Chef [SPOILER] on the mistake that helped them win the Hell's Kitchen Final Four Challenge
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the penultimate episode of Hell's Kitchen season 21.
Chef Dafne Mejia was happy as a clam when she won the Final Four Challenge on Thursday's episode of Hell's Kitchen.
Mejia, along with chefs Alejandro Najar, Alex Belew, and Sommer Sellers, had to make a seafood dish that wasn't just delicious but also beautiful enough to be featured by Entertainment Weekly.
"It's not easy when you're having to focus on the editorial content in terms of what looks attractive, but it needs to taste good. Viewers aren't just going to download that recipe because it tastes good — they want to show off for that next dinner party," chef and host Gordon Ramsay explained to EW after tasting all the dishes and filming the segment at the show's Burbank, Calif. studio. "It's a horrible position to get rid of three of them and highlight one as the winner when they're all so good."
All of them delicious, in fact — and it certainly wasn't an easy decision, but Mejia edged out the competition not just with her story and colors, but also a particular element.
Fox Chef Dafne Mejia on 'Hell's Kitchen'
"I think she started a phenomenon, if I'm honest," Ramsay said of her dish. "Polenta can be a boring starch and everyone's fed up with braised short rib dumped on there. That sea urchin is a beautiful, salty texture running through there. Mussels and polenta can go well together now, clams and polenta, the lobster — I think she started something pretty phenomenal. If you haven't got access to shellfish, just blitzing uni through the polenta and having that with a beautiful, toasty baguette or crostini — I'd be happy as a pig in s---."
Below, we chat with Mejia about the challenge and her dish, as well as the competition and what she was feeling in those final moments waiting to find out if she'd be in next week's finale.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What has it been like watching yourself on a culinary competition?
DAFNE MEJIA: Honestly, it's a trip because I never thought that I would be on Hell's Kitchen, and performing with really elite chefs as well. So it gives me the confidence boost that I think I've always been searching for. And it's awesome to see Chef Ramsay yell at me and freaking throw stuff at me — like, I was stoked!
When I was there to film this episode, I didn't know what had happened in the previous episode, so I didn't know that you were almost eliminated the previous week. Coming off of that, what did the win in this first challenge mean to you?
It gave me the heat that I needed to keep going and not give up because once you're at the top five, you're just kind of burnt out by that point. Day after day you're fighting for your life. So when I was finally able to tell my story and it was "for Hollywood," I was like, I feel like this is for me because I know what looks nice on a plate and appealing, and I know how to tell a story. And when you were there, I was just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, "The ocean is the plate, the polenta is the sand," so it was right up my alley. It was like, "Hell yeah, I get to redeem myself now."
Fox Chef Dafne Mejia's winning dish in the Entertainment Weekly challenge on 'Hell's Kitchen' season 21
That sea urchin polenta, is that something you have had somewhere before? Is it something that's in your arsenal? Or was it an in-the-moment creation?
Honestly, it was a mistake. I was planning to do risotto because that's what I'm comfortable with, but I couldn't find it in the pantry. So I'm like, okay, I still want that same flavor. What can I do that will still be Italian cuisine and still represent who I am as a chef? So I saw polenta, I'm like, we're doing it. We're going to do the same thing, but we're going to just cook polenta with uni butter and give it love and all these herbs, and then it's still going to look beautiful. But I never realized that seafood and polenta goes so perfectly well together, and they look magnificent on the plate. So when I was plating it, I was almost shaking because I was like, "Holy s---, I might be able to pull this off… I can't believe this is a mistake and this might win it for me." Which is crazy.
Happy accidents are the best. You go with the flow and sometimes the flow is better than anything you ever could have planned for.
And that's what it was… We'll see what Italians feel about making that, though. [Laughs] But I feel like it's definitely still in the authenticity of Italian cuisine.
Whose name did you think I was going to say?
I really thought you were going to give it to Alejandro because the way that he cooks is unheard of. He uses salmon skin to make chicharrón, and I'm like, "God, he's such a genius." He's someone that is changing the culinary world. He's going with this and that and putting it together and it creates magic. And I'm more of an old-school chef. I use very basic recipes, but I make it my own rusticness. So I really thought you were going to give it to someone else — I was shocked. I really think it was my story that made it… You ate it up.
Up to this point, to the top four, what would you say has been a defining moment for you as a chef, as a contestant?
The Trejos Tacos episode because that really resonated with who I am, where I come from. Danny Trejo and I have the same upbringing. We grew up in the same city in the Valley, so we know how it's rough for us Latinos and how you really have to start from the bottom and make magic out of it. So that was the moment that I was like, "Okay, I'm here for a reason because I'm good and I just need confidence." So that was the biggest win for me. It was nice to be appreciated and be told, "Your food is like my mom's cooking," because that's all I want, is for people to have those memories — that Ratatouille memory.
You've made it to the finale, you were the third of three that Chef Ramsay revealed. What were you feeling in that moment when you were waiting for those screens to reveal whether it was you or Chef Sommer?
It really felt like I was in a Las Vegas casino and I had just dropped a million dollars on red and my life was either going to make or break it from there. I was either going to go home or stay for the win. So it was just a monumental moment that I'll never forget, because the fact that he chose me over her is something special for me. Sommer has been killing it this whole time. I cried, I've cussed people out, and the fact that he chose me means that there's something more that he sees in me, something different, a sparkle in my eye. So for me, that just gave me confirmation that I'm living my life to the fullest and I'm here right now for a reason. It was great. It was an honor. I was like, "F--- yeah!" I loved it. It was crazy. I almost passed out, though. It was wild.
All right, tease the finale for us. What can you say?
I had to look around and be present because there was so much going on. And the fact that I'm one of the lucky ones to be there and be at the door with my other contestants and then Chef Ramsay in the background being like, "You guys killed it no matter what [happens]." For me, that was it. I was like, whether I win or lose, I got this far and this is monumental for my family, for people that hopefully I'll be able to motivate to reach for their dreams. But it was also perfect to see my mom and dad there, to see my dad waving the Honduran flag. We represent the immigrants that came here for a better living, and the fact that some hooligan, like — I'm literally just some hooligan. The fact that I made it is nice because I really followed my heart and I followed my dreams and it worked out so well. It was a memory that I'll never forget in my life. I almost wish I could always relive it because it was just like unreal.
The two-hour season 21 finale of Hell's Kitchen airs Thursday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
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