Hell’s Kitchen 6.09: “8 Chefs Compete” Recap

Previously on Hell’s Kitchen: Tennille finally had a good service, Andy was slow again, Suzanne finally got sent up for elimination, and yet again Chef Ramsey shows us that the nomination process is useless as he’s going to take whomever he wants. We pick it up right after we say good bye to Amanda.

The Red Team is discouraged by the continued presence of Suzanne and I can’t hardly blame them. She is finally seemingly humble about the tension she causes, promises to do better, and avows that she’s not out to hurt anyone. The team appears willing to give her a chance but it’s obvious to all of us that Suzannne’s blatant sucking up act is not likely to last.

The next day they gather in the dining room and Gordon gives them a lesson on crepe making. After the demo, he instructs each team to make a dinner, dessert, breakfast and lunch crepe, one for each team member. He has with him Jean Phillipe to assist in the tasting. The guys have a lot of trouble, especially Van. He looks like he’s not so much spreading the batter on the pan as he is squeegeeing it. The girls aren’t doing much better.

The breakfast crepes come to the table. Van has (quail) eggs and bacon. Chef says it’s very creative to put a breakfast inside a crepe. Isn’t that what you asked for, Chef? Also, Van, don’t let Gordon go into a McDonald’s before 10:30 am. Because substitute that crepe for a tortilla and you got yourself a Breakfast Burrito. Ariel has a filling of smoked salmon, herbs and honey. I would totally order that. She wins.

Lunch. Tennille brings up a crepe filled with pepper jack cheese, bacon, shrimp, black beans and salsa. Again, I think someone has confused the crepe for being an equal substitute for a tortilla. Gordon and JP complain that the dish is too spicy. Tennille makes fun of them in an interview for being afraid of a little spice, but this is supposed to be a French crepe dish, not Tex-Mex roadhouse chow. Andy has a prosciutto, cheese (unspecified) and avocado filling. This is clearly better and now the score is tied.

Dinner. Kevin has a seafood crepe, with scallops, crab and goat cheese. Gordon approves. Suzanne has a filling of filet and onions with poached quail eggs. As they sample it she waxes on and on about the versatility of the crepe and what she enjoys most about it. Yeah, I’m pretty sure Gordon is familiar with this particular type of food, honey, he just taught you how to make it. Also, everyone else says it ‘crayp’so when she says it ‘crepp’over and over it just gets right under my skin. Gordon is shockingly patient through the speech. Apparently it tastes great, so Gordon gives both teams a point and they are still tied.

Dessert. Sabrina brings up a crepe that looks very dark, and I’m sure Gordon will ream her for overcooking it. Until Dave lifts the dome on his plate. I think it looks like he overfilled it with his cream cheese/berry mixture and it just exploded. Gordon thinks it looks like diarrhea. So unless Sabrina made her crepe with sawdust and actual diarrhea, Dave pretty much forfeited the game to the girls. Actually, her crepe had poached pears with chocolate ganache and Grand Marnier. I would like to try that. The girls take the challenge.

The guys have to prep the kitchen for that nights new French menu. The girls get to take mime lessons. I’m sorry, who is being punished again? Luckily after the mime thing the ladies get a beautiful fancy French lunch. The guys have to dine on baguette, cow’s tongue and head cheese. Andy loves head cheese. Dave refuses to eat anything other than the bread. What happened to forcing the losers to eat disgusting things, even if they puke it all up repeatedly? Somewhere Andrea from Season 5 is probably still retching. The red team make it back and it looks like kitchen prep has been kicked up a notch, or has at least been edited to appear so. While frantically using a mandolin to slice potatoes, Andy gets his fingers caught in there. This is my worst nightmare with the mandolin, and why I never use it without the finger guard thingie. Andy runs off to see a medic. I finish jumping around the couch saying ‘ewewewewewew’and sit down. The camera focuses on a mandolin. There is no telling but if this is the finger-biting beast, there seems to be no attempt to put it away, or maybe sterilize it. Someone might end up with little bits of Andy in their potatoes. It would appear Van is the last unbroken member that remains on the Blue Team.

Hell’s Kitchen opens with a new French flair, serving frog legs, escargot, truffle salad and the aforementioned crepes. Andy gets back from getting his stitches and now that they are a man up, the team starts to grind to a halt. Andy can’t remember the menu. Dave offers to do all the risottos for him so he can keep up. The first batch of risotto that Dave sends out (that we see) is apparently perfect. I hope Andy doesn’t get credit for that. Meanwhile in the Red kitchen Sabrina puts out a pan of risotto that has half as much color and liquid as Dave’s. Chef Ramsey not only screams at her but brings over the Dave risotto to compare. She apologizes but doesn’t take the opportunity to taste Dave’s and Chef yells at her for that. Gordon takes it away before she can reach for a spoon. She makes another batch and now she gets yelled at for doing it well. He’s angry because she is so inconsistent.

Back to the Blue kitchen, Andy is butchering some crepes. Kevin, in an interview, whines about how crepes are not rocket science. I don’t recall him being all that great at them that morning. Kevin jumps in to make Andy’s crepes.

In the Red kitchen they are working like a well-oiled machine. A well oiled machine with one lying cog. The ladies are shouting out times, including Suzanne, but just as they get within one minute of getting this order out, she stops and says, ‘Uh, guys? I need six minutes.’When Gordon asks why the delay, the lady who can talk forever about the wonders of a crepe can only say ‘I just need five minutes.’Then to make matters worse she slices the lamb way too early, effectively ruining it while it waits for the rest of the order.

Back to Andy, he is now making salad and still screwing up. He knocks over bowls, overdresses the lettuce and generally just stands around helplessly. Now Van takes over the salad making. He points out that he is having trouble with his dexterity because of the stitches in his fingertips. Gordon points out that Dave is cooking circles around everyone with a broken arm. But in all fairness, Dave is right handed and broke his left arm. It’s been immobilized. Andy sliced the ends off of the fingers of his dominant hand. That morning. That has to count for something.

Suzanne is still screwing up the lamb. She can’t get them cooked to the right doneness. Also, now Sabrina is screwing up the frogs legs. She hasn’t seasoned them correctly. I think she makes a good point: How do you taste the frog legs? Especially since the order contains only three measly legs. It’s a good thing the diners at Hell’s Kitchen don’t have to pay for this meal. I’d feel a little ripped off. Speaking of the diners, the customers are getting all dramatic, sleeping on their empty chargers and whining about how long it takes to get a free meal and on-air exposure.

Gordon is back to yelling at Andy, who claims Kevin is assisting him. It’s obvious that Kevin is actually doing Andy’s job. Andy gets thrown out of the kitchen. Suzanne overcooks yet more lamb and this time Gordon throws out both Suzanne and Sabrina for being ‘inconsistent.’It looks like he might shut them down but instead has Tennille and Ariel finish the service for the night. In the Blue kitchen, the three remaining men are working faster now that Andy is gone and they complete their service. Gordon gathers them all together. There is no winning team. They get to all decide which two contestants get put up for elimination.

In the dorm, they all light up cigarettes and discuss the night. Andy and Sabrina immediately own up to their mistakes. Suzanne claims she messed up out of a desire to just ‘get it right’. Eyes roll left and right. Tennille interviews that Suzanne ‘sucked the kitchen.’Ha! The group decÃ¥ides fairly quickly that it should be Andy and Suzanne. Suzanne tries to convince them that she doesn’t deserve to go. Kevin asks her if she is a team player. She replies yes. The fact that the other Red Teamers don’t laugh hysterically surprises me. She slumps off. The rest start discussing that if Andy and Suzanne go up against each other, Andy will surely be eliminated. It sounds like they are thinking of putting a lesser screw-up against Suzanne to guarantee her removal. But honestly, they could nominate anyone; Gordon eliminates who he wants to eliminate. I don’t even now why he bothers to have them nominate anyone, except for the bickering it causes.

The nominees turn out to be Suzanne and Andy. They step forward. They make their arguments against elimination. Suzanne claims to be able to cook well and work every station. Gordon consults her team who emphatically tell Gordon that they would rather be a person short in the kitchen then work another minute with Suzanne. Andy thinks he’s getting better but was only screwing up because of his fingers. Gordon starts in with the ‘But Dave has a broken arm’argument. I still think Andy’s injury is worse. Andy gets chucked, which has been long time coming even without the injury. Gordon nicely tells him he has a big heart but he needs to stop panicking. I’m sad to see Andy go; I have been rooting for him despite his many goof-ups. He is from my home town and is a head chef in a downtown restaurant here in Boston. For every episode that he has appeared in he has shown it in the restaurant and served the same menu Hell’s Kitchen served that episode. So now that’s over.

But the show doesn’t end there. He has Sabrina step forward and join Suzanne. He tells them he wants the ‘old’versions of them back. He asks Suzanne to give him her jacket. She does so and he tells her to now join the blue team. They all seem more annoyed then shocked. Next week: The guys won’t let Suzanne cook, and Dave does something to hurt himself. Hell’s Kitchen won’t be happy until it kills somebody.