15x02 - Smile and Say Mise

[bunniefuu]

[soft rock music]

[laughter, chatter]

How about a little clap

for Tyler?

[cheers and applause]

[Christopher] Good job, Tyler.

You're gonna

make me blush, guys.

It's awesome to be

from a small market

like Connecticut

and win the first

Elimination Challenge.

One dish stood out,

and that chef is Tyler.

Thank you.

It says I'm somebody



to keep an eye on.

But I think they knew

that already.

[Carrie] The people said

-like, "We love this."

-[Tyler] Mm-hmm.

And then the judges saw

-something completely different.

-Yeah.

The first impression I made

is not the right one.

Serving [bleep] food

on a block

that I worked on



for four years,

not a good way to start.

The chips are... are burnt.

[Carrie] My hopes moving

forward are that...

I stop relying

on past dishes as a crutch

and start creating

organically.

-Make it worth it.

-Make it worth it.

[lively music]

[Padma] Fourteen chefs

remain to compete

in the ultimate



culinary showdown.

At stake for the winner,

a feature in Food & Wine

magazine,

an appearance

at the Food & Wine

Classic in Aspen,

$,



furnished by Sanpellegrino,

and the coveted title

of Top Chef.

♪ ♪

[slow bass music]

♪ ♪

-[Bruce] This is the bear den.

-Bear den.

-Go, bears.

-[both laughing]

[Joseph] Me, Tyler,

and Bruce clicked right away,

and we kind of dubbed

our room the bear den

'cause we're three of the

bigger dudes in the house.

-All right.

-There you go.

-There's papa bear.

-All right.

[in unison] We're the bears!

[roaring]

-[laughs]

-[barks]

[both laughing]

It's not a dog. Idiot.

-Why did you start barking?

-I'm not really a bear either.

[Padma] Come on in.

I hope you guys are all rested

after that first challenge,

because I'm gonna

put you to work today.

-[laughs]

-[chefs] Yeah.

That's what I'm talking about.

[Padma] For your

Quickfire Challenge

we're bringing back

a Top Chef favorite,

the mise en place relay race.

All right.

[intense music]

[Padma] Our partners

at Blue Apron sent

farm-fresh ingredients

direct to you so that you can

make a meal in minutes,

and they've delivered

the product

you'll be working with today.

To help us judge this race

is local chef,

owner of ten restaurants

with three more on the way,

-Chef Troy Guard. Welcome.

-Thank you, Padma.

[applause]

[Carrie] Troy Guard

is the guy in Denver.

I mean, who has



the ba*ls to open

three restaurants in one year?

Like, that's

some superhuman stuff.

I was at that block party

the other day,

and that was

some great tasting food.

But I'm super excited

about today.

-Nice.

-[Padma] Now I'm

going to split you

into two teams.

One, two, three,

four, five, six, seven.

You guys are one team.

And the rest of you

are the other team.

-Beared up

-[whispers] Oh, yeah.

All of the bears.

[Padma] First up,

you'll have to peel

and brunoise a quart

of shallots.

Next, you'll have

to peel, destem,

and slice a quart

of mushrooms.

And finally, you'll have

to clean and portion

seven to eight ounce pieces

of BN Ranch grass-fed

beef tenderloin.

You can put multiple chefs

on one task.

However, each of you

can only do one thing.

When you think each task

is complete,

come up to us,

and Troy will check.

If it's great, then you move

on to the next ingredient.

If it's not, you'll have

to go back and fix it

until it's right.

The team that finishes first

will immediately cook

against each other

for immunity, $,...

-Whoa.

-[laughs]

...and a year of dinners and

wine furnished by Blue Apron.

Head to your stations, and

please put on your aprons.

♪ ♪

You have one minute to decide

who does each task.

[Carrie] Guys, come on,

come on, come on.

All right, who's doing

shallots?

-Three shallots.

-[Christopher] I'm doing meat.

-I used to be a butcher.

-So you and me are on meat.

[Tyler] I say one beef,

two mushroom.

-[Tyler and Adrienne]

Four shallots

-[Adrienne] Let's do it.

We decide on four



on shallot,

two on mushroom, one on filet.

Shallots can really



take a while.

Four people on shallots,

that can push us ahead.

-You got filet?

-I got filet.

-[Padma] Five, four...

-The king of the beef.

-Let's go, let's go...

-[Padma] ...three, two...

one. Your minutes

starts now.

[Carrie] Shallot team

go in front. Meat team,

right over here.

Hand me these shallots.

♪ ♪

[Christopher] Come on, guys.

-My hands are shaking.

-[Carrie] You can do it.

[Laura] Brunoise is not

a hard cut to do.

It's just a very fine dice

on a shallot.

However, I do not want



to let my team down,

and I'm overwhelmed

with nerves and anxiety.

[Carrie] Deep breaths,

guys. Deep breath.

-You got this.

-Push.

Don't give up now.

Come on, let's go.

[Joseph] There we go,

there we go.

All starts with the bear...

with the bear papa.

-Look at that technique.

-All right, we got half a cup.

Those two ladies

look like they're...

machines.

I spent a lot of years

brunoising shallots

at Le Bernardin.

Give me a couple more shallots.

So I got this.

Claudette,

I need to add in.

Thank you.

Looking good.

You guys,

they got three quarters.

Let's go, get in the cups

so we can look.

Let's go.

[Christopher] Ah, that's what

I'm talking about.

Should we check it?

They're good, they're good.

-Go, go, go, go.

-Go, go, around the corner.

-Please don't drop it.

-[Fatima] Come on,

they might not

have it right.

That looks great.

-[cheers and applause]

-Come on, let's go, let's go.

[Tu] It's not over yet.

Push, come on.

[Christopher] Laura's a little

on the slower side.

Her cuts are a little bit



inconsistent.

I'm like, [chuckles] "Come on,

come on." Come on, Laura.

-Right here.

-Shallot.

[Joe] Come on, come on,

come on, come on.

[Adrienne] Usually if you grab

the lip underneath,

it'll come right off.

[Joseph] Creminis

are really small.

Maybe we should not have

picked the two biggest guys

on our team

to peel the daintiest



little things we had.

-Come on, guys.

-You got this, Joe.

Just finish up those shallots.

-[Tu] Go, go, go, go!

-Check, check, check.

Come on, Carrie.

Don't move.

♪ ♪

-Great.

-Go! [chuckles]

Go, go, go, guys.

[Christopher] That's what

I'm talking about.

[Bruce] They're gonna have

two on beef, guys.

We gotta get further ahead.

Come on, guys.

Go, go, go, go, go.

-[Bruce] Brother's crushing it.

-[Tyler] I see him.

-Oh, yes.

-Yes, [bleep] yeah.

-Go, go.

-Run, run, run, run!

Get it, get it.

♪ ♪

-Yes!

-Good, good!

-Go, Bruce, go.

-Go, Brucie.

-Come on, Brucie.

-Go, Bruce.

Thirteen minutes left.

Go, Brucie.

I'm pretty fast with butchering.

I've done a lot of it,

but the longer this takes me,

the less time I'm gonna



have to cook.

There you go.

There's the rhythm.

♪ ♪

-Go, check, check.

-Go, go, go.

♪ ♪

-[Troy] All right.

-[Fatima] Yeah, go, go, go.

[chuckling] Yeah.

Bruce is by himself.

We got two butchers.

[Carrie] Whoo-hoo-hoo.

Come on.

I got

on your count right now.

-Bruce, eight more.

-Come on, Chef.

Tu and Chris over here

may catch up.

Whoo-hoo-hoo! Come on!

Almost neck and neck.

-[Bruce] How many we got?

-Eighteen.

[Bruce] That's it?

-Nineteen, twenty.

-[both] Check!

Check, go, go.

Aw, [bleep].

That's all right, Chef.

Keep going, keep going.

♪ ♪

[squealing]

[Rogelio] Keep pushing,

Bruce, keep pushing.

I know better than

to eyeball,

so I'm weighing

every single one.

I just keep going



as fast as I can.

This is under seven.

[Joe] We got one under.

How many do you need?

-Need one. That's over.

-That's nine.

They're over, Bruce.

Keep going, Bruce.

Keep going, baby,

we got this [bleep].

Over, over.

[Adrienne] You got it.

Run it, Bruce.

-Check!

-Check.

-Cut more, cut more.

-[Tu] Four more, let's go!

Let's go. Come on, Bruce!

♪ ♪

Three more. Let's go.

♪ ♪

You understand portioning.

One more, let's go.

-Go, good.

-Whoo!

[chefs] Yes!

[Padma] They are done.

All right,

you can get cooking.

-Coming in.

-Whoa, whoa.

[Padma] You have

eight minutes

and seconds

to cook your dish.

This is exciting.

♪ ♪

[man] Tyler, what are you

making over there?

So this is one of those

moments where it's like

zero to real quick.

We were just comrades



and "good job"

and now all a sudden

it's like,

"Get out of my way.

I gotta get this done."

Get your meat cooking.

Steaks in the pan, guys.

Steaks in the pan.

[Brother] I wanna do

a cremini mushroom cream,

and I know



with beef tenderloin,



it's gotta have a good crust.



Being a native,

I have the biggest weight

on my shoulders

to represent well even



if it's eight minutes.

♪ ♪

Five minutes left, guys.

-Oh, hey.

-Yeah!

Hey, Joe, what's going on?

Tartare, again?

I'm making marinated

tenderloin

with a little bit of spicy

mushrooms and pepper.

Joe, how long do you

marinate your steak for?

About seconds--

it's perfect.

[laughter]

[Rogelio] Mushrooms, cream,

and mustard go well together,

so I'm gonna try the

mushroom cream sauce.

Normally when I make

a cream sauce,

it would take me about,

you know, to minutes,

but what am I gonna do?

-Love it.

-[Christopher] Whoa!

Now, that's a fire.

Two and a half minutes!

Whoa.

Think about plating soon.

[Christopher] What was

at the Commissary, bro?

♪ ♪

[Claudette] Get off

my table, Chef!

[Tyler] The plate is

a [bleep] show,

but it's going



to be delicious.



This is eight minutes.

It's not like, "Oh, welcome

to The French Laundry."

Is that a $, steak?

-Let's hope so, man.

-[Tanya] Thirty seconds.

-Oh, my God.

-Salt, salt, salt, salt.

[all] Six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

[screams] Hands up.

[Padma] Hands up,

utensils down, please.

Hi, Rogelio.

-How's it going?

-Meet Chef Troy.

-[Rogelio] How are you?

-Nice to see you.

-Nice to see you, too.

-What did you make?

I roasted the filet,



a little bit of



salt and pepper.



There's, uh, a mushroom cream



with a little bit of shallots

and a tiny bit

of Dijon mustard.

[Troy] Good use of the shallots

and mushrooms in the sauce.

-The sauce is broken though.

-Yeah. Thank you.

-[Padma] Hi, Tyler.

-Hi, how are you?

Today I made a mini



steakhouse dish



with sauteed mushrooms



and shallots

with bourbon

and glazed carrots.

[Troy] Nice color

on the plate.

-I like the tarragon.

-Thank you.

So here I have a little bit

of Baja-inspired steak.

It's got, instead of al ajillo

with the garlic,

I did it with the shallots,



the mushrooms



and a little bit of



red miso paste.

I like the use of the miso

and the mushrooms.

It's both got the umami

flavor on there.

-Yeah.

-I did a quick marinade.

I took the shallots



and ginger mushroom



marinated in the beef

and then just radish cilantro

to finish.

[Troy] Good textures on there,

and, you know,

the meat's seared,

you know, a little bit rare.

I think it's nice how much

flavor you got into the steak.

-Thank you very much.

-So I did a pan-seared steak.

There's a creme of mushrooms



and goat cheese underneath,



and then on top you have



a mignonette



of hibiscus and tarragon.

[Padma] That hibiscus really

adds a beautiful, rosy color.

Good textures with

the hibiscus and onion.

Thank you.

♪ ♪

First of all, I want to say

that all of you guys

did awesome.

I was glad I was

on this side of it.

Yeah, you and me both.

So, Troy, who had

the best dish of the day?

The best dish today

was very well-rounded,

textures were awesome

on the palate

and really had

a nice punch to it.

And that chef is...

Chef Joe.

-[laughs]

-[cheers and applause]

Congratulations, you've just

won yourself immunity,

$,...

-Holy [bleep].

-...and a year

of dinners and wine,

furnished by Blue Apron.

So you won big today.

-Thank you. Thank you.

-[applause]

I am ecstatic.

I cannot believe it.

To win anything on Top Chef

is such a huge accomplishment,

it's so amazing,

and I have immunity

for the next

Elimination Challenge.

Good way to start the day.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Thank you, Chefs.

Thank you.

So now that you've finished

your mise en place,

it's time for some real chores.

[intense music]

Chefs, please welcome

acclaimed Denver chef

Alex Seidel.

[applause]

Hi, Alex.

-Hello.

-Welcome to Denver.

-Nice to meet you.

-Welcome to Top Chef.

-Nice to meet you too.

Chef Alex looks

like a Greek god.

Like, Jesus.

Boy, I'll tell you what, come on

back to the bear den. Rawr!

Alex is known

for bridging the gap

between farmer and consumer.

His farm supplies both

of his restaurants,

Fruition and Mercantile.

I'd love to invite you guys

down to the farm today,

-What do you think?

-Great.

-Oh, my God, yeah.

-Let's go.

For your

Elimination Challenge,

you'll continue to work

in the same teams,

this time to create a

four-course progressive menu.

Each course must incorporate

one specific ingredient.

You wanna know what it is?

-Yes.

-Yes.

You just have to wait

until you get to the farm

and find out.

Tomorrow, you'll have

two and a half hours

to prep and cook

before service begins

at Alex's restaurant,

Mercantile.

You guys ready

to go to the farm?

-[overlapping] Yeah.

-[Alex] All right, let's go.

Winner, winner,

chicken dinner, baby.

[energetic music]

[Alex] Fruition Farms

is about...

-an hour and a half from here.

-[man] This is beautiful.

You know what, dessert's

gonna be really important.

None of us are pastry chefs.

-I'm a trained pastry chef.

-There you go!

-[Fatima] Are you?

-Yeah, I trained in Paris.

Like, I have a lot of desserts



that I know in my head

that I could do,

"Oh, we could do

a carrot macaroon

or we could a carrot ganache

or we could do a parsnip

thing or--"

-[overlapped talking]

-[Laura] Right.

Are your kids

in the middle school?

My son's about to go

to high school.

-Really?

-I know it's a trip.

[indistinct conversation]

I'll be in August.

-You?

-[bleep] yeah.

-[indistinct] [chuckles]

-I thought so.

Quiet and then attack

when I need to.

-I'm the same way.

-[Claudette] I don't know

what's in the cards



for me here.

I have an astrologer

that I go see.

And she was reading



my tarot cards,

and she just said that

it was gonna be good

for me to come here.

I'm a little bit witchy,



for sure,



but more on the, like,



good energy side of it,



not sacrificing animals.

Like, that's not my thing.

[both chuckling]

[guitar music]

♪ ♪

[pigs grunting]

[chickens clucking]

Chefs, welcome

to Fruition Farms.

I want to introduce first

to Jim Warren.

-[Jim] Hey, guys.

-[chefs] Hi.

One of my former chefs

and now a cheese maker

down here at the farm.

We're the first artisanal

cheap dairy and creamery

in the state of Colorado,

and you're gonna be

using our cheeses

-for tomorrow's challenge.

-[overlapping responses]

I thought, going to a farm,

we'd be given produce



to work with.

[chuckling] I did not

think cheese at all.

[Alex] Really excited

to go through these

cheeses with you guys.

Our first cheese that we made

was a sheep smoked ricotta.

This cheese is just made

simply with sheep's milk,

salt, and citric acid.

Next we have our romano

cheese, the Cacio Pecora.

Oh, my God.

[Alex] Next one was

actually the first cheese

that Jimmy developed here,

-the Shepherd's Halo.

-[chefs] Yeah.

-Ah.

-Ooh-la-la.

-So this--

-[laughter]

And the last cheese

is our newest,

the sheep's milk feta.

-That is crazy.

-It's so good.

-We'll take that to go.

-[laughter]

All right, Chefs,

for the challenge tomorrow,

you'll be creating

a four course dinner

and you're gonna be using

each of these four cheeses

in one course each.

-One cheese per course.

-Got you.

I think it's time to get

to some menu planning.

[Adrienne] We wanna

start by figuring out

which cheese is gonna

go with which course?

-[Tyler] First course.

-You want Pecora?

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Great.

I think the Pecora's

dry enough

that we can make

nice micro-plane tuiles

-for garnish.

-How do you

guys feel about

like a rillettes with

a smoked cured trout?

Maybe we can even make

a little broth of the rind

-for the Pecora.

-Yeah.

That way you give it,

like, a cheese broth.

How are they gonna eat that?

They're gonna have

a crispy cheese cr*cker

with the broth,

and then rillettes,

it's not gonna work.

For the first course,

I immediately thought

of, like, a zucchini

or, like, spring squash.

[Claudette] So instead

of the fish, we go veg.

Well, still we can go fish.

Uh, it's an unusual pairing,

but I think the Pecora

with the zucchini

-would go really nicely...

-Oh, [bleep] yeah.

...with crudo or tartare.

I've actually worked with fish

and cheese pairings

before in my career,

and I think the first course

should be a raw fish dish.

We'll give it, like,

a light cure before.

-Yeah.

-And then I'll smoke it.

-We can cold-smoke it.

-[Adrienne] Mm-hmm.

Me and Bruce will do

the second course.

We'll do a pasta,

stuffing it with the feta.

[Fatima] What do we wanna

do for the first course?

[Joe] I was thinking

we could do like a tart.

We were thinking about maybe

jumping in with a bread.

A bread and soup is

what we're assuming.

I don't wanna do a soup.

Soup won't look nice.

Can't plate it nice.

It won't look good.

I was thinking

we could do like

fresh corn grits

with the lamb chop

with the hard cheese.

[Fatima] You two are gonna

take the lamb course?

-Dessert?

-I was thinking...

uh, some sort of, like,

beignet filled with, like,

a caramel with

the cheese mounted into it.

-[Tanya] I love that idea.

-But which cheese?

-[Christopher] The feta.

-[Joe] Feta.

Chris and Tanya

are doing dessert.

[Laura] So the two of you guys

-are doing dessert?

-[Tanya] Yes.

-[Tanya] You want the dessert?

-No, no, no. I just--

What I wanna do is

I wanna get this all going.

[Joe] Yes, dessert.

Dessert, beignet.

-You two are on dessert.

-[Tanya] All right, done.

[Laurie] I really wanted

to do dessert

but Joe is dominating



the menu plan,

and I am frustrated.

Can you make a cr*cker?

Like, let's make,

like, a grain cr*cker.

I think that's

a good solution.

One of my main goals in

coming here to Top Chef

was to be able to



collaborate and participate

with other chefs

that I really respect,

but I'm feeling more isolated

than I anticipated.

-All right, guys, let's go...

-[indistinct chatter]

-Go, go, go, go, go!

-[indistinct shouting]

[Bruce] Right behind you guys.

[Rogelio] Do you have

whole lamb racks?

They're helping us first.

No! Where's my guy at?

Trying to edge me out?

Trying to box me out?

Trying to box me out,

Fati? I don't think so.

It's gonna be cents,

a buck only.

[Tanya] So inside

the pierogi.

Potato, onion, ricotta.

We have to make a four-course



cheese forward menu

at Mercantile Restaurant.

I'm manning the second course

which is a filled pasta

with sheep's milk ricotta.

The ricotta, it's got this

nice soft texture

so it's gonna go really well



with the dumpling.

I was hoping to have

some clarified butter,

but I can make it.

And then Joe has this



really awesome idea

to do a whey sauce,

and I'm like,



"Heck yeah,



let's do it."

-I'll meet you there.

-Okay.

[Rogelio] Can you have--

Can you give me one more?

For the third course,

Rogelio and I

are making lamb loin with farro

and a bunch

of spring vegetables.

-That should be enough?

-I think you're all right.

-We'll make it work.

-Okay, that's fine.

I'll just take this.

The idea is to get

the essence of spring

into the dish,

and the Shepherd's Halo

is the sort of cheese



that really highlighted



those flavors

in a hippie-dippie way.

Like, there was

a connection there.

Shall we compare notes?

[chuckles mockingly]

Yes, sir, how you doing

on time there?

I'm doing... sparklingly.

Fifteen minutes.

[lively music]

We are making the most

"bangingness" dessert

-known to man.

-That's right.

Tanya and I are doing

the dessert course

for the Green Team.



We're gonna do



a fried beignet.

We're taking the feta cheese.

We're turning that

into an ice cream.

And I'm doing

a chocolate ganache.

-[Joe] Are you still

feeling chocolate?

-Yeah.

I think we should just

talk about it later.

Mustache Joe, not only

did he have input

in the first,



second, and third dish,

but now he's trying

to control the fourth,

which reminds me



of the way that I was



in my s.



Back then, it was



about me and my ego.



Later, you learn



to respect more.

I feel like I'm doing

the best food of my life,

and I'm still gonna do



what I plan to do.

So chocolate, done.

Two minutes, seconds.

[fast-paced music]

-[both] $.

-Whoo!

Sprinkler, sprinkler.

Sprinkler, sprinkler.

So, yeah.

Can I try a little bit?

Please. Thank you.

-[Joe] Come, join us.

-Well, we really haven't had

much of a time

to sit down all together

and discuss how we feel

like we're coming

together as a team.

I feel like challenge

and team are

the first two things.

Everybody was like, "I'll do

this," "I'll do this,"

"I'll do this," and I just

got confused in my head

how it works as

a progressive menu.

The challenge is the cheese.

-And--

-Can I-- can I make--

-Sorry.

-And a progressive menu.

And that's what's

so crazy about it,

'cause there's seven of us,

and we're all so different.

Seven [bleep] trying to

do one menu is kind of crazy.

I get that, but I want

you to be able to let

go of some components

of what's going on

and just trust us.

[Joe] Yeah. I don't think

we're at the point right now

-where you can just be like,

"Yes, I trust you."

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe] If the majority

of the people feel a certain way

-about whatever it is--

-[Tu] That's what we go with.

-That's the way we should

just go with it.

-[Tu] Okay.

[Joe] We got a lot of really

strong styles in our group,

but I know I could make some

really solid decisions

and guide us in a really

focused manner.

I mean, I'm totally comfortable

taking the lead at this point.

[dramatic music]

[soft music]

Yo, I think the sun's

gonna come out today.

Man, I really hope.

♪ ♪

How you feel about today?

Nervous, man.

I never dreamed that I would

be on Top Chef.

When I came



to the United States,

or when anybody comes

to the United States,

especially from Mexico, it's

hard for you to communicate.

You do have to work twice

as hard as anybody else

because you don't have

the same opportunities.

You know, there's a lot



of immigrants out there

that wanna take

cooking as their career.

And if I can do it,



I think anybody can do it,



and that's why I think



it's super important that I

push myself as far as I can go

in this competition.

-Let's go.

-Teamwork makes

the dream work.

♪ ♪

-[rock music]

-[chefs laughing]

♪ ♪

-Did we got the lamb?

-Yep, yep.

Where are the yolks

for the aioli?

-Down up, below me.

-[Claudette] Thank you.

[indistinct chatter]

[Claudette]

Today we have to make

a four-course progressive meal

highlighting each one



of the cheeses



from Fruition Farms.

Ladies, how we looking

over there? You got

everything going?

[Adrienne] Claudette's

working fish.

I'm starting garnish.

[Claudette]

For the first course,



Adrienne and I are doing



the smoked trout

with Pecora tuiles

and zucchini.

As soon as you have

the skin, give it to me

-'cause I wanna go--

-Yeah.

Make sure that stays

nice and dry.

[Claudette] Adrienne has

worked for great chefs.

Le Bernardin is a world-class



restaurant for seafood,



and she's a little badass.

So I'm letting Adrienne

take the lead.

Getting to learn a lot

from each other

is the best part.

-Something like that?

-Let me see.

-Yeah, that's good.

-All right.

I'm making the first

course with Laura

which is the cheese



and crackers



with a Shepherd's Halo



cheese terrine,

a crispy, rind cr*cker

with seeds,

charred cucumber oil

preserved lemon, alfalfa, and

watercress sprouts, and...

I'm missing something.

And compressed cucumbers.

So, what, should I just do like

an even three grams?

-Yeah.

-Right?

[Brother] How they do

on that French job?

-[Joe] We gotta clean that up.

-[Tu] We're gonna clean it up.

-[laughs]

-The lamb is



not butchered

how I would have wanted it.

Tu does his best to kinda



clean up the bones.



But I look over



and see Rogelio



is working on lamb as well,



and he has these beautiful



torchons of lamb,

and I just know...

we have a problem.

Sorry, Joe.

♪ ♪

-[Thomas] Hey, Joe.

-What's up, Chef?

All right. What are you making?

Me and Tu are gonna

work on a lamb course

smoked with some of

the hay from the farm.

-What's the garnish on that?

-It's gonna be

a fresh corn grits.

We're gonna make

a nice lamb jus, then work

the cheese into the grits,

-the Cacio Pecora.

-Very nice.

-Nice and sharp, tangy.

-Like a parmesan finish.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Sounds good.

Thank you. Thank you, Chefs.

-Hey, Tu.

-How you doing, Chef?

I really wanna show you

how to do something

right now but I won't.

-[laughs]

-It's the way you're

tying a knot.

-It's just making me nuts.

-Uh, I'm nervous now.

-Are you nervous now?

-Yeah.

This won't make

a difference so...

[Joe] Tom's looking at the lamb.

If I know it's bad,

I know Tom knows that it's bad.

He even picks up the string



and starts showing Tu



how to tie up the lamb.

The whole thing is just

embarrassing.

[chuckles] That's so smooth.

[Thomas] Anyway. Have fun.

[Thomas] Rogelio.

-Hey, Chef.

-What you doing?

I'm doing the lamb.

We took the racks,

took the loin off,

and then took

the tenderloins off

and made like

sausage, kind of,

and then just put it

over the top

and sous vide it for minutes,

and we're gonna roast it

whole and slice it.

-Have you tried this before?

-Not with lamb.

-Not with lamb.

-Yeah.

-Oh, let's go.

-[all laugh]

Hey, Chefs, you got about

an hour left. Good luck.

Looking forward to dinner.

Thank you. See you shortly.

Go, go, go, go, go.

[intense music]

♪ ♪

[Joe] Something smells

like it's burning.

Something burning, guys?

[Rogelio] I think

it's your lamb, Chef.

[Joe] Tastes like burnt carrots.

[Tu] The carrots weren't

burnt, though.

[Joe] It just came from

that back edge of the pot.

I don't get it.

I know that I didn't

burn anything

nor did I scorch

anything.

-[Joe] I'm a little worried.

-[Tu] No, we're

adding fat to it.

Fat will always round out

bitterness.

♪ ♪

-You see the clock?

-Twenty-eight.

Twenty-eight.

I gotta draw a plan.

[Claudette] How would you

cold-smoke on a tabletop?

Put the fish in another

perf pan and just sit it in

and foil wrap the creme,

like crimp around here

with the foil

so it doesn't leak out.

I'm trying to tell Claudette

what to do

to get the fish smoked

but not cooked

'cause she was

gonna cook it.

The smoke on the fish



is very important,

and, at this point,

I'm definitely concerned.

I'm gonna put a little bit

of lemon zest

-on the minced one.

-Okay.

[lively music]

♪ ♪

Very nice.

-It's beautiful.

-[Alex] Thank you.

[Thomas] So, really, you're

buying all the sheep's milk?

[Jim] We are, yes.

Sourcing the milk now.

We had - head

at any given time.

So you'd wake up in the morning

and you're feeding, milking,

taking care of babies,

making cheese.

-It was farm life.

-[laughs]

[intense music]

Claudette, do you wanna

taste this?

-Yeah.

-We got more.

I think it's finishing

a little bitter.

-It is a little bit.

-Right?

I'm definitely not feeling

confident with our dish.

The fish is barely smoked.

I just feel like

it's not enough flavor.

Three minutes, ladies,

three minutes.

Is this the last drop?

At this point, it's too late.

Like, there's nothing that

we could do to fix it.

I'm missing pepper

on the plate.

♪ ♪

That's time!

-Okay.

-[Thomas] Wow, wow, wow.

-Hi, Chefs.

-Hi, how are you guys?

-Good.

-Good afternoon.

Blue Team, tell us

what you've made.

Well our dish is featuring

the Cacio Pecora.

We use a local trout.

[Adrienne] And we also use

the Pecora as the salt,

a little bit of the trout



skin chips and zucchini.

[Padma] Who is responsible

for what on your plate?

I cleaned, cured,

and smoked the trout.

I did the skin chips,

the Pecora crumble

and pickled the red chili.

Okay. Green Team.

For our dish, we wanted

to do cheese and crackers.

We really wanted to highlight



the Shepherd's Halo,



and then



for the cr*cker portion...

[Laura] We used the rind

that we took off the cheese

which we chopped up

into the dough

and then ran the dough

through a pasta machine.

You literally pulled

the pate out of the cheese

to use for the--

-[Laura] Chop the rind up, yep.

-Very nice.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you, guys.

-Thanks.

-Thank you, Chefs.

[Thomas] Fatima and Laura,

they put together

a really nice dish.

I think it's flavorful,

but it's not show-off-y.

[Jim] As the maker

of the cheese,

I love the fact that they

actually incorporated

the rind into the cr*cker.

-Yeah, utilized both parts.

-I love that.

The flavor came through %.

[Fatima] Guys, we got minutes

for our next course, okay?

Twenty minutes

for our next course.

Considering I really hate

any mixture of fish

and cheese...

-I'm with you.

-I didn't mind

Adrienne and Claudette's dish,

probably because the cheese

wasn't prominent enough.

And using that cheese

for the salt,

good idea, but it needed--

the dish needed salt.

Can you move those, please?

[Joseph] We got wipes,

we got wipes, guys.

I don't want 'em seared

on both sides.

-It could be

a little too crunchy.

-Okay.

[Joseph] Ah, Brucie.

[Bruce] Thank you, girls.

-Lovely.

-[Jim] I smell the cheese.

Tell us what you've made.

We made a beet agnolotti

stuffed with your beautiful



sheep's milk feta.

[Bruce] And we charred

some scallions

with a little garlic chili

and lemon as well

for an extra punch.

And Joe made a fonduta

that we drizzled over the top.

-Very good.

-[Padma] Green Team.

[Carrie] I simply made

a ricotta dumpling

seared nicely and then filled



it with ricotta



that was stretched a little



with russet potato,



caramelized onion, and salt.

[Joe] I made a nice lay-butter

sauce at the bottom,

bring out that kind of

funkiness that the cheese has,

and the hazelnut relish

on the top.

Why did you choose to only

saute the dumpling on one side?

I just wanted to have like

a texture variance there.

It's tasty.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks, guys.

-Thank you, everyone.

I thought Carrie and Joe's

dish was really good.

And I actually liked that

she only sauteed one side.

Good balance between the

dough and the ricotta filling.

'Cause sometimes the ricotta

can just explode too much,

and it's not a great texture

in your mouth.

My favorite part was the

whey sauce on the bottom.

I don't know

how they did it,

but I thought it was just

a nice complement

to the dumpling

and the ricotta.

I'm just gonna be in the

corner puking if you need me.

Joe and Bruce's dish, I thought

that pasta was fantastic.

It's a gorgeous, colorful dish.

And we're always saying it

needs a little more acid

or a little more-- I mean,

this was very acidic and bright.

Sugar, spice,

and everything nice, baby.

Yeah, I feel good, brother.

-Go, bears.

-[barks]

I thought they both

did a really job

of showcasing

the cheese itself.

They weren't flocking

around here.

-[laughter]

-[comedic rimshot]

Dad jokes.

[upbeat music]

[Joe] Tu, you gotta

get grilling.

[Tu] I gotta take

out the back, sir.

This is sticking everywhere.

[Joe] The lamb on the grill,

it's just falling apart.

It's all different

temperatures.

-These three are nice.

-[Tu] Yes. That's too much fat.

[Joe] And this just looks

[bleep] up.

So, like, those three are good.

It looks just...

[groans] like dog food.

♪ ♪

[Padma] All right,

two lamb dishes.

[Thomas] Two lamb dishes,

here we go.

[Padma] Blue Team, why don't

you tell us what you made.

[Tyler] So we have a puree

of wheat grass and alfalfa,

lots of different spring



vegetables,

and then the Shepherd's Halo

just sort of in chunks

kind of melting slowly into it.

[Rogelio] The lamb was sous vide

and then just roasted in

the oven with salt and pepper.

Green Team, tell us

what you made.

We wanted to tell a story

about the lamb.

The lamb was grilled with



tidbits of alfalfa sprouts



and hay from the farm



just to incorporate



all those flavors,



everything the lamb's eating



all into one dish.

And Chef Joe did an amazing

delicious fresh corn grits.

-[Rogelio] Thank you.

-Thank you so much.

Tyler and Rogelio's dish,

this looks great.

It's really beautiful, but...

it's raw.

Mine's cooked all the way

through.

-So we've got definitely--

-I think I ate my raw lamb.

[Thomas] Well, there were

six pieces. This one was raw.

-I almost feel like the

cheese was an afterthought.

-Yeah.

The set of the dish

was phenomenal.

-The lamb was undercooked.

-[woman] Yes.

[indistinct talking]

I think Tu and Joe's

lamb dish,

it's almost like corn pudding

that someone dropped

a lamb chop on.

If you're gonna do a dish

that's this sparse,

the butchering

has to be perfect.

But this dish isn't finished.

♪ ♪

[Tanya] Where's your ganache?

-Right here.

-How is it?

[Christopher]

It's delicious. [laughs]

-I could eat this all day.

-I told you. You see.

Hey, Brother,

how art thou? [laughs]

Who says big bears

can't do pastry?

Yeah, I'm proud of you, bro.

-[Thomas] Wow, look at that.

-[Padma] Wow.

-Hi, Brother.

-Hi.

I did a blueberry tart.

On top is the



ricotta whipped up.

Underneath you have

a little bit of grated

marcona almond,

and we candied

some grapefruit zest

and sprinkled it on

with the powdered sugar.

I thought the ricotta

maybe would have brought more

of a granular texture,

-but I actually really enjoy it.

-Thank you.

-Hi, Green Team.

-Hi.

[Tanya] So we have fried dough.

We decided to use



the feta in the ice cream



with a little orange zest



and then--

[Christopher] Chocolate ganache

and a little bit

of orange cream.

[Padma] Great finish

to this meal.

-Thank you.

-[Tanya] Thank you.

[Padma] I gotta say,

the Green Team's dessert

is probably my favorite dessert

ever made on Top Chef.

The feta ice cream, even

though it was grainy,

I still love it.

I didn't care

for the ice cream.

-[Thomas] What?

-I'm a texture freak so...

You know, I can easily get

turned off by that.

-[Tanya] Hey. We did it.

-Hey.

I thought that Brother's

dessert was really pretty

and the tart is baked

off perfectly.

It was nice and sweet.

-Bear hug.

-Bear hug.

-Bear hug.

-[laughs]

-[roars]

-[laughter]

-[Thomas] Both meals

were very good.

-Delicious, actually.

There were dishes

on the Blue Team

that I really liked

I really loved that agnolotti.

-I thought it was beautiful.

-That was a [bleep] ride.

Adrienne and Claudette,

I hate to say,

but I did not like that dish.

I did not like

Tyler and Rogelio's.

The grains were al dente.

They had a lot

of the same textures

as everything else

on the dish.

To me, there was one dish

that was just really bad.

Just in the technique,

in the flavor,

across the board,

no redeeming qualities at all.

Is that bad enough to drag

the rest of the team down?

I'm having a really

hard time. I really am.

It's gonna be interesting.

Let's go back to Judges' Table.

-You know which one's

the big cheese, huh?

-[laughter]

-Just stop.

The master

of the dad jokes today.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Collectively, we had

a great meal today.

[Thomas] Some of the dishes,

you guys did a really great job

of incorporating the cheese.

All and all,

everything was tasty,

but there were a few things

that...

I had some problems with.

[Padma] The decision was

a tough one, guys.

Our favorite team

also had the worst dish

of the day.

So it puts us in a bit

of a conundrum.

Nonetheless,

the winner

of this challenge today...

♪ ♪

...is the Green Team.

[gasps and laughter]

Blue Team, please step

to the side.

[laughter continues]

[softly] Good job, good job.

Fatima and Laura,

I loved your dish.

Just the attention to detail

on your plate was staggering.

[Thomas] I was really

worried about you, Laura,

because I figured, "A cr*cker?"

It's one--

That's all you're doing?

You're contributing a cr*cker

to this, okay.

But it was just...

smart well-done food.

One of the coolest

techniques used today

was using the rind

in that cr*cker.

-Thank you.

-The second course,

Joe and Carrie,

where did the inspiration

come from?

Have you made

that dumpling before?

I have. Normally I do it

potato-forward,

but, you know,

the ricotta really spoke.

I love that you didn't feel

you had to make it look

anything other

than what it was.

It was simple,

and it was just

perfectly ex*cuted.

[Padma] Tanya and Chris.

[Alex] The coolest thing

for me about this dish

was that you took

a risk with the feta

and used that

as the dessert, cheese.

Your sauce was great.

And I thought it all came

together really well.

I think it's one of the most

delicious desserts

I've had on this show.

-Thank you.

-We've had some great ones.

Thank you so much.

[Padma] Tu and Joe,

your lamb dish

was our least favorite

dish of the day.

[Thomas] That lamb dish,

I gotta tell you,

was not very good.

Um, Joe and I

were discussing.

We wish we would have

instructed the diners

to pick it up and eat it

with their hands.

What would that have done?

It would've made

the dish fun to eat.

'Cause when you eat

with your hands

it's a completely different

dining experience.

You are so lucky that

you two are on this team.

I gotta tell you.

Alex, as our guest judge,

please tell us

who won this challenge.

The chef who prepared

our favorite dish...

♪ ♪

is...

♪ ♪

Carrie.

[cheers and applause]

I'm so proud to have

won this one.

Whoo. That's good.

It's better than being

on the other side. [laughs]

I feel like being on the bottom

nobody here was

taking me serious,

but now that I've won one,

they see that I deserve

to be here too.

And I can compete and win.

[dramatic music]

Some of you did a good

job of incorporating

cheese into the dish.

Some, it was almost as if

you used as little as possible.

We really liked the dessert

and the agnolotti

which leaves us

with the other two dishes

which is really the reason

I think you guys are here.

Let's talk about

that first course.

These aren't my flavor

profiles that I use every day,

but I love smoking trout.

And they were done

subtly enough

to where it wasn't, like,

you know, a super salty fish.

And both of you were pleased

with the way the dish came out?

Yeah, I mean, the thing

with cooking is

you have to have

conviction in your dish,

and I'm happy with

what we achieved.

I didn't get any smoke.

♪ ♪

If you hadn't told me

it was smoked,

I really wouldn't have known.

As far as the idea of using

the Pecora to season the fish,

I thought that was

a brilliant idea.

It just didn't come through,

and I thought the fish

actually lacked seasoning.

[Thomas] You didn't seem

to really embrace

the cheese part of it.

Why did the fish have

to be raw?

It didn't. We were doing

a cold-smoke,

but we did want to do something

that would not alter

the fish too much.

We kind of wanted to highlight

the trout from here as well.

♪ ♪

Well, now that leaves us

with the lamb course.

Who cooked the lamb?

I did. [clears throat]

[Padma] I thought that

the lamb was the weakest

part of that dish,

and I think you could have also

utilized this beautiful cheese

a little bit better

than just cubing it

and sprinkling it over.

I didn't wanna mess

with that cheese.

I wanted you to get

a bite of that cheese

in its form on the dish.

I wanted to love this dish

and I thought the combination

of all of the greens

and the wheat berries,

I thought it was delicious.

Rogelio, the lamb piece

that I got, the center,

was... it was raw.

For my purpose, I didn't

think it was raw.

I thought it was, you know,

medium rare.

Hmm. Okay.

My whole lamb dish

was cooked,

but then looking at Padma's,

I mean, it was straight up raw.

I think it was all

over the place.

Well, chefs, we have a big

decision to make.

We'll call you back

when we're ready.

[whispers] How do you

think that's medium rare?

[Graham] [indistinct]

...sausage.

Well this is a really

tough decision

because we have two dishes,

and both of which

had some problems.

And both of them really

didn't feature the cheese.

And, you know, I understand

what Tyler's saying.

That's a great cheese.

You don't wanna do much to that

but that's part

of the challenge.

He didn't embrace the cheese

to even use it in any way.

For me, Rogelio had

two and half hours

to cook lamb,

and then to serve it where

it's not prepared properly,

that's the biggest

problem for me.

It's wrong. It's bad.

Now, on the fish course that

Adrienne and Claudette gave us

not only did it not highlight

the cheese for me,

it also didn't necessarily

smack of the farm.

The fish was bland.

The acid was bland.

The crispy skin

was the best part

of the dish.

[suspenseful music]

Claudette smoked the fish,

but nobody liked

the smoke, it seems.

-I didn't get the smoke.

-Right.

[Padma] Right.

There's nothing to like.

[intense music]

♪ ♪

You know, chefs, one of our

greatest inspirations

is going to a farm.

We all dream of having farms,

but, you know, when

you get that inspiration,

we need to see it.

Unfortunately for one of you,

we didn't see both that

commitment and the execution.

♪ ♪

Claudette.

Please pack your knives and go.

Why we thought that,

it's our least favorite dish,

and the things that you were

responsible for on that dish

just didn't really

help it along at all.

[solemn music]

You do have a chance to get

back into the competition

with Last Chance Kitchen

so I'll see you there.

-Thank you. That will be all.

-Thanks.

-[clears throat]

-Bye, guys.

I'm [bleep] pissed

to be eliminated

in the second episode here.

It's really, really

frickin' frustrating.

-See you guys.

-See you soon.

I feel like...

I'm getting eliminated

for a dish that

was driven by Adrienne's



inspiration and not mine.



♪ ♪

I feel like I still

deserve to be here

because I know

I'm technically

a better cook

than a lot of these people.

And I'm not just saying that

because I have a big ego.

I'm saying it because I have

a [bleep] ton of heart.

♪ ♪

[Padma] Tonight,

it's Claudette's

chance at redemption

in Last Chance Kitchen.

These Top Chef veterans

have already cooked

in two rounds.

-Now they're up against you.

-[chuckles nervously]

[Claudette] This is my time

to cook my food,

-and show what I can do.

-What did I ever do to you?

-I don't know.

Maybe kick me out.

-Oh, it wasn't me.

[Padma] Will the Top Chef

vets take out another victim?

[Padma] Next on Top Chef...

This is a Sudden-Death

Quickfire.

-Behind. Sorry.

-[bleep]

Oh, my God.

-What is that mess?

-Ah, [bleep]

One of you will

go home right here.

Food trucks provide a really

unique testing ground.

Right after being on

Top Chef I opened

my first food truck.

-Right here, right here.

-What do you look

for in a college meal?

Cheese. Carbs!

-Hi, everybody.

-[Rogelio] They're

coming, guys.

-Like already.

-Are you kidding me?

-We gotta move

on these chicken wings.

-I know.

There's nothing you can do to

make chicken wings fry faster.

It looks like everyone

is really enjoying the menu.

No, I think everyone's

hung over. [laughter]

The plancha won't

light either.

-Nothing's working.

-[groans]

One, two, three, cheddar.