02x07 - The Raw and the Cooked

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Top Chef at
Sharon Quiet in the girls' room,

I hope that a woman gets
the title of Top Chef.

All five of you actually
won the challenge.

So you are the five.

You are the only five cooking
in the elimination challenge.

The five losers get to make Thanksgiving

dinner for the five winners.

Let's figure out the menu.

Provo, just give them a shot of vinegar.

Elia started to lose it a little bit.

What's the point of staying?

I don't find it cutting edge at all.

Middle, safe, it's fine with me.

Marcel's plate has been a
mirror image of every plate

that he's done.

What kind of crack house
are you running here?

I admire Marcel's audaciousness.

But, Zalya's nothing to sue.

It was the winning choice.

What did you spend four hours on?

Listen, if you're saying
that I sent all my butt,

sometimes I get a sense that
you're just trying not to lose.

Carlos, please pack your knives and go.

Now, nine chefs remain to fight
it out for a spot in the top

chef finale in Hawaii.

At stake for the winner,
a state-of-the-art Kenmore

Pro Kitchen, furnished by Sears,
an editorial feature in Food

and Wine Magazine, a chance to showcase

their culinary talent at
the 25th anniversary Food

and Wine Classic in Aspen.

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

furnished by the makers of
the GLAAD family of products

and title, the top chef.

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

So I'm feeling very well this morning.

I'm excited.

I just want to cook.

I have to stay focused.

Don't let my emotions get to me.

I feel like I have a
great chance at the title.

People know that I'm a
force and a team leader.

You know, and I think
I have a great shot.

I've been on a roll lately.

I've been in the top
three the last four shots.

For the past eight, 10 years,
I've been the best at my field.

And I'm fully relying on my
abilities to take me over the top.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to the Redondo
Beach Farmer's Market.

Our guest judge for this
round is Rafael Luneta.

He's a prior Food and Wine
magazine, best new chef,

as well as the chef and
owner of Giraffe Restaurant

in Santa Monica.

Hello, chef.

Good morning.

This round is about
working with limitations.

As talented chefs, you should all

be able to create
fantastic food from what

you find here in the market.

Today's quick fire challenge is simple.

Create a mouth-watering filling entree.

But there's a catch.

You can't cook any of it.

No heating of any
ingredients at any point.

Any great dish starts
with great ingredients.

When at a farmer's
market of this quality,

you don't need heat or flame
to create beautiful food.

All you need is raw talent.

I'm totally stoked that we're not

cooking out of vending machines.

We're not using canned goods.

We've got real, solid products
straight from the farmers.

You have half an hour and
$20 to shop in this market.

And then you'll have half an hour

to prepare your dishes
in the Kenmore kitchen.

Good luck.

Your time starts now.

Here, I think I'm going to
go with the mixed basket.

$2, excellent.

How much is this?

I like raw food.

I enjoy eating it.

I'm used to work with raw.

Gracias.

The product line.

I'm going for what I know.

I'm going for the corn.

If you've never had fresh
corn off the cob, raw,

like right when it's
picked off the stock,

you're missing a wonderful treat.

I'm going to eat raw food, so
I'm like, what the hell am I

going to do, you know?

I'm going to buy some smoked
salmon jerky and a bell pepper

and some basil.

I'm going to make like
a watermelon stack,

deal with avocado,
cilantro, and salmon jerky.

I was totally perplexed when
this whole thing came up.

And then I just took a walk through,

and a little light bulb
went on in my head.

Scallops are for mortal may,
and they're dry, diver-caught.

And I saw a seafood vendor there,

so I picked some jumbo scallops.

How much is that?

A shishimi.

That's 15 a pound, also.

I find some fish, and
I chose some ahi tuna

from this guy that's selling fish.

The ahi tuna is fresh.

It's nice.

So I'm liking this tuna.

So you guys all have your ingredients.

As you know, you have 30
minutes to prepare your dish.

And you can't cook anything.

Your time starts now.

I'm not really sweating it.

I love to eat raw vegetables.

I prefer to eat them that way.

I'm thinking a nice hearty
salad is the way to go.

Carpaccio is a classic
Italian dish with beef.

I am going to make a scallop carpaccio

with a radish and cucumber
salad in the middle.

It's Italian with a twist.

Keeping my fingers crossed,
I need to pull something out.

I've been on the bottom for way too long.

If you buy the right ingredients,

you don't really need to cook them.

They taste really good as they are.

It's not something that I
would consider my forte,

but I think I can pull enough.

Whoo!

Ha ha!

Hey, you guys, you have
less than five minutes.

Hey, hey, hey, here.

Watch the table, man.

I'm getting to the end
where I'm plating up

and Frank's working next to me

and he's humping some gorilla on his
prep table or something, you know.

Shaking everything.

It's like a freaking 7.0 earthquake.

I hope Frank goes home.

Mike is definitely a hack.

I don't think Mike could cook
his weight on a paper bag

unless he had French fries with him.

OK, time's up, you guys.

Your time goes down, hands up.

Ready?

This is Maciej.

Hi.

Hello.

I did a fresh halibut ceviche

and I made a Kiyoho grape guacamole.

Interesting.

The halibut was very fresh.

It's really beautiful,

which I think is actually a step above

because most of the chefs
have gone simply with produce.

Betty's dish just didn't
look appealing to me.

She needed to work on her
presentation quite a bit.

I just didn't want to
jump out there and eat it.

I have made a fresh corn
salad with heirloom tomatoes,

little crushed red chili flakes,

some cucumber and some avocado.

The bottom layer of tomato
is layered with a pesto

that I made with raw walnuts.

Just beautiful summer squash.

A couple of different heirloom tomatoes.

It would make a great little appetizer.

Thank you.

Hi, Cliff.

How's all the vegetables in here?

Radish, green beans.

On the ole, green beans.

There are some parsley and cucumber.

I did tuna with white little
onions and then spinach.

It's more of an Asian seasoning,

but I put olive oil
and mustard too in it.

It's delicious.

Thank you.

Scallop carpaccio has a
lemon vinaigrette on it.

And in the center I did a cucumber,

radish salad with a
lemon honey vinaigrette.

Presentation-wise, it's very pretty.

It's a crudo of zucchini
and summer squash

with a quick pickle, peaches,
plums, and quijo grapes.

Here I have a watermelon Napoleon

with avocado, cilantro, salmon jerky.

I kind of went with a trio
of watermelon and tomato.

First off, you have sweet


And then here we have
the watermelon steak

with tomato tartare.

And then lastly, just a
nice little refresher.

When you said entree,
instantly I thought of steak.

And so I was like,
watermelon steaks, you know?

I think the watermelon
steak, realistically,

is kind of a silly idea.

It's more like a dessert.

The collards are beautiful.

Thank you.

All right, so can everyone
gather around over here?

I was very impressed by all of you.


time, and it was all very good.

Who were your three most disappointing?

Betty, the cut on the halibut

and some of your other
vegetables in there

weren't as uniformed in shape.

Although the flavor was there,

the presentation needed
a little bit of work.

I'm chosen in the bottom again.

Okay, Mia, you bought a
beautiful heirloom tomato

that is sitting on your
station, and you didn't use it.

Last on the list would be Michael.

I think you saw when I cut into it,

it wasn't easy for me to get through.

The thought was good,

but the execution needed
a little bit more depth.

And now for the good news.

Ellia, it was a concise dish.

It packed a lot of flavor.

It was simple, it had
restraint, but it was solid.

Frank, it's a tasty dish.

You also took the time
to think about garnish

on the cucumber to make the
outside of it look pretty.

The other top three would
have to go to Marcel.

That watermelon was beautiful.

It was a good, tight, solid dish.

And now, who is the winner
of this quick fire challenge?

I say Marcel.

I'm stoked.

It's my first win, not
to mention the fact that

I was totally proud of my dish today.

My performance could not
have been any more soigner.

Thank you very much, chef. Pleasure.

I think Marcel thinks more about

how he's gonna make his
food rather than tasting it.

But the chef judge
seemed to like the dish

and the fact that he called it a steak

when it was really just
a hunk of watermelon.

So congratulations, Marcel.

You're the only chef
that cannot be eliminated

in the elimination challenge.

The next challenge is breakfast.

As you know, it's the most
important meal of the day,

but sometimes it's
overlooked by serious cooks.

We want you to use your
skill, talent, and imagination

to make this meal the
most tasty, memorable,

and satisfying meal of the day.

I think everyone here knows
that I'm the queen of breakfast.

I worked as a Sunday brunch cook

at a high-volume restaurant,

so I can spit out the
breakfast, no problem.

Your elimination challenge
is to cook some breakfast

for some very hungry California athletes.

You'll be feeding them after
their early morning practice,

so they'll really be hungry

for something satisfying to refuel with.

So you each have a budget
of $30 and half an hour

to shop later today.

And then tomorrow, we're all
gonna get up horribly early

and cook for them where they train.

In the quick fire, you
had to work without heat.

In this challenge, your ability to cook

will be limited in a different way.

You're only gonna find out

what kind of kitchen equipment they have

when you get there.

Oh!

Going into any environment
and not knowing what's there,

not knowing what you can use,

you're pretty scared sh**less

because it could mean anything
or absolutely nothing.

This is the most challenging
challenge so far.

That is so f***ing special.

First thing that goes through
my head is I'm screwed.

We have 30 minutes to shop,

about $30, which is nothing,

to prepare gourmet breakfast
for these athletes.

With heat, without heat,

for big eaters, yet gourmet?

Who knows?

I think I'll start packing my bags now.

If somebody tells me athlete,

I think hockey, basketball,
football, baseball,

just any early morning practice.

My thought process is
honestly pretty jumbled.

The funny thing about
this challenge for me

is that I've done brunches my whole life,

but I couldn't really
use any of those ideas

because I had no idea where I was going,

if there was gonna be a cutting board,

if there was gonna be a whisk,

if there was gonna be some form of heat,

a fryer, an oven, a saute pan.

I think most of us are crying
a river up and down the aisles

trying to figure out how the hell

we're gonna pull this together.

I'm thinking I'm going to
make a smoked salmon quiche

and everybody went to the egg department.

It's kind of a standard for breakfast.

And they were so versatile
that they could be done

in a thousand different ways.

Just kind of cruising around the store

cause I was just like,

maybe I'll just throw down
some granola and yogurt

cause I have no idea what
I'm gonna be able to cook.

There might not be any heat at all.

So they're not seeing a roasted chicken

and I'm like, I can
grab that and pick that.

It's already cooked,
you know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I'm gonna go with like a
roasted chicken breakfast taco.

I was thinking a billion
and one different things.

I'm thinking oatmeal, I'm thinking wheat,

grains, high protein.

But then again, all these
materials that you think of,

you might not be able to cook
the vast majority of them

because you don't know
what you're gonna have.

Thank you.

Five, Mikey.

Five minutes on top.

Five, Mikey.

I didn't sleep that much.

No?

No.

In my opinion, this is the most
challenging challenge so far.

It's sort of bare-bracking.

And from what I'm gathering,

everybody's sort of in the
same line, like really nervous.

She just helped us at the end of the day.

There's still three girls in this room.

I'm happy.

I really do, you know,

having been the only
woman in the kitchen on me

on this occasion without the L.A.

You know how it is.

It's been really hard for me,

working my way up in the culinary world.

It's hard to be respected as a woman.

It makes me want the title
a lot more, of course.

It would be wonderful to
be the top chef as a woman.

Ready to go.

This is my first
experience with immunity,

and it couldn't have
come at a better time.

I'm not gonna get eliminated.

I'm not gonna get eliminated.

I want to have immunity again.

I'm totally addicted.

It's the elimination dance.

It's the first time I've done it.

It feels good.

We drive up, and all of a sudden,

we end up at a beach in Malibu.

I'm just rolling up to the beach
like I was totally excited.

I'm like, this is the beach.

I have it in the beach for a while.

I live in the desert in Las Vegas.

This is awesome.

I'm just very excited.

We all pull up to the beach in the RAV4s,

and there are barbecue pits,

pots, pans, and a lot of sand.

That is so f*cking special.

The first thing that goes through my head

when I see the fire pit is I'm screwed.

It's virtually impossible to
cook quiche on a fire pit.

We were expecting a kitchen,
at least a stove top.

Instead, we got fire pits and sand.

Once I see the tools that we're given,

once I see the fire pit,

I'm not so thrilled with
my product any longer

because if I would have
known there was a fire pit,

I would have completely changed my dish.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I guess you worked this out by now.

Yeah.

Those surfers out there
are the hungry athletes

you'll be cooking for.

And these fire pits are your kitchen.

So you're judges, as always.

Head judge Tom Colicchio

and Gail Simmons of
Food and Wine Magazine.

And former pro surfer,
who you met earlier,

Chef Rafael Luneta.

He's out there surfing
with everyone else,

but he claims he'll be back to eat.

You have 45 minutes until
breakfast is served.

Keep in mind the surfers will
be filling out survey cards

and we judges will take their
opinions into consideration.

Good luck.

We have 45 minutes now to
put everything together

in the sand on your knees, one pit.

We have a blanket, mixing
bowl, a pit, pants,

and that's it.

And it's just crazy.

Aw, damn, I just dropped my salt.

Sand is such a huge factor.

Probably something that you
don't really think about

in the beginning until all
of a sudden you go to move

and now your salt's in the sand
or there's sand in your eggs.

It could become quite a mess.

Dude, we're all cooking on this together.

I already cleaned my spot.

That's where my pan was.

Sorry, this is my area, dude.

Well, I got to run all the way over this.

Dude, I put my pan down.

I'm gonna move it.

I'm just like, no.

Mia was freaking out, but I just
don't really let it get to me.

You know, I just focus in on the food.

Community or not, I still
totally admit it to win it.

I'm feeling great going
into this challenge.

You know, I cook for cowboys,
and I'm a professional

barbecue-ologist here,
so the main challenge is

regulating your heat, not
having too many hot spots,

not having too many cold spots.

Aw, get the f*ck out.

If I get to the beach, I get down,

I realize I don't have my eggs.

Oh, wow.

It looks like I forgot my eggs.

You did not.

My eggs aren't in my bag, so...

Mike's like my dumb little brother.

I'm actually shocked that
Mike even got this far.

Actually, I'm even shocked that
Mike even got to Los Angeles.

Hey, anyone spare an egg?
Anyone have any eggs?

I felt so horrible for him because

how can you make a breakfast
dish without any eggs?

So I took a second, and I
kind of saw what I had to do.

But I still pulled off without eggs.

How many do you need?

It's like six.

Quick, you got him.

Here, baby, come here.

Here, there's a broken
one, though, honey.

Here.

Right on, right on.

I gave him some, because that's
what happens in the kitchen.

It's a team effort.

Sweet, brother.

I'm good on eggs, man.

I got my eggs.

Everyone just kicked them down.

They were more than willing to share.

First still, baby.

I decided that I was going to do
some kidney smoke salmon quiche.

It still makes quiche.

It doesn't make a very pretty quiche.

Ideally, to pull off a quiche,
I would have needed an oven.

So I had to start rethinking my dish,

and I had to start
rethinking it really quickly.

I plan on making a quiche,
but generally don't

cook those over an open flame, so...

The only person who I can see
out of the corner of my eye

is Frank, who's having some trouble.

He had an idea for a quiche,

and his pie crust
completely disintegrated.

Great, look out.

A beagle!

Hey, hey, what?

A beagle!

Get the f*ck out of here.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

I decided to go for something
that I've done before.

It's a very fulfilling breakfast.

It's going to be a waffle
with a quarter of a cereal

on top, I'm going to melt the cheese,

and fried egg on top,
honey, and olive oil.

It tastes really good.

Surfer's, you know, they love the ocean,

they love seafood, so I
think that I chose a winner

with the crab cakes Benedict
and the mango cream sauce.

So my idea behind this
challenge was to call the dish

green eggs and ham.

Same I am, you know, ham being the bacon,

green being the basil,
but I sort of messed up.

Right when I tossed the
eggs into the pesto,

I see them going from this
bright, beautiful green

to this grayish, brownish color.

So I didn't call it that anymore,

I just called it scrambled
eggs, toed in a whole style.

I just had to go with the punches

and try to, you know,
stand up for my dish.

Ready?

Turn it on.

Oh sh**t after focusing for 45 minutes on
this beautiful breakfast and we look up

and there's like 40 or 50 surfers just
walking towards our station. That's more

than 10 guys. Whoa we turn around and
there's a drove of just hungry surfers

waiting to devour pretty much anything
in their bath. I knew from looking at my

food that I normally wouldn't serve that.
Right now I'm freaking out. I'm totally

think I have the best chance
of being sent to them.

It's a little sloppy.
Yeah, it's just, it's so

lost. I think I might be
in a little bit of trouble.

I don't find this look
at all appetizing. It's

like two vinegary. I
thought it was too much

red wine. Amazed by what they can
taste, they may be what scientists call

Super Tasters. People with two to four
times as many taste buds on their tongue

as the average person. Scientists claim
it's the number of taste buds on the

tongue rather than the size of the
tongue which determines one's ability to

taste. Case in point,
this guy, big tongue,

clearly poor taste.
Top Chef will be right

back on Bravo. Brought to you by Kenmore
Pro. Innovations that ignite your

passion. At Sears.

There's like 40 or 50 surfers
just walking towards our station.

So this elimination challenge, we're on
the beach and we're cooking for surfers.

Crab cakes, Benedict.
All the surfers needed to

see on my side was crab
cakes and I had a line

of people. I couldn't
even serve them fast

enough. All right,
looks like I can squeeze

out three more if anybody's got a plate.
Thank you very much. You hear that, Mia?

I heard that. This is
really good. That's about

the fifth or sixth or eighth
one of those I've got.

You kind of lucked out
until you decided to do

seafood around the beach,
so that kind of worked.

Yeah. So do you guys
eat breakfast like this

every day on the beach?
This happens every day?

Oh yeah. I can move here. I like this.

Hey, here you have
some waffles with fried

beans, cheese, cured
meat, fried eggs with

parsley. And if you want some maple syrup
in them as well, they're good. Wonderful.

I sold out all my food in
the first seven minutes

and they were all like,
oh, this is the b*mb.

And just eating it like
a tostada. This is Elias.

When I first heard she
was making a waffle with

cheese and ham and egg
and parsley, I was a

little bit hesitant.
You know, it starts off

as sweet, but then it
gets salty. Which is

interesting. I kind of
like it. I have to say,

they're stepping up. So
far, so good. I'm telling

you. This is not
necessary. It's a tortilla,

Spanish tortilla. I can actually cut into

it if you like. Eggs,
potatoes, vegetables,

all different layers. A
bunch of surface crowd

around me and it looks
great and I'm very,

very happy. So good. Hi
ladies, how you doing?

Anyone else? It's rustic
toast with cheese,

with leeks, mushrooms,
corn, with some tomato, lots

of protein, lots of flavor.
I think presentation

is pretty nice. It's
very nice, actually. I

think she's got morels in
there. She's got leeks,

she's got a nice tomato.
I had a chance to look

around and I could tell
that some of those guys

were really sweating
it. And I'm thinking,

that's pretty good compared
to these guys. Frank,

how you doing? Is it okay?
What do you got? It's

gonna be a quiche to
begin with, but obviously

that's not gonna work. So
I did a zucchini smoked

salmon scramble and then
I did a cannoli cream

with strawberries and a
Holland waffle. Because

I was unable to regulate
the heat on the fire,

I dried my eggs out. It was a challenge.
It was difficult to put it all together.

Frank's dish. I have a
big issue with rubbery

brown eggs. Well, I mean,
look at that too. That

kills me. And the cannoli
cream has no place

with those eggs. It's
chicken apple sausage,

sweet potato. I think
I might be in a little

bit of trouble soon
because of the presentation

of my dish. I would
have liked a side side

egg, just a little
more visually appealing

than a scrambled egg.
It's a little sloppy.

Do you think the presentation and the way

he assembled it is just, it's so lost. So

far I've been surprised.
I haven't had sand

yet and that was my
first bite of sand. Oh,

right. Beautiful. Thank
you. You're welcome.

Personally, as a chef, it was an amateur

dish for me to put out
there. I'm not pleased

with the color of my
eggs. I'm not so pleased

with, you know, my final product. This is

a little too burnt. Looks like red eggs
in here. It does. I actually really don't,

I don't find this look at all appetizing.

Enjoy, brother. You
want a taco? Yeah. Sure.

Everyone tells me I
talk like a surfer, so

I'm going to be able
to like relate to these

guys and be like, bro,
breakfast tacos, dude.

And I think my tacos
are mac and delicious.

Yeah, dude. So this is Michael. This is

Michael's job. You know,
it kind of works for the

beach because you actually
could just grab it

and you eat it. I was
just, I'm just f***ing

stoked. I was like,
yeah, dude. How are the

waves out there today?
Pretty solid. Sweet.

My plan of attack was to
spend more time selling

my dish and marketing it. Yeah, for sure.

Like, yo, bro. Try my poached eggs, brah.

Don't forget to sell
your judges. You like

Marcel's hash browns? Marcel was like, oh,
yo, baby, what's up? Like, Mack and the

little 14 year old girls.
He's like confused.

He's like 26, but sometimes
I think he's like 16.

I like me. Yeah, I
definitely knew this was

the best. Alia is the
most awesome because

it's perfect size and
fills you up. It's not

too much, doesn't leave you feeling awful

and like I'm going to sink when I go in
the water. Sam's toad in a whole bagel. I

picked up the bagel and everything fell
out, so I couldn't eat that one too easily.

The challenge is banged up on that. You're
not going out. Knowing that this is an

elimination challenge, I know for a fact
I'm going to be on the bottom. I was just

hoping that there was a chance that someone
else would crap your dish than I did.

I'll go if you go. The challenge is over
and Alia and I had made a pact that if we

go on the ocean, we're getting in the
water. So if anyone had tried to stop me,

it would have been too late anyway.

It's just wonderful to be there. You have
the sand in your feet and the water is

fresh. The mother of the waves were
going on like huge waves and I'm like,

I'm going to die here, but I don't care.
There's not a person. There's not a thing.

There's nothing that could keep me
out of the ocean. I think I might have

accidentally or probably purposefully
tackled Alia along the way, but you know,

it was all in good fun.

It was actually the surfer's least
favorite dish. All the dishes didn't have

sand in it, except yours did. They were
brown. They were rubbery. They were

completely overcooked. Do you
think you deserve to be here?

So how was breakfast at the beach for you?
I thought it was interesting. I thought

it was a challenge for the chefs and I
enjoyed it. They all seemed to be having

a good time. I mean, I think they were
a little freaked out. They got there.

They got out of those RAV4s and they
were looking at the fire pits and they

went, oh. I thought the food was very
good and there was only one dish that

had sand in it, so I was really
surprised. People take for granted how

difficult it is to cook an egg well.
There's nothing I hate more than burnt,

rubbery, brown eggs. You know, Andre
Sultner, a famous New York chef,

when he would hire a cook, that's what
he would ask them to do is make an

omelet. If they can make an omelet
well, then he hired them. I don't think

all of them succeeded completely in
bringing whatever their preconceived notion

of what they're going to make was to
the beach and that was part of the

challenge. Part of the challenge was
cooking for the surfers. Right. And so,

you know, we got some comments and
they filled out some comment cards and

I thought that was pretty interesting
to see what they had to say. Yeah,

their favorites were Elon, Mia,
Ellia, and Betty. There are a few

really strong dishes, I have to
say. Betty, I think she really did a

great job. Her flavors were great. Her
presentation was really clean. Yeah,

I think she did a nice job there. Talk
about Mia. All of the surfers really

loved Mia's dish. Her food was good.
Her presentation, you know, needed a

little bit of work and I think that she
came to the plate a little bit today.

What did you think of Ellia's dish?
You know, I think it was a risky dish

to do and I think she ex*cuted it
correctly. I really liked all three of

the women's dishes today, but there
was something about Alain's dish that I

really, really enjoyed and I'm partial
to his, even though the eggs were a

little bit over done. A little? The eggs
were a little brown, but I think in that

dish, I don't mind it as much. If you
are going to go do something, if you're

going to eat something and go back and
jump in the water and that's the kind

of thing that would be considered
nutritious snack food and probably not

weigh you down. I think
we have our answer here.

Father, one of the homeowners
should call him out.

Can we please see Betty,
Mia and Ellia? Thank you.

Congratulations, you were the
three best in this challenge.

Rafael, what did you think about Mia's
dish? I enjoyed your dish. I think you

fulfilled the requirements for what you
were supposed to do. You know, it was

hearty, it was a good eating dish.
I enjoyed it. It was the surfer's

favorite dish. You know, we definitely
took that into consideration for, you

know, the top three. And now, Ellia,
I have to say when I first heard about

what you were doing, I was very
apprehensive. Generally, I don't like the

sweet and the salty all piled up
together. I thought it was just going to

kind of overwhelm me and be way too
much. As soon as I bit into it, you

completely changed my mind, I have to
say. I enjoyed your dish. It was a good

combination of sweet and a little
salty and it brings you back maybe to

when you were a kid. You've got the
yolk that was correct on that. It was

good. Betty, I would love to know what
your inspiration was for this dish

because what we all loved so much
about it was its presentation. How did

you think of that? What I was trying
to think of is how can I keep all

of these elements warm? And so what
I did was I stacked and I put the

heat from the bottom up and the
eggs were the most delicate and the

most precious. So I needed to encase
them into something that would

hold the heat. In comparison to some
of the other egg dishes that were

kind of scrambled eggs is that yours
were cooked really nicely there. They

weren't too hard and you treated them
like they were delicate things and

they are and we really appreciated
that and did a great job with that.

Raphael, as our guest judge, it is
your privilege to tell us who the

winner is. We are going to
say congratulations to...

Elia.

Thank you. It feels really, really
good because I know I did my best.

This makes me feel very happy. It's
really great to see that the three

top ones in this challenge were
women. Well done. Thank you.

I'm afraid I'm going to ask you
to send in Frank, Sam and Cliff.

Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Thank you.

Gentlemen, you represent the three
bottom choices in this elimination

challenge and one of you will be
going home. Let's start with you,

Frank. How did you feel about this
challenge in general? Extremely

chosen in the menu that I predetermined
for myself. What did you get

planned? I had a quiche planned. I
ended up doing a zucchini, smoked

salmon scramble, ricotta cream with
strawberries. What do you think

went wrong there? I think my eggs
were too dry, overcooked. They

were brown, they were rubbery, they
were completely overcooked. But

we actually all thought that
your cannoli cream was good. You

ricotta cream. We actually all
really liked it and the surfers

actually liked it too. But what
I can't figure out is what was

the connection between the two.
In a quiche form they would have

connected because I would have
added a lot more cream so you

would have had that creamy
texture and the eggs. If you

could have changed something
right now on that dish, would

you have maybe thought about
trying to do something different? I

should have switched to
individual omelets. Sam, tell us a

little bit about your dish
and what you were thinking. So

basically I was going for a
toad in the whole concept,

punched up the middle of the
bagel, made it bigger, tossed

some scrambled eggs with some
onions, bell peppers and a

basil pesto. Presentation was
the one thing that we all really

had a problem with. It just
looked really unappealing and

it was actually the surfers
least favorite dish. Sam, why

should we keep you here? I
think that I'm a good chef. I

think that I've proved that
up until this point. This is a

tough challenge. Was this your
toughest challenge? Yes, this

was my toughest challenge. I
mean I could stand in front of

a vending machine all day
long and I'd rather do that

any day of the week. Part of
the competition is learning to

adapt and say okay well I want
to do a toad in a hole, maybe

it's not going to work
anymore, but I have all these

great ingredients, what can I
do with them to make it better?

I didn't think that it didn't
work. I didn't know the

surroundings, I didn't know
if there was going to be a

cutting board, I didn't know
if there was going to be a

spatula, I just had no idea.
To me this whole challenge

was a gamble. Ellie made a
choice to use frozen waffles.

I mean she took a gamble
and she utilized it and she

won. I took a gamble and
that's why I'm sitting here.

Cliff, why do you think
you're here? I'm not 100% sure

actually. I'm going with
visually. It's by far not the

most appealing dish I've ever
put out ever in my entire

life. If I had to redo it,
it would have gone the route

of trying to do a sunny
side or an over easy egg.

It looked sloppy, it looked
like it had the least

effort actually I think of
all the dishes we tasted

today. It didn't taste
the worst by any means.

If you could have laid that
on something or just not

like sloughed it on a bowl
with a spoon, it would have

been better. I was
surprised that most of the

dishes, most of all the
dishes didn't have sand in it

except yours did. Why don't
you just stick around?

I'm not done by any
stretch of the imagination

and it was a bad decision
to go with a scrambled egg.

But I'm not done with this
competition. You've got

to be kidding me. There's
no way I'm going home.

All right, we'll call you
right back. Thank you.

Thank you.

I was actually surprised
to see these three up here

because they had been stronger
chefs in the competition

at least, you know, Sam
and Cliff and Frank to a

certain extent. I was really
surprised to see them up here.

Frank, I think he is
capable of a lot better from

what I saw yesterday.

I do think he was put
out by the cooking method

that was available to him.
I think he suffered there

the most. There was a
lot he could have done

to save that dish and
there's no excuse for

burnt charred eggs.

Sam just kept on with,
you know, the challenge

was so hard and difficult,
but he didn't do anything

that, you know, differently
as far as cooking the eggs.

It's too bad because his
flavors are pretty good.

I think he made a few
mistakes when he put that

dish together and it
had very little to do

with the surroundings of the challenge.

I agree with you. About this challenge,

people cooked better, cooked
smarter than ever before.

So it might have been the
most difficult for him,

but that's sort of lame
because clearly it was

the best challenge for
almost everyone else.

It's so funny on the other
hand, he had, I think,

a good idea, but it
just looked so sloppy.

Just a bowl full of mixed up stuff.

It was healthy, it wasn't
greasy, it wasn't oily,

but it kind of struggled
with the presentation.

I think we know who needs to go tonight.

I think we do. Are we in agreement?

Yeah, we're in agreement.

When do we get them back out here?

Let's get them back out.

You were the bottom three in
this elimination challenge,

and one of you is going home.

In my restaurants, we
have a little saying that

dinner service and
part of our business is

very much like riding waves.

You know, you get a few
little waves, easy to ride,

don't get too excited about
it, but it's not so much

how you ride the little ones,
it's how you ride the big ones.

That's what makes you a star.

You constantly have this force
that's going to throw you

and you have to figure out a
way to stay on top of your game,

stay on that board, and do it with style.

And that last little bit, I think,
is why all three of you are here.

You kind of got knocked off your
game, knocked off that board,

and you didn't recover with style.

Frank, you went there with your quiche,

you didn't have an oven, you
tried to make some changes there.

Not so successful, and I think
that maybe you were focused

so much on what that mistake was
and you didn't really recover well.

It just seemed that you
never got your groove there.

Sam, you had this idea
of a toad in a hole,

and you had eggs, you had
peppers, you had your ingredients

there in front of you, and
you could have just decided

to rearrange them and do
something a little differently.

You didn't. You didn't
recover with style.

Cliff, you had all the tools.

I love the fact that you stood up here,

you didn't make excuses at all.

We like the flavors.

I think your eggs were cooked correctly.

But again, I'm not sure if you
were thrown by the challenge,

thrown by the environment,
whatever it was.

I know you could have done better.

I know you could have
recovered with style.

Unfortunately, we had to make a decision.

Frank, please pack your knives and go.

Do you have anything you'd like to say?

Yeah, everybody in this
room and in the pantry

is welcome at my house for good
food, good wine, and good friends.

Thank you so much, Frank.

Appreciate that.

I am the sacrificial lamb.

Sorry.

If you want to base
elimination on today's cooking,

yes, I was the worst of the bunch.

Am I better than people
that are still here?

I'm going to miss you, sir.

I'm sure you are.

I learned a multitude of
things from this experience.

I've learned from my colleagues.

In my mind, be true to yourself,
a true chef as a gentleman,

and she'll remain that way.

Next on Top Chef.

This is the party season.

So it's all about drinking,
eating, and being merry.

The bad news is you are the caterer.

You need to make these decisions.

Cliff thinks that because
he raises his voice,

this is going to make it right.

This is the third time we're
going over the same thing.

We have a slight change of plan.

They're freaking scratching the lobster

to have a voice and have it not be heard.

You know, it's kind of a mood k*ller.

Kiss my a*s.

You are the one who
threw me under the bus.

I'm over this sh*t.

I don't mean to be unkind,
but the table was half empty.

Is there something else
you're trying to say?

You may think it's perfect.

Somebody may not.

For more about the recipes seen tonight,

go to bravotv.com.