Quick Fire Challenge:
Tom joined Padma in the quick fire challenge. The chefs did a knife pull to be separated into 2 teams: Fork and Spoon.
Bride:Antonia, Stephanie, Richard, Andrew
Groom:Dale, Nikki, Spike, Lisa
So for the quick fire is the relay race for the Mise en Place Tray. They need to 1)peel and supreme 5 oranges, 2)clean and turn 2 artichokes, 3)clean and 2 fillets off a monk fish, 4) make 1 quart of mayonnaise. They get a couple of minutes to decide who does what. Right off the bat Stephanie and her team know what they are doing. The other team was having problems figuring out who would do what and Dale is disgusted that the others hadn’t made mayo by hand since culinary school.
Lisa and Antonia go head to head on the oranges. Lisa smoked her. Then we move onto to Spike vs Andrew. Spike was flying and he evened up the race. Then is was Richard vs Dale on the fish. I have to say that I thought they would be evenly matched. They ended pretty much dead even. So then we have Stephanie and Nikki head to head on the mayo. Nikki seems to be faltering whereas Stephanie does this all the time. So Stephanie rocked it out and won! Dale just flips out a bit and punched a locker.
Challenge:
So instead of Restaurant Wars they are doing Wedding Wars. So each team will cater to half the guests (125 guest each) and get $5,000 to do it with. The bride and groom (Corey and JP) run their own restaurant and wedding venue. The team that won the challenge got to choose bride or groom’s side. The chefs will be working through the night.
Groom’s side:
Appetizer’s: Various Flat Breads, Brushetta
Buffet: Tortellini, Antipasti, Filet Mignon, Chilean Sea Bass, Orecchiette with Ragu
Groom’s Cake: Hazelnut Chocolate
The groom is Italian and that is the food choice. Nikki seemed to take control because Spike and Lisa differed to her but she wouldn’t take responsibility. Dale on the other hand was not willing to give over control. So Nikki won’t lead. Everyone believed that Dale was doing to much and not really doing it well.
Bride:
Appetizers: Pizza, Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Short Ribs and Blue Cheese wrapped in Phyllo
Buffet: Crispy Chicken, Brisket, Filet Mignon, Creamed Spinach, Potato Gratin
Wedding Cake: Chocolate and Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Filling
The bride is Southern. So mid-west meets the south. Richard instigated the choosing the Bride. Richard definitely has more of a team mentality (ie helping on others dishes) but Andrew didn’t appreciate it. Andrew seems to wants to have his own separate dish.
Judgment:
Gale Gand was the guest judge. I love her and everything I have seen her on. I use her recipes.
So during service everything started shaking out. The winner seemed obvious. The groom’s side had thick and dry brushetta. Whereas on the bride side the judges disliked (ok, I think hated) the chicken dish and the creamed spinach.
Not surprisingly, the bride’s team won. Richard won individually but he deferred to Stephanie since she did the wedding cake. The prize was $2,000 gift certificate to Crate and Barrel so they are going to split it.
When the groom’s team was brought out Dale and Spike got into it. Full out yelling in front of the judges. Dale got slammed for doing to much and not pulling the menu in. Nikki got kicked out for not stepping up as a leader and for bad pasta.