Top Chef

View Date: 10/14/09

Quickfire Challenge: The guest judge for the challenge is Charlie Palmer, who both Bryan and Michael worked with in the past. He is a master of American cuisine, and several of these chefs are rather intimidated to be cooking for him. The challenge would be based on pairing, but particularly of uncommon ingredients. The challenges have to pair something with Alexia Crunchy Snacks, which are made with real vegetables. The best dish of the day belonged to Eli, whose dish seemed much more complex than the other dishes. The other enjoyable dishes were those of Kevin and Bryan, while those that did not work well were those of Ash, Jen, and Robin.

Elimination Challenge: The next challenge revolved around pork and pinot noir, specifically cooking for a Pigs and Pinot event being hosted by Charlie Palmer. The chefs drew knives to determine which part of the pig they would be cooking. Jen drew a wild card knife where she got to choose which part of the pig she would cook, picking pork belly. The chefs then went over to Charlie's restaurant to learn about and taste various pinot noirs. The chefs then chose one of 9 pinots to pair with their dish. The contestants would be responsible for preparing 150 tasting portions of their dish.

With the four hours given to cook, the tension was high in the kitchen. Additionally, people are getting very frustrated with Robin and it is carrying over to all aspects of the show. We also got to see some brotherly love and competition between the Voltaggio brothers which seemed to unnerve the other chefs a bit. After the event, there were some dishes that were obviously disliked by judges and guests alike. However, there were also many very good dishes, and several guests even expressed their indecision because there were several excellent options.

The favored dishes were no surprise, as they were from the frontrunners this season. We had Jen's pork belly, Bryan's short ribs, Kevin's tenderloin, and Michael's dish. The winner, as chosen by Charlie Palmer, was Kevin, the self-proclaimed pig man. He even showed off his pig tattoo to show just how into these ingredients he was. Of course, they were asked to send in their colleagues Ash, Robin, and Laurine. Robin was called out for not having enough pork on her dish, as well as a weird texture to her sauce. Ash did not develop his flavors enough to go with his wine, and should have made his original dish rather than second guessing himself. Laurine failed in the execution of her dish because she did not make the dish that she was proclaiming in the proper manner, and therefore did not make what she was calling it. In the end, Ash was sent to pack his knives.

10 words or less: Another one bites the dust, and it was a good one.