This weeks episode of R:I wasn't as much of daunting challenge as previous locations. Chef Irvine was shipped off to the Flood Tide, an "old school" 5 star restaurant in New England that hasn't lived up to it's allure since the 80's and is now in danger of closing (as usual). The owner, grandma Jody, doesn't really stand over the day-to-day operations and has let the quality slip over time. Now it's known for being an overpriced, stuffy, time wasting dining experience. The servers make your salad at the table, the wood burning over gets no use, easy fixes right?. As usual, Irvine has 2 days and $10k to flip the place and he gets right into letting the staff have it. The dirt, grime, service and lack of flavor in the menu is first to get scrapped.
When the designer comes in to play, this is the first of him having a duo, Michelle & Fadi. Usually he's got just one designer that he puts a ton of pressure on but it seems as if have two heads, cooler heads prevail. They kick right into gear while Chef reinvents the menu. The cooks are inline and then he shifts to creating a new image of the restaurant to the locals. It's got such a negative presence in the 21st century, that it's gonna take an actual name change to freshen it up. Bring in "The Wood Grill at Flood-Tide" and now we're cookin! Fresh coats of paint, new menu items, a wait staff without the stick up the ass attitude and it's a new place.
Like I mentioned, this didn't seem as tough as previous challenges, maybe the editing is to blame. The easier the renovation, the less exciting the episode. We wanna see the hulked-out chef get pissed off because the food tastes like crap and the kitchen smells of a fat girls underarm in the middle of a heat wave. We wanna see him yell at the cooks and throw pots and pans around, narrowly missing the cameraman. The pressure of going over budget and not making it on time is what makes the episode more alerting. But this time, the toughness wasn't there and now we wait for the next one.
Replay Value:No Need
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