America's Next Great Restaurant

[Harmony2000]

The Wall Street Journal has an article about grilled cheese. I had no idea it was so popular, there is something called "Grilled Cheese Invitational" that drew 221 contestants and 8,000 spectators. Amongst the contestants are a guy who has a grilled cheese cart and a lady with a grilled cheese restaurant.

So I guess Grill Works was on to something....too bad he was such a jerk.

[Lynne]

Keepitreal, I was going to post about the reviews and you beat me to it. I think one drawback about the NYC location is the price. I'm sure rent of the location is sky-high so they price things accordingly. With the price being high and portions small, it is not going to make people happy, along with the heat lamp issue. I was cheering for Spice Coast to win and agree with the person who wrote that if Sudhir had a sob story and could've convinced the judges he was willing to work hard and really give it his all (vs. getting things started and then perhaps moving on), then he could have won. I go to NYC once or twice a year and would've made a trip to South Street Seaport to eat at Spice Coast. Not interested enough in Soul Food and the menu options to make a special trip there, but if I happened to be in the area, I would want to check it out, though not necessarily eat there.

[AcookerTV]

I read an article about the opening of Sould Daddys, and it said that the three finalists were flown back to LA last week to find out the winner. So while they taped the show many months ago, he did not have that window of months to hire staffs and open the three restaurants. I guess that must have been done by the production staff? There's no way he could have finalized things to open 3 restaurants in one week's time.

[Kip]

It takes awhile even for a seasoned pro to get a new restaurant rolling and work out the kinks and get good staff in place. They very well may be on it and working to improve. Chipotle started with just one restaurant. When that was a success with all it takes to get it there, he went on to open more. 3 at once is a big deal.

I agree - it would be hard for anyone to open 3 restaurants at once. Hopefully, he can train a manager in LA, then spend some time at the other locations getting them trained properly.

[redsox girl]

The Wall Street Journal has an article about grilled cheese. I had no idea it was so popular, there is something called "Grilled Cheese Invitational" that drew 221 contestants and 8,000 spectators. Amongst the contestants are a guy who has a grilled cheese cart and a lady with a grilled cheese restaurant.

So I guess Grill Works was on to something....too bad he was such a jerk.

I ddin't think he was a jerk at all. I thought Bobby Flay was a meddlesome jerk who screwed up the guys game plan by insisting on ridiculous dipping sauces.
I still think it was a brilliant idea and the best idea of the bunch. The complaint that you can make a grill cheese at home doesn't hold water as one can make any of the dishes from the shows contestants at home, although the Indian food guy may be the only one to say that's not necessarily true of his fare.
I don't think the judges were that on top of things in terms of what is marketable. I agree that since grill cheese guy got the ax that soul daddy deserved the win.
Also, this whole healthy food thing is irrelevant- fancy french food is horribly unhealthy as are plenty of Italian dishes. No one wants the food police hanging around them when they choose to eat at a restaraunt.

[swissmiss150]

I logged on to a restaurant review site yesterday and it said that the soul food restaurant just opened in New York City. Not very good reviews. Overall people complained about how expensive it was and tiny portions. Off to a poor start.

Apparently the winner was picked 10 months ago but the first restaurant didn't open until recently, so they had time to plan. Makes you wonder when the second and third outlets will open - or if they ever will, based on the reviews I saw. Sorry to hear that - the guy seems impressive.

[Kip]

I ddin't think he was a jerk at all. I thought Bobby Flay was a meddlesome jerk who screwed up the guys game plan by insisting on ridiculous dipping sauces.
I still think it was a brilliant idea and the best idea of the bunch. The complaint that you can make a grill cheese at home doesn't hold water as one can make any of the dishes from the shows contestants at home, although the Indian food guy may be the only one to say that's not necessarily true of his fare.
I don't think the judges were that on top of things in terms of what is marketable. I agree that since grill cheese guy got the ax that soul daddy deserved the win.
Also, this whole healthy food thing is irrelevant- fancy french food is horribly unhealthy as are plenty of Italian dishes. No one wants the food police hanging around them when they choose to eat at a restaraunt.

I agree that Flay sabotaged the grilled cheese guy (Eric). People were loving his grilled cheese sandwiches. Then Flay insisted that he do a plain grilled cheese with dipping sauces. He got very few votes for that and was sent home.

I thought it was strange how the judges wanted some contestants to expand their concepts, but they wanted the grilled cheese place to be very focused.

Edited to add: The name of Eric's place was Meltworks - the concept could have been melted cheese sandwiches like he was doing. I thought the grilled cheese restaurant would be in the finals - it seems more a fast casual place than the meatball or soul food ideas.

[Shoepie]

I like the grilled cheese concept, very much. It is in my top three sandwiches with BLT and egg salad. Flay had some legitiment suggestions. He wanted him to add a classic grilled cheese to his menu and the guy balked. Just offer it for a choice, how hard could that have been? Flay's point was that the sandwiches had more meat than cheese in them and were more of a pannini than grilled cheese. The dipping sauces were a bad idea.

[Lynne]

I will miss this show on Sunday nights. I wonder if they will have it on again -- I hope they do. It would be nice if the show runs again, to include updates on the other top five contestants, and if they have pursued their dream of a restaurant.

[Shoepie]

I will miss this show on Sunday nights. I wonder if they will have it on again -- I hope they do. It would be nice if the show runs again, to include updates on the other top five contestants, and if they have pursued their dream of a restaurant.

I agree. I would love to see another season. A lot of money is involved in setting up these restaurants and I believe the judges, did indeed, invest in Soul Daddy. The network is probably involved too. I wonder if more chefs will step forward and do this.