[Tyler] Previously on "The Great Food Truck Race."
Cooking with Que, Stop Drop N Roll,
you got a little bit of work to do to catch up this week.
With last week's totals carrying forward,
Stop Drop N Roll arrive in Virginia Beach on the bottom.
[Colleen] I just need to sell one more.
[Tyler] But they win the first two challenges.
For $500-- Stop Drop N Roll!
And pull out all the stops to stay in the race.
How are you doing? You coming back?
She is stealing our customers.
[Vidya] Making dosas on a food truck, man.
That's what I'm talking about.
[Tyler] Nishaan wins their first taste challenge.
- Yeah! - [Vidya] Let's go!
In first place, Nishaan. And the Tech Bros take the top
spot from Good Fortune Company, giving them
their third city win.
In the end, despite winning challenges,
Stop Drop N Roll are outsold by Cooking with Que...
- [bleep] - [Regan] Oh, my God.
[Tyler] ...and are the sixth team to leave the race.
No regrets.
[theme music playing]
[action music playing]
- [Sarah C.] Newport News! - Hey, Newport News.
We're one of the final three trucks here.
It's time to get active and turn this into
a volume game, which we know we can win.
All right, guys, another city, another challenge.
Virginia Beach taught us something.
We had to change our pricing strategy a little bit.
[Quiana] We gon' make this money, baby.
We're not changing nothing up.
It's been working, last two cities.
Don't change the plan.
Teams, welcome to Newport News, Virginia.
How we doing?
[all cheer]
One of you is two short cities away from winning $50,000.
- How do you feel? - [Quiana] Yas!
- [Zeeshan] Crazy. - [Naoufal] Give me my money.
Newport News, this is a shipyard town.
It is the largest shipyard in America.
This is where they actually build the United States Navy.
- [Sarah C. and Chris] Wow. - This is so cool.
Just behind me, this carrier, on the other side of that are
30,000 hard-working people, and they are hungry.
You're gonna be feeding them today.
Are you guys ready for that lunch rush?
- [Quiana] Yas! - [Good Fortune] Oh, yeah!
They're gonna have a short window for lunch today.
That means your ticket times need to be super fast.
Let's go.
So, teams, to prove that you are ready for this challenge today,
you have to be both efficient and effective,
and your workflow has to be impeccable, or it'll cost you.
- Oof. - [Tyler] Your challenge today...
is gonna be a little mysterious.
[Zeeshan] Oh, every time.
[Tyler] I'm not telling you the rules, the reward,
or, most importantly, the penalty for the team
who comes in last.
- Uh-oh. - That's all I'm gonna say.
Teams, let's get our trucks and let's get cooking!
- [all cheer] - Let's go!
The teams have no idea what's about to happen.
[tense music playing]
[Sarah C.] All right, guys.
Tyler hasn't even given us a challenge yet.
[Arturo] Oh, you know it's coming, though.
[Sarah C.] I know it is. That's why I'm nervous.
They're already competing in a challenge,
and they don't even know it.
He's gonna lay it on us when we least expect it.
We piped into all of the trucks with the cameras
so we can watch and get a real raw look at how efficient
they're working, how clean they're working, how precise
their workflow is.
So, at this point in the race,
they should all be well-oiled machines.
The team I see with the most effective workflow,
I'm gonna give $300 to.
The team that's just doing OK, they get nothing.
And the team who's struggling the most, well, I'm gonna
give them some tough love.
[Arturo] We're in the top three.
We gotta make it to the top two, y'all.
[Sarah C.] That's right.
[Arturo] I met Sarah cooking in the industry.
It's been eight years together now.
[Sarah C.] You want a triple dough?
[Arturo] I think a double will get us through
whatever challenge this is.
In Memphis, we are known for handmade noodles and dumplings.
[Sarah C.] We wanna share our food with the world.
We got that Memphis energy. We're big-timers doing it big.
[Arturo] Wings, as you know, I can fry big batches,
and then I'll sell straight from the fryer.
[Sarah C.] Today on our menu, we have beef slap noodles,
chicken wings, and ube lemonade.
$50,000 on the line. We gotta cook our butts off.
[Arturo] That's right.
There's already people forming outside, y'all.
- [Chris] I'm ready. - [Sarah C.] All right, Chris, let her rip.
What's going on, y'all? We're now open.
Come on up. First one's walking in.
- [Arturo] Nice. - [Chris] Let's rip and roll.
- [customer speaking] - [Chris] Two wings, yes, sir.
[Arturo] All right, first drop down.
[Sarah C.] Heard.
- [customer #2 speaking] - [Chris] Let's do it.
[customer #3 speaking]
[Chris] Slap noodle. One noodle, one lemonade.
[Arturo] I need nine all day on these wings.
- [Chris] Thank you, boss. - [Sarah C.] Nice job, Chris.
- [Chris] Good job, y'all. - [Tyler] Good Fortune, you can
tell they've worked together for a long time.
There's a harmony, there's a flow.
There's one person calling tickets, which I think is
really important. There's very little confusion.
Everybody's got one job.
I think they could be a little more efficient.
I see they're plating up one dish at a time,
versus plating up five at a time.
It needs to be a fluid process.
All right, we just hit a record for wings.
We had nine before, and now we have 11.
Oh, my God, look at Fortune.
Did they get the message or what?
It's as if Good Fortune's listening right now.
Like, this is the level of efficiency that you need.
You gotta plate up 10 orders at a time.
I love that.
- [Vidya] I'm gonna get started on the kataifi. - [Zeeshan] Yep.
[Vidya] We have to prep as fast as we can
and get that window open.
Guys, I'm want to be open in 20 minutes.
- I'll be ready to go. - [Vidya] OK.
OK? That means parathas are ready,
the meat's ready, everything.
[Naoufal] Guys, people already selling.
[Vidya] They're selling already?
[Naoufal] They're actually selling.
There's a line at Good Fortune.
[Vidya] We're just super slow.
- Fast is not fast enough. - Open up.
- [Vidya] We're open.
I got great Pakistani fusion food here.
Our chopped cheese is just like a Philly cheesesteak,
premium hand-cut beef.
We chop it up in our secret blend of Pakistani spices.
I have a loaded chopped cheese fries.
I also have Noom Dhoom fries, which is a masala seasoned
fries, and our special dessert, the social media viral
Dubai chocolate. It's absolutely delicious.
You got it, boss.
You got it.
[Vidya] OK.
[Vidya] All right. Thank you so much, sir.
I'll call your name when it's ready. Ticket!
[Zeeshan] All right, I'm gonna make a bunch of chopped cheeses,
and you're gonna do the fries, all right?
- [Naoufal] I got you. - [Tyler] Take a look at Nishaan.
They're prepping as they go, which I think is such
a big mistake.
[Zeeshan] We'll have 10 sandwiches and 10 parathas
to send out fast. - [Naoufal] I'll do this side.
- I'll do this side, hold on. - [Zeeshan] Grab it.
Now you can do that a lot faster.
It's just inefficient and inconsistent
when you go that way. This is a high-pressure day.
There's no doubt about it. It's a tight hour.
They gotta work quick, but they also gotta work efficiently.
[Zeeshan] We gotta get these orders out before it's too late.
In the back of my mind, I'm still thinking about that
mystery challenge of Tyler. What could it be?
It was around ticket time, so what will he do to make
this even harder on us?
- Hey, we got the longest line. - [Zeeshan] Holy, [bleep], bro.
[Quiana] Tyler said, "The name of the game today is ticket time."
We can't let everybody get ahead of us.
There's only three teams.
Tyler was talking about a challenge.
I don't even have time to think.
We just gotta get the food out.
Reagan is on peach cobbler.
We got new pasta water going for mac and cheese.
Seems like we don't have that many cauliflower
'cause I don't know where the rest of it magically went.
We missed getting a bunch more noodles,
and we missed getting cauliflower.
Did everybody double check the trunk?
[Regan] There's nothing in there.
[Quiana] That was just a question.
[Regan] Yeah, no. There's nothing in there.
Oh.
She about to bring this menu out.
Mac and cheese, tacos, everything is fresh.
You smell it, we dealt it. Come on!
On our menu today, mac and cheese,
our loaded mac and cheese,
and our diabolical mac and cheese.
Hi!
[customer speaking]
- Yeah. - [Quiana] And it's diabolical.
It's givin' everything.
So you can get it with chicken and shrimp.
We're also serving chicken tacos,
Buffalo cauliflower tacos,
and shrimp tacos, plus our amazing peach cobbler.
What are you looking for?
[Quiana] This is supposed to be a peach cobbler.
- Is that for Lisa? - [Ari] Lisa?
[Quiana] Lisa was only waiting on two peach cobblers.
[Ari] That's what I'm asking.
I didn't hear that part of the question.
I just said-- 'cause when I sat it down, I was like,
"That's all she's waiting on."
- And I said, "Imma stab it." - Poor Que.
They're just getting lost in the sauce.
No one's calling tickets. They're reading tickets.
They're reading the wrong tickets.
They're putting up the wrong food.
Did you-- wait.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, that wasn't first, was it?
This is literally, you just stabbed her.
I didn't stab that.
Well, at this point, I've definitely seen enough to
see who's firing on all cylinders and who's not.
[Chris] Hey, y'all, looks like I'm getting a call.
- [Sarah C.] Uh-oh. - Hey, Tyler.
[Tyler] So teams, I normally start this call by asking you
how you're doing, but I already know how you're doing.
You are already in the middle of a challenge,
and you don't even know it.
So we have cameras on the trucks,
you guys know that.
So I've tapped into the cameras,
and I've been watching you for about an hour.
- What? - Ooh.
Tyler, you're watching us right now, man!
Sup, Tyler!
And I've got some notes, to be honest with you.
Some are running a very efficient ship,
and some of you, we gotta talk.
Now, the team that I feel is underway
in peak efficiency is...
- Good Fortune. - Yeah, that's us!
- Yeah yah! - Congratulations.
I'm giving you $300 in your till.
- Yes! - Let's go!
[Sarah C.] We won the challenge!
[Arturo] Oh.
- No way, dude. - [Tyler] Nice job.
The team that's in the middle...
who's doing a good job, a little clunky,
but you're getting the orders out...
Nishaan, way to go. - [Zeeshan] OK, all right.
You're not getting anything for this challenge,
but just keep on selling.
That's good enough for me, man.
[Tyler] That leaves you, Que.
[Ari] Wow.
Look how big those lines are, and look how inefficient
you're running this kitchen.
Oh, my God.
All right, like it or not, I'm shutting you down.
Here I come.
- Yo! - Oh.
- Word. - That's diabolical.
Man.
- Dude, there he go. - [Zeeshan] Oh, my God.
- That's crazy. - What?
This cannot be happening right now.
[dramatic music builds and ends]
[Regan] Hi.
Reagan can sell $1,800 to $2,000 in one hour.
Absolutely can.
The way we move. We can't be shut down.
- [Vidya and Naoufal] What? - [Zeeshan] That's crazy, actually.
Getting shut down is already a problem.
But having Tyler come into your truck, you're exposing
all of your problems.
- How we doing? - [Quiana] I'm so frustrated.
I'm sorry about this, all right?
But you guys are just, like, what I call
"lost in the sauce," all right?
If you start, like, working in chaos, you can't see a clean
countertop, and you can't get orders out, OK?
If you've got orders that are up and running,
get the orders out right away, OK?
[tense music playing]
Corey.
Now we're done.
First things first, I want you to clean
these counters off. Let's do it now.
The faster we can get this up and running, the faster
I'll let you guys start selling again, OK?
- [Quiana] Heard. - [Ari] Heard.
[Regan] Heard.
[Quiana] I am annoyed, but, like, we are lost in the sauce
because the only thing that we were focusing on
was ticket times.
I say, "mise en place," you know what
I'm talking about? - Yes.
Everything in its place.
You guys aren't running around with your heads cut off,
just trying to find your mise en place, right?
Motion and flow.
Every single movement has to be accounted for, right?
And you have to do this over and over again.
He's shaking it up and it makes sense.
And I was like, "Why didn't we do this?"
Let's talk about your menu.
So you guys got mac and cheese with what? - Tacos.
Mac and tacos, right?
Scratch the tacos. It's clumsy.
Just go mac and cheese. People love it.
And put a couple of stuff on top of that, right?
- Chicken or shrimp? - [Tyler] Chicken or shrimp.
So loaded mac and cheese is gonna be a thing today.
Fewer better things.
Stay in your lane and do what you do,
and be known for that, right?
This is that moment where you guys can really shine right now
and start it from scratch as a brand-new, organized
food truck. - Amen.
It's a blessing in disguise,
'cause it looks to me like your mise en place,
you're kind of running out of it.
So I want you guys to go to the store.
I want you to clean up.
I want you to get ready for round two.
And I want you to walk outside and apologize
to your customers.
[tense music playing]
And tell 'em you're gonna be back in an hour.
There's no food competition that is this real, OK?
Every single aspect of it is real.
[Tyler] OK, come on. I'll do it with you.
In Detroit, there's no breaks, and there's no crying.
Thank you so much for coming out.
I appreciate it.
They're gonna have to go to the grocery store because
the macaroni and cheese is just that good.
Can you guys stick around for a little bit?
Is that good?
[Quiana] We appreciate you guys so much.
You guys get rolling. Go to the grocery store.
- Let's go. - [Ari] Thank you.
- [people cheer] - [Vidya] Que is shopping.
I'm just excited that we didn't get shut down.
[Tyler] Mac and cheese, ladies.
[Ari] Mac and cheese.
- Gotta go. - Let's focus on what we can do.
I knew Tyler had something up his sleeve.
[Arturo] We just gotta use this time wisely, y'all, OK?
- [Sarah C.] All right. - [Arturo] Every second they're shut down
is another sale for us.
[action music playing]
[Chris] Two beef and one wing. Beef noodles for Sam S.
Thank you, Miss Amy.
I'll call it out when it's ready.
- It's madness out there. - [Chris] We are out of wings.
We sold every wing on the truck.
[Arturo] There's no way we're going shopping.
We're gonna capitalize on this moment and get
as many sales as we can. - [Chris] Thank you.
[Arturo] We can just do noodle all day.
Wow, that's a risky move, Arturo.
[Arturo] Yeah, but the noodles are our highest priced menu item.
Our menu is super adaptable.
That's one of the benefits of making everything from scratch.
I think it's a good idea to add a vegan option, y'all.
That way, we can increase our sales.
Que, she's got her mac and cheese.
It seems to do well for her.
Yeah, let's try and take some customers away from Que.
We are adding vegan noodles to our menu here in Newport News.
[Arturo] I try to create something that is the texture
and taste of ground beef.
[Sarah C.] Back home in Memphis, we're known within
our community for having amazing vegan offerings.
[Arturo] Microplane some ginger in there.
Dry seasoning blend. Textured vegetable protein.
Soy sauce.
Gonna give it a nice dark color, like we expect
from a ground meat. It looks awesome.
[Sarah C.] It's, like, so juicy.
Nishaan doesn't even have a vegan option.
- [Sarah C.] Yeah. - [Chris] What's up?
[customer speaking]
Yeah.
[customer #2 speaking]
- [Chris] You got it. - I got a TVP.
[Chris] Two more will do me.
And I got your vegan one right here.
[customer #3 speaking] There's a combination of spicy and sweet.
The noodles are a little bit of chewy, but perfectly cooked.
And it definitely has a homemade, like,
not mass-produced taste. - We're on fire today.
[Vidya] Thank you so much.
Enjoy. Yep.
With Que's shutdown, I'm gonna take all of her customers
and get every sale I can.
What can I get ya?
[customer speaking]
[Vidya] You got it.
Corey, there's your chopped cheese.
[customer #2 speaking]
I need two more chopped cheeses.
[Naoufal] That's total of what?
[Vidya] Four chopped cheeses that I need right now.
This is probably the best chopped cheese I've ever had.
It's a lot different than your typical chopped cheese
you would see in a New York City bodega.
The spices they use just go so well together.
It's the perfect bite.
[Zeeshan] We've never had this many customers.
We should go shopping right now because there's still
three hours left in the day, but if we shut down to go
shopping, all those customers are gonna go to Good Fortune,
and we can't have that.
Naoufal, you have parathas there?
[Naoufal] We're down to our last bag here, so we got
15 more after this.
[people cheer]
Thank you for being patient!
- Chicken down. - [Tyler] OK, yeah, chicken's down.
We got prawns getting peeled right now.
She's making broccoli, 'cause they had no
cauliflower, so we're gonna do, like, a broccoli
and mac and cheese.
[Tyler] OK, let's talk about macaroni and cheese.
The boats need to go here, OK?
So, three diabolical mac and cheese.
One, two, three. I didn't even look.
'Cause I knew exactly where they were, right?
You're not gonna pick 'em up 'cause that's
a waste of energy. - [Quiana] Bop, bop, bop.
You're gonna slide them down. Slide them down.
You guys are gonna be calling tickets.
Three diabolical, one, two, three.
I'm just gonna garnish. You're gonna count.
You're gonna organize. You're gonna wipe them.
They're gonna look beautiful.
This is that last stop to make sure the product is
commercially competitive. That's it.
OK, good. That's the flow.
And the tips that he gave us were like tips that you could
take outside of this truck and implement it in your life
and in your restaurant.
So, let's kinda get this into high gear, 'cause you've
still got hundreds of people here.
Are you guys ready for Que or what?
[people cheer]
Que's back in business. Let's go.
[Quiana screams] Yas!
[customer speaking]
[Regan] Let's go. Ticket in the window.
- [Quiana and Ari] Heard. - Thank you so much!
OK. Hey, guys.
[Quiana] I honestly feel happy and calm.
And he said it.
Operating in chaos, it doesn't make you feel good.
It makes you feel like this.
[Ari] Here's your mac with broccoli.
[Quiana] This is actually so much smoother, and I'm really pissed
that we didn't do this, like, five weeks ago.
It's so easy.
Smokin', baby, smokin', smokin', smokin'.
[customer #2 speaking] It's very good.
It's very creamy, and then the chicken that's
with it is actually very juicy, so it all blends perfectly.
[Sarah C.] Is Que back open yet?
[Chris] Yo, they are back open.
Battle of the noodles.
[customer speaking]
[Chris] Yes, sir.
[customer #2 speaking]
[Chris] Got a slap and a ube lemonade. Thank you, Wendy.
I've tried all three of the trucks today,
and the slap beef noodles were definitely my favorite.
[Zeeshan] Need to take a pause after this order.
We have 15 breads, and we got one bag of fries left.
[Naoufal] That's like four orders.
[Zeeshan] All the analysis in the world could not have
anticipated this number of people.
I am so sorry, but we are out of ingredients.
- We gotta shut down. - We'll be back!
We find a grocery store that has halal meat.
It's 12 minutes away, and we book it.
- Dude, we have one hour. - [Zeeshan] We have one hour.
But we're bringing authenticity and also sticking to our values
with the halal meat.
[Zeeshan] All right, guys, let's get back there fast.
We lost the advantage with our shopping.
Whoo!
[Zeeshan] Which is, let's try to get it out as fast as possible.
And we only have 20 minutes left to sell.
- Hey, how you doing, sir? - [customer] Good, you?
Good, good, thank you. What can I get you today?
- [customer #2 speaking] - Uh-huh, uh-huh.
What is it? What is it?
- [Vidya] Two chopped cheeses.
[Naoufal] That's $30.
[Vidya] Thank you so much, I appreciate you.
[Quiana] The line is big as hell.
- [child speaking] - Yes, you may.
- Are you a diabolical? - [customer] Yep.
- It's good, right? - Yep.
- You promise. - [Ari] Yep, I promise.
You got her and that one, OK?
Get this money.
[Quiana] Thanks for supporting us. We appreciate you.
[phone notification chimes]
- Yo, got a Tyler text. - "One day closer to $50,000."
- This is crazy. - [Zeeshan] Oh, my God.
"Finish orders and close up shop."
"Tomorrow, you'll find your own sell spot."
[Chris] "I'll have another challenge and a very special guest."
Oh.
"Who's gonna hold you to even higher standards.
See you out there."
We're gonna take what we learned today,
bring it into tomorrow,
and hustle. - Yeah.
[Chris] Day one, down.
[Tyler] Praise God for Tyler.
Let's go!
[Vidya] Day two. This is crazy.
Yesterday, we killed it.
Yeah, dude, I didn't expect it.
This is amazing.
[Zeeshan] I think we're all neck and neck.
Today's gonna be very important to push that line.
It's anybody's game, right?
It's anybody's game, and we gotta make sure
it's our game.
[Quiana speaking]
We need to outsell everybody,
and we need to win anything that comes to us today.
- No problem. - [Quiana] Praise Jesus.
[Chris] Yo, yesterday was crazy.
- [Sarah C.] Yeah. - The finale is-- it's in reach.
We're headed to William Styron Square.
It's really a hub of Newport News.
[Sarah C.] Wow.
What a cute square. Look at all these boutiques.
It's got a nice spot here. What is Que doing here?
This is supposed to be our spot.
The locals said this is the spot to be.
I guess they told everybody.
So we're gonna run back the same menu.
[Arturo] Sounds great.
[Chris] Let me get started on this lemonade.
[Sarah C.] We've got some incredible ingredients in here.
Soy sauce, sesame oil, and the spice blend.
I think that's what I've really perfected after making this
so many times. We have leveled up.
[Arturo] That's right.
I'm just getting this dough together.
I might just knock out both batches right away,
just so that I can focus on wings.
We have learned a couple tricks to make our systems a little
bit faster and more efficient, but overall, we haven't lost
the core of who we are. - Good Fortune is now open!
[Sarah C. and Arturo] Yay!
[Chris] Looks a little sleepy out here right now.
- [Arturo] Yeah. - [Sarah C.] Really?
[Chris] A little sleepy.
[Sarah C.] We really need to make those sales today.
[Chris] It's a rainy day.
Come out from your sleepy shadows and enjoy some noodles.
How are y'all today?
So we make all the dough and everything from scratch.
He cuts 'em out and slaps 'em to order.
[customer] When are you gonna start?
- [Chris] We're ready right now. - [Arturo] Chris is luring them in.
- [Sarah C.] Let's go, Chris. - First order up.
- [all] Yeah! - Let's go, let's go.
- [Arturo] Get it, Chris. - Got a slap and a ube lemonade.
- [Sarah C.] Good job, Chris. - What's going on today?
[Chris] Let's do it. Got your wings, boss.
I got a TVP slap walking in.
- [Arturo] Heard. - [Chris] Right.
I call those noodles out when they're ready.
I got four slap on the board.
[Sarah C.] Four slap on the board.
- [Chris] Here you are, ma'am. - I got the beef slap noodles.
Mm. Oh.
These are delicious. They're a little spicy.
- They're really good. - [Chris] Everybody doing OK?
Everybody feeling good? Right.
So we got chicken down. We got cauliflower down.
We got noodles in play, people. Noodles are in play.
- [Regan] Heard. - [Quiana] It's day two.
Yesterday, we learned a lot from Tyler,
and today, I can use what Tyler said.
Prep right now is going real good, ladies.
[Regan] What he gave us is life altering,
business changing, gold.
[Quiana] Your chicken, I'm 'bout to slice it.
Chicken will be done. Cauliflower, done.
We cooking with gas this morning, ladies.
Very good.
[Quiana] Nobody's outselling us today.
- You feel me? - [Regan] Yes, ma'am.
- Nobody. - So who will be first?
- [customer] We want everything. - OK.
Ladies, we have our first ticket in.
- Yes, ma'am. - What can we get for you?
[customer #2] Loaded mac and cheese with chicken.
[Regan] We got a basic mac for Bella walking in.
- [Ari] Rachel, Tyler. - [Quiana] Summer!
[Ari] I got your loaded mac.
[Quiana] Look how fast our ticket time's out right now.
- Tyler's advice, fire. - Tara, that's your loaded mac.
This is what made me wait in line.
This is delicious.
[Ari] I knew that comfort mac and cheese
was gonna sell like crazy today, baby. - In the name of Jesus.
- In this rain. - OK, let's get it.
[Ari] Rain don't stop nothin'.
It's giving, giving, final two energy.
- Yeah. - Winner, winner, vegan dinner.
- [Vidya] Whoo! - [Zeeshan] Let's go.
[Vidya] Let's go.
Selling at Victory Landing yesterday was insane.
- [Vidya] Chopped cheese, 20. - [Zeeshan] Yeah.
- [Vidya] Loaded fries, 20. - [Zeeshan] Yeah.
Whatever we do, we can't run out of food today.
[Vidya] Let's get selling, baby. Rainy day, rainy day.
Come and get your chopped cheese today.
[pop music playing]
[Vidya] Boys, ticket. Ticket.
- Ticket, ticket. - So good.
The fries are a little bit crispy, but still that soft
potato-y on the inside.
A little bit of zingy with the sauce.
Just tastes great.
He sold it as a hug, and he's right.
It's a hug in a bowl. It's excellent.
- [customer speaking] - [Vidya] Yes.
[customer speaking]
[Vidya] Without the nacho cheese sauce?
[customer speaking]
[Vidya] A lady comes up to our food truck and says,
"I have a severe allergy." My heart goes out to her.
She wanted to see if she can get the chopped cheese without
any dairy. - [Zeeshan] We already mixed
it in there. - I know, I know.
If I do it for her, I mean, it's I have to take 20 minutes
for me to actually do it. I have to clean everything.
I have to shut down everything like that.
Dude, she really, really wants to try it.
Can we make that happen for her?
This is gonna push us 20, 25 minutes,
but this is who we are.
Can you come back in, like, 20 minutes?
I can do a batch. I'll save it for you on the side,
without the cheese in it.
- [customer speaking] - Yeah, I'll do that, yeah.
[customer speaking]
[Vidya] Oh, come on in. Yum, yum, yum, yum.
[Zeeshan] If I can make a simple switch and have you enjoy something
you've never had, that's gonna be more important to me.
I'll have the chopped cheese.
You got it. It's gonna be about 20,
25 minutes. Thank you, sir.
I'm OK with people waiting, because when we do good for
others, good things are gonna happen to us,
And we've lived that model, and I think that's why we're in
the top three right now. Yeah, her fries are right here.
- And then-- - [Vidya] Loaded, chopped cheese fries.
- So, no dairy, right? - [Zeeshan] No dairy.
- OK. - [Vidya] Looks delicious.
- It does. - There's silverware for ya.
[customer] Of course.
They use this dairy-free mayo seasoning.
[soft guitar playing]
It's so good.
It tastes just like the regular fries, I'm assuming.
People with allergies don't order from food trucks.
We don't get to enjoy the same experiences as everybody else.
And today, I got to.
Today, I got to have a dish that's mine for me.
Somebody actually took the time out of their day for me to be
able to eat and feel included.
I'm gonna cry.
[phone ringing]
Hold on, guys. I'm getting a call.
Hey, teams. How you doing?
- It's Tyler. - Hey, Tyler.
[Zeeshan] Yo.
Listen, Newport Newsers have a lot of different connections
with the ocean and one of the biggest ones, honestly,
is all this delicious, fresh seafood coming out
of the Chesapeake Bay. - [Vidya] OK.
So today, I have invited a colleague.
- Who? - [Tyler] Somebody who knows
a little something about seafood.
[Aarti] I do, I was born on the ocean.
- Aarti? - [Tyler] That's right.
Her roots run deep, all the way to
Mangalore, India. - What?
Please say hello to chef, cookbook author, my good friend,
Miss Aarti Sequeira. - Hi, everybody.
Hey, hi. How are you?
So your mission today is to impress Aarti with one
delicious Chesapeake oyster. And you know what?
- They gotta be shucking awesome. - Oh, my God!
- Ah. - That's a good one.
So teams, I want you to dress up a Chesapeake oyster with
your signature techniques
and your original flavor profile.
And I want you to make it delicious.
- Amen. - [Tyler] Now, Aarti, give us
some advice on what they should do with a great oyster.
First of all, I want you guys to complement the oyster.
Don't overshadow it.
Figure out what would showcase that oyster.
I wanna walk away from this challenge having a really
good idea of what a Chesapeake oyster tastes like.
OK.
Second of all, there is an art, right, to shucking
an oyster, so be careful. - For sure.
[Aarti] Keep the brine in there, keep the shell out.
Don't shuck it up, basically.
- [Nishaan laughs] - Heard.
[Tyler] So let's find a pearl-less oyster challenge.
- You guys ready? - Let's shucking do it, boys!
That's what I'm talking about!
All right, teams, I'm having some delicious
Chesapeake oysters dropped off to your trucks,
courtesy of Dockside Seafood.
Aarti and I are gonna walk around to all of your trucks
and we're gonna taste your delicious oyster creations. - So excited.
And then the winner, the one that you think is
the best, they're gonna win a big prize.
Ooh.
- $300. - [Ari] Need that money, baby.
Need it.
We gotta make sure this is perfect.
- We need to win this challenge. - [Tyler] So guys, give her
the oyster she deserves. - Yes.
- Bring me that bivalve. - I'm so excited to meet her.
I have looked up to her. She really knows her stuff.
- [Naoufal] Yo, oysters are here. - [Zeeshan and Vidya] Oysters!
[Regan] Ooh, look at those pretty babies.
Wow. Look at them.
So I'm gonna go ahead and start shucking.
[Arturo] Heard that.
[Sarah C.] Man, these oysters are hard to shuck.
I know how to shuck an oyster.
I don't know why this oyster just keeps breaking like this.
Here, let me try another one.
When I try to get leverage, it breaks.
[Arturo] Yeah, you just gotta do like a twisting motion.
[Sarah C.] Damn it.
Why won't it open?
Arg, I don't have time for this.
So the pressure is on right now.
Dang it.
Why won't it open? Dang it.
This keeps breaking.
Do you wanna come look at it and maybe give me a tip?
[Arturo] Yeah, sure.
Yeah, so by the time you've finished plating those wings,
I should have these ready. - We have no time to spare.
[Arturo] Damn, I can see why you're having a tough time.
I've never shucked a Lynnhaven oyster before, honestly,
these are really difficult to shuck.
Ooh, this one's [bleep] nice.
[Naoufal] This has me written all over it.
I grew up in Kenitra, Morocco, which is an ocean town.
So we gotta bring a full, full Moroccan twist to it.
[Zeeshan] It's like an homage to your home.
[Naoufal] It is an homage to my home, man.
I'm adding a special marinade called chermoula on top.
This is a mixture of parsley, cilantro, garlic,
paprika, cumin, olive oil, and the key ingredient is
preserved lemon.
In Morocco, we utilize chermoula for every fish dish.
It brings out the fish taste, and it just adds a great aroma
with all the spices and herbs.
We add a charcoal on there to give it a aroma
of that smokiness.
What in the world?
[Vidya] Oh, look at the beauty.
[Aarti] Wow, look at that.
We're basically creating one single big bite that gives
you an idea of the Moroccan flavor profile, that beachy
town that I grew up nearby. - What's the red?
- Chermoula. - Thank you for saying it,
'cause I've never known how to
say chermoula. - It's chermoula.
It's chermoula. Everybody, chermoula.
- That should be how we cheers. - Chermoula, everybody.
You know what? Can I have that spoon?
- [Naoufal] Yes. - I think I might need it.
[Aarti] Dang, yo. Delicious.
You were not shy with the chermoula.
The first bite was this very acidic, herbal note.
So the whole thing felt very light.
That's my mom's chermoula right there.
[Aarti] Let's not mess with Mom's chermoula.
- It was excellent, Mama. - [Tyler] Shout out to Mom.
[Aarti] Here's my negative.
I think that the oyster kinda felt like it was in the back.
It was really a beautiful bite. I love the flavors.
I won't forget it. Well done.
- [Vidya] I appreciate that. - [Naoufal] Thank you so much.
Nishaan everybody, thank you very much, way to go.
- Nice job. - Thank you all.
- [people cheer] - Thank you, guys.
[Zeeshan] Thank you, guys, for your patience.
We're gonna start pumping out your orders right now.
[Quiana] Tyler's thing is freakin' oysters, so we can't
half do it. I don't eat oysters.
Ari, be a blessing to your people.
I love oysters. And I'm locked in.
For today's challenge, I am making a poached oyster with
a coconut hollandaise sauce and a bump of caviar.
Period. It's giving wealth.
- It's the bump. - [Ari] Remember, keep the juice.
- I need it. - [Quiana] I know.
- Boy, these boys. - [Ari] What?
You having a hard time? 'Cause I can switch.
[Quiana] I got three out so far.
Dude, I'm trying to get you one more.
These mother[bleep] don't wanna come out.
- [Ari] I can switch with you. - [Quiana] Praise God.
[Ari] I guess this was the challenge.
People don't usually poach oysters.
Very risky because, in one second,
you could ruin
the whole entire oyster.
Why I chose the caviar, because that is going to give
it the salty and the fishy taste.
- How we doing? - [Ari] All right, I'm done.
- Ari, I'm Aarti. - I'm Ari.
Nice to meet you, Aarti.
Rain or shine, Cooking with Que brings the heat.
- [Quiana] Every time. - Every time.
All right, tell us what we got.
You have a poached oyster with a set of,
like, a hollandaise sauce.
I made it into, like, a coconut sauce on top
with pickled cucumbers and a bump of caviar.
- I like a little caviar. - I like bump.
[Quiana] A little bump of caviar.
[Aarti] OK, I wanna taste it. Ready?
With three, two, one. Ready?
- [Quiana] Cheers. - Here we go.
[Quiana screams] I know you're freakin' right.
Come on, Tyler.
Yes!
[Aarti] That's a private moment.
There are so many beautiful things about this oyster.
The poaching of the oyster, I think, you caught it at just
the right moment. It is so elegant.
And, you know, the really elegant long finish-- [smacks]
- Yeah, I'm still tasting it. - I'm still tasting it.
It's delicious, Chef.
[Aarti] You know, the coconut hollandaise was
so intriguing to me.
I would've liked just a touch more of that hollandaise.
- Oh, yes, gotcha. - That was tremendous, you guys.
- [Tyler] Yeah, really nice. - That was tremendous.
- Congratulations, everybody. - Yes!
[Quiana laughs]
[Arturo] Never won a taste challenge.
It's a little bit frustrating 'cause we really pride
ourselves on flavor.
[Sarah C.] I wanna win a taste challenge.
For this shucking awesome oyster challenge,
we are making oysters Nikkei.
We start by preparing a leche de tigre.
I squeeze some fresh lime juice in a food processor with
chopped shallots, white onion, chopped ginger,
and a little bit of aji amarillo paste.
Then I add a little bit of sugar
and a little bit of curry powder for color.
Then I pour on a little bit of the leche de tigre, and then
I garnish with Thai basil, pickled shallot, and lime zest.
[Arturo] I still had to rush, and those shells are very
fragile, so I hope I was able to get 'em all out.
I got my fingers crossed for some good fortune that Aarti's
gonna like it. - [both] Hi!
- How are you? - I'm so excited to meet you!
I'm excited too!
He has not stopped talking about your food.
What did you make?
It looks gorgeous, first of all.
[Tyler] Yeah, beautiful presentation, Chef.
[Aarti] Beautiful presentation.
So I made a leche de tigre inspired sauce with
aji amarillo, and then garnished with lemon zest, Thai basil,
and some cilantro stem for texture.
What made you go in that leche de tigre direction?
So I really love all cuisines of the world, and Peruvian food
has a lot of Asian influence. - It does.
[Sarah C.] Specifically, Nikkei cuisines.
I love to see the Asian diaspora and how it kind of
changes depending on the local ingredients.
[Tyler] Yep. All right.
I'm excited about this, right?
Three, two, one, cheers.
[Tyler] The flavor's so yummy.
Oh my God, the flavor's so clean.
It's so bright and clean and floral.
A little bit of shell. Yeah.
Chef Tyler spitting these shells into his hand
right now is the worst thing that could've happened.
And I cannot believe that I just fed that to him.
There's only three of you left,
so teeny tiny things matter.
So the fact that there was a teeny tiny bit of shell
in both of ours.
And we both got it at the same time,
which is really important.
It's a little bit of a disappointment.
Understood.
Delicious. I loved it.
I thought it was really good. Thank you very much.
- Thank you so much. - [Aarti] So nice to meet you.
Thank you. Thank you.
- Appreciate it, guys. - [Arturo] How'd it go?
- [Sarah C.] They both got shell. - Oh, dang.
They both got shell at the exact same time.
I really hope that doesn't cost us this challenge.
- [phone ringing] - OK, pause.
Yo, Tyler call, Tyler call, Tyler call.
All right, I'm gonna pick up.
- Hi, teams. - Tyler.
So Aarti and I got a chance to try all of your oysters.
And we thought they were delicious.
So unique and so different.
I got a really good sense of who you guys are and what
you value in food and hospitality
after each of your bites.
If it was a blind tasting, I could easily identify what
oyster came from what truck 100% - [Aarti] 100%.
We have $300 on the line.
We have a winner. Are you guys ready to hear?
Are you guys ready? You guys ready?
- [Naoufal] Yeah, yeah, we're ready. - [Zeeshan] We're ready.
- [Vidya] We're ready, man. - Please, God.
[Aarti] For $300,
the winner is...
[suspenseful music builds, then fades]
For $300,
[exhales heavily]
the winner is...
- Cooking with Que! - [all] Yes!
[Quiana] We did it.
We [bleep] did it!
- Yes! - [Regan] We did it!
We [bleep] did it! We [bleep] did it!
- Yes! - [Ari] Yes
- They-- - [muffled yells through phone]
I don't think they hear us anymore.
Can we get a little tiny claps for them?
Little tiny claps, little tiny claps.
All right, well, congratulations.
That's amazing. $300 in your till, ladies.
[Quiana] Yes, Ari! Yes, Ari!
[Regan] Yes, Ari! Yeah, baby, let's freakin' go!
Yeah!
God, they're still yelling. OK.
[muffled yells continue]
- [Sarah C. groans] - [Chris] OK.
[Arturo] Another taste challenge lost.
- [Chris] Yeah. - [Sarah C.] Dang it.
All right. Get a hold of yourself.
Close your trucks right now,
and I will see you at elimination.
- Congratulations. - Bye, you guys.
[Regan] Guys, we won the challenge!
Yeah! Yeah!
[Regan] Whoo!
[singsong] We're not goin' home. We're not goin' home.
- We're not goin' home. - We're not goin' home.
We're not goin', we're not goin'.
- Father, thank you for today. - [Regan] Thank you, God.
You gave us the challenge win.
- Bless Ari's hands. - [Regan] Yes, Jesus.
These Newport News people, they came in the rain.
We can't seem to win a taste challenge to save our lives.
- Yeah. - And it could be the difference
of that $300 will send us home.
- Yeah. - Let's wrap this up.
- We gotta go to elimination. - [Vidya] Let's close out, boys.
[Zeeshan] Let's close.
[Naoufal] Bye.
[tense music playing]
[Tyler] Teams, it's time to get down to business.
We rolled in with three.
We're gonna roll out with our finalists
who are gonna have a 50-50 chance at $50,000.
And I know we're rivals
and competitors in a lot of ways.
I mean, $50,000 is never anything you wanna
just give up and let go of the rope.
Never. Not never.
But in a way, we're kind of family now.
- [Zeeshan] Yeah, 100%. - [Naoufal] Yeah.
- [Vidya] 100% - [Quiana] Yep.
So, congratulations to Good Fortune.
You've got $300 in your till.
You guys didn't even know you were in
the middle of a challenge.
But a really well-organized machine.
Just put out great food.
And Que, I had such a good time hopping on your truck.
- Did we learn something? - Absolutely.
Organization is everything.
Food trucks need to be faster than fast food.
And while we're talking about Que, congratulations on winning
the Shucking Awesome Oyster Competition.
- [Arturo] Wow. - [Tyler] Right?
Ari, that was such a delicious flavor profile.
Way to go. $300 in your till.
Amen.
[Tyler] Well, teams, in my ledger, my numbers.
Who made the most? Who made the least?
Unfortunately, who will be leaving
"The Great Food Truck Race" right here and right now.
And after this, it's the finale.
[Quiana exhales]
[Tyler] Newport News turned out for you guys.
I gotta tell you, we have set new sales records
for a two-day selling sprint in a city. - Oh, wow!
All of you have had more sales than we've ever had
in "The Great Food Truck Race." - That's crazy work.
And one of you is the new record holder for any team
selling for two days on "The Great Food Truck Race."
And that team is in first place,
safe from moving on to the finale.
With $12,290,
Good Fortune.
- What? - [Vidya] Whoa!
- What? - Jesus.
Whoa.
Record, bro?
You guys are now one step away from $50,000, and you're now
in the finale. - My heart's-- my heart's pounding right now.
I'm just so stoked to be here, so happy to have
the opportunity to cook side by side with y'all.
It's just a blessing, honestly.
And then we have our two other teams, both of them
with record sales days. I can't believe it.
- Oh, my God. - Oh, my God.
What the--
And it breaks my heart that for one of you,
it's not enough to get in the finale.
They got the $300.
Unfortunately, we didn't.
It could mean we're going home.
Safe with $11,080
and moving on to the 18th finale
of "The Great Food Truck Race..."
Nishaan.
- [Naoufal] Yo! - [Vidya] Let's go!
Let's go! Oh, my God!
Good job, guys.
Ladies, I have had an absolute ball on this crazy road trip
with the three of you. I think you're so much fun.
I think your food is fantastic. It's only up from here.
Absolutely. Surely blessed.
We can all say we Cooked with Que.
With Que. - [cheering]
- [Tyler] There you go. - [Quiana] I love you.
- I love you, bud. - I love you, thank you.
I love you, bud.
Ladies, give a round of applause.
Yeah! Let's go!
[all chanting] Que, Que, Que, Que, Que, Que, Que, Que, Que, Que.
I'm disappointed that we did not have enough in sales
to beat Nishaan.
We ain't got nothing to hang our head about.
- [Quiana] Nope. - But I'm super proud to have
been a part of this team.
- I don't feel sad right now. - [Regan] I don't either.
But I know for sure people are going to know Cooking with Que.
All over the world.
Well, here we are, teams. Final two.
- How do you feel? - Amazing!
- [Arturo] Amazing. - [Tyler] You feel great?
- Amazing. - [Tyler] You feel great?
You guys wanna know where we're heading next?
- Yes. - Where are we going?
[Tyler] Well, here in Newport News, you got a chance to feed
the folks who build the US Navy.
Now you're gonna feed the US Navy.
Teams, we are gonna feed the sailors
of the supercarrier USS George H.W. Bush.
We are going just a couple of miles south across
the mouth of the James River.
Guys, we're going to Norfolk, Virginia.
- [all] Yeah! - [overlapping voices]
But make no mistake, the last leg is always the hardest.
- Are you ready to go? - [Good Fortune] Yeah!
- [Naoufal] Ready to go. - [Vidya] Go!
All right, teams, I'll see you in the finale.
Let's get in our trucks, and let's get rolling!
[Sarah C.] I am definitely nervous about going up against
Nishaan in the finale.
[Arturo] Nishaan beat us in Virginia Beach.
They know how to beat us.
We gotta re-strategize, be laser-focused
in our ticket times. - Look out, Good Fortune.
We're coming for you.
[Tyler] Next time on "The Great Food Truck Race."
We're standing next to the USS George H.W. Bush
aircraft carrier.
[action music playing]
This is epic.
- [Sarah C.] Slap noodles. - [Chris] Banana pudding
and lemonade. - [Arturo] Slap noodles.
How do I feed them from our little truck?
You gotta put sugar in first. You gotta put salt in first.
- That's why I just prefer to-- - You can't keep doing the same
[bleep] thing over and over again.
You think you're gonna get an advantage
with your customers. - Sarah is upset.
- [thunder rumbles] - [Chris] It's raining heavier.
It's a downpour right now.
[Vidya] Underneath this bridge, you can stay dry.
Team, step up to your foot lockers.
One of them has $50,000.
Three, two, one.
Open your boxes.