Michael interviews that service went better than he expected, and he thinks he has it in the bag. Kevin is (surprise!) a bit less of an asshole about it, as he explains that all of the remaining chefs are talented, so someone talented will be going home tonight.

Weird interstitial. The cheftestants go to visit a wine cave and the owner, Tony Terlato, gives them a wine tasting. Creepy. Caves.

While waiting for judging, the cheftestants get to sit in an actual room at an actual table like human beings. It's disconcerting! Padma calls them all in at once for questioning. You guys, what is Padma wearing? I just realized that she's wearing some crazy black dress with cutouts at the shoulders and then it looks like armwarmers? Bizarro. Anyway, Padma and Tom acknowledge that the level of talent this season is higher than any previous season first. They start by talking to Kevin. Chiarello says his vegetarian dish was perfect. Colicchio gets in a dig when he says that it was simple, and he knows some of the other cheftestants might not see the big deal, but it was perfectly done and showed restraint. Of course, they cut to Michael for a reaction shot, and he's looking up through his eyebrows, all pouty. Love it, and love that the judges acknowledged that simple isn't bad. Gail asks about the texture of the brisket, and Kevin says that he was happy with the dish. Chiarello asks if he would have cooked it differently if he had more time, and Kevin thinks about it and says that he would have, if only to provide some textural contrast to the soft polenta underneath. That was a good rationale, but I'm not really buying it, especially since he admitted while prepping that he was worried about the brisket being too tough.