HK6, ep. 14
There are 4 chefs still standing, but one will be gone near the end of this episode. It opens with a 9 year old Ramsay-as-a-midget look and act alike. The kid tries out his regular routines on the chefs, but they just take it as hilarious comedy. Ramsay comes in to tell them he wanted them to have some fun. What he didn't say is that it is the calm before the storm. He states that fine dining establishments have to be prepared to cater to the dining needs of vegetarians. The chefs are to create a vegetarian dish to be enjoyed by 80 difficult and demanding diners. Those dishes are:
Kevin - sweet and sour style Mushroom crepe with Beet Carpaccio
Tennille - mushroom stuffed eggplant w/ creamy mushroom sauce and brown rice
Ariel - Grilled Eggplant Lasagna w/ tofu and fresh mozarella
Dave - Polenta Tower w/ goat cheese and Roasted Peppers
These all sound like interesting dishes to me, but Ramsay has a twist for the chefs: The diners are kids, who are known to not like vegetables. Those kids eat each color-coded dish and then vote for their favorite color. A problem during this task was that none of the chefs had finished 80 portions in the allotted 1 hour, so they were late in getting food to some of the kids. Those kids responded by chanting "I want food". Ramsay gives them each a bag of treats and sweets. Presumably this is to improve their attitude, but it also creates a bit of a mess in the dining room. Ariel calls the kids' reactions to the treats/sweets "maximum chaos."
Ariel offers to help Dave, but he refuses it because he does not want to show weakness. Ariel's offer was genuine and she thinks his ability to perform with one hand is very impressive.
The votes have been tabulated and 40% voted Kevin as their least favorite dish so he is out. the top 2 are Dave and Tennille, which puts Ariel out in spite of the fact that lasagna is popular with kids (although she did have tofu in it and kids and many adults don't like that). The best dish wiith 55% of the vote was Tennille's. I think mushroom sauce, which is pleasant and kids like, was the decisive part of her dish. Tennille wins, which is a good thing. I don't think Dave would have enjoyed the makeover which was half of the prize very much. However, dave would have loved the other half that Tennille got, which was lunch with Ramsay prepared by world-famous sushi chef Nobu Masuhisha in his Los Angeles restaurant bearing his first name. Among the exquisite items she ate were sashimi, king crab and "several tempuras". Tennille said "thank you, thank you little kids!" twice to express her joy at winning this challenge. She also wins a set of hand-crafted J. Henckel sushi knives.
The losers have to clean the mess in the dining room. A few tray dumps in a trash can of all the plates and cups would have been easy. Cleaning the floor would have been not too bad, but the awful aspect of this task was the need to clean gum stuck underneath the tables. I'll bet that Ramsay's bag of treats had several balls of gum. The losers are prepping as Tennille returns. Kevin says it will give him an advantage for dinner service and he is right.
Tennille says that it is her most important dinner service and she must rise to the occasion or she will be going home. The FOX special effects people designed a bottle containing clear liquid and 3 objects which are shown sinking to the bottom. I think you can guess what Tennille's fate will be.
Ramsay opens dinner service by stating that "the key ingredient is passion." Kevin is on the Appetizers Station, Tennille on Fish, Ariel on Garnish, which leaves the Meat Station for Dave. Tennille starts by having scallops "rubbery and bland" according to Ramsay. Her 2nd try they are perfect. Ramsay wants to know why she did not know the difference the first time. Dave collapses in pain as Ramsay is calling for his lamb to be taken to the pass. Dave leaves the kitchen briefly but is determined to press on. Ramsay criticizes Tennille for sea bas that are unevenly cooked. Ramsay went to inspect Tennille's station and found it a mess. Tennille serves a halibut which is unacceptable. With the need for coordination of dish completion timing of all parts of a meal, she has effectively shut down the rest of the kitchen. She tries to recover and tells Dave it will be 2 minutes until she i ready. he finishes a lamb dish for the same table based on that. Then one minute later she tells Ramsay 6 minutes until she is ready. Dave is totally pissed and Ramsay is not impressed. He tells her that the halibut she produces is perfect but at this point with nobody else making any mistakes the die is cast. Tennille says it is her worst service ever.
Ramsay cuts the usual baloney short this time as Tennille is the only possible candidate for elimination although they do try to create some faux-drama with Dave's potential inability to continue. Ramsay says that Dave has shown the maximum he has ever seen of ability to tolerate pain. Dave carefully says that his good hand is fine and pain-free. Ramsay tells Tennille she had a bad service and is eliminated.
Ramsay tells the other 3 that they are released, expecting them to celebrate. They start that when he calls them back. He scares Dave but then tells him he is confident Dave can continue. Then he introduces some special guests:
Kevin's wife and son
Ariel's fiancee and mother
Dave's fiancee and sister
