Quick Take: Hell's Kitchen, "8 Chefs Compete"
Ramsay puts their palettes and creativity to the test.
Review: Hell's Kitchen, "8 Chefs Compete"
(S0709) The day starts with Ramsay serving up a chicken dish, and the chefs rave about it. Naturally, it was a trick as it turned out to be a frozen chicken dinner that he microwaved. Now starts the taste test, which the chefs relate they are sure to do well in during interviews.
Fran and Autumn go 0 for 3 right out of the gate. Autumn got coconut right but Fran missed and guessed potato. The next grouping finds Holli scoring for the Red team with the trout and Ed going 0 for 4. Benjamin and Jason each get 1 out of 4 right. Out of the first three Nilka and Jay each get cilantro. One point left to break tie and the item is eggplant. Jay gets it right and Nilka guesses prunes. Blue team wins and gets rewarded with VIP Passes to Sea World where they will swim with dolphins. Since it's not cooking related, I can't imagine anyone cares.
Delivery day is the punishment and the Red team has to unload trucks. Benjamin makes a point to check in the wine against the invoice and they load it into the restaurant. However, Jean-Philippe points out he failed to notice the order was for a different restaurant so it had to be loaded back, which annoys his teammates.
A courier brings a package for both teams to be opened when the winners come back. It turns out both teams will be deciding their menus for the dinner service. Benjamin throws out ideas but Nilka doesn't know a few of the food items. She suggests rice and Benjamin says he doesn’t like it because it's poor food, which surprises people (myself included). Jay decides Blue should go simple but good so they can complete it but it seems they're too focused on simple for a gourmet restaurant.
Ramsay tastes the dishes. He finds Red team's Ahi Tuna Salad bland and spits out the salad of Arugla and Sunchokes with Sherry Vinaigrette. Holli saves the day because he loves all her desserts, which she made, and calls them fantastic. The Blue team has a Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries. He calls it rabbit food and a joke. With the Hawaiian Tuna Tartare he finds they have "gone from bland to boring" and asks for creativity. The main course gets a "Come On!" after he points out that it's just a steak on three potatoes and three onions. The dessert of Berry Compote with Italian Whipped Cream is one of the worst desserts he's ever been served and threw it down on the counter. In summary he found it "too easy" and "a f--kin' insult," leading Blue to revamp their menu.
On the Red team, Benjamin refuses to respond to his team and Ramsay doesn’t like it. Nilka struggles on garnish station and changes the menu from grilled to boiled asparagus. Fran brings up multiple bad entrees and finally Ramsay calls her to the back. The Blue team's new menu dominates the orders. Autumn gets kicked out of the kitchen for struggling with the pork entree and is forced to explain to customers why the food is taking so long. Jay eventually moves Autumn to desserts, which Ramsay says he should have done two hours ago.
Ramsay decides both teams have lost and sends them to pick one person for elimination. Blue picks Autumn. Red picks Fran. Nilka and Fran bicker after Fran blames team communication for the reason she's there. Ramsay calls both forward. Will he send them both packing, I'm thinking.
Fran goes home but because Autumn shined when she was on Red, Ramsay sends her back over to give her another chance.
Exactly but I did think they would do better since they are chefs. Would like to try one myself. One thing I don't get is how smokers can have great palettes and from that ashtray they dumped they smoke like fiends.