♪♪♪
For your Elimination Challenge, we want a savory dish
featuring fruit right off the tree.
There are no vegetables in your pantry.
Spin! Ha!
These are amazing. The color is beautiful.
Ow! Son of a bitch.
I got stung by a bee.
- Come on, bro. - [bee buzzing]
I call it a "Ohiotto."
This is too al dente and it's mushy at the same time.
This wind! Shoot.
- Was everyone's chicken raw? - Yeah, yeah.
- Everyone? - Across the board. Whole table.
What you got going on, Gabe?
- Smoked plums. - Ooh. Smells great.
I wanna do this real quick, guys. I'm sorry.
[laughter]
Gabe's masterful when it comes to sauce-making.
The winning chef today is...
Gabe.
Thank you guys so much.
Nelson, I didn't see your vision.
I tried to stay a little more classic.
Kiki, please pack your knives and go.
Eleven chefs remain to compete
in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winner--
a feature in Food & Wine magazine,
an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,
a quarter of a million dollars,
furnished by San Pellegrino
and the title of Top Chef.
♪♪♪
- To Kiki. - To Kiki.
Kiki.
This is just the beginning.
What Tom did say is just be ready to be
even more out of your comfort zone.
Chefs, these challenges are set up to really push you
into a place that is difficult.
You have to embrace them.
The only time you're gonna get to cook
whatever you want is in the finale.
That would've sucked if you got sent home
on not your cuisine, you know what I mean?
Yeah, [bleep]. Trying to do somebody else's sh--.
Yeah.
I honestly was happy with my dish, I really--
but it's not enough to get me to the top three.
I am in a bad headspace.
The middle people, like myself,
we're not, like, up to par.
I've been in the middle since I got here.
I am doubting myself. Maybe I'm too Mexican.
Maybe I'm not toning it down and giving those flavors
that they're looking for.
Avishar, you're gonna do risotto next week?
[laughter]
Probably try one more rice dish
before I get sent home.
♪♪♪
Okay, kiddos.
Let's do this.
- Hello, hello. - Hi.
Hello.
- What is going on here? - City of Roses.
It's beautiful.
- Those are some fly pants. - Thank you.
Please welcome back your guest judge
for this Quickfire Challenge, Amar Santana.
Hi, chefs. Thank you.
The people of Portland love roses and so do I.
About a half a million rose bushes
line 20 miles of streets here in the city.
Leading Portland to officially adopting
the nickname City of Roses in 2003.
And speaking of roses,
Mother's Day is right around the corner.
♪♪♪
Amar, I believe you have a new mother in your house?
I just had a little baby boy.
It's the most beautiful love that you could see.
It reminds me when I was a little kid
growing up with my mom. She was the one that guided me
the right direction to be where I am today.
Do we have any mothers in the room?
How old is your child or children?
Uh, Rene, my son, he's 12.
- Going on 20. - They grow fast.
I'm gonna start crying,
so I'm gonna stop you right there.
[laughter]
For this Quickfire Challenge,
we want you to create a dish paying tribute
to the mother figure in your lives.
Your dish must incorporate roses
or rose-flavored ingredients.
My girlfriend is Persian and we do use
a lot of rosewater in cooking.
It could be a very overpowering ingredient to use
or it could be very underwhelming
if you don't use enough.
You have access to everything here,
as well as everything in the pantry.
The winner will receive immunity
and an advantage in the Elimination Challenge.
Make your mommies proud.
Your time starts now.
Good luck.
♪♪♪
- Ow! Dude! - Ow!
- Chill. - Vamonos, vamonos.
Cooking with rose, it's challenging. [laughs]
For me, I get a really soapy flavor from it,
so too much is gonna be overpowering.
I've got some rose tea, white and rose petal.
Not quite sure how I'm gonna do everything yet.
Aah!
♪♪♪
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tastes like Mom's.
Byron, what are you working on?
Crab, curing in a little bit of rose tea.
- Sounds good. - Something light and delicate,
just like my mother.
My mother is the best woman in my life.
She moved to the US without knowing anyone,
and that's pretty brave.
She did it for the love of her kids,
so hopefully I'm able to portray this
through this dish.
Roses can be very perfumey-like,
so the trick is working with enough acidity,
enough salinity in the dish.
Twenty-three minutes.
- Here's some rose sugar. - Oh, this is rose sugar?
- Yeah. - Oh, sick.
- This is--this is good stuff. - What is that?
My favorite rose hollandaise, you know?
- You're so fancy. - Interesting fact--
I hate rose, actually.
I have banned rosewater from my restaurant
because anytime I smell it, I just wanna throw up.
I absolutely despise the taste of roses.
Rosey? I think so.
Holy mother of baby Jesus.
What are you thinking about, Maria?
Every mom tries to watch their weight.
That's why I'm cooking a salad.
I'm gonna make shrimp.
I'm allergic to shrimp.
Oh, yeah. Be careful, huh?
My inspiration for the dish is my son
because my son has two mamas.
When Rene was little, he used to tell everybody
that his mom was the best chef ever.
My son is the main reason why I'm here.
To prove him that Mom started learning
from a hotdog vendor in the side of the street.
And now I'm here at Top Chef.
If you try, you will get there.
Twenty minutes.
There were no scallops, so I have to go sweet.
Yeah, I was--I was thinking scallops, too.
Yeah. But I'm gonna do a fried donut.
[bleep] it, I'm making a salad.
If you make an extra one, I'd love to have it.
If you see buttermilk, let me know.
I wanna get enough rose flavor so you can taste it,
so I'm incorporating dried rose into my vinaigrette.
There's no buttermilk, so I have an option
to use sour cream
or I have the option to use yogurt.
This coconut and grilled eggplant yogurt is awesome.
The yogurt was just a nice touch.
- What's your purple sauce? - Plums and, of course, yogurt.
Sara, you have a thing with yogurt.
And I choose yogurt. [laughs]
- Here goes nothing. - Yeah.
♪♪♪
So my sister just had my little niece
and all she wanted when she was pregnant was raw fish.
I'm kind of grumpy about this challenge
because I don't have a good relationship with my mom.
I'm gonna do a little snapper crudo,
cure it a little bit in the rose salt.
But I can definitely find somewhere else
that I can get inspiration from.
My sisters have always been, like, my biggest supporters.
♪ Smells like roses ♪
[speaking Spanish]
To be honest, no.
[speaking Spanish]
That sh-- is hard to cook with.
You need me to taste something, let me know.
Thank you.
Gabe, can I have a splash of your rose water?
- [speaks Spanish] - Con permiso.
♪♪♪
Yowch. [bleep]
My mom's gonna really not like that.
♪♪♪
Hey, Chris. Your mom used to make something like that?
Whoo. This is, uh, a dish called labouyi.
It's like a traditional porridge that's served in Haiti,
so it's definitely bringing back memories
of asking Mom to make it after dinner.
I'm cooking down the cornmeal with milk,
rose sugar, rose water.
Being on the bottom of the Pan-African challenge
was truly a wake-up call.
Cooking Haitian food again is definitely a risk for me.
Why do I do this to myself?
Fifteen minutes, chefs.
Nelson, talk to me, goose.
Doing rice and beans.
The inspiration of mine is my mom.
It's a tribute to her.
Going super Dominican on this one.
Atta boy.
What kind of roses are you using?
- White petal and rose. - Nice.
I am doing a rose-cured and smoked turbot
with rosewater aguachile.
Do you cook with roses a lot?
Uh, not often, chef. Do you?
- Nope. - [laughter]
Five minutes.
♪♪♪
I feel like the pistachio is overpowering.
- Do you have rose salt? - Yeah.
- Can I have borrow that? - Yeah.
I put a little bit extra rose in
at the last minute.
It's not exactly how I want it, but it really
is just too late to do anything else.
You know when you can't taste something anymore?
Hey, 1999 called. They want their plating back.
[laughs]
Not gonna get this on the plate.
This is gonna be ----ed up.
- One minute. - [groans]
I'm not happy at all with the plate.
I don't know why I chose shrimp.
Everything makes sense, but it's not a Maria dish.
Three, two, one.
Time's up, hands up.
- Utensils down. - Sweaty-fives.
It's so beautiful, like you, dude.
[laughter]
Chris, please come up.
- Whoo. Hello. - [laughs]
[laughter]
Nicely done.
Thank you.
- Trouble when you get home. - Kiss-ass.
[laughter]
So this is a dish called labouyi mayi.
It's a cornmeal porridge
with advieh candied pistachios.
We have something similar like this
in the Dominican Republic without the rosewater.
- That was good. - Thank you, Chris.
Thank you.
- Hi. - Hi.
I have a crab salad with rose and pistachio agua dulce.
My mother gave up her career to come to the US
from Costa Rica, so I just wanted to make
something fresh because of the fresh start.
- Thank you. - [chuckles]
That's my mama's imperial rolls.
I used rose salt and rose sugar. So I did pork,
shrimp, mushrooms, and... [imitates whirring]
- [laughs] - Deep fried it.
Ooh, this has got a kick to it, nice kick.
Mama liked to kicked my ass too, so, that's for you, Mama.
[laughter]
Thank you.
My mom wants to keep fit.
I don't blame her.
So, I made a fancy salad with a rose vinaigrette,
pistachio rose crumble.
Usually, I use buttermilk, but I had to use yogurt.
I'm not trying to use yogurt every day of my life.
Oh, yeah. Here's the yogurt.
- [laughter] - Thank you, Sara.
I prepared the brunch that my mom
would eat for Mother's Day.
So fish, hollandaise, and asparagus.
No matter what the restaurant has,
she will always order that,
and this is that infused with rose.
Really interesting. Thank you.
So beautiful and elegant.
I made a lightly cured snapper with hibiscus rose juice
and some rose pickles.
Everything worked out perfectly here.
Thank you.
Hola, hola.
I made arugula salad with a rose vinaigrette
and crusted shrimp, and a little bit of papaya.
Did you do anything to that papaya?
I just put a little bit of rose sugar.
Thank you.
Wow.
Well, I call this a "puerco criollo"
with sweet plantains, avocado,
and butterfly pea flower in the beans.
Dominican mom, this is what she asked
for me to cook when I go see her.
- Any rose? - Only in the beans.
- Only in the beans? - Yeah.
Thank you, Nelson.
Ooh.
So I made a rose mochi ball with rose syrup
and rosewater yuzu fruits on top.
Very delicate.
This is inspired by my mother. She loves peaches and cream.
It is a fennel and rose fritter
with macerated peaches and rose cream.
I like that the peaches are a little firm.
- Yes. - Gives it a nice texture.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Really embraced the challenge. - Wow.
This is beautiful.
I prepared a rose of turbot cured in rose
and also smoked in rosebuds.
My mother, uh, I don't see her as often
as I would like to anymore,
and one of the last times I spoke to her,
she told me she was craving, uh, ceviche from Campeche.
Thank you.
It's clear you love your mother figures in your lives.
I was actually really happy to see so many savory dishes.
But there were a few dishes
that weren't as successful today.
One of those dishes, unfortunately, is Maria.
The shrimp was kind of dry, and the salad
was heavy, heavily dressed.
I love the idea of your salad,
but it just didn't come together.
Next is Sara.
Your salad had a lot of rosewater
and it kind of took over the taste in my mouth.
And Nelson, even though it was a rose challenge,
the beans didn't have enough, uh, rose flavor to it.
- Got you. - And now, for some good news.
Byron. I like the use of rose,
that you used it on the pickles,
on the salad, and the pistachio was a great combination.
- Thank you. - Good job.
Chris, I didn't know
you were gonna cook the cornmeal in 30 minutes.
You pulled it off very nicely.
The crunch of the pistachio, the creaminess,
perfect amount of rose, well done.
- Thank you. - Gabe,
perfectly balanced, nice flavor of rose.
- Really, really amazing dish. - Thank you.
Amar, who had our favorite dish of the day?
The chef that gave us the most composed dish
with the right amount of rose is...
♪♪♪
Chris.
You're on a roll.
- [laughs] - [applause]
Congratulations.
You just won yourself immunity
and an advantage in the next elimination.
It feels great to be on a winning streak.
My mom would be super proud of the dish that I made today.
I stayed true to the heritage
and it's something that she would create for us.
- Thank you, guys. - Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Chefs, please welcome Richard Blais.
Chefs.
Smells like Grandma's purse out here.
What's been going on?
It does, a little.
I'm ready to go from the roses to the front row.
Perhaps dinner and a movie?
♪♪♪
A slice of Americana that has seen a resurgence
this year is the classic drive-in movie theater.
For today's Elimination Challenge,
we're turning the Portland Expo
into a pop-up drive-in theater.
It's up to you to feed
50 cars of Portland movie buffs
who will be watching it all go down on the big screen.
[laughs]
Now chefs, listen, your dishes need to be eaten
comfortably inside of a car.
Yeah, don't give me anything messy and dripping
because we'll be arriving in style
in our BMW X6 Ms.
Okay, chefs. This is a team challenge.
- [whistles] - So let's draw knives.
But Chris, you don't pick, because you have immunity.
Everyone, please come up and draw a knife.
Ones over here, twos over here.
I'm excited by these teams.
I do like team challenges
and I don't like team challenges.
If anybody's a little bit more stronger-minded,
it's gonna be hard. I just know,
like, Gabriel rubs people the wrong way.
[laughs]
I can just tell you the truth.
In the true spirit of the cinema,
the menu will be inspired by different film genres.
Ready to see what's playing?
♪♪♪
[laughter]
Your team must have one player make each dish
in the order that you see them.
You'll go in a head-to-head battle.
Whoever wins the round gets a point.
And if there's a 3-3 tie,
the best dish all around
will secure the win for the team.
Pick the movie theme and cook something?
Why do you always gotta make it really complicated?
Just let us cook food.
So Chris, as the winner of today's Quickfire,
you get to choose which team you'd like to join.
Tough spot. Tough spot, Chris.
[laughter]
- I'm going over there. - Didn't even think about it.
- Join your team. - Yes.
There we go. What's up, man?
Why did you choose this team?
I've messed around with Shota a little bit
and I'm inspired by the food that he does
and I wanna get to experience working with the--
these other three that I haven't had the chance to yet.
As a team, you'll have $2,500
and 45 minutes to shop from Whole Foods Market.
Good luck, chefs. We'll see you at the drive-in.
I think we're gotta do, like, stuff on sticks,
finger-friendly, like, sandwiches.
- I could take comedy. - Drama.
- I could take action. - I'll take horror then.
- I can do sci-fi. - So we all work on romance?
- Yes. - Okay.
So I'm thinking for comedy, I could do
a Korean style fried chicken.
Yeah, that could be comedy because we can
call it KFC chicken.
Korean fried chicken. Okay.
For horror, I'm gonna basically gonna do like seafood cocktail.
It'll look bloody. It'll look gory.
I was thinking, on the action, like Sonoran hotdogs,
With the bread, it takes action to eat it.
How confident are you in executing 65 sausages?
I can make them, no problem.
Maria is on beast mode right now.
It sounds amazing. But it is a big dare to take on.
I wanna do horror, if you guys are okay with that.
So I'm wanna do, like, a red cheese bechamel inside
of a corndog that's black on the outside.
I think horror is a little bit easier
because I think of Halloween.
You can make it a little gimmicky.
For romance, we could do a milkshake.
Are you worried about not having huge containers
to make a lot of ice cream?
Not really, 'cause it's a milkshake.
Like, what should be in our sci-fi?
Could be something like a-- the shape of a--like a disc.
- Or like a UFO? - Yeah. I can do a mean pupusa.
- That would be actually sick. - Let me go that route.
- Yeah. - I'll do it.
So we need something action, something drama.
What's a dramatic food?
Like, I don't even know.
Maybe the dramatic could be ribs.
Even spicy, too. Just dramatic, you know.
Exactly.
For sci-fi, I was thinking of astronaut s'mores
but it's gonna be burnt marshmallow ice cream,
- so instead of hot, it's cold. - Dawn, what do you got?
I'm gonna probably do a juxtaposition of popcorns.
One's gonna be like really meaty
and then one is gonna be more playful.
And then the last one is romance.
Here's what we'll do.
Romance--churro filled with chicken liver mousse
and then on the side, a strawberry compote.
Churros, I've never eaten with chicken liver
but just because Maria doesn't like it
doesn't mean that Padma and Tom
and all those people are not gonna like it.
This will have to be a team effort between all of us.
Okay.
You're gonna do comedy?
I wanna do the White Castle.
The White Castle is pretty funny.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's gotta be like funny,
you laugh about it a lot and it's itchin',
like when you're eating it or...
Let's just--let's come up with something
- and I'll just make it. - I like chicken wing,
chicken bone, the funny bone, like the funny bone.
Yeah. I can do a Vietnamese sticky fish sauce wings.
I just didn't wanna do another chicken wing
because I had done it on another challenge
but I just wanted to make it easier for the group
because the time's running out.
- What's an action? - Action.
How about like a dipping action?
- 'Cause that's action, right? - Yeah.
Should I just do the cauliflower croquette?
They'll be hot, they'll be delicious, they're crispy.
Gabriel's dish, the connection to the genre
I feel like is really trying to, like, pull at straws.
Crowd pleaser for sure.
[line ringing]
I am having a hard time.
I've never doubted myself so much in my life.
[speaking Spanish]
I came here to show that female Mexican chefs,
we're badasses.
But I never thought I was gonna be here at Top Chef
in the middle of a pandemic...
I miss you guys so much.
...like, doubting every single second
that I left my wife and son.
I can see they miss me, too
but they're, like, rooting for me.
So I take that as "Okay, Maria,
"get your head out of your ass
and do what you came here to do."
[speaks Spanish]
♪♪♪
Let's go, let's go.
All right, boys and girls, let's get it on.
Shota, your stuff's middle cooler.
- Heard. Thank you. - I got it, I got it.
- Fast, fast, fast. - I'm backwards, though.
Okay. Go.
The difficulty with this challenge
is to create a dish based on a genre.
My genre is drama,
which leaves a lot of room for interpretation.
I am about to get my butter down for the popcorn.
A duo of popcorn is a risky dish
but this popcorn will invoke all the emotions.
It will be rich, crispy, sweet,
and spicy at the same time.
That's what drama is about.
Who's got drama over there?
- Drama king over here. - Oh.
- Oh, you drama king? - Oh, you know it.
My queen in this case will trump your king.
[laughs]
Chris is making ribs.
I think ribs are messy and you kind of
don't wanna eat them in a car.
Chris, how close are you on those ribs?
Good, man. I'm getting the rub on and then
I'm wrapping 'em up nice. I'm gonna slow cook 'em
and then I'm making a harissa glaze.
Make sure you taste those shallots
- and none of them taste bitter. - Yeah, I already did, man.
Gabriel really wants to be the leader.
Are you gonna cook the peppers or...
Yeah. I got to get the skin off the peppers.
But then we can cut 'em outside, you know.
- Yeah. - We have to.
If that's the role he wants to take,
I'm happy to let him take it.
But ultimately,
I'm gonna make the dish I wanna make.
- How are you doing, Sara? - Great.
Gonna make a milkshake so,
I'm working on some ice cream base.
- Who's got romance over there? - All of us.
Because we're romantic like that.
We're the underdog team.
Ah, the [bleep].
Their team has more chefs,
so we've all gotta help out
with getting that fifth dish done.
Okay. Strawberries in.
You guys wanna take a second, come taste these?
- Yes. - Yes. Yes.
- You guys happy with it? - I'm happy if you're happy.
I think that's the quickest I've ever made churros.
Two hours, guys.
Hey, yellow team. Who's got sci-fi?
- Right here. - Oh. We meet again.
I'm making my sofrito right now, so my red stew.
So I'm breaking down the pork after that.
I'm doing an unidentified Dominican object.
It's very in style of like a pupusa.
This is gonna be delicious, juicy,
- and out of this world. - [Shota laughs]
Now we have s'mores.
- Who's got action over there? - I don't speak English, sorry.
- [laughs] - Maria,
how's your bread going?
Starting it.
Maria's making a freaking hotdog and bun.
I'm basically making a side for her dish.
Like, tots and a dog. Here you go.
Just adjusting my moisture.
I'd like to fry one before I get outside.
Typically when you go to the movies,
it's a lot of unhealthy stuff that you have to eat.
So, what about, like, a cauliflower tot?
Like, it's kind of like a healthy tot.
Up until my junior year,
I was definitely overweight, eating things
that weren't really good for me.
Kids call you fat [bleep], fat ass,
and that definitely affected who I am today.
Ha-ha. Tots.
- Hey, chefs, how's it going? - Hey, chef.
- How you doing?
- Hey, Jamie. - Hi.
What's your genre?
My genre? Comedy.
So a chicken is always a funny thing,
like a rubber chicken and all that stuff,
so I'm doing chicken wings.
So I love, like, the old classic,
"Why did the chicken cross the road?"
Stuff like that. [laughs]
So what are you making?
So I'm doing fish sauce chicken wings
and then, we do a little confetti,
a little pepper on it.
- And that's what's funny? - It's supposed to be funny.
Wa-wa. [laughs]
All right. We're done.
- Good luck. - Thank you. [laughs]
- Gabriel. - Hey, chefs.
What you got going on?
I got action.
Why is this an action dish?
I have some cauliflower tots.
It's a little Calabrian chili aioli
- and a little... - Okay.
...vadouvan curry yogurt.
It's like a choose- your-own-adventure action.
So you got two sauces to choose from.
Whatever you wanna do, you know what I mean?
Okay.
That's delicious.
- Avishar. - How's it going, chefs?
I'm fine. What is that?
So it's a burnt marshmallow ice cream.
If I was in space,
the only thing that I'd wanna bring back with me
would be a s'more. It's very strange
because I actually come from outer space
and I see that Earthlings are kind of weird.
Did you say you're from outer space?
- I think he said that. - I think so, yeah.
What is your genre? Is it sci-fiction?
- I got sci-fi. - This is sci-fi.
Star s'mores.
- Star s'mores. - Star s'mores.
- Okay. - And he's off.
I hope to succeed
by finding a universal commonality
of really exciting burnt things
gooey things, frozen things,
using liquid nitrogen,
something that I am very familiar with
when I was spending my time in wd-50,
a one-Michelin-star restaurant in New York City
that was helmed by Wylie Dufresne.
It's kind of known for its modern techniques.
I hate when people just throw liquid nitrogen on things
because it looks cool but here I am using it.
Sorry.
- Maria. - Hola, señores.
Making sausages, huh?
- Making Sonoran hotdogs. - Sonoran hotdogs?
- Yeah. - You're baking the bread?
- Sí. - Clearly.
Clearly you're going big. I mean,
this is impressive right now. There's no way
that I would bake bread and make sausage.
I can see if I can walk the walk
- and I can talk the talk. - Got it.
I just wanna beat the Italian boy
over there, Gabriel.
Good luck.
Okay, chefs.
I'll see you at the movies.
- Okay, bye. - Thank you.
One hour.
That is horror over there, guys.
- Are you horror? - I'm horror.
- Ah, nice. - I love horror movies.
I was just watching The Shining before I came down.
I'm doing the Mexican seafood cocktail...
...which means "return to life."
It also looks like body parts, so it's gory.
Twenty minutes left, chefs.
Going against Gabe is gonna be tough.
He's very good at using flavor profiles,
spices, but I do think mine
fits the theme a little bit more.
I have a dog named Dodger.
My worst nightmare is something happening to him,
so I'm doing a bloody cheese dog.
I've never made a black corndog so that's gonna be interesting.
It's horror, right?
[laughs]
- How are we doing, good? - So far so good.
I'm on track with my timeline.
I'm not a big comedian but I wanna make a dish
that will put a smile on someone's face.
So I'm making Korean fried chicken
glazed with a honey and gochujang.
Hey, who's got comedy over there?
I do. I'm working on some funny wings.
Oh, you're doing chicken also?
I've been working fine dining
my past 10 years of my life
and all you're told is put your head down
and do somebody else's food.
Now to be here, I'm discovering who I am
and I know I can make a pretty mean nugget.
- Chicken, chicken. - Chicken, chicken. All right.
We've got this.
Nine minutes.
- How we looking, team yellow? - Great. Looking great.
- Hold it, hold it. We'll spin. - Wrap it, wrap it, wrap it.
All right, let's get this out the door.
Traffic jam?
It's raining outside. That's never good.
It's like a scary movie where it's like,
♪ dum, dum, dum ♪
Sh--. Definitely raining.
Let's just prioritize in order of dish.
Chris, how are those grills looking?
I got one ripping right now.
I'm trying to build and develop the flavors
by using the smoke and the charcoal.
- Is that sweat or water? - A little bit of both.
Being out in the rain, trying to light
a charcoal grill is no easy task.
Welcome to Oregon, whoo!
Appreciate you, my dear.
The orchard?
I'll move twice as fast just for you, bro.
I'm ----ing baking bread in the rain.
[laughs]
There's two little convection ovens.
And when I say little, it's like for your house.
I mean, props to her for trying to make
- a hot dog and a bun. - Yeah, yeah.
- That's a lot of work. - Why did I do this?
Why? Why?
- Top Chef Drive-in. - Yeah.
- Oh, sick cars. - Ooh, the white one.
- Oh, this is dope! - It's dope as sh--.
It feels like we're keeping Portland weird
with this whole drive-in thing.
♪♪♪
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the Top Chef Drive-in.
[cars honking]
Sit back, relax,
and enjoy the show.
This is cool, man.
Oh, that's them up there.
Hey, you guys, you wanna try it?
I like to cook it seven minutes, because there's perfect
crunch on it and it stays crunchy
even if you put sauce on it.
I'd cook them less.
- Less, yeah, cook less. - Cook them less?
- Way less. - As long as it's crispy,
But my team suggests
that we should fry it lesser.
And since this is a team effort, I went with it.
Do you think it's too dry?
It's a little dry. It's not bad, though.
Five minutes.
Guys, I might need all hands on deck to assemble.
- Heard. - Do you think it's too messy?
Kind of is, but it's ----ing delicious.
Go, go, go toss, toss, toss. Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Can you imagine being on Top Chef and that,
like, how nervous that would make you?
Oh.
- Yeah. - [timer beeping]
Good job, chef, good job.
Hey, guys, thank you very much.
Melissa, did you get the, uh, massage thing to work?
Yeah, push the button on the door.
Oh, I see. Oh, yeah.
To kick off our cinematic extravaganza,
our first genre is...
- [screams] - [laughter]
...comedy.
[cars honking]
Looks like there's food coming out over here.
- Look at this. - Thank you.
- Hi.
my name is Jamie Tran.
My dish is sticky chicken wings
with a little fish sauce glaze over it,
a little confetti pepper.
Think about comedy, when they use props,
they love the rubber chicken. That's why I picked the chicken.
[clucks like chicken] No?
[laughter]
My name is Byron.
Wow, that's loud.
I made a Korean-style fried chicken.
Enjoy, guys.
- Hmm. - Jamie's making this joke
about a rubber chicken and comedy
and she serves us this limp,
- rubber chicken dish. - [laughs]
The wings are gummy.
It's difficult to eat in the car.
- Right. - I'm in the car. I think
I already got some of these buttons sticky.
- Okay. - Byron's dish
was much more appropriate for the challenge.
Byron's chicken is crispy,
- flavorful. - Yeah.
It was what I wanna be eating
while I'm sitting and watching a movie like--
- Yeah. - I love the method
- with which we ate it. - Yeah. Yeah.
That was-- that was really tasty.
- Bangin'. - So crispy, so crispy.
You know, I really liked the gochujang chicken
much better than the wing.
Please get ready to vote
for round one, comedy.
Byron's Korean fried chicken
or Jamie's rubber chicken chicken wing.
♪♪♪
The votes are in for round one, comedy.
The first point goes to...
Byron and the green team.
- Yes, guys. - Damn.
So that's one point for the green team,
zero for the yellow team.
[cars honking]
I need hands, please.
Thirty seconds on duck skin. Thirty seconds.
Yo, let's help with that celery.
- Three per? - Yup.
Ribs are tend to be a little bit messier,
but only having that one rib and tearing it
off the bone shouldn't create too much of a mess.
Go, go, go, go, go.
[timer beeping]
The food?
You want the food?
You can't handle the food.
Get ready for some drama.
- Crushed it. - Whoo!
Hi, my name is Dawn Burrell.
Within the drama,
there's always sweetness,
there's always feistiness.
So, what I serve is duo of popcorns.
I hope you enjoy.
Hi, my name is Chris Viaud.
The dish that I've created for you is...
harissa barbecue ribs
with crispy shallots and pickled celery.
And this is inspired by all the dramatic children
who fight over the last rib.
Who eats a rib at a movie?
Amar, what do you-- what do you think?
A lot of spices on the outside,
but when you get-- the inside was very bland.
It's hard to eat in a car. You know what I'm saying?
They had four hours and Dawn made us popcorn?
She did. That being said, it is elevated popcorn.
There is some drama in the contrast of flavors here.
The popcorn is delicious.
Really tasty. I'm out. I'm done.
Here, you want mine?
The votes are in for the second round, drama.
The majority of our diners pick...
Dawn's popcorn.
[loudly] Whoo!
Yes! Yes!
Sh--.
That's two points for the green team,
still zero for the yellow team.
Chris is lucky, he's got immunity.
Burning my eyebrows, dude. [laughs]
They're just, like, grilling right there.
- Can I have time, please? - What's our time?
It's windy. We are, like, standing on puddles of water.
Today is one of the most brutal days in Top Chef.
She needs help assembling, guys.
- Where's the ----ing tomato? - Right here, right here,
right here, right in front of me.
♪♪♪
She needs help assembling, guys.
Where's the ----ing tomatoes?
Right here, right here, right here, right in front of me.
- Okay, Cool. - In front of me, front of me.
I made cauli tots.
That sh--'s harder than it sounds.
I have no hope that we're gonna win this round.
Maria made bread and sausage,
and they smell delicious.
Tots against that, like, that's not even
really a comparison.
You think they'll nail me for too much sauce,
not enough tots?
Mustard and mayo, mustard and mayo.
[timer beeping]
This is one mission that won't be impossible.
[laughter]
Get ready for action.
- [laughter] - Well done.
Wow.
Good evening, my name is Gabriel Pascuzzi.
I made for you some cauliflower tots.
There's a little vadouvan yogurt sauce
and a Calabrian chili aioli.
Uh, I like to think it's kind of, like,
choose-your-own- adventure action movie,
so enjoy.
Hello, my name is Maria Mazon.
I present to you a Sonoran dog
with homemade buns.
This is a very typical dish in Mexico,
and you eat it after the bars,
and after you've got some action,
you get a hot dog. So, thank you.
- [laughter] - Oh, that's very good.
Wow. I mean, the hot dog is usually the action,
for me, personally.
Kwame, what'd you think?
I thought Maria's, um, hot dog was really good.
I mean, it's a textbook side-of-the-road
hot dog in Mexico.
Maria did good.
But these cauliflower tots feel gummy and salty.
Oh, and I think this was a problem
with doing a tot with a cauliflower,
'cause it doesn't have starch to bind it.
I don't eat vegetables, but the cauliflower,
uh, tots are really good.
You don't eat vegetables?
Are you a fourth grader?
The votes are in for round three,
action.
Chef Colicchio, what do you say?
- Come on, Chef Tom. - I say woof, woof,
Sonora dog.
- Oh. - Yes. Whoo! Let's go.
That means zero points for the yellow team,
three points for the green team
----ing judges, man.
If the green team takes a fourth point,
they've won the challenge.
In trouble, yellow team.
This is, uh, do or die right now for the yellow team.
- This is exciting. - [laughter]
How did those turn out, Nelson?
- Beautiful, bro. - That's what I like to hear.
- They'll know who I am now. - There you go.
- Let's start. - I'm ready.
Don't force it.
Going just like the Japanese, simple as sh--.
Nelson's got this. That's flavor, baby.
- That's flavor right there. - [timer beeping]
I'm just--yeah, I was just afraid, man.
I'm always afraid.
[woman laughs]
Please get ready for some dishes
that are out of this world,
'cause we're doing sci-fi next.
[cheers and applause]
- That's so good. - [laughter]
I'm Nelson German.
I am serving you a UDO--
it's an Unidentified Dominican Object.
You're gonna get a little bit jerk pork, corn,
and candied yam.
Aliens of E-A-arth,
My name is Avishar Barua.
However, on this planet, my name is Danny.
Danny?
Oh, ho, ho, holy sh--.
I thought I'd give you a s'more in space.
However, in space, we have no fire,
so it is a burnt marshmallow ice cream,
liquid graham, and milk chocolate. Enjoy.
[car honks]
- Yes! - He's a real nut,
- in the best way. - Yes.
Avishar just nailed
that ice cream dish.
- More s'mores, please. - More s'mores, please.
More s'mores, more s'mores, more s'mores, more s'mores,
more s'mores, more s'mores.
- Nelson looks good. - It's good.
I love the masa. Honestly, I--I'd like
to buy a dozen of those at a time.
So here's where I'd really like some acid.
Yeah. Nelson's dish was one
of the tastier things I've had tonight.
Visually, looked like a UFO,
but it also looked like something
I wanted to eat.
What are you thinking?
We're going yellow.
- Really? - Yeah.
The s'more ice cream was the most appropriate thing
that we've had for movie theater all day.
I love how salty Avishar's ice cream is.
That was killer, dude.
Even burned the end, it's like
- nice attention to detail. - Yeah.
Next up,
Avishar versus Nelson.
- One more. - One more, guys.
Come on. Come on. Come on.
Let's take it home.
And with two-thirds of the vote...
the yellow team
- has won this round. - Let's go, baby.
Whoo! There you go. Pupusa, baby.
[cars honking]
That's one point for the yellow team.
Really? Ah, okay.
Okay. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
Should we start plating these, Shota?
- Sauce on top, please. - Yeah.
[bleep], there's a lot of seafood.
I was playing the ugly delicious card,
but maybe I overdid it with so many types of seafood.
- One minute. - Flavors could have got lost.
We're good. We're good. Let's go, baby.
[timer beeping]
[screams]
Don't spill your drinks.
It's horror.
[cars honking]
[laughter]
Ooh, chips.
Why is this corn dog black?
Hi, my name is Shota Nakajima.
I have a dog named Dodger. He's my best friend.
Something happening to him is my worst nightmare,
so today, I prepared a cheesy, bloody dog.
Inside is a Japanese style Bechamel with cheddar cheese.
And on the outside, I used black sesame
to make the color black.
This does not look appetizing to me.
- What is it? - But the story is really dark.
I will have nightmares about this dish.
[dog barks]
[sinister voice] Good evening.
[laughter]
I'm Chef Gabe Erales.
[laughs]
In your cup
is not a sight for eyes,
To bring you back to life,
a Mexican campechana.
Vuelve a la vida!
- [cars honking] - [laughs]
Oysters, scallops,
Dungeness crab,
and charred shrimp.
Thank you!
I wish this dish was as good as his delivery.
It's just not interesting, flavor-wise.
I find it surprisingly flat
considering it's Gabe's.
But it is kind of like a deconstructed
- bloody Mary. - Yeah.
It would have been good with some vodka.
On the other hand, Shota's, like, I don't know
what to make of this thing at all.
I couldn't finish it. I didn't enjoy it.
It's really rich.
Oh, that is...
- Okay. - It's indescribable.
[laughter]
- Real horror show, huh? - A blood bath.
What do you think of Shota's dish?
- It was pasty. - Didn't taste
- like cheese to me. - Not at all.
What was scarier?
I don't know.
I liked the dog.
- Really? I liked the cocktail. - Yeah.
I know, we were split, we were split.
- I know we talked about that. - Split decision.
And the votes are in for the horror round.
By a thin margin...
Come on!
Let's go, baby.
♪♪♪
By a thin margin...
Come on!
♪♪♪
Shota on the yellow team.
- Whoo! - There you go, babe.
[cars honking]
The score is green team three,
yellow team two.
It all comes down to this last course.
Here, you want to get more liquid nitro?
I'm most concerned about the texture
of my milkshake.
Can you get it a little bit
- thicker, Gabe? - Heard.
I definitely don't wanna go home
for melted ice cream.
We need more, we need more, we need more.
Like, my life depends on it.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's ----ing go.
Last push. Let's go, guys,
we're short on sauces. Let's go.
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.
We need straws, we need straws.
We need three more, Avishar.
Three more? Gotcha.
[indistinct chatter]
They love me, they love me not,
they love me.
Finally, a little romance.
Let's see who you love.
[cars honking]
Whoo!
Hi, everyone, my name's Sara.
Now that the drive-in is almost over,
I'm sure there's still a lingering question,
your place or is it mine?
[laughter]
When I think of romance, I think sharing
a milkshake with your sweetheart.
And so I made a "Your place or mine" milkshake.
It's a chocolate hazelnut milkshake
with a strawberry miso whip on top.
- [cheers and applause] - Whoo!
Hello again, everybody.
We wanted to give you salty, sweet,
and a little bit of our guts,
'cause you love people with all your guts.
So we've included a little bit of chicken liver mousse,
strawberry sauce.
There is also some dulce de leche,
You don't know how much I love you.
[laughter]
The idea of sharing a shake,
it's super easy to eat in the car.
It also has, like, layers of flavor.
- It's, dare I say, romantic. - Mm-hmm.
The milkshake screamed romance.
Anything that has strawberries and chocolate,
that is romance to me.
Churro with dulce de leche is great,
but churro with dulce de leche
- and strawberry and-- - Chicken liver mousse.
Not so great.
- King. Best dish? - What's up?
I liked the churros, to be honest. I really thought--
That's where we part ways.
[laughs]
Oh, thank you so much, everyone.
Hey, good game, guys. Good game.
- Good game. - Still love you.
It's time to vote
for one final time.
The vote...
[chanting] Green team, green team.
goes to...
[chanting] Milkshake, milkshake,
milkshake.
Sara,
with her milkshake for the yellow team.
Whoo!
3-3--we have a tie.
Which means the winning dish
will decide the winning team.
Find out more
at Judges' Table.
[cars honking]
Thank you, chefs.
[cars honking]
They won three in a row, that's great.
Like, that's crazy. What a comeback.
That never happens. What a comeback. Yeah.
Well, that was a fun night.
Let's go back to Judges' Table
and tell these chefs how they did.
- All right. - Hit it.
Thought you'd never ask.
♪♪♪
Whoo! Whoo!
[laughs]
- Wow. - Wow.
- Look at that. - Oh.
I think my body is definitely feeling it, you know.
Whatever the outcome is, guys, like, we had a lot of fun.
I had a lot of fun, definitely.
- It was fun. - The question is,
is it gonna be your place or mine?
[laughter]
- Hello. - Uh-oh.
- Hi. - Wow.
- Hi. - Hi.
- We'd to like to see everyone. - All right.
- Thank you. - Stay cool.
Here comes the plot twist.
- ♪ Bom, bom, bom ♪ - ♪ Dun, dun, dun ♪
♪ Dun, dun, dun ♪
♪♪♪
It was really close, obviously,
at the end of service.
That was pretty exciting.
Because it was a tie at 3-3,
the winning team is the team who had
our favorite dish.
So, Richard, who had the winning dish of the day?
The winning chef executed well
under some tough circumstances,
delivered big flavor,
and really attached themselves
to the theme of what this challenge was.
♪♪♪
- Byron. - Oh.
♪♪♪
It was a team effort, guys.
[laughs]
What?
- Got one, bro. - Wow.
Byron, I just thought your dish
was so crispy,
tons of spice, lots of acidity.
It was a perfect first bite.
Thank you very much, chef.
Congratulations,
you've just secured the win
for your team.
Thank you. [laughs]
[applause]
And we are throwing
another twist into this plot.
- Do I get immunity next? - [laughter]
- No. - Okay.
But you do get $10,000.
Oh, my God. [laughs]
Yeah! [laughs]
It's a good night to be Byron. [laughs]
Whoo! With each challenge,
I'm becoming more confident,
learning more about myself.
I made a $10,000 nugget, okay. [laughs]
Oh, my God. Thank you.
- Thank you so much. - [applause]
Byron, you just gave us a dish
that was the star of the night.
But there were a lot of pieces
that you all gave us
that were fun and made sense in the challenge.
Avishar, I liked your dish. Conceptually,
it was my favorite dish, I think.
- Thank you. - Dawn, your popcorn.
In movie theaters, you usually get a big jumbo
container of it, so I would've liked that.
[laughs] Heard, chef.
Maria, the amount of work that you put
into your dish today, like, just hats off.
Making your own sausage,
making your own bread, I'm getting goosebumps.
There's no way I would've attempted that, there's no way.
I would've been too scared to do that. You did it.
I appreciate it, thank you.
I've--I never been here before
and I wanted feedback.
I didn't go to culinary school,
so for me, I'm going to 14,
15 culinary schools at once.
You come out of culinary school, you don't make bread like that.
You probably don't learn to make sausage like that
or a hot dog like that.
You're here because you can cook.
Gracias.
Gabe, as you know
we have really liked so many dishes
that you've created for us.
Tonight was not one of them.
It was all very one note.
It was like tomato with some heat
- and that was it. - Understood.
- Yeah. No. - Thank you.
Thank you.
♪♪♪
Yellow team, one of you will be going home.
♪♪♪
Yellow team, the biggest problem today
was that we didn't see a lot of imagination.
How did you guys feel today?
Gabriel, walk us through your dish.
We had action, I was like, "All right.
Something you can dip."
Yeah, and action like this is not...
- Yeah, I know, I know. - ...giving me any action,
- Gabriel. - Yeah.
I know I didn't swing my hardest today.
- I know I can do better. - Yeah, you didn't swing
for the fences and you didn't hit it either.
The tots weren't very good and, you know,
you gave us two sauces that were very similar.
This was just a lack of imagination.
I mean, overall, do you guys think you, like, cooked
your best food tonight?
I mean, Chris, tell me about your rib.
What went wrong with your rib?
If I had a little bit more time
to inject more flavor in, I would've.
And you're right. It needed more flavor
in the rib. I mean, the rib was really bland.
- Did you taste one? - I tasted them.
It was desperately in need of salt.
Okay.
Chris, you're lucky you have immunity.
Jamie, I really liked your story.
- You made me laugh. - Thank you.
But I didn't understand the wing.
It was so messy.
And I'm used to getting such bold,
bright, flavors from you
and that did not happen today.
Why did you choose to do a wing in the first place?
Uh, we thought about funny bones
and chicken.
Ugh, it's my bad, uh...
[squawks]
Sara, how did the day go for you?
Well, I had a panic attack and was wondering
why I was doing ice cream.
I don't think it was the most creative dish
I've ever seen in my life.
But I'd go back to that drive-in
to get that milkshake.
I don't eat a lot of sugar.
I almost finished the whole milkshake
and, uh, I'm still feeling pretty good
about it right now, so...
[chuckles] Thank you.
Nelson, how did today go for you?
I got to cook something I wanted to do.
One of the things that really worked for you
was you connecting UFO,
here's this cylinder of a dish.
You gave us something that finally felt
like I was eating Nelson's food again.
Thank you.
Shota, walk us through your dish.
I got horror and I think I focused a little bit
too much on the theme than the balance
of the dish and the flavor itself.
For me, it was a textural issue.
The center was actually quite pasty.
I think you actually embraced the challenge
and tried to make something scary.
That was--that was the point of it.
It was kind of crispy,
but the inside was just a horror show.
Understood.
We have a decision to make.
We'll see you in a bit.
Thank you so much.
That was rough.
Well, that sucked.
Shouldn't have done that dish.
[laughs]
Congrats to you, papi.
- Yeah. - Yeah. Thank you, guys.
Well-deserved, man.
Well, it's clear we were underwhelmed,
and any one of these chefs could go home.
- Who? - This was a complete lack
of imagination and that's where it started.
- Nelson won his bout. - Yeah.
He did and Sara won.
And Sara, I mean, is one of your favorite things,
so I think she's safe.
Shota's dish, though, shocked me in a bad way.
It was truly horror.
I respect that Shota really went all in
on the horror of it all.
But texturally, his dish was bizarre and unsuccessful.
It would kind of suck going home
on a--on that dish, to be honest.
At least he tried to do something,
compared to, like, Gabriel, the tater tot
and the sauce, that's the action?
Lights, camera, tots.
Yeah. [laughs] Man, were they boring.
Yeah, I mean, even the two creamy sauces
didn't serve the tots well at all.
I gave them ----ing tots. Like...
Jamie's chicken. It was a bad chicken wing.
You couldn't eat it. It was sloppy as hell.
If it was great
and crispy and had crunch,
we would've gotten over our messy fingers.
But this was really disappointing.
I have to acknowledge it's my mistake
because, uh, ultimately, I'm my own person,
I make my own decision.
- I think we have our answer. - Yeah.
Let's get them out here.
♪♪♪
You know, chefs, it's a long day.
I'm sure you're physically tired
and emotionally wiped out,
and tonight was a bad service.
Good thing, tomorrow's another one,
except for one person.
Jamie...
please pack your knives and go.
See you in Last Chance Kitchen. You get another shot.
Yes. Honestly, I've grown a lot.
If I could show you physically,
I would be six-foot-five right now,
Yao Ming style slam dunk.
I've grown that much.
[chicken squawk] That's my ending.
[laughs]
- Good luck to you, Jamie. - Thank you.
I just got rejected. What is that, Tinder?
Swipe left, slide right?
[laughs] I don't know what swipe you do.
I got swiped.
It's me.
The first Elimination Challenge,
I kicked myself down, I realized
I need to stop doing that.
At least I didn't go "broo-oo-oo"
- at the end too much. - You kind of did.
- [laughs] - You kind of did, so...
I definitely grown from it.
I want a redemption that I'm like
not a soggy cooker.
[laughs]
[chicken squawks]
♪♪♪
Tonight, Jamie enters Last Chance Kitchen.
I can be badass sometimes. [laughs]
Her drive-in chicken wing flew the coop.
- Aah! - Can she topple
the current reigning champ?
All right, bitch, get it together.
But will the plot chicken?
Oh, sh--.
Find out now on demand
or wherever you stream Top Chef.
Next time on Top Chef: Portland...
We want you to honor the indigenous people
of this area.
- And guess what? - Uh-oh.
This is a double elimination.
♪♪♪
Look at the office today.
- Pretty sick view. - Oh, what's up?
Look at that rainbow.
[vocalizes]
Holy cow, so sick, dude.
[grunts]
Let's go. We gotta plate, we gotta plate.
Yeah, yeah.
I think it's too citrusy.
I don't think so but...
- Ooh. - Oh, this is the real
- surf and turf. - That was awesome.
I felt like they weren't really talking to each other.
- I'm a fan. - Whoever goes home tonight
will be going home having made a good dish.