Wild Game Recipe Pan Roasted Duck with Corn Crepes and Sage Sour Cherry Sauce
(padma lakshmi)previously on top chef: pasta--it's cooled off,right? (howie)yes. is it well seasoned? (howie)where the [bleep]do you get off? i wouldn't hire herto work in my kitchen. i wouldn't hire herto wash dishes in my kitchen. i was not stabbing youin the back. that's [bleep] coming outof your mouth.
your challenge is to satisfythe late night partier. [shouting] i heard malarkey was beingcheesy as all hell and it was fantastic. sliders are coming! (cj)and sara, she's only plating like three or four burgersat a time. i loved, tre, your combination of classic, comfort-y food
of cheesy grits with bacon. nice job. thank you. (tom) we feel that each of you are responsible for this team losing. you're the baby of the house.everything-- that's enough. what's enough? you.
that's justan [bleep] thing to say. maybe i have to bean [bleep] sometimes, you know? god, you're more of an [bleep]every day. fair enough. sara, please pack your knivesand go. now eight chefs remain. the ultimate goal:to win it all. a feature in food and wine magazine, a showcase at the annual food and wine classic
in aspen, a gourmet dream vacationin the french alps provided by eviannatural spring water. $100,000 to help turntheir culinary dreams into reality, furnished by the makers of the glad familyof products. and the titleof top chef. [rock music]
♪ ♪ (cj)i'm sad that sara's gone 'cause she's sucha sweet girl. howie showed a complete lackof tact and civility. this is the final straw. howie's done for us. i'll go home for somethingthat i [bleep] up. i'm not going homefor something
somebody else [bleeps] up. i've put too muchinto getting to this point in my life to let anybody [bleep]it up for me. and if that makes mean [bleep], then i'm an [bleep]. (sara)i feel a little lonely. my bunda is not here anymore. but, you know,you gotta get over it.
there are eight chefs leftin the house at this point and the competitionis getting fierce. oh, yeah. ready to go? [chefs agreeing] (hung) oh. really. (cj)walk in the kitchen
and there standsdaniel boulud, one of the best chefsin the world. holy shneikies. (cj)and i can't believe it. he is sort of likea pinnacle for technique in french cuisine. and he's a big deal. hi, chef. the judge for thisis daniel boulud.
i respect him highly.i love his restaurant. this is someone i definitely want to impress with my cooking. (padma) our guest judge for this round is of coursechef daniel boulud, the chef and owner of some of the country's finest restaurants. hello, everyone. (contestants)hello, chef.
(dale)holy [bleep],it's daniel boulud, one of the top ten chefsin the country, if not the world. (padma) so your quickfire challenge is to come up with your own unique take on america's best-loved meal: the burger. in front of you are menus from red robin, the restaurant chain specializing
in gourmet burgers. your challenge is to come up with a new burger inspired by their adventuresome burger section. (howie)now i'm happy in this situation because he's the first guyto make the high-end, the expensive truffle burger. and i think it's $120for the hamburger. i love burgers, and the d.b. burger is very complex.
and it was very important for me to create a burgerthat would combine the best of french cuisine with the bestof american casual dining. (padma) oh, and there's one more thing-- from this point on, the winner of the quickfire will no longer have immunity in the elimination challenge.
(brian)when padma tells us that there'll beno immunity, you just knowthat the competition's gotten narrowed downfar enough that there's no more hiding. you have 30 minutes. your time... starts now-- good luck. [laughter and shouting]
(dale)now that boulud is there, the intensity level-- it's, like, palpable. you can really just seepeople's focus. there's no beef involved here.shrimp burger. i'm gonna bind itwith a touch of egg. it's gonna be chunky,really, really shrimpy. (sara)i wanted my hamburgerto be lighter and healthier. you know, not allthat beef.
i want it to be crab'cause it's a little different. i'm trying not to getnervous. that messes upyour whole game plan. (brian)i'm going, "man, rememberthat damn sausage "that you made "that you wonthat elimination round with?" i'll just patty that thing up. (cj)i kind of knew what i wantedto do right away. on the menu, they had,like, fish this, fish that.
so i thought i wouldcheck out the old scallop-shrimp burger. yeah, i have a lot to do in a very shortamount of time and i want it to be great, so... nice. i'm really surprised how many fish burgersthere are in the room. but i'm not gonna do anything
crazy or stupid on this one. i'm just hoping thatchef daniel boulud will love it. this menu at red robin, it's a pretty extensive menu and it's very hard not to peg some of the thingsthat are on it. that's why i selecteda surf and turf, which they don't haveon the menu. i call it a "surf and turfciabatta burger."
(dale)everyone lovesa fried egg sandwich. in my world,everything is breakfast. (howie)using the truffle butter, not only get the trufflesin there, but also to getthe extra fat in there was my game plan. 14 minutes left! 14 minutes left? are you kidding?
damn. (brian)i am getting killedby the clock. and with, like,two minutes left i'm just trying to getall this stuff on there. behind you,behind you. (padma) okay, everyone. you have 15 seconds left. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,
3, 2, 1-- hands up! utensils down. (brian)whoo! that one was quick! hello, hung. hello. this is daniel. chef.
what i have hereis shrimp made into a paste and i have, like,a tangy sweet sauce and shiitake bacon. the juice is runningout of my mouth. it's very nice. [giggling] as i dissectedthe red robin menu i noticed that the seafood that they had on there,most of it was battered.
so i did a scallop,shrimp, and a sea bass burger. so i did a crab burger and, um, i layered itwith a little citrus remoulade and a endive and orange salad. (daniel) your burger has no bun? (sara) no bun. i see. it's a little healthier. today i made a scallop mousseand shrimp burger.
i reinterpreted the tomato. i actually sliced offa tangerine. it kind of melds wellwith the salad. it isn't overpowering. (daniel)give a fruitiness to it? yes. good fire.beautiful. we had manyseafood burgers today, huh? (casey)now i realize
maybe there's somethingto this fish burger because he's making comments that he really likesa lot of them. and what is your patty made of? it's--it's a-- uh, ground chuck. i didn't want itto be too fatty. i wanted the breadto stay really crispy and so i crisped itin butter.
i took a twiston an american flavor which is the surf and turf. so i got a little petite filet with the horseradish sour cream,and i finished it with some white wine-braisedtiger shrimp. what did you dofor us today? seared tuna, which i ground upwith asparagus and onions. some mustard and a little bitof soy.
i topped it withan egg. and a mirin and soy aioli. chef, it's a pleasure. nice to meet you. today we dida black truffle burger with some nice taleggio cheese. there's black truffleon the inside of the burger, with an heirloom tomato and a little bit of radicchio for bitterness.
(daniel) very good. it's very moist. all right, everyone, gather round around here. (padma) okay, so, daniel, how did you think they did in this challenge? (daniel)i really liked the executionof everyone. except some of them maybe were sliding more toward
the warm sandwichesthan the burger. (padma) so let's start at the bottom. who was the least successfulfor you? i'm sorry, sara. because you just had lettuce, i think it was kind of sliding a little bit too muchto the fruitiness. tre, i am sorry. it was maybethe most french execution,
but it was moreof a sandwich, i think, than a burger. and now for the good news. howie, i liked it because overall i think it wasa very satisfying burger. and the next one is cj. i loved the texture. i loved the firework of flavor. my next favoritewas the tuna burger of dale.
it was the best bread choiceof the non-bun burger. thank you, chef. the last, but not the leasti think was hung's burger. i like the fire you putinto your work, but i also likethe fire you put in your food. okay, so, daniel,who have you picked as your winnerfor this quickfire challenge? [suspenseful music] (daniel) cj was definitely the most interesting burger.
(cj)it was the first time i've ever wona quickfire challenge. and daniel says that mineis the best burger of the competition. so i was really, really happy. congratulations to you, cj. as you know, you won't be getting immunity in the next challenge.
yeah, i'm excited about that. but you will get a really useful advantage. (padma)for your elimination challenge, it's time for something here at top chef we like to call restaurant wars. (dale)i think one of the mostanticipated episodes of the top chef season
is restaurant war. (padma) you'll divide into two teams. and each of you will get raw restaurant spaceand 24 hours to get a restaurant up and running. (brian)how fun is itto go open a restaurant? this is the challenge that i have beenreally excited for. stay cool,stay together,
communicate a lot. i mean,this is a real teamwork. (padma) so cj, as winner of the quickfire, you get to chooseyour team. oh, big time! (cj)this is humungous, 'cause there's certain peoplei work well with and certain people thati haven't worked so well with. okay, i'll pick tre,
i'll pick brian, and... and casey. (hung)i did not feel comfortable with our team as a whole. i think sara and howieare both hotheaded people. and that even though you'recompeting against each other, if you're in a team you haveto work together to beat the other team,not each other. (padma) all right, guys.
follow us. (sara) this is crazy. (padma)so this is your restaurantspace. they were completelyblank palettes and these were to beour restaurants, designed and decoratedas we wished. (padma) so you each get 30 minutes to come up with your concept and work out who will be responsible
for the following areas: head chef, front of house, design, and sous chef. then tomorrow, each team will receive $700to shop for food and $2,500 to shop for tableware and decor. at this time tomorrow night, 30 guests will show up
to dine at each restaurant. the doors in the back of both restaurants lead to the top chef kitchen, where you'll be sharing your kitchen space. good luck.we'll see you tomorrow. ...what we're gonna do. my thought process was,like, a french-influencedamerican contemporary, like a bistro style.
bistro [bleep],i'm all over. i'm into that. what do you think about doing,like, a pasta course? like a risotto course. i was thinking that. i think that crepeswould be nice for dessert. so our first courseshould be tuna then. tuna tartare. (dale)tuna and then veg.
(cj)okay, strong point,i think you should be front of the house--you're gonna do an awesome job. i think you should behead chef. do you wanna be manager person of the overall look? that's fine. (cj) okay, i'll be the sous. (tre)i was nominated to bethe executive chef because i'm workingat a restaurant in dallas, texasnamed abacus.
it took me five yearsto work my way up the chain, and now i'm runningthe operations day to day. yeah, that's why i feelno problem with it. i'm like, cool, no problem. (casey) does anyone have any recommendations on names? (howie)guys, do we have a namefor this restaurant? ambrosia. some of the namesof restaurants
that i personally loveare just something completely obscure. (sara) so is a garage. i like that:"the garage." (sara) what we can do is two can go shopping and we have the concept--general manager, right? what do you want to do? i want to cook.
i mean, i've openedso many restaurants. but i'm happyin the kitchen. you know what i mean? that's fine.what about you? what do you wantto do? i can go back. i probably have the mostfront-of-house experience. (sara) i'll go back then. so you two front,us two back.
(dale) you two decide who's chef, who's sous chef. i'll be chef. (howie) fair enough. sara says, "i'll bethe executive chef." and i wasn't gonna arguewith her about it. we had our little differences, but this is a warof attrition. you only win by making itto the next round. and we need to get alongin this situation
for our teamto be successful. (sara)i've never seen trerun that much in my life. (tre)i really get in the weeds. at this point, it's either do it upor go home. you awake, man? yeah. (cj)the elimination challenge is we're creating a restaurantin 24 hours.
and it's nuts. it's so much work. i brought a suit;i might as well wear it. so this is my opportunityto put on my g.m. attire. wanna make sure thatthe other team didn't know that we'regoing at this pretty serious so i kind of snuck my suit inwith some other stuff. does condensed milk go bad? (tre)i just look at a groupof people, you know,
with howie, sara, hung,and dale. it's like, that's a real big mixright there. so i think they're gonna lose. [laughing] put it all on trays,they're gonna see. we're talkingabout the, um-- so you're gonna try and getlike-- (dale)every single personon our team, including myself,
are very headstrongand stubborn. i'm very worried abouthow the titans might clash. so we'll see how things pan out. (tre)i'm a freakabout hot, hot, hot plates. i'm a freak about that. okay. (cj)tre and i goto the fresh market. brian and casey go shopping for all the decorations,which is perfect,
'cause i wanted a woman's touchin that regard also. you know, us guys would've-- we'd have had the whole placeblack or something. wine glasses, 60. (sara)dale and hung go shopping for the front-of-the-housestuff, all the decor. and howie and myselfget all of our produce, and meat, and all thatgreat stuff.
(cj)restaurant april isa new american cuisine with a contemporarysort of vibe. i think it's a fine choice. i think it's the freshest too. (sara)our team's conceptfor the restaurant wars is a contemporaryamerican style bistro. well, what about the lamb? okay.no, it'll be nice. yeah, i love lamb.
(sara)howie's a littlehard-headed. i was a little worried, but that's just how he is. you just have to knowhow to deal with it. [phone ringing] (cj)we got everything we needed. now i'm just getting wine. okay, okay, cool. keep going.give us a call.
we make a couple callsto each other, find out kind of howthey're shopping. we kind of let them knowwhere we're at. i think as a team,we were helping each other. what about something tall? you like theseor anything? that's kind of weird,but something tall. (brian)it's thrilling to spend $2,500in 45 minutes. we're not getting too funky.
just kind of a nice modern,clean restaurant is what we're going for. all right, we need some height. we need some heightto get something going. (casey) go look for something. brian is kind of running around, so keeping brian calm is an interesting job, but we work well togetheras a team.
(brian) no, people get offended by that. if it smells and it takes away from their food, they don't like it at all. what do you thinkabout that scent? yes, yes. it's floral. that's for those five. and the whole placewill just smell like flowers. (dale)hung and i go shoppingfor the decor,
and we got a lot of stuff. yeah, that's perfect for us! (dale)75% off. (hung)we thought, "okay, let's buyreally cool stuff and just randomly hang it." so we are running aroundlooking for random stuff that would fit the garage image. (dale) hey, hung-- (hung)yes!
can we get the little buddha? he brings us good luck. (casey) get it! [driving pop music] (howie)we come back to the kitchen, and sara and i start cooking, and hung and dalestart working on the decor of the restaurant. we have four hours to set upand get everything ready
and start service. (casey)everything has got to flowsmoothly. it's crucial, becauseat the end of our time, people will be walking in. perfect. (casey) how are they doing in there? (brian) how's our kitchen doing? it's quite solid.perfect. what?
like, grand marnier? white wine reductionwith shallots, thyme. okay, that's what i thought. ouch. good, i'm gladi asked you. cj doesn't have anyexecutive chef experience, so he selects me asthe head chef and cj chooses himselfas the sous chef. yeah, i'm working on many,many things.
i'm gonna do a cornand black truffle custard with seared diver sea scallops. beef tenderloin's gonna be--i'm gonna crust it with wild mushroomand gorgonzola. some smoked fingerling potatoes. and hopefully i'm tryingto incorporate one more thing. but right now i gotta focus on not cuttingmy fingertips off. (sara)at the beginning of the prep,
i was feeling really,really good. we're getting everything done. hung's gonna make the tuna. howie's gonna make the risotto. i'm making the lamb. and we all just makethe dessert together. howie and i werevery, very focused for this particular challenge because, you know,we want to win.
have you seen the lighter? yeah, i just put itin the middle. right away i jump on the prepthat i need to do for my dish,which is the risotto. i've been cooking risottofor 10 to 12 years. i like my risotto because i don't make it like every other chef makes it. [driving rock music]
(sara)tre looked like he wasrunning his ass off. seriously, he's usuallypretty calm. (tre)the big challengefor cj were the artichokes. and it took a good amountof cj's prep time. that was something that i didn't expect to takeso long. (dale) that looks pretty [bleeping] good. hello, chef. (tom) how you doing?
so what's on the menu? wild mushroom gorgonzola crusted beef tenderloin. are you doing it whole? (tre) no, i cut them into individual portions. (tom) you know, risotto- i mean, obviously, you guys know this, it's a little tricky because it's sucha timing issue. absolutely.
and it has to go outwhen it's ready. it can't sit around.it can't wait. so are you pre-cookingthe risotto? the risotto is par-cooked. it just needsto be finished. (tom) okay, good, okay. cj's team, restaurant april, they missed a huge opportunity. if they had searedtheir tenderloin,
cooked them whole, and then carved themtable-side, i think that would've beena great flourish. plus instead of cooking30 individual filets, they could probably movefour or five, which is a lot easierto deal with when you're cooking. and then we havethe best of the rest with howie, sara,dale and hung.
you know,they have an advantage: you know, they havemore restaurant experience than restaurant april. so at this point, i think it's reallygonna come to how the teams pull together. you know, who emergesas the real leader, and if they can sort ofget that team together, um, when service starts.
(tre) 30 minutes. (sara) is that okay? [bleep]. clean table right now-- hung, hung-- no, no--we'll get this tablecleaned-- hung, calm down. we can't stand hereand talk about it. let's move it.
hello! nice to meet you,i'm dale. we end up getting the servers a half an hourbefore opening. they don't knowwhat they're walking into. good luck, you guys!go for it! i really get in the weeds at the point wherei start the potatoes. and as i'm ripping and running,
doing all these things, my potatoes stay in the smoker about four minutestoo long. two minutes! [laughter] this'll be a fun one. i'm missing a knife. so am i. i need some [bleeping] helpout here.
i'm going down. come on, people. it's taking too long. you're [bleeping] kidding me! [chattering] (dale)we're called the garage,by the way. (howie)we're broken upinto two teams of four. hung, this is you. our assignment is to createa restaurant
from the ground up with design, a name,a concept, a menu, and to serve guests. we have four or two? wanna stay together?four. sure. and so help yourself. i think we're here. this one right here?sounds good.
(brian)it looks like the judgesare having dinner at my restaurant firstthis evening. then all of a suddeni get hit with three deucesat the same time. somebody will beright with you. so people are pretty muchjust walking in on me. (casey)uh, there are probablyfive people walked in already. judges are in! so here we go;the judges are seated.
it was a little, um,nerve-wracking because we haven't evenworked out all the kinks yet. they're gonna have to runwith these. all right, dude.hit it. here we go. (brian)a little amuse-boucheto start you off this evening. this is a blue point oyster with a ginger and watermelongranita.
and then we're having a nice little spanishsparkling wine. and welcome you to restaurant april. did your oysterhave any flavor? no, i think it seemedlike they're washed. (tom)they're washed out, yeah. look at this. that's disgusting. (padma) it's dusty?
yeah. our plates are dusty. (brian)padma looks over at me and says her bread plateis dusty. and i'm, like, "ugh, this is--this is not the way i'd like to start thisexperience." i need to servethe two-top that's sitting next to them.
act--i told you there wasa two-top next to him. you got two more piecesof fish? you guys, let them carrymore than two if they have to. (ted)this is very pretty. rob, would you like to tell themwhat they're having? (rob)well, we are havinga seared sea scallop on corn with black truffle custard. (judges)thank you.
(daniel)did they meanto make it curdle-y, or did they overcook itand they really mess it up? (tom) i guess we have to ask them. (brian) yes, yes, yes. this is a nice key westflorida grouper and it's with a basil pistou, cooked up withsome crispy pancetta, some artichoke hearts,and some cherry tomatoes. i don't haveany silverware.
if you could, uh... (padma) so am i. if they clearthe silverware, then you gotta replacethe silverware. they're not thinkingabout that. do i really need all threeof you guys in here? (casey) what? i'm [bleeping] just getting killed out here. it's just ugly, dude.
i have no silverware. i'm out of all my silverware. they're just--they're just-- (brian)i am just, like,"oh, my [bleeping] god." go a bunch of oysters. i have--i don't even knowhow many people i have. tre looks at me and he says, "casey, get out there "and calm brian down,
and go find outwhat's going on." excuse me, chef. i'm sorry, i didn't meanto interrupt. so casey, you've chosento come out and present this dish yourself? i'm sort of in-between,and, um, and so i would love to come out and talk to some tables, see how the flow was going. what do we have?
(casey)okay, this is a wild mushroom and gorgonzola crustedbeef tenderloin. it's served on smokedyukon potatoes with carrot oil. (padma) thank you. you're welcome. enjoy. i mean,once i taste the potato, it's kind of hard for meto taste anything but smoke. those potatoes were horrible. (man)smoke it, but don't burnthe outside.
it's a mango lemongrasswith a little sake sorbet. enjoy. (daniel)beautiful. too cold! (ted)oh, no!i'm getting a brain freeze! (casey)this is an apple tarte tatin. and there is a brandy saucethat's around it and a little bit ofcreme anglaise on the outside--enjoy.
(ted) mine was absolutely delicious. and it's beautiful, too. (dale)ten more peoplejust walked in, so we're gonna havesome wine running around. perfect.enjoy. i'm running my ass off,and it's really, really hot. he's grabbing some silverwarefor you right now, and i'll pour. i served tablesfor eight years,
i'm trying to remember that. but it's been a little while. you're half prostitute,half performer. and in the front,i'm smooth. but in the back,i'm a raging bitch. you're [bleep]ingkidding me. pick up the [bleep]ing pace. you get it outin the waiter hole, and then, you know,you crack your smile
when you walk back on the floor. (padma)should we just seatourselves? (tom)i think so. hi, guys.i will be right with you. if i could makean immediate observation, i smell incense or flowersor scented candles. hey, dale,ted's having such a huge problem with this candleon the table. can you take it away?
sure, no problem. (man)the chef should know better than to put a scented candleon the table. and it's dead now. and i need a new napkin. wait, i think i see food. oh, here it is. (dale)here's our tuna tartarewith an egg vinaigrette, nicoise olive puree,and herb salad.
this dish is hung's. (ted)fabulous, thank you. this is very, very delicate. subtle. (daniel) absolutely. and i thinkit's a real bistro dish. (tom) it's very successful. it's a beautiful plate. i gotta get this outfor the judges. (hung)we're waiting for howie'srisotto.
he's cooking three batchesof risotto. enough to feed three armiesat once. risotto's supposed to be cooked al minuto, order-to-order. that shouldn't takevery long. (tom) we're waiting kind of a long time, huh? (daniel) yeah, no, no, it has been quite a while now. it's been 15 minutesat least. here we go, for the judges.quickly, please.
(hung)go, go, go. beautiful, beautiful. (dale)all righty, our second coursethis evening is howie's mushroom risotto with a foie gras nage. it's lobster mushrooms,chanterelle, shiitake, and cremini. just a light mushroom jus mounted with some foie gras.
this is not something i would serve for a summer night. all righty, here isour lamb shank with sunchoke potatoes,some baby vegetables, pistachios and natural jus. (ted)thank you, dale. (dale)enjoy. after the risotto,it's a little too rich. (ted) these two dishes-- very heavy.
(dale) how are we doing over here? (man) it wasn't the best lamb. the meat wasn't cookedproperly. i thought it tastedlike metal. like metal? and if that'sa vegetable medley, i'm a monkey. i will let miss sara know. our final coursethis evening
is a crepe with dark chocolate,orange and grand marnier sauce. and this is justcocoa whipped cream. (daniel) that sounds yummy. yeah, this is oneof my favorites. i've appreciated that dalehas been doing table-side presentations such as the onethat he just did. i love that. very well done.
(tom)what do you think of this? another very,very rich, i mean, course. i'm glad it's december in glasgow. i think it's timeto go to judges' table and let the chefs know howwe feel about their restaurants. yeah, okay. to restaurant april! (all)to restaurant april. (brian)it was an extremely long day
and now to go sit and waitfor the judges' results and the judges' table--this is exhausting. (cj)you know, it's kind of like,"okay, we're done." i just want to sit backand have a glass of wine and relax and lookat our place. but at the same time,you know, someone's got to go home. and then i have no ideahow the other team did.
we got [bleep]edby the service staff so [bleep]ing bad. the food didn't go overas well as we had hoped. and i could possibly go homefor not cooking one thing. overall, how do you feel? i don't know. no restauranti think is perfect. thought process--i mean,you're opening a restaurant. these are decisions that you made.
anything that happenedis my fault. but you were the executive chef. [cj sighing] i've openeda lot of restaurants. i've never had an openinggo smooth the first day. you almost expect it to be [bleep]. (padma) so unbeknownst to the chefs, tonight we had an undercover blogger dine at both restaurants.
the food blogger,andrea strong-- (tom)her blog is "the strong buzz"it's called. let's go over the criteriafor this challenge. it was the concept, the decor. it was, of course, the food.it was also the service. tom, what did you thinkabout the decor in general? (tom)i preferred restaurant april'sdecor. it felt good, it was soothing.
the flower arrangementwas fabulous. and one thingwould bother me was as you walk intothe garage, the smell of vanilla. (ted)what chef in his right mind puts a scented candleanywhere? andrea says,"scented candles belong in bedrooms and bathrooms,not in restaurants." she's right.
(ted) and i'm not even sure that's true. it definitely feltmore like a massage parlor than a restaurant. what did you think of thatfirst course at the garage? (ted)i liked hung's tuna tartarevery much. it was a play ona nicoise salad, which i thoughtwas a smart thing to do when you have daniel boulud sitting in your restaurant.
tom, is this the best risottoyou've had? no, no, no. (daniel)the risotto was over-cooked. (ted)it's dinner on a warm nightin miami. i took about two bitesof it and i could barely walk. (padma) moving on to april, what do you think of tre's gorgonzola crustedbeef?
(daniel)i mean, we got turned offby the smokiness. too smokey of the potatoes. (daniel)yes--of the potatoes. as soon as i tookone bite of those potatoes, i couldn't tasteanything else in the dish. (padma)what about the service? (ted)brian was flustered. (tom)brian really dida pretty lousy job, appointee ofthe front of the house.
there's a lot of plusesand minuses for both teams. how are we gonna makethis decision? (dale) i served my ass off. that's all i'm gonna say. is that i served my ass off,no matter what. good evening. we'd like to see... the team fromrestaurant april. (dale)'kay--good one.
(hung)we did our best. i know i tried my best. (sara)absolutely agree. i thought we all dida [bleep]ing great job. [dramatic music] first of all,i just want to tell you that you are notthe winning team tonight. you know, we had input froma lot of the diners, including andrea strong,
who is writing a blog. obviously, it's harsh to do a critique of a restaurant when you're in previews, but it happens. "restaurant april-- "the design was soft,warm colors of gold and sage, "along with votive candles that made it a really nice placeto eat." stop there--that sounds great.
you go downhilla little bit. "however, the hosthad a sweating problem." [cj laughing] (ted) "i was concerned about him. "he seemed ready to slip out of his clothes. note to host:get thee some right guard." the room was a littleon the hot side and i-- i thought you didn't smell. thank you very much.thank you.
but i did see you flustered. i was flustered early on. i was definitely flustered.that's not my element. have you ever worked at the front of the housebefore? i have not. none of us havefront of the house experience and, you know, i went for it. it's all my fault.
anything that happenedin that dining room was my fault. (padma) well, moving on to the food, our blogger wrote, "why top a perfectly plump, briny oyster with a watermelon slurpee?" (cj) i think she has a good point. if for some reasonshe got it and it was like a slurpee,
i don't want a slurpee on an oyster either. i also agree withhis sweating problem too. i mean, i thinkshe's on point. (padma) the blogger said that "beef with smoked potatoes "was a great ideain theory, "but that theory was obliterated by the smokein the potatoes." the smoke wasa little more aggressive
than i wanted to do. between preparationsand desserts and what not, kind of..."oh, [bleep]!" the idea was very goodof the smoked potato, but as you say-- too aggressive. very aggressive. obviously, there's a lotat stake here. someone's going home.
let me ask the three of you a question now. if this team loses, do you think that service was really what dragged you down? and should briancarry the load there? no. i disagree. i think it was technical errorsmade in every-- in every aspectof the team.
no restaurant i thinkis perfect. i mean, maybe there are some. (cj) maybe. it's kind of toughhaving him on the panel here. (padma) thank you very much. could you please call in your colleagues? thank youfor the feedback. we had quite a few problemswith your restaurant. what were you going for with the garage?
kind of a contemporary american/bistro concept. how did you guys arrive at sara being the chef? i nominated myselffor it. kind of brave. and how did you come upwith the menu? did you include the inputof your teammates? oh, absolutely. we all came up with the menutogether.
(tom) we had a woman who does a daily blog, andrea strong. and she was one of the guests tonight. (padma) let me just read you some of her comments. "first sensation i had "when when walkinginto restaurant garage was the suffocating stinkof vanilla." whose choice was it to use scented candles everywhere?
i will take responsibilityfor that. when we went to the storeto buy candles, almost every candle therewas scented. i myself have a very weak sense of smell, i will say. really? i was absolutely blown away by the aroma of those candles. and also,you got your candles at the same storeas the other team.
who was responsiblefor the rest of the design? (dale) that would be hung and i. probably with meas the leader. and why black? (dale)on a black surface, a white platecan absolutely pop visually. the blogger said, "who wants to eatoff a black tablecloth? "it's very billy idol.
and i don't want to eatoff billy idol." it's just--the thought process. you're opening a restaurant. and these are decisionsthat add to the overall aesthetic of the restaurant. how did you feelthe tuna tartare went? (hung) i was very happy with it. a very simple approachto tuna. not asian style.
(tom) i think we all really liked the dish. and we also thoughtit fit in very well with the overall concept. however, we thought there was just a little too much white asparagus. (padma) andrea said, "the risotto was sticky and gummy. "it was more likea mac and cheese with rice." what did you useto finish your risotto? parmesan cheese,
a touch of heavy cream, and black truffle butter. (tom) you don't put cream at all in risotto. the cream should comefrom the rice. i've made a lot of risottosfor a lot of different chefs. and i've kind of,as i became an executive chef-- it shouldn't mound upon a plate. risotto should almostrun on a plate. when risotto sits,it changes consistency.
it tightens up. so i do have to say in my defense that i tasted every oneof those risottos. my tongue is burnt. and i didn't put anything in my mouth that i thought was gummy or, for lack of a better term,crap. (ted) if we could just sort of take a step back when you were planning the overall menu together,
how did seasonality come into play for you? (sara) i was a little worried about the heaviness of the menu actually. but, sara, you cookeda braised lamb shank. yeah, but i thought if we made it a little lighter in the first couple courses that we could go on intothe braised lamb shank. see, i almost wonderif this is a point at which howie and sara, the two of you,
had stopped thinking about the overall successof the team and were thinking aboutyour individual dishes. i disagree with you. why are you giving meone heavy thing after another? i am not put offby eating a heavier item. if i go into a restaurant and i see a braised item, i'm ordering it. if it's summertime,
if it's wintertime-- i'm ordering itbecause that's what turns me on. but you werethe executive chef. so therefore you were kind of responsiblefor everything. exactly, and i takefull responsibility for it. thank you for answeringall our questions. we'll call you back when we have a decision. (all)thank you.
(hung)what's up with you guys? (casey)we know nothing. how are they gonna picka winner here? (tom) it's a difficult decision to send someone home. it's like, who won hereand who lost? i had more problemswith brian because i thoughthis inconsistency continued through at leastthe first half of the dinner. brian lost it.
dale said, "i don't havea very strong sense of smell," which seems so oddfor a chef. (tom)i have to agree with him. he had a lackof a sense of smell when it came to the candles, and clearly a lack of tastewhen it came to the design. i feel like i wasgetting pounded on at first. i was, like, "[bleep]."
the other real mistake in that team was howie's risotto. we all agreed it was pretty bad. (daniel) yes. (padma) it was thick and gluey. that's the wayhe makes risotto. "that's my risotto." but does not meanwe agree. (tom) but it's not as bad as tre's over-smoked potatoes,
which were inedible. i agree the servicewas problematic at april. but i preferred april. (tom) i'm really disappointed. the talent level of our last eight chefs is really high. i really think they could do so much better. i do. i think what it's gonnacome down to is food.
exactly. i know exactlywhat we should do. are you okay with that? i could easily see howin this elimination, like, they'll just take meand be like-- [snaps fingers] "see ya." (howie) you should be commended for having the courage to step out of your comfort zone
and say, "[bleep] yeah,i'm a chef. [bleep] work frontof the house." somebody's gotta do it. we'd like to see brian... and dale. (sara) all right, boys. good luck. opening a restaurantis one of the hardest things you'll ever do. it takes a tremendous amount of patience and work,
but also a good amountof humility. each of you are herefor various reasons. dale, we had some issues with the food. we didn't see the connectionbetween the things that you chose in your design and what we were actuallyserved. brian, we had fewer issues with the food. but what really sort ofbrought your team down was the service.
you sat here and said that you'll takefull responsibility for that. in the end,we decided... not to send anyone hometonight. oh... we're gonna give youone more chance to fix your mistakes. both restaurants will be open again for business tomorrow night.
and next time, someone really will be eliminated. oh! guys, consider thisa soft opening. but next time it's for real. we expect nothing but excellence. daniel, you have somethingfor all of our chefs tonight. (daniel) actually i brought you a book i wrote. letter to a young chef.
this could be what the futurewill bring you as a top chef. (dale)thank you so much. restaurant aprilwill open again tomorrow! as will garage. [cheering] (brian) yeah, we're all still here! ha ha ha! no one's going home. it's a tie,it's a do-over.
(sara)they tell us that we have to dothe whole challenge over again, which is kind of cool'cause then we, you know-- hopefully we fixour mistakes. yay! (tre)it's a little deflating. but, you know, you liveto fight another day. awesome, man. (dale)our team is very happy
because we thinkwe have an amazing chance to win this challenge. we're gonna rock it out. congratulations! i thought they werekilling g.m.s. i thought i was going home. (brian)i am instantly relieved. i'm instantly thrilled. and i'm, like,"hell, yes!"
we get to go back in there and do it perfectly this time. (casey)service is gonna-- (howie)exactly--so fast. (padma)next on top chef: whoo! outstanding. it's a little harderbecause we have to prep two times the amountof food
and both of them are different. i want five before four--uh, five before two. consider theseall for the judges. she's, like,rushing me on [bleep]. i think this lambis beautifully seasoned and beautifully cooked. (tom)very smart wayto serve halibut. you weren't really focusedon the details. you weren't looking at everything that went out.
really sort of like a mess of leadership. i think this is a reallyunexpected decision. it's about tonightand what happened tonight. (padma)for more about the recipesseen tonight, go to bravotv.com captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com
