01x08 - Wedding Bell Blues

[bunniefuu]

[music playing]

Previously on "Top Chef."

You will work together in two teams

to create a new restaurant
concept for your space.

I get put on the team of the big thinker.

I'd like to keep it right around $400.

I'm over $1,000 easy right now.

I'm the no thinker.

Chunk, you didn't ask
him to scale the fish?

You didn't scale it?

Our team believes that
food is about socialization.

Div style is not something
you haven't seen before.

My style is much more refined.

Miguel, where are those four going?

That's a good question.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

Come on.

What does it say on your jacket?

It says "Top Chef."

It doesn't say "Top Sous Chef," does it?

I have yet to be wowed
by one of your dishes.

I think Steven should go.

I mean, it's not about the
front of the house right now.

It's about the kitchen.

Steven, this isn't "Top Sommelier."

We need to see you in a chef's coat.

Miguel, you've taken a back
roll now a few too many times.

Miguel, your time is up.

Please pack your knives and go.

Now five chefs remained.

Fight it out for a place
in our Las Vegas finale.

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

magazine, a chance to
showcase their culinary talents

at the annual Food & Wine Classic,

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.

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The competition is just
going to get tighter and tighter

from now on, and we'll
see if I have what it takes.

But man, I want to win.

I want to go home now.

[music playing]

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[music playing]

This round is about working with a client.

You will work together as a
team to cater a wedding reception.

For the quick-fire challenge,
you will pitch the happy couple

how you would cater
their wedding reception.

They will pick a winner,
and then all five of you

will work together to cater their
event with the winning chef's menu.

There will be no immunity for the
winner of this quick-fire challenge.

All of you will be
eligible for elimination.

[music playing]

So let's meet your
clients, Scott and Scott.

[music playing]

I've seen two grooms walk in
instead of a bride and groom

for the wedding reception.

Put it in a little bit of a
different perspective,

that we would be able
to be a little more exciting

and flavorful and colorful.

It'll be interesting to
see how things pan out.

Why don't you tell the
group what you're looking for

for your commitment ceremony?

Well, we're looking for a Pan-Asian meal

with fusion influences.

And if you could put
together a prawn canapé,

they can have for the
reception part of the meal.

The actual dinner should
consist of an amuse-bouche,

and then four courses,
which will include a dessert.

Dessert, that's my specialty.

And I do think a wedding cake
is a part of a traditional wedding.

The thought of making a
wedding cake at this point,

I'm just like, [bleep]

So we'd love to get some
samples from you guys

on what you might be able
to do for a prawn canapé.

In 90 minutes, Scott
and Scott will be back.

In that time, you will need
to sketch a wedding cake,

design a menu, and create
a cold prawn hors d'oeuvre.

They have a total of 100 guests

and a food budget of $3,000.

Your time starts now.

[music]

We were preparing a meal for 100 people,

and that's kind of the mindset
that you needed to have

when you were designing the menu.

Practicality is key, especially in
a banquet and catering setting.

Wedding menus also have
to be greatest hits menu.

They need to be pleasable
to everyone in the room.

[music]

I have a lot of catering
experience from back home,

and I'm hopeful that they pick my menu

because I know it's
one that we can execute.

[music]

They're looking for an Asian influence.

The menu, right from
there, I'm feeling good

because I have experience
in that department.

[music]

We were given paper and art supplies

to create a presentation
for Scott and Scott.

I decided to do illustrated watercolors

to kind of give them a general
idea about the colors of the dishes.

[music]

I was looking around, and I'm watching
Leanne making origami over there.

People want to be impressed.
They want to be dazzled.

And, you know, I wasn't
feeling very confident.

[laughs]

There's no whiteout.

I don't draw. I'm a cook, man.

Okay, chefs, you've got 5 minutes.

[music]

Okay, everybody, your time is up.

Why don't we start down here with Steven?

Every chef wanted their menu to be chosen,

but only one in the end would be picked.

Okay, well, first, let's go to the canapé.

What we have here is a tangerine
and ponzu-marinated prawn escabeche.

Following the canapé, I kind of
went and took a Japanese theme,

the route for today.

The four following courses...

Very tasty. -Excellent. Thank you.

We have mushimono, which is steamed foods,

yakimono, grilled foods,
and nimono, simmered foods.

We have the kumamoto oyster.

This is a grilled squid linguine.

The duet of ghee-poached lobster and veal.

Steven, do you think you can stay in
your budget of $3,000 with all of this?

Yeah, most definitely.

Lobster and veal, and you can.

Hello. -Hi.

So one of the things I thought of
was doing an evening in Shanghai.

We're going to start with our canapé,
which is a Thai braised prawn or shrimp.

Going into the first
course after the canapé,

what I'd like to do is an Asian
greens mixed with some seaweed,

some edamame, and then a nori vinaigrette.

It's delicious. -Thank you.

The cake presentation, I
heard you guys really say

you wanted something
different out of a cake.

One of the things that
exists in Asian culture

is the recognition of love and luck,

and to do 100 little
boxes of love and love,

to do 100 little individual cakes.

Okay. -Cool.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. I'm Harold. -Hi.

Scott. -Hi, Harold.

I'm going to do a humble presentation. I've
actually failed art class in high school.

So a lot of this menu I'm really focusing
on my travels through Southeast Asia.

Starting you off with our
canapé, we have poached prawns.

It's wrapped in some cabbage.

Moving on from there,
we have the first course.

I was going to do a play
on the green papaya salad.

Moving on from there, we're going
to do some braised beef short ribs.

I saw some stuff on Harold's menu
that I thought flavor-wise would work,

but I thought was a bit
too conceptually out there

for a room full of 100 people coming from all
different cultures and backgrounds and palates.

I'm like Harold. I'm
definitely not an artist.

I focus on flavors and
food that's functional.

The canapé is a cold poached prawn.

I've poached that in
lemon, lime, tangerine juice.

Then we've stacked it on egg roll wrappers.

Just a little bit of
color, a little bit of flavor,

but simple and light on the
palate, a little munchy to get started.

Moving into the first course, which is
going to be like a Japanese ratatouille.

I like a lot of color. Moving on to more
of the protein, looking at pork tenderloin.

I love pork tenderloin.

Dave, who kind of gets a little stressed,

and I think it's through his
passion and his eagerness.

He's very wild and exciting
and I think kind of a wild card.

We're going to do a vanilla
or white sponge cake,

keeping it clean and white and classic.

Just a real simple, clean, white cake. Yum.

Thanks, Dave.

You're welcome.

Great. Thanks so much.

Nice talking to you.

You too.

I'm the only real Asian in the room.

For your canapé, we're
going to do a little trip to China.

These are crispy prawn toasts.

They're basically bound in a scallop mousse
with some fresh water chestnuts and scallions.

To start, for your mousse bouche,
rather than give just one taste,

I thought we could give
a selection of three tastes.

For the second course, I'd be
paper folding all night tonight.

It's called lover's nest.

It's filled with just fresh
sauteed vegetables.

I was thinking that maybe we
could fold a couple lover's birds

and put them on the
plate just for decoration.

One of my favorite things is picking duck.

What I would do, we'd glaze the beef.

When I heard the other pitches, I really was sensing
that others didn't have as much catering experience

and were just pitching these
extreme things that I was like,

"You guys, we're not going to be able to
do this. It needs to be a realistic menu."

And I was definitely concerned.

For your wedding cake, I was thinking about doing a
ginger scented genoise with a passion fruit filling.

Great. Thank you, Leanne. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, guys, how was it for you?

Well, I do think we have a very
clear winner, and the winner for us is...

Leanne.

Wow. Thank you guys so much.

They called my name. I was flabbergasted.

You know, it was a sort of backhanded
challenge because, yes, you win the quick fire,

but now you're responsible for
cooking for these guys' weddings.

And I was like, "Oh, my goodness.
How am I going to do this?"

So, congratulations, Leanne.

For the elimination challenge, you will
be catering Scott and Scott's reception,

which is tomorrow afternoon.

And we're doing it now, like wedding today.

My heart kept sinking deeper
and deeper into my chest,

and I already started thinking, "Hmm,
how are we going to pull this one off?"

It's virtually impossible.

What happened? She can't sell them?

This is a fiasco.

She won't sell me the fish, man.

I'm taking the salmon.

You're giving me the salmon.

For the elimination challenge, you will
be catering Scott and Scott's reception,

which is tomorrow afternoon.

You will have from right now
until then to pull this together.

Good thing we slept yesterday.

Oh, yeah. When I found out
that I had less than 16 hours,

it was, "Yeah, s... t. I
am locked into this menu."

So you'll be using Leanne's menu, and you'll
be working in the kitchen of the Grand Café

at the Hotel Monaco here in San Francisco.

You are all responsible for
making Scott and Scott's day perfect.

You must work together as a team,

but it's up to you as to who takes
responsibility for which part of the task.

Any one of you could be
sent home tomorrow night.

We'll see you at the ceremony.

Good luck. Thanks.

See you tomorrow. - Bye.

It never occurred to me that I
had to dictate to the other top chefs

on how everything needed to be done.

Can we just assign
stuff and then go over it?

I want to go over it with all of you guys,

so that way you guys understand what's going
on in case we need to help each other out.

Most weddings you have
weeks, days, months in advance.

We have 16 hours to
prepare for the wedding.

That's ridiculous.

Dave, how do you feel
about the crispy prawns?

Sure. - All right.

Dave's going to take the canapé.
Stephen's doing the amuse-bouche.

I have the first course, which is salmon.

Tiffany's going to be
doing the lover's nest.

Leanne's got the Peking steak.

And then we're going to collectively divvy
up the wedding cake and the petit four

The wedding cake...
- That's why God created Betty Crocker.

Let's do it. Let's buy a white cake mix.

Are we all on the same page that we're
going to use a box cake mix and it's okay?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. - Yes.

I don't want to be in the... - Absolutely.

Where are they going?

Just going with the cake mix?

Betty Crocker?

[bleep] yeah, man.

This wedding cake had
no potential whatsoever.

I did not want to attach my
name, even if I were to help,

because, you know,
mediocrity is not my game,

and I just didn't want to
have anything to do with it.

How are you doing?

So does everybody have catering experience?

Has anybody done a wedding before? - No.

Are you guys going to get some sleep tonight?
- No, we're not.

Going straight through? - Probably not.

You're going right through? - Yep.

Looking at the menu, I saw
no need to pull an all-nighter.

I mean, we had 16 hours,
and everybody had one course.

Yeah, it's 100 people, but


Good luck. I'll bring the coffee.

They both decided to pull an all-nighter.

I think this is going to
be a challenge of stamina.

Let's go shopping, guys. - Yes.

You know, there was nothing
open. There was nowhere to go.

So grocery shopping to do a wedding

was really the only option we had.

Who caters a wedding out of a supermarket?

That's unheard of. That's ridiculous.

You have specialty purveyors
that you go to that specialize.

We need 115 oysters of some sort.

Preferably the...

Preferably the kumamoto.

Do you have any fresh
whole salmon back there?

Only the farm-raised is fresh?

I head right over to the fish
section, and I'm looking at the salmon.

It's s♪♪♪.

They have three different
types of frozen wild salmon,

and they have fresh Atlantic salmon.

So at this point, it's like six
of one, half that of another

because you have nicer
salmon, but it's frozen,

and you have s♪♪♪ salmon, which is fresh.

Just based on principle, I'm
going to take the fresh stuff,

because it's fresh, even
though I know it's lesser quality.

What happened? She can't sell them?

What's she saying? - This is a fiasco.

She's a supervisor. Back that up.

But she's got all that salmon
there, she's got all this salmon here,

and I can't have the full
fish. I don't understand why.

I was just trying to, you know,
pick out my salmons, whatnot,

and I went over and realised I was
going to be purchasing three whole salmon,

and I guess it was the best
salmon she had in the house,

and she didn't want to sell them to me
because she wanted to use them for sashimi.

How much is it?
- She won't sell me the fish, man.

Why not?
- I don't know. Now she's not selling me the fish.

And I was just like, "Listen,
we're spending a lot of money here.

"I'm taking the salmon. Give me the salmon.

"That's all there is to it."

Lots of people don't eat free.

You dare to have to
get that. Nobody have it.

I was buying the whole salmon for you.
- Are you kidding me?

No, I took care of it.
- All right. You are getting the fish, right?

Yeah.

All right, I have eight boxes of cake mix.

Five minutes, guys. Five minutes.

Just go, go, go, go,
go. I'll take them all.

I gotta go. I gotta go. Thank you.

We're in line, right? - Yes.

[ music playing ]

We all gathered our stuff and we
were heading over to the Hotel Monaco

to check out the space.

Not bad. Not bad, guys.
Good amount of space.

Daikon and spring
rolls. Is that you, Steven?

I wanted to make sure we
got as much done as possible.

I didn't want to be
scrambling at the last minute.

Everyone kind of agreed with that.

I start filling some salmon,
cleaning them up, getting them ready.

I wasn't happy with my salmon.
You know, it was Atlantic salmon.

It doesn't have the color.
It's not meaty. It's not sweet.

Right now I'm making the scallion
pancakes for the baking-flavored beef.

Rather than do a traditional soft pancake,

I'm gonna fry these off
so they're nice and crisp.

Truffles. We're preparing a milk
chocolate, sesame, dark chocolate,

and ginger, and a white
chocolate, and sake.

Instant cake batter. I love it.

I needed to get the cake baked off.

That was the first thing I
needed to do so it could cool.

Okay.

Tom came through the kitchen first round

to kind of see where we
were and what was going on.

Um, Tiffany? Yes, Chef?

Um...

I-I just found this.

Tom discovered a bunch
of Betty Crocker boxes.

As a team, we all decided
that sometimes the safest bet

in terms of pleasing
the client is the best bet.

At least you're honest. I'm
never not gonna be honest.

Good, very good.

Part of being a good chef is
accepting where you're weak

and being able to do what you
can in order to, like, do the right thing.

I would rather own up
to making a mixed cake

and have a three-tiered cake

than stand in front of these
guys with tears in our eyes

explaining why our cake fell six times

and we didn't have time
to make another one.

That would have been unfair.

I'm working on my lobster spring rolls,

little miniature ones for the amuse-bouche.

I just have to make 100, plus


Steven's just slow at prepping
and production, you know?

I can just tell he hasn't been
doing this in a really long time.

He's not even moving with
any type of urgency whatsoever.

I'm like, "This is f---ing hysterical."

Steven, your pork stock's
getting pretty low, bro.

Steven's dish had multiple
components, but it wasn't the hardest.

I could have gotten that dish
done in half the time that he did.

I finished the spring rolls, finally.

Yes! - Good job.

Oh, f♪♪♪.

It was really late. We were running behind.

So I jumped in and did whatever I could.

OK.

I was making butter creams,
I was cleaning scallops,

then I was making my
dish on top of it, so...

[sighs]

I was multitasking.

Dave's great, but at the same time, I
knew that he was trying to do too much.

I think people overextend
themselves way too much.

They try to do too much,
and it reflects in their dishes.

I feel more nervous than you.
- I'm not bad.

I was far more nervous
the past couple of weeks.

I feel more nervous about
all the people coming,

and it's all about us and
our friends and our family.

Day after, I'm much calmer
than I thought I would be.

I guess I was thinking about that they had
to do it in such a short amount of time,

and that at 4 a.m., one of them
suddenly fell over into the cake

or something like that out of exhaustion.

We're tired, and everyone
was at their breaking point.

We prepped straight through
the night, and I'm exhausted.

There was a lot of work to be
done, and I was sort of in a panic

because I didn't think we had enough time.

It's cold. - It is cold.

It might as well have been boiled chicken.

You got to be [bleep] kidding me here.

This is ridiculous.

[upbeat music]

Before the Scots guests arrive,

I'd like to introduce you
to our judges for today.

Chef Tom Colicchio, of course,

Gail Simmons from Food & Wine magazine,

and our guest judge
for today is Marcy Bloom,

wedding planner to the stars.

Marcy's done weddings
for a long list of celebrities.

When it comes to weddings,
there's nothing she doesn't know,

and I can tell you this
from personal experience

because Marcy planned my wedding.

The ceremony will start shortly,

so go back to the kitchen and
make your final preparations.

By the end of the night,

Scott and Scott will be
starting their new life together,

and one of you will be
starting your journey home.

Good luck.

Good luck.

[upbeat music]

The only thing that should
really take a lot of time

is the wedding cake, in my opinion.

Everything else is like, man,
come on, let's [bleep] knock it out.

I got to check on my fried eggs.

We need to fry Steven's off right behind.

We were all tired, but we were scrambling.

Everybody seemed to be a little
more tense than they needed to be,

and that unneeded stress is just something

that I'm not really a fan of.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

On behalf of the Scotts today,

I would like to welcome you
to this wonderful occasion.

♪ ♪

You're an inspiration,

and it makes me proud to
call you the love of my life,

and I am blessed to call you husband.

Many days you give me
butterflies in my stomach,

and another day you
make me want to pull out

the remnants of my hair.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you

the newly married Scott and Scott.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

What time is the reception scheduled till?

Until 4:30.

Oh, it's from 3 to 4:30? - Correct.

Leanne, you know that the
canapes are being passed?


time for the canapes.

An hour and a half?

Yeah, but we don't have enough
canapes for an hour and a half.

Yeah, that's... you don't...

We get a timeline on the reception

that Trey passes from 3 to 4:30,

and I freaked because, you
know, we have one Trey pass.

There's no way that's gonna last.

I know there's dungeness crab in there,

if so, let's make a pate choux.

We'll make crab fritters or
some [bleep] like that, all right?

I was just gonna do a similar
thing to what I did yesterday,

just using these little
guys, cut 'ems, boom,

and just leave a little stack.
- They loved it.

You want me to dice the
cucumbers for you, Dave?

Sure, that'd be great.

And then I'll just do a
light Asian vinaigrette thing.

We had some crab, which I didn't know,

and we grabbed that, Tiffany
and I cut up some cucumber

and pineapple, and I just did
some mirin and some lime juice

and just tried to put something together

so we had something
that looked halfway decent.

They want us to start lining up.

Do I need to start lining up? Okay.

All right, so roll with that.

I'm happy that my dish,
which was the canapes,

went out first or the, you
know, tray pass items,

'cause I think they had some integrity

and had some decent flavor.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

Those are good.

♪ ♪

This is fabulous.

These are really good.

The canapes went out really smoothly.

Dave did a nice job.

All the grooms, how... what'd they say?

They said, "That's my favorite."

Okay, great.

When c*ck hours started

and people were coming
back with empty trays,

that means they're enjoying the food

and they're eating the food.

So what did you think of the shrimp toast?

It was very greasy.

No flavor at all.

♪ ♪

The next course is Stephen's Amuse-Bouche.

So does everyone have an idea

of kind of what we're doing tonight?

We're doing a little wedding reception,

which I think you've probably
done hundreds of already.

You know, essentially it's a wine dinner,

and each course is gonna
have a different wine.

This glass right here will be a rosé.

It's from the Vendee
Paye in the south of France.

You know, Stephen was nowhere to be found.

He was doing whatever he was doing

out in the front of the house.

We didn't need Stephen to be the liaison

between the kitchen and
in the front of the house.

They had a captain.

Stickers on the bottom?

Yeah, you know where Stephen was?

We gotta wash these spoons, man.

This is a mess.

Where is Stephen?

There's [bleep] all inside 'em.

We had just bought more Chinese spoons

for his soup dumplings,

and those came in in the morning.

Stickers are still on 'em.

You gotta be [bleep] kidding me here.

This is ridiculous.

They're not clean.

We're serving dirty [bleep] spoons.

So angry I could spit right now.

The frickin' spoons, I'm telling you,

like, that just put me
over the edge of Stephen.

[applause]

I'm good. We're gonna get it done

with or without Stephen right now, so...

By the way, where's Stephon?

You gotta be kidding.

Is he here?

John Day tops up again.

Did he really just leave again?

Yeah. He's out in the dining room.

Where's Stephen? Where's Stephen?

Three-ounce pour.

Pour the wine, and then
move over to the next,

move over to the next,
move over to the next.

The two of you are done. Next table.

I needed to talk to some
of the members of the hotel

in making sure that the execution,

the foremost important part
of this whole entire event,

was intact.

Okay, everyone, keep in
mind, it's eight at a time,

so we can kind of keep, like, you know,

the cover on the soup
dumplings and then just drop 'em.

A chef's responsibility is to delegate.

He is a leader.

He is a manager in the kitchen.

No one took that role.

No one except for myself.

This is the amuse-bouche.

In French, it means to amuse the mouth.

And it's just a little sampler

that the chef sends out to
kind of tickle your taste buds.

This is a little spring roll.

That is good.

Fabulous.

The amuse-bouche, the
oysters were phenomenal.

No, the oyster wasn't bad.

And I'm partial to that,
what's it called, wazoo stuff.

I like that taste.

They don't know how to serve or anything.

That's like their life.

You gotta separate the two
every once in a while, though.

Whatever Steven's
doing, I pulled him aside.

"Listen, stop [bleep]
with the front of the house.

Just walk away from it.

You gotta pick your battle."

No, I know, but we're not gonna go there.

They were planning on
going out there with, like,

stuff on, like, trays and, like,

I mean, stuff's gonna get cold like that.

Of course.

We can't do that.

It's not our responsibility.

We need to get this [bleep] done.

We have five people in the kitchen.

Next course was the salad.

Harold's papaya, green
papaya salad with salmon.

And he is having issues.

You know, I was responsible
for the salmon dish,

and I, well, I referred to the dish

as green papaya salad dish

because I stood behind
the green papaya salad

and wasn't really crazy about the salmon.

So what do you think about the dish?

I think it's kind of flavorless.

I kind of like the noodles,
and I like the salmon,

but I don't necessarily like them together,

and I think it's a little fishy.

It's not quite as flavorful as I
would have hoped, I guess.

It's cold.

It is cold.

The salmon was useless.

Whoever made the salmon...

Yeah.

I was all of a sudden in a bad convention.

It might as well have been boiled chicken.

Yeah.

I think we are spiritually worn

halfway through service.

Things were not as good
as they should have been,

and I think we all sense that.

Feels like it's 8 o'clock
in the morning still.

Let's go to the groom's first, okay?

Groom's first.

Okay.

The next course is Tiffany's dish.

She has the lover's nest.

She got the oregano.

Absolutely.

Hard to believe.

Huge, huge plus.

Bonus points.

This is wonderful.

Oh, my God.

We went on to the Peking beef,

which is Leanne's dish.

We're gonna have some
time on this next course, okay?

What do you mean we're gonna have time?

Dude just told me to fire it.

I think Steven, you know,
tried to be the go-between

between the front and the kitchen.

We're about to start firing it,

and then we find out that
they're gonna have a toast

in between courses.

I'm thinking to myself,

this guy has no [bleep]
clue what he's doing.

He has no clue at this point.

Is the whole dining room cleared?

Yeah. - Really?

Mm-hmm. - Wow, that was fast.

Thank you.

I mean, it's standard stuff.

It's... - That's right,

you're a front of the house guy, man.

And I'm frustrated,

'cause this isn't working
out the way I want it to.

There's sort of a miscommunication

between the front of the
house and the back of the house.

Okay, guys, we're ready for next course.

Okay, thank you. - All right.

[indistinct chatter]

It might have been hot, but I don't know.

It's sitting too long.

Like, I don't know where they're...

they're reheating, and it's not cooking...

they're warming through.

It's good. It's solid.

Not stellar.

I'm... I got nothing left.

I'm out of gas.

I just wanted Scott and Scott

to have, like, a great wedding dinner,

and I was... I was just
disappointed in myself

and everything else that
happened with the food.

We've got a Petit Four on wedding cake.

It's straight out of our asses.

Let's go.

Steve is not here.

The wedding cake is one
of the most important parts

of the wedding.

What we were doing was kind of a mockery

of this whole entire ideal

and basically mocking our clients.

Congratulations. - Thank you.

So, um, your cake this evening

is a ginger and vanilla scented...

filled with a passion fruit curd

and a white chocolate butter cream.

That way you're supposed
to feed each other.

Oh, right.

[cheers and applause]

Earlier in the day, I
had plated all the truffles,

so those were prepped and ready to roll,

so we rolled those out

and began cake service with the curd.

Thank you.

Although the cake is very flavorful,

I found eggshells in my cake,

and it's, um, not really
great with crunchiness in it.

That is so sweet.

Wow.

I... I like this.

I mean, one person told me they didn't care

for the sesame chocolate,

but I'm really into sesame, so...

See, if I could eat that, I
could eat a dozen of those.

Glad we got a chance to...

Me too. - Thank you for having us here.

I have to say that it's been
such an overwhelming day

and so exciting and amazing

that it's very difficult to kind of go back

and then find disappointment,

because I'm an optimist.

You know, overall, the
meal went really well,

given the, you know, the
parameters that they were given.

I think those people, you know,

had a great time and
really enjoyed the dinner.

Me too.
- Which part of the meal did you love?

What did I love?

Mm...

I think that might have said it all.

Every cook has humbling moments,

and for me...

pardon the pun, this one takes the cake.

It was a pretty watered-down
version of everything.

Was that your idea? - Yes.

I think you're a better cook than that.

It totally was a disaster.

I've had better from a takeout place.

[expl*si*n]

Marci, you're the expert here.

What did you think?

The truth is, the guests were happy.

It was a lovely occasion,

but the food did not contribute to it.

The rest of the wedding was lovely,

and I think that it showed
in every face of every guest,

but I think Leanne bit off
more than she could chew.

She created a menu that they chose

because of its extravagance
and its fabulousness,

but I don't think in the end

they really delivered exactly what
Scott and Scott hoped they would.

I think they were just
trying to get through it

as opposed to doing everything really well.

Actually, that's the way it seemed.

There was nothing that I said,

"Wow, whoever made that, I would hire."

Not one thing.

Do you think we could choose a winner here?

I don't think so.

I'd love to hear... I
just want to know more

about what happened.
- Yeah, I want to know more.

Let's bring him in. - Let's bring him in.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

I got to tell you, I was
across the board disappointed.

♪ ♪

You know, this is gonna sound harsh.

I've had better from a
takeout place in New York.

♪ ♪

This challenge was really
about meeting the client's needs,

and I think that in terms
of what you normally get

for wedding food, I
think we did pretty good.

You said something very interesting.

Is it based on what most
people get for wedding food?

And I... I think that's a problem.

It is a problem.

No, I think it's a problem
that you think that way

because the truth is my
clients certainly expect

to get pretty extraordinary food.

Would you have served
that food in a restaurant?

No. - Why serve it here?

You know, this is your menu.

You know, I have 40 cooks
who work in the kitchen under me,

and it's my responsibility
to taste their food.

Did you taste everything?

Yes, I did.

And everything was done to your liking?

Not necessarily.

♪ ♪

I'm in more pain about
it, I guess I could say,

because it was my menu to begin with.

I wish I could have done better.

♪ ♪

Flavors just weren't there at all.

It was a pretty watered-down
version of everything.

I mean, I got salmon
that seemed like it was just

kind of grilled and
sitting around for hours,

and then put on top of a
mixture of green papaya

and a few peanuts or whatever that was just

kind of dressed with some vinegar.

Did everybody taste that?

You know what, I trust my palate,

and I thought it tasted good.

♪ ♪

The salmon was Scott and
Scott's least favorite dish.

I'm sorry?

Who decided to use a cake mix?

I... you know, I think I...

I threw the idea out there.

I've used cake mix, you know, before,

and I've been satisfied with it.

One guest found an eggshell in their cake.

Did everybody pull their weight?

I just want to say the one
person who I don't think

should go home today is Dave.

You know, he's such a
positive energy in the kitchen.

He was just really helpful.

Whatever anybody
needed, he was there for us,

and I think his catering experience

came in very handy tonight.

Dave, you just got a
pass from the team leader,

so let's just... let's just
assume for argument's sake

that you're safer now.

Who did you want to see more, you know,

sort of contribute more?

Steven.

We need everyone's hands in the kitchen,

and unfortunately,
when it came to his dish,

we've got the Chinese soup spoons

that the little dumpling's gonna go in.

They're all packaged
with stickers on the back.

Steven's out selling wine to the customers,

and we're scrambling to
get these dishes washed

that are in a package
and covered in stickers.

Steven was also the only person

that only focused on his dish

without focusing on any
petit fours or the cake.

Where... where were you?
- I was in the kitchen.

I left a few times, and I
wasn't out pitching wine.

The director of catering for the hotel

asked me if I could show them
how we would like the food served,

and I was gone for five minutes.

And, you know, we have four capable people,

you know, in the kitchen.

I, you know, I feel confident in this team

that I can leave for a second,
and, you know, I mean...

Let's not make this seem like our failure.

Did you... did you tell
them that you were leaving?

Yes. Yes, I did. - Not one day now?

Yes, I did. I said, "I'll be back
in a few minutes, everyone."

But someone has to act as the bridge

to the front and the back of the house.

This is about giving these
guys a great wedding.

That's exactly what I was trying to do,

and you guys are completely hosing me.

"Oh, Steven, try out and selling wine."

I wasn't selling wine.

That looked beautiful
when those servers came out

and dropped those plates in that manner.

Well, excuse me, but was that your idea?

Yes. - The sweeping the room was your idea?

Yes. Yes, ma'am. - Well, I mean,

I thought that was impressive,

and I commented to
Katie that I was surprised

that they were that sophisticated
that the room was swept.

Leanne, did you assign Steven that role?

No, I did not.

Steven, who would you get rid of tonight?

Leanne.

To take responsibility for it.

It was not a menu to be ex*cuted

under these circumstances, you know?

The toilet was a mess.
It was a complete mess.

You know, I accept responsibility.

If you guys want to send me home

'cause it totally was a disaster,

I'll... you know, I'll accept that.

She did the right thing
in a lot of different ways

that, you know, people
that weren't in the kitchen

sat in the dining room couldn't feel.

But from a, you know, cook's standpoint,

you know, she definitely earned my respect.

So we have to make a decision tonight.

We'll call you when we're ready.

Thank you. - Thank you.

I'm, you know, personally let down here.

I really thought they were
gonna perform much better.

In terms of who didn't play
the role of a chef tonight,

Steven. He never once said,

"I didn't perform the way I should've."

He never once said, "Well,
maybe you have a point.

I can learn from that."

He just got defensive.

The last thing I said to
him in the last judges' table

was, "Show up in the kitchen."

And where is he again?

He's out, you know, giving
directions to the waiters.

Whomever was responsible
for having told the waiters

how to serve, I thought
the waiters did a great job,

and it was clear that
somebody had orchestrated it.

It wasn't happenstance.

On one hand, Steven disappears,

but on the other hand, it's Leanne's...

it's Leanne's deal.

I mean, bring him in line.
Where's the leadership here?

We should've gone and found him.

Yeah. - Right.

This is what I want the
bird's nest to look like,

and this is right.

This is my... this is
how I see it both of us.

Absolutely.

She just dropped the ball, you know,

I think, on a lot of different things.

Nothing came together.

Everything was disjointed.

It was the salmon that was cooked

and put on top of a pile of whatever.

And Harold was responsible
for the salmon, right?

I mean, it just wasn't fresh.

This pan sear of it might
have been crisp at one point,

but then had just become greasy.

There wasn't a lot of
spice, and it wasn't pretty.

So we've come to our decision.

Okay, let's bring them in.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

There will be no winner
in tonight's challenge.

One of you will be going home.

♪ ♪

Harold, we talked about
whether or not you felt

that that dish was a slamming dish,

and the side of the table,
we didn't think it was,

and the Scots thought that, you know,

of all the dishes that they had,

it was probably the least successful.

I think you're better cooked than that,

and I would hope that you
would have brought that,

but I was really disappointed.

Leanne, this is your menu.

This is something that you needed
to put your heart and soul into.

You needed to taste everything.

At this stage in the game,
advocating responsibility

for those dishes, I think
it's a tactical mistake.

Right.

♪ ♪

Stephen, this is top chef, not top waiter,

and yet you still need to go out there

and deal with the wait staff.

Most of the people here are saying

that you shouldn't be here anymore

and think you're a good cook,

but there's this disconnect somewhere,

and I don't know whether it's lack of focus

or whether or not you
think that this competition

is about other things.

Tiffany, I keep hearing you say
that you know things are wrong.

You wouldn't do... if this
were mine, I wouldn't do it.

At a certain point, you have to say,

"No, I'm not gonna do this."

Ultimately, we have to make a decision.

♪ ♪

Stephen, please pack your knives and go.

♪ ♪

Do you have anything to say?

No.

♪ ♪

You can all go.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna go get my knives.

♪ ♪

Your time has come.

♪ ♪

Stephen definitely deserved to go home.

I could have backed him up, but, you know,

I mean, he called Leigh Ann out.

There's no way I was gonna
let Leigh Ann go out like that.

Despite all the criticism
that I've received,

I fully take all my pride
that I have for this industry,

providing an unbelievable
experience for the guests.

♪ ♪

Now that my role in this competition

has finally come to an end,

I'm going to be a restaurateur,

and that is my goal in life.

I will probably influence the industry

and raise the bar to a level of excellence

that I don't think has
been achieved yet to date

in this country.

♪ ♪

Next on "Top Chef"...

We started at the bottom of the food chain.

Now we're going straight to the top.

Oh, my God. - [gasps]

Ooh. - Oh, my God.

I'm feeling ill, ill, ill.

My stomach's curdled. I'm feeling sick.

And I don't want to get sent home.

I want to go to Vegas.

Yes.

Uh, give me just a minute.

Tiffany, she took on too many things.

There's only so much you
can kick yourself in the a*s

for what you've done.

[timer beeping]

Three chefs will be going
to the "Top Chef" finale

in Las Vegas, and one of you

will be packing your bags and going home.

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

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