Original subtitles

Irvine: I've visited hundreds of restaurants

and have impacted so many lives...

Oh, my god!

...But I've never seen it like this.

Facing some serious challenges.

Hundreds and thousands of restaurants

are closing, and millions of people are out of work.

You feel hopeless, helpless.

Irvine: The restaurants and families we've helped have been hit hard.

I have nothing if we lose this.

For me, this pandemic is very personal.

All right. Pack it up.

So I'm loading a small crew onto buses,

and we're hitting the road to help

a "restaurant impossible" family

reopen safely and successfully.

It's a protocol. It's a system.

A lot to do in a very short amount of time.

It's like a brand-new day.

It's gonna take a lot of hard work,

but restaurants can bring communities together,

and together we will bring them back.

Let's get back to work.

♪♪

here it is. [ laughs ] wow.

So this is gonna be our home for the next month.

We have 12 crew members. Six people on each bus.

Social distancing. You can see the whole crew wearing masks.

We're gonna visit as many "restaurant impossible"

family members as we can in four weeks.

All right. Come on in, guys. First and foremost,

I wanna say thank you for volunteering for this mission.

We've all been affected by covid-19.

Every one of us. We've been stuck at home

doing the same thing, trying to stay safe.

We know that it's been tough for us.

But think about the restaurants that we have helped

over the past 10 years.

The fear, the trepidation.

11 million folks

in the hospitality industry have been devastated.

And together, us 12, we're gonna try

and change their fortunes.

Look at us. Look at the distance we are.

Look at the masks we're wearing.

The protocols have changed,

but the mission stays the same.

It's to make sure we can help the restaurant owners,

their families, and the communities that they live in.

Let's get back to work. [ applause ]

woman: Yeah!

All right. Let's get out of here.

♪♪

[ engine starts ]

♪♪

[ horn honking ]

first up on this road trip is rossini's in ridgeland,

mississippi, where I met owners lori and tony.

We were there last year,

and they were aggressive towards each other and the staff.

They were failing in their marriage.

And the place, well [sighs] before I even walked

in the door was at breaking point for them.

♪♪

[ glass shattering ] woman: Uh-oh.

Oh! There we go.

You've got to change.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and let's fix it.

All right.

When I go back there now,

I don't know what I'm gonna find.

I really don't.

After robert left, I would say eventually we got up

to 35% increase in business.

Then, of course, the covid thing started, and then bam!

And that just kind of wiped it all out.

Lori: For about a month and a half,

we had literally no income, but we still had to pay rent,

utilities, taxes. Doesn't go away.

We still have to pay it, and we couldn't.

People are still somewhat skeptical.

And they're afraid to come out. They're not coming out.

It's really hard to make enough money

to pay everything and everyone and still remain open.

The rate we're going at right now,

I would say probably at the best

we have six weeks.

And it's just -- it's sad.

It's very sad.

♪♪

the fact that both of these folks admitted their own faults

and changed their own behavior

is why we're heading back there now,

because we care about them.

But so much has happened since then.

Should be interesting to revisit. Let's watch.

♪♪

oh, thank you.

We appreciate you being here.

The name of the restaurant is rossini.

Tony and I bought the restaurant from my father back in 2000,

and everything was great for 12 years.

It was new. It was exciting.

I loved it, but business has slowed down tremendously.

I go to bed at night wondering if

I'm gonna get a phone call about a bill I haven't paid.

It's a nightmare.

We are probably looking at about three or four months

before we would have to shut the doors.

We're 86'd on soup.

Credit cards are maxed.

Can't buy my wife presents on her birthday or something,

and if this place goes under, we also lose the house.

Tony has never been one that can handle stress.

Shut up! Get out!

He can be hurtful.

The stress of the finances and the way business is,

I get highly irate very quickly.

If people are that stupid,

they kind of deserve what they get.

Oh, wow! I'm sure everybody heard that one.

I haven't seen tony happy and himself

in a very, very long time.

I miss him. I miss my best friend.

If we lost everything,

would tony and I still be able to fix ourselves?

That's a fear.

And one of the reasons I'm so afraid of losing the place

because I don't know what it would do to us.

♪♪

tony: It's embarrassing to watch.

Seeing what I'd done to lori and made her feel

was just -- doesn't make you feel real good.

Lori was an emotional wreck.

Tony, on the other hand, was just angry.

I pretty much know that

if that restaurant went under, they would not be together.

Most restaurants I've visited had a few cleanliness issues,

but rossini's took the prize for the dirtiest I've ever seen.

The bar is filthy.

It's disgusting.

Oh, yummy!

Come here!

So that is where the gun sits in for your drinks.

♪♪

I mean, just look at this.

That's salmonella.

That's what this is.

I hope that I don't find that when I get back there today,

because if I do,

this bus is turning around and going to the next stop.

Oh!

♪♪

[ gagging ]

♪♪

that's where I literally heaved and almost lost my breakfast.

In fact, I think I did lose my breakfast.

You didn't see it, but I threw up in a bucket.

Lori! Tony! Is this how it is always?

Yes, sir.

Nobody likes to be told what they're doing wrong,

much less in front of millions of people.

Look at this. This is air blowing over food

that's open. This is your restaurant

that you sell food in that you're happy

because it's your name.

No, I'm not happy about it.

Everything in that kitchen sucked.

And I was so angry.

And, I mean, I feel it right now.

I'm getting all, like... Just watching this.

But why have you done anything about it then?

I've tried to. Where? Where?

I don't have any damn help.

You're lazy. You're lazy.

Both of you. And you want me

to fix your restaurant because you can't do it.

Lori and tony had let the restaurant fall so far apart

I needed to sit down and dig deeper

into how they got where they are.

[ sighs ]

how has this restaurant affected your relationship?

[ voice breaking ] I feel like I've lost my best friend.

It's okay.

Why do you feel that?

'cause I don't feel the closeness.

Do you still love her?

Yes, I still love her. Do you still love him?

So what's got in the way? The restaurant?

♪♪

the restaurant, me.

When you see her like this,

what does that make you feel?

It makes me feel horrible.

So what are you gonna do about it?

Right now your marriage looks like it's broken

as much as the business.

[ sniffles ]

all right. Here's what I'm gonna do.

I want to do a service.

How are y'all doing?

Woman: Welcome. Welcome.

Irvine: Once service started, things didn't get any better.

I mean, there's so many

violations of the health code here

I want to scream.

And the hits keep coming.

Look at all -- oh.

You've got an infestation of cockroach here.

Oh! There we go. Here you go, you little monkey.

Big problem.

They weren't monkeys. They were cockroaches --

and a lot of them.

Irvine: Hey, tony? Chef?

Do you know this?

What's that, chef?

Oh, this.

No, I did not.

There was just so much filth and so much disarray

I didn't feel comfortable feeding the guests.

And I always use this term "you're gonna kill somebody."

this was the one restaurant that could possibly happen.

Guys, shut it down. Shut it down.

It's not right. Shut it down.

Tony, you go out and tell the guests.

Yes, sir.

Excuse me, folks.

I apologize, but my kitchen is not clean enough

to be serving y'all food that I feel comfortable

sending out to y'all.

So I apologize, but kitchen's closed.

Hope to see y'all again sometime. Hopefully.

Shutting service down was very difficult for me.

It made us feel like failures. We were failures.

I'm just burned out.

You want to close it down and not do it anymore?

I can tell them all to leave right now,

and we'll shut the doors permanently.

You think about it.

I'll give you a few minutes to think about it.

We either make a fresh start here,

or I'll tell them to all get out right now,

and we're done.

♪♪

and that was the do-or-die moment.

"do I continue, or do I go away into the night ashamed?"

big moment.

I'd been in the kitchen by myself for two and a half years.

Everything all of the sudden, it was just like,

"yeah.

You need to stop."

but I've got to get slapped in the face sometimes.

What's the matter? What are you doing?

Trying to decide if I even deserve a chance.

Do you want the chance?

Can you change?

I want the chance. And yeah, I can change.

Then grow up then.

You've got to change.

And it starts with being nice to your wife, number one.

Because that's your backbone here.

She needs you as much as you need her, right?

Yeah. You don't think you do, but believe me, you do.

No, I need her more than anything.

So stop feeling sorry for yourself and let's fix it.

All right.

My wife, gail, always says to me,

"they don't need your tough love right now.

What they need is love."

no.

Grow up. Man up. Move on.

I love you. I'm sorry that I let this get like this.

I want to fix it.

I want to prove to you that I can do it and I deserve you.

It meant the world.

It meant the world that he did want to make this work.

It's really sweet to watch.

I get so tied up in the moment because I start to care.

But wow.

I'm so glad they didn't pack it in.

Well, I'm glad now. I just hope I'm glad when I get there.

♪♪

we did not realize how bad things were.

Tony: I don't know what to do.

You can't sit back and wait for it to come to you.

You have to go out and get it.

Ohh.

♪♪

irvine: I'm on a mission with my "restaurant impossible" crew.

We're racing across the country to revisit restaurants

and help them survive the covid-19 restrictions.

I'm three hours away from rossini's in ridgeland,

mississippi, on my way to offer guidance

to owners tony and lori,

who are desperately fighting to stay open.

Right now, I'm watching the episode of my first visit

to refresh my memory.

Well, obviously there's a lot going on this morning.

I normally taste the food,

but because of infestation of cockroaches,

the ceiling, I do not feel comfortable eating the food.

I have to bring in an exterminator, a cleaning crew.

That's number one.

Number two, meeting tom and taniya.

The restaurant is "italian."

so you have to think of big ways, right?

Look at the size of this restaurant.

Taniya: It's huge. Tom: It's huge.

All right. Lori, tony,

get the staff in here and all the volunteers, please.

Let's go. Get the volunteers.

All the tables. All the chairs. -Come on, guys.

Let's go. -Everything goes out.

Tom: Stack them all out front.

♪♪

I realized that if I was gonna have any chance

of fixing this restaurant,

tony was gonna have to deal with his anger

and the damage he'd done to his marriage.

For you to be successful,

you've got to calm down that aggressive nature,

because I'm gonna try and put systems in place

that will stop you getting frustrated.

When was the last time you actually sat down

and communicated or went out for a meal or a movie

or -- just the two of you?

I can't tell you. I don't remember.

I'm gonna have you cook a meal

from here with love and passion for your wife.

Okay?

All right, good.

He pulled me off to the side,

and I actually felt like he actually gave a damn.

And I thought the whole date part of it was dumb.

It ended up turning out he was right.

♪♪

irvine: This is probably the most important meal

I think he's ever gonna cook in his life.

Yes. It is.

I want you to reconnect like this was your first date.

Be honest and be real with each other.

Thank you. We'll get through it, okay?

Me, it's just my anger. It's simple.

I've always felt that I wasn't good enough for anything.

Including you.

And I put that on other people.

It's not their fault.

It's on me.

And I have to deal with that in a better way.

We have to help each other.

I agree, we do, because we haven't been good at that.

No.

Being able to talk to tony like that,

I saw in his eyes the person that I had lost

and that I was trying to get back.

I knew that we were gonna be okay.

Irvine: Once tony and lori's relationship was on the mend,

I was ready to move forward with a brand-new rossini's.

After 16 hours of cleaning, the kitchen was up to code.

I want to show you a couple of dishes

that I think we should be putting on the menu.

Pork chop pizzaiola.

And I was eager to show tony and lori

some new and exciting dishes that they could add

to their menu.

-Damn. -That's phenomenal.

Those flavors are great.

Irvine: Next, I showed tony a twist

on a traditional italian dish.

Cajun risotto. -That's very good.

That is better than 95% of red beans

and rice I've had in my life.

Irvine: After I introduced tony and lori to some new ideas

in the back of the house, I couldn't wait to show them

what was new about the front of the house.

Are you ready to see the new rossini restaurant?

-Please. -Yes.

Open your eyes.

[ gasps ] oh.

♪♪

it's my favorite moment of every episode,

and it never gets old, it never gets old.

Lori: I can't even describe the words it felt

when tony and I walked in and opened our eyes.

It was more than we could have hoped for.

I mean, it was just -- it was fabulous.

Every single thing is amazing.

Oh, my gosh.

♪♪

thank you.

♪♪

I get so emotional when we see these

because we changed somebody's life

and it's a pretty good feeling.

What you did for us just, for us, meant so much.

I would have been happy with just that.

And then this on top of it. I could have never imagined.

Thanks, chef.

I believe in you.

Y'all come on in.

Can you believe this? This is great.

It's brighter, cleaner --

very clean -- compared to yesterday.

It's beautiful.

One risotto. Tony. Why are you so calm?

Look. Look! 'cause I'm happy.

'cause I'm happy.

I'm happy. I'm inspired to cook food again.

And I'm having a good time.

Thank you. Thank you, robert.

Appreciate it. -Thank you.

Just that moment is worth the two days of hard work.

This just goes to show that love will conquer all.

And I hope when we get back there,

I'm gonna see more of this.

Right now, we're in ridgeland, mississippi,

heading to rossini's.

And I've done my research, and I printed out the whole list

of what we have to take care of.

So in mississippi, no more than 50% capacity

in seating, have to -- social distance

is 6 feet apart from each other.

Employees are required to wear their masks

throughout their shift.

I don't know what they're doing right now,

whether they're following the guidelines of cdc

and the state. If they don't, nobody comes in.

The restaurant closes. Everybody loses their job.

That's how important these rules are.

Stress can make things unravel really quickly.

And the times we are in right now are so stressful.

They're the worst I've ever seen for the restaurant industry.

My biggest concern right now is that tony and lori,

because of covid-19,

have slipped back into their old ways

of not running the restaurant correctly.

The questions I have are,

is the relationship still doing well?

Are they helping their staff

and running the restaurant correctly?

And the most important thing --

is the cleanliness still the same

as when I left it? I don't know if it is.

We're gonna find out really soon.

♪♪

[ horn honking ]

so I'm gonna see lori and tony

right now in the restaurant. But before I do, remember,

we've all been tested -- the covid-19 test

and the antibody test,

so being safe.

♪♪

okay. There's nobody in the restaurant,

so I can remove my mask.

The gun looks beautifully clean right now.

The refrigerator is beautiful.

This is what we didn't have before.

Health department permit -- an "a."

this restaurant would never have seen

an "a" rating in their lifetime if we had not been here.

Oh, look. I love this.

I don't like that they put blue tape like this.

There's a better way of doing it than this.

But they're socially distancing the tables for guests.

I don't know how they're doing financially,

but I'm gonna say this --

the restaurant looks great. They've got the "a" rating.

The place is immaculate. That's a good sign.

Tony! Lori!

I'm here!

I'm gonna stand over this way.

You're gonna walk and sit in those two chairs with the "x."

then I'm socially distanced, and you can take your masks off

so I can talk to you.

I want to virtually hug you right now.

[ laughs ]

seriously give you this.

Take your mask off. You can take it off, yeah.

We're giving it back.

Oh, it was a long bus drive

for me from florida, for sure.

What was it like having me in your world for two days?

The original show.

It was a nightmare come true.

A nightmare come true. Oh, I love that.

We did not realize how bad things were until you

threw it at us.

Your relationship was on rocky ground.

That's an understatement.

Correct. We actually talk.

We don't argue. We talk.

You mean -- like, you mean talk to each other?

Yes. You look completely different.

I'm gonna tell you. Your smile and effervescence.

It's because I've got my best friend back.

Right.

We just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary

this past Saturday.

Honestly, I do believe if you hadn't come

and helped us last August,

we wouldn't have celebrated 20 years

this past Saturday.

What about the debts on the credit card

and your house and the -- where's all that right now?

The house is not tied to it anymore.

We have paid down some of the credit cards.

Okay. What was your average monthly revenue before we came?

$20,000 a month. A month, before you came.

And then when we left, how did that change?

The first couple months, it jumped...

About 35% to 40%. 35% to 40%.

And then obviously, covid-19 came in,

swept the legs from under you.

And you were just getting just getting...

Just getting back. Back. Back?

And then it hits, and you have to close your restaurant.

For about a month and a half,

we had literally no income.

Did you do takeout?

We did takeout for about a week and a half.

It wasn't enough money to even turn the lights on.

You just stopped it completely. Just stopped it completely.

I don't think I would have done that, but okay.

We had a lot to overcome about reputations with the filthiness,

and a lot of people didn't want to come in here because of that.

So what have you done to let people know

that you've got an "a"

and you clean, and the customer- or consumer-confidence piece?

I don't know what to do.

This is the way things are going.

Okay. I just don't know.

Okay. What about your website? You put it all on your website?

We don't have a website.

What do you mean, you don't have a website?

The guy moved out of town, the guy that managed it.

Never gave me passwords or anything on how to get into it.

And so, therefore, we don't have a website.

Okay, that's not good.

Right now, social media is a big impact on your business.

If I'm not here to help you, how long do you think

you would stay open?

Maybe six, eight weeks.

Six or eight weeks. Maybe.

I come in here every day and just sit

and try to figure out, "is this worth it?

Should I even try to push through this?"

you feel hopeless, helpless.

You know, we're losing our baby.

'cause this is our baby.

I feel that stress.

I know it can beat you up a bit.

Believe me.

How are the people when they come in?

Because you're open now, right?

I mean, do they feel comfortable?

Yes, they do. Our staff wears masks and gloves.

Good. Disinfecting tables

two, three times a shift, plus the end of the night.

And these are things that we should be telling

the people on your website that you don't have.

Right. I think it's good for them to see

that you're taking the extra precaution.

But, remember, you have -- and you just said to me.

You have a reputation -- I presume you still have it now --

for a dirty kitchen.

We've got to change that reputation.

We've got to figure it out now

because six to eight weeks is, it's over.

I'm here to help you do that. Right?

But I want to know that you've bought

into the same thing, right?

That you haven't given up. No.

Right? Because you can't sit back

and wait for it to come to you.

You have to go out and get it.

All right. I couldn't try the food last time, right?

No, you couldn't. Because we shut the kitchen down.

Yes. I want to try your food for once.

You go and start cooking. Give me a...

[ laughs ]

irvine: It's great to see tony and lori

and listen to how they have become a great family

and the unit's back together since we were here last time.

But what concerns me a lot is, "a," no website.

There's no to-go menu, or there's no to-go period,

which is another revenue stream for the restaurant.

And they haven't really been that proactive

in helping themselves. That concerns me a little.

We're gonna start fixing that right now.

So, matty, grab ryan. Come over here, please.

I need you to start figuring out,

how do we start a website for rossini's?

You've got less than a day to do it.

So you're gonna have to -- right now.

We'll start the website, I'm gonna try the food next,

and we'll go from there.

All right. So what do we have here?

I have chicken parmesan with risotto and green beans,

a meat lasagna, and shrimp and grits.

All right. So this is the chicken, right? Right.

After my first visit, tony added some of his own dishes

to the menus I put in place.

So this is the first time

I've ever tasted any of his original food.

The stakes are high. His food needs

to be good enough to keep the customers coming back.

Otherwise, increased marketing and to-go orders won't be able

to keep rossini's doors open.

Okay. Shrimp and grits.

Now, you know I'm a master at shrimp and grits, right?

♪♪

the meat lasagna.

♪♪

ah.

♪♪

all right.

♪♪

♪♪

irvine: I'm helping rossini's restaurant in ridgeland,

mississippi, recover after closing due to covid-19.

If they don't drastically change what they're doing,

they'll have to shut down their doors in six weeks.

My goals are to build up their takeout business

and give them an online presence.

But if tony's food isn't good enough,

my advice and a website

won't help save tony from losing their livelihood.

♪♪

well, I got to tell you, that's the best shrimp and grits

I've ever had in my life.

The grits are beautifully creamy and nicely cooked.

And I am not an excitable guy with food.

That sauce, I will probably steal from you.

If you bottled that sauce,

you could sell that sauce on its own.

That sauce is to die for. It really is.

I appreciate that very much.

The meat lasagna is off the charts.

I mean, these two, these are winners.

Thank you. Risotto's really good.

Chicken's cooked nicely. The sauce is really good.

So how do I take this and deliver it to somebody out there

and deliver it in a format that travels?

How do we do that?

Tony's food is amazing, but we still need to figure out

how to get it to the customers. I need to find a way

to get him back in the takeout game in a big way

if we're gonna save his restaurant.

♪♪

excuse me for a minute.

I've got another thought.

Just stay there for a second.

Matty!

I've got a job for you.

I want you to start looking online

for an industrial freezer

that can replace this white freezer in here,

that can fit a lot of products, okay? Perfect.

What did robert say about the food?

That the shrimp and grits and the lasagna were good.

But he kept going back for the sauce

on the shrimp and grits. Nice.

Irvine: If we could take those dishes

and make them frozen dishes, you know,

like you do at a supermarket, to sell as finishing dishes.

You know, we'll give you a bottle of wine maybe.

And I got to think about this more.

But a bottle of wine, a lasagna, the salad

and the dressing to go with it, and off you go.

And then come up with some type of menu

and marketing plan to move this restaurant forward.

Because right now, six weeks from now,

we will be not a restaurant. It will be closed.

Hey, guys, come in here for a second.

This is tony and lori's last chance

to take hold of their destiny.

I can give them the way to save the restaurant,

but they need to take ownership of it

if it's going to be successful.

I got to say, guys, I'm shocked and excited about the food.

Now I want to focus on the business.

One of the things that I want you to do

is start thinking about marketing ideas.

How do we portion sell not only food, but...

That we're clean? You've got to be really creative.

Don't stand in this box

and think, "that's what we used to do,"

is good enough anymore, because we know it's not, right?

Your homework tonight.

I want you to go to a supermarket.

I want you to sort of go all the ready-prepared foods

that people are buying

to come up with some ideas and menu ideas.

Yes, we've got some there, but we need more.

We need to make a menu. Right? Great job.

I will see you tomorrow.

-Thank you. -Thank you, chef.

Irvine: For me, this is tony and lori's do-or-die moment.

I've given them the challenge to bring me great ideas

to show me they're willing to do the hard work

it'll take to make rossini's a success again.

But if they're not all in, then six weeks from now,

the doors will close forever.

♪♪

it's day 2, and it's time to find out if tony and lori

have put in some real time and effort into their homework.

If they didn't do the work, then rossini's will just be

another closed business due to covid-19.

Good morning. Good morning.

You're gonna take your masks off.

We're outside in this beautiful weather.

Thank you. Okay.

Homework for you was?

To come up with marketing ideas.

Okay, let's share them. What are they?

Number one first would be, if you refer a new customer,

you get 25% off your next visit.

Okay. Loyalty program. Yes. Okay.

Buy an appetizer and get a free glass of wine.

That one I love. Okay.

How do we get that out to the people?

I'll have a connection with a local radio station.

All great stuff. Okay.

Tony, I said to you last night,

"look at what people are buying in supermarkets --

ready-prepared food." did you do that?

Yes, I did. What was the biggest thing you saw?

Yeah, I saw a lot of people

going to a mexican-style lasagna.

I'd never seen anything like it.

Really interesting. Okay.

You made shrimp and grits that I loved.

And I told you to bottle the sauce.

I actually have a friend that has a restaurant,

and they bottle some of their stuff.

I'm supposed to get with him this coming week.

All right. Well done.

All's I'm trying to do is push you to get out of a box.

Irvine: Tony and lori knocked it out of the park.

Lori's got some great ideas.

And tony's afterhours field trip showed me

that they were fully committed to the restaurant's success.

And now I'm ready to help them get there.

Okay. When we go inside,

I'm gonna join you in the kitchen,

and we're gonna start thinking about food.

Yes, sir.

♪♪

remember, chicken is the highlight.

Ho ho ho! Yes!

Open your eyes.

Ohh, my goodness.

Oh, hell no. Oh, hell yeah.

♪♪

irvine: I'm at rossini's in ridgeland, mississippi,

helping owners tony and lori

rebuild after the covid-19 shutdown.

I'm doing everything I can to get their customers confident

in their restaurant.

To start a website for rossini's.

Including a testimonial on my own social media page.

You've got to come to rossini's.

Tony has done an amazing job cleaning.

He's a good leader. He's a great boss.

And by the way, I got to try his food today.

It's 11 out of 10.

If you haven't tried it, you've got to come to rossini's.

I've come up with an idea that will sell frozen meals

that families can prepare at home.

It could be a big moneymaker for them.

I've even come up with a name for the service --

rossini's at home.

But I thought of two kind of different ways

to sell your product and to make sure

that the food would travel.

So we'd start with lasagna that you would normally make,

except this time I made it kind of a cajun style.

I've already started to build it.

I'm not gonna teach you how to make lasagna

because yours was spectacular yesterday, and I mean that.

Oh, thank you. Right?

So if I make a tray like this, before it goes out,

I put a top on it like this.

Cajun lasagna take-home dinner includes a salad

with all my accompaniments, my dressing, garlic bread,

my lasagna to go.

Two meals for a family of four.

The cost is $12. We're selling it at 48 bucks.

Ooh!

I want you at the end of this

to come up with 15 different types of lasagna.

You make a great one.

But what happens if we have a lasagna of the week?

Yeah, just change it up.

It would be a great revenue stream

not only just to compensate what we have,

but just to go past what we were already.

Did you see a glint of excitement there?

But not the same lasagna each week.

And the beautiful thing is, you can freeze everything.

Right? You're not losing the product.

I'm not losing the product.

This makes perfect sense to me.

It makes perfect sense.

That's one way. Right?

I really liked the chicken you made yesterday.

But how do you transport it?

So if I finish this and I put cheese and I put sauce

and I freeze it, it's gonna be... It just didn't work right

with the cheese. Yes!

So imagine this. Go with me.

Go on this journey. Okay.

I bought my chicken.

It's already coated. It's already pan-seared.

But it's not finished. I've got my sauce, my cheese,

my vegetables in containers to go just like this.

They're just finishing it at home.

Irvine: To show them how easy it is for people to do it at home,

I'm asking lori to put the meal together

because she doesn't cook.

We've got the chicken. Put tomato sauce on top of it.

Now you're gonna put cheese on it.

Then what does number five say?

"tell the kids to set the table."

set the table. All right. Okay.

And what does this say? Number six.

"put the chicken in the oven for 15 minutes

until the cheese is golden on top."

then you're gonna turn this pan on.

Put the tomatoes in.

Just want them to blister a little bit.

Nice. And we can put broccolini in.

You're a natural at this.

Right now, tony's all excited.

It's impressive. All right.

Now you're gonna plate this. Vegetables.

There you go. Remember, the chicken is the highlight.

Got it. Tomato sauce on top of it.

Ho ho ho!

Little parsley there on top. Chicken parmesan.

You try it. It looks great.

It's really good. Chicken's cooked right.

The vegetables are tasty.

I just ate what you cooked.

I can cook.

The parm that you just did

was only $2 cost to us per person.

And we only made one there.

But imagine four pieces of chicken,

four sets of vegetable, four salads.

$2 cost. We sell it for $48.

And by the way, you've got your own little takeout bag. Thanks.

Lori: How cute. With the phone number and everything on.

So tonight we market this with the people

that come in the restaurant. Yes.

This is the new rossini's at home.

-Perfect. -Very nice.

Right?

His ideas about rossini at home,

it makes a lot of sense to me.

I gave up a little too quickly on the to-gos and stuff,

but now we know how to do it right.

And we're gonna get it done.

I just think this is the way forward.

-It makes sense. -What is it called?

Rossini's at home. Rossini at home.

I can't hear you!

Both: Rossini at home!

All right, now I can hear you.

Irvine: We're just an hour away from opening

the restaurant for dinner. But before we do,

I have a surprise for tony and lori

to help them not only survive,

but prosper during these difficult times.

We're now walking in through the kitchen door.

Keep your eyes closed.

Keep walking. Keep walking.

And stop.

You can take your masks off.

Open your eyes.

Ohh, my goodness.

Oh, hell no. Oh, hell yeah.

♪♪

we're now walking in through the kitchen door.

Keep your eyes closed.

Irvine: To make tony and lori's new takeout service a success,

they need to be able to store a lot of premade frozen meals.

And since their little fridge isn't up to the task,

it's time to bring in something that is.

And stop.

You can take your masks off.

Open your eyes.

Ohh, my goodness.

Oh, hell no. Oh, hell yeah.

♪♪

wow. Damn.

Irvine: That is an industrial-sized freezer.

Yeah. Open it. Go ahead and look at it. Look at it.

You can put over 100 lasagnas, 100 foods.

I mean, that is, cha-ching,

the license to make money right there.

This is gonna set you on the road to success with the menu,

the marketing. Thank you so much.

Irvine: The freezer was exactly what tony and lori needed

to make sure they could handle a growing takeout business.

But the service has no chance to succeed

if no one knows about it.

Come in a little bit closer.

Well, guess what?

♪♪

-wow! -Oh!

-You now have your own website. -A website.

Lori: Oh, that's wonderful.

Table reservations. Menu orders. Wow.

Tells you all about covid-19, all the things you're doing.

So we're gonna put pictures in this throughout the day.

-Wow. -Oh, then it gets better.

The "a"'s up there.

-Wow. -Nice.

Everybody can see that you're an "a" rating, right?

That is amazing. Thank you, chef.

And you don't have to pay for it.

We've already done it. Wow.

And it's live today.

That's... I know you don't like people crying,

but they're happy tears. That's okay.

Happy tears. Why? Why are they happy tears?

Because I'm just so relieved

that you were able to do this for us.

I think it's so important that you have one.

♪♪

-I'm sorry. -No. It's okay.

What do you feel?

Relief, gratitude.

I mean, it's like a brand-new day.

It's just -- it's -- it's...

It's just an amazing thing. We appreciate it very much.

Thank you.

All right. So here's what I want now,

'cause, you know, we're gonna open soon.

I want the kitchen cleaned so we can set up for service.

-Yes, sir. -Okay?

Irvine: We're an hour and a half from opening,

and we've got a lot of work to do.

I've got the crew taking pictures

of the delicious food to post on the new website,

and although rossini's is following the state

safety protocols to a "t,"

we're going to go even further.

Brianna, you're the only one that's clearing tables.

You'll always wear gloves

'cause you're picking up dirty food.

Irvine: Tonight is about marketing.

We need to start spreading the word about tony and lori's

new takeout service and website

in order to get them back on track.

Just before when you drop the check, basically,

I want you to give one of these cards.

It tells the customer about a new service,

rossini's at home.

Tells you we have a new website that's up and running.

Really important 'cause that's gonna help us

get people to order online, but also come in.

Check the tables for me again,

make sure they're all clean.

♪♪

welcome.

Good to see you, too. Thank you very much.

Irvine: When I arrived the rossini's yesterday,

I learned that because of covid-19,

tony and lori were losing money,

customers, and hope.

Feeling overwhelmed and lost,

they hadn't taken any steps to turn things around

and had disappeared off the map.

What would everybody like to drink?

Tonight is the first chance to show customers

they're going above and beyond to make them feel safe.

My helper is gonna come get the empty glasses.

They've gone to leaps and bounds to do what they can

to make this a clean environment,

and everything that I've seen has just been incredible so far.

Irvine: It's also an opportunity to introduce

the new take-home service

that allows customers to cook great food that travels...

You can't come to us,

you can have rossini at home.

You order is just online at our website.

You can order the family meals to go.

...And to let everyone know

rossini's is finally online with a brand-new website.

It's about time they got a website here.

Doing great, dude. Doing great. Thank you.

Now we actually have a plan to move forward

and not just sit back and wait for something to happen,

but to make something.

I have a lot of hope, and there's no way

I could ever actually thank the man enough

for what he's done for me.

I'm gonna leave that with you.

Lori: The pressure was intense.

But once again, he -- that's what robert does.

He makes it work.

When I got here, I was already proud of lori and tony.

Now I'm even prouder.

I know they're ready to make this restaurant a go-to spot,

as well as a to-go spot, for years and years to come.

I wish them the best of luck, and for all you out there,

tune in next week.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

man: We have some serious challenges ahead.

Woman: I've never been through anything like this.

Man #2: We could potentially lose everything.

Woman #2: We are at our breaking point now.

Woman #3: Our house is tied to this business.

Irvine: I want to make sure that you get back to

where you need to get back to.

We'll get through it together.

I feel like you are my saving grace, for real.

I just want to know that you haven't given up.

We got to stay and defend what we invested in.

Boom! There it is!

A lot to do in a very short amount of time.

Got to think of ways to create more revenue.

-Oh, my god! -Oh!

-Holy! Man, look at that. -This is so good.

There's no way I could ever actually thank the man enough.

Woman #4: Thank you so much.

[ engine starts ]

irvine: "restaurant impossible" is back in business,

and we're hitting the road to help struggling members

of the "r.I." family overcome

one of the most challenging moments of their lives.

I have nothing if we lose this.

It's been real, raw, and emotional.

-Am so thankful. -Oh!

It's like a brand-new day.

But there are always stories behind the stories.

I had a pretty memorable moment with you off-camera,

and I don't know if you remember.

-Oh, I do. -Yeah.

Irvine: And tonight, my crew and I are taking you

behind the scenes to answer your burning questions,

reveal never-before-seen footage...

And I don't think this even made the episode.

Irvine: ...And shares secrets that no one has ever heard of,

until now.

[ gagging ]

jesse: You were gagging. I mean, it made me gag.

I was smelling it, too. I'm right there.

Irvine: This is the "restaurant impossible"

aftershow.

So you just watched the "back to business" episode

at rossini's.

Here to help me chat about this, my trusted team --

executive producer jill littman,

tom bury, my esteemed builder,

and the one taniya nayak to discuss rossini's,

the original episode

and probably one of the most emotional episodes

that we have ever, ever done on "restaurant impossible."

lori: If we lost everything,

would tony and still be able to fix ourselves?

That's a fear and one of the reasons

I'm so afraid of losing the place,

because I don't know what it would do to us.

I never thought they were gonna make it

as a couple, as a marriage, let alone as a business,

and to get them back into business

was pretty special.

Robert, I had a pretty memorable moment with you off-camera,

and I don't know if you remember.

It was so hot, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere,

a torrential downpour happens at the 11th hour.

We bring everything in to start setting up the restaurant,

and there are a few scratches on the tables.

Do you remember this, robert?

Oh, I do.

He sounds mad all over again, taniya.

You were pissed off because you said,

and you pulled me aside,

and there was a big, ginormous vein

popping out of your forehead.

But you're like, "this is 100% unacceptable, so fix it."

and I'm, like, standing there going,

"I don't even know what to do to fix the situation."

but what we ended up doing, because it was the 11th hour,

was we put the tables in, and we told the owners

that we're gonna send them new tables

as soon as we were done with that dinner service, and we did.

I know your intentions were not to scare me or upset me.

I knew that. But you pulled me aside,

and you gave me a big hug, and you were like,

"we have to give them the best of the best."

so I'll never forget that. That was a special moment.

I do remember it.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

And I just don't think

that people realize that it's not a job to us.

It's somebody's livelihood they were playing with.

Taniya, what was your biggest challenge

in designing this space?

Try to figure out how to divide the spaces up

and how to eat up some of that volume from the ceiling.

Let there be light!

It's a huge restaurant. -What'd you make tom do?

[ laughs ] what did you have to convince tom to do?

What didn't I make tom do on this episode?

-I know. -Number one was the cleaning.

It was gross.

During the show, we didn't want to show that much filth.

So, hey, why not show it now? Take a look at this.

That's where I nearly threw up. -Oh!

-Ugh. -[ gags ]

no.

[ gagging ]

my eyeballs almost came out of my sockets.

That is disgusting.

[ exhales ]

it just -- it just reeks of people

that don't care, and it really annoys me.

That's a good line, robert.

"reeks of people that don't care."

that's one of my pet peeves,

that it doesn't cost anything to clean.

I don't care how much money you're not making.

Robert, remember how bad the floor was?

For the first time ever, I literally took a scraper

that's used for getting glue off a floor

when you take off carpet,

and we were scraping the concrete,

and it was just grease,

and it was like sheets of grease just peeling off.

-Ah. -It was crazy.

But I was happy to see in your revisit

that they're really keeping up on it.

Jill: That was the first thing robert did when he walked in.

He stepped -- he was like, "oh, it's not sticky anymore."

it's not sticky, yeah.

It takes just getting the law laid down by robert for people.

I feel like a lot of times they don't see it anymore.

They become blind to it, and then once you hear it,

and when you hear it from robert, it hits home.

So I'm glad that they listened.

Then we had the wall sliders that you had to wrap in wood,

which we all thought was gonna be fairly simple,

but did not turn out that way.

It was like a nightmare.

Irvine: How much do we have left to do?

Tom: I have zero checked off my list.

The paint's not done, the lighting's not done,

the walls aren't -- like, everything.

And it's been a lot of reasons.

You don't need to hear it, but...

-And the size of the place. -And the size of the place.

So it's just -- it's been slow going.

What happened was -- and I don't think

this even made the episode,

but all those wood pieces that we were putting on the wall,

in the middle of the night -- remember, taniya? --

The same color came out very different.

We couldn't figure it out.

We all were arguing over what color we're using.

And the answer was, it was unstirred.

And I told the guys to get a can

and carry it carefully back.

Do not shake it. Do not stir it.

And we match it with unstirred stain

in order to match the rest of it. I didn't know.

This will be where day 2, tom comes in.

That's right.

[ laughter ]

day 2 starts, and tom is very upset

'cause he's tired and he's grumpy.

And then when taniya gives him more stuff,

he gets even grumpier.

But we got a lot to do.

I have zero checked off my list.

It's late. Everyone's tired.

It's hot. We're behind.

I was already there at the end of day 1, robert, on this one.

I was day 2 tom, day 1.

That's one little aspect of the detail that we go through.

Irvine: 'cause alls we're trying to do there is make sure

that we're doing the best thing

we can possibly do for the people,

in the amount of time we have it.

Oh, my goodness!

Wow. -Damn.

Irvine: That is an industrial-size freezer.

You now have your own website.

Irvine: And I have to say, every time we go back

to one of these places, I want it.

Every time he says, "this one's my favorite."

-"this one's the best." -[ laughs ]

robert, you got this one tell that I always see

when you when you taste something and you like it.

♪♪

♪♪

irvine: Welcome back to the "restaurant impossible"

aftershow.

Here to help me chat about this, my trusted team --

executive producer jill littman,

by director of photography, jesse, right there,

and this is brian goodman, my executive chef,

to discuss rossini's.

The original episode, there was a lot of problems.

Jesse: Man, I remember walking around with you filming that,

and you pulled back that freezer.

I have never seen such a response.

Aah!

[ gagging ]

jesse: You were gagging. I mean, it made me gag.

I was smelling it, too. I'm right there.

You know, this time, I'll be honest,

like, it was a breath of fresh air.

Irvine: The restaurant looks great.

They've got the "a" rating.

The place is immaculate.

Kitchen is clean. Tony looked clean.

Tony looked like he lost some weight.

He looked good.

Rossini's from the first episode to the revisit...

Shut up! Get out!

Doing great, dude. Doing great. Thank you.

His passion and his calmness --

he wasn't screaming, he wasn't demeaning,

he wasn't shouting.

First time I met tony, for lack of a better word,

he was a little rough around the edges.

If people are that stupid, they kind of deserve what they get.

And I'd say his edges are a little bit softer now.

It makes perfect sense.

Did I just see a glint of excitement there?

Brian goodman sees the most that we don't get to see

'cause he's in the kitchen with the chefs

and with that owners and with that kitchen staff.

Brian: And I do see a lot.

One of the most-asked questions that I get is,

why does chef robert need to have

an executive chef travel with him?

If I was to do the show on my own,

I would never get anything done because I spend most of my time

trying to figure out the problems

with the actual owners themselves.

This is the kitchen, right? -Yes.

When was this cleaned last?

Oh, that? Probably 18 months ago.

-18 months ago. -Yep.

So what's the matter with your hands?

Bear in mind that we don't create the menus

or the recipes until the day of.

And brian has -- he had prepped, done pictures, plating cards.

The viewer doesn't realize how much work that is for you.

I know it's, like, it's stressful,

but it's so important.

Very rare have I ever seen the owners

not be uplifted by the food.

The interesting thing about rossini's is

tony could really cook.

I mean, he lost his way,

and they went down a bad path personally,

but he really can cook.

Irvine: I still salivate over those shrimp and grits.

His sauce was spectacular.

Robert, you got this one tell that I always see.

When you taste something and you like it,

you don't quite lift your head up all the way.

You look over the top of your glasses

and you go, "dude."

and I'm always like, "that's it.

That's -- nothing more needs to be said.

You just got the seal of approval from robert irvine."

we always dive in after robert has his taste.

Jesse's like the vulture.

[ squawks ]

I do. I can't help it.

And, jesse, maybe you can talk about the food photography,

your beauty shots, because you're the brains behind them.

Yeah, well, you know, like you always say, robert,

you taste with your eyes first, you know.

And I could go on for hours about doing food

lighting and photography.

Jesse, give us your best tips

on making food look beautiful for regular people.

Have brian make it.

I was just gonna say, film it with

the restaurant impossible" team -- duh.

Number one -- don't shoot down the food.

You want to get low and shoot across the food

at kind of a flat angle.

Create a background that is further away from the food,

and that is going to be kind of just an out-of-focus,

colored, textured background

that brings the eye really to the food.

You want to have soft light, and that means if there's

a light in the kitchen when you're filming, you know,

oftentimes there's waxed paper or paper napkins,

and you just diffuse the light as much as you can.

Shadows are your enemy.

You don't want to have a harsh shadow cutting across the,

you know, beautiful burger or to the other side,

just a real slash of bright light.

You want everything... -Robert, this is why

it takes him so long to shoot food views,

'cause this is how much he loves it.

He takes 10 1/2 hours to shoot two plates of food.

[ laughing ] I know. I can't even explain it quickly.

[ laughs ]

irvine: What jesse does -- that's what sets us aside.

The show wouldn't be as good as it is.

It takes an army to do this from a tv standpoint,

from a food standpoint, from a training standpoint.

And I'm hoping that all those changes we put in rossini's

are systems that can far exceed covid-19, right?

Jill, me and you are going head-to-head

in two seconds. I am on the hot seat.

I look forward to these questions.

Stay right there. We'll be right back.

You won't be able to stump me. My name's robert irvine.

I think that you're skirting the question.

♪♪

hey, I'm back on the hot seat with jill littman,

my executive producer.

I look forward to these questions.

These don't all come for me. They do come from your fans.

Here we go number one --

were your parents good cooks?

No, my dad was in the army.

My mother still to this day --

she's 76 years old, and she's a terrible cook.

Is that why you became a cook?

Yes, because my mother would go to work,

and she wouldn't come home till 5:30 in the afternoon.

I would always start dinner from school.

Okay. The second question --

what is in your refrigerator right now?

I've got three packets of instant bacon,

microwavable bacon,

because I don't like the house smelling of bacon.

I like the fat contained --

you know, it cooks in the microwave

so that all the fat stays in the packet.

[ laughing ] okay.

I've got potato rolls.

I've got some fruit,

ah, some almond milk, some soy milk.

That's about it. What are you gonna do with the rolls?

What are you gonna put on the rolls?

The bacon.

-A bacon sandwich. I love it. -Yep.

Wait. Hang on.

♪♪

he just left.

So this is how bacon comes, right?

[ laughs ]

oh, you really do have that in your fridge?

...Put it onto one of these. It's called a potato roll.

[ laughs ]

okay, robert, what's the one thing

home cooks get wrong most often?

That these are called hands, and you can pick things

off the heat, and you can turn the heat down.

I think that's the biggest problem that home cooks face.

They try to cook everything at such a high temperature.

Burn the outside to leave it raw in the middle.

Low and slow. Isn't that what you say?

Yep. I have to say, I learned that from you.

I was also guilty of wanting to crank that heat up.

So I learned something from you.

Okay. Last --

when you get home from a long trip on the road,

and gail says, "robert, I want you to relax,

so I'm going to cook you a homemade meal,"

is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Let me tell you, gail is probably one of the best cooks

I've ever met in my life.

Kimchi, fried cauliflower, fried egg.

I teach him some stuff sometimes.

She cooks fish perfectly.

She makes the best roast chicken.

She's really talented.

I think I married up.

[ laughs ]

if I were her, I'd be intimidated to cook for you.

But that's... She was when we started dating.

And now she loves cooking.

We have this house that she loves to cook in.

And she does most of the cooking, by the way.

That's all I got for you, robert.

It was the hottest of hot seats.

I'm gonna I'm gonna think all night

for more questions for next week

'cause I'm gonna stump you one of these days.

You won't be able to stump me. My name's robert irvine.

But good luck.

All right. As always, ms. Jill littman,

thank you so much for what you do, continue to do.

I'm gonna check in with lori and tony right now,

see how they're doing since we left.

How's business?

You don't want to know.

♪♪

irvine: Welcome back to the "restaurant impossible"

aftershow.

I'm about to catch up with rossini's owner tony and lori,

who have been struggling during the covid-19 pandemic.

Oh, my goodness.

Irvine: That is an industrial-size freezer.

You now have your own website.

That's... I know you don't like people crying,

but they're happy tears. That's okay.

What do you feel?

Relief, gratitude.

I mean, it's like a brand-new day.

It's just an amazing thing. We appreciate it very much.

Thank you.

-Hey, hey. How are you doing? -We're doing good.

We still like each other. Thank you.

[ laughs ]

the marriage is great.

When I look at where we were on our first visit,

then I look at where we were on our second visit...

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[bleep ] this.

Somebody take this microphone off of me now, seriously!

Somebody come get this [bleep] off of me now!

You look completely different, I'm gonna tell you --

your smile and effervescence.

It's because I got my best friend back, and talk.

We actually talk. We don't argue, we talk.

You mean talk to each other again? Yeah.

I don't even know the first-visit guy.

[ laughter ]

I can understand that.

To see you together, actually the second time,

but now again on here, is really nice.

It's really nice. How's business?

Right now it's real up and down,

and our numbers are spiking around here.

So covid-19's picked up again,

so they put more restrictions on you?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

The numbers as far as food cost

and our staff and, like, our labor cost --

those are much better now.

The actual sales --

I would say they're probably close to the same

because of the up-and-down-ness of things going on right now.

But since I've got my food cost

and my labor under control, they end up looking better.

-Yeah. -Tony's learned how to manage

those numbers a lot better.

I can tell you, chef, I've had a lot of fun

playing with the website.

The rossini at home orders that we've had,

we've gotten positive feedback.

One customer even said that it was the best takeout

you could get anywhere, anytime.

And that was on your chicken parmesan...

Well, and it's so funny because we were talking about

how you made it.

That was the funny part.

Yes. Yes. But we're getting positive feedback on that.

So, tony, what are you enjoying?

I'm enjoying coming to work

and trying to figure out some new things

to come up with for the rossini to-go.

I've been doing just pretty much every day,

just getting up and coming to work,

and, you know, it's a good thing.

And when was the last time you cooked lori a meal?

That would have been about two weeks ago.

All right.

Well, now, chef, I cooked last week.

I cooked for him last week.

What do you cook him?

He don't want to know.

[ laughter ]

a hamburger.

He ate it. He said it was good.

A hamburger and a fresh spinach salad.

But it was made with love, right?

Exactly. It was made with made love.

And it was good.

When I tried your shrimp and grits,

I went nuts on your shrimp and grits.

That's the best shrimp and grits I ever had in my life.

♪♪

the grits are beautifully creamy and nice and cooked.

And I am not an excitable guy with food.

That sauce -- I will probably steal that from you.

And I'm still going nuts on your shrimp and grits right now.

I still -- you can just see.

I just did a -- like I could taste it there.

Anything I can help you with now?

We're hanging in there, thanks to you.

I hope you're doing well.

I hope all the other restaurants

that you've gone back to see are hanging in there also.

It's really -- it's tough.

You know, everybody's going through the same kind of thing

at the moment.

It's how people treat each other, really.

Are they doing what you're doing,

wearing masks, and are they wear--

you know, all those things we talked about while I was there.

Right.

Well, listen, it's great to see you guys.

It's good to see you, too, chef. We can't thank you enough.

Listen, I want to see that --

I want to see that freezer full of stuff,

tony, and I want to see you selling it.

Yes. That's not a problem at all, chef.

Irvine: Now,here's a sneak peek at next week's

"restaurant impossible: Back in business."

so February was great. March hit.

And then the world shut down.

I was devastated, robert.

Some of the food we had,

we just gave it away to the families

'cause we had to lay off all the employees.

So we just gave them food to eat, and then we just...

Well, how was that?

How was telling the people you had to lay them off?

It was sad. It was very sad.

'cause they're family members, right?

Yeah. It was hard.

It was very hard to do that. It didn't feel good.

It was very scary, and I'm behind the eight ball.

If we don't put these measures in place, do due diligence

in making sure that our customers are safe,

there's no restaurant.

There's none.

It just -- it won't be there.

[ sighs ]

I just saw that big deep sigh there.

I wish I could, like, just hug you right now.

[ chuckles ]

I'm not asking you to go through it alone.

Hold each other's hand. Hold each other's hand.

You have a lot of questions. I have a lot of answers.

All right? We'll get through it together, okay?

-Yeah. -We will.

-Yeah. -I will fix it.

♪♪