Previously
on “Top Chef”: the last challenge before the finale forced
everyone to cook with loved ones. Only Sheldon figured it out, as he
and his wife threw mushrooms at each other and were generally the
best. You were supposed to tell your loved one how to make the dish
you were making, so they matched, and Sheldon was the most
successful. He won $10,000 and a sous vide machine. The final
Elimination Challenge was to cook a dish that represented your
journey on the show. Sheldon and Shirley both made Southern/Asian
fusion cuisine, which resulted in a Sheldon win. Tesar at least
referenced seafood and the complaint the judges had about his dish
was something he explained pretty well. Brooke ran out of creativity
and just bought a bunch of ingredients representing the challenges
she'd done well in, and then crammed them all together. So in a
surprise, Brooke was sent home. (click for more)
On Last
Chance Kitchen, we had two challenges. The first was Casey vs. Jamie
vs. Brooke making protein two ways. Jamie and Casey (after being
shocked at seeing Brooke) chose sauteing and braising. Jamie was
quickly eliminated, because the more I think about it, the more I
think they really wanted to do another All-Stars season but couldn't
get enough people so they did this dumb hybrid season, and then got
rid of all the rookies. The second challenge was Brooke and Casey
both having to make two different dishes, while Tom randomly picked
one of them to taste. Leaving the other one for the peanut gallery.
Of course we do not know who won, because we have to find out
tonight.
The
finalists arrive in Mexico and celebrate in the very nice hotel
suite. They eventually go to a soccer stadium to meet Padma, Tom, and
guest judge Francisco Ruano. Padma talks about the team and then
Brooke appears. Of course. Anyway, the Quickfire is to make a dish
with goat, because that's the mascot of the soccer team. Winner gets
$10,000 and an advantage.
45 minutes.
Sheldon loves goat because he is the best. Both he and Shirley
mention that usually goat takes a long time to cook. Shirley uses a
tortilla press to press dough for noodles. Brooke feels like she has
nothing to lose. Tesar only has some of his goat cooked properly so
he's trying to find the good pieces to use.
Shirley:
braised goat breast with tortilla-pressed noodle, huitlacoche &
radish. You will recall huitlacoche is corn fungus. Brooke: goat ribs
with chamomile, guajillo & pasilla chiles, mango & papaya
salad. Tesar: crispy goat torta with fire-roasted tomato sauce &
arbol chili sauce. It's a sandwich sitting in a pool of sauce.
Sheldon: braised goat cheek with ancho chile, charred salsa &
avocado.
Brooke
paired her goat with fruit which is weird but it worked. Sheldon's
textures worked for Tom. Shirley had a good idea, but the garnishes
were too similar. Tesar had a poor ratio of bread to meat. The winner
is Brooke. Yeah, OK. Shirley says she wishes Brooke hadn't come back
but you can tell she's not 100% serious.
Elimination
Challenge. This involves Patron and tequila. They must make a dish
and also a margarita for an employee party. Sheldon worries because
he is a beer guy. Since there are 100 people coming they “need”
eliminated contestants as sous chefs: Casey, Katsuji, Emily, and
Sylva. You can tell there are shenanigans because this is not the
last four people from Last Chance Kitchen. Either Jamie told them to
shove it, or they just picked out people in the hopes of conflict.
There is no way Emily should be here except for that. Anyway,
Brooke's advantage is she gets to pick first (obviously she picks
Casey) and then she gets to assign everyone else's help. Tesar gets
Katsuji, clearly, Sheldon gets Emily, and Shirley gets Sylva. Such a
clear strategy but I can't argue. Shirley also gets an advantage,
Sheldon gets someone who's vaguely good, and Tesar gets someone he
argued with last time in the hopes he goes down in flames. Tom claims
Katsuji is good because he gets Mexican food, which is totally true.
It's just that they don't get along. As soon as Tom and Padma leave,
Katsuji tells Tesar he hated him for a while for throwing him under
the bus. So now Tesar has to tiptoe around, which was surely Brooke's
plan.
Everyone
takes a trip to the Patron distillery for a tour. Sheldon says he's
allergic to tequila; if he drinks too much, he breaks out—IN DANCE!
Hee. Then they taste and get drunk and silly. Everyone splits up and
plans menus on the grounds. Well, except Tesar is still apologizing
for how Katsuji got kicked out. Tesar's margarita is going to be
really simple.
Shopping
still looks like a Whole Foods. Tesar gives Katsuji more
responsibility that he might otherwise, so he buys in and is not
sulking. Brooke says the tuna isn't good enough so she's going to use
coconut? The problem is that they only have whole coconuts so it
might take forever to crack all of them open.
Two hours
to cook. I think? I'm not sure of the time, actually. Sheldon is
using octopus and Filipino-style ceviche. Shirley wants more Mexican
than she usually does, which she seems to be doing with cactus and
other flavors. Brooke says she's making avocado soup with watermelon
salad. So did she abandon the coconut? Casey seems to be cutting up
avocados. Katsuji is getting bossy, but Tesar has realized how
similar they are and he's handling it without too much trouble. His
margarita isn't fancy, but Katsuji is making some kind of candy
flavor with apricot and chili for the rim. Shirley wanted to use
agave nectar in her dish, but Sylva grabbed vanilla extract instead.
Shirley sort of shrugs about it which doesn't seem like the best
idea. Sheldon thinks he may have overcooked his octopus, but service
is about to begin so he can't really do anything about it.
Shirley
points out this is when she left during her season so she's ready to
redeem herself. Cocktails are mixed. Blais is about. His hair is so
tall today. Sheldon is using tweezers to garnish his cocktails which
is maybe not the most appropriate technique at an outdoor party for
tequila distillery employees. Sheldon: octopus kinilaw with guava &
coconut margarita. Kinilaw is ceviche. Blais and the guest judge ask
if they're supposed to stir the margarita, because as Sheldon made
them up earlier all the garnish has settled onto the bottom. Blais
compares it to a fish tank which seems overly harsh. I've had
cloudier cocktails. They love the octopus, although maybe more salt,
and the cocktail is mostly fine. Blais says it's out of balance.
Shirley:
charred beef with salsa molcajete, cucumber & honeydew margarita.
Molcajete is a mortar and pestle so I guess that salsa is smashed in
it? Padma and Tom love the salsa but the vanilla flavor is gross. She
at least admitted to it. The cocktail is sort of OK but Tom thinks
it's too thick, like a soup, and should have been strained. Padma and
Tom then go over to Sheldon's station, where Padma likes the kinilaw
but Tom thinks it's too sweet. However Tom also thinks the cocktail
balances the sweetness because it's so tart.
Tesar jokes
with Blais that Brooke thought she was giving him a handicap but at
least Katsuji speaks Spanish. Tesar: caldo verde con pollo with
Patron silver margarita. He does mention some garnish but it's not on
the chyron and the chyron also doesn't mention the rim of his
margarita which is whatever fancy thing he was talking about earlier.
Caldo verde is a soup with tomatillo and other things. The herbs in
the soup were cooked in there, so they've lost some freshness. The
margarita is basically booze with a shot of lime. Blais calls it a
bold move. OK I think the garnish on the soup is xoconostle which is
a cactus fruit, and then on the margarita rim is cherimoya which is
also called custard apple. I'm not sure though, because the rim looks
dark red, which would fit with Tesar's comment earlier about apricots
and chili.
Brooke:
chilled avocado soup, watermelon and coconut salad, spicy watermelon
and hibiscus margarita. Brooke's dish is excellent but has maybe a
little too much coconut. The margarita is not as strong as everyone
else's but it balances the soup really well. Padma and Tom head for
Tesar's station and declare the cocktail washes out the soup.
Judges'
Table. Blais tries to play mind games with Brooke about how making
cold soup is playing it safe. Shut up, Blais. He brings up how he's
been where they were (WE KNOW) and how she has to think of how to win
and not just survive. Blais, I was defending you and there are a lot
of people out there who don't like you at all but right now I'm not
inclined to do it anymore. Tesar made soup too. Brooke points out
that a cold soup has to stay cold so it's harder. Padma and Tom tell
her they loved her soup and drink and also Tom loves that she stood
up to Blais. Ha! Tesar had a decent cocktail, saved by the cherimoya,
but the challenge was to make a creative cocktail. Tom yells at him
because the soup was nice, but if you had it after the cocktail, the
cocktail had so much alcohol it ruined the taste of the soup. Tesar
has some story about how his dishes showcased the tequila, and some
random guy appreciated it because it was for the workers and not for
himself or whatever. Tom asks if that's more important than this
competition, which seems like entrapment. Either Tesar says “oh no,
I know I have to please you, the judges” in which case they get
huffy like they always do when a contestant says they're cooking to
please the judges, or he says “it was for them and not you” so
they can label the food “pedestrian” or some other similar
insult. I see where this is going. Not that I think Tesar did the
best or didn't screw up, but come on. Tesar says they go hand in hand
and Tom shuts up.
Sheldon's
octopus was cooked very well, but it was sweet. Tom uses that
obnoxious verbal construction that is apparently unique to this show
and says “it ate very sweet” which makes no sense. It was sweet,
Tom. It tasted sweet. Don't do that. The cocktail was thick, because
Sheldon says his dish was very refined, so he wanted a more rustic
cocktail that was just muddled and not strained or whatever. The
cocktail and the dish tasted too similar, and they both lacked acid.
Blais loved Shirley's salsa a lot. Shirley explains the vanilla, but
somehow manages not to throw Sylva under the bus. She says she liked
the flavor, so while Sylva did grab the wrong thing she labels it “a
happy accident”. Tom hated the vanilla, and also he says that she
needed to use juice in her cocktail. I think she mashed the fruit and
didn't strain it? They don't really explain this well.
The winner
tonight is Brooke. She also wins some fancy tequila, which Padma says
is worth $7500. Damn. Brooke immediately opens the bottle and takes a
swig which is hilarious. Padma kicks them out to discuss the loser.
Tom liked Tesar's cocktail but it destroyed the dish, and Blais
argues it wasn't a cocktail. Just a glass of booze. Shirley and
Sheldon had worse cocktails, though. Too much garnish. Sheldon
mimicked the flavors in his dish, but maybe too much, and the
cocktail tasted too much like the dish. Shirley's vanilla extract was
a mistake.
Tom babbles
about terroir and pairing food with cocktails, and then Tesar is
finally sent home. He's upset and confused, because he thinks he
didn't make the worst dish. But he of course thinks he's greater than
everyone else because he still cooks, while other chefs his age don't
cook anymore. Padma tells the final three they're going to the
Yucatan peninsula to a resort.
Next
episode: running around, habaneros, cooking without tools in the
middle of the jungle, I guess.
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