Five minutes. [Estie]<i> Noodles in the
freezer for three minutes.</i> It's so warm. My noodles are melting hot. <i> I don't want to serve
hot noodles on a cold plate.</i> If this doesn't
cool down in time, <i> my dish will fail.</i> An aioli
is basically mayonnaise. So, here we go with mayonnaise.
I'm gonna grab the wasabi. So, I'm gonna
make a wasabi aioli. I could whip it up by hand
and get the consistency I want and the flavor I want. Now I'm in business. Two minutes remain.
You should be plating. [Estie]<i> My warm noodles
may be pretty bad,</i> but I have to plate. <i> I add my salmon and tuna,
then some edamame.</i> <i> Then I sprinkle
some black sesame seeds.</i> And, last, but not least, <i> furikake is
a Japanese rice seasoning.</i> <i> It's kind of like
little fish flakes.</i> Gives it flavor you would get
from salmon and tuna, but makes it stronger,
and it's really good. [Drew]<i> At my restaurant,
I have a couple dishes</i> that we actually smoke, and we send it
to the table smoking. But now I got to finish
everything within the time limit. [dramatic music] Let's go, Estie! -Estie!
-Whoo! [boy] Make it perfect. Five, four... three, two, one. It's banana time for Estie. -Step away from the plates.
-Yes! Estie! Chef Estie now able
to appreciate a banana with her newly acquired
front teeth. [chuckles] [Drew]<i> I'm confident in my dish.</i> <i> It's looking good.
The smoke is super-thick.</i> I'd put it on the menu.
I'd sell it. I'd eat it.
I'd order it. I'm happy with this. Okay, Chefs, please bring
your plates up to the judges. [Estie]<i> I did my best,
but my noodles are very warm,</i> so I'm worried
they're gonna stick together. Chef Estie, please
explain your dish. This is my tuna and salmon poke
served on top of soba noodles with a creamy sesame sauce. Uh-oh. No, they're gonna
ding her on that 'cause they're all
stuck together. [Estie]<i> My noodles are
all stuck together.</i> That's no good. Chef Estie, on your dish,
I really liked the creamy sauce, sesame seeds. <i> And I also liked the flavor
of the noodles themselves.</i> <i> Really balanced well
and made it taste delicious.</i> But unfortunately,
I think, as a whole, if you had more finesse, the dish wouldn't be
as clunky as it is. The noodles themselves
wouldn't be stuck together. You need to pay more attention to the details
that you're doing. [Mike] Estie, I like
the idea of you combining the salmon with the tuna so you get
two different flavors of fish, two different textures of fish. And I also really liked
your noodle salad. -Thank you.
-Overall, you know, the dish had flaws
throughout it. Some of the noodles
are sticking together, the way the fish were cut. I mean, I had big chunks
of salmon like this. Chewing on raw fish, when you get big chunks
like that, is not always a pleasant feeling
in your mouth. You want everything
to be balanced and to be even. I've seen better food from you.
I want better food from you. This is not good. I agree with my knife cuts
being big on the fish. <i> I was stressed in the kitchen,</i> and maybe it was mistake
to go that far out of the box. [sighs] Chef Drew, please
explain your dish. What I prepared for you today is a smoked poke
with crispy ginger chips. Some manual labor involved. That's cool. That actually is awesome. [fork clinking glass] They seem
to really like yours. I hope they do. Chef Drew, I think
that everything married well. You had a really nice marinade
for the fish itself. I liked the-the texture
of the seaweed on the bottom. I thought that
that added another layer of flavor to your dish. What didn't work for me is the actual temperature
of the fish. You smoked it, so it added a,
a slight bit of heat to it. And I think that if you had
a nice, cold fish, it would have been
a little bit less overpowering. Chef Drew, I really
enjoyed your dish. I like the smoke when you
open it up at the table. You can smell it.
You can see it. You're getting
the people involved. With that being said,
I really didn't enjoy the size of the tempura and the ginger. I had to, like, kind of move it
out of the way or pull it out, and I couldn't really
enjoy everything together, so it was a little bit harder
for me to eat. Smaller cuts
would make it a better dish. I definitely agree
with the criticism given me. It should have been colder. I should've made it
where they could actually have every component
on that fork. I wasn't thinking. You gave us
two spectacular dishes. Please give us
a moment to discuss. His dish looks
so much more like the thing you'll find in a restaurant, and mine looks like a thing
you'll find in, like, a small diner. But it tasted good,
so I can still win on flavor. Wow. This is really tense. Yeah, I'm pretty sure
I won this round, <i> you know, with my dish alone
and the experience I put in.</i> But, you know, who...
[chuckles] [Adam]
All right, Mike, Alia, who is the winner
of round one? The winner is... Chef Drew. -Thank you.
-[applause] [Mike] Chef Drew,
you had a nice presentation. I liked the layers that you had
with the seaweed on the bottom. It really reminded me
of being back in Hawaii. [Drew]<i> I won this round
because of my experience.</i> Maybe the momentum
will keep going. -Nice job, Chef.
-Thank you. I tried my hardest,
and it's kind of upsetting that I didn't get the menu board
for my team. [Adam]
Congratulations, Chef Drew. Thank you. [Adam] You have 45 minutes
to see who's got the best boil. And your time starts now. [Sevan]<i> Right away, I run up</i> <i> and grab some of
the best crawfish I can find,</i> <i> some corn,
some andouille sausage.</i> I have made a boil before, but I wanna take it sort
of a seafood stew. This is one of my favorite
dishes to make, is a boil. But I'm gonna make it more
like a chowder meets stew. I'm gonna kick it up
a little bit with peppers, a little bit of garlic. [Olivia]<i>
I'm gonna take down Chef Sevan.</i> Chef Sevan can be cold-blooded <i> because he's
a cold-blooded Grinch.</i> Since I have to use
the frozen crawfish, I'm going to make
a crawfish cream sauce. Frozen crawfish don't have
as good a seafood flavor as the live ones do. So I'm gonna
be incorporating a crawfish into, like, a cream sauce, to kind of hide
that I'm using frozen crawfish. <i> The griddle corn cake
is my base.</i> <i> And that's cornmeal, flour,
sugar, buttermilk,</i> <i> eggs, maple syrup,
and melted butter.</i> <i> And I'm gonna add
some fresh corn</i> 'cause that's really gonna
bring out the corny flavor. Chef Olivia's making, like,
a cool play on an Eggs Benedict. <i> But it's gonna be difficult</i> <i> for her to execute
the poached egg perfectly.</i> She's gotta have
a nice, runny yolk to meld with the cream sauce
and her griddle cake. [cork pops] Chef Sevan, is that red wine
for you to drink? Yes. Cheers, you guys. [boy] Chef Sevan's drinking
on the job. You're not supposed
to drink on the job. -[boy] Oh! Fire.
-Adding a lot of alcohol to it just 'cause I really want it
to be, like, a wharf-esque dish. Here you go, guys. I think of fishermen, the smell of fish and alcohol. So what is that technique called
when you pour the, uh, white wine
over the live crawfish? -Uh, it's not a technique.
-[laughs] No. [upbeat music] He's drinking it
and then pouring it in there. Oh, that's great. I don't know
how I feel about that. That is just unprofessional. [Adam] Isiah, how do you
like crawfish? I love my crawfish
with some butter dip and some lime inside of it. Some people are weird,
and they eat the brains. It makes you smarter
when you eat brains. You take all the knowledge
that the crawfish had. That's how Holden got so smart.
He eats a lot of crawfish. [making sucking sounds] -Ahh.
-Crawfish. There you go, raging waters. Twenty-two minutes.
The crawfish are... Yeah, they take
two minutes, so... -Yeah.
-We'll see... Chef Olivia, have you ever
actually been to New Orleans? -I have.
-Now, how do you feel about having to use this, uh,
the frozen crawfish here? -It's going to be delicious.
-What is that right there? They're going to go
in my crawfish cream sauce. I would have loved
to do a crawfish soup. But since I'm using
frozen crawfish, I have to make the sauce 'cause you have to use
whole crawfish in the soup. Watch those onions.
Make sure they don't burn. Collard greens are really good, and they're gonna be great
on some sweet griddle corn cake. Add the tasso ham.
I add some maple syrup. It's really gonna add
this sweet flavor. These are gonna be the best
collard greens ever made. All right, talk to me about
what you got goin' on. So we're gonna do,
like, a boil/chowder. You got the bread here. Is that gonna be
for sopping and dipping? -Yes, it is.
-Beautiful. Gonna douse it in a lot
of butter and seasoning. How much butter
does this guy use? I love seafood-esque
sort of dishes that you can dip bread in
and kind of soak up <i> all those garlic seasonings
and sort of that fish flavor.</i> <i>[Olivia] Now it's time to start
my crawfish cream sauce.</i> So I add my onion
and my garlic to another pan. Then I'm going to add
a little bit of white wine. I'm gonna let that reduce <i> 'cause that's gonna
give it some sweetness.</i> All I have to do is put
some Creole seasoning <i> and it's on deck.</i> Hopefully,
that'll disguise the fact that they're frozen crawfish. Whoo, it is good. Oh, honey. Five minutes! Five minutes left! Doing a perfect poached egg
takes a lot of skills as a chef. <i> I'm making a tornado
into the pot of boiling water</i> <i> so it's wrapping the whites
around, keeping it together.</i> It all depends on technique. Aw, man, it flattened out. <i> I was counting on the egg yolk
to make a really rich sauce.</i> If this one doesn't work,
she might not plate in time. I cannot afford to lose
to Chef Sevan. [Adam] Okay, Chefs,
time to think about plating. You have two minutes left. [dramatic music] I'm stirring, and I'm just kind
of incorporating the crawfish <i> with all the vegetables
and the bottom of the garlic</i> <i> with the butter, brandy
and white wine.</i> It smells radiant. Whoo! Go, Olivia!
Go, go! [Olivia]<i> A perfect poached egg.
Thank goodness.</i> But now I have to get
everything on a plate. [Sevan]<i> I'm including
a big piece of garlic bread</i> 'cause I wanted the dish to be,
like, rustique plating. <i> I am a presentation freak.</i> <i> This big piece
of hunk of bread</i> on top of a soup bowl.
Who does that? One minute, Chefs. [dramatic music] This is down to the wire. Go, Olivia! Go! Whoo! [Estie] Whoo! [Adam] Five... four... three... two... one! Time's up!
Step away from the plates. [Sevan]<i> Time's up.
I look at my dish.</i> <i> It looks stunning.
I used live crawfish.</i> She basically used
some stuff out of a bag. Okay, Chefs, please bring
your plates up to the judges. It's almost like a balancing act
with that baguette. Chef Olivia,
please explain your dish. Here I prepared for you
a griddle corn cake with collard greens
and a poached egg and topped with
crawfish cream sauce. <i> I'm really scared because
I'm using frozen crawfish,</i> but I'm really trying
to hide it with my sauce. Chef Olivia, you did
a great job on the corn cake. You had the fresh little kernels
of corn on the inside, <i> nice little sweetness
and sugar.</i> <i> You did a great job
with your collard greens</i> <i> because usually they take
a long time to cook.</i> So that kind of
came together nice. But, of course, you got
the frozen crawfish, so you didn't develop
a lot of crawfish flavor. Thank you, Chef. Chef Olivia, I really
enjoyed your dish today. <i> I loved all the different kind
of elements you had.</i> <i> You kind of had this
richness from the poached egg.</i> I really enjoyed
the griddle cake that you made. I think that
you cooked it perfectly, crisping it in
a little bit of fat, like you did to get
that nice crispy edge. But the presentation could have
been a bit tighter. [Olivia]<i> Maybe I should have
used more crawfish</i> <i> 'cause that's the main thing
this round.</i> That might bring me down and
I might lose for the prodigies. Chef Sevan,
please explain your dish. This is a crawfish boil with white wine, okra, a long piece of garlic bread
over herbs, and cream. Uh, Chef Sevan, I, um, enjoyed the approach,
that you were kind of, like, bringing the spirit
of New Orleans, <i> which is like a fusion pot.</i> <i> All these influences going on,</i> <i> culturally speaking.</i> <i> I could see that you're going
there with this dish today.</i> But, unfortunately,
the crawfish was overcooked. They don't take
very long to cook, so it didn't really have
great flavor. I like the idea of kind
of going with a crawfish boil -- the corn, the andouille,
the crawfish, the potatoes. <i> You had a lot of things
going on in there.</i> <i> I think less is more
for-for you,</i> <i> for such an experienced chef.</i> You keep thinking, "All right, let me put some mustard.
Let me put some beer. Let me put some brandy.
Let me put some tomato. Let me put some herbs."
So less is more. You could have made
a better dish in, like, 15 minutes. There's just too much going on. [Sevan]<i> They have no idea.
The way the crawfish looks.</i> The color was just A-plus. Well, Chefs,
you made your crawdaddies proud. Please give us a moment
to discuss. [Olivia]<i>
It's always really cool to win,</i> but it would be really cool
to win this one with the disadvantage
with the crawfish dish and against Chef Sevan,
of course. [Sevan]<i> I've already won one.</i> <i> I don't see why
I shouldn't win this one.</i> <i> And if I get another win
on this one, then definitely</i> <i> the menu board will help out
to slip a trick</i> against my final opponent. All right, Mike, Alia, who is
the winner of round two? The winner is... Chef Olivia. -Yeah!
-Whoo! Olivia! I'd like to dedicate this win
to my grandpa. <i> He taught me how to fish
and make crawfish.</i> Apparently, he taught me
how to do it right. Thank you. Sometimes fire isn't necessary
to get things cooking. And today is
a prime example of that. Our round one challenge
is ceviche. -Ooh!
-I love ceviche! So cute. Ceviche is a South American dish of marinated raw fish
or seafood. A good ceviche demonstrates
a chef's knife skills, along with their ability
to blend subtle flavors. Okay, Chefs, you have 30 minutes
to showcase your raw talent. [kids chuckle] And your time starts... now! -You got this!
-Get it, Dylan! [Cloyce] Come on! [Alia] There's so many
different types of ceviches, so many different combinations
you can do. [Mike] But you really need
perfect knife cuts. A bite of a bigger chili
could ruin the whole dish. I'm also gonna want
some crunch on there. So there's different ways
you can really evolve ceviche. The sky is the limit. I have not made ceviche. <i> But, you know,
I'm good with fish,</i> so I'm still gonna pull through
and take her down. <i> I am making
an aguachile ceviche</i> with sole fish and tostada. So I'm just gonna squeeze
a cup of lime juice. [Diana]<i>
I've made ceviche a lot.</i> Generally, restaurants
in Southern California, <i> it tends to be a popular item.</i> I'm doing a little snapper
ceviche here. Gonna have, like, a touch
of a little Latin flair with a super-creamed out
avocado cilantro on the base. Crispy chips on top,
if I can get to it. <i> I'm happy
with the snapper choice</i> <i> because it does work
really well with ceviche.</i> It marinates pretty quickly, and it stays really tender
and juicy in the middle. Super citrus season right now, so get a bunch
of the good stuff in here. Basically cooking the proteins
in there, the high acid. So use high-quality fish,
just sort of a quick cook like we're gonna do here today
will do the job. <i> I'm planning to squeeze out
about 30 limes,</i> but after about 10 limes, my hands are getting
extremely sore. <i> This is much more
time-consuming</i> <i> than just dumping out
a bottle of lime juice.</i> Dylan has taken seven minutes
of his time doing his limes. I really badly want
to win this round. I really do. [Diana]<i>
I'm making a citrus vinaigrette</i> <i> with some Fresno chilies
and raw shallots,</i> <i> and let my fish marinate
with some Cara Cara oranges</i> <i> and incorporate some
supreme pieces of the fruit</i> to really give the judges
that nice, bright pop. [Mike] So I see her cutting some
orange segments out, putting them in a little ramekin
for later on. [Diana]<i> Little raw shallot</i> <i> some sliced Fresno chilies.</i> Judges look like they can handle
some heat for sure, so I'm gonna give them
just a little. Okay, Chefs, please bring
your plates up to the judges. [pulsing music] Chef Dylan,
please explain your dish. I made an aguachile tostada
using sole fish <i> with a pineapple-cucumber
salsa and a lime guacamole.</i> Chef Dylan,
I like your presentation, I like that it's a clean,
simple tostada. I love that everything's green
and one color, <i>but I also like the little pops
of the marinated tomatoes.</i> [Alia]<i> I like the fact that
you chose to do a tostada.</i> <i> I think it's gonna be
very fun to eat.</i> I don't know how you and I
are gonna share this. We may have to fight over it. Just kind of break
a piece off or... Yeah, it looks worthy
of digging into. [Dylan]<i>
The judges dig into my dish.</i> [tense music] And then I start to get
a little bit worried again <i> because everything
is just on flavor right now.</i> <i> I really hope
the flavor tastes nice.</i> Chef Dylan, I think
you really had the right idea with this dish. Flavors were there. You may have struggled with is the right proportions
of everything. That just killed me because
I'm-- I realize, well, I was using
a small piece of sole <i> and I should have gone
for a bigger one.</i> I love the tostada,
I love the guacamole, I love the fresh cucumber salsa
with the pineapple. The whole dish overall needed
a little bit more salt, especially the tostada
needed more salt. It's a thick chip.
You want a lot of salt on that. Um, it wants to make you drink
more margaritas, um, when you're
at the restaurant. -So you got to thi--
-He's-- come on. Well, I'm eating it. -[laughter]
-He's got time to thi-- He's not eating it,
I'm drinking the margaritas. Chef Diana,
please explain your dish. I prepared a snapper ceviche <i> with an orange
Fresno chili vinaigrette</i> <i> and a whipped avocado mousse.</i> Chef Diana,
I think you nailed it in your presentation
on this dish. I see the brightness
of the chilies, the avocado. Everything looks very inviting
and it's very vibrant. -I'm excited to dig in.
-Thank you. You know, it has
a lot of similarities. Both of you guys went
to a similar fashion. I like it-- I like how you both
put the tortillas on top so they all stay crunchy
regardless <i> throughout the whole meal.</i> <i> And the richness is
on the bottom.</i> I see a lot of seafood in there, -so I'm excited to taste it.
-Thank you. [Diana]<i> I think it's gonna come
down to who has enough acid</i> and who has enough salt
in their dish. Chef Diana,
I really like this dish. First and foremost, I mean,
it's a ceviche competition. I like that there's a lot
of seafood here. I think everything
was cut really well. I think a little bit of--
little bit more acidity would be really nice,
but as far as that, textures were really on point
in this dish and everything
was really tasty. You know, I don't think fennel
a lot when I'm thinking, you know, Mexican cuisine. And actually the fennel
was really a nice touch. You kept it very traditional
and you put your touches on it. It could use a bit more salt, maybe a finishing salt
to break it, because you had
nice chunks of fish and the outside
had a little seasoning in it. But when I got a bit into it,
it wasn't enough seasoning. A little, little,
little love on top and it would have been right. I feel confident that I had
plenty of-- ample salt <i> to serve my ceviche,
but he made a really good point</i> <i> to have that
coarse texture on top.</i> [Mike] Chefs,
you've both given us something to talk about here. Give us a minute
while we make our decision. [dramatic music] I'm seeing a lot more fish
on Diana's plate. <i> I'm a little bit worried</i> that the judges'll think
the same way. [Diana]<i> I feel confident</i> <i> and I feel good
about the portion of fish</i> <i> that I've provided
in my tasting.</i> And I'm really hoping that -- that I have the edge
over Chef Dylan because I'd love to get that
advantage for the next round. So, Mike, Alia, who gets
to pick an advantage from the menu board
for the next round? We've decided that the advantage
goes to... [pulsing music] ...Chef Diana. Thank you.
