Richard, on the other hand, decides that "the buzz word is re-invent" -- see, he's the kind of person that uses the phrase "buzz word" -- and concocts a shell out of jicama. Adventurous? Check. Annoying? Check. Edible? Perhaps. Ryan takes inspiration from San Francisco's taquerias -- and there truly are none finer -- with a pomegranate and jicama salad, and squash tacos. I guess Ryan and I do not patronize the same San Francisco taquerias. He wraps his taco in a piece of paper, as Mark questions the logic of serving straight up street food in a challenge explicitly requiring a fine dining dish.

Manuel presents his taco first -- chorizo with picante verde, cilantro and goat cheese. It looks fine, although the colors appear a bit boiled out, and while he does rattle off a host of Mexican-sounding ingredients (such as epazote) I don't hear him mention nopales, which is interesting based on the airtime given them about two minutes ago. Wonder where they ended up. Padma rightly guesses that "this isn't the first taco you've made" before gliding off to see what Lisa's done.

Undercooked her skirt steak, that's what she's done. And, finally, made a mark -- but not as she hoped. Grilled skirt steak tacos with caramelized onions, pineapple and cabbage slaw look fine and sound better, but Bayless can't chew through the chunk of steak in his first bite, and he mumbles something unintelligible around his mouthful of meat, making Padma cackle and Lisa look like she would give anything to vaporize. Adding insult to Lisa's injury, Bayless appears to belabor the point far longer than necessary by continuing to try to bite the taco.

Andrew's duck breast tacos with plantain jam and cotija cheese look they came off nicely, and he's psyched he made the choice he did, because one of Bayless's "favorite tacos in the world is duck taco." No real feedback beyond that tidbit, though. Erik created a chipotle braised chicken taco with avocado, pomegranate salsa and guacamole -- man, I hope he doesn't plate the food at his restaurant, because plating is not his strong suit. His food never sounds too bad, but everything he does looks like it's been left out for a few days before serving. Maybe all his dishes have really great personalities. Bayless comment on the "very traditional flavors," and moves along.