-
one of these four chefs will fight their way
back into the competition,
earning another chance at the title of Top Chef.
- We're ready. We're ready.
- After winning two consecutive elimination challenges,
Nini enters the kitchen
with Jean-George protégé Pablo.
- I want to come back.
- Can they beat their former competitor Natalie,
who's already helped take out two vets?
- I don't like losing. I'm gonna win today.
- Or will it be Brother, who's managed to survive
more "Last Chance Kitchen" battles
than anyone in "Top Chef" history?
- This is the one that I need to win.
I can't let off the gas.
♪♪♪
This is "Last Chance Kitchen,"
brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch.
♪♪♪
- Both Nini and myself,
we were one of the strongest competitors in the competition.
But this is how this competition is--
one day you can be on the top,
the next day you can go home.
- Pablo, Nini,
welcome to "Last Chance Kitchen."
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
- We have some old faces, we have some new faces,
but everybody's after the same thing--
that title of Top Chef.
- Brother--his stature is intimidating.
I'm like, "Hi.
Why do we have to cook against you?" [ laughs ]
And Natalie is just as scary.
She's just in a smaller package, but she's terrifying.
- There's one thing you should know.
One of the four of you will be returning to "Top Chef,"
in just two rounds.
- This is the one that I need to win.
I can't let off the gas.
- Guys, "Restaurant Wars" was really tough.
I mean, Nini, you came off of two wins in a row,
and then you lost. That had to be
really disappointing, huh? - Yeah.
I chose to be front of house, and then I went home.
- You just put 33 there. Stop touching the board.
- I did not touch anything!
I felt like Justin just threw me under the bus.
- Justin, you're executive chef.
What do you think about this whole thing?
- It was a mess. It was something
I've never dealt with before in my career.
- I would love to just see everyone's faces
when I walk back in the house.
Success is the best revenge.
- Pablo, how about you?
You took care of two entrees.
Maybe that was too much. What do you think?
- I totally agree. I think it was a little bit too ambitious.
- Are you spooning-- - Ah, no, no, no!
Just leave it there, leave it there, I got it, I got it.
- If I dropped this from the top of the building,
it would land in one piece.
- And bounce. - Guys, are you feeling
a little beat up after "Restaurant Wars,"
or you still have some fight left in you?
- We're ready, we're ready. - Let's try to create
a little mini "Restaurant Wars" right here.
- [ whispers ] Oh, God. - [ chuckles ]
- For this challenge,
I want you to come up with a restaurant concept
and one dish that exemplifies that concept.
Restaurants have signature dishes,
so come up with that concept and make that signature dish,
that dish that everybody's gonna want
to get into this restaurant for,
the dish that this restaurant is known for.
- When you open an restaurant, it can take you months
to come up with a concept.
Doing all that work within minutes,
it's definitely not an easy task.
- Just like "Restaurant Wars" was a double elimination,
this will be a double elimination.
- I'm definitely scared that there's a 50-50 chance.
I know that my competitors are really strong,
but I don't like losing. I'm gonna win today.
- You gotta think quickly.
You're not getting 48 hours this time.
You're getting 30 minutes, and your time starts now.
- Whoo! [ applause ]
- Natalie, how you feeling? - [ scoffs ]
- [ laughs ] - I think that was a "good."
- Okay, yeah, all right.
- Was that a good horse neigh?
- I'm drawing a blank on concept.
My plan is to figure out a dish
and then kind of work backwards
and go with a concept from there.
I'm making scallops with braised Napa cabbage,
some summer vegetables and a mushroom broth.
- Pablo, what position did you run in "Restaurant Wars"?
- I was the line cook.
- They didn't send home the chef?
- No, they didn't. So I decided to do
a vegetable-forward concept, because Tom didn't like
my carrot puree in "Restaurant Wars,"
so I definitely want to prove to Tom
that I learn from my mistakes.
I'm gonna make seared and pickled carrots
with an herb yogurt.
- What's your concept?
- As if the Mekong Delta met the Mississippi Delta.
- Ohh!
- I'm born and raised out of New Orleans.
I'm first-generation Vietnamese.
I really want to showcase that to America.
I'm making a lemongrass pork chop,
with a corn and tomato salad.
The salad will be dressed in fish sauce and lime juice,
and chilis, which is very Vietnamese.
And the corn and tomatoes,
I find that a lot in Southern cuisine,
and so I want to marry those together.
- Brother, you have a protein picked out?
- I'm not gonna do a protein.
- What are you making? - I'm doing a twist
off of a jalapeño popper.
- Okay. - So I'm gonna encase the cheese
in a tempura. - Oh, yeah.
- 18 minutes.
- Nini. - Hi.
- So what's your concept?
- My concept's gonna be
if the Mekong Delta and the Mississippi Delta met.
- Okay, do you have a name for this?
- I think I'm just gonna call it "Delta."
[ laughs ] - Delta, all right.
- The common ground. - I like this.
- I think lemongrass pork chops
are something very classic in Vietnamese cuisine.
We always marinate it for a while,
and then we grill it. Trying to get this done
in 30 minutes is a little ambitious.
I'm gonna grill it.
- So, Pablo, what's your concept?
- I want to make kind of a concept that's pretty similar
to what we made-- a vegetable-driven restaurant.
- Okay. - I'm gonna use carrots again,
'cause you guys definitely didn't approve my carrots
and I know I can make good carrots.
That's why I'm picking some carrots.
This could take me to the next round,
because I listened to what Tom had to say
about my previous dish, and I worked on it.
- So, Natalie, tell me, what's the restaurant first?
What's the restaurant? - Oh, it's kind like
how I eat--a little bit Asian, a little bit lighter.
- Is there a name for this restaurant?
- Uh...
I'll think of one in the next nine minutes.
- Nine minutes, okay. - I got nine minutes.
- Nine minutes, great. - In my mind, I at least need
to get a plate together, and then I can
maybe bullsh-- my way through something else.
- What's the Brother restaurant? - Sun Blossom.
- Sun Blossom? - It's a cross between
Southwestern food and Japanese.
- Okay, so what's that dish? That dish that--
- I'm gonna do a tempura jalapeño popper.
- And that's it? That's the dish?
- Yep. You know, it's a signature dish
I've had on my menu for five years.
- Oh, okay. - So...
- You're going to what you know.
- I hear Brother tell Tom that he makes this
all the time at his restaurant.
I am pulling this out of nowhere,
so I don't know if he deserves to
be a part of the next round because of that.
♪♪♪
With two chefs getting eliminated,
I'm gonna stick to what I know.
I've gotta really step it up. I've gotta be
the leader of the pack now.
- Two minutes!
♪♪♪
- It's not getting hot, huh?
- It's not getting hot.
I'm about to get my scallops on,
and my pan still isn't that hot.
Definitely not the color I wanted.
This might be a raw scallop, or this might be
the best scallop in the world.
- 20 seconds.
- Put it on the plate! - Natalie,
I know you're fast, but...
- Oh, sh--.
- Five, four, three,
two, one, all right.
- Nailed it.
[ applause ]
- Okay, so, Natalie,
so far what I got from your restaurant
is the things you like to eat.
- Give me a little more of that. - Things I like to eat now.
So, I was gonna call it NQM, which is short for
Not Quite Mom's. - Not Quite... [ laughs ]
- Inspired by the things that my mom would cook,
and that I would never want to try when I was a kid.
So we have pan-seared scallops with braised Napa cabbage,
carrots and asparagus in a mushroom broth.
- Where's your mother from? - Vietnam.
- Oh, that's right, okay.
Is it almost not quite your mom's,
'cause it's not quite Vietnamese?
- Right. Inspired by.
- Inspired by, great. Thank you.
Pablo. - Chef.
- What's the name of your restaurant?
- Campo. - Campo.
- Okay. - That's the type of cuisine
that I like to do, utilizing mainly vegetables.
I paired the carrots with some herb yogurt
and pickled carrots,
trying not to overcook the vegetable
'cause I think that has to do with respecting the vegetable.
- You get the richness from the yogurt, yeah.
- Yogurt. - Nice. Thanks.
- Thank you.
- Brother, what's your restaurant?
- It's called Sun Blossom.
It's a mix of my love of the Southwest,
working in the Southwest, but also spending time in Japan.
This is a tempura jalapeño popper,
so it's cheese that's been spiced with cumin,
cilantro, roasted jalapeños.
You have a jalapeño syrup,
a little bit of crème fraîche underneath.
- This is the signature dish on the menu now?
I can see why. It's really good.
- Thank you, Chef.
- So Nini, Delta.
- I made a lemongrass grilled pork chop
with a corn and tomato salad.
- And so the Mississippi ingredients
are the corn and the tomatoes.
- Yeah, 'cause you don't usually find that
in most of Asia. - Right.
Thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
- Well, Chefs, I gotta say these are four interesting concepts.
I'd happily dine at any of these restaurants,
any day of the week.
Sadly for half of you, though,
it's the end of the road.
Natalie, I liked the concept.
I thought the dish was really light.
I thought the scallops were really beautifully cooked.
The vegetables kinda got a little lost in there,
a little mashed up.
Pablo, I love this idea of doing a vegetable-forward restaurant.
It was really a lot of acid, almost too much.
The carrot was kinda lost a little bit.
Nini, uh, really fresh flavors,
but you gotta bring those flavors a little more.
More heat, more herbs,
more everything.
Brother, it's a signature dish of yours.
You've done this dish a million times.
You know the dish is really good.
My only question is whether or not
you're playing up the Japanese side enough.
I'm reading it much more Southwestern than Japanese.
My least favorite...
♪♪♪
Pablo's.
I think that the dish was way too acidic.
It should've been cooked a bit more to develop
some of that carrot flavor,
but all I got was vinegar on this dish.
I didn't get carrot at all.
You can exit the kitchen. Thanks.
- So I'm definitely not too happy.
I know I could've done a better dish.
The idea was there, the concept was there,
but the execution wasn't there.
♪♪♪
- Unfortunately, only two can move on.
The other dish that I thought was just a little short
of where I thought the dish should've been...
♪♪♪
...Natalie's.
I love where you were going with this.
The scallops, again, were perfectly cooked,
but those vegetables should've been
really the star of this dish,
and they were kinda just lost.
You can leave the kitchen. - Thank you.
- Thank you. - Even though
I lost to a jalapeño popper,
I feel good competing. It's kind of solidified in me
that the kitchen is where I belong.
I am 100% rooting for Nini. [ claps ]
- So, congratulations, Brother, Nini.
You're both moving on. - I feel really good
about moving to the next round.
I'm not that happy that Brother's still in the running.
It is my duty for "Top Chef: Kentucky"
that I win the next challenge because I want to come back.
- Here's the good news.
Listen to my feedback. I hope you're taking it in,
because you get to do this over again.
♪♪♪
Tomorrow, you take this dish,
you make this dish a little better,
and I need you to expand the menu
for another two courses.
So I need a total of three courses,
including this dish.
I think these concepts sound great.
Nini, I want more flavor.
I want more of that Mekong Delta.
Brother, I want to see a little more Japanese
to lace throughout this dish. It's getting there,
but these need to be fleshed out a little more.
This is a big one,
'cause after this, one of you will return to the competition.
♪♪♪
Right now on "Last Chance Kitchen"...
- I want you to fry shrimp.
- ...the stakes are higher than ever.
- Didn't expect to be back here a year later.
- Brother or Nini will enter right back into the competition.
- Let's go, guys! [ cheering ]
- But they'll need to battle it out in the biggest
"Last Chance Kitchen" challenge we've ever had.
- If I don't win, I'm gonna haunt you guys
in my nightgown.