Quickfire Challenge: Michael Chiarello welcomes the cheftestants to Napa Valley. Their challenge is to cook a dish that features grapes, but they have to cook it in 30 minutes on a moving train, and the prize is a Prius. Michael wins with a stuffed grape leaf topped with a grape branch that he used as a skewer to serve a grape and scallop kebab. Chiarello is impressed with the "story" he told, although it seems like the story was just, "GRAPES!" But he won the car.
Elimination Challenge: The chefs have to cook from 100% local ingredients and cater the Rutherford Hill Winery's annual Crush Party for 150 people. They have to create two dishes: one vegetarian, and one using a local protein, and they'll have five hours to cook. And here's what they made:
Kevin: His protein dish was grass-fed brisket with pumpkin polenta and marinated root vegetables, and his vegetarian dish was roasted beets and carrots with carrot top purée and San Andreas cheese. The judges think that his vegetarian dish is perfect, but while the polenta is good, the brisket is a bit ropy and tinny.
Jen: Her protein dish was grilled duck breast (but she ended up not grilling it because the coals weren't hot enough), braised duck legs, squash purée and foie gras vinaigrette, and her vegetarian dish was Chèvre mousse with honey mushrooms, braised radishes and basil. The judges thought she made the best use of the seasonal ingredients, and her ingredients went together well.
Bryan: His protein dish was fig-glazed short ribs, celeriac purée, wax beans and wild arugula and his vegetarian dish was goat cheese ravioli, delicata squash purée and bronze fennel. The judges like the textures but think some of his food is underseasoned.
Michael: His protein dish was turnip soup with foie gras terrine, poached pear and glazed turnip, and his vegetarian dish was vegetable pistou, heirloom tomato coulis, 63-degree egg and fennel. They think the egg is a little overwhelming (and slightly undercooked) and worry that the foie gras flavor kind of disappears in the protein dish.
When the dust settles, Bryan is declared the winner and he seems more stunned than anyone. And then Jennifer is told to pack her knives and go, and it seems like it's because she accidentally let the fire go out. Then again, it was probably the toughest final four ever, and Jennifer should hold her head up. And the producers are happy because they have the sibling rivalry for the finals, plus the Kevin's Simple Food versus Michael's Complicated Food rivalry. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!
The four remaining cheftestants, having had some time off, now travel to Napa Valley for their final two Elimination Challenges. Jen arrives first, at a train station that looks like something out of a postcard, with autumn leaves and everything. Jen has let her hair go wavy, and it looks much better and less brittle. She interviews that being in the top four means nothing, because she just wants to win.
to arrive is Michael, rolling a suitcase and carrying an umbrella. He interviews that he wants to be the top chef, and he doesn't care whose feelings he hurts to get there. He and Jen greet one another, and Jen asks if he's talked to his brother. Michael admits that they've talked a little trash back and forth, and Jen chuckles that she's not surprised.
Kevin is up, and oh dear. He's grown his hair out and it's not a good look. He was much cuter with the short hair. He just doesn't have enough hair to make longer hair work. Anyway, he interviews that he's always vowed to make it to the finale, and he thinks he has the ability to make it to the finale. He greets the others and joins them on a bench. Jen notices that he still has his beard and Kevin says with awe that there's a Facebook page devoted to people who support his beard.
The final remaining cheftestant, Bryan, arrives in the rain. He interviews that he wants to win for his son, because after six weeks away, greeting his son in the airport coming home was awesome, and he doesn't want to spend more time away.
Their extremely slow-motion train arrives and Bryan jokes that they'd better not push him in front of it. Kevin laughs that Padma will probably get out wearing a conductor's hat. Instead, Padma gets out wearing a white sweater dress and sporting some brand new bangs and her brand new baby bump. She welcomes the cheftestants and introduces Michael Chiarello, my nemesis from Top Chef Masters. He's a great choice for a Napa Valley challenge, though.
Quickfire Challenge: Create a dish that features Napa Valley's signature crop, the grape. They will have a full pantry and thirty minutes to cook... while traveling via train. Kevin is worried, because he gets motion sick very easily. Padma announces that it's the last high stakes Quickfire, so the winner will get a Prius. Now that's a prize worth playing for. None of this signed cookbook bullshit.
The cheftestants hop on the train and start cooking. They have tons of grapes from which to choose, and Michael interviews that they all have different flavors. Kevin admits that he's a little rusty at these challenges. They're all hustling and bustling about, while trying to account for the movement of the train. Michael grabs a prep table all by itself near the door, and Bryan interviews that he almost grabbed that table for himself, and he's pissed that he missed the opportunity. SIBLING RIVALRY! DO YOU GET IT???
Kevin is the only one doing dessert, and I suddenly realize that Kevin is going to win the whole thing because he is the only one willing to totally name check the brand of pots they are using with no raised eyebrow. Anyway, Kevin worries also that he chose a less flavorful grape. Jen thinks she's been able to develop a lot of flavor quickly. It's nice to see her with her confidence back.
With five minutes left, the scrambling begins. Michael interviews that he loves the challenges and trying to be creative, and he plans to use as many parts of the grape vine as he can. Bryan has never won a Quickfire, so it would mean a lot to him to win.
And...time! Kevin serves Padma and Chiarello first: a honey and fromage blanc mousse, glazed grapes, olive oil, and sea salt. He's garnished with some edible flowers, and it's quite pretty. Chiarello's only comment is that he likes the olive oil. Michael is up ; he serves grape leaf stuffed with "couscous," served with a vinegar-glazed grape and scallop kebab, and he used a grape branch as the skewer. If you watched Masters, you know Chiarello loves this shit, since he set grape vines on fire and served them smoking with his final dish.
Bryan serves roasted hen, bacon, Brussels sprouts, Concord grape reduction, ruby quinoa, and arugula. I feel like he might have overcomplicated things. Finally, Jen serves sautéed chicken livers, steamed clams, macerated Cabernet grapes, wild mushrooms, and tendrils.
The train pulls into a station as Padma asks Chiarello what he thinks about the food. He thinks Kevin did well, but could have used more grape flavor. He loved Michael's use of so many different parts of the grape, of course. With Bryan's dish, he felt the bacon's smokiness overpowered the grape flavor. He pays Jen a compliment when he says he's totally going to steal the dish for one of his restaurants. Chiarello has to give a tribute to Napa Valley first, and he says that one chef told a story with his dish: Michael. What story did he tell? The story of how to kiss up to the judges? You know Michael saw Masters and used the idea. I mean, I'm sure the food was good and all, but it seemed like Jen's dish was better based on the reaction we saw. Anyway, Michael wins the Prius.
The morning, the three men are eating breakfast and Kevin sends Jen a video voicemail in a flurry of product placement. Jen interviews that she's "ready to cook her fucking ass off," and seriously, I like this Jen so much better than the, "I'm ready to go home" and "I don't even know what I'm going to make" Jen from the past few weeks. The time off clearly did her some good. She adds that Eric Ripert is really proud of her for making it this far, and brags about her to all his patrons, but she will accept nothing less than winning the whole thing. I'm starting to get a little nervous about her chances due to the editing.
The cheftestants report to the final Elimination Challenge. Padma explains that it's the winery's season-ending Crush Party, and the challenge is to cater for 150 people using all local ingredients. They have to create two dishes; one vegetarian, and one using a local protein. They'll have five hours to prep and cook. Kevin interviews that he cooks locally in Atlanta, so he feels like he has an advantage. Yes, because the ingredients local to Atlanta are exactly like the ingredients local to Napa Valley.
They head to the local farmers' market for shopping, and the produce looks amazing. They have to choose their proteins, and Jen gets stuck in "I don't know what to make" mode, which is worrisome. She ends up getting duck. Michael is off buying every egg ever -- nine dozen. Kevin checks out Michael's haul and interviews that Michael's dishes are very complex, but Kevin thinks he can win with his simple, flavorful dishes. Yeah, screw Michael and his complexity!
, they head to the kitchen of a local restaurant to prep and cook. Bryan is impressed with the wood-fired oven. Michael lists off all the prep he has to do on his foie gras, and it sounds extensive. Kevin gives Jen some advice on using the word-burning oven, namely that the coals left behind after the wood burns will be really hot, as anyone who's ever sat around a campfire knows. Jen interviews that they're all giving each other tips because they want to beat the others at their best, not because of trickery or sabotage. That's why this season has been enjoyable for me -- that attitude (for most of them).
Bryan is braising short ribs, so he debones them first to make the cooking time faster. He is into local cooking anyway, and he doesn't think his brother is, so he feels he has an advantage. Michael interviews that there's a sibling rivalry, and he wants to beat Bryan, even if it means feelings are going to get hurt. I don't think Michael understands that you can beat someone fair and square without hurting his or her feelings; it's called not being a dick about it. Michael clearly hasn't mastered that yet.
Colicchio shows up to chat with the cheftestants. Kevin's up first, and admits that he's a little worried about braising his brisket in the time limit. Jen actually has time to talk about her dish, which never happens. Bryan explains his dishes, and as usual he has like a million ingredients. Michael quickly explains his dishes and Colicchio leaves. Afterwards, he interviews that he has concerns about Kevin with the time limit, and that Jen seems nervous. He adds that the Volt Brothers are both making really complicated dishes, vying for family bragging rights.
Jen worries that the grill isn't getting hot enough and Kevin tries to help her out. Apparently, she was the only one planning on grilling and she didn't tend to the coals, and they started to go out. She quickly changes her game plan, but she's disappointed. Kevin's got his own set of problems; his brisket is not as tender as he'd like and time is running out. Then there's some more sibling rivalry bullshit. Michael worries that his eggs won't be fully cooked, but he's running out of time too. He utters my favorite line of the night: "It's up to the egg at this point." Isn't that always the case?
The cheftestants carry their food to the lawn outside, where they will be serving the partygoers. Kevin chops some herbs while noting that he's had fun competing and he hates to see someone go home. Michael is happy to see that his eggs and foie gras both came out perfectly. Kevin thinks his food and flavors are good, but he thinks everyone made good food today.
The guests and judges arrive. Not sure why they couldn't provide cater waiters for each chef to help serve; Michael is particularly overwhelmed as his complicated dishes probably have complicated plating needs.
Padma heads over to Bryan's table first with fellow judges Colicchio, Gail, and Chiarello. Bryan introduces his dishes: his protein dish was fig-glazed short ribs, celeriac purée, wax beans, and wild arugula and his vegetarian dish was goat cheese ravioli, delicata squash purée and bronze fennel. The judges start with the ravioli, which they think has perfect texture, but needs salt and pepper. They think that the ribs also need some seasoning, because it would have elevated the flavors.
Michael is up , and drinks the Kool Aid, saying that he's totally going to cook local food from now on. He introduces his dishes to the judges: his protein dish was turnip soup with foie gras terrine, poached pear, and glazed turnip and his vegetarian dish was vegetable pistou, heirloom tomato coulis, 63 degree egg, and fennel. The judges like the egg dish mostly, but Tom thinks that the egg flavor overwhelms the vegetables and Chiarello suggests that the vegetables were cut too small. Padma also feels like her egg wasn't served properly, and is thus too watery. They love the flavors in the foie gras dish, but Chiarello points out that the sauce overwhelmed the foie gras, which should be the star of the dish.
Kevin explains that, when catering, he's always concerned with impressing the diners as well as the judges. His protein dish was grass-fed brisket with pumpkin polenta and marinated root vegetables, and his vegetarian dish was roasted beets and carrots with carrot top puree and San Andreas cheese. Gail loves the colors in the vegetarian dish, and Padma is impressed by the complex seasoning. Padma calls the brisket "ropy," and Tom and Gail agree. Gail loves the polenta, but Tom can't get over the "tinny quality" of the beef.
Jen interviews that she's happy with all of her food, and the duck has a strong flavor, but she likes it. She introduces her dishes: her protein dish was grilled duck breast (but she ended up not grilling it because the coals weren't hot enough), braised duck legs, squash purée, and foie gras vinaigrette and her vegetarian dish was Chèvre mousse with honey mushrooms, braised radishes, and basil. She's also the only one to mention wine pairings with her food, which seems obvious. The judges think the vegetarian dish is a bit salty, but that it uses the seasonal ingredients well. Tom likes the strong duck flavor, and Chiarello likes that she used all of the parts of the duck. So no complaints about Jen's food! She's a shoe-in to make it to the round, right?
Michael interviews that s
ervice went better than he expected, and he thinks he has it in the bag. Kevin is (surprise!) a bit less of an asshole about it, as he explains that all of the remaining chefs are talented, so someone talented will be going home tonight.Weird interstitial. The cheftestants go to visit a wine cave and the owner, Tony Terlato, gives them a wine tasting. Creepy. Caves.
While waiting for judging, the cheftestants get to sit in an actual room at an actual table like human beings. It's disconcerting! Padma calls them all in at once for questioning. You guys, what is Padma wearing? I just realized that she's wearing some crazy black dress with cutouts at the shoulders and then it looks like armwarmers? Bizarro. Anyway, Padma and Tom acknowledge that the level of talent this season is higher than any season first. They start by talking to Kevin. Chiarello says his vegetarian dish was perfect. Colicchio gets in a dig when he says that it was simple, and he knows some of the other cheftestants might not see the big deal, but it was perfectly done and showed restraint. Of course, they cut to Michael for a reaction shot, and he's looking up through his eyebrows, all pouty. Love it, and love that the judges acknowledged that simple isn't bad. Gail asks about the texture of the brisket, and Kevin says that he was happy with the dish. Chiarello asks if he would have cooked it differently if he had more time, and Kevin thinks about it and says that he would have, if only to provide some textural contrast to the soft polenta underneath. That was a good rationale, but I'm not really buying it, especially since he admitted while prepping that he was worried about the brisket being too tough.
Moving on to Bryan, who worries that his dish was too simple (despite the fact that it had a million ingredients). Gail counters that it was subtle, and Padma chimes in that the pumpkin was delicious, but she wanted more seasoning on the sauce. Bryan explains that he didn't have a lot of time to get the short ribs tender, so he deboned it. Tom asks about the fig glaze, and Gail says that she could see "the figginess" of the glaze, but she couldn't taste it.
Michael talks about how he didn't use tricks and just let the natural flavors of the local food shine through. Gail asks him about the vegetables being cut too small, and adds that their texture was lost. Padma has to bring up her watery egg. Michael tries to claim that he didn't shake off the excess when serving, and Tom shoots back that Michael knew he was serving the judges and should have been more careful. I don't think Tom likes Michael's attitude. I'm glad someone is finally calling him on his shit, though. They show the "glamour shot" of Michael's non-egg dish and it seriously looks like two lumps of poop in a puddle of bile. I'm sure it tasted great, but it's very unappetizing. The judges mostly liked the dish, but Gail points out that there was way more soup than anything else, and she ended up just eating soup alone, which was bitter. Michael admits that he didn't plan his portioning very well and had a ton of foie gras left over. First world problem.
Jen is told by Chiarello that he's never had goat cheese and basil together, and he loved it. Really? Even I, the plebian, have heard of that flavor combination. Padma, the salt police, thinks there was too much salt, and Chiarello comes to Jen's rescue, saying that he's used that same salt before, and it's very difficult to master. Gail asks why Jen chose duck, and Jen says that she thought she could use all of the parts. Chiarello loved the duck. He loves Jen. Tom asks why she didn't end up grilling the duck as planned. Jen admits that she let the fire go out, so she couldn't grill, even though that's what she would have preferred. Colicchio nods his head seriously, like not grilling is the worst thing he's ever heard of.
After the cheftestants leave, the judges discuss the difficult task ahead. Chiarello points out that there were no truly bad dishes, so they have to judge based on subtle nuances. They praise Jen's vegetarian dish, and Chiarello says that he would have loved to taste Jen's dish as she conceived it. Gail wonders why she didn't use more of the foie gras glaze, since that was the best part of the dish. Moving on to Michael, Tom loves how bold he is, and how the dish came together. Gail repeats her criticism of the proportions. Tom thinks his egg was sloppy and overwhelmed all of the other ingredients. Back in the makeshift Stew Room, the cheftestants talk about how the judges didn't even agree amongst themselves about the various dishes, and Michael points out that judging food is all about interpretation.
The judges move on to Bryan, and Gail says, "I totally fell in love with Brian's ravioli." That's what she said. Tom brings up the seasoning issue again. Chiarello was impressed with the degree of difficulty, and thinks Bryan delivered. Then they discuss Kevin, and how he took simple ingredients and produced a ton of flavor. Backstage, Kevin pretty much admits that he knew the judges wouldn't like the texture of his beef, so he called it toothsome so that they would think it was done on purpose. And sure enough, Tom says that Kevin can spin yarns all he wants but the bottom line is that the texture wasn't great. Backstage, the cheftestants agree that it's a tough decision for the judges, whereas in past seasons, it's been easier because, as Michael puts it, "there's been enough shite on the table."
The cheftestants are called back in to face the music and find out who's going to the finals. Tom says that their high expectations were met, but they can only bring three to the finale. Chiarello says that the winner of the challenge used the local ingredients well and seasoned the food "as close to perfectly as possible," so it's Bryan. Wait, Bryan? After Tom complained again and again about how his food wasn't seasoned properly? What the? Bryan seems pretty stunned as well.
Tom announces to the three that are left that they all made great dishes with something small missing. Kevin's beef was slightly stringy, Michael's egg was undercooked, and Jen seemed unsure and let the fire die out. HORROR! Shouldn't they be judging based on the food they were served, not the food that was originally promised? Anyway, Padma tells Jen to pack her knives and go. That's kind of horseshit. I mean, it's always tough for us at home to judge, because we don't get to taste the food, but it seemed like they were all praise for her food and suddenly they got mad that she didn't grill the duck. I actually blame the editing, since you know the judges deliberate for hours and it's the editors' job to craft a narrative that makes sense from that footage. And according to Tom's blog, Jen's duck dish was so salty that it was inedible. It would have been nice to have that mentioned near the end!
So our final three are Kevin, Bryan, and Michael, which will be awesome. Any combination would have been good. I just would have liked a little more explanation of what was so much more wrong with Jen's mistake than the others'. Jen hugs them all goodbye and leaves. Bryan goes to shake Michael's hand, and Michael rips on him for not hugging his own brother. That's the first time Michael actually cracked me up. He should make fun of his uptight brother more often.
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