15x08 - Restaurant Wars

[bunniefuu]

[Bruce]

It does not get any easier.

[Adrienne] That sucked.

This Judges' Table

was a [bleep] show.

Why did you feel

you couldn't ask for help?

I don't know what you said,

but I felt a little,

like, taken back,

that I shouldn't ask.

No, I got

a different opinion.

I gave you so much help.

[whispering]

It was the same

when you were

on the bottom.

[Carrie]

The hardest part



about Claudette

is watching her throw

other people under the bus



whenever she's on the bottom.

I got behind

because I was helping you.

But I was gonna tag in

to help you as well.

But you didn't.

It felt great up to today.

I feel like

I was just honest.

I don't feel like I threw

anyone under the bus.

♪ ♪

[lively music]

[Padma]

Eight 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 San Pellegrino,

and the coveted title

of Top Chef.

♪ ♪

[solemn music]

So, what do you speculate

is gonna happen today?

Little restaurant w*r,

maybe?

-[Fatima] You think?

-[Bruce]

It's four-on-four, baby.

There are eight of us left

at this point.

Two teams of four.

That can only mean



one thing:

Restaurant Wars.

♪ ♪

[Joseph] Where the hell

are they taking us today?

That's what I'm saying.

Restaurant Wars.

[Claudette] This is what

we've all been waiting for.

♪ Dun-dun-dun ♪

[Joseph] Here we go.

[dramatic music]

We walk into



this huge space,



and it's just empty,



it's pretty raw.



And Padma is standing there



with the Bromberg brothers



from Blue Ribbon.

Hello, chefs.

These guys are

legendary restaurateurs.

We're all waiting



for her to say

It's time

for Restaurant Wars.

[laughter]

Please meet your guest judges

for this round,

Eric and Bruce Bromberg.

Welcome, guys.

-Hey, guys.

-How are you?

Eric and I have

opened up restaurants

from New York

to Los Angeles.

And it surprisingly just never

seems to get any easier.

Chefs, please pull a knife

to determine

who will be team captains.

-Oh.

-Ah.

-[Christopher] Second choice.

-[Carrie chuckling]

[Carrie]

It's scary.



It's a lot of pressure



to pick a team.

There's a lot

of politics here.

Everyone with a blank knife,

please step over

to the side.

Thank you.

Okay, Carrie,

you get first pick.

Who would you like

to join your team?

[dramatic music]

Bruce.

-Wow.

-[laughs]

I used to be the last kid

picked in kickball.

Bruce is so strong.

He's got tons of experience.

And this guy could probably

manage the back of the house

better than anyone



in this whole room.

Okay, Chris,

who's your first choice?

Stache.

[Padma] Mustache Joe.

[Christopher]

I want someone



who's creative,

doing some cutting-edge stuff,

and who can rise above.

Um Joe Flamm.

Yes.

-[Padma] Clean-shaven Joe.

-Clean-shaven Joe.

[Christopher] Fati.

She hasn't been

on the bottom yet.

She might be

a good luck charm.

[Padma] Carrie,

who's your final choice?

[suspenseful music]

Adrienne.

I just saw Claudette



throw Tanya under the bus.

She can go

to the other team.

Restaurant Wars

is already one of

the most challenging parts

of competing on

Top Chef.

And this year, things are

really gonna escalate.

-[laughter]

-Uh-oh.

-That sounds scary.

-Right?

Each team will have

to prepare a three-course meal

with three options per course.

-[whistles]

-Whoa, okay.

That's a total

of nine dishes.

[muttering, laughter]

Great.

Nine dishes.

I don't know how

we're gonna pull this off.

[Padma] We wanted

to make this difficult,

but not impossible.

We've enlisted

a little help for you.

-I knew it.

-[Padma] Little help?

-Yeah!

-[all cheering]

Each team will be allowed

the assistance

of one eliminated chef

to help you

get your dishes out.

Okay, Carrie,

who's it gonna be?

Tyler, please.

Oh, yeah.

The bears are back together.

Yeah!

I can't believe I just

reunited the original bears,

because they're



kind of annoying.

[laughs]

But culinarily,

like, brilliant.

This is brilliant.

We're gonna do so good.

I'll cook my a*s off

for you, chefs.

[Carrie] Welcome back,

welcome back.

Okay, Chris,

who is it gonna be?

♪ ♪

Brother.

Brother, excellent cook.

Been digging his style

all season long.

Good to see you guys.

Good to see you too, man.

And you look good.

-I feel good, I feel good.

-You look rested.

Thank you all.

We miss you.

-Nice to see you.

-Bye, guys! Good luck!

You'll have two days

to design,

conceptualize,

and execute

a restaurant

of your own making.

To help you,

we've invited our friends

from Denver-based Craftsy.

They're design pros,

and they're here to help you

make sure that your space

is as beautiful

as your food should be.

Tyler and Brother,

you'll join your teams

after the shop.

Call it Tyler's Place.

[laughs]

Your menu planning time

starts now.

[exciting music]

Okay, guys,

let's get right to it.

[blows raspberries]

Thoughts

right off the bat?

I think we need to figure out

what we all have in common,

and then get a name,

and then I feel

like everything else

-will fall into place.

-Yeah.

-Common Place.

-Common Place.

We're all very different.

But we meet

in a common place.

Yeah, I like that a lot.

So let's build

a menu around that.

I wanna keep it free enough

to where you're able

to do your thing

and where you're able to do

your thing as well.

[Joe] Well,

I'd almost rather adapt

and not just, like,

me doing pasta,

'cause I can do other things.

Just, like, bold flavors.

I don't think

that's specific enough.

-Yeah, yeah

-That's not a concept.

So, then, do you really--

you want to choose

-an ethnic background?

-Yeah, I do.

I don't want to get

too caught up

in, like, a particular

-Ethnic background?

-Exactly.

[Joe]

I'm a little worried.



Generally, the team



that gets along the best



is the team that wins.

And right off the bat,

we can't agree



on the direction



that we wanna go in.

I think we have our work

cut out for us at this point.

I think that maybe

we should remember

that, like, we're Colorado,

you know what I mean?

So, let's cook

Italian-Mediterranean,

but, like, have, like,

a Colorado-forward concept.

Maybe we should leave

the name to you,

-'cause you're Colorado.

-Yeah.

I was thinking about Conifer,

which is a tree.

But it also refers

to the group of trees.

I like the cleanness of it,

just like [whistles]

[Bruce] Yeah.

Let's get the dishes down.

I feel like I wanna do

my polenta meatballs.

It's a super fast,

easy plate-up,

'cause everything's

pretty much already made.

Just an idea.

Just as an idea.

So under each category,

we should have,

like, a meat, a fish,

maybe a veg option?

I think so. I think it's nice

to have, like, a veg focus,

-especially

for the first course.

-Mm-hmm.

-Do you wanna be FOH and

we'll be your little soldiers?

-I'll do FOH. Yeah.

-Do you wanna be EC?

-All right,

I'll be Exec Chef.

I mean, I wanna cook, though,

is the only thing.

You might have

to manage the pass.

-Pass, yeah.

-Mm.

[Fatima]

What are you thinking in terms

of "small" explain that to me.

Like a little dumpling

-or oysters.

-That's good.

Oyster with, like,

a pea foam on top

That's a easy pickup.

Nice.

I was thinking of

make a donut,

but, like, on the borderline

of sweet and savory.

-[Fatima] Mm-hmm.

-You know, like, maybe

infuse it with beet.

Chocolate and beet

go really well together.

Sounds like we're doing

unexpected things,

-which is nice.

-That's what I wanna do.

-Okay.

-Or interesting techniques

-or styles too.

-All of that.

Okay. The theme of

our food is "unexpected"

-but commonplace.

-But we don't ever

wanna say that.

-Between us.

-That sounds wei-- Okay.

[Claudette] I like that.

I'm super excited



about our concept.



Everyone has their voice,



and we can still do



our own foods,

as long as you have interesting

ingredients and techniques.

Sorry,

jumping backwards.

Executive Chef,

Front of House?

I can do either.

I like you in the front,

and I like you as the chef.

-Me?

-Yeah.

-Okay.

-Okay.

-You're gonna be

on the line?

-Yeah.

I don't wanna become



Executive Chef

and lose my mind

and have everything

just crumble.

I'm great as expo,

so I'm comfortable.

I got full confidence.

I'm lucky to have

Claudette as EC.

She's focused.



And I think that



I'm better suited

managing the whole.

Do you want

pork cheeks for you?

-For the greens and grain?

-Yeah.

Okay, that looks--

that sounds good.

[Claudette]

I think Chris generally

avoids responsibility,

so I wasn't surprised

that he didn't want

the Executive Chef role.

-I'll expo and then, um

-Do a dish?

Well, I was thinking

a couple dishes,

if I do a savory

and a sweet.

In Restaurant Wars,



historically,



it's either



the front of the house



or the back of the house



that goes home.



I'll do the best



that I can with it,

but I don't want

that bad juju on me.

-Claudette.

Nice to meet you.

-Hi. Hi.

Nice to meet you.

So I want to hear

about your restaurant.

Yes, you're helping us

with design?

-We are.

-Yes, we are.

What is the feeling

that you want

when people come sit

in your restaurant?

-[Christopher] Informal.

-Okay.

But, like, hospitable.

[Joe] And I was thinking

really natural colors.

-Plants, wood

-Lots of life.

-[Fatima]

With the ivies, yeah.

-Mm-hmm.

A living wall,

would that be you guys?

-That would be us.

-Awesome.

That's, like,

a focal point we want.

What I'm hearing

is kind of hipster.

-Well, I'm from San Francisco.

-Brooklyn.

Well, hello.

-We're done.

-Okay, bye.

[laughter]

-Hi.

-Hi, how are you?

I'm Laura.

The name of our concept

is Conifer.

It's ingredient-driven,

-a lot of

Mediterranean flavors.

-Okay.

I see the logo

being simple.

There should be some sort

of tree, leafy element

-in it somewhere.

-Tree tones.

Like tree tones?

I don't know if that's a thing.

Greenery is the color

of the year.

And I think,

with your restaurant Conifer,

that's beautiful.

I can't wait to see

what you guys come up with.

So exciting.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[laughter]

Sasto, leave some stuff

for us, okay?

[Fatima]

First, sweet potatoes.

Which one should I get

to make a chip?

Can I do some chicken thighs?

Take the skin off,

give me the skin,

and then grind it?

Yeah.

-So-- yep.

-That one?

All right, cool, that's

♪ What I was thinking ♪

Forty-five minutes, guys!

Doing a hundred portions

of any one dish

-Is a lot.

-In regular service is a lot.

Yeah.

The thing about

Restaurant Wars is,

if you can't execute it,



it's not worth a damn.

So, our idea

is to create dishes

that are kind of

more prep-intensive,

so they're faster

to put out at service.

That is so important,

because we're creating

nine dishes for people.

That's a lot of food.

Here we go.

This is my daily routine.

I'm like an old person

at the mall.

For our first course,

I'm doing a hiramasa crudo.

Bruce is gonna do



a polenta with a meatball.



Carrie's making



a beet salad.

[Bruce] Did you get

peeled garlic already?

-Yeah, I got a [bleep] ton.

-Okay, good.

For the second courses,

Joe wants to make

a duck dish,

Adrienne wants



to make a fish,



and I'm gonna



make pasta,

because that's what I do.

And then,



for the third course,

I can make my apple bacon

upside-down cake.

Adrienne's talking



about making



a toasted white



chocolate cake,



and Carrie's dessert



is a lemon tart



that's deconstructed.

Is this the largest order

you've ever rang up?

Probably is.

-Did we buy enough?

-We got enough.

-[Claudette] No,

we bought enough.

-[laughter]

[intense music]

[laughter]

-Coming in, watch it, Fati.

-Whoa.

-Hey, y'all need some help?

-[Christopher] Yeah!

-Can I jump in?

Can I jump in?

-What's up?

This is gonna be

the mignonette for the oyster.

For Restaurant Wars,

we want to try

to step outside the box.

I've never pickled anything

in kombucha,

but it seems like a cool idea.

Such an inspired young man,

that Joe.

[Joe]

For the first course,

I'm making the oysters

with pea and rhubarb.

What kind of oysters?

Shigokus, Taylor Shellfish,

Washington state.

Fati is making



the tartare.



And I'm making



the chicken purse



with the shitake



and the onion broth.

It's been a while since

I made a dumpling dough.

The chicken purse



is kind of like a pot sticker.

It's kind of like a dumpling.

It's very untraditional.

I wanted to take a risk

with this one.

I'm elbow-deep

in shrimp carcass.

[Fatima] That's where

you like to be, Claudette.

This is where I like to be.

For the second course,

I'm going to do

shrimp and bone marrow,

Joe's making



a ricotta dumpling,



and Chris is doing



a braised pork



and pork shoulder.

Oh, this is gonna be

♪ Delicious ♪

I can keep on going,

or I can put it in a thing

and have it--

It's gritty.

Keep going a little bit more.

Mm-hmm.

The last course is dessert.

Claudette is doing



like a play



on a panna cotta



and a sundae,



and I'm also doing



a yeast doughnut

that's infused

with beet purée

and a chocolate ganache.

That is [bleep] brilliant.

I was just gonna get

those beets.

-Can I go get them for you?

-Sure.

The kale salad



has beets three ways--

just classic roasted beets,

shaved raw beet,

and then I'm also gonna do



a really cool technique



called beet raisins,

where you dehydrate them.

And they literally turn

into, like, a gummy bear.

They're awesome.

It's acceptable

that I'm using a towel?

No, it's great,

thank you.

[Claudette]

The other team



is a really strong team,

minus Adrienne and Carrie.

Comes to no surprise



that those are also



the line cooks.



You know, like, I would never



do a kale salad



at Restaurant Wars.

And Adrienne's dish

is just too boring for me.

I don't have time

to gut the fish,

so I'm just trying

to take the fillets off

-[Tyler] Not easy.

-[Adrienne] No.

-But the fastest way.

-Yeah.

♪ ♪

Hey.

Hey, chefs.

How's it going?

-Hi!

-Whoa!

-How are you?

-How are you? Good.

-What's the name

of the restaurant?

-Ah, Conifer.

-Conifer.

-[Bromberg]

A Colorado thing.

Uh, very good.

And what role

are you playing?

Adrienne and I

are line cook ninjas.

-Yes.

-[Thomas] Got it.

-And who's the Front of House?

-Joe Flamm.

Joe Flamm

in the Front of House? Wow.

-He's more charming

than we are.

-All right, well, good luck.

-Hey, Bruce.

-Chef.

How you feeling about

being Executive Chef

-and running the show?

-I feel great.

I think that we created a menu

that is more intensive

on the prep

than it is

on the execution.

So that service

should go fast.

I'm super confident about

my Front of House manager Joe.

-How did that happen?

-He's a big bear, man.

I mean, who's not

gonna love that guy?

"How you doing?

I'm Joe!"

♪ Duck jus, a whoo-hoo ♪

♪ ♪

[Thomas] Hey, Fatima.

-Hi, Chef, how are you?

-How are things? I'm good.

-What role

are you gonna play?

-I'm front of the house.

How much experience do you

have in the Front of House?

I have a decent amount,

in a very busy Midtown

restaurant in New York.

And what role

are you playing?

-Executive Chef.

-You are?

-You're chef of this thing.

-[Bromberg] All right.

Okay. So why did you

decide to do that?

Um, I was appointed

by our group leader.

-You were appointed?

-[laughs] Yes.

Oh, so the leader didn't take

the responsibility on himself.

There are no egos

on this team.

I know that she's gonna hold

Joe within his reins

and bring out the best

in all of us at the same time.

-Okay. That sounds like a--

-It may be the right call.

-Yeah.

-[Christopher]

Well, I tell you this.

If anything goes wrong,

I take full blame.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-[Adrienne] Bye.

-Bye, guys. Good luck.

Looking forward

to a great service.

Two minutes!

You got some

beet doughnuts.

[Christopher]

I got the greens.

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

-Let's crush 'em tomorrow.

-Hell yeah.

[Carrie] Let's crush.

[Adrienne]

Looking forward to it.

[smooth electronic music]

[Carrie] Did you guys

see any of the food

the other team

was cooking today?

Chris said something

about making a beet doughnut.

I saw a vat fryer full

of [bleep] beef bones.

Yeah,

what was up with that?

Are they doing

a beef marrow course?

[Bruce]

The Common Place,



it's all over the place



as far as flavor profiles.

When you have that much

going on with your food,

things get really muddled



and confusing.

It's crazy he's doing

polenta again.

He says polenta

and meatballs

every single time

he tells the story

of Tom telling him

to make his food.

I definitely feel

like our team

is more creative

than the other team's menu.

Conifer's menu

is kind of boring.

We're just staying honest

to our flavors

and [bleep]

doing a good job.

-It's all about technique.

-Yeah.

Basically,

for the first hour,

we're staggering out

half the reservations

every minutes.

[Bruce] Okay.

It's really important



to pace the reservations.



If all the tickets



come in at the same time,

the servers

are gonna get slammed,

and everything's

gonna be chaotic.

Okay, so we have

an hour fifteen

-to turn the first table.

-Yeah.

I think on

the first turn especially,

it might be good

to send two servers

to go help run food.

I throw in my two cents

about just not,

like, overbooking us,

especially in the beginning



when we're trying



to get our feet under us,

I'm gonna have to really

be on the servers

to get the order in.

And you guys gotta

ball it the [bleep] out.

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

Welcome to Common Place!

Here you go,

here you go, here you go!

[lively music]

♪ ♪

[Fatima] Can I lower

all of your greenery?

You could go

a little bit lower.

And here's your terrariums

that we've done for you.

Beautiful.

This is crunch time.

Everything has been delivered,

but I still need to set up

the entire dining room

and lounge.

[Joe] Did you set up

my lounge yet?

-Nope.

-What have you been doing?

All these for, like,

the smaller vases?

Yeah, would you like me

to arrange them?

-I would love that.

-I used to own a flower shop.

-Oh, yeah?

-I did.

I would love that.

That would be amazing.

Okay, and here's the logo

that we're assembling.

And my thinking is putting it

about right here.

[Joseph] I love it.

And Craftsy just crushed it.

I cannot believe

how they transformed

our space.

Our colors, our vibes



all go together really well.

We might actually have

a restaurant here.

-What do you think?

-[laughter]

-His name's Buddy the Bison.

-That's amazing.

Excuse me, coming through,

hot bison.

[funky bass music]

This dough is feeling great.

Hot caramel,

hot, hot, hot, hot.

It's gonna proof

like a [bleep].

Everything's coming

together great.

Claudette is very involved.

Plastic doesn't matter

if it gets cold.

Metal will hold the cold.

It looks like she's embracing

this challenge.

-[Joe] What do you

need me to do?

-Oysters. All the way.

Oysters? For shucking?

I'm going really ambitious



with three of the nine dishes



on the menu.

Brother's helping me shuck

and prepare all the oysters.

And then once

they're shucked, Brother,

-dip them in ice water.

-Okay.

I knew going into this

that I had a lot to do,

but with Brother's help

and the rest of the team,

we could do

some good food together.

[Brother] I'm just here

to shuck oysters

and have a good time.

[chuckles]

[upbeat electronic music]

[Adrienne]

Try it with some icing.

Really nicely, Adrienne,

really nice.

Oh, [bleep] yeah.

Are you guys the squad?

Welcome to Conifer.

So I'm gonna be hanging out

in the front with you.

Still at my restaurant

to this day,

I have a ton of interaction

with my front

of the house staff.

I do all the trainings

for the menus.

We're gonna have the menus

pre-set on the table

just like that.

I have two hours,

so what I'm gonna focus on

is the hospitality.

If they have water,

if they have wine,

like, we'll be in great shape.

All right, welcome,

service staff.

So, has anyone hosted before?

[sighs]

These servers

are not even close

to as experienced as I would

have hoped they were.

Questions?

So I'm coming back

with every course,

or I'm just coming back

one course at a time?

At a time, yes.

[Joe]

We're in good form today.

I might not eat or drink

or poop or pee,

but I'll be ready.

So how you gonna do

the expo, again?

We're gonna order in

everything,

I'm gonna tell you

the whole ticket,

then I'm gonna fire

second course,

fire third course.

Makes sense.

The red team seems set.

I'm like, "Holy [bleep],



these guys have it together."

-Yes!

-[Brother] Oh!

Must be the mustache.

We got about ten minutes.

[Joseph]

How we looking?

Just finish this for me,

and then I'll take it

from there.

Look at my little

Pakistani princess.

We gonna win.

[exciting music]

-Have fun.

-Thank you so much.

-You look beautiful.

-Thank you.

-[host] Hi, welcome

to Common Place.

-Hi.

♪ ♪

[Fatima] Guys, I'm seating

my first wave of people.

You guys,

the restaurant's open.

Service is starting.

Welcome to Common Place.

Can I grab your name?

-Kate Davis.

-Kate Davis.

Welcome to Conifer.

How we doing tonight?

♪ ♪

-[man ] Beautiful.

-[man ] Beautiful.

First time here,

I take it, huh?

-First time, yes.

-I'm Joe. Jim.

♪ ♪

[glasses clinking,

indistinct chatter]

Chef, we are tables down

in the restaurant.

Thank you, Chef.

-Crudo.

-Okay.

Fire two crudos.

What's "PM"?

Excuse me, is that

meatball, you mean?

[woman]

That's meatball.

Okay, "MB," please. "MB."

Every single server

needs to write their tickets

exactly like that, please.

Okay, this is a finished pasta.

Very nice, Chef,

very nice.

First table out,

right there.

Watch your skin kind of coming

off the fish a little bit.

-[Adrienne] Yeah.

-Careful.

I'm looking



at every single dish,

all the details,

whenever they come up.

As the chef



of this restaurant,



if [bleep] goes down,

I'm the one going home.

Can you re-plate this one,

then? I'm sorry.

Yeah.

[Claudette]

I think Bruce



is just very fussy.

Yeah, these are getting

a little hot.

Being that control freak,

I mean, that's an old-school

way of being.

And I'm not gonna do that.



We're all chefs.

You know,

you wipe your own a*s.

You're responsible

for your own plate.

No mean people here.

Come on.

♪ ♪

Thank you.

♪ ♪

-Hello.

-Hi.

Welcome to Conifer.

I need three meatballs

from you, please.

Heard.

Looks good.

Not bad for two days.

I like what

you did here, Joe.

I like the bison head there.

Is bison on the menu?

Bison is not

on the menu tonight,

-just on the walls.

-Got it, okay.

-Enjoy.

-[Padma] Thank you.

What do you guys think

of the name, Conifer?

It feels appropriate

to the location.

I like it.

[Bromberg] The logo's clean.

No pun intended,

but it feels

a bit rooted, right?

[laughs]

[bleep], there's no table

number on this ticket.

I got a ticket right here

with no table number.

-Four top, it's right here.

-The four top,

all right, let's go.

I know where it is.

This is gonna be table .

I have judges down,

table .

All right, I need five

of everything, please.

Okay, I got a full board

of tickets, you guys.

We got to push

these tables out.

-Love you, Bruce.

-Mm-hmm.

This is probably one

of the nicest menus we've had,

if not the nicest.

[Gail] It feels very

American, contemporary.

Yeah, I agree.

There's an obligatory

kale salad.

There's some people

eating already?

There's several tables eating.

Yo, talk to me, chef.

We're struggling

a little bit,

just letting you know.

When you get a flood

of tickets in all at once,

you have to be able

to get the food out.

That's why I really wanted



to pace the reservations.

-Fire meatball, fire kale.

-Meatball, kale.

Meatball, kale. Chef,

we can take all the bass.

Word.

But it didn't happen.



Kitchen is just slammed.

The only option we have

is to just power through this.

These are judges'.

Can you taste, please?

That's gonna get topped

with parm,

lemon, and olive oil still.

-Money?

-Yeah.

[Thomas]

Yeah, here we go.

[Gail] Thank you.

Right in front of you firstly

is our hiramasa crudo.

On top, a little bit



of diced cucumber,



pickled green almonds,



neonata oil over the top



mixed with olive oil



and lemon juice.



-

[Thomas]

Is this your dish?



-Yes, sir.

Next to that

is Carrie's dish.

It is a kale salad.



The beets



are done three ways--



raisined, roasted,



and pickled.

This is Chef Bruce's

braised pork meatballs

in tomato amatriciana sauce



over polenta

and toasted bread to finish.

Enjoy.

I like Joe's crudo.

It's clean.

The neonata oil is flavorless.

Mm-hmm.

I want fishy, briny, salty.

Yeah, it needs something

to bring it all together.

The fish is beautiful fish.

You okay with

that amount of sauce?

Yeah, that'll be good.

Carrie's salad

is seasoned perfectly.

Mm-hmm.

I'm gonna totally

steal this idea

-to raisin a beet ball.

-I love that.

♪ ♪

I think Bruce's polenta

is kind of ridiculously good.

-The seasoning is Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Polenta was really good.

-Delicious.

-Simple but really flavorful.

-It was just so, like, yummy.

-This is really safe food.

-[Gail] Yeah.

It appeals

to a lot of people.

It's crowd-pleasing.

If this is a restaurant that

you want people to come to,

you want to do lots of volume,

you want something

for everybody,

this is a great start.

-You're one of the chefs?

-Yes.

What are you responsible for?

So I-- actually, the dish

you're eating right now.

-That's my duck dish.

-Really good.

Actually,

Joe's good at table.

He's like a natural.

Listening to him talk,

yeah, he's good.

He's actually going to

the tables to talk to people.

Can I get you

a little more red?

-That'd be great, yeah.

-Yeah.

What it doesn't seem like

is that this is the first day

that this restaurant opened.

Thank you so much.

It was so nice to meet you.

[apprehensive music]

Who put table ?

-That's mine.

-There's no .

My servers

are trying very hard.

Let me switch this out

for you.

-Oh, okay.

-No problem.

My servers are

a little bit confused today.

I'm really trying to make sure

I keep an eye on everything.

I'm gonna send this back.

-Oh, you didn't like it?

-It wasn't hot at all.

Oh, no, I'm sorry,

let me see

if I can get you

another one, if that's okay.

-I really appreciate that.

-Absolutely.

Chef, can I get

a nudie ASAP?

He said it wasn't hot.

Yes, Chef.

Nudie, ASAP.

Okay, this is table now.

This is very hot.

-[groans]

-These are getting too hot.

Yeah, I'm trying

to move 'em.

You never want to put hot food



on a cold plate.

However, above the oven,

they're getting hot as hell.

Seven bass, sweet.

If the sauce



sticks to the plate,



it could have, like,



a webbed look to it,

or it could

kind of cook a little bit.

-Bass right behind you, Chef.

-[Bruce] Thank you.

Judges' table.

These are hot, guys.

♪ ♪

Just the right timing.

So, to start

our second course,

this is our duck dish.

This is mine.



Roasted duck breast



over a little bit



of corn purée,



duck jus over the top,

and roasted apricots.

This is Chef Bruce's.

It's a roasted red pepper

orecchiette

with a house-made



lamb sausage,



fava beans,



pea shoots in there,

-and fava shoots as well.

-[Eric] Thank you.

The last thing we have

for you is Chef Adrienne's

Colorado sea bass over



a little bit of wheat berries



and pickled cauliflower



over the top.

-Mmm.

-Thank you.

The duck is delicious.

-Yeah, it's evenly cooked.

-[Thomas] Not too rare.

I also like the skin.

I think Joe put together

a really nice dish here.

[Bromberg] I think there's

a lot of outstanding flavors

in Bruce's dish.

Everybody's loving

everything so far.

We're doing really good, guys.

We keep this pace,

we'll be in really

great shape.

We're bangin'.

♪ ♪

This, uh, purée thing

over here is just god-awful.

I think the issue

with Adrienne's dish

is that the plate

is so smoking hot,

it literally cooked

and dried out

her two sauces underneath.

Why would you taste that

and think this is a good thing

to put on a plate?

[slow electronic music]

[Fatima]

Ladies, would you like

some rosé while you wait?

-Oh, sure, thank you so much.

-Great. Thank you.

Thank you for being patient.

We're halfway through service,

and there's definitely

a wait now,

and that wait is worrying.

I just have ladies

who are sitting there staring.

Offer 'em another c*ck

in the lounge.

-Play Jenga.

-I did already.

I'm gonna try

and push them out, guys.

I'm just waiting for the judges

to show up now.

I'm really trying to make sure



that we flip some tables



before they show up

so there isn't a huge line.

You're free, free to go.

Can we walk lemon curd

for judges?

Carefully, carefully.

Just carry them

one in each hand.

For your first dessert

this evening,

this is Chef Bruce's



apple upside-down cake



with a little bourbon glaze



on top.

For your next dessert,

this is Chef Carrie's

lemon curd,

sugar cookie, mint gelee

in there as well.

The last dessert this evening

is Chef Adrienne's

caramelized white chocolate



buttermilk cake



with crème fraiche ice cream



on top.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

[Padma]

What do you think

of Bruce's cake?

[Gail] It's not a pretty cake.

But I really love it.

It's so homey,

and it's not too sweet.

♪ ♪

[Bromberg]

I think Carrie's idea

of deconstructing

the lemon bar

is a cool concept.

I like it.

The lemon's nice and tart.

-Can I get a slice

in your knife real quick?

-Yeah, take it.

Adrienne's dish is actually

my favorite dessert.

It is my favorite dessert

as well, yeah.

Yeah, that caramel

and roasted chocolate flavor

really comes through.

-It really does come through.

-Really nice.

[Carrie]

Ooh, that looks amazing.

Okay, we're doing okay,

we're doing okay.

[Joseph]

Push me desserts,

because I got to get

these tables out

-to get my next turn out.

-Heard.

Overall, I think Conifer

did a really nice job.

There are two weak dishes,

in my book.

There's one or two

kind of in the middle.

There's a couple standouts.

And I think service

was beautiful.

All right, let's go try

the other restaurant.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Nice to see you.

-Thank you so much for coming.

-Thank you so much.

[Fatima] We have to

clear a few tables,

because we have

more people to seat.

[exciting music]

[Eric] So, is this, like,

a little waiting lounge here or

[Gail]

It seems to be, yes.

-Hi, guys.

-Hello.

-Welcome to Common Place.

-Thank you.

Okay, guys, I've got judges

being placed for first course.

-Thank you, Chef.

-[Fatima] Five of everything.

-[Thomas] Hello.

-Good evening, judges.

[Padma] Hi.

Common Place

is essentially a place

where people

who are very different

come together

with similar food,

a thought process, and ideas.

How's everything

been going tonight?

-So far, so good.

-You have a big wait.

[Fatima]

We do have a big wait.

A lot of people are

straggling a little bit.

I'm about to flip

five tables right now,

so we'll have everyone in.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

This restaurant

definitely feels

more casual than the last one.

It feels like someone's

gonna break out

into "Everybody Knows

Your Name," you know?

-It's like

Cheers.

-Almost.

The oyster sounds great.

Looking forward to that.

It seems more ambitious

a menu than Conifer.

Yeah, I like the graphics,

I like the layout.

I like the logo.

I'm a little bit confused

about the people, food,

and the ideas part.

Yeah, me too.

Porks are ready?

-Porks are ready to go.

-Thank you.

[Christopher]

I call it grains,

greens, and pork.

[chuckles]

[Bruce]

Looking at the plates



that the other team



was putting out,



they were a bit more



elaborate and creative,



but Claudette's



not tasting as you go.

Even if something

does look beautiful

doesn't mean

it tastes that way.

Little bit more stock,

a little too tight.

-And then try to plate it

more like that.

-More stock. Heard.

All right, let's go.

Thank you.

Judges, so you have

a top round tartare

with three pepper aioli



and sweet potato chips.

-And who made

the tartare dish?

-I did.

And this is

our shigoku oysters

with a little bit



of spring pea foam



and a kombucha pickled rhubarb



underneath.

-And the oysters?

-That was Joe.

This is the chicken purse.

It's a charred spring onion



and chicken broth.



This is also Joe Sasto's.

Enjoy very much,

and I'll come back

in a little while.

-Thank you, Fatima.

-Thank you.

Fatima's tartare

needs more of everything.

I can tell just by looking

at them, the chips are burnt.

I think the work on Fatima's

beef is really nice.

-It's chopped evenly.

-Hand-chopped tartare.

It's nicely done.

It has a texture to it.

♪ ♪

[Gail]

Joe's oysters are

sort of flavorless.

The foam on top

is throwing the dish.

Joe's purse, the stuffing

-has some flavor.

-Mm-hmm.

It didn't steam long enough,

so it's very tough.

Like, they're doing

really well.

We're doing really well.

-We're just all

really good chefs.

-[Christopher] Yeah.

[Padma] Well, let's see

what we have coming.

Bone marrow and shrimp.

I remember

when we first started

doing bone marrow in New York,

no one knew what it was.

It was cents a pound

in .

-[Thomas] Nice.

-Amazing.

What is it, $, $

now a pound, for bones?

-All right.

-All right.

Ah, thank you.

This is Chef Claudette.

We've got a bone marrow



with blue prawns,



a little bit of avocado purée,

tomatillos, chilis,

a little bit of peanuts.

And this is Joe Sasto's.

So these are ricotta dumplings

with three different kinds



of mushrooms,

charred broccoli,

and broccoli flowers.

And this is Chris's dish.

We've got a pork shoulder,



a pork cheek



that's been braised,

with a grain cake

and a horseradish cream.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

[Padma] I will say,

the presentation

on Claudette's dish

is beautiful.

I think the bone marrow was

just cooked in with the ragout.

-It is.

-[[Bromberg] It just

kind of went away.

If you heat bone marrow

beyond a certain point,

-it turns to nothing.

-Right, it just melts away.

It feels like we're

in an actual restaurant, huh?

Like it's actual service.

Joe's ricotta dumplings

have a beautiful texture,

but they are so rich.

The only counterpoint

I'm getting

is actually burnt

mushroom flavor.

[Joe] This isn't like

regular Restaurant Wars

where, like, one team

just goes down.

That's a wonderful

[bleep] thing.

Chris's pork cheeks

are nicely cooked.

I think they're salty

as can be.

But I love Chris's

purple mustard greens.

There's a nice freshness

to them.

[Claudette]

Two doughnuts, Chris.

[Christopher]

I heard that.

Like so.

That's what I want.

[Padma]

What is the idea

of this restaurant?

I haven't grasped

onto yet, right?

On the service side,

Fatima,

she wasn't as nearly

as present as Joe was.

I don't see her

going to the tables

and food being dropped

to make sure

everything's okay.

She's interacting

with the servers,

but she's not interacting

with the guests.

[Christopher] Five doughnuts

for the judges, right there.

-[Thomas]

That's a lot of doughnut.

-This is Chris's dish.

What you have



is a beet doughnut



with chocolate cream sauce,



and it is served with



a beet fennel chutney.

This is a sundae,

and this is Claudette.

It's got a little bit



of financier,



which is the little sponge,



with a berry sauce



and smoked,



toasted almonds on top.

Last but certainly not least,

you have the skyr pudding.

It's got a little bit



of miso chickpea in it,



with a white chocolate



caramelized crumble on top,

with pickled cherries.

And this is Claudette.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much, enjoy.

Chris's doughnuts

are nice and light.

I think it's nice and light,

but there's zero

beet flavor in it.

Yeah, it would have been

really cool

if you had, like, beet jelly

and piped it in.

-[Christopher]

Joe, you okay?

-I'm cruising.

My man.

I like the flavors

in this sundae by Claudette.

I just can't get past

the grayness of the ice cream.

The financier is undercooked,

and the ice cream is over-spun.

The temperature is really

throwing me on this last dish.

It's kind of like

a little bit warmer

than room temperature somehow.

-Who made this?

-[all] Claudette.

All the dishes from Conifer

worked well together.

There weren't



competing ingredients.

And here, it was hard

to find a dish

that made it full circle

Because I don't think

they had a concept.

I feel like the term

"ideas coming together"

is really their way of saying,

"We're all really different.

We don't really

get along in the kitchen,

so we're just gonna do

our own thing

and put them all together."

How'd you guys

think it went?

[Fatima] From what I could tell,

honestly, it was really good.

But a lot of the diners,

towards the end of it,

and especially when the judges

were coming in, wanted to stay.

That middle push was crazy,

but it was good.

-[Carrie] It was good.

-[Bruce] Loved it.

Let's get back

to Judges' Table

and see how it went for them.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

This is clearly

one of the toughest

challenges of the season,

and you guys exceeded

expectations with that.

There was one restaurant

that did better today.

♪ ♪

Conifer.

Yes!

-Oh, my God!

-[Bruce] Jesus.

[Carrie] Oh, my God.

-Congratulations.

-[exhales]

[laughter]

I think your guys' cohesion

and your concept came through

from the minute

we walked into the restaurant.

Bruce, you were obviously

in control of the kitchen,

and I think it came across.

Really did not feel

like a first night.

That's huge.

-How was today for you, Joe?

-I was having fun.

It was clear that

you were having fun.

It really was.

Every single table

got a greeting from you.

That's good service.

That's great hospitality.

I think Danny Meyer

once said to me,

"People come to a restaurant

for the food,

-but they come back

for the hospitality."

-I actually said that but

Tom Colicchio

said that to me.

-I actually said that.

-That was Tom.

[laughter]

[Gail] Maybe he learned it

from Danny Meyer.

Maybe you learned it

from Danny.

Let's talk about

some of the dishes.

How many people

were involved in this duck?

It was my dish,

um, and then Adrienne

was picking it up for me.

Adrienne, I thought that duck

was cooked beautifully.

Another dish that I loved

and thought

was really appropriate,

almost understated,

was Carrie's kale salad.

Those beet raisins

are my new favorite thing.

Yeah, what's up

with those beet raisins?

This was a rushed version

of the adult gummy bear.

Bruce, it's a very,

very good meatball.

The polenta, as you know,

is off the charts.

Sauce worked out nicely.

Thank you.

There was one dish

we didn't care for,

um, and that was,

Adrienne, your bass dish.

It was kind of a mess.

It didn't seem like

the same person

who cooked the duck

made that dish.

We did, however,

really like your cake.

[Bromberg]

It was my favorite dessert.

Bruce, as one

of the guest judges,

please announce our winner.

There was one person

who really pushed

the experience

just over the top for us.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Joe, way to be.

[cheers and applause]

[cheerful music]

I cannot believe

I just won Restaurant Wars.

You know, it's not



winning it all,

but winning Restaurant Wars

is pretty special too.

This is my first win



in an elimination.

It feels unbelievable.

Your two dishes were

really just spectacular.

And, again, your service

was as good as I've seen

in a lot of restaurants.

Thank you, thank you,

thank you.

Congratulations.

There's one more thing, though.

As the winner

of Restaurant Wars,

your team just won

$,.

Holy [bleep]!

[laughter]

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

You can thank

our friends at Craftsy,

because they're the ones

who are awarding you this prize.

I love Craftsy.

They're my favorite.

Common Place,

please step forward.

[apprehensive music]

♪ ♪

If I was taking out a friend

to your restaurant

and they said, "Well,

what kind of food is it?"

I really wouldn't know

what to tell them.

You heard us rave

about Joe's service,

and you heard us talk about

how he touched every table.

I didn't see you

touching tables.

I definitely touched

every table.

I'm surprised that

you didn't see that.

Okay, good to know.

Joe, today all your dishes

were not up to par, frankly.

The dough

on the chicken purse

was hard to chew.

When you cut into it,

the filling just

popped right out.

Yeah.

The ricotta dumplings.

The dish itself was beautiful

when it came to the table.

Unfortunately, the mushrooms

were a little bit burnt

and bitter.

♪ ♪

[Thomas] So, I'll point out

a bunch of things right now

that someone

should have picked up.

Garlic chips were burnt

on the tartare.

Horseradish sauce didn't

have much horseradish.

Claudette,

your bone marrow dish,

the bone marrow

was all melted into it.

It was gone.

Even the fat didn't taste

very bone marrow-y.

[Padma] Claudette,

you had two desserts.

The skyr and the sundae.

The ice cream had

a real graininess to it.

As the Executive Chef,

did you not taste everything?

I didn't get

to taste everything, no.

You know, it is Chris's team.

I was just gonna

execute service

as Executive Chef.

[tense tone]

[Thomas]

You're an Executive Chef

in your restaurant.

You know that's not

an expediting role.

-Right.

-You know

what that role means.

So the question is,

why didn't you want

to take the responsibility?

Chef, these are things

that I should have looked at.

It's my team.

I mean, that's

[Christopher] And I'm the one

that feels responsible.

But you put her in the role

of Executive Chef.

Willingly, she took the role.

[Christopher]

You know, it's just like,

the roles that I put

the people in,

in your opinion,

we didn't do so well.

-Do you want to go home?

-I don't.

But I just want to be real,

and I want to be able

to own up to it.

Thank you,

that'll be all for now.

[Carrie]

Yeah, Joe Flamm.

Yeah, whoo!

-Dude.

-[Carrie] k*lling it.

[Joseph]

That was all you guys.

[groans]

Chris, I think that

you pulling the knife

out of that block didn't mean

that you're the one

who's eliminated

if your team

is on the bottom.

You don't have

to carry this weight.

Not even [bleep] close.

[clears throat]

My thoughts on Claudette

get clouded a little bit,

because her bone marrow dish

which didn't really



have bone marrow,



but we all thought



it was a good-tasting dish.

No, we all didn't think

it was good.

-I did not.

-[laughs]

Joe also made

three bad dishes.

That chicken purse

was so hard to eat.

Not only was Fatima's

Front of House performance

nowhere near the level

that Joe's was,

the only other thing she did

was that tartare.

And it was also not a perfect



tartare by any means.

But those garlic chips were

a point of contention

for all of us.

Chris's pork dish

was a tad bit salty.

I thought the dish



didn't need that cream sauce.

It made the dish

really heavy.

[Gail]

During your walkthrough,

did Claudette own the fact

that she was

Executive Chef then?

Yeah, she did.

Yeah, she did.

-Oh.

-She was glowing

when she said,

"Executive Chef."

[Joseph] Did you not want

to be Executive Chef?

I just didn't want

the responsibility of

Like, after coming

off of the Olympics,

like, I was beat.

[Bruce] Well, you should

have said that you don't

wanna do it, though.

As soon as she

was going down,

she said, "Whoa, I was

just expediting."

But Chris kept taking

all the responsibility,

so it was very easy

for Claudette

to not feel like she

had to take it herself.

All of these chefs

had major problems.

Any of them could go home

for their performance tonight.

That is true.

[tense music]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

You had the kernel

of a very, very good idea.

Unfortunately, it's all about

executing that idea.

♪ ♪

Claudette

♪ ♪

-Please pack

your knives and go.

-Thanks.

[Padma] You can say

your good-byes, Claudette.

[solemn music]

That'll be all, thank you.

♪ ♪

Don't feel bad about it, dude.

Thank you, man.

[Claudette]

The judges were wrong.

I hope that they're kicking

themselves in the a*s for this.

I feel like once I came back

from

Last Chance Kitchen,

I definitely stuck to my g*ns

and my flavors.

It's really pathetic,



because I know



that the flavors



that I'm bringing



and my story is unique.



If

Top Chef

wants

a vanilla "Top Chef,"

doing a good job.

♪ ♪

[Adrienne]

My hands are shaking.

This is a Sudden Death

Quickfire Challenge.

-Whew!

-Oh, [bleep].

Quite honestly, right now,

I'm just trying to not go home.

[Padma] Time's up!

[dramatic music]

[Thomas] Welcome

to the Denver Broncos

Super Bowl tailgating party

with

Top Chef.

No pressure, right?

Everything was great.

Everything?