Recaps
Episode 204
With Giacomo gone, the teams head back to the dorms. In private, Tom vows to get back at Garrett and Keith for putting him on the chopping block. Out back, he boasts that he's given up the most to be here, a comment that sets off Rachel and Heather. They angrily exclaim that all they know is cooking. Being here is everything for them.The next morning, three men and five women return to the kitchen. Chef Ramsay chides them for losing the battle of the sexes, then points out Sara, Heather and Rachel for being leaders. Chef Ramsay then tabs Heather to join the blue team. She isn't happy about the change.
Chef Ramsay then takes the teams on a field trip to see one of the most successful restaurants in Los Angeles. Some of the chefs guess that they're going to see Wolfgang Puck or some other famous chef in the kitchen. Instead, Chef Ramsay walks them down the street to Pink's, a famous hot dog stand that's been in business for 66 years. Virginia doesn't order the Gordon Ramsay dog, although she does remark that it's probably spicy and hot, just like he is. Hopefully Virginia's husband works Monday nights and won't be watching the show.
Then Chef Ramsay informs the cooks that in two short hours, Hell's Kitchen will open for lunch for the first time. Everybody runs back to the restaurant, except for Keith, who half jogs and half walks. Why? Because, according to Keith, "That's how K Grease rolls." Which is the second time in five minutes he's referred to himself as K Grease. So it's safe to assume that not only does Keith not run, he doesn't think before he speaks either.
The teams have less than two hours to learn and prepare the simple menu. Scott and Mary Ann tell them that the dishes will be Caesar salad, pizza margherita, chopped steak and pasta formaggio. Minutes before the doors open, Chef Ramsay gathers the teams and lets them know that today's challenge is to serve lunch quickly. Then the doors open and 100 screaming kids stream in.
Heather starts barking out orders and directs the blue team to their stations. To win today's challenge, teams will have to complete a full lunch service. Sara immediately slices her finger on the metal teeth of the industrial-sized box of plastic wrap. Things aren't much better on the other side, as Tom gets angry when Garrett tries to help him set up a Caesar salad. Garrett yells at Tom for being so difficult, and Heather yells at both of them for arguing instead of working.
With Heather gone from the red team, Rachel and Sara battle for control of the kitchen. Sara chafes at the help her teammates offer, complaining that she works best when left alone. Only ten minutes into service, the young customers are already becoming restless. This could possibly be due to the fact that the dining room has been stocked with sugar, balloons, streamers and Silly String. Both kitchens race to send out their orders. With food going out, the mood in the dining room is calming down.
Each team is close to completing a full service. The blue team only has three tickets left, and the red team has four. The kitchens continue churning out food and every ticket is sent out. Bellies full, the children depart, leaving an enormous mess behind. Chef Ramsay congratulates both teams on finally completing a service. But it's time to declare a winner, and Chef Ramsay polled all the children on the quality of the food from 1 to 10. The tykes gave the red kitchen a 9.84 average score for quality. The blue team? They earned a 9.85. The blue team has finally won a challenge. As a punishment, the red team has to clean up the entire dining room.
The blue team piles into a car and heads to the Santa Monica Pier for an afternoon on the rides. While the blue team enjoys a ride on the Ferris wheel, tension is building amongst the red team as they continue cleaning the dining room. Sara fools around with cleaner and Rachel finally snaps, asking Sara if she thinks this is funny. Sara replies no, she doesn't think it's funny. Although she does think that Rachel is a bitch. How's that for unity?! In a rage, Mary Ann slams a cake to the ground. Sara continues her mocking as Rachel begs her to stop.
Later that day, the teams prepare for dinner service. Heather continues to make sure that the blue team is communicating and maintaining the kitchen in an orderly fashion. Whereas in the red kitchen, nary a word is uttered during prep. Moments before dinner starts, Chef Ramsay brings the teams together and breaks the news that the ice machine is broken. Since the red team lost yesterday's challenge, they'll have to fetch ice whenever Chef Ramsay calls for it.
Rachel is on appetizers for the red kitchen. But her salade St. Jacques requires scallops, and that's Sara's section. The prospects of them working in harmony on this dish tonight are not fantastic. Although at the start of service, they are communicating well. Rachel is ready to plate her first salads, but she'll need the scallops first. Sara asks for two seconds. Chef Ramsay comes over and asks if the salads are ready and Sara says she's simply waiting for Rachel's call to send the scallops. Rachel bluntly states that she's already made the call three times.
On the other side, Garrett sends his first appetizers to the hot plate, but Chef Ramsay flatly rejects them, as they weren't salted. He angrily rails at Garrett, imploring him to taste the food before sending it. Rachel sends up her first risotto appetizer, but Chef Ramsay turns it away for being too stiff. He instructs Rachel that risotto should softly settle on the plate, flowing like hot lava, before asking if she's missing Heather. Garrett tries once more with his own risotto. Chef Ramsay takes a taste and gives it the okay.
He then turns back to Rachel, who has now sent up a risotto that's too runny. He asks if she has any quality control in her cooking. In the dining room, patrons are enjoying the food they've been served, although one diner complains that his spaghetti with lobster is cold. Jean Phillippe returns it to the blue kitchen, where an irate Chef Ramsay hands it to Garrett and demands a new one.
Forty-five minutes into the service, Rachel has only sent appetizers for six tables. And Virginia and Sara have to start working together to get entrees out. Virginia asks Sara for a turbot and Sara responds that it'll be ready as soon as Virginia asks for it. But when Chef Ramsay comes over and asks for the turbot, Sara claims that she hasn't even started it. Chef Ramsay lays into Virginia, calling her a liar and saying this incident confirms his thoughts about her, that's she only here for herself and not the team. Sara just laughs.
In private, Sara happily admits that she sabotaged Virginia when Chef Ramsay came calling. Apparently being a terrible person is something to be proud of these days. On the other side, the blue team has pushed out all the appetizers but one table. It's now up to Tom to get the meat going. Chef Ramsay inquires about a ticket and Garrett says it'll take seven minutes. Tom dropped the ball on the quail. The pressure on Tom continues to increase as he causes a delay on a Wellington.
In the red kitchen, Virginia and Rachel have teamed up to prepare the quail, but Chef Ramsay is displeased when he sees that the women have left the wings on. Out of anger, he sends Rachel off to get some ice. On the other side, Tom is still struggling to get meat entrees prepared. When Chef Ramsay sees that Tom is preparing the wrong order, he slams his fist on the metal pass, creating a boom that reverberates throughout the dining room. Tom tries to get a quail out, but his pan catches fire. As Tom stands there, dumbfounded, Chef Ramsay yells at him to leave it before catching himself on fire. He also called Tom a few names. As the fire dies out, Chef Ramsay puts Keith on the meat station and tells Tom to just stand there and watch Keith.
With Rachel gone, the red team is having some success plating entrees. But two hours into service, the kitchens have only served half of their entrees. Virginia sends a rare Wellington to the pass, claiming that she thought it was medium. When Chef Ramsay repeatedly asks her what it is, she finally relents and admits that it's rare.
But it only gets better. Chef Ramsay notices that Virginia is glazing the Wellingtons with a whitish liquid when she should be using egg wash. When he asks about it, Rachel says that it is egg wash, then points to a bowl of egg whites as proof. But, you see, egg wash should contain the yolk, not just the albumen. This is almost more than Chef Ramsay can stomach. But he moves past the egg wash debacle and asks why no more Wellingtons are being started. Virginia simply responds that they're out of them. This is more than he can stomach. He tells Virginia that she's done nothing right and again chides her for lying about the turbot, not knowing it was actually Sara's fault. Then he tells Virginia and Rachel to...well, what he said shouldn't be written down. Chef Ramsay throws his apron at Tom and tells the cooks he's had enough. The kitchens are closed.
Angrier than he's ever been, Chef Ramsay sends both teams back to the dorms and orders them to each nominate one person for elimination. In tears, Virginia asks Sara about the mix up on the turbot. Sara tells Virginia that Chef Ramsay yells to make her better and to not let it affect her. Then Sara once more crows to a confessional camera that she's nice and sneaky.
Elsewhere, it takes Heather, Garrett and Keith approximately half a second to realize they need to eliminate Tom. Tom, in the kitchen by himself, says to nobody in particular that Chef Ramsay is lucky Tom didn't drop him after the apron toss. Then Tom likens himself to a piece of gum on your shoe and promises that he'll be back tomorrow.
After their deliberation, the teams return to the dining room. Chef Ramsay points out Keith as the lone bright spot in the blue kitchen, then asks who they want to eliminate. Keith submits Tom's name. And Sara informs Chef Ramsay that the red team has nominated Virginia. Chef Ramsay asks if they considered Rachel before asking Tom and Virginia to step forward to defend themselves. Tom says he'll never give up. Virginia mentions her passion for food. Chef Ramsay decides to eliminate Tom.
