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We along with the Top Chef wannabes are treated (?) to the sight of Padma tiptoeing into their rooms, and then, entirely too giddy for that hour of the morning, jumping on their beds, yanking the covers off and chirping "wake up, wake up." After waking them up and parading them out into the living room of their penthouse (fortunately everyone is sufficiently clothed) they find stations awaiting them along with product placed blenders in order for the wannabes to make Padma some breakfast. After grumbling about distaste for cooking breakfast and some manic running after ingredients resulting in a broken bottle of truffle oil, the threat of banana peel style slipping and sliding is never realized.
CJ is tickled by Padma's wake up call and decides to make her crepes since he is certain that all women love crepes.
Hung adds a little alcohol to his breakfast smoothie because he knows Padma likes the secret sauce. Sara is also aware of Padma's fondness for hard sauce but knows that she also likes "healthy food." So Sara makes her egg in the hole with whole grain bread so it's "healthy" and worthy of a top chef.
Hung wins for best use of the blender since he created a dish (the alcohol laced smoothie) which hit Padma's palate in all the right places. His prize is a cookbook of recipes Padma has "tasted and tested."
The chefs are then given airline tickets to ... New York City! Whoo hoo, the wannabes are now all excited as they imagine partying hearty in the big apple. Um, silly wannabes, remember the last time you thought you were going to dance the night away and you ended up cooking in catering trucks with some in painful high heels?
Yeah, right. They arrive at the Newark airport and are greeted by Padma who then informs them that in order to make it to the island of Manhattan they'll first have to deal with a pesky little elimination challenge. So the hot nightlife will have to take place at a hotel nearby the airport.
Not surprisingly their challenge the next day is to create a delicious restaurant quality dish for Continental Businessfirst service. Hung's other prize for winning the Quickfire Challenge is that he gets first pick of protein and then none of the other wannabes can use that choice.
Hung picks sea bass because it's oily and difficult to dry out.
Dale makes a pepper crusted tenderloin.
CJ picks halibut because it's buttery, healthy and filling.
Brian chooses NY strip steak because he sees it as a "rich dish for rich people." Brian also can't pass up the opportunity to use seafood so he also decides to make a lobster hash. Brian also has never flown first class before so he seems to think that it actually is like you see on cartoons and sitcoms and so he thinks that first class = biggest hunk of meat you carry out on a plate without it sliding off.
The wannabes are flustered because they didn't know where anything is in the kitchen in a hanger. Dale, for instance, tries to open a can by hacking at it with a large knife.
After surveying the chefs and finding that 3 of the 6 are making fish, Tom notes that fish is the last thing that he would order on a plane.
The judges for this competition are Padma, Tom, Anthony Bourdain and Jimmy Canora from the "Continental Congress of Chefs" and a passel of top flight attendants.
Brian's ginormous NY strip steak is overcooked and Tony Bourdain claims that his lobster hash has the texture of a doll head or doll hair - it was hard to hear but bad news either way.
Dale's Steak au Poive had very aggressive pepper but one of the flight attendants noted that he liked the kick. Dale miscounted and is short a steak. But hey, running out of food or whatever it is you wanted is standard first class experience on most US airlines.
Sara offers salmon with a side of couscous. It's unevenly cooked and while a couple of flight attendants get some delicious hunks of fish which they enjoy, Tom and Tony get dry, overcooked "cat food."
Hung's sea bass with tomato sauce is tasty and Tom has to eat his "I'd never eat the fish" words and admits that it's good.
CJ's seared halibut and roasted broccolini is a massive failure with Bourdain comparing the roasted veggies to something you'd find in Bob Marley's closet (because Marley is dead so
