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brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch.
[dramatic music]
So the "Last Chance Kitchen" finale starts right now.
♪ ♪
- It's kind of nice because we don't even have time
for nerves, for jitters, for anything.
You got about enough time to wipe the sweat
off your forehead and get ready to cook again.
- The winner of this battle heads directly
to Telluride for the final rounds of "Top Chef."
- Earning the title of "Top Chef"
is extremely important to me because it gives me
the opportunity to talk to a young, troubled teen,
to talk to someone in the system,
to give them motivation because I get it.
I was there.
- In "Last Chance Kitchen," the challenges have been
really focused.
You know, I'm not saying they've been easy,
but at least we've given you direction.
This challenge, we're gonna leave it wide open.
♪ ♪
You could do whatever you want.
It's entirely up to you to narrow down your choices,
focus your food.
Of course, it has to be delicious.
- I prefer cooking when knowing I can do whatever I want,
but it's also--you can easily get yourself in trouble.
You can overcomplicate things. You can over think things.
- This'll be the best pantry you've had all season.
No excuses not to cook your best.
This is it. Cook your heart out.
So as a chef, it's really important to have the respect
and admiration of your peers.
Are you guys hungry?
- Yes! - Yeah!
- To celebrate the end of "Last Chance Kitchen,"
we're gonna treat your former competitors
to a really nice meal, we hope.
[laughter]
To help decide who will return to "Top Chef,"
I'm gonna let these guys get a vote.
- Ooh. - Okay.
- Oh. - All right.
- These guys get a collective majority vote today,
and I have some other help as well.
Ah, we brought Lachlan back. - How's it going, chefs?
- Hi, Chef. - Chef, how are you?
- I'm definitely excited to see
Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson again.
He was my judge on the Denver Omelet challenge.
He gave me the win for the Quickfire.
- For me, the winning dish today was Brother's dish.
Congratulations.
[applause]
- Plus, I live in Colorado.
We got that Colorado connection.
Come on, Chef, give me one.
- Since this is his territory, I wanna get his take
on who deserves to continue on.
- Guys, you've barely scratched the surface of what Colorado
has to offer.
Getting a chance to head to Telluride is a wonder
of its own.
- So to be clear, there'll be three votes.
These guys get collectively one vote,
Lachlan gets a vote, and, of course, I get a vote.
You need two votes to win.
- Hell yeah.
- 45 minutes, and your time starts now.
- Come on, guys. - Come on, guys!
- Whoo! - This is it.
This is my last one.
If I don't get it through today, I'm done.
♪ ♪
- Safe! - Yep.
- [laughs]
- Joe's got favas, herbs.
What you gonna make, Brother?
- Something that's not gonna send my ass home.
- There you go. - Oh, yeah.
- There you go. - That's the right attitude.
- Something delicious.
♪ ♪
- I need to cook my food.
I need to cook smart food that's reserved,
that's concise, that makes sense.
Don't put too many things on the plate.
Focus on the flavors. Hit it on the head.
And I'm gonna win for my food, or I'm gonna
go home for my food.
- What are you thinking about making, Flamm?
- Uh, lamb shoulder chops, fava pesto.
- Ah, ooh, I like that.
- Ooh. - Ooh, ooh!
- What are you doing, Brother?
- I'm gonna do a chili roasted apple.
- Curious to see what Brother's dish is gonna look like.
- Me too. - [laughs]
- I'm going for magic and gusto and
international inspirations.
I'm all over the place.
But I always bring it together.
It's gonna be interesting to see what they end up
on the plate with and how the flavors all work together.
- Very different.
♪ ♪
- Do you guys really need, like, nine plates,
or do you feel like you could share off one?
- I want my own. - We don't like
sharing anymore. - Starving.
♪ ♪
- Is that chicken, Brother?
- Yeah, chicken breast.
Chicken is a great choice for the finale dish
because it showcases that you can take something
very simple and make it beautiful.
And I think that's the true test of a chef.
- You making chicken noodle soup?
- Eh. - Nice.
- I wanna see the look on their faces
when I walk back in that door.
And they thought it was gonna be Claudette.
They thought it was gonna be Bruce.
They thought it was gonna be Joe,
and Brother Luck comes walking through that door.
Guess what?
I'm not done.
- Holy sh--, none of this stuff is on.
Hah, sick.
♪ ♪
This dish is all about flavor, it's all about
just perfect execution, and I think that's
what it takes to get back in this competition.
♪ ♪
[sizzling]
- Hey, Brother. - Hey, Chef.
- How's it going? - Fast.
- Fast. - [chuckles]
- You have a whole half an hour, plenty of time.
What are you making?
- I'm gonna do a chicken stuffed
with prosciutto, pecorino.
Underneath's gonna be roasted chili apple,
some butternut squash, some caramelized
Brussels sprouts.
- Smells good. - Lot of flavors.
- So why do you think this one's gonna get you
to the finale? - 'Cause it tastes
----ing delicious. - It tastes delicious.
There you go. Okay, good answer.
How did you manage to focus in on this dish?
- You know, it's a lot of flavors of when I came up
working in kitchens, you know?
Some things, like the chili apple--
one of my first restaurants I worked in,
we used to serve them, so, you know,
I just wanna continue to cook the food that got me here.
It's so frustrating! Stop asking questions, Chef.
It's messing with us.
- How are you cooking this now? How are you gonna--?
- I'm gonna sear the sh-- out of it
and throw it in the oven and pray.
- Sear the sh-- out of it, okay.
- [laughs] - How we doing, Chef?
- Good, how are you guys doing? - Good--what you making?
- I'm doing lamb with a fava bean pesto,
then I'm gonna do a little fava bean,
like, almost gremolata on top. Pecorino in there as well.
- Okay, what kind of lamb? - Shoulder chops.
Gonna be a little tricky to cut down, but...
- Okay. - It's "Top Chef," right?
- Are you grilling them, or what are you doing?
You grilling 'em? - No, I'm gonna go in
the cast iron top. - Cast irons, right on.
- Okay. So why this dish?
Why is this one gonna get you into the finale?
- I just feel like this is a dish I really love,
that I stand behind, and, you know, I wanna throw it
out there and let's see it.
My biggest concern with this dish
is that this lamb is gonna be too tough, you know?
Shoulder chops-- they're not loins.
They're not perfect. Those aren't prime cuts.
Those are off cuts, so I think it's a risky move,
but I'm going for it.
- So how are you gonna cut that up?
- I'm gonna take it down, and I'm gonna, like,
kind of have to muscle it out and slice it down.
- You leave the skins on your fava beans, huh?
- Yeah, when I was in Italy, they--you know, we would
just eat them for a staff meal.
They would just pop 'em out of the shells, and we would
just eat 'em with the skins on, and I love the texture of it,
you know? It's very, like,
a Sardinian way of doing it.
- Joe's leaving the skin on his fava beans.
I personally wouldn't do that.
It's kind of awkward to eat, and it feels like you have
paper in your mouth. Like, you wanna spit it out.
- I think it's cool to be able to get that vote to see
who goes back in. I mean, the respect
of your peers is pretty much the most important thing
for a lot of us.
- Where the microplanes at? - Get the...
Microplanes, straight ahead.
Should be right there. - Ooh!
- [chuckles] - Whoop.
- Nice spin move.
- Oh, wow. - They have--seriously,
they had everything. Wow, geez.
Geez, and they went with shoulder of a lamb
and chicken breast.
- I think... - Sometimes I just scratch
my head.
♪ ♪
- I've gotta get hardcore caramelization
in this pan of hot oil.
I need that skin to get crispy, but I also need to make sure
that none of that stuffing leaks out.
♪ ♪
- I've having fun cooking this dish.
This is a dish I love to cook.
This is the way I love to cook, editing myself
and making sure everything on the plate is super purposeful.
This is my food, and it feels good.
Yeah, girl, yeah!
[sizzling]
Guys, I'm gonna need some hands for plate up over here,
so the chefs can eat up. - Yes, Chef, yes, Chef.
- Chef, can you make a demo plate, and then
we'll follow behind? - Yeah, sounds great.
- How are things coming along over there, Brother?
- It's good, it's good. I got four out of six
components ready.
- Brother is using so many different techniques
and ingredients because that is what won him
the past five challenges.
But I actually think this is a test of restraint,
and I don't think Brother understands that.
- Chicken's good? - Yeah, yeah.
- All right. - Yeah.
- It just tastes good, you know?
- I'm so hungry. - [laughs]
- I'm starving.
♪ ♪
- 15 minutes.
- Nice, Joe, there it is. There's the lamb.
Lamb by Flamm.
- I gotta get this lamb sliced up.
And it's a little bit tricky 'cause, with a shoulder chop,
you have a bone running through it
in a lot of different directions.
So you gotta be really careful to cut it out, to slice it down
nice so that it's not chewy.
- Oh, Chef. - Oh, he's pulling out
everything. - Uh-oh.
There it is. All the stops.
- Party.
♪ ♪
- Are you making towels to cool us off?
- I'm going for the liquid nitrogen
because I don't wanna just put a fresh raspberry on the plate.
I wanna freeze the berries.
That's gonna give me a really nice crunch
in this crème as they eat it.
♪ ♪
- When I got knocked out, it was tough.
It felt like I was a cartoon jumping over the gap
in the cliff, and, like, you know, you look like
you're gonna make it, and then you just fall
right through the middle to the bottom.
And, you know, that was hard, but it motivated me.
How much time, guys?
- 9:11. - Nine minutes.
- Nine minutes, nine minutes, nine minutes.
- Beautiful color on that pesto, Joe.
- Thank you. - Gorgeous, bro.
- You're gorgeous, Bruce. - Hey, I said it was
pretty too. - Hey, you're gorgeous too,
Claudette. [laughter]
♪ ♪
- Go, guys, be strong. - Come on, guys.
- Whoo! [applause]
♪ ♪
- Can't wait to taste your guys' food.
♪ ♪
- How are you guys gonna remain impartial here?
- The best dish wins. - You gonna vote--best dish
wins, best dish wins. That's it?
- Yep, yeah. - Okay, all right, good.
- We love 'em both, but it's best dish wins.
- Good.
- Both Joe and Brother are so talented
that a minutiae of details are going to be weighed in
to see who moves forward.
- Two minutes, chefs, two minutes.
- Thank you, Chef.
- This is intense.
♪ ♪
- To lose in the final round of "Last Chance Kitchen"
would ----ing kill me.
The chicken's right, it's cooked beautifully.
It's got a good filling.
It tastes delicious, but I'm still thinking
I'm missing something spicy and bitter.
I'm just hoping it's enough to beat big Joe.
all: Five, four, three, two, one.
- Two, one. [laughter, applause]
Brother. - Chef.
- What do you have for us? - How you doing, buddy?
- So today I did a stuffed chicken.
The chicken's got pecorino, jalapenos, onions.
Underneath that is roasted chili apples
with butternut squash.
- What's the roasted--? - And Brussels sprouts.
- Roasted chili apple? What do you do for that?
- So the apple is coated in anchos, guajillos, pasilla,
brown sugar cumin, and then baked just to
kind of soften it up nicely.
And then you have lime crème fraîche
with freeze dried raspberries.
- Why'd you go with chicken?
- I think, if you get the opportunity to showcase
something, it's important to stay humble.
Chicken or egg, I think, is what I find beautiful.
- Have you thought about roasting it
or only roasting it or doing something different?
- 45 minutes, it's cutting it close.
- Yeah, yeah. - So I don't wanna risk
not getting food on the plate. - Yeah.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Joe. - Chefs.
Good to see you, Chef. - Good to see you too.
- So today, I did lamb shoulder chops
over a fava bean pesto, a little bit of grilled favas
on top.
Caramelized shallots with a little balsamic on them.
And in the grilled favas on top, it's just parsley,
lemon zest, a little bit of really green olive oil
to give it some peppery-ness.
- Were you nervous about the shoulder chop?
Were you nervous about--? - You know, yeah, for sure.
I was a little bit nervous about the shoulder chop.
You know, sometimes they don't wanna ----ing behave.
- [chuckles] - And it's like...
And then slicing 'em down-- it's not like
the beauty of just slicing a rib eye or a loin...
- Right. - Where it's like, cool,
I get 12, you know, shots of these, like...
- Mm-hmm. - It's not your normal
tasty mini-cut... - No.
- But I think it's a really flavorful cut,
and I think it's really delicious...
- All right. - When it's done right.
- Okay, thanks. - Thank you.
- Thank you, Chefs. - Come on up.
Taste.
- Joe, how are you? Good to see you.
- How you doing?
♪ ♪
- Thank you for leaving the fat on.
It's ----ing delicious. - Yeah, man, thank you.
Everything's really beautiful. - Really good.
- Thank you, guys, thank you. - My Brother, man.
How you doing, baby? - Hey, Brother.
- Looking solid, man.
- [sighs]
- You think this is a dish that will get you back
in the competition?
- You know, I hope so. I've been--I've been trying
to cook as honest as I can... - Mm-hmm.
- And letting the food just kind of walk me through.
No preplans, and, you know, I think six challenges,
it's definitely crazy, but... - Mm-hmm.
- You know, just trying to stay simple and humble as well.
♪ ♪
- Good luck, brother. - See you guys.
- Good luck, dude. - Yep.
- Good luck, Brother Luck. - See you.
- Good job, man. - Thank you.
- Very proud of you. - Thank you, mama.
- Good job.
- You can pass that around. - Yes, Chef.
- Thanks.
♪ ♪
- Nice job, man.
♪ ♪
- Hmm, that's interesting.
♪ ♪
Lachlan, what do you think?
- Brother, I really appreciate your boldness.
You had so much to choose from.
It's a risk to go out there and grab all those things
and try to throw it on one plate.
And Joe, on the other hand, I appreciate how you were
able to edit it down, kind of pulling from extremes.
- Right, right, right, right, right.
Brother, I gotta say, the chicken was nice and moist.
It was juicy. I was a little nervous
with a boneless chicken breast and the timing in that's
really close, but I think you nailed it.
The stuffing--it wasn't really a stuffing.
It was almost, like, a little aromatic that was
inside the breast.
It just gave a good, little burst of flavor.
Raspberries, I wasn't quite sure what that did.
There wasn't enough on there to really to do much with,
but I thought the hash was a good counterpoint
to the chicken.
Joe, it appeared to be very simple, but there's a lot
going on in there.
The dish had a ton of flavor from the pesto, obviously.
I like how you dealt with the fava beans.
I tend to peel mine, but I don't mind them
rustic like that as well.
The lamb chop--I think cooking it more would've made it
more tender even if it is... - Mm.
- A shoulder. It was a little chewy.
- Okay. - There was a lot of fat
in there, and the more you can cook it, the more you can
break down some of that connective tissue even though,
obviously, it's not gonna break down like a braise,
but I expect a shoulder chop to be chewy.
It's not gonna be a tender cut of meat.
It was great watching the two of you cook
in the Last Chance Kitchen. Nice showing.
♪ ♪
So...
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
Mm-hmm, yeah.
♪ ♪
- [sighs] Come on, one win.
That's all I need. Give me one win.
I've been fighting so hard to get here.
Give it to me.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
The decision is unanimous.
And the winner of "Last Chance Kitchen"...