S04.E14: Final Level

[KeithJ]

Quote

The final three chefs must create an outstanding three-course meal in just 90 minutes.

Airs: Thu, May 15, 2025

[mlp]

We had all kinds of weather watches and warnings here and my local station switched to the weather desk right in the middle of the judging of the fish course.  They switched back to the program at the very last minute so I was thrilled to see that Austin won.  Who won the fish course and what did Austin do to beat Beatrice?  I'm assuming he won the entree round.  Thank heavens.

[snarts]

7 hours ago, mlp said:

Who won the fish course and what did Austin do to beat Beatrice?  I'm assuming he won the entree round.

Not really. If anything, from their comments, Austin's entree was his weakest. Seemed like they really wanted that male winner. 

[cameron]

So glad that hyper Beatrice didn't win. 

[blackwing]

I am absolutely thrilled that Austin won.  He was so happy he was crying.  I've liked him from the beginning.  Best part is that it means that Beatrice lost!

10 hours ago, mlp said:

We had all kinds of weather watches and warnings here and my local station switched to the weather desk right in the middle of the judging of the fish course.  They switched back to the program at the very last minute so I was thrilled to see that Austin won.  Who won the fish course and what did Austin do to beat Beatrice?  I'm assuming he won the entree round.  Thank heavens.

From the judging, it sounded like all three of them were fairly even.  Not one of them had a disaster dish, and the judges only offered minor nitpicks on each course.  It wasn't very clear whether there was a winner of each course.

For the appetizer, all three of them did very well with only very minor nitpicks.  For the fish course, all three of them again did well and it was hard to determine whose they liked the best.  All three of them had undercooked vegetables.  Gordon and Nyesha thought Megan's beans were undercooked.  Beatrice's sweet potatoes were badly undercooked.  And Richard thought Austin's carrots were too crunchy.

For the meat course, all three of them had great dishes.  Megan made rack of lamb with sweet beets, which all the mentors thought was a great combination.  Richard said it was the best lamb he has seen on NLC and it was Megan's best dish in the whole competition.  Beatrice made a katsu sando, which looked to me like a breaded pork cutlet sandwich.  Richard raved about the fact that she made a sandwich into fine dining, and said there were a lot of textures and flavours.  Nyesha said it was like street food and she loved it.  Austin made a ribeye with a sauce Perigeux (apparently a classic French truffle sauce) and had shaved truffles, along with an onion puree which Gordon didn't like.

In the end, I think what pushed Austin over the top was the truffles.  Nyesha gushed about them.  Gordon loved the sauce Perigeux.  Gordon talked about how Austin cooked with such intelligence and precision.

As for the rest of the hour, I couldn't have cared less about bringing back Gabi.  Of the three finalists last year, I liked her the most, but she wasn't my favourite.  She got much more interaction with the finalists than any previous contestant on this show ever has.  I'm resigned to seeing Beatrice next season in the "and here's everyone's favourite, the lovable Tini" role.  Hopefully Austin gets to appear in the finale next season and we get an update.

I think Beatrice was a pretty gracious loser, even if she wasn't instantly thrilled for Austin like Megan was.  She did a polite clap and then he included her in the hug that Megan gave him, and she patted his back.  I'm betting Gordon will do something for her behind the scenes, like he is doing for Ryan.

I was surprised at how well Megan cooked.  She went from almost being left behind in the auditions to outlasting some major competition.

Good for Richard that he finally gets his winner.  Happy that it was Austin, he seems like a nice young man.  What a great story that he had to give up his job and everything to appear on the show, and it paid off.

I believe the show has been renewed for two more seasons, great news.

[milkyaqua]

6 hours ago, snarts said:

Seemed like they really wanted that male winner. 

Eh, I hadn't thought of that.  I was thinking Blais finally got a win but it could have just as easily been Megan so there's a thought.

I'm glad Austin won even if I thought he had a tendency to sike himself when something didn't go the way he planned (like Megan getting the scallops and then Megan getting a bunch of veg for the second fish course).  I hope in real life he's better at pivoting in the kitchen.

That said, yes, the courses all seemed to be close except for a few bumps from each.  And I agree that Gordon will probably offer help to Beatrice.

[oliviabenson]

By next week I won’t remember who won anyway. 

[mertensia]

Glad Austin won.

Megan was a really gracious loser.

 

 

[Ancaster]

On 5/16/2025 at 8:11 AM, blackwing said:

I am absolutely thrilled that Austin won.  He was so happy he was crying.  I've liked him from the beginning.  Best part is that it means that Beatrice lost!

From the judging, it sounded like all three of them were fairly even.  Not one of them had a disaster dish, and the judges only offered minor nitpicks on each course.  It wasn't very clear whether there was a winner of each course.

For the appetizer, all three of them did very well with only very minor nitpicks.  For the fish course, all three of them again did well and it was hard to determine whose they liked the best.  All three of them had undercooked vegetables.  Gordon and Nyesha thought Megan's beans were undercooked.  Beatrice's sweet potatoes were badly undercooked.  And Richard thought Austin's carrots were too crunchy.

For the meat course, all three of them had great dishes.  Megan made rack of lamb with sweet beets, which all the mentors thought was a great combination.  Richard said it was the best lamb he has seen on NLC and it was Megan's best dish in the whole competition.  Beatrice made a katsu sando, which looked to me like a breaded pork cutlet sandwich.  Richard raved about the fact that she made a sandwich into fine dining, and said there were a lot of textures and flavours.  Nyesha said it was like street food and she loved it.  Austin made a ribeye with a sauce Perigeux (apparently a classic French truffle sauce) and had shaved truffles, along with an onion puree which Gordon didn't like.

In the end, I think what pushed Austin over the top was the truffles.  Nyesha gushed about them.  Gordon loved the sauce Perigeux.  Gordon talked about how Austin cooked with such intelligence and precision.

As for the rest of the hour, I couldn't have cared less about bringing back Gabi.  Of the three finalists last year, I liked her the most, but she wasn't my favourite.  She got much more interaction with the finalists than any previous contestant on this show ever has.  I'm resigned to seeing Beatrice next season in the "and here's everyone's favourite, the lovable Tini" role.  Hopefully Austin gets to appear in the finale next season and we get an update.

I think Beatrice was a pretty gracious loser, even if she wasn't instantly thrilled for Austin like Megan was.  She did a polite clap and then he included her in the hug that Megan gave him, and she patted his back.  I'm betting Gordon will do something for her behind the scenes, like he is doing for Ryan.

I was surprised at how well Megan cooked.  She went from almost being left behind in the auditions to outlasting some major competition.

Good for Richard that he finally gets his winner.  Happy that it was Austin, he seems like a nice young man.  What a great story that he had to give up his job and everything to appear on the show, and it paid off.

I believe the show has been renewed for two more seasons, great news.

Thank you for the recap.  The irritation that is Beatrice is so great for me that I couldn't bring myself to actually watch.  But I'm expecting her and her weird pink eyeshadow to be making an appearance again soon on Food Network.