The first REAL episode of the second season of Kitchen Nightmares (episode one was a clip show recapping last season’s restaurateurs) takes us to Mount Sinai, New York – Long Island, to the Handlebar restaurant.  Owned by Bill & Carolyn, the restaurant is stuck in a rut and can’t fill their 18 tables during a dinner service.  Their “chef” Melissa claims to not be a real chef and doesn’t even want to be a chef, yet the owners think she is a brilliantly creative force in the kitchen.

Gordon Ramsay rolls into town in a Hummer, and despite his GPS system he still gets lost on the way to the restaurant.  After getting directions via telephone, he arrives and is ready to sample the food.  The clam chowder was surprisingly well-received by Ramsay, but he refused to eat the seafood crepe due to the fact that upon dissection he realized it contained imitation crab.  After a 20 minute wait for his beef fondue the entree is ruled as looking like dog food and tasting rancid.

Carolyn, the co-owner, is in tears at this point.  Next Gordon observes a dinner service, and naturally he is very displeased with everything.  The food presentation is awful, he is dismayed to learn they serve instant potatoes and upon running out of broccoli the restaurant starts serving radishes as a side.  The customers are complaining and Gordon tries to explain to Bill that people aren’t pleased.  Gordon is surprisingly contained in how he presents these facts to Bill, yet Bill takes offense and storms out.

The next day is time for a cleanliness check.  The owner tries to claim that things were deep-cleaned in the kitchen just the previous week, but the fact that Gordon was finding rotten clams and massive piles of sludge would prove otherwise.  The kitchen staff starts to work on cleaning while Gordon takes the owner aside to state that he needs to take responsibility and make sure things are properly taken care of. Bill claims that he’ll drop dead if he has to do it all and he leaves, rehearsing a speech to really give it to Gordon while standing on the side of the road.  Instead he talks to his staff and they reiterate Gordon’s sentiments that Bill is being a baby.  Bill throws a tantrum and threatens to sell the restaurant.

Carolyn is now faced with picking up the pieces.  As Gordon offers to help, she is slurring her words and saying that she wants his help so she’s not “flushing the last 17 years of her life down the bowl.”  Gordon takes over the evening dinner service, adding some new menu items (fried clams and potato chips!) to rave reviews.  But Non-Chef-Melissa can’t keep up and diners end up waiting nearly 4 hours for their entrees.  (Um… why would you sit in a tacky restaurant THAT long?)  Apparently when customers in a restaurant are hungry and frustrated, they start yelling at each other as opposed to the restaurant staff; at least that’s what happens in Long Island.

Melissa’s breakdown has somehow brought Bill and Gordon to an understanding and Bill decides to listen to the advice being offered.  They decide to overhaul the menu and relaunch the restaurant the next day.  Gordon’s team works wonders and remodels the restaurant overnight, eliminating the 80′s style decor and rebranding the restaurant as a “gastropub”.  (A place that sells upscale pub-style food.)

Next Gordon, Bill and Carolyn are participating in the first Handlebar-sponsored motorcycle rally to promote the restaurant, complete with a surprise celebrity guest – Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider.  Definitely an odd group, they hit the streets on their hogs to pass out flyers.  That night at the grand re-opening, Dee Snider makes an appearance by riding his motorcycle right into the restaurant.  (Apparently the parking lot was full?)  The motorcycle was going to be auctioned off with the proceeds being donated to the March of Dimes.

Non-Chef-Melissa struggles with the new menu and doesn’t exhibit any control over her kitchen, repeatedly failing to cook a salmon entree completely and having to redo it 3 times.  Bill decides to finally exert his managerial status (at Gordon’s prodding) and comes down on Non-Chef-Melissa, requiring that she communicate with the other cooks so the kitchen works smoothly.  Once she realizes she can’t do everything herself and help is a good thing, the orders are filled correctly.

The show ends with everyone (customers and staff) at the grand re-opening happy, positive reviews spread through the town over the next couple days and everybody on the restaurant staff has a new pride and passion in the success of the restaurant.  Gordon congratulates them, pulls on his coat and leaves for his next challenge.

Jill blogs at GlossyVeneer where she rambles about her daily life and reviews random things/places she encounters.  She also writes at JillWillRun, as she trains for a marathon while raising money for cancer research.