In this edition of Restaurant Impossible, Robert helps out an inexperienced restaurant owner (what’s new) that was given the restaurant has a wedding gift 2 years earlier. After seeing this show, I think I would recommend something a little more traditional.
Longbranch Steak and Seafood | No restaurant website available
This place was a mess. The food was bad of course, the service slow, the management non-existent, and the place had cock roaches. There is nothing like a cock roach to end a person’s appetite.
The Recipes
Seared Medallions, Tomato Chutney, Blue Cheese Sauce | Click here for the recipe
A steakhouse needs a signature dish like this. It’s beef tenderloin served with a tomato chutney and a blue cheese sauce. The sweetness of the tomatoes go well with the zing the blue cheese brings.
Seared Scallops, Polenta, Demi-Glace | Click here for the recipe
I have never had scallops. They have just never appealed to me. These scallops are seared and served over a basic herbed polenta.
Follow-Up
Add Longbranch to the list of resturants that were impossible to save. A few months after the show, the place was still serving. The owner, Lisa had stepped in her role in management. But it wasn’t enough to keep the place afloat. Sometime in August it appears the restaurant gave up. Their website has been removed and their phone number is no longer in service. On the page for this episode on Food Network site it confirms the restaurant closed. This restaurant is the 4th one that was impossible for Robert to fix.
One thing I want to note is that normally after a show, Food Network reports that sales at each place are up. But when they wrote about this place after the show, no numbers were mentioned. That seems to be a clear sign that this place didn’t benefit in sales from the show. Could it be the cockroaches they found? I think people can overcome some dust and a bit of baked on grease because of neglect but when it comes to cockroaches, it’s game over. Even after Robert helped clean the place up, I don’t think people couldn’t get over it. But I really don’t know if that was it or not. Did anyone visit this place after the show and find problems you think lead to their demise?
If you want more Robert Irvine recipes, here are some of his available cookbooks:
What other restaurants have been closed? So far, I have found this restaurant and Zandi’s closed. But some restaurants are resurrecting, for example, like Mama Lee’s. The owner opened up another restaurant near by in San Antonio. He works harder and ever and the ingredient of success is ‘excellent food’.