Geoffrey Zakarian is one of Bobby's longest-running friends on television. He is also an Iron Chef. He has beaten Bobby on this show before. He brought Ayesha Nurdjaja — the chef-partner at Shuka and Shukette in New York, whose Eastern Mediterranean menus are one of the more confident things happening in Midtown — and the two of them went after Bobby on a holiday-themed tag-team episode.
The dish was a holiday spread built around lamb shoulder, labneh, and a half-dozen Levantine sides. Bobby brought a more conventional holiday plate. The judges, given a choice between a familiar table and a table that made them sit forward, chose the one that made them sit forward.