Here we meet for 1 of the most exciting episodes of the season!
Right off, Leah and Hosea are being held responsible for throwing Ariane under the bus.
Quick Fire Challenge:
Steven Star is our guest judge this week. Apparently he is a huge restaurateur. So they are having to do a tasting for Steven Star of 1 dish. The 2 favorites will be the chef/owner of restaurant wars. They had 30 minutes.
Jamie appears to be the smart one because she doesn’t want to win this one. The bottom was Jeff and Fabio. The top was Radhika with her India Middle Eastern cuisine and Leah won with her Asian inspired.
Elimination Challenge:
The teams are: (Sahana) Radhika, Jamie, Carla , Jeff vs (Sunset Lounge)Leah, Hosea, Fabio, Stefan. Stefan was chosen last! They can plan 1 day and then 6 hours to prep the next day.
Radhika is going to take the front of the house with her restaurant. Leah has to be careful to not get run over by Stefan. They had 1 hour at Pier 1 to spend $5000. At least this year everyone seem to agree about getting unscented candles;). It really seems as if Jamie is going to be running Radhika’s restaurant because Radhika is scared.
Break from the Kitchen—–
What is up with Hosea and Leah? They both have relationships and Hosea says how nothing can happen. Then what are they doing laying down together?!?!! That is not cool! Then kissing a little, also not cool! Hosea says he regrets the kissing but dude! This is effecting the kitchen.
——Back to the Kitchen
Radhika and Carla are going to Whole Foods and Jamie and Jeff are going to Restaurant Depot. For the other team, Fabio and Hosea are going to Restaurant Depot while Stefan and Leah are going to Whole Lunch. Good going Jeff for going into Restaurant Depot’s freezer to look for lamb shanks! It seemed like a very calm trip for both teams.
How is chocolate parfait and panna cotta considered asian? Carla once again is playing pastry chef. I am starting to wonder if she does anything else. Radhika isn’t making any food decisions and Carla wanted her input. That is a total failure of leadership. But Leah seems to be having a hard time getting her prep done. She killed the cod by portioning before deboning. Who does that? You always debone first so you know what you have to work with.
Sunset Lounge Menu: Egg Roll, Sashimi 2 Ways, Short Ribs, Coconut Curry Bisque, Seared Cod, Chocolate Parfait, Panna Cotta
Sahana Menu: Curried Carrot Soup, Grille Scallop with Chickpea Cake, Braised Lamb Shank, Seared Snapper, Baklava, Chocolate Cake, Frozen Yogurts
Service time:
The service side on Sahana seems to fall apart right off the the bat. Radhika didn’t seem to really be on the servers nor did she train them. Sahana’s soup and scallops seemed to go over well. The lamb was done well but they didn’t like the extra liquid (rose water) with the fish. Sahana’s dessert was a bit of a mess. The frozen yogurt wasn’t frozen. The guest in Sahana thought that Radhika seemed really stressed and up tight. She also wasn’t on the floor as much as she should have been. She missed saying goodbye to the judges.
Then the judges went to Sunset Lounge. Fabio was working the room. They didn’t like the egg roll. As Tom said, he had frozen better. Mixed bag on the soup and the sashimi needed salt. The ribs were cooked well but the cod was under cooked and the sauce was bad. The desserts were very good. Tom said that Stefan may have saved the team and definately saved himself.
Judges Table:
Going in we know that Stefan and Fabio really make a great impression and may have compensated for lack luster food that was worse than Sahana. The Sunset Lounge went up before the judges first and they won. The judges said that Fabio and Stefan is what won it for them. Stefan was the individual winner.
Then in goes Sahana. Radhika said she wasn’t sure what went wrong. Rhadika didn’t plan the menu and didn’t cook. Carla said she had a good time and sent out love with them. Tom asked why Carla didn’t tell Radhika so she could at least call it yogurt soup. Tom called Radhika on not leading and not having good front of house. I love the quote from Steven, “you must assume that no one can do their job”. But there was a discussion about not kicking Carla out because if they were strickly on food this restaurant wouldn’t have been up. But Carla’s excuses were a little convoluded (sending out the love). In the end Radhika got the axe (rightfully, so).
So what did you think of this week’s episode? What do you think about Leah and Hosea?