America's Next Great Restaurant (2011) s01e08 Episode Script
Venture in Vegas
Previously on America's Next Great Restaurant, the contestants were asked to create a kids meal I love meatballs.
I think it's really great.
Announcer: And Joey was the crowd favorite.
Yeah! Announcer: While Jamawn and Sudhir made their first trip to the investors' suite.
Honestly, I don't really get the waffle sandwich for a kid.
I think it's too mushy.
Announcer: The grill'billies struggled to keep their team together.
- Oh! - Mother [Bleep.]
.
[Bleep.]
Piece of [Bleep.]
! Announcer: D in the end, it was their lack of leadership You gonna let your chef blow this for you? Announcer: That ended their dream.
I'm sorry, but we will not be investing in grill'billies.
Announcer: Now only four restaurant concepts remain to fight for their dream.
Tonight, one person's journey will come to an end.
And next week, one of these concepts will open their doors for business and all of America will be able to try this exciting new restaurant in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York City.
We're searching for America's Next Great Restaurant.
It's all about the meatballs.
This is the ultimate prize.
Four investors putting down their own money.
I'm looking for passion.
The restaurant business is tough.
It's a rock and roll taco bar.
Who wants a sports wrap? - Classic American.
- Comfort food.
One chance for one perfect concept.
And an extraordinary prize.
Three restaurants.
In three cities.
All across the country.
It's the American dream.
This is America's Next Great Restaurant.
Last piece of advice the investors gave me was to try to balance out my food.
So I do some research on soul food.
Find ways to balance it out and make sure my food is healthy items and make adjustments to try to, you know, do better.
I'm very close.
There's four concepts left.
I'm definitely gonna do my best to try to make my dream come true.
You know, I'm a poor kid from Brooklyn.
I've fought my way up.
Everything that I've achieved in life has been the result of hard work and determination.
So life has prepared me for this moment.
I can't even fathom really going back to my old job.
Now that we're final four, it's so real that you can actually taste what it's like to win.
All right, let's go.
Good morning, everybody.
Congratulations.
You guys are the final four.
And after one final test next week, we will choose and reveal which of you will be opening restaurants in Minneapolis, New York City, and Los Angeles, California.
Up until now, you've been testing your concepts on diners in Los Angeles.
But you need to show us that this could be a national concept.
So we would like to see what another part of America thinks about your concepts.
So get out your suitcase, because we're heading to Las Vegas.
Yes.
Wow, wow.
I couldn't believe it.
I'm going to Vegas next month to get married, so I'm definitely excited about being in Vegas cooking.
I've never been.
Nowhere is there a better cross-section of Americans than in Las Vegas.
Get ready to rise to the occasion.
We'd like you to prepare three dishes of your choice, and you'll be serving them to a crowed of hundreds at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.
- Man.
- Nice.
Okay, guys, we'll see you in Las Vegas.
Good luck, guys.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
You know, we have two major league tests left.
The volume's getting turned way up.
I mean, these are four solid concepts, but each one of them has something to prove.
I thought Joey really stepped it up in last week's test.
I was really impressed with his creativity.
He can really think differently about some areas that he might not be expert in.
People love meatballs, and they're very familiar.
And we have sudhir on the other hand who has a much tougher challenge of really making his food accessible.
But I love the idea of turning people on to something completely new.
Now how 'bout Stephenie and her healthy concept, harvest sol? She's kind of said to us she doesn't know whether this can work.
Yes, you need a great concept, but there's a lot of other things that you need too, and they all have to come together.
I totally believe that this is a great idea.
But if she doesn't believe it, who's gonna drive it? You know, Jamawn is sort of on the bottom.
Right now it's just soul food.
So he's gotta do something to better elevate it.
He's gotta step it up.
They're all very good concepts, but it can't just work in New York and Los Angeles.
It's gotta be able to work sort of across the country in different market places.
And I think this is something that we really need to see and test.
[Upbeat music.]
[Groans.]
Pulling up to Caesars Palace, you know, I really can't believe it.
You know, it's a dream come true.
This is how I imagine Bobby flay living, and I'm treating myself like, you know, I'm a rich guy.
[Laughs.]
We get to the suite, and it's probably, like, five or six times bigger than my apartment in Chicago.
Keep going.
I've been here before.
I've been to Vegas many times.
And I've been to suites like this many times.
This place has people from all walks of life.
So it's a very good test for a mass national concept.
This is serious, man.
This is what I came here for.
I can imagine the Brooklyn meatball company having a thousand stores or more and sitting on top of the world in this unbelievable suite at Caesars Palace.
I think I'll take the master suite.
Everything's fun and games, but listen, now it's back to business.
You know, we gotta head over to the kitchen and start our work.
Oh, here they come.
For this test, we have to serve, like 900 people.
It's gonna be big.
I'm about to wash that now.
What's up? How's it going, man? We're making the spice coast taco, which is gonna be a mini taco with marinated grilled chicken.
Last time I made them, they all absolutely loved the tacos.
We're doing the traditional meatballs with rigatoni with a scoop of ricotta.
We're also doing our Turkey meatballs.
And we're doing macamame, which is a orecchiette pasta with fresh tomatoes and edamame.
Bobby flay's telling me I have a gift for the meatball.
You know, listen, what more could you ask for to hear? One, two, three, four, five.
I think we want to get our ribs on first.
- Okay.
- Then the shrimp.
This is a huge test for me.
I'm doing three new dishes.
Some of my diet recipes.
People have a misconception about soul food being so unhealthy.
So I'm gonna show them that you still can have good soul food, all this taste and flavor, but at the same time balance it out on the healthy side.
Go big or go home.
You know if we got the sustainable lamb? I have no idea.
I didn't see it in there.
I think we just had ribs from yesterday.
We may need to go vegetarian then.
Lamb is one of those things, like if it's not stored sustainably then it's--I feel like we can't serve it.
It's important to me that harvest sol make some important decisions about what kinds of meats it's going to serve.
I think that I would like to keep to this philosophy of having things as natural as possible.
Okay.
Okay, interesting.
Um, that is your call.
I will leave it up to you.
Announcer: Coming up on America's next Great Restaurant So is your concept now a taco concept? You guys ready to put your money where your mouth is? [Cheers and applause.]
Come on, come look at the size of these balls.
For this Vegas test, we're serving three dishes.
I gotta roll up about 700 meatballs.
You know, it's a lot of work.
So I'm just focused on cranking out as many as possible.
That's a lot of balls.
A little more seasoning.
A little bit more everything? All right.
Want some chicken? Where, where, where? Two pieces right there in the fryer, right there.
Up until now, we've been serving people from Los Angeles.
I mean, healthy food is a trend that hasn't necessarily picked up in other parts of the country.
Las Vegas attracts visitors from everywhere, and I have no idea if they're going to go for my concept.
Good morning, everybody.
- Good morning! - Good morning.
Now, we think that you need some help.
So we're gonna have you meet with some potential employees, and we'd like you to hire two people each.
You'll be interviewing them to see if they're a good fit for you and your concept.
During the first hour of tomorrow's service, you'll be the face of the restaurant.
But it's the employees who you hire and train that will be doing the service.
Not only do we have to hire two employees, we're not allowed to do anything.
We have to relinquish total control to our two new employees.
Hiring the right kinds of people and training them properly is crucial.
When I opened the doors to chipotle 17 years ago, ten people came in in the first few hours.
And this Next Great Restaurant, first day there's gonna be a line out the door.
So it's crucial that they have the skills to be able to hire a staff to deliver a great customer experience.
If customers have a great experience, they're gonna come back.
And now we'd like to walk around and see what dishes you guys have come up with for tomorrow.
Bobby, how are you? - Sudhir, how are you? - What are you making here? Mmm, smells delicious.
Yeah, I am making mango and cardamom milk shake and the chicken taco again, the mini taco.
So it's almost the same dish that you did in the food trucks.
Right.
Made better hopefully.
- Made better? - Yeah.
Visually more appealing.
So is your concept now a taco concept? Is it gonna be just Indian tacos? The big thing you told me last time was to see if this thing is truly accessible.
I mean, these were the dishes that people really liked.
So I'm gonna try and execute it as well as I did before and see if that sells in this market as well.
I'm more confident in my concept than ever.
I will prove to the investors that my food has mass appeal.
Spice coast will absolutely be a success.
I have no doubt in my mind.
Hello, Jamawn.
How are you? Jamawn.
What I'm gonna do is a cajun salmon.
And then we're gonna do up some barbecue ribs.
And then the fried chicken.
Wow.
With a potato okra.
That's an ambitious menu.
Trying to keep that soul food but healthy.
So I wanted to, you know, show the healthy side of it also.
Jamawn, you're looking a bit frazzled.
You're in a big sweat.
Have you taken on a lot for this challenge? This is the finals.
You gotta, you know-- going out with guns blazing.
Very good luck.
- Thank you, thank you.
- Sure.
Lots of meatballs today, huh? Yes, sir.
Gonna go with the traditional meatballs in a Sunday sauce.
A lot of flavor, the roasted peppers.
You know, something really bold with the scoop of ricotta.
And the 100% white meat Turkey balls.
We're gonna go with the gorgonzola sauce with a lot of cheese.
Now what's throwing me off is the rich, heavy cream cheese sauce.
I'm like, what are you doing? So what do you think? Just make a little bit of a light white wine, garlic-- and you marry all those ingredients together.
That's sounding really good to me.
You know, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to get some feedback from the investors before going forward with my original plan.
So I'm definitely gonna make changes.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hi, Stephenie.
- How are you, Stephenie? - Hey.
- How are you? What are you making? We're going to be serving a slow-roasted short rib.
It's gonna be braised on top of garlic kale.
For the second thing, I'm cutting zucchini strips for a grilled Greek sandwich.
Originally we were going to put lamb on it, then we get to the kitchen today and we find out that all we can get is conventionally sourced lamb.
How are conventional lamb raised in this country? As far as I know, they're penned in.
They don't have a lot of space to roam.
They're fed hormones.
They're, um-- - do you know what you're talking about with this, Stephenie, or are you guessing? I thought I did, but judging by the looks on your faces, I don't.
Now, I've never heard of lamb being raised in a pen.
Well, lamb is raised out on pasture.
All lambs are raised outside? And you need to go visit or study, you know, how lamb is raised and decide what it is that you wanna change.
I'm pretty sure now that I confused lamb and veal.
Tell me about the beef.
Where'd you source the short rib from? The beef, I wasn't as concerned about that.
So is it antibiotic free? I honestly don't know that.
You're saying that you stand for sustainability, healthy food, and, you know, if you have all of these messages, you have to have the knowledge about it to back it up.
Ah.
It's embarrassing, because it shows that I didn't know what I was talking about.
- Hi.
- How you doing? Good.
How are you? Good, good.
My name is Lloyd.
Lloyd, my name's Stephenie.
I'm a little nervous.
I'm only a second year attorney, and I don't have experience hiring employees and training them.
Do you have any cooking or line experience? I do have line experience.
I used to expo as well.
I'm a little bit of a control freak.
I know that I'm going to hand over a lot of things that I'm not used to handing over.
You got an experience in cooking soul food? Do you like soul food? One of my best friends got a deep fryer, and we spent, like, a month just deep-frying everything we had.
So we deep-fried chicken.
Do you love Indian food? - I do, yes.
- Um, no.
No, I haven't tried Indian food actually.
- At all or ever? - Not at all.
That's interesting.
Do you have any banquet experience? - Yeah, definitely.
- Okay.
As long as your food's good, we can make this happen.
- Okay.
- All right? It's good, I promise you.
Well, it was also a pleasure meeting you.
So nice meeting you.
You're a very good-looking lady.
Thanks.
How are you gonna help me, you know, make my restaurant be successful? Why should I hire you? I would just be outgoing and flirt a little bit, you know? I like that, I like that.
My dad and I enjoy Indian food.
We love curry.
I think it'll work out.
Do you have any cooking or [lndistinct.]
Experience? If there's ingredients and I have a direction, I think I could definitely make food.
Okay.
You seem super friendly, which is awesome.
No, definitely.
Multitasking is one of mySkills.
You look like you don't like to smile often.
I do a fair share of smiling.
I have a very strong passion and belief in my concept.
So it's gonna be important to find people that are gonna carry out my enthusiasm.
- How you doing? - Good.
How you doing? Very nice to meet you.
Fabrizio.
Fabrizio? Joey.
Nice to meet you.
Hey, [lndistinct.]
, huh? Marrone, look at this smile, man.
I love it.
I love it.
This is great.
What's your favorite food? Italian, of course.
How many hours a day could you smile like that? [Chuckles.]
Unfortunately I go about 12 to 13.
After that, it's a crash.
You know what I mean? So you cook soul food? You like soul food? I love soul food, you know? And not just fried chicken.
I'm talking collard Greens, neck bones, Turkey necks.
Why should I hire you between all these people that's coming in right now? Why you? I'm gonna sell your product.
And I'm gonna make sure it actually gets sold.
And it's something that I actually know about.
Enough said.
Definitely there.
Thank you.
Well, my time is up, and I pretty much got the two people that I want.
I think they're gonna get the job done, but, you know, at the end of the day, I'm gonna have to sit back and wait and see how they're gonna react to just the rush of the crowd.
So we'll see.
Here.
When people are here, tell the story.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, but you have to be a great leader.
If you're not in love with what you do, your employees are not gonna be passionate about it.
I'm just gonna run and check this.
Oh, that's good.
I can't even believe that's lamb.
I was actually wrong about the way that lamb was raised.
And so we added the lamb back into the grilled vegetable sandwich.
But we lost a lot of prep time, and I'm talking to my employees as we're cooking to give them an idea of the concept.
In general, I like to give people some guidance and let them figure out a lot of these things on their own because I think that's the way that most people learn.
Just keep tasting it and see what it tastes like.
And if y'all are plating, make sure.
Plating counts so make sure it's as pretty as possible.
I'm glad I had a chance to hire two new guys.
They're doing well.
They both love soul food.
And I'm happy about them.
Glad to have them on my team.
This is our deal.
Southern Indian cuisine.
Mostly Southern Indian.
But ultimately the answer is more modern Indian.
Right, don't even bother about Southern.
Just say modern Indian.
I can basically touch my dream.
I'm that close.
But their decision to pick the three finalists is almost solely gonna be based on how my new employees perform.
They will hold down the fort for the first hour of the service, and we're not allowed to help in any way, shape, or form.
- Let's do it.
- Let's do this.
Just keep smiling.
Good afternoon, everybody.
[Cheers and applause.]
I'm Bobby flay, and with me are my fellow investors.
[Cheers and applause.]
Thanks for coming out.
I'm Curtis stone.
[Cheers and applause.]
I'm chef Lorena Garcia from Miami, Florida.
Well, hello, everybody.
I'm Steve ells, founder of chipotle.
[Cheers and applause.]
We're searching for America's Next Great Restaurant, and we would love all of your help.
Before you are four restaurant stations.
And next week the winner of the entire competition will receive their own fully operating restaurant chain, opening in stores in Minneapolis, New York City, and Los Angeles.
[Cheers and applause.]
We invite you to make the rounds, try their food, and talk to them about their restaurants.
Then take the silver coin we've given you and leave it with the concept you think should be America's Next Great Restaurant.
You guys ready to put your money where your mouth is? [Cheers and applause.]
This is gonna be a really interesting test because now it's not just the food, it's just not the marketing.
It's gonna also be about how to manage people.
And then Vegas is a really great slice of lots of different people, and I want to know exactly what they think of these concepts.
All right, everybody, the stations are open.
Enjoy yourself.
Have a great time.
All right.
I'm doing all right.
You sure? Is he smiling? I can't see.
Is he smiling? I'm hiding from you, Joey, huh? Here you go, guys.
Ohh! It's our turn.
What do you got? We got traditional meatballs in Sunday sauce, grandma's recipe.
So they give you guys silver coins? [Laughter.]
This is our first food we're trying.
All right, don't forget about me.
We won't.
Thanks for coming by.
I appreciate it.
I wanna try the soul daddy too though before we put our vote in.
Perfect.
Looks perfect.
It's gonna taste even better.
You're gonna love it.
Mom, you should try the hot sauce, I'm telling you.
Just get a little dab of it.
Soul daddy! Soul daddy.
Soul daddy's gonna win.
He got my vote.
[Laughter.]
All right, don't block the box.
We got coins coming in.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Joey.
- Joe, how are you? - Hi, Lorena, hi.
Are these your two guys? Yeah, that's fabrizio and Griffin.
Fabrizio, how are you? Nice to meet you.
What are you guys serving today? Let's see, we got some Turkey meatballs over here we're serving over basil Pesto.
Nice little orecchiette pasta tossed in some edamame, some fresh tomatoes.
All fresh ingredients.
It's really excellent.
It's his grandma's recipe.
These aren't your best meatballs.
I don't know what happened.
I usually like to put a little bit of a crisp on it.
A little disappointing, I have to say, Joe.
This is not your best meal.
Yeah, it's not.
I'm a little nervous about it because we're getting down to the nitty-gritty here.
Yeah.
- So what's in the meatballs? - Come on.
This meatball, what's in it? Beef, veal, and pork.
I'm a little worried, Curtis.
It's actually cold.
Oh, no, you're right.
I don't think it was cooked through.
I was particularly disappointed with Joey's meatballs.
You can't be serving undercooked meatballs.
Although what's interesting is that, you know, a lot of the public who was sampling food liked the meatballs.
And that's important for us to consider.
I'm devastated that I didn't put out my best dish possible.
And now I know that I gotta fight for my life to stay in the game.
You can be a little lighter on the spread.
We only have one more.
Uh-huh.
Here let me put-- oh, I'm sorry.
I'm actually not allowed to touch the food for the first hour.
Yeah, this is all part of the test as well.
With 90 minutes of training, they're rocking it, and I told them, "you know, if you survive today, employees three and four.
" Bon appetit.
- Jamawn! - Miss Garcia.
- How's my man? - How you doing? - Good.
How are you? - Good, good, good.
Ooh, wow.
What are you guys serving today? We have the salmon.
This is one of my dad's recipes with the cajun shrimp.
And we also have some ribs, so save a little room.
This is the feel that I want from your food.
I want something beautiful that looks-- and that I can eat all the time.
I like it.
Thank you.
It's a lot more healthier approach than it's been in the past.
Yes, definitely.
I could use a little more flavor, but it's good.
It's nice and light.
How are you? Nice to see you.
- I'm Philip.
- Hi, Philip.
Steve.
Nice to meet you.
So we've got baby back ribs.
And is this a barbecue sauce that you guys made? It's, like, molasses, cayenne pepper.
There's some paprika, spices.
Tomatoes? - Tomatoes, yeah.
- Okay, cool.
- This is good.
- You like? Curtis is a pro at cooking food, so when I see him licking his fingers enjoying my ribs, it's thumbs up.
Is it typical soul food? We're showing that you can still have your traditional soul food and it can still be healthy.
I see a bunch of smiles.
I see a bunch of hard workers.
It's looking like his staff are having fun, and I think Jamawn's done a great job of the execution of the food.
I think it's brilliant.
Chef, the food was delicious.
- Thanks, guys.
- Thank you, guys.
Pleasure to meet you both.
- Hi.
- Hi, w are you doing? Good.
How are you? Oh, my goodness.
Can we eat some of this? Absolutely.
Wow, this is great.
Awesome.
I came back.
I'm gonna give you my-- - thank you so much, guys.
We love that.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your support.
Hi, guys.
Hello, Sudhir.
- How are you? - Hello, gentlemen.
I'm Steve.
I'm Jonathan.
- Jonathan, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
So what is this concept, spice coast? It's Indian cuisine, modern.
Nice flavors, healthy.
But it's something a little bit lighter, and it's something that I think for the American people is gonna be great.
I mean, it's gonna give them a taste of what the cuisine is like without overloading them.
What are you cooking today? Well, what we've got here is we've got a chickpea and cauliflower quesadilla with a paneer cheese, an Indian cheese.
Mmm.
I love that flavor.
The wheat flour tortilla is so light.
It's so delicate.
But it still has the wheaty flavor.
Jess, you wanna tell the other things that we got, the taco? So then we have the taco.
It's chicken.
It has a little bit of yogurt, lots of cilantro.
Then you have the green chili sauce, the yogurt.
I'm not gonna talk 'cause I just wanna eat.
I know.
I'm really happy with this.
I really loved Sudhir's execution.
I thought he prepared delicious food, some of his best.
Sudhir was looking for people who were passionate about food, and I think that showed.
I think they got Sudhir's point.
And it's been really exciting to watch the food progress.
I think you've come a long, long way, and I'm very excited about it.
You've done a great job of representing the restaurant, guys.
Well done.
Thank you, guys.
Good feedback from both of them, and they love our employees.
The fact that they're telling your story to some serious chefs, you want to give those kids a hug and hire them on the spot.
- What's this? - This? That is our milk shake.
Mango milk shake.
I'm not a fan of this.
You know what it tastes like to me? Baby aspirin.
And it's just the cardamom and the mango together.
It's my personal thing.
I'll get over it.
In terms of the taco and quesadilla, I was very pleased.
I love the flavor.
And I like the contrast of textures in the tortillas.
I think that they're really nice.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Great job.
Thanks so much, guys.
Hello, everybody.
Hello.
Stephenie, how are you? Good.
How are you? So tell us, what do we have here today? Well, what we're serving today is the lamb kind of with--what bread? I'm sorry, I always-- It's a focaccia.
Focaccia bread and with tomatoes inside of it.
Melts in your mouth.
It's very good.
I mean, it's a good sandwich, but it doesn't blow my mind.
I mean, what do you think? It doesn't to me either.
It's all the same texture.
Exactly.
And what about you, like, the short ribs? I will be serving a slow-roasted rib over Greens, shaved onions, and tomatoes, and topped off with some, uh-- I don't know what the sauce is, to be honest with you, but it's delicious.
It's good.
My employees freeze a little bit, and they can't really answer Bobby and Lorena's questions.
I didn't spend as much time training them as I should have.
Announcer: Coming up, four people left What would be the hardest thing for you about running these restaurants? Uh Announcer: Three restaurants to build.
My food wasn't the best I'm capable of.
And I take the blame for that.
One of you will be going home tonight.
Just cut those in half.
- Start plating them.
- Yeah, uh-huh.
Thank you.
Hello, Stephenie.
How are you doing? Let me introduce you.
This is Petra.
And this is David.
Hello.
Tell me about harvest sol.
Basically it's mediterranean fusion.
What does that mean, mediterranean fusion? Fused with what? Some good mediterranean.
Well, I'll tell you what, it's tastes pretty damn good, doesn't it? It's really good.
You know, and I love the kale.
So can you describe how the beef is cooked? Well, I know it's been slow-roasting since--to be honest with you-- - for a long time.
- Yes.
Very.
To me your concept's about the ingredient and letting mother nature speak for herself.
And you've got beautiful stories to tell about food.
And so make sure you know exactly what you're talking about.
Her employees didn't know much about what harvest sol stood for, and I think that's a direct reflection of Stephenie's lack of vision for what her concept should be.
I need a high five.
Thank you, sweetie.
Oh, thank you.
Well, what did you like? I think soul daddy had the best ribs, the best flavor.
The harvest sol is a good concept.
I like that.
- I think spice coast.
- Fun.
I desperately want to make it to the finals.
We're down to the final four, and they have three spots.
I mean, we're basically fighting for a 33% chance to win possibly the biggest prize.
Oh, thank you, ma'am.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
This is probably one of the most important tests we've had.
Staying in the game gets you to the finals, puts you in position to win this.
I like the Brooklyn meatball company the best.
The Brooklyn meatball company, it didn't really rate for me.
As you can see, while we were in Las Vegas battling it out, a lot has changed.
Behind you are three restaurants for three of you to take over and make your own.
It's an opportunity to really bring you concept to life to help us decide who will have America's next Great Restaurant.
I'm definitely excited about, you know, building my own restaurant.
I started out doing wings and waffles out of my own home.
And now it's an opportunity for me to have my dream come true.
Unfortunately, one of you will be going home tonight.
Las Vegas revealed some new things about each and every one of you.
Because we are down to such an important decision, we are going to have to speak to each and every one of you in the investor suite.
Sudhir, you're first.
- Hi, Sudhir.
- Hello, Sudhir.
- How are you guys? - How'd you feel it went? Overall, I had a very fun day.
I thought your employees were taking themselves very seriously in the best way.
But they were also having fun.
You know, you know they're the kind of folks that if they really worked for you, they would become expert.
I think so.
I was super proud of them.
What would be the hardest thing for you about running these restaurants? Uh I'm having a difficult time saying why this would be hard.
So you don't have any weaknesses? [Chuckles.]
Not in my mind.
I think it's a huge weakness when someone can't acknowledge their weaknesses.
I think somebody biggest strength is knowing exactly where they're weakest so that they can try and, you know, fill those gaps.
I'll concede that, absolutely.
All right, Sudhir, thank you so much.
Thanks.
Even though he did well in this test, I found it really interesting that suds thought that he didn't have a weakness.
It's a pretty bold statement.
Well, that really concerns me, because if you can't identify your weaknesses, there's no way you're going to be able to improve.
So, Jamawn, how do you think it went in Las Vegas? I think I did a great job, think my employees did a great job, and I think my chef did a great job.
You did get the most silver coins.
Thank you.
How do you describe your food now? I mean, it's changed a little bit.
I'm cooking soul food, but it's not what you think about soul food.
Like I said, I did my research.
You know, I learned that yams is good for diabetics.
I learned that Greens, it's good for ovarian cancer and breast cancer.
So I learned soul food can be healthy, and I'm proud about that.
You know, I'm ready to, you know, step out into the world and serve, you know, healthy soul food.
What about the salad that you served with the ribs? The salad, that's another recipe I got from my dad.
So what's that relationship like? When I think of my dad, I just think of the perfect man.
You know, not to put any type of knock on my biological mother, but me and my brother was in a bad situation.
You know, no water, no lights, anything like that.
My dad came over, and I'll never forget this.
You know, he took us and he hit the highway.
And my dad got pulled over.
And the state trooper told him, you know, there's a warrant out for your arrest.
And once my dad told him the story like, "sir, what would you do if you found your kids, "you know, in a bad situation? What would you do?" And the officer told him, "Mr.
woods, have a good day.
" I was six years old, but I have never forgot that.
And, you know, that's something-- that's one of the main reasons I love my dad.
If you win this, how is this gonna change your life? Pssh.
Right now I'm under a lot of pressure.
You know, I have three kids.
You know, basically I'm sharing a car right now with my fiancee.
So I think by me winning this, I could just make myself a better provider.
And I'll never have to worry about my kids going through anything I went through or struggling or anything like that.
So it's a life-changing opportunity, and it's something that I'd be successful at.
- Thank you, Jamawn.
- Thank you, thank you.
Jamawn, love him.
It's not only that he's so likeable, but I take in consideration when somebody learns, when somebody grows, and he has.
Hi, Stephenie.
How did you feel your test went? A lot of things about the test were difficult.
There were a lot of things that we thought we could get done, and then we weren't able to go back to do those.
Sounds kinda like working in a restaurant.
You looked under duress when we came up to your station.
Sort of like, "I don't know what my employees are gonna say, and I'm nervous about it.
" Right.
And your employees felt scattered.
I take the blame for that.
It was a tactical error on my part.
I was more concerned about them serving the food.
We put them on prep as soon as they got there, and they were pulling things for us.
Now I don't expect you to know everything about the food industry, 'cause you're still quite new to it.
But you start talking about the lamb and say, "well, I don't think I'm gonna use the lamb because it's not ethical.
" I think, whoa, well, what's not ethical about it? And then you're not even sure what that is.
You know, there's a massive breakdown of understanding here.
There is something about you that is not letting me be convinced that you can do this.
Give it to me that you are the entity that can hold this concept, please.
I know that I need to grow a lot before this can be a really viable concept, but I think that the potential is there.
I work really hard.
But "potential" is only a good word for a certain amount of time, and then at some point it has to turn into productivity.
All right, Stephenie, thank you very much.
- Thank you, Steph.
- Thank you, Stephenie.
My biggest problem with Stephenie is her lack of confidence.
I want her to be more confident, but there's something that's holding her back here.
I just think she's really scattered.
Her employees had no sense of what was happening.
This whole thing about the lamb, making a major decision and not really knowing what she was talking about.
Hi, Joey.
How'd it go? You noticed immediately my food wasn't the best I'm capable of.
Here's the deal.
Very often I sit at this table, and I try to champion you.
And I can't argue for you this week.
It's the Brooklyn meatball company.
So when you blow the meatballs, what are you standing on? My concept has mass appeal.
It's a moneymaker.
It just needs some refinement.
I don't have the restaurant experience to do it myself.
I would love to have you help.
I mean, you know food is not the problem here, man.
But, Bobby, I got Sophie's coin for food.
I mean, that can be worked out.
More importantly, I have the ability to communicate my passion to everyone who walks into the Brooklyn meatball company.
All right, Joey, thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
- Thanks, Joey.
- Thanks, Joey.
Thank you.
I've gotta be honest with you.
He performed really badly at this test.
He knows he's holding on by a string here, if that.
[Sighs.]
This is gonna be a tough one for them.
It's gonna be a hard one.
This is a very tough deliberation.
Four people left.
Three restaurants to build.
And then we pick one for America's next Great Restaurant.
I am extremely surprised how soul food is so popular and people like it.
It's not just classic soul food.
It's soul food with a twist.
And he's trying to lighten it up.
He truly surprised me.
Sudhir played it really safe.
He just served us a dish that he knew we liked, that he'd served in the food truck challenge.
But you know where he nailed it, he employed two staff members that represented his brand brilliantly.
Perfectly.
One of my concerns about Sudhir is that I think that he's a really good starter.
I don't know that he's a finisher.
And in fact, basically that's what his career is.
He helps companies start up, and then he walks away.
The restaurant business, as you know, the starting is the fun part.
Yes.
The finishing separates the men from the boys.
You know, Joey's meatball company, yes, we saw, like, the kids and the families, they were like, "oh, meatballs, we'll take it," you know? The question is: Does it have legs? I think meatballs is a no-brainer.
Like, it'll work.
But does it do anything positive for food culture in this country? You certainly could create a more responsible meatball concept.
I mean, there's no question about that.
I think that harvest sol has great potential.
I don't know that Stephenie's the right person to do it.
So if she can't make it happen, then she can't be picked.
I think she's suffered from this lack of vision of what her concept is from the very beginning.
I've gotta tell you, I wanna fight for her concept.
I love it.
One of the things that I have to recognize about her is that people are accepting her food.
People are accepting the concept.
So, you know, it's working.
That's right.
If she really defines her menu, we have a winner.
The Vegas test is important.
We better make sure that the final three concepts are the ones that we believe in no matter what.
Who goes? Oh, my God.
This is a big one.
The thing I love about three of these concepts is they're very American.
Indian, it's--I think it's the most alienating out of the four ideas.
So Sudhir.
I don't know that it can win it.
And if it can't win it, why did we keep it? I think that Joey should leave.
- You do? - Yeah.
And I would send home Stephenie.
She's very likeable, and we think her concept has potential, but we've been waiting for that potential to become productive for the last eight or nine weeks.
What are we gonna do? Look, we've all made some good arguments, but we really need to make a decision here.
Just everyone write one down.
Write one down, that's it.
[Sighs.]
Here it is.
[Suspenseful music.]
It's time to reveal who's going into the final three in this competition.
And of course who is going home tonight.
It's been the toughest decision so far.
Jamawn, we think you did a great job in training your staff that represents your concept.
We feel like you've come a long way in balancing your soul food with a much healthier offering.
Congratulations, Jamawn, you are one of the final three.
Take your place in front of one of the restaurants.
[Applause.]
- Sudhir.
- Yes? I think you've got a great business sense.
And you picked some good employees and you trained them well.
I also see the potential for Indian cuisine in this country.
Congratulations, you've made it to the final three.
Thank you so much.
[Applause.]
Good luck.
Stephenie, while we believe in your mission of serving healthy food, we continue to feel that you don't have a good focus onto what your concept is.
- Joey.
- Yes, sir? Although your food has been consistently popular, we all had major concerns with your meatballs in Las Vegas.
Stephenie I'm sorry to tell you that we will not be investing in your restaurant.
Sorry.
Steve, Bobby, Lorena, and Curtis, this has been a life-changing experience.
Thank you so much.
Pleasure.
The best part of this experience is I found myself to be a much more capable person than I ever knew.
She has an amazing idea, but she hasn't been able to really bring it together and communicate it effectively, and that projects on herself and in the way that she communicates her concept, so I'm feeling short with her.
My whole life, I've always felt like I've been holding back a little bit because--because I feel like I've set a mental limit on what I can accomplish.
And now I feel like I don't really have to do that anymore.
Congratulations, guys.
Thank you.
You've made it to the final three in this competition.
One of you standing here will be crowned the winner of America's next Great Restaurant, and you'll be opening your restaurant at the mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the South street seaport in New York City Whoa.
And the Hollywood and highland center, Hollywood, California.
Those are pretty exciting locations, wouldn't you guys say? Yeah.
But don't rest on your laurels, 'cause it's not over yet.
The three of you are headed into the ultimate test of this competition.
I'm in the finals.
Seemingly against insurmountable odds, I've made it this far.
I'm ready to take this on, and I'm bursting with confidence.
I owe everything to my dad.
You know, he raised me well, you know.
So my dad is gonna be definitely proud of me for making it this far.
Going into the final three, being this close, I can feel it, man.
I mean, this is what I came here for.
What we've ended up with is three fantastic concepts with incredible potential.
There's so much passion and love and energy and great food left in this competition.
And I just cannot wait to see their restaurants come to life.
- Congratulations, guys.
- Congratulations.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much.
[Exhales.]
I think it's really great.
Announcer: And Joey was the crowd favorite.
Yeah! Announcer: While Jamawn and Sudhir made their first trip to the investors' suite.
Honestly, I don't really get the waffle sandwich for a kid.
I think it's too mushy.
Announcer: The grill'billies struggled to keep their team together.
- Oh! - Mother [Bleep.]
.
[Bleep.]
Piece of [Bleep.]
! Announcer: D in the end, it was their lack of leadership You gonna let your chef blow this for you? Announcer: That ended their dream.
I'm sorry, but we will not be investing in grill'billies.
Announcer: Now only four restaurant concepts remain to fight for their dream.
Tonight, one person's journey will come to an end.
And next week, one of these concepts will open their doors for business and all of America will be able to try this exciting new restaurant in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York City.
We're searching for America's Next Great Restaurant.
It's all about the meatballs.
This is the ultimate prize.
Four investors putting down their own money.
I'm looking for passion.
The restaurant business is tough.
It's a rock and roll taco bar.
Who wants a sports wrap? - Classic American.
- Comfort food.
One chance for one perfect concept.
And an extraordinary prize.
Three restaurants.
In three cities.
All across the country.
It's the American dream.
This is America's Next Great Restaurant.
Last piece of advice the investors gave me was to try to balance out my food.
So I do some research on soul food.
Find ways to balance it out and make sure my food is healthy items and make adjustments to try to, you know, do better.
I'm very close.
There's four concepts left.
I'm definitely gonna do my best to try to make my dream come true.
You know, I'm a poor kid from Brooklyn.
I've fought my way up.
Everything that I've achieved in life has been the result of hard work and determination.
So life has prepared me for this moment.
I can't even fathom really going back to my old job.
Now that we're final four, it's so real that you can actually taste what it's like to win.
All right, let's go.
Good morning, everybody.
Congratulations.
You guys are the final four.
And after one final test next week, we will choose and reveal which of you will be opening restaurants in Minneapolis, New York City, and Los Angeles, California.
Up until now, you've been testing your concepts on diners in Los Angeles.
But you need to show us that this could be a national concept.
So we would like to see what another part of America thinks about your concepts.
So get out your suitcase, because we're heading to Las Vegas.
Yes.
Wow, wow.
I couldn't believe it.
I'm going to Vegas next month to get married, so I'm definitely excited about being in Vegas cooking.
I've never been.
Nowhere is there a better cross-section of Americans than in Las Vegas.
Get ready to rise to the occasion.
We'd like you to prepare three dishes of your choice, and you'll be serving them to a crowed of hundreds at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.
- Man.
- Nice.
Okay, guys, we'll see you in Las Vegas.
Good luck, guys.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
You know, we have two major league tests left.
The volume's getting turned way up.
I mean, these are four solid concepts, but each one of them has something to prove.
I thought Joey really stepped it up in last week's test.
I was really impressed with his creativity.
He can really think differently about some areas that he might not be expert in.
People love meatballs, and they're very familiar.
And we have sudhir on the other hand who has a much tougher challenge of really making his food accessible.
But I love the idea of turning people on to something completely new.
Now how 'bout Stephenie and her healthy concept, harvest sol? She's kind of said to us she doesn't know whether this can work.
Yes, you need a great concept, but there's a lot of other things that you need too, and they all have to come together.
I totally believe that this is a great idea.
But if she doesn't believe it, who's gonna drive it? You know, Jamawn is sort of on the bottom.
Right now it's just soul food.
So he's gotta do something to better elevate it.
He's gotta step it up.
They're all very good concepts, but it can't just work in New York and Los Angeles.
It's gotta be able to work sort of across the country in different market places.
And I think this is something that we really need to see and test.
[Upbeat music.]
[Groans.]
Pulling up to Caesars Palace, you know, I really can't believe it.
You know, it's a dream come true.
This is how I imagine Bobby flay living, and I'm treating myself like, you know, I'm a rich guy.
[Laughs.]
We get to the suite, and it's probably, like, five or six times bigger than my apartment in Chicago.
Keep going.
I've been here before.
I've been to Vegas many times.
And I've been to suites like this many times.
This place has people from all walks of life.
So it's a very good test for a mass national concept.
This is serious, man.
This is what I came here for.
I can imagine the Brooklyn meatball company having a thousand stores or more and sitting on top of the world in this unbelievable suite at Caesars Palace.
I think I'll take the master suite.
Everything's fun and games, but listen, now it's back to business.
You know, we gotta head over to the kitchen and start our work.
Oh, here they come.
For this test, we have to serve, like 900 people.
It's gonna be big.
I'm about to wash that now.
What's up? How's it going, man? We're making the spice coast taco, which is gonna be a mini taco with marinated grilled chicken.
Last time I made them, they all absolutely loved the tacos.
We're doing the traditional meatballs with rigatoni with a scoop of ricotta.
We're also doing our Turkey meatballs.
And we're doing macamame, which is a orecchiette pasta with fresh tomatoes and edamame.
Bobby flay's telling me I have a gift for the meatball.
You know, listen, what more could you ask for to hear? One, two, three, four, five.
I think we want to get our ribs on first.
- Okay.
- Then the shrimp.
This is a huge test for me.
I'm doing three new dishes.
Some of my diet recipes.
People have a misconception about soul food being so unhealthy.
So I'm gonna show them that you still can have good soul food, all this taste and flavor, but at the same time balance it out on the healthy side.
Go big or go home.
You know if we got the sustainable lamb? I have no idea.
I didn't see it in there.
I think we just had ribs from yesterday.
We may need to go vegetarian then.
Lamb is one of those things, like if it's not stored sustainably then it's--I feel like we can't serve it.
It's important to me that harvest sol make some important decisions about what kinds of meats it's going to serve.
I think that I would like to keep to this philosophy of having things as natural as possible.
Okay.
Okay, interesting.
Um, that is your call.
I will leave it up to you.
Announcer: Coming up on America's next Great Restaurant So is your concept now a taco concept? You guys ready to put your money where your mouth is? [Cheers and applause.]
Come on, come look at the size of these balls.
For this Vegas test, we're serving three dishes.
I gotta roll up about 700 meatballs.
You know, it's a lot of work.
So I'm just focused on cranking out as many as possible.
That's a lot of balls.
A little more seasoning.
A little bit more everything? All right.
Want some chicken? Where, where, where? Two pieces right there in the fryer, right there.
Up until now, we've been serving people from Los Angeles.
I mean, healthy food is a trend that hasn't necessarily picked up in other parts of the country.
Las Vegas attracts visitors from everywhere, and I have no idea if they're going to go for my concept.
Good morning, everybody.
- Good morning! - Good morning.
Now, we think that you need some help.
So we're gonna have you meet with some potential employees, and we'd like you to hire two people each.
You'll be interviewing them to see if they're a good fit for you and your concept.
During the first hour of tomorrow's service, you'll be the face of the restaurant.
But it's the employees who you hire and train that will be doing the service.
Not only do we have to hire two employees, we're not allowed to do anything.
We have to relinquish total control to our two new employees.
Hiring the right kinds of people and training them properly is crucial.
When I opened the doors to chipotle 17 years ago, ten people came in in the first few hours.
And this Next Great Restaurant, first day there's gonna be a line out the door.
So it's crucial that they have the skills to be able to hire a staff to deliver a great customer experience.
If customers have a great experience, they're gonna come back.
And now we'd like to walk around and see what dishes you guys have come up with for tomorrow.
Bobby, how are you? - Sudhir, how are you? - What are you making here? Mmm, smells delicious.
Yeah, I am making mango and cardamom milk shake and the chicken taco again, the mini taco.
So it's almost the same dish that you did in the food trucks.
Right.
Made better hopefully.
- Made better? - Yeah.
Visually more appealing.
So is your concept now a taco concept? Is it gonna be just Indian tacos? The big thing you told me last time was to see if this thing is truly accessible.
I mean, these were the dishes that people really liked.
So I'm gonna try and execute it as well as I did before and see if that sells in this market as well.
I'm more confident in my concept than ever.
I will prove to the investors that my food has mass appeal.
Spice coast will absolutely be a success.
I have no doubt in my mind.
Hello, Jamawn.
How are you? Jamawn.
What I'm gonna do is a cajun salmon.
And then we're gonna do up some barbecue ribs.
And then the fried chicken.
Wow.
With a potato okra.
That's an ambitious menu.
Trying to keep that soul food but healthy.
So I wanted to, you know, show the healthy side of it also.
Jamawn, you're looking a bit frazzled.
You're in a big sweat.
Have you taken on a lot for this challenge? This is the finals.
You gotta, you know-- going out with guns blazing.
Very good luck.
- Thank you, thank you.
- Sure.
Lots of meatballs today, huh? Yes, sir.
Gonna go with the traditional meatballs in a Sunday sauce.
A lot of flavor, the roasted peppers.
You know, something really bold with the scoop of ricotta.
And the 100% white meat Turkey balls.
We're gonna go with the gorgonzola sauce with a lot of cheese.
Now what's throwing me off is the rich, heavy cream cheese sauce.
I'm like, what are you doing? So what do you think? Just make a little bit of a light white wine, garlic-- and you marry all those ingredients together.
That's sounding really good to me.
You know, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to get some feedback from the investors before going forward with my original plan.
So I'm definitely gonna make changes.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hi, Stephenie.
- How are you, Stephenie? - Hey.
- How are you? What are you making? We're going to be serving a slow-roasted short rib.
It's gonna be braised on top of garlic kale.
For the second thing, I'm cutting zucchini strips for a grilled Greek sandwich.
Originally we were going to put lamb on it, then we get to the kitchen today and we find out that all we can get is conventionally sourced lamb.
How are conventional lamb raised in this country? As far as I know, they're penned in.
They don't have a lot of space to roam.
They're fed hormones.
They're, um-- - do you know what you're talking about with this, Stephenie, or are you guessing? I thought I did, but judging by the looks on your faces, I don't.
Now, I've never heard of lamb being raised in a pen.
Well, lamb is raised out on pasture.
All lambs are raised outside? And you need to go visit or study, you know, how lamb is raised and decide what it is that you wanna change.
I'm pretty sure now that I confused lamb and veal.
Tell me about the beef.
Where'd you source the short rib from? The beef, I wasn't as concerned about that.
So is it antibiotic free? I honestly don't know that.
You're saying that you stand for sustainability, healthy food, and, you know, if you have all of these messages, you have to have the knowledge about it to back it up.
Ah.
It's embarrassing, because it shows that I didn't know what I was talking about.
- Hi.
- How you doing? Good.
How are you? Good, good.
My name is Lloyd.
Lloyd, my name's Stephenie.
I'm a little nervous.
I'm only a second year attorney, and I don't have experience hiring employees and training them.
Do you have any cooking or line experience? I do have line experience.
I used to expo as well.
I'm a little bit of a control freak.
I know that I'm going to hand over a lot of things that I'm not used to handing over.
You got an experience in cooking soul food? Do you like soul food? One of my best friends got a deep fryer, and we spent, like, a month just deep-frying everything we had.
So we deep-fried chicken.
Do you love Indian food? - I do, yes.
- Um, no.
No, I haven't tried Indian food actually.
- At all or ever? - Not at all.
That's interesting.
Do you have any banquet experience? - Yeah, definitely.
- Okay.
As long as your food's good, we can make this happen.
- Okay.
- All right? It's good, I promise you.
Well, it was also a pleasure meeting you.
So nice meeting you.
You're a very good-looking lady.
Thanks.
How are you gonna help me, you know, make my restaurant be successful? Why should I hire you? I would just be outgoing and flirt a little bit, you know? I like that, I like that.
My dad and I enjoy Indian food.
We love curry.
I think it'll work out.
Do you have any cooking or [lndistinct.]
Experience? If there's ingredients and I have a direction, I think I could definitely make food.
Okay.
You seem super friendly, which is awesome.
No, definitely.
Multitasking is one of mySkills.
You look like you don't like to smile often.
I do a fair share of smiling.
I have a very strong passion and belief in my concept.
So it's gonna be important to find people that are gonna carry out my enthusiasm.
- How you doing? - Good.
How you doing? Very nice to meet you.
Fabrizio.
Fabrizio? Joey.
Nice to meet you.
Hey, [lndistinct.]
, huh? Marrone, look at this smile, man.
I love it.
I love it.
This is great.
What's your favorite food? Italian, of course.
How many hours a day could you smile like that? [Chuckles.]
Unfortunately I go about 12 to 13.
After that, it's a crash.
You know what I mean? So you cook soul food? You like soul food? I love soul food, you know? And not just fried chicken.
I'm talking collard Greens, neck bones, Turkey necks.
Why should I hire you between all these people that's coming in right now? Why you? I'm gonna sell your product.
And I'm gonna make sure it actually gets sold.
And it's something that I actually know about.
Enough said.
Definitely there.
Thank you.
Well, my time is up, and I pretty much got the two people that I want.
I think they're gonna get the job done, but, you know, at the end of the day, I'm gonna have to sit back and wait and see how they're gonna react to just the rush of the crowd.
So we'll see.
Here.
When people are here, tell the story.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, but you have to be a great leader.
If you're not in love with what you do, your employees are not gonna be passionate about it.
I'm just gonna run and check this.
Oh, that's good.
I can't even believe that's lamb.
I was actually wrong about the way that lamb was raised.
And so we added the lamb back into the grilled vegetable sandwich.
But we lost a lot of prep time, and I'm talking to my employees as we're cooking to give them an idea of the concept.
In general, I like to give people some guidance and let them figure out a lot of these things on their own because I think that's the way that most people learn.
Just keep tasting it and see what it tastes like.
And if y'all are plating, make sure.
Plating counts so make sure it's as pretty as possible.
I'm glad I had a chance to hire two new guys.
They're doing well.
They both love soul food.
And I'm happy about them.
Glad to have them on my team.
This is our deal.
Southern Indian cuisine.
Mostly Southern Indian.
But ultimately the answer is more modern Indian.
Right, don't even bother about Southern.
Just say modern Indian.
I can basically touch my dream.
I'm that close.
But their decision to pick the three finalists is almost solely gonna be based on how my new employees perform.
They will hold down the fort for the first hour of the service, and we're not allowed to help in any way, shape, or form.
- Let's do it.
- Let's do this.
Just keep smiling.
Good afternoon, everybody.
[Cheers and applause.]
I'm Bobby flay, and with me are my fellow investors.
[Cheers and applause.]
Thanks for coming out.
I'm Curtis stone.
[Cheers and applause.]
I'm chef Lorena Garcia from Miami, Florida.
Well, hello, everybody.
I'm Steve ells, founder of chipotle.
[Cheers and applause.]
We're searching for America's Next Great Restaurant, and we would love all of your help.
Before you are four restaurant stations.
And next week the winner of the entire competition will receive their own fully operating restaurant chain, opening in stores in Minneapolis, New York City, and Los Angeles.
[Cheers and applause.]
We invite you to make the rounds, try their food, and talk to them about their restaurants.
Then take the silver coin we've given you and leave it with the concept you think should be America's Next Great Restaurant.
You guys ready to put your money where your mouth is? [Cheers and applause.]
This is gonna be a really interesting test because now it's not just the food, it's just not the marketing.
It's gonna also be about how to manage people.
And then Vegas is a really great slice of lots of different people, and I want to know exactly what they think of these concepts.
All right, everybody, the stations are open.
Enjoy yourself.
Have a great time.
All right.
I'm doing all right.
You sure? Is he smiling? I can't see.
Is he smiling? I'm hiding from you, Joey, huh? Here you go, guys.
Ohh! It's our turn.
What do you got? We got traditional meatballs in Sunday sauce, grandma's recipe.
So they give you guys silver coins? [Laughter.]
This is our first food we're trying.
All right, don't forget about me.
We won't.
Thanks for coming by.
I appreciate it.
I wanna try the soul daddy too though before we put our vote in.
Perfect.
Looks perfect.
It's gonna taste even better.
You're gonna love it.
Mom, you should try the hot sauce, I'm telling you.
Just get a little dab of it.
Soul daddy! Soul daddy.
Soul daddy's gonna win.
He got my vote.
[Laughter.]
All right, don't block the box.
We got coins coming in.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Joey.
- Joe, how are you? - Hi, Lorena, hi.
Are these your two guys? Yeah, that's fabrizio and Griffin.
Fabrizio, how are you? Nice to meet you.
What are you guys serving today? Let's see, we got some Turkey meatballs over here we're serving over basil Pesto.
Nice little orecchiette pasta tossed in some edamame, some fresh tomatoes.
All fresh ingredients.
It's really excellent.
It's his grandma's recipe.
These aren't your best meatballs.
I don't know what happened.
I usually like to put a little bit of a crisp on it.
A little disappointing, I have to say, Joe.
This is not your best meal.
Yeah, it's not.
I'm a little nervous about it because we're getting down to the nitty-gritty here.
Yeah.
- So what's in the meatballs? - Come on.
This meatball, what's in it? Beef, veal, and pork.
I'm a little worried, Curtis.
It's actually cold.
Oh, no, you're right.
I don't think it was cooked through.
I was particularly disappointed with Joey's meatballs.
You can't be serving undercooked meatballs.
Although what's interesting is that, you know, a lot of the public who was sampling food liked the meatballs.
And that's important for us to consider.
I'm devastated that I didn't put out my best dish possible.
And now I know that I gotta fight for my life to stay in the game.
You can be a little lighter on the spread.
We only have one more.
Uh-huh.
Here let me put-- oh, I'm sorry.
I'm actually not allowed to touch the food for the first hour.
Yeah, this is all part of the test as well.
With 90 minutes of training, they're rocking it, and I told them, "you know, if you survive today, employees three and four.
" Bon appetit.
- Jamawn! - Miss Garcia.
- How's my man? - How you doing? - Good.
How are you? - Good, good, good.
Ooh, wow.
What are you guys serving today? We have the salmon.
This is one of my dad's recipes with the cajun shrimp.
And we also have some ribs, so save a little room.
This is the feel that I want from your food.
I want something beautiful that looks-- and that I can eat all the time.
I like it.
Thank you.
It's a lot more healthier approach than it's been in the past.
Yes, definitely.
I could use a little more flavor, but it's good.
It's nice and light.
How are you? Nice to see you.
- I'm Philip.
- Hi, Philip.
Steve.
Nice to meet you.
So we've got baby back ribs.
And is this a barbecue sauce that you guys made? It's, like, molasses, cayenne pepper.
There's some paprika, spices.
Tomatoes? - Tomatoes, yeah.
- Okay, cool.
- This is good.
- You like? Curtis is a pro at cooking food, so when I see him licking his fingers enjoying my ribs, it's thumbs up.
Is it typical soul food? We're showing that you can still have your traditional soul food and it can still be healthy.
I see a bunch of smiles.
I see a bunch of hard workers.
It's looking like his staff are having fun, and I think Jamawn's done a great job of the execution of the food.
I think it's brilliant.
Chef, the food was delicious.
- Thanks, guys.
- Thank you, guys.
Pleasure to meet you both.
- Hi.
- Hi, w are you doing? Good.
How are you? Oh, my goodness.
Can we eat some of this? Absolutely.
Wow, this is great.
Awesome.
I came back.
I'm gonna give you my-- - thank you so much, guys.
We love that.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your support.
Hi, guys.
Hello, Sudhir.
- How are you? - Hello, gentlemen.
I'm Steve.
I'm Jonathan.
- Jonathan, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
So what is this concept, spice coast? It's Indian cuisine, modern.
Nice flavors, healthy.
But it's something a little bit lighter, and it's something that I think for the American people is gonna be great.
I mean, it's gonna give them a taste of what the cuisine is like without overloading them.
What are you cooking today? Well, what we've got here is we've got a chickpea and cauliflower quesadilla with a paneer cheese, an Indian cheese.
Mmm.
I love that flavor.
The wheat flour tortilla is so light.
It's so delicate.
But it still has the wheaty flavor.
Jess, you wanna tell the other things that we got, the taco? So then we have the taco.
It's chicken.
It has a little bit of yogurt, lots of cilantro.
Then you have the green chili sauce, the yogurt.
I'm not gonna talk 'cause I just wanna eat.
I know.
I'm really happy with this.
I really loved Sudhir's execution.
I thought he prepared delicious food, some of his best.
Sudhir was looking for people who were passionate about food, and I think that showed.
I think they got Sudhir's point.
And it's been really exciting to watch the food progress.
I think you've come a long, long way, and I'm very excited about it.
You've done a great job of representing the restaurant, guys.
Well done.
Thank you, guys.
Good feedback from both of them, and they love our employees.
The fact that they're telling your story to some serious chefs, you want to give those kids a hug and hire them on the spot.
- What's this? - This? That is our milk shake.
Mango milk shake.
I'm not a fan of this.
You know what it tastes like to me? Baby aspirin.
And it's just the cardamom and the mango together.
It's my personal thing.
I'll get over it.
In terms of the taco and quesadilla, I was very pleased.
I love the flavor.
And I like the contrast of textures in the tortillas.
I think that they're really nice.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Great job.
Thanks so much, guys.
Hello, everybody.
Hello.
Stephenie, how are you? Good.
How are you? So tell us, what do we have here today? Well, what we're serving today is the lamb kind of with--what bread? I'm sorry, I always-- It's a focaccia.
Focaccia bread and with tomatoes inside of it.
Melts in your mouth.
It's very good.
I mean, it's a good sandwich, but it doesn't blow my mind.
I mean, what do you think? It doesn't to me either.
It's all the same texture.
Exactly.
And what about you, like, the short ribs? I will be serving a slow-roasted rib over Greens, shaved onions, and tomatoes, and topped off with some, uh-- I don't know what the sauce is, to be honest with you, but it's delicious.
It's good.
My employees freeze a little bit, and they can't really answer Bobby and Lorena's questions.
I didn't spend as much time training them as I should have.
Announcer: Coming up, four people left What would be the hardest thing for you about running these restaurants? Uh Announcer: Three restaurants to build.
My food wasn't the best I'm capable of.
And I take the blame for that.
One of you will be going home tonight.
Just cut those in half.
- Start plating them.
- Yeah, uh-huh.
Thank you.
Hello, Stephenie.
How are you doing? Let me introduce you.
This is Petra.
And this is David.
Hello.
Tell me about harvest sol.
Basically it's mediterranean fusion.
What does that mean, mediterranean fusion? Fused with what? Some good mediterranean.
Well, I'll tell you what, it's tastes pretty damn good, doesn't it? It's really good.
You know, and I love the kale.
So can you describe how the beef is cooked? Well, I know it's been slow-roasting since--to be honest with you-- - for a long time.
- Yes.
Very.
To me your concept's about the ingredient and letting mother nature speak for herself.
And you've got beautiful stories to tell about food.
And so make sure you know exactly what you're talking about.
Her employees didn't know much about what harvest sol stood for, and I think that's a direct reflection of Stephenie's lack of vision for what her concept should be.
I need a high five.
Thank you, sweetie.
Oh, thank you.
Well, what did you like? I think soul daddy had the best ribs, the best flavor.
The harvest sol is a good concept.
I like that.
- I think spice coast.
- Fun.
I desperately want to make it to the finals.
We're down to the final four, and they have three spots.
I mean, we're basically fighting for a 33% chance to win possibly the biggest prize.
Oh, thank you, ma'am.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
This is probably one of the most important tests we've had.
Staying in the game gets you to the finals, puts you in position to win this.
I like the Brooklyn meatball company the best.
The Brooklyn meatball company, it didn't really rate for me.
As you can see, while we were in Las Vegas battling it out, a lot has changed.
Behind you are three restaurants for three of you to take over and make your own.
It's an opportunity to really bring you concept to life to help us decide who will have America's next Great Restaurant.
I'm definitely excited about, you know, building my own restaurant.
I started out doing wings and waffles out of my own home.
And now it's an opportunity for me to have my dream come true.
Unfortunately, one of you will be going home tonight.
Las Vegas revealed some new things about each and every one of you.
Because we are down to such an important decision, we are going to have to speak to each and every one of you in the investor suite.
Sudhir, you're first.
- Hi, Sudhir.
- Hello, Sudhir.
- How are you guys? - How'd you feel it went? Overall, I had a very fun day.
I thought your employees were taking themselves very seriously in the best way.
But they were also having fun.
You know, you know they're the kind of folks that if they really worked for you, they would become expert.
I think so.
I was super proud of them.
What would be the hardest thing for you about running these restaurants? Uh I'm having a difficult time saying why this would be hard.
So you don't have any weaknesses? [Chuckles.]
Not in my mind.
I think it's a huge weakness when someone can't acknowledge their weaknesses.
I think somebody biggest strength is knowing exactly where they're weakest so that they can try and, you know, fill those gaps.
I'll concede that, absolutely.
All right, Sudhir, thank you so much.
Thanks.
Even though he did well in this test, I found it really interesting that suds thought that he didn't have a weakness.
It's a pretty bold statement.
Well, that really concerns me, because if you can't identify your weaknesses, there's no way you're going to be able to improve.
So, Jamawn, how do you think it went in Las Vegas? I think I did a great job, think my employees did a great job, and I think my chef did a great job.
You did get the most silver coins.
Thank you.
How do you describe your food now? I mean, it's changed a little bit.
I'm cooking soul food, but it's not what you think about soul food.
Like I said, I did my research.
You know, I learned that yams is good for diabetics.
I learned that Greens, it's good for ovarian cancer and breast cancer.
So I learned soul food can be healthy, and I'm proud about that.
You know, I'm ready to, you know, step out into the world and serve, you know, healthy soul food.
What about the salad that you served with the ribs? The salad, that's another recipe I got from my dad.
So what's that relationship like? When I think of my dad, I just think of the perfect man.
You know, not to put any type of knock on my biological mother, but me and my brother was in a bad situation.
You know, no water, no lights, anything like that.
My dad came over, and I'll never forget this.
You know, he took us and he hit the highway.
And my dad got pulled over.
And the state trooper told him, you know, there's a warrant out for your arrest.
And once my dad told him the story like, "sir, what would you do if you found your kids, "you know, in a bad situation? What would you do?" And the officer told him, "Mr.
woods, have a good day.
" I was six years old, but I have never forgot that.
And, you know, that's something-- that's one of the main reasons I love my dad.
If you win this, how is this gonna change your life? Pssh.
Right now I'm under a lot of pressure.
You know, I have three kids.
You know, basically I'm sharing a car right now with my fiancee.
So I think by me winning this, I could just make myself a better provider.
And I'll never have to worry about my kids going through anything I went through or struggling or anything like that.
So it's a life-changing opportunity, and it's something that I'd be successful at.
- Thank you, Jamawn.
- Thank you, thank you.
Jamawn, love him.
It's not only that he's so likeable, but I take in consideration when somebody learns, when somebody grows, and he has.
Hi, Stephenie.
How did you feel your test went? A lot of things about the test were difficult.
There were a lot of things that we thought we could get done, and then we weren't able to go back to do those.
Sounds kinda like working in a restaurant.
You looked under duress when we came up to your station.
Sort of like, "I don't know what my employees are gonna say, and I'm nervous about it.
" Right.
And your employees felt scattered.
I take the blame for that.
It was a tactical error on my part.
I was more concerned about them serving the food.
We put them on prep as soon as they got there, and they were pulling things for us.
Now I don't expect you to know everything about the food industry, 'cause you're still quite new to it.
But you start talking about the lamb and say, "well, I don't think I'm gonna use the lamb because it's not ethical.
" I think, whoa, well, what's not ethical about it? And then you're not even sure what that is.
You know, there's a massive breakdown of understanding here.
There is something about you that is not letting me be convinced that you can do this.
Give it to me that you are the entity that can hold this concept, please.
I know that I need to grow a lot before this can be a really viable concept, but I think that the potential is there.
I work really hard.
But "potential" is only a good word for a certain amount of time, and then at some point it has to turn into productivity.
All right, Stephenie, thank you very much.
- Thank you, Steph.
- Thank you, Stephenie.
My biggest problem with Stephenie is her lack of confidence.
I want her to be more confident, but there's something that's holding her back here.
I just think she's really scattered.
Her employees had no sense of what was happening.
This whole thing about the lamb, making a major decision and not really knowing what she was talking about.
Hi, Joey.
How'd it go? You noticed immediately my food wasn't the best I'm capable of.
Here's the deal.
Very often I sit at this table, and I try to champion you.
And I can't argue for you this week.
It's the Brooklyn meatball company.
So when you blow the meatballs, what are you standing on? My concept has mass appeal.
It's a moneymaker.
It just needs some refinement.
I don't have the restaurant experience to do it myself.
I would love to have you help.
I mean, you know food is not the problem here, man.
But, Bobby, I got Sophie's coin for food.
I mean, that can be worked out.
More importantly, I have the ability to communicate my passion to everyone who walks into the Brooklyn meatball company.
All right, Joey, thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
- Thanks, Joey.
- Thanks, Joey.
Thank you.
I've gotta be honest with you.
He performed really badly at this test.
He knows he's holding on by a string here, if that.
[Sighs.]
This is gonna be a tough one for them.
It's gonna be a hard one.
This is a very tough deliberation.
Four people left.
Three restaurants to build.
And then we pick one for America's next Great Restaurant.
I am extremely surprised how soul food is so popular and people like it.
It's not just classic soul food.
It's soul food with a twist.
And he's trying to lighten it up.
He truly surprised me.
Sudhir played it really safe.
He just served us a dish that he knew we liked, that he'd served in the food truck challenge.
But you know where he nailed it, he employed two staff members that represented his brand brilliantly.
Perfectly.
One of my concerns about Sudhir is that I think that he's a really good starter.
I don't know that he's a finisher.
And in fact, basically that's what his career is.
He helps companies start up, and then he walks away.
The restaurant business, as you know, the starting is the fun part.
Yes.
The finishing separates the men from the boys.
You know, Joey's meatball company, yes, we saw, like, the kids and the families, they were like, "oh, meatballs, we'll take it," you know? The question is: Does it have legs? I think meatballs is a no-brainer.
Like, it'll work.
But does it do anything positive for food culture in this country? You certainly could create a more responsible meatball concept.
I mean, there's no question about that.
I think that harvest sol has great potential.
I don't know that Stephenie's the right person to do it.
So if she can't make it happen, then she can't be picked.
I think she's suffered from this lack of vision of what her concept is from the very beginning.
I've gotta tell you, I wanna fight for her concept.
I love it.
One of the things that I have to recognize about her is that people are accepting her food.
People are accepting the concept.
So, you know, it's working.
That's right.
If she really defines her menu, we have a winner.
The Vegas test is important.
We better make sure that the final three concepts are the ones that we believe in no matter what.
Who goes? Oh, my God.
This is a big one.
The thing I love about three of these concepts is they're very American.
Indian, it's--I think it's the most alienating out of the four ideas.
So Sudhir.
I don't know that it can win it.
And if it can't win it, why did we keep it? I think that Joey should leave.
- You do? - Yeah.
And I would send home Stephenie.
She's very likeable, and we think her concept has potential, but we've been waiting for that potential to become productive for the last eight or nine weeks.
What are we gonna do? Look, we've all made some good arguments, but we really need to make a decision here.
Just everyone write one down.
Write one down, that's it.
[Sighs.]
Here it is.
[Suspenseful music.]
It's time to reveal who's going into the final three in this competition.
And of course who is going home tonight.
It's been the toughest decision so far.
Jamawn, we think you did a great job in training your staff that represents your concept.
We feel like you've come a long way in balancing your soul food with a much healthier offering.
Congratulations, Jamawn, you are one of the final three.
Take your place in front of one of the restaurants.
[Applause.]
- Sudhir.
- Yes? I think you've got a great business sense.
And you picked some good employees and you trained them well.
I also see the potential for Indian cuisine in this country.
Congratulations, you've made it to the final three.
Thank you so much.
[Applause.]
Good luck.
Stephenie, while we believe in your mission of serving healthy food, we continue to feel that you don't have a good focus onto what your concept is.
- Joey.
- Yes, sir? Although your food has been consistently popular, we all had major concerns with your meatballs in Las Vegas.
Stephenie I'm sorry to tell you that we will not be investing in your restaurant.
Sorry.
Steve, Bobby, Lorena, and Curtis, this has been a life-changing experience.
Thank you so much.
Pleasure.
The best part of this experience is I found myself to be a much more capable person than I ever knew.
She has an amazing idea, but she hasn't been able to really bring it together and communicate it effectively, and that projects on herself and in the way that she communicates her concept, so I'm feeling short with her.
My whole life, I've always felt like I've been holding back a little bit because--because I feel like I've set a mental limit on what I can accomplish.
And now I feel like I don't really have to do that anymore.
Congratulations, guys.
Thank you.
You've made it to the final three in this competition.
One of you standing here will be crowned the winner of America's next Great Restaurant, and you'll be opening your restaurant at the mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the South street seaport in New York City Whoa.
And the Hollywood and highland center, Hollywood, California.
Those are pretty exciting locations, wouldn't you guys say? Yeah.
But don't rest on your laurels, 'cause it's not over yet.
The three of you are headed into the ultimate test of this competition.
I'm in the finals.
Seemingly against insurmountable odds, I've made it this far.
I'm ready to take this on, and I'm bursting with confidence.
I owe everything to my dad.
You know, he raised me well, you know.
So my dad is gonna be definitely proud of me for making it this far.
Going into the final three, being this close, I can feel it, man.
I mean, this is what I came here for.
What we've ended up with is three fantastic concepts with incredible potential.
There's so much passion and love and energy and great food left in this competition.
And I just cannot wait to see their restaurants come to life.
- Congratulations, guys.
- Congratulations.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much.
[Exhales.]