- Previously on Top Chef... - Oh, damn!
- There is no sleep till the rodeo,
and chili's an all-nighter.
- Just the picture of exhaustion.
All: Whoo! - Yee-haw!
- Give me my hat back. - Absolutely.
- Never send a man to do a woman's job.
[Cheering]
- I wish my husband was here.
- There's no crying in cooking.
- We were up cooking throughout the night already.
How much more can you throw at us?
- Get it together.
- Richie, pack your knives and go.
- It's me.
- Richie's my best little buddy.
I love him to death,
and I expected Richie to go very, very far.
- 14 chefs remain,
all hoping to win
a feature in Food & Wine magazine,
a showcase at the annual Food & Wine classic in Aspen,
$125,000
furnished by Healthy Choice
to bring their culinary dreams to life,
and the title of Top Chef.
♪ Top Chef: Texas 9x05 ♪ Don't Be Tardy for the Dinner Party Original Air Date on November 30, 2011
== sync by elderman ==
- That was rough, man.
It was harsh, dude.
- Mentally, physically... - Exactly.
- Hi, chefs.
- Hi.
- Oh, my God. Are we getting a quickfire right now?
I can't possibly take any more at this moment.
- I want you to get a good night's sleep tonight,
'cause tomorrow, you're hitting the road.
Pack your bags and meet me...
In Dallas.
- Just fell in love
with the house that we're staying in,
and they're kicking us out, so...
It's unsettling.
- Expect the unexpected.
- All right, let's go.
- Let's go to Dallas.
- What is that?
What are you, like, a hobo?
You gonna put that on a stick?
- I'm taking my pillow.
- Dallas.
- When I think of Dallas,
I think Dallas Cowboys rings a bell,
country singers...
Who's the one with the, like, really...
Dolly Parton. Isn't she from Dallas?
Have you guys every done a 360 on the highway?
- No. - [Laughing]
- I'm driving the beautiful Chris, Beverly, and Paul.
- Ugly Chris. [Laughter]
- I haven't really hit a stride,
but moving on to a different city,
I think it's a great opportunity
to show I've got the skills to pay the bills.
- Let's hit the road.
- Let's go to Dallas.
All: Whoo!
- Ready to go? - Yeah.
- We get in our Toyota Siennas heading to Dallas.
When I was growing up, it was always road trips.
Faster, faster!
- If you ain't first, you're last.
- That's true.
My brother gets carsick. Not good.
My brother's thrown up on me several times.
[Laughing]
- Your relationship status?
- Happily married, one year.
We just had our one-year anniversary--
All: Aww! - Before I left on this trip.
I moved to Louisville, Kentucky
seven years ago from New York City.
I wasn't planning on meeting this wonderful Indiana girl,
but the moment I broke down and accepted her into my life
was the best day of my life.
- Ty-lor, what is your, uh, married status?
- I have a boyfriend.
- If you win Top Chef,
do you think they will have a float dedicated to you
at the gay pride parade? - [Laughing]
I can't laugh too hard.
I'm gonna wreck the goddamn car.
- I gained so much weight
my first year of culinary school 'cause--
- All you do-- I did the exact same,
especially when I did baking class.
- I was 70 pounds heavier for about three years.
- Nah. - What?
- Yeah. - But big? Buff?
- No, like fat. - Oh.
- Chef Works catalogue
came and did a photo shoot at our restaurant.
Seeing that go out to millions of people,
and having friends call me
and say, "Hey, looking good in that magazine, fatty."
That lead to losing 70 pounds in a little under two years.
- Oh, they closed the highway.
- Uh-oh, we're gonna get there a lot later.
- We turn the corner, and I see a Texas State Trooper,
and he's, like... [Screeching-breaks imitation]
- [Bleep], man.
I've been pulled over in San Antonio.
He wrote me a nice, big ticket.
I remember it being pretty expensive,
which is why I didn't pay it, and I'm pretty sure
I have a warrant out for my arrest in Texas.
- Texas Highway Patrol, how you doing this afternoon?
- Um, I'm a little nervous now that I see you.
- Go ahead, get your driver's license,
proof of liability, and insurance.
- Oh, that's gonna be an issue.
- Tell you what, ma'am. Go ahead and pull over here
on the side of the roadway, if you would.
- Guys, we are so busted.
- What is that over there?
- I don't know.
As soon as we get closer,
I see Padma standing with somebody,
and I'm, like, "Oh, great."
We're in big trouble.
- Good afternoon, chefs.
All: [General greetings]
- I wanted to add a little excitement
to your road trip.
- [Nervous laughter]
- It's an honor to introduce
John Besh, chef and owner of Luke in San Antonio,
and August in New Orleans.
- We get this reflection
off of John Besh's beautiful white teeth,
and his hair blowing in the wind and, wow,
John Besh is a handsome man, I'm not gonna lie.
- Hey, chefs.
Welcome to your quickfire.
- This round of the competition
is about being resourceful and inventive.
- Because, chefs...
This is your kitchen.
[Laughter]
- Pop your trunks.
What you see there are survival kits.
Your challenge is to make the best possible dish
with whatever you find in there.
The chef with the best dish will win $5,000
and immunity.
You have 30 minutes to cook the best dish you can.
Your time...
Starts now.
- First thing I do is I run to this cornfield
thinking that there might be usable corn because
fresh is always best,
and I want to show off to the judges
that I can be creative,
I can use what's around me.
- Pretty dry.
I'll see if I need
to pop it as popcorn, but we'll see.
- Chocolate?
- It's got anything good?
- Canned fruit,
garbanzo beans, peas, sardines.
Anybody want canned meat? - No.
- Lemon pepper...
Our backpacks are full
of packaged, dried foods.
And we don't even have a cutting board.
This is just ridiculous.
Got chipotle.
- How are we supposed to cut?
- [Bleep] hurts, that's all I gotta say.
- 18 minutes. - 18 minutes!
- Dip mix? Why not?
- What the hell am I supposed to do
with a blueberry fruit strip? - [Laughing]
- [Laughing] Guys.
I am freaking out about this challenge.
- You get yours lit?
- The wind is blowing like crazy,
so these burners are not putting out as much heat
as I would like.
I've been camping but not like this.
- 12 minutes.
- Anybody have any vinegar or acid they're not using?
Awesome.
- Chuy, whatcha doing?
- I see black-eyed peas and rice and trout,
and that's really all I got so far.
- I got green chilies in a can.
- Ooh, green chilies in a can.
- Here you go, mister. - Thank you, sir.
Dirty rice is one of those symbolic, creole dishes.
You know, it needs to be something
that's sort of, like, southern-ish
since I know John Besh is the judge.
It doesn't taste so bad.
- Lemon drink,
I bet you have some acid.
There's a lot of Asian ingredients
inside of this bag.
I'm thinking Asian soup and a lemon drink powder.
Add a little bit of acidity to my dish.
That's [bleep] hot. Ow.
- [Laughing]
There isn't a whole lot of inspiration here.
I see green beans,
canned tuna, canned chicken.
A lot of food that I would never, ever cook with
in a million bazillion years.
- I'm really out of my comfort zone
with all this canned stuff.
My dad would be proud to know
that I am using vienna sausages.
- Oh, really? - [Laughing]
My dad used to eat vienna sausages out of a can,
and I thought that was the most disgusting thing growing up.
As soon as I saw the can,
I just thought of my dad, and I said, "hell.
I'm gonna find a way to use these."
Nine minutes.
- This thing is not getting [bleep] hot.
I look around,
and everyone's making, like, mess hall food.
But just because I'm in a campsite,
I'm not gonna make Flintstones food.
Is anyone not using their soy sauce?
- No soy.
- Five minutes.
- Please go, go.
- I just pulled my back. [Bleep].
- We're gonna make it through this, I promise.
- [Bleep] Old man, here.
- Pull it together, Ed.
- [Bleep] Wasted [bleep] time.
The corn didn't work out,
because it's very dry, so my idea is
to use the husk as kind of
an element to plate it.
Smells like holy [bleep].
- Mom's gonna be proud of this one.
- Time. Hands up.
Utensils down.
- My back's killing me, I'm sweating.
This is the worst thing that could happen out here
in a field of mud,
with the sun beating down on me.
Oh, my God.
- We love Gummi Bears.
I have a Gummi Bear addiction.
My wedding cake was a Gummi Bear.
- I can't compute
that someone is telling me
that I should cook Gummi Bears.
- Hello, Chris. - Hi, how are you all?
I went a little bit of Asian on this.
We have a lemongrass noodle--
- okay. - Hearts of palm,
Cranberries, peanuts, fried the chicken,
fried some noodles on top
so you get a little bit of crunchy texture.
- I made Chuy's dirty mouth dirty rice.
So it's, uh--
- Do I wanna eat that? - You do.
- [Laughing] - Yeah, it's pretty tasty.
It's some basmati, black-eyed peas
a little bit of shredded beef jerky,
some, uh, green chilies.
It's mostly smoked trout that's mixed in there.
- Dried trout, or-- - It was canned trout.
- Enough said. - Thank you.
- It's pickled herring with a salad of hearts of palm,
a little bit of the herring juice, um...
- [Laughing] - It's good.
- Is this something you cook on a regular basis?
- Yeah, always.
I wanted to make something that tasted a little fresh.
- Thank you. - Yup.
- I did a play on a soup and sandwich.
So it's a little French onion celery soup with vienna sausage,
and then it's triple club with tuna and sardines.
- I've never had vienna sausages quite this way before.
- To think that I made a sandwich
using saltine crackers and a soup with vienna sausage
doesn't make me feel very comfortable.
- What did you cook for us?
- Black pepper chicken stew with garbanzo beans.
Some plain rice in case any of the flavors
are a little too much.
- What'd you cook your rice in?
- In water. I wanted to have something plain.
- Your rice is pretty good
for the conditions.
- Thank you very much.
- I went with a, um, dried beef and pineapple rice.
Applesauce and hearts of palm on the side.
- What beef is that?
- That's the dried beef.
- Thank you.
- I've done a spicy, coconut-braised garbanzo beans
with tofu, crab meat,
and for the acid, I used a little bit
of the, uh, lemon drink powder.
- I've never heard of anything
being sweetened by-- - [Laughing]
- Crystal light powder up at the top.
- That was the only acid I had in my bag.
- So I did a beer and peach glazed chicken
with a green bean casserole on the side.
Then I chopped up some of the peach fruit roll-up.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
- I did a, uh, Thai peanut soup.
I also made crab and artichoke cake
wrapped in nori, fried,
and a little fried hominy.
Take care.
- I did some pork and beans spiced with coffee,
and some basmati rice.
- Who knew?
- So we have a little sweet and spicy noodles
with some crab meat, corn kernels, green chili,
and I used some pineapple juice to give it some acidity.
- Pineape's very sweet.
- I really did try to take out some of the sweetness,
but when you're trying to make a sauce out of nothing,
that's a little risky.
- John, how do you think our chefs did
with their survival kits?
- Some of you weren't so inventive.
Others really put your heart and soul into the dish,
and it showed.
- Who were your least favorites?
- Whitney, the chicken,
the green beans straight out of the can
just didn't feel the love.
Dakota...
The noodles with the pineapple and the corn,
it's really one-dimensional,
almost all sweet. Chris...
The raw tofu and the crab meat,
under-seasoned, just threw the whole dish off.
- John, let's hear some favorites.
- Edward, I thought the attention to detail
in your dish was really commendable.
The nori-wrapped crab cakes?
Wonderful.
Thai peanut soup?
Whole thing worked together.
- Thank you.
- Lindsay, when I first saw your dish,
it scared me. - [Laughing]
- I dove in.
The sandwich especially sent it over the top.
- Thank you. - Chuy...
I've never had canned smoked trout before,
and you made me a believer.
- Thank you.
- John, tell us the winner of the quickfire.
- For me, it's all about
the chef who really understood resourcefulness,
inventiveness.
And it was really embodied in one dish today,
and the chef that made that dish...
Was Lindsay.
[Clapping]
- That had to have been
one hell of a sandwich.
'Cause it looked dry as the Texas land
that we were standing on.
- Congratulations, Lindsay.
Not only do you win $5,000 furnished by Healthy Choice,
you win immunity in the next elimination challenge.
- Awesome. Thank you.
Whoo!
It's truly ironic that I would win the quickfire
with a can of vienna sausages.
Dad, I hope you're proud. [Laughing]
- This elimination challenge takes place in Highland Park,
one of the most exclusive residential areas in Dallas.
Three neighbors are having a progressive dinner party
in their homes tomorrow night,
and you're responsible for the food.
- A progressive dinner is where...
Friends that live in houses close to each other
have an appetizer in one house,
an entree in another house,
and then finish up with dessert in the last house.
- People in the south love to entertain,
and they live to eat,
so they will have definite opinions
about what you're cooking.
- I have a lot of experience
cooking for Bill Gates,
for rock stars, movie stars.
I know just exactly what kind of expectations
the client is going to have.
- You first five, from Chris to Sarah,
you'll do appetizers.
From Beverly to Ty,
you'll be responsible for the entree.
And the last four
will be responsible for dessert.
- I get stuck with dessert.
Again. [Laughing]
I'm pissed.
I didn't come here to make desserts.
- This is an individual elimination challenge
testing your ability to make delicious
dinner party food.
From here, you'll check into your hotel,
and then drive to your clients' homes
to plan your menus.
You guys can split up and get in your Toyota Siennas.
All: Thank you.
- Oh, wow.
- I'm taking this bed. [Laughter]
- This is what I'm talking about now.
- Living large. - Living large.
- Wow, pillows.
- Feels like Dallas.
It's big, it's opulent,
great views.
I'm gonna be happy here.
- Oh, we can play spin the bottle
with Ed as the bottle. [Laughter]
- We arrive at our respective houses.
It's a very nice neighborhood. It reminds me of
the Desperate Housewives, where they're on Wisteria Lane,
all the wives are kind of peeking out the window.
Definitely won't wanna piss off the neighbors
on this street.
Hi, how are you? - Hi, good. I'm Kim.
- My name is Chris. It's very nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. Welcome.
- Kim. - Whitney.
- Hi. Both: Nice to meet you.
- My background is very different
from what I see walking into this house.
I grew up with a fairly poor family.
I've lived in hotel rooms before.
And not nice ones.
- This is our kitchen obviously.
[Laughter] - It's really--it's beautiful.
- One thing that you may not know about my wife is
she's a lifestyle and entertaining expert.
- These are my books. - Oh, wow.
- Wow. - Yeah.
So that you know what style we like.
But obviously the presentation is really important,
and we want it to be kind of like
a conversation-starter for them.
- Is there a theme to this event?
- Originally we were thinking of asking you all
to make everything pink,
and then we decided we didn't wanna do that.
[Laughter] - I have a lot of foods.
That I don't like. - Okay.
- I really, really don't like bell peppers.
I'm not a big cilantro fan.
I don't wanna give them any food that will make them
feel self-conscious about their breath.
- Or that would get stuck in your teeth?
- I hate when things get stuck in my teeth.
[Laughter]
- I think it's important to have things
that are easy to eat. - Yeah, I agree.
- So if it's a unique presentation,
something they've never seen before,
that'd be something that you'd like to have at your house?
- I'm not very adventurous
when it comes to trying new food.
- What if it's flavors of food
that you've already tried before
just done in a different way?
- For you, yes. [Laughing]
- Thank you. I'm very excited.
- Ty-lor. - Ty-lor.
- You can smell the smell of money.
It smells very different than my apartment in Brooklyn.
- Spicy food you guys, uh, into?
- I love spicy food.
- I don't like spicy food.
[Laughter]
- I do not like cilantro,
I might as well be allergic to it.
- Okay.
- She doesn't like raspberries.
- Oh, yeah, I really don't like raspberries.
- Okay, great.
- I love beef, I love-- filet is my favorite.
- I don't eat meat.
- Oh, you don't eat meat at all. - No.
- The husband's a really adventurous guy.
She's high-maintenance.
This is why I avoid actually doing these things.
I prefer them coming to my restaurant.
I can kick them out there.
- Guys, thanks for coming over. - Thank you so much.
- We look forward to tomorrow. - Thanks.
- Is there anything that you want
to maybe tell us about your favorites?
- We like cake-balls, we like cupcakes.
- Right. I love fudge.
- Love bananas. Obsessed with bananas.
- We definitely want something
that is worth every calorie.
[Laughter] - So...
- I want something that's gonna make my inner fat kid cry,
all right? That's what I want.
I want rich, bold flavors. - And more is better
here in Texas.
- I have a Gummi Bear addiction.
My wedding cake was a Gummi Bear.
A giant Gummi Bear. - I can't compute
that someone with that kind of elegance.
Is telling me that I should cook Gummi Bears.
- You guys, obviously-- - push your limits.
- Just have so much fun with it, yeah.
- Thank you. - See ya.
- Bye. - Bye.
- I'm looking forward to doing my own thing.
- I feel good about this challenge.
This is the first time that
we don't break off into teams,
and whatever happens we won't be able
to blame it on anyone else
if we don't do well.
You seen the beef stock and all that jazz?
- Look in aisle one.
- Prosciutto, I guess, will work.
Mrs. Whitman just flat out said
that she's not adventurous at all.
Can I get a pound of that?
Only problems that I've had in the past
cooking for these high-end clients
is if you try to cook for yourself
and give them what you want,
then that's when problems start to occur.
- Ten minutes.
- Just two big whole filets of it.
- Ah!
The Westcotts really seem like they enjoy cupcakes.
I have a basic recipe,
but I've never tested it.
I'm really nervous at this point.
This is gonna be a learning experience and a bad time.
- Do you need both those colanders?
- No, I just need that one.
- Can you take the other one out of the sink then?
It feels very selfish to me that somebody would
take over an entire kitchen.
- Come on, sabotage.
- Oh, wow.
All right, guys.
Today we will be preparing a progressive dinner
for Dallas high society.
Is this stuff bothering you
right here? - No.
- I'm making the appetizer course and...
I'm very excited because
I'm able to cook what I wanna cook,
and that's Italian food.
I'd like to cook in here every day.
[Laughing]
- I have crushed red chili flakes,
if anybody needs a cornstarch.
I'm in the entree house,
and after being at the judges' table before,
the last place I want to end up
is back there, or even worse, going home.
- Is anyone putting blanching water on?
- Not me.
I do have water on,
but that's for my polenta. - Okay.
- Come on, let's go.
- How's your back feel, Edward?
- Argh. It was okay until you said something.
Brokeback back.
- Doing the dessert course today
is gonna be a difficult challenge for me.
Baking is just so scientific and technical,
that if you mess up one little ingredient,
you're gonna [bleep] up the whole thing.
- Chris, how did you get
your blade down? - I don't know.
- 36 minutes. - 36.
- God, it's hot, huh?
- Whitney, can I use this whisk now?
- Yes.
- Aw, you [bleep].
I'm gonna push the boundaries.
I'm gonna make a dish that looks just like a cigar.
I think it'll be a huge home run winner.
- Hey, Chris. Where do you want your plates?
- Uh, right here. Thank you, sir.
- It's a ballsy move for Chris to do this dish.
Generally in dinner parties like this,
you wanna impress the lady,
'cause if you impress the lady of the house,
the guy's just gonna agree with it.
- Oh, [bleep].
- I'm not trying to be a [bleep],
just I--it all has a purpose, all those pans.
- I-I got exactly what I need. It's not a problem.
- Do you need both those colanders?
- No, I just need that one.
- Can you take the other one out of the sink then?
- Yep. - Please? Thank you.
I'm a little aggravated with Bev
because she's using the entire sink,
and there's colanders everywhere and...
It feels very selfish to me
that somebody would go into this environment
with four other chefs
and take over entire kitchen.
- Where's my blanching water? Why did you take it off?
- I said if you're not using it, take it off.
- I was--I'm using it.
It's a blanching pot. With water.
I'm frustrated with Beverly
moving the pot of blanching water.
Did you take the strainer
that I had back there? - Yeah, but--
sure. Absolutely.
I'm working on four different things,
and it's, like, "oh, Beverly.
Don't leave this mess here." It's, like, come on.
We're all leaving stuff everywhere.
Don't single me out.
- Come on, sabotage.
- You guys seen a sifter of any kind?
- I saw a really little one in that top drawer.
- I got a panna cotta going.
Some of it's based on what the couple told me,
some of it I ignore 'cause they just kept saying things
like fudge and bananas. - Holy [bleep], Ed.
- I don't wanna base 12 people's dessert course
on two people's likes and dislikes,
because what if everyone else is expecting an elegant dessert,
and then they all get a bowl of fudge?
I'm gonna try and blow their minds.
I don't know if I'll blow their palates.
- Thanks for having us. - Thank you.
- We appreciate it. - Thank you for being here.
- It's coming out hot.
Mrs. Whitman said that she likes
a lot of balance.
Very hot.
Having a salad of raw items
as well as roasted and poached items
is my interpretation of that balance.
- Do you entertain a lot at home?
- We do, yes, we entertain a lot.
We love this, and we do it often.
- Are you both from Dallas?
- I'm Canadian originally. - Oh.
- Me too. - You are, I know that.
- Wow.
- Door behind you.
- Four minutes, 47 seconds.
Every single time I do a service, I criticize myself.
It could've used more salt, could've used more acid.
I always want to push
to make sure that I do better,
'cause that's the only way I can evolve.
- Hands are shaking. Holy schnikes.
- I'm wondering if this dish is gonna be cool enough that
they can say, "wow, it came together nicely."
Or are they gonna be, like, "wow.
What is this on a plate, and why did you serve me a cigar"?
[Timer beeping]
- The plate isn't as beautiful as I had wanted it to be.
Chris's cigar looks really cool in its whimsy,
and I know that the client wanted something whimsy,
so maybe she's not gonna like my dish.
I've never second-guessed myself more in my whole life.
- Hi, how are you all? - Hello.
- Justin, when I walked in, I saw that you had
a beautiful cigar lighter.
I figured I'd do something a little bit unique with that.
I did roasted chicken with corn,
wrapped around bread, with braised collard greens.
It's in the shape of a cigar,
and then the ash that you're gonna be having
is cumin and sesame seed.
You can pretend to smoke it if you like.
It's a healthy cigar that you eat.
- I made a Roman-style artichoke,
and then I finished them on the grill
with a date puree, pecans, and then fresh mint.
- I made a salad of roasted and raw beets
with some charred chickpeas,
and a Greek vinaigrette.
- I did a seared sea scallop
over a puree of sweet corn.
And I served it with a succotash of zucchini.
- I made us some fried brussel sprouts
with some grilled prosciuttos and madras spiced crème fraiche.
- Thank you.
- So hungry.
- Take one.
- We went to Greece on our honeymoon,
and it seems like everything there is so fresh.
- They got married a month ago. - Oh.
Did you get married here in Dallas?
- We did. - Small wedding.
[Laughter] - 700 people?
- Actually how'd you know? - 800.
- I was kind of joking.
They weren't, were they? [Laughing]
- We had 1,200.
- I don't think I know 1,200 people.
[Laughter]
- Chris's dish is a bit daunting.
- The flavors are okay, but...
The whole thing eats dry.
- The idea of eating a cigar
doesn't really appeal to me.
- You don't eat cigars? [Laughter]
- You don't think that's tasty?
- I actually don't smoke them either.
- I think half my lipstick is on there now.
[Laughter]
- I can walk away knowing the flavors are good.
- I love Sarah's artichoke dish.
It really matched what I described.
- And the artichoke was grilled perfectly.
- That's good eats right there.
- I loved Lindsay's beets.
I wasn't too impressed by the other things
that were with it. - A little boring.
Didn't excite me at all.
- I enjoy them so far.
- It's very colorful. - [Chuckles]
- Oh, man.
- And you ate all your brussel sprouts.
- Yeah, I loved it. - Good for you.
- Yeah. Growing up.
- I love Paul's brussel sprouts.
I do like the combination
of the crunchy and the--the smooth.
- Oh, I love brussel sprouts.
Paul did a fantastic job.
I roast mine also.
He did a much better job than I typically do.
[Laughter]
- Definitely represents what--what I do.
- I think one of Kim and Justin's requests
from Whitney in the beginning
was to have a conversation starter.
That wouldn't have started a conversation for me.
- I thought it came out pretty well, and I hope they like it.
- Justin, would you serve those dishes
at your normal dinner parties? - I definitely would.
You know, I think some of them were--were fantastic,
and others, you know, maybe needed a little bit of work.
- So...Close, but no cigar?
[Laughter]
- Well, Troy and Kari,
can we go over to your house now?
- Let's do it, y'all, come on over.
- We're excited.
- [Bleep].
- I pull the salmon out of the oven,
and the first thing I notice
is the husks are a little bit toasted,
which is a bad sign,
and I go to poke it,
and the salmon feels slightly overcooked,
and the cheese does look a little bit weird.
I'm feeling pretty nauseous.
- Watch out.
A knife. Again.
- Another beautiful home.
- Holy moly, Heather.
That looks great.
Both me and Heather have commented
that we're really happy to be here together.
We're really good friends,
and it's been reassuring to have her around.
- Yours smells delicious.
- The thing about main courses is that they're obviously
the most important part of the meal.
I think there's a lot of pressure on these chefs.
- Goddamn [bleep] son of a whore.
Presentation is a major factor,
whether it's in your restaurant,
but even more so in high society.
I know my dish tastes great,
but it looks like crap.
- Hands up.
[Timer beeping]
- Hi. - Hello.
- Fanciest looking family style I've ever had.
- I made garlic and rosemary grilled lamb chops
with garbanzo beans and a mint chimichurri.
- I made sockeye salmon filet,
and it's been stuffed with a goat cheese cream,
and on top, it's just a little cherry tomato relish
and avocado.
- I have pan-seared diver scallops
with creamy polenta and a xo sauce,
and crispy garlic.
- I have a spice rubbed grilled pork tenderloin
and avocado guacamole salsa.
- We have a roasted filet of beef
with a vegetable mélange,
with a red wine sauce.
- That is a lot of food.
- Chuy's salmon is extremely mild.
- This is very good.
- I thought Beverly's scallop dish was excellent.
I like the twist with the white truffle.
- If I was having a dinner party,
that's the kind of thing-- I would ring her up,
and ask her to come back and make that again.
- This is Ty's pork tenderloin.
It's just a little bit sloppy.
- It's just a bit dry,
but I like the colors,
and I like the presentation of it.
- It reminds me of something
my parents would've made in the '50s.
- The garbanzo beans in Heather's dish were good because
usually they're not green when I see them, or as fresh.
- I can't get past the overcooked chops.
- Very tough.
- Do they like overcooked lamb in Dallas?
- Hell no. - Okay.
- Doesn't appeal to me. - Mm-hmm.
- Nyesha's beef--
I wasn't excited to dig into it.
I didn't think it looked very appetizing.
- It almost looks like
there's blood that's decorating the outside of it.
- No, that's a red wine reduction, I can assure you.
- I'm excited to go to your house for dessert.
- I'm very excited to have you guys.
- I hope there's ice cream.
- I have a feeling there might be.
- It's an edible shot glass.
Biggest problem I have right now
is not having a vessel to serve my milkshake in,
so I take my dates,
and make them into shot glasses.
Little weird looking.
I hope that me having fun and trying to be creative
doesn't put me in the bottom.
You'll either love it or you'll hate it.
- Wow, this is incredible.
- Okay. How ya doing?
You all right? - Yup.
Dessert is not my thing.
I'm afraid that my sponge cake won't be spongy.
That would be a disaster.
- I challenged the chefs
to really channel their inner fat kid.
[Laughter] - That was the goal.
- Hot, hot, hot.
- Three minutes. That's not much time.
I have mixed emotions about this cupcake today.
There's some banana puree,
strawberries, ice cream.
I have about 20 different things on this plate.
I have to do my ice cream still.
I hope that comes across well,
and not too clunky and cluttered.
- We'd prefer for your ice cream not to be frozen.
- One minute.
[Timer beeping]
- The front is the banana.
- I'm sweating and I'm nervous,
'cause the bread pudding,
I wish it would've been creamier.
I'm an emotional wreck right now.
In front of you, I have a warm banana,
Reese's peanut butter cup bread pudding,
roasted banana mousse,
and a date banana milkshake.
So you take the shot of the milkshake,
and then you eat the date.
- I made a strawberry cupcake filled with banana cream,
really rich chocolate icing,
and then a mint chocolate chip ice cream.
- So what I made for you is
a cardamom-scented panna cotta,
cantaloupe consommé,
raspberries stuffed with a basil pudding.
- I made a chocolate sponge cake,
caramelized bananas,
and some crushed up chocolate-covered pretzels.
- Thank you.
- Now, court, pace yourself.
- I'm trying.
- The presentation looks like a little elmo.
You know? [Laughter]
- Edward's dish was a bit jiggly looking.
- It tastes much fancier than it looks.
- Yes, it does.
- I thought Grayson's dish looked great.
It was a little rich for me, I have to be honest,
for my taste buds.
- I thought it was just impossible
to be too rich in Dallas, Texas.
[Laughter]
- I've never had a fine dining cupcake, have you?
- I do love the ice cream.
- I thought Chris's cupcake
was one of the best I've ever had.
- Tom, what did you think of Chris's dessert?
- You know, my mother told me once,
if you have nothing nice to say,
don't say anything. I'll just remain silent right now.
- Oh, my God. I need a beer.
- Oh, my God. - Oh, it's so good.
- I could eat Dakota's bread pudding every day.
- I thought Dakota's dessert was worth every calorie.
- Thank you guys all so much for coming,
and I-I don't envy the decisions
you guys have in front of you,
but we're gonna head out and grab some margaritas, so...
[Laughter]
- Thank you all very much.
Hosts: Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- I still have this feeling
that somebody's gonna go home for making dessert today,
because that's generally the way this competition goes,
so I'm a little nervous.
- Why that a good dish?
- Man, come on. This is Top Chef.
- I could've used Chuy's dad today.
[Laughter]
- Chuy has a lot of stories, and...
Some of them involve his dad.
- He can build you a house, you just tell him where.
- I like the one where Chuy's dad
built all the furniture in their house.
- He built every single piece of furniture.
- That's a good one.
- Well, Chuy's dad-- he must've been like this.
- [Laughing] Yeah, you're right.
- My dad can do anything. My dad's superman.
My parents grew, like, all of our food in our back yard.
- I don't think there's any story that I can't make up
that Chuy's dad hasn't done.
I love your dad. That's awesome.
- What you guys end up doing for desserts?
- I did bread pudding, I did a milkshake,
and, um...Mousse.
You know, my biggest worry right now
is that bread pudding, and just the texture being off,
and I'm sure that's what the judges will see.
- Good evening. - Good evening.
- We'd like to see Sarah-- - oh, no.
- Grayson, Paul, and Dakota.
Thank you.
[Suspenseful music]
♪
The four of you...
Served our favorite dishes.
- Oh, my God. Are you kidding me?
Oh, my God.
- Congratulations.
- Grayson, I loved the pretzels.
I like salt with dessert. - Me too.
- I thought it worked really well.
It was kind of buried in there nicely.
It was just the right amount.
To me, that's what made the dish.
- Thanks, chef.
- Sarah, what I liked best about the dish was that...
The refined flavors really worked together.
This was spot on. - Thank you.
- Dakota... - I thought your bread pudding
was really moist and gooey in the center,
the chocolate was melted,
then there was the crunch of the peanuts.
You want something that feels nostalgic,
and feels comforting,
and I think you really nailed it
with your dessert. - Thank you.
- Paul, I thought that dish was all about texture.
There were so many little textures working.
It was crispy. Everything on that dish
just really made sense. - Thank you.
- John, please announce the winner.
- The winner really exhibited a lot of focus,
took a risk,
and listened to what the clients wanted.
So the winner is...
Paul.
- Thank you.
- Yay, congratulations! [Laughing]
- It feels great to win this challenge.
It's--it's definitely a huge boost to my morale.
- Please send back some of your colleagues.
Thank you, chefs. - Thank you.
- This is Top Chef: Texas,
and I'm the only one that cooks in Texas,
so I'm gonna represent for my state.
- It's Paul. - Yay!
[Applause]
- Good job.
- Uh, the judges wanna see, uh...
Chris Jones, Ty, Chris C.,
and, uh, chuy.
- Good luck, guys. - Good luck, guys.
[Suspenseful music]
♪
- You served our least favorite dishes tonight,
and one of you will be going home.
Chris... - Just from a point of view,
I'm not sure where this thing starts and where it ends.
I mean, there's strawberry, there's banana,
and then there's mint ice cream.
Just all--all over the map. I mean...
It was almost as if you were at a three-year-old's party,
and they had cupcakes and all the fixings,
and some kids just went crazy.
- I mean, they threw a lot at us, and...
So I just wanted to kind of get it all to them
and try and have some kind of cohesiveness on it.
- Listen, take their input,
but don't cave into every whim,
otherwise you end up with a big mess.
- Ty...
When that platter was finished and it went out,
were you satisfied with it?
- No.
- Why? - It wasn't clean enough.
- To me, it was out of proportion.
There was kind of this mound of slaw
under these really large pieces of meat,
and then the large pineapple.
It could've just been a lot tighter, a lot smaller.
- The knife skills have to be there.
The meat was-- was kind of hacked
and stacked in a way that didn't slice naturally.
I don't think this dish was true to you.
- Chuy, how did you come up with that dish?
- It's a dish that I've done before in the restaurant.
Then it's kind of like a play,
like, on sort of, like, a lox and bagels
sort of tasting thing.
- I too thought of bagels and lox and cream cheese,
but that's not what it tastes like.
The overcooked salmon was one major issue,
and the goat cheese, when it cooked,
kind of takes-- takes on this mealiness.
- I think pulling it out, like, at a medium-well temperature,
you risk not having, like, the cheese be hot in the middle.
- If it's a dish that, because you have cheese in there
and the way you're making it,
you have to make the salmon well-done
in order for that to work,
why is that a good dish?
- Chris...
- Well, as I was walking through the house,
I noticed that he had some cigar casings,
and I really wanted to win this competition.
I figured it was do or die.
Either they would really like it,
or they wouldn't. - Sometimes you gotta just say,
"you know what? That was a great, novel idea,
but the ingredients mean more to me than an idea."
You have to look at the ingredients and say,
"is this the best thing for the ingredient?"
- Right.
- It was a gimmick. When you ate this,
you had the stringy ribs of the collard green,
and I think that you need to be very careful
about getting caught up on these details like ash,
and really focus on good food.
- We'll call you back in a bit.
- Ugh. Well, that was-- that was nerve-wracking.
- They said that my dish was hard to eat,
the collard ribs were stringy,
but, you know, sometimes you're a little too ambitious,
and you try things that just don't work out, and...
[Exhaling]
- The thing about these chefs sort of put together,
they're just kind of like throwing darts at a dart board.
I mean, even listening to chuy:
In order for the cheese to be cooked and bubbly and hot,
the salmon has to be overcooked.
You're gonna tell me you can't alter the proportions
of those things to make them cook together?
I mean, please. - The point here--
see, Chuy wanted to be clever,
and I didn't see much redeeming value
in that dish whatsoever.
Give me a break, you're a chef,
and you're here to be Top Chef.
- Chris J.'s cigar.
- It wasn't easy to eat, it didn't make sense,
the ash was so unappealing.
Eating a giant, greasy cigar
with your fingers
at a dinner party in an expensive cocktail dress
is the last thing, I think,
any woman in that room wanted to do.
- He kind of fell in love with that idea,
and come hell or high water, he was gonna make that work.
Well, he couldn't make it work.
- I keep going back to Chris C.'s cupcake dish.
There was nothing on that plate that made sense to me.
Huge pieces of heath bar,
and then strawberries, orange, banana, mint chocolate chip
just sort of strewn around the plate.
- The dish was a mess, it was all over the place.
A cupcake on top of really bad strawberries.
It's bad, on top of bad, on top of bad.
- Cupcakes are one thing,
but Ty's pork tenderloin... Um, really?
- It seemed as if Ty just threw everything he could
sort of against the wall.
It was just so much, and none of it--
- So much, and nothing at all. - Yes.
- There's just no finesse in the cooking there.
There's no precision at all. There's no thought.
It's--it's very frustrating.
- Sounds like we're all in agreement.
- Yes. - Let's get them out here.
[Suspenseful music]
♪
- In each of your cases,
a little bit of thinking through
may have corrected a lot of the mistakes that were made.
Chris, you start with a cupcake,
and really don't know how to make a cupcake.
You still need to create a dish that makes sense,
and not just every ingredient that they mention.
- Ty, I think your dish would've been much better
if you just used fewer ingredients.
It was too many things going on, split your focus.
The dish was all over the place.
You know, Chuy, you had this idea,
you claim it works in your restaurant,
but you really-- you gave us overcooked salmon
and goat cheese, and it just wasn't a very good dish.
Chris, sometimes those ideas are great
and you can't let go of them.
But sometimes you have to.
A little editing may have
sort of got you off that ledge.
It's a progressive party,
and it's a progressive competition,
and for one of you, the progression ends here.
- Chuy...
Please pack your knives and go.
- See you in Chicago.
- Nobody likes losing, especially since
I was on the winning side of two challenges.
Thanks, guys.
I would've wanted to see myself go further,
I was having fun.
But one thing that you really mess up
can send you home.
- In the end, it was the overcooked salmon
in a dish that wasn't thought through
that sent Chuy home.
- Mm-hmm.
- Aww.
- Bye, guys. - Chuy.
- There's no shame in going home
when you're competing against all these great chefs here.
I mean, really great chefs.
Being the youngest person in the competition,
I definitely wanted to make my mark.
Take care. - Bye, chu-chu.
- Bye, Chuy.
- I think my dad will be super proud I made it this far.
I just didn't wanna go home so early.
- And tonight on Last Chance Kitchen,
can Chuy's culinary skills
live up to his tall tales?
- Was not expecting this.
- Or will Keith, the gentle giant,
remain one step closer to the title?
- There's one little thing...
- To watch Last Chance Kitchen,
go to bravotv.com now.
Next on Top Chef...
- What could be more quintessential about Dallas
than Southfork Ranch?
- Get 'em straight on here,
and then we blast right in the oven.
I'm just trying to make sure
that the steaks are getting cooked.
- Goddamn [bleep] son of a whore.
I need a medic right now.
I'm concerned about my hand,
and I'm concerned about being eliminated.
- Bev's gonna be a bit of a problem.
She's [bleep] slow.
She's been working on shrimp for two [bleep] days.
- With 13 chefs at your level,
really expect more.
- If I was in a restaurant,
you'd be refunding that money.
== sync by elderman ==