Asked by Gail if he would do anything differently with his second course, Richard admits that "maybe it didn't need the foie gras," chalking its inclusion up to a superfluous chef-ly indulgence. Gail simply thinks that all of the ingredients got "muddled," as he appears to realize that he's not going to win. Padma confirms that Lisa has done this sort of soup before -- it is, says Lisa, "like my chicken noodle soup," to which she decided to add the soup dumpling. Ted informs her that pretty much everyone agreed that it was outstanding, and Gail admits "there was a lot of slurping going on at the table." After complimenting Stephanie's overall dish -- nicely cooked quail, tasty ravioli -- Colicchio nails her on the leeks. "I have no idea what they were doing there, and they weren't cooked." Stephanie, dumbfounded, repeats that last half of his sentence, and, upon confirming that they were "crunchy," looks like she just pooped herself.

Richard liked the pork belly -- he wanted something minimal that would scale back from the richness of the prior course. Ted wonders if he considered searing it to create a bit more crispiness, which he did, and came to the conclusion that searing the meat would have compromised its integrity, and therefore was not a good option. No one mentions that this is his second instance of under-seasoning. Padma asks Lisa to explain her beef (that'll take hours -- ha). Lisa responds that the buttery steak needed to be served just barely seared, although Colicchio mentions that Wagyu (he calls it kobe) beef can't be treated like an American steaks -- if they aren't cooked enough, the marbled fat never gets activated, and the beef gets chewy instead of melt-in-your-mouth tender. Although he never says it explicitly, it's fairly obvious that he thinks Lisa mishandled her meat. Whatever, meat snob, says Gail, that sauce was just too damn sweet. Stephanie was highly satisfied with her lamb dish, with the added bonus that she thought the lamb was cooked perfectly -- woohoo! Ted tells her "it was one of the more creative things that happened all night," and that he had never seen but is now a fan of braised pistachios, which inspires Colicchio to extol the virtues of keeping "a very open mind when you're eating." He thought it "was full of surprises."