Can Alex Guarnaschelli Beat Her Favorite Chefs?

For this special showdown, Alex is up against three of her all-time favorite chefs — and closest friends. First up, Geoffrey Zakarian, her longtime friend and Chopped co-judge, whom Alex has immense respect for, calling him "the best chef on Food Network." Next up, chef and Alex's charismatic Italian co-host of Ciao House, Gabriele "Gabe" Bertaccini. And rounding out the competition, Rocco DiSpirito, best-selling cookbook author, restaurant veteran and one of the few chefs who’s actually taken Alex down on Guy’s Grocery Games.

Ready to taste, judge and possibly destroy some egos are Food Network favorites Aarti Sequeira — a best-selling cookbook author and decorated champion of Chopped All-Stars, Cutthroat Kitchen and Guy’s Grocery Games — and Mei Lin, a James Beard-nominated chef and fierce culinary competitor who’s won both Top Chef and Tournament of Champions.

Round 1, the Survival Round, gives the challengers their first chance to dictate the action. Since Alex has home court advantage, host Eric Adjepong gives the three challengers the chance to pick the details of the meal.

All four chefs must create their best dish incorporating colatura, an Italian anchovy sauce that needs to be bold enough to taste but not so strong that it takes over the plate. They’ll also be required to use a vacuum sealer, and to top it off, every dish has to feel at home in a vineyard setting — think rustic, wine-country energy.

Chef Alex takes a gamble with duck, colatura and fruit — but even as she plates it, she’s not convinced it’s coming together. She sears duck breast and dresses it with a colatura vinaigrette, then adds roasted grapes, shallots and diced radishes — the radishes infused with colatura using the vacuum sealer for extra depth.

“I think that is one of the most beautifully presented dishes I’ve seen in a while. This chef did a lot of work in 40 minutes … the one negative that I do have is that the duck is very unevenly cooked.” — Judge Mei

“I think there are a lot of strong flavors here. The radish, the roasted grape, the duck itself. And then there is that colatura.” — Judge Aarti

Chef Rocco applies his fine-dining instincts, layering vineyard-inspired flavors around a flawlessly cooked piece of fish. He poaches halibut sous vide in butter and colatura, then pairs it with bright salsa verde, red grapes, Castelfranco and an orange colatura beurre blanc. The result is a dish that balances richness with restraint — just as host Eric advised.

“Wow. This dish is beautiful. You don’t usually think of fruit with fish, and I think it’s beautiful. You can smell the colatura in it, but it’s restrained … But it does feel luxurious, not quite that rustic feeling that you want in a vineyard dish.” — Judge Aarti

“I mean, you want to talk about confidence? This piece of halibut is perfectly cooked, which is very nice.” — Judge Mei

Chef Geoffrey approaches the challenge with his signature originality, transforming these simple ingredients into a polished, vineyard-ready plate. He creates a colatura risotto topped with a green olive colatura puree and finishes it with an anchovy tempura crowned with caviar. To deepen the flavor, he vacuum-seals the colatura with olives.

“If you take that aroma in, right off the bat, you're like, there is colatura in here. This chef knows what it's like to eat at a vineyard.” — Judge Aarti

“I can picture myself sitting overlooking a vineyard for sure … But the one thing about this dish is it’s an ultimate salt bomb. I almost need something acidic to kind of cut all of that.” — Judge Mei

Chef Gabe leans straight into his heritage — and his comfort zone — with this unique take on a classic Italian dish. He put together a mushroom ragu lasagna layered with pickled mushrooms and a silky colatura béchamel. The surprise ingredient? Taleggio, which immediately struck the judges as the perfect vineyard cheese.

“I've got to tell you, as soon as you said Taleggio, I don't know why, but that made me think vineyard … it’s perfectly funky.” — Judge Aarti

“Taleggio is not one of my favorite cheeses, but this is great. It’s not as funky as I would imagine. I think it really works beautifully together.” — Judge Mei

With this dish, chef Gabe secured the win in the survival round. But whose plate fell short, and which chef will be sent packing?

While Alex was convinced her dish was not good enough to out-cook her competition, the judges saw things differently. Chef Geoffrey’s plate may have looked stunning, but the heavy salt overwhelmed the flavors and ultimately led to his early exit — leaving Alex to say goodbye to her dear friend before squaring off with Rocco and Gabe in the Money Round.

Round 2, the Money Round, is for all the metaphorical marbles. Since Gabe’s lasagna won the Survival Round, he earned the right to choose the details for the final challenge. The stakes are simple: If either chef can beat Alex, first place takes home $10,000 and second gets $5,000, but only if their dish outranks hers.

The theme for this round was built around the stuff chefs actually eat and drink off the clock:

• Late-Night Chef Snack: ramen
• After-Shift Drink: old fashioned
• Type of Chef Meal: meal for the staff, before shift, also called "family meal"

Chef Gabe is full steam ahead with a dish that’s part staff meal, part special occasion. He uses bourbon and rosemary to glaze the pork chop, then uses the ramen seasoning to spice up the broccolini and serves it over a cacio e pepe made from the ramen noodles — fully committing to the theme by using every part of the ramen.

“Oh my god, the cook on this pork chop, look at that. Perfect. Perfect. So good. But this is a very, very fancy family meal.” — Judge Mei

“This whole thing eats like someone that really cares about his staff. Like, I want to work for this chef.” — Judge Aarti

“Oh, boy. What, are we in Tuscany? A whole pork chop for each person. Is he out of his mind?” — Chef Alex

Chef Rocco leans into his creativity with this one, turning pantry staples into something unexpectedly cohesive. He glazes chicken thighs in an old fashioned-style bourbon sauce, then tosses ramen noodles with hot dogs, Thai basil and his own pasta-style sauce — a family meal mashup that proves simple ingredients don’t have to mean simple cooking.

“I do kind of love the randomness of this because to me, that does sort of feel like family meal. I think this is tasty.” — Judge Aarti

“I love the addition of hot dogs. Also, the chicken is really juicy. It’s cooked perfectly.” — Judge Mei

“Oh my god, I love this. This is brilliant. Brilliant. If he wins, I’m happy for him.” — Chef Alex

Chef Alex has played this game long enough to know exactly what she needs to do to get the job done. For this pre-shift meal, Alex doesn't reach for a fancy cut; she takes the part of the chicken that usually isn't served to customers — the thighs — and makes it the star of the show. She glazes them in gochujang and bourbon, then rolls them in broken ramen noodles, cornstarch and buttermilk for the coating, and finally flexes her zero-waste instincts by turning cucumber ends into pickles and potato peels into a crispy garnish.

“I am forever now doing ramen on my fried chicken. That crunch from the ramen noodle, it’s so addictive. So what is ordinarily sort of a crunchy fried chicken experience is like it's on steroids. Really, really good.” — Judge Aarti

“I love the addition of the potato skins. Yes, we often throw away the potato skins, but I think what a great way to just, you know, utilize that. It’s very smart.” — Judge Mei

“I think when you are competing with friends that are of your ilk and your caliber, your friends need to lose.” — Chef Alex