Quickfire Challenge judged by Rick Moonen: Tag Team Cook-Off where the cheftestants are split into two teams and told to make one dish in 40 minutes. It's a relay where each person cooks for ten minutes and then passes the dish on to the person. They can't speak to each other and have to wear blindfolds until it's their time to cook. Here's who cooks in order for each team:
Blue Team: Jen to Laurine to Mike I. to Kevin: sablefish with sautéed mushrooms, shiitake broth and radish salad in yuzu vinaigrette.
Red Team: Eli to Robin to Bryan to Mike V.: Pan roasted NY strip with whipped miso, avocado purée and pickled vegetables.
The blue team wins, so they get to split $10,000 and they also get to choose which kitchen they want to cook in for the Elimination Challenge, which is Restaurant Wars. They don't have to deal with décor, so they'll be judged on restaurant concept and menu, as well as execution of the food and service in the front of house. Rick is giving up his restaurant, and he will be judging them on how well they choose sustainable food. The blue team also decides to let their prize money ride, and if they win the challenge, they each get $10,000.
The Blue Team names their restaurant Mission, and their menu is as follows: Mike I. makes asparagus and six-minute egg, Jen makes arctic char tartare, bouillabaisse consommé, and pan-seared trout, Kevin makes pork three ways, and Laurine does front-of-house and makes lamb with carrot jam.
The Red Team names their restaurant Revolt (as in Revolting?) and their menu is as follows: Michael makes chicken and calamari "pasta," Eli makes smoked arctic char, Bryan makes a duo of beef, Michael makes cod and billi-bi sauce, Robin makes pear pithivier with vanilla bean ice cream and Bryan makes chocolate ganache. Eli is doing front-of-house.
For overall food, as well as front-of-house experience, the Red Team wins the challenge, and Michael Volt is named the overall winner. Back in the Stew Room, Bryan throws a bit of a hissy because Michael's unprofessional behavior (taking over dishes, yelling at his teammates) was rewarded. For the Blue Team, the judges agree that everyone but Mike I. had serious problems with his or her dish, and Laurine totally sucked at front-of-house, bringing things out late and ignoring the judges for long periods of time. Thankfully, Laurine is sent home instead of a more talented chef, since she kind of did nothing.
Laurine and Jen hang out by the pool. Laurine has just rolled up her pants and is dipping her feet, while Jen is in a really cute striped bikini. It's a little shocking to see so much flesh on this show, though. I do appreciate that it's not staged as "Jen puts on her bikini to show off for the dudes" but instead just seems like "Jen went swimming and this is the bathing suit she brought." She jokes that she's going to cook in her bathing suit. Laurine interviews that the numbers are dwindling and she's proud to still be left, so she's trying to just forget her poor performance in the last Challenge and move forward.
In the kitchen, some of the dudes drink coffee and eat breakfast. Kevin interviews that they'll all miss Ash for many reasons, but one of them is because he lightened up the mood in the house, and now they have to hang out with the Dueling Volts, who just argue all the time. I feel like we haven't seen a ton of that arguing -- they've bickered a bit in the kitchen, I guess, but most of the arguments in the house have been between someone and Robin. Michael V. makes himself a delicious-looking breakfast burrito. I appreciate that he cuts it at an angle and plates it nicely even though he's just going to eat it. Michael interviews that he's the instigator and Bryan looks out for others, and that's how it's always been. And as if on cue, Bryan comes out and rallies the troops to head to the kitchen for the challenge. All the little ducklings follow him out of the house.
They arrive at the kitchen to find Padma joined by Rick Moonen, the king of sustainable cooking. Kevin explains that sustainable cooking is making sure that your food doesn't have a huge impact on the environment, like not using fish that has been overfished and thus is in danger of shortages or extinction, and thinking about all of your ingredients in the same way. Padma reminds them that there are only eight people left, and only three will go to the finale. Jen seems surprised by this. Did she not know how many people were left? Or did she think more people were going to the finale? Or did they pull a reaction shot from a completely different moment?
Padma announces that this Quickfire will be a Tag Team Cook-Off. The cheftestants draw knives, and strangely, most of the knives are blank. Jen's says First Choice and Mike V's says Second Choice, but the rest are blank. Turns out that those two are the captains and it's going to be a schoolyard pick to split into two teams. Jen gets to pick first, and she can't decide whether or not to split up the brothers, but ultimately goes with Kevin. Mike picks his brother immediately. Jen takes Mike I. and Michael takes Eli. So the big losers are Robin and Laurine, no surprise. Jen takes Laurine, so Robin has to go with her nemesis Eli and the Brothers Volt. Robin pretends to be happy about it because she thinks they can "face the demons." I don't know that the Quickfire is the time to work out your personal issues.
Now that the teams are ready (Jen's team is Blue and Michael's team is Red), Padma explains the competition. Each cheftestant will cook for ten minutes and then pass their food on to a teammate, for a total of forty minutes of cooking. When not cooking, they have to wear blindfolds and they can't speak to each other at all. So basically, they have to try to figure out what their teammate was trying to do just based on what they see happening. This is a super cool challenge, and really could only happen this late in the season, because now the chefs know a little bit about each other's cooking style. Padma says that the winning team will get an advantage in the Elimination Challenge, and also get $10,000 to split. They have thirty seconds to determine their order, but Padma puts on her mom voice and orders them not to discuss WHAT they will cook. She's pretty good at that mom voice.
Michael V. just announces that Eli will be first, Robin will be second, Bryan will be third, and he'll be last. He interviews his reasoning: Eli will pull good ingredients, and if Robin screws up, Bryan can fix it. Mike is confident he can finish what his brother starts, so he's going last. Everyone agrees quickly.
Over on the Blue Team, Kevin kind of takes over and says that Jen should start because then it's her idea. Laurine should go second. Kevin and Mike I. aren't sure who should finish, but they agree that Kevin plates food better, so he'll go last and Mike will go third. Mike interviews that Jen is fast and organized, so she's a good choice to go first.
Everyone puts on blindfolds and time starts. Jen and Eli run for the fridge and the pantry. Jen says that her game plan was to choose the proteins and start a sauce. She got black cod and scallops, and she wanted to olive oil poach the fish and use mushrooms to make a sauce. Eli planned to just cook up some basic ingredients so he doesn't commit his team to a flavor profile, but they have some cooked ingredients to work with. He grills up some beef and cleans some vegetables.
The whistle blows and Laurine and Robin run to the cooking area for their turns, also known as "The Weak Link," because seriously. Jen and Eli have to just stand there and watch their food be improved upon or screwed up. Laurine finds the fish and scallops, and lets Jen's sauce simmer. She can't figure out what's up with the olive oil, and by the time she does figure it out, the oil may be too hot (at least that's my interpretation,) so she turns down the heat. Robin starts making a salad dressing with yuzu and shallots for the shaved fennel, and that's pretty much it.
Time! Mike I. and Bryan run in. Mike I. is confused at first, trying to figure out what's going on. Jen interviews that she had a hard time just watching. Finally, he figures out that there's a sauce reducing and some oil that's too hot, so he puts on a new pot of oil and starts sautéing mushrooms. Bryan thinks they may be moving in an Asian direction so he just makes some sauces and even sets his brother up to make a froth.
And, time! The final two, Kevin and Mike V., hurry in. Kevin thinks he has the hardest job because he has to come up with a finished plate. He examines what's on the table and decides not to use the scallop. He realizes that they probably wanted him to poach the fish in oil, but he decides to butter roast it instead. Mike isn't used to finishing other people's food. He tastes all the food to see what it is. He cooks the beef some more and uses one of the sauces to make a miso sauce, and then finishes up an avocado mousse that's in the food processor. They both manage to plate their food as time runs out.
Padma and Rick taste the Red Team's food first: Pan roasted NY strip with whipped miso, avocado puree, and pickled vegetables. Mike V. explains that the miso is a little salty but the meat is underseasoned, so you're supposed to mix the two together. Padma asks Eli if this is what he imagined when he started, and he says he thought they would serve the beef raw, but otherwise that's pretty much it.
Jen describes the Blue Team's dish as "pan-seared trout" (although the caption says sablefish) with sautéed mushrooms, shiitake broth, and radish salad in yuzu vinaigrette. When Rick starts eating, he says that he's pretty sure it's sablefish or black cod, which he loves because it's so sustainable. Jen is embarrassed at her gaffe.
Overall, Rick thought both teams did a great job. He liked the Red Team's food, but he thought the Blue Team's dish had a better finish, mostly due to the broth they made. So he picks the Blue Team for the win. Laurine is especially excited because this is her first win of the competition. Mike V. doesn't like to lose challenges at all, but especially when parts of it were out of his control.
Padma announces that it's time for Restaurant Wars! And they will stay in the same teams for this Elimination Challenge. Rick is giving them use of his restaurant, where each team will take over a floor and a kitchen, and it also means that they're not responsible for the décor
. This is a good thing, in my opinion, because a good chef will probably hire a designer in a real restaurant anyway, and it's always kind of weird to see them arguing about whether to put the peacock feathers in a blue vase or a green one. If I wanted to watch Top Design, I would. So they will be judged on their restaurant concept and menu, their execution of the food, and their front-of-house service. Rick asks that they honor the concept of his restaurant, which is a sustainable seafood restaurant. He gives them a card explaining which seafood is most sustainable. I have to ask: is it really environmentally conscious to have a seafood restaurant in the middle of the desert anyway? Obviously there are a lot of environmental implications to have the seafood shipped to Vegas in the first place. Maybe I'm not supposed to think about these things. Finally, the Blue Team has to decide if they want to let their Quickfire money "ride" on this challenge -- if they win, they will each get $10,000 instead of having to split it. They decide to take that risk.Both teams have thirty minutes to plan. The Blue Team immediately decides not to make dessert as one of their three courses, because they've seen how horribly it's gone wrong for teams in the past. Laurine says she knows "quite a bit about front of the house" and takes on that role. In her interview, she tells a bit of a different story, where she makes it out like she doesn't REALLY want to do it, but she's taking one from the team. Jen and Kevin seem to take the lead on meal planning.
The Red Team determines that they all make some version of American food, so that's their theme. Bryan volunteers to work on dessert, and Mike V. remembers that the judges loved Robin's apple crisp, so she decides to make a pear crisp. Bryan is going to make something similar to what he did in the Devil and Angel Quickfire, which didn't actually go over all that well. Mike points that out, and Bryan gets offended; he thinks Mike is just being an asshole, but Mike insists he just wants to make sure they put out the best quality dishes. I can kind of see his point; why would you make another version of a dish that the judges really didn't like? I mean, it's not like Bryan just ended up in the middle of the pack with that dish; he was in the bottom three. So I would also have concerns. The brothers work it out and Bryan promises that his food won't suck this time; maybe having more than thirty minutes to cook will help.
The cheftestants head off in two groups: one goes to Whole Foods and one goes to Restaurant Depot. For some reason, Robin gets really mad that the other team is copying them and also buying sparkling water. I'm not sure why she chooses to make a big deal out of this inanity other than the fact that she's really annoying. If somehow later this turned into a plot point, like the judges even mention it once, I might care. Spoiler Alert: it doesn't. So I guess it's just more of the editors showing us why everyone hates Robin.
That night, Eli tries on outfits for his front-of-house role. He looks like an asshole with his shirt untucked under his suit. Just tuck in your shirt like a big boy, dude. And maybe get a tie. The Red Team tries to determine their restaurant's name. Michael kind of jokingly suggests REVolt for Robin, Eli, and Voltaggios. Everyone chuckles. Robin points out that revolt is like revolting, and Bryan points out that it could also mean revolution and Robin folds right away. She wasn't going to win that, right, but someone should have pointed out what a horrible name that is, because you don't want anything that sounds like throwing up associated with your food. I mean, you're just giving the restaurant critics lines at that point, about how their stomach REVOLTED and how the food was REVOLTING, etc. Why make it easy?
Outside, Kevin makes the case for naming their restaurant Mission, based on the clean style of architecture. The others (minus Laurine, who is nowhere to be found) agree. At least it's not REVolt. There's actually a restaurant here in Syracuse called The Mission that serves Mexican food and it's in an old church. I'm sure many cities have something similar.
Michael V. takes over designing the menu, and even tells Robin how to form and plate her dessert. Someone is a control freak! He interviews that he wants to make sure all of their food has a similar style, instead of just serving modern food and then Robin's homey dessert. The other team feels pretty confident about their decision to skip dessert, because Kevin is doing the last course and the judges love him.
The day, the cheftestants arrive at Moonen's restaurant. The Blue Team gets to choose which floor they want, fine dining or casual, and they go with fine dining. The Red Team is happy with that decision anyway.
Kevin interviews that he's opened several restaurants, so it's ridiculous to do it in three hours, but that's the challenge. Meanwhile, Michael V. is barking orders at Robin about how to make her dessert. Keep in mind, this is the one dish she has made that the judges RAVED about, so maybe he should shut his trap and let her get to work. Instead, he's yelling at her about getting her ingredients out, and she already has pulled everything out. Robin interviews that she likes feedback, but this is a little ridiculous. Michael interviews that he thinks Robin is out of her league, and he might hurt her feelings, but he'll do it if that's what it takes to put out good food. I get that. I'm a control freak too. But he needs to back off a little bit.
Laurine explains that she's doing a lot of the prep for her teammates since she's only responsible for a lamb dish. Since she has to be out front, Kevin will actually be finishing her dish for her. Jen explains that their food is supposed to be simple and seasonal, which is what she is used to cooking. Jen has two seafood dishes, and they are pretty far behind on prep work.
Michael V. interviews that he thinks their food will be more playful and the food from the other team will be safer. Ultimately, he thinks it will really come down to who executes their food better, though. The two front-of-house people break off to go get ready for their role.
Laurine talks to the servers and then Colicchio shows up. He wonders how Laurine will balance service and her dish, and she explains that Kevin is going to finish it for her. Colicchio goes back and asks Kevin how he's going to handle being responsible for three main dishes. Kevin is confident that he can do it. Jen, on the other hand, feels swamped and laughs that she thinks she's superwoman and can do a million things at once, so Colicchio just leaves her alone. Doesn't it seem like that's always her response? She's always so much busier than everyone else. It's kind of annoying.
Colicchio heads to the other floor to talk to Eli, who says nothing of import. Colicchio heads back to the kitchen where Michael insists that there's no real team leader, and they're all working together. Do you think he really believes that, or is he just saying it because he thinks it sounds good? Because he's been barking out orders for like two days now.
With thirty minutes left, both teams are rushing around trying to finish up the last-minute tasks. The Brothers Volt exchange a few words but it's minor at best. Kevin says that his team is totally not ready as time runs out. Laurine is in the kitchen giving the servers last-minute instructions as the first diners show up; by the time she gets out there, she's shocked SHOCKED that the lounge is full of people waiting. How can that be a surprise? Shouldn't she be more aware of these things? You will ask yourself that a lot through the rest of the episode. Jen interviews that she's totally not ready either. Did they not see the timer counting down? Plus, given how much Jen has claimed in the past that her food is terrible or whatever and then she totally pulls it off, I don't know if I believe her anymore.
Laurine starts seating people as Jen says that she's not prepared but she'll cook the fish to order if she has to. Eli seats some people over at his restaurant and one of the diners wonders what the name of the restaurant has to do with the food, like does the food clash or something? It's a good question. The judges (Tom, Padma, Toby, and Rick Moonen) enter. Padma is wearing some of the ugliest shoes I've ever seen. They're regular strappy heels, but then the straps have black fringe on them, like she grew a fungus on her feet. Yuck. Also, her skirt is too short. We get it. You're a lady. We don't need to see all of your parts.
Eli seats the judges and explains their concept of Modern American. Once he has gone to get the food, Padma brings up how horrible the name is, and Tom agrees, but Rick likes how they set up the menu. Their first pair of dishes is smoked Arctic char with beets, horseradish sour cream, and potatoes, cooked by Bryan and Eli, and pressed chicken with calamari noodles, tomato confit, and fennel salad, cooked by Michael. I'm not sure how American either of those dishes are, but okay. The judges love Michael's chicken. Tom wants more chicken, but Padma doesn't want to give it up. Rick says he would order it again. As Eli rushes to get out the set of dishes, Rick says that the char was "a little one-dimensional."
Eli continues hectoring the kitchen about getting the food out, but it's not coming. The judges notice that there's been a bit of a delay between courses, and Tom points out that no one is getting food, so it's not just their table. In the kitchen, the brothers are still bickering. Michael just takes over one of Bryan's dishes and Bryan probably realizes it's not worth fighting over. Finally, Eli brings out the round and apologizes for the delay, making a joke about opening night. As much as I can't stand Eli personally, he does do a good job as a schmoozer. Anyway, this round is a duo of beef, braised short rib and prime NY strip, cooked by Bryan, and cod with parsley sauce, billi-bi croquette, and zucchini tenderloin, cooked by Michael. So the brothers were responsible for most of the entrees. Interesting. The judges think the cod was delicious and flavorful. Rick Moonen even calls it brilliant. They weren't super impressed by Bryan's food, and in fact, some other diners got food that was completely cold.
Back in the kitchen, the Red Team is doing final preparations on their last course. Robin is trying to plate her pear crisp and Michael is all up in her biz, grabbing her food and trying to tell her what to do. Robin tells him to buzz off and asks if she can do it. He just ignores her and keeps plating her food, so she gets pissed and keeps repeating, "This is my goddamn dessert!" Michael finally walks away but not before making a point of telling Robin, like a child or a dog, not to curse at him again, "Do you understand?" What a dick. My first impression of him was totally right. Look, I get that Robin is annoying and he thinks she's incompetent, but there are ways to manage people in a kitchen or elsewhere without treating them like not-very-bright children and demeaning them. Robin keeps arguing with him so Bryan comes over and tells them both to shut it and get the food out. Bryan interviews that he understood Michael's reaction but they should have set it aside and gotten the food out. Once the plates go out, Robin can't just fucking drop it and has to keep yelling at Michael for what he did. Just LET IT GO. He's toxic and you're never going to be friends. Continuing the argument serves no purpose. How can she be in her mid-40s and not have learned that lesson yet? There are discussions worth having and some that aren't. This one isn't worth it. Michael pulls the TOTAL DICK MOVE of telling Robin to "relax." Gah. I hate that. Shut it, both of you.
Eli finally escapes with some plates to take to the judges. The first is ganache with spearmint ice cream and chocolate tuiles (sort of like lacy chips?) made by Bryan. I am an opponent of using mint in desserts, but this looks pretty effing good. The other dish is pear pithivier with vanilla ice cream and elderflower syrup, made by Robin, which also looks pretty good. Toby thinks this is Robin's best dish ever, and Rick compliments the layers of flavor. They also all like the chocolate ganache, although Toby wishes there were more ice cream. Eli returns to the table to see if there are more questions or comments. Once he leaves, Padma asks the table what they thought of Eli's performance, and Rick says he liked how hard Eli tried. Aw. Like a dog.
The judges head over to the other restaurant to try out their food. Laurine greets them, and then interviews that she needs to balance the needs of the judges with the needs of all the other diners, who will be filling out comment cards. Tom points out that there are no desserts on the menu and Padma gasps like someone told her that someone died in the kitchen. I don't get why it's such a big deal; in the past, when teams have screwed up dessert, the judges have asked why they bothered making one at all. Mike I. sends the first set of dishes out, which Laurine delivers to the table without a word of explanation, so I don't get the glamour shot and caption for each dish. I know that one is Mike I.'s Arctic char tartar and the other is his asparagus and egg dish. The char is apparently underseasoned, and Padma asks for salt, which sends the kitchen into a tizzy. The highest praise they can come up with on both dishes is that they weren't bad. Not so great compared to the raves the other team got.
It's time for the second course, but it's not r
eady. Laurine reports to the kitchen that the servers are talking to the guests to try to stall for time. I'm not sure why Laurine isn't out there tending to the judges. Service gets screwed up and the kitchen is backed up. Meanwhile, no one is talking to the judges. Laurine finally goes out there and apologizes for the delay, but when she goes back in the kitchen the food still isn't ready and Jen claims she didn't know she was supposed to be firing the judges' food. MISCOMMUNICATION!Finally, Laurine brings out the food and again just dumps it on the table with no introduction or explanation. Padma has to ask her to come back and explain, and even then it seems like she's basically just reading them what's on the menu and isn't that familiar with the two dishes: Idaho trout with brown butter emulsion, hazelnuts, and braised endive, cooked by Jen, and Alaskan halibut with mussels, clams, and saffron aioli in consommé, also cooked by Jen. Well, that explains why the course was so backed up; Jen was cooking both dishes. Poor planning. Tom points out that the one dish doesn't have consommé because it's not clear. And in the other dish, the brown butter emulsion broke and it's terrible. They're all disappointed, especially the regular judges because they know Jen can do better.
Meanwhile, the diners are sending back Kevin/Laurine's lamb because it's too rare. Kevin admits that he's having trouble with temperature issues and communication with Laurine. Padma has to ask again for Laurine to explain the dishes before she does. The first is her and Kevin's dish, lamb with carrot jam, green bean salad, and morel mushroom sauce. The second is Kevin's glazed pork belly, pork sausage wrapped in cabbage, cornmeal mousseline, and red-eye gravy. The judges think the lamb is a little undercooked, or at least they should have been asked if they wanted it rare. They all like Kevin's pork dish quite a bit, though. Toby says he missed dessert.
Service has ended and the diners are filling out comment cards. Over at REVolt (it hurts me to type that, but you should know that they put the E backwards, making it extra lame), they loved just about all the food, but hated the name.
Over at Mission, the kitchen is glum, with good reason. The diners complain that the food wasn't good enough to make up for the wait, and they got no explanation or education about the dishes. Jen and Kevin are both sure that they're going home, Mike I. is worried that the judges asked for more salt, and Laurine's service was sub-par, so it could be anyone, really.
Weird interstitial. Mike V. interviews about how awesome and respectful he is as a team leader, and how he stays calm. Meanwhile, the editors cut in all the examples of how he yelled at people and acted like a dick. Kind of hilarious, and it's nice to see the editors taking the piss out of someone besides Robin.
The chefs sit in the Stew Room. Kevin announces that his team did some of the worst cooking they've ever done, and the whole chain broke down. Mike I. says that they can only win if the other team really fell down on the job, because they sucked. Padma comes back and asks REVolt to come in first, so you know they won. They might want to try switching this up once in a while.
Team REVolt assembles in front of the judges and Padma tells them they won. Tom says it was the best Restaurant Wars of any season. Padma compliments the ice cream specifically. Was she pregnant yet when they filmed this? Because she is extra bitchy and also really hungry. Rick says that Eli was good in his role, and while his dish wasn't great, it was good. Is that a compliment really? Everyone loved Michael's chicken and calamari dish, and Padma adds that Robin's pear dish was great. Robin tries to throw Mike under the bus (why? No one from this team is going home) when she says that she was "offered some assistance on it" and then adds that there's help and then there's domination. No one takes her bait, though. Rick announces that Michael is the winner of the Challenge. Bryan looks a little pissed. He wins an autographed copy of Rick's book (yay?) and also the $10,000 chip that the other team put up to gamble. Michael asks if he can split it with his team, and is told he can do whatever he wants with it.
Back in the Stew Room, the Mission team argues about who's going home. They each think that they are. Laurine says that maybe she should have paid more attention to the judges (maybe?) but she had a waiting room full of people. The comment cards don't even seem to come into play in the judging, though. They all head out leaving REVolt to gloat. Bryan is all pouty and Michael calls him on it, although he denies being mad. Michael brings up how he's going to share the money, which seems a little self-serving to mention again, because Robin and Eli both fall all over themselves thanking him for his generosity. Bryan mutters that Michael should keep the money. Bryan doesn't detail his problem, but interviews that he's sick of Michael's unprofessional behavior in the kitchen. Back in the Stew Room, Bryan lies that he's happy about the whole situation, but he looks super pissed. WTF was that about?
Team Mission has to face the music. Tom asks if the planning was a bad idea, since each person had to handle two dishes per course, which caused the backlogs. Laurine says she took front-of-house because no one else wanted it (which again, isn't really what happened from what we saw -- she volunteered pretty quickly). Tom points out that there were problems with each dish. Mike I. says that his asparagus dish was good, but he realizes that his char dish might not have represented the perfect bite if the proportions got off. Jen says that she probably should have steamed her clams and mussels ahead of time instead of doing them to order. The judges are shocked that she did so. Jen agrees with the judges' criticism and is devastated to hear that her sauce was broken when it went out. Did it break because it sat too long? They move on to the lamb dish, which was too rare. Laurine says that she agreed, and Tom points out that she said beforehand that she was going to make sure the food was good when it went out. Laurine says she dropped the ball on that, and Toby points out that she also dropped the ball on service in general. Tom thinks they needed a leader and didn't have one. The team is dismissed.
The judges agree that the team knew that they had a bad night. Toby points out that Mike I. didn't have anything seriously wrong with any of his dishes, so he's safe because others made bigger mistakes. Jen was crazy to cook her food to order, and her trout dish was not good in a lot of ways. Tom thinks that Laurine conceived of the lamb dish but Kevin cooked it, so they don't know who is to blame really. They thought Kevin's other dish was good, but Laurine's other responsibility, the front-of-house, was a disaster. So the writing is on the wall.
Team Mission comes back out and Tom gives them a speech about how much everyone looks forward to Restaurant Wars. Jen had several things wrong with her dishes. Kevin did a bad job cooking the lamb, but a great job cooking the pork. Laurine didn't take the initiative in making sure the food was good and came out in a timely fashion. Michael I. didn't do anything horrible, but he didn't do anything great. So for the sins of a bad dish and poor service, Laurine is going home. Laurine interviews something about a rock, and she says rock like a million times. Jen and Kevin both seem really upset, but I'm not sure if it's because they can't believe they got to stay or because they didn't think Laurine should go home. Someone asks Kevin what happened, and Kevin says he doesn't want to talk about it because he's really angry. Angry? Huh? I hope week, they address why Bryan and Kevin were mad, because I feel like I missed something there.
Watch Laurine's exclusive exit interview video.
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