America's Next Great Restaurant airs tonight on NBC at 8PM....

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Okay I watched the first show and thought it was good, but not so great.

The show started off with 21 "Fast Casual" restaurant ideas and each person or persons behind the idea had to create a dish that showcased their idea of the restaurant.

With only one hour not everyone of the 21 ideas had good air time. They got down to the last ideas and somehow only had nine out the ten finalists picked. They then had two ideas come back for one more chance to see if they could get in. I say they made the proper final choice.

NO burger joints made the final 10.

My favorite Three picks in order.

WOK--A Stir place where you get to choose what goes in the stir fry. A judge on the show wondered if serving a stir fry would take too long in a "Fast Casual" Restaurant.

Meltworks--A place that is supposed to sell grown-up versions of grilled cheese sandwiches. Judge Curtis stone said that he could make great grilled cheese sandwiches at home. IMO anyone of the theme ideas could have been done great at home as well

LIMBO--A place where you pick menu items from two different sides. A healthy side(Halo) and a not healthy side(Horns).
 
They were talking about the stir fry thing like it was something new, sounds like Mongolian BBQ to me.

I only watched part of the show.
 
They were talking about the stir fry thing like it was something new, sounds like Mongolian BBQ to me.

I only watched part of the show.

The lady came out with a chart showcasing how you can customize the stir fry to the way you want.

The idea is a brand new concept imo, the big question like the one judge said is can the food be prepared fast enough to meet the "Fast Casual" idea....
 
The lady came out with a chart showcasing how you can customize the stir fry to the way you want.

The idea is a brand new concept imo, the big question like the one judge said is can the food be prepared fast enough to meet the "Fast Casual" idea....

That is exactly how the Mogolian BBQ places are here. You can choose meat, veggies, sauces, etc. They throw it on a round grill and 2 minutes you have it.

I like it, good idea but it is not new.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jschGvUrgU&feature=related
 
Okay this is my quick recap and thoughts for show number two.

First part of show was to pick a chef. I will say they were all highly trained and this step had to be done pronto.

Next up they designed the logo for the restaurant. Another must step.

My favorite logo was for the Wok idea, followed by Meltworks. Both to me nailed the idea.

Saucy Balls had a great idea of putting grandma in the logo, but still do not like name Saucy Balls.

The Tiffin Box logo was Solid, but was missing a tiffin box in the logo which I say is vital.

Limbo logo was good, but a bit too much text for my liking. Still think Halo & Horns is better name for the restaurant.

Hard and Soft taco was good, but to me just did not say restaurant logo.

Hick's was different, but did not scream restaurant logo to me.

The sports wrap logo was nothing special, but looked okay.

Compleat logo to me looked better suited for a line of grocery store items. Just soooo boring.

W3'S logo was the worst of the bunch. Just totally horrible.

For the final challenge of the show it was time to create one dish with your chef and then they had to feed like 1,000 people. Each person had a coin they could drop into a box for the one they liked the most.

Meltworks guy won immunity.

The Sports wrap girl in the end got the boot and it did not bother me at all.
 
They were talking about the stir fry thing like it was something new, sounds like Mongolian BBQ to me.

I only watched part of the show.

It would bother me if they thought it was an original idea.

Is it on Sunday? That's Amazing Race night for me. Then Chopped/ Celeb Apprentice.
 
It would bother me if they thought it was an original idea.

Is it on Sunday? That's Amazing Race night for me. Then Chopped/ Celeb Apprentice.

Well it is on Sunday night at 8pm on NBC.

Now if you do want to watch the first and second episodes you can view them online at NBC.com, but skip the first episode and go right to to second one imo.

I say even with the online commercials you will save around 10 minutes of viewing time.
 
They were talking about the stir fry thing like it was something new, sounds like Mongolian BBQ to me.

I only watched part of the show.


I love that place. Mongolian BBQ is somewhat pricey though. They could possibly go for the $7-8 meal instead of the pricier $13-16, which is what the Mongolian BBQ by me is. Maybe cut a lot of the different proteins and serve the basic chicken, pork, beef, and a few types of seafood.
 
I guess the show is going to be on NBC tonight at 10pm. The one I saw on Sunday.
 
The third show started off with the finalists working at Chipotle for a day. It was mess for the finalists, but Bobby did like Stephanie though.

Then Bobby Flay said that Saucy Balls and Meltworks had the best logo and that the other finalists should change the idea.

I thought the change from WOK to CHAO was just wrong.

W3's changed to Soul Daddy. Love the name change, still hate the logo a bit.

Hick's changed to Grill 'Billies. Great name change and an okay logo.

Compleat added some graphics, but it still sucked.

Limbo changed to Sinners and Saints. Nice changed that I liked.

Hard N Soft Taco changed to Revolution Toco, but kept most of the graphics. Not really happy on the change.

The Tiffin Box changed to Spice Coast. Not a bad change, but did not change my opinion much.

Bobby also wanted a couple finalists to change chefs.

The business challenge this week was to create a slogan. I had no problems with any of the slogans.

This time they had to prepare food for only 100 people for ad execs.

The Now CHAO girl got the boot which I thought was the wrong move. I would have booted the Grill' Billies concept since they do not even know what it is,
 
For the fourth show it was Menu creation time along with giving a more of a color scheme to the food pods.


I though all did a good job for both pieces, but did not fully like the color scheme for Sinners and Saints.

At the end of the show it was Revolution Taco guy getting the boot. Bobby did say the he felt the guy was more worthy of running an LA bar.

Also they said the Saucy Balls Guy was getting one dimensional.

Next week it is onto the clothing...
 
This week it was time to create the wardrobe the people would wear if they were hired.

I though the clothing was not that bad, BUTTTTT Soul Daddy and Saucy Balls had to go with ties which I think is a no-no. Saul Daddy had the better tie though.

They also had to go through a photo shoot. I really though Saucy Balls blew the first part of the show big time. Even Melt Works blew the photoshoot imo. He need a grilled cheese sandwich in his shot. The Saucy Balls guy needed a 6 foot meatball sub, but could that have been done in time???

Then it was time for some one-on-one time with the contestants.

After that they had to make food again with the dish the judges wanted prepared.

I guess the Saucy Balls guy redeemed himself with the challenge enough to keep him on.

In the end the Melt Works guy got the boot in part to not being great with the judges comments. He should have done the dipping sauces a week earlier.

I would have dumped the Saucy Balls guy due to him failing the first part of the show.
 
This time it was time to create a food truck. Suacy Balls changed its name to Brooklyn Meatball company.

I like the name change and they kept grandma in the photo.

The contestants had 300 bucks to spend on food and had to make two items.

Each contestant had three hours to sell food from their food truck. The Brooklyn Meatball Company truck was just lame.

In the end Soul Daddy took in the most money, BUUTTT none of the trucks made a profit.

Sinners and Saints wound up getting the boot after many attempts to create good food. Sinners and Saints also went through a chef change that was a bust.
 
This week the business task was to create a toy for the restaurant brand. I did not think all the toys were bad.

This time they had to cook a dish for kids with their parents. Bobby Flay had his daughter show up to give comments.

Grill 'Billies had a food accident that ruined around half of their food.

In the end they wound up getting the boot which did not bother me. A major mess up with the chef ruined them big time.
 
This time it was Final four time.

After the contestants made it back to the area where they get their challenges each week they are told to pack their bag as they are headed off to Las Vegas for the next round of challenges.

This time they had to make three dishes for around 900 people.

They also had to hire thier first two employees.

The Harvest Sol girl did not train her employees right which I thought dis not sit well with the judges I guess..

When the test was over it was back to LA where we had a set design change to go with the show for next week.

All four got called back to answer questions from the judges.

Soul Daddy got the most coins in the food test in Las Vegas.

From what I saw this was not as tough of a booting as the judges wanted it to be.

In the end the Harvest Sol concept lost.

NEXT WEEK is the final show, The winner will be crowned!!!
 
This is the final episode baby where all three finalists moved that one final step further to getting a restaurant. All were super teased with one being the winner.

All three logos got a new look yet again. I say the Brooklyn Meatball company logo was finally perfected.

This time they got to work with an architectural company to build a mini version of the restaurant. I guess they wanted to show off some decor of the place while having some seating outside the building.

More people got hired this time, plus family and friends of the finalist showed up.

The Brooklyn Meatball company had poor service. The other two finalist had good service.

I thing the Brooklyn Meatball company lost due to poor service.

Spice Coast lost by getting too far away from Indian food...

I just can't fully say why Soul Daddy won, it could have been the baked chicken....


At the end of the show they showcased some 10 months later text and Bobby Flay was with the winner to show off one restaurant. I did not like the seat at all, but the rest of the place looked good.

I wonder in the end how much the loosers get to keep??? Some got great logos, a couple of other people almost won the big prize.

I wonder if the winner has to pay taxes on his prize??? How much would that be??

Will the other finalists get someone to invest in their dream and open their restaurant??? I wanted Spice Coast to win, but he needs more typical Indian food on the menu.
 
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