{\an8}I'm getting ready to
head out to Top Chefseason 22,
{\an8}that's in Canada.
My resume includes
a lot of Michelin star kitchens,
but also I've worked
in butcher shops, bakeries.
{\an8}I grew up in South Korea.
{\an8}My ancestry is from Jamaica.
{\an8}I'm excited
to show off who I am.
{\an8}[gulls calling]
I have not packed a thing until,
well, right now. Here we go.
{\an8}I've headlined and sold out
my own James Beard dinner,
{\an8}and then done
multiple collab dinners there.
Top Chef definitely
is a reflection
of what's happening
in the world.
You're seeing
the best of the best.
My restaurant was nominated
for the best new restaurant.
- Rising star chef.
- I used to work
in a three
Michelin star kitchen.
- Best Chef South.
- Best Chef Great Lakes.
{\an8}An Indian household is
kind of like Talladega Knights.
{\an8}If you're not first,
you are last,
{\an8}so your moms don't care
if you're second place.
We're going
to Toronto today. Whee!
- You got this.
- Yes!
{\an8}LANA: I have yet to see a Black
woman win this competition.
{\an8}I would like
to be that Black woman.
{\an8}KAT: Every time somebody
takes a bite of your food,
{\an8}you're being judged,
whether you like it or not.
Let's have some fun with it.
Here I am, Toronto.
{\an8}TRISTEN: I wasn't expecting to
see a knife block so soon.
{\an8}I thought I was going to
get a little settled before
{\an8}I started having
to fear for my life.
[dramatic string music]
CORWIN: Corwin.
- I'm Kat.
- Kat.
- Henry.
- Henry. Nice to meet you.
- Nice haircut, Henry.
- I know. Yeah.
Where are you from?
I'm from Chicago.
- What?
- Me too.
Are you guys nervous?
- I don't know.
- Excited.
- I'm excited.
- Yeah.
- Perfect.
- HENRY: Yeah.
{\an8}KRISTEN: Fifteen chefs have
come to Canada to compete
{\an8}in the ultimate
culinary showdown.
At stake for the winner,
the largest prize package
in Top Chefhistory.
The grand prize of
a quarter of a million dollars,
furnished by
Saratoga Spring Water,
the official water
of Top Chef.
Delta Sky Miles Diamond
Medallion status,
and $125,000 to spend on travel
with Delta Airlines.
A feature in Food & Wine
magazine, an appearance
at the Food & Wine Classic
in Aspen, and for
the first time ever, the winner
of Top Chefwill headline
their own exclusive dinner
at the historic
James Beard House in New York.
And the title of Top Chef.
{\an8}**
{\an8}Wow. Incredible.
{\an8}Morning, chefs.
{\an8}CÉSAR: It's cold.
TOM:
Chefs, how's it going?
CHEFS: Good.
Welcome to
Top Chef: Destination Canada.
I really am so excited
to welcome you all
to my hometown of Toronto.
- [cheering]
- Yes.
Love Toronto.
I'm from Montreal.
{\an8}To be a Canadian chef
competing,
{\an8}I have a lot of pride
on the line.
{\an8}If I fail, I don't think
I'll be able to go back home.
As you can see, we've all
worn our Canadian vests.
This is one
tuxedo that I can rock.
- You've got rizz.
- You do have rizz.
Do you want to know
what you're competing for?
Yes.
KRISTEN:
The winner will take home
the ultimate grand prize of
a quarter of a million dollars.
Hell yeah.
KRISTEN: Furnished by
Saratoga Springwater,
the official water of Top Chef.
{\an8}MIMI: I just got out of
a six-year relationship.
{\an8}She took the pots,
pans, and the pets,
{\an8}and they were hers,
rightfully so.
If I win Top Chef,
I'm definitely going to take
some of that money
and buy some pots and pans.
Delta Sky Miles Diamond
Medallion status,
and $125,000
to spend on air travel.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
A feature in Food & Wine
magazine and an appearance
at the Food &
Wine Classic in Aspen.
And for the first time ever,
the Top Chefwinner
will headline their own
exclusive dinner
at the iconic, historic
James Beard House in New York.
Wow, yeah!
And present
at the James Beard Awards.
The restaurant industry's
biggest night of the year.
- Wow.
- Hell yeah.
Can't forget the last prize.
- There's more?
- The title of Top Chef!
[cheering]
There will also be
over $150,000
in cash prizes across
the entire season.
- Yes.
- Amazing.
That's over half
a million dollars up for grabs.
- Ooh. Wow.
- Can I compete?
Yes, you can-- Go, Tom.
Just like last year,
there will be
no immunity given
for Quickfire wins.
Instead,
you'll have the opportunity
to win Quickfire
Quick Cash all season long.
All right. Awesome.
Courtesy of the Wells Fargo
Active Cash Credit Card.
The winner of each
Elimination Challenge
will receive immunity,
which means you can't
be sent home in the following
Elimination Challenge.
All right,
so who's ready to win
some cash in our first
Quickfire here in Toronto?
- [cheering]
- Yes, let's play.
**
I'm pretty sure I clocked
every single one of you
already eyeing this
beautiful pantry over here.
I want each of you to
go in there
and grab just one ingredient.
You only have 30 seconds.
You can go.
Oh!
{\an8}VINCENZO: It's a tough choice.
You don't know
{\an8}what this challenge is.
I think I'm going to go
for an apple.
Granny Smith,
they got great acidity.
That's what I'm looking for.
KAT:
One ingredient?
{\an8}SHUAI:
I see maple syrup.
{\an8}I know it's
very stereotypical. Sorry.
ANYA:
I was born in Russia.
Cabbage is one of Russia's
national vegetables,
and definitely
it's the one that I've cooked
a million different ways.
Now, I want you to
stand next to the chefs
that you rode here with.
Here we go.
What up, car five?
What's up, car 14, 14, 4?
I hope you're happy
with what your car mates chose,
because you're now teams.
Yeah.
We got corn. That's a good
thing to help with.
{\an8}HENRY: I had corn.
Corwin has corn.
{\an8}It was just like,
a whole corn fest.
Damn, do we not
have enough variety now?
- That's a perfect combo.
- Yeah.
I hope apple, portobellos
and corn go together.
- [bleep].
- Corn.
- Maple syrup?
- Yeah.
{\an8}What a bold statement,
to just
{\an8}off the rip hit maple syrup
in Canada.
KRISTEN:
Toronto has many nicknames.
Hogtown, the big smoke, and it's
commonly referred to as the six.
It actually goes back
to the description of
the six neighborhoods
that make up
the Greater Toronto Area,
the GTA.
{\an8}In honor of Toronto's nickname,
each team will work
{\an8}to create a dish
that features six ingredients.
{\an8}But there's only three
of you in each team
{\an8}and three ingredients,
so the rest is up to us.
Okay.
{\an8}I knew this was going
to be harder than it looked.
We've each
selected an ingredient
that your team must
incorporate into your dish.
The ingredient
that I chose, tomatoes.
- Feel good about that.
- KRISTEN: Gail?
I went with chives.
TOM: I thought I'd throw
a nice little protein in there,
so we have clams.
We're going to start things off
big with $15,000 up for grabs
in Quickfire Quick Cash
for the winning team.
You have 30 minutes
on the clock.
Your time starts now.
That's your cue.
**
- No limes-- Lemons?
- What about in the fridge?
{\an8}I think we use,
obviously, the tomatoes
{\an8}to do a sofrito
with charred corn.
{\an8}Do we want to have a grilled
piece of bread with it?
{\an8}No, I think just a compote.
{\an8}Just not too much.
Just really simple.
{\an8}Corwin, I can tell he is
a by-the-book kind of person.
CORWIN:
We're going to do a corn sofrito
with clams, pickled Fresnos.
KAT:
I'm glad they both grabbed corn.
I'm hoping that having
one less ingredient
just gives us a little bit
more focus on the dish.
- More corn for us, it's good.
- Yeah, exactly.
{\an8}I think, use all
of our skills, right?
{\an8}Trinidadian.
He does contemporary Chinese.
{\an8}We decided to do a steamed
clam with pickled bok choy.
Just curing the mushrooms.
Got to get lemon juice.
Trying to incorporate
maple syrup
in this dish
is the hardest part.
MASSIMO: I would do the sauce,
just with the concasse six.
It'll cook faster.
It'll get more depth and umami.
You glaze it, a bit
of maple, a bit of soy sauce.
SHUAI: Massimo has
suggested to caramelize
the tomatoes and then drizzle
a tiny bit of maple syrup
to bring
a sweetness to it.
Using some of your maple.
{\an8}We are going to do
Southeast Asian
{\an8}Fresno chiles here,
cumin here with your olives.
{\an8}Frantically, we decide
to make acqua pazza soup.
{\an8}In the broth, tomatoes.
{\an8}This is awesome. We're
in the top chef kitchen.
{\an8}I'm also
feeling just overwhelmed.
{\an8}You're just
trying to move so fast--
- You want me to pick that?
- Yeah.
- Let's do it.
- Big time. Rip them
into the broth,
I think. That's cool.
Hey, you're from
Monteverde, baby.
- I'm good.
- Okay.
I'm a little bit of an outsider.
- Looks great. What do you need?
- BAILEY: Nothing.
They're both from Chicago.
{\an8}There's a clique,
the Chicago clique.
- Thai basil right here.
- Love that.
All I know is that I can
cook the most delicious cabbage.
Anya, are you good?
Yeah.
Apple fennel
and what are we blending?
{\an8}- Corn.
- Corn.
{\an8}We agreed on some sort
of like fennel and apple soup.
{\an8}- Blend it? Smooth?
- MIMI: Yeah. Yeah. Smooth.
{\an8}CÉSAR: 30 minutes. It's just
going to be tough to
{\an8}get that soup going,
build up that flavor.
{\an8}That's going to be
the challenge today.
{\an8}I think we should
chop clams in there.
- You want the clams in there?
- Yeah.
{\an8}Coming in. All right,
bowls. Brunois. Oui?
{\an8}We're making smoked
corn and clam chowder
{\an8}with andouille sausage with
an apple mushroom chive relish.
I'm the one cooking the soup.
Lana, she's doing the relish.
It is a team effort and
we're confident that
we're going to execute it well.
Behind.
I was thinking about
caramelizing those tomatoes,
putting the butter in here
and start boiling it that way.
Add some vinegar
if it needs it. Maple syrup.
And then call it a day.
Beautiful.
All right, let's do it.
I'm super nervous
about the amount
of maple syrup
that I'm putting in here.
{\an8}If it's too much,
then you're going to
{\an8}taste nothing but maple syrup.
{\an8}VINCENZO: The only thought
I have is
{\an8}if we use the apple as a vessel.
{\an8}LANA: Do you think
we have time for that?
{\an8}We have 15 minutes.
{\an8}LANA: I want to see
what you're thinking--
You can see it
as soon as I prep it.
{\an8}Serving the chowder in
the apple,
{\an8}I think it's a little gimmicky
{\an8}and I don't
want us to focus too much
{\an8}on a vessel when we have
plates and bowls already.
ZUBAIR: Chef, clams.
Great, okay. So I'm like
pretty much here already.
I see the soup and I'm concerned
about the wateriness of it.
You should drain the sauce into
another pan and reduce it more.
I kind of think keep it brothy.
I really do.
- You want to keep it brothy?
- I really do.
ZUBAIR:
First time meeting these guys.
I wouldn't say we all
trust each other yet.
With the citrus and the herbs,
it'll be really yummy.
- Let's go. Let's do it.
- Okay, let's do it.
MASSIMO:
Let's get a final taste.
Oh, yeah.
I like the spice on that.
{\an8}TRISTEN:
I am a true Virgo major.
{\an8}I'm competitive.
I'm an over-thinker.
{\an8}I'm an over-analyzer.
I think a touch of salt.
- A touch of salt?
- Yeah.
Those are the good traits.
My kids, they need new shoes.
MASSIMO:
I always need new shoes.
Yeah, so I think we need
just like a little bit
- of this, you know?
- Yep.
{\an8}KATIANNA: We decide to season
our relish with just
{\an8}a tiny bit of curry powder.
{\an8}Curry powder's going
to add a little depth.
{\an8}It's delicious with the curry.
{\an8}Genius.
I was trained
in classic French kitchens.
Everything that I cook
has a personal reference.
I call it Korean-Americana.
Embracing diversity,
it really inspires me.
I think just
a little sharp on the garlic,
so we'll use
a little bit less sauce
- when we plate it, okay?
- Yeah.
- Checking in. How are we doing?
- Good.
I'm almost done
with these apples.
I'm going to set up
the smoking g*n,
so we can do some theatrics.
LANA: What theatrics?
What theatrics?
We got to go big.
Let's make a statement here.
LANA: Wait. What?
I think we should just
do delicious food.
Vinny is absolutely
insistent that this
wow factor is what's going
to push us over the edge.
I'm not as convinced.
At this point, who cares?
Let's just do it, I guess.
All right. And then we got,
where is your ...
- That's going on the bottom?
- Where's the relish?
The apple bowl is
very controversial.
I am agreeing with Lana, but
Vinny really wanted to do this.
VINCENZO: We can be
delicious and creative.
Go big or go home.
{\an8}I feel like my teammates
kind of look at me like,
{\an8}what the [bleep] is
wrong with this guy?
But I'm not flying out
here and leaving
my friends and family behind
to just make a plain old soup.
We're putting
soup in a bowl, guys.
There's a bowl.
It's an apple bowl.
All right.
This is stuff
I'm comfortable with.
I worked at
the Nomad for four years.
I describe my food
as refined simplicity.
I wouldn't go too much.
All right, let's give
this a taste real quick.
I mean, that's
----ing delicious, huh?
I think that's very good.
LANA: With less than
one minute, chefs.
Go way less on the potato.
HENRY: We just need texture.
CORWIN: Sometimes
you don't need texture,
you know what I mean?
Sometimes a soft dish is cool.
{\an8}HENRY: To put three different
minds together
{\an8}to create one dish and
this be the first thing
{\an8}that the judges taste
is nerve-wracking.
CORWIN:
Let's get final wipes.
So I go smoke.
You guys go lids?
LANA: Wait, go.
{\an8}Looking around,
I'm noticing that there's
{\an8}a lot of soup, but we have
so much flavor in our chowder.
{\an8}We have a shot for that 15K.
Is this what
you do in your restaurant?
- VINCENZO: Damn right.
- Hand me one more, please.
CORWIN: 10 seconds.
JUDGES:
Five, four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
Hands off your dishes.
- Had a way to hustle. Let's go.
- Thank you, thank you.
Green team, come on up.
- GAIL: Thank you, chefs.
- MASSIMO: Bon appétit.
{\an8}SHUAI:
We have a steamed clam with
{\an8}preserved king oyster mushroom,
{\an8}pickled and fried baby bok choy,
and a tomato clam nage.
How did you incorporate
the maple syrup?
The nage on the bottom
is caramelized tomatoes,
maple syrup, red wine
vinegar, lots of butter.
Thank you, chefs.
Blue team?
GAIL:
Spoon required.
I have an Italian
background in cooking.
Zubair has a little bit
more of a Southeast Asian,
so we wanted
to merge those ideas together.
{\an8}We used the clams, cured
black olive, tomato, garlic,
{\an8}as well as mint, and then
chino aioli on grilled bread.
- Really interesting.
- KRISTEN: Thank you.
Thank you so much.
KRISTEN:
All right. Yellow team?
Oh, pretty. Thank you.
When you were sharing,
I wish you had folded me in,
because cabbage is
such a Russian ingredient,
- Oh, I'm sorry.
- So all three of us could like,
this and this and this.
- [bleep], sorry.
- But it's okay.
{\an8}We made a pureed soup
of fennel, apple, potato,
{\an8}and then there's
a relish of corn, apple, tomato,
{\an8}rendered chorizo fat,
and some chive oil.
What about the clams?
Clams are in the relish as well.
Great. Thank you.
- That's really nice.
- Yeah, it's very nice.
KRISTEN:
Purple team.
Thank you.
{\an8}KAT:
We made a charred corn sauce,
{\an8}corn sofrito,
{\an8}a little butter
poached clam with
{\an8}a sweet pickled Fresno on top,
and some crispy potato sticks.
- GAIL: Thank you.
- I assume we take the lid off?
- You do.
- Very cool.
{\an8}PAULA: What we have here is
a corn and clam chowder
{\an8}with a little
Andouille sausage.
{\an8}We also have served in an apple,
apple and chive relish,
{\an8}a little roasted mushroom,
and a chive oil as well.
GAIL: How is it
working together,
considering you met in
a car a few minutes ago?
I think we had our differences
on plating, which is fine.
There's plenty of
chefs in the kitchen.
- Thank you.
- VINCENZO: Thank you.
You know, I get grumpy
when the food's not so good.
I'm not grumpy right now.
I'm really happy.
Who had our favorite dishes
of the day?
Yellow team, I thought the puree
was just absolutely beautiful.
A lot of flavor.
The texture
of the soup was perfect,
and it contrasted
so beautifully
with that gorgeous relish
that had so much dimension.
KRISTEN: Green team,
I found that your dish
really highlighted
every single ingredient.
You could pick them apart, yet
they all still went together.
You had to use maple syrup,
and it was just enough
to taste it,
but not enough to make it sweet.
Thank you.
KRISTEN: Red team.
Serving it in the apple,
I thought it was all right,
it's just kind of gimmicky.
But if you actually
scraped the bottom
and got some of
that scraped fresh apple,
it really worked.
{\an8}- So I thought it was great.
- Thank you.
{\an8}Okay, Vinny, you got this one.
The dish that was at
the very top today is...
The yellow team.
- Crushed it.
- Congratulations.
{\an8}You just won
$15,000 for your team.
{\an8}- So $5,000 apiece.
- Yeah!
{\an8}Quick fire
Quick Cash comes in.
Holy sh--.
Just instant relief.
{\an8}I'm definitely going
to pick out myself
{\an8}a nice pair of pots and pans.
Maybe I could get like,
two copper pans now,
instead of one, with this 5K.
GAIL: That dish just felt
completely like
it had been
on your menu for years.
Really well done. But again,
every dish was really good.
Keep it up, I won't get grumpy.
KRISTEN: Chefs, for your first
elimination challenge,
we want you to take us
across Canada through food.
Hm.
Please welcome
some very special guests.
Oh, my God.
Chefs Sheila Flaherty,
Jeremy Charles,
David Zilber,
Dale McKay, and Nicole Gomes.
{\an8}If there was
a culinary Canadian version
{\an8}of Mount Rushmore, I mean,
these are the faces right here.
These five chefs represent
the five regions of Canada.
The West,
Prairie Region, Central,
Atlantic, and North region.
Each of them has
brought along a pantry
of ingredients
from their local region.
Welcome back to
the Top ChefKitchen, Nicole.
{\an8}- MAN: You've done a good job.
- Oh, thanks.
{\an8}Not bad for a Canadian.
{\an8}Thanks for having me.
{\an8}KRISTEN: Thank you for
representing the West.
NICOLE: The West Coast has
so much to offer,
from the beautiful coastal
waters all the way to
the Rocky Mountains
and into the forest.
Dale, it's great
to have you back.
{\an8}It's good to be back.
{\an8}I am from
Saskatoon, Canada.
{\an8}- Ever heard of it?
- I have.
{\an8}All right.
GAIL:
Representing the Prairie Region.
{\an8}I'm really excited
to show you
{\an8}the best products of all
of Canada.
From Saskatchewan
and the Prairies,
come from Saskatchewan,
so we really are
the breadbasket of the world.
{\an8}And representing
the Central Region,
{\an8}my region, Chef David Zilber.
{\an8}Welcome back to Top Chef.
{\an8}Thank you for having me.
DAVID: Everything you see
on this platter
could be a summertime barbecue.
You can just throw all
of this onto a grill
and call it a day and win.
{\an8}VINCENZO: I recognize David, who
I've worked with in the past.
{\an8}At one end, it's a breath
of fresh air seeing David.
{\an8}And on the other end, I'm like,
it's David ----ing Zilber
{\an8}and I need to impress this guy.
{\an8}TOM: Jeremy, you're here
{\an8}representing
the Atlantic Region.
Coming here from St.
John's, Newfoundland,
which produces some of the most
beautiful seafood in the world.
It's fed generations.
Sheila, you're here
representing the North.
{\an8}I live in Iqaluit, Nunavut,
{\an8}which is on Baffin Island
in Canada's Arctic.
We pretty much
feed on an ocean diet.
{\an8}I see a lot
of similarities between
{\an8}the north region of Canada
and where I grew up in Russia.
For your Elimination Challenge,
we want you to use
these ingredients
to create dishes that will
transport us through
all the different regions.
Each group of three
will be working with
one of the five pantries.
Yellow team,
as the winner of our
Quickfire challenge,
you get to choose first
which pantry
you want to work with.
What do you want to do?
We're going to do number three.
KRISTEN: The central region.
Why did you choose
the central region?
I love the idea
of sweet and savory.
Great, now you get
to choose which team
is going to choose next.
Which color will it be?
We're going to pick purple.
All right, purple team,
which pantry will it be?
We're going
to choose prairie region.
- Great, which team goes next?
- The red team.
KRISTEN:
Red team, which pantry?
- Western?
- KRISTEN: Very good.
LANA: Let's do it.
KRISTEN: You have the blue
and the green team left.
- Blue.
- KRISTEN: All right, blue team.
ZUBAIR:
I feel good about either.
We're going
to go with the North.
KRISTEN:
The North.
So that means, green team,
you have...
Atlantic.
KRISTEN: The Atlantic.
Are you happy with your pantry?
- Super happy.
- Absolutely.
They're all equal. Atlantic
is a little more equal.
- Okay.
- GAIL: Well said, well said.
{\an8}Alright chefs,
you must use three
{\an8}of the six regional
ingredients from your pantry.
- There is one more thing.
- Oh, no.
This will be
an individual challenge.
Your teammates are
now your competitors.
One chef from each group
will either be on the top, safe,
or up for elimination.
{\an8}SHUAI:
Friends have become frenemies.
{\an8}It's cutthroat time.
{\an8}Now, it's getting very real.
Tomorrow, you'll have
two hours to cook and serve
at Casa Madera at The One Hotel.
TOM: Use your pantry to
bring your region to life,
but also don't forget
to put yourself on the plate.
All right chefs, good luck,
and we'll see you tomorrow.
TOM:
Good luck, chefs.
DAVID: I just realized you're
all wearing Canadian tuxedos.
{\an8}BAILEY: A light jog, guys.
{\an8}- Right behind.
- This is a bunch.
{\an8}LANA: Massimo, what are
you doing for your dish?
Very old school dish.
Potatoes, kale, cod.
Oh, nice. Classic.
{\an8}MASSIMO:
I love these ingredients.
{\an8}From being in Quebec,
being close to the Maritimes,
I'm very familiar with them.
I'll take three
pounds of mussels.
We're going to do smoked dulse.
Smoked dogs smell
and taste like bacon.
In fact, in Quebec,
we call it bacon of the sea,
bacon de mer.
Asian aisle.
Where is the international?
{\an8}The hardest part
of this challenge is
{\an8}showcasing all these
beautiful ingredients
{\an8}of the Atlantic region
with my Chinese cooking.
Good stuff. Want to
get the good stuff today.
Just got to
find that right balance.
{\an8}[Bailey exclaiming]
{\an8}I'm just thinking, it's the land
of the rising sun in the north.
What if I juice carrots
and make this bright risotto?
So, I'm laying down
some risotto
on the first challenge
of Top Chef.
Hey, Paula, what did you choose?
I'm Western region.
- MASSIMO: Western?
- Yeah.
- Are you doing lamb?
- I am.
{\an8}I love game. And mushrooms.
{\an8}Very Appalachian, so I'm
going to do mushrooms for sure.
{\an8}...but I currently live
in Lexington, Kentucky.
{\an8}And I think grilled lamb
with mushroom ole...
CORWIN: Five minutes, guys.
BAILEY:
Hey, do you have wood chips?
Wood chips?
Yeah, like for smoking things.
Anybody see more corn?
Where's butter,
where's butter, where's butter?
Looking for cumin.
I am completely blind right now.
Alphabetical order, daddy-o.
See Dijon over there? No.
Oh, my God, I walked right by.
I've got everything on my list.
{\an8}This is actually reminding
me of basically every time
{\an8}I've had to run through
a Whole Foods market as
{\an8}a private chef for Billy Corgan
from the Smashing Pumpkins.
It was like
high pressure, intense.
Working with people
that high of a caliber,
you become a bit
of a Swiss Army knife.
Did I get enough stuff?
I'm like five cents
below the mark.
Price is right.
MASSIMO: Oh, yeah.
Oh, cool.
- LANA: I love that!
- PAULA: This is nice.
Beautiful.
Look at the view!
- [cheering]
- Opa!
KAT: To the last time
we'll all be together.
Oh, wow.
Party foul.
All right, party foul.
VINCENZO:
Great to see you again.
Glad you kept
in touch over time.
I'm glad to see you're
doing well and crushing it.
I saw you and I was like, ah.
Vincenzo was my sous chef
at the Nomad Hotel.
He had talent
as a 25-year-old sous,
working for the number
one chef in the world.
{\an8}And so, to have him
as a competitor,
{\an8}I know where the bar is set,
it's pretty high.
KAT: You can make a left
- and it kind of like zigzags.
- Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- That's where I live.
- Yeah, so am I.
So we're across the street.
I chose that unit because
it reminded me of New York.
{\an8}I was adopted and
moved to upstate New York
{\an8}when I was three months old.
My dad is Jewish.
My mom is Irish Catholic.
I have an older brother
who's not adopted.
It wasn't until I met
my husband, who's Korean,
I started diving into
what does it mean
to be Korean-American,
and trying
to develop that cuisine.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- But that's like, crazy.
- Yeah.
MASSIMO: All right, guys.
Cheers to a great day.
See you tomorrow.
{\an8}Let's go, West.
{\an8}- PAULA: Oh, wow.
- LANA: Look at these mushrooms.
{\an8}Don't eat it.
{\an8}What's the quickest
you can make a mole? Two hours?
There, it takes way more
than that,
but I'm going to do
interpretation of it
with mushrooms as a base.
{\an8}Mole takes hours.
{\an8}But I need to show
who I am through my dish.
LANA: Paula, what's in your
hair, girl? You look so cute.
I have my flag,
my Ecuadorian flag.
Why not? Life
is short. Show your flair.
VINCENZO: More flair, chef.
I only brought my dimples today.
PAULA: That's enough.
That's enough.
Vinny, how many
ingredients are you using
from the western region?
Three. Love breaking
a good old fish down.
{\an8}I'm making
confit Pacific salmon
{\an8}with porridge mushrooms,
hazelnuts, and a consommé
using both the mushrooms and all
the trimming of the fish.
Sauce working, I'm utilizing
the head and the body for that.
Making a stock, cooling it down
and clarifying it
in a two-hour time frame,
it's going to be difficult,
but it shows technique.
It's really, really intricate.
A lot of technical detail.
- No pressure.
- VINCENZO: No pressure.
[Lana laughing]
{\an8}- What's up, what's up?
- Bam, bam, bam.
{\an8}- Oh, look who it is.
- Oh, hey, Vinny.
{\an8}Praries, let's go.
HENRY: Got some Saskatchewan
red lentils here.
LANA: What are you going
to do with those lentils?
I'm going to turn
them into powder and make
- a cr*cker out of it.
- All in two hours. Let's go.
HENRY: I love getting these
weird flavor out of ingredients
that people
don't really think about.
{\an8}I want to make a tartare.
{\an8}Toast the red lentils,
make a nice little cr*cker.
{\an8}Something super
earthy and really speaks
{\an8}to the land that all
these ingredients come from.
I just like to know
how the dough actually feels.
- Knead it. I need the workout.
- CORWIN: I need it.
HENRY: How are you using
the walleye today, Kat?
I'm going to lightly pan fry it.
That's how I grew up eating it.
This is what my dad
and I used to go fishing for.
{\an8}I grew up in Door County,
Wisconsin,
{\an8}which you may remember from
the Door County Fish Boil
{\an8}episode of Top ChefSeason 21.
These fish seem to
have very fine bones,
so it may be
a little challenging.
{\an8}MIMI: Just getting organized,
trying to figure out
{\an8}where everything is.
CÉSAR: What are you making?
MIMI: Montreal being
a French-speaking city,
I'm leaning into French cuisine,
and I'm going to do
an emulsified corn sauce,
and then a port jus,
and do a potato puree.
- What about you?
- I like the ingredients.
It brought me back
to fishing with my dad.
Growing up,
my dad would take us camping,
and it was
crazy the way we went.
{\an8}We would take nothing.
{\an8}We would just
take a pot and mirepoix.
{\an8}And the idea was like,
whatever you catch,
{\an8}you're going
to make a stew out of.
And if we didn't catch anything,
you're eating mirepoix soup.
I'm going to steam the fish
in this little parchment paper.
Go ahead. Go, go, go, go.
{\an8}- All right.
- PAULA: Hello, chefS.
{\an8}Ha-ha!
TRISTEN: This cod is gorgeous.
Shuai, what did you end up
landing on
with the dish, man?
SHAUI: I ended up with
the steamed Atlantic cod
with a braised daikon,
snow crab, egg drop sauce.
TRISTEN: I'm going to
start picking some crab.
I was just really inspired by
the connection to the Caribbean.
Those islands kind
of remind me of my own.
I was brought up by my mom,
my grandmother,
in a Trinidadian household.
{\an8}And I always had these
flavor profiles together,
{\an8}just like in a big curry.
So that's what
I want to represent.
How are you looking, buddy?
We're doing cod on
a caille de pommes de terre.
It's an old school French dish,
French classic.
Okay, so
I broke a cutting board.
LANA: 49 minutes.
{\an8}Guys, have a great cook.
Coming down,
coming down, please.
ZUBAIR: Anya, what are you
adding to this dish that
makes it you?
Well, I'm making
caviar out of beets.
ZUBAIR: Nice.
ANYA: Caviar is
inherently a Russian culture.
I was born in Moscow.
I have been in the United States
since I was 18 years old.
I opened Birch and Rye two weeks
before Russia invaded Ukraine.
And I said, nobody's ever going
to go to a Russian restaurant.
{\an8}To my big surprise,
it was so well-received
{\an8}and won Best New Restaurant
by James Beard Foundation.
And that gave me the courage
to say, you know what?
I can't delete where I was born.
I'm curing the berries in vodka.
ZUBAIR: Shots of vodka,
a lot on the line.
BAILEY: Sounds like a good time.
ANYA: Bailey,
how's risotto looking?
I'm going to
be doing a carrot risotto.
You know what they say
about risotto on Top Chef.
I am the CDC
of Monteverde Restaurant
in Chicago, Illinois.
The best Italian
restaurant in Chicago.
Chef Sarah from Monteverde
taught me how to make risotto.
Chef Sarah Gruenberg
was on Top Chef.
She placed second in her season.
And she really
taught me everything
that I know about Italian food.
You know, I wasn't planning this
for the first challenge,
but you know, just get
the hard sh-- first, right?
ZUBAIR: Yep, go for it.
People that come
on Top Chefhave never
really succeeded
in making a risotto.
{\an8}So, I think it's brave
that she's going to go with
{\an8}the risotto
on the first challenge.
MIMI: Feeling good on time.
Check back
in on like 30 minutes.
- See how I'm doing.
- Yep, I agree.
This kitchen is chaotic.
I don't know where anything is.
And then also, I'm working
around 14 other chefs.
- Where are delis?
- Uh, on that rack.
{\an8}Level of fun
is 12 out of 10 for me.
What about water?
Where's water?
Right there in the corner.
MIMI: Oh, sh--.
PAULA: Oh, sh--. Excuse me.
I realize...
The smaller pieces had
a bit more sear than I wanted.
- Which oven is on, y'all?
- LANA: Both of them, baby.
I'm putting the rest
of the lamb in the oven
at least to get those right.
**
ZUBAIR: 30 minutes!
CORWIN: Vinny,
what you using with the nitro?
VINCENZO:
This is for a consommé.
I just need
this to get cooled down.
Otherwise, I'm making egg
drop soup and not clarifying.
I'm extremely competitive.
{\an8}My brothers,
Luciano and Giovanni,
{\an8}they told me
if you get eliminated first,
{\an8}it's going
to be so embarrassing.
{\an8}You're going
to feel like an idiot.
{\an8}I'm like,
thank you, I appreciate that.
Come on, Corwin, you know
you can't clarify hot liquids.
Okay.
Oh, sh--. My puree.
{\an8}Oh, God.
I've been running back
and forth in the kitchen,
and I realized my
potatoes have been boiling
on a back burner
for a very long time.
I'm fighting these
potatoes a little bit.
Because they've been overboiled,
they're going to be so gummy.
But they are what they are,
so I've got to go with it.
I need to just make
sure that everything is
seasoned correctly.
Sweating my ----ing a*s off.
- It is beautiful.
- It's beautiful.
Fifteen plates of
food coming, Gail.
Yeah. I'm ready for it.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Welcome to our very first
Elimination Challenge
here in Canada.
Thank you for providing
such fantastic ingredients
for our chefs to work with.
- TOM: The menu looks good.
- KRISTEN: Yeah.
KRISTEN: So, cheers to
Destination Canada Top Chef.
- And Gail, welcome home.
- Thank you so much.
TRISTEN: What you
working on, boss?
MASSIMO: I'm making
my scales for the fish.
The key with the scales is
it's got to be the perfect size.
The perfect width.
Seasoned perfectly.
Glued onto the fish perfectly.
- [Tristen chuckling]
- And then, cooked perfectly.
TRISTEN:
That's a classic though, man.
All right,
we're getting ready to plate up.
- How's the consommé going?
- She clear.
{\an8}I'm temping my lamb
{\an8}and all of them
have different temps.
A little bit over.
The nervousness and the time
took the best out of me.
Three, two, one...
- [timer beeping]
- Done.
{\an8}Nicole, can you tell
us more about the West?
{\an8}West Coast is the best coast,
as they say.
It has the ocean and the forest.
And then, Alberta
with the beautiful green.
Thank you.
Okay, West Region.
What did you make for us?
{\an8}Seared salmon
with a dawadawa cream,
{\an8}mushrooms that have
been roasted in lamb fat
{\an8}and a hazelnut gremolata.
{\an8}- Amazing.
- KRISTEN: Vinny?
{\an8}So, I made
a confit pacific salmon,
{\an8}some forage mushrooms that are
cooked in miso-hazelnut butter
{\an8}and then, a consommé using all
the bones and mushroom trimming.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Paula?
- What I have prepared
{\an8}has inspiration on a lot of
Alberta and forest.
{\an8}So, I have a grilled lamb
with salsa plum, salsa macha,
{\an8}mushroom mole
and a hazelnut pepián.
{\an8}A little bit
of pickled mushrooms as well.
{\an8}KRISTEN: Great,
thank you, chefs.
{\an8}Thank you.
KRISTEN: Let's start with
Lana's dish.
NICOLE:
It was nice to have texture.
Being that it's this nice,
soft salmon
and that there was
this hazelnut crunch.
{\an8}DAVID: I've had dawadawa before.
{\an8}And it is this, like,
incredibly punchy ingredient.
{\an8}She used it with an incredible
amount of restraint here.
Nicole, let's
go on to Vinny's dish.
NICOLE: This is my kind of dish.
{\an8}Perfectly cooked.
Opaque, soft, just at the flake.
TOM:
This is a very subtle dish
that is just full
of flavor and power.
DALE:
There wasn't a bad bite in it.
No, this is really,
really, really well done.
He's made me proud.
[laughing]
Paula's dish,
what did you think?
Her interpretation of mole
lacked a lot of spice.
The hazelnut, I really enjoyed
the flavor coming from that.
And my lamb was cooked well.
My lamb is severely undercooked.
Undercooked?
DAVID: Oh, yeah.
Interesting, because mine was,
like, quite over.
It's a lot of different cooks.
VINCENZO: Glad it's over?
I mean, hopefully
not over, over, you know?
There it is.
Nice sear.
- CÉSAR: 30 minutes!
- [bleep].
{\an8}Because of my potatoes,
I completely lose track of time.
I have 30 minutes left and
I haven't touched my pork yet.
All right, gonna run now.
Even if it's 10 minutes,
I still brine this pork in hopes
that it's not gonna dry out.
Sorry, I'm working sloppy
right now.
{\an8}CÉSAR: Mimi's pork is still raw.
{\an8}It seems kind of late in
the game to still have raw pork.
MASSIMO: 22 minutes.
KAT: I'm trying
to get my cream to smoke.
{\an8}I want to have a smoked element
{\an8}to play against the sweetness
of the sour cherries.
CORWIN: Is that your wood
chips for your smoke?
Yeah.
I try to set up
a little smoker in a hotel pan,
drop some smoke in it.
That's not
working all that well.
I'm really
improvising here right now.
I resort to lighting the chips
on fire, turning to embers,
and then just dumping
the whole thing into the cream.
I have spent 10 minutes trying
to troubleshoot the smoke.
CORWIN: Three and a half
minutes, guys.
Oh, I lost one.
Henry's cr*cker looks perfect.
{\an8}And if his tartar
is seasoned to the T,
{\an8}that's gonna
be the dish I have to beat.
HENRY: The consistency is
exactly what I was looking for.
Let's start plating.
CORWIN: 45 seconds.
LANA: Oh, my God.
Am I missing one?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
One, two, three.
- [timer beeping]
- [bleep]. Oh, my God.
I didn't get it all.
I didn't get it all.
**
{\an8}Yeah, the prairies are
pretty underrated overall,
{\an8}but it really is not
just the breadbasket of Canada,
{\an8}but it really is the world.
- Uh-oh.
- That's not a good sign.
Missing some fish.
I'm missing some tomatoes.
{\an8}- Me and Tom missing tomatoes.
- TOM: Yeah, missing tomatoes.
KRISTEN: Uh-oh.
A little inconsistent.
Okay, Prairies Region, could
you explain your dish to us?
{\an8}This is a pan-fried walleye
with a lentil flour,
{\an8}wild rice, and tomatoes and sour
cherries on some of your plates.
A little bit of a time crunch.
It was like a series of things
that put me behind.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Henry?
- So I made ribeye tartar.
{\an8}The aioli that's mixed into
it is a toasted lentil,
{\an8}sour cherry chimichurri with
cumin, toasted lentil crackers,
{\an8}and then egg yolk custard on
the bottom, almost like a jam.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Corwin?
- I have a grilled ribeye
{\an8}with a red lentil puree,
{\an8}tomatoes and sour cherries
in two different ways.
{\an8}- Thank you, chefs.
- CHEFS: Thank you.
KRISTEN: Dale, let's
start with Kat's dish.
Did you have
everything on your plate?
I did, I was
one of the lucky ones.
But I actually did
think there was quite a bit
of flavor in the rice.
I was happy that she did use it
because it is a big
Saskatchewan product.
Sheila, obviously
your plate was missing fish.
I gave you half of mine.
SHEILA: I also was
missing the cherries.
I actually
thought the cherries were
the best part of Kat's dish.
TOM: The dish has
a lot of flavor.
I have a hard time
evaluating dishes
because I don't have cherries,
I don't have tomatoes,
so it's kind
of a big I for incomplete.
I ----ing screwed the pooch.
{\an8}Corwin's dish,
it is a nice cook on the beef.
{\an8}The puree,
the flavor's good.
The spices come through.
You taste all
those Caribbean flavors
that he was talking about,
act as a condiment to the beef,
it's very disjointed.
Yeah, I don't know if
he was playing it safe
or he just didn't
understand the ingredients.
That last 40 seconds
felt like five seconds.
{\an8}Henry's dish, using ribeye is
an interesting cut for tartar.
{\an8}It was quite a juicy tartar.
{\an8}I did really like the cr*cker.
DALE:
The cr*cker has tons of flavor.
Using lentils in
a couple different ways is nice.
Who had your favorite dish
in your region?
Henry's is the top for me.
Did some papillote,
old-school technique.
It just kind of
steams it all together.
I think it's really nice,
especially for fish.
{\an8}I keep thinking, "You're going
to overcook this tiny fish,
{\an8}and that's the first
impression," but don't do that.
Looking good.
TRISTEN: Just bridging two
cultures with my curry.
CÉSAR: Two minutes.
{\an8}I have all
of my components done,
{\an8}just not up to the expectation
that I want them at.
- CHEFS: Hands up, hands up.
- [timer beeping]
MIMI: My pork only
got a 15-minute brine.
My pork is dry.
The metropolises,
Toronto and Montreal,
it's a really diverse
and productive region
for cooks to consider a pantry.
Oh, look at
the little papillote.
Oh, it's so sweet.
- KRISTEN: That's very cute.
- All the guys went, "Aww."
KRISTEN: César, can you tell us
about your dish, please?
{\an8}It's corn butter poached trout,
grilled radicchio,
{\an8}and a sauce
with corn and pea shoots.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Mimi?
- So, I wanted to do
{\an8}a potato puree
with corn beurre monte,
{\an8}and then I did a lightly brined
pork that was just grilled,
{\an8}and then a peach that hopefully
lightens it all up.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Katianna?
- I made a pork loin katsu,
{\an8}miso, corn,
and pea sh**t gravy,
{\an8}a quick kimchi of peaches.
{\an8}I think it lends
well with the spice.
- All right, thank you, chefs.
- CHEFS: Thank you.
MIMI: That wasn't my best.
- KRISTEN: David.
-DAVID: Yep.
- César's dish.
- I really did enjoy
all the flavors I was tasting.
Wrapping the peach
in the radicchio was
like a nice touch.
{\an8}JEREMY: I love fish
with fruits and citrus.
{\an8}Yeah, it was
just a good balance.
TOM: That was a great bite.
- Really good bite.
- How did it go?
It's good to finally face them.
Katianna's dish
excited me the most
because I love
a good pork cutlet.
I think the peach is one
of the best bites I had all day,
but the gravy's okay.
KRISTEN: I thought the gravy was
the best part of the dish.
It tasted of corn,
it gave me gravy vibes,
and I was all for it.
That's an intimidating table.
Good luck.
[anxious blowing through lips]
Mimi's dish...
[sharp exhale]
This was a poor attempt.
It's gone wrong.
Beige, muddy.
The potatoes reminded me of
the powdered boxed potatoes.
Her pork loin, it's
completely dry and overcooked.
KRISTEN:
Something clearly went wrong.
I did not enjoy anything
on Mimi's plate.
It tasted like
elevated hospital food.
Nothing works because
nothing's cooked right.
Okay, let's go. 2:22, guys.
- Hot coming through.
- I need this space, please.
Getting my really sweaty face.
Just great.
That's the good side.
VINCENZO:
Guys, you got 1:30.
[plates clattering]
[plate shattering]
- SHUAI: Opa.
- Sorry.
{\an8}I may have underestimated
the amount of time
{\an8}it might take me to plate.
- MASSIMO: One minute!
- SHUAI: Make a wish.
- [timer beeping]
- TRISTEN: Oh, mother----er.
Come on, dude.
{\an8}TRISTEN: I waited to try to
make my curry sauce hotter.
{\an8}Now, I've left a main
component off of my plate.
- [bleep]
- Let's go, let's go, let's go.
{\an8}The Atlantic region
is a true gem in Canada.
{\an8}The seafood really shines.
Beautiful shellfish,
and then of course Newfoundland
with the king of all fish,
the codfish.
- Lovely.
- GAIL: Oh, it's beautiful.
No, but the Trini potato curry,
it's not on here.
KRISTEN:
Maybe there's a sauce pour.
Atlantic Region.
Tell us about your dish.
{\an8}With the Atlantic Region,
we got a dulse snow crab mousse
{\an8}on top of a piece of poached cod
that I poached in curry butter,
{\an8}a piece of butter poached
snow crab
{\an8}with the potato and dulse crumb.
Trini potato curry?
I was happy with the curry,
I just wasn't going to
get it on there on time, like,
- nicely, at all.
- Got it.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Shuai?
- I did a steamed cod
{\an8}with a braised daikon radish,
{\an8}snow crab and egg drop sauce,
crispy dulse seaweed.
- Massimo?
- [shouting] All right, guys,
- this dish, uh--
- Oh! Hello, good morning.
- You get used to it.
- [all laughing]
{\an8}This dish is a love letter.
{\an8}So paying homage to
the cod with the potatoes,
{\an8}pommes de terre de caille,
beurre blanc and smoked dulse.
- Great. Thank you, chefs.
- CHEFS: Thank you.
Cheers, guys.
KRISTEN: Jeremy, what did
you think of Shuai's dish?
The cod is
so beautifully cooked
and the crab
is so complimentary.
{\an8}SHEILA: The braised daikon
paired perfectly with the cod
{\an8}and all together,
it was a really cohesive dish.
{\an8}I really liked it.
It also shows you
that all texture
- doesn't have to be crunch.
- Totally, totally.
Nicole, Tristen's dish,
completely gone.
NICOLE: Oh, completely gone.
{\an8}I love cod and this
was cooked so perfectly.
{\an8}I love these little pops
of the coriander seed
{\an8}that he included in his crumble.
The curry, yeah,
would have been nice,
but that could have maybe
overpowered the dish, too.
- You never know.
- You never know.
[laughing]
KRISTEN: Let's go on
to Massimo's dish.
- Massimo!
- TOM: Massimo!
[laughing]
This is not the first
time we've seen potato scales
on a piece of fish,
but it was tongue in cheek.
He was paying homage
to that tradition.
But I just wish the cod
were cooked a little nicer.
That's not to say
it's overcooked.
- It's just...
- GAIL: Comparatively.
We have to pick someone who's on
the bottom out of these three,
but we're talking
about degrees of degrees.
Really great round.
I think they all
just did a fantastic job.
ZUBAIR:
I'm starting to plate, guys.
BAILEY: I'm trying.
ZUBAIR: Yes, Chef.
Go, go, go, go.
ANYA: 25 seconds.
[timer beeping]
We finally made it to the North.
{\an8}The Arctic coast of
Canada is rich
{\an8}in marine mammal wildlife
{\an8}and that's the main diet
of us Inuit.
North region. Anya, can you tell
us about your dish, please?
{\an8}ANYA:
The north of Canada reminded me
{\an8}of the Arctic cuisine
we have in Russia.
{\an8}So, I've made a ukha,
which is fish broth.
{\an8}Then you add potatoes
and carrots and dill
{\an8}and cr*cker made out of
rye flour with beet caviar.
{\an8}- KRISTEN: Zubair?
- My dish,
{\an8}I named it
The Land of the Midnight Sun
{\an8}represented here by my sauce
from my homeland
{\an8}in South India
called meen moilee.
{\an8}The rest of this dish
is a combination
{\an8}of all the northern
ingredients and then,
{\an8}of course,
the turbot from the sea.
{\an8}- Bailey?
- I did a carrot risotto,
{\an8}some pickled beets on top
{\an8}and then I wanted to do
a preservation technique
{\an8}on the fish,
so I decided to cure it.
- Thank you, chefs.
- CHEFS: Thank you.
KRISTEN: Sheila,
let's start with Anya's dish.
As soon as I took a bite of it,
it reminded me of
Russian Inuit soup.
GAIL: It's really beautiful,
the connection that Anya has
made with the north of Canada.
The sourness
of the soup is fantastic.
KRISTEN: And the cr*cker
was the only thing that
was just a little--
I heard everyone's crunching
over my own crunching
and I was like, whoa.
Can I have you try the cr*cker?
- BAILEY: Sure.
- [loud crunch]
ANYA: I mean, rye is tough.
Zubair's dish.
Overall,
I think it's really well done,
it's just
the ratios were kind of off.
JEREMY: Yeah, the turbot was
nicely cooked but yeah,
a little overpowered.
KRISTEN: I mean, Tom did say,
"Put yourself into the plate."
Absolutely. I think he did that.
I think he told us what
he's about and how he can cook.
It's good,
it's interesting, yeah.
I think I'm going to be good.
Gail, on the scale
of good risotto to bad risotto
on Top Chef,
where is this sit?
It's not the worst risotto
we've had on Top Chef...
[Nicole chuckling]
...but it is not
a good risotto.
The carrot risotto
and the chard,
to me, it didn't go together.
TOM: Risotto is about the rice,
and yet you make a dish that's
about chard and beets
and carrots
and everything but rice.
That was a rough one for me.
All the chefs were given such
beautiful pantry ingredients
and you're always trying to
find your footing
in the first
Elimination Challenge
and to execute still on
a level that is this high,
I thought it was
a really successful day.
Clearly, a lot of promise here.
Full bellies
only means one thing
and that means we have
to go to Judges' Table.
- So great. Thank you.
- My pants are still buttoned.
We got a bar up here?
Oh snap.
ZUBAIR: This is dope.
- This is nice.
- So nice!
- MASSIMO: Oh, wow.
- Hello, bartender.
MASSIMO:
I'll line them up for you.
Congratulations,
we made it through
the first
Elimination Challenge.
Absolutely.
I thought it would
go a little bit better.
- TRISTEN: I expected to finish.
- ANYA: You didn't finish?
KAT: I expected to get
my food on the plate.
MIMI: Oh, it's so disheartening.
You know, chefs, we saw
a lot of great techniques,
a lot of interesting
flavor combinations.
Some things
were really surprising.
All in all, this is
a very good start I should say.
Vinny, César, Anya, Henry,
and Shuai, please stay here.
The rest of
you can move to the side.
The five of you had our favorite
dishes from your regions today.
César, you're just blank.
You're just like--
There's nothing there.
- GAIL: There's the smile.
- TOM: There we go.
Tom mentioned,
"Show us your personality.
"Show us who you are."
The personality came through,
so kudos to all of you.
Shuai, did you feel like
you put a good dish out?
I felt like
what I put out was solid,
but most of the cooking
from my grandma and my mom
is all home cooking,
so you never know.
I think this dish told us
exactly who you were.
I love that you were
able to take all those elements,
bring them together, it just--
It felt natural
- Just beautiful work.
- Thank you, Chef.
Vinny, the first bites
were just outstanding.
Everything came together.
The consommé,
plus the cooking of the fish,
and as you discovered
more and more flavors
and understood
the depth and the work
that you put
into that in two hours,
it was incredibly impressive.
Thank you.
GAIL: Henry, several of us
questioned why you would
take such a beautiful piece
of ribeye and chop it to shreds.
- Me too.
- [all laughing]
It was, in the end,
a great choice.
The tartar itself,
the egg custard, the cherries,
and then,
of course, the lentils.
You really put a lot of thought
into how you used every element.
- Thank you.
- TOM: César.
Eight little papillotes for us.
I knew it was
going to be a risk.
It was a challenge to time it.
Well, the risk paid off.
We all commented
it was just so adorable
when it came to the table.
It was like, listen to me,
I'm using the word adorable.
And it was nicely cooked.
I mean, that is a risk,
- because you can't see it cook.
- Exactly.
You put together
a really solid dish.
- Thank you.
- DAVID: Anya.
It ostensibly looked
like overly simple food.
A bowl of soup,
a cr*cker on the side.
But simple is hard to do.
And you did that extremely well.
Good start.
David, as our guest judge,
you have the honor of announcing
our winner this evening.
We were really floored
with the winning chef's ability
to put together
something that wowed us.
The winning chef of this
first challenge is...
- ...Vincenzo.
- [cheering]
Congratulations, Vinny.
You just won
yourself immunity in
the next Elimination Challenge.
VINCENZO: Giovanni, Luciano,
back home,
if you're hearing this.
I love you guys,
thank you for applying pressure
and making sure I did well.
I feel like a duck in water.
I might not be
showing it on surface level,
but underneath,
the feet are flapping
and there's a lot of
excitement on the inside.
[chuckling]
You set the bar very high.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Thank you, chefs.
You can step
to the side, please.
Paula, Kat, Mimi,
Massimo, and Bailey...
you had our least favorite
dishes from your regions.
However, we only need
to speak with Mimi and Kat.
You can come forward, please.
Mimi and Kat,
you had our least favorite
dishes of the day
and one of you
will be eliminated.
Are we still in agreement?
Yeah, I think so.
Mimi...
please pack your knives and go.
LANA: Oh, my God. No...
So, Mimi, as cooks and chefs,
we all have bad days.
MIMI: Yeah,
I was very disappointed.
The execution went wrong.
You'll get a shot in
Last Chance Kitchen
- to get back in here...
- Okay.
- ...so show us what you can do.
- Yeah.
Kat, not getting food
on the plate obviously is
a time management issue,
but I highly encourage you
not to try and overcorrect.
You gotta find that sweet spot.
You gotta find that sweet spot.
Can Mimi squash through
the unexpected challenges ahead?
MIMI: Why would you want
to do this to yourself?
TOM: Watch the season premiere
on Peacock
or BravoTV.com.
KRISTEN:
This season onTop Chef...
[cheering]
- Poutine.
- Poutine.
I've never eaten
so much poutine before.
Yes, girl.
JUDGE: Beautiful.
JUDGE 2:
A lot of love in this dish.
It gives you these little pops
of brightness.
I love the heart behind it.
[all laughing]
To execute something like that
is unbelievable at
this stage in the competition.
This is one of the best things
I've ever had.
- Nailed it.
- [all laughing]
You wanna hang out with me?
MAN: Is this thing moving?
We open!
Watch the lasers!
Shall we do a triple axel?
- Yeah, this is beautiful!
- Yeah!
Two torches are better than one.
Let's hope that
doesn't leave you in a pickle.
- 'Ey!
- Oh!
- Something burning?
- Cover it!
- Massimo, let me see.
- Don't bother me.
I have a little bit of an ego.
- Yes, Chef!
- GAIL: The Top Chefkitchen
is not the place to work out
your baggage.
Flex you. Don't flex other
people's accomplishments.
VINCENZO: Two minutes!
The next Top Chef is...
Five minutes!
Nobody heard.
Okay, they heard.
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22x01 - Across Canada, We Go!
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Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.
Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.