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There it is!
Next on "Restaurant Impossible,"
I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where one chef is so focused on his food,
he's lost sight of the big picture.
We're really behind on our bills, on our rent.
[ Voice breaking ] I want to see my husband again.
Ohh!
IRVINE: I need to figure out how to make Fusion less confusing...
A menu is supposed to be inviting, not intimidating.
Do you know what this is?
I have no idea.
Some kind of chili?
...and turn his passion...
IRVINE: That's cooking!
...into profit.
It's their livelihood and my name.
I'm in big trouble.
I'm not in the best of moods.
Open your eyes.
What?
NARRATOR: Chef Robert Irvine has 2 days and $10,000
to do the impossible.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
It's the start of my mission in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I'm here to help first-time restaurateurs
Elvis and Monica Bencomo
and their restaurant, Pasión Latin Fusion.
My husband and I opened up Pasión Latin Fusion
about two and a half years ago.
I was a chef at another restaurant here in Albuquerque,
and I just felt like I needed to step up my game,
as far as my career.
He just mentioned one day,
"Hey, there's a restaurant that's on the market.
You want to go see it?"
And I said, "Why not?"
To get Pasión going, I needed financial backup,
and I asked my brother if he can help us with that.
MONICA: My brother-in-law Orlando really helped us get started.
Things just started moving.
ELVIS: Pasión Latin Fusion Restaurant
is really not your typical fare you find in Albuquerque.
It's a combination of foods from Argentina to the Caribbean
to Mexico, which is where I'm from.
MONICA: Pasión means "passion" in Spanish.
We are full of passion.
ELVIS: Being a cook is really an extension of being an artist,
because you're using different colors,
you're using different tastes.
That's just our goal here, is to create art on a plate.
The problem is the customers we have love our food,
but we just don't have enough people to come in.
MONICA: I think that we have some of the best food in town,
but Elvis and I are kind of dumbfounded.
Like, people say they love the food,
they say the service is good.
I'm confused.
ELVIS: We're really behind on our bills, on our rent.
Payroll's really hard to keep up with.
I work between 65 and 75 hours a week.
That affects our personal lives.
[ Voice breaking ] I miss him.
I want to see my husband again. I want my son to have his dad.
[ Voice breaking ] I feel like I --
You know, I did this to myself, so...
Things are at a critical point for Monica and Elvis,
and it's my job to take them from the red to the black.
[ Bells jingle ]
The first thing I notice is some type of rancid smell.
You walk in, you hit a brick wall
and some type of entranceway here.
Really doesn't serve any purpose.
Two different tile floors,
horrendous-looking fabric on the booths there.
In the center of the room, these fire pits,
which actually isn't a bad look.
So, all in all, not a restaurant
that has any flair, any imagination.
So, now I'm gonna meet the owners, Elvis and Monica,
Hi.
Very nice to meet you.
Husband?
[ Laughs ]
How old are you?
27, 26.
We've been married for five and a half years.
We have a 1-year-old son.
Thank you.
All right. Tell me about this restaurant.
Okay.
I love Latin America. I love the culture.
I love the food there.
So I just dedicated my time of studying all that.
Yes.
We learned about this space being available.
And my brother Orlando, he's our main investor.
How much has he invested?
$35,000 that he saved up while on tour in Iraq.
So, you've never run a restaurant before.
I ran a restaurant as far as the kitchen goes.
Okay.
And, Monica, what experience
do you have in the restaurant business?
I have a lot of customer-service experience, about 10 years,
but I only served in restaurants prior to this one
for about a year.
What made you think you could run a restaurant?
I had all my faith in him.
He's kind of the brains of the operation.
What we've been doing is kind of learning as we go.
So, you know what I would call that in one word?
[ Chuckles ] What's that?
Yeah.
How much are you losing a month?
About 3 grand.
We got behind on our gross receipt taxes.
We had to take out a loan. The interest rates are horrible.
30% on that, so...
Ohh!
We've been living off of her student loans for school.
IRVINE: Monica goes to school full-time,
and mounting debt means all Elvis' time
is spent in the restaurant.
I'm trying to do this for us,
but now I feel like I have to be here
[Sniffles] in order to make it somewhat work.
I'm just not able to be there for her as I should.
Just want him to have a relationship with his son.
Any moment I get with him, I experience it to the fullest.
He's a great dad.
I love her so much, and...
I needed to hear that. [ Chuckles ]
Took a lot of moxie
to open up a restaurant at your young age,
but obviously it's not working.
You have an awful restaurant, looking-wise.
Yeah.
The good thing is, I fix things.
I don't know about your food.
We're gonna taste that in a minute.
I want to see how you run your business
so I can figure out why you're failing.
Gonna bring some people in --
some people that have been here, some people that haven't,
Sounds good.
Thank you.
Thanks.
IRVINE: You know, in the restaurant business,
it's tough enough with experience making it work.
This is a busy road out there, a busy neighborhood,
and this place should be jumping.
My job to figure out why it's not and fix it.
Aah! Aah! Aah!
[ Laughing ] Oh, my God!
I told you I could smell something. Ah!
Who's ready to see the new Pasión Latin Fusion?
[ Cheers ]
Whoo!
IRVINE: I'm at Pasión Latin Fusion
in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where the fire has definitely gone out.
Welcome to Pasión Latin Fusion.
Your server's gonna be Miss Reatha. She'll be right with you guys.
Okay. And then what would you like for your side?
Gonna be two?
It's not coordinated. The booths are very outdated.
Needs a little help.
IRVINE: Aside from design,
customers also have problems with the menu.
SERVER: So, I have to give you the tutorial on the menu.
WOMAN: A lot of items on this menu I don't know what they are.
I would like to have someone
explain to me what some of this is,
'cause it looks like it might be good.
IRVINE: One look in his kitchen,
and Elvis' passion for cooking is obvious.
And the Fish and Chips Latino.
Elvis' ambitious menu gets mixed reviews.
Some plates get raves...
I have the Cuban Camaron Tacos, which are exquisitely seasoned.
The coconut textures with the -- Oh, God, it's good, man.
Elvis is a mad scientist in the kitchen.
IRVINE: ...while others fall flat.
I've ordered this plantain sandwich.
The cut of meat is too tough.
I'm gonna try the food now.
Let's see what the big man brings.
I'm not nervous at all because I stand behind my food 100%.
Looking at the menu,
I can see things that me as a chef would understand,
but as a general person walking into the restaurant,
you wouldn't have any clue what an epazote herb is.
Hi. How we doing today?
My name is Adam. I'll be taking care of you today.
Food good?
There's nothing on the menu that I don't like.
What about, uh, this one?
Huarache. It means "sandal" in Spanish.
Sandal?
Yeah, so it's gonna be like a flat --
It's almost like a lasagna. It's stacked in layers.
But we would never know that, right?
Do you ever get questions like that from people?
All the time. I'm constantly repeating answers.
So, obviously we have to address that,
because it's too complicated
for a normal person to understand it.
All right, I'll have the guacamole,
Cubano Sandwich, fish tacos.
I will get that right in for you.
I have the chips and salsa and guacamole.
This salsa is passion fruit.
It's a little bit sweet and spicy.
It's fresh, but guacamole just tastes like avocado.
Needs some salt in it, also.
The salsa.
There it is! [ Coughs ]
Sweet, spicy. It's actually very good.
A little too spicy for me, but it's got a great flavor.
Taco.
It's actually very good.
Fish is cooked well. The sauce is good.
I like this.
A little messy, but it's good.
You're sweating. You're nervous.
But he likes your food so far.
He said your fish tacos were good.
Cubano, one of my favorite sandwiches of all time.
Literally no flavor whatsoever.
This is the plantain sandwich with chimichurri steak.
The steak is so tough, I couldn't even bite through it.
And it's so tough, you can't even cut through it.
If you can't eat it, you can't serve it.
Elvis! Come here. I want to show you something.
This taco was excellent flavor.
This -- I wouldn't feed it to your dog.
The Cuban -- Oh, my goodness.
It is an amazing sandwich when done right.
That was awful.
Also, the menu -- Oh, my goodness.
Do you understand half of this?
It's definitely a job to go through it with each table.
I mean, I'm sitting here, and yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
So, how do you think a guest feels?
It kind of makes it seem, like, exotic.
I'm gonna prove to you later that all this...
Aah!
...all this...
We worked so *** it. Okay.
...is hurting your business.
We needed to hear that for sure.
I'm gonna create the menu with you that is authentic.
I'm gonna teach you how to cook it
and your staff how to present it,
and that's all gonna be in the next 36 hours.
But before all that,
I'm gonna meet with my designer Taniya.
You get the kitchen cleaned up,
and I'll call you when I'm ready for you, okay?
Thanks, Chef.
Thank you.
ELVIS: Chef Irvine commented our menu
doesn't really make sense to the average customer,
but I won't compromise
on the way of not using those ingredients.
Hi.
I'm all right.
I'm kind of disappointed because where's the pasión in Pasión?
Okay.
I hate it.
I'm not loving it very much myself.
Good. So we're on the same page.
First things first -- you come in the door,
we hit this brick wall and some kind of -- Yeah.
What is this used for?
IRVINE: Tile -- yucko. I'd like to change the floors.
Banquettes with floral. Some have wine bottles.
But here's something really cool.
TANIYA: I think this is very cool.
Yeah.
But could we not move this over and put it here?
And I don't know.
I'll check on that with Tom.
IRVINE: The canopies and the lights.
It looks ugly, but I feel like
we can do something to make that look exciting.
That's about it, I think.
I think we're on the same page so far with everything.
Passion, fiery, Latino.
The fact that I can add flavor and energy and excitement
excites me.
All right. Good. I'm glad you're excited.
Elvis, Monica, bring all your staff out, please!
Who are you?
I'm the brother.
Yes.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
You're a stakeholder in this restaurant.
Yes. For sure.
All right, obviously we're here for a reason.
We're gonna take everything out of this restaurant.
Let's go!
All right, everything out, everything out.
TANIYA: The good news is we're starting with a clean slate.
It's pretty legit. There's not a whole lot in here.
I'm ready to start fresh, get everything out
and get the new in so we can have a fresh beginning,
'cause we really need it.
TANIYA: What is -- Oh, my God! Tom!
Huh?
Come here! I think it is an el gato or something!
Wow! That's a nice rat.
That's a big one.
Oh, my God. It's petrified.
I'm gonna throw up right now.
That is a giant rat.
Wow!
Yeah.
That's the smell.
Aah! Aah! Aah!
[ Laughing ] Oh, my God!
I told you I could smell something.
When we first started leasing the building,
we found all types of things
that we didn't even know how to pronounce,
but we didn't know how to move the booths
so that we could find that.
IRVINE: Remember when I walked in the restaurant,
I could smell a bad odor.
I found the odor. And it's a dead rat.
When I walked in the restaurant, I could smell a bad odor.
I found the odor.
And it's a dead rat.
All right, get it clean. Sweep it up. Let's go.
So, it's a little embarrassing.
I mean, it sucks, but at the same time, fresh start!
IRVINE: The rat is gone, but tearing out the booths
reveal a problem that's a little harder to fix.
TANIYA: Do you guys see that there's no tile underneath here?
Robert! There's no tile underneath here.
So, here's where we are -- When we took the booths out,
realized that there was no tile underneath the booths,
which means the tile was done after the booths were in,
which gives us two uneven surfaces.
The decision you make from this point forward --
Do we lift it and try it, or do we patch this way?
Well? What is it?
So, obviously the decision has been made.
Tom is taking it all up.
So, I've got Elvis on the side of the building right now,
and I'm gonna prove to him that whilst his menu is authentic,
it's actually very confusing to the guests.
They don't understand it.
When we think of menus in a restaurant,
we think of enticing, appetizing, descriptive,
all the things that excite us and build that mental picture
Mm-hmm.
When I read your menu, even though it was authentic,
as a guest, I wouldn't understand that,
and I'm gonna prove that to you.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
No.
I'm gonna ask you a question. Do you know what that is?
I have no idea.
Okay.
Tell me what it is.
Torta ahogada. Torta is a sandwich.
Ahogada means "drowned" or "submerged."
It's a sandwich that is submerged in a salsa.
Would you ever have known that
coming into a restaurant and reading that?
No idea.
Thank you very much. Young lady?
Do you know what this is?
Some kind of chili?
It's a Chile de Arbol.
It's a dried pepper. That's the name of the pepper.
It has a smoky, spicy flavor to it.
I would ask the waitress more about it.
So it doesn't entice you, then?
No.
Thank you. Thank you.
Have you ever heard of these two things?
No, sir.
Yes, sir.
I am, sir.
No, sir.
This is epazote. It's an herb.
It's almost like oregano.
We use it to flavor soups or salsas.
This here is camote. It's a sweet potato.
Would you have known that walking into a restaurant?
No, sir.
If a young man that speaks your language
doesn't understand this, what hope have I got?
Okay, good.
Yes, sir.
This is for all of you.
Would you ever frequent a restaurant
that you couldn't understand the menu?
Why?
Well, you'd be asking the server
to come over every five minutes
to explain every item probably in a lot of detail.
I'd be embarrassed to keep asking them to come back.
As long as it has a description underneath,
it would be okay, but...
These were actually the descriptive words on the menu.
You're making your customers feel all embarrassed.
And then you're supposed to be inviting, not intimidating.
And if you're intimidating, what happens?
You don't come back.
You leave or you don't come back.
Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Go back to sanding, 'cause I need them chairs.
Thank you.
It's kind of an eye-opener just to kind of see
people don't know what they're reading.
The servers do a good job,
but it's hard for people to order something
if they don't understand what it is.
It's not about you and how you feel.
It's about the guests.
They have a better time, they tell their friends,
and they see that passion and that love
that you have in your restaurant and in your food,
and this place will be unstoppable.
Makes sense.
Here's what I want you to do. Gather all your staff.
The office next door to your restaurant
has allowed us to use their space.
We're gonna meet in there.
Thanks.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in the space
was that it just wasn't giving off the warmth
that the restaurant name gives off.
My goal is to give it life, give it energy,
put the pasión back in Pasión Latin Fusion.
So, I did pull a bright vibrant-colored fabric.
Very inexpensive.
And I'm gonna do an entire wall with this.
It'll make it plush, soft,
and add a little bit of warmth to the space.
So, what I've done -- I've gathered the staff.
I'm gonna talk to them
about how they see the running of the business,
what's going wrong,
and see what they have to say, which will help me fix it.
The question I have is, what's going wrong with the restaurant?
One of the biggest problems is inconsistency.
In the back of house when we're doing kitchen work,
like, we'll jump in on each other's sections and stations,
and there's no assigned procedure.
Consistency. Yes.
Sometimes I'm waiting at the back door to get in.
Who's supposed to let you in?
Elvis.
Okay. So, why is that?
I'm grocery shopping. [ Chuckles ]
You see that knock-on effect?
You're grocery shopping, somebody can't get in,
they can't do their job, you can't open on time.
There'll be times when I don't know
what the special is going to be
and I have a table or two or three set,
so I have to say, "I'll let you know what the special is."
Whose fault is that?
ELVIS: 'Cause I'm late. I'm shopping. Same thing.
Yeah.
IRVINE: Elvis spends all of his time
shopping and creating his complicated menu.
Meanwhile, no one is running his business.
We should be having a meeting every week.
And since I've been back from deployment,
we've met up like three times I think maybe.
We've had about five meetings since you've been back,
but we've never stopped you
from taking the initiative to plan a meeting.
Don't ask us. Plan it.
I ask you all the time, "What is it you want to do?"
One hour a week is all I ask.
I tried that.
I don't want you to feel like we're not together.
I've tried that several times.
I've never even heard from him that he wanted to have
a meeting until, like, yesterday.
Well, there you go. It's communication.
Why don't you communicate with each other?
It's kind of just basically our relationship.
When it comes to issues
like things that we need to get done at the restaurant,
and especially when it comes to money and all that,
like, it's my way to kind of dance around it
and not have to deal with it right then and there.
Here's what happens when you do that.
You create this.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Exactly.
IRVINE: If Elvis wants to focus on food,
then the front of house needs someone running it
who has a vested interest in the future of this restaurant.
You have a full-time job
and schooling and take care of a baby.
You can help when you're here obviously,
but you can't run the front.
I eliminate you from that role.
Thank you.
Orlando, what is your role right now?
Kind of just support.
I wash dishes, I serve sometimes, I bus.
You're fully vested. It's your money.
So if I look in this, there's only one clear choice.
It's me.
And that would be you.
All's we have to do is to give you the tools
and teach you to be able to do that job.
You can oversee. It's no different than the military.
It really isn't.
It's observing, it's teaching, it's following up.
That's all. Thank you very much.
I'm gonna check in with my design before we end the night.
Thank you, Chef.
Whoa.
It's a lot more open now.
So different.
When I walked in this morning,
all's I hit was a wall, an arch.
Now we've got an empty space, which looks much larger.
Boom.
It's a lot more welcoming when you walk in.
So you get a person straight away instead of a wall.
Yeah, which is a lot nicer.
All right, what is the overall plan?
We're calling this "Latin explosion."
Color, life, vibrance, energy -- all of that.
Young!
This morning we had a huge issue over here.
There was tile. What are we doing?
TOM: When we looked at it, we planned on going over the tile,
but then underneath those huge booths, there wasn't any tile,
so we decided to try to take the tile up until we found a drain
that was underneath that old floor.
So the floor dips so far --
It's like two inches down to that drain.
That really was a big groove.
I have to fill that,
which is gonna take lots of bags of cement.
We have to float it. It has to dry.
So, I mean, that's gonna be all night.
If we don't have this floor done, at least this section
by tomorrow, we're gonna be in big trouble.
All right. Let's get to it. Lots to do.
See you later.
It's the end of Day 1 at Pasión Latin Fusion,
and for this young couple and their first restaurant,
their future hangs in the balance.
Today's been very exhausting.
There is a lot of uncertainty that's still on the line.
We do need a stronger leader,
and a lot of things need to change.
I'm gonna go home tonight, talk to Monica,
and just let it all sink in.
We've put our hearts on the line,
and at this point, we're all-in.
IRVINE: It's gonna be an interesting second and final day
at Pasión Latin Fusion Restaurant
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Elvis and Monica Bencomo
opened the restaurant just over two years ago,
but they haven't been able to get the public
to share the passion they have for their food.
I think that we have some of the best food in town.
ELVIS: Our goal here is to create art on a plate,
but we just don't have enough people to come in.
IRVINE: Elvis' dishes were inconsistent.
Fish is cooked well. No flavor whatsoever.
And his ambitious menu confused customers.
ADAM: Huarache. It means "sandal" in Spanish.
Yes.
Do you know what this is?
Some kind of chili?
No, sir.
Elvis has a great passion for food,
but what he lacks is leadership.
We should be having a meeting every week.
And since I've been back from deployment,
we've met up like three times I think maybe.
Whose fault is that?
I've got 12 hours left
to create a winning menu for Elvis
and set up his brother Orlando for success
in the front of the house.
I'm painting it all blue.
TANIYA: Good morning.
Uh, I don't think it's good right now.
What on Earth?
I see a piece of the floor, nothing of that floor,
nothing of this floor, and everything has stopped.
Yeah, the floor is a big problem today.
This roll-out flooring is taking way too long.
And we had to spend half the night prepping this floor.
We poured a million bags of self-leveler to get this nice.
So, what's the plan?
We're gonna keep cranking away,
but the floor is gonna take the entire day.
We'll be putting the last floor planks in
as we're bringing tables in.
It's gonna be a nightmare. There's nothing done.
I mean, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it.
I've got 200 people coming at 6:00.
TOM: I know.
You finish the artwork.
If I need to alter the design as we go along because of time,
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
All right. I'll get to painting and we'll move that way.
Great. Thank you. All right.
Off you go as quick as you can. Get as much done.
I got to tell you, I'm not in the best of moods.
I've got a menu to finish,
I've got to meet and greet the owners with a smile on my face,
and the smile on my face doesn't match the anxiety in my stomach.
ELVIS: Today's definitely a huge day.
I look at it as a brand-new beginning to our business.
Yesterday was very difficult, very emotional,
and I am just as exhausted as I am excited
to see what he has in store for us today.
Good morning.
IRVINE: Last night, Monica and her husband, Elvis,
had time to think
about their changing roles in the restaurant.
Did you talk to each other?
Yeah, we talked a lot about what happened
and how we just need to move on
as business partners with Orlando.
The points that you said were all valid.
What was the hardest thing I said to you for you to accept?
Well, actually, I don't think it was anything that you said.
It was what the servers said.
You know, I always thought myself as the leader,
and that was shocking to me
that the biggest problem in our restaurant is Elvis.
Like, I'm the problem, so that was really hard for me.
But it's needed.
I kind of lost track of my vision of the restaurant.
And, you know, it's good that you see that.
You named the restaurant Pasión, right?
Passion.
Own it and sell it.
You have to make the people believe, "A," you're in charge,
"B," your food is the best possible in this area,
it's the freshest.
It represents you, Elvis.
You, on the other hand, do the social media
and be the hostess with the mostess two times a week
and take care of yourself, your school, and your baby.
I can do that.
Yeah, I can do that.
You know your roles. You know what you got to do.
Any questions?
Right now, no. We know what to do.
All right, Elvis, I'm gonna show you a couple of dishes
that I think are gonna go well on your new menu,
so you meet me in the kitchen.
We're gonna remake the Cubano Sandwich.
Also, we're gonna redo the grilled flank steak chimichurri
in a different way.
So, guys, when I arrived here yesterday,
you served me grilled flank steak chimichurri
in between a plantain.
It was so tough, I couldn't eat it.
I'm gonna show you a little trick.
We're gonna make a chimichurri sauce.
Garlic, chili flakes, parsley, sherry vinegar,
salt, pepper, jalapeños, grapeseed oil.
Citrus -- enhances the flavor of anything you do.
Yeah.
The whisk.
Your skirt steak -- We have to season it.
[ Whistles ]
Cut it into two.
Into the chimichurri sauce.
Set it in the refrigerator 10 hours.
Can you smell that?
It's all permeating through the meat.
It smells delicious.
This will be the best chimichurri steak
you have ever tried in your life.
Food for the soul.
Gonna slice on a bias.
You want to make sure that we can chew it.
Okay.
Yucca fries and carrots.
Yum.
Look. He's already got his knife and fork.
Let's go. Dig in.
I can chew the steak.
The flavors are amazing. Oh, my God.
The chimichurri gives you that flavor, gives you a little heat.
That's out of this world.
Hold on.
You're not good at teaching.
I'm teaching you how to cook,
and you're supposed to teach me how to dance.
All right.
The last dish I want to show you --
Again, yesterday when I came, you served me a Cubano Sandwich,
and I was not happy.
I'm gonna show you a different way of doing it.
Tortillas, right?
Take our cheese.
That's hella easier.
A little bit of mustard on top of the cheese.
Starts the melting process.
Pulled pork onto the grill. Get it nice and warm.
Ham -- same thing.
Oh, yeah, baby.
You can smell that from here.
Straight on.
Some pickles. Whoo-hoo!
Oh, look at that.
I get so excited about a silly, little thing.
That ain't no silly, little thing.
Cuban sandwich.
That's beauty right there.
[ Laughs ]
Mmm-mmm.
It's got the crunch that mine never had.
It does not stick. I don't know what it is.
That's awesome. This makes me happy.
Where's the dance?
Bust a groove.
I only wish you could taste this.
Simple, inexpensive. We know we can make money on them.
I want you to start prepping.
I will come back and find you shortly.
Thank you.
IRVINE: Elvis thinks he's prepping for tonight's dinner guests,
but what he doesn't know is that before we open tonight,
I've got a little surprise in store.
[ Conch shell blows ]
And now it's time for "Trivia Impossible."
The answer after the break.
IRVINE: The answer is "C," Chile de Arbol.
It's a little less spicy than cayenne.
It's halfway through Day 2, and the floor still isn't done.
Nothing's done. Nothing.
I can't count one thing that's done.
We are ridiculously behind.
There's a couple hundred people
that have dinner reservations tonight,
and you know who's eating tonight? Nobody. Let's go!
IRVINE: Without dining-room access,
Taniya completes her projects outside,
which will have to be installed at the last minute.
When I first walked into the restaurant,
I saw this huge painting.
It was colorful, it was bright, but it was a little busy.
So we replaced it with this gorgeous mosaic.
All I did was print out pieces of the artwork
in 10x10-inch squares, glued it onto the chip board,
so this is very inexpensive.
And they actually look like tiles when they're done.
So, this is the new artwork
that grabs your attention when you walk into the space.
It's colorful, it's fun, it's vibrant, and it's different.
IRVINE: I've helped Elvis create a delicious, new menu
that's both exciting and easy for customers to understand.
Now it's time to get the word out.
Everybody else is busy building the restaurant
and getting ready for a great opening.
So, your challenge, Elvis --
we're gonna take you to do a live cooking demonstration.
[ Chuckles ] Okay.
Because if you can wow people, get them excited
somewhere else that's not in your own establishment,
you're gonna be able to do it here.
You got this.
IRVINE: We go into a local grocery store
with one of Elvis' best Latin Fusion dishes.
I believe in Elvis' talent.
One bite, and these people will be spreading the word
across Albuquerque that Pasión is the place to be.
Let them try it.
They'll be blown away by the taste,
and that's how you capture them.
Hang on.
Give me some excitement in this place. It's dead.
[ Conch shell blows ]
[ Bell rings ]
ELVIS: All right.
We're from Pasión Latin Fusion Restaurant.
We do Latin American food.
Come up to the front, guys!
We got some fresh tuna.
We actually have coconut-rum reduction sauce,
and we skewered it with sugarcane.
That's gonna give it a little bit of sweetness on the inside.
We're just gonna lightly sear the tuna.
We have a really fresh mango salsa
that's gonna bring a sweetness
and a little bit of spice to the tuna.
We'll finish it off
with a little bit of our balsamic sauce.
We call this the caña de atún,
caña meaning "sugarcane" in Spanish,
and atún is "tuna."
Come on, guys. There's plenty of tuna up here.
Some of our menus are up here if you guys want to grab them.
Whoa! Yeah! That's cooking!
Help yourself, guys.
The tuna's really good. Very tasty.
It has really great flavor. Salsa has a good spice to it.
The tuna with the sugarcane and the mango salsa
was very creative, spicy, and sweet,
the kind of thing that I like to eat.
Never been to Pasión Latin Fusion,
but I would definitely go based on this sample.
Thank you, guys, so much. I really appreciate your time.
Our grand reopening is tonight.
Hopefully we'll see you there at Pasión.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
That wasn't difficult, was it?
Thank you. It was fun.
All right. Let's get it cleaned up.
Good, good, good.
Now we got to get back.
Put it in. Let's go.
Don't worry. It'll do it itself.
Okay, Elvis, when we pull up, you'll go in the kitchen,
get ready for tonight's service.
I'm gonna check in with the design and the build team,
see how far of what we're doing.
'Cause when they left, we were far behind.
Give it to the back and have them paint it blue,
'cause we're gonna run out of base.
Here we are. We just finished a great marketing piece.
It's 3:30 in the afternoon.
We're painting the floor, and the right side is not finished.
They just started laying glue on the second part.
We're trying to put the wall panels on the back,
but we can't finish that
because we haven't finished laying the floor here.
The back bar hasn't been touched.
We haven't cleaned. We haven't done anything.
While my crew works their hardest
to finish the dining room, I need to go over
the running of the front of house with Orlando and Monica.
For this restaurant to be totally successful,
we're gonna train you to do the front, and you got to smile.
You got to engage people. And I'm gonna see that tonight.
I'm gonna have you out there tonight.
When you were in the military,
you had a goal, a mission. It's the same thing.
You meet once a week, and you say,
"Okay, well, what is the focus this week?"
You may not agree, but at least you can talk things out.
Your here running will help the business,
and ultimately, it's the business I care about.
Tonight, Orlando's new role
is going to be the front of the house manager,
and I'm really excited to see him rise to the occasion.
I'm motivated. I'm ready to do this.
I'm ready to do what I need to do for the restaurant.
It's 5:00. I'm exhausted.
We should have been done so long ago.
I'm still working on baseboard and flooring,
believe it or not, which is crazy.
We're trying to put signs up here.
We're trying to put lighting up here.
Trying to finish the bar. I mean, just so much going on.
The guys are doing a great job trying to catch up,
but there's still a lot to do.
We're getting the panels on the wall, which is good news.
The bad news is, the paint is wet,
we have glue on the floor,
so we have a really tight area to work.
And if these fabric panels get messed up,
I'm in big trouble.
Every hour we are late
is $1,000 I cannot give this family when we open.
It's their livelihood and my name.
It won't happen. We will open on time.
We got to pick it up.
You're doing a great job, but right now,
it's not making me feel all happy!
And the guests have to wait outside!
Just pick it up a bit!
So, already it's 6:36 in the evening.
We're just lifting up the cover for the floor.
We're still finishing the bar.
We're painting, we're sweeping.
You remember the floor? Well, we just finished it.
Brand-new glue tacked up, sat down, ready to go.
Come on, guys! Set them up nicely!
Quick as you can! Make sure they're perfect!
We may be late, but we are finished.
This dining room looks
dramatically different than it did yesterday,
and I am ready to introduce Elvis and Monica
to their new Pasión Latin Fusion.
When I opened up the restaurant two and a half years ago,
I never thought I would be in this situation.
At this point, we have so much at stake
with the restaurant that it has to work.
I was lacking a lot of skills
that the last two days, I have definitely learned.
[ Voice breaking ] I feel so blessed today
because Chef Irvine has given us
all the tools we need to succeed.
ELVIS: Very excited to see what it's gonna look like
but still to take back charge in the kitchen like I should.
We were supposed to open like five minutes ago,
so it's a little nerve-racking.
How are you?
Good. How are you?
A little bit later than I planned.
But I hope you like our rendition
of what your restaurant should be.
Ready to see it?
All right.
Come over here.
Close your eyes completely. I will guide you in.
IRVINE: And stop.
I hope what you see in front of you when you do open your eyes
has been worth the two days
and the hardship that you've had for the last two years.
Thank you.
IRVINE: Open your eyes.
[ Chuckles ]
What?
Oh, my God.
Wow.
I never even knew the potential for this was even there.
Oh, my God.
Have a look, guys. Come on.
We took Pasión from disorganized and dated
to chic and sleek.
This is gorgeous. Oh, my God.
Well, you never had a bar there, did you, before?
I don't even feel like I'm in the same building.
We knocked down the entrance wall
and created an open and welcoming hostess area.
Well, remember yesterday.
This is where that dead rat was.
Wow.
We updated the worn-out space
with new paint, seating, and flooring.
[ Sighs ]
Babe.
I know.
That is awesome!
What are you thinking right now? Why are you tearing up?
Just -- This is how it should be.
[ Sniffles ]
[ Voice breaking ] This is...
It's definitely gonna represent our food
and...
It's for you, babe.
[ Voice breaking ] You deserve this.
I love you so much. You deserve it.
[ Sniffles ] It's okay.
Everything we've gone through --
Look at this. This doesn't even feel real.
[ Chuckles ]
The only way you thank me is by being successful.
Exactly.
Have you learned anything about each other in the last two days?
Yeah. Definitely. [ Chuckles ]
I've learned that.
I love her way more than I ever knew.
I love you.
Okay.
I'm very, very proud of you.
Very, very proud of you.
There's two people missing in this family.
MONICA: Aww.
ELVIS: [ Chuckles ]
Barely recognizable, huh?
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Hi, baby!
IRVINE: Who's this?
You want to see Daddy's new restaurant
and Mommy and Uncle's?
Yeah?
He's very proud of his daddy. [ Chuckles ]
IRVINE: I can't do this alone.
Two people that are amazing --
Taniya, my designer, and Tom, my builder.
Wizards.
[ Laughs ]
Thank you so much, man.
Hey. So, what do you think?
It's awesome, man.
You are so welcome.
This is amazing. Say, "Yeah."
Yay!
[ Chuckles ] He smiles.
IRVINE: There are a lot of people outside.
Let's do this. I'm ready, Chef.
Come here, you.
All right, you guys.
Who's ready to see the new Pasión Latin Fusion?
[ Cheers ]
Whoo! Come on in!
The first thing I noticed when I walked in
was this amazing floor.
It has a really great texture to it.
Before when you walked in,
there was just this big wall, and it was really ugly.
Now it's open. It's a lot brighter.
It just looks fantastic.
Before, there were these really ugly, old banquette booths.
Now this is beautiful, elegant, very hip.
I love the change.
MONICA: I just feel like I just won the lottery.
The walls have these awesome pink-magenta,
and this wall that says the Pasión Latin Fusion
reminds everyone what we stand for.
[ Chuckles ] That's right.
Would you recommend anything on here?
I really recommend the...
The menu looks great.
I like how simple -- and everything's really descriptive.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
The kitchen's really crazy right now, and I love it.
IRVINE: So, here we are.
We opened the restaurant with 70-plus people in here,
and I got to tell you, the food that's coming out --
Look at this.
That is a perfect Cubano Sandwich they way I taught them!
MAN: Chicken.
I ordered the bacon-wrapped plantains,
and they're excellent.
The bacon gives it, like, a salt and sweet flavor
that's mixed together,
and then the spicy sauce is very -- very different.
MAN: I ordered the Cubano. It's really good.
The ham is absolutely fantastic.
I would come here again
and try that burger that that person ordered over there.
Awesome. Just wait till you try this stuff.
For Elvis and Monica, it's all about the passion.
In two days, we've given them the tools
to turn their passion into profit.
That's what it takes to make a restaurant thrive
so their family can flourish.
And that, my friends, is a recipe for success.
Chef Irvine came in and completely mended
everything that was wrong at this point.
I'm so ready for a fresh beginning.
So if we can't succeed from here, we got issues.
We're gonna be great.