- Quick fire challenge: Contestants must make their own twist on deep-dish pizza. Elimination challenge: The low scoring contestants face off over traditional dishes.
- We begin with a Padma Laksmi voice-over of a montage of chef craziness, judges raving, contestants flipping out and some caressing close-ups of the Glad family of products, which furnish the $100,000 prize.
And, roll credits!
Ryan from San Francisco grew up in restaurants and immediately stakes claim to precociousness, proclaiming that his dad fired two people in his restaurant because little Ryan out-cooked them at 11 years old.
Nimma, a Muslim from Atlanta, says in her application video that her parents think she should live at home until she marries. Instead, she's on a reality TV show.
Zoi, also from S.F., says she brings a soft style to the competition.
Mark is from New Zealand and came to the U.S. with just $200 and, naturally, a dream.
Close-ups on Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, with deep dish pizza waiting for the chefs.
Richard announces he is super pumped and excited to be in Chicago. He cooks with food additives and liquid nitrogen. Fun.
Erik is an executive chef, and is also from S.F. (Why not just hold the show there? Geez.)
Stephanie from Chicago wears a Yoda on her back in her application video and says she worries about getting nervous.
Spiky haired Richard eyes up similarly spiked Jennifer. Zoi casts a pall over deep dish pies by announcing that she and Jennifer are a couple. Spike declares it b.s. and then decides it's no big deal.
Padma, in her flowing green dress, comes into the restaurant with judge Tom Colicchio, who starts to psyche out the chefs. ''After three seasons of this, one thing I can tell you for sure: This will be one of the toughest experiences of your career.''
And its Quick Fire time.
They admire the kitchen and put on their game faces.
Padma goes over the layout of the kitchen and mentions that each person was allowed to bring $200 of ingredients.
They are given 90 minutes to make their own twist on a deep dish pizza.
Dale makes sausage, pickled kohlrabi, scallions & sriracha sauce.
Manuel is making pizza with sopressata and rapini a la siciliana.
Nikki decides to go with a white pie with no tomato sauce. She's from Manhattan. She adds mushrooms and truffle oil.
Mark brought Marmite from New Zealand and apparently intends to feed it to people. His pizza sports chicken, zucchini and marmite molasses.
Antonia ( ''I'm Italian, my pizzas gonna be great!!!'') has burrata cheese, prosciutto, sautéed arugula and roasted heirloom tomatoes.
Richard is making Peach Taleggio Pizza with sweet tea sauce.
Spike, who is Greek, makes Pizza a la Grec with onions, feta cheese, olives and sausage.
Lisa goes for Asian bbq duck pizza.
Richard takes two pans, forcing Andrew to use a skillet, which he is not happy about.
General disasters ensue as pizzas fail to rise, fall apart and generally look unappetizing. They hop in their cars and drive to the guest judge's house, and there's Rocco DiSpirito.
They present their dishes.
Stephanie made melon-tomato sauce with prosciutto, olives and arugula. (Rocco smells something funky.)
Ryan has pizza escarole with ricotta salata and butternut squash.
Andrew presents smoked marinara, prosciutto, onions and cheese with sliced heirloom tomatoes.
Jennifer has harvest pizza with grapes, bacon, fontina and rosemary.
Erik has pizza with mushrooms, onions, peppers and sausage.
Nimma brings hunter-style pizza with lots o mushroom, onions and stracchino cheese.
Sixteen bites of deep dish later, Padma and Rocco address the chefs. Rocco calls the names of: Lisa, Nimma, Valerie, Manuel, Andrew, Stephanie, Nikki and Zoi.
They were his least favorites.
Stephanie needs to be careful when cooking prosciutto, Nikkis was very dry.
To the favorites: Rocco admits Richard's peaches attempt was good, Mark gets accolades for his marmite.
Padma tells the group they'll learn about their first elimination challenge tomorrow -- and the fancy pad where they just fed Rocco is where they'll be staying. Andrew expresses his approval colorfully. It has a balcony, a pool table, and, of course, flowing booze.
Nimma sulks in her room. (''I'm not here to have fun,'' she says, ''I'll have fun when Ive reached my goals.'') Dale also stays on his own, talking a big game plan of competition.
The next day Padma, in red, greets them at elimination next to a chalkboard. The winning chefs get to pick which of the losing chefs they'll go head to head against, and the losing chef gets to select from a list of traditional dishes. They quake in the face of soufflé and go shopping.
Ryan, who is competing in chicken piccata, might have shopped for the wrong ingredients. And Andrew discovers back at the kitchen that he neglected to buy mayonnaise.
Back in the kitchen, they have 90 minutes. The match-ups:
Antonia & Nimma: shrimp scampi
Ryan & Valerie: chicken piccata
Jen & Nikki: lasagna
Mark & Stephanie: duck a l'orange
Richard & Andrew: crab cakes
Spike & Lisa: eggs benedict
Dale & Manuel: steak au poivre Erik & Zoi: souffle
Time's up.
They present their dishes to the judges, including guest judge Anthony Bourdain (of Travel Channel's "No Reservations"), along with DiSpirito.
Mark presents his deconstructed duck a l'orange with enoki mushrooms, squash, tangerine & soy glazed duck breast with a sakitini.
Stephanie made seared duck breast on top of mushrooms, bok choy and duck spring rolls with orange-soy sauce.
The judges all like hers better, and don't like Mark's deconstructed approach. Bourdain says he was ''confused by the progression.'' Stephanie is the winner of the match.
Andrew offers up his panko and lump crab cake with cilantro-basil pudding and orange sauce. Richard made blue crab, Brussels sprouts and apple coleslaw with smoked ras al hanout, something that adds aroma. Andrew has the losing dish, but it's a close call.
They go to hang out by the stacks of Glad products.
Jennifer made lasagna with autumn veggies, meat sauce and mint verde. Nikki made classic lasagna with sheep's milk gouda with homemade pasta. They go with Nikki, by a nose.
Antonia made parpadelle with shrimp, lobster, tomatoes and squash blossoms. Nimma made shrimp scampi with cauliflower scramble. Rocco says he would have sent it back, the judges all dislike it way too salty. Antonia wins.
Spike made poached egg with bacon, mushrooms, and lemon grass sabayon on a crouton. Lisa made poached egg on toasted challah bread with lobster, spinach and Hollandaise sauce with bacon. They like them both, but Lisa gets the edge for a slightly better poached egg.
Dale made NY strip with candied peppercorn, parsley puree and bok choy. Manuel put a Mexican twist on his with sirloin with mushroom ceviche and scallion cilantro sauce. Rocco likes the chances Dale took, and the judges think Manuel went overboard with the sauce.
Ryan presents chicken cutlets with lemon-potato gnocchi and warm herb salad. Valerie made chicken breast with orange demi-glace, potato and haricot vert salad. (That means green beans, folks.) Bourdain didn't like either. Rocco thinks neither made piccata, Tom agrees. Ryan gets the low pick for using bread crumbs in his.
Erik made pepper jack cheese soufflé with avocado crème fraiche, black bean puree and salsa. Zoi made rice pudding soufflé with candied figs and fennel with espresso. The judges think neither is very soufflé-y, Zoi wins.
They head back to wait in the Glad dungeon.
Antonia, Nikki, Richard and Stephanie are called out to face the judges they are identified as the favorites. Tom says all four are really wonderful.
Stephanie wins.
They send out Ryan, Erik, Nimma and Mark -- the losers.
In defending themselves, Erik says: ''I made glorified nachos, I'm not proud of it.''
Tom guesses that Nimma's cauliflower was supposed to be a flan and Bourdain calls it a ''weak dish.''
Bourdain calls Marks deconstructed dish ''silly and pretentious.''
Tom teaches Ryan what piccata is. When they are dismissed Rocco says: ''Lets just say his gnocchi weren't the only thing that was dense.'' Tom gives him the ''Oh, snap!'' look.
Padma tells Nimma to pack her knives and go.
Nimma says thank you, then looks for the positive -- if there is any in being the first sent packing. ''Thank you for this opportunity, I just want to say that I'm not going to stop cooking and I'm going to keep trying and continue.''
Back in the Glad dungeon she goes through the Stuart Smalley positive self-reinforcement routine. ''I pushed really hard to be here and unfortunately, no one will know that I'm a very good cook and I'm very passionate about it.''
She builds steam, reaching divine heights: ''I'm not going to stop cooking. This is what I love to do. I know that I have a god-given talent and I know that I need to just keep studying and keep learning more, and just keep pushing.''
With that, she pushes the door open and walks out.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content