Original subtitles

The pandemic has impacted the restaurant industry

in a way that no one could have predicted.

I had to call everybody and furlough them.

Those are conversations I'll never forget.

There could not be a more perfect time

to compete on "Top Chef."

We can come together and support each other.

Yeah!

"Top Chef" is back.

- Ah! - Fifteen of the country's

best chefs have traveled to Portland, Oregon,

for what will clearly be

an epic culinary showdown.

I went to Noma Mexico and worked with

the greatest chefs in the world.

We're short on sauces, let's go!

Whoa-oh-oh!

I was nominated for a James Beard Award

in 2019.

Look at that timing!

During my time at Eleven Madison Park,

we got number one in the world.

It's the fear of the unknown.

You don't know anything that's about to happen.

For the first time, a panel of all-stars

will be joining the Judges' Table.

This is a hard gig

when dishes are really good.

This is some extraordinary cooking.

Is this what we look like?

Total panic.

- - Scary.

Pull that off! Pull that pan off!

This is just the beginning.

It's about to get a lot harder.

It's been quite a ride to get here

for all of us, but I'm ready.

Oh, I do need a shot of tequila.

Thank you, Portland!

At stake for the winner--

a feature in Food & Wine magazine,

an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,

a quarter of a million dollars furnished by San Pellegrino,

and the title of Top Chef.

- Hello, chefs. - Whoo!

Wow.

Welcome to Portland and season 18 of "Top Chef."

Yeah! Walking into the kitchen

the first time, we're at the ledge of this giant cliff.

Once you take that first leap,

there's no coming back.

Ah, the first day of school.

I don't know who everyone else is here,

but I'm gonna make damn sure I'm better than everybody else.

I'm from Milford, New Hampshire,

cooking modern French cuisine.

I make modern Alpine food.

Global comfort cuisine.

- Traditional Japanese. - French.

West African food.

I cook rustic and simple,

Grandma-style.

Chefs, welcome.

Standing amongst you is an incredible selection

of executive chefs, chef-owners,

and I think for the first time, we don't have any sous-chefs.

So all of you are used to being the boss, I guess.

You're all here to compete

for the grand prize of $250,000

furnished by San Pellegrino

and the title of Top Chef.

Please welcome your first guest judge,

"Top Chef" alum and Portland local,

- Gregory Gourdet. - Thank you.

Hey, chefs.

- I'm so excited to be here. -

It feels better over here, though, right?

It does. I'm enjoying this.

Chefs, welcome to "Top Chef."

Portland is an amazing city,

filled with iconic, indigenous ingredients

and a strong sense of community.

We're also front and center in our nation's current fight

for racial equality.

And I'm so glad you're here, so welcome.

You all know Gregory and me, so I think it's now time

to get to know you guys a little bit.

Who here has been nominated for a James Beard Award?

One, two, three, four.

People might underestimate me,

'cause I make tacos for a living.

But I'm a semifinalist for a James Beard,

so I don't care what people think.

Any other accolades you'd like to share?

I won an Eater Portland 2017 Chef of the Year.

Congratulations.

So you're a Portland local as well.

Born and raised.

There's a lot of talented people in this room,

but I've worked in some of the best restaurants in the world,

including for Tom at Colicchio & Sons in New York City.

Once they start seeing me cooking,

then they'll be like, "Okay.

We gotta look out for this guy."

One of you is an Olympic long jumper?

Well, you won't have any trouble getting your ingredients.

- - Being an Olympian is

an accolade of mine. It does not define me.

It wasn't until I decided to retire that I jumped

not even feet first, head first into cooking.

It's a new chapter.

This--this is a new book.

Well, I think we have some really stiff competition

here in the kitchen, and speaking of the kitchen,

you guys might have noticed that it's larger than normal.

Because we are living and working

in the middle of a pandemic,

and we are getting tested very regularly.

If I got tested any more often,

I'd live with a swab up my nose.

The pandemic has challenged

the restaurant industry to its core.

When I closed my restaurants and my bars,

I had to let go of 30 of my favorite humans in my life,

which was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do.

Being back in the kitchen is mentally really healthy for me.

It's where I feel like I'm at home.

This season is going to be an exciting one.

Here we go.

Altogether, the 15 of you represent

and incredible diversity of cooking styles and cuisines.

Before you arrived here, we asked you

what ingredient you couldn't live without in the kitchen.

Right? And those ingredients are up here in these boxes.

I can't live without Gruyère.

I make Alpine food.

It's the king of Alpine cheeses.

But, like, I have no idea what's going on.

It's time to draw knives.

Each of you will take one knife and then pass it down.

- Four. - Four.

All right, so your first Quickfire Challenge

is a team challenge.

All the chefs that drew knife 1, stand over here.

Working with people who you don't even know their name

is a pretty wild concept.

You'll need to incorporate each of your must-have ingredients

in these boxes into one cohesive dish.

I'm sorry, but this is very fun for me.

I'm loving watching you all think.

Every chef on the winning team

of this Quickfire Challenge

will receive immunity.

- Whoo. - Mm-hmm.

And an advantage in the Elimination Challenge.

- Oh, hell yeah. - All right, boys.

- We have to. - We gotta win.

I hope you're ready, 'cause your time starts now.

- Sick. - Butter.

Kombu, butter. What do you got?

Rice vinegar.

Like, I was like, "How we gonna do this?"

I don't know their cooking styles.

I haven't talked to these guys at all.

Cold sweat. Cold sweat.

Whoo, that's a unique combination.

Yeah, honestly.

- What'd you get? - I got chocolate.

Oh, gosh!

All right, we got caul fat, chocolate, and cheese.

- Cheese, okay. - Cheese and caul fat.

I love caul fat.

It's something that allows you

to take a leaner piece of meat

and really give it some fat and flavor.

But chocolate, caul fat, and cheese?

Oh, man.

Can you do this with a vegetable, then?

- Mushroom powder. - Cool.

- Oh, awesome. Okay. - I got apple chutney.

Actually it's my mom's apple chutney

because it is a very versatile ingredient.

You should probably try this.

This can go in any application that uses vinaigrette.

We can use it as a sauce, we can use it as a pickle.

There's probably a perception of me

that I'm like a Bengali chef of some kind

because I'm Bengali, but I was

born in Columbus, Ohio. I wasn't born in Bangladesh.

- All right, this is very salty. - Growing up, all I wanted

was Columbus cuisine. It could be fast food.

It could be a strip mall franchise.

So I've grown up a little bit in that regard.

- So you gonna-- - I have plantain.

- Okay. - With garlic,

I'm gonna make sofrito real quick.

- Okay. - Give some real flavor.

Kombu, butter, rice vinegar.

Yeah, let's go seafood. Let's go seafood.

Butter is definitely something that I cannot live without.

I grew up in French kitchens

and I mound everything with butter.

So, I can make kombu butter.

But it is such a difficult ingredient to highlight.

- You wanna go with scallops? - Yeah, let's do it.

- Scallops are easy. Yeah. - Scallops. Yeah.

- What do you got? - Fish sauce.

Why don't we do like a memela?

- Like a fried corn cake? - Yeah, yeah.

I'm really excited to get on a team with other chefs

that I've never cooked with, but at the same time,

I don't know what kind of cuisines they come from

or what techniques they like to cook with.

So I want to go with what I've got in my mind.

- A piece of fish. - Yeah.

Pan sear it, make a glaze. Fish caramel.

I'll do a fish butterscotch with the pan-seared fish.

- I'll get on the mushrooms. - Okay.

Gabe took a little bit more of a leadership role,

but in my kitchen, I'm the boss.

I'm the chef and owner of The Black Sheep

in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It's me on a plate. I'm just very wacky.

♪ Doo doo ♪

When I cook, I make sound effects

like

And then you're like, "Okay, my sous chef will grab

the Vita-Prep, a knife for me, and a cutting board."

- What is it? - Uh, it's Gruyère.

Gruyère,

Can you do this with a little rice?

Um, I'm not a rice person.

I have no idea what we're doing.

We have the three hardest ingredients

to make into a cohesive dish.

Can you make like a-- like a mole kind of thing?

Yeah.

Can we do something on seafood or no?

With a--with a chocolate mole? No.

- No, no. - I think it should be beef.

And I looked at him, I'm like...

Seafood and mole?

- It's beef or pork. - Pork tenderloin.

Pork tenderloin. I can wrap it with caul fat.

- There you go. - There you go.

Let's go, man.

My component is the weird one.

Pork and mole-- hey, sounds great.

And then I'm like, "Hey, let's put some cheese on it."

I'll make some sort of sauce that has Gruyère in it,

like a salsa verde sort of vibe.

Okay, there you go.

- Ha ha. - What'd you get?

- I got peppers. - I have anchovies.

- Okay. - Anchovies. Oh, nice. Nice.

Meyer lemons are so important in Italian food.

I grew up in a Sicilian family,

went to culinary school in Italy.

We can break down a fish, and we can do

a sauce, like a pesto rosso kind of thing.

I think a fish would be a great way to let

the other ingredients shine.

Gonna blow out their mouths with these peppers.

Scotch bonnet peppers are really important to me

cooking, like, West and Central African food.

I mean, they're hot as sh--.

I'm gonna roast up everything

and mellow these peppers out,

Boom! There it is.

And like, a relish on the bottom was kind of what I was thinking.

Ooh, I like that. You know,

I'm gonna grab some shallots, too, then.

- Cool. - Yeah.

Kombu butter with seared scallops or are we going raw?

I think lightly-- or maybe poached.

You're going bananas, that's gonna be mushed up

- with garlic, right, you said? - Mm-hmm.

My family, we're Dominican.

Plantains, it's our way of life.

I'll do a twice-cooked scallop.

It'll be set sous vide first then I'll sear it,

and then we can use the apple chutney as a balance.

This'll be very rustic kind of--

- Yeah, gotcha. - I'm telling myself,

"Just show 'em who you are.

Show 'em where you come from."

He's gonna make a mushroom sauce

using the mushroom bullion.

So should I make that sauce a little bit chunky?

Nah. Let's get the flavors.

How's that mole going?

It's going, papi.

Whew!

This is the way I can show

if I can walk the walk and talk the talk,

to make a mole in 30 minutes.

This is becoming more like a gremolata.

- Perfect. - Okay, a Gruyère gremolata.

What the hell?

Try it.

- Acid? - No.

No? Maybe a pinch of salt.

- Let's wait with this. - Let's taste it all together.

Right behind.

What's his name? What's his name?

- Gabriel. -

- Fifteen minutes left! - Heard that.

That's the loudest I've ever spoken in my entire life.

- You want a little taster? - Yeah.

- You want more lemon? - I would say, like, maybe zest.

- Can we do zest? - Hell, yeah.

I've never challenged myself like this before.

I feel like maybe I don't belong here.

Zest...

I mean, I do have a James Beard nomination,

but I'm not so intensely into those,

like, chef-related things.

I like to chill and cook some food.

How spicy are those peppers?

They're pretty spicy.

Okay, I'm gonna leave spice out of my sauce, then.

Okay.

How do you want to do rice vinegar?

I can pickle.

Rice vinegar, definitely used for pickle.

If you just take care of the fish from here

with your component, that'd be great.

Beautiful.

How about I start slicing the scallops to--

or we're gonna do raw, right?

I thought we were going cooked. I forgot.

Are we going cooked? I don't remember, dude.

- We're going raw. Going raw. -

Oh, yeah, poached. Poached and the kombu butter.

- Where's ice? - Ice is in the freezer,

- left-hand side. - Okay.

I'm so sweaty!

- Big-ass kitchen. - Oh, my God.

I feel ya! I see ya.

Here you go, the fish.

Oh, you put it on the skin side?

- Oh, - Sorry.

Um, you alway-- always put sauce

- on the--on the flesh side. - Yeah. Sorry, my bad.

My assumption is that

every chef would know that you don't put sauce

on a crispy side of a fish.

It's never safe to assume.

- This skin is now soggy. - Yeah.

Six minutes!

We gotta start getting ready to plate.

- Yeah. - This is the kombu butter.

- It's, like... - Oh, that's perfect.

...a little bit warmer than room temperature.

Just warming up lightly inside.

I don't feel as though the butter is as pronounced

as I need it to be.

At this point, there's no changing it.

Parsley puree, yep.

Oh, yeah.

Simple. Getting these thyme stems off of here.

- I'm gonna take those off. - No, no.

They're in. They're in. Don't grab those.

- You want to keep them? - Yeah.

- I worked for Tom Colicchio. - Oh.

Yeah. That's something he does all the time.

Well, he does, not us.

1:28!

Minced celery is the first layer.

Nice.

Oh, I'm shaking. Here, you do it.

I'm sorry, Mom!

Peel aggressive.

Time's up!

Hands up, utensils down.

- I'm, like, sweating. - We did it!

Now let's just hope it all goes together.

Okay, brown team.

- Thank you. That looks lovely. - Thank you.

What did you make for us?

Harissa-rubbed seared halibut,

chile pepper and roasted tomato relish

Meyer lemon and anchovy salsa verde,

and herb salad on top.

Sasha, what was your ingredient?

Meyer lemons.

They're in the salsa verde.

Yep, and then I had the salted anchovies, so

Sasha and I kind of combined forces there.

And what was your ingredient, Kiki?

- Hot peppers. - Hot peppers and anchovies.

Yeah.

That's a very nice blend.

- - It's a very nice blend.

It's like we planned it, but we didn't.

I know, imagine if she had chocolate.

- Right? - Yeah.

- Thank you very much. Thank you.

All right, blue team.

Chris, Roscoe, and Shota.

- Hey, Chris. - Hey, hey, how's it going?

Scallops poached in kombu butter

with parsnip puree and pickles on top.

Since your ingredient was butter,

and then his ingredient was rice vinegar,

he made some pickle components.

Pickled Romanesco, pickled shallot.

Butter, rice vinegar.

Have you guys ever watched "Top Chef"?

We have all those things.

- - I know.

Thank you.

Avishar, Byron, and Nelson.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

What did you make?

Surf and turf.

"Earth" of the mushrooms,

and uh, "surf" is the scallops.

And what is your ingredient?

Oh, plantains.

- So, me and Gregory-- -

Dominican-Haitian, baby.

So I made a tomato sofrito mofongo.

- And what was the sauce? - Two sauces--

One of them is a mushroom puree underneath,

- and then the other sauce was-- - Apple chutney vinaigrette,

to contrast the richness of the scallops.

Thank you very much.

Dawn, Gabe, and Jamie.

We've prepared a traditional Oaxacan-style memela

with halibut that's been glazed

in a fish sauce butterscotch,

smoked trout roe crema, and fresh salad.

Who cooked the fish?

- Well, we all did. - We all did.

You all cooked one piece of fish?

- Yep. -

So I put it down, Gabe flipped it,

Jamie glazed it.

- Thank you so much. - Thank you.

All right, yellow team.

- Hola. - Thank you.

Ah, we made for you a pork loin,

roasted with caul fat.

Maria made a mole, and we had

a Gruyère gremolata on top.

Gruyère gremolata?

- - Gruyère, chocolate,

and caul fat were our ingredients.

- - Wow.

Thank you very much, all of you.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

Oh...

Well, that was a really impressive start.

We got to see some personality and some good cooking.

But there were a couple of dishes

that fell a bit short today.

Blue team. Sorry.

I do feel everything was cooked properly,

but it wasn't very buttery for me.

I personally felt it lacked a little bit of acid.

Who else?

Green team.

It became more about the piece of fish

and some garnishes, other than those ingredients

really stepping up and being an integral part of that dish.

So now for some good news.

Whose dish did you think was one of the strongest?

- The brown team. - Yes.

My fish was cooked perfectly,

and I could really taste all those three ingredients.

I loved the Meyer lemon in the salsa verde.

That was lovely.

- Thanks. - Thanks.

And who else?

The yellow team.

The pork was cooked perfectly.

That mole was delicious.

It was a little bit savory, a little bit sweet.

I'm gonna put Gruyère in my gremolata now.

So out of these two winning teams,

who will get immunity and an advantage?

The brown team.

Damn. I thought we had that.

This is insane.

I think we were just really dancing.

And for the first time we've ever met each other

and we did that?

Like, there's good things to come from us.

I have goosebumps.

The highlight ingredients really sang

throughout the dish, and that's what pushed me over the edge.

In a year that's been anything but normal,

we're changing things up a bit.

- Oh! Oh. -

- Hello. - Hi.

- Hello. - Hi there.

I recognize that guy down there.

Full disclosure-- he worked for me

at Colicchio & Sons a couple years back.

I won't be any easier on you here

than I was in that kitchen.

Yeah, I worry you're gonna be harder.

This season, Tom, Gail, and I aren't the only people

you'll have to impress.

- Aren't the only, huh? - Oh, sh--.

Oh, no, gosh.

aren't the only people you'll have to impress.

Uh-oh.

Oh, no, gosh.

Five all-stars walk in.

Everything's awesome.

What the heck is going on here?

Stakes just got raised...

a little bit more.

Scary.

Jesus, that's some hair.

These "Top Chef" alumni will serve as

our all-star judging panel this season.

- Wild. - They'll dine at

every Elimination Challenge,

and rotate as your guest judge every week.

And this isn't everyone. Other "Top Chef" alumni

will be joining us along the way.

Melissa will serve as this week's

Elimination Challenge guest judge.

This esteemed group includes

previous "Top Chef" winners.

We have a couple of James Beard winners here,

and a bunch of other accolades as well.

They've been in your shoes. They know what you're

about to find out very soon.

You guys have any advice for them at all?

Cook with passion.

You know, you put your all into every dish.

It just boils down to the plate of food being delicious.

Don't get too complicated when creating the dishes.

The more you put on the plates,

the more you're gonna be judged on.

It's very important to present

a sense of authorship.

We really want to know what you're all about.

This game will get in your head,

but you gotta stay confident

and stay true to yourself.

With these impressive guest judges,

we'll be soaring to new heights this season.

From the Oregon Ducks to birdwatching,

Portland is obsessed with birds.

With over 500 species of birds just in Oregon,

it's no wonder why.

For your first Elimination Challenge,

we want you to impress us with a dish featuring...

one of these five delicious birds

that can be found in Oregon.

Tell our chefs what they'll have to work with.

So you have to work with quail.

There's so many ways to cook quail.

Some cultures cook them all the way, some don't.

So we have duck here. There's a lot

of amazing parts of this bird.

Utilize it all.

Chefs, we have "chukar."

A "chukar." What the hell's a "chukar"?

AKA, partridge. A very, very beautiful bird.

Very hard to cook, because it's very lean.

You're gonna have to engineer your way to make turkey

a more fine dining dish.

Squab can be a little fussy.

You gotta have the right technique

in order to handle it properly.

We want to get to know you through your food.

So this will be a blind tasting.

You will not present your dishes,

so we won't know who made what.

We want to know who you are as chefs through your food,

and nothing else.

Tonight, you'll have 30 minutes to shop from Whole Foods Market.

You'll place orders for your ingredients

so that they can be picked up

without you ever needing to set foot in a grocery store.

And after that, you'll head to your hotel,

which will be your home while here in Portland.

Tomorrow, you'll have three hours to prep and cook

at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

before service begins.

So Kiki, Sasha, and Sara,

you won the Quickfire Challenge so you'll get to pick

which bird you want to cook first.

The rest of you...

- we have some eggs. -

Each chef will crack open an egg,

and whatever's inside that egg, that's what you're cooking.

Is anyone nervous about cooking any of these birds?

- I'm nervous for them. -

I'm nervous about your hair.

Speaking of soaring to new heights.

Chefs, it's time for you to choose birds,

and us to fly out of here.

We'll see you tomorrow. Good luck.

- Good luck. - Good luck, guys.

What are you thinking about?

Definitely not turkey.

- I'm gonna do quail. - I'm doing quail.

- Oh! -

I feel the most comfortable cooking quail.

Even though I do have immunity,

I want some level of comfort in this first challenge.

I'm hoping I do not end up with the turkey.

It could overcook quickly.

God damn it!

- Oh... - I got the turkey.

Of course I end up with the one

that I have no idea about.

- Chukar. - Chukar.

- I got duck. - Turkey.

Turkey.

I don't do technology very well.

By the end of this, you're gonna be a pro.

How's it going, kids?

Ugh.

Fifteen minutes left, guys.

Holy schnikeys.

How you feeling about your duck, Gabe?

Working on a little chintesle glazed duck,

with some oyster, mushroom, and figs.

Cool.

My culinary style is really based

with the idea that I want to share

different aspects of Mexican cuisine

that go against all the stereotypes in the U.S.

I'm extremely excited to shock the world

and show them some things that maybe they've never seen before.

Two minutes.

My bird is not user-friendly.

Not as user-friendly as this app.

Chukar's a native bird, but for three of us

that drew it, we're all lost.

This is the last thing I want to make a first impression with.

I might just eat it raw to see how it tastes, you know.

You never really know until you try, right?

- That's true. - Chicken-fried chicken

is a pretty popular thing, so why not try

chukar-fried chukar?

Okay, kids, let's go.

I feel rich. What's up, guys?

Whoo-oo! What?

Ooh!

I love hotels.

I'm so excited to live in a hotel.

Feels sort of like a vacation, even though it isn't.

This quarantine, I taught myself how to tattoo, so...

Okay.

- That was great power. - You know,

- it's all about the show. - Yeah.

Kids are home schooling, and you know...

- just... - All three of 'em?

- Yeah. - Ooh!

It's so nice to meet you guys.

- Yes. - A pleasure.

- Season 18. - Roscoe, where you from?

- Oh, okay. - Yeah.

I came here fresh out of grad school

from Savannah College of Art & Design.

I was really focused on my artwork,

but I knew cooking would still pay the bills.

And I was able to get myself to

a little kitchen called Chez Panisse.

I went from learning how to make

legit California cuisine at Chez Panisse

to working with one of the most important

barbeque pit masters in the United States.

I go to work at 3:00 am and don't get off

till like 10:00 pm the majority of the time, so...

Why?

Cooking and art are two things I really, really adore.

And I'd love to be a rapper,

but it's--it's way too late.

You guys, you know what I realized?

I totally put pumpkin seeds in the oven

- and never took 'em out. - Oh, yes!

That would have made us win! You ruined it!

That's what it was!

Looking good, feeling good.

Look good, cook good, right?

Have you worked with squab before?

Yes, I definitely have, but it's been a while. Yourself?

Probably been, sh--, 10 years

- since I've cooked one, but-- - Wow.

I cook chicken every day, you know?

- It's just a small chicken. - Yeah.

Last year I opened Mama Bird, which is

a chicken and vegetable concept.

We only serve chicken.

What I want to show the judges today is

that I have restraint and technique

because the dish I'm making,

there are only three things on the plate.

They'd better all be perfect.

Hot behind you.

Damn, girl, you're taking the whole damn place up!

- You can move anything, hon. - What are you working on?

I'm doing a very classical Mexican dish

enchiladas potosinas.

I have no idea what that is, but it sounds nice.

They're very, very traditional in Mexico.

This challenge is a blind tasting,

so I try to make a dish that represent

who I am as a chef.

Who needs the blender here? Boys?

What are you working on over there?

I'm doing like a Thai-style, like, street food.

Oh, sh--, all right.

I'm originally from Costa Rica.

I think people assume that I make

just like tortillas and rice and beans.

But my culinary background stems from

Southeast Asia to Latin America with French techniques.

I want to come off as a very versatile chef.

Green mango papaya, done.

- Behind, coming down. - Sorry.

Roscoe, what you got going on?

I got the duck adobo.

Quick braise, crispy skin.

Sweet potato dumplings.

I normally do barbeque, but,

my adobo is my secret weapon.

I make adobo all the time, but never duck,

or sweet potato dumplings.

This dish is something I've never done before,

but to me it sounds delicious.

I want 'em tighter.

Let's do this.

- You feel good? - Uh, yeah.

Yeah, I feel good.

I am doing kind of a teriyaki-style duck,

but it's braised in the sauce instead of grilled.

The way I'm cooking the duck is very Japanese.

It's this technique called nitsume,

where I'm putting the duck in, reducing the liquid down,

taking it out, resting it, and then putting it back in.

I am paying homage to my chef 'cause he is the guy

who taught me how to cook duck this way.

I moved to Japan when I was 18

to go train as a chef with Chef Sakamoto.

He's a Michelin-star chef,

and he is the guy who taught me everything.

And hopefully he is proud of what I'm doing.

- Hey, you're here! - Yeah, right?

Shota, your laugh is my favorite.

- I know, I love it so much. - Thank you.

I smile every time you laugh.

- Ha ha! - What's your game plan

for your quail, there, chef?

Uh, quail with some charred dates,

maybe a little bit of coconut.

Deep-fry it.

I cook really simple food,

but I have some...

baller sauces and techniques in my pockets.

Holy smokes.

This is definitely the oddest cooking environment

- I have been in. -

The pressure is palpable.

- What's your dish? - I'm gonna do

a moambe style. It's the national dish

of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Normally you do it with chicken,

but I'm gonna do it with some quail.

- Peanut base. - Nice.

Oh, look at you, Mrs. Immune.

I'm not thinking about that, dawg.

I just won immunity.

If I win this challenge, I'mma have a target on my back,

and I'm gonna welcome it.

- I'm making polenta. - Put in that work, girl.

'Cause I'm Italian girl.

Will you taste this?

That's delicious. That's really good.

Fire up to 400.

- Dawn, what you making? - I'm making

- a turkey-peanut stew. - Okay.

- It is West African-inspired. - Love it.

Every Western African country

has their version of this stew.

Stews are like sauces

and sauces are the soul of a dish.

One I'm gonna braise, one I'm gonna sous vide.

Black culture is very rich.

I want to showcase these dishes

that would not normally have a place on this stage.

What are you shooting for with the turkey prep?

So I'm doing a sous vide turkey.

I'm marinating it in a traditional Haitian marinade,

which is called epis.

Serve the breast sliced, and then I'm braising the thighs.

- You're going all out. - Today's the challenge for it.

I spent the last four weeks making bread, so,

feels good to bring out the knives again.

Whoo.

What's the heat in there?

- Uh, Thai chiles. -

- - A little spicy. Sorry.

Put on the mask. Damn. Whoo.

Jamie, what you working on?

I'm working on a yellow curry couscous.

Turkey doesn't have a lot of flavor,

so you really have to try to flavor it up.

You got the brown guy to cough up spices, good job.

- Sorry. -

I'm, like, killing everybody here.

What are you planning on doing today, Nelson?

I'm doing a tribute to my grandmother.

- Okay. - I'm doing a braised chukar.

She used to make this braised game hen for me...

- Okay. - ...as a kid.

How you feeling today, chef?

You know, just thought about this mother-chukar

all night long and here we go.

I'm using jhol, which is a very Bengali,

traditional mom's dish.

- Sounds beautiful. - I hope Padma

can at least pick up on what I'm doing,

but I'm more concerned

of what my mom's gonna think if I mess this one up.

30 minutes!

This is not the adobo that I make.

It's not brothy enough.

I should have done something that's more...

me.

Brittanny, feeling good? Looking good over there?

- I'm feeling all right. - What are you working on?

Chukar legs in my pressure cooker over there.

Got some sweet potato puree working.

I gotta puree that next.

It's about to get really crunchy and scary.

- Mm-hmm. - Like time-crunchy.

Literally my chest feels like it's gonna explode.

Like it has all day.

- Hi, everybody. - Hi.

I just wanted to say how excited we are

to have you guys, to hear all your opinions,

and having all of you at the table with us

all season long is gonna be really fun.

- I'm excited as well. - Same here.

- To be on the other side. - Yes.

In the "Top Chef" kitchen,

I had a little anxiety, I'm not gonna lie.

- Exactly. - That's the worst.

You come in saying, "As long as I'm not

- the first person to go." - First person to go, yeah.

- Every single time. - We usually at least have them

present their dish, so I'm glad we're doing it blind

'cause I think it levels the playing field

in a whole bunch of ways.

Two minutes! Squab!

Can you help me?

- Yeah, what do you need? - Salad on top.

Looking at how much garnish I have left over,

I am in deep sh--.

Three, two, one.

Ah, here's our first course.

I'm excited.

Thank you.

- Gorgeous. - Yeah, beautiful.

First we have roasted squab with local honey

grilled plums and jus.

- Mmm. - Mmm!

Honey squab is cooked nicely.

I loved the simplicity.

It was--it was clear, it was focused.

I actually think the sauce is really good.

It's really light. It has some afternotes of plum,

- which I think are really nice. - This chef is letting us know

they're a fine dining chef. This is a classic pairing.

Really nice.

Next we have sweet Thai-style grilled squab,

green mango jicama salad and herb oil.

Respect for serving us claws.

- I love that. - I'm searching for that

- grilled Thai flavor... - Yeah.

And I'm not getting any of that.

I love the approach.

I just didn't feel like the sweet potato

and the green mango salad really

tied the entire dish together.

What do you think of the squab enchilada

and queso fresco over a goat cheese crema?

- Whoo, spicy. - Yummy, but spicy.

- Yeah, it's good. - I feel like

I'm searching for the squab a little bit.

I do appreciate that they were telling their story here,

of who they are and where they come from.

Next, we're gonna have the duck course.

One minute! Duck!

- Heard. - Served.

- Roscoe, you good? - Yeah, I'm good.

Thank you, though.

Ho, ho, ho!

Three, two, one.

- What's up? -

What do we think about duck? Do we think that

this is probably an easier bird to have drawn than the squab?

Most versatile and easiest.

First we have duck adobo with sweet potato dumplings.

This is the national dish of the Philippines,

and the duck isn't cooked very well.

It's a little sad.

Love making a good broth on "Top Chef,"

and I gotta say, this broth is too greasy, cloudy.

Creating this dish, there was confusion

and they were almost a little scared.

It's a bowlful of fear.

Next we have soy-braised duck breast

and pumpkin white miso puree.

The soy duck is so perfectly balanced.

Everything that's going on, there's acid,

- there's sweetness. - And that soy flavor

- is really, really nice. - It eats really well.

It's easy, it's tender. It sort of melts in your mouth.

What do you think about the chintesle glazed duck

with figs and pasilla mixe?

I really love the flavors in this dish.

I love all of that crispiness from the grilling

and the caramelization of the figs.

It was well balanced. I mean, it was really good.

I think we have quail next.

- I'm excited for the quail. - I love quail.

I notice the polenta is tight when I'm plating it...

Sh--'s getting real.

...but it tastes awesome.

Va-voom.

- Hmm. - Pretty.

Let's start with the glazed quail with dates,

and a grilled eggplant coconut yogurt.

- It's nice and bright. - Mmm.

It's just like a flavor explosion in every bite.

It's absolutely delicious.

- It's unexpected. - So good.

This coconut and grilled eggplant yogurt is awesome.

You get the sweetness from those dates.

There's a Pacific Northwest/ San Francisco quality

to this dish.

This chef is very confident.

Okay, so we have the roasted quail with polenta

and a red wine jus.

Not so much of a roast on this. though.

- Right? - That polenta is just so dense

and not--not done well.

The sauce also felt a bit heavy.

There was a lot of butter mounded into that.

Last, we have moambe quail with sweet corn grits,

and boiled and pickled peanuts.

It's a peanut stew, in its essence.

Flavor profiles of it were what they were supposed to be.

So many layers of flavor within that sauce.

- The quail's kind of lost. - Just more sauce.

- And more quail. - And more quail,

and I think we would have been in a really good place here.

Ten minute turkey call.

- Heard, ten minutes. - Gobble, gobble.

Jamie, you good?

Yeah, I overcooked my crap.

I tasted a little bit of my turkey.

I didn't like the texture,

so I kinda went, like, voop, after that.

Don't worry about it. You got it.

Just give 'em the flavor.

Two-thirty.

Anyone got-- I don't have any plating hands.

What you need, bae?

Um, if you could just follow me,

and just spoon some veg around.

Sorry.

I gotta pull my nuts. I'll come right back.

Okay.

Timer!

Am I allowed to put this on?

[bleep]!

I didn't know--

I did not get the peanut sauce on the plate.

Hey. It's okay. It'll stand for itself.

It's gonna stand for itself, okay?

The athlete in me doesn't forgive myself.

This looks very juicy.

First we have sous vide turkey breast

and rum braised turkey thigh

with toasted farro and corn soubise.

I'm a sucker for corn,

and a puree, and it does remind me of

you know, the holidays.

There was just too-- I don't know.

Too much going on.

If it was sliced a little bit thinner,

that would've helped the dish a bit.

- Another peanut stew. - Smells really good.

Turkey peanut stew with sauteed vegetables

and savory calas.

My plate doesn't have any peanuts or stew.

I just think that this person ran out of time.

It is so difficult to cook in these kitchens.

So this has happened to all of us in one way or the other.

I'm sad about this stew-that-isn't, because

a lot of individual components have great flavor.

The turkey's nicely cooked.

Last we have lemongrass turkey with yellow curry couscous,

sauteed rapini and plum sauce.

I love Israeli couscous

and I obviously love curry and lemongrass,

but I don't think I like them together.

- Yes. - Especially with broccoli.

The turkey is very delicate and light,

and the turkey's lost.

Four minutes!

I put the rice on.

I'm not completely happy with the cook.

I don't think the jhol came out the way I wanted to.

The reality is that I don't

have anything on the plate that I'd like.

Are you unhappy?

Thank you.

Here's a chukar-fried chukar.

And got some rice.

What do you think about

the chukar-fried chukar with pilau?

You expect a ton of flavor from this dish,

and it's just not there.

For 18 seasons, we've been telling them, "Season."

- - You'd think they would season.

Oh, my God. It's the worst.

The chukar is actually fried beautifully.

The rice is not cooked enough,

and then it's not seasoned enough.

What did you think of the chukar with sweet potato puree

and red grape ravigote?

The puree was done really nicely.

The cook on the chukar was great.

The idea of this ravigote is something

that should be really acidic and punchy, and then

playing against the sweet potato, it just gets lost.

- It's sweet on sweet. - Mm-hmm.

I'm excited about this Caribbean braised chukar

with wild rice, black beans, and tostones.

I feel like I'm eating my mom's food.

I could eat the dish without chukar.

Like, just give me the rice, the beans.

They're putting their culture on their plate.

They're telling their story through this food.

I appreciate that.

I do think, as a first outing,

as our first Elimination Challenge,

we really did get to see who many of these chefs are.

I'm actually really excited to finally

put the faces to the dishes, and have more.

Thank you all for joining this first Elimination Challenge.

I'll go get the chefs,

and Melissa, we'll see you at Judges' Table.

Gonna be a tough one.

I could redo my dish.

Hello? How you guys feeling?

- Feel great. - I feel good.

Well, that was a very good first meal.

We would like to see the roasted squab with local honey,

the soy-braised duck breast.

We'd also like to see the duck adobo,

the chintesle-glazed duck,

the roasted quail with polenta and crème fraiche,

the glazed quail with green beans,

the lemongrass turkey with yellow curry couscous,

and lastly, the chukar fried chukar.

Thank you. We'll see you at Judges' Table.

I think they're just getting us all thinking, like,

who's at the bottom, who's at--you never know.

Padma doesn't call my name, and I don't know

if she's calling the top eight or the bottom eight

or a mixture of both.

- Nice knowing you guys. -

Sick!

- Come on, mama. - It's okay. It's just--

It's a mind

It's like you don't know.

- - You don't ----ing know.

I'm pretty sure I put up the worst dish.

Who felt good about their dish?

I felt like what I put up was

- representative of me. - So, in my mind,

whoever wasn't named, we're in the bottom.

- So, like, seven bottom now. - Yeah.

I'm assuming you're a little nervous, and probably,

a lot of us haven't cooked in six months?

But there were some real standouts.

And we actually still don't know

exactly who made what.

The roasted squab, the soy duck breast,

the chintesle-glazed duck, and the glazed quail.

The four of you can stay here.

The rest of the chefs, please step to the side now.

How are you feeling, Sara?

- Terrible. - Terrible? Why?

I would've done, like, ten things different.

Well, the four of you are standing here

because you had...

our favorite dishes of the day.

Now how do you feel, Sara?

I really don't know how that's possible.

Oh, my gosh.

You had immunity. You weren't going home.

- True, true. - Tell us what dish you made.

So I did glazed quail,

then I did, like, a roasted eggplant yogurt.

I guess I just lean towards, like, Mediterranean flavors.

You really got a lot of that char flavor from the grill.

The yogurt, too, I thought was just a nice touch

to kind of counterbalance the charmoula.

Every bite was bright and vibrant.

It gave us all a little bit of life.

Thank you.

It felt like a very confident plate of food.

And yet you're falling apart up here.

- - Part of the reason

I came on the show was just

to, like, build that confidence.

I just need to prove it to myself

that, like, I'm good, you know?

I got a pretty good sense of where your passion lies

based on what was on that dish.

- I enjoyed it. - Thank you so much.

Shota, what did you make today?

I made the soy-braised duck breast

with squash puree and white miso inside.

I loved your miso puree.

To pair that squash with the puree is kind of

- a stroke of genius. - Thank you so much.

The cooking of your duck was what I was most intrigued by.

Can you just tell us a little bit more

about that technique?

I would kind of put it in, let it braise,

take it out, let it rest,

put it back in, keep doing that over and over.

Listening to the technique, it's really interesting.

It is always good to understand

what's inside the person's head who's cooking the dish.

I think it clearly shows us who you are

and I think you served yourself really well there.

Thank you very much.

- Whoo. - Gabe, what's your dish?

I did the chintesle-glazed duck

with pasilla mixe jus.

I really wanted to showcase

the duck but have some subtleties

of Mexican cuisine.

It ate really beautifully, like a beautiful fall meal.

And the sauce was the star.

It did definitely show us a lot about you.

I really loved the sweetness of the figs,

sort of counterbalanced with the earthiness

of those mushrooms that you caramelized.

I thought it was a beautiful dish.

Thank you, chef.

- Gabriel. - I made the roasted squab

with plums and the onion petals.

I felt like it came out pretty well

for having not cooked squab since I worked for Tom.

Your dish was a study in simplicity and purity.

Simple food isn't simple to cook.

There is nowhere to hide.

You make a mistake, it's apparent.

And the cook on the squab was--was just perfect.

And so, you don't have to hide.

Throughout my last season,

my motto was to keep it simple,

because editing is so important in this game.

- Thank you. - Okay, Melissa,

as our guest judge, you have the pleasure

of announcing the first winner of the season.

So the winning chef today

really showcased a lot of creativity.

They showed themself on the plate,

and that chef is...

Sara.

- - Congratulations, Sara.

- Now I feel really stupid. -

I don't know how that happened.

You see why we're so confused.

I know, I know. I will take it.

I'm sure I'll have some really bad moments.

I need to be more confident in who I am.

But now I just feel more pressure.

I gotta keep going!

This is crazy.

Shota, Sara, Gabe, and Gabriel,

please step to the side.

And Sasha, Roscoe, Jamie, and Avishar,

please step forward.

Obviously you know now which side you're on.

The four of you had our least favorite dishes of the day...

and one of you will be going home.

So let's find out who made what. Sasha?

I did the roasted quail polenta and

I think I'm about to take the beating

Sara thought she was gonna get.

The polenta was very dense

when it should be loose and velvety.

I liked the sauce.

I'm not sure that it all fit at that moment.

I--I know I can do that dish way better.

Well, lucky for you, you have immunity.

Correct. So my nerves are a little less.

Roscoe, what did you make?

I did the adobo duck with the sweet potato dumpling.

The broth was sort of the biggest issue for me.

It was greasy, and then it also dried out the duck.

'Cause I know you sliced it thin,

and then you poured the hot broth on,

and that just dries it out even more.

Oh, no. I'm sorry.

I couldn't figure out what you were going for here at all.

It's something my family, we eat often.

Is this something you do in your restaurants?

Right now I do smoked meats

- for Rodney Scott's BBQ. - Oh.

Yeah, I'm his culinary director.

Like, I don't mess that up.

You make really good smoked meat, I'll tell you that.

- - Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Jamie, what did you cook today?

I did the lemongrass turkey with the curry couscous.

Were you happy with your dish?

I wasn't happy with the turkey.

I overcooked it. I was scatterbrained.

I was like

and I was like, "What the?" and

There was such strong flavor

in the other components of your dish

that they clashed with each other.

- Okay. - Think about a piece of music.

It's not all played at the same volume.

There's background instruments playing,

and it's kind of the same thing with putting together a dish.

So all these other flavors

just drowned out the turkey.

- Okay. - Avishar.

What did you make, first of all?

I made chukar-fried chukar, johl.

Honestly, I'd never worked with chukar before.

Your fried chukar was great.

The biggest problem lay with your rice,

- and your curry. - The rice was undercooked,

but it was also really bland.

I thought the curry was really bland.

I had this expectation-vs-reality thing,

where you're like, "Oh, look how cool I am,"

and then the reality, you're like "Holy sh--.

- That's what I'm serving?" -

That's basically what happened.

Welcome to "Top Chef."

Get used to that feeling.

- Yeah. - Basically.

We have a lot to discuss.

We will call you back out here in a bit.

Sasha, you can stay in the Stew Room

because you have immunity. You can exit the kitchen.

Holy ----ing sh--.

I don't know what happened.

- She won! - Oh, my God, yes!

- - Wow!

- Congrats, chef. - So awesome.

- Yes! - Great job.

Yeah, all you guys are in the middle.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa. - What? No.

So we're not going up there?

-You guys are all in the middle. - Stop ----ing with us.

Who's on the bottom? Raise your hands.

- Serious. -Now we're really on the bottom.

- No. - Stop ----ing with us!

No, stop--really.

I really thought it was us.

We asked them to show us

who they are with just one plate of food,

and unfortunately, they didn't show us enough.

Or they showed us too much at once.

Jamie's dish, I feel, was just-- there was too much going on.

Three very, very strong flavors

that competed against each other.

And the turkey just completely was annihilated.

- Yeah. - I can't at all decipher

who is Jamie right now at this moment?

- Right. - I know I ----ed up.

Mine was, like, too much flavor.

I find it hard to believe that Avishar felt

that that rice was okay to serve to us.

I think he completely lost confidence in the moment

to take it off the plate.

When things started to go bad for him,

he had no idea what to do.

Tom probably had the most words

to say about mine in terms of, uh,

how it was disappointing, so,

that's, uh--at this point, anything else is pretty good.

Roscoe's dish, I couldn't get past the broth.

It wasn't a very clean broth.

- No. - It was very muddled.

And we all just learned that he works for

one of the greatest pit masters in America.

- Yeah. - But for some reason,

he just completely took a sharp left turn.

- Mm-hmm. - It was proper criticism.

Okay.

For things that were messed up.

I think we have our decision.

- Yes. - Mm-hmm.

Let's get them out here.

It sounds like a pretty simple challenge,

you know, tell us who you are with a plate of food,

and there's no wrong answer.

What has to happen to make this dish work,

it needs to be backed up by solid technique

and it needs to be backed up with a dish

that is really flavorful.

And the person going home today

is going home for the reason

everyone goes home on "Top Chef"--

they made the worst dish of the challenge.

Roscoe...

please pack your knives and go.

- Thank you. - It ain't over for you yet.

We'll see you in "Last Chance Kitchen."

- Bring it. - Thank you.

Thank you all.

Oh, it's so lame,

being the first to leave.

Good game, guys.

"Top Chef" is, like, a wild experience,

the brief period I've had.

Roscoe!

I highly expected solid criticism.

As an artist or chef, it shows the best character

if you can take criticism and, like, grow from it.

- Love you, Roscoe! - Love you.

"Last Chance Kitchen" is intimidating,

but I can't wait till I can immediately redeem myself.

I'm old school, baby. You can't hold me down.

This season on "Top Chef"...

Here we go!

Welcome to the "Top Chef" Drive-In.

Let me introduce you to Alice Waters.

- Oh! - Ciao, ragazzi.

Buongiorno a tutti.

Welcome to "Restaurant Wars."

Hands are so shaky.

I was like, "Pew pew! Pssh!"

Then I was like, "Oh, yeah, Hmm. Ahh. Ooh."

Does anyone know what she just said?

Get inspired by this, 'cause this inspired a world.

- Just like Mama makes. -

This was the first time I've had food that

felt like home.

I've been locked up in my house,

and I'm just really trying to let it out.

Are you ready to change the world?

The important part is to feed the doctors,

so I want to make them some good food.

- Here we go. Still warm. - All right!

This could be one of the best collections of chefs

we've had on the show in 18 seasons.

Great technique.

The amount of work that you put into your dish today,

there's no way I would have attempted that.

- Wow. Sorry. -

We got nine seconds!

This competition will test you

like nothing you've ever experienced in your career.

Excuse me.

Whoo!

- Whoo! -

Yikes.

Pack your knives.

You're not supposed to say that!

No, no, and just set them out on the tables,

- is what I was saying. -

You gotta have a go-bag.