Top Chef (2006) s12e01 Episode Script

I've seen what winning Top Chef has done for other chefs' careers.
People have been able to open their dream restaurants, won James Beard awards.
There's so much at stake.
I've got to nail this today.
I've worked for some of the best chefs in the country, and I feel like you need that training to go into something like this.
This is my time.
Going on Top Chef is definitely a privilege and an honor.
It's an elite category of chefs.
I'm a hometown girl.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I'm here to win this for Boston.
16 chefs will compete in the ultimate test of culinary skill.
A feature in food & wine magazine; an appearance at the food & wine classic in Aspen; $125,000, furnished by healthy choice; and the title of Top Chef.
When I first walk through those doors, I'm feeling so overwhelmed.
It just feels like a dream.
Hello, chefs, and welcome to Boston, the historic host city of this season of Top Chef.
Whoo! I'm sure you'll recognize this familiar face, right? - Yes.
- Yep.
Richard Blais, the winner of Top Chef all-stars.
You guys will be seeing a lot of Richard this season.
Competing on Top Chef was the most difficult thing that I've ever had to do in my life, twice.
But the rewards are enormous.
Since I've been standing where you are, I've opened up seven restaurants.
I'm a James Beard nominee.
You have the ability to dramatically change your career and your life.
Well, chefs, enough about me.
It's time to learn a little bit about you.
Your accent doesn't match your name.
The Asian community and the immigrant community.
Hi, my name is Mei Lin.
I'm the sous chef at ink restaurant in Los Angeles.
I know your boss, Michael Voltaggio, very well.
Yep.
Working for chef Michael Voltaggio, he's molded me into becoming the chef I am today.
I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to win this for him.
So if you don't win, are you allowed to go back to work? Probably not.
I'm Ron Eyester.
I'm originally from New York, but I now live in Atlanta.
I have three restaurants just outside of the city.
I've been in the restaurant business for some 17 plus years.
I'm here to prove that you don't need to be wearing skinny jeans, have tattoos, and have a fancy haircut to win Top Chef.
I'm Adam Harvey.
Born and raised in New York, New York.
I just left my position at Jean-Georges' newest vegan and vegetarian restaurant.
And I got to open Floyd Cardoz's last project, north end grill.
Those are pretty prestigious people you've worked under.
Hi, I'm Keriann Von Raesfeld.
In 2008, I was the first female and first American to win the title, "world's greatest young chef.
" She received some best, great chef, blah, blah from some blah, blah.
I am not impressed at all.
My name's George Pagonis.
I'm a chef partner of Kapnos restaurant in Washington, D.
C.
I'm actually business partners with Mike Isabella.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
Can you tell us something that we don't know about Mike Isabella? I feel like he exposed himself pretty well on the show.
Yes.
If I don't last long in this competition, Mike Isabella's definitely going to rub it in my face.
He'll never let me forget.
I'm Joy crump.
I'm from Fredericksburg, Virginia.
I have a small farm-to-table restaurant, and I am feeling wildly under-qualified right now.
Listening to these other chefs rattle off their experience, I know immediately that I'm in the big leagues.
It's a little intimidating.
Well, chefs, it sounds like an impressive bunch, but look around, take a moment, because only one of you will walk away with the title of Top Chef.
We'll be weeding out the competition starting right now With a sudden death quickfire.
Chefs, beware, because you'll be facing a few of these this season.
If you lose, you'll face immediate elimination.
Not wasting any time here, are we? First part of the sudden death quickfire is the ultimate test of speed in the kitchen.
It's the mise en place relay race.
That's intense.
Chefs, I'm going to divide you in teams of four.
So Joy to George, you are one team.
Doug to Keriann, Ron to Katie, and Michael to Katsuji.
Please head to your stations.
Put on your chef coats and apron.
It's scary as to think that I could possibly go home within the first 20 minutes.
I mean, I couldn't face my friends.
I couldn't face my family.
Some people are really good at getting their coats on.
Impressive.
It's like the first day of school.
Yeah.
Someone's getting expelled.
All right, chefs, each team has four stations with local New England ingredients.
And you'll each have one prep test to complete.
The amount of prep that you'll be asked to complete is 3 lobsters, 20 oysters, 8 Boston mackerel, and the final station, 21 littleneck clams.
Each ingredient should take the same amount of time to prep, and each team member must complete their task before passing it off to the next chef.
We'll be keeping track of each chef's individual time.
We got this.
And the slowest chef on the slowest team will be up for elimination.
Take a minute to decide who on your team will be doing what task.
This is an important decision to make.
Guarantee you I'm the fastest in the four of us at getting those lobsters out of the shell.
I know I could get the lobsters done also.
I would prefer to be doing the lobsters.
- Yeah, well, me too.
- I'm not backing down.
I want the lobster.
I'm going to get the lobster.
Here's the thing.
I have a technique where I don't need a knife.
I'm going to hammer those things.
I feel most comfortable with the lobster.
But we need to be most efficient.
I can do the clams also.
Adam, listen, I'll give it to you, but you better impress me.
I'm going to crush that.
Where do you feel the most comfortable? One of these two.
I'm in a landlocked state.
I'd rather have the oysters than the clams.
You good at clams? All right, that's like my specialty, just so you know.
Man, I don't want clams.
You can do it, you can do it.
- They look easy? - I want to do this.
Shucking clams is a pain in the ass.
I'm trying to pawn off the clams to Gregory, and it's just not working.
I suck at clams.
I guess I'm just going to take it for the team.
Are you guys ready? - Ready.
- Yes.
Welcome to Top Chef.
Your time Starts Now.
- - Dude, you got this .
- Not around.
You got it, you got it.
I rip off the tails, run my shears through the shell, and it pops right out.
I want to be the first one to call "check.
" There you go.
First table has two tails out.
- Son of a bitch.
- The blue team is next to us, and Mei is smoking through them.
We're definitely getting our ass kicked.
You got it, Mei, you're doing good, you're doing good.
Just gently.
Crack it again, crack it again.
I'm trying my best here.
I promise you.
Oh, my God.
Adam's dragging with the lobsters.
- He was so confident.
- .
Let's go, let's go.
Number two, just keep moving.
- It's your last one.
- You can do it.
- Check.
- Check.
They are so hard.
All right, chefs, this is acceptable.
Back to work.
- Check your hand.
- There you go, there you go.
I love you, lobster.
Come on, work with me.
Come on, let's go.
One more, one more.
- You got it.
- Check.
- Check.
- All right, chefs.
Looks like you're good.
You got that claw out, looks like you guys can press on.
We got it, we got it.
- Mother.
- Yep, yep.
You're doing good.
Keep it up.
It's just they're not coming out.
We're in last place.
The other teams are flying right by us.
I'd work any raw bar next to you, bud.
Ugh, this is crap.
Joy is definitely struggling with those oysters over there.
I'm a Southern girl.
I feel at home shucking oysters.
But I'm on Top Chef, and I've got everybody looking at me, and it's like shaky McGee.
I feel like I'm blowing this.
- Keep moving, Joy.
- Get it.
- Check.
- Check.
All right, chef.
You're the last team, but you're free to carry on.
Back to work.
All right, let's go, sister.
Got to give them a little bit of rhythm here, and then they'll start popping open.
Pop and lock, lock and pop.
12, 14, 16, 18.
This is your last one.
- Check.
- We are not that far away - from them.
- They're good to go.
All right, everyone, carry on.
You got it, bro.
Go, go, go.
Keep going.
You can catch up.
The blue team is just crushing it right now.
I mean, they're on fire.
Nobody's even close to us.
Boom goes the dynamite.
Let's go.
- One more.
- Yeah.
Check.
- Boom.
- Took care of that.
- Back to work.
- Almost there.
- Two more.
- Nice, dude.
- You got this, man.
- Because of my short stature, I got to be Napoleon in the kitchen.
Just got to be bigger than everyone else with my food, my passion, my energy in the kitchen.
- Cheer, bastards.
- Yeah.
Check.
All right, red team, you're good.
Check.
All right, yellow team.
Again, last to finish, but you're good to go.
I got paper towels.
Let me know what you need.
Don't talk to me.
Holy mackerel.
Ron is fast over there.
As a chef and a cook, this challenge is knocking off a little bit of rust for me.
But knowing that the slowest person on the slowest team faces elimination, I just start flying through the fish.
You're kicking the out of this.
- You're in the groove.
- Belly bone's out, - and you're rocking.
- Check.
- Check.
- Looks like we have the first team to complete the mackerel.
Blue team, carry on.
Let's go.
Stay focused.
Come on, get in there.
Watching Katsuji shuck clams Hit it from the back like an oyster.
We're in the lead the entire time, and now I'm really concerned that we're going to finish last.
- Check.
- .
Yellow team, looks like you are storming back.
You guys cleared the mackerel.
You're on to the clams.
Dude, you're a monster.
- This is it, this is it.
- All right, let's go.
- Boston strong, sister.
- Yep.
Yeah.
Ron got us from last place to second place really fast.
Being from Boston, I've shucked a thousand clams in my career.
I would definitely have to move out of Boston if I lose this quickfire.
Feel like I'm at home.
Check.
Green team, it's super close right now.
- Carry on to the clams.
- Take us home.
Our beautiful blonde thoroughbred Keriann grabs the knife.
Clams are flying open.
Remember how angry you were that I decided to do the lobster? Use that anger.
It looks like Gregory's having some issues - filleting that mackerel.
- Let's go, brother.
- Keep moving.
- Watching Gregory break down the mackerel, I start to panic.
I know 100% I could do a way better job filleting.
Katsuji is blowing it for the blue team right now.
- Check.
- Nice.
All right, red team.
It looks like you have a little bit of catching up to do, but you're good with the mackerel.
Back to work.
Come on, let's go.
Come on, George.
This is for elimination.
Oh, I can't do it, man.
My trick's not working on me today.
This one doesn't count 'cause I think it's broke-- - is that broken? - Every one of those clams is cruising for a bruising.
- Green is doing well.
- Green is moving.
Looking around the room, I realize, , we're in the lead.
She'll be done when the Red Sox come back on the Yankees.
It's neck and neck between the green team and the yellow team.
- Come on, Boston.
- One more.
- Get it.
- You got this, you got this.
Oosah, baby! Get it on the plate, get it on the plate.
- Check.
- Yeah! - It's all good.
- .
It's all good.
Oh, we're going to lose bad.
The first team to finish-- green team, you're the winner.
Yeah, baby! - Are you serious? - Group hug, group hug! Group hug, group hug! Thank you! This is a great way to start the competition to, you know, show people I'm here to win, and I should be something to be worried about.
Back to work.
Let's do this, come on.
Second place.
We got it.
Check, check, check, check, check.
Check! You are finished with it.
Yellow team's a wrap.
Everyone else, back to work.
Ugh.
I can't watch.
Pick one chef to compete against in a sudden death cook-off.
No one here is safe.
This is a serious game.
You got it, man.
You're neck and neck.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Come on.
Come on.
We got this.
This mise en place team race, it's down to Katsuji and George still trying to get these clams shucked.
I'm feeling pretty nervous, honestly.
Come on, you got it, bud.
Catch us up, man.
! On these things.
Last push! Let's go! 19, 20, 21.
Check! All right, blue team.
- You're clear and safe.
- Yes.
That means, red team, you still have to keep going, and the slowest person on your team will be up for elimination.
- Ugh! - Back to it.
- Come on.
- Come on.
Three more.
Now it's just the point of every man for himself.
I can't be the slowest person on our team.
I'm hoping there is at least one player who is slower than me on my team.
- That's it.
- All right, clear.
Nice work, dude.
Nice work.
Whoo! All right, chef.
There you go.
21 clams, you finally finished the job.
Red team, you're done for the day.
I'm pissed.
Everybody on my team kind of blew it.
I could be going home, and I could look like the biggest idiot on Top Chef.
Red team, you were the last to finish, and that means one person from your team will be up for elimination.
Please, God, don't let it be me.
The slowest on your team Is George.
Now, George, you have a very important decision to make.
You get to pick one chef from anyone in the room to compete against in a sudden death cook-off.
If you beat that chef, you both stay in the competition.
But if you lose, you go home.
So, George, who is your opponent going to be? Since I wanted the mackerel and he got it, I'm gonna go against this guy.
All right, Gregory.
I am so angry with the way Gregory convinced me he could butcher the fish and then took forever.
I want to go against him.
It's payback.
Gregory and George, you have 20 minutes to make a dish using any of the mise en place ingredients.
Gregory, if you win this head-to-head battle, you'll send George packing.
And George, if you win, you'll get to stay.
Your time starts now.
Come on, guys! Let's go! Ginger.
This is the most important dish of my life.
With my emotions running, the possibility of me going home, I'm doing the best that I can to maintain focus.
If there's a quickfire of who can run around this kitchen the fastest, Gregory's gonna smoke all our asses.
I work right down the street from Gregory in Portland.
I know what he's capable of.
He's a monster in the kitchen, and he's absolutely a force to be reckoned with.
I worked for Jean-georges, one of the world's greatest chefs.
I've won national awards.
If you're gonna come for me, you better come correct, 'cause I'm gonna bring it.
This is insane.
Day one, and you've got a gun to your head.
You can get sent home immediately.
Like, "good-bye.
No Top Chef for you.
" Come on, guys.
You're doing good.
I was pretty sure he was gonna pick me, because he really wanted the mackerel.
It's true, and I told him 50 times.
My whole philosophy on cooking is, keep it simple, stay true to your flavors.
Since I was six years old, I was working in my father's Greek diner.
Now I own a Greek restaurant with Mike Isabella, and the mackerel's definitely used in Greek cuisine.
So I'm making a pan-seared mackerel with a fennel salad.
You guys are down to 12 minutes.
I'm using mackerel, lobster, and oysters in a chilled seafood trio to show that I'm not afraid to pair really bold flavors.
- Are you just using one fish? - Yep.
How 'bout you? I'm using three.
Greg's taking on the trio.
Pretty ambitious.
"Hi, my name's Greg, and this is how big my dick is.
" Doing good, guys.
Come on.
Show 'em what you got.
You have five minutes left.
George is looking really good right now.
He's trying to work at doing one thing well, and with the resue that he has, I think George is gonna succeed.
- Doing pretty good.
- Two minutes.
Let's go, guys.
Let's go, Gregory! Let's go, guys.
You got this.
You got this.
60 seconds.
Three, two, one.
Hands up.
Pencils down.
- Hello.
- Hello.
What did you make for us? I did a pan-seared mackerel with a fennel orange and kalamata olive salad, and I put a little bit of warmed clams.
- Why'd you add the clam, chef? - It kind of adds, like, a little bit more of a fresh seafood flavor where, like, the mackerel kind of has, like, a real fishy flavor, so I thought the two would go well together.
- Thank you, George.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
- Hi, Gregory.
- Hi, padma.
So we have a seafood trio.
I suggest starting with the oyster.
It's oysters with a yuzu and ginger mignonette.
Mackerel's been marinated with mirin and finished off with a little bonito.
And last but not least, we have our chilled lobster with a chilled coconut and spiced tomato sauce.
Why a trio, chef? Trying to show as much versatility as possible.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Richard, how do you think the chefs did? You put your heart right there on that plate, the first plate of the competition.
Really well done.
George, what I loved about your dish is that it had a lot of elegance to it.
You obviously know these ingredients.
It could have used perhaps a little bit of heat.
Understood.
And, Gregory, I loved about your dish that it was, like, really bright and refreshing.
I think you got to be careful.
When you do three dishes instead of one dish, you give yourself two more opportunities to fail.
Remember, George, you need to win this cook-off to stay in this competition.
Yeah, I-I didn't forget that.
Okay, Richard.
Tell 'em who's won.
The chef I think did the best job utilizing the ingredients from the mise en place relay Is Gregory.
George is one of the guys to fear, and to watch him go away, like, in the first quickfire? No one here is safe, and this is a serious game.
Gregory, that oyster dish was, like, a really great first kiss.
I mean, I got tingly inside, that's how tasty this thing was.
Thank you very much, chef.
And George Please pack your knives and go.
Hey, buddy.
- All right.
- Good job.
All right, thank you.
Mike Isabella's probably gonna be like, " yo, what the ," especially with him and his track record on Top Chef.
I know I'm a better chef than this.
I've cooked in some of the best restaurants in New York City, and I've been cooking for such a long time.
I have so much experience.
When I think about it, it just makes my blood boil.
It's over.
Like, it's over before it even started.
I blew it.
This is like a war zone.
You think maybe it's a little too ambitious? Right now, I'm at the mercy of the kitchen gods.
It's time to bend over and grab your ankles, buddy.
I can't reach my ankles.
So, chefs, it's a huge relief getting that first challenge under your apron, so to speak, isn't it? Absolutely.
And speaking of firsts, it's time for your first elimination challenge.
Boston is one of the most historic cities in the United States.
And you're going to be making some of your own history.
For your elimination challenge, you'll be hosting the first-ever Top Chef food festival.
You'll have your own booth at the festival, right next to some of Boston's best chefs and restaurant owners, including Barbara lynch, Todd English, and ming tsai, just to name a few.
Nice.
You'll be serving your food to 250 locals, including food writers, bloggers, and critics.
Tomorrow, you'll have three hours to cook before guests arrive.
We want you to serve an updated version of the very first dish you remember cooking.
It's an amazing opportunity to really take your food, show it to the masses, and really stand out.
The festival's going to take place at the museum of science, Boston.
Chefs, we'll see you there.
Good luck to all of you.
Thank you.
What do you think? They'll be ready for tomorrow? Yeah, it has a little bit of a touch.
We're taking this back to a any-night-of-the-week dinner at my grandparents' place.
When I was a kid, my grandfather loved to take me out pier casting on long island, throwing out fishing wire and not catching anything.
My grandfather, I know he's gonna be smiling on me for this .
So when we would come home, we would stop at one of the local fishmongers and pick up some whiting.
He'd fry this whitefish, and I got to make the tartar sauce.
Having my mom work so hard to raise a kid on her own, my grandfather stepped up to the plate, and he was a father to me.
You're welcome.
Just another day at the office, running around a whole foods like a maniac.
Whole chicken.
Got it, right here.
I know exactly what dish I want to do because, whatever, man, I'm a black girl.
First thing I cooked was fried chicken.
I cooked it with my mom.
But I know that time constraints aren't gonna let me cook fried chicken, so I'm just going with the crispy chicken skin.
Ten minutes, chefs! Everyone, ten minutes! Coming through.
Coming through.
I had to cook for myself at a very young age, and bacon and eggs was one of the first things that I remember doing.
All right, how much are we at? So I'm trying to stay true to that but still kind of show an evolution.
It's gonna be a tamari-braised pork belly.
I'm super stoked that they have the pork belly, but at the same time, in the back of my mind, it's just echoing, "do you have enough time to braise this?" We're done.
I'm definitely taking a risk by putting this out there, but I don't know.
Top Chef, man.
Today's been brutal, dude.
Coming down.
Where we got towels at? Adam, you see towels? It's definitely a challenge to walk into any new kitchen and start cooking, let alone only having three hours to cook for 250 guests.
Coming through.
Coming behind.
Behind, behind.
Sorry, buddy.
Greg, how's everything shaping up, buddy? Just got to get this chicken in the oven.
- All right, buddy.
- I'm a little behind with that.
Definitely feeling a lot of pressure.
I'm making stewed chicken with fried bananas and a scotch bonnet pikliz, which is a really spicy relish.
Well, my grandma used to babysit us during the summer, so I used to stand over her shoulder and watch her make it.
I have to be careful with my pikliz.
I don't want it to be too spicy and over-the-top.
It has to be perfect for this panel of judges.
He's the gazelle.
He did the trio yesterday.
Okay there, man? I'm used to serving, you know, like, 12 to 14 people, so really, I mean, 250? I don't know.
Is that a lot more? I teach culinary school.
I also run a pop-up restaurant business where we take classic food that we all know and rethink it with a crazy modern twist.
I'm gonna do this north Dakota broccoli salad.
It's from a adoptive grandma.
She used to play professional baseball up in Canada.
You know, like "a league of their own" crap, and it was her recipe.
This is the first challenge out of the gate.
Cooking next to a laundry list of famous chefs and alumni, and you're doing salad? Like, challenge yourself.
How long? Time? We got 1:23 left.
1:23.
How you coming along, buddy? You doing all right? I'm just, uh, vacuum-sealing corn with a little bit of butter, sugar, and salt.
I'm making chilled corn soup with sriracha pearls and caviar.
Everything that I do is extravagant, and I'm pushing boundaries all the time.
Little bit of liquid nitrogen never hurt anybody.
I definitely consider myself an artist as much as a chef.
I have the personality, I have the look, I have the style.
I think I will definitely win this competition.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
This is like a war zone.
- Hey, Mei.
How you doing? - Good.
Good, how are you? - Tom.
- Sorry.
- Dirty hands.
- How are you? I'm pretty fearless in the kitchen, but meeting tom colicchio for the first time was, like Words don't even come out of my mouth.
I was just kind of like, "uh, hi, chef.
" So what is the first thing you ever cooked? The first thing I ever cooked was a congee with my grandfather, so I'm gonna make a version of that with caramelized stew pork and fish sauce caramel.
Your grandfather was the-- sort of the cook at home for your family, or My grandfather was-- all the men in my family.
Congee is pretty much rice porridge.
So it's super comforting, it's hot.
This dish means a lot to me because it's the first thing my grandfather taught me how to cook, and that was one of those memories that will always stay with me.
So, chef, you look pretty calm, considering the fact that you only have a few hours to do 250 portions.
Trying to stay calm, for sure.
But I got to go.
- Okay.
- Thank you, chef.
- How's it going, chef? - Good.
How's it going? So I'm doing tamari-braised pork belly.
Trying to pull that pork belly out at the very last minute.
Knowing that you have really three hours to prepare 250 portions, you think maybe it's a little too ambitious? Um, yeah, but at the end of the day, this is Top Chef, and I didn't come here to toss salads.
I came here to do what I can.
- Whoa! - Oh.
Wow.
Okay.
It's getting good--like that.
Good luck, chef.
Hey, Katsuji.
How you doing? What are you making? Okay.
Okay.
And I'm not done yet.
And I'll let you get back to work.
Thanks.
Good luck.
Okay, chefs, good luck.
We'll see you out there.
Thanks, chef.
Yo, Aaron.
How'd that come out? Uh, some pieces good.
Some pieces middle.
Some pieces, uh, fatty.
30 seconds left, everybody.
30 seconds left.
Oh, boy.
- So exciting.
- How are you? Oh, that's good.
Jasper white's a big-time guy.
He's got, like 30 cookbooks.
Chef Todd, may I take this opportunity to say hello? - How are you? - I'm doing very well.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Adam Harvey.
Hi, Adam.
Pleasure to be working next to you, chef.
This is amazing.
Barbara lynch is behind me.
- Yeah.
It's pretty cool.
- Yeah.
I can't believe I'm gonna be cooking at the first Top Chef festival next to ming tsai and Ken oringer and Jamie bissonnette and Tiffani Faison and all the best chefs in the city.
- Very nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
You're the only one from Boston? Yeah.
Tiffani Faison and Kristen Kish come over, and they're like, "you better win for Boston.
You better not let us down.
" There's some pretty big chefs here.
There's some pressure.
Looking like an Looking like a in my book.
There is a ton of pressure for me to do well in this.
I have two amazingly beautiful children.
I haven't been away from them for their entire lives, and even though it's so hard to be away, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I want to win to make it all worth it.
It's time to bend over and grab your ankles, buddy.
It's about to happen.
I can't reach my ankles.
Looks like we're gonna get pummeled pretty quick.
Oh, my God.
Hi, everyone who's waiting for fish and chips.
- Hi.
- How y'all doing tonight? This is the chicken thigh, so it stays nice and moist when you fry it.
It's been so long since I've been in Boston.
Me too.
I like to have a little sweet with my grits.
It's like a north-South thing.
- It's really good.
- Thank you.
Let's go.
Time to eat and meet these chefs.
- They're hungry.
- Let's go in the tent.
All right.
Buzzing in here.
Sour biscuit on a bisket with some parmesan black pepper butter.
The powder's the bacon powder so that you get that really nice, smoky bacon.
- Hi, Joy.
- Hey, guys.
So I've got some creamy yellow grits, sauteed Greens with crispy chicken skin.
You certainly don't cook your Greens as much as they do down South.
- Because they're still green? - 'Cause they're still green.
What they do is, they, like, put it on before you go church.
Right, right.
And then come back, like, four hours later.
Where'd you go to church? Church for me was an hour.
I like that you pared it down to just the chicken skin instead of a big piece - for a festival like this.
- Yeah.
- It feels more appropriate.
- Right.
The chicken skin's really well-seasoned.
The grits are well-seasoned.
Nice job.
- Thank you so much.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
I'm surrounded by all those excellent chefs with really fine, fine cooking, but I feel like a simple approach with respect for the ingredients is what makes a dish excellen.
Can I get you a little something? - That would be great.
- All right, let's do it.
I have some nice crushed cherries dressed in a little lime and ginger, and orange curd and some nice pie crust and some chantilly cream.
The original version was me making all sorts of fruit pies with my grandmother.
I don't get a lot of the ginger in the cherries.
- Ah.
- Yes.
I don't either.
I thought they were just fresh, raw cherries.
It's a little abrupt and kind of shocking to get the feedback right away.
This season, they are just telling you what they think right in your face, plain as day.
This is, like, round one.
Here we go, ding ding.
Dude, get your mitts up.
Red roast duck that my grandfather taught me how to make.
The jalapeño's a little spicy, but that watermelon should just cool it right down.
Thank you.
My grandfather was an industry chef.
He would beer-batter and fry the fish.
And I made a mustard Mayo, which has nori, aleppo pepper, and a little bit of cumin seed.
What kind of fish are you frying? - "Cawd.
" - "Cawd.
" "Cawd.
" We're here.
And they've been telling me that I've been doing okay.
The fish is really tasty.
Thank you.
My dish was well-conceived, well-executed, and well-received, so you best believe I got this.
Please enjoy it.
It's a pulled chicken salad with a sweet pea green goddess on a thick-cut potato chip with cranberry mostarda.
It's delicious.
Have you guys had any of the food yet? - Yeah.
- Yes.
We loved the fried chicken with the pickled jalapeños.
What did you not like? I liked the shrimp, but I liked it separately from the strawberry and the mint.
Underneath it is a pickled chive in Fresno chili just to kind of brighten it up.
I took the idea of shrimp cocktail and hopefully elevated it.
It's got some strawberry in it, shaved fennel, little bit of radish, and pickled jalapeño.
I'm somebody who really loves spicy food.
I think it's over-the-top here.
Just remember, first and foremost, you're always cooking on Top Chef.
- Sure.
- Get carried away with the event, you're having fun.
Oh, it's just like you're back home in your restaurant.
Next thing you know, you're on the bottom-- you are back home in your restaurant.
That's very sage advice.
- Got it.
Note taken.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
The judges are eating your food.
They don't hesitate at all to comment on the dish, which takes you by surprise.
Now I've got this notion in the back of my head that, you know, I may be going home.
It's really good, 'cause it keeps changing.
All right.
It's one of my least favorite modern techniques.
Oh, .
- Hi.
- Hi.
How are you? Nice to meet you too.
How are you? - How are you? - Meet my son Henry.
- What's up, Henry? - This is mayor Walsh.
- Thank you.
- My pleasure.
- So nice to meet you.
- Thank you very much.
So it should taste like chicken dinner.
Okay, nice.
Oh, my God.
- Really good.
- Thank you, sir.
- I appreciate that.
- Excellent.
Mayor of Boston right in front of me.
He's eating my food, and he loves it.
Yes! You want five more? You want tom and Gail's portion? Sir, you can have whatever you want.
Have a good day out there.
A lot of good food.
In here too is some pickled onions that I pickled with the jalapeño.
It is so fun to be at the Top Chef festival in Boston, and every time you look up, I'm seeing Jasper white and I'm seeing Jamie bissonnette.
- Chef, how you doing? - It's definitely nerve-racking.
You really just don't want to say something that's completely dumb.
All right.
Good luck, man.
Spicy ma-po tofu with pork.
That spicy stuff made it perfect.
The ma-po tofu was good that we tried.
It was really good, yep.
This is Scott Jones, our chef de cuisine at menton.
Hi! Nice to see you.
- Hi.
- How's it going, guys? - What's up? - Hi, Doug.
I'm Gail.
Nice to meet you, Gail.
You can call me Dougie.
- Oh, great, Dougie.
- Thank you very much.
I grew up in east Texas.
I made some fried chicken with watermelon and a pickled jalapeño salad.
Was there always this much dill in east Texas? - No.
- I didn't think so.
Kind of sour, which is nice.
'Cause you have sweet with the watermelon.
- This is really good.
- Awesome.
Nice to meet you.
You guys eaten everything around here? - No.
- No, we're slow.
- Oh, okay, good.
So are we.
- Okay.
- Really? - Yes.
So it's just a cheese sauce that is made with some orange peel, chipotles, chicken broth, white wine, and gruyere cheese.
Why is it that color? Nope.
Three ingredients in the sauce.
The question is, how many ingredients all day? But you want the flavors to be complex, right? - Yeah.
Yeah.
- Not the eating of it.
Oh, .
I really liked that pork and tofu over there.
- Did you try that? - Everything is unbelievable.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
She likes it.
Yes! I so hope I win Top Chef.
- Oh, no.
I'm not competing.
- Yeah.
It's a sweet chilled corn soup with a bacon jam, and then I do a truffle crumble, and then I finish it with an olive oil snow.
- We got to talk olive oil snow.
- All right.
To be honest, it's one of my least favorite modern techniques.
So I did a harissa-marinated chicken thigh.
Took some flavors that are familiar-- creamed corn, barbeque spice, watermelon.
It almost comes off-- next to the sweet watermelon, it's a little sour.
That's not a good thing.
We have a spicy ma-po tofu and pork.
It's got some eggplant, a lot of aromatics.
Kind of took a dish that mom made growing up.
I don't want to stop eating it, so that's a good thing.
So I have a congee with caramelized pork, fish sauce caramel, and black garlic puree.
I really like the mix of the raw herbs and scallions with the cooked, really dark caramel.
It's really good, 'cause it keeps changing.
- Thank you.
- I liked the congee.
So far we've had some pretty good food.
Yeah.
Any favorites so far? I'd rather talk about what I didn't like Which was nothing.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, I see.
All right.
All right.
This is inspired from an adoptive grandma's recipe - called Katie's broccoli salad.
- Good.
And so I went and I kind of rethought it and made a tamarind aioli, cured black olive.
I ended up doing a little bit of bacon powder, 'cause it's one of the first times I actually cooked bacon was for this recipe.
It's think it's more of a side dish than it is appropriae for the event that we're having right now.
- Okay.
- The bacon powder, though.
We have to have that discussion.
Like, I don't know if, outside of the visual, if it has any reason to be there.
My childhood memory is corn.
Growing in Russia, we used to live next to a farm.
Every morning, we'd go and pick fresh corn, and then we'd come home and make a soup with it.
- There's spoons, and enjoy.
- Oh, it's-- I'm gonna get you involved with it.
- It's interactive.
- Yeah, but I want you to see the presentation before you pour the soup.
I made chilled corn soup, pickled cherries, then I made sriracha caviar to give it some heat.
What I don't care for is the salmon eggs.
It's, like, a real fishy finish.
I'm not getting a ton of heat from the sriracha.
- In fact, I'm getting zero.
- Me too.
I personally love the sriracha caviar, and I tasted it and I got the heat, so I'm not sure what went wrong with their palates.
When I was younger, my grandmother used to come to New Jersey, and she was Haitian.
She was making dinner for us.
And it's very simple Haitian stewed chicken, and then we have some fried bananas and then this really spicy kind of fruity, crunchy pikliz, which is a Haitian pickle.
Scotch bonnet chilies, cabbage, peas, and carrots.
I'm feeling pretty good about my dish.
I'm checking with all my guests.
No one thought it was too spicy.
But I'm curious to see what the judges think about the level of spice.
It's so strange and funky, but I really like it! - Yeah.
- Okay.
How has the response been to the spice of the dish? A lot of people have been really receptive.
When I was a kid, I actually lived in Haiti for a couple of years, and me and my little cousin, we'd like, run around and just, like, eat scotch bonnet chilies from the plant, and my grandfather was a tailor, so we'd run under his, like, sewing tables and, like, scratch our tongues with, like, little bits of fabric.
So I have a very early relationship with chilies.
I got the chili first, and I was like, "whoa! This is gonna--" that's it, my palate's gone.
" And then I looked in the bowl, and there was the plantain.
And then it balances it out.
Thank you, chef.
That dish was so close to me hating it.
I know.
It was, like, right on the verge.
Like, you'd have to either love that dish or hate that dish.
Tom wanted my citrus curd to have more citrus flavor.
I feel like I kind of connect with what she's saying 'cause I know where this is coming from.
It's always nice to know a little bit about the person who's cooking for you.
The pork belly, that was really good.
The yolk on top was really interesting.
It wasn't, like, straight-up scrambled eggs and bacon.
One of the people over there seems to be having a hard time keeping up.
- Thanks so much.
- Yeah, thank you.
Every time we go by, he doesn't seem to have enough food.
Towards the final moments of the service, I'm plating up padma's dish, and I'm reaching in the chafing dish, and it's like, "aw, .
" I literally have no other option.
It's either a fatty piece or nothing's going on the plate.
So I did a play on bacon and eggs.
I took pork belly, braised it in tamari, and then for the egg component, I took egg yolks, poached them in white miso and soy sauce.
Now it's ready for you.
Please enjoy.
Did you mean for me to have so much of the fat cap on it? No, not necessarily.
Yeah, that's a little fatty.
I'm sorry, padma.
- Not my intention.
- Okay.
I knew going into it that pork belly would be risky.
My apologies.
I do like the acidity you had under the little compote of the chives, - but it could use something else.
- Understood.
I'd love to see you clean up not only your act a little bit - but your station.
- Understood.
Thank you for your feedback.
- Just got burned by padma, dude.
- Yeah? Burned hard.
There's no mercy there.
- Nope.
- Nope.
Oh, my God, I just spit out-- I, like-- I didn't even eat the fat part.
Good to know where we stand though.
- Yep.
- It's a mess.
Mess, mess, messy mess.
Aggressive and messy.
- How'd it go for you? - Good.
Really good.
What up, winning team? Pack it up.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey.
- Hi, kids.
- Hi.
How was your day? It was interesting being on the other side of the fence, for sure.
- I'll bet.
- Saw a lot of food.
A lot of fried chicken.
Winner winner, chicken dinner.
Lot of chicken.
Well, some were more pleasing than others.
- That's for sure.
- Yep.
Which ones did you like the best? - Of the fried chicken dishes? - Yeah.
My favorite was Dougie's.
Not because he's a little shorter than you? - No.
- Okay, just wondering.
It came piping hot out of the fryer.
The jalapeño packed a punch.
Well, I think also the way he cut it.
There were bigger chunks of the watermelon.
- Lots of herbs, dill - Yes.
- Yes.
- That was really good.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Gregory's Haitian chicken and slaw dish had some serious scotch bonnet.
It was so extreme of really sweet banana and this really spicy scotch bonnet.
- Mm-hmm.
- But all together, it worked.
If you're gonna advertise scotch bonnets, I expect really hot.
- And he did, and it was.
- It was.
I thought a very good dish.
How did you feel about Mei Lin's congee? Congee is usually very, very simple, but she added so much to it.
It was really flavorful.
- It was, at times, surprising.
- Beautiful dish.
I mean, that's a restaurant showing up to do an event.
Even her mise en place, everything was in deli containers.
I just really enjoyed the dish.
There was a couple of clunkers.
North Dakota broccoli salad? - Oh, Katie's, yeah.
- Wait a second.
A decent side dish for a steak.
- Felt like it was okay - Or fried chicken.
But as your showcase dish for your first thing on Top Chef It was not appealing - to look at.
- No.
Just--it wasn't the worst thing I ate.
I thought the corn soup with fishy fish eggs was Michael.
What an unpleasant surprise to stumble across.
It was like cereal.
When the last time was it you ate fishy cereal? Never.
Aaron's pork belly.
I got a piece of fat that was this big.
Pork belly is sort of all-- no, but I mean-- yes, but, you know, I can count on one hand the times I've spit something out on all our seasons.
I didn't get a big chunk of fat.
We got a piece of pork belly.
It wasn't that good, but it wasn't my least favorite.
Katsuji.
Can we talk about the petroleum shrimp for a moment? A 12-ounce ladle of the squid ink fondue.
Yes! All I wanted to tell him was, "use a spoon!" I had a bigger problem with couscous on my tortilla.
He wanted it to be complex, and I think he made it complicated.
Well, let's get back to judges' table and break the good news and the bad news to the chefs.
Let's do it.
- Around the table.
- Everybody in.
Let's go.
Circle this up.
That was really hard! Like, that was stressful.
Yeah, I tasted my food, like, every 45 minutes, but, like, the relish just kept getting spicier and spicier.
Regardless of what happens here, we all learned a load from one another.
Being under pressure is something that I'm familiar with.
The first week I was at bow & truss, 19 people quit.
So I'm prepared to fight, 'cause I don't want to go home.
We'd like to see All of you.
What? Thank you.
I kind of get a pit in my stomach thinking that instead of taking one animal to the killing floor at a time, they're gonna bring the whole herd of us out and make us watch this elimination.
Tom, overall, how did they do? I think we got a lot of dishes that were very rustic and home-style but, you know, clearly some people sort of understood the challenge and pushed it a little bit more.
It's pretty hard, isn't it? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
For the first time cooking under that pressure and getting used to that clock, I think overall, the group did really well.
If I call your name, please stay where you are.
Doug.
Mei.
Gregory.
Everyone else, please step to the side of the kitchen.
Congratulations.
The three of you served our favorite dishes of the night.
Mei, your congee was spot-on.
There was some crispy bits, there were sweet notes, some sour notes.
I found really no flaws with the dish at all.
Nice work.
Thank you.
Gregory, there were a million things that could have gone crazy bad.
It was crazy good.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, Gregory.
Your dish was like a high-speed motorcycle chase in a movie.
I mean, you're flying down the road, and the chicken is almost too salty and you almost go off the side of the road, and then somehow, you manage to take that motorcycle and slide it under a moving 18-Wheeler and, like, save the day with that sweet banana.
Thank you, chef.
Your dish, Doug, it was bright, and it was fresh, and the fried chicken itself was so crispy and so seasoned.
It's exactly how I wanted it.
When I was cooking that dish, I kept telling myself, "you're a dummy.
You went too simple.
" And then I kind of realized that if I wouldn't have done that for the challenge, then I wouldn't have been true to myself.
Richard, why don't you do the honors and tell us who won.
The chef that won did a dish that I just think really displayed laser beam precision and was a dish that was not only appropriate for a food festival but probably a fine dining restaurant.
And the winner of the first elimination challenge here in Boston Is Mei.
Shut the up.
Michael Voltaggio would be super proud of me that I won the first challenge of the season.
I have my job for another day.
- That's a great start.
All of you, really.
The three of you, really great start.
Mei, Doug, and Gregory, please join the rest of the chefs.
Now for the bad news Katie, Michael, and Katsuji.
You three served our worst dishes, and one of you will be going home.
Katie, I think the broccoli salad felt more like a side.
It didn't really feel complete to me.
And the bacon snow, I didn't really know the purpose that it served.
I feel bad that the focus is so hard on the bacon powder.
The public gets a kick out of that, but that's where I definitely lost my focus.
I messed up there, for sure.
Michael, I think that you had a great concept, and you started with a really great base, your corn soup.
But all I ended up tasting was the salmon roe.
When I tasted it, I did taste the fishiness, and I thought that's-- it's already on the menu, it would just wouldn't look good if I took it off, like So you tasted the dish? You put everything together-- I just tasted the roe and I felt it was a little fishy, but I didn't think it was too bad.
"I didn't think it was too bad," meaning you thought it was bad but not bad enough? No, I liked it.
For my personal taste, I liked it, but Oh, okay.
So now you liked it.
Was it too fishy or did you like it? I liked it.
I didn't think it was too fishy.
Katsuji, there were some really nice elements in the dish, but they got complicated because there were so many other things going on in that dis.
I got excited that I was able to use pork, shrimp, squid.
I was like, "oh, whoa.
" I was like a kid on a candy store, like-- but I wasn't able to differentiate any of the flavors.
There was cheese, squid ink.
There was couscous with saffron.
- I just couldn't figure out how-- - there was more.
And there was more-- I'm sure there were many other things.
All right, there was the chicharron, of course.
- Come on, keep going.
- The tortilla.
Right, the radishes, the tortilla.
We only have an hour for the show.
- Right.
- Just keep going.
Sometimes we make dishes, and the first time out of the gate they're all good, and other times you have to work it and work it and work it.
This is a dish that you may have to spend a lot of time wih before it actually is successful.
Unfortunately for one of you, this'll be the last dish that you cook on Top Chef.
Chefs, for your challenge, we asked you to make a dish that represented the very beginning of your culinary journey, and for one of you, this'll be your last dish on Top Chef.
Michael, please pack your knives and go.
Sorry.
Brother.
Thanks.
We had issues with all three of your dishes, but Michael, the sweetness of the corn against that fishiness of the salmon eggs just really didn't work.
Somewhere in there, there could have been a good dish, but it just didn't work for you tonight.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
Michael, we're sorry to see you go.
For the rest of you, we'll see you at the next challenge.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
Thanks, guys.
Cheers, man.
I tried to be creative and original and go outside the box.
I guess it backfired.
This is definitely not the way I wanted to go out, but you know, in life, sometimes you got to fail to get back up and actually succeed.
- You showed balls, brother.
- No more molecular.
Maybe tom should be a little more open-minded.
Sometimes, you know, you got to grow with age or you get left behind.
It sucks to lose, but I'm proud of what I did.
I don't care what you think, tom.
Coming in.
Coming through.
Coming behind.
This season on Top Chef Let's go! Come on, finish! Top Chef brings out another side of you.
Whoo! Kind of like a wake-up call.
This is a sudden death quickfire.
You'll face immediate elimination.
Oh, .
Here we go again.
Can't you see I'm struggling here? This is seasoned so perfectly well.
- It's just right there.
- Thank you.
This guy is a beast, man.
It is time for restaurant wars.
No, I promise you I have a reservation here.
Yeah, we hear that all the time.
After 11 seasons, we're doing something we've never done before.
I think it's been a while since padma's shopped.
Jesus Christ! I am tired.
This is the hardest thing I've ever done.
You'll create a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
I'm totally surprised by this blueberry stuffing, and I've somehow managed to eat half of the bowl.
As a baseball fan, to serve our guests on the field of Fenway park, it's ridiculous.
Please welcome New England patriot rob gronkowski.
My man.
I'm gonna be cooking for the biggest names in the country every single day.
Andy Cohen.
Sweetie.
Actor George wendt.
Norm! Stop.
Stop with that.
Unfortunately, you got to nail something in that dish.
Just because you have a gun in your bin doesn't mean you have to shoot it.
It's that point of the competition where it's starting to get tiring.
I can't, like, do the best I can when I just want to be home with my kids.
I love how people try to-- so many people are so tired of you talking.
- Just shut your mouth.
- Stop.
- I'll cook you under the table.
- Go yourself! I have no idea what this even is.
You could play hockey with this thing.
This just pisses me off.
Those judges don't mess around.
I'm not looking forward to going in there.
It's those details that make a dish.
Trust me, we notice it all.
Uh-uh, Mei's got the nitrogen.
You have to find your own signature, your own way to really make a mark on the culinary world.
To learn more about the chefs, go to bravotv.
Com.