- Previously on
Top Chef...
- You're the [bleep].
You are the [bleep].
What's wrong?
- The 95 bees
that are back here.
But we have to battle
head-to-head
against our teammate,
cooking the same dish.
Ahh.
- Take me bread, hey--
okay, go ahead.
I kind of feel
like I'm an ass[bleep],
but the winner's
going to get $15,000.
He took, like,
five pieces.
- Put that
in a blender again
with a little...
Vodka.
- [Laughs]
- You think that
chicken salad is really boring?
- Yeah.
And you have to win this
against other dishes
that are potentially
much more exciting
than a chicken salad sandwich.
- Like a meatball?
- You build the sandwiches
ahead of time,
the bread just starts
drying out.
- Chris...Please pack
your knives and go.
And on Last Chance Kitchen,
one eliminated chef will
get back into the competition.
- It's mom versus dad.
Let's see who's
the better parent.
- Beverly came
one step closer
by defeating Chris
in the mystery box thriller.
Five chefs remain,
all hoping to win...
A feature in
Food & Wine magazine,
a showcase at the annual
Food & Wine classic in Aspen,
$125,000,
furnished by Healthy Choice,
to bring
their culinary dreams to life,
and the title
of Top Chef.
- I woke up this morning
feeling kind of crappy.
Chris Jones
was eliminated.
We have become really close
in a small amount of time.
So he's definitely
missed in my book.
- All about business today.
- [Laughs]
- Keep it
all about business.
- It's all business
from the waist up,
but then you got the--
you got the shorts on.
[Laughs]
The remaining
five of us are all
really good chefs,
and it's going to be
very challenging
to make it
to the final four.
- I'm getting dressed.
- You're wearing that today.
- My family wasn't ecstatic
about me becoming a chef
instead of something
that would have
more financial reward
as a career.
But they've
always supported me,
and I want to be able
to win this for them.
- Let's take care of
some business today, shall we?
- We arrive into
the Top Chef kitchen,
and there's Padma
with about 80,000 pancakes.
I mean,
I have never seen
this many pancakes
on a table before.
- For your quickfire
today,
you'll be making a favorite food
of our guest judge,
pancakes.
- I'm thinking
it's a kid
or a child star.
Maybe it's, like,
Miley Cyrus or something.
- And here comes
our judge.
[Horn honking]
[Laughter]
- Oh!
- Oh, my God.
This is not what
I was expecting at all.
It's definitely
going to be entertaining.
- Nice to see you!
- [Bleep].
- Hi, Pee-Wee.
- Hi, Padma.
- How was your ride?
Mwah.
- Exhausting.
Worked up an appetite.
- Oh, good.
[Laughter]
- I'm real excited
to be here...and starving.
- For your quickfire,
you have 20 minutes
to make pancakes.
Let your imaginations
run wild.
- I love pancakes.
I mean, I'm not going
to marry one,
but I love them anyway,
so be creative,
dress 'em up,
make them exciting,
happy, funny,
and delicious, most of all.
- I remember my mom
making pancakes as a kid,
and then I would
watch Pee-Wee.
It was awesome, so
I can't wait to rock this.
- The winner of this
quickfire will win $5,000.
- $5,000
for a pancake?
Wow,
that's a stack.
[Laughter]
- Your 20 minutes...
Starts now.
- Good luck!
[Rock music]
♪ ♪
- This is fun.
- When I was
a little girl,
I used to love
confetti cake,
which had, like,
sprinkles in it.
I haven't
won any money yet,
and I know my fiance's
gonna be disappointed.
I told him, hopefully,
I would bring something back
for the wedding,
so I have to win this.
- Ten minutes!
- Lindsay?
- Yeah?
- Can I borrow
a little sugar from you?
- Yeah, go.
I'm going back
to being a kid.
My dad would
make pancakes,
usually on
a Saturday morning,
while I was watching
Pee-Wee's Playhouse.
I'm doing a little bit of
a lemon and ricotta pancake
to make it a little bit
special for him.
- You know,
my favorite part of a pancake
is those little pieces
around the edges
that get kind
of crispy and burnt,
so I'm doing
a play off that.
[Cork pops off]
- Ooh.
I'm making
champagne dippin' dots.
We just got
a liquid nitrogen t*nk
in our restaurant
at Uchiko.
I've been playing
with that for,
like,
the last few months.
It's not a focus
of what I do,
but if I find
practical uses for it,
I'll use
that kind of technique.
- I'm making
ricotta buttermilk pancakes
with peach compote
in the shape of Minnie Mouse.
I just hope it's whimsical
enough for Pee-Wee.
- You have five minutes.
- Son of a bitch.
Five minutes left,
and I am getting my pancakes
in the Anolon pans.
I just hope I have
enough time
to get them
nice and crispy.
- The sprinkles that
I put into the pancake batter
are starting to leech out
and make the batter
look this, like,
weird pink color.
I'm a little concerned
about that.
[Dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Time's up!
- Hands up,
utensils down.
- [Laughs]
Oh, my God.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, too.
- This is Minnie Mouse.
It's a ricotta
buttermilk pancake
with peach compote,
Blackberry,
and some basil.
- That's all?
- [Laughs] Yeah, that's all.
- Mmm.
- Pee-Wee's making
all of these crazy faces.
It almost looks
like he's having a stroke.
- Probably the best pancake
I've ever had.
- Oh, okay.
- Delicious.
- They're confetti pancakes
with a Blackberry sauce,
cocoa nibs, banana,
and a little whipped cream.
- I've never made anything
like this in my life.
- I'm getting
a piece of confetti
stuck between
one of my teeth.
- Oh, no.
[Laughs]
- I have to say,
best pancake I've ever had.
- Thank you, Pee-Wee.
- So I did berries,
black pepper,
with a rolled pancake
and champagne
dippin' dots.
- I have an open mind
and an open mouth.
[Laughter]
- This is my first time
making pancakes.
- Probably can't tell, though,
I'm hoping.
I have to say,
this is the best pancake
I've ever had.
- Thank you.
- I made
a ricotta pancake.
Inside is a little bit
of whipped creme fraiche,
and on the bottom, you have
kona almond and anise cookies.
- Ooh, I just
hit the cookie.
I have to say, this is
the best pancake I've ever had.
- Thank you.
[Laughter]
- My favorite part
of the pancake,
when I was a kid,
was always
those, like, crazy little
random bits
that would fall off
the edges of the pancake,
so I kind of
did a play off that,
and blueberries,
raspberries, strawberries,
some bacon.
There's bruleed marshmallow.
- I have to say,
it's the best--
- Best pancake you've ever had?
- Pancake I've ever had.
[Laughter]
- Pee-Wee,
how do you think
our chefs did on
their pancake quickfire?
- I think they did
fantastically, overall.
- Who's our winner today?
- Padma,
I'm gonna have to say,
I'm gonna go with
the person who made
the best pancake
I've ever tasted.
[Laughter]
This person changed it up
a little bit,
did something that
surprised me,
and I thought the whole thing
was very original and creative.
Should I tell
who it is?
- Yeah, who is it?
- [Laughs]
- Ed.
[Applause]
- Thank you very much,
Pee-Wee.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
Finally.
This is
my first quickfire win.
Feels great.
Hopefully I'm going to start
streaking late.
- You win $5,000
furnished by Healthy Choice.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
- Chefs, I'm sure
you all remember the Alamo.
It's where
our journey began.
And now...
You're going back.
- Pee-Wee's last trip
to the Alamo
was in his classic movie,
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
- My most
prized possession ever,
my bicycle,
was stolen.
I looked everywhere.
Finally, I consulted
a psychic,
who told me it was
in the basement of the Alamo.
Imagine my surprise
when I hitchhiked
across the country
to get to the Alamo
to find out
there's no basement
in the Alamo!
[Laughter]
- Well, Pee-Wee
obviously has
terrible memories
of the Alamo,
and we need to give him
some nice, new memories.
And that's what you guys
will be doing tomorrow.
Pee-Wee,
I heard you have
a little surprise
for our chefs.
- I do, Padma.
I'm giving each one
of the chefs
a new bicycle.
I had them already delivered
to your house.
- Tomorrow, your challenge
is to make
an unforgettable
family-style lunch
for Pee-Wee
and the judges.
You'll have a map
to the Alamo,
a bike,
and 100 bucks.
It's up to you
to find your food
and a restaurant
to cook it in.
But you'll need
to hurry,
because only one chef
can cook
in a restaurant
at one time.
- How do you create
a shopping list
if you don't even know
where you're going?
How do you figure out
what you're going to cook
when you don't know
what kind of kitchen
you're gonna
be cooking in?
This is just a lot
to think about.
- Chefs, you have ten minutes
to talk to Pee-Wee
about his likes
and dislikes.
Good luck,
and see you at the Alamo.
Bye, Pee-Wee.
- Bye, Padma.
- What do you love?
What's your favorite?
- Oh, I like
lots of different foods.
Like, I like chicken.
Sometimes, I'll have
an egg salad sandwich.
I eat healthy
as much as I can.
Spicy food.
I like non-spicy food.
I like American food.
I like ethnic food.
- Nut allergies?
- We'll find out tomorrow.
[Laughter]
Ooh, my throat's
starting to swell!
[Laughter]
- I'm freaking out
a little bit.
There's so many variables
that could go wrong
in this challenge.
We could fall.
We could not find
a restaurant to cook at.
- I wish you
all good luck.
- It's gonna be rough
for sure.
- Good luck!
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
- Bye!
See you, chefs!
- Oh, my God.
[Laughter]
- Take no prisoners.
[Bell dings]
- These bikes are weird.
- Oh, absolutely not.
We have two hours.
I'm frustrated.
I have to walk out.
- Does this work?
Already got a neck rash.
Today we have
three hours
to ride a bike
around town
and scavenge
for food
and find a place
to cook
a family-style lunch
for Pee-Wee and the judges.
[Stomping]
- Who the hell
was that?
- [Stomping
and laughing]
- I'm a little scared.
There's five chefs left,
and this is
the last challenge
before we're down
to four.
The end goal
is in sight.
I want to make it
to the finale.
- You guys ready to take on
the big adventure?
- [Laughs]
- Yeah.
- Let's go.
♪ ♪
- Yay!
- Oh, cool.
- We walk outside,
and there's five
beautiful,
red Schwinn bikes
in the backyard.
Ooh, the panther.
- All right.
- That's backwards.
- Is it?
- Linds.
[Laughter]
- I don't even know.
- She's screwed.
- My brother does
triathlons,
and he has
two or three bikes,
so I definitely
feel like
this is karma
coming back at me
for giving him
a hard time.
- Take no prisoners.
[Laughter]
- Turn signal.
- Man, we're--we're like
a biker g*ng.
We got some shopping
to do.
We are doing great.
[Bells dinging]
We're staying
in formation.
As a group,
we decide
we're going to start
at the Farmers Market.
But other than that,
it's every man
for themselves today.
- Oh, my God, we have, like,
the old school brakes.
[Grunts]
[Bell ringing]
These bikes are weird.
- I'm pretty comfortable
on a bike.
I ride my bike
to work.
But two years ago,
I was going pretty fast
and I hit a manhole.
My head smashed
into the pavement.
And now, if I drink,
the left side of my face,
it'll just get
all red,
like I've been
in a fight.
[Electronic music]
♪ ♪
- Sorry.
Do you guys
have chickens?
- Yes, whole chickens.
- Yeah. Oh, okay.
- Do you guys have
a plastic bag
I can put this in,
by chance?
- Okay, and then
I have a few squash.
I had to be really choosy
with what I bring
because I don't want to weigh
myself down on the bike,
since I'm going to have
to be carrying everything
to the Alamo safely.
I think I want to get
some eggs and some chicken.
- The beef cheeks are $5.
- $5 a pound.
- Oh, okay, do you have
anything smaller than this?
- No. I could do
a special for $8.
- Okay.
We have $100
to buy everything,
so I'm
a little nervous about
how much money I'm spending
right off the bat.
Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Hopefully, if I find
a kitchen to work in,
I can bargain
with the owner
for some oil and salt
and pepper and spices.
Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Hopefully
they don't break.
- Okay, if it's not there,
I'll be right back.
- All righty.
- I'm looking for shrimp,
'cause that was one of
the things on Pee-Wee's list
that he loved, but there's
no shrimp at the market.
Where did my map go?
I already lost my map.
I'm thinking,
the restaurant I go to
has gotta have some proteins.
So I'm just hoping
I can find someplace
faster than
the other chefs.
- Are you going there?
- No, no.
- Me neither.
Paul and I are
neck and neck with each other.
I am a completely
competitive person.
At game night
in the Schmitz house,
usually at least one of us
breaks down and cries.
Sorry, Paul,
this is my plan too.
- Grayson's
following me around.
I got to the place first,
but I went to
the wrong door.
And she gets her stuff,
and she starts to go for
the right door.
That's not cool,
especially on a elimination
challenge like this.
- Hi!
- Hi, how are you?
- I'm Grayson.
How are you?
- Doing okay.
- Um, I'm in a competition...
- Uh-huh?
- And it's a race against time.
And I have to get back
to the Alamo.
May I prep some things
in your kitchen?
I'll be very clean.
Walking into
somebody's restaurant
and asking if you
can cook in their kitchen
is very awkward.
- All right, I'll help.
- I know this is crazy,
but thank you.
Thank God.
- All right, so I think
I keep going straight.
I get a little lost,
so I had to kind
of backtrack a little bit.
Time is running out.
I'm freaking out.
[Car honking]
- Hello.
- Hello, how's it going, chef?
- Good.
What's your name?
- Uh, my name is Paul.
- Paul, Holden.
Nice to meet you.
- So, I'm
in a competition,
and I was wondering
if I could use your kitchen
for a couple hours.
- Uh, sure, yeah.
We can find a spot for you.
- Perfect.
It's a huge sense of relief.
I'm, like,
"Yes, yes, I'm in."
Is that it out there,
the Schwinn?
- Yeah.
- That looks like Pee-Wee
Herman's older brother's bike.
- This chef is really cool,
his staff is really cool.
And I see
really quality ingredients.
Best decision ever.
- Do y'all work with
any chicken stock,
vegetable stock,
anything like that?
I find a kitchen
to work in
at Madhatters
Teahouse and Gifts.
So you don't have, like,
one specific kind?
But I do want to try
and find a few more ingredients.
I'm gonna come check
you guys out in a few minutes,
all right?
- Edward.
Nice to meet you.
- Oh, look at all
this beautiful stuff
you have here.
I find a King William Manor
bed and breakfast.
I was hoping that
you had a couple of things
that maybe we could trade or
barter or I could buy from you.
- Okay,
look in our fridge--
- Any shrimp by any chance?
- Um, no.
- No, we have
got some chicken breasts.
- There's no shrimp,
but there's chicken breasts.
Do you have any grits?
- I actually think
I have a bag.
- Do we have grits?
- Oh, they're the best.
Chicken and grits
in Kentucky,
we like to have it
with red-eye gravy
which is basically a
lighter gravy made with coffee.
And I thought,
coffee's perfect.
We're at a B&B.
I've got to transport it,
so I can't do anything
that's fried.
- How far
do you got to travel?
- Uh, back to the Alamo.
I hope your guests
are trustworthy
'cause my bike is
right outside your B&B.
- Don't worry.
- You're in
a pretty good area.
You shouldn't have
any trouble.
- Do you have shallots?
No?
How about just
regular white onion?
- Yes, I do.
- Rosario's
is a Mexican restaurant.
Definitely not
my style of food,
but at this point,
all I really need
is essentials.
Oh, wow.
All ready--
[laughs]
Thank you.
- I stop at Rosario's restaurant
to find more ingredients.
Do you have, like,
a little tupper?
Something we can put that in?
- As I'm cooking,
I see Lindsay stopping.
She's definitely screwed because
she's not even cooking yet.
- And do you have
any type of grain?
Not rice but, like, couscous
or something like that?
- No,
all I have is rice.
- I am a little bit nervous
about my ingredients.
There's some things
that I still need,
but at this point,
I just need to get back
to Madhatters
and figure it out.
[Dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Go in there
and ask for Vince.
He's my kitchen manager.
- Vince? Okay.
- Vince, yes.
- Hi, hello.
Is Vince here?
- Yes?
- Hey, is it possible for me
to use your kitchen?
- Sure.
- Great.
- Hey, guys.
- Hi.
- Coming in.
- Oh, absolutely not.
We have two hours.
- There's only enough room in
the kitchen for, like, one.
- I mean, we're--
- We have too many people
in the kitchen.
- All right,
you have a plastic bag
I can take with me?
- Yes, I do.
- It's extremely
frustrating that
Sarah has beaten me back
to Madhatters.
- Linds, are these yours?
These are mine.
- No, this is all mine.
I should have never left
in the first place.
[Bleep].
Time is ticking away.
We're so close to the end.
I definitely don't want
to go home
cooking lunch
for Pee-Wee Herman.
[Horn blares]
- Where's the salt for this?
- I agree with Pee-Wee.
- I bet you never
saw yourself
saying,
"I agree with Pee-Wee" today.
- [Laughs]
- [Makes g*nsh*t noise]
[Upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- We have a bike
and 100 bucks
to find a restaurant to cook in
to serve Pee-Wee and
the judges lunch at the Alamo.
When I left Madhatters
for a few moments,
Sarah actually b*at me back.
So when
I see Frank's Hog Stand,
I'm praying
that Paul's not there
'cause he's the only one
I haven't run into yet.
Do you boys mind
if I cook here?
No?
It's definitely
a small kitchen,
but I'm going
to make it work.
I got some beef cheeks,
and I'm praying to God
that I have enough time
to cook them.
And they're a little frozen
which kind of scares me
a little bit.
My first priority
is to defrost the beef cheeks
in hopefully
five or six minutes,
because
if that doesn't happen,
then I'm not going
to have a dish.
- Vince,
I have five potatoes
and a head of garlic.
- Gotcha.
- Thank you.
It's a tight space,
but you gotta--
you gotta trust
the person you cook next to,
right?
- Yeah.
- That's right.
Just because I'm a girl
doesn't mean I can't hang.
[Laughs]
The guys were really nice.
They let me jump in,
get in their way.
- What are you making again?
- Um, it's
a summer vegetable salad
with a medium-boiled egg.
And then
a chicken skin vinaigrette.
- Very good
for this hot climate.
- I hope so.
[Laughs]
I want this spot
in the final round,
and I'm going to do anything
I can to push myself
to make it.
Oh, ho.
That's like
a little cr*cker of love.
- I got grits
on the bottom,
I got kale.
Poached the chicken breast
over there.
Think I need anything else?
I'm making
chicken and grits
with kale salad
and a red-eye gravy.
- What kind
of time limit do you have
to cook this wonderful meal?
- Uh,
less than an hour.
- And then you got
to make it back to the Alamo?
- Yeah.
It's really hot today.
And I don't know how long
the ride's going to be
from here to the Alamo.
I want to keep
the chicken moist and pink,
so, I'm gonna undercook it
just a touch.
- We actually do have
one additional breakfast plate
to make.
- Okay.
- Since you got this side,
would you mind
cooking a couple
of over easy eggs for me?
- Oh, you want me
to cook over easy eggs?
- Would you,
since you have
that side of the fire?
- And I'm thinking,
I don't--okay.
All right,
over easy are looking good.
I'm frying up these
over easy eggs for my new boss.
- That's it.
Thank you, sir.
- You're welcome.
So, win or lose
this thing,
I'm Top Chef
in the B&B.
- Hola.
Como esta?
- Bien. You?
- Ah.
Asi, asi.
[Laughs]
I'm making an spinach and
egg yolk stuffed chicken breast
with roasted butternut squash.
I'm just going
to let it cool a little,
and then
I'll put it in there.
I'm putting a raw egg yolk
into the pocket of my chicken.
They'll cut the chicken breast,
and the yolk will run out.
Great.
- You having fun yet?
- Yes, a pretty good time.
- [Laughs]
- Just riding around town,
buying food,
and then cooking
in random kitchens
that we've
never seen before, so...
- That's always fun.
- Yeah.
Pee-Wee, he likes Thai food,
and he likes something spicy,
so the dish that I'm making
is roasted chicken salad
with Thai basil oil,
red curry gastrique,
and summer squash.
- What you got working there?
- Uh, just, like,
a curry--a curry gastrique.
Just curry
sweet and sour sauce.
I'm a little worried
that it might be too sweet,
so in order
to contrast that sweetness,
I make pickles out
of cucumbers.
- We also have
these aluminum to go,
if you want
to pack up your hot chicken.
- Oh, that'd be perfect.
- Can you wash that for me?
Got it?
Cooking in this atmosphere
is challenging.
I've only got these two pots,
so I'm making sure that
I'm prioritizing everything
as I go.
I'm going to take some more
of your spices, okay?
You let me know
how much money I'm getting at
or I'm gonna run out.
[Laughs] I don't want
to have to stay here
and help y'all cook all day
to make my money back.
When I'm placed
in a situation
where I have
very few options,
that's when I tend
to do my best.
Yes.
- Kale, check.
Okra, check.
Mustard seeds are checked.
- I'm going to start
writing up your tab.
- Yes, please.
Great.
We have to be
at the Alamo at 1:00 p.m.
I have a half hour left.
I don't want
to cut it close,
so I want to give myself
plenty of time.
- Are you going
to need a bag for all this?
- Yes.
- When you get
all packed up,
just see Steven
at the front, and, uh,
he'll have
a bill ready for you, okay?
- Thank you, chef.
- No sweat, man.
- Now I just got
to head to the Alamo.
Supposedly,
there's no basement though,
right?
- That's the legend.
No basement.
- $20.
- Ding.
- Thank you, ma'am.
- Thank you.
I think what
I'm going to have to do
is carry
my chicken in my hand
because
I'm too freaked out
that the yolks will break
if I just put it
in my basket.
- Boys,
I'll be out of your way
in five minutes,
okay?
I'm nervous because
as soon as
we get to the Alamo,
we only have 15 minutes
to plate and reheat our food
to serve to Pee-Wee
and the judges.
- Headed to the Alamo.
♪ Heading to the Alamo
to cook for Pee-Wee Herman ♪
[Laughs]
- Sir, is this the Alamo?
That is it.
Seen anybody else?
- No.
- They're all still cooking?
- I don't know.
- [Laughs]
- To the Alamo.
- I wish I had
a [bleep] oven mitt.
My pan of chicken
is [bleep] hot.
This is burning my hand.
- That is not safe,
Grayson.
- I know,
but it's fragile.
- Hey, girl, hey.
Oh, snap.
- You work right there.
- Yeah.
- I'll work right here.
- That's perfect.
- Thank God my egg yolks
didn't get "smushed."
We've all worked
so hard in this competition,
none of us wants
to be eliminated
because the final four
is around the corner.
- Thank you, Mr. Pee-Wee.
I appreciate that.
- What did you tell
the chefs that you liked?
- I'm guessing chicken
is going to be on the menu
because I mentioned chicken.
Ethnic foods, spicy foods,
so I can't wait to see
what the chefs bring out.
- Did you guys see mixing bowls
anywhere?
- They're underneath
the platters on your side.
I am frustrated that
my dish didn't turn out
the way
I'd conceptualized it,
but I know that
it tastes really good,
and hey,
I made it happen.
- Pee-Wee, what
do you cook at the playhouse?
- We made cheese balls one time,
parfaits,
my favorite was ice cream soup.
I-I almost suggested it.
[Laughing]
- What's the time?
- 5 minutes to 1:00 p.m.
- [Groans]
Come on, folks.
- Where are the tongs?
[Dramatic music]
- While I'm plating, I feel
I'm a little too heavy
on the curry sweet
and sour sauce,
so I start to put
more pickles on my plate,
and I feel like
I'm just destroying my dish.
♪ ♪
[Timer beeping]
- When we started,
there were 29 chefs
at the Alamo.
And we're down to five.
It's getting so close
that we just want
to get this challenge over with
and find out who's going on.
- Sarah.
- Pee-Wee's first thing
he said he loved was egg salad,
and so I have
a soft-boiled egg
with a summer vegetable salad
with a chicken skin vinaigrette.
So I took all
the skin off the chicken,
rendered it down
with the salad.
- I picked a chicken breast,
stuffed it with spinach,
some gorgonzola cheese,
and an egg yolk bacon
vinaigrette on top.
- I made
roasted zucchini stuffed
with braised beef cheeks
and rice,
a salad of some greens with
pickled carrots and celery,
and a little bit
of goat cheese.
- I did my version
of chicken and grits,
with a little bit
of goat cheese in it,
and it also has fresh corn
in it as well.
It was poached
in beef tallow,
and then there is a salad
of kale, okra,
and roasted tomatoes,
and there's a red-eye gravy.
- I decided to do
a red curry gastrique,
a basil blossom oil,
some roasted
and fresh vegetables
from the Farmers Market.
- Thanks, guys.
- Thank you.
I'm willing to arm wrestle
anybody for any of this
if you want.
- I know.
I have to say,
I think they did
a pretty amazing job
from the look of it anyway.
- Let's try Sarah's egg salad.
- I'm sure when you told her
about egg salad,
you had
a very different idea.
- Yeah.
- Probably a little
chopped-up eggs and mayonnaise.
- Yeah, classic.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Classic egg salad.
- I thought her eggs
were cooked beautifully
and I really like the use
of a chicken skin vinaigrette.
Sort of genius.
- It's a festive,
fun-looking dish.
Simple thing,
there was just no salt
and pepper on the eggs.
It's really bland.
- Where's the salt for this?
[Makes g*nsh*t noise]
[Laughter]
- The beef and zucchini
in Lindsay's dish--
it's a really nice way
of presenting the food.
I like the zucchini
as a vessel.
- I love the flavor of the
vinaigrette on the salad,
but Lindsay used
way too much goat cheese.
- The vinaigrette
and the goat cheese
are just kind of making
her salad greens soggy
'cause they're
delicate greens.
- You know,
I really like this dish.
They look like little boats.
And I have to say when
I take a big bite out of it,
and I get that
gorgonzola cheese,
it tastes delicious.
And then it has--
is it pork?
- Beef.
- Beef.
- Beef.
It tastes like chicken.
[Laughter]
- Eggs, grits, and gravy.
- I like the fresh corn.
- Mmm.
- I can't tell
what flavor I'm tasting
in the gravy.
- There's mustard
in the sauce.
- It's delicious.
I like it.
The chicken's
slightly odd to me.
- I agree with Pee-Wee.
The texture of the chicken
is a little weird.
It's just on the edge
of being undercooked.
- I bet you never
saw yourself saying,
"I agree with Pee-Wee"
today.
[Laughter]
- Let's try
Grayson's stuffed chicken.
- I got a prize in mine.
Look, it's a--
[laughter]
- I did think
that it was smart to stuff
her chicken
with the yolk,
and the squash
is really good.
- The squash is great.
This bacon vinaigrette--
it all makes sense,
and then it kind of veers off
into this fresh salad direction.
I wish she left out
all the tomatoes themselves.
- I thought it was delicious,
but I have
a lot of childhood issues
with runny yolk that,
you know, I have to lay down
to talk to you about.
- Did it ever catch you?
- It was running.
- [Laughs]
- I thought Paul
did a great job.
I loved that he incorporated
some Thai flavors,
you know, this kind of red curry
and chili gastrique.
It just went so well
with everything.
- I would have liked
a bigger dash of heat.
I think it was
a little too sweet for me.
- The gastrique itself
is sweet,
but the vegetables
are so acidic.
They're marinated
in a lot of vinegar,
and when you get that vinegar
and the sweet together,
it works.
- It totally works.
- And this plate is also emptier
than all the rest of the plates.
Just an observation.
[Laughs]
- Pee-Wee,
were you happy with your lunch?
- I was extremely happy.
Everybody did
something I liked.
- The fact that they were
running around town on bikes
in kitchens
that they didn't even know,
I thought that was really cool
and considering all that,
they put out some really
beautiful food.
- You know, once a week
we should have lunch.
This is fun.
- I'd love to.
- So now when
you think of the Alamo,
what will you think of?
- Chicken.
A lot of chicken.
- I know that you are,
but what am I?
- [Laughs]
- I'm rubber,
you're glue.
Whatever you say,
bounces off of me
and sticks to you,
infinity.
[Laughing]
- Damn.
- [Chuckles]
- Are you ready to get back
to the judges' table?
- I'm very, very excited
to sit in judgment
of all these people.
[Laughs]
Guilty!
- Grab your bike.
We'll see you there.
- Tom,
you're in the basket.
- Lovely.
- That's where
he usually is.
- I'll have
a few more drinks.
- It's not going to be pretty
because someone has to go.
- My egg wasn't seasoned.
Seasoning is like
the biggest, isn't it?
- Did you crawl up underneath
the chair the other day?
- Yeah.
But it's not that easy.
- In the stew room,
it's like Pee-Wee's Playhouse.
- And you go like this.
[Laughter]
- We have
a lot of characters here,
and I always joke that chefs
are like traveling vagabonds,
and that's kind of
what Pee-Wee's Playhouse is.
- How did you do it?
- You're totally invisible.
No one can see you.
[Laughter]
And when the judges come back,
they go,
"where's Edward?"
- Where's--
[Laughs]
- Everybody's stuff
looked really good.
- It's not going
to be pretty
because someone
has to go,
but I'm proud to have cooked
with all of you today.
- I second that.
- It's bittersweet
because, you know,
four move on,
and one has to go.
- Good afternoon.
We'd like
to see all of you.
Thank you.
- All right, guys,
we stand as one...
- We leave as four.
[Laughs]
- Chefs, you did a great job
on your big adventure.
Pee-Wee, did you make
some nice new memories?
- I certainly did.
I want to thank each one of you
for making me lunch.
It was delicious.
And you've totally changed
my perception of the Alamo.
- Great job.
Everything looked amazing
when it came out.
With five chefs left,
tiny little things separate
winning from losing,
but overall, nice job.
- Grayson,
what did you think
about this challenge?
- Rosario's was really fun.
They were really sweet.
- On bicycles through
the streets of San Antonio,
with just a map and money--
it was really impressive
to see what you guys
all produced today.
- Everywhere I went,
everyone was working,
and they wouldn't let us
share a kitchen.
- Wow.
- They made me cook
for the--
I cooked for the B&B.
- Yeah.
[Laughter]
- He goes,
"I need two eggs over easy
because I got
a breakfast table coming in."
So I stopped--
[Laughter]
I thought everyone
was doing that,
so I just went with it
and I just started
cooking breakfast.
- All right,
let's start with you, Paul.
You made
the Thai chicken salad.
What did you think of that,
Pee-Wee?
- I thought it was fantastic.
Um, I loved having
the option of skin or no skin.
That I thought
was really practical.
I don't even eat summer squash,
and I loved it,
so I learned that
I like something new today also.
- I loved those sort
of ragged pieces of chicken skin
that were super crispy.
My one kind of hesitation
when I first started
eating the dish--
unless you were eating
everything together...
- Yeah.
- There were times
when it just got sweet.
- Got it.
- I wish there was
some other crunchy element
than the chicken skin.
- Ed,
were you happy with your dish?
- It's a tough challenge.
It was a lot of improvising.
- How did you cook
the chicken?
- I melted the beef tallow
into a pan,
then I just kind of let
the chicken poach in there.
- You poached it in oil.
- Yeah.
- For how long?
- Oh...
About 12 minutes.
Tried to cool down
the chicken as much as possible
so it still wouldn't
continue cooking.
Uh, because obviously,
there wasn't
really enough time
to poach, take it out,
properly chill down.
- I thought it was delicious.
I loved the fresh corn
and the grits.
Tasted delicious.
My only criticism at all
was I thought that the chicken
was slightly odd,
the texture of it.
- You know, when chicken
doesn't kind of--
just falls short,
it gets a little,
kind of rubbery almost.
- Grayson.
- Pee-Wee said
he liked a little spice.
So I tried to give
a little spice to the dish,
but not too much.
- I loved your squash.
Really warm and hearty
and really tasty,
seasoned really well.
But how did
you cook your chicken?
- I took the skin off
because
he said, you know,
he tries to eat healthy
when he can.
- But then you loaded it
with gorgonzola cheese,
egg yolks, and bacon.
- The only issue
is a small issue I had
because I actually loved
the combination
of the cheese,
the spinach,
chicken, bacon--
it all makes sense.
The butternut squash
was really delicious.
It was perfect roasted,
but butternut squash
and tomatoes in my mind
don't--don't go great together.
- I thought
it was just, like, big.
It looked odd
because it was so giant.
And short of finding,
like, tinier chickens,
I don't know
what you do there.
- [Laughs]
- Yeah.
- Sarah,
did you enjoy your adventure?
- I did.
I would never have
the opportunity
to do anything
this absurd in my life.
- The okra--
it was beautifully done,
and it wasn't greasy,
and it was seasoned well.
- The seasonings
she had in her kitchen
weren't what
I was used to using,
but thank you.
- It was clearly a new take and
a different look on egg salad.
And I'm sure Pee-Wee
was thinking the egg salad
was mayonnaise and celery,
and the whole bit.
The eggs were perfectly cooked.
But they were also
perfectly under-seasoned.
- Under-seasoned?
- Under-seasoned, yes.
- Okay.
- If there had been
a few sprinkles of coarse salt
on each egg so that
you got that crunch
and that little bit of salt,
it would have been great.
- Okay.
- Lindsay, one of the first
dishes I ever cooked--
uh, I think I was
about 13 years old--
that I ever cooked on my own
was a stuffed zucchini.
And so this brought
back nice memories,
so thank you.
- And who doesn't like something
served in a little boat?
That's what I loved about it.
- Thank you.
- I thought it was delicious.
I thought it was
just a smart, fun dish,
although I thought the salad
was a little overdressed.
There was a lot of cheese
and a lot of dressing on it,
and those very delicate Greens
were sort of wilted.
- Right.
- I picked out as much of the
baby spinach and all that.
I was trying to get
rid of all that
and find the stuff
that had more substance.
- Pee-Wee,
as our guest judge,
please announce the winner.
- The winner is
a chef who was fun,
original, creative.
Changed my entire feeling
about the Alamo...
Lindsay.
You're the winner.
- Awesome.
[Applause]
- Thank you.
This is
the first individual challenge
that I've won this far.
I wasn't expecting that.
It feels great to get a win,
especially this close
to the end,
and, you know,
it definitely validates
all the hard work
and it shows
that I deserve to be here.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Paul,
you're also safe.
Ed, Grayson, and Sarah.
Unfortunately,
one of you will be going home.
You can all leave the kitchen
while we make our decision.
Thank you.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- These five chefs
have really shown us
so much great food.
It's sad at this point
to let anyone go.
- I didn't want to say this in
front of all the contestants,
but I thought
that they all failed
in that all their dishes
needed ketchup.
[Laughter]
- Ketchup was not
what I was craving.
- I loved the way Sarah did
all of her vegetables,
and the way
she cooked her eggs--
they were perfectly done.
- But the problem
I had with this
was the definite lack
of seasoning--salt, pepper.
- At this stage
in our competition,
something like seasoning
becomes really critical.
- Sure.
- My egg wasn't seasoned.
Seasoning is like
the biggest, isn't it?
- I still had a bigger problem
with Ed's dish.
That chicken was just
borderline undercooked.
- My piece wasn't undercooked.
It just--
the texture was weird.
- He chose to poach it
in beef fat.
There are faster,
tastier ways.
- You know,
if it's technique,
I made, probably,
the biggest technical error.
- What did
you think of Grayson,
who had, unlike Ed,
the largest chicken breast
I've ever seen in my life?
- They came to the table,
and they were just sticking out
like big fat thumbs.
- I had
the exact same feeling.
- The butternut squash,
me in my mind,
butternut squash and tomatoes
never work.
You know, you have
to make a decision here.
Do you go in the direction
of sort of a more fall dish
or more of a summer dish?
It's tough because
all three chefs made mistakes.
- Let's get them out here.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Chefs,
for tonight's challenge,
you were asked
to take a bike ride
through San Antonio
on a scavenger hunt.
Ed, you gave us
a chicken dish with grits
and fresh corn,
beautiful flavors.
Unfortunately,
that chicken breast
was just slightly undercooked.
Grayson,
large chicken breast
filled with great ingredients,
but maybe those ingredients
just went a little too far,
a little too much.
Sarah gave us
a newfangled egg salad.
Great idea, great flavors,
just under-seasoned eggs.
At this stage of game,
it's these little details
that make the difference.
For each of you,
I hope you had fond memories
for your time on Top Chef,
but for one of you,
your time is going
to be cut a little short.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Grayson...
Please pack your knives
and go.
- Oh, my God.
Oh.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
- Bye.
- I'm proud of everything
that I put out.
I tried my hardest
on everything,
and that's all I can say
and do.
- Oh.
- [Laughs]
Yeah.
It makes me sad
that I was eliminated,
but this whole experience
definitely pushed me
to do things that I would never
imagine doing in life.
- Oh, my Grayson.
- I stayed true to myself
through this whole process.
- Bye.
- Gray, bye.
- I don't regret anything.
- I thank, uh,
the final four.
Congratulations
to everyone.
- Congrats.
- Cheers.
- We got to go even harder.
- Yeah.
- Good evening.
- Uh-oh.
- We'd like to see you
back at judges' table.
- I'm definitely thinking, okay,
maybe now they'll tell us,
"all right,
you're the final four,
and you're going to move on
to the final round."
- Chefs, congratulations
on making it this far...
But it isn't over yet.
- Oh, my God.
- The whole time you've been
competing on Top Chef,
another competition has been
taking place in secret
at bravotv.com.
We call it
Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.
- [Laughs]
Oh, my God.
- Every single eliminated chef
has been getting a second chance
to get back into Top Chef
and compete for the title.
- Here's a taste
of what's been happening.
- Welcome to
Top Chef's Last Chance Kitchen.
- Oh, my God.
- "It's not over yet."
- It's all I wanted.
Just one more chance.
- So I'm really happy that
Nyesha got another chance.
She was kind of brought down
by my mistake.
- I got to win this.
I got to seal the deal.
- Anybody betting
on Beverly here?
No one?
[Cheering]
- The winner is...
- Tonight on the finale
of Last Chance Kitchen...
It's the ultimate battle.
The winner will come back
into Top Chef next week.
Will bullied Beverly
shock the world?
- If Beverly b*at me, she
better [bleep] go all the way.
- Or will Grayson, her only
ally, crush her dreams?
- Grayson is a firecracker.
- Are you [bleep] kidding me?
- To watch Last Chance Kitchen,
go to bravotv.com now.
Next on Top Chef...
- I got money that Grayson
kicks Bev's ass.
- Let's find out
who will be joining you.
Chef, please come in.
- Sorry,
I couldn't finish that,
but, uh, thank you.
09x13 - Bike, Borrow, & Steal
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Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.
Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.