CJ disarmingly plays up to Chef Frumkin's famous establishment by doing a duo of pie crusts. The first is a "duck lollipop," and I really don't get how this one works. CJ says, "I baked off the pie crust, brushed it with a little bit of duck fat -- the sauce is made with piquillo peppers, a little bit of sherry." Bravo Graphics tells that the duck lollipop is encrusted with pistachios and pie crust. Moving on to other part of the duo, it's hard to see where the pie crust is, but maybe it's that cracker-like thing the sliced duck breast is resting on with sautéed cabbage, tomato, and arugula puree. Chef Frumkin says, "I'm having a hard time putting it all together." In your head? Mouth? Purse?
Tre quietly tells the judges about his tiny caramelized fennel and apple tart Tatin with a mint sabayon, brandy reduction, and a port, cherry, and walnut compote. "It's veeeeery pretty," Padma says as she cuts into the tarte.
Brian (MALARKEY!) tells us, "I woke up with a lot of energy this morning --" When does he not wake up with a lot of energy? The guy drinks coffee to calm down. Brian goes on, "-- so we channeled it right here." "We"? Oh my god, how many more does he have in there? The Brians are back to the wack-a-doo dishes with four tarts -- one for each personality -- that they are calling "actually like a kind of a four-course meal of tarts, actually." Here we go, in their own words: "Here what we have is kind of an artichoke, zucchini, some eggplant on an arugula pesto, this one here is our celeriac puree with the seared diver scallops, and then we move on to our chorizo pepper-jack cheese, and then what I did over here was a Grand Marnier and fruit? On a little tart with yogurt." Padma asks, "Did you feel that you needed to do four different…" It was the only way to stop all the arguing in his head because "Brian" wanted to keep it simple with a purely vegetarian tart, "Bryan" has the sweet tooth and insisted on dessert, "O'Brian" is a big meat eater and wanted to do something with sausage, and it's "MALARKEY!" who tends toward a scallop mania. Brian says that people are leaving every day, so every day he really has to make an effort to put out the best.
Sara M. made a braised rabbit and chard stew and wrapped prosciutto around the rabbit tenderloin. She adds that she did a "vegetable cigar but it has the innards in there." Two things that should never be on a menu together, "cigar" and "innards." There's a reason why chefs give them names like "sweetbreads" or "tripe." Even "offal" is better than "innards." I think the vegetable cigar is rolled up pie crust, stuffed with vegetables and "innards." Finally, Sara M. made a goat cheese, feta, and fig tart. Chef Frumkin likes the combo of the rabbit and spices.













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