Original subtitles

Previously on "The Great Food Truck Race"...

Ladies and gentlemen, who's hungry?

...this Wild West food-truck journey began 6 weeks ago

when seven aspiring food-truck teams...

All right.

...set out on the ultimate Wild West adventure...

Go! Get in!

Let's go!

...cooking their way through the West.

They all had one goal in mind.

The last team standing will win $50,000.

They face everything from turf wars...

This is our corner. You guys need to move.

...to unique ingredients...Oxtail?

...run-ins with the law.

Oh, they got the police here right now.

And there was even a "Great Food Truck Race" first.

We've never had a single operator

in the history of "Food Truck Race" --

Each week, one team's dream of winning $50,000

came to a sudden end.

I'm sorry, guys. I'm going to need your keys.

There was Sassy Soul, Heroes on a Half Shell,

Buns N' Thighs, Chop's Shop, and Mobile Moo Shu.

Now there are two teams left --

New England Grill with professional chefs

Eddie and Kevin who, along with their comedian friend,

Christine, have endured the pains of owning a food truck...

One, two, three, together.Jesus!

You all right?

...to lead the pack one dish at a time.

Come have some delicious lobster fritters!

And then there's Just Wing It,

three former worst cooks in America

who rode their newfound cooking skills...

Enjoy....all the way to the finale.

They are no longer the worst cooks in America.

It all starts in downtown Los Angeles,

where the last two food trucks go head-to-head

for a chance at winning $50,000 in cash.

Who's going to emerge as the ultimate winner?

We find out starting right now.

Food-truck road trip!

♪♪

MAN: We are almost back to Los Angeles.

♪ We love L.A.

Six weeks of hard work,

and I'm excited to be back in Los Angeles.

$50,000.

We're winning this money.

I'm going to bring my best chicken.

I'm not losing this city, at all.

No. We can't.

It's not happening, not happening,

especially to clam chowder.

WOMAN: We did it. We made the finals.

MAN: We have our work cut out for us.

This isn't going to be a cakewalk in L.A.

My wife and my two babies are supporting me at home,

working while I'm here on the road doing this crazy adventure.

I'm not just fighting for myself.

I'm fighting for them.

There's a ton at stake.

We've sent five trucks home.

There's only two left.

$50,000, it all comes down to this.

♪♪

Good morning, teams. How are you doing?

-Good. -We're good.

Welcome to your final stop on your

Wild West food-truck adventure.

We are here at the historic Pueblo de Los Angeles

in beautiful downtown L.A.

This plaza remains the epicenter

of L.A.'s Mexican heritage today.

Guys, I would like to introduce you to Bricia Lopez.

She is the co-owner of

the James Beard Award-winning Mexican restaurant Guelaguetza.

Guelaguetza is an institution

for Oaxacan-style Mexican food here in L.A.

So, guys, in the spirit of the Pueblo,

you are going to be using some Mexican ingredients

and some flavors, the first of which is chayote.

Chayote is a member of the gourd family,

and it's very similar to melon, squash or cucumber.

Now, Bricia, what do you think about chayote as an ingredient?

I love chayote. It's definitely very mild,

so the contestants are going to have to really bring

in a lot of flavor to up that profile.

I grew up eating this, so it's really special to my heart.

I have visited Mexico plenty of times,

so I'm familiar with this vegetable.

The chayote is awesome to cook with.

So, guys, you have to have at least one dish on your menu

that features chayote, and a little bit later,

Bricia and I are going to be coming by your trucks

and checking out the dishes.

You're going to be judged by flavor, originality,

and the winning team will get $350 in their till.

Winning this challenge could be the difference

between winning it all,

and we're talking about $50,000 in cash --

or walking out of here empty-handed.

The choice is yours.

Okay.

So, guys, to get you started,

I got $400 in cash to get you going.

Are you ready?ALL: Yes.

Now, when I say, "Go," I want you to run up

and grab a case of chayote and head back to your trucks

before you start shopping and selling in Los Angeles.

The finale begins now. Let's go.

Go. Grab the money.

Thank you, sir. Boom, boom.

Come on. Come on.

We'll see you later.I'll see you later.

Let's get it! Let's go!

Let's go!

[ Honking ]

We have to go shopping,

and the versatility of the New England Grill

menu allows us to slide in

and slide out different menu items

and different seafoods.

$350 for the winner of this best dish,

I think is going to make the difference in this competition.

-Oh, I think so, too. -Listen.

I'm not losing to those two chefs.

I'll tell you that right now.

We came here to prove that we know how to cook,

and now we can prove that we're better than chefs.

But we're going to have to create a totally new,

original dish on our wing truck featuring chayotes.

We're going to wing it.

Yeah. We're going to wing it.

We'll wing it.Yeah.

We can't go home without that money.

We came here to win.

Corn, frozen corn.

You grab tortillas. I'll get corn.

Flour tortillas.

We get a nice Mexican market.

Christine, grab three peppers.

Nice produce and Mexican spices.

I smell cilantro. It must be down there.

Let's get jalapeños.

This is a great place for us to shop for our dish.

Avocado?

Got it. I'm checking out.

What we're going to do is,

we're going to focus on the chayote

and actually make a new dish that we've never done before.

We're a chicken-wing truck,

but chayote doesn't work on a wing truck,

and we need to make something that's going to help us

win this competition.

So we're going to try to beat them

by making one of their dishes.

Hi, folks.

Come have some delicious lobster fritters!

So our challenge dish is going to be a chayote-bacon fritter

topped with a boysenberry-chayote sauce

and a orange crema.

So we need bacon.Is that real bacon?

Get the 2.99 one.

Are you sure we should get this?

Yes. Get the 2.99.

The stakes for this challenge could not be greater.

And we're done. Let's get out of here.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Let's go.

Since we're already shopping in downtown Los Angeles,

we decide to sell in downtown Los Angeles.

Right here.

I lived here for 8 years,

and I'm going to use that to our advantage.

I know where to park, and we got spots

where we're allowed to stay until 8:00,

so we figured we might as well just post up there

for the rest of the evening.

Throw our anchor out.

We're not moving.

This is a taxi zone here.

I'm assuming that's no parking?

The biggest challenge about selling

in downtown L.A. is parking.

"No parking, 3 to 7."

We drive around for half an hour.

There's no parking at all.

You're in a no-parking zone.

Finally, we find a spot in downtown L.A.

We park it, and we try our luck there.

Let's start cooking.

I'm ready!

Today's menu: We have our fish and chips,

shrimp-and-corn fritters and fish tacos

with a delicious chayote salsa and chayote sauce.

I'm making a little sauce with our chayotes.

For our chayote-fish tacos, we're using New England cod.

I'm making the chayote salsa with lime juice,

salt and pepper, some Cajun seasoning, peppers and onions,

and we're letting that marinate in the citrus,

and then for our sauce,

I reduced that down with a little juice,

some salt and pepper, and I just let it cook.

All right. Here we go. We're open for business.

The most important thing is we get open,

we get selling.

Hi, sir. Would you like some fish and chips tonight?

Thank you.

Have you ever had a fritter before?

No.Today on the menu, we're going

to be serving our buffalo sauce and our honey sriracha,

and we also have our special, which is the chayote fritter

with the chayote-boysenberry sauce and an orange crema.

We never cooked with chayotes.

Do you use the skin?

Do you cut the skin off of the chayote?

What are you supposed to do with it?

So I do a couple searches, and I find how to cut chayote.

We got to take the skin off,

is that what they say? Yeah.

We're making our chayote fritter,

so you have to cut off the skin, and then we're shaving it down

with a cheese grater, pretty much,

and then you add bacon, flour, egg, thyme, chives,

and you throw that into some fritter batter.

The chayote is all in that little fritter.

To brighten up the flavor of this chayote, we think,

"boysenberry sauce."

It's all about flavor.

I have a boysenberry reduction.

So we cooked down some boysenberries.

And then we're going to puree jalapeños

to our boysenberry sauce for our fritters.

We need to try the chayote fritter we made.

I'm praying that this works out.

Good.All good.

The chayote fritter, that is our challenge dish.

It tasted delicious.

It's a fritter.

Yeah, we're in a tough spot here.

Everywhere else seems to be a lot more action

than where we're at.

This is the finale, right?

The urgency is going up.

The clock is ticking away.

Every single minute counts.

We have to start selling.

Hey, would you like to...

We found a slow spot.

We got to sell.

I think we should move.

You think so?

Bricia and Tyler are going to come around and judge us

any minute, and we're not seeing any big crowds.

We're out of here.

Clear.

So we pack up, and we move on.

We have to take some chances.

We need to make sales, but if we don't find the people,

I know we're in trouble.

This is not a good start.

FLORENCE: It's Day 1 of the finale in Los Angeles.

Just Wing It has opened up shop in downtown L.A.,

but New England Grill is wasting valuable selling time

just trying to find a place to park.

This is not a good start.

And we got to get ready for Tyler, too.

Every single minute counts.

Try to get here, where I'm parked.

Preparation is everything,

especially when it comes down to time,

so we need to prep and get things done really quickly.

We have to start selling.

The pressure is on.

Downtown L.A., it's changing a lot,

but I think it's beautiful.

What a cool part of the city.

-We ready. -What's on the menu today?

It's a chayote special, right?

Hello, sir. How are you?

Good, how are you?I'm good. I'm good, I'm good.

Could I get a chayote special, please?

Yes, you may.

I would like a chayote special.

Two chayote specials.

We've never done this before, so it's intense.

There's a lot of pressure.

Here you guys go.Oh, wow.

It's actually kind of pretty, man.

There's no way we're going to lose.

When I think of chayote, there's so many different

interesting things you can do with that because it tastes

somewhere between an underripened honeydew melon

and a cantaloupe.

To me, this really feels like fun food

that you would get at a fair.

The orange is really nice.

I like the peanuts on top.

The bacon is really good.Mm-hmm.

I do love that surprise of the orange a lot

and the peanuts as well, and I feel like the orange

really brings a little bit of, like, acidity at the end

and really brightens it up, but I don't know.

I just would have liked a little bit more chayote.

This is so much in a little bit, like,

almost that the chayote isn't, like, the hero of this dish.

If you want to do fritters, cool, right?

But make them savory. I would say this is a dessert.

I wouldn't really call this anything

that's sort of, like, a savory thing, right?

One hundred percent, this is definitely a dessert.

I don't hate this, I don't love it either,

but it's creative from a sense

that they tried to turn it into a dessert.

I think that's kind of cool.Yeah.

One down, one to go.

I've spent a good amount of time on this salsa and the sauce,

so I'm really confident about this dish winning.

I'm so excited.

Here we go.

I'll have the chayote special, please.

Yep, two of those, please.

Gentlemen, can I please have two chayote special?

Two tacos, coming up.

Tyler and Bricia show up to try our signature dish.

We know we have to have some bang for our buck,

so we go with the larger tortillas,

fill it full of fish and chayote salsa and our chayote sauce.

Well, I do like that they used flour tortillas.

I really like the big, bold vegetable flavors, right?

I like it. Mm-hmm, the crunch

that the chayote is bringing into this too.

Yep.

I love everything that's going on here.

I love how they put their corn.

Yeah, look at all the fresh stuff.

It's got a big, huge piece of avocado, nice pieces of fish.

You got the chayote, you got peppers,

a really, kind of, nice, interesting salsa.

The salsa is pretty good too.

I love that they left the crunch on the chayote, too.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Most of the times, I feel chayote can be used very mushy,

and this is really nice.

I like the salsa, too.

I think this is a little out of scale, right?

Especially with, like, how big the tortillas are,

and the filling that's on the inside --

the ratio of tortilla to filling is a little off.

Filling is not right.It's got so much stuff going on,

and I don't think the fish is particularly crispy.

Do you see how it's getting soggy

right here in the middle?Yeah, mm-hmm.

It just means they put too much in the middle.

Right.They didn't even it out.

Exactly.And there's nothing worse

than having, like, too much of a soggy...

That could fall apart right now.

So we had our little food-truck tour.

Yes.

We got a chance to taste some really good chayote dishes.

It's going to be a tough call.Yeah.

I need three buffaloes and one honey-sriracha, please.

Today, we're having a special on the menu, moo-shu wings.

Which we are calling after the Moo-Shu girls.

Damn! I know.

Don't cry, boys.

Bye.

Now, these moo-shu wings come with a mystery sauce,

and to find out what's in it, you have to purchase it first.

Let's go all out and see if we get any bites.

We're not professional chefs, but if there's one thing

we're good at, we'll get sales anywhere.

Dude, we're selling an experience.

That's what we're doing at this point.

What's going on, homie?

What's up, guys?

I see you got the mystery moo-shu.

I'll take two.We got two moo-shus.

Yay!

And it's working.

Here's two moo-shus.Let's get this going.

Let's get it going.

Mystery moo-shu is, we don't say until you pay.

Two more moo-shus!

Coming up!

What flavor would you like?

I'll take honey.

Oh, it's brilliant today. I mean, we're just clicking.

Going like it always does.Natural.

Here's your moo-shu.

Now that we've bought the mystery moo-shu,

can you actually tell us what the mystery is?

So we're doing our $10 Asian wings,

and we're calling them moo-shu wings

by adding some nuts to it.

That's it.Mystery.

Mystery solved!

Mystery.

It was a marketing strategy that worked.

-Buffalo. -Buffalo.

How many, two orders?Two orders.

We want to go out for the knockout blow on Day 1.

We want to make sure we send a message, and it's over.

And this thing is the best wings there is.

Let's just eat it.

Mm. Yes!

Grand Central Market is a touristy foodie area.

One order, fish taco.

We get the doors open,

and immediately, we start serving food.

Order of shrimp fritters.

Wee! Oh, don't they look yummy?

I got the shrimp fritters.

Really great, great fresh batter.

Nice and crusty, and it's still moist on the inside.

They're wicked good.

We've made some sales. But not gangbusters.

Hi, folks. We have some delicious fish and chips,

shrimp fitters, fish tacos.

Anybody hungry?

And then this place is quiet.

Anywhere would be better than where we are now.

Come on, people. Where you at?

I feel like we should not just sit here.

And there's nobody anywhere.

If we're going to do this move, we should do it soon.

We're in the finals. We're running out of time.

We weigh the pros and cons,

and we know that there's nothing going on here.

We're going to move.Let's do it.

Good idea. I like it.

You ready? Watch your head.

This is the second time that we're going to be on the move.

We need to find a spot now.

Hi, folks. We have some delicious fish and chips,

shrimp fitters, fish tacos.

This place is quiet.

Come on, people. Where you at?

And there's nobody anywhere.

We're going to move.

Watch your head.

If we had stayed where we were, we would get no sales.

We're in the finals, and we have about 45 minutes

left to make some sales,

and we know we just have to pull over and get selling.

This is awful. What time we have until?

We don't want to waste time on parking.

We know that we want to sell, sell, sell,

and if we don't get parked, it's going to hurt us,

so we need to find a spot now.

So we pull into Hollywood, and we're just lucky

that there's a concert going on, and there's a long line.

We park right in front of the line.

All right. Who's first?

Who's hungry? You guys all look very hungry.

We're running out of time.

We have to get this truck up,

running and to start selling rather quickly.

I pulled the truck around just for you guys.

How are you?

We're going to the final minute that we can sell.

$50,000 on the line, we got to get this money.

Okay, I need a order of B-lo.

We're running out of time, and we're going to finish strong.

You want the mystery moo-shu?

Yeah.Here's your receipt.

Thank you.42 minutes.

One order, corn fritter.

-Another one? -Another.

Late push!

Okay, stay in the window.

And it's very fresh and delicious, not too spicy

but, like, the perfect little kick.

Now I want more.

Well, come on up.

Thank you, sir. I need a moo-shu.

Two change for two.

Thank you very much.

Five minutes.

For some reason, we can always finish strong.

We may be quiet for awhile, but we always have a mad

push at the end, and we sell product.

One fritter, one taco.

Fritter, one taco.

The spice goes along with it well,

and the shrimp is really good also.

Thank you, sweetheart. Thank you, honey.

I got moo-shu!

It's crunchy and juicy, so it's not dried out, which is nice.

Yeah. It's delicious.

That's a wrap!

So today's sales were fantastic.

So how do you think we did today?

I think we did well.

I feel like we delivered the knockout punch.

I think the moo-shu marketing little plan...

That might have worked.

It worked.It worked.

Honestly, I'm not worried.

What do you think?

Well, we finished okay, made some sales,

not as many as we wanted to, but we made some.

$350 additional to our till is big.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Once again, we finished to the end.

Hopefully, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

We're just hoping that we have enough sales to beat

Just Wing It.

All right. Let's pack this up.

Let's look forward to tomorrow, and we'll kill it.

You guys ready?

Watch your head, big dawg!

We done.

Big day today, big day, the last day of selling.

Last night was okay.

We made some sales, but we drove around too much,

so we need a huge day today.

More familiar with downtown a little bit, so hopefully,

we just pull right in and start selling.

We know we're heading to Sunset or Hollywood Boulevard

because we know there's action down there.

I think we'll have a big day today.

This is going to be good.

No think.

We're going to have a big day today.

We know New England Grill!

Do we have everything it takes to win today?

Yep. I don't know right now.

Now, don't let Steven and Sharon know, but I'm a little nervous.

New England is known to be a tough competitor.

They pull out all the stops.

Do you think we won the challenge?

I don't know.We better watch out.

[ Cellphone ringing ]I'm getting a call.

New England Grill.

-Hello? -Hey, good morning, teams.

How was the first day back in Los Angeles?

Parking was a little tough, but we finished strong,

and we're looking forward to today.

It was good to be back home.

So, guys, I'm sitting here with Bricia

at her family's restaurant, Guelaguetza.

There's a little matter that we have to take care of first.

Now, yesterday Bricia and I challenged you

to come up with a creative dish

using one of our favorite ingredients, chayote.

Now, your dishes needed to celebrate the idea of chayote,

and on the line was $350 cash in your till.

$350 definitely has the ability to throw somebody over the top.

In the finale, every penny will count.

All right, guys. It was Just Wing It's chayote fritter

versus New England Grill's fish taco with chayote salsa,

and the winner...

is New England Grill.

Congratulations. You won the challenge.

We got it.We did?

350, 350.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

That's a big boost for today, and I knew we'd win.

It was delicious.

Yep. Congratulations to them.

New England has won the $350 advantage,

and I don't know how good we are doing compared to them

without that 350, so this can be their win,

and we could just be out of the game right now.

Bricia and I thought you used the chayote

in a really, really smart way.

You really brought a lot of texture and flavor

to the fish taco.

CHRISTINE: Huge sigh of relief,

kind of changes my way of thinking completely, actually.

Now, that is $350 cash to New England Grill.

Congratulations.

We got $350 added to our till.

That's a big push for our day.

Just Wing It guys, I'm sorry.

Just hang up.

You won last week's challenge, but this week,

you just didn't bring it home.

We felt that the fritters were a little too sweet,

and the chayote wasn't really present in the dish.

I want to tell y'all.

That fritter was full of chayote, and how I know?

Because I threw it in there.

We are not happy about it.

I feel a little disappointed.

It is still a very, very close race.

Now, yesterday we challenged you to use

a very mild Mexican ingredient,

but today, we're going to turn up the heat,

and I want you to sell like your trucks are on fire

because they're about to be.

It is still a very, very close race.

Now, yesterday we challenged you to use

a very mild Mexican ingredient,

but today we're going to turn up the heat,

and I want you to sell like your trucks are on fire

because they're about to be.

So in a little bit, you guys are going to receive

a special delivery from Bricia and I.

Special delivery.

We want you guys to create a new dish

incorporating the ingredient

that you guys are going to receive.

Now, we're going to cap the price on this dish

at $10 a plate,

and the team that sells the most of this dish

is going to receive an unbelievable reward.

I'm going to match you dollar-for-dollar.

That's right, guys.

Whatever you receive from your special dish,

I'm going to double it.

Whatever we make from the special dish,

he's going to double it.

Oh, my God.

The reward for the challenge is, the most units sold,

Tyler is going to double that amount of sales.

This is the finale.

I want you to maximize your profits.

All right, guys. Good luck.

Thanks, Tyler.

Tyler tells us there's going to be another challenge,

and we're going to have to use a special ingredient,

but he's not telling us what that ingredient is.

It's going to be something Mexican.

I hope it's chicken.

Hold on. There's someone knocking.

Who that?

Hello. Good morning.

Delivery.Oh, perfect.

Thank you so much.

So we get a knock on the door,

and there's a man dressed up as a cowboy.

What is it?We got habaneros, boys!

They look like little oranges.

He brought us habanero peppers.

All right. So the first thing that runs through my mind

is a habanero sauce.

We're going to turn it into a great sauce for chicken wings.

Maybe a honey-habanero?

-Done. -The sauce bosses.

They want the heat? Bring the heat.

It's sweet, hot...

Savory....kind of like us.

Perfect. I already know a recipe.

Ooh, beautiful habaneros.

I'm excited to use these.

They got great heat, great flavor, great color.

This is a good one for us.

Oh, this is going to be good.

Oh, that's awesome.

We want to make an original dish,

but was also want to stick with our brand at New England Grill.

I think fish and chips.

Stick with our signature dish, the one that's been selling

the most, obviously, so that'll...

Yeah, our biggest seller.

Yep. With a lime-chili tartar sauce.

Beautiful, perfect.

So we're going to run with the fish and chips,

where we're going to do a fire-roasted

lemon-lime tartar sauce, if you will.

Oh, this is going to be great.Let's do this.

So we're looking around for a spot,

and we find one spot that might work for us.

We're going to set up right in the middle

of Hollywood Boulevard, right on the Walk of Fame,

and we're excited. We think it's a good spot,

and we can stay there until 8 p.m.

I'm going to start making some calls,

bringing everybody and anybody I know who will pick up

and say they can come down.

We're doing a special today on honey-habanero wings.

We're in the land of, "Maybe. We'll see."

This is for $50,000.

This is it.It's the big one.

We pull into Hollywood, and there's a ton of foot traffic

but, again, no parking.

Right there would have been perfect.

They just pulled in.

Let's get a spot and get selling.

We see a pretty good spot,

and we're going to grab it really quick.

Our first location is the L.A. Film School,

right in front, right during lunch.

We good?

[ BLEEP ]. He can't open the doors.

Wait, wait, wait, wait!

Got it?Yeah, you're good.

Almost ripped the door off.

Today we have fish tacos,

shrimp-and-corn fritters and fish and chips

with a delicious fire-roasted habanero sauce.

The fire-roasted habanero,

when you fire-roast any kind of pepper,

really brings out the smokiness in it,

but it also brings out all those flavors

that are in there as well.

So for our signature sauce,

I fire-roast some habanero peppers,

throw them in an ice bath so we can peel them

and pull the seeds out.

This is going to be our roasted habanero tartar sauce.

In a bowl, I mix up some mayo, some whole-grain mustard,

salt and pepper.

And a little bit of our seafood seasoning,

give it that New England flavor.

And I throw in the habaneros, and we spin that in a blender,

and we're off to the races.

♪♪

Pretty good.

One of out bestselling dishes is a honey-sriracha,

which is just fermented garlic and chilies,

so we're kind of going to use the same concept

and make a honey-habanero sauce with garlic.

When you work with the habanero, you got to make sure

that you control the heat levels.

So right now what I'm going to do is take off the top.

Open the habanero up and take out

as much of the seeds that you can.

Otherwise, you will burn your mouth.

The habanero, what you want to do is get it charred up,

get it a little bit smoky

and sweet, cut down a little bit of the heat.

We're going to puree it and add it into the honey,

blend it up, add some soy sauce

and some other secret ingredients,

and that's our honey-habanero sauce.

All right, guys. I'm going to try

the honey-habanero for the first time ever.

♪♪

Too spicy?

Too sweet?

Oh, no. God. How is it?

Butter.

Our honey-habanero is too hot.

You put 1,400 habaneros in there.

I hit it with a block of butter.

That will balance the heat in the sauce.

Wow.We did it again!

Our honey-habanero tastes delicious.

I feel like I'm eating in Grandma's kitchen.

I don't want to add garlic or anything, right?

No.We're good.

We're perfect.

We are ready to get selling.

We opening. Let's get it.

We open for business.

Come back and get you some wings.

I'm a little overwhelmed by today

because I know I got to buckle down.

This is a big day.

It's going to be a long selling day.

Chef, can I have one fish and chips, please?

Fish and chips, coming up.

Let's start selling food.

One fish and chips special, sir.

Fish and chips, coming out.

Fish and chips, Chef.

Fish and chips, coming up.

We're selling.

Not as many as we'd like, but we're selling.

What's going on, man?

What's going on, my man?

Can we do you for some honey-habanero wings?

Our first few customers are people that just see the truck.

They're curious. They come over.

Two honey-habaneros, please.

Take one. It's new.

Take one, fool.

There's one guy who sends a few other people over,

and it's kind of a word-of-mouth thing

that's happening, which is...

It's neat to see that kind of unfold.

I ordered the honey-habanero wings today.

I want to this is probably one of the best wings

that I've had in Hollywood.

KEVIN: I felt overjoyed when I would see someone bite

into the chicken and say,

"It's so crunchy. It's so seasoned. It's so good."

I'm just glad that I was able to share a part of my family

with the West Coast.

Y'all, tell all your friends, please.

Tell everybody to come on through.

Hi, Christine. How are you?

Hi, Tyler.It's weird.

Tyler comes to the truck.

Here we go.I don't know about this.

This isn't good.

You guys got a minute?

I know we're in trouble.

Hi, Christine. How are you?

Hi, Tyler.It's weird.

Tyler comes to the truck.

Here we go.I don't know about this.

This isn't good.

You guys got a minute?

I know we're in trouble.

Don't worry. You're not in trouble.

I just wanted to say, I am so proud of you guys.

Thank you, Tyler.

I mean, really think about this journey

that we've been on, right?

It's overwhelming to think about.

It's unbelievable.

Do you think you're going to win?

We do, and we've been on a roll, so there's people eating.

It's been good.

This experience compared to my life experience

with, you know, being the mother of five kids,

being married for 30 years to my high school sweetheart,

this is so not something I ever, ever, ever would have done.

Kevin, tell me about your family at home, man.

I have a wife, Stephanie, and two little babies,

8 months and 20 months.

You miss them like crazy, I'm sure, right?

More than anything.

Eddie, what about you, man? Who's at home right now?

I have a son, Matthew, who's like a brother to me.

I'm so fortunate. Him and I are so close.

We travel together often.I got to tell you.

New England Grill, you guys have delivered so much this season.

Thank you.Fantastic.

Tyler, thank you so much.

My absolute pleasure.Thank you.

Thank you, man.Thank you, my friend.

I appreciate that.Thank you, sir.

Thank you, honey. Thank you very much.

I'll see you guys in elimination.

See you soon.

See you guys at elimination. Thank you.

We've been on the road for a long time,

running around crazy.

It's nice to have a conversation about real-life stuff.

Get selling. Get selling.

What's up, Wing It? Come on out for a second, man.

All right.I want to chitchat with you.

So Tyler shows up, and he says,

"Hey, guys. I got something to say to you."

Can you believe you're here?

No.

I'm really proud of you guys.

Thank you, Chef.

On "Worst Cooks in America,"

I had a blast cooking with all three of you.

Tyler just fires in with the most emotional, long,

drawn-out sermon I have ever heard.

It was a huge surprise

that you guys were going to be on the show.

I'm so proud of you that you have this newfound

passion for cooking.

You see it as a good business.

Obviously, you guys are savvy enough to just say,

"We're going to do it. We're going to figure it out,"

and you guys jumped in.

You put all the pieces together.

You found a great food product that everybody really likes.

You've done a great job with it.

But then it started to make me choke up.

I ain't going to break.

A year ago, we couldn't even cook.

Now look at you, man.

Yeah, now we're running a truck, our own business.

That's awesome, man.

And it's all thanks to you and boot camp.

We came a long way.

I think Tyler finally realized that we were worth the time

that he spent teaching us how to cook.

And sell everything you can, okay?

And I'll see you guys at elimination, okay?

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, man.

Thanks a bunch, man.

Standing in front of the truck talking to Tyler was the moment

I've been waiting for for a very long time.

Sell, sell, sell, fish and chips!

Lunch is over. It's slow at the university.

More traffic up on Hollywood Boulevard,

so we're going to move a couple blocks up.

We pack up.

We go right to Hollywood Boulevard.

Let's roll.

Dead center on the Walk of Fame.

Let's try to make a push here for dinner.

Chips? Hi.

Fish and chips?

Shrimp quesadilla. Good talk.

Keep it up, Eddie.

One order shrimp fritters, please.

Kind of an interesting parking spot,

and we're getting some sales here.

Two fish specials, 16 is the total.

Where we are is definitely the best spot I see.

People are enjoying our food.

It's so yummy.

Dang it. That's good.

Two hours, here we go.

Hey, guys.Hello.

Oh, my god. It's the Goo-Goo-Shu girls.

We love them.

Hey!Hi, guys.

How are you?

The Moo-Shu girls come and show their support.

Our relationship that we had was mutual.

Like, they respected us, and we felt the same way,

and we love those girls to death, for sure.

We wish it was between, you know, us and them.

We really do.

Hi, guys. You want some chicken wings?

Hi, you guys want some chicken wings?

Yes!Woo!

These are the best wings they got, like, in L.A.

I don't know if I would have done that

if we got eliminated last week.Heck no.

I would have been on my way to Charlotte.

"Bye."Well, I have a lot of respect

for those girls.

FLORENCE: Fifteen minutes left.

Get selling. Get selling.

One fish and chip.

One fish and chip!

One fish and chip.

Another fish and chip.

Two all-day?Two all-day.

All right, guys. We got 15 minutes.

You have to sell this out.

Would you like some chicken wings?

Yeah!

This is it.

Let's go home winners.

The urgency has gone up.

The clock is ticking away.

We know we have to sell everything.

Fish in the window.

Yeah, can I have one fish and chips, please?

Fish and chips, coming up.

It still has, like, a salty-sweet taste to it

but then also the kick and stuff like that, but it's really good.

It's good.

It's just so crunchy, but it's not, like, hard.

It's, like, soft crunchy.

It's really good.

We have a really good push for dinner at the end of the night,

sold almost everything on the truck,

and we're feeling confident.

Y'all, we sending out the last plate.

No refunds, no returns.

That's it, brother. We're done.

We're done. Thank you, folks.

Thank you.Thank you very much.

We did it!

Woo!

♪♪

I'm happy not only for myself but for all three of us.

We're feeling optimistic that we have the win.

"Free at last, I'm free at least.

Thank God almighty, we free at last."

We gave it all we had.

And that's all we could do.

So let's go to elimination.

♪♪

Guys, welcome to the Western Town

at Paramount Ranch.

This old set tucked in the hills of Malibu has been the backdrop

for hundreds of Western movies and television shows,

and it's a fitting place for this final elimination

because for one lucky team, your Western adventure

is about to have a Hollywood ending.

I'm nervous.

As well as we did, we just have no way

of knowing what the other team did.

Six short weeks ago,

you were all brand-new food-truck operators.

Now look at you, seasoned pros.

Six weeks ago, we didn't even know

how to turn anything on in our truck.

You have proven that with grit, determination

and a little bit of know-how in the kitchen,

anything is possible.

You all have been on an incredible journey,

and win or lose, it is an accomplishment just to be here.

Kevin, if you've taken anything from this experience,

what have you learned?

Stick together and push until the very end,

every single city.

Christine, how about yourself?

Don't be afraid to do something

that you think you're going to fail at.

Eddie, how about you?

What's your takeaway from all of this?

This was a riot. This was a great time.

We won either way.

Steven, how about you? What's your takeaway from this?

Perseverance and pushing through it all, no matter what.

Kevin, how about you?

Well, I learned efficiency is key,

especially in the kitchen. You got to work quick.

You got to work smart.

You got to work hard.

Sharon, how about you?

What's your takeaway from this whole trip?

I'm so proud of my team.

A year ago, we couldn't do anything in the kitchen

but start fires.

I love these guys.

We've learned so much from everyone.

We're doing what we love to do.

We're so grateful to everyone involved in this competition.

Thank you.

I would like to say how incredibly proud

I am of both teams

because you have really risen to the occasion and gone above

and beyond what anyone ever asked you to do.

It was very impressive, and I am very proud

to have you guys be part of the race this season.

Now, before I read your totals,

there's a little matter that we have to settle.

Yesterday, you were challenged with creating a habanero dish.

The habanero wings are the only thing

that's standing between us or New England winning.

And the team that made the most money from that dish

would have their earnings matched dollar-for-dollar.

CHRISTINE: I'm trying to do numbers in my head,

and I'm nervous.

FLORENCE: Now, both of you created really wonderful dishes,

but one team's dish outshined the other, and that team is...

♪♪

Looks like we got ourselves a little competition.

Up next on Food Network...

Beautiful, baby.

Tyler Florence fires up restaurant kitchens

in cities all across America...

You're making my mouth water, dude.

To see which chefs are the best of the best.

Your time starts now. Let's go.

He'll pit five top chefs from the same city

against each other to battle it out in a restaurant

that none of them has ever cooked in before.

That's not going to work.

We got baskets burning!

Get ready for fierce competition...

I know these guys. I need to beat them.

I love you, girl, but you're going down.

...explosive rivalry...

-He's after me. -Chill out, bro!

...and some intense hometown pride.

This is our city, baby.

Back, hot.

Oh, that is hot.

Woo!

Don't miss Food Network's sneak peek...

Winning is the only option.

The only option.

...next, "Bite Club."

Yesterday, you were challenged with creating a habanero dish,

and the team that made the most money from that dish

would have their earnings matched dollar for dollar.

Now, both of you created really wonderful dishes,

but one team's dish outshined the other,

and that team...

is Just Wing It.

Congratulations, guys.Thank you.

We won!Yes.

And I was absolutely shocked

that we didn't win that challenge.

You made $582 from your honey-habanero wings.

I'm going to double that and give you an extra $582.

We're in trouble.Now, remember.

New England Grill won the first challenge,

so this is truly anyone's game.

Now, it's time to name a winner, but wait a second.

I feel like I'm missing something.

The money, the cash, the $50,000.

Hey, Blaze.

♪♪

In this bag is $50,000 in cash.

KEVIN: $50,000 is on the line.

I could just taste it. It's so close.

I taste the chicken and the $50,000, y'all.

I'm not just fighting for myself.

I'm fighting for my wife of 10 years and my two babies.

It's all for them.

Now, in my ledger are the totals.

Who made the most? Who made the least?

We're about to find out.

Good luck to everybody.

Here we go.

I'm having the bubble guts right now.

FLORENCE: With a grand total of $5,634,

and the winner of "The Great Food Truck Race,"

Just Wing It.

Woo!

♪♪

Congratulations, boys.

Woo, God.

Say, "Just Wing It," again.

Yeah!

Finally!

This is what we came here to do.

We did it. I mean, we did it.

CHRISTINE: Just Wing It wins.

We're going home.

I'm just as surprised as you.

MAN: They fought hard this whole season.

You got to give it to them.

Congratulations, fellows.

Congratulations.

We just winged it.

New England Grill, you have no reason to hang your head.

You guys were tough competitors.

You should be proud of what you've done here,

and you have made a name for yourself.

You guys made $3,999 here is Los Angeles,

which is really, really good

and would have easily won in other cities,

but it didn't win this week.

CHRISTINE: I can feel the three of us, kind of,

just the wind going out of our sails.

Christine, Eddie, Kevin, I got to tell you.

It's been an absolute pleasure.

I'm going to need your keys.

♪♪

I'm a little upset,

but I'm proud of what this team has done.

Thank you, sir.Thank you, sir.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Thank you.Thank you.

Great job, guys.

This was a great competition, and New England Grill

did an unbelievable job coming in second place.

We never stopped. We never gave up.

We were always consistent, and you know what?

This was a blast. It was a lot of fun.

It's harder to lose at the end.

Let's give them a round of applause, will you?

New England Grill.

We sold a lot of great food.

There's no losing here.

It was an amazing experience.

CHRISTINE: This is not something I ever would have done.

I'm going home with my head held high.

Amazing.

Now look at you guys, Just Wing It!

Is this crazy or what?

The three of you have proven that anything is possible.

You three knuckleheads from "Worst Cooks in America"

came on "The Great Food Truck Race,"

and you won the whole thing!

Yeah!You guys won $50,000 in cash!

Yeah! Oh!

♪♪

Woo!

Look, baby, we did it!

Just Wing It!

Just Wing It!

I've proven to myself that if I really want something,

I can make it happen, but I have to believe it.

Just Wing It wins "The Great Food Truck Race"!

Yeah!

Thank you so much, Mama.

You taught me how to fry that chicken to a golden crisp,

and look it.

I won $50,000, girl.

I'm coming home.

[ Cheering ]

We did it!

I'm coming home! I'm coming home!

Ah!

Tonight we're in Nashville, Tennessee,

where I've invited five of the city's

most talented chefs to battle it out in a kitchen

that none of them have ever cooked in before.

-Coming in, hot. -What if he doesn't plate up?

WOMAN: Oh, my goodness. Aah!

That adrenaline is kicking in now.

Nashville, once known for its traditional Southern cooking,

is now hands-down one of the premier

dining destinations in America.

Nashville is on fire.

What happens when five of the hottest chefs from the same city

are pitted against each other?

Fierce competition...

I'm going to get y'all.

...explosive rivalry...

I love you, girl, but you're going down.

...and and some intense hometown pride.

This is our city, baby! Let's show them!

The kitchen is fired up,

and it's time to find out who will become Nashville's champ.

♪♪

This is "Bite Club."

Nashville, a city known for honky-tonks,

barbecue, and hot chicken

is so much more when it comes to food.

Today we're about a mile away from the main drag at Tansuo,

this town's favorite spot for contemporary takes

on Chinese classics.

Welcome, chefs. How you doing?

Good.Good.Good.Good.

We have invited you here because

you're all exceptional chefs.

But unlike other cooking competitions,

only three of you are going to be cooking.

Two of you will be the judges.

There are five of you and five tickets on the carousel.

Three say, "Chef," and two say, "Judge."

Are you ready?

Yes.Yes. Yes.Yes.

Time to spin the carousel.

All right, Nina. You're up first.

Pull a ticket.

-You are a chef! -Chef!

Oh, fantastic.

Nina Singto's Thai food is the talk of the town.

She'll have a lot of fun cooking here.

Trey, you're up.

-Judge! -Judge!

Trey Cioccia makes the best Southern food in the city.

This local boy will be hard to impress as a judge.

All right, Brian. You're up, man.

-Chef! -Chef! Here we go.

Brian Riggenbach puts modern spins on comfort food classics.

All right, Crystal. You're up.

All right.

-[ Chuckles ] -Judge!

Crystal De Luna-Bogan makes fine-dining-quality food

in grilled cheese form.

She'll be a deceptively critical judge.

And last but not least, Bart, I guess you're going to be a chef.

Go ahead and pull the ticket, my friend.

Bart Pickens is a true Nashville hot chicken innovator.

I love it.

It's official. We got a competition.

So Trey, Crystal, you two are our judges.

We'll see you guys in the kitchen.

So, chefs, for the first round of the competition,

I've asked each of you to bring a secret ingredient.

Each one of you will be cooking with all three ingredients

to make the best dish possible.

-Is that clear? -Yes.

-Crystal. -All right.

Nina, you're first. Let's see what you brought.

I brought bell peppers today.

-Oh, bell peppers. -Yes.

I love that.

Those are delicious, really good in Thai cuisine, too.

Yes, and I can't wait.

I am a Thai chef.

I use bell peppers in my kitchen every day.

Just using that char and the wok,

I just love it, which is going to give me

a big advantage on these guys.

Chef Brian, let's see what you brought.

All right.

-Wha-- -We got a fish.

-Branzino. -We got a branzino.

BRIAN: Branzino is a really mild, delicate, white flaky fish.

I like the elegance and the simplicity of what fish can be.

I'm not sure it's something that Bart and Nina

cook with every day.

This gives me a little bit of an edge.

[ Laughter ]

I grew up on the beach.

Okay, Bart, what you got?

Fresh ginger.

Ginger!

BART: I picked fresh ginger.

I've used it in so many different styles.

We're here at an Asian restaurant.

Good pick.

All right. I love it. Let's get in the kitchen.

Tansuo is a contemporary Chinese cuisine restaurant.

It's a kitchen that you've never cooked in before,

and you're going to be either pleasantly

or unpleasantly surprised on what you find here.

Woks, steam baskets, deep fryers, all kinds of things.

And also pace yourself, because the walk-in here

is 30 yards down the hallway.

Use your time wisely.

Now, the kitchen is stocked like any normal day.

You guys are going to take the three secret ingredients

along with anything that Tansuo has in the pantry

to create the best dish you possibly can.

Two of you will move on to the second round.

The ultimate bragging rights for Bite Club Champ Nashville

are on the line right now.

You have 30 minutes on the clock.

Your time starts...

now.

None of us have been in this kitchen.

It's like feeling your way around almost in the dark.

Something's going to break.

BRIAN: If we were in my kitchen,

I could just knock it out of the park.

I know where everything is. I know where all my spices are.

I know where all my produce is.

But being here, I have to think fast.

I feel honored to be competing with these chefs today.

I've got to beat Brian and Bart.

[ Laughs ]

We have branzino, bell peppers, and ginger,

and my mind went straight to curry.

I grabbed some basil, shiitake mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms.

I'm going to kill this round

because I have the best advantage with the wok.

What makes me unique in Nashville is I have the heat

that will take you to the motherland of Laos and Thailand.

As a child, my brothers and I would come home from school.

My grandma was always doing the cooking,

and I just admire her cooking up until today.

I make Thai cuisine like pad Thai,

drunken noodles, and all the curries.

I'm the badass in the kitchen.

I'm making green curry branzino.

I'm going to fry the fish on the skillet.

-Nina, how you doing? -I'm good. How are you?

FLORENCE: You got the fish going on already?

Yes, already. I got to get started.

So tell me your strategy here.

I'm going to sear the branzino,

and then I'm going to go back and do the curry.

-Sounds delicious. -All right.

Can't wait. -I can't wait.

BRIAN: I'm kind of thinking of going in a Japanese direction,

a simple seared fish over a crispy vegetable,

and then I'm going to roast those peppers down,

make some sort of a Romesco with Japanese flavors.

Romesco is a Spanish sauce of almond,

tomato, and roast pepper.

I'm going to use fennel, lemongrass, nori.

Nori is a dried seaweed which is popular in Japan,

used in a lot of sushi rolls.

-Brian, how you doing, man? -I'm great.

How are you? -What you got going on?

-So, I'm kind of going in a... -Nori, shallots, right?

...Japanese direction. We're going to do a Japanese Romesco.

Japanese Romesco. That's kind of cool, right?

-I don't know. -Yeah.

We'll just kind of -- We'll see what happens.

-All right. Good luck, Chef. -Thanks.

The sauce is going to be the most time-sensitive piece

because it's really going to need to build

and layer the flavors.

That's going to be the hardest thing

in the time restraint that I have.

So I actually have a fine arts background,

and with that, I take the same approach to composing

or building a dish that I would have with a painting.

You think about color and layers and texture.

We're a modern diner.

We do global twists on comfort food.

There's chicken-fried chicken.

We do a Korean steak and eggs.

It's just been a roaring success.

All right, judges. Trey, Crystal.

-Oh, hey. -Here we are, man.

How you doing?

-Clear! -Look at you. Stock?

-Man! -Get it!

Tell me about the relationship with all five of you guys.

I've eaten at Nina's place multiple times.

We've all done events and things

in Nashville together, which is amazing.

I mean, our network in Nashville is so close.

And it's more like not judging today, but rooting.

-Yeah. -I'm like, "Come on, man.

I hope y'all kill it." You know? Yeah.

This is our city, baby. Let's show them!

We're representing Nashville, yeah?

So we got a couple of different cooking styles going on.

Brian said he was making, like, a Romesco sauce kind of thing.

Okay. That's what I was going to do.

I know, right? Nina is working on her Thai curry.

Where's Bart?

-I don't know. -He's been gone for a while.

Yeah, I saw him go to the walk-in.

I think Bart got lost back there.

Still trying to put it all in my head.

Got shiitakes.

Tansuo's menu is big, so the walk-in cooler has a lot in it.

There's steak. There's scallops.

There's standard Asian vegetables -- spinach, shiitake,

snow peas, et cetera, et cetera.

So my mind is racing

'cause there's so much I could be doing,

forgetting I got 30 minutes to do it.

All right, chefs. You've got 20 minutes left on the clock.

20 minutes left.

Bart is literally missing for 10 minutes,

which is legitimately a third of the time that you get.

I'm watching Brian and Nina go crazy.

They're on it, and we're still looking at each other going,

"Is Bart coming back?"

♪♪

♪♪

FLORENCE: We're in Nashville, Tennessee, where three of the best chefs

in the city are battling to see who will become Bite Club Champ.

All right, chefs. You've got 20 minutes left on the clock.

20 minutes left.

I still don't know where Bart is.

I think Bart got lost back there.

-I think he did. -I got shiitakes. I'm good.

I lost a lot of time in that cooler.

Now I go cook.

I got to start working.

♪♪

I have a vision.

I throw all the scraps off the ginger

and some of the ginger into my oil on the wok, cooking.

I start working the shiitakes, chopping my bell peppers.

All right. Bart, my friend, so tell me what you're making.

I'm making a ginger miso dressing.

-Okay. -I got my oil going with all

the outer parts of the ginger. -Okay.

And then I'm trying to get my veggies all done.

Are you worried you spent too much time in the walk-in?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I lost 10 minutes.

Nice knife cuts, by the way.

-Thank you. -Looks really good, chef.

I'm going to make a soba noodle salad with the Asian vegetables,

toss it in a ginger miso vinaigrette,

steam the branzino, and it's going to be excellent.

I'm from New Orleans,

so food is instilled in you at an early age.

I've worked in South Florida doing fine dine.

I've worked the casinos on the Gulf Coast,

always in the gourmet rooms.

I'm in Nashville now.

Hot chicken is a Nashville staple,

and it attracted me immediately.

I reinterpret dishes I'm fond of --

hot chicken and stuffed French toast,

hot chicken po'boy, hot chicken Benedict.

It's all about the party,

and the party has to have great food.

All right, chefs. You got 15 minutes on the clock.

We are at the halfway mark.

NINA: I'm cooking the fish.

Time is just ticking.

I need to go make the green curry sauce.

I have my coconut milk and the green curry paste.

♪♪

I don't know how to work the can opener.

[ Chuckles ]

Why am I struggling?

Nina, can opener. Where's it at?

Why am I struggling with this? Aah!

I definitely have a little bit of tunnel vision

focusing on what I need to do

because there's not a lot of time to think

and look around and play games.

I look over and Nina is clearly

having a hard time with the can opener.

I know the big cranks are hard with a small can.

Oh, he stopped and helped her out.

-I love that. -Wow!

Don't say I never did anything for you.

Thank you. Thank you. I got you.

Yes, we're all being competitive, and we're on a show

to win and have the bragging rights,

but this is part of what makes Nashville so great.

CRYSTAL: Wow!

Chivalry is not completely dead.

Mad points!

Wow!It's fun when you have friends and camaraderie.

NINA: Brian was the sweetest thing.

He saved my life. I guess teamworks make the dream work.

[ Laughs ]

I add my coconut milk and the green curry paste,

and then make the green curry sauce.

So this looks really delicious, right?

Thank you.

Peppers, onion, shiitake mushrooms.

Tell me what's in the recipe.

Well pretty much it's -- I got green curry paste,

coconut milk, and ginger.

Okay.

Spicy, sour, salty, sweet, a little robust.

It's going to be very, very sweet

because we have fish over there already.

Yeah, so do you think you lost a lot of time

messing with the can opener?

Yes, I did. Five minutes of it, yes.

All right. Okay.

Who got sugar? Sugar?

I got some. I got sugar.

BART: I'm here with friends.

Nina is right down the street from me,

and Brian is right down the other corner from me.

But I still want to win.

I feel good about my components and where they are.

I have used the vegetables, put a quick fry on them.

Oh, what's he got now?

-Ooh, is that soba noodle? -Yeah.

So I find a pot, throw the two packs of soba noodles in there.

I start working on the miso dressing,

put a little rice vinegar, sriracha,

the ginger oil that I made.

Hi, Bart. How's it going, man?

Getting there now.

Yeah, feel good?

You got the miso going on, right?

-Yep. -You haven't touched your fish

at all, yet. Are you worried about that?

-Uh, Probably. -"Probably."

Probably, yeah.

The fish hasn't even moved. He picked it up off the table,

set it down, and it has not been touched.

Don't forget about the fish!

BRIAN: One of the things that I really want to do

is make little crunchies with some quinoa.

It's going to add another layer of texture,

a really nice pop of crunch on top.

Quinoa.

Ooh.

CRYSTAL: Brian has got a lot going on.

I see him layering flavors, but sometimes that chaos

can't be organized in time,

and I'm not familiar with his organizational skills,

but they're making me a little bit nervous right now.

All right. Chefs, chefs, 10 minutes on the clock.

Coming in.

Clock is ticking down.

So now I'm going to separate some of the aromatics

out of the Romesco, puree that down

until it's a nice, silky consistency.

NINA: I'm frying my basil, doing my green curry

and doing my fish.

I'm running out of time,

but at least I had more time than Bart.

[ Laughs ]

BART: My soba noodles are cooked,

still haven't worried about the fish yet.

I start grabbing for a few more ideas.

I saw cashews on the table, so I go get the cashews.

So you got some cashews going in there too, right?

I'm going to candy the cashews.

Okay. Sounds good.

I just took somebody's quinoa.

-What? -I pushed it to the side.

-Thank you. -Okay.

I get the cashews out of the syrup,

and then I throw them in the fryer.

When they stop making bubbles,

I toss it in a little more sugar

to give it a crisp and a coating.

He still hasn't touched that fish.

BRIAN: I saw some Chinese eggplant in the cooler,

so I'm going to crisp those up as a nice little veg.

It's going to lend itself, add some creaminess.

Boom, boom, boom, one, two three with rice flour,

egg and the panko.

You guys are all friends. Now you're jumping in the fryer.

I'm thinking of an idea with the ginger --

julienne it, cook it in simple syrup,

and then I'm going to deep-fry it.

So the sugar draws out some of the heat and the spice.

Frying it gives you a really interesting textural element

that you don't see a lot with ginger,

but you definitely get the notes.

I don't know what Brian is doing,

but I feel like he's got all these ingredients.

They are all good ingredients, but come on, man.

You got to figure it out.

You got yourself spread out really, really thin right now.

So, Nina, is the fish in here already or no?

No, no. I'm going to top it off with...

The fish is going on last.

-Yes. -Okay.

CRYSTAL: Nina's fish has been cooking a long time.

Branzino cooks, like, really fast.

By the time she plates, it's not going to be hot.

It's not going to be crispy.

All right, chefs. 5 minutes on the clock -- 5 minutes.

There is less than 5 minutes in the round,

and Bart has still not touched his fish.

♪♪

It's the main thing. What is going on?

The fish is still sitting there.

I'm worried about Bart getting the fish on the plate right now.

♪♪

♪♪

All right, chefs. 5 minutes on the clock -- 5 minutes.

Moving on to round two is on the line here.

Nina is already plating up, huh?

CRYSTAL: Yeah. You got to be careful not to plate

too soon, though, because it's going to sit.

It's going to sit.

He seems to be doing good.

My man here is scaring me with the fish, though.

My components are coming together.

Now it's time to get to the fish.

I see the steam baskets because at Tansuo,

they do a lot of dim sums, a lot of dumplings,

so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity.

We got steam baskets coming off.

This is kind of exciting, right?

I put water in the wok, turn it wide open.

I can steam this fish, and it's only going to take

2 or 3 minutes to cook because it's a nice, flaky fish.

Can you put a steam basket over a wok?

I don't know. I've never seen it before.

BART: I paint it with a little ginger oil, stack two baskets.

I put my fish in there.

So you're going to steam this fish, huh, Chef?

-Yes. -That's fantastic.

I love steamed fish.

It is one of the healthiest ways you can ever cook.

Now I have to start plating.

Time is getting tight.

I like the fact that Bart cooked the fish last.

-Yeah. -It might have felt a little

unorganized, right?

But he knew.

But if it only takes 3 minutes,

why would you cook it 12 minutes ahead?

I agree.

As long as you score

40 points in the fourth quarter...

-Yeah. Exactly. -...that is all that matters.

How y'all doing?

I'm great.

How much time, Tyler?

Two minutes 25 seconds left on the clock.

Your fish, handsome!

-Your fish. -Yeah?

Thank God, in the spirit of camaraderie,

Bart was kind enough to shake the pan off the burner

when the branzino was probably very close to being cooked.

Fillets of fish come out perfectly.

I'm laying those down.

Crossing my fingers that we have enough time.

Chefs, one minute on the clock. You better be plating.

My fish is broken.

I'm not too crazy about how my fish turned out,

but I'm running out of time, so I had to execute what I had.

BRIAN: I need to get these ginger crunchies on top

and the fried quinoa.

Coming down to the wire.

Ooh, he's got those nuts, those candied nuts.

BART: I'm amped. I'm getting it all on the plate.

It's looking pretty.

I throw on the radicchio to give me

one more brilliant color on the plate.

That adrenaline is kicking in now!

If I could only keep my arms still.

And then the last thing is my branzino.

Fish up.

There's Nina already plated.

I start plating mine.

I can't see where Brian is at.

I look up at the clock, and I know I'm running out of time.

I need one last wipe of ginger

to get it to where it needs to be.

I'm the one that picked the ginger as a secret ingredient.

That's my last paint on this portrait.

FLORENCE: 9, 8, 7...

ALL: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Hands up, chefs. Time is up.

-Good job. -[ Laughs ]

I have my ginger grater full of fresh ginger,

ran out of time.

-How'd we do? -Good job. Good job.

-Good job. -Good job, Bart.

I needed 15 more seconds.

I did have ginger oil on the fish and in the dressing.

It just needed one more kiss on that plate.

BRIAN: Bart's dish looks great.

I'm just hoping that with my presentation

and the layering of flavors that I can edge out over him.

NINA: I'm feeling confident about my dish.

I can maybe win this.

Chefs Bart, Nina, Brian, you were tasked with

using three secret ingredients --

the branzino, the multicolored peppers,

and the ginger to create the best dish you possibly can.

Chef Bart, you're up first. Let's see your dishes.

I made ginger miso soba salad

with candied cashews and steamed branzino.

I used the peppers in the miso soba salad.

I used the ginger in the dressing on top of the branzino.

Before I steamed it, I painted it with some of the oil.

FLORENCE: Go ahead, guys.

All right.

When you steam a fish, I think the ingredients

that going with it need to be very light

to accommodate it, nothing overpowering,

and I think you did a really good job.

Thank you.

It's bright. It's vibrant.

Nothing in there has really taken over it.

He really surprised me with the flavor

that he got in his salad he did here.

I was so excited to see what you were doing with that fish.

It was cooked perfectly.

The peppers cooked perfectly.

The ginger, I'm not getting it as much.

CRYSTAL: Bart's dish tastes amazing.

I see these beautiful vegetables,

but I wish he used the ginger to brighten them up.

I get a little bit of ginger, not as much as I would take

if it's an ingredient that needs to be used,

but overall, it's a really good dish.

Yeah, there was more ginger back there.

Didn't get there.

Needed 15 more seconds.

Cooked, I think you did a great job.

Thank you.

I wasn't able to incorporate as much of the ginger

as I wanted,

but I did want all those items to stand on their own,

not to be overpowered.

Chef Nina, please bring your dishes to the judges.

BRIAN: Nina's dish looks simple,

but I know she has such a great mastery of the flavors.

It looks delicious.

FLORENCE: Tell us what you made.

What I have today is green curry branzino

with shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers, and ginger,

garnished with fried basil and enoki mushrooms.

Getting some nods. We're getting some nods.

You said you were going to bring the heat.

-Yeah. -Yeah, she doesn't lie.

-And you brought the heat. -Yeah.

TREY: Seasoned very nice.

The bell peppers and the ginger

really come out in that.

It's a good overall curry dish.

The peppers are so sweet,

and they balance that sweetness of the coconut milk.

This dish is exactly what I was hoping for,

selfishly, from Nina.

But I feel like she's playing it a little bit safe.

This is something I feel like I've eaten at her restaurant.

You know, for me, I love a good crispy skin on the fish,

and I just didn't get that here.

Yeah, my fish is a little bit overcooked,

but I'm not in my kitchen.

Being at Tansuo in this Asian kitchen,

I feel like you could have used the wok to your advantage.

All right, Chef Nina. Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

All right, Chef Brian.

Let's see what you got, brother.

BRIAN: So I went in a pseudo-Japanese direction --

crispy branzino with ginger crunchies and Japanese Romesco.

So the sauce is the charred peppers

with a little stock with some nori,

lemongrass, fennel, a little chicken stock,

pureed it with almonds.

On top you have crispy Chinese eggplant.

The branzino is just simply pan seared

with the little ginger crunchies.

♪♪

There are, like, so many things to eat.

It's beautiful to look at. Eggplant is cooked perfectly,

but...

the branzino is cooked even better than that.

This is the crispy skin we were looking for.

It's super clean. It's nice.

I really like the eggplant, and I'm not a big eggplant guy,

but I really like that. It's really nice, the crunch.

Brian's dish is complex.

There's a lot to to it.

But when you get down and you get a bite

of everything in here, it actually really works.

I wouldn't know that peppers were the secret ingredient

only because they are in this very complex sauce

that you made, and so that would be my only criticism, like,

not really highlighting the peppers.

Are you getting the salt?

There was one bit that had, like, salt on that bite.

Yeah.

I think the crunchies right here.

-I don't know. -Yeah.

BRIAN: There were a couple of salty bites.

You just, like, ran a marathon,

and now you're getting drilled about your performance.

It's nerve-racking.

Nice use of ingredients, really nice presentation.

-Congratulations. -Thank you.

-Great, Chef. -Yeah, thank you.

It looks like they're happy.

I'm just hoping that the complexity of flavors,

the layering of textures,

pushes me forward to the next round.

Chefs Bart, Nina, Brian,

you guys put all your heart and soul on those plates.

Unfortunately, only two of you will move on to the second round

to find out who will become Nashville's Bite Club Champ.

-Judges, do we have a decision? -We do.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Judges, do we have a decision? -We do.

♪♪

♪♪

Chef Bart, I'm sorry to say you will not be moving on

to the second round of Bite Club.

Your dish was great, phenomenal.

You did really good. You lacked the ginger,

so you're going to be sitting on the next round.

-I had a great time. -Thank you so much.

-Thank you. -It's a real pleasure.

BART: It's rejuvenating to be in someone else's kitchen

getting to express cuisine that you don't get to do every day.

Y'all got one more round.

-Take care. -Be good.

It was a lot of fun.

Okay, chefs.

The second and final round to determine

who will become Nashville's Bite Club champ.

So just like the two of you,

Chef Trey and Chef Crystal came prepared to cook,

and they each brought a secret ingredient.

Now you'll have to use both of their ingredients

to make the best dish possible.

Crystal, what did you bring?

All right.

I've got for you guys...

some American cheese.

-Whoo! -Yeah!

CRYSTAL: I chose American cheese because at my restaurant,

the Grilled Cheeserie, it's a key ingredient in what I do.

It is a complex fat. It has salts.

It has layers of flavor,

but cooking with cheese isn't the easiest thing.

NINA: This is the worst nightmare.

I can't even eat cheese.

My mama never gave me cheese. We were refugee.

We didn't even know what cheese was.

[ Laughs ]

Chef Trey, what did you bring?

Well, the Southern boy, in my kitchen

we've always got to have buttermilk, so...

Ohh!

TREY: Buttermilk is so versatile in my kitchen.

I use it every day. It's in my cornbread.

It's in my -- It's just super important.

I hope no one is lactose intolerant.

-I am. -Trey pulls out buttermilk.

BRIAN: Two dairies is a little challenging,

but something in my realm of familiarity.

Okay, guys, we have American cheese and buttermilk.

You're going to have to incorporate both ingredients

into your dish,

and that dish needs to be the best dish possible.

Thirty minutes on the clock and the title

of Nashville's Bite Club Champ is on the line.

-Are you ready to go? -Ready.

Your time starts now! Let's go!

Yes! Get it, girl!

♪♪

NINA: I cannot believe the secret ingredient

was cheese and buttermilk.

I'm about to die. [ Laughs ]

I avoid dairy in all my cooking.

I don't even know what I'm going to make or do.

♪♪

FLORENCE: They seem way more confident after having

one cook under the belt.

-Yeah. Absolutely. -Sure.

TREY: But you know the kitchen now.

You're more familiar with what you got.

Of course. Of course, yeah.

♪♪

[ Chuckles ]

♪♪

Combining American cheese and buttermilk

while using a pantry in an Asian restaurant

is going to be really interesting

to see what I can use, so I'm looking at the proteins.

I see chicken breast, which isn't my favorite cut,

but it's already boned.

I don't have a lot of time to play around.

We're going to grab these and go with it.

Where's my water?

NINA: I got two super-weird ingredients

that I'm not familiar with.

My strategy right now is to sticking to what I know --

ramen noodles.

So I'm dying to ask both of you, what do you mash together?

Mac and cheese.

That'd do.

-Some kind of pasta. -Yeah.

TREY: I would probably do a really cool biscuit

with this dish, then maybe do like

a buttermilk gravy or something.

-Yeah. -Kind of work in that cheese.

That cheese has structure, stability.

Put it this way --

They got two ingredients that go really well together.

All right. I'm going to go walk around and check on these guys.

All right.

All right, Brian. Round two, my friend.

Round two.

So you spent some time in the walk-in.

What'd you get?

We're going to do

a little buttermilk chicken-fried chicken...

-That sounds good. -...open-faced sandwich.

Going to do a little buttermilk brine on that.

So I don't know if it's a little cliché or passé,

but Nashville is obviously known for our fried chicken,

and the end of the day, you got to go big or go home.

We're going to use some Chinese chillies.

-Okay. -It'll be like a spicy

Nashville hot chicken.

It'll be nods to it.

Nods to it.

Nods in its general direction.

-Yeah. -That's good.

We're going to play with it.

-All right, Nina. -Yes.

I'm seeing a whole big wok of ramen noodles.

NINA: Yes.

I'm thinking you're making a macaroni and cheese.

-Am I right? -No.

[ Laughter ]

Not at all.

So I'm thinking this is going to be American sort of pasta

with Asian flavor incorporated.

Ramen lemongrass pasta.

Sounds good.

All right, chefs. You got 23 minutes on the clock.

23 minutes.

Brian is going straight hardcore South.

-I love it. -Okay.

Buttermilk fried chicken.

Ooh.

I think he said he's making an open-faced sandwich.

I don't know what he means by that, but he's doing it, right?

-Okay. Okay. -Yeah, so I'm sure a piece

of toast, chicken on top.

BRIAN: I have American cheese.

I see there's a bunch of Chinese beer over here.

I'm just like, "Beer and cheese.

They're both wonderful on their own."

So I'm making a beer cheese. They're going to get married.

They're going to have a little party together.

Brian has got beer and buttermilk in the saucepan.

-All right. -Dude, are you making

a beer cheese sauce with that, or what?

What could go wrong?

I like cheese, and I like beer.

-Why not? -There you go.

-What's wrong with that? -Nothing is wrong with that.

I like it.

So Brian is actually using the buttermilk.

I feel really good about that,

and I feel like I'm helping him out right now.

Nina has just got my buttermilk in a pot right now,

and she's trying to incorporate some flavor to it.

But then the lemongrass came in,

and I don't know where this is going to go

or how this is going to incorporate.

You can tell that buttermilk and American cheese

is not, I would say, in her lane.

You know, in Asian cooking,

I mean, you're not using a lot of buttermilk.

-There's no dairy. -Yeah.

There's no dairy, period.

♪♪

CRYSTAL: I have a lot of experience with making cheese sauces.

The acid from the beer might break

that cheese sauce if he doesn't reduce it first.

It may break that buttermilk, too.

-So, yeah. -If you boil buttermilk,

you'll make ricotta cheese. -Yes.

BRIAN: What are you doing with the cheese, Nina?

Oh, Brian!

[ Laughter ]

You got to own it. You got to love it.

-Yeah, Nina. -Oh, Lord.

Nina, what are you doing with the cheese?

We're dying to know.I'm just going to melt it down.

That's the only way I know how right now.

In the sauce? In the sauce, right?

Yes, making sauce, incorporated in the sauce.

-Okay. -You feel good about that?

-Very good. -It melts really fast.

You're super-confident. I love it.

I'm going to get y'all.

She's got it. She knows what she's doing.

NINA: Right now I'm just focused on this buttermilk.

I am going to deal with that American cheese later.

So Nina is making a sauce that to me, feels really thin.

I'm not sure what she's going with here.

Oh, why is this butter taking forever to melt?

I was thinking buttermilk was going to melt down

just like heavy whipped cream, but it wasn't.

It was not what I thought it was going to be.

♪♪

So I'm running back to see what I can grab to rectify this meal.

I'm going to get y'all, Lord.

Nina went back to the walk-in.

What do you think she's going to grab?

-Man... -Maybe a protein,

like, some crispy chicken skin?

Some duck? I would stay away from fish, seafood.

...make it nice and crispy. No seafood.

♪♪

What she got? What'd you get?

-Nina, what'd you get? -I have some seafood.

There's a kind of a general rule about cheese and seafood.

You don't normally do it.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, Lord.

Buttermilk was not what I thought it was going to be.

So I'm running back to the pantry to see

what I can grab to rectify this meal.

I see shellfish.

I know how to work with shellfish,

so I had to grab it.

Oh, here she comes. Here she comes. Nina, what'd you get?

-I got some seafood. -Oh.

She got mussels. She got mussels?

-Mussels and shrimp. -Seafood.

Maybe she's about to show me something I don't know,

but generally speaking, American cheese and mussels

have probably never been eaten together,

like, ever in the history of food.

-It doesn't have to make sense. -No.

It just has to be good.

I'm excited to see Nina push herself to use something

she never uses in her cooking.

That cheese, y'all.

BRIAN: We have fried chicken on the menu,

and I'm making a beer cheese, so you need some brightness.

You got, like, a little fresh salad going?

Little fresh salad because it's going to be pretty rich

on rich, on fat on fat.

Grab some herbs because I'm thinking about

a bright little salad should go on top.

So parsley, celery leaves?

Parsley, celery, cilantro, some Thai basil.

Yeah. What are you worried about?

Frying the chicken.

Trey is a local. He grew up here.

He's been here his entire life.

I'm serving him fried chicken.

It had better be the real deal.

So Brian is making fried chicken.

What cut of chicken was it?

Boneless, skinless chicken breast.

-Okay. -Boneless, though? Okay.

The bad news is making fried chicken in 30 minutes

is almost impossible.

He does have skinless breasts,

so maybe cutting them in smaller pieces.

Maybe you can get a little more flavor pumped in

in 30 minutes that way. That's what I would do.

Brian, how you doing on the chicken?

You got it fried? You got it going?

It's cooking. It's halfway there.

I'm a little worried if it's going to be cooked in time, though.

He's got a lot going on.

Tyler, how much time do we have?

FLORENCE: 15 minutes. 15 minutes, halfway there.

Oh, my goodness! Aah!

♪♪

You've got broccoli and ramen noodles in there, right?

-Mm-hmm. -Yummy.

How is your sauce coming together? It's good?

-Yes, very good. -Fantastic.

I just kind of have to get this damn sauce a little thicker.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

You got 13 minutes.

I'm literally running out of time.

I have to incorporate this American cheese into my sauce,

so what I did was I melt it down.

Oh, boy, what am I doing,

and how is this going to turn out?

FLORENCE: Guys, 10 minutes left on the clock. 10 minutes.

We're coming in the home stretch to building this dish,

so I'm going to throw a little butter into a pan.

Leeks go in there.

The melted leeks are going to be

a little foundation, a little support

that's going to hold up all the fried chicken.

Brian, how are you doing?

I love you, girl, but you're going down.

Oh, she's going back to the wok. She's going back to the wok.

All right.

BRIAN: Nina has it in the bag.

There's all this really beautiful ramen.

She's, like, hard wok-ing it,

so I think she has it all figured out.

Shake it up, girl.

NINA: I know I have the best advantage with the wok.

I just love it.

I think that cheese actually worked out.

There you go, girl. There you go.

Get it, girl!

FLORENCE: The power of cheese, people.

-Oh, he's going into the eggs. -Wow, what is going on?

I have no idea.

So I think he's going sunny-side up egg.

I don't think he has enough time to do that.

Brian is really stretching this dish.

He's got eggs over here.

He's got five pots on the sauté eyes right now.

He's got a fryer going.

I don't know what's going on.

I did tell him he only had to make one plate

of food, not five.

Yeah, he's going.

We're really ticking right down to the finish line.

If I have time to do a sunny-side up egg,

eggs make everything better.

A gooey, runny yolk, it'll just really --

It'll really bring the dish home.

What if he doesn't plate up?

-Nina is already plating. -She started plating, right?

Yeah.

I'm pretty much done before the time was over.

Chefs, 2 minutes left on the clock. 2 minutes.

So I was plating my dish,

but it seems like Brian is running out of time.

Brian, how we feeling?

-Feeling. -He's feeling it.

I have a lot of feelings right now.

It's getting a little tight.

The eggs, melted leeks, they're doing fine.

Chicken is going, but needs at least another minute.

I have 2, so crossing my fingers that we have enough time.

Brian is either going to crush this...

Or be crushed.

♪♪

♪♪

FLORENCE: Chefs, 2 minutes left on the clock. 2 minutes.

♪♪

TREY: Brian has got eggs over here.

He's got five pots on the saute eyes right now.

He's got a fryer going.

I did tell him he only had to make one plate

of food, not five, right?

What if he doesn't plate up?

CRYSTAL: Nina is already plating.

NINA: As I'm plating my dish,

I noticed it was a little bit too creamy.

I had to cut the base with some chopped Thai chili peppers.

She's going chillies again.

These judges may not be able to handle the heat,

but Chef Nina is cooking.

BRIAN: Time is flying by.

I got the bread, melted leeks.

Pull the fried chicken out, cutting them open,

it looks moist and tender.

One minute guys. One minute left.

Seconds are ticking away.

I do not have time to elegantly sauce this plate.

Well, how fun is this?

All the sauce is on all the plates,

so now I'm going to go grab the eggs.

You got it! You got it!

You got it, bud!

The eggs are sticking in the pan.

Twenty seconds left on the clock, 20 seconds.

I have to make a decision.

It's the eggs or the salad

that I definitely think is really going

to bring the dish together.

All right, guys. It's crunch time.

There's seconds left.

10...

ALL: 9, 8, 7, 6...

5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

FLORENCE: Whoo! That's it, guys.

-He finished it. -I can't believe he did that.

I can't believe it.

60 seconds,

and I could have got those eggs on all the dishes.

And I really think that would have been awesome

to have that runny yolk.

But honestly, it looks great.

I do think that I brought the best dish together.

I'm going to be honest, it is so strange

to cook something that I don't eat,

but it came out pretty damn good.

I could maybe win this.

Brian, Nina, that was spectacular.

You had buttermilk, you had American cheese,

and a pantry full of

contemporary Chinese ingredients.

We're going to taste the dishes and the title

of Nashville's Bite Club Champ is on the line.

Nina, you're up first.

Okay, so what I have here is spicy cheese ramen.

And what I put in is ramen noodle,

lemongrass, shellfish, buttermilk, and American cheese

as my base, some broccoli and Thai chili peppers.

I would say that cheese and buttermilk

aren't in your pantry at your Thai restaurant, correct?

No, no. I'm not even around cheese at all.

BRIAN: I know how skeptical Nina is about the cheese,

but it looks like she's been using this her entire life,

so she might be pulling a fast one over on me.

Wow, Nina. I didn't know how this was going to come together.

But it, like, works in the weirdest way, and I love it.

This dish tastes really good.

This is, like, the happy accident.

It comes out really well,

and you don't know how to ever make it again.

Trey, what you think about that spice?

I like the spice, and I'm with her.

The flavors are actually really,

really good, which is surprising.

I don't mean that -- I'm just saying, like,

I was, like, "Um..."

We had some questions.

The ramen, the sauce, and the cheese,

and the mussels are cooked perfectly.

The vegetables still have a crunch to them.

I am picking up on the American cheese.

I don't know if I get the sour from the buttermilk from it.

My only concern is that I wish that there was

a little more acidic sour buttermilk in Nina's dish.

Yeah, I'm not getting a lot of acid from the buttermilk,

but it's so hard because these flavors are really strong

for that buttermilk to come through.

As somebody who considers themself an expert

with cooking with American cheese,

the American cheese was used perfectly.

It coats all the noodle.

I'm Italian. Cheese and pasta, I'm good.

-Yeah. -I mean, it's a...

And seafood, mussels. I love it.

Nice job. Nice job. Nice job. Nice job.

-Good job, girl. -All right, Chef Brian.

-Come on in, man. -All right, guys.

BRIAN: I made for you an open-faced buttermilk fried chicken.

You have a beer cheese and then an herb petite salad on top.

Petite salad has a buttermilk herb dressing.

The buttermilk brine had fresh chili paste

and a bunch of dried Asian chillies in there, as well.

-Wow. -Brian's plate looks amazing.

NINA: He was playing it safe.

He was doing fried chicken, but I hope these judges

tasted better fried chicken than what Brian made.

Please don't like Brian's dish.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

The texture of the chicken is really nice.

You actually got a skin. You've got some crisp on there.

You can take it off. It's staying together.

It's not getting soggy. -Mm-hmm.

The bread, it's crispy, which is good, which I like.

The beer cheese is really nice.

-Mm-hmm. -The leeks are nice and melted.

And you said there was buttermilk on this salad?

BRIAN: Yes, it's a buttermilk, rice wine vinegar, soy.

I use buttermilk for dressings a lot, too,

and I brine pork in it.

I think that that was really, really good.

It all works. Everything was executed really well.

I think you honored the American cheese.

It even looks like American cheese.

I get the buttermilk lightly in the dressing.

I get it in the fried chicken.

My criticisms are it's a lot.

It is a lot.

Brian's dish is, like, whoa.

It's tasty, but I don't know how to attack.

I was like, "How do I attack this?"

FLORENCE: Do you eat it? Do you wrestle it?

It was a little large portion, but the flavors are really good.

You get the buttermilk. I love the leeks, too.

-I would order this. -I would order this. Yeah.

Well, chefs, you gave us two amazing, deeply creative dishes.

Unfortunately, only one chef will walk out of here today

as Nashville's Bite Club Champ.

This is the moment of truth.

Judges, do we have a verdict?

-We do. -I think we do.

-I think we do. -We have a decision.

We do have a decision.

BRIAN: I'm a ball of nerves.

There's knots everywhere.

I'm sweating.

NINA: I'm really nervous to see what the judges going to say,

but it seems like they really enjoyed my dish.

If I lose to Nina, I at least know that I'm bowing down

to someone who has incredible talent.

Who is it?

♪♪

[ Sighs ]

Chefs Brian and Nina,

the Bite Club Champ of Nashville is...

Brian.

[ Chuckles ]

[ Cheers and applause ]

It is such an honor to be acknowledged

by your peers and colleagues.

It's a really rewarding feeling.

Brian, it was amazing to watch you cook.

The chefs really loved the dish.

-Thank you, guys. -You were great.

And, Nina, one thing that the judges had said,

that it seemed a little unrefined.

But it was so much fun to watch you cook.

Thank you. Thank you.

It was awesome. It was fantastic.

NINA: I put up a really good fight today, but at the end,

I felt like Brian deserved it.

We got some champers here, guys.

[ All cheer ]

-Whoo! -Whoo!

Bite Club Champ of Nashville, baby!

Whoo-hoo!

[ Laughter ]

This season on "Bite Club"...

Looks we got ourselves a little competition.

Whoo-hoo!

We're traveling from town to town where the best

local chefs in each city battle it out

to become Bite Club Champ.

-Your time starts now. -Go!

-Ooh! -Rivalries run deep...

-Yeah, it's going now. -...sparks fly...

-He is after me. -Chill out, bro!

-Aah! -Whoo!

FLORENCE: ...and there's a ton of killer cuisine.

First rule of Bite Club is...

-Winning is the only option. -The only option!

Tune into "Bite Club."

♪♪