I've invited chefs from across the country
to compete in Flavortown Market.
From Chicago, Houston, Texas, Brooklyn, and LA...
I hope y'all are ready.
And yet, we've never had a competition between local chefs from here
in the heart of California wine country until now.
It's a Sonoma County bounty.
-Hey, Hunter. -Hey, what's up? Just finishing this up, here.
Hey, do me a favor. Put some of this Hunt and Ryde wine
in the basket for them chefs, okay?
It's Wine Country Chefs, right now, on Guy's Grocery Games.
Don't open that.
So, let's meet our chefs.
Now, first up we have Stephane Saint Louis,
the chef/owner of Table Culture Provisions at Petaluma,
who combines French, Nordic and Mexican flavors into his fine dining dishes.
Sonoma County is known for great food and wine,
and the weather is great.
I've trained in France.
I cooked, basically, all over the world,
and then, here I am now in Sonoma County.
Stephane Saint Louis,
-that's quite the name, my friend. -Yes. Yes, sir.
Good luck.
Next up, we got Justin Wangler.
Executive chef at Kendall-Jackson,
who's been pairing farm-to-table food
with great wine for over 20 years.
[Justin] Sonoma County is a really special place,
like, everything grows here.
The soil's amazing, the climate's amazing.
My job at a winery is to let the wine shine.
And in the kitchen, I'm pretty chill too.
We have a good time and get to drink some wine.
So life is good.
I can't believe you're here, dude.
-Go get 'em. -All right, thank you.
-Heck yeah. -I've been asking him forever to come do this.
And finally, Liza Hinman,
the owner and executive chef of The Spinster Sisters,
who mixes her Italian and New England roots
with modern American cuisine
on her Sonoma County menu.
[Liza] The Spinster Sisters has been open for 10 years.
We've been recognized for "Best New Restaurant."
My restaurant is a representation of me.
I moved to California.
I started cooking Italian food and it speaks to my soul.
I love every aspect of that cuisine.
Whoo!
There she is.
Welcome aboard.
This should get weird.
Chefs, welcome.
Thank you very much for being here.
Having Sonoma County superstars in the house
in Flavortown, cooking, is awesome.
This is great. You're gonna love this.
Two very intense challenges
that are gonna test your culinary skills,
your talents.
And the chef, unfortunately, with the lowest score
at the end of the first round will check out.
But the chef with the highest combined score after both rounds
will have a chance to shop Flavortown Market for up to $20,000.
I mean, 20,000 bucks.
Yeah.
[Guy] I'm gonna start off really easy.
I want you to make the judges a signature plate.
When somebody says--
[all laughing]
Chefs, how's it going?
That's my son, Hunter.
-Um, thank you, Hunter, I was just talking about... -[Hunter] Yes.
-...a signature plate. What's this? -Oh, great!
-What's this, though? -I brought some gifts for them.
Thank you.
-To welcome to Triple G. -[all laughing]
Aww.
Very thoughtful. What do you have in here?
Uh, we have a bottle wine,
actually our Hunt and Ryde, uh, Zinfandel.
-[Guy] Okay. -We've got, uh, some butter toffee,
some nacho-cheese jerky,
and also some lavender lemon jam.
Ooh.
There you go.
-Here you are, Chef. -Here, Chef.
-Oh, thank you. -You're welcome.
-Here you are. -Hmm.
[Guy] Hunter, very thoughtful of you.
You know what I think, Hunter, this is a great inspiration.
Why don't we go ahead,
incorporate some of those ingredients
all of-- Nah, we don't have to do all.
Let's do three of the four.
-Three of those four ingredients... -What?
-Wow, nice. -...must go into your signature dish.
You have 30 minutes to shop, prepare and plate
your signature dish,
incorporating three of those great ingredients
to this expert panel of judges.
[laughing]
Um, any questions? If not, let's just do this.
Ready, Hunter? How do you say it?
It's three, two one, go, right?
Right. That's okay.
-[stammers] -[laughs]
Was that good enough if Hunter says it?
[Guy] Then... the...
-[all laughing] -There they go!
-[Aarti] Oh! Hey! -Watch out, Justin here.
Look at Justin walking.
They're scared?
I'm scared that if they don't like this,
I don't get to go eat at their restaurants again.
[Justin] What's it gonna be? What's it gonna be?
So what do you think out of the three products,
Chef, that you're gonna work with?
[Justin] So I'm thinking, definitely, wine.
It's wine country, right?
I figured the wine would be a go-to.
[Justin] I'm thinking, maybe, the lavender jam,
kind of, balance out the acid.
I've watched this guy compete, so I'm not taking
this quiet, sandbagging attitude he's giving me.
[chuckles] All right, all right.
[Justin] Here in Sonoma County,
the salmon we get here is absolutely amazing.
So, for my signature plate, I'm making smoked salmon
and a red wine sauce.
I think the lavender lemon jam
will add a nice acid to the smokey salmon.
The mushrooms are tricky.
I know that cheesy grits is definitely a thing.
So I'm gonna do a nacho cheese grits.
The fresh morels are gonna play well
off the nacho cheese, dried mushrooms.
I love being in Flavortown,
but I'm actually really nervous today.
I'm not outside the kitchen very often.
[Stephane] All right.
So, my style of cuisine is very French influenced.
Skirt steak here.
So for my signature dish, I'm going to make
seared and then grilled skirt steak.
Get two of these.
With a classic French ratatouille.
And so, what else we got here?
A little butter toffee,
lavender lemon cream, lavender lemon, wine...
And I have to use three out of the four ingredients
that are in my basket.
Coming through.
So I'm gonna try to make a red wine reduction sauce.
Get some eggplant.
Sonoma County has delicious produce.
Get a little bit of broccolini.
I grab these broccolinis.
I'm gonna top 'em with this, uh,
dressing that I'm gonna make
out of the lavender lemon jam.
What do you think of that jerky, Chef?
-Did you get a chance? -I just got me enough for a little taste here.
It was a little bit on the, uh, chewy side.
Definitely a, uh, great sense of aroma.
Need more of any of it, you let me know.
Yes, sir.
And so I'm gonna incorporate it
with the red wine reduction sauce.
Where are we at?
To me a signature dish is gonna show off my Italian tradition.
So I'm making grilled pork tenderloin with Treviso
and a red wine peach sauce
over a bed of farro.
I need some thyme.
[Guy] Got a good game plan here, Liza?
Um, I'm getting there.
I can do the jam, it's gonna provide acid.
That'll fit somewhere.
-[Liza groans] -[Guy] And those mushrooms are the bomb.
[Liza] The umami in there,
it's gonna add some depth and earthiness to my farro.
Peaches, red wine, bacon...
[Guy] 26 minutes to cook. Get cooking.
So, who better to talk Wine Country chefs
than three experts steeped in California cuisine?
First, we have, celebrated executive chef,
whose dishes embody California's multi-ethnic cuisine,
the world record holder guy himself,
the one and only, Chef Jet Tila.
Food Network star, cookbook author,
-who has probably been to all these chefs' restaurants. -[Aarti] Yes.
'Cause she's judged Triple G over 100 times.
[John] Whoa!
[Guy] The spice queen herself, Aarti Sequeira.
And ladies and gentlemen, a moment in Triple G history.
Two-time James Beard Award winner,
and legendary Wine Country restauranteur and super chef,
the guy that made it happen all up here before we got started,
the one and only, Chef John Ash.
-[Aarti] Whoo-hoo! -You're so sweet.
-[Guy] There you go, buddy! Listen, man. -[laughs]
I remember when I came to Sonoma County in '96.
The only thing anybody could talk about was this guy.
So, to get you on this show and have you here to judge,
especially, for these chefs, because
all I had to do was legitimize it to them.
-[Aarti] Right. -Like, "Hey, we're not just a bunch of crazies.
-[all laughing] -"We brought the king of the crazies with us."
So, very nice to have you, Chef.
Mushrooms, red wine...
I've got to incorporate these tricky components that were gifted to me.
So how do I put that all together?
I'm just gonna go for it. I think I have an idea.
For my signature plate, I'm making grilled pork tenderloin,
farro and a peach and red wine sauce.
[cork pops]
First thing I get started on is my peach sauce.
They're gonna taste so good in Guy's wine.
I love the combination of peaches and red wine.
It's really classic Italian.
I threw in some thyme and some rosemary.
Some shallots to add some depth.
And that really delicious butter to add some richness.
Next, I start working on my farro.
The mushroom, the nacho's really throwing me for a loop.
But I figure I gotta throw it in there.
I gotta go for it.
Put that in there. All right.
I didn't know how to make this mushroom edible
fast enough, other than get it in some boiling water.
[Guy] 23 minutes!
[Liza] Oh, my...
Almost 10 minutes have evaporated
in two seconds.
My brain has barely even wrapped itself around what I'm doing.
This is gonna be rough.
I feel like I have a lot of balls still up in the air.
It's gonna be tight.
[sighs]
-Everybody loves a gift basket. -Uh-huh.
We've got butter toffee, nacho mushroom jerky,
lavender lemon jam, and a bottle of this wonderful red wine.
What one ingredient should you steer far away from,
do you think?
-[John] I think the lavender is the... -Oh!
-...is the difficult one. -Oh, interesting.
[Guy] Stephane, how are we looking, buddy?
Good, Chef.
What's gonna be on the menu?
[Stephane] So, we're gonna do a summer ratatouille with skirt stake.
[Guy] Are the mushrooms making it in?
[Stephane] Yes, the mushrooms are gonna make it in
with the, uh... with the wine.
That'll be our little sauce for the, uh, skirt steak.
-Good luck, my friend. -Thank you, Chef.
First thing I need to start with is my summer ratatouille.
I wanted to really showcase how great of a food scene
that we have here in Sonoma County.
So, for the red wine sauce,
I'm gonna go ahead and add some of the Zinfandel.
After that, we're gonna add the nacho porcini mushroom.
Then, I'm gonna add the demi-glaze.
Hopefully, it will add a little bit of umami
and that will pair pretty well
with the skirt steak.
I'm very excited to be here competing,
you know, against some of the best Wine Country chefs.
I'm mostly here to show what Wine Country cooking is all about.
[Justin] Uh, yeah, smoked salmon.
Some grits.
A little mushrooms, ramps, and a red wine sauce
with a little lavender honey.
So, I smoked the salmon because I like flavor
and salmon is a signature dish for Sonoma County.
I'm gonna use the lavender jam to rub the salmon on
to give it some nice acid and sweetness.
And then smoked it for about two, three minutes.
Next, I need to work on my grits.
I usually don't cook quick grits, but, um,
today I don't have that kind of time.
[Guy] All right, Chef.
I put a little smoke on the salmon with the lemon jam.
Gonna balance that out with the wine.
I'll make, like, a traditional beurre rouge sauce,
you know, kind of, Wine Country classic, easy money.
Crowd pleaser, so...
You kill me.
Chefs, 15 minutes, 15 to go.
-All right, Chef Liza, how're we looking? -Hello, Chef.
What's on the menu?
Uh, so we have a pork tenderloin.
Um, I'm doing some farro,
I have the mushrooms actually cooking in with the farro.
-Nice. -Your red wine,
I'm making kind of a pickle-y peach red wine compote.
-I love pickle-y peach. -Um, it should go. Yep.
-It was my college name. -With... to go with-- Yeah.
[Guy] It looks like they've done this a million times before.
-They're just kind of walking, right. No big deal. -Right.
-I've got this. -[Liza] Yeah. Got this.
So I have my grilled Treviso.
Treviso comes from the chicory family.
It has a similar color to radicchio
and a similar flavor profile.
I love bitter flavors.
I need to use my lemon lavender jam.
So...
I mix up the scallions, lemon jam, my Fresno chili.
Rub it all together, and it's gonna
add some nice layers of complexity to the dish.
-[Jet] Lavender is so potpourri, it's-- -[Aarti] Yeah.
[Jet] It's a freshener, it's a scent.
-Yeah, it is. -Well it can... It can almost be medicinal.
-Yes! -A kin to what you said.
Exactly. And that...
-That scares me a little bit. -[John] Yeah.
So, my summer ratatouille is looking pretty good.
I'm gonna work on my broccolini and my citronette dressing.
Mixing bowl.
Into a bowl, I'm going to add mustard and lemon juice.
And then I incorporate the lavender lemon.
I'm gonna infuse it in a quick little vinaigrette
that we're gonna do to pour over the broccolini.
Man, people are not scared of that jam like I was.
[Stephane] And then, I'm gonna incorporate a little bit of blue cheese
just to bring a little bit of a tanginess.
So I did this dressing
and that is a perfect way to use that basket ingredient.
So skirt steak can be a challenge.
You always want to leave it on the medium rare side.
I'm going to use this cast iron pan
to make sure they are at the correct temperature that I want.
And I'm gonna finish the skirt steak on the grill
so that I can get some of that charred grilled flavor.
[Justin] Liza, you having fun yet?
Yeah, what are you up to over there?
-I'm smoking some salmon. -I see some smoke.
I got some mushrooms.
I grew up in North Carolina, so a lot of grits.
And I'm gonna see a little Wine Country flair to it
with some nice wine sauce.
The key to making good grits is stirring,
making sure you don't overcook 'em.
I'm also gonna use the mushroom jerky in my grits
to give it a little umami flavor.
These are "nacho" normal mushrooms,
and "nacho" normal grits.
I think I can get some of that nacho cheese flavor in it.
Fresh morels are gonna play well off the nacho cheese.
Dried mushrooms.
[Guy] Morels, I love it.
-Yeah, morels, I kind of went with that mushroom thing. -Shallots in there.
-Okay. -Got the mushrooms in here,
making some cheesy mushroom grits.
I'm gonna throw a little Malta in there to give it a little richness.
[Guy] It looks great.
Ninety seconds, chefs, ninety to go.
[Liza] I drained my farro.
The mushroom has infused a little bit of its flavor.
So I think it might have worked out.
Then I follow it up with a spear of the Treviso.
I take my pork tenderloin out of the oven
and it was just perfect.
And then, I finish it with my red wine peach sauce.
It really is a perfect Sonoma County dish.
[Stephane] So first, I get my ratatouille down.
Then, I add on my perfectly-cooked steak.
And then, I drizzle some of that lavender lemon citronette
on my broccolini.
Now that my sauce has reduced enough,
I'm gonna go ahead and strain it out.
I can kind of taste the umami flavor.
Hopefully, that's what the judge are looking for.
Thirty seconds.
[Justin] To plate my signature plate,
I'm gonna start by putting the grits down.
And then, I'll add my morels and ramps.
I'm gonna use a blow torch to melt this, uh, lemon jam,
almost like a glaze over the top of the salmon.
Followed by my smoked salmon.
And then, I'm just gonna give it a little drizzle of the beurre rouge sauce.
[Guy] Five, four,
three,
two, one...
-Chefs, that's it. Stop working. -[judges whooping]
Nicely done!
Wow!
Well, chefs, you gotta put a cork in it.
Those Wine Country plates are done!
Let's take it to the judges, right this way.
[Guy] All right judges, this is it, this is game one
of Wine Country Chefs.
Now, the chefs had to create a signature dish
featuring three of the four ingredients in the gift basket.
Chef Justin from K-J up first.
What'd you make for us, bud?
Uh, I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina,
and once I saw the grits, ramps and morels,
I knew the dish made itself.
I had your beautiful wine to make a classic beurre rouge sauce.
And then, where I come from, it'd be smoked trout,
but we're in Sonoma County,
so we're in salmon country here.
So I did quick hot smoked salmon.
Chef Justin, it's such a well-thought-out plate.
Using that jam
brings sweetness, brings some acidity to this,
and just perfumes it ever so perfectly.
The wine brings a sweetness.
It really ties it together.
I think it's really smart that you did
almost sort of a play on a shrimp and grits,
but like Wine Country style.
That red wine sauce is like
the gravy that you would normally get with shrimp and grits.
So, super-smart.
I love the idea of using nacho cheese mushroom jerky
in cheesy type grits.
Um, I think if you had chopped them up a little finer,
I think we'd get more of that mushroom
and more of that "nacho cheesy flavor" in every bite.
-Okay. -It's a beautiful dish.
And I think, so often, salmon can get overcooked and dried out.
But this is moist. The fat is still in it.
To make good grits is an artform.
The beurre rouge was delicious.
I mean, I was just knocked out by it.
That, especially, in a half an hour's period of time.
[Guy] Thank you very much, Chef.
Up next, Chef Liza.
All right. Well, for my signature dish,
I really wanted to do a red wine and peach compote.
I think that goes amazing with pork.
So I grabbed a pork tenderloin.
And then, I had these mushrooms
and I wanted to put it with some nutty farro.
And then, I grilled some Treviso.
I used that jam to dress that grill Treviso,
so that it countered the bitterness.
Chef Liza, such a perfect combination here on this plate.
The pork needs the acid and the sugar and the earthiness
and it's all here.
I need some fat on this plate.
There's a lot of leanness here,
there's a lot of acid and a lot of earth.
So if there was just something to tie it together for me, but brilliant dish.
You don't need any fat, Jet.
-[laughs] -I need the opposite.
I-- I love all the elements
that you pulled together on this plate here.
When you said wine, peaches and shallots, I was like,
"I don't know what she is doing with it, but I love it already."
-[Liza laughs] -So, I love that flavor combination,
'cause you really leaned into the lemon side of that jam.
It is bright, it is acidic, it is sunny.
The one thing that's missing for me is the umami from the mushroom.
Um, I think the Treviso, while wonderfully bitter,
is a little too assertive here.
-And even takes over the sweetness of the peaches. -Sure.
[John] One of the elements that I-- actually, I personally really like
is the bitterness of the Treviso.
It's, uh, palate cleansing and I love farro.
I think it was a spectacular dish.
-Thank you. -[Guy] All right, not to be outdone!
Chef Stephane, what do you have for us?
So I made a, uh, skirt steak
with the, uh, Zinfandel
and nacho jerky, uh, porcini reduction sauce.
Next to it is a, uh, ratatouille
topped with a grilled broccolini,
with the, uh, lemon lavender
blue cheese citronette dressing.
I think it was a inspired use of ratatouille.
It's one of those things that, when it's properly done,
as this is, where the vegetables retained
some of their texture and flavor,
you can really taste them.
I think it's a nice dish.
[Aarti] This is a gorgeous, beautiful plate.
The thing that I love about it is
the way that you used just the right amount of blue cheese.
There's this very gentle sort of funk to it,
um, that pulls everything together. It was really smart.
Excellent. Thank you.
Such smart cooking,
'cause I kept going, "Wow, and wow and wow!"
The cheese in the mushroom jerky with the blue cheese.
The lemon in the jam playing into, kind of, the acidity of the vegetables.
The wine playing in with everything was great.
I think it's a great dish.
I think that I needed more mushroom.
I needed more of that jerky.
Thank you.
Chefs, we're gonna have some deliberation.
We're gonna talk about you behind your back.
-Thank you. -[all clapping]
Uh, judges, whose signature plate was not your jam or your jerky?
Twenty points available on gameplay,
twenty points available on taste,
ten point available on plating,
for a total of 50 points.
[Guy] Chefs, you did a great job.
Let's look at the scores.
Liza, we'll start with you.
15 out of 20 in gameplay,
17 out of 20 in taste,
8 out of 10 in plating
for a score of 40. Good score.
Chef Justin.
17 out of 20 in gameplay,
17 out of 20 in taste, not bad.
9 in plating, for a score of 43.
That's a heavy hitter, buddy.
Chef Stephane.
16 out of gameplay,
18 out of taste,
and 8 out of plating, for a 42.
-Nicely done, one point behind the leader. -[Aarti] Wow!
Justin, congratulations with a score of 43.
And that leaves us Liza at the bottom with 40.
But...
tonight is a very special night.
-The legend's in the house. -[Jet] Yeah.
I guaranteed him six plates of food.
[all laughing]
Just based upon that alone, I'm not sending anybody home.
-[Aarti] Whoo-hoo. -[all cheering]
All right!
Chefs, second and final round starts now.
Back to your carts. Good luck.
So, Sonoma County, Napa counties are the perfect destination
for wine and dining your partner, correct?
So I want you to make the judges a romantic dinner.
-Dad. Chefs, how we doing? -[chefs groan]
[chefs laughing]
I was told that you needed a game.
-What romantic, fun game do you have? -Would... Would you just--
Well, it's like the one that you used to play
when you were in middle school.
-[judges laughing] -Spin the bottle?
Yes.
[Aarti clapping, sighing]
So, here's what we're gonna do, chefs.
I'm gonna put this down here, I gonna let you come up one by one...
and spin the bottle.
And that will determine your budget
of what you get to shop with.
Who'd like to go first?
-I'll go first. -[Guy] Stephane, there you go, buddy.
Spin that bottle.
[Guy] It's gotta spin at least around one side. There we go.
-[Aarti] Oh, gee. -[Hunter] That's a 24.
-I would say that's 24. -[Stephane] Yeah.
All right. Very nice. 24 bucks.
Okay. Liza, you going next?
Yes, sir. Okay.
[Hunter] Don't break the bottle, please.
[Guy] Wow! With authority.
-And a 20. -[Aarti] Hey!
Uh, Chef Justin.
Come on, Justin.
[Guy] There you go. Look at that. With authority.
Whoa! Oh! 14.
Justin, you budget shopper, you!
It's gonna be a cheap... cheap date.
Yikes. Should we give him another spin?
[Guy whispering] These are wine country chefs.
-These are like powerhouses. -Okay.
So, I wanna see like... I wanna see this kind of food.
-What are you, uh, what're you gonna propose? -I got it.
I know what we're gonna do. You know what?
I'm gonna double your money.
-Ooh! -All right?
-That's nice. -[Aarti] Wow!
Okay, 48. There we go.
-Now, you had 20. So you get 40. -Yes, sir.
There you go. 40 bucks.
Chef, what did I say I had for you?
-Twenty eight. -Twenty eight. There we go.
There we go.
All right. 30 minutes to make your romantic dinner.
I feel we need to give them a gift.
We need to say thank you for being here.
-Yes. -Oh! [chuckles]
All right, hold on. Something that really gives them that freedom to shop.
-That's exactly what I'm talking about. -I think...
these might do the job.
-[Aarti] No! -You are thinking.
Everything that you need will fit in this bag.
-Oh, man. -[Guy] There you go.
Let's get rid of these carts.
Step to the front of your cart.
You can go back and shop as many times as you want.
So if you wanna buy something, get 3 things, 2 or 3 things,
then go and you go--
Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.
And put one of them in the oven.
You go do that. And then...
-[Aarti] Did he say it? -...um...
you can go back and shop again.
Please don't hit the bottle, uh, when you run by.
Oh, boy.
-Okay. -[Guy chuckling]
So I only have $40 to make a romantic dinner.
-What're you thinking, Chef? -I think we're going scallops. It's a classic delight.
Scallops are expensive,
but they cook quickly
and I think they speak to everything that is romantic.
I just hope that my budget will stretch far enough
so that I can actually complete a full dinner.
Now I have to shop with this tiny, little tote bag
and make sure everything fits in that one bag.
This is gonna be rough.
I see that nduja hiding up there.
Also a little pricey, but it's gonna add some fat
and maybe, ooh, a little spice.
Fennel.
I'm gonna make a puree with fennel.
But it's not gonna have enough texture,
so I'm grabbing a potato to throw in with that fennel.
One orange, okay.
-Okay. -Hi.
All right, you found everything you wanted?
[Liza] For the moment, yes.
You're at $31.15.
I have $8.85 left over, that's a good amount.
And I definitely feel like I probably will need another component or two,
but I gotta get started.
Thank you.
Oh, why are you so expensive?
$40 is a lot of money,
but I don't know the prices in Flavortown.
Ooh, nice.
Even a budget of $48
-for a nice romantic dinner... -Yeah. Yeah.
...is not much.
[Stephane] So, for my romantic dinner,
I'm thinking I'm gonna make, uh, two different dishes.
Bread, bread, bread, bread. It's over there.
A, uh, mussel course.
With a nice grilled toast.
The strategy behind it is to keep it simple.
It's not a romantic dinner without a dessert.
And so I am going to make a vanilla whipped cream
with strawberry and chocolate sauce.
-All right. Thank you. -There you go.
Have a wonderful day. [chuckles]
I am a little worried that I am below budget.
But, however, time is an essence,
and so I'm gonna go ahead and roll my dices.
[Justin] I'm very excited to head out to the store
with my new Guy's Grocery Game bag.
And then Guy's giving you a hard time
and trying to get you distracted.
We used to be good buddies.
So, I think for a romantic dinner with only $28,
I'm gonna do a warm salad,
featuring shrimp.
Halfway there.
They didn't leave a lot of wiggle room to make the rest.
Capers and seafood, to me,
I just think it adds that nice briny acid
and a really nice pop to it.
I think I'm pretty much there, man, I don't think I got much left.
You really don't need too much more for a simple dish like this.
-You take coupons at all? -I do not.
All right. You're at $25.84.
I might come back and see you later?
I got, like, 2 bucks left over.
I'm in the lead by a little bit
but I don't have much wiggle room.
I know these other wine county chefs are coming for me.
How we looking, Chef?
[Liza] I ended up with those scallops.
I'm gonna do, like, a fennel and potato base
'cause it's silky and smooth and a little sexy.
-Fennel sounds sexy. -Yeah, right?
Add a little spice with some nduja butter.
[Guy] Awesome.
[Liza] First thing I get started is my fennel potato puree.
I've gotta get it into the pot
so I can get that silky gorgeous texture.
While my fennel potatoes are boiling, I'm gonna work on my nduja sausage.
It's gonna go right on top of the scallops
because it has great intense spice flavor.
I'm just gonna let this melt
and render out in the oven where I don't have to worry about it.
So today, I'm playing for Les Dames d'Escoffier,
Sonoma County.
It's an organization that is raising money to provide scholarships for women
who are getting into the hospitality industry.
It's so important to support them and help them on their journey.
Good.
All right, so my dad is currently out of the store right now.
And that budget, that was mean.
I'm gonna help 'em out a little bit.
[over PA system] Uh, excuse me. Attention, chefs.
My dad is currently out of the shop right now.
But I have five minutes, so it is free-for-all Wednesday.
You're free to get one item for free, but hurry up.
One free item.
Chefs, the clock is ticking. I don't know when he's coming back.
And if we get caught stealing,
I don't know what's gonna happen to me.
Help me out here.
[Hunter over PA system] Uh, excuse me. Attention, chefs.
My dad is currently out of the shop right now.
For about 5 minutes, so it is free-for-all Wednesday.
You're free to go get one item for free, but hurry up.
My dad's coming back here any minute.
All right, work for that.
-One free item. -[Jet] Take advantage!
[Liza] Yes, sir. Giant tubs of caviar.
I mean, what's more romantic than a big pile of caviar?
[Justin] I'm gonna grab a bottle of La Crema Chardonnay.
I'm gonna have a glass
and then deglaze my pan with it
and finish it with a little butter.
[Stephane] It's not like I can't afford it,
but I'm gonna go ahead and grab some vanilla extract
to add to my whipped cream.
[Guy] 21 minutes, guys. 21.
-Feel good? -Yeah, can you do me a favor?
Will you pop that bottle, give it a taste for me?
[Guy chuckles] So interesting.
-Where did you get this? -Uh, I had a friend.
Hunter!
-Oh, no. -Uh, uh...
[Hunter] I'll be right there.
I am asking you the same question.
Uh, he probably bought it when he, uh-- with his budget.
[Guy] I'm gonna find out what happened.
-Check the cameras. -I'm gonna go-- I'm gonna check the cameras.
[Stephane] Romantic doesn't mean high-end.
What makes a romantic dinner is the experience that you are going to offer.
So I want to make an experience by offering two dishes today.
So we're gonna start with a little bit of a mussel broth
with some grilled bread.
And then what's a romantic dinner without any dessert?
So we're gonna just do, just a nice little classic,
uh, whipped cream and chocolate and strawberry.
So the first thing I need to start with is the mussels,
so I'm gonna go ahead and sweat the onions.
Add the mussels.
Cook them for about 30 seconds.
Then cover it
so that my mussels can steam and open.
So while my mussels is cooking, I need to start on my dessert.
I need to slice my strawberries.
And for my chocolate sauce, I'm making my own double boiler
to melt my chocolate.
Stephane, you got 18 bucks left over there?
Yeah, I got 18 bucks left.
-Man. -Need some money?
That's all I got left right there. I saved one dollar.
I saved this. This is my Guy dollar.
Remember this day.
[Guy] How're we looking, bud?
Looking like I'm a cheap date.
No, no. Not you. Come on now.
-Today, uh... -What're you thinking?
I went big. Shrimp.
I'm just gonna do like a little kinda salad
and maybe fry some chickpeas for garnish.
-Okay. -This romantic dinner, it looks simple
but I grabbed some pretty big flavors for a small amount of money.
The garbanzo beans, I'm just letting those marinate
with lemon juice and olive oil and the brine from the capers.
So, I'm just gonna blanch the green beans in salted water
just to kinda set their color
and give them a little softer texture.
Next, I need to work on my shrimp.
But I don't wanna overpower the shrimp,
so I'm gonna give them a quick marinade.
A little bit of garlic,
lemon juice, cumin and some cayenne pepper.
I've been inspired by watching Guy give back to the community.
So, if I win today,
I'm gonna donate half my winnings to Sonoma Family Meal
that helps get people relief food.
Sometimes you just need a warm meal to get you going.
[Guy] Chefs, we've got 10 minutes,
you need to be plated in 10 minutes.
[Liza sighs] All right.
It's time to focus on the star of the show, my scallops.
I get them into the pan and let them get a crispy crust.
I still have 8 bucks.
I'm gonna head back out there and get a few more things.
I need some textural components that are gonna make the dish pop.
Yeah, I got enough for you.
I grab breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are cheap.
$2.95.
Keep the change.
Big spender.
So I take the nduja out of the oven.
I add the breadcrumbs, a little bit of lemon.
I wanna have the acid, the richness from the stock.
I gotta crisp them up and make sure they infuse
to get that spicy, oily goodness into the breadcrumbs.
It's gonna be great.
[Guy] Seven and a half minutes.
[Stephane] Next, I need to work on my whipped cream for my dessert.
I'm gonna use this free item,
the vanilla extract--
Thanks, Hunter,
for another layer of flavor.
Now that my mussels have cooked and opened,
I'm gonna add my chopped parsley in there now
and a bunch of butter.
If I win $20,000 today,
I'm gonna put it towards a new food truck concept,
representing Sonoma seasonal breakfast and lunch.
So, as I'm tasting it, I realize that my butter sauce is too sweet
and so I'm gonna try and fix this.
So I'm really hoping that the amount of water
and butter added will cut it down.
There's no going back or making a new mussel,
so we're gonna go ahead and roll the dice again.
[Guy] Five minutes, chefs. You've got five minutes to be plated.
[Justin] This salad is beautiful, bright, light,
along with that shrimp marinated in the vinaigrette.
The key to cooking shrimp is not overcooking it.
Nobody wants rubbery shrimp when they're having a romantic dinner.
I got so many shrimp for my money that I couldn't fit them all in the pan,
so I did grill four shrimp to give it that smokey flavor.
When my shrimp are done, I actually toss the salad into the hot pan
to take the chill of it and welt the frisee a little bit.
I'm hoping I could get Guy to get me a glass of wine.
So, adding the chardonnay and finishing it with just a touch of butter
adds a nice acid and a little bit of richness
just to finish it over the shrimp.
Luckily, Hunter kinda saved me with that chardonnay.
You gotta have some wine with the food for a romantic dinner.
There we go.
So, we're down to the last few minutes, guys.
And, you know what, well, with three minutes,
-they need to be on their plates. -[Aarti] Yeah.
So first I'm gonna plate my dessert,
add my whipped cream into these ramekins,
and then I'm gonna add my strawberries,
drizzle a layer of chocolate sauce,
and then add a little bit more strawberries on top.
So now I have to plate my mussels.
And lastly, I pour in my butter sauce.
Two minutes, chefs.
Two to go!
[Liza] It's time to get plating.
I start with my fennel and potato puree.
I've got these perfect seared scallops.
Next component I wanna put on top is my herb and fennel salad
with the citrus zest.
And then I've got my nduja breadcrumb.
And lastly, I'm gonna grab my caviar.
Why not? Let's just put a nice, big quenelle on the top.
Make it just scream romantic dinner.
[Guy] 60 seconds. Let's rock and roll.
[Justin] I'm gonna start by plating the shrimp and warm bean salad.
Finish it off with a little chardonnay butter sauce.
Four.
Three. Two.
-One. Chefs, that's it. Stop working. -[judges cheering]
-[Guy] Wow. -Whoo.
-That's a stressful date night. -[Jet] Seriously.
Chefs, I gotta tell you, those dinners are so romantic,
I feel like I should get them a room.
Let's take it to the judges.
Right this way.
All right, judges, this is it.
Game two of Wine Country Chefs.
Our chefs had to make a romantic dinner. [chuckles]
Up first, Chef Liza, please tell us what you made,
and where the free caviar came from?
-[judges laughing] -Somehow I found this coupon in my back pocket.
-I just like... I don't know. -Look at you.
[Liza] This is a take on a dish that we do at my restaurant,
The Spinster Sisters.
And I find scallops to be sexy because they have that mouth feel.
I love to pair them with fennel, potato puree, to give it a silky undertone.
But I always wanna give a little heat, a little spice, a little sex appeal, so...
-Okay. -[Liza] I, uh,
you know, I put a little nduja sausage in there,
um, with some crispy breadcrumbs,
and a hunk of caviar over the top.
I mean, you can't go wrong there, right?
Chef Liza, you nailed a romantic dinner.
Gameplay was masterful.
The scallop is so crispy but buttery all at the same time.
I think the tiny, little thing, if anything was,
-the fennel, I got one that was very thick. -[Liza] Mmm-hmm.
Liza, this is romantic.
That puree, I wanna rub on my...
-It's like lotion. -[judges laughing]
I would agree with my cohorts here.
It's creamy and crunchy.
It hits all of those tactile notes,
-which I think is fantastic. -Great.
You're a fantastic chef.
[Guy] Up next, Chef Justin,
-and 28 bucks, you romantic, you. -[judges laughing]
I was balling on the budget, so, uh, I went North Carolina style again.
Shrimp. A little bit of cayenne pepper on the shrimp.
Uh, a little bit of garlic in there.
I also finished the dish with a little bit of wine, a little bit of butter.
After I went big on the shrimp,
I didn't have too much left over,
so I went for some garbanzo beans.
Chef Justin, the green beans are just perfectly crunchy.
The frisee is not bitter because you tamed it with that wine.
The other romantic thing to me here is the sauce.
It's light. It's bright.
It's very simple, and yet, really complex at the same time.
So really great job there.
I think it's a delicious dish,
and I think it shows technique.
Shrimp are some of the most difficult things in the world to cook.
Yeah.
You did it perfectly.
And I love chickpeas, garbanzo beans, and all of that.
But I would have liked to have had them all really crispy,
or not crispy at all.
All right. Not to be outdone, Chef Stephane at 48 bucks.
What's a romantic dinner without dessert?
So, therefore, I decided to serve you guys
uh, two different courses.
The first course with mussel, that brings a little bit of, uh, aphrodisiac.
A little sweetness with the Pernod.
A vanilla whipped cream with some strawberries and warm chocolate.
I did not spend the entire 48 bucks.
I know... I know, another man once told me that
you know, "Chefs are good at cooking, but their bad businessmen."
-[laughing] -And so, I wanted to kind of like prove him wrong.
And so, therefore, by saving $17,
I'm still able to keep some money in my pocket.
I've gotta say, this truly is a romantic dinner.
Usually, when you get two dishes,
they have to fight, and I have to pick one that I like.
But because it's a progression,
it actually increases the value to me.
I'm detecting a bit of sweetness.
And it's leaning right on the edge of a little two sweet.
[Aarti] Your mussels are cooked beautifully.
They're still tender. They're not rubbery.
But I think that you had the advantage coming into this round.
You managed to score the biggest budget,
and I wish that you had used more of that budget
to make this feel like a super romantic dinner.
Uh, the dessert, if it could have been a panna cotta,
something a little more luxurious on the tongue,
but I realize you didn't have enough time to make that.
Well, chefs, I'll tell you this,
it was really a pleasure to have all three of you cook.
We're gonna send you back to the kitchens,
put the judges to the test,
-Okay. -Thank you very much.
Uh, judges, 20 points available on gameplay.
20 points available on taste.
10 points, plating.
Unfortunately, I can't have all of you win.
Stephane at 42.
Justin, 43.
Liza in the bottom at 40.
Chef Stephane, let's take a look.
15 out of 20 in gameplay.
17 out of 20 in taste.
8 out of 10 in plating, for a 40.
Giving you an 82.
Well done.
Chef Justin. 16 out of 20 in gameplay.
Wow, 18 out of 20 in taste.
8 out of 10 in plating, for a 42.
-For an 85! -[Stephane] Wow.
-[Guy] Wow. Congratulations. -[Liza] Yeah. Whoo.
Chef Liza. Need a 45 or better.
18 out of 20 in gameplay.
-19 out of 20 in taste. -[chefs] Whoa!
9 out of plating, for a 46.
-And congratulations for 86 points! -[judges cheering]
Oh! Wild!
-Talk about a come-from-behind win. -Yeah!
Ladies and Gentleman,
-the winner of Wine Country Chefs. -Thank you.
Chef Stephane, Chef Justin,
thank you very much, have a great evening.
-This way, guys. -[judges applauding]
[Stephane] So, if I had to choose one thing,
I would have spent my entire budget.
Good job, you guys.
Definitely some tough competition.
But it was fun to hang out with Guy
and see him working in his element,
and it was great to see Hunter all grown up
and, uh, following in his dad's footsteps.
Congratulations, Chef Liza.
Come over here and say hey to the judges. "Let's go shopping."
All right. [chuckles]
Here in Flavortown Market,
we have a couple of different ways for you to win up to $20,000 bucks.
Now, there is the trivia spree...
Okay.
...where you have two minutes to grab the five items and solve the clues...
-on this list. -Mmm-hmm.
Every item that you grab, you find,
you put in the basket, and you will get...
[clicks tongue] ...4,000 bucks.
You get all five items, you win $20,000.
Or you could skip that shopping spree,
and you can go for the mystery check
that you will see is right behind that door.
-Anywhere from $12,000 to $20,000 -[Liza] Oh, my gosh.
Your name's already on it.
I'm already riding this ride. I gotta... I gotta go.
-Gotta go. -Yeah.
I gotta go.
So, you wanna go shopping. You sure?
All right. I'll read you the first one,
which is fruit on a vine that is Sonoma County's biggest crop.
Good luck, Chef.
-And she's off. -[Jet] Whoo!
-Liza! -[Aarti] Whoo-hoo.
[Liza] I run for grapes.
Got it.
[Guy reading]
Legs. Oh, yeah, crab, of course. It's gotta be crab.
-[judges cheering] -[Guy] There we go.
[Jet] Come on, Liza.
-There we go. -Yes.
12 grand.
And I knew Russian river. That was such an easy clue.
Thirty-five seconds.
Russian.
Argh! Russian, where are you?
-Yes. -[Guy] There you go.
-Yes. -Yes. Okay.
[reading]
-Five. -[Aarti] Run!
-Four. -Run!
-[Guy] Three. -Let's Go! Go! Go!
-[Jet] Get it. Get it. Get it. -[Guy] Two.
-[Liza] Yes! -[Guy] One. Stop!
Ho-ho!
[Liza] This money's going towards scholarships for women
who wanna get involved in the hospitality industry.
And then, take my family for a trip.
See what happened?
We bring in these wine country chefs,
and they take it for 20K
right here on Guy's Grocery Games.
What will happen next week?
You'll have to find out. We'll see you then.
-Adios. -[Jet] Yeah!