01x03 - New Chef on the Block

[bunniefuu]

[Kathy] Previously on
Chef Dynasty: House of Fang.

The One Night Only
menu event could not have
gone any better.

[Christy] Chef Kathy
is introducing completely
brand new dishes.

Yay! I know, it's exciting.

[Katie] And we just want your
feedback on everything.

You can just drop it
in that vase right over here
on your way out.

But my dad was still
not convinced that
the menu should change.

You see, this is too much.

And I'm, like, no!

The dragon boat festival
brought us all
closer together.

[Christy] I wanna be the end
of the dragon...

She wants to be the butt
of the dragon

...because it's just, like,
twerking the whole time.

You know, It was fun to be
right next to you working
on the boat, right?

Yes, no more animosity.

-Cheers.
-Cheers.

But I'm still left
with unfinished business.

-Why don't we, um,
talk about it over there?
-Okay.

[Kathy] I'm Kathy Fang.

I'm the chef and owner

of the most esteemed and
hottest Chinese restaurant
in San Francisco, Fang.

In this city, my father,
Peter Fang,

is the godfather
of Chinese cuisine.

Dad came from Wolfgang Puck.

That's pretty nice.

[Kathy] He owns the famous
House of Nanking
just down the street.

While most kids grew up
playing games,

I spent my childhood
studying cooking,

and learning the secrets
of his success.

Get ready for service.

Today I'm a chef
that takes a lot of risks

with my own dishes.

This is one of the new dishes
that we're trying out.

Just like my dad,
I wanna revolutionize
Chinese food,

and take our family legacy
to the next level.

I'm a two time
Chopped champion,

I'm one of the country's
most sought-after chefs.

Only thing more fiery
than the food is my staff.

I can promise you one thing.

There is never
a dull moment at Fang.

♪ I'm a legend in the making ♪

♪ I got the cash in my pocket
and got it on lock ♪

♪ I got the clothes
in my closet
and I'm poppin' off ♪

♪ So you could catch me
on corner with my shades
hanging low ♪

♪ About my business that
nobody ever needs to know ♪

So right after the end
of the shift Caleb,
my dad and I,

we sat down
and went through
all the comment cards,

and my dad was, like, "Hmm?"

He kinda went back
on his word.

I didn't like that.

You, you putting your dish in,
inside the menu,
I don't wanna see this.

I wanna make these changes,
but I do want him to be
behind me on all of this,

so I don't know,
I'm kinda, like,

torn, I'm, like,
"What do I do?"

But you told me
the time is now.

If you keep waiting,
you're just gonna end up
waiting 12 more years.

I think it's absolutely time
to just put my foot down,

and say no to my father.

I can't wait any longer.

That's a really, really good,
really good event.

I wanna bring those four menu
items that I created

from the One Night Only menu
and put it on our menu.

Mmm.

I need to do it,
and I need you to be
behind me on this.

Okay, I'd let you to do it.

Yes!

I think I have to trust you
to doing something.

Okay, yay! I'm so excited.

♪ Are we dreaming? ♪

♪ I am dreaming with you ♪

♪ Are we dreaming? ♪

[Kathy] The next thing I know,
patrons are ordering
my new dishes.

Here's the catfish.

-And this is the sauce
that goes with it.
-Thank you.

-Thank you.
-Yeah.

These are actually four
new items that we recently
added to our menus.

-I like to have
the Yogurt and Chicken.
-That's my favorite.

-[man talking]
-[Katie] Yes.

Perfect, okay,
I'll be right back.

What seemed risky yesterday...

Catfish is ready,
and then we've got
the sauce with it too.

...is becoming staples today.

This is one
of my new favorites.

And my dad,
he's going with the flow.

-This is amazing.
-Oh. [chuckles]

And that is how I move
the needle.

Slowly, but with intention.

Time for the next step.

So today we'll be
interviewing a few chefs

for a position here.

My dad is feeling skeptical

about me doing offsite events,

but hiring a new chef
is part of my grand expansion
plan this year.

For me to expand and go out

and do more bigger
and better things,

I need someone
at the restaurant,

and so my dad has agreed
to hire a chef.

-We need a chef,
we need to hire a chef.
-Oh, need a chef?

-Okay.
-And then, let's see.

Yeah, we, yeah,
we can see what happens.

What would you be looking
for in hiring this chef?

Is it any person that
is like me, that's good.

It's gonna be hard
to find someone
who can fill our shoes.

Cook the way that we do.

[Peter speaking]

We're not hiring
a chef to come
and change any of our dishes,

we're just hiring someone
who's capable

of executing the recipes
exactly the way
that we make it.

Do you think that kinda
person would be...

-Exist?
-...would exist in this world?

And it's not that risky
to give some, somebody a shot.

You say this
is not a bit risky?

-Hi, nice to meet you.
-Nice to finally meet you.

So for the interviews,

we've set up a station
for them and one task,

it's to cook up a dish
for us in the wok,

we're gonna have them
use shrimp.

Seafood cookery
is highly, highly important
in Chinese cuisine,

so if they can nail this,

then that shows
high level of skill.

So are you familiar with
House of Nanking and Fang?

A little bit.

Are you familiar with
our menu at all, or eaten at--

Uh, slightly.

How do you go
into an interview
and not do your homework?

You might as well not show up.

The shrimp is cooked well.

[Peter speaking]

[chef speaking]

Uh, I am following his steps,

-but, um, I actually
created this place.
-Uh-huh.

I am my own chef
in my own right.

I'm not just hanging
around as a daughter

behind my dad's coattails,
I'm not trying to do this,
I've done this.

Yeah, no bueno.

So how would you feel
working for me?

I think your answer
is interesting.

I think it's not appropriate.

Hi.

[Kathy]
Chef Krista is a private chef.

I think that would fit
really well with
what we're looking for

because she could do
special requests

from the customers
when we're not there.

So I'm just stir frying
some garlic and shrimp,

and then steaming
some vegetables,

then I'm just gonna
do a little stir fry.

I know that you don't like
very much oil,

so I did a little bit
less in the oil.

So it's just a stir fry,
and then, um, finishing
with the spinach,

and then just gonna top it
with some vinegar.

[Kathy] I do like
the fresh vegetables
and the chili flakes.

These has to be cooked right.

-Mmm-hmm,
it's a little bit over.
-Yeah.

[Kathy] I know that
my dad is feeling
reluctant about Krista,

but I think that
Krista's personality
would be a great fit.

[speaking other language]

[in English] Okay.

Uh, so, we

discussed it, and we'd like
to give you the opportunity
to work with us.

That's a huge honor.

I'm pretty stoked

because I honestly
did not think that
my dad would say yes.

That's huge.

-You passed the biggest test.
You passed Mr. Fang's test.
-Oh, my God.

Thank you.

The pressure that
I feel is immense.

It's, it's a huge honor,
but I don't want to mess up.

-So you listen to her...
-Yeah.

...but don't forget
to listen to me.

♪ There's nothing to lose ♪

♪ I will power through ♪

♪ Mind over excuse ♪

♪ Failing is not in my DNA ♪

Hey.

-Can you guys come over
for a meeting?
-Okay.

-Sure.
-Great, thanks.

I'm actually, like,
bursting inside.

We have the most exciting
event coming up...

Drumroll.

...with Kristi Yamaguchi.

-Oh, my God. Stop.
-I love Kristi Yamaguchi.

[Kathy] Kristi Yamaguchi
is a two time world champion
ice skater,

and won the gold medal
in the 1992 Winter Olympics.

She is Asian American royalty.

I love Kristi Yamaguchi,
like, that was, like, my first

role model ever.

She was the first Asian woman
that ever saw on TV,

and she made me feel like,

if this Asian girl
can be on TV,

and do what she loves,
then so can I.

-That is crazy.
-I love her.

It's for her non-profit
Always Dream Foundation.

The Kristi Yamaguchi
Always Dream

puts together accessible books

for low income families
and children.

And they are going to host it
at Asian Art Museum.

[Kathy] Since this
is an offsite event,

we're gonna need to pull
some people off of the floor.

I'm gonna pull Joshua
'cause we're gonna
need a bartender there,

we're gonna have some
c*ck beforehand.

And I do wanna bring Katie
because Katie's been here
for a long time,

she's a veteran,
and you always do
such an amazing job.

And, obviously,
we can't take everybody
with us,

Long, you're gonna have
to hold down the fort,

make sure everything
goes smoothly here.

And then, Christy,
you'll have to stay here
and help Long out.

I'm bumped,
and I didn't make the cut,
and it sucks.

Speaking of all these
exciting new changes,

we have a new chef
joining our team,

Krista.

-She is a private chef...
-Hi.

...has a lot
of incredible experience.

-[Christy] Welcome.
-Thank you.

[Kathy] And she beat out
a bunch of other chefs
during the interviews,

even made it past my dad.

Welcome to the party.

Yeah, Krista, she's great.
She has a cute smile,
cute little giggle.

I'm always down
to bringing more girls
to the team, I mean,

I mean, more talent
to the team.

I'm excited,
but thank you so much, yeah.

The bar is set high.

There's a lot of expectations

that I have for Krista.

We're only
a week away from
the Kristi Yamaguchi event,

she's gonna have
to hold down the kitchen,

I don't know
how she's going to do,

but she's gonna need
to kick a*s.

I'm gonna be having
her shadow me,

and so that she can learn
the ropes.

-So, let go. Chop, chop.
-Great. Thank you.

How is this looking
for you guys?

So the Kristi Yamaguchi event.

I have to say that
I am very nervous,

you know, obviously
very happy that you
were able to book this,

and I'm, like, deeply honored.

I just don't feel comfortable
doing an offsite event
not having seen the kitchen.

I do have to admit that
I have some control issues.

I hate working out
of other people's kitchen.

We're talking
Kristi Yamaguchi here,

and we're talking
board members
of the Asian Art Museum,

I can't have some
disaster happen there.

Absolutely, I totally agree,
and I'll definitely
set up a site visit.

We have to do this event.

-You gotta keep an open mind.
-Okay.

-But site visit, site visit.
-Thank you.

♪ Put your money
where your mouth is ♪

♪ Well, I ain't playing
no games ♪

♪ I ain't working that way ♪

♪ Put your money
where your mouth is ♪

-All right, Krista.
-Hi.

-You'll notice, you know,
things are very quick paced...
-Yeah.

-...because it's out of a wok.
-Yeah.

-It's a huge step,
we've never had this before.
-Yeah.

We've never brought in a chef.

Yeah, like, this is such
a cool opportunity.

The fact that my dad has,
like, approved to do this is,
like, wild.

-Let's get to work.
-Okay.

I actually did
cooking competitions,

and I was part
of the Culinary Olympics,

we did very well,
we got gold and silver.

I've baked in Copenhagen
at one of the top 50
restaurants in the world.

I wanna impress Kathy,

but this is probably one
of hardest kitchen
I've ever worked in,

but I'm ready for it.

-You guys ready to order?
-Yeah.

-Crispy Honey
Chili Short Ribs.
-Yes, yes.

What else,
we got Sesame Chicken.

That one is the one that's,
like, deep fried, and then
it has the sweet potato?

You should know that dish.

Let's go.

You're still garnishing?

This is, like, nothing, right?
That's gonna burn,
that's burning.

It's gonna be faster.

Um, I will do the chicken.

Uh, chicken.

Disorganized.

Oh, oh, oh, careful,
careful, careful.

-What? Oh.
-Well, it's leaking.

We're a well-oiled machine,

Krista needs to work
at a very fast pace.

This Crispy Honey
Chili Short Rib, for example,

is one of our
signature dishes.

That dish needs
to be done very quickly.

So I've got a little ladle
of the short rib.

Krista's a studious person.

Krista is taking lot of notes.

Corn starch
is gonna go in there.

And when I teach new dishes
to my cooks

nobody ever pulls out
a notepad.

You watch, you learn,
you pick-up, and you do it.

That's all there is time for.

Okay, this is the bok choy.

The bok choy is actually cold,
it's like a salad.

Then you've got that
hot component, the short rib,

which has, like,
a little crispness

that's coated
in this beautiful sauce.

-Short rib's gonna go in here.
-[Krista] Okay.

[Kathy] If you're too slow
that crisp exterior
that has that sauce

that's perfectly coated
on it is gonna get soggy.

And that's gonna go on top,
and that's the short rib.

Yay!

We are about
a week away from
the Kristi Yamaguchi event,

I will be offsite,

she is gonna have
to hold down the kitchen,

I don't know
how she's going to do,

but she's gonna need
to kick a*s.

That's gonna burn,
that's burning.

Pick up.

She's taking too much time
making these dishes,

so that part makes me
very nervous to watch.

Look for the,
look out for the shrimp,
so it's not stuck together.

So if, um, you're taking
a little bit more time there

-then lift up the shrimp--
-And then toss it later?

[Kathy] The biggest challenge
with this brand expansion

is that there is a lot to do,

and there's a lot for Krista
to learn to bring her
up to speed.

-Lay 'em out this way
with the pan fried side up.
-Okay.

Okay, and I need
to look at my notes.

-You need to look
at your notes?
-Yeah, for the...

My food style, and, like,
the way I like cooking

is very, like,
aesthetically beautiful.

I love, like, styling it,
it's so fun.

That's good.
We don't need to,
like, fuss with it.

Once it comes out of the wok
it goes on there,

unless it's, like,
out of control.

Yeah, okay.

I'm excited at
getting the job,

but now it's more of, like,
"I need to keep that job."

You messed up.

You gotta do the oil
and then the sauce.

-Okay.
-Everything is--

I'm feeling nervous for her,
honestly,

and I'm feeling a bit unsure.

I feel like you need
to give me a day,
and then I can do it.

We've got a lot to learn.

♪ We can't stop doubt inside
of our control ♪

♪ Or forever
if we just hold on ♪

-Hey, Lorraine,
so good to see you,
-Hi, Lillian.

Welcome, good to see you.

-Long time no see in person.
-Yes.

If you have anything
you want to ask me,
I'm here to help you out.

She's really concerned
with the kitchen.

Where everything is,
and where people are gonna be
having their dinner, etcetera.

Got it.

Am I impressed that
Lillian booked me an event

at the Asian Art Museum
with Kristi Yamaguchi?

Absolutely.

Bad news is I haven't seen
the kitchen.

I don't know
what I'm walking into.

[Lorraine] The building
actually used to be

the main public library
of San Francisco.

-Dean is here, hi.
-Kathy, good to see you.

Nice to see you, too.
Thank you.

-Hey, Dean, good to see you.
-Lillian, good to see you
as always.

So we'll head on up.

♪ Way up, I'm comin' up ♪

♪ Way up, I'm comin' up ♪

♪ Way up, I'm comin' up ♪

Oh, my gosh.

-[exclaims] Wow!
-It's so beautiful.

[Lorraine] Welcome
to the old Card Catalogue
Room of the building...

[Dean] Mmm-hmm, beautiful.

[Lorraine] ...currently known
as Samsung Hall.

[Lillian] And approximately
how many guests?

Several media personalities,

and then, um,
several from our board,

and, um, some
of our key stakeholders.

Are you still thinking 20-ish?

I think there's gonna be
about 24.

-Twenty-four? Okay.
-Yeah.

The Asian Art Museum
is such a stunning
historical venue,

and Kat could not be
more lucky.

If the facility's director
ends up liking her food

and likes the way we operate,

it could open up
the door for us

to do so many
more opportunities,
social events, weddings,

and be another revenue stream
that could just blow us up.

This is what we've been
working for.

Chef, what is on the menu?

I'm still trying
to figure that out.

A lot of it is gonna be
dependent on the kitchen.

Which is why I'm, like,
we need to see the kitchen.

Oh, back to the kitchen,
and save the best for last.

So let me go ahead
and show you the cafe kitchen.

I just can't help
this little chatter that's
going in my ear that's, like,

"What about the kitchen?
What does the kitchen
look like?

Is there even
a kitchen in here?"

And then here's our
warming kitchen.

-It's the work horse of the,
of all of our events.
-This is the...

There's no tables?

[Lorraine] Uh, no,
there are not.

[Kathy] They're calling this
a warming room,

but what I am seeing
is an empty room.

And empty room
that has a stove.

I'm supposed
to make appetizers
out of here?

There's no perp table,

there's no refrigerators,
there's no freezers,
there's nothing.

Okay, where is the other
kitchen then?

Downstairs,
not a simple path to that.

Oh, okay.

The good news
is that there is a kitchen.

Thank you.

The bad news
is that the kitchen

is 50 miles away
from the dining room.

So this is the museum's
onsite cafe.

-So there's this oven
and that's it?
-Yes. Yes.

There's just a lot
of limitations
in this kitchen.

No wok where I can do
any high heat cooking,

and then there's no steamer,

I can't make
specialty dumplings,
I can't do specialty buns.

How many Chinese dishes
come out of an oven?

What time is our
event starting?

Our event's starting at 5.30.

-At 5.30?
-With... for
the hors d'oeuvres.

-Thank you
for showing us the space.
-Excellent. Yes.

We really are looking
forward to it. Yeah.

-It's gonna be awesome.
-It's gonna be
a beautiful evening.

Thanks, Lorraine.

This kitchen presents
a lot of problems,

but I need to turn
my creativity on,

and need to make some kind
of magic happen.

-We have a lot to discuss.
-Yeah.

[Kathy] The venue
is very nice,

but the kitchen
I have a huge problem with.

You know, my specialty
is Chinese food,
yes, with a twist,

but the stove is tiny.

I don't know how I'm gonna
utilize that for apps.

And then that kitchen
is so far,

like, they have to go
up these crazy stairs
to serve food,

by the time they get there,
everything's gonna be cold.

Kat, stop tripping.

This is like the most
amazing opportunity.

You're gonna be cooking
for Kristi Yamaguchi,

and, like, all these amazing
Bay Area notables.

I feel like you're
giving me a hard time,
and you're being irrational.

I mean, you know how I am.

I want things my way,
I want the kitchen exactly
the way that I want it,

and so booking a place

where it's totally
not the type of place
that I work out of

is very uncomfortable for me.

I just want you
to have that on your resume,

so that you can always
say, like,

"Yeah I cooked there,
and I can do so many
events there."

You have to get out
of the "your kitchen,"

I mean, Wolfgang Puck,
do you think he was
at Spago every night?

It's a matter of you
now showcasing your skills

and letting other people
enjoy your food.

I know Kat,
and she'll make
something amazing,

her brain's gonna light up,
get inspired,

and she's gonna create
a perfect menu that
will be just so amazing.

[Kathy] I'm trying to execute

an extremely high end dinner

for very refined guests,

and you're asking me
to do this out of a cafe

that generally serves hotdogs
and French fries.

Seeing that kitchen my,
my heart just, like, dropped.

♪ Boom, boom, pop it
and lock it on me ♪

♪ Boom, boom ♪

♪ Oh, you got that
boom, boom ♪

[Lillian] Are you all ready
for the tasting?

-I am, I'm going to do
three of the apps.
-Mmm-hmm.

And then try out one
of the main dishes
I'm thinking about.

Okay.

So I am prepping
this Lion's Head.

-Lion's Head?
-Yup, it's actually
a meatball.

-Oh.
-But traditionally it's just
made with, uh, pork,

but we're gonna do crab,
and scallops, and shrimp
in there as well.

Now I'm going to glaze it.

-Okay.
-This is a chili garlic sauce.

So essentially this dish

is gonna be comfort food,
but in a refined way.

[Lillian] I like it.

I've been working a lot

to create fabulous dishes

for the Always Dream
charity event.

Jan and Dean,
who are the board members

of the organization
are coming in for a tasting.

-And they are here, wow.
-Hello, chef.

-Hi.
-Hello, hello, Jan and Dean.

-[Jan] Kathy.
-Oh, you're early.

-You guys are early.
-We are.

Oh, right. Is that bad?

I've decided
to start the event with
passed hors d'oeuvres

including a Silken Tofu Salad

and traditional
shrimp skewers.

The tofu salad seems
like a simple dish,

but the silken tofu
is hard to work with

because silken tofu is...
it's very neutral,

you don't want
the flavors to necessarily
overpower your tofu,

you do wanna
taste the soybean.

There's a very delicate
balance between
all the complex flavors.

This is actually
a silken tofu,
so a soft tofu,

it's topped with an apple,
salted daikon salad.

Mmm.

-That tofu is so smooth.
-Mmm-hmm.

-I mean, just melts
in your mouth.
-Mmm-hmm.

And with that flavor,
I love this dish.

So that's a winner.

Shrimp is done.

This shrimp skewer
that I've created
is a very special dish.

In fact, it's a take
on the very traditional
Honey Walnut Prawns.

That's done,
we're gonna put some
sesame seeds on top.

Except the sauce that
I've created has more acid,
it has more spice,

it's got a lot more
dimension to it.

This dish is a very classic
Asian American dish
that I grew up with,

it's a Sweet and Sour Shrimp,
that I added some lemon,

I also added our house
Sichuan chili shallot oil.

This is kind of hard
to eat in one bite.

-Okay.
-So I wondered if we could
have something easier.

-Sure.
-Easier to eat.

Is she really saying
she can't eat a shrimp
at a c*ck party?

Hasn't she ever seen
a shrimp c*ck?

Yeah, we'll come up with
something petite.

Okay, we'll work
on something else in there.

Look, everyone's entitled
to their own opinion,

so if the customer
doesn't like something
they're always right.

Because this dinner
is in a beautiful museum,

everything is very grand,

I want the food to match that.

I've decided to bring
in Fang's most famous
TikTok Fried Rice.

Here we go.

-Oh, look at this.
-Look at this.

We got our fried rice here.

It adds a level of drama,
it's theatrical,
it's exciting,

you can smell the food,

everything is happening
in front of your eyes.

-[Dean] What are you putting
on right now?
-[Kathy] This is egg.

Oh.

-I think this might be fun
for the guests.
-Yeah.

I'm liking TikTok Rice.

-You like it?
-Good.

So now we've got
the Lion's Head.

Okay, what is a Lion's Head?

-I have no idea.
-I didn't, I didn't wanna
ask that question.

Lion's Head essentially,
traditionally, just
a pork meatball.

The reason why we call it
Lion's Head is because

there's typically bok choy
or napa cabbage around it,

and so it almost looks
like lion's mane.

[Dean] Nice.

-Bring it on.
-[Lillian] Okay, great.

[Kathy] Let's cut
a little piece here for you.

Eat the whole thing.

Mmm.

What all was in there?

This is a more
elevated version of it,

so we're mixing ground pork
with some minced scallops,

crab, and shrimp.

Oh, that's delicious.

-It's a winner.
-Oh, my gosh.

-I've gotta vote this.
-That's a yes to this one.

The tasting went
relatively well,

so now I just have
to figure out

how to pull off
a five-star dinner

out of a kitchen primarily
used to feed

sixth grade field trip
children.

I mean, what could go wrong?

♪ Sunshine ♪

♪ So bright ♪

You're gonna do
a chicken hot and sour soup.

Do you use white vinegar?

-I use, uh, the dark vinegar.
-Not enough.

-No, you got white
and, and black.
-Okay.

And a lot more white pepper.

Krista has been making
a lot of progress.

She just needs
to super speed her training,

and learn this menu like
the back of her hands.

We don't even have
a full house,

and people are waiting
for their dishes.

-You gotta move it faster.
-Okay.

If Krista doesn't nail this,

my dad's never gonna let me do
offsite events again.

He's already
not a big fan of it.

You can make the sauce.

-What is she doing?
-Making the dumplings.

One by one.

She's making the sauce now.

You gotta move faster.

What do you think, Dad?

Looks pretty good,
but can't spend too much
time on one dish.

Gotta be fast.

Kathy is one thing,
but Peter is in totally
different thing, like,

a totally different person,
totally different
everything, like,

he is very serious,
and so sometimes you're, like,
"What is he thinking?"

It's not acceptable

because there
was tickets there,

-the people waiting for,
you need to be...
-Yeah.

Thank you so much.

I told you I'm gonna be
cooking for Kristi Yamaguchi,

I'm gonna be gone all
of dinner service, Thursday,

and probably a big portion
of lunch as well.

I'm gonna have Long

and Krista be in charge
while I'm gone.

Okay?

[Peter speaking]

[Peter speaking]

[Peter speaking]

...afar.

They're not ready yet.

I mean,
I made the decision, right?

They're, they're gonna run it,
I'm gonna be gone.

You know, it's scary
for actually the both of us.

The whole point
of bringing them in

is so that I can go
and do more events,

to get my name out there,
my brand out there,

and this event
is perfect for that.

I know this is very
uncomfortable for him,

but I think that Krista
and Long will be fine,

and the restaurant
will be okay.

All right.

♪ I was built for this
I was made for this ♪

♪ Give me a challenge you know
that I'll be crushing it ♪

♪ People be waiting
for something in their lives
to change ♪

♪ But I'll be running... ♪

[Lillian] The Samsung Hall
is so beautiful.

Once we saw those
impeccable ceilings,

I collaborated with
the florist to create
this beautiful idea

of high cherry blossom
silk trees,

vintage French
inspired chairs,

gorgeous Asian
hand painted china,

just tie it all together
with the Asian theme,

it's just come together
really beautifully.

I need help
to unload everything.

Where should I go?

Wow, look at you.

Doing an event
for Kristi Yamaguchi

is very exciting to me

and a lifetime opportunity,

but because this event
is offsite I'm super nervous.

Something is always
bound to happen,
something doesn't work,

and then I don't have
the ability to have control

in every aspect,
and I hate that.

Did they come
and turn this one on?

They said this takes
a long time to warm up.

It's off though right now.

-Argh!
-Engineer's on his way.

I need to go see the upstairs.

Which, which way do I go?

Oh, my God.

This is really far.

I honestly don't know
how we're gonna be able
to manage serving my food,

making it taste good
without it getting there cold.

Let's just take it
one step at a time.

This is my first time
doing an event

where I literally cannot see
what's going on.

I realize that most events
have done stuff here,

but most events
don't have good food.

And, you know, you go to,
like, weddings,
and you go to events,

it's like, I'm not,
I'm not serving
medium-well steak and seabass.

I'm nervous because
just disappointing
22 VIP guests...

Oh, my God,
how many step are these?
Should I count these?

...and having this
event be a flop

is not going to be
good for my brand,

the business, and the empire.

♪ I'm ready to go ♪

♪ Ready to go now ♪

♪ Ready to go ♪

So this is the first night
Kat's not at the restaurant,
a lot is at stake tonight.

if this doesn't go well,

Kathy is probably never gonna
leave the restaurant again
and do these events.

Hi, Long.

-How you doing?
-I'm okay.

It's definitely not
my first time working

in a kitchen
where I had to lead.

[exclaims]

I've cooked all types
of different cuisines
in my lifetime.

Japanese, French, German food,

I've worked
in an Italian restaurant,

now I work
in a Chinese restaurant.

I have a lot to prove here,
and so I see myself doing this
in the long run.

-Hey, sorry I'm late.
-It's all right.

-Everything all right?
-Yeah, it's great.

I'm really not
in the mood to be here.

Everything is fine,
fine, everything is fine.

Literally five minutes away

everyone is spending time
with Kristi Yamaguchi,

and I'm with Long.

-I'll help out
as much as I can.
-Get ready, folks.

Fourteen tables,
hundred people,
and three VIP tables.

-You want to take the B's,
I'll take the C's.
-And then what about the A's?

[Long]
This is a rare opportunity

to show Kathy this restaurant
could run on its own,

and I can take charge of that.

Ooh.

It's gonna be stressful.

-Here we go. Okay.
-Thank you.

[Christy] Are you guys
visiting?

We come from Santa Fe.

Oh, okay, cool.

-They're all visiting.
-We're from Kansas City.

-[Christy] Speak
of the father.
-[Long] Speak of the father.

-Speak of the father.
-Speak of the father.

[Long] And this is the first
I've seen Peter
wear a dress shirt.

That's when you know
it's serious business.

-Hi, Peter.
-[Christy] We're good,
be confident.

[Long] We got this,
we're good.

You let Long
take over the place,
and you, you not there.

[Peter speaking]

Always try to show up
her hot sauce.

She went to China,
went to, like,

different little, like,
communities and provinces,

and, like, tried to,
like, replicate it.

Honestly, he's, he's not doing
too bad, you know.

-Yeah.
-Is that surprising
to you or...

Well it's surprising me
a little bit, little bit.

♪ We can't stop doubt inside
of our control ♪

♪ Or forever
if we just hold on ♪

[Kathy] Lillian needs
to get Joshua and all
of them down here.

We got egg rolls going,
we got the fish going.

The clock is ticking down,

and the guests are arriving.

I need a quick team meeting,

I really wanna
make sure we make
the perfect impression.

-We gotta do this
without a hitch.
-[Joshua] I got it.

Otherwise, I'm never gonna be
able to stuff like this again.

-We got, we got your back.
-Yeah.

All right, thank you.

All right.

[Lillian] Guests are coming up
right now.

Wow.

I'm gonna just pass
some champagne and then,

and then once you finish
that tray just head down.

-Yeah, I can help out there.
No problem.
-Okay.

[Lillian] Are we excited?

-Excited. Yamaguchi.
-All right.

Hi, how are you?

-Yeah, Lillian,
good to see you.
-Good to see you.

Where are all the servers?

We're actually 20 minutes
past when c*ck hour
had started,

and not a single server
has come down.

Servers, we need servers
to serve food.

Finally there is someone
to execute serving.

I've all three
appetizers prepped,

they've been sitting
on the line,

food needs to go out on time.

Hello, can I interest you
in a hors d'oeuvre?

Yeah, here you go, sir.

-Thank you.
-Wow, yummy.

All right, we gotta go,
we gotta go.

We have another round,
we gotta move fast.

I see a server
serve something,

and I won't see them
for 15 minutes.

These stairs
are too laborious.

It's taking too long
to get these dishes
out there on time.

This is just not okay.

We can make another one
of the prosciutto with
the Chinese donut.

We have to wait for them
to bring it down.

Nobody is here,
so everything
is gonna get cold.

[groaning]

Nobody is down here.

I'm calling, I'm texting,
there is no response.

Why are there no servers
coming down?

Why is Lillian who is normally
responsive not responding?

What is going on?

Food is just gonna sit here.

Argh!

♪ You gotta do something ♪

♪ Go, go ♪

♪ Nothing's gonna happen
if you don't make
something happen ♪

-Dude, we just all of sudden
got super busy.
-What's up?

-Yeah, right?
-Like, we're slammed.

[cell phone vibrating]

Hey, Kat, how you doing?

[Kathy] I need you to send
Christy over to Kristi event.

-I need her.
-[Long] Okay.

Hey Christy,
Kathy needs you
right now at the event.

-Go, she needs you.
-I'm leaving right now?

-Yes, absolutely now.
-Okay.

Having Christy gone,
you know, that's a lot
on pressure to me.

I'm down to a skeleton crew
right now.

-All right, get outta here,
get, go, go, go, bye.
-Bye, see you.

♪ I keep telling myself
to see you alone ♪

The guests at this event
are all Asian Americans

who have accomplished a lot.

We've got news anchors,
we've got Olympians,

owner of the Asian Art Museum.

Kathy, I'm Jay Xu,
the museum director.

-Hi, nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.

People who are highly involved
in Kristi's Always Dream
organization.

Hey, Kat, can I introduce you
to Kristi?

Yes, sounds good.

-Hey, Kristi, I wanted to
introduce you to Chef Kathy.
-Hello.

-How are you, Kathy?
-Hi, it's an honor
to meet you...

Honor to meet you.

...and cook for you.

I've been watching you
ever since I was young on TV,

and now I get to see you
in person.

I would have never been
able to imagine, like,

actually personally cooking
a meal for you, so...

-Oh, well, very excited
to dine and eat, yeah.
-Eat?

-Can't wait. Thank you.
-Thank you.

Some Sauvignon Blanc here?

Well, I have to go
find the fish now.

The first dish is
the fish soup deconstructed.

I need, um,
the rice noodle here,
there's a little scallion,

the ginger, do you remember
all the ingredients
that go in there?

I know a lot of people hear
this word described on menus,

deconstructed,
what does that mean?

It just means for
a full-composed dish

to actually come
to your table not composed,

in all the separate pieces
and components.

Soup needs to be hot.

So what we're going to do
is we're gonna keep that soup
piping hot in the tea pots.

The plate will be beautiful
with the way that we lay out
the fish and the rice noodle,

and at the last minute,
you see them pour
the soup into the bowl,

and then the guest
gets to ooh and aah,
and you see the steam,

then they dig in
and put the soup together.

Voila.

The beautiful,
theatrical rendition
of our fish soup.

The second dish is a salad.

I've got stone fruit,
I've got tomatoes,

and mushroom, lily bulb,
and some puffed rice,

all that tossed in that
ginger, burdock,
sesame dressing.

It's an expl*si*n of flavors
and very unexpected
for Chinese cuisine.

So how do you think everything
is going back at Fang with
Long running the kitchen?

Honestly, part of me,

part of my imagination thinks
the whole building
is burning down right now.

Ah, let's proceed.

[Peter speaking]

-[Krista] Too much? Yes. Okay.
-[Peter speaking]

It's like... [sighs]

The soup is still here.

-Oh, I thought they took it.
I'm sorry.
-Haven't done yet.

-It's okay,
I give you B minus.
-Yeah.

This is very difficult for me,
it's definitely lot of, like,

stress and tension.

-Did you see that ticket
coming in?
-I just heard it.

There's a lot of ticket there,
no action.

-You have make these,
these, these, first.
-First?

It's not right.

Not the way to do it.

I wanna impress him,

but he has a lot
of criticism and critiques.

-But you just remembered that.
-[Krista] It's stressful.

Every kitchen's different,
so it's, like, hard to, like,
figure everything around.

[Peter speaking]

[Peter speaking]

I mean, everything
will be fine, right?

It's gonna be the end
of the world.

Long's been there
for a very long time,

the cooks are still there,

the whole team is still there.

It's just I am not there,
and Long's...

supervising.

♪ Hope you're ready ♪

They seem to be
enjoying this course.

♪ Hope you're ready ♪

I can't stay because
I gotta go now and manage

my main entree,
my Lion's Head meatballs

that's been sitting
in the oven way past the time

than it needs to be
in there for.

Okay, can we plate?

My biggest fear is that
I'm gonna be serving
an overcooked meatball.

And should be my aha moment,

the show stopper,
it's my main entree.

And then that is gonna sit
on top of it.

It's actually traditionally
a pork meatball,

but I put my twist on it
with pickled, sweet
and sour napa cabbage,

and a glazed shiny
beautiful sauce,

that has a little sweetness,
a little chili,

it's gonna be a burst
of flavor from a meatball.

[Katie] Yes, girl,
you made it!

I'm just walking in,
and I do not know
what to think.

Everyone is just freaking out.

There is a strange
energy, I'm, like,
"What is happening?"

You haven't done the 10 flight
of stairs yet, that is why.

[Joshua] So these
are ready, Kat?
Can we start going up?

Everybody is, like,
frantically grabbing these
plates of meatballs.

You know, meatball's round,
they're, like, rolling.

Lillian's dressed in her
freaking Valentino shoes,

and she's, like, slipping
everywhere trying
to push a utility cart

of elegant, refined,
Lion's Head Pork Meatballs.

What that one in the middle.
Try and push it to the side.

[Lillian] Take your time,
smile.

-We're short one.
-Short a meatball?

[Kathy] What the hell?

Lo and behold,
there is a missing meatball.

We used all the plates.

I don't know what to do.

What is going on?

And by the way,
and he's sitting next
to Kristi Yamaguchi.

It's a disaster.

What the hell?

Next on
Chef Dynasty: House of Fang.

Every year there's
a cyber security conference.

On a scale how busy
Fang's gonna be this week,

from one to ten,
we're gonna be at fifteen.

There's gonna be over
500 people attending,
no pressure.

When the flood gates open,

people are literally standing
in front of our kitchen,

and being, like,
"Where is the food?"

I'm trying to go
as fast as possible.

This is a true test
for Krista.

So now you've gotta
move really fast.

She may noy be able
to handle the stress.

Oh, my gosh, Kathy,
we're going so fast right now.

We can't go fast enough.

This is crazy.

Personally, I'm freaking out.

We're at max capacity.

I've never been, like,
this stressed ever.