04x07 - Improv

[bunniefuu]

[Padma]
previously on top chef:

[Jennifer]
I'm doing this for zoi.

I just want to go in
and kick some ass.

[Padma]
who have you picked
as the winner

Of our beer pairing
quickfire?

Jennifer.

Thank you, chef.

Like, yay, lesbians.
Here we go.

You're all going
to the bears game tomorrow

At soldier field.

[Ryan]
I'm not a big sports fan.

Do I look like a sports fan?
No, I'm not.

I have a new zealand
chowder.

Oh.

Mark, you need to clean up
your act.

you can't make great food

If you're sloppy
when you do it.

Ryan, inappropriate food
for a tailgate.

but not only that,

The food just wasn't very good.

Ryan, please pack your knives
and go.

At stake for the winner,

A feature
in food & wine magazine,

A showcase at the annual
food & wine classic in aspen,

A gourmet dream vacation
in the french alps,

Provided
by evian natural spring water,

$100,000 To help

Turn their culinary dreams
into reality,

Furnished by the makers
of the glad family of products,

And the title of top chef.

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

[Andrew]
I'm waking up this morning

And I'm looking around.

And obviously the room
got a lot uglier.

Ryan pretty boy left.

Wah.

[Antonia]
the competition's going.

It's like, we've all had
really great training.

Some of us have been
executive chefs.

Some of us have owned
restaurants.

All this takes is one of us

Just making a mistake.

There's no room for error

When it comes to execution.

[Jennifer]
my focus is pretty raw.

I want to win this bad.
I'm doing this for zoi.

I can't be in the middle
anymore.

I need to be on the top.

Everything I got--

Blood, sweat, and tears.

[Nikki]
we get into the top chef kitchen

And before I notice the judge

I see this table of sweets.

And I'm one of those people

That when I go out to eat
I have to order dessert,

Sometimes multiple desserts.

Hello, chefs.

I'm delighted to introduce
our guest judge for this round.

James beard award-winning
pastry chef and author

of dessert foreplay,

johnny iuzinni.

Hey, guys.

Johnny iuzinni
in the new york realm

Is a pastry icon,

So cooking for johnny,
it has to be perfect.

If it's not,
he's gonna let you know.

advanced preparation

And organization in
a pastry kitchen is imperative.

every quantity has to be
just right,

Or else the end result
could be disastrous.

This is top chef: the cookbook.

Cool.

it contains a lot
of original recipes

From the first three seasons
of the show.

if you've watched the show,

Then you know that desserts

Have been the achilles' heel

of many a contestant.

your quickfire challenge
is to make us

A delicious dessert.

and if you haven't got

A dessert recipe
up your sleeve,

Well, then improvise.

The winning chef
will be the only chef

To have a recipe in here.

Your time starts now.

[Driving rock music]

♪ ♪

None of us are trained
pastry chefs.

Some of us have a little bit
of pastry experience

Or they've done recipes
before they came.

I am not one
of those people.

[Dale]
I'm bringing one dessert
to this place.

I'm busting it out
today.

In the philippines
you have halo-halo,

Which means "mix-mix."

It's a shaved ice dessert.

Growing up I had it
all the time.

And that's my dessert.

It's the only one that I know
how to do

And I'm gonna bust it out.

[Lisa]
I actually swore to myself

That I would never
do a pastry

During this competition.

Baking is definitely
technical.

It's not like cooking,
where you put

A little bit of this,
a little bit of that,

You throw things in--
you have to measure.

Must be 200.
It's gotta be 200.

[Lisa]
if you miss an ingredient
in a pasta sauce,

You'll be able to taste it

And you'll be able
to fix it right away.

If you miss baking powder
in a pastry

Or in a bread,
you're [bleep].

[Richard]
I'm not a pastry chef.
I don't have a recipe.

I'm just gonna work
off of my own style.

Actually it comes to me
as I'm cutting the bananas

That the bananas are kind
of shaped like sea scallops.

And, you know,
I'm very tongue-in-cheek

And very witty.

So banana scallops.

To me writing the menu

Is as important as sometimes
the food itself.

[Spike]
time to show everybody

That, you know,
this kid has balls.

I did come prepared.

I have a chocolate molten cake
memorized.

Dishes that I could've
probably ex*cuted

In and 1 1/2 hours
very easily,

But for some reason
I said soufflé.

Let's do this soufflé.

Why not try,

Take the risk, and see
if I could pull this off?

[padma]
3...2...1.

utensils down!

hands up.

This looks interesting.
What is it?

It's a pineapple, rum,
raisin soufflé,

Served with a little bit
of shredded, toasted coconut.

[Johnny]
I'm glad to see
that you did do that.

I'm glad to see someone
jumped out of the ring

and you definitely
score points for that.

[Richard]
so we have some banana scallops

With their own guacamole
and some chocolate ice cream.

[Padma]
the guacamole is strange
and delicious.

oh, well good.

Strange is good
and delicious is even better.

I decided to go
with a chocolate cake.

It's one of my favorite
things to eat.

I also love bananas,
so I decided to do

A frozen banana bite that's been
dipped in bittersweet chocolate.

That's chocolate.

Thank you, chef.
thank you.

So I basically wanted
to do

Banana chocolate ravioli
dusted in cinnamon sugar.

With a coffee and nutella
pudding.

I have this delicious
buttermilk cake recipe.

I decided to go with that.

My sauce here is blackberry,
raspberry, and strawberries.

This is a very pretty
dessert.

Thank you.

We have chocolate cake.

the ganache on top
is a salted basil ganache.

It's very tender.
I think it's great.

I just took something
that we do from my culture.

[Johnny]
lot of great textures.

Taste a lot of the spice.

We have just like
a light orange

Tiny bit of sugar
whipped cream.

I've also folded
in some greek yogurt

And some fried wontons
to add some crunch.

Today we have a pavlova tasting.

It's laced with a little bit
of wattleseed.

Wattleseed?

[Mark]
yeah, wattleseed
is a seed from australia.

[Johnny]
it's interesting.

I attempted to do

A bruléed lemon curd

With a light lemon cake.

[Padma]
so, johnny, how do you think

Our non-pastry chefs did
on this challenge?

I think some of them

Came into it excited
about the challenge.

I think others came into it
already defeated by it.

I think the first dessert
that impressed me the least

Was antonia's.

It just didn't come together
for me.

The next person would
have to be spike.

it's not because
of your effort.

I mean for you to take on

Trying to do a soufflé

Shows a lot about
your personality.

I commend you for that.

I'm glad you did take
that risk.

If a chef sees a lot in you,

Your dish may have
fell that time,

But he knows that
you're gonna come back strong.

And the third person:
mark.

It's actually--

It was a perfect pavlova
on its own,

But as a composed dessert,

it's not really what

I would classify as a dessert.

Okay.

So now let's hear
some good news.

The first one that was
on the top of the list for me

Was dale.

I think you had a lot
of different flavors in there,

And it really worked well
together.

Thank you very much.

Lisa.

It ws really summery to me

And it was a great balance.

I think the strawberries
were really fresh.

Richard.

It was probably the most
original, conceptually.

I like the play
on the scallop.

The guacamole with banana.

Using a similar texture--
I think that was really smart.

So the chef I have chosen
as the winner...

Is richard.

[padma]
congratulations, richard.

[Applause]

Your recipe will be going

Into the top chef cookbook.

It's an honor.

I'm the only one from
the season to be in the book,

So it's pretty cool.

Feels pretty good.

Something that I've really
been trying to show

Is I'm not a one-trick pony.

I can do the chemical thing

And then technology thing,

But I also just won
with a dessert course.

You're now immune
from elimination

In the next challenge.

You'll find out what that
next challenge is later.

but tonight,
for a little inspiration,

You're all going to see
the show at second city.

[Applause]

It's the birthplace
of improvisational comedy

Here in america.

[Mark]
so there's been
a couple of good people

Who have come out
of second city:

John belushi, blues brothers,

Bill murray, stephen colbert,

And steve carell
out of the office.

I'm very excited to see
an improv show.

I want to see
what it's all about.

[Chattering unintelligibly]

[Stephanie]
night on the town in chicago.
Pretty sweet.

I really want to get
all prettied up

To go to second city.

I'm psyched.
It'll be funny.

Gonna be a nice change
of pace

To hang out together

As, like, friends just
watching a comedy show.

Oh! Oh! Oh!
Sorry, guys.

Didn't mean to.

Are you serious?
Yeah.

If I don't have a jacket on
I'm gonna freeze my tits off.

Me and the boys,
we don't want to clash.

You know, obviously blaise
wants to wear pink.

Goes well with his skin tone,
doesn't it?

[Lisa]
all right, guys,
let's go.

[Spike]
get prepared to laugh, guys.

Well, dance, monkey!
Dance!

[Laughter]

[Antonia]
we arrive at second city

And we're enjoying the show.

It was actually nice.

Relax for a second

And just be entertained.

[Screaming]

Somebody b*at the hell
out of this pig.

[Laughter]

We're going to get
a whole bunch of suggestions

In some different categories
from you.

so our very first category,
nikki, is...

Color!

Color, so just shout out
your favorite color.

At second city, it's common

Where the let the audience
interact

By throwing out words
and setting up their role play.

I need the suggestion from you

Of some emotions: happy, sad--

Rage!

Rage!

Perplexed.

People are just calling out
all sorts of weird stuff.

Drunk!
Drunk, I love it.

I think that shows you
real genius

When someone can do improv.

Now we need the suggestion
of an ingredient

You would put into something
you are cooking.

vanilla!

very good!
polish sausage!

[Nikki]
when they yell out
the categories,

It winds up being a color,
emotion, and an ingredient.

I know right away

That that's how we're gonna get
our challenge.

Now some vegetables!
Vegetables!

asparagus!

Asparagus.

These are our dishes.
Totally.

I just put my head
in my hands

And I'm trying not
to, you know, cringe.

So we are very lucky
this evening

to have in our audience
the chefs

From this season's top chef.

[Applause]

What they don't know
is that they're going

To be improvising for us.

they're going to have
to cook us a meal tomorrow.

That meal will consist
of five courses.

yellow-love-vanilla,

depressed-purple-bacon,

Magenta-drunk-polish sausage,

green-perplexed-tofu,

And orange-turned on-asparagus.

[Cheers and applause]

My immediate thought
is that we are [bleep]ed.

[Applause]

Whoo!

You wanna just draw
our courses?

[mark]
okay, here's the hat.

I'm gonna do five
little pieces of numbers.

[Mark]
we decide to draw numbers.

We tear off numbers.

We throw it in a hat.

I would be happy choosing
any course.

I feel very confident
in my cooking.

[Chattering]

[Nikki]
the pairs are basically

Everyone just kind of
looking around and going

"Okay, who haven't
I worked with,

Who have I worked with?"

There's no Kn*fe-pull
for this at all.

I don't know.
I think we're picking courses.

Courses.

Course uno.

[Spike]
richard won immunity.

I don't want
to even get close to him.

Andrew looks at me right away.

I look at him.

We're, like, yeah.

It's a good opportunity
for us to work together.

We haven't worked
together yet.

Go ahead, lisa.

lisa!

[Jennifer]
I look around
and steph is there.

Steph's a doll
and a total sweetheart.

And she's won other challenges.

I'm feeling like we'll work
together really well.

That's you.

[Richard]
dale and I are
on the same page.

Both of us share a passion

For similar flavors
and technique.

And I want to work with people

That want to work with me.

I'm confident we're gonna
caramelize

The cheese like that.

Okay.
For sure.

Ten chefs left.

There's definitely no room
for error.

It's just at the point
where it has to be great.

Starring spike and andrew
as vanilla love.

Vanilla love.

Spike, oh, god,

If he frickin' wins for that,

I'm gonna vomit in my mouth.

Oh!
Oh, [bleep]!

[Lisa]
so the elimination challenge

Is we are going to pair up
in groups of two

And we're gonna be cooking
for the cast

From second city as well
as the judges.

Oh, this is nice, mate.
I'm digging it.

[Nikki]
mark and I have purple,
depressed, bacon.

We're gonna do pancetta
that's glazed

With honey and ginger.

And our pork tenderloin
is the protein of the dish

And we're building from there.



A big, big,
super-sizer orange juice.

[Stephanie]
jen and I have
orange, turned-on, asparagus.

That's all I can say.

[Jennifer]
run, dude!

Yeah, so this is $52.

[Jennifer]
I asked the cheese monger

If he had bucheron.

He said, "I do,
I certainly do."

And he basically handed us
a whole log.

You can just get it.

Get the whole thing?
Yeah.

[Jennifer]
asparagus and orange
and goat cheese

Sounds great together.

And then we're, like,

"Oh, it's like
a menage-a-trois."

I'm feeling pretty good about

Having a menage-a-trois
in my future.

[Dale]
me and richard have
green, tofu, perplexed.

Green and tofu I love

And perplexed is a lot
of times

What richard and I bring
to a table.

Perplexed, to me, a lot of times
curry represents that.

There's heat, there's spice.

There's so many directions
it goes in.

[Richard]
thanks, man.
You're the best, dude.

Appreciate it.

There's no charge
on the fat, right?

Like last time?

uh, no, there isn't.

Something just hits me
to go over to the butcher

And ask for some beef fat.

My idea is to basically
marinate

These tofu steaks in beef fat.

It's kind of like
a seinfeld skit.

[Imitates seinfeld]
this tofu tastes like beef.

What's up with that?
It's perplexing.

Oh, they don't have liquor
here.

They have beer.

They have beer.

[Antonia]
my partner's lisa.

We have magenta,
drunk, polish sausage.

I don't want to do drunken
polish sausage.

I don't really cook
with beer.

I'm not gonna dumb down
my food because of what

Some drunken schmuck
screamed out in the audience.

The only polish sausage
that I have any experience with

Is in a package already cooked.

It's in this weird,
thick-ass casing.

So now we want to come up
with some sort of a fish.

[lisa]
the chilean sea bass?

[Antonia]
moho is cuban,
so we're gonna throw

A little bit of tequila
in with our sauce.

We really mix polish--

Polish and chorizo?

They're very similar.

[Antonia]
I'm not doing polish sausage.

That's for damn sure.

We're gonna do chorizo sausage
interpretation.

We're improv-ing.

Yellow?

I love bananas.
We could use those.

[Andrew]
our team is now yellow,
vanilla, love.

We basically formulate the dish
in the whole foods.

We just have a whole bunch
of ingredients

That we think we'd like
to work with.

We trying to see how much
we can buy

With the money that we have.

It's all about improvisation
with this.

Again, we want to embody that.

This is improvisation.
Oh, my god!

I can't juggle.

[andrew]
bacon on the floor!

[Spike]
it's another ballsy move.

We're at risk here.
It's elimination day.

Then we're over-budget
so we're, like,

Okay, so we're not gonna go
with the salad maybe.

Let's pull the beets.

This truly is an improvisation
at the counter

And our dish came together
there.

Bye!

nice!

[Jennifer]
we walk into the top chef
kitchen.

In the kitchen there's
a dining room table set up

With tablecloths,
flatware, glasses.

And so we're expecting
to serve there.

Do you got shallots?

I do.
Want shallots and garlic?

I'm gonna make
a vinaigrette right now.

[Jennifer]
so we have three hours
to cook.

This is elimination challenge.

Blaise has immunity.

Everyone else is open fire.

The struggle to get
to the top is quite fierce.

Uh, soup stock:

Bouquet garni, yes.
Mirapoix.

[Spike]
I'm so happy to be
doing a soup.

Because I love making
a squash soup.

It's something I feel like
I should've done

A couple challenges ago.

What happened from
not doing the soup

Ended up at the chopping block

And I almost got eliminated.

How do you want
to incorporate vanilla

Into this [bleep]ing dish?

I was actually gonna take
the vanilla,

Split it, and then put it
under my armpits.

[Spike]
if you can make a perfect soup,

That's what impresses
a chef.

That is the [bleep]ing truth.

You're getting the hang
of it, right?

I'm feeling it.
I'm feelin' it right now.

[Antonia]
the last team challenge
I had was with spike.

Of course now he's getting
his soup.

Oh, god, if he frickin' wins
for that,

I'm gonna vomit in my mouth.

[Laughs]

[Richard]
it's all organic today,
baby.

[Dale]
we get to the kitchen
and rich and I have a plan.

Rich is gonna start
rendering fat.

And I was gonna go
right into a curry,

Because curries are very
complex.

[Richard]
what I'm doing is first
I'm grilling

These strips of beef fat.

I'm grilling it to get
the grill flavor,

A little bit of that carbon
flavor on the fat.

But also I think the grill
is synonymous with meat

And it's kind of almost
a mental trick.

I wanna get this piece
of tofu

To really taste like meat.

[Dale]
running into that kitchen
to get a big pot

And I turn around.

There's no electrical equipment
at all.

There is no electrical equipment
in back there.

No vita-preps,
no robo-coupes, nothing.

We can't use any robo-coupes
or anything.

Andrew, what are you guys
doing?

pureeing it?

Kind of, yeah, I think so.
It's gonna get to that point.

There's no robo-coupes,
no vita-preps.

No robo-coupes,
no equipment.

No robo-coupes, no vita-preps,
no equipment, eh?

Good call!

Oh, you dirty monkeys!
You dirty monkeys!

Look at that!

[spike]
what?

Oh!
Oh, [bleep]!

Unbelievable.

They took all the [bleep]ing
machines out.

Oh, they're making soup, though.
That sucks.

Oh, [bleep].

[Laughs]

My god, man.

Just try to more or less
improvise

A way to mash 'em down
into nice little deliciousness.

I mean, they've been making
soup since [bleep]ing

I don't even know when.

So I don't need a vita-prep
to make a soup,

A banging, perfect soup.

I don't need a blender

Or anything like that
to make soup.

Starring spike and andrew
as vanilla love.

Vanilla love!

[Andrew]
the fact that we don't have
machines

At this point work out,
I believe, to our benefit

'Cause our word is love

And basically the fact
that I have to sit here

And pound out squash
with my hands

Through a ricer versus just
pressing, beep,

[Makes whirring sound],
blended,

Makes it feel that much more
emotionally connected.

I'm saving some curry base
right there.

[Dale]
what I was gonna do

Is I was gonna make
my own curry.

My ultimate plan is
to really toast

The pre-made curry
that we bought

At whole foods and then add
all those ingredients

I was gonna put in the curry.

It's kind of like bump up
the flavor

With jalapenos, the onions,
the garlic, the lemongrass.

Make sure the curry sauce
tastes

As good as it's gonna taste.

[andrew]
hey, you know how
to work a sack, dude.

good job.

Having no electrical equipment
today

Definitely affects
our work flow.

I definitely need
a spice grinder.

could be
anyone's game.

Who's best with the improv,

I think, is gonna take
the game today.

I think just a couple pieces
on top.

Okay, just to do it less?

[Stephanie]
jen and I are on the same page.

The only thing I'm worried
about is the bread

Which is jen's idea.

We decided to start to grill it
ahead of time.

Not sure on the size of it.

It's gonna be a nice,
big portion.

It's really, like,
standing up.

Our concept was to really
encapture

The whole idea of orange
turned on by asparagus.

We definitely went with
the sexual connotation of it.

Utilize that plating

To make the asparagus
look a certain way.

I don't really like
the sausage

Just kind of
hanging out.

[Antonia]
I'm definitely nervous.

For me, visually,

It's not coming together
on the plate.

We had chunks of sausage.

It's not looking elegant
or refined to me.

But just as long
as we make it taste good,

You know, we'll be good.

Hey, chefs.

hi!

[tom]
how's it going?
good.

Listen, the comics
from second city

are gonna go to your house

And you're gonna cook
for them there.

you have 20 minutes
to pack this up,

And then you'll have
an hour left

To cook when you get back
to the house.

See you there.

I was completely shocked.

We have 20 minutes to pack.

Everybody's kind of scrambling.

I'm, like, if you guys
didn't haul ass

While we were in the kitchen
before,

Knowing that they would
probably do something like this.

Then that's
your [bleep]ing problem.

[Spike]
it's a little twist on things,

But I'm confident
that our team will prevail.

[Stephanie]
we are going to be
serving dinner

In the top chef house.

The kitchen that we have
is six burners maybe.

It's not very big.

There's not really
that much space.

But hopefully it's not too bad.

I don't do a lot of cooking

Where I travel around
with a little ice cooler.

But when we have to move

It's definitely
a curve ball thrown at us.

But as long as
there's fire and water,

We're gonna knock it out
of the park.

[Chattering]

A nice, long, hard log
of aged goat cheese.

Dip it in the orange sauce.

oh, man.

I feel weird now.

I'm gonna feel weird
eating this.

[Laughter]

[Richard]
we have one more hour left.

Pretty much the clock
just stopped

In top chef kitchen
and restarts

Once we get back
to our home kitchen.

Am I on fire?

[Andrew]
we get to the house

And thank god we're
the first ones to go,

'Cause it's pretty crazy
when everybody else

Gets in the kitchen
and everybody's

Running around,
too many chefs.

Can I turn it down
a little bit?

Yeah.

I need this pot clear,
guys!

I think it should just be
one little half circle

And a half circle of demi

And be done with it.

[Nikki]
it's getting tough.
There's no room for error.

You have to come
to each competition

And do it right.

And if you don't,

It doesn't matter how talented
you are,

You're gonna go home.

The only thing left to do
with the soup

Is to get it right where
it needs to be.

For the next half hour,

That's exactly what I'm doing.

I'm tasting the soup,

Putting a pinch of salt
in it.

Tasting it, putting
a little bit more veg stock.

I'm layering flavors.

That's what I love
about cooking.

Hello!

[All]
hi!

[Laughing and chattering]

yay!

Come on in!

thank you.

I'm number three?
Yeah, I think you're there.

[Andrew]
time runs out.
It's time to plate the food.

I tasted that thing
at least a hundred times.

I have no doubt in my mind

That we could take this one.

Ladies first from the left.
yes.

The words that we got
were yellow, love, and vanilla.

We're vanilla love.
We're vanilla love.

our whole dish was
kind of improvised today

At the market.

So we did a squash soup
that has butternut

Acorn squash.

It's with a little bit
of vanilla creme fraiche.

I hope you enjoy.

Soup's down, thumbs up!
Yeah!

Feeling pretty good, man.

We're sitting there
by the cooler

Like, "we did good,
we did good."

there's a little spicy heat
coming from something.

Is that in the creme fraiche
or is it in the whole soup?

It's in the soup, yeah?

There's bacon or something here.
It's a smoky background to it.

That's kind of nice too.

I'm always looking for texture.

I'm always looking for something
like a bite

In anything I eat.

So I definitely thought
this really fulfilled me.

The portion was
a little bit large.

I think that vanilla
really brings out the love.

This is very simple
and straightforward

And it's just delicious.

I would lick my bowl

If we weren't
in front of cameras.

I'd lick all of your bowls.

[Laughter]

We decided to cut bread

So it was sort of phallic

And then have the asparagus
kind of standing on that,

So it was like the asparagus

Was being turned on
by the orange.

I think it's shouting out
orange turned-on asparagus.

So I'm pretty excited about it.

Where's the bread at?

Dale--
it was really mushy.

He's just sopping it
for a second.

The only thing I'm worried
about is the stupid crouton.

It's just not the right texture
for me.

Serve on the left.

So our dish tonight
is orange turned-on asparagus.

[Crowd agreeing]

[Jennifer]
so we've composed a sort
of menage-a-trois.

We have a orange gastrique,
a orange vinaigrette,

And orange sections.

Sex-tions.

[Laughing]

Then we took a nice,
long, hard log

Of aged goat cheese.

when you're ready
to enjoy your asparagus,

Dip it in the orange sauce.

[Crowd reacts excitedly]

oh, man.

I'm gonna feel weird
eating this.

[Laughing]

[padma]
yay!

The service goes really well.

I think we were totally
sexy.

Overall there's oil
coming out of the goat cheese.

this bread, the way
they prepared it

is way too difficult
to cut.

I hate fighting
with my food.

I don't think it needs
the bread.

I don't think it needs
the almonds.

I wasn't necessarily
turned on

by the meal.

This is not a menage-a-trois.
This is more of an orgy.

[Laughter]

There are a lot more
than three things,

three ideas going on here.

Well isn't that the point
of an orgy?

[Laughter]

[Richard]
it's me and dale,

And we're doing
the third course.

We do have some
last-minute things.

We have to fry these eggplant,

Which dale has this awesome
technique for.

He makes this cornstarch
slurry.

It's a chinese method
I've never seen before.

[Spike]
I'll never understand
the food that richard does.

The block of tofu.

That big, huge,
[bleep]ing block.

I see that go out.

It's seared like a swordfish.

It's just a very weird dish.

[richard]
we had tofu
and the color green

and the word was,
what was the word we had?

it was...

[padma]
perplexed?

Perplexed--exactly.
See, I'm very perplexed.

[Laughter]

I would say that dale's

Probably the brainchild
behind the dish.

a grilled piece of tofu.

Richard came up with it.

We were thinking about
the idea

And I wanted to kind of do
a tofu steak.

So we bought some beef,

We rendered down
the beef fat

And marinated the beef fat
in the tofu.

So the tofu kind of doesn't
know if it's meat

Or if it doesn't know
if it's soy.

It's very perplexed, yeah.

okay.

Please enjoy.

[Dale]
everyone seems pretty happy

With the way the food looks

And the way they were served.

We thought it was successful.

A lot of elements of that dish
I thought were good.

Mm.
really spicy.

Yeah.

This is very good.

The curry is terrific.

It's got a lot
of nice heat.

and maybe the most challenging
thing about

What these guys got
was the word perplexed.

I think they did
a nice job

of responding to that.

if I were doing the challenge

And I had to cook tofu,

I'd be bummed out completely.

These guys just went for it

and they made the tofu
center stage

And I think they did
a great job with it.

When they were explaining it,

The kept complimenting
each other.

such a huge thing in improv

Is just giving credit
to everyone.

I'm happy with it.

Got it?

Potatoes hot?

Yep, 30 seconds up.

[Antonia]
we're a little strapped
on time.

My fish needs to be perfect.

I don't want it sitting.
I don't want it to get cold.

So it is a little bit
more chaotic

Than I would've liked
to see happen.

[lisa]
guys, I need two more fish
up here.

over there--it's fine.

Polish sausage

And there's no polish sausage
on there.

It went out cold.
They looked like turds.

[antonia]
already dabbled 'em.
go over there.

um, we got--

Drunk, magenta,
polish sausage.

[antonia]
you have a wild chilean
sea bass.

[lisa]
it's on a purple potato puree,
kind of that magenta.

we didn't want it too purple.

and then some chorizo,
so we got all the components.

[antonia]
and just a hint
of tequila at the end.

Cheers.

Why not?
Enjoy.

No tequila for us?

[lisa]
no tequila for you guys.

Sorry.

I think it does taste good,

But when your primary ingredient
is polish sausage,

I find it strange to see
a piece of chilean sea bass

Sitting on top of that.

and when your primary
ingredient is polish sausage,

To use chorizo is interesting,

But it's not polish sausage.

They needed a sh*t at the end
of their presentation,

But we didn't get one.

I don't think they carried out

The whole drunkenness
in this dish at all.

braised in wine
or something like that.

other dishes that came before,

the suggestions
that they had

Really served as an inspiration
for them

To design the dishes.

In this one it seemed like
the suggestion was a burden.

Yes.

and I was excited
about this one

'cause I love polish sausage.

Don't take this
the wrong way.

He said, pointing
to the gay guy.

Hey, no problem, man.
I'm not polish.

[Laughter]

So, guys,
how about like that?

It's our time to plate.
Everything's ready.

It's, like, all hands on deck.

that's beautiful.

[Mark]
I think the actors
will dig our dish.

It looks bloody sexy.

And who doesn't like pork?

[Alarm beeps]

[nikki]
we're ready?

you were very fortunate
to give us

The opportunity to work with--

Purple, depressed, bacon.
Purple, depressed, bacon.

The bacon is very depressed
that it has to

share the plate
with brussels sprouts.

[Laughter]

We have roasted
pork loin,

with sweet potato mash,

concord sauce,
and a port jus.

[nikki]
enjoy.

Thank you very much.
Thank you.

it's a nice plate of food.

Pork's cooked nicely.

The glaze on that bacon
is great.

Gives it this mega-crispiness

And the sweetness
of the salty pork.

it's kind of like
comfort food where--

If you were depressed,
this would cheer you up.

Yes, that I was depressed.

maybe they could've made
the sauce with their tears?

[Laughter]

Exactly!

exactly.

It's gonna be a tough one.
All the food was good.

Service is over.

It's always a great feeling

Until you start thinking about
someone has to go home.

who would be at the bottom?

I don't know.
Not us, I hope.

No, I can't say it.
That's what I'm saying.

Packing my knives.

It's, like, a bad omen.

Someone's gonna be going home,

And it's not gonna be me.

So whoever else it is,
I'm sorry.

But it's gotta happen.

we would've been better off

Taking some polish sausage

And steaming it
or braising it

in some [bleep]ing beer.

I mean, it's improv.
What happened to that word
improv?

[Suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

We would like to see...

Dale, spike, andrew,
and richard.

[Suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

You four did the judges'
favorite dishes

in tonight's challenge
so congratulations.

How did you formulate
what you were gonna do?

We took the challenge
literally.

we didn't sit and write
prep lists the night before.

We're like, we're just gonna
go to the kitchen

And do what we do best.

We had lots of fun
with it.

[Johnny]
I thought the list was great.

I think it was really
well-balanced.

There was a lot
of sugary sweet notes to it,

But I think you guys
had just enough salt

to really balance
that dish out.

Probably the best-seasoned dish
that we've had all season.

really, really nice
that you guys

are focusing on that now.

Thank you.

We're you concerned at all

That you need to do
something more edgy?

No.

Not to sound cheesy,

but my mother's a chef
and she always told me

One of the best tests
of a chef

Is to make a really good,
simple soup.

The fact that love
was part of your challenge

To me, soup is one of the most
comforting,

Loving, makes you think
of mom.

That's just in me
all the time...

And andrew.
My mother loves you too.

[Tom laughs]

Can't you feel the love?

Over to richard and dale.

[tom]
how'd you arrive
at that dish

With those ingredients?

It was really built together
on the concept.

Take green--dale had mentioned
green curry.

That's the most complex,
perplexing green flavor.

Who came up with the idea
of rendering the beef fat

and dredging the tofu in it?

Tofu on its own
is just tofu,

so we really wanted to try
and play on the concept

Of tofu being a steak.

I love the fact that you guys
came out as a team.

And you really just
stood by each other.

I thought that was
really great.

Both of you teams
have done a great job.

but ultimately
there can only be

One team winning this challenge.

so the winning team is...

Dale and richard.
Congratulations.

as the winners
of this challenge,

You will each receive $2,500

worth of calphalon kitchenware
courtesy of calphalon.

Here you go, guys.

[padma]
so congratulations.

Rich came up with
some concepts and some ideas

But he let me drive.

When I had immunity
and I worked with him,

He drove.

Very happy with my team.

So as usual,

I need you to send back
some of your colleagues.

[antonia]
yeah!

Wow, two in a row.

They want to see
antonia and lisa

And stephanie and jen.

[dale]
good luck, guys.

[Suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

You have the judges'
least favorite dishes tonight.

Let's start with you,
antonia and lisa.

You had magenta, drunken,
polish sausage.

Who made the decision

To go with chorizo
and not polish sausage?

We both did.

At the same time, both--

Literally they were
right next to each other

and we're, like,
"get both of them."

Truthfully for me,
the only polish sausage

I've ever had all my life

Is the cryovac-ed package

and it's a turkey sausage

and I would have it over

Mashed potatoes mixed
with sauerkraut.

That's the only polish sausage

I'd ever eaten.

And not something
I've ever enjoyed.

That was not something
that I would ever dream

Of putting on a plate.

I think you have to incorporate
the polish sausage.

That was your word.

If I were given
those two words,

You know, drunken
and then polish sausage.

I love to cook sausage
in beer.

that would've been it.

You guys really could've run
with this in

A complete different
direction.

From now on, trust me--

If there's--
if there's a "from now on."

This is my first time
on the chopping block

and finding out that
it's because

of a slight wording thing

Is really tough.

It's hard to sit up here
and realize

you're up here because
of what you may consider

a technicality.

But that's all we have
to go on right now

Because the dishes were good.

[padma]
jen and stephanie,

How did you come up
with your dish?

We both really like cheese,

So we were talking
about the bucheron

when it's cooked that way

it has a nice orange.

So we figured we could
use that

To really bring together
the orange and the asparagus.

I had some very similar
issues that I had

with lisa's and antonia's dish.

the goat cheese
was front and center

on that plate.

Not the asparagus,
not the orange.

And idea comes up
and you had the three things.

That led
to the menage-a-trois.

That led to too many things
on a plate.

We both felt like
the flavors on the plate,

Like, a full bite
of all of them,

That we like the flavors
together.

I really thought
the composition

Of that plate
was a train wreck.

we were definitely trying
to make the plate

Look kind of phallic,

so maybe we cut the bread
too big.

we could've made
a smaller crouton.

We wanted the asparagus
to be coming up

Off the salad
with the bread.

The asparagus were meant
to be erect?

And the large piece
of bread.

The bread was a little difficult
to cut.

Uh-huh.

The bread for me
was a clunker.

It was like this big piece
of bread

that really was toasted
on one side,

soggy on the other.

The crust was really hard
so I couldn't get into it.

I think that if we didn't take
the concept

Of the sexuality of the dish

and made the grilled bread
a smaller piece--

It could've been more refined.

The dish lacked finesse for me.

Who ex*cuted what?

[jennifer]
I made the bread

And I cooked the cheese.

You made the gastrique,
the vinaigrette

And did a lot of the prep,
most of the Kn*fe work.

All right,
thank you very much.

We'll see you in a bit.
Thank you.

[Suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[lisa]
we would've been better off
taking some polish sausage

And steaming it or braising
in some [bleep]ing beer

and that would've been
a winning dish.

These [bleep]ing people
that were drunk

In a comedy show
said polish sausage,

I got faulted?

I mean it's improv.

What happened to that word
improv

And interpretation?

So which is worse:

Antonia and lisa
not really focusing

on the main ingredient

Or jen and steph giving us
something

That was kind of
a muddle on the plate?

in lisa and antonia's case...

They downplayed
the polish sausage

And introduced chorizo.

[Ted]
lisa actually came right out
and said

That polish sausage
is not something

She would ever serve.

I think they were using
the word improv

A little bit too loosely
to their advantage.

You can't change the terms
of the challenge

Because you don't like
the ingredient.

if we would've served
something

With the star of the dish
being polish sausage,

They would've been, like,

"You guys are chefs.

What the [bleep]
is this bar food?"

[tom]
whether or not they left
a few things out

of the challenge,

I enjoyed the dish more
than the asparagus dish.

So which is more important:

Whether the dish
was a better dish

or whether they met
the rules of the challenge?

Well, let's talk about
the rules of the challenge

And how well stephanie
and jen did.

Asparagus was the key
ingredient.

And although
they used asparagus,

Cheese dominated that dish.

The asparagus was definitely
a secondary thought

Of that dish.

I could see kind of where
they were going with it,

but it was just
too much cheese.

Of the two dishes,

This was my least favorite,
taste-wise.

I think we have
a decision.

Then let's get them out here.

[padma]
you have the judges'
least favorite dishes tonight,

And one of you has to go.

Tonight's challenge
was about improvising.

in both cases,
I think that your dishes

sort of got off track
a little bit.

Antonia, lisa...

polish sausage was
the touch point

And we think you moved
too far off track.

You gave us a fish dish.

Jen and stephanie,

felt the same thing.

Somehow goat cheese
almost became

The sort of main focal point
of the dish.

and that clearly wasn't
one of the touch points.

You guys are all
very accomplished

in this technicality.

That's all we have to go on
right now.

at the end of the day,

We had to go by what was
our least favorite dish.

Jen and stephanie's.

Jen, please pack your knives
and go.

I thought that was a great dish.

and I thought we improved
with it well.

And I appreciate
the opportunity.

And I'm sorry that I can't
go further.

[Jennifer]
I take the critique.

I don't necessarily agree
with it.

I feel like our dish
was really good.

Maybe it was
a little flamboyant.

Um, but that was the point.

I really don't think
it was any reason

For me to be sent home.

[nikki]
what happened?

I'm gonna go home.

What?

yeah.
bye.

It's great to meet you guys.

bye, brother.

You're a [bleep]ing
great chef.

You're a great chef.

After zoi was eliminated,

I was angry.

It definitely made me
want to win even more,

So I'm a little frustrated
right now.

Knock 'em dead,
okay?

Bye, baby.

Um, I wish you guys
all the best of luck.

Rock it out.
Cook your own flavors.

Be top chefs.

[Applause]

Peace out.

She scared me when
she cooked that

that she was so good.

There's not anymore.

[Jennifer]
I still have a lot
of tricks up my sleeve

That I would've liked
to use.

I'm sorry that I'm not gonna
be able to do it.

I think what I'd like to say
to the remaining chefs

Is you have to bring it
more than 110%.

You have to bring it, like,
1,000%.

[Padma]
next on top chef:

Today we have
a little extra help for you.

here they come!

there's our help.



All right.
You cut yourself?

yeah, sort of.

Less than 30 seconds

Of having a peeler in his hand,

My kid is bleeding.

You like to cook?

what do you like
about cooking?

Eating.

Eating? Awesome!

Time.

The fact is, if you're
gonna be a great chef,

You gotta take criticism.

Absolutely
no seasoning at all.

Just looked like a big mess.

Padma, I think tom
doesn't like me.

[Laughs]

I hope you're not serious.

[Padma]
for more about the recipes
seen tonight: