Westchester restaurant featured on new season of Gordon Ramsay's 'Kitchen Nightmares'

The new season of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's popular Fox show, "Kitchen Nightmares," is back after an almost decade hiatus, this time showcasing a Puerto Rican restaurant in Yonkers.

The 10-episode series airs 8 p.m. Sept. 25, though El Cantito Cafe, the sibling-owned eatery, will not be shown on that date. Owners Julio Santana and Adelvi (aka Debbie) Santana — he's the chef and she's in charge of the front of the house — are in the dark on the exact date their story will air. But to keep it lively, they're opening their doors every Monday throughout the 10 Mondays the show is on (they're normally closed that day).

For those not familiar with the show, it follows Ramsay as he travels the country revamping restaurants in crisis, which, since the pandemic, has become even more of a challenge. The last time the flamboyant chef was in the lower Hudson Valley was in 2018 when he did a makeover of Bella Gianna's in Congers.

The Santanas opened their spot on March 10, 2020, five days before the pandemic shut everything down. Though the eatery opened once regulations where lifted, and did a lot of pivoting and takeout during the height of COVID, the Santanas admitted that it's been difficult with inflation and the lingering effects of the pandemic.

They also had drag shows, which brought in large crowds but were shut down due to the fact that they lacked a cabaret license, something they're now working on getting. The loss of business exhausted their savings, forcing the siblings to work overtime to keep the business running.

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It's why they think their story was so compelling to the Ramsay production team, who heard of them through a casting agent who sent the team a three-minute video of the Santanas discussing their business. "They saw our story and instantly reached out," said Julio Santana. (He admitted he first thought it was a scam when the casting agent approached them.)

The two opened their 24-seat eatery as an homage to their mother Gloria Santana, who passed away 13 years ago from breast cancer at age 62. All of the recipes are hers. The two grew up in Brooklyn but their mom is from Manatí, Puerto Rico, specifically El Cantito. Everything, from the vibe to the food to the decor to the music inside, has been, from day one, all about Puerto Rico. And, about family.

But Ramsay had some changes — mostly operational — as well as what Debbie Santana called a "360-degree" remodel of their interior.

So, what's changed?

While Ramsay loved their story — he came to Yonkers to film in June — he felt they needed to streamline. That meant minimizing their menu, cutting out key staple items, bringing in new kitchen appliances (check out the new frozen margarita and pina colada machine that sits in the bar!), organizing their front-of-house and kitchen systems as well as overhauling the interior.

The Santanas couldn't reveal exactly what every change is — you have to watch the show — but they did say they grew very close to Ramsay; trusted his judgement; and, though some of it was hard emotionally, especially when it came to the redo of the interior, they were happy with the end result. So much so that when Julio brought back certain menu items regular customers were missing, he did it slowly, with Ramsay's advice in mind. So far, it's working.

What hasn't changed was the focus on Gloria Santana's recipes, albeit a tad refined, as Julio and Debbie held firm that their cuisine needs to be as authentic and true to Puerto Rico as possible. "He didn’t touch my food," said Julio Santana, "he just guided me on how to be successful with what I was doing."

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That means items like pernil (roasted pork shoulder) and ceviche, and crowd favorites like empanadas and carne guisada (beef stew), Julio reintroduced.

As for the systems Ramsay put in place, the siblings said he made the kitchen more user-friendly for themselves and their staff and did the same with the front of house. Debbie, who spent two decades in corporate America, learned how to step back and not micromanage so much. "It's all become easier," she said.

If you go

Address: 1550D Central Park Ave., Yonkers

Phone: 914-787-1550

Good to know: The Santana's have filed for a cabaret license so they can feature live music, DJ's, drag shows, and more.

Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @lohud_food or via the lohudfood newsletter. 

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Gordon Ramsay's 'Kitchen Nightmares' featuring Yonkers NY restaurant