[Guy Fieri] When we shot Restaurant Hustle 2020 All on the Line,
I thought, wow, we got a chance to capture
unprecedented times and...
[exhales] ...it's over.
First table. It's all downhill from here.
[chuckles]
[Guy] We started to see signs that this wasn't the end.
Matter of fact, we didn't even have an idea of when the end would come.
Everything's cancelled. 2020 is cancelled.
Life is cancelled.
How do you call your four friends up and say,
"Hey, you did a great job.
Thanks for inviting us in.
Thanks for being vulnerable.
And, do you want to do it again?"
Chef Marcus Samuelsson's worldwide restaurant empire
took a 90% hit last year.
Uh, it's devastating.
So, the New York based restaurateur
needs a complete rebound in 2021.
New year, new restaurant. I am ready to go, 2021.
Let's get it.
In Los Angeles, Chef Antonia Lofaso
is dealing with new restrictions and a shrinking work force
by adjusting and innovating through outdoor dining,
delivery and new media opportunities.
All of a sudden, the next day, Guy was just like,
"The floor is yours, I'm leaving." And I was like what?
Chef Christian Petroni pivoted...
Thank you so much, okay. You guys all stay safe.
he decided to walk away in September to pursue other dreams.
We're staying positive, it's going to be great.
Chef Maneet Chauhan and her husband, Vivek,
rebounded in Nashville...
And this is the reopening.
[Vivek] I think we should call it Chauhan 2.0. What do you think, Maneet?
[Maneet] Absolutely.
and expanded their reach into the brewery business.
To our success.
Hopefully. Fingers crossed.
For 2021, it's a whole nother chapter.
New year, new goals.
So, we asked the same four chefs, my friends,
to keep the cameras rolling...
All right, let's see where we can put this bad boy.
as they continue to reinvent...
[exclaiming]
reimagine...
[Marcus] Welcome to Overtown.
and rebuild their businesses back in new...
Madame.
and exciting ways.
Holy cow!
So excited.
- Good things are coming for us, Babe. - Yeah.
Tough times...
The machine is broken again.
make tough people,
and these four are the toughest.
[Marcus] We, when we work together, we can do anything together.
[anchor] Finally, right? The world said goodbye,
and in most cases, good riddance to 2020.
In Venice, California,
the warrior princess herself, Antonia Lofaso's own hustle
has shape-shifted
into a nationwide food shipping business.
I am Chef Antonia Lofaso.
I am an executive chef and restaurant owner
here in Los Angeles, California.
I have three restaurants, Scopa Italian Roots,
DAMA and Black Market.
Right before November,
we started nationwide delivery,
and that saved us.
You know, when I did
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Celebrity Edition
with Guy Fieri last year,
we sent in the empanadas from DAMA,
the rice balls from Scopa,
and Guy said to me...
If somebody calls you up, you can freeze these and ship them?
And I was like... [gasps]
"What do you mean?"
And then, I was like, "Oh, we are doing takeout.
We could do takeout nationwide."
And so, we started developing these boxes.
Today, we are packing out four and four ribeyes from DAMA
in a kit to ship out nationwide.
[Antonia] We have figured out how to sort of break down,
create beautiful recipe cards.
We have gotten a ton of events that have come in.
Good morning, everybody. Excited to be here.
And think of new creative ways to create revenue.
Old Lightning, which was our 25-seat bar/speakeasy,
is now Scopa shipco, which has stickers
and vacuum seal packs and the FedEx thing
where you can print out our own FedEx labels.
It is no longer a... speakeasy bar.
It is now shipeasy.
It's a shipeasy now. I like that.
- It's a shipeasy. - [man] I like that one, too.
[Antonia laughing]
Marcus Samuelsson's plan to bring a signature restaurant
to Miami's Overtown neighborhood has been brewing for years.
With his landmark Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem
partially open, but quiet,
he's committing his full energies
to getting his new Miami spot across the finish line.
My name is Chef Marcus Samuelsson
and I'm the chef and co-owner of Red Rooster here in Harlem.
We had 30 restaurants in our portfolio in eight countries.
I have lost a lot of restaurants but, you know,
I am healthy and I am here.
Welcome to Overtown.
One of the things that I love about this Red Rooster is that
we actually have roosters,
real roosters outside our restaurant.
And they're not even afraid of the cars.
Keep walking, man.
Overtown is beautiful. It's busy.
It's a very special place.
Food is such a thing that brings people together.
Being closed in New York, I have to pivot my business.
So, the main focus is going to be Red Rooster, Overtown.
Tristen can do the day-to-day,
but I have to set the culture right,
and the only way to do that is to be here.
Marvin is in the bar.
Uh, drinking or working?
Uh, little bit of both.
- Just a little bit, over here. - Yeah.
So, the normal way,
we would open a restaurant with a grand opening,
and it would be a big, big, big deal.
But because of COVID, we just opened.
It's my first time here to this one.
I've been to the New York one many times. I live in Harlem.
And this one is beautiful and amazing.
Great establishment. Great establishment.
Zion, are you going to say hi or what?
Hi.
So, I've been down here with the whole family in Miami for the last two weeks.
You know, this restaurant has opened, closed, opened, closed
three times during 2020 because of COVID.
New year, new restaurant.
I am ready to go, 2021. Let's get it.
It's been positive to come to Miami and Florida to work at least.
But, I know I have to go back to New York and start dealing with it.
Marcus' fellow New Yorker, Christian Petroni,
is on a different journey in 2021.
My name is Christian Petroni
and I got five Italian restaurants called Fortina,
located around the Tri-State area.
It is 2021. The last time you saw me
was in-- a trillion years ago in September.
I had walked away from the restaurant company,
the restaurant group.
They came out of my heart and my head,
and it was based on the experiences of my life.
Egos got in the way,
and not mine.
The biggest priority, business-wise, are
The Gabagool Shop
and garlic bread.
That's really the only things I should be focusing on.
We're getting ready for the people to show up.
We're doing garlic bread.
Hey, there's a new garlic bread sheriff in town.
I just want to be the garlic bread guy.
[customers chuckling]
-[customer] That's awesome. Nice meeting you. -Thank you.
Who does garlic bread?
Who does it well?
Who does garlic bread so well that, not only is the product delicious,
but it's looking like I got to take a picture of it for Instagram?
What do you think, man?
I mean, I always loved your garlic bread,
- but now, it's like-- - Next level, bro.
- You got to catch up though. - I'm telling you, bro.
- You got to catch up to this dog. - I got to catch up!
If you take something as humble as a garlic bread,
and you throw the best ingredients in America at it,
turns out that you get something pretty goshdarn delicious.
One order is one whole loaf of bread.
It's like a 16-inch bastone.
Bastone is the word meaning cane in Italian,
because this bread is so long.
[man] What a day, man. What a day!
Whoo! Bastones.
- Oh, right here, right here, right here. - Beautiful.
So, we get that bread, we split it long-ways
and in it gets smeared
an incredibly copious amount of butter
that is just interlaced
with sweet garlic confit
that has been cooked slow and well with Frankies olive oil
so that, it just, you really get the sweetness of the garlic.
Open it on the foil.
We add a copious amount of low-moisture mozzarella cheese,
some pecorino romano,
Sicilian oregano,
it goes in the oven,
it comes out so crispy
and crunchy and buttery and tender
that your teeth just sort of shatters right through it.
We were gonna throw it in before--
Throw it in. Let it simmer for another hour.
And then, on top of that,
you get to dip it
in the nectar of the gods,
also known as marinara sauce.
And, uh, serving it with hot spicy marinara sauce,
we've been making our own spicy Calabrian chili garlic.
So, like, you know, kind of like a Japanese influence.
I mean, I'll take one, I'll take two right now if I could.
Hey, big dog.
Frank Falcinelli, the legendary.
You want to think-- I know you're busy.
You wanna think about how we can make some money with that pizza oven?
[Frank] Yeah.
[Christian] I've started, um, having some meetings
and phone calls
and it turns out that I was right.
I needed to get out of the house.
I wanted to cook.
I wanted to start playing around with garlic bread.
Boom.
So, a few weeks ago, I embarked on
the garlic bread world tour.
[Matt] All right. Wow, look at all that garlic, dude.
Whoo!
[Christian] I got to work up at Good Old Days Pizza
with my boy, Matt Stanczak.
It cooks beautifully.
I can turn it up to nine-hundy if you wanna cook Neapolitan.
I did a pop-up with my brother, Dan Kardos,
at his restaurant Oar and Oak up in Stratford, Connecticut.
And it's really cool.
My friends at Waring, they helped me out
giving me these two double-deck pizza ovens.
And I've been rollin' up to my friends' places,
setting up all my tables, setting up my generators
and cooking garlic bread out of the back of the truck.
So, it's a really-- it's a really great and weird feeling
being back in a restaurant after all this time.
It feels good.
[customer] Heavy!
- I put a little extra two-tier garlics on this one. - [chuckles]
It feels good to meet really nice folks
that were just so genuinely happy
to come out and eat bread with cheese.
My bastone is on the fritz. [laughing]
- Oh, my God, the pop-ups, like... - I've been having fun.
You're-- and what makes you happy. Cooking, right?
[laughing]
He loves to create,
and when he's out there like cooking that food,
he comes back, like, a completely different person.
Like, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I saw this was there.
"Oh, my God, I saw the cutest kids."
Good to see that baby. That garlic bread baby.
Like, the stress from, you know, trying to put this,
you know, new business together,
kind of like gets to just disappear for a little bit.
So, when you do those pop-ups, and then you come back,
you're like, "I can't wait to do the next one."
And, now, I have a better idea of how--
What I'm wanna do with the next one.
I definitely think you can cook some more
for your-- for your own sanity.
[chill hip-hop playing]
[Christian] I want the Petroni garlic bread to be a national product.
I want it to just be like a household staple item
the way frozen pizza is, the way these meal kits are.
I'd like to have garlic bread in every freezer in America.
So, I see this, right now, as a way of doin' it.
So, it's been really cool
and a fun way to-- to keep the creativity flowing.
[Guy] One full year into this new food world...
Are you ready for the finale?
our four chefs keep opening doors...
Holy cow.
to possibility...
I started selling hoodies as means of pure survival.
and challenges.
I was not prepared for it.
Maneet Chauhan and her husband, Vivek,
the total package.
Balancing a creative business plan with a one-of-a-kind mash up
of Indian cooking and Nashville's southern charm.
I am Maneet Chauhan
and I am the president and founder of Morph Hospitality
and along with my husband, Vivek Deora.
Vivek is the CEO and founder.
We own four restaurants in downtown Nashville.
Vivek and I also own a beer park called Hop Springs,
which is on 83 acres.
- [Maneet] Well, tomorrow is the finale. - Can't wait!
Can't wait.
This year, I did Tournament of Champions again.
It's time to kick some west-coast [bleep].
- [crowd cheering] - The one and only, Chef Maneet Chauhan!
[Maneet] Last year, the same tournament,
I got knocked out in the quarter finals.
Maneet, you are a champion. You got all the way to the semifinals.
It hit me a lot more than just a normal win or a loss would have.
- [crying] I wanted to see you win. - It's okay.
That's what life is all about.
It was just not that win or loss,
it was the onset of COVID.
The entire world around us was completely shattering.
I grabbed a bottle of wine, went to the closet
and I was just like crying my eyes out.
I want us to win, too.
Um, especially when it comes to the restaurants.
Given the times that we are in,
it just really, really hit me and really, really upset me.
I hope we get out of this stronger.
I keep convincing myself that we will...
but it's frightening.
[Guy] Who will be crowned the winner of Tournament of Champions?
[Maneet] Long story short, I got in, this year,
to the last round of the finals.
Are you ready for the finale?
[crowd cheering]
Let's light it up!
Let's get this.
[dramatic music playing]
Let's see what the judges say. This was a tough one.
And the winner is...
Maneet Chauhan!
[all cheering]
Vivek and I knew what the results were,
but we hadn't shared it with the kids.
The World Champ!
Give it up for Chef Maneet Chauhan!
It was just a profound moment. Just like...
Like, "Oh, my God. It's-- it's actually happened. It's finally happened.
This is incredible, right.
It's been a year of devastating losses.
But the fact that we never stopped
for a minute or gave into that loss is something
that we can only show the kids through example.
Yay!
The next day, I was wearing my Tournament of Champions T-shirt...
[Chagun] Mommy, are you ever gonna take that off?
What? My Tournament of Champions swag?
I think the only thing that winning does is,
I think it does wonders for your ego,
because in the end of the day,
reality is reality. I still had to go out to work.
- [man] Oh, my God. - [Maneet] Hello. Hi!
How are you doin'?
We, literally, walked into a situation the following Saturday,
uh, reservations going through the roof.
Chaatable is going to be doing around 200 covers.
Mockingbird is doing 400 plus.
Tansuo will be crossing 200
and Chauhan, as usual, will be crossing 300.
If I look at the dining room right now,
I see one empty table.
-Is that correct? There's one empty table. -There is.
Pretty busy. [chuckles]
Of course, we are severely short-staffed.
We're in this industry to provide good food
and good service and a good experience.
So, you've got to just roll up your sleeves and do what you have to do.
- Okay, guys. - [worker] Boss is back.
Boss is back and Boss is just fed.
Okay, let's do this.
I've been talking to my friends across the country
and everybody is having the same problem. Staffing.
So, you know what, I have hands
and I show up on weekends and I help Chaatable.
Which one are you giving me first, B9 or B4?
- B9. Yeah, yeah. - B9? Okay.
It's a lean team.
We just have to make it work.
Can you go ahead and file B4 and B9?
Just before the craziness of the evening was about to start...
I went to the restroom and I saw that the handle of the flush was broken.
The first thing we did was jumped into the car
because there was nobody else that I could send.
Head over to the closest hardware store.
[GPS] In one mile, turn left.
I will if the people in front would move their [bleep].
The person at the hardware store gave me a couple of options.
Bought all the options just in case one didn't work.
Of course, this is natural,
you see a random pink elephant right over here.
I definitely am not a handy person,
but, at the time of a pinch, you're figuring out how to do it.
Yes!
Riding on the high of winning TOC was absolutely incredible,
but, you know what, reality is reality, it sets in.
It's been a day, man.
It's a good tired. Like, I'll sleep well today.
Okay, back to the kitchen.
In Bedford, New York, Christian and his amazing rock of a wife, Sheri,
have doubled down on their decision to do things differently.
What we're doin' here is puttin' out one of our weekly shipments.
Um, we got the Gabagool here.
I'm only about three quarters of a pickup truck.
[chuckles] It's lame.
There is this great new way to be able to create revenue,
create a business
without having to open a restaurant.
T-shirts, hoodies...
I started preselling hoodies on my Instagram as means of pure survival.
I have my card payments comin' up,
and I-- we had no more money. [chuckles]
So, that's when 2020 Hustle kicked in.
Diddy said it best.
"If 2020 didn't bring the hustle out of you, then, nothing will."
We live, we learn and we Gabagool.
I invested the last money I had to get the initial push of hoodies
and I posted them and two, three days later,
we were almost sold out hoodies
and it absolutely saved my [bleep].
I was very, very, very blessed
that my husband was working hard keepin' us afloat.
See Capocollo. That's what Gabagool is. You get it?
I know exactly what it is. I just don't happen to really like it, so.
Gabagool is like a funny way of saying Capocollo,
which is an Italian cured meat. It's a joke, you know.
- Can I just eat my Gabagool in peace please? - [all laughing]
[Christian] I got to 40K in sales, like,
really quick, and I screwed everything up.
From day two or three was a real business,
and I was not prepared for it.
I had to bring on two employees,
because I already running this business into the ground.
[laughs]
Emily and Adam, they've taken over the fulfillment in customer service
which has been an absolute blessing.
Restaurant merch is more popular than it's ever, ever been.
I want like Gabagool Media to be like a fun place to go to,
where you can probably buy some cool stuff,
see some cool collaborations, right?
I want it to be a lifestyle brand.
You know, we've given away watches and rare sneakers.
That's a lot of fun for me.
But it's a little stressful, and thank God for Sheri.
We are business partners now, like, that's it.
I'm going to be helping him with design, help him stay focused.
Whatever it is, you know, we are going to be a team.
Supporting your family at the same time, that's the end goal.
- Good things are coming for us, babe. - [laughs]
[Antonia] Los Angeles county finally lifted its mask mandate.
Everything is allowed to open.
So, that was a huge deal.
We had to prove ourselves.
This is the newest wave.
[Maneet] Derrick has started making different samples
of hard seltzer.
The machine is broken again.
Down in Tennessee, Maneet and Vivek's brewery
has been pumping out
high volume throughout the pandemic,
and now, they're about to turn that volume up to 11.
[Maneet] At Hop Springs, we have been contacted by
some big hard seltzer companies for us
to contract-brew hard seltzers for them.
That is a huge market.
But it's all fallen into place.
Derrick has started making different samples of hard seltzer.
To our success.
Hopefully. Fingers crossed.
My God, this actually is really good.
This is the newest wave.
Hard seltzer at the present moment is one of
the hottest commodities in the beverage arena.
Madame!
Holy cow.
[Vivek] This has been an important pivot in our business.
This contact that we secured is gonna add some serious numbers.
But to fulfill that contract, we need a canning line
that can do close to about 130 to 170 cans per minute.
We had to prove ourselves.
The machine is broken again.
It's right over here.
That there is a part which is not behaving.
We've got crews over here, waiting to help out.
Ooh, everybody's waiting. Waiting, waiting-- Hi, guys.
We're running against time
because if we cannot make the delivery on time,
we're not going to get that contact again.
We've got thousands of cases to deliver in two days.
This is the biggest contract that we've ever gotten.
Each and every partner showed up.
The brewers, literally, they were sleeping over there,
taking two 2-hours break.
It was literally a 24-hour production
because we had to make so many cases.
We were...
you know, clenching our teeth whether we're gonna make the quota or not.
[Vivek] Blood, sweat and tears, and then some.
But you know what, we hit our mark.
Throughout the summer of 2021,
restrictions on restaurants slowly start to lift
for Antonia and her staff in Los Angeles.
For the moment, it's providing a much needed window to getting back to normal.
[Antonia] California is largely reopening today.
It means most restrictions like capacity limits, social distancing,
mask requirements will end for those fully vaccinated.
Los Angeles County finally lifted its mask mandate
June 15th and said everything is allowed to open.
Meaning anyone who's been vaccinated doesn't have to wear a mask.
So, that was a huge deal. That being said,
this is the most normal we've been back to
in the last 18 months.
Let me say that again.
This is the most normal we've been back to
in the last 18 months.
It feels so good.
I've been so skeptical this entire pandemic,
because we've seen opening and closing,
and you can do this or that you can't do this,
and this has been the first time that it's going in the right direction.
Every time I walk into this restaurant
and I see a new thing that's back to normal,
I wanna cry.
Because, you know, so much has been
stripped away this last year and a half.
It's really somewhat emotional.
Every guest that comes in here.
Everyone is so happy to be out.
What used to sort of look like a desert of tables,
because we weren't allowed to have plates and roll-ups and glasses,
now we actually have all of that out here.
So it's starting to look very much like regular dining.
Honestly, the best news that we've gotten so far is that,
most likely, all outdoor dining is gonna absolutely stay till 2022,
possibly 2023.
Technically, Scopa, DAMA and Black Market
are fully open.
We're just trying to find enough staff to open the bar
and then sort of going back to our large-party protocols.
We're gonna get the bar back. We're gonna get the large parties back,
um, and then we're gonna get ready for the holidays.
[Guy] Coming up...
As the world starts to open up...
Oh, my God. This is insane, man.
[Vivek] Everywhere I look, there are people.
[Maneet] This is like back to normal.
Who would have thought that normal could be
such an exciting thing?
[Guy] In Murfreesboro, Tennessee,
Maneet and Vivek are preparing for their first big event in 15 months.
Hello! How are you doing?
So nice to see you!
Oh, my God. This is insane, man.
So, June 5th, we set up at Hop Springs
a Justin Moore concert.
The first big concert.
So, what are we expecting, 3,000 people tonight?
I hope so.
[Maneet] 3,000. Like, just that number, it gave us goosebumps.
Given the fact that last year around this time...
there weren't more than 30 people allowed.
[Vivek] We used to have this area loaded with people.
Today, it's empty.
So, just leaving the Hop Springs brewery,
what do you think Vivek? Do you think we'll make it?
Do we have any other option?
[guitar music playing]
Hello!
[Vivek] Everywhere I look, there are people.
This is like back to normal. Like, who would have thought that normal
could be such an exciting thing?
[Vivek] This concert is a kick-off,
not only for kicking COVID's butt,
- but it's also to relax our souls a little bit. - Yes.
So, now that you've seen life over here, it's like, yes!
So excited.
[crowd cheering]
Well, I have the pleasure of introducing you
to Food Network Tournament Champions winner,
she's a partner here at Hop Springs,
she's now one of Nashville's own, Maneet Chauhan.
[crowd clapping and cheering]
This was a cool rock star moment.
Thank you so much.
Tried to put it down, team.
Many smiles for joining us.
So, so excited to be here.
[singer] Live music is back!
Justin Moore started his concert.
[Maneet] And then I walked back to the tap room
and I see Jerry, who is running around,
and I just kicked into my chef mode,
where I am like ringing up everything,
making sure that the line is moving.
Would you like a receipt? Thank you. Enjoy.
In all honesty, this was an event
where Vivek and I had actually
really planned to just stay back and enjoy.
Like, take in the moment.
I was on the stage. How did I end up over here? I have no idea.
Only Maneet can jump from big stage to Jack and Coke.
Look at the line. There's like a 20-minute wait to get a beverage.
When it rains, it pours right?
It's pouring right now. You know what's pouring? A lot of beer, baby.
It was crazy.
Look at this, I mean...
[Maneet] The next thing I realize is when I look up, it's dark outside.
When it started kind of winding down, that's the time that we
stepped away.
I think, at this moment,
we can say that we are getting back.
What this entire experience has taught us is never get comfortable.
Always be on your toes, because you never know what life holds for you
around the next corner.
We also are strong believers that after the darkest night,
what follows is the brightest day.
Right now, we are at the breaking of dawn.
[Guy] Coming up...
Our innovative and greatest chefs spread their wings.
[Antonia] I'm slightly sweating and hyperventilating.
I just kind of felt the magnitude of that moment.
[Guy] Out in LA, Chef Antonia has no clue
just how nutty I'm about to make her life.
[Antonia] 2020 and because of the documentary,
there are more opportunities that have been opening up
as far as television is concerned.
And that feels nice.
I went to set for Grocery Games,
and one of the producers said,
"Guy wants you to host half of the show with Hunter."
And I was like, what?
I thought I was judging that day.
Guy, like, gave up his power and went and sat at the judges' table,
and, suddenly, I'm telling Guy what to do.
And cut to...
We go to Orlando.
- Nice to meet you all. - And he's doing Guy's chance of a lifetime.
It's Christian and myself with his partner, Robert Earl,
who is the owner of the Planet Hollywood
and has me sitting on the panel
as we're choosing six contestants, who will essentially
win a Chicken Guy! franchise.
This is going to be the most challenging job interview you've ever had.
This is the largest cash prize that has ever been given away
on a culinary competition ever.
Chicken Guy! is at the point of a nationwide launch.
Yeah, this is what I was born to do.
This is what I am made for.
I came out the womb, ready to operate this business.
This is what I do.
Guy, I am your Chicken Guy, and that's all I gotta say.
I'm in an interesting position to be on that panel
to sort of guide a lot of these contestants,
for them to really understand what it means
to be like a true, authentic person
in order to win this thing.
- This is me talking very real to you, okay? - Okay.
You have a calling to the restaurant industry I'm assuming.
- Mmm-hmm. - We need to know what that feels like.
I'm ready to do everything they have put in front of us.
All of a sudden, the next day, Guy was just like,
"The floor's yours. I'm leaving."
And I was like, "What?"
He likes to just like do these things
where he doesn't really tell me what he's doing
and then, just does it.
Suddenly, I was in charge of the board room.
And I'm slightly sweating and hyper-ventilating.
I just kinda felt the magnitude of that moment.
The three of us are normally in competition together.
All the sudden, we all start sweating, they put a microphone on us,
so it's like a whole thing.
It was a pretty big moment that made me like wanna go throw up.
[chuckles]
So, I go into things with no expectation.
It's more just like my fear of being vulnerable, to be honest.
[man] Everybody ready?
So, when he comes in, I'm starting the clock.
Correct?
I literally heard my father's
strong Italian, Long Island accent, and he's like,
"Well, you either gotta [bleep] or get off the pot."
[laughs] I was like, "What is wrong with me?"
We're not competing!
We can calm down. Don't worry. [laughs]
I was a little awkward.
It took me a second to get my footing.
I was not as confident and as sure.
So, we've got a big day ahead of us.
Let's get into it.
I ran the board room. I ran the contestants.
Presentations.
I wanna bring the next franchise to Atlanta.
- [applauding] - How we doing?
[all screaming]
Chicken Guy!, fellas. Here to stay!
[Antonia] It's been a whirlwind.
It's been super exciting.
As you are on stage and as you've been going through this,
- this has also been Antonia's debut. - Oh, my God.
As a co-host and I think, she's done a great job.
- Don't you think? - Yes.
I'm impressed.
[Antonia] I love doing television.
Who knows how far that's gonna go?
So, it's a big deal.
It's a really big deal. I'm excited about it.
[all cheering]
Back on the East Coast.
Christian's taking a different kind of break
to take care of an issue he's been putting off,
in my opinion...
for way too many years.
[man] What are we doing today?
[Christian] Getting heart surgery.
The old ticker.
So, I've been living with atrial fibrillation now
for the past like two, three years.
Foolishly.
I should have got it taken care of a long time ago.
And now, it's gotten to a point where I'm just super uncomfortable.
My demeanor, it's not the normal Christian Petroni.
A-fib leaves you like totally depleted of energy.
So, like, she's so excited because--
- I have been begging him for the longest time. - Yeah.
[Sheri] I've seen how hard it is on him,
and how much it's changed him.
It's too scary not...
to be handled.
This is my go-bag.
Sheri put this thing for me obviously.
Some sort of instructions in there.
The major source of anxiety for me lately
has been I'm so grateful to be on Food Network.
And then, at the same time, it's like...
I'm hoping that when I'm on location
somewhere else in the country.
That my A-fib doesn't get the best of me.
Yes, that's what would drive me nuts.
You really enjoy being on set,
and filming with basically all your friends.
It's like a non-stress environment.
[Christian] Yeah, I am pretty happy--
-A lot of times, it's such a-- A lot of stress brings on... - when I'm doing it.
Yeah.
We're gonna bring this to the hospital, you never know.
We might need them.
So that's everything.
This is my life.
Whatever is left of me is in this bag, baby.
Remember me.
Don't forget me.
Will you remarry?
[chuckles]
I don't believe you.
It also doesn't hurt that Guy said to me
that if I don't take care of this,
he won't put me on any more of his shows.
[vocalizing]
- Are you driving or am I driving? - I'll drive.
All right. Be right back out.
Oh, I'm just nervous.
- I'm a mess. - [producer] Yeah.
But we're not gonna tell Christian that.
We're gonna pretend that I am...
cool as a cucumber.
[Christian] So, I'm going in now.
Incredible.
Stamford Hospital.
This is definitely gonna be the catalyst
for me getting healthy.
All right.
Not fun.
Road to recovery.
New life.
Healthy.
Healthy, healthy, healthy.
[Guy] Coming up...
A year ago, I wasn't sure if this would even happen.
But we pushed through.
We collectively did that.
The fries are coming from this station?
Anything works, it's just different.
We can do anything together.
We truly can. This is the proof of that.
For Marcus and his team,
another long 4-year dream comes to fruition.
With a plane ride down to the Bahamas.
Right now, we're at Marcus at Baha Mar.
And tomorrow, we have our grand opening.
I came here to open Baha Mar in Bahamas...
four or five years ago
always with a vision and the mission
to open this beautiful restaurant.
Three years ago, there was a hurricane.
Hurricane Irma has strengthened now to a Category 5,
making it the strongest storm to hit the Atlantic in a decade.
Then right after that, COVID.
I was scared.
I was emotional, like a wreck.
And a year ago, I wasn't sure if this would even happen.
We're not in New York right now.
We're in a different country.
How do we get products is different than how you get it in New York.
Anything works, it's just different.
All of it took papers, it took permits.
And to do that during COVID in a different country was just--
It takes a lot.
But we pushed through.
We collectively did that.
So, yeah, it is emotional.
Our restaurant...
is pre-standing on the water.
It's really fine-dining food.
It's the bar itself.
This is the place where people can gather casual or just stare at the ocean.
I grew up on the water in Sweden.
It never looked like that.
It's a dining room.
Open kitchen.
It was really important to showcase the local talent,
who cooks your dinner.
And that's when the restaurant goes from just being four walls
to something super dynamic and special.
Upstairs, which is the bar, which we want people to come
and have a cocktail and watching the sun go down.
The patio.
The party will be right here.
We'll be cooking over there and cooking over here.
Lights, fire, action.
What are we doing for dessert?
- [chef] The Viking. - Right.
As a chef,
you can do nothing without teams.
To build a restaurant like that, it's got around 90 jobs.
And then, as we opening up, probably get to 140 or something like that.
Make sure we cook so it's ready for the next course.
Getting to know the local team.
Learn from Garrett what is the dish
so you know how to present it.
Then, making sure that we're cooking the right way, seasoning the right way.
- The fries are coming from this station? - Yes, sir.
So, before you present them toss in salt, right?
Nothing leaves the station without being tasted, okay?
Nothing!
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
So, as a leader, you have to be firm but also calm.
You have to calm the team down.
How do we do this the right way?
- Okay, now you have better contrast right? - Yeah.
- You see? - And that's very--
- Now, it's more elegant. - Yes, it is.
I want them to understand that,
end of the day, we are creating and experience,
and they're a part of it.
And we can't do it without them.
Today is the grand opening.
It is the day. I'm beyond excited.
It's been a long journey.
For chefs, regardless of where you are,
openings are the most exciting thing in our industry.
They're the most complicated, but also the most exciting.
- Marcus, thank you. - [all applauding]
It's hundreds and hundreds of people
that kept on working during COVID to create this.
Thank you so much and now...
let's go down and have dinner and have a good time!
[all cheering]
My first goal is to open for dinner.
It's really been a great project
that I was very worried about a year ago,
because I didn't think it would happen because of COVID.
I didn't have a lot of hope.
Today, I'm happy. I'm extremely happy.
And it shows that we, when we work together,
we can do anything together.
We truly can.
This is the proof of that.
I don't even have words. But what I do have...
is... thanks.
Thanks to the customers.
Thanks to the guests.
Thanks to the people that pivoted.
Thanks to the industry supporting one another.
Thanks to the people that came back to work.
So, on behalf of Chef Marcus, Chef Antonia, Chef Monique, Chef Christian
and the millions of my brothers and sisters
in the restaurant business,
we wanna say this.
Thanks for coming in. And we'll see you soon.