Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

TV’s ‘Restaurant: Impossible’ gears up to reopen Las Vegas restaurant

Maple Tree Cafe

Leila Navidi

The Maple Tree Cafe is seen in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.

Click to enlarge photo

The Food Network chef Robert Irvine.

Robert Irvine didn’t ask producers why they chose the Maple Tree Cafe in Las Vegas for his show “Restaurant: Impossible.” He never does.

“When I first pull up in my car, I’m really seeing everything for the first time, and I don’t want to spoil that,” Irvine said this morning as the Food Network program prepared for its final day of production for the restaurant makeover.

Producers search for restaurants near financial failure and in need of renovations, checking bankruptcy records and making sure the eateries are really in dire situations, Irvine said.

He saw as much at the Maple Tree on Spring Mountain Road near Jones Boulevard, when he arrived early Wednesday.

“The decor and the food was awful,” Irvine said. “And like so many places we visit, we had to fix the relationships first. There was a huge rift in the family that owns it. They don’t get on at all. It’s a bit like having children.”

The crew shot from 7 a.m. to midnight, as Irvine and his crew set about to change the face of the Maple Tree.

“It’s a real two days and a real $10,000,” Irvine said of the time and budget constraints of the program. “We really have less than two days, because we’re constantly stopping and starting. That takes away time.”

The refurbished Maple Tree opens to the public at 6 p.m. today. The program will air at a later date.

Irvine said Las Vegas, with its celebrity chefs and high-end restaurants, poses some challenges to re-establishing a corner eatery in a strip mall far from the bright lights.

“Las Vegas is a place where local people really know their food,” Irvine said. “But this is not on the Strip, so I’m competing in Las Vegas on a different level. I’m really working with a neighborhood restaurant.”

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