Mad Cactus: 1 Year After 'Restaurant Impossible' Makeover

Old menu is back, and owner says if TV chef returned, 'I'd lock the door'

It's been a year since TV chef Robert Irvine filmed a Restaurant:Impossible episode for the Food Network at Strongsville's Mad Cactus. The show promised to bring new life to the 27-year-old Tex-Mex restaurant. And? "Hollywood doesn't always know best," owner Tom Krukemeyer said this week.  In fact, after an influx when the show aired last fall, business dropped off considerably, with long-time customers lamenting the loss of their favorite meals from the streamlined menu. "It's been a struggle," Krukemeyer said. "Our sales were down, so we listened and we changed." He estimated 95 percent of the old menu is now back, including the return of $3 Steak Night on Mondays, $1.50 tacos on Tuesdays and other old favorites, like 40-cent wings on …

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Mad Cactus Owner Can Finally Talk About TV Makeover

Calls Chef Irvine 'a hothead' and says crews tricked him

Tom Krukemeyer and Food Network Chef Robert Irvine didn't exactly get off to a great start. Within minutes, the TV chef was hopping mad. "I'd never even met him until two minutes earlier," said Krukemeyer, who owns the Mad Cactus, focus of a Restaurant: Impossible makeover this August. Here's how it happened: Producers had Krukemeyer and Irvine walk to their places to be introduced on-camera.  But the director changed his mind and asked them to switch places. Irvine went ballistic, Krukemeyer said, calling the director names. Then he demanded his coffee, even though it was sitting on a table a few feet away.   "He actually waited till the producer came and picked up his coffee for him," Krukemeyer said. After the scene, Krukemeyer went to …

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TV Makeover for Mad Cactus Seemed Tame, Viewers Say

If there were fights between chef and owner, they didn't make the show

Last night's episode of Restaurant: Impossible on the Food Network promised a prickly situation as chef Robert Irvine made over the Mad Cactus Instead, the show was less than spicy. One viewer called it the least controversial episode he'd seen. "Robert Irvine looked desperate when he tried the bash the manager and the restaurant. Much ado about nothing," he said. Another called the makeover mild.  "There's usually more fighting," she said. "This one was pretty boring." Mad Cactus owner Tom Krukemeyer said he is prohibited from talking about the show for five days after it airs, so we'll have his reaction next week. Irvine spent two days at the Pearl Road Tex-Mex restaurant in August, revamping the decor, staff and menu. Krukemeyer said …

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Will TV Chef Trash Mad Cactus? Find out Wednesday

Owner is nervous about seeing the makeover on 'Restaurant: Impossible' Nov. 2

The Mad Cactus will be featured next Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 10 p.m. on the Food Network's  Restaurant: Impossible series. Restaurant owner Tom Krukemeyer isn't sure he'll be watching. "I'm probably not going to," Krukemeyer said. "I don't know what they edited out, what they left in." Crews from the show were in town in mid-August to revamp the menu and decor of the 20-year-old Tex-Mex restaurant on the corner of Pearl and Whitney roads. But shows like that are notorious for making restaurants -- and their food and staff -- look as bad as possible before the chef makes them over. Here's how the Food Network website describes the episode: "Chef Robert Irvine finds himself in a prickly situation as he travels to Strongsville, OH. Here, he …

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Holly Barnes

10:03 pm on Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I"m watching Restaurant Impossible. Can't wait to see the transformation!!!   more ›

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Does a New Mad Cactus Offer an ‘Impossible’ to Resist Menu?

The Strongsville Gourmet visits restaurant after TV makeover

If you asked my wife what channel I watch the most, she’d tell you, without blinking an eye, the Food Network. And she’d be right. It’s my go-to channel, especially when there’s nothing on, which for me is often. In the beginning, “Emeril Live” gathered a big fan base and brought a lot of viewers to the channel. Oddly enough, I didn’t really get into Emeril all that much, but there was this other “small” show they offerd, “Good Eats” with Alton Brown, that caught my attention and quickly made me a fan. My addiction grew from there, from watching the dubbed original Japanese version of the “Iron Chef” to watching the English version of kitchen stadium. I loved the creative lunacy found in “Ace of Cakes” (last year we drove by Charm City …

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Mad Cactus Reopens to Huge Crowd after Food Network Makeover

'Restaurant: Impossible' chef revamps menu, decor at Pearl Road restaurant

With cameras rolling, Food Network host Robert Irvine swung open the door and welcomed Tom Krukemeyer to his own restaurant. Krukemeyer, owner of Mad Cactus for the last 23 years, had yet to see how the design team from Restaurant: Impossible had redecorated his dining rooms. Irvine had Krukemeyer, his son Tommy and daughter Kelly close their eyes as he led them inside for the big "reveal." The door swung shut with only two cameramen following. We'll have to wait till the show airs Nov. 2 to find out their reaction. Krukemeyer, bound by a gag order, couldn't talk about the intense two-day makeover of the Mad Cactus' menu and decor at the grand reopening Tuesday night. He offered up only one word for the experience. "Brutal," he said, …

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