtually empty and we wandering around trying to find food and my friend asked where all the food was. The hostess said "Oh, health inspectors are here - we wait to put food out after health inspectors go..."

and I thought "Hmmmmm, if their food isn't good enough for the health inspector, it ain't good enough for me." We put our empty plates down and left.

The place was closed less than a month later.

The building has a new Super Buffet Chinese restaurant in it but we don't go there.

[DebJ]

24. Sometimes the budgets or politics have an impact on what is enforced

I lived in a sort of higher-scale but still middle class neighborhood and managed a restaurant there for awhile. At the time, the county was trying to expand the growth of business in the area, and the health inspectors were told that NO restaurant was to be closed for any reason until further notice unless the water supply had been turned off. A health inspector told me that because she was infuriated that the public health was being grossly endangered by what was purely a political/economic decision. She felt free to talk to me because my place was always, always spotless. I had a great crew. It really isn't hard to get and keep a great crew, if you really want to; so many people float around in this business all the time, and there are so many really horrific 'managers' that good people are always out there looking for a place that doesn't abuse them, gives them safe equipment and thank you's and respect.

i managed restaurants for about 10 years, and there is certainly some nasty, nasty stuff that goes on in the backrooms in places where the manager doesn't care or, frankly most often, the managers don't have the cajones to manage...it's not that hard....you just be upfront, honest, explain things clearly, follow up, keep your eyes open, treat people with respect. In fact, i decided to become a manager just to prove that it wasn't that hard at all to do (it had been a second job at first).

I am never quite comfortable eating out anymore, frankly. Nothing escapes my notice in a restaurant; I find myself checking the ceiling vents for dust and seeing how fast tables are bussed, etc. Took years before it wasn't stressful for me to eat out. But i still don't like it. Can't trust anyone. Now we CAN'T eat out because my husband has kidney disease. I don't really miss it. But I do order an occasional pizza when he is not home (waiting on one now!) but only do a veggie version.

[sharp_stick]

17. Latex gloves always drove me nuts

I worked at a restaurant years ago that changed ownership and new management wanted all of us to start using latex gloves. Theoretically you should change the things several times but as anyone who's ever worn latex gloves knows they don't go on wet or sweaty hands so nobody changed them anywhere near as often as they should.

Not only that those of us cooking in that restaurant were used to feeling the food we touched as we prepared it. From the garde manger prepping salads and vegetables to the line cooks and sous chef adding salt or other mise' items.

I also try to avoid places that use gloves in place of good handwashing.

[Chan790]

12. Some are just awful concepts to begin with.

One of my favorite episodes of Nightmares were these three women who knew nothing about restaurants deciding they wanted to open a potato-centric restaurant in an expensive and up-and-coming area of Philadelphia. They were nice and Ramsay bent over backwards to make it work for them (including getting them several months of free potatoes)...except what he should have done was tell them that the concept was a terrible one from the outset. People in Northern Liberties area of Philadelphia are going out to get $40 entrees and $200 tabs...you're not going do any business there selling baked potatoes. My brother who lives right near there told me that they literally closed the day the free potatoes ran out. They'd been closed for months when the show finally aired.

A similar show is Bar Rescue which took on this very badly run, disgusting failure near me in Silver Spring of a pirate bar. The host on that show converted it to this very staid boring lunch place which lasted exactly half a night until the owner decided to go back to being a pirate bar because she didn't want to have a successful restaurant...she wanted to have a pirate restaurant regardless of its viability. Now it's staying open losing money hand over fist to spite the host which amuses me. Who intentionally throws away their life's savings on a failed concept just because they want to own a pirate bar and spite a jerk on TV?

[KurtNYC]

13. Money aside, running a successful restaurant is a lot more work than running an empty one

Some bar and restaurant owners are just alcoholics who want to drink to oblivion and comp all their friends' drinks. To them, paying customers are a pain in the behind. Argh!

[Chan790]

19. Potato restaurant is a great idea...

just not in that area. It's like the new culinary strip of downtown Philly. Every other place on the block has award-winning chefs and top-reviews, multiple awards. They were doomed from the outset. Just guessing from the neighborhood, they were probably paying close to $3-4K/month in rent and in an area with the wrong crowd for their concept. They're doing lots of baked potatoes, fries and samosa where people go to buy fancy wine and overpriced steaks to impress assholes, lawyers and dates.

If they'd opened the same restaurant in a lower-rent funky, hip, artsy sort of area like Manayunk or Fabric Row they would probably still be in business. They were for the most part a take-out and cafe sort of place and that sort of place does well in those areas because they're hip, high foot-traffic, outdoor-markety types of places. As a customer, you can grab your food, stay for a while in patio seating, people-watch...and keep buying drinks. As a restauranteur, you can make your rent on Sundays alone from walk-in brunch customers.

[DebJ]

25. Hard because lots of people try to run one with no experience,

thinking anyone can cook, or because they are artistic in the cuisine area but have no comprehension
of what it takes to manage a business. And of course, location, location, location.

[whistler162]

28. Locally, Syracuse NY, we have one place, McShane's,

that was on RI in season one. Still going strong. Like to go there when I am stuck at the main office, good 1/2 baked chicken. Though stay away from the hot wings soup, to rich.

[HughBeaumont]

10. Moss's in Elyria, OH closed several months after the R.I. taping.

I think that while the food and the decor did get better, economic realities set in and the surly owner just really wanted to retire and sell the place.

It's not the only one. Many of the closures are either due to the owners going back to their old ways or they're just in a bad location getting hit by people cutting the "occasional out to eat" from their budgets.

[olddots]

11. Will the cooking and food channel become the history channel ?

the shows are getting farther away from food and more about groveling and acting .

[Myrina]

21. It's become 5-nights-a-week of "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives"

I don't know about anyone else but watching Guy Fieri and his man-jewelry and over-processed hair stuff his face night after night has long worn out it's appeal.

Can the guy actually cook or is he just a professional slob?

[Chan790]

23. In theory, he can cook.

He owns a bunch of restaurants in CA, mostly the same sort of stuff you see him eating...diner food, greasy spoons, chili dogs, etc. He didn't go to culinary school (but neither did I) but worked his way up in restaurant kitchens learning as he went along.

Having tried his food...he's not very good as a cook...he's better as a TV personality. You're not his target audience...he's a really big draw for men under 40 who can't cook and the lad-mag set.

[csziggy]

29. His New York restaurant was dismal according to reviews

As Not Seen on TV
Restaurant Review: Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square
By PETE WELLS
Published: November 13, 2012

GUY FIERI, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Have you pulled up one of the 500 seats at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar and ordered a meal? Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?

Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno wheel of the menu, where adjectives and nouns spin in a crazy vortex? When you saw the burger described as “Guy’s Pat LaFrieda custom blend, all-natural Creekstone Farm Black Angus beef patty, LTOP (lettuce, tomato, onion + pickle), SMC (super-melty-cheese) and a slathering of Donkey Sauce on garlic-buttered brioche,” did your mind touch the void for a minute?

Did you notice that the menu was an unreliable predictor of what actually came to the table? Were the “bourbon butter crunch chips” missing from your Almond Joy cocktail, too? Was your deep-fried “boulder” of ice cream the size of a standard scoop?

What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes Guy’s Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big (b) famous or (c) Guy’s, in any meaningful sense?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/reviews/restaurant-review-guys-american-kitchen-bar-in-times-square.html?_r=0

The review went downhill from there.

[Myrina]

20. So did Fox N Hound in Indy

... it was supposed to be an "English Supper Club" but they only added 2 of Irvine's crappy dishes to the menu, and the place still looked like it was out of a bad 70's detective/mafia tv show. And it's in a location that's much more suited for cafe's, light dining, take-away etc.


Oops.

[Trajan]

26. Why we're Irvine's dishes crappy?

did you actually order them and taste them?

[Myrina]

27. Not I, but reviews in the local paper

... after the 'new menu' had been debuted. Not 'official restaurant critic' reviews, but comments from diners who'd gone there in the past & went back after the supposed 'makeover'.