04x02 - Zoo Food

[bunniefuu]

[Padma]
previously on top chef...

Welcome to top chef
chicago.

We know each other
in san francisco,

and we're a couple.
we're a couple.

No big deal.
They can go home together.

It was the first challenge.

Everyone was just like--whaah!

Jesus christ.

My hand is shaking
out of control.

Seared duck,
pressed on top,

Sitting over some
maitake mushrooms and bok choy.

What you do is
you cut into the dish.

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

That's all
it's really there for.

I just did
a shrimp scampi.

Nimma, I found it
incredibly salty.

loved your dish.
great flavor.

Great composition.
Great color.

Congratulations.
I won!

How [bleep] cool is that?

it came off

As silly and pretentious.

We had major problems
with the shrimp,

and it was a weak dish.

Please pack
your knives and go.

At stake for the winner:

A feature in
food & wine magazine.

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

A gourmet dream vacation
in the french alps,

Provided by evian
natural spring water.

$100,000 To help turn
their culinary dreams

Into reality,

Furnished by the makers
of the glad family of products.

And the title of top chef.

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

I was singing
eye of the tiger

When we went into
the challenge yesterday.

Coming off a win,
I feel great.

The other chefs know
that I know what I'm doing.

They know that I'm a force
to be reckoned with.

I just keep telling myself

That just because you won
the first challenge

Doesn't mean that you're
gonna win all the challenges.

[Valerie]
stephanie and I
actually worked together

Many years ago
at a restaurant in chicago.

So I'm just relieved

To have a friend in this
competition, at least for now.

And I'm hoping that we'll
actually get to compete together

As a team at some point.

I was very sad
to see nimma go.

I really didn't think
it was gonna be her.

I thought it was gonna
be you, actually.

[Mark]
obviously, I didn't feel good
about the previous challenge.

But it was very humbling.

And it was a good way
I kept cool.

Today is the quickfire
challenge,

And I think I can
definitely do better.

Once jen and I realized

We were gonna both
actually be on the show,

We decided that we were
gonna look at it as a job.

Should we wear one
and then one?

[Jennifer]
it's a little strange.
We have to behave differently.

Keeping a little distance,

I think, is necessary,
because this is a competition.

Like, I'll be
competing against her.

And that might be really
nerve-racking and weird.

Hey, come on, everybody.
Let's go.

[mark]
last one out,
close the door.

[Ryan]
we walk up to
the farmer's market,

And I think,
"great. Right up my alley."

I need to cook
what I said I know how to do.

Cook simple
and cook clean.

This is chicago's
green city market.

finding the freshest
ingredients

is a vital part
of a chef's job.

for your quickfire challenge,

you must create
a delicious entree

with ingredients
from this market.

I'm from chicago.

I frequent
the green city market,

And I know the produce here.

So I'm feeling pretty good
at this point.

There is a catch.

you can only use

Five ingredients
for your dish.

five total.

But there's like 500 ingredients
at the farmer's market.

Only five ingredients.

[Bleep].
I'm like...this sucks.

[padma]
the only things
that will not count

In your five ingredients

Are salt, pepper,
sugar, and oil.

any other item,
even in the top chef pantry,

Will count as one of
your five ingredients.

the winner of this
quickfire challenge

Will get immunity

from elimination
in the next challenge.

your shopping time

Starts now.

[Woman]
watch the kid.

Where's
tomatoes and potatoes?

We all take off into
the farmer's market

Just, like, scattering.

See what they have first,

You know,
before you can plan.

Are these all the tomatoes
you have right here?

Did you specifically
grab these?

Oh, I'm sorry, mate.

My other competitors
are running around.

I'm like...i'm gonna enjoy
the farmer's market like I do.

If I do good on the quickfire,
cool.

If I don't, I don't.

And if anything,
it's gonna calm me down

And bring me back
to my roots.

One of the first things
I saw and smelt

When I went into the market

Was all these bushels
of eucalyptus.

As my style
has dictated already,

I'm gonna try and be
as different as I can.

Excuse me, sir.
You got lamb?

uh...let's see here.

I'm on a time budget,
mate.

No, sorry.

Finding everyone
is in saturday market mode,

Just taking their time.

This is ridiculous.

I'm in there
trying to bust my balls,

Trying to get what I get
in 30 minutes.

A bunch of mint,
please.

So can I just--
have a peek.

Excuse me?

I just wanna
have a look.

No, I need to, uh--
can I get this one?

Oh, they're
all frozen?
Yeah.

If I go into
a farmer's market,

I wanna look at something
that's the best.

You don't know how old
that piece of meat is.

It's frozen.

Is that the best piece
of meat that you can get?

No. So I didn't want
to go that route.

Couple of handfuls,
please, mate.

Really quickly.

Yeah, really
quickly.

Nice. Can I get
a receipt please, mate?

Thanks, laddie.

I've got the meat,
got the salad, got the fruit,

Got the starch, got the sauce.
Perfect.

[Man]
let's go.
Let's roll!

[Mark]
time was announced,

And I have a quick look
through my bag,

Just recap on what I've got.

Turns out I left
the mizuna lettuce somewhere.

Don't know where the hell
I left it,

But it was definitely
not in my bag.

That's a bummer.

All right.

[padma]
welcome back, guys.

before you cook,

I wanna introduce you to our
guest judge for this round,

Chef and owner
of restaurant wd-50 in new york

Wiley dufresne.

Hello, g*ng.
[Chefs]
hi.

Wiley dufresne's like
a molecular gastronomist

And likes to come up with crazy,
off-the-wall [bleep].

[Richard]
to see wiley there
was great.

Our food is in the same
genre of food.

We're both molecular
gastronomists.

So I'm very excited
to cook for him.

[padma]
now, remember, the only
things that don't count

In your five ingredients

Are salt, pepper, sugar,
and oil.

Everything else,
whether you got it at the market

Or in the pantry, counts.

So be careful.

you have 30 minutes
starting right now.

Good luck.

I'm making
a very classic dish

Using molecular gastronomy
to give it a tiny little twist.

Braised chicken legs
and then fragranced

With this eucalyptus.

Molecular gastronomy is not
wiz-bang gadget gizmo.

It's the basis
to take traditional items

And, because of science,
make them better.

I've left my lettuce
behind,

So now I'm gonna use butter
instead of lettuce.

And that's gonna really enrich
the other ingredients

That I've taken
from the fresh market.

Coming around. Hot!

Boy, did I get [bleep]ed.

I was expecting
the tips of a filet,

But it was like dog meat.

That's not [bleep] tenderloin
g*dd*mn tips.

[Man]
ten minutes, guys.

Watch your back one second.
Sorry, sweetie.

Anyone using that burner
there, do you know?

I don't--
I have no idea.

There's 15 people
in the kitchen

With a handful of burners.

And in the kitchen, I'm much
more mellow than everybody else.

But it is a competition,

And I need to jump in there
and make my presence known.

Two minutes.

Comin' through, hot!

Time is up!

utensils down.

hands up.

Yeah!

Hi, richard.

Padma, how are you?

So I saw this
eucalyptus over there,

and I was wondering,
is it edible?

It is edible in really,
really small doses.

it's very fragrant,
and here it's used more

As an aroma.

So kind of a chicken soup,
if you would.

So apples and chicken
and eucalyptus.

gives it that slight
sort of, uh,

you know, the bitterness and
the aroma of the eucalyptus.

It's subtle.

It's not terribly
strong eucalyptus.

Thank you.

We got lettuce greens, radishes,
baby fingerling potatoes.

and also the steak itself.

[wiley]
properly cooked.
simple. Tasty.

nice.

I used a hen of the woods
mushroom,

Gray shallots,
french breakfast radishes,

And eggs and butter.

These mushrooms are great.
I like these mushrooms.

Very nice.
Thank you.
Thanks.

I did a seared rib eye

On top of some grilled
local peaches

And a sweet potato puree.

And I topped it off
with an heirloom tomato

And peach marmalade.

It's refreshing,
very refreshing.
Thank you.

Very juicy.
Thank you.

Hey, spike, what did
you do today?

I wanted to do something
called apples and tips.

I was expecting to get
tenderloin tips,

When I opened the package,
they were all chopped up.

So it kinda threw me
for a loop.

Thought this was gonna
be a sandwich, remember?

I know.
We were thinking
a steak sandwich.

True. Would have been
a good plan.

I did a pan seared lamb chop,

Baby carrots,
and yukon gold potatoes.

All right, thank you.

Hi, mark.
Hello, padma.

We have sirloin,
puree of turnip,

Hen of the wood mushrooms,

And that's
a peach cream on top.

I left some mizuna lettuce
at the market.

But I felt that I was
able to make

a complete dish without
the green leaves.

Peach and the turnip
is nice, bittersweet.

Thank you very much.

Nice sideburns.

So I did petite lamb chops

With a balsamic peach chutney.

My five ingredients were
lamb, peaches, onion,

Mint, and potato.

Did you say
balsamic?

Yeah. I used balsamic
as one of the ones

That were a given, no?

Oh...

That had to be
included in your five.

I'm a dumb ass.
What can I say?

I'm disqualified
because I can only focus

On a certain amount of things
at a time.

I'm kind of a little
scatterbrained like that.

Poo.

So who's on
your bottom?

Let's start with spike.

Your beef wasn't what
you were expecting,

and I think that would
have been an opportunity

To sort of be
a little creative.
Sandwich next time, right?

So who else?

Erik.

Wasn't really much
of a composed plate.

It was a piece of meat,

A row of carrots,
and a row of potatoes.

Richard.

I was pulling for you,
you know.

We tend to play sort of
in the same sandbox

with a lot of the same toys
and ingredients

and things like that.

But I think that the dish
was kind of oily.

It could have been maybe
refined a bit.

I'm shocked, you know,
'cause I thought that, really,

Because I went in
another direction,

I thought he would
appreciate that.

So now for the good news.
Who were the standouts?

I'd say ryan.

the dish was moist.
it was juicy.

I thought it was well done,
well-ex*cuted.

Uh, valerie, I thought
that you managed

To pull a lot of flavor
out of those few ingredients.

Mark, I liked yours a lot.

I thought that you really
brought it together.

I thought that the bitterness
of the turnip

Played off the sweetness
of the peach nicely.

Thank you.

So, wiley,
who have you picked

as the winner?

I think it goes to mark.

I was very happy to see

How he dealt with
the situation

of leaving something behind,

Which has happened
to us all, probably.

So congratulations.

[padma]
as you know,

You cannot be eliminated
in the next challenge.

I was really feeling redemption
for my last effort.

And, you know, immunity--
it feels great.

[Manuel]
it's...vulture.

I have no idea
what we're getting into.

Road k*ll, rats...

[padma]
time to draw knives.

I see the writing on the knife
as I pull it out,

And it's--it's vulture.

I have no idea what
we're getting ourselves into.

Nobody's gonna eat a vulture.

I wouldn't wanna
eat a vulture.

Bear.

Okay, people definitely
eat bears,

So I'm like,
can you braise bear?

Like what part of the bear
would I braise?

Lion.
Lion.

I don't know
what's going on at this point,

But I just know
I want lion because...

There's something in me...
Rrr!

Like that,
like I do a little lion noise.

I'm a little tigre.

Penguin.

We're gonna cook penguin.
That's dope!

Game on.

Gorilla.

I pull gorilla,
and then I was like,

It's illegal to cook gorilla.

We're not cooking
these animals.

Bear.

Gorilla.
Bear.

Vulture.
Penguin.

Penguin.
Gorilla.

Vulture.

Please go stand
next to the chefs

who pulled the same
animal as you.

[Jennifer]
zoi's not on my team,

But, you know, I figured we'd
get down to the final three.

Really get to butt heads.

I am paired up with stephanie.
Yea.

I ate stephanie's spring roll

That won her the first
elimination challenge,

And it was...so good.

But then, I haven't
tried valerie's food,

So we'll see what happens.

[padma]
don't worry.

we're not gonna be cooking
vultures or penguins.

but you are...

Going to be catering
a staff party

at the lincoln park zoo.

it's a cocktail party
for 200 people.

And you'll be working
in your teams of three

to cater the food.

There's one more thing,
though.

you must base your dish

around the main foods

In your animal's diet.

What's the diet
of a vulture?

Decomposing carcasses?

Road k*ll, rats?

[padma]
tomorrow,
you will prep and cook

Here in the kitchen
for three hours

Before heading out
to the zoo.

all right.

We'll see you guys at the zoo.
Good luck.

We are given an outline
of what our animals eat.

[Mark]
let's see what's
on the menu.

I read the diet of the vulture,

And it's not boots
and road tires.

Turns out that they eat
little fish, rabbits,

And lamb,

Which is very similar
to my diet.

[woman]
we wanna do...

This is more tasty,
and it's unique.

Can we get caviar?

Right away, stephanie and I

Just start throwing
stuff at each other....

I don't know if you'd
want to involve it, honestly.

But valerie had a little
bit more trouble

Jumping in there.

[antonia]
but it's not limited
to this.

We can buy fish
and meat and all that.

We can...

We can--

We're looking at the list,
and it is all vegetarian.

But we decide that as long
as those vegetarian items

Are being highlighted, we can
bring in some other things.

I had some concerns

About incorporating meat
in a vegetarian diet.

But the other girls
were thinking

This is sort of
their spin on it,

So I chose to go with it.

"Beef, ribs, buffalo, bison."

The diet of the lion

Is venison, buffalo,
chicken.

Eggs, beets--which
surprised the hell outta me.

I brought
an immersion circulator.

We can sous-vide
the chicken sauce,

Totally just tenderized
and cooked.

[Andrew]
I could always do
mini crab cakes.

Do you want crab cakes,
or do you want shrimp?

'Cause you're picking
the two that I want.

[Lisa]
the ingredients on our list
are herring, anchovies,

Scallops, crab, and shrimp.

Then ceviches.
You?
I'm workin' that.

Let's focus on food items

That you guys think
you can execute.

[nikki]
I definitely like
the honeycomb idea.

The cheese, the honeycomb,
a little piece of lavender.

Boom--that dish is easy.

[Nikki]
the bear group is dale,
spike, and myself.

Fried dies. If it's not
served right away,

It's just not,
you know?

Being a woman
in a male-dominated field,

I think you just need to prove
yourself a little bit harder.

So I'm pretty tough
in the kitchen

Because that's the only way
to get the job done.

I think we can
execute it.

[spike]
I'm a little skeptical
about the frying pan.

I want it to be clean
and it's gotta be, "wow."

[Dale]
I'm a control freak.

And to let go of that control
is very unnerving to me.

So to me, working as a team
is a problem.

I wanna do my own thing.

I think I'll be a bear.

hangin' out in woods.

Nice fur coat
all the time.

What are you more scared of:
a bear or a vulture?

The unfortunate thing
of being a bear, dale,

When you sleep
for half the year,

I think while you're taking
a little bit of none eyes,

I'm just gonna
pick your eyes out.

Come on.
Bear, vulture?

[Laughs]
we've got our own.

see, vultures
are able to do things

Without even looking.

Oh, oh, did that go in?

Although I have immunity,
I still feel like

I will have my g*ns blazing
for this afternoon's challenge.

Are you marinating
your beets?

You know,
I opened my own restaurant

And I made a name for myself
in chicago.

But as far as catering
for 200 people,

It's not something I really
have a lot of experience with.

So slightly nervous about it,

But at the same time,
excited about my team,

And I know that
we can pull together.

I'm confident
about the crab salad.

I'll let you guys
taste it,

and you tell me if you like it
better with or without it.

We were going to do
four hors d'oeuvres--

Lamb, lettuce wrap,
banana bread.

Stephanie's going to do
a crab salad

On a celery root chip.

And I'm gonna be making
black olive blinis

With fennel and mascarpone.

I foresee problems
with valerie's dish,

'Cause I don't know
if valerie

Will technically be able
to pull off cooking blinis

And plating them there.

All right, zoo animals.
It's time to go!

Let's go.
Let's do it.

I got it, I got it.

fingerlings potatoes.

We need some tarragon.
Grab the tarragon.

I'm gonna be by the meats.
Here's my list.

We only have 30 minutes,
and I'm like a scavenger.

I'm molesting
the produce section.

I know it sounds like
I'm being an ass,

But this is
elimination challenge.

See how I've morphed
into an animal?

whoa!

whoa,
are you all right?

Yeah.

Right on my kneecap.

All right.
Ten minutes, ten minutes!

These, actually,
I would use, not these.

I'm gonna get
both of them.

As lean as possible
as it can be.

And if there's any way you
can bring out a beef rib eye...

You know, we're lions,
so we're buying a lotta meat.

We're serving bison tartare,

A version of a beet salad
with a little goat cheese foam,

A chicken sate,

And we're also doing
a tiny little version,

Kind of a
"honey, I shrunk the prime rib."

How we feeling price-wise?
This is $200 right here.


We're getting close here.

I want some
table decor.

we're gonna have to put
some [bleep] back,

'cause we need decor.

Of course our food
is priority number one,

But the presentation
of the table is very important.

We cannot have
a bare table.

I'm there to make food.

I'm not there to gussy up
the table.

I'm not a [bleep]
interior designer.

Are we good?
Yep.

Gimme the ticket.

Blaze, blaze, blaze.

Time's up.
Time's up.

Tray that and then assemble
this one over there.
Totally.

We have three hours to cook,

But I know it's not gonna
be enough time--it never is.

Spike, you all right?
I'm good.

You know, I don't know
too much about my teammates,

So until I see someone
really, really cook,

You don't know what
their abilities are.

Good.
Good, good, good.

All right. Go.

My team's menu is
a venison loin

Served with a roasted
butternut squash,

A seared salmon.

And then I'm responsible
for two of the four plates--

The stuffed mushrooms
with dried blueberries

And the belgian
cow's milk cheese

Served on cranberry
pecan bread,

And we're spooning
honeycomb on top.

It's got a lotta onion
and it's got a lotta bitterness.

Yeah. It's a must.

I'm doing a thai shrimp
and crab salad with watercress.

Jen is doing roasted zucchini
and spanish white anchovies.

And andrew is doing
a charred squid ceviche.

Since we are team penguin,
we just started brainstorming,

And andrew came up with the fact
that he had a thickening agent

That would really, really
hold up at room temperature.

And we decided to come up with
a flavored glacier jelly mold.

The concept
just sounded awesome.

I got it.

Close...

Plus ice.

The yuzu glacier
isn't like super powerful.

I just want it to be
a nice cleanser

Before you got
to the next table.

I made a [bleep] glacier!

[Erik]
richard's got all kinds
of fun tools to play with.

And I'm not really familiar
with any of these things.

He makes foams and crazy
juices and all that stuff,

And I'm kind of a soul chef.

But I just wanna
impress the guest judge.



I'm making
banana bread batter.

I just feel like
we gotta go banana

If we're gonna be gorillas.

Nobody's ever gonna
guess we're gorillas

If there's nothing banana.

So I'm actually gonna use
my mom's banana bread recipe.

[Valerie]
I am making
black olive blinis.

I've never made blinis before

And had to transport them
and serve them later.

I've only ever made them
and served them straight away.

So hopefully
everything will be all right.

you all right?
yep. I'm good.

I just put too many
in at once.

[Groans]
ah! [Bleep] hell.

All right,
this ain't working.

Hey, guys.
Hello, chef.

How are you, sir?
Fantastic.

How do you feel about
the challenge in general?

I think
it's a big challenge.

Three hours
is not a lot of time

To get this amount
of food done.

And to keep it really
tight, I think,

Is gonna be the challenge.

Good luck.
See you later.

so this is team penguin?

Yeah.

So what have we
learned about penguins?

They love little fish.
They love little fish.

So what little fish
are you cooking?

We're doing squid,
um, prawns,

And...anchovies.

and some
glaciers.

You're making
a glacier.

To be determined.

Okay. It could be a puddle
of water these days, though.

This is very, very true.
Global warming.

All right, well,
good luck.

Thank you, chef.

See ya at the zoo.

So this is team...
vulture.

we're doing
a little chicken,

A little lamb and, uh,
some anchovies.

So you have immunity, right?

I do. I'm very lucky
to have immunity.

How do you feel
about ending up

With a teammate
who has immunity?

I definitely think

He is a strong addition
to the team no matter what.

Okay. Take care.

Okay, chefs, there's a little
over an hour and a half left.

I'll see you
back at the zoo.

Good luck.
Thank you, chef.

How's your, uh,
icicles coming?

we're sexy.

Andrew, he was totally
stoked about his glacier.

I was like,
how can you eat that?

Not like that!
Soft.

Sabotage!
Come on.

Sabotage!

You said touch it.

But it's the whole
molecular gastronomy thing.

So he might score big points
with wiley being a judge.

I'm looking at the mushrooms
and I know that they're--

They don't look good.
They taste okay.

I'm really starting to worry,

'Cause I don't think that we're
gonna execute this properly.

I'll just--
I'll just say it right now.

I don't wanna serve 'em.

Regardless of how they taste,
they look like [bleep].

Nikki's mushrooms
look like turds.

And, you know, like who wants
to put a turd in their mouth?

Listen, you guys,
I just looked at them.

If we chop chives
or chervil or something--

I think we should look at them
when we get there and see.

The mushrooms are still iffy,

And we all decided
we'd wait and see how they were

When we got to the event.

[bleep].

What?

They're soggy.

I'm making the chips
for the crab salad,

And the chips
are completely soggy.

Can I just throw them
back in here?

I suggested, let's just throw
them right back into the fryer.

And we actually realized
that they weren't

Actually cooked
all the way the first time.

No, we can't wrap them.

Maybe we can just
put them in something

And see if we can
just carry 'em in a bucket.

So we just crossed our fingers
that they stayed crispy.

I don't want some little
mistake like that

Or some lapse in judgment
to send me home.

Hurry up.
Go, go, go, go, go.

uno...
time's up.

[Growls]

My chips are [bleep]
soggy as [bleep].

I'm [bleep]ed.
I'm going home.

At that point,

I was trying to put
perfume on a pig.

[Growling]

[Panting]

[Squawking]

We're having a cocktail party,

And it's set up at the
lincoln park zoo's cafe brauer.

So as soon as we walk in,

We have an hour
to set the whole station up.

We gotta get
rollin' here.

What? For what?

I think we make the decision if
we're gonna use the mushrooms,

Then the mushrooms
are going in there.

They don't look
pretty like that.

We have to make 'em
look pretty.

The mushrooms
look like turds.

That's why dale, you know,

Eventually sprinkled
more cheese over them.

We were a little iffy.

At that point, I was trying
to put perfume on a pig.

you know, it might
not be a bad idea

If you just put the blinis
right on there and just--

I definitely feel removed
from valerie's blinis.

It's like, I'll help you
execute your dish,

But it's not necessarily
something I would eat or enjoy.

Yeah. It's too soon
to do this.

But I just wanna see
how it tastes anyways.

If I had to do something
differently,

I would have tried to have made
the blinis at the site.

None of us seemed to anticipate

That it was gonna be
as big of a problem as it is.

But at this point,

There's not much
I can do about it,

'Cause that's my dish.

But I also think
that celery chips're

Probably not gonna hold up.

My chips are [bleep]
soggy as [bleep].

I don't wanna serve it.

unless--where's the
celery salad that you had?

We realized that stephanie's
chips are not crunchy.

We're like,
we're not serving 'em.

Absolutely not.

So I was like mix a pea sh**t
and celery salad,

Put the celery down,
put the crab on top of it,

And you've got a salad.

Good evening, chefs.

we're looking forward
to a great cocktail party.

I wanna introduce you
to our judges for this round.

you all remember
wylie dufresne.

Of course, gail simmons from
food & wine magazine.

Tom colicchio, our head judge.

[tom]
hey, guys.

So the guests are on their way.
Good luck.

[woman]
we gonna rock this, guys?
yeah.

So all of a sudden,
I look up,

And there's 200 people
standing in front of me.

They literally just swarmed in.

This is a thai shrimp salad
with fresh crab.

Which station
was this again?

This is the penguin
station.

Penguin.
Thank you.

Is he still there?
There he is!

Wow. That's amazing.

We're actually gonna pull these
to let 'em get hot a little bit.

[Dale]
someone bit into the mushrooms
and said they're cold.

So we all agreed
we shouldn't serve 'em.

was there a fourth thing
on your menu, or--

there actually
were four,

and the mushrooms
weren't staying hot enough.

So we took
the mushrooms off.
thank you.

Trying to go, man.
I'm trying to go.

There you go.

When you get a chance,
can you throw one this way?

This is beet salad with yuzu,
ras al hanout, and goat cheese.

That was good,
beets and ras al hanout.

Yeah.
That was really nice.

You're welcome.

Here we have bison tartare

With a little tarragon coulis.

Seasoned really nicely,
the tartare.

I like the spices
on the chicken. Fiery.

I really wanna go back
for the bison.

That was my favorite.

[Squawks]

Marinated anchovy,
saffron aioli.

Anchovies don't really
sell that well.

Tell us what
you have for us.

[Mark]
okay. Tonight I've decided
to marinate some anchovies,

Team that up with some
saffron aioli

On a quinoa croquette.

just like
a piece of new guinea.

I love the bite
to this.

Got a nice acidity.
What is that, vinegar?

They, uh, tried it,
and they loved it,

And they're now
anchovy believers.

So this is a moroccan-spiced
lamb meatball.

A little fresh ricotta,
pomegranate syrup,

And pistachio nut.

That's delicious.

It is delicious.

The sauce is great.
The color's great.

The, uh, meatball
is fantastic.

I even think that the anchovy--
I was impressed.

[Panting]

all right, let's keep it
comin', guys.

Keep it comin'.
I'm trying.

I need
some crab salad.

Yep, right now.

Hello.

So what do we have?

Stephanie's made
a roasted pear

And crab salad
with celery root.

What happened
to the chips?

Um, the chips got
a little soggy,

So we decided
not to use them.
chips got soggy. Okay.

You know me.
I like the odd stuff.

I thought smoked pear
and crab--

I was like, all right.
But this didn't--

It didn't follow through.

Even without the chips,

They did not enjoy
my crab dish, and I'm thinking,

"I'm gonna be the one that's
gonna be going home tonight."

Thank you.

What do we have?

A black olive blini.

With fennel mascarpone,

Sauteed rutabaga,
golden beets,

And some shaved
fresh raw beets.

Sounds delicious,
actually.

Sounds.

Yeah.

Are you guys making
the blinis now,

Or are you making--
no, no.

You made them
ahead of time?
Yeah, yeah.

That's minced lamb
and edamame

With boston lettuce,
radicchio.

it was good, right,
the lamb you just had?

It was!
Wasn't that great?

It was really spicy.

This cake is good
too.

This is banana bread

With salted
caramel sauce,

Some bananas, of course,

And, uh, meringue.

[Bleating]

what's this?

This is a chimay cheese,

Fresh honeycomb,

And cranberry pecan bread.

[padma]
I like the cheese
and honeycomb.

Love the cheese
and honeycomb.

And the bread is the right
size for a bite like that.

[Spike]
salmon ala plancha with
a little bit of soy glaze

Sitting on a lettuce cup
with mint

And a little bit
of cilantro,

Pickled vegetables,
and peanuts.

what happened
to our mushrooms?

I'm sorry.

I'm happy to let you
get the flavor.

They're not as hot
as we'd like.

The judges, of course,
inquired about the mushrooms.

I felt like I would be
in jeopardy

By not letting them
at least taste the dish.

Ladies.

Great.
Thank you.

you're welcome.
[dramatic note]

[Spike]
chefs have to adapt
when they're catering parties.

We're not proud of an item,
and we shouldn't have served it.

Just pull 'em.
What's the big [bleep] deal?

The mushroom?

These are not as hot
as we'd like 'em to be.

But we'll give 'em
to you anyway.
I agree.

We've got dried blueberries
in that,

Roasted candied walnuts,
and fresh chervil.

Is there cheese in it?
Yes, pecorino. Sorry.

The cheese kind of
gets in the way a little.

Yeah.

[Squawking]

that's the glacier?
that's the glacier.

This is the glacier.
You may have heard about it.

It's a funky little idea.

This is actually
a yuzu/mint gelee, more or less.

Thank you.

Okay. Let's have
the food, though.

Yeah. It's charred
squid ceviche

On top of soy-balsamic tapioca.

and then roasted
macadamia nuts.

Chef dufresne steps up,

And being I'm kind of a very
big fan of this gentleman,

Watching his reaction
to my dish--

I wanted him to be satisfied
with the flavor.

That's nice.

[Lisa]
you have a thai shrimp salad,

A little bit of crab,

And on top is some
crispy watercress.

packs a little bit
of punch.

Thank you.

Not bad.
Thank you very much, guys.

My favorite team was penguin

Because they incorporated fish
very purposefully

In every meal.

[Man]
I think that the gorillas
have the best station,

Except for the olive
pancake,

Which tasted a little
bit like dirt.

Most of the chefs
really paid attention

To what their animals
would be eating,

But some of the other chefs
veered off course.

So I mostly enjoyed the tables

That really stayed true
to their animals.

everything
was very good tonight.

There were some
great dishes.

what do you think
of the bear team?

[Padma]
the mushroom was forgettable.

The mushrooms and the fruit--
sort of okay.

But the pecorino cheese
really clashed with it.

[padma]
what about the lion team?

[Wiley]
the tartare was good,

And the beets with the
ras al hanout was really good.

[tom]
and then there's
the penguin table.

I thought they did
a nice job.

[Wiley]
I liked the squid.

[Padma]
the squid was tasty!

That was andrew's dish.
Tapioca...

That was maybe
my favorite dish.

And then there was the vulture.
I liked that table a lot.

[Gail]
I loved it.

[Tom]
mark's quinoa cake...

With the anchovy
was really, really good.

[padma]
well, how about
those gorillas?

That was my least
favorite table.

The black olive cake
with the blini--

The blini was cold.
It had no flavor at all.

What did you think
of the crab salad?

[Tom]
no flavor.

It was watery.
Yeah, it was watery.

it was really bad.

Well, we've got
a good breakdown

Of who's on top
and who's on bottom.

All right, let's go back
to judges' table.

Sure.

Let's try to do
a little cleanup.

Put all our coolers
and everything on that side.

We know that our dishes
aren't the best dishes.

I could be pretty screwed
right about now.

Let's roll!

All right.
Good job.

I don't think
we've done very well.

I wasn't happy
with the food.

I'm praying that we just don't
get put on the bottom.

I'm not trying to put
blame on you, nikki.

then you should have
done something about it.

Had it been my restaurant,
I wouldn't have served it.

segregation.

That's right.

I think overall,

Our table
is definitely a success.

I feel good about it.

So do i.
I feel pretty comfortable.

somebody has to go,

And you never know
who that's gonna be.

We'd like to see
the vultures.

And the penguins.
Thank you.

Congratulations.

both your teams
came out on top.

So let's start
with the vultures.

How did you
divide up the work?

[manuel]
I chose to do the chicken.

zoi talked about
doing lamb,

So a lamb meatball
was an excellent choice there.

Mark wanted to do
a marinated anchovy.

You know, mark,
it was just fabulous.

The cake was nice and crispy.

you know,
the fish came through.

it was a really
great bite.

The meatball was well-flavored,
well-ex*cuted.

Thank you.

penguins. You guys sort of
covered a lot of angles.

The glacier was fun.
It was neat that it was edible.

Also, the black and white

was carried through
the entire theme.

[padma]
you did the glaciers.

Yeah. I just wanted to bring
something different

to the table and basically
sh**t for the stars.

[padma]
wiley, you and I also really
liked the squid dish.

It was a very
refined dish.

I liked the different textures.

Thank you.

As our guest judge,
it falls to you

To announce the winner.

[wiley]
we decided that...

It's gonna be andrew.

Chef wiley
chooses me as the winner.

He's an excellent chef.

So it was just, like,
very humbling.

Congratulations, andrew.

unfortunately,
I need you to send back

Some of your colleagues.

[man]
well done, bucko.

[woman]
what happened?

Your winner.

It's the guy here.

They want to see
the gorillas...

And da bears.

Congratulations.

[woman]
good luck, guys.

We had to choose
from three dishes

That we thought
were the worst dishes

Of the evening,

And that's why
these two teams are here.

those dishes
were the mushrooms...

the blini...

And the crab salad.

Dale, let's start
with you.

how did you think
tonight went?

I don't think we ex*cuted
the mushrooms properly.

And what happened
with the dish?

It was on the table,
then it was off the table.

What I think the problem was
was the holding,

Deciding whether or not
we were gonna serve them.

we weren't happy
with what they looked like.

They just really
looked dark.

The pecorino cheese
overwhelmed everything.

I looked at those mushrooms,

And I said,
"that looks like [bleep]."

I wanna put cheese on that
so it doesn't look like [bleep].

Did you taste it
after the cheese?

No.

I didn't know
that they tasted worse

By us trying to make them
look prettier, no.

Because you didn't taste them
before you served them?

Not with that garnish.

[padma]
I need to get kind of
at the bottom

Of who's responsible
for the mushrooms.

I think that was actually
a group decision.

I wasn't happy with the dish.

Well, then you should have
done something about it.

Had it been my restaurant,
I wouldn't have served it.

I'm not trying to put
blame on you, nikki.

I'm just trying to say this:

they're asking me
who produced the dish,

And I'm telling the judges
who did.

I did not produce that dish.

It didn't look good.
It wasn't hot enough.

But no one tasted it
after you put cheese on it.

I mean, come on, that's
what we're supposed to do.

two of the other dishes
we weren't so happy with.

You're shaking your head
like you know...

I wasn't really happy
with my dish either.

Your dish was the...
The crab.

What happened there?

The fact that I premixed it,
it was really watery.

it was clear you had
an hour to finish prepping

when you were there?

Yeah, it was.
I don't know why I premixed it.

So, valerie,
tell us about the blini.

The problem is doing blinis
ahead of time

Is a bit of an issue.

I just didn't realize
that they were gonna get

kind of soggy and soft.

it would have been nice to
have been able to make blinis

To order, but obviously,
that wasn't gonna happen,

And it fell short.

we have a problem
besides the blini.

I thought the rutabaga
overpowered everything,

and I don't think
it was cooked enough.

it was a little too crunchy.

And there needed
to maybe be something

Connecting the blini

to the root vegetables
on top.

Well, there was, actually.

There was a fennel
mascarpone cream--

I really didn't get
that at all, then,

'Cause I just tasted
dry and crunch,

and there was sort of
no connection.

Antonia, what did you think,
between the two dishes,

'Cause we're not talking
about your dish right now.

[tom]
you're a chef
in a restaurant.

These two come.
They're applying for a job.

And they give you those dishes.

which one are you hiring?

Stephanie.

Thank you, guys.

[Tom]
thank you
very much.

That hurt.

[Valerie]
I made a bad decision.

I was a little surprised
by the fact

That antonia
backed stephanie up.

It was kind of lousy,

Considering she didn't
even taste my dish.

She tasted the other dishes,
but she didn't taste mine.

Okay, so basically
we've narrowed it down

to the mushrooms,
the blinis,

And the crab dish?
And the crab.

Valerie's blini
and rutabaga and beet

Just wasn't very good.

It was poorly ex*cuted.

A blini has to be
cooked and served.

We all know that.

just can't make blinis
four or five hours

before you're
gonna serve them.

And there was the rutabaga
that was kind of crunchy.

Rutabaga immediately,

It was like,
ooh, this is really bad.

And I think stephanie's
crab salad--

She knew it.

She seasoned everything,
salted everything

Hours before it was served.

So the salt just draws out
the moisture,

And you end up
with a mushy mess.

I do think that
she redeemed herself

With the banana bread.

I think that that
was her saving grace,

Whatever you wanna
call it.

I think that
she bailed herself out.

Let's look at
the bear team.

which is worse?
nikki made the stuffing.

She roasted the mushrooms.

Dale ultimately
made them worse

By adding so much cheese.

And dale didn't
taste it either.

And you can't possibly
go any further

If you don't taste your food
before you serve it.

that's
a fundamental error

That they were
all guilty of.

[Gail]
I remember it just
looking brown and dark.

It looked like something
a bear would produce, not eat.

Basically they said,
"we don't stand behind it,"

But there it is.

Well, I think that
we have a decision.

[Tom]
each team is here
for really, one or two dishes.

Team bear,
the dish that put you here

Is the stuffed mushroom dish.

and I believe that, nikki,

You were responsible
for that dish.

it was served cold.
it wasn't really seasoned well.

And I think the cheese
really hurt it.

But ultimately, you guys just
didn't stand behind that dish,

and it was apparent.

Team gorilla...

there were two dishes
that put you here.

One was stephanie's crab salad.

Clearly, you know
that it was dressed too soon.

valerie...

you knew that those blinis
should have been made to order.

blinis just don't work

when they're cooked
so far in advance.

Also, the flavor combination
just didn't work very well.

but ultimately,
those are the dishes

That we feel sort of put
both of your teams up here.

We made our decision
this evening based on that.

Valerie, please pack
your knives and go.

Thank you for
the opportunity.

Appreciate it.

You feel really great

When your dish
is good, obviously.

And you feel really lousy
when it's not.

See ya, guys.

I've made some good friends

In the short time
that I've been here.

I just wish I was gonna
stick around

To prove myself
a little bit more.

It's extremely disappointing.

I know I'm a much better
cook and chef than that

And made a bad decision,

And that's what happens.

[Padma]
next on top chef...

it's time for a field trip.

[Spike]
we're basically running around
like new york city rats.

I'm not sabotaging anybody.

That's how it rolls,
you know what I mean?

He can go screw himself.

We all thought it was
a universal disappointment here.

Everybody
thought it was good...

Then you guys collectively
had really poor palates.

I ain't goin' nowhere.
This is my house.

[Bleep] it.
Let's just can it.

It was a reality check.
It was like...pffft.

[Padma]
for more about the recipes
seen tonight,