I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one brave chef will try
to take me down in my house.
-This is my show. -Today it is. Tomorrow, who knows.
-Ooh. -Trash talking.
This culinary battle is going to shake down in two rounds.
Round one, to get to me,
two contenders have to go through each other
using an ingredient of my choice.
It's do or die, Bobby.
[Bobby] Two people that know me well
will decide who's got the skills to beat me.
Yeah!
[Bobby] Round two, I go head to head with the winning contender.
Let's go!
[Bobby] It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
What?
-Ah! -Don't try this at home.
I know you did it, Bobby!
[Bobby] Bottom line?
You're going to run out of time!
Everyone's out to beat me.
All right, guys. Time to talk the talk and walk the walk.
Give it up for Food Network's Jet Tila
and co-host of The Talk, Amanda Kloots.
[laughs]
-[laughing] -[Bobby] Oh, man.
-All right. -[Jet] You're going down, Bobby.
-You got to go down. -Nice legs, Jet.
Bro, I think I pulled something, homie.
-[Bobby] Yes. -I'm hurt.
We got to work on your kicks. We'll work on it.
I mean...
-[audience applauds] -I got to get you into Pilates.
Actually, my Pilates instructor in Los Angeles
-was a Rockette as well. -Oh, really?
-How long did you do that for? -I did it for two years.
It's so, like, iconic.
You feel very lucky going to work at
Radio City Music Hall every day.
And now you're on The Talk, which is such a great show.
Yes, you've been on.
I have. I have to come back.
But we'll see how this happens today.
She's like, "Yeah, don't invite yourself on."
Yeah, we'll see if you're invited after today.
-Let's see what happens. -[chuckles]
So you have any strategy tonight, Jet?
I mean, this is Amanda's first time here.
If you start winning, she's going to kick you.
-You know what I mean? -That's right. [laughs]
-She's going to Rockette you down. -I'll be ducking.
-Yeah. [laughs] -Whoo!
That's right. That's right.
We're taking you down, brother.
Let's do it.
So our first contender has worked
in Michelin star restaurants around the world.
From Vallejo, California, it's Chef Monique Feybesse.
[audience cheering]
Okay, Bobby, this contender's upscale Greek cuisine
will have you saying, "Opa!" in no time.
From Chicago, by way of Greece,
it's Chef Nikolaos Kapernaro.
-[audience cheering] -Opa!
[Bobby] Monique, Nikolaos, how are you guys doing?
-All good. -Doing good. Excited.
[Monique] I grew up watching you.
I think it's time for you to watch me.
Oh, you go, girl.
-Yeah. -She's spicy.
[Jet] Yeah.
Okay, here's the way it's going to work.
I'm going to put 20 minutes on the clock.
I'm going to give you an ingredient of my choice.
And you must make that ingredient
the star of your dish.
That ingredient is dried cherries.
[audience applauds] Ooh.
What's the matter? You're not that smiley anymore.
No, I'm a pastry chef. I love cherries.
-Are you kidding me? -Are you a pastry chef?
I'm a pastry and a savory chef.
Oh, you do everything.
[all laugh]
[Nikolaos] It's not looking good.
Monique is a pastry chef,
and I haven't worked with dried cherries for many, many years.
20 minutes on the clock.
Don't dry out under pressure.
Make the dried cherries the star.
-[bell dings] -[audience applauds]
[Bobby] Okay, dried cherries.
-Love. Yeah. -Okay.
-[Jet] It's packed with flavor. -[Amanda] Tart.
-[Jet] Tarts. -[Bobby] Do you rehydrate them?
-I would totally rehydrate them. -Oh, wow.
-[Jet] Monique, was that a spirit or wine? -It was rum.
-Rum, okay. -Rum.
So dried cherries, they have acidity,
but they don't have brightness, and they
don't have the juiciness.
So you have to rehydrate them.
Monique, are you on fire?
No, no, no, no, no, no. This is what I wanted.
-Oh, okay, go. -[Jet] Wow.
[Monique] Some hickory to infuse some cream.
-Mmm. Smell is already so overwhelming. -[Bobby] Right.
That's really cool. Look at that.
It's smoked cream French toast. Let's go.
Wow. Yum.
-Hey, Monique, take it easy on these clever ideas. -No, no, no, no.
We only got 20 minutes, chef.
Actually, 16 now.
I worked my way up in some of the
toughest restaurants in the world.
I know how to do sweets.
I know how to do savory.
Today, I'm the chef and owner of Tarts de Feybesse.
We specialize in French pastries.
We've become one of the best pastry shops in the Bay Area,
and soon we'll be opening up our first brick and mortar.
I want to win for my kids, giving them a good example of,
"If you can dream it, you can do it."
Nikolaos, what are you making, sir?
[Nikolaos] We're making a Mediterranean crostini
with a nice tomato tapenade.
The cherries hydrated with wine.
-[Bobby] Okay. -Ooh, okay.
I cut my baguettes. I drizzle with olive oil.
Salt, pepper, oregano and I put it in the oven.
[Jet] 15 minutes, chefs.
15 minutes.
[audience applauds]
Chef Nikolaos.
I'm going to go a little bit Mediterranean style
with a nice cheese with herbs.
For the tomato tapenade, I have fresh oregano, parsley,
and basil.
It's going to be like a refreshing flavor,
all this sweet and sour flavor of the cherries.
But look at all those weapons.
She's got the cream and the smoke and everything.
We'll see the flavor.
-Yeah. -[audience] Ooh.
[Nikolaos] I was born and raised in Greece.
I spent my career working in five-star resorts
with Michelin star chefs all around Europe.
And then I moved to the United States.
Today, I'm the executive chef at Avli on The Park.
I have a brigade of 65 people
making contemporary Greek cuisine.
I'm here today to beat Bobby
and be the new king even for a day.
All right, Chef Monique, how's it going?
-[Jet] I love this technique. -You want to taste it?
Come on, you're...
-Oh, that is fantastic. -Thank you.
-The burnt notes really create a nice-- -Yes.
A very fast way to smoke. I'm stealing that from you.
I transfer some of the smoked cream
into another bowl with egg
and soak some of the bread inside of it.
And then brine into the brown butter.
[Jet] All right, chefs, 12 minutes left.
[audience cheering]
Nikolaos, I'm trying to figure out his flavor combos.
-He's got tomatoes and cherries? -That's the problem.
I'm not seeing the symphony, I guess.
-Okay. -You know what I mean?
-We want a symphony. -[Jet] For sure.
Okay, I'm going in, guys.
I'm going in.
All right, guys, we're coming up on eight minutes.
[cheering]
[Amanda] Monique, how you feeling?
I'm feeling okay.
Mmm, what are you doing there?
It's just a little flat, so I need to brighten it
up with some vinegar.
Oh my gosh, it looks so good. It smells so good.
[Monique] I'm thinking about my kids. They love cherries.
They always ask for dessert, obviously.
I would, too. If you were my mom,
-I'd ask for dessert all the time. -Yeah.
-All right, Nikolaos, how you feeling? -Hello, hello.
-How you doing, Amanda? -It's getting down to the wire.
[Nikolaos] Oh, my God, I burned the bread.
So I don't have time to remake them,
and I choose, like, the best looking crostinis,
and I use these for my plates.
What do we got here?
Some cheese with honey and fresh herbs.
[Amanda] I love feta, and I love feta with honey.
So you are speaking my language.
And then we got the cherries here.
Are they going to be a topping?
Yeah, the star.
What do you guys think?
-[audience cheers] -Come on, guys!
Can we get a "opa!"
[all] Opa!
All right, that's what I'm talking about.
All right, two minutes.
Get it on the plate.
This seared bread goes on the bottom of the bowl
with the macerated cherries
and julienned fresh cherries as well.
Oh, she's just laying it on a bed of cherries.
[Nikolaos] I grab my feta parmesan crumble,
put it on top of the tomato tapenade,
on top, my cherries, and some watercress.
[Bobby] One minute.
I pour the cream into the small pitchers
to keep the bread crispy until the very end.
[all] Five, four, three, two, one.
-[bell dings] -[audience cheers]
[Monique] I love my idea, but there's not
too many ingredients on my dish.
There's technique. There's cherries.
[Nikolaos] This dish is a winner.
It's going to be an explosion of flavors, my style.
[Jet] All right, chefs.
We're counting on one of you to take this man down.
It's all going to come down
to what you did with the dried cherries.
Chef Nikolaos.
So it's a Mediterranean crostini with a tomato tapenade.
I have to say, I was worried
about how it would all come together,
and it is delicious.
It's so bright and refreshing.
I was worried you were going to lose the cherries,
and you did not.
The cherries are tart. They're sweet.
And the feta gives a creaminess and a saltiness.
The bread is a little too toasted.
You do kind of taste that burntness.
Chef Monique, what did you make?
[Monique] A dried cherry French toast with smoked cream.
I really love the technique of smoking,
and I definitely get that taste.
Just even smelling this cream is so good.
And when you pour it over the toast, it's delicious.
For some reason, though, I'm losing the cherry here.
The smoked cream is actually overpowering the cherry.
We're going to need a moment to discuss, please.
I think my dish is creative in showcasing
different techniques rather than
just making something basic.
The chef moving forward tonight to beat Bobby is...
Chef Nikolaos.
[audience cheers]
All right, Chef.
It's disappointing, but just even to see Bobby himself,
I had a blast.
Nikolaos, you won because of your balance of flavors.
You have to bring those moments of wow.
Beware of the Greeks, and their bearing gifts, they say.
-Oh, okay. There we go. -[laughs]
[Amanda] That's the kind of stuff we love to hear.
-[Jet] Yeah. -[all applaud]
Nikolaos, how you feeling about round two?
I'm coming hot.
You're coming hot?
-[Jet laughing] -Coming in hot.
-Nice. -Okay, I like it.
What are we cooking tonight?
What is your signature dish?
So my signature dish is...
Guys, can I have your help, the drum roll?
-[drum roll] -Oh, the drum roll.
I like it.
Moussaka!
[all] Oh!
-[Nikolaos] Can I ask you something? -Yeah.
If I win, you're going to dance sirtaki with me?
Oh, yes, sirtaki. That's my move.
-What is that? -Absolutely he will.
I do the Irish jig. I'm ready.
[laughing]
All right, 45 minutes on the clock,
and your time starts now!
[Jet] Yeah.
[audience cheers]
-I feel confident in Chef Nikolaos. -Why?
-He seems like he has a game plan. -[Jet] Yeah.
I'm liking his confidence.
[Nikolaos] I have made this dish more than 5,000 times in my life.
I have it in my blood.
I know this dish is going to beat Bobby.
When I was in Greece,
I remember going to a family-owned restaurant,
and they brought out a moussaka that was incredible.
Some people equate it to kind of like a
-Greek lasagna. It's layered. -Yeah.
It's got a heavy bechamel sauce sometimes.
There's meat.
And instead of pasta, there's eggplant.
It's such a classic hearty dish.
I want to get the beef cooked first,
because it's going to be like the meat sauce,
and it has to be ready in less than 20 minutes.
Nikolaos' family's from the south of Greece,
-and they use beef instead of lamb. -[Amanda] Okay.
[Jet] And he's frying potatoes.
I like that move a lot.
Kind of like the shepherd's pie,
where you have a layer of potato.
Adding that texture in there.
[Nikolaos] I'm adding tomato paste, Roma tomatoes,
white wine in the meat.
Very nice fruity flavor.
My eggplants, I'm going to put salt,
pepper, and I'm going to put some flour
and put them in the fryer
to make them a little bit crispy.
[Amanda] They both got their eggplant.
Bobby cubed his,
and Nikolaos sliced.
Nicolas is doing a speed fry,
which I think is really smart,
-because it gets soft and sweet very, very quickly. -Soft... Okay.
[Bobby] I've made moussaka a handful of times.
Making it in 45 minutes, it's very challenging,
because you have so many components
that you have to make.
Then you have to cook it all together.
[Jet] Hey, Bobby, what direction are you going in here?
Like, in my mind, it's lamb, eggplant,
bechamel, maybe some cheese, some tomatoes, warm spices,
like cinnamon, allspice.
I love this dish. This is one of
the world's great dishes.
In another pan, I'm going to sweat some onions,
some garlic, some serrano chilies.
Not traditional.
[Jet] Uh, Nikolaos, is there serrano chilies in Greece?
They're not going in Greek food, baby.
They are tonight.
[all laugh]
I'm going to combine the lamb and the eggplant
with some piquillo peppers, allspice, cinnamon, red wine,
tomato paste, and some canned tomatoes.
38 minutes as we come in to celebrate Nikolaos' win.
[all cheer]
-Uh, we already know that you have this one in the bag. -Yep.
[Bobby] What are we drinking?
-[Jet] Ouzo. -[indistinct]
[Bobby] Ouzo?
Bobby, we're drinking to Nikolaos' win.
-Those are big shots. -[Amanda] There we go.
Got to take your shot.
-You gotta. -That ain't right.
Yep, you gotta take a shot.
-There you go. -One, two, three, opa!
[audience cheering]
[Bobby] Wow.
It is strong stuff, man.
That stuff is serious business.
Bobby downed it so fast, you better top him up.
-Yeah, I don't know if-- -I don't think it's enough.
I don't think you had enough.
I think we have to do one more shot in there.
-[Jet] There we go. -Three, two, one.
[both laughing] Opa!
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[audience applauds]
[Jet] Is that enough?
No, I'm done.
-All right, guys. Give it up for Nikolaos. -Whoo!
-[Amanda] All right. -I got this.
[both laugh]
I'm literally hallucinating right now.
[sighs]
That's what happens when a pretty girl hands me the liquor.
I'm like, "Got it."
[Amanda] 27 minutes.
[cheering]
-Smelling good in here, though. -It really is.
[Jet] Bobby's lamb really looks almost like a bolognese-ey.
[Amanda] I know, it does look very saucy.
I think Bobby got so drunk, he thinks he's in Italy.
Bobby, are you making an Italian dish over there
or a Greek dish?
-Looks like a bolognese happening in that pot. -[Bobby] Exactly.
My eggplant is cooked and I'm gonna add it to the pea sauce.
I'm going to add some chicken stock, a little Calabrian chili,
and some mint, oregano, parsley.
Now moving on to my bechamel,
I start with some butter, flour, milk.
[Nikolaos] You add eggs, cheese, and nutmeg.
It give a great, great consistency to the sauce
when it's been cooked in the oven, fluffy and brownies.
Now is the right time to start building my moussaka.
-Just under 23 minutes. -[all applaud]
[Amanda] Ooh.
Chef, what are you doing? This looks so good.
[Nikolaos] So this is the first layer of the potatoes.
-This is kind of like the crust, right? -[Nikolaos] Yes.
Now I'm putting the eggplant. It's like a casserole.
Now you told us that if he loses tonight,
he has to do the traditional...
-Sirtaki dance. -Sirtaki.
-Yeah. Let me show you. -Oh.
[Nikolaos] So we go.
-One, two, three. -Hey.
One, two, three.
-Hey. -Opa, Bobby.
Hey!
[audience applauds]
Bobby, did you see that? Because I feel like
you're going to be doing that real soon.
I'll get my dancing shoes on.
[laughing]
I put my meat sauce, more eggplant,
my bechamel sauce on top, parmesan cheese,
and it goes in the oven.
How's your bolognese coming?
-[Bobby] It's so good. You want to taste it? -Okay.
-A little hot. Be careful. -Okay. Okay.
Is there a napkin I can...
[Jet laughs]
I'm tasting chilies, and I'm tasting mint,
things that are not in moussaka.
Amanda.
-Okay, yeah. -This is the taste of Greece.
[Amanda] Let's taste it.
Oh, my God.
Oh.
-I need a bowl. I just want a bowl. -[audience applauds]
That's moussaka.
That is delicious. Oh.
13 minutes to go.
[applause]
I have to say, the bite that I took from Chef Nikolaos
-was really, really good. -Okay.
So warm and hearty
and just something very special about it.
[Jet] How is Bobby's meat sauce?
-You know, I tasted a lot of cinnamon, -Yes.
and it wasn't my favorite.
[Bobby] I'm going to start layering my dish.
I have my eggplant and lamb and tomato mixture.
I put the custardy bechamel on top, some feta cheese.
-[Jet] It's a casserole. -[Amanda] Mmm-hmm.
Right, It's layered and baked, so it melts together.
And I'm not seeing much of that on Bobby's side.
[Amanda] It's like a big soup or something.
[Jet] Right?
I'm going to make a very nice refreshing yogurt dip
with marinated tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.
Nikolaos, how you feeling over there?
-Good. -Good!
-He's good. -[all applaud]
[Amanda] Mmm.
[Jet] Oh, look at the sizzling.
The bubbling bechamel moussaka.
[Nikolaos] While I'm torching, I'm getting a very nice
brownish-blonde color.
All right, we're at two minutes!
Bobby's going to do feta,
and I guess he's going to crumb top that.
Bobby, what are you grating?
Nutmeg.
-Why nutmeg, Bobby? -Uh...
-He doesn't know. -[laughs] Yeah, you're right.
-He's too drunk. -He doesn't even know.
No recollection.
[Jet] Right, right.
30 seconds.
-[Jet] Whoo! -[audience cheers]
[Bobby] I'm going to finish it with some toasted bread crumbs,
just for a little crunch.
[all] Nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one!
[all cheer]
[Bobby] The bechamel is nice and light.
The eggplant and lamb mixture has a lot of good flavor.
It looks like moussaka, I think.
I'm very confident I have put all my love, all my technique
to make something that represents me,
my country, my family,
and my culinary vision as a chef.
So tonight's challenge was moussaka,
and we'd like to introduce you to tonight's judges.
Third generation owner of Veselka, Jason Birchard.
Food novelist, Jess Tom.
Chef owner of Ovelia, Peter Giannakas.
[all applaud]
All right, judges, we're going to ask you
to try the first moussaka.
[Peter] I was a little surprised.
I didn't find the layers
that you typically find in a moussaka.
But that bolognese has some kick to it.
I'm not too crazy about the feta.
I think the feta overpowers the dish quite a bit.
I also found it a little salty,
and I also found it a little soupy.
I moved my fork down,
and it all sort of runs back in.
I enjoyed it. This was a nice combination.
I like the pecorino and the feta.
The lamb and the spices brought it together.
A little loose, but overall very tasty.
Judges, please try the second moussaka.
[Peter] I love the layering.
Each layer is present.
The flavors are really, really good.
I like the yogurt to freshen up the palate
between each bite,
because moussaka can be a little heavy.
[Jess] The bechamel on top baked down into
a really great interesting texture.
Some parts were a little more creamy.
Some parts were a little more charred.
But I wanted a little bit more spice.
It was a great combination of the potatoes.
You could taste the eggplant.
The meat seemed a bit greasy, but overall very good dish.
Judges, thank you so much for your expertise.
Now it's time to vote.
I think that I have really good chances beating Bobby Flay.
The judges have voted, and the winner is...
Chef Nikolaos!
-Whoo! -[all cheering]
[indistinct conversation]
I was born in the land of the gods,
and today I beat Bobby Flay, a chef, and a legend.
Oh, Bobby, I'm the king of the jungle.
The moussaka was absolutely wonderful.
-You got the layers just right. -Are you Greek?
No.
-Bravo. -[indistinct]
You got to do a little sirtaki dance.
Oh, yeah, how do I do it?
I'll help you out. I remember the moves.
-So... I'll go in front. -Okay.
And we have another Greek guy.
-[laughing] -[shouting]
What are we doing?
One, two, three, kick.
[audience clapping]
-One, two, three. -[audience] Aye.
[audience] Aye.
-Opa! -Opa, we took it.
-[Amanda] Oh, I loved it. -And Bobby can go home drunk.
-Bye, Bobby. See you later. -Bye, Bobby.
[both] Bye.
I am Chef Nikolaos Kapernaros,
and I just beat Bobby Flay.
-Opa! -[audience cheers]