7.6/1033 votes#1 - Everything's Bigger in Texas
Season 9 Episode 1 - Aired 11/2/2011
29 chefs gather at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, to compete for 16 slots in the 9th season of Top Chef. Tonight they are divided into three groups and must master their challenge to move forward. Some will know their fate immediately and receive a chef coat or be sent home. Others will be on the "bubble" and must compete and be judged again before they know their fates. Yes, it's bigger in Texas, but it's also hotter and harder, too. Group 1 Qualifying Challenge: Prepare a Dish Using One Cut of a Pig Group 2 Qualifying Challenge: Prepare a Dish Using the Same Ingredient
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7.2/1028 votes#2 - The Heat Is On
Season 9 Episode 2 - Aired 11/9/2011
Night two of heats for the coveted contestant spots starts with 10 competitors, 10 ingredients, and only five chef coats left. Once again, those who excel in the challenge get a coat immediately, and those who bomb are sent home. The remaining hopefuls on the "bubble" participate in a cook-off for the last coats against last week's four still waiting for their second chance. Also, tonight the first chefs are awarded an opportunity to get back into the race when they are sent to the sister series Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.
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7.2/1028 votes#3 - Quinceanera
Season 9 Episode 3 - Aired 11/16/2011
The chefs are asked to create a dish using rattlesnakes. Later they cater a girl's quinceañera celebration.
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7.5/1030 votes#4 - Red Hot Chili Cook Off
Season 9 Episode 4 - Aired 11/23/2011
The contestants provide food for the local rodeo and its audience.
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6.5/1031 votes#5 - Don't Be Tardy for the Dinner Party
Season 9 Episode 5 - Aired 11/30/2011
The chefs must create a dish using what they can find in a standard survival kit, then they have to shift gears and cater dinner to high society.
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7.2/1028 votes#6 - Higher Steaks
Season 9 Episode 6 - Aired 12/7/2011
The contestants prepare steak for some of Texas' most discerning palates, at least beef-wise, the attendees of the Cattle Baron's Ball.
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7.3/1026 votes#7 - Game On
Season 9 Episode 7 - Aired 12/14/2011
The contestants must cook for an all-star table of chefs whose avocation is hunting.
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7.6/1027 votes#8 - Tribute Dinner
Season 9 Episode 8 - Aired 12/21/2011
The chefs must adapt quickly when their cooking mashes up with social networking and they begin receiving dish notes via Twitter. Later, they will each be able to pay homage to an influential teacher when they are asked to create dishes in the teachers' honor.
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- 6.8/1026 votes
#9 - BBQ Pit Wars
Season 9 Episode 9 - Aired 1/4/2012
The chefs combine learning with cooking tonight when they use Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine to influence their Quickfire dishes. Next, they team up for a barbecue cook-off where the diners determine the winning team.
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- 7.3/1028 votes
#10 - Restaurant Wars
Season 9 Episode 10 - Aired 1/11/2012
The still-standing chefs sharpen their knives for the time-honored fan-favorite "Restaurant Wars" test. The all-encompassing culinary challenge tasks them to create an eatery, from its signage and logos to its menus and meals. The chefs prepare their dishes as quick as they can but the servers are having problems understanding where they need to go.
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- 7.8/1027 votes
#11 - Fit For an Evil Queen
Season 9 Episode 11 - Aired 1/18/2012
The Quickfire is on the move, except it's the ingredients that are moving—by train. Next, the chefs must access the darkness inside of them when they are asked to create "evil" on a plate.
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- 7.5/1028 votes
#12 - Block Party
Season 9 Episode 12 - Aired 1/25/2012
The chefs race against time to finish prep work for a meal. Later, they serve up cuisine at a food-drive block party. Guest judge: Cat Cora.
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- 7.6/1027 votes
#13 - Bike, Borrow & Steal
Season 9 Episode 13 - Aired 2/1/2012
In this week’s Quickfire, Pee-wee Herman stops by and the chefs are tasked to create his favorite breakfast dish – pancakes! But this isn’t any old pancake. The Chefs are challenged to be as creative as possible when making their batter, toppings and presentation. In "Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” Pee-wee learned a lot about searching the streets and asking for help. For the elimination challenge, the chefs are set loose in downtown San Antonio with a bike and $100, where they must find their ingredients and create a dish for Pee-wee’s dinner party. Pee-wee Herman joins Gail Simmons, head judge Tom Colicchio, and host Padma Lakshmi at judges’ table.
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- 6.9/1025 votes
#14 - Mentors
Season 9 Episode 14 - Aired 2/8/2012
In this week’s Quickfire, the chefs must use their sense of touch, smell and taste to navigate through the pantry to gather ingredients for a dish while blindfolded. In a twist, the winning chef from Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen will re-enter the competition and join the remaining four chefs in the elimination challenge, where the chefs must create a delicious dish that will impress their mentors. Host Padma Lakshmi, along with Hugh Acheson, Gail Simmons and head judge Tom Colicchio will determine which final four chefs will advance to the finale.
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- 6.5/1028 votes
#15 - Culinary Games
Season 9 Episode 15 - Aired 2/15/2012
The final 4 chefs arrive in Whistler, British Columbia, for a Top Chef twist on the Olympic games. From cooking on the world’s fastest gondola to a biathlon that requires marksman like precision to get the best ingredients, the chefs will need to have the concentration of a true culinary Olympian to advance to the next round in Vancouver.
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- 7.0/1027 votes
#16 - Fire and Ice
Season 9 Episode 16 - Aired 2/22/2012
Asian Masters lend a hand in a tag-team-style Quickfire. The final 3 chefs must create a dish and cocktail that fuses the concept of fire and ice into one cohesive dish, a culinary testament of their journey from blazing Texas heat to blistering Vancouver cold.
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- 7.2/1022 votes
#17 - Finale
Season 9 Episode 17 - Aired 2/29/2012
For the final challenge, each chef will take over a restaurant in Vancouver where they will have the chance to design a four-course meal for the judges and unbeknownst to them, friends and family.
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- 6.7/1020 votes
#18 - Reunion
Season 9 Episode 18 - Aired 3/7/2012
No description available
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The Best Episodes of Top Chef Season 9
Every episode of Top Chef Season 9 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Top Chef Season 9!
An American reality competition show in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges and are judged by a panel of professional chefs and...
Genre:Reality
Network:Bravo
Season 9 Ratings Summary
"Everything's Bigger in Texas" is the best rated episode of "Top Chef" season 9. It scored 7.6/10 based on 33 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 11/2/2011. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "The Heat Is On".