Top Chef (2006) s12e03 Episode Script
The Curse of the Bambino
I cook mushroom nice.
I cook asparagus nice.
We had a chance to cook for some of Boston's bravest and finest.
There can only be one winning team, the blue team.
Me, Greg, and Rebecca knocked it out of the park.
Joy, please pack your knives and go.
If we have another team challenge, let's make sure that we don't act like children.
Are you implying that the green team had something to do with Joy's going home? Do you not think that that whole end of you guys plating was not a total show? But at the end of the day, it came down to cooking the protein.
Our team cooked the protein properly.
That's bull.
Aaron and Keriann really kind of exhibited some very unprofessional traits.
And I'm still a little bewildered how one of them didn't go home.
Aaron's a lying sack of .
I'm not your employee, dude.
- I don't work for you.
- If you worked for me, - I would fire you in a minut.
- I'll cook you under the table.
Go yourself.
If someone gets on that last nerve, Aaron explodes.
And Keriann's got to get over that ego.
Hey, guys, I don't know.
Long enough day? Let's go home and ride this one out.
13 chefs remain to compete in the ultimate test of culinary skill.
At stake for the winner, 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.
You and I have the most similar backgrounds.
My mom, you know, drank a lot, and my dad was kind of, like, a rolling stone, and my sister raised me a lot.
Aaron and I both come from small towns where our resources were rather limited.
So both of us feel a little bit like underdogs in this competition, because we don't have that incredible resume.
I grew up at a very, very young age.
You know, I found the kitchen.
And it was just, like, I'm making a living out of it.
I'm kind of good at it.
Growing up in a broken home, I had no discipline.
I had no father figure.
I had no parental guidance.
So I became self-reliant very quickly.
I started to cook for myself.
And at first it was kind of out of necessity, but then I actually grew to really love to cook.
And right now I'm the head chef over at bow & truss.
And it's amazing.
If my mom had had the money to put me through CIA, I'd be Bobby Flay.
Because of my childhood, you know, I'm closed off.
I pick and choose very carefully who I lead into my life.
And I think that people kind of view me as, like, the cocky little ass That likes to talk .
But, you know, at the same time, underneath that, I know my faults, and I know my weaknesses.
And, you know, Top Chef is helping me kind of work those out.
Let's do it.
Good morning.
Please welcome ming tsai.
- Morning, chefs.
- Good morning.
I love ming tsai.
Ming was one of the first Chinese chefs on TV, and it just inspired me as a young child to want to be like him.
It's time to heat things up.
This is a sudden death quickfire.
Oh, .
Here we go again.
Chefs, if you lose the first part of this challenge, you'll face immediate elimination.
In 1773, the sons of liberty dumped an entire shipment of tea into the harbor.
This pivotal act of defiance later became known as the Boston tea party.
Because of the Boston tea party, it was deemed unpatriotic to drink tea.
Hence, in America, we drink a lot more coffee than tea.
Just like coffee, tea isn't something that's only for drinking.
Cooking with tea can enhance the flavor of foods.
There are so many varieties to work with, from flowery to spicy to earthy.
Chefs, the challenge is simple-- create a delicious dish highlighting tea.
There are 13 varieties on this table, but each of you can only use one.
The winner of this quickfire will win immunity.
But remember, the chef that makes the worst dish will face elimination.
Chefs, you have 45 minutes to make tea for two.
Your time starts now.
Good luck.
I'm really hoping to get a kind of fruity, floral tea.
Dark, smoky teas kind of lend themselves to roasted meats and things of that nature.
That might be a little tricky with the short time frame of the quickfire.
It smells great.
Strawberry white tea, awesome.
Where is there an empty station? I got gunpowder spearmint tea.
No idea what it means for anything.
You took yellowtail? What do you mean, nobody's going for the alligator? Shocking! Yeah, I got the monkfish cheeks, so I'm okay.
I was going for the yellowtail, but Adam grabbed it out of my hand.
I have never cooked with monkfish cheeks before.
Thanks, Adam.
I couldn't be happier.
Monkfish is taking forever.
Adam, can you believe it's another elimination already? Hey, we got one new yorker and one bostonian left.
It ain't gonna be one of us, is it? It is not gonna be one of us.
36 minutes to go.
I got lemongrass pomegranate rooibos.
- Nice.
- It smells like a flower shop.
When I was thinking Boston tea party, I was definitely thinking, like, black tea, not lemongrass ginger pomegranate rooibos tea.
I don't think they had that then.
- What are you making, Rebecca? - Vanilla cake.
Do you feel like you're taking a risk by making a desser? Not with this tea.
I think I'd be - Myself if I didn't.
- I am completely comfortable doing both pastry and savory.
I am the executive sous chef and the pastry chef at trenchermen Chicago, which means I am a double threat to this competition.
Sorry, people.
What do you have going on there? White tea with strawberry.
So we're gonna do some raw tuna.
I'm actually really, really excited to work with this tea.
I really love cooking with kind of fruity and floral flavors.
You know, you can add some spice, you can add some heat.
So I'm feeling really good going into this.
I don't know who's going home today.
- I don't think I am.
- Not me.
I'll take Aaron.
- Aaron? - Yeah.
That'd be nice.
Katsuji, how many ingredients are you using this time? - Three, maybe four.
- Wow.
I'm working with Asian pear white tea.
My idea right now is to do a crispy skin rainbow trout with a white tea beurre blanc.
- Look out.
- Looking over at James' dish, it's looking a little dated.
But James is an '80s baby.
I mean, James has a tattoo of Patrick Swayze on his arm.
Watch your space, brother.
Let's split it down the middle, Ron.
Let's go half and half - I'm sorry.
- You're okay, you're okay.
Let's just go half and half.
I think my biggest fear about being on Top Chef is that I can't bake my way out of a wet paper bag.
So of course, I open my canister of tea, and it is a chocolate tea.
I just instantly think of a mole.
- My bad.
- 22 minutes.
Melissa, what are you doing back there? I'm gonna take the tea and steep it into the rice.
I end up with toasted nut oolong tea.
I'm picking up so much coconut.
So I'm gonna brew it and fuse it into my rice.
And I'm gonna go Asian with this.
And I'm gonna kind of go back to my roots.
I grew up in a very traditional Chinese household.
My father was a little more on the strict end and didn't really support me as a chef.
It's coming together.
Being here, I really want to prove to my dad that I am an extremely talented chef.
Six minutes on the dot, kids.
I've pretty much scorched my first duck breast.
Hot.
Watch your back.
It's a sudden death quickfire.
Presenting burnt food is just unacceptable.
Good to go.
It's always good to have two breasts.
- Sorry.
- Go, below, below.
Oh, .
I cooked the Out of the monkfish cheeks.
I'm hoping the rest of the plate can save it, but I'm kind of shooting in the dark at this point.
Aaron seems like a crazy person.
He is running everywhere.
He doesn't really seem like he knows what he's doing.
This is a sudden death quickfire challenge.
I'm definitely hoping that Aaron is on the losing side.
Look at the clock.
Two minutes.
Two minutes.
Three, two, one.
Time's up.
Hands up.
Utensils down.
- Hi, Melissa.
- Hi, padma.
I had toasted nuts with oolong tea, seared duck breasts, and I took Jasmine rice and infused the tea into the rice.
I like the rice a lot.
Actually, it tastes just like it smells.
It's delicious.
Thank you.
- Hi, Katsuji.
- Hello.
I got the toasted rice green tea.
I have toasted brown rice broth with a toasted brown rice crusted tuna.
I love the fact that there's a very strong umami quality to this.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you so much.
I did a golden honey black tea panna cotta.
And I also did an Asian pear that was poached in the tea and lemon.
The flavor of the panna cotta is delicious.
- Thank you very much.
- The tea really comes through.
Don't you make a creme anglaise.
- I do a tea creme anglaise.
- Do you? Actually, my favorite is a Jasmine tea souffle.
You could've done it in 45 minutes, but-- I probably could've.
I'm sorry, chef.
No, no, no, no, no.
Well, making a ming tsai dish is not part of this challenge.
Nicely done.
So today we have a tuna crudo with strawberry white tea and young coconut.
I have to admit, usually I'm not a big fan of fruit with fish.
I'm just not a fan.
But this--this works.
Thank you very much, chef.
I had chocolate and salty.
So I decided to do a tea-crusted duck breast.
I kind of took, like, the spirit of a mole.
I have to tell you, I hate the tea that you got.
But I love how you got its essence in a dish that I didn't hate.
- Great, thank you.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Aaron.
What did you do for us? I just seared monkfish cheeks.
And then they're over an Asian pear, tarragon, and mint salad.
Is this how you like to cook your fish? Yeah, I, like, flash-fried it a little bit, and maybe it just got away from me.
- It's hammered.
- Yeah, okay.
Thank you very much.
What I made for you is a pineapple and burnt citrus iced tea-viche.
- Tea-viche? - Tea-viche.
I think the exotic quality came through.
- Thank you, chef.
- Hi, padma.
I had the Asian pear white tea.
So I did a crispy skin trout on top of a little quinoa that I cooked in the tea.
It's also sitting on a beurre blanc that I pretty much made with a little prosecco and tea.
I don't think I've had a beurre blanc in ten years.
I did pretty much a neutral cake that would pick up as much of the flavor as I could with the steeped tea with little strawberries and some fresh apple for crunch.
I mean, it's a very subtle use of the tea.
- Yes.
- I would've maybe used more of that liquid to really drench the cake, 'cause there's a lot of cake here.
I am absolutely freaking out, as it's a sudden death quickfire.
Like, I could go home for this.
Pick one chef you think you can beat in a sudden death cook-off.
If you lose, you go home.
The least favorite dish was Chefs, remember, if you lose, you will be up for immediate elimination.
Ming, how do you think they did overall? The use of tea by all of you was great.
I think some execution was a little off, but the tea did shine.
Who were the favorites? I think Melissa's seared duck, delicious.
I think my next favorite was Gregory's.
- Thank you, chef.
- The tuna crudo, a great use of strawberry and a beautiful dish.
And who is our final top? I think that would have to go to Ron.
The mole really was the best sauce today.
Thank you.
I'm excited to be in the top three.
But I'm probably, you know, more concerned just about self-preservation at this point.
Ming, please announce the winner of this quickfire.
For me, today the chef that really did the best was Gregory.
Well done.
Beautiful food.
And I think your ratio of the tuna to the strawberry and pouring in the tea-- spot-on.
- Thank you, chef.
- Not only are you the winner, but you have immunity in the next elimination challenge.
At this point in the competition, I've been on the top twice.
It feels so good.
I'm definitely here to play.
But of course, we still have to give you some bad news.
Ming? So the first chef that servd one of our least favorite dishes was James.
The amount of the beurre blanc, the amount of the sauce was a lot of sauce.
Next up would be Aaron with the monkfish.
It was just way overcooked.
The third least favorite would be Rebecca.
The tea flavors didn't quite come out.
Ming, ultimately, who had the least favorite dish and is up for elimination? For me, the chef with the least favorite dish was Aaron.
Aaron, you know what that means.
We cook.
You have an important decision to make.
Pick one chef you think you cn beat in a sudden death cook-off.
If you beat that chef, you both stay in the competition.
If you lose, you go home.
So choose wisely.
Katie.
It's an easy choice.
In the last team challenge, you told me you could cook me under the table.
I was fully ready to go in head-to-head with him and send him home.
You think you can beat her? Yeah, she teaches cooking for a living.
And I never went to culinary school.
So Katie's cooking style really bores me.
It's very plain Jane.
And I'd like to beat a culinary school instructor.
Well, we'll see who schools who.
Fair enough, padma.
Aaron thinks that because I teach culinary school, I'm lesser of a chef, but I definitely can beat Aaron.
For your challenge, you have 30 minutes to cook a dish, but the only source of heat you'll be able to use is the boiling water on the hot line.
Aaron, if you lose, you pack your knives.
Your time Starts now.
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? - I'm doing a spring roll, but a -up one.
I decide on making a play on a spring roll.
I will be utilizing the boiling water by cooking the shrimp wrapper in a ziploc bag in the water.
Come on, Katie.
You got it.
Aaron is young, immature.
To lose to Aaron would be ridiculous.
So I go to something that I know.
I'm gonna make pasta.
But I'm also going to thrw some tomatoes, garlic into a bag and then cook that as well for my sauce.
Come on, Aaron.
This is gonna give you plenty of time to talk if you win.
The most difficult part of this dish is definitely getting the shrimp wrapper in the ziploc bag evenly, so it cooks properly.
Yeah, he's got a game plan.
My dish has to be perfection.
There's no mercy.
There's no excuses.
You know, I up, and then I'm gonna go home.
Why aren't you working? Oh, .
The pasta machine, I'm flipping it.
I'm turning it, I'm twisting it.
Oh, my God.
All right, all right, all right.
Eventually, I realize, screw it.
- I'll just hand-cut the past.
- Are you gonna make it in time? Strong maybe.
- How's it taste, bud? - It's not bad.
The lack of being able to cook is prohibiting me from roasting these peanuts.
You got seven minutes to make that better than not bad.
I'm completely self-taught.
So if I pull this dish off, it'd be kind of, like, an iron in the back a little bit to all the people that didn't go to culinary school, didn't have the money or didn't have the parents.
One minute! - Time to save your ass, Aaron.
- Pasta's ready.
Garnish is ready.
All right, Katie, start plating! Everyone's kind of secretly rooting for Katie to send Aaron packing.
You know, he's definitely kind of a loudmouth.
- Come on! - Come on, Katie! I am feeling good.
I'm adding the smoked mozzarella.
I have the pasta.
People are cheering for me.
And looking over to what Aaron's doing, which looks like a shrimp noodle out of just shrimp and boiling water, I feel like it has more technique than what he's trying to execute.
Five, four, three, two, one! Time's up.
Hands up.
Utensils down.
- Hello.
- Hello.
So what I did was a play on a spring roll.
So inside, you have a little bit of cucumber, carrot, mint, a little bit of raw peanut, since we couldn't roast today.
How would you like me to eat this? He's doing a perfect demonstration of it.
The noodle is actually made out of shrimp, kind of showcasing a little different technique for the wrapper.
Thank you.
It was a pleasure to cook for you.
The pleasure was all mine.
- Hi, Katie.
- Hello.
So, what I did for you is a very light saffron, hand-cut pappardelle.
I made a tomato sauce.
And then I also added some fresh cherry tomatoes and basil.
Did you put salt in the pasta? Mm-hmm, in the water and in the pasta.
Really? Awesome.
- Thank you, Katie.
- Thank you, Katie.
Thank you, padma.
I didn't really feel pressure at first.
But the more I think about it, most people want to send Aaron home.
So this is a huge load on my shoulders.
Ming, how did Aaron and Katie do? You know, I think they did a great job.
Katie, hats off, having the courage to make fresh pasta in 30 minutes.
I did think it just needed a little bit more sauce, more salt.
Aaron, your technique to make a spring roll wrapper out of shrimp, kudos to that.
I question the use of raw peanuts.
Who won, ming? The winner Is Aaron.
Holy , I made it.
I feel like being so close to going home and actually coming out on top, you know, that's huge for me.
Aaron, to show a technique like that, you really obviously knew what you were doing there.
And your flavors really popped.
So hats off for that dish.
Thank you very much.
Congratulations, Aaron.
You've lived to cook another day.
It's not fun to be here.
Katie, just in the end, wasn't good enough to beat Aaron.
But you get to stay in the competition.
- Peanuts, pretzels.
- I can't believe this.
- We're going to Fenway.
- I'm nervous.
Cool hand Luke.
It's time for your next elimination challenge.
Are you ready to be taken out to the old ball game? - Yeah.
- Popcorn! Pretzels! - Fried dough here! - Peanuts! Pretzels! Peanuts here! I think it's pretty cool when I started hearing - Popcorn! - Pretzels here! Cotton candy! - Welcome.
- Thank you.
Boston is home to Fenway park, the oldest ballpark in the nation.
For the first time in its 102-year history, the cathedral of baseball will be hosting a culinary competition.
I can't believe this.
Fenway park is everything to a bostonian.
So I'm feeling like it's Christmas Eve.
For your elimination challenge, you must use one of these classic ballpark snacks as inspiration to create a fine-dining dish.
Please come up and pick the ballpark snack you'd like.
Peanuts! Pretzel! Popcorn! I almost got trampled doing it, but I grabbed peanuts.
Popcorn, pretzels.
I'm a Yankees fan.
I bleed pinstripes.
The Yankees mean a lot to me.
This is gonna be a rough one.
Chefs, you will have three hours to prep and cook here in the Top Chef kitchen.
Tomorrow you will have an hour to finish your dishes before service begins.
Joining us in the outfield will be famed sportswriter Dan shaughnessy and hall of famer Dennis eckersley.
Good luck.
We'll see you at the ballpark.
- Thanks, padma.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Play ball.
Whoo-hoo! I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.
Excuse me.
Not that one, that one that's in your hand right now.
I am so excited to be at Fenway park tomorrow.
I know that Adam's not, though.
I'm super stoked here.
Fine dining concession stand-inspired food? That phrase is fairly oxymoronic.
Definitely gonna be a bit of a challenge for me.
I'm gonna be making a popcorn soup.
And then I'm gonna be making kind of a play on a baseball.
It's gonna be butter-poached haddock.
And then I'm gonna basically fry it up like a croquette and set in the middle of my soup.
I'm a huge baseball fan.
You know, I try to take my son a couple of times a year.
It's an opportunity for me to spend time with my son, which is really very precious to me, because, you know, the restaurant business is not exactly marriage and fatherhood-friendly.
But I'm making these sacrifices to try to provide for our family.
Any idea where breadcrumbs might be? Awesome.
30 minutes, everybody.
I had a crab cake in mind.
- Guess what, no crab.
- What you making? Braised pork belly with, like, a Sam Adams beer.
I'm doing a savory bread pudding.
The ballpark food that I have to incorporate in my dish, it was fried dough.
Nobody else pick it.
But hey, I think I can get it like, set in a way that I can present, like, the Latin flavors that I'm confident in making.
I'm originally from Mexico city.
I came to L.
A.
with $5 in my pocket and started from zero almost 13 years ago.
I worked for probably the only fine dining restaurant at that time in L.
A.
, which was bastide, with chef Alain.
And now I own my own restaurant in Beverly hills.
If you put 100% of your effort, and you work hard, the American dream, it's possible.
And I'm a living proof of that.
- 20 minutes left.
- I'm super excited.
I'm gonna take the idea of, like, sweet memories, ballpark, and then turn it into a sweet dessert featuring corn.
I grew up in rosemount, Minnesota.
My dad loved/hated the twins.
Two years ago, my dad got diagnosed with cancer.
One of the last memories I have is going to a Minnesota twins game with him, and it was absolutely incredible.
My dad was very supportive of my culinary career.
And I don't think a lot of people get that.
So I'm definitely dedicating this dish to him.
This one's for you, dad.
Ten minutes.
Have a good one.
Guys, I'm taking this first circulator.
I'm taking the second one.
Katsuji, where's your sunglasses at today? They're on my head, sir.
Oh, very stylish.
Your girlfriend loves when I put them on.
She likes it even better when he takes them off.
Oh, ho ho! I'm not in love with this challenge.
I grabbed pretzel, because I knew everyone was going for peanuts.
But I don't really eat junk food.
I don't really eat snacks.
It's definitely hard to get inspired by junk food.
In my restaurant in Michigan, I'm very in tune with my farmers.
So whatever kind of comes in the door with foragers and farmers and butchers, that's what I'm all about.
I'm making a lobster cake with a pretzel panzanella salad and an avocado-buttermilk mousse.
My goal is to season all the components and have as much harmony as I can with hopes of just not being in the bottom.
Who's having fun? Whoo! Two hours.
Oh, .
That was a little hot.
I'm elevating my ballpark food by making a dish inspired by the flavors I like to eat with a pretzel.
I love cheese with my pretzel and beer.
So I really want to do a nice beer-braised short rib.
Yes, I grew up going to games with my family.
And now I have a son who's starting to play baseball.
I always knew I wanted to have a big family.
And I've always known I wanted to be a chef.
Just because you become a mother doesn't mean you need to give up on these huge dreams that you have.
And that's exactly why I'm here.
I want to have it all.
And I want to show my kids that you live out your dreams to their fullest potential.
I'm setting this to 400.
I see Keriann.
She's trying to braise short ribs.
That's kind of a stretch in three hours.
It's gonna be a miracle if she gets them on the plate, and they're nice and tender.
What are you making, Rebecca? Salmon and pretzels, mustard, pretzel crisp.
I am not gonna make sure I'm on the bottom this time.
I'm never touching that tea again, ever.
- Whoa.
- Hey, opa.
Party foul.
I'm that guy, everyone.
I have no idea what kind of kitchen we're gonna be cooking in when we get to Fenway.
Hali.
So today I need to poach my fish, so that tomorrow is a scoop-and-serve.
Back, back, back.
What is he doing? Fish can overcook in a second.
That's my worst nightmare, overcooking my fish.
Hey, guys, 20 minutes till we are out of here.
Something's burning.
My creme brulees are still in the oven.
And I'm a little bit nervous.
They look like they're done.
But when you're making a super-thick, free-form creme brulee, it's kind of hard to tell.
And I'm honestly not gonna know if my creme brulee's set until I walk into the challenge tomorrow.
The brulee is on the bottom.
To serve our guests at Fenway park, it's ridiculous.
I look over, and Katie's a show.
I had a huge mistake in technique.
Chefs, it's early as .
You have to cook food at Fenway today.
Waking up in the house this morning, I'm definitely feeling inspired and motivated.
I've won a few challenges in a row, and it feels really good.
But there's still so much ahead.
You know, for the early part of my career, I had an amazing pedigree.
I was working at a four-star restaurant straight I had an amazing pedigree.
Out of culinary school, working with the best of the best.
At the same time, I was starting to use drugs and party way too much.
People stopped talking to me.
People locked me out of their houses.
People fired me.
When I decided to finally get sober, I had a full game plan as to who I wanted to be, and how I wanted toive my life.
I've done a lot of work to make amends with a lot of my past, to move forward, to repair relationships, to be a better person, to be a better chef.
All right, guys, let's get out of here.
To win Top Chef would really be the most important thing I could do today to kind of close the door on the darkness of my past.
Let's do this.
I cannot believe we are here right now.
Just walking into the stadium, it's a lot to take in.
Coming through, coming through.
What's up, what's up, what's up, what's up? Today's challenge, we have to create a fine dining dish that's inspired by some basic ballpark food.
I'm so happy to have a hand sink.
And then what do you know, hand sink doesn't work.
The concession stand kitchen is really small.
So today we're gonna be cooking in staggered groups.
- How you looking? - It didn't set.
But I think I can, like mold it.
I unpack my ingredients.
I have soup instead of a creme brulee.
I am whisking like mad, trying to reincorporate the creme brulee into the whipped cream to make a successful free-form creme brulee, which puts me behind on getting everything else ready.
I'm pretty ecstatic right now.
I'm a big baseball fan, and watching all the yankee/red sox games over the years.
First thing I'm doing is going to a Dodgers game when I get home.
Today I'm doing a play on a hot dog.
Instead of a hot dog bun, I'm doing kind of, like, a pretzel cracker.
And then instead of an actual hot dog, I'm doing pork rillette.
Behind, behind, behind.
I just remembered my below me.
Right behind, right behind.
Coming through.
Fridge, fridge, fridge.
Or ? It seems like miss culinary school instructor bit off a little bit more than she could chew.
- Time.
- 18 minutes.
.
The torch is meltig it, and the torch isn't working.
- I'm struggling, I'm struggling.
- You got it.
Don't freak out.
The green monster, man.
Those are actually some of the best seats, 'cause you can see freaking everything.
- Thank you.
- Look where we are! - Yeah, right? - Seriously.
Ha ha ha! This is how you play it off the wall.
I'm nervous to sit here, because, I mean, we're right under the monster here.
They've been playing here since 1912.
I mean, the first year they played here, John f.
Kennedy's grandfather threw out the first pitch.
And then 100 years later, John f.
Kennedy's daughter threw out the first pitch.
I think for everybody who grows up here, it's a personal, kind of a sacred place.
This is like a church to them, it really is.
We're sitting in church.
What's the time? Three minutes.
Oh, my God.
All right, how you coming along over there, brother? I'm doing good, man.
I'm doing good.
- How about yourself? - Yeah, doing all right.
My baseball croquette.
Give this a quick fry.
I have just enough time to get the croquette breaded and ready to go.
All right, less than a minute.
Finishing strong, Aaron? Bagel dog, baby.
That looks great.
Oh, Katie.
As a baseball fan, I could've never imagined having this opportunity.
To walk through the visitors' clubhouse, come through the tunnel, and actually serve our guests on the field at Fenway park, it's ridiculous.
Oh, here come the dishes.
Don't look.
It's hideous.
I am an emotional wreck.
This was supposed to be a dish for my dad.
But now I'm thinking that this is the end of my Top Chef run.
Aaron, what was your inspiration, and what did you make? My ingredient was pretzel.
I kind of did my version of a pretzel dog.
So we took pretzel, wrapped it around a stainless steel mold, baked it.
And then inside, I did something of the fashion of rillette and then just a little spring pea tendril salad.
Aaron, I love your presentation.
I mean, it definitely looks fine dining.
- Thank you.
- I think the sauces are really good, there's a good amount of flavor to them.
And I think using the pretzel in this way, I think was pretty inventive.
I think if you actually just put an Italian sausage or just a hot dog in the middle, 'cause it was just a little bit soft and mushy.
So I actually did a popcorn soup.
I garnished the dish witha baseball-inspired fish croquette and then simply breaded it with saltine and ritz crackers.
And inside the actual croquette, a little bit of dill pickled celery to cut through the richness of the soup.
- The soup's rich? - The actual soup - I thought was pretty rich.
- I'm joking.
I do think you did get great popcorn flavor in this soup.
You know, Ron, I think one of the bigger problems here, if you want to put garnish in a soup, that's fine.
If you wanted to make balls, they should've been about that big.
Sometimes a bowl of soup should just be a bowl of soup.
Sure.
Point taken.
My ingredient today was popcorn.
I apologize on the appearance.
I had a huge mistake in technique.
And I'm sorry I let you down.
I was like, "what the are you doing, dude?" My original technique was to do a popcorn creme brulee.
And when that failed, I turned it into a mousse.
Underneath it is a blue cornmeal salted shortbread.
And then beer-caramel-pomegranate- molasses-cherry puffed sorghum and honeycomb.
- I like this dish.
- Yeah, me too.
You're taking yourself out of the game.
Don't.
Dennis, if one pitch isn't working in the bullpen, you don't come out on the mound and then tell the other team, "hey, you know, my curve ball's not really tight today.
" - Not me.
- Not you? Put a dish down and then stand back and let the dish speak for itself.
Thank you.
This is huge.
I have a lot of good memories associated with baseball, with my mom and my dad before he passed away.
Oh.
Oh, I hate this routine.
Well, you did him really proud today.
So I think you should take comfort in that.
Thanks.
I think my dad would think this dessert was super weird.
But he would definitely be proud of the dish I did today.
Thank you all.
Right behind.
I hope they like my whole concept and my reasoning behind it.
Like, I really put myself in the ballpark when I came up with this dish.
"In the ballpark," it's cute.
I'm glad I could be cute for you, Katsuji.
Going into the final hour, I want to get my short ribs in the oven right away, so they will be nice and tender for the judges.
What are you doing with your tortillas? Fry them to make tortilla chips.
What I have to do is, I have to make sure my bread pudding, it's nice and Fluffy.
Then I want the pork belly to be crispy on the outside with a little bit of softness in the inside.
Is that pork kosher? It's a circumcised pork.
Ah, the pork, The pork.
It's not as tender as I want it to be.
Fond memories is winning in the world series, - 'cause I caught the ball.
- Yeah.
- In San Francisco.
- Yeah.
That's cool.
And then the worst moment is kirk Gibson took me deep in Los Angeles, the miracle home run.
What are you feeling at that moment on the mound? No one would look at me.
And it's, like, loud.
And I'm walking off the field.
And there is nobody making eye contact with you, nobody.
Yeah, you should've played for the Yankees.
Should've played for the Yankees.
One minute.
Be very careful, please.
There is no doubt I'm in the bottom three.
Just, it's Top Chef.
You can be in the bottom one day.
You can be in the top the next day.
Yeah, I know.
Nice, guys.
Good-looking food! Why don't we have any sunflower seeds? Doug.
I drew popcorn.
So I seared a scallop.
I have a little grilled corn and marinated peppers with a little sweet corn sauce.
And then on top, I've got some pickled red onion and popcorn tossed in piment d'espelette and toasted fennel powder.
Doug, I thought you did a sensational job with the scallop.
There wasn't too much to it.
I'm sure you put a lot into it, but you didn't take away from the scallop itself.
- Thank you.
- I'm surprised the corn sauce wasn't sweeter.
I actually like that it's not over sweet.
- Yeah, so do I, actually.
- Me too.
I think some of these sweet corns are-- - yeah.
- I like the bright notes in the corn sauce, it's good.
Thank you, chef.
So I chose the pretzel.
I did a beer-braised short rib with a horseradish-parsnip puree, a preztel crispy shallot, and then a lager-infused fondue.
I got no essence of pretzel, which is just as well.
I'm not a big pretzel fan, so thank you for keeping them out of there for me.
I find that the short rib's not cooked enough, also really underseasoned.
I agree with tom.
It just needed another hour.
I'm super frustrated at this point, because I thought the short rib was cooked the way that I wanted to serve it.
I'm really hoping that this dish is not gonna send me home.
- Katsuji.
- I was the only one who picked the fried dough.
So what you have, it's on the bottom.
It's a bread pudding with mushrooms and a little bit of bacon, a braised pork belly that then's been deep-fried.
I love the fact that you repurposed the fried dough as the bread pudding.
I thought that was pretty brilliant.
I just think there's a lot going on in there.
It's confusing.
Oh The pork belly is really tough and a little desiccated feeling.
If you actually cut it into a larger chunk and fried it, the inside would still be nice and soft, and the outside's crispy.
But this--just there's a lot going on.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you very much.
Thank you.
- Mei, how you doing? - Good, how are you? - Solid.
- Everything going good? Yeah.
I got popcorn.
And I'm making a soup.
Today I'm making a corn and ramp soup.
It's not really that vibrant green-yellow that I was looking for.
I don't have any more ramp tops to blend into it.
At this point, I can't do anything about it.
So I'm just gonna roll with it.
You know, I think it's really cool that we get to be here.
Oh, my God, so exciting.
You want to taste this sunchoke and peanut puree for my scallops? There's not a doubt in my mind about my dish.
I think the pickled peanus are really gonna wow the judges.
Three, two, one.
Actually stepping foot onto that field, it's nothing like you would imagine.
Did you ever think you would ever be cooking at Fenway? I might cry as soon as I walk away from this table.
It means a lot.
See, now you get it going.
I didn't know I had this many emotions! I'm not really this much of a girl.
Let's start with the soup.
So the ingredient I chose today was popcorn.
And I made a corn and ramp soup, pickled ramps on top, with fried calamari tossed in truffle butter with bacon popcorn.
I love this dish.
The corn really came through.
The nuance of the popcorn bacon, that added a nice salty quality to it.
- Mm-hmm.
- I do like the pickled ramps that you put in there as a garnish.
I couldn't tell if it was, like, lemon confit or something.
And you keep eating around, and you realize what it is.
And it's a nice little touch.
I like it.
You're up, Mei.
So I made for you a seared pork loin with braised peanuts, peanut sauce on the side, and an herb salad.
Also in the herb salad, there's peanut brittle as well.
I love the radishes.
They're great and the pickle elements.
I love the peanuts.
I think overall, it's a really good dish.
I think the pork's the main issue with it.
It's a little tight.
It's overcooked.
It might've served you better to cut the meat in smaller piece, so the dish could eat a little bit more like a salad.
Let's go to Stacy.
My ingredient was peanuts.
I made seared scallop with pickled peanuts, a peanut and sunchoke emulsion.
The scallop's impeccably cooked.
The peanuts were the seller component of the dish.
I just wanted more of them.
I wanted more of that beautiful caramel, pickly, thai flavor.
Stacy, I think you did Boston proud.
- Thank you, chef.
- Stacy, if this whole thing works out for you, you might be throwing a first pitch off of that mound.
Don't do what ming did when he threw out the first pitch.
- You can't bounce it.
- I can throw a ball.
Thank you for bringing that up.
Thank you very much, ladies.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
I'm good now.
I'm good.
Whoo.
Shut the up for a moment.
You ever talk to me like that-- I don't give a what you're gonna do.
You know, people are starting to hate you.
And you know what, embrace it.
This is a baseball field.
Don't they all just, like, hang off and spit? I made the softball team.
I didn't make the baseball team in high school.
I couldn't throw fast enough.
If we were a baseball team, Ron would be the coach.
Katie would be the water girl.
Greg's going in center field with those gazelle legs.
- Short people are catchers.
- You're special little people.
- You're special to me.
- Shut up.
Katsuji's going behind the plate, 'cause hopefully, a mask will get him to shut up for a minute.
I would be the one to get kicked out of the game.
- Adam.
- Yo.
Doesn't jeter play for the Red Sox? I beg your pardon.
Bottom oven is at 325.
Greg, this kitchen wasn't made for tall people, huh? No, that's why I'm over here.
I've won the last few challenges.
So I'm definitely gonna keep my momentum going by trying to nail cooking techniques and making everything as perfect as possible.
Duck is good.
It's tender.
It's seasoned just right.
James, how are you looking, buddy? Styling, brother.
How did your lobster cakes come out? I'm happy with them, you know.
- Can I have a time check? - 11.
I'm just waiting for the last possible moment to pop my fish in, so it doesn't get trashed.
My ballpark food is pretzel, so I chose to make a glazed, slow-roasted salmon and a pretzel streusel.
I want to be on the top.
I do not want to fly in the middle.
There's 6 minutes and 34 seconds.
Man, I pull my fish out, and the convection oven has hammered them.
I'm trying to not freak out about this.
But honestly, I the fish up.
Five, four, three We're done.
I'm nervous.
Calm, cool, and collected.
Cool hand Luke.
I'm walking out in front of the green monster onto the playing field at Fenway.
This is definitely a story I'll get to tell my grandkids.
But I'm nervous, because I overcooked the fish today.
More recently, they won the world series here last October, which they hadn't won it at home in 95 years.
The curse of the bambino's turned on me.
Hello, chefs.
What did you make for us? I had the pretzel, which makes me think of mustard.
So roasted some salmon for you today with a mustard and honey glaze.
Toasted the streusel on top with a little pickled shallots, dill, and watercress and a mustard creme fraiche on the bottom.
There's a lot of things that could've gone wrong with this dish.
I actually had a very bad salmon moment on Top Chef once with ming tsai as a judge.
So I'm glad that you did not repeat that moment that I had.
Clean, classy little dish.
The salmon is nicely cooked.
I like how you used the pretzel.
This dish definitely gets the job done.
- Thank you, chef.
- James.
So I did a lobster cake with a pretzel panzanella.
And then I did a little avocado-buttermilk mousse underneath.
The lobster flavor's really good.
- It's good, yeah.
- But it's just-- it's really mushy.
After a couple bites, I couldn't get really get into it, because the texture more than anything else.
I understand.
Adam, which dish did you make us? Watermelon curry with peanut oil-poached Halibut.
Pickled cherry pepper, jalapeno, and Fresno chili salad with some pea shoots.
The boiled peanuts and the curry base, really nice and lively and chewy and leguminous, and I like that.
The fish is hammered.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
The fish is overcooked.
But I think the fact that you have this broth saves the fact that it's overcooked.
You got to the ninth inning and you let up a home run.
Not the first time, chef.
Not the first time.
Gregory.
This morning I prepared for you the duck.
I immediately thought of the kind of nut cluster in cracker Jacks.
So we have a peanut nam prik pao on the bottom.
The duck has been simply roasted.
Peanut brittle, anchovies, crispy shallots as a crispy topping, and just a fresh herb salad.
I like the pears.
I love the scallions.
I think the flavors on it were great, really bright.
Yeah, I mean, I just think that it's well-balanced.
Everything's right to the peak of where it should be.
This is moneyball.
This is a smart dish, right here.
Thank you very much, chef.
Thank you all.
Good job, buddy.
Crushed that fish.
Yeah, but the rest of it was so good.
Yeah, but what the ? I can't cook fish? God damn it.
So disappointing.
Fenway park's a really good metaphor for today's challenge, because when you look around, it's really a simple ballpark compared to some of the other monster parks you have these days.
And so, you know, the simple dishes actually stood out.
I think Gregory's dish, complex in flavor but still very simple in execution.
I liked Melissa's soup.
I thought the corn, the sweet corn really came through.
I liked the crunch of the calamari.
Katie surprised me with her dessert dish that she-- if she actually nails a dish and comes out here going, "I nailed this," it's probably gonna be exceptionally good.
I think Mei's dish could've been so good except for that poor cookery.
It was just horrible.
What about the pork belly? I thought that was one of the worst things I ate.
Yeah.
Katsuji's pork belly was, I though, exceptionally better than the short rib, - which was-- - yes.
- Horrid.
- I do too.
Keriann's dish also didn't have enough pretzel in it.
She sprinkled some pretzel on the shallot.
And then there was the monster ball soup.
Ron's soup.
You look at that, and you just say, "where are you going with this?" Well, an element of this was-- it's a fine dining challenge.
There was nothing about that soup that was fine dining.
I got to get used to smaller portions.
That's just not my thing.
The only thing that separates fine dining from everything else is the details and just finesse.
I would say it's the highest-quality food I've ever eaten in Fenway park.
So ready to get out of here.
And I'm not coming back anytime soon.
- I want to thank both of you.
- Thanks for having me.
- This is a big thrill.
- Exactly.
All right, lets get back to judges' table, 'cause I'm sure the Red Sox want their ballpark back.
Whoo, what a day.
What a day.
If I don't go home today, I'm not putting some in the bag again.
What about you, Aaron? Didn't like the filling.
It was underseasoned.
That was my fault.
They would've liked to see, like, an actual sausage inside of that pretzel mold.
You make a smarter sausage than-- shut the up for a moment.
Don't talk to me like that, man.
I'm trying to talk here, dude.
All you do is talk.
A lot of people are starting to get pissed off.
So many people are so tired of you talking.
Just shut your mouth.
Just because you suck at cooking is not my fault.
Shove it with bread pudding, dude.
Bread pudding is what five-year-olds cook.
You're in Top Chef.
You ever talk to me like that-- I don't give a what you're gonna do.
I will-- you and I will have a problem.
I'm so scared of you right now.
Katsuji and Aaron, they're like two rams, you know, going at each other.
Katsuji, he'll pick at you and pick at you until you explode.
Aaron's a little more combative about it.
You know, people are starting to hate you.
And you know what, embrace it.
Keep embracing the hate, you know.
You can always move to Europe.
- Keep embracing the hate, brother.
I hear high heels.
Chefs, we'd like to see all of you, please.
Thank you.
Tom, overall, how did you think our chefs did? I think some of the chefs just really not only embraced the challenge, but gave us really delicious food, and some fell flat on their face.
We see a lot of the same mistakes, kind of overreaching, trying to do too much, trying to make things too complicated.
And you know, some of these mistakes need to be fixed if you're gonna do well in this competition.
Gregory, Melissa, Katie.
The rest of you can step aside, please.
The three of you served our favorite dishes, so, congratulations.
Katie, I think your dad would be so proud of you, and I'm sure he is.
How do you feel right now? Good.
Overwhelmed.
Happy.
Smiling.
Part of dealing with these challenges, if you do make a mistake, how do you recover from it? But what you gave us was something that you should've really stood behind, because it was really tasty.
- Thank you.
- And the key there is, - you did not give up.
- No.
You kept trying.
That's why you're here.
Melissa, I loved the simplicity of your dish.
We loved the surprise, the bacon popcorn underneath, 'cause you don't know it's there.
And to get that crunch and that salt from the bacon - is great.
- Thank you.
I just loved the balance of it and the simplicity.
But I wanted to also make it refined and complex in that sense.
Gregory, how do you feel about your dish? I was really happy with it.
I just wanted to incorporate all of those ingredients and be inspired by the challenge of nuts and baseball and just kind of make everything round and work with each othe.
It's the details, making sure the balance is just there.
Nothing is screaming for attention on the plate.
It all just kind of works together.
And that's what we got from your dish.
Thank you.
Ming, please do the honors of announcing the winning chef.
Chef, your dish perfectly executed great use of your ballpark ingredient, beautiful to look at.
And the winner is Mr.
immunity, Gregory.
Thank you, chef.
Gregory, you're quite the front-runner.
- How does it feel? - It feels good.
I just want to keep pushing very, very hard and keep trying to be as creative as possible.
- That's two in a row now.
- Yes.
You guys need to step it up.
Don't let him run away with it.
Know who you're going after.
Congratulations to all of you.
Please join the rest of the chefs.
Good job, good job.
Ron, Keriann, and Katsuji, - please step forward.
- God damn it.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
You three served our least favorite dishes of the day.
You know, chefs, all three of you made some sort of basic mistakes, mistakes of cooking meat, pork belly, proportion.
And you know, someone's going home tonight.
Keriann, you're no stranger to competition.
Did you really think you could braise short ribs in that short of time without a pressure cooker? The way that I braised them, I thought I could get them tender in time, yes.
My worry is that you are kind of standing behind the braise.
I thought it was good.
You know, I was able to cut with a fork.
I don't like being able to, like, eat short ribs with a spoon.
I don't think they should completely turn to mush.
I wouldn't have eaten it with a spoon.
I wanted a saber-toothed tiger, though.
It was really tough.
What are you thinking about right now, Katsuji? That I keep just going back to the same mistake that I made the first couple of times.
How can I make it better? How can I make it better? But it's actually working against me, because the dish that I wanted to bring, like, the pork belly, it's so good.
- That's what really kill me.
- Yeah, but pork belly's really good when pork belly's really good.
When pork belly's not really good, it's not very good.
You need to be a better editor.
Cross out the irrelevant parts of all those dishes, because there were good attributes to that plate.
And if you had made those good attributes excellent attributes, then you would've had a winner.
And, Ron, the same thing that we're saying could be said for you as well.
Again, it's the proportions.
What was that? Was it a soup, or was it a fish ball? Well, it was intended to be a soup.
I mean, I think my first shortcoming was translating the challenge, making the whole baseball analogy, and obviously, the physical appearance of the croquette.
Well, you're a chef.
Make the change there on the spot.
Cut the ball in half.
Make it smaller.
It's about making good, sound decisions.
Well, chefs, I got to say, this was a real privilege, going to cook in Fenway.
And I know everybody was swinging for the fences.
But unfortunately, one of you struck out.
You know, chefs, someone's going home tonight.
But the two that are remaining, you really need to step up your game if you're gonna continue on in this competition.
You know, it's a lot of simple mistakes that are being made here.
Ron.
Please pack your knives and go.
Thank you for the opportunity.
You know, Ron, we're both old dogs.
And sometimes you put a dish together, and you - say, "I wish I had that back.
" - Sure.
It was just kind of hard to get past the overall messiness of it.
- I understand.
- Ron, - we're sorry to see you go.
- As am I.
For the rest of you, we'll see you at the next challenge.
See you.
Good luck.
- Take care, man.
- Good luck.
You know, my-- I'm better than what I showed today.
You know, I mean there's no doubt that I'm better than the people who are still in that kitchen right now.
Roomie.
New York, brother.
All these little, miniature entrees that these kids are making, it's not what I do.
Y'all be good.
Be strong.
Do what you got to do.
This experience kind of reaffirmed my pure passion for food and cooking.
It's easy to get distracted by all the non-food parts of running restaurants.
I'll definitely go back with kind of a renewed vigor for doing what I know that I love doing, cooking great food.
Next on Top Chef We have a very special guest, actor George wendt.
Norm.
Cheers.
You're feeding norm from cheers crudite? - Yeah.
- I like your style.
This is beantown.
I heard you had a crush on somebody.
Woody Harrelson.
Take a number.
Tomorrow two of you will go home.
It's a double elimination.
We're all really, really scared.
Dude, I'm right here.
He just totally all over me.
Guys, please.
Together.
Make sure the chef knows that I'm gluten-free.
This is definitely an "oh, crap" moment.
I think I have the ingredients that are inside yours.
That bothers me as a chef.
It lacked something dynamic.
I felt like it was good room service.
To learn more about the chefs, go to bravotv.
Com.
I cook asparagus nice.
We had a chance to cook for some of Boston's bravest and finest.
There can only be one winning team, the blue team.
Me, Greg, and Rebecca knocked it out of the park.
Joy, please pack your knives and go.
If we have another team challenge, let's make sure that we don't act like children.
Are you implying that the green team had something to do with Joy's going home? Do you not think that that whole end of you guys plating was not a total show? But at the end of the day, it came down to cooking the protein.
Our team cooked the protein properly.
That's bull.
Aaron and Keriann really kind of exhibited some very unprofessional traits.
And I'm still a little bewildered how one of them didn't go home.
Aaron's a lying sack of .
I'm not your employee, dude.
- I don't work for you.
- If you worked for me, - I would fire you in a minut.
- I'll cook you under the table.
Go yourself.
If someone gets on that last nerve, Aaron explodes.
And Keriann's got to get over that ego.
Hey, guys, I don't know.
Long enough day? Let's go home and ride this one out.
13 chefs remain to compete in the ultimate test of culinary skill.
At stake for the winner, 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.
You and I have the most similar backgrounds.
My mom, you know, drank a lot, and my dad was kind of, like, a rolling stone, and my sister raised me a lot.
Aaron and I both come from small towns where our resources were rather limited.
So both of us feel a little bit like underdogs in this competition, because we don't have that incredible resume.
I grew up at a very, very young age.
You know, I found the kitchen.
And it was just, like, I'm making a living out of it.
I'm kind of good at it.
Growing up in a broken home, I had no discipline.
I had no father figure.
I had no parental guidance.
So I became self-reliant very quickly.
I started to cook for myself.
And at first it was kind of out of necessity, but then I actually grew to really love to cook.
And right now I'm the head chef over at bow & truss.
And it's amazing.
If my mom had had the money to put me through CIA, I'd be Bobby Flay.
Because of my childhood, you know, I'm closed off.
I pick and choose very carefully who I lead into my life.
And I think that people kind of view me as, like, the cocky little ass That likes to talk .
But, you know, at the same time, underneath that, I know my faults, and I know my weaknesses.
And, you know, Top Chef is helping me kind of work those out.
Let's do it.
Good morning.
Please welcome ming tsai.
- Morning, chefs.
- Good morning.
I love ming tsai.
Ming was one of the first Chinese chefs on TV, and it just inspired me as a young child to want to be like him.
It's time to heat things up.
This is a sudden death quickfire.
Oh, .
Here we go again.
Chefs, if you lose the first part of this challenge, you'll face immediate elimination.
In 1773, the sons of liberty dumped an entire shipment of tea into the harbor.
This pivotal act of defiance later became known as the Boston tea party.
Because of the Boston tea party, it was deemed unpatriotic to drink tea.
Hence, in America, we drink a lot more coffee than tea.
Just like coffee, tea isn't something that's only for drinking.
Cooking with tea can enhance the flavor of foods.
There are so many varieties to work with, from flowery to spicy to earthy.
Chefs, the challenge is simple-- create a delicious dish highlighting tea.
There are 13 varieties on this table, but each of you can only use one.
The winner of this quickfire will win immunity.
But remember, the chef that makes the worst dish will face elimination.
Chefs, you have 45 minutes to make tea for two.
Your time starts now.
Good luck.
I'm really hoping to get a kind of fruity, floral tea.
Dark, smoky teas kind of lend themselves to roasted meats and things of that nature.
That might be a little tricky with the short time frame of the quickfire.
It smells great.
Strawberry white tea, awesome.
Where is there an empty station? I got gunpowder spearmint tea.
No idea what it means for anything.
You took yellowtail? What do you mean, nobody's going for the alligator? Shocking! Yeah, I got the monkfish cheeks, so I'm okay.
I was going for the yellowtail, but Adam grabbed it out of my hand.
I have never cooked with monkfish cheeks before.
Thanks, Adam.
I couldn't be happier.
Monkfish is taking forever.
Adam, can you believe it's another elimination already? Hey, we got one new yorker and one bostonian left.
It ain't gonna be one of us, is it? It is not gonna be one of us.
36 minutes to go.
I got lemongrass pomegranate rooibos.
- Nice.
- It smells like a flower shop.
When I was thinking Boston tea party, I was definitely thinking, like, black tea, not lemongrass ginger pomegranate rooibos tea.
I don't think they had that then.
- What are you making, Rebecca? - Vanilla cake.
Do you feel like you're taking a risk by making a desser? Not with this tea.
I think I'd be - Myself if I didn't.
- I am completely comfortable doing both pastry and savory.
I am the executive sous chef and the pastry chef at trenchermen Chicago, which means I am a double threat to this competition.
Sorry, people.
What do you have going on there? White tea with strawberry.
So we're gonna do some raw tuna.
I'm actually really, really excited to work with this tea.
I really love cooking with kind of fruity and floral flavors.
You know, you can add some spice, you can add some heat.
So I'm feeling really good going into this.
I don't know who's going home today.
- I don't think I am.
- Not me.
I'll take Aaron.
- Aaron? - Yeah.
That'd be nice.
Katsuji, how many ingredients are you using this time? - Three, maybe four.
- Wow.
I'm working with Asian pear white tea.
My idea right now is to do a crispy skin rainbow trout with a white tea beurre blanc.
- Look out.
- Looking over at James' dish, it's looking a little dated.
But James is an '80s baby.
I mean, James has a tattoo of Patrick Swayze on his arm.
Watch your space, brother.
Let's split it down the middle, Ron.
Let's go half and half - I'm sorry.
- You're okay, you're okay.
Let's just go half and half.
I think my biggest fear about being on Top Chef is that I can't bake my way out of a wet paper bag.
So of course, I open my canister of tea, and it is a chocolate tea.
I just instantly think of a mole.
- My bad.
- 22 minutes.
Melissa, what are you doing back there? I'm gonna take the tea and steep it into the rice.
I end up with toasted nut oolong tea.
I'm picking up so much coconut.
So I'm gonna brew it and fuse it into my rice.
And I'm gonna go Asian with this.
And I'm gonna kind of go back to my roots.
I grew up in a very traditional Chinese household.
My father was a little more on the strict end and didn't really support me as a chef.
It's coming together.
Being here, I really want to prove to my dad that I am an extremely talented chef.
Six minutes on the dot, kids.
I've pretty much scorched my first duck breast.
Hot.
Watch your back.
It's a sudden death quickfire.
Presenting burnt food is just unacceptable.
Good to go.
It's always good to have two breasts.
- Sorry.
- Go, below, below.
Oh, .
I cooked the Out of the monkfish cheeks.
I'm hoping the rest of the plate can save it, but I'm kind of shooting in the dark at this point.
Aaron seems like a crazy person.
He is running everywhere.
He doesn't really seem like he knows what he's doing.
This is a sudden death quickfire challenge.
I'm definitely hoping that Aaron is on the losing side.
Look at the clock.
Two minutes.
Two minutes.
Three, two, one.
Time's up.
Hands up.
Utensils down.
- Hi, Melissa.
- Hi, padma.
I had toasted nuts with oolong tea, seared duck breasts, and I took Jasmine rice and infused the tea into the rice.
I like the rice a lot.
Actually, it tastes just like it smells.
It's delicious.
Thank you.
- Hi, Katsuji.
- Hello.
I got the toasted rice green tea.
I have toasted brown rice broth with a toasted brown rice crusted tuna.
I love the fact that there's a very strong umami quality to this.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you so much.
I did a golden honey black tea panna cotta.
And I also did an Asian pear that was poached in the tea and lemon.
The flavor of the panna cotta is delicious.
- Thank you very much.
- The tea really comes through.
Don't you make a creme anglaise.
- I do a tea creme anglaise.
- Do you? Actually, my favorite is a Jasmine tea souffle.
You could've done it in 45 minutes, but-- I probably could've.
I'm sorry, chef.
No, no, no, no, no.
Well, making a ming tsai dish is not part of this challenge.
Nicely done.
So today we have a tuna crudo with strawberry white tea and young coconut.
I have to admit, usually I'm not a big fan of fruit with fish.
I'm just not a fan.
But this--this works.
Thank you very much, chef.
I had chocolate and salty.
So I decided to do a tea-crusted duck breast.
I kind of took, like, the spirit of a mole.
I have to tell you, I hate the tea that you got.
But I love how you got its essence in a dish that I didn't hate.
- Great, thank you.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Aaron.
What did you do for us? I just seared monkfish cheeks.
And then they're over an Asian pear, tarragon, and mint salad.
Is this how you like to cook your fish? Yeah, I, like, flash-fried it a little bit, and maybe it just got away from me.
- It's hammered.
- Yeah, okay.
Thank you very much.
What I made for you is a pineapple and burnt citrus iced tea-viche.
- Tea-viche? - Tea-viche.
I think the exotic quality came through.
- Thank you, chef.
- Hi, padma.
I had the Asian pear white tea.
So I did a crispy skin trout on top of a little quinoa that I cooked in the tea.
It's also sitting on a beurre blanc that I pretty much made with a little prosecco and tea.
I don't think I've had a beurre blanc in ten years.
I did pretty much a neutral cake that would pick up as much of the flavor as I could with the steeped tea with little strawberries and some fresh apple for crunch.
I mean, it's a very subtle use of the tea.
- Yes.
- I would've maybe used more of that liquid to really drench the cake, 'cause there's a lot of cake here.
I am absolutely freaking out, as it's a sudden death quickfire.
Like, I could go home for this.
Pick one chef you think you can beat in a sudden death cook-off.
If you lose, you go home.
The least favorite dish was Chefs, remember, if you lose, you will be up for immediate elimination.
Ming, how do you think they did overall? The use of tea by all of you was great.
I think some execution was a little off, but the tea did shine.
Who were the favorites? I think Melissa's seared duck, delicious.
I think my next favorite was Gregory's.
- Thank you, chef.
- The tuna crudo, a great use of strawberry and a beautiful dish.
And who is our final top? I think that would have to go to Ron.
The mole really was the best sauce today.
Thank you.
I'm excited to be in the top three.
But I'm probably, you know, more concerned just about self-preservation at this point.
Ming, please announce the winner of this quickfire.
For me, today the chef that really did the best was Gregory.
Well done.
Beautiful food.
And I think your ratio of the tuna to the strawberry and pouring in the tea-- spot-on.
- Thank you, chef.
- Not only are you the winner, but you have immunity in the next elimination challenge.
At this point in the competition, I've been on the top twice.
It feels so good.
I'm definitely here to play.
But of course, we still have to give you some bad news.
Ming? So the first chef that servd one of our least favorite dishes was James.
The amount of the beurre blanc, the amount of the sauce was a lot of sauce.
Next up would be Aaron with the monkfish.
It was just way overcooked.
The third least favorite would be Rebecca.
The tea flavors didn't quite come out.
Ming, ultimately, who had the least favorite dish and is up for elimination? For me, the chef with the least favorite dish was Aaron.
Aaron, you know what that means.
We cook.
You have an important decision to make.
Pick one chef you think you cn beat in a sudden death cook-off.
If you beat that chef, you both stay in the competition.
If you lose, you go home.
So choose wisely.
Katie.
It's an easy choice.
In the last team challenge, you told me you could cook me under the table.
I was fully ready to go in head-to-head with him and send him home.
You think you can beat her? Yeah, she teaches cooking for a living.
And I never went to culinary school.
So Katie's cooking style really bores me.
It's very plain Jane.
And I'd like to beat a culinary school instructor.
Well, we'll see who schools who.
Fair enough, padma.
Aaron thinks that because I teach culinary school, I'm lesser of a chef, but I definitely can beat Aaron.
For your challenge, you have 30 minutes to cook a dish, but the only source of heat you'll be able to use is the boiling water on the hot line.
Aaron, if you lose, you pack your knives.
Your time Starts now.
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? - I'm doing a spring roll, but a -up one.
I decide on making a play on a spring roll.
I will be utilizing the boiling water by cooking the shrimp wrapper in a ziploc bag in the water.
Come on, Katie.
You got it.
Aaron is young, immature.
To lose to Aaron would be ridiculous.
So I go to something that I know.
I'm gonna make pasta.
But I'm also going to thrw some tomatoes, garlic into a bag and then cook that as well for my sauce.
Come on, Aaron.
This is gonna give you plenty of time to talk if you win.
The most difficult part of this dish is definitely getting the shrimp wrapper in the ziploc bag evenly, so it cooks properly.
Yeah, he's got a game plan.
My dish has to be perfection.
There's no mercy.
There's no excuses.
You know, I up, and then I'm gonna go home.
Why aren't you working? Oh, .
The pasta machine, I'm flipping it.
I'm turning it, I'm twisting it.
Oh, my God.
All right, all right, all right.
Eventually, I realize, screw it.
- I'll just hand-cut the past.
- Are you gonna make it in time? Strong maybe.
- How's it taste, bud? - It's not bad.
The lack of being able to cook is prohibiting me from roasting these peanuts.
You got seven minutes to make that better than not bad.
I'm completely self-taught.
So if I pull this dish off, it'd be kind of, like, an iron in the back a little bit to all the people that didn't go to culinary school, didn't have the money or didn't have the parents.
One minute! - Time to save your ass, Aaron.
- Pasta's ready.
Garnish is ready.
All right, Katie, start plating! Everyone's kind of secretly rooting for Katie to send Aaron packing.
You know, he's definitely kind of a loudmouth.
- Come on! - Come on, Katie! I am feeling good.
I'm adding the smoked mozzarella.
I have the pasta.
People are cheering for me.
And looking over to what Aaron's doing, which looks like a shrimp noodle out of just shrimp and boiling water, I feel like it has more technique than what he's trying to execute.
Five, four, three, two, one! Time's up.
Hands up.
Utensils down.
- Hello.
- Hello.
So what I did was a play on a spring roll.
So inside, you have a little bit of cucumber, carrot, mint, a little bit of raw peanut, since we couldn't roast today.
How would you like me to eat this? He's doing a perfect demonstration of it.
The noodle is actually made out of shrimp, kind of showcasing a little different technique for the wrapper.
Thank you.
It was a pleasure to cook for you.
The pleasure was all mine.
- Hi, Katie.
- Hello.
So, what I did for you is a very light saffron, hand-cut pappardelle.
I made a tomato sauce.
And then I also added some fresh cherry tomatoes and basil.
Did you put salt in the pasta? Mm-hmm, in the water and in the pasta.
Really? Awesome.
- Thank you, Katie.
- Thank you, Katie.
Thank you, padma.
I didn't really feel pressure at first.
But the more I think about it, most people want to send Aaron home.
So this is a huge load on my shoulders.
Ming, how did Aaron and Katie do? You know, I think they did a great job.
Katie, hats off, having the courage to make fresh pasta in 30 minutes.
I did think it just needed a little bit more sauce, more salt.
Aaron, your technique to make a spring roll wrapper out of shrimp, kudos to that.
I question the use of raw peanuts.
Who won, ming? The winner Is Aaron.
Holy , I made it.
I feel like being so close to going home and actually coming out on top, you know, that's huge for me.
Aaron, to show a technique like that, you really obviously knew what you were doing there.
And your flavors really popped.
So hats off for that dish.
Thank you very much.
Congratulations, Aaron.
You've lived to cook another day.
It's not fun to be here.
Katie, just in the end, wasn't good enough to beat Aaron.
But you get to stay in the competition.
- Peanuts, pretzels.
- I can't believe this.
- We're going to Fenway.
- I'm nervous.
Cool hand Luke.
It's time for your next elimination challenge.
Are you ready to be taken out to the old ball game? - Yeah.
- Popcorn! Pretzels! - Fried dough here! - Peanuts! Pretzels! Peanuts here! I think it's pretty cool when I started hearing - Popcorn! - Pretzels here! Cotton candy! - Welcome.
- Thank you.
Boston is home to Fenway park, the oldest ballpark in the nation.
For the first time in its 102-year history, the cathedral of baseball will be hosting a culinary competition.
I can't believe this.
Fenway park is everything to a bostonian.
So I'm feeling like it's Christmas Eve.
For your elimination challenge, you must use one of these classic ballpark snacks as inspiration to create a fine-dining dish.
Please come up and pick the ballpark snack you'd like.
Peanuts! Pretzel! Popcorn! I almost got trampled doing it, but I grabbed peanuts.
Popcorn, pretzels.
I'm a Yankees fan.
I bleed pinstripes.
The Yankees mean a lot to me.
This is gonna be a rough one.
Chefs, you will have three hours to prep and cook here in the Top Chef kitchen.
Tomorrow you will have an hour to finish your dishes before service begins.
Joining us in the outfield will be famed sportswriter Dan shaughnessy and hall of famer Dennis eckersley.
Good luck.
We'll see you at the ballpark.
- Thanks, padma.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Play ball.
Whoo-hoo! I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.
Excuse me.
Not that one, that one that's in your hand right now.
I am so excited to be at Fenway park tomorrow.
I know that Adam's not, though.
I'm super stoked here.
Fine dining concession stand-inspired food? That phrase is fairly oxymoronic.
Definitely gonna be a bit of a challenge for me.
I'm gonna be making a popcorn soup.
And then I'm gonna be making kind of a play on a baseball.
It's gonna be butter-poached haddock.
And then I'm gonna basically fry it up like a croquette and set in the middle of my soup.
I'm a huge baseball fan.
You know, I try to take my son a couple of times a year.
It's an opportunity for me to spend time with my son, which is really very precious to me, because, you know, the restaurant business is not exactly marriage and fatherhood-friendly.
But I'm making these sacrifices to try to provide for our family.
Any idea where breadcrumbs might be? Awesome.
30 minutes, everybody.
I had a crab cake in mind.
- Guess what, no crab.
- What you making? Braised pork belly with, like, a Sam Adams beer.
I'm doing a savory bread pudding.
The ballpark food that I have to incorporate in my dish, it was fried dough.
Nobody else pick it.
But hey, I think I can get it like, set in a way that I can present, like, the Latin flavors that I'm confident in making.
I'm originally from Mexico city.
I came to L.
A.
with $5 in my pocket and started from zero almost 13 years ago.
I worked for probably the only fine dining restaurant at that time in L.
A.
, which was bastide, with chef Alain.
And now I own my own restaurant in Beverly hills.
If you put 100% of your effort, and you work hard, the American dream, it's possible.
And I'm a living proof of that.
- 20 minutes left.
- I'm super excited.
I'm gonna take the idea of, like, sweet memories, ballpark, and then turn it into a sweet dessert featuring corn.
I grew up in rosemount, Minnesota.
My dad loved/hated the twins.
Two years ago, my dad got diagnosed with cancer.
One of the last memories I have is going to a Minnesota twins game with him, and it was absolutely incredible.
My dad was very supportive of my culinary career.
And I don't think a lot of people get that.
So I'm definitely dedicating this dish to him.
This one's for you, dad.
Ten minutes.
Have a good one.
Guys, I'm taking this first circulator.
I'm taking the second one.
Katsuji, where's your sunglasses at today? They're on my head, sir.
Oh, very stylish.
Your girlfriend loves when I put them on.
She likes it even better when he takes them off.
Oh, ho ho! I'm not in love with this challenge.
I grabbed pretzel, because I knew everyone was going for peanuts.
But I don't really eat junk food.
I don't really eat snacks.
It's definitely hard to get inspired by junk food.
In my restaurant in Michigan, I'm very in tune with my farmers.
So whatever kind of comes in the door with foragers and farmers and butchers, that's what I'm all about.
I'm making a lobster cake with a pretzel panzanella salad and an avocado-buttermilk mousse.
My goal is to season all the components and have as much harmony as I can with hopes of just not being in the bottom.
Who's having fun? Whoo! Two hours.
Oh, .
That was a little hot.
I'm elevating my ballpark food by making a dish inspired by the flavors I like to eat with a pretzel.
I love cheese with my pretzel and beer.
So I really want to do a nice beer-braised short rib.
Yes, I grew up going to games with my family.
And now I have a son who's starting to play baseball.
I always knew I wanted to have a big family.
And I've always known I wanted to be a chef.
Just because you become a mother doesn't mean you need to give up on these huge dreams that you have.
And that's exactly why I'm here.
I want to have it all.
And I want to show my kids that you live out your dreams to their fullest potential.
I'm setting this to 400.
I see Keriann.
She's trying to braise short ribs.
That's kind of a stretch in three hours.
It's gonna be a miracle if she gets them on the plate, and they're nice and tender.
What are you making, Rebecca? Salmon and pretzels, mustard, pretzel crisp.
I am not gonna make sure I'm on the bottom this time.
I'm never touching that tea again, ever.
- Whoa.
- Hey, opa.
Party foul.
I'm that guy, everyone.
I have no idea what kind of kitchen we're gonna be cooking in when we get to Fenway.
Hali.
So today I need to poach my fish, so that tomorrow is a scoop-and-serve.
Back, back, back.
What is he doing? Fish can overcook in a second.
That's my worst nightmare, overcooking my fish.
Hey, guys, 20 minutes till we are out of here.
Something's burning.
My creme brulees are still in the oven.
And I'm a little bit nervous.
They look like they're done.
But when you're making a super-thick, free-form creme brulee, it's kind of hard to tell.
And I'm honestly not gonna know if my creme brulee's set until I walk into the challenge tomorrow.
The brulee is on the bottom.
To serve our guests at Fenway park, it's ridiculous.
I look over, and Katie's a show.
I had a huge mistake in technique.
Chefs, it's early as .
You have to cook food at Fenway today.
Waking up in the house this morning, I'm definitely feeling inspired and motivated.
I've won a few challenges in a row, and it feels really good.
But there's still so much ahead.
You know, for the early part of my career, I had an amazing pedigree.
I was working at a four-star restaurant straight I had an amazing pedigree.
Out of culinary school, working with the best of the best.
At the same time, I was starting to use drugs and party way too much.
People stopped talking to me.
People locked me out of their houses.
People fired me.
When I decided to finally get sober, I had a full game plan as to who I wanted to be, and how I wanted toive my life.
I've done a lot of work to make amends with a lot of my past, to move forward, to repair relationships, to be a better person, to be a better chef.
All right, guys, let's get out of here.
To win Top Chef would really be the most important thing I could do today to kind of close the door on the darkness of my past.
Let's do this.
I cannot believe we are here right now.
Just walking into the stadium, it's a lot to take in.
Coming through, coming through.
What's up, what's up, what's up, what's up? Today's challenge, we have to create a fine dining dish that's inspired by some basic ballpark food.
I'm so happy to have a hand sink.
And then what do you know, hand sink doesn't work.
The concession stand kitchen is really small.
So today we're gonna be cooking in staggered groups.
- How you looking? - It didn't set.
But I think I can, like mold it.
I unpack my ingredients.
I have soup instead of a creme brulee.
I am whisking like mad, trying to reincorporate the creme brulee into the whipped cream to make a successful free-form creme brulee, which puts me behind on getting everything else ready.
I'm pretty ecstatic right now.
I'm a big baseball fan, and watching all the yankee/red sox games over the years.
First thing I'm doing is going to a Dodgers game when I get home.
Today I'm doing a play on a hot dog.
Instead of a hot dog bun, I'm doing kind of, like, a pretzel cracker.
And then instead of an actual hot dog, I'm doing pork rillette.
Behind, behind, behind.
I just remembered my below me.
Right behind, right behind.
Coming through.
Fridge, fridge, fridge.
Or ? It seems like miss culinary school instructor bit off a little bit more than she could chew.
- Time.
- 18 minutes.
.
The torch is meltig it, and the torch isn't working.
- I'm struggling, I'm struggling.
- You got it.
Don't freak out.
The green monster, man.
Those are actually some of the best seats, 'cause you can see freaking everything.
- Thank you.
- Look where we are! - Yeah, right? - Seriously.
Ha ha ha! This is how you play it off the wall.
I'm nervous to sit here, because, I mean, we're right under the monster here.
They've been playing here since 1912.
I mean, the first year they played here, John f.
Kennedy's grandfather threw out the first pitch.
And then 100 years later, John f.
Kennedy's daughter threw out the first pitch.
I think for everybody who grows up here, it's a personal, kind of a sacred place.
This is like a church to them, it really is.
We're sitting in church.
What's the time? Three minutes.
Oh, my God.
All right, how you coming along over there, brother? I'm doing good, man.
I'm doing good.
- How about yourself? - Yeah, doing all right.
My baseball croquette.
Give this a quick fry.
I have just enough time to get the croquette breaded and ready to go.
All right, less than a minute.
Finishing strong, Aaron? Bagel dog, baby.
That looks great.
Oh, Katie.
As a baseball fan, I could've never imagined having this opportunity.
To walk through the visitors' clubhouse, come through the tunnel, and actually serve our guests on the field at Fenway park, it's ridiculous.
Oh, here come the dishes.
Don't look.
It's hideous.
I am an emotional wreck.
This was supposed to be a dish for my dad.
But now I'm thinking that this is the end of my Top Chef run.
Aaron, what was your inspiration, and what did you make? My ingredient was pretzel.
I kind of did my version of a pretzel dog.
So we took pretzel, wrapped it around a stainless steel mold, baked it.
And then inside, I did something of the fashion of rillette and then just a little spring pea tendril salad.
Aaron, I love your presentation.
I mean, it definitely looks fine dining.
- Thank you.
- I think the sauces are really good, there's a good amount of flavor to them.
And I think using the pretzel in this way, I think was pretty inventive.
I think if you actually just put an Italian sausage or just a hot dog in the middle, 'cause it was just a little bit soft and mushy.
So I actually did a popcorn soup.
I garnished the dish witha baseball-inspired fish croquette and then simply breaded it with saltine and ritz crackers.
And inside the actual croquette, a little bit of dill pickled celery to cut through the richness of the soup.
- The soup's rich? - The actual soup - I thought was pretty rich.
- I'm joking.
I do think you did get great popcorn flavor in this soup.
You know, Ron, I think one of the bigger problems here, if you want to put garnish in a soup, that's fine.
If you wanted to make balls, they should've been about that big.
Sometimes a bowl of soup should just be a bowl of soup.
Sure.
Point taken.
My ingredient today was popcorn.
I apologize on the appearance.
I had a huge mistake in technique.
And I'm sorry I let you down.
I was like, "what the are you doing, dude?" My original technique was to do a popcorn creme brulee.
And when that failed, I turned it into a mousse.
Underneath it is a blue cornmeal salted shortbread.
And then beer-caramel-pomegranate- molasses-cherry puffed sorghum and honeycomb.
- I like this dish.
- Yeah, me too.
You're taking yourself out of the game.
Don't.
Dennis, if one pitch isn't working in the bullpen, you don't come out on the mound and then tell the other team, "hey, you know, my curve ball's not really tight today.
" - Not me.
- Not you? Put a dish down and then stand back and let the dish speak for itself.
Thank you.
This is huge.
I have a lot of good memories associated with baseball, with my mom and my dad before he passed away.
Oh.
Oh, I hate this routine.
Well, you did him really proud today.
So I think you should take comfort in that.
Thanks.
I think my dad would think this dessert was super weird.
But he would definitely be proud of the dish I did today.
Thank you all.
Right behind.
I hope they like my whole concept and my reasoning behind it.
Like, I really put myself in the ballpark when I came up with this dish.
"In the ballpark," it's cute.
I'm glad I could be cute for you, Katsuji.
Going into the final hour, I want to get my short ribs in the oven right away, so they will be nice and tender for the judges.
What are you doing with your tortillas? Fry them to make tortilla chips.
What I have to do is, I have to make sure my bread pudding, it's nice and Fluffy.
Then I want the pork belly to be crispy on the outside with a little bit of softness in the inside.
Is that pork kosher? It's a circumcised pork.
Ah, the pork, The pork.
It's not as tender as I want it to be.
Fond memories is winning in the world series, - 'cause I caught the ball.
- Yeah.
- In San Francisco.
- Yeah.
That's cool.
And then the worst moment is kirk Gibson took me deep in Los Angeles, the miracle home run.
What are you feeling at that moment on the mound? No one would look at me.
And it's, like, loud.
And I'm walking off the field.
And there is nobody making eye contact with you, nobody.
Yeah, you should've played for the Yankees.
Should've played for the Yankees.
One minute.
Be very careful, please.
There is no doubt I'm in the bottom three.
Just, it's Top Chef.
You can be in the bottom one day.
You can be in the top the next day.
Yeah, I know.
Nice, guys.
Good-looking food! Why don't we have any sunflower seeds? Doug.
I drew popcorn.
So I seared a scallop.
I have a little grilled corn and marinated peppers with a little sweet corn sauce.
And then on top, I've got some pickled red onion and popcorn tossed in piment d'espelette and toasted fennel powder.
Doug, I thought you did a sensational job with the scallop.
There wasn't too much to it.
I'm sure you put a lot into it, but you didn't take away from the scallop itself.
- Thank you.
- I'm surprised the corn sauce wasn't sweeter.
I actually like that it's not over sweet.
- Yeah, so do I, actually.
- Me too.
I think some of these sweet corns are-- - yeah.
- I like the bright notes in the corn sauce, it's good.
Thank you, chef.
So I chose the pretzel.
I did a beer-braised short rib with a horseradish-parsnip puree, a preztel crispy shallot, and then a lager-infused fondue.
I got no essence of pretzel, which is just as well.
I'm not a big pretzel fan, so thank you for keeping them out of there for me.
I find that the short rib's not cooked enough, also really underseasoned.
I agree with tom.
It just needed another hour.
I'm super frustrated at this point, because I thought the short rib was cooked the way that I wanted to serve it.
I'm really hoping that this dish is not gonna send me home.
- Katsuji.
- I was the only one who picked the fried dough.
So what you have, it's on the bottom.
It's a bread pudding with mushrooms and a little bit of bacon, a braised pork belly that then's been deep-fried.
I love the fact that you repurposed the fried dough as the bread pudding.
I thought that was pretty brilliant.
I just think there's a lot going on in there.
It's confusing.
Oh The pork belly is really tough and a little desiccated feeling.
If you actually cut it into a larger chunk and fried it, the inside would still be nice and soft, and the outside's crispy.
But this--just there's a lot going on.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you very much.
Thank you.
- Mei, how you doing? - Good, how are you? - Solid.
- Everything going good? Yeah.
I got popcorn.
And I'm making a soup.
Today I'm making a corn and ramp soup.
It's not really that vibrant green-yellow that I was looking for.
I don't have any more ramp tops to blend into it.
At this point, I can't do anything about it.
So I'm just gonna roll with it.
You know, I think it's really cool that we get to be here.
Oh, my God, so exciting.
You want to taste this sunchoke and peanut puree for my scallops? There's not a doubt in my mind about my dish.
I think the pickled peanus are really gonna wow the judges.
Three, two, one.
Actually stepping foot onto that field, it's nothing like you would imagine.
Did you ever think you would ever be cooking at Fenway? I might cry as soon as I walk away from this table.
It means a lot.
See, now you get it going.
I didn't know I had this many emotions! I'm not really this much of a girl.
Let's start with the soup.
So the ingredient I chose today was popcorn.
And I made a corn and ramp soup, pickled ramps on top, with fried calamari tossed in truffle butter with bacon popcorn.
I love this dish.
The corn really came through.
The nuance of the popcorn bacon, that added a nice salty quality to it.
- Mm-hmm.
- I do like the pickled ramps that you put in there as a garnish.
I couldn't tell if it was, like, lemon confit or something.
And you keep eating around, and you realize what it is.
And it's a nice little touch.
I like it.
You're up, Mei.
So I made for you a seared pork loin with braised peanuts, peanut sauce on the side, and an herb salad.
Also in the herb salad, there's peanut brittle as well.
I love the radishes.
They're great and the pickle elements.
I love the peanuts.
I think overall, it's a really good dish.
I think the pork's the main issue with it.
It's a little tight.
It's overcooked.
It might've served you better to cut the meat in smaller piece, so the dish could eat a little bit more like a salad.
Let's go to Stacy.
My ingredient was peanuts.
I made seared scallop with pickled peanuts, a peanut and sunchoke emulsion.
The scallop's impeccably cooked.
The peanuts were the seller component of the dish.
I just wanted more of them.
I wanted more of that beautiful caramel, pickly, thai flavor.
Stacy, I think you did Boston proud.
- Thank you, chef.
- Stacy, if this whole thing works out for you, you might be throwing a first pitch off of that mound.
Don't do what ming did when he threw out the first pitch.
- You can't bounce it.
- I can throw a ball.
Thank you for bringing that up.
Thank you very much, ladies.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
I'm good now.
I'm good.
Whoo.
Shut the up for a moment.
You ever talk to me like that-- I don't give a what you're gonna do.
You know, people are starting to hate you.
And you know what, embrace it.
This is a baseball field.
Don't they all just, like, hang off and spit? I made the softball team.
I didn't make the baseball team in high school.
I couldn't throw fast enough.
If we were a baseball team, Ron would be the coach.
Katie would be the water girl.
Greg's going in center field with those gazelle legs.
- Short people are catchers.
- You're special little people.
- You're special to me.
- Shut up.
Katsuji's going behind the plate, 'cause hopefully, a mask will get him to shut up for a minute.
I would be the one to get kicked out of the game.
- Adam.
- Yo.
Doesn't jeter play for the Red Sox? I beg your pardon.
Bottom oven is at 325.
Greg, this kitchen wasn't made for tall people, huh? No, that's why I'm over here.
I've won the last few challenges.
So I'm definitely gonna keep my momentum going by trying to nail cooking techniques and making everything as perfect as possible.
Duck is good.
It's tender.
It's seasoned just right.
James, how are you looking, buddy? Styling, brother.
How did your lobster cakes come out? I'm happy with them, you know.
- Can I have a time check? - 11.
I'm just waiting for the last possible moment to pop my fish in, so it doesn't get trashed.
My ballpark food is pretzel, so I chose to make a glazed, slow-roasted salmon and a pretzel streusel.
I want to be on the top.
I do not want to fly in the middle.
There's 6 minutes and 34 seconds.
Man, I pull my fish out, and the convection oven has hammered them.
I'm trying to not freak out about this.
But honestly, I the fish up.
Five, four, three We're done.
I'm nervous.
Calm, cool, and collected.
Cool hand Luke.
I'm walking out in front of the green monster onto the playing field at Fenway.
This is definitely a story I'll get to tell my grandkids.
But I'm nervous, because I overcooked the fish today.
More recently, they won the world series here last October, which they hadn't won it at home in 95 years.
The curse of the bambino's turned on me.
Hello, chefs.
What did you make for us? I had the pretzel, which makes me think of mustard.
So roasted some salmon for you today with a mustard and honey glaze.
Toasted the streusel on top with a little pickled shallots, dill, and watercress and a mustard creme fraiche on the bottom.
There's a lot of things that could've gone wrong with this dish.
I actually had a very bad salmon moment on Top Chef once with ming tsai as a judge.
So I'm glad that you did not repeat that moment that I had.
Clean, classy little dish.
The salmon is nicely cooked.
I like how you used the pretzel.
This dish definitely gets the job done.
- Thank you, chef.
- James.
So I did a lobster cake with a pretzel panzanella.
And then I did a little avocado-buttermilk mousse underneath.
The lobster flavor's really good.
- It's good, yeah.
- But it's just-- it's really mushy.
After a couple bites, I couldn't get really get into it, because the texture more than anything else.
I understand.
Adam, which dish did you make us? Watermelon curry with peanut oil-poached Halibut.
Pickled cherry pepper, jalapeno, and Fresno chili salad with some pea shoots.
The boiled peanuts and the curry base, really nice and lively and chewy and leguminous, and I like that.
The fish is hammered.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
The fish is overcooked.
But I think the fact that you have this broth saves the fact that it's overcooked.
You got to the ninth inning and you let up a home run.
Not the first time, chef.
Not the first time.
Gregory.
This morning I prepared for you the duck.
I immediately thought of the kind of nut cluster in cracker Jacks.
So we have a peanut nam prik pao on the bottom.
The duck has been simply roasted.
Peanut brittle, anchovies, crispy shallots as a crispy topping, and just a fresh herb salad.
I like the pears.
I love the scallions.
I think the flavors on it were great, really bright.
Yeah, I mean, I just think that it's well-balanced.
Everything's right to the peak of where it should be.
This is moneyball.
This is a smart dish, right here.
Thank you very much, chef.
Thank you all.
Good job, buddy.
Crushed that fish.
Yeah, but the rest of it was so good.
Yeah, but what the ? I can't cook fish? God damn it.
So disappointing.
Fenway park's a really good metaphor for today's challenge, because when you look around, it's really a simple ballpark compared to some of the other monster parks you have these days.
And so, you know, the simple dishes actually stood out.
I think Gregory's dish, complex in flavor but still very simple in execution.
I liked Melissa's soup.
I thought the corn, the sweet corn really came through.
I liked the crunch of the calamari.
Katie surprised me with her dessert dish that she-- if she actually nails a dish and comes out here going, "I nailed this," it's probably gonna be exceptionally good.
I think Mei's dish could've been so good except for that poor cookery.
It was just horrible.
What about the pork belly? I thought that was one of the worst things I ate.
Yeah.
Katsuji's pork belly was, I though, exceptionally better than the short rib, - which was-- - yes.
- Horrid.
- I do too.
Keriann's dish also didn't have enough pretzel in it.
She sprinkled some pretzel on the shallot.
And then there was the monster ball soup.
Ron's soup.
You look at that, and you just say, "where are you going with this?" Well, an element of this was-- it's a fine dining challenge.
There was nothing about that soup that was fine dining.
I got to get used to smaller portions.
That's just not my thing.
The only thing that separates fine dining from everything else is the details and just finesse.
I would say it's the highest-quality food I've ever eaten in Fenway park.
So ready to get out of here.
And I'm not coming back anytime soon.
- I want to thank both of you.
- Thanks for having me.
- This is a big thrill.
- Exactly.
All right, lets get back to judges' table, 'cause I'm sure the Red Sox want their ballpark back.
Whoo, what a day.
What a day.
If I don't go home today, I'm not putting some in the bag again.
What about you, Aaron? Didn't like the filling.
It was underseasoned.
That was my fault.
They would've liked to see, like, an actual sausage inside of that pretzel mold.
You make a smarter sausage than-- shut the up for a moment.
Don't talk to me like that, man.
I'm trying to talk here, dude.
All you do is talk.
A lot of people are starting to get pissed off.
So many people are so tired of you talking.
Just shut your mouth.
Just because you suck at cooking is not my fault.
Shove it with bread pudding, dude.
Bread pudding is what five-year-olds cook.
You're in Top Chef.
You ever talk to me like that-- I don't give a what you're gonna do.
I will-- you and I will have a problem.
I'm so scared of you right now.
Katsuji and Aaron, they're like two rams, you know, going at each other.
Katsuji, he'll pick at you and pick at you until you explode.
Aaron's a little more combative about it.
You know, people are starting to hate you.
And you know what, embrace it.
Keep embracing the hate, you know.
You can always move to Europe.
- Keep embracing the hate, brother.
I hear high heels.
Chefs, we'd like to see all of you, please.
Thank you.
Tom, overall, how did you think our chefs did? I think some of the chefs just really not only embraced the challenge, but gave us really delicious food, and some fell flat on their face.
We see a lot of the same mistakes, kind of overreaching, trying to do too much, trying to make things too complicated.
And you know, some of these mistakes need to be fixed if you're gonna do well in this competition.
Gregory, Melissa, Katie.
The rest of you can step aside, please.
The three of you served our favorite dishes, so, congratulations.
Katie, I think your dad would be so proud of you, and I'm sure he is.
How do you feel right now? Good.
Overwhelmed.
Happy.
Smiling.
Part of dealing with these challenges, if you do make a mistake, how do you recover from it? But what you gave us was something that you should've really stood behind, because it was really tasty.
- Thank you.
- And the key there is, - you did not give up.
- No.
You kept trying.
That's why you're here.
Melissa, I loved the simplicity of your dish.
We loved the surprise, the bacon popcorn underneath, 'cause you don't know it's there.
And to get that crunch and that salt from the bacon - is great.
- Thank you.
I just loved the balance of it and the simplicity.
But I wanted to also make it refined and complex in that sense.
Gregory, how do you feel about your dish? I was really happy with it.
I just wanted to incorporate all of those ingredients and be inspired by the challenge of nuts and baseball and just kind of make everything round and work with each othe.
It's the details, making sure the balance is just there.
Nothing is screaming for attention on the plate.
It all just kind of works together.
And that's what we got from your dish.
Thank you.
Ming, please do the honors of announcing the winning chef.
Chef, your dish perfectly executed great use of your ballpark ingredient, beautiful to look at.
And the winner is Mr.
immunity, Gregory.
Thank you, chef.
Gregory, you're quite the front-runner.
- How does it feel? - It feels good.
I just want to keep pushing very, very hard and keep trying to be as creative as possible.
- That's two in a row now.
- Yes.
You guys need to step it up.
Don't let him run away with it.
Know who you're going after.
Congratulations to all of you.
Please join the rest of the chefs.
Good job, good job.
Ron, Keriann, and Katsuji, - please step forward.
- God damn it.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
You three served our least favorite dishes of the day.
You know, chefs, all three of you made some sort of basic mistakes, mistakes of cooking meat, pork belly, proportion.
And you know, someone's going home tonight.
Keriann, you're no stranger to competition.
Did you really think you could braise short ribs in that short of time without a pressure cooker? The way that I braised them, I thought I could get them tender in time, yes.
My worry is that you are kind of standing behind the braise.
I thought it was good.
You know, I was able to cut with a fork.
I don't like being able to, like, eat short ribs with a spoon.
I don't think they should completely turn to mush.
I wouldn't have eaten it with a spoon.
I wanted a saber-toothed tiger, though.
It was really tough.
What are you thinking about right now, Katsuji? That I keep just going back to the same mistake that I made the first couple of times.
How can I make it better? How can I make it better? But it's actually working against me, because the dish that I wanted to bring, like, the pork belly, it's so good.
- That's what really kill me.
- Yeah, but pork belly's really good when pork belly's really good.
When pork belly's not really good, it's not very good.
You need to be a better editor.
Cross out the irrelevant parts of all those dishes, because there were good attributes to that plate.
And if you had made those good attributes excellent attributes, then you would've had a winner.
And, Ron, the same thing that we're saying could be said for you as well.
Again, it's the proportions.
What was that? Was it a soup, or was it a fish ball? Well, it was intended to be a soup.
I mean, I think my first shortcoming was translating the challenge, making the whole baseball analogy, and obviously, the physical appearance of the croquette.
Well, you're a chef.
Make the change there on the spot.
Cut the ball in half.
Make it smaller.
It's about making good, sound decisions.
Well, chefs, I got to say, this was a real privilege, going to cook in Fenway.
And I know everybody was swinging for the fences.
But unfortunately, one of you struck out.
You know, chefs, someone's going home tonight.
But the two that are remaining, you really need to step up your game if you're gonna continue on in this competition.
You know, it's a lot of simple mistakes that are being made here.
Ron.
Please pack your knives and go.
Thank you for the opportunity.
You know, Ron, we're both old dogs.
And sometimes you put a dish together, and you - say, "I wish I had that back.
" - Sure.
It was just kind of hard to get past the overall messiness of it.
- I understand.
- Ron, - we're sorry to see you go.
- As am I.
For the rest of you, we'll see you at the next challenge.
See you.
Good luck.
- Take care, man.
- Good luck.
You know, my-- I'm better than what I showed today.
You know, I mean there's no doubt that I'm better than the people who are still in that kitchen right now.
Roomie.
New York, brother.
All these little, miniature entrees that these kids are making, it's not what I do.
Y'all be good.
Be strong.
Do what you got to do.
This experience kind of reaffirmed my pure passion for food and cooking.
It's easy to get distracted by all the non-food parts of running restaurants.
I'll definitely go back with kind of a renewed vigor for doing what I know that I love doing, cooking great food.
Next on Top Chef We have a very special guest, actor George wendt.
Norm.
Cheers.
You're feeding norm from cheers crudite? - Yeah.
- I like your style.
This is beantown.
I heard you had a crush on somebody.
Woody Harrelson.
Take a number.
Tomorrow two of you will go home.
It's a double elimination.
We're all really, really scared.
Dude, I'm right here.
He just totally all over me.
Guys, please.
Together.
Make sure the chef knows that I'm gluten-free.
This is definitely an "oh, crap" moment.
I think I have the ingredients that are inside yours.
That bothers me as a chef.
It lacked something dynamic.
I felt like it was good room service.
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