by  Arthur Perkins
 
Tonight started off calmly in Hell's Kitchen. Gordon Ramsay told Lacey that the blue Team had won every challenge since she was placed on it. He implied that he might switch her back, but then abruptly told Giovanni to go to the Red team. Ramsay next demonstrated tapas that he had either made of overseen the preparation of and said that the challenge would be about tapas. The chefs had a few minutes to enjoy his excellent cooking and then they had 20 minutes to use leftovers to make an extraordinary tapas dish. Ramsay lined up specific dish to compete against each other. That left several people (J on Blue team and on the Red Team) with dishes that were apparently not judged. I have to say that the individuals whose dishes were selected were the strongest on their respective teams.
 
The first pair to be judged were Danny and Paula. Both had excellent dishes(pfilet mignon with muchroom ragu for Danny and pepper steak with eggs for Paula and the score was Blue 1 Red 1.
Next were Lacey and LA. Both had dishes that were "disgusting" and neither scored anything.
Next were Robert and Carol. Robert had a tasty pan-seared lamb loin, butternut squash and peppered pasta  dish. Carol had a ginger/soy reduction glazed tuna with fried leeks dish which was supposed to have soy sauce on it. She took the wrong bottle or can and got balsamic vinegar instead. Ramsay noticed in a microsecond. The score is Blue 2 Red 1.
Next is J who has lobster with a fennel and leek broth dish and Andrea with a sage/lobster and asparagus ravioli with pinot reduction dish. Ramsay gave the point to Andrea, so it's tied at 2-2 (what a surprise) going into the last 2 dishes.
It's Ben vs. Giovanni to decide the challenge. Ben's dish is tuna grilled with fennel fronds as a sauce plus asapargus.  Giovanni's dish is beef and lobster claw surf-and-turf. Ramsay says it is a difficult decision but goes with Giovanni and the Red Team wins 3-2.
 
The Red Team goes to Hollywood Park horse racing track and Ramsay likes the horse StressFree. The Red team likes the horse Victory Lady. I expect that the horse race was staged a bit to have Victory Lady nose out Stress Free. LA says that being with Ramsay outside of Hell's Kitchen is "like hanging with your dad." The Blue team has to clean both kitchens, prep both kitchens for a new tapas service that evening and particularly polish the small plates which are what tapas are served on. This creates a lot of dissention and constant supervision of Lacey so Lacey elects to leave the kitchen. Ben has to go and sweet-talk her into coming back like he had done 2 episodes earlier.
 
Service begins. The first major problem to show up is a Red team risotto which is poor because the rice was not mushy and overcooked. It turned out that J was the responsible party in his prep work and the same problem exists with the Blue team. J is ordered to remake the rice for both teams. Robert has burned salmon. Ramsay is yells in his inimitable style at J. Ramsay holds Carol responsible for appetizers, but the underlying problem was Andrea. Ramsay orders Carol and Andrea to eat the raw pasta. As the announcer says, "Carol and Andrea chew on their mistakes." J is back in the doghouse for salmon that is stone cold or burned. J serves up rubber salmon and Ramsay goes beserk. He sends J to a special room for a verbal whipping. LA is told that there is sauce for one dory, but there are 2 dory that need it. LA is pissed at Ramsay calling her a "cow". Ramsay wants to know where is the other scallop. The plate with rubber scallops is a mess and it's J fault. Ramsay tells J to take off his jacket, the end of the line for him.
 
Giovanni gains kudos for his organization of the Red team on the Garnish station which interfaces with all the other stations. He thinks he is the leader of the Blue team on his first night. LA says he is a leader. Ramsay says that it "sounds like a team." Ben is on the Beef Wellingtons, but some of them are not cooked properly. Ramsay orders him to cook them in the convection oven. Paula makes "the best Wellington we've ever sent out. Ramsay stops the action in the Blue team due to 3 Wellington cooking on a dirty tray. Ramsay calls him a "dirty pig". The Blue team recognizes that it has lost. Carol is rightly pissed at Andrea for making mistakes and then not owning up to them. Carol says "if I was a leader" but Giovanni says "but you are not a leader." Ramsay says that it's pretty obvious the blue team lost.
 
All team members have to nominate one person they don't want on their team any more. So Lacey was going to nominate Ben but at the last minute Robert nominates her so she nominates him. Ben and Danny also nominate Lacey. This is all a waste of time because with J already out Ramsay is just not going to get rid of another Blue team member in my opinion. Ramsay tells Lacey and Ben to step forward. Their faults are analyzed and both are told to justify their continued existence. Ramsay asks Ben why he did not nominate himself. Ben admits that it is himself that was the worst performing chef that night and Ramsay says that he is right.  In the end he elects to keep them both. Lacey's days are numbered. I don't know when the next Blue team loss will occur but she is likely to remain dead meat until then.
 
Ramsay's claim that this service was about tapas is hard to swallow. I saw a lot of the same old food as you always have in Hell's Kitchen. Putting it on tapas-size plates does not make it tapas. In my view tapas food should have a decidedly Spanish flavor to them. Risotto, Beef Wellington and salmon, anyone?

(Photo courtesy of FOX)

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