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Worst of all, Stefan’s behavior carries over to Judges Table. He fails to describe an entire dish to the people who will ultimately decide whether he is eliminated this evening. When they quiz him on the next dish, Stefan’s response is so icy that Tom remarks, “Why do I feel like we were just scolded?” Gail states that Stefan has just made the worst mistake possible by making customers feel unwelcome. Emeril reinforces this opinion by stating that Stefan’s behavior is “worse than that bouillabaisse." You’re still in this, ladies of Atelier Kwan!

Alas, such optimism fades quickly. While Stefan may have demonstrated the customer service skills of Best Buy, the plates are consistently exceptional. Stefan’s dish is a kilawen featuring yellowtail with cilantro, spicy chili & white soy sauces. He’s clearly best as a chef, not a server.

Josh serves a traditional dish called balut. It is a poached egg, duck confit & foie gras mousse. Apparently, these are cooked just before the egg is ready to hatch, which sounds fairly monstrous when the words are typed. As the women previously had a recurring criticism, this dish begins one for the men. Many of the dishes lack Filipino flavors. I presume that the causality is that Joshua and Stefan have not cooked Filipino food before. They didn’t want to go all-in without any experience.

The next dish receives no introduction whatsoever. Stefan hilariously walks past them as they attempt to deduce the flavors. Someone determines that it is a variation of miki featuring prawns and a tapioca roll with achiote. This is the closest thing to a miss out of the men’s dishes although the focus of the judges’ conversation is Stefan’s behavior. If the men lose, he goes home. There is no debate on this. It is the danger of being the terrible performer on a three-player team.

Sheldon’s next course is an adobo of pork belly with mung bean puree & pea shoots salad. Tom describes it as “the best tasting dish I’ve had all day”. Restaurant Wars ends with a pair of desserts. Josh offers halo-halo. It is a series of dessert flavors including coconut sorbet, avocado mousse, banana & shredded coconut. Stefan finishes with a dark chocolate with macadamia nuts, ginger & peppermint oil. Both of them are well received.

The men of Urbano are not completely in the clear. The first comment the judges make after the meal ends is that they are not sure they would return to this restaurant because of the service. Tom and Danny Meyer built a restaurant business together. They are sensitive to the treatment of customers. Stefan fundamentally failed in this regard, an issue that they believe deserves more priority than the food.

After a bit of contemplation, however, cooler heads prevail. Urbano is selected as the winner of Restaurant Wars. Sheldon is rewarded with a Toyota Avalon as the overall winner for the challenge. Padma pointedly tells Stefan, “Stefan, you are very lucky.” Truer words have never been spoken on the show.

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