07x02 - Outside the Lunch Box

[bunniefuu]

Previously on top chef...

Welcome to Washington, D.C.

I think it would be awesome

to be the first African American
to win this bad boy.

This is
a high-stakes quickfire.

The winner
will receive $20,000.

Check.

Check.

Damn.
Kenny, he's fast.

Yeah!

I wanted everyone to be like,

"wow, this guy
is truly the Alpha male."

- You have 20 minutes.
- It's all good.

The winner of our first
quickfire is Angelo.

Whoever is gonna
go against me,

there's gonna be blood
on the stage.

I want to give the judges
a piece of who I am.

I'm a strong enough chef
to b*at everybody.

The winner tonight
is Angelo.

I win.

John, please pack your knives
and go.

This season,
one outstanding competitor

will take the title of top chef
and the grand prize...

A feature in Food & Wine
magazine,

and a showcase at the
food & wine classic in Aspen.

$125,000 to help turn
their culinary dreams

into reality,

furnished by Dial Nutriskin.

Top chef season 7:
Hail to the Chef.

Oh, hell, yeah.

I like that.

I was waiting for you, man.

So John gets sent home.

I kind of felt bad,

because I know that he had
high hopes for himself,

but I'm here to win,
so it's like, it is what it is.

So you don't like any butter,
do you, in your stuff?

No, no, I like to keep it
really low-fat.

I have to.
I have a disease.

Any disease
that allows you to eat

that much butter is awesome,
and how can I get it?

I know that Angelo
has an edge up

because he's won two challenges
in a row at this point,

but I think I can b*at Angelo.

I think I can b*at anybody here.

Everybody, let's go.

All right.

Good morning, chefs.

Morning.

Please welcome
assistant white house chef

and food initiative coordinator
Mr. Sam Kass.

- Morning.
- Welcome.

Good morning.

Sam Kass
from the white house,

he's a pretty important person,

you know, feeding the president
of the United States.

A successful government
is bipartisan,

so you'll be competing

in a top chef
biparti-sandwich quickfire.

You and your teammate
will have 30 minutes

to create a delicious sandwich.

It's ridiculously easy

to make one sandwich
in 30 minutes

between two people?

You guys will be paired in
eight teams of two people each,

and that will be determined
by a Kn*fe pull,

and the winning team
will get immunity.

In my opinion,

it's irrelevant
who gets immunity.

I feel pretty confident
doing what I do,

so I'm looking at, like,
you know,

chopping each one off
week after week.

Please draw knives
to find out who your partner is.

Two.

One.

Three.

- Six.
- Seven.

Seven.

I guess you know
who you're working with.

It would be
extremely embarrassing

to lose this quickfire,

because I have a sandwich shop
in New York City.

Five.

In fact, I think I would
have to close the shop down.

- Eight.
- Number one.

- Eight.
- Number three.

Number six.

Two.

- Four.
- Five.

Number four.

And before you start,
there's one more thing.

Why wouldn't there be?

I knew there was
some kind of Twist,

because 30 minutes seemed
like a long time,

and Padma's like,
"oh, by the way..."

You'll be competing
in these aprons.

Oh, no.

.

Oh, my God.

This is genius.

Who got high and came up
with this idea?

This means you can only use
one hand each.

I suggest you leave your egos
at the door,

forget about taking credit,
and just get to work.

Come grab your aprons,

and your time starts now.

I think we should do
one or the other.

At this point, I really
don't know too much about ed

other than the fact
that he's left-handed,

and I'm actually right-handed.

We're just gonna go from there.

All right,
what do you want to do?

No, that's like--
that's a--

this one looks sexy.

So I'm partnered up
with Angelo,

who not only owns
a sandwich shop,

but he's won
both the challenges so far.

We have a whisk.
We have a spatula.

We got a whisk
and a spatula.

I've had
this secret crush on him.

All of a sudden,
I get to have

my arm around him
for 30 minutes.

It couldn't be better.

I am with Tamesha,
and she says,

"I'm gonna be on the right."

And I'm just like, "you don't
want to Rochambeau for it?"

Basically, I don't think
I can trust her holding a Kn*fe

and I holding the bread.

- I need you to hold it.
- Yeah.

You need to calm down.
If you--

I'm not going to cut you,
dude.

My partner is Alex.

The big challenge is,

he's afraid that I'm gonna
hack his hand off.

Whoa, whoa.
That's not gonna work for me.

I need my hands.
Let's just make slices.

Every time I grab the Kn*fe,
he's like,

"Tim, Tim, don't cut me, please.
Please, don't cut me."

I'm like,
"I'm not gonna cut you."

Go slow.
Okay, slow down, please.

At least not--not yet.

Got the oil.

And we got tomato.
We got lettuce.

We're talking BLT.

Yeah, like chicken club.

All right,
there we go.

I get Jacqueline.

So we decided
on the chicken breast,

white bread, bacon mixed in
with the balsamic onion.

I'm thinking, taste-wise,

we have a pretty good chance
of winding up in the top.



Arnold and I look around,
and it is just mayhem.

Peel them quick,

and then we're gonna
add the wine vinegar.

Excuse me.

Everybody's just panicked

and using their mouth
to open jars

and their knives
to open other things.

- You got it.
- This is really awkward.

It's very weird.
I trust you, though, honey.

It's like, if anything,
you'll give me a manicure.

Arnold and I are making

a spicy-marinated
grilled chicken breast...

And then we will slice this
before it goes in, right?

Topped with a cucumber raita.

Lime.

Ed and I are making

a Korean chili-marinated
grilled tuna,

and we have
a mango and cucumber slaw,

so at this point,

I feel very strongly
that it's a winning sandwich.

More--more sugar.

The idea is to do
an Asian-style fish sandwich

with this beautiful
Japanese sauce.

I like to call it
liquid love.

It's a little sex
on a plate, baby.

- How we looking?
- Let me look.

It's a little thick.
Let me tighten it down.

I'm with Lynne.

She immediately says,
"veal saltimbocca."

Heavy on the seasoning
and keep the method simple.

I'm thinking, "yeah, baby,
I got this one in the bag."

I think you should try
cracking eggs

with your right hand.

You guys
have five minutes left.

- We gonna make it?
- I hope so.

There we go.

Jesus Christ.
Twist this off.

Come on!

Sorry.

Let's go.




Just kind of put it
underneath the bread.

Okay.
Three, two...

Time's up!

Hands up,
utensils down.

Hello.
Hello.

How was this challenge?

- She's like my twin sister.
- Yeah.

But not identical,
obviously.

What is this?

This is a flounder.

We marinated it
in a little fish sauce,

little spiced
sriracha mayonnaise,

and just, like, a beautiful,
herbaceous salad.

That's tasty.

What did you guys
make today?

Kind of have a Philly Cuban,
if you will.

We roasted the pork,
a little pickle,

whole grain mustard sauce,

and a little bit
of gruyere cheese.

I like that pickle in there.

Thank you.

- Hello, ladies.
- Hello.

We just have
a grilled sandwich

with sliced prosciutto...

- Swiss cheese.
- Swiss cheese.

A little bit
of Dijon mustard.

And a pepper salsa.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

How did you find
working together?

It was challenging.

Well, we both
do classic French cuisine,

so this is our interpretation
of a croque madame.

So there is some ground lamb,
a little mornay,

and a little egg.

Right here, we have
the American-Italian connection.

We have Saba vinegar onions

with the California avocado
and chicken.

I would love to win
the second quickfire challenge

just to be immune
for a moment to breathe.

What did you make for us?

Today we did
a Korean chili-rubbed ahi tuna.

We did
a cucumber and mango slaw,

open-faced
on a multigrain bread.

I like the little Spice
you got in there with the chili.

What do we got here?

This is our play
on South Asian street food.

So we did a curry-rubbed
grilled chicken

with a bit of honey
and Indonesian sambal.

Pretty tasty.

We did a flatbread
saltimbocca sandwich.

It's a little hard to eat
picking it up.

It's more of a Kn*fe and fork
kind of sandwich.

How did our chefs do?

I think we see
how difficult it is

to form consensus
and work in a cooperative way.

Who had
the most difficulty?

Stephen and Jacqueline,

I thought it lacked
a little bit of creativity

and then just plain white bread.

Lynne and Tiffany
had the saltimbocca that--

it wasn't great texture.

Whose sandwich
was on the top?

Well, I liked Tracey
and Angelo's sandwich a lot.

I thought it was really bright
and lively.

The herbs really brought a lot
of vibrancy to the sandwich,

and the heat of the sriracha
was just really lovely.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

I also really liked
Kenny and Ed's sandwich.

I loved the Asian slaw.
It had a lot of flavor.

The tuna
was beautifully seared.

Who had the most successful
biparti-sandwich?

Hei'm gonna have to go with...

I was thinking
about doing gnocchi.

If you Up gnocchi
in front of them...

I would not
Up the gnocchi.

It's not going
to look that great.

"Take one for the team"
is not in my vocabulary.

Who had the most successful
biparti-sandwich?

I'm gonna have to go
with Tracey and Angelo.

It was absolutely delicious.
I'd eat that every day.

Angelo and Tracey,

you now have immunity in
the next elimination challenge.

I've won two quickfires
and an elimination challenge,

so once again,
I feel the eyes on me.

At this point,
I'm little heated.

I'm a little hot.

I'm like, "man, what more
do I need to do?"

You can just feel the love
over there, dude, can't you?

I know.

Angelo has been winning the
challenges every single time.

It's like, "come on. Freak.

Everything he touches
is that good, honestly?"

For your elimination
challenge,

you're going
to be taking on a cause

that's very important
to the president,

the first lady,
and to Sam.

The first lady launched
her campaign let's move

to end the childhood obesity
epidemic within a generation.

What we're trying to do

is to bring together chefs
to play their part in this.

So we are looking
to do a school lunch.

Our school lunches
were horrible.

We didn't eat it.

It's gonna be a little tough.

You'll be feeding students

using the same
restrictive budget

that our public schools have:
$2.68 per child.

That's $134
for all 50 kids.

Of that $134,
I'm gonna take $4 away,

because for the $2.68 that
schools have to serve lunch,

that includes labor and supplies

and anything it takes
to get that food to the plate.

So $4 is actually a real gift.

I don't think the feeding
of 50 is a challenge.

It's the budget.

When I go out,
I spend $130 on myself.

What does a meal for a child
consist of in our schools?

A main course,
a couple side dishes,

certainly a vegetable
and a fruit,

and most often dessert.

But you must make it delicious,

because kids will not eat food
that does not taste good,

and they will
tell you about it as well.

You'll work
in teams of four

to create a menu
for 50 children each

at the Alice deal middle school.

Every chef on the team
is responsible

for one item on the menu,

but each of you will be judged
on your individual performance.

Angelo and Tracey,
as the winners of the quickfire,

you get to pick which other pair
of chefs will be on your team.

We're gonna go
with Kenny and ed.

I feel that Angelo sees me
as his biggest thr*at,

and if for whatever reason
we're on the bottom,

he knows that instead of, like,
a 25% Chan of me going home

it's a 50% chance,

because Angelo and Tracey
have immunity.

It is strategy,
yeah, major.

Remaining chefs,
you now have to decide

who you're going to cook with.

You guys?
Yeah, that sounds good.

I got kids.
I can help out.

Andrea and I,
we both have children.

Tim has a child,
so we kind of know

what children want
and what they're looking for.

So you have 30 minutes
to plan today

before shopping
at restaurant depot.

Later today,
you'll have 2 1/2 hours

to prep and cook here
in the top chef kitchen.

And tomorrow
you'll have one hour

to heat up your meals
at the school

before the lunch bell rings.

And you can take off
your aprons.

Your menu plan time
starts now.

I know every kid likes
chicken nuggets and burgers

and hot dogs
and stuff like that,

because that's what they like.

And if we take
what they're eating now

and make it healthy,
I think it'll work.

- Let's do a burger.
- Okay.

So wait, this is obviously
the main course.

The food at school
growing up was garbage.

You know,
none of it was healthy.

But my burger is gonna be
a healthy burger.

The vegetable...

Kids love peanut butter
and celery.

But what is healthy about it?

The celery with peanut butter,
I mean, that's a vegetable.

I think that we do
chicken thighs,

and we braise them,

braise it in Sherry
and the chicken broth.

I was thinking
about doing gnocchi.

If you Up gnocchi
in front of them,

they're gonna slam you
for Up the gnocchi,

I would not
Up the gnocchi.

It's not gonna look
that great.

People like Amanda
I try to stay away from,

and I'll keep peace that way.

If you clash with me,
then you're done.

- I want to do the chicken.
- You got it.

I'll do dessert.

I would do
a chocolate banana pudding.

I could make a dessert,
but I don't want to,

because people
who make desserts go home.

If I can pass that b*llet along
to someone else,

I'll do it.

"Take one for the team"
is not in my vocabulary.

So it's actually
surprisingly low-sugar.

They think it's junky, but it's
actually really healthy.

Yeah, you know,
tasty pudding is good.

I feel really confident
about this challenge

because I love feeding kids.

My parents went through
a pretty nasty divorce

when I was in High School.

After that, I sort of
took over as the mom

for my youngest sister,
keeping her out of Foster care.

What's our main dish?

I'm thinking of trying to do
something with Mac and cheese.

Mac and cheese would be good.

Mac and cheese,
something like with coleslaw.

I'd like
to take on dessert.

I'd like to do something
with melon.

Tacos, I think kids
Love tacos.

And we can make them
super healthy, like roast pork.

- What kind of tacos is this?
- Gonna be a soft taco.

I could use feta.
That's all low-fat.

A lot of kids
are not on feta.

I'm not so happy
to work with Kelly,

because Kelly's
trying to take control.

So we are going to do
pork carnita tacos,

some pickled onions.

Do you think onions
are weird for children?

No, trust me.
They'll love them.

That's just my two cents.

My teammates
are a little panicked,

but I feel confident
that I can lead this group.

I think that we need
to be in agreement, all of us.

I'm not going home
for somebody else.

If I go home, I'm going
because I messed up.

I started off in the middle.
Now I'm at the bottom.

What the heck?
I'm not going home.

Chocolate...

To feed 50 children
a four-course lunch,

we have $130 total.

Cornstarch.

I haven't seen any alcohol.

- Do you have alcohol?
- Liquor?

Yeah, like Sherry
for cooking.

My plan is to do braised chicken
thigh with a Sherry jus,

and we don't really know how far
that $130 is gonna go.



- This is the same price.
- I'll just use that.

Everything we got to get
is, like, a lot.

It's 10 bucks, though.

Let me go look
at cheaper pasta.

Finding everything you need?

Most of my competitors are
very concerned about the budget,

but this is where

you sort of have to think
outside of the box.

It's doable.

It happens every day
in every public school.

Ten minutes!

Hey, guys, do you want to get
a subtotal and check out?

- Where are we at?
- Oh.

Bad, we need to do
some cutting back.

It kind of looks like
Jacqueline thought

the $130
was an individual budget.

We can't afford chocolate.

- Let's take this out.
- Nix the broccoli.

Is there anything you guys
can take off?

All I have for my dessert
is bananas and milk.

- What two vinegars do we have?
- No, one of them is Sherry.

What are we taking off?
We need to get rid of $100.

Can we do yam and ice cream,
with yams?

Take off the plantains, please.

What about the sugar?
We don't need sugar?

We are having to compromise
our food right now

because of budget,
which is probably what happens

on a regular basis
for school lunches.

Do we want to look
for a different chicken?

We don't have time.

This is actually my idea.

I really have an issue of you
having claimed stuff today

when we did everything together
as a group.

I totally agree.

We head back to the top chef
kitchen at the Hilton,

and we're working in teams

to prepare a meal
to feed 50 kids.

Oh, we got twins.
That's lucky.

- This is all we can use, right?
- Yup.

Check it out first.
Check your dough.

Tortilla's too thick, and I
think she has too much oatmeal.

Get a pasta machine
and cut it into squares.

Arnold is doing, like,
a roasted corn and tomato salsa.

Lynne is doing the black Bean
with sweet potato.

And I'm doing
caramelized sweet potatoes

with abuelita chocolate.

Kelly is doing
the pork carnitas.

What did you guys do?

I am making
some whole grain tortillas

because I'm making
some carnitas tacos.

There's gonna be a little salad
on top.

- Cool.
- This is actually my idea.

Kevin, Tim, and myself,

I think we had a good grip
on what kids like to eat.

I'm gonna check on this cabbage.

Alex and I are working coleslaw
and chicken.

Kevin's got the dessert.

Tim's got the Mac and cheese.

We all are very clear
on our jobs.

You don't think
this is too long?

- No, I think this is great.
- Okay, fine.

I don't know how to tell you
to fix it, but it's not right.

We're working in harmony
during the whole prep time.

We're tasting each other's food.

We're clicking
on all eight cylinders.

Angelo is preparing
a piece of celery

with peanut butter mousse,

ed is making
a sweet potato puree,

Tracey is doing
a chicken burger,

and then I have
an apple bread pudding.

I'm not really feeling
all the dishes.

It just doesn't seem
like it's gonna be

as nutritious
as it should be.

My mood while I'm cooking
is stressed.

I'm making
a sherry-braised chicken thigh,

Steve is making a rice pilaf,

Tamesha is making
a green Bean salad,

and Jacqueline is making
strawberry and banana pudding.

Hot, very hot.

The bananas,
despite the fact

that I've been cooking them
for 20 minutes,

they taste like white bread.

They're very starchy.

I decided to add more sugar,

and that will
hopefully break down the starch.

That's why I told you
to use some tomato paste.

I don't want to use
tomato paste, but thank you.

Amanda's using
Sherry cooking wine.

Essentially, I didn't think

it was a wise choice
when cooking for kids.

And I'm like, "if I get in
the bottom four because of you,

I'm gonna kick your ass."

Coming through.

Five minutes.

I am responsible
for the carnitas.

So then yours, do you
have everything for yours?

I think it's
everybody's effort, so...

We are a team.

Kelly's talking
about our challenge,

and everything that she says is,
"I, I, I, I, I, I,

I, I, I, I, I."

And I'm like, "okay, well,
we worked as a group

for the greater goal, and
there was no 'I' involved."

All right.
Everybody, let's go.

Whew.

Wow.

This is a different
kind of challenge.

I feel like it's important,
especially...

You know,
I have a kid at home.

Right now, we're focusing
on this unhealthy eating.

I mean, crap, sometimes
she has hot dogs for breakfast.

I've been raising
my girlfriend's daughter

for 3 1/2 years.

I'm ashamed to say that we eat
fast food probably once a week.

I need to work harder
at setting an example,

and this is a great challenge.

You have to miss her
so much.

Yeah, I can't wait to go home
and see her.

I mean, ugh, it's awful.

I mean, if I were
to talk about her at length,

then I would start to cry.

Kids are so much more important
to me

now that I have one
in my life.

I looked over,
and I was like,

"get a pasta maker.
Have cookie cutters. Do it."

We decided;
I didn't decide that.

If I'm gonna go home,
I'm gonna go home for my ideas,

not for yours or yours.

You know what I mean?
Let's come over here.

A few things bothered me

from working in the kitchen
with Kelly today,

and I wouldn't
feel good about myself

if I didn't say something
to her.

I really have an issue of you
having claimed stuff today

when we did everything together
as a group.

I totally agree.

But everything
that I would hear

out of your mouth was,
"I, I, I, I, I."

You would use the word,
"I, I, I."

"This is my idea."
You said, "this is my idea."

I didn't make everything,
but I troubleshooted.

Like, "okay, that press
isn't gonna work.

Use a pasta machine."

I'm flabbergasted
that he came at me with this.

He feels like I have taken
too much credit,

but each one of us have to stand
up and defend a single dish.

I would never...

But I feel, also,

that I got my Done
really, really fast

to help the entire team
get everything else done.

You did.

So now judges
are gonna be, like,

"oh, my God,
Arnold made a salsa. Awesome."

We arrive
at Alice Deal Middle School.

It brings back tons of memories
of when we were in school.

It's important to me
to win this challenge.

I work with
my local elementary school

on a program very similar
to let's move.

And I really want to knock
Angelo off his winning streak.

It was two plus one Mayo.

I'm gonna need a backup,
most likely.

I'm gonna reheat with the skin
and then take it off.

Are we good?

Kitchen there
is not a lot of space at all.

I guess I just thought
it would be larger.




You want me
to chop cilantro?

So I go
to put my peanut butter

into the foam g*n,
and the valve is broken.

All I hear is, "shh..."

And there's no peanut butter
that comes out.

It's just air.

I know Kevin has another
whipped cream g*n.

Hey, Kevin?

Do you have a top
that I could use?

Come on, Ba, I only
have three of them.

Angelo's team wants to use
one of our foam g*ns.

- No.
- Got it.

Angelo and Kenny,

they're definitely the team
to b*at at this point.

I'm on a mission to break
Starsky and Hutch over there.

This is broken.

Oh, is it?

Angelo is
very attentively working

on his peanut butter mousse,
but he's not helping the team.

You know,
this is a challenge

that's kind of near and dear
to my heart.

My mom ran a school lunch
program for 20 years,

and I know how difficult it is
to make a nutritious meal

given the limited resources
that schools have.

Hey, chefs.
How are you?

So what are you making?
You got some skewers here?

Compressed melon skewers
served with a yogurt foam.

A yogurt foam, okay,
you probably don't see

a lot of that
in school lunch, huh?

No, no, no.

I think it's smart,
because kids,

sometimes they don't
like yogurt,

but they love whipped cream.

I think they'll eat it

without even realizing
they're eating yogurt,

so it could work out
really well.

Hey, Jacqueline.
Hello, chef.

What are you making?

I was gonna make
chocolate pudding,

but we couldn't afford cocoa
or chocolate or eggs,

so I'm making banana pudding.

Did you have it when you went
through the checkout line?

Yeah, but we just realized
that, you know,

there was about 10 bucks left
in the budget.

But that kind of
handicaps you, doesn't it?

It does, so I'm a little
worried about that.

But it has really good
banana flavor.

It's not too sweet.

I'll let you get back to work.
Good luck.

Jacqueline chose dessert.

She's working
on a banana pudding

with strawberries
and strawberry sauce.

It sounds good.

Hey, chefs.
Hey, chef.

So what are you working on?
What are you making?

It's taco day today
at the school.

Our tortillas,
we made with oatmeal.

It's carnitas.

I'm ultimately responsible
for the carnitas.

Okay.

We all really
helped each other a lot.

I tried to get my stuff done
really, really fast

just to be there for the entire
team to troubleshoot wherever.

I actually don't like
when they say, "we all did it."

That's why they're forced

to take responsibility
for one thing.

If someone's
completely on their own

and it's a failure of a dish,
they have nowhere to hide.

How's it going?
Good, good.

- You okay?
- Great.

Tracey and Angelo
have immunity here, right?

Yes.

So if this team loses,

there's a 50% chance
you're going home.

Those aren't good odds.

Everybody else has a 25% chance
of going home if they lose.

- Yes.
- You realize that? Okay.

Okay, chefs,
you got about 15 minutes left.

A little tasty.

Amanda chooses to put
Sherry wine into her dish.

And alcohol,
it's inappropriate for kids.

And I think
the name of the dish,

we could change it
for the judges.

Ten minutes!

I'm thinking that I have
to lighten this up.

I added a little bit of salt.
I added more skim milk.

Then I just put it
in a piping bag.

I'm actually very confident
and comfortable,

because I turned a rock
into a wheel.

I personally think
that needs a little salt.

I agree, but I tasted
the other components,

and I think it works
all together.

There's a little tension
floating around with Arnold.

And this is not the time
to do that.

This is the time to dig deep
and come together as a team.

We got one minute.

All of a sudden,

these kids just start running
into the cafeteria

like a stable pen that opens up,
and everyone's just running out.

You got to control the herd.

You can't let the herd
control you.

You hungry today?

Chocolate milk, please.

We decided to go
with kind of a picnic theme.

We kind of took some steps
to make this meal more healthy.

How did you do that
with the coleslaw?

Because it looks like
it still has mayonnaise in it.

It has a little bit
of mayonnaise,

but it has a lot more yogurt.

And the barbecue sauce
on the chicken

has apple cider
instead of sugar.

On the chicken,
we took all the skin off

so it's nice and healthy.

We grilled it,
and then we roasted it.

And what's the crust here
on your Mac and cheese?

It's a whole wheat crust
that we did

with skim milk
and low-fat cheese.

What did you make for us?

Melon, the yogurt
looks like whipped cream,

but it's healthier
and better for you.

Thank you so much.

Right here.

I think the coleslaw
is great.

I love the effort with
the yogurt to make it healthier.

I think Alex did a great job
on the chicken.

And I love the use
of the apple cider

as opposed to loads of sugar.

Because there's not
a lot of sugar in it.

I think Kevin's kabob
is tasty.

The weak link here
is the Mac and cheese.

I think they did great.

It tastes good.

For the main,
we have a chicken burger,

chicken mixed
with fluffed fiesta rice,

just to enhance the flavor.

Peanut butter and celery,
a basic tuile,

served with a crispy
celery garnish.

Next we'll have
a sweet potato puree,

a hint of cinnamon,

and then the finale
is the bread pudding.

- Do you like chicken burgers?
- Yes.

That's nasty.

This is healthy.

Who made
the sweet potato puree?

Ed.

Those sweet potatoes got,
like, a pound of pepper in them.

I don't think you can serve
this in a lunch, in a cafeteria.

Heat will just knock off
half the kids.

Tom, what do you think
of Kenny's bread pudding?

It's not overly sweet.
It's moist.

What about Tracey's
chicken fiesta burger?

I think it's good.

Let's try Angelo's
peanut butter and celery.

I don't necessarily think
it's a bad dessert.

I just think...
It's not a dessert.

Yeah, it's not the dessert.

Why do we have a cookie
and the bread pudding?

Where's the vegetables?

Would you guys like this meal
in your cafeteria?

- Yeah.
- Yeah?

So what did you guys do?

Kids like sweetness.

I did a black Bean cake.

It's got a little crispy
sweet potatoes on top.

And then we have
the braised pork carnitas,

and we've topped it
with a little pickled onions.

I did a roasted corn salad.

I brushed it
with a little bit of chili oil.

I did caramelized
sweet potatoes without any sugar

and a sherbet.

I have to say,
I'm pretty excited

to see a lot of color
on this plate.

What do you think
of Kelly's taco?

I think the taco
is really good.

That is a solid taco.

I think Arnold's salad
cools it off nicely.

I'm very happy with this.

Lynne's Bean cake
was a little spicy.

What did you think
of Tiffany's dessert?

Chocolate sherbet
with the sweet potato,

I didn't think I was gonna
like it, but it tastes good.

I really enjoyed

how they mixed the vegetable
with an ice cream.

Tree.

Jinx.

Squirrel.

- Hi, guys.
- Hello, how are you?

This is braised chicken thigh
in a Sherry jus.

But I got really nice flavor
out of it.

I have some sweet onion rice

and tomato, carrots,
and green onions.

It has about 165 grams of fat.

What?

Calories, I'm sorry.

And here I have
a Bean and tomato salad

with some pickled red onions.

I made a banana pudding
with skim milk

and fresh strawberries on top.

How are you?

So this is Amanda's
low-fat Sherry chicken.

I have to say,
the words "sherry jus"

don't often come
into the lunchroom scenario.

I like the flavor
of tamesha's salad as a whole.

Jacqueline's banana pudding.

Hold on.
They're analyzing the pudding.

Something happened in there.

- It's too starchy.
- It's pretty sweet too.

But I like
the strawberries on top.

Is it good?

I think Stephen's rice
is tasty but pretty mushy.

In the end, kids eat things

that taste good
and that have flavor.

I didn't really like
the dish over there

because it has just rice
and all that nasty stuff.

Yeah, that'd be so good.

If they grow up
tasting high-fat,

high-sugar, high-salt foods,

that's what they
become accustomed to.

If we can impact them
young,

we're gonna put them on a course
for the rest of their lives.

Taco! Taco!

Chicken! Chicken!

And they came back
to stations,

you know, for seconds,
I was...

Today my spirits
were totally raised.

The desserts sold out
super fast.

We did good.

We did good.
I think we did good, so...

They were very excited,
the kids.

All right, so let's go back
to judges' table.

- School's out?
- School is out.

We know who we're calling.

Regardless
of what happens later,

I'm happy with
one of the most

flavorful cafeteria lunches
that I've ever had.

Or I ever didn't have.

Any frustrations
we had yesterday,

I think we've definitely
worked out.

But as much as I appreciate
the help from them,

I feel like they're taking
part of my dish away from me.

I'm not saying that you would
sabotage the team,

because I don't think

you're that kind of guy,
but, you know...

Do you think he threw
the challenge?

I think there was
some gamesmanship.

Which meal
was your favorite meal?

I liked the macaroni
and the whipped cream.

How many people
liked the whipped cream?

It was yogurt, wasn't it?

Yes, you're right.

It was totally yogurt.

Tell me about the tacos.

Were those radishes?

No, you know what?
Those are pickled onions.

Oh.
Oh, okay.

Today's meal was better
for all of you.

Yes!

Good.

Thank you guys so much for
letting us come and feed you.

Yes, you can have a hug.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God.

Presentation, one through ten,
what do you give it?

I would say it's a ten.

Okay.
Flavor.

I was gonna say 8.5.

- Yeah
- put you to sleep.

Shh.
Shh, shh, shh.

And that's what--
that's t issue.

Good evening.

We'd like to see two teams:

Angelo, Kenny, Ed, and Tracey,

and Amanda, Stephen, Tamesha,
and Jacqueline.

Thank you.

Dun, dun, dun...

This is kind of jacked up.

Usually the winners
go in there first,

and we don't get called first
in to judges' table,

so I'm a little nervous now.

I was very confident
earlier tonight.

Childhood nutrition
has become

a huge health crisis
in this country.

In this challenge, we were
looking at various things.

Part of it's to get kids
to eat vegetables and stuff,

and whether or not
you were cooking food

that was appropriate
for a school lunch,

obviously we were looking
for food that was flavorful.

Both you teams had
the worst menus of the day.

Stephen, what was in the rice?

What I tried to do

was incorporate a lot
of vegetables into the rice.

And we found ourselves
at the cash register

sacrificing creativity
to keep substance in our meal.

The point was that you guys
would get tripped up,

because that's the problem
that the country has.

I had wanted to do
a healthy chocolate dessert

that incorporated fruit,

but that was not possible
within our budget.

When we got back to the kitchen,

I immediately realized that
the bananas were very starchy.

Did you find
that you had to add more sugar

because the bananas
were starchy?

I believe there was a total
of about two pounds of sugar.

That's what happens when
we don't use good ingredients.

You add a lot of that sugar or
fat to make them taste better.

Whose idea was the Sherry jus?
Mine.

And so you had the budget
to buy Sherry?

Let's move on to your team.

Ed, talk to us
about the sweet potatoes.

What was in it?

It was just tossed with
a little bit of brown butter

and a little bit
of chili powder.

It was pretty spicy.

Got to be careful.
We're cooking for kids here.

Loading up
with a lot of starch and sugar

is the easy thing to do.

The hard work is finding ways

to get more vegetables
into school lunch,

and I think we see the lack
of that effort in this

in the lack of vegetables.

The lack of vegetables
kept coming back around,

so we ended up roasting
that tomato on the burger.

Tomato's a fruit.

So our vegetable was that piece
of celery, essentially.

Would you have done the celery
and peanut butter thing

if you didn't have immunity?

I can't answer that right now.

I'm not saying that you would
sabotage the team,

because I don't think
you're that kind of guy, but...

I mean,
I want to interject here.

I mean--I mean,
I'm really not certain

where this is coming from that,
you know--if there was a time

that they felt justly like they
wanted to do a veg, I mean--

who was the person on the team

who was looking at the meal
as a whole and saying,

"wait a second, guys.

This doesn't have nutritional
value for these kids"?

I was thinking
green leafy vegetables.

You know, I was immediately
going on that trail.

And unfortunately,
sometimes other people come up,

and they make up
other decisions,

and unfortunately,
with two people

that actually had immunity,
we had to come to an agreement.

If I could jump in,
I think the fact

that somebody knew
that they had no vegetables

and said they knew they had
no vegetables, being Kenny,

and let it slide and when
it really came down to it,

instead of trying
to champion a cause--

so it's acceptable
to have pudding

that has two pounds
of sugar in it,

whereas mine had, like,
less than eight ounces total--

do you have any idea

how much sugar
is in processed peanut butter?

It's ridiculous.

It's, like, maybe
one of the worst things

in the world for children
to eat, horribly bad for--

there was maybe
two teaspoons of peanut butter.

Do you know how many calories
are in that? It's ridiculous.

Does Sherry wine even need
to be in a elementary school?

They weren't drinking it,
for Christ's sake.

I wasn't serving it
by the glass.

Why did you choose
to use Sherry?

Because for me, I just--

I really like chicken
braised with Sherry.

Normally, I like it
with mushrooms.

I like it too.
There's a lot of things I like.

I love vodka.
Not cooking with it.

You guys can return
to the stew room.

Who won?

When everybody comes back
from the judges' table,

I'm thinking, "oh, my God,

"could this be top two,
bottom two?

I don't know."

You are the champions,
you guys.

You're serious?

Your two teams
were the best teams.

I think we learned something
definitely

about the whole immunity clause.

They got immunity, so their
two dishes are irrelevant.

- But they're not.
- They're not.

Well, that was
really interesting.

Yeah, I'll say.

Who do you think
had the worst menu today?

Hands down, Angelo's team.

Unfortunately,
Tracey and Angelo, they're safe.

They have immunity.

With Kenny seeing
that there was no vegetables,

he made a decision that hurt

the nutritional value
of the food

and thereby the kids
who were gonna eat it.

It was a big mistake.

And that sweet potato
that ed put forth.

I think ed made a nice dish
for a restaurant dish.

Did he make a nice dish
that worked for this challenge?

No.

But I'm really curious
as to why

Kenny and ed
didn't speak up more.

When two of your teammates
have immunity,

you're in a lot more hot water
than everyone else,

and you need to look up
and look at those things.

You need to be a leader.

Do you think that Angelo
did know that he had the power

and he threw the challenge
a little bit?

I think there was
a little gamesmanship.

I don't know if he threw,

but I think there was
some gamesmanship being played.

I'm not gonna repeat it.

I was pretty disappointed with
the other team's food today.

The other team, the two dishes
that got them here

were the--was Amanda's chicken
and Jacqueline's dessert.

Oh, Amanda's chicken was one
of the most unappealing things

I've seen in a long time.

Yeah, I mean, no school
has Sherry in their pantry.

She should've prepared it
another way.

You know, braising chicken
and then taking off the skin--

it's almost just like someone

put a big thing of turd
on the table,

because the kids
wouldn't go near it.

I got to go back to
Jacqueline's, you know, pudding.

The amount of sugar in that
was just unconscionable.

If I can defend it a little

is that there was
fresh strawberry in there.

All I tasted was sugar.

At least we didn't forget
our fruits and veggies.

Well, we also need to pick
a winning team and a winner.

Kelly's team,
they got a salad in there.

She made her own taco shells
using oats,

and then they still had
a dessert

which wasn't full of sugar,
wasn't full of fat,

and they got a vegetable
into that dessert.

It was amazing that they had
the same budget,

and they seemed to have
so much more food.

I think
Andrea's team and Alex's team,

I think they did
a nice job as well.

The chicken was very tasty.

I love that she used
apple cider.

It was very nice.

Through and through,

they found
really innovative ways

to add healthier ingredients
in products

that otherwise
wouldn't be healthy,

so the whipped cream was yogurt.

The coleslaw, there was
a little Mayo but also yogurt,

which I thought
was really brilliant,

and getting kids to eat
that fruit is a big deal.

I think we know
who our winner is.

- I think so.
- Yeah.

Definitely.

Can we please see

Lynne, Tiffany,
Kelly, and Arnold?

Thank you.

You had
our favorite lunch today.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

What did you make
specifically, Arnold?

I did the roasted corn
tomato salad.

It looked great,
and it tasted great.

I appreciate that.
Thank you.

I want to just talk about
the carnitas for a second.

The pork tasted great.

There was crunch
from the onions.

It was well-balanced,
and it was--the kids loved it.

Tiffany, let's go to you.

One kid absolutely said,

"I don't like sweet potatoes,
but I loved them both."

Also, it had great texture,

and usually when you take
the sugar and fat

out of sorbet or ice cream,
you lose texture.

Thank you.

I was impressed
by the use of beans.

Making it fun and exciting,
I think, was one

of the reasons
why the kids ate it so much.

That's one of the reasons

I put the little
sweet potato wig on top.

They were so into it.

As our guest judge,
announce a winner.

The one
that stood out the most

was so alive and so vibrant,
kept nutrition at the forefront.

I think I'm gonna have
to choose...

Kelly.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Kelly.

This challenge was important
for me to win

because this is very close
to my heart.

Well, good for you,
and good for all your teammates.

Nice job.

Thank you very much.

And I need you to call back

Kenny, ed, Amanda,
and Jacqueline.

I know that my team
helped me out,

but I worked really hard
on this dish,

and I really wanted
to make it great for the kids

and healthy and delicious,
and I feel like I succeeded.

- Who won?
- Who won?

- Who won?
- Kelly.

I'm sorry to say that
the judges would like to see

Amanda, Jacqueline,
Kenny, and Ed.

Your challenge today
was to create a nutritious

and delicious school lunch.

Unfortunately,
you're on the two losing teams.

Kenny, I think you could've been
a little more assertive,

and I think
you let the team down.

Ed, same thing.

Both of you put together a menu
that were loaded with starches,

didn't give us the variety
that we're looking for.

Amanda, your chicken
just was not appealing.

If it doesn't appeal to a child,
they won't eat it.

Jacqueline, your pudding
was loaded with sugar.

It was also grainy
and not very nutritious.

Unfortunately, one of you
will go home for that.

Jacqueline, please pack
your knives and go.

Thank you.

I wish I had fought
for more than 10% of the budget.

It sucks to have the worst dish
and the hardest dish

with the least amount
of ingredients.

Hey, guys.

Girls, you got
a two-bedroom room now.

Aww.

The kids reminded me of why
I came here in the first place,

and that was such a gift.

Thank you, chef.

You know, I think my family
will be proud of me

just for getting this far,
you know, on my own, by myself.

I'm disappointed,

but you have to live
with the choices you make.

Next on top chef...

This challenge
is to cook a picnic,

but I'm not a grill guy.

I mean, it'll clog the pores
way too fast.

Is this too bitter?

I personally hate chocolate,
so...

Alex is annoying.

He is--he's a slob.
He has no technique.

I mean, I can go on
for an hour if you want.

Whoa, hey,
whose stuff is this?

I had it in there
before anything was in there.

Yeah, but my name was on it.

- Did you steam your pork?
- No, I seared it off--

- can you pull the bones out?
- No.

I don't think people take me seriously

but I'm still a chef, and I'm going to
prove them wrong.