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Tonight on Kitchen Nightmares, a fine dining bistro Welcome to Cafe 36. that's not so fine. The plates look like they've been picked up at the local flea market. We are losing 10,000 a month. A well-intentioned owner is desperate. What's at stake is my dream. You are seriously, seriously leading this place into bankruptcy. His loyal wife couldn't be any more supportive. And I'm very proud of my husband to say, "Take this chance." But with a head chef that is clueless It's the most expensive vegetable on the market.
You want that? It's come from the different part of the world, chef. It comes from the different part of the world. Are you listening to this? A sous chef with a bad attitude No, I didn't. You said you got one there, and that's two veggies. I'd say three Look at the times. Guys full of [__] I'm a better chef than Pinto. And a wait staff that is ready to mutiny. You're hiding, and you need to be fired.
Pinto has one speed, and that speed is [__] you. What are you doing? You're not a real chef, are you? Gordon is ready to crack the whip. We work at it. Now, come on. In an attempt to turn this nightmare back into a dream. It's hard when you just put your faith in something you really believe and it's still not coming. That hurts. Coming up on Kitchen Nightmares. La Grange, Illinois, a well-to-do commuter town outside of Chicago. Terry and Carol were high school sweethearts here. Two years ago, they fulfilled a dream and bought Cafe 36, an upscale French bistro.
Here you are. Oh, thank you very much. And for you, sir? My dream was to have my own restaurant, be my own boss. Okay. Thank you. I'm 58 years old. This is at a time when most people are thinking about retirement. I'm just going to get out of the way for a while. Unless you 6:30. Unless you want me to Follow do something. I was very nervous with the whole idea, but let's try. Let's go forward with the dream that he wants to do.
Okay. Talk to you later. It gets me upset that sometimes he doesn't delegate. I'll do the vacuuming. I'll clean the bathrooms. I'll get the bar stocked. Leave this here for Terry. You go do what you got to do. We'll go smoke. Terry, why are you doing this work? And you have a staff standing back there. Why are you doing it? Okay. And the onion soup? up. It's coming up right now. You know, he's really a great chef. The food is tasty. It's good. And it's done right.
Pinto's sanitation skills aren't the greatest. He tastes a lot of his food as he's making it. The running joke is, you know, do you want a side of saliva with that? Pinto likes to get my fingers in food all the I think that Cafe 36 would be a better restaurant without Pinto. Although he's calling out tickets, so I don't know, you know, I mean, it's just somebody's got to be in charge. This is the problem. Terry and Charles keep talking about how Pinto is so awesome, and everybody else knows Pinto really can't run a kitchen.
Table 13 waited 25 minutes for a house salad and a soup. The customers' reaction in the restaurant is very uh positive. Mine is not cooked. They were raw. I'm going to send mine back. Really, it's it we're hurting at this time. We'll have nights that we'll only see six or eight people for dinner service. We just don't understand what's not working. I am so sick to my stomach. I have chest pains. Carol and I have never taken a paycheck since we started business.
Just the bills. More. More bills. I really want my husband want his dream to come true. That's all. That's that drive and that passion of the dream to say we want to make it happen. Table 36. Okay. Here comes Ramsey. Where? I just saw him walk by the window. Hi. Hello, Mr. Ramsey. Good afternoon. Nice to see you. Pleasure to have you with us. My name is Gerry Gilmore. I'm one of the owners. This is my wife, Carol. How do you do? How are you?
Very nice to meet you. My pleasure. I'm so very happy to be here. Very excited. What kind of restaurant are you running? We try to style ourselves after what we call an American bistro. We try to have fresh seafood, steaks, chops, sandwiches, pasta. Yeah. I can't wait to taste. Okay. Right over here, sir. The restaurant's big. How many seats have you got? Uh we can seat about 85 in the main dining room.
Right. And how many is booked for lunch today? Uh we have 11 people in the restaurant right now and that's unfortunately a little bit of a typical day for us. This is Douglas. Douglas will be your server today. When Chef Ramsey walked through our doors, you know, I was feeling really good. And I thought, you know, this is going to be great. Um the special today is the risotto today is a wild mushroom. It has pretty good. I'm dying to taste the risotto. Okay. Yeah. This fascinates me. I've never seen a duck and a strawberry together. Yes. Well, you good chance to try it. And I'll take that rare, please. you want it, rare? Thank you so much.
Crepe of the day is a sautéed Atlantic salmon. I serve an awful lot of them, but I'm not a big fan of any crepes at all. Doug, is it special? I don't know. Okay. So, the crepes aren't special. No, I don't think so. Okay. Well, why don't we give them a shot? Let's give them a shot. Yeah, exactly. can tell me. I love that honesty. Let's go for the crepes. I know not to order the crepes cuz they were frozen. Frozen crepes are crap.
I got three courses. Pindo, please fire the crepe risotto and the duck salad, please. For Chef Ramsey to come in, he's he's very exciting. Am I nervous? No. I think everything's good. What always makes me feel nervous when I sit next to plastic grapes caked in dust. And the plates look like they've been picked up at the local flea market. Or the dollar shop. Is this the normal quietest lunches normally this? Lunches we average three or four people. Three or four? Yeah. Unfortunately, one of the problems is we don't get the food out in time for it to do a business lunch.
Holy mackerel. Let me go check on your food. Certainly. You ready? He wants a duck salad rare. That doesn't look very rare, right? No, get you know what? Bring out the whole thing. Guys full of [__] I'm ready for a nap. No wonder no one comes for lunch. Taking this long. Coming out way you too slow. Well, let me fire you then. Does food always take this long? Yeah. I see your food put up as a school program.
I'm relying on the Chicago to suburbs train being pushed through the dining room. It's so old fashioned. All right, chef. Wow. Well, looks good. So done. Plate is hot. That's the wild mushroom risotto. And your duck salad rare. What the starters? Plates are dirty. Are they just old plates or Yeah. Okay. Risotto. I really got nervous when he started eating, but I believe that the food here is well above excellence. The risotto is exploded with mush. And it just disintegrates in your mouth and is very salty. We'll bypass that. Don't ask him to make
another one. Way too salty. The little rice is mushy. Okay. Just telling you what he's saying. That's fine. The risotto came out nice. It was good. It was really good. I always knew that risotto was overcooked all the time. When Gordon Ramsay comes in here and tells him this is mush. This is you know, it's like yeah, I've been saying that for months, but Orange strawberry duck. All right. Wow. Jesus. What a bizarre combination. What's with the walnuts? Why are they not candied? They're candied walnuts. As if we need more sweet on there. That definitely didn't work.
Pinto, the crepes are there. When you see a chef putting those ingredients together, it's rather sad, really. Clearly, no one's controlling him, and he hasn't got a [__] clue. Okay, chef. The next course, your salmon crepes. They come out like that normally? All the time. Why haven't they done chop them up? Um no, that's how he makes them all the time. He just puts extra on top, I believe. Who makes the crepes? Um I believe the crepes are store-bought.
No. Yeah. Damn. Look at that. And this is the specialty. I'm fed up with eating crap all the day. When you think of a crepe, you think of something nice, light, crispy, tasty, not something mushy and hideous. That is shocking. I thought you were looking out for this away? Oh, yes, please. They're taking it away. Yeah. This evening, we're going to bypass the pigs. You don't like it? None of it? I don't think there was anything he even said was okay. I was just in shock. And where did you train from?
I trained uh in Italy, and worked in an Italian restaurant. Right. I thought the risotto was an insult. It was mush. Okay. Where is the risotto rice? Uh it's in the cooler. Can you get it to me? Yes. I'm just amazed that you lived in Italy that length of time. You studied there, you worked there. And they didn't teach you how to make risotto. What's that date? 220. What's the date today? 28. You've got the balls to walk in here on a Thursday and serve that [__] from a week ago. It's mush. That was not bad on the uh still edible.
I think it smelled bad. Why in your tiny mind do you think it's still fresh from last Saturday? It was in the uh reach-in cooler. A reach-in cooler confirms in your mind that it's fresh. Well, I'm sorry, but I mean, you know, this is really Wait for me. This has been going on for a while. Pinto tries to stretch the food as far as it can go and sometimes too far. Bring me everything in that fridge that's a week old. You call yourself the executive chef? You should be ashamed.
You served me risotto from a week old. Oh my god. All this is from last week. I was very shocked to find out that we were not serving fresh products. It was such a horrible feeling and then I was getting very angry and mad inside myself to say, "How can my staff do this?" Chop clams. We're keeping clams from a week ago. Smell that. What does it smell of? That doesn't smell good. Smell. Congratulations. You haven't managed to kill anybody off. What are you doing? You're not a real chef, are you? Yes, chef.
What? Any chef that keeps hold of that crap in his fridge for a week, 2 weeks, in my mind has given up. A lack of caring, a lack of responsibility, and more importantly, ignorance. [__] me, what more can you say? Coming up. This [__] thing. What's got Gordon running circles around Cafe 36? Embarrassing. Could it be that the chefs can't get any food out of the kitchen? I think they got to catch the shrimp first. Could it be that the waiters are completely fed up?
It's going to be like a 5 minutes. All right, they told me that like 30 minutes ago. Pino has one speed and that's [__] you. Or could it be that the owners are in denial? You are seriously leading this place into bankruptcy. One thing's for sure. We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground. Gordon is in for the challenge of the year. You're not a real chef, are you? Carol and Terry have put everything they have into Cafe 36.
Unfortunately, this restaurant may be too far gone to save. That lunchtime, that was a tough one, that one. Are you trained in the business? Have you had a restaurant before? not. No, not me. Have you ever had a restaurant before? Absolutely not. You've never had a restaurant before? No. Terry, so how much did you pay for the business? A million two five. No, a million one. A million one, I'm sorry. We put our own savings, IRA accounts. We had a large four-bedroom home that we sold and used the proceeds and the escrow from that to put into the business. And you're here lunch and dinner.
Yes. Carol drops me off in the morning. We only have one car between us. Uh we sold the other one. Everything is very scary right now for Terry and I to see where we're headed. It's hard. It's hard when you just put your faith in something you really believe and believe and it's still not coming. I respect the level of sacrifice here, but you're pondering and querying to why the business isn't coming through the door.
Correct. It's on the back of the food. When food's crap, it's crap. The chef's cooking me a risotto with rice that's eight days old. I just I'm still in shock. Yeah. You have to focus on the wrong. Not ignore it. Right. Yes. We certainly got an eye-opener today. Yeah, I'm panicking on both of your behalf. I'm I'm so sorry. I don't I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, you know that.
No. Don't take it the wrong way, please. No, I understand. And I'm here to make this work. You must understand that. And that's, you know, the objective from day one. Um good to catch up. Thank you. Yeah, we've got a mountain to climb and uh it's it's a tough one. As the staff gets ready for dinner service, Gordon ventures into the kitchen to do a more comprehensive investigation. Pesto vinaigrette, looks like oil out of my car engine. Unbelievable. Everything's frozen. Frozen and defrosted. Place is a mess.
Pinto! Certified exec! What's going on here? What's all this stuff floating in water? That's a group I take it out of from the freezer. We keep it a fresh frozen. Fresh frozen? chef. no such thing. See, the fresh one is frozen. I understand. What's this in water? It's the salmon, chef. Frozen? It was a fresh frozen. We keep it frozen, fresh frozen, it tastes more fresh. It's mad. It is. You're making all this fresh stuff, freezing it, and then taking it out two portions at a time per day. Because it doesn't sell enough.
What? If you had a plenty of business like this Nothing to do with business. That's lazy. Everything's frozen. Trout stuffing. So, we take it out. We slow thaw it. It's you know, cold, cold, cold. Yeah, slow thaw. We stuff the trout, then we refreeze the trout. Yes. I rest my case. Certified jerk. Chef out of Cooper was a strong smell. That's it. Our chef's opinion. It's dinner time, and Gordon is about to see how this fine dining restaurant is anything but fine.
Hello, good evening. Welcome to Cafe 36. Welcome this evening. Would you care to see our wine list? I'll start here with you. Your scallops, how are they? They're terrific. Would you be able to do the salmon here in the kitchen, chef? Sure, I can do that. We'll do a pair of cobia and a salmon, too. I'm very nervous, very nervous and very scared, and we're just hoping for the best.
Escargot? Here goes your What is that? This is the butter that we use for the escargot. It's parsley, chive, garlic. The butter's frozen as well. What don't you freeze? Here's Chef Ramsay, one of the best chefs in the world, telling Pinto that you're doing [__] wrong. In fact, you're doing it bad. It was great to see Pinto eat a little humble pie. What stuff don't you freeze? Give me one ingredient. Like the calamari comes in fresh. We never freeze it. So, the only stuff you don't freeze is the stuff that comes in frozen.
Astounded by what he's just witnessed in the kitchen, Gordon seeks out the owners. Terry and Carol, I'm panicking. Pinto, it's crap. I um I don't get what he's trying to do there. Jimmy, in terms of all this fresh frozen stuff. Everything in, fresh, cut up, portioned, frozen. It's 45 minutes into dinner service, and most customers are still waiting for their food. I feel like I'm drinking more than I'm eating. You know, that's probably the reason I don't wear a watch cuz it takes a heck of a long here.
The nightmare of Cafe 36 is still food time. Not being able to get your food out of the kitchen really makes your job as a server difficult cuz that's pretty much the description of your job, to serve. I think they got to catch the shrimp first. This slow? Everything seems so slow. Yes, sir. If you have a one more person, then it goes faster. Yeah. If you had one more person, it'll go faster? Yes, sir. Eduardo. No wonder you've gone so old. You've aged waiting for the last main course. Huh? While the kitchen is struggling to cook the food, Gordon also sees a problem with the delivery.
Another departure. Holy crap. I'm not aware of any particular reason why we serve on carts. I thought people got pushed into a mortuary on trolleys, no? Right. Not serving food. Would you like to hold the plate by the hand or you want to push a trolley all day long? I would rather hold them by the hand. When the orders finally make it to the tables, customers find it's not worth the wait. It's rare. Is that what you ordered? I ordered medium. Bloody rare. Yeah, I might have to send this one back. I ordered medium.
Please. The New York is supposed to be medium. Huh? The New York is supposed to be medium. What is it? Medium rare, right? They said it says medium. They said medium when I was here. Why don't you just put it under the grill, Pinto? As if we're in a position to argue. My things come back it doesn't mean I'm a bad cook. And it's not just Chef Pinto's cooking that catches Gordon's eye. Well, these are beautiful. They're not even seasoned asparagus, are they?
No, not right now. They're very expensive. They're very expensive, so why have you got them on? A veggie of the day. A veggie of the day? Yes. Aren't you bothered about the cost? Chef, it come from the different part of the world, Chef. We can get it. It comes from the different part of the world. Are you listening to this? Yes, Chef. It's the most expensive vegetable on the market. You want that? And it's out of season. And you just put them on four dishes.
This is unbelievable. Tonight, I'm starting to see new cooking techniques that I've never ever seen before. Slow thaw, fresh frozen, but what's becoming really clear is that he seriously is taking this lovely couple for a ride, and it's got to stop. If this is true about Pinto, he's telling you he's screwing you. Is that Could that be? I hope not. We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground. I'm so scared. During dinner service, owners Carol and Terry were stunned by Gordon's criticism of their head chef, Pinto.
We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground. I'm so scared. He opened our eyes to a lot of things throughout the restaurant that people have been taking advantage of us, so we have to take a good hard look at everything. After a long, difficult dinner service, the customers who have eaten are not exactly thrilled. Chicken's a little overdone. Okay, so too soupy and the chicken is overdone. I didn't eat much of my salad because I didn't really care for the dressing. And those who haven't been served are not willing to wait.
We got here 5:00 or 6:00. Okay, so 3 hours 5 minutes, and then I can give you 5 minutes, and then I'm out. Okay. All right, table five's going to walk out in 5 minutes. But is this the pace we move at? Is this the fastest we go? Pinto has one speed and that speed is [__] you. How long has it been? Almost 2 and 1/2 hours. Some of the customers have given up completely on Cafe 36 and are leaving without even eating an appetizer. It's just been a long day. I have to really take it all in. That hurts. After a rough night, Gordon confronts the staff.
Overall, honestly, pretty disappointing. Both in the kitchen and the dining room. There's one thing in here that I would change instantly. On the back of my experience today, and that's you. Why? You are the executive chef. You're supposed to be a leader, a motivator. You are seriously, seriously leading this place into bankruptcy. Because the big problem in this restaurant, Pinto, is in the kitchen. Fresh frozen, slow thaw. I think that Pinto deserved every single solitary second of that ass-reaming he got from Gordon. If this was your restaurant, would you be freezing everything, portioning it, and then dropping in bowls of water to
defrost it to recook it? Yes or no? No, I wouldn't. Embarrassing. Do you think I enjoyed it? Standing there and listening to this? You know, I'm a proud man. Get the message. Now show me your pride. Chef, cuz I'm [__] waiting. And unfortunately, whether you like it or not, the two people behind you, it's them you're dragging down. That's why I'm pissed. So cut the [__] Get ready for some changes because Cafe 36 needs it urgently. Good night. After witnessing a night of inefficient and bizarre cooking techniques, Gordon's first priority is to implement changes in the kitchen. If there's one thing this restaurant
needs right now, it's something authentic. Yes? Yes. This restaurant needs a good risotto. You, you and me we're going to cook a risotto together. Here is all our fresh ingredients. When I say fresh, I mean fresh. I bought them myself this morning. Are you ready? Yes, yes, yes. Let's go. Cooking with the Chef Ramsay was it was pressure. It was a lot of pressure I was on. This is just a really nice simple porcini risotto. Mushroom done. Let's saute it already. Finish with Parmesan cheese and a little knob of butter.
Make sure you're happy with it. Mushroom risotto. First change, yeah? Risotto, yeah? Second change, we'll be taking the plates out tonight by hand. Faster and not running up and down with this [__] thing all the way up. Hey. We're going to carry the plates. Yeah? By hand. When Chef Ramsay took the carts off the floor, it was great. I hated them from day one, so to me it was like, "Yeah." I do have a usage for the trolleys cuz tonight we'll come up with a goat cheese salad special where you'll be dressing the salad. Gives us more time in the kitchen and we'll be doing like goat cheese fritters.
I absolutely love the idea of having the salad made at the table side. Sort of a little bit of entertainment and showmanship. Yeah, it makes things in. Touch of salt, touch of pepper, honey mustard vinaigrette. Yeah? I got cheese fritters. Yeah, one. Two. Here we go. And bang. Salad [snorts] on. Madam. And madam. So, light, vibrant, exciting and more importantly, we're changing today.
We're changing. We're changing big time, yeah? As Gordon starts to turn around Cafe 36, he knows that what really needs to change is Terry. I'm going to identify your weaknesses and improve your strengths. Right. And, you know, Pinto is a big weakness. And don't ever be intimidated by controlling chefs. And you've got to be strong. You must be Absolutely. And I can see that now. And I think a lot of it was I'm more involved in, you know, the mundane daily operation, the things that I shouldn't be doing. And not watching the things that I should. And I can see that now.
What's at stake is my dream. And I'm not going to let anybody take it away from me. And you have got to start being firm. Because if you're not firm, they're never ever going to respect you. Next I almost fired him on the spot. Order on Pinto. Tempers flare in the kitchen. Talk to each other, guys. Then they erupt in the dining room. Cancel my entree. Cancel your entree? Right, I'm leaving. Pinto, executive chef, certified dick. Threatening the grand reopening of Cafe 36.
What do we do? How can this happen to us? Hi, good evening. Welcome this evening. Four. We have you right over here. Lots of people coming in. All right, let's rock and roll. Hi, how are you? Hello, how are you tonight? Good. The feeling going into service There you are, dear. getting all charged up and ready to go. Let's all pull together and let's get this rolling. The chef has prepared a porcini mushroom risotto today. My special salad is a goat cheese fritter salad.
Goat cheese salad. Okay, two salads. I'm going to have that filet, please. How would you like your filet? Uh, medium. Okay, take control now, yeah? You listen and say yes or no, yeah? Yes, yes. Two more salads. Take your filet, yeah, medium on, yeah? New York strip medium, yeah? What's next, please? Hey, I got a crab cakes, a smoked salmon appetizer, and an onion soup, please. Right now, I'm pretty stressed out about tonight. I don't want anything to go like last night. We're trying to make this thing smooth operation tonight.
Two risotto, a trout, and a scallops. Okay, good. Let's go two risotto, yeah? Such a presentation. First one I've ever done. Thank you. Looks good. The goat cheese is excellent. But, while the special salads are a huge hit, They haven't had their appetizer yet on this table. It's going to be a few minutes, bro. I want to see this half hour or so. Cafe 36's characteristically slow service continues to leave customers waiting.
45 minutes already. I'll be good with that one now. I got to see someone with shank 136 below, yes? Working, Chef. Working, yeah. How long? Three minutes, bro. I'm ready. I'm all right. Pinto, change gear. You want to change the gear? Yep. Unfortunately, you're still in neutral. Is the double salad that's taking so long? I'm sorry. I don't know why. I swear it should be the next ticket up. I'm tired of working some place where I can't get the food out. I can't service my customers.
Five has been waiting no less than an hour and 15 to an hour. It's going to be like a five minutes. All right. They told me that like 30 minutes ago. I swear to God. I just think Pinto's making this crap up as he goes along cuz all a lie. Unbelievable. Oh my God. You have red veggies for one for two there. No, that's That's what I said. I can't say it over and over. First time you said one then two and No, I didn't. You said you got one there and that's two veggies. I'd say three. Look at the book.
Hey. I got [__] to do. No, no, I know. Pinto. Can you speak a little bit now? Yeah. Work as a team, please. Yeah? Last night you worked as individuals. Tonight we're going to work as a team, yeah? Yes, Chef. Let's go. I'm not having food hanging around tonight. There's no chance. They just got here. They were seated before I saw them. It's clean that it's been a while, though. Chef Pinto, you lied to me and told me it's almost ready. How long, baby? It's going to be a few minutes, bro.
I can't fire all these fans. I just can't do it. We're halfway through service. And the good news is we've sold 42 salads, which is great. Sadly, the bad news is that Barney and Pinto they don't like each other. And that's affecting the service. Things have slowed down and customers are now starting to complain. Damn. We should have another New York medium. Right? No. You guys aren't even working together. Come on, Barney. You got to keep it driving. Don't let it sink. Let's go. I don't know where we are. I don't know.
What you guys are firing. You got to call anything out. Huh? I mean, I don't know what's going on. Pinto, you guys didn't listen to me and I don't know. There's got to be a better system than what we're doing because it's just not working. It's been a long wait. This is cold. They didn't even have They're not even the same as mine. I'm going to go ahead and take these. This is the entree size portion, correct? That's not an entree. That's appetizer. Pinto really can't cook on the line and Pinto really can't run a kitchen. On the ticket, it's got risotto dinner. Unbelievable. Bonnie, talk to your cook, yeah? Let's go. it a larger portion. Hey, it's too thick. Pour some more stock in there.
Okay, I'll thin it down. Oh my god, now we're falling out now. We're going down, boys. Just 2 seconds, you as well, yeah? Just come here for 2 seconds. You I'm not doing that in front of the customers. Come here, you. None of you are talking. You have got to talk together. He needs you, yeah? You need him. So, we go back in there and we work at it. If he's sauteing, you've got to expedite. HE'S TRYING TO EXPEDITE, PLATE, AND COOK. He can't get in FRONT OF THE TICKETS, OKAY? NOW, COME ON. I agree entirely with what Chef Ramsay had to say about our performance this evening.
We weren't working together as a team and it hurt us. It should be up in just moments. Don is lying to people right now. That's it. You know, I'm safe. With some of his customers still waiting for their food and others giving up altogether, Brian reaches his breaking point. Now, I got to say two things that are really hard. You're hiding and you need to be fired. Let me tell you something now. You work for me.
I don't work for you. You're a waiter. Remember who you work for. Listen, the risotto is taking so long. I'm sorry. I don't know why. I swear it should be the next ticket up. Tonight, the waiters of Cafe 36 took a lot of heat for the problems in the kitchen, and Brian is truly frustrated. Now, I got to say two things that are really hard. You're hiding, and you need to be fired. Let me tell you something, though. You work for me. I don't work for you. Brian made some very harsh comments that were extremely out of place, and it made me very upset to the point that I almost fired him on the spot.
But, this has gone on way too far. He's not don't like working here, then keep your opinion to yourself. I want Terry to start telling everybody what to do, instead of letting the inmates run the asylum. You're a waiter. Remember who you work for. After experiencing yet another disappointing dinner service, Gordon is curious to hear what the head chef has to say. Okay. Ben, what do you think about tonight's service? It was excellent. It really was. Everybody got involved. What kitchen were you in?
Pardon me? Uh Bonnie, truthfully, is that the way you saw service tonight? No, I thought it was bad. It was really rough. Once again, complete different opinions. You're right, though. Service was terrible. Nothing was coming together, no communication, no coordination, no teamwork. Customers waited tonight. They waited big time. What do we do? What's going on? How can this happen to us? What do we do? Let me just give you three major issues that's wrong with this restaurant. The first issue is the service is way too slow. The second problem, the food
is too inconsistent. Inconsistency is a killer. The third reason, and one of the most important reasons why this restaurant is not busy, it's not contemporary. A 1970s restaurant trying to compete in the 2008 market. We're behind the times. We are behind the times. Okay, I'm going now. I'm I'm working all night, and by the time I see you tomorrow morning, we should have a well put together plan. Good night. That night Gordon and his team went to work doing away with the restaurant's old-fashioned and outdated look, creating a more contemporary restaurant. All right, good morning. How are you feeling?
Oh, I'm thrilled. Big day today, yes? Today's relaunch day. We're going to turn it around, yeah, and put it back on the map. In we go. Come through, come through, come through. Oh. Wow. Oh my god. How cool is this? Oh. It's modern. Sauces. Holy cow. Wow. We've got a black and white color theme. Yes. And who knew I love black and white so much? god. It's been brought up into the 21st century. Beautiful. It's a new restaurant. When I walked in the door, I just incidentally felt alive.
We've got rid of the old fuddy-duddy stuff. And now it's a really nice, sharp, cutting-edge feel. Uh absolutely, I'm getting choked up. It's just what a dream. Hey, look at the plates. I No more mismatched china. All the same. It's wonderful. It's amazing. Now that we have matching plates, it looks like we know what we're doing back here. The booths have been upholstered. I love the black.
Got new chandeliers. I'm just so thankful. It's unbelievable. A restaurant can't just survive on a new decor, yes? It needs a new menu, yeah, to go with it. So, we've gone modern, yes? Fresh approach, and more importantly, we've condensed the menu. I think the kitchen should respond favorably to the new menu, unless they screw it up with their usual [__] It should work out. It's seasonal as well. We have everything in season. I think that the new menu is going to make the kitchen faster. Before dinner, we'll make sure we taste one of everything, yes? So, you know what you're selling.
Tonight, head chef Pinto is cooking from the newly designed menu and has one more chance to prove himself to Chef Ramsay. First of all, just look at the difference. Appearance, plates, portion size. Start from the top. Onion soup gratinée, yeah? Perfect for the winter. Crab cakes, grilled chicken sandwich, the grilled apple or tuna, Mediterranean ragu, filet mignon tartar. Oh, you like steak tartar? Oh, yes. And then one of my favorites, the duck confit. Have a little taste, get familiar with the uh taste and textures.
I love that tartar. Wonderful. It's a whole new beginning and Chef Ramsay did that for us. Let's take advantage of tonight and let's show La Grange yeah, what we're made of. With the new menu and decor, Carol and Terry face one of the most important nights ever at Cafe 36. Well, welcome to the Cafe 36. We're glad to have you here at our grand reopening. The personality has changed. It's more Carol and Terry's. When the orders come in, can we call out the orders so we got some form of vibrance in here a little bit, yes? Yeah? What do you think of the new menu? I think it's sharp. Yeah, it looks great. Yeah, it's night and day.
Tonight, we have to be faster, yeah? They give us standards up, yes? Right, Chef. Big, big, big night tonight and personally I've never ever wanted a dinner service to work as well as tonight because of Terry and Carol, because they so deserve it. And they're really endearing, but I honestly hope that Pinto doesn't screw this one up. Please, not tonight. Order on, Andy. Order on, Pinto. All right, we're coming up with it. Pinto. Order on. Mario, one crab cakes. As the orders make their way to the dining room, Brian, your food is here. the dinner service gets off to a good start.
It's good. I should have got that. You just got your entree. How is everything so far? Really good. Delicious. Fresh food, simple menu. Love it. All right, am I ever going to get a crab cake with this? Right, talk to me next time we're coming, please. Mario, I got a four crab cakes. But barely an hour into service and the kitchen's bad habits are back. Table number, please. 13, please. 13, how long? Like uh 6 minutes. Oh my god, they're still not ready? I got every burner full, man. This one empty so I put something else on it, okay?
Pinto, we have to go in a little bit now, yeah? When you're looking at all these tickets, sometimes things can be a little slower. Pinto, if we go quiet, nothing's happening. We need some form of voice in here. Pinto was running the tickets. While Pinto got behind, but he's the chef. And he should be in control of the situation. Right, come on guys. You've got to talk to each other. Yes, chef. But you've got to talk to each other, guys. Pinto. Once again, Pinto's inefficiency in the kitchen is upsetting both customers and staff.
I'm just pissed off. I just can't take this, man. I hope Terry straightens this out. The real problem right now is they can't seem to finish any food back there. It's just like really bad sex. It keeps going on and on, and at some point you just wish it would be over. Cancel my entree? Cancel your entree? Right, I'm leaving. It's been more than fair. It's been 6:30. It's been 3 and 1/2 hours we've been sitting. Yeah, it's a little hectic tonight. Pinto's got to go. He's just standing there doing nothing. I know. I agree. Nobody's communicating. Nobody's even stepping up to the mark. And look what Barney's doing. Barney's out trying to
read the tickets, cook, saute, and expedite. Yeah? And Pinto is just trying to dress the salad. Not good enough. That's not a team effort. Yeah, I can see it from here. Nothing's being directed. Unbelievable. Gordon Ramsay really did give me a swift kick in the butt to say, you know, wake up if you're going to have your business be a success, you have to take charge. What are we waiting on? Where we at? So, I need those two crab cakes right now. Coming up. All right. Come on, guys. I need to get this food out. I got tables I got to turn. We can't fall behind.
Thank you, Eddie. Go. All right. Talk to me. What's next? With Terry finally staying on top of his chef, Two steak tartare, apple salad, crab cake. the kitchen gets back on track. Cheers. We got our food. Thank you. Two salmon? There's two salmon in the oven. Okay, beautiful. Keep it coming, guys. I got to get this dining room turned over. We got a lot of people waiting. I think Terry's size has been opened up. Two risottos? Risotto plate right there. You know, you should give everybody the benefit of the doubt, but you should also demand performance out of them.
That's all I want is just communication. For the first time since Gordon's arrival, the back of the house Let's see if we can finish these last two covers. We're strong, shall we? Yippee! Let's go. is in sync with the front. I'm following. We're on our way. Here's your hair to Terry, I believe. Hello, Terry. And it was Terry who made it happen. You have a beautiful restaurant. Thank you. It is. It's a it's so much more beautiful.
Yes. Amazing potential. Yeah. Very rare you come across a couple today in this industry and the back of the commitment it takes, the sacrifice, the personal life. You're so unselfish, it's untrue. And you're so perfect for each other, it's extraordinary. And that's quite rare. And I really mean that. I can't tell you what to do with Pinto, but you know my feelings. Absolutely do. But when you make a decision, I hope to hell that you don't make it too late. You had talked about change. You know, when that we have to do that and I can't, you know, hold back any longer and we have to do that.
No more The biggest thing I've learned is I have to definitely be more aggressive in running my business. I have to take full charge and I have to change and I've already changed. You've done so much for us. Yeah. And it's just [snorts] an incredible feeling that you've done that for us. And you know, you said we had to get rid of the old and back from the '30s. Yes. With 30 years ago. Yeah. So, we got this. Are you guys Are you serious? So, this is from our own personal wine collection.
Oh my god, I can't take that. Come on. It's a bottle of Chateau Canon 1976. We said I would 30 years ago, so we're past it. No, oh god. Can I keep it here for when I come back? Absolutely. And when I come back, we can have it last together. We would love that. Would you? Absolutely. God, you two like you two, honestly. I'll see you later. They're the most perfect mom and dad. Unbelievable. Right.
Thank you so much. Oh dear. Good luck, sir. Thank you. Yes, you. Thank you. Yeah, and you deserve everything. You know that. And strong. And you listen to this lady. Yes? Yes. She's the love of my life. Thank you. How you doing? Congratulations. So much. There is absolutely uh a light at the end of the tunnel. And in fact, it's bigger than just a light. I think there's a whole sunshine coming out. Best wishes. Thank you. Yes. Okay. We [snorts] got work to do, right? Yeah, we do. No, they do.
That's tough, really tough. What can you say about a couple that sacrificed so much to get where they have today? And what can you say about a couple that are so devoted to each other? Incredible. I know what you can say. Damn, I hope they succeed cuz they deserve to. So much. There is one last footnote to this story. Relaunch night was the last night Pinto worked at Cafe 36. He left the very next day. And Barney was promoted to head chef. Next time on Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon goes to what could be the worst restaurant he's ever seen. Disgusting. The chef is clueless.
Not one table HAS THEIR FOOD YET. YOU KNOW, what can you do? The food is rancid. And the owners are running it into the ground. know what's wrong with you, and I don't know why the [__] you've opened a restaurant. Could this be the restaurant that even Chef Ramsay can't save? I need the door closed. That's next time on Kitchen Nightmares.
