By Kim
Quickfire Challenge: Guest judge is Stephanie Izard, winner of Season 4. The challenge is to make a dish; the twist is that all of the ingredients in the pantry (and I do mean ALL) are wrapped in aluminum foil and once they unwrap something, they have to use it. They also have to use foil as their cooking vessels and mixing bowls and everything else. Brooke, Micah (rare lamb) and Josh (uninspired) are on the bottom. Stephanie names like everyone else as the top six, but finally narrows it down to Danyele (who made a bean soup), Kristen (sponge cake) and Sheldon (scallops). The winner is Kristen because she made a freaking cake, which was amazing.
Elimination Challenge: Create a dish highlighting a specific berry for 150 guests at a festival, and they'll be competing head-to-head with another cheftestant. The festival attendees will choose the winner of each pairing. Turns out there was a reason Stephanie picked a top six; Kristen gets to cook alone as the winner and the other five get to pick their opponents. Here are the pairings (with their berry in parentheses):
Kristen (tayberry): Kristen made matcha goat milk custard with macerated tayberries. The judges love everything about it.
Sheldon vs. Micah (strawberry): Sheldon made ahi summer roll consisting of ahi poke, strawberries and sweet chili sauce. Micah made strawberry fried chicken with strawberry and bacon biscuit. The judges like Micah's chicken, but think the biscuit isn't great. They think Sheldon highlighted the strawberries well.
Danyele vs. Josh (blueberry): Danyele made chicken pine nut terrine with blueberry mostarda and Josh made savory goat cheese mousse with blueberry compote. The judges think Danyele's chicken is rubbery and they like Josh's delicate dish, though Gail wants more crunch.
Stefan vs. John (gooseberry ): John made white gazpacho with Spanish chorizo, gooseberries, and sweet grapes. Stefan made Cali crudo with radishes, gooseberries, and spiced vinaigrette. The judges like Stefan's dish, but they wanted more gooseberry. They thought John's chorizo overwhelmed the rest of the dish and one of the festival-goers calls it "cheeseburger soup." Ouch.
Josie vs. Lizzie (raspberry): Josie made a Rock 'n Raspberry roll which is sockeye salmon, Dungeness crab and raspberry aioli. Is Josie the female Guy Fieri? She also doesn't have her dish ready when the judges show up. Lizzie made raspberry steamed cabbage roll with heritage pork and bacon stuffing. I don't get how raspberries go with that, but okay. The judges love Lizzie's pork, though Tom wanted more seasoning. No one understands what Josie was trying to do, especially putting mayonnaise in a spring roll. That's totally something Guy Fieri would do. I get Josie now. I don't like her, but I get her.
Bart vs. Brooke (blackberry): Brooke made spicy smoke chocolate pudding with blackberry tapioca. Bart made blackberry soup with salmon and rhubarb yogurt. The judges like Bart's soup and his yogurt, but they don't think the salmon adds anything. The judges love Brooke's dessert. I don't know why no one else made dessert.
Stefan entertains in the Stew Room when he calls out John for mentioning that Stefan used frozen tuna at every opportunity. Kristen is named the winner because the judges could not find one element of her dish that was flawed. Wow. Padma calls John, Danyele, Micah, Josie and Bart in; they're the losers of their pairing. Danyele is sent home because she had a good concept for her dish but she sort of stopped halfway and her terrine tasted like lunchmeat.
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After Eliza is eliminated, the chefs talk about her in the Stew Room. Apparently, she was funny, and apparently, John has learned his lesson about talking shit about the recently eliminated cheftestant. Danyele tells everyone that the judges think she's too nervous, and then interviews that she doesn't want to come across as anxious or not proud of what she puts out. Josh jokes that he's not going to cook pork again and everyone laughs as Brooke notes that his last dish was supposed to be his redemption. Yeah, he owns a restaurant where he cooks pig; it's pretty sad that his last two pork dishes have landed him on the bottom.
The day, the cheftestants enter the kitchen and find Padma there with Season Four winner, Stephanie Izard. One of the cheftestants mutters that she's probably joining the competition. Nope, just judging the Quickfire. Padma explains that the challenge is to cook anything they want using ingredients from the pantry. The only problem is that every ingredient is covered with aluminum foil, and they have to use everything that they open. Wow, some interns were busy last night. In addition, they have to use aluminum foil as their cooking vessel. Bart thinks this sounds fun. He's the only one.
Time starts and everyone rushes into the pantry. And everything really is covered in tin foil. Everything in the fridge and freezer. All of the individual pieces of produce. Stefan nabs something out of the freezer and discovers that it's salmon. Josie gets grapes. John was trying to get a pot of herbs and ends up with a pineapple. Has there ever been a pot of herbs in the pantry? I've never seen anything like that. What a dummy. Kristen is planning to make a sponge cake, which she knows is risky, but she wants to take a chance. Bert is going nuts with the tin foil, creating pots and colanders.
Sheldon wants fish but ends up with scallops, and he's not sure how to get a good sear on them without a hot frying pan. There are tons of foil packets on the grill, and everyone is bumping into one another trying to get their food done. Micah explains that he thought of panzanella and it's like a gift. I can't tell if he's being sarcastic, but seriously? Does he think it's an amazing gift that only he has? Because everyone else also looks at ingredients and comes up with a dish too.
Time for judging! Danyele is up first with her cannellini bean stew with bacon, asiago cheese, and tomatillo. That sounds pretty awesome. Danyele was unsure about the tomatillo, but Stephanie thinks it makes the dish - more evidence of Danyele's doubting her instincts. Micah made grilled lamb with tomato fennel panzanella. GENIUS! Just kidding. I don't know who told this dude he's the greatest chef ever, but I've yet to see evidence of it on this show. Padma thinks the lamb is too rare.
Stefan made hot smoked salmon with German potato salad and is serving it with champagne for no particular reason. John made beef egg drop soup with caramelized pineapple. Stephanie likes the beef and pineapple together. Brooke, coming off two wins in a row, made bacon roasted yams with bacon, onion, and apple salad. Padma asks if the onion is cooked, and Brooke says that she cooked half. Padma is not a fan of the raw onion, so I don't think Brooke will be making it three in a row.
Josh made roasted chicken with potatoes, poblano, tomatillo, and carrots. It kind of looks like when I throw a bunch of stuff in a foil packet and put it on the grill. Stephanie likes the heat. Kristen made almond and chocolate sponge cake, which is so totally different than anything anyone else made, if it's halfway decent, I think she'll get the win. Stephanie says that the cake's texture is light and moist.
Bart made beer-poached cod with butter beer sauce. It really looks like fish swimming in butter, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but probably not refined enough for this show. Sheldon made lemongrass smoked scallops with tomato shallot salad. Stephanie and Padma like the smokiness.
Stephanie starts with her least favorite dishes. She liked Brooke's bacon but the dish as a whole was underseasoned, and Micah's lamb was undercooked. See? Why is Micah cocky? He has yet to produce something praise-worthy and has actually gotten dinged a number of times. Anyway, Josh is also on the bottom because his dish was uninspired. Stephanie moves on to talk about the best dishes, and she names six people: Sheldon, Kristen, Josie, Stefan, Bart, and Danyele. I was very confused about why she named so many people, when they usually only name three, but it will become clear in a moment. Anyway, out of the group, Stephanie especially liked Danyele's soup, Kristen's sponge cake, and Sheldon's scallops. Stephanie picked the person who used the foil creatively and made a dish that could have taken hours: Kristen. So she has immunity, and mad respect from me. Can you imagine making a cake using ingredients you can't see ahead of time and tin foil?
Padma introduces the Elimination Challenge, which will involve cooking with berries, and they'll be cooking head-to-head. They all chuckle ruefully. Josh compares it to a wrestling match, which it's not like at all except that you're competing against one other person. Kristen will be cooking alone, but she can still win the whole thing. The top five (that's why Stephanie chose six people) will get to choose one person from the bottom five to compete against. Sheldon chooses Micah because he thinks Micah is tough competition. Danyele chooses Josh so they can have a Texas-Oklahoma battle. Stefan chooses John because he's old, I guess? Josie chooses Lizzie, and Lizzie is a little bummed because she thinks Josie considers her a pushover. And Bart gets Brooke, as Brooke interviews that this is a huge compliment because no one wanted to go against her. Well, sure. She won the last two challenges prior to today. Would you want to go against her?
Padma explains that the guests at the festival will choose the winner from each pairing, and then the judge will choose who wins and loses the whole thing. They'll only have three hours to prepare all their food, and each pair is randomly assigned a berry. And then we get a shopping sequence! Not that I'm super excited about it, but we haven't seen many this season. Sheldon buys all the fresh tuna, but Stefan wanted to make sashimi with it. Stefan ends up buying frozen tuna, and John thinks that's a huge mistake.
Later, back at their loft, they are discussing dinner and John makes a crack about Stefan using frozen fish. Stefan and John banter about which of them will win. Stefan and Kristen are also snuggling on the couch, for whatever that's worth.
The day, the cheftestants head for Remlinger Farms for the Berry Festival. They're all impressed by how beautiful the farm is. Everyone sprints to the makeshift kitchen, and Danyele gets snippy because there's not enough table space, and she can't even set down her cutting board.
A farmer drives up on a tractor, pulling a wagon filled with fresh berries. The cheftestants run over and grab their ingredients. Lizzie and Josie have raspberries. Lizzie wants to emphasize how feminine and delicate the raspberries are, so she's using pork and cabbage? Not really what I would consider delicate, feminine ingredients. Josie, on the other hand, is making a Raspberry Rock'N'Roll, with raspberry aioli and raspberry wasabi. That all sounds disgusting, and also like something Guy Fieri would make, right down to the name. What about raspberries makes you think of wasabi? Or that they should be combined with mayonnaise? There's so much wrong with this dish from the start.
Bart runs around looking for a blender and can't find one. He sees that John has one that he's not using, but John insists he's going to need it any second so Bart can't use it. Keep in mind that Bart has his own blender pitcher or cup or whatever it's called; he just needs the base part with the motor so it would be no skin off John's back to let him use it for a second. John doesn't see it that way, and out of frustration, Bart tells him to fuck off.
John is making white gazpacho and apparently Bart asking him to use his blender has caused his whole dish to implode. Now John claims that he can't measure anything, and then when he tries to use the blender, the top flies off and gazpacho goes everywhere. I don't know how he works in a kitchen if one simple request means that he can't cook anymore. What a baby.
Sheldon and Micah have strawberries. Sheldon, you may remember, bought all the fresh tuna, so he's using that. Josh and Danyele have blueberries. Josh thinks he can beat Danyele because she's been so rattled lately. Plus, she really doesn't have any space on the table and is crammed into a corner.
Kristen doesn't have an opponent but she hopes to win the whole thing anyway. She wants to win the money so she can go to Korea; she was born there but her mother never returned for her, so she was given over to the police and then adopted by an American family. Wow. That's quite a story. So, she wants to learn more about her birthplace.
Brooke and Bart have blackberries. Brooke wants to keep her streak going, and she's making chocolate pudding. The problem is that her pudding isn't setting up and her berry sauce isn't chilled, and she's kind of panicking.
Tom shows up to chat with everyone. Stefan explains that he's doing a tuna crudo with gooseberries, and going up against John. Tom wonders if Stefan thinks he can beat John and Stefan shrugs and says, "He's 53 years old." On the one hand, obnoxious. On the other hand, I love Stefan sometimes. After talking to Brooke, Tom goes over to John and says that Stefan claims he's going to beat John's ass. This is all said in fun; Stefan is standing nearby and listening, and he laughs. John retorts that Stefan is using frozen tuna - that's the second time John has harped on that. Why not wait and see how the food tastes? Stefan says all of the other fish in the case was old looking, so he chose flash frozen, and don't chefs always say that most fish is flash frozen anyway? I guess not in Seattle. Where I live, nowhere near the ocean, it would be tough to get fish that's never been frozen, so Stefan's tuna would be just as good as anything else. Stefan says it's good product from Japan, and John mutters that it's radiated and not sustainable. Wow, John must be feeling really insecure about his dish. Tom laughs at the whole situation, but I'm not sure John was really kidding. John interviews that he's making a political statement because Stefan is using fish that's not sustainable. Mmm hmm.
<>Micah has two daughters named Sage and Saffron. Ooohkay. Josie didn't have time to build and wrap any of her rolls, so she's rolling to order which puts her behind. Everyone else is already serving the guests but Josie's guests are standing there with no food. Stefan is razzing John, who mentions the frozen tuna for the THIRD time already. Jeez.The judges arrive: Padma, Tom, Gail, and Stephanie. They stop by Danyele's booth first. She made chicken pine nut terrine with blueberry mostarda and Josh made savory goat cheese mousse with blueberry compote. As Stephanie bites into Danyele's chicken, it sounds like she's eating potato chips because it's so crunchy, and the judges kind of giggle, which is not a good sign. On top of that, the chicken is rubbery and bland. Tom likes Josh's spicy blueberries, and Gail finds it delicate and tasty.
, they move on to Josie's booth and boy, is she a mess. Her actual dish is Rock N'Raspberry roll which is sockeye salmon, Dungeness crab, and raspberry aoli. As the judges stand there, she's talking, talking, and talking some more but no actual food is being prepared or served. Gail turns to Tom and asks, "Is she high?" They actually have to tell her to cook while she talks so they can get some food in the millennium. Her opponent Lizzie made raspberry steamed cabbage roll with heritage pork and bacon stuffing. Padma loves it and Stephanie loves the combination of ingredients. Tom thinks it was a great idea but it needed a bit more seasoning. Moving on to Josie's dish, Gail says that she used the raspberry a lot of different ways but the raspberry flavor didn't come through. Tom is disgusted by Josie's desire to put on a show (he practically spits that she should go on Food Network Star, but Tom's too classy to say that publicly), and wonders why she thought mayonnaise should go in a spring roll. Meanwhile, they show a shot of Josie and Lizzie's booths, and there's a long line at Josie's because she's getting food out so slowly, while Lizzie has no one, because people get served immediately.
The judges move over to Sheldon's booth . He made ahi summer roll consisting of ahi poke, strawberries, and sweet chili sauce. His opponent Micah made strawberry fried chicken with strawberry and bacon biscuit. The judges think Micah's chicken is good, but the biscuit is a bit dense. They like Sheldon's combination of flavors, and Gail thinks he did a good job highlighting the strawberry, which was the challenge.
John made white gazpacho with Spanish chorizo, gooseberries, and sweet grapes. Stefan made Cali crudo with radishes, gooseberries, and spiced vinaigrette. Gail thinks Stefan did a great job with his crudo and his vinaigrette, but she didn't taste the gooseberry enough. Tom agrees. In John's dish, Stephanie thought the chorizo flavor was overpowering, and Padma thought it was two dishes in the same cup. Yeah, I don't get how the chorizo goes with the berries and grapes. One of the guests says it reminded him of "cheeseburger soup." That would cut John to the quick.
Brooke made spicy smoke chocolate pudding with blackberry tapioca. She also made a marshmallow made out of Earl Grey tea and like a million other things. Bart made blackberry soup with salmon and rhubarb yogurt. Tom says that Bart's soup and yogurt were really great, but he doesn't know why the salmon was there, since it had no flavor or seasoning. Stephanie loves Brooke's pudding, and says that Brooke hit her goal of making it taste like a s'more. It's odd to me that they had berries and Brooke was the only one that thought of making a dessert.
And finally, Kristen made matcha goat milk custard with macerated tayberries. Tom loves the custard, both the texture and flavor. Stephanie picks out the macerated berries as a standout.
The guests place their votes. John hassles the people voting for Stefan and brings up the frozen tuna AGAIN like God, get off of that. Stefan interviews that John made the "worst gazpacho on the face of the earth" and says that he wouldn't even "flush [his] poop with it." Well, tell us how you really feel, Stefan.
The judges discuss the food overall. Stephanie says that for her first time on that side of the judges' table, she found all of the food very tasty, and Padma says she's interested to see who the guests choose in each pairing.
Weird interstitial. Josie talks really loudly and has an annoying laugh. Everyone in the Stew Room is annoyed. She has such a stoner laugh. It's ridiculous.
In the Stew Room, Stefan confronts John about mentioning the frozen tuna a million times. Stefan takes a poll of the room and everyone there has used that frozen tuna before, so Stefan whips it out and tells John to suck it. Everyone is laughing, so it's not as hostile as it sounds. Padma walks in and asks to see John, Danyele, Micah, Josie, and Bart. As they exit, Josh whispers, "That's the bottom." Stefan retorts, "Of course it's the bottom. What are you, fucking high?" I know I will grow tired of Stefan's shtick soon, but it's still cracking me up so far.
The bottom five face the judges. Padma tells them that they lost their battles, and Tom says that they agreed with the judges. Micah isn't surprised because Sheldon's food popped. Micah liked his own dish but realized that the freeze-dried strawberries didn't deliver enough flavor. Gail adds that his biscuit was no good. Remember when Micah kept telling us how awesome he is and how he's going to crush it, dude? When is that going to start happening? Josie is also not surprised because she heard Lizzie getting all the votes. Tom and Gail both bring up her talking and Josie says that she was trying to play catch up so she talked while making her food. Gail then says that she didn't highlight the berry flavor well, and Tom says that a summer roll should be light, and hers wasn't.
Gail loved Bart's soup but didn't get the salmon, and Bart says that he wanted to use either salmon or crab, and he made the wrong choice. Padma wants to know what Danyele would change, and Danyele said she would toast them to order so they'd be less crunchy. Tom adds that Danyele has good ideas but she isn't fully executing them, and Padma says that the terrine tasted like lunchmeat. OUCH. That's harsh, Padma. John thought he represented gooseberries well. Tom says that he almost did, but he used chorizo and it made his soup grainy. John says he should have given them more gazpacho, but Gail says the portions weren't the problem. John says he's not making excuses and makes the excuse that the kitchen was crazy, but Tom points out that everyone cooked in the same kitchen. Just own it, John. You should have implemented the chorizo differently.
They send in the top five plus Kristen, and tell them they're the winners before they walk in. John complains that he got his ass whupped, but we've seen the judges way more mean before. Shut it, John. Padma tells the winners that they are the winners, and Tom says that they made delicious and surprising dishes. Stephanie says that the winning dish was unique, highlighted the berries, and had no real flaws, and that dish belonged to Kristen. She's shocked and everyone applauds. Stefan kisses her cheek. Winning the money flusters Kristen. Tom tells her to keep cooking how she's cooking, and she'll stay in the top.
The judges have to deliberate and decide who's going home. Tom thought Bart showcased the berry well, and if he'd left the salmon out, he'd be the winner. Micah did a terrible job showcasing the strawberry, though. Josie didn't provide a clear flavor of raspberry, and her dish was just pink. Tom comments that it could've been Pepto Bismol and Padma wakes up and yells, "IT LOOKED LIKE PEPTO BISMOL." Seriously, I think she was sleeping and then heard Pepto Bismol and yelled her line. Danyele's terrine was rubbery with no flavor and sliced too thin, plus it should've been cooked to order. They show John's dish and it looks like butter floating on cream with ground meat. Gross. Stephanie couldn't believe all of John's excuses, so I'm guessing he actually went on more than we even saw. And it tasted terrible. The judges come to a conclusion, and we'll find out who's going home shortly.
After the break, the bottom five come out to face the judges. Tom gives a very general speech about how they all did some good things, but they also did some bad things. Well, thanks Tom. Padma tells Danyele to pack her knives and go. Tom adds that her chicken was rubbery and her crostini was too crunchy, and while it was a good idea, it just never came together. Danyele thanks the judges and wishes everyone else luck before walking out. Danyele really needs to rethink the heavy eyeliner on her lower lids only. She's a pretty girl and that's not flattering.
After Danyele leaves, Josie tells everyone that Tom didn't like the Chef Josie show. Stefan cuts her off because he wants to her what they said to John. Before John can answer, Josie tells Stefan to fuck off, basically, and then she and Stefan bicker hotly over who interrupted whom and whatnot. They both look like children. Yikes.
Skip the rest of this if you don't want to know about Last Chance Kitchen.
In this week's battle between CJ and Danyele, the cheftestants were asked to make a great sandwich using lunchmeat. Danyele went classic with turkey, bacon, pepper jack cheese, and avocado, but she had too much filling and her sandwich fell apart. CJ went an Asian route with ham, butter, radish, and apple, and he had the opposite problem of too much bread and not enough filling. Ultimately, Tom thought CJ's sandwich had more flavor and he prevailed once again. Danyele awesomely took her own sandwich with her when she left.