Kitchen Nightmares, Episode 3: The Mixing Bowl

Welcome to another episode of Kitchen Nightmares, the show where, each week, Chef Gordon Ramsay will descend upon a restaurant that has fallen on hard times and will help the owners restore the place to its former glory and beyond in less than one week. You can read my recap of last week’s episode if you are curious, but each episode is its own complete story.

This week starts out at The Mixing Bowl in Bellmore, NY. The announcer tells us that the place is just months from having to close.

We first meet Billy, the owner and chef. He is also the delivery guy and the handy man. He does it all. Lisa is his wife and co-owner of the restaurant. She tells us that the place is ten years old. Kim the waitress tells us that if it were up to Lisa, the restaurant would be closed next week. Lisa has lost hope that the place can ever turn a profit again. Mike, the manger, confirms this and says that only six people came in to eat all last night.

Unfortunately, Mike seems to be a bit of a problem. He is more interested in schmoozing than in running a restaurant. Patrons come in and he sits and chats with them like they are old friends. Who knows, though, I suppose they could really be old friends.

Mike confirms this attitude when he tells us that many people call him the mayor of Bellmore and they think that he owns the restaurant.

In any case, the problem with this restaurant seems to be a severe lack of customers. The staff tell us that the place used to be full every week, but now no one comes in anymore. We see the required montage of the staff just sitting around waiting for customers.

But wait! Here comes a customer. Actually, it is our knight in his gleaming apron; Chef Gordon Ramsay. He is here to figure out why no one will eat here anymore.

As always, the first thing he does is to sit down and order from the menu. Mike explains that the restaurant is New American cuisine and serves food like salads and wraps.

Ramsay notes that the menu is huge for such a small restaurant. He selects the “award winning Maryland crab cakes” and asks Mike exactly what awards they have won. Mike has no idea. He also orders a zucchini pancake and the seared North Atlantic salmon.

We fast forward to Mike bringing out the crab cakes and the pancake. It certainly looks pretty good so far compared to the awful-looking meals that restaurants in previous weeks have tried to serve.

Ramsay is impressed by the crab cakes. He’s not so sure that it would win awards, but it is fresh and that surprises him in this small and drab restaurant. He is not so impressed with the pancakes. He says that they are thick and feel like a mouth full of glue.

The main course is served and Ramsay questions all the sauces and ingredients. The salmon is bland and the sauce is heavy and vinegary. He thinks it has way too much garlic. Over all, it gets moderately decent ratings from the chef. The big problem seems to be that it is bland.

Mike says that Ramsay is just wrong and there is nothing wrong with the food. But, obviously he is the one who is wrong, since nobody is eating there.

Ramsay stays until the evening to watch the staff serve a dinner rush. Now, when I say “rush” I really mean “crawl,” since there are only “2 or 3 people” according to the waitress.

And, the few people that come in are using “50% off” coupons that they seem to have cut out of the local paper. Ramsay is incredulous and asks Billy how long he has been printing the coupons. “Eight years,” he replies. Ramsay just shakes his head.

Ramsay wants to know if there are more coupons and Mike brings out a load of signs for all occasions such as Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving. They mostly offer discount food. Ramsay asks Mike which sign was the most successful and Mike answers, “None of them, really.” Ramsay tells him to throw away all the signs. He thinks that big gaudy signs are tacky.

After dinner, Ramsay sits down with Billy and Lisa and tells them what is wrong with the place. He says the problem seems to be that no one cares. Mike just sleepwalks through his job, Lisa wants to shut the place down, and Billy cooks like a dead man walking. Ramsay asks why they don’t just shut it down and walk away tonight. They don’t really have good answers. Lisa says that if they close it she might have a normal life. Billy says that closing the place would be like a death in the family and they have to save the place. Lisa slumps in her chair and sighs heavily. Ramsay tells them that they have to find their passion for the place. Billy nods.

The next day starts off with Ramsay dragging in a wood chipper and shredding all of Mike’s tacky signs. That’s a little bit of overkill.

Ramsay gathers Billy and Lisa together and shows them a map. Ten years ago when the place opened up there were four restaurants in the downtown area. Today there are 41 restaurants in the same area. I am kind of thinking that maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration and that Ramsay is probably counting any vendor that sells food as a restaurant. So, that would probably include coffee shops and candy stores and the hot-dog cart.

But, his point is valid. There is a lot of competition for the customer’s food dollar and they have to find their niche. He suggests that they convert to a health-food restaurant to serve the customer who might frequent the local gym and health spa. Of course, with a name like “The Mixing Bowl,” I initially assumed that they already were a salad restaurant.

In order to ignite Billy’s passion for food, Ramsay challenges Billy to a cook off. They each get a selection of fifteen healthy and fresh ingredients, such as fruits and vegetables and they will have 30 minutes to create something delicious.