Previously, on Top Chef.
Justin, please pack your knives and go.
It sucks leaving Jenn.
Bye, guys.
But I'm super proud of her and super stoked she's moving on.
It's time for Restaurant Wars.
You will be responsible for creating your own
restaurant concept in just over 36 hours.
I don't know what's going on with my face.
The medic's gonna take me to the ER.
Let's just hope that she's okay.
We have to asked her to leave the competition.
Because you are the last person that was eliminated,
we're offering you that spot back.
Hey.
Jenn's health comes first.
There's no way I'm staying in the competition.
Eight chefs remain
to compete in the ultimate culinary showdown.
Woo!
At stake for the winner,
the grand prize of $125,000
provided by Graza Olive Oil,
a feature in Food & Wine Magazine,
plus an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,
your own exclusive dinner at the historic
James Beard House in New York,
and the title of Top Chef.
[light tense music]
So, let's agree on the concept and then we can delegate.
Like, Latino food with like, Southern soul?
- Yeah. - Oh, okay.
Right? Embracing what Jenn does?
Yeah.
We're a player down right now.
Obviously, we want to have Jenn here.
Like, I'm worried for her. But we're not stagnant.
We're making some decisions.
I was thinking she's the exec chef.
He's super strong in Latin food.
Yeah.
- Do we just have like-- - Hi. Can I come in?
- Hey. - Hey, Kristen. How ya doin'?
- It's been a very long day. - Yeah.
A few updates.
Jenn is still in the hospital.
She is okay. Right now we're waiting on
updates on what's going on.
But because of everything that has transpired,
we have removed her from the competition.
[heavy music]
For her own wellbeing and safety.
Oh, that's really hard to hear.
Jenn is such a powerhouse.
The fact that she's made it this far
with just one arm is insane.
Jenn's gonna be missed.
It was only fair that we went to the last eliminated person,
Justin, and offered him a spot back.
He's decided to go with Jenn.
We have now moved on to the last, last eliminated person...
And he's back!
- Sweet. - Hey, back up.
I'm stoked. Skipping Last Chance Kitchen is great.
I wish it wasn't at the expense of Jenn leaving
but hopefully I make her proud.
Sieger is now on your team
and we continue on with Restaurant Wars.
- Welcome back. - Thank you.
God damn, welcome back, my boy.
- Jesus. - Talk about a rollercoaster.
Yeah, you're tellin' me.
It's a fair trade, right? Jenn's amazing,
Sieger's amazing.
His whole hog experience was so bittersweet.
He gets a second chance.
- It's 100 diners. - Yeah.
Plus to-go.
- Plus to-go? - Yeah, so there's gonna be
a phone and they're gonna be calling in
every now and then with some orders.
And then it's three courses but there's an option
for each course, so a total of six dishes.
Okay.
We should just lean into Latin.
- Mm-hmm. - Oscar, he should be the GM,
and he could be out there with Spanish,
- and you know, all the sh--. - Yeah.
We all have very different backgrounds.
- Yeah. - It would be smart to do
a global approach to it.
I think global is too broad.
The thread that goes through everything,
I think that should be the Carolinas.
- Yeah, okay. - But I think the two threads
that we have is Carolinas as location,
and comfort as theme.
- Yeah, all of that. Definitely. - It's Endless.
So, I don't know what you feel more comfortable with,
Sieger? If you wanna be exec chef
or if you wanna be the line cook?
I don't really care. Whatever, it's fine with me.
Being executive chef at Restaurant Wars,
your head's on the chopping block.
But I always wanted to do executive chef
or front of the house.
Everyone on our team has restaurants.
No one's a sleeper. Cool.
Exec is probably under the most pressure.
He has immunity.
Do you want to be executive?
Yeah, I'll take care of that.
Am I a little uneasy because I have somebody with immunity
on my team? Yes, a thousand percent.
I think I would be very good
with all my organizational skills to like,
- run front of house. - Yeah, good.
- Let's figure out a name. - Yeah.
Why don't we play off of Charlotte, queen.
- Mm-hmm. - That's perfect.
We have the two last women on this competition.
I think we should like, play on that.
I like where your head's going.
Queenies, or something like that.
Tierra Reina?
I like it, Tierra Reina.
Like the Queen's Earth.
- Carolina Queen? - I don't hate that.
All right. Love it.
Need to rapping about the menu.
- I think it's aguachile verde. - Uh-huh.
So, we keep it Mexican ceviche, aguachile.
What would be the second option?
If we bring it back to the Carolinas too,
do like, the Carolina Ruby sweet potato tostada.
I think logistics is going to be very important.
We plan around that.
Yeah.
I think you should do something you can prep out
and we can help you prep out.
What about like, a ham and cheese gougère?
- Oh, that would be really good. - 'Cause you can use
- country ham. - Oh yeah.
- And then desserts? - What if it's like,
a peanut butter and jelly panna cotta?
I love the peanut butter and jelly.
What's a national-- oh Cheerwine?
What they're gonna be looking for, service standards.
We all have to be communicating hard core
because that's what's gonna make us win.
Yeah.
[low tense music]
Today, we have a lot to get done.
Picking out different rentals and dinnerware,
but also, we need to get all the ingredients we need
to make this restaurant happen.
It's definitely the most intimidating challenge so far.
All right y'all, let's lock it in.
Let's do it!
All right, we're gonna follow me this way.
It's gonna be feminine, but not tacky.
- Not Barbie. - Yep, okay.
But we're going to have like, lighter wood colors,
maybe like Scandinavian, Japanese wood.
I knew before I got here,
when I make it to Restaurant Wars,
I want to work the front of house.
That's pretty.
It's a role that takes a lot of organization,
takes a lot of people skills.
I'm ready to take that risk
and I like putting myself out there.
When you said light wood and Scandinavian,
this is exactly what I was thinking about.
- Yeah. - I also don't hate this one.
Well, I think that feels very outdoorsy.
That feels outdoorsy. That one's for the patio.
I'm out ruled.
I don't want to go too crazy with the colors.
We wanna have some nice,
- plain colors. - Yeah.
We wanna make it feel warm in there, inviting.
- How much are the black matte? - Do you not like these?
Like 'em, but I just feel with the colors that we're getting--
- Dang, this is nice, though. - That is really nice.
Obviously, myself, Sieger, my brother, Oscar,
we're a bunch of dudes.
We are trying not to have this be a man cave situation.
I think we're gonna go with the brushed gold.
- I like the wood topical vibe. - Yeah, absolutely.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
Nice meeting you.
Let's go!
[in Spanish]
Jonathan and Sieger went with our master list.
Oscar and I head to La Unica, because this is where we'll find
the base of our Mexican cuisine.
Vale, gracias. Dope. $6.99 a pound.
Super G's.
The big things that Duyen and Anthony
are going to pick up are the proteins at Whole Foods.
All right.
But a lot of the other things are going to be on us. Let's go!
Can I get 100 Carolina pearls?
You got it.
Shrimp, these 8 by 12, 10 pounds, please.
$15.21. Thank you, sir.
I got all the panko. I cleared them out.
I've never filled up an entire shopping cart before,
so that was weird. But we're filling it up quick.
Oh, my God. I think we're gonna need, like, eight carts.
Go right to the meats.
[in Spanish]
So we got protein, beef cheeks.
Yeah, and tongue. You can check it off the list.
It's just crazy to launch a restaurant in 36 hours.
The food is the easy part.
Let's head over to the fish to see what we've got.
In all the seasons I've watched, I've realized that
the teamwork makes the dream work.
Hey, what's up, brother from the same mother.
They don't have benne seed, but they have sesame.
And I'm looking straight at it.
I've seen restaurants get torn apart
because of the front of the house
versus back of the house.
Oh, oh, the avocados.
Oscar's on it now. I'm sending my best guy.
We need to really focus on being team oriented.
So, we're gonna finish up.
We're gonna grab the avocados and that's it.
Yes, sir.
Fish, 25 pounds, which I think we're good.
- Sick. - Super G the rest?
Yes.
Go-o-o-o-al!
- Sherry, I found Cheerwine! - Uh-huh. Okay.
I don't want to add a lot of flour to my she-crab cakes.
We're all executive chefs
and I think that's the biggest challenge
when it comes to these team challenges.
It's like, leaving the ego out the door.
Just doing whatever needs to be done to win the challenge.
Sherry! Sherry!
Ugggh! My God! It's like my----ing kid!
Sherry!
[upbeat rock music]
- Let's do this. - What's up, boys?
- Yello! - What up?!
Anthony!
- Oh, finally! - Let's go!
Uh-oh, bandana's coming out.
You know what time it is, ese.
Five hours.
Oscar! You're front of house?
Don't let Dwayne come out.
Oh, sh--. Dwayne's back.
Oscar, you're gonna - ing get it.
[laughing] Poor Oscar.
Sometimes my alter ego, Dwayne, comes out.
We're both in front of the house.
It kind of motivates me
to get my energy going.
Okay, all right, I see you.
[Oscar laughs]
I got collards working, my rosa's working,
- I got my cherry gel working. - Who's your exec?
We went with the old Siegster.
Hold on, he just got revived and you guys
are putting him in the middle of the battlefield?
- Back from the dead, dude. - Whoo!
The first two courses are going to be
my boy Jonathan and I.
For Tierra Reina, this concept is like, Latin cuisine.
And then aspects of the Carolinas.
So, first course, a snapper aguachile verde.
That's Jonathan.
Whose idea was it to cut all these peppers?
Oh, that was mine.
We're going with sweet potato tostada by yours truly.
I hit the sweet potatoes with the miso,
roasted them off. That one's good to go.
We're just building flavor on flavor on flavor.
For the second course, Jonathan will be making
a pescado a la Veracruzana,
using cod as his fish.
I'm trying to get a nice, thick filet.
For the second option,
I'm presenting a barbacoa wrapped in a collard green.
In the barbacoa, I'm doing tongue-in-cheek.
It's kind of funny, I don't know, maybe?
Tongue-in-cheek?
[quirky music] Right? You get it?
[giggles]
You have three hours and 30 minutes, everybody.
Hey, Laurence, big dog. You bought Cheerwine?
- Yeah. - I just need a little bit.
They need some Cheerwine. Is it okay if we give them some?
- One can. - Go for it.
Thanks, brother.
For dessert, Sieger is planning a mole crémeux
with a Catalana crème and a benne seed cracker.
It's a Latin take on the French crémeux,
which is like a ganache.
All the things kind of coming together.
[chuckles]
And finally, I am making arroz con leche
with Cheerwine gel.
Honestly, kinda glad that you chose rice pudding, man.
Yeah, using Cheerwine in place of the raisins
so you have a better texture.
'cause you remember when we were kids,
our nanny made it for us all the time?
Yeah. First time we tried it, it was kind of weird.
And remember, I didn't like the raisins.
Yeah, we hated the raisins.
Rice pudding is 50% complete.
I just don't wanna burn the bottom.
That'd be my worst nightmare, so I'm going slow and slow.
How are you guys feeling about your menu
and having to do takeout at the same time?
- No problem. - We pivot.
- We make it happen, baby. - All right, let's go, baby.
Carolina Queen. It is new Southern comfort-style food.
The first course, Sherry is going to make
a she-crab cake.
The Brazilian spin is adding coconut milk
to the crab instead of mayonnaise.
And Duyen is going to make a cheese puff
with pimento cheese and country ham.
Duyen, three hours left. How you feel?
I'm feeling pretty good.
I just want to give myself enough time to be able to go out
- in the dining room. - Okay.
You looking good, Anthony?
Yes, I'm about to slice and cure the okra next.
For the second course, you can choose between Anthony's
red rice with a seafood Bearnaise oyster and shrimp.
I started cooking a rice dish similar to this back in Miami,
and the flavors are good, so I think it's gonna be a good one.
Or you can have my course,
which is a crispy pork belly with collards,
cornbread, and pickles.
Poking some holes. This is gonna help render the fat.
And then when it renders, you get it nice and crispy.
We wanted to do elevated Southern comfort,
and I think that everybody loves PB&J.
For the last course, you have dessert between a PB&J
with a peanut panna cotta,
some compressed fruits, and a Cheerwine jelly.
Oiled peanuts are a big thing in Carolinas.
Or you can have our pecan baklava
with maple bourbon syrup.
Oh, my God, it's taking forever.
Very cool to be working right alongside of you with...
For Restaurant Wars.
- ...for Restaurant Wars. - Yeah, we're gonna crush it.
Kind of like a dream come true, you know?
My brother and I, we went separate ways in our career,
but our dream is to open a restaurant together.
We are very much connected.
This is gonna be one for the books.
We tend to argue a little bit about little sh--,
but, you know, we're 40 years old now, so hopefully
- that won't happen. - Should be all good.
Hey, Chef!
- Hey, Chef! - Hello!
It smells like Restaurant Wars in here.
- Hey, Chef. - Laurence, Chef Michael Mina.
- Pleasure to meet you. - Likewise.
To be in the presence of Chef Mina,
it's a privilege.
Makes me feel like this restaurant
needs to absolutely be a success.
This is Carolina Queen.
Carolina Queen.
Trying to do a new Southern comfort restaurant for you guys.
What are you doing with the phyllo right now?
I'm doing a baklava, and that's gonna come with
a sweet potato-like crème anglaise.
Where'd baklava play into the concept?
Yeah, I mean, we thought about kind of vessels
for um, a um...
Southern Greece.
Yeah, Southern Greece, there you go.
But instead of pistachios, you're using pecans.
- Pecans, yeah, exactly. - Yeah, looks like a good plan.
- Thanks, chefs. - That's good, yeah.
Okay, great.
- Oscar, Brandon. - Hey.
- Chef, how you doing? - Look at this,
- I get a two-for-one here. - Two-for one.
The name of the restaurant is Tierra Reina, Latino driven,
but with a Southern appreciation as well.
Is your Southern influence in the menu
more, you think, in products?
Like, good example, I am on the rice pudding, the dessert,
so I'm gonna use the Carolina gold rice.
Are you making green rice pudding?
We're thinking about it. We were very inspired.
Ha, ha, don't take shots at me.
Just asking. [Oscar chuckles]
Duyen, pâte à choux for 100, please?
- Yeah. - Before you made all these,
did you test one?
I did not.
[laughing]: I did not.
Tom, come on. Let's be real here.
Who has time to god damn test anything right now?
- Good luck. - Thank you.
Chefs, it all looks good.
We'll see you at your restaurants tomorrow night.
- Sounds good. Bye! - See you tomorrow!
Bye chef! See ya!
You know, like, when you watch a movie
and they're like the devil? I have that with Tom.
And he's like, "Duyen, this is not the time to R&T."
And I'm like, Shut up, Tom. Let me do my thing.
Not today, devil.
30 minutes!
Behind.
We have more room here.
We can do two tops across there.
I like that.
I'm portioning out the panna cotta.
That way it's already in the containers.
I'm gonna make a welcome tea.
I'm gonna infuse this tonight, so it's gonna be super strong.
You good, Duyen?
Yeah. I'm just gonna wrap my gougères.
What's the time?
Five minutes and 32 seconds.
I'm starting to get anxious.
I was just hoping I could spend a little bit of time
in the dining room.
- What you need? - Yeah, let's go four top.
Tomorrow, it's just gonna be a crazy long day,
and all these things are starting to weigh on me.
Ugh!
No, it was a stretch, but we did it.
Our mise en place is done.
- Feeling good. Yeah. - Got everything done.
I got two things I got to do. Just with
the salsa, blitz it. Everything else is done.
I got a big day tomorrow, but it'll be fine.
Tierra Reina!
[Duyen sighs]
[tense music]
Blue suit.
[knife rasping on stone]
Okay, time to go.
- Oh, wow! - Yo!
- Whoa! - Wow!
- I love it, I love it. - Yeah, cool.
- Poppin'. - Carolina Queen!
Wow. Look at the work they did.
That's a nice host stand for you. The little lamp.
Let's go, let's go!
Restaurant Wars, baby!
I've been waiting for this day my whole life.
Yeet!
Jonathan, how you looking?
I'm gonna work on this ceviche first,
and then I'm gonna go into getting the cod cured.
Sieger, what are you gonna start working on?
These are the sweet potatoes for the tostada.
How we doing on those barbacoa boys?
Four down, 76 to go, Chef.
[Oscar chuckles]
We're in a good spot.
I'm in charge of front of the house,
but I don't want to leave them with anything
other to do than what we agreed on,
which is Brandon rolling up the barbacoa
in the collards.
It's not like a circle. Actually, that's not bad.
- That's not bad. - Yeah, this would be great.
And I'm doing a duo of salsas, a tomato salsa,
and then I'm doing a tomatillo one, too.
I'm just hammering away at these balls.
Can you say that one more time?
I already pickled Duyen's mustard seeds.
I'm letting that sit.
The line cook is responsible for executing
every single dish to perfection. It's tough.
I'm working on Duyen's pimento cheese.
Laurence, how you feel about that pork belly?
Crisping up the skin right now.
We'll see how it goes in the oven.
Just under three hours before we're all open.
Oh, man. Is anybody freaking out?
I haven't done knife work like this in years.
I got people, man, that do that for me.
So, I'm trying to get back in the groove.
Oh, my goodness.
Coming down... this way.
Hi, everyone. I'm Chef Duyen.
Welcome to Restaurant Wars.
I'll show you guys your sections,
but let's get the dining room set up first
and kind of just start getting into the workflow.
I want us to start setting up the tables.
My prep list is pretty insane.
I need to get the dining room together,
figure out everybody's roles, train them on those roles,
and my team's doing everything they can to help me with my prep
in the kitchen so I can just be out there.
Two top should be right here.
I want you to take some ownership over the host stand
and tell them what their section is.
You're gonna run this host station.
You say you're the best.
- I'm gonna hold you to it. - Yes, Chef.
- How does it look out there? - It's coming together quick.
All right, Sieger, I'm gonna go get changed up, bro.
Good luck.
58 minutes, guys.
Weather report on the pork, it's looking really good.
We're gonna throw it back in the oven
with high heat and high fan.
How are you guys looking over there?
I'm just cutting the sherry and Cheerwine gelee
that's gonna be in place of raisins on the rice pudding.
I do know it's high risk because it's only one dish.
It's super simple. It's three ingredients.
But being the line cook, you have your hands in prep
and in so many dishes so I want my dessert to be easy,
and I want it to be pre-plated.
Here, you wanna try a piece?
- I'll take a scrap. - We've got plenty.
- Oh, dude, it's so good. - Yeah.
And remember, like, we can prep during service, too,
so it's not like...
You know, that's a thing now, right?
Bro, anytime a cook tells me that, I'm like,
bro, what do you need, bro?
I send them home. I'm like, it's okay,
I'll work your station.
I got this. I just want to finish the aguachile verde,
which should take me 20 minutes,
and then slice Serranos, pick herbs,
slice scallions. [chuckling]
You guys, this is Chef Anthony.
Hello, everyone.
He's the executive chef tonight.
Alrighty, 10 minutes after first course,
I'm already gonna fire your second.
So, there's no need to fire anything with me.
This way allows me to have control over the flow of service
and just ensure that we're moving at a consistent pace.
We don't want to get backed up.
When we clear the first course,
that's when you fire to us.
Five to seven minutes is what we're thinking.
Getting tickets to chef, hand it directly to him.
Food runners, we don't need all this explanation.
We just want the seat number and the table number,
and we run it out.
We're gonna be really good.
We're gonna go to all the right tables, right?
Sick.
18 minutes!
How are you guys feeling?
Good. Go taste your cheese sauce, please.
It's done. Is it enough filling?
It's a good bite.
Yeah, but I feel like it's very plain.
I think the pickled mustard seeds need to stay in there
a little bit longer.
- Okay. - Okay, I need to go change.
- That's fine. - For service.
I don't know how I get stuck doing somebody else's
mise en place.
I have one thing on everybody's dish.
So, if anybody gonna get scolded, it's gonna be me.
45 minutes for pick up.
You could tell them, if they'd like to come
five minutes ahead of time, we might have it ready for you
beforehand, but 45 minutes to have it ready.
[tense instrumental music]
We're in the South. Maybe a little Southern hosp--,
like if we can, women first, you know.
The dining room is absolutely beautiful.
It just feels light and airy.
[snaps]
I'm ready to pull up. [chuckles]
Nine minutes!
Hey Brandon, I just need your help with a little bit
- of knifework, please. - What knifework do you need?
I've just got a lot of knifework
that needs to be finished.
What kind of knifework, Chef? You gotta speak. Tell me.
So, right here. So, I just need cilantro, chiffonade.
I'm blown away.
We're about to start service and my brother comes up
with a 22-quart of vegetables.
This is the garni-poo for the--
Just stop talking. Start working, bro.
I'm working, dude. I'm working nonstop.
Now is not the time to - ing chat and be funny.
This is my worst nightmare.
Oh, my God!
- Sherry, how you feeling, girl? - Ready for service, Chef.
I wish I could say the same for my brother.
Oh. [laughs]
He's mad as hell.
How many more do you think you need, Chef?
- Uh... - Just gimme a quick count.
He's right. I should have my station set up.
I would never let that fly in one of my restaurants.
Like, same size as the peppers. You can go a little bit bigger.
Well, too late. If he wasn't my brother,
and this was another cook,
they'd be on their own.
- Minute and 30! - Where's the phone again?
The phone will be at the host stand. They're gonna run back
- all our to-go orders. - Yes, Chef!
Are we finished with your mise en place,
- or what? - Yeah, we're there. Thank you.
Steady, calm. Let's show them a good time.
Good luck. Good luck.
Thank you. You too.
[timer beeps]
- Ho!! - Hey-ho!
Let's do it! Let's do it!
- We are open!! - We're open! We're open!
Hello. Welcome to Carolina Queen.
Welcome, everyone. Welcome, welcome.
Welcome to Tierra Reina.
- It looks so great in here. - Thank you so much.
We're celebrating the South.
A lot of our personalities shine throughout the dishes.
We also have a nice, little welcome drink
- for you guys as well. - Oh, very cool.
I am so deep in my element. I'm made for this.
Honestly, it's a really good team energy.
Anything y'all need from us, just let me know.
Who's taking to-go calls?
I'm taking the to-go calls. It's on the expo.
Okay. This is exactly the doneness I wanted.
Simon! Yes!
- All right! Let's do this! - Order in!
So, let's fire. Aguachile, tostada, one of each, please.
Yes, Chef.
Welcome to Tierra Reina.
Have you all dined with us before?
No, it's our first time.
It's our first time here, too. [laughs]
The dining room is looking good, dog. The joke is landing.
I think we're in a good spot, ladies and gentlemen.
Nice!
[dramatic music]
- Hi! - Look at you.
- You look lovely. - Thank you. I try.
- Do you guys want to follow me? - Thank you.
I'm checking out the decor.
- Yeah, pretty. - It is pretty in here.
It's sort of soft
- and feminine. - Yeah.
The name Carolina Queen
is really to pay an homage to the city.
And to start you guys off,
we have a fizzy sweet tea made with turmeric and some yuzu.
- Smells great. - Beautiful.
- Thank you, Duyen. - You're welcome.
Cheers. Thank you both so much for being with us.
- Thank you for having us. - It's such a delight.
- Duyen, how's it going? - Team Charlotte,
judges are here. I'd welcomed them to the table.
That's where we're at.
Order in judges. Five puff, five crab.
Five and five.
So, Michael, you're opening a restaurant
- here in Charlotte? - I am.
How long is it going to take you by the time
- you open your doors? - Ten months.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- It's not 36 hours. - Not 36 hours.
Okay. [judges laughs]
We're gonna get the thick, crispy, juicy ones.
Sauce is ready.
You add three tomatoes per.
Hands squeezed for judges.
And then one judge will get every plate of puff.
The menu feels very Carolina.
- It does. - Oh, here we go.
- Hello. Hi. Welcome in. - Hello, Sherry.
- How are you? - Thank you so much.
As one of our first course options,
we have a she-crab cake with a she-crab bisque.
I removed the aioli from the crab cake.
I replaced it with coconut milk
to make it a little bit Brazilian.
- I'll let you take the floor. - Thank you.
Also, for the starter, is a cheese puff.
The batter has been folded with country ham,
and then in the center is a sauce mornay.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Anthony, fire, judge's table for me.
Nine belly, nine rice.
Nine.
I really love Sherry's dish.
Those pickles lended that nice sweet tang to it.
I love the coconut milk that lightened it,
and it spoke to her background,
- and it had a good bit of heat. - Yeah.
The flavors are very good. They're bright. Everything pops.
Okay, three crab.
What do you think of Duyen's first bites?
The flavor's great. The liquid cheese
in the center, I actually like a lot.
- I made a mess. - She loves it.
The sign of a good meal, Gail.
The flavor's great. The pimento cheese, the country ham.
- Good start. - Great start.
I always like to look at the front of house people
- when they're not at our table. - So, I made the cheese puffs.
- Oh. - Yeah.
A lot of times they just do it for us and
- that's it. - She's going to every one?
Every single table. She's doing a great job.
[phone ringing]
- Anthony! - Yeah?
- We got a call. - Heard!
- Anthony! - I'm coming back, Sherry.
- One minute. - Come on!
I don't have a food runner, what you talking about?
- Oh, you're talking about this. - You got a phone call.
Hello, thank you for calling Carolina Queen.
Yes, what would you like?
Guys, order in. Fire one more pork belly, one more rice,
four-four. Guys, order in, three more crab and a puff.
We're firing tables four or five at a time.
Laurence, fire judges. And at the same time,
we need to give the judges our full attention.
Hey Laurence, I'm dragging on the two puffs for 16 and 12.
We have to knock out these tickets.
Order in.
Pleasure to have you all.
I'll be around if you need anything.
Thank you all very much.
First seating tickets are in.
- All right. - Beautiful, chef. Beautiful.
Service starts. Sieger looks like he's done this before.
Tostada, please.
I don't feel any lag in the kitchen on my end.
- I feel pretty good. - If Oscar's not in the kitchen,
that means we're doing something right.
Ba-dum-bump.
[indistinct chatter]
Rice for the judges ready to go. Ready?
Laurence, are you ready for pork for judges?
Five plates all day, right?
Five pork for judges all day, buddy.
- Cover, right? - Yep.
Hands, please. We're going to judges.
Four plates, but I'll come back.
Yep.
Hello, everyone.
- Hello, Anthony. - How are we doing today?
- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you.
- Thank you so much. - Yes, my pleasure.
So, up in front, you have red rice.
There's smoked oysters, a little bit of pickled okra,
and a bearnaise, which is on top of your rice.
I'm gonna let Laurence explain his.
I'm gonna get back in the kitchen.
Today I made for y'all a pork belly.
We have three sides: collard greens,
a fried scallion cornbread and just some pickles.
- Amazing. Thank you, Laurence. - Thank you very much.
Very hard to cut the skin.
- I think we just pick it up. - Yeah.
Do what you got to do.
I don't mind the skin. It's just okay.
You know, the skin was crispy, although it's chewy.
Flavor-wise, the pork belly's nicely cooked.
The greens are really tasty.
I didn't feel like it was a risk taker of a dish,
but I thought it was well executed.
Maybe I should have sliced the pork.
I saw them kind of struggling a little bit.
How's your rice texture on Anthony's?
It's okay.
It's not supposed to be mushy.
No, it's over.
I just...
I'm having a hard time getting over
the texture of the combination of a little too much sauce
and a little too much okra.
Okra and the bearnaise together.
- Yes, that's what I'm saying. - It's doing something.
I don't know if it's supposed to be like that.
I don't think so.
After those rice, we're gonna start selling dessert.
Fire tostada, aguachile.
Order in one of each, please.
Chef, you got some food back.
Sweet. Can you just put those right here for me?
The worst fear in any chef's eyes
is when you see food coming back to the kitchen.
Sieger, I need your attention.
42's food got sent to 57.
I need 42.
Yeah, I'm gonna go touch those tables,
make sure they're all all right.
These servers, it's their first day on the job,
and they're righting wrong tables.
I need to pump the brakes.
No, it's three Veracruz, though.
Yeah.
It's full.
It feels very calm.
There's no stress or chaos.
Laurence, when's puff coming?
Yep, it's coming, it's coming.
90 seconds.
There's not a lot of tables
with food on it right now, though.
They're on dessert. They're eating.
No, they're waiting for mains still, these ones here.
Laurence, fire judges, buddy!
Five baklava.
Hey, you guys, just letting you know,
the entrees need to just go out a little bit more,
because there's a lot of empty tables.
- We know, Duyen, we got this. - Thank you.
[phone rings]
Is this the first time this rang?
No, second time.
Three, four, five. Fire, five pork.
Hello? How can I help you?
Hey, guys, order in.
Give me one second. Let me just grab the pen.
Three crab cakes and a puff.
[phone rings]
Three, four, five. Fire five pork.
Hello? Carolina Queen. What can I get you?
And you're saying two crab cakes?
Another to-go order just came in.
Taking the to-go orders. It's breaking the flow a bit.
We just got to push really hard and just catch up.
Thanks again. Thank you all.
Thank you.
Judges' desserts are coming up.
[tense music]
How's everything feeling back there?
Things are a little pushed back,
but, you know, everyone's still very happy.
We're just making sure we're taking care of you guys,
like right now.
[laughing]
- Right on cue. - Right on cue.
Thank you so much.
- Hello again. - Hello.
We have two different desserts.
On the big chalice, you have PB&J.
Peanut butter panna cotta
with Cheerwine and compressed fruits.
And then I'll let Laurence talk about the pies.
Yeah. So today, we did an ode to pie culture in the South.
So, this is a pecan baklava
with a sweet potato crème anglaise.
- Thank you all. Appreciate it. - Thanks, Laurence.
- Thank you. - I like Sherry's dessert.
I love the peanut butter, I love the texture.
It's almost eating like, frosting,
which I mean that in a very complimentary way.
- Yeah. - Of course you do.
This feels like fifth grade cafeteria,
but like, in a good way.
It reminds me of something from childhood.
Laurence's dessert?
Flavors are there. The idea's there.
Just a little execution.
A layer of sweet potato
in with the pecan would have been good.
I just want to put it in my handbag and take it home.
For where they are first night, I think it's very successful.
You think of hospitality when you think of the South,
and I think the hospitality here has been great.
- Good meal. - It's a good meal.
- Good service. - Agreed.
We do have to get to another reservation.
- Let's go. - It's just right over there.
Perfect. Who's driving?
- Thank you, Duyen. - Bye, thank you so much.
Thank you.
[phone rings]
Hello. Thank you for calling Tierra Reina.
How can I help you?
Hands, please!
Forty-one, tostada.
Goddamnit.
What happened? Something happen?
I don't have position numbers
so I can't sell the food.
We're just losing time having to correct table numbers,
correct seat numbers.
- Oh, my God. - What?
This, it's fifty-one.
Oh, God, all right.
The brothers are pushing out food really quickly.
The focus is getting the tickets right.
No, no. So, just like, the item, and then seat number.
You know what I mean?
[tense music]
- To-go, heard. - Yeah.
And now we have to-go orders just like,
compounding stress over stress over stress.
Oh, my God.
Sieger... we got the second seating coming in,
so judges should be coming in, in a little bit, guys.
- Beautiful. - Gracias.
Let's tighten it all up.
There's one critical point in a restaurant's night,
it's called "the turn."
You have to get the first tables out
and get ready for the next wave of customers that come in.
Any time a server comes up and they don't know
what the table number is,
or they ran it to the wrong table,
or they're firing the wrong food,
it creates this monkey wrench in service.
Thank you. I apologize about that.
I'm glad you all got your entrees.
I'll come in and check on you in a little bit.
The dining room fills up
and it is always cause for chaos.
We have a reservation for five.
I think it's under the name Kish.
- Thank you so much. - Yeah, absolutely.
- Thank you, sir. - Absolutely.
Definitely a different vibe.
- Vibrant! - Vibrant, yeah.
It's a nice color.
I like the contrast of the terra cotta
with the bright green.
- Oh, look at you! - Hello.
- You clean up well. - Thank you. I appreciate it.
Welcome everyone, to Tierra Reina.
My name is Oscar Diaz. I'm the GM for today.
I think I was chosen because of my good looks
and my killer style.
Just kidding. Just kidding.
So, a little bit about Tierra Reina,
we chose to take some humble Mexican dishes
and we wanted to give a nod to the South at the same time.
And then just sprinkle in our personality.
- Very good. - By the way,
is this y'all's first time visiting us?
- Yes. - Ah, corny jokes.
That was for you, Chef. Thank y'all.
- Thank you, Oscar. - He loves you.
All right, guys, the judges are here.
Let's catch up. Let's keep the energy high.
- Hell, yeah. Let's do it. - Got it? Yes, Chef! Let's go!
[whistling]
I don't see people moving
and I see a lot of people waiting.
'Cause you look around, there's no empty seats.
Yeah, they're gonna be there for a while.
And there's no food on tables either.
Jammed up. Second turn's tough.
The appetizers are great, but it seemed like after that,
it's just been taking so long to come around.
- Ooh, takeout! - Takeout.
- That looks good. - Comin' through.
- I'm so sorry. - Oh, my gosh. Perfect.
We're gonna knock out entrees and then judges?
Gentlemen, yeah, we gotta push.
We have a lot of people at the door.
They're definitely noticing that.
We gotta get some people seated, y'all.
- Yes, Chef. - You guys go.
Do you think there's backup happening
over at Carolina Queen?
I don't know. I'll walk over there
to take a look real quick.
[tense music]
- Here you go. - Thank you so much.
Thank you guys.
Hello, yeah, it's me. Hey.
How long have you guys been waiting?
- Five minutes. - Oh, okay. That's not bad.
How long have you guys been waiting?
Okay... okay.
And they got you drinks?
Have fun.
You guys enjoy. Have a great night.
- Thank you. - Thanks.
[intriguing music]
How did that go?
Two tables that were waiting about five minutes
and the other four top that was waiting about 15.
But they all had drinks.
So, it's been 30 minutes since we sat down.
- Really? - Really?
Yeah. Time flies with great company.
[chattering]
Hi. We got a to-go order. We never got the pecan.
We also didn't have any silverware.
Okay, I can tell them, yeah.
Oh, my God. We're looking for a order.
Uh...
that's not great.
It's so small, but details like that
will make the difference of winning and losing.
Can I get a pecan pie to go? They're--
- Huh? - Pecan pie to go. On the fly.
Uh, heard.
- Oscar! - Yes!
Where's our food?
I will bring that out for you right now.
Oh, boy.
Sieger, let's get the chefs' table.
- Yep, plating right now. - Perfect.
Between solving out what's going on
in the front of the restaurant, going back to the kitchen,
getting tables flipped, I'm just not thinking about
how much time has gone on.
It's been 40 minutes since we sat down.
- This is ridiculous. - Yeah.
Ah, here it is.
Oh, thank you.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
- So, we'll start with the tostada by Sieger.
He really wanted to represent Carolina Ruby sweet potato.
Then he did a little crema and a salsa negra.
For our second option, we have an aguachile.
Jonathan chose North Carolina Snapper,
and then he made his aguachile with some grapes, apples.
There's a little plantain chip on top.
All right, cool. Enjoy, y'all.
I actually really enjoyed Sieger's dish.
I loved the sweet potato and the chili crunch.
I personally want just a little bit more of like,
a sauce or something, to bring it all together.
I don't like the presentation.
It just felt really messy.
I feel like it needed one more ingredient to smear.
Maybe a bean, or something, to smear on the chip.
Jonathan's aguachile was a really refreshing way
to start the dinner.
And I liked the little plantain as the vehicle.
Extremely well balanced. All around, really good.
- Worth the 40 minute wait? - Meh.
The plantain has gotten very soggy.
- Mm-hmm. - So, it's not a crisp bite.
This container spilled the juice all over the place.
Probably not the best takeout dish.
Excuse me, do you know how long on that to-go order?
Uh, let me go check.
- I'll be right back. - Thanks.
Hey, Sherry, Anthony, when you guys took out
to-go containers, did you see utensils?
Yeah, there was some on that back table over there.
Okay. I've never worked in a restaurant
that had takeout, but it's just another obstacle.
And now, it looks like everything is under control.
- I have you right here. - Utensils. There you go.
- Thank you. - Yep.
- We comin' up with judges' table? I got your hands here.
First course landed with the judges.
We're down to our last two reservations.
We're catching up. It's the fourth quarter.
This is when we shine, all right?
Once we got tickets figured out, we started moving plates faster.
One, two, three.
Every time I'm walking by, I'm telling every server,
"Are you guys dragging any ticket?"
We gotta push this one!
Because we don't want to be behind again.
All right, guys, let's start pushing please.
And skedaddle.
We need to move on everything else now.
- Here's some action. - Yes.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
For our second course, Jonathan's dish,
it's a cod pescado a la Veracruzana,
and then he stewed tomatoes, Castelvetrano olives,
and some capers.
Second option is actually my dish,
tongue and cheek barbacoa,
and then a duality of salsas because...
I feel growing up Mexican American,
it's like, you're never Mexican enough,
you're never American enough.
I'm just curious who's doing your pickup?
Brandon is doing my pickup.
Brandon helped a lot with this dish.
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
Jonathan's cod was very flaky. I liked the briny tomato.
It's a good dish. The fish is cooked beautifully.
- The sauce is really good. - Yeah.
Oscar's dish, I would come back to this restaurant for,
over and over again.
- Worth the wait? - Definitely.
The barbacoa is so tender.
Oscar's dish is sophisticated in ways that I don't think
I've seen in any of his dishes so far.
Oscar home-runned on this one for me.
- I have no complaints. - No complaints either.
We're right back on track. You guys feeling good?
You're not even sweating. I'm sweating more than you.
Wow, this is a plot twist.
These entrees just edge out the other team.
Looking ahead, if this does turn out to be better,
I don't know what we do with the other side.
- Duyen's service was fantastic. - Yeah.
The worst dish was Anthony's, but he's got immunity.
Oh, boy.
You want to plate the rice pudding
- for the judges please? - Yes, Chef.
Let's go. Let's go, J.
- Got you, bro. - Yeah.
I'm gonna send you five people, ten hands.
All right, we got five and five.
Thank you so much. In five.
All right, Judges' desserts are out!
Wow, that was fast. Thank you.
Thank you.
First, we have Sieger's dessert, the "Crémeuxso".
So, he took some of the chilis that are in mole
and mixed it into the crémeux.
And he also made a crema Catalana.
In order to add something Southern,
he chose to make a benne cracker.
For the next dessert, this is Brandon's.
He's like, "I want to make a rice pudding,
but my brother and I never liked the raisins in it."
So, he chose to make a Cheerwine cherry jelly,
which we thought we was a good nod to the South.
- All right, y'all. Thank you. - Thank you.
Sieger's dessert... I find that the crémeux itself is grainy--
The benne's too thick, actually, too.
I mean, flavor-wise, it's okay.
- It's just not a dessert. - I thought it was inventive.
I thought the whole mole piece was good.
Thought the presentation was a bit lacking.
There's no elegance to the plating.
Like, it held up pretty well for the third course.
Looks beautiful.
This one was slightly more on the savory side.
Brandon's rice pudding,
I'm getting a lot of inconsistently cooked rice.
There's like, clumps of uncooked rice.
Mm-hmm.
You can't do anything to fix that.
You have to just start over.
The little pops of cherry flavor were nice.
I kept on digging into the bottom,
thinking there'd be some prize.
- Yeah, is there a prize? - Or some something,
and it's like, "Oh."
This is a big letdown.
You want to try it? I just think the rice is not cooked.
Maybe it's just me.
It's not cooked. I like the flavors, though.
- I like the cinnamon. - Mm-hmm.
We also have the takeout orders, which we're going to find out
what the guests thought about their food.
That could come into play here.
The comment cards. Yeah, we each get to do one.
We should be honest.
I think everything was good.
The sweet rubies pecan from Carolina Queen.
Best carryout that I've had in a very long time.
[chuckling]
All right, guys, we just got our last ticket.
Last ticket's in, guys! We're almost done, bud.
Crema is one, arroz is two.
Hands, please! Food runners.
Grab the baklava, guys. Whew!
What a day. What a day.
Thank you.
Our baklava for you, sir.
[tense music swells]
- Bring it all in. - Bring it all in.
- There we go. There we go. There we go.
The food was received very well.
The pace for the judges was good?
They did ask at first, like, "Where's our food?"
But we had only been like, five minutes.
But it was fine. We nailed the judges' table.
Do you think overall this was a successful Restaurant Wars?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Better than many, many years of Restaurant Wars.
Both concepts were well done.
Yes.
Shall we head to Judges' Table?
- Sure. - Let's do it.
Restaurant Wars in the books!
[all cheering]
Uh, Dwayne.
Dwayne came out today!
[tense music]
In case you maybe just blacked out the last 48 hours,
you just went through Restaurant Wars.
How'd they do, Tom?
We had very clear concepts, food that was mostly delicious.
This was tough. You both did a really great job.
How was the takeout service?
Takeout service was fun.
Um, I'm just gonna use that word.
I don't know if I believe that.
- Define "fun." - Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Were you aware that there were missing items
in some of the to-go orders?
Yeah, I think there were like, two orders
that they were missing something,
and then we just got it right away.
Yeah, and gave it to them.
And how about for you?
I didn't hear anything about missed items.
One note on the takeout, from the guests,
is that the aguachile was a little bit messy.
- Hmm. - Plantain got soggy.
Yeah.
And that the rice pudding was noted as being...
not wonderful.
Tierra Reina, did you know the amount of time
that we were sitting at the table
before we got our first course and then second courses?
Our whole thing was like, five to seven,
with ten being the max mark.
- You know it was 40 minutes? - 40 minutes?
40 minutes until the first course came out.
Brandon and Jonathan, you look very surprised
- that it took that long. - Yeah.
- Same.
For the first course, Sieger,
the tostada, it was a tasty bite,
but wish it had more sauce,
or something to like, really tie it together.
I would agree that it was a little dry,
but concept-wise, I thought it set a great tone for the meal.
Oh, thank you.
Jonathan, definitely not the first aguachile
we've seen around here, but you nailed it.
The knife work in there, whoever helped you,
or if you did it yourself, doesn't matter. Thank you.
Brandon, it was perfect.
The snapper was delicious.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Oscar, the barbacoa...
this is a dish, like, no notes. None.
It was done with such refinement.
The meat and the beans together were unctuous.
And the respective sauces gave real dynamism. I loved it.
- Thank you. - Flavors were just spot on.
Cooking was perfect.
Really should be proud of this one.
Thank you.
Brandon, the rice pudding,
was there any point where you thought
these little Cheerwine gels on top,
you're gonna polish those off in the first three bites?
Our nanny used to put the raisins on top
because we could pick them off.
And so, for me, it was intentional to put five pieces.
You know, there just wasn't enough in each bite
to really get it in contrast
to the rich flavor of the rice pudding.
- Got it. - The rice didn't feel...
perfectly cooked.
Yeah, because I definitely got lumps.
I did stir it quite a bit,
so I could see how some pieces were broken.
Sieger, for your dessert, why did you plate it like that?
I wanted to like... when you would scoop,
you could scoop through, you'd get texture.
You get the chocolate.
For me, where it fell a little short was the plating.
The flavors were good?
Two or three day down the road, as you keep tasting it,
- I could see it getting there. - Heard.
Carolina Queen.
- Duyen, the cheese puffs. - Yeah.
I actually really enjoyed the flavors.
Yeah, I thought they were delicious.
They were perfectly formed. I loved the pop of mustard.
I also just wanted to comment real quickly
on your front of house work.
I thought the greeting was just really wonderful.
You talked about the restaurant and left it at that.
It was a really nice touch.
Thank you.
Actually, both of you really felt
like you were the owners of your restaurant.
You walked in, you knew it was yours.
Sherry, your beautiful crab cake,
I loved the way you substituted coconut milk for aioli.
That brought a lovely freshness to it.
I thought what really made the dish
was the little relish on top
because it gave a pop of acidity that it needed.
Also just happen to love crab, so it was delicious.
Thank you.
Anthony, I thought the rice was unevenly cooked.
- That said, it was tasty. - Okay.
But there was so much goo,
like a mozzarella stick pull.
Okay.
So, it really took away from the red rice of the dish.
Okay.
Laurence, my skin was a little tough,
but the pork belly was cooked really well.
Sauce was great. Had a lot of flavor.
I could see it on the menu.
Yeah, Laurence, I thought this was a classic dish
done really well. It was really tasty.
Laurence, baklava, clearly, I thought it was good,
but it would have been nice to have
another piece of sweet potato in that mix
because the foam didn't really eat sweet potato.
That said, it was good to eat.
It's a very fine line between the winner and the loser.
It could go any which way.
We have a very big choice to make.
So, go rest your knees
and we'll call you back in a little bit.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
Good job y'all.
I don't even know how to walk right now.
Good job, guys.
I mean, this is really tough.
- Yeah. - The teams, for me,
got the same kind of scores for the first courses.
Yes.
But Tierra Reina's entrees were better.
I think we all agree on that one. Right?
We had this crescendo with the barbacoa,
and then this crashing disappointment
- with the desserts. - Yeah.
But in the takeout orders,
Carolina Queen missed a few items within orders.
How much do we factor that into the game?
I think the orders were correct on Tierra Reina.
The dishes didn't land.
- The aguachile came soggy. - Soggy, right.
So, although the order got to them, it wasn't great.
Shoutout to Duyen.
Yeah!
The front of house callout, that was great.
I had a lot of fun.
Duyen's service was just impeccable.
The restaurant felt a little more inviting.
Duyen's service felt like it was her restaurant
for the past ten years.
- Oscar's service wasn't bad. - No.
The fact that we sat there for 40 minutes.
They weren't aware of it.
- That's on Oscar. - Yes.
There's this bond that's happening,
so it sucks to know that someone's gonna be gone.
You know, it sucks to feel like you're gonna be the one.
Anthony's lucky he has immunity
because I don't understand this red rice and bearnaise sauce.
Like, scratching my head on that one.
It didn't hang together at all.
If we don't win, you have immunity.
You crushed it. Sherry's got the best dish.
You know what I mean?
Is an "okay" dish gonna send me home?
And then you have Laurence's pork dish,
which felt uninspired, and safe,
and quite frankly, boring.
It could go both ways, man. You know?
Yeah. I think so, for sure.
So, if Tierra Reina's on the bottom,
who's going home?
I could tell you who's not, and that would be Oscar,
because his barbacoa dish was so good.
And I gotta say, Jonathan,
his aguachile and his cod dish, they were fine. They were good.
- Aguachile was very good. - Yep.
So, that leaves...
- Brandon and Sieger. - Sieger and Brandon.
Why would the chef take an app and a dessert,
and then the line cook just take a dessert?
That is exactly the question, Chef.
I really enjoyed the rice pudding.
I tried to make sure everything was dialed in,
but obviously, it's kinda hard when you're cooking that amount.
Brandon made huge technical mistakes.
The rice was uncooked.
And he seemed pleased in retrospect.
He's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna stand by my dish."
One dish, and that's gonna be it.
How many hours did they have to cook?
You think that making Cheerwine whatever,
it was gonna elevate that dish?
Brandon did also help with prep.
He helped with a lot of things.
- But that is on him. - Yeah.
Brandon's strategy was off.
I feel like after every Judges' Table conversation,
I'm feeling very... uneasy.
Sieger, his dishes were both, sort of mediocre.
My problem is with Sieger being the chef,
he should have actually been a little more involved.
I would look at Brandon and go, you have pastry experience,
- you're taking both desserts. - Right!
For me, Carolina Queen,
in a lot of ways, was more successful.
I don't agree. I just think that there are equal flaws.
I mean, this is a tough decision.
It could be anybody at this point.
Yeah.
This was a close one.
Let's get the chefs out here.
[tense music]
Chefs, this was really quite close
and a really tough choice to make.
But ultimately, we did have one winner.
Our favorite team tonight is...
[music swells]
...Carolina Queen. Congratulations.
- Thank you. - Oh, my God.
I was so scared. I was so scared.
We did tell you that this prize was epic,
and you have each just won an exclusive vacation
for you and a guest to Universal Orlando Resorts'
- four amazing theme parks. - Okay!
Including the all-new Universal Epic Universe.
And a one-of-a-kind meet-and-greet
with the Universal Orlando culinary team.
[chuckling]
Clare and Michael,
you have the honor of announcing our individual winner.
The winning chef today
is someone whose contribution
really underpinned the success of the winning concept.
And the winning chef is...
...Duyen.
Duyen!
[laughing and cheering]
First win and it's friggin' Restaurant Wars.
Ah, that feels so good.
Dwyane all up in this bitch!
Duyen, from start to finish, you just set the tone.
It actually felt like a restaurant.
I think you did a fantastic job.
Thank you so much.
Unfortunately, you don't get immunity.
I don't get immunity?
- No, it's over. It's all over. - Dang it!
- You get bragging rights. - I'll keep that. Thank you.
Unfortunately, Tierra Reina,
you are our least favorite restaurant of the evening
and one of you will be eliminated.
Your restaurant, I think you did a really good job.
There was just one or two things that just fell flat,
and one chef in particular just...
didn't really pull their weight.
[tense music swells]
Brandon, please pack your knives and go.
Brandon, you're standing on one dish
and it was probably the weakest dish.
Should have known to do a little bit more.
You had a bad day today, but it's not over just yet.
[intriguing music]
You're heading to the finale of Last Chance Kitchen,
that's happening right now. - Oh, okay.
Oh, [bleep].
So, you have an opportunity to return
back to the competition, very soon.
I'm gonna put the chef's coat on
and we're gonna walk into Last Chance Kitchen.
It sucks. You know, I have a strong pastry background
and I should have went with my gut
over trying to be a good team player.
Good luck.
But I have a chance in Last Chance Kitchen.
I'm gonna come in there on fire.
I'm gonna crush it. Don't worry.
Mm-hmm. Later, bro.
This is all nice, but if he gets back in,
his job is to come in here and beat all of you, so.
Yeah, seriously.
Good luck to you, Brandon.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Right now, Restaurant Wars sends Brandon
straight to the Last Chance Kitchen finale.
[gasping and huffing]
One final battle decides who returns to the competition.
It's all or nothing!
Watch now on Peacock or on BravoTV.com.
Next time, on Top Chef...
- Hi, guys. - Oh!
We're gonna hit the road to head to Greenville, South Carolina.
In honor of that, we want the ultimate dinner party.
- Yeah! - Holy crap!
You're gonna have $1,200 to shop.
That does have to cover both
Quickfire and Elimination dishes for all of you.
$12.99, okay.
Four lobster tails, 'cause I'm on a budget.
- Gin o'clock! - Cheers!
To South Carolina.
- Oh wow. - This looks amazing.
I loved this dish.
It was not my favorite.
Uh, it's all I could do.