Last night’s “Hell’s Kitchen” on FOX opened my eyes up to something…..to find out if a steak is to the desired doneness, the chef is supposed to poke the center of it while it’s on the grill? Probably multiple times? I think I’m ordering something else next time at Outback.
Anyway, the episode began with the remaining chefs meeting Latasha James, the wife of war hero Otis James, who would be coming home from Iraq the following day to a surprise dinner celebration. To determine the menu, each team would have to create an appetizer and two entrees for Latasha. But first, Chef Ramsay had Suzanne and Robert meet with Latasha to find out what Otis liked to help them create their dishes. The buzz words were grilled lobster, baked potato, seafood, soul food….so who would listen the best?
The first dishes were a Caesar salad with shrimp from the red team and a bouillabaise from the blue team. Red team 1-0. Then red made a filet mignon with grilled shrimp while blue made a soul food medley with mac & cheese, collard greens, and fried catfish. Blue ties it 1-1. Finally, with Suzanne against Robert…red presented a baked lobster tail with pasta, while blue made a strip steak with grilled lobster tails….ah, and Robert listened…”grilled” lobster was the key. Blue team wins. Tennille and the rest of the red team were pissed at Suzanne for not listening properly.
So the guys’ prize was a day in the air with fighter pilots, while the ladies had to prep the dining room for the party, with the help of none other than Ramsay’s wife. Then at the dinner service, the guys were not helping the ladies with their menu items which were chosen by Latasha. But the red team was determined to not let that slow them down. Still, they couldn’t get untracked.
The blue team was beating them badly….as they were like a well-oiled machine and sent out all their entrees before the ladies served a single one. The problem? Tek couldn’t cook the steak properly, they were sending out cold mushroom appetizers and Amanda could not properly cook lobster. Jim was getting slammed with steak orders on the blue team, but he hung tough and got some help from Kevin. Even one-handed Dave was pitching in nicely. Finally, the guys went and helped the ladies complete the orders. But the damage was done.
The red team took a really hard loss, and Ramsay didn’t even choose a best of the worst. He asked them to choose two consensus nominees for elimination. Tek was the easy first choice, and while Amanda was another obvious one, Ramsay had told them to base it on the first few services, not just this one. So that made Tennille the other choice instead of Amanda.
Ramsay asked Tennille to announce the nominees, and after she gave Tek’s name, said that she was the other nominee but didn’t agree with the team. She thought Amanda should be up there as well. So Ramsay asked all three of them to step forward. He asked them to state their case, and told Tennille, “get back in line,” probably impressed with her fire. Amanda, meanwhile, started bawling, and Ramsay questioned her internal desire to win. “I think you’re done,” he said. Amanda asserted she wasn’t. So after a tense moment of deliberation in his own head, Ramsay blurted, “Tek, give me your jacket and leave Hell’s Kitchen.” The right move, without a doubt, since Tek had failed her team miserably not just this week, but last week.
Next week is set up to be insane….Tennille apparently gets in Ramsay’s face just like Chef Joseph did in the season preimiere….and Robert has to be rushed to the hospital with chest pains, just like last season. Yikes. The producers of this show sure love the drama. Anyway, Tennille and Amanda should know their days are numbered, while the blue team keeps on rolling along, injuries or not. Who do you like? See you all next week…
