So where will this week lead us? Will the top 3 remain the Voltaggio brothers and Jennifer? Let us jump in and find out!

Quickfire Challenge:

Daniel Boulud is waiting with Tom as our chefs show up. They are going to have to do the snail challenge. They have 45 minutes to make a dish with escargot as their protein. Someone will win immunity with a bonus and someone will be kicked out. Mattin may have a bit of an unfair advantage. A few of the dishes were “interesting”. The top 3 were Mike, Kevin, and Jennifer. The winner was Kevin so he has immunity. The bottom 3 were Jesse, Ashley, and Robin. They are getting a 2nd chance. They get 20 minutes to make 1 amuse bouche out of whatever they find in the kitchen. The loser will go home. Robin made a soup for her amuse where as the other 2 do appear to be a bite. Tom and Boulud were not really happy with any of the 3. They were all good ideas but not executed right. The chef with the worst was Jesse. I have to say I am not all that surprised. She has been riding the bottom the whole time.

Elimination Challenge:
We are faced with a knife draw that Kevin is not participating in. Each knife has a classic French sauce on it or a traditional French protein. They will be working in pairs with 1 sauce and 1 protein. They will then serve to a table of French chefs, including the French chef of the century Joel Robuchon. Kevin will not be cooking but instead will eating with the French chefs. One of the teams is Jennifer with Michael V. I think that is the team to watch. Mike I wants to do a new take on Bearnaise and wants to do it deconstructed. Ron says he has done frog legs a lot before and has French training. Robin is worried about reheating her lobster without it getting overdone. Ashley is totally letting Mattin take the lead since he is French. I have a feeling that it may backfire. Hector was having issues getting the steak to temperature.

Michael V and Jennifer- Rabbit and Sauce Chasseur
Mike I and Bryan- Trout and Sauce Bearnaise
Ashley and Mattin- Sauce Veloute and Poussin (young chicken)
Eli and Laurine- Lobster and Sauce Americaine
Hector and Ash-Chateaubriand and Steak au Proivre
Robin and Ron – Sauce Meuniere and Frog Legs

Service and Judging:
Ron and Robin go first and it wasn’t a big hit. They thought it was a tough dish but the legs weren’t quite right. Then up goes Mike and Bryan. Their dish seemed to be a big hit. Then Eli and Laurine’s dish was up. The lobster was tough. They say it is ok but not quite right. Then Mattin and Ashley are up. The chicken was bland and the sauce was to much bacon. Then Jennifer and Michael V served. It was once again a hit with perfectly cooked rabbit. Hector waited late to cut the beef and it was bloody. They knew there wasn’t enough sauce on the plates. The judges didn’t like how the meat was cooked, the lack of sauce and how the meat was cut.

First up to see the judges were Bryan, Mike, Michael and Jennifer. The winner was Bryan with his trout. His extra prize was to work at Robuchon’s restaurant for a week. Next up was Ashley, Mattin, Hector and Ash. The chicken was seared and dried out. The veloute was closer to a gravy. The judges didn’t like all the bacon and thought there should have been an asparagus veloute. Ashley had suggested it but Mattin had shot it down. They wanted more au poivre sauce and they didn’t like how the meat was cut. Bouchon pointed out that the meat should have only been cooked a half hour so there should have been plenty of time.

In the end Hector got sent home. It had been pointed out that the beef was the easiest dish and he didn’t do it well.

I have no witty banter so let’s just jump into this week’s Top Chef!

Quickfire Challenge:
Mark Peel and Padma are waiting with a table full of potatoes. They have to create an “out of this world” dish with potatoes. Now I don’t feel to bad because there are all kinds of potatoes on the table. Chaos ensues in the kitchen. Preeti blanched her asparagus in Ashley’s water for her gnocchi. With 13 minutes left she had to start water over. I am interested to see if the odd dishes win (sweet potato custard, risotto) or the traditional (vichyssoise or gnocchi). The bottom were Eli, Ron and Jesse. The top are Jennifer, Ash, and Ashley. The winner was Jennifer and now she has immunity. She seems to be riding pretty high. Mike I. thinks it is favoritism but how with a new judge?

Elimination Challenge:
A Commander from Nellis comes in to give the challenge. They had to go to Nellis where the Thunderbirds train. They have to create a meal for 300. It is 1 team with 4 hours to cook. They don’t know their ingredients or to see the kitchen until they show up day of the challenge. They decide to set it up with Jennifer being the chef of the kitchen since she has immunity. Then everyone else pairs up and each pair takes a dish. When they get into the kitchen they find it as a traditional military kitchen with lots of canned good, no individual pots and stoves. So they all evaluate what they have to cook but they are having issues allocating resources. But Jennifer was doing a great job helping allocate all the kitchen resources. She also was keeping the chatter down.

Once they were done with the cooking they went to the site to set up. It was kind of crazy. They set up to 2 sets of serving stations. Michael V was very specific on how he wanted his dish served and he wanted it all cut as they served it. Then we begin!

Service:
I really don’t know about being in the middle of the Nevada desert with chili and chowder. Bryan and Mattin’s beef was good and pink in spite of being held. Preeti and Lorreen’s pasta salad was boring and salty. The chili was good and spicy. The chili was a bit thick but good. Gail says she doesn’t mind the hot dishes but the hot and heavy cream was a bit much. The pork shoulder and potato salad seemed to be a hit. The pork belly was a huge hit but their salad wasn’t good. Tom thought the shrimp was under cooked. Mark Peel thought the bread pudding was a little dry but Tom and Gail liked it.

Judging:
So first up for the judges was Mike, Michael, Eli and Kevin. Kevin did the pulled pork with his family recipe. Tom thinks the slab bacon braised was cool. Mike and Michael have worked together before and that helped. Michael did the bacon, where Mike did the salad. The winner was Michael. When I heard that he did the bacon basically by himself I was sure he was going to win. Then the judges wanted to see Preeti, Lorreen and Mike (again). Mike was hot. I think once the judges knew that Mike did the shrimp salad on his own, he was on the chopping block. The shrimp wasn’t cooked all the way and that was a big deal. Tom said that Mike seemed pissed and Mike said he was. Mike said he was trying to help the team and didn’t have to do it. They told him that is did the dish and they had to judge him on it. Gail also pointed out that it was bland and without seasoning. Tom wanted to know whose idea the pasta salad was. Neither Lorreen nor Preeti took credit. Gail said that it didn’t seem creative. Preeti asked if the chowder was more creative. They said no but that the chowder was a better version. Tom called the girls on just trying to get by and that was all they wanted. Lorreen seemed to know that it wasn’t a good dish but she said that she forgot it was a competition. Preeti on the other hand thought it was a good dish. In the deliberation Gail pointed out that the judges didn’t ask them to team up.

In the end Preeti was sent home. In her exit she said that this year’s competition was tougher than the other years. I think she might be right. So let’s see who will get cut next week! Next week we are have the 2 elimination week! Things are going to be exciting!

I have to say that I was pretty impressed by the level of competitor last week. Let us see if it was a fluke or if the performance level will stay high.

Quickfire Challenge:
Todd English is waiting for the cheftestants with Padma. The chefs have to roll the dice to see how many ingredients they will get to use. Salt, pepper and oil don’t count. There was a real variety from 3 ingredients to 10. The bottom chefs were Jesse, Eve, and Bryan. The top were Michael V. (Bryan’s brother), Jennifer, and Kevin. The winner was Michael V. He got $15 grand and immunity.

Elimination Challenge:
It is guys versus girls as they do the bachelor and bachelorette party. Women are catering for the guys party and the guys for the girl party. The couple walks in with trays of shots. They want the food to be paired with the shots. Then the teams meet with their person. The woman is all fish but no meat but her friends are both meat eaters and vegans. The guys likes shell fish. This will be interesting. Each team has to have at least 2 dishes with each type of drink (there are 3 types). Ashley resents this whole challenge because of the gay marriage issue. Please, I wasn’t real fond of the sex store challenge in the first season. You are there to cook.

Ashley decides she has time to take on an extra dish and she decides to do a Bay Panna Cotta. Really? A panna cotta for a party? This is your extra? These traditionally do bad. Then we find out everything is going to be served pool side, read sunny and hot. Eve was having issues getting flavor into her dish. I think there is a good chance that Eve may go if the girls lose, unless it is Ashley due to the panna cotta.

Service:
Tom is sporting a little soul patch. Eve’s ceviche didn’t go well but Jennifer’s was a success. Robin’s mole went well. The lamb also was good. Jesse got a popular dish with her lettuce cup but the judges thought there was to much going on. Ashley’s first dish went well but her panna cotta wasn’t set. Tom says it is to bad that she served 2 dishes. They all liked the first dish but now they had to weigh it out with the bad dish. Kevin’s soup with crab went well. Michael made a goat cheese cookie with a sorbet that everyone liked. The guys seemed to have a lot more sweet dishes. Hector did do a tofu ceviche that the judges liked. Mike I’s dish didn’t go over well at all but Bryan’s meringues were a big hit. Eli’s tartar went well with his drink. But Mattin’s didn’t set well with the alcohol but the chicken wings went well.

Judging:
First up were Bryan, Eli, Hector and Michael. This was the top 4 on the winning team. The winner was Bryan. Then Eve, Jesse, Preeti and Ashley got called back. Gail thought Jesse dish was muddled with to many ingredients. Tom thought there wasn’t enough ginger in it. Tom said that Eve’s shrimp was bland and the sauce was over powering. Tom said that Preeti’s tuna was almost cured because she marinated it over night and Padma said the shiso leafs were wilted. Padma said there was to much bay in the panna cotta and Tom said the bay was over cooked so it would be bitter. Todd said Ashley’s watermelon was one of the best dishes of the day.

In the end eve was sent home. I was right! So who will be next? Be back next week to see!

I am so excited for a new season! What little I know about the contestants makes me very excited. We have award winners and real chefs! It looks like more than one James Beard nominee and a chef de cuisine for Eric Ripert. 3 are from Atlanta and I find it odd that out of so few… BTW I think Ash from New York needs to not feel so special. I personally am not shocked to see a gay chef so I don’t understand why he feels so isolated. I love that it was assumed that Jennifer was a pastry chef and not the chef (she is the one who works for Eric Ripert).

Quickfire Challenge:
They got broke into teams of 4 to do the Mise en Place relay race. This is always an awesome one! Instead of the knife block we got poker chips. Robin pulled a gold chip that got her out of the relay race and she got immunity for the elimination challenge. They have to chuck 15 clams, peel 20 prawns, clean 5 lobsters, and butcher 2 chops off the prime rib.

Preeti has never opened a clam and was trying to do it like an oyster. The whole competition really on came down to 2 of the teams, black and blue. The blue team (Jennifer, Mattin, Jesse, and Bryan) won. Then the 4 team members had to do a cook off to determine a winner. The winner was to receive $15,000. Robin had the option to trade in her immunity to compete for the $15,000. They had to make a dish with the ingredient they dealt with in the relay. The bottom 2 were Brian and Mattin. The winner was Jennifer.

Elimination Challenge:
They each must cook a dish based on a vice. Each team will have 1 member up for the overall win and 1 member up for elimination. Wolfgang Puck will be the judge. They have $150 budget, 30 minutes to shop and 2 hours to cook. They are cooking at Puck’s kitchen.

A lot of the vices seemed tied to alcohol;). Hector deep fried a rib eye! On one hand it seems so wrong but on the other…is deep frying ever really wrong;)? Robin is going to benefit from immunity because she didn’t have time to put the sauce on the plate. We also have 1 of them serving gigantic chile relleno. I already don’t like Mike I.

Service:
Wolfgang liked Eli’s scallops. Tom and Wolfgang were not cool with the idea of deep frying the steak. Bryan’s dish seemed to do well. The steak looked so yummy! Jennifer’s fish was a hit as was her sauce. Jesse’s chicken breast was dry and that can’t be over looked. Mattin’s buffalo was good but they didn’t get why he served zucchini with it. I feel bad that Ash had to serve his halibut after Jennifer. I want those bacon donuts with chocolate sauce. Ron had to much on the plate but the fish was cooked well. Jen’s chile relleno didn’t go well, Tom really disliked it. The donuts were dense but the sauce was good. Michael’s lamb was done well and presented well. Eve’s dish was a mess and didn’t show complication. Kevin had the cutest concept and the artic char was done well too.

Judges Table:
So first up are Ron, Mike, Kevin and Jennifer whom we all assume are the winners. The overall winner was Kevin and his dish about procrastination. Next up were Hector, Jen, Jesse and Eve. None of them in either group surprised me. Eve said she played down her sauce. Tom really hit Eve for not searing her scallops. Jen got hit for poorly cooking her seitan in the relleno. Hector defended his deep fried steak but Wolfgang said not in America. One of the things the judges talked about was the difference between those who knew their mistakes, like Jesse, and those who didn’t, like Eve and Jen.

In the end Jen was the first to go. She seemed to think that is was because she used seitan. But Tom said that it was badly seasoned period and it didn’t matter what protein she used.

Good start to a new season! I am excited for next week.

So the time has come to see who will take it all. Not only the $100,000 for their charity but a prize package worth over $250,000 (like how that was glossed over;).

So we start with the chefs being whisked away to an unknown location for an unknown challenge (final, quickfire?). They arrive at the Getty Villa. They have to create a meal that is based on their food history. Their first food memory, the experience that made them decide to become chefs, the opening of their 1st restaurant and last their future. They will be serving Padma, Tom and Gail from the original Top Chef in addition to the regular critics. Also the 5 winners of Top Chef.

I find it interesting that both Hubert and Rick were brought up in the food business and that was connected to their first memory. Michael’s was tied to his mom cooking with him. I wonder about my children and what their food memories will be. Will it be the goofy cake I made or their dumping chocolate chips the first time or getting to roll snickerdoodles? My own are tied to failures and Passover;). It makes you think.

Hubert: Baeckeoffe (Alsatian Lamb, Beef, Pork and Potato Stew), Salmon Souffle served with Choucroute Flan, Colorado Lamb Chop wrapped in Vegetable Mousseline served with Vanilla-Merlot Sauce, Pan-Seared Sweetbreads served with Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks

Michael: Duo of Gnocchi, Polenta with Rabbit, Asparagus and Wild Mushroom served with Duck and Rabbit Liver Spiedini, Whole Fried Ginger Marinated Rouget served with Mango Salad, Brined Short Ribs served with 5 Onion Cavalo Nero

Rick: BBQ Smoked Quail w/ Watermelon Salad, Ahi Tuna with Oaxacan Black Mole served with Plantain Tamales & Grilled Nopales, Cochinita Pibil served with Sunchoke Puree, Crispy Pig’s Feet and Pickled Red Onion, Arroz a la Tumbaua with Lobster, Crab, Squid, Mussels and Shrimp served with Chorizo “Air”

Of course there is a finale twist. A card and remote are waiting for them in the kitchen the day of service. It is a video of their sous-chefs sending them a little encouragement. And then… the sous-chefs walked in! They all keep cooking and seem to be just getting it done. So what was the plan before the sous-chefs showed up?

Before we get to service and judgement let me say, Harold looks so much older! Not old but more like a grown up;).

Huang thought that Michael’s tomato sauce was under seasoned. But all 3 seemed to do well. The second course all went well too! Michael’s polenta looks so yummy but Hubert’s mousseline sauce is the most tantalizing for me. Michael’s fish in his 3rd course is a little scary looking. Elan thought Michael’s fish was one dimensional. Padma thought Hubert had to much vanilla and Tom thought the raw garlic was a mistake. Everyone thought Rick’s food was very sophisticated and that surprised them. Rick’s last dish may have suffered from time and it wasn’t a big success. Padma loved Michael’s short rib. Harold thought Hubert’s sweetbread was under cooked.

Onto Critic’s Table… Michael’s short rib was a huge hit but the fish was hit and miss. Hubert’s stew was homey and wonderful. Hubert said he blanched the garlic 3 times but everyone thought the garlic tasted almost raw. There was also mixed reviews on the vanilla in the lamb dish. Rick’s foam or “air” didn’t go over well and his fish was a little overcooked. But everyone loves Rick’s mole.

Michael: (diner’s) 4 1/2 stars, (total) 17 stars
Rick:(diner’s) 4 1/2 stars, (total) 18 stars
Hubert: (diner’s) 4 stars, (total) 16 1/2 stars

So Rick Bayliss won! I think it was well earned and couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!

That sends us into the new season of Top Chef. Stay tuned for that recap!