Overview

• In Milan at Carlo Cracco’s restaurant, finalists Tristen Epps, Bailey Sullivan and Shuai Wang each crafted four-course menus that reflected their culinary identities.
• Contestants partnered with chosen sous chefs—Epps with Zubair Mohajir, Sullivan with Lana Lagomarsini and Wang with Paula Endara—to execute their signature dishes.
• Guest judges Gregory Gourdet, Richard Blais and Clare Smyth joined Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons in evaluating each course on flavor, technique and storytelling.
• Epps’s Afro-Caribbean second course of chicken with shrimp toast and his oxtail Milanese dish earned consistent acclaim and secured his victory.
• Epps received the $250,000 prize courtesy of Saratoga Spring Water for marrying culinary skill with cultural storytelling.