STOP! If you missed prior week’s episode, scroll down past this article to catch-up. Then come back to see who won!

In the finale episode of “Yes, Chef!” the last three chefs standing are Emily, Zain, and Lee.  The final challenge is called “Cook From the Heart” and requires them to cook their best three dishes.  They’re given three hours the night before to prep for their final meals.  

The Final Challenge:

These three chefs have to run their own dinner service cooking the meal of their lifetime.  This requires them to prepare their best three course menus that represent who they are as chefs and as people.  They had to cook for “special guests” of 25 people.  

SURPRISE! The chefs’ nominators came to join the chefs to help with all the prep work.  Lee got his sous chef Jonathan.  Emily got her husband who is also a chef.  Zain got her executive chef from her restaurant to help her prep.  For the final portion of meal service, the chefs also got one eliminated chef to help them out in the kitchen whom they got to choose.  

Pictured: (l-r) Jonathan Vasquez, Lee Frank — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

Things got a little heated in the kitchen between Emily and her husband over the cutting of the foie gras!  Jake said he pretended not to hear it!  He started looking like maybe not the best choice to help Emily.  However, when faced with another disaster later in the kitchen, she kept her cool and pushed-through. 

Pictured: (l-r) Jake Lawler, Emily Brubaker, Jake Brubaker — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

Creating a Major Distraction!

Judges Martha Stewart and Chef Jose Andres brought three “special guests” to dine with who also contributed to the final judgements of the chefs dishes.  This is where viewers will see that Martha and Jose have been way nicer than their celebrity counterparts during the tasting portion.  The celebrity chef judges doing this tasting and giving seething critiques are: food writer and cookbook author Gail Simmons from “Top Chef”, Chef Marcus Samuelsson of Ethiopian dishes, and Chef Andrew Zimmern. 

When the final three chefs saw these guests, their nerves went through the roof.  For Zain’s lamb dish, her first mistake was putting Christopher in charge of the grilling of this meat.  We’ve seen at least two (now three) times this season Chef Christopher mess-up the grilling of his meat during challenges.  SPOILER! Well, he did that here too for Zain.  

Pictured: (l-r) Marcus Samuelsson, Gail Simmons, Andrew Zimmern, José Andrés, Martha Stewart — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

The judges were not happy with both Zain’s plating and the cooking of the lamb.  But, if that didn’t lose it for her, then the two empty plates at the start of the challenge certainly didn’t help either.  Though Zimmern was nice about it and stated that he really loved the sauce and it wasn’t a deal-breaker for him.  The sauce, btw, was the only thing on his plate. 

On the other side, Lee and Emily definitely put up a good fight.  Taking on the win at this point looked very promising for Chef Lee.  Especially when the judges commented how his dishes are signature and they will hypothetically come back to his restaurant after eating his final challenge dish.

Fair Game Play?

SPOILER!! THE WINNER IS…

Overall, the judges were really impressed by Emily’s technique and the foie gras scored some major points for her from judge chef Jose Andres.  He said foie gras is his favorite and his only complaint is that he wished it was bigger!  It makes one think that MAYBE, just maybe Emily knew this about judge Chef Jose and played on that fact.  Nonetheless, all of the judges of the final dishes agreed that it was mostly Emily’s talent as a cook and chef that made her the first winner of “Yes, Chef!’

Pictured: (l-r) Emily Brubaker, Lee Frank, Zain Ismail — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

Previously on YES, CHEF!…..

In the previous week of “Yes, Chef!”, the four chefs who remained were: Jake, Zain, Emily, and Lee. They were only two challenges away from the finale. Zain vocally stated in her interview that she was gunning to go head-to-head with Emily in the end.

Judges Martha Stewart and Chef Jose Andres told the four chefs that they were becoming the people who their nominators thought they could be. She and Jose added that these chefs have shown a lot of growth during the process of competing on “Yes, Chef!”  The challenge this week before the finale is: the chefs have to cook two meals for diners. However, the last seven chefs who were eliminated, returned to be part of the challenge.  SPOILER! The harshest of critic is Chef T!

Chef Sabotage! 

The final four chefs chose between recently eliminated chefs Christopher, Petrina, Ronnie, or Julia. The other returning chefs are the “diners” deciding what dishes the final four would make. The returning chefs are: Chef T, Michelle, and Peter.

The four chefs were given “generously” 60 minutes to cook. By the end of this challenge it was determined who the final three chefs would be going into the finale. The bottom chefs would have to compete in one last cook-off.

Pictured: (l-r) Petrina Peart, Christopher Morales, Ronny Miranda, Julia Chebotar, Michelle Francis, Peter Richardson, Torrece “Chef T” Gregoire — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

Taste How They Really Feel!

Chef T gave Chef Lee an Indian Cuisine. He’s never prepared this type of meal ever. Michelle gave Zain Japanese food. Chef T told her it’s time to “level-up” her game. Emily was given Creole by the past chefs. Emily said Creole runs in her family. Her sous chef, Ronnie said he is very familiar with Creole food as well.

Chef Jake was given Spanish food, “especially Spain.” Jake was intimidated to cook Spanish food to serve to Chef Jose Andres. When asked if he’d ever made Spanish food before, Jake answered that once he worked at a topless restaurant! Lol.

Chef Jake’s underdone Octopus dish and Chef Zain’s lack of Japanese in her Japanese dish earned them spots in the bottom. The Chef that won the MVC (Most Valuable Chef) was is Emily. That title not only saved her from the Cook-Off, it also earned her a spot in the finale with the Top 3. Along with that, she also had the option to help two of the chefs in the cook-off.  She helped the two chefs she said, she wants to compete against in the finale.

Pictured: (l-r) Emily Brubaker, Lee Frank, Zain Ismail, Jake Lawler — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

Super-Sonic, or Slow-and-Steady!

This last Cook-Off before the finale had the chefs cooking multiple dishes (as many as they could) using Alaskan King Crab. Emily decided to help Chefs Zain and Lee because those were the chefs she wanted to go up against in the finale. Unfortunately, Jake, who looks like he’s been run absolutely ragged, was out to dry by himself.  Still, he managed to make four complete dishes using the Alaskan King Crab, along with Lee who also made four dishes.

It turned out to be true for Zain that ‘slow and steady wins the race.’  Because her sharp focus on two really good crab dishes is what won her the spot in the finale along with Chef Lee!