Hell's Kitchen 5, Finale Part 1
This episode opened with a summary of each previous episode of Hell's Kitchen 5. Danny and Paula get to visualize how their restaurant space, half of the Hell's Kitchen dining room for each, will look. They meet with John Janis, HK architect/designer and he will turn their concepts into designs.
Danny and Paula celebrate being the Final 2. Paula believes (rightly, I think) that her capacity to not be affected by champagne is considerably larger than Danny's so she keeps him drinking it for hours. Paula states at the end that "he has been had". After the meeting with John Janis, he will turn their concepts into designs. Paula is stressing candles. Danny wants fish. They both get something of what they want but many design features are still to be determined.
Ramsay tells them that they are about to go to Atlantic City, with departure from HK in 5 minutes, so he has their special advisors come out. What a surprise! It's Danny's father and girlfriend and Paula's mother and sister. They will make design decisions in the interim until Danny and Paula return from Atlantic City.
Paula is naming her restaurant Sun Er Gy and I think (but am not sure) Danny is naming his after his mother Susan Marie (he had an off-the-wall alternate suggestion of "Velvet Hammer"that I think John Janis talked him out of).
On arrival in a huge suite with 2 bedrooms in the Borgata, Danny and Paula use Skype hookups to talk to their special advisors. They learn that Paula cannot have real candles due to fire marshal non-approval and that Danny will not get some column hiding paneling he anticipated. His girlfriend would like to have water somewhere in his restaurant.
Next, Paula and Danny are introduced to a live audience of maybe 200 people and to the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Borgata, Larry Mullen. They will be preparing a 3 course menu in 45 minutes in the final challenge of HK5. Paula's menu is:
Warm Wild Mushroom Salad w/ hearts of palm, arugula, cherry mustard vinaigrette
Shellfish Medley w/ Chilean cilantro broth, using Mussels, Clams and Shrimp
Roasted Sea Bass w/ Parsnip Puree, leeks, pearl onions and pea sauce
Danny's menu is:
Caribbean Lobster Tail w/ chili lime salsa, fried wontons
Crispy duck Salad w/ baby arugula, ginger vinaigrette
Pan-Seared Filet of Beef, tempura fried spring onions, twice baked potato, goat cheese and prosciutto
The judging will be done on a basis different than in the past, but the same overall principles apply. The first dish of each will be sampled and judged by Michael Schulson, the Executive Chef of the newest restaurant in the Borgata. The second dish will be judged by Goeffrey Zakarian, Executive chef of the Water club restaurant affiliated with the Borgata. The final course will be judged by Larry Mullen. Since this is the final challenge, I know that these principles are virtually certain to apply:
1. either chef will win the first dish.
2. whoever loses the first round will win the second round leaving it tied and up to the ultimate decision-maker, Larry Mullen.
3. Larry Mullen will pick the winner.
4. the winner will get first pick of helpers back at Hell's Kitchen
And guess what, that is exactly what happened. Paula wins round 1, Danny ties it with a win in round 2 and Larry Mullen picks Danny for round 3 which makes him the overall winner. Now, Danny states that he will be working directly for Larry Mullen, no doubt in a burst of bravado. He needs to realize that beneath Mullen is the VP - Food and Beverage, beneath that individual (met in a previous episode) is the Executive Chef of the Borgata, and reporting to him will be all the chefs of each individual restaurant. the winner of HK5 will probably go in as an Executive Sous Chef of head Chef, but not as an Executive Chef. He is, after all, only 23 years old so his experience is limited.
Paul, Danny and Gordon Ramsay return on the private jet to Los Angeles and show up at Hell's Kitchen at 11pm to view the progress with the ambience and décor. It's looking good for both. After they get a night's rest, there is now 10 hours to go until the 6pm opening of the two restaurants. Ramsay says there are 6 ingredients missing and he, Scot, and Gloria line up to pull 6 semi-globe lids to reveal the key ingredients underneath. It's the live heads of 6 eliminated chefs, Andrea, Ben, Giovanni, Carol, Lacey and LA. It is now that Danny learns that he has first pick as a result of his challenge win, so you know that he will not end up with Lacey, who is there due to the absence of Robert. Danny states that he is sorry for Paula to be stuck with Lacey. So, Danny picks Ben, Giovanni, and Carol. The only surprise was that Carol was available in the 3rd round due to Paula picking LA in the second round. Paula has Andrea to go with LA and Lacey. I believe that Danny has the edge in personnel, which he earned by winning the challenge.
Stay tuned tomorrow night.
