Previously on "Top Chef"...
- Welcome to Restaurant Wars. - [ laughter ]
- It's the Chef's Table. - Oh.
Everything the chefs do and say is seen by the diners.
This is our family meal.
- Whoa. - Oh, my God.
They raised the bar for every Restaurant Wars
that is ever going to be. - Mm-hmm.
Dawn, what are your finalized dishes?
I will tell you in a little bit.
I'm gonna work on front of the house, then.
The points to taste all of our dishes came and went.
- Are you good? - Uh, I hope so.
There is no connection between the first dish
and this dish at all.
This pasta technique is just not there.
Both dishes really suffered from 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.
Please pack your knives and go.
PADMA: 7 chefs remain
to compete in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winners--
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.
♪♪♪
What the [bleep]?
You okay?
Sorry, I don't--
I'm shocked.
Sara is an excellent competitor.
[ sighs ] And I feel partially to blame.
I could have done something to help her chances of staying.
She was my personal pick to win it all.
- Yeah, me, too. - [ laughs ]
I thought she was gonna win the whole thing.
Thought for sure that it was
gonna be between me and Chris going home
because this was the first time that Sara's been in the bottom.
She's very talented.
Going into the next elimination challenge,
I wanna continue to get better and show up and perform.
♪♪♪
- Hello, hello. Good morning. - Hi.
- Oh, man. - Wow.
What is going on?
Like what we've done with the place?
[ laughter ]
Pretty, uh, vintage.
All this equipment is very antique.
Am I stepping into a Julia Child exhibit?
It's been said that Portland's a city
where young people go to retire.
And in a place like that, everything old is new again.
Your next guest judges wanted to feel a little more at home
and have outfitted the "Top Chef" kitchen
with some of the finest vintage equipment.
Please join me in giving a warm welcome
to Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen of "Portlandia."
- Wow. - [ laughs ]
Our time in Portland would not be complete without them.
- Thank you. - Thanks for having us.
[ laughs ]
I love "Portlandia."
I think it's hilarious. It's so dry,
and now what I'm learning about Portland--accurate.
I hear you guys are big "Top Chef" fans. Is that right?
- Yes. We're huge fans. - Huge, huge fans.
- But she--You-- - I--Let me--I'll just...
- You go. - [ laughs ]
Beards first. Go ahead.
- Come on. - [ laughs ]
I was gonna explain why she's a fan.
- Oh, that's-- - That's why I was gonna do it.
- That's all. I was being... - Yeah.
- Polite, is what I was doing. - He was being polite, yeah.
[ laughter ]
- Glad we got that cleared up. - [ laughs ]
♪♪♪
We wanna have a little fun with the stereotype
that Portland is a hipster city.
For your Quickfire Challenge, we want you to create a dish
that features some of the ingredients you see here,
which also have a rep for being a hipster ingredient.
We have hemp oil, almond flour, various milks, kombucha.
All the favorite ingredients from your childhood.
[ laughs ]
Yeah, it's a lot of different kind of milks.
There's a rare milk that we have on here
that's derived from milk.
- It's dairy milk. - [ cow mooing ]
[ laughter ]
All right, Chefs, you have 30 minutes--
- Oh, no, no. - Oh, I'm so sorry.
I would--I would love to do this.
- [ laughs ] - Sure, of course.
All right, Chefs, you have 30 minutes.
But you have to remember,
you have no access to the hotline.
- [ chuckles ] - And you can only use
this vintage equipment in the "Top Chef" kitchen.
You can't phone a friend. Wrong show.
- No hotline? - What?
- Only the white stoves. - No joke?
We have to use all electric stoves.
I don't like it. I like fire.
I have matches tattooed on my arm, for God's sakes.
- All right, Chefs. - And your time starts...
- Now. - Now.
♪♪♪
I can't get inside.
Can you grab me the hemp seed oil?
Anyone has coconut milk?
Some clichés of being a hipster...
Skinny pants.
- Need flour! - Man bun.
I should've grabbed a ----ing thing.
Gluten-free vegan.
Single speed bicycles. [ chuckles ]
Taste like ass. Ew.
It's some kind of a... whisking thing.
So I'm using it as a food processor
to make this aioli.
♪♪♪
Ahh!
Dawn, are you a hipster?
I actually am a hipster.
It turns out that I have, like, 20 or 30 of those pieces
that are up there.
This is like my playground right here.
[ whirring ]
Now I immediately grab a mold made in the form of corncobs.
I'm making a quick bread made out of fonio and semolina.
It's kind of like cornbread except with no corn.
♪♪♪
I got hemp seed oil and almond milk,
trying to make a dumpling. - Aah!
I don't use a lot of hipster ingredients.
I drink flaxseed milk myself and a lot of alternative milks.
But I don't think I'm a hipster.
I'm lactose-intolerant. [ laughs ]
♪♪♪
I grabbed sunflower butter, asparagus, pickles, capers.
Talking to myself, you know, casually.
I'm-a keep it vegan because it's Portland.
I'm making a spicy, nutty green bean.
I'm just trying to make sure I use
a lot of these hipster ingredients.
- Jamie, how's that working? - I don't even know.
Work. It's work.
A little under 20 minutes, guys.
♪♪♪
It's a little subjective
to create something Portland hipster.
I've cut the purple yams up,
create kind of that Hasselback potato look.
I want it to look like sausage links.
It's very, uh, cheeky.
Last time I saw a stovetop like this
was when I was in New York City. [ laughs ]
I think I had one of these in one of my apartments,
and, uh, it's a pain in the ass.
It's either really hot or not hot enough.
Maria, what are you making?
A tomato cardamom harissa soup.
Nice.
What more vintage than a tomato soup?
[ groans ]
Working with a 1960s blender that doesn't blend--
that's a problem.
Apparently, I don't know how to work a blender from 1970.
Okay, watch out now.
[ laughter ]
- 10 minutes on the dot! - You're the best!
♪♪♪
- Coming through super hot. - Whew.
It's definitely taking much longer to sear the cauliflower
using the electric coils than it would on the gas burners.
See what happens.
Whew.
♪♪♪
- I get my dumplings in. - How'd that dough do, though?
I'm getting there. I did a dough.
Instead of water, I put almond milk.
I'm trying to roll out the dough,
but it was not enough time to let it rest,
so I noticed it's pushing back.
How do you lower this heat? Jeezers.
It may not be all that great. [ laughs ]
Jamie Tran, you wanna make dumplings?
- Yeah. - [bleep], yeah, girl. Get it.
I am.
3:50!
Ahh!
- Come join me over here. - Okay.
Please be finished!
♪♪♪
- One minute left. - Come on.
Wow. He waited till the last second.
♪♪♪
JUDGES: 3...2...1.
Time's up! Hands up. Utensils down.
Whoo, that was fun.
♪♪♪
Gabe, come on up. Ooh.
Today I've prepared
a kombucha-braised Portland sausage,
or purple yam, with some crispy yam skins.
This purple yam is supposed to be a play on sausage?
Yeah, yeah.
You're being all hipster vegan. Got it.
Exactly.
But how did you make the yam part of it?
The yam, I cut into, like, Hasselback.
Excuse my ignorance, but what's Hasselback?
Just the cutting, the way it's like...
How do you not know what Hasselback is?
- Stop it. I know you-- - It's like this.
[ laughter ]
- Oh, thank you. - Here you go.
I've prepared a spicy, nutty green bean
with dehydrated watermelon, toasted almonds.
Uh, sauteed it with sunflower oil
and, uh, pickled beets and asparagus.
Can I see your hand, Shota?
I always forget what I put. Not embarrassing at all.
- Well, that is hipster. - Yes. [ laughs ]
It's not hipster until you get that as a tattoo.
[ laughter ]
- Thank you. - Wow.
I made a mixed mushroom pickled asparagus dumpling,
and underneath, hemp seed oil vinaigrette.
- What are these things? - They're turnips.
- Turnips. - Did you Hasselback them?
[ laughter ]
No, I do... [ imitates cutting sounds ]
Super hot. Be careful, please.
I made a tomato soup with coconut milk
and harissa and tomato peel, cardamom crumble.
Keeping it with the hipster theme
and the old school tomato soup.
I love it. Great.
♪♪♪
- How are you today? - Thank you.
I made a play on cornbread with fonio and semolina
with pancetta jam, pear butter, and goat butter as well.
How do you make the bread part of it?
I made it in the--the oven.
I realize it was a dumb question.
- [ laughs ] - Thank you.
- Do I have any on my face? - No.
- Ooh, that's very pretty. - Wow.
This is variations of cauliflower
with purple cauliflower giardiniera
and black garlic and sauerkraut aioli.
Is this the black garlic here in the sauce?
- Yes. - Okay.
We're gonna take a half an hour break.
[ laughter ]
Thank you.
- Finally, some actual protein. - [ chuckles ]
What did you make for us?
Pan-seared striped bass with braised and grilled endive,
finger limes and salsa, pickled beets,
cherries and hemp seed oil. - Thank you, Byron.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
♪♪♪
Fred and Carrie, how do you think our chefs did?
- We loved all of them. - We really did.
I would've sat and ate the entire dish
if I wasn't on camera, so... - [ laughter ]
Who had one of our least favorite dishes?
Jamie. The dumpling was a little chewy, unfortunately.
- But it was great. - [ laughs ]
Chris, it was just, like, a little bit salty.
It fell short a little bit on texture.
- But you seem so nice. - [ laughter ]
And now for some good news.
Who had one of our favorite dishes of the day?
Gabe, I really loved the purple yam.
There was like a sense of humor to it,
and my whole life, I've been such a fan
of Hasselback knife work. - [ laughs ]
- So...finally. - Thank you.
Maria, with the soup,
just a really rich and complex take on a classic.
I like that it was spicy but also that it had
that cotija cheese.
It was just like a nice surprise in it.
Thank you very much.
Dawn, with your play on cornbread, was so, so good.
I like that it was a little bit sweet.
I actually found it really fun.
- It was just a joy to eat. - Thank you.
Okay, so who had our favorite dish of the day?
All right, so the chef with our favorite dish of the day
took the concept of hipster
and made it feel fresh and innovative.
The chef with our favorite dish is...
♪♪♪
You know what?
- Pack your knives. - [ laughter ]
You're not supposed to say that.
- No, no, I just-- - Just nicely pack them.
- Pack your knives and... - You know, you never know.
You gotta have a go bag.
- [ clears throat ] - Oh, sorry. So sorry.
It's Dawn.
- [ laughs ] - [ applause ]
I got one!
[ laughter ]
You just won an advantage in the next Elimination Challenge.
It really feels good because I never won before,
and I've always been really close,
but I felt confident about this dish, so I'm really glad.
I haven't won a Quickfire Challenge yet.
- Nice work, champ. - Thank you. Nice work.
So close.
Thank you so much for joining us.
- Thank you. Thank you. - Bye. Thank you.
Bye.
Thank you.
Another Quickfire under the belt.
You guys must be feeling cooked.
[ laughs ]
Please welcome your guest judges for this round--
Dale Talde and Richard Blais.
- Yeah. - How are you?
Welcome back, guys.
Which brings us to your next Elimination Challenge.
♪♪♪
There's one thing that Tom, Gail, and I
and all the All-Stars have in common.
We all have or are currently working on our own cookbooks.
- Oh. - Awesome.
Chefs, I have two cookbooks, and my first cookbook
was nominated for a James Beard Award,
and when someone tells you that their thing
was nominated for something, it means they didn't win.
- That's correct. - [ laughter ]
You have a cookbook, too. I have it.
I do. I do. It's called "Asian-American,"
and it was a labor of love.
It took me almost two years to write.
For this challenge, we want you to create a recipe
that will take only 90 minutes to prepare.
Write the recipe like somebody who's not a chef
is going to follow those directions.
Tablespoons, cups,
things that we aren't generally used to measuring out,
you have to convert when you're dealing with a cookbook
that's supposed to be for the mass market.
This can be a difficult process that can take years,
but we're giving you just one night
to nail a perfect recipe.
You guys have had to write or read a recipe, though, right?
Oh, yeah.
Today you'll have 30 minutes to plan and shop
from Whole Foods Market.
Then tonight, you'll have three hours to cook, test,
and write the recipe for your dishes.
- [ chuckles ] - [ sighs ]
Tomorrow you'll present your dishes
at Departure Restaurant & Lounge in The Nines Hotel.
And, Dawn, because you won the Quickfire Challenge,
you'll get 15 extra minutes on day 2.
Chefs, it has to be nice and easy and simple,
something that the home cook can make,
but you'll also have to have your own creative spirit
in that recipe.
All right, Chefs, we'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- [ exhales deeply ] All right. - Good luck.
I'll have nightmares about this stove.
Definitely familiar with writing recipes.
Typically used to taking days if not weeks
on developing a dish.
We have three hours, but I know it's gonna take me about an hour
to write down exact measurements and steps.
- Are you doing sea bass? - Yeah.
I'm doing a fish dish.
I actually enjoy writing recipes.
I was part of the, uh, test kitchen team
for the Noma Mexico pop-up.
- Do you do recipes a lot, dude? - Yeah.
For me, the creative process is really centered around
this is the food memory that I wanna evoke.
What techniques can I use to arrive at that?
- She said $200, right, guys? - Mm-hmm.
I suck at writing recipes. I have ADHD.
I'm making gallina pinta.
It is a very traditional soup from Sonora.
The home cook, if they tried this recipe, well written,
it will be a home run.
All right, guys, let's go get that stuff.
♪♪♪
- Ahh! - What's up, Gabe?
- Yeah! - Thirsty boys for life!
[ laughs ]
So strong.
- [ laughs ] - Whoo, coming in hot.
♪♪♪
[ laughs ]
Hey, when you write recipes-- turnips,
wait, after we peel, right? - Yeah.
I don't like to write things. [ laughs ]
♪♪♪
Shaky, shaky, shaky.
Dawn, how long do you take to develop one single recipe?
I normally do, like, composed dishes
which are several recipes together.
Uh-huh.
When you're writing a recipe for a home cook,
you have to give them every single solitary step.
Grab the bowl. Grab the spoon.
Whatever you do has a finite measurement.
And so if you write the recipe with that in mind,
then you won't miss these very important steps.
- How much did you put in it? - 3 ounces of water,
and then 5 ounces soy, 3 ounces of mirin,
so I'm gonna double the amount of water, but it's super loose.
It's ----ing delicious, though.
Yeah.
I love measuring every ingredient. It's the bestest.
♪♪♪
Hey, Chefs. How's it going?
Hello, Chef.
♪ Bom chicka bow-bow ♪
- Hey, Shota. - Hi. How you doing, Chef?
What are you making here?
When I was going to cooking school in Japan,
there was this little izakaya
that was open till, like, 3, 4 a.m.,
and they always had braised pork belly with turnips.
Okay. Is this a soft braise,
or are you crisping it up afterwards?
Uh, just the soft braise.
I'm trying to keep it simple for the home cooks today.
- Great. - Thank you.
- Hey, Chris. - Chef, how's it going?
- What are you making? - I'm doing a sorghum gnocchi.
Okay.
I'm doing, like, a Parisian-style gnocchi dough.
So you're gonna fry the gnocchi. Got it.
Correct. So I'm gonna blanche it first, then pan-fry it.
Is there any technique that may be a little
on the difficult side or...
Uh, just making the gnocchi dough itself
is probably the most challenging.
I do pastas all the time, but in the previous challenges,
that is somewhere where I've struggled.
I'm really trying to prove to myself and to the judges
that I do have what it takes to execute it.
- All right, good luck. - Awesome. Thank you very much.
- Hi, Chef. [ laughs ] - Jamie!
So what are you making?
So I'm doing a brioche French toast...
- Okay. - ...with huckleberry compote.
Okay.
Toasted black sesame seed paste and then foie.
So a play on, like, kinda like peanut butter and jelly.
What's inspired this recipe?
When I first went to Vegas, first time I ever had foie,
I fell in love with it and the food there,
so I moved to Vegas, been there for 11 years.
- Really? - Look you up when I'm in Vegas.
Look me up and then I'll get you drunk, Chef.
Yeah. We'll see when I get there.
[ laughs ]
Hey, Chefs, listen up. Be really precise with these recipes
because we may put you to a little test tomorrow.
- Oh, boy. - Have fun.
- Heard that. - Dude, are we swapping recipes?
Sh--, maybe, dude.
Are we swapping?
I've got a feeling it's gonna be the judges
or the All-Star panel cooking them. I don't know.
I am being more adventurous with this recipe.
The fact that it could be somebody
that's cooking this recipe would definitely be challenging.
Making sure every step is clear and concise
is going to be a push.
[ whirring ]
What's your inspiration behind this dish, dude?
Beautiful seafood and summery tomato broths.
The dish looks simple, but the flavors are there.
Shota.
Dried shrimp, onions, garlic,
ginger, kombu.
I like it. You cook subtle for your personality, dude.
- Chef. - [ laughs ]
♪♪♪
My buttermilk broth has a bitterness
that I really didn't like,
and so I threw it away and I started over.
[ sighs ]
It's important to make sure that the recipe is perfect.
♪♪♪
11 minutes to finish recipes, guys.
♪♪♪
It's good.
♪♪♪
- Got your recipes there? - Yeah.
- Dude, mine are so long. - Yeah, mine's pretty long, too.
♪♪♪
[ groans ]
I am having anxiety galore at this point.
I know in the back of my head that the recipe
is not reading correctly.
The measurements are huge, but I'm running out of time.
4...3...2...1.
[ whistles ]
♪♪♪
Man, can't wait to get back to my normal life,
talk to my boy.
Not a lot of people know this about me, but I am a father.
I have a 8-year-old boy.
He lives in Japan with his mother.
I usually see him twice a year.
It's very hard not to have him in my life constantly.
Yeah, I'm definitely ready to be around my family.
Yeah. How old's your kids again?
2, 5, and 8.
Oldest one's the same age as my boy.
- Yeah. - I love my son very much.
He's why I keep working hard.
Maybe I can live close with him again
and be a bigger part of his life.
That's what I hope for and work for every day.
♪♪♪
Gabe, that's yours.
Whoo!
- Dawn. - Thank you.
Right behind.
- Morning, Chefs. - Morning.
- We're your recipe testers. - Oh, sh--.
Surprise! [ laughs ]
I knew it! I knew they were coming.
[ laughs ]
Your job today is to make us look good,
so I hope your recipes work.
I can't wait to see if it's gonna look identical,
if it's gonna taste the same.
Gabe and Jamie, I have your recipes,
so I'll take them. - Oy. I got Chris.
Shota, Byron.
- Maria and Dawn. - Yes.
We're gonna go to our kitchen, get to work.
- So good luck. - All right. Thank you, Chefs.
- Thank you, Chef. - Good luck to you.
Ahh!
- Ahh! - [ laughter ]
Dude!
Back in the "Top Chef" kitchen. This is so interesting.
Let's see what we need today.
Gabe is really good at creating really complex flavors.
So I'm actually really excited to cook his dish
and see what goes on in his head.
8 cups of water, 2 cups of salt.
♪♪♪
I'm not deviating from the recipe
because I wanna make sure that it's in line
with what Gregory's doing.
3-ounce portion, skin removed.
♪♪♪
- Hey! - What's up, friend?
- How's your recipe working out? - Oh, man, it's perfect.
Are you worried at all that
Gregory's not gonna be able to finish it in time
'cause he's never cooked it? - I feel like he has
a pretty good, sound knowledge of Mexican cuisine.
Overall, this recipe reads pretty well,
but how to debone cod is one of those things
where if you're not familiar with the process,
it is pretty hard.
It's kinda cool I got Kwame.
I think I'll be good as long as I get this pork belly in.
It's hard to let go and just be a recipe tester,
but I'm here to test this out like I'm a home cook.
So I'm following the recipe verbatim.
This does not say, "Add oil to the pan"
to sear pork belly, so I'm following the instructions.
Oh, man.
[ sizzling ]
What's up, guys?
- What up, what up, what up? - Hey, Chef.
All right, Kish, what the hell are we doing?
- Here we go, boys. - What's up, gorgeous?
I'm excited that Kristen has to cook my dish
and see what comes out of it, you know?
Would you like to see how much meat I have for six people?
I would love to see.
One...two...three.
And give every judge half a pound of meat.
Throw it all in the pot.
Okay.
8 pounds of meat, 6 people.
It just...is too much. Maria, it's too much.
Okay, coming through. Thank you.
What would you have done differently, Maria?
I would specify the size of pot.
Is that too much water for a pressure cooker?
That's gonna explode.
I think you can serve six with one pot, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah. [ laughs ]
I'm having a problem.
[ laughs ] We know.
- Hi. - Hi.
- Oh, hey. - How's everyone doing?
- Hey! - Gang's all here.
I got Melissa on the other side somewhere.
Sorghum gnocchi.
Hopefully I set her up for success,
'cause I don't wanna make her look bad.
All right. Let's fire-roast these guys.
♪♪♪
The sorghum flour is something
I definitely should have rewritten in the recipe.
I wrote the amount in cups and not in weights.
This is going to drastically change
the way that the gnocchi comes together.
You made sorghum gnocchi before?
- No, never. - [ laughs ]
- Butter's not in there, is it? - No, it is in there.
He told me to cook it out with the butter. [ laughs ]
♪♪♪
Add the herbs.
Supposed to be gnocchi, but it's like pancake batter.
♪♪♪
I might not even have food to serve.
♪♪♪
You got 12 minutes, Gregory.
Coming up quick.
90 minutes is easy when you don't have to read the recipe.
No, when you don't have to read it.
- And measuring. - That's the tough part.
♪♪♪
This is very fancy. It's pretty striking.
Wow, look at these fancy menus.
- We get all the information. - Do you swipe up or down?
Uh, depends if you like the photo.
- Oh, I see. - [ laughter ]
- About to plate. - Do you need help plating,
or are you good? - Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah? Okay. - How much time? How much time?
- 38 seconds left. - 38 seconds.
It's definitely a huge push. It's "Top Chef" style.
I think I have gotten pretty close
to what Gabe wanted for this dish.
5...4...3...
- Guys, we got it! - 2...1.
[ laughs ]
♪♪♪
- Mmm. - Hello.
- Hi. - Hi, Gabe.
- Hi, Gregory. - Oh.
Gregory's plates--they look almost identical to mine,
which is making me feel really good about his execution.
- I was like, wait a minute! - [ laughs ]
Tell us about your dish.
This is my steamed black cod in a banana leaf, crispy skin,
serve this with this rich sauce.
Have all the elements of a Veracruzana.
What was it like cooking Gabe's recipe?
Overall, it's a beautiful dish.
I think the timing was very difficult.
Having a home cook debone black cod is very challenging.
- Thank you both. - Thank you.
Thanks, guys.
- Not too bad. - [ laughter ]
What do we think of Gabe's dish?
- It's delicious. - Really, really good.
Really good. The crispy skin, the roasted vegetables
It's dynamic. There's a depth of flavor to it. It's fresh.
He's got this Mediterranean/ Mexican/Southeast Asian flavors.
I thought that sauce was stellar.
You have to think of them side by side.
Did Gregory's version live up to the expectation?
Gregory almost made the dish. It's close,
especially the sauce. Sauce is really good.
Gabe gave us a great recipe in here for the home cook.
Did, uh, Gregory came out with you?
Yes. You get feedback from your chef right there on the spot.
13 minutes to reduce that sauce.
[ laughs ]
I think Shota made a delicious dish.
You know, I wish he would've put a little bit less stock.
The sauce could've been reduced more.
When you're working with a home cook,
you need to make sure you're measuring things out exactly.
Right behind, right behind, right behind, right behind.
- Coming this way. - 1 minute, 50 seconds!
Gabe, you wanna try this real quick?
Kwame's a strict dude,
so hopefully he's not too hard on me.
That's perfect.
♪♪♪
- Sexy. - Kinda like old times.
♪♪♪
Thank you.
- Hi. - Good evening.
- Hi, Shota. - Hey, how you doing?
- Tell us about your dish. - For this challenge,
I made soy-braised pork belly with turnip purée
and adding a little salad and crumbles on top.
Looks delicious.
What happened to the brown sauce, Kwame?
There was just so much liquid, it was impossible to reduce.
But it was a pretty straightforward recipe.
Thank you, gentlemen.
- Thank you very much. - Thanks, guys.
- Thank you, Chef. - Yeah.
I do think that Shota's dish is delicious.
- Oh, yeah. - It's focused.
And I love these flavors of, like, bitter turnip,
a little bit of the sweetness from the pair.
Shota gave us a winning dish.
You know, I don't think that Kwame was able to execute it
as he needed to,
because it wasn't written in an easy translation.
Ooh.
How much time do you have left?
- [ laughs ] 2 minutes. - Behind!
- [ sizzling ] - Aah!
♪♪♪
Maria's recipe is gorgeous,
but the whole thing just seemed too much.
♪♪♪
Oh. Oh, my goodness me.
- Whoa! [ laughing ] - That is a very full bowl.
- Hi, Maria. - Hi.
- I don't know if I have enough. - [ laughter ]
- Girl, what the hell was that? - [ laughter ]
You gotta be ----ing kidding me.
[ laughter ]
Did you cook the whole thing? The 5 pounds of meat?
- Yeah. - For six people?
- Yeah. - Why?
- Because I'm Mexican. - [ laughter ]
This dish is a very traditional soup.
It has pork, beans, and hominy,
and to me, it screams home.
Kristen, how was doing this recipe for you?
You know, it took me-- I had to read it a couple times.
Essentially, from what I gathered from the recipe,
it says, "Throw it all in a pot."
- Yeah. - All right, thank you, ladies.
Thank you.
- I'm sorry. - What the [bleep] was that?
What did you think of Maria's dish?
It had tons of flavor. All her meats were nicely cooked.
Her beans were nicely cooked. Kristen's was not.
I think it's a great home cook recipe.
It's appealing. It's rustic.
But also this serves 74 people. It needs to serve 6.
A little fine-tuning, people can handle this at home.
- Oh, yeah. - Easy.
So what? You have leftovers for the week.
- Or the month. Yeah. - [ laughter ]
[ exhales deeply ]
That looks better.
Chris' recipe's not really focusing
on how this dough should look.
He wants me to pan-sear this.
That's not gonna happen in this timeframe.
But I'm really trying my best to try to put his dish
and his vision onto the plate.
♪♪♪
Chris, how you looking on time, dude?
Me, I'm able to get it done in...an hour and a half.
But knowing that I'm stretched this thin,
I'm a little worried that Melissa might not be able to.
It's like, still raw. Oh, no.
- I can't serve that. - You have to. [ laughs ]
- I'm sorry, Chris. - [ timer beeping ]
That sh-- goes by fast!
- Smells great. - Yeah. Looks great.
Hi. [ laughs ]
Do you have anything you wanna say to Chris before we start?
- [ laughter ] - Like, like, "I'm sorry"?
I'm so sorry. [ laughs ]
There's just a lot of components going on there, yeah.
Chris, tell us about your recipe.
The recipe is a sorghum gnocchi with green romesco,
braised dandelion greens, and saucisson sec.
Mel, I think this is... not your best plate of food.
- Oh, I... - [ laughter ]
I agree.
The gnocchi was falling apart.
There wasn't any description
on how tight that dough should be,
whether or not you should add more flour if needed.
I've never done gnocchi that way.
- Thank you both. - Thanks, guys.
[ chuckles ]
With Chris' dish, I love the braised dandelion greens.
I think that's the best part to the dish.
I actually think that the pecan green romesco
is a fantastic idea. - Really.
- The green romesco-- - And really doable.
But I think the gnocchi itself is just dense.
I mean, you can see inside of it.
- Oh, yeah, it's white. - Yeah, it's raw.
Regardless of the strength of the home cook,
Melissa is clearly a strong cook,
and this recipe failed her.
Okay, you got your custard. You got that. You got that.
Organize yourself. That'd look like it'd go well.
How is, uh, Jamie's recipe going?
Her recipe's actually really pretty nice,
but it's a sweet and savory foie gras dish,
so I'm very curious to see if all these flavors work together,
and the clock is ticking.
- Kwame, how's Byron's recipe? - It's four pages long.
- Seriously? - Yeah.
Oh, my goodness. Byron's steamed striped bass,
the never-ending story of recipes.
'Cause there's 15 ingredients.
The seafood reduction takes another 20 minutes.
The garlic cream takes 15 minutes.
I think it'll probably take about three hours
to properly make this recipe.
It's like these recipes were written for "Top Chef."
Are you feeling left out, you're not in the kitchen?
I'm--I'm feeling okay about it.
- I'm not--wouldn't be. - [ laughter ]
♪♪♪
Okay, I gotta plate this.
♪♪♪
[ timer beeping ]
Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.
♪♪♪
- Hey, Chef. - Hey, Chef.
Jamie, tell us about your dish.
So my dish is seared foie gras with a brioche French toast,
blueberry compote,
and underneath is black sesame,
just a play on peanut butter and jelly.
Gregory, what was following Jamie's recipe like?
I thought Jamie's recipe worked really well.
There's nothing too complicated within the timeframe.
I think it's a very executionable recipe.
- Thank you both so much. - Thank you.
- I think they'll like. - [ laughs ]
I think Jamie's French toast was--it's mushy.
It's not crispy. There was a lack of texture.
I think it's too sweet.
There's sugar in three of the components.
It's not a dish that I would make out of a cookbook.
But Gregory's dish is almost identical to Jamie's.
The writing of this recipe doesn't give you time at all,
doesn't tell you how long to cook it.
Yeah.
- Kwame, you gonna finish? - Yeah.
It smells really good.
♪♪♪
Aah! Dude, your bamboo thing is on fire.
Oh, sh--. Sorry, this was-- this was a push.
[ timer beeps ]
- Ahh, look at this. - It looks lovely.
- Beautiful. - Does look lovely.
- Hi, Byron. - How are you doing?
- Hey, Kwame. - Hello.
This looks promising. Tell us what you made.
Steamed striped bass with seafood broth and beans.
Kwame, what was it like to cook Byron's recipe?
It was like a 3-page long recipe,
and there was about 20 ingredients
in the seafood stock alone.
They look very similar.
When they both came to the table,
I was astonished at how alike they looked.
All right, thank you both so much.
- Thank you. - Thanks, guys.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
Yeah.
This doesn't really feel like a Byron dish.
He's been delivering some really big, bold flavors
and acidity and spice.
The eating appeal is also just sort of all the same.
The beans in Byron's dish are very--they're undercooked.
Kwame's are fine, but it's way too complicated
for what it delivers.
He made it into 17 steps and 45 ingredients,
and you really aren't tasting the fruits of his labor.
Cook it to medium rare.
And you know what I did? I cooked it to medium rare.
I mean, the recipe worked great.
Beautiful.
I think my sauce is too sweet.
I could have adjusted the taste,
But I feel like this is the recipe that Kristen had,
and I want to create exactly what she had.
[ timer beeps ]
I'm excited about this.
- Hi, Dawn. - Hello.
Hello, Chef.
- Pretty damn good. - Yeah.
Oh, that looks very similar. Dawn, tell us about your dish.
I made salmon with buttermilk and gai lan.
How did you find this recipe, Kristen?
I found it very, very, very clear,
maybe with the exception of a couple small details.
- I'm so--Go ahead. - No, it was great.
The only difference is the sauce.
The buttermilk's a little sweeter in one of the dishes.
- Mm-hmm. - Great. Thank you both.
Thank you.
- That was good. - Chef, thank you.
Kristen did a great job
because clearly Dawn gave great direction.
And it feels like a restaurant dish.
I like both dishes.
I love the unexpected aroma and flavor
in Dawn's sauce.
Protein, veg, sauce-- home cook can handle that.
- Now we wait. - We'll see. Yeah.
This was a really interesting challenge.
Let's go back to Judges' Table and talk to the chefs.
♪♪♪
You are all incredibly talented chefs. That we know.
But recipe writing is a totally different skill set,
especially recipe writing for the home kitchen.
Maria, Shota, Gabe, and Dawn... please stay here.
The rest of you can step to the side. Thank you.
♪♪♪
The four of you have our favorite dishes of the day.
- What the [bleep]? Sorry. - Whoops.
[ laughter ]
Gabe, by now we all know how wonderful your sauces are.
It had so much eye appeal.
Gabe, I thought that your dish at a dinner party
would be the clear-cut crowd favorite.
It had special occasion written all over it.
Thank you, Chef.
One of my favorite cookbooks has a quote--
"In the orchestra of cuisine, the saucier is the soloist,"
and I think you've kinda proved that today,
that you're a saucier. I think this was
your finest sauce that I've tasted of the season.
- Pretty close to perfect. - Thank you, Chef.
Shota, I really loved your dish. I thought it was delicious.
I just do think that your recipe
needed a little bit more clarity.
I went through it three times,
and I guess that was the edited version of it still.
The first version would have been horrible.
I thought the star of that dish
was the turnip purée. It had a character all on its own.
I'm gonna make this dish if I read your recipe
and can get through the ingredient list
on the side of it. [ laughs ]
Dawn, I thought that you made a lot of really smart decisions
in the recipe process.
You got everything on the plate.
Everything was cooked properly on both dishes equally,
and I think everyone appreciated that.
It was a dish that I know a home cook can make,
so I think that was really, really smart to do,
plus it was a delicious dish. - Thank you, Chef.
- Maria, I loved your soup. - Thank you.
I thought it was homey and delicious.
But your recipe made your dish
seem harder than it actually was.
Yes, I do get lost in translation,
but I'm not looking for-- I don't want it to be an excuse.
- Mm-hmm. - That's all.
That's why there are editors in the world.
They can translate those stories for you.
I hate writing recipes.
If anybody sees anything written by me, my wife did it.
- Okay. See, I have a wife, too. - [ laughter ]
That said, it's the recipe that I would cook at home.
- Mm-hmm. - Thank you.
- Thanks. - Thank you.
Richard and Dale, as our guest judges,
tell us who had our favorite dish of the day.
The chef who had the favorite dish
had a clear point of view,
really cooked a dish worthy of a cookbook cover,
and that chef is...
♪♪♪
Gabe.
[ applause ]
The last time that I won an Elimination Challenge
was the orchard challenge with the fruit,
so it's been a while. [ laughs ]
I think you should do a book just of sauces.
I would buy that book in a heartbeat. Thank you all.
- Thank you. - Please come forward.
You can step to the side, guys.
Congrats, Chef.
Chefs.
♪♪♪
Jamie, Chris, and Byron, the three of you
had our least favorite dishes today,
and one of you will be going home.
♪♪♪
Byron, walk us through your plan.
My first step of the recipe was, like, 12 ingredients.
That's, uh, now that I think about it,
it's very overwhelming.
The problem I had is that for a recipe that is that lengthy,
with that many ingredients, there was no bang for the buck.
The final dish-- there was no payoff.
Something that I've been struggling with every challenge
is I think I'm doing way too much.
You tried to show us too many things that, in the end,
did not give us a simple, flavorful dish,
which is how it appeared.
Chris, what was your plan today with this recipe?
Something, uh, more adventurous.
I think that was a little bit of the issue,
and also, like, the different flowers.
Melissa read the recipe and executed the dish,
and it didn't work at all.
The sauces were close to being the same,
but the gnocchi itself was just really, really dense,
and it's a gnocchi dish.
I can't help noticing is the third time
that we're talking to you about your dough.
And it's the same issue more or less.
Hundred percent.
- Jamie, with the foie gras... - Yes. [ laughs ]
Walk us through your dish.
I was like French toast-- people make French toast.
People make compote. Just sear a foie. Call it fancy.
[ laughs ]
It ate very sweet, and the textures of everything
piled on together was soft on soft on soggy.
I like that you were brave enough to say,
"Hey, cook foie gras at home. Ball out."
But it didn't balance at all.
We have a lot to discuss.
Thank you all. We'll see you in a bit.
Thank you.
♪♪♪
- Congrats, man. - Congrats, man.
- Yeah, seriously, congrats. - Cheers.
- Your sauce--everything was... - Thanks, guys.
- Cheers. - Thanks.
You know, I think for these three chefs,
their dishes suffered right away from conception
all the way to the finish line.
Looking at Jamie's recipe visually,
it didn't look appealing to me.
It looked like it had too many ingredients.
To me, the dish was just too sweet,
but the replica of it was also very similar,
so she did something right.
Well, she wrote the recipe of a dish that wasn't very good.
Byron's dish, I mean, how do you save something
that is just so boring?
To take a simple dish and make it complicated, though?
What Byron did, to me, that's a pretty big offense,
and that recipe--
I mean, 19 ingredients in a fish stock to start.
It's kind of criminal, how much taste it lacked.
To no result. To no result. Right.
How much flavor it lacked.
How do you take these ingredients
and make it that flavorless?
- That's a special talent. - It's very strange.
Chris' gnocchi was way too dense,
and I think the amount of cheese that was put in there
just made it where it was no longer gnocchi.
It was more like a cheese dumpling.
Melissa, who just won All-Stars,
had the most abysmal plate of food.
End of the day, I didn't have a clear vision.
I was convoluted and confused, of course, again.
- I think we have our answer. - Yes.
All right. Let's get them out here.
♪♪♪
You know, Chefs, a great recipe starts with a great dish,
and today we are sending someone home
not for writing a bad recipe, but for making the worst dish.
♪♪♪
Chris...
please pack your knives and go.
Thank you. It's been a tremendous opportunity.
I appreciate everything that did happen.
Chris, we'll see you on "Last Chance Kitchen."
Thank you. There is definitely
so much more of "Top Chef" that I wanna be a part of.
Ay, cabrón, Chris.
I don't wanna be done.
Uh...I don't know.
To be able to get to this point right now, I feel accomplished.
Your daughter has a lot to look up to.
- Thank you. - Not because you're tall.
- [ laughter ] - Get out of here.
Jamie, I was leaving on a good note.
Love you all. Thank you all for everything. All right.
This whole experience is life-changing.
I've learned more and more about myself,
about who I am as a cook,
and I wanna continue to learn and grow from that.
♪♪♪
PADMA: Tonight, Chris enters "Last Chance Kitchen."
I'm going to continue to fight and get back in the competition.
His perplexing pasta was a recipe for disaster.
I should label how much remaining flour to add.
Can he beat the clock and Tom to return to the competition?
- I'm getting over here. - Whoo!
Find out now On Demand or wherever you stream "Top Chef."
Next time on "Top Chef"...
Bet you didn't think you'd see us here.
- Surprise! - [ laughs ]
It's a first.
I'm just hoping they get to cook, and we get to watch.
Stand back, people.
♪♪♪
We want you to show off the versatility of tofu.
Tournament style.
Someone will be eliminated right on the spot.
♪♪♪
[ flame whooshes ]
Whew.
- Ahh. Medic. Mother----er. - Oh.
One of you will be going home today.
It's time to vote. Put your paddles up.