| “ | Y'know, I didn't feel anything for a long time. And Toby taught me to cook, and after he did, I started to feel stuff again. That's why I share it through my food. This is my art. This is my art, Parker. It's like letting a stranger in your head, just for a second. And you allow them to feel what you are feeling. | ” |
Eliot goes undercover at a culinary arts school to take down a crooked restaurateur.
The Client[]
Toby Heath (Alan Nauth), the man who taught Eliot about cooking, who is cheated out of his culinary school.
The Mark[]
David Lampard (Steve Valentine), a former chef turned investor who wants to turn the culinary school into a restaurant.
Locations[]
The Con[]
Nate tells Sophie that they are going "to run a version of the White Van Speaker" using Sophie's acting students (the original version of the White Van Speaker is for selling parts of cars from chop shops). The version the Leverage crew runs is with food instead of machine parts, more specifically truffles.
The plan is simple. While Parker is in the dining room distracting Lampard as a food critic, Hardison will break into the safe with the truffles and steal them (much to his displeasure, since he was having fun using science with food). Parker protests at first, since is not passionate about anything unlike the others, but Eliot reassures her she can do it.
Lampard is soon stopped by environmental agents at the airport, who arrest him for illegal truffle smuggling. Once he's down, he sees the team nearby, watching him.
Later on, back at the Brew Pub, Eliot wonders where Parker. Nate says she's on a trip. Turns out Parker has finally found her passion: art.
Guest Cast[]
David Lampard (Steve Valentine):
Toby Heath (Alan Nauth):
Episode Notes[]
Most truffles grow to be about 30-60 grams in size, which means that just one will set a person back anywhere from $30-75. But Australia has just produced a black truffle that weighs about 2-3/4 pounds and has sold for between $2000 and $2500. Because these mushrooms are so incredibly hard to find and there is no real way of growing them farmers and the people that own land with truffles growing in them charge incredibly high for them. Black market truffles are just below market price but still high priced from $1000 to $1500 a kilo, some restaurants will buy out land that they know has truffles and hire people to hunt them.
To find truffles one needs an animal with a great sense of smell like pigs or boars but the animals have to be trained before hand and this process may take a long time because at first the animals have to get used to eating the truffle then hunt truffles and last the cultivator has to learn to fit a small part of their cultivation because if not, the pig will find other means to keep fed by itself since most of these animals are kept free-roamed and they can eat right about anything it is hard to keep them trained.