What Happened to Tootie's Texas BBQ After Restaurant: Impossible (FN)?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) chef Robert Irvine visited Tootie's Texas BBQ in Cathedral City, California, for the Season 8 episode "A Lot to Lose," which aired March 12, 2014. The Perez Road barbecue restaurant, in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, was dealing with declining sales and kitchen inconsistency that the show tied to menu complexity and pricing issues, along with the strain the owner was under while also managing serious personal health difficulties, as later covered by local news. Irvine's crew renovated the space over the standard two-day production window, refreshing the dining room and signage, and reworked the barbecue menu to a shorter, more consistent lineup intended to reduce ticket times and food costs for the small kitchen crew; the visit focused on tightening the menu and refreshing the physical space rather than a wholesale concept change.

According to local outlet KESQ, owner Eileen Smith passed away in May 2014, a few months after the episode aired. Food Network Gossip, a fan blog, reported the restaurant's closure in a 2015 post, describing Tootie's as having wound down in early 2015 following the loss of its owner. A Yelp listing for Tootie's Texas Barbeque at 68703 Perez Rd is marked closed as of a March 2026 site check, consistent with that earlier reporting, and no sources were found indicating the restaurant reopened under the same or a different name at the address since.

Given the personal circumstances involved, this record limits detail to the fact and approximate timing of the closure and the owner's passing as reported by KESQ, rather than any additional personal specifics. Local coverage reviewed for this record did not describe the restaurant changing hands or reopening under new ownership at the Perez Road address after the 2015 closure, and no evidence was found of a Tootie's location continuing to operate elsewhere in the Coachella Valley.