Hell's Kitchen 7/30 Recap: Like Cinderella, Only More Whiny

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Last week’s Hell’s Kitchen brought us a double elimination and we said goodbye to both Julia and Josh. Of course, Julia’s elimination was much more dignified and included an offer of culinary school tuition from Chef Ramsay. Josh simply got booted from the kitchen in the middle of dinner service and that was the end of that. Now we’re down to three remaining chefs: Rock, Jen and the very unlikely third, Bonnie.

Following Julia’s elimination, Rock asks to speak with Jen. He apologizes for everything he said during the last dinner service and she does as well. It might be all talk, but at least it keeps the peace for a while. Rock tells us he learned how to apologize from dealing with his wife. Back at the dorms, Bonnie and Jen talk about how bad they feel that Julia is gone. Bonnie cries and says she hopes culinary school will be the best thing for Julia. It seems that Julia’s ouster was also hard on Rock. He tells us he was sad to see Julia go: she was an inspiration and he was proud of her.

From Homemade to Gourmet
The next morning, the final three gather in the dining room and find an exceptionally chipper Chef Ramsay. He grins, saying it’s good to see them all. Ramsay tells them that he has worked with some phenomenal chefs over the course of his career and today he’s going to introduce them to the best of those chefs. This person was his first mentor and, without this chef, he wouldn’t be where he is today. With that, Ramsay introduces his mother. She walks in carrying a covered dish. Ramsay introduces Rock, Jen and Bonnie to his mum and warns them that there will be no cursing in front of her.

Chef Ramsay then turns to his mother and sweetly asks what she’s brought for him. She then removes the cover to the dish she’s holding and reveals a plate of macaroni and cheese. Ramsay admits that mac and cheese is his favorite comfort food. He then explains that, while people love comfort food, in a fine dining restaurant you have to take it and make it into something unique. He then shows them his fine dining take on mac and cheese, which includes lobster, shavings of black truffle and aged parmesan. *drool*

Today’s challenge is about taking one of America’s classics and putting a fine dining twist on it. Chef Ramsay calls sous chefs Scott and MaryAnn into the dining room. They wheel in carts, upon which are five different covered dishes. Under each cover is the name of a classic American dish. Bonnie steps forward first and makes her choice of the dishes. She ends up with franks and beans, which she oddly thinks is a British dish. Jen gets fried chicken and Bonnie whines about how Jen got lucky. Rock gets spaghetti and meatballs. They will all have one hour to transform their American classics into innovative, fine dining creations. They can use anything from the pantry to create their dishes.

Everyone gets started on their creations….well, all except for Bonnie, who still claims to have no idea what franks and beans is and continues to whine and wander around the kitchen. She lets a curse word fly and receives a quick reprimand from Chef Ramsay: his mum is still there, remember. Bonnie looks completely flummoxed. Is franks and beans just cut up hot dogs in beans? Do you eat it on a bun? Where did she grow up that she doesn’t even know what franks and beans is?

With 40 minutes to go, Chef Ramsay prowls the kitchen, telling the chefs that they really don’t want to lose this challenge. Finally, it looks like Bonnie is making progress. She says the amazing ingredients available helped get her imagination going. With only a few minutes remaining, Rock asks for the thyme. Chef Ramsay tells him he has 2 ½ more minutes. Rock tries to clarify that he wants the t-h-y-m-e not the t-i-m-e. The T-I-M-E runs out and the chefs must now present their dishes.

Bonnie presents her take on franks and beans first. She tells Chef Ramsay and his mum that she chose to do an Italian take on the dish, with mini bruschetta and a mushroom wheat sauce. Rock’s spaghetti and meatballs-influenced dish is what he calls a “study of spaghetti” with 3 separate types of spaghetti: one with cream sauce, another with veal and a third with spicy chorizo and pork. Jen presents her fine dining fried chicken. She’s fried a roulade of chicken stuffed with crab, spinach and goat cheese. Ramsay admits that she’s definitely created a new version of the dish. Now it’s time for the judging and Chef Ramsay has something special in store.

Here Come the Judges
The surprise in today’s challenge is who will be judging the dishes. Rock, Jen and Bonnie all squeal (okay, maybe not Rock – he does the manly equivalent) as they see their mother’s enter Hell’s Kitchen. That’s right – their mothers will be judging today’s challenge. Here comes Rock’s mother, Carol, Bonnie’s mom, Joyce and Jen’s mom, Carol. Rock says he just wants the challenge to be over so he can talk to his mom. Bonnie tells us they haven’t even been able to speak to their families in weeks, so being able to see her mom is reward enough for her. Jen weeps. A lot. Chef Ramsay cautions the chefs that they will not be able to clue in the moms as to which dish belongs to whom.

Rock’s dish is judged first, followed by Jen’s and Bonnie’s. Jen says she’s more worried about her mom not liking her dish than anything else, while Bonnie is sure her mom won’t like her dish: she doesn’t really like gourmet food. As the moms discuss the food with Chef Ramsay, the three chefs strain to hear the conversation.

Finally, the judges have made their decision, Ramsay says. The outright winner, with all three votes, is Jen. Jen weeps. Rock, Bonnie and Weepy run to their mothers. While everyone hugs and cries, Chef Ramsay tells Jen that she and her mom will be having a special day together. First, they will be having lunch with Ramsay and his mother. Bonnie is envious of Jen’s reward, but thinks Jen might have needed it a bit more. As the losers of the challenge, Rock and Bonnie will be cleaning the dorms from top to bottom. They get a few minutes with their mothers before they turn back into pumpkins…or Cinderellas. In quite a sweet moment, Rock breaks down crying in his mother’s arms. It almost makes up for the ranting in the kitchen last week. Finally, their time is up and the moms leave. Bonnie then begins whining about having to clean.

In the limo with Gordon and his mum, Jen and her mom toast with champagne. They eventually pull up at The Lodge Steakhouse. At lunch Gordon tells Jen not to be afraid because she’s this close to the end. He then asks her what she’s going to do at the next dinner service. She vows to be loud and assertive and in control. Is there anything else, asks Gordon? He feeds Jen her next line: she’s also going to be accurate. Jen tells us that this is the most important time she’s spent with Chef Ramsay so far.

Punishment - Reward
Back in the dorms, Scott and MaryAnn have made a list of everything that needs to be cleaned which includes….well, it includes basically everything. Bonnie cheerfully volunteers to make the beds. Rock glares at her, saying that’s the easiest thing on the list. Bonnie then volunteers to Windex stuff too. Rock tells her they can just do everything on the list together. Bonnie complains that her mom thought the spaghetti dish was hers and she still voted against it.

After some cleaning and lots of whining from Bonnie, Rock admits it actually wasn’t too bad spending time with Bonnie….even though she’s a diva and a drama queen. Cue Bonnie whining from the kitchen: she’s hungry (to which Rock shouts “EAT!”), she doesn’t want to do any more dishes, she has low energy. Rock tells her to stop talking and maybe she’ll have more energy.

Gordon and Jen finish lunch with their mothers. He tells Jen he has one more surprise for her: a shopping trip to Surfas, a kitchen equipment shop. She’ll have $1,000 to spend in the store. Jen jumps up and down and hugs Gordon. He takes that as his cue to grab his mom and vamoose. One she gets a glimpse of the cake pans, Jen’s eyes glaze over and her mom immediately begins making a list so Jen doesn’t go over her budget. She gets a ton of stuff and manages to stay just under the $1,000. Jen finally hugs her mom goodbye and returns to Hell’s Kitchen. She and Bonnie hug and Rock observes that, because the girls are so close, they probably want to be in the final two together. He’s okay with being alone in the competition now. When was he ever not alone in the competition? The three of them discuss the next dinner service, saying it’s the most important dinner service of their lives.

&^#%*’n in the Kitchen
Before the dinner service starts – that would be the biggest service in Hell’s Kitchen (Ever) – we get a quick reminder of the chefs who’ve screwed up previous dinner services and got booted for their mistakes. I hardly recognize some of these people. Chef Ramsay calls Rock, Jen and Bonnie forward and tells them again that this is a very big night. In addition to doing their usual work doing dinner service, each of them will be taking a turn running the pass tonight. This is a serious task and can reveal the difference between a cook and a leader. Ramsay will get the dinner service started and then pass control over to each of them.

In order to prepare the final three a bit more, Chef Ramsay calls each of them over individually for a little lesson in being a kitchen dictator. First up is Bonnie. Ramsay sets the scene, explaining how he’s just screwed up and then tells her to let him have it. What follows is a spot on impression of Gordon Ramsay and he eats it up. Rock is up next and his attempt is kind of pathetic. Ramsay tells Rock he has no idea how stupid he sounds. After a second try, Rock does a little better, but it still isn’t great. Jen is last and, after getting bleeped about 100 times and taking on an odd Southern accent, is told to try again: Ramsay says she sounded like a drunk country western singer. Her second try isn’t much better, even after Ramsay tells her to pretend that he’s just killed her beloved Golden Retriever in a microwave. Now that the bitching lesson is out of the way, Ramsay calls to Jean Philippe to open the doors.

Being Gordon Ramsay
The first ticket hits the kitchen and, after Chef Ramsay calls out the order, he makes them promise to actually finish this dinner service. The communication between all three is very good and Ramsay tells them to keep it up. Because there are only three of them, Scott and MaryAnn will be filling in the gaps in the kitchen. They will also be testing the three chefs at the pass. Ramsay calls Scott and MaryAnn over for a little meeting. He asks each of them to make one or two mistakes while each contestant is at the pass. First, he tells Scott to leave the crab out of the crab spaghetti.

Jen is first up at the pass. She’s a little worried since she’s never done this before. An order come sin and Jen has no idea what to do. Ramsay prompts her: she needs to call out the order. Once she figures out that part, Jen gets the hang of calling out the orders. Unfortunately, that seems to be the easy part. Now she has to test Chef Ramsay’s quality control test. Scott brings up the spaghetti with crab, sans crab and she doesn't catch it. Ramsay prevents the waiter from taking the dish to the customer and scolds Jen. She re-orders the spaghetti, but knows she’s failed the test. Luckily, Jen does catch some bland risotto, but Rock says her inexperience showed and she sounded jumpy. Ramsay finally sends Jen back to her station. In spite of her spotty performance at the pass, starters and entrees still got out to the diners.

It’s time for Rock to take his turn at the pass. He does well at the pass, but he still needs to pass the quality control test. Scott prepares the monkfish without a key ingredient and Rock quickly notices that Scott has omitted the ham. He instructs Scott to do it again and Chef Ramsay applauds him. Unfortunately, Rock is failing at getting the team to complete orders in a timely manner due to his inability to communicate with the chefs. Bonnie says he was slow and, because he’s been an executive chef, she expected him to be better. Ramsay notes that Rock’s fingers are slow.

Half the restaurant still needs to be served when Bonnie takes over at the pass. She immediately calls out the wrong order, but manages to get herself calmed down. She passes the quality control test with flying colors, sending back an order of squab because the skin isn’t crispy and an order of risotto because it isn’t seasoned properly. While she does a good job at maintaining Chef Ramsay's standards, some things are out of her control. Jen announces that ALL of the remaining risotto has been overcooked. Overcooked risotto is, apparently, a serious situation because Ramsay takes this opportunity to take back control of the kitchen. Under his guidance, the last table is served and the dinner service is completed.

Chef Ramsay gathers the three chefs together and declares this their best service ever. He’s very proud of them: they’ve shown why they are the final three. Still, the dinner service was good, but it wasn’t perfect and one of them will have to go home. Each of them had highs and lows while working the pass. Tonight he will be judging them on how they performed both at the pass and at their stations. Ramsay then sends them back to the dorms and instructs them to think about why they should be one of the finalists. He tells us it will be tough to end someone’s dream.

…And Then There Were Two
Back in Hell’s Kitchen, the final three face Chef Ramsay. He asks each of them to plead their case and tell him why they feel they should be a finalist. Bonnie tells him that she’s gotten better with every service. She also believes she’s a team player who can take things to the next level and be a leader. Jen says she lives for food and that being in the kitchen feels like home. Although she isn’t experienced, she loves learning. Jen then tells Ramsay that, although she’s been a mouse in the kitchen, she feels she is gaining confidence and that confidence is coming out with every dinner service. That’s nice and all but I can’t get over the fact that she likened herself to a rodent….in a kitchen. Rock believes he’s grown, not just as a chef, but as a person and a leader. She says he didn’t come here to finish second or third, but to win.

It’s time for Chef Ramsay to make his decision and it looks like he wants to do anything but that. He shifts back and forth and can hardly look at the chefs. He tells the final three they’ve all had tremendous highs and lows and that makes this an especially tough decision. His decision is……Rock…..has got to go…..to the final. Rock cries a bit and thanks Chef Ramsay. Ramsay then tells Bonnie and Jen that the choice between them has been extremely difficult. The person leaving Hell’s Kitchen is…..Jen. Bonnie looks even more shocked than Jen does.

Chef Ramsay tells Jen that she’s done incredibly well and that her food is extraordinary. Bonnie hugs Jen and says she’ll miss her. Then, showing that she’s totally over Jen getting eliminated, Bonnie asks if she’ll cook on Bonnie’s team in the finals. Wow, not only is the body not cold yet, it hasn’t even hit the floor. Jen steps forward to give Ramsay her jacket and he tells her she has nothing to feel ashamed about. He gives her a hug and a kiss and tells her not to stop. Jen vows to not stop striving for her dream.

With Jen gone, Ramsay congratulates the finalists, reminding them that they’re just one step from becoming the head chef at the Green Valley Resort and Spa. He then reveals that he has a surprise for them both. Behind them are Rock’s wife and Bonnie’s parents. There are tears all around as they run to their loved ones. Bonnie weeps as she says "I don't think I'm gonna be a teacher any more dad." Rock wonders if they’ll give him a conjugal visit. Nice.

Both Rock and Bonnie have come a long way, says Ramsay, and they deserved to make the finals. The biggest challenge is still ahead of them. With that, down comes the curtain that divides Hell’s Kitchen in two. Everyone jumps back like they’re shocked. Why is no one ever ready for that? It happens every season.

Next week: The finale begins! Yes, you read that right – it just begins, it doesn’t actually end until the following week. Tune in to see Rock and Bonnie decorating their restaurants, creating menus and scouting their potential new home in Vegas. Also, some of the eliminated chefs return and not all of them are happy to be back. It will likely be entirely un-dramatic, but what else do you have to do?

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