- Lost my shoe!
will enter the ring.
all: Whoa!
- Will either have the ability to knock out
the reigning champ, Brother?
- This is "Last Chance Kitchen,"
brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch.
[dramatic percussion]
[electronic music]
♪ ♪
- Coming off the last couple weeks,
we won the Olympics, and then a week ago,
I won "Restaurant Wars."
And then I go out on a Quickfire
like two in the back of the head in an alley.
I feel like I left it so incomplete.
I gotta get back there, I gotta finish it,
I gotta take this journey to the end.
- Joe, Fatima.
- Tom, how are you? - How's it going?
- Every weekend, I cook outdoors
at this huge food festival in Brooklyn.
Having to tailgate and cook for 300 people
and going out on that...
Ah, it's just... I'm so frustrated with myself.
And I know I have to produce something exceptional.
- Welcome to "Last Chance Kitchen."
- Thank you.
- So Joe, unfortunately,
your risotto didn't resemble risotto.
- Yeah. [sighs] - It was kinda--I don't know.
It was...a little weird.
- That's chilies--no chilies!
- Just the fact that it was not chopped fine,
to make it fundamentally act like a risotto,
was the deal breaker for me.
- [sighs] - Please pack your knives
and go. - Thank you very much, chefs.
- And Fatima, uh... you made nachos
and they were just kind of really soggy.
- Yeah. - They were just, like,
wet and limp.
On this show, especially with six left,
if you're gonna make nachos,
they better be the best damn nachos
you ever made or we ever had. And they weren't.
♪ ♪
You got a shot at redemption.
Any guesses at who's the reigning champ?
- Uh... - I don't know,
maybe Claudette?
She can't lose these things, so...
- Well... - She's done a lot of them.
- I think Brother might be.
- Well, let's see. - Got his guns blazing.
- Come on out.
You were correct, Fatima. - Oh, my God!
- Whoa! - I knew it!
- You are correct. - Ah!
- So he's won three weeks in a row now.
- Brother is blazing through people.
That's really frightening,
and that's also really motivating.
If I can get through Brother,
I can get back into the competition.
- He's really on a tear. He's just putting together
some really great dishes. - I knew it.
- So three in a row, Brother. You ready for four?
- Hi, guys. - Hey, Chef.
- Hi, guys. - Hi.
- The three of you will be facing off today,
and two of you will advance to the next round.
And so this will be interesting,
because we're about to do something
we haven't done before on "Top Chef."
♪ ♪
[dramatic percussion]
Busy people cooking for themselves,
they typically use the same staples every week.
And those things, you know, they could be good,
but they're just not exciting
if you eat them every single week.
So your challenge will be
to take on a common weeknight staple
and make it much more than an everyday dish.
- Okay.
- It's the weekly staple that you're most likely
to eat on Tuesdays.
[chefs laughing] No? Hmm.
- Taco Tuesdays.
Claudette, you're probably bumming out,
'cause this is, like, right in your wheelhouse, now, right?
- I think you're just taunting me now.
- Yeah.
- I think you changed it just for me--
- We're just rubbing it in now, yeah.
Okay, so you're not just making me a taco.
We want an entire taco bar for everyone to eat.
[chefs cheering and clapping]
- Okay.
- You can use whatever is on this table,
plus whatever's in the pantry.
It doesn't only have to be Mexican.
You can go in different directions with this, okay?
Here's the catch: I'm building my own taco
from what's best on your station.
So I may not try everything,
but make sure everything's really good.
- Okay.
- To amp up the flavor a little bit,
we're gonna give you some
Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning as well.
♪ ♪
Who's ready to shake things up?
- Let's get it. - You have 40 minutes
and your time starts now.
- Go! - Yeah!
- Come on, guys! - Let's go!
[exciting music]
♪ ♪
- What are you doing, Joe? - Lasagna.
- Can't wait. - Today I'm making
a Korean-inspired taco bar.
I worked at a Korean restaurant for two years.
We used to do the street festival every year
and we'd make Korean tacos, and they were a huge hit.
♪ ♪
- Seen any pineapple juice?
Seen cornstarch? - Don't spend too much time
over there, guys. Efficient moves.
- Yup, yup, yup.
You can go to so many different restaurants
and have an elegant taco.
But what you can't do
is have a Pakistani taco bar anywhere.
And that's what I'm gonna do.
I really want to start the conversation
about Pakistan in a different way.
To me, that's the most exciting thing
about this whole competition.
♪ ♪
- Tacos are hot. I just got done
opening a concept about tacos.
I know the flavors. I know the techniques.
The most important part of the taco is the meat,
so I'm thinking, "Grab the flank steak,
get it going in a marinade."
- Fati, what are you using for your protein?
- I've got some steak.
♪ ♪
- [shouts indistinctly]
- Going on the grill with that, Brother?
- Yeah, I'm gonna let it marinade for a little bit,
grill it...char it, and then I'll finish it
with marinade.
This is gonna be challenging,
because you don't get to make a taco for Tom.
He has to choose what he wants on it,
so now you're not making one dish.
You're making six to eight dishes.
♪ ♪
- Lost my shoe!
- Keep your shoes on! - [laughs] "Lost my shoe!"
- I feel like if I'm not losing my shoe
at this point, I'm not running as fast as I should be.
- What are you doing with the prickly pear, Brother?
- I'm making a prickly pear hot sauce.
- Mmm, this is perfect.
I'm gonna add
the Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning
to my yuzu crema because I think,
with the flavors of onions and herbs in there,
it'll help lighten up this taco,
and it'll give it some balance
with the heat from the gochujang
and the funk from the kimchi veg.
- Something's on fire.
- Thank you.
Just the mirin burning off.
- Whoa! [laughs]
all: Whoa! - Hey!
- That's my chef! - There go the eyebrows.
- I like that trick, Joe. - You guys see me chef that
so f---ing hard? - Yeah. [laughs]
[all laughing]
- 28 minutes, guys.
- 28.
♪ ♪
- Uh-oh. - Where did he find the--
- Uh-oh, he found the tequila.
- Does that work? Is that good?
- There it is. There's the tequila.
- Had to make sure it was tasty.
- Whoo!
- If you're gonna make drunken beans,
you gotta get 'em drunk.
I'm pulling off the whole Julia Child,
like, "One for you, two for me."
Like, it's perfect.
Tequila has all of that agave flavor in there.
It's smoked, it's charred, it's roasted.
That's gonna build depth in my beans.
♪ ♪
- What kind of meat is it, Fati?
- I've got two strips,
so I'm gonna just use the strip.
And it's got cardamom, three different peppercorns,
chilies, garlic, ginger.
- What's happening over there, Joe?
What are you doing? - I'm making a quick
corn and napa kimchi.
♪ ♪
- I've got so many things going on at once.
I don't even know how many dishes I have at this point.
I'm just cooking and cooking and cooking
and trying to bring it all together.
I don't know how I'm gonna get this done.
♪ ♪
- Needs more ranch.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- What do we have over here, Brother?
- Carne asada.
Made a marinade of pineapple,
chipotle, cilantro, garlic, and soy.
Just gonna let all that just kind of work its way in there,
after being marked.
Sorry.
- This is Fati's food? Okay.
- What's up, Chef? - What are you making?
- Chana masala for my tacos. - Okay.
- And a tamarind and chili sauce.
- Okay. - I've got some preserved lemon
I'm gonna pull into some crème fraîche.
- Okay. - I'm gonna do, like,
a seven-spice rub with strip steak...
- Okay. - For the protein,
and some poached quail eggs. - Got it.
- I am just flying through things.
For me it's like, do as much as you can,
and hopefully it's enough.
[funky music]
- Go! - Yo!
- What are you making here? Taco bowls? [laughs]
- I'm making tostadas.
I'm doing, like, Korean-style fish tostadas.
- Tostadas? - Yeah.
- I guess it's like a taco, huh?
- For my taco bar today, I decided to do tostadas,
which is a form of taco.
It's a fried tortilla instead of just doing a grilled one.
I like the texture that it'll add.
- What are you doing with the sides?
- I made some corn and napa kimchi,
mirin-pickled onions,
gochujang salsa, and radishes and furikake.
- Okay, and how are you using the ranch dressing?
- I'm doing ranch tostada chips, ranch and...
- Okay--oh, so you're putting it...
you're sprinkling the ranch on this after they come out.
- Yeah. - I got it. Okay.
- Classic Oaxacan.
- [laughing] Yeah, right.
♪ ♪
- Is that coconut milk? - Yeah, coconut milk,
Hidden Valley Ranch, lime, lemon.
- Can I have mine as nachos, though?
- Fati's tired. I'd watch out if I were you.
[all laughing] - She's gonna kill you.
[all laughing] - It's too soon, Claudette.
It's too soon. - [laughs]
♪ ♪
Joe, are you doing your fish beer battered?
- No, I'm gonna just sear it.
I thought about doing it beer battered,
but I think I'm gonna just drink the beers instead.
- I like your style.
- Going with a Asian taco bar is definitely risky,
but it's "Last Chance Kitchen."
This is it.
♪ ♪
Coming at you. Hot bowl.
The layout for my taco bar-- I don't really have a strategy
of, you know, what I think Tom should have first,
but I'm just trying to make it super nice
so that when he sees it, everything looks appealing
and he wants it all to go on his taco.
And I want it to be cute as f---.
- Take your shoes off if you're gonna run.
- [laughs] Yeah. - Maybe you should've just
started running a little bit, huh, Fatima?
A little hustle. - Just a little bit.
♪ ♪
- How much time, guys? - Five.
- Five minutes.
- I just have enough time to make sure
that the steak is perfectly cooked.
I'm slicing the steak this way because the outside edge
is completely spice-rubbed and charred,
and if I start chopping it up,
all those flavors are gonna get mixed up.
- F---, the tortillas!
[chefs laughing]
Whew!
Almost forgot the tortillas
for the tacos. - Two minutes.
both: Two minutes, 20 seconds.
- Hot!
[tense percussion]
- We're coming down to the wire here.
This is our "Top Chef" season on the line,
so it's a wild finish.
♪ ♪
30 seconds.
- One, two, three, four, five, six.
I have six of my components done,
and I'm feeling really good about everything
that I've accomplished.
- Five...
four...three...
chefs: Two...one.
- Okay. [cheers and applause]
- Whoo! - Yeah!
♪ ♪
- Okay, Brother. What do we got here?
- So I went more Tex-Mex.
You got a borracho bean. There's some sausage in there.
- A borracho bean?
- [laughs] - Drunk beans?
Oh! - Drunk beans, some beer.
- Very good. - Borracho beans?
- You got a roasted tomato salsa,
some carne asada, corn mixed with
a little bit of ranch and crema,
pickled poblanos,
and the crema infused with chipotle
and more of the ranch.
- What's in your salsa? - Charred tomatoes,
roasted jalapeños, cilantro,
roasted garlic, squeeze of lime.
Tom gets everything except for the pickled poblanos.
Without the poblanos,
Tom's taco is gonna be missing a little bit more acidity,
'cause I know he likes vinegar,
but I put a lot of acid in the salsas,
so I know we're okay on that.
- Thanks. - Thank you, Chef.
- Okay, Fatima. - Hi, Chef.
- What do we have? - All right, so we've got
a Pakistani taco bar, actually.
- Pakistani taco bar. - Indeed, indeed.
- I like it, I like it. Okay.
- So...I did chana masala with poached qual eggs,
a seven-spice rubbed New York strip
with a tamarind chili sauce,
a Hidden Valley Ranch preserved lemon crème fraîche,
and an avocado, mango, and coconut crema.
- Okay.
I think I'll leave out the avocado.
Why the egg?
- The egg is actually very traditional
with chana masala. - Mm-hmm.
- That's the way I always ate it in Pakistan.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
[exhales heavily]
- Hey, Joe, how's it going? - Chef, how are you?
So I made ranch tostadas.
I roasted the cod in a pan,
broke it up so it fit in the taco well,
marinated in a little bit of ponzu, cilantro, and chilies,
and then I did mirin-pickled onions,
corn and radish kimchi,
ranch crema and chili sauce,
furikake radishes, and a salsa of gochujang.
♪ ♪
- So why'd you make this
so damn difficult for me to eat?
- Sorry. - [laughs]
- Just crack it in half and eat it like a...
- Yeah. - Like a wild savage man.
- Okay, I'll do that. Wild savage man.
Here I go.
- Back to your line cook days, Chef.
- Mm-hmm.
put the mirin-pickled onions on his taco,
but I'm not too fazed, because I still think
there's enough flavor, enough texture,
and enough acid that the taco will have
enough legs to stand on its own.
♪ ♪
- Thanks. - Thanks, Chef.
- Okay, guys. all: Yeah!
- All right! - Have at it.
- Open for service. - Bienvenidos.
- All right, guys, you could do a little bit of this
and a little bit of that,
you could do a little bit of this and a little bit of that,
you could do a little bit of this and that,
and be happy with anything.
♪ ♪
- Wow.
You're making my job hard.
I liked all three tacos, all three stations.
I think there was something for everybody on there.
You really thought about balance.
Brother, you gave us real traditional flavors.
Really good flavors in the beans,
really good flavor in the salsa that you made.
The meat was really well-seasoned.
A little cooling down with the ranch crema.
Really, really nice, but real traditional.
Fatima, if this is the kind of heat
that you wanted to bring all season long,
I wish you had started sooner.
Really fabulous. I think that tamarind--
the sweet-sour in the tamarind, really, really good,
although it was slightly under-seasoned.
I liked all your garnishes.
I thought that the chickpeas were really super delicious.
I loved that they were really herbaceous,
they had a ton of spice.
I wish you had cut the steak a little smaller,
because you bite it--bit it, and the whole thing came out.
You wanna have that... the smaller bites.
Brother actually chopped his up, and so...
and then marinated,
so you got a little bit of beef with each bite.
Joe, I liked that you decided to move in a Korean direction.
You made a tostada instead.
Flavors were cleaner than some of the other dishes.
Good spice, nice cook on the fish.
I think it was a good idea to cook it
and then flake it all up.
Worked a lot of flavors in there.
Tostada was a little tough to eat, but it's all right.
[chefs laughing]
I don't...you know, it's tacos.
Boy, this is tough.
My favorite was actually...
[suspenseful music]
- Joe's.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
- Everything was different,
and so when I built the tostada,
I could taste a little bit of everything,
which was really nice. You know,
it's one of these things. It's really subjective.
I mean, they're all really good.
I'm looking, really, at just flavor profiles,
and then, of course, I've gotta factor in things
that I think are mistakes.
♪ ♪
Unfortunately, Fatima, you were my least favorite dish.
- Fair enough. - The steak, just...
that piece was just... it didn't do it,
because that's all I got,
was that one big piece of steak.
But everything else was fantastic.
- All right. - Brother,
you are continuing on. - Good job, guys.
- Fatima, you can exit the kitchen.
- Thank you, guys. Thanks a lot.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you.
- Great job, kiddo. - You got it.
Kick some butt, guys. See you later.
Bye, Chef.
I've grown exponentially
in the time that I've been here,
and, you know, I'm gonna go back to New York
and really focus on building upon the flavors
that I have coaxed out of myself--
today in particular.
And I can't... I can't wait to get started.
- It's on, baby. - It's on.
- Taking out Fati is...
is a...sense of relief.
I've just gotta keep working through.
I'm looking at Joe as my next victim.
- Congratulations, guys.
There are only two challenges left.
Okay? - Bring 'em on.
- See you next week. - All right.
- See you next week, Chef. - Thanks.
- Thank you!
[cheers and applause]
- Big pullin' it through. [laughs]
To walk into my first "Last Chance Kitchen"
and be on top is... [laughs] It's amazing.
It's such a nice little shot at redemption,
but I know the second I walk out of here today,
that's all over, and it's only gonna matter
what happens next time.