A Minor Exclusion

By Keckler

Dave arrives in Vegas and tells us how excited he is to be there: "I'm ready to finish Top Chef. As the Top Chef." Never gonna happen. Dave gets out of his limo at the MGM Grand, and we are flashed the hotel's corresponding restaurants, diego, Seablue, craftsteak, and Nob Hill. I'm annoyed to see that more and more restaurants these days are lower-casing their names. It's like the internet of the late nineties. Dave is shown to his Skyloft, which is gorgeous, of course. He's the first to arrive. Harold walks in wearing a tan sports coat over his usual rather schlubby white t-shirt and black pants. Dave gives him wine and a tour. The pillows on the guys' beds are embroidered with their individual initials! Do you think they recycle those? Dave reminds us that he likes Harold and he hates Tiffani. Tiffani arrives and Dave barely greets her. Harold gives her a hug. Dave reluctantly steps forward to be hugged by Tiffani. Tiffani says that she's a different person now, because after seeing herself on television, she got a wake-up call. The three cheftestants toast with wine and sit down for a chat. Tiffani asks what's going on in Dave's life, and he says he went back to his restaurant and it was closed. Since then, Dave's been doing some catering and living off his savings, which are now gone. Dave wants and needs to win. Tiffani says that she's been working a lot in the interim, and tells us that she wants to be able to travel to Europe to understand the origins of what she's doing and why she's doing it. On the Harold front, he's opening a restaurant.

Tiffani goes to bed, and we see Dave checking his product-placed AOL email while we get a voice-over about his friends and family supporting him. However, he's dressed in something totally different, the sun is shining, and it doesn't even look like the Skylofts. Dave opens an email from someone who writes that they've been following him on Top Chef. They go on to say that Stephen is pretentious and then adds, "Oh, and Tiffany... where do these people get --" but the rest is cut off. Heh. Tiffani tells us that she's "hungrier" for the win more than anyone else and she wants it more than anyone else. Lying in bed, Dave whines that he just wants to lie there and eat and drink and sleep. Harold consoles him, "You're going to do good, regardless." Dave cracks Harold up by saying he thinks the challenge will be them taking a twenty-mule team out to the Grand Canyon where they'll be given a Bunsen Burner and a bow and arrow. "And whatever you catch, you fucking cook. And it's gotta be gourmet and it better look good," he finishes. Seriously. Don't give them any ideas. Harold chokes with laughter.

The morning is the first day of the challenge. The cheftestants get ready. Walking into the kitchen, the cheftestants are greeted by Colicchio, Gail, and Bot. Hubert Keller is back as a judge and this time he seems less stuffy, which is kind of cool. Today's Quickfire is actually going to be an Elimination challenge. They will have to cater to very specific customers in a very short space of time. They will be cooking for room-service customers. They will each fill the same three room-service orders and when the orders are in, they have thirty minutes to get their food on color-coded carts. Dave is black, Tiffani is burgundy, and Harold is teal. A judge will accompany the order as it is brought to the room, sit with the guests, and report back on what the guests thought. They have ten minutes to familiarize themselves with the kitchen. Oh, man, it's a beautifully designed kitchen. All the food is set up to look like a grocery store. Fruit and vegetables are in wooden tubs, fresh herbs are hanging from the ceiling, fish and meat have little signs saying what they are, and there's an entire pull-out cheese shelf. Drool. Harold is torn about how he feels. On the one hand, they have access to a lot of great stuff, but on the other, it's too abundant. There's a brief return of Cranky Chef as he says, "Cooking for room service -- this is so not my style." The cheftestants line up as Colicchio reads out their order: "This is three VIPs in the High-Roller Suite, they want seafood. You have to do one hot course and one cold course." Food flurry.

Colicchio reports the results of his abbreviated Sniff 'n' Sneer: "The one thing that has really surprised me is that nobody grabbed the caviar. There's also this really beautiful Kobe beef and I'm surprised someone hasn't put together a Surf 'n' Turf." If I heard an order for seafood, I wouldn't think, "Seafood... AND BEEF!" I'd think, the customers want seafood, I'm giving them seafood. Also, Colicchio? Get your bald head out of craftsteak every once in awhile.

Food flurry. Tiffani explains her lobster dish -- it will stay hot on the way up, she's decided -- and a Campeche carpaccio. Dave yanks at some lemongrass. Time ticks away. With twenty seconds to go, the cheftestants quickly plate. Unlike in other challenges, the judges stayed in the kitchen the entire time to observe them. Time's up. Tiffani's cart displays her cold Campeche Carpaccio Crudo (it looks like it might be garnished with scallions and a single blood orange segment), and her hot Roasted Lobster and Fennel. Dave's cart is loaded with his cold Lemongrass Crab Stack & Prawns (tails on) with Court Bouillon (I don't see the court bouillon; maybe it's on the side as a broth?) and his hot Cinnamon and Nutmeg Rubbed Opa. Sounds like a Christmas cookie. Harold's offerings are a cold Snapper Crudo with fanned avocado and cucumbers, and a hot Mussel and Smoked Paprika Soup. Yum. It's clearly cream-based and looks like it's been garnished with bright green snipped chives. The carts arrive at their destination, and the high rollers are Stephen, Miguel, and Lee Anne. Awesome! Hubert Keller, the judge sent up with the dishes, welcomes them, and they all clink a Champagne toast. Keller says, "Santé." He's so cute. Lee Anne tells us, "Yeah, we're high rollers and we want caviar." Yeah, but really, you can get just so much from the good things and you can linger too long in your dreams, so I don't know. I mean, although I've eaten it on various occasions and served it on others, when it comes right down to it, I'm not a fan of caviar. I think I like the idea of it more than anything else.

Lee Anne laughs at how ridiculous she sounded. They sit down to try the dishes. They start with Dave's Lemongrass Crab Stack & Prawns with Court Bouillon and his hot Opa. Heh, that sounds like something Brian Hill might say: "She's got one hot Opa!" Stephen thinks peeling the prawns is really awkward. Yeah, but some people really do enjoy that aspect of eating shrimp and prawns. It's like peel 'n' eat shrimp on the boardwalk -- it's sort of homey and recalling childhood memories. It's so Dave. Lee Anne and Miguel say that the dish has a really good flavor profile; however, as Miguel tries to cut into prawn with a knife, it shoots off his plate onto the floor. "I guess that goes to show how high-roller I am!" Miguel jokes. Keller is totally cracking up, much to his own surprise, I think. He seems rather shy. I don't know why I have this sudden crush on him, but I do. Stephen, who seems more than usually fussily stuffed into his ubiquitous suit and tie, is meticulously dissecting and eating his shrimp. His tie is so wide and thick that it looks like a cravat. Talking about Dave's hot dish, Lee Anne and Miguel thinks the Opa has interesting flavors. Stephen reminds them that this is supposed to be food for high rollers -- gamblers who are handling thousands of dollars a hand. He wonders if this food is appropriate. "Give me some damn caviar," Lee Anne says. Miguel thinks the fish should have had a sauce.

Moving on to Tiffani's dishes, Lee Anne gets that the sashimi is plated to take positive and negative space into consideration (the fish is way over on one side of the big white plate, with nothing on the other side), but she doesn't think it was sliced well at all. She also points out that there's a blood orange segment on the plate, but she doesn't taste blood orange in the vinaigrette. Miguel agrees. Of the lobster, Miguel thinks the flavors are good but he's not wowed. Stephen thinks the seasoning of the lobster is lacking in salt and real flavor, but he thinks the quality of food that they, as high rollers, are getting is better than Dave's dish.

Finally, we come to Harold's cart. Miguel really likes the look of the mussel soup. Stephen mentions that the mussel soup has coconut milk in it, which makes me want it even more. Lee Anne praises the presentation of the sashimi; she loves the use of color. Miguel thinks the Japanese treatment of the cucumbers is very nice, very classic. While Lee Anne likes the combination of textures in the dish, she would have liked more acid in the flavor. Stephen agrees. Turning to the soup, Lee Anne wonders if she would consider it an entrée, but decides it is definitely the best appetizer. I wonder if they can guess who made what.

Back in the kitchen, the cheftestants field an order for the Poker Room. They have thirty minutes to put together four different types of snacks. Colicchio tells the camera, "You know, Dave was the runner up at the Snackmaster Challenge a couple episodes back, so he could have an edge, but the chefs were all a bunch of snack junkies anyway, so it's really anyone's game." Just can't give Dave an inch, can you, Colicchio? Tiffani smugly tells us that she's one of those people who plays in poker rooms, so she knows just what to make. Dave tells us that he doesn't cook like this, he doesn't cook in a rush. Harold tells us that when he plays poker, he doesn't want to think about the food, he just wants to eat it and usually he wants something fried. He goes on that he's making a "T.G.I. Friday's munchies platter" with mini pizzas, wings, mini grilled cheese sandwiches, and onion rings. Tiffani's making homemade potato chips out of three different types of potatoes; quince paste (membrillo), goat cheese, and sesame crackers; herbed grissini wrapped in truffle butter; and brie and tomato sandwiches with curry mustard. I want that sandwich. Dave described his "partial Fry Daddy" of deep-fried shrimp and egg rolls; chocolate-covered strawberries; and a panini done on the panini press. "I think that one thing they need to keep in mind is that they are serving a bunch of card players, so things that are going make your hands sticky or chocolatey probably is not the best thing to serve," Colicchio sniffs 'n' sneers. Oh, but things that are greasy are okay? I mean, it's all finger food, it's all going to get your hands dirty to some extent, so stop coming down on Dave, Colicchio, because we know his flavors are going to be the ones that the poker players like! God. Time ticks down. Harold shrugs about his fried wings coming out of a plastic bag. Tiffani tells us, "I was surprised that Harold used chicken wings and onion rings. I didn't use any of it -- it's so against my grain." Good for you, now shut up. The cheftestants plate. Time's up.

Dave's cart has egg rolls with ginger dipping sauce, fried shrimp, salami panini on a sun-dried tomato roll, and the chocolate-dipped strawberries, which are dipped in dark chocolate but streaked with white. We get a look at Tiffani's really precariously stacked Quince Paste & Goat Cheese Napoleon; herbed grissini (Italian breadsticks) wrapped in prosciutto (what happened to the truffle butter?); potato chips that look too brown, which we later learn have been tossed with aged Gouda; and the brie and tomato sandwiches. Harold doesn't feel that good about his beer-battered onion rings, mini pizzas, mini grilled cheese, and honey-Dijon buffalo wings. The carts are wheeled away to the Poker Room with Gail as an escort.

In the poker room, we get introduced to Phil Hellmuth, world champion poker player; Greg Pierson, poker player; and I guess some other guys who aren't famous enough to be named. Gail presents the dishes. They really appear to like Dave's egg rolls and shrimp. Turning to Tiffani's cart, the poker players think they need forks and decide her stuff is not necessarily the best poker food. Well, okay, so they are trying to use a knife and fork to cut the brie and tomato sandwich, but come on -- it was tea-sandwich-sized! They could have picked that up! They think the potato chips are too strong, too sharp. Burned? Finally, when tasting Harold's platter, they players agree that the food was well-designed for a poker room. One guy is "eh" about the mini pizza, but loves the spice on the chicken wings. As they talk about their final assessment, it is so clear that the poker players loved that Dave threw in the chocolate-covered strawberries. No one else gave them something sweet, and this is significant. Ha -- take that, Colicchio! However, the best individual dish for one guy was Harold's bag o' frozen wings. Phil Hellmuth says that Tiffani might have won were it not for the flatbread (he's talking about the sesame crackers stacked with quince paste and goat cheese, because Gail called it flatbread for some reason).

Back in the kitchen, Colicchio tells them that the Cirque du Soleil theatre wants three different large plates of high-protein, high-carb, and low-fat food for the cast members and performers in the show. Tiffani brags to us about cooking for athletes and opines that thirty minutes for high-protein food isn't enough time to do it well. Someone bangs down a big lobster and a bag of Bay scallops. Harold thinks it's hard to cook for people with dietary restrictions. He doesn't know what acrobats need but he thinks he's going to go with the marathoners' pasta load idea. Yeah, but they load up like that the night before a marathon, not the night of -- when are these people performing? Food flurry.

Dave explains that he prepared a Kobe beef tenderloin with a balsamic, fig, and brown sugar reduction with shallots and garlic, and he also made a big bowl of pasta with a "kicked-up marinara" of shallots, sherry, Hennessy cognac, and Grand Marnier. "Kicked-up"? More like "kicked out." Of the bar. Or something funny. Dave also tells us that there was no fat or oil in anything, "so, who knows how that tasted." Didn't you taste it? Harold runs around preparing his lobster pasta, seared Kobe beef, and pan-roasted French chicken with potato gnocchi. When he says "French chicken," does he mean Bresse chicken? Because, wow. Colicchio sniffs 'n' sneers that he's surprised so many of them went for the Kobe beef because while it's protein rich, it's also high in fat. While I think it's annoying that Colicchio managed to harp on beef choices twice today, I agree with him here. High-protein, low-fat choices would be chicken, turkey, fish, shrimp, crab, and even pork or eggs. It's one for TWoP Chef, I think.

Tiffani talks about her blueberry and blue crab salad (ew, crab and blueberries?), a Kurobuta pork Milanese without the traditional breading, and a Kobe rib eye with "most of the fat" removed. Pork and beef? Not a good choice, especially when that pork of hers looks like it has a good half-inch of tasty fat around the edges. "There was fat on my dishes -- I don't think you should exclude fat, you should just really look for good fats," Tiffani tells us. Okay, just like Andrea or Stephen trying to feed people what she thinks they should eat, Tiffani isn't making what the customers specifically requested. Tiffani, are you up there contorting yourself on a high-wire every night? No, so don't decide which fats should and shouldn't be excluded. Now, I believe that fat is fine, in moderation, and I also believe in good fats versus bad fats, but I'm also not a professional acrobathlete. Also, "good fats" are defined as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, which you can find in fish, olive oil, and nuts. "Bad fats" are saturated fats -- found in meat, dairy, and pork -- and trans fats, which are found in packaged food and "butter" spreads, but not found in New York. Time ticks away. Dave suddenly realizes, "Oh, three dishes?" Oh, Dave. Dave plates his cart and paces and pants and mutters that his brain shut down and he made two dishes instead of three. Why am I not surprised this sort of thing would happen to Dave? Dave goes on that all the different numbers that day (2-4-3) threw him off and he fucked up. "Okay, well, I'm out," Dave mutters in passing to an uninterested Tiffani, who examines her fingernails.

At the Cirque du Soleil theater, Colicchio looks uncomfortable as the performers cavort and squeal around him. He invites them to come and eat, saying they must be hungry after their workout. On Harold's cart is Seared Kobe Beef on a Toasted Bread, Tomato, and Cucumber Salad; Roasted Chicken Breast with Potato Gnocchi, Wild Mushrooms, and Baby Peas; and Lobster Fettulini with Orange Tomatoes and Lobster Broth. The performers eat, and Colicchio explains the cheftestants were told to do high-protein, high-carb, low-fat entrees. They seem to be happy with Harold's stuff.

Going over to Dave's cart, Colicchio tells them about the Penne with Spicy Kicked-Up Marinara Sauce and the Kobe Tenderloin with Balsamic, Fig, and Grand Marnier Sauce. Sounds like Dave replaced fats with alcohol. The performers realize there is a dish missing, but they really liked what Dave had. Finally, onto Tiffani's Blue Crab and Caviar Salad with Olive Oil, Blood Oranges, and Blueberries; the Korubuta (Bravo spells it totally wrong as "Karabuto") Pork Milanese with Morel Mushrooms; and Kobe Rib-Eye with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar. The performers think that something is overly salty, the pork is rubbery, the meat too bloody, and the crab salad way too fishy. So fishy, that one guy takes a little bite and totally jumps away from it.

Back in the kitchen, Lee Anne, Miguel, and Stephen walk in. "Oh, boy -- here we go!" Harold shouts. They reveal themselves to be the high rollers who requested the seafood. The cheftestants do not look thrilled. "Welcome to the twist," Miguel says. Dave tells us that all three of the high rollers can be very critical, especially Stephen. Dave reveals to them, "So, the wonderful spin on today's Quickfire is that one of us is going home." Stephen's eyes bug. "That sucks," Lee Anne says calmly. Miguel says, "We can all agree that we've all put out a better product throughout the show than youse put out in this last challenge." Damn, that's cold, baby! Tiffani tells us, "Miguel came in and said, 'You know, we've just seen better food this entire competition,' and I was like, well, now you're out of the game. I mean, he went right back into it being the Miguel show. He's dying that he's not part of this." Tiffani and Harold say it's really easy for them to step out of the game and point the finger and be critical. "Yeah, sure, some things were nicer than others, that's all," Miguel keeps on. "He's killing me," Tiffani says to no one in particular. Miguel says he's not playing mind games, he's just asking questions.

Judges' Table. "So, I'm really innerested to hear how things turned out," Bot begins, and asks how things went down with Keller in the high rollers' suite. Keller thickly tells them that Harold seem to be the clear winner, specifically because of his great presentation. Colicchio asks about Dave's dishes. Hubert felt that Dave's Opa was overcooked and needed a sauce. "And it wasn't surprising that his dishes were sloppy and not focused because he wasn't very focused," Colicchio says, once again taking the opportunity to slam Dave. I love how Colicchio totally has his, like, talking points when it comes to Dave. Kerry was a flip-flopper, the Dems are cut-and-runners, and Dave is eternally unfocussed. Colicchio is just the sort of generalizer Papa Bear would love to have on The Factor. Colicchio then wants to compare Tiffani and Harold and their very similar sliced raw fish dishes. Hubert agrees that Tiffani's was missing something with her way too minimal presentation. She had too much white space.

Turning to Gail, Bot wonders if she had fun at the poker table. From the depths of her very unflattering, nipped out, short-sleeved, pink satin 1920s stenographer blouse with the odd attached half-cravat, Gail says, "Tiffani, although her ideas were pretty sophisticated, none of it was snack food." It wasn't easy to eat at the poker table. "So, she kinda didn't listen to the challenge, I feel," Gail concludes. The one individual thing the poker players liked the most were Harold's chicken wings, Gail relates. Um, she better talk about how much they liked Dave's egg rolls and shrimp, and particularly his sticky chocolate-dipped strawberries! Gail thinks it's amazing that the poker players liked Harold's chicken wings, because they came from a frozen bag. "His other dishes were mini grilled cheese, mini pizzas and onion rings," Gail goes on. "Not what you'd expect from a Top Chef," Bot concludes. Colicchio asks about Dave. "This is where things got a little interesting," Gail sneers, "they liked Dave's the best." "No, well, he is the self-proclaimed king of junk food," Colicchio tosses off. Yeah, well, earlier you were tempering that claim with the fact that ALL the cheftestants were "snack junkies." "Yes, right, and the king of flavor," Gail goes on, adding that everyone loved his spring roll and his fried shrimp. AND HIS STICKY CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRIES! Bot concludes that Harold won the high rollers' room, Dave won the poker table, so things aren't that tasty for Tiffani. Colicchio admits that the Cirque du Soleil performers loved and gravitated toward Dave's dishes, but also thought Harold's roasted chicken was good. However, the performers sort of ignored Tiffani's dishes because the pork was too salty. Gail is prompted to ask what happened to Dave's third dish. "That was the issue," Colicchio says, "Dave didn't present the third dish." Gail is all, "Really," and repeating that the challenge was to make three dishes, you know, JUST IN CASE WE DIDN'T GET IT THE FIRST FIVE BILLION TIMES! Colicchio thinks that Dave's stress level and disorganization finally caught up with him. Hubert thinks that's a real problem since Dave simply didn't follow the rules. "It's unfortunate, you can't overlook it," Colicchio finalizes.

The cheftestants are brought in. Colicchio starts off by giving them all props for doing well across the board but adds that they were surprised that none of them "hit the luxury items for the high rollers." He lists them, leaving off Kobe beef, caviar, and foie gras. Why? "Can I field that?" Tiffani asks. She can. "Um, I live here," she begins, "and nine times outta ten when I have high rollers that come into the restaurant that I work in, they order sort of really simple things." For Tiffani, it was all about simple flavors instead of overwhelming them with stuff that people "probably throw at them all the time." I don't know -- seafood in the middle of a land-locked desert where the fresh stuff spends long hours on planes just to get there? I'd never order it. ["We all saw Go." -- Sars] "But didn't the ticket come out and say 'Impress us'?" Bot wonders, putting out her hands. "Did I not?" Tiffani wonders quickly. Gail totally restrains herself from TOTALLY rolling her eyes at that. Okay, I think I might love her a little bit now. Hubert gently tells Harold that he won in the high rollers' room, Harold gently accepts this. Tiffani -- not so gently, but in fact rather smugly -- slaps his thigh in congratulations. I think she knows that Dave has to be out since he forgot one dish in the Cirque du Freak challenge. Gail tells Harold that his chicken wings won for individual dish. "That's... so good to hear," Tiffani says in mock seriousness. Yeah, and what were you saying about Harold's frozen food earlier, Tiff? ... Thought so. "Little did they know," Gail adds. Colicchio notes that Dave is the self-proclaimed king of junk food and wonders how he came up with his stuff. Dave blathers. Gail gives Dave props for his CHOCOLATE-DIPPED STRAWBERRIES being the perfect end to the dish. She adds that Dave really knew his audience. Tiffani rubs Dave's shoulder in congratulations. Meanwhile, Tiffani's got nothing. NOTHING! "What about the dishes you made, Tiffani?" Gail asked very pointedly. Oh, yes, I do love Gail now.

Tiffani gives this whole speech about knowing poker rooms intimately and how "the face of poker is changing just like the face of people who run kitchens are [sic] changing and to me it was important to sort of address both at the same time." Whatever. Bullshit. Gail says that the poker players recognized the sophistication of what she was trying to do, but they just weren't used to that caliber in the poker room. "But if they do well in poker, I think they will become more used to being pampered by food," Tiffani smiles. Oh, I get it! If the poker player wins huge amounts of cash, then they will finally understand and accept and ascend to the level of what she is trying to do! It's all so clear now. See, earlier, I simply didn't realize she was channeling Stephen in this task. Gail reveals that Dave's cart was the favorite in the poker room. Dave seems confused and bemused. Either that or his tear ducts are having an aneurysm. Turning to the final task with the Cirque du Thingamaface, Colicchio thinks Harold had a hard time of it. Harold agrees that he was in the weeds because he thought too hard about how to do the task. Tiffani drools all over her three dishes and goes on that her blue crab salad had blueberries, which are rich in antioxidants -- except the acrobatheletes weren't trying to fight off free radicals and cancer; they wanted carbs, protein, and low fat -- and "tons of olive oil, which is a great fat for you." Again: moderation. Olive oil is a good fat, but, like wine, when you imbibe tons of it? Not so much good as it is drunk.

Colicchio painstakingly goes over Dave's TWO RATHER THAN THREE dishes. Dave cracks everyone up by profanely talking about turbo-carbs and what he needs to work out (although, as he freely admits, you might not see it under his coat), and the pasta, and then he slams greens and blueberries in the meantime. Tiffani takes comic exception to the blueberry comment. Colicchio tells Dave that, hands down, his beef dish was enjoyed more than any other dish, but the fact of the matter is that he didn't do three dishes. Dave says he just had a brain fart -- he understood the challenge, he didn't forget, he just blocked out the third dish. Colicchio says, "Dave, I truly believe if you had just done a dish, anything, I think that would have been yours, but it was an incomplete, so you definitely lost that one." And so Dave goes, and so he goes. And we're the only one who knows. Dave bows his head and says, "Damn." Tiffani's tiny little lips are so tightly pleased, you can't even find them in the mass of her chin. Whatever, bitch, your crab was fishy. Colicchio goes on that Harold won Cirque du Something because he had beef, fish, and poultry. Just so we're clear: Harold won two, Dave won one, and Tiffani won NOTHING. Bot tells Harold he's safe. It's between Dave and Tiffani when we go to commercials.

Back in Vegas, Colicchio reminds Tiffani that she's won nothing: "You're kind of skating along here." Tiffani and Dave shout each other down about who wants to be there more. Colicchio tells Tiffani she always seems to be "in the middle" and that's not what Top Chef is all about, she needs to nail it. With Dave, Colicchio repeats that Dave nailed the poker room but basically left off one person's dish and that's huge. Tension mounts. Bot finally says, "Tiffani?" Tiffani stares at her. "You're safe," Bot announces. Tiffani closes her eyes gratefully. "Dave?" Bot says, "Please pack your knives --" "'Kay," Dave says. "And go," Bot finishes. "Okay," Dave says, nodding quickly. He thanks them all. Tiffani kisses his hand. Ew! Let him go, bizzotch! Dave keeps nodding, and whispers, "Okay!" as he jumps down from his stool. He gives Tiffani what appears to be a genuine hug. He then hugs Harold. Tiffani says, "It's hard to see Dave go, I didn't want to see him go, but I didn't want go." Basically Tiffani is still in this game by default. Overall, I think she's a really good cook, but looking at tonight's tasks only, she should have gone home. Harold says that Dave has passion and that everyone gets caught up in it: "It's a shame, he's a great cook." Dave tells us that, had he made a third dish, it would have made a difference, "but, no excuses." He also adds that he didn't want to lose to Tiffani, but Harold's been "true all the way through." Dave asks us not to forget about him because "food is my real passion and I want to share it on a broader scale."