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With the eating over, the judges’ work begins. Padma says that Greg’s two dishes were the best things she ate all night and the others around the table agree - Tom dubs the guava soup “very good” and calls his stew the “star of the show.” Without much drama, everyone agrees that Greg has earned himself a spot in the final two.

The question, then, is who should join him. Tom feels like Mei’s guacamole was a missed opportunity, and Richard calls it beautiful but uninspired. Richard’s least favorite dish, however, was Doug’s escamoles dish, which he found greasy. Tom comments that even after eating that dish, he has no idea what escamoles tastes like.

The chefs’ two latter dishes, however, were much better. Padma loved the rich corn flavor in Mei’s ravioli dish, but she prefers Doug’s cheese course. Tom, on the other hand, would give the second course to Mei.

I’m thinking Mei is going home. It’s a duel of moles . . . guacamole on one hand, and escamoles on the other hand. Both seemed to have design issues, with Mei’s lack of ambition and Doug’s lack of flavor. The chef that goes home is typically the chef who has made the more “fundamental” error in his or her dish. For me, given that it’s the Finale Eve, the more egregious error is Mei’s.

The chefs show up at Judges Table and it’s made immediately clear that Greg is safe. Richard compliments the difficulty of his fruit soup and tips his hat to Greg’s incorporation of bright flavors and spice. Tom loves that the dish’s finesse. As for Enrique, he loved the poblano and pork stew, calling it something he will never forget. With no fanfare, Padma tells him that he’s in the final two.

That leaves Doug and Mei for the final spot, though Padma tells them that they each made delicious food. Richard tells Mei that her guacamole was like a still-life painting - beautiful but flat. Tom felt conflicted about that dish - it was good, but not the best guacamole he’s ever had. He tells her, though, that she had “many fans about the table” for how she presented the dish.

As for her second dish, all judges agree that she took a difficult ingredient and made a very good dish with the corn broth.

As for Doug, he also had a bit of a challenge with using escamoles, but didn’t do enough to highlight its flavor. Tom in particular thought that he had too many other components on the plate. Padma, on the other hand, thought he did a great job with an ingredient he knew little about, and did an even better job with his queso dish. For that one, Tom liked Doug’s use of acid and honey, with a nice contrast of flavors that made it exciting.

Both chefs are clearly feeling a lot of pressure and anxiety. Though usually stone-faced through thick and thin, Mei listens to the judges’ comments with silent tears coming down her face. Tom tells both chefs that they’ve made great food all season long and that he was thrilled to have gotten to know them both. Mei thanks the judges for the opportunity to be on the show and Doug says in a quiet voice that “it’s been awesome.”

Regarding them both, Padma tells Doug to pack his knives and go. Wow. What a tough way to end. Tom tells Doug, in closing, that it was the “small details that made the difference between his dishes and Mei’s.” He advises him to be proud of the work he did.

Doug, though, in his final interview, says that being eliminated “feels horrible” and that he “can’t put into words how much he wanted to win.” He was right there, but one dish (again) sent him home. Through this experience, Doug says that he learned that he can cook his own food and be special. He hopes to see Greg bring the title back to Portland.

One week and we’ll find out.

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