The chefs met up with Padma and Tom, with the infamous knife block front and center. But wait – there’s a tunnel – and three chefs walking out. They’ve brought back Richard, Casey and Marcel, previous runners-up. The theory – they’ve been in the finale, they should be great help for the three chefs. Each current contestant drew for the order in which they would choose their sous chef. The line-up – Hosea works with Richard, Stefan works with Marcel, and Carla works with Casey.

The pairs set off for prep time, which was only two hours. Hosea promptly bogarted all the foia gras and cavier, provoking Stefan for the first of many times. It became clear that simply beating Stefan was pretty high up on Hosea’s priority list. It was also clear that a mere two hours of prep was a pretty small window of time to create the meal of a lifetime.

The pairs seemed to get along fairly well, although Casey began suggesting different dishes to Carla, and warning bells were sounding in my head! All my yelling at the TV was for naught, as Carla changed several major parts of her menu.

Shortly after beginning their three-hour cooking time at Commander’s Palace, the next twist revealed itself in a Mardi Gras tradition – the King Cake. Each chef received a wedge of the pastry, and whoever found the baby in their piece would be at an advantage. Side note: this cake is pretty big…did they each really eat an entire third of it??

The twist – a fourth course was being added to this meal – each chef needed to create an appetizer, using one of three proteins. Hosea found the babe, and got to choose his protein, plus assign the other two as he saw fit. He chose the redfish, gave Carla the crab, and Stefan the alligator.

Trying to represent New Orleans, Hosea whipped up a griddled corn cake with blackened red fish for his appetizer. Carla, after “holding hands” with an energetic crab, put together an Asian influenced shisho soup. Stefan had no clue what to do with an alligator, but quickly put together a lovely soup. All three were well received by the star-studded crowd.

Speaking of, the group that sat around the table was pretty impressive: Susan Spicer, John Besh, Rocco Dispirito, Hubert Keller, Branford Marsalis, Tory McPhail (Executive Chef, Commander’s Palace), Ti Martin (Proprietor, Commander’s Palace) and the judges: Toby, Tom, Padma and Gail. Our good friend Fabio was also in attendance, weighing in on each dish.

Stefan’s three courses included a halibut and salmon carpaccio, squab with braised red cabbage, and ice cream with chocolate mousse and some sort of lollipop for dessert. The judges liked his progression and well-planned menu, but were not impressed with the old-fashioned-looking dessert.

Carla, oh Carla. This train wreck was almost too painful to watch. Her plan was to make a simple dish of comfort food with steak and potatoes, but Casey talked her into doing a sous vide steak, which Carla had never done before. She had also planned to do a cheese tart with apple coins, but Casey pushed to do a blue cheese soufflé instead. The steak came out very un-Carla-like, and none of the judges enjoyed this tough meat. While cooking the soufflé, Carla forgot to turn down the oven, and the mixture curdled within three minutes before serving. She had no choice but to serve a nearly empty plate.

Hosea served a trio of sashimi, foie gras with scallops, then venison. He chose to do a third protein dish instead of dessert, as it’s not his forte. The judges were not wowed with his sashimi, but were pleased with the other two dishes. Several of the seasoned chefs were troubled by his lack of dessert, pointing out that simply skipping a course because it’s not your strong point shows that he’s not a well-rounded chef.

Given Carla’s tough meat and dessert fiasco, she’s completely out of the running before judges table even starts, and she knows that if she had stuck with her food she could have won. She broke down in front of the judges, and Stefan revealed his soft side as he ran to comfort her. It’s a close tie between Hosea and Stefan, and the judges seem to have a difficult time deciding the exact criteria to choose a winner.

After some deliberation, Padma called them back in, and almost apologetically announced that Hosea was the new Top Chef. There was a little celebration, but this finale was missing pizzazz and the excitement that usually comes with the finale episode.

-Sigh- I must admit that I’m left feeling a little let down, and am ready to move beyond last night’s episode. So, what’s next? I smell rumors of a new show featuring Fabio…let’s hope it’s true! Until then, happy eating!

The chefs took a little ride through the city, and arrived at a beautiful plantation home, complete with three cooking stations set up in the front yard. Padma, Tom, and guest judge Emeril Lagasse greet the group, and inform them that they are not cooking yet. (Side note – it looks freezing out there! They’re wearing coats, hats, scarves…why on earth is this Quickfire outside?) They look to the doors of the home, and out walks Jeff, Jamie and Leah! The winner of the Quickfire will get a chance to be in the finale.

The challenge was to create a dish featuring crawfish. Leah created a crawfish soup, but actually told Emeril that she had never cooked crawfish before, and gave him that goofy, childish smirk as if that made it acceptable. Jeff fared better with crawfish and grits, and Jamie with a griddled corn cake, poached egg and crawfish cream sauce. Though Emeril claimed that all the dishes are good, Jeff is the winner. The catch (you knew there was one!) was that Jeff had to win the Elimination Challenge in order to be in the finale.

The next day, the chefs were dropped off at an old warehouse filled with Mardi Gras floats. They would be catering a masquerade event, each serving one cocktail and two Creole dishes to 100+ guests. Only three chefs would go on to the finale, and the challenge winner would also get a new Toyota Venza. Fabio was pretty excited, having declared that his current car is “a piece of poop.” Well put, my friend.

The chefs go to work, preparing their dishes in one of Emeril’s restaurants, Delmonico, which was fully stocked with ingredients for them to use. The stress level was high, although Stefan’s ego grew larger than thought possible, declaring loudly several times that he was going to take smoke breaks. He even showed a bit of ‘tude to Tom, who did not appreciate it!

Stefan was the first to serve, starting with a black cherry and rum cocktail then a rabbit and sausage gumbo over grits. Fabio chose to make a sausage and rabbit maque choux, and also some homemade pasta. Hosea served duck and andouille gumbo, along with fried catfish with sweet potatoes. Jeff created a crawfish pot de crème, with a cucumber  mojito. Carla stayed true to herself, serving a non-alcoholic spritzer and oyster stew, although she (obviously!) had no experience shucking the poor little guys.

Overall the judges and guests were pleased with all of the dishes served, and yippee for Gail being back! Emeril admitted to being skeptical of Carla’s mocktail, but they all felt the love in her food, and clearly enjoyed it! She also got more than a few “hootie-hoos” from the crowd, which only made her smile bigger, if that’s even possible! Stefan’s gumbo left a bit to be desired, and his cocky attitude was a big turn-off. Hosea pulled off a more authentic gumbo, having made a deep and flavorful roux that the judges appreciated. Jeff certainly made a great effort to win his spot back, winning over everyone with his mojito. Fabio was his charming self, but his version of Creole cooking left a bit to be desired.

By the end of the night the chefs were all decked out in masquerade masks and piles of beads, and were thoroughly worn out. Judges table was actually a mostly pleasant experience, with compliments all around. And the winner is … CARLA! Hootie-hooray!! She nailed the flavors of New Orleans, bringing a balance of flavor, simplicity and creativity, and wowing the judges, including Emeril! Hosea also made it through, but as Jeff did not win the challenge, he’s out. This left Fabio and Stefan up for elimination – who would have ever guessed it would come down to these two? It’s close, but Fabio is sent packing. What will we do without his accent, his quirky quips, and spicy Italian expletives? He left with a great attitude though, proud of all his accomplishments, and ready to get back to work at home.

Next week is the last episode! The chefs are to cook the best three course meals of their lives, and it looks like they’ll have a helper, and a few twists and turns along the way…Stay tuned!!

The guest chef this week was Wylie Dufresne, culinary innovator and chef/owner of WD~50, who is all about the incredible, edible, egg. His theory is that a great chef can cook a perfect egg, leading up to the elimination challenge – create something amazing with eggs. Stefan served a fascinating dish, but Carla pulled out another win with a simple dish of green eggs and ham. Her clever dish won her a “serious advantage” in the elimination challenge.

What’s more appropriate for the last major elimination than the Top Chef Last Supper? The cheftestants drew knives with names of five different legendary chefs. Each was asked what their last meal would be, and the cheftestant assigned had to cook this meal … for the legendary chefs themselves! They would all be joining the normal judging crew for this special meal, with Jacques Pepin weighing in at judges’ table.

Anyways, the lineup:

• Fabio would be cooking for “the queen of Italian cuisine,” Lydia Bastianich, who requested a roast chicken with roasted potatoes and a leafy salad
• Hosea would cook shrimp scampi for Susan Ungaro
• Stefan would make roasted salmon with spinach for Marcus Samuelsson
• Leah would make eggs benedict for Wylie Dufresne
• And Carla would cook squab with peas for Jacques Pepin

Funny moments: when Carla declared, in all her Carla splendor, that she and Pepin were two peas in a pod, ‘cus peas are her favorite; that Hosea seems to have lost sight of what the contest is about, as he’s only trying to beat Stefan; speaking of Stefan, there was an absurd amount of foreshadowing that he would not perform well; and lastly, the judges’ dining area at Capitale had that fuzzy lighting that’s supposed to make “distinguished” people look more youthful … really weird.

Cooking got underway at the famous Capitale restaurant, and all the cheftestants were trying to bring out their A games. Out of the blue, there was a medic in the kitchen, asking Fabio if he wanted to go the hospital … he broke his finger! Thankfully it was on his left hand, but it definitely caused him a lot of problems. To elevate the stress level to code orange, Tom came back into the kitchen and asked the cheftestants to not embarrass him.

Leah was up first, serving her eggs benedict – a slow-poached egg and bacon on challah, with a salad. Several of the chefs were ok with it, but Wylie was quite disappointed with the watery egg and thin hollandaise.

Stefan was next, serving salmon with spinach and roasted potatoes. It was not a surprise that his meal was not on par tonight, he had overcooked the salmon, and we know how the judges feel about overcooked protein!

Hosea served his shrimp scampi to mixed reviews. Several were ok with parts of it, but Susan was not impressed with her last meal.

Fabio managed to finish his meal, including breaking down his chickens with one hand and a cleaver. The chicken was a dream, with everyone agreeing that it was clearly a recipe that he cared about, and left Lydia very happy. His salad left a bit to be desired, but the chicken and potatoes were a big win.

Carla went very simple with her meal, saying that she wanted to do only a few things, but do them perfectly. She served her squab with a light sauce, accompanied by a cup of fresh peas. All agreed that the peas were perfection, but dissented whether the squab was overcooked, as it seemed to be a matter of preference. Pepin was quite pleased with his meal.

At the end they brought everyone out for a pat on the back, commending them on their great work. What? A feel-good moment?

Judges’ table brought the expected concerns, with Hosea looking positively giddy while Stefan received a negative critique, then being confused that the judges weren’t crazy about his dish. It was a toss-up whether Carla’s peas or Fabio’s chicken would win, but Fabio, with a broken finger, took this win. Yay!

All three on the bottom knew what their mistakes were. I honestly think I was holding my breath until they announced that … Leah was (finally!) being sent home. Woo-hoo! Then my power went out – no lie.

Obviously, I’m a bit biased about the recent outcomes, but I’m pretty pleased with the final four. With Carla coming out of nowhere, it’s going to get interesting in New Orleans!

A little side note - in case you didn’t make the connection, Hosea is the last American guy on the show, but don’t worry, he’ll remind you about it.

This week’s guest judge was impressive – Eric Ripert, who according to Fabio is “god of the French chef.” In reality he’s pretty close – his New York City seafood restaurant, Le Bernardin, was given four stars by the New York Times.

The Quickfire Challenge this week was all about technique and precision, as the chefs were to clean and butterfly fish.

First up – two tiny sardines. Although Hosea claimed to not “do” small fish at his seafood restaurant, he passed to the next round, as did Stefan, Fabio and Leah (who didn’t even really try!). Carla and Jamie did more butchering than filleting, so they’re out.

The next round brought Arctic Char, which gave Stefan and Hosea little problem, but Fabio missed the mark a little, and was out. Leah decided to give up entirely, and quit halfway through. When questioned by Eric Ripert, she whined a little, whimpered, and with her best pre-teen impression said that she just gave up. (Really, you just told that to freaking Eric Ripert??)

Final round – skin and filet a recently killed eel, which meant that they were still wriggling… By Stefan’s confident grin you could tell he’d done this before, which apparently all Germans do throughout childhood. Hosea protested that Americans just don’t know how to do these things. Stefan went above and beyond on this one - not only did he beautifully filet his eel, he also cleaned his workstation of the brutal battle that just occurred. (If you didn’t watch, it was not for the weak-stomached!) Hosea did ok, but Stefan clearly won.

Ripert then announced that they were invited to join him at Le Bernardin for lunch. You could see the chefs wondering where this was leading. They were served 6 courses, all dishes that were currently on the menu which seemed simple, but are quite complex to create. The seventh course was served – the Top Chef knife block! They each drew knives to be assigned a dish from their lunch, which they were to recreate with only two hours prep, in the Le Bernardin kitchen. The chef whose recreation was furthest from the original dish would be sent home. Stefan was the only exception, as he had won the right to choose his dish first.

The lineup:

Baked lobster with asparagus and hollandaise sauce - Stefan

Sourdough encrusted red snapper with tomato basil consommé - Fabio
Baked mahi-mahi with miso and matsutake mushroom sauce - Leah
Oil-poached escolar with potato crisps in a red wine bearnaise sauce - Carla
Za’atar spiced monkfish with black garlic - Hosea
Sauteed black bass and braised celery with serrano ham peppercorn sauce - Jamie

The chefs reactions varied – Stefan was quite confident that he could recreate his dish, Hosea whined that Stefan picked the easiest dish (duh – it IS a competition!), Jamie was just not inspired/interested in this type of food, and Carla was thrilled at the chance to whip out her classic French training.

The chefs began their prep time, where they were given the ingredients, but left to figure out how to create the dish. It was clear that some understood their dishes, and some were clueless. Ripert even came around to taste their attempts, and give them feedback on how to make it better!

Fabio was first up, and his dish was served to the judges next to the original. While it looked different the taste was there, and the judges were mostly impressed. Leah tried to replicate her dish, sort of. As seems to be the trend, she just gave up and added a bunch of butter to her miso sauce and added in some overcooked and some undercooked fish filets. The judges were not pleased. Stefan simply rocked their socks off, hitting the dish spot on. Carla had a very complicated dish and came dangerously close to replicating it, which made for happy judges. Hosea (a.k.a. Mr. Seafood) knew that the judges were expecting perfection from him, but couldn’t seem to get it right. Jamie finished the challenge with a dish that -was- perfect, before her celery cooked down to a salty mess.

At the judges table, Fabio, Stefan and Carla were the clear winners. The judges were so pleased with all three that they apparently had a hard time choosing a winner! Although they all, Tom especially, seemed pleasantly shocked by Carla’s success, Stefan pulled out the win again.

At the bottom, Jamie was reamed for her nasty celery, which she fully expected. Hosea let them all down with his improper treatment of the monkfish and the Za’atar spice, even though he claimed to have known what to do. And Leah was called out on her oily sauce, and the judges clearly noted that she had no clue how to recreate that dish. They also asked her point blank if she wanted to be there at all, seeing that she gave up on the last few tasks. She bit her lip, and weakly claimed that she really did want to be there. I guess that was enough to win over the judges, and they sent Jamie home.

Seriously, are the judges just out for my fantasy team? Up next week – deciding the final four!

For this level in general, I don’t pay much attention to getting classic combos, except for the first level. This level is simply about finding the correct ingredients for the dish, maxing the combos, and getting as many bonus flame points as possible. There are enough ingredients in each dish and enough dishes to allow for random classic combos to help gain enough points to simply pass. I have no desire to earn Top Chef on this level as I feel it’s tough enough getting 62,400 points to pass, let alone the 68,800 required for Top Chef. That 6,400 points may not seem like much, but simply passing the level feels like a great enough accomplishment.

That said, this level really requires multiple plays. I needed to learn which ingredient types matched which ingredients, and how to manage my powerups when it got tough, before I could begin really trying to pass the level. Essentially, once I learn all the types of ingredients that the recipes require, and the general set of ingredients I had at my disposal, it is really just a matter of putting that knowledge to practice.

I can, however, offer some general tips for this level, and the video above should help in seeing the general flow. The first dish is relatively easy to stack up on classic combos. As I did in the video, just stick to the lime+lemon+shrimp+scallop+garlic+onion combos as much as possible. For the other dishes, a high star score is not required to pass the level. I noticed that the star score for a dish on this level will often jump from 3-stars to 5-stars with just a single ingredient completion. So it is possible to be slightly lower than the amount of points required for 5 stars, while still having a very strong score for any particular dish. Generally, don’t worry about getting 5 stars on each dish in this level, as it is very difficult, and unnecessary, to do.

As for powerups, I try not to use the classic combo powerup(bottom left). I try to use the ingredient finder(bottom middle) when I cannot recall which ingredients match the given ingredient type, so the usage for this powerup doesn’t really change from the general case. The speed powerup(bottom right) is most useful in the last round with all the meats. It is useful here to maintain chain combos as all the meats required for this dish really slow Anna down too much to maintain a max chain bonus, and sometimes a flame bonus for each dish.

As I said before, however, this level is really a level that requires multiple plays. It is greatly more difficult that the previous episodes, and the satisfaction in passing it is duly great. But, once you complete this level, the good news is that only one more remains until you are crowned victor and Top Chef. The last level is also relatively easy compared to the second challenge and I passed it in a single attempt, but that may be due to the skills and knowledge gained from the second challenge. Overall, however, the best advice I can give here is practice makes perfect, and the tips and video above should help guide you in the right direction. Good luck.

This week Top Chef opens with the chefs getting prepared for the day, and with Hosea and Leah back-peddling as fast as possible! They seemed to be ready to focus on cooking again…hopefully Bravo got the message that their fans agree!

Padma introduced this week’s guest judge, Scott Conant, chef at New York City’s Scarpetta, a New York Times 3 star Italian restaurant. A giant chart is revealed, with food groups down one side and ingredients along another, so the chefs each chose a block on Padma’s empty grid. She revealed seven food groups – vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains, seafood, meat, poultry, dairy, but only one ingredient – OATS! Hey folks, it’s the Quaker Oats Quickfire Challenge! The chefs must, you may have correctly assumed, use a Quaker Oats product in their dishes.

Some of the chefs excelled, others truly fumbled (note – football tie-in #1). Fabio got carried away with his oats, and fell to the bottom with Jeff. Leah overcooked fish, again, and also lost points for adding some bacon, just ‘cus she likes it. Seriously, that’s what she told Scott and Padma. Carla pulled ahead with her tofu dish and Jamie was also in the top, but Stefan took his fifth straight win. He didn’t win immunity, but Padma revealed that he would have an advantage in the elimination challenge.

She excused the chefs to the stew room, where there was a surprise waiting. To Fabio’s dismay it was not a dog, but instead personalized Top Chef jerseys — it’s time for the Top Chef All-Stars Bowl! For this elimination challenge the chefs would be up against a team of chefs from seasons past in 20 minute head-to-head cook-offs, with their dishes based on the regional cuisine of a NFL team. Anyone who lost their individual challenges was up for elimination.

The All-Star Team consisted of:

Andrew D’Ambrosi, Season 4; Josie Smith-Malave, Season 2; Andrea Beaman, Season 1; Spike Mendelsohn, Season 4; Camille Becarra, Season 3; Nikki Cascone, Season 4; Miguel Morales, Season 1

The battles took place at the Institute of Culinary Education with an audience of students and the rest of the season five chefs. Stefan’s advantage was that he could choose both his opponent and also the NFL team (with a tray of appropriate regional ingredients). He chose the Dallas Cowboys and Andrea from season one, based on the facts that she’s known as a vegetarian chef and she was kicked off the show early, then a second time later in the season. The rest of the match-ups were as follows:

Miami Dolphins: Jeff vs Josie
Greenbay Packers: Fabio vs Spike
Seattle Seahawks: Hosea vs Miguel
New York Giants: Leah vs Nikki
San Francisco 49ers: Jamie vs Camille
New Orleans Saints: Carla vs Andrew

The rules of the TC Bowl — two chefs cook per round, the judges’ pick scores a touchdown (7 points), and the fans’ vote scores a field goal (3 points). Here’s the play-by-play:

New York Giants were up first, Leah vs Nikki
Leah: New York strip with creamed corn, snap peas, arugula salad
Nikki: Chicken livers onions and goat cheese on toasted challah
Leah won the judges’ vote. Nikki got the fans’ vote.
All Stars: 3 Home: 7

Seattle Seahawks, Hosea vs Miguel
Hosea: Crispy salmon roll with ginger-blackberry sauce
Miguel: Cedar plank salmon with noodles and mushrooms
Hosea won judges’ vote and fans’ vote.
All Stars: 3 Home: 17

New Orleans Saints, Carla vs Andrew
Carla: Crawfish and andouille gumbo over stone-ground grits
Andrew: Crayfish crudo with spicy lime vinaigrette
Carla won judges’ votes. Andrew won fans’ vote.
All Stars: 6 Home: 24

Dallas Cowboys, Andrea vs Stefan
Stefan: Roasted pork with coleslaw and New York steak with corn salad
Andrea: Tex-Mex chili with fried corn chips and guacamole coleslaw
Judges split (Padma and Toby voted for Andrea). Fans all voted for Andrea. Stefan got *gasp* ZERO points.
All Stars: 16 Home:24

San Francisco 49ers, Jamie vs Camille
Jamie: Crab cioppino with olives, basil, and toasted sourdough
Camille: Miso sweet potato mash with mustard crab meat and salad
Judges split (Padma and Toby for Jamie), fans’ voted for Jamie.
All Stars: 16 Home: 34

Miami Dolphins, Josie vs Jeff
Josie: Warm rock shrimp ceviche w/papaya
Jeff: Rock shrimp ceviche with sangria sorbet
Josie won judges’ and fans’ votes.
All Stars: 26 Home: 34

Greenbay Packers, Fabio vs Spike
Fabio: Venison with mustard sauce and mache salad with cheddar
Spike: Five-spice venison with port reduction and micro herb salad
Spike won judges’ vote, Fabio got the fans’ vote.
All Stars: 33 Home: 37

The home team wins! Yaaaay! But wait, Stefan, Jeff and Fabio are headed to Judges table –booo! The judges first awarded the challenge winner – Carla! You can probably imagine just how excited she was, and how big her eyes got. Along with getting her first win, she also got tickets to the Super Bowl.

Now for the bad part – three great chefs on the chopping block. Clearly I have a problem with how this judging was planned, but that’s beside the point. The judges didn’t care for Jeff’s ceviche, no matter what he said about it. Stefan seemed to have committed no major crimes, just the misfortune that the fan tie-breaker went Andrea’s way. Fabio overcooked his venison, which was unacceptable in the eyes of the judges. After a bit of arguing, the judges decided to send Jeff home. (insert crowd groaning) Fabio thanks the judges for a second chance, and Jeff graciously left the room, beating himself up inside for getting kicked off.

I don’t know about you, but my fantasy team took a pretty big hit this week! Time to re-group before the next episode…

We’re back for another exciting week in the Top Chef kitchen – are you ready for Season 5’s Restaurant Wars?

The guest judge this week was restaurant mogul Stephan Starr, operator of many top restaurants, including one of my favorites – Morimoto. The Quickfire Challenge was to create a tasting for Stephan – one dish to showcase a prospective restaurant. Two winners would be chosen – each would head up one restaurant for the elimination challenge.

The pressure seemed to be getting more intense, as the chefs were scrambling in the kitchen a little more than usual. Leah and Radhika impressed Stephan the most, and each went on to choose their teams. Radhika chose Jamie, Carla and Jeff to work with her. Surprise, surprise – Leah chose Hosea immediately, keeping team HoLeah quite intact. Leah also chose Fabio, and got stuck with Stefan, as he was the last man standing.

The teams began planning immediately, and problems began to arise almost as quickly. It’s clear that neither team leader really wanted to lead much of anything. Leah was unwilling to stand up to Stefan, and let everyone pretty much plan their own thing. Radhika was even worse, and allowed Jeff to work in the kitchen when she knew that he’d be a much better host than she would.

The teams spent the remainder of the day and a few thousand dollars at Pier 1 and Restaurant Depot to bring their concepts to life. Several of the chefs had some energy to spare at the end of the day – you guessed it – Hosea and Leah. They managed to work in some snuggle and make-out time on the sofa, causing some viewers to wonder again what show they were really watching. Funnier still, Bravo hosted a text vote about this romance, with the results showing that viewers overwhelmingly want the show to be about cooking. Thank you, Captain Obvious. And now back to the kitchen…

Team Sahana:
Radhika’s globally influenced restaurant quickly took shape, and while the hours of prep were stressful, Sahana quickly filled up with guests, and the judges. Right away, Radhika’s weakness as the hostess showed, and she was visibly nervous and uncomfortable. She served the first course, a whole wheat naan dish, curried carrot, a seared scallop and salad. Next up was a white lentil tabouli, seared snapper, and cinnamon and saffron lamb leg over couscous. Delish! The judges and guests were satisfied with all the dishes so far. Then came dessert. Carla had been worried about the desserts, especially since both frozen yogurts failed to firm up in the too-warm freezer. Regardless of her concerns, Carla and Radhika served the spiced chocolate cake, cashew brittle, fig and minted frozen yogurts, and baklava. The judges and guests clearly did not enjoy this last course. To make matters worse, Radhika was nowhere to be found at the end of the meal, and the judges left the restaurant without her even noticing! Summary: mostly great food, bad service.

Team Sunset Lounge:
Fabio was clearly the right man for the host job, professing that they could serve monkey *** in an empty clam shell and he’d sell it to their customers. Yes, Fabio, in that fabulous suit, you probably could have sold that to me! He wowed the judges and guests with his warm personality and charm. The lovebirds, however, were not faring so well in the kitchen. Apparently their guilt began to take a toll, and both performed a little sub-par. The first course was served – an amuse bouche of a vegetable roll with chili sauce, then tuna and salmon sashimi, radish salad and coconut curry bisque. It’s ok, but nobody was impressed. Next up were some yummy short ribs and vegetables, and some not-so-yummy cod. Aside from being salty and in a terrible sauce, the fish was too undercooked to be eaten, and the judges sent it back to the kitchen. Leah didn’t even care, and chose not to send out a new dish. Desserts are another story – Stefan hit it out of the ballpark. Chocolate rice parfait, lemongrass panna cotta, frozen mango with chocolate – say no more. The judges and guests were blown away. Summary: ok food, great dessert and service.

The judges would likely have chosen Team Sahana as winner, but the guests’ comment cards gave Sunset Lounge a slight advantage. Stefan was chosen as the challenge winner, and was awarded a full set of GE appliances. It’s clear that Fabio and Stefan pulled their team to this victory, and saved Leah from elimination. On Team Sahana, Jamie and Jeff were in the clear, while Carla and Radhika were in the bottom. As team leader, the judges felt that Radhika’s mistakes should send her packing.

Next week the chefs are visited by an all-star team from Top Chef seasons past in what looks like a Super Bowl party – should be interesting!

An old friend showed up for the Quickfire this week … Hung Huyhn, the winner from Season Three. In honor of his speediness, the chefs had only 15 minutes to complete their dishes, and also had to work with canned ingredients. Radhika whipped up a spicy red bean dip with grilled bread, and Jamie put together bruschetta with garbanzo beans, artichoke, and smoked mussels. Stefan pulled out the win, with his baked bean and ham soup with a grilled cheese and Spam sandwich. Hong announced that, “This is something I’d eat at three in the morning.”

This week’s elimination challenge was to create a seasonal meal around their main protein – either lamb, pork or chicken. The chefs drew knives to split into three groups, each being assigned a protein. Stefan, Jamie and Carla are on team chicken, Hosea, Leah and Ariane are team lamb, and Radhika, Fabio and Jeff form team pig. Each team planned out their menu for the next day, with Jamie and Stefan butting heads over the menu choices.

The next morning the chefs set out for Whole Foods, but quickly realized that they were headed out to the country, and arrived at Blue Hill and Stone Barns. Chef Dan Barber greeted them, telling them that it’s a “different type of whole food.” Their challenge was to gather fresh ingredients from the farm to prepare lunch for the farmers, staff and other guests. The teams altered their menus to fit within the offerings of the farm, with Stefan blathering about being “the only cock in the stall” among the hen house, and Fabio professing his respect for the animals.

The teams quickly got to work, and brought their menus to life. Team pig put together a lunch of seared pork loin, sausage ravioli with pesto, fried green tomatoes, and grilled corn salad with bacon. While Fabio’s ravioli was overpowered by the pesto, the group’s dishes were received well by the judges.

Team chicken got through the Jamie-Stefan battles, turning out a chicken cutlet and a nectarine and a strawberry tartlet, all getting rave reviews from the panel.

Team lamb didn’t fare quite so well. The served a roasted duo of lamb, heirloom tomato salad, rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes, Swiss chard and a summer berry trifle. Ariane was left to butcher the lamb, and struggled through the entire preparation, while Hosea and Leah watched on from the sidelines. Their lack of teamwork was evident, and the judges were not impressed.

Team chicken was called to judges table first, as the panel’s favorite, with Carla’s tartlet being their favorite dish. And the winner is…everyone! All three win this challenge.

This week’s episode starts off with quite the Quickfire Challenge – creating a dessert without using sugar. Most of the chefs actually did pretty well, although guest judge Jean Christophe would probably disagree. He was clearly not pleased with most of the dishes, and refused to even try Ariane’s whole-wheat crepe
because it didn’t look right.

After the last flash of Diet Dr. Pepper was shown, Radhika was announced as the winner with her ginger bread pudding with roasted cashews. With two cheftestants being eliminated on this episode it was a good week to have immunity!

As we all know, today’s Elimination Challenge had no boundaries, and was supposed to give the chefs a chance to show their personal style and cook without any crazy restrictions. In an effort to let new judge Toby learn about the chefs solely by their cooking, this challenge was to be judged blind, meaning that
the judges wouldn’t know who made what during tasting. As an added twist, the chefs were split into to rounds, and those not cooking were part of the judging while the rest watched the scene play out live from the kitchen.

If you know who Toby Young is, then you know that there was no shortage of harsh, un-constructive criticism for the chefs. If you don’t know who Toby Young is, it’s possible you thought you were watching “Last Comic Standing.” Here are the top quotes of the evening:

“The U.N. weapons inspectors were looking in the wrong place in the run up to the Iraq war. Because I have found the weapons of mass destruction, and they are in this bowl.” (About Radhika’s seafood bisque)

“I think it tasted like cat food.” (About Melissa’s ahi tuna taco). Maybe it was Toby’s non-food-related far-reaching jokes that were stank, and not the fish?

“It was like Tom Cruise’s cameo in Tropic Thunder. An unexpected treat.” (About Jeff’s avocado sorbet)

“It was the bland leading the bland.” (About Eugene’s daikon fettuccini)

Moving on now. The chefs are all eyeing each other’s dishes while cooking, and after seeing that Jamie had, yet again, chosen to prepare scallops, Fabio declared that the show is called Top Chef, not Top Scallop. I’ll admit it, I giggled. With his fabulous accent, how could you not?

The tasting was pretty interesting – most of the dishes were enjoyable, and all of the chefs gave honest and insightful feedback on their competitors. Well, all except Jamie, who knew that the first group liked her dish, and decided to try to sabotage everyone else’s so she could -finally- win.

So, apparently, the show is called Top Scallop, because lo and behold, Jamie won her first Elimination Challenge, with Stefan close behind with his Czech duck dumplings and red cabbage, and Ariane with her fish entrée.

Carla, Melissa and Eugene fell into the bottom three, a position they’ve all seen before. Even more threatening today – the judges weren’t choosing one chef to send home, they were choosing one chef to stay. Tom and Toby seem to disagree quite a bit, and have pretty opposite opinions on, well, everything. Carla, crazy though she may be, was very professional, taking the judges’ criticism well, and immediately giving several options of how she could make her dish better. She may have swayed the judges just enough – they decided that Melissa’s “cat food” fish tacos and Eugene’s ruined red snapper sent them packing.

What’s up for next week? Two things that are pretty unrelated – a trip to a farm, and a visit from a Top Chef alumnus – Hong. See you next week!