Restaurant Impossible - Mama E's Wings and Waffles Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on the season 10 premiere of Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to makeover Mama E's Wings and Waffles.  Mama E's was a thriving restaurant and was even featured of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in the past.  They attempted to open a 2nd location, which failed and put a strain on the owner's finances and marriage.  Robert needs to get the owners Keith and Stephanie communicating again to help save their restaurant.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Mama E's Wings and Waffles to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Restaurant: Impossible):

Picture of Guy Fieri With A Mullet In 2000

This week a photoshopped picture of what Guy Fieri with normal hair would look like went viral despite being created in June 2014.  That picture is below:

Photo - Twitter

Guy Fieri decided make fun of the situation by posting an actual picture of himself with a mullet from the year 2000:

 

Photo - Twitter

Which photo do you find more disturbing?

Food Network Chefs Opening Restaurants In Newark Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey will be upgrading their United Airlines Terminal C in which 28 new restaurants by high profile chefs are planned.  The restaurants will start opening next summer, and the project is scheduled to be complete in 2016.

Among the 28 restaurants planned, some are from Food Network chefs, including:

• Alex Guarnaschelli with a French restaurant
• Elizabeth Falkner with a meatball themed restaurant called Nonna's Meatball Kitchen
• Marc Forgione will be in charge of "Classified" in United's Elite Membership Club
• Amanda Freitag with a salumeria
• Jose Garces with a Latin-themed small plate restaurant

Other chefs who will open restaurants include: Alex Stupak, Einat Admony, Dan Kluger, Paul Liebrandt, Jacques Torres, , Elizabeth Karmel, Ratha Chaupoly, John DeLucie, Amanda Cohen, Wilson Tang, Ben Daitz, Roberto Caporuscio, Josh Capon, and Shoushin Yanaura.

Read more about the project on Eater or NY Times, and images of a recent preview event can be found here.

Pioneer Woman Christmas Special To Air In December On Food Network

Photo - Food Network

The Food Network announced two Christmas specials that will air on the channel on Saturday, December 6th.  Ree Drummond will be moving to primetime for a special one hour episode of Pioneer Woman called "Cowboy Christmas Hoedown."  The special will air at 8pm and the description of the show states:

"Ree Drummond is throwing a holiday party for local ranchers and their families. The menu is a fabulous seasonal spread, starring Sirloin Christmas Kebobs with Bell Peppers, Christmas Ham, Creamy Rosemary Potatoes, Bacon Green Bean Bundles and Cowboy Santa Cookies with salads and desserts, courtesy of the guests. This dinner and dance celebration is complete with gifts under a glorious Christmas tree, a roping CONTEST with western-themed prizes, and a live band to get the party started. It is frontier-festive all the way!"

Following the Pioneer Woman special, there is an Outrageous Foods Christmas special, described as:

"From the world's largest gingerbread village to a 1,000-pound chocolate Santa sculpture to an eight-foot-tall handmade candy canes, along with a life-size Christmas tree cake; these holiday creations are sure to make jaws drop. There is no doubt that bigger is always better, especially for the holidays."

I am sure there will be other Christmas-themed episodes on the channel in December, and I will include those in the December programming highlights.

Guy Fieri's Johnny Garlic's Abruptly Closes

Photo - GuyFieri.com

Guy Fieri's restaurant chain Johnny Garlic's abruptly closed their Sacramento, California location on Monday, which left dozens of employees out of work.  An employee that was hired just three days before the closure spoke to the local news about the lack of notice and other employees also stated they had no warning before the closure.  Some employees will have the opportunity to transfer to a Roseville location, but there will not be enough spots for everyone.

A chief operation officer of Johnny Garlic's spoke to the news stating, "Our real estate site selection has evolved into big box, theaters, things of that nature. This lease coming to an end no longer fits the profile of what we’re looking for."

Guy still has plenty of other restaurants with his name on them, mostly in tourist attractions/casinos such as Times Square, Atlantic City, Mt. Pocono, Baltimore, Las Vegas, and Carnival cruise ships.

The restaurant in this location was open for about 10 years, and was originally a Tex Wasabi's, but re-branded as a Johnny Garlic's in 2013.

Villari's From Restaurant Impossible Has Closed

Photo - Food Network

Villari's restaurant in Palmyra, New Jersey, which was on the pilot episode of Restaurant Impossible has closed.  The restaurant has rebranded as a sports bar called Jerseys Pub and appears to still be under the same ownership.

The Villari's website redirects to a Jerseys Pub website, and the Villari's Facebook page now says Jerseys Pub.  An October post on their Facebook page says the bar is under new management, so it is unclear who is now running the bar.

In a NY Times article from 2012, Villari's said they kept the Restaurant Impossible changes for about 60 days, and then went back to their old menu as the changes were not working out for their clientele.  Villari's didn't have the best reviews on either Yelp or Tripadvisor, so maybe they will have better success as a bar.

As Villari's is no longer operating as a restaurant under the same name, this restaurant will be marked as 'Closed' on the Restaurant Impossible Update page.  This is the 4th restaurant from the first season of Restaurant Impossible that has closed.

Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage Winner

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on the Food Network was the Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage finale with the final four chefs competing for up to $50,000 extra for their charity of choice.  The final four chefs competing were:

• Aarti Sequeira after defeating Susan Feniger, Jeff Mauro,  and Michael Psilakis on episode one.
• Marcel Vigneron after defeating Nadia G, Brian Malarkey, and Justin Warner on episode two.
• Eric Greenspan after defeating Anne Burrell,  Johnny Iuzzini and Damaris Phillips on episode three.
• Fabio Viviani after defeating Melissa d’Arabian, Elizabeth Falkner, and Alex Guarnaschelli on episode four.

In the final episode, their first challenge was to make meatballs and Aarti Sequeira was eliminated after her vegetable meatball looked nothing like a meatball and was overpowered by curry.  The second challenge was to make fish and chips and Marcel Vigneron was eliminated due to his fish being slightly overcooked.

That made a finale of Eric Greenspan vs. Fabio Viviani where they had to make candy.  In the end, Eric Greenspan won and won $45,000 additional dollars for his charity, which was Pancreatic Cancer Research .  Eric made it through the competition only winning one bid to sabotage his opponents.

Restaurant Impossible - Papa C's Eastside Cafe Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on the season nine finale Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Fairport, New York to makeover Papa C's Eastside Cafe.  The owner Sal and his three sons spend way too much time fighting with each other rather than doing their jobs.  The restaurant has grease and grime all over the restaurant, and one argument the family had ended in a fistfight.  Robert needs to repair the family issues along with the restaurant to turn around Papa C's.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Papa C's Eastside Cafe to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Restaurant: Impossible):