Dale Talde, a sous chef at Buddakan, one of New York’s hottest restaurants, was born and raised in Chicago, where he helped open the renowned restaurant Jean Georges Vong. With his Filipino background, Dale focuses on Asian flavors. One of Dale’s kitchen favorites is a dry aged kobe rib eye. Dale says cooking meats is one of his favorite things to do in the kitchen and the technique that goes into properly searing and basting a rack of lamb or steak shows a lot of love. A motto that drives Dale is “expect perfection , because if you fall short your left with greatness.”

Unfortunately, he was ousted from Top Chef Chicago. He’s been a very outspoken chef on the show. Butterscotch scallops did him in. Watch a clip from the Restraurant episode.

Watch Dale Talde’s exit interview: