It was six weeks into the competition and it was time for everyone’s favorite challenge – Restaurant Wars! To start there was a high stakes quickfire competition. After judging, one person would receive a “significant advantage” in the restaurant war, and one person would be heading home.
The quickfire challenge was to create the classic soup/sandwich combination. Chef Mark McEwan said that they would be judging based on, “flavor, texture, diversity, and a little sparkle.” The chefs had one hour to impress the judges.
Jonathan immediately wanted to make consommé, which is a strong French soup. It was quite a risk to attempt this dish with only an hour to cook. His risk paid off with a very successful dish. He paired the consommé with a Vietnamese inspired sub sandwich.
Other top dishes were by Ryan, who made his own bread in the allotted time (a very risky move), and Carl who had an amazing bacon gazpacho soup. Jonathan was the overall winner and would receive a very special reward in Restaurant Wars. However, Carl was also a winner. His soup was selected to be one of the three dishes to be served at Milestone restaurants. Gabriell was eliminated for his take on a “bread soup”.
Now that the number of chefs was even, it was time to compete in Restaurant Wars. Jonathan’s reward for winning the quickfire was to be team captain for half of the chefs. He was also able to choose the competing teams captain, and picked Elizabeth for this honor. It turned out to be a strategically sound decision, as Elizabeth’s past disagreements with the chefs came back to haunt her.
The Restaurant Wars guest judge was Susur Lee. He offered up his restaurant “Lee” and the connecting lounge, “Lee Lounge” for the chefs. The team captains took turns picking their companions, and the groups went as follows: Team True North with Elizabeth, Xavier, Ryan, Jimmy and Trista; and Team Fable with Jonathan, David, Curtis, Carl, and Trevor.
Elizabeth, who insisted that she could call out, was totally unable to list off the orders. Her teammates were unapologetic with their disgust at her inability to lead.
Team True North had a very disappointing main-course service, but had excellent desserts. Team Fable had amazing main dishes, but failed in their desserts.
Carl was the winner for his strip loin dish. Elizabeth went out for her lack of leadership.
