IN FOCUS

•By the way, how did the Whistle Stop turn out?

An online review at Urbanspoon.com by diner Elizabeth Smith opens with, “Yes, Restaurant Impossible DID the makeover last week and they did great! My husband and I went on Saturday at around 2:30.

“The first thing you notice is the improved decor – modern mixed with some rustic touches to match the Railroad Train Tracks outside and the name of the place. They moved things around so it is much more spacious. More lighting makes it brighter. Now the food – it is a lot better!”

In early July, chef Robert Irvine is in Arkansas with his Wednesday Food Network makeover show “Restaurant: Impossible,” and he’s not happy with what he sees.

“We’re at a restaurant called Whistle Stop Cafe,” he says. “We came in late last night, started this morning, and we’re just thinking out the restaurant. They’ve got a lot of problems – management, leadership, cleanliness, cooking, you name it. It’s all in there. It’s the perfect storm.”

One would think, with all sorts of state and local inspectors, it’d be tough to find a truly dirty kitchen in America.

But, says Irvine, not so much.

“It’s scary,” he says. “But we find them, and it’s not difficult to find them. That’s the worst part. There’s another one today.”

As for what’s on the menu, Irvine says, “It’s a big, buffet-style restaurant, more Southern-style food than anything else – catfish, collard greens, fried chicken. That seems to be the staple here. We’re taking it out and refining that into what I think should go here and can be put out fast, on a consistent basis, with fresh food. Right now, it’s all frozen and canned.”

Irvine has had to become a bit of a psychologist during the time he’s worked on “Restaurant: Impossible.”