‘Next Level Chef’ season 3 episode 9 recap: Who was eliminated in ‘You Wanna Pizza Me’? [LIVE BLOG]
Tonight on “Next Level Chef,” the 10 remaining contestants step into the kitchen with one single goal: to elevate the traditional pizza into a next-level masterpiece. The winning pizza gains immunity for the whole team and claims the top-level kitchen spot in the all-new “You Wanna Pizza Me?” episode of “Next Level Chef” airing Thursday, March 21 (8:00-9:02 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
In an epic three-story kitchen, the only way to move to the top is to cook your way up. Each week professional chefs, home chefs and social media chefs have seconds to grab, minutes to cook and moments to deliver their dishes to mentors Gordon Ramsay, Richard Blais and Nyesha Arrington. Who will rise to the challenge? Gordon promises the toughest, most competitive and most grueling season of “Next Level Chef” yet. With an amazing one-year mentorship and $250,000 on the line, only one contestant can climb their way to the top.
Here are the chefs still in contention:
Team Blais: Zach, Angela and Nicole
Team Arrington: Von, Christina and Mada
Team Ramsay: Chris, Gabi, Jordan and Izahya
8:00 p.m. — Previously on “Next Level Chef”! In episode 8, the remaining contestants butchered and broke down various cuts of beef amongst their teams to create sizzling steak dishes that earned a “well-done” from the judges. In the end Lauren, a 36-year-old home cook from Team Blais was eliminated. Who will go home next in “You Wanna Pizza Me”?
8:05 p.m. — The chefs return to the studio where Mada does an impressive Haka dance to celebrate his victory in the elimination round last week. Then Gordon says they’re going to cook something they’ve never done on “Next Level Chef” — pizza! Chefs from around the world are getting very creative these days and there are no rules. Gordon explains one of his best-sellers is a sweet corn and chorizo pizza. They’ll have just 25 minutes to create a pizza. Teams head to the elevator where Team Ramsay goes to the top floor, Team Arrington is in the middle and Team Blais is in the basement. The contestants mention how each week someone from the top level kitchen has gone home, so can Team Ramsay avoid the curse?
8:10 p.m. — Gordon explains the key to good pizza is the crust and instructs his team not to grab a dough they don’t understand. The platform decsends and these chefs are off to the races. Up on the top level Chris is concerned when he realizes he grabbed biscuit dough, which could screw up his whole cook. On the middle level Mada isn’t happy with the proteins and winds up with chicken nuggets. Christina can’t find a good dough, settling for focaccia, which can take up to 40 minutes to cook. Things only get worse in the basement where Nicole gets stuck with lamb tongue. The clock starts now and we’ll hopefully have some beautiful pizzas in 25 minutes.
8:20 p.m. — Everyone seems to be working with what they have at this point. No disasters yet. I like Angela’s charcoal dough, which I haven’t seen before. It almost looks like squid ink, and she’s got squid for her topping that she plans to fry. This could be a cool pizza. Meanwhile, Nicole is disgusted with her lamb tongue and Richard is trying to explain to her how to make it look like pepperoni. We’ll see how it turns out. The platform descends once more with some additional ingredients to help make these pizzas pop.
8:30 p.m. — A major mishap happens upstairs when Chris grabs Jordan’s dough instead of his own. He’s overworking it (because he thinks it’s his biscuit dough, not Jordan’s perfect New York pizza dough). Gordon notices and stops him, and both the judge and Jordan look furious. Everyone lets it go and keeps working. As the clock ticks down everyone has their pizzas in the oven. As the platform starts to rise, Christina panics because her focaccia crust isn’t cooking. She grabs a blow torch and just starts torching this thing. To make matters worse, the platform rises through their floor and she barely makes it, tossing her pizza onto the platform. Hopefully it’s not a huge mess.
8:33 p.m. — Ready to taste these delicious pizzas, the judges start with Team Arrington. Christina’s Gyro-inspired pizza is a little messy because it was tossed on the platform. The focaccia crust is “too fluffy” and because of the toss, the ingredients on top look lopsided. Luckily, Christina has an immunity pin if she gets thrown into elimination, but she’s hoping she wont have to use it. Next up is Von’s clam scampi pizza with brown butter mushrooms and fresh peas. Richard thinks it delicious, Nyesha calls it “smart” and Gordon says the sauce brings it all together. Mada’s chicken nugget pizza with sun-dried tomato sauce is “really dry” and the nuggets “aren’t good.”
8:35 p.m. — Next is Team Blais. Angela’s crispy squid pizza on charcoal dough is “a little chewy” and it fights with the crispiness of the calamari. Zach’s marinated salmon pizza on cauliflower dough has great sauce and tastes great. Nicole’s lamb’s tongue pizza on spinach dough actually has good flavors! Gordon loves the way the olives match up with the tongue.
8:38 p.m. — Finally it’s time for Team Ramsay’s pizzas. Jordan’s New York pizza with shrimp and broccolini “works” and Gordon loves it. Gabi’s duck breast pizza on sourdough crust is missing something to tie it all together, but otherwise it’s a solid effort. Izahya’s New York strip pizza on potato dough has no cheese, but Nyesha likes the barbecue sauce. Chris’ biscuit-based dough with ground veal and sweet corn “lacks depth of flavor.” The dough is also a little undercooked.
8:45 p.m. — A pizza challenge may sound easy, but it’s proven to be one of the most difficult. The judges step away to deliberate who are the best and worst chefs of the night. After talking it over, they announce the best pizza of the night is Nicole’s lamb’s tongue pizza! That means Team Ramsay and Team Arrington will face off in the elimination. Gordon sends in Chris. Nyesha nominates Christina, who hands the judge her immunity pin. Nyesha then replaces her with Mada, who will battle it out in the elimination round for the second week in a row. Chris and Mada will be cooking a perfect parm dish in this elimination challenge.
8:55 p.m. — The platform descends. Chris grabs chicken and Mada gets veal. Both seem pretty happy with their proteins. They also each grab a pasta and Chris’ fellow contestants don’t look too thrilled he grabbed angel hair pasta, stating, “It’s too thin.” With 13 minutes left on the clock Mada hasn’t even started cooking his veal. After a few more minutes he finally pounds it down thin and throws the veal in a pan of oil. With 60 seconds left both chefs plate their dishes and it’s time for elimination!
9:02 p.m. — Gordon and Nyesha return for the blind taste test. Mada’s bone-in veal parm is “pink and delicious” and Gordon likes the heat, but the pasta is undercooked. Nyesha thinks the sauce is too spicy. Chris’ chicken parm is cooked beautifully, but the pasta has no seasoning. Nyesha says the pasta lacks a ton of flavor. Gordon decides to eliminate the chicken parm. Nyesha votes to send home the veal parm. That means Richard must break thi tie and he decides to Chris and his chicken parm. Chris is absolutely devastated. He says, “I’m leaving with a big heart and a big spirit.” The top-level kitchen curse continues and next week Team Ramsay will cook in the basement.