By Kim
The cheftestants head to Dallas, and halfway there, they stop by the side of the road for their Quickfire: make a dish using survival kits from their trunks. The food inside is all packaged and canned and terrible and most of the dishes are pretty scary. The winner is Lindsay, who made a French onion soup with Vienna sausages and a "sandwich" out of saltines and tuna. Guest judge John Besh liked her inventiveness.
Elimination Challenge: Create a dish for a progressive dinner party in three neighboring houses in an exclusive Dallas neighborhood. They get randomly assigned to make an appetizer (Sarah, Whitney, Chris Moto, Lindsay, and Paul), entrée (Beverly, Nyesha, Chuy, Ty-Lor, and Heather), or dessert (Chris Hollywood, Edward, Dakota, and Grayson). After talking to the three couples (who are super conservative, food-wise), the cheftestants shop and get to cooking in the couples' home kitchens. As they cook, the entrée group all get annoyed with Beverly, because they feel like she's hogging the space and moving their things around.
Appetizers:
Chris Moto: roasted chicken cigar with sweet corn, collard greens, and cumin ash. Basically, it looks like a lit, half-burned cigar. I don't know that I'd want to eat a cigar. The judges and diners find it difficult to eat and a bit dry.
Sarah: Roman-style grilled artichoke with date puree. The judges think it's grilled well and tastes good.
Lindsay: roasted and raw beet salad with chickpeas and Greek vinaigrette. The diners like it but the judges think its boring.
Whitney (who?): seared scallop over sweet corn puree. The diners think it's boring, because Whitney is boring.
Paul: fried Brussels sprouts with grilled prosciutto. The diners really like it.
Entrees:
Heather: garlic and rosemary grilled lamb chops with garbanzo beans and mint chimichurri. The diners try to say nice things but the lamb is overcooked.
Chuy: Sockeye salmon fillet stuffed with goat cheese, served in corn husks for no apparent reason. The diners like it. I think. I couldn't understand what the host dude said. He either said it was mild or wild or maybe something else entirely.
Beverly: seared scallop with creamy polenta. The diners think it's the awesomest.
Ty-Lor: grilled pork tenderloin with summer slaw. The judges think it's sloppy and the diners have mixed reviews.
Nyesha: roasted fillet of beef with vegetable mélange and red wine sauce. The diners are grossed out by the red wine sauce because they think it looks like blood. They are dumb.
Desserts:
Dakota: banana bread pudding, banana mousse, and banana-date milkshake, which the diners love.
Chris Hollywood: strawberry cupcake with banana custard and chocolate icing, which the diners like but Tom hates.
Edward: cardamom-scented pannacotta, cantaloupe consommé and raspberries stuffed with basil pudding. The diners aren't sure about it, because they are rubes.
Grayson: chocolate sponge cake, caramelized bananas, and semifreddo, which the diners like but they think it's a little rich.
The top four are Grayson, Sarah, Paul, and Dakota. So no one from the entrée group. Interesting. The winner is Paul, who took a risk but also listened to what the clients wanted.
The bottom four are Chris Moto, Chris Hollywood, Ty, and Chuy. So two from entrees, and one each from appetizers and desserts. Chris Hollywood put too much on the plate, and his dish was scattered. Ty's dish was plated poorly and the scale of the components was off, and he had too many things on the plate. Chuy had to overcook the salmon for the cheese to be bubbly. Chris Moto let an interesting gimmick get in the way of his flavors and mouth feel.
The judges decide to send Chuy home [and then to Last Chance Kitchen], because it was just a bad concept AND it was badly executed.
So everyone is hanging out at the rodeo, bummed and exhausted, after Richie's elimination. Padma shows up and they panic that there's another challenge right now. Instead, she tells them that they should get a good night's sleep because in the morning, they will be packing their bags and meeting her in Dallas. Instead of the big cheers she might have been expecting, everyone just sighs. Ed interviews that he just fell in love with their house and now they have to pack up and move. I think they're all just so tired and the thought of packing is devastating.
The morning everyone packs his or her things in preparation for the move. Beverly interviews that she thinks of the Dallas Cowboys and country singers when she thinks of Dallas. In fact, she thinks Dolly Parton is from Dallas. She's not, but nice try. They split up into three vans and hit the road. Heather talks about how she took a lot of road trips as a kid, and her brother always threw up on her. Didn't her parents give them bags? Or bowls, at least? My brother used to get car sick too, so my parents always gave him a bag, just in case. In one of the cars, Ed tells everyone that he's been married for a year, and Ty-Lor says that he has a boyfriend. So now we know that, if you care about such things.
In another car, Dakota and Beverly talk about how they gained a ton of weight during culinary school, especially during baking class. Chris Hollywood pipes up that he was seventy pounds heavier then, and Paul asks if he means he was big and buff, and Chris Hollywood says that he was just fat. They show a picture of Chris at his higher weight, and not only was he heavier, but his hair was AWFUL. And a chef's coat flatters no one. Chris says that he did a photo shoot and it was in a magazine and his friends called him up and said, "Hey, looking good in that magazine, fatty." Okay, you need new friends. Who would say that? That's awful. Anyway, it inspired him to lose seventy pounds in two years, which is a healthy pace, so good for him.
The cars leave the highway and end up on some back road. And there's a road block set up by the Texas Highway Patrol. No one seems to notice or mention the fact that there are camera crews with the cops, which seems to make it pretty obvious that this is part of the show. Dakota interviews that she got pulled over in San Antonio and got an expensive ticket, which she didn't pay, so she thinks there might be a warrant out for her arrest in Texas. What is with the lawbreakers on this show? Chuy owes back taxes and Dakota just decides not to pay traffic tickets. Bunch of scofflaws. The trooper tells them to pull over, and they drive right into a field, which seems like trouble.
And then they spot Padma and famous chef John Besh standing in the field to a bunch of picnic tables. It's time for the Quickfire Challenge. Padma tells them that they'll be cooking right there in the field, and there are survival kids in the trunks. They'll use the kits to cook the best dish they can. Okay, if those kits were in the trunks, where in the heck are their suitcases? I get that this was all a setup, but at least make it believable. There's no reason the survival kits had to be in the trunks, except I guess to demonstrate that you can remotely pop the trunks on their product-placed vans. The winner gets immunity, and they have thirty minutes.
They run to grab their kits, and Chris Moto sprints off to a nearby cornfield. Okay, does he know anything about corn? Because those stalks are all dried out and yellow. Like some people would grab those stalks, bundle them together, and make a nice autumnal display or tie it to a mailbox or something. But there's not going to be any edible corn cobs on that stalk. Not to mention that it's probably field corn and not sweet corn, so it's not going to taste very good regardless. I mean, nice try Mr. Local Produce but calm down with the sprinting. Everyone else digs through the bags and finds lots of canned and dried foods. They don't have tools or cutting boards either. And they're working on picnic tables that are much shorter than a typical counter, so they're all bent over. And then the wind blows, and makes it difficult to light their little camp stoves. It's a disaster.
One thing that's nice to see is that they're all swapping cans and packages as needed. Like Paul yells out that he has green chiles in a can and Chuy calls out that he can use it, so Paul tosses it over. People share vinegar and other items as well. Whitney (who?) mentions that the available ingredients include a lot of food that she would "never cook with in a million bazillion years." This challenge is lame. I mean, I like people having to be resourceful and all, but this is just using bad ingredients to make bad food. It's one thing when they have to build a dish around ONE bad ingredient (like the vending machine challenges) but this is just all bad ingredients. I feel bad for Padma and John Besh, who have to eat this crap.
Lindsay interviews that her dad would be proud to know that she's cooking something with canned Vienna sausages, because he used to eat them out of the can and she always thought it was gross. It is gross. Those are gross. Any canned meat product is gross. Ed notices that everyone else is making "mess hall food" and he says that he won't make "Flintstones food." Didn't the Flintstones just eat normal food but put the word Dino or Rock in there somewhere? Like Dino Burgers and Rock Fries? So Ed won't be using dinosaur meat. And then after bending over for so long, Ed pulls his back. Chris Moto is also shocked to find out that the corn didn't work for him, because it's too dried. Gee, did the brown and yellow leaves give that away? What a dummy.
Time's up! Let's eat. Chris Moto made fried chicken on lemongrass noodles. He's served it in a corn husk. For no reason. Chuy made basmati rice with smoked trout, and when he admits that the trout is canned, John Besh is like, "!" Grayson serves pickled herring with hearts of palm, dates and herring juice. Nothing about that sounds like something I would want to eat. Even Grayson has to laugh when she says "herring juice." Lindsay has made what she calls "triple club with tuna and sardines in French onion soup with Vienna sausage." It's really saltine crackers with some crap from a can and I don't even know what the soup is made out of and I don't want to think about it too hard. It looks like something you'd eat in your dorm room during finals week because you were out of change for the vending machine. Lindsay admits in an interview that she's not super proud of the saltine sandwich.
Ty-Lor made black pepper chicken stew with garbanzo beans and filled half the plate with plain rice in case the flavors were too strong. Well, that's a vote of confidence in your cooking, isn't it? Here's something to mute the terrible taste in your mouth. Ty-Lor says that he cooked the rice in water, not even in chicken broth. I don't know if it wasn't available or he just decided not to use it. Padma admits that the rice is pretty good, given the conditions. Sarah cooked dried beef and pineapple rice, apple sauce, and hearts of palm. Did she make apple sauce or just open up a jar of apple sauce and plop some on the plate? Because the latter seems pretty lame. Chris Hollywood made spicy garbanzo beans with tofu and crab. He used Crystal Light lemon drink powder for his acid, which amazes John Besh. That might be amazed in a bad way, mind you.
Whitney (who?) made beer and peach glazed chicken with green bean casserole. Beer and peach? I don't feel like those two things taste great together, but what do I know? Ed's non-Flintstone food is Thai peanut soup with salmon, tofu and fried hominy. I don't know why you need the tofu, honestly. There's also a crab and artichoke cake wrapped in nori. Those things were in the bag? Paul went simple: pork and beans with coffee and basmati rice. Makes sense to me -- when you have to cook camp-style, make camping food, but make it good. Dakota made sweet and spicy noodles with crab meat and pineapple juice. Padma comments that the pineapple juice is very sweet, and Dakota's face falls.
Those are all the dishes we're going to see! John Besh says that some of them didn't get very inventive. Padma wants names. NAMES! John says that Whitney used chicken and green beans straight out of a can, Dakota's dish used too many sweet ingredients and didn't have dimension and Chris Hollywood underseasoned his proteins and it threw the whole dish off. And who were the favorites? Besh liked Edward's attention to detail, especially his crab cakes. He was scared of Lindsay's dish when he first saw it, but once he tasted it, he thought it was fantastic. And Chuy's dish made Besh a believer in canned smoked trout. So who wins? Besh says it's about the chef that was the most resourceful and inventive, and that was Lindsay. Edward is disappointed, because he thought Lindsay's sandwich looks incredibly dry. Sore loser. Lindsay wins some cash and immunity in the Elimination. She hopes her dad is proud that she won using Vienna sausages.
Padma gets right to the Elimination Challenge. Three neighbors in an exclusive neighborhood are having a progressive dinner party, and the cheftestants will be catering. One house will serve appetizers, one will serve entrees and one will serve desserts. John Besh warns them that these couples do a lot of entertaining and will have definite ideas about how the food should taste. In other words, "These people are rich and high-maintenance and you must cater to their bizarre whims." Ty-Lor interviews that he's cooked for Bill Gates and other rich people (I mean, once you've cooked for Bill Gates, don't all other rich people pale in comparison? Although I kind of imagine that Bill Gates eats, like, ramen noodles and eschews anything with flavor.) so he knows what the expectations will be like.
Padma divides them into three groups based on how they're standing in line. Chris Moto, Paul, Whitney (who?), Lindsay and Sarah will be cooking appetizers. Beverly, Chuy, Michelle, Nyesha and Ty-Lor will be cooking entrees. Dakota, Grayson, Chris Hollywood and Ed will be cooking desserts. Dakota interviews that she can't believe that she got stuck with dessert again. Yeah, except that since this is an individual and not a team challenge, you really could make any old thing and call it dessert. It doesn't have to be sweet. It doesn't have to be a cake. There are savory desserts. Get creative, girl!
The cheftestants leave and check into their hotel. It's some kind of luxury suite, and they're excited to see such a nice place. Then they head to meet the couples hosting the dinner party. Chris Moto compares the neighborhood to Wisteria Lane. It's nothing like Wisteria Lane. First of all, the houses are a lot nicer and older. And it's not a dead end. I don't think he actually watched Desperate Housewives. He just heard of it one time. [Note: I briefly thought he was making a reference to the Season 7 finale progressive dinner party, but something tells me he's not a DH superfan. -- RS.] Anyway, the couple hosting the appetizers is Kim and Justin Whitman. They seem the most normal. Their house is very nice but it's not like Carmela Soprano style overly decorated. Whitney interviews that she grew up poor so this is a whole new experience. Finally, we learn something about Whitney! So all I know now is that she's bland and she used to be poor. Turns out Kim is an entertaining and lifestyle expert and has written books! In fact, she wrote a book about throwing a party for your dog. Okay, enough about her. Well, we do need to find out her likes and dislikes for menu planning. She wants her food to be a conversation starter and she doesn't like bell peppers, cilantro, or things that give you bad breath or get stuck in your teeth. Chris Moto wonders if she's open to unique presentations and she says she's really not. Chris asks if he could use flavors she knows but present them in a unique way. She clearly wants to say no but feels pressured to say yes.
The second couple is Kari and Troy Kloewer. Their house is a little fancier. She looks like a Barbie doll and he looks like Ken crossed with Jason Lee. She doesn't like spicy food, cilantro or raspberries. Okay, hold the phone here. Who doesn't like raspberries? WTF? I mean, if you like one kind of berry, don't you kind of like them all? And raspberries are the best berries. She's nuts. And speaking of nuts, she doesn't eat meat. She might have mentioned that right off the bat. Chuy interviews that the husband is adventurous but the wife is high-maintenance. Look, I have no problem with people avoiding certain foods or certain types of foods. Whatever floats your boat. But then don't go on a television show where the best upcoming chefs in the country are going to cook food just for you! I mean, I am not the most adventurous eater when left to my own devices, but if the cheftestants wanted to cook for me, I'd try whatever they had to offer.
The third couple, the dessert couple, is Kameron and Court Westcott. That can't be their real names. They are terrible. Court is about five feet tall and has his collar popped so I immediately discount everything he has to say. Kameron claims that she loves cake balls and cupcakes and fudge but she has the most sunken cheeks I've ever seen and obviously hasn't eaten a dessert in like ten years. Court heard the phrase "make my inner fat kid cry" at some point and decided to work it in at every opportunity. And then he says that his wedding cake (presumably the groom's cake, which I only know about because of Steel Magnolias) was a giant Gummi bear. That sounds disgusting. Edward is as judgmental as I am, saying that he can't do elegance and cook with Gummi bears. Anyway, the couple wants them to have fun with it. Just know that Kameron will be spitting every bite into a napkin.
They head to Whole Foods. Ty-Lor and Heather both express relief at being able to do their own thing instead of working with a team, but Ty-Lor points out that there is nowhere to hide if your food isn't good. Paul interviews that his client isn't adventurous, so he's going to cook what she wants, and he's learned in the past that in these cases, you can't cook for yourself and what you want. Chris Hollywood is going to make cupcakes; he's got a basic recipe that he's never tested. Oh, that should work out swimmingly. What could go wrong when baking with a recipe that you've never used? I'll tell you what will go wrong -- it will be terrible. It's so easy to mess up baked goods. It's why I rarely make them.
The cheftestants arrive at the kitchens in the home where they will be cooking and serving. They have two hours to cook. Sarah explains that she's doing an appetizer and she's excited to be cooking the food that she wants to cook, which is Italian food. Ty-Lor is in the entrée house, and he's terrified of going before the judges again. Nyesha asks if anyone has blanching water on, and Beverly says that she doesn't, but she does have water on for polenta. So Nyesha puts a pot of water on the stove. This will be important later. Over at the dessert house, Edward's back hurts and Chris Hollywood is freaking out about baking, as he should be.
The appetizer group is getting close to service. Chris Moto is making an appetizer that looks like a cigar. With ash. Because who doesn't want to eat a cigar, especially the ashes? Paul interviews that Chris needs to realize that you have to please the lady of the house, and the man will fall in line. Kind of sexist, but also kind of true, especially with these couples.
In the entrée group, everyone's getting annoyed with Beverly. We don't really see enough to know why. It seems that she's taking pots and pans from others without asking, and then spreading her shit all over the place and using more than her fair share of space. At least that's what Nyesha and Heather say. Also, we do see Beverly moving Nyesha's pot of blanching water off the burner without asking, and Nyesha asks her to move it back, and also give back the colander she took. So it seems like Beverly is used to cooking and sharing equipment, and doesn't seem to get the vibe that this is a competition and people may not want to share, or she should at least ask first. It is kind of shitty to just start taking equipment from other people's stations. Beverly interviews that they're all leaving stuff everyone and she feels singled out. Of course, since we only saw about thirty seconds of footage, we don't really know what's going on. But given what we've seen thus far, I could see Beverly being oblivious.
The dessert group is all working at a furious pace. Ed says that he's taking some of the couple's suggestions but not all, because he isn't using fudge and bananas. He figures that there are twelve people eating dessert, so he's not going to make something just for those two; he's going to make an elegant dessert that hopefully everyone will like. I guess so, but if part of the challenge is making the hosts happy, that could backfire.
The guests arrive in the first home, that of the Whitmans. Meanwhile, the cheftestants who are making appetizers are getting ready to plate. Lindsay explains that she's making a dish with raw, poached and roasted items, and that's her idea of balance. Out in the living room, Padma learns that Mrs. Whitman is Canadian, and so is Gail, so they chit chat about maple syrup and hockey. Paul interviews that he's always pushing himself to do better. They all plate their food. Chris Moto is worried whether the guests will think his dish is awesome or if they wonder why he served them a cigar. Sarah is second-guessing her plating because it's not as whimsical as Chris's. Sarah, don't worry. No one wants to eat a cigar.
Appetizers are served! First is Chris Moto with roasted chicken cigar with sweet corn, collard greens and cumin ash. Basically, it looks like a lit, half-burned cigar. Also, it's green. So it's a moldy cigar. Yum! I mean, I applaud his creativity. I just don't know that food shaped like a stinky moldy cigar is ever a good idea. Sarah made Roman-style grilled artichoke with date puree. Lindsay made roasted and raw beet salad with chickpeas and Greek vinaigrette. Whitney (who?) serves seared scallop over sweet corn puree. Paul offers up fried Brussels sprouts with grilled prosciutto.
As the diners sample the food, the dessert couple reveals that they've only been married for a month. They had a small wedding and Gail jokes, "Seven hundred people?" No, they actually had eight hundred. And the appetizer couple had twelve hundred. WTF? Who knows that many people? I could invite everyone I know from kindergarten to college, various jobs, etc. and I still wouldn't get to twelve hundred. That's ridiculous.
Anyway, on to the food. Everyone has trouble eating Chris's cigar, because it's really wide and difficult to get your mouth around. Did he think about that when plating it? And then when people try to take a bite, they drag half the wrapper off and yuck. Tom adds that it's dry on top of all that. Disaster. The diners love Sarah's artichoke dish, and think it's grilled perfectly. John Besh thinks Lindsay's beets are boring but one of the idiot wives says that it's very colorful. Tom just giggles because she's an idiot. Seriously, that's what the expression on his face says. Everyone loved Paul's Brussels sprouts, because they are crunchy and tasty. All we hear about Whitney's dish is that it's boring, like Whitney.
Moving on to the Entrée course! Before everyone arrives, Chuy realizes that his salmon is overcooked, but he serves it anyway. Heather and Ty-Lor have a mutual admiration society, because they were friends before coming on the show. Gail comments that there's a lot of pressure on the cheftestants serving the main course. Ty-Lor is worried about his presentation, since that's a big part of this challenge. He's not worried about his flavors, but he thinks it looks bad.
Heather made garlic and rosemary grilled lamb chops with garbanzo beans and mint chimichurri. Chuy made Sockeye salmon fillet stuffed with goat cheese, served in corn husks for no apparent reason. Beverly serves seared scallop with creamy polenta. Ty-Lor serves grilled pork tenderloin with summer slaw. Nyesha made roasted fillet of beef with vegetable mélange and red wine sauce.
The first thing Gail says is that it's a lot of food. I know from reading her blog that they were concerned because the cheftestants didn't downsize their dishes, knowing that there would be five entrees served. I guess that makes sense, but there are always a ton of dishes served and they're never told to take that into consideration. The diners seem to like Chuy's salmon, especially the hosts. They also like Beverly's scallop dish, and would love to have it again at another party. Gail thinks Ty's pork is sloppy, and another diner says it reminds her of something her parents would have made in the '50s. Is that a compliment? Tom is disgusted with Heather's overcooked lamb chops. DISGUSTED! The idiot wife from earlier says that it looks like blood on the plate of Nyesha's dish, but John Besh assures her that it's a red wine reduction. I thought she didn't eat meat anyway? What does she care? And frankly, there's nothing wrong with a little juice from the beef on the platter as far as I'm concerned. She needs to go back to her garbanzo beans.
Yay! Desserts! Dakota realizes that she doesn't have a vessel for her milkshake, so she forms dates into tiny shot glasses. Grayson admits that dessert isn't her thing. The host doles out his "inner fat kid" line once again, because he's really proud of it. He shouldn't be. Chris Hollywood is nervous because he has like twenty different things on his plate and he's worried it will be cluttered. And it's time to serve!
Dakota serves banana bread pudding (with Reese's peanut butter cups!), banana mousse, and banana-date milkshake. I really hate bananas so that doesn't appeal to me, but I like that she gave them three options. Chris Hollywood made a strawberry cupcake with banana custard and chocolate icing. Edward serves cardamom-scented pannacotta, cantaloupe consommé and raspberries stuffed with basil pudding. It's definitely elegant and refined. I just don't need refined with my desserts. I like hot fudge sundaes. Grayson made chocolate sponge cake, caramelized bananas, and semifreddo, and it's in the shape of a Whoopie pie.
The diners make fun of Edward's dish because it looks like Elmo and it's jiggly. They are rubes. This is what you would get if the cheftestants served Thanksgiving dinner to my family. We are a bunch of hicks. It would be funny, though. And no one would eat any vegetables. And they would ask for ketchup. Anyway. The diners think Grayson's dish is a little rich, and Tom comments that he thought it was impossible to be too rich in Dallas. HA HA HA. Tom hates these people. The inner fat kid guy loooooooves the cupcake, as Tom glowers. Padma asks with an evil grin what Tom thinks and he says that if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything. Take that, inner fat kid. Your palate sucks! Everyone loves Dakota's bread pudding.
Weird interstitial. The cheftestants all joke about how Chuy likes to tell stories about how awesome his dad is. They all start doing Chuck Norris facts about Chuy's dad.
The cheftestants sit out on a patio for their makeshift Stew Room. Dakota is worried that the texture was off in her bread pudding. Padma comes out and asks to see Sarah, Grayson, Paul and Dakota. They all think they're the bottom four, as they roll their eyes and head in to see the judges. But then Padma tells them that they are the top four. They're shocked and relieved. Tom tells Grayson that he loved that she used chocolate-covered pretzels, and he likes salt with his dessert. No one mentions the chocolate smear on her plate, which looks like a skidmark. I'm sorry, but it does. John Besh thought Sarah's artichoke dish was refined and flavorful. Gail thought Dakota's bread pudding had great texture and it was comforting. Tom explains that Paul's dish was all about texture and everything on the plate made sense. John Besh gets to announce the winner, and it's Paul. Go, Paul! He's doing well so far! He thinks he's representing Texas well.
They have to send back Chris Moto, Ty, Chris Hollywood and Chuy. That's two people from the entrée group, and there were no people from the entrée group in the top four. Ouch. You'd think the entrée would be the easiest one for them. They're used to making entrees. Anyway, they start with talking to Chris Hollywood. Tom says that his dish was all over the map, and had a ton of stuff and flavors on the plate. Chris Hollywood says that the hosts gave them a lot of input and he tried to use all of it, but John Besh says that's a good way to wind up with a big mess. Padma asks Ty if he was satisfied when he sent his dish out, and Ty admits that it was sloppy. Gail thinks the whole thing was out of proportion and too big, and John Besh thinks his knife skills weren't up to par and the meat was kind of hacked off.
Padma wants to know where Chuy got the idea for his salmon dish, and he says he's done it before in his restaurant. Gail explains that the salmon was overcooked and the cheese tasted mealy. Chuy explains that he had to overcook the salmon to ensure that the cheese would be hot in the middle. Tom is mystified by that, since it suggests that the whole concept of the dish was ruined before he started cooking. Chris Moto explains that he saw that the host had cigar cases. Tom says that it was a novel idea, but the dish wasn't the best use of those ingredients. John Besh says that it was a gimmick and it was hard to eat, and Chris should have focused on making a dish that tasted good instead.
The cheftestants are dismissed. They go back to the Stew Room. Chris Moto says that he was too ambitious. Back to the judges: Tom says that Chuy's dish made no sense, and he should have reworked the dish to make it work without overcooking the salmon. John Besh didn't think the dish had any redeeming value. Gail doesn't think Chris's dish made any sense and it was unappealing, and none of them wanted to eat it. Tom thinks he was married to the idea but couldn't make it work. As for Chris Hollywood's dish, there was a huge cupcake and tons of fruit and the ice cream, none of which looked good. John Besh wonders what was up with Ty's pork tenderloin, and Gail says that it was a mess and he threw everything onto the plate and none of it worked.
The judges call back the bottom four. Tom says that, for each of them, a little bit of thinking through the dish could have prevented the problems they had. Chris Hollywood tried to make a cupcake when he didn't know how, and he threw every ingredient they mentioned on the plate instead of editing. Ty also needed to edit, as his dish was sloppy and unfocused. Chuy had an idea but it needed overcooked salmon to work, and no one likes overcooked salmon. Chris had an idea and held onto it despite evidence that it was a bad idea.
So who's going home? Chuy. I'm guessing it's because he had a bad concept and executed it badly. Chuy interviews that he wanted to go further but one mistake can send you home, as many have noted before him. The other cheftestants are sad to see him go, or at least act sad. Chuy doesn't feel ashamed, because he was competing against the best, and was the youngest in the competition. Little does he know that now he's going up against Keith to win the chance to return to the competition.