This week we have Wilo Benet, Cindy Pawlcyn, Rick Bayless and Ludo Lefebvre. I heard and seen a lot of Rick Bayless over the years for both his grilling and his authentic Mexican food. I have seen Ludo Lefebvre on Iron Chef America. I think Wilo Benet was on the Top Chef finale in Puerto Rico. I am not familiar with Cindy Pawlcyn.

Quickfire Challenge:

Their quickfire challenge starts with a knife pull and each knife is a color. I think the knife pull is the most gut wrenching process. They have to create a color themed dish. They are b eing judged by food stylists and photographers. They had 30 minutes. Ludo didn’t do everything he wanted so he was quite upset. Then the waiters forgot to take out the sauce. When they did it just made his steak tar-tar look bloody. Wilo left the metal forms on his plates. The scores were:

Ludo 3 stars

Cindy 3 1/2 stars

Rick 4 stars

Wilo 4 1/2 stars

Elimination Challenge:

They have to create a dish to be served on the street but… the dishes have to be made out of a specific key protein. Wilo had beef hearts. Rick had toungue. Cindy had tripe. Ludo had pigs ears. They had $300 to shop, access to the full pantry, 3 hours to prep and then on location they would get 1 hour. Ludo was going to do a quesadilla, Wilo was going to do a pita sandwich, Cindy is doing Menudo, and Rick was doing a taco. Due to the time constraints some of the chefs are using pressure cookers. While they all were hectic, Ludo was having problems getting his hot enough to cook his quesadilla.

Service and Judgeing:

The panel seemed to really liked Rick’s tacos. They liked Wilo’s Tripleta but thought there was a lot of toppings that his the heart. Ludo was behind in serving. The panel liked Ludo’s ear itself but wasn’t sure how it worked with the quesadilla. They thought the tripe in the Menudo was good but the broth was a little underseasoned.

Ludo 16 1/2 stars

Cindy 15 1/2 stars

Rick 22 1/2 stars

Wilo 19 1/2 stars

So Rick Bayliss wins and goes on to the next round. This is getting good! Next week will be fun. It has John Besch and Neal Patrick Harris!