No Quickfire Challenge; instead, the recheftestants went fishing at Montauk. The fish caught would be cooked and served the next day to 200 guests. But first - teams:
Jamie, Tiffani, Antonia
Dale, Carla, Tre
Blais, Fabio, Marcel
Mike, Angelo, Tiffany
Team Blais/Fab/Marcel decided to make one very complicated dish, strategizing that the judges wouldn't be able to eliminate one or two of the three. Note they were playing not to win, but simply not to lose. The other teams did two or three dishes, taking responsibility where required.
After the judges - including Tom's "fishing buddy" Kerry Heffernan of South Gate Restaurant - tasted each dish, they decided that teams Dale/Carla/Tre and Mike/Angelo/Tiffany had their favorite offerings. For a few minutes it looked like Dale would win yet again with his fish taco, but instead that fiendishly clever Carla won with her salute to NY smoked fish and bagel crouton lettuce wrap.
The other six recheftestants were on the bottom, natch. While the home audience was no doubt rooting for Jamie's offing (she created a watered-down, bland dish), for a few minutes it looked like Fabio might be sent home for contributing nothing to his team's dish other than "knife cuts." But Jamie indeed was sent packing, as was Tiffani for her heavy-handed smoked bluefish that unfortunately contained the nasty-tasting bloodline.
So what did you think about this episode? Was it time for Jamie to hit the road? Or did you think someone else deserved to go? Please leave a comment!
