Fiesta Sunrise

People

 * Patricia "Patti" (owner)
 * Vic (manager, Patti's step-father)
 * Yolanda (owner, Patti's mother)
 * Ambrosio (chef)
 * Julieta (consultant chef)
 * Don (Patti's husband who gets in a fight with with Vic when he drops her off)

Pre-Episode
Prior to Fiesta Sunrise (which opened in 2006), the Flores family had owned a restaurant called Fiesta Garibaldi which opened in 1998, and would close down 8 years later; Fiesta Garibaldi apparently was an offshoot of the Fiesta Mexico restaurant which opened in 1984 in Orangeburg, New York, and is still operating today.

In June 2007, Fiesta Sunrise had temporarily closed down due to tax issues with the IRS.

Synopsis
Fiesta Sunrise is located West Nyack, New York, a town 30mi outside of New York City and west of the Hudson River. It is owned by Vic and Yolanda Flores who previously owned another Mexican restaurant that failed. Due to a lack of funds, Fiesta Sunrise was funded by the savings and credit of Yolanda's daughter, Patti.

According to Yolanda and Patti, Vic does whatever he wants and refuses to listen to them. Vic also refuses to change, despite the restaurant often being empty. Yolanda and Patti are not a fan of Vic's décor. According to Patti, it looks like Tijuana threw up in the restaurant. There is a stuffed chili pepper named Manuel that Vic moves around the restaurant. Yolanda is frustrated about the financial strain that the restaurant is putting on her daughter, and that it's causing a strain on her marriage. Yolanda feels bad for putting her daughter in this position, and Patti resents her mother for putting her husband before herself.

First Impressions
Gordon notices that the entrance to the restaurant says "Grill 303" instead of "Fiesta Sunrise". Vic reveals that the logo at the front hasn't been changed in over a year.

Near the entrance, Gordon notices a container on the side which is filled tequila. It is a complimentary drink that is like an appetizer. Gordon finds the drink too strong.

The restaurant is large and can seat 120 people, however, only 2 tables have been booked for lunch.

Gordon later finds a sticker on the menu that he peels off. Underneath, he sees the phrase "The art of Mexican cooking". Vic explains that it is part of the logo of his previous restaurant "Fiesta Garibaldi". The menu from his old restaurant was directly brought to "Fiesta Sunrise" and a sticker was put over the old logo. The chefs and the ingredients remain the same.

Food Ordered

 * Combination #1 (burrito, taco, enchilada)
 * Fajita
 * Piña colada

Impressions of the Food
According to Gordon, the combination looks like someone has been sick on his plate. The chicken is dry like it was cooked weeks ago. The beef is impossible to swallow.

The rice looks like it's leftover from Christmas, but Vic claims that it was cooked the day before. Gordon doubts him and says that the rice looks even older than himself. He describes the rice as disgusting and tastes of sh**.

The only thing that Gordon enjoyed was the Piña colada.

While Vic, Yolanda and Patti argue in the kitchen, Gordon notices that his Piña colada glass is also labeled with "Fiesta Garibaldi". Gordon jokes that the key at Fiesta Sunrise is that you stop at the tequila bar, get drunk and then enjoy the food.

When Gordon talks to the family, he discovers that the restaurant is funded by Yolanda and Patti, while it is run by Vic. Patti explains that she and Yolanda have little involvement in the restaurant because Vic only wanted them to finance him a restaurant. Patti has used her savings and credit and borrowed money from her father-in-law, but Vic doesn't think that it's important to make things up with her.

The restaurant needs to make $90,000 a month to break even. Currently, the restaurant makes 1/3 of that amount and loses $500,000 per year. The debt is $850,000 despite the restaurant only being open for 18 months.

First Dinner Service
Gordon goes into the kitchen and sees that it is huge. Gordon opens one of the fridges and finds a tray that is dripping in water and tubs of old food. Vic claims that everything was made yesterday, but the chefs reveal that they were made the previous week.

Gordon find a tub of sauce that has a thick layer of oil over it. Meanwhile, a customer complains that her chips taste like cardboard and have no taste. The waiter takes her dish of chips and puts them back into a drawer with other chips.

Later, Gordon finds a packet of chives that are 5 months old past the sell-by date. He later finds plastic tubs of rotten fish. Pieces of meat are covered in tinfoil soaking in blood. Gordon also finds tubs of old burritos, chicken enchiladas, ground beef (which had a large layer of dried fat on top, prompting Gordon to say the ground beef was fatter than Vic) and beans.

While Gordon is going through the old food from a week ago, customers are eating the food outside. According to Gordon, "a hungry cat would walk away from that."

The restaurant is overstaffed and underworked. Gordon tells Vic that he wouldn't trust him to run a bath, let alone a restaurant. Vic claims to care, so Gordon dares him to take the rotting food outside to show the customers. Gordon ends up taking a bucket of the rotting food out to the dining room himself and ends the dinner service. He commands customers to stop eating and tells them that all their food is on the house.

Later, the staff clean up the restaurant. Meanwhile, Gordon talks with Yolanda about her relationship with her daughter and husband. Yolanda explains that she had terrible credit, so they used Patti's credit. But now, Patti's credit is also destroyed.

Reflections
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Remainder of the Visit
As Fiesta Sunrise's financial situation has affected Patti's marriage, on Day 3, Patti asks her husband Don to come inside the restaurant to meet Gordon when he drops her off. Patti explains that Don is mad at her for getting involved in the restaurant. She initially defended Vic's actions, but Don knew right from the beginning that Patti and Yolanda were being taken advantage of by Vic. As they discuss Patti and Don's credit, Vic walks in and is not happy to see Don.

Gordon asks Vic to join them and questions why he was being dishonest when he knew he was borrowing money from family. Vic denies being dishonest and accuses Don of not having a job, while Don claims that not only does he have a job, he also claims to have paid Vic's mortgage and bills. Don pushes the table over and Gordon gets in between them before the fight becomes physical. Gordon takes Vic outside, Don leaves and Patti becomes upset. Gordon tells Vic, Patti and Yolanda that they need to work as a team.

Gordon goes into the kitchen and finds bugs crawling all over the kitchen. He explains to Vic, Patti and Yolanda that he initially planned to have them each make a burrito, and the best one would go on the menu for that night. However, this is no longer possible as bugs are crawling all over the kitchen. Yolanda and Patti were unaware of the infestation, but Vic admins to knowing about it. Gordon immediately calls exterminators to come. Vic later apologizes to Patti and Yolanda.

After the exterminators finish, Gordon returns. Before the dinner service, Gordon gives the kitchen staff a pep talk and emphasizes that all the food must be fresh.

As the chefs are unable to cook rice properly, Yolanda steps in to help. However, this has resulted in customers waiting for a long time and getting restless. Some end up leaving.

In the kitchen, Gordon finds food with soot on the top, which fell from the top of an uncleaned broiler.

The dinner service that night didn't even make enough money to cover the staff's wages.

Restaurant & Menu Remodel
Gordon brings an expert, Julieta, to the restaurant. She has the number 1 Mexican restaurant in Manhattan.

The plan white chairs and tables are replaced with modern black chairs and tables covered in red tablecloths. The white curtain is replaced with wooden shutters. The ceiling decorations and a glass partition are removed.

Gordon has created a new simple and elegant menu. Julieta helps out in the kitchen on relaunch night.

After Gordon's Departure
Fiesta Sunrise was one of the few restaurants to close down before the episode first aired, as it was claimed by the IRS after the restaurant had failed to pay its taxes; given that the restaurant was opened on Patti's credit, it can be assumed that the restaurant was a casualty of the late 2000s recession. There was a stabbing that occurred prior to the restaurant's closure, unfortunately.

As of September 2020, Patti appears to be involved with the Fiesta Mexico restaurant in Orangeburg, New York, which is owned by relatives of the Flores family.

Production Notes
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Trivia
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