Quickfire Challenge: None, because of the Elimination Challenge.
Elimination Challenge: Restaurant Wars! The cheftestants are super excited even though someone always screws up royally. I can remember like two restaurants in nine seasons that were universally praised and the clear winner. Anyway, Padma announce that, for the first time, it's men versus women. Edward is sure the dudes will win because, I mean, come on. Women can't cook. Each team has a night to take over a restaurant called The Palm Door (get it?) and cook a three course menu with two choices per course for a hundred people. Someone needs to run front of house. Each team member needs to cook a dish. And they have to decorate themselves, which they've gotten away from the past few years.
During planning and shopping, the guys seem to be getting along really well and the women are all ganging up on poor Bev, the professional victim, with Sarah leading the way. She is really awful in the way that she talks to people. So condescending and short with people. I would tell her to eff off.
The men have to serve first, and their concept is Canteen, because it's like a mess hall with communal dining, I guess? I don't feel like their food matches their concept for maybe they can sell it. As they start seating guests, it becomes clear that their expediting system isn't working (or doesn't exist) so eventually they send Ty out to manage the tickets, which the judges don't like. And then a little later, Paul goes out and takes over. Yikes. Here are their dishes:
First course: Thai-style crab and shrimp salad, caramel fish sauce, and peanuts (Ty) OR ham and pork pate with mushrooms, braised mustard seeds, and duck fat crostini (Paul). The judges think Ty's dish is bland but well-cooked, and Paul's dish is an interesting concept but his crostini is greasy.
Second course: poached salmon in warm tomato water, clams, salmon skin, and tomatillo jam (Paul and Ty), OR crispy pork skin belly with green apple and sweet potato puree (Paul). The judges like aspects of both dishes but don't fully love either one.
Third course: Almond Joy cake with malted chocolate mousse and banana coconut puree (Ed) OR homemade cracker jack, cherries and peanut butter ice cream (Chris). Anyone else feel like Paul did more than his share? The judges like Ed's dish except that he didn't put coconut in it, and they're divided on Chris's dish.
The women's restaurant is called Half Bushel. Lindsay is working front of house. Back in the kitchen, Sarah is hectoring Beverly as usual. When the judges arrive, Lindsay is in back and misses their arrival. In fact, she's often in back yelling at Beverly instead of seating people out front. The judges are kept waiting for their food for a long time and Lindsay shows no hustle whatsoever. Here are the dishes:
First course: Peach salad with pickled shallots, bacon vinaigrette, and candied pistachios (Grayson) OR mozzarella-filled arancino, sweet and sour eggplant, and celery salad. The judges like both dishes.
Second course: braised short rib with thai basil potato puree, apple slaw, and kimchi (Beverly) OR grilled halibut with Spanish chorizo, fennel, and sherry salad (Lindsay). The judges think the fish is dry, but they love Beverly's dish.
Third course: Schaum torte with vanilla meringue and champagne berries (Grayson) OR hazelnut cream Italian doughnuts with banana sugar glaze (Sarah). The judges are split on Grayson's dish and don't like Sarah's doughnuts, because they're heavy.
The judges agree that the guys' service was better but the ladies' food was better. Lindsay is pissed because no one is eating her fish and she blames Beverly, who was executing the dish for her. But then the women win so they don't have to worry about whom to blame for which dish. And then the judges choose Beverly as the winner because her dish was so awesome. I hope Lindsay apologizes to her.
The judges find problems with everything on the mens' side, pretty much, but they can't overlook that Ty had a hand in two dishes and both were terribly underseasoned. So Ty's going home. I liked him! Damn.
Hey, we're still in Texas! Austin, to be exact. Is anyone else bored with this season already? I feel like you either need outstanding chefs, or really horrible villains, or really funny likable heroes. All three would be great. I feel like this season has none of those things. The women are blah, and as this episode will reveal, kind of awful. The men are blah. I still don't have a sense for what kind of food each chef cooks, except that Beverly makes a lot of Asian and Ed kind of does too. And Chris Moto thinks he's Mr. Science. Someone surprise me already.
The cheftestants walk into a restaurant called Palm Door, except that it's completely empty, no tables or chairs. Padma (joined by Hugh Acheson) announces that it's time for Restaurant Wars. I get why the cheftestants like this challenge; it's the most like what they actually do in their everyday lives, so they feel like they can do it well. Except things always go horribly, horribly wrong for at least one team. Anyway, rather than draw knives or whatever, this season the teams are divided by gender, men versus women. Hey, here's a statement that's going to shock you: Ed thinks the male chefs have more talent. And while I actually kind of agree with him on this particular season, more talent doesn't mean they're going to win, because it's not a talent competition, sadly. Well, I guess it depends on how you define talent. Is talent the ability to roll with the punches and come up with crazy ideas that please the judges? Because that's the kind of competition it is. Sarah is happy with her team except that she thinks Beverly is the weak link.
Padma gives out the deal with the challenge: each team will take over the restaurant on consecutive nights, so they will also get a chance to eat at the other team's restaurant. AND, they have brought back the wrinkle where the teams have to decorate the restaurant themselves, which I've always enjoyed, although it doesn't always lead to drama. Padma flips a coin and determines that the boys will serve on the first night, and Hugh explains that they have to serve three courses, each with two choices, to a hundred people. They don't specify that the third course needs to be dessert, or anything about the food really. One team member needs to handle front of house, and they will have five hours to cook and decorate the space.
Padma gives them forty-five minutes to menu plan, and they separate into teams and get to discussing their menus. Ed immediately agrees to do front of house for the men, and interviews that none of them want to do it, but he feels like he's qualified to do so because he owns his own restaurant. I'm going to guess that all of them have worked in service at some point, but whatever. Let Ed do it. Paul has a name: Canteen. He explains that it's a communal place to eat, and they're all fine with it. It's fine. It's not that exciting, but it doesn't need to be.
The women pick Lindsay to do their front of house, because she has opened MANY restaurants for Michelle Bernstein. I'm not sure why that makes her most qualified, but they seem to think it does, so let's go with it. They somehow agree on farm-to-table as their concept, and Beverly tries to say that the food can still be elegant. Sarah immediately pipes up that it's not ELEGANT and it's STREAMLINED and RUSTIC. This is the first of many times that she can barely contain her contempt and annoyance with Beverly. Lindsay suggests the word Bushel as a name, and somehow they change it to Half Bushel for no reason. I think Bushel is better because it sounds more copious and full. But no one asked me.
The guys are deciding on dishes. Chris says he can make cracker jack ice cream and Ed says that he can make an Almond Joy dessert. The guys are really excited about that. And since they don't have a concept other than "communal place to eat," they can kind of do whatever they want. Although I feel like the name Canteen suggests casual food or cafeteria style, right? They quickly come up with the rest of their dishes, and they're all set. Everyone seems happy with the decisions; at least no one looks sour or argues much about it.
The women are still working out their dishes. Grayson is going to do a dessert. Lindsay consults her list and says that Beverly needs to make another dish. Bev says that she could make a braised lamb rib, but Sarah thinks they won't have those at the store. How about you let that be Beverly's problem? And she needs to come up with another dish at the store if they don't have them? Beverly suggests that she make beets with goat cheese and Sarah says that every restaurant serves that. Again, Bev's problem. Why doesn't Sarah just TELL Bev what to cook, since that's clearly what she wants to do. And if Bev had any spine, that's what she'd say. Or she'd tell Sarah to zip it and let her cook her own food. Bev suggests short ribs and Sarah's like, "Short ribs, again?" How Beverly does not throttle her, I do not know. Finally, Grayson speaks up and says that Bev is really good at short ribs and she has a point: the judges don't care if you make the same type of dish twice if it's really good. Beverly says, "I have to have a dish, I'm sorry." Don't apologize! Sarah talks as if to a child: "That's not what I'm saying, Bev." Look, I get that Bev can be annoying. She annoys me. But Sarah is also a horrible person. Picking on the weakest link is bullying. Bev's an easy target who won't fight back, so Sarah feels free to dump on her and boss her around. That doesn't make it okay. At the very least, Sarah should learn not to do that when she's on camera. I mean, really.
They all go shopping for stuff to decorate the space. This could be interesting, but it goes by in about thirty seconds, and apparently no one disagrees on what to buy. We also get zero information on what the concepts are for the two teams. I would find that interesting, but I guess it's more fun to show everyone picking on Beverly some more.
At Whole Foods, there seems to be a moment where Sarah is making Bev justify everything that's in her cart? And Bev has bought things like eggplant for no reason, so maybe Sarah's not crazy. Sarah is all rolling her eyes to Grayson, who interviews that the other women don't like Bev, but they need to focus on their food instead of the friendships. Chris notes that the women are being catty (because when dudes do it, it's being assertive) and he thinks that means that the men are going to win. Because it's called Top Not Being Catty.
The morning, the guys get ready to go to the space. Chris Moto explains to us about the Kobayashi Maru, and how this challenge is like that impossible test from Star Trek. So everyone is going to die? That seems like a bleak outcome for a reality show.
Once they arrive, Ty, Paul, and Chris head to the kitchen while Ed starts setting up tables and hanging signs. Chris is handling the execution of a lot of Ed's dessert, since Ed is busy with setup. Chris claims that their dishes hope to evoke nostalgia, and I think that's true of the desserts, but nothing else on the menu. That seems like a poorly executed theme. There is so much that Ed is doing that we never saw discussed. There's professional signage and the menus are professional printed. Who designed those? When did that happen? Who made those decisions? I guess it was boring and if I want to see that stuff, I should watch The Apprentice, but I'm curious. Ed tells the wait staff how to write their tickets, and confirms with Paul how he wants them laid out on the order shelf. And then time's up and guests begin to arrive!
Ed seats a few tables and almost immediately, it's clear that something is getting screwed up in the communication between the servers and the chefs. The servers aren't writing table numbers on the tickets and there's no one person making sure that each tickets get filled correctly and in a timely fashion (i.e. an expediter). Ed can't do it, because he's trying to get people seated. You need someone to stand at the window and yell out what food he needs and where it should go. Some of food is being served cold. Some diners have to wait for tables. And then the judges come in. Oh no.
The judges are seated almost immediately and Padma introduces the judges (again): Tom, Emeril, and Hugh, who she mentions have opened thirty-nine restaurants across the country, collectively. Ed explains that their restaurant is Canteen and they've tried to take food with humble beginnings, like ham and eggs, and elevate them to fine dining. Okay, I guess that's a theme. I don't know that all of the dishes fit, exactly, but then again no one ever really got sent home for having an uneven theme in Restaurant Wars. Someone always screws up the execution of a dish, and that's what does it.
The judges take note of the vibe, and think the place has a good atmosphere, and that all of the diners seem happy. Meanwhile, things are going horribly awry at the pass-through window, where dishes are being put up and abandoned and brought back because they went to the wrong table. Finally, Paul asks Ed if it would help to have someone out front expediting, and Ed agrees. So Ty goes out to try to help. The judges notice that Ty is out front in his chef's coat and wonder what in the hell is going on, but also acknowledge that they've thrown these guys into the deep end to sink or swim. I don't know if Ty doesn't know what he's doing or if the system is irrevocably screwed up, but his new position doesn't seem to help. The good news is that the diners have all positive comments about the food.
The judges receive their first course: Thai-style crab and shrimp salad, caramel fish sauce, and peanuts (Ty) OR ham and pork pate with mushrooms, braised mustard seeds, and duck fat crostini with nectarines (Paul). Paul has put the pate in a little glass jar and it looks really gross, like cat food, and the mustard seeds are in a sauce so they sort of look like a fried egg. Hugh thinks Ty's dish is flat, but Padma thinks the shrimp was cooked well and Tom likes the sauce. Hugh liked Paul's whimsical dish, but while Emeril liked the concept, he found the crostini to be too greasy.
Back in the kitchen, Paul notices that there are dishes sitting in the window for a long time (Ty is back cooking, so I don't know when he gave up expediting). He decides to just start expediting himself. Ed comes over to help but Paul says he's got it and Ty crabbily yells out, "Just let one person do it and one person stay doing it, OKAY?" Meow. Who's catty now? Paul says that he should have done this in the first place but he didn't want to boss everyone else around. Paul is a reluctant leader. When he was the leader of his team last week, everyone appreciated it. I think Paul's going to win this whole thing, unless he has a terrible week when everyone else has a great one.
The judges are served the second course: poached salmon in warm tomato water, clams, salmon skin, and tomatillo jam (Paul and Ty), OR crispy pork skin belly with green apple and sweet potato puree (Paul). Paul's name is coming up a whole lot. He made two-and-a-half dishes while Ty made one-and-a-half, and everyone else did one. I feel like he should get credit for that, although I don't know exactly what his contribution was to his half dish. And he's also expediting now. The judges note that the kitchen forgot to put mushrooms on the salmon dish, and while they like all of the elements, there's nothing to pull the dish together. The judges like Paul's dish but think it needs more flavor, and Tom says he expects more from Paul at this point.
Finally, the judges get the third course: Almond Joy cake with malted chocolate mousse and banana coconut puree (Ed) OR homemade cracker jack, cherries and peanut butter ice cream (Chris). Tom immediately notices that there is very little coconut in Ed's dessert, and Padma says that if he had called it something else, no one would have cared about the coconut. The judges are split on Chris's dessert: Hugh and Emeril don't get it, but Tom and Padma like it.
The women's team has finished their meal, and they realize that they need to work hard to win tomorrow night. Irony alert: Sarah says that they have to stay calm and Lindsay says that they have to trust each other. Oooh, boy.
Paul interviews that, at the end of service, he tasted the salmon and it was good, as were the other elements, but they needed salt. And since he split that dish with Ty, it was Ty's responsibility to season the dish. Oops. Padma asks the judges what they thought of the men's food overall, and Tom thinks they did great for opening night, but some of the dishes need work. The men discuss how they could have improved service, and Chris interviews that they didn't hit the mark, as a team.
Back at the house, Grayson comments that the men seem like they went through a war. Paul interviews that he feels terrible because he knows that he could have done better. Ed interviews that he can only hope that the girls (women) explode at each other and screw up worse than the men did. You know how bitches are. They can't stop fighting. Actually, I have to drop it, because Ed's right: this particular group of women can't stop fighting. Not all women. This group of women. I have worked on some all-female teams that were outstanding (and some that were terrible) but let's not further the stereotype that women can't work together without backbiting. We've seen plenty of that from the men on this show too.
The day, the women take over the space and start prep. Lindsay has to set up all the décor, and it seems like a huge job. She interviews that she was prom queen in high school and top of her class in college, so she doesn't settle for second best. In other words, not only does she look like Reese Witherspoon, she acts like her too. Isn't it Witherspoon's production company that's called Type A? Grayson is making a torte that her family makes every Fourth of July. Lindsay explains that Sarah and Grayson each have two dishes, she has one dish plus front of house, and Beverly only has one dish, so she'll be executing Lindsay's dish. That seems like a disaster waiting to happen and poor planning. Why not let Beverly just cook her own two dishes, since she's won challenges with her own food before, and have someone else execute Lindsay's dish? It's like they're setting up Beverly to fail...oh.
Grayson is cutting blueberries in half and Sarah does NOT LIKE that use of time AT ALL. She thinks Grayson should be doing prep. Grayson basically says that she is and kind of snaps at Sarah. But seriously, Sarah. Beeswax, none of yours. Grayson knows what needs to get done, and she'll get it done. Go stuff an eggplant or whatever you're doing. Grayson says that she's happy to discuss it if Sarah could talk in a nicer tone of voice, but I think that IS Sarah's tone of voice. It's the only one she has. Lindsay tries to lighten the mood because time is short.
Lindsay gets the staff going on the finishing touches and then changes her clothes. Into...a tank top and a vest? That's her front of house outfit? I know it's casual but she could dress it up a LITTLE bit more. Then she has to run back and tell Bev how to execute the dish. Beverly claims that Lindsay didn't give her very specific instructions and I find that very hard to believe. I would think that Lindsay gave her a flow chart with timings for each step and illustrations.
Time's up! The diners begin to arrive and dishes are served. The women have chosen not to use the pass through so they can stage food on a table near the door, I guess? I don't know. Sarah asks Beverly to grab some olives. I guess Bev just doesn't do it because a few minutes later, Sarah asks for them again and Bev says that Sarah should have gotten them out herself, earlier. Good for Bev for standing up for herself, but maybe she could have said something the first time Sarah asked instead of acting like she was going to get them? And then Sarah does the worst thing. She goes, "Bev-er-leeeeeee?" Like, "You must follow my orders!" Bev ignores her so Sarah says, "Bev-er-lleeeeeee? Ser-i-ous-leeeeeee?" Like she can't believe Bev isn't just snapping to, and like Bev is a child or a misbehaving dog. Seriously, I speak to my dog more politely than Sarah speaks to Beverly. Sarah keeps babbling about how they have to focus and pull together as a team and if she would shut up for five seconds, she could go get the damn olives herself.
Lindsay is checking in with the diners when the judges arrive. Then she heads back into the kitchen to nitpick what Beverly is doing about her dish. Look, if she feels like Beverly needs micromanaging, I don't know why she could put Sarah secretly in charge of making sure Beverly's not effing things up. Sarah loves to tell Beverly what to do and apparently has enough spare time to critique Bev's every move, so it would be a perfect fit. Some time later, Lindsay meanders back out front where the judges have been waiting for some unspecified amount of time (but any amount of time is bad, since there was no one at the podium). At the very least, Lindsay should have deputized one of the servers to notify her if the judges showed up. Poor service.
The judges get seated. The men's team arrives and there is once again no one at the podium. Meanwhile, Lindsay is back in the kitchen telling Bev what to do and tasting things. Hugh notes that they can't see into the kitchen tonight, which might be a good thing. And hey, Lindsay is back in the kitchen again telling Beverly that she's hearing that the fish is overcooked. Meanwhile, there is a GANG of people waiting for tables and no one greeting them, and the judges notice this. Lindsay is still just slowly wandering around the room with no sense of urgency. Tom notes that the room doesn't have the energy that it did last night, and he thinks part of it is that diners are confused because the food is coming out so slowly. Padma's hungry. HUNGRY! FEED PADMA NOW!
The judges finally get their first course: Peach salad with pickled shallots, bacon vinaigrette, and candied pistachios (Grayson) OR mozzarella-filled arancino, sweet and sour eggplant, and celery salad. They've been waiting long enough that Emeril is doing that thing you do when you're starving in a restaurant where you watch each server who comes out with food and pray that he or she is headed to your table. That's not good. What is good is that the judges like both dishes. They think Sarah's dish is hot and flavorful, and Grayson's dish is a good summer salad.
The judges wait and wait and wait for their entrees. Finally, Padma flags down a waitress and asks about their food and the waitress conveys that to Lindsay. I don't know why Lindsay doesn't just go in back and grab four plates and take them out. I guess they make special plates for the judges that are perfect? Anyway, Lindsay's way of dealing with this SHOULD BE to go to the judges' table, apologize, and promise their food quickly. Instead, she goes back into the kitchen and yells at the already-stressed team members that the judges are fucking pissed and they're not doing it right. Sarah snaps back that she'll go out and talk to the judges if Lindsay can't and before it can explode into an argument, Grayson tells them all to shut up and cook. Lindsay is frustrated and guess who's right there? Bev! And she's plating it wrong. Lindsay goes over and puts her hands all over Bev's station. I would seriously slap her hands away. Bev interviews that Lindsay is bossing her around when she should be making sure things run smoothly in front. THAT's what Bev should say to her right now, instead of to the camera the day or whatever. Everyone is yelling and there are tons of plates just sitting around, not being served. This is a disaster.
Somehow, the judges are served their second course: braised short rib with thai basil potato puree, apple slaw, and kimchi (Beverly) OR grilled halibut with Spanish chorizo, fennel, and sherry salad (Lindsay). The judges think that the flavors in Lindsay's dish should be stronger, and the fish is a little overcooked. That couldn't be because it sat around waiting, could it? I'm sure it's totally Beverly's fault. She doesn't even know how to cook. The judges have nothing but praise for Beverly's dish. Yeah, she's obviously awful at cooking.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Grayson is pissed because she's plated a bunch of her desserts and now they're melting and she has to toss them. She interviews that she's questioning whether Lindsay was the right choice for front of house. Grayson should have done it. She can be bossy without being bitchy, and Lindsay can't.
The men's team members all look depressed because the food is really good. Chris notes that this is the best dinner he's had since they got there. Wah waaaaaaaah. He realized what he just said and backpedals that he didn't get to sit and eat their own dinner. Nice try, Moto.
The judges get their third course: Schaum torte with vanilla meringue and champagne berries (Grayson) OR hazelnut cream Italian doughnuts with banana sugar glaze (Sarah). They all agree that Sarah's donuts are heavy and leaden, and Tom is disappointed in the lack of banana flavor. Tom and Hugh disagree about the liquid in the bottom of Grayson's dish: Hugh think it's too much but Tom wants to eat it with a spoon.
Back in the kitchen, Lindsay tells Grayson that the fish (Lindsay's dish) is the worst and everyone is throwing it out, because it's overcooked. She's not saying this quietly, and Beverly is standing RIGHT THERE. It's so passive aggressive that it hurts. Look, can't you ladies just sit Bev down and tell her how terrible she is for like ten minutes and get it all out of your systems? Because this slow leak of vitriol is stressing me out. Grayson defends Beverly and says that Beverly didn't make any mistakes on purpose, and perhaps Lindsay should have chosen a different "cooking procedure." She has a point; if you know that you aren't going to be there to actually cook the fish, and fish is so easy to overcook, why not choose a different cooking method, one that has a little more leeway? Or do a ceviche or sushi or something?
The judges agree that the guys were better at service and atmosphere, but the girls made better food. Ty thinks that means that they have a chance. Because we all know that this competition is about who can be the better waiter/interior decorator. I mean, if both teams made equally good/bad food, then the service or décor might come into play. But if one team's food was clearly worse, then that team is going to lose.
Weird interstitial. In the Stew Room, the teams argue about who screwed up more. Neither team is happy with their performance.
The teams sit in the Stew Room and wait to hear from the judges. Beverly decides this would be a good time to point out that Lindsay was talking shit about her during service. Lindsay gives her the non-apology apology where she says, "IF I did this, I apologize, but you were fucking up my dish." That's not an apology. Leave the whole, "If I did this" part out (not to mention that last part). Sarah, as usual, piles on and says that Lindsay helped Bev figure out her dish. Beverly points out which parts were her own idea (pretty much everything) and Sarah backpedals a bit before Lindsay shuts it down. Those two are terrible, terrible people and incredibly insecure. I get that Beverly can be an annoying weirdo. Just ignore her. If you have good ideas and put out good food, you'll be fine. It's SO RARE that someone goes home on this show who deserved to win the whole thing. Maybe Nyesha went too early, but she's been ripping it up in the Last Chance Kitchen. Of course these cheftestants don't know that. Also, can we hold off on assigning blame until you find out who won?
Padma shows up and asks to see the women first. She asks about the holdup in being seated and Lindsay basically says, "Shit was crazy." And then Padma tells them that they won. See? All that BS in the Stew Room was for naught. Tom acknowledges that opening a restaurant in two days is ridiculous, and they did a great job. There were a few problems, but overall, they put out good food. The judges praise Grayson's salad, Sarah's appetizer, and Beverly's entrée in particular. Tom adds that while Lindsay's fish was slightly overcooked, it wasn't terrible. That was the editors going, "Shut it, Lindsay." Hugh announces that the winner is Beverly. She's astounded and Sarah and Lindsay are like, "WHAT?" Not really. They have a muted reaction.
The women have to walk back in and admit that Beverly won, and then send the guys in. Then they stick in a clip of Sarah saying that she thinks they wouldn't be there without Lindsay and that she deserves as much praise or more. They want us to think that Sarah's saying Lindsay should have won, but based on their positions etc., I think that happened before they found out that their team won it. It doesn't matter; it was a shitty thing to do. Then again, we don't see Sarah actually saying it; perhaps she said it to Lindsay in private and they edited it in. I feel like this whole relationship with Bev is so edited that we're getting a small part of the story and I'd like to know more, sort of. I actually don't care all that much.
The men's team members walk out to find out what they did wrong. Padma tells them that they lost, which they knew. Tom says that both teams had service problems, but Hugh says that their food had no "wow factor," and the diners agreed. Ed says that things started going wrong early, and it had a domino effect back into the kitchen. They start with Ty's dish, which Tom doesn't think had any Thai flavors. Paul breaks down how he and Ty each contributed to their shared dish, and Hugh says that the components were fine, but they didn't work together. Emeril thinks that the dish was bland, mostly due to poor seasoning. Paul's pork belly dish also was bland, other than the pork belly itself.
Tom asks the question I was wondering, which is why Chris Moto did one dessert and that's it. I mean, Ed only did a dessert but he also did front of house. Couldn't Chris Moto have expedited at least? Or something? Chris Moto doesn't have a great answer, and since his dish was good but not great, it doesn't look good. Tom harasses Ed about the coconut and says the word coconut A LOT and he's really upset that the dish didn't have more coconut.
When the men come back to the Stew Room, the ladies have place a bottle of beer on each chair, and Ed jokes that he should sit on it because he just took it in the rear. Ouch. Back to the judges: Padma thinks you could make a case for any of them to go home and Tom doesn't think that the team had a plan for execution. They agree that Paul took on too much and made some mistakes. They liked Ed's dessert, even if Tom wouldn't shut up about the coconut, and was probably the best dish in the whole team. Chris Moto did nothing, and had technical flaws in his dessert. Tom liked it, but Emeril hated the presentation. Hugh wonders why Chris didn't try to fix the service problems, since he didn't do much else, and Padma points out that she saw the other three each trying to sort things out. Tom points out that it doesn't matter much because the three that tried to help just screwed things up more. The judges can all agree that both of Ty's dishes were "supremely underseasoned." It's not good when the judges all agree that something was bad.
The men return so that Tom can tell them how difficult Restaurant Wars is, which they now know. Tom tells Ed that service was disorganized and that ultimately affected the kitchen, plus coconut coconut coconut. Seriously, Tom won't shut up about the coconut. Ty's one dish completely missed the mark and his shared dish was underseasoned. Chris only did one dish but didn't really step up and it was needed. Paul did step up but made a lot of mistakes, so he needs to take some blame for "this mess that was called Canteen." Damn, Tom. You so harsh! Padma announces that Ty is going home. Aw, Ty. He was at least nice. I wish it were Chris Moto. I like when Tom punishes people for taking the middle ground so they don't stand out too much. In Ty's exit interview, he says that he's happy that his parents are proud of him. Aw. He's just a good dude. Who likes to be nude.