Is Bask 46 Still Open? Kitchen Nightmares Update (Woodland Park, NJ)

Bask46, a gastropub on Route 46 in Woodland Park, New Jersey, had been open only about six months when it was featured on Kitchen Nightmares Season 8, Episode 2, filmed around late May 2023 and airing October 2, 2023. The restaurant is owned by Steve and Sandi Baskinger, who also own a separate, longer-running restaurant, Bask Bar & Grill, on Browertown Road in the same borough, a second business that became the subject of an unrelated zoning dispute in September 2023, when Patch reported a landlord-driven proposal to demolish that Browertown Road strip mall for a drive-thru Dunkin' location. At Bask46, Ramsay found oversized portions cutting into food cost, inconsistent kitchen execution, and friction between front- and back-of-house staff, including a head chef who, according to showrunner David DeAngelis speaking to Variety in 2023, called himself "the culinary gangster" and had branded merchandise made to match.

Ramsay also found that a "homemade" cheese sauce on the menu was made using Cheez Whiz. During the relaunch, production worked with the restaurant on portion control, menu refinement, and clearer systems between the kitchen and front of house, and addressed personality conflicts in the leadership team. In a post on the restaurant's own website, published February 18, 2026, and updated that April, Bask46 described the show as difficult but valuable, writing that the cameras left but the work stayed, and crediting the experience with lasting improvements to menu consistency, portion sizing, and inventory and prep systems.

The post states the restaurant remains open and points to current Google reviews as evidence, while a Yelp listing for the address shows an active review history as well. The Woodland Park community rallied around Steve Baskinger's other restaurant, Bask Bar & Grill, during the Dunkin' zoning fight the same autumn the Kitchen Nightmares episode aired, with Baskinger using Bask46's social media to promote both a Kitchen Nightmares watch party and opposition to the redevelopment plan, according to Patch's coverage; the zoning matter concerned the separate Browertown Road property and was not connected to the Kitchen Nightmares episode itself.