08x08 - An Offer They Can't Refuse

[bunniefuu]

I mean, Marcel's got
a lot of training.

I feel bad for him.

It would be all taken
away from him

for one mistake one day.

You were the team leader.

You just let this whole thing
fall apart.

You gave us a dessert that was,
you know, quite frankly,

one of the worst things
I've ever eaten.

Marcel, please pack
your knives and go.

But once he started
pulling cards,

trying to save himself,
I wasn't gonna let that happen.

Mike, I'd be like,
"how long on something?"

And you're like,
"oh, well, I have to do this.

I have to do that."

You want to go there?
I kept my mouth shut.

You did a poor job.

No one wants to say anything
because you're a time b*mb.

I don't think
it would've been as bad

if he wasn't the Captain.

I'm happy Marcel is gone.

It was two days
of being on a team

I did not want to be a part of
and being a part of a leader

who I did not respect.

I said,
"you're plating up desserts

"in the middle
of our entree pickup.

I said, "you want to know
why everything's [bleep] up?"

I said, "that's why
everything's [bleep] up."

Mike is abrasive.
He's annoying.

I've got a list of people
that need to go home,

and he's on top.

Nine Chefs remain

to fight it out
for half a million dollars

in cash and prizes,

the most
in Top Chef history,

and the grand prize--

a feature
in Food & Wine magazine,

a showcase at the annual
Food & Wine classic in Aspen,

$200,000

to pursue
their culinary dreams,

furnished by Buitoni,

and the title
that's eluded them all--

Top Chef.

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

We enter
the Top Chef kitchen.

We see the lovely Padma
and Isaac Mizrahi.

Two of my most passionate things
are definitely food,

first and foremost,
and then fashion.

So I'm pretty excited.

I picturing already him
telling us,

"Chef, you got to make
a great dish,

and then I have to wear it."

Please welcome
famed fashion designer

and the co-host

of The Fashion Show:
Ultimate collection,

Mr. Isaac Mizrahi.

Hello, Chefs.

- Hello.
- Good morning.

It's fashion week
in New York.

I'm showing my jewelry line,

and Isaac is unveiling
his new collection.

This particular collection
I'm about to show

is inspired by my Xerox machine
of all things

and this idea
of how it tricks your eye.

This round of the competition
is all about inspiration.

I think of food
and clothes

as very, very related
subjects.

I start with textiles,
and Chefs usually start

with going to the market.

Just as a runway show
is designed

to attract the buyer,

a plate's presentation
should be designed

to attract the palate.

We are not tasting
your dishes.

We are judging
on aesthetics only.

I have never cooked
this way.

But food is art.

And I think it's important
that a plate should entice you.

The most impressive plate
will win immunity.

Your time starts now.

Behind you.

When I was younger,
I worked for many years

as a model.

And I went to Paris, and I did
runway for a little bit.

And it was that experience
that led me to food.

So I love this challenge.

- Can I grab this cutting board?
- Yes, please.

I know I can do
very good-looking food.

But I like to focus
on flavor

rather than
just presentation.

My inspiration
is a beautiful woman

walking in the rain,
trying to don't get messed up

by the water.

Now, how that is gonna
translate in a plate,

we'll see.

Has anybody
got the saffron?

Presentation of plating
is very important.

I think we all eat
with our eyes.

Once I'm given ingredients,

I enjoy making them be
as beautiful as possible.

Definitely feeling
like orange salmon

is gonna be something good
to incorporate in my dish,

'cause usually plates
are white.

Does anyone
have chocolate out?

I think that the difficulty
of the challenge

is getting your head
wrapped around the fact

that you don't have
to eat it.

And I think a lot of people
are having trouble with that.

- [bleep].
- Have you used it already?

I know Isaac wears black
almost all the time,

so what I want to do
is make some black ice cream.

- Who has pistachio nuts?
- I do.

I'm actually not cooking
anything.

I'm literally
just building a plate

inspired by a book
by Shel Silverstein

called The Giving Tree.

It could definitely be
on the cover of my cookbook.



I don't know who the--
whose onions are in here?

Whose onions
are in the fryer?

Me. You can take it--
I'll come out.

I just actually
bought a picture

for my girlfriend
as a present

for getting her master's.

It's very kind of
street graffiti.

That really kind of inspired me
to make this dish.

Right behind.

My inspiration is about things
that come from nature,

the purity of the earth.

So I take black rye bread,
toast it and grind it

and make it look like soil

and have some edible
little flowers

coming out of it.

I think it's beautiful.

Yes.

I always wanted to be
a food stylist back in the day.

So I think I know how
to make things look pretty.

Jesus help me.

Roberto Cavalli,
he's my favorite designer,

and he does a lot of prints
with crocodiles

so that's
my total inspiration--

crocodile skin.

Wow. I'm sorry, Angelo,
but your dish

looks like a bag of vomit.

I'm sorry.

You have
five minutes left.

[Whistles]

- You gonna serve that?
- Get out of here.

That's why I [bleep] throw
my [bleep] on your table.

You look around,
I mean, Antonia has,

like, a tree
with gravel on a plate,

Tre has, like, different colored
dots on his plate.

It's like he's playing
connect the dots.

Angelo has a bag of salt
with an egg in it,

and he's painting the table.

Pretty weird.

Time's up!
Utensils down.

Hi, Carla.
Hi, Padma.

- Hello.
- Such a pleasure.

How do you do?

- It's actually
a cucumber-beet soup

and a little sandwich
with lattice of cucumber.

I wanted to kind of play
with the different colors.

Beets is the red,
and the green is parsley.

This is actually
smoked salmon.

There's an abstract quality
to this that I appreciate.

"My style is the way
I'm living my life every day."

[Chuckles]

And I think that there's
nothing more beautiful

to see
a very well-dressed woman

trying
to keep herself composed

under a snowing day
or with rain.

The mushroom represent
an umbrella.

The tuna is the lady.

But it's still raining.

So there's no--
it's melting a little bit.

I think I'm having
a nasty trip right here.

Fabio wrote
all over his plate

and came up
with some bull crap.

I just was, like,
"wow, that is ridiculous."

I live
in the lower east side,

so I get to see
a lot of graffiti.

That's avocado.
These are cantaloupe.

This is a beet puree.

There is something
unappetizing

about onion, cantaloupe,
hearts of palm.

Like, ugh, right?
Ugh.

It almost looks
like you just finished cooking,

and the dish
is on the table,

and this
is what you left behind.

Thanks.
I'm a Chef.

I don't care about
a fashion designer's opinion.

It means nothing to me.

Today when I walked in,

when I saw your colors,
I was inspired by that.

So I wanted to kind of go
with the orange tones.

You know, I did
a little carrot puree

with some roasted eggplant
to get the black in there

for your jacket.

Then I have a little egg yolk
with black onion seeds.

It makes me actually want
to eat the raw egg.

I mean, there's nothing
more delicious than a raw egg,

is there, seriously?

Especially when it
doesn't have salmonella.

Sorry.
Thank you, guys.

- Thanks.
- It was pleasure.

I'm calling this
black Sunday.

This is black chocolate
ice cream

that I've made
with some liquid nitrogen

and kind of pulverized it
to look very subterranean.

I just like the color
and the abstraction of it.

It's so sophisticated.

And it would--
I would love to eat that.

Thank you.

I was inspired
by the book The Giving Tree.

My favorite book.

It's very much,
I think, the way I cook.

It's sort of classic,
rustic, thoughtful.

There's something
about the scale of the nuts

to the tree.

The nuts are too big
or something.

I think it's
the most ridiculous comment

I've ever heard
in my entire life.

Fabio made
little tuna people

and then sprinkled
acid lemon rain on them.

Give me a break.

To me, dirt is beautiful,

because there are so many
great things that come from it.

So beautiful.

This is actually
an almond gazpacho

with a little bit of grapes--

some white grapes,
red grapes.

And then I took rye bread
and made the dirt.

The colors of the grapes
are really pretty.

Thank you.
Oh, wow.

What did he write
on the table?

"Crocadile."

Angelo has written
"crocodile" wrong.

[Inhales deeply]

[Sighs]

One of my favorite designers
is Roberto Cavalli.

All right, but...

And I'm totally inspired
by the whole, like--

he uses a lot
of crocodile prints.

So I took the outer skin
of the pineapple.

Made that look like
crocodile skin.

It's a curried, salted egg.

This I take issue with.

I don't care about the writing
on the table.

That goes like
Charles Manson or something.

Thanks.

How do you think
our Chefs did, Isaac?

It was a really fun thing
to look at, I thought.

It was such
a challenging challenge.

Who were
our least favorites?

Dale.
It's a wonderful thought.

But I just didn't think
the colors on the palette

looked very good.

- Who else?
- Tre.

I don't think you did enough
with it.

I think the composition was just
a little too simplistic.

Angelo.

Something about the painting
of the words on the table--

thumbs down.

And now for some good news.

Fabio's plate--it looked
extremely appetizing.

But that wasn't the subject.

The subject was to make it
beautiful on a plate,

and you did.

Carla.
The idea is not so daring.

But just the sheer,
like, handcraft of it--

just sort of like a very plain
little classic dress

that's made so beautifully
that it makes you

want to buy that dress.

The other thing
I liked very much--Richard.

There was something
about the base of black

with all those different
Greens on top.

It was just
incredibly beautiful.

Isaac, who's our winner?

To me, what looked
the most beautiful

and made me kind of want
to say, "oh, give me a spoon,"

was...

Richard's.

- Thank you so much.
- Congratulations, Richard.

You have immunity
from elimination

in the next challenge.

Thank you.

Having immunity
and winning the challenge

is an amazing feeling.

I'd love to be
the most artistic Chef

in the competition,

and this sort of helps
prove that.

[Exhales deeply]

These guys look like
a Godfather movie scene.

It's gonna involve
any chopping of fingers

or digging ditches.

[Chuckles]

For your elimination
challenge, you'll be cooking

in one of New York's
most exclusive restaurants.

Getting a reservation
is virtually impossible.

Tables are not reserved.

They're basically owned

and passed down
from generation to generation.

Angelo, please grab
the Kn*fe block.

We'll start with you.
"Frankie no"?

- "Frankie no."
- "Junior."

We start calling
these, like, Italian names.

I'm an Italian-American.
I grew up in Jersey.

You know, my whole family
coming from New York.

So I'm excited to see
what's going to happen.

- "Junior."
- "Dino."

- "Dino the Chef."
- "Dino the Chef."

- "Frankie no."
- "Junior."

These names
all make me think of Mafia,

gangsters.

It just sounds
like it's going to involve

any chopping of fingers
or, you know, digging ditches.

[Laughs]

Chefs, please welcome
Frankie Pellegrino,

Frankie Junior,
and Dino the Chef.

These guys are walking in,

and they look like
a Godfather movie scene.

I love it.

I know exactly who they are.

Frankie No,
owner of Rao's in New York--

ten table,
Italian food.

Get your g*ns ready.
It's an Italian challenge.

Frankie.

Well, guys,

Rao's is 114 years old...

Still in the same family.

I'm third generation.

My son is fourth generation.

This was a restaurant
that was opened

by my great uncles
from southern Italy.

They taught us how to cook,
how to love, how to eat,

how to live life.

I challenge all of you
to cook an Italian feast

for me and my family.

And let's have some fun
while we do it.

Chefs, these three guys
are the heart and soul

of this legendary
Italian restaurant.

You'll use their history
as inspiration for your dishes.

As you know,
the traditional Italian meal

consists of three courses--

antipasti,
primi, and secondi.

Antipasti means your first
course, your starter.

Primi is your pasta course,

and secondi would be
your meat course.

The Chefs who chose Dino
will prepare antipasti...

Junior, primi...

And Frankie No's group,
secondi.

You will each be judged
individually upon your dish.

I'll see you tomorrow.
Good night, gentlemen.

- Sir.
- Very nice to meet you.

You guys can come over here
a little bit.

You can use dry pastas.

We do that
in the restaurant.

- Yeah.
- Is there risotto also?

Yeah, you can do risotto
as well.

I love making risotto.
I've done it many a time.

I feel like it's one
of these challenges

to just keep it simple.

I remember Sunday mornings
stealing meatballs.

I did the same thing.
[Laughter]

They'd chase me
around the kitchen.

Exactly.

Do you take traditional dishes
and evolve them at all?

We stay very close
to our original menu.

Mike Isabella's kind of like
the bulldog of the group.

He's like
the Jersey Italian guy.

But this is about
who's gonna reign supreme.

Like I said, people do call me
the black Italian.

The philosophy
of the restaurant

is about embracing people,

making them feel comfortable,

as though they were coming
to your own home.

When I first walked in,
doing the menu with Frankie,

learning everything,
the stuff that I grew up with

from my grandparents...

I mean, working there,
it's like going to...

Eat at somebody's house.

Exactly.
Or your grandparents' house.

So do you have mostly
cold dishes

for the antipasti or hot?

We have--most of them
are cold.

The hot that we have,
we do the soups.

I love this challenge.
I'm so excited.

It's what I do.
Italian food is comfort food.

You go to a lot
of restaurants.

They got a lot of stuff
done ahead of time.

By us, everything's done
to order.

That's how
Italian cooking is.

Like, you don't want
to rush it.

It's about people
sitting around, breaking bread.

Kind of making me miss
my parents right now.

In your home, what is
a typical, like, segundo?

- I love meatloaf.
- I love cacciatora.

I love polenta served
in the cheese wheel.

Those are great.

Used to do the polenta
as a contorno.

That's beautiful stuff.

Richie and I are just like,

"could we get into this story
too, please, you know?"

We have no clue
what to do here.

She used
to do her own nduja.

Can I just get
some questions in?

Oh, yeah, please.

What about Aunt Ana?

Can you talk a little bit
about her?

She was a master
at reducing recipes,

taking ingredients
that you didn't need out of it,

keeping it plain and simple

so that you could taste
the food.

Okay. Right.

- Thank you.
- Sir, it's an honor.

It's my pleasure.

Hopefully you enjoy
everything we do.

- Thank you.
- Good luck.

- Thanks.
- Thank you, guys.

We appreciate it.
Thank you so much.

- Good luck.
- Rock and roll.

Let's go, baby.

Grind that for me.

This dish
is gonna impress them,

because polenta and chicken
will bring out the best memory

that they ever had
about food.

- I need help--parsley.
- Produce?

How much is that--
two pounds?

This challenge is important,

because it brings back memories
of my grandmother a lot.

That's when I first
started cooking in the kitchen,

when I was probably
about five, six years old.

And if it wasn't for her,

I probably wouldn't be
where I am right now.

Hopefully I can make her proud
with this challenge.

Thank you.

[Register beeps]

Ah, Fabio.
[Laughs]

No, don't. Don't tell me
we go that way.

Madonna.

You don't have to let
focaccia rise, do you?

- Yeah.
- How long does it take?

Like, 40 minutes.

- I'm an Italian-American.

This is the food
that I've grown up on.

Both my parents
are amazing cooks.

My father's 100% Sicilian.

He would not get over

me not doing well
on this challenge.

Behind. Look out.

Anybody have a scale out?

My dish is pappardelle
with Brussels sprouts

and chanterelles.

Professionally,
I never cooked Italian food.

It's a little
out of my genre.

But I love eating
Italian food,

and I cook it
for my girlfriend.

Anyone have white wine?
I need one cup.

Obviously with Antonia, Fabio,
and myself all being Italian,

it means something for all of us
to do good in this challenge.

I just got a bottle. There's six
bottles right next to the red.

I know I want to show the judges
my pasta technique.

So I'm gonna try to make
a fresh rigatoni

for the first time
on Top Chef.

You can do it tomorrow, Mikey.
You can do it tomorrow.

I hear a lot of buzz
about Mike, Antonia, and Fabio.

They should be the ones
who cook the best.

And I really don't care
where you're from.

I worked
for an Italian restaurant

for five years.

I got this.
I can do this.

- 20 minutes, fellas!
- All righty.

On my season, I came here
and won for my risotto.

Risotto garnish
is just enough.

It's not too sticky.

Tony, please announce
the winner.

Tre, it's you.

This time around, the changes
I'm making to this dish

makes it a little bit more
of a nontraditional risotto.

I'm watching Tre.

And what I've learned
about risotto,

you need to pretty much toast

every single one of those
pieces of rice.

And there does not look
like there is a lot of care

that's being taken.

Five minutes, fab.
Five minutes, guys.

Down to the wire
as always, baby.

Time's running out
on our prep time.

Calamari, tomatoes.

We're heading over
to Rao's.

Being an Italian,
I'm nervous.

I'd rather compete
in a challenge

that I wasn't a favorite at.

I don't like being
the favorite,

because there's a lot more
pressure for you.

Who's on this tray with me?

All right, guys,
let's go!

Lorraine, is it safe to say
if this was your boyfriend

cooking for you,
you'd probably leave him?

He's not getting laid
tonight.

[Laughter]

The dinning room at Rao's
is awesome.

It reminds me of this
old-school Italian restaurant.

They've got a jukebox
full of Frank Sinatra

sitting right there.

Everything very old
and rustic.

It smelled like marinara
in the walls.

Wow. It's small,
but it's nice.

It's small.
Yeah.

We're actually going to cook
in groups.

The first group
is the antipasti.

Antonia and Tiffany
are cooking with me.

I don't want to put
too much pasta

to absorb
all of my goodness.

Making minestrone
for a bunch of Italians

is a little daunting.

But I don't think Italian food
is that different

from comfort food.

And that's what I do.

Girls, it's such a pleasure
working with you.

You work so clean!
Oh, my God!

You build up all this anxiety
to come in here.

And as soon as I start
touching food,

I feel better.
Right.

Yeah, you don't get nervous
again until 15 minutes out.

Right behind.

My dish is a warm
polenta terrine.

I absolutely love polenta.

I thought it would be
a good dish to have with family.

You missed the sausage.

These pans get hot.

I'm making mussels
in white wine.

It's one
of my favorite dishes

whenever I go
into Italian restaurants.

I've cooked mussels
many times in my life.

So I really hope
that the dish tastes

exactly the way
I intended it to.

Dang it.
Gosh darn it.

Ha ha ha.
Oh, my gosh.

Are you kidding me?

My polenta caught fire.

Up in smoke.

I look over.
Something's burning in the oven.

Tiffany is having problems.

Ten minutes, everybody!

Time is just going quickly.

I'm doing a lot
of adjusting.

I'm like,
push, push, push.

- How are you?
- Thank you for having us.

- Good to see you.
- Mwah. Nice to see you.

Hello.
Good to see you.

Anthony.

Lorraine,
good to have you.

- It's the nose. How are you?
- Great.

I need some
psychiatric treatment.

[Laughter]
Shall we?

Feels like family to me.

That's right.

Nobody ever forgets
their first time at Rao's.

We were studying
to do the movie Goodfellas.

And Joe Pesci
asked Ray Liotta and myself

if we wanted to come
to Rao's.

We ate, and we had
the most incredible food.

What did that teach you?
The sort of--

That all Italians
are the same.

That we know.

I just want to say thank you
to all of you

for blessing us
with your presence.

Thank you so much.
Oh, well, thank you.

[All cheering]

Three minutes, guys.

Did somebody take
the black pepper?

Don't forget,
we need the utensils

that they're gonna serve
with too.

I lost my last batch
of polenta,

so it's super important
that this one works out.

[Alarm beeps]

This is one together, okay?

When I walk
in the dining room,

I see Lorraine Bracco.

Oh, my God, love her--
Goodfellas.

One of the best Italian-American
actresses out there.

Very excited.

Hi, Chefs.
I'd like to introduce you

to some additional guests.

To my left.
Hi. I'm Joe.

I'm the manager
of Rao's restaurant

here in New York.

My name is Nicky Vest.

I'm the bartender in Rao's
for the last 36 years.

Hi. I'm Ron Straci,

one of the co-owners
of Rao's New York.

And, of course,
Tony Bourdain,

host of travel channel's
No Reservations.

And I'm sure you all recognize
Lorraine Bracco,

our guest judge
for this elimination.

Hi, ladies.

- Hi.
- Hello.

I made a minestrone.
It's topped with basil oil.

And I also made,
um, focaccia.

I just wanted to give
a big bowl of love.

So I did mussels
in white wine,

little bit of fennel

and toasted ciabatta

with a little bit
of fresh garlic and parsley.

I did
a warm polenta terrine.

It has Italian sausage,
roasted peppers,

and braised kale,

served with a little bit
of tomato mozzarella salad.

Thank you.

- Tom, you're serving?
- I guess so. Why not?

Wow.

Presentation is great.

They got--it's family style.
It's not, you know, fussed with.

It's just, you know,
good-looking food.

I think Carla
tried to walk the line

between old and new.

It seems respectful
of the classics.

I thought it was good.
It's a great soup.

But it's the kind of soup

that, you know,
you could find in Wisconsin.

- Wisconsin?
- Wisconsin.

Haven't you been
to Wisconsin?

They have great soup
like this.

I'm not talking to you
for the rest of the meal.

Tiffany.

Only a non-Italian
would call it Italian sausage.

We would just call it sausage,
just assuming that it's--

it's the only sausage we know.
It's just hot or sweet.

For her to take the sausage
and put it in the polenta

was, for me, a great touch,

'cause that's the way
I like polenta.

Yes, and you notice
there's not one little piece

of polenta left.

In Greek, they say...
[Speaking native language]

And that means
"bless your hands."

Bless Tiffany's hands.
Nice.

That was crazy.

I'm serving
the primi course,

and Mike and Tre
are on the primi team.

The dudes are gonna k*ll it
on this next one.

Behind.

[Machine whirs]

Try to roll it out a little
bit--it might make it faster.

- Four--four here.
- I just need these two.

I'm thinking that I nailed the
flavor profile of my risotto.

I'm actually putting a lot
of emphasis onto the vegetables.

I'm just really focused
on making sure

that each vegetable has
a definite flavor on its own.


getting there.

The fennel is great
in the mussels.

What I like about Antonia's
dish is it's really confident.

The family thing,
she totally got that.

It's all about flavor.
You also taste the fennel.

You taste the parsley.

You still taste
the mussel in it.

Garlic bread is great.

- It's very pungent.
- Mmm. Very tasty.

Nice and intense.

This dish also reminds me
of my grandfather I used

to go fishing with
when I was three years old.

We used to dig clams
and pull mussels and stuff.

And this is how--he would cook
a dish similar to this.

It brings you back,

takes you someplace
very special.

Like, I will continually
freak out over and over again

until this challenge
is over.

When we did Goodfellas,
which Frankie,

by the way, was in,

Catherine Scorsese,
who made all the food--

Marty's mom--

how important
that matriarchal presence is

in all of our lives.

And it's always surrounded
around food.

- Do you see my plates?
- Down here, bro.

I'm doing a rustic
peasant food dish

that I do with my family.

I'm about to start
cooking pasta.

Fresh pasta,
you can't precook it,

or else it'll get hard
and cr*ck early and break.

You have to cook it
last minute.

Wait, how much time?

Four minutes,


I taste the rigatoni,
and it's still not cooked.

[bleep].

We got about
two minutes left.

I'm hoping the pasta will cook
more being in the tomato sauce.

Anyone?
You got sea salt?

It's nerve-racking.
All I could do is wait and see.

[Alarm beeps]

That was [bleep] intense.

My mother's family
from Calabria.

Okay.

My father's family's
from a town called Vallata,

which is just northeast
of Naples.

I've never been south
of Rome.

I've got to get down there.

- How you doing today?
- Good.

I did a calamari dish.

I braised the legs
in a tomato sauce,

and then I made
some fresh rigatoni.

I marinated and sauteed
the heads of the calamari

with some melted
cherry tomatoes.

This is actually inspired
by a dish

that I usually cook
for my girlfriend--

Brussels sprouts and pancetta,
homemade pasta,

and then garnished
with a little bit of pecorino.

I basically did
a risotto

that was laced
with zucchini and squash,

finish it with tomatoes,
fresh basil,

ton of reggiano.

- Enjoy.
- Nick, can I serve you this?

- Yes, you may.
- I love pasta.

- Hey.
- Hey, guys.

- How'd it go?
- Oh, sweaty boys.

Did you bring us
some back?

There appears to be no sauce
to this dish.

Dale just cooked
everything separate,

put it all together,
and then tossed it.

Doesn't come together 'cause it
wasn't cooked together.

Some poor bastard in
the Witness Protection program

is eating this right now.
[Laughter]

Lorraine, is it safe to say
if this was your boyfriend

cooking for you,
you'd probably leave him?

He's not getting laid
tonight.

[Laughter]

Tre was driven to do risotto
from the word go.

And in doing so, I think
he sh*t himself in the foot.

A traditional risotto
is about the rice.

This was not
what it was supposed to be.

Total overkill
with the garnish.

Risotto is a thing
to be featured,

not covered over
like you're hiding a body.

- Yep.
- Right.

So I'm in the secondi group
with Angelo and Fabio,

which is the meat course.

[Pans clattering loudly]

Sorry, guys.

You guys see a deli
of sliced garlic?

Anyone grab a deli
of sliced garlic?

They're closed
properly, right?

Yeah.

And then I put it
on low, right?

Definitely,
Fabio always looks

like he's never
gonna make it.

If you feel like you're running
out of time...

Not low--
medium, medium.

I leave myself the chance
to cook my chicken

in the last half an hour.

So if when I'm gonna open
the pot,

it's not gonna be ready,
I will be in trouble.

Under 20 minutes, guys.


This pasta isn't cooked.

It's not even al dente.
It's just hard to begin with.

I thought Mike's dish

was the least pleasing
of the three.

Rigatoni--
they weren't cooked properly.

And I expressed
to these fellas,

you can use dried pasta,

because if you do
mess that up,

you ruin the whole dish.

How could
three culinary professionals

[bleep] Up the pasta course?

This looks like something
you'd find at a steam table

at your worst enemy's wedding.

The rigatoni
I cooked al dente.

Some was a little bit more.
Some was a little bit less.

Do you mind tasting this?

I definitely need
Fabio's nod of approval.

It's nice
and sweet and sour.

Watch out reducing--
it's getting a little salty.

The food
is so traditional here.

It's a little daunting.

I really want to honor
what their style is,

what they embrace, what flavors
they gravitate towards.

This is not easy.

Guys, eight minutes.

Perfect, man.

Fabio's a magician.
At the last second, he--

whoop, there's a bunny
out of a hat.

The texture's amazing
on the chicken,

and it tastes great.

I'm three.
So slide down.

[Alarm beeps]

- That looks beautiful.
- Right up my alley.

My grandfather used to go hunt
for pheasant,

so I was thinking
about chicken cacciatora.

Red onion, oregano,
garlic, capers,

pecorino with polenta--

it's family memories.

So I did a sauteed pork.

On top is hot cherry peppers
with tomato and pancetta.

I've taken fresh pancetta

and then made it
into a cutlet

with a little bit
of broccolini.

And then I finished it
with a little bit

of calabrian hot pepper
to give it a little zing.

- Buon appetito.
- Things are looking up.

- Yeah.
- [Laughs]

This is how I like
my polenta.

Hey.

Hey, Italian boy.

What do you think
of Angelo's pork?

I thought Angelo's pork
was very tasty.

I think a little bit
too busy.

By the time you get
to the pork chop

you're almost filled
with the garnish.

It's swimming in sauce.

It violates a cardinal rule
of Italian cuisine,

meaning respect
your ingredients.

Keep it simple.

Richard's cutlete was the best
of the three for me.

I actually liked the pork.
I think it's great.

The panko bread crumbs,
they were crispy.

I thought that was great.

One of the things
that's key

to successful
Italian cuisine

is letting the ingredients
speak for themselves.

The ingredients
are the star of the show.

Fabio's chicken cacciatore
with polenta.

I like the fact
that he went old world.

I like that approach.

He went old world
with that dish.

This is a dish
that you would expect to find

in a southern-Italian-style
restaurant.

Fabio's polenta
wiped away the stain

of the previous course.

I feel better
about the world now.

[Laughter]

Let me just say
you have no idea

what a thrill
this is for me.

Anthony Bourdain
and Mr. Colicchio here--

these guys are brilliant.

And my darling
and my dear friend

for many, many years,
Lorraine Bracco.

Thank you.

Cheers and thank you,
everyone.

The rigatoni was al dente,

so I'm hoping it wasn't
too al dente for them.

- Mike, he's, like,
the self-proclaimed Italian

from New Jersey
who's been talking

about this squid bolognaise.

And when it fell short,
I was kind of like...

[Winces]
"Sorry, Mikey.

Not so good
for the Italians in Jersey."

Okay, guys.
Let's go.

You think mine
didn't sound like antipasto?

It didn't sound
like an antipasti to me.

It just wasn't good.

What's up, monkeys?
You guys hungry?

I'm giving
Top Chef university lessons.

I'm teaching the Chefs
in the house

on how to make
the perfect gnocchi.

- What makes a good gnocchi?
- Key to the gnocchi

is you want as much
potato flavor as possible.

It's a Top Chef university
lesson.

And what better way to learn
how to make gnocchi

from a Jersey Italian guy?

Parm inside the gnocchi.
Parm inside the gnocchi.

- Oh, that's cool.
- So it's nice and cheesy.

Usually I have my little,
like, gnocchi...

- Board?
- Board.

Mike, you've actually
taught me something.

Don't let it get to your head.
Looks pretty good.

Antonia might think she knows
how to make a good one.

Definitely not as good as mine.

[Antonia laughing]

What do you consider
a classic antipasto?

Like, me growing up,
it was, like,

charcuterie and--

- that's what I think of.

Cheese...

You think mine didn't sound
like antipasto?

I didn't sound
like an antipasto to me.

This road has been
a lot of ups and down.

It's been very emotional.

I'm so close.

I really want to push through.

- Good evening.
- Good evening.

We'd like to see Antonia,

Carla, Fabio,

and Tiffany.

Thank you.

[Sighs]
[bleep], now my heart's racing.

I really can't see us
being in the bottom.

One of them
had steamed mussels.

And one of them had their
terrine made and had a salad.

And one of them had
a soup made.

Yeah, so it's just like,

how much work do you have
to really do in the kitchen?

Did they ever call bottom in
twice in a row on your season?

- It's All-Stars, man.

They're gonna do
whatever they want.

[Suspenseful music]

¶ ¶

Chefs, you had the top dishes
of the evening.

Oh.

Congratulations
to all of you.

Whoa. That was a rough one
after last week.

I'm sorry.
Hmm.

Why are you so emotional?

'Cause it's been
a little up and down,

but I'm here,
so that's good.

I loved it.

I mean, I thought
it was absolutely wonderful.

And anything
with sausage and polenta

is a great dish for me.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Antonia...

I just like the fact

that you knew enough to leave
a good thing alone.

It's like, there's mussels.
There's fennel. There's garlic.

There's broth. There's
good bread, and that's it.

Right. Well, that's
what Italian cooking is.

- That's what you gave us.
- Thank you.

Carla...

- I adored it.
- Thank you.

I'm a big soup girl,

but what really pushed me
over the edge

was that the parmesan
was in the soup.

I just loved it.
Thank you so much.

Fabio...

- The chicken--
it was nicely cooked.

It was, you know, falling
off the bone, but not mushy.

It was really great.
Thank you.

I was in a very dark place
after the previous course,

and your polenta single-handedly
pulled me back to the light.

Good job.

It's an honor.

Lorraine,
please do the honors

of announcing
tonight's winner.

- So it was about family--

what you would serve
your loved ones.

Today the challenge

goes to...

Antonia.

Yay.

Thank you very much.

I'm very proud, very excited.

You know, an Italian needed
to take home the trophy--

just saying.

- Bravo.
- Grazie.

My father will be standing
and applauding and saying,

"that's my girl."

Damn. Really?

I should've won this.

I made
the most traditional dish.

Antonia b*at me with a bowl
of steamed mussel with fennel.

It's a French dish.

So there is something wrong
in this picture.

Now we need you to send back
all of the Chefs

from the pasta course.

I won.

[Applause]

Thank you.
[Laughs]

Really surprised
at Antonia winning.

You're all shocked.

She did just do
steamed mussels.

I think it's really easy.

- They want to see everyone
from the second course--

Mike, Dale, and Tre.

Good luck, guys.

Thanks.
[Chuckles]

[Suspenseful music]

¶ ¶

you had our least favorite
dishes of the night.

Mike...
It was an honoring experience.

I was really excited
and nervous all at once.

It's hard for me to say,
"I know I gave you bad pasta."

I can't make an excuse for it.

It was totally wrong.
It wasn't right.

I knew it when I served it.

You're not surprised
to be here.

No, I knew the pasta
was undercooked.

I mean, we all tasted it.
I was just like...[Sighs]

It's hard for me to talk.
I just feel like crap.

The pasta, as you realized,
was tough.

As a result, it was
improperly sauced as well.

Use some pasta out of the box,
you wouldn't be standing here.

I thought about it.
[Chuckles]

I knew I had high standards
to go against.

And when I pushed it out,

you know, I tasted it,
I was like...

I actually
didn't mind the sauce.

I thought
that you had a lot of eggs,

'cause your pasta
was really yellow.

It had so much egg in it.

You could've cooked it
for 15 minutes.

I don't know
if it would've cooked.

It just wasn't good, Mike.
I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Dale...

I think that the pasta
might've been undercooked.

It ate like
it was falling apart.

It didn't have a tooth to it.

It was kind of crumbling
in your mouth.

The other problem
I had with the dish

is that there wasn't really
enough sauce.

I'm starting to play this back
in my head right now.

And after ten minutes
of setting up,

I felt rushed
to try and pull it together,

and...

Pasta needs to go
in that sauce

and needs to be cooked a little
more with the sauce together,

and then you have
a pasta dish.

It was really bland.

I mean, these are
my favorite ingredients in life.

I mean, I don't know how you
could make pancetta bland,

but it was.

Tre...

I thought the risotto
was cooked texturally properly.

As I kind of step back and
started telling you my story--

that maybe the veg that was
on top was a little large.

If you say the rice
wasn't cooked right...

I will.

Risotto should not be firm.

If you take it out of the bowl
and put it on a plate,

it should spread.

It should just completely spread
on the plate.

I've been trained to make it
a little stiffer.

It's not risotto.

Honestly, I thought that if
I chose a dish that was flatter

that the risotto
may have laid out flatter.

But when we spooned
that risotto onto our plates,

which were flat,
it should spread out.

Understood.

You know, risotto's just not
supposed to sit up like that.

It's supposed to be a creamy,
rice-driven experience.

And I think you buried it
in garnish,

which blew away the flavor.

It blew away the texture.

Your garnishes were too much,

too large,
and too overpowering.

Thank you, Chefs.

Please return to the stew room.

What's going on, guys?

I'm probably gonna go.

How was the sauce?
How was everything?

They liked it,
but the rigatoni

ruined the whole dish
for them.

I didn't make my risotto
creamy enough.

It was too stiff.
I cut my veg too big.

[bleep]!

This is the hard thing
about Italian food.

It's simple.
It doesn't need to be showy.

And a lot of people

who go looking for showy food
are disappointed.

But when it's good
and it's simple, it's delicious.

Let's talk
about Tre's risotto.

You could tell
the first time he heard

that risotto
should be much looser

was when you said it, Tom.

I see it every time
a cook comes in the kitchen

and they work
the start station,

you tell them
to make risotto,

they make the first one,
and it's like,

you look at it
and go, "no. Looser."

I can only believe that Tre
has never eaten good risotto.

Too many ingredients,
too many flavors.

Especially with risotto,
of all things,

a light touch is needed.
Right.

It's all about the rice, and
I just had to agree with them.

I have been trained to make
my risotto a little stiffer.

Dale's dish, too,
had so much potential to me.

It was a very bland dish,
and God knows

what he was thinking
about that pasta.

And did he taste that?

I think when people say
they don't care for pasta,

it's because that's the kind
of pasta they eat.

And it needed cream,
ricotta...

- Sauce, you know.
- Something.

You know, I'm not happy
with just being the ninth guy.

You know,
I want to be the best.

To his credit,
Mike understood the challenge.

He understood
who he was cooking for.

He failed to execute.

When you make something
like rigatoni,

it takes longer to cook,
and it's something

that he needed to test
and think about.

True.

I don't want to be
at the bottom.

Deep down inside,
I thought I was,

but on my outer shell,
I was like, "nah, I'm not."

So I think we have
our answer.

- Sure.
- Yes.

Yes, we do.

[Sighs deeply]

Well, Chefs,
tonight's challenge

was to go to Rao's,

one of the most
difficult restaurants

to get into
in the country,

and the three of you
should have really hit this

out of the park.

Michael,
pasta's about pasta,

and unfortunately, that was
the worst part of your dish.

The sauce was fine, but it's
not gonna cover up the fact

that the pasta
was not even al dente.

Tre, no matter
how good that garnish is,

it's not gonna cover up
the fact

that the rice
was poorly cooked.

Dale, pasta was just dry,

not cooked,
not well made.

This is a tough one
because you're all great Chefs,

but, unfortunately, we're gonna
have to say no to one of you.

Tre, please pack
your knives and go.

Okay.

- I'm sorry, Tre.
- It's all good. Thank you.

Leaving Top Chef
the second time,

it's bittersweet.

Man.
Sorry, brother.

It's all good.

It sucks.

I know a lot of my cooks
and sous Chefs

would think that risotto
is the last thing

that I would drop
the ball on,

but if I'm serving risotto
onto their dish,

then it's gonna spread.

At least I go home
with 25 gs.

Oh!

I think I kept
my composure,

and I think
I represented my family.

See you in Dallas.

I'm just happy I came here
with an open mind

to know that even if
I didn't win this competition,

I would win
a lot of knowledge,

and I'd win a lot
of new friends

and go home a better Chef.

- Next
on Top Chef All-Stars...

And I'm turning around.
Wait.

That's Jimmy Fallon there.
I love it!

sh**t!

Fire!

[Cheers and laughter]

Watching Carla
is like watching

a chicken with her head cut off
at this point.

Aah! Aah!
I need a bowl!

Well, I love Mike's sausage.
[Laughter]

♪ Beef tongue, beef tongue,
beef tongue, beef tongue ♪

♪ beef tongue, beef tongue,
beef tongue ♪

make this your ringtone.