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George, who was so worried about his dad taking orders from him, is impressed and happy with how everything has turned out. He confidently brings his food to the table. His dad has grilled oysters and razor clams with cucumber. Rick Moonen (a former Top Chef Master contestant) loves the flavor but wishes there was a little bit more salt. George’s entrée is a butter-poached lobster with sunchokes. Tom loves it but says that the use of microgreen was totally unnecessary. Many diners compliment the sunchoke puree.

Melissa is last and she’s thrilled with how her mom has been in the kitchen. “She’s kicking butt!” Melissa says, “She’s even ahead of schedule.” The diners dig into her mom’s chawanmushi first and they adore it. Rick Moonen specifically compliments the smokiness in the dish. Melissa’s mom is absolutely relieved. The last thing she wanted to do was sink her daughter’s chances.

Melissa has the same protein and cooking style as George’s dish - she offers a butter-poached lobster with onion soubise and a pea puree. It’s a hit. Ashley calls it the “most perfectly cooked lobster [she’s] ever had.” Tom says the lobster is perfectly cooked and the onions are delicious, but the veggies are the absolute star. “As usual,” Padma chimes in.

Wow, if this were an actual Elimination Challenge, I’d venture to say that Greg would be going home.

The diners confer now that all the dishes have been served. They agree that Greg’s sister actually did a much better job on her dish than Greg himself did, Mei’s entrée was fantastic, George nailed his sunchoke puree, and Melissa took a real risk by letting her mom make an egg custard.

The chefs and their sous chefs are brought out for the verdict. The sous chefs, in particular, look terrified. Tom says that today’s challenge encapsulated what food can do, which is bring people together. The dishes today were overall very good, though some sous chefs did better than their cheftestant - a pointed dig at Greg.

Padma says that two chefs stood out in this challenge - Mei and Melissa. Ashley characterizes Mei’s broth as “romantic restraint” and calls it “just tremendously successful.” Tom agrees, saying “we’ll all think about [that broth] for a long time.” As for Melissa, her butter-poached lobster was perfectly cooked.

In summation, Tom notes that it was hard to pick a winner because the two dishes were so close. He wishes that he could send both chefs to the finale on the basis of what they did today - Melissa and Mei both respond that they’d be perfectly happy with that outcome.

Padma, however, will have none of that. “For us,” she says, “one chef not only cooked a flawless, creative dish, but also demonstrated a lot of leadership in helping her family member be successful.” Based on the fact that Melissa’s appetizer was better received than Mei, I’m thinking that Melissa will probably take this one home . . . .

...and she does! Melissa glows and her mom cries. Melissa is our first finalist this season. She’s thrilled that her mom was part of her success and hopes that her father will watch this episode and be proud of her as well. She says she’ll never forget this win.

Tom explains the judges’ decision. “It was the combination of both the appetizer and the entrée,” he says, praising Melissa’s confidence in her mom’s ability to pull off a classic egg custard.

As the episode closes, Melissa notes that she’s made many adjustments along the way. She’s securely in the top three and hungry for more.

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