Original subtitles

[ship's horn blares]

- Westwego, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans,

and this is Voleo's Seafood.

- Where you at, frog legs?

- This second-generation family-run restaurant...

- Beautiful.

- Is led by father David "Voleo" Voleon.

- I've been married to my wife, Lydia, since '83.

We have three kids.

- I have an order right here, whenever y'all get to it.

- My daughter, Janet, she runs the front

of the house with my wife. - Hey, how y'all doing?

- Hi. - How you doing?

- How y'all doing? both: Good.

- Where my shrimp?

My son David works for me in the kitchen back here.

[upbeat jazz music]

Voleo's, we opened that up in 1985, in Lafitte, Louisiana.

It was like old-school, funky atmosphere, killer food.

- The way we had it set up, it's like a home feeling--

more space and everyone loves it.

- In the '90s, I went to the French Quarter and worked

at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen under Chef Paul Prudhomme,

the icon of Cajun cooking.

In 2000, I took over at Voleo's...

Being down in Lafitte, we did wonderful.

[thunder rumbling]

But 2021, Hurricane Ida come ashore,

and she, uh, was a bitch.

- We had over knee-high in swamp mud.

All our kitchen equipment was tumbled upside-down.

- The family was left with no choice

but to relocate 25 miles away.

[soft dramatic music]

- Hey, how y'all doing?

Any booth is fine.

- Since we opened here,

the people wasn't very friendly.

- All right. - Thank you.

- You're welcome.

Order up.

I think that Voleo's is not accepted

in the Westwego community, and they'll

complain about everything.

- Okay, bayou trout.

- The people in Westwego love to spread their misery.

- I've really lost my appetite.

- Not tasty at all.

- It looks like dog food.

- They didn't like it fried.

You try to do the best you could,

but you're not getting anything in return.

Makes you depressed right off the bat.

[bleep]

[dramatic music]

Put that in the monkey dish and send it out.

- My dad taught me how to cook, and he's pretty hard on us.

- Where's the sauce for the frog legs?

That's gotta--I need the [bleep] so it can go out.

- My father can be very stubborn.

He gets frustrated, you know?

Sometimes he wants to take it out on people.

I shouldn't have to tell you that, damn it.

Sometimes when you gotta roll, you gotta roll hard.

- Got some of our pasta for the veal parm?

- Yep.

- He's tough on me and the crew

because he wants us all to succeed.

And as his son, I want to continue his legacy.

Keep the dream alive.

- I'm missing my mustard.

I think the reason that my dad hasn't handed

the restaurant over to us yet is because

it's what keeps him going.

- It's coming.

This has to be successful before I'm gonna

hand it off to Dave and Janet.

But as for right now, I'm tired.

I get depressed being here, and I'm not gonna lie.

- Every day is a stress. - Nah.

Ain't nothing new.

- Financially, more money's going out than coming in.

Things is not getting better.

- I'm not eating that.

- I'm so sorry about y'all experience, but I do hope that

y'all come and see us again.

- If things don't change,

and we don't get any influx of people

coming in here, six months I'm gonna be out of everything.

I'm gonna go bankrupt.

- The business has dropped lower

than we'd ever expected it to.

So it is very important to New Orleans

that the Super Bowl is coming.

Thousands of people will be in the area,

and then maybe we might get some business.

- All we need is peoples.

- We wanna continue this legacy.

But something needs to change.

Chef Ramsay, Voleo's really needs help.

- [sighs]

[dramatic music]

- This restaurant is festering.

You cannot be that deluded.

Stop, stop, stop.

I promise you, you can't do this.

Smell it!

Shut it down.

[suspenseful music]

I'm in Westwego, Louisiana,

on the banks of the gorgeous Mississippi River,

where a family's legacy is in ruin and funds are running low.

It's time to uncover why

before disaster strikes this family again.

Oh, not "open," "welcome."

Man, what a bizarre place.

Good morning. - Hi, good morning.

- Hey, how are you? Nice to see you.

- Doing good.

It's nice to see you. - And first name?

- Lydia. - Lydia, nice to meet you.

- Chef Ramsay is in the building,

and the pressure's on, you know?

I wanna impress him.

- Hi. Janet.

- Janet, nice to see you.

- You know you're gonna be busy as [bleep].

- If you don't mind following me to table number 10.

- Okay. How are you? - I'm good. How are you?

- Oh, good indeed, thank you.

My God, this menu is huge.

How are you? - Been waiting to see you.

- Likewise. Nice to see you too.

This place is tiny, by the way.

- It's hard to work.

- And your husband is the--

- My husband is the head chef.

My son is like a sous chef.

- And is the idea one day that he takes over, or--

- That's what we're hoping for.

We're trying to make the restaurant thrive.

- Right.

- But the people around here have such rotten attitudes.

- Here, in this neighborhood? - Here.

- Man.

Would they not go wild for great seafood here?

No? - No.

And is this the same menu as Lafitte?

- This is the same exact menu.

- Why is this menu so big?

There must be over a hundred items on here.

- I know.

That's because my husband's stubborn.

- Is he? - He is very stubborn.

- Wow. Wow.

Well, listen, I'm here to help, okay?

- Thank you so much. - Appreciate it, my darling.

Thank you. I'll catch up with you later.

God. - You ready to order?

- Right.

Let's have a little cup of the gumbo.

Let's do the barbecue shrimp as well.

Is that-- - Yes.

- And then I've gotta go also for the flounder Lafitte.

- Okay.

- Then I'd love to see a seafood platter.

Thank you so much. - All right. You're welcome.

- Appreciate it. Thank you.

Mmm.

- Order up.

- Knowing Chef Ramsay is in the restaurant

really doesn't bother me.

- 10 tables and 110 items on the menu.

Oh, my God.

- I mean, I done cooked for a lot of hot shots.

I'm ready to cook for the man.

We're gonna do the same thing we do all the time.

- See how it goes.

- Every time.

- How's lunch?

- I don't care for the-- the prawns.

- Okay.

- I think a little bit too much cheese than I like.

- Too much cheese? - Yeah.

- I'm sorry. - The gumbo?

Would throw it against the wall.

- Damn.

- I don't have time to go and pick up

fresh seafood every day.

Then we decided to precook some

and to have them frozen,

ready to heat up because I like a microwave.

[whimsical music]

[microwave beeping]

- All right, barbecue shrimp.

- You got that gumbo?

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Okay.

Thank you very much.

- You're welcome.

- The barbecue shrimp.

- That's our barbecue shrimp.

- Thank you.

- And then this is the cup of chicken gumbo.

- Excellent. Thank you.

- You're welcome. - Thank you.

Now, gumbo I love.

Oh, my God.

[tense music]

That's just watery.

Watery, bland gumbo, what a shame.

Barbecue shrimp.

They just taste frozen.

- How is everything?

- Um, it's such a shame because the gumbo is really watery.

Bland, bland.

And how much pepper has he put on the barbecue shrimp?

[coughs]

- He doesn't put too much.

- See, at the bottom here, it's just packed with pepper.

Oh, my God.

[coughs] Thank you very much.

- You're welcome. - You will explain that to him?

- I will, right now. - Thank you.

- What makes me nervous about Gordon being at our restaurant

is the criticism.

My dad doesn't deal with criticism very well.

Too much black pepper in the barbecue shrimp.

- [bleep] - Gumbo is very bland.

- [bleep]

My gumbo's not bland.

I've been in the business longer than him,

and I don't think anything was bad.

Building a big boy platter right here.

That's hot.

- First, I have the big boy seafood platter.

- Gotcha.

And what are these?

- That is our stuffed crab.

And you also have fried frog legs in there as well.

- Oh.

- Right there. - Ah, there she is.

There, that's it. Right.

Thank you. - You're welcome.

- Bloody hell, the crab?

It's just a big fried mess of seafood.

That is embarrassing.

Janet, thanks.

So it all--it all looks and tastes the same.

Is any of this fresh?

- It's actually all fresh.

- So nothing's frozen?

- Nothing's frozen.

- Wow.

How is that possible?

These are all signature dishes, right?

- Most of them are, especially the flounder Lafitte.

- Flounder Lafitte.

- This is our most unique signature dish.

- Bloody hell.

And where's the flounder?

- The flounder is actually inside.

That one's very popular.

That one's been on the menu for 30 years.

- 30? Exactly the same?

- Exactly the same.

- And it was looking like this back in 1995.

- It was.

- Is this one of your favorites as well?

- It is.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

- Okay.

Ah, [bleep].

This could be any fish right now.

This is a joke.

Yeah, it's just bland.

And all I've tasted so far is just food

that is just so underwhelming.

Everything's almost like he's given up.

- Well, that's why we needed you here.

I'm just not sure what my dad's gonna say.

- Oh, boy.

- But he's too stubborn.

He needs somebody just like him

to get through his hardheaded brain

that things need to change.

Gordon isn't happy in the restaurant right now.

- Oh.

- Everything is bland.

- That son of a bitch.

That pisses me off.

Criticism like that you take to heart.

- Oof. Wow, what a lunch.

Let's bring them out. - Okay.

- Please.

- Dave, Dad, Chef is ready to see y'all.

- [bleep]

[foreboding music]

- Why don't we take a seat, yeah?

Okay, uh, David.

I'll be honest with you.

That wasn't good.

- Mm.

- I'm going through the motions of the food, thinking [bleep],

this guy's given up.

- I ain't gave it up.

- It tastes like you're pissed off.

- Well, I didn't think I was.

- Oh, I'm telling you, you are.

- [bleep]

[dramatic music]

- It tastes like you're pissed off.

- Well, I didn't think I was.

- Oh, I'm telling you, you are.

[dramatic music]

How do you have over a hundred items on the menu

in a barely 10-table diner?

- We do it the same way we always did it.

- You need to adapt.

From your point of view, Janet, the problems here,

what are they?

- It's just the locals don't come.

- It's not the locals, Janet.

You have to look within.

- But people like it.

- Oh, so the business is great now.

- No, I'm not saying it's great.

- And are we making money from it?

- No. - No.

- No.

- So I've gotta deal with the facts.

- Right. No, I ain't making no money.

- Not the dreamy [bleep].

[chirping ringtone playing]

If it's important, take the call, please.

- Bill collector.

- A bill collector. - Oh, yeah.

Tell you the truth.

- Financially, we're on the back foot.

David Jr., talk to me.

Down the line, isn't the ambition that Mom and Dad are

passing the baton to you and Janet?

- Right.

- So that needs to be earned.

It doesn't just come with a hand-me-down.

- Right. - You gotta put your bit in.

- If it ain't working out, we gotta make a change.

- We're sort of caught in a time warp here.

And your father's dream is sucking

the energy out of everybody.

Can I just have two minutes

with your father on my own, please?

Can you guys go get some fresh air?

- Okay. - Would you mind?

- Thank you.

Hearing that Gordon doesn't like the restaurant

is very depressing.

We wanna do better.

And I'm feeling a ton of pressure right now.

I just wanna make everybody happy.

[sniffling]

And it's not working.

[tense music]

- What the [bleep] are you doing?

- Planting Lafitte's menu here with over a hundred items,

the place is not fit to cater for such a big menu.

- I stick to my guns.

I stuck to the things that got me to the point where I was at.

I mean, down in Lafitte, I was doing almost a half a million

[bleep] dollars a year.

And you leave, move 30 miles, and all of a sudden

everything turns to [bleep]?

How did that work?

- We gotta drop what's not working,

what doesn't fit within these four walls.

I'm gonna look at that tonight

when I'm on service with you in that kitchen.

This thing is spiraling out of control,

and you're losing money.

- You need to think about changing.

I mean, I might-- I might be stubborn.

- Between you and I, chef to chef, 100%,

you're one stubborn [bleep]!

I came here to help you.

[bleep]

My God, he's bringing the entire family down

with his negativity.

Lifting a menu 25 miles away with 110 items on it

and trying to get it to work here, living in the past,

and try to relive a dream that turned into a nightmare.

Honestly, what a [bleep] show.

- I guess change confuses me.

We was very successful down in Lafitte.

So I thought I was just carrying on a legacy.

That's why I always stuck to my guns and just kept it going.

- After hearing about Voleo's struggles in the new location,

I'm heading out to do some research of my own.

The staff at Voleo's are convinced

they're failing because the community

doesn't support them.

So I've gathered some local residents

to uncover the real story.

Hello, everybody. all: Hi.

- Thank you so much for being here, by the way.

It means a lot for me to have you here

as pillars of the community, to really give me

some insight to Voleo's.

I'm saddened for him, the lack of vision

he's got for this new restaurant.

- If you're wanting really, really good food,

you're not gonna settle for a 45-minute wait for something

that's not fresh. - No.

He's sandbagged himself.

And it keeps on coming back to "the community don't want me."

- Mm. - How wrong is he?

- Wrong. - He's so wrong, very wrong.

- He's very wrong.

- You guys vote with your feet.

Do you want Voleo's to succeed in your community?

- Yes. - Yes.

- Yes. - 100%.

It's just so nice to have new restaurants come into Westwego.

I think maybe he doesn't feel at home yet.

And I think maybe we have to make him feel at home.

- Sure.

- I believe this community actually stands behind him,

supports him because they know what occurred

with Hurricane Ida for him.

- Sure. - And how hard he struggled.

- Right.

Grateful for the time. Thank you so much.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

[dramatic music]

After hearing from the community

on the restaurant's shortcomings,

it's clear they're still backing Voleo.

Now I need to see what's really going on

during dinner service.

- Fire away.

- All righty.

- How you doing? - Hello.

- How are you, Janet? You good?

- Hello. - Hi. How you doing?

- Ah, yeah.

We have a lot of items on the menu.

[laughs]

- Okay.

So, David, you call out the orders?

- Yeah.

- You expedite here, right? - Mm-hmm.

- Gotcha. - Yep.

- Are y'all ready?

- Okay.

- So thank you. - Hi.

[dramatic music]

- Table 13. - Okay.

Y'all ready to order?

- I'm gonna get a blackened fish next.

- Flounders?

Yeah.

- Okay.

All right.

Okay, I got it.

- What's in the microwave?

- That's spaghetti. - Gotcha.

So you just reheat that in there.

You don't drop that in boiling, salted water?

- No. - No.

Wow. - Well, it ain't fresh.

- David. No, come on.

Hey, you know capellini takes 90 seconds to cook, right?

- Right.

- Don't give me that [bleep].

Capellini in the microwave, oh, my God.

Oof.

- Everything should be coming right out.

- I'm so sorry.

- Huh? - Table 5.

- [bleep]

- I am so sorry about the wait.

I'm sorry. I really am.

- How much longer on table 5? - Till it's done.

As soon as that black flounder comes out.

- You know they've waited an hour already.

- I couldn't make--

- [sighs] [bleep]

- How's that flounder doing?

- It ain't done.

- Man.

- Oh. - Thank you.

- Finally, blackened flounder.

- That's me.

Thank you.

- And a frog leg, Blue Points.

- Oof, [bleep].

- Is it good, y'all?

- What's wrong?

- It's too dry. She don't like it.

- Too dry.

The blackened flounder is too dry.

Just letting y'all know. - Touch it.

It's dry.

David Jr.

- It's overcooked.

- It's--it's dry.

Does anyone care about the standard we--

- Well, yeah, we care.

Yeah, we care. - So why--

- That's why I'm doing what I [bleep] do!

- What do you mean, why you do what you [bleep] do?

Oh, my God.

- Touch it. It's dry. - Yeah, it's overcooked.

- It's--it's dry.

- Does anyone care about the standard--

- Well, yeah, we care. - Right.

- Yeah, we care. - So why--

- That's why I'm doing what I [bleep] do!

- What do you mean, why you do what you [bleep] do?

Are you okay?

- Yeah, I'm good.

- You sure? - I'm positive.

I've been doing this for too long.

- Because you don't wanna listen.

- I mean, I don't know what else to say.

- [bleep]. Excuse me.

With no life in this kitchen and so much use

of the microwave, something's off.

The staff are telling the customers

that the food is fresh.

- All the seafood is fresh off the wharf.

- What the [bleep] is going on out here?

But I'm not buying it.

Uh, okay.

Bingo.

What the [bleep] is that?

I suppose that's the--

that's the flounder.

Lydia, have you seen the freezers?

- No, I have not. - No?

Let me just show you something.

We have a hundred items on the menu,

and 90% of them are in the freezer.

We're literally a couple hundred meters from the river,

and this is what we get.

Lydia, it's sad.

I got a young chef in there that's trying to match

his father's standards.

He's not allowed out of the gate.

I've got an owner of a restaurant that's literally

so stuck in his ways.

- I totally agree.

He hasn't been happy since we've been here.

[dramatic music]

- What are these? Bratwurst.

It's like an imitation dog's turd.

Oof.

Oh, my God.

It's cooked and then frozen,

and then he defrosts it and sends it.

Basically, it's not fresh.

Just lying.

- [bleep]

- What is that thing? - That's a hamburger steak.

I normally cook it like a medium-well.

- That's the hamburger steak? - Yeah.

- Come with me. Two seconds.

Is that the same hamburger steak?

It's just yes or no.

Is that the same hamburger steak, yes or no?

I just saw it come out of the microwave.

It wasn't cooked fresh.

- That's, um--

- What you just put in the pan, is that a frozen steak,

yes or no?

- Yeah, it was frozen. - Okay.

- Yeah, I know. I know this ain't right.

- My God.

This is a [bleep] show.

It's obvious now where this guy's issues are.

He's just lifted his entire menu from the past in Lafitte,

and 90% of it is in the freezer.

He cannot blame the locals.

Not good.

10 seconds with me outside.

- All right.

- What's all that about?

I discover three massive freezers packed with food.

- Yeah.

Well, we did it like that

'cause it used to take so long to cook.

- No, no.

- We make everything fresh, then we freeze it.

- No.

There's barely 10% of that stuff fresh.

- Exactly.

- Without that microwave and without that [bleep] fryer,

we'd be [bleep].

That's not normal in there.

- I'm gonna tell you what pushed it back a bit

is when we didn't--

we--we cooked that hamburger steak fresh.

- Were you just trying to say that [bleep]

cooking fresh food is actually harder

than cooking frozen food? - Takes longer.

- I've never in my [bleep] career been told that cooking

[bleep] frozen food is quicker and better

than it is cooking fresh food.

- I never said it was better.

- You just said. - Well--

- Stay there. I'm gonna shut this place down.

Stay there.

[bleep]

Man.

Sorry, ladies.

Shut down. Thank you.

- So sorry.

- That's okay. I'm fine.

- You know, I do my best telling the truth.

I mean, I don't lie to nobody.

But I didn't agree with it.

- Oh, boy.

Where's--where's Junior?

You can't be happy doing this, surely.

A hundred items on that menu and we're cooking it frozen.

- Right.

- Dad said it was easier

cooking it from frozen than it was cooking fresh.

Can you see how far removed

from running a restaurant we are?

- I mean, I do-- yeah, I get that.

- Are you happy?

- Uh.

- What do you want from this place?

- Awesome food that you'll get nowhere else.

- Mm-hmm.

- You ask somebody at a table to take their first bite

and they kind of shake their head in awe.

It makes, like, this passion come out you that, you know,

you wanna do that again. - It's a great feeling.

But the way your father's working, it is set up to fail.

- I guess we got so caught up in our ways down in Lafitte.

You know, it worked.

It worked. It was a good system.

- But-- - That was then.

But you guys are supposed to be the future of this business.

- Right.

- And it's time for Dad to take a sidestep.

And I know how much you love him.

And it's absolutely killing all of you.

- Just, I want him happy, you know?

- [sniffling]

- Who here needs help?

- [bleep], we all do.

- I know.

- Yes. - It's time to step up.

You've got a chance to change this.

You got me? - Yeah, I got you.

- Be honest. - Yeah.

- Okay?

Let's get him in the dining room.

- All right.

- Hey, Voleo.

Sit down.

Grab a seat.

Sit down with us.

What I've just seen over the last couple of hours--

I'm shocked.

We have a hundred items on the menu,

and we're having to go through a [bleep] fight

to get them out. - Right.

- Customers are complaining.

- Hear me out.

We're telling them that it's fresh when it's not fresh.

We've got from a meatball to a chicken to a soup to a pasta.

It's just nothing to do with seafood.

- Oh, my God.

[bleep]

[bleep] the cameras.

- This has nothing to do with TV.

This has nothing to do with T--

can you guys give me some space, please?

- I'm shocked. [bleep] the cameras.

- I ain't worried about the cameras.

- This has nothing to do with TV.

This has nothing to do with T--

can you guys give me some space, please?

[dramatic music]

This is real.

And I take this situation very, very seriously.

We're living in the past, and we're stuck in a rut.

It doesn't need to be this hard.

- Right.

- When I first arrived here, the biggest problem

from all of you was the neighborhood.

- Yeah.

- I had a meeting at the town hall.

Do you have any idea how much they want you to succeed?

So we have to stop blaming the community.

- And there's no succession planning.

For Janet, David Jr., there is zero.

You're one stubborn guy that won't let go.

- But I've been making this [bleep] happen for a while now.

- The solution is sat in front of you.

- Right.

- Yes, we can't do it without you.

But you need to embrace change.

Tell him, David.

- Thank you. - Right.

- He got his passion from somewhere.

- Right.

- We can start to see it. Let him go.

- That's why I do all this, for them and Ashley.

- Listen, Janet, how desperate are you

to have a chance to take this place to the next generation?

- We wanna be successful and take care of you.

I need to be in the kitchen.

- They have to get a shot.

And you need to embrace change.

And you need to empower.

Are you ready to let them in?

- I'm gonna stubbornly let go.

- Man.

I want you guys out of here to get some rest.

- All right.

- Man.

[bleep]

[soft music]

Man, that's a tough nut to crack.

He's very proud.

But I think more than anything,

he's more embarrassed on what he's done.

And it's down to his son and his daughter

to grab those reins.

And this is gonna be a tough release from Voleo,

but I'm not stopping until he stops controlling everything

and everybody.

It's a new day in Westwego,

and my team have been hard at work overnight.

Today, before I reveal the renovation,

I need to sit down with Voleo, chef to chef,

to see if he's truly ready to change.

There it is, the Mississippi.

- Yep.

- I mean, it's calm now, isn't it?

But man, that thing can turn.

- It gets wicked.

[horn blares]

- Um, nearly four years ago now

since that horrific hurricane...

- Yeah.

- Wiped you out. - Yep.

- Being the captain of your own ship,

having that family sort of legacy on your shoulders,

who did you turn to?

- Nobody.

They was all looking at me.

- I think the most important thing for you now is to almost

let go, embrace change.

- Uh--

- Future's the kids, right?

- Right.

- And will you let go?

- I don't know.

- This relaunch tonight is a way of establishing them,

with you behind the scenes...

- Right. - Pushing them.

But I don't want you fronting the whole thing.

- Right.

- That's the difference. - Oh, yeah.

- Lift the rest of the family now...

- Right.

- And take some weight off your shoulders.

We're backed up, financially. - Yep.

- I want you to focus on the solution.

Voleo's 2.0,

where we have to fill that place two and a half times,

three times on a Friday and Saturday night.

And that's what I'm gonna teach David Jr. to do.

We need him to step up. - Yeah.

- So this relaunch has to work, and you cannot interfere.

Promise me you can do that.

- I promise you. I accept it.

I grasp the concept. - I hope so.

- We're gonna rock and roll. - Change is hard.

- Yeah.

- But it's crucial. - Yeah.

- Do you got me? - Yep.

- My man. - All right.

- You ever done one of these before?

A selfie. - Ah.

Yeah, I do it--

- Come on, you miserable [bleep].

There you go. Is that you smiling?

- Yeah, that's me. - Smile a bit more.

[hopeful music]

Back at the restaurant, my team's finished

giving Voleo's a complete remodel.

And now it's time to show the family.

- Beautiful.

Wow, look at this.

- With Voleo ready to take a step back

during relaunch tonight, it's back to the restaurant.

Inspired by the original location in Lafitte,

my team's given Voleo's a complete remodel.

Now it's time to reveal it to the family.

- Oh, wow, look at this.

- Ain't this cool? - [laughs]

- Some nice mugs we got there.

- Beautiful.

- Definitely cool.

Wasn't expecting this.

- This is amazing.

[hopeful music]

- Nice.

- How beautiful is this?

- This is as good as it gets.

- It's got your history, nostalgia from Lafitte.

- Yeah.

- I think this embodies the resilience of the family.

- It's warm, it's tight.

It's special to my heart.

Freakin' awesome.

- It's not just the décor that's new.

I've been working with David Jr.

on some fresh, exciting dishes...

- You get a bite? - Amazing.

This is good, very good indeed.

To help modernize and streamline the menu.

First of all, the hundred items have gone.

- Right.

- There's nothing frozen on this menu.

It's all fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

We've got a small menu, but it's a powerful menu.

Let's start off at the top.

Beautiful crab cakes, finished with arugula salad.

The pickup on that is two minutes.

Barbecue jumbo shrimp.

We have a classic fish and chips.

That fish can change depending on the seasons.

- Right.

- And then finally, today's special--

swordfish.

Have a taste.

Done with a little maque choux and finished

with really nice, smoky bacon.

Do you like that? - It's good.

- But guess what?

That's not my special, by the way.

David!

- Yes, Chef.

- That's fight.

- [chuckles]

- Real fight.

Seeing my boy coming out with a dish that he created,

I was proud big, big, big.

- That's what we needed. - Right.

- Preparing this dish and sharing it with my father,

you know, it's like a magical moment.

- There is hope in this room.

- Right.

- Now it's time to hand the baton over.

I wanna see the future.

- Aw, yeah.

- Get a knife and fork. Dig in.

- I absolutely loved that the menu

is gonna be a lot smaller.

It's definitely a new taste.

- Oh, my God, that's so good.

- Everything tasted wonderful.

It really did.

- Are you ready for change? - Change is good.

This is great.

I am very excited for the future.

I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

- We got this.

- We're gonna rock and roll with this.

It's a new era.

- Do you recognize that guy?

[laughter]

Grumpy bollocks, you got this?

- Oh, yeah. - Come on.

With service about to start...

Chef, how you feeling?

- Doing good.

- It's time to see if the next generation

can step up without their father calling the shots.

Now, I want you owning this [bleep] thing.

You know that. - Oh, yeah.

- Okay? You got it.

David Jr. is in charge as head chef...

- My goal for tonight is to prove to my dad

that I could really run this kitchen.

It's time to step up, you know?

- While Janet takes the lead expediting on the line.

I know this is a lot.

It's gonna be baby steps all in the right direction.

I love that he's not doing anything.

I love it. - [laughs]

- And with a succession plan in place,

it's imperative father Voleo stays out of the kitchen

and doesn't interfere with dinner service.

- Hi.

- Okay, first table looks like it's coming in.

Now it's time to welcome familiar faces

from the local community...

- Welcome to Voleo's.

- And NFL legend Robert Royal.

Voleo, can I introduce you to a legend?

- Voleo, how you doing? - Mr. Robert Royal.

- How you doing, Robert? - Robert Royal.

Pleasure, my man. - Yes, sir.

- LSU. - Right, Tigers.

- Go, Tigers, baby.

- This man is a huge pillar in the community.

- Nice. - It's a pleasure to meet you.

- Same here. - Oh, yeah.

I look forward to it. - Thank you.

- Hey, pleasure.

- Are y'all ready?

Or do you need a few more minutes?

- You ever pop your head outside into the dining room?

- You never go and say hello to guests?

- As the restaurant owner,

Voleo needs to spend less time interfering

with the kitchen and more time front of house,

connecting with his customers.

Voleo, out of the kitchen.

- Letting go, very hard.

It's like a hostile takeover of "get Daddy out of here."

- First order.

Now, David Jr., here we go.

This is it, man. Groundbreaking.

Let's go, Janet. - Shrimp fettuccine.

- All right.

- The biggest challenge at dinner service tonight

is just observing.

- I got crab cakes and six oysters.

- Heard.

- I'd rather be in the kitchen, hovering around,

checking everything out, asking questions.

- I have another order of crab cakes

and a barbecue shrimp appetizer.

- All right.

Tonight, I think there's a lot more confidence in the kitchen.

Having Janet next to me, it feels great.

- Thank you. Good girl.

- I plate it up, hand it to her.

She's making it beautiful.

- Great start, by the way. - Thank you, Chef.

- I'm loving the energy. Let's go.

[upbeat music]

Welcome. How are you?

David, the restaurant is filling up,

and we'll just go up a gear now.

We're into second or third gear, okay?

- Gotcha.

- I got a barbecue shrimp and crab cakes.

Shrimp sandwich, two fettuccines, fish and chips.

- Janet, I need you to complete that table.

No one's gonna start eating until the whole table's

there together. - Okay.

- I need a swordfish and the shrimp

and green tomatoes, please.

- When you're in the kitchen and things are running slow,

I get frustrated.

- How long on the oysters?

- Oh, probably about three more minutes.

- Where are my fish? - It's coming.

Give me probably about a minute.

- Here you go again.

That's a problem.

Watch how you sprinkle it, Dave.

You don't want no chunks of salt.

- All right, ah.

- I'm busting this [bleep] up.

- Oh, my God.

- How much longer on the swordfish?

- Ah, it's coming up.

- Don't fall behind.

Stay ahead of the game.

Give me two sides of the potatoes.

- Voleo.

It seems like Voleo can't help reverting

back to his old ways.

You're trying to get in there, aren't you?

You're trying to jump in.

- I was thinking about it.

- Oh, my God, man.

I need him to stop meddling

and get him out of the kitchen...

- [bleep]

- To allow David Jr. and Janet

space to run a smooth service.

Voleo. - Okay.

[tense music]

- There we go.

- Now, I knew it was gonna be a bit sticky to begin with.

I knew it. You--

- But I can see what's going on.

I make every one of them.

- But you dipping in and out like, it's not helping.

You will get up to speed,

but I need you to focus on Junior.

I need you to empower him.

- [bleep]

- You dipping in and out like this, it's not helping.

You will get up to speed, but I need you to focus on Junior.

I need you to empower him.

- [bleep]

- This is plan of succession,

and I need you to work your magic in the community,

talk to some tables.

- I'm not one to interact with people in the dining room.

I'm not too good at that.

It makes me nervous.

- Come on. You can do it.

As restaurant owner, it's important for Voleo

to spend time front of house, connecting with his customers.

Go on, go on. - You all right?

- I love the vibe.

I love the vibe. - Yeah. It's the Lafitte.

- Other tables now, other tables.

- How's everything?

Good. - Yes.

The beast from the East is touching tables.

It's good, it's good. Yes.

He's got his [bleep] voice back.

[bleep]

[laughter]

- Table 4's food is up.

- All right, thank you.

- With Voleo working the room front of house,

Janet and David Jr...

- I need a swordfish. - Coming right up.

- Finally have the space they need in the kitchen.

- All right, baby.

- There we go.

- Oysters, table 8.

- Lovely sear on the shrimp. Really good.

- Ah, thank you, thank you.

- It feels really good to be working

side by side with my brother.

My father can finally take a step back.

- All right!

- Swordfish.

- It is awesome.

This is some of the best fish I ever had,

and that's no lie. Voleo's, keep doing well.

This your boy Rob Royal. I'm out.

Good food, man. Good food.

- And now, arriving to support the family...

How are you, my darling? An absolute pleasure.

Voleo's eldest daughter, Ashley.

This is important for him now, to feel comfortable here.

- Yes, resilient and stubborn.

- [laughs]

- You noticed that?

- Oh, my God.

David Jr. and Janet now are running the kitchen.

- Everybody good so far?

- What's up, Ash?

- Junior--David, first of all, great job.

- Ah, thank you.

- They are loving the food.

Both of you have found your voices.

And watching Dad watch you two is a dream, okay?

My time is done here.

- Thank you, sir.

- Come here.

- Aw. - You okay?

- Yep. Good.

- It's [bleep] awesome. - [laughs]

- [bleep] awesome. That's the spirit.

Really, seriously good job. - Thank you so much.

- I am so proud of my brother and sister

working together as a unit.

- High five.

- Anytime you're in doubt about how you're feeling,

take a look at that picture, will you, please?

- All right. - Thank you.

- I want you to succeed, okay?

- I appreciate it. - Come here, you.

- All right, my brother.

I appreciate you. - Man.

- Ah, yeah.

Thank you. - Thank you.

[twangy country music]

That was a tough one-- and honestly,

with one of the most stubborn owners I've ever dealt with.

Now I'm hoping, with a much more pared down menu

and Voleo out of the kitchen, I promise you,

this place has a chance to be around

for generations to come--

if he stays out that bloody kitchen.

Honestly.

Oh, boy, what a stubborn [bleep].

Two months later...

- Chef, I just wanna shout out to you,

I really appreciate what you did for us.

My brother.

I mean, with the kids, Dave's doing great.

- Thank you, Chef.

- Janet's working in the kitchen.

Business started to pick up by just word of mouth

on the street.

Everything is doing great.

You take it easy, my brother.

And I kind of hope to see you for Super Bowl.

- Next time on "Kitchen Nightmares"...

- I've put everything into this place.

- But this was your dream.

Oh, my God. But you can't do this!

You're serving food with rat [bleep] above it!

No, it's not dripping down.

- You cannot be normal.

- I think he's feeling a little overwhelmed.

- I'm not too sure if I can help anyone

that is that far gone in denial.

I'm pissed off!

I am so sorry.

You're on your own.

I'm done.

[dramatic music]

[bleep] terrible.