Previously on "Top Chef": the Quickfire asked the contestants to cook only with ingredients found on the Oregon Trail. No bison, though. Jamie won, which kept Gabe from winning a Quickfire. Then everyone headed to Tillamook to learn about cheese, and also to somehow make a dish using cheddar five different ways. Lots of melting cheese until it separates and then using the oil. Shota won, because when you ask Shota to do something crazy, that's when he's the best. Jamie was sent home, because even though Dawn once again left something off one of the plates, overall her dish had better components. (click for more)
So now we're down to three. Shota is very glad he was able to win with a very Japanese dish. He's more relaxed now. Gabe says something about being confident and not making the same mistake twice. Dawn says yeah except me. We get flashbacks to confirm she's left items off of plates four times. Yeah that's a lot. Everyone's tired but she's been doing that since the first week. Gabe claims to having gas in the tank still.
At 5am Padma is knocking on doors, but not very loudly. I am sure this is staged. Everyone's bedroom light is on. Once everyone is dressed Padma greets them with some puns. Dawn stares into the camera with a great face. It's time for the last Quickfire. Go dig up some clams and make something. Dawn says she doesn't really work with clams. She's had clam chowder and that's about it. Winner gets an advantage.
Everyone heads down to the beach to meet Brooke, and by now the sun is up. Still looks pretty early though. She briefs them on what they might find. Shota has been clamming before. No geoducks though. Shota gets hot and says he's taking off his jacket, and then looks at the camera and asks for someone to cue the slow music. The editors oblige and put porny music and fog up the shot. Hee. Everyone seems to have found enough clams, and Shota grabbed some seaweed too.
30 minutes to cook. Back at the hotel it looks like they set up stations on the patios of the rooms so each one has their own little alcove. Gabe points out in confessional that you can see this big rock you might recognize from "The Goonies". (If you are old enough to have seen Goonies). Everyone is waiting for their water to boil, except Dawn, who has absolutely mangled her clams. There's a shot of her cutting board and she's shattered the clam shell to get inside. Shota chuckles that he's going to block Gabe so he won't win, so he'll go through the whole season and not win a Quickfire. Dawn asks Gabe if he wants to come over and open clams for her, and he legit is on his way to her station before she says she's just kidding. But why? At this point, final three, and you know Dawn has a problem with time management, why do that? Gabe is going to make a soup, hopefully in time. OK Shota has shattered his shells also, and then it turns out he's sliced his hand open. But he's working with one hand and telling the medic where the cut is. Gabe sloshes soup everywhere.
Gabe: "Sopa de mariscos": poached gaper and butter clams in broth. Dawn: butter clam bisque with apple and pepper salad. Shota: sake yuzu butter clams with pickled onions. Shota showcased a couple of types of clams, and they were beautiful but a little chewy. Dawn's bisque was grainy (she couldn't get the puree right) and Brooke and Padma wanted bigger clam pieces. Gabe's soup looked beautiful and the flavors were great. The winner is Gabe. Well. Now he's got some momentum. Shota interviews, "Dammit! I'm super happy for him though. But dammit!" Heh.
Brooke leaves and Nina and Kwame return. The Elimination challenge begins with Padma mentioning James Beard, who grew up here. Both Kwame and Nina have won James Beard awards, and Shota and Dawn have been nominated. The challenge is to cook with Dungeness crab. Oh, it's so good. We always have some at New Year's, just steamed legs, and one year the crab season started late for some reason and we didn't have any. Very sad. Anyway, the contestants will have to make one hot and one cold dish with Dungeness crab. Two hours to cook before they have to serve the cold dish, then one more hour before serving the hot dish. Gregory is taking them crabbing. Gabe's advantage turns out to be an extra $100 to shop.
Everyone keeps asking who won the Quickfire, so I'm assuming the producers told everyone to ask so that can be a storyline. Lots of crabs in the pots. Gregory manages to get pinched. Back at the dock they get fresh crabs and clams for lunch, which look amazing. Shota talks about being embarrassed to be Japanese, and having weird food for lunch and stuff. Fair. He's just starting to make super traditional Japanese food. Gregory then makes a comment about the clock, I'm assuming because the other storyline is about how Dawn can't get her dishes done on time. Gregory says maybe have less things on the plate, if you can't get everything on the plate in time. Not terrible advice.
There is actual shopping at a co-op and everyone is freaking out about the table of weird mushrooms. Gabe is thinking crab fat tortilla. Shota finds purple daikon and curses about it because he's thrilled. Dawn's making a crab boil. She ends up 77 cents over budgets so she removes a single green onion.
Later the boys walk out to the beach to I guess think about the journey. We have a montage of Gabe's season for some reason, which is mostly praise. They join Dawn for breakfast, and they talk about nerves. Dawn says that's why she didn't walk on the beach with them.
When everyone arrives to cook Tom is there, and everyone knows it's not going to be fun. He claims it's a "little chat" but no one looks happy. Anyway, then it turns out he actually has someone on video chat to encourage them. He says she's the founder of the "farm to table" movement and Dawn immediately goes "Oh, sick" because she knows it's Alice Waters. Alice is in her (?) library complete with a sliding ladder. She tells a story about how James Beard loved her restaurant. Gabe asks what crab dish she'd cook for James Beard, and she responds that tasting the ingredient is the most important. Tom leaves with no new twists which is kind of nice.
Two hours to cook before the cold course. You have to cook and pick your crab in that time too, everything is still raw. Gabe is making a stew/soup to be poured tableside. Dawn's making cashew soup and pickled mushrooms. She is pressed for time, you will not be shocked about this. Shota is making sushi and some braised daikon. Actually everyone is worried about breaking down the crab in time. We talk to everyone about James Beard. OK I thought it was going to be everyone but it was just Gabe and Tom. Tom does point out that immigrants shape the foods we eat, like a lot, and Tom thinks Beard would be pleased with the diversity here. Crab picking montage. Shota has ume rice vinegar? It's so purple! So if you have heard of umeboshi, or pickled salted plums, the ume is the fruit before you pickle it.
The slow-mo walk of the judges to dinner is so much fun for some reason. Naomi Pomeroy is here too. Padma asks about how it feels to be in the final three. You feel like you're competing against yourself. Shota says his ume vinegar might be a little strong. Gabe doesn't seem to be exactly where he wants either. The final decision seems to be not to have both pieces of sushi because the second piece isn't good enough. Just one. Aww.
Shota: Dungeness crab nigiri with yuzu kosho aioli and pickled ginger. He explains that the other sushi didn't turn out right so he's not serving it. Gabe: Dungeness crab and lobster mushroom, crab stock and avocado yogurt. The soup is...hot? I think this might also be a time thing but I mean...it's supposed to be a cold dish. Dawn: Dungeness crab salad with cashew soup and pickled oyster mushrooms. Shota's nigiri is perfect but they want more. Kwame seems especially pissed about it, but I can see if you thought they had two hours and you got one piece of sushi. Dale says nothing about missing components that we see, but I wonder if he's not as mad about no one getting two pieces, as compared to how he would be if some people got two and some got one. It is ballsy to only have one bite on the plate. Gabe's dish is hyperlocal and seasonal. It has hot soup, but the crab is clearly the star. Ed wants to take Gabe home. They love Dawn's cashew sauce, and it complements the crab. Nina and Tom feel the mushrooms are unnecessary. Nina thinks she has a habit of "whimsical" garnishes that she shouldn't put on there.
One hour to finish the hot dish. Shota's very thankful his crab is already picked for his hot dish. Gabe is kneading dough for tortillas with 37 minutes left. Dawn needs potatoes because that's part of a crab boil. It's very frantic in this kitchen. Gabe resorts to a wine bottle to roll out his tortillas. Shota claims he was waiting for the perfect moment to plate but now he's gotta plate. Gabe manages to melt a napkin on the stove, and now one of the tortillas is ruined. Oohhhhh he's one tortilla short. Dawn literally throws things onto the plates and does not get any potatoes on any plates. Nor does she wipe the plates. She declares she's going home.
So before the chefs come out the judges discuss if Dawn has messy dishes on purpose. Opinions are varied. Gabe: "mole coloradito": crab in seafood stock with sunchokes and crab fat tortilla. Shota: braised purple daikon with Dungeness crab salad, soy and sherry vinaigrette and persimmon. Dawn: Pacific crab boil - Dungeness crab in beer based broth. She has to admit she didn't mean to leave the plates messy. Everyone is just going for it, and they have crab and sauce everywhere. Naomi points out Beard would have loved this dish and the combination of flavors. The sauce is amazing and Ed is the only one to say maybe it could use something to soak up sauce. Gabe's sauce is good, but it's very Jerusalem artichoke flavored and Dale and Naomi don't really like the flavor. And the missing tortilla. Shota's daikon is amazing and no one can shut up about it. It's balanced and doesn't need chilies or other things.
Judges' Table. Shota talks about his sushi, and then Gail asks if maybe the rice wasn't working, couldn't he have given them something with just the crab? Maybe salvage the "two ways"? Shota says he just pivoted to his second course and didn't think about doing that. The one bite he did give them was delicious. The daikon was a perfect vehicle for the crab. Unassuming but so full of flavor. He nailed it and in addition it was completely different from the other two dishes.
Gabe's cold dish was a great combo of the forest and the ocean. And of course Gabe's sauces are amazing. But it was warm because he couldn't cool off the soup in time. The hot mole was also amazing, and they love the tortilla. He explains about the tortilla and the linen, and then...we drop it? Kwame was so pissed about not getting a second bite from Shota and then Gabe does the same thing Dawn keeps doing but no one says anything? I know Dawn's done this four times, so that's a consideration, and they might have edited it out too. But what gives? Is Kwame just mad when it affects him and he got a tortilla so he doesn't care? The sauce had too much Jerusalem artichoke flavor.
Tom raves about Dawn's cashew soup because it's creamy without using cream. It's very comforting but the garnishes pulled it down somewhat. Nina tells her that when they were eating her crab boil no one was talking. They kind of wished for something to soak up sauce and she admits she made potatoes and ran out of time. Now they know she had ANOTHER time problem. Dawn is proud of her food, but she's not proud of how she gave it to them. Yeah I can see that.
This will be a very hard decision. Kwame is still mad about not having two pieces of sushi, but everyone loves the one bite they got. Gabe's cold dish was balanced and no one seems to really care that much that it was warm. Dawn's cold dish was simple but she put too many things on there. Shota's dish was so simple and I think that's really impressed everyone. Gabe's sauce has caused disagreements, because no one can agree if the Jerusalem artichokes were a good flavor or not. They do agree that Dawn's dish was homey and satisfying. Tom does point out she left something off the plate again and then they kind of drop it.
Padma and Tom praise everyone for amazing food. Today's winner is Shota. He's going to the finale, but I think we all expected that. He says that he's heard that being in the finale changes your life, and after closing his restaurant he's thrilled to get another chance. Padma tries to fake out Dawn's eliminated, but she says "Dawn...and Gabe...you're both going to the finale!" They couldn't decide. I'd be more irritated if the skill level here wasn't so high. Everyone here is amazing. But yeah...make some decisions. Shota says if it's not hard then it's not worth it. Back in the kitchen Gabe shakes up the champagne bottle and sprays everyone.
Next week: four course progressive meal, former contestant help, all the All-Stars probably with a twist, lots of frantic working.
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