19x06 - Texas Trailblaze-hers

[bunniefuu]

Previously
on
Top Chef...

For your elimination challenge,

put your own
twist on brisket.

- I've never done this before.
- That looks fun.

- It's going to get interesting.
- Ashleigh, how is that brisket?

- Well...
- The dish morphed into something

totally different.

The soup is broken.

I'm just
finding it under seasoned.

Chopping up the brisket.

Probably a cardinal sin
here in Texas.

- Did a good job on it.
- It came through, right?

Yeah, he did.
I was skeptical.

She's grinding her burnt ends.

Brisket and curry
is not a thing,

- but I'm making it a thing.
- Even if she weren't

a local gal,
this would be a favorite.

The chef with the winning
brisket dish today is Evelyn.

Ashleigh,

please pack your
knives and go.

Nine chefs remain
to compete

in the ultimate
culinary showdown.

a feature

in Food & Wine magazine, an appearance

at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,

$250,000 furnished
by San Pellegrino

and the coveted title
of Top Chef.

- Hi.
- I miss you so much.

The last few days
have been really hard.

Yeah, same here.

Home sick
is such an understatement

for what
I'm feeling right now.

Oh, boy.

Say hi to Mum.

I'm really thankful
for Leah.

You know,
she's been my rock

and I waited
a really long time to find her.

If I had the option
to go home right now,

I'd just
come home to you.

Well, if I had
the option to break into

your hotel room right now,
I would obviously do that too.

I've just really not been able
to find my stride,

but my goals in being on Top Chef have always been

about visibility,
because living in Texas is hard.

It's hard to feel
like your friends

are being
legislated against,

but my presence matters
so much more here.

You don't make
a difference in places

that are
like-minded as you.

Bye, honey.

Miss you.

Miss you.

Let's go.

- Good morning, chefs.
- Good morning.

- Cool!
- Ooh, I love her.

Please welcome
this week's pair

of quick fire judges:

All-Star, Nini Nguyen,

and
Top Chef Kentucky
winner,

Kelsey Barnard Clark.
Welcome back, ladies.

But there's one more person
who can't miss this part.

They've earned a second chance
to compete in this competition.

Uh-oh.

There's someone
coming back.

The winner of part one
of
Last Chance Kitchen...

Ashleigh.

I am back!

I'm back
in the kitchen.

My girl!

Finding the sense
of belonging in a kitchen

is not something
that I've experienced,

but I feel that here.

You know,
this is my family.

Ashleigh,
this is really flavorful.

The texture components
in the dish are really nice

and the sauce works really,
really well with salmon.

You're back in.

Good job.

Sarah, it's not over
yet for you.

You are still the last person
left in
Last Chance Kitchen.

It's been a whirlwind,
but it feels really good

to be standing
back in the kitchen.

Now that
we're all here,

- are you ready to get cooking?
- Yes.

Today's quickfire
is a little salty like me.

And sweet like me.

Well, some of time.

As you can see,
half of the ingredients here

are sweet
and the other half are salty.

Chefs on this side
of the kitchen

get to choose one jar
of sweet ingredients,

and the chefs
on this side of the kitchen,

you get to choose one jar
of salty ingredients.

Come on up,
and once you get

your ingredients,
stand over there.

Right in the middle,
there's this black,

kind of, box thing.

Is this
a part of the challenge?

Hurry it up,
let's go.

We're not sure exactly
where this is going,

but you definitely can't go
wrong with pork rinds, correct?

All right.

For this quickfire challenge,
we want you to create...

- A sweet...
- And salty...

...dessert.

Ah, sh--.

Yes, it's a dessert,

but with a twist.

Oh, God,
what's in the box?

- What is that?
- Oh, my goodness.

Our friends
at Talenti Gelato and Sorbetto

are back for another
quickfire challenge.

But this time,
we're taking inspiration

from the new range of flavors,
Talenti Pairings.

And if you
haven't guessed it already,

you'll be working in teams
of two for this quickfire.

- Oh, God.
- Nick!

Look at his face.

'Kay, we need a badass partner.

To give you an idea

of some sweet and salty
pairings that work,

there's Talenti Gelato
pairings in the freezer

that you can taste.

So, pair up. One salty
and one sweet per team.

I'll do whatever.
You want to? All right.

Nuts and pears.

Buddha's standing
to my right

and he has honey.

Miso and honey
is like two combinations

that work
well together.

I got
pork ----ing rinds.

Everybody don't
run away from me. Sh--.

Dude, we're going to do this.

- Okay. All right.
- We're going to do this.

Ginger snaps
and pork rinds.

This is a challenge
you're going to want to win.

Because not only
is there

a $10,000 cash prize

for the pair
of winners,

- there is double immunity.
- Yes!

And your dessert
will help inspire

a new
Talenti Gelato flavor.

To be clear, you don't
have to make a gelato.

We just want
an innovative,

sweet and salty dessert
of any kind.

You have 45 minutes
on the clock.

And your time starts now.
Good luck.

Come on, girl.

- Caramel Pretzel Blondie.
- Uh-huh.

Is there, like, chunks
of blondie in there?

Yeah, you could taste
the pretzel.

That's a great impression
of what is floating around

in my mind about
pork rinds, too.

- Mm.
- I going to do a squash curd.

We're going to make
a miso and honey ice cream.

And then
we're going to make two twills.

We should candianize
a little peach--

I have a mold
for a
buñuelo.

I would like to do a poached
pear and then brûlée on top.

And then I want to do a cookie

with pistachio that's salty

and then I'll do
a pistachio cream underneath.

I'm thinking of,
like, a gingerbread cake

with fresh ginger snaps
as flour.

I was already thinking cake.

- Yes.
- Great.

Nick has
some pastry experience.

He's made cakes.

Now we're just kind
of trying to play around

with how to incorporate
these pork rinds.

In my head, I'm thinking
of this thing called
kakigori,

which is like
a Japanese shaved ice

and then some
sort of.

Get the milk
and the cream to the boil.

So, I got
a pistachio cream.

I'm going to make that
into a crème pat.

These are not exactly
a match made in heaven,

so I'm doing
what I think

adds as much
pistachio flavor as possible.

I make pistachio butter
and I do

a cookie with pistachio
and white chocolate.

Jae, what you working on
on the hotline right now?

- Poaching liquid for the pear.
- Nice.

Thirty-five minutes, guys!

Nick, have you ever made
a dessert with pork rinds?

No, I'm focusing
on the gingerbread cake.

I love baking cakes

so I'm going to do
a ginger snap Bundt cake.

I let Ashleigh kind of
tackle the pork rinds.

I love pork rinds so this is
actually kind of cool.

- Going in, Ashleigh.
- Going in. Heard that.

Okay, boiled.
You pour it in to the egg yolks.

Whisk, whisk, whisk.

Put it back onto the heat
and I'll keep watching it, okay?

When I went
to Melbourne at 17 years old,

I got a job at
a two hat restaurant

and the first section that
they put me on was pastry.

So, I want to
go all out

using crystallized honey
and miso to form leaves,

and then making
a miso cake

to go on top
of a honey ice cream.

Yeah, it's a lot going on
but I would love

double immunity
and $10,000.

I got the ice cream.
Tastes great.

I'm making
buñuelos.

It's like a Mexican
crispy sweet cookie.

I think it's really nice
to pair something sweet

like peaches and something nutty
like marcona almonds

with a really
herbaceous element.

So, I'm making a basil cream
to go along with it.

Over here, Luke.

You want to do
your cornbread in this?

They bake awesome.

I know how to make,
like, three desserts

so I'm pretty reliant
on Monique in this cook.

Whoa.

One of my favorite
ice creams is actually corn.

I'm making corn ice cream.
It's going to go with cornbread.

We're making a pumpkin crumble
and hopefully some squash curd.

Twenty-two minutes!

My poached pear is on.

Jackson, I would like to
talk with you where we at.

- Okay.
- You know, Jackson is

like a little horse, like,
you know, jumping everywhere.

I'm going to check
on these cookies.

I need to know
what he's doing

but he's just running
all over the world.

Like a horse,
running.

Ten minutes, you guys!

How is it going?

I'm trying
to coat these rinds

without burning them,
because there's molasses,

has a ton of sugar.

But I think
it's going to work out.

They're called
barquettes, okay?

- Barquettes?
- Yeah.

All right,
I'll let you describe it, then.

Why is it being
so finicky with me?

The batter is sticking to the buñuelo mold

and it's not wanting
to come off.

Where's Abuela
to help us?

I know, Abuelita,
come through.

You have
five minutes left.

Man, I'm sweating
sweet and salty.

We got this!
Yeah. Push, push.

- Oh, sh--.
- What's wrong?

Squash curd.
It's in the blast freezer.

Pick out
the nicest leaves.

Time's up,
hands up, please.

I'm a pastry chef!

Jackson and Jae,
please come on up.

Thank you.
What do we have?

Rosemary-poached
Asian pear, pistachio cookie.

And a pistachio cream
underneath

and salted crème
fraîche on top.

Have you ever made
a pistachio cookie before?

I've done cookies
with nuts in them, but this one,

I wanted to add
textural component.

Thank you, both.

That's a ginger snap
Bundt cake with lemon ice.

And salted molasses
buttermilk with a brown butter,

pork rind
Mulberry crumble.

So, pork rinds
and ginger snaps.

Yeah.

I love it.
It almost eats like cereal.

I know.

- Ooh.
- What we've done for you guys

is a salted almond
buñuelo
on top of

a candied peach and we have
a basil cream on the bottom.

This smells like
the State Fair.

And I mean that, like,
in the best way ever.

- Thank you very much.
- Thank y'all.

- Ooh.
- We decided to make cornbread

with corn ice cream
with a pumpkin seed

and parmesan crumble
with also a pumpkin curd.

All the dishes have been
really creative and delicious.

I've going to make you
do weird stuff more often.

- Thank you.
- It's got a miso

cake crumble on the bottom,
on top of that

we have a miso-honey
ice cream glazed with

a miso-honey caramel, and the
two leaves are actually--

one's made out of miso
and one's made out of honey.

- Trying to get the perfect bite.
- Right.

Thank you.

Nini and Kelsey,
how do you think

our chefs did with
this sweet and salty quickfire?

I'm very impressed.

Y'all's food was
just really good

and really pretty
and interesting.

Kelsey, who had one
of our favorite dishes?

Nick and Ashleigh.

It could have
really gone very wrong

- and it didn't.
- I really appreciated the ice.

It really ate
like a tres leches.

Damarr and Monique.
Your dish was beautiful.

Corn ice cream
is seriously my favorite flavor

and it was everything
I thought it would be.

- Jo and Evelyn.
- When you look at it,

it's very simple,
and then when you cr*ck open,

I found little-little pockets
of the herb cream,

the juiciness
of the peach.

As you know, there can
only be one winning team.

The team with the best dessert
really highlighted

their ingredients
and really balanced them well.

The winning pair
today is...

Nick and Ashleigh.

- Oh, yes!
- Yay!

Ashleigh,
what a way to come back!

I'm on fire,
so I don't plan to lose it.

I really need this win.

I want my competitors to know
that I'm still in it to win it.

- I'm back.
- And Nick,

I mean pork rinds,
good God.

Going to be very thoughtful
from here on out

about what I pick.

Me and Ashleigh
take it home.

Double immunity.

Five more thousand dollars
that can get to my pocket,

$5,000 for Ashleigh.

Congratulations,
Nick and Ashleigh.

Your dessert's recipe
will be used to inspire

a brand new flavor,
and Talenti

has also decided
to donate

$10,000
in your honors

to Chef
Chris Williams' charity,

Lucille's 1913.

Kelsey, Nini, it was so sweet
to have you guys both back here.

- Thank you so much.
- Good luck, everyone.

- Bye, y'all, good luck.
- Thank you!

We've had a lot of fun
with classic Texas dishes

and traditions
these past few weeks,

but it's time to get into
the heart of Texas.

Here to help introduce
this next challenge

is Texas native and Top Chef all-star,

Tiffany Derry!

- Hi, how you doing?
- Hello!

Hey, y'all!

I am so excited
to be here.

For your elimination challenge,
you'll be making a dish

in honor of five
trailblazing Texas women

whose voices
were ahead of their time.

You'll each draw knives to find
out which of the five women

will serve as your inspiration.

- Ann Richards.
- Ann Richards, yes.

Selena!
Sorry.

The Texas Latina gets Selena?
That's pretty badass.

Barbara Jordan.

This is
an individual challenge.

But there will be
two chefs creating a dish

inspired by each pioneer.

Nick and Jo,
you pulled

Texas Governor,
Ann Richards.

Only the second woman ever
to hold the position.

Ashleigh and Jae,
you pulled

"Babe" Didrikson Zaharias,

one of the greatest athletes
of all time.

Monique and Jackson.

Barbara Jordan was
the first African American woman

elected to the Texas
House of Representatives.

I feel like this
is going to be a challenge.

It's giving us a lot
of freedom but it seems like

it's going to be
kind of difficult to wrap

this story of
these women into one dish.

Luke, Buddha,
Bessie Coleman.

She was
the first African American,

Native American
female licensed aviator.

And finally,
Evelyn and Damarr,

the undisputed queen
of Tejano music, Selena.

You will honor these women

through your dishes

and serve them
to a table

of Texan trailblazers
in their own right.

I think with everything that's
happening currently in Texas,

it's such an important challenge
to focus on

the women who have made
this state great.

And I really
want to showcase that.

Your guest judge
for this challenge,

James Beard nominee,
Christine Ha,

who you've already had
the pleasure to cook for

at the Asian night market,
remember?

In honor of
the late Barbara Jordan's,

Get Out the Vote
initiative work,

everyone at the dinner table
will have an equal vote

in determining
who will win this challenge.

We are providing you
each with a dossier

about your leading ladies.

Tomorrow, you'll have
two and a half hours

to prep and cook before
service begins at Brennan's.

- Good luck, everyone.
- Thank you, guys.

- We'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you.

- Ann Richards.
- Here.

Thank you.

Hey, Ashleigh, you got a
dish that you're thinking of?

No, no, I don't.

Babe is the daughter of poor
Norwegian immigrants.

I don't know a lot about
the foods of Norway,

but I think about the women
in my family, so I'm going with

an Appalachian inspired dish.

I was Selena for, like,
five years in a row

for Halloween.

Growing up
as a first generation

Mexican-Salvadorian-American,
it's hard to kind of know

and navigate, like,
are you Mexican enough?

Are you American enough?

And I feel like Selena
made that easier for us,

to be like,
"Oh, see, like, she's proud."

Just when I grabbed the Kn*fe,
"Como la Flor" came to mind--

Of course.

-- the song which was

my favorite when
I was growing up.

All right, guys,
you ready to go?

- Let's do it.
- Let's go to Whole Foods Market.

Girl.

Yeah, I'm sitting in an immunity
car except for me over here.

Gosh.

Well, I got Ann-- Ann Richards,

and she was the 45th
governor of Texas.

She added, like,
African Americans and women

to the Texas Rangers.

She was the first one to break
open that cycle, which was huge.

This lady was a powerhouse.

We have Barbara Jordan.

She had this awesome quote:

"I am neither a Black politician
or a female politician.

"I'm just a politician."
In my career,

I never wanted to be known as
an Asian chef or a female chef,

I just wanted to be
known as a good chef.

Yeah, so first of all
Bessie Coleman, right?

Okay.

The thing on her hat is bird

because it's flying.

She's a pilot.

Not only was she the first

African American,

but also Native American to get

a pilot's license and all

that sort of stuff.

Women can't fly in America,

they're not allowed to.

But French women can fly.

So, she ends up saving up
her money and moving to Paris.

This is something that,
you know, made me very kind

of nervous.
Just, like, one, doing research,

which is, you know--
That sort of stuff is really

hard for me to do anyways.

You know? Takes me a little
extra time to do it.

I found out I had learning
disabilities

much later
in life than when kids know

that they have learning
disabilities.

As a dyslexic person,

reading this dossier took me

a few times to really kind of

understand some things.

But my learning disabilities

and the way that I think
definitely helped me

be a creative person
or think differently.

I'm kind of, in a sense,
going to focus in on

the Native side of it.

What do you have for gold
shrimp right now?

Looking for tomatillos
and I'm very excited

that I see them.

Selena, she was all about family
and I think that pozole is like

a very family-oriented dish.

- Hi, welcome back!
- We both have Babe.

Yeah.
What are you making?

I'm going
to do a candied pork dish.

Ooh, nice.

Twenty minutes, chefs.

You know what? I'll take two

of these guys and all of those.

There are some shucked.

There's shucked ones?
Okay, that works for me.

I'm gonna make,
like, a bean dish

that basically uses
a lot of ingredients

from that neighborhood
she grew up in.

And then I'm gonna
do fried oysters on top.

Awesome.

With the barbecue
challenge,

I felt like I didn't have
a vision.

For this challenge,
the story needs to be there.

Thank you.

Barbara Jordan fought
for her community even

after she made it big.

So, I looked back to
her roots in her hometown

and why she came back.

Jackson, what are you thinking?

I'm gonna do something
with a lot of heart and guts.

Barbara Jordan
actually ran to be

in the House of Representatives
three times.

To really go for it three times

I think is incredibly
gutsy of her.

And that's just kind of the only
thing that keeps running

"Heart
and guts, heart and guts."

So, why not use offal
in my dish?

I'm just going to pull back,
focus on this one ragu.

I bought one of
everything. Don't worry.

- Opa!
- Boom!

What are you at,
what are you at?

$299.20, wow!

Thank you.

All right!

She back!
She back!

Welcome back, Ashleigh!

She is risen!

Man, all these powerful women,

it's, like, so uplifting.

I check a lot of boxes.

Black, woman, q*eer.
Have been in many kitchens

where
I have been the only woman

and, you know, I want people
to be able to walk

into my kitchen
and find place there.

This one is really inspiring.
You know?

- Absolutely.
- 'Cause I'm sure everyone here

has, like, a female mentor
in some way.

I used to live
in New Orleans and I worked

at Chef Leah Chase's
restaurant for five months.

I was very glad that I had
that experience early on

my expe-- you know,
career and she became

my mentor and everything.

I had no idea
you worked with Chef Leah.

- Yeah.
- She's, like, my idol.

I mean, shout outs to
the five of you, right?

Like, it's really a pleasure
being around this space.

Chilies,
they ain't playin'. Ah!

It seems like you know pretty
much everything about Selena.

She had such a bold personality.

Like, just the way she carried
herself, the way she tried

to push boundaries
for the Latino community.

So, those are the things that
are really inspiring my dish.

If Selena can tap down and help
me out on this dish,

it would be amazing.

What do you think
is the biggest challenge

to execute your dish today?

Tying in the story,

but also
getting these tortillas right.

Hey, Jo, how you feeling?

I got my corn grated
for my polenta.

- How you looking?
- Looking pretty good.

Mines is gonna
be mostly veggie focused.

Ann Richards struggled a lot
with cancer so she tried

to change over her life
and start eating clean.

Right now I'm working
on potatoes

that has
the shape of mushrooms.

This is just an old school
method that's dedicated to her.

I'm making potato encrusted
red snapper, beet risotto,

kale romesco
and potato mushroom.

I got a lot of Kn*fe
work to do.

What's your protein?

Gold shrimp. Since we're
celebrating Texas women,

I thought I'd celebrate things
that we do best here.

According to her chef
at the governor's mansion,

she really enjoyed
Thai influence in her food.

Oh, wow, awesome.

Gumbo time.

I want to fry some okras
just to give a little texture

to the gumbo.

Babe is a true fighter

and that reminded
me of Chef Leah Chase.

It just means so much
to me and I get really

emotional when I make gumbo.

I didn't really get to cook

with my grandmother,
but being in the kitchen

with Chef Leah Chase
in New Orleans completed

my childhood because
I felt like I'm cooking

with my grandmother.

But it's also very difficult to
make gumbo just in two hours.

This is a very,
very special dish.

Buddha, how you doing?
What are you doing?

I'm good. I just got a lot of
things to get on at the start.

I bit a little bit more
than I can chew,

but I'm going really high
concept with this dish.

So, I'm making
poulet en Bessie,

a traditional
dish which is actually

called
poulet en vessie.

Normally,
poulet en vessie

is cooked in a pig's bladder,

but today I'll be
cooking in a sous vide bag.

I really want to make sure
that I do justice to her story.

Serving with Paris mash
and then I'm going

to serve it with some corn.

Jackson, I'm pumped.

I just want to do it justice

and especially
for Barbara Jordan.

She had a lot of hearts
and guts so I'm gonna

actually incorporate chicken
offal into this dish.

Make it kind of an offal ragu.

A delicious, not "awful" ragu.

I don't want it to taste
too offal-forward,

so it's critical that I mince
it right when it gets

into the pan, so hopefully this
dish is not A-W-F-U-L.

Like-- Right?

Ashleigh, it's been quite
a roller coaster ride

- for you, huh?
- Oh, my gosh.

But you know what?

My head is
so in the game.

It doesn't even
strike me that I have immunity

because that's not
important to me right now.

I'm doing that candied pork,
salt and vinegar potatoes

and k*lled lettuce.

What are k*lled lettuces?

A Southern Appalachian dish.

Okay.

So far,
when I'm a part of a team,

I do a little better.
I don't like having to lean on

the support of others
to succeed.

So, I'm hoping that I can
stand out as an individual

for this challenge.

My goal is just make some
very simple,

humble ingredients shine today.

Hey, chefs. How's it going?

- Hey, how are ya?
- Hey, Luke.

- How's it goin', chefs?
- Hello.

- Chef Tiffany.
- What are you making?

I have Bessie Coleman.
Found it really

cool that she was
Indigenous American.

And in the northwest,

we only have smoked
and cured salmon

because of
the Indigenous Americans.

So, I'm going
to do a cured salmon

that I'm going
to lightly smoke.

How much time
do you have to cure them?

So, this is a very light cure.
It's a mix of the miso

and seaweed is the cure,
with coriander.

- Ah.
- Sounds good.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Hey, Monique.
- Hi, chefs!

What do you have?
What are you making?

So, my inspiration
was Barbara Jordan.

And so, I kind of took
ingredients from the 1940s,

what was accessible
to her neighborhood

and what
they were familiar with.

Yeah, I love the way you're
thinking here.

That's just great.

I'm doing fried oysters,

so, like, an appetizer dish.

Do you think frying oyster's

a little tricky with the timing?

The fryer's right next
to me so I think

that I can get it done.
And I think the biggest thing

is making the right textures
with the beans.

- Making sure they're cooked.
- Yeah, exactly.

And bring the flavor,
'cause she's bold. Yeah.

- Thank you so much.
- That's good, thanks.

Hey, Damarr,
how you doing?

Good, chefs,
how are you all?

Okay.
Making some tortillas?

I am. I got Selena so I kind
of thought about my team

at the restaurant. And some
of the Mexican team members

say they make pozole
for family meal.

And then I figured I'd try to
make tortillas.

- I've never made 'em before.
- That was my question,

- "Have you ever made tortillas?"
- I have not.

Do you have any store bought
tortillas as a backup?

No. You know, I didn't
even really want to have

that moment where it's like,
"Did you make the tortillas?"

So, I'm just going
to make these tortillas.

They're gonna be right.

And that's where we're
going to go for.

- Moving forward, I like it.
- Sounds good.

All right, cool.

Hey, Evelyn, you're coming off
a big win. How's that feel?

Feels great. But I can't
stay on that high,

but I'm definitely using
that energy as a boost

and just keep going.

- Who's your inspiration?
- Selena.

I mean,
she was an amazing person,

so there's
so much to get inspired by.

It's really, like,
what do I choose, right?

So, first thing
that came to mind

was my favorite song,
"Como la Flor,"

which is, "Like a flower."

So, visually my dish

would look like a flower.

- Sounds good.
- I'm ready to try it.

Thank you, chefs.

Chefs,
everything looks great.

- Thank you.
- Good luck, y'all.

- Thank you.
- Thirty minutes!

Right now,
I am making a chicken fudge.

Basically,
it's a compound butter

that has the consistency
of a fudge.

- Sounds great.
- Ooh, that didn't work.

Making tortillas is pretty
difficult.

Trying to press these things,
they're ripping.

I'm assuming this is too wet,
or am I just being a barbarian?

A little bit
more flour.

I know that I have to
figure this out, period.

Ah, too thin.

How fun is this?

I believe this is your seat,
right here.

All right, thank you, Gail.

Thank you.

Welcome, everybody. Thank you
so much for being here.

It means the world to all of us.

It's a great way to honor
some amazing, accomplished,

groundbreaking women,
past and present, at this table

and not, so cheers to everybody.

And thank you for sharing
this meal with us.

Cheers, cheers.

Can I say one thing just
because Sheryl's here?

You can say as many
things as you want.

So, my mother and Barbara Jordan
would sit on the floor

of the Erwin Center and watch
Sheryl play basketball.

I feel like just
that spirit is--

- You're gonna make me cry now.
- at this table.

So, it's such an honor to be
here with amazing women.

Ooh, what you
up to over there?

Hey! I'm breading the oysters
already.

I just want to make
sure they're breaded

and fried at the last moment.

Nice. Nice.

Got this chicken. It's been
slowly cooked in a bag

and now I'm just
giving it some color.

My biggest concern about
the dish is chicken breast

can often be dry,
but techniques that I put

on the plate will be all
the stuff that I've learned

in Restaurant Gordon Ramsay,
working for my mentor,

Clare Smyth. To me, she is
the best chef in the world.

So, it's kind
of like a roast chicken

and
poulet en vessie.

Trying to get
some more flavor going.

Five minutes.

Why did I choose
such intricate work?

I'm just very scared
because I'm running out of time.

Sh-- is real.

I don't want to mess up.

I'm trying to well represent
not only myself but Selena.

Evelyn, you need any help?

Can you follow
with the chili oil?

- Two drops?
- Yeah, beautiful.

Sh-- got real.

Oh, boy.

Three, two, one.

We did it!

- Looks great.
- Selena.

Ooh...

Oh, the first set up
is so fancy.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

- It's incredible.
- Yeah.

This first
course is inspired by Selena.

So, Evelyn and Damarr,

please let me introduce
you to Suzette Quintanilla.

Hi.

Selena's sister as well
as her drummer.

Awesome. Well, first of all,
it's an honor to be here.

It's a table full
of amazing women, and Tom.

For inspiration, I mean,
she just meant so much

for our community. It's someone
that we saw in a bigger platform

that we could relate to.

So, what I've prepared
for you guys today

is kind of a take
on aguachile, ceviche vibes.

I've named it after
my favorite Selena song,

which is "Como la Flor,"
which is "Like a Flower."

So, that's why the presentation.

On the bottom, we have
our Texas Gulf snapper

tossed in a little bit
of Asian pear, chives,

avocado mashed
with orange zest.

Damarr, what did you make?

What really stood out to me was
that she was all about family.

Which made me
think about pozole.

It's just, like,
family in a bowl in my mind.

So, I made green pozole
with white corn tortillas,

cabbage
and radish and cilantro.

What does it feel like
to cook for this table, Damarr?

You know,
I'm usually sort of calm,

but I'm, like, really nervous.

You know, I was raised
by three women

and it's just, like,
a moment of reverence and so...

I think that's probably
the vibration

in my voice,
'cause I'm just nervous, so...

I got it,
thank you, both.

This is amazing.

What did you think
of Evelyn's aguachile?

I could feel the love there
and it flowed into her dish

completely, and I loved it.

The size
of the fish is really nice,

it has great texture,
it's really bright and I'll stop

talking now because there
are plenty of women here

who I should listen to.

Evelyn's aguachile was
excellent.

It was just well balanced
in texture,

in temperature and in flavor.

Sheryl,
did you like this dish?

Well, I have none left.

Pace yourself.

- I wanna try your pozole, dude.
- Yeah.

What about Damarr's pozole?

His dish was definitely
that type that you just

want to sit down and be around
family and talk and hang out.

The tortilla, I thought,
was really soft

and delicious and beautiful.

- I was, like, vibrating.
- Yeah, it's just so much.

Like, what is going on here?

I feel like you just
feel the power at the table.

- Yeah.
- Like, whoa.

- You good, Ashleigh?
- Yup.

Ah, plating,
why is it so tedious?

Got some
plates to clean over here.

That is amazingly beautiful.

This is "Babe"
Didrikson Zaharias.

Mm.

Ashleigh, what did
you make for us today?

I prepared candied pork
with salt and vinegar potatoes,

k*lled lettuces
and a little herb yogurt.

Jae, what did you make for us?

I have seafood gumbo
with okra kimchi.

Babe's story inspired me.

She's so strong and I wanted
to highlight Chef Leah Chase

in New Orleans.

I try not to be emotional
for today, so I'm sorry.

It's okay.
We're all emotional. I get it.

She is the reason that I'm here,

because she wrote
me a letter for the visa

so that I could stay in America.

And Chef Leah Chase used to tell
me if the gumbo is not right,

she's going to punch me
in my face today.

I don't think you'll get punched
in the face for this.

- Thank you, both.
- Thank you.

I'm bawling.

Nini, what do
you think of Jae's gumbo?

I think it's very flavorful.

I don't know if I would say
that her inspiration

really
is Babe as it is Leah.

That's really fair.

I'm obsessed
with the okra kimchi.

I think it's wonderful.

I do think it's lacking
a little bit in the depth

that you feel a gumbo broth is.

This is probably the dish
I was most excited about

'cause it's Babe.

- And you're an athlete.
- Yeah.

Babe was a shero
and I didn't really connect

their stories to Babe.

I try really hard not
to be so emotional.

What about
Ashleigh's candied pork?

I think being visually
impaired

and trying to cut
that pork, I got really

nervous at the table,
'cause I thought my pork

was about to fly off my plate.

And sure enough,
it was very tough.

There was so much vinegar.

I do think that Ashleigh's
dish was quite unbalanced.

We have to be honest and you
have to be able to say,

"Your baby is ugly."

It looks right, gotta taste it.

Mm.

Wow. Buddha,
tell us about your dish.

My inspiration
for Bessie Coleman

is that she went to France,

to get her international
pilot's license

and she would become
a stunt woman,

that her famous
move was the figure of eight.

So, on the dish, we have
a
poulet en vessie,

which is actually
poulet en Bessie.

So, with a Paris mash in the
figure of eight to the way

that she would fly her plane,
served with a sauce Robert,

corn with a,
which is a chicken mousse,

because of her native
roots to America.

Why the popcorn?

When you see brave Bessie fly,
you're gonna need some popcorn.

Hi, Luke. What did
you make for us and why?

The time that Bessie Coleman
left to Europe was around

the same time that I did
to start my career,

basically, in culinary.

So, I took one of the first

things that I learned there,

an emulsion made from
oysters,

and then the last
thing that I learned there,

which was curing fish
in a brine of parsley

and then covered in a miso
and seaweed.

On top, I also have a fudge

that's made
from a chicken reduction.

Also some chicken crumbles
and rye bread crumbles.

- Thank you, both.
- Thank you.

Buddha's chicken dish
was quite clever.

The whipped potato with
the figure eight that she does.

It was delightful.

When you think about
someone like Bessie Coleman

who's doing
very fancy tricks,

but there's no doubt that behind
that there's a tremendous

attention to detail, which I can
sort of feel in this dish.

There's a lot of technique
in this dish.

And to get it done
in two and a half hours

- is pretty remarkable.
- I love it even more now.

Luke's dish for me
is less successful.

I'm definitely missing some
acid and some texture.

I definitely felt like
it needed the salt,

but I felt like Luke
did a good job of trying to find

himself in Bessie's story,
so I appreciated that.

I thought that the dish
fell a little flat.

I did like the chicken
skin rye moment,

but it needed-- it just
needed more than that.

I think it needed salt.
It needed acidity.

It needed brightness.

You know, sitting next
to this chicken dish,

just feels paltry, a little bit.

No, the poultry's here.

- Dad.
- Dad jokes.

Should've had the fish on
just a little bit longer.

This has dried out a little bit.

Nick, I'm giving
you a little wipe here.

- Thank you very much.
- I got you, B.

The potatoes are mushrooms.

- That's cute.
- Beautiful.

Hello, everyone.

I did a potato
encrusted red snapper

with a beet risotto,
a kale romesco

and you have a potato

which is shaped
just like a mushroom.

It's really beautiful.

Ann Richards was very
into a Thai twist on things.

I did some gulf shrimp that's
been tossed with a coconut

lime salsa verde.
Underneath, fresh corn polenta,

some shishitos in there
and a little fresh salad.

- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.

First, I'll just have to say
these are all the things

that my mother loved,
and Jo's version

of shrimp and grits is a
wonderful, to me, take on that.

It was unfortunate
that Joe's dish was so sweet.

It doesn't remind me
of the Ann Richards I know.

She was spicy and saucy
and a little feisty.

She could have pumped
up the flavor a lot.

I was freaking out 'cause
Sheryl Swoopes was there.

Yeah, there you go.
I'mma hold it.

There we go, there you go.
Good job.

Nick's dish is gorgeous

and delicious.

I love the red snapper.

Mom would love this dish.

It's a beautiful presentation

and that's what I always got
from Ann when I saw her.

And I was like,
"Oh, that woman right

there is about to
give me hell tonight."

Potatoes, you know,
they're cute.

There are misses.

I would eat
Nick's dish for lunch.

Tom, the look!

I'm agreeing,
there are misses.

But I think that romesco--

- Which is good, yeah.
- I really love it.

She would've loved this.
I just have to say,

she would've loved this.

I hope I paid as much respect
as possible to Ann Richards.

Yeah, that was really cool.

- Monique, time?
- Five on the dot.

The oysters are done
and they're kind of big,

so I decide to cut them,

but I'm realizing
they'll be in the broth

and they might get kind
of soggy.

Twenty seconds. Move.

I make the decision
not to put as much broth

because the oysters are
just going to sink.

Next is Barbara Jordan.

Yum.

Monique, tell us about
your inspiration

and the dish you made.

Barbara Jordan.

She went back to her hometown

and she opened up her law
office there and these are

the ingredients that were most
accessible in that area.

So, these are fried oysters with
assorted beans, pickled okra,

and a pancetta bean broth,

- Jackson.
- I made tagliolini hand cuts

with chicken and offal ragu.

Why?

Okay, so I have a lot,
I wrote it all down.

Yes.

Okay, so she ran for
the House of Representatives

not once,
not twice, but three times,

which I think has a lot of heart
and makes her very gutsy.

So, that's why I tried to
go with the heart and guts

- and the offal.
- Ah!

Trying to make it happen.

So, there is chili
and mushroom as well, right?

So, there is more to it than
just the chicken and the offal.

Thank you, both.

Did anybody else get
a half cut oyster in their bowl?

Yeah.

Instead of cutting them in half,
just give us one oyster.

That said,
they're nicely fried.

Knowing Barbara Jordan--
I'm from Houston--

I looked up to her
as a young Black woman.

She was so important to me.

I could because she did
and I really feel that way.

And so, it didn't wow me,
and Barbara Jordan is wow.

All I had were beans and two
halves of an oyster.

I got everyone's broth.
Sorry.

And not too salty,
right?

I think you should have
someone else have some.

Jackson, I could only
imagine how uncomfortable he was

in reading about her and her bio
and trying to figure out,

"How am I going to serve this
dish to a table full

"of women and Tom?"

And I thought he did
an incredible job

of really understanding who she
was and what she represented.

So, huge fan of this dish.

The offal wasn't chalky.

Sometimes it has that grainy
texture.

I think it was
cooked well.

I am not a fan of offal.

- Like, what's offal?
- It's organ meat.

That's what I had?
It was amazing.

Oh, I didn't know
that's what I ate.

I didn't even know.

The confidence in this plate,

in his story,
he just nailed that.

Padma, Gail, Tom.

I really want to say,
for Houston,

especially the restaurant
women and men,

thank you so much for coming.

For you
to come at this time

- couldn't be more important.
- Thank you.

So, in front of you,
you have a menu which I would

like to now turn into a ballot.

I would like you all to cast one
vote for the winning dish.

No recounting.

No recounts!

It was great to see
that everybody really took

the challenge to heart

and put together
some really great dishes.

Evelyn, Jackson
and Buddha, please stay here.

The rest of you can step
to the side for now. Thank you.

The three of you had our
favorite dishes of the night.

- God! Oh, my gosh!
- We meet again.

I thought you all did
really, really well.

Evelyn, it was lucky for
you that you had such a personal

connection, of course,
to Selena and her music.

I felt like I had such a big
connection that I really

had to show that in one dish.

I love the fact that you put
the cucumber in the aguachile

because it made it refreshing.
There had this spice to it.

Everything just sang.

Because I'm visually impaired,
presentation isn't as important

to me, but when I take
a bite of something,

everything
has to be balanced.

And I thought, Evelyn, you did
a very thoughtful job with that.

So, I really commend you
on that, Evelyn.

- Thank you.
- It was bright and powerful.

It had a crescendo.
You know, it really built up.

Every bite was a little
spicier than the last.

- Thank you so much.
- Jackson.

The pasta was beautifully made.

Ragu was really flavorful,
had right amount of spice,

and it doesn't
need to be adorned

because it's simply
delicious.

It's a bold thing to be using

that sort of meat
and protein in such a challenge,

but you did it.
You pulled it off.

I thoroughly
enjoyed your ragu.

I thought it had
so much depth of flavor.

- Kudos to you.
- Thanks.

- Buddha.
- It's just a great

- roast chicken.
- Yeah, is what it is.

You gave us sensible technique

matched up to great
narrative, and I thought

it was really,
really successful and delicious.

Thank you.

And when we get into
the technique, I mean,

you took chicken breast and you
kept it moist for all of us.

It was a little bit of a risk

and I liked that
it paid off for you.

Thank you.

As you all know,
the guests today

at the dinner table got a vote
on who won this challenge.

Chefs, you all
made delicious food,

but the chef
with the winning dish

really told a great
story through their food.

And the winning
chef tonight is...

Evelyn.

- Jesus!
- Great job all over again.

Congratulations, Evelyn!

Thank you so much.

Two for two. How you feeling?

Very emotional
and I'm very happy,

especially with this challenge.

I was clearly trying to keep
it in this whole time.

But winning
is definitely pushing me.

This is just a boost
of energy to keep going hard

and staying true to me
and showing y'all what I have.

Everyone at the table
thought it was amazing.

- Do you want to know who won?
- Yes!

Evelyn won.

- Selena!
- Yes, exactly.

Thank you so much.

The three of you can step
to the side. Thank you.

Monique, Ashleigh.

And Luke,
please step forward.

The three of you had our least
favorite dishes tonight.

And of course, that means one of
you will be going home tonight.

Luke, let's start with you.

I did pull things that I
wanted to try to relate to me.

It's hard to truly cure
salmon in two and a half hours.

I think it just needed salt,

and the texture
wasn't quite there yet.

I think the dish as a whole
felt a little bit boring to me.

Something was a little bit
missing and lacking.

Tell me
about the oyster emulsion.

Ideally, it should have
been a little bit more bold.

With adding
the fudge that I made

from the chicken reduction,

I thought it would be a little
bit enough with the salt.

How could we possibly
have had chicken fudge

with every bite when you gave us
a teeny little dollop?

Compositionally,
there's elements on the plate

that are really tasty,
and yet we're not getting it.

Yep.

Monique, did you feel like
you were struggling today?

Not with the idea.

I think I struggled the most
with the time at the end.

You had a situation
but it didn't feel

like
you pivoted very well, right?

And if I'm being really honest,
the bean salad reminded

me of, like, a three bean salad
that you get out of a can.

It didn't have any
definition of flavor.

Everything tasted the same.

My bowl had beans
and two halves of an oyster.

- Okay.
- And really, that's it.

I didn't get the broth.

I didn't get the apple
that you talked about.

- I didn't get any herbs.
- Sorry.

Most of the flavor was
in that broth with the pancetta.

And that's where I messed up,
yeah.

Did you cut oysters?

I cut the oysters
after I fried them,

because some
of them were big.

When you cut it,
all those juices came out

so you lost the beauty
of a fried oyster.

It was gone at that point.

Ashleigh, when those plates
went out, you were like,

"This is how
I wanted it to come out"?

Honestly, yeah.
I thought that I was sticking

true to the narrative
and I did feel good.

I think your narrative is great.

I just think there
were technical issues.

I couldn't tell that it was
supposed to be a braised dish.

My pork
was definitely dry and tough.

There was an overwhelming
amount of vinegar.

I got more
vinegar than I got sweetness

and so the balance of the plate
just felt really, really off.

Okay.

How are you feeling, Ashleigh?

It sucks, feeling
like the weakest player.

You're not going anywhere
because you have immunity.

We just want you to hear.

No. Yeah, I'm thankful
that I got feedback.

Okay,
we'll see you all in a bit.

Thank you all.

Number two.

Holy sh--!

I don't--
I can't even believe it.

Congratulations.

- Anything for Selena.
- Awesome, girl.

Tonight was such
an inspiring dinner,

and for the most part,
we had a great meal.

But for these three chefs,
it was just not a success today.

Right now, we're only
talking about Luke and Monique.

Let's talk about Luke first.

It felt like there was a piece
missing to Luke's dish.

The chicken fudge,
as he calls it,

there was such a small amount
that it was almost nonexistent.

And that's a pretty powerful
flavor that would

have changed the dish
significantly, had we tasted it.

Yes! There should have
been so much more flavor.

It was just definitely
an incomplete dish.

I think my craquelins were burnt
because I just tasted

a lot of bitter
notes throughout.

Keep your head up.

It's been down
for too much of my life.

- I'm going to keep it up now.
- That's good.

I'm not clear on what Monique
was trying to do tonight.

And I certainly know
she wasn't successful at it.

When you ate the dish,
it was just lackluster.

The oysters were dry,
and the beans had no flavor.

She had everything she needed
to make a great dish,

but she did not do that today.

You were amazing, really.

You are amazing.

Okay.
Let's get them out here.

You know, chefs,
tonight's challenge was to find

inspiration in reading
the biographies of these

five amazing Texas women.

I think where everything
went wrong is that there

was some
hesitation and it showed.

And at this stage in the game,

hesitation leads to creating
a dish that is just not

strong enough to continue
in the competition.

Monique.
Please pack your knives and go.

Thank you so much.

Monique, we'll see
you in
Last Chance Kitchen.

- Thank you, again.
- Thank you, both.

I came here to be a winner.
I came here to show what I got.

I definitely feel
that I haven't shown what

I can do enough.

What, it's you?

Monique.
It's Monique.

You just better k*ll it in Last Chance, that's all.

- That's it.
- That's all.

For me,
Top Chef
really reminded me

how strong I am as a person.

Oh, Damarr, I know.
I miss you already.

Women rise, so I will always
rise stronger than ever.

Tonight, Last Chance Kitchen is back.

Monique was eliminated
and now must fight Sarah,

the current reigning champ.

I'm ready to take
stock of you both.

- Uh-oh.
- Will Monique get all her

- ingredients on the plate?
- Sarah, it's always like this

- in LCK?
- Sure is.

Find out now On Demand.

Or wherever you stream
Top Chef.

Next time on
Top Chef...

Whoa...

Jurassic Park?

In the upcoming new film,

Jurassic World Dominion,

worlds will collide.

I'm immediately stoked.

This is definitely gonna be

a fun one, if you can't tell

by the way I'm dressed.

I've worked with

an alligator, but I haven't
broken one down.

I think it's a dish that we've
all been waiting for.

What the
is going on here?

What was it like
doing the movie?

It was summer camp
with dinosaurs.

- Blood, baby.
- Oh.

We don't have
to send anybody home.

- Somebody was already sent home.
- Maybe a double elimination.