Gaston’s Bistro gets major facelift from Irvine
‘Restaurant: Impossible’ helps Orland Park eatery
Robert Irvine may have only spent two days at Gaston’s Bistro, but his “Restaurant: Impossible” team revamped the Orland Park establishment with changes designed to last for many days after.
That process is featured in the “Restaurant: Impossible” episode “Delusions of Grandeur,” which premieres at 9 p.m. Thursday on Food Network.
“I was only there 48 hours, the full time of the show. But I have absolutely kept in contact with them,” said Irvine, of Florida, about brothers Yaser Elkayyal and Nader Elkayyal, who co-own Gaston’s Bistro.
“They were losing about $100,000 plus and had big portions and all the things I always see that make a failing business — not knowing your costs, your portion sizes, your hours and your payroll.
“Lynn was my designer on this episode and made it amazing.”
Designer Lynn Kegan and construction manager Tom
“There was a big identity crisis. They didn’t know if they were a coffee shop, breakfast place or French bistro.” — Robert Irvine
Bury were among the team who had a $10,000 budget to transform Gaston’s Bistro, 14438 John Humphrey Drive.
“When I walked in there it was supposed to be a French bistro,” said Irvine, who is in Season 18 of “Restaurant: Impossible,” which began in
2011.
“I was trained by French chefs. When you tell me you’ve got a French bistro and then you throw in breakfast and you throw in a coffee bar, it’s not a bistro,’ he said.
Irvine redid the menu with what he called classic French dishes with a twist.
“There was a big identity crisis. They didn’t know if they were a coffee shop, breakfast place or French bistro,” Irvine said. “Now they are a French bistro. The food is simply amazing, the portion sizes are great and the decoration of the new restaurant itself is spectacular with a capital S.”
The Elkayyals, who declined to comment because their contract for “Restaurant: Impossible” does not allow them to talk about the episode until after it airs, bought the former Cafe Gaston in 2002.
“Yaser and Nader are amazing human beings who were lost behind their wildest dreams and full of excuses, saying everything is making them fail except themselves,” said Irvine, who also has hosted Food Network shows “Dinner: Impossible” since 2007 and “Restaurant Impossible: Revisited” since 2019.
“We blame chain restaurants.
We blame the weather. The street flooded last night. We blame everything but the people running the restaurant,” Irvine said. “In this case it was them.”
He said it was a great place to do a show, and the Elkayyals were well deserving.
Gaston’s Bistro offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and catering.
“The biggest challenge for me was probably getting through to Yaser and Nader that they’re doing things wrong so I can understand why they do the things they do,” said Irvine, who added Nader Elkayyal also had a car wash job to try to keep the restaurant afloat.
“One of my biggest jobs is to take what they do in their real life and change what they do. Nobody likes change. They opened in 2002. In 2021 a lot has changed. What was going on in 2002 is not good now.”
The grand reopening of Gaston’s Bistro’s was filmed in May with COVID-19 protocols, including diners being required to wear masks except when drinking or eating as well as social distancing on set.
Irvine was used to coronavirus safety measures since he launched the spinoff series “Restaurant Impossible: Back in Business,” which premiered in July 2020 on Food Network, to help restaurants previously featured on “Restaurant: Impossible” that were affected by the pandemic.
“I had COVID in July last year and spent six days in the hospital. It was awful. When you’re used to being in control and you can’t breathe, it’s scary for sure,” said Irvine, 55, who is also a fitness authority and philanthropist who travels 345-plus days a year working on TV shows and with the military.
“I asked, ‘Could we go back on the road?’ We were the only people filming on two buses with six people so we had all the protocols of COVID covered and we still do now,” he said.
After first having to close to in-person dining in March 2020 to curb the spread of coronavirus, many restaurants have reopened their dining rooms but continue to face challenges due to the delta variant of COVID-19.
“Do whatever you need to do to hang in there,” said Irvine, who is also a cookbook author and host of culinary competition “The Globe,” which began streaming in July on Discovery Plus.
“Talk to your banks, your landlords, your suppliers. Get better terms and really reach out to the community and a lot of social media to show them what you’re doing to keep customers safe.”