The second of three New Jersey restaurants to be featured on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s reality show, 24 Hours to Hell and Back aired Tuesday night. Last week, Blend on Main in Manasquan was shown.

If you’re unfamiliar with the format of the show, Ramsay and his team of designers and chefs visit a struggling restaurant and attempt to overhaul it in twenty-four hours. Toms River’s Caneda's White Rooster got the renovation treatment on this week’s episode. The White Rooster is a Cuban-American restaurant that’s only been open for a year, but is already struggling.

We learned that the investor who bankrolled the place has already sunk $2 million into it and is strongly considering shutting it down. There are different reasons that the featured restaurants are struggling and last night’s was definitely put on the kitchen and their young, overmatched head chef (they really made it seem like he had no business being a head chef, or even a chef at all). An inspection of the kitchen turned up dirty equipment, spoiled octopus (to see chef Ramsay’s reaction to the octopus, watch the video below), and slimy vegetables.

Ramsay overhauled the menu, showcasing a few well made dishes. His design crew re-did the interior of the restaurant, giving it a more Cuban look. The retraining of the head chef didn’t seem to go very well and he struggled with the first dinner service after they reopened. Ramsay deemed the renovation a success, however, and moved on, leaving a grateful Patty Caneda to maintain the new attitude.

At the end of each episode they check in with the restaurant to see if things are still going okay and in this week’s update, Patty said that she had fired the substandard head chef and things were looking up. The investor (Grunin Holdings) had decided to not shutter the restaurant. Oh, and two Sopranos cast members, Vincent Pastore and Joey Gannascoli, also made an appearance, diverting attention away from Ramsay when he ate there in disguise.

Next week’s episode is scheduled to highlight another New Jersey restaurant, Botto’s Italian Line in Swedesboro. If the preview is to be believed, there will be a lot of yelling.

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