After a recap of the entire season leaves us with only Michael and Ralph, the men are given some time with their families. The next morning, Michael and Ralph relax outside for a bit before stepping back into the fire. Chef Ramsay calls and orders them to the dining room. He sits them down and offers some personal advice. Michael needs to be more assertive, to release the beast. Ralph is assertive, but sometimes he moves too fast for his brain to keep up.
Then Chef Ramsay explains the final test. Hell's Kitchen will be split in two and Ralph and Michael will have to design their dream restaurant. Renovating the dining room, creating the menu and running the entire house. The two restaurants will go head-to-head on the same night. Chef Ramsay introduces Michael and Ralph to the show's designer so they can plan the look of their restaurants. Then they'll meet with Jean Philippe to discuss service styles, and finally with Mary Ann and Scott to plot the kitchen and menu.
The planning begins. Ralph tells the designer he wants the place to feel like a party. Michael says that, to him, less is more and color is bad. On to Jean Philippe. Michael wants a basic black unisex uniform for all servers. Ralph thinks the men and women need to look different. And we can only assume that the menus will contrast as well.
As the design teams get to work on making over the house, Michael and Ralph start to work on their menus. Michael is leaning toward more classically exotic dishes, while Ralph wants to take standards like filet mignon and lobster and add an Italian touch. The next day, the men return to the restaurant to continue their plotting. But some bad news comes in for Ralph. The wallpaper company screwed up and sent less than half of what Ralph needs for his design. They're going to have more paper delivered from Pennsylvania today and pick it up the second it arrives at the airport.
With one more day before the restaurants open, Chef Ramsay worries about the designs. He frets that Michael's room might be a little cold, which means that people won't want to stay very long. He also wonders if Ralph's old-fashioned Italian bistro design is original enough. The designer assures Chef Ramsay that things will work out. Later in the day, Chef Ramsay calls Michael and Ralph together. He asks what their signature dishes will be. Ralph is offering a bisteca florentina, a porterhouse steak for two, Italian style. Chef Ramsay advises him to consider offering it for one so more diners can order it. Michael is planning a short ribs osso buco with roasted yams. Chef Ramsay orders them to whip up a sample dish.
Upon first glance, Chef Ramsay thinks Ralph's dish is a little too masculine and uninspired. But he likes the delicate presentation of Michael's dish. Then he tells the chefs that they're going to take their dishes out onto the street and ask passersby which dish they prefer, their latest challenge. Right off the bat, most people are favoring Michael's dish, so Ralph starts pitching his dish even harder. It works for a bit, but in the end, Michael's dish was favored by a margin of 12 to 6.
Back in Hell's Kitchen, the renovations continue. Chef Ramsay gathers Michael and Ralph and informs them that they'll be running their kitchens from the hot plate tomorrow night. And as a practice run, they're going to feed the construction crew tonight, with each chef taking a turn manning the hot plate. The first ticket comes in and Michael calls it out. Chef Ramsay tells him to be louder and more vibrant. Then it's Ralph's turn on the hot plate. Volume and vibrancy are no problem for him. Chef Ramsay advises him to do more than simply bang out orders. Care about them. Then he might notice things like Michael intentionally leaving the crab out of his risotto starters. Michael tells Sous Chef Scott that he's doing it as a test to see what Ralph picks up on. Ralph is also calling Jean Philippe Jean Pierre, which concerns Chef Ramsay.
Sure enough, one of the risottos comes back with a complaint that it has no crab in it. Ralph yells at Michael for leaving out the crab, but Chef Ramsay tells Ralph it's his responsibility to spot that before sending a dish out. Chef Ramsay privately tells us that he was very impressed by Michael's move. It knocked Ralph down big time and taught an important lesson. Ralph begins tearing into Michael to finish a correct risotto. Then a piece of salmon is plated, but breaks in half. Chef Ramsay asks if he cares about that. Ralph looks at the salmon, sighs and then sends it out. Chef Ramsay is very concerned that Ralph isn't showing much care about standards. Chef Ramsay tells both men that they'll have to improve before tomorrow night's service. He gives them one last reminder that it's their restaurant tomorrow. They'll be responsible for everything.
In the dorms that night, Michael works on his assertiveness with impressions of Chef Ramsay.
The big day is finally here. The king of Hell's Kitchen will be crowned tonight. Ralph tours the dining room, pleased with the almost-finished results. But Michael has a couple of snags. First, his booths haven't arrived yet. Second, the room is coming off a little cold. The designer wants to add some red paint, which Michael approves. Chef Ramsay calls the chefs together and introduces Michael and Ralph to their respective staffs for the night. The first one out is...Dewberry. Followed close behind by Wendy, Andrew, Jimmy, Elsie and Jessica. As the winner of yesterday's taste test challenge, Michael gets to choose first. He takes Jessica first, and Ralph goes with Andrew for his first pick. Alternating picks to the end, Michael gets Jimmy and Elsie and Ralph gets Wendy and Dewberry. Elsie, incidentally, is a little bitter that she was the penultimate pick.
Ralph and Michael confer with their teams about the menus and how they plan to run the kitchen. Ralph emphasizes perfection and attention to detail. The teams begin their prep work for the night. Michael's booths finally arrive and Jean Philippe takes Ralph out to the dining room to meet his wait staff. Ralph calls him Jean Pierre once again, and JP makes it clear that tonight, he's going to give back to the chefs when necessary. Ralph tells the staff that his restaurant's name is Frank & Lulu's, which comes from his dog and his friend's dog.
On the other side, Michael meets his wait staff. He wants relaxed service that complements the food at Lola Pop tonight. The name, incidentally, is one of his pet names for his wife. The last bits of prep work continue. Andrew, rushing to peel artichokes in time, slices his thumb. It's severe enough that he has to go to the hospital. Ninety minutes before service, Ralph is already a man down. Andrew, for what it's worth, is distraught and vows to return so he doesn't let Ralph down. Ralph informs Chef Ramsay that his new plan is to work both vegetables and the hot plate tonight to make up for Andrew.
Ralph then shows Chef Ramsay Frank & Lulu's. Chef Ramsay is impressed by how warm and beautiful the place is. He wonders if the rich, baroque feel of the dining room will be reflected in the menu. Ralph assures him that it will be. Ralph then introduces his servers and their updated Italian bistro uniforms. Chef Ramsay thinks the men look smart in red shirts and black pants, but he worries that the women look like old grannies with their fishnets and neck scarves.
Chef Ramsay then asks Michael for a tour of Lola Pop. He loves the bright, California feel and thinks the black leather booths are fantastic. He thinks the tight black t-shirts make the male servers look like ballerinas, but finds the dress shirts and short neckties to be incredibly sexy on the female staffers. In the kitchen, Ralph begins cracking the whip on his staff. Just then, Andrew rushes back in, four stitches richer. Ralph is thrilled. Moments before the restaurants open, Chef Ramsay tells Michael and Ralph that he'll be shadowing them tonight, but not helping. Just watching.
Michael gathers his team for a pep talk and Ralph does the same. Michael's is upbeat and complimentary. Ralph's is somewhat autocratic. And then the doors are flung open. Diners are randomly seated in each restaurant. Michael and Ralph hug each other, offer good luck and then call out their first tickets. Michael's team is quiet as they take in the first order, and he demands some communication out of them. Ralph's first ticket is greeted with much more enthusiasm.
Early on, Michael begins to mix up tickets and the team ends up confused. But the first starters make it out of the kitchen and get a very favorable review from the diners. On the other side, Wendy is struggling to get it together. Ralph is spending a lot of time helping her out, and no time on the hot plate. This concerns Chef Ramsay. But some starters do make it out and the diners do enjoy them.
Lola Pop runs into a spot of trouble when a diner finds a piece of plastic bag in her starter. Jean Philippe returns the dish to Michael, who tells Elsie she gets one free mistake, but he'll kill her for the next one. Michael calls out a starter to Jessica, who says she's busy. She and Elsie begin bickering over space. Michael tries to get Jessica to focus, but she's not showing any respect for his authority.
Out in Frank & Lulu's dining room, the diners are greatly enjoying their starters. But in the kitchen, Dewberry accidentally puts fish stock into a pasta. Ralph immediately throws it out and demands another. Dewberry puts his head down, feeling like he's going to pass out. Jean Philippe calls Ralph to the hot plate and tells him that the food is excellent, but his kitchen needs to speed things up. Dewberry retreats to a back hallway to sit a spell. Ralph gives him a break, tries to figure out his options, then asks Andrew to bring Dewberry back. Dewberry says he can't do it. Ralph asks Andrew to pick up the slack on Dewberry's station, but Andrew has no idea what to do. Dewberry finally returns and promises to last the night. After a quick pep talk from Ralph, Dewberry is feeling good to go.
Over in Lola Pop, Jean Philippe brings another dish back to Michael. A diner wanted his steak medium well and it's too red for him. Michael tells Jimmy to finish it off and makes it clear that he's not happy right now. The team needs to pick it up. Later, Jimmy brings up an osso buco, but Michael sends it back and demands it be hotter. His new personality lights a fire under his team and the tickets begin moving. And the diners are loving the food.
The dishes at Frank & Lulu's are being met with equally strong reviews. In the Red kitchen, Michael turns Elsie from starters to desserts. Chef Ramsay is very impressed with how both chefs are running their kitchens. Both kitchens begin firing out desserts. Finally, the service is complete for both restaurants. Chef Ramsay gathers everybody together to discuss the evening. He tells Michael that since he wanted an L.A. restaurant, every diner in Lola Pop was from L.A. At the same time, since Ralph wanted a New York steakhouse, they flew people in from New York to dine at Frank & Lulu's.
Chef Ramsay tells the men that he's going to study the customer comment cards and then combine it with his thoughts on the evening's service to declare a winner. Michael and Ralph retreat to the dorms to await the results. Privately, Michael tells us that he's positive he won. After a time, Scott and Mary Ann get Michael and Ralph, blindfold them and lead them upstairs, placing them in front of two doors. Chef Ramsay has them remove their blindfolds and congratulates them for making it to this point. He informs them that it was so close, he's going to rely on the customer comments more than ever.
The customers loved all the food. They loved the atmosphere of both restaurants and they loved the experience. But Chef Ramsay asked them all one critical question. Would they return? One of the chefs had an outstanding 90% return rate. But that's not good enough. Because the other restaurant had 94% of diners say they'd return for another meal. Chef Ramsay instructs Michael and Ralph to turn and face the doors behind them. Only the winner's door will open. Hands on the handles and...1...2...3...Michael's door opens!
The celebration is on! The evening's diners and both teams applaud Michael. Chef Ramsay consoles Ralph and then sends him out into the party. After a lot of champagne spraying, Chef Ramsay addresses the crowd and says he has an offer for Michael. He invites Michael to come to London to work at Chef Ramsay's world-famous restaurant and work toward becoming a world class chef. After a quick deliberation, Michael decides to head out to London.
