[soothing music]
[cow mooing]
Top Chef is back.
- [dramatic music] - Give me that.
KRISTEN: We've gathered rising star chefs
from across the country here to Wisconsin.
- Too much cheese. - Get outta Wisconsin.
[laughs]
[cheering]
DANNY: I've worked at The Nomad, the French Laundry.
It's like this Michael Jordan mentality.
If you're gonna do it, just be the best at it.
I'm most proud of being a chef de cuisine
of a Michelin Star restaurant at 24
and getting selected for Top Chef.
VALENTINE: Being a finalist for the James Beard Awards recently,
it's more than just the cooking, I'm addicted.
SAVANNAH: Your tostadas are burning.
- It'll be rustic. - I need like five.
The onions are not the problem.
This is a competition.
I want people to drop like flies.
- All right, guys. Time. - [bleep]
Kitchen's open, everybody.
KRISTEN: At stake for the winner,
a feature in Food & Wine magazine,
an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
$250,000 furnished
by Saratoga Spring Water.
And the title of Top Chef.
♪
Holy sh--!
- Wow! - [laughter]
Hi, Chefs.
Welcome to Wisconsin
and season 21 of Top Chef.
I could not be more thrilled to be here
as the host of Top Chef.
[cheers, applause]
We couldn't be happier
to have you standing right between us.
I really love your perspective.
And I really look forward to maybe going head to head
with you at Judges' Table.
Yeah, it'll be fun. Lots of fun.
We're gonna disagree a few times.
KALEENA: Kristen is such a badass.
She is also adopted from Korea, like me.
She's inspiring.
But it is a little bit of a double-edged sword
that she's competed before
because if you're half-assing it,
she's gonna know.
I was probably the most surprised person
to hear that I have the opportunity
to stand right here.
And I'm excited to shake things up.
- I'm sure. - Ooh, I just got goosebumps.
[cheers, applause]
I love this applause that's happening.
Energy.
I grew up on the other side of Lake Michigan in Kentwood,
right outside of Grand Rapids,
so this kind of feels like a homecoming
in more ways than one.
Enough about me.
And it's time we get to know all of you.
I'm pretty sure we have some James Beard nominees
in the house. Show your hands.
- Oh, God. Wow. - GAIL: Quite a few.
- KRISTEN: Well done. - TOM: Nice. Okay.
James Beard nominee for Best Chef Northeast.
Two-time James Beard nominee.
I got nominated for Emerging Chef.
Best Chef South. Best New Restaurant.
Nominee for Emerging Chef.
I'm five-time James Beard semifinalist
for Best Chef Midwest.
And raise your hands if you have worked
in a Michelin Star kitchen.
TOM: Okay.
Everybody's hands, like, shoot up
for a James Beard or Michelin Star kitchen.
And I don't have either of those things.
I still am defining my cuisine.
And who here has competed on Top Chef before?
- Okay. - [laughing]
- I don't remember seeing you. - [all laugh]
So in 2015 in France, and I was finalist.
- Finalist? - In France?
- KEVIN: Yeah. - My eyes are on yours.
[laughing]
Top Chef in France was one of my
deepest experience in my life.
And make it to Top Chef,
it's like a-- a dream come true
second time. [laughs]
- I know. - David,
do you cook with that hat on all the time?
- Every day of my life. - Tom, looks like
you got some hat competition over there.
I can see that. It's good, it's good.
Hey, Tom's hat game. [mimics shuddering]
Oh, no, I didn't mean to say that. [laughs]
The insults are flying already. This is great.
This is gonna be a great season.
The only thing I care about is what you cook.
That's it.
Chefs, you are all here to compete
for the grand prize
of $250,000.
DAVID: Give it to me!
Furnished by Saratoga Spring Water.
And you're also competing for the title of Top Chef.
- Yeah, baby! - Ooh, yeah!
- [laughing] - KRISTEN: There it is.
I hope you're all ready because first impressions
are really important in this competition.
But you won't be making one today.
Already twisting.
Chefs, there is no Quickfire today.
- Whoa. - Plot twist.
But before we get into the Elimination Challenge,
there are a few new rules you need to be aware of.
Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
For the first time ever,
there'll be no immunity given for a Quickfire win.
- Wow. - Whoa.
- Wow. - Okay.
Who needs immunity anyways, right?
That doesn't mean immunity isn't up for grabs.
The winner of the Elimination Challenge
will receive immunity,
which means you can't be sent home
in the following Elimination Challenge.
- Nice. - Oh, that's cool.
In the past, you get immunity at the Quickfire
and then you can kind of play it safe.
But like, now, it just gives you more incentive
to keep cooking gangster food the entire time.
Quickfires are just as important as ever.
That's because over $100,000
will be up for grabs in the Quickfire challenges.
- [cheering] - Hell yeah!
Hold up, hold up, hold up.
- Let's go. Let's do it. - Give me the money.
- We love cash. - Yes, we do.
All right, I think it's time
that we put you all to the test.
Chefs, it's time to draw knives.
- ALISHA: I got Gail. - DAVID: Gail.
LAURA: Ooh. Kristen.
KALEENA: All right, Tom.
Best for last.
I bet you're wondering
why our names are written on your knives.
- Maybe you're our teammates. - [Tom laughs]
- Probably not. - [all laugh]
After 20 seasons, I think we know a thing or two
about what it takes to become a Top Chef.
So for your first Elimination Challenge,
Tom, Gail and I are putting each of you that drew our names
through a challenge of our choosing.
- Yes! Okay. - Oh, nice.
- I knew it. - KRISTEN: All right.
This is all an individual challenge.
I'll never forget my first challenge.
To even get to season 10 in Seattle,
we had to make soup for Emeril.
So I have English pea broth.
The scallops are perfectly cooked.
Nice job.
For my group,
- I want you to make a soup. - I love soup.
- Let's do it. - Me too.
And I feel like that's a good test for Top Chef
because it's about developing flavor,
not just something that's thrown together.
Gail.
There's one type of dish
our chefs can't get right.
- Stuffed pasta. - [laughs]
The pasta dough, I think,
was definitely a little bit thick,
a little bit uneven.
Take influence from anywhere in the world.
I just wanna know that you're making
a fresh pasta dough.
I've been in barbecue for the last six years,
so I haven't made pasta in years.
- Here we go. - [laughs]
I've been a pitmaster for the last six years of my life.
It's been so many years since I've made pasta.
Gail, I don't know how cute you are no more. [laughs]
- I----ing hate pasta. - [laughter]
- Did you say you hate pasta? - Yes. Yes.
Oh! This is a great group together.
- Yeah. Can't wait. - DAVID: Let's go, baby.
KRISTEN: And last but not least, Tom.
One thing that we've seen over and over again:
improperly cooked proteins.
- You gave us raw chicken. - Raw chicken?
There was a lot of sinew in my first bite,
so I had to spit it up.
So for your challenge, I would like to see you
roast a whole chicken.
- [chef whoops] - It needs to be perfect.
You need to serve us a little white meat,
a little dark meat, but I wanna see
a composed whole dish.
Just blow us away.
Today, you're gonna have 30 minutes and $200
to shop at Whole Foods Market.
- Ooh. - Okay.
Tomorrow, you'll have two hours
to cook and serve at Lupi & Iris Restaurant.
Each of you are going to serve your dishes to us
and the guest judges: legendary Wisconsin restaurateur,
- Paul Bartolotta. - I know him.
- He's kind of a big deal. - Yeah.
And we have James Beard Award winner,
executive chef, and owner of Lupi & Iris,
- Adam Siegel. - Oh.
Chefs, during that whole James Beard nominee,
Michelin Star, who didn't raise their hand?
Okay.
Season 10, I had on my resume three cook jobs,
and I was a current sous-chef.
So, as much as it is amazing
that you guys have all come so far in your career,
once you get into the Top Chef kitchen,
really, quite frankly,
it does not matter at all.
You're gonna bring your A-game tomorrow?
- ALL: Yes! - Can't wait.
Good luck, and we'll see you tomorrow.
- Good luck, Chefs. - Thank you, Chef.
KALEENA: Thank you, Chef.
♪
I actually worked with Amanda.
- The girls' car is the best. - Yeah.
I wonder what everyone else is talking about.
How'd y'all feel when y'all first heard
that we're going to Milwaukee?
- Milwaukee. - KENNY: I was down for it.
I feel like every city's got something to give.
Yeah. I asked Mr. Milwaukee, I think Dan, that's his name.
- Mr. Milwaukee. - I was like,
"Yo, tell us about your city."
This Midwest nice sh--
- We haven't heard about it. - ...is 100% legit.
Okay.
DAN: Move in! Get over!
- [car horn honks] - Come on, bro. Let's go!
Come on. Jesus Christ!
- Hey, where are you from? - I'm from Monterrey, Mexico,
but I've been living in Colorado for five years.
I left Mexico 14 years ago
with nothing but a bunch of family recipes.
I want to be representing Mexico
with elevated dishes.
If you want crunchy tacos, if you want cheddar cheese,
I am not your guy. [laughs]
Chicken, tortillas, and maíz pozolero
are my important ingredients.
♪
You wanna go for it right now?
♪
KEVIN: Let's do it.
[whistling]
We don't shop in Top Chef France.
So I'm really embracing
the novelty of this experience.
DAVID: Kevin, what the hell are you doing, dude?
KALEENA: Wait, I put things in your cart.
Sorry. [laughs]
David, what are you thinking?
DAVID: I'm doing, like,
a fun little stuffed gnocchi.
I've never made a stuffed gnocchi,
but let's just roll the dice.
Nothing about a gnocchi being stuffed is traditional.
I'm gonna build a really cool ragu.
It's gonna have a bunch of offal.
Comin' right behind.
Utilizing scraps, for me, it's the baseline
of what my cuisine is.
About a year and a half ago,
my partner Kayla and I opened up Shuggie's,
our food-waste-focused restaurant in San Francisco.
We made the space really, like, loud, very maximalist.
My restaurant has won
Best New Restaurants for 2023 from Esquire,
Best New Restaurants from Bon Appetit.
We've been crushing it.
Oh, man, my fly's down.
Don't tell anybody.
Sustainable's sexy, baby. Yeah!
DAN: What do you got, Michelle? What are you thinking?
A lobster stuff, kind of ravioli.
What chef are you cooking for again?
I'm cooking for Kristen. How about you?
Kristen? I'm cooking for Chef Tom.
I'm gonna do a sriracha hoisin,
um, butter and roast my chicken in it.
I'm opening up my own Vietnamese restaurant
called Pretty Boy.
My grandmother and me,
we call each other nguoi dep,
which is like "beautiful person."
She was a big part of me wanting to become a chef.
Asian aisle.
The only thing I wanted to be other than a chef
was a backup singer.
I hit all the notes.
Like, my falsetto, elite.
[vocalizing] Okay, that was bad.
We'll cut that later. I'm not ready right now.
DAVID: 20 minutes!
Ten minutes passed really fast, y'all.
I just need canola oil.
VALENTINE: I'm grabbing some whole chickens
for Tom's beautiful roasted chicken.
When people ask me if I have a style of cooking,
my answer is eclectic, just like me.
I grew up in a very multicultural household.
My mom is Italian American,
and my father is straight from Jamaica.
I have got shishitos.
I have to thank my upbringing
for molding how I view food
and how I cook food to this day.
And I like to have fun. That's what cooking's about too.
I'm like a giant teddy bear.
Nine minutes, guys!
MICHELLE: That ain't my basket.
Lord, help me, what did I do with it?
I'm thinking of doing like a little play
on a Provencal stew, kinda like a bouillabaisse.
Give me the 12 little necks.
I'm from Wisconsin, so help me out here.
- Let's hope this works. - Vámonos.
VALENTINE: I just gotta make sure I'm under 200.
Come on, baby!
[whoops]
DAN: I feel like I totally forgot something.
[upbeat music]
CHARLY: Y'all ready for a drink?
- ALL: Whoa. - DAVID: This is nice.
KALEENA: What? This looks great.
- Good luck tomorrow. - Cheers.
- Chin-chin. - Chin-chin.
I guess I'm the only chef from Wisconsin that's here.
So, guys, I just wanna welcome you
to Milwaukee and to Wisconsin.
- [all cheering] - DAVID: What a sweetheart.
- DAN: That's what it's about. - I live in Chicago now.
We're gonna have to keep in touch.
ALISHA: You're in Chicago? That's awesome.
- I'm from there, yeah. - So am I.
KALEENA: I just moved to the Midwest.
The food here, it's the opposite
of, like, what I'm used to.
My style is very Pacific Northwest. It's coastal.
I'm actually really excited to learn
everybody's cuisine and see what y'all do.
The food here is cheese, it's beer,
and it definitely is meat and potatoes.
But I mean that in a good way.
AMANDA: What's your sign?
Aquarius, February 14th.
Oh, nice.
AMANDA: I'm very into astrology.
[laughs] I'm a witch.
- Sagittarius. - ALISHA: Ooh, same.
I'm a Capricorn. We're the best.
And I'm a lot of things that are not the norm.
I'm a nerd. I'm a gamer. A biracial Black woman.
Representation matters a lot.
It just feels like it's my destiny.
I'm the only Asian, but I feel like I don't--
- ALISHA: Wait, no! - I'm sorry! [laughs]
I understand. I'm racially ambiguous.
KALEENA: Bro, you have eyelids.
KENNY: The youngest person here is Asian.
- MANNY: Also Asian. - KENNY: Also Asian.
DAN: I'm 45 years old.
I am the oldest person in this competition.
- KENNY: No, no, no, no, no. - No? Oh, that's right!
- MICHELLE: I'm in my forties. - VALENTINE: In your forties?
Wow, you don't look like you're in your forties.
[all laughing]
[tense music]
Ooh, sexy.
How crazy is this?
Here we go.
KENNY: Everybody feeling good
- about their dish? - VALENTINE: I feel really good.
Just putting my culture and my heart on my sleeve.
- Yeah, me too. - Letting it go out. You know.
MANNY: How do you feel today, guys?
DAVID: I've never stuffed a----ing gnocchi before.
How do you stuff a gnocchi?
It's gonna be interesting.
♪
[Dan whoops]
Yeah! [laughs]
Let's go, baby! Sexy, let's go.
We 'bout to get started.
Corner.
♪
ALISHA: How you doing? You all right?
MICHELLE: I have no idea.
I'm gonna do a lobster ricotta stuffed pasta shape.
Whichever one I can pull out, great.
I wanted to get my sauce done, but I'm like,
if I don't have pasta, what good is the sauce?
Pasta is so simplistic in its making.
Come on, pasta.
But there's very little room for error.
Oh, this little barbecue girl gonna get some
- pasta done today. - KEVIN: You're doing great.
- [Michelle laughs] - You're doing great.
- Come on, girl. - KEVIN: Cuidado.
- Caliente, caliente. - ALISHA: Ooh, squid ink.
KEVIN: I'm making ink squid raviolo lobster bisque.
- ALISHA: Hell yeah. - David, what are you making?
Crispy gnocchi, which is not typical.
It's gonna have, like, a chicken liver ragu.
Judges are gonna be like, "Oh, awful."
But that's the way I cook.
Ragu, baby. Let's go, ragu.
Everybody makes a chicken liver mousse,
but not everybody will make a really sexy ragu.
A little table sauce. [exclaims]
ALISHA: I'm gonna do a stuffed gnocchi.
I'm sure that sounds familiar right now.
- [laughs] - Gnocchi battle.
I'm gonna stuff it with mushroom.
Me and David are both doing stuffed gnocchi,
which I'm like, "Of course."
It's all gonna come down to who's gonna do it the best.
What are you making your gnocchi out of?
- Wouldn't you like to know? - Oh!
[laughs]
♪
DAVID: More people coming in 30 seconds.
- ALISHA: Heck yeah! - DAVID: Rasika.
- Yes? - You love pasta or what?
No. Indians don't really have a kind of pasta.
This dish is normally, like,
it's actually a religious offering
- that my grandmom used to make. - Oh, my God.
RASIKA: It's predominantly made with rice flour.
With South Indian food, I take inspiration
by how it's traditionally made.
And I "Rasika-fy" it to make it something
that's never been done before.
Putting beef in this is like my own take in it.
It might piss off some people,
but I'll deal with that later.
- We're here. - ALISHA: Welcome, Chefs.
You guys got some pasta working?
DAVID: Pasta working, baby.
DAN: Tight quarters, kids.
AMANDA: Dan, have you ever worked here?
You're from Milwaukee.
DAN: I haven't worked here, but
it's a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant,
so I'm doing a soup based on that.
But I cook a lot of Asian stuff here in Milwaukee,
so I figured I'd add a little Asian flair
to this bouillabaisse.
Me and my partner Dan opened up DanDan,
which is Chinese American.
I grew up eating in Chinese restaurants all the time.
To this day, my comfort food is Chinese restaurants.
So I'm seasoning up my soup with fish sauce.
Steal some of your shiro dashi
- in a second. - AMANDA: No way. [laughs]
What you doing over there, Manny?
I'm making chicken stock in a pressure cooker.
CHARLY: Have you ever done that?
I have not, so we're gonna learn today.
I have never made chicken stock in two hours.
Ever.
But I'm in Top Chef.
I am not gonna do store-bought chicken stock,
especially for the soup challenge.
Dude, I don't know how to use that pressure cooker.
It's too advanced for me.
♪
- Pan stopped working. - MANNY: How you feeling?
My stock tastes so good. Trying to get these shrimp
pickled in a little bit.
My home's Boston, but my parents,
they came from Haiti.
We call this "epis" in Haiti.
It's like a Haitian spice paste.
Sweating out flavor, baby.
LAURA: Beautiful morels from Wisconsin.
AMANDA: What are you working on?
I've been cooking Eastern Mediterranean food
for the past seven, eight years,
and I'm combining that with a technique
that they use in Turkey to make yogurt soup.
AMANDA: You're saving me some, right?
- Yes, I will. - [laughs]
- MICHELLE: We got 45 minutes. - ALISHA: 45 minutes, heard.
[suspenseful music]
- Chefs are here, y'all. - Chefs are in the house.
- DAN: Chefs in the building. - DAVID: Thank you.
Y'all better get clean.
KRISTEN: Here we are, first Elimination Challenge
for season 21 of Top Chef.
Adam and Paul, I just wanna thank you so much
for welcoming us to, one, Lupi & Iris
beautiful restaurant, and to Wisconsin.
We are super excited to showcase our city and our region.
We're honored that you're here.
What you got going in there?
AMANDA: I got chicken, I got veggies.
Trying to get a little smoke on it.
I'm making soup,
but I'm also roasting chicken.
I'm making dough.
- You making gnocchi right now? - [Amanda laughs]
I'm kind of combining the three challenges.
It's complicated.
It's not exactly gnocchi.
Biscuit dumplings. I'm from Texas.
- Gotta make biscuits. - Oh, my God.
- Why did I just get goosebumps? - GAIL: I know.
I don't know why that just happened.
I just got nervous for them, I think.
♪
Chicken team. Team chicken.
Behind, Chef. How's that oven looking?
Tom has set up a relatively simple
but really difficult challenge of roasting a chicken.
Truly, in its simplicity, it's tough.
It's a basic maneuver that every chef should know,
but it's amazing how many don't.
Good roast chicken should have a crisp skin.
The breast meat should be cooked through,
roughly the same time as the leg meat is.
It has to rest a little bit, but not too much.
It's culinary 101.
If you can make a good roast chicken,
I think that's a sign of being a good cook.
DANNY: I'm going classic roast.
What Tom asked for was to cook a perfect chicken.
It's gonna have an herb butter, which is
what I'm working on right now, under the skin.
VALENTINE: Something smells really good.
- That's my butter, baby. - I want that in a cookie.
DANNY: I don't wanna disguise it in any way.
I really wanna show him a perfectly cooked chicken.
I should be on a rack. But you know what?
It's a pirate ship today. We're gonna be on a pirate ship.
- We got the fire going now. - Yeah.
GAIL: Kaleena, what are you doing over there?
- There's a lot going on. - It's my little spice market.
And I'm making a curry sauce to go with some chicken.
- GAIL: That explains a lot. - [Kaleena laughs]
How do you feel about Tom's challenge?
Big fan of Tom's challenge.
I'm trying to get as much Vietnamese spices
as I can in here, making some good pho seasoning.
SAVANNAH: Hey, Valentine, how you feeling?
I'm looking good. I'm feeling pretty good.
I got my herbs cut
for my warm shishito salad.
Hazelnuts getting toasty. My cream corn looking creamy.
This dish, it's bright, it's loud, it's boisterous.
Just like your boy.
SAVANNAH: Wow, amazing.
VALENTINE: How often do you roast chicken?
I have a background in Japanese cuisine,
so, I guess it's not that often, right?
We don't do a lot of roasted chicken.
KALEENA: Behind.
♪
- DAN: What's our time? - RASIKA: Thirty-four, Chef.
Beautiful pasta dough.
Looks pretty dope. I'm very happy.
KRISTEN: Gail has her group over here
on our left side doing a stuffed pasta.
The thing about stuffed pasta is there's so many variables.
First and foremost, the dough,
then there's the filling,
there's the cook on each, and then there's, of course,
the sauce that brings it all together.
And that makes for a very complex balance.
And if you don't nail it,
there's just so much that can go wrong.
I think the pasta will be
the most difficult dish for them.
Gail's gonna be looking for a pasta that's not too dense.
- Twenty-seven! - DAVID: Twenty-seven.
Are you doing your gnocchi
all out of ricotta or mushrooms, what are you doing?
So I do the ricotta, egg yolks, flour, parmesan,
and I let it sit so it'll be nice and fluffy.
Cool.
KEVIN: Focus, focus.
Giving love to the ravioli.
With the last name I have, like,
I can----ing eat up the ravioli.
My dad is Italian, so... [chuckles]
...I can't really mess up with this challenge.
The biggest competition in this competition is me.
I'm very happy to be back in Top Chef.
Let's go!
CHARLY: Michelle, I know you're on the grill.
- That's your specialty. - You know I'm on the grill.
If there's a grill, I'm gonna use it.
CHARLY: What are you gonna do with them onions?
MICHELLE: Char some for my corn lobster sauce.
That's gonna be the sauce for the pasta.
CHARLY: Oh, that sounds good.
KEVIN: David, how's your potato going?
DAVID: This is gnocchi texture.
We're looking pillowy, but I'm gonna need
a little bit of tooth, because I'm stuffing this thing.
Fun little farce of gnocchi mushroom.
I'm curious to know how long the pasta group
has been in there, in the kitchen.
Are you questioning the fact that
he's still rolling out the dough?
- Absolutely. - Yes. I saw that.
DAVID: Come on, bitch.
I'm trying to roll it out
as you would a traditional raviolo,
but just a little bit thicker,
because I want it to have the chew
and the pillowyness of gnocchi.
Oh, there we go.
MICHELLE: I'm very nervous.
KALEENA: Behind.
- MICHELLE: Oh, my gosh. - KEVIN: You okay? Need help?
What I'm looking for
is a nice, smooth dough,
so I work it down as thin as I can get it.
- Oh, man. - KEVIN: You okay, Michelle?
MICHELLE: I'm good. Oh, man, I hope I'm good.
It literally is a battle in my mind.
Like, "You don't know what you're doing." "Yes, you do."
"You don't know what you're doing."
"Yes, you do."
Oh, my gosh.
♪
MANNY: 16 minutes.
This is really exciting to be cooking for Kristen.
For mine, I've asked the chefs to make a soup.
There is a tendency-- People overthink things a little bit.
KRISTEN: The thing with soup is everything
has to be really well-balanced.
It's trying to bring a bunch
of different things to the party,
and you still need everything to shine properly.
DAN: Seasoning up my soup a bit.
Ginger, lemongrass. There went all the knuckle hairs.
Manny, where you at?
MANNY: Grilling my vegetables right now.
This competition is definitely
the perfect stage for impostor syndrome.
And I'm keeping an eye on that pressure cooker,
- man, because she hot. - [laughs]
You start thinking about, "Have I done enough
"to earn my place on the table with this crew?"
RASIKA: I have a lot of garnishes to make it beautiful.
MANNY: People are doing soups that are
a little bit more elegant,
and I decide not to go for that.
CHARLY: What are you gonna do with them vegetables?
- MANNY: Roasted salsa verde. - Ooh!
MANNY: It doesn't matter how they look,
if they don't have soul.
Pozole has soul.
AMANDA: Manny, it smells really good.
My chicken stock worked out.
- Yeah, it did? - Yeah, I'm so happy.
I'm also making chicken stock.
Chicken and dumplings is simple,
so I'm trying to elevate it a little bit.
Working on garnish.
So I make citrus gremolata, bringing flavors
that I love, to lighten up the dish.
Uh-oh. Ooh. Goddamn.
The yuzu kosho's salty.
I'm gonna add cream, so it'll dial it down.
I'm actually tempering my soup with the same thing.
- I want things to be perfect. - Yep.
MICHELLE: How do you make a tortellini?
ALISHA: Hey, she just said
- stuffed pasta. - MICHELLE: Right.
I do not have the confidence
to play around with shapes like tortellini,
so I get to rolling out my ravioli.
- Lord be with me. - ALISHA: Beautiful, Michelle.
MICHELLE: Ooh, I appreciate that.
KEVIN: Five minutes for the pasta.
- MICHELLE: Oh, sh--! - ALISHA: Five minutes?
DAVID: Oh, yeah, baby, let's go. It's time for me to plate.
Goddamn, this is a little too tight.
Hey, pasta group, you have one minute.
- One minute, Chefs. - We got one minute. Oh, my God.
RASIKA: Going home on the first challenge
is every chef's nightmare. [laughs]
I am not necessarily happy with this plating.
I feel you on that.
DAVID: My hands are shaking like a mother---er!
- [timer beeps] - GAIL: Hands up, hands up.
- Here comes the pastas. - [Kristen laughs]
Oh, my God. I'm excited.
- Hi there. - Hello, Chefs.
- How are you? - GAIL: Thank you.
Beautiful. Thank you.
- ADAM: Love the hat. - Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Kevin, can you please tell us what you've made
for your stuffed pasta dish?
I made a squid ink raviolo
with leek tombée, butter,
and reduced cream and bisque inside.
You have lobster and shrimp and a fennel purée.
I think it was a great challenge.
- I really have fun with it. - Appreciate that.
- KRISTEN: David. - I've got a stuffed gnocchi.
The farce has mushroom stem.
On top, I made a gravy of speck
with chicken liver and chicken blood,
mascarpone, and Calabrian chili.
You said it was a gnocchi dough?
Yeah, I'm not huge on pasta,
but I love gnocchi.
- Two down. - Rasika, what do we have here?
I took inspiration from this dish called kozhukattai
to make a dough with rice flour,
stuffed it with keema, which is spiced ground beef.
And I paired it with a kurma, a South Indian vegetable stew.
- Excellent, thank you. - GAIL: Thank you all.
ADAM: Thank you very much.
KEVIN: That was nuts, dude.
One, two, three.
Hello.
- MICHELLE: Hi, Chefs. - How are you?
Alisha, can you please tell us what you've made?
A ricotta gnocchi.
There's no potato in that.
I stuffed it with roasted mushroom bechamel,
the whipped truffle, goat cheese, and ricotta,
and a little bit of preserved lemon.
KRISTEN: Michelle.
I made a ricotta and lobster stuffed pasta.
The ricotta has a little bit of lemon in it,
and then I made a charred corn sauce.
The crispy chorizo was the garnish.
- That's a pasta dish. - Yeah.
Any challenges that occurred
while you were doing your dishes?
I think the biggest challenge just lies within my head
and not overthinking my dish.
- Welcome to Top Chef. - Yeah.
- [all laughing] - Thank you, Chefs.
- GAIL: Thank you both.
It was a great challenge.
TOM: I think it's pretty close.
Kevin's lobster raviolo, I thought it was really tasty.
There was a lot of flavor in his dish.
GAIL: What I really appreciated was the seasoning.
But the pasta was definitely thick
- and felt a little weighted. - I agree.
KRISTEN: I love the thinness of Michelle's pasta.
I love when you can see your hand through the pasta.
TOM: It was so delicate. It's nice.
For someone who doesn't make a lot of pasta,
she actually did a better job than--
Yes, I think her pasta was the best of everybody else.
The corn in the lobster was nice and elegant.
The flavor profiles really came through on it.
MICHELLE: Oh, gosh.
I'm blown away by myself today, for sure.
David's gnocchi, for me, was a little bit of a miss.
I don't know if that was even a gnocchi.
- It wasn't even really stuffed. - GAIL: No.
I also have a problem when there's all this other stuff,
but this is too much sauce for that one.
TOM: Of course, there is no way
you can eat all the sauce with that little gnocchi.
- Where is the beef? - Yeah.
RASIKA: How do you think it went, Chefs?
I'm as good as I think that dish was.
Rasika's dish, I love the initial flavor profile.
Taking that first bite, and the potatoes,
and that cauliflower.
I thought her flavors were quite developed.
- It wasn't a pasta, was it? - No.
- It wasn't a pasta dish. - No, it wasn't a pasta dish.
Alisha's dish, the flavors are really good,
but I found the pasta under-seasoned,
and then the goat cheese mushrooms kinda very assertive.
But I actually really liked the sage and the mushrooms.
I thought all the mushrooms were absolutely delicious.
All right, I think it's time to get the chefs out here.
First cook in the books.
Gail, how do you think they did?
You all tried to give us a lot of creativity,
show us a bit about yourselves.
I really liked that first insight from all of you.
- ALL: Thank you. - We did have a favorite.
And that dish belonged to...
- Michelle. - [Michelle laughs]
- Good job, Chef. - GAIL: Congratulations.
That means you're eligible for the win.
How does it feel?
- You are surprised. - I'm very much.
But, you know, I believed in my dish.
I thought it was great when I served it to you,
so I'm so happy you guys felt the same.
I love the thinness of your dough.
- It was extremely elegant. - [Michelle sighs]
But also the sauce, the pasta, the filling, the garnish
- was all in balance. - Yeah.
Thank you, Michelle, for fulfilling my challenge.
Thank you. [laughs]
Unfortunately, we did have a least favorite.
And that dish belonged to...
♪
Unfortunately, we did have a least favorite.
And that dish belonged to...
- David. - Ooh.
So, that means you're in danger of going home.
The filling was non-existent, but also, too many dots.
A lot of sauce, yeah.
Pasta's not really my thing.
Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of things
during the course of this competition
that's not your thing.
- Okay. - Thank you, Chefs.
- We'll see you a little later. - Thank you.
- GAIL: Thanks, guys. - TOM: Thanks.
Thank you, guys.
He'd given up before he started.
Coming down hot. Coming down hot. [grunts]
I am too old for this sh--.
AMANDA: Hey, Manny, your tostadas are burning, huh?
No, no, no. I want it like that.
- They're not burning. - DANNY: Nice.
Let me check this chicken.
[sizzling]
Oh, my God.
- DANNY: You good, Chef? - No. No, I'm not.
I'm at 72 degrees. No----ing way.
That don't even make sense.
These chickens, they're just not cooking
as fast as they need to be cooked.
Go, go. I just need to adapt. My chicken is raw still.
I'm not going home for no undercooked chicken.
- I gotta tell you that. - DANNY: You got this, papa.
We're gonna make a hot tub time machine.
We're gonna cook that bird real quick.
KALEENA: Do what you gotta do. Just get it on the plate.
I have the oven cranked up. It's at 500 degrees.
I'm crossing my fingers.
Just trying to get it cooked as quickly as possible.
Hot mess. Coming down.
MANNY: 20 minutes, guys.
- Let's start plating. - AMANDA: Yeah.
- MANNY: One minute! - Oh, my God.
I am shaking.
Time, time, time. Give me time.
- DANNY: 30 seconds. - AMANDA: Get it, get it.
LAURA: Just put it on the plate now.
- I think I'm gonna make it. - ALL: Three, two, one.
- [timer beeps] - [Amanda cheers]
- Go, soup, go! - [Dan groaning]
GAIL: Oh, here we go. Soup time.
- Hi. - Thank you, Chef.
- You're welcome. - Hello.
GAIL: Ooh, yeah. Pretty.
Charly, soup challenge.
- My challenge. - CHARLY: Yes.
I grew up in Boston, like New England area.
So I did corn and ham soup with pickled shrimp.
TOM: Charly, what I like about the dish,
you gave us a corn soup, and it has a ton of corn flavor.
- Thank you. - KRISTEN: Manny.
So I made a green pozole with chicken, charred salsa.
Then I charred also a tortilla.
It is just packed full of comfort,
- but you made it so elegant. - Thank you.
KRISTEN: Dan, what did you make?
DAN: I made tomato and fennel broth.
Basically, I love this restaurant,
and I know both of you guys very well.
I wanted to give your restaurant respect,
but I also wanted to add something
that was a little bit more me.
So there's some Asian ingredients in there.
Ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, and some shiradashi.
The three of you keep cooking like this,
- you're gonna go really far. - Appreciate it.
- ALL: Thank you. - Thank you, Chefs.
See, that's what you're supposed to do!
- Yeah! - Bro, that was so good!
- I liked them all. - All good. Good start.
- Hi, Chefs. - KRISTEN: Thank you.
- Hello. How are you? - Thank you.
- Laura. - LAURA: This is yuvalama.
Yuvalama is a mint yogurt soup
with bulgur meatballs, morel mushrooms and maitake.
KRISTEN: Amanda, can you tell us about your soup?
I made chicken and dumplings.
There is a citrus gremolata on the bottom.
It has a little bit of yuzu kosho
and a lot of lemon zest in it.
Oh, boy. The gremolata is really salty.
- Heard that. - Like, go back and taste it.
- Yes, Chef. - Thank you, Chefs.
- We'll call you back in a bit. - ALL: Thank you.
It's interesting. We had three, like, wow grades.
Charly's corn soup, it's a beautiful corn soup,
but I didn't find the pickle in the shrimp
to be pickled enough.
Picked enough? Me, too. But I loved the texture of it.
Once you put your heart behind it, they understand it.
Manny's dish was just everything I wanted.
The cabbage had the crunch that you wanted.
The chicken was wonderful to bite into.
To make a Wisconsin bowling analogy,
he rolled that thing right down the center, man.
It's just so good.
The thing about Dan's is how every bite
presented something new to me.
ADAM: The seasoning was incredible.
And one of the most important things with soup
is making sure that it's seasoned properly.
- We killed it. - We did.
And what about Laura's yogurt soup?
GAIL: Like, I love the idea of this yogurt soup,
but then she added meatballs, and then she added mushrooms.
TOM: It was two different soups put together.
GAIL: Yes.
I like the comfort level of Amanda's soup.
GAIL: The composition was beautiful.
The chicken's gorgeous.
It's just so salty I can't get over that.
Oh, Lord.
Chefs, we had wonderful soups.
But we really enjoyed one in particular.
And that soup belongs to...
Manny.
- [laughing] - [applause]
- TOM: It was unanimous. - Good job, buddy.
It was delicious. Congratulations, Manny.
You are eligible for the win. How does it feel?
I'm out of words, and I speak both languages.
[all laughing]
TOM: Nice work.
But that means we also had a least favorite,
and that soup belonged to...
Amanda.
- It was just too salty. - The gremolata.
- Did you go back and try it? - Yeah, sorry about that, Chefs.
- That's okay. - Amanda, that means
you are at risk of going home today.
Thank you, Chefs. We'll call you back in a bit.
- TOM: Thanks. - ALL: Thank you.
We're at the ten-minute mark, Savannah.
SAVANNAH: Ten? Okay.
How's your chicken looking?
My chicken is done, so there's that.
DANNY: I'm plating food tonight.
I don't care what it is, but I'm plating food.
I'm in fight-or-flight mode. The hot tub time machine.
I'm hoping that my herb butter
will protect the meat from overcooking
or possibly drying out.
KENNY: Here we go.
Ooh.
SAVANNAH: Kenny, how's your chicken look?
KENNY: I'm pretty happy about it right now.
[Kenny exclaims] One minute.
- SAVANNAH: One minute. - I'm looking good.
Oh, yeah. Chicken is cooked.
Back on track, Chefs. Back on track.
KENNY: All right. Plate it.
I have everything ready to go. I look up.
There's 30 seconds left
and I haven't even looked at the dark meat yet.
[timer beeps]
- Time, guys. Time. - [bleep]
[speaking foreign language] You good? You made it?
I didn't get my dark on on time.
I don't have my plates done.
Oh, it's just, just [bleep]!
I'm just getting ready to go pack my knives and go home.
♪
GAIL: Here we go, chicken.
I'm only seeing breast.
Maybe they put the dark meat somewhere else.
Kenny, tell us about your dish.
I made a pho-spiced butter with hoisin sriracha
and some pho spices, coconut, carrot,
mashed potatoes, and scallions.
Sorry, where's the dark meat here?
I missed it on a couple plates.
- Ah, okay. - That's a big miss.
Kaleena.
I made for you roasted chicken
with spiced curry.
Sweet corn with lobster mushrooms
and grilled shiitake mushrooms.
TOM: The sauce is so assertive,
the chicken doesn't stand up to it.
- KRISTEN: Danny. - I did a fennel
roasted chicken under the breast.
Dark meat tossed in a brown butter espuma.
Crispy chicken skin on top of that.
Brown butter and sherry vinaigrette
with a carrot miso purée.
TOM: You made the most out of two hours.
KRISTEN: Yeah, a lot of work. Thank you, Chefs.
ALL: Thank you.
Danny's is----ing delicious.
Yeah, it's really good.
GAIL: Hello again.
- Thank you so much. Thank you. - That's pretty.
All right, Savannah, let's start with you.
Today I did a roasted chicken avgolemono sauce,
chicken skin gremolata,
and then on the bottom is a potato purée.
KRISTEN: Valentine.
Today I have roasted harissa chicken
with a roasted corn purée and a warm shishito salad
with some crushed hazelnuts, bunch of herbs.
There was supposed to be pickled shallots on there,
but I forgot them.
- There's enough stuff on there. - Yeah.
- I think so, yes. - GAIL: Thank you.
- Thank you. - KRISTEN: Thanks, guys.
- All right, Tom. - TOM: We got some good food.
I thought it was a good challenge.
- Danny's dish? - It's really good.
- It's great. - It's really tasty.
TOM: Chicken was beautifully cooked.
The brightness of the sherry vinegar on there was just great.
- Refreshing. - Uh-huh.
I found Kaleena's chicken to be the driest.
- Yeah. Yeah. - ADAM: So did I.
And it was more about the sauce and corn
than it was about chicken.
The problem with Kenny's is he left out dark meat.
GAIL: But I loved that idea of the pho seasoning.
Those warm spices on that chicken,
I thought were brilliant.
- DANNY: How do you feel? - Like sh--.
Valentine's is a little bit too mishmash-y for me.
That chicken was buried in all this extra stuff.
There are more shishito peppers on this dish than chicken.
- [all laughing] - It's not right.
- We got both meats on there. - Yeah.
- We got both meats. - So that means we go, right?
- That means we go on. - Exactly.
KRISTEN: What did you think of Savannah's dish?
The white meat was some of the moistest that I've tasted.
TOM: I like Savannah's dish. I think it's really focused.
Chicken, the cook was is really nice,
but the sauce is just too watery.
All right, I think we should get the chefs out here.
Tom, this was your challenge. What do you think?
It's a good showing on a tough challenge.
Out of the five of you, we did have a favorite.
And that chef is...
[suspenseful music playing]
Danny.
- [applause] - Danny, congratulations.
That means you are eligible for the win.
Danny, I was concerned, 'cause at one point you looked
like you were really struggling over there.
It was getting a little hairy,
it was a challenge for sure.
- Yeah. Nice job. - Thank you.
And we did have a least favorite.
Kenny. I'm sorry, Kenny, you didn't complete the challenge,
so unfortunately, that means you could be going home today.
All in all, good start though, nice job.
- KRISTEN: Thank you, Chefs. - ALL: Thank you.
- [Kenny groaning] - It's okay.
We still got two other people.
GAIL: Oh, God, help me.
I might, like, pop out of my dress.
We made it through the first round.
No matter what level, high or low,
this sh-- was hard, y'all, it was hard.
We need to decide out of the three tops who had our favorite.
You have a pasta dish, a roast chicken dish,
and a pozole, it's hard to compare.
They're very different dishes.
- She got Tom to smile. - [chuckling]
He's finished her dish, licked it clean.
- Oh, my gosh. - SAVANNAH: Oh, wow.
What I love most about Michelle's lobster pasta
is the thinness of that pasta.
GAIL: There was a beautiful balance.
The sauce to garnish,
- to pasta, to filling. - It was really well executed.
VALENTINE: Savannah was like, "Yo, are you serving
"chicken sashimi at one point?"
I was like, "Yo." It was close.
Then you have Danny's chicken that was beautifully roasted.
The sherry vinegar sauce just really tied everything together.
It was something that I would order
in a restaurant, and really enjoy.
Manny, tonight you're making pozole for all of us.
[laughs] Yay!
Manny's dish is probably the one that I would eat all of.
PAUL: I could have stayed in that pozole deep down.
I would have gone down in there.
It would have been all over my tie.
I couldn't stop eating,
which is why I am so full right now.
- [all laughing] - But I do see how
the components that Danny did
required more technique.
How do you decide which one holds more value?
This is where it comes down to, what was your favorite
between the three really good dishes?
CHARLY: How's everybody feel now that the cook's out of the way?
- Can we breathe a little bit? - DAVID: We've got Judges' Table
for the bottom, I don't want it to be you.
- I don't want it to be anyone. - I don't want it to be anybody.
- We do have a clear winner. - Yeah.
I think we should bring them out.
♪
Danny, Manny, and Michelle,
you had our three favorite dishes of the day.
- Thank you, Chef. - Appreciate that.
Ultimately, there's only gonna be one winner.
Paul?
You all did great, there was one chef that,
for us, achieved beyond your challenge,
as well as just the yum factor that went along with it.
And that chef is...
♪
Manny.
[cheers, applause]
Congratulations.
You just won the first immunity of this season.
How does it feel?
I'm living my wildest dream and then some.
Yes! [laughs]
I'm just thinking about how my people
are going to feel about this.
This is one of the proudest moments of my career.
Manny, so that means you cannot be eliminated next week.
- Do not play it safe, though. - Absolutely not.
There's another immunity on the table, so...
- Oh, yeah. - There you go.
Thank you, Chefs.
[cheers, applause]
Kenny, Amanda, and David,
you had our least favorite dishes of the day,
and are up for elimination.
But...
...we're not eliminating anyone just yet.
- MICHELLE: What? - Oh, sh--!
Oh, my God. What is going on?
♪
We're not eliminating anyone just yet.
- MICHELLE: What? - We're gonna have
- a cook-off right now. - Yeah, baby.
[cheers, applause]
In my season, I was eliminated,
and then I get to the finale of Last Chance Kitchen,
and Tom's challenge was to just make
a good plate of food, that was it.
And that's what we want here right now.
The chef who makes our least favorite dish
in the cook-off will be going home.
You'll have 20 minutes on the clock.
- Ooh. - KRISTEN: All the ingredients
that you can find leftover in the kitchen,
and just make a great plate of food, that's it.
Yes, Chef. 20 minutes is not a long time.
But I definitely feel like I haven't made
a good first impression, I feel like a second wind
is given to me.
Ready to focus on that clock.
To use everyone else's trash is an insane situation.
Let's do it. This is like a dream come true,
just to be able to start utilizing all the leftover stuff
just as, like, a flex.
All right, Chefs, are you ready?
- Yes, Chef. - Your time starts now.
[cheers, applause]
[laughs] Jesus! [bleep] me! There goes my fish.
She knew I was going for it.
Amanda and I both grabbed the fish at the same time,
and now it's like "pivot," I'm looking for more proteins,
can't find anything.
Just trying to find something here to cook with.
Yeah, let's do it.
Kenny, what are you doing, man?
KENNY: I have no clue right now.
You gotta commit right away. Gotta just start cooking stuff.
I should have never said anything
about your hat, I'm so sorry, Chef.
[all laughing]
David, what's your game plan?
Uh, I'm gonna make, like, a--
I don't know.
- What are you making, Amanda? - I'm making salsa.
[cheers, applause]
VALENTINE: I love salsa.
What else is going with that salsa?
Snapper crudo.
I hope I can redeem myself right now.
- VALENTINE: Chefs, 15 minutes. - CHARLY: What you doing?
- Gonna make a cabbage salad. - I love a salad.
Do a little fish sauce vinaigrette.
And some roasted shrimp.
Vietnamese cuisine is just full of funky flavors,
but everything's fresh, and I wanna make a salad,
because the only thing on my mind is beating the clock.
David, do you have a plan?
Figuring it out right now. I got some tomatoes.
Oh, hey, looky there.
I don't know what I'm doing.
I don't have a vision for the dish.
- What was in that package? - Oh,----ing shrimp, Tom.
- Shrimp. - [all laughing]
- No,----ing shrimp. - [laughter]
I'm just scrambling, but I'm grabbing elements.
Boom, boom, boom, boom. There's that.
Whoo, baby!
I'm like, "Okay, I got some fish sauce,
"a little bit of coconut, and some cilantro stem
"that I'm spinning up that's gonna make a cool little broth."
And I'm making, like, a Thai chili relish.
PAUL: Hey, what are the two sauces, David?
One was supposed to be more of a relish than a sauce,
but, you know, we're doing what we're doing here right now.
VALENTINE: Guys, ten minutes on the clock.
- DAVID: Ten. - AMANDA: Tastes pretty good.
I think more acid,
it needs more salt, but I'm gonna call it back.
I'm incredibly mindful to not over-season this dish.
I taste every component multiple times.
KRISTEN: Kenny, what are you seasoning your shrimp with?
KENNY: Some sake, some salt, some pepper.
- [sizzling] - [chefs cheering]
VALENTINE: There you go, Kenny!
- Let's go! - He's cooking with fire now!
Peel and devein, peel and devein.
Boom, boom, boom.
Right behind, baby. Right behind.
Coming out, coming out, coming out.
Adam, how does it feel
to watch all this chaos go down in your kitchen?
It's usually not what you wanna see happening in your kitchen.
DAVID: Come here, come here, come here.
CHARLY: How's your shrimp, David?
DAVID: It's good, my sauces are good too.
Let's go, poachies! Coming in.
Look at that little hot, hot, hot.
Let's taste one.
- Too salty? - That needs a little--
The ole rinse in the sink.
[laughs]
- Time check? - VALENTINE: Four minutes.
Looking good, Kenny, looking good.
KRISTEN: Go through your plates.
Make sure they're perfect. You got time.
Amanda, you need to plate.
- Lay those plates down. - Bring it home, y'all.
- Let's go. - VALENTINE: Two minutes, guys.
- AMANDA: Oh, God. - TOM: Come on, Amanda,
get that stuff on the plate, let's go!
What do you got in that sauce?
I'm not sure which one this one is.
Sexy, baby, let's go, let's go.
♪
ALL: Nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one!
[cheers, applause]
Nice job, Chefs.
Thank you.
And we have a little pour for mine, folks.
David, tell us what you made.
I made poached shrimp, sungolds tossed in chili oil,
a broth of coconut and cilantro,
and then green curry sauce as well. [laughs]
Did you know what you were making?
No, no, no, I kind of had an idea,
and then Amanda stole my fish. [laughs]
I got there first.
Okay. Kenny, what did you make?
So I did a little Vietnamese cabbage salad with a sake
and tamari shrimp, cilantro lime gremolata
and hazelnuts.
So it looked like pretty quickly you knew
what you were gonna make.
I just didn't wanna get caught
in time again, and I saw some really nice cabbages.
- Amanda. - I made for you
a snapper crudo, hominy puree
topped with crispy tortilla pieces for texture.
I remember seeing the fish, so I was kinda hoping to beat
- David there, and I did. - [David laughs]
Chefs, we have a very big decision to make.
We'll call you back in a little bit.
Thank you.
DAVID: What the [bleep] was that?
I don't think I've ever moved that fast in my life.
I don't think you've ever cut so many things
so fast in your life.
So, this is a pretty tough task.
It is, but this is why you just need
to keep this one really simple.
I'm surprised that there's still so much
going on in these dishes.
Going into this, I just, like,
"I have no----ing idea. Just, like, no idea."
David's dish, it's like a bunch of stuff
that he put in a blender, and just kinda
give it a whirl, and see what happens.
I never really thought he clicked into what exactly
- he was doing. - But there was some flavor.
And the sauces I didn't think actually were bad.
I thought it was weird that he gave us
these two green sauces that were almost
impossible to differentiate.
I feel as confident as any of these guys.
These guys put out great dishes, too.
Kenny's dish, he finished on time.
But everything just is sloppy.
Kenny just gave us everything,
and there was very little finesse.
Not good technique, either, he could have spent
a little more time cutting everything.
- I got, like, cores. - GAIL: I got core, too.
I really like the texture of Kenny's dish, though.
And after all, the food we've tasted,
actually, it was very refreshing to taste it.
I tasted everything multiple times.
I don't think it was too salty.
If anything, I could have added more acid,
but I couldn't find limes anywhere.
Then you have Amanda's dish,
which I like the direction she was going.
I thought it was the best dish of the three.
You could tell that she put total purpose
into those 20 minutes.
Fish isn't seasoned, but--
It was the best, conceptually.
- Yeah. - Oh, girl.
Oh, lordy, lord. That was tough.
- Do we have our answer? - Yeah.
- KRISTEN: All right,
let's get them out here.
♪
You know, Chefs, I'm sure there's a lot of
nervous energy since this is the first challenge,
but what we got were a bunch of very unfocused dishes,
and nothing should really focus your sense of purpose
like the idea of being the first one to go home.
This is not gonna be easy. You gotta step up.
Kristen.
♪
David, please pack your knives and go.
Thank you, guys. Appreciate you, that's crazy.
We made history. Your first person to eliminate.
- [judges laugh] - Thanks, guys.
First, dude. First. First to go.
MANNY: Ah, Dave. Damn, homie.
That's it.
Never thought I'd go out first.
Thought I'd be hanging out the last.
I just-- just a couple of little mistakes.
Those little mistakes will send you home.
VALENTINE: Hey. Thank you, Chef.
Love you, brother.
[applause]
I'm tired, it's time to go home.
♪
KRISTEN: This season on Top Chef...
This is the most technical thing I've ever done in my life.
It's another beautiful day for greatness.
One silly mistake, this whole dish will be lopsided.
You're putting everything on the line.
[cheering]
I needed to twerk.
I mean, tweak.
- [all laughing] - [cheering]
- MANNY: On your left! - What is a hot Italian--
You're a hot Italian.
And your time starts-- Uh-uh!
- Go back! - [chefs laughing]
GAIL: It's Madison.
[all laughing]
By nature, what we do is ephemeral.
We create something, it's here and it's gone.
But the experiences and the friendships that you make
during the course of the season will last forever.
It's really hard, man. I can't lie.
♪
- KALEENA: Woo-hoo! - SAVANNAH: I need you
to literally stop stressing me out right now.
It's not refined enough.
This is overcooked.
You've got to start cooking to win.
This isn't gonna be easy,
at the end of this, there's only one person left.
You gotta make sure it's you.
♪