03x02 - First Impressions

[bunniefuu]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Top Chef is back.

Intense competition, fiery personalities...

I don't give a [BLEEP]

what you do.

And fantastic food.

We've combed the country
for 15 potential top chefs

and found our toughest competitors yet.

Oh, man.

In order to outcook the competition,

they'll need strategy.

Who here has pastry experience?

Determination.

You can catch up here.

Let's go, baby.

And a thick skin.

The stuffing was really an animal.

It wasn't that impressive.

I would have rather it tasted good.

Observing our chefs in the kitchen

is head judge, Chef Tom Colicchio.

You know, his taste
level's a little suspect here.

And he doesn't miss a thing.

Also at judges' table, we'll see Ted Allen.

I'm actually kind of mystified
by this whole experience.

Gail Simmons of Food and Wine magazine.

That dish itself is kind of unimpressive.

And I'm your host, Padma Lakshmi.

The ultimate goal, to win it all.

A feature in Food and Wine magazine.

A showcase at the annual
Food and 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 GLAAD family of products.

And the title of Top Chef.

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

My name is Sara Mair.

I'm from Jamaica.

I'm a chef slash fromager,

which is a fancy word for cheese maker.

When it comes to creating dishes,

I try to think outside the box.

I try not to follow the rules.

I'm Clay Bowen.

I'm originally from Columbus, Mississippi.

I think I can win Top Chef

because I think I'm sort
of like the dark horse.

I didn't go to culinary school.

I'm from the South,

and I feel the South hasn't
really been represented

on Top Chef much.

And I think that style of cooking

is something that's gonna really wow 'em.

Name's Joey, 29 years old.

I work in Cafe des Sartistes in Manhattan.

If I win the money, my mother gets it.

I'm here to win it.

Why?

'Cause I'm the biggest,
baddest [beep] here.

I'm from New York.

I come to kick a*s.

I'm Dale Levitsky.

I am a chef currently trying
to open my own restaurant

in Chicago, Illinois.

My overall philosophy on cooking would be

keep it simple, keep it true to your heart.

Winning Top Chef for me, I guess,

would mean just validation, personal,

and you always want other people

to definitely say and
think that you're good.

[upbeat music]

I'm Tre Wilcox from Dallas, Texas.

I have a tattoo on my body that says,

you know, you gotta have passion.

Anybody who has a career
or doing whatever they do,

the only way they're
gonna be the best at it

is if they're passionate about it.

That's it, period.

I think the best part about being a chef

is watching people eat your food.

You know, they start
digging in and like, wow!

And it's just, that's just,
every chef wants that.

We go into Casa Castarina,

which was Gianni Versace's old mansion.

It's over the top, it's super flamboyant.

It is Miami written all over it.

My name is Hung Huynh.

I live in Las Vegas.

I am not designing the kitchen.

I am the crazy one, the loud one.

I've been labeled as
CPA for about a year now.

Certified professional [beep]

That's me.

My name is Micah.

I am a private caterer.

Cooking is an art, first and foremost,

and I don't think someone told Michelangelo

how to paint the Sistine Chapel.

You know, he just, it
was in him, and he did it.

[upbeat music]

My name is Sandee Birdsong.

I'm a chef here in Miami.

Three years ago, I decided
to change my career path.

I became a chef because I just wanted

my career to be my passion.

I gotta make myself eat,

'cause I know I'm
gonna regret it if I don't.

Green Queen, green queen.

Finally, we can, you know,
get to know each other

and say hello.

We're having a big buffet, you
know, have some champagne.

This is gonna be fantastic.

I'm Tre Wilcox.

Nice to meet you.

What's your name?

Leah.

My name is Leah Bardeen.

I live in Brooklyn, New York right now,

and I work in Manhattan.

The other contestants are pretty much all

either sous chefs or chefs,

or owners of their own business.

Even if you don't have a lot of experience,

what's really important is drive.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Orange County.

I am Chris Jacobson,
and my friends call me CJ.

I am a private chef.

I went the private chefing route

basically because I came down with cancer.

I'm totally in remission, I'm fine.

I've got a false testicle,
and I'm ready to cook.

Where are you at?

What's your restaurant like?

Global, it's a global restaurant.

Yeah?

Where do you work in San Diego?

The Oceanair, seafood restaurant.

Are you New York, also?

Yeah.

Nice.

So we're all there carousing together,

trying to understand each other,

trying to talk to each other,

and then Tom and Padma walks in,

and I was just like,

sweet little tiny in the manger,

what is happening here?

Hello.

Come on over.

Hello, chefs.

Hi.

Hello.

Welcome to Miami.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I want to introduce you to
our head judge, Tom Colicchio.

Thank you, Padma.

Welcome to Miami, and
to Top Chef season three.

You know, as much as I would
like to help you and jump in,

I'm not your mentor, I'm
the head judge of the show.

My job is to check out what
you're doing in the kitchen,

and to report back to the other judges.

Looking forward to a great season.

You all look like you're ready to go.

Good luck.

I'm glad to see you've all
been enjoying yourselves,

because guess what?

The party's over.

It's time for your first
quick fire challenge.

What?

What?

What?

Oh my God.

All of a sudden, boom,
quick fire challenge,

and everybody's like.

Right then, I wasn't expecting it.

We don't have our knives.

The girls were in high heeled shoes.

Didn't seem like the time or the place

that they were going to do it.

You're already familiar
with the ingredients,

because you've been grazing
on them for half an hour.

Your quick fire challenge
is to make an amuse bouche

using whatever you
find left over on this table.

An amuse bouche means
it's the start of your meal.

It's something that sets your meal off.

It sets the tone of the meal.

This first round is all about
getting to know each other.

And we want you to introduce yourselves.

Make an amuse bouche
that really tells us who you are.

You have 10 minutes.

Your time starts now.

Good luck.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The minute the quick fire is announced,

it's kind of like jolt of adrenaline.

It's such a shock.

You have to do something
so quickly out of nowhere.

There's prosciutto wrap.

There's salamis.

There's different cheeses.

There's deviled eggs.

There's different beef items.

Pretty much everything under the rainbow

was represented on that table.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I don't even know what's on that table,

and I have 10 minutes to introduce myself

with some of these ingredients.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Definitely not a knife.

Plastic knife.

Seriously.

The only utensils we
could use for the plastic

and cutting anything with a plastic knife,

especially a kumquat, is not going to work.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[BELL RINGING]

You have five minutes.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I purposely stayed away from the oysters

because I figured that people
would go straight for them.

I know in catering, what do people eat?

They eat the expensive stuff.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[BELL RINGING]

Your time is up.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hello?

[BELL RINGING]

What are you doing?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Thank you.

Thank you.

Great, great.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Thanks again.

You're welcome.

Hi, Howie.

Hi, how are you?

I'm well.

You done here?

This is a poached shrimp
wrapped in capicola

with a little bit of heirloom tomato

and a champagne basil vinaigrette.

How did you find this challenge?

I found it short and challenging.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hi.

How you doing?

I'm going to call this
Tuscan sushi revisited.

I lived in Italy for two years.

So I took a lot of the things
that you just find there,

the gorgonzola inside, the dried fig,

and I put a little bit of the
fig jam inside the roll up.

And then just drizzle a
little balsamic over the top.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hi, Dale.

Tell us about your plate.

It's a tenderloin wrapped
with blue cheese, grape,

and some sliced radish on an herb utensil.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hello.

Tell us what you did.

I have done... I wanted to do a gazpacho,

but all I have is plates.

So I took the apple, hollowed it out.

I don't have a spoon, so try the
fruit and then the juice as well.

This is almost more like a first
course, not so much a muse.

I am executive chef.

I know what an amazbouche
is, and clearly he didn't.

I mean, it's supposed to
be a small bite, one bite,

and he's got a whole Granny
Smith apple over there.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Sara?

Hi.

What do we have here?

Well, we have an oyster
with a pineapple minionette

and smoked salmon.

And what do you feel this
says about you as a chef?

Well, it brings... definitely
brings my tropical side into it

with the pineapple, boosted the flavor,

and tied it all in together.

The smokiness is really interesting.

Yeah, it's good.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I have hamachi with a
creamy egg rice with a little bit

of hot sauce, crunchy
grape, fresh olives, basil,

and a pesto vinaigrette.

It's spicy, it's sour,
it's salty, it's lean.

Great, thanks.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What do we have here, Tre?

It's a hamachi tartare,
a little fresh avocado,

a little fresh strawberry,
poured a little champagne

in the bottom of the oyster shell also.

Hamachi tartare is one of
my favorites, a little bit of acid.

Always one of those
things that works really well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Tom, what did you think of
the contestants for this season's

show?

You know, I thought
everybody did a great job.

You just jumped right in.

You know, the challenge
was to create an amuse

and show us your personality.

Were you amused?

I was slightly amused.

I know you weren't expecting
it, so it was a real curveball.

And I think everybody did really well.

Let's hear the bad news first.

My least favorites, Dale,
the beef stuffed with cheese.

Great size.

I think it showed your personality.

I thought the cheese
was a little too aggressive

for a first bite.

Clay wasn't really an amuse.

It was too big.

I thought what was in there
was actually pretty good.

But it was just all too big
and a little out of balance.

So it didn't really fit the challenge.

Interesting.

Tre, the hamachi was well prepared.

But I'd like you to go
back and try that one day.

Because champagne, you need
to make a vinaigrette out of it.

You need to have some more acid in there.

Here I'm in the bottom three.

Of course, a little
depression will come down.

You know, nobody can be
harder on me than myself.

And now some good news.

Who were your favorites?

My three favorites are Micah's, Sarah.

The last one was Hanks.

All right, so Tom, who
is your favorite for today?

I would say my favorite
today, because of the balance

and because I thought
personality really came through.

My favorite was Micah's.

Thank you.

To win this first quick
fire, inside it does nothing

because I'm not going to
change my performance level

in the upcoming challenge
just because I know I'm golden.

So congratulations, Micah.

You are our first quick fire winner.

This gives you immunity from
elimination in the next round.

And you'll all find out
what that next challenge is

tomorrow at the Top Chef kitchen.

But now it's time for you to
start your Miami experience.

So go back and check out your fabulous digs

at the Fountain Blue Resort.

Thank you.

Go.

We arrive at the Fountain Blue.

We're told that we're
staying on Miami Beach.

So we get up to the
penthouse and open the door.

And there is the most
spectacular view of the beach.

It's breathtaking.

Go out on the deck that just
wraps around the whole top

and see that we have a hot tub.

I'm absolutely thrilled.

Nice.

I'm here.

This is the most beautiful city.

It means I can't wait for the sun
to go down to see these lights.

When you looked at my
[bleep] apple, were you like,

"That dude's [bleep]"?

Be honest.

You're not going to hurt my feelings.

Be honest.

That dude's [bleep]

Hell, I'm from Mississippi.

Pick it up and eat that in some minutes.

That's the way I see it.

Clay had a lot of trouble
moving on from the quick fire.

Clay is not looking too good.

The quick fire gave me a handicap
because it put me on the radar

as opposed to under the radar.

Y'all going to miss me if I get kicked off.

Who's going to make y'all laugh?

The title of top chef would
make my father very proud.

He was a great chef,
the restaurant business,

it got the better of him, and
unfortunately he took his own life.

You know, it didn't work out for
him, but it's going to work out for me.

[tires screech]

These items are the
proteins that you'll be using.

Oh, yes.

I kind of start getting the idea that
these are obviously unusual ingredients.

[laughing]

Good morning, everybody.

What time did you fall asleep?

About 10.30.

Oh, really?

I'm anxious to see how the
challenges are going to go today.

I am Howard Kleinberg.

I just opened a restaurant in
Miami called The Food g*ng,

and I'm the executive chef there.

I'm happy to socialize and interact
with people, but I don't crave that.

For me, it's a matter of
being ready for competition

above anything else, including socializing.

Everyone tells me where
they've worked, where they're from,

where they grew up, where
they traveled, but you know what?

I don't give a [bleep]

The minute you pick up
that knife, the way you talk,

the way you walk towards the
ingredient, I know exactly where you stand.

[sizzling]

When we walk in, we look over
and see this enormous wooden table

full of different proteins.

I kind of start getting the idea that
these are obviously unusual ingredients.

We have razor clams, which are
normal, and then we have rattlesnake.

And then there's something
down at the end of the table

that's like this big pile of blacky-blue
stuff, and I don't even know what it is.

Hi, guys.

And welcome to the new Top Chef kitchen.

It's time for your first
elimination challenge.

These items are the
proteins that you'll be using,

some from land, some from sea.

And you'll use them to
create a surf-and-turf entree.

Surf-and-turf is all about showing off.

It's usually made from the
most luxurious of ingredients,

like filet and lobster.
However, that's too easy.

By using these exotic ingredients
to create your surf-and-turf,

it's really going to give you
an opportunity to get noticed,

and hopefully for all the right reasons.

There are only two portions
of each protein available.

So you'll draw knives to determine
the order in which you'll choose.











All right, you guys all have your numbers.

Some of the stuff that's
on the table is really exotic.

I've never really cooked with it before.

I like to get something simple
to keep myself in the game.

Buffalo rib eye, whole
fish. It's simple, it's safe.

I picked number 10 out of 15,
and that's not a real good number.

It's not in the front,
it's not in the back.

I've noticed that everyone
is picking conservatively.

Rib eye is one of the first to go.

Snack time.

I start to see these proteins dissipate,

with, of course, the most popular
and easiest to work with first.

But then I thought, a quick-fire challenge,

I ended up in the bottom three.

So step your game up, Tre.

Snake. -Oh!

And the eel. Yeah!

Brian takes the rattlesnake and the eel,

and I thought that was absolutely awesome.

I was too scared to take that.

I'll take the gooey duck.

Sarah goes straight for the gooey duck.

I'm really familiar with the gooey duck.

It's one of my favorite shellfish to eat.

And the black chicken is
used only for braising and only...

We don't even eat the chicken
because it's so damn tough.

It's like eating freaking wood.

I got lucky number 15,

so I'm the last person to
choose proteins off the table.

I choose alligator tail, which I've
never had but I've heard about,

as well as monkfish liver,

which I have heard a little bit about,

but I've not worked with
and I have not tasted either.

So you'll now have 30 minutes and $30

to shop for additional ingredients.

You'll also be able to choose from
anything in the Top Chef pantry.

Then you'll have exactly two hours to prep

and cook here in the kitchen before you go.

Chefs 1 through 8, you'll be cooking first,

and chefs 9 through 15,
you'll be cooking second.

And one more thing.

We have a very special
guest judge for this round,

the infamous Anthony Bourdain.

Chef, author, world traveler,

and he has searched the
world for the exotic cuisine

very much like we have today.

He's very, very difficult to surprise

and an even harder judge to please.

What I know about Anthony Bourdain
is he likes adventurous cuisine.

He's not afraid to eat like a
brain-out-of-a-live monkey.

You have to pull out all the stops
if you want to entertain Bourdain.

I'm here to win, I'm here to compete,

and I'm here to prove
something to everybody.

I would be embarrassed
to be the first person

eliminated from this competition.

So good luck to all of you.

Good luck.

Guys, two minutes.

Time's coming down.

I don't know what the
hell's going on right now.

I'm not going to f... ing make it.

I'm not in good shape.

So our first elimination
challenge is surf and turf.

And not your average steak
and lobster surf and turf,

but with these ingredients,
you will be challenged.

We go to the fresh market
to choose extra ingredients

out of the Top Chef pantry.

Obviously it's our first time
being in the fresh market

and what's in there.

Mixers, mixers.

Are there any spices?

Do you carry any fresh seaweed?

Where's this, where's that, where's this?

What you looking for, what you looking for?

Okra.

Right there, babe.

Relax, it's okay.

I glance over at Clay
and I see Micah telling him,

"Oh, you know, slow
down, you got enough time."

Find everything, and if you
don't, you just f... ing change it.

Clay's a grown boy.

If Clay didn't know what
he was doing right now.

Sometimes you just have to ask the man.

I hope she don't tell me what to do.

I'll go f... yourself.

Okay, everybody, please
gather around over here.

Okay, so group two, raise your hands.

Guys can go. We'll see you later.

Okay, group one.

You have two hours to
prep and cook your entrees.

Tom's here to check on all of you.

Your time starts now.

Two hours seems like a lot of time,

not when you're prepping and you know,

you've got a lot of attention and you're
running and bumping into each other.

I'm a time schedule freak.

Looking at the clock, I
understand how long two hours is.

You have to move your a*s a little bit.

It's a very new experience
to be cooking on a time clock.

I am someone who runs my own restaurant,

and I am the final say
of when food is served.

I really am taking my
time to my mise en place,

or my prep is set up appropriately
to put out the best food possible.

I do a spider crab jambalaya.

Add a little seasoning with
that, make it a little bit spicy,

and put the fried frog legs with it.

I'm going to actually use my
injector and fill each with the...

and make sure that that pours out.

I'm going to prepare a
little grilled scorpion fish

with a little Mediterranean salad,

and then a poached buffalo
ribeye with some heirloom tomato.

I feel confident, and
we'll see what happens.

That'll be all right.

Hey, Clay. -Hey, Chef.

How's it going?

You're looking a little
under the weather there.

Just a little.

Scorpion fish and the wild boar. -Yeah.

And a bourdain. You think it's
sort of out there enough for him, or...

I thought that after I realized
he was going to be the judge.

He's going to like my fried...

That's good.
-He's going to like my fried fish.

I'm known for my Cajun
Creole flair of cuisine.

Definitely science.

My cooking philosophy is bottom line.

It's got to taste good first.

If you wouldn't eat it, don't
serve it to someone else.

Hey, Chef. How are you?
-Good. How's it going?

Good. -Wild boar chops.

I have wild boar and sea urchin.

Have you frenched bones before?

Yes, but I'm trying to do it quickly.

They were like half
cleaned, so it's not beautiful.

I think you have time maybe
to make it beautiful now.

Yeah.

How are you? -Morning, Chef.

You chose sea urchin and frog legs. Cool.

I am making a sea urchin
and chanterelle risotto.

Sea urchin on top. -Okay.

And then I'm doing some
crispy frog leg lollipops.

Thank you, Chef.

Hey, guys. Less than ten minutes.

Oh, s... t.

You know, this is when
you f... k as the fan.

You know, you're a
night rock and roll n... t.

This is when people figure out,

"I'm not gonna f... k make it."

I don't know what the
hell's going on right now.

I'm nervous.

All right, I really got to get into gear

to get it through the rest of this thing.

Time's coming down.

I kind of realize I'm not in good shape.

Guys, two minutes. Two minutes.

I start to plate my risotto,
and the next thing I know,

it's ten, nine, eight.

Risotto's on the plate,
and I redrop my frog.

Time is up.

You're ten out. Hands up.

Time's up. Hands up, including me.

I look over, and I see how it's staring.

And honestly, part of me is relieved.

I'm like, "All right, the guy
has no protein. He's done."

F... k, God damn it.

The sauce is on the plate.

The frog legs are next
to that on the plate.

I really don't have
anybody to blame but me.

I guess I'm the one that's going home.

The flavor is strong and tough.

It's kind of like that a home thing,
but a home I wouldn't want to live in.

This is inedible.

Welcome, chefs.

I want to introduce you to Gail
Simmons of Food & Wine magazine.

Of course, you know our
head judge, Chef Tom Colicchio,

and our guest for this episode,
the incredible Anthony Bourdain.

Hello, guys.

Tonight I prepared some seared
buffalo ribeye with heirloom tomato salad,

grilled scorpion fish with
a Mediterranean salad,

a little olive tapenade,
and some potato chips.

I had the ribeye, the razor clams,

which I did with a sweet
corn chowder, charred corn,

and some buttered carrots, and
the sauce is a black truffle sauce.

Hello.

Today I've prepared a
pan-seared wild boar chop.

I made a cornbread dressing
and incorporated scorpion fish into it

with a fried scorpion fish tail.

The rack of wild boar is
crusted with a sesame chili,

and underneath it are some ginger lentils,

and then over on the side
is a seared chimpana cotta.

I did a sort of take on
a country-fried steak.

And then there's braised
greens with razor clam in between.

I have a ostrich tartare with horseradish,
a little bit of tarragon in there.

The crab is actually plain
underneath the tartare there.

I injected the frog legs with a Cajun spice

and made a jambalaya
out of the spider crab.

My ingredients were
sea urchin and frog's legs.

I made a sea urchin and chanterelle
risotto with a sea urchin emulsion.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to
get the frog legs on the plate in time,

so this is what I have to present to you.

It's embarrassing to walk up to people of
those caliber and present an incomplete dish.

All right, thank you very much.

All right, you guys, let's eat.

Is this the most striking looking...
I mean, this makes a statement.

It does.

That was Leah?

Leah, yes.

I really liked Sandy's. I
thought it was fun and playful.

I really like the frog's legs. I
think they're really nicely fried.

CJ made one dish out
of the two ingredients.

I love the idea of a
tartare in with a crab salad.

It just wasn't a tartare and
then something else on the side.

It was all incorporated, which
I thought was very interesting.

How is Howie's sea urchin?

Risotto's nice. I guess
he had frog leg problems.

When I did my walkthrough,
I spoke to Howie,

and he gave me the impression
that everything was under control.

He had plenty of time.
I'm really surprised.

I just tasted Clay's dish. It's
probably my least favorite so far.

This is inedible.

The flavor of the boar is strong
and tough. The seasoning is off.

The chops look dead on arrival.

It's kind of like out of home
cooking kind of a thing,

but a home I wouldn't want to live in.

All right, well, I'm excited to see
what the next group is going to do.

As soon as I walk in the
door, full speed ahead.

I'm not paying attention to anybody.

I was really focused, knew
exactly what I'm going to do.

I am here to prove my skills, my
flavor profiles, and my techniques.

We're all going into a really
tough challenge on a lot of proteins

that a lot of us aren't familiar with.

You know, like, how do you
cook alligator? I don't know.

I've never seen that [bleep] before.

Alligator? Yeah.

I haven't worked with it in years.

I choose monkfish liver
as well as alligator tail.

The extra challenge I
have is to create a dish

around two things that I have never tasted.

This dish is either going
to knock it out of the park

and possibly win the challenge for me

or will land me in the
bottom three. I don't know.

I have the snake and I have the eel.

I had to butcher my stuff first.

And whereas most people could
start making their sauce right away,

I'm butchering two things I really
don't know how to butcher at all.

Black chicken gets a little
dry, so I grind the breast

and I'm braising the legs and thighs,

and then I'm serving it with a pu'er dough.

I own a restaurant in Brooklyn.

My strength is in having
simple food done right.

You know, nothing too crazy.

I've never cooked with abalone or kangaroo.

I'm feeling confident.
It's simple, it's clean.

How's it going? - Hi, Chef. How you doing?

Good. What are you working
on here? You have the geoduck.

The geoduck and the black chicken.
- Black chicken. All right.

Which is pretty hard to get tender,
but I'm going to try to sous-vide it.

Okay. - Hey, Chef.

How's it going? - Good. How you doing?

So your ingredients are...
- I got your fan filet

and I also got some abalone.

So I made this really cool game spice.

And I've got my abalone here,
which is best eaten raw to me.

Now I've got to ask you a question.

You don't strike me as the
kind of guy who's used to losing.

You're very right, sir.
It's a good observation.

So a little redemption today? - Totally.

Cool. Take care, man.

This group here seemed pretty confident,

which is interesting because
this was the second group

and they were choosing ingredients
that they were probably less familiar with.

I checked in on Brian.

He went out on a limb
and chose eel and snake.

If he can get the kind of flavors that
he's looking for, it could be interesting.

Dal, you know, he's definitely nervous.

It's all going to come down to execution.

Try this one.

Damn. - Three flavors. Awesome, huh?

Oh, damn.

Less than five minutes to go.
Less than five minutes to go.

Less than five minutes to go.

Check out Brian.

And I can begin to see the fluster on Brian's
face because he's seeing that old [bleep]

[bleep]

Bust it. - No way.

Time is up.

Utensils down. Hands up.

[bleep] blew it, dude.

When they said time, I was like,
"Nice work. You're going home."

I got a little too ambitious.

I had a great dish that
I just didn't get plated.

Well, the two ingredients that I
chose were ostrich fan filet and abalone.

Did a nice game spice on the ostrich, seared it,
put it with a little bit of heirloom tomato risotto,

fresh abalone sauce, little salad on top.

Thank you. - Thanks.

We have the hair of medusa, eyes with fries right
there with a little bit of sriracha and lime aioli.

And then you have a little
bit of the sea eel right there.

That was going to have this beautiful
miso and blood orange salad on top of that.

Unfortunately, ran a
little short on time on that.

And then that is the electric
venom soup right there.

That is a broth that I made by combining the two
and adding a little bit of Asian flair to it.

The abalone is served as a
fritter and the kangaroo is seared.

And I made just a very delicate
green vegetable and herb sauce.

And it's accompanied with a herb salad.

I braised the thigh and leg of the chicken
and then I marinated the breast in a brine.

And then I pan seared that.

I did a ceviche of the goy duck with a
cool cucumber and red pepper salad.

The black chicken is slow cooked sous vide
and the goy duck is sliced raw with fennel.

I took the innards, made that little streak of sauce and
that will bind both dishes together with ginger and scallion.

I have three dishes there.

The first one is kangaroo alone
seared on top of a sweet potato pudding.

The second one is a poached egg in chive oil
topped with the monkfish back and chopped liver.

And then ostrich carpaccio with the
monkfish chopped liver and dukka.

I got the privilege of being last.

I ended up making a monkfish liver granite smith apple hash,
sherry vinegar gastrique and an olive oil poached shallot.

And leek salad on top.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright, thanks very much.

We look forward to tasting your food.

You know, you were ogling
this and I've been ogling it.

I figured the innards we're getting.

Thank you.

It's good.

I have Tre's ostrich and
abalone and the meat is perfect.

It's seasoned well.

The risotto garnish is just enough.

It's not too sticky and the
abalone is really crunchy.

I think it's a good dish.

I've got Hung's black chicken and geoduck
and I have to say I'm really impressed.

Really creative use of ingredients.

Whose dish is this that I'm eating?

That's Del's.

The alligator is super tough.

Yeah.

Okay, this is the eagle and rattlesnake.

Brian's dish.

I would love this dish if I was drunk.

You know, I feel I should
be eating it at the bar.

Alright, well let's go to our first judges
table and see what becomes of it.

What is your major malfunction?

I'm not really sure.

Not everything needs full color.

Everything was tasting great.

You son of a b*tch.

Not a bad start.

No.

I mean, not all of it was delicious and
what I wanted to eat at that moment,

but it was really fun to
see what everyone did.

The level of the chefs
as a whole, very high.

Yeah.

Very high.

I thought it was a promising
start with a lot of nice surprises.

You look at their technical abilities and some
of them are just really downright impressive.

For the most part, I think a couple
of the dishes that didn't work for me,

it was not failure of
technique or execution.

It was failure of nerve.

I mean, you mentioned that
you like the claw on Sara's dish.

The dish I thought was good.

Just as a presentation, I
kind of thought it was neat.

Really?

I love that claw.

I thought that's kind of a bold statement.

Tells me I am not a supermarket chicken.

Fair enough.

And it also speaks of a certain confidence.

You're lucky we didn't get the beak.

That's right.

Alright, well let's speak specifically
about the ones we like the best.

Tony?

I thought Hung's black chicken with
geoduck was really sophisticated at it all.

Good flavor, inventive use
of ingredients, pretty flawless.

Tiny criticism of Hung's dish.

There could have been a little bit of color on
the plate just for a little bit of a contrast.

Tre's dish?

That was a dish that had
color, really mature use of flavor.

It was not a classical combination of ingredients
by any means, but it tasted very classical.

It was perfectly ex*cuted.

It looked good.

Okay, well I think we're pretty
clear on who our favorites are.

Sure.

I'm gonna go get them.

Great.

We'd like to see two of you.

Hung.

And Tre.

I tasted Hung's food.

I knew he would be in the finals with me.

It was just right there, clear as day.

And it's like, this is gonna be the guy
who's gonna be right there next to me.

Through challenge, through
challenge, through challenge.

It's just gonna be him.

I don't feel like anybody else in
this competition can outcook me.

Congratulations.

The two of you were our
favorites in this challenge.

You can smile!

Okay, what I want to ask both of you is,
you know, this was about first impressions.

Are you both satisfied?

I was definitely satisfied.

I tasted the dish in my head,
and it came out just the way it did.

What did you think about
the appearance of your dish?

Because the one thing that
we've noticed was the beigeness.

I was happy with it.

Not everything needs full color.

Just because if color's
not there, the food is good.

That's the final product.

You might eat with your
eyes first, but it's your stomach.

It's your mouth. It's what tastes it.

Tre?

I was very much in my comfort zone.

I was just really amazed by the fume.

Once it came down, I felt like,
"Oh, yeah. I've got an edge here."

It was really an amazing way
to incorporate the abalone, too.

Did you guys see each
other's dishes at all?

Oh, man. I tasted his,
and I was just in love.

I was just like, "Wow."

I mean, to me, it just amazed
me what he did with that geoduck.

Thanks.

You know, both in season
one and in season two,

the chef who won the
first elimination challenge

went on to win the title of top chef.

But no pressure, really.

Tony?

I want to stress again how
good both contributions were.

Hungry Food was impeccable.

If you were missing anything, it was color.

And Tre, yours was perhaps
a little more conservative.

But I have to say, you brought
together color, flavor, texture,

and two very different main
ingredients in a really impressive way.

I think the judges, all
of us, felt the same way.

Ultimately, Tre, to you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I feel awesome.

I'm glad it's a very big, big
redemption from the quickfire challenge.

Tre, as today's winner, you
get a stack of my collected work,

all signed with obscene doodles inside.

And next time you and I are
in New York at the same time,

I'm taking you out for late night
yakitori and getting you savage drunk.

Okay, so now I'm going to have to ask
you to send back some of your colleagues.

You want to know what?

If this is the end, I'd rather
have it be for something like this

than have it be for something like me
putting out some food that is garbage.

You know what I'm saying?

Because, you want to know what?

That can happen to anybody.

Good guy.

They did, unfortunately, want
to talk to a few other people.

Howie.

Brian.

And also, Clay.

Dale.

Good job. Congratulations.

Good luck. Good luck, guys.

[Tre's Kitchen]

You four have the least
favorite dishes in this challenge.

Brian, why do you think you're here?

I got a little excited when
I took the dueling snakes

and I made my dishes far too complicated
for the amount of time that I had.

Why the decision to fry them?

To fry because I knew that they had the
elasticity that they could handle the fry,

although the snake actually
got a little bit tough on me.

You say that they held
up well against the frying.

I actually think anything
holds up well against frying.

You could fry my toe and batter
it well and it would taste good.

I love cooking stuff on a bone and I think you
missed a perfect opportunity to keep it on a bone.

I scored them very nicely and what I was trying
to get was I was trying to expose the ribs on them

and I spent a little bit too long on
doing that and they came out nice,

but the problem was the ribs didn't
come exposed like I had wanted them to

because I was going to
have the dueling ribs up here.

How did it taste?

It tasted great.

And you didn't serve it to us?

Everything was tasting great, it just didn't get
all, I did too much and couldn't get it on the dish.

Only thing worse than a wrong decision is dithering
about whether or not it was the wrong decision.

Right, or second guessing yourself.

Dale, tell us why you think you're here.

First, I think my lack of knowledge
about the products that I had.

My strategy was to come up
with something fairly neutral.

Once I kind of tasted the items to kind
of see if I could, I guess not just get by.

How did you come up with
what you did to the alligator?

Alligator, the only thing that I was concerned about
is I did not understand the texture of the meat.

I seared off a few different pieces of meat and
I thought cooked all the way through was just,

I just really did not like the texture.

Keeping it medium rare, so
it was a big problem for us.

It was chewy and we all agreed on it.

When you played it safe, you tried to cruise
through this challenge without being the worst.

Howie?

I know I'm here because I did
not complete the assignment.

What happened?

I had the frog legs next to the
dishes when we ran out of time.

I mean, you really cut it close, but how
did you not get those items on the plate?

I mean, this is crucial.

The frog legs, they were 95% there.

I just wanted to re-crisp them because I just, you know what, I was focusing
more on trying to make sure everything was as perfect as I could make it.

I have a question.

Sure.

What is your major malfunction?

What is my major malfunction?

I mean, what is the first rule
of the restaurant business?

You show up on time.

What's the second rule of the business?

You have your stuff in the window on
time at the same time as everybody else.

Am I wrong?

No, not at all.

One plate here.

I want my food now.

I want it hot.

I want it, I want what I want.

That's fair enough.

In your book, though, you know, there's a little part that
says about Ecuadorian line cooks, I believe, Ecuadorian.

Oh, that's unfair, man.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

And what does it say?

It says you can yell at this person, at this
person, and they'll give it to you when it's wrong.

But these particular people,
they give it to you when it's right.

You son of a b*tch.

Rubble.

Well, you want it fast
and you want it right.

Of course I want it
fast and I want it right.

And believe me, it kills me that a matter of seconds stands between,
you know, me possibly moving on to the next round or going home.

Those last few seconds got the best of me.

Clay, why do you think you're here?

I'm not really sure.

You know, I stand behind my dish.

Could have possibly been better, obviously.

When I checked in on you, there was about 40 minutes
left and you already had the wild boar cooked.

Right.

Did you think it was cooked correctly
at that point or when we served it?

My intentions was to
sear it and par cook it.

What were you aiming for
as far as the doneness of it?

I was going for more
of a not well done at all.

I think I should have kept them, you know, two bones
or three bones as opposed to cutting them so thin.

You serve at a wedding party
of 150, you par cook your chops.

Wild boar is a beautiful thing.

Why are you par cooking your chops?

I was playing it too safe.

So, are you still standing
behind your dish?

I'm standing behind my dish, but I think a good
chef can notice his own mistakes at the same time.

You keep saying you stand behind
the dish, but you keep backtracking.

I tell you, the stuffing
was really inedible.

For me, it wasn't the stuffing that
was the worst part. It was the chop.

This was not a conceptual problem.
This was a problem of fundamentals.

It's overcooked, too thin, not good.

Okay, thank you very much. We'll
call you all back when we're ready.

Thank you.

Thanks.

[Brian's Kitchen]

Where do we begin?

You know, Brian, he had the two knockout
ingredients. He had the snake and the eel.

I was disappointed to see him fry
the rattlesnake, but it tasted fine.

Yeah, but don't you think he could have fried
anything and it would have tasted like that?

You have these stupendous
ingredients like eel and rattlesnake.

There was not a single
egregious food crime on that plate.

Dale's dish. Alligator needs to be cooked a
certain way. Alligator can be really tough.

He found himself in over his head
and made some smart decisions.

I think Dale stated very
eloquently, I think better than I could,

exactly where he went wrong on this
dish and what he could have done better.

His taste level's a little suspect here.

Clay, I mean, I found it interesting that,
you know, his first statement through,

he stands by his dish, dig a little bit,
and all of a sudden he's backing off of it

and he starts making excuses.

Clay had a good concept. He had an idea.

And I think that he just
couldn't pull the trigger.

The basic technical skill
wasn't there to execute.

He pulled the trigger 40 minutes
early and he ended up a prison chow.

At the table, my first reaction
was, "This isn't edible."

Those chops, that was like economy
class of, you know, Air Cambodia.

Yeah, yeah.

I need a punching bag. Shot of whiskey.

Anybody on that?

The other big issue is how
he left something off the plate.

He should have had time. There
was no excuse for not getting it done.

Most frustrating piece of that is that
the risotto he did cook was really tasty.

So it makes me think how unfortunate
it is because chances are that

what he was putting to accompany
it would have been tasty too.

It was a serious failure.

Well, what is the greater crime,
though? Leaving something off the plate?

Or Clay's dish.

How he would have been better
off putting the frog legs on the plate.

Right.

I think Clay would have been better off
leaving those damn chops off the plate.

Do you send Howie home? I
mean, I look at Howie and say,

based on what he's served us,
he does have a lot of potential

and he's clearly, I think,
a better chef than Clay.

He gave us half of a really good dish.

He failed. It was a failure.

He rightly is right at the precipice
and looking all the way down.

[Music]

All four of you are here because you
got noticed for all the wrong reasons.

Clay, you told us that
you stand behind your dish,

but when push comes to shove, you
start to back down off it pretty quickly.

Chops were overcooked.
They were definitely cut too thin.

It was a tough dish to really get down.

Howie, you know why you're here.

Chefs can't leave parts
of the dish off the menu.

It's not a restaurant
situation. This is a challenge.

And again, part of that challenge
was to get everything on the plate.

But you definitely got noticed.

Brian, that dish was
kind of all over the place.

You know, it was a plate of
fried food for the most part.

Top chefs, about more than
just making a plate of fried food.

Dale, you know, I was surprised to hear you
say that you tried the alligator several times

and you settled on what
you thought was the best one.

The alligator is why you were here.

You know, somewhere along the
line, you got to find taste level here.

In the end, someone has to go.

[Clears throat]

Clay, please pack your knives and go.

Thank you for the opportunity.

It's an honor to have been here.

Good luck to you.

Being the first one to leave,
I feel very disappointed.

I guess not being able to get over
my nerves is what's really k*lled me.

Thank you.

I had a lot of really good
laughs and feel like I,

even in such a small amount of time,
made some already really close friends.

If I could learn anything from my father, it's to
go with your heart and do what you know is right.

But I think he already
knows I'm a top chef.

Either way, I don't need a fancy title.

This season on Top Chef.

The kitchen can get so crazy.

Whoa!

First one, underneath
that. Right beside that.

Hot behind, hot behind.

It's anybody's game.
Everyone here is a badass.

The type of food I'm known for, my pasta.

Rustic.

Cheesy and gooey.

Experimental.

Shellfish.

Spicy.

Reinvented.

Very simple.

Yeah, it's simple, but
my monkey can do that.

Oh yeah.

This is terrible.

It's terrible.

This is Top Chef 3 and
it's just this mean business.

Good enough is just
not going to cut it here.

It was the sauces. That's what k*lled me.

This is like nothing.

It's scallop sashimi.

Pan roasted fruit stemmer.

All of our reputations
are at stake as chefs.

I absolutely hated it.

Things I would never use in my kitchen.

Micah is starting to
bug the s♪♪♪ out of me.

You don't get it. I can't say a thing
to you and I can't say a thing to him.

Competition brings out the animal in me.

Next time I'm here, you
better step up and bring it.

Now it's on.

Bye man.

Everybody's here to win
and there's only one spot.

What do you want me to do?

Clean up after yourself.

Shake somebody's f♪♪♪ing hand to be a man.

You be a f♪♪♪ing man.

Get the f♪♪♪ing camera out of here.

For more about the recipes
seen tonight, go to bravotv.com.

[Music]