- For the quickfire challenge, the chefs must create baby food for Padma's newborn. For the elimination, the chefs are tested on their level of hospitality service. Washington Hilton enlists the chefs to create a dish that fits their clients' needs, clients who demand round the clock accessibility to good food that is healthy, affordable and sophisticated. The chefs must create a breakfast, lunch and dinner dish for a select focus group. In order to execute three services, chefs are paired into 7 teams of 2. The team with the best service will be awarded with a Hilton vacation and a featured dish on the Hilton menu.—Bravo Publicity
- Arnold is flying high after winning the grilling challenge (even though he hates what it does to his pores). Amanda is tired of be in the middle.
Off to the kitchen. Quickfire time Tom and Padma greet them with a display of baby toys. Tom has an 8-month-old son and Padma has a two-month-old daughter. The challenge is to make a dish for the judges and also a pureed version for the kids.
It's a high stakes Quickfire, with each of them giving out $10,000. Arnold resolves to give any winnings to an orphanage in Thailand. Alex would go with "a hooker and an 8-ball."
There's no immunity. Kevin mentions his wife is currently pregnant. He's making duck and polenta.
Kenny tells us (prepare to sob) that his first wife died in a car accident when their daughter was only a year and four months old and he's been taking care of her. He goes for panang curry and chicken.
Stephen thinks it looks like a choking hazard.
Lynne thinks the judges aren't noticing her. She goes with chicken and tropical fruits.
Angelo talks about his son.
Kevin notices some stray pepper on his plate and doesn't get all his food down.
Kenny made curried chicken, mango salad and confit of butternut squash and mushrooms. Tom and Padma sample with baby spoons. Tim made sauteed lamb with mushrooms, shallots and ginger.
Kevin made pan-seared duck with baby carrots. Kelly made roast pork loin with grilled peaches and ginger. Padma spits out a lemon seed.
Lynne made chicken breast with yellow peppers.
Angelo made poached tuna with fenugreek broth, tomatoes, soy sauce and honey.
Alex made seared duck with spinach, basil puree.
Tamesha made veggie chowder with grilled salmon.
Tom says the disappointing dishes were: Tim (overcooked lamb), Alex (the puree was watery). Padma singles out Kevin for the pool of blood under the duck and Kelly for bland meat.
Tom's favorite were Lynne and Tamesha. Padma liked Angelo's and Kenny's.
Tom announces his favorite: Tamesha. Padma picks Kenny.
"Holy s---balls, I won ten thousand smackaroos, how you doing?" Tamesha says.
Elimination Challenge We welcome Beth Scott, VP of restaurant concepts at Hilton. Hilton is looking for a new healthy but exciting dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The winning dish will go on the Hilton menu. They're competing in pairs tournament style, with the winning pair of breakfast safe from elimination and everybody else on to lunch. Then the lunch winners are safe and the remaining three teams do dinner. The losing dinner pair will be out. It's a double elimination.
They pair up. Amanda and Stephen end up together as the rejects. Ed isn't happy Alex singles him out.
Off to shop.
Tim and Tiffany are together. She's concerned because Tim's been on the bottom lately. Lynne and Arnold pair up.
Kenny tells us he became the head chef of a five star hotel when he was 23, shortly after his wife died.
Alex insists on pancakes.
Back at the kitchen they return to find a table of past Top Chef contestants: Mike Isabella and Bryan Voltaggio from last season, Spike Mendelsohn from season 4. Along with Nora Pouillon, chef and owner of Restaurant Nora. Tom and Eric Ripert are also there.
They get 30 minutes to cook breakfast.
Tiffany and Tim make crab cake Benedict at her insistence. Ed chafes at Alex's presentation and they have no Hollandaise on the plate.
Angelo and Tamesha flirt with each other but she tells us there's no way it's happening.
They serve. Ed and Alex serve proscuitto potato cake, egg with lemon pancake and Bellini cocktail. Nora immediately points out they have no cake on their plate. It's Ed's fault.
Tamesha and Angelo serve egg, bacon and cheddar broth. Bryan thinks the yoke is overdone.
Lynne and Arnold serve tortilla espanola with chorizo and bacon with an olive pear salad and papas bravas. Tom thinks the texture is strange.
Kenny and Kevin made soft poached egg on herb brioche with proscuitto, manchengo and Spanish olive tapenade. Tom thinks there's too much going on.
Stephen and Amanda made poached egg, pancetta, potato rosti and grape ragout with Hollandaise.
Kelly and Andrea serve bacon, cheddar and wheat waffle with poached egg and mango and mint yogurt smoothie.
Tiffany and Tim made crab cake Benedict with asparagus and bacon potato hash in Hollandaise. Bryan raves about the crab cake.
The judges decide. Padma tells Amanda, Stephen and Tim, Tiffany that they had the best dishes and are safe. They're hugely relieved.
Everybody else heads on to lunch service, for which they get 45 minutes.
Arnold worries Lynne's tuna idea is too quirky. Ed and Alex race to plate again and Ed doesn't get to taste the scallop.
Lunch service. Ed and Alex made scallops with ricotta gnudi and broccoli rabe. Tom thinks the gnudi is good but Bryan has a better cooking idea.
Angelo and Tamesha made slivers of beef with jicama-Asian pear salad with mint. Beth wonders how the dish would travel. Eric has too many onions.
Lynne and Arnold made tuna cannelloni with forbidden rice salad and tomato vinaigrette. Spike, who has found fault with pretty much every dish, doesn't think this would be easy to make.
Kenny and Kevin made chickpea pappardelle pasta with grilled chicken and tahini sauce.
Andrea and Kelly made crispy skin red snapper with panzanella salad. Kelly admits they used canned beans. Padma says the fish is overcooked.
Judgment time. The best lunches were Angelo and Tamesha and Alex and Ed. They're safe.
Angelo loves that Kenny won the Quickfire but is still competing.
They get an hour to cook dinner.
Kelly cooks with lots of bitterness. Kenny doesn't understand why they're still competing.
Two teams are making short ribs.
Lynne sets an oven but Kenny turns it down accidentally. She refuses to cook the pasta until the last minute, but Arnold reminds her everything else has to go on top of it and tells her to cook it.
Kenny and Kevin taste their sauce repeatedly.
By the end, Arnold says he doesn't trust Lynne.
Dinner service.
Kenny and Kevin serve braised beef short rib with squash and tempura horseradish. Padma loves the jus.
Kelly and Andrea serve their braised beef short rib with polenta, shiitake mushroom and citrus gremolata. Tom thinks both dishes were good.
Arnold and Lynne serve pineapple red curry mussels with squid ink pasta and focaccia. Bryan says the pasta isn't cooked.
Back to judges table.
In the stew room, they open the booze and rehash their efforts.
Padma comes for the three dinner teams.
Kelly and Andrea win. Their dish goes on the Hilton menu. Plus, Kelly gets a 6 night trip to Venice and Andrea gets 6 nights in Barcelona.
Padma asks Lynne about her dish. She knows the pasta was undercooked. Arnold thinks it was cooked fine.
Kenny and Kevin are told their short ribs lacked glaze. They say they glazed. Eric says he couldn't find the horseradish in the dish.
Arnold makes a plea for the creativity of his dish.
They're sent away.
The judges discuss. Tom appreciates the risk Arnold took. Padma and Beth think squid ink pasta is a tough sell for a hotel menu.
Kevin says you have to tell the diners how to eat dishes and gets into it with Amanda.
Verdict time. Tom recaps, telling Lynne their flaw was undercooked pasta. K & K lacked glaze.
The knife packers are: Lynne and Arnold.
Arnold immediately tells the judges: "It's been a very positive and inspirational experience for me and I'm very honored and humbled to have met you and worked with everybody."
"I'm sad to be going because I came here to prove to myself that I could still be the old beast that I used to be," Lynne says.
Arnold is upset that Lynne was unhappy with part of the dish and didn't say so. She's mad at herself for letting the younger chef take the lead.
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