02x01 - Into the Fire

[bunniefuu]

[music playing]

"Top Chef" is back.

Woo!

The competition that
shows what really goes on

behind the kitchen door.

Extreme pressure, intense
passion, ruthless competition.

No one wants to be around you.

You're a self-centered,
heartless little [bleep]

And of course, beautiful food.

We've reduced thousands of applications

down to a short list of 15 of
the country's most talented

up-and-coming chefs.

Observing our chefs in the kitchen

is our head judge, Tom Colicchio.

Right now, you're not looking too good.

Also at the judges' table,

food and wine magazine, Gail Simmons.

That dish made me nauseous.

And I'm Padma Lakshmi,
host, cookbook author,

and a lifetime lover
of all things culinary.

Each week, one chef will be asked

to pack their knives and go,

until four remain to fight it out

at the "Top Chef" finale in Hawaii.

At stake for the winner,

a state-of-the-art Kenmore Pro kitchen,

furnished by Sears.

An editorial feature in
"Food & Wine" magazine.

A chance to showcase their culinary talent

at the 25th anniversary
"Food & Wine" classic in Aspen.

$100,000 to kick-start
their culinary career,

furnished by the makers of
the GLAAD family of products.

And the title of "Top Chef."

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I'm Josie Smith-Malave.

I'm a sous chef at a place in Brooklyn

called Marlo & Sons.

I'm the chef's hit man.

That's my better half, Kaitlyn.

Oh no, Josie is the next "Top Chef."

And it's winning.

I'm Betty Fraser.

I used to be an actress,

and actresses always worked as waitresses.

So then I learned how to cook.

I own an award-winning
restaurant in Los Angeles.

$100,000 can go a long way.

♪ ♪

My name is Elon Hall.

I'm 24 years old.

I'm a top chef 'cause I
want to win $100,000.

I want to be in food and wine.

I want to be famous.

I got dibs.

Where do I want to go?

Todd Bunk, I think is a good way to go.

My name is Marcel Vigneron.

I'm best at avant-garde
molecular gastronomy.

I bring something different to the table,

and I came here to be the next "Top Chef."

Oh, who's this guy?

I need to stake my claim.

♪ ♪

It's really nice to be here with you.

Oh yeah.

You can say that now.

No, come on!

We all want to win, but we're not gonna.

I am Elia Avonbrad.

I'm a room chef at
Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

I was born in Mexico.

They think that cooking is for girls

that want to get married
and never work again,

but smart people decide
to do what they like to do,

not what the world thinks.

I think I was supposed
to be in the girls' room,

but they screwed me.

My name is Sam Talbot.

I was one of the youngest executive chefs

in New York City, and
I know the "Top Chef."

I'm gonna take my career to the next level.

♪ ♪

Hey, Mike. -Cliff. Nice to meet you.

Cliff. Nice to meet you, dude. -What's up?

Can you bring some nice knives?

Whatever I have.

You want to see mine?

The first person that I
meet is this guy, Marcel.

He wants to show me his knives.

I mean, I want to smack him.

I guess we'll be showing
each other our [bleep]

Cell-block H?

Yeah, something like that.

My name is Frank Terzoli.

I'm an executive chef at Heat Restaurant

in San Diego, California.

You brought earplugs?

Those are for you, not for me.

I brought goggles, swimsuit, bustier,

whatever you need.

I came prepared.

My name is Marisa Churchill.

I have held the position
of executive pastry chef

in two of San Francisco's top restaurants.

Do I use my sexuality to my advantage?

Damn right.

I use everything to my advantage

that I can use to my advantage.

This is gonna be quite an adventure.

It really is.

We can be sisters.

Oh!

My name is Sujai Steinhauer.

I live in New York City.

[applause]

I've been bulimic for many years.

So I got into food as a way
to heal my eating disorder.

It'd be super exciting
to win the Top Chef title.

Oh, look at it, man.

My wife put some panties in my [bleep]

My name is Michael Midgley Jr.

I'm a line cook at a restaurant.

I want to own a sports bar and grill.

You know, I want people
to come there for the food.

A lot of people have definitely
a lot more experience than me.

But I got ba*ls, so I'm
ready to rock and roll.

What up, what up?

How's it going, guys?

What's up, man? How are you?

Has anybody met the girls yet?

There they are!

Ladies!

At first glance, people were
kind of looking at different people,

trying to judge, you know,
what's this person like,

what's this person like,
what's this person like?

I just got my first four-star review,

so I was really excited about that.

My name is Carlos Fernandez.

I own the High Life Cafe with Chuck Smith.

My life partner for the last 12 years.

I'm self-taught.

People that have that culinary degree

look down on people that are self-taught.

That's why I came here to compete.

I know I can do it.

I just want everybody
else to say, "You did it."

I cook for Cowboys, so, you know,

if I brought out some foie gras,
they'd just flip the plate on me.

My name is Mia Gaines-Alt.

I am married. I have three girls at home.

We opened Feed the
People Catering a year ago,

and my mom and my husband

are holding the torch
for me while I'm here.

I'll put the $100,000 back
into my business if I win.

You kind of start to, in your mind,

think about who these people might be

and what their abilities might be.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Padma Lakshmi.

Welcome to the Kenmore Kitchen.

As you can see, it's outfitted with

state-of-the-art Kenmore Pro appliances

as well as Cathlon cookware.

I'm here with Chef Tom Colicchio,

who is, of course, our head judge,

and our winner from
season one, Harold Dieterle,

who will be our guest judge for this round.

I know everybody's
excited to start cooking,

but first, a little housekeeping.

I am not the chef here,
and I'm not your mentor.

I am the head judge.

I will be making trips into the kitchen,

asking questions, and observing you.

I will take those observations
back to the judges' table

and share them with the other judges.

Good luck. Thank you.

To earn the title of Top
Chef means surviving

a total of 12 rounds of challenges.

First, a quick-fire challenge

that provides immunity from elimination,

and then the elimination challenge,

where each week, one of you will
have to pack your knives and go.

So round one is all
about technique and talent.

Your first quick-fire challenge
involves both quickness and fire.

You have to create a flambe dish.

You're allowed to use any of
the alcohol you see over there.

You can also use any
other ingredient you see

in the Top Chef pantry.

Flambe is you take a liquid
with a high alcohol content,

and you simply pour
that liquid into the pan,

tip it toward the gas flame,
that way they will ignite.

Flambe wasn't a technique that
I learned at my culinary school.

I was kind of a little bit nervous.

You have 20 minutes to prepare your dish.

Your time...

starts now.

Big kitchen, 15 chefs,
everybody trying for this one goal,

to win immunity and earn
$1,000 at the end of the road.

There's some serious competition in there.

I love fire. I'm all about flambe.


to get too fancy and blow it,

so I just played it totally safe.

I look forward to flambe. It's a big show.

You get a lot of flavor, a lot of heat.

I've always kind of thought about
bananas and avocados together.

I wanted to try and wow the judges.

I have my own pride at stake.

Definitely adrenaline's going.

Every single part of
your brain is just firing off,

and you're like, "Oh, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

Okay, chefs, you have 5 minutes left.

Whoo!

Whoo!

Whoo!

I had a little problem with the flambe

because I chose red wine to flambe.

You have less than 10 seconds.

I was actually surprised
that Elia used red wine.

It doesn't have a high alcohol content,

so obviously you're not
going to get the huge flames

billowing out of your satay pan.

Okay, stop cooking!

Okay, Harold, let's go taste all this food.

All right, let's go check it out.

Tell us about the dish you're doing.

I've got some corn chips with
some caramelized bananas,

vanilla ice cream with
a rum liqueur on top.

Get in there, Harold.

Oh, yeah, I'm all about it.

Little c*ck, huh?

Hi, Elia. Hi.

I did a dessert, fresh strawberries

that I reduced with a little
bit of balsamic vinegar.

So did you use the red wine to flambe?

I used the red wine to flambe.

I made a spicy coconut curry
sauce with steamed mussels.

How do you suggest I
incorporate the jalapeno pepper

and the chilies in there,
or is that just garnish?

Purely garnish.

I'm going to go with a
chunky mango-avocado salsa.

I was just psyched when the flame went up,

and I was like, awesome, like,
you know, I've just done flambe.

I can taste the flambe in it.

This dish is shrimp sautéed
in an espresso syrup.

It's finished with a hazelnut
roasted peanut taste.

What's the liqueur you used?

Sambuca, sambuca espresso syrup.

Awesome, thank you. Thank you.

Okay, Harold, what did you think?

I thought overall everybody
did a really nice job.

Everybody used a lot of seasonal
ingredients, which I personally dig.

So there are 3 dishes that I
wasn't terribly crazy about.

First off, Carlos. I'm not
about non-functional garnishes.

Ellia, I didn't get the dish at all.

This was supposed to
be a flambe competition.

I'm not sure why you went with red wine.

And third, Sujay.

It's just I thought it could have
been ex*cuted much better.

It really lacked any type of seasoning,

and I thought the shrimp
were a little undercooked.

Okay, Harold, now for the good news.

The good news, the first dish was Sam.

The dish was out of control.

You know, the flavor
profiles were right on.

Thank you.

Next, Emily.

Pork with apples, it was like eating at
the Deidre Residence back in the heyday.

Thank you.

Betty. Everything was really spot on,

and I wanted to sit down
and eat the whole bowl.

I love you.

Okay, Harold, who's the winner?

The winner of the
quick-fire challenge is...

Sam.

Congratulations.

When Harold said you won the
quick-fire challenge, beyond stoked.

I mean, it's awesome.
It's an awesome feeling.

Congratulations, Sam.

You're the only one who cannot
be eliminated in the next challenge.

The fact that I was one of the worst
in the challenge made me really sad.

Tomorrow, it's a different
day, it's a different challenge.

I'm gonna make my best, and
we'll see what the judges have to say.

In the meantime, go back
to your loft, get some rest,

'cause you're gonna need it.

It's been a long day.

It's time to break out the
beer and the wine and relax.

I always like to say, chefs are
like rock stars without the budget.

Why not?

[laughs]

[cheers]

We all had some beers toasted,

and Mike had a couple more
beers and got a little more toasted.

Frank, you have a look
of concern on your face.

I'm glad he doesn't sleep with me.

I'm not gonna sleep.

Houston, we have incoming.

Good night, everybody.

You guys locking me out?

I didn't like the flavors at all.

You could be my best
friend. It doesn't matter.

I came here to win this competition.

If it was a demeanor competition,
Marcel would be going home first.

Great. Knife goes right into my fingers.

[dial tone]

Morning, Michael.

What's up?

I think the chefs think I'm a little crazy.

We partied last night.

My mama only hit me once, just once.

Maybe she shouldn't have
hit you in a couple more times.

Oh, no.

Getting hot in here.

Marcel, he instigates
problems for no reason.

If it was a demeanor competition,
he would be going home first.

It's not about relationships.

This is about the food.

You could be my best
friend. It doesn't matter.

I came here to win this competition.

Hello, chefs.

Today we're joined by Judge Gail
Simmons from Food & Wine magazine.

This is the Kenmore Pro
Elimination Challenge.

It's your opportunity to show that
you have the talent to be top chef.

You're going to divide into
two groups, black and orange.

Choose a knife from the knife block,

and then go and stand with your group.

These boxes contain five ingredients.

Your challenge is to create
a delicious and original dish

with the Kenmore Pro appliances,

using all five ingredients.

Orange group,

you'll be cooking first.

Black group, you'll taste their food

and vote for your two favorite
and two least favorite dishes.

So that means your fellow competitors

will decide who goes to the judges' table.

Unbelievable.

We had to cook for the orange team.

They're the toughest critics.

You're cooking for other
chefs, and they know food.

Black group, you can
take it easy for a while.

Orange group, you guys have two hours

to create tasting portions

for the black group
and for our four judges.

Your time starts now.

Break an egg.

When I open the box, there's snails,

processed cheese, potatoes,
artichokes, and some peanuts.

What the hell am I going to do with peanuts

when I've got a couple of artichokes?

Oh, [bleep]

The artichokes totally threw me.

The peanuts totally threw me.

I wasn't sure that I was going
to be able to put it together.

So quiet in here.

Wait until the last 5 minutes,
and it won't be so quiet.

Knowing that I came in
the bottom in the quickfire,

coming into the elimination challenge,

I was just thinking, I'm
not going to be eliminated.

I'm not.

I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Very important... must refrigerate cheese

when using cheese products.

Keep it simple, make
it taste good, stay alive.

Are you all right? -No.

Sujai, she was very
emotional, the whole thing.

I felt very bad.

The elimination challenge
obviously is very important,

because if I lose this
one, I could be going home.

Artichokes and potatoes here
are like the nice ingredients.

This one's a little bit more awkward.

Great.

I'm trying to focus on what I'm doing.

Knife goes right into my fingers.

I don't know what I'm doing over
there, so might as well help you out.

This is what happens when
pastry chefs have sharp knives.

Pain, no problem. I'm
not worried about that.

It's taking time out of
me getting my dish done.

How we doing? -Oh, let's see here.

Pastry chef with a sharp knife.

That's always a dangerous thing.

Maybe when this is all over, Chef,
you can give me a little knife lesson.

Keep your fingers out of the way.

Hi, Elia. -Hello, Chef.

How do you feel about the ingredients?

I hate cheese.

I didn't know what to do
with the American cheese.

It's just this funky
product that shouldn't exist,

but we had to use this.

Hey, Michael. What are
you doing with the snails?

I'm just gonna saute
them up with garlic butter,

hit them with a little peanut pesto.

The artichokes, I kind of overcooked them,

so I just made a little
artichoke cheese dip.

Good luck. -Thanks, man.

You gotta impress your
competitors as well as the judges,

so hopefully you can do that.

Hi, Chef. -Hey, Sushi. How you doing?

I am doing absolutely terribly.

I would say I have never
cooked so badly in my life.

My only thing that could work in my favor

is that somebody else
freaks out more than I do.

Do you think it's a good idea to tip
your hand right now and let me know this?

Possibly, but you know what?
I don't know what else to say.

All right, Chef, we have
about 13 minutes left.

Definitely a lot of nervous back there.

What really kind of throws this
thing off is the processed cheese.

Whoever sort of tries to figure out
how to incorporate that has an edge here.

Carlos, he's doing some
sort of potato pancake

with a good amount of the
melted cheese over the top.

You know, we'll see how that works out.

Ilya, I'm not quite sure how
she's getting the cheese in there.

She seems a little confused
about where she's going with it.

Ilan, he's decided to make
a baked escargot dish.

Certainly sounds intriguing.

And Sujai, she has
absolutely no confidence.

It's going to be pretty hard
for her to finish in the top.

Time is up.

When time was called, I just prayed
to God they would be kind to me.

We have a potato cake in the center.

On top is a fire-roasted artichoke,
fennel seeds inside the escargot.

I expected Carlos to bring a little more.

He introduced himself as this guy
who owns a restaurant with four stars.

And I was like, "Well, you
got to season your food."

Frank, why didn't you tell what you did?

I made raviolis. They're stuffed
with escargot, American cheese.

Artichoke hearts are served
in a potato peanut sauce,

finished with Parmesan cheese.

Very good, Frank.

Okay, Marisa.

I decided to make a pate brisee,
filled it with caramelized onion,

finished it with a little bit of balsamic,

add a little bit of thyme in there.

You used the snail more as garnish? Yeah.

My gosh.

All right, it's just like
shoestring potatoes

with like an artichoke cheese sauce,

peanut pesto, and sauteed snails.

I didn't really care for the pesto.

I did snails with butter, with
ginger, garlic, parsley, chives,

and a little bit of nutmeg, mashed potato.

And then I cooked the artichokes with lime,

with the delicious American cheese.

I sense a little sarcasm there, yeah?

This dish was a stunning
flavor and presentation.

It's a baked dish with escargot
that was poached in white wine,

sauteed it with peanuts that I ground up,

bound it with some pomme
purée that I also incorporated

the American cheese into.

Artichokes I poached and
deep-fried them, sliced them,

hollowed out the snail
shells a little more,

and then baked it all in the oven.

And the peanuts on top
I think just finished it off.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Hi. Hi.

OK, so this is a braised
potatoes and artichokes,

a sauteed escargot with
garlic, shallots, and parsley,

a wonderful peanut garnish,
and a delicious cheese sauce.

I think the mystery basket
threw Sujai's a little bit,

so there wasn't a lot of
technique and skill involved.

OK, orange team, you guys
can go in the loft for a little bit.

Now it's time for you to determine

which chefs you're going
to send to judges' table.

Which 2 dishes were your least favorite?

I'm going to speak up
and tell me if I'm wrong.

Carlos and Sujai? I agree.

Let's talk about Sujai's.

Probably one of my least favorite dishes.

I didn't like the flavors at all.

It was like too vinegary.

I thought it was too much red wine.

I didn't want to swallow it, personally.

How about Carlos?

Carlos' dish was totally lacking in flavor.

His flavors were fighting each other,

and nothing presented itself as the focus.

Carlos and Sujai, yes?

Indeed, yes.

Who would your top 2 be?

I'd definitely say Alain. Definitely Alain.

I think he pulled everything
together very slick.

I think it was tight, clean, and
you should be damn proud of him.

I loved Frank's. Really? What did you like?

I thought that the pasta was really good.

So would you say he
was one of your favorites?

I liked the flavor, but I think
the presentation was lacking.

I'm going for Alain. I do too.

The mashed potatoes had a delicious flavor.

It's like she was at an advantage
because she was dealing with escargot,

but also she had the American cheese,

which is something
she's not so familiar with,

but at the same time, she
pulled it off wonderfully.

If you were paying $16 in
a restaurant for either dish,

which one would you be happier with?

Chef Colecchio asked us,

"Which one would you pay $16 for?"

It was clear.

All right, so that's it.

Now it's your turn to cook,

and we'll see how compassionate
your opponents are about you.

The entire thing was totally unseasoned.

I found the garlic a little overpowering.

Yeah, but it was way too overpowering.

We disagreed completely.

Majority rules.

Black group, these are your boxes.

You have 2 hours to create a unique dish

using all of the ingredients in here.

Your time starts now.

Oh, yeah.

Took off that lid. Holy sh...!

It's a friggin' wacky combination.

Frog's legs, chicken livers,

cornflakes, eggplant, and peanut butter.

Ooh, what am I gonna
do with the peanut butter?

I don't know, it's gonna be crazy!

What are you looking for?

Honey.

Otto was like totally a train wreck.

Running back and forth, just
grabbing like one thing at a time.

Take 5 minutes, think
about what you're gonna do,

and then you're not like running around.

The sky is falling.

Smells great in here.

Someone's cooking something up.

That's a good sign.

It is a good sign.

So Betty, what are you making?

I've never cooked with frog legs before.

Well, you know what they say.

Pastes just like chicken.

I guess you cook it like chicken, huh?

I'm not very fond of chicken livers.

I thought it was the best
choice to create a paste

that I can make an
amazingly flavorful cake out of.

Marcel! Chef!

What's going on here?

A little bit of grenouille,
pretty stoked on it.

I've never had the opportunity
to cook the frog's legs before.

Really?

Seen it done at the
restaurant quite a few times.

Okay, that's... I don't
know if that's good or bad.

I think it's good, you know.

Sort of how you work with frog legs.

I kind of created some frog leg lollipops,

and then I'm going to leave
a little bit to the unknown.

I came here to take it
home, not to go home.

Hey, Mia.

I'm stoked.

I'm freaking stoked on the ingredients.

It was Sunday dinner at Grandma's house.

I took the frog legs and I cut
them up like chicken wings.

So it was all good for me from there.

Cliff! Sir.

What's going on?

Right now I'm actually
breading the chicken livers,

a little panko and the
cornflake that we got.

Are cornflakes something
you've worked with before?

Normally it's for breakfast,
or I'll line the cat bowl with it.

It's always fun.

Okay, listen up, we got
about 41 minutes left.

Most of the chefs back there,
with the exception of Mia,

said they really haven't
worked with the frog's legs.

Emily is going to bread
the frog's legs and fry those,

and I'm going to do the same thing here.

Clearly the easy way out.

Otto, he looks a little
sure of what he's doing,

so we'll keep an eye on him.

Marcel, really confident
in what he's doing.

He thinks he's going to win this one.

We'll see, 2 of them are going to lose

and they're going to end
up at the judges' table.

This rice has been forever.

This is a very stressful situation.

I'm not sure if I will win this
particular mystery box challenge.

Anybody short on plates?



I think my performance today was excellent

and that my dish is really good.

I think that I could be in the top 3.

Your time is up.

Today I wanted to focus in on
a couple things, simple flavors.

I'd call it a frog leg lollipop

with a little garlic and parsley puree.

Marcel's dish, the garlic
was so overwhelming.

It was all I could taste.

Marcel talks a better game
than he's going to play.

Any likes, dislikes? I
guess I'll find out later.

Yeah, you will.

Hello, Betty.

I feel really good about my dish.

I utilized the mystery box
ingredients pretty damn well.

What I made was a
frog leg chicken liver cake

with Asian herbs served on a raw salad

and a peanut butter ginger sauce.

I thought it was delicious. I
thought the flavors were there.

Thank you, Betty. Let's go over
and see what Sam has for us.

So what I have here is a turmeric
and cereal-crusted frog leg.

It's served over an eggplant and
caper saute with a duo of sauces.

There's eggplant, capers, apples.

Incorporated the same
ingredients that were in the pate.

Hi, Josie.

What we have here is a little
east meets west meets southwest.

You have the frog leg
that's coated with cornflakes

over a chicken liver peanut
butter and eggplant jelly.

Okay, let's go see what Cliff has.

Tell us what you did.

Braised the frog legs,
force-cooled them, shredded them,

brought it back with a little five-spice,

have the graffiti chips.

The other side of the plate, we
have a little marinated eggplant salad.

On top is the chicken liver.

I was kind of psyched
about this. I am a fan of liver.

I didn't like the chicken liver at all.

I have a cornflake cilantro
and mint-crusted frog leg.

I used the peanut butter as
the glue for the crispy crust.

On an eggplant and cilantro
leaf salad with lemon juice.

On a shiso leaf coated
with the chicken liver pate.

I like the dish a lot. Thank you.

We got brown rice there.

Of course, we used the
cornflakes to coat the frog leg with.

And have a little peanut sauce there with a
little scallion puree as well on top there.

Believe it or not, my father loves
frog legs. I grew up with them.

I was very surprised. Zotto's
dish was under-seasoned.

And the elements of the plate
didn't seem to blend together well.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Hello, Mia. Hello, Padma and judges.

I have prepared Sunday
dinner, southern style.

I have fried the frog legs.

Instead of traditional mashed
potatoes, I did a garlic mashed eggplant.

I soaked the frog legs in buttermilk
and garlic and cayenne pepper.

So like the classic fried
chicken with frog legs.

Pretty much, yeah.

I see finger licking.

The only person I thought
ex*cuted the frog drumsticks was Mia.

It was k*ller.

Okay, so all the chefs in the black
group, you guys can go back to the loft.

Everyone else, we have
some deliberating to do.

Hopefully by now you have your
favorites and your least favorites.

Who are they?

My two favorites would
have to be Betty and Mia.

I really like Betty's. Oh, really?

I like Betty, too. I
thought it was delicious.

I like it that she did something
totally different than everybody else.

Made like a cake. Yeah, you're right.

And everyone else did like
the same drumstick type thing.

Emily's like a toss up for me between
her and Mia for like one of the best.

What did you all think of Mia's dish?

We liked it.

We liked Mia's.

It was good.

I thought it was juicy, really juicy, even
though it was the last dish we tasted.

You know, you bit into it and
stuff dribbled down my chin.

So, Betty and Mia.

Great.

And your least favorites?

I thought my least favorites
were Otto and Marcel.

Otto I didn't like at all.

I agree.

The entire thing was totally unseasoned.

The rice was too al-dente.

The liver I found very hard.

The liver was like, hello, I'm a liver.

Marcel.

You ate the frog leg, it was
crunchy, but you didn't taste frog leg.

You didn't taste, I
didn't taste peanut butter.

I didn't taste chicken liver.

I tasted garlic.

There was no subtlety in it.

I like Marcel very much.

It was one of my favorites.

I like the presentation.

It was simple but nice.

I found the garlic a little overpowering.

Yeah, I thought it was
way too overpowering.

Tough choice, but I would
have to say Marcel and Clifford.

I didn't like Cliff's chicken liver.

The liver, and then you had the frog leg

separate with two different garnishes.

It wasn't cohesive.

It was.

I don't think so.

My team and me, we disagreed
completely in the people

that we liked and disliked.

Sorry.

Majority rules.

OK, well, thank you very much.

We have our work cut out for
us, and we will see some of you

at the judges' table.

Why should you stay here?

I didn't think it was crap on a plate.

Even top chefs have a bad day.

I just get a sense that you
may not be ready for this.

So let's start with you, Harold.

What did you think of this challenge?

I thought overall they
did a pretty good job,

but I thought it was definitely
a very difficult first challenge.

It gave the contestants an
opportunity to size each other up.

They had to prove themselves.

They had to be open to each
other, which I think is often

more difficult than cooking for the judges.

All in all, I thought the dishes
were interesting and very good.

The orange group really showed
how versatile they could be.

They all did something
completely different.

What do you guys think
about the choices for top two?

I agree with them.

Elia and Alain had the strongest dishes.

They had the most focused dishes.

They incorporated the ingredients
without making it a stretch.

Frank was in the running,
and I think if his pasta dough

were more refined, he may
have had a better chance

of being in the top two.

Let's move on to the black team.

Betty, who they liked.

I thought the cake was fine.

She took all the ingredients.

It was well-seasoned.

I just thought that little flaw on
the bottom was just a throwaway.

Peanut vinaigrette, I
thought it had a lot of flavor.

I thought it was seasoned really well.

I thought it went well with the cake.

What did we think of Mia's dish?

If I were sitting down to
Sunday, you know, supper

and was in the mood for fried
frog's legs or rabbit or chicken,

you know, whatever she wanted
to use, it was really delicious.

Mia's might not have been the most refined,

but I think she had a great idea,
and I think it was the most satisfying.

Yeah.

Let's call them in.

All right.

[music playing]

We need to see Elia, Ilan,
Betty, and Mia at the judges' table.

I'm feeling very nervous because
I don't know if we're the winners

or the losers.

[chatter]

[music playing]

[clock ticking]

Congratulations.

You were the four best
chefs for this challenge.

[laughter]

Elia, let's start with you.

The only item that I
didn't know what to do with

was the American product, cheese.

After you saw the dish, would
you have done anything differently?

I wanted to put the
artichokes that I chopped,

but I didn't have time.

But if you had been able to put it on,

it might have just
been a little bit better,

but we really, really liked it.

Mia.

I grew up hunting frogs as a little girl,

so that was like scores, just
like Grandma's house on Sunday.

Yeah, I think what we
really enjoyed about it

is it really showed your sense of
who you are and how you cook.

I mean, it was just very
evident on the plate.

You're all welcome to my
house on Sunday dinner.

Ilan.

I'd never worked with escargot before.

Interesting that for someone
who really didn't know

what you were doing, the flavor was great.

It was tasty, it was seasoned well,

so kudos to you for fooling us all.

Yeah, definitely have a touch for it,

so you might want to think
about that again in the future.

Betty, your peers loved your dish.

Everyone thought it was great.

Well, I have been catering for 10 years,

and in my restaurant, we do a chicken cake.

We also do a peanut sauce at my restaurant.

I thought the flavor of the cake was great.

I didn't care for the sort
of little salad underneath,

but it was a good dish.

I think we also got a very
good sense of your style.

Harold's our guest judge, so I
guess I'll let him give the news.

The winner of this
elimination challenge is...

Ilan.

Congratulations. Congratulations.

I think you actually made
those ingredients better

the way you sort of put them together.

Love to see more of that stuff.

This is the first elimination challenge,

and I come out on top,

and it feels incredible.

I know how to make food taste delicious.

I just have to keep doing it.

Hopefully I can do it however
many times we need to do it.

I just want to point out
that our guest judge here

won the first elimination challenge as well

for the first season, so
it's a good way to start.

Can you please send in the
Sujai, Marcel, Carlos, and Otto?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

All right, guys.

The good news is Ilan
came out on top today.

[cheers and applause]

Give it up.

[applause]

And the bad news is the
judges would like to see

Carlos, Sujai, Otto win.

Marcel, good luck, you guys.

Good luck, guys. - Good luck, guys.

Be strong.

♪ ♪

You four were the bottom-voted chefs.

Otto, let's start with you.

Why do you think you're here?

I would say the biggest
problem with my dish

was the rice was undercooked,

so what I did the last
minute was I tried to

pull whatever culinary skill
I have in my body together

and threw a little olive oil in there

to give it some extra flavor
and bring it back to life.

I thought there was just not enough depth

throughout the dish to be able to handle

the duality of the fried frog
leg and the chicken liver.

If I had to do it all over again,

I probably would've
combined those all three

in one nice little slick amuse-bouche

and boom, put it in your mouth, done.

Why should you stay here?

I should stay here because
every chef has a bad day.

Even top chefs have a bad day.

♪ ♪

Sujai.

I totally panicked.

It was like starting a race,

and instead of setting my own pace,

I started doing stuff without
thinking things through,

and it was a huge mistake.

We agreed with your peers

in that it was one of our least favorite,

but there were definitely parts
of the dish that we enjoyed.

There was a lot of good potato in there.

[laughs]

Um... yeah.

Believe it or not.

There was a lot of good potato in there.

I'm not gonna make the same mistake again.

I feel like I just have
to step it up, definitely,

and I got... I got that.

♪ ♪

Marcel.

Honestly, I don't really know why I'm here.

I thought that my dish tasted good,

and I like my utilization of
the mystery basket ingredients.

I'm just gonna come out and say it.

I don't think you won, you know, here.

I did not think, you know,

yours was one of the weaker dishes.

You know, I thought it was
somewhere in the middle.

Carlos, you... you were on the team

that voted him to be here.

Why... why is he here?

It was overwhelming in garlic,

and it just covered my palate.

Maybe some people, you know,

consider me to be a fierce
part of the competition,

and if I'm eliminated, then
that might pave their way,

possibly.

You know, Carlos, you were finished

a good 45, 50 minutes
before the time was up.

I was a little afraid to take time

to actually sit down and think about it,

and that's, I feel like, what
I really should have done.

Is that a dish that you
would be proud to serve

in your restaurant?

It wasn't my crowning achievement,

but I didn't think it was crap on a plate.

Thank you, guys,

and we'll call you back when we're ready.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think, uh, any one of these four

could go home for... for various reasons.

Let's start with Carlos.

Well, he honestly didn't
think it through enough

that he didn't give himself
the timing that he needed.

But, you know, no amount
of time can cover up

poor seasoning, poorly conceived dishes.

There was just no complexity,
no depth whatsoever.

There was no continuity.

I had a major problem from that dish.

In fact, I had a hard time
getting that... that... that down.

Let's talk about Marcel.

I think that it definitely means something

that all of his peers disliked what he did

for whatever reason that they disliked it.

I think that you can't discredit that.

He's a little c*ck,

and maybe they wanted to knock him down

in size a little bit.

I don't know.

I thought the garlic
was... was too aggressive.

But nothing was bad.

No. - No.

No.

Sujai, what do you think, Harold?

I think, you know, I think her nerves

definitely got the best of her.

And that could be the issue.

She's not an experienced, trained cook.

Right. Does she... does
she have the, you know,

the fire to, you know, to
go through the gauntlet?

When I did my walkthrough,

the first thing she said
was, "This is a disaster.

Unless somebody really
screws this up, I'm going home."

She gave herself up, so to speak.

You know, and Otto did the same thing.

You know, the first thing he said of all,

"The rice was really terrible."

Well, I think we asked him what...

Even if... even if he did, I still...

Well, Marcel did... you
know, Marcel did the opposite.

Marcel said, "I don't know
what was wrong with my dish."

It's really important to
stand behind your food.

Yeah, exactly. You have to sell it.

[dramatic music]

I think we have a decision.

Let's get them back in here.

All right.

♪ ♪

You four were voted on the bottom

of this elimination challenge.

And one of you has to go.

♪ ♪

You four were voted on the bottom

of this elimination challenge.

And one of you has to go.

Otto, your experience would suggest to me

that you would know the difference between

when you should serve
something and not serve something.

The rice was definitely an issue,

and it wasn't one of
the featured ingredients,

so you could have left it off.

Sujai, I just sense a
real lack of confidence

in my walk around.

First thing you said was,

"I just completely messed this up."

And I think you had
time enough to correct it.

I just get a sense that you
may not be ready for this.

Marcel, I don't know if I agree with you

that the other contestants
are out to get you just yet.

There were some issues with the dish.

You shouldn't be so
surprised that you're here.

Carlos, we just found that
dish somewhat unfocused.

There's a real lack of
flavor, lack of technique.

Some of the choices that you made

completely at odds with each other.

You've been at this
for, you know, 10 years,

and you shouldn't make these mistakes.

It was tough, but someone has to go.

Sujai, please pack your knives and go.

Thank you.

Thank you. - See you.

Well, going home.

Aww. - Aww.

I didn't give myself a fighting chance.

I was not surprised that I was called in

based on my performance.

For me, it was a lot
more of my own personal,

you know, confidence crisis.

Oh, my God, there's so many hugs.

[laughter]

I feel like I've got a lot
of big decisions to make

about what I'm doing and where I'm going.

I'm gonna carry on cooking for sure.

It's part of my journey.

I know how to flambé now.

[laughs]

This season on "Top Chef"...

Booming down, baby.

Everybody's really tense.

Did you get the lychee? - Yeah.

Keep to yourself, man.

My food is rustic. - Delicious.

Simple. - expl*sive.

Nice and sweet. - Cutting edge. Beautiful.

Down home.

Avant-garde molecular gastronomy.

[bell dings]

I hope the judges remember
that we're not only contestants,

but we're also human beings.

I don't know what you guys were thinking.

This meal wasn't perfect by any means.

We had issues with a lot of the dishes.

You're saying people cheated?

The bar has definitely
been raised this time around.

What kind of crack house
are you running here?

We got a pretty k*ller menu.

It's like chicken on a stick.

I'm, like, so out of my league.

Why do you find it necessary
to slam Marcel's dish?

You slamming my dish?

Taking valuable players
out is beneficial to me.

Why would you jeopardize the whole team?

What I'm asking for
is the rules in writing.

I'm here to play this game.

You're a selfish, self-centered,
egotistical b*stard.

When we're out there on
the [bleep] chopping block

and we throw each other off the bus,

don't come holding my
hand afterwards, all right?

It's showtime. It's about me.

You need to shut the [bleep] up,

listen to other people, and you'll be fine.

If you touch anything personal on mine,

I will beat you so bad that your
mother will not recognize you.

For more about the recipes seen tonight,

go to bravotv.com.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[screaming]

[bell dings]

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

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