Spam S'mores

For those times in life where you just have to ask, "WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT???"

Unlike Lenny, Justin Warner did end up with a TV show after winning Food Network Star, back in season 8. Unfortunately, we get to see this sort of monstrosity.

I know it's a Web series and not on TV, but still.........blech.

I've never heard of it but apparently it's known enough to be Google-able:

Still....no. I think I'll pass up on this Foodie Call.

Great Food Truck Race - Labor Day Edition

For Labor Day weekend, we present...food trucks!  Today Santa Fe gets to be a destination in more than Ticket to Ride.

Let's see if the Waffle Boys can do better in a taste challenge than they have in the truck stop challenges.  Uh oh, the theme is peppers, which favors everyone BUT the Waffle Boys.  They do at least have a corn waffle they do, which would work better with a savory presentation, but I worry about how they could keep it from seeming forced.  They are making a chile relleno into a waffle???  It looks like someone made an omelet into a waffle.  The teams only have 30 minutes to cook, which makes me worry about the soul food truck's ability to develop flavor profiles in their soup.  The Spice Girls have a chile relleno that does not appear fried, and the Burger Boys are told their meat needs more seasoning.  The Waffle Boys are told their waffle relleno is "innovative."  The soul food truck does indeed get the flavor into their soup.  This challenge is right up the alley of the Apple Dumpling Gang, and they do shine, but the soul food truck comes out the winners of $1000 for their final till.  I thought they were going to get dinged for using bell peppers in their soup instead of something with more spice.  The Spice Girls are unimpressed, with one of them calling soup and cornbread what she makes to mail it in when she doesn't want to cook.  Bring on the trash talk!

The Waffle Boys appear to have chosen poorly on their spot, as people are driving by without stopping.  We'll see if it helps them more by the end of the day, but it doesn't look good right now.  The Apple Dumpling Gang is running smooth as pie, which is a nice change for them.

Speed bump time: Only one hour to shop for the rest of the weekend, no more restocking allowed.  Interesting balance, because you don't want to run out of food early and lose customers, but at the same time any extra food costs could have been money in the final till instead.  Someone is sure to run out, but who's it gonna be?  The Spice Girls are wondering about their price point since they are having people walk away after asking the price.  Fifteen bucks is a lot for a bowl of chili no matter where you are.  Some of the trucks are closing up a bit early because they don't have the customers and they want to save their food for the next day.  Tyler gives the soul food truck a bit of friendly advice...wonder if he's doing that for the others off camera as well.

So, on to the next day and another speed bump: everyone gets to park in the same place.  The farmers' market seems like a great spot, but again we have to wonder who will run out of food?  The soul food truck adds a breakfast wrap because they're parked right next to the Waffle Boys.  The Spice Girls are having trouble explaining their food to dumb people with no taste, but their whining about it is getting annoying.  They do finally consider lowering the price, but one of them is griping about it and saying they don't think it was necessary.  Honey, when people are walking away when they hear your prices, that's an issue!  The Burger Boys are already worrying about whether they will have enough food.

The farmers' market closes, and everyone has to search for a spot again.  The soul food truck is thinking their parking spot will be big enough.  Nope, they hit someone's bumper.

As a side note among the commercials, we see the promo for Eddie Football's new show, BBQ Blitz!  We also see that Worst Cooks in America has now jumped the shark with a celebrity showing.  Sorry, folks, but that marks the end of my interest in the show for watching it or blogging it!  Now taking nominations for someone else to join the SnarkFood team and blog it...

We come back to the soul food truck and their bumper crop.  The dad is saying it's a minor graze.  Uh oh.  That just sounds like it's going to lead to going somewhere else and leaving no note.  Dude, YOU'RE ON CAMERA!!!  It's not even Candid Camera, you know it's there!!!  Say goodbye to that extra thou in your till, or at least a few hundred of it!  Sadly, I'm right.  At least a couple seasons ago the guy was honest about it!  It's sad when your kid can figure out that your money just disappeared and you can't!

In better news, the Waffle Boys came up with the idea of a grilled cheese waffle.  That had better stay on your menu, you need to have a savory option to keep up with the others!!  The Spice Girls apparently didn't need to drop their prices, because they ran out first, with FOUR HOURS left to sell.  The Apple Dumpling Gang is dropping their prices by half with 45 minutes left, and people are turning around when they hear 50% off.  The Waffle Boys did overbuy by a whole batch, which runs them $150.  They're saying, "we can't go home this weekend."  Hate to say it, boys, but you can go home any weekend.

Judgment time, and Tyler asks the teams to recap the weekend.  This sounds like the leadup to pounding on the soul food truck.  He goes to the Spice Girls first and tells them they need a better elevator pitch.  Looks like the Burger Boys also had a bunch of food left over.  The soul food truck loses $250 as a deductible AND another $250 for not stopping and doing the right thing.  Did you really make that much in sales in the time it would have taken you to leave a note???  Next stop is Amarillo, but who will make the trip?  Despite the extra batch of dough not getting sold, the Waffle Boys run away with the victory, selling over $5000 in product.  The soul food truck is in second, but if they hadn't hit that car they would have been at the top.  Spice Girls and Burger Boys are at the bottom, separated by 80 bucks.  Selling out too early and dropping their price hurt the Spice Girls too much, and they go home.

Keri from Spice Girls is tearful again talking about being away from her kids.  You know, we see that on this show and Food Network Star both, as well as to a lesser extent on Hell's Kitchen.  First of all, you know what you're signing up for and you know it's not going to be easy.  No, I've never tried to be away from my son for that kind of time, but on camera isn't the place to show the emotions about it either.  Second, it's only the moms they show on camera saying this.  When they have dads on these shows, they talk about doing all this for their kids, but it's not the emotional scene that it is for the moms.  Thanks, editors, for furthering the stereotype that moms don't get to become top chefs and stars, and that you can only be a mom food star if you became a food star before having your kids.  At least we have Melissa d'Arabian to show us otherwise!  Ok, stepping off my soapbox for this week.

Great Food Truck Race 8/30/15

Time to see if the Apple Dumpling Gang can continue their madcap caper!  The recap starts with the type of introduction of each team that we would have liked to have had last week.  The Apple Dumpling Gang was allowed to use their proceeds from last week to rent another truck to use.

It's raining/snowing in Flagstaff.  I didn't even know it snowed there!  First challenge is simple, who can sell the most by the end of the first day.  The soul food truck is addressing the weather by making soup.  The Waffle Boys are sticking Belgian chocolate into the middle of their waffle.  WANT. RIGHT. NOW. The Apple Dumpling Gang is sticking close to them hoping that being different enough will get people to buy from them also, rather than wanting people to come of them instead of the Waffle Boys.  The Burger Boys start doing BOGOs, never a good sign.

The winner of today's challenge gets to start selling an hour early tomorrow.  That won't help the Waffle Boys if today is Saturday, as it appears to be, because they'll be in church, right?  The Waffle Boys win, so how will that work out?  They leave at 9 AM while everyone else leaves at 10.  They all have to get to Sedona, and the Waffle Boys decide to shop and start mixing before their leave so they're ready to go as soon as they get to Sedona.  I guess it's not Sunday after all.  Looks like the one thing they forgot to do was get a place to park, but they do find a spot at the same place as 4 other trucks.  Well, this is where the fact that they're ready to go right away helps them.

The Spice Girls are playing to their audience by putting a vegan dish on the menu, and their customer base seems to appreciate it.  One of them has her kids visit...I guess they're local?  They didn't mention that, and they're not talking about being able to get a ton of friends to visit.  The New Yorkers don't seem to have much of a market here, but they decide against moving over to the store where everyone else is.  The Spice Girls' vegan curry seems an even better financial decision as the Apple Dumpling Gang and Burger Boys are losing sales for not having any vegetarian options.  The trucks have one more hour until it's time to stop for the night, but they have to have a full truck of ingredients by the time they leave.  The Waffle Boys shopped well enough this morning that they don't have to stop selling to shop.

Truck Stop Challenge: The teams have to sell rabbit-rattlesnake sausage dishes, and at the end of the challenge they have to pay $100 for the sausage.  However much they sell, Tyler will double it.  The Waffle Boys are making a sausage benedict that I also WANT. RIGHT. NOW.  They've skinned rabbits before and are able to describe both the taste and the texture of rattlesnake...clearly they know their ingredients well.  The Burger Boys mix their sausage meat into their burgers, and the Apple Dumpling Gang mixes theirs into egg roll fillings.  The Spice Girls have made chili.  The Apple Dumpling Gang and the Waffle Boys are cooking WAY too slow, though, and they are the last to leave.  The Apple Dumpling Gang ends up with only 20 bucks after paying for their sausage, and the Waffle Boys have to hand over 10 bucks of their own money, which will then become 20.  The Waffle Boys should be okay after their previous days at least, but the Apple Dumpling Gang is in trouble.

They have a few more hours to sell, which means finding a spot again.  The Burger Boys added a vegetarian option, and people are ordering it.  This time the New Yorkers do move halfway through when they see the scene is dead.  The soul food family parks outside a tourist info spot, good call there.  The Waffle Boys are getting good sales, but one of them needs to learn that there's no crying in food trucks!!  My money at this point is on the Apple Dumpling Gang or the New Yorkers going home.  The Waffle Boys are nervous because of the lack of excitement over their sausage, but they sold out of dough at the end of the night, so they can't be that bad off.

Judgment Day.  Ice T could not be reached for comment.  Next trip is to Santa Fe, but we still have to see who is making the trip.  Spice Girls win on their home turf, not a surprise.  Waffle Boys came in second, and the Spice Girls are lucky that the boys did so badly in the cooking challenge.  Tyler points out that this is the second week in a row that the boys haven't done well in the cooking challenge.  I was right, bottom two are the Apple Dumpling Gang and the New Yorkers.  Fifteen dollars decides it in favor of the Apple Dumpling Gang, and their caper continues.

Join us next time to see if the Waffle Boys can up their game in the challenges.

Great Food Truck Race is back!

Last night we were (among other clothed activities that still kept us up past 3 AM) watching the season finale of last summer's Great Food Truck Race as Middle Feast took the win.  Now it's finally time for a new season, this year with a Route 66 theme.  Start your engines, ladies and gentlemen, it's gonna be a wild ride!

Well, we're not starting out in Radiator Springs.  Instead we start and end with water, going from Santa Monica to Chicago.  Before we even get introduced to the teams we learn their first task, selling $200 worth of their signature dish at the Santa Monica Pier to be allowed to go to the Route 66 kiosk and get a map to their next destination.  I do kinda miss watching their faces as they see their truck for the first time.

We have a father-daughter team making Central American soul food that so far looks like regular soul food.  We have a waffle empire, since waffles seem to be the new bacon these days.  We'll see what Mike thinks of the New Yorkers making Italian food and if he likes them more than he liked Dom.  We have a husband, wife, and daughter making Cuban food...yum!  Too bad they can't remember to turn on the rice cooker.  There's an Asian truck and a spice-based truck that so far is making Indian food but may still reach into other types of spice.  Globally Delicious burgers?  We'll see how they end up.  The Spice Girls are looking to live for themselves and get validation to show their kids later.  That doesn't usually seem like a winning strategy, but we'll see.  The waffle guys are asking people if they've heard of their truck, which doesn't seem useful two states away from home.

The Spice Girls reach their goal first, and Tyler tells the rest to stop.  I'm wondering if the others have only what they told so far as their first seed money, especially since Tyler just gave the Spice Girls an extra $100 for their seed money.  Yep, that's the deal, and you can sail away from Cuba right now since the family only sold $20 worth.  Whew, they all just got $66 more in their tills, because Food Network loves a theme.  That still leaves the Cuban family sitting on a third the seed money of anyone else.

The glimpse going into commercial shows one of the trucks with smoke coming out of it on the side of the road.  Um, guys, you're supposed to park and THEN cook!!!  Here's an interesting twist...the Asian dumpling team is talking about how they've always called their truck Diva because she's temperamental.  Did Food Network decide to cut costs this time by only using teams that already owned their own food trucks?  Part of what I liked about the past seasons was teams getting their shiny new trucks, especially since learning from a food truck owner here that most food trucks are a good 20 years old when a business gets ahold of them.  The waffle truck team is 3 brothers from Provo.  I guess we can see what they've done now that their missions are over.  Fourteen kids in the family, and one of them is having trouble naming all of his siblings in the right order!

Arriving in Arizona.  The Spice Girls are branching out to another country and hoping to beat the heat by taking their signature curry dish off the menu and replacing it with a jerk chicken lettuce wrap.  The Cuban family is at least allowed to mitigate their disaster by using their leftovers from Santa Monica as they start cooking.  As long as it's not Soylent Green.  It sounds like the Asian team is doing a corn dog banh mi.  I wonder if that would be a Gene Weingarten Google-nope.  Looks like it is!  I can see that as an answer to a challenge, but doing it on purpose is just weird.

Time to find a parking spot.  The soul food family finds a bass fishing competition...good spot to sell to country boys.  Burger boys are in the same spot, and we find out that they met because they were both in love with the same girl.  Instead of fighting over her, they formed a bromance over food.  The waffle truck, the Spice Girls, and the Cuban family found the only landmark in town to sell at.  The Apple Dumpling Gang starts to see smoke...apparently Diva wants to be taken out to dinner herself before she puts out again.  They have no money to pay the tow truck, so they have to convince a tow truck operator to leave the tow truck hooked up to the food truck as collateral that they will actually pay up once they've sold some food.  I *really* don't like this.  The New Yorkers are at a skate park.

The Spice Girls have people waiting in line for over an hour and add their tikka masala back into their menu because it's fast to serve.  The soul food truck finds the bass competition isn't biting and decide to move.  The Apple Dumpling Gang decides the same despite it costing them $100 for a tow each time they move.  The Waffle Boys like working with their siblings...good thing the truck only fits 3 of them, since they can't remember all of their siblings' names.  The Apple Dumpling Gang is pulling their hair out.  I hope they at least made enough to pay the tow truck driver!  If they get eliminated, are they going to just have to stay in Arizona until they make enough to get the truck repaired?

Cooking challenge time: fish and chips.  Which makes no sense without the explanation that the bridge in town is actually a reassembly of the real London Bridge.  Winner gets $500 and could be the only chance the Apple Dumpling Gang has.  The Waffle Boys are stopping to go to church before they make their food.  I hope for their sake that they're not staying for priesthood after the Sacrament meeting!  At least they'll play on Sunday, unlike the BYU basketball team.  It could work out really well for them if they shop and prep while everyone else is in priesthood/relief society/Sunday school and leave the truck at church to sell as everyone leaves.  They do not go that route, however.  The Spice Girls' fish is taking too long to cook, which could make up for the Waffle Boys going to church.  Nope, the Spice Girls join the Apple Dumpling Gang, the New Yorkers, and the Guava Tree to finish first.  The New Yorkers were the first team, which seals the deal for the Apple Dumpling Gang.  I don't think the Waffle Boys starting late will make up for three tows.  The Cuban trick is having mechanical issues as well, but the dad is able to fix it.  Dad Points for the win!

Tyler comments that it's been a while since everyone on the show already had their own food trucks.  I didn't see the first few seasons of this to have known that.  Wow, the Waffle Boys didn't just stay alive, they won!!  They had half again what the next team did!  Guess they did have plenty of time to go to church!  There's a good example that when you give to God, he takes care of you.  Guava Tree and the Apple Dumpling Gang are at the bottom, but the Apple Dumpling Gang is somehow safe.  In a beautiful display of sportsmanship, first the Apple Dumpling Gang and then the other teams run over to hug the Guava Tree family.  Tyler says that Food Network will get Diva to the next destination, Flagstaff, but then it will be up to them to get it fixed or keep it moving some other way.  Just as long as the Apple Dumpling Gang doesn't try to pull off a madcap caper that's fun for the whole family to fix it!  Tune in next week to find out.

Food Network Star Finale

Dom, Eddie Football, or Lenny Jr?  Ok, if you've been following the show or this blog, you know that this really isn't a question.  There's not much original about any of them, but Lenny comes the closest with his Cajun cuisine and shines on camera to boot.  But we have to go through the rigamarole of reminiscing with the other contestants and pretending we don't know what's going to happen.

The finale actually tends to be my least favorite episode until the last minute because nothing else actually happens.  On Hell's Kitchen, the finale has the ultimate competition with each contestant having their own dinner service with their own menu.  THAT is how to do a finale.  Watching Dom fail at rocking a Christmas sweater all over again just isn't as compelling no matter how much everyone laughs at it.  We've already seen them shoot the pilots, and they're not even cooking in the pilots this year!  This is going to be a much shorter post than the others because there's not much that I haven't already snarked on unless they bring in outtakes.

Well, here come the dancing outtakes!  Brian Boitano's pirouette is more graceful than Eddie Football's...whatever the heck that is.  Hashtag Matthew offers to teach Bobby how to twerk.  I'm not sure if I'm glad or disappointed that never made it to camera!  We do get a nice view of Giada's cleavage as she presses Brian Boitano about his box and what she'll find inside.  I'm sure some viewers would like a retrospective of Giada's dresses here, but they mostly only show the ones without significant boobage showing.

Pilot time.  Lenny does get a little weird standing on an empty street to shill his version, and he may have just opened the door for Eddie and Dom.  Before getting to Dom, they cover Mama Michelle quitting.  Susie emphasizes "no regrets," but Michelle's face shows that she really does regret it. Dom's pilot is very good, particularly impressive for him, but it doesn't seem any different from Food Network's other offerings.  Eddie Football does shine during his pilot, so Lenny leaving the door open may bring the decision to how many of the judges want to spend the next year or two feeling Eddie up.

Decisions, decisions.  This is starting to seem like a 50-50 decision rather than a gimme for Lenny.  Maybe I won't have to start using his real name after all.  Susie and Bob see why Giada and Bobby advocated for Dom before and Giada describes him as shiny happy people.  I still think he's the clear runner up here, though.

And Eddie Football beats out Lenny!  So much for thinking this episode would just be Lenny and the Chipmunks.  He did have the better pilot and the better guns, as the parting shot displays beautifully.

Next Food Truck Race starts next weekend, and we'll see if I can keep up with posting.  Until next week, marshmallows!

Food Network Star 8/9/15

Final Four...again.  We start with the final 3 having the carrot of making a pilot dangled in front of them.  But they may not be the final 3 because we have the Star Salvation winner coming back to spoil the fun.

Dom's back, baby!  Let's see if he can knock off one of the Wonderboys.  The men get 45 minutes to cook for their lives with sous chefs from the eliminated finalists.  With some of them, I'm not really sure if they would be more of a help or a hindrance.  Eddie Football takes Alex.  Dom takes Hashtag Matthew for some reason.  Lenny Jr. takes Emilia, remembering how well they worked together in Week 5.  Brian Boitano tries to choose Bobby...I'd join him in that!!!  Since Bobby's disappointingly not up for grabs, he gets Rue.  Mama Rosa, Mama Sita, and Christina get to go home again since they are still not wanted.

Eddie Football is making a spiced meatball with a ginger carrot puree.  Lenny is making fried catfish with a crawfish etoufee.  Brian Boitano is making lamb sausages with tabbouleh.  Dom is making a pasta bolognese.  Dom expects Matthew to take orders, but he decides he wants to go off the map and sabotage Dom.  Brian Boitano talks about how much he likes sausages.  There really is nothing more to say here, the joke is already written.  Matthew isn't Dom's only sabotage, as Mr. Italian has issues with the pasta machine.  Matthew ignoring Dom's orders actually works out for him, as he turns out a good sauce.  But then he ruins it by grabbing his lost shaker of hashtags and coming up with #YoloBolo.  I just can't even.  Next contestant!  Ooh, Brian Boitano and his sausages, they'll be more fun!  While Brian Boitano is jiggling his sausages, Lenny and Emilia have jiggle cornbread.  Rue was right and Brian Boitano's sausages aren't juicy enough.  Eddie Football makes the cardinal mistake of putting something on the plate the judges are not supposed to eat...unless he's hoping to watch the sweat glinting on Giada's cleavage as she eats a whole habanero.  Except she's not actually showing cleavage today.

One take only for the videos.  We'll see how Dom does with that.  Eddie Football stumbles worse than I was afraid Dom would.  Dom is shaking in front of the camera.  Wow, I'm not sure who's worse between him and Eddie.  I was hoping for so much more from both of them.  As Brian Boitano starts his sausages, Lenny thinks he has stiff competition.  But then the wheels fall off the bus.  Eddie and Dom might be safe after all, we will see.  Either way, the only questions at this point are who Lenny's runners-up will be.  Dom stumbles in his presentation but then picks it up and helps us to get more pleasure from flour and eggs than from Brian Boitano's sausages.  I can't even understand Eddie!  Dude, football players are supposed to run wind sprints, not speak them.

Lenny is perfectly safe, and then there are the other three.  Dom gets to make a pilot!  Now who goes home, Eddie Football or Brian Boitano?  Eddie is safe, so I never have to use Brian Boitano's real name.  Mike said I'll have to start using Lenny's real name eventually, but I'll wait till he wins to use it.  The boys pop open a bottle of champagne.  Who would have thought that Dom would be there for it at the beginning?

Lenny's filming his pilot at a chicken and waffles joint in New York called Sweet Chick.  Who is his guest director?  Rachel Ray!!!  Because I don't read her magazine or watch her talk show, it feels like I'm seeing again one of the greats from the past, like if Emeril came out of retirement.  I really do miss 30-Minute Meals and $40 a Day.  Lenny wants to do a show where he travels to eat fried food.  That's gonna help his figure.  Still, you know you're doing well when the director wants to use the first take of the intro.  When it comes time to tasting, Lenny starts to fall apart.

Eddie Football also gets to meet Rachel, who immediately starts checking out the gun show.  I'm jealous!  Eddie has performance anxiety, though.  He's filming at a barbecue place.  Is this the first year where the pilots are not showcasing the contestants as chefs?  Whether Eddie beats Lenny or not, he does at least earn a kiss on the head from Rachel.

Dom meets Rachel at a "Traditional and Vegan Italian Restaurant."  Vegan Italian?  Really?  If you say so.  Dom stumbles as usual, but at least he has multiple takes this time.  Tune in Sunday to watch him and Eddie lose to Lenny!

Food Network Star - Star Salvation 8/9/15

While we were out (or at least not watching episodes online), the eliminated finalists have been trying to work their way back into the field under the guidance of Alex Guarnaschelli and Jeff Mauro.

They waited to start until they had 4 eliminated finalists, so we have Christina, Hashtag Matt, Mama Rosa, and Mama Sita competing on tacos.  Mama Rosa is making chicken parm tacos.  Alrighty then.  Hashtag Matt still needs to remember he's on tv and not on Twitter.  Christina's food saves her over Mama Sita.

Rue comes in next, and we'll see if she can bring out her flavor again.  This dish and presentation have to capture the moment when they fell in love with cooking.  I would have to make my great-grandmother's sour cream sugar cookies, especially since it's only half an hour of cooking time, not long enough to make my pie crust.  Rue thinks her beef cubes for stew are bite-sized...is she feeding dinosaurs?  Mama Rosa's mascarpone wontons leak out, leaving shells as empty as her hopes.  She tries to recover by deconstructing it and putting some extra cheese on the plate, but it looks too pre-made.  Christina makes a soup that seizes up and talks about depriving her husband of mushrooms.  Hashtag Matthew makes a salmon fillet in a buerre blanc.  Mama Rosa leaves and Emilia comes in.  We are back to zero Mamas since Mama Michelle quit and isn't returning for salvation.

I would say Emilia has a chance to show less arrogance in this show, but she dashes those hopes right away.  The contestants have to make a dish using ingredients that also go into Bobby Flay's barbecue sauce.  Hashtag Matt's making grilled shrimp ceviche.  Missing the point much?  Rue is making chicken breasts sized for dinosaurs, so we'll see if those cook in time.  As we head to commercial break, all four cooks seem to set the kitchen on fire at once.  Star Salvation isn't supposed to refer to the medics saving everyone's lives, people!!  Christina's steak and Rue's chicken are raw, so we'll see if they are able to salvage their dishes.  Emilia made some sort of Indian veggie dish where she subbed everything out for other things.  Christina goes home.

Now we get to play with avocados!  I love making my guac, but I'm not sure how I would class that up for television.  Emilia wants to take a page from Alton Brown's book and make avocado cake in the microwave.  I hope this one doesn't leave the judges looking green around the gills.  Hashtag Matthew is deep frying his avocado.  Rue is making something with an avocado peanut butter sauce, but using her avocado two ways saved her and Matthew goes home.

Enter Dom, who is told he is the best cook out of them.  They get a mystery ingredient to use, and Emilia gets squash blossoms...nice fit.  However, her oil is not hot enough to fry them.  Dom gets rosemary-lavender.  I hope he can keep the herb from getting overpowered in his pasta dish. Rue uses sorghum in her chili con carne.  Emilia's presentation disconnect sends her home.

Finale time, and Alex joins the crowd!  They get 25 minutes to make one perfect bite.  Rue is making butter poached salmon topped with brussels sprouts.  Alex is making some sort of cheese sandwich from London.  Dom is making a lamb chop with cauliflower puree.

The winner is...not to be learned until the next episode.  I WAS about to go to bed, but now I'm going to push it out and watch the next episode.