- Previously on "next level chef."
- Go, guys! Let's go.
You're now individuals
Fighting to become the "next level chef."
- This is what I came for.
- There were three dishes
That have earned that top level kitchen--
Omi, michelle, and tucker.
[upbeat music]
- The dish that I'm sending home tonight
Is the duck with the fried potato.
- Preston. - Oh, my gosh.
- Good job, preston. - Good job, buddy.
[applause]
- Tonight...
- Richard, nyesha, and myself would like to congratulate you
For making it to the top ten.
Come on. [applause]
For today's challenge... - Whoo!
- We're heading to a place
Where every chef makes their first real impression,
Amazing appetizers.
- And a beautiful craft cocktail.
- All right, guys, 40 minutes starts now.
Let's go.
- You mess this up, bro, no excuses.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome back. How are we feeling?
- Great. - Terrific.
- Richard, nyesha, and myself would like to congratulate you
For making it to the top ten. Come on.
Give yourselves a round of applause.
[applause] - whoo!
Top ten, baby.
This is a milestone in this competition.
- Now, the competition is only getting harder.
There is no room for any error.
So for today's challenge, we're heading to a place
Where every chef makes their first real impression,
Amazing appetizers.
- Yes! - [laughs]
- Let's go. - I'm a professional chef.
I make appetizers all the time.
Let's do it.
If you mess this up, bro, no excuses.
You better be able to make a next level appetizer, man.
- In my restaurants, customers looking
To wind down after a busy day,
They'll come in just to share appetizers.
If you're smart, you get them to pair it
With a beautiful craft cocktail.
You've all seen an old-fashioned
In a restaurant, but what we try to do
In all of my restaurants
Is take it to the next level.
- Whoo!
♪ ♪
- Hey! [applause]
- Beautiful! Come on.
- I'm a firefighter.
I see a lot of smoke over there.
- I feel like I'm in snoop dogg's kitchen.
[laughter]
So you've all got 40 minutes
To create a next level appetizer
And one incredible cocktail.
Oh, one more thing,
The chef who creates the best dish
Will not only move up to cook
In that amazing, topflight kitchen,
But will earn one of these,
A time token.
The winner of the time token
Has a big choice.
They can add an extra ten seconds
To the start of their platform grab,
Or they can use it to take ten seconds away
From one of their fellow competitors.
- That's mean.
- I'm freaking, like, salivating out the mouth.
I need that time token.
I want it so bad.
- Omi, michelle, and tucker, because you cooked
The best dishes last time, you've earned your spot
In that top-level kitchen.
Home cook, social media cook,
And pro chef all battling out in that kitchen today.
Head to the elevator. I'll see you there shortly.
- Thank you, chef. - Let's go, ladies.
Let's go.
♪ ♪
- Let's go.
♪ ♪
- Let's go! - All the way up!
- Here we are, women power,
Walking out on this top floor like bosses.
Yes! - Oh!
- I'm absolutely feeling so proud of myself
That I managed to get myself up here.
I dig it.
- Shay, mehreen, nuri, chris, and tini,
You're all cooking on the middle level.
I'll join you there.
[energetic rock music]
- Here we go!
[applause] - whoo!
- I'm in the elevator,
Focused and complete tunnel vision.
My daughter started playing in my mind.
She's almost making her way into this world.
I'm like, "nobody's gonna take food
Out of my baby girl's mouth." - middle kitchen!
- All right.
- I am claiming this one.
- Nuri!
- Shay-lo, shay-z, shay butter, baby.
- I did not approve that nickname.
Love you. - Back together!
- Vinny, pilar, you may feel like
You're at rock bottom in the basement,
But I know that both of you can cook your way out.
- Yes, chef.
[quirky music]
- I don't mind the basement. - I don't mind it, either.
- I do not mind the basement.
Hello. - I've been here before.
- Did you miss me?
So I'm a creature of habit,
And I have always had a certain spot in the basement.
But I take it you're taking that spot?
- Yes.
I purposely picked that station off to the side.
[laughs]
- I always cook here.
- Ok. - All righty then.
You don't want to make women your enemy.
That's how you're gonna get further in life.
- Let's go, vinny. - Yes, chef.
- Let's go. - What's up, guys?
These chefs are cooking as individuals now,
But teams or no teams, I'm excited.
I got two really strong chefs.
Pilar is a gangster in the kitchen.
And vinny, you know, he's fallen,
He's picked himself back up I don't know how many times.
Think about what's gonna win you
That amazing time token, right?
[all cheering]
- All right, all right. Let's go, chef.
How are you, chef? Feeling good?
- Yeah. - All right, let's line it up.
- Right. [applause]
- Hi. - Ladies, we good?
How are you doing?
- Good. - I'm happy you're here.
Give it your all.
Line up against the wall, please.
Let's go. Come on, come on, come on.
Here it comes, guys.
When it goes green, we're gonna go.
And go! Go, go, go, go!
Look at those appetizers. Oh, man.
- Michelle grabs two scallops.
I only grab one scallop.
- Oh, ladies, ladies, ladies, only one of you can have it.
- There's no way that I'm not taking these scallops.
I will fight for this one.
- Decide, decide, decide. - You got two.
- Ok.
- Wow. - Got two out of the three.
Luckily, I look back up, and I see the salmon.
I'm like, "salmon, you're mine."
I'm still getting seafood. I'm getting fish.
It's perfect. - Three, two, one, she's gone.
She's gone. Good.
Well done. Go on.
Omi, michelle, the fight for the scallops,
Bloody hell's bells.
[hydraulics whirring] - go time.
- I see chicken lollipops. I'm like, "oh, I need that."
- 30 seconds. Grab the ingredients you need.
- Don't take it personal. Chef stretch is coming through.
- 20 seconds.
- Nuri just full-on puts his hands
On the chicken and just grabs them
From a plate. I'm like, "great."
So I'm stressing. I need a protein.
- What works? Grab a protein.
- I grab some tuna,
Some blue cheese, crème fraîche.
I'm like, "ok, I've got a plan.
I know what I'm gonna do."
- If you can grab it, you can grab it.
Nice grab.
[hydraulics whirring] - let's go, guys.
- Being in the basement level,
You're gonna get basement ingredients.
So I grab the ground pork. I also grab sweet potato.
I grabbed fingerling potatoes, purple potatoes.
I don't know, I guess it's the irish in me.
[energetic folk music]
- Three, two, one.
- I managed to grab a whole dover sole.
- Let's go, pilar. - Oops, sorry, honey.
- Fish is my specialty, so I'm thrilled.
[laughs] - 40 minutes.
It starts now, yes? Omi, tell me about this dish.
You got the salmon.
- The salmon, a little bit of sugar,
A little bit of pepper, garlic, onion, the paprika.
- I'm loving those latin flavors
That you're putting into those puerto rican dishes.
- Yes, chef. - Love that.
- They would serve this up
In luquillo, fajardo,
Anywhere you go, you would get this.
- Gotcha.
Michelle, so shallots, a little bit of carrot,
Watercress, radish. Man, is that all you grabbed?
- Yeah. - Ah, [bleep].
That's not good.
[dramatic music]
We started as a fight down here.
I had omi and michelle grabbing the scallops.
It is the perfect protein, but right now,
Michelle didn't get anything else.
A shallot, a lemon, and that is it.
So she may have the most exciting
Appetizer protein,
But she got nothing else alongside it.
- I do not want to go down a level.
I just proved to chef ramsay that I belong at the top.
But I don't have enough ingredients.
I need a plan, or else I'm going to elimination.
- Michelle, you didn't grab many ingredients.
- No, I didn't. - Why?
- I was very focused on getting those scallops.
- What we thinking now? Scallops one way, two way?
- Two ways. - Two ways?
- Yes, crudo and then seared.
- And it needs to taste of something unique.
I want you back on your a-game, yes?
- Thank you, chef.
- All right, stunning visual appetizers.
All right, chris, what are you gonna do?
- I'm doing oysters two ways.
I'm gonna do fried oysters and raw oysters.
- Ok, listen, usually,
I don't like duos and stuff like that.
In this case, with the oyster, I think it's smart, ok?
- I think so too. [laughs]
- That's a good diabolical laugh.
- [laughs]
[laughing maniacally]
- All right, mehreen, you got lobster.
You got cheese. - Yes.
I am thinking rice paper rolled lobsters.
I've not cooked lobster before,
So I want to make sure I poach it in here
For the correct amount of time.
It's super risky for me
To take on the lobster right now.
- Here's how I like to do this.
And then you can come in, and it's a lot easier to
Just pop it out of the shell. - Ah.
But I really want
To get a winning dish, especially now
That we're outside of our teams.
Ok, never done this before. This should be fun.
- The last dish wasn't maybe your best dish.
I felt somewhat responsible. I wasn't with you.
- I missed you. - Oh, did you?
- I missed you. Yeah, I missed.
- Ok, you said it. Ok, good, because same here.
- Chef blais is just the best,
And I'm so glad he missed me, too,
Even if he has to say that. [chuckles]
- I mean, I just love the way that we collaborate, right?
- I know, absolutely.
- Which is what a great team is all about, right?
- Because I still feel like his child,
So he can't choose a favorite.
I'm gonna decide that I'm the favorite.
It smells great.
- Chris, how you feeling, baby? You good?
- Amazing, baby. - Oh, yeah, baby.
- All right, nuri. - Yes, chef.
I got some beautiful chicken lollipops.
I'ma do, like, a sweet and spicy sauce for 'em.
Chef blais is probably thinking, like,
"make sure you don't make those too hot.
I don't want to have to grab a glass of water again."
- Yeah, it's that bird's eye chili.
[energetic rock music]
- I'm a chicken wing connoisseur, by the way.
- You just put added pressure on me, chef.
- No, no, no, I just-- I'm just excited.
I've been eating your food. It's been delicious.
Now, I get to know how you cook.
- I can't let chef blais down on that.
If I screw this up, not good.
- Ok, guys, 30 minutes left.
Let's go. Talk to me.
- I'm gonna do a scotch egg and a fondant potato.
- Have you made a scotch egg before?
- Never in my life.
I'm a home chef.
I would never make a scotch egg at my house,
But I got to start taking risks.
I'm in the basement.
If you nail a scotch egg,
You're probably going to the top.
That's a very tough, difficult thing to do.
- Vinny, hey! - Yeah?
- Vinny, you good? What'd you get?
- I am doing a scotch egg with a fondant potato.
- Scotch egg sounds appetizer. Fondant sounds like entrée.
[dramatic music]
- This is chess, not checkers. - Be smart.
- If I nail something that he's been cooking
For 20 years, I'm golden, baby.
Maybe it'll be on his appetizer menu
From here on out. I don't know.
- A scotch egg and a fondant potato?
Why is he doing that to me? The teams have evaporated.
We're now down to one dynamic competition.
However, I want the winner to come from team ramsay.
♪ ♪
Tucker, what'd you get?
- I've got some spanish prawns, bacon, chili.
I rendered my bacon fat and cooked my prawns
In the bacon fat. - Smart.
Having spent so much time in that competitive world
In san francisco,
You push things to the edge every time.
- Yes, chef, you have to beat out
All the competition every time. There's no room for error.
San francisco is rough.
It's been quite the fight to get up to the level
That I have gotten into.
I've fought through many battles
That have prepared me for this moment
And helped me become the badass I am today.
- 25 minutes to go, guys, yes? - Yes, chef.
- All right, shay.
- So my grandma made these
Sambousek meat pies is what we call 'em.
- Did she hand down a recipe to you?
- Oh, yeah, we have a recipe.
This is a little ode to her.
I'm trying to cook with familiar flavors.
Cooking for my mom, for my grandma,
For my whole lebanese side of the family.
- Making your own dough always helps.
If it works, that's a big plus.
All right, tini, what are we doing?
- I was thinking maybe, like, a tuna,
Like, taco appetizer side. - Ok, I like that.
You're making your own tortilla?
- Yeah.
- You ever made a tortilla before on the fly like that?
- Um, once. - Ok, ok, good.
Blue cheese and tuna sounds absolutely insane,
But I know it works. - Ok.
- I know it works. - I hope it works.
Chef blais is trying to help me 'cause,
You know, I have some self-confidence issues
When it comes to cooking.
Ow.
I always second-guess myself,
And that's where everything goes downhill.
It's not working.
I don't know at this point what I'm doing.
♪ ♪
- Come on, guys.
This is gonna be a first for me.
I've never seen a fondant in an appetizer.
- Yes, chef.
- Do you have a timer going in your mind for the egg?
- I do.
- Because you don't want it to carry over,
'cause you still got to wrap it with the ground pork.
- Yes, chef. - You still got to fry it.
Level up, ok?
Pilar, this seems like this is really
In your wheelhouse, right?
You used to work for the legend wolfgang puck.
- I did appetizers for two years straight, chef.
- Did you really? - Yes, I did.
- Wow.
- I've been a professional chef for 10 years.
Ah, these knives.
I chose to separate myself from everything I know
For a culinary career. It's been hard.
Head down, just working,
Can't really have friendships sometimes.
I want my baby girl to know
When mom has to work, this is why.
This is for her.
[tender music]
I have a lot on the line. I got to fight.
- Cook your way out of this basement, right?
- Yes, chef. - Yes, chef.
- You can do it. It is in your power.
- Yes, chef. - Sure is.
[dramatic music]
- Ladies, it is time for that mid-round mayhem,
A cocktail to garnish
And to absolutely finish your appetizer.
Grab the ingredients in the tray
And make sure you've matched that cocktail
With your appetizer.
- I see piña colada.
Ave maría, the whole basket.
I cannot wait to cut into this pineapple
And add it to my dish.
- Salmon piña colada?
Hey, you serve that to me on a beach, girl,
We'll be married by sunset. - [laughs]
♪ ♪
- It's time for mid-round mayhem.
- All right. - We've got mayhem.
- You're gonna have to create a cocktail
And pair it with your appetizer.
Your platform is here.
Grab the whole box, the whole big, heavy box.
- Nuri once again,
His tall ass is just right here.
- Ooh, wait.
Nuri has his hand on things.
- Watch out, watch out.
- Plus, my brain has no idea what I need
Or want right now because I'm muslim.
I don't drink. [laughs]
- You guys got to choose. I'm grabbing this one.
- But luckily, I have chef blais to taste it.
- I love cocktails, to be honest.
♪ ♪
- All right, guys, it's time for the mid-round mayhem.
- [laughs]
Bourbon, that's my baby.
I'm gonna make the best bourbon drink on earth.
I was, like, laughing to myself.
I'm like, "who didn't take this?"
- Go, guys, go.
Ok. - Oh.
- Yes, yes, yes.
So you got a tom collins mix here, huh?
Fish and citrus makes sense, right?
- Yes, it does.
- Vinny, have you made a whiskey sour before?
- I have. - Excellent.
- I know how to drink them really well.
I can tell you that, chef. - [laughs]
- Listen, you can make a cocktail or a mocktail.
Ok, mehreen, where's our cocktail-mocktail?
- My basket is down here. - Ok.
- I think I got something.
I got-- I think I got margarita.
- Oh, party time.
- I've never had a cocktail before.
[laughs] this is just not coming out.
I'm trying to show the cohesiveness
Between the flavors.
Ooh, that does not look good.
Wow, mehreen, you used the sauce from your dish
And put it into your cocktail?
That's so cool and not looking like bloody water.
- Chris, what cocktail did we get?
- I got negroni, chef.
- You're going raw oysters and negroni?
- Fried oyster and raw oyster. We're gonna do both.
- Dude, you are so talented.
Like, just think about the process,
Getting things done, and what to take away if you need to.
- Eight minutes. You good, vin?
Checking on the fondant?
- Checking on the egg, the fondant.
Grabbing my egg out, I'm like, "wow, this looks beautiful."
It's golden brown. It's gonna be delicious.
- Come on, vinny. - Wait a second.
[bleep]
[tense music]
- What's going on, vin? - I didn't do it correctly.
- What? - My scotch egg.
♪ ♪
- You wrapped it in your ground pork?
- Nope.
This is not going to plan.
Can we push a reset button?
[bleep]. - Don't do this to me.
♪ ♪
- I didn't do it correctly.
I'm 100% going into elimination.
- Honestly, I'm so frustrated.
How can he not see the pork in front of him?
Six minutes left, guys. Vinny, keep your head up.
- There's not enough time to fix the scotch egg,
So vinny needs to concentrate on what else
He's gonna get on this plate.
He's just not leaving himself with a lot of options.
Time is ticking away. You have potatoes in the oven.
Let's go. Hustle!
[tense music]
- Ok, michelle, what did you get?
- Mojito. - Oh my goodness, me.
- I think it'll go nice with the scallop.
That's why I chose it. - I love that. Love that.
Love that. Love that. - I got a moscow mule, chef.
- A moscow mule? - Ooh, girl.
- My favorite. - Oh, my god, yeah.
That thing's got a kick in there, right?
- Yes. So do I, chef.
- Just make sure it absolutely elevates that appetizer, yes?
- Oui, chef. - Let's finish it up.
I'm here to mentor all of you,
And I don't want to see anyone from this floor
In the elimination. Let's go.
[dramatic music]
You don't need to make three tortillas.
Make two and use the most beautiful ones, right?
- Ok.
- Concentrate on getting ready to slice this tuna
And getting that dish together.
Let's get organized, though, ok, please, tini.
This is not supposed to be easy, right?
- This is definitely, like, the hardest challenge so far.
I'm taking risks, and I'm trying so hard
To really stay in this competition.
- Ok, mehreen, you're still figuring out
Where we're at fusion-wise with this dish.
Lobster spring roll, we need to keep it simple,
Elegant, refined, all the things
I think of with you.
- Yes. - She's got a cocktail.
She's got a spring roll. She's got lobster.
Lobster takes a lot of great technique.
Mehreen has got it in her, but she's never done it before.
Who knows what's gonna happen?
- There we go.
- Nuri, what is your-- - rum punch, chef.
- Rum punch? - Oh, yeah.
- Wait, are you saying we're gonna do
A fruity rum punch with spicy wings?
- Yes, chef.
When I go on vacation, I'll have a rum punch
And order some chicken lollipops.
So let's go.
- Shay, what kind of cocktail did you get?
- I got a cosmopolitan plus a pomegranate.
So I think the pomegranate will go nice
With the mediterranean. - I love that.
You got your homemade lebanese sambousek.
Your mom and your grandma, right, you say make this?
- Yeah, my mom, my grandma, my aunts, everybody.
- I am so impressed with you.
You're not just making delicious food anymore.
You're telling a story about yourself.
- I'm making this dish because it means a lot to me,
But the story doesn't matter if it's not delicious.
So most importantly, I have to make sure
They taste really freaking good.
- Three minutes to go!
Close your eyes and visualize that plate, yes?
- Yes, chef.
- And just don't let that cocktail
Mess up your plating, guys. Yes?
How's the piña colada?
- It's more piña than colada. - It's more piña than colada.
- Yes.
- Yeah, a bit like richard blais' hair.
- [laughs]
I'm feeling so confident about my dish today.
I'm gonna transport the mentors
Into a beach setting somewhere.
- Omi, no more drinking, please.
You're gonna be dancing the salsa.
- [laughs]
This is a really good piña colada.
- Only a couple of minutes left, ok?
- Yes, chef.
- Your cocktails should be either done or ready to pour.
- Even though I have never made a cocktail,
I used some cherry chili sauce that I made earlier,
And then I mixed it with the alcohols,
As you should. I'm happy.
That makes me feel a bit more confident
In the components I have cooked and put together today.
- Time's running out, ok? Let's go.
Finish it up. - Yes, chef.
- I made a homemade tortilla.
The cocktail and my tostada looks good together.
I'm hoping for that time token. I really want that.
Let's get someone upstairs, huh?
Let's do that.
♪ ♪
- 45 seconds, ok? - Breathe, vin, breathe.
- Let's get all your elements together for your dish.
Perfect appetizer, beautiful cocktail.
♪ ♪
- I'm looking at my cocktail.
Something isn't right.
- Platform is on the move, guys.
It's coming. - Now, I have no time left.
- Come on, guys.
- I have a fried egg, not a scotch egg,
Just a battered egg.
Nothing has gone right.
- The platform is here.
Come on, guys, get it on the platform.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
♪ ♪
Come on.
♪ ♪
Come on, vin. Hold your head up.
- I didn't get my cocktail that I wanted to make.
- Did you taste it? - I didn't have a chance.
♪ ♪
- The platform is here. It's here!
Let's go!
♪ ♪
Chris, the platform is here. Five seconds, dude.
- Watch out behind.
♪ ♪
- It's moving! It's moving!
- Yes. [applause]
♪ ♪
I just totally forgot I even had a cocktail.
Chef, I left my cocktail.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[bleep]
♪ ♪
Today might be the first time I'm going to elimination.
I'm scared.
♪ ♪
- The platform is there. Got to go, guys.
Omi, we've got to go, girl.
Michelle, tucker.
- I don't know if we've noticed,
But I am 5'2" on a good day... - Three, two, one.
- So I have to literally air jordan this plate
Onto the top level.
Whoo!
She on there.
- What are you doing? Your plate's on the edge.
What happened?
Look at the plate balancing on the end.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
We spoke earlier this morning
About making a great first impression.
All of you have leveled up. Well done.
Shall we start in the basement? - Yes, please.
- Thank you.
- Ok, so first up, we have a deep-fried egg
With a potato fondant. - So sorry, a scotch egg.
- Unfortunately, this chef didn't wrap
With the ground pork,
So it's basically a deep-fried egg.
- But a scotch egg needs the pork.
Right, so-- - absolutely, chef.
[tense music]
- Yeah, it doesn't quite eat like an appetizer,
More like a collection of ingredients.
And even if it's just a fried egg,
The egg is overcooked.
- This is an attempt at a whiskey sour.
- It smell like hugh hefner's underpant juice.
[laughter]
- Bleh.
[laughs] I don't want to try it, either.
- This stage of the competition,
We need to lift things.
- Just put me in elimination now.
- Ok, next up, we have
A pan-sear sole skewers
With a queso fresco stuffed squash blossom.
For our cocktail, we have a tom collins.
[upbeat music]
- And I actually think the cocktail
Pairs really well with the dish.
- Absolutely, I really appreciate
The communication between the dish
And the cocktail itself. - Beautiful.
♪ ♪
- All right.
- Should we move to the middle floor?
- This is oysters two ways,
And it's served with a negroni.
- Amazing to prepare one ingredient
In two different formats. Really showing some range.
- Delicious negroni.
♪ ♪
Just be careful with the breading 'cause,
Sadly, inside, the oyster is just a little bit rubbery.
- Damn it.
- Here we have a lobster spring roll
With a chili and cherry sauce.
[dramatic music]
- Very sweet.
- What was the cocktail with this?
- The cocktail unfortunately did not make the platform.
A margarita that was made,
But just did not get to the platform.
- Hmm, interesting. - Damn.
- This lobster roll is gonna send me somewhere not cute.
- Here we have a tuna tataki tostada
With a corn, blue cheese crema,
And it's served with a daiquiri.
The chef made this dough themselves.
♪ ♪
- I am struggling to understand why blue cheese goes with tuna.
- I've seen it before.
- It's sort of elegant to the eye,
But unfortunately, this dough here is sort of raw.
[tense music]
What a shame.
- This is the first time since this competition
Has started that I have a feeling
I'm going to elimination. I'm like, "ugh, it's terrible."
- So this is a lebanese sambousek,
Which is similar to an empanada.
- Ok.
- So this chef made their own dough,
Filled with ground veal, and then it's a tahini sauce.
- Flaky crust. - That's a flaky crust.
- This is grandma's recipe and mom's recipe.
- They are delicious.
[upbeat music]
- The use of the pomegranate seeds
That were from the cosmopolitan
As part of the sauce really works.
- Smart. - Ah!
It's such a relief.
I really put my heart on this dish,
And I'm just hoping I made my grandmother proud today.
- Ok, here we have a chicken lollipop
Glazed in a sriracha yuzu sauce.
[dramatic music]
- I do not want them having to grab a glass of water again.
♪ ♪
- Delicious. I love the heat.
Beautiful.
- To me, the star here really is the cocktail,
The rum punch, which is sweet and got all this fruit flavor
That works with the spice. - Right.
- It pairs really well together.
- It really does, actually.
- I didn't blow their heads off with the spice
Or with the heat, so it's good.
- Move to the dishes on the top floor.
First of all, there's spanish prawns
Paired with a moscow mule.
- This for me is the type of appetizer I want, right?
This is getting me ready for an entrée.
[soft dramatic music]
- Mm. - I've worked in Spain.
This reminds me of Spain. - Nailed.
Next up, the scallop dish is done in two ways.
The cocktail is a mojito.
- Doing a duo is always challenging.
It gives us something else to not like,
But that's not the case here.
I like the ceviche and the cooked scallop.
Ceviche and a mojito? That makes perfect sense.
- Delicious.
So this is a salmon dish
That had been pan seared and fresh salad
With a piña colada vinaigrette, which matches
With the piña colada drink, obviously.
- It takes me to, like, a really, really nice
Resort hotel appetizer dish.
It's just classic.
- If there's a chance to wow the dining room,
It's when dishes like that are flying past you.
Great job.
- I am feeling so validated.
I'm really happy with this dish today.
- Nyesha, richard, we got a lot of talking to do.
Shall we?
- [exhales deeply]
[soft dramatic music]
- We've got some great appetizers.
Let's talk about that beautiful piña colada salad.
- The piña colada is an odd pairing for it.
- Do you think so? - Piña colada, salmon?
- The take on the empanadas? How delicious were they?
- Sambousek. - Sambousek.
- It's a sambousek. - It's a sambousek.
You can truly taste the soul of the...
- Absolutely. - The cook who created it.
- Surprisingly delicious.
- The chicken lollipops, for sure.
100% spicy, sweet, but also the combination
Of the cocktail, the rum punch,
The sweet working against the chili.
And as many top dishes as there are,
It did also just really make it blatant
How bad that scotch egg was.
- There's nowhere for these chefs to hide.
- Yeah, that was an embarrassment
To the word scotch egg.
- And also really poor example of a cocktail.
- We can't even call it a cocktail.
- You know what I mean?
- No. - No.
- The raw oysters tasted better than the cooked ones.
- Totally.
- When you're cooking oysters,
You need to be so careful
Because mine was somewhat rubbery.
- But the oyster, for me,
Was much better than the tataki tuna.
That was a little hard to get--
That dough, it was really tough to get through.
- It was raw. It was raw.
- Listen, we can disagree about the flavors, but great effort.
- I keep being, like, good enough.
I want to be up there.
- The other weird one for me was that lobster spring roll.
- And there is no cocktail. - No.
- Right.
- So you forget a big part of the challenge.
- Right.
- What are you talking about?
- I had the lobster. - Let's go.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- The appetizers that stood out tonight
And gets them into the top-level kitchen
Next time are...
♪ ♪
The chicken lollipop.
[applause]
- Let's go, baby.
- Next, the lebanese empanadas.
- Thank you, chef.
- Next...
Was the salmon and the piña colada vinaigrette.
[applause]
And the final dish is...
The spanish prawns. Great job.
Absolutely sublime.
[applause]
So next time around, you're cooking
In that topflight kitchen, but one of you
Will have a game changing advantage.
The winner of the time token today is...
♪ ♪
The chicken lollipops.
- Let's go! [applause]
I did it again, baby! Whoo.
Thank you, chef. - Great job.
Put that on your apron. Keep it close to your heart.
- I just won this next level time token
For the first time ever, baby.
- One of the youngest in this competition at 22.
The way you're cooking, young man,
It feels like you've been in the industry
For 10 years, so kudos. Well done.
- Thank you, chef. - Great job.
- Ok, so there were some real highlights, obviously.
There were also a couple of lowlights.
The three people that will be cooking
In the elimination cook-off are...
[tense music]
- The three people that will be cooking
In the elimination cook off are...
[dramatic music]
Vinny.
♪ ♪
It just didn't come together, vinny.
- And that-- back-to-back eliminations.
What's going on, you know? Tired of it.
- The next person heading to the elimination
Is the chef who cooked...
The tuna tataki.
- [bleep] - tini.
- I think you know when the dough was raw,
That meant you might be heading to the elimination.
- Yes, chef.
- You haven't been up there yet.
- No.
I'm a fighter. Like, I'm telling you guys now.
I'm telling y'all now. I'm not going home.
- And the third person heading into the elimination cook-off
Is the chef who cooked...
♪ ♪
The lobster spring roll, mehreen.
♪ ♪
The cocktail didn't make it, and flavor combination's
A little bit imbalanced.
- It's the first time I'm going to elimination,
And I am a scared-ass puppy inside.
- Nuri, omi, tucker, and shay, head back
To that amazing chef's lounge, put your feet up, say goodbye.
Off you go.
[applause]
- Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
♪ ♪
- Pilar, michelle, and chris, you're all safe,
And you'll be cooking on the middle level
In the next challenge.
Please head to the elevator.
- Thank you, chefs.
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
- Vinny, mehreen, and tini, for this elimination cook-off,
We're gonna give you the absolute best to cook with,
Japanese wagyu filet.
- Wow.
- Never cooked wagyu. I mean, who does?
Who goes out and gets a $400 piece of beef
And goes, let's practice today? Nobody.
- I'll be up in the elimination with you.
You'll have 30 minutes and one last chance
To save yourselves in this competition.
♪ ♪
Make it count.
Head to the elevator. I'll see you soon.
- Good luck, chefs. - Come on, vinny.
- Good luck, chefs.
- Vinny, I don't want to see potatoes four ways.
Just give me one stunning potato, young man.
- Be smart, be smart. - You got this.
- Please? - Be smart.
- Please, vinny.
♪ ♪
- I don't like it.
- Listen, the platform doesn't go anywhere.
- I know.
It's my first time going into elimination.
You know, it doesn't feel good.
Being in this competition means so much to me.
Vinny can go home to his career.
This is my life.
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- There's only three of us,
So it's gonna be nice and quiet for all of you.
- There's no way in hell I'm going home.
I'm going to eat some wagyu steak today.
[upbeat music]
[applause]
- All right, how we doing? - Good, chef.
- You're getting to cook wagyu beef.
- Yeah. - Come on, guys.
Vinny, reeny, and tini, let's go.
[hydraulics whirring]
- Your platform is here.
Go get it. - All right, let's go, guys.
Let's go. Let's go, guys.
Let's go!
- I'm very excited for this cook.
I understand I'm in elimination,
But this wagyu looks gorgeous.
Everything I need is right here.
- Mehreen, you don't have to get it all at once, all right?
- Yes, chef. - Ok?
All right, tini, what do we got going on?
- I was gonna make fondant potatoes
With, like, a cheese sauce. - Ok, ok.
- I'm getting inspiration
From this restaurant that I went to.
They had gouda cheese on top of their steak,
And it tasted good.
It sounds stupid, but I got it.
- All right, vinny, what do we got going on?
- I'm gonna do my famous mashed potatoes
With the skin. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Your famous mashed potatoes? - My famous--
Now, they're famous. - Ok.
- When I eat steak, I want mashed potatoes.
That's what I'm gonna do today.
I'm gonna spiralize cucumber.
I'm gonna pickle it, give my dish some crunch.
- Just be careful when you pickle it
That you don't make it like it's soggy.
- Make it soggy. - You know what I mean?
Ok, all right, mehreen.
- I'm thinking, like, a turmeric-y spiced potato--
- Ok.
- And a tomato chutney glaze.
I've never cooked wagyu before,
So I just want make sure I get the cook perfectly medium rare.
- All right, I see what we're doing here,
A little flare. - Vin is gonna smoke something?
- Ah. - Yeah, buddy.
There we go, vinny.
- I'm gonna throw a little twist in this.
This is smoked butter mashed potatoes.
It's all coming out today.
This is it. - Be careful.
You don't want to break that sauce.
A little butter, ok.
- Vinny, if you need that to reduce faster,
Split it into two pans.
- I hear michele helping vinny,
And I'm like, "mm, we're not on teams anymore."
- Nice, beautiful. I like that better.
- All right, halfway down. Only 15 minutes left.
- Let's go, y'all. Let's go.
Keep it going. Keep it going.
- Let's cook the steak, ok?
The meat has to rest, right, guys?
- Yes, chef. - Ok, it's still a big--
It's still a big 8-ounce piece of meat, right?
- Get that steak in early and let it rest, guys.
Come on. - Yeah, you gotta plan.
- You got to do that steak first.
- Looking beautiful. - My sauce, it's grainy.
It tastes grainy.
- Is it because of the truffle?
- I don't want that to be the reason why I go home.
- No, no, okay, it's not-- listen, that's--
It's the asiago.
You got to start over.
- Damn, my cheese sauce is grainy.
No one wants to eat a grainy cheese sauce.
I [bleep] up.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- You got to start over.
- I do not want to go home
Because of this damn cheese sauce,
So I have to do it again.
- Have you tasted all of your ingredients?
- I'm like... [exhales deeply]
And get back to work, girl.
Like, you don't deserve to be in this elimination.
You got to make it through and do good.
- It's the last four minutes
Of this competition for someone.
Make it count, ok? - Ah, ok.
- Come on, vinny. You got this.
- I feel confident.
Everything's there, but I probably
Should have picked mushrooms instead of the cucumber.
Something isn't right.
I just hope they can eat it, or I'm going home.
[laughs]
- Chef, I checked the temperature.
I'm worried it's not done.
It's reading 100-something, like 105-ish.
The steak is on later than I expected.
Oops.
- Yeah, it's still cooking, right?
- I'm frightened that the steak
I have never cooked before is going to be raw.
- Ooh, she's adding a sauce to her steak.
- Well, you gotta sear it
And then you put a sauce right on top?
- Ah. - 90 seconds.
It's time to start plating.
- Let's go, guys.
Plate like it's your last plate.
- 90 seconds. Don't overthink it.
How's the sauce now? - Ok.
Honestly, I don't know.
I'm praying to cheesus today. I'm praying to cheesus.
I hope you pull through, cheesus.
- Ten seconds!
Nine, eight... - Beautiful.
- Seven, six, five...
[together] four, three, two, one.
Stop cooking. [cheering]
Good job. Good job.
- Amazing job. [cheering]
Amazing. - You left it all on the plate!
[applause]
- I felt like I was gonna throw up
That whole elimination.
Girl, you better not throw up on that damn $200 steak.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Nyesha, gordon. - Richard.
- Welcome. - Thank you.
- Three chefs, absolutely fantastic
Across the board, worthy of a real amazing ingredient.
Ok, so our first dish, the steak with chutney.
♪ ♪
- Wow, whoever's cooked that,
It's absolutely perfect, literally.
♪ ♪
Not the kind of thing I associate with a wagyu,
But whoever thought of that smearing
Of that chutney, the spread, it is absolutely delicious.
- What I see here is the future of cooking,
Exciting.
- Ok, so next up is the wagyu with mashed potatoes.
♪ ♪
- Mashed potato, red wine sauce,
Steak, that's harmony.
♪ ♪
What's that underneath there? - A little pickled cucumber.
- Pickled cucumber?
♪ ♪
There's some really nice flavors here.
God, it's a tough one because, in my cooking career,
I've never seen cucumber pickled with mashed potatoes.
- The potatoes, however, are giving so much flavor,
Really elevating the wagyu.
- Ok, our third and final dish is the wagyu
With a cheese and truffle sauce.
♪ ♪
- There's not many chefs in the world tonight
That would be sticking a cheese sauce on a wagyu beef,
Let me tell you. So bold or stupid?
We'll find out. Shall we?
- Yeah, let's taste, yeah. - Cheese sauce?
♪ ♪
- Rare.
Nice and red.
- Barely need a knife.
Mmm.
♪ ♪
- I never thought I'd say this.
The actual cheese sauce is delicious.
It's salty. It's creamy.
And it's textured in a way
That it's just not a average cream sauce.
- For me, the cheese is a little bit strong
And overpowering,
But then I get a piece of asparagus,
And it just dances so beautifully.
- Gordon, I'm gonna ask you
Which dish you would eliminate tonight.
♪ ♪
- The dish I'm eliminating...
♪ ♪
Is the wagyu and mash with cucumber.
♪ ♪
- Vinny. - Really?
- Ok, nyesha, which dish
Are you going to eliminate tonight?
- For me, the dish I least want to revisit...
♪ ♪
Is the cucumber, mash, and wagyu beef.
[somber music]
- That dish was cooked by vinny.
- [bleep]
♪ ♪
Oh, man.
- Oh, no, no.
♪ ♪
- I made everybody proud.
I never thought I'd make it this far, and I did.
- There is no firefighter
Anywhere in america tonight that cooks like you.
- Thank you, chef.
- He's gonna be missed because he was like the father figure
Across all three floors.
- Father to father. - Wow.
I can't wait to meet madison one day.
♪ ♪
- Thank you, guys. - Likewise.
- Lots of love. - Take care, vinny.
- Thank you, vinny.
- I did it for my daughter.
Too bad I didn't win, but they'll remember me.
I love all of you.
And chef gordon ramsay better visit me.
[laughs]
- Good job. We love you, vin.
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
- Vinny nuggets.
♪ ♪
- All of you need to understand,
At this point of the competition,
If you're not climbing up,
Then you're falling down.
And watch out for chef stretch because he has a lethal weapon.
[dramatic music]
- Strategy time.
- Good night, chefs. - Thank you.
- Take care. - Good night.
- Chef stretch is a nice guy, but I don't know, baby.
- Man.
♪ ♪
- Better watch out. Better watch out.
♪ ♪
- Next time on "next level chef"...
- Go!
Today, you'll all be working with an ingredient.
It can be found on a menu
Of a three michelin star restaurant
Or the plate of a three-year-old.
It's cheese. - Oh!
- Nuri, you can take 10 seconds away from any other chef.
- I'm not feeling good. - I'm not asking you.
I'm telling you.
Get your salmon in the pan now.
- I am 100% going to elimination.
- You're the only one who hasn't got
A protein cooked here.
- It's going in. - Now.