15x04 - Little Tools, Big Challenge

[bunniefuu]

-Congratulations, Joe.

-[laughter]

[Joe] I won,

which is awesome.

We were given food trucks

to serve college students



in the city of Boulder.

-[Joe] Wings are here.

-[Fatima] Awesome. Let's go.

-Joe's wings were delicious.

-[Thomas] Joe's wings

are very good.

-I love how crispy they are.

-The winner today is Joe.

[Tyler] Guys out,

thighs out, baby.

It's tonight.

[Joe] I'm learning that I just

need to trust my gut,

and I'm building

my confidence day by day.

Shouts out

to Rogelio, man.

His story

is [bleep] powerful.

-[Rogelio] How's it going?

-[woman] Hi.

[Rogelio] When I came

to the United States,

it's hard for you



to communicate.



You do have to work



twice as hard



as anybody else,

because you don't have

the same opportunities,

and if I can do it,



I think anybody can do it.

That dude was

an inspiration,

and I hate to see him

go out like that.

[solemn musical sting]

[Padma]

Eleven chefs remain



to compete



in the ultimate



culinary showdown.



At stake for the winner:

a feature in

Food & Wine magazine,

an appearance at

the Food & Wine Classic

in Aspen,

$, furnished



by San Pellegrino,

and the coveted title

of Top Chef.

[lively music]

[upbeat electronic music]

[Bruce]

I don't know if I told you.

My wife and I are

adopting a baby.

No [bleep], dude.

That's awesome.

Yeah, he's due,

like, May th.

[Tyler]

Wow, that's cool.

[Bruce] I'm gonna be

a dad for the first time,

and I'm not gonna be there.

I've been married

almost years,

We've had a lot



of trouble having kids.



It's rough emotionally.

And we decided to go

the adoption route,

and we've been

through the ringer.

The agency we were with

went bankrupt...

-Uh-huh.

-...in February,

after three years of being

with them and $,.

-Holy [bleep] really?

-Yeah.

It was a really,

really crazy month.

I get this phone call saying,



"Hey, I got a girl.

She's seven months

pregnant,

and she wants somebody

to adopt her baby,

and we told her



about you guys,



and she really wants



to meet you."

It's like winning the lottery

amplified, you know, ten times.

I was, like,

painting the baby's room

the night before I left.

The fact that my son

is gonna be born

while I'm here, it's tough.

I can't talk about this

without, like,

getting teared up.

None of us are missing

anything compared to that.

[Bruce] I've got

a whole new chapter

starting in my life,

and winning Top Chef

would just be, like,

the icing on the cake.

Make it worth it.

That's what my lady said.

♪ ♪

[Padma] Hi, guys.

Are you ready for

your next Quickfire Challenge?

[all] Yes.

Please say hello to the head

judge of Top Chef: Junior,

Curtis Stone.

-What's up, chefs?

-[Carrie] Curtis Stone

is there.

He's tall. Tall gets me going.

It's amazing.

His accent.

And he is so handsome.

[laughs]

-Having fun?

-[man ] Yep.

-[man ] Oh, yeah.

-Until now,

it's kind of been

child's play.

[music intensifies]

[intense music]

[Padma] For your

Quickfire Challenge,

your job is to update

and elevate classic items

from a traditional kids' menu.

-[chuckles]

-Very cool.

If you look at

a typical kids' menu,

there's a lot

of fried items,

a lot of cheese,

a lot of carbs,

so it's no wonder kids

don't want to eat their veggies

when that's what

their options are.

The young chefs

on Top Chef: Junior

did a stellar job

with this challenge.

They set

a very high standard.

[Curtis] These chefs have got

a giant ambition.

There's immersion circulators



in play, there's smoking g*ns.

Some people are doing stuff

that I would never try.

If you guys were older,

I'd hire you today.

You each need

to make a kids' menu.

I think you can make

a change.

So now, I want to see

what you guys can do.

[Padma] In order

to determine

what dishes you'll be cooking,

we'll draw knives.

[indistinct conversation]

-[Brother] Chicken teriyaki.

-Spaghetti and meatballs.

-Nice.

-Chicken teriyaki?

[Carrie] Corndogs.

I drew corndog.

[imitates buzzer]

You're the top chefs,

so we don't want

to make it that easy on you.

Come on in, guys.

[suspenseful music]

-[man] Yeah.

-[chuckles] Yeah.

-Aw...

-[Bruce] Aw, come on.

[Padma] These are the children

of some of the best chefs

and restauranteurs



in Denver.

Please meet my friends:

Lydia.

She is Lachlan's daughter.

You remember Chef Lachlan?

-Yeah.

-Nael,

and she's

Peter Karpinski's daughter,

and finally Jack,

who's Chef Alex Seidel's son.

[all] Hi.

So our three friends

are pretty well versed

in what good food looks

and tastes like.

Not only will you be

feeding Curtis and me,

you'll also be feeding

these friends of ours.

And the only cooking equipment

you can use for this challenge

is right there.

[laughter]

[Fatima] No!

[Padma] Yes, everything

will be kid-sized.

Wow.

Man, do you see

how big we are?

I can't believe

what's in front of me.

There's, like, mini grills,



baby spoons, baby whisks.



I mean, it looks



like Barbie House

threw up all over

the Top Chef kitchen.

Chefs, you have minutes

for this challenge.

The person who wins

this Quickfire

will get immunity in the next

Elimination Challenge.

Your time... starts now.

Good luck.

[exciting rock music]

Oh, the cutting board!

Look at the cutting board.

-What the--

-I think even

the gloves are little.

[laughs]

This cauliflower is bigger

than the cutting board.

Stop-- [laughs]

Son of a b*tch!

My cutting board is, like,

four inches by four inches.

[Adrienne] Carrie,

how you gonna do

your corn dog?

I found some little smokies,

which is pretty funny.

These three kids, they have

sophisticated palates,

so my plan is to do

a corndog nugget.

I wanna make it



for the kids



but also elevate it



and knock



everyone's socks off.

[Tyler] Trying to work on

this little stuff

just a little bit

at a time.

I have three kids,



and I think what's wrong



with kids' menus in general

is that we dumb down what

we give our children to eat.

These kids are spawn



of great chefs,



and I'm sure they eat



well at home,

so the biggest challenge

is trying to make a dish

that's simple, delicious,



and very impressive.

♪ ♪

-[man] Over-boiling. Be careful.

-Hey, Joe,

were you a picky eater

when you were a kid?

-You seem like you would be.

-I don't know.

I'm still a kid-- I don't know

what you mean "when."

When I think of chicken

fingers, I think of, like,

pulling frozen chicken



fingers out of a bag



and dropping them



in the deep fryer



with a little squirt



of ketchup on the side.

With some luck, my dish

won't taste anything like that.

I'm making almond-crusted

chicken fingers

with creamed kale

and fresh tomato ketchup.

-What you working on, girl?

-I got pizza today.

[Carrie] Are you gonna make

a pizza dough?

Not with flour.

I want this to be



a focused veg-forward dish,



so I'm gonna make



a pizza crust



out of ground cauliflower.

It is a bit of a risk, 'cause

if you tell them right away

that it's cauliflower crust,

they may make up



in their mind



that they don't like it,

but I'm gonna go

for it anyway.

[Adrienne] Fatima,

how are you elevating

that grilled cheese?

I'm making a cross between

a grilled cheese

and a Caesar salad.

I'm actually using

an entire grilled cheese

as my crouton element

in the Caesar salad.

Thanks for taking

all the big bowls, guys!

I feel like a giant.

I can't even imagine

what the parents are feeling.

Mother of God.

I hate you,

little cutting board.

I'm kind of having a good

time watching you right now.

-I'm glad this is fun for you.

-[laughter]

-Joe, your oil's on fire!

-[chuckles]

We have oil on fire!

-Whoo! [cackles]

-All right, guys,

-we've got minutes.

-All right, thank you.

Cook...

♪ ♪

This is [bleep] hysterical.

[Tanya] Kids in the room.

Watch the F-bombs.

Thank you, Chef.

I gotta get used to that.

-[Nael] What dish did you get?

-I've got macaroni and cheese.

-Cool.

-I'm gonna put some, uh,

bacon and gruyere

in the sauce,

some toasted pretzel

breadcrumbs on top...

-That sounds delicious.

-Does that sound okay?

-Yes!

-[mumbles] [bleep]

[Tyler] I'm cooking a dish

that my daughter would like.

She wouldn't like

a spaghetti and a meatball,

so instead,



I'm basically gonna make

a pho broth

with shrimp meatball,

zucchini noodles,

and a little bit of spice.

Maybe eight out of



ten kids would like it.

♪ ♪

Maybe.

♪ ♪

-What dish did you get?

-I got tacos, my man.

-Are you happy with it?

-I am,

and I think

you will be too.

♪ ♪

Hey, Bruce, you got a baby

on the way, right?

I do, yeah. It's all

I'm thinking about right now,

is what would I wanna

make for him, you know?

-That's awesome.

-As soon as he can eat

-solid food, of course.

-[both laugh]

[Bruce] I picked fish sticks,

and I really want this



to appeal to everybody.

I don't want it to be

too spicy for the kids.

I really want that immunity.



I need a little bit



of a boost here.

How are those little tiny tools

feeling in your giant hands?

I can fit three saute pans

in one hand.

[laughs]

That's a positive spin on that.

♪ ♪

[Lydia] minutes!

Whoo! Whoo! Yeah!

[whispers] So crazy.

There's a lot going on.



I wanna get



the cheese melting



in my bechamel,



so I run back to station,



get my cheese, and come back.

Ah... burned my stuff.

My breadcrumbs are burned.

Oh, it took me



so long to chop

those on that

tiny little cutting board.

♪ ♪

-So, what are you making?

-I got cheeseburgers,

and who don't like

a good cheeseburger?

My dad loved to cook,

and we'd peel potatoes

while watching television,

so for me,

any time I cook

kids' food,

it connects me

to the memories

of my father.

I think it's all

in your simplicity.

Make sure it looks good

and tastes good.

Pretty hard to mess up.

[laughs]

Man, that's messed up.

I've been doing this



longer than you've been alive,

but I'm not gonna

argue with you,

'cause you're a kid,

and I don't argue with kids.

I'm getting clowned

by a little kid, man.

Whoo!

This [bleep] is hot.

[Padma] You have

one minute left, chefs.

One minute left.

♪ ♪

[Curtis] Thirty seconds.

[all] Five, four,

three, two, one.

[Padma] Time's up!

Hands up!

Utensils down.

Hi, guys. Wow, you're,

like, my height.

I had pizza, so I made

a cauliflower crust.

So, we have ricotta



and crème fraiche herb spread,

tomato compote,

and a fried quail egg.

[Curtis] I love it.

What do you think, guys?

I think it tastes

really great.

At first, when I looked at it,

I thought,

"Oh, there's not

that much sauce on there,"

but then when I ate it,

it was delicious.

-Look at that. Clean plate.

-Thank you, Adrienne.

-Thank you guys.

-Good job. Well done.

-[Padma] Hi, Carrie.

-Hi.

So, what we have here

is a cornmeal corndog

served over a summer succotash

with the chiffonade raw kale

and Pecorino Romano.

-A little spicy.

-Just a little.

If this was on a kids' menu,

I don't think I would order it.

[light laughter]

So, this is

a chicken quesadilla

rubbed in a chayote,

charred pineapple salsa,

and I drenched it



with a cheddar fondue.

Who doesn't wanna be

drenched in a cheddar fondue?

he flavor really goes well

with the tortilla.

-[laughs]

-Hi.

So, I had chicken teriyaki.

I pan roasted



a skin-on chicken breast,

and then I made a gochujang

Szechuan peppercorn glaze,

and some caramelized

pineapple on top.

Maybe the taste would be

better without the pineapple.

-Ooh.

-Oh, my God.

-Hi.

-Hey, guys.

So, I had grilled cheese.

What I decided to do

is put a Caesar salad



element to the dish,



so crispy grilled



cheese croutons



with a black garlic



anchovy dressing,

heirloom tomatoes, avocado,

and a bit of roasted

Brussels sprouts as well.

I love it. You have

the grilled cheese in it,

but you also

have something

a little healthier.

Awesome.

I'm so glad you liked it.

My daughter and I

love to go eat pho,

so this is sort of like



pho meets spaghetti



and meatballs.

So it's a shrimp meatball

with zucchini noodles, herbs,

and then a little spicy

broth of shrimp and tomato.

Like, if someone ordered

this at a restaurant,

if you didn't tell them

what it is,

I don't think they would think

it was spaghetti and meatballs.

-Sure. Fair enough.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Hi, Joe.

-What's up, guys?

-Hi.

I had chicken fingers.



So, I went a different route,



kind of brought it up



by making my own



chicken sausage,

then a fresh tomato ketchup.

So it's sort of

a nugget/tender hybrid.

I didn't really like

the crust of the chicken.

Kind of was, like,

a little corn mealy.

-[all] Hi.

-[Padma] What did you do

for us today?

A chicken rillettes taco

with crispy

chicken skin and a mole.

I thought the presentation

was beautiful,

and that was, like,

one of the best

deconstructed tacos

I've ever had.

-Right on. Thank you so much.

-[Padma] Wow.

-All right.

-Thank you, Chris.

Yep.

-Hi, Tanya.

-Hi.

I had macaroni and cheese.

I cooked up some orecchiette.

I made a bechamel

with gruyere and parmesan,

and I made a crust of bacon

and pretzel crumbs.

I liked the bacon.

It was very creative.

-Thanks.

-Okay. Thank you, Tanya.

-Thank you.

-Good job, Tanya.

-Hello, Brother.

-Hi. I had cheeseburger.

I made a ground buffalo,



which is extremely lean.

I replaced that fat

with avocado and jicama fries.

It had very good flavor,

and it was delicious.

It's a clever pairing.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Good job.

-This is Bruce, guys.

-How are you?

-[all] Hi.

I grew up eating fish sticks,

so what I made for you today

are striped bass



and shrimp croquettes,

some potato, and they're

cornmeal crusted and fried.

I don't know, it just--

like, the combination

wasn't my favorite.

-Okay.

-[light laughter]

[solemn music]

Look, it's not an easy

challenge to try and imagine

what kids would like to eat,

but I think everybody

did a really good job.

One of their least favorite

dishes, Carrie, the corndogs.

The consensus was it just

ate just a little dry.

♪ ♪

Tyler, unfortunately,

the spaghetti and meatballs

turned into a pho.

It was maybe just a bit

too much of a departure

from what we thought spaghetti

and meatballs should be.

Bruce, the kids were

a little concerned

about the texture

of the actual fish stick.

They thought it was

a little dry.

But let's get to some

of the good news.

[Curtis] One of

their favorites was

certainly Adrienne,

your pizza.

The base of that pizza

truly could have been

a regular pizza base,

but you're getting the kids

to eat their veggies,

and they all really loved it.

[Padma] Who else?

Fatima, your grilled cheese

was really imaginative,

although I wouldn't

have thought

that the kids

would've gone for it,

because that's

a lot of salad there,

but they actually loved it.

-Thank you.

-Tanya, your mac and cheese

was certainly one

of our favorites.

-Thank you.

-The pasta was cooked

just right,

the flavors in the dish

were really, really clever,

and who doesn't love a bit of

bacon in their mac and cheese?

Curtis, who had the winning

dish in this Quickfire?

Our favorite dish today...

[suspenseful music]

Was the pizza.

-Adrienne, good job.

-Oh, [bleep]

-[laughs]

-Adrienne, you have just

won yourself immunity in

the next Elimination Challenge.

[Adrienne] Wow, this is real.

I'm, like, shocked,

but so happy.

I definitely got off



to a rocky start, but today,



I actually had a bigger



sense of confidence.

It feels good

to have immunity.

-All right, thank you.

-Nice to see you.

[Padma] Bye.

Okay, chefs, it's time

to get back to your roots.

[music intensifies]

♪ ♪

The United States

has always been a place

where people from

all over the world

can come to search

for new opportunities,

and everyone comes here

with their own food culture.

For your Elimination Challenge,

we want you to make a meal

based on recipes from your own

heritage and backgrounds.

[Christopher]

It's so important to be able



to carry the torch



with your culture

and the heritage

that's behind that,

and I'm getting the opportunity

to cook the food that I do.

Tomorrow, you'll cook

and serve your dishes

at Departure Restaurant

and Lounge

in the Halcyon Hotel.

You'll be serving

some of the culinary world's

most renowned influencers,

including Food & Wine

contributor Nilou Motamed.

Today, you'll head to Comal,

which is a food incubator

here in Denver

that helps immigrant women

turn their love

of their traditional

foods into careers.

We're taking you there

for some inspiration.

Good luck, chefs.

[upbeat electronic music]

I don't really know

my heritage specifically.

-Maybe I should do brownies.

-[laughs]

♪ ♪

[Carrie] I'm really excited

to see what everyone does.

[indistinct conversation]

It's a tough challenge.

You know, my father was Creole,

so when I was in fifth grade,

we had this school project,

and everyone in the class had

to bring in a family recipe,

and I remember going up to him

and asking him for the recipe,

and he wrote this recipe

for dirty rice.

I was so embarrassed



by this dirty rice recipe,

'cause it had, like,

gizzards and livers and--

and then he died

a few weeks later,

and that's the only recipe



that I have from him.



There's no traditions



passed down.

That's it.

And I think that's

what this challenge is about

for me, telling that story.

-Wow.

-Hey, you definitely should...

-Welcome. Welcome.

-Hello!

Hi. Welcome.

Hello, chefs.

My name is Slavica Park,

and it's my pleasure

to welcome you to Comal

Heritage Food Incubator today.

-Great.

-Thank you. Awesome.

So, what we do here is

we train residents

of this area,

who are interested in starting

their own businesses

in the food industry,

to help them preserve

their heritage food recipes,

and also teach them

ins and outs

of owning the business.

Maybe you can all see

what's going on,

but we'll take one

or two for the demo.

I am super excited to be

in an establishment like Comal.

Every city in America



needs something like this.

We're gonna make kibbeh.

It's basically like a croquette

filled with ground lamb and

onions and a bunch of spices.

We work with our moms,

so they don't give us a chance

to be, like, chefs. [chuckles]

-That's your mom?

-Yes.

-And that's your mom?

-Yeah.

-[Adrienne] Really?

-This is my mom.

-Oh...

[laughter]

What brought all of you guys

here to Denver?

We were refugees.

U.S. chose us to come here,

and we said, like, "Yeah."

[Joe] And you all have

always been cooking,

like, your whole lives?

In Syria, everybody cooks,

so you don't have to be

a chef to cook.

-Men and women cook?

-Women are better at it.

[Fatima] You say women

are better at cooking?

-Yep.

-Yeah, absolutely.

[laughter]

I definitely feel

a connection

with the women here at Comal.

My parents are



refugees from Vietnam,



and their journey



was very, very difficult.



It's definitely inspired me.

Food is history,

food has a story,

food is culture,

so I feel the love

that the women are showing

through these recipes.

[Silvia] In Mexico we say,

"if you know how to do

a good mole,

you can get married."

[laughter]

[Carrie] Do you make the mole

the same every time,

the way you were taught,

or do you change

depending on

what nut or seed...

We don't have,

like, a recipe.

We have it in here.

You're cooking

with your heart.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

These women sharing the food

that they made back home

in their way, it's very moving.

-[Bruce] Very nice to meet you.

-Yeah.

Listening to your story

and tasting your amazing food.

So, how does it feel

being away from home?

I miss home.

Everybody misses home.

But feeling safe is a bless,

and I'm blessed being here.

Hearing these stories

firsthand, it's so touching,

because they've

left their homes,

they've left their families,

and they're coming here,

and they're trying

to make a new life,

and they just seem really



grateful for this opportunity,



and it's just so enriching.

It's really a wonderful day.

We feel like a part

of your family now,

and I hope that you feel

like a part of ours too.

Yeah, we do.

We love everybody.

[laughter]

[exciting rock music]

♪ ♪

Herbs!

[Tyler] Question first:

uh, what is my heritage?

[laughs]

I don't have heritage.

I'm a white boy

from Southern California.

My mom was



a super healthy cook,



but our life



was never about food.

It just wasn't a thing.

Peppers. Dried peppers.

I know that some of



my background is Swedish.



I need to take Southern



California cuisine and mix it

with a little bit of the

Swedish background that I have.

Five pounds of pork belly.

♪ ♪

-What you making?

-Hungarian lamb goulash.

My grandfather emigrated

from Budapest,

so this is gonna

pay homage to that.

[indistinct]

I'm waiting on my chicken.

As a young cook,

I was working very, very hard

to learn French techniques

to feel like I was a part of



what other chefs were doing,

and to go back and to do

the food of Black people,

you know,

was embarrassing in my mind.

I was ashamed to do soul food.

I was ashamed

to embrace my family.

But it wasn't until I did

that everything became better.

The dish that



I'm making today,



it's lemonade-fried chicken

with buttermilk brown sugar

biscuits and collard greens.

Twenty minutes!

-Greens, garlic.

-My father's Black.

My mother is Irish and German,

so we grew up with a huge range

of food in our house.

When my parents

were getting married,

my father's grandmother,



his great aunt,



and another aunt,



they were like,

"We don't care that

you're marrying a white girl.

We just care

that she doesn't know

how to cook Southern food."

So they spent a week



teaching my mother



how to cook Southern food.

I wanna do something marrying

her culture with my dad's.

I decided to do



boudin-stuffed pig's trotters



with the potato croquette.

-Have a great day.

-Good to see you. Thank you.

-Got everything you need?

-I think so, yeah.

The most important thing,

number one: rice.

You can't make

a rice dish without rice.

-[Tu] I think that's it.

-Keep the change.

[epic electronic music]

♪ ♪

Here we go.

-Tyler.

-Hi.

I didn't know you were

gonna be here.

What are you making, exactly?

Making a little take

on a tri-tip roast

that my dad used to do

when I was a kid.

-Oh, nice.

-I'm figuring it out.

I'm gonna incorporate, like,

a meatball made from tri-tip,

and then I know that



beets are used a lot



and sweetened pickles



and things like that,

so I'm gonna, like,

do pickled beets

instead of tomatoes

in the pico de gallo,

and scalloped potatoes



in the style of



a Swedish pancake.

Tyler, are you in the zone

down there or what?

-A.I.Z. Always In Zone.

-[Joe] I love it, Chef.

[fast-paced

instrumental music]

Joe, what part of Italy

is your family from?

They're from a little town

in Molise called Agnone.

-Have you been?

-I have.

I got to go

with my grandmother.

My grandmother,



she's years old.

She still travels like crazy,

goes to Pilates

three days a week.

She's just one of



the most intelligent,

driven people I've ever met.

So I'm making



a braised squid pasta

that, you know, I've made with

my grandma since I was a child,

that we still make together

every Christmas.

When I get this pasta done,

I'll be feeling

super [bleep] Swanye West.

Trying to plate ribbon

pasta plates at once

without the pasta getting cold



is really, really hard,

but I feel like

I really need to go for it.

Lot of wok experience, Joe?

I've dabbled

in the dark arts.

[dynamic music]

-How you doing?

-Good.

You know, I got my roux on.

I'm making a gumbo.

It reminds me

so much of my mom.

My mom, you know, she was

very proud of her gumbo,

and she had this dream

of opening



Nette's Gumbo Shack,



but for her generation,



your own career was secondary.



She would share with me,



you know, certain



aspirations she had,

but then she was discouraged.

That is going.

I would call her

sometimes crying, like,

"Mom, I can't do this."

But she's like, "You know,

you've really made it.

Like, you've arrived."

I'm like, "I'm so not

where I want to be."

But she had just continued

to get joy out of

my accomplishments.

I'm gonna need the two woks

and probably, like,

three or four burners.

Joe, what are you

getting started on?

Pasta filling.

I'm really thinking

about my mom on this one.

My mom passed away from cancer



my freshman year of college.



It was really hard



for all of us,

but food and cooking

has kind of been

that one thing that's let me

stay connected with her.

My mother's French,



and she used to make a dish

all the time of cabbage stuffed

with rice and braised chicken,

and my dad is Italian,



so I'm making



chicken tortelloni

with farro and wild mushroom.

[Joseph] Are you doing

Italian food?

Are you doing Italian food?

Ah, Joe! Mamma mia!

♪ ♪

Hey, Fati,

what are you making today?

Lentils and rice

with a kind of kebab.

Back home in Pakistan, my mom



would take my brother and I



to a local



roadside restaurant,



and with a nickel,

she would feed about

ten, you know, boys

who were on the streets,

and that was a big part



of my childhood.

I wanted to do something

that was close to my heart,

but also spoke about the kind

of country that I'm from.

Behind. Behind.

Sorry.

♪ ♪

-We're at hour .

-How you doing, Mama?

Go hard or go home.

[smooth instrumental music]

-It smells good in here.

-It does.

I'm very excited.

Slavica,

what made you start Comal?

I myself am a refugee.

I came here from Bosnia.

There's so many things

that we all disagree about,

but food is that one thing

that transcends all cultures.

♪ ♪

-Tyler, how much time?

-Six minutes.

I'm going full smorgasbord.

[lively electronic music]

[solemn music]

Mmm. Wow.

Hi, chefs.

Tonight, we're

having a pierogi.

It's served with



an herb creme fraiche



and a fava bean chorizo salad.

I'm not totally sure

of my family's heritage,

but I do know I'm from Idaho,

so I went heavy potato,

Irish butter,

English cheddar cheese,

and then pierogi,

which is, you know,

what my grandmother made,

-which I love.

-[woman] Thank you.

[Padma] Hi, Tyler.

So what I did is

a little bit of a play on,

like, Southern

California picnic

meets the little bit

of Swedish that I know.

So, you have a spiced tri-tip,



a Swedish potato pancake



my grandma used to make,



and then a little



Swedish- style



meatball with a gravy.

We have a pico de gallo

made with pickled beets

instead of tomato.

-Thank you both.

-Thanks.

Thank you.

I think Tyler's

hereditarily challenged here.

If you only know one



side of your heritage,

then just focus on that.

He could have stopped with

meatballs and potato pancake,

and that would have

been enough.

If you were to take the plate

and separate it

into three or four components,

they would all taste great,

but it was too many things

going on at the same time.

There are some good elements,

but this was

a very disjointed dish.

I think Carrie's pierogi

was a success,

and then the rest of it

was a distraction.

-Two and a half minutes.

-Two and a half minutes?

-Yep.

-Oh, my God.

As I'm plating,

I'm kind of second-guessing

a lot of the decisions

I made on this dish.

Maybe I didn't go



with the right noodle.

Maybe I overcomplicated it.

-Somebody?

-[Joe] What do you need?

-What do you need?

-Sauce, please.

-You got a towel to wipe?

-Yeah, a towel to wipe,

right here, please.

Start that one.

Wipe that, please.

How long? How long?

[tense music]

[Tanya] Coming over. I need you

to get out of the way.

-[Joseph] Somebody?

-[Joe] What do you need?

What do you need?

-Sauce, please.

This is crazy.

How long?

-Ten seconds.

-Oh, my God.

What am I doing?

This is such a bad idea.

[dramatic flourish, sting]

-[Padma] Hello.

-Hello.

Today, I did a rustic pasta



with braised squid,



a little Parmigiano- Reggiano



on top.

This is always how

my grandmother made it,

so it's the way I wanted

you guys to eat it today.

And do you always

make your own pasta?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

This is a Louisiana-style

gumbo.

My mother's from



Shreveport, Louisiana,

and she passed away

two years ago,

and I think about her a lot,

especially

when I'm cooking gumbo.

-I hope you enjoy.

-[Padma] Thank you both.

-[Joseph] Thank you.

-[Tanya] Thank you.

[solemn music]

I think Tanya's gumbo

is really tasty,

and it's my first time having

a gumbo with fried okra on top.

[Dana] The broth is

really well balanced.

That's what I love

about this one.

I love the sense

of family around,

you know, just digging

into that pod

and serving it over rice

and having a great time.

-Whew.

-Thanks. Yeah.

Slavica, what did you think

of Joe's fettuccini?

It needed something more

to just make it

stand out a little bit more

than that pasta

you're eating every day.

It's always great

to cook with Grandma,

but sometimes

Grandma's techniques

-aren't really that good.

-[laughter]

[exciting music]

Plate's gotta be

in the window too.

Heard.

Plating right now.

This is, I think,

an emotional day for everyone.

My mother's



my biggest inspiration,

and I think I fused my heritage

together really well.

Nothing is muddled

or confusing.

My mom was there

in the kitchen with me

helping me along the whole way.

[solemn music]

So, I made a chicken tortelloni

with farro cabbage.

My mother's parents

actually came from France,

and my father's parents

came from Italy,

so I kind of brought

those two together,

thinking about my childhood.

[Padma] Thank you, Joe.

Tu, tell us about your dish.

This is a Vietnamese

bullion base.

In Vietnamese,



it's called canh chua.



And that fish ball



was handmade.

That's the recipe

that I learned from

my auntie that passed away.

It resonates deeply with me,

and I hope you guys feel that.

I am so happy and grateful

for myself and my family

to cook food

and bring you guys

together through food.

[Padma] Thank you, Tu.

I'm usually a tough guy.

[laughs]

Thanks.

Joe's pasta and chicken,

I felt the soul in the dish,

and it's so immensely

technical.

There was so much nuance.

The dish to me

feels very confident.

-That was good.

-Yep.

I think maybe Tu cooked

with too much emotion.

I think the dish was missing--

he needed a little acid,

a little salt.

I wanted to like this

a lot more.

[dynamic music]

[Bruce] We're about - out.

Oh, [bleep]

Okay, thank you.

Oh, this is gonna be

a beautiful [bleep] dish.

I can't wait.

[Fatima] Three minutes.

Fati, make sure

you got time

-to put plates in the window.

-Yep.

[Brother] This challenge is

extremely important.

It's bringing up

a lot of stuff,

my father, his passing.

I'm trying to stay



focused on execution,

but I'm also worried

that it's... it's too simple.

♪ ♪

Fatima, tell us what you've

made and what inspired you.

The thing that is

quintessentially

in every Pakistani

household is dal chawal,

which literally means rice

and lentils, and shami kebab,

which is the little ground

lamb patty right on top.

Is this how you normally

cook at home? Or...

This is obviously

more elevated,

but the flavors

are all very classic.

[Padma] Brother?

I made stewed chicken



with dirty rice and spinach.

When I was in fifth grade,

we had to go home

and find a family

heirloom recipe

and bring it in

so the whole class

could put together a cookbook.

I asked my father,

and he gave me

the dirty rice recipe

that his mother had made.

Three weeks later, he died,

so this is the only recipe

that I have from my father.

Have you made

this dish before?

I have made it,

but only for myself

and really close loved ones.

Very nice. Thank you both.

[Slavica] I love

both of these dishes.

Simple, full of flavor.

I love them. [chuckles]

What about Fatima's dish?

Flavor-wise,

I think she nailed it,

but I feel like I've had

better versions of this dish.

Tom, what do you think

of Brother's dish?

I think the flavor

in this is exceptional.

You know, Chef Brother

did great on that one.

The tenderness of

the chicken is really

what does it for me

with this dish.

I could eat, like,

three more of these.

-This is great.

-[laughs]

[tense dynamic music]

[groans]

So far, this is

the most stressful cook

that I have attempted.

I'm in the [bleep]

What was I thinking?

I think my dish

was very ambitious.

-[Bruce] Happy?

-Happy as I'm gonna be.

[solemn music]

-Good evening, everybody.

-Hi, guys.

So, I've prepared



for you today



a Hungarian lamb



goulash with spaetzle,

braised cabbage and caraway,

and some lemon creme fraiche.

It's inspired by

my grandfather,

who is from Budapest.

Today, I did stuffed pig's

trotters with collard greens,

ham hock mustard jus,

and a little grated

potato croquette.

My mother is Irish and German,

my father is straight

out of Mississippi.

So my mother used to always put

potatoes with her greens also,

'cause it reminded her

of cabbage and potatoes.

-Thank you both.

-Thank you guys very much.

I think the flavors of

Adrienne's dish is really good.

You've got your smoke from the

hock, there's acid in the dish,

But I just think the trotter's

not cooked enough.

I loved all the flavors

in Bruce's dish,

but his lamb

just was not cooked

-the way it needed to be cooked.

-It's really hard.

Like, I could

barely cut through it.

Look how dry that is.

It's white in the middle,

and I think that is

the colossal flaw.

Nice. You did good.

In my restaurant back home,

I have seven generations

of family up on the wall,

all the way from sl*very



to my children.



And I'm not trying



to chef it up.



I bring forth my culture,



my background, my heritage,

and I'm just happy to share it.

What this is

is a lemonade fried chicken

with collard greens,



a brown sugar



buttermilk biscuit,

and a Scotch bun in hot sauce,

so be careful.

It's very spicy.

-Do you cook this at home?

-I do.

I cook it in my restaurant.

My grandmother's grandmother

made this exact dish.

I mean, you can go eight, nine

generations back in my blood,

and it's the same exact thing.

-[Padma] Thank you

very much, Chris.

-Thank you.

Chris did a really

fantastic job.

The chicken is juicy, it's

crispy, the hot sauce is spicy.

Chris' dish really brings

through the soul

in his family's story,

and I consider myself

a biscuit aficionado,

and this goes to

the top of the list.

-The butteriness.

-It's really good. Yeah.

And the crackle,

the sugary crackle on top.

The honey crust to it.

Amazing.

Well, I wanna thank everybody

for coming to this meal.

It was wonderful to hear

all your stories.

And Gregory,

I want to thank you again

for the use of this

beautiful restaurant.

-I'm so glad it's here.

-Our pleasure, thank you.

-Whoo!

-Biscuits!

-Yeah, buddy.

-This is hot sauce right here.

-Yes.

Oh, wow, that's so light.

Oh, my God.

-It's super light.

-Oh, my God, Chris, yum.

These biscuits are

out of control.

So good, dude.

So, I guess I'm not

winning this one. [laughs]

[solemn music]

♪ ♪

Chefs, today's challenge

was a very poignant one.

As an immigrant myself,

I was incredibly honored

to have an opportunity

to see how you engaged

with this challenge.

Tom, how do you

think they did?

To be honest,

I thought the stories were

sometimes better than the food.

It almost seemed like

some of you guys

were trying too hard

to make things work.

But there was some

tasty food as well.

This was a really

great challenge,

and there were some

outstanding dishes.

Chris, Tanya, and Joe Sasto,

the three of you

had our favorite

dishes of the day.

-Congratulations.

-[Tanya] Oh, thank God

she said that.

-[laughs]

-Thank you very much.

The rest of you can

step aside for the moment.

Thank you.

-[indistinct conversation]

-[chuckles]

Chris, you gave us some

damn good fried chicken,

and you were okay to say,

"I'm making biscuits

and greens and fried chicken,

and that's it."

There's no gimmicks,

there's no tricks,

and sometimes that's

what you have to do.

When you put that fried

chicken in front of us,

every single guest just

almost stopped breathing,

they were so excited,

and it delivered.

Right on. Thank you.

Tanya, the gumbo felt like

we were invited to your home

and we were eating as family.

-Thank you.

-Tanya, you just gave us

a great example of gumbo.

You garnished it

with some fried okra,

-but there was still soul there.

-Thank you.

And, Joe, your dish

was the best example

of letting you

as a chef take flavors

that are meaningful

to you and your heritage

and evolving and adapting

them with the skill

that you have as a chef.

There's so much subtlety

in the puree of mushroom

that you gave us,

and all your sauce work

served your dishes well.

-Thank you.

-Nilou, as our guest judge,

please tell us who won

this Heritage Challenge.

The chef that won

for us was the chef

who really took

this challenge

and embraced it in everything

that they served us.

And the chef is...

[suspenseful music]

Chris.

[applause]

I always knew



that the combination



of both my background



and my story



was something to be heard,

and I brought forth

real authentic flavors

the way that my grandparents

and great-grandparents did it.

Congratulations.

You deserve it.

And now, we'd like to see

Joe,

Tyler,

and Bruce.

[tense music]

How do you think

today went, Joe?

Going with the twirled pasta

was a lot more difficult

than I, you know,

kind of anticipated.

Plating of those

kind of gave me

a real run for my money.

[Thomas] The dish,

when we got it,

was fairly cold.

You know, it just lost

all its tooth to it.

I wanted more flavor.

I can imagine that, Joe,

if that pasta sauce

cooked all day,

it would be very different.

♪ ♪

Tyler, you said you struggled

a little bit

with this challenge.

I know I'm from

Southern California,

and I know

my last name is Swedish

but aside from that,

I have no link.

I was trying to fuse the two,

which was obviously a bad idea.

The dish was

all over the map.

Probably would have

been better off

just to scrap the meatballs,

scrap the sauce,

and just give us the tri-tip

and the pico de gallo.

I could taste your struggle.

Your dish needed

to have some editing,

and you probably weren't

in the headspace to do that.

Bruce, you seem to be

surprised to be standing here.

-I saw your reaction.

-Everything I produced,

I was really happy

with all the flavors.

The lamb was just not--

not cooked right at all.

I wanted coziness,

and I didn't get coziness.

In fact,

it was a little chilly,

because it was so spread out

over the plate.

I get it now.

For some reason,

I'm getting inside my head.

I plate very rustic,

simple food,

and now I know

that that, moving forward,

is what I'm going to do.

I'm gonna give that to you.

You could take polenta,

put it on the board,

-and put meatballs on it.

-Yeah.

♪ ♪

We'll call you back in a bit.

Thank you, everyone.

♪ ♪

[solemn music]

-[sighs]

-[blows a raspberry]

-Can I buy you a drink?

-Absolutely.

All three of these chefs

failed today

for different reasons.

With Joe, he bit off more

than he could chew,

quite literally.

Joe didn't take that sauce

as far as he needed to go



to give us the savory,

cooked-down,

deeper, darker sauce.

I thought the pasta was weak.

I thought the sauce was weak.

It didn't make me want more.

Bruce's dish,

didn't cook the lamb right.

got a little too chefy.

[Gail] As much as I liked all

the flavors on Bruce's plate,

my piece was so tough that

it was almost hard to swallow.

-[Thomas] Braising meat.

-Braising meat .

-Yeah.

-[Nilou] The thing

with Tyler's dish

is if he had just embraced his

Southern California upbringing,

we would have been

fine with that.

[Gail] Tyler's dish was not

a complete dish.

It was four completely



separate things

that didn't belong

on a plate together.

Tyler didn't have

any sense of place.

But the challenge was to take

your heritage and honor it.

But he didn't do that either.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

You know, immigrants,

they come here looking for

a better life for themselves

and their families,

and they bring

their culture with them,

they bring their food

with them,

and they really just

add to this tapestry

and this experiment

that we call America.

We asked you to bring a piece

of yourself here as well,

so it's always a difficult time

to send someone home

when it is this personal.

♪ ♪

Tyler...

please pack your knives

and go.

Come on--

-[Bruce] I love you, brother.

-I love you too, man.

You know, Tyler,

it just never came together.

I think you know the problems.

But you have a chance

to get back in the competition.

I'll see you at

Last Chance Kitchen.

-See you soon, Chef.

-Yeah, sure.

-Bye, guys.

-You're amazing.

I'll see most of you [bleep]

at Last Chance Kitchen.

[laughter]

Yes, I deserved



to go home for this dish.

It's not the idea of heritage

that took me down

the wrong path,

it's the idea of



culinary heritage,

and I overthought that.

It's disappointing



knowing that, you know,



you're one of the best chefs



in the house,



and you're getting cut



at this point,

but it's like you're,

like, sh**ting a dragon,

and there's only one little,

like, soft spot underneath,

like, where you have

to sh**t the arrow,

and these [bleep], like,

shot me in my soft spot.

But this competition,



like, forces you

to think like Top Chef now.

When I go home,



this will always be



a part of the cook



that I am now.

[Padma] Right now,

on Last Chance Kitchen,

everything is about to change.

You said "A twist,"

not " twists," Chef.

[Padma] It's a two-part

episode shakeup

that will transform

Top Chef as we know it.

-Oh! [chuckles]

-What is going--

Whoa! Army of cooks.

Army of cooks.

What in the hell

is going on right now?

This is weird.

There is some cooking

going on here.

[Padma]

And next, on Top Chef...

You're going...

camping!

[chatter, light laughter]

I hate camping.

-There's so much snow.

-Yo, this [bleep] is mad deep.

Uh! We made fire.

[laughs]

Tanya, what are you

doing over there?

-Marinating my lamb rib chop.

-You having fun?

-No.

-[laughter]