Individual feedback begins with Stephanie. Colicchio, looking for something to criticize, says the pork was slightly underseasoned, but that everything was "really tasty." Gail reveals she was a "little hesitant" about the rosemary dressing (perhaps due to last week's rosemary fiasco, but in the end she really enjoyed it. Gail then tells Antonia that "Tom had the suggestion to put the pineapple and the banana in the sandwich, and that made it even better." Antonia responds that she considered doing that, but was afraid everyone would see it as "just a sandwich." It's a tailgating party, dodo. With Dale, Gail (oooh, more rhyming!) thought "the flavors were very unusual for tailgating food," but they all worked really well in concert. Now the judges get to do their heavy lifting -- the fans chose the best dishes, but the judges pick the winner. Based on "complexity and depth of flavor," Kahan crowns Dale the tailgate king. For his troubles, Dale gets a Top Chef Bears jersey -- a nice keepsake for a hometown kid -- as well as one of the fancy Weber grills, which will keep on giving long after Lisa's returned from Italy.

Dale summons Mark, Nikki, and Ryan for a much less pleasant visit with the judges. Nikki's hoping that her presence at the table has something to do with running out ingredients before the judges appeared, but Colicchio informs her that she scored very low with the fans as well, which surprises her. Colicchio asks about her decision not to make her own sausage, and she again gives the "not enough time" reason, as Colicchio points out that Richard, by making sausage patties (sorry, patés), "essentially did the same thing." Gail didn't see "a lot of care given to the sandwich itself," and calls the sausage (and the sandwich in general) "dry." Nikki tries to differentiate between what she served early on -- "red peppers, onions, it looked beautiful, the sauce was there," which inspired several repeat takers -- and what she gave the judges, but they're not having it. Curious about how the shrimp related to the overall dish, Kahan discovers that it didn't -- Nikki just wanted to have something else to serve. He suggests mixing the sausage and the shrimp together, which would have tasted good and offered "an interesting spin" on a classic. Just don't run out of shit, counsels Colicchio.