- Previously, on Top Chef...
- It's crazy out here.
I'm in this moving gondola.
Oh, [bleep].
I'm like, "oh [bleep],
what am I gonna do?"
- Can't open anything.
- The winner is Lindsay.
- Oh, my God.
- I start attacking
like a madwoman.
[Bleep] Open!
- The winner is Paul.
- Oh, my God,
she has a g*n.
- Oh, my God.
[g*nsh*t]
- Yes!
- Ah!
- Oh!
- Sarah, you'll be joining
Paul and Lindsay in Vancouver.
- Thank you.
- Beverly, please pack
your knives and go.
- All right, bye.
- Give me a hug.
- Three 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.
- It's been a long day.
You and Bev look like
you guys got in a fistfight.
Got bruises all up and down.
- Yeah.
This is the second time Beverly
has left the competition.
There's a little bit of
a deja vu feeling,
except now she's
not coming back.
I'm really happy
to cook with you guys.
This is how it was supposed
to be the whole time.
I always thought you two
would be in the top, so...
- It's exciting, for sure.
- It's good stuff.
- To us.
Cheers.
- And Vancouver.
- And Vancouver.
- Vancouver.
- Yeah.
- Sarah, you start.
- Alfred Hitchcock.
- Hilary Swank.
- Steven Seagal.
- Sammy Hagar.
- Isn't there a rapper
named Q-Tip?
- She's straight from Houston.
"Q-Tip."
Lindsay, Sarah, and
I have become friends.
Barbara Bush.
- Damn.
- But, anytime that we're
in the kitchen together,
everybody understands
that we're competitors.
At that point,
it's not friends,
because you can't think
that way in a competition.
- Wow, look at the Fairmont.
It's gorgeous.
- Nice.
- We arrive at
the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
- Wow, check out the place.
- It's nice.
- It is nice.
I'm definitely tired,
but we have to head out
to our next challenge.
- It feels pretty good, guys.
- Puttin' the coat on?
- Yeah.
- I don't know if we're going
to have a quickfire,
or if we're going to go
straight into an elimination.
Lord only knows
what's in store.
I'm hoping these aren't
the same sweaty ones from Texas.
- Let's do this.
[Upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- We're in Chinatown,
and Asian food
is not my forte.
Thank God Beverly went home,
because she would have
nailed it.
- Hello, chefs.
All: Hello.
Welcome to Vancouver,
and to Bao Bei
Chinese Brasserie.
You made it.
You're the final three.
How does it feel?
- It feels awesome.
- It feels awesome.
- Amazing.
- I'm sure you guys
all recognize the man
standing next to me.
Culinary legend and returning
judge, Mr. Emeril Lagasse.
- Chefs, you've got
to be excited.
- [Laughing]
- Yep.
- Congratulations, chefs.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Vancouver has one of
the largest Asian populations
outside of Asia,
so for your quickfire,
we're going to mash it up with
the Masters of Asian cuisine.
Please welcome...
- Oh, my God, oh, my God,
oh, my God.
- Top Chef Master, Anita Lo,
the winner of Top Chef Masters
Season Three, Floyd Cardoz,
and Top Chef Master
Takashi Yagihashi.
Your Masters
of the Asian culinary world.
- I absolutely love Takashi.
We are friends in Chicago.
I totally respect him.
It's just so amazing
to see him here.
Oh, my God.
- Okay, chefs.
Please draw knives.
- All right.
You got Takashi.
Nice.
- Anita and Lindsay,
Sarah and Floyd,
and Paul
and Takashi Yagihashi.
- I have an Asian background
when it comes to cooking,
but at the same time,
I don't like the expectation
that I should win.
- Masters, could you please
join your teammates?
- Hi, chef.
Nice to meet you.
- How are you?
- Nice to meet you, chef.
- Each team will create
an Asian-influenced dish.
You and your teammate
will take turns cooking.
You have 40 minutes total,
and every 10 minutes,
you'll tag your teammate out.
- Oh, my God.
[Chuckling]
- And to give you
a bit more incentive,
the winner of this
quickfire will receive
$20,000.
Masters, your time...
Starts now.
Good luck.
- Oh, man.
- Okeydoke.
- Find the protein.
- Ten minutes in the kitchen
is your, like,
organizing your station part.
- Right.
It's a crazy challenge
to know that
Anita's going to go
in the kitchen
for ten minutes
and start something.
We're not gonna be able
to talk to each other,
and then I have to figure out
what Anita has in mind.
- I don't know
how you lucked out
with the Japanese chef,
but cheers.
- I'm a little nervous, though.
I'm a little intimidated.
- It is very intimidating.
- He's a badass.
- It's a little more
intimidating.
- Whoa, can I use this?
- Oh, yeah, you can use that.
I know he'll take that.
- I find geoduck clams.
What I want to do is sashimi.
Paul work for
a Japanese restaurant.
If I grab this thing,
he knows how to make it,
and do a good job.
Where's the garbage?
Oh, here I go.
- What do you think
they're going to make?
I have no idea.
- It looks like sea bass
or cod.
- Are those scallops?
- I want to make
a trio of scallops,
highlighting three
different Asian cultures.
Ah, do something Chinese.
- Got your hands full, guys.
- Thank you.
Just got nervous.
- Yeah.
- Where's the halibut?
My record of quickfires
has not been that good.
- He's taking the skin off that.
- When I was on Masters, I never
won a quickfire challenge.
But when you have someone else
who's depending on you to win,
you want to go out and hit
a home run for them.
- I just hope he doesn't try
to make something on the wok.
- If I make a curry, it will
bring in the Asian flavor.
I think I have left
enough of direction
for Sarah to pick up
where I've left off.
Bacon, bacon,
I love bacon.
- Switch! Please switch.
- Coming in.
- Let's do this.
- Go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
- Right here.
- Coriander seed,
peppercorn.
- This is blanc?
I'm a little disoriented.
I see that Anita's
deconstructed the scallop
in three preparations.
- I hope she doesn't think
it's too hard.
- I don't want
to embarrass her.
I don't want to put something
out there that she's like,
"What the hell did
this girl do?"
- I see bok choy back there.
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, my God.
- I check out what's
on our station
and I'm like, "Oh, man,"
of all things, it's mirugai,
which is a giant clam.
People don't
necessarily like it,
because it's a little bit of
an acquired taste and texture.
You guys see any mushrooms?
- Okay, so she has definitely
Chinese sausage.
- Which I love.
- Back.
- Oh [bleep].
- Chefs, five minutes
remaining.
- Nine?
- Five.
- Five?
- "Nine." [Laughs]
- Chilis, whoo.
- Where are the other coolers?
These are the other coolers?
- Yeah.
- I think that
Chef Floyd started
to make the base of a curry.
My comfort level with curries
is about a zero.
All right, so we've got crab.
I get the idea to do
a cold crab salad with the fish.
- I hope she just uses
the legs of the crab.
- Chef Floyd did a great job.
- I'm guessing stop.
- Switch!
- [Bleep].
[Laughter]
- Go.
I feel like I did nothing.
- Me too.
- Oh, my gosh,
he's making dashi.
[Bleep].
Paul is making dashi broth.
I quickly decided that
I'm going to use the dashi
for the sauce
and the dressing.
- He picked the giant clam?
Oh, my God, I'm so glad
I don't have him.
- Anyone see any salt?
- Uh, yeah.
- Morton's, all right, awesome.
Lindsay's made a really nice
little sautee
of Chinese sausage.
I'm thinking that this
is gonna go great
with the sauteed scallop.
Delicious.
- Five minutes left.
- Beautiful, beautiful.
Exactly what I wanted.
I see Sarah's totally
got my vision.
She's cracked the claw, she's
put the crab into the sauce.
- I think we're making like
a really awesome curry.
- We have that salt somewhere?
Oh, what is this, an Asian
grocery store over here?
You take everything
that everybody needs?
- Oh, I'm sorry.
- Not you, not you.
Look at this guy.
- Funny.
- You're not getting the money.
It's not for you, okay?
Just remember that.
- 30 seconds till switch.
- Ooh, that smells good.
- Please switch, Masters.
- Behind.
- Watch it, watch it,
watch it.
- I think we're together on
something, I'm not quite sure.
- Going back into the kitchen
for the last ten minutes,
I see everything
that she's done,
and I'm a little intimidated
to put it all together.
- I tried to line it up
to show her what I wanted to do.
- Anita's already picked
out the plates,
and she's left me one with
a scallop shell on it.
- Guys, we have six minutes.
- Six.
Heard.
I think that doing some
different styles
is what she was going for.
- Did you guys find salt?
- I have some on my station.
- You do?
- Yep.
- I'd like to buy you a drink.
What would you like?
- Ah, scotch on the rocks,
please.
- Takashi-San's the man.
He sets up the plates,
he cuts the mirugai, he added
cucumbers for some freshness.
- Reaching, stealing,
thank you.
- It seems like the right choice
to add a little
Thai chili since
Padma likes spice.
Excuse me, Sarah.
- It's hard when you're
playing for someone
who's playing for money.
- Two minutes, guys.
- Coming through, hot.
The prize for this
quickfire is $20,000.
Paul is definitely the expert
in Asian cuisine.
Ooh, that's delicious.
Hopefully, what I make
will b*at Paul.
Behind, behind,
behind, behind, behind.
- 30 seconds left.
- Let's go, Sarah.
- My hands are shaking.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[Alarm rings]
- Hands up, utensils down.
- I put a lot of Thai chili
seeds on my plate.
It makes me worried, because the
Thai chilis were really hot,
and it might be really spicy.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- I don't know.
Sorry, I did my best.
- So chefs, how did you
feel about the challenge?
- It's an honor to work with
Takashi-San,
and to be around these chefs.
- And how about
for you Masters?
- There was a lot
of adrenaline there.
- It was good to be able to see
what they could do
when you leave something in.
- I almost text messaged you.
[Laughter]
- It's amazing to see how
you all work together.
That was a great challenge.
- Lindsay, what did you make?
- Well, I was trying
to figure out exactly
where chef Lo was going.
We have a scallop.
It's over a little bit
of crispy bok choy,
and it has a little bit
of orange and chili.
Then the other is the roe.
That's been fried and
tossed with a little bit of
dried sausage and
some water chestnuts.
- Anita, what did you intend?
- I was envisioning a scallop
in three parts.
I was going to do
the mantles raw,
the next one was going
to be fried roe,
and then the last one
with the Chinese sausage.
- Yeah, I did fry the roe, and
then I left the other part raw,
and I did sear it, so at least
I figured that out right.
- The water chestnuts are just
really julienne, real fine.
- Mm-hmm, and they were tossed
with a kind of vinaigrette
that I made with the sausage.
- Mm-hmm.
- Well, she ate it all.
- Yeah.
[Laughter]
- Some really nice flavor
in there.
- Whew.
- Sarah.
- This is pan-seared cod
with a coconut curry,
with dungeness crab salad
with clementines.
And the greens--
what were the greens?
- Amaranth.
- Amaranth, oh.
- Really interesting.
What did you
dredge the fish in?
- Rice flour.
- You know, I was looking
for it and I couldn't find it.
She did exactly what I wanted.
- Thank you.
- Let's move on to Paul.
- I just made a mirugai,
or a giant clam sashimi,
with a yuzu dashi,
some Japanese cucumber,
a little bit of fried white
fish, and some Tokyo scallions.
- Is that what you intended?
- Yeah, I wanted to have
just straightforward.
You know,
let the ingredients shine.
Yeah, he got it.
- Thank you, chef.
- What's the heat, Paul?
- Oh, I put a little
chili in there.
I know it's not Japanese,
but I think a little bit
of hit was--
would bring--
yeah, bring it all together.
- That's good,
like some kick, right?
- Emeril and I both happen
to like a lot of chili,
but that's a lot of chili.
- First of all, to see how you
work together was fantastic.
And obviously the end result,
some really good food.
Lindsay, I loved what you did.
I love how you seared
the scallop,
how you fried the roe.
The Chinese sauces were just
a little bit overpowering.
- Sarah, this was a beautiful
plate of food,
and I loved the use
of amaranth.
I'm gonna steal that.
- Me too.
- I loved how you used crab
with the fish.
I loved the sauce.
It could have used more acid.
- Okay.
- And Paul, I thought it was
a very brave dish
to let the ingredients
stand out.
- Most people would have shied
away from using that protein.
I love how you fried the fish
and that whole combination.
Just a tiny bit
too much chili.
- Got it.
Too spicy.
It sucks 'cause that's
totally my fault.
- Emeril, please tell us
who the winner is.
- All three dishes
were really solid.
It was really
a pleasure to experience
you all working together.
But the dish that has all
of the notes of Asian flavors...
Is Sarah and Floyd.
- Oh, my God!
Thank you.
- First time I've
ever won a quickfire.
- Congratulations, Sarah.
You win $20,000,
furnished by Terlato Winery,
maker of Top Chef wines.
- Thank you so much, chef.
Thank you.
I can't believe that now I've
won $30,000 in Canada alone.
I won nothing in Texas.
Then I come here and I'm
hitting the road running.
This is a good push into
the next challenge.
Wow.
- I'd like to thank the Masters
for all your help,
and we'll see you later.
- Thank you, Takashi.
Bye, guys.
Have fun in Vancouver.
[Dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Now that you've beaten
the heat in Texas,
and survived the cold of
Whistler,
we thought it'd be fun
to bring the two together.
Tomorrow night, the three
of you will be throwing
a fire and ice cocktail party.
Each of you
will be responsible
for one dish
and one cocktail.
Your dish must contain both
a hot and cold element.
- "Fire" could mean spicy,
but it could also mean
temperature hot.
And "ice," meaning very cold,
or very crisp.
So wide open to interpretation
that it's going to be difficult.
- You'll be serving 150
of Vancouver's culinary elite
at the Village on False Creek.
The winner of this challenge
will win a trip for two
to Costa Rica, furnished
by Green Mountain Coffee.
- This is your opportunity
to really stand out.
Chili with a scoop of sour cream
is not going to cut it.
- Good luck.
We'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you.
- My head's racing and
I'm trying to think of things
I've done in the past that might
fit into this challenge.
This one plate of food
is going to be really important,
because it's gonna be
my ticket to the finals.
[Upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- I have sunchokes too.
- Do you? Okay.
- You and me need them.
- I struggle with how I'm going
to do this dish,
because I'm not really sure
if I should take it literally,
and set something on fire,
or have something that
is totally frozen.
- What else do you need?
- I'm making kind of a play on
a bloody Mary...I think.
- I'll go with the burrata.
- Give me 1,000 grams
of king crab.
I want to do a play on
the lobster bouillabaisse.
I know that I want to do
something visually stunning,
something that feels like
it's cold,
but then you eat
it and it's hot.
That's fine.
That works.
- 35 minutes!
- Oh, excuse me.
- This area?
- Yeah.
- Got it.
- How many do I have
right here, six?
- Yup, I'll grab you six more.
- I want to create something
that's really close to me,
so I want to make a baked pasta,
which for me is that warmth,
and then cool it off with
a ginger mousse that is frozen.
I've never made this before,
and that's scary.
But I know I
have to take a risk.
- One's plenty,
don't you--
- I might take some too
to go into my mousse.
- I was hoping for something
a little bit different,
but halibut's gonna
work nice.
I know it's going to be very
tricky to cook halibut for 150,
but luckily this isn't
Restaurant Wars.
Beverly, I've already gotten
complaints that the fish is dry.
Please do not
overcook my fish.
This time, I have control over
it and I'm the one cooking it,
so I'm feeling
confident about it.
Okay, thank you.
- 11 minutes!
- Hi, do you guys have any,
like, essential oils?
- Yeah, we do.
Is there one you're looking for?
- Like, a lemon?
I'm gonna do something
I learned about
from my new chef de cuisine.
He uses essential oils a lot
to enhance certain flavors.
I'm going to have things that
look like clear ice and snow,
and it's going
to melt table-side,
and hopefully it will be good,
if I pull it off.
- Sarah and Paul are going to do
snow and frozen aspects.
I feel like it's
a little gimmicky.
That's not the way I cook.
- Oh, wait,
she's here, she's ready.
- If you really stay true
to who you are,
that's usually when you come
out on top.
- Thank you.
- It's getting close.
- Sarah, to $20,000.
- Cheers.
- Holy crap.
- 30 total.
- Right?
Congrats.
- Oh, my God.
I can't believe it.
- Cheers.
- I know.
- I fought so hard
to get here.
In my junior year, my mom
let me drop out of high school
to go to culinary school.
My--my family will finally
be proud.
To complete my journey,
I need to become Top Chef.
- Five hours seems like
a decent amount of time,
but for that much prep?
- I'm worried about the amount
of stuff that we have to do.
- It's going to be
a [bleep] show.
- Frozen,
so it's kind of solid.
The mousse was frozen.
Hold on, hold on,
I'm not done yet.
I'm totally freaking out.
[Upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- We arrive at the Village
on False Creek
to start cooking.
Oh, look at those yolks.
This is the last challenge
that determines the final two.
Lindsay and Paul second guess
themselves a lot,
and even though I'm making
a new dish
that I've never made before,
I still believe in myself
to show the judges
that I deserve to be
in the finale.
Okay.
You know the one thing
I miss the most,
is a calculator.
I'm just praying my math
is right.
- Can I borrow the scissors
again, Linds?
- Yeah, take them.
- Thank you.
I'm going to appear
to be cruel now.
- Paul, I have all these limes
that are here too for you,
if you need them.
- Thank you.
- So much love in the Top Chef
kitchen right now.
Paul, you over there
k*lling some lobsters?
- Making lobster stock
for my seafood soup.
A big part of my dish
for today is
to make an excellent
lobster stock.
I just grabbed about 30 pounds
of lobsters
and I just started ripping
through them.
The faster I get it done, the
more flavor I can get out of it.
I'm in the zone.
- Sarah, what you
getting done first?
- Um, I've got my water on,
I've got my eggplants roasting.
I'm cracking 80 eggs for pasta.
[Laughing]
I like to make pasta dough
by hand.
I think that you can get
a feel for the dough
better than by looking
at it in the mixer.
I haven't seen pasta like
this since I was in Italy.
I'm making a pasta, from
scratch, for 150 people.
It's a lot.
I need every little second
I have.
Linds, what are you doing?
- I'm just trying to get some
shallots and some garlic
kind of softened up so
I can start on
a tomato water.
- Oh, that's smart
to get that drink going.
- Yeah, I feel like otherwise
I'm going to forget about it.
I've grated my hands and my
knuckles quite a few times.
I really want to win this.
I think, at this point,
if I literally cut my finger off
I'd keep going.
- How are you doing, Linds?
- I'm good so far, I think.
Who knows?
- I love that technique.
- I do too.
- You taught me that technique
in Texas.
Lindsay's doing a take
on a bloody Mary.
I think that she should maybe
try to make it
a little bit more unique.
She's definitely playing
it safe.
- It's kind of sad to think
this is the last time
we're cooking together, huh?
- I know.
- Hey, chefs.
- How's it going, chef?
- What are you making,
what are you up to?
- It's a play on bouillabaisse,
I guess.
There's going to be, like,
a pernod chili.
It's going to look like
kind of like an ice cube.
Then I'll put, like,
lemon snow,
and the broth is going
to be poured table-side,
so the whole thing kind
of melts into the dish,
and you eat everything
together.
- Cool, okay.
In the last challenge,
in the quickfire, what happened?
Is the competition
getting to you, or--
- these two ladies
are badass, so--
- okay, all right.
So it's just
they made better dishes.
- Yeah.
- Got it. All right.
- Cool.
- Get back to work.
Hi, Lindsay.
- Hi, chef, how are you?
- Good, how you doing?
- Good.
- So what are you making?
- Um, I'm going to do halibut
over a celery root remoulade,
so the fish will be hot,
the salad will be cold.
- Okay.
- I'm also making kind of
a fresh tomato nage.
And then I've also made
a tomato ice,
or a granita.
- Okay.
In Restaurant Wars...
- Yes.
- You had a halibut dish...
- I did.
- But Beverly
had to execute it.
It was somewhat overcooked,
but it seemed like
it could have been
the way you taught her
to pick up that dish up
that did it.
Are you doing halibut now to try
to set the record straight?
- I knew that this would come
back and maybe haunt me,
but, you know, I mean...
- Okay.
- I like to cook fish
and I just want to make sure
that what's hot is hot,
and what's cold is cold, because
that's the most important
part of this challenge,
I think.
- Mm-hmm. Cool, good luck.
- Thanks, chef.
- Hey, Sarah.
- Hey.
- I know you're making pasta.
What are you doing with it?
- Um, I'm making a cannelloni.
- Uh-huh.
And I'm filling it with
a mixture of five greens.
Flavoring that with
a bunch of red chilis,
toasted garlic,
and an anchovy.
- Oh, it's almost calabrian,
huh?
- A little bit.
- The only place they make
chilis in Italy is Calabria.
- That's true.
- And what's the cold element?
- A spiced mousse,
or a sformato.
It's going to be really cold
in the freezer,
and that's gonna
go onto the pasta
as it's hot, and kind of
ooze down and make the sauce.
- Okay.
- I think I have
some nice ideas,
and I really want to cook
for you at the last challenge.
- Okay, good luck.
- Thank you.
Damn, Paul, you got these
blenders funky.
- I had to force it to grind
all that shellfish.
- Hey, Sarah, the rest of your
kale and stuff is over here.
- Ah!
- Sarah, how are you looking?
- Oh, my God.
Why did I make pasta?
- Yeah, I feel like
I'm in the weeds.
- Like, really in the weeds.
- Like, it'll be nice
if it will be one
of those competitions
where somebody pops up, and
you're like, "oh, by the way,
these are your sous-chefs."
- Right, this would have been
a good one.
We can pretty much kiss
that good-bye.
- To execute 150 plates,
generally it takes like
four or five hours
just to make the sauce right.
I'm trying to do that
and finish dressing my plate
and make a cocktail within
that same amount of time.
I'm definitely sweating.
- Hi, guys, how are you?
- Hello.
Who has cocktail experience?
- We're the bartenders.
- I want two cocktail servers.
One, two.
So both you guys are just going
to be strictly cocktails.
I need, uh, two bussers.
And the rest of you guys are
just going to run all the food.
Cool?
[All agreeing]
- I got, um, lemons, limes,
oranges, and mango.
- Yum.
- And then I wanted to do like
a prosecco floater on top.
I think it's important
for a Top Chef
to be able to make
a great cocktail.
My cocktail is called agrumi.
It's a great palate cleanser
with a ton of citrus.
Really clean, smooth,
delicious.
- That will be beautiful.
- Great.
- That will be great.
- Okay.
- I love the prosecco
on the top.
- To incorporate hot and cold
in my drink,
I make a Thai chili foam
so it looks like snow.
This is going to be your foam.
If it starts to die,
let me know,
but it should stay stiff
for most of service.
Having to make a cocktail
definitely throws me off,
because it's not one
of my strong suits.
Just mint leaves torn
in the glass.
- Okay.
- I think this is the only way
I'm going to get the mousse.
So you just put it on there--
- that's the hot plate.
Or that's the cold plate.
- That's the cold plate.
I'm making a mousse,
and then I'm freezing it
on the anti-griddle.
The anti-griddle, instead
of getting really hot,
it gets really cold.
It's, like, frozen,
so it's kind of solid.
It really over-freezes some
of the sformato.
I'm totally...Freaking out.
- Yes.
Does it seem too dry?
- No.
- Don't lie to me.
- I'm not lying to you.
- I know you want me
to go home.
- No!
- Sarah, Paul, and myself
have developed a friendship.
But this is a competition,
and we're all after
the same goal.
So you don't really know who you
can trust and who you can't.
- Need a little salt?
- Yeah.
It needs more of the dressing,
don't you think?
- Yeah.
- At this point,
I need to be focused
more on cooking and try
and make myself stand out.
- Can I use some
or you need 'em?
- No, go for it.
We're just gonna switch out.
- Is that your sauce?
- Yeah, it's okay.
- Can I taste it?
- Yeah, it's right here.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[Alarm beeping]
Time's up.
- Let's get this party
started.
- I wish I had another hour.
- Fresh foam.
Let's do it up.
- Thank you.
- Done.
- Oh.
- Thank you.
- I'm hungry and cold,
so they had better
warm me up.
I want it to be heavy
on the fire.
- A little more fire than ice,
yes.
The stakes are definitely high,
you know?
They've all come this far.
It's been a really tough
competition.
They still have
one last hurdle,
and only two are making it.
- There's no, like, secret
last chance finale kitchen
that you're gonna
run off to?
- No Last-Last Chance Kitchen.
- Bev's coming back.
- She's actually under
the table right now.
- Okay.
How's it going out there?
Push some plates out.
They said they're hungry.
When service starts,
I'm definitely very nervous.
There's a lot of things going
on with my dish,
and there's a lot of things
that can go wrong.
Don't second guess yourself.
At this point,
I'm just not feeling my game.
This is a hot tray.
Can you handle it?
- Yeah.
- Cool.
Guests are hungry.
They need food.
All: Cheers.
- Ooh, this is exciting.
- This is Paul's king crab dish,
with lemon snow.
And his cocktail pairing
is the pan am.
It's got kaffir lime, palm
sugar, Thai chilis, and rum.
- Well, you got a lot
more snow than me.
I'm a little jealous.
- I'm starting to get more
of the heat now.
- The broth has tons and tons
of lobster flavor.
But if you're gonna put arugula
on the dish,
just putting it in as a garnish
doesn't cut it.
If it's there,
it should have a purpose.
- No, they're not finished yet.
They're not--they're not--
they're not finished.
They're not ready to sell yet.
So these are ready.
All ready.
Go.
- I'm usually not a huge fan
of pairing alcohol and food.
This goes together
really well.
A little on the sweet side,
but it's nice.
I like the egg
whites whipped up,
kind of gives it that
snow feel.
- I taste a little bit
of the chili.
- I could have used even
a little more heat.
- Keep in mind,
yesterday...
- I know, that's true.
- We k*lled him
about the heat.
- This smells so good.
- Chef, what did you think?
- The flavors were all great.
It's just that
pouring the hot broth
on so many different
cold garnishes,
it all melted into sort of
a warm soup unfortunately.
- Oof.
Make sure that they're
eating the mousse,
like, they're taking
their fork down.
I'm just nervous the mousse
was a little too frozen.
They need to eat it together.
That is the sauce, so that's
like the concept of the dish.
I'm like, "Oh, my God."
Making it into the finale
is riding on this dish.
Hold on, hold on,
I'm not done yet.
- Is this supposed to be so--
- Frozen.
- Frozen.
- It seemed like an
afterthought.
If the intention is to make
it part of the dish,
make it part of the dish.
- Here we go.
- Thank you.
This is Sarah's.
Five greens filled pasta with
toasted garlic and chili.
And then she did
a spiced sformato
with the shaved bottarga.
And the cocktail is an agrumi.
It's gin with kumquats
and mango.
- Is this sformato supposed
to be so...
- Frozen.
- Frozen.
- Tough to cut into?
Mmm!
- I think, in theory,
she wanted this to melt,
but the flavors, I think,
are great.
- She nailed the pasta.
I mean, the pasta's a classic.
She's very good at that.
- I like Sarah's cocktail.
I love the citrus,
I love the kumquat.
I'm not sure it goes really
well with the dish.
- I agree.
As a cocktail,
it's very good.
On a nice summer day,
this would be great.
- In Texas?
Yes.
- Quite refreshing.
- And it's a little stiffer too,
which is always nice.
- If I had a straw
it'd be dangerous.
- I'm going to have
to get creative
to get all these on here.
I've really dedicated
this dish to tomatoes--
using some cooked, and some raw,
and some roasted.
I'm a little nervous
that maybe I didn't take
the fire and ice part
quite so literally.
So I've decided to add
a little spoon
of this tomato ice
that I've made.
And I really hope that the
judges see that
I've really pushed myself,
but I've also stayed true
to who I am.
All right, there you go.
Thank you.
- Mmm.
- Well, here's Lindsay's halibut
with fiery celery root,
and the cocktail
is the encendido.
- My dish is really hot.
- It's pretty fiery.
- Really?
- I just got
a big piece of fire.
- I didn't get any at all.
The halibut,
it's nicely cooked.
The sauce is really delicious,
a lot of flavor.
I'm not quite sure
why the kale--
I mean, the kale is raw.
I don't quite understand why
that was there, like a--
- I really love
Lindsay's tomato nage.
It's sort of unusual
and out there.
I've never eaten a piece
of ice so well-seasoned.
- I liked Lindsay's cocktail
in the combination
with the dish.
But on its own,
it's very flat.
- I don't get the fiery part.
- No, neither do I.
Oh, there's a tiny bit
of spice.
- To be fair, it is a pretty
hard topic, fire and ice.
- Yeah.
- I think so many times we have
halibut, it's overcooked.
And this time, I think
it was perfectly cooked,
very nicely seasoned.
- Yeah, that was delicious.
- Oh, man, I didn't, I--
for a while there,
I was like, "ooh, I'm not
going to get done."
- Yeah, me too.
- You know?
I started to really
get in the weeds.
- I did have all three
of them,
and I think the execution
of it was heartfelt.
- Lobster dish was
my favorite dish.
- Let's head out.
- I think all of them--
listen, I think the chefs
did a nice job.
They made an attempt
to embrace the challenge.
So I don't know.
I'm really undecided.
I don't know where
I'm going here.
It's hard.
I mean, this is not
an easy challenge.
- Right.
- No.
- Today was the first
challenge we've had
that we didn't go out there
and explain our dish
to the judges.
- Yeah.
- It's a little scary.
- So many little things
could go wrong in it.
Could have put too much snow
on the plate,
could have been not hot enough,
too cold, room temp,
pernod could have
been too strong.
I think of all
these scenarios.
- Good evening.
- Hi.
- Good evening.
- We'd like to see all of you.
- Okay.
- Thanks.
- Thank you.
All right, guys.
- Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Face the music.
- Three amigos.
- Chefs, all of you
put out delicious food,
and really nice cocktails.
Paul, let's start with you.
- I wanted to hit all the points
in the challenge
on different levels.
I wanted a lot
of shellfish flavor
just to pop in your face
when you ate it.
The dish was cold initially.
I wanted there to be snow,
and the pernod
originally was going to be
kind of like ice cubes.
- Paul, I think conceptually
your dish was absolutely there.
And I really liked
the cocktail.
- It had a nice amount
of spice to it,
but I think you could have
gone a touch further.
- The idea
came together nicely.
The broth was really
delicious.
The arugula, what were you
trying to accomplish
with the arugula?
- I just wanted a fresh green
in a peppery spice to the dish.
- It seemed like
an afterthought.
It seemed like, "eh, I'm
gonna lay this over here
because I need color on it"
or something.
If the intention is to make
it part of the dish,
make it part of the dish.
- Got it.
I was happy with the plate
that I put out,
but it just--
it just keeps on going,
and I can't turn it off.
- Yeah.
- Paul, why do you think
you belong in the finale?
- I just want the opportunity
to be able to cook the best meal
I can put out for you guys.
And I guess I can't go
back home
without winning
Top Chef Texas.
[Laughter]
- Right.
- Texas may kick you out.
- I know.
- Sarah...
Will you just explain where this
sort of idea of fire or heat
was supposed to come from?
- The baked pasta, for me,
I thought worked
for the fire idea.
And then, I thought,
"Do I do an ice cream
on top of pasta,
or is that a crazy idea?"
And that's when
the mousse idea came.
- I loved the pasta, I thought
it was made beautifully.
However, this mousse
was so frozen,
it was hard to eat together.
- Oh, my God.
- I thought your dish
was really brave.
I can tell that this
was clearly
pushing you out
of your comfort zone.
That said, maybe it was
a little too cold.
- Okay.
- Sarah, when I tasted your
cocktail, I was thinking about
those hot days in Texas,
and wish I had
a pitcher of them then.
It was quite yummy.
- Thank you.
- Sarah, why do you think
you should go on
to the finale?
- So much of food to me
is a place and a memory,
and I want to be able to tell
that story in the finale.
- Lindsay, there were so many
things about your dish
that I thought worked
well together.
I loved that tomato soup.
To me, it had this roasted,
almost smoky flavor.
- When I thought about fire,
I thought about warmth.
I love a great tomato soup.
That's like my go-to.
And taking different aspects
of that tomato sauce
to make a water that
I turned into the ice--
- I thought that the remoulade
and the tomato
overpowered the fish
a little bit.
If you served us a bowl
of tomato and the remoulade
on its own, I think
it would have been fine.
- Yeah.
- My fish was cooked
perfectly.
The cocktail, towards the end,
got a little separation.
- I think out of
all the dishes,
I would say that yours
actually worked
with the drink
probably best.
- Thank you.
- Lindsay, why do you think
you belong in the finale?
- You know,
I think that I still have
a little bit more to show.
I've learned so much about
myself as a chef,
and I think that the
opportunity to go and really
pull out all the stops,
that's what I really want,
that's why I came here.
- You guys should
be really proud
of what you've accomplished.
We'll see you in a bit.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Oh, my goodness.
- It's gonna be all right.
- Wow.
[All sighing]
We all had great dishes.
We just needed to make
that one tweak...
- It's that small adjustment.
- That you would have caught.
- In a normal kitchen.
- Right.
- Man, I was so scared
to use those Thai chilis
'cause it's the same chilis
I used for the last challenge.
They were hot.
I ate one, they were hot.
- I used that whole jar of that
aji amarillo paste,
and that stuff's spicy.
- And my anti-griddle got
too damn cold!
- They all did such
different dishes,
and they were all so great,
but none of them
were flawless.
- I think Paul's
had a depth of flavor
that was really impressive.
And I think he really took
to heart the challenge
and incorporated it into how
you ate the dish.
and I think that his cocktail
paired with it nicely.
- The problem I had
with Paul's dish,
it was lukewarm.
I lost the contrast
of hot and cold.
- I think visually
the effect was there.
He ex*cuted the sauce
perfectly well,
and then he--all of a sudden
you get this garnish,
this leaf of arugula,
that's so out of place.
- I didn't get that.
- I don't understand
where he--
you know, how you can have
that complete of a thought,
and at the very end
just don't trust it.
- Right.
- Hey, I don't think
Tom likes it when you put
just raw veg on top.
- Out of the three
cocktails tonight,
my favorite was Sarah's.
- Mm-hmm.
- I thought Sarah's was
much more creative,
plus it all became one dish.
- That cannelloni was so thin,
and so light, and so beautiful.
- I agree with you,
the cannelloni was beautiful.
That doesn't excuse to me
the frozen spiced mousse,
because I could not
cut through it.
- But it was still part of the
challenge to make hot and cold.
And so she did it,
and so it's kind of hard
to fault her for it.
- But she meant it to be
a sauce on the cannelloni,
and it wasn't.
- Lindsay chose a kind of
cool dish with a hot fish.
She incorporated a theme
running through,
which was the tomato.
- My fish was hot
and cooked right,
but I didn't get any heat.
- For me, Lindsay's soup had
the thought of fire in it.
I'm not saying heat and spice,
but to me it was
almost like it was roasted
on an open fire.
- I just didn't find Lindsay's
dish to be that interesting.
- I just don't think
she made any mistakes.
- The drink certainly was
a mistake.
- But it definitely
went with the food.
She made them
to be served together.
- I should have just made
that damn ice as my drink.
- This is such
a tough decision.
I don't want to see
any of these chefs go.
- [Sighs]
It's tough.
- We have three really, really
talented chefs here.
They've competed
really, really well.
- Yup.
- I think I have a pretty good
idea in my mind
who I'd like to see
in the finale.
- Absolutely.
- Oh, man.
- How are they gonna choose?
- I think that we all had the
same amount of highs and lows.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, man.
- I'm nervous.
But I tried hard, you know?
- We all tried hard,
you know?
We're all tired
and worn down.
Whatever the judges decide,
it's going to affect
our careers greatly.
- We did a lot to get here.
You do feel like,
"Oh, my God, it's over,"
like, "What do I do
with my life?"
- My stomach is just turning
because I'm like,
"[bleep], I got b*at down
on arugula again."
- I'm so sad one of us
is going.
Whoever stays needs
to [bleep] whup some ass.
- That's for sure.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Tonight's challenge
was about extremes,
the idea of a fiery item
and an icy item.
It's difficult
for a lot of reasons.
You guys, all in all,
did a pretty nice job.
Paul, you put together a great
dish, had a lot of flavor,
but that piece of arugula
didn't make sense.
Sarah, you gave us
a really cold element,
maybe a little too cold.
Your cannelloni, perhaps could
have used a punch more heat.
Lindsay, you gave us great
roasted tomato flavor,
the halibut was nicely cooked,
but conceptually it almost
seemed like you weren't
really sure of where
you were going with it.
You guys did a great job,
but we can only take two
of you to the finale.
- Sarah...
You are moving on
to the finale.
- Oh, my God.
- Congratulations.
- My God.
Thank you.
- Lindsay and Paul...
One of you will move
on to compete
for $125,000,
furnished by Healthy Choice,
and the title of Top Chef.
Lindsay...
Please pack your knives
and go.
- Thank you.
It's been an
awesome opportunity.
It's been a roller coaster
emotionally.
- I'm out.
- No, you're not.
Oh.
- I have no regrets through
any of the experiences
I've had on Top Chef.
I stayed true to who I am,
I cooked the food
that I love to cook,
I really put myself out there.
You and Paul
are gonna do awesome.
- Paul, congratulations.
You're moving on
to the finale.
- Thank you.
- Green Mountain Coffee
is sending you
and a guest to Costa Rica,
where you can experience
what it's like to source
some of the world's best
fair trade coffee.
- Thank you so much.
It feels great.
This is a huge win,
because my goal is to win
the title of Top Chef,
and I'm so close right now.
- Congratulations.
- Yeah.
- So proud of you.
You guys are gonna do great.
- It makes me really sad
that Lindsay is going home.
- Bye. Good luck.
- Bye. Bye, Lindsay.
But at the same time,
I knew that it would
always be me versus Paul,
because Paul is a great chef.
The two Texans!
- Top Chef becomes your reality
in such a way that
it almost feels like your life
is gonna end once it's over.
But I know that, for me,
this is just the beginning
of something great.
- Next on Top Chef...
- Whoo!
- Hey, buddy.
- Hey, buddy.
- Those are pretty.
- You're pretty.
- Feels like the old days.
- There has been
a lot of battles won,
but it's about
winning the w*r.
- Are you crying?
- Oh, my God.
I'm gonna cry.
I even pushed back
my wedding.
I'm ready to win this title
of Top Chef.
- They'd like to speak
to you at table 30.
- Can't take back what
the guest has eaten.
- Oh, my God.
I'm gonna lose
if I serve the judges
a piece of fish
with bones in it.
- I think this is the best food
we've ever seen in a finale.
- You are Top Chef.
09x16 - Fire and Ice
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Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.
Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.