It's all on the line for the final three chefs
in the last culinary clash of the season.
Top Chefis no joke.
It 100% is the hardest thing I've ever done.
Bailey, please pack your knives and go.
It's not over yet. We'll see you in Last Chance Kitchen.
Yes, girl.
Coming back from Last Chance Kitchen
has really fueled me.
I've learned to trust all the weird thoughts that I have.
I feel like I could pick your dish out of a lineup anywhere.
And I think that's a marker of a very, very strong chef.
I made tiramisu fugazi.
Pickle and red wine ragu.
Polenta gratinata with gorgonzola dolce brûlée.
I'm just getting started.
Stay tuned.
I wanted to compete on Top Chefjust for my business.
We're horribly in debt.
I woke up missing home a lot today. My wife and my dogs.
Like, that's the hardest part of this challenge.
I didn't expect the competition
to reawaken what was inside me as a chef.
This is the first time on Top Chef
that I felt like myself cooking that dish.
It seemed like a much freer dish, like you were having fun.
Scallion pancake pizza,
Sichuan lamb and tiger salad on top.
Last, a little hot pot with a sweet potato dumpling,
Roasted cabbage with ant togarashi.
I'm ready to show people who I really am as a chef.
Chinese mishmash, trashy fancy, bizarrely wonderful.
Yahoo!
Chefs don't always get the acknowledgement
that they necessarily deserve.
I wanted to play reference to my Afro-Caribbean culture.
I call it the OG Jerk.
Steak tartare flavored with obiata.
These are beets glazed in a shadow beni epis.
Being on this experience is really special
because I've been showing my point of view
through creativity.
Marcus asked me why I did what I did, and I said,
so that one day I can do what you did for me.
Yeah. And I encourage you all to continue standing on
your soapbox and your platforms.
And I think we'll all support each other in doing it.
It's been a really great, long, extremely emotional ride.
Trying to stay on, you know what I mean, was hard all day.
Your parents should be commended.
Since losing my father, Russell,
I'm working on his determination.
And now, I'm just going to bust my ass even more.
Tonight, it's the finale of Top Chef.
At stake for the winner, the largest prize package
in Top Chefhistory.
The grand prize of a quarter of a million dollars
furnished by Saratoga Spring Water,
the official water of Top Chef,
Delta Sky Miles Diamond Medallion status,
and $125,000 to spend on travel with Delta Airlines,
A feature in Food & WineMagazine,
an appearance at the Food & WineClassic in Aspen,
And for the first time ever,
the winner of Top Chef will headline
their own exclusive dinner
at the historic James Beard House in New York.
And the title of Top Chef.
Wow...
Wow.
This is insane.
We're at the Last Supperpainting.
It's just like a moment frozen in time.
You know, he's talented in so many different ways.
Yeah, for sure.
And Da Vinci painted this scene
that's been depicted a million different ways.
And I feel that way a little bit about my food.
People have done Italian food the same way a million times,
but I think it's an important lesson
that like, you can be a little weird and a little quirky,
and that's probably what's going to make you shine.
That's why I'm here today.
I didn't know it was this big.
That's incredible.
Leonardo da Vinci made something spectacular
that's lasted through generations.
And I feel that way about food.
All these things I'm taking from my mom and my grandma,
I don't have children to pass it on to.
And that's very heartwarming for me to share my food
with the world through Top Chef.
That's my legacy.
Both physically and ideologically,
this is a lot bigger than I ever thought it was.
I find it very strange that Judas,
who's the antagonist of this painting,
is the one represented as a dark-skinned person.
Stereotyping has been around for a really long time,
and my mission has been to increase the value
of Black food across the world.
I am ready to get this done.
Well, this was inspiring.
We're here.
Uh-oh.
- Good morning. - Hey, Chefs.
Congratulations on making it to the finale.
One of you is going to walk away with the grand prize
of $250,000, furnished by Saratoga Springwater,
and the title of Top Chef.
Wow.
How was the private viewing of Da Vinci's Last Supper?
It was kind of magical.
Absolutely magical. Yeah.
Da Vinci's creativity knows no limits.
That's what we want to see from you today
for your final meal of the season.
For your last and final challenge of the season,
we want you to simply make us
the best four-course progressive meal of your life.
- No pressure. -No pressure.
No big deal, yeah.
To help you prepare and cook your final meals,
we asked you to choose your sous-chef.
Woop, woop, woop, woop. Hey!
What's up? How you doing, brother?
How you doin'?
I'm back. Like, this is awesome.
If I can't be here myself in the finals,
then it's literally the most perfect next best thing
to be here for Bailey.
Shuai, why'd you choose Paula?
I thought about Paula as a chef a lot
ever since Restaurant Wars,
just how much she sacrificed for all of us
and I wanted someone like that by my side.
- I'm your rock. I got you. -All right.
And Tristen?
Zubair and I kind of vibed in the beginning,
and I thought he was one of the only people
that would understand me on spices.
Hell yeah.
- So, we'll put flavor down. - Yeah.
Now that everyone has their sous-chef,
we're going to give you a little bit of time to menu plan here.
And then you'll have 2,000 euro
to shop at a variety of local markets,
followed by five hours of prep and cook.
Tomorrow, you'll have an additional
two hours to prep and cook before service begins
at Michelin Star Restaurante, Cracco.
Oh. Sick.
You'll be serving us judges
and an impressive lineup of guest diners,
including owner of Restaurante Cracco,
and Michelin Star chef, Carlo Cracco,
chef and owner of Santo Palato in Rome,
Sarah Cicolini.
- Oh, my God. - No pressure.
And your guest judge,
three Michelin Star chef, Clare Smith.
Wow.
All right, chefs, good luck, and get to menu planning.
- We'll see you later. - Good luck.
Thank you.
All right.
This is the most important cook,
possibly of my whole entire life.
- Good to see you. - You too, brother.
Let's get you this win.
This whole menu is about
progressing Afro-Caribbean cuisine...
Mm-hmm. I love that.
...and a little history lesson a little bit as well.
I have a pretty good grasp on what I want to do.
Awesome.
I'm going to do Chinese techniques
and dishes that I feel like
that's influenced me
or just some of my favorite things that I have had.
Love that.
I want to keep it a little quirky, as they say.
- Perfect, perfect. -And fun.
The whole vibe is giro stravagante,
and so I want it to be super whimsical, creative.
I kind of want to feature different artisans
and chefs that have influenced who I am.
Italy tried to invade Ethiopia.
I want to give that little nod to that bit of history,
so I want to do something called "dorengo."
- Dorengo is short for doro wat. - Doro wat.
Which is the national dish of Ethiopia.
And then there's a northern Italian,
southern French dish called chicken marengo.
The next one, oxtail Milanese.
Risotto Milanese and ossobuco is a staple dish here,
but I am going to use oxtail,
which I think is the poster child
for Trinidadian cuisine.
Make it really Caribbean-flavored.
- Beautiful. - We're in Italy
and we have to do some pasta, right?
Yes!
I want to make a raviolo,
but I want to have it taste like soup dumpling.
Oh, my God, I love that.
The third course, I was doing research in Milan,
and I think about ossobuco,
and my mom makes this delicious tangcu [indistinct],
which is like sweet and sour pork ribs instead of polenta.
I'm just going to do a little southern-ass grits.
Yes! Love that!
Second course, I want to make anolini alpini.
-Cute. -Third course is
the blackened redfish.
All right, now dessert time.
It's part tiramisu, part zucca,
- like pasta... - Cute.
...and then it's made with pizzelle cookies.
-Cool. -I have a dessert.
I call it truffle roots.
It's basically a carrot cake. No carrots.
Okay.
But using parsnips, and then just like
a little coconut milk veil on top.
This sounds amazing, man.
- I love this. -That's it.
One of my favorite desserts
is the ambrosia salad.
I would have never thought you were like that,
but it's okay!
I feel like that's so me, because it's like,
it's trashy, but it's like something that's playful.
Yeah.
Let's make this the cutest meal ever, girl!
- Let's do it! - I'm in the mood!
Let's go.
- Let's go to pesce. - Belt check.
-Find us some seafood. -Yes.
I'm so happy. Look at us. Look at us!
- Woo! - Look at us!
-Okay, let's go. -Ciao!
Ooh, look at those fishes.
Oh, wow. Look at those things.
Ooh.
This smells like the ocean.
And you already know this is a good spot.
- Like that? - Yeah.
For the first course, I'm planning on
making a panipuri.
It's my favorite bite in the whole entire world.
It's so much punch. One single bite.
Oh, my God. That's gonna be so good.
My eye is immediately caught by the scarlet red shrimp.
Just glowing red. So, why not? You know?
Yep. All of it.
Whoa. Shuai's spendin', dog.
What do we think, fam?
They are very small.
So, I kind of think we go big.
- Okay. - For the first course,
I am going to be making a polpo e mozz.
It will be this beautiful grilled octopus
and mozzarella inspired by my first line cooking job
at an Izakaya-style restaurant, Yusho.
- How many do you want? - 50.
People say, you know, you're not supposed to mix cheese
and seafood together,
but rules are meant to be broken sometimes.
Let's look at some of the other stuff.
-The baccala? -Yes.
Oh, those are salted before?
Oh, I want this then. I want this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My first course is going to be baccala mbongo,
and I am on a hell-bent mission to find really good-quality cod.
Okay, last. This, please.
-I love monkfish. -I do, too.
The monkfish looks so good, I can't ignore it.
We're gonna roll them all, we're gonna slice them all,
see what's the best of the texture.
- Hell yeah. -Now, I'm torn on
the direction I want to go, but as a cook,
when you see great ingredients, all you want to do is cook them.
And that's it. Don't sell me anything else, please.
Woo, girl! You're about to eat well.
Grazie.
I really wanna hit up the open-air market.
So, that's gonna be our big produce haul.
Yeah.
Doing a little market shopping in Milan.
Soy sauce, oyster sauce.
You want to do a round first?
Yeah, maybe just a little look-see.
Let's do this.
Oh, yeah.
I didn't think I was gonna find these.
Perfect.
We're still missing cilantro.
cilantro?
Si, si, si, I have it.
Y'all taking all the cilantro?
Y'all!
That's enough, though, that's enough, that's enough.
I love the very multicultural finalists
that have made it here to Milan.
Four courses of cilantro tasting?
Well.
With Shuai, the judges always really love
the depth of flavor that he can get.
Do you have four courses of daikon?
Wouldn't you like to know?
He is a force.
Uh,
I think if we have five of these.
- Yeah. - And they look really nice.
- Grazie. -Bailey's a beast.
I was gonna make 1,200 grams worth of pasta, I think.
She's an Italian queen.
She makes Italian food that I've never seen done before.
Well, well, well. Did you see all the plantains?
Maybe.
Tristen weaves these beautiful stories with his food,
with the ingredients he uses,
and he's very incredible at doing it.
- All right, let's boogie. - Ciao.
It's pretty surreal to think that at the end
of the day tomorrow, someone will be Top Chef.
I want to beat everyone.
There it is.
- Thanks. Buongiorno. - Grazie.
- Here? - Yep, here, here, here.
- Here? - Yup.
Oh, well, I guess we're here then.
Prep list for today.
All right, boo boo, let's get it.
Oh, I broke the cutting board.
- Calm down, Massimo. -Sorry.
Woo.
I'm going full speed on veg.
- Lots of spices, Zub. - Yes, chef.
Paula, it's like Restaurant Wars all over again.
I'm cleaning seafood.
You're doing everything else.
For the second course, I'm planning on making
pork and king crab soup dumpling raviolo.
It's kind of Italian, it's kind of Chinese.
I think it's gonna be awesome.
Or I'll never be allowed back in Italy or China ever again.
Black vinegar, I believe is this one, chef?
-Yas, queen. - Yas.
For the third course, I'm making tangcu ossobuco.
It's gonna be served on some southern-style cheesy-ass grits.
One of my favorite things growing up
my grandma made for me is sweet and sour pork rib.
The sweet and sour sauce is made with Chinese black vinegar
and soy sauce, lightly sweet,
and it works so well with braised meats.
Fantastic.
Smells like a wet dog.
For today, the main focus is the braised ossobuco,
doing the stocks, and make the dessert.
We need to make sure everything that has gelatin
is setting overnight.
It takes a long time.
That should be done, like, tomorrow.
Corner, corner, corner.
I'm making the pasta dough today
because I have not made this filling before.
The second course will be anolini alpini,
porcini-filled pasta with brown butter pecan.
This is a dish that draws inspiration from
the mountains of Canada.
It's like we were in the Alps of Canada,
and now we're in the Italian Alps.
Having never made it before, it has to be pretty special.
I'll see you soon, my friend.
I'm just cleaning the chicken,
- getting them ready for stock. -Great.
Fish looks nice.
-Yeah? -My third course is
sort of a nod to Sarah Grueneberg.
I will be making blackened orata
because of her upbringing in Houston,
fishing with her grandfather.
- Isn't she cute? -Yeah.
- Bye. - Bye.
What else do you need, chef? How are you looking?
Good. I'm going to start working on my doro wat dish.
The second course is going to be the mashup
of polo dorengo and doro wat from Ethiopia
with an injera shrimp toast.
I'm essentially trying to uncolonize colonized dishes, so.
After that, it's going to be my oxtail Milanese,
paying tribute to both the Caribbean
and the national dish of Milan.
There's rum, there's tamarind, there's red wine,
there's chilies.
What is that?
Is Tristen trying to murder us?
Yeah, they're just trying to take us out.
Spices.
- Oxtail's in. -Oxtail's in. Heard.
Three hours, 30 minutes, guys.
Hey, chefs. How's it going?
- Hi, Tom. - Hey, chef.
- Hey, Bailey. - Hi.
-What are you making? - I wanted to create a menu
that consists of all the people
and places that have inspired me on my cooking journey.
And are you doing dessert?
Yeah. It is going to be a torta di pizzelle.
I'm going to layer it with mascarpone and zucca filling,
making a little ice cream to go with that.
- Nice. Good luck. - Thank you, chef.
- Hey, Tristen. - Hey, chef. What's going on?
- Zubair, how are you? - How are you doing?
- Good. - Good, good, good.
So, let's talk about your menu.
I got discredited a lot, like,
trying to do my own stuff in,
like, my classical training places.
But this menu is basically just trying to bridge that gap.
Roots are a really big thing in Afro-Caribbean.
So, for dessert, we're going to be doing
essentially like a carrot cake,
but we're switching out the carrots
for different types of roots.
Doing a plantain miso sauce and a ice cream using cassareep.
Awesome. All right.
I'll let you guys get back to it.
- Thank you, chef. - Good luck.
- Appreciate it. - Thank you.
- Hello, chef. - How's it going?
I'm just happy to be able to share this meal with y'all.
So, let's talk about the meal.
It's my style of food, which is Chinese, but it's not really.
It's just dishes and food and recipes
that inspired me throughout my whole entire career.
You know? Panipuri and, like, grits and stuff like that.
We're going to do an ambrosia for the last course.
I hear it's making a comeback.
-Barely. - Awesome.
But, no, I really love to have fun while I'm cooking
because I think you can taste it in the food.
- Good luck. -Thank you, chef.
Okay, chefs. This is for the finalists only.
After you're done prepping, meet me at Residenza Vignale.
We'll have a little downtime.
- Ah! - We'll see you there.
Awesome, chef.
I'm just layering the braising jus back into the meat,
and this will help it stick together.
It'll look like a little piece of ossobucco.
Tomorrow, these should just jiggle just enough,
just like me.
-45 minutes. -45.
Right behind.
-Porcinis are so good. -It's good?
Taste.
I think I'm gonna add just a little porcini powder to it.
Oh, my God. Girl.
I'm about to start cranking this fish.
I'm going to marinate it a little bit.
-Awesome. - For my first course,
I'm not entirely sure
if I want to go with monkfish or cod.
So, I'm going to treat them the same exact way.
So, I've marinated it,
and now I am just rolling it to hold the shape.
And I'm leaving the cooking on all the fish to test tomorrow.
So, I will either be in a really great position
or a really sh-- position.
- You put it back here, right? -Yep.
Eight minutes, 45 seconds, guys.
Veg is pickling. You're working prepared chard.
Yep.
I'm just hoping that we've set everything up
well enough that we can execute each dish perfectly.
Pasta.
I'll just steam it straight
in that thing tomorrow.
We'll just full steam, no heat.
For tomorrow's cook,
the only thing I'm really worried about is the raviolo.
Soup dumpling's always been my Everest,
so I'll just keep climbing that mountain.
Yeah!
- You're amazing. I love you. -Thank you.
- Thank you so much. - We're gonna rock tomorrow.
- Don't even worry. - My heart and soul.
Let's go see what Tom has tonight.
What a day.
Playtime's over.
- How's the truffle? -It smells nice.
Look at this beautiful chicory.
I think it's done.
- Oh, my God. - Oh, wow.
Hey, folks.
Uh-oh.
We're just finishing up dinner.
No, stop it.
So, why don't you guys go sit down at the table,
start noshing.
It's a once in a lifetime experience, right?
When's the next time I'm ever going to have
this intimate dinner cooked by Tom, Kristen, and Gail?
Ah.
This is way better than going to a restaurant.
It didn't seem so-- so finale real until today.
Yeah.
- Oh, my God. -Oh, hey.
Clearance for some tortellini in brodo with white truffle.
- Oh, my God. -It doesn't feel right
that you're serving me right now.
- Some porchetta. -Wow, that is gorgeous.
Roasted veg.
Oh, my gosh, yum.
Puntarelle, anchovy, and chicory salad.
Simple, simple, simple.
-Gorge. -Thank you.
You're welcome.
Yum.
-Mm. - That's delicious.
So, how are you guys feeling? Prep day went well?
Prep day was good.
- I feel great. - For the most part, yeah.
Had you been to Milan before?
No, the northmost I've been is Emilia-Romagna.
I didn't get on a plane until I was like 20.
It's amazing.
The energy that you guys brought,
and I'd say this without an ounce of smoke blowing.
First day you walked in the kitchen,
the three of us turned to each other and were like,
"They've got the juju."
We are truly getting to know you by your food,
but also your personalities are just,
they're there every single time that you show up in front of us,
and it's been really such a joy to get to know you that way.
I like to keep it humble,
but I'm also really proud of what I've accomplished
to get me here.
I think I'm able to say to myself with confidence
that I deserve to be here.
Look at that. That is gorgeous.
It's just a simple poached pear crostata.
Everybody's going to change their dessert.
After this many seasons,
it's still very exciting every single time?
-Absolutely. - Yeah?
I get to mentor, in a way, a bunch of young people.
My book, Why I Cook, there's several reasons in there
for why I do, and I love doing this.
It's so amazing when you can be around so many people
who have the same exact goal, especially now in restaurants.
- Yeah. -You make that happen.
You hire the people that want to be there.
You inspire them to be there.
When I worked at Rakel, which was Thomas Keller's restaurant
in New York, the conversation in the kitchen was never about
what movie did you see, what bar are you going to?
- Of course. - It was food.
- It was always food. - All we talked about was food.
So you have to foster that, I think.
Yeah.
Well, I've got to say, it's been really fantastic
getting to know you and spending some time having dinner.
Thank you for having us.
Good luck tomorrow. We're rooting for all of you.
Yeah, we really are. We're really proud of you.
It's the last day of Top Chef.
There's a little bit of senioritis going on,
the last day of school,
but you know on the last day of this school,
it's going to change your life forever.
Woo!
Let's get this sh-- going.
Let's do it, guys. Final cook.
Yeah!
-Chef! - Hey, girl.
- Let's do it! - A lot of energy,
- a lot of focus, baby. -All right, boo-boo.
- I need you today. - Let's go, let's go.
All right, first course is gonna be the cod or the monkfish.
I'm going to see which one is good.
I need you to start working on the cake.
Got you, got you.
This is the mbungo and the doro wat.
Running. Woo-hoo!
Hot, hot, hot. It's very hot.
How are we feeling on time today, Bailey?
It's going to be a push, but we know that.
We're gonna crush, don't worry.
First thing I want you to do is just to get grits on.
Yes.
And I am getting the filling done
for my raviolos.
Oh, hello. Meat jello.
Set very nicely,
- so I'm very happy with that. -Yes!
The most difficult thing for me to pull off today
is definitely that raviolo.
I don't want it to melt until you steam the dumplings.
I need the dough steamed correctly.
I want to make a really big one
because I want to put as much soup in there as possible.
It's-a big meatball. Okay, don't put that on TV.
I am making tiramisu pizzele cake with a zucca filling,
and then we're going to Ice Cream Town USA.
I would love to go there.
Fire and ice, baby. Fire and ice.
Chef, we're going on cake and ice cream.
- Do you have enough sancho? - I do.
Would you like some grated sweet potato in there?
Yeah, a little bit of sweet potato would be great.
Now you go night-night. Dry out a little bit, chill.
Forty-five minutes until we serve our first course, guys.
-Oui, Chef. -Heard.
I'm going to try some panipuri
I wanted their first bite to kind of be unforgettable.
Shuai, I'm working right now on straining the gazpacho.
Just lemon and salt, right?
Lemon and salt. Nice and tart.
Perfect.
The monkfish looks good.
The cod came out really well as well.
For the first course. I'm still trying to decide
the pros and cons of each fish.
Both of them have slightly different textures.
Monkfish is an easier fish to overcook,
but cod has less texture.
At six minutes, we're going to fire fish.
There's not a lot of time, but I'm going to keep forging ahead
until I can make the right decision.
Six minutes, fire fish.
Six minutes.
I'm going to fire them both to see how they both come out.
Time to party.
We need everything ready for the first course.
It's kind of inspired by Campania,
and it's like the products of the sea versus the land.
How much of a char do you want on it, babe?
Pretty heavy.
I need to get a really nice char on that octopus
to balance with the creaminess of the mozzarella.
It's the best mozzarella that there is.
-There we go. - Please.
-Wow. -It's beautiful.
It's beautiful here.
Please.
Welcome, everyone, to the finale meal of the season.
We all know at this table that the most important thing
once you get to a certain level, is finding your own style.
And I think that's where they are in their career.
I think we're all in for a really big treat.
Behind.
Babe, we have to plate.
Shrimp down first, and then salsa macha.
All right, going on fish.
I'm going to test a piece right now.
It looks really great.
I'm going to go with monkfish.
I like the texture of it a little more.
It has more of a lobster texture.
Sauce directly on the fish?
North of the fish.
North of the fish, chef.
45 seconds.
Good, good, good, good, good.
- Thank you. - Oh, wow.
-That looks like monkfish. -It does.
-Interesting. - Hi, chefs.
- Hi. - Hi.
Bailey, what did you make for your first course?
My menu is paying homage to all the people
that have influenced me,
but then putting my own spin on the food.
I wanted to pay nod to my first-line cooking job
being from a Japanese background.
We've got grilled octopus, mozzarella tomato dashi,
and then giardiniera.
This is sort of like a star-crossed-lovers situation.
Really good choice.
Shuai, what did you make for your first course?
I wanted to showcase that Chinese food can take
many forms, and today we're starting off with
a little panipuri with a cured scarlet red shrimp,
aji verde, salsa matcha,
and then on the side, gazpacho verde.
Tristen.
I always kind of looked at my own cuisine as something that
wasn't really revered and valued at tables like this.
What we have here is monkfish,
turmeric turnips that have been pickled.
The black sauce is a baccala mbongo,
something I grew up with.
Tristen, how do you cook the fish?
It was steamed in a little bit of, like, epi-sputter.
- Thank you, chefs. - Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, let's reset up.
- Yes, chef. - How are you doing over here?
If this was a fight,
they all came out and punched each other in the face.
- They're swinging, yeah. - Hard.
I love Bailey's use of the octopus and the mozzarella
because it's dumb and brilliant.
The mozzarella helped tamper and tame the char,
balance out the sweetness.
That one was a really strong dish.
Mm-hmm.
- How'd it go? - Good, I think.
Shuai's dish, just, like, flavor explosion.
It was crunchy, lovely acidity,
that wonderful heat coming through.
The gazpacho verde chutney had such beautiful herbal notes.
It's so hard to balance so many things in that bite.
But it comes together in a really refreshing way.
The chefs always have very good poker faces.
I know, right?
Tristen dish.
It's very simple, but very, very perfect.
I think my fish was a bit under.
The fish looked undercooked,
but when I ate it, it didn't eat undercooked.
It was, like, right on the border.
Tristen and I are aligned in ways of wanting
to elevate certain cultures of food
in a fine dining space, and he did really great.
I get it all.
Get the shrimp out. Get a pan.
- We're gonna fry 'em. - Fry 'em, heard.
That was so good. I'm going to go in
and just kind of give them a little encouragement.
I'm going to steam one raviolo right now,
- just to test it, yeah? - Yes, chef.
These pecan color looks great, Lana.
Hey, chefs.
Real quick. You guys nailed that first course.
- Thank you, chef. - Thank you, chef.
- Yay! - Everybody was really impressed.
- Keep it up. - Thanks, guys!
- Really awesome. Keep it up. - Thank you, chef.
Daddy said it's good.
Let's go!
Injera shrimp. This is just amazing.
Super unique.
Favorite thing of this whole night is this shrimp toast,
but done with injera.
So just like you're making a grilled cheese, all right?
- You got it, chef. - No burning, okay?
Yes, chef.
The size of the moment is getting more real,
and you can definitely feel that in the room.
Just a little fry. A little more.
Crispy.
I can smell that broth. It smells good.
All right.
This is four minutes.
- It just came out a little dry. -That's true.
The texture, it's not the right texture.
- Uh... - 13 minutes.
I'm pretty nervous about this dish,
but there's no time to linger on emotions.
Just got to focus and keep moving forward.
Think, Shuai. Think, Shuai. Think.
-That's a little too dry. -You wanna poach it?
Let's do that.
I didn't want to boil the raviolis because there's
higher chances of the stock inside leaking.
At this point, I just want to get this dish on the plate.
11 minutes, chef.
-Dropping pasta. -Dropping.
Just gonna nappé the chicken, okay?
Nappé the chicken.
Heard that.
It's definitely soupy, so that's great.
- Three minutes. - Gotta go.
I feel like the filling has a decent amount of seasoning.
The filling is great.
-Behind. -10 seconds, y'all.
Let's go, baby.
So make sure I'm staying busy while you're gone.
Thank you.
Wow. I'm gonna move this over.
Bailey, can you tell us about your second course, please?
So, this is anolini alpini.
The filling is roasted porcini,
a little bit of shallot, robiola,
parmigiano, and a little ricotta.
We were in the mountains of Calgary,
and I think that was one of the most important challenges.
It built a lot of confidence for me.
Now we are in North Italy, near the Alps,
and porcinis are in season, so I felt like
I absolutely have to use porcinis.
I made a raviolo with charred leek vinaigrette
and a little bit of lardo.
I really wanted to make soup dumplings,
so the filling itself has ground pork, king crab,
and a little bit of gelatinous pork stock.
Have you ever made this size of soup dumpling before?
I have never made dumplings that big before.
The filling I've been working on for a while.
I call this dish "Dorengo."
It's short for doro wat, meaning chicken,
and polo marengo, northern Italian kind of thing
shared between southern France.
There is a chicken poached in niter kibbeh,
an Ethiopian fermented spice butter.
Next to that is an injera shrimp toast
with a little bit of egg yolk jam and some butter.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Corner!
All right, guys, that one felt good.
The one from Tristen is just next level.
My chicken was cooked beautifully,
but I think the star was the shrimp toast.
I love the crispy chew.
The seasoning is right up to the edge.
A couple grains more, it's salty.
A couple few, and it's not seasoned.
And so he's playing his game and doing it really well.
You're gonna have to mass-produce those
injera bites, man.
Bailey's dish is really wholesome.
I love the fact that she's using a porcini.
They're in season here, and it's really lovely
that she's embraced that.
The pecans gave it something different.
It's the quirky part of Bailey that we've grown to love.
If I close my eyes, I remember the broth my grandma made.
So it's beautiful.
I think it went well.
Depends how much people liked it.
Shuai's soup dumpling,
he really, really understands flavor.
He understands balance. The vinaigrette,
especially with the black vinegar,
was such a smart ingredient with such a hearty dish.
I wanted more soup in the dumpling.
I believe that he has a version of this dish that is perfect.
A big part of a soup dumpling is the ratios,
and that's the only thing that was really wrong
with this dish, because all the parts were really delicious.
I worry about the pasta dough being a little thick, but...
it seemed very thin when I was rolling it.
I'm still at three restaurants,
and I'm still having a great time.
We need to just get fish going. Can you get the sauté pans on?
Yes. I'm going to pull it when it's a little under, yeah?
No. In mid-rear?
Yep.
If the roles were reversed, I would probably want to cook
all my proteins, but whatever chef needs me to do, I'll do it.
I don't want to overcook that side,
so yeah, I think you're good.
That's not even grits anymore.
That's just cheese.
That's what I'm all about.
Just a big spoonful right in the middle.
Gotcha.
I'm so glad Paola's here.
Thank you so much. You'll make me cry.
Three minutes remaining, guys, three minutes.
Looks like a fish on plate.
Scallions on top.
Are there any of these fish pieces
that you are worried about cook-wise?
I attempt a few of them.
I don't like how that one looks...
The fish I'm noticing that it is over.
- You want me to do more? - No, no, no.
- Go, go, go. - Going.
But we don't have the time to refire it.
Can you swap this plate with this plate?
That's beautiful.
This is a blackened-style orata
with a Calabrian chili crunch and a little whipped tahini.
This dish is kind of inspired by chef Sarah Monteverde.
She grew up fishing redfish with her grandfather,
so we always have some variation of redfish on the menu there.
This is a tangcu ossobuco with long beans, radicchio,
little burgundy truffles, and a sweet-and-sour sauce.
This was inspired by my grandmother.
Growing up, she used to make me this sweet-and-sour rib.
This one is very close to me, very West Indian,
but in the structure of a Milanese.
In the middle, it is oxtail braised whole,
and on the bottom are Carolina gold rice grits
with a curry butter.
And on top is a little bone marrow gremolata.
Tristen, how did you keep the individual grains
of the rice grits separate?
Cooked it more like pasta, and then mounted it with
the rest of the curry butter.
Your final course on Top Chef is about to be plated,
so get back there, and we'll see you in a little bit.
Okay.
Last one, last one, last one.
Last one, baby, come on.
I don't want it to be over.
Bailey's was balanced, had some bright flavors.
My fish was a little bit overcooked,
but I did appreciate the creaminess of the tahini.
It didn't have the brightness that I wanted it to.
It just didn't feel like the sunny, happy food
that I know Bailey's used to making.
27 minutes, okay.
I can do this. We can do this.
Historically, we've been underserved oxtail,
and Tristen took the time to pull it,
create that beautiful, huge, maybe too big
portion of oxtail, and then cover it with that gremolata.
He did not forget the bone marrow.
That's very, very smart.
No words.
It's perfect.
- Last course, guys. - Last course, chef.
Shuai's dish, it was rustic.
You've got that creamy, the grits,
sweet and sour, truffle, radicchio.
There's lots of different things happening.
The amount of dairy in the grits took over,
and I wanted the richness from the actual ossobuco.
Allora.
Let's take a moment to appreciate this,
and I'll spend the next 10 minutes brûléeing these.
We've got this.
Looks good.
I'm serving ambrosia salad
to some of the best chefs in the world.
I can't think of a better way to end my meal.
Three minutes!
We're going to torch that.
Parapa-pa-pa! Love it!
Do you wanna do one more?
Good job, guys.
Nice job. You did it.
It's been an honor.
Zucca is one of my favorite pastas, and we are in Milan.
So I decided to try to make zucca into a true dessert.
Roasted squash filling, pizzelle cookies,
mascarpone cream, and an espresso stracciatella gelato.
- Shuai. - One of the most unique things
I had moving down south was an ambrosia salad.
So I just wanted to make something that tasted like that
using seasonal pears, goji berries,
a little bit of Italian meringue on top, pistachios for texture,
and then just a little bit of toasted coconut,
which is very traditional for ambrosia salad.
This is similar to a carrot cake, but also to a pone.
A pone is basically a root vegetable
dessert that we eat in Trinidad.
I've paired that with different roots that I've found here.
Sunchoke, some sweet potato,
spiced with a little bit of garam masala.
On the bottom is a charred plantain cream,
and the cassareep sorbet.
This one's a really big honor to my parents.
- Thank you. - Thank you, guys.
Well, I hope you all feel very, very proud of it.
I want you to embrace it all, feel it all,
and celebrate all of your accomplishments.
Don't start crying, we're going to cry.
Congratulations. Enjoy.
- Thank you, guys. - Thank you.
Woo!
Yeah!
Wow, what an end.
I think Bailey really brought it home,
and I kind of really can see Bailey's style
quite clearly now.
I like the idea of using the zucca.
The layering with the pizzelle is really beautiful.
Congratulations. So proud of you.
Shuai's dish, every bite is different
every time you dig in there, and I think that's one of the most
successful parts of this dish.
I was really impressed at how light it was,
bursting with the flavor of pear.
This is like a really cool dessert.
- Thank you so much. - No, thank you!
You're awesome.
Tristen,
chapeau.
I think it's interesting, but to me, this is where
the whole thing got off the tracks here.
I don't want effervescent ice cream.
I think it's too spicy.
It's interesting, but is it delicious?
I don't know if I have a strong opinion on like or dislike.
Appreciate it 100%.
- Thank you for the help. - Of course.
Couldn't have done it without you.
Thank you for having me.
Couldn't have done it without you.
You know, we're seeing the future of food.
These are young chefs that are doing great things,
and we know that our industry is going to just
keep on growing because of chefs like we have right here.
Carlo, thank you very much.
It's a pleasure. It's very, very difficult
to judge three chef, is amazing.
Thank you for being here
and experiencing three incredible chefs.
Shall we go to Judges table to discuss?
Absolutely.
Well, chefs, it's all come down to this.
Today's meal was just exceptional.
They say I don't have much of a poker face.
If I'm not happy, I'm not happy,
but I was happy, so thank you.
Aww.
Bailey, can you explain the first course?
There's been so much of this journey that has been working on
my confidence outside of who I am at Monteverde,
and so I thought it would be kind of fun to do
octo and mozz together.
Who are we to judge them if they're happy together,
living their lives?
I think that dish showed extreme confidence.
The idea of putting those two things together,
it absolutely worked because you made it work.
- Thanks. - From the octopus,
there's lots of little elements of, like, pickled things.
It's just like, I kept popping in my mouth.
Super dish.
No Italians were harmed in the making of that dish.
Shuai.
I wanted to start off with a little snack
'cause I knew the rest of the meal could be a little heavier,
and panipuri is this explosion of, like,
textures and flavors.
The explosion of flavor is exactly what it was.
I thought it was just perfectly balanced.
The technical ability to pull something like that off.
I'm pretty sure everyone said it was, like,
one of the best bites of the night.
- Really, really good. - Thank you.
Your first course, Tristen.
It was subtle. It was beautiful to look at.
Everything was wonderfully tasting and seasoned.
The only question is with the cooking of the fish.
It looked really undercooked, but it didn't eat undercooked.
I like monkfish almost, like, scallop-y.
- I loved it. - Thank you.
Bailey, talk to us about your anolini pasta.
Being in Calgary, I did something that felt
really different, and it worked out really well.
And so I wanted to then transport us
to the Alps of Italy.
I could eat that dish every day.
I loved it.
The anolini were beautifully made, the broth was delicious,
and I really loved the pecans.
Everything about it was really comfortable.
Thank you so much.
Shuai, talk us through your raviolo soup dumpling.
I did struggle with the steamer a little bit,
so I just decided to poach it.
It's not the exact texture that I wanted.
The dish is there.
There is just that one piece with
the chicken soup that you can figure out.
Like, whip it in, but also then take a cut out
of the gelatin and put it on top.
Oh, where were you while I was making that?
Tristen, your chicken dish.
I thought the reworking of
chicken marengo was just brilliant.
A lot of people sometimes talk a good game
and they can't execute. You just nailed it.
- Absolutely nailed it. - Thank you.
The shrimp toast. There was a snap, there was a crunch.
- Yeah. - This was, like,
a banger of a dish.
All right, Bailey. How did you cook the fish?
I seared it topside and then finished it on the skin side.
You know, it was blackened, sort of charred, robust flavor there.
About 80% of mine was overcooked.
The first two courses were so unmistakably Bailey.
And then you told the story about Sarah.
It felt like it was a dish for her as opposed to a dish
that showed us more of you.
Shuai, what inspired you to make ossobuco?
I really wanted to do ossobuco by reminding me of my grandma.
And grits was one of those things
I kind of fell in love with when I first moved down south.
There was a lot going on in the dish.
I loved the flavor of the grits.
I loved the flavor of the ossobuco.
Marrying all the things together then with the truffles
and the salad and the garnish. That's where things started
to get a little bit confusing for me.
Tristen, tell me about your oxtail Milanese.
I called it oxtail Milanese,
but I just wanted to really make it a Caribbean kind of flavor.
The curry grits really did pay respect to Milan.
But when you took a spoonful, you were absolutely in Trinidad.
Fabulous dish.
We've made it to dessert. Bailey.
I love frittelle di zucca.
And so I thought about how could I take something
from a pasta and then make it into a dessert.
That's our Bailey.
That was the Bailey that I lost for a second,
and then I got her right back.
The gelato was just fantastic.
- This felt like you. - Thank you.
Shuai, ambrosia.
Yeah, it was my first time having ambrosia.
And I think maybe now I might be spoiled to have yours
to start with because it was delicious.
I think it was the dish of the night for me that gave me
the giddy, smile, childlike playfulness.
And that was a really great way for you to end your menu.
Appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Tristen, this was so complex for a dessert.
A lot of the ingredients are simple roots,
but they're put together in a way where it just--
it just has your head spinning.
To some people, maybe a little too much.
I happen to really enjoy it.
I've never had anything like that.
The sunchoke and the sweet potato, pineapple.
I really loved having something that was so original.
- Thank you. - Chef Carlo took
his imaginary hat off to this one.
Amazing, thank you.
Overall, it was just a really outstanding showing
from the three of you.
We have a lot to discuss, but thank you very much for today.
Thank you.
We'll call you back in a little bit.
Thank you, chefs.
Well, the finale of season 22, I'd say that the chefs certainly
delivered on a lot of promises to us,
but also to themselves.
This is everything you can ask for in a finale.
I better get some fresh air.
This is better.
We all crushed.
We always tend to go course by course,
but looking at their meals, they're so different.
And they're trying to accomplish different things
because there are so few mistakes.
You almost want to avoid going head to head
and talk through the menus.
Here's this thing. I find myself to be quite
knowledgeable about food. I'm a dweeb.
I look up stuff. I've been to Italy.
I've worked in Italian restaurants.
But, like, sometimes Bailey just starts talking
and I'm like, I don't think I know
what she's talking about, actually.
There's a lot of things you say that I don't know
what you're talking about.
You know, I'm going to go stage at Monteverde.
Bailey, it was a very complete menu from start to finish.
On paper, a lot of the things she tries
shouldn't work, but they do.
Bailey's octopus course.
The mozzarella with the octopus and tomato dashi.
Layers and depth and layers and depth
in this one little humble bowl of food.
Yeah. The fish is the problem I had.
It felt such a departure from the other two dishes.
It just felt out of place.
Look, I mean, I really liked the chili flavor.
I like the flavor that she created.
But overall, the dish didn't work.
One thing I love about Top Chef is, like,
sometimes you don't know what you don't know until...
You have to know it.
You know?
But then she brings it back home with dessert.
It was Bailey through and through.
It was well made. I loved the layers.
It was clever.
It was like pumpkin spice tiramisu in a good way.
It felt like I was walking into, like, hipster Nona Central.
You know what I mean?
She knew who she was and she went with it.
Tristen, I hope you open a restaurant soon
because I want to eat your food.
I want to experience it in my mouth.
Tristen came in with such a mission.
Every single ingredient on every plate had a story to tell.
And I think it really made it stand out.
You can never forget about his perfectly cooked chicken breast.
And then the shrimp toast. Genius.
So interesting, innovative, flavorful.
As much as I loved his chicken dish,
the oxtail was just so well done.
Being able to see individual pieces of rice,
the care that goes into that was just extraordinary.
It was beautiful. It was rich.
I love the curry and a little bit of saffron.
He just seems to bring together all these flavors
and create this harmony.
We all deserve to always think about the positive things
they say about our food because anything else they say
is literal nitpicking.
I mean, in Tristen's dessert, I'm straight down the line of
just complete appreciation.
I don't know if I like it still.
I like it because it's different
and it was a bit more savory rather than sweet.
When you eat food at that level,
part of the fun is trying to figure it out.
Fine dining, that's what it should do.
It should challenge you.
Every time Shuai makes a broth, it's going to be a banger.
Like, I never thought of aromats being jujubes,
break every French rule, which obviously I'm all about.
Hell yeah.
Didn't anyone feel like Shuai's
was maybe a collection of dishes
as opposed to a through line of a menu?
Again, everything was delicious. That's just it.
- Yes. - Although the progression
maybe was a little clunky.
He had two dishes that were the highlight for a lot of people.
The panipuri killed it.
Just opened the palate. Bam. It was delicious.
That bite was so sophisticated.
There was such a balance there because he put
so many different flavors, but it all worked.
I wish he stayed on that track.
Shuai's ravioli was like a great love letter
in the wrong envelope.
What was your favorite comment?
Oh, the ambrosia salad, how fun it is.
And that's just kind of what my food is.
You know, Shuai gave this crazy ambrosia thing
at the end that was really flavorful and fun.
Lots going on and really playful.
They like the poached fruit.
I just feel so many feelings at once that I'm like...
...you know, it's like happy tears.
Yeah, happy tears are good.
I love y'all.
I love y'all too, baby.
I think they all accomplished what they set out to do tonight,
and that's really exciting.
There's so much to like about all these dishes, but overall,
somewhat delivered
very distinct flavors, a distinct point of view
that I can't get out of my head.
A tough decision, but we know who our next Top Chef is.
Yes.
Great, let's get the chefs out here.
This entire season, we got to see
the three of you just really blossom into finding yourself,
finding your mission, and just cooking with a lot of joy.
While each of you deserve this title of Top Chef,
there will only be one, but you all should be really,
really proud of what you accomplished here.
The next Top Chef is...
Tristen.
Let's go, baby!
Let's go, let's go!
Let's go!
So proud of you,
and you earned it, and you deserve every second of it.
What's up, Ma? I just won Top Chef.
You [bleep]!
I'm so, so, so, so happy.
So that means now you're hired as momager.
Oh, my God, Tristen.
Yay, Top Chef!
- Yeah! - Thank you.
- You really knocked it. - Thank you.
Bailey, you are so tremendous. You know that.
- You made us so happy. - Thank you.
Congrats, man. You [bleep] deserve it.
You [bleep] deserve it, dude.
Every single moment of this.
Don't be down on yourself.
You're a Top Chef, man.
You're a Top Chef.
I love you, boo-boo.
I love you too, boo-boo. So proud of you.
I got through here through a lot of support,
and I'm so appreciative to everybody here,
and it means so much that the cuisine gets recognized
and the people get recognized.
I don't know. I didn't do it for me.
I did it for so many people.
First person to pull off Afro-Caribbean cuisine
in Top Chefand win.
I thank every single chef that did it and paved that way.
Man, if I can't say that I miss my dad so much.
I almost quit because I was hurt,
and somebody believed in me enough
on their deathbed for me to stay...
and I'm so happy I made it worth it.
I really appreciate it, and thank you all.
-We love you! -Well done, everyone.
Cheers to season 22, y'all.
Cheers to 22! Whoo!