Top Chef (2006) s12e13 Episode Script

1 Christ! Coming through.
Coming behind.
16 of the country's most talented chefs Go shake that ass out there.
- Battled it out in Boston - Whoo! In our own culinary revolution.
Three found victory.
San Francisco private chef Melissa I came to Top Chef wanting to prove something to my father.
Melissa's dad would not-- probably not accept this.
He's never come into any of my restaurants.
Now I've gotten to this point where it just doesn't matter anymore.
The rest of this journey is for me.
I'm so much more aggressive now.
I feel it in my blood.
This is a competition, and there's only one winner, and that winner's gonna be me.
Los Angeles sous chef and Michael Voltaggio's protegee Mei I want to win Top Chef for the title.
The money's a plus, but since day one, I've been super focused.
The chef that won displayed laser-beam precision, Mei.
Being put in a different cooking environment every single challenge, I've progressively gotten better and better.
I'm so serious about this entire competition, I haven't made a single phone call to my family.
The best of the best get to go to the finale.
I'm gonna win.
And Portland executive chef Gregory Getting off the plane in Mexico, all the same feelings of anxiety and stress and worry come right back to me.
I started off really, really strong in this competition.
And the winner is Gregory.
Gregory.
But the end of Boston was not how I wanted to go out.
I made it to finale but just barely.
George, please pack your knives and go.
After years of battling addiction from drugs and alcohol, I'm definitely at a place in my life where winning Top Chef would carry much more weight than it would've in the past, and I'm ready to fight.
They've traveled to Mexico, where one more chef, the winner of Last Chance Kitchen, will join them to face off in the finals.
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.
Whoever wins last chance kitchen, it's great for them, because they're, like, back in the kitchen, like, acclimated to, like, fighting for it, you know? Whoever it is-- knock 'em back down.
You're not coming back.
Being here in Mexico, it's amazing.
I mean, the views are breathtaking.
But we're not here to relax, we're here to compete.
In my time off, Michael actually sent me over to volt to work for Bryan Voltaggio.
Then I also staged at a Mexican restaurant just to prepare myself for the finale.
And now it's go time.
- Our new casa.
- Wow.
Holy .
You guys see that church? It's beautiful.
- That's awesome.
- It's gorgeous.
- God.
- This is like a whole villa.
Welcome to our backyard, guys.
This is amazing.
This is nice.
Getting spoiled here.
Okay, I feel better.
And here we are.
Hello, chefs.
Oh, .
- Hey, chef.
- Come on over here.
- Hi, chef.
- How's it going? - Good.
Good to see you, chef.
- Welcome to Mexico.
- Pretty nice place, huh? - It's amazing.
- Yeah.
- It's amazing.
Well, I have a surprise for you upstairs.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
Something's up.
There's something delicious in the air.
I can definitely tell something's cooking upstairs.
Hey, guys.
- I brought a few friends.
- Hola.
Hola.
So we can sweat and-- welcome to Last Chance Kitchen.
As you can see, these two are battling it out for the final spot.
The final fight, huh? I'm not surprised to see Doug and George.
They're both really strong chefs.
You may have a vested interest as to who wins this.
- All right, let's go.
- Guys.
If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to see any of them back from Last Chance Kitchen.
Doug is a fighter.
He wants this as much as anybody else, and George is like a cat.
He's got nine lives.
You know, Dougie, this dish is briny from the clams, sweet from the pineapple, smoky from the grill-- good sweet and sour combination.
But, George, the same thing with your dish-- really smoky, really briny, really spicy.
These dishes are both terrific.
Unfortunately, only one of you will claim the last spot in the finals.
So the winner of Last Chance Kitchen is Doug.
Congratulations, and welcome to the Top Chef finals.
I got to say that these are both really, really delicious dishes.
If you're gonna go out, this is a good dish to go out on.
I appreciate that.
Thank you.
I'm so stoked to be back in the competition.
I know I can cook right up with these people.
I can whup their asses, and I'm ready to do it.
- Take care, George.
Thanks.
- Thank you.
So this is it.
You're the final four.
- How's it feel? - Scary.
- Scary.
- Okay.
So, chefs, grab your knives, and head over to that church to find Padma and your first quickfire challenge.
Thanks.
Have fun.
What do you think we're gonna do? Hope there's not a sudden death quickfire.
Sudden death.
I hope it's not a sudden death quickfire.
- How you feeling? - Good.
Ever since I got eliminated, I thought about it every single day.
Hearing Padma say those words-- Doug, please pack your knives and go.
I was super consistent the entire competition.
I definitely had one bad day, and I paid very hard for it.
That foie gras was practically raw.
Now I'm back, and I want to be Top Chef.
I want to hear those words from Tom Colicchio.
Welcome to San Miguel De Allende, Mexico.
Congratulations to all of you for making it here.
Chefs, one of you will walk away with the grand prize of $125,000 and the title of Top Chef.
Please welcome our esteemed guest judge.
He's the chef and owner of the multi award-winning pujol in Mexico City, Enrique olvera.
Hi, guys.
Welcome to Mexico.
Enrique olvera-- his restaurant is number 20 on the pellegrino list for best restaurants in the world.
He's the chef down here in Mexico for sure.
San Miguel De Allende is located in the heart of the bajio region in the central mountains of Mexico.
One of the most popular foods here is the prickly pear.
Chefs, for your first quickfire challenge in Mexico, we want you to create a dish highlighting the prickly pear but not just any prickly pear.
We want you to feature the one most coveted by chefs: The xoconostle.
The season for the xoconostle is very short, so when we get it, all of us eat it all the time.
The winner of this quickfire will get an advantage in the next elimination challenge.
You have just 30 minutes for this quickfire.
And, chefs, your time starts now.
What do I use? Being here in Mexico, I expected to cook with cactus, but I didn't realize that there were so many different varieties.
Whew.
I'm very unfamiliar with this ingredient, but I'm confident I can make a really bright, tart relish with the xoconostle.
That's really tangy.
- Wow.
- Super sour.
Growing up in Texas, I've eaten my fair share of cactus, but I've never worked with xoconostle.
The flavor is so tart.
You really have to be careful to balance it right.
Check out the setting we're cooking in, Mei.
Can you believe it? I wish I had more time to look at the church.
- Where's all the protein? - It's in the cooler.
Good talk, Mei.
I'm looking for some fish, but Melissa took the salmon, so I immediately go for the steak.
Mel, how you doing? All right.
This stuff is sour.
What do you got going on over there? I have two different sauces, actually-- one with the green, one with the red, and we're gonna saute some shrimp, - and then we'll make a relish.
- Nice.
- What are you gonna make? - Ceviche.
I studied up a lot on cactus paddles, and I did play around with xoconostle.
It has such a unique flavor, so I'm thinking I can do a ceviche to offset the tartness.
18 minutes.
Trying to get this steak cooked in time.
There's not enough time to cook my steak, so I go plan B.
This is gonna be a tataki, which is raw on the inside but cooked on the outside.
How does it feel to be back, Dougie? It feels great.
I missed you guys.
Ten minutes, guys.
- Ten.
- Ten.
I love how Portland is reunited for the finale.
This is just really great.
Dougie and I are the first two Portland chefs to be on Top Chef, so to bring the title of Top Chef back home would put us on the map.
I'm super stoked to have Dougie here.
Too bad I got to take him down now.
I'm just gonna stew some tomatillos with the prickly pear, kind of like a stew with tomatoes and herbs and some cactus, so it will be vegetarian.
It's a big risk to go without a protein, but Mexican cuisine is very vegetable-centric, and I don't want the cactus to get lost in the stew here.
I want it to be the star.
Chefs, you have five minutes.
- Five minutes.
- Five minutes left, everyone.
Five minutes.
This being our first quickfire challenge here in Mexico, it's really important that I win and get my claim back and be on top again and feel really strong going to the next few challenges.
Mei, how you doing over there? I'd like more time to have my meat rest, but .
I'm stressed out.
It's not exactly what I wanted But you got to put something out.
One minute, guys.
Four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
Hands up, utensils down.
- Hello, Mei.
- Hi, how are you? I made a rib eye tataki with prickly pear salsa with some cactus salsa Verde as well.
I like the flavor of the salsa, but I have four pieces of meat here, and they're all different doneness.
Yeah.
- Was that intentional? - No.
- Okay.
- I like the acidity on it.
- It's very nice.
- Thank you.
- Very refreshing.
- Thank you.
Hi, Doug.
How was this quickfire for you? It was actually really fun.
So it's a stew of the xoconostle, tomatillos, tomatoes, roasted peppers, some of the purple cactus, and some toasted pumpkin seeds.
I like the idea of being vegetable-driven.
A lot of people don't realize this, but Mexican food is mostly vegetables.
Thank you.
So today I have a salmon ceviche with xoconostle leche de tigre.
There's cilantro, celery, shallots, xoconostle, prickly pear, guava, and it has some shaved xoconostle and shaved chioggia beets on top.
You know, they take it in Peru like a shot.
That's the best part of the ceviche, is the liquid.
It's supposed to be a little aphrodisiac.
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
I'll let you know how it goes later tonight.
Yeah.
- Hi, Gregory.
- Hey, Padma.
Today, we have shrimp with garlic, a little olive oil, two prickly pear sauces in a xoconostle relish.
So I took the green, I blended it with some jalapenos, some cilantro.
I took the purple and blended it with these fun berries.
I'm not sure what they are, though.
But they're very fruity and delicious and a little bit-- it's actually the fruit of nopales.
Okay, perfect.
That's what I thought.
I can really taste the olive oil.
- Thank you, Gregory.
- Thank you, Padma.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, chef.
So, Enrique, how did our chefs do? It was great.
I think they all liked working with the xoconostle, which is probably challenging for them, 'cause they probably never worked with it before.
So I think the one that I liked the least was Gregory's.
The olive oil was overpowering.
- I couldn't taste the xoconostle.
- Thank you.
So our second least favorite was Mei's.
I personally liked the salsa a lot, but the meat was just not cooked correctly.
This is not how I wanted the finals to start.
I just don't know what was going through my head.
One of the dishes that we liked was Melissa's.
I really liked the leche de tigre.
It was very refreshing.
That leaves us with Doug.
I love the idea of Doug's dish because it was mostly vegetables, and that's the way we eat here most of our days.
I could taste the xoconostle.
It was the main ingredient, and I really liked that about it.
Thank you.
As you know, we can only have one winner.
So the winner is Do happen to sell chicken liver? - No.
- No? I want all skin.
I--oh, my God.
It's hard shopping in Spanish.
My Spanish is poquito.
.
To me, the winner is the one that takes risks in this life, so the winner is Doug.
Congratulations, Doug.
You've won our first quickfire here in Mexico, and you're now gonna get a great advantage in the elimination challenge.
You fought your way back from i Last Chance Kitchen.
I mean, this must feel good.
It certainly does.
I hope that the other chefs are like, "oh, , Doug is back and he's ready to go," 'cause I am.
For your elimination challenge, we want you to get inspired.
San Miguel De Allende has become a mecca for artists from all over the world.
In these four envelopes are the addresses of four artists here in town-- one for each of you.
You'll go meet with your artist and be inspired by their work, because tomorrow, you and your artist will have four hours to work at the instituto allende.
While you prep and cook for the event, your artist will also be completing a new piece of work that will be on display when the time is up.
Your dish must represent the artist's work visually.
You'll be serving 150 guests.
Of course.
To make sure that you'll be able to execute to the level that we all expect, we're calling in a little help.
Oh, my gosh.
Hello, hello, hello.
- Hi.
- Hello.
You remember these guys, don't you? Of course.
You'll each get the help of two sous chefs.
Doug, because you won the quickfire, you get to choose both your sous chefs first.
Doug, who's gonna be your first sous chef? My first sous chef will be my boy Adam.
Okay, and your second? I don't see how I couldn't pick Katsuji.
Oh, this is a motley crew, man.
I think if I keep him busy and I give him something that he feels passionate about, he's gonna knock it out.
I don't cook Mexican.
This isn't gonna be weird at all.
Melissa, you get to pick next.
- I'll take George.
- Mei? Rebecca.
Gregory, who would you like? I'm gonna pick Katie.
Okay.
Melissa? James.
Keriann.
My girl Stacy.
Okay.
Girl, how's it going? Today, you'll meet with your artist, and tomorrow, your sous chefs will help you prep and cook.
Aaron, Ron, and Joy, I guess you have the day off.
And the rest of the sous chefs, we will see you tomorrow.
Thank you.
Good luck to all of you.
Thank you.
Thank you, chef.
I've always had a love for visual, bold self-expression, so I'm really excited to meet this artist artemio and to be inspired by his work.
- Hey.
Artemio? - Hi.
- Artemio, yes.
- My name is Gregory.
Mucho gusto.
My artist is Leonardo Diaz.
- Leonardo? - Yeah.
Hi, I'm Melissa.
- Very nice to meet you.
- Pleasure to meet you.
I immediately see that my artist is a graffiti artist, and I think that would really go hand in hand with just the way that I cook.
Really cool work here.
Oh, thank you.
Reading the description of my artist, she uses a lot of color in her art, and I cook with a lot of color.
My dishes have been described as works of art, and I don't want to sound, like, cocky, but I tend to agree.
- Hey.
- Hi, how are you? - I'm fine.
And you? - Good.
Nice-- - and who are you? - Mei.
- Mei? - Nice to meet you.
I am bea.
I'm super stoked about this challenge.
My mom is an art teacher in Texas, and I like taking inspiration from artworks, and I think that it's just gonna be really cool to look at this painting and work out how I'm gonna represent it.
- Hi.
- Hi, how are you? I'm great.
I'm merry.
- Doug.
- Doug, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
This is my work space and my gallery.
Colors and textures on the walls in the Mexican pyramids are my inspiration for these.
And then this is a piece-- we're gonna work together as a team tomorrow.
- I'm from Texas.
- You are? - I grew up in Texas.
- Where? - Tyler.
East Texas.
- Oh, my goodness.
I know east Texas.
Within five minutes of meeting her, there's, like, this very deep connection.
My mom's an art teacher in Tyler, Texas.
She is? - Yes, ma'am.
- I taught art too.
Just totally reminds me of my mom, that, like, gentle but firm.
I pound 'em just like you do tough steak.
And as soon as we were talking about Texas, I was like, "I'm bringing this home for you, Texas.
" We're going brisket.
We're going, like, a Texas red.
And then I just started getting more and more excited.
Makes me think of Texas chili.
- Chili? I-- - yes, a Texas red.
I can't believe you're from Texas.
We're gonna take this one.
I can just feel it.
My artist is an expressionist artist.
His color palette is very dark, but there always is one element of bright color representing a little bit of hope in everything, and this completely clicks to every part of me.
I too feel like I have a sense of darkness to me with kind of my darker past, but there's not a day that I don't wake up with a big smile on my face.
So what type of piece do you think you'll be making tomorrow? Why is the peasant a fascinating subject to you? People of the country inspire me mostly because of the beautiful environments they live on sometimes.
They give support to-- to life.
The peasant is the perfect image for a chef.
You know, someone who creates the food that we grow and that we eat-- it all is really making sense, and it's actually very exciting.
It's coming together.
Earth colors, primarily-- primarily.
I really think bea's style reflects her personality.
She's really colorful, she's really loud Put your arms out.
And that speaks in her art.
Life inspires me, so in here I have a bird.
It's a young animal spirit.
It's really inspiring.
The first painting I see is of a girl, and her face kind of has a chicken in it.
So what does this really mean-- this painting? This is another narwhal inviting the spirit of the fish and the bird.
The colors--they're actually really palatable, and I really get inspired by that.
Think of a bird that's gonna take you in its wings, and you can sing--whoo.
- But I like the irony.
- Yeah.
I like to have fun doing this.
I'm the same way with food.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
My dish has to be spot-on with what the artist's vision is, but I'm concerned about the color schemes that Leonardo wants to go towards.
I see a lot of pink.
- Pink.
- Yeah.
There's a lot of blue and a lot of hot pink-- colors that don't naturally really exist, and so I'm thinking I can do squid.
It's the one thing that pops in my head.
I put, like, a sketch, like-- I'm gonna put, like, explosions.
I'm gonna improvise.
Leonardo's telling me that when he gets to the site, he's gonna just sort of wing it.
That's making me a little nervous, 'cause I am a bit of a planner.
I just need to push myself much harder than I have in the past challenges.
Maybe grays? I'll figure out something.
I'm like, "dude, you're on Top Chef, "and you're about to serve chili to Tom Colicchio.
What the are you thinking?" No running in the final.
Here we go.
We have 45 minutes to shop at mega with 6,200 pesos, which is roughly $500 to shop for our inspired dishes.
How do I get there? This is not Whole Foods in Boston.
Hard shopping in Spanish.
My Spanish is poquito.
Lard? Fat? Lard? Bueno.
Thank you.
What are you making? I got inspired by the bird fish, so I'm integrating chicken and fish together in a dish.
I'm doing a raw fish dish with chicken elements utilizing all those different colors.
This is something that I've never done before.
Pollo filet? - Filete? - No, filet.
Like, the skin.
Skin.
Filet.
Fil.
I should've practiced my Spanish before coming to Mexico.
I want all skin.
I just want the skin.
Yeah, no, yeah, four pieces--all skin.
Holy .
This is too -- we're .
Seis bisteca.
I'll be using strip loin steak to represent the man, the peasant, the flesh of the image.
Can you make it 12, please? 12.
Do you have squid ink? Oh, man.
This could be bad.
I was originally gonna do a squid ink pasta, but as I'm not able to get the ingredients that I want, I'm improv-ing, and just the dish keeps evolving.
It's now turning into a smoked eggplant ravioli.
He wants to do, like, a sky blue, and there's not really much in food that is sky blue.
But he also has pink, so I'm gonna get some shrimp.
You know, I think the shrimp will give a nice sweetness to the dish, and it also offers the pink color.
I'm embracing Leonardo to the fullest, just improv-ing as much as I can.
Cinco-- the chorizo rioja? 15 minutes.
Gracias.
Huge task for Katsuji.
He's just gonna do that the entire time.
It's like, "here's the masa.
Here's the lard.
" I'm good.
How are you this morning? Today, we have four hours to prepare a dish that's inspired by our artist and the artwork that they're currently preparing.
Hola.
How are you? It's a lot of pressure today knowing that one of us is gonna go home.
How are you? All of us here are really amazing chefs, and to be at the top four, we have to really be perfect.
- I bow to you.
- Thank you.
Whoo-hoo! What's up, boys? So-- so--so--so check it out.
This is our art that my plate has to look like, okay? I'm ready to roll.
I got a strong, strong team behind me.
Katsuji, the biggest thing I need you to do is work some masa magic.
Yeah.
My biggest worry about my dish is the brisket not being tender enough.
I mean, good brisket done well-- that's, like, a 24-hour smoke.
You think you can do it in four hours? - Yes, ma'am.
- All right.
- I got to.
- All right.
That's all we have, Katie, so it doesn't have to be, - like, a perfect dice.
- Okay.
As long as it's the same size-ish.
Okay, great.
For me, the hardest part is making a cohesive dish that represents the artist's work.
You know, my dish has a lot of components: A tamarind and chili sauce, rare strip loin steak, cilantro puree, and smoked orange sauce.
The riskiest part of this dish is, with so many other elements, really being able to let the taste of that beef shine through at all.
- Did you oil them or no? - No, I didn't oil them.
Yeah, just do a little oil.
Here.
So what is our whole dish? I'm doing, like, sashimi.
Today, I'm making a crudo of snapper and bass.
Mei, you got some radishes on steroids over here.
We're gonna slice 'em thin on the mandoline.
Yeah, yeah.
Not so thin, 'cause we're pickling them.
Chef Michael trained me to be meticulous of the way that I plate, but bea's such a colorful person that I need to push myself to come out of my shell a little bit, so I can match her painting.
I'm spying.
How are you? I'm excited.
I'm cooking too.
But it's not edible.
Mmm.
- If the judges don't see it, that's pretty much means for elimination.
Oh, yes.
Mmm, yum.
Yum, yum, yum.
Two hours.
Holler if you get sore and you want me to take over doing that.
I don't mind.
I'm good so far.
I think what's really gonna blow the minds of the judges is the smoked eggplant ravioli.
It represents the house inside the picture, and once they break into that ravioli, they're gonna see this darkness come out, and it's something that they're not really gonna expect.
Leo's work also incorporates land, sea, and earth, so I'm adding shrimp and chorizo in the dish.
What's next, Melissa? Starting to roll ravs.
Leo improvises.
It's something that, as a chef, I have to be able to adjust and tweak.
And in the end, you end up with a more beautiful dish than what you may have originally planned.
So I'm really confident in it.
So you want poblano oil? Poblano oil, yes.
- Is it overcooked? - Shouldn't be.
When I touched it, it was pretty well.
So as we cut into the strip loin, you know, it's not as red as I'm used to.
I'm very concerned that I've overcooked all our steaks.
Stacy, you can definitely get less sear on it.
You know, I made it to the final four by the skin of my teeth.
Oh, my God.
I was in the bottom for our first quickfire challenge in Mexico, so I desperately need to pull it together.
I need some white sugar.
Yep.
- Five minutes.
- Five! - Five minutes heard.
- Ready to rock.
Ready to go.
Oh, my God.
Just using a tiny bit.
They're coming in.
- tacos.
Tacos.
- Hey.
- No? Okay, no.
- Shh.
We got lots of folks coming in.
Smile.
Ease up.
Ease up.
Ease up.
Come on.
What? What are you freaking about? Huh? I'm extremely nervous.
I keep tasting my Texas red, and my brisket's, like, right there, but this is Top Chef in the finals, and I know if one piece isn't tender, I'm, like, totally screwed.
Yum.
All right.
Salud, salud, salud.
I did a braised brisket Texas red, which is kind of like a chili with no beans, a real rich meat sauce, and then we have a masa cake.
All the colors and textures you find in the Mexican pyramids.
Tomatillo here - and a tortilla there-- - uh-huh.
Once you break into this, you're gonna have sort of a charcoal color come out.
You're having a snapper with some pickled radishes, some cucumber-- something is smooth.
Something is crackling.
Close your eyes to taste it better.
Oh, my gosh.
Strip loin steak with an ancho Chile sauce with tamarind.
Wow, look at this.
Great view.
Oh, this is beautiful, and it smells good.
- Cheers, to San Miguel.
- Salud.
- To casa dragones.
- Salud.
Yeah, to casa dragones.
You know, when I handed the envelopes out yesterday in the Plaza, I did it randomly.
But I do think they all got artists that they were very excited about.
- Let's see how creative they got.
- Let's go.
Great.
After the meat rests, I realize that it is cooked very well.
I'm very happy with the end results.
Oh, my God.
Wow.
It's delicious.
Delightful.
- Hi, guys.
- How you guys doing? - Hello.
- How's it going? Tell us what you're doing here.
Artemio told me he was painting a field worker, so I was very inspired by root vegetables and roasting.
I thought it'd be fun to work with these deep, dark, complex flavors, so today we have an ancho Chile and tamarind sauce, some beets, cilantro puree, and then some strip loin and this valencia orange sauce.
This is one of the only colors he uses, and I thought it was a good, bright, punchy way to round out the dish.
It's beautiful color, I have to say.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
I hope you guys enjoy.
- This is wonderful.
- It really is.
I feel like I'm eating the painting.
Like, when you get that darkness from the tamarind sauce, it feels really earthy.
And then, when you get that orange sauce, it's like sunshine.
Greg, toward the end of the season, you kind of fizzled out a little bit.
- Indeed.
- This dish is really strong.
- Thank you very much, chef.
- Thanks.
- Thank you, Gail.
- Nice job.
Thanks.
Thank you, ladies.
I think it's amazing.
Yeah.
I got all that beef flavor.
And I think that's a little bite, which is not bad.
Okay.
I'm nervous just like you, man.
I want you to do good.
I'm looking over at Gregory, Mei, and Melissa, and their food is so beautiful, and I'm worried that my dish is not fine dining enough.
I'm like, "dude, you're on Top Chef, "and you're about to serve chili to Tom Colicchio.
What the are you thinking?" Visually, it was a little subdued.
Yeah.
But flavor-wise, it was pretty wild.
The nitpicking starts.
Some of the elements were there for shock and color and not so much for flavor.
why, God? When I picked these guys, I knew what I was getting myself into.
Chef Dougie is actually paying us in alcohol.
Salud, salud.
Tacos? - Tacos? - Hey.
Ole, ole, ole, ole I don't know how his wife does it.
It's not too late to get out of that one.
Guys, thank you.
Thank you.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
I decided to go with chorizo.
- It's pretty tough.
- I know, God.
Artemio's very proud of you.
Smile, buddy.
Smile.
Come on.
We got a big plate of expectations here.
- Hi, Doug.
- Hi, guys.
How are you? Welcome to Mexico.
Thank you so much.
You guys know I don't do really froufrou plates.
No, but-- so as soon as I saw the painting, I was really, really excited.
I wanted the cracker to look like the walls in San Miguel.
And when I started talking to her, I was like, "of course I'm gonna do, like, you know, one pot.
" Texas red is basically like a Texas chili with no beans.
Mm-hmm.
- So I used brisket.
- Yum.
And I braised it very, very slow, because when you look at that red, it's like it's red, and then you get in there, and it's like there's so much going on.
I've seen this done before, and, you know, it's always-- sometimes tricky, you know? There's earthiness, but there's also - a bit of acid in it too.
- Yeah.
The cheese adds a surprising element too, - because it's got bite.
- It does.
It's I'm just loving it.
I got it.
- Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- Thanks, guys.
There was so much pressure.
I wanted to honor Texas and merry and my mom.
It's fabulous.
Fabulous.
It's a really great feeling.
Ole, ole, ole, ole - hi, Melissa.
- Hi, how are you? How are you? - Great.
- How are you doing? Working with Leonardo was incredible.
You know, with his work, he's all about bringing different worldly elements together.
I tried to do that on the plate by bringing sort of a land and sea-- it's a smoked eggplant ravioli with shrimp, chorizo, and cotija cheese.
The beet juice represents the graffiti art of his style.
I chose a ravioli to represent the gray house in his artwork and with that smoky charcoal eggplant puree.
I love the smoky eggplant, actually.
Thank you.
- This is beautifully done.
- Thank you.
I really enjoyed that dish.
Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
- Bye.
Bye.
Thank you.
You're the best.
- Hi, Mei.
- Hey, Mei.
- How's it going? - How's it going for you? Pretty good.
I drew inspiration from her colorful artwork, so there is a lot of color on my dish, but also there's fish and some chicken.
So today, I made a snapper and bass crudo with some chicken skin crumble, a soy gastrique, some radish pickles-- a lot of really beautiful moments of brightness in this dish.
Yeah, right, and the citrus comes through, and the soy comes through.
- And the chicken skin-- - the chicken skin's good.
- Thank you.
- Oh, my God.
I've definitely learned that you can gain inspiration from anything.
I'm really confident that everything tastes really good in my dish, that I can actually win this today.
- I Need to win this one.
- You're going to.
Being here on Top Chef has made me really proud of the chef that I've become and, you know, how much I've progressed.
I guess I'm feeling pretty lucky.
Well, thank you.
Great day.
The chefs are cooking, you know, heart and soul and passion.
I think it was amazing to see how they related to their artists and managed, also, to do really good tasting food.
I loved Gregory's sauce work.
It was so complex, so subtle, but you really-- you tasted that chili, and then it was so completely offset by that beautiful orange sauce.
He really took a piece of art and really represented it very well on a plate.
But on top of that, his food was just really, really delicious.
Let's talk about Mei's dish.
I wanted to see something Wilder on Mei's plate just because of the artist's work.
Visually, it was a little subdued.
Yeah.
But flavor-wise, it was pretty wild.
You got citrus from the puree, and then you've got some onion puree, and then you've got soy.
I loved the chicken skin.
I thought the fluke was clean, and there was a lot to discover if you dug around.
Every bite was a little different, which I liked, like every corner of the painting.
Let's talk about Doug's work.
- It was very warm flavors.
- Mm-hmm.
For some reason, when you stew something together, it reminds you of your grandmother.
You know, this again reminds me of why sometimes when you actually look for inspiration outside of the kitchen, you find something that just completely jars you.
Doug has not cooked like this at all throughout the season.
Melissa did a beautiful ravioli, and I thought she interpreted Leonardo's work beautifully with the gray and the charcoal flavor.
I think Melissa did a really nice job with it, but I think that some of the elements on the plate were there for shock and color and not so much for flavor.
There were a lot of ingredients on Melissa's plate that I would not have naturally put together, but it did work.
What I saw here is that the chefs wholeheartedly jumped in, embraced the challenge, and enjoyed it.
You could see it.
They clearly made a connection with the artists, they completely got it, and they just cooked their hearts out.
Let's go to judges' table - and figure this out.
- Sure.
Can we drink more Tequila over there, please? Yes, we can drink more Tequila.
Thank you.
This is gonna be a tough one.
I think everybody got positive feedback.
One little thing, and it's like you can go home.
- Hi, guys.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Thank you for a lovely meal.
We'd like to see all of you.
Chefs, for your challenge, you were asked to create a dish inspired by a new piece of work made by your particular artist.
Every single one of you just completely embraced the challenge, found inspiration in the artwork, in the artists.
You're making our job very, very difficult tonight.
Someone will go home tonight, but if you go out, you should hold your head up high, because you know that you went out doing a great, great dish.
Let's start with you, Doug.
How was today for you? How do you think you did? Being here and cooking in this space, it's--you'd have to be crazy not to have fun.
I met her, and I saw the painting.
It was, like, just open up and, like, put something out there you know is gonna taste good and you know is gonna feel good.
You took the challenge in some ways the most literally, which I found interesting.
Visually, your dish mimicked her painting to a tee.
You know, Doug, every now and then, something comes along and just reminds you of who you are, where you're from, and what you're really all about sort of at the core.
And I think this is what merry's painting did to you today.
You probably cooked today using some of the flavors and some of the things that you saw growing up, and it was authentic.
- Nice job.
- Thank you.
Mei, did you feel like you had to push your own limits because of her artwork? Yeah, definitely, I mean, her artwork is colorful, and she's colorful as well.
You know, I did the best that I could to mimic her art.
I especially liked, Mei, how you brought elements of her art into your food, but you still made it feel like your food.
I kind of wished that you would have let go a little bit more in the presentation, let it be a little more wild on the plate.
I do think you have enough skill to push the envelope even more.
I really liked the clean flavors on your dish.
It was very subtle and also playful, which bea's work is, so I really enjoyed it too.
Thank you, chef.
Melissa, why did you choose to go in the direction that you chose with the eggplant? What was the jumping-off point when you looked at his work? I remember the building that he really wanted to represent, and ravioli popped in my mind about having something that exploded.
He plays with a lot of charcoal, and that was something that I wanted the ravioli to have in the middle when you burst right into it.
Your ravioli was delicious.
I'm not sure what that shrimp was doing there.
I know you wanted to get the pink in there.
I think there may have been other ways that you could've done that.
You did what you did, and you did it for a reason.
Technically, it was really nicely done.
It was playful like Leo's art.
You know, if I was gonna say there's a negative, I thought the chorizo was over-rendered, and the bits that you gave us were just kind of dried out, but I maybe would've stopped with the oil.
That's about it.
Gregory, talk to us about your experience with artemio.
Just walking into his studio and seeing the underlying darkness in all of his work kind of spoke to me very well and just his study of, like, the human spirit and human nature.
Gregory's dish represented artemio's work very nicely.
I love the powerful ingredients that you used.
The flavors were very strong in your mouth, and they kept with you.
I thought there were so many elements on your plate that really spoke to artemio's vision.
The marigold--that yellow, that orange and ginger sauce not only looked and mimicked that beautiful brightness but just completely exploded when you tasted it.
Thank you, Gail.
Gregory And Doug, the two of you had our favorite dishes tonight.
Yeah.
But of course, there can only be one winner.
And the winner of tonight's challenge will get to take home the artist's work which inspired their food today.
Enrique, as our guest judge, please announce our winner.
What we liked the most about the dish that won is that it took inspiration from the artist-- make it their own, and then paste it into flavor.
The tastiest dish was Doug's.
Oh, yeah.
I wanted this one.
I wanted this one bad.
Bad, bad, bad.
Feeding Tom Colicchio my Texas red chili and winning with it-- it feels great.
I knew it was a risk, but it paid off, and this is something I'll always, always remember.
Congratulations, Doug.
Do you have room for that beautiful painting? Oh, that's going to my mom in Texas.
And being able to send merry's artwork to my mom is gonna be the best thing I've ever given her.
Well, your mother will be very proud.
She will.
Doug and Gregory, please step to the side.
Mei and Melissa, both of you cooked us delicious food today.
But as you know, one of you will be going home.
you know, this is a really tough challenge to go out on, because both of you clearly did a great job.
Do you both think that you did everything you could've done today? Overall, you know, I felt really proud of the dish, and I felt it really represented Leonardo.
Mei? I wouldn't have changed anything on my plate.
I was happy with all the components on it.
I felt like everything worked well together.
You guys both cooked from your heart.
It's just one of those unfortunate times that someone is going home for making a very, very good dish.
Melissa, please pack your knives and go.
It's such a pleasure to have met you and eaten your food, Melissa.
You did nothing wrong.
You just came up against just three dishes that were stronger.
Thank you for having me.
You know, this entire experience is just life-changing, and I will never forget it.
And I'm so honored to be able to cook for you three and-- yeah, carry it on, girl.
And everyone else, we'll see you at the next challenge.
- Good luck, everyone.
- Sweetie.
Right now, I'm starting to feel a little sick.
You know, to come this far and to have to go home is just devastating, but I really do think I'm a different chef and a different person coming out of this experience.
I cook with no fears anymore.
That's the most important thing to take away from this whole experience.
Next on Top Chef Oh, my God.
Good thing I'm a runner, 'cause that was really, really hard.
This is what happens when you're out of shape.
Got me out of breath.
You'll be using ant eggs.
I'll do guava and poblanos.
Gregory's trying to push me into something that I don't want to do.
My biggest concern is that I went too simple.
I hope I don't go home.
When have you ever thought you were gonna cook with ants in your life? I hope never again.
It's weird.
I wasn't expecting much from this dish.
This is the finals.
You have to come with some great stuff.
I feel I'm gonna throw up right now.
This is the first dish that fills my entire mouth with flavor.
It's one of the strongest dishes we've had so far.
I think so.
If I go home, it's going to be the worst thing of my life ever.
I just wished you had gone in a different direction.
But I'm not cooking, you are.
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