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IRVINE: Next on "Restaurant Impossible"...
Your denial is unbelievable.
IRVINE: In La Porte, Indiana, two inexperienced owners...
No restaurant experience?
Not much.
...plus one cook in over his head...
I can't handle it.
I can't handle that kind of pressure.
IRVINE: ...equals one failing restaurant.
The restaurant has to have great food,
great service, great ambience.
SEVEN has none of them.
Can this headstrong family change their ways?
You're supposed to run your restaurant.
I do.
You're not.
I hate you so much.
Why do you hate me?
God!
Why do you hate me?
Because you're an [bleep]
Or will seven be my unlucky number?
When I leave here, you're gonna be in the same boat.
It drives me nuts.
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 Day 1 of my mission in La Porte, Indiana.
And I'm here to help Tonya James and her fiancé, Chad Cook,
and their rapidly failing restaurant, SEVEN.
My fiancé, Chad, and I bought this restaurant
a year and a half ago.
The name, SEVEN, came from our children.
He has three. I have four.
Years ago, I was a server here.
I drove by one day, and this restaurant was up for sale.
My initial reaction was, "No. No way."
So she got me through the front door,
and I really liked the space, and we talked about it.
TONYA: I did tell him how awesome this could be,
and how much money this could bring in,
how maybe he and I could do this together
with our kids -- for our kids.
It just had a lot of potential here.
Chad is an accountant, so when we decided to do this,
I knew the front of the house, and I'm good with people.
He's the back of the house.
It was a good combination, but we are struggling,
so that didn't happen the way I had planned.
I think we both recognized there was probably risk,
but...you know, I don't think we believed it.
The restaurant's probably averaged
$4,000 to $5,000 a month loss.
IRVINE: As customers left, so did the chefs.
Tonya's 19-year-old son now runs the kitchen --
a situation causing problems of its own.
TONYA: I love my son more than anything in the world,
but there are days I just want to wring his neck.
Look at these. They're burnt.
That's not burnt.
It's just a little crispy.
My mother, Tonya, thinks that I have a bad attitude
when it comes to taking criticism.
They're black!
If you think you know how to cook chips,
then why don't you come back here and cook them yourself?
Jacob. Seriously. Don't serve those.
He butts heads with a lot of servers.
I need some red onions.
Can't you see how busy I am?
I don't have time for this.
I don't have time either.
I don't have any time.
We've got tables. We've got guests.
I have to have onions cut.
Can someone get onions for JoJo, please?
You know what?
The bottom line is you're in charge of the line,
and you should have what we need to serve the guests. Period.
Seriously.
What do you want me to do about it?!
It's your kitchen!
The reason why we bought this restaurant is to be a family
and to bring us together and do something together,
and that's done the exact opposite of that.
If I can't change their luck around,
SEVEN will be closed in a matter of months,
and I can't let that happen.
Aah!
It's like a church.
Stained glass windows.
Some type of bar there.
Then I come into this cavernous...
[ Choir music plays ]
...restaurant.
It just reminds me of sitting in a church --
stained-glass windows,
big columns that shouldn't be in here,
very dark walls, plastic tablecloths.
Don't like the table tops.
Here. Look.
You can see this already hanging off here.
It doesn't feel like a restaurant.
I don't know what type of food they serve here,
and I don't know what it's supposed to be.
Good morning. How are you?
Good. How are you?
Nice to see you.
Good morning, Chef Irvine.
Thank you for allowing me to come to your...church.
Is this a church?
Or is it a restaurant?
It's a restaurant.
It's hideous.
TONYA: I like the stained glass.
My grandpa put this in.
They got it from a church in Valparaiso,
not too far from here.
Okay.
When did you buy the restaurant?
About 18 months ago.
Any former restaurant experience?
I worked for seven years.
Okay. As what?
A bartender and a server.
So, no management experience?
Not much.
Okay. What about you, Chad?
I am a financial controller,
and I've never worked in any restaurant in any form.
Why did you buy this restaurant?
This was kind of her dream to run a restaurant,
and we thought with my administrative background
and her background at least being a server,
we could make it go.
Why do you think you're failing?
We don't know how to run a kitchen,
and, ultimately, I think a restaurant's about food.
Who's cooking?
My son is the top dog back there.
The top dog. Where did he learn to cook?
He went to a year in culinary school in high school.
In high school.
Yes.
Okay, so he's now a master chef, right?
No, he's not.
We hired a chef when we first opened.
He got burned out because our first months were so crazy.
So, I've been trying to get a head chef back there.
What self-respecting chef of any caliber is gonna come here
if you're not doing any business and it looks like this?
How much money did you put into this restaurant?
We've put in $160,000.
I'm about $150,000.
She's about $10,000.
Wow. And you're not married?
No.
No.
I had to get a second lien on my house
in order to get the loan on this place, so my house --
Your house is tied to this place?
It is.
[ Exhales slowly ]
How does that make you feel
that he put 98% of the money in?
Guilty.
Why?
Because I've not --
We've not done what we wanted to.
What have you done to learn your business that you're in
since you started?
What have I done?
Yeah. How have you learned your business?
Do you know food costs, labor costs?
You've been in the business 18 months, right?
Tonya, you're a business owner, right?
Yes.
This fails, you lose your house.
Yeah.
How does the stress and the money affect your relationship?
It's stressful.
It absolutely affects it.
In what way?
I feel kind of trapped.
I don't know what to do.
What happens if you guys break up?
And I'm -- Please, I'm not saying that.
But what happens?
You're never gonna get your money back, right?
Unless the restaurant's successful.
Unless SEVEN's successful.
It's interesting, isn't it?
The dynamics of relationships in business.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
I want to see a service --
what you normally do, what you normally do...
Okay.
...what the staff do.
One. Two. Three.
All: SEVEN!
This is gonna be a very tough, tough mission.
The place looks awful.
Now I'm gonna see the food.
Let's see what happens.
Do a good job, you guys.
Is this okay here?
Welcome. My name's JoJo.
I'm gonna take care of you tonight.
WOMAN: It's very dark in here.
It kind of brings down the mood of the place.
It does remind me of like a church feel to it.
IRVINE: As service begins,
the kitchen finds itself short-handed.
Tonya, do you know when anyone's coming in?
I can't do this with only two people.
I don't know where Brandon is.
He said he'd be here at 10:30.
Fantastic.
They're frazzled, and it's crazy.
We've had to 86 a couple of things.
I don't have any stuffed mushrooms,
and I don't have time to make any right now.
86.
Ribs, please!
We have no stuffed mushrooms?
No, you said don't make them because of the menu change.
Poor communication.
That's my life in a nutshell in this kitchen.
IRVINE: I don't know what kind of server Tonya was,
but she's performing miserably as a manager.
Who's got saganaki?
I don't know. Wendy does.
Okay.
That's going everywhere all over your tray, just so you know.
Wendy. Wendy!
This has to go right now.
Light it right now or it's not gonna light.
Matches.
I need matches.
I need matches.
Where's the matches?
Are there matches back there, please?
Yes. Here. Just take them.
Here you go.
IRVINE: Tonya.
Yes.
Do you have a license for open flame in your restaurant?
Um...I don't know.
'Cause normally open flame in a restaurant
has to require a permit.
Oh, I don't know.
JACOB: Crab rolls up.
That lettuce leaf -- Is this how you send food out?
TONYA: Who put the lettuce on there?
I did.
Why is it brown?
Why are you putting food like that out?
That's how I was taught, sir.
That's how you were taught?
To put garbage food out?
I didn't notice the brown. That was my fault, Chef.
Basics. Basics. Basics.
If you are having somebody in a restaurant kitchen
that cannot cook and puts things like that out,
you're bound to fail.
That's why they're failing.
Part of it.
The other part is their management.
They have none.
Your denial is unbelievable.
I know.
Can't throw it all on him.
It's your fault he's in here.
You may be a great mom, but you suck as a manager.
I'm not prepared, I'm not ready, and I'm not the man for the job.
I hate you so much.
You hate me?
God!
Why do you hate me?
Because you're an [bleep]
Right. Why? Why?
But you make me work.
IRVINE: I'm at SEVEN restaurant in La Porte, Indiana,
where no one seems to know how to do their job,
and no one seems to care.
The chef can't cook,
the owners, Chad and Tonya, have no clue whatsoever.
You're running around like a headless chicken
and not doing what you're supposed to do.
You're supposed to run your restaurant.
I do.
You're not.
You're not running your restaurant.
It's a lot.
You're like this...
You don't know where to go next.
It's chaos right now.
Right now?
That's how you run your business. Not just right now.
No, I know. I know. All right.
Sorry, but that's the reality.
We haven't had our order taken yet.
We've been here for about 25 minutes.
We're not too happy.
I ordered their oysters on a half shell,
and they smell pretty bad.
I don't think I'm gonna eat them.
I want to stay healthy today.
Oh, lordy. Okay.
IRVINE: The kitchen at SEVEN continues to fall behind.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
I don't know what to do for that.
You guys doing okay?
No. Not okay at all.
Okay. Well, just do your best.
And Tonya isn't stepping up.
I don't know what's going on.
I'm just going with the flow.
Okay.
Going with the flow.
IRVINE: Chaos in the back of the house
is now catching up to the servers.
What's the matter, Jo?
I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.
People aren't getting their food.
It's coming out wrong.
Who took out a half rack when it wasn't theirs?
Whatever, man. I have no idea.
Food's going to the wrong tables.
Who's your server? Do you know who your server is?
We really failed really bad.
I'm sorry.
Service was absolutely horrible.
Obviously, we didn't prepare for this volume.
IRVINE: Jake collapsed under the pressure
of cooking for a full restaurant.
I want to see how he does cooking just for me.
Cooking Robert's food, I am very nervous
because I've already taken criticism
from Robert once today -- twice today.
Many times.
And I'm not looking forward to it.
IRVINE: Jake is trying to do his best, maybe.
He's very cocky.
Maybe that's a little arrogance, or maybe it's fear.
I don't like it either way.
The coconut shrimp -- sweet and burnt.
Tastes awful. Ugh!
Caesar salad --
store-bought dressing.
The lettuce has been frozen and then cut.
Humus.
It tastes just like chickpeas blended with nothing.
No love, no feeling in that.
Cheeseburger soup is very thick.
It tastes like cheese and salt.
So far, four dishes for four.
Absolutely zero what I'd come back for.
I heard him say four for four is zero.
He would come back for nothing.
All right.
I thought we made good food.
This is the prime rib.
I asked for medium.
This is actually rare.
That is raw, but I'll try it for seasoning anyway.
Prime rib has no seasoning on it at all.
None at all.
Not salt. No pepper. No nothing on that.
Ribs.
They are completely overcooked beyond belief.
And ribs should fall off the bone, but not that easy.
Wow.
A restaurant has to have great food,
great service, great ambience.
And unfortunately, SEVEN has none of them.
It was zero for zero.
He didn't like any of it.
Nothing.
[ Exhales slowly ]
I'm surprised he thought everything was bad.
I thought my food was better than that,
but Robert Irvine knows what he's talking about,
so I can't really argue with that.
He's a man of experience.
Jacob.
How long have you been cooking?
One year, sir.
One year?
You went to school?
I'm currently going to school.
Tonya!
I just tried that food. It was not good.
You are not capable of running this restaurant as a chef.
I admire that you're trying. I get it.
But you're 19 years old,
never run another kitchen before in your life,
and you're trying to do something half-assed.
It's not working.
And it shows.
$150,000 of Chad's money.
$10,000 of your mom's money to give you a chance at a job.
The ambience I can fix.
The service I can fix.
But if you don't have somebody that can cook,
sorry, it's not working.
And this is not personal.
This is how you learn.
And what you did today,
shows and proves to me that you're not ready for this.
He just has trouble taking directions from me
because I'm his mom.
And why do you have the attitude with her?
Because, in my mind,
I feel that my experience in the cooking field,
which isn't that much, is more knowledgeable than --
So, you don't respect her as your boss.
You respect her as your mom,
but you don't respect her as your boss.
No, Chef.
Have you told her that?
No.
Tell her right now.
I don't respect you as a boss.
I can tell.
Your actions prove that.
It was painful to tell my mom
that I don't respect her as a boss.
I never even thought about it until Robert brought it up,
and I don't respect her as a boss
just because she shows that she doesn't know what she's doing,
and it affects the whole team.
We need a head guy back here to take charge.
Hey, listen. It's not only here.
It's you. You're not running this either.
I can't throw it all on him.
No.
It's half your fault he's in here.
I agree. I agree.
You've thrown him to the wolves to start with.
I know. And I'm sorry.
You gave him no chance.
I know.
You may be a great mom, but you suck as a manager.
Reality.
You're the problem 'cause you're not leading
and you're not following up with your people.
And your boyfriend/fiancé has put $150,000
into this restaurant.
I know.
And you got $10,000 in it.
And it's like you don't care.
No, I do care.
But you don't show me that.
Your denial is unbelievable.
I know. I am.
We're dead.
And we have a lot of improvement to do everywhere.
I acknowledge that.
It starts with you.
Forget anything else,
because if I don't change you, no matter what I do --
He can go on and get a job. I can train him.
You, I'm not so sure. I'm really not.
It starts with you. I can train him.
You, I'm not so sure. I'm really not.
At first I was a little upset,
just because I'm not used to people talking down to my mom.
But I knew the problems were real, so I wasn't surprised.
But I'm glad she got to hear it from somebody else besides me.
IRVINE: It's up to Tonya to see her situation for what it is.
In the meantime,
I'm meeting with Lynn
to see the dining room for what it could be.
Hey, man!
Hello. How are you?
Welcome to SEVEN.
What is this?
The seven deadly sins of bad restaurant design
going on in here?
Walk in the door,
first thing you hit is a stained-glass window.
Stained glass. Stained glass.
Which I actually kind of like the stained glass so far.
I hate the stained glass.
Okay.
All right?
We need to lose this wall so that we can see the restaurant.
To my right, there's a bar. It needs a little touch-up.
We'll keep that really basic.
Okay.
I have the main dining room here.
It looks like we're going into a church.
These two massive columns in the middle of the room --
don't like them.
It just feels dingy and churchy.
Open it up, brighter colors, new flooring.
A lot of work to be done.
All right. We're gonna empty this place.
Who are all these young, good-looking people?
This is Calvin, Ellie, Carter...
Brooklyn, Addison, Vanessa, and Jacob.
Wow, what a beautiful family you both have.
We have to empty this place, okay?
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Everything's got to go out.
Before we can start to rebuild SEVEN,
there are two major demolition projects to be done.
First, removing the stained glass.
And second...
All this -- gone.
Oh, I love my sledgehammer!
You know what? It looks better already.
All right! Let's go!
Oh, good. Now we get to clean it up.
While our crew continues stripping the dining room,
I'm gathering the staff
to target the problems here at SEVEN.
To pinpoint exactly what's going wrong in this restaurant,
I've got a little exercise that I'm gonna do with the staff.
There are obviously things
that are going wrong in the restaurant.
So, one by one, you're gonna come up here, pick a dart up.
You're gonna throw the dart at the dart board.
Whatever number you get,
I'm going to ask you a question in relation to that number.
Number two.
What's going wrong with the service, Chad?
I think the service is inconsistent.
I don't think that we're always prepared.
Number four.
What is wrong with the restaurant owners?
You are too lenient on us.
We take advantage of you guys.
Three -- The cooks.
When we do get busy, ticket times are taking way to long.
You go back there, and you get yelled at for asking.
Who yells at you?
Whoever's behind the line.
Wow. That's just ironic, isn't it?
It is.
[ Laughter ]
Take your hat off, please.
Okay. Good. You look normal.
Thank you.
All right.
What do you think about your kitchen,
about your cooks, about the food?
There's no person in charge, really.
And it's hard for me to organize everyone
and tell them how to do their jobs
when I barely know how to do mine.
That's a very powerful statement.
All right. Tonya, you're next.
[ Laughter ]
You know what that was, right?
That number one was my face.
[ Laughter ]
Okay, so number one.
My choice.
Who is the worst enemy of this restaurant?
That's a tough one.
Probably myself.
I'm in charge,
and I'm not doing what I need to do to be successful.
And what is that that you need to do to be successful?
I need to follow up when I give orders to my employees,
make sure they're doing what I've asked them to do.
Do they do that?
Do they do what you ask them to do?
Most of the time, the front end does, yes.
I'm gonna ask that question again,
and be very careful how you answer it.
Okay.
Do your servers do what you ask them to do?
Most of the time.
What are you shaking your head for?
Because if we were doing what we were supposed to do,
we would be successful,
so we're obviously not doing it correctly.
Exactly right.
They have no respect for your authority
just like your son doesn't, right?
You said that this morning.
Yes, Chef.
As a mom, you love her. I get it.
But as a business owner...
I obviously don't know how to do it.
How do I handle it?
Tell her how she handles it.
You have to be fair, firm, and consistent across the board.
If they're wrong, they're wrong.
They're out.
They have to face consequences for their actions
or nothing will change.
They'll continue because they know "Tonya won't mind."
JoJo.
Sir.
I knew you had it in you.
[ Laughs ]
Obviously, there are a lot of problems in this restaurant,
and today is always the tough day.
It's Day 1,
and tomorrow's all about fixing the problems
that we're facing here.
I have got to go and check on my design team.
Have a good night.
I felt Robert has come down on me pretty hard.
I know I have shortcomings,
but I put so much time and energy into this place,
and I feel like I'm not appreciated
for those things.
I don't know if she really felt
that she was accountable for quite a bit of it.
I think sometimes we make excuses,
and, you know, we needed somebody to tell us,
"Hey, you're not busy because you're not executing."
We all this morning were high-fiving it out front.
We had this. Piece of cake.
No problem. We were gonna impress the chef.
We got this.
Yeah, we didn't have anything.
We really realized how wrong we've been doing everything.
Hey, guys.
Hey, Robert.
Hey, Robert.
Wow.
It already looks better.
Open plan, huh?
This morning -- a wall here, stained-glass window.
Gone.
It's gone.
It's clean.
I can see a green -- What is that?
That's like the Statue of Liberty color.
What's that?
That is exactly the inspiration, kind of.
I wanted to do an industrial kind of chic in here,
playing off of the fact
that we have this big stained-glass window
that we're keeping.
This was the one.
You take the church ones away,
this no longer feels like a church.
This feels more like Grand Central Station.
Cool building.
I like that look.
All right.
So, overall plan -- industrial chic is what you called that?
It's gonna be casual, but also comfortable.
Okay. I like that.
All right. I look forward to seeing you later.
All right. Thanks, Robert.
Good job.
It's the end of Day 1
and everybody's worn down and beat up,
but unfortunately, tomorrow won't be any easier.
And if I can't get this couple to see the error of their ways,
SEVEN will be a big zero.
It's a dark and stormy start to Day 2
at the SEVEN restaurant in La Porte, Indiana.
Owners, Chad and Tonya,
are in jeopardy of losing their restaurant,
which they've only owned for 18 months.
You may be a great mom, but you suck as a manager.
The issues were glaring to me the moment I walked in.
Aah!
It's like a church.
Stained-glass windows.
Bad food.
Basics. Basics.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist
to put a piece of lettuce on the plate, right?
Lack of knowledge.
What have you done to learn your business that you're in
since you started?
What have I done?
Yeah.
And a whole lot of denial.
You're supposed to run your restaurant.
I do.
You're not.
You're not running your restaurant.
There's a lot riding on SEVEN's success,
so failure, for me, is not an option.
Yesterday was a long day.
It was tough, and it was emotionally draining.
Yesterday was mentally exhausting for me.
I think Tonya took the brunt of a lot of it.
She took it pretty hard.
[ Exhales ]
Chad is here with some strong opinions about yesterday.
Looking back last night,
I thought maybe Robert was off base a little bit.
IRVINE: Still in denial,
he's defending Tonya and the way they've managed SEVEN.
It's not all about follow up from a managerial perspective.
Why shouldn't the servers be doing their job?
That's the question that I don't think got asked.
I don't care whether you agree with me or not,
you don't believe that it's your job or Tonya's job
to direct and follow up.
There's no leadership.
That's why you're failing because you're a weak leader.
And if I sound pissed, I am.
I want you to see what's going wrong with your business.
Employees need to be accountable, too.
We shouldn't have to.
But if they're not held accountable by you,
why should they be?
It's not their business.
They get a paycheck.
They don't care about your business.
Sorry. They don't.
They don't care that you're in debt.
They may like you, but you know what?
If you go bankrupt and you got three kids,
are they gonna give their house to you?
No.
The reality is no, and you need to understand that.
So, I don't mind that you disagree with me,
but you better be able to back up your statements,
and right now, you're not controlling your money,
you're not controlling your kitchen,
and you're not controlling your staff.
Sorry. That's the way it is.
I'm here to tell you how to do it,
and if you're not gonna do it and you disagree with me...
then guess what.
When I leave here tonight,
you're gonna be in the same boat three months from now.
Okay.
Drives me nuts.
Sometimes people are so stuck in their ways,
that it takes a lot to break through.
TONYA: I don't understand what just happened.
What did he say?
I'm not leading.
And it's true.
I'm not upset that he came and yelled at me at all.
I'm upset of the reality.
Tonya and I are the owners.
And despite the way that I want to manage --
I want everybody to not need to be babysat --
that's not the way it is.
I need to become a leader right now.
IRVINE: The renovations at SEVEN will have to wait.
I'm not going any further here
until I know that these owners are onboard
and willing to change.
How are we doing?
Good.
Good.
I had a hard time turning off my thoughts last night.
Okay. And what were your thoughts?
I'm not used to being told my problems, my issues.
I got pissed.
Okay. Why?
Because you were telling me stuff that pissed me off.
Okay.
And I'm okay with that.
And then I sat back last night by myself --
which I need time --
and I thought, "You know, a lot of the things he's saying
"is right.
And I have to come to terms with that."
And that was hard, but it's true.
In order to teach you how to run your business,
I had to point out everything that's wrong with your business.
Right. I understand.
You chose the toughest business in the world
with no knowledge between the two of you,
except you being a waitress and a bartender
and whatever else.
Right. I'm ready for you to tell me what I'm doing wrong.
Tell me how to fix it
and execute it so we can be successful.
IRVINE: I'm not leaving here
until I give them the solutions to their biggest problems.
We have 12 hours left.
Can we find a chef in that amount of time?
Getting a proper chef in the kitchen.
I can teach Jake my menu
until we find somebody that can actually step up
and show Jake what he can do.
Learning how to cost-out their food.
You don't know how to cost things out.
You don't know what you're spending,
so I'm gonna show you that a little bit later.
You have to run every facet of that business.
Right. Right.
I'm gonna make an amazing place.
That's what I do.
But then everything is in your hands.
Talking with Robert today made me feel much better
about yesterday.
CHAD: And I think we're pretty much on the same page.
I think he really does care and wants to help us.
Morning, guys.
Hey.
Hey, Robert.
I like. I like. I like.
Despite the weather overnight,
Lynn and Tom were able to lay the new floor,
panel over the old stained-glass walls,
and work on the new entryway.
It's pretty cool, huh?
Whoa. That is an amazing, amazing look.
I loved the name.
I wanted to do something cool with it
with the industrial feel so it looks like steel.
All right. I love the concept.
I'm gonna go into the kitchen and meet with Jake.
You get on it.
Okay. We're on it.
Thanks, Robert.
The kitchen at SEVEN requires an experienced chef,
but hiring one will take more time than we have.
Until then, Jake will have to step up to the task.
I'm gonna show you a couple of the dishes that make sense
based on the equipment you have in the kitchen
and the skill level that you have
in your son and the other cooks.
Okay.
Okay?
Does that make sense?
Yes, Chef.
Don't be scared. I'm not gonna bite you.
I'm not scared.
All right?
IRVINE: I'm starting Jake off with two ridiculously simple dishes
that just happen to be ridiculously good.
Take a whole chicken, cut it in half,
and slow roast it so it's precooked.
I want you to put barbecue sauce on this chicken.
There you go.
Just put it in.
All right.
By putting it under the salamander, what's it gonna do?
It's gonna caramelize the barbecue sauce.
Caramelize the barbecue sauce 'cause it's got lots of sugar.
Coleslaw and chicken -- amazing combination.
Right on top.
Bingo.
Dish number one -- quick, easy roast chicken.
We're gonna make a salmon dish with a cold salad.
All right?
Have you cooked salmon before?
No.
No.
It's really simple.
This is salmon.
Salt. Pepper.
'Cause the fish doesn't come out of the water seasoned.
Right.
Egg wash into panko breadcrumbs
that have chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.
The pan is hot.
Into the pan.
I'm searing it.
[ Sizzling ]
Golden brown. All right.
You take a bowl.
I have potatoes, chickpeas, onions, tomatoes --
We took the seeds out
and just cut them into little strips --
diced cucumber -- skin off --
corn,
this is a lemon and white balsamic dressing,
salt, pepper.
Mix it.
In goes my green leaves.
Last minute.
Why do we put them in at last minute?
So they don't get wilted.
So they don't wilt too much. Exactly.
Okay.
Right there, you have crusted salmon with a cold salad.
So, come over here.
Mmm.
Oh, my God.
It's a perfect mixture of everything.
It's delicious.
And it's healthy.
Wow.
Chicken. We like chicken, right?
Oh, yeah.
It's amazing.
It's delicious.
Simple.
Awesome.
This is the type of food you should be serving here.
This excites me.
This is awesome.
This is what we need -- our identity.
Was there anything difficult about any of these dishes,
in your opinion?
No, they look very simple.
You look so nervous.
Why are you so nervous?
It's just a new thing to me.
You can do this. You can do this.
I'm counting on Jake to deliver tonight.
There's 200 people coming in this restaurant.
You better feel confident,
and you better be able to put the food out as good as this.
It's a new menu, new style of cooking,
and everything's homemade,
and I'm not very experienced either,
and it's making me kind of nervous.
Tonight, regardless of cooking new stuff or old stuff,
it's just gonna be slammed.
And it's gonna be a crazy night.
IRVINE: No matter how nervous,
if Jake can't hold it together in the kitchen,
nothing else I do here today will matter.
And now it's time for Trivia Impossible.
The answer after the break.
Yesterday, when I arrived here,
there was a lot going on in the restaurant behind me.
The local community wouldn't come here for whatever reason.
Now I've got to get the word out,
reintroduce this new restaurant to the local community
so they support it.
Are you ready?
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
I didn't hear you.
1, 2, 3.
Yes!!
Yes!!
Yes!!
Yes!!
You are so smart. Come on. Let's go.
IRVINE: I'm gonna use the children of the family --
the seven children --
to give food to bloggers, to radio hosts,
to TV people
and get them excited about the new restaurant.
Hopefully, it'll work.
This is Chad, and this is Tonya.
They're the owners of SEVEN.
SEVEN was named because they have seven children.
These are some of the dishes that we're preparing
that you're gonna get a chance to taste for the new menu.
Taste the food. Write a nice article.
We need to make this restaurant work.
This new menu looks amazing.
I'm really excited to see what else they have in store for us.
Are you allowed to have seconds?
It's SEVEN's food now.
We have a completely different menu.
It's fantastic.
The food is amazing. I've tried it myself.
This is an opportunity for us to correct
some of the things that we've done wrong,
and we're excited about it.
What do you recommend?
The shrimp.
The shrimp?
Yeah.
Very excited to have this opportunity
for one of our local businesses.
I think this was a great idea to have the reporters come.
I think it's a great way to get the word out.
We're gonna do whatever it takes.
Whatever we're told to do,
we're gonna do because this is our last shot.
I've got a restaurant to open in less than two and a half hours,
and I am way, way behind.
All right.
Thank you, everybody.
All right.
We're putting up the trusses. We're painting.
Just lots of things going on.
I need this restaurant back by 4:30 to clean it and set it.
Robert asked me to do something cool and special
with the seven kids
and incorporate that into my design,
so I came up with something.
It's gonna be a cool project.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
How many of you are there?
Seven.
Seven.
So, I want you each to pick which color you like the best.
Red.
You want red?
So, that's spray-paint.
Have you guys ever spray-painted before?
I hope not.
Yeah, I have.
You guys did such a good job.
This is it -- a custom light fixture.
You see all the colors they picked.
It was painted by them.
It doesn't get any more special than this.
This was one of the stained-glass windows
we pulled out from the front of the restaurant.
We were able to save it. We put a new frame around it.
Now we're gonna reuse it in the bar area.
It's gonna be so much better in here.
IRVINE: It's 5:00 -- final push.
Still one hour to go. Crazy.
Lynn and Tom are pulling together an amazing design
in the dining room.
Like, seriously, I can't -- I can't do this.
I really can't.
But with the service one hour away,
Jake is outside falling apart.
I don't have any experience in a cooking field
enough to do what I have to do for this new menu.
I can't handle it.
I can't handle that kind of pressure.
I just can't.
IRVINE: Come with me, you.
I'm here to help you.
This is your kitchen.
It's simple food, man.
Yes, it is.
One dish at a time.
You've got to have faith in you, okay?
If you don't have faith in you,
you'll never be able to do anything.
Don't worry about me shouting at you.
That's life.
When I had my first job,
I was 15 years old in a kitchen full of 25-year-olds.
You don't think they shouted at me?
I'm sure they did. It's just I'm not used to it.
But you got to get used to it.
You got to get thicker.
Thick skin. You can do this.
The menu is simple.
You were putting out a bigger menu yesterday.
Was it good? No. But you were putting it out.
Don't tell me you can't do it 'cause I believe you can.
I know it's stressful, okay? I get it.
Two days. We're changing the menu.
It's crazy.
Robert Irvine's in my face, but you know what?
You'll learn so much more in 36 hours.
It's not just that. It's so hectic.
I don't know if I can handle it.
That's the real world!
I can't handle it, Chef.
Why can't you handle it?
Because I just can't. I'm not good enough.
You can do anything if you want to do it.
This restaurant's not gonna work without you.
Do you understand that?
And I'm tough on you because I expect more.
If you want to be a chef in the real world,
you got to be tough, buddy.
That's all it is, okay?
You can scream at me.
Scream at me if that makes you feel better.
I don't want to scream at you, Chef.
No, I want you to.
Scream. From here.
Scream.
Chef!
Hate me. Hate me.
I hate you so much.
Hate me.
God!
Why do you hate me?
Because you're an [bleep] but you make me work.
Why?! Why?!
Because I'm not good, and you need to make me better in there.
Right. So, what are you gonna do about it?
So I'm gonna prove you wrong...
Good. And when are you gonna prove me wrong?
What's all this bull
about "I'm gonna quit because I can't do it"?
I'm not a quitter, Chef.
You're not a quitter.
So, stop talking about it, get in the kitchen,
and start working because you can do it, right?
Yes, Chef.
I can't hear you.
Yes, Chef!
Can you do it?
Yes, Chef.
Can you do it?
Yes, Chef!
Say you can do it.
I can do it.
Now, can you? Are you sure?
I can do it.
Can you do it?
I can do it, Chef.
Tell me you can do it and mean it.
I can do it, Chef.
Get back in there. I want to see it.
Right now, he's fearful of a new menu.
I get it.
36 hours to change your menu around, come in new,
and teach him how to cook -- a lot of pressure on him.
But guess what.
I believe he can do it,
and he will do it because now he's mad at me.
He's upset with me, and he wants to prove himself to me.
I love it.
IRVINE: After a bout of bad nerves,
Jake is back in the kitchen.
You doing okay?
I'll be okay.
Okay.
And SEVEN's grand reopening is back on.
The last 18 months,
we've really been on an emotional roller coaster.
We didn't have any experience coming in.
We thought it was gonna be a lot easier than it was.
TONYA: It was tough to hear that I have faults,
but I've come to terms with those.
I'm gonna work on those things.
Are you really nervous?
Yeah.
I can tell because your hands are sweaty.
But I think it's a start.
I think our reputation is still on the line.
I think we have to prove ourselves,
and that's our next step.
I am very excited. I have a great outlook.
I cannot wait for tonight.
I know it's been a tough two days,
but I truly hope that my interpretation
of what your restaurant should be --
that you love it as much as I do.
Are you ready to see it?
Yes.
Yes.
Open your eyes.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
[ Exhales ]
It's amazing.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
Seven. Seven. Seven. Seven.
Look at the floors.
IRVINE: You have new floors.
Oh, they're beautiful.
New tables.
This is so cool.
CHAD: I love the look.
This is the coolest...wow.
Did you see the ceiling?
That is awesome.
Look at that light, Chad.
Love the colors.
Come over here.
Oh, look what they did with the stained glass.
CHAD: I know it.
Oh, that is so cool.
Stained glass was very important to you, wasn't it?
Yes.
My grandfather put that in in the '70s.
Wow.
So, he's still here, too.
This is amazing.
Beautiful. Beautiful.
What are you feeling right now?
This is SEVEN.
We finally have our identity.
That's exciting. I'm so thankful.
Oh, my gosh.
[ All talking ]
That is so cool.
Oh, my gosh.
Wow.
TONYA: This is SEVEN.
It's awesome. Oh, my gosh.
It smells fresh.
It smells amazing in here, doesn't it?
That's awesome.
You okay?
VANESSA: Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm just really happy.
I really hope this is gonna work.
I hope this is gonna make everything better.
Do you think it will?
Yeah.
Everything is just changed.
It looks like a real restaurant now.
It's awesome. I love it.
I believe that Jake can do anything he sets his mind to.
He's a super, super young man.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And I believe tonight you will lead that kitchen.
I'm here to help him.
Your job is to support your son
to make sure he gets the help he needs.
I will.
Okay.
I'll give you the best I got, Chef.
That's all I want, and that's all I can ask for.
I may be tough with you,
but I'm a lot tougher on two very special people.
Hey, guys.
[ All talking ]
Thank you so much.
You have an amazing family.
You have an amazing, brand-new restaurant.
I know. Wow.
Let me tell you --
La Porte, Indiana, has not seen anything like this ever before.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah! Yeah!
[ Cheering ]
Welcome to the new SEVEN.
Here. I'll hold the door.
How are you guys? How are you?
Oh!
That's cool.
What do you think?
So cool.
Before when we walked into SEVEN, it was very dark,
and now it's nice and open.
What do you think?
Oh, my God! I love it.
It's insane.
I love this ironwork they have.
Very industrial.
There's really nothing like this in La Porte.
IRVINE: The kitchen's doing fine right now,
but as you can see, I'm kind of cooking a little bit,
and we're feeling our way through this one.
Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
I need a pot pie right now.
Mac and cheese open.
It's the craziest night ever, but I'm learning a lot.
I ordered the potato-bacon soup.
We had it before on the menu,
and I thought it was pretty good before,
but it's a lot better now.
I ordered the salmon.
It has a wonderful crust. It's nice and flakey.
MAN: If they keep up with this consistency
and care about every plate
they send out of that kitchen like this,
they will succeed.
This is a whole new beginning for the community, for SEVEN.
We love Chad and Tonya. They deserve this.
It's an awesome place, and I'm very proud of it.
The food looks amazing. Everybody's happy.
Family and friends are here.
This is a great new start for us.
IRVINE: Yesterday, this place looked like a church,
and the owners were praying
for a miracle to save their business.
Look around. It seems like that happened.
It's packed, people are happy,
the food is great,
and SEVEN is now a perfect 10.
Good luck, guys.