01x03 - Nasty Delights

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Top Chef

You will have 30 minutes
to create a fruit plate.

And all these chefs are like, chop,
chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.

Sew you all over the place.

And I'm like, I really need
work on my presentation skills.

When I saw the other chefs' displays, I
knew I was going to take that competition.

Of all of these, my
favorite one is Steven's.

You talked about chemo.

The most difficult thing about
coming here is my father.

He's dying of cancer, which I just
found out the night before I flew here.

It's weighing very heavily on me.

You'll each need to
create a sexy dessert.

I'm here at $100,000, and
to win this competition,

there will be no point
that I forget that.

When the timer goes off, we're done.
You walk away from whatever you do.

This clientele was looking for sex, but
I don't think people knew how to sell it.

The winner of the elimination
challenge is Miguel. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Andrea, two challenges the
second time you're here.

Right.

And this was your
opportunity to step it up.

Personally, I don't think you did.

I happen to really like my dessert.

Andrea, please pack your knives and go.

Now, 10 chefs remain to fight it out.

At stake for the winner, a
feature in Food & Wine magazine.

A state-of-the-art Kenmore
Elite kitchen provided by Sears.

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

And the title of Top Chef.

I was in the top three
with the sexy dessert

challenge, but I was
disappointed that Andrea

was eliminated.

Andrea really, her body
so hot, but her display

of food was so wack. Her a*s was bananas.

People's true colors are
definitely coming out.

Brian and I, our
relationship, I'm definitely

working at it, but he's not on my A-list.

There's some more a*s left, so...

Even though I am the youngest one in the

house, I want to be
able to know that I can

handle whatever anybody tells me and just

learn to be an adult
and kind of grow into

the adult world.

I just can't focus on the competition.

Obviously, tell your dad I love him.

My father's dying. It's
beating the sh*t out of me.

We walk into the kitchen
for the next quickfire

challenge, and as soon
as we open the door,

you can smell this foul odor.

The minute I watch the room,
I'm like, this room stinks.

You knew it was going to be something
fishy or nasty underneath that pot.

Our guest judge today is
Laurent Manrique, chef

owner of Restaurant Aqua
here in San Francisco.

He will be choosing the winner
of this quickfire challenge.

Katie presented Chef Laurent from Aqua.

It's a four-star restaurant and
has a tremendous reputation.

The theme of this round
is nasty delights.

Remove the lids, please.

Wow, lo and behold, octopus.

I had not dealt with
octopus in five years.

I had never honestly
cooked octopus before.

It was just ugly and it stunk, and
everybody was grossed out by it.

One of the most difficult
challenges a chef can

have is to make something
that's so visually

disgusting, tastes so good
that you forget how it looks.

You have 60 minutes to prepare a fabulous
dish with what you have in front of you.

You can also use any
of the ingredients from

the top chef pantry to create your dish.

The winner of the quickfire
challenge is the only chef that

cannot be sent home in
tomorrow's elimination challenge.

Your 60 minutes starts now.

Octopus is something I've
worked with extensively.

Having an hour to work with
octopus, it's like asking

someone to climb Kilimanjaro
in about 30 minutes.

Who's boiling water?

I am.

It's a tough thing to do.

Some of the people have never
dealt with octopus before.

So gross.

Octopus is something that really lives
in Mediterranean waters very well,

so I wanted to honor those flavors.

Hot, hot, hot.

Once again, I incorporated
spirits into my cooking.

As usual, a sommelier utilizing the wine.



I'm kind of winging
it right now because I

thought I was going to do something else,

and I said, you know
what, I don't have time.

I'm kind of making it up as I go along.

I think you learn to
think fast on your feet,

and I think any essential chef should be

able to do that in any
aspect of the kitchen.

Hey, guys, five minutes.

Get moving.

I just can't do it.

I just can't do it, man.

Come on, today.

Okay, everybody, that's it.

Stop what you're doing.

Time is up.

Laurent is going to come around
and taste each of your dishes.

We'll start down here with Tiffany.

Hi, Chef. How are you?

Nice to meet you.

Tell us what you've prepared.

What I wanted to do here was
two very simple preparations

on a decidedly Mediterranean ingredient.

So what we have here is a quick
tomato suko with octopus fruit,

and that's finished with a little bit
of basil, some mint, and some chive.

This is a red wine braised angel
hair pasta with a little bit of,

I wanted some cold octopus in there.

I braised it off slightly,
and then I grilled it.

It was great to have Laurent there.

I love having chefs that I respect

and have had some sort of
knowledge of prior in the room.

It's good. Very good.

Thank you very much.

Very good.

I utilize the tentacles
of the octopus today.

I have two different cooking
methods that I use as well.

If you're a dynamite, is there any
particular order you should try?

This being the sweetest
component of the dish,

you would go from this end to this end.

When I looked at my dish
compared to the others,

I totally thought that I won the
Bookfire Challenge for the octopus.

Everything on the plate was
just really well balanced,

and it looked beautiful.

Hello, how are you?

Fine, thank you.

Nice to meet you.

What did you make today?

I have some braised octopus.

I just let it stew, and then I
put a little orange juice in it,

and then I just plated it
with some thyme and chive.

Good. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi.

Hi, Cynthia.

Hello.

This is octopus with a little
tarragon whiskey sauce.

Is it tender?

It's pretty good, but the
texture of the octopus

always have a tendency to be rubbery.

Yeah, it still needs to
be a little more tender,

but you know I put a cork in the water.

A few people know about that.

I know, I've been around a long time.

What is the cork in the water?

It helps tenderize the octopus.

It's a little trick, actually.

It's a little trick.

Yes, exactly.

Very good. Thank you.

Thank you.

This is the marinated
and grilled octopus.

Little cinnamon, little ginger,
little Chinese five-spice.

Tried to flash, grill it.

Couscous is cooked down with white wine.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Right here, we have a very
classical Mediterranean dish.

I started off by poaching
the octopus in a lot of acid

and cleaned it and put it
on the grill really hard

to get some caramelization
and to give some texture.

Garnish with a little curry oil.

Did you choose particularly
this type of lentils?

I've worked with these before,

and I felt like it would
go better with the octopus.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

What I've done today is
a citrus poached octopus

over a Mediterranean saffron
cake with some tomatoes.

What did you do with the rest of it?

I'm gonna leave it at
home and deep fry that.

Okay, excellent. Thank you.

I actually winged it.

A lot of ingredients.

It's kind of a creamy stew.

Yeah, so I thought it
would keep it simple

when I use the octopus
as a garnish rather

so you can just actually see those oxen.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thanks a lot.

Okay, this is a spicy and sweet curry.

I used cayenne pepper and
paprika for the spiciness,

and then I used a maple
syrup and fresh orange juice

for the sweet.

I love Indian food, so
I just wanted to try.

Yeah, I think they have great flavors.

Thank you.

Thank you, Hannah.

Pleasure to meet you.

So what did you have today?

I braised the octopus in red wine.

What did it make you
decide to go to red wine

versus white wine?

I feel it cuts out the fishy flavor

octopus tends to have,

and it gives you a really nice bite.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Well, overall, I was very impressed.

You know, octopus is
a difficult ingredient

to start with, you know.

A lot of great technique,
a lot of great flavor

came out of this tasting,

and some better than the other one.

Cynthia and Dave was not too
crazy about these two dishes,

you know, so the basic salt
and pepper was not there.

Chef Laurent's comment
on mine was seasoning,

and it's cooking 101, season everything,

and I didn't because I was flustered,

and I keep slipping
on basic fundamentals.

Four of them from the whole group was,

I thought I was very impressed, you know.

The first one was Tiffany.

She really bring back
the Mediterranean origin

of the octopus.

The second one was Liliana.

I thought your dishes
was very interesting.

So the third one, Stephen,

you had great technique.

The last one, Miguel, was
colorful, well-present,

especially when you use red wine,

and the winner is...

Tiffany.

It was great to, like,
finally win a challenge,

because I feel like my food's been good

all the way across the board.

I don't feel like that's being recognized

by the other contestant.

Congratulations, Tiffany.

You're the only chef
that cannot be sent home

after tomorrow's elimination.

And that brings us to
the elimination challenge

for this round.

This challenge will test your ability

to cater to your client's taste.

For this challenge, you
will divide into two teams.

You will be using another delicious

but not so visually appealing seafood,

the monkfish.

You must design an entire
meal around this entree.

You will serve the
food at 2 p.m. tomorrow

to 40 very demanding and fussy eaters.

They're all between the ages of 8 and 12.

As soon as we heard that we
would be cooking monkfish,

I was like, ugh, that's awful,

because kids are such picky eaters.

I didn't really want to
put myself in a position

to be judged by 10-year-olds,

because they know what
they're looking for,

and that's not my food.

Tomorrow, you will have two hours

to prepare your dishes.

To decide which team you're on,

you're each going to draw
a knife from the block.

Obviously, whoever has me on their team,

they're going to win,

because I have an 8 and a 9-year-old.

I know what they like to eat.

When we drew the knives,

I found out that I was
on a team with Brian,

and Dave, and Harold, and Tiffany,

and I was happy to be on that team,

because I know we were
all excellent cooks.

My team consisted of Cynthia,
Miguel, Candace, and Lisa.

Candace, I find to be the
weakest in the whole competition.

It's a bit hard for me to kind
of come down to her level.

I mean, I'd love to
bring it up to my level,

but that's just not really possible.

You have 30 minutes to
decide what you want to make,

and then two team
members can go shopping.

I did have very strong ideas

about what I thought we
should do on the plate.

It has to be fun, it
has to be finger food,

and it has to be the dipping sauce.

Definitely, we need dipping sauce.

I would have preferred
some other challenge.

I think the level of
skill that's required

for cooking for children
really isn't that high.

I'm thinking science.

What else?

You don't think so, huh?

No, we got the taunts, we got the taunts.

We're involved in a team challenge,

and we're going to try to create an item

that works and functions for kids.

Brian doesn't really understand
what they want to eat.

What if I put macaroni and
cheese in an actual potato?

I don't think that's too much for kids.

I was just about left out of the
conversation because of Dave.

I was a little annoyed, to say the least.

Keep in mind, it was a
suggestion, this one.

This is something really, really lame.

Stupid, stupid, easy, but they love it.

They call ants on a stick.

How's that going to work with my move?

You don't get complicated
and sophisticated

when you're cooking food for kids.

We should just do monkfish stuff,

nothing else on the side.

You just put three pieces of
the different looking monkfish

on the plate.

I'm going to tell you one thing.

They're going to go, what is that?

I think there should be something sweet,

some kind of cantaloupe soup,

cantaloupe soup, honeydew.

Steven wanted to do some soup puree.

Kids don't even know
what the hell a puree is.

The monkfish combo.

Miguel had the idea of making
these corn dogs with monkfish

and we would call them monkey dogs.

Is there any vegetables that kids like?

No.

I think we can do carrots
or something like that.

If we got those little carrots,

the little candy carrots,

it doesn't matter if I
do those all the time.

Okay.

We're going to do a
serial coated monkfish,

little nugget sized bites.

I don't need ranch sauce and
then I'm going to go catch up.

Okay, I'll be back.

I have to go outside.

Alright?

I'll just keep going.

I got a call from my cousin Sandy.

She basically told me that
my father was in horrendous,

horrendous pain.

Your father clearly has
more edema than yesterday.

I just want to make sure that
we are in clear communication

because this, I think, is very serious.

I know.

I know, I know, I know.

My father looks like he
doesn't have much time left.

He's barely holding on.

I am very concerned about
setting up directives.

Are you able to come back?

My head hasn't been here.

It was probably the first time in my life

I've never wanted to even deal with food.

My father needs me and
I need him right now.

The competition is called Top Chef.

Do you know how to read?

Do you understand what this is?

I was like, oh, here we go.

Honestly, you're a tool and a douchebag.

You will not succeed and
you will fail horribly.

Can I talk to everybody
for one second, please?

Everybody's aware that my dad is dying.

So I'm going to leave tonight.

I'm leaving now.

I miss you guys.

I really, really quite a crew.

Very interesting.

I'm very surprised that I've been,

I've been affected or
touched by any of this.

It's like simple.

You take responsibility for
what's going on in your life.

And if this is what's
going on in my life,

my father's dying and I have
to be there, then I'll take it.

My father needs me and
I need him right now.

I think that Cynthia is an incredibly
strong, funny, talented woman.

She's someone that I've come
to love in this brief time,

in this crazy environment that we're in.

And yeah, I'll never forget Cynthia.

Come here, you little cry baby.

Come on in.

We'll keep the craziness
alive in your face.

Please, please.

I can't take it already.

I've fried enough, all right?

Move on. Make a shopping list.

That sucks, man.

You gotta go be with your dad, man.

Just think positive, guys.

I'm so sad.

Okay, so we're fine.

We were down in one person.

I really wasn't worried about it.

Miguel and I are somewhat strong.

How are we going to want to go shopping?

We want to go shopping.

I'm a mom, she's young.

We got to buy cereal.

We have eggs and everything here.

Who wants to shop?

I'll show you.

We were told we had about 30 minutes.

So we did what I call speed shopping.

Sorry, so sorry.

Excuse me, I'm a bad driver.

I went in with a
shopping list and a plan.

I always do that.

What do you guys need?

We want to know how you're doing.

We haven't called us.

We have like literally no time right now.

Vino, Vino.

Hot up the bed.

No!

Well, he wanted for themselves to drink.

They're not calling because they need
us to get something or the challenge.

We don't have time to
talk to them right now.

You really want wine for the house.

Is he still there? I don't even hear him.

It's not our job.

Let's go look at those.

We got three? Do we have three?

Get off the phone. We're wasting time.

Stephen doesn't give an F
about anybody but himself.

It's like they were thinking about those
things and you said wine or like...

Yeah, they can't do the things at once.

I wasn't really sure about why they
were actually, you know, taking so long

and being so stressed out about it.

Dave and I managed to find
everything that we needed

and we actually found a couple additional

items that we thought
the children would enjoy.

All the paper bags are theirs.

Anything that needs to go in the
fridge, put it in the fridge.

Candace brought back these molds
that were in shapes of like feet.

I was completely baffled.

This is childish.

Yeah, what are we doing? We're
cooking for the children.

Stephen was like, we do
not use cookie cutters.

And I was like, oh, here we go.

I have standards on like you do, okay?

Really? Yes, obviously.

I'm less than a year
older than Candace but

I have a really good
jump start on Candace.

And right now she just doesn't get it.

And the fact that she doesn't get
it, she just doesn't belong here.

Obviously, you're a tool and a douchebag.

Can you think of anything
smarter? Come on, please.

No, you're a tool.

You will not succeed and
you will fail horribly.

As a chef and as a leader, it's very
important that you should be a teacher.

Stephen's picking on Candace
just based on inexperience.

And I have a little bit
of a problem with that.

No, the competition is called Top Chef.

Do you know how to read? Do you
understand what this competition is?

No, I'm stupid. I'm a child.

I don't accept mediocrity. That's it.

Fine. Then go and come in mediocrity.

Whatever. Use your fancy
stupid f***ing words.

Get over yourself.

Her skills are lacking. Her
presentation is lacking.

She does not understand what
this competition is all about.

We're down to person,
guys. There's four of us.

And by used to arguing tomorrow,
we're going to k*ll ourselves.

Can we just agree to do the project?

Fine. I'm going.

Okay.

I'd never been talked to
that way before in my life.

How dare Stephen to try to downsize me.

If this continues tomorrow,
we aren't going to win.

When we woke up that next morning and we

weren't getting ready
to go to the kitchen,

Candace is still upset.

And I'm thinking, I'm the only one
who has kids in this age group.

It's going to make me
look bad if I don't win.

Candace, I've been completely annoyed
by and I simply have no respect for it.

If you can't stand the heat
in the kitchen, you know,

it's probably best to remove yourself.

We've got to bust it out.
Just boom, boom, boom.

Today, somebody's going home.
I don't want it to be me.

We're going over to the Boys and Girls
Club and we're going to serve them lunch.

Our team is preparing
the mung fish nuggets.

We're making cheesy tater tots. We've
also made a strawberry applesauce.

And Brian have created
the maple glazed carrots.

The batter's already made
over there. You ready?

My menu was monkey dogs,
potato chips, fruit skewers.

And we had a crazy red and blue yogurt.

In order to win the challenge, we have
to focus and we have to make it happen.

You don't have to love each
other. You have to work together.

That's what's going to
happen today. Bottom line.

Hey, listen up, guys. The red team
is one person down in this challenge.

So, I've brought somebody
along to fill that spot.

I was thinking it was going
to be Chef Tom, like yo.

Oh, please, not Ken.

One hour!

Andrea is back in the competition.

Get to work.

Actually, both teams were
happy to see me back.

Steven kind of looked ghastly white.

I guess he didn't expect
to ever see me again.

You all have two hours to get
your food cooked and ready to go.

Andrea showed up and she said she
was working with us. She's not fast.

She's more of someone who's
kind of a simple workhorse.

What do you need help with?

Please help Candace.

It was so cool because,
okay, we have a fifth person.

And we really, really needed her.

Make her care.

The Boys and Girls Club
was everything to me.

And this is where I started
when I was poor and, you know,

my father had left us and his five kids.

And we're cooking for the
kids that visit this place.

So I knew this would be great.

Brian had made the carrots.

He had said from the get-go that
he wanted to make them soft.

I didn't really agree with it,

but I kind of gave him the
benefit of the doubt on this.

How's it going, Red Team?

You kids like yogurt?

I liked yogurt when I was a kid.

Ooh, yogurt.

Miguel, what are you working on there?

Me, I'm working on the
disguised monkfish dogs.

Now let me try one of these here.

Chef Colecchio knew the monkfish doggies.

It turned out great.

Is there a captain of this team?

The mother of the team is taking charge

and leading the direction.

So that's Lisa. Lisa says, okay.

Lisa, of course, she has experience
with children of her own.

Obviously, if they win, Lisa's
going to look like a hero.

But I'm sure if that team goes down,

there's going to be a
lot of finger pointing.

How you doing?

What's going on?

Cereal-crusted monkfish.

And you're frying them, huh?

No, I'm going to bake them.

We're going to bake them.

You're going to bake them?

Yeah.

Got it, got it, got it.

I have the utmost respect for Chef Tom.

He's pretty much a New York City pioneer,

and he shares a lot of the
same philosophies that I do.

What do you think, Dave?

You've got that whole bonsai look going.

Are you going to throw
yourself on the sword

if it doesn't work?

Yeah, I might.

It's possible.

Is the routine leader?

No, not really.

Group, group, consensus.

Group effort, yes.

It's all about the team.

Brian, everyone, yes.

Now the other end,
they're using food color.

Unnecessary.

All right, we have about
a half an hour left.

See you in a little bit.

Excellent.

Oil, fry faster, Demi.

Bird semen is blue.

I put a lot of weight on Miguel and I,

but not really so much on
Lisa and Candace and Andrea.

They were just in charge of the fruit.

I'm helping Miguel.

Just make sure everything
else is clean up.

Well, you want to start packing?

Start packing.

The three of you just make this happen.

Prepping and cooking for
the Monkfish Challenge

via Blue Team was easy.

We're all professionals.

We all took care of business.

Okay, five minutes.

I hope you're all packed and ready to go.

Make sure that this
transitions right from here

into their everything.

Eighteen.

Eighteen.

Sixteen.

Sixteen.

Yeah, get them out and get them in there.

Fourteen.

We got everything done
we needed to get done,

but it was a bit of an unexpected
road that we took to get there.

Good job.

Down to the second.

Animal status.

I am extremely nervous
about our judges today.

Kids are picky eaters.

In this game, you never know
how it's going to turn out,

so it's anyone's game.

It's really anyone's game.

No, I'm not putting it in there.

All right, guys.

The rest of my team,

they didn't really have
everything together.

Kids start just running
in, closing chaos.

Our team challenge is
to work with Monkfish,

which is more of an adult product,

and we're going to try to
create an items for kids

so that they'll enjoy it and
maybe experience something new.

I wanted kids to see that food
doesn't have to be bright pink,

that food can be really
great just being food.

The multi-purpose room had been
set up to accommodate the kids,

and we had two serving
tables with chafing dishes.

No, no, no, no, no, we're
not putting it in there.

All right, guys.

No more speaking.

This works.

No more.

No more words unless they need to be set.

I was a bit annoyed throughout the setup

because the rest of my
team was chattering a bit.

They didn't really have
everything together,

as they should be.

Whoa, he's in it.

I think Steven, at times,

his attitude, as far
as certain people goes,

his attitude sucks.

He's off the chain, you know what I mean?

He sleds you.

The blue team operated much more smoothly

than the red team.

We didn't bicker the entire time.

We took care of business.

The dish was good.

We'll see.

We'll see how it goes.

I just decided to let the whole
thing with me and Steven go

and just be professional about it,

work as a team, and get it done.

Hi, everyone.

Hello.

Welcome to the Boys and Girls Club.

Your challenge was to make a tasty meal

that kids will enjoy out of monkfish.

Remember, someone from the losing team

will be going home tonight.

So let's meet your diners.

Kids start just running, causing chaos,

like a bunch of wild men and girls.

It was great to see a
bunch of kids come in.

Really excited to have lunch with us.

Does anybody like pizza?

Yeah, I do too.

What about hamburgers?

You like hamburgers?

Well, what about fish?

Oh!

Well, we have two teams of chefs

who have created a very
special meal for you today,

and they used a very special fish.

It's called the monkfish.

Would you like to see what
a monkfish looks like?

Yeah!

Yeah? Let's see it.

Ready?

Here we go.

Yeah!

Yeah!

That's a good-looking fish, huh?

Yeah.

You know, we brought
this really ugly fish out

and said, this is this gross fish,

and that's what they're cooking for you,

and kids are really,
really impressionable.

The monkfish, it's kind of
yucky-looking, isn't it?

Yeah!

Yeah.

But these chefs, they
think that they've made

something really yummy for you out of it.

So in a minute, they're
going to serve you lunch,

and then at the end of the meal,

you're going to pick which you like best,

and that'll be the winner.

I'll see you later, okay?

See you later!

Bye! Thank you!

For the kids' meal,

we ended up doing a cereal
-coated nugget of monkfish,

some handmade tater tots,

some glazed carrots with maple syrup

and strawberry applesauce.

There's tomato tots,
there's applesauce, carrots,

barbecue sauce, and ketchup.

We set up, and it was kind of
hustle-bustle then, you know.

We did monkey dogs, fruit kebabs,

and two-colored yogurt,

dipping yogurt for the fruit.

Oh, that is good!

Whatever that is.

You dip your fruit in
it for dipping sauce.

That is yogurt!

We're, like, crazy about that yogurt.

I like the red team better.

Look it, they're, like, so
not entertained by Steven.

That's the crisscross chip.

That's a potato chip.

In French, it's called gauffrette.

I was explaining to the
children how we made the dish,

trying to give them
some sort of experience,

you know, educationally.

You like it? Good stuff.

This challenge meant so much to me.

The Boys and Girls Club
is where I started,

and I'm going crazy.

I'm just, like, in my own world,

because I'm thinking about,

hey, that kid, that was me.

This is great.

You guys like it?

Yeah.

I like to eat the blue team fish again.

You want seconds?

I like the blue one fish better.

In the restaurant industry,
as far as enticing a guess,

it's all about a PR firm.

But with kids, you
have to entertain them.

So basically, I was a one-man show,

and the kids trying to figure
out whose team is he on,

because these guys aren't backing him up.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

That was so disappointing.

This f***ing thing is...

And someone's getting sent home

because of this f***ing panic in there.

Yeah, I wasn't going to go, like,

do the monkfish nugget
interpretive dance for the kids.

I just felt like the
challenge put us in a position

to pander to them in order
for them to like your food,

and I think it's slightly
disrespectful to kids.

After the kids had eaten,

the judges came in, and
they went table to table,

and they powwowed with each table

asking the kids whose
meal they preferred.

So would you have this again?

Yeah, I'll have it every day,
every night, every morning.

Every day? Wow.

That's good. That's good.

Well, who likes the
red one on this table?

I like blue.

All right.

Which one do you like?
The red or the blue?

She did.

Okay, that's good.

What about you? What
did you like the best?

The chips?

Did you have some of these?

Yeah, you have to eat the carrots, too.

What is that, applesauce?

It's very close.

There's some section, like the blue one,

some of the other ones, like the red one.

Well, I guess we're going
to take a boat and...

See what they say.

See what they say.

Okay, boys and girls,
it's time to take a boat.

Who liked the red
team's monkey dogs best?

Okay, now tell me, who liked
the blue team's nuggets?

That's 23 for the monkey dogs

and 14 for the nuggets.

It was like winning the Super Bowl

because it was the first team event

and we had ex*cuted it to the team.

Having a kids challenge and winning it,

I feel I can really go
far in this competition.

We won the competition,
but if we were to lose,

we would have lost one
of our team members.

I know it wouldn't have been myself.

Everything I ex*cuted
was totally on point.

The red team's the winner.

Congratulations, Red.

I don't think the kids really
gave a crap what they ate.

I think the kids were
more entertained by Miguel

than they were by us.

The last time I checked,
I'm not an entertainer.

I'm a chef.

We cooked for a bunch of kids
that don't have a palate.

All they know is greasy,
salty, and sugar.

I don't know what's going to happen

when we talk to the judges.

Gratitude is lousy.

There is one thing that we
do in the restaurant business

and that is make people happy.

That's what you do.

It's a blue team you lost today.

One of you will be going home.

Where did it fall apart here?

It didn't fall apart.

There was a lot of
influence beyond the food

in this competition.

Yeah, I felt that the
food that was put out

by both teams was comparable.

I tasted both food.

I think they certainly did
a better job promoting it.

The kids like the fish
that both teams made,

so it really comes down
to the side dishes.

Our food was certainly more nutritious.

You fried the potato.

Yeah, but we offered a vegetable.

They offered fruit.

Yeah, they did offer fruit.

The signature item that was
a monkfish we didn't bake.

It wasn't a challenge that
tested any type of skill

of a professional chef.

I think this was a challenge
about the customer.

Sure.

And isn't that part of it being a chef

and cooking is about?

The palette of a ten-year-old
is not a sophisticated tool

by any stretch of the imagination.

Children in this country eat
crap and nothing but crap,

and if it doesn't come with a
toy, they're not interested in it.

So I'm not going to throw a
bunch of food coloring in food

just to appeal to a
crowd of ten-year-olds.

I'm not going to do it.

As a professional chef,

you will have sometimes
very demanding customers.

We're going to ask you to do something

maybe you don't like to do.

You're never going to
find me in a situation

where I'm willing to compromise
the integrity of food

in order to do anything.

I'm not going to go into craft steak

and ask Tom to deep fry my steak for me.

All the people do, and you
do what you have to do.

Have there been times that
you've just flat-out said,

I'm not going to do it?

Almost never.

Almost?

Almost never.

Exactly, almost never.

It's a good thing you have to do

because your attitude is lousy.

There is one thing that we
do in the restaurant business

and that is make people happy.

And I don't care how you do that,

that's what you do.

I want to talk about
the vegetable for a sec.

I didn't quite get it.

Tell me about the carrots.

Who thought about the carrot idea?

That's my idea.

It's candied carrots.

Who cooked them?

I did.

The kids were complaining
they were overcooked

and I tasted them and they were...

No, that's how I do them.

That's exactly how I do them,

and I do them for kids that way.

Harold, did you taste the carrots?

I did.

I thought they were overcooked,

but I had a conversation with Brian

and he said that's the way he makes them.

Who did the applesauce?

The kids hated it.

I did.

You did that.

Kids hated it.

I got insulted by a bunch of 10-year-olds

saying that they didn't
like my applesauce.

How did you decide about this menu?

Did you had a chef in...

create a chef in your own team?

You had to have somebody
running this team.

Dave stepped up as kind of his own

kind of manager of the team, if you will.

Do you guys agree with that?

I wouldn't say...

I just remember...

I wouldn't say he was a team leader.

I believe you came in, Tom,

and you're like, so who's the leader?

I remember kind of hearing like,

oh, well, Dave's, well, you know,

something to the effect.

I remember someone saying that.

I don't remember it.

It was a team effort,

and we made it a team effort.

So if today you weigh
on your own restaurant

and you are the chef,

and you have to let go of somebody,

who do you want to go?

I don't think anybody here should go home

because we operated
so strongly as a team.

So no one's to blame.

No one goes.

This is a competition.

I know it is, and...

Unfortunately, I would have...

If I've got to throw someone on the bus,

it would have to be Brian.

We did try to function as a team

and give group input,

and he always felt that
we weren't listening

or weren't letting him make ideas

and make suggestions.

I did absolutely the very best

going out into the crowd

and speaking to every last child,

the red team, they all got out there.

I was on the floor the whole time, too.

No, no, no, no, let me just finish.

So just to clarify.

I know, but I thought
Dave brought himself

into as the team leader,

and I think that if you're going to

kind of be that team leader,

say, hey, you know what?

Let's all band together,

because that's what the red team did.

Ultimately, we have to choose somebody

to go home tonight.

I want to know who Tiffany thinks

that person should be.

Because of the carrots would be Brian.

Brian, who's your choice?

I said Dave.

Ian, you're shaking your head.

I really don't want to send anybody

on this team home

based on what we did today.

We worked extremely well together.

I'm going to run with
what Chef Laurent said.

I'm going to pick myself,

because I think as a chef,

you need to recognize
and take responsibility

when something doesn't work out

and not point the finger.

And I should have made
a power move and said,

listen, we need to make
an adjustment here.

I think we've heard a nap.

I think there's a lot
of mistakes they made,

and none of them wanted to
take responsibility for.

They really wanted to drive home

that they were a unit.

They really were proud of the fact

that they didn't have a leader,

but what is the word chef

but the word chief in French?

I was in there,

and I did ask them who a leader was,

and each one of them said

there was no leader.

Is there a team leader?

No, never.

Consensus, okay.

All right, okay.

It's all about team.

From the very beginning,

Brian tried to pin it on Dave,

that Dave was the self-appointed leader,

and he wasn't at all.

In a team, you need to have a leader,

and you have somebody
who followed the leader.

Clearly, Brian made mistakes,

you know, over-cooking the character,

which was something the
kids actually pointed out,

but I was really proud of the kids

when they said the character over-cooked.

You have Tiffany over there
talking down to her clients,

but on the other hand,

they really picked out
some of these things.

They are?

You know, Tiffany, I tell you,

if she didn't have immunity,

I think we'd have a different
discussion right now

because it just allows the attitude.

You know, to be a great chef

is not only to be a great cook,

a great leader, a great temper,

and to have a good attitude.

What did you think when you asked Harold

who should go and he said himself?

Well, I thought that was interesting.

He was trying to take the high road.

Yeah, he was trying
to take the high road.

He doesn't want to appoint Dave or Brian.

He tried to make himself look good there.

Well, I thought he allowed
himself with mediocrity,

you know, so that's something

he should have speak up about.

Someone should have
stepped up, and no one did.

Let's talk about Dave.

You know, this was the second night

that he was at the judges' table

to be eliminated.

And yesterday, Laurent, he was
one of your least favorites.

Absolutely, you know.

I mean, he forgets the most
important ingredient cooking,

salt and pepper, and if
he doesn't have that,

it's not going to work.

You know, I think he talks a big game.

I respect that he stands
behind what he does,

but I think that this
is not the first time

that he hasn't come through.

Bring him in.

Let's bring him in.

Let's do it.

Good luck, guys.

All right, guys.

Good luck.

You're the losing team,

and somebody's going to go home tonight.

Dave, two challenges in a
row, you end up at this table.

Laurent wasn't really
pleased with the octopus dish

that you did,

and you know, salt is one
of the oldest ingredients

in the whole time.

If you don't do that,
it's not going to work.

Brian, you say that Dave was
the self-appointed leader.

When I walked in there, nobody
was designated a leader.

You were really great at
engaging your customers

with your personality,

but you lost them with your food.

Your carrots were completely overcooked.

Kids hate it.

The carrot was just a high road,

and you took responsibility
a little too late.

You knew the carrots were overcooked,

but you did nothing to prevent
them from being served.

You picked yourself to be
eliminated to pay for that mistake,

and we've considered your offer.

And Tiffany, I'll give
you one piece of advice.

Your immunity saved you
from going home tonight.

In the future, you need to show
more respect for your clients,

even if they are kids.

Brian, most of your teammates
pointed the finger at you,

and we agree with them.

Please pack your knives and go.

Thank you.

Elvis has left the building.

He's going to go back to my home room.

There you go.

Show him up there.

I was sorry that it was him to go,

because he was really, you
know, getting into his groove

and enjoying himself here.

I honestly didn't want
to see any of us go.

You know, if it was my choice,

I'd send Stephen home on the red team.

My team stood behind me and
said Dave wasn't the leader.

Brian was the weakest link,

and it ended up being
the nail in his coffin.

Wish me success. Okay, guys.

Good luck. Good luck.

If there was a weakness on that
plate, it was those damn carrots.

Brian put himself in a
position to make excuses,

as opposed to just stepping up

and accepting
responsibility for bad food.

If I had to do it again, I
would not change a thing.

I didn't insult anyone.

I wasn't disrespectful,

and I know I gave 250%.

Yes, I'm going home tonight,

but this is not the last
you'll hear from me.

I'm Brian Hill, personal
chef to the stars in L.A.

Don't get it twisted.

Next on Top Chef.

You will be given $20 to
buy all of your ingredients

from one particular
store, and here it is.

Yes!

I don't know what the
hell I'm going to do,

and I was really frustrated.

You know, this wasn't paying attention

or thought he was above the law.

Right off the bat, wilted basil.

I don't think that would
fly with me anywhere.

It looked like institution food.

Presentation was pretty sloppy.

If I could really get rid of
two of you, I probably would.

In fact, all three.