In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Chef Gordon Ramsay visit's Cafe 36 in La Grange, Illinois.

Cafe 36 is owned by couple Terry and Carol Gilmer, who have no experience in the restaurant business.

They have ploughed their life savings into their dream of opening a restaurant but they are losing money every day as they are lacking customers.

Gordon arrives and sits down to sample the menu, he orders the Duck Salad, Mushroom Risotto and Salmon Crepes.

Gordon's food takes a long time to arrive and is rolled out to his table on a trolley. Whilst he waits Gordon notices the dusty decor and the mismatched plates.

The Risotto was too mushy and salty, the Duck Salad turns out to be a bizarre combination of orange, strawberries and candied walnuts and the crepes were store bought, mushy and hideous, deemed by Gordon as Crap of the Day.

Gordon meets chef Pinto and upon asking to see the risotto rice discovers it is a week old based on the date written on it!

Gordon sits down with the couple to discuss the restaurant and finds out that they are losing money and close to losing their home.

Gordon investigates the walk-in and freezer and finds food half frozen floating in water.

Pinto explains that it's "fresh frozen", everything is frozen and they are taking it out a portion at a time to defrost and cook.

Gordon arrives to witness a dinner service, in which customers wait a long time for their food to be served.

Chef Pinto and Sous Chef Barney don't work well together at all, there is very little communication in the kitchen.

The customers aren't impressed with the food they receive and send the food back and Gordon finds asparagus being prepared in the kitchen.

Pinto boasts they are out of season and Gordon shouts at him as they are more expensive and he can get cheaper in season produce.

Gordon teaches the staff to make a fresh mushroom risotto and special salads, which are a big hit.

That evening, the service is still extremely slow and customers are left waiting hours for food as the chefs are still unable to work together.

When the customers received the food it is cold or not as expected, one customer receives a smaller appetiser portion of risotto in error.

Overnight, Gordon's team revamps the restaurant replacing all of the mismatched china and replacing the menu with modern versions of their classic dishes.

On relaunch night, Pinto is still causing problems in the kitchen. He is slow, quiet and gets behind on the orders.

This leads to some tables waiting over 3 and a half hours for food to get to them! The customers are impressed and love the food when they finally receive it.

Barney is doing all of the work and running about in the kitchen and Gordon takes Terry aside for a chat and a pep talk.

Afterwards Terry starts running the line and expediting and as a result the kitchen gets back on track.

After the service, Gordon sits down with Terry and Carol for a heart to heart and they give him an expensive bottle of wine that he decides to keep there to be opened when he revisits.

What Happened Next at Cafe 36?

At the end of the show, we are told that Pinto was fired and Barney was offered the Head Chef job but he left to finish his culinary degree.

He was replaced by Jorge Flores and Pinto was said to be working as a chef for a family in the area.

Yelp reviews after filming were mixed, with some complaints about the food.

Cafe 36 closed on 18 April 2009, blaming the economy and Gordon's changes to the restaurant.

On a forum, "Barney" reported that Terry was previously an Executive Chef at a country club for more than 20 years but was made to look like he had little to no industry knowledge during the episode.

He also revealed the personal reasons behind his fractured relationship with Pinto, comments Pinto had made about his wife and calling him as a "diner cook".

Cafe 36 aired on January 15 2009, the episode was filmed in February 2008 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 2 episode 11.



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This post was last updated in September 2019.

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