-Come on. -Yeah
Eighteen world-famous chefs are joining forces
in the most extreme team competition ever devised.
-Y'all ready to lose? -Oh.
-This is crazy. -But here's the catch.
Only one chef will know what the challenge is.
-What? -[Guy] And the teammates can't cook together...
-Move it! -...or even talk to one another.
In the icehouse. Adios.
This is the thing of nightmares.
All right, let's go!
-Come on. -Yeah. What is happening here?
[Guy] They won't know what they're looking for unless you leave them a clue.
Oh, no.
[Guy] Will teamwork make the dream work?
-Wow. -No way!
That's the $60,000 question.
The second heat of Triple G's All-Star Relay Rumble starts now.
In this round, we have an exciting matchup
between the Culinary Award Winners
and the Top Chef All-Stars.
Let's meet our high-profile team.
Now, first up, the Culinary Award Winners.
James Beard Award winner for best chef Great Lakes,
who is also named Food and Wine Best Chef,
the bearded baller himself, Chef Jonathan Sawyer.
-Looking fantastic, my friend. -Working on it.
Northern California restaurateur who received
the exclusive Michelin Bib Gourmand Award two years in a row,
the one and only chef Crista Luedtke.
And we have another James Beard Award winner
and seven-time James Beard nominee
Chef Rocco "The Real Deal" DiSpirito.
-Come on, buddy. -Looking good. Nice color choices.
-I mean, we're just here to win. -That's it.
Says it right on our aprons.
All right. Get ready because the opponents that are coming up,
they've made waves in the culinary world as well.
Let's meet the Top Chef All-Stars.
The winner of Top Chef Season 16, KBC,
Chef Kelsey Barnard Clark.
Y'all ready to lose?
You say you're ready to lose?
-That's good. That's good. -I said, "Are you ready to lose."
Acclaimed restauranteur and Top Chef All-Star Season 8,
"The Boogeyman," Chef Dale Talde.
You gangster.
And a Top Chef All-Star and finalist on Top Chef Season 15
"Moustache Joe," Chef Joe Sasto.
Someone asked for a moustache.
[Dale] That's a stacked roster.
I mean, when I heard who I was cooking with I was like,
"What could go wrong? Oh,
It's Guy's Grocery Games."
[all] Everything can go wrong.
[Guy] Look at all the elite chefs.
I gotta tell you, it's impressive that I was able to somehow
bamboozle you into doing this competition
'cause this one, hiya.
A dozen other celebrated chefs
have teamed up to compete in Triple G's s biggest, baddest tournament.
Last week's first heat was a real nail biter,
-93 to 86. -Yes. Whoo!
[Guy] Tonight's winning team will have to go through the TOC Champs
to get a shot at the championship
and the guaranteed small purse,
not that big of a deal.
Just $60,000 to the winning team.
-Let's go. -[Crista] Don't worry. We got it.
Let me break the competition down for you, folks.
30 minutes to shop, prepare and plate a specific dish.
That's gonna be easy, though, right?
Wrong? No, Because see, none of you are gonna be working
at the same time as your team members.
Instead, you're gonna be working in like a tag-team style.
10 minute shifts.
Now, the first chef is gonna shop for the ingredients
and prepare them for the next chef.
The next chef will come in for their 10-minute shift and they'll cook like crazy.
And then that third chef will have to come in and plate
and present the dish to the judges. But there's one catch.
-Only the first chef will be told the dish details. -Ooh.
When that shift is over, you will go stand in the icebox,
and you get to conveniently watch your fellow chefs and competitors,
but not be able to communicate the dish.
-Let me out. -This is so nerve-racking. Come on.
[groans]
-That's great. Thanks. -Love that.
I mean, no one's ever said communication's important. It's fine.
Chefs, you're gonna need to be part private chef and part private eye
because you're gonna have to study the clues
that the chefs before you have left
to identify what the dish is. Feel good. Great.
What I'd like you to do now, huddle amongst yourselves,
talk about yourselves, make your decisions of who you'd like to have shop.
I'm really good at planning.
-All right. -Okay. So you shop.
-I shop. -Pretty good prep guy, so I'll go second.
-I'll tie up all the loose ends. -We need to play this game.
Yeah, I'm, like, super comfortable with the shop.
-Yeah. We got it. -So I'll take the shop. I'll take the shop.
[Jonathan] You're a workhorse. You're gonna drive it.
-I think you gotta go second and I'll come in and close. -Okay.
I'll be... I'll decipher the tea leaves.
All right, so what's it gonna be? Over to the Award Winners?
I'm gonna be the shopper.
-This is my hometown store, and these guys maybe don't... -[Guy] Chef.
And you... We do know you know how to shop. We do now, Chef.
Uh, over to the DC All-Stars.
-I'm shopping. -[Guy] Shopping?
-You're shopping all day. -Born for this, y'all.
Who is gonna be going in second?
Rocco's going second.
-Yes. -For the Award Winners.
Okay, and over at Top Chef All-Stars.
-Dale is going second. -Dale.
Okay, so that leaves us for the follow up.
Sir Sawyer and Moustache Man.
You guys are gonna be doing cleanup.
You've gotta figure out what it is,
and you've gotta be ready to present it to the judges.
And by the way, those judges, no slouch themselves.
I mean, they kinda have some high expectations.
All right? You chefs, through the double doors,
-you will get notified when your shift begins. -Good luck.
-You got this. -You got this.
You know you can do it.
You on the other hand, cannot.
-Nobody asked you, Rocco. -Get lost in the store.
[Rocco] Good luck. Good luck.
Listen up, chefs. We're gonna cut right to the chase.
Just make the judges a classic food duo.
-Okay. -What?
I'm gonna let you choose. Hunter, come on out, buddy.
-Oh. -I'm gonna... No, I'm the helper.
I'm the helper. 'Cause you know how hard it would be
to start thinking about these duos?
-Hunter, what do you have available in the duo category? -Hi, Chefs.
-What? -Making these too easy.
-Well, burger and fries. -I mean, I'll take it.
-Fish and chips. -Okay.
My favorite.
Spaghetti and meatballs.
Okay.
-[Guy] So, Hunter, you wanna take them over? -Okay. Take your pick.
-Oh. Your thumbs on this one. -[laughs]
-I'm gonna take this one. -[Guy] So, let's take a look.
Well, there you go. Burger and fries.
Spaghetti and meatballs.
I think that the interpretation of spaghetti and meatballs
can go in different directions.
Well, wouldn't that just be interesting?
-Oh, God. -[Guy] Mmm. Pros like you thinking up good ideas.
I was just gonna say let's just go with spaghetti and meatballs.
But you know what? Subject to interpretation. How about we do this?
How about pros like you...
...don't even need proteins?
No, no, 'cause I want you to make us your meatless version
of your chosen duo.
-Huh? Huh? -[laughing]
-Okay. -[Guy] You have 10 minutes to shop for the ingredients
and prepare a vegetarian duo-over
that your teammates must complete in the total of 30 minutes.
Just remember, you've got three people on your team.
Two of you are battling out, and one of you is gonna go home.
What?
-Oh, my god! -Move it.
[Guy] I think out of the two things,
spaghetti and meatballs and burger and fries,
I think there's a lot of things you can do.
You can... You can make a patty out of beans and rice,
and then the meatballs I mean, we've got TVP.
We've got all kinds of things that could make it really seitan.
There's all kinds of things that could make a really good meatball.
Award Winners is what it says here.
[bleep] I think America knows me most because I'm one of the most
winningest chefs here on Guy's Grocery Games.
And then also that Michelin Bib Gourmand,
I got that a couple years running,
And my wife thinks I'm a winner.
So I'm pretty sure this qualifies.
Where's the fake meat? Where's the fake meat?
I've got burger and fries, but the twist is no animal protein.
So my strategy is to build this sort of vegetarian,
bacon mushroom Swiss burger,
and to build as much flavor without using meat.
I find plant-based chorizo.
Right. So now I've got, like, "three kinds" of meatless meat working.
Gotta have buns. And then I don't want to just give a classic French fry
'cause this is an All-Stars competition.
So I wanna go with a sweet potato fry.
Get onions.
I've really tried to be smart about the shop,
give them only what they needed
and not too much room for error.
-So I guess it's up to me to figure it out, huh? Yeah. -Yeah.
This is a killer team. We are the Award Winners.
Rocco DiSpirito, incredibly talented,
-and then my boy, Jonathan Sawyer... -Whoo.
...a fellow Midwesterner, and he's a crusher.
Like, we are going in strong and we are gonna take this baby home.
[Kelsey] Even though I'm a Top Chef All-Star
and I've been on Triple G multiple times,
competing in a team where you're not communicating,
that's a little tough.
To win, we need big, bold flavors.
So my first thought is Dandan Noodles.
There's a lot of the flavor there,
and it is one of my very favorite meals.
It's sort of like a Chinese Sichuan meat sauce with noodles,
similar to a ragu.
So there's that nod to the spaghetti and meatballs,
but tying it in with other flavors.
The kicker is we can't use meat,
so I'm gonna go with Asian ingredients
that will add umami where sometimes that will be lacking
when you're not using meats.
So that's gonna be things like sesame paste, soy sauce, chili crunch.
It all gives the vibe and the feel that you have meat in this dish.
The pressure is on for me again.
As a shopper, I need to make this clear.
So actually dawns on me, like, we all grew up with canned spaghetti and meatballs.
And I'm like, "What better way to tell them to do than to be like,
Do that, but meatless."
That's my sign for them.
[laughs]
-[Kelsey] Well, why not? -I hope they... But I hope they don't use it.
They can't. They cannot.
[Kelsey] Winning this is... it's a big deal.
It's the best of the best, and we're here to beat the best.
[Guy] Let's meet the esteemed trio
who will be judging these vegetarian duos.
First, we have the celebrated author
and star of the Emmy-nominated Ready Jet Cook,
Alli's husband, Chef Jet Tila.
Top Chef Winner and James Beard Award winner,
the one and only, "Mom of Ernie,"
-Iron Chef Stephanie Izard. -[Michael] Whoo.
And rock star restaurateur and fellow Top Chef winner,
the one and only Chef Michael Voltaggio.
For me, this is more about following the clues than anything else.
The communication from the original shopper is the key.
-That gameplay is huge. -[Jet] Yeah.
[Guy] Five minutes.
[Crista] I don't have a whole lot of time to cook,
so I wanna try to get as many things started as I can
so that Rocco can come in here and knock it out.
So first I wanna immediately start on my French fries.
I know I want to blanch those.
As much as I love sweet potatoes...
[Crista] Don't say it, Jet.
...I really worry they'll get crispy enough.
Yeah. I mean, you almost have to like fry, cook, hold,
forever dehydrate, just not my jam.
I'm gonna blanch.
I... I'm like, "I wanna stay my course."
I don't wanna just give a regular russet French fry.
But just to ensure that I get some good crisp on them.
After I blanch them, I toss them in a bowl
with some cornstarch, some salt,
bringing, like, a lot of seasoning to the party
and a little bit of snap.
Meatless meat.
To make a really delicious burger and fries,
it's hard not to have animal protein,
so I'm putting a bunch of butter into my mushrooms.
[Stephanie] Love my tacky mushrooms.
That brings such good, earthy layer of flavor when you're subbing in for meat.
[Crista] And build as much meaty flavor without using meat.
The fake meat, it's gonna get mixed with soyrizo
-and have bacon on top. -[Guy] Okay.
Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it.
[Michael] She's really gonna have a chance to, like, change the flavor
-of that "meatless meat." -[Jet] Yeah.
Then, honestly, they might not even know that that's not meat.
[Crista] And then I wanna start patting this out
'cause I want Rocco to, for sure, know that this is a burger.
Not like a Sloppy Joe or not a meatball.
[Michael] She's already got the patties for him.
She's already got mushrooms cooking.
-[Jet] Yeah. -Crista, I have never seen anyone
get that much work done in that short period of time.
-Thank you, Chef. -[Jet] You are a machine, Chef.
Two minutes.
[Kelsey] There's a lot of ways to get flavor in dishes without using meat products.
So I'm gonna start sauteing these mushroom pieces
that then will be added later together.
-Oh, hi, I'm not doing something normal. -Hi.
I'm getting Dandan noodles.
Ooh, I like that.
Are you gonna make a Dandan meatball?
You know, does it have to be meatball?
I would think if it says meatballs on there,
you're gonna probably wanna make sure that it's a meatball.
Okay. Well, yeah, I think I could, 100%.
I'm really nervous about this Dandan play, 'cause while it's meat laden
as we all know, there's no very specific formed meatball there.
[Kelsey] I'm thinking you could add the meatless sauce,
but then have a meatless ball that's also in there as well.
I'm really hoping that when Dale reads this he sees,
like, "Oh, she's started my base for my meatballs."
Thirty-five seconds.
Do you feel that you've gotten good road maps?
[Kelsey] My plan was always to have a pantry section like,
"This is what you can shop from,"
'cause I don't wanna put them in a box.
And then where they're going to plate is these are your symbols.
These are your signs of what we're doing.
And I think my symbols are very clear and concise,
and they're right there, so it's like, "Do that, but meatless."
Which could be really great because it literally says spaghetti and meatballs on it.
-But... -It could end up in our dish.
-We could be eating spaghetti and meatballs. -Oh, no.
-Oh no. Yeah. [chuckles] -And then they lose vegetarian.
That's why this shop is so important.
Five, four, three, two, one.
KBC, Chef Crista, in the icehouse. Adios.
Let's go. Let's go.
[Kelsey] Let's go. Let's go.
All right.
I feel like if I had gotten, like, three more minutes,
I could have made the whole thing.
-Come on, Dale. Come on. -[Guy] All right.
Send 'em in.
-Chef Rocco. Chef Talde. -[cheering]
Oh, my gosh, here we go. The first ten is gone already.
What is happening here?
-Wait. Is it a burger? -[Michael] I can't tell you, Chef.
-[Jet] We are saying nothing. -You're a smart man.
I think you can figure it out, sir.
What is this stuff, though?
[Dale] There are mushrooms cooking.
There is some sort of ragu.
That's... That's all that's working right now.
I've got no clue where this is going.
Come on, come on.
I'm hoping he's seen that I've cooked the mirepoix
for him to make meatballs with it.
Uh, I think I've made it pretty clear it's spaghetti and meatballs,
but no protein.
That can is right in his face.
Like, the can is right there.
[Dale] This is the thing of nightmares, like, "Kelsey,
What does this mean?"
[Stephanie] He's like, "I'm just gonna cut an onion.
I'm just gonna cut an onion and cook something while I try to figure it out."
-Are you looking for clues? -I am.
I see pasta.
There's just no clues to get.
So I'm just running with my gut.
KBC is freaking out, man.
Make it a ball. Come on, Dale.
[Michael] The whole thing could just be a disaster.
There needs to be, like, a meatball on there.
I thought I'd made it so clear for them. No.
What is happening? [sighs]
This is kind of the best part to watch is to se the second chef come in,
watch their face while they try to figure out
what each of the ingredients are.
[Jet] I mean, you've all been late to shift.
No one set you up and you're running on station
and kind of going, "All right, looking at what are we doing today?"
-You know what I mean? -But not only do you have to figure out
what dish to make, you have to figure out
what game you're actually playing.
You've got burger and fries, and spaghetti and meatballs without meat.
Come on.
Dale, all you have to have is a meatball and spaghetti.
[Jet] Oh, man, Dale's in a world of hurt, guys.
Chef Talde, what do you think you got, buddy?
Um, well, this is some form or ragu.
-[Guy] Okay. -[Dale] These are mushrooms.
Well, you're... you're quick.
What could be more clear than putting a can that says
spaghetti and meatballs up there?
So it's like, "Come on."
[Dale] It's super hard to decipher
what this person was trying to tell you through ingredients.
But the clues for me were boxed spaghetti, canned tomatoes.
I see no animal protein, so there's no pork and no any of anything.
And I notice that there's also a lot of Asian ingredients,
so I'm thinking to myself, "I'm going in a direction
like a spicy Dandan vegetarian noodle dish."
[Jet] I don't think Dale has picked up the clue,
and it sounds like he's making pasta with ragu.
Kelsey may have added more clues that could take you actually away
from what the dishes provide.
[Stephanie] Looking at ingredients on your station,
they're all things that I love.
And if I'm making spaghetti and meatballs at home,
chances are those flavors are gonna go in the meatball.
They're gonna go into the sauce.
But I'm not gonna walk into a kitchen and think to myself,
-"Oh, we're having spaghetti and meatballs tonight." -[sighs]
Rocco, "What'd you get over there?"
[Rocco] It's a burger challenge with something fried.
Right? That's a fry basket.
-What is this? -We've got to make a vegetarian burger and fries.
Is this meat?
Oh, this is lamb. This is some kind of spicy meat thing here.
Do you think that's what that is?
No, I'm not sure at all. No. [chuckles]
[Guy] Watching him try to decipher this,
very interesting the chef didn't leave any indication of what that is.
Come on, Rocco.
It's really hard to be in the icebox
and be that close to your teammate,
and watch, they can't hear you, they can't really see you.
[laughing]
[Rocco] We definitely feel like there's a target on our backs being the Award Winners.
But I think Crista is about as good as a setup person
as I've ever seen.
All right, let's toast these guys.
It's pretty clear that it's a burger and fry challenge.
She didn't over shop, so there was not a lot of confusion.
And she actually got a lot of prep work done.
We're looking good. Buns are toasty.
[Michael] Rocco has his road map to whatever this destination is,
and I think Dale is still chopping.
-KBC, how are you! -[Kelsey screams] Oh, my gosh.
-Just checking in. -Oh!
-Seeing how my friend is. -This is my worst nightmare.
Uh, he's not getting it.
I put a can of spaghetti and meatballs
-with impossible meat. -And that's what I'm saying, it's sitting out there.
-It's sitting over there. -[Kelsey] I think I made it literally crystal clear
because I don't know what he's doing right now.
He's doing a lot of busy work.
I wanna start browning the meat substitute
because I know it takes some time.
I put some water in just to kind of help it cook quicker,
but also because there's no real fat in this.
I'm just hoping and praying that I'm guessing right.
He's browning the meat, which I'm like, "Dude, it's got to be a meatball."
Make it a ball. Come on, Dale.
Look at Kelsey in the icebox.
She's like, "Do you see anything?" I left it as a clue."
Let me out!
I wanna go fix it.
This is the hardest game I've ever played.
He's not looking at the stuff.
He's got this big can, the spaghetti and meatball sitting on the thing.
I don't want him to use it, but if he doesn't get the meatball.
Come on, Dale. Come on. See it.
[Dale] It's super hard. Imagine you have to get a book to the last two pages
when you don't know what the beginning of the book was to start with.
So there's a can of spaghetti and meatballs,
and I did not immediately equate that.
I don't equate that to anything.
I honestly just thought going in an Italian direction.
I could have formed a meatball and sat it there.
That's one thing I wish I would have done.
[Jet] Bucket list moment. Rocco DiSpirito making me a burger.
That's pretty amazing.
[Rocco] These are burgers, but there's some odd mixture of meat.
It's not quite beef. It's not quite pork.
So I look in the garbage to see what was thrown away.
[Jet] My idol, Rocco, is dumpster diving.
I never thought I'd see this in 30 years. [laughs]
What is this? What is this doing here?
What you got there, Rocco?
[Jet] Detective DiSpirito on the case.
I think that it was a smart move.
I've deduced from that clue that the challenge
is a vegan or vegetarian challenge,
which would... then explains the vegan bacon and the mushrooms.
-Vegan. -Why do you keep asking us, Rocco?
[Stephanie] I know. Stop asking us.
'Cause I know one of you will crack.
-One of you will crack eventually. -[laughs]
I hope he doesn't forget to drop the fries.
Everybody's worrying that they're not gonna be crispy enough.
Shoot.
Don't forget about your fries, man.
[Rocco] Then I see the sweet potatoes in a bowl right next to the fryer.
Come on, come on, come on, come on. Toss 'em. Toss 'em.
Then I think some people are very particular
about how crispy a sweet potato fry can be.
I guess her idea was if we can coat it in cornstarch
and do a double-fry method, we can overcome the lack of crispiness.
-[sighs] -And I continue to cook the mushrooms.
Then I think, you know, we need some garnish for the burgers.
The buns need lettuce, tomato, onion, and that kind of thing. So I start to work on those.
It's not only about bragging rights, which are amazing,
but there's $60,000 on the line, so there's a lot of pressure.
Five and a half minutes left, chefs.
-Uh-oh. -Oh, no.
-What's going on with the lights, man? -What is happening?
What is going on with the lights?
Hunter.
-Hunter! -Hey. Hey.
Oh, no. Here we go. Hunter, stay where you were.
-What is going on? -So we got a huge promotion.
We have a bunch of ingredients still in the clearance aisle.
Is this the new way we do Red Light Special?
-[Hunter] Change it up a little bit. -[Guy] Huh.
-All right? So, all right. -Make it bigger.
Chefs, fantastic. Red Light Special going on in aisle six
in our clearance section.
It is filled with all the products and ingredients
which we have way too much of. So guess what?
I want you to go into the Red Light Special in aisle six,
grab an ingredient, and bring it over
and incorporate it in your dish. Right now.
[Jet] So aisle six is kinda the clearance aisle, right?
[Stephanie] The clearance, yep.
-Yeah, there's a bunch. -[Jet] So things we don't wanna eat,
and things to clean up the house with. Awesome.
-That's because it's Hunter's idea. -[laughs]
[Dale] With four minutes, I had to introduce a new ingredient into this,
and, uh, I'm looking at the shelves and I see sweet chili sauce.
[Rocco] I find sweet pickle relish.
Perfect, if not an elevating ingredient for a burger.
[Dale] We have some heat already in our ragu,
so I'm gonna balance some of this heat
with this Thai sweet chili sauce.
This is gonna help sweeten up this little ragu she got.
You need some real muscles, Rocco, throw it over here.
Yes, I do. [chuckles]
I've never seen that Rocco move.
I've learned to open a jar another way now.
[Guy] One minute, chefs.
[Rocco] I've set up the burgers as far as I can take them
without actually putting them together
with the melted cheese and the bacon and the mushrooms.
So that all Jonathan has to do is, you know, basically assemble
and make sure the sweet potato fries are cooked and plated.
This is the most matter-of-fact gameplay I've ever seen.
The thing is like, yeah, you could win all the gameplay.
But is it gonna taste delicious?
You know, even the details of, like,
not spreading the relish all the way to the edge of the bun.
So you have this much time. You need to really pay attention to the details.
You have 25 seconds to leave your clues for your next chef coming in.
Are you setting them up for success?
[Dale] So the clues that I'm leaving for Joe
is, like, I open a can of tomatoes.
I open the bag of pasta. I don't put it in yet,
but I give him a plethora
of things for him to season
and finish dishes with.
On Dale's station, where meatballs are the goal,
there's just meat in the pan, not in a ball.
[Jet] I don't think there's going to be
-forming of any-- -I don't think there's going to be--
No forming.
We'll wait till Joe comes out and then realizes
-that it's spaghetti and meatballs. -What does Joe do with it?
He's known for pasta,
but he can cook just about anything.
He's so great with flavors.
-He's got to save the day. -But can he form
the meat product in the pan into a ball?
Can he make a meatball?
We got flavors going now.
This is what I'm excited about.
Making this taste good, I'm not concerned about.
What I'm concerned about is
checking the boxes on gameplay,
which right now... we're not.
[Dale] At the end of my 10 minutes, I'm completely confused
as to what the hell I was supposed to do.
No clue.
Ten.
Nine.
I'm feeling really good.
Everything is going super well.
But then...
-[Guy] Eight. Seven... -[Rocco] No, no, no.
Oh, shoot.
Rocco drops one of our four burgers.
[Guy] Five.
-[Rocco groans] -[chuckling] Four. Three.
Two, one.
Oh, no.
-[Guy] Ten, nine, eight. -[Rocco groans]
I dropped one of our burgers
on the floor. I'm pretty crushed.
-[Crista whimpers] -[Guy] Seven.
-[Jet and Michael] What do you do? -[Guy] Six,
-five. -No.
[Rocco] I pick it up, and I put it back.
It's still on the spatula.
I leave it to the kitchen gods to figure out.
-Why do you do that? -[Guy] Four, three.
Two, one.
You're out! Let's go.
-Into the ice box. -[Rocco groans]
You're on a team with people you really respect,
and you don't want to disappoint them.
You certainly don't want to make a mistake
that's going to disqualify the whole team.
-Hi, friend. [chuckles] -Did you see me drop it?
[Jet] Why did he put that burger off the floor?
We can't eat that.
[Kelsey] So what'd [chuckling] you think?
Pasta?
Spaghetti and meatballs.
[laughs]
[Dale] I thought it was a mushroom ragu.
What I was doing was making, like,
a mirepoix base to put in the raw meat
-to make a meatball. -[sighs]
-Let's go! -[whistle blows]
-Pull up! -[hi-tempo music playing]
[Joe whispering indistinctly]
Oh, God. Joe's confused.
[Jonathon] From what I see on my board,
I can tell this is a classic combo
of burgers and fries.
Hey. I-- I-- excuse me, Chef.
Excuse me.
[Jet and Michael] Oh.
Sorry.
It hit the ground.
Oh.
-Okay. -Wow. Wow.
Oh. Now what?
$60,000 go in the garbage.
Um.
That just sent Jonathon into, like...
You are plating four.
[Joe] Let's taste.
First things first,
-taste. -Okay.
All right.
Got, like, a little veggie Bolognese situation.
-Okay. -Roasted mushrooms.
She doesn't like those, huh?
-Nice and crispy. -Are you looking for clues,
-or are you just-- -Clues. I'm cluing myself up.
Okay, you're just eating is what you're doing.
No, I'm tasting. I'm looking.
I see pasta water.
I see pasta.
-I see sauce. I see mushrooms. -Okay.
I think we're going pasta.
-We're going, like, Italian-Asian combo. -Okay.
-[Joe] I see a lot of just, like, fake meat. -Okay.
-I don't know why. -Okay.
That's not something I would expect
-Kelsey to shop for. -Right, right.
It's a veggie. It has to be a veggie dish.
-Okay. -We're going vegetarian!
-Yes! Yes! -[Joe] I'll say chilies.
-We got something! -I love that.
NASA just called. They have a job opening.
I love that idea.
[Kelsey] We're going vegetarian.
But I need you to figure out the ball.
[Joe] I think I need to get this in the water.
Yeah, but you got nine minutes.
I feel like I need to cook spaghetti.
We all know that it takes more than 10 minutes to cook.
Why didn't they start cooking then?
[Michael] How do you leave Joe,
you know, less than 10 minutes to cook spaghetti?
Did Dale not drop spaghetti at all?
[Michael] Joe just put the spaghetti in the water.
[Jet] Oh, wow.
[Joe] I'm really worried about this pasta.
Why they didn't start that earlier
if I have to make pasta
worries me.
I spend more time on my mustache.
[Jet] If anyone can pull it off there,
Joe Sasto could pull it off.
-Right. I trust him-- -He can make spaghetti cook
faster than anyone.
[laughing] Yeah.
[Joe] I was worried, but at this point,
I mean, it's pretty clear
I'm making spaghetti Bolognese.
[Kelsey] Look at the can, Joe.
You have to make a meatball.
Spaghetti and meatballs.
I have to look at three burgers and figure out,
"How do I make these into four?"
-[Rocco] What's he doing? -[Crista] I don't know.
[Jonathon] Crista shopped lean.
There was no extra ground meat anywhere.
Can I go shop?
-No. -No.
-Okay.
Um...
Okay.
So I figure out real quick,
I got to split them.
[tense music playing]
[Jet] Oh, wow.
Look at that.
-[Michael] Good recovery. -[Jet] Jonathon is recovering
by slicing that patty in half
and trying to stretch one more burger out of it.
[Joe] I mean, these battles are all about pride.
They're all about bragging rights.
Oh, [chuckling] Jonathon's going to take two halves
to make a full.
I like this move.
The 18 chefs that are competing here
in this tournament are
some of the most respected in the country.
I want to win the whole thing.
[Jet] I think he's going to take three.
I think he's going to do thirds.
-Yeah, he is. -[Michael] Oh, that's smart.
-[Jet] Oh. What a recovery. -[Stephanie] Nice!
[Crista] Yeah, buddy!
There you go, Sawyer.
[Jonathon] Some of this.
[Crista] The guy turns water into wine, whatever,
fishes into loaves, saves the day.
[Guy] That's my buddy right there.
Actually, what that is, is that's a dad move.
Your kid just showed up, and there's two extra kids to eat.
"Don't worry, I got that handled."
Seven minutes.
[Joe] Let's check our pasta, huh?
-[Joe chuckling] It's gonna be close on the spaghetti. -Meatball. Meatball.
[Jet] I don't think he knows he has to make a meatball yet.
I think he figured out it's a pasta dish.
-I think he figured out it's vegetarian, obviously. -[Jet] Right.
But I don't think it's like,
"Spaghetti and meatballs."
Kelsey is not happy. She's so angry right now.
Make the meatball. Make the meatball.
Please make a meatball!
[chuckling] I am dying.
[groans]
I'm having more fun watching KBC
than I am doing the whole competition.
The can. Look at the can.
We don't know why they're mad at me.
And they're screaming at me.
But I don't know why.
We need him to do a meatball.
Like, if he doesn't do that, we have no chance.
I think in Kelsey's mind, that was the clearest way to communicate.
Like, she was like, "I'm a genius.
I thought of the best possible way to communicate this."
But no one else is catching that.
Look at the can!
Joe, please.
Just look at the pan. Meatballs, meatballs.
He's not getting it!
I put it right there.
Spaghetti and meatballs.
Joe, please,
please, please, please.
[Guy] Five minutes left.
[Jet] I think Joe has the mountain to climb here.
[Michael] I don't think he knows
he has to make a meatball yet.
[Kelsey] We need him to do a meatball.
Like, if he doesn't do that, we have no chance.
[Joe] I think there was a lot of pressure
being the third chef.
Other people are counting on you
to do everything right.
Regardless of what Chef 1 and Chef 2 do,
it's up to Chef 3 to transform all of that cooking
into something amazing.
So I'm just hoping I can figure this out.
I... I don't know.
I don't know what's happening here.
Make the meatball, Joe. You have time.
[Joe] So I know Kelsey's trying to leave me
breadcrumbs here,
but the only thing I'm seeing is panko,
so I'm going to roll with it.
I'm very worried.
You need to get those down in a pan
with some butter and toasted garlic,
and just start toasting those off
while I'm coming up with the rest of the dish.
Oh, my God. What is he making? No.
No!
[Guy] Four and a half minutes. Four and a half to go.
[Michael] Jonathon, you think your team set you up?
They set me up for success over here.
-[Michael] You feel it? -I'm making a great version
of my grandma's seitan bacon burger.
Very classic Hungarian dish.
Four minutes.
So we got a burger.
I don't see any fries.
What are the fries?
[Crista] The only thing I'm worried about is my fries.
-Everybody's giving me a hard time... -No.
...that they're sweet potato and they're not going to get crispy.
No, they're totally crispy.
They just need to be dropped again.
[Jonathon] Where are the fries?
Oh! Okay.
Okay.
Sweet potato fries have way too much sugar in them
to be compared to regular French fries.
While they share a name,
they are a totally different component altogether.
They will never amount-- the same amount of crispy,
but they are satisfying, and they are delicious.
However, they weren't totally crispy yet,
-so I fry them one more time. -Okay.
Let's turn that into a sauce.
The sauce for the burger has got to be a classic combo.
So I take ketchup,
mayonnaise, a little bit of mustard,
pickle relish, vinegar,
combine it with some fresh chopped parsley.
We're good to go.
I love it.
He took all the condiments and made a burger sauce.
Smart.
What else do you think you got going here?
[Jonathon] I got French fries back there in the deep fryer.
-Okay. -I feel like we're doing
-burger and fries vegetarian style. -Okay. Okay.
[Jonathon] I'm going to use this both
to spread on top of my burger bun,
but serve on the side of the French fries,
allowing the sweet potatoes,
crispy or not, to have a dipping sauce.
[Guy] Regular Sherlock home cook.
Three minutes!
Oh, I know what to do with these.
I noticed there are mushrooms all over.
Mushrooms are one of those things that can be manipulated.
They bring a lot of flavor and a lot of texture.
Those are going to crisp up
and make them perfect for pickling.
[Kelsey whimpering] What's happening?
He's pickling mushrooms.
Look at Dale and Kelsey in there.
She's literally mouthing,
"Why is he doing that?"
Well, why did you shop it that way?
Right there. It's in a can.
I mean, I guess you could take it
and put it in the food processor.
-[Jet] Right? -Right now.
And then roll it, and then fry it.
[Stephanie] Right. Add a little cheese to it or something.
[Jet] A little bit of starch or something.
-[Michael] Oh, yeah. He's got flour on his station. -[Jet] Yeah, he can do it.
[Stephanie] Especially a meatless burger,
if you put it in the food processor...
I don't think he knows he has to make a meatball yet.
[Guy] Get your plates. Got to get plated.
Two and a half!
Well, there goes the meatballs.
-He's not going to figure it out now. -[Dale] But then...
Bowl, pasta, spaghetti, and meatballs.
I was looking at the things
and I realized-- I was like,
"Spaghetti and meat sauce would have been
a different clue
than a can of spaghetti and meatballs."
No way!
With just a couple minutes left on the clock,
it all clicks.
I get the meat substitute,
panko, already chopped scallions,
already chopped garlics, a big pinch of salt.
Yes, meatball!
[Stephanie] Oh, my gosh. He's making meatball.
He's making a meatball.
He figured it out, but it might be a little bit late.
Two minutes. Two minutes.
Two minutes and Joe's making meatballs.
[Jet] That's crazy.
[Joe] The only thing that's going to save me here is
that the meat doesn't need to cook all the way through
because it's not really meat.
[cheering and laughing]
[Kelsey] Let's go!
[Guy] One minute.
[Jonathon] Plating is pretty classic.
We got a basket.
I line it with some parchment,
keeping the French fries warm as long as possible.
And I put the side of sauce in there with it.
[Joe] The pasta was perfectly al dente.
[Dale] Now make it taste good, dude.
[Kelsey] Make it work. Make it work. Make it work.
[Michael] If Joe gets those meatballs on the plate, though,
that spaghetti could be incredible.
Just put it in the bowl, dude.
[Jonathon] Burger gets a nice, cute little baseball pick
on top of it
on a enamelware blue rim plate.
-[Guy] 30 seconds! -[Jonathon] Done.
[Guy] Okay.
-[cheering] -[Guy] Jonathon Sawyer is done first.
[Kelsey cheering] Get it on the plate.
-[Guy] 15 seconds, Joe. -[Stephanie] Oh, my gosh.
-Meatballs, meatballs, meatballs. -[Michael] Incredible.
[Kelsey] Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. Talk about the nick of time.
Five, four,
three, two,
one. That's it!
-[Jet and Michael] Wow! -[both cheering]
[Rocco chuckling] Wow.
[Jet] Wow.
Relay ridiculousness.
-What a recovery. -[Stephanie] Impressive, sir!
What took so long on the meatball thing?
Oh, because there was
ground beef already cooked off.
[Dale] That was very hard.
And we are going up against
some award-winning chefs today,
people who are just dominant at what they do.
So there's no easy layups here.
[Jonathon] I feel like we killed it on the gameplay.
We have great flavor.
So I'm-- fingers crossed.
Liking our burger and fry combo.
Now that's what I call a dinner rush.
Let's take it to the judges.
[Guy] All right, here we go, judges.
The second heat of our All-Star Relay Rumble.
Oh, boy.
[chuckles]
Our Award Winners and Competition All-Stars have
completed their team dishes.
But is the dish that they're serving you
the dish that I ordered?
First up, presenting, Chef Sawyer.
Give us the tale of the tape.
Illustrious host, esteemed judges,
thank you for letting me represent
the Award-Winning team.
-[all laugh] -[Jonathon] Okay?
Here we have a classic combination
of meatless burger and fries.
Burger delicious, sauce as always
ketchup, mayo,
mustard, and relish.
In your basket, you have some sweet potato fries.
For those of you who have seen me over the past year,
I have lost 68 pounds.
-[Crista whoops] -Oh.
Is that how much it is?
-Yes. -[Guy] You're looking good.
And my teammates know I can't waste any calories,
so they didn't give me any white potatoes.
They gave me the sweet potatoes...
[all laugh]
[Jonathon] ...which we twice blanched,
tossed with a little cornstarch
and cayenne and salt.
Let's go ahead and bring your other two chefs in.
Chef Crista, Chef Rocco.
Chef Crista, you did the shop.
Rocco, you inherited what she gave you.
Chef Jonathon plated it all together.
Congratulations.
You couldn't have hit it about any more true blue.
It was a burger and fry combo.
It was to be made vegetarian.
The red light special, pickle relish,
which you incorporated into your secret sauce.
Yeah.
There was a little bit of a mix-up
with the patty going on the floor.
That's a special technique
I reserve for competition only.
-Okay. -The last 10 seconds of a competition,
you need to drop something on the floor.
It's for good luck.
[Guy] Let's go to the judges.
Chef Jet.
Award winners, you've lived up to your name.
Yes.
Crista, I think you were truly the star in this
because you set everyone up.
It's a tremendous burger.
I want more from the fries.
I think you set yourself up for pain
by going for sweet potatoes.
Gameplay, outstanding. Burger, outstanding.
Fries,
I need it more crispy.
Heard, chef.
I won't be as mean as Jet.
I think that it was really, really smart
to have multiple vegetarian meat substitutes,
because you made it feel meaty.
It eats and rivals
any vegetarian burger that I've ever had.
You don't miss meat at all.
You've added that earthiness from the mushrooms,
all that salty note from the Parmesan cheese.
I almost think that Rocco dropped that on the floor
to give Sawyer something to do,
-because... -[all laugh]
[Stephanie] ...they were just about done with the dish.
So thank you.
Crista, I've never seen
anyone get a smart shop done
and do that much cooking
before the next chef came in.
I'm available for hire any day.
[Stephanie] You're so fast
and so intentional with everything that you did.
Dipping sauce, delicious.
Fries, I could just kind of be... [mutters negatively]
I'm a French fry connoisseur.
I eat French fries
as many days of the week as I can.
I see the sweet potato play
because you're going vegetarian
and you want to go along that healthy route.
But it is really hard
to get sweet potatoes not to be a little burnt,
overly caramelized, not crispy.
Huh!
Hey, sounds like somebody might have told you that.
-Yes, Dad. -[Guy] Ah.
All right, nice job.
Judges, there's 100 points available,
40 points available in taste,
40 points in the gameplay.
Did they satisfy all of the categories?
And 20 points for the plating.
Is it appetizing? Did you get a good portion?
So forth.
100 points total.
And here to present the second team's dish,
Mustache Joe.
-[Jet laughs] -[Rocco chuckles]
What do you think you were supposed to present?
Spaghetti and meatballs.
There's no meat in this, believe it or not.
Incorporating lots of Asian ingredients
to give you that umami impact.
My mom,
she used to break up all the meatballs for me
in the sauce.
So I left you one meatball whole
and the rest are all broken down.
Let's go ahead and bring KBC
and Chef Dale Talde in.
KBC, you were the shopper and quite proficient.
Thank you.
Chef Talde, you came in right behind her,
and then Joe Sasto.
Joe, what you were supposed to make was
a classic duo of spaghetti and meatballs.
Ah, wow.
It was to be made vegetarian.
And then there was a red light special.
Chef Talde grabbed some chili sauce.
When did you come to the epiphany
that you needed to make a meatball?
Well, I was looking at the can
of spaghetti and meatballs,
and I kept on looking at what we had on the stove,
and then I realized
he would have put the meat in that ragu
if it was supposed to be together.
So then I was like, "Wait,
I'm missing an entire component here.
I need to make a meatball."
All right, let's jump over to the judges.
Kelsey, you really made that tough for them.
-Really? -[Michael] Yeah.
You got Joe here.
Put some San Marzanos in a box of pasta
and just let it go.
I'm sorry. What am I missing?
I put a can of spaghetti and meatballs.
The fact that you guys got there is incredible.
With a can of spaghetti and meatballs.
The flavors in this dish are incredible.
It's spicy, it's got umami,
it's got all those things that you want,
but it was supposed to be spaghetti and meatballs.
I got a spaghetti and meatball,
but also the meatball was rushed.
And you could tell, eating it,
it wasn't as thoughtful as the flavors
in the rest of the pasta.
I'm kind of happy that you went down the route
of getting all these Asian ingredients
and really speaking to Dale's flavor profile,
because he jumps in next
and makes a dish that I just want to keep eating and eating.
Had you described tomatoes in a box of spaghetti
and made it super obvious,
we might not have had this...
flavor bomb of spaghetti in front of us.
So the day got better because of your shop.
[Jet] I got to say,
I'm surrounded by so many...
winners and all-stars here.
And I was a little worried
watching Dale kind of like not see the spaghetti meatball.
And then Joe,
you flew in on your cape
and saved the day,
which made this a very, very delicious dish.
This kind of hot, numbing spice
Szechuan situation is pretty good.
And then when you went in for that red light special,
went for chili sauce,
it really kind of brings this whole dish together.
Thank you. Great job, teams.
All right, judges, what do you think?
It's a tough situation, right?
In the burger and fry,
phenomenal burger,
not a great fry.
On the other side of it, we didn't get meatballs.
We got a meatball.
Yeah, they nailed the spaghetti.
They nailed the burger.
They had struggles with the meatball.
They had struggles with the sweet potato.
Which, when you have chefs of this caliber,
that's going to-- what's going to happen?
It's going to come down to one bite.
All right, let's score it up.
Let's see where you're at.
We have 40 points available in gameplay,
40 points available in the taste,
and 20 points in the plating.
[tense music playing]
[Guy] I will tell you what,
this relay rumble is ridiculous.
The team with the highest score will be moving on.
Let's take a look at the Award Winners.
Out of 40 points in gameplay,
40. Nice.
Take that. I'll take that.
-Oh, wow. -Wow.
[Guy] In taste, 28.
I do believe
this has a lot to do with the sweet potato fries.
In plating,
17.
For a total of...
85.
Okay.
Wow.
[Guy] Top Chef All-Stars, you need to beat an 85.
Big money, big money, big money, big money.
[Guy] Gameplay, 34.
Taste, 36.
Wow, okay.
And for plating, a 17.
-Congratulations with a win of 87. -[Dale whoops]
Yeah! Yeah!
[Kelsey and Joe] Wow.
-[Joe] Oh, my God. -[laughing]
[Dale] I'm a big dummy.
[Guy] Award winners, we have all had sweet potatoes.
We have all gone through that question of double frying
and how does it work.
I don't think there was a miss on this.
I think that what this was is
it just wasn't as great as your burger was.
But unfortunately, only one team can move on.
It was great having you. Thank you.
-[Dale] Good job. -[Joe] Good job.
We're disappointed we lost.
We think we did a great job.
I mean, from the shop to the mid-execution
to the final execution,
the performance was flawless.
-[Crista] You're welcome. -Thank you...
Clearly, someone didn't understand
when they made these aprons
that we were the winners.
We are not happy, Guy, okay?
That's right. We want a do-over.
Give it up for TC All Stars!
[Rocco and Dale whoop]
-[Joe mimics horn] -[Guy chuckles]
Now listen, you do not have
the highest score of the tournament,
but you have earned yourself a spot
in the semifinals.
The TOC Champs,
at a score of 93,
they might have the shot
of going around the semifinals,
going directly to the finale.
But that will be determined next week
when we have two more battles happening,
and we're going to find out
who's going to the finals
and who's going to get 60,000 bucks.
In the third and final qualifying heat...
This is brutal.
...three of our most esteemed Triple G judges...
[guys screaming]
[Guy] ...are taking on rising stars
of the food world,
the Next Generation All-Stars.
[man] I'm having fun,
but I don't know what I'm making.
[whoops]
[Guy] Will teamwork make the dream work?
-We love that. -[Guy] Or will it turn into a nightmare?
This is brutal, by the way.
It is hell on wheels.