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BURRELL: In today's competitive culinary world,
top restaurants need the best of the best to run their kitchens,
so they turn to me.
I'm Anne Burrell...
and this is "Chef Wanted."
Tonight...
Burnt. [Bleep]
Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi.
How is everything?
Something's wrong with the pasta.
Make me something else.
I'm really disappointed.
CHRIS: Aah! The last thing I [bleep] need.
BURRELL: This week, I'm at California's luxury hot spot,
the Bacara Resort & Spa in stunning Santa Barbara.
Nestled on 78 acres
between the dazzling Pacific Ocean
and the Santa Ynez Mountains,
Bacara is where the rich and famous come to relax
and indulge in sun, sand, and world-class cuisine.
After a multimillion-dollar upgrade,
executive chef David Reardon and general manager Kathleen Cochran
are seeking an executive chef
worthy of their gourmet restaurant The Bistro.
The Bacara Resort & Spa
is one of the top resorts in the country.
It's a very high-end clientele,
so the executive chef at The Bistro
has to really be at that level.
For the right candidate,
this job can lead to star-studded success.
Good morning, Kathleen.
How are you?
Chef David.
I'm Anne Burrell, and I'm so excited to be here.
What a spectacular place.
Well, we're thrilled to have you.
We're looking for an executive chef for The Bistro.
We really need a special person
that has the ability
to create creative menus every day.
We're gonna be cooking here at Miró,
which is another one of our restaurants,
because The Bistro is under renovation.
Someone's gonna have a brand-new kitchen to work out of.
It is a chef's dream job.
I have four chefs for you, so let's go meet them.
First up is Diana from Los Angeles, California.
I will work harder than anyone to follow my dreams.
I'm Diana Hernandez. I grew up in a farm in Colombia.
I didn't have dolls for play.
I'm a single mom, and I have two beautiful daughters.
That motivates me to be a best chef every day.
Next is Earl from Farmington, Pennsylvania.
I'm a leader in every sense of the word.
I'm a competitor. I'm a risk taker.
My name is Earl Anthony Morris.
I've been fortunate enough to travel the globe,
cooking in some top destinations with some really great chefs
and doing damn good food.
I think it'd be great to take over The Bistro,
making sure that the clientele truly loves the cuisine
that's gonna be done with the new restaurant.
Hello. How are you, chefs?
The next one is Chris from Chicago.
CHRIS: Cooking's a thing that I go to bed thinking about
and the first thing I think about in the morning.
My name's Chris Turano.
For me, family is everything, and food is love.
Growing up, seeing my father work three different jobs
to support his family -- That's where I got my dedication,
working from a dishwasher to a line cook
to everything in between.
The most important person in my life is my wife, Mindy.
Been married for two years now, and it's time to start a family,
so I need to really make sure that I get this job
to be able to support my family.
Hello, everybody. It's great to be here.
Thanks.
Then we have Jared from Chicago.
JARED: Food wasn't only a creative outlet.
It was a sanctuary for me.
My name is Jared Case, and I'm an executive chef.
I was a high-school dropout.
Miraculously, I had the opportunity to cook
with Paul Wildermuth, my mentor, my guiding light.
Paul has given me the inspiration to be a better chef,
a better man, a better father,
and that's why I really want to be here today.
I have a 21-month-old son. I've got a bun in the oven.
Right now, I'm working at three restaurants.
I'm spread too thin.
Getting this position would give me the opportunity
to spend more time with my family.
Hello. Thank you very much for having me.
Glad to have you here.
We've devised a couple
of extremely exciting yet difficult tests.
These are designed to weed two of you out straightaway,
and then, the final two will get to run this restaurant
for a dinner service for an evening.
Our surroundings provide some of the finest ingredients
that Santa Barbara has to offer.
From the land, we have baby artichokes, fava beans,
nettles, and squash blossoms.
And from the sea, we have octopus,
Santa Barbara prawns, abalone, and sea urchin.
For your first test, create a beautiful dish
featuring one ingredient from the land
and one ingredient from the sea.
You will have 45 minutes,
and your time starts right now!
Aah!
CHRIS: As soon as I see the spot prawns and the fava beans,
I decided that I'm gonna knock
whoever the hell is in front of me out of the way
to make sure I get what I need.
This test is very difficult
because you're given two different ingredients,
and you're not trying to overshadow each one.
This is a basil-and-fava-bean purée.
It's gonna have a good amount of spot prawn on it.
And it's also gonna have
some crispy, duck-fat-fried fingerling potatoes.
I think it's a pretty good, composed dish.
DIANA: But I got octopus and the squash blossom flowers.
I knew octopus is not gonna cook less than one hour,
and I just have 45 minutes.
But I'm always ready to take the risk.
I'm making grilled octopus with grilled-tomato sauce
garnished with blossom flowers.
It is delicioso.
EARL: Definitely, I walked into this competition
super-confident.
I think I'm more than qualified for this position.
That's really not a question.
This is where it's at right here.
I wanted to make a local uni
and a cognac-butter poached Maine lobster
with a stinging-nettle pesto and a pineapple gastrique.
What are you doing with Maine lobster?
You have to showcase these two ingredients.
EARL: Yep.
The challenge is to showcase your land and sea ingredient.
Earl confuses the issue by adding lobster.
EARL: 80% of the urchin is unusable.
That's why I feel like I needed to put something supplemental
on the plate.
Coming around the corner.
Getting this position at The Bistro
would give me more time with my family.
I wanted to show
that I knew how to cook at the Bacara Resort's level.
I'm making a seafood stew
using baby artichokes and locally sourced abalone.
Abalone is a very exclusive, super-expensive ingredient.
Not many chefs know how to use it.
Luckily, I do, and I feel like
this is gonna take me to the top of this competition.
BURRELL: You have 25 minutes left.
Use it wisely and creatively, all right?
Have you worked with this before?
EARL: Yes, we have.
The treatment that Earl is doing with the sea urchin
gives me the idea
that he's not super-comfortable working with it.
He's rinsing it,
which washes its beautiful sea flavor out of it.
The sea urchin is not being given the respect
that it should be given.
BURRELL: I'm telling you,
if these are not the superstars of this plate,
you will go home.
BURRELL: Four chefs are in the interview of their lives
for an executive-chef position at The Bistro restaurant.
They're in the middle of their first test,
combining one local land and one sea ingredient
to create one delicious dish.
I'm telling you,
if these are not the superstars of this plate,
you will go home.
Earl is supposed to be
a very cultured and experienced chef,
but I think that using the sea urchin
is something that he's not comfortable with doing.
Show me the Santa Barbara sea urchin.
Will do.
And these nettles.
Yes, ma'am.
13 minutes, chefs! 13 minutes!
So, how are you gonna cook the prawns?
Grill.
There's gonna be fingerling potatoes,
and then I'm going to crisp them up in some duck fat.
All of these flavors that you have here
are really light and clean, so respect that.
I'm not trying to put too much ego into it.
Good, good.
Thank you.
The octopus is not gonna cook less than one hour and a half
and be nice and tender.
So, I'm really nervous.
Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi.
Chefs, five minutes left.
Everybody should be coming down the homestretch
and, like, plating.
What are you doing with those potatoes?
EARL: I got to get a nice potato on the plate.
I needed to put a starch ingredient on that plate.
Are you gonna make it?
Yes, Chef.
And so, I went with the potatoes at the very end.
BURRELL: Come on. Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run.
Come on.
You are, like, dangerously close.
Yes, Chef.
All right, 10 seconds.
[ Groans ]
5, 4, 3, 2, 1!
That's it. Hands up.
That's it, you guys.
EARL: There wasn't enough time to cook the potatoes.
I'm not gonna put anything on the plate
that's not cooked right.
[Bleep]
BURRELL: So, are you guys ready?
COCHRAN: Yes.
REARDON: We're ready.
Chef Chris.
Hello, hello.
Hi.
Today, I have for you a grilled Santa Barbara spot prawn
with a fava-bean-and-basil purée
and a few duck-fat-fried fingerling potatoes.
I love the color of your purée.
Thank you.
COCHRAN: Yeah, I like the way it looks.
I don't really understand the potatoes.
Duck-fat potatoes are delicious,
but it's kind of like, "Which one doesn't belong?"
BURRELL: We have these beautiful, delicate,
little spring things,
and then, we have the big, clunky, duck-fat stuff.
It just didn't go.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello.
DIANA: My dish is called grilled octopus with squash blossoms.
The octopus, it's a little tough.
That was a really challenge for me.
Slice it a little thinner next time.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Okay, Chef Earl, step on right up, please.
Hello.
The dish I made for you is a local uni
and cognac-butter-poached lobster, stinging-nettles pesto,
pineapple gastrique.
How did you come about this combination?
So, I knew I was gonna have to give a little bit of something
in addition to the uni, which is why I put the lobster on there.
Interesting.
There's a lot of different flavors going on here.
Sure.
If you had this just to do differently,
what would you have done?
Well, the dish itself is a little incomplete.
I absolutely would have incorporated
a little more starch and the Idahos themselves.
They weren't cooked in time,
and I wasn't gonna put something that wasn't cooked on the plate.
That was a good choice.
Thank you.
Hi, Chef.
JARED: Hello.
So, what I've made for you today
is an abalone-and-baby-artichoke chowder.
Oh.
Your broth is heavily seasoned, yeah?
Is it?
I like the fact that the abalone was cooked perfectly.
It's a little tough technique to do that.
Absolutely.
Thank you, Chef.
All right, chefs, let's gather round, please.
CHRIS: After the tasting, I'm super-scared.
I could definitely be going home after this.
At the end of the day, you want to see who has the best dish,
who's got the best colors, the best texture.
And the other competitors just kind of did a lot of chopping.
Kathleen and Chef David have deliberated,
and they've made a decision.
COCHRAN: I'm sorry.
The interview ends here, Chef...
...Earl.
No problem.
I wish you the best of luck.
BURRELL: Earl got overambitious with his dish
and lost focus of what the test was about.
EARL: It was a little bit of a disappointment
just because it would have been a great opportunity.
I definitely stand behind my dish.
I really feel like the flavors are there.
At the end of the day, a restaurant of this magnitude
and the style of cuisine that it is --
I'm definitely more than capable of running it.
All right, chefs. Test number one down.
Test number two is about to begin.
I'm stoked that I made it
to the second round of the interview process.
The opportunity to become the executive chef of The Bistro
means the world to me because I would love to spend
a little bit more time with my family.
After this test, only two of you will continue on
to be able to run this restaurant for a dinner service,
and for one of you, the job interview will be over.
When The Bistro opens,
we're gonna be serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Each one of those meals has to be memorable.
Make a delicious breakfast and dinner dish using eggs,
the most versatile thing that we have in the kitchen.
We have duck eggs, quail eggs,
chicken eggs, and ostrich eggs.
[ Laughs ]
You have 60 minutes,
and your time starts... now.
Getting this job would mean everything to my wife and I.
For my breakfast dish, I plan on making a polenta porridge
with applewood-smoked bacon, fried quail eggs, and a salad.
For my dinner dish, I decided to make a morel mushroom
and asparagus risotto with a duck egg.
BURRELL: So, you break it open
and, like, stir it all in there with a cooked egg.
Almost like carbonara.
I'm gonna do anything it takes to get this job.
Everybody else is putting every single egg they have
in some sort of nonstick pan, so I'm gonna do whatever I can
to separate myself from these other guys.
All right. I like your ideas.
DIANA: So, it was real interesting challenge for me
to use it.
I doing this for my daughters to be a good example for them.
All right, girl chef. What do you got going on?
I'm cleaning porkchops for dinner.
I'm gonna grill it,
and I'm gonna make really nice morel mushrooms.
And my egg is gonna be sunny-side-up
on the top of the porkchop.
Okay.
For breakfast, I'm gonna make
really, nice, healthy ostrich-egg frittata
with wild mushrooms and Fontina cheese.
There are a lot of very health-conscious people
that come to this place, so an ostrich-egg-white frittata,
an interesting idea.
Have you ever opened an ostrich egg before?
No.
No?
Just make sure
that you give yourself plenty of time for that.
Yes, ma'am.
I think that she doesn't have any idea
how difficult that ostrich egg is gonna be to open.
JARED: Ooh-la-la.
I chose the chicken egg, and I chose the duck egg
'cause who's making omelets out of duck eggs these days?
Looks like we're doing filet.
For my breakfast, I'm making a duck-egg omelet
with shoestring potatoes and locally sourced, ranched filet.
For my dinner, I'm gonna make a gaufrette potato
and, again, the sliced, seared filet.
I'm gonna pair that with a Fontina-cheese soufflé.
Phew.
All right, 25 minutes, chefs.
CHRIS: [Bleep]
As the risotto's cooking, I see that I started it way too early,
and it's overcooked.
And there's no way I can serve this.
I get to make risotto twice.
What kind of stock are you using?
CHRIS: I got veal stock,
which I think is gonna be pretty good.
You do not ever, ever, ever make risotto with veal stock.
That rice would be extraordinarily rich
and have a horrible, sticky mouth feel.
Clearly, he needs some lessons in the risotto method.
Chefs, we have 20 minutes left.
I have to do my huevo.
I have never broken an ostrich egg.
So, with this?
Good luck.
BURRELL: Normally, ostrich eggs have a shell
that you need either a hammer or an electric drill to get into.
DIANA: I just gonna break it.
I don't know how to do this.
I don't have any idea how I'm gonna open it.
And if I don't break it, I go home.
[Bleep]
Chefs, we have 20 minutes left.
I don't have any idea how I'm gonna open that ostrich egg.
[Bleep]
I just cross my fingers and do it.
There you go.
Beautiful.
And I feel so happy.
Very good. Very good job.
BURRELL: Those are soufflés in the oven.
So, basically, what it is, is a cheese-and-herb mixture,
and it's got egg whites folded into it to lighten it up.
And it's as light as air in there.
Those are looking fantastic.
I'm so excited about them.
Are these looking the way you want them to?
I think they're money.
Yeah, but is it cooked all the way through?
My guess is no.
[ Sighs ]
All right, you have seven minutes.
CHRIS: Time's kicking down,
and the risotto is not cooking fast enough.
I'm really, really worried right now.
You're really coming down the homestretch.
Are you gonna be ready?
Of course I am.
One minute left, you guys! One minute!
All right. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
That's it. Hands up.
Time's up. Risotto's in the window.
I really have no idea how this is gonna turn out.
So, test number two, the egg test.
Chef Jared, you're up first.
For breakfast, I've made you
a duck-egg omelet with seared filet,
and it's finished with gaufrette potato.
And then, for dinner, I made you
a black-truffle-and-Fontina cheese soufflé,
shoestring potatoes, and the seared filet
with sauce Bordelaise.
So, you made us steak and egg twice?
Yes.
Oh.
But I thought the steak was perfectly cooked
and well seasoned.
Thank you.
Your soufflé is yummy.
I wish I had seen some differences in your techniques.
These plates are not different enough
to warrant one being breakfast and one being dinner.
Thank you.
Chef Chris, come on up.
Hi.
For breakfast today, I made a soft polenta porridge
with a little bit of applewood-smoked bacon,
some fried quail eggs,
and then a little salad off to the side.
And then, for dinner,
I did a morel mushroom and asparagus risotto
with a duck egg and a little bit of Parmesan.
The texture of this risotto is absolutely inappropriate.
You should never, ever make risotto with veal stock.
It's just way too gelatinous.
But I love the idea of it,
and I think the egg is cooked nicely.
The morels and asparagus are a great idea.
Thank you.
I really loved this little vegetable salad.
I've really personally never seen that at breakfast,
so I love that you brought something a little interesting
and out-of-the-box to the table.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Chef Diana.
For breakfast, I made ostrich egg-white frittata
with nettles...
And for dinner, grilled pork with morel-mushroom sauce
and sunny-side-up egg.
Have you ever made
an ostrich-egg-white frittata before?
No.
Your frittata has so much protein in it
that it looks like dried glue.
I think it was innovative, and it was creative.
I think that the porkchop is overcooked.
It was very tough.
It just wasn't appealing.
Chef Diana, thank you very much.
Thank you so much, Chef.
So, chefs, it's been a very intense day.
Kathleen and David have deliberated
to see which two chefs will move on
to the hardest phase of this job interview,
the dinner service.
The person whose interview ends here...
...is Diana.
Thank you, darling.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Overall, I think she just got flustered and lost her place,
and so, I don't think things were as good
as they could have been.
DIANA: I'm so disappointed right now.
I think I can give better,
but I'm so grateful to have this opportunity
and show my daughters how you had to follow your dreams.
Chefs, congratulations.
You guys each get to run this restaurant
for a dinner service.
Congratulations, man.
Congrats.
Jared, you are cooking tomorrow night.
Chris, you are cooking the next night.
So, go write your menus.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chef.
Bye, guys.
JARED: I barely survived test two.
I feel that if I don't nail dinner service,
this job interview might be over.
Keep your eyeballs on it. You know what I'm saying?
Check it in five.
Prepping this dinner service correctly
is gonna either make me or break me.
You should be able to read the print of a newspaper
underneath your pasta.
Hello, Chef.
Hi. How's it going?
Is this your pasta?
Yes, Chef.
Brought it together as thin as I could.
Be really careful 'cause that will overcook
in a heartbeat.
Yes, Chef.
JARED: There's an incredible, fine line you walk
when you make pasta like that, and she's absolutely right.
So, I've got to coach my guys
into absolutely nailing that pasta dish.
JARED: Hello.
Hi, Chef.
Welcome, Jared.
So, I'd like to introduce Jared Case.
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
For our first course, we have a choice
of local burrata-stuffed squash blossoms.
The second choice is the tagliatelle.
That's fresh-made pasta
accompanied with morel mushrooms.
Make sure your pasta water is adequately seasoned.
Yes, Chef.
For course two,
our first offering is the grilled halibut.
It's accompanied with heirloom cauliflower,
wax beans, and olive oil.
Beautiful.
Thank you, Chef.
The second choice is the grilled ribeye
paired with a mushroom ragout and grilled asparagus.
And finally, this is a play on panettone.
The acidity in the cherries
will bring out the amaretto liquor.
Very good.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you again for this opportunity.
My family would love Santa Barbara, California.
I've got a 21-month-old son and one on the way,
so hopefully we have a wonderful present
to surprise them with.
Thank you, Chef. Good luck.
Chefs, now is the time.
We have the next two hours to show these people perfect food.
This means everything to me. Let's nail this.
Absolutely, Chef.
Let's go! Let's go! Scramble, scramble!
WOMAN: Cheers again.
WOMAN #2: Cheers.
[ Glasses clink ]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Do you know what you'd like to start with?
The burrata-stuffed squash.
I'll have the tagliatelle, please.
I will take the halibut.
MAN: Halibut?
Yes, thank you.
You want the brioche to stand up
against the mascarpone, okay?
[ Printer whirring ]
All right, guys, let's push. Let's push. Let's push.
First ticket in the kitchen.
Let's get the food in the window, yeah?
Let me hear you guys shout.
Yes, Chef!
Yes, Chef!
Yes, Chef!
Okay, order in.
First course -- burrata, tagliatelle.
One burrata, one tagliatelle.
[ Whirring continues ]
Two burrata. Tagliatelle.
Two halibut and a ribeye.
Let's go window, tagliatelle.
Three tagliatelles.
One ribeye. One halibut.
Tagliatelle coming to the window now, Chef.
Wow. That looks great.
Tagliatelle.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
I absolutely cannot turn down the squash blossoms,
so I'm gonna go with the squash blossoms.
We get V.I.P. guests here all the time,
and I've invited Cat Cora.
Well, I come here a lot to the restaurant.
I kind of have a special dish that I always get.
WAITER: Okay.
So, I'd kind of like to see if they would make it for me.
Sure.
Absolutely.
COCHRAN: The executive chef has to be be prepared
to make those kind of changes any time.
[ Printer whirring ]
JARED: We have a V.I.P. in the dining room,
and it's none other than the celebrity chef Cat Cora.
What table is Cat Cora at?
Her favorite thing to eat is duck.
She wants duck, she gets duck.
We were gonna serve it with the mushroom ragout.
It would actually have a nice pair with it,
along with those baby carrots.
Hi, ladies. How is everything?
It's like something's wrong with the pasta.
It's mushy.
Can I take these back to the kitchen
and see if we can make you something
that you would like better?
Thank you so much.
All right.
Chef Jared.
I've got three dishes of pasta from the same table.
I see the tagliatelle come back to the kitchen,
and I know this isn't good.
What do you want to do about it?
Remake them.
All right.
People are not liking the texture of pasta.
The pasta itself looked gray.
Chef.
We good?
They say the pasta is mushy, the sauce is watery,
and they don't like it.
Get this dish together, or it's coming off the menu.
Yes, Chef.
Chef Jared made his pasta
absolutely super-thin on purpose.
The texture of the pasta
is extremely difficult to cook well,
so I think that's part of what the problem is.
Your pasta water's not boiling.
We got to start over, dude.
Hi, folks. How is everything?
Not quite right.
No?
The pasta's, I think, way overdone.
So, let's see what we can do about this.
Chef.
I can't even begin to tell you.
This pasta dish is unacceptable.
86 it and make me something else.
Anne 86'd my pasta. I don't know what I'm gonna do.
JARED: He kind of looks like a deer in the headlights.
That's not okay for a chef to do.
What are you gonna make?
Go in the walk-in and look for something to make.
Yes, Chef.
This interview at the Bacara Resort means everything to me.
I can't have this dinner service going like this.
I got to do something quick.
[Bleep]
I run to the dry storage. I see dried pasta.
I go with it.
I have to 86 the fresh pasta.
I'm gonna replace it with dried spaghetti.
Where are those pasta dishes?
Pasta's coming to the window right now, Chef.
Hooray. Oh, my gosh.
I bet you thought this wasn't coming.
MAN: The pasta's much better than it was.
You know, the flavors are there.
Pasta's cooked correctly.
Folks, I just wanted to check on you
and see how everything is tonight.
We've been waiting a little while.
And I know the ladies are getting hungry.
I really apologize.
Well, I'm really disappointed.
Chef. Chef. Chef.
Excuse me.
I'm a V.I.P. table right now.
I've got Cat Cora.
We ordered a long time ago, Chef.
Unfortunately, the duck breast was taking me too long.
I was dealing with appetizer difficulties.
I am horribly embarrassed right now.
My heart is sinking in my chest.
I feel like if there's gonna be a moment in time
that I'm gonna lose the opportunity,
it's gonna be right here and now.
BURRELL: Chef Jared has the reins of Miró's kitchen.
His performance will determine if he has what it takes
to become the executive chef
of newly renovated restaurant The Bistro.
Chef. Chef. Chef.
I'm a V.I.P. table right now.
I've got Cat Cora.
We ordered a long time ago, Chef.
Unfortunately, the duck breast was taking me too long.
I am horribly embarrassed right now.
My heart is sinking in my chest.
The last thing I want to do
is have somebody leave my restaurant unhappy.
Guys, let's get this duck plated, yeah?
Yes, Chef. Working here.
Awesome.
This duck dish needs to go.
I need to make sure this duck is absolutely perfect.
She's requested it medium rare.
I finally get the duck breast in the window,
and I knew I had to apologize to Cat Cora.
Unfortunately, your dish took a little too long.
I apologize for that.
Oh, I love this dish. Thank you so much.
Absolutely.
COCHRAN: I was really happy
to see that he personally came to the table
to apologize and deliver the meal to her himself.
The duck is phenomenal.
When I got the news that Cat Cora liked my duck,
I felt like a million bucks.
I knew it was my time to put my head back down, get focused,
and finish dinner service off strong.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, guys! Let's go!
I need two ribeyes with two halibut.
More mushroom ragout on the plate, please.
Three halibut, two ribeye.
Halibut. Ribeye, halibut.
Come on.
Hot plate, Chef.
BURRELL: Once Jared dug in his heels
and really took control of his kitchen,
he communicated with his staff, and they got it done well.
I had the ribeye, and it was cooked very nicely.
I really enjoyed it.
I ordered the halibut, and I absolutely loved it.
It was just flavorful, and the chef did a great job.
How was everything? I see clean --
Well, I didn't lick my plate, but I thought about it.
Hooray!
Last ticket, guys.
Last ticket! Yeah, push, push, push!
I've got my guys all dialed in,
and I watched the beautiful desserts being served.
They were nailing them.
Guys, congratulations.
You made it through the most difficult service of your life.
That's a moment of confidence for a chef.
Chef. [ Laughs ]
I'm telling you,
I've done some difficult things in my life.
None of them has compared to this.
This is a really big job.
So, that's why this is so hard.
Overall, you did a really good job,
and I really appreciated,
you know, your happy demeanor throughout the whole thing.
All right. Congratulations.
Thank you, Chef.
CHRIS: Going into dinner service tonight,
I'm feeling very, very apprehensive.
I'm working with a staff I've never worked with.
I have butterflies in my stomach.
The menu that I put together shows off the great ingredients
that Santa Barbara has.
I think that's the way to go to really wow everybody
over at the Bacara.
It's very, very tough
because you want to push yourself as hard as you can.
At the same point, you might end up screwing yourself over
because you try to be a little bit too ambitious.
CHRIS: Hello, everybody.
Hi, Chef.
REARDON: Chef Chris, we're really looking forward
to what you have to offer us tonight.
Thank you. For my first appetizer,
I made a grilled Santa Barbara ridgeback shrimp
with a little romesco sauce.
The next appetizer I made was ricotta gnocchi
with some morel mushrooms in there
and a little bit of ricotta salata over the top.
For my first entrée, we did a seared Californian halibut.
On the bottom is a little bit of farro risotto
and then celery salsa verde.
The texture of your farro is great.
Thank you.
My second entrée -- We did a slow-roasted leg of lamb.
It's marinated with a little bit of rosemary and crushed garlic
and then roasted pistachio over the top of that.
And for my dessert, we made a chocolate-olive-oil cake
with grilled apricots and sea salt.
That's really good.
I just wanted to thank everybody again for having me.
This means everything to me and my wife.
It means everything for us to be able to come out here.
And anything you guys need, please, don't hesitate to ask.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you, Chef. Good luck.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Okay, guys. Tonight's a real, real big night for me.
This is my dream job. Me and my wife want to be here.
The only thing we need now
is we need the means to be able to get here.
Okay, guys. Man your stations.
Let's go.
Yes, Chef!
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Entrées this evening --
We'll have a black cod as well as a halibut.
The menu looks delicious.
[ Glasses clink ]
You got two pots of water boiling, right?
But you got them on, right?
Yes.
[ Printer whirring ]
First ticket in.
Yes, Chef!
Yes, Chef!
One gnocchi, no mushroom.
Gnocchi heard. One shrimp.
One hali', one lamb.
Order in, table 30 first. Four shrimps, one gnocchi.
Gnocchi heard, two all day.
Jeff, give me a gnocchi no mushroom right now.
Yes, Chef.
[ Whirring continues ]
Okay, guys, we got a lot of tickets coming in.
Tickets start rolling in. I look around.
I have no idea how the hell I'm gonna do this.
Chris, I need that first plate, please, for table 33.
Shrimp right now, please.
Two lamb, ricotta, and a halibut.
Richard, you're gonna have a lot coming in.
Ordering table 17.
[Bleep] I need plates!
You have gnocchi, two, shrimp, one.
I'm peeling a cucumber...
What the [bleep] happened here?
Chef Chris.
[ Whirring continues ]
[Bleep]
...and decided to peel my thumb instead.
Chris, give me some shrimp.
The last thing I [bleep] need.
BURRELL: Chef Chris has been given the chance
to run a dinner service at Miró.
If he succeeds, he'll become the next executive chef
at Bacara Resort's newly renovated restaurant, Bistro.
[ Printer whirring ]
One, two, three, four shrimp.
Out the door.
31 -- three lamb, one cod.
What the [bleep]
Can I get a Band-Aid?
Chris.
Yes?
Can we have a medic look at you?
Yeah.
Me getting cut is the worst thing that could happen.
At this point, I have to stop
and have a medic look at my thumb.
All I want to do is put a whole bunch of [bleep] gauze on it.
Whatever's easiest for you, you know?
Okay.
Not the best way to start a service.
I bet. I bet.
After cutting my thumb open
and me being with the medic for a good 10 minutes
really put me behind the eight ball.
We're going table 11.
Gnocchi on two, shrimp on one.
Chris, you got 10 shrimp ordered so far.
10 shrimp, Chef, heard.
Get the food out.
I'm still waiting on that gnocchi and a mushroom.
Where is it?
For what?
Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do right now.
Oh, okay.
Okay?
There's a huge line of tickets coming in.
How are these? Good? Okay.
The cooks don't know what they're doing,
so I jump on the line
because I'm just trying to get this food out.
Chris, they're giving me one more shrimp.
Okay, two shrimp. I need two gnocchis right now.
Where is Chris?
The problem that I see with Chris
is that he's not delegating.
Behind.
BURRELL: And instead, Chris is running back and forth
from one end of the line to the other
trying to do everything himself.
Chef Chris.
You realize you step off the line just to make a salad.
What's going on with that?
JOHN: Chef Chris had a really tough beginning.
He was trying to control all the kitchen
and being, like, the one-man cook.
Whew! Are those all his tickets?
Those are backed up.
The job at The Bistro is a huge job.
They do 700 covers a day.
There's no way that he could be able to do all of that
by himself every single day.
BURRELL: You need to manage your team.
This is why it is so important for a chef to communicate
and teach people what you need them to do
and allow them to go do your job.
This is no bueno.
Hi, folks. How is everything?
You know, the wine is wonderful.
What's not good?
Well, I ordered the lamb.
It came out actually, like, room-temperature.
JOHN: Runner, please.
BURRELL: Chef.
CHRIS: Yes?
I'm coming -- Lookit. Do you see what I have?
Three plates of lamb all cold.
Completely unacceptable.
Exactly, completely unacceptable.
CHRIS: I'm in the weeds. I don't know which way is up.
And lamb comes back to the kitchen.
It's cold. There's no reason for this.
This is just going horribly, horribly wrong.
What's on 33?
Three cods, one cooked through.
Two lamb.
Chef Chris.
Yes?
Talk to those guys. I don't hear you.
In the middle of service, there's so much going on,
it's impossible to be able to communicate
about every single thing you need.
BURRELL: How long on the lamb refire?
Right now.
He not really communicate.
No, they're not communicating at all.
Chef Chris, are you making sure
that everyone's working together,
or are you just doing your own thing acting like a line cook?
Yes, Chef.
If you want to be the chef of this kitchen,
then act like it.
BURRELL: Right now, this is a major mess,
and all of the line cooks are over there in some corner
where we can't see them.
The chef isn't paying attention or acting like a chef.
He's acting like a line cook.
That's not a good thing.
How long on 15?
Same time.
Don't let the expeditor take over your line.
Run this kitchen.
CHRIS: No one's talking to each other.
Everybody's got their head down doing their own little thing,
and it's not working.
Get your line cooks in order and instruct them!
Teach them what you want from them!
Yes, Chef.
Otherwise, we're gonna give the expeditor this job
of being the chef of this restaurant.
What the [bleep]
JOHN: Fire a second course on 15, please.
You can turn this around, and you can pull it out, Chef.
Let's go, okay?
CHRIS: I looked around and didn't know
if I was going to be able to pull it off at all.
JOHN: I don't hear you talking. Come on.
I'm doing all the talking over here.
The expeditor's calling out orders,
and it makes me feel about an inch tall.
Now is the time I really have to turn this thing around
and take control.
My wife's my inspiration, so I brought a picture with me,
and that little glimpse I saw out of the corner of my eye
of that picture really reminded me the reason why I was here.
Chef Chris.
Yes?
You want me to come and help you with the lamb?
No. It's my kitchen, okay?
Not you.
Make it yours then.
We're behind right now, but we got to keep our heads up, okay?
Keep on going. Keep on pushing.
Johan.
I need you call out the actual proteins on the tickets, okay?
Okay, amigo.
Please?
I'm able to talk to the expeditor,
tell him, "Take a step back.
Let me do things the way I need to."
Torres, I need you to make sure
that fish does not come out rubbery or anything, okay?
You got it?
All right, Chef.
Ultimately, Chris does get everything together.
Richard, make sure this lamb is hot and cooked the right way.
Yes, Chef.
Maybe there is hope for here after all.
CHRIS: Keep it going. Keep it going.
Keep on talking.
CHRIS: Plates are going out the right way,
and it's starting to feel like a real dinner service.
Two lamb, one cod, one halibut. Pick up.
I need micros on these.
Now, with the kitchen running,
I can take a moment to go out to the dining room...
Two fresh lamb.
...and start apologizing for the lamb dish.
Extremely sorry about that.
Please accept my apologies.
I hope you guys will come back a little bit later,
and hopefully, you know, I'll be here to greet you
and do whatever you guys need to.
COCHRAN: I loved the fact that Chris came out,
and he was just charming.
All right, good. Run, run, run.
At this point, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
There's only a few tables left.
The food's coming out the way it should have from the beginning.
BURRELL: Well, the fish is looking moist.
I think that at the end of the day, I could get this job.
38 is your last ticket, amigo.
Okay, guys. Finish up on desserts, okay?
Go help with desserts. Go, go, go, go.
Everybody, thank you.
Thank you because, obviously, without you guys,
I wouldn't be anywhere.
And hopefully, you know, I'll see everybody
and work with everybody again. Okay?
Good luck, Chris.
Thank you.
Good luck to you, Chris.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you. Thank you, Chef.
So, it has been quite an adventure
over the last few days, huh?
Yeah.
I said from the beginning, I liked Jared's food.
His demeanor is great.
He communicated well with the kitchen staff.
My concern about him is that he gets a little stuck.
When we had to 86 the pasta,
it didn't occur to him to straightaway go to dry pasta.
That should be an instantaneous substitution
rather than, like...
[ Gasps ] "What do I do?"
Chris, on the other hand --
I think that he's a very good cook.
I had the halibut. It was super-great.
What concerns me about Chris --
He didn't delegate as much as he should have.
He tried to do everything.
You have to show your people what you want to do
and then let them do their job.
So, you guys have a tough decision.
Do you think you know what you'd like to do?
I think so.
Yeah. We do.
All right. Let's do it.
Okay.
Okay.
BURRELL: Chefs.
For one of you,
you will be the new executive chef at The Bistro at Bacara.
And for one of you, the job interview ends here.
But both of you
should be extremely proud of your performances.
You're both very talented cooks.
Jared, I really liked your enthusiasm.
The quality of the food was really important to me,
and you did a good job with that.
Thank you, Chef.
Chris, your menu read really well.
It tasted great, and one of the things that was important to us
is that it was really memorable.
But unfortunately, the job interview
is going to end for one of you.
And the person whose job interview ends tonight is...
...Jared.
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
Congratulations, man.
Bye, Jared. Thank you.
Bye, Jared.
REARDON: Goodbye, Jared. Thank you for everything.
JARED: Can't say I'm not disappointed,
but I was up against a great competitor,
and that's just kind of how it happens sometimes.
You know, I can only take this as a learning experience.
Despite what happened, there's great things ahead of me.
So, that means, Chef Chris,
you are the new executive chef at The Bistro.
Congratulations.
Thank you, guys.
So excited.
Words can't describe the way I feel right now.
Congratulations, doll.
Thank you.
I couldn't have done it without you.
CHRIS: This is as life-changing as anything ever gets.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Cellphone rings ]
MINDY: Hello?
Hey. Guess who's moving to California?
[ Laughs ] Oh, my God!
I knew you could do it, angel.
I knew you could. I'm so proud of you.
Thank you, Mindy.
I love you with all my heart.
I love you, Mindy.
My name's Chef Chris Turano,
and I am the new executive chef at The Bistro at Bacara.
[ Cheers and applause ]
BURRELL: For updates and more, go to...
-- Captions by VITAC --
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