Jean Val Jean

With lessons in full swing, Chef Novelli teaches his students how to make the perfect risotto accompanied by his grandmother's famous tomato sauce. Fashionista Suzanne decides to call in a tailor to alter her chef's coat. Not surprisingly, Chef Novelli is irritated that she is disrupting his lesson and he asks her to leave his school for the rest of the day. For their end of week test, the students are asked to recreate the Chef's risotto and tomato sauce dish under strict time constraints. While three greatly exceed expectations and are invited to join Chef Novelli, Steve, and Michelle at a Malibu red carpet party, the other students are left waiting to hear the results of their test until after the weekend.

French born and currently residing in London, Chef Novelli - along with his executive chef, Steven Kitchen, and pregnant fiancée, Michelle - comes to Los Angeles to establish his first American based culinary academy, which is renowned across Europe. The first order of business is for Chef Novelli and Mr. Kitchen to interview and screen potential students. As part of the admissions process, the hopeful students are asked to perform a simple, yet surprisingly nerve-racking task: cook an egg, any way they want. Ultimately, nine students are chosen to participate in Chef Novelli's prestigious American culinary venture, and on the first day of class they are asked to create what they would consider their "signature dish." While this is only the first practice test for the students, Chef Novelli reminds everyone that failing three of the tests is grounds for automatic dismissal from his academy.

The gala dinner has finally arrived and the students are scrambling to finish their dishes. In a classic Chef Novelli move, he announces that he will be standing at the end of the assembly with a trash bin tasting the food prior to it leaving the kitchen. Which dishes will measure up, and which will end up in the trash? The pressure is intense as the students present their dish to their esteemed guests, and wonder if Chef Novelli will allow them to finally graduate.

It's Meat Week at the Novelli Academy! Students are taught to prepare chicken, lamb, and pork all in eclectic ways. While this may be the most anticipated lesson to date, it also ends up being the most challenging for many of the students. With only two weeks to go until graduation, Chef Novelli decides to put the students to their hardest test to date. Not only are the students asked to make one of the three meat dishes, they are challenged to make one of the fifteen dishes learned earlier in the class. The problem? Two dishes means two opportunities to pass or fail. Some narrowly escaped elimination last week, but now others are on the line to be expelled from the Novelli Academy.

The mood at the Novelli Academy is somber in the aftermath of one student leaving after failing three tests. But there is no time to dwell because Chef Novelli has announced that as their final, the students will collectively prepare a gala dinner for local esteemed chefs and other VIPs. Chef Novelli chooses one of his students to be the head chef for the gala dinner. In an attempt to complete some of the more arduous tasks prior to the dinner, the students gather the night before the gala for prep work. However, two students have a problem with their assigned dish thus the entire class falls behind. With graduation at stake, tensions arise between two students in particular, and everyone is worried about the final outcome of the dinner, especially the head chef. The result of this meal will determine who graduates, and who does not.