04x01 - Anything You Can Cook I Can Cook Better

[bunniefuu]

top chef is back,

And now tastier than ever.

The lineup of chef
you have so far,

They're quite amazing.

This time we set up kitchen
in chicago,

And gathered 16

Of the country's
finest up-and-coming chefs

To battle it out
for the title.

Here in the windy city,

They'll have to fight their way

Through 24 challenges...

Yeah!

[Padma]
using their skill, talent
and determination.

[andrew]
as far as me going home
right now,

You'd have to drag me out
with security guards.

[Padma]
in the coming weeks,

They're going to be tested
in every possible way.

Ten minutes, guys!

Oh, boy, did I get [bleep].

[Bleep] me.

[Padma]
keeping his eye
on them in the kitchen

Is our head judge
chef tom colicchio.

Reach into your bag of tricks
and do something else.

Also at the judge's table,

Top chef regulars ted allen...

Beautiful, sophisticated,
complex.

[Padma]
and gail simmons.

I wanted something I could
kind of dig my teeth into.

And I'm padma lakshmi.

[All]
whoo! Cheers.

At stake for the winner,

A feature
in food & wine magazine,

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

A gourmet dream vacation
in the french alps,

Provided
by evian natural spring water,

$100,000 To help

Turn their culinary dreams
into reality,

Furnished by the makers
of the glad family of products,

And the title of top chef.

I'm ryan from san francisco.

I grew up in restaurants,
and my parents signed the waiver

For me to be able to work
in restaurants.

And at 11, I jumped on the line
with my father.

And my dad fired two people

After the first
two or three weeks

Because I outcooked them
at 11 years old.

Yeah, I got what it takes
to be top chef.

My name is nimma osman.
I'm from atlanta, georgia.

I am a line cook currently
at repast restaurant.

According to my parents,
I should be living with them

Till I get married.

I want to be a good muslim
woman, but at the same time,

I wanna be able to be free
and be an american.

I wasn't sure that my dad would
support me on top chef.

But no, he told me he was happy
and he wanted me to win.

So, if god wills,
I'll definitely get there.

My name is zoi,

And I live in san francisco.

I definitely bring, I think,

A softer style
to the competition.

I'm gonna make like a really
spicy pig soup out of the head.

Yeah!

To me the food is about
experience, about community,

And so I think that's a unique
kind of approach.

My name is mark simmons,
and I'm from new zealand.

I think I can win top chef
because my life experience

And my travels
are very unique.

I came to america with like $200
and just a backpack,

And you know,
the american dream.

And if I won the title
as top chef,

I would definitely
put that money

And my blood, sweat, and tears
into my first restaurant.

Man, this is chicago.

[Nimma]
should we start digging in?

[Spike]
yeah, definitely.

I'm richard blais.

Arriving in chicago,
I'm super-pumped and excited.

It's a true food city.

What comes to mind
when I think of chicago cuisine

Is the best of both worlds.

They have awesome street food.

Then they have, you know,

Some of the most avant-garde
restaurants

And most modern places.

That's my style of food though.

I use food additives
and I cook with liquid nitrogen.

A lot of people label it
as "molecular" gastronomy.

My name is jennifer biesty.

I'm the chef of a three-star
restaurant in san francisco.

So excited to be in chicago.

It's this culinary capital
right here.

Walking into pizzeria uno,

This is such an establishment.

Just the history of this place
is amazing.

My name's erik.

I'm the executive chef
at circa restaurant and lounge

In san francisco.

Spike.
Spike.

I'm zoi. Nice to meet you.
Zoi.

I'm very vocal
about my opinions

And how I want things done
in the kitchen.

If it's not done right,
it's not leaving my window.

[Bleep] [bleep] off
with that.

If I get the money, I plan
to open my own little shack

On the beach in hawaii

And cook in flip-flops
and aloha shirts.

Richard. Nice to meet you.

Spike.

My name is andrew d'ambrosi.

I'm a sous chef in new york.

I'm an amalgamation
of what I see around me

And my different inspirations.

[All]
cheers.

[Andrew]
when I make food, like,
it's [bleep] part of me.

It's like molten [bleep]
lava pouring out for you.

There's nothing better
than people tasting my passion.

And that's why I became a chef.

And there it is:
tattooed tuna carpaccio.

My name's stephanie izard.

My strengths
for this competition:

I would say my attitude
in the kitchen is--

It's very positive and fun.

Thing is, if the chef's
in a good mood

And is treating everybody
with respect,

Then everybody in the kitchen's
gonna have a good mood

And is gonna produce things
better.

My weakness is just if I get
a little bit nervous.

I'm very confident in my skills,

But one little mistake,
and you're out of here.

[Richard]
first impressions are

What a great, diverse,
talented bunch.

It's too early to kind
of size anyone up at this point.

But i-i-i noticed the other--
the other haircut,

You know, right away.

Uh, we have a little
announcement to make.

we know each other
in san francisco,

and we're a couple.

We're a couple.

Oh, really.

Oh, wow.

Okay, so it's out.

Oh, wow.

[Jennifer]
zoi and i,

We've been together
like 3 1/2 years.

And we knew that, you know,
we had to announce the fact

That we were a couple,
just in all fairness.

So everyone knew,
just to get it out

And find out if anyone had
an issue with it.

It's out.
It's in the open.

So it's a shock to us
that we're here too.

[zoi]
just so you guys know.

[Spike]
when jen and zoi announced
that they were a couple,

Instantly, I was like, ah,
this--this is bull[bleep].

But I thought about it
for--for a while,

And I was like, you know,

No big deal,
they can go home together.

I don't know
what's gonna happen.

[Zoi]
it's kind of a relief actually.
It's a little off the shoulders.

Yeah, it's a relief
to tell people.

Being on, as a couple,

It's gonna be a tough one.

Emotionally, it's straining,
so it's just as much

Of a disadvantage for us
to be on the show.

Hello, everyone.

[All]
hi.

Welcome to top chef chicago.

[Applause and cheers]

Welcome to chicago
and season four.

[tom]
after three seasons of this,

one thing
I can tell you for sure,

This will be one of the toughest
experiences of your career.

[padma]
it's time
for your first quickfire...

With a chicago twist.

[padma]
grab a chef's coat,

And let's get
the competition rolling.

[Ryan]
with the first quickfire,
it hit me.

I was like, wow.

It's the real deal.

We're all here
for the same reason.

And I've got to beat 15 people.

[Jennifer]
I'm feeling exhilarated, walking
into the top chef kitchen,

Because it's just,
like, this culinary arena.

Everything you'd ever want
is here.

And I'm just ready to cook.

So here it is:
the top chef kitchen.

welcome.

before you arrived
in chicago,

We asked you to pack
up to $200 of ingredients

that you cannot live without.

And over here, you each have
your own personal locker

to put all your ingredients
and equipment in

and full access
to the top chef pantry.

for your first quickfire
challenge,

You must all create

your own signature
deep dish pizza.

so you have 90 minutes
to prepare your pizza

and get it ready for delivery

To the guest judge
for this round.

Your time starts now.

[Andrew]
time starts, and vrrr,
we just scatter.

It's madness.

That's cool and all,
you know what I mean,

Because I really like
busting my ass

And running around a lot.

I'm sure you guys will see that.

[Stephanie]
first challenge, the whole
experience is nerve-wracking.

My heart's pounding
and my hands are shaking.

I have to get used to cooking
with 15 other people around

And in a strange kitchen.

So that's why I probably
cut myself

In the first 30 seconds

That I was cutting an onion.

My name is dale talde.

Currently I'm a sous chef
at buddakan restaurant

In new york city.

When I create dishes,
I have a point of view,

And I try and get that across.

So I did asian pickled
vegetables, kohlrabi, radishes,

And shallots.

Most people like a little
hot sauce on their pizzas,

So I add sriracha
to the tomato sauce.

Lots of energy around here
now all of a sudden.

My name's valerie,
and I'm from chicago.

Most of my background's been
in fine dining restaurants,

So more upscale cuisine.

I haven't made
a deep dish pizza before,

So man, I hope this works,

Because if it doesn't,

This is not looking good
for the girl from chicago.

My name is manuel.

I'm the executive chef
at dos caminos restaurant

In new york city.

I have a really great foundation
in italian food,

And I'm classically
french-trained.

And so I'm thinking
classic italian pizza.

I'm nikki.
I live in manhattan.

So I had a little problem
with the deep dish.

I think about doing a white pie
with no tomato sauce.

The crunchiness of the crust
is what I love.

So I'm completely unfamiliar
at the quantity of dough

To put in.

One of the secret ingredients

That I bought is called marmite.

It is very indigenous
to new zealand and australia.

It is a yeast extract.

But in the right hands,
it can move mountains.

I'm italian.
My pizza's gonna be great.

My name is antonia lofaso.

I love to feed people.

It's just in my blood.

My pizza is burrata
and prosciutto

With sauteed arugula
and roasted heirloom tomatoes.

We're kind of staying pretty
traditional with the deep dish,

Honoring the deep dish
here in chicago.

But then also bringing in
a bit of my southern roots

Into it here,
or where I live right now,

So a little peaches.

I'm here to take it all, baby.

I'm taking it all.

Most everybody I know
knows me by spike.

My real name is evangelos.

It's greek.

I am making
a simple pizza today.

It has mediterranean flavors,
feta cheese, kalamata olives,

Green peppers.

A simple deep dish pizza
representing who I am.

My name is lisa,

And for me, it's not
about having a specialty,

It's about the fact that you can
really touch people with food.

Somebody can eat
one of my dishes

And be like, "that's orgasmic.
That's amazing."

I like to cook things
that have asian influence,

Latin influence.

I always like making new dishes,
things that are different.

Everything's going [bleep]
peachy, peachy keen

Until I go look over to see
where the deep dish pans are.

There ain't none there.

Pizza pan?

My deep dish pan
apparently was used

By another competitor,
richard.

I'm assuming just wanted to do
one twice.

So I'm basically running
around the kitchen like a moron,

Looking for a [bleep] pan.

So gotta grab a [bleep] cast
iron skillet and use it.

Oh, this is ridiculous.

So I basically look
like a [bleep] hack

For my first competition.

You gotta be kidding me.

I'm looking at some pizzas,
going,

"[Bleep],
that looks horrible."

You saw that people had just
totally miscalculated

How much it was gonna rise.

There was literally like this
much crust and no filling,

And you could just tell some of
these pizzas were [bleep].

[Stephanie]
um, I was just trying
to get it out of the pan,

And it just [bleep]
fell apart.

So I'm just gonna try
to piece it back together

And hope that it
at least tastes good.

[Buzzer sounds]

[Woman]
time's up.

[Nikki]
I really do not have any ideas

Who the guest judge is.

This is awesome.

[Stephanie]
we pull up
in our top chef highlanders

And deliver our pizza
to the home of the guest judge,

Which is this beautiful home
in chicago.

I really do not have any ideas

Who the guest judge is
at this point.

[Knocking]

Hey, guys.

[Exclamations and greetings]

[Nikki]
the door opens,

And it's rocco dispirito.

[Zoi]
I was surprised.

You know, him standing there
in person.

Well, I'm glad you finally
made it, 'cause I'm starving.

Make your way into the kitchen
and serve us the pizza,

One slice at a time.

Well, I was totally just,
like, "aah!"

This is awesome.
Hi.

welcome.

Rocco dispirito is a rock star
in the culinary world,

And I'm really anxious
about what he's gonna say

About these pizzas.

Hi, richard.
Hope you're hungry.

Here's a new yorker who lives
in atlanta's interpretation

Of chicago deep dish pizzas:
peach taleggio, fennel sausage.

And then, of course,
there's just a little bit

Of sweet tea reduction.

Oh, wow.

Enjoy.

Hello, how are you?

Bring it on.

All right, here we have
a little herb goat cheese

With basil and mint,
a melon-tomato sauce,

Grilled prosciutto, and then
it's topped with some arugula.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thanks, zoi.

Hi, dale.
What's up, dale?

[Rocco]
you actually made
this kohlrabi pickle?

[Dale]
yes.

[Rocco]
cool.

How are you?
What do you got
goin' on?

This is grilled escarole
with ricotta salata

And butternut squash.

[Padma]
very nice. Thank you.

Pleasure.
It was very nice meeting you.

Hi, nikki.

How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?

I'm great,
thank you.

What did you do?

Deep, deep dish.
Very deep dish.

This is a white pie because
it's comte, fresh ricotta,

And then shaved pecorino
to finish.

Thanks, nikki.

Well, hello.

I made a chicago-style pizza

With a hickory-smoked marinara,
prosciutto,

And just a little bit
of heirloom tomato

Sliced on top
around in a circle.

Thank you.

[Rocco]
hey, what's up?

This is rocco.
Hi, rocco.

I like the way
you did the crust.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you.
How are ya?

Thank you.

Thanks.

Hi, spike.
Good evening.

This is pizza a la grec,

Feta cheese, kalamata olives,
sauteed onions, and fennel.

Thank you very much.

Thank you,
thank you.

[rocco]
so you've got onions,
mushrooms.

[Nimma]
different types.

[Rocco]
I see chanterelles, maybe,
and criminis.

[Nimma]
yeah, there were shiitakes
as well.

also, I did
some stracchino cheese,

And some thyme and rosemary.

[padma]
it's missing a lot of salt.

[rocco]
thank you.

How's it going?

Good, how are you?
Pretty good.

We have some marmite molasses
on the bottom,

Smoked chicken, and we have
a spicy tomato sauce,

just because it is
the windy city.

Thank you very much.

Hello, chefs.

Everyone gather around.

I'd like to congratulate you

For getting through
your first challenge.

It's not easy
to show up one day

and cook anything,
much less pizza.

some of your dishes
were amazing.

some were very inventive.
and some were not so good.

but most of the dishes
were very, very nice.

When rocco calls your name,
please go stand

At the far end of the room.

Lisa,

nimma,

valerie,
manuel,

andrew,
stephanie,

nikki,
and finally,

zoi.

You guys were, unfortunately,
my least favorite group.

Stephanie,
when you cook prosciutto,

I think you have to be
very careful how you do it.

Um, it takes on
a really strong gamy flavor,

And that's what I didn't like
about your pizza.

Nikki,
your pizza was very dry.

we're working
with deep dish pizza.

there's a lot of dough.

And then you used dried morels
on top of it,

Which I would save
for a sauce.

Which means, of course,
you guys are my favorite group.

Richard, I want to congratulate
you for confounding me

And then proving me wrong.

When I saw peaches and syrup,

I thought you'd lost your mind.

And then, it gets proven
over and over again.

there are no rules in cooking.

if you make it taste good,
it's good.

Mark...marmite.

I can't think
of a more foul flavor,

but you managed to work it
into a number of ingredients

In a very harmonious way.

And it turned out
to be very delicious.

These results will play

into your very first
elimination challenge.

And you'll find out
what that is...tomorrow.

so in the meantime,
we're gonna leave you all

to settle in.

Right here.

[Cheers]

Welcome, this is
your new chicago home.

Nice.

Padma was all like,
"yo, casa, mother[bleep]ers."

And it's like, ohh,
what phatness!

So relax,
get to know each other,

Get some rest,

and we'll see you tomorrow.

Good night.
Good night.

[All]
good night.

Honestly, we're, like,
thank god.

We'd all just got off a plane.

We all just had
our first quickfire challenge.

And we were so happy to be home.

This is incredible.

I live in a shoebox
in manhattan.

And to live in here feels like
I'm in a friggin' mansion.

[Cork pops]

I'm just making
some [unintelligible], mate.

[Erik]
the atmosphere this first night

Was definitely kinda casual.

Y'know, we hang out, talk,
drink some beers

And just get to know each other.

[Andrew]
some of my other competitors

Are actually pretty cool
for the most part.

I'm not dissin' them, but I can
surprise people with dishes

They haven't seen before
or even thought about before.

And they're gonna find out
really soon what's up.

To lose, especially on a pizza
dish that was so simple,

Really just hurts.

So, yeah.

[Nimma]
everyone socialized,

And I just didn't want
to do that.

I'm just gonna try to stay
to myself.

I'm not here to have fun.

I really am not here
to have fun.

I'll have fun

When I've reached my goals.

The bag of chips?

is that one of the challenges?
"make a bagel."

[Nimma]
it's a competition.

I'm just here to work.

[Dale]
I feel you have
to remove yourself

Out of, like, a lot
of the human side of this.

You have to say to yourself,

"I'm better than all you
mother[bleep]ers."

You have to feel like
you're the best, or else--

Or else,
you're gonna fall short.

[Erik]
when I walked
into the top chef kitchen,

There's padma
and a chalkboard.

I'm like, what's going on?

Winning chefs
from the quickfire,

Please draw knives.

One.
Eight.

Six.
Five.

Four.
Seven.

Number three.

For your elimination challenge,
you must choose

one of the chefs
from the other group

To cook against,
head-to-head.

[Laughter]

So richard, you drew knife
number one.

So whoever you choose
will get to select

what dish you'll both make.

From...

This list
of classic dishes.

[Antonia]
I'm looking at everything
on the board.

I'm like, okay,
I got it, I got it, I got it.

And then you see souffle

Down at the bottom.

Please don't make me
make a souffle.

[Mark]
I'm very disappointed
that I don't get

To choose which dish
that I'm cooking,

Because there are some dishes

I don't even know
what the hell they are.

[Erik]
I pulled number eight.

I knew
that I was cooking souffle.

Nobody's gonna pick that,
you know.

It's one of the hardest things
to cook in a kitchen.

You can keep it traditional

Or reimagine the dish entirely.

and we'll be picking
a winning dish

From each pair.

so then if your dish loses,

You're in line for elimination.

Okay, so richard,
who's it gonna be?

I'm gonna take andrew.

I'll take crab cakes.

Turns out that the person
that kinda [bleep] me

In the quickfire challenge
is the guy

That actually picks me.

And it was funny
because I knew

The mother[bleep]
was gonna pick me,

But I wouldn't have had it
any other way.

It's gonna be like, all right,
mother[bleep]ers, let's battle.

So, mark, you picked knife
number two.

who are you cooking against?

Let's say, stephanie.

Um, let's do duck a l'orange.

I'm gonna go with nikki.

We'll go for lasagna.

Nimma.

I'm gonna go
with shrimp scampi.

I'm gonna take lisa.

Eggs benedict.

[padma]
eggs benedict.

Manuel.

I think I'll take
the steak au poivre.

I will take valerie.

you can obviously choose

Between souffle
or chicken piccata.

I'm definitely going
with chicken piccata.

So obviously, zoi and erik...

Souffle it is.

Have either of you
ever made souffle?

It's been a while, yeah.

It's been a long while.

[Zoi]
well, of course,
out of all those things,

The least area of comfort
I have is with souffle.

If this doesn't go well,

I could very easily go home.

I'm gonna go out
on the first challenge.

[Richard]
what the [bleep] did that guy
just do?

[Stephanie]
I'm starting to sauce my plate,

And my hand is shaking
out of control.

Holy [bleep].

The elimination challenge

Is to go head-to-head
with someone else

In a cooking battle.

Two of that.
Pull them out, please, mate.

Two of that.

I know this is gonna
be easy for me

Because the dish I'm working on
is very simple:

Orange and duck.

Half a pound
of the sweet shrimp.

That one's nice right there.

I want a chunk from the head.

just like that.

I'm planning on doing something
a little avant-garde.

I never order steak au poivre.
Never.

I just feel like it's heavy,
it's rich.

Do you have more in the back,
or is this it?

I don't like the dish like that.

I knew that
I was gonna flip the dish

In the way that I wanted
to flip it.

I need the most marble
you got.

My flavors are on point.

I know what the [bleep]
I'm doing.

I'm up against spike.

We are doing eggs benedict.

I've been cooking breakfast

For...ever.

I love breakfast.

The amount of eggs
that I've poached

In the last year of my life...

I'm pretty confident that
I'm gonna rock this challenge.

Keep the bone in.

Give me skinless.

[Ryan]
my dish is a chicken piccata.

And for some reason,
I'm remembering eggs,

Flour, bread crumbs.

I'm remembering tomatoes,

I'm remembering pasta or rice.

So that's what
I'm shopping for.

What the hell did I do
with my notepad?

[Bleep].

[Nikki]
I feel like I need

To really redeem myself

And absolutely do not
want to go home first.

[Zoi]
I'm deciding
to do dessert souffle

As opposed to a savory souffle.

I feel like, judges,
they're gonna have eaten



[Richard]
I'm gonna feature
crab cakes

And try and keep things to
a minimum amount of ingredients

And really just balance them.

I'm, you know,
looking at my "competitor."

And aside from his hair,

I saw that he went
for the crab legs,

But they're not really fresh.

So I get myself some regular
lump meat, some jumbo lump meat.

I wanted to give it
a meatier texture

Or component to it that would
give it a little more depth.

...half-sheet pan,
salt, pepper...

We walk into the kitchen,

And we just get
straight into it.

It was thrilling, like,
just the energy in the kitchen

Was just insane.

It was the first challenge.

Everyone was just, like,
"whah!"

[Richard]
you know, getting to this point,

Where reality is hitting
everyone.

Someone's going home.
How do you deal with that?

I'm going head-to-head
against andrew,

And we're making crab cakes.

I have a lot of time.

I get a lot of things
on the stove going

And really just tryin'
to keep my eye

On the three elements
of the dish that I'm creating.

I'm doing a crab cake,
a little play on coleslaw,

Cider reduction,

And a little bit
of smoked mayonnaise.

[Antonia]
I have shrimp scampi.

And I have great ingredients.

I know what I'm doing.
And I'm just gonna cook.

I start
taking apart the lobsters,

I start
taking apart the shrimp.

The whole point of my dish
is to have an amazing sauce.

So I was really paying a lot
of attention to the sauce.

[Nimma]
I wanna try to cover
all the elements of taste.

So I'm gonna marinate
the shrimp in parsley.

And I was gonna do cauliflower
with cauliflower custard.

They have to be in the oven
as soon as possible.

I'm feeling the time's
going by so fast.

[Ryan]
my dish is a free-range
chicken piccata cutlet.

I'm gonna make my own stock,

Brine the chicken breast,
make gnocchi,

Braise the thighs...

In 90 minutes.

Can opener,
what did I do with that?

Time is an issue today.

And I'm lookin' at it,
and I'm thinking,

Wow, I'm gonna go out
on the first challenge.

What the hell was I thinking?

I've absolutely made up my mind
that no matter what,

I'm making fresh pasta.

I wanna make
my grandmother proud.

She ingrained in me
my love for italian cooking,

And I definitely

Will be thinking of her
when I make this lasagna.

You don't have a l'orange
in kiwi?

No, we just say orange, mate.

[Laughs]

I decided that I wanted
to use the whole duck.

I think it will show my skill
a little more

If I use the entire duck
in my presentation.

I do peek over at mark,

And he's got a lot
of crazy [bleep] going on.

It looks like he's doing
a lot of components,

And I start to feel

A little intimidated
that his dish might end up being

A little bit more intricate
than mine.

I always get lost.

For some [bleep] strange reason
in the back of my head,

I'm thinking we got mayonnaise
in the kitchen.

top chef kitchen, they gotta
have mayonnaise, right?

Richard, do you know
where the mayonnaise is?

Uh, I don't believe there's
mayonnaise in the kitchen.

We have egg yolks,
though, and oil.

He actually had
a jar of mayonnaise,

Little sly little
sharkface.

[Richard]
I bought mayonnaise
at the store.

Crab cakes and mayonnaise.

I thought it was kind of
a fatal flaw on his part.

[Andrew]
so I'm gonna go ahead and make
my own mayonnaise

Because he gave me the recipe
for it,

Which is oil and eggs,
and I didn't know that.

We're in the heat of the battle,

And I think just kind of the
competitive nature of myself,

You know, jumped out,

And I think I probably just
thought better of it.

That won't be necessary now.
Thank you.

[Whisk clacking]

If you had told me that my
future was riding on a souffle,

I would have been baking them

The whole time I was
in san francisco.

They'd be on my menu.

I know what I'm doing is gonna
be able to get done

In the 90 minutes.

I'm more concerned

With the end result.

Is it gonna rise?
Is it gonna fall?

Is it gonna taste terrible?

Is it what they're looking for?

Souffle is very sensitive.

It can collapse

If, you know,
you slam the oven door too hard,

If you shake the sheet pan
that it's on, whatever.

They're rising.
They are?

Yeah.

All of ours?

Yeah.
Sweet.

Imagine that.
[Laughs]

[Antonia]
it's on the clock now.

[Nimma]
I do get a chance
to taste the shrimp

And the flan, and I realize
the flan wasn't setting.

I just looked at it,
and I looked at the clock,

And I realize
it's not gonna set.

So I had to calm down
and just make a quick decision.

I decided to test
the cauliflower mix

To see if it would be nice
if it was scrambled.

And I tasted it,
and it was fine.

So I went with it.

What is that,
may I ask?

It's a little,
uh, smoker.

[Richard]
I have kind of a few tricks
in the bag.

One of them is this
little electric smoker.

I wanted to smoke
some ras el hanout,

Which is a little north african
spice blend.

Honestly, I want to come out,
and I want to make a statement.

I want some people to be like,

"What the [bleep] did that guy
just do?"

[andrew]
you're like felix, dude.

A whole bag of tricks.

Jesus christ.

I'm starting to sauce
my plate...

Jesus christ.

And my hand is shaking
out of control.

I have to put the spoon down,
take a deep breath.

I'm like, "holy [bleep]."

[Padma]
utensils down, hands up.

I would have had
to have sent that dish back.

[Padma]
I found it incredibly salty.

I didn't like either of them.

[padma]
hello, chefs.

I wanted to introduce you
to our judges.

we have anthony bourdain
of no reservations,

Rocco dispirito you remember
from the quickfire.

What's up, guys?

[Padma]
and our head judge
tom colicchio.

Anthony bourdain just says
what he wants to say,

So that's sort of the scary part
in having him taste your food.

And, of course,
I'm already nervous

About what rocco's gonna say,
since he hated my prosciutto.

Mark, why don't you tell us,
first, what you've made?

Today I was working
with duck a l'orange.

We have dashi-steeped enoki,

Squash puree,

Roasted duck breast
with tangerine and soy glaze

And we have
a dirty little sakitini.

In case someone didn't like
mushrooms or squash,

I kept it all deconstructed.

[Stephanie]
my twist on it actually
went a little asian as well.

We have the seared duck
pressed on top,

Sitting over some maitake
mushrooms and bok choy.

Then there's a braised duck leg
spring roll

That has a little
of the bok choy

And actually some shiitake
mushrooms in it.

On top there is a reduction
of the braising liquid,

As well as an orange glaze.

Mm.

[rocco]
that's a great dish.

So this is a progression,
I guess, right?

Uh, yeah, I'd like you to try

And take a little bit
of everything.

You wanted us to eat it
together,

But you deconstructed it,
which tells me

That you weren't
necessarily thinking

about how the person
was gonna eat it later.

[anthony]
I have to completely agree.

I was confused
by the progression.

This was
a fully composed plate.

everything worked together.

I found myself

Continuing to eat it,
long after I had to.

I much preferred this.

Thank you.

So I think it's unanimous,
stephanie, you've won this.

Maybe I can stop shaking now
a little bit.

and, unfortunately, mark,

you are eligible
to be eliminated.

So we'll see you both later.

Okay.

I'm a little shocked
and surprised

Because I was in the top three

In the quickfire challenge.

So now I'm pretty nervous.

Andrew, why don't
you go first?

I just take, like,
a traditional crab cake

But I left the jumbo lump
in there nice and solid

So you have, like,
chunks of crab versus

Just an amalgamation of,
like, random pieces of crab.

there's cilantro-basil pudding.

And around that is
orange peri-peri sauce.

Actually, on the fly,
I ended up making

a, more or less,
a pancetta aioli

That was actually the base
for the mayonnaise,

Because apparently you didn't
have mayonnaise at first

to fold into my
crab cake mix.

Did you make some, or no?
I made mayonnaise.

Richard.

Trying to keep things simple,

I decided we were gonna do
apples and brussels sprouts

And mustard and really
traditional flavors,

And then we smoked a little bit
of ras el hanout.

What you do is
you cut into the dish.

The ras el hanout should release
a little bit of aroma.

That's all
it's really there for.

With the smoke,
the crab took on a meaty flavor.

[tom]
the only thing I didn't
care for this

Is the panko on the sides.

it actually worked pretty far
into the cake itself.

So I found this
to be a little bready.

Andrew,
you have the losing dish.

that means you are eligible
for elimination.

Richard, your dish
is our favorite dish.

you're eligible to win
this challenge.

But thanks
for two very strong dishes.

[Richard]
I'm feeling pretty good
about it.

I think that I really
exemplified

What my food is all about.

You know, a little bit
of shock and awe.

[Andrew]
all in all,

Like I know
I didn't beat this kid.

The fact is
that I showed strong

Against a cat
that I knew was a badass.

So it was, like, all right,
cool, man.

The next competition,
I'll be able to prevail.

Nice.

if that's the last crab cake
I cooked,

I'll be happy with it.

Yeah.
I don't need to cook
any more crab cakes.

[Padma]
this is jennifer.

Hello.
This is nikki.

[padma]
jennifer, what kind of lasagna

Did you do?

Well, I was chosen
to make lasagna.

I decided to go
with a northern italian style,

Featuring autumn vegetables.

Um, I made a meat sauce
with both veal and pork

And a little bit of mushroom
in there.

Rutabaga, celery roots, char
that was cooked with pancetta.

I finished it
with a mint verde.

[Rocco]
rutabaga?
[Padma]
I think so.

[rocco]
raw.

Nikki.

I think I had a little bit
to prove

After my quickfire disaster.

I did use a sheep's milk gouda.

Instead of a traditional
bechamel,

I made a really nice
cheese sauce.

and then I rolled out
my own pasta.

I thought that was a key element
to such an easy, classic dish.

They're both
very good dishes.

I guess nikki gets points
for making the pasta.

uh, the pasta was superb.

Thank you.
I mean,
it was really delicious.

I liked jennifer's dish.

I think it was really rustic.

it had great fall flavors.

I had one issue with it--

That's the rutabaga's
not cooked.

Had you just sliced it
very thin...

Yeah, it was a time issue.

Thanks for two good dishes.

But I would say
that nikki's is probably

our favorite dish.

[Nikki]
it's an incredible high

To know that you're not gonna be
the one sent home.

Especially after you really did
put your heart into it.

[Nimma]
as I'm walking
to the judges' table,

All I was thinking was,
"please be nice."

My version
of the shrimp scampi:

I did a parpadelle
with a mixture of sweet shrimp

And lobster,

confit cherry tomatoes.

[Rocco]
mm. Mm.

[Padma]
nimma.

I just did a shrimp scampi,

Made a little parsley butter,

Um, with the sauce.

This is a cauliflower scramble.

Just to go with the shrimp.

Nimma, did you marinate
your shrimp in something?

I did.
Garlic, thyme, and lemon zest.

And salt?

No, there was no salt.

When did the salt
enter the picture?

When I hit the pan.

I found it
incredibly salty.

this plate didn't
come together for me.

[rocco]
I would have had to send
that dish back

If I ordered it
in a restaurant.

Okay.

Antonia, the flavors here
were just really, really good.

[tom]
concentrated, powerful,
strong.

That was a harmonious plate.

The four of us have picked
antonia for this challenge.

[Nimma]
the judges were raving
over antonia's dish,

And I was just...just nervous.

I could possibly be sent home.

They said it was too salty,
my shrimp.

[andrew]
where can you go from here?

Right.
Totally.

[Padma]
so this is spike and lisa.

This is just my preparation
with a fat crouton,

With a little bit of bacon
sauteed, oyster mushrooms,

Chanterelles, slow-poached egg,

With a lemongrass sabayon.

Great.
Great. Lisa?

I have some toasted
hallah bread,

A little bit
of grilled lobster tail,

Some sauteed spinach and mache,
poached egg,

A pretty traditional
hollandaise, and some bacon.

I don't know how you judge.
Oh, no, here's how
you judge it.

Wait a minute--imagine you got
really drunk last night.

[anthony]
which is a better
hangover dish?

[Rocco]
they're both delicious,
yeah.

I'd be real happy
eating this

With a, you know, an overpriced
mimosa or a bloody mary.

[Rocco]
so the only thing that makes

this just a little bit more
preferable

is that everything was stacked

On top of each other,

So it's easier to eat.

I enjoyed lisa's dish more.

[padma]
also, that egg was poached...

Slightly better.

Thank you very much.

I think we'll go
with lisa's.

[Padma]
we have dale and manuel.

Let's start with you, dale.

Um, I did steak au poivre

With traditional and
non-traditional garnishes.

I did new york strip,
green pepper corn,

And parsley puree, and, um,
creamed bok choy leaves.

Manuel.

So I decided to take

A little mexican twist
on the classic:

Sirloin, with a little
mushroom ceviche,

With a scallion
cilantro sauce.

[rocco]
what I like about dale's dish

is that he took
some serious chances

And basically
delivered on the promise.

This dish,
although I found it very good,

obviously, you weren't going
for something, uh, so refined,

But I find it
a little greasy.

[anthony]
I think he went overboard
with the sauce.

[tom]
I'd have to go
with dale's as well.

I have to go with dale's.

[Dale]
I feel very confident
that I'm going to win

The challenge for the dish.

I have a great shot at it.
For sure.

[Padma]
this is ryan, who was on the
winning side of the quickfire.

This is valerie,
who was not.

Ryan, let's start with you.
What did you do?

I did my version
of chicken piccata.

I took all the ingredients
that I remembered as a child.

Classically, I remember
mashed potatoes, rice...

But, instead,
I took that potato,

I made it into gnocchi with
a little bit of mascarpone.

I wanted to utilize
the whole chicken.

took all the bones,
roasted them really hard,

and made a very, very strong
chicken jus.

Please enjoy.

I'm looking at them, and they
just start shaking their heads,

And I'm like [bleep].

Well, I kept it
pretty traditional.

Instead of using lemon citrus,
I used an orange citrus,

And I did a little potato
and haricot vert salad

On the side.

I didn't like either
of them.

I had serious problems
with both.

Ryan, why did you decide
to use breadcrumbs?

[tom]
traditionally,
piccata's dipped in egg.

I did dip it in flour,
egg, and then--

No, no, it's only flour and egg.

[rocco]
what I thought

You both didn't do
was make a piccata.

[padma]
yeah.

Where was
the lovely acidic butter sauce?

Neither one of you did that.

[tom]
if you put these dishes
in front of me

And said,
"what does this dish resemble?"

I wouldn't have guessed
piccata.

that said, um,

I think that this was probably
a better plate of food.

If it were me, they would
both be tied for losing.

I can't get
past the breadcrumbs.

That's an easy pick
as a loser for me.

So, ryan,
you're eligible to go home.

[Ryan]
wow, I worked this hard
since I was 11 years old,

And america's gonna think
that I'm a flop.

What am I gonna do
when I get back?

Do I wanna even show my face?

Are people gonna know me
as the fact that I don't know

What the hell a classic dish is?

I'm hoping that somebody else
really messed up.

[Erik]
having tony as a judge
definitely puts the pressure on.

It added
that much more pressure

To an already
high intense situation.

[padma]
erik, what kind of souffle
did you do?

[erik]
I did a pepper jack cheese
souffle

With avocado creme fraiche

And a black bean sauce.

And I did a little
pico de gallo on top

With some fresh
julienne corn tortillas

And a fire-roasted salsa.

Zoi.

I did a rice pudding souffle.

Um, I thought you guys might
need something sweet

After all those other things.

Some candied figs,
candied fennel,

And then a little espresso

With a little bit
of pernod in it.

[Rocco]
well, you stacked the deck in
your favor using rice.

that was actually
a fairly smart move.

Have either of you guys
made souffles before?

It's been a really long time.
Over 20 years.

I sensed that.

My biggest problem with this
is the word "souffle."

If that word had been removed,

I would have been very happy.

[Rocco]
I have a little issue
with the way this looks.

I don't know
if anyone else agrees.

[padma]
a little messy.

I thought flavor-wise,

I actually liked
the rice pudding.

[rocco]
I liked the addition
of the coffee, too.

It actually helped break
the heaviness of the dish.

You have two souffles.

Neither one of them
were successful as souffles.

I thought zoi's probably put a
better plate of food together.

Zoi, you are eligible to win
the first elimination challenge.

And erik, you are eligible
to go home.

Okay.

[Erik]
I don't want to get eliminated.

I don't want to go home.

I got my ass handed to me.

I kinda choked.

[Nimma]
there's people that are
kinda glad that it's over with,

But I'm actually upset

Because I would have liked
to have a chance

To fix the food again.

I want to redeem myself.

[Mark]
this is not a good time,
you know?

We're all sort of sitting there,

Shaking in our little boots
right now.

And at this time, I'm feeling
like a bit of a jackass

Because it's very possible

That I'm going
to be taking a walk.

Did you taste the shrimp?

It was a weak dish.

It came off as pretentious.

[Tom]
nerves got to you?

that's something
you gotta get past.

You know, 90 minutes
is not a lot of time.

And yet,
you worked.

I was drenched.

[Padma]
the judges would like to see

Antonia, nikki,

richard, and stephanie.

[Stephanie and nikki]
bye, guys.

So congratulations.

we picked the four of you
as our most favorite

in this challenge.

[Rocco]
antonia, I thought you showed
great technical skill,

And also an ability
to restrain yourself

in the way
you made that pasta.

And stephanie.

[anthony]
loved your dish.

Great flavor, great composition,

Great color, great texture.

Loved it.

Nikki, I loved your lasagna.

It was light, it was tasty,

And it was bubbly,
and just beautifully done.

Thank you.

Um, richard,
I really enjoyed your dish.

But once the little smoke
sort of blew away, we were left

With just a wonderful rendition
of a--of a "crab cake."

And it also showed
just very forward thinking.

Um, so I expect that we're--
we're not gonna see

The normal dishes from you.

Thank you.

[tom]
I mean, you guys
should be applauded

For doing great dishes,

And if this keeps up, we're just
in for a great season.

Again, all four were really
wonderful, so thank you.

Thank you.

Rocco, as the guest judge,

Who's the winner of the first
elimination challenge?

Uh, while we clearly had
our individual favorites,

after much debate,

we managed to come
to a consensus.

so the chef that we chose
as the winner is...

Stephanie.

Thank you.

[Padma and tom]
congratulations.

[Stephanie]
I won.

How [bleep] cool is that?

What a rush, I mean,
it was like a natural high.

To win top chef,

I still need to stay calm
and look calm

And not be freaking out.

No, the dish had everything
going for it.

It was reinvented.
You used the entire duck.

[Anthony]
all the components worked.

It had flavor, had good texture,

Really, really impressive.

Thank you.

Now we need you
to send back your colleagues.

Hey, guys.

[Applause and cheers]

Um, so, unfortunately,

They would like
to see ryan, erik,

Nimma, and mark.

[Gong sound]

[Padma]
you four were
the judges' least favorite

In this challenge,

And one of you will be
going home tonight.

erik, let's start with you.

You had the souffle.

I wasn't comfortable
with doing a sweet souffle,

so I went
with a cheese souffle,

And, um...

I was a little baffled by
the mashed potatoes as a base.

Is that what they were?

Yes.

[rocco]
what is a souffle known for?

Light and airy, and, uh...

If you're going for light,

Why would you pick
mashed potatoes as a base?

Um...

[rocco]
well, what makes
a souffle rise?

Egg yolks--uh, egg whites.

So why wouldn't you have tried
something with egg whites?

There was egg whites in it too.

It rose, but then I dumped
a bunch of tortillas

And stuff on top of it
that made it drop.

I gotta say, you were clearly
way out of your comfort zone

And scrambling around for some
way out of a bad situation

Right out of the gate.

But the last thing a souffle
needs is more weight on top.

Tough, tough, tough.

I made glorified nachos.
I'm not proud of it.

[Laughs]

Nimma, you had
the shrimp scampi.

Did you think it was good?

I thought the cauliflower
scramble was great.

The cauliflower flavor
was definitely there.

[tom]
I have a question.

Was that supposed to be a flan?

Yes, it was supposed
to be a flan,

And I made it many times,
and it's worked.

But I just felt the plastic wrap
was not as tight

as I usually have it.

It shouldn't matter, though.

[tom]
it should still cook.

It was just bad judgment
on my part.

Did you taste the shrimp
before they went out?

I did, and...

And did you think
they were salty?

Yes, I did.

[anthony]
I mean, that was pretty much
shrimp 101,

And we had major problems
with the shrimp,

and clearly you had
major problems

with the shoulda-been flan.

It was a weak dish.

Mark, you had duck a l'orange.

Initially, I thought that I
would like to just create a dish

that was somewhat
deconstructed.

it came off as silly
and pretentious.

You know, constructing,
putting together components

in an intelligent
and pleasurable way,

I think, would have been
a better way to go.

For me, it was the fact that
the duck was just overcooked.

Yeah, it was about a medium,
I thought it was...

the fat was
pretty well rendered.

[tom]
did you cut some--
a lot of the fat off?

Did you just leave
a thin strip on the top?

I cut it down because I felt
that it had

quite a bit of fat on it.

Isn't that what we love
about duck, though--

All the fat underneath the skin?

Yeah, point taken,
absolutely.

Ryan, you had chicken piccata.

when I thought of the dish
and the classics

of what I was brought to
as a kid,

And I remember chicken or veal

And just a big plate of starch.

and I wanted
to bring the starch down.

I wanted the starch to not be
such a focal point

and drown the whole dish.

I was trying to integrate

all the acidity parts and have
a counterbalance of the starch.

[padma]
if you want to take
the starch out of the dish,

why do you make gnocchi?

no, I didn't want the starch

To be so cumbersome on the plate
as I recall in the past.

[tom]
I guess this is where we all
had a disconnect here.

The dish was more of a milanese
and not a piccata.

Piccata is drenched in flour
and then egg and then pan-fried.

and it puffs up,
and it's usually

Just in a lemon-butter sauce,
and it can have capers in it

And it can have shallots
and stuff and garlic.

and a milanese is breaded
in bread crumbs.

There's a difference
between the two.

and it was just the coating
of bread crumbs

Were way too thick,
way too thick.

I agree on that,
and I think what I did

And what I should have done
is stuck with that.

But I just didn't want to do
the classic seared breast,

And I didn't.

you know, these are dishes
that, when we were coming up,

you knew the classics,

And so you guys got to go back
and know the classics

to sort of appreciate
the newer dishes.

Okay, we'll call you back
in a bit with our decision.

[man]
what happened?

[nimma]
we don't know yet.

[erik]
oh, man, I hope
I don't go back there.

I was sweating like a beast.

Has anything any of these people
have said

Changed our mind?

Let's start with ryan.

Yeah, what bugs me,
is how do you come here

And compete and not know
what a piccata is?

And he didn't know that,

And I still don't think
he knows.

I really find it worrying
that I have absolutely no idea

What was coming
out of his mouth.

Let's just say it wasn't only
his gnocchi that were dense.

Wow.

What about
nimma's salty scampi?

The salt was way
over the line.

That's so fundamental.

[Tom]
and on top of that,
she also, you know,

Copped to trying to make a flan
and it didn't work.

It looked like baby food,
and I didn't like it at all.

It's just nerves,
you know.

You know, I let the nerves
get the best of me, you know.

I just need to know
how to zone that out.

And I need to know fast.

So what
about erik's souffle then?

Based on what I saw,

It's just a lousy dish
all the way around.

I mean, it was sloppy,
it was messy.

It clearly wasn't a souffle.

But even if we
sort of give him a break,

The rest of it
was just terrible.

My nachos didn't cut it.

Oh, please,
I breaded chicken.

What about mark?

[Padma]
I wouldn't have ever known
in a million years

That that was
the duck a l'orange

Except for the fact
that it had duck meat.

Yeah, although the dish
was weak,

I think the duck was overcooked.

But what about the sake shot?

I like sake.
I like martinis.

I just don't think they should
be in the same tub together.

This is tough stuff.

And I think that they're all
coming to that realization.

You know, today it's just dawned
on them, this is not easy.

You have chef bourdain,
and chef rocco,

And chef tom, and then padma,

And each of them are putting
their heads down

And looking at you.

It's just like, wow.

All right, guys,
I think we have a decision.

Let's get 'em out.

As much as we'd all like
to chalk this up

to opening night jitters--
and, you know,

We had four people out here
who made great dishes.

I'm sure they were as nervous.

You know, it's just something
you gotta get past.

Ryan, we're still not sure
if you know what a piccata is.

again, you have to know
the classics,

If you want to cook modern food.

Mark, your dish didn't really
echo back to a duck a l'orange.

Maybe you got a little ahead
of yourself,

Um, but there were
so many elements

That you were trying
to work together

And none of them really worked
well together at all.

Nimma, first off, the flan
you tried to put together,

Which is a pretty simple dish,
just never worked out.

but the big, sort of, crime
here was

The amount of salt
that was put into the shrimp.

It rendered the dish inedible.

Erik, you know, it would be nice
to give you a pass

because you drew a souffle,

But even if you hadn't made one
in 20 years,

If you're gonna compete
for this title,

We expect that you know
how to make a souffle.

Nimma, please pack your knives
and go.

Thank you.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I just want to say, I'm just not
gonna stop cooking,

and I'm gonna keep trying
and continue.

It was a pleasure meeting you.

[padma]
thank you all.

[Nimma]
I pushed really hard
to be here.

Unfortunately, no one will know

That I'm a very good cook,

And I'm very passionate
about it.

I'm going home.

Aww.

It's okay.
I'm not worried about it.

[Applause]

[Nimma]
I'm not gonna stop cooking.

You know, this is
what I love to do.

I know that I have
a god-given talent.

And I know that I just need
to keep studying

And keep learning more.

And just keep pushing.

[padma]
this season on top chef...

[Jennifer]
the kitchen just feels
like a volcano.

Crisp tacos
with blackened steak.

A fresh tortellini
with caballo nero.

I think mediocre at best.

I didn't get a lot of flavor
out of it.

This is terrible.

[Andrew]
we got lions, we got bears,

We got tigers, oh, my.

I'm ready to see some of these
[bleep] people

Pack their knives and go.

At the end of service,
I just feel like I got worked.

I have no clue
about what's to come.

The speculating never stops.

I just started wondering if we
have enough food for everyone.

Bu-bup, bu-bup,
bu-bup.

Ooh.

It's gonna get
a lot more comfortable,

And then everyone
better look out.

[Manuel]
I mean, the bottom line is
somebody has to go,

And you never know
who that's gonna be.

Stand behind your dish.

You get to bitch and whine
about everything.

That's bull[bleep].

So [bleep] what?
You got a problem with that?

Yeah, so [bleep] what?

[Padma]
for more about the recipes
seen tonight,