Please welcome back Jamie.
I'm back, bitches!
You will be making the meals for hard-working staff
at three local hospitals.
Are you ready to change the world?
-Yes. -Yes.
Does it need more spices, or...?
I don't know, man, this is how we cook at home.
Avishar's stew is broken, it's, like, mealy. Where's the heat?
I appreciate that she made her tortilla.
-Unfortunately, it's raw. -It's quite raw.
You need help. Help him, Avishar. You need help.
All right, you got five, you got five.
Jamie's dish has the wow factor.
The winning chef is...
Jamie.
Way to make a splash.
Maria, I don't think I have to tell you what went wrong.
-Your tortilla was raw. -And I apologize.
Avishar. Please pack your knives and go.
Eight chefs remain to compete in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winners?
A feature in Food & Wine Magazine
and appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,
a quarter of a million dollars furnished
by San Pellegrino and the title of Top Chef.
Being one of the top eight, it's great, because I want to win
this competition to make my parents proud.
They've given up so many things in their life.
I'm DACA. I'm a Dreamer.
I'm from Costa Rica, I'm Latino,
but I wasn't really raised there.
One of the biggest things that I yearn the most
is to travel the world and I'm not able to do that.
But as a chef, I could travel the world through food.
And learn through other people. And that's why I love cooking.
Bye!
Definitely a Restaurant War.
Salmon Street.
What is fishy about this block?
-Good morning. -Oh! Morning.
Morning.
Please welcome the newest addition to your all-star
judging panel, Top Chef winner of season 10, Kristen Kish.
-Hi, chefs, how are you? -Hi.
And also, please welcome back Gregory Gourdet.
-Morning, chef. -Morning, chef.
They will be your guest judges
for this next elimination challenge.
Any guess what that could be?
I don't want to assume anymore.
Welcome to Restaurant Wars.
-Sick!
Yes!
Restaurant wars is what 90% of the people
that come to the competition crave.
To me, it's giving me anxiety and flashbacks
of opening a restaurant, 'cause I've done it.
It just makes me wanna vomit.
Sh--.
Kristen, do you remember your restaurant wars experience?
-'Cause I certainly do.
I do. It's when I heard you say, "Pack your knives and go."
So, it was fun.
But over-communicate and don't mess up like I did.
I had a really bad run on my first season
of Top Chef in Boston,
and we had a concept that wasn't cohesive.
But, I was able to redeem myself on All-Stars.
Well, we can't host hundreds of diners
to your bustling pop-ups this year.
There is another type of restaurant that is changing
the high-end dining experience in cities across the globe.
The chef's table.
Oh.
These tasting menu experiences
can cost hundreds of dollars a head.
Diners are treated like the ultimate VIPs,
seated at a table that has a bird's eye view
of every move the chef and their team make to create the meal.
And most importantly, there are no second chances.
No pressure.
Tomorrow you'll serve a seven-course tasting menu.
The judges and All-Stars will be your one and only
service of the night.
-Wow. -Whoa.
We really have just one shot to impress.
There's no working any kinks out.
It's definitely going to be a wild ride for the next 36 hours.
Even though you're not feeding a lot of people,
you're handling everything from start to finish.
You are the waitstaff.
We'll be separating you into two teams of four, Portland style.
Portland's name was decided by the flip of a coin.
-Oh. -And today, so will your teams.
-Dawn. -Yeah.
Call it.
Tails.
Heads.
Tails.
Heads.
Head.
Heads.
So, heads is filled.
Gabe and Sara, you are joining tails.
Okay.
Two Latinos on this team, what's up?
To be completely honest,
I think the other team has more strength in cooking style,
but we have a funner team.
We have the party team.
We have the lit team, as Jamie would say.
How are you feeling about your team?
-Good. -Good, we all love each other.
Today, you'll have an hour to start to conceptualize
your restaurants and create your menus.
After that, you'll head to West Coast Event Productions
to shop for decor and create a logo and menu design.
Then, you'll visit a few specialty shops.
-Ooh. -Nice.
Tomorrow, you'll have $2,500 to shop at Whole Foods Market--
-in person. -Aw!
-This is crazy.
Good luck. We'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you.
-All right, guys. -Let's worry about concept.
To mean what goes honestly is, like,
a fusion between Latin and Asian.
-Lasian. -I have orders
-of how I do coursing -Yeah, me, too. Me, too.
for kaiseki and I think it makes sense.
Do you want to do a kaiseki with a Latin spin into it?
I think that might be kinda cool.
Yeah. Yeah. I like that.
It usually starts with a seasonal ingredient.
I could do, like, an eggplant cold dish,
but maybe add some mole flavor into it.
Second course is some kind of raw course.
Yeah. I would like to do a fish, either a snapper, or salmon.
Third one is grilled or braised.
Do you want the protein fatty, non-fatty?
I don't know what you need.
How about beef cheeks or pork belly?
-Like, tongue? -Tongue would be--
Do you work with tongue?
-I don't work with tongue. -Do you work with tongue?
I do. I want to do lengua
because it's a very super Mexican meat
and gets overseen in the United States.
I mean, I don't know if it's Japanese or not.
We can get good bread and make, like, a nice sandwich.
That sounds great.
I'm going to take a risk because I've been on the bottom,
I've been on the middle, I've been on the top.
I want to win. How do you say heart in Japanese?
- Kokoro. - Kokoro.
-I like that, kokoro . - Kokoro .
Because in Latino, it's corazón .
So, let's play with that.
-Ko-ko-kokoson. -I like that, that's good.
-Yeah. -Kokoson.
That's a catchy name.
My thoughts is, like, finding a common ground
-that we can all cook on. -Seafood.
-Yeah. I'm in. -I love seafood.
-Should we just -Do all?
All seafood, just commit?
And what's our connection with the seafood?
Showcase the Pacific Northwest seafood and...
-and each of our influences. -Okay.
I have seen other Top Chefs
and the global perspective never works out.
But Restaurant Wars, it's going to be
very, very different this year, and I think seafood
as a concept is perfect for a chef's table atmosphere.
What about a name?
I mean, the competition was based off of a penny flip.
Is Penny too basic?
I mean, that's my daughter's name.
I mean, the name has dual purpose.
Imma write down, "Penny."
I did want to do, kind of, like zosui ,
a hot pot-looking dish for the starch dish.
And everybody works on different components?
-Yeah. -Yeah.
That to me sounds like you're tying the whole family together.
And that's a great idea.
Why don't we start with that cured snapper tostada ?
Is it an amuse?
Now, do you think we're over-extending ourselves?
Exactly. Like, everything that we put
on the table gets judged, so--
-I have zero concerns. -Okay.
Definitely can do an ajo blanco dish.
-And that will be cold? -That'd be second.
-So, you want to call that two? -Sure.
What do you think?
Maybe, like, pasta at four or five?
I think so. We want to do, like, three cold courses.
We're really trying to create a concept that we can all cook on,
and we can use that seafood as the common platform.
I can do a crudo, I could do a cold scallop.
I'll be inspired by whatever we see.
What about if one of the courses is, like,
a vegetable dish but with seafood?
-I like that. -Who wants to do dessert?
-I can-- -I mean, I'm comfortable
enough with doing it. I do it at the restaurants.
Great, so Chris is doing pasta and dessert.
I think we should incorporate seaweed into dessert.
That'd be good, actually.
I've done counter service for 10 years,
so I want to make sure we're not yelling at each other.
-Yeah. -But honestly, there has to be,
like, somebody who kind of coordinates.
I can do it.
I will keep an eye on the wine glasses.
Someone's going to have to be in charge of looking
at water glasses and that sort of thing.
I think we just do it all hands on deck for each course.
-Yes. -And there's no expeditor.
it. No strategy-strategy.
Just make delicious food.
I've never been so excited to shop,
because it's not my money.
Dad, we made it to Restaurant Wars!
Ah!
I'm excited about our team, honestly.
-Oh, 100%. -They're all super high energy,
but I feel like we're, like, chill.
Yes, yes, and ready to work together.
I like this thing a lot.
Can we do stumps? Trust me, I'm pulling the girl on me.
The experience we're shooting for is dinner
at sunset near the beach.
Thank you very much.
May I have a pound and a half of tasso, please?
Those are amazing.
There's a lot that goes on to opening a restaurant.
We need to get candles and the exotic flowers.
Shota and Jamie decided to tackle the Asian market.
While Maria and I go to the Latin market.
I'd like some snow crab clusters.
-Great. -I am really appreciative
of being able to shop for myself.
It's part of how I build dishes.
You know, I'm inspired by what I see at the store.
I'm just going to make some decisions on the scallops.
-A puppy! -Hi, puppy!
I'm grabbing pak choi for my dish.
Like, I'm craving a salad all the sudden.
What do you think of this place?
I mean, the fact that I'm picking
my own garnishes is pretty awesome, man.
I'm about to turnip the beat.
-Stupid.
The other team is strong.
They have won a lot of challenges. Holy Schnikes.
But I'm being completely, utterly honest.
I do not give a rat's ass.
-I so wanna push you right now. -Yeah.
So, how was the farm? Tell me about it.
-The farm- -The farm was very-
-Gorgeous. -Sick.
This is what we got.
I got as much as we could possibly get, for the most part,
and then this is what we got at the mercado.
Wow.
-You're starting with amuse. -Yes.
- Tostada. -So, first course, Dawn.
Yes. Crab.
How do you feel about your johnnycake?
Oh, I'm not--I'm not there with this yet.
I'll sit alone and I'll think about this.
Dawn, do you want to go through your list?
It's gonna take me a little while.
I decided to make the first course dish,
which is crab-based, but I honestly have no idea
what that's going to be.
I think whatever you think represents you most.
-Yeah. Yeah. -I think so, too.
It's going to be very important.
Okay. This is my creative process.
And I know that it will all come together.
My "salmon" is going to be more of a vegetable dish.
Vegetable dish, yeah.
-Okay. -I've got the shrimp course.
I'm going to either a tortellini or tortelleti .
Tomorrow, since our decoration time
-is part of our prep time- -I think we should décor first.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Typically for Restaurant Wars, you have an executive chef
or a front-of-house person.
A chef's table experience is really an intimate experience.
We're really just trying to give them some non-intrusive service.
So, I have a plan. So, as soon as we get there
and we check out the two hours, and then we can take a half-hour
-to decorate all together. -We have a very clear strategy.
Shota will coordinate the back of the house kitchen aspect.
- Ciao! -Of course,
Maria has to be Maria. She will be dealing
with the guests and accommodating
to their every need.
On the pass we should section off,
-like, there'll be a section. -Okay.
Jamie has pretty much the biggest courses to end with.
And that frees me to take care of the water,
bussing, clearing the tables.
-Night, y'all, see you tomorrow.
In the last elimination challenge,
I just couldn't find inspiration.
And I don't take criticism well.
Like, my first restaurant was fine dining,
doing a kaiseki cuisine.
I had a food critic come in and the things that they wrote were,
"The chef needs to learn texture, acidity, and heat,"
which are not components of Japanese cuisine
and it doesn't need to be in every dish.
There's so much more beautiful things that
haven't been introduced to the States yet.
I think the most important thing that I want
Kokoson to represent is cooking from the heart.
Feels good being in a store, huh?
-Woo-hoo! -I just feel so good!
Going shopping to the Whole Foods Market
feels orgasmic.
-Shota! I got the matcha. -Where's the miso ?
-Oh, yeah. -20 minutes!
-I'm coming, guys. -What?
Kokoson over there is so loud.
-Corner, corner, corner. -We may be quiet...
May I have three snapper, please?
...but as long as we can all express
our styles of cooking within seafood, we can win.
-Thank you, thank you. -10 minutes, guys.
I'm getting some essential oils to make warm towels
for the guests.
Oh, you got them! Ooh, look at you!
All right, $1,627.93 is the total.
-Where are we at, Jamie? -We should be good. It's $2,500.
-That's it. -That's it? Woo!
-Good shop, y'all. -Nailed it!
-Hell, yeah. -That was great.
-That was intense. -Woo!
All right, I could set up right here.
The place looks freaking gorgeous.
Good call on the freaking lighting, dude.
-Oh, hey! -Hey!
I didn't even see that yet. That looks nice.
Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Anyone seen Japanese eggplants?
-That is not a sexual joke. -Uh, check in there.
Shota is making the first course,
Japanese eggplant with a sesame mole .
Second course, I will be making a sockeye salmon crudo
with a rocoto curry sauce.
Look at this gorgeousness.
Third course, Maria will be making a lengua sando .
The fourth course is a lotus root tempura
with chiltepin and shiso .
You cooked my--your rice the same way, right? Boop.
I don't make that noise, though.
-Why not? -I do woop.
Fifth dish is Jamie doing a short rib.
The sixth dish is the hot pot that all of us are making.
The seventh and final dish is Byron and Jamie
-making a tres leches cake. -Oh!
-Oh, oh, oh. -That is beautiful.
-Amazing. -Switch with me.
Look at that!
Dawn, you and me are gonna bust out this front of the house.
We're going to make it look beautiful.
-I'm not great at this. -No, no, no, I'm--
-Let me know. -We're gonna blow it.
-We're going to blow it. -Yeah.
I have had literally zero front-of-the-house experience.
Maybe, like, right there.
But that is one useful thing about working on a team,
is that all the experiences that I don't have,
those can be made up from my other team members.
I like the warm cloth before you eat touch.
I love it.
I'm very confident of the progression of the menu.
I know. I love our menu.
Just because you're doing a coursing dinner,
it doesn't have to be, like, predictable and just
do the boring fine dining structure.
I'm making traditional protein that is lengua
crossed with-- what is it called, the dish?
- Sando . - Sando ?
And that's going to be the nimono course.
All right.
-Shall we start cooking? -Yes.
Are you chugging along back there?
Pushing.
Dawn, you getting ready over there?
I'm working on it. I am responsible for first course.
I'm still forming my dish in my head,
but it will have crab and caviar.
Second course will be Sara's halibut.
-Have you seen my ham? -I think it's in the dairy.
In the dairy? Okay.
For the third course, my dish is scallop, tasso, and Creole XO.
Fourth course is Sara's dish with the salmon skin,
pak choi , and brown butter.
Fifth course is a pasta filled with shrimp and a tomato broth.
My octo is going to go the full hour, FYI.
For the sixth dish, I am making charred
and grilled octopus with a mole verde .
And the final course is a kelp ice cream
with cocoa nib and meringue.
This sh--sounds banging, man.
Dawn, what are your finalized dishes?
I will tell you in a little bit.
All right, I'll check back with you then.
Okay.
Dawn is still unclear of her dishes.
She has a very difficult time communicating
with the rest of the team how her dishes would fill
into the progression of the meal.
It's definitely something that I'm concerned about.
I'm nervous.
How's everybody looking versus their timeline?
Feeling good.
Looking all right. I should be okay.
Dawn, you got a better idea of what you wanna do
course one with caviar, corn and crab?
Yeah, it's probably going to be, like, some sort of
crispy corn cake with a crab salad.
Three hours, seven minutes.
That's when first course needs to be hitting.
After Dawn's crab salad and caviar, I am going to be doing
a raw fish course with in ajo blanco sauce.
I made too much. It's going to keep the progression going.
Does it taste okay?
Yeah, no, the flavor's delicious.
Okay, good.
Two hours, guys.
Heard. Yes.
Let's rock and roll.
-Ooh! -Ooh!
Okay, I have some dashi going.
I am making more than I need, if anyone does want to use it.
I can use it a little bit on the tongue.
For my first course, I'm marrying the Asian
and Latin dish by having Maria make a sesame mole .
Can you make it more dense than that?
'Cause I'm going to stretch it out.
Oh, yeah. Wee! It's one of my best moles .
I'll be working on the amuse, cured snapper tostada
with the oyster emulsion.
That's gonna be an amazing first bite.
Kind of sets the mood for what's to come.
As a team, we've decided that it would be nice to give the judges
something to snack on, to eat immediately when they
sit down before the first course.
Just having to baby these a little bit.
I tried to do them on the grill and they got too hot.
Oh, hurt.
Shota, are we plating up there?
I think so. I think that'd look more professional.
You have a lot of experience on chef's tables, right?
Yeah, you have to make sure you're not loud.
Once I step out of the kitchen, Maria is going to turn on.
I'm like Monica from Friends. The hostess with the mostest.
I like it because you can see the way we are
prepping stuff and we can interact with them, too.
What time are you gonna start doing the dining room?
-20 minutes. -Yes, chef.
-2:21. -That's crazy.
I'm gonna start rolling out my pasta.
I've had a fail with doing pasta
and I want a little bit of redemption.
-Can I borrow a scale? -Have it.
The last time I made pasta, I stuck to the familiar yolk
dough that I always work with, and they thought it was dry.
So, I used whole eggs in this dough recipe.
Can we target, like, 30 minutes to taste?
-Um, okay. -Push, push, push.
Where are we at on the hot pot?
I'm going to make a little bit of a shrimp machaca .
Okay.
I just love the fact that we all put our hands into the hot pot.
Maria did dry shrimp, Byron sautéed the seafood
and then Shota adds components as well.
Rice is done.
Shota, so we can jump on the décor?
-Yeah. -Okay.
The is this tree?
Guys, we need to help with the dining room.
They're in La La Land.
They don't answer me, I do what I want.
Guys, I need help.
Maria, I'm sorry, dude. I still need to finish my dish.
Let's start putting the dishes in the back.
Give me a second. Just running touch, touch late.
Getting this salmon skin off so I can crisp it up.
For my fourth course, we're going to use the skin
of the salmon as the crispy fish component.
Is coo'. I'm super excited about this dish.
It's completely unexpected.
You think it needs salmon? No.
-One hour exact. -All right.
Front of the house, how are we looking?
We don't have much here. And do the glassware.
I don't know how to do the glassware.
Glassware.
Like magic. My team just started making it happen, man.
Sorry, this is missing one water glass.
It's just throwing it off a little bit.
-Oh, okay, okay. -Right here?
Yeah. That looks amazing.
Did you guys taste the ice cream?
-No. -Right here.
That's just kelp and vanilla?
-Yeah. -Wow.
-You wanna go stronger? -You think so?
Everyone is really just hustling so we can
taste components at the very minimum.
But Dawn hasn't had a chance for any of us to taste her dishes.
I am about to make my stock for my smoked ham dashi .
The scallop and ham hocks, there are a lot of steps to
create that dish, and I want to make sure everything is perfect.
-Clean up in 40, guys. -40 minutes.
Is everybody, like, super on time right?
I'm a little behind. Oy, mi madre. I'm, like, nervous.
I have course one ready if you guys want to try it real quick.
No acidity?
Oh, sorry, I forgot the pickled shallots.
It's actually really important for everyone to stop,
try everyone's food and talk to each other.
Try one. Make sure you're happy.
Wow, that's really good.
All right, can we do a pre-shift real quick, guys?
Yes, yes, yes.
Until course three, like, the second they finish,
I want those plates to get cleared,
and then we can casually slow down a little bit.
Okay, cool. Anyone have any questions?
-No. -Sweet, awesome.
20 minutes 'til service, kids.
20 minutes.
We take a deep breath.
This is where we're supposed to be gliding above water
so they don't see how much is really going on in the back.
Sexy. Good energy. Let's keep it up, yeah?
We just need to nail the food tonight.
All right, you guys ready to greet?
-Yeah. -This is go time.
All right guys, they're coming. Guys, they're coming.
-Yep. -Yeah.
-Looks pretty. -Yeah, wow.
It actually really does look like a chef tasting restaurant.
Let's go greet. Go.
-All right, let's go greet. -Thank you.
Kokoson. This is nice.
Hola, hola, bienvenidos.
Hello.
Thank you. Wow, look at us in a restaurant.
The concept of our humble restaurant, Kokoson,
there's the mix of two words, corazón , for us Latinos.
And kokoro means heart, from Japanese.
So, actually it's Latin America and Asia meeting together.
And what you're drinking right there is a matcha limonada .
-Enjoy. -Thank you.
Cheers, everybody. Cheers.
We're at Restaurant Wars.
Salud. I mean, I can't drink too many of those.
Yeah, super sweet.
Nine minutes 'til food, yeah.
-You can focus on service, yes? -Got it.
-I'm excited about this menu. -Totally into that.
Yeah. Really want that. Can't wait for that.
And that's always my ----ing favorite -.
Byron gets to go report what he heard at the table.
Yeah, there's a spy, you guys.
We had a five-person restaurant war.
Thank you for rubbing it in. Five people?
But we cooked for hundreds of people.
-Yeah. Sorry. -We cooked for mad people.
No, I like a server who interrupts a conversation.
Yeah, sorry, my apologies.
me, this is a lot of components.
Can I get hands for plates, please?
-Hands? -Are we walking?
-Yeah, let's walk. -Pardon my reach.
Thank you. Ooh, nice. That's beautiful.
So, in Japanese cuisine, we start with a course
that introduces a vegetable.
Today, I used eggplants, with Maria's help.
She made a sesame mole . On top is ham furikake .
-Enjoy. -Thank you.
It's so flavorful.
-Delicious. -It's really good.
I love when you can see the technique in a dish.
I think it's well executed, it's thoughtful and refined.
I thought it was such a beautiful start hybriding
those Latin flavors with the Japanese flavors.
This was one of her best moles yet.
Good, good, good? Uh, uh, uh, one more coming right up.
Por favor.
All right, you ready? You done?
No, I need to sauce. Papi, Papi, you need to go.
Well, I mean, dude, follow me with red, dude.
I'm not finished with red.
It's a little loose right now, guys.
There's a little drama here.
You have a lot of experience doing a chef's table, right?
What are they going through?
I loved being on display in some ways,
'cause I liked cooking, I like the interaction.
I needed something so I could stay out of my head.
Byron, what do you want me to do?
-Oil. Let's chill. -We're good. We're doing okay.
Look at Shota. He's calming down, everybody.
Done? That's walk. That's walk.
Excuse my reach.
Thank you.
Mmm. Beautiful.
This course is a collaboration between Jamie and I.
So it's a lightly cured sockeye salmon,
with a rocoto curry sauce and crispy quinoa.
Oh my goodness.
I'm at a loss for words.
It's got so much flavor and restraint.
Lots of different textures.
Ooh! I just got a hit of passionfruit.
I love the curry.
I think this is one of the best curries I've had.
I just feel like it really overpowers the salmon.
I do have a kind of lingering heat
that's a little too much for a second course for me.
The salmon on its own, the cure is really nice.
It doesn't need topping.
Mhm.
Guys, I need help with the sandwich.
-Heard. -Okay?
You want mustard on that side too, or no?
-No. -Maybe I'll do quarters, yeah?
Whatever you want, papi. I trust you blindly.
Let's start walking.
Sando!
No silverware for this one.
-This one's finger food here. -You get all dressed up
and you're eating tongue sandwiches.
It's me again, the Mexican.
This is my take on the sando .
Pickles, mustard, onions,
and lengua that has been slow-roasted for five hours.
Enjoy.
I'm a sucker for anything you dip.
-Can I dip it? I'm in. -For me, in a menu this serious,
I think you want to have a fun, like, sandwich up front.
Yeah. It's like foreplay. You want to have the fun up front.
'Cause the rest isn't fun, or...
The rest is fun all the way through,
but in the middle of it, you don't want to start laughing.
Um, but the tongue is absolutely beautiful.
Yeah, I think this is the best tongue I've tasted.
Woo!
We gotta clean up, guys.
How far away are you guys?
I still got about...
-A lot? -Yeah.
I do have 10 minutes of rolling out dough.
I'm gonna work on front of the house, then.
The points to taste all of our dishes came and went.
I'm gonna pop sparkling water,
'cause I feel like they're coming in soon,
and we have to make sure that we have sh--ready.
I am so nervous about the service aspects.
Everyone seems okay with it,
and maybe I'm worrying about nothing.
This look all right, yeah?
Yeah. I just feel like there's--it's so big.
-What? -Compared to my two dishes.
Is it too big?
-It's okay. -I couldn't make it any smaller.
Dawn, you looking good?
Yeah. I need to just finalize a couple of things, that's it.
Oui.
Fryer's at top now?
-Yup. -Sexy! Sweet.
I have to say, they've been really good with the pacing.
-Yes. -This is a ballet, not a rodeo.
Like, their first, like, three courses are,
like, completely choreographed and staged.
Yeah, their sh--is tight.
All right. Can we walk, please?
Chopstick front, please.
Special one for the special lady.
Yes! Food on a tree stump!
-Finally!
Hello. The tempura is lotus root shiso
and rockfish that is chopped up with an ume paste.
Provecho.
The texture of the root's really good.
I like the ume paste a lot in this dish.
I like the dish. I think it's good.
It's bright, even though it's fried.
I think there's a nice amount of acid.
You got this, Jamie!
Okay! I don't want to let you guys down.
I get really nervous when people stare at me when I cook,
so I'm feeling, like, "Ahh!"
The pressure of letting my team down,
it's just a lot on my little brain.
You're killing it, by the way.
-I just need you to know that. -This is what I do!
I'm treating it like you guys are in Tucson, in my home.
Just wait 'til we all show up in Tucson.
-Yeah. -Please do!
Hi! So here's the short rib.
So, I made a short rib with a kalbi glaze.
I did a little quail egg,
and finished off with a little puffed rice.
We did a salsa together.
Yeah. Uh, salsa morada .
It's a little bit more pungent than a chipotle.
Enjoy!
That's really tasty.
And then just a great balance with the egg and the meat,
it was-- it was delicious.
I think it's lovely, but I think it's a lot.
That broth looks good.
That's good, right? And then egg on top.
The hot pot is the last savory course.
It's kind of a statement.
-Mm! That smells delicious. -You smell delicious.
I'm excited to share this.
Whoa!
-I'm gonna go to your judges. -Okay.
Whoa!
Ahh!
-Oh, the dancing bonito! -Oh, wow, that's cool!
Nice.
For the last savory course,
we wanted to do something that's family style
and something that incorporates all of us,
and what better than a hot pot,
because it just breaks through any culture.
The stock was made by...
Me and Maria.
The seafood was cooked with a lot of aromatics.
The rice is finished dulse-style,
and we added the shrimp.
Shrimp machaca .
-Enjoy, guys. -Thank you!
I'm impressed.
Yes. It's very traditional and homey.
All the seafood, all the flavors, the aromatics.
You've got everything in this dish.
It really felt comforting and soulful.
it's literally each and every single one of them
contributing to one pot of food, you know?
But in a way that is harmonious and delicious.
It's pretty ----ing good.
Seems like they loved the hot pot.
Dude, they are having fun.
I am very proud to be part of this team.
Let's plate!
Jamie, this is ----ing bomb, dude.
-Yeah? -Yeah, chef!
We're dessert people! Ahh!
Okay, I'mma start, okay?
Here you go.
Ahh, that looks really good!
For our last course, a collaboration once again.
Tres leches.
So this is a steamed cake,
so kind of more eggy-based, something I grew up making.
And then I take a coconut and condensed milk
and go
And then we put a little bit of fresh pineapple -
and then fresh coconut for texture and a crunch-crunch.
You haven't--? Oh, you--
-This is my first time. -Oh!
You'll get used to it.
Mm. Delicious.
-Yeah. -Fantastic.
The basil in it is so creative,
and the pineapple two ways? I love this.
It was the perfect way to end the meal.
Gail was saying, "This is exactly how I wanted
"to end this meal."
This was an extraordinary meal.
They raised the bar for every Restaurant Wars
that there's ever going to be in the future,
-especially the next one. -From start to finish!
I think we have to hit the road and do it all over again!
Yeah, we do.
Honestly, like, if that was a restaurant,
first day of service, if it was that smooth?
Just sayin'.
We had our hearts in those menus.
-It's good service! -Yeah!
-Kokoson! -Kokoson!
How's everyone feeling?
My octo just needs to come out,
and then I need to plate up this tostada.
-Okay. -We have three minutes.
It tastes hammy?
Yeah.
Everyone's good with the order, right?
Crab, halibut, scallops, salmon skin, shrimp, octo, kelp?
- Oui . -Everything's good?
I think that's the final-final.
Guys, please be ready.
I'm so nervous.
Okay, they're coming in, they're coming in.
We have to do that fast.
Looks beautiful too.
It does.
I love all the driftwood.
-Good evening. -Hello everyone!
-It's pretty here. -This is gorgeous.
It's gonna be great.
-Let's have fun, guys. -Okay. Let's be happy.
Good evening, everybody.
Welcome to Penny Restaurant.
Penny Restaurant is a seafood-focused restaurant
of the Pacific Northwest.
We all found a common ground of seafood
connecting global-influenced cuisine,
so tonight you're gonna see strictly seafood.
I don't know. This looks pretty good.
"Salmon skin, pak choi , and brown butter."
-Hmm. -It looks--
-Reads really well. -Really good.
Some warm towels for your guys.
-Wow! -Nice.
-Thank you. -Are they scented with anything?
Yeah, they're scented with some palo santo .
-Beautiful. -Seriously,
-Nice touch. -Wow!
We know they left you guys all messy.
We wanted to clean you up.
Just kidding, just kidding!
-Shots fired!
That's good.
That's about the extent of it that we get to.
You enjoy mezcal?
Yeah, man. Keep it coming, brother.
And a blood orange and green -
-Thank you so much. -Lovely.
I thought it was very thoughtful
that they presented me with a non-alcoholic beverage.
That's a really nice service point.
I didn't see that in your Restaurant Wars!
Sorry, chef!
This is not on the menu.
We have an heirloom corn tostada
with a fat bastard oyster
and then some snapper that's been cured in
roasted kelp, chilis, and allspice.
Thank you.
You know, I like the flavors of this tostada,
I'm just finding it feeling very weighted down
by the size of the fish.
For me, the size is a little big,
but then, I like the oyster sauce.
Yeah.
I'm having a hard time getting past the texture
and, like, how chewy it is.
It's not crisp and light and crunchy,
and it's not very easy to eat.
-How's Dawn doing? -You need a hand with anything?
-I'm just gonna fry these. -Okay.
If y'all could just help me build, that would be great.
Oui.
Fill it on the inside, and then put some caviar on top.
Something is going wrong, horribly wrong right now.
-Where is it going? Right here? -Yeah.
These things are hot as heck.
They are less relaxed.
Nobody's here.
They're doing their job, but they're not interacting with us.
Okay.
This is a warm crab salad in a corn puff,
a cross between a johnnycake and a poori,
with island coconut sauce.
Thank you.
What a welcome surprise.
It was a strong contrast to the tostada that we got.
Yeah. I feel like this should have been the amuse.
-We killed it. -Thank you. I know--
-I'm sorry it took so long-- -It's okay.
It's really interesting that our first course
is kind of a tostada made on a poori,
compared to the bigger amuse-bouche we got.
-Uh-oh. -What's up?
I'm listening.
With the chef's table experience,
oftentimes you want to interact with the chefs.
That's part of the experience, and I'm not feeling it here.
-It feels so detached. -Hey, are you guys having
-fun in the kitchen or what? -We're having a blast!
-Can't you tell? -No!
-Are you good? -Uh, I hope so.
It does not look good.
That better be yogurt over there.
-Thank you. -My pleasure.
I did a halibut crudo with an ajo blanco sauce,
some confit green cherry tomato,
and some fresh red cherry tomato.
-Thank you. -Of course.
There is no connection between the first dish
and this dish at all.
We had raw, cooked, raw again.
I honestly did not enjoy this dish at all.
This sauce is kind of grainy and mealy.
This is like a Grateful Dead concert.
-It needs acid.
-Ohh!
-What's gonna go down first?
Scallop dress is gonna go down first,
and then the broth is gonna go last.
Will you turn the scallop over for me please?
Go ahead.
-Thank you. -Wow. Now look at this.
This smells really good.
So what I've made today is a seared scallop
with a Creole XO in a ham hock broth.
Wow. We needed this turn here.
-Thank you.
-This is freakin' delicious. -Had me at "ham hock broth."
It was clarified beautifully,
and that broth had so much richness.
I get really critical over people that make XO.
I love that she threw the crawfish in there.
That's just so brilliant. I'm jealous
-I didn't create this dish!
I need all those plates out.
Can you wipe this plate before I go on them?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah.
Yes, chef?
-I don't know.
It's a little tense.
I feel uncomfortable sitting here.
-This looks so ugly. -No, I like it.
-No, it's great!
All right, we're ready.
-All right. -Thank you.
I wanted to make a dish vegetable-forward
with a little bit of seafood.
I've got a crispy salmon skin
with pak choi, turnips, and hazelnut brown butter sauce.
Where's the rest of the salmon?
We're gonna save the salmon for dinner tonight.
It feels slightly incomplete to me.
It's like it's missing that piece of salmon.
There was a sort of, like, "let them eat cake"
-part of the presentation. -Yeah!
"We're gonna go eat the salmon! You guys can have this skin!"
I like food that looks like this.
It looks like it's somewhat messy and not fussed with.
To me, it's like a-- it's an oddball,
unexpected dish that works.
Yeah, for sure.
Wanna go talk to them?
I don't know. What should we talk about?
-Um... -Very awkward!
All right, we can go three per.
All right, we're good to walk.
Tortellini.
-It smells good. -This course right here
is tortellini en brodo in seafood broth.
And inside the pasta is a shrimp farce.
Do you have any egg yolks in the pasta?
I do have egg yolks, yes. Hope you guys enjoy.
-Thank you. -Thank you, guys.
Flavor-wise, the dish is good,
but I think this pasta technique is just not there.
Why would you put this course after the XO broth?
That's a strange position it's taking in this progression.
-Yeah. -Chef, are you ready?
Yes, thank you, Dawn. Appreciate it.
-Hmm? -They didn't like it.
They said they loved your broth.
Well, that's one saving factor.
Their point of view is seafood,
but there's nothing tying that seafood in.
And it's like, "We came up with the concept,
and we're each gonna make our own dish."
-Guys, can I get a hand? -Yes.
Beautiful.
-That's gorgeous. -Mhm.
This is octopus served with a really bright,
herbaceous mole verde, squash,
and then there's a little bit of heat from the chili serrano.
It's very spicy! Or did I get a very spicy drip?
It's spicy, but it's not too hot.
-Thank you, Gabe. -Thank you.
I like this dish a lot.
For me, I feel like it eats all bitter,
and I'm just, like, missing a tiny bit of sweetness.
You get it from the squash.
The squash I find to be such a relief, but there's just
-not enough of it. -Yeah.
It's a seafood restaurant, and we end with octopus?
We didn't get a cooked piece of fish.
Gabe.
-Looks like popcorn. -It does.
-That's it? -Yeah, that's it.
-Here you are. -Ooh, this is...petite.
All right, last course for you all.
We have a kelp ice cream with a coconut meringue,
toasted hazelnut, and a seaweed salt.
Wow. Points for getting something from the ocean
other than sea salt into dessert.
Thank you.
This is...this is the best thing I like.
I mean, I expected to hate this dessert,
and I really love it.
-This is really innovative. -I don't know
if it's 'cause we're in Oregon and hazelnuts are amazing,
but the hazelnuts in this are amazing.
Can we run that back? That was so good.
I'm dead serious, I'd like that dessert again.
-Sure. -That was so good.
Dale would like one more, please.
-Thank you, everybody. -Thank you so much.
Thank you, chefs.
We had two very distinctive experiences
at each of these restaurants.
You guys have all been in Restaurant Wars.
What do you think of this setup?
We love it. I wish I had it like this during our season.
All in all, two really, really special, delicious meals.
Now let's get to Judges' Table and hash it all out.
Really an amazing job. I mean, you set the bar
really, really high for Restaurant Wars,
and y'all should be really proud of the work you did tonight.
-Thank you. -We had two very different
restaurant experiences, and they were both good.
But there was one restaurant that we would go back to.
And that restaurant is...
...Kokoson.
-Oh!
-Yes!
Team Penny, thank you so much.
We'll talk to you in a bit.
Congratulations!
-Thank you! -Thank you.
-How do you feel? good!
Better now!
There was never a question of where we were eating
these plates of food. It just felt like
a concept that had been in the works for years.
-Thank you. -Thank you very much.
I have the experience of not
doing so great in Restaurant Wars.
Merging all four different stories into one cohesive menu
is much harder than I think that we realize oftentimes,
and everything about it really was exceptional
-from start to finish. -Thank you.
Every single dish felt like every single person
had a hand in it, and one thing that really
set the experience apart was Maria.
You're a natural at hospitality and service.
-It wasn't forced at all. -Thank you.
You were very focused on making sure
we had everything we needed. Great work.
Thank you.
Let's talk about these dishes a little bit.
Shota, the eggplant dish is really a fantastic way
to start the evening, and that sauce was definitely
one of my favorite parts of the whole entire experience.
That was a lot of fun because her eggplant mole was amazing.
I mean, I loved that beautiful sauce.
-So tangy and bright. -Thank you, chef.
Byron, I think the cure on your salmon was beautiful.
-The seasoning was perfect. -Thank you.
Maria, I thought that the tongue was great,
and it was really cooked well. I was just trying to understand
at what point of the kaiseki meal, sandwich works in?
It's technically a braised course.
See, okay, all right. I can see that.
-All right. -I think the treatment
of the tongue itself was absolutely stunning.
It reminds me of something that my mom used to make me.
I love when I feel connected to someone's food in that way.
Jamie, the cake was so money, you know?
It came out, it was shiny,
it was glistening, and I love you steaming it.
And that was just, like, a seamless fit for the concept
-of the restaurant. -Thank you.
I like that we're doing this kaiseki meal and everything's
really beautiful, and then we get something family-style.
I watched you just kind of coax along, coax along,
and the timing of it just had to be right.
This was just a big pot of just--flavor.
Kristen and Gregory, as our guest judges,
you have the pleasure of announcing
our overall winner of Restaurant Wars.
Across the board, the food was exceptional.
The progression of the menu
and the service were all really top-notch.
This chef to me is the chef that I would make sure
they're working the next time I go to Kokoson.
And that Chef is...
Maria.
-Good job, mama.
-Great job. -And you deserved it!
I am lost for words for the first time in 39 years.
Good job, mamita.
I'm extremely proud of this one.
Thank you. But I would not be here
-if it wasn't for Kokoson. -You're all winners,
but Maria, your service was exceptional.
-This is your first win. -Yes, it is.
-How does that feel? -Odd.
You guys can step to the side.
Will you please come forward?
Team Penny, you had our least favorite restaurant,
and one of you will be going home.
Team Penny, I'm interested to know
why you guys just said, "Okay, let's just make it a seafood restaurant."
I think we were hoping to let the guiding principle be the seafood.
If you look at the progression,
it doesn't seem like the menu is designed
by one person, and it should be.
-Right. -The food was good,
and at some times really excellent,
but it felt more like a collection of dishes.
-Absolutely. -Yes.
Is there a leader on this team?
It's collective agreements and leadership amongst us four.
Did you guys have team meetings about
how the day was going to get planned?
You know, in retrospect, there were obviously
some holes in our communication.
Let's talk about that first amuse.
The oyster sauce I thought was really good,
but you expect a nice, crisp tostada.
They weren't as crisp as they could have been
where the oyster sauce was sitting on.
That tostada tasted stale and under-seasoned.
It had a weird crunch to it.
I totally get it. I get it.
I'm a little torn on the octopus. I loved the mole.
I think, for me, I like bitter,
-but my octopus was too bitter. -Yes, chef.
Dawn, the crab dish, I loved. You had caviar,
you had this really pungent sauce, and you have that
beautiful fried dough, and you want a crab
that stood up to that, and I thought that
-was a very smart decision. -Thank you.
The johnnycake crab dish, I thought was really nice,
I thought it was a great way to start the meal.
It would have, I think, been a better way to start a meal than the large tostada.
Dawn, the scallop dish was so complex,
from the broth to the sweetness from the crawfish,
from the scallop, that there was just nothing I would change.
-Thank you. -Sara. It was interesting,
both your dishes had creamy, non-dairy sauce.
Did you wonder if they were too similar?
I didn't really even think about the fact
that there was, like, creamy on creamy.
Both dishes really suffered from where they were
and the fact that you guys didn't really put together a cohesive menu.
Personally, I was thinking that Dawn's dish wouldn't be so warm.
-Um, but...
-Oh, you're talking about-- -The crab. Yeah.
-The crab? -'Cause I was thinking caviar,
and it was gonna be, like, a little crisp, almost.
Um, but...
You know, the halibut dish felt puzzling,
and the fish was weighted down by everything around it.
-Yeah. -The salmon skin dish,
I liked a lot. The dish, it's quirky,
and I think that's when you're at your best.
Yeah. I know. I have to embrace the weird.
Chris, I questioned why the tortellini course
came in the order it did.
You know, I thought it belonged way earlier.
But the tortellini was a little tough, or thick.
-okay. -I really loved the ice cream.
That was phenomenal. I got that back end
of, like, sea afterwards, which was a really nice
-way to end that dish. -Thank you.
One other thing I wanna mention is that
there was no clear front of the house person.
I don't know who to blame for that,
but we just needed you to be present in our experience,
and that really is the joy of dining at a chef's table.
That'll be it for now. Thank you all very much.
We'll call you back in a minute. Thank you.
-Thanks. -Thank you all.
I think the major downfall of Penny,
in spite of all the delicious food,
was that they really didn't work together on the concept.
They all said, "I have a dish," and then where we gonna put it?
Regardless of the place in the progression,
Dawn's scallop stood out above the rest.
I think we can all agree Dawn is off the table.
She gave us two beautiful dishes,
-one extraordinary dish. -Absolutely.
Well... If I don't see any of you-
Get the
-Dawn, you're fine. -I just wanna tell you--
It's us three that need to worry.
Chris's tasty little scoop of ice cream
was a very nice dessert.
I really loved Chris's tomato broth.
I thought his use of herbs in that was really beautiful,
but unfortunately the pasta was not executed properly.
-The pasta was brittle! -Yeah.
And he's made that mistake before.
He gave two very delicious
things in my mouth, and I'm okay.
That was redemption for me, and definitely I failed,
and clearly there's nothing to do now.
To me, Gabe's octopus dish,
I feel that was truly a realized dish.
I feel the same way. For a seafood restaurant,
I finally felt like, "Oh, here is my seafood dish."
For me, Gabe's tostada, I found the texture to be inedible.
I agree, but in terms of flavor,
I actually preferred it to the halibut from Sara.
The ingredients did not have a lot of flavor,
and it actually just didn't even make sense
in its presentation. But where I'm torn is because
there was a lot I really loved about Sara's second dish.
I think it was technically well-made.
That salmon skin was out of left field,
I thought really good. So it's hard to say.
I wish I would have not used what I used with the halibut.
Each of these three chefs had a dish
that we didn't like tonight.
I think there was a real...
lack of communication on the part of this team,
and that was really their downfall.
-Yeah. -I think we have our answer.
Let's get them out here.
Some of our most talented chefs
actually met their demise in Restaurant Wars.
It's not easy, but like most restaurants,
it starts with really good planning,
and then you have to execute that out,
and that's why your team is here.
And unfortunately, a talented chef's going home tonight.
Sara.
Please pack your knives and go.
Thank you for the opportunity. It was super fun.
It's not over yet. Kristen is proof that
Last Chance Kitchen actually works out for a lot of people,
-so we'll see you there. -Thank you.
Hopefully you keep cooking those quirky dishes.
Thanks. -Good luck to you, Sara.
-What? -I'm leaving.
-WHAT? -No.
-No, you're not. -You're kidding me?
Honestly, I thought it was me.
-I'm sorry. -It's okay.
I've made myself more vulnerable than I ever have,
and in return I finally gave myself a chance.
I'm super happy that I did this.
It's just another step in my personal journey here
of learning who I am and how to accept myself.
Tonight, Sara enters Last Chance Kitchen.
I think I definitely still have a few challenges in me.
After a puzzling plate progression...
I'm trying not to it up like I did last time.
Can she turn things around and return to the competition?
-Oh, God. -Find out now On Demand,
or wherever you stream Top Chef
Next time on Top Chef...
I hear you guys are big Top Chef fans.
-She-- -No, I--Let me--
-You go. -Beards first. Go ahead.
-Come on.
You know what? Pack your knives...
For this challenge, we want you to cook, test,
and write the recipe for your dishes.
Be really precise with these recipes,
because we may put them to a little test tomorrow.
-Surprise!
We're your recipe testers!
-Oh my goodness me. -Whoa-ho-ho-ho!
This is what you want in a book
to get people excited in cooking.
Knowing that I'm stretched this thin,
-I'm a little worried. -Just like the old days.
Ah!
This recipe doesn't give you time at all.
This recipe failed.
I might not even have food to serve.