15x10 - Red Rum and Then Some

[bunniefuu]

And then there were five.

-[Bruce] Yeah.

-[Christopher] Never gets easy.

No, it's only gonna

get harder.

[Joe]

Last week was a bumpy road.

We lost Joe Flamm.

Oh, my God.

[Joe]

And Foxy



disappointed on the nachos



and headed home for that.

The food that we got today

is something that

I'd expect to get

with non-professional

chefs cooking.

This is, you know,

really disappointing.

The past couple of things

that I've made

have been some of the worst



that the judges have had.



It's obvious at this point--

Playing it safe

is not gonna work anymore.

We gotta take

what, uh, Tom said to heart.

We have to play harder,

I guess.

[Bruce]

This competition



is definitely a head game.



I've been cooking longer



than some of the other



contestants have been alive.

But what they don't realize

is that

it's a little intimidating

to me that

I'm not doing that well,

and that's really starting

to weigh on my confidence level.

Well, congratulations

to the two of you.

Oh, thanks.

Went in and going to

the [bleep] Super Bowl.

[Carrie] Yeah,

how fun is that gonna be?

[Bruce] That's awesome.

One of my goals in life

was to be on

Top Chef

and the other is to have

the first Michelin Star

soul food restaurant.

Having accomplished so much,

I think I have the ability

to bust through

that glass ceiling.

It's so close,

you just gotta

make it happen.

[Padma]

Only five chefs remain



to compete in the ultimate



culinary showdown.

At stake for the winner,

a feature in



Food & Wine

magazine,



an appearance at the



Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,



$, furnished by



Sanpellegrino,

and the coveted title

of

Top Chef

.

[sighs]

♪ ♪



Each time after



being on the bottom,

I write a list of things

that I need to improve on.

Seasoning,

check every component

separate and together,

peaks of flavor, acid.

Everything goes

in the notebook.

Everybody else has had wins



during Elimination Challenges

and me,

I've won one Quickfire,

zero Elimination Challenges.

I need to take it

that extra step

and find that next gear

and push just a bit harder.

♪ ♪



-[Christopher]

Time to wake up.

-[Bruce groaning]

-Oh, come on.

-[groans]

Come on, old man.

[phone ringing]

-[Carrie] Hi, Dad.

-[Paul]

Hi, Carrie.

Whatcha doin'?

I talk to my dad



every single day,

so being apart has been

a challenge for both of us.

Tell me what's going on.

I think he always



wanted a son,



but he got three daughters.



Turns out that



I liked fishing,



I liked being on boats,

and so he treated me

especially like

as if I were a son.

Do you need anything?

-[Paul]

I need pants.

-You need some new pants?

After my parents divorced,



my dad's mental state



kind of dwindled.

He has early signs

of, uh, Alzheimer's or dementia,

so he lives



in assisted living now.



He's not always super lucid,

but I can tell

he's pretty proud of me.

-[Paul]

I love you.

-I love you more.

[Paul]

Bye-bye.



I'll see you later.



-Bye.

-Bye.

A big part of why I'm here

is to hopefully, you know,

make life better for my dad.

Make him more comfortable

and get him the care he needs

is a big motivation for me.

See you there.

We're going a different way.

-Oh, [bleep].

-We're in the wrong lane.

Looks like we're headed

to Boulder.

Oh, God.

Where are we going?

Oh, we're going

to stay in that hotel.

It's the one from

The Shining

,

from the movie.

[Bruce] We'll be spending

the night here.

The Stanley Hotel

is famous for

Stephen King's inspiration



for writing

The Shining

.

[creepy voice]

Redrum, redrum.

That creeped

the [bleep] out of me

when I was a kid.

♪ ♪

Good morning.

[all] Good morning.

I'd like to welcome everyone

to the historic Stanley Hotel,

here in gorgeous

Estes Park, Colorado.

This is your last Quickfire

before the finals begin.

In ,

Stephen King and his wife

checked in here for one night

-to a completely empty hotel.

-[gulps]

Well, so they thought.

The events that transpired

that night

led to one of Stephen King's

worst nightmares of his life.

[children laughing]

The nightmare was

enough inspiration

for one of America's

most recognized

horror novels of all time,

The Shining.

Are you ready

for the scary part?

-Yes.

-Yup.

For your Quickfire Challenge,

you'll have to make a dessert.

Pfft, I'm scared.

[laughs]

That sounds pretty terrifying.

I need to dig deep on this one



to find some inspiration.

For your Quickfire Challenge

today,

I want to see you visualize

whatever your worst

nightmare is

on the plate

with your dessert.

It seems like you guys

could use a little

creative jolt.

So let's see

what you've got.

[Carrie]

I don't like



scary movies.



I don't watch them.

My imagination's

a little too vivid for that.

I dream in incredible detail.

Last night, for instance,

I dreamt about a tater tot

made with pine nuts

that was stuffed with jam.

[horror flourish]

To help make sure

you can get super creative,

our friends at Craftsy

have sent some tools

to help you

with your scary desserts.

To make things

a bit more chilling,

I'll be tasting your dishes

in the room

where Stephen King

had his nightmare.

-[Bruce laughing]

-Ooh, creepy.

[laughs]

Okay, chefs,

I'll see you up

in room .

And your one hour starts now.

Good luck.

♪ ♪

Ooh, food coloring.

[Bruce] Carrie,

what's your inspiration today?

You know the part

in

The Shining

where they go to the ball

-and it's freaking

terrifying?

-[Bruce] Yeah.

Jack goes to a grand ball

at the hotel.

And it's like champagne

and caviar and black and white.

So, my plan is to recreate



that horrifying scene



with a savory panna cotta,

a sesame seed ice cream,

and a champagne granita.

Okay, how do you use

this ice-cream machine?

You gotta make sure

that this white joint

is closed all the way.

-How do you do that?

-Like that.

Too many nuts.

Pastry is like

an OCD person's wet dream.

That's actually why



I started in pastry,

because I loved that you had to

measure everything to the gram.

The scariest things

always start off

kind of innocuous

and then, shockingly,

there's blood or guts.

So that's the idea

that I'm gonna start from.

I'm making

cocoa blood ice cream

with Grand Marnier,

meringue chips,



and chocolate branches.



The concept is



the forest ground,

and then you step on a part

and you just see blood

seeping up.

It's slightly terrifying.

I thought I saw

a little black circle mole

somewhere

when we walked in here.

I actually never remember

my dreams,

good or bad.



I've been told that's because

you smoke a lot of weed,

that happens.

Joe, what's your scary?

Have you ever

cracked into an egg

-and had an unborn chicken

inside of it?

-Blech.

How are you gonna

make an egg?

How am I gonna

make a chicken?

You were always taught

to crack your eggs

in a separate bowl

just in case

you accidentally get

a bloody yolk.

It's pretty much



my worst nightmare.

I don't do pastries,

so I'm just making it up

as I go here.

I'm gonna make

a blood-splattered plate,

egg yolk ice cream,



and then I'm making meringue



to act as the eggshells

that my egg fetus

popped out of.

-What are you making?

-I'm doing a meringue.

-So am I!

-Oh, holy [bleep].

I've never made that before.

-Oh, really?

-Nope.

Chef Tom wants to step up



our game at this point.

I'm gonna go for it.

How long do I bake this for,

Adrienne?

-Uh, till it's hard.

-All right, sounds good.

-[Carrie] What are you making?

-[Christopher] I'm doing a hiker

that fell onto the rocks.

Got pushed.

And his guts and brains

and [bleep] are all over

the place.

Back in the day,

I used to do

a lot of pastries

and friends of mine



used to give me nicknames.



Creme Brulee,



Reverend Sweets,



the Creamy Brown Brother,



Doctor Chocolate.

I have a bag of tricks.

I'm making



a buttermilk chocolate cake



and a marzipan dead man.

[Carrie] So, are you, like,

making a little stick figure

-out of dough?

-Yeah.

[laughing]

That's awesome.

[Christopher] Oh,

I've done sweets before.

I'm not, like,

one of 'em cats that go deep,

but I can make something

taste all right.

-[both] Thirty minutes!

-Thirty minutes.

All right, Joe,

I'm gonna drop temp.

-We're getting color,

which is no good.

-Thank you.

[Adrienne]

I'm definitely



nervous about time.

You cannot rush meringue.

I've tried,



and I've burned it.

[Carrie grunts]

What's yours, Bruce?

I'm working on a panna cotta

and some pomegranate.

I wanna make a panna cotta

because I know

I can get it done



within an hour.

Going that route.

My biggest fears

are drowning

and falling off a cliff.

How do you turn that



into a dessert?

It's just not how

my brain works.

When I was growing up,

I was afraid of seeds

for some reason.

-Yeah?

-Pomegranate used

to freak me out.

Oh, Bruce.

So, I make up a story.

As a kid, I'm afraid of seeds.

And it is so not true.

[laughs]

I don't know

how to do this.

Do you know the ratio

of powder to sheets is?

Absolutely not.

Cool, me neither.

I'm looking

for gelatin sheets.

Then I find



powdered gelatin,



and I've never made it



with powdered gelatin,

but I'm gonna do it.

[laughs]

I hope two packets of gelatin

is enough to set.

[Carrie] The directions

say four cups.

Holy [bleep]!

I don't know

what the hell I'm doing.

No plan B.

I pretty much just [bleep]

my whole dessert.

I'm not gonna make it

on to the plate.

♪ ♪



[Padma]

I believe in spirits,



I do.



I don't think of them



as ghosts



in the traditional



horror-movie sense,



but I have been in rooms



where I have felt



a certain presence



or thickness in the air



and that there was



something there



other than me.

Anybody have eggs?

-Are all the eggs gone?

-Yeah.

-Just making it up here.

-On the fly.

Having to create

a scary dessert

definitely threw



a lot of us off.

[Carrie] Where'd the lid go?

But poor Brucey looks like

somebody set his head on fire.

[Bruce] God damn it.

Oh, God.

[Joe]

I'm serving first.



Meringue's come out



of the oven,

and they're not as dehydrated

as I'd like,

but I need to start plating.

All right. Just going for it.

I need to time this one out.

The ice cream needs to be



the very last thing



that goes on the plate

if it's gonna survive

the half-mile run

to the Judges' Table.

[alarm beeping]

[Padma] Thank you.

-What'd you make, Joe?

-[Joe] Egg yolk ice cream

with a pistachio



cocoa crumble,



yuzu meringue,



and a raspberry sauce.

One of the things

you always learn

was always crack your eggs

in a separate bowl.

What if you got a yolk

with, uh, pieces of chicken

in it?

That's terrifying to me.

Something you never really

wanna eat.

So that's my inspiration

for this.

[Padma]

It's a beautiful combination.

I just wanted

a little bit more

of the pistachio.

Oh, it's spinning.

[Bruce] Okay,

so that didn't work.

I keep trying



different things



that I keep striking out.



I don't know



what's going on.

I mean, like, I touch something

and it turns to [bleep].

Hot.

Don't move, Bruce.

-Okay, I gotta plate, Carrie.

-Yeah.

[Bruce]

I keep checking



on my panna cotta,



and they're not setting.

So, I decide to call it

semifreddo.

Whoa.

-No idea

this is even gonna work.

-[alarm beeps]

[Bruce] I just wanna have

something to put on the plate.

Yeah, yeah.

What a hot mess.

I really massacred

this dessert.

Ah, this is creepy.

[Padma] Wow, what is this?

I grew up actually

being afraid of seeds.

So, today, I prepared for you

a semifreddo of passion fruit,



buttermilk, and pomegranate,

with a zabaione

made with prosecco

and some fresh fruit.

[Padma] Is this semifreddo

supposed to be served warm?

No, I tried to cool

the zabaione down

as much as I could

before I put it on top.

And then I just

torched it a little bit.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Oven slightly open.

The cake came out

super moist.

There's the dust



of the rock,



made with the black salt.



There's green guts



from the sour cream.



It looks like a crime scene.



Hopefully,



she'll get the gist.

[alarm beeping]

All right, I'm rolling.

Peace.

-Hello.

-[Padma] Hi.

Come on in, Chris.

This is quite

a stunning plate.

It's a chocolate

buttermilk cake,

a marzipan dead man,

and there were



a couple of hikers



and some monsters



were chasing them,

and they got pushed off.

[laughs]

I love the way

your plate looks.

-Thank you.

-It's what

I was hoping for.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

[Adrienne] [bleep].

I test the meringues.



They're not



gonna be ready.

I know that

I have to change gears.

I'll break them



and use chips



of the white meringue

and instead of having

the pastry cream

on the bottom



of the plate,

I need to turn that

into an ice cream.

No pressure.

I'm, like, scared.

I guess that's the point



of this challenge.

[inhales shakily] How are you?

Good, ooh.

Today, we have

a cocoa blood ice cream

with saffron, Grand Marnier,



a little bit



of meringue crisps,

and chocolate branches.

So it's like

walking into the forest

in the middle of

a beautifully eerie dream

and then it's like

blood starts seeping out

of everything.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

[exhales sharply]

[utensils clattering]

[Carrie] Ugh! [bleep].

The panna cotta



is too tight.

I've put way too much

gelatin in it.

But maybe



with the ice cream



and the granita,



and I baked



his little cookie



to put on the base of it,

it'll seem not so tight.

[alarm beeping]

[Carrie]

But I completely



ran out of time.

I don't know what happened.

I don't know

where the time went.

Are you [bleep]

kidding me?

I am so pissed.

-Here we are.

-[Padma] Wow.

[Carrie] So, right off the bat,

I didn't get

quite everything

on the plate,

so, I apologize.

This is

a tahini panna cotta.

It shouldn't be alone



on the plate.



[Padma]

What is missing



on this plate?

I made a, uh, black sesame

and cayenne ice cream,

a champagne granita,

and I had masago

to be bubbles.

And then I made

a goat cheese

sugar cookie

to offset

the panna cotta.

-[Padma] I would've loved

to try that.

-I know. [laughs]

What happened?

I thought

I had more time and

-I don't know.

-Well, it's a good thing

nobody's going home

for this Quickfire.

Trust me, I would be

in tears right now

if that was the case.

These other people

are really lucky

I didn't get

all that [bleep]

on the plate.

[laughs]

[bleep]!

I think for the most part,

you guys did really run

with this challenge.

There were a couple

of clunkers.

Carrie, you obviously had

one of my least favorite

dishes today

'cause you didn't get

all your elements

on the plate.

That tahini sauce

that you made,

I could've bounced it

off the floor.

It was tight, yeah.

Heard that, thank you.

-[Padma] And Bruce?

-I know.

It all melted together

and became

a little too sweet.

-Yeah.

-And one note.

That means the rest of you

had my favorite dishes

of the day.

Joe, I loved the taste

of your dessert.

It certainly wasn't

the goriest of plates,

-but it was a great dessert.

-Thank you.

And Chris,

I loved your dessert.

I thought it looked fabulous.

Your chocolate cake

was really nice and moist.

I love that you were

very specific

with your detail.

Thanks.

And last but not least,

Adrienne.

Your dish definitely

was a study in texture.

But I thought

out of all of the chefs,

you had the most

graphic plate,

and I loved that.

Thank you so much.

The chef that won

really made

a beautiful plate

and was willing

to go out there

with their imagination.

And that chef is

Chris.

Thank you. Thank you.

Immunity's off the table,



but that's okay, you know,

'cause I got all these wins

behind me so far,

and my momentum

is picking up.

-[Padma] Congratulations, Chris.

-Thank you so much.

-That dessert

was magnificent.

-Thank you.

And as an added bonus,

Craftsy is going to give you

a $, credit.

-What?

-To use toward classes

and supplies

on craftsy.com.

Oh, great.

My daughter will love that.

Yeah. Okay, guys.

This next Elimination Challenge

will take you down memory lane.

From the big city

to the farms of the front range,

and to the snow-covered slopes

of the Rocky Mountains,

it's been quite the journey.

So, for this week's

Elimination Challenge,

you'll be creating a dish

that tells the culinary story

of your journey

here on

Top Chef.

I remember

what it was like

walking up to the



Top Chef

kitchen



for the very first time.



I mean,



you talk about nerves.



So much has happened



since then.

There were lives lost.

Laura, please pack your knives

and go.

And there were lives

brought back to life.

-You're both back in.

-[Fatima] What? Shut up!

-[laughter]

-What!

This whole experience

is something else.

[Christopher chuckles]

It really is.

This is your final opportunity

here in Denver

to show us what you've got

because after this,

we're heading to Telluride.

-[excited squeal]

-[laughs]

You'll each have $

to shop at Whole Foods Market.

Then tomorrow, you will have

an hour and a half to prep

before presenting your dishes

to the Colorado state governor,

John Hickenlooper,

at the governor's own residence,

Boettcher Mansion.

-[giggling]

-[laughs] Carrie.

Yes! [laughs]

I'm so excited!

I've always wanted

to meet the governor.

He's a brewer-restaurateur

turned politician.

I admire him.

Joining him will be a group

of some of the most esteemed

Colorado chefs

and, of course, the judges.

This is the opportunity

to show the judges

that everything

that they've told me

has not fallen on deaf ears.

I am not going

to blow this chance.

Good luck.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Thank you.

[Joe] Let's do this, bro.

Behind?

-[laughter]

-Go, go, go, go.

[carts clanking]

Watchy-watch out.

[Adrienne] Behind--

behind you.

-Ooh, sorry.

-Ooh.

Sorry, so sorry, you okay?

The boneless lamb shoulder.

-Can I get, like,

half of one of these?

-Sure.

I'm a firm believer

that what we do

is tell a story.

And we use food

as our medium to do that.

I wanna tell the story



of my ups and downs,



and the things that



I'm most passionate about.

One of the biggest

turning points for me

was hearing

Chef Keegan's criticism.

You're a guy who's got

a bag of techniques and tools

bigger than you can lift.

You have to be

disciplined about

what you decide

to put in that bag.

He read me like

an open book.

And just hearing that



made it very apparent

what I needed

to improve on.

How you lookin', Brucey?

I'm looking good, baby.

How you lookin'?

Pretty good, Brucey.

Coming into the competition,

I was trying



to replicate dishes



that I learned



from Chef Ripert

or from Chef Marcus.

Using the pakora

to season the fish,

I thought that was

a brilliant idea.

It just didn't come through.

I felt like the ribs

lacked intensity,

and I think

it may have come from

cooking them in the liquid.

I thought their food

was successful.

I can make it successful here,

but it doesn't always work.

And it's, like,



why isn't it successful?

Well, because it's not me.

Can you butcher this guy

for me?

I'm gonna be doing

a roasted monkfish tail.

I need nine servings.

Sorry, excuse me.

I'm feeling

really uncomfortable

about this challenge.

My culinary journey



on

Top Chef,

to put that on a plate?

Uh, I don't know what to do.

I mean, am I looking

for all the ingredients

that I

[bleep]

up so far

so that I can redeem myself?

I'm getting my ducks.

I got a duck breast,

whole ducks.

Or somehow tie it

into my journey in Colorado?

But how am I



gonna do that?

This is insane [bleep].

All right, let's go.

All I know is,

I can't make pasta

this time.

We made a beet agnolotti.

[man] This is Chef Bruce's

red pepper orecchiette

With goat cheese spaetzle.

The spaetzle

Egg yolk cavatelli.

Cavatelli.

Pasta again, Bruce?

I was gonna make bucatini--

-But that's still pasta.

-[Bruce] I know.

I'm just gonna cook

the best plate of food

I can

and somehow come up

with a story for it.

Six minutes left!

[Carrie] Oh, damn.

Thanks, man.

Thyme,

rosemary, sage,

blueberries.

[woman] See you,

have a good one.

[Adrienne] Okay, that's it.

Oh, yes.

-Up top, Leigh, thank you.

-Yeah.

♪ ♪

Thank you.

Hey, chefs.

Oh, God.

What does this mean?

What is coming?

-Are we supposed to keep going?

-Yeah, come on over here.

-Oh, okay.

-Wait, what did I

miss here?

Nothing yet.

It's never really a good sign



to see Tom



during your prep and cook.

It's kind of like

when I was a kid,

I did something bad,

I'd come home,

and my mom was standing,

you know,

on the corner of the street

waiting for me.

Obviously, Judges' Table

the other night

was pretty harsh.

But you either

don't understand

what's at stake here

or maybe this is it.

I don't know.

For some reason

this season,

Last Chance Kitchen,

I'm getting better food.

If we don't see

a big improvement,

I may bring two people in

from Last Chance Kitchen.

♪ ♪

Cook like you guys

know you can.

Get out of your comfort zone

and just bring it, okay?

That's the only way

you're gonna get

to the next step.

-All right?

-Got it.

-Cool?

-Yes, Chef.

Wanna see great stuff

tomorrow night. Thanks.

Thank you.

[Adrienne] Oh, [bleep].

Damn, right?

I hate letting down Chef Tom.

I don't wanna make

any of these judges

second guess

why they let me

get this far.

[Adrienne] What's your pasta?

-Uh, it's gonna be lamb.

-Okay.

I cooked lamb

once before here

and, uh, it didn't come out

so well.

I wasn't very proud of that.

Your lamb dish

was our least favorite

dish of the day.

That lamb dish,

I gotta tell you,

was not very good.

[Joe]

Definitely not proud



of that dish.

That's something

I definitely want to,

uh, correct.

I'm gonna make

the dough today,

and then make my pasta

tomorrow.

[Adrienne] Okay.

I'm doing another stuffed pasta.

But I'm going



in a different direction



with this one.



I have never used beet tops

in a pasta dough before.

In theory, it should work,

but

I won't really know

till I go to roll it tomorrow.

I think we all have

a lot to prove today.

Adrienne,

what are you making?

[Adrienne] Roasted monkfish,

but for today,

I've gotta get

some of the garnish together

and I'm gonna

make the sauce tomorrow

with the venison,

so it's kinda meaty and rich

to stand up with the monkfish.

I actually have only

cooked fish well

on

Top Chef

one other time



when I did the Arctic char



at Elitch Gardens,

even though I've worked

in fish restaurants

for the better part

of years.

I just need to make sure



my seasoning



and the execution is there.

And I have my little

potential diagram

of how the dish

is gonna look,

at the bottom.

I think as long as

I hit those same flavors

and show what I've learned

along the way,

how to marry Colorado

with my background,

we're in good shape.

-Bruce, whatcha makin'?

-Uh, working on some duck.

And then I'm making

some, uh, braised fennel,

uh, corn puree,

and some toasted

barley risotto.

-[Carrie] Way--

-[whirring]

I learned that, you know,

I'm stronger than

I thought I was.

And I'm more resourceful

than I thought I was.

[laughs]

My journey so far

is giving me the confidence

to be bold.

I hate to admit,



but I didn't have



very high expectations



for myself coming in.

Cooking with all these chefs

from Chicago and

New York and L.A.,

I was just this

small town girl, you know?

Here I am.

I'm realizing that



I'm pretty creative.

That's what

they keep telling me.

[laughs]

I'm gonna make

an elk tenderloin.

[Bruce] Okay.

With cauliflower, peppers.

I'm going to remember challenges

where I did well.

The toast was

our favorite dish today.

Whoo! [laughs]

I simply made

a ricotta dumpling.

I love this dish.

It was simple,

and it was

just perfectly ex*cuted.

I'm gonna take

little pieces of each of those

and I'm gonna put 'em



in one cohesive, colorful,

Colorado-forward dish.

How's that pasta?

Coming out pretty good.

A lot of these pieces

are inspired by good people.

Some of the other chefs,



their journey dish is about



various challenges,

but what touched me the most

about this entire experience

is the people



that I shared it with.

Gonna make a ravioli.

That shout goes out to Joe,

to Bruce, to Carrie.

I'm doing a very deep fumet

to remind me of Adrienne.

Back when I was drinking,

there were friends

that would not tolerate

my stuff,

and they moved on.



But now, being sober



and being here,

I feel like I'm making true,

lasting, real friendships

and I wanna pay homage



to them.

I've never, ever, ever

made pasta in a restaurant.

I'm doing a dish right now

that I normally wouldn't do

even at home.

Chris' dish sounds

bat [bleep] crazy.

I'm flattered



that he's dedicating

his whole dish

to all of us,

but I don't really think

you should practice

a new technique

going into the finals.



What are the chances that



you're gonna nail it



on

Top Chef?

Ah, it's doing

the wrong thing.

Come out.

Fightin' today, boy.

I'm fightin' today.

Five minutes.

This is the last time

we're cooking

in a

Top Chef

kitchen, guys.

Yeah, I just realized that.

-Ah, the memories.

-[wrapping ripping]

Bye-bye. [laughs]

Me and Tu played

the very first game.

Really?

And now, me and you

will play the last.

♪ ♪

-[Christopher] Come on, man.

-[Joe] What?

I'm ready to go home

and meet my son,

quite honestly.

I'm still present,

I'm still here

[Christopher] But there's

a pot of gold

waiting at home too.

Big, big pot of gold

waiting at home for me.

-[Adrienne sighs]

-Well, should we do it?

Let's go.

♪ ♪

-[Carrie] It's here.

-[Adrienne] Oh, cool.

♪ ♪

-Wow.

-Oh, wow.

-How are you?

-Hello.

It's really cool

stepping into

the governor's mansion.

It's beautiful.



But

[record ripping]

[utensils clattering]

the kitchen is a little small.

-I'm excited to cook.

-Hell, yeah.

The very first thing

I have to do is

get this barley going.

I love to cook these



risotto style.



I feel like it's creamier.



You see a lot of chefs



on

Top Chef

go home for making risotto.

But I've cooked barley before



like this,



and I feel like



this is the best way to go.

[bleep] delicious.

It's a nice Joe today.

You taking any risks today?

I wanted to use

some kind of game meat

while we're here

because there's a lot

in Colorado.

And I wanted to get venison

into the sauce,

and monkfish can stand up

to that meatiness.

Adrienne has a pretty awesome

pedigree.

I think she's struggling with



what I'm struggling with



at this point,

where we're trying

to recreate

and show off

everything that we know,

rather than

just cooking our food.

What I've learned

on this journey

is you have to--

you have to embrace,

uh, everything.

Right away, I wanna get



the raviolis blanched

so I can get them basted

in some brown butter.

This is one of them things

that I'll remember

for the rest of my life,

for sure.

Even though most of my style



is very simplistic



and comforting,

I spent years

in fine dining,

and I'm bringing



those techniques



to this dish.

[oil sizzling]

♪ ♪

Welcome. Welcome.

-How you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

I'm not sure

this room has seen

this much food loving

[laughs]

ever.

We asked our five contestants

to reflect on their

journey thus far

and put all of that

onto a plate.

Do I get the deciding vote?

[laughs]

What d'you have

working over there, Carrie?

I'm just testing

the tempura batter

that I just made.

[Adrienne] Oh, nice.

I pickled these lemon rinds

yesterday.

I didn't get a chance

to taste them.

[Adrienne] Oh, got it.

[Carrie] Joe,

your pasta looks great!

[Joe] Thanks, Carrie.

I'm really proud



of this plate.



To me it tells a story,



and it makes sense.



It's fully composed



and it's going



outside of the box.

I just worry that the judges

aren't gonna see what I see.

♪ ♪

Joe, tell us

what you made today.

So, I made lamb agnolotti

with a beet, hazelnut,

and cacio pecora cheese



from Fruition Farms.

Uh, I've had lot

of ups and downs

along the way.

And I think

the hardest thing for me

was really just embracing

who I am

as a chef

and as a cook.

And pasta's

one of those things

that, uh, you can say

I've done many times,

but it's something

I'm incredibly

passionate about.

I really interpreted

this challenge

as just kind of embracing.

-Thank you so much.

-Cheers, guys.

♪ ♪

This shows a huge amount

of restraint for him.

Mm-hmm.

Joe's pasta was spot on.

It's really flavorful.

I loved that he used

all the parts of the beets.

I mean,

this is the kind of food

that we've been begging for

all season.

-It's fabulous.

-If they're all

gonna be this good,

I might try

and keep you guys here

for a couple days.

[laughs]

Adrienne, you have

eight minutes left.

[Adrienne] If you're gonna do

strong flavors with fish,

monkfish is one of the ways

to go.

Something finally clicked

during this challenge.

This is a very focused



and honed-in dish.

I feel that

it's a great reflection

of my journey here

on this competition,

and I'm really proud



to present it to them today.

This is twelve o'clock

to the guest.

Oh, my gosh, this is beautiful.

[Adrienne]

So today,



we have a roasted monkfish,



venison jus.

There's a green peppercorn jam

and puree

of roasted cauliflower.

I've honed in.

Why execute

things on a plate

that are mediocre,

instead of just

focusing on a few

and doing them the way

that they should be done?

Thank you, Adrienne.

I think the dish is tasty.

I appreciated the

capriciousness of the flavors.

I got a bite of peppercorn

that was spicy

and then dissipate,

and then the jam

balanced that out.

I thought Adrienne did

a great job seasoning it.

Adrienne, she's been

all over the map,

and I think she's starting

to figure out her own voice.

Let's make it to Telluride,

dude.

This journey

has just been so unexpected,

not only from the food

that I created,

but to the people I've met,

like, David Kinch.

Are you kidding me?

I could die happy right now.

[John] Well, the portions

are getting larger.

I should've paced myself.

We're having Colorado elk,

cauliflower, shishito peppers,



blueberry poblano sauce



on the bottom,

and the halo sheep's milk

cheese from Fruition Farms.

I am a very big fan, Governor.

-Thank you for being here.

-Thank you.

I'm honored to be here.

This is quite a plate.

Thank you.

It's everything I learned here

about seasoning and timing

and I took

all of that into account

when building this.

-[Padma] Thank you, Carrie.

-[Carrie] You're welcome.

Enjoy, everyone. Thank you.

For me,

all the different flavors

really came together

into an incredibly

satisfying bite.

This dish is very flavorful,

and I think, so far,

this is the most

intensely flavored

and delicious plate of food

that I've had.

It's really cool.

Like, I see the story behind it

but also the journey,

'cause the first one that we did

was in Larimer Square,

and it wasn't very inspired.

So to see this

well-ex*cuted and plated,

I think it's cool.

Carrie put together

a nice dish of food here.

The governor's so nice.

I really think

we made a connection.

We'll probably be best friends

this time next year.

[Bruce] Chris,

you sweating over there?

Not yet,

but I'm getting moist.

[laughing]

Yeah, I'm there, dude.

Tasting my barley,



it's not raw,



but it's definitely not cooked

the way I want it

to be cooked.

And I feel like



time is really starting

to strain me a little bit.

[bleep].

-[Christopher] You okay?

-Yep.

This is the dish

standing between me

and getting to Telluride.

So, even though



I'm not super stoked



on my plate,

I have to get out

in the dining room

and sell it to them

like I am.

Bruce,

tell us about your dish.

Today, I've prepared for you

a roast duck

served with toasted barley,



corn, and topped with salsify.

[Padma] How did you

cook the barley?

-I toasted it last night.

-Mm-hmm.

And then I cooked it,

uh, like a risotto.

[Padma] How long

did you cook it for?

[Bruce] Um, not long enough.

I'll own up to that.

Throughout

Top Chef

I've cooked a lot of pasta,

'cause that's kind of

my heart and soul.

But I wanted to show you

I can do more

than just make pasta.

And barley, how it relates to

so much beer being made

in Colorado.

-[Padma] Thank you, Bruce.

-[Bruce] Thank you so much.

[soft exhale]

It's over seasoned,

and the barley's

really undercooked.

[Graham] It just doesn't seem

like the Bruce we know.

Uninspired.

♪ ♪

I like the way

that the plate looks,

but as soon as I put



the sauce onto the pasta



the trout skin



gets kinda moist.

I need to be on top

to get into the finals,

and I'm not feeling good.

-Hi.

-And what did you

make for us, Chris?

This is a little bit

of surf and turf.

You have a lamb ravioli



on top,



crispy-skin trout,



and a cauliflower puree.

Colorado has been beautiful,

but it's my connection

with the other chefs

that's really been

inspiring to me.

-[Padma] Okay.

-All right, thank you.

-And nice to meet you.

-Thank you, nice to meet you.

I mean,

the skin wasn't crispy,

-but I thought

my trout was cooked well.

-Mm-hmm.

Chris did a great job

with the lemon puree.

The ravioli,

I can live with

maybe the texture

of the pasta.

The filling to me,

was very off.

It needs fat.

-Yeah, there's no binder.

-Right.

He just ground lamb,

which is already lean.

-Right.

-[Padma] It's very dry.

-Yeah.

-It's-- Yes.

[Bruce] I don't know,

I think my missteps

are gonna send me home today.

[Christopher] Maybe mine too

man. Maybe mine too.

-You made missteps

on your dish?

-No missteps,

but I made a ravioli

for the very first time.

-[Joe] Your filling sounds

really good though.

-Mm-hmm.

I think that could be

your saving grace on that.

When you get to this level,

you gotta be %,

not .

Overall, I think

the chefs actually did

a pretty good job today,

much more inspired.

I think this was probably

some of the best food

we've had all season.

Well, we have to get back

to Judges' Table.

I wanna thank you both

for inviting us into your home

and being so hospitable.

Not just today,

but for our whole stay

here in Denver.

We all really had a great time.

Thank you.

It's been an honor

having you.

♪ ♪

[Thomas] The dishes were

much more focused.

They were well-seasoned.

The proteins

were all nicely cooked.

-Nice work.

-[all sigh]

-Thank you.

-The governor

and first lady said

it was one of the best meals

they've had in years.

There were some dishes

that stood out,

and those dishes

belonged to Carrie,

Adrienne,

and Joe.

-Joe, how was your day?

-It was really stressful.

Chef Tom was very clear

that he wasn't very happy

with our performance.

I think we all

really felt that

going into this,

and doing a dish

that I've never done

was really stressful,

but at the end of the day,

I was proud of what I did.

Joe, I thought your dish

was the best one

that I've seen you do

so far.

You seem to have

finally been able to

start to edit the stuff

that you're putting out there.

I thought it was wonderful.

-It was perfectly-made pasta.

-Thank you.

Adrienne, what was the idea

behind the monkfish?

Being in Colorado,

there are a lot of game meats

and there's a lot

of earthy flavors,

and I really thought

the monkfish

could stand up to that.

The monkfish

was perfectly cooked.

Nicely sliced.

I wish there was more

of the green peppercorn.

I really enjoyed that.

Do you feel at all like

you've discovered yet

what your cooking style

is like?

I definitely feel like

I've gotten on the path

to that.

The flavors were interesting,

good, very different.

It's a good choice

to go in that direction.

Thank you very much.

Carrie, did you have an idea

of what you wanted to cook

right away?

No, I didn't.

The elk kinda came to me.

-It just kinda walked over.

-Yeah.

[laughter]

I harvested it. [laughs]

The meat was perfectly,

perfectly cooked.

I liked how you used

the shishito peppers.

I thought that was

a neat little twist.

I was fortunate enough

to get one of the shishitos

that was super spicy.

With the blueberry sauce,

it went so well together.

-It was really successful.

-Thank you.

Frank?

The chef

that really spoke to us

and showed

the most technique

and the most passion

Joe.

It was a perfect dish.

[cheers and applause]

[laughs]

Heck, yeah.

[Padma] Congratulations, chefs.

-You are going to Telluride.

-Whoo.

[laughter]

Made it to the finals.

I've learned to find



what I enjoy doing



and really just embrace that.

I feel really good

about myself right now.

Bruce,

how was the day for you?

I just--

I-I lost track of time,

and so, I started rushing

on my plating.

In my mind, you're here

for three reasons.

One,

the barley was undercooked.

Two,

the barley was really salty.

Three,

the duck was over-rested.

Those three things,

I mean, those are all

simple, technical things.

-Technical flaws, yeah.

[Thomas] Very simple things.

Flavor-wise,

I thought the dish was okay,

except for the salt.

Chris, the raviola

was a complete miss,

just the size of it.

The pasta route, you know,

that's something that

I've never really

done before.

But it was the risk

that I knew that I was taking

to show you something

a little bit different.

We do want you guys

to push yourselves

and be creative,

be inventive,

but we still always want you

to be true to yourselves

and to your own styles

of cooking.

That's exactly where

I think I-I went wrong.

Getting to what

your point of view is

on a dish,

I think that's where

you're still mixed up.

You have cauliflower puree,

which is kinda, you know,

heavy in a way, in weight.

And then you had this--

this beautiful,

uh, citrus relish [stammers]

It was a lemon jam.

I tell you what.

Fish, lemon jam, stop.

-[laughs]

-Done.

Done.

[laughter]

Making things complicated

for the sake

of being complicated

is not-- not the answer.

Understood completely.

This is our last challenge

here in Denver,

and so this is

a big decision for us.

We'll see you

in a little bit.

[Bruce sighs]

♪ ♪

-[Christopher] Congrats, Joe.

-Congrats, all three of you.

-Top four for sure.

-Thank you.

-Whoo-hoo.

-Top four definitely.

Going to Telluride.

I feel like

it's not clear at all

which one of you

are going home.

It was almost like

the mistakes

that many of us were doing

back in the beginning.

Too much on the plate

that didn't make sense,

you know?

And you would think that

at the very last battle,

that I would be

clear with that.

This is an issue

of conception, execution,

and technical skill.

Which are--

Those three things are

what these chefs should have.

The problem is,

you had multiple mistakes

on each plate.

It's so hard for me because

Chris with the ravioli

was, like, so offensive to me.

Like it touched your soul.

It-It does,

it just touched my soul.

-Hurt your heart.

-And if he had just stopped

with the fish, the lemon,

-and gave me

some of the florets

-Mm-hmm.

we would probably

be talking about him

in a different direction.

I would rather eat

Chris' fish any day

than Bruce's duck.

I don't know

how to square this one.

-[stammers] It's tough.

-Agreed.

Whatever happens,

if I go home

and we don't have time

to say it in there,

-I love all you guys.

-There's still

Last Chance Kitchen.

♪ ♪

Coming here

and competing on this show,

it really tests your mettle.

You guys are both

really good chefs.

Sometimes you gotta

get out of your head,

and you gotta just start

making smarter decisions.

The saying that

we're only as good

as our last dish,

I don't believe that.

But for tonight,

your last dish is gonna

send one of you home.

♪ ♪

Bruce, please pack your knives

and go.

-Kiss the baby, man.

-Yeah, thanks, brother.

-All right.

-Thank you.

Leaving the

Top Chef

kitchen,



I'm feeling



really disappointed.

I didn't do my best today,

and it sucks.

-Thank you so much.

-Too many mistakes today.

-I know.

-We'll see you

in Last Chance Kitchen.

-You got a shot.

-Thank you.

As much as I wanna go home

and see my son and my wife,

you know, I came here to win,



and if I don't do that,

then it would be like

I just came here

and wasted a bunch of time

for nothing.

I love you, guys.

I gotta keep going.

I'm coming back

for you guys.

For me,

the only way out is up,

so going into



Last Chance Kitchen,



I've gotta bring it hard



if I wanna get myself



back into the finals.

I'm ready to cook

my a*s off

and prove to Tom



and everybody else

that I deserve

to be in the finale.

-[Joe] Definitely

don't wanna go home now.

-No.

I'll be fine staying here

till the end.

I am so excited

to see more of Colorado

and especially Telluride.

-[indistinct]

-[laughter]

[Padma] Welcome

to the beginning

of the finals.

Any guesses

as to who might be

coming back?

-[man] Ah.

-[Carrie laughs]

[woman] Whoo!

Ah.

At this elevation,

I'm not gonna have

enough time on the clock.

As soon as you, uh,



get comfortable,

that's when you go packing.

[alarm beeping]