- It's baaaaaaaaack - Restaurant Wars - and this time it's Sin City style. This season, it's a little different - the chef'testants take over "Top Chef Masters" contestant Chef Rick Moonen's restaurant, Seafood. and the focus will be on food, service and front of house. Moonen serves as guest judge for this classic "Top Chef" challenge.—Bravo Publicity
- Laurine feels good about still being there, with some of the best chefs. Kevin says everyone is having a hard time with Ash gone, especially with the Voltaggio brothers at each other. Michael V calls himself the "instigator" and says Bryan just tries to look out for people, just like when they were kids.
Quickfire challenge Padma greets them with chef Rick Moonen (owner of RM seafood, and another Top Chef Masters reject). Eight chefs remain.
The quickfire will test their teamwork with the first ever Top Chef tag team cook-off. They draw knives. Everyone but Jen and Michael get knives with nothing on them.
Jen gets first choice. She takes Kevin. Michael immediately takes his brother. Robin goes last to the Voltaggio team with Eli.
They have 40 minutes to make a dish. They each get 10 minutes with the food. They can't speak to each other and until they cook they have to wear blindfolds. "This quickfire might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Kevin says.
Padma tells them the team that creates the most cohesive dish gets a "significant" advantage in the elimination challenge -- and it's a high stakes quickfire, with $10,000 between the them.
Team Voltaggio decides their order. Eli first, then Robin then Bryan, with Michael batting clean-up.
Then Jen, Laurine, Mike I. and Kevin.
They blindfold up. The first cookers head to the fridge. Jen intends to olive oil poach cod.
Eli starts with strip steaks and mushrooms. The second chef starts. Jen hopes Laurine follows her lead and Eli puts up neutral food and intends to let the next person play.
The third chef takes over. Mike I looks confused to Jen but he tends to the sauce and follows poaching.
Bryan starts to head Asian, thinking Michael will follow his lead.
The final chef takes over.
Kevin plans to ignore the scallops and not poach the fish, even though he can tell that's where they were heading.
Michael picks up where Bryan left off.
Time expires.
Padma and Rick taste. Team Voltaggio made pan roasted NY strip with whipped miso, avocado puree and pickled vegetables. Eli says the final result isn't far from what he imagined.
Jen serves up pan seared sablefish with sauteed mushroms, shitake broth and radish salad. (She introduces it as "trout" and Rick catches her mistake.)
Rick says in general both teams did a great job. He calls Team V "intriguing" and says Jen's team had a nice finish to it.
The winning team is Jen's team.
Elimination Challenge Padma announces it's restaurant wars time.
They'll be cooking in Rick's restaurant in Mandalay Bay, but this time they don't have to worry about decor. They will be judged on front of house and service and the front of house person will have to cook.
Rick tells them it's 100 percent sustainable seafood restaurant and he'd like them to adhere to that. Jen's team gets to decide whether to keep the $10,000 and divide it or let it ride and if they win they each get $10,000. They let it ride.
Jen's team decides to go with no dessert. Laurine volunteers to do front of the house.
Team Voltaggio decide to go with modern American. Bryan suggests a chocolate dish and his brother shoots him down critically.
The teams split to go to Whole Foods and Restaurant Depot. They have $1,500 to spend at each place.
Eli and Robin end up together and Robin gets mad because Laurine sees her buying sparkling water.
Back at the house, Eli tries on his front of the house duds. Team Voltaggio decides on the name "Revolt" for Robin, Eli and Voltaggio bros.
Jen's team goes with "Mission."
Michael V. helps Robin refine her dish.
Team Mission thinks as long as Kevin puts out meat like he's been making, it won't hurt them to end without a dessert. They think as long as they don't screw up, they've got it sewn up.
At Mandalay, Team Mission takes the fine dining kitchen upstairs, leaving casual to Team Revolt.
Michael runs things in the kitchen and Robin feels like she's being bossed. Michael thinks she's out of her league.
The Mission menu is: Asparagus with a six minute egg, arctic char tartare, bouillabaisse consomme, seared trout with braised endive, pork three ways, lamb with carrot jam.
Jen thinks they're behind.
At Revolt they're making: chicken and calamari "pasta," smoked arctic char, duo of beef (strip and braised short rib), cod and billi-bi sauce, pear pithivier and chocolate ganache.
Michael thinks their food will be "more playful."
Tom greets Laurine out front then he checks on Kevin and Jen, who are rushing.
Then he talks to Revolt. Michael says Robin, with one dish to the Voltaggio bros' two each, will pick up when anything needs done.
The first diners arrive. Mission isn't ready.
The judges arrive at Revolt. They hate the name. Padma loves Michael's chicken, as do Tom and Rick. They think Eli's char was one-dimensional. They notice diners seem to be waiting.
Michael starts sniping at his brother in the kitchen.
The second course of duo of beef and cod comes out. They love Michael's cod but Bryan's beef is a little cold when it comes out.
Michael butts into Robin's dessert and she tells him to go away. She curses at him and he tells her not to talk to him that way again.
Robin's pear dessert and Bryan's chocolate come out. Toby calls the pear "easily the best thing Robin's done so far." They also love Bryan's ganache.
They like Eli's "intensity."
The judges go to Mission and notice right away there are no desserts.
Padma asks for salt with Mike's char. They like the asparagus, but find it boring.
There's a pause before the second course. Laurine gets overwhelmed by the slow pace and has to apologize to the judges.
She walks away without explaining the dish and Padma calls her back.
They find the clams and consomme disappointing. Tom calls Jen's trout a "disaster."
At Mission, Kevin's having temperature issues with his lamb.
Toby's put out that he wasn't asked how he wanted his lamb. Padma likes Kevin's pork better than the lamb. Toby misses a dessert. The waiters pass out sunflowers after service.
Mission gets bashed for their timing by the diners. They're sure they lost.
Back in the stew room, Kevin says it's the worst cooking they've done in their careers. "If we win, you guys must have done a horrible job, because we didn't do a good job," Mike I tells team Revolt.
Padma comes back for Revolt.
Judges' table
Padma tells them they won. "Across the board, best restaurant war restaurant we've had in six seasons," Tom says. Toby knocks Eli for being underdressed in his blazer and untucked shirt, but then they get right into the complimenting.
Rick tells Eli he did a terrific job with front of the house. Padma tells Michael both of his dishes were terrific and Rick calls a combination of his "brilliant."
They compliment Robin on her pear dessert. Michael says he helped her and she rolls her eyes. When Tom asks about it she says "there's a fine line between being helped and being dominated."
Rick announces the winner...Michael.
Rick gives Michael an autographed copy of his book. And Padma gives him $10,000 -- the money left over by Jen's team. He says he's going to split it with his team.
In the stew room, Mission argues over who's out.
Bryan sulks and tells his brother to keep his money. He says he's tired of his unprofessionalism.
Back out at Judges' table Laurine says they're all embarrassed. Tom says there were execution issues with each dish. Rick is stunned to learn Jen steamed the clams to order, which explains why it took so long. He loved her halibut but Padma mentions Tom hated the trout. She didn't know the sauce was broken when it came out.
They tell Kevin his finishing of Laurine's lamb was underdone.
Toby tells Laurine she looked like a "deer in the headlights."
Tom thinks they needed a leader. Padma sends them back.
Tom thinks they were overconfident. Toby thinks Mike I is the only one who didn't have anything go seriously wrong. They rip on Jen's trout again.
They liked Kevin's pork but not the lamb, which was partially Laurine's. Tom remembers her saying she'd send it back if it wasn't done right.
Verdict time Tom tells Jen she wasn't up to her usual standards; Kevin got one dish right; Laurine seemed to hide when things went bad and Mike's wasn't great.
The knife packer is...Laurine (who turns out to have fabulous arm muscles, if that counts for anything).
"This was a much harder experience than I ever imagined. Most people consider me rock solid and I've never had my rock rocked so much," she says.
She hugs Jen, telling her she deserves to be there. Kevin isn't ready to talk about what the judges said, he's really angry.
"I feel like every obstacle and hurdle makes me stronger, but I don't know that I want to be in a competition. I met a lot of great people and they exposed me to some really innovative cooking and that's what I'm going to take away," Laurine says.
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