I can't for the life of me understand why Gabe didn't take control of FOH & ditch the tostada when he had all the problems with cooking them (& maybe salvage the snapper & oyster sauce by serving just those on a tasting spoon as a true amuse). He looked like he was on a roll at the start of service with the hot towels & offering Gregory a non-alcoholic beverage option & then it just ground to a halt when all the chefs walked away when the amuse was served. It felt like no one on team Penny had ever watched Restaurant Wars & understood how key FOH is to the competition. It didn't help that no one was willing to walk away from doing their own two individual dishes & either give up one or collaborate with one of the other team members. That overarching individualism feels like the key to why they failed.
Part of the genius of kokosan's menu to me was not just the overall progression from cold to hot but also the contrasts within that - two veg dishes (cold eggplant, hot tempura), two beef dishes (RT lengua, hot short ribs) & two seafood dishes (cold salmon vs hotpot) - I can't decide if it was deliberate within Shota's kaiseki design, but it was definitely a nice bonus for the progression.
I'm repeatedly astounded by how well Shota works with others & how much they respect his opinions (see also how well he worked with Sara & Abishar) - Maria was comfortable asking for help on how to serve the lengua sando in that scene & Shota stepped up for her. Gabe OTH, we saw, was repeatedly dismissive of Sara's suggestions.
