I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one great chef will try to take me down in my house.
-I'm not worried about Bobby. -What?
[people exclaiming]
This culinary battle is gonna shake down in two rounds.
Round one, to get to me,
two contenders have to go through each other
using an ingredient of my choice.
Let's do it.
[Bobby] Two people that know me well
will decide who's got the skills to beat me.
Round two, I go head to head with the winning contender.
It's their turn to surprise me
with their signature dish.
-Oh! -[in sing-song voice] Friendly competition.
Is that distracting?
[Bobby] This is gonna be the first one I don't finish.
-Flay's in trouble. -Whoo!
-Out of line? -No!
Everyone's out to beat me.
All right, don't close the book on me yet,
I'm just starting another chapter. Let's do this.
[crowd cheering]
Give it up for two people here to heckle me in my own house.
Hey-hey!
[Bobby] It's actor and comedian, Kevin Pollack,
and Food Network's Kardea Brown.
[people cheering]
-Wow! -Please be seated.
-Yes-- -[all laughing]
[Bobby] Uh, well, I'm glad to have both of you.
Kardea, you are all over the network.
If there's some sort of baking competition, like, you're runnin' it.
-Yeah. [laughs] -[Bobby] It's-It's so great.
But you've never been at this desk before.
I've never been here before, Bobby.
You-You-- You have judged, right?
-I've judged a few times. -[Bobby] Yes.
And I've judged from home.
-Yes, you-you judge constantly. -[laughs]
We were going through the list of all your appearances
of every single movie and TV show made in history.
You know, Casino, Few Good Men, Usual Suspects.
I've been in a few movies, I don't know the exact number, 91.
-But I think-- -[all laughing]
-[Bobby] So, you're here to mess with me. -[Kardea] Yup.
-It shouldn't be a problem with you. -[Kevin] Yeah.
-[laughs] -There's gonna be some Christopher Walken,
and there's gonna be some Pacino.
-Oh-Oh, Christopher Walken is gonna make an appearance? -[Kevin] And--
In your face, Bobby.
Wow!
-All right, let's bring out some chefs and give this a go. -Great!
-[Bobby] I got stuff cooking. -Let's go.
[Kardea] Our first chef is a master in global cuisine,
and tonight, he's here to show you how it's done.
-[Kevin] You got that? -[Kardea] Give it up for executive chef
Carlos Anthony!
-[audience cheering] -Whoo!
Yeah!
Okay. [laughs]
Carlos is here.
[chuckles] Yeah, I see it.
This California chef offers up Afro-Latino bites,
and live bands in his popular restaurant in Oakland,
executive chef Nelson German.
-[audience cheering] -[Kardea] Whoo!
[Bobby] Oh, yeah.
[Kardea] All right!
Yeah!
Little salsa.
-[Bobby] What's up, guys? -[Carlos] How're you doin'?
-All right, chef? -[Bobby] How's it going' tonight?
Incredible.
[Bobby] All right, well, here's the way it's gonna work,
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice,
and you must make that ingredient
the superstar of your dish.
What are you hoping for?
-Some platanos. -Platanos, oh, interesting.
-Very interesting. Okay. -[Nelson] Dominican.
-How about you? -A southern California guy,
-I'd love avocados. -[Bobby] Avocados?
-[Carlos] I would love that. -[Bobby] Okay, let's see what we can do.
-Shout it out, Nelson, you got... -[Nelson] Platanos, baby.
-[audience cheering] -Whoo, all right.
That is crazy.
How do you feel about plantains?
Probably not as good as he does., but I love plantains.
-No problem. -[Bobby] Okay, good, 20 minutes on the clock,
don't be tame with these plantains.
-[bell rings] -[audience cheering]
[Carlos] Oh, yeah!
Let's go!
[Bobby] I love this ingredient,
-and I gave them three iterations of it. -Right.
So, there's like, green, which are firm as can be and un-ripened,
the second one, they're firm but like, not completely ripened...
-[Kardea] Mmm-hmm. -[Bobby] ...and then the black,
-you use them for, like, mashed plantains. -[Kardea] Yes.
Plantains? Nelson, come on.
-I get it, bro. -[Carlos] Who'd you pay off for this?
-[audience laughing] -I got lucky.
[Bobby] I would make tostones.
Fry and use it as a vehicle
so you could do, like, shrimp and avocado,
-scallops, whatever. -Yeah.
[Kardea] Mmm-hmm, tostones is the first thing that I thought about,
'cause it's super simple and easy with the time that they're given.
It's a lot of pressure on Nelson.
He asked for plantains,
like, 130 episodes,
-first time this happens... -There you go,
-and he has to deliver, he has to, not a choice. -[Bobby] Yes.
[Kardea] All right, we're coming up on 16 minutes, chefs.
Nelson...
[audience cheering]
The universe came in and said,
"You want plantains? I'll give you plantains."
Now, what are you making with your plantains?
I'm doing a stuffed plantain, avocado crema,
little chorizo, beef ragu.
-Okay, and which one did you use? -Using the sweet one.
-Sweet, okay, okay. Okay. -Gotta go sweet.
My personal favorite is the sweet, ripe plantain.
Deep frying these plantains is gonna bring out more of the sugar,
adding that pungent, sweet flavor.
Now, Carlos.
He's in his wheelhouse over here, he got--
He's in his wheelhouse. They threw him up a soft ball, huh?
-Ohhh! Uh-huh. -[Nelson chuckles] There you go.
-All right. -Okay, we already talkin' smack.
-[laughs] -[Nelson] Uh-oh.
-[audience cheering] -Come on.
It's been a while since I've been back in New York City.
Gotta represent for my people, for my culture.
You know, being Dominican, we gather around food.
It's the one thing that really brings everyone together.
After graduating culinary school,
I worked my way up to sous chef at the Gramercy Park Hotel.
Now, I represent Oakland, California.
I moved in 2010.
It was always the goal to open my own place,
and when I did it, I cried.
It was the culmination of my journey as a chef
and also my Afro-Latin roots.
Now, it's the next step, next goal,
I have to beat a legend, and I'm ready for it.
-Carlos, what's going on over here? -Whoo,
we have flavor over here, baby.
We got flavor!
I'm making a shrimp and plantain aguachile
with crispy plantain chips.
Aguachile is a very special dish
that I loved eating as a kid.
Very similar to ceviche with lime juice,
cilantro, serrano chilis and kale.
So, this is something, uh, right from grandma's kitchen,
a-a really beautiful aguachile.
Where-- the plantains are not being used yet. They're looking at me.
I'm gonna use the-the ripe sweet ones
as well as the green uh, really under-ripe ones as well.
So, alongside the shrimp,
I'm adding some roasted, chili-crusted plantain
to really bring out the sweetness and the flavor in the dish.
-Good luck, Carlos. -We're cooking!
Being here today has been a dream
since I was barely able to reach the countertop.
My cooking style's gonna be really tough to beat.
It was grown in my grandmother's kitchen,
and it's been developed over years and years of cooking.
Today, I'm the executive chef of Herb and Wood,
which is known for it's California coastal cuisine.
We've been noted in Forbes as one of the top restaurants in the country.
I'm ready for anything Bobby has to throw at me.
I'm doing it for you, grandma.
You've got nine minutes to go!
[Carlos] I drop my shrimp right in the boiling water.
I wanna get a light cook on them.
Then, I take the really ripe yellow and black plantains
and I throw 'em into a really rippin' hot cast iron pan.
[Kardea] Carlos is making an aguachile,
-with, uh, shrimp and sauteed plantain. -Okay.
[Kardea] As long as the other flavors kinda merge well together,
-he could pull it off. -Right.
[Kardea] But the star of the show should be the plantain.
-Yeah, you're worried the shrimp could be the star? -Yes.
[Kevin] Whereas Nelson went all in,
making the plantain the vessel.
-Let's face it, he's in his comfort zone. -[Kardea] He is.
-I mean... -[Kardea] He is, stuffing it with, like,
a ground beef mixture, added some chorizo.
-Naturally spicy. -[Kardea] Yes.
And hopefully that spice does not overpower...
Now, I add some red onions
and my tomato paste,
to add a little bit of sweetness, and to create that beautiful color.
Okay, chefs.
-Now it's time for Al Pacino to take a look. -Here we go.
[audience titters]
-[Carlos] Oh, I love it. -He's bringin' the pepper!
[laughing]
I'm gonna spice these plantains really good,
-I know they can really soak up flavor, so... -Yes, they can.
[Carlos] Hopefully, you'll love it as much as I do.
[Kevin] Well, that's the plan get back to it.
-[Carlos] Yes, chef. -Okay, how're we feelin' over here?
[Nelson] Feelin' good, feelin' good.
Now, the next thing is get this avocado crema going.
So, it's avocados, add some lime juice to that, some cilantro.
But while you do that, quickly,
which of my films is your favorite, would you say?
Usual Suspects for sure, right?
- Usual Suspects is the correct answer. -Yeah.
-[audience titters] -Let's put five more minutes on the clock for him.
-For getting-- for getting that right. -[laughing]
You got seven minutes.
-[Bobby] Seven minutes, whoo! -And stop messing around.
[Carlos] I mix into the aguachile
those beautiful chili-roasted plantains with shrimp.
Then, take the plantains and, on a mandoline,
cut them as thin as I can.
Two minutes, now!
I very artistically place the ceviche in the center of the plate.
Then, crispy plantain chips,
and then some of that fresh aguachile sauce.
Thirty seconds!
[Nelson] So, I plate my avocado crema, get my plantains, my ragu.
[all chanting] Nine, eight...
[Nelson] Add my cloud of chilis.
It's looking really beautiful, that red is popping.
[Kardea] Three...
-[all chanting] Two, one! -[Bobby] Ring the bell.
[bell rings]
[all cheering]
[Bobby] Good job, good job.
-[Bobby] Beautiful. -Wow, I'm impressed.
I think Carlos, he may pull it off.
He may very well pull it off.
Bobby, I gotta say, from looking at these plates,
I think it's pretty much done for you.
-For tonight. -Okay, glad to hear that.
-[audience titters] -But, it's all about the plantain.
Chef Carlos, what did you make?
I did a shrimp and plantain aguachile
with crispy plantain chips.
The aguachile is spicy, it is flavorful,
and the plantain chip,
that skin kinda gives it that extra layer of crunch,
which is surprisingly genius.
-Thank you. -[Kardea] But,
I'm not getting much of that plantain in it,
'cause there's so many spices.
[Kevin] It did come on strong.
No question about it.
But, if you're gonna kick some butt here,
that's not a bad tactic.
I love shrimp, I love everything that's goin' on.
-Thank you. -[Kevin] Yeah.
Chef Nelson, what did you make?
So, I made for you guys a stuffed sweet plantain
with a chorizo and beef ragu,
a little avocado crema.
The plantain, it is a great vessel for your ragu.
But, um, it's a little spicy.
Unlike my friend here, Kevin,
-spice is just-- it's not my thing, I'm a wimp. -[Nelson chuckles]
-But, the crema kinda cools everything down. -Thank you.
Yeah, there is a calm coolness to this
-that I find impressive. -[chuckles] Just like me.
[Kevin] Yeah, like you.
And the combination of all the ingredients
has created the balance.
If anything, I would've wanted a little more spice,
just because I-I can-- I can never get enough.
[Nelson chuckles]
All right, chefs, give us a moment to discuss.
[Nelson] Chef Carlos, I love you, you're amazing,
but I gotta win. Sorry, brother.
The chef moving forward to beat Bobby Flay...
is chef Nelson.
-[audience cheering] -[Carlos] Thank you. Thank you.
I learned so much in this experience,
and I got to make food that I know and I love.
And that's a win.
Thank you, guys.
Nelson, this is such a well-balanced dish.
The star of the show is the plantain.
-You represented very, very well. -Thank you.
Now, how do you feel
going on to the next stage?
Yeah, so, a little les pressure this time, so...
-[Kardea] Oh. -[Kevin] A little less pressure.
[all exclaiming]
Roll up the sleeves, Bobby,
[laughs]
-[Bobby] Great job, Nelson. -Thank you, chef.
So, what are we cooking tonight?
What is your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
stuffed peppers.
-Ooh. -Ooh, whoa.
-[audience applauding] -[Kevin] Wow.
-That could go in a lot of different directions. -[Nelson] Yeah.
Have you ever made stuffed peppers before?
-[Bobby] I don't think so. -Ohh!
[Kardea] What?
Think you're too good to stuff peppers?
-No, I'm not too good. -Uh, you know, yeah, I've--
Oh, I haven't gotten around to it.
[Bobby] I haven't gotten around to it.
-[all laughing] -Like, "I've stuffed calabrian peppers,
-but I've never done bell peppers." -[Kevin] Yeah.
[laughs]
Forty-five minutes on the clock, and your time starts now.
[audience cheering]
Whoo!
Stuffed peppers, you know, it's a pepper that's been hollowed out
and then stuffed with any kind of meat,
any kind of vegetables, rice.
A staple, and I'll tell you, for me,
-the key... -Mmm-hmm.
-Cheese. -Cheese, yes!
-Has to be cheesy. -Right?
-So, Nelson... -Yeah?
Why is this your signature dish?
It's just culmination of my journey from New York to California.
You know, stuffed peppers are huge out there.
But, I'm going very Caribbean with this one.
-Caribbean! -Caribbean?
-[audience applauding] -[Kevin] Look out.
I'm actually using lobster.
You're using what? Lobster?
-[Nelson] Yeah. -[Kevin chuckles]
-[Nelson] Oh, yeah. -I'm goin' home.
[all laughing]
Killin' me.
[Nelson] I'm doin' a big twist today.
Gonna take it more of a Caribbean route,
which is, you're taking lobster meats,
apples, a wonderful ray of spices.
I'll make a nice curry sauce.
It's gonna be inside poblano pepper
with a red kidney bean hummus.
It's absolutely fantastic.
It's something that's dear to all the Caribbean islands.
Nelson is using a poblano pepper,
-which is gonna give us a little heat. -Yes.
-A little spice. -Yeah.
[Kardea] And it's different from what you typically see
with the red or yellow or green bell pepper.
There you go, we're already outside the box.
-So, you think Bobby's gonna go more traditional? -Yes.
[Bobby] I'm gonna go sort of Mexico, Southwest, those kinds of flavors.
So, my strategy is to make make a very flavorful filling.
I'm making stuffed peppers
filled with red chili carnitas,
black beans and rice and served with an avocado tomatillo sauce.
I start with some pork, throw it in chicken stock,
with chipotle, chili de arbol, ancho chili,
and then I'm gonna go with roasted red peppers
because they are pretty, they're bright, they're sweet.
All right, chefs, we're comin' up on 35 minutes.
[audience cheering]
[Nelson] So, I'm gonna start my curry sauce.
Sauteing the apples, the onions and garlic.
Adding apples to my curry sauce is gonna add a nice bit of sweetness.
And then, there's a little bit chipotle, masala curry, lobster stock,
cumin, coriander, and then a lot of beautiful Oaxaca cheese.
So Nelson, why-why lobster?
-Yeah, Nelson, why lobster? -[Nelson chuckles]
I just lobster, I think it's perfect for the pepper.
Okay. All of these flavors, it's marrying really well,
dancing in the pot together.
-[Nelson chuckles] -And speaking of dancing,
let me see here.
[Nelson] What?
Ohhh! Yay!
[Spanish music playing]
Yes!
[audience cheering]
[Kardea] Now, Bobby.
Let us see what those hips can do.
-[audience exclaiming] -[Nelson chuckles]
Eh, it's all right.
It's all right, it was okay.
[laughs]
[Kardea] Comin' up on 26 minutes.
♪ I'm feelin' hyped up ♪
♪ Got the fire inside us ♪
Well, well...
What's goin' on?
If it isn't Mr. Food Network.
[all laughing]
-Bobby. -[Bobby] Yes.
You got a pressure cooker goin' on in here, what's in there?
Uh, I'm makin' carnitas.
And, I'm gonna make an avocado tomatillo sauce,
-for the bottom of the peppers. -Mmm-hmm.
[Bobby] Uh, the tomatillos are gonna add
sort of a nice viscosity to the sauce.
I've put some serrano chilis and some onions in there as well.
I got the peppers roasting.
-[Kardea] Red bell peppers? -[Bobby] Yeah.
-Very Instagrammable. Very-- -[laughing]
-Very-- Okay. -[Bobby] Exactly.
Monday night dinner, you know.
-Okay. -Exa-- [laughing]
-He's using poblano. -Oh, nice.
[Kardea] We're in for a treat with-with Nelson.
Nelson, make me one of those peppers.
I got you, chef. [chuckles]
All right, crowd, give it up for Nelson.
-Give it up for Nelson! -[audience cheering]
[Kardea] That's right. That's right!
-You got it, Nelson. -Thank you, chef.
[Kardea] Now, Nelson has filling.
There's apples and there's onions.
He just put some heavy cream in it.
[Kardea] Heavy cream, so we're gonna get that creamy texture.
So, I'm blending my curry sauce to give this really silky texture
and I'm gonna add it to my lobster.
His ingredients are not traditional.
But, I know that they're gonna go really well together.
And it does make sense
-that Bobby's gonna have a little more tradition. -Right.
I take my tomatillos, add avocados to it.
I'm also gonna add some cilantro,
little bit of honey to chill out the tartness of the tomatillos.
-[buzzer sounds] -Just under 12 minutes.
[audience exclaiming and applauding]
There's a lobster, cooked and now shelled.
[Nelson] So, I grab my lobster, I'm gonna start slicing into nice, big chunks.
So, I put down a cast iron,
and kinda let it stew very slowly in the sauce.
Only ten minutes left.
[Bobby] I take the pork out and I strain out the sauce
and I start reducing it right away
'cause this is gonna be the sauce that I'm going to serve
surrounding the carnitas
and then, my rice is cooked.
I got some black beans, I'm gonna crisp it up a little bit.
-Okay, well, I'm seein' some rice and beans. -[laughs]
Is something caramelizing with saffron in there?
Yeah, so-- I'm reducing the sauce down.
-You wanna taste it? -Yes, I do.
-[Bobby] A little spicy. -Please, I love the spice.
Oh, damn, that's good.
Aw, man.
[all exclaiming]
They like fire.
Oh, he's just showin' off.
-[chuckles] -[Kevin] He brings the fire,
but will there be substance?
[Bobby laughs]
Clock is ticking down,
-are you feeling confident still, Nelson? -[Nelson] I am, I am.
Next, I'm gonna get started on my kidney bean hummus.
It's gonna add some silkiness to this dish.
I add a little bit of chipotle powder,
cumin, and then, I'm gonna add some lobster stock,
just enough so I can liquify and make a nice puree.
Wow, seven minutes!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Bobby] My carnitas are very flavorful, they have heat.
No joke, but I think they taste great.
Bobby's sauce was...
-spectacular. -[Kardea] Okay.
Let's see how this plating goes.
Two minutes now.
♪ Here we go ♪
[Bobby] So, I have the tomatillo avocado sauce on the bottom of the plate,
some cotija cheese,
then the roasted pepper, black beans and rice,
the carnitas, and then, a little more black beans and rice on top.
Barely a minute!
[Nelson] F irst thing I do is grab my red kidney bean hummus,
do a nice swipe of that,
now, I'm gonna add my peppers, grab my lobster filling,
start putting it inside the pepper.
[Kevin] What's going on in Nelson's skillet?
It just looks like magic.
-And rich. -Yes, very rich.
Put my queso pesto, and now I'm gonna add my piquillo pepper.
Here we go.
[all chanting] Nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three, two, one!
[all cheering]
Let's go!
Gotta step away.
Whoo.
[Bobby] I think it looks pretty good.
I think the tomatillo sauce is gonna kinda chill out the carnitas a little bit.
You know, I'm sure Nelson's tastes delicious.
If it's anything like his first round dish,
it's gonna wow them for sure.
It's a winner. I-I feel it in my bones.
Tonight's challenge was stuffed peppers.
And now, we'd like to introduce you to the judges.
[Kardea] First up, the executive chef and owner of Comodo,
Felipe Donnelly.
Chef cookbook author and podcast host,
Martie Duncan.
Chef and restaurateur, Akhtar Nawab.
[all applauding]
So judges, please start with the first stuffed pepper in front of you.
[Akhtar] The lobster's cooked so well, really delicious.
The poblano pepper is one of my favorites.
So, it-it really adds that spice to it, but also very earthy.
The kidney bean hummus didn't really do much for me.
I love the texture, super creamy.
But all in all, I think it could use a touch more flavor.
[Felipe] When I take my first bite,
I was expecting a huge pop of flavor
and it was a little bit more subtler than what I was expecting.
Uh, but it was overall a very, very beautiful dish.
It is not what I expected from a stuff pepper,
but it is certainly a beautifully elevated version.
I'm no sold on that hummus.
But the rest of it, absolutely delicious.
All right, thank you judges, we're gonna have you switch plates.
[Felipe] The sweet pepper was a beautiful choice for-for the plating.
Carnitas were on point.
There was heat.
I think the-the salsa was missing a little bit of salt
and a little bit of acid, but,
again, overall, it was a really, really nice dish.
For me, this sort of looks like what you expect from a stuffed pepper,
like your granny made it, right?
The rice was nicely cooked.
It's a bit spicy for my taste.
I love the carnitas in, they're super tasty,
really delicious.
As a whole, because it's so rich,
I think a squeeze of lime juice
right on it would have really set it apart.
Judges, please take a vote.
Thank you.
[Nelson] I felt really confident before,
I had Bobby kinda flustered.
But now, the nervousness is coming out.
This is my homecoming.
I can't lose to chef Bobby Flay.
Not today.
The winner is...
chef Bobby Flay.
[audience applauding]
Oh!
[Akhtar] This stuffed pepper was exactly what I think about
when I hear stuffed pepper,
except, it's got a twist, it really worked well.
Like, a complete dish.
-Really, really delicious. -Thank you.
[Kardea] Nelson, congratulations.
You should be very, very proud of yourself.
Thank you so much. Appreciate the shot.
-[Bobby] -Good job, chef.
I lost, but I lost to a legend
and I think I've earned his respect.
And that's a win for me.
I'd like to state for the record,
I'm not thrilled at all.
[all laughing]
[Kevin] This is not right.
We need a recount.
-This is some sort of issue. -It's-- [laughs]
-You guys are welcome back anytime. -[scoffs] Oh, well.
-Oh, thank you. -Talk to my people.
-[Bobby] I will. -[all laughing]
I mean, you name a show after yourself,
and then you have to win.
[indistinct conversation]
[Kevin] Congrats, Bobby.
[sarcastically] Woo-hoo.
I guess it was all right.
Well, it looks like I still got a little pep in my step.