It’s time for a new threat on Bobby’s Triple Threat. And in this third episode our Titans are taking on Claudette Zepeda in three rounds.
But who is Claudette Zepeda? For fans of Top Chef, she was on both the U.S. version of the series in Season 15 and Top Chef Mexico in Season 2. Beyond that, she is the consulting chef of VAGA and a “James Beard Best Chef West semifinalist in 2019.” Basically, she has what it takes to take down some culinary titans.
In the first round of Bobby’s Triple Threat, the two ingredients chosen by Bobby Flay are pineapples and chipotles. Up first, Zepeda chose Tiffany Derry as her challenger.
Both chefs have to creat two dishes with their ingredients. And right away, it is clear that Claudette Zepeda is sticking to what she knows best – Mexican food that is elevated and comforting. In fact, as part of her dish she even made her own tortillas from scratch.
In this first round, there were definitely some tense moments for both chefs, but once the time was up, there were two dishes from each chef for our judge to taste. And who is judging this episode of Bobby’s Triple Threat? That would be former Iron Chef Marc Forgione.
Bobby’s Triple Threat sees the titans taking on former Top Chef contestant Claudette Zepeda
According to Forgione it is all about the seasoning and flavors. And that was clearly a big part of his judging. So how did our chefs do in this first round?
Chef Zepeda earned herself 6 points out of 10, while Chef Derry earned 6 points as well. And that means it’s a tie between the titans and their challenger.
On to round two! So what are the ingredients this time? That would be duck and oranges. And the titan that Claudette Zepeda chose this time was Michael Voltaggio!
This time around, both chefs seem to be taking inspiration from Asian cuisines in at least one of their dishes. And while this round seemed even more stressful than the first one, things definitely came together on both sides.
Once again, it was time for Marc Forgione to get his judging on. Overall, the comments were truly solid for both chefs.
So what did our chefs score this time? Chef Zepeda earned 9 points, while Chef Voltaggio 8 earned points. Going into the third round, that gave our challenger the edge by just one point.
For the final round, this meant that Brooke Williamson was the titan that Claudette Zepeda had to take down for the $25,000 prize. So what ingredients did Chef Zepeda choose? Corn masa and huitlacoche (it’s technically a corn fungus if you weren’t familiar) were the ingredients that both of our chefs had to use in just one winning dish.
While Chef Williamson seemed a little thrown off by the ingredients, she is a pro and a titan and she went into this round with a competitiveness that we expect from her.
After an intense round, it was time for the final judging. And in this final round, there are 20 points on the line. With two very different dishes, even if both chefs did a masa dumpling, it’s anyone’s game.
For this final round, Chef Williamson earned 16 points to Chef Zepeda’s 18 points. This means that the winner of this episode of Bobby’s Triple Threat is our challenger – Chef Claudette Zepeda!