Only three chefs are left and Top Chef has left New Orleans. Nothing is as it used to be. And yet, Bravo has done it again: our final three contestants this season fit the three final archetypes very nicely. Shirley is the fresh, eager dark horse; Nina is the pro we always knew would be here; and Nicholas is pretty much the villain. Nicholas isn't a saboteur, but he accused everyone else of being one enough times. Also, he has a big chef's ego and we almost always want to see a woman win.
A review as the chefs meet up in Hawaii shows that Shirley and Nina have consistently been on top, while Nicholas has consistently found excuses. The time off has given Nicholas an opportunity to step back and reassess why he's competing. Nina got a sweet haircut.
Ah, but while all of this was happening, Louis was dominating in Last Chance Kitchen. Carlos arrives from a final four elimination to give him one last run for it. I would be a little furious if Carlos took this away from Louis.
Anyway, back in Maui, the chefs head to a luau crafted just for them. Padma's wearing a stunning jumpsuit as blue as the Hawaiian sea and she's just so perfect it's not fair. Sam Choy, one of the fathers of regional Hawaiian cuisine, is here as a guest judge. Padma reminds them (but it's really for our benefit) that Tom has been putting the fallen competitors to the test weekly on Last Chance Kitchen and the top three got to taste and vote on the final dish. Louis and Carlos plated dishes for them and Sam Choy and everyone voted for the tuna. But whose was it? Louis! Thank god; he worked for it.
Louis rejoins the competition for a final Quickfire. Padma says Hawaii is the number one per capita consumer of this product "Hawaiian Steak," which is actually Spam, of course. God bless Spam. The QuickFire challenge is to craft something with Spam that they've never seen before. The winner will get $10,000. Shirley thinks she's got this, but Nina and Louis are strong competition. Nicholas is melting in the gentle heat.
The chefs run to their outdoor stations to prepare a Spam dish in 30 minutes. Nicholas admits he has only eaten it maybe once. Nicholas should have known better, coming to Hawaii. Louis, who has done so many goddamn QuickFires, is feeling confident doing a Spam torchon.
Nina is working on a Teriyaki Spam croquette. The Hawaiians appreciate her use of their local bread. Shirley is making Spam "infused" rice and a deconstructed sushi roll. The Hawaiians are asking a lot of questions. The heat is threatening to ruin everything, and Nicholas says Spam is already over his seasoning boundaries, which have been questioned throughout the competition.
Shirley's dish is up first; her deconstructed Spam musubi has a good crunch, according to Sam Choy. Louis made a Spam mousse with some fixins. Padma says that it's "silky in my mouth," and I bet he just died. Nicholas made a charred Spam broth with pancetta, seaweed, dried shrimp, fish stock and clam juice. It sounds gross? Nina's breadfruit and teriyaki Spam croquette seems to go over well.
Sam Choy delivers the results/opinions. He says Nick's broth was sodium-challenged but unique. Nina's croquette had a nice mango slaw topping. Louis's dish was outstanding but could have used more Spam flavor. Shirley's musubi was tasty, even though he has had about a million. The winner of this challenge is Nicholas, which makes me want to beat a desk lamp into whatever is nearest, but good for him I guess. It's not immunity.
It's time for the final challenge, which will only send two chefs into the final finale. Tom and Padma give the chefs a little background on Hawaii (it's an island!) and the outrigger canoe (they were used to get here!), plus that pigs, chickens and 24 species of plants and fruits are known as "canoe crops." The chefs will be catering a party to celebrate and feature these canoe crops. Tom reiterates that they need to push themselves because of the double elimination. The chefs push themselves toward the canoe to get their produce and Shirley falls. Louis is nice enough to stop and help her.
Back to the canoe, though. It's a fresh, but limited pantry. Nina is comfortable working with "island" ingredients. Shirley is worried all four dishes will taste too similar, but notices she's the only one cooking pork. Louis is working with opah, which is a fish similar to tuna but not one he has worked with. Nina accidentally started breaking down Nick's fish instead of her opah and he was just waiting for something like that to happen, I'm sure. Sabotage at its least intentional! I'm sure Nick wanted to do his fish three different ways.
Nicholas wants to feature all the ingredients he can get his hands on, so he's working with steamed opakapaka, seaweed jalapeño and chicken skin salad with a sweet jous. Go away with your overcomplicated and ingredient-heavy dishes, Nicholas. Louis is a nice change of pace and a fresh face in this competition. He's also so nice. I hope he sticks around.
The chefs head to their Hawaiian villa, which is pretty swanky. Then, they go for a little volcano hike. They soak in the humidity and the moment.
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The day, the contestants start prepping in their outdoor kitchen. Oh, by the way, Nicholas is also using pork in his dish. So much goddamn stuff. Tom stops by to check in on the chefs and prove that a chef coat can still be douchey. What is with that stripe down the back? It's like, a casual not-really-cooking-today-chef-on-vacation coat? Is it mesh for sweat? Yes, it is, but couldn't it be white? Anyway, everyone is tense and anxious, especially after Tom announces the winner of this challenge will have an advantage in the two-person finale.
It starts raining, which is Mother Nature proving that Tom Colicchio is not the only asshole in this kitchen. They struggle to cover their food and fryers. Maybe it will add some much-needed salt to Nick's food. The rain clears up as quickly as it came, having had a minimal effect on the dishes. Time runs out as the diners arrive. Padma shows up in a tight, yet flowing floral dress and if you didn't want to kill yourself to be reincarnated as some version of her in a life before …
Louis plates for the judges first. He created some grilled opah with sweet potato and coconut sauce. He feels confident that his dish is good and he took the biggest risk. One of the other food-famous judges credits Sam Choy for making opah famous. Shut up and eat your food, white man. Chef Choy says the fish was cooked perfectly and they note that the dishes are a little inconsistent but the sweet potatoes are unique.
Nina's , with her grilled opah with taro root and coconut purée. Maybe they'll have less to say about opah this time. They like the way the dish looks and it's perfectly cooked. The sauce might be almost too spicy, but Nina's opah is superior to Louis's.
Nicholas made opakapaka just because it's fun to say, along with jalapeño and crispy chicken skin and a crazy pork jous. The judges think that it's a successful dish with all the components coming together nicely. They mostly think the jalapeño is good, but that white guy whose name I didn't bother to catch thinks it's "a little much." Tom shushed him almost immediately.
Shirley is up last, presenting a honey-glazed pork with sweet potato and turmeric. She is worried it will be too sweet because she had to toss some of her ingredients due to rain. Gail appreciates that Shirley chose to cook meat. They really like the dish, but it is very sweet. But Sweet Maui Onion is a good kind of chip, so who knows if that's a bad thing. So Louis is almost certainly out, but who will go with him?
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The chefs get to watch the initial deliberation in their Hawaiian stew room. Louis, they agree, had a lot of gusto, but cooked unevenly overall. Gail tries to be very kind to him. They seem to really like Nicholas's dish, even with that controversial jalapeño. They also liked Nina's dish and her layered flavors, but Tom thinks the spice overpowered the dish a bit. They loved the flavors of Shirley's tender pork dish, but agree that it's a little sweet. Now that all the chefs feel like shit, Padma calls them in for a face-to-face conversation.
It's four on four, and Padma reminds them who's really in charge. They ask Shirley about her dish first, and she lies a little bit saying she wanted to showcase how "sweet Maui made me feel, like so happy." Nice save, Shirley, but maybe not nice enough. Gail congratulates Louis again for the ballsy choice to cook opah in front of Sam Choy. They all applaud his gutsiness but that's about it. Nina seems to be going well, even as Padma says "I can see how the heat level may have been a bit much for some of the guests." Nicholas managed to balance his complex dish, they tell him. Emeril commends them all on a great season.
Back in a private deliberation, the judges all agree it has been a great season and none of the dishes were bad. It appears Louis is the clear choice to go first, and the other spot is still up in the air. Nicholas presented a very thoughtful, component-rich dish. Shirley needed a little more acid and Nina's dish was "almost too powerful." So it's between Nina and Shirley for that second spot, and the other will compete with Louis for fan favorite.
Emeril announces that Nicholas is, of course, the winner of this challenge. He will move on to the real finale with an advantage. He cannot claim sabotage any longer. Tom says everyone deserves to move on, but that just can't happen. Louis is sent home to pack his knives first. He was clearly too nice to play ball anyway. Padma, almost with tears in her beautiful eyes/stars, tells Shirley to pack her knives and go. She really feels it, that Padma Lakshmi. We will miss Shirley, but Nina really busted her ass to get in the finale. She'd better beat Nicholas. Oh my god, week Padma rises from the ocean in a bikini. To quote Uncle Jesse, have mercy.
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