[dramatic music]
I'm going to the finale.
[Justin laughing]
I'm in the finale. This is crazy.
KATE: Woo!
Cooking in the finale. We're doing it.
I can't believe I'm here.
I'm a finalist in season 21 of Top Chef.
KRISTEN: Tonight, the three remaining chefs battle it out
in a title fight of epic proportions.
DANNY: It's a very competitive mindset that I have.
I'm coming for that money, y'all.
Move it or lose it, sister.
Whoo!
Here we go, here we go.
I put a lot of pressure on myself
to deliver at a very high level.
Flavor.
If you're gonna do something,
don't just be good at it, be great at it.
It is technical. It is luscious.
Every single person at the table
had you as a favorite dish.
- KRISTEN: Phenomenal. - Unexpected.
It was fabulous, okay.
Everything in my soul and my being was like, "“[bleep] yes."”
I am the next Top Chef.
SAVANNAH: When I say "“Win,"” you say "“consin!"”
- Win! - Consin!
Walking in on day one,
I didn't think I would make it to the finale. I was scared.
But then I slowly started to believe in myself.
You invented a thing.
Hopefully, it's a good thing. [laughs]
I think I surprised myself.
TOM: You took a lot of risks there
and I thought the result was really, really good.
KRISTEN: It's amazing.
This whole season has been leading up to this moment.
ELENA: The winning chef is...
- Savannah. - ART: Savannah.
- TOM: Savannah. - PAUL: Savannah.
SAVANNAH: This next cook is gonna be the hardest one yet,
but I'm ready to take a lot of chances and risks.
I dreamed of being Top Chef, but now it's within my reach.
DAN: I'm really excited to be in the finale
Let me get 12 littlenecks.
I'm from Wisconsin, so help me out here.
I tried out for Top Chef eleven different times,
but when I was diagnosed with Kennedy's disease,
it gave me this sense of urgency to compete.
Oh, my God. I'm so shaky.
That's why we're here, chef. Don't worry.
DAN: This is what happens when you're old.
Gonna gave me some fun.
And I'm here.
TOM: It's lively.
I think Dan hit the nail on the head.
ED: If everyone made blackened fish the way you did,
that dish would not have died in the '90s.
DAN: This whole season, I've been working towards
moving on to the finale to be able to show everybody
that I'm the next Top Chef.
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.
[ship horn blaring]
Good morning, chefs.
It's Captain Mark here on the bridge.
We are just approaching Aruba.
♪
- Morning, chefs. - CHEFS: Morning.
Congratulations on making it to the finale of Top Chef.
- Hell yeah. - That'’s crazy.
The three of you are this close
to winning $250,000 furnished by Saratoga Spring Water.
- That's crazy. - SAVANNAH: Yeah, that'’s-- Yeah.
- Love that. - And it all boils down to this.
We want you to make the best four-course meal of your lives.
The opportunity to cook whatever you want.
One word of advice: shine. Just blow us away.
You'll be serving us judges,
along with a very impressive lineup of guest chefs,
including Top Chef Canada judge, David Zilber,
restaurateur and chef, Bricia Lopez,
Food & Wine'’s Best New Chef
and James Beard Award winner, Justin Pichetrungsi,
and Michelin Star and James Beard Award-winning chef,
- Carrie Nahabedian. - Get out.
And we're saving the best for last.
We're not gonna tell you who that is.
[chefs laughing]
Knowing that this is the biggest cook of your lives,
we're not gonna let you do it alone.
Thank God.
[Dan laughing]
DANNY: Let's go!
TOM: Some familiar faces here, huh?
What up, y'all?
- Hello. - What's up?
Nice to see everyone back together.
Yes!
Chefs, it's time to draw knives.
SAVANNAH: You have first pick?
- DAN: Yeah. - Let's go.
Each of you will get to choose one chef
to become your sous chef.
Dan, you get to select first. Who will it be?
I wanna pick all of you guys, but I'm going with my partner.
You know it.
Oh, okay. You do know it! Amanda!
Yay!
I just wanna cook with somebody who I can just vibe with.
- This is it. It's you. - Aw.
It's you.
KRISTEN: Danny, you got second pick.
Who's it gonna be?
Manuel. Come on, baby.
[all laughing]
[bleep] yeah, dude. Let's go, baby.
Let's go. Let's do this.
DANNY: From day one, me and Manny have vibed really well
and we're trying to have a party tomorrow, so...
- [all laughing] - ...that's what we're doing.
All right, Savannah.
Michelle.
- DANNY: Let'’s go, mama! - Let'’s go!
Laura, Kaleena, Soo, that means you get to sit back
and enjoy the cruise.
- Thank you. - KRISTEN: Enjoy the vacay.
- Love you guys. - Guys, have so much fun.
- LAURA: Good luck, guys. - Have fun.
Now that you all have your sous chef, you'll have two hours
to shop at a variety of different markets here in Aruba.
The ship is also giving you access
to their ingredients on board to help you execute your vision.
- Oh, yes. - Yes!
Tonight, you'll have five hours to prep and cook,
and then tomorrow,
you'll have an additional two and a half hours
before service begins at Pinnacle Grill.
All right.
I've been doing this for 21 seasons and I have to say,
it just gets better and better and better,
- so make it hard on us. - Yes, chef.
And I know exactly what it feels like to be right here.
Have fun and show us why you deserve the title of Top Chef.
I can't wait to say it, for one. I'm so pumped.
- I'm like, "“Whew!"” - TOM: I know, your first one!
You've heard it, now you get to say it.
I know!
Good luck and we'll see you tomorrow.
- Good luck. - AMANDA: Let's go.
- DAN: Let's go get it. - SAVANNAH: Let's go.
♪
- All right. - Let's do this sh--.
Talk to me.
Everything is-- is pretty down to the T.
Like, it's pretty precise how I want everything.
I don't have it down to the T '‘cause I wanted to leave room
for there to be inspiration and adjust.
Don't sugarcoat it.
If you're like, man, this isn't working
or this doesn't taste good, be honest about it.
Yes, chef.
SAVANNAH: Overall theme is like, four courses highlighting
New England and the South.
Oh, I grew up here, I went up here and learned this--
- Perfect. - I came back down,
and then fourth course ends in this area.
It's all about Savannah
- and her travels of learning. - Yeah.
I want to tell a story of where I'm from and where I'm going.
My first course is the one that I'm really kind of--
I've gone back and forth so much on.
Originally, I started thinking of doing, like,
torn little biscuit crouton situation,
but I don't know if that's gonna eat right.
MICHELLE: What do you think about fritter?
SAVANNAH: Yes!
Fritter, like, hush puppy, like,
that's also very North Carolina.
Maybe we can get some, I don't know, cornmeal.
- Cornmeal? - Yeah.
DANNY: Four courses. I wanna do all seafood.
I wanna tell basically a story
of first significant food memories.
The culmination of Top Chef to this point
comes down to this one four-course meal.
First course, I would love to find some scallops
and do some sort of leche de tigre aguachile situation.
AMANDA: What's your inspiration for the meal overall?
Morimoto cooked dinner for us.
What? He cooked dinner for you?
One of the things he says is you have one chance
and one time, and this is it.
Yeah. Of the moment.
DAN: My overall concept for this menu is just be able to show
who I am right now in this moment.
For first course, I'm thinking tartare,
a little bit of citrus, shirodashi, and the kombu oil.
- Yep. - I wanna live in this moment.
It's a culmination of so much work.
Honestly, working with you is gonna be awesome.
I'm so excited.
[intense music]
[Savannah gasps]
WOMAN: This is saltfish.
For my first course, I am making a cornmeal fritter
with saltfish, sweet potato purée and pickled mussel.
It's about North Carolina,
but I like the idea of incorporating saltfish
because I feel like it is an ode to where we're at right now.
I love you. I knew you were gonna haul some ass.
[Michelle laughs]
DAN: So I got habaneros. No dill.
I got coriander and dried dill.
- Okay, good. - Sweet.
Oh, this is what I'm talking about right here.
It's just true masala Indian spice.
Third course, I was hoping to do something
like a marinated grouper that's, like, seared,
and then the uni on top torched,
and I thought it would be fun to incorporate something from here.
What do you think about a plantain?
I'm super into a plantain.
We can do, like, a mofongo tot type from there.
Oh, sh--! Yes.
- Do you have plantains? - Yes.
- Yes? - Other side.
- Michelle. - MICHELLE: Plantains?
- Yep! - Yes!
Parsley. Mint. Some good stuff.
Now I just gotta find my partner. Ka-kaw!
DANNY: Manuel.
Manuel!
The biggest dude in the grocery store and I can't find him.
It's crazy.
AMANDA: Daily fish.
DAN: Oh, daily fish! Hello!
MANNY: Where are the scallops?
Right there.
For my first course, I'm making a scallop leche de tigre
with a breadfruit and nori tuile.
Frozen scallops?
I don't see any. There's scallops on the boat.
The ship has a ton of really amazing seafood,
so mussels, scallops,
that's definitely gonna be something
that I'm getting from the ship.
DAN: Look at those sardines!
- The tuna looks nice too. - AMANDA: The tuna looks great.
DAN: Could I get three pounds of tuna?
Right away, I'm drawn to this beautiful hunk of tuna,
which solidifies this idea of starting out with a tuna tartare
with black garlic labneh and some garlic chips.
Let me get ten oysters,
uh, five of those sardines and I'm out.
- Um, yeah. - Might as well.
DAN: For the second course,
I love the idea of grilling these sardines,
making a smoked dashi with a little bit of sobacha.
- Is she cooking your sardines? - Is she cooking the sardines?
She's not cooking those sardines, right?
DANNY: They started cooking his sardines.
DAN: She is cooking '‘em.
AMANDA: Oh, no.
She's confused the word "“clean"” and "“cook."”
Why did you cook '‘em?
There's no more sardines. Well, there goes the sardine dish.
DAN: She is cooking '‘em.
AMANDA: Oh, no.
DAN: Okay, what are these things?
Luckily, there's some beautiful little snappers.
Super cute. They're gonna be a real pain in the ass to clean.
- Let's take 12 of those. - FISHMONGER: 12?
In this challenge specifically,
I don't wanna let things irritate me, bog me down.
- Thank you so much. - You're welcome.
Boom.
I just want to flow with it a little bit
and just cook with my heart.
♪
[horn blowing]
All aboard, baby! Let's get it.
- SAVANNAH: Team Green. - Team Green is the money team!
DANNY: All right, Manuel, this is us.
DAN: Here we go. Let's unpack.
Let's get stuff into some sort of, like, organization.
- SAVANNAH: It's the final cook! - DAN: Whoo!
Remember when we thought other challenges were actually
the craziest challenge?
- Then they put us on a ship. - [laughs]
- MANNY: Talk to me. - Start on cantaloupe juice,
600 grams, but I want you to do two quarts of it, please.
Yes, chef.
They're huge.
Look at these babies.
I wanna do, like, a lobster mousse inside the pasta.
For my second course, I'm making a lobster agnolotti
with a lobster broth,
representing time spent cooking in Boston
when I was much younger.
Spiny lobsters are crazy big. They have a huge tail.
I normally work with Maine lobster,
but I'm excited to see
what the flavor profile is like in comparison.
I'm going to use spiny lobster
to pull inspiration from the Caribbean.
All I gotta say is you know it's crazy for me and pasta.
In the back of my head, I'm like, "“Pasta again?"”
KEVIN: You okay, Michelle?
MICHELLE: I'm good. Oh, man, I hope I'm good.
For someone who doesn't make a lot of pasta,
she was the best pasta.
Pasta was the best of everybody.
$250,000 worth of nerves,
and all I can think is, "“Execute, execute, execute."”
I know I;ma gonna do you proud.
SAVANNAH: I know, girl. And we got it.
MICHELLE: We got this.
DAN: It's an incredible thing to watch
Savannah'’s confidence grow and see her evolution.
You know, she's a beast.
You're cooking pasta for Tom and Kristen.
Kristen worked at, like,
one of the best pasta restaurants in the country.
It's a ballsy move.
SAVANNAH: Third course, for me, that represents, like,
coming back to North Carolina, as, you know, a chef.
For my third course, I'm making a roasted grouper with uni.
My next move is ice cream base.
For my fourth course, I am making a version
of a hummingbird cake with rum mascarpone ice cream.
It's actually from Jamaica, but I ate it a lot growing up,
so I thought it'd be a great way to tie everything together.
- Perfect! - SAVANNAH: Let's see.
I'm a little nervous, to be honest.
This is, like, my dream come true.
DAN: I feel the same way!
What is the inspiration behind first course, chef?
DANNY: When I interviewed for James Kent fresh out of college,
he gave me scallops and told me to make him a dish,
and now, we're opening a restaurant.
Second course: smoked mussels and fines herbes purée.
- It's perfect. Perfect. - Okay.
DANNY: That's done.
Third course, chaaza, you're going into next.
Classic Burmese curry.
So I wanna do more my version, which is the chaaza as the sauce
and lobsters in place of the shrimp.
For my third course, I'm telling the story of the first dish
that my wife, Sumaiya, made for me.
I remember like it was yesterday.
Tasting the broth, and I was like,
"“I've not had anything like this before."”
Dessert, I'm just gonna bloom some gelatin.
Sounds crazy to say, but I'm gonna make a marshmallow
that's gonna be the base of my sorbet.
For dessert, I am making melon sorbet
with avocado yogurt and candied seaweed.
I wanna take the judges on a journey through my life.
This is what we've been working for. This right here.
My first course inspiration brings me back to working
for one of the guest judges, Carrie Nahabedian.
The tuna tartare kind of always remind me of her.
- AMANDA: Yeah. - DAN: When I worked for her,
I was 23 years old.
The first day after I got hired, I was like,
"“Chef, I'm sorry, I don't work pastries."”
She just looked at me and was like,
"“Well, you either work pastries here or you don't have a job."”
So, I went back and started working pastries.
AMANDA: What's your plan for the snaps?
DAN: The snapper here really shows, like,
where I am right now.
Part of my inspiration for this dish actually comes from Danny.
- Deadass? - DAN: Deadass. I love you, dog.
Dan was really inspired by one of the things
that Danny brought to us, which was sobacha.
It's a buckwheat tea.
DANNY: That's pretty special, dude. Thank you.
AMANDA: I guess I'm not as memorable.
[laughing]
DAN: I knew this was gonna be the thing that was gonna take me
the longest, and it totally is.
For my second course, I am making grilled snapper,
smoked dashi, real nuanced sobacha and grilled pumpkin.
All right. Fish is clean.
We're good to go.
AMANDA: You did that pretty fast, actually.
DAN: Yeah!
Third course: the oxtail, pikliz, yeasted dumpling
and fried Brussels sprouts.
Oxtails always stuck with me as a young cook
as something super unique.
It really fits into my theme and my menu quite well.
SAVANNAH: Dan, I just never know what he's gonna cook.
He has a ton of little hidden surprises.
His food has pretty much consistently been top-notch.
You wanna taste this before I pour it?
DAN: Lastly, dessert, which I'm most excited about,
is gonna be this yogurt mousse
with a grilled pineapple compote.
Oh! I like it a lot.
I want to know that I gave it my all
to become the next Top Chef.
It's, like, tart.
I like it. Good job, chef.
Three hours left!
- CHEFS: Three hours! - Oh!
- Manny, just send it, bro. - What?
You're sitting there watching water. Like, we gotta go.
Just turn the-- turn the whole thing up.
- Got it. - Let's go.
[laughs] Being in the kitchen with Danny
brings me back to my fine dining experiences.
DANNY: Wish this was done right now.
Manny! I wanna pick up the speed by 10%, okay?
MANNY: Yes.
But I wasn't expecting anything less from him.
DANNY: Here. This is your wheelhouse.
MANNY: Okay.
I'm saying, "“Manny, we gotta push.
"We gotta go a little faster."”
That's me telling myself I gotta move a little faster.
The intensity's high.
I wanna do melon balls and compress them.
MANNY: How many cantaloupes did we have?
DANNY: There's a lot. Why, you need more?
No, no, no, because I used what we have there for juice.
DANNY: All of it?
That-- I needed at the two 600 grams.
[bleep] That's not gonna work.
Oh, shit. There were melon balls on the prep list.
[exhales]
Okay. Um...
[ship horn blaring]
[intense music]
There's no cantaloupe left.
- Not one? - Nope.
[bleep]. That's not gonna work.
I just need acid in this dessert.
Yes, chef.
The dessert looks very rich and you want something acidic
to cut through.
This is what we're gonna do.
We're gonna do a little lemon relish.
SAVANNAH: I think it looks really good.
I would stop kneading it whenever it bounces back more.
I'm going to--
[Michelle gasps] Oh, my gosh!
- ...keep them under-- Oh, no. - TOM: Hello, chefs!
SAVANNAH: Hi!
[laughs]
Oh, sh--, it's Emeril Lagasse.
DANNY: Stop it. Really?
- Oh, my gosh! Hi! - EMERIL: Hi.
- AMANDA: How are you? - How are you?
I'm excited to see you too!
[chefs laughing]
DAN: Emeril----ing Lagasse. The guy's an American icon.
My first cookbook was an Emeril Lagasse cookbook.
- TOM: Hey, Danny. - What's happening, chef?
Meet my friend, Emeril Lagasse, over here.
DANNY: What'’s going on, chef? How are you?
- DANNY: Nice to meet you. - Pleasure.
TOM: Emeril's our guest judge.
Amazing.
I'm so excited to hear what's on the menu.
So, basically I wanna tell a story
of really significant food memories.
Really my first interaction with seafood
and shellfish was with my dad.
We would go to the bay and forage all these mussels
and bring '‘em home and cook '‘em.
And so second course is going to be smoked mussel consommé
and smoked mussel mayo.
How are you gonna get mayonnaise and consommé together
where it doesn't turn into...
No, the sauce is gonna be poured over
- so it won't get coagulated. - TOM: Okay.
Let's see if you pull that off. Good luck tomorrow.
Thank you, chef.
- Hi, Savannah. - Hi. Hi, chef.
- TOM: How you doing? - Hello.
TOM: What are you making, Savannah?
I'm doing a menu based off of my experiences
up until this point.
So, I'm starting with inspiration
from North Carolina, a saltfish fritter.
After that, it gets a little bit more refined
and it gets a little bit heavier as we go on.
The saltfish you have already cured?
We bought saltfish today.
You bought it here, in the market here?
- SAVANNAH: Yes, chef. - So, it's soaking now?
- Yeah. - EMERIL: Sounds delicious.
What does it mean to you to win?
You know, for me, being here in the first place
was me taking a chance on myself.
To win Top Chef would really prove a lot to me.
And this menu is for me.
- I love it. Well, good luck. - Yeah.
- Thank you. - Thank you, chef. Thank you.
- Hey, Dan. - Hi, chef.
How are you?
So you came and ate at Tru when I was a line cook there in 1999.
And look at you! Now, here you are.
And now here you are, and here I am.
- [Amanda laughs] - EMERIL: How things going?
What I wanna do here is some throwbacks
to some old classics,
but really kind of pay homage to where I am right now.
Emeril Lagasse is gonna taste my finale meal. This is crazy.
- Good seeing you. - Good to see you too.
I hope he tastes my food tomorrow and says,
"“Bam! This is great."”
What I don't hope he says is,
"“You could'’ve kicked it up a notch."”
Danny, Dan, and Savannah,
we are having breakfast tomorrow morning, so we'll see you then.
- Thank you so much. - Take care.
- SAVANNAH: Thank you, chefs. - See you. Bye-bye.
MICHELLE: Man, how cool was that, Danny?
- Meeting Emeril? Oh, lord! - [laughing]
MICHELLE: Ten minutes. We gotta move, Savannah.
SAVANNAH: Gotcha.
Cream sauce headed to the rack.
Gonna dry this up a little bit and then I'm going to fry it.
It's gonna turn into a seaweed glass.
To get seafood into the dessert,
the first thing that kind of came to mind was seaweed
and then I started playing around with candying it.
This is trash.
It has this basically shell of sugar,
but when you eat it, you still get this fresh ocean flavor.
MICHELLE: One minute, team.
DANNY: Now that is what needed to happen the first time.
So much better.
We gotta get that speed rack wrapped.
DANNY: We need to be at 120% tomorrow.
MANNY: Yes.
DAN: This is it. This is all we have to do.
Two and a half is gonna go by quick.
We definitely have a hefty prep list for tomorrow,
but we're looking really good in the beginning
and the end of the meal.
Fritter batter, glaze, potato purée.
There are a lot of things for the second and third course
that still need to happen.
Coming in and getting pickled mussels done, and then tasting,
and then immediately going into pasta.
- Okay. - SAVANNAH: I'll make it work.
- Thank you. - DANNY: No, thank you.
- Love you. - Love you, bud.
- Good job. - SAVANNAH: We got this.
[intense music]
Top Chef is unique in the sense that each day is a new day.
If you make it to that day, you get judged based on that day.
The three of us have all worked really hard to get here.
We created incredible bonds and relationships,
but there's one more cook, and it's all over.
That's it.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
- Good morning, good morning! - KRISTEN: Everyone sleep okay?
DAN: Yeah, totally. Strangely.
- TOM: How's prep going? - It'’s good.
TOM: Good.
It went well. Yeah, we got a lot done.
Dan, you had mentioned you tried out 11 times.
- Yes. - Have you tried out before?
It was something that I've wanted to do,
but timing has just never, ever been right.
And so opening the restaurant and having this time
of not tied to a service, I was like, "“I'm gonna do it."”
And, like, a week later, it all kind of just fell into place.
So you're opening a seafood restaurant,
- and when are you opening? - Next year.
Perfect timing. Very smart.
It was the master plan, I'm sure.
Do you have a restaurant as well, Savannah?
I do not.
I've been the executive chef of a restaurant
called Glasshouse Kitchen in Durham, North Carolina,
but stepped away to come take this opportunity
and I'm on the lookout.
I think there'll be no shortage.
- KRISTEN: Right. - This is insane.
I've never competed in any sort of
culinary competition in my life
and I'm a finalist in Top Chef.
Carolina or Duke?
To be honest, I was raised in, like, a Carolina family, but--
Okay, great. And I love it.
- Stop there! - Just stop there, yeah.
SAVANNAH: I wanna do this for me,
I wanna do this for my family
and I wanna do it for North Carolina.
I'm a totally different girl than I was in Wisconsin.
TOM: How about you, Dan?
What do you think you're gonna take away from this experience?
For me, I wanna be able to elevate my platform
and be able to talk more about the things
that I really care about.
I wanna make a difference beyond just food.
There is no treatment. There is no cure.
The only thing I can do is get the word out
about Kennedy's disease.
I love cooking, but what I realized
is I also love the advocacy part of it.
People kept saying, "“No, no, no,"” and I just did it.
Think about how many people you guys have affected.
19 years. I was seven.
[all laughing]
You thought you were young on this show.
Fun little fact, Emeril judged my finale.
TOM: Yeah.
KRISTEN: My first episode and my finale.
- Full-circle moment. - KRISTEN: Very much so.
Yesterday on the pool deck, I was like,
"“I'm so excited just to say the words."”
[voice cracking] And I'm not gonna get emotional yet,
but I'm----ing excited to say it to either one of you.
But I am getting emotional.
It is emotional.
EMERIL: It's a good feeling, though.
- Yeah. - DAN: It is.
It'’s a really good feeling.
But I think we're all gonna get that way.
I mean, this has been a long journey for all of us.
You're here for a reason.
Just cook your hearts out, and, uh, and make it taste good.
It's time. [exhales]
- On that note... - Cheers. Congratulations.
I can't wait to eat your food.
ALL: Cheers.
Don't disappoint Emeril, people.
[rock music]
MICHELLE: Savannah!
- SAVANNAH: Girl, what's up? - Hey!
MANNY: All right, papi. Let's hit it.
- Let's hit it. Let's hit it. - Yeah!
First course, I'll have you start pickling mussel.
MICHELLE: Perf.
So the tuna, we're gonna dice up the tuna.
We're gonna mix it with the kombu oil.
- I'm so excited. - [Amanda chuckles]
Instead of going with this very predictable progression,
I chose a bold dish to put out for my first course.
This is a black garlic labneh.
I want it to be a little bit of peak and valley, peak, valley.
Just put that 20 minutes at 40 degrees, like,
does the texture of the tuna, it makes it almost, like, jammy.
AMANDA: Seasoning is really good.
DAN: Yeah.
This is your prep list for the day.
All these tasks should total take you 40 minutes.
Ask questions.
- Yes, chef. - My chef.
MICHELLE: I have a green seasoning called epis,
which is kind of traditional
to some of the islands in this area.
SAVANNAH: Amazing.
I'm not handing Michelle a prep list, and, like,
"“This is exactly what I want you to do."”
Obviously, one fritter per person.
MICHELLE: So. I need to go larger on this fritter.
I thought we were doing multiple fritters.
SAVANNAH: I do not hate the idea of there being more than one
if they're the right size, you know what I mean?
Michelle's always been really open to giving me feedback.
The epis needs to be cooked.
- MICHELLE: No, it doesn't. - You don't think?
MICHELLE: No. Not at all.
- More? - DANNY: Get the backsides more.
MANNY: Back, too? Yes, chef.
- Now, we're cookin'’. - DAN: I love it.
AMANDA: After they're cooked, they start deflating.
See all these are, like, super puffy?
DAN: Yeah. We can pop '‘em in the oven.
The dumplings in the pan will kinda puff up,
but then they kinda deflate,
and so then you gotta put '‘em in the oven,
and that's gonna get '‘em real nice and puffy.
I didn't know that.
I've never, like, cooked them multiple times like that.
One hour to first course.
DANNY: I'm gonna smoke the mussels.
I think everything needs a little bit more seasoning.
For dessert, we need to make a lemon relish
'‘cause we got rid of the balls.
Cut supremes, small brunoise
and then, we'll segment the actual citrus.
- Yes? - MANNY: Yes.
DANNY: The color of this chaaza sauce is right, is what it is.
For my third course, I am making salsa macha
and sauce chaaza.
My wife is Indian-Pakistani and I love the culture,
I love the food and I'm not afraid to cook it.
I've cooked with my mother-in-law.
They've shown me these recipes
and to be able to make them now, here is, like, super special.
MICHELLE: Fifteen minutes.
DANNY: Papi, we gotta go here, yeah?
MANNY: Yeah.
Fragil-ey, fragil-ey.
♪
Ahh, so pretty.
DAVID: What a dining room.
KRISTEN: Have a seat.
Well, welcome aboard, everyone, to our finale meal of season 21,
which started all the way in Milwaukee, and now here we are,
all on a ship together in the middle of the Caribbean.
TOM: Each chef has a different cooking style.
They've come a long way
and we're in for some really, really tasty food.
My pants are already unbuttoned.
- JUSTIN: That's the move, huh? - [all chuckling]
AMANDA: Down to 5:30, 5:30.
You really can't tell what's, uh, grapefruit and what's tuna.
I'm gonna lay down the seashells on top of the rocks.
I want it to basically look like this dish
just washed up from the ocean.
Okay. I'm gonna go in with sweet potato.
AMANDA: I'll help you with cilantros
and then we'll put more chips.
MANNY: One minute!
SAVANNAH: I'm going on with beets.
Time'’s up.
AMANDA: All right. Let's go!
DAN: Oh, yeah. Love it, guys.
- Here we go. - Here it is.
That's beautiful.
- KRISTEN: Hi, chefs. - Hi.
KRISTEN: We have Dan, Savannah and Danny.
- Nice to meet you guys. - Nice to meet you.
CARRIE: It's been a long time.
- It'’s been a while. - CARRIE: Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
Dan, can you please tell us about your concept
and your first course, please?
DAN: The other night, Morimoto cooked for us
and he also gave us a proverb, "“Live in the moment."”
And I think my whole menu is just about being in this moment.
For my first course, we have a little tuna tartare,
ruby red grapefruit, Caribbean pepper purée, garlic chips.
Black garlic labneh on the bottom.
KRISTEN: What about you, Savannah?
I wanted to reference locations and certain dishes
that brought back food memories for me,
but also inspired me throughout my career.
I am starting with North Carolina,
which is where I was born and raised.
I grew up eating a lot of sweet potatoes and hush puppies.
This is a saltfish fritter.
It has a sweet potato purée
pickled mussel and then a habanero honey glaze.
- Danny. - I want to take you guys
on a journey of significant food memories for me
and also highlighting the ocean and the sea.
Scallop's just one of the first things that I ever cooked
in a professional kitchen.
For your first course from me
is a scallop habanero leche de tigre
with a breadfruit and nori tuile.
I know that you guys are all in competition with each other,
but what I'm struggling with is how well this actually works
as, like, a trio of food.
[all laughing]
All right, three more courses to go. Thank you, chefs.
- CHEFS: Thank you very much. - CARRIE: Thank you so much.
Maybe we should start with Dan's tuna tartare.
To me, it's the loudest, and I appreciate it.
TOM: I like the labneh.
There's something going on with the tuna.
I don't know whether he sous vide it
at a very low temperature...
CARRIE: The texture of the tuna,
you can't differentiate between the grapefruit.
I like the spice, though.
I keep going back to it. There's something addictive about it.
Mm-hmm.
Savannah's first course was a great way to start the meal
with something crunchy and sweet-savory.
The honey habanero, I loved.
TOM: I thought there was some harmony there.
There was a little bit of spice in there as well.
I thought it was nicely balanced.
The fritter, I thought she just did a really great job with.
SAVANNAH: Michelle, I'm gonna start going on pasta, okay?
I'm gonna form a few and just drop '‘em so we can try.
MICHELLE: All right.
Danny's dish was very beautiful.
I loved the mimicking of the scallop shell
with that nori and breadfruit tuile.
And the scallops were just pristine.
DAVID: As much as there are elements that I really do love,
this needs salt.
- Right, right, right, right. - CARRIE: Totally.
A couple grains of salt makes this dish
almost the perfect dish.
JUSTIN: I do find myself going back to Danny's sauce.
I like-- I'm just-- It's all gone.
[Bricia laughs]
DANNY: Check your cabbage, Manny!
MANNY: Yes, chef.
DANNY: When was the last time you checked it?
MANNY: Like, seven minutes ago.
You wanna look at the cabbage? It's right behind you, open.
DANNY: Yes. Perfect.
Uh, leave it temp-- Put it on this speed rack here.
Yes.
27 minutes to second course.
I think I'm gonna need to go a little thinner.
I want there to be a great amount of filling
inside the pasta,
but it's not exactly where it's supposed to be.
Pasta's down.
I'm just going off gut feeling.
Seven minutes 'til second course.
Kinda just redo this.
AMANDA: The skin's a little tough?
DAN: It'’s-- it is.
My second dish, it's incredibly simple.
It's also incredibly nuanced.
We can definitely get some more color on this guy.
There's a lot of levels of flavor.
It's a little risky
'‘cause everything needs to be in balance,
and that's not as easy as people think it is.
I made the anchovy butter with anchovies, garlic, lemon zest.
Really simple.
AMANDA: You're down to two minutes.
SAVANNAH: This pasta could be more done,
but I just have to hurry.
I don't wanna serve pasta that's not done
and I also don't wanna serve overcooked lobster.
All right. I'm coming over.
Instead of going four across, go three across.
DAN: There's a little bit of scallion oil.
Really perfume.
MICHELLE: Down to five seconds.
SAVANNAH: I gotta go.
AMANDA: Looks great, chef.
♪
Thank you.
GAIL: This is very beautiful.
KRISTEN: Dan, can you tell us about your second dish, please?
We have grilled snapper
with some ginger and scallions on top,
braised pumpkin and a dashi made from smoked snapper bones.
My second course is inspired by my time spent cooking in Boston.
I have spiny lobster agnolotti.
It has a lobster broth, smoked marcona almonds
and grapes that are tossed in a tarragon vinaigrette.
What's the egg to flour ratio in your pasta dough?
We did 8 cups of flour and then 12 eggs.
And it was more yolk than whole egg.
KRISTEN: Danny?
I have for you smoked mussels, plantains and cabbage.
On the base of the plate is a smoked mussel mayo
and then a fines herbes purée.
All right, chefs. Thank you very much.
- CHEFS: Thank you. - EMERIL: Thank you.
I thought Dan's dish was
this perfect umami-ish song to seafood.
I think Dan's dish is simple, but executed perfectly.
I like the texture of the pumpkin.
I'm going back for another bite.
The dashi was really flavorful.
It got a nice little line there of having some flavor,
but still being light.
It's impossible to see, like, do they like this?
Do they not like this? What is going on?
[Amanda laughs]
I think Savannah is trying to find herself in her cooking.
The pasta dough itself is not right technically speaking.
It felt dry and brittle.
I actually like her broth.
It's on a verge of being salty,
but a lot of lobster flavor comes through.
Lobster pasta gives me feelings of luxury,
which means not too many textures.
But I think the almonds just get in the way of that for me.
MICHELLE: How'd that go?
Kristen asked what the recipe was, which concerns me.
KRISTEN: What'd you think of Danny's dish?
BRICIA: I love the cabbage.
The char was beautiful. I love char.
I really like all the flavors,
but I had a hard time figuring out
how to get it onto my fork and then into my mouth.
There's a lot going on.
Like, throw everything in this dish and see what happens.
That said, I like it.
- [laughs] Yeah. Weirdly. - TOM: Weirdly like it.
Manny, we're gonna have to push on this one.
Yes, chef.
Fifteen minutes to next course.
SAVANNAH: The fish looks good. How you feeling on plantains?
Plantains are a bit underripe, but we gonna make it work.
These plantains are a rough version of mofongo.
We're not going for the same texture,
so I do want them to be a little bit crispy still.
They're a little dry.
MICHELLE: But you still have green sauce
- and butter sauce. - Butter sauce. You're right.
MANNY: Danny, look behind you. Danny.
DANNY: These are not gonna do it.
Manny steams the lobsters...
They're raw. They're-- they're dead raw.
Get a pot of water, get it on our station
and let's bring it up to a boil.
Steaming the lobsters is not working correctly.
So, we can pivot.
I'm supposed to be done, Manny.
We go old school right into some boiling water
and cook them for another minute and a half.
That seems to do the trick.
Spiny lobsters are monsters.
Their shells are very thick, so cooking '‘em can be a doozy.
Yeah. It's great.
This is all about cooking with soul.
SAVANNAH: We got five left.
- I'm going on with fish. - MICHELLE: Go ahead.
I'm right behind you with plantains in two minutes.
DANNY: Just make it organic-looking.
Make it fun. Have fun with it.
MANNY: Yes, chef.
DAN: Just have '‘em kind of all going the same direction.
AMANDA: Get this one out of here. It's ugly.
DANNY: Start pouring sauce.
[timer beeping]
- [Michelle laughs] - Oh, God.
GAIL: Ooh!
Dan, can you tell us a little bit about your third course?
We have oxtail ragu, tomato concasse.
We have a yeasted dumpling,
a little pikliz with cabbage, carrots, scallions.
- KRISTEN: Savannah? - I have seared grouper.
On top, epis spice, mofongo plantains on the side,
leek sprout and then there's a butter sauce
with flying fish roe in it.
Danny?
I have for you my interpretation of chaaza
and so I did spiny lobster with salsa macha
and squash and persimmon over top.
And then, the sauce itself is the chaaza.
All right, chefs, thank you very much.
You have one more course,
which will be your final course ever served on Top Chef.
- Let's go. - KRISTEN: Look forward to it.
DAN: Let's do this.
Oh, God. I need to undo the next button.
[all laughing]
Emeril, what do you think of Dan's dish?
I think Dan did a great job cooking the oxtail.
Pretty rustic, but that's what he wanted it to be.
TOM: To me, it's a little on the sweet side.
But even though the stew is sweet,
I think the acid works really well with that.
I like the combination together.
The dumplings were cooked really well
and I loved it, I really did.
- AMANDA: Yay! - Last course!
- AMANDA: Whoo! - Last course! Last course!
AMANDA: Let'’s go!
I actually loved the complexity
of Danny's lobster and chaaza course.
Raw pumpkin, I don't-- I don'’t get it.
GAIL: I had an issue with the raw pumpkin too.
I enjoyed it.
I thought it was a great contrast to the persimmon.
I love the squash and the persimmon,
but the lobster, two-thirds of it was not cooked enough.
I didn't find my lobster to be undercooked.
I thought it to be, like, medium rare, medium.
But the two sauces made the dish, in a way, for me.
But Savannah's grouper dish, I feel like
you could imagine yourself at, like, a beachside cabana
and having, like, a garlicky green sauce,
having really good mofongo.
Maybe that's what she was reaching for.
KRISTEN: When 50% of your dish is supposed to be mofongo
and you're calling it mofongo, that is not a mofongo.
- That's a mofong-no. - DAVID: Oh, Tom...
MANNY: Last course. Finish strong.
SAVANNAH: We have ice cream.
AMANDA: Last course!
Danny, what, are you making magic again?
DANNY: I got my anti-griddle.
- [Amanda laughs] - Check it out!
Liquid nitrogen on the bottom
and then the top is a straight anti-griddle.
AMANDA: Wow!
DANNY: The condensed milk stamp is for taste and beauty.
As you cut through it, you're gonna get the creaminess
and the acidic notes from the lemon relish
and the avocado purée.
Whoo!
This lemon relish is gonna be great.
The relish is doing exactly what the melon balls were gonna do.
Actually, it might be better.
SAVANNAH: It's like that chewy Turkish ice cream,
but not supposed to be.
The stabilizer's off. Like, it's 100% that's what's wrong.
You know, I eyeballed this, and I obviously,
like, did a little bit too much.
I'm gonna add some coconut to it and just have a sauce.
But, fret not.
Ice cream base is just basically creme anglaise,
so I just make a dope sauce.
That was a good pivot.
MICHELLE: I like that confidence at the fourth quarter.
MANNY: Two and a half.
I like how the first course was really citrusy
and this is, like, the ending, and it's also citrusy.
MICHELLE: I think that salt and this pineapple is gonna go well
- with that caramel. - SAVANNAH: Yeah.
DAN: I can't believe this is it, man. This is so crazy.
Let's go, Manny. 30 seconds. 30 seconds.
DAN: Put it in there just barely, you know what I mean?
I'm gonna do a little grated cinnamon.
DANNY: I need seaweed there. Good, chef.
- [timer beeping] - AMANDA: There we go.
Thank you.
Oh, wow. That's beautiful.
GAIL: Smell good.
KRISTEN: Officially done cooking.
[cheering]
[laughs] What a relief!
Dan, can you explain your dessert course for us?
So, we have a yogurt mousse with coriander olive oil.
Salted filo crystal are cooked in a little bit of lemon oil
and yummy grilled pineapple.
You know, I wanted to end the meal with something light
and refreshing, especially after that oxtail course.
KRISTEN: Savannah?
I did a dessert inspired by hummingbird cake.
It's actually a banana upside-down cake.
The banana is brûléed.
There's a lime pineapple granita, a rum coconut sauce.
It actually comes from Jamaica,
but I grew up eating it a lot in the south.
KRISTEN: Danny?
This is my version of a piragua con leche.
Melon sorbet with avocado yogurt,
candied seaweed, and a condensed milk stamp.
As a kid, my grandfather would pick me up from school
and we would always get something sweet
before he took me home.
And it was traditionally a piragua,
which is a really classic Puerto Rican shaved ice.
- KRISTEN: Thank you, chefs. - DANNY: Thanks.
- Thank you very much. - SAVANNAH: Thank you very much.
- KRISTEN: It was a pleasure. - Thank you.
AMANDA: Yeah! Whoo!
[Manny imitating airhorn]
Savannah, come on!
Danny's dish brought the element of the sea so beautifully.
The seaweed is so clever and it added just what it needed.
That melon sorbet played so beautifully
with the nuts and the seaweed.
The lemon, it is a perfect end to his progression.
What I love about it is you have an eight-year-old kid
with his grandfather walking down the streets of Brooklyn
and this is what you end up with.
- That's the beauty of food. - Thank you.
You will always get my 110%, brother.
CARRIE: Dan's dessert,
I love pineapple. I love the creaminess.
It was really well done.
I really enjoy the use of basil in Dan's dessert.
I love the flavor. You know, using filo the way he used it,
I thought was really clever.
GAIL: I thought it was toasty and salty,
and it really balanced the rest of Dan's dish.
Good luck.
- DAN: Thank you so much. - You did so good.
- Thank you so much. - I'm proud of you.
KRISTEN: Savannah's hummingbird cake.
I like the flavor of the pineapple and the rum.
Thought the sauce complemented it really well.
I love the salinity of the pineapple sorbet.
The dish was kindhearted
and Savannah has a kindhearted style about her food.
SAVANNAH: I love you.
- I love you too. - SAVANNAH: So much.
So proud of you. You did so incredible.
I can't thank everyone enough for being here
to enjoy our finale meal of season 21 of Top Chef.
Cheers to a fantastic season.
GAIL: And to your first as our host, Kristen.
Thank you.
Off to Judge's Table we go.
♪
Well, chefs, you'’ve worked all season long
to get to this point.
TOM: It's been a great season.
There were some really high points,
pieces that I thought were really, really spectacular.
All in all, it was really nice.
KRISTEN: Let's start with the first course. Dan'’s tuna dish.
I thought the flavors were good. I liked the heat.
The question I have is the texture of the tuna.
What did you do with that?
We bagged it with lemon oil
and we cooked it at 40 degrees Celsius.
It sets the texture and makes it almost, like, jammy.
- You wanted that texture. - DAN: I did.
It was a weird texture.
But flavor-wise, it was a really bold way to start.
That labneh, for me, was the star of the plate.
I was really surprised on how much heat
that you really brought to the plate.
The flavors, Dan, were just really incredible.
KRISTEN: Savannah.
My first course kind of being centered around growing up
in North Carolina, I didn't want it to be a salt cod dish.
For me, the dish was about hush puppies and sweet potatoes,
- to be honest. - That'’s what you said, yeah.
Growing up with salt cod, it was well done.
It was perfectly fried.
The honey on the fritter
with the mussels was a great combination.
It was really delicious.
TOM: It was a good way to start.
It sets us up for the following courses pretty nicely.
Thank you, chef.
Danny, you talked about your progression.
A journey of some of my first significant food memories.
The presentation was so beautiful and inviting.
You open that scallop and this treasure inside.
The breadfruit tuile. I've never made one before.
I would like to know how to make one.
DAN: I love the story. I loved where your progression went.
I think the scallops needed a little bit of salt.
I brined them for 15 minutes.
If it were only me at the table who thought it needed salt,
I would'’ve said, "“All right, maybe it's me."”
Every single person at the table thought it needed salt.
KRISTEN: Dan, your snapper dish.
I wanted it to be simple and, you know, to the point.
Simplicity sometimes goes a long way.
The fish was cooked perfectly.
It was exactly the dish that you said it was gonna be.
Thank you.
That broth was lovely.
It was bright, but it also was subtle.
KRISTEN: Savannah, your lobster course.
Do you make a lot of pasta?
I do at home.
I did a tester
and the texture was a little bit different than I'm used to,
but that was at a point where I couldn't really turn back.
The pasta was a real problem.
For a stuffed pasta, you want something softer.
Yeah.
That filling just felt like it was only some pieces
of slightly overcooked lobster.
I wanted a voluptuousness in the middle there.
I completely agree.
KRISTEN: Danny, your smoked mussel course.
Was the idea to kind of go in with a fork and knife
and cut into it?
I probably would'’ve pulled the plantain chip out
and put a bunch of things on it.
I like to eat with my hands a lot.
KRISTEN: I feel like that would'’ve been more successful
had that instruction come,
because it does impact
how someone receives the flavor of the dish.
But whichever way you wanted to eat it,
I thought it was really tasty.
I was a little reluctant about the mayonnaise,
but it really made the dish.
The flavors were there.
KRISTEN: Dan, your third course.
I loved this dish from you, Dan.
It was rich, it was unctuous, it'’s homey.
EMERIL: The oxtail was cooked perfectly.
Loved the fried Brussels sprouts,
loved the pickled carrot.
I was happy that you presented something from your heart.
Yeah.
Savannah, have you made mofongo before?
I haven't. The plantains were probably a little underripe.
The mofongo was a little bit dry, a little bit starchy,
and it wasn't having a conversation
with the other side of the plate.
If you had just gone sauce and fish and sea urchin,
- I think it would'’ve been fine. - Mm-hmm.
KRISTEN: Danny, your third course.
The lobster temperature, did you want it fully cooked,
or did you want it more in the center?
Like, a medium-rare lobster, yeah.
KRISTEN: Okay.
About two-thirds of our lobster was perfectly cooked,
but as we worked up towards it,
it was a little bit undercooked.
- Okay. - But I loved the story.
Presentation, I thought it was really cool.
The two sauces, your chaaza and your salsa macha,
together, was just magic.
Yes.
KRISTEN: Dan, your fourth course.
It was really delicious. It was tropical. It was time and place.
It was exactly what you wanted it to be.
I also liked that the compote,
instead of just taking pineapples
and making a compote, you grilled '‘em first,
created a little smoke in there.
I thought that was a nice counterpoint. I enjoyed it.
I thought it was a really balanced dessert.
- Thanks. - GAIL: Truly.
TOM: Savannah. Never had a hummingbird cake.
I love salty desserts. That was my favorite part of the dish.
I was the kid that takes cake,
and I melt ice cream, and it just melts all together.
It gave me a childlike memory
without ever having hummingbird cake.
That was really special for me.
Thank you.
KRISTEN: Danny, your dessert.
Have you ever been in New Orleans?
DANNY: No. [chuckles]
Well, we have these snowball stands
that are all over the place.
Well, we don't have candied seaweed.
[all laughing]
I didn'’t know where that'’s going.
I wish you had another one right now. It was so delicious.
Thank you.
I didn't know that there was lemon in there,
but as soon as I got that, I was like, "“Oh, sh--."”
- And it was excellent. - Thank you.
What I liked about this dessert is why I think I like food,
that you can evoke that memory. Fantastic.
It's gonna become a signature. It's one of those dishes.
We've done this how many times now?
There's a lot to discuss. We'll call you back in a bit.
- TOM: Thanks. - Thank you.
♪
All right. What a journey.
This will be my first time
seeing it from this point of view, which I'm just,
like, already giddy and excited about.
- It's really quite exciting. - Yeah. It really is.
It doesn't ever get old.
DAN: I don't know, man.
DANNY: It's just so nerve-wracking.
SAVANNAH: To be here with you guys is, like, an honor.
It's really, really-- Whew.
All right, let's break it down by courses.
Savannah. Her first course was really successful,
really delicious.
Fritters were well-made.
The honey, the habanero, gave us a great start.
Meanwhile, Danny's first course, although beautiful,
we all agreed just lacked a little bit of seasoning.
- A little bit of salt. - Yeah.
DANNY: I mean, they definitely were nitpicking.
It's like, every course needed a grain of salt,
which is, like, frustrating.
DAN: I know you got it on salt, but, like,
the texture of the tuna was 100% intentional.
Dan's first course was absolutely delicious.
The labneh, the grapefruit,
the herbs all went together really, really well.
The really only thing I truly question
is the texture of that tuna.
Grapefruit and tuna should not mimic textures, period.
Why that?
DANNY: And then it was the friggin'’ mussel.
It was too hard to eat. Like, "Mm... was it really?"
Danny's cabbage course.
I mean, I feel like the table
- was a little bit divided. - Yeah.
Danny put together a dish that was tough to enjoy.
EMERIL: Hard to eat.
TOM: Yeah, hard to eat. Flavors were challenging. Very complex.
It was incredibly modern, and that was exciting.
Where Dan's dish was easier to digest in terms of what it was.
- Straightforward. - It was very straightforward.
I thought there was a lot of flavor there
and I thought his dashi was really nice.
Mm-hmm.
Savannah's lobster agnolotti dish.
- EMERIL: The pasta dough. - KRISTEN: I mean--
EMERIL: The filling.
Everything was technically wrong.
Yep.
I definitely felt like I lost control of certain items
that needed more attention and care.
The lobsters is, like, frustrating, that, like,
portions of the lobster that'’s undercooked.
It's like, damn.
Danny's third course, the lobster.
TOM: As much as I like the dish,
it's hard to take a lobster--
EMERIL: Especially spiny lobster.
Yeah. It's hard to cook that consistently through.
GAIL: But I think he takes risks.
This is a dish with flavors
that I would never put on one plate, and I think they worked.
Savannah's fish dish.
The base of her plate, the fish, the sauce, was very good.
But those ingredients didn't play well at all.
- Right. - And Dan's oxtail
and the dumplings, that was a fully formed vision.
EMERIL: It was his stronger dish of the progression.
He did a great job with the oxtail.
Dan could take that one.
Moving on to the fourth course.
Savannah's, it was a satisfying dessert.
The flavor of the hummingbird
was the flavor of the hummingbird cake.
I liked Dan's dessert a lot.
It felt different.
I loved the juxtaposition between the two courses.
I thought it was really nice. This was close.
Danny, when I heard he was doing seaweed on the dessert,
I was, like, rolling my eyes, going,
"“Really? Come on, dude. Like, this is ridiculous."”
And I just shut up when I ate.
- [laughs] - Like, this is really good.
Conceptually, it was unusual. Again, exciting, surprising.
Like, we all should be super proud of where we're at, so.
- Cheers to that. - Cheers.
All three of them showed us who they were today.
They gave us a piece of who they are as chefs.
They've told great stories.
Progression all makes sense.
I mean, it's-- it'’s close here. It's really close.
But there can only be one.
[laughs]
[tense music]
I think we know who our next Top Chef is.
- Yeah. - Absolutely.
KRISTEN: Let's get them out here.
Ahh! [laughs]
♪
[applause]
You know, chefs, throughout your career,
you're gonna be asked, "“Why do you cook?
"Why do you do what you do?"”
You know, there's this passion, this love for food,
but I think each of you told that story today
through your menus.
You know, by nature, what we do is ephemeral.
We create something that's here and it's gone.
But the experience and the friendships that you made
during the course of the season will last forever.
This has been a great season.
You guys are all great chefs. You're all winners.
But there will only be one Top Chef today.
Kristen?
Danny...
you are Top Chef.
[chefs cheering]
Let's go!
Being the first Puerto Rican,
Dominican, Muslim Top Chef is incredible.
My mom would say "“That's my baby,"” right now.
We're here. That's it. We did it.
MANNY: Congratulations.
- You deserve it. - DANNY: Thank you.
$303,000.
Is that the most money anyone's ever won or what?
Really? That's incredible.
- EMERIL: Great job. - Cheers. Thank you.
Sumaiya and I are gonna use it to put a down payment
on a house and start the next chapter of our life.
[both laughing]
- DAN: Finally! - DANNY: Let's go.
I'm happy. I really am.
Danny just cooked a better meal than me today.
He killed it.
Like, he's gonna be one of the great chefs of our time.
You tried so many times to be here
and when you got your opportunity,
you----ing delivered.
You are a----ing inspiration.
I absolutely did exactly what I came here to do
and that was to inspire people and make sure that others know
that they can still follow their dreams,
no matter what sort of limitations they have.
Just gotta believe in yourself.
Really great job.
SAVANNAH: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.
I'm at peace with this.
I look at myself differently. I have more confidence.
I have a belief in myself
and I'm going to be more willing to take chances on myself
in the future because of this.
KRISTEN: Standout dishes all season long. Truly.
SAVANNAH: I've watched a lot of finales
and it makes me think about, like-- Sorry.
It makes me think about sitting on my couch and watching them
and thinking, like, "One day, I would love to do that."
Thank you, chef. This is, like, a dream.
Even right now, this conversation,
so I'm really grateful. Thank you.
I feel so lucky to be a part of this family now.
Welcome to the club. It's a great place to be. [laughs]
To the class of 21. Congratulations.
- MANNY: 21! - [all cheering]
[tearful] I was very nervous
to come into this role simply because
it is such an important place to be.
Not from only this side of the table,
but also being a competitor, and what that feels like
to be received on the other end
and I know exactly what it feels like.
And to have the memory of doing it with this group of chefs
and to have this moment with you all is the first and the only,
and I am so very grateful to you all. Thank you.
[all cheering]
Whoo!
[exhales shakily]
- KRISTEN: Congratulations. - Thank you.
- I'm so happy for you. - Thank you so much.
So happy.
[tearful] It'’s dope, dude. It'’s dope. Dope.
[sighs]
- Thank you. - It's just the beginning.
It'’s just the beginning. Today's day one.
I just put a lot of pressure on myself. [clears throat]
I think I just put a lot of pressure on myself all the time.
It just feels good to, like,
put up the food that I wanted to put up
and I'm just proud of myself.
KRISTEN: Danny, congratulations. Cheers to you.
[all cheering]