The stakes have never been higher.
- F---. F---.
- It's a two-part massive twist
that will change "Top Chef" forever.
- You said, "A twist," not 17 twists, Chef.
- Oh, my, whoa! - What is going on?
- Holy sh--. - Army of cooks.
- Dude, what's going on?
- Welcome to "Last Chance Kitchen."
[cheers and applause]
- F--- me.
Why do we do this sh--?
- This is "Last Chance Kitchen"
brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- The second I see the veterans in there,
it's like, "What the f--- are they doing?
What's going on here?"
I mean, come on.
- Hey, Tyler.
- Hi, Chef, how are you? - Good.
You know Lee Anne, Kwame.
- Yep, hi, Chef, Chef. - And Claudette.
Any idea why they're here?
- No idea, Chef. - Well, we told you
we're changing things up on "Last Chance Kitchen"
this season, and so far, these top chefettes and Claudette
have already taken out five chefs.
You want to see who they are? - Absolutely.
- Okay, come on, chefs.
You'll recognize some, and others you may recognize
from past seasons. - Sup, Chef?
How are you? - Hey, how are you?
- Tyler is a force in the kitchen,
and this is gonna be good.
- So far, Claudette has won two in a row.
But you can take them down, right?
- I think so.
You know that if you're going against somebody
who's done a lot of episodes of "Top Chef"
that they have tricks that they've learned
over the years, so it's intimidating.
It's a mountain to climb for sure,
but I really want back in.
- It's time I let you in
on a little secret here.
This is everybody. [chuckles]
One of the four of you will be returning to the competition...
This week.
- Oh, wow.
[suspenseful music]
Holy sh--. Whoo.
- To the house? - Yep.
Right in the middle of it.
- Well, all right.
- Okay?
- Surprise. [laughs]
- But first, you have to compete
in a two-part challenge.
- So, three of you will move on to that second part,
and only one of you will make it back into the competition.
- Okay? - Okay.
- You said, "A twist," not 17 twists, Chef.
- Well, we're twisting--I said, "A twist."
I didn't mention the turn.
I just mentioned the twist.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
So, Tyler, your challenge was to create a dish
that was inspired by your heritage.
It totally tripped you up and got caught up in your head
and you ended up with a dish that was quite confusing.
You really overthought the challenge too much.
- Yes, I did.
We're going full smorgasbord.
This dish is, like, the last thing from simple.
- Tyler...
You said you struggled a little bit
with this challenge.
- Your dish needed to have some editing,
and you probably weren't in the headspace to do that.
- I would say maybe you got a little caught up in your head.
You agree?
- Absolutely, I agree.
- Absolutely he agrees.
Bring out the heads.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs] - Hmm.
- Ah, wow.
- [exhales]
- There we go.
We have some duck heads
and calf heads and pig heads
and halibut cheeks.
So to prove to me that you can
get out of your head...
Your challenge is to cook a dish
using these heads.
[slow rock music]
- Tyler, preference?
- I like any head I can get, Chef.
- Any-- [laughter]
Oh. - You just left him open
for that one. - That's just perfect.
Okay.
These ingredients take a little long
to develop some flavors so, uh, you're gonna
have to think really quickly.
You have 40 minutes on the clock,
and your time starts now.
[dramatic music]
- Oh, yeah, the pig head. I like him.
- So this whole thing is pretty wild.
You getting back in to "Top Chef"
in just two short rounds
is a pretty amazing opportunity.
I am trying to redeem myself.
So grab the hardest protein.
[exclaiming]
No guts, no glory. - [laughs]
- Claudette, what did you grab?
- I got the pigs' tongues.
I grabbed the pork tongues
because I actually have never worked with them.
I'm here to take risks
and swing for the fences.
- Nice looking butt cheeks there, uh, Lee Anne.
Wait, halibut cheeks.
Hali-booty cheeks.
- Now I've been through four rounds.
I've been through some sh--, and I'm just like,
"Okay, I haven't come this far to start losing."
And I don't want to mess around
with a pressure cooker.
I'm making braised fried halibut cheeks
with a fermented black bean and lamb sauce.
- I mean, 40 minutes, halibut cheeks?
You got plenty of time. - Plenty of time.
- Playing it safe.
- I'm not gonna get in my head,
and dissect everything that I'm doing wrong.
♪ ♪
- We only have 40 minutes, and you have to think smart.
And you have to use your head.
Uh, no pun intended.
Going with fish, it's something
that can cook really quickly
but still has a lot of flavor.
So I'm making a salmon head curry.
It's a Thai-influenced dish.
- Claudette. - What's up?
- You didn't want the pig's head?
- It reminds me of my ex.
[laughter]
- I know I want the ears and one of the cheeks.
The trick to cooking pig's ears
is just to pressure cook it hard and fast.
If I didn't have the pressure cooker,
they'd be, like, a three-hour cook.
- Kwame, what are you doing with the heads?
You using the whole thing or just the jaw?
- I'm just taking the best parts out of it,
and I'm gonna sear it and then glaze it in the curry.
There's little meat on the salmon head.
There's a lot of bones and other things,
but there's definitely a lot of technique
that goes into it-- you have to carve
the meat out perfectly
because one wrong slice of the knife
and that's half of your protein.
You have to be meticulous,
and you have to be precise.
- Is that sh-- normal?
- You're good. - You sure?
- Yeah. - I don't know--I've never
used--I don't use f---ing pressure cookers.
It's probably not the smartest decision
to use a tool that I don't use normally,
but I'm here to learn about myself and what I'm capable of
in these challenges, so I'm just gonna try it
and see what happens.
- She's got the Chile de árbol.
She's got the sesame oil.
- Classic Chinese, yo.
- Oh.
- You guys know Lee Anne's pregnant?
- No. - She's three months pregnant.
- Damn.
- Killin' it.
- It is totally nuts to be pregnant
and compete on "Top Chef."
But it's my hope to open another restaurant
on either Maui or Kauai,
and basically strap my baby
to my back and get back to work.
So f--- it, I want to win.
- Salt, salt, salt, salt, salt, salt, salt.
I'm making another flatbread
'cause it will go well with this dish.
You can sop up, like, all the goodness
at the bottom of the bowl.
- How you doing? - Good, how are you?
- Good. What are you making here?
- I've got pig's cheeks and ears cooking in here.
I'm gonna see which one finishes first.
Use that one. Spaghetti squash in the oven.
Some sweet potato puree. Cooking like my mom.
I want to pay homage to my mother
and some of the cuisine that she used to do
that I was actually kicked out for trying to interpret.
I'm definitely taking the biggest risk today.
- Hey, Chef. - Lee Anne, what's going on?
What you got going on over here?
- I'm doing fried braised halibut cheeks
with a lamb black bean sauce.
- A little surf-n-turf, huh?
- Yeah, a little bit.
It would just be a shame
for me to come to this far
and to be knocked out by a bunch of, like,
new contestants. [laughs]
- So, Claudette, what are you making?
- Beef tongue. - Beef tongue.
- I'm sorry, pork tongue. - Pork tongue.
Yeah, salsa verde with mint.
- You cook pork tongue a lot? - Beef tongue, yes.
- Pork tongue? My first time.
- Why did you choose to go with this
instead of beef tongue? - 'Cause I don't really use
pressure cookers often.
My food is low and slow, so I was afraid
of doing a beef tongue and it ended up
not the way I wanted it, you know?
- Okay.
- 20 minutes.
- So, Kwame, what are you doing with the salmon meat?
- So I'm gonna sear it.
It's the most delicate meat in the head.
- Just the head meat. - Exactly, so I'm gonna crisp
this up, serve it in that with a little
flatbread on the side. - And you're not using
the heads at all for stock or anything like that?
- No, there's enough fishiness in there from the fish--
- Yeah, salmon's so fishy, okay.
- You see the stuff from-- kind of, like, sparks up
from Tyler's station? - Yeah.
- I smell the Vitamix.
I smell something burning, like rubber.
- Tyler, watch the hand on that pressure cooker.
- F---.
Everyone's noticing that it's smelling
like burning plastic
and I know that the handle
on my pressure cooker is burning.
It's not gonna effect my dish at all because that dish
is completely under pressure
so there's no way it's getting in there.
So these wimps in the kitchen should suck it up
and wait till I finish cooking.
Ah, you f---er.
- You good? - Yeah, you see where
that spaghetti squash went?
- Spaghetti squash? - Yeah.
- Did not see it. You got it in?
Tyler's kind of a hot mess right now.
He's burning plastic. He's losing his squash.
He's losing his mind.
- Ah, sh--.
♪ ♪
- Oh, sorry. Damn, what was that?
- That's sesame oil, man. That's my pan.
- F---.
Ah, f---.
F---. F---.
[sighs] Man.
♪ ♪
This happens all the time in the kitchen.
Things don't go in your way. You have to pivot.
And it's part of being a chef.
It's part of being a great chef.
F--- me. Why do we do this sh--?
- Are you making tortillas right now?
- I'm making tortillas. - So am I.
[laughter]
- I come from one of the highest poverty levels
in the country.
To have overcome all of that
and just to be here is an honor within itself.
There's only two more rounds to go,
and then one of us is going to be
back on the competition.
So it's time to buckle down
so I can make it back on "Top Chef."
- Three minutes. - Blender's out, baby.
- What's that? - What?
You trying to distract me?
- What? - Two time.
Two time over there.
- I'm not worried about Kwame at all.
He's going on three orange-ish purees.
At this point I'm kind of like, "Do you, man.
"If that's what's gonna get you out of this competition,
make more curry."
- A minute thirty.
- F--- you.
- Don't curse at your food. I'm mad at you.
- Not my food, not my food.
The oil, the oil.
- I feel pretty good about my dish.
I like how it looks. I like the levels of flavor.
Kwame and Lee Anne did take a safer route.
Mine's more inventive.
I'm pretty confident that my risk paid off,
and that I'd be moving to the next round.
- One minute.
If it's not good by now,
it ain't gonna be good.
- I know the pork tongues still needs more time
but I'm just gonna go for it.
I'm gonna just kind of mince it up
and I'm throwing it on the tortilla.
I'm dressing it with the salsa, the slaw,
and a little wedge of a charred avocado.
- Thirty seconds.
- Salt. Acid.
- Put it on the plate.
- Taste it.
- Seven, six,
five, four,
three, two,
one, time's up.
- [exhales sharply] F--- that.
[cheers and applause]
- Hoo-ha!
[dramatic music]
- Tyler. - Yes, Chef.
- What do we have here?
- So we have spaghetti squash
just like my mom used to make.
On the bottom, a little sweet potato puree,
pork cheek glazed in a little brown butter currant soy sauce.
- What's in the puree?
- In the sweet potato puree? - Yeah.
- Sweet potato and vegetable stock.
- Good, thank you. - Thank you.
- Okay, Claudette, what do we have here?
- Hello, Chef, we have a taco de lengua.
Sorry. - I'm assuming this is
how you want me to eat it. - Yes, pick it up, eat it,
get nasty with it.
It's got the yuzukosho marinated cabbage slaw
with some grilled avocados.
The salsa verde has been cooking with mint.
A little sloppy but-- - Mm-hmm.
- [chuckles] - Thank you.
- You're welcome. Thank you.
- Kwame. - How you doing, Chef?
- Pot of goodness? - Pot of goodness.
- Okay, so what's in the curry?
- Uh, so there's lemongrass. There's red chilies.
There's ginger, garlic, a little bit of shrimp paste,
a little bit of caramelized sugar,
some garlic chips on there,
and a lot of fresh herbs.
I love salmon head
because it has some of the belly
and the cheek on it.
- Thanks. - Thank you.
- Hi. - Hey, Lee Anne.
- Chinese style. - Chinese style.
All right, so it's braised fried halibut cheek
over some fresh sautéed wok vegetables.
There's a little lamb black bean sauce on there.
♪ ♪
- Why the lamb and fish together?
- It's definitely traditional--
- Some Hawaiian thing, yeah.
- Yeah, Hawaii and Chinese cooking.
- Great, thank you.
- A little lamb jam. - Yeah, it's salty.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I got to say we had some nice heady flavors there.
Everything was cooked nicely.
I had one favorite.
[suspenseful music]
It's Kwame's.
- [exhales]
- Yeah.
[applause]
- It had just a great taste, and I think the curry
and the salmon together really worked nicely.
Nice job. - Thank you, Chef.
- So you're moving on to part two.
- All right.
It feels so good to win.
Like there's one more challenge left
to get back onto "Top Chef."
And this is exactly what I needed.
A fire under me to get to the next round.
- My next favorite...
Claudette's.
- Thank you, Chef.
- I thought the flavor
of the salsa-- it's just fantastic.
It was really clean and pure,
and then the heat just came
and kept coming and kept coming so it really built.
It's really, really nice.
You're going through to part two of the challenge.
- Thank you, Chef.
I have one more round to kick some ass,
and then I'm back in the house.
I already can picture exactly
which bunk I'm going to be going to.
- Next two was tough.
Tyler, you talked about the spaghetti squash
and cooking the way your mom cooked.
I think it, yeah, it was ballsy to do the pig head
'cause there are a lot of things
in there that did take a long time.
But I think you did it. I think the meat was there.
Lee Anne, I liked your dish. I thought it had great flavors.
I thought it was overly complicated.
I think it was a side-dish and a main-dish all together.
But the flavors were really good.
You know it's a tough one.
Obviously for one of you,
your time's up here in "Last Chance Kitchen."
♪ ♪
Tyler.
Unfortunately, I thought the puree was really muddy.
I liked the grilled fat pork.
I thought it was really flavorful, but those two
combinations together didn't do it for me, so,
unfortunately, you're not gonna move on.
- Thank you.
I took a big risk.
I thought my dish tasted great.
The smallest thing
can get you kicked off of the show
'cause the competition is so fierce.
Yeah, I mean it always feels better
if the chefs that you win against are good
but it doesn't make it feel any better.
I should have won that competition.
[solemn music]
- So, congratulations Lee Anne, Kwame, Claudette,
you're moving on to part two,
and it's starting right now.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Next, on "Last Chance Kitchen"...
- What's going on? This is weird.
- Dude, what's going on?
- Welcome to "Last Chance Kitchen."
[cheers and applause]