By Kim
Quickfire Challenge: The cheftestant are split randomly into teams of four for the mise en place race, and then they must cook a dish with those ingredients in 15 minutes, judged by David Chang of Momofuku. The twist is that the first team to finish the race starts the timer, and the remaining teams' clock starts then also, so they don't have 15 full minutes.
Fabio, Angela, Tiffany and Mike: Their team finishes first and makes lamb with garlic, tandoori-spiced yogurt, slivers of artichoke and dill salad. This lands them in the bottom two due to the imbalanced seasonings.
Stephen, Tre, Blais and Spike: Their team finishes second and makes crispy lamb chop with artichoke three ways. They are in the top two because their dish had bold flavors, and they win it, earning $5,000 each, but no immunity.
Antonia, Jamie, Casey, and Dale L.: Their team finishes third and makes lamb Carpaccio with capers, garlic, Reggiano and salad with artichoke. This lands them in the bottom two due to some overpowering flavors.
Dale T., Carla, Tiffani, and Marcel: Their team finishes last and makes lamb Carpaccio, artichoke chips, artichoke salad and garlic oil. They are in the top two because their dish is "deceivingly complex."
Elimination Challenge: Each group dines at one of New York's elite restaurants, and then has to individually create a dish that would fit on that restaurant's menu. They'll compete against the others in their group, and two cheftestants will go home. So here are the teams, by restaurant, and what each cheftestant made:
Marea, which is modern Italian, owned by Michael White:
Tre: grilled swordfish, braised artichoke, mushroom panna cotta, basil oil. The judges give him high marks for his presentation, and the flavors, too.
Spike: seared branzino with caponata and spicy prosciutto vinaigrette. The judges like the fish, but not so much the rest.
Blais: crudo of Spanish mackerel, braised veal shank, fennel mostarda. The judges love the flavors.
Stephen: Coho salmon, black Mission figs, broccoli rapini, fennel pollen. The judges think the pollen might be a little too much.
Ma Peche, which is French-Asian, owned by David Chang:
Fabio: roasted lamb, hoisin plum BBQ sauce, corn tomato salad and lemongrass chevre ricotta. The judges find it too heavy, and think Fabio got lost.
Tiffany: crudo of summer flounder with pickled radish and peach puree. The judges thinks it's unoriginal.
Mike: warm Sockeye salmon, eggplant, marinated tomatoes and pickled peach. The judges like the flavors and simplicity.
Angelo: turmeric marinated fish, dill, cilantro, salmon roe, chorizo and white chocolate. The judges think it's creative, flavorful, and innovative.
Townhouse, which is modern American and owned by David Brown.
Dale L: roasted veal loin with peanuts, popcorn, French toast, corn and thyme caramel. The judges like the creativity, but the dish is too sweet.
Antonia: pea puree, carrot puree, seared scallop and pickled carrot. The judges think it's too salty, but it fits the menu and has good flavors.
Casey: coconut halibut "scallop" (not really, but seared to look like one), tapioca "caviar" (faux, again) and ginger-carrot emulsion. The judges find it creative and well-executed.
Jamie: smoked tomato and bacon soup with heirloom tomato salad. The judges don't think the smokiness adds anything, and it's kind of simple.
WD-50, which is molecular gastronomy by Wylie Dufresne.
Dale T: sunny-side up egg dumpling, braised pork belly and milk ramen with bacon, beef and pork. The judges love the dish unreservedly.
Tiffani: broken summer heirloom melons (she froze them and shattered them, I guess?), with powdered ham and taleggio. The judges think the dish needed editing.
Carla: poached shrimp, grits and okra chips. The judges think it's a little safe, but technically good.
Marcel: vadouvan lamb, tzatziki, pickled red onion and anti flatbread (which is not flat, thus the name). The judges find it restrained almost to the point of blandness, and aren't sure he used the techniques well.
The top four are Dale T., Antonia, Angelo and Tre. Wow. Who would have picked them as the top four of any challenge based on reputation alone? The winner is Dale T.
The bottom four are Stephen, Tiffani, Fabio, and Dale L. Each of the cheftestants seems to agree with the criticisms that the judges hand down, and it was a really interesting challenge, worthy of the All-Stars name. But in the end, the people going home are Stephen and Dale L., which is not a huge surprise or shock.
Read up on who's who among the All-Stars, discuss the episode in our forums, then watch a clip, below!
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The cheftestants are still kind of reeling from the shock and awe of Jen's elimination when they enter the kitchen to find Padma hanging out with David Chang, owner of Momofuku Group. When even this rural Podunk recapper has heard of your restaurants, you've hit the big time, and I've heard of Momofuku. Padma doesn't waste any time getting to the Quickfire Challenge. The cheftestants are split randomly into teams of four based on how they walked in. The teams are:
Fabio, Angelo, Tiffany, and Mike are the green team. Fabio thinks that they've got a strong team because Tiffany and Mike are "really well train-ed" and Angelo's no slouch, even though Fabio thinks he wears his pants too tight. First of all, ha. And second, if an Italian dude thinks your pants are too tight, you might want to take a personal inventory of your wardrobe choices.
Antonia, Jamie, Casey, and Dale L. are the red team, and then Dale T., Carla, Tiffani, and Marcel are the white team. They don't get any commentary, and finally:
Stephen, Tre, Blais, and Spike are the blue team. Spike interviews that Blais is a master and Tre is awesome, and as for Stephen, well, Stephen can open a bottle of wine for them. Seriously, why is Stephen on this season? Could they not get anyone else from the first season?
The challenge is for the team to prep a bunch of lamb, artichokes, and garlic. David Chang will judge to make sure that the ingredients are prepped properly. The first team to finish hits a button that starts a timer counting down from fifteen minutes, and the teams will use that time to prepare a dish using their prepped ingredients. So the twist is that the teams that take the longest to prep will have the shortest amount of time to cook. The winning team doesn't get immunity, but each member will get $5,000. Everyone is pretty psyched about the cash.
Mike explains that he and Angelo started cleaning the racks of lamb. He thinks he has an advantage because he's been cooking Greek food for five years, and has prepped a lot of lamb. Tiffany takes artichokes, and Fabio starts crushing like every garlic clove at once by dropping a cutting board on top. Pretty genius, actually. It's peeled and almost minced in one step. They don't say if the garlic is supposed to be crushed, minced, diced, or what. Just peeled and cut somehow.
For the blue team, Blais and Tre are attacking the lamb, although Tre admits in an interview that his restaurant has butchers so he doesn't often have to prep meat. Stephen is doing garlic and Spike is doing artichokes.
For the white team, Dale T. and Marcel are handling the lamb. Marcel won't shut up about how much fun he's having, like less talking and more cleaning, nimrod. He's also really proud that he learned some awesome technique for cleaning lamb that no one else knows, and with the caliber of his competition, I have to wonder if they don't know it or just don't care to use it. Carla is handling artichokes and Tiffani is handling garlic.
For the red team, Antonia and Jamie are handling garlic. They are using a technique similar to Fabio, in that they are pounding the cloves with sauté pans. Dale L. is handling artichokes and Casey is handling lamb. Dale L. reminds us how Casey took FOREVER to dice an onion in her season's relay race, and she is going to kick ass today to try to live that down.
Fabio can't believe that others are peeling one clove of garlic at a time, when he can smash forty at once with his cutting board. He finishes really fast, and David Chang checks his work and proclaims that his team is finished with one ingredient. The other teams start to panic. Spike notices that Stephen is taking forever with his garlic, so he steals Fabio's cutting board technique to help out. Spike also starts chopping the garlic with two knives at once. Meanwhile, Tiffani is using a mandoline on the garlic? How is that even possible? Or advisable? Maybe she thought they would really be judged on the quality of the dice instead of the quantity? I really just can't figure out why she would use a mandoline on tiny garlic cloves. I have a hard enough time using one for thinly-sliced potatoes for a gratin or something.
So then the green team finishes with their lamb and David Chang says it's good, so now they have two ingredients done and no one else has any done. Jamie does finish up the garlic for the red team, but almost immediately, the green team finishes with their artichokes. So now they have all three ingredients finished, and most teams have none. That's quite a lead. They hit the button to start the timer.
The green team comes up with a strategy and start cooking their dish. Looks like Angelo is kind of taking the lead. The other teams slowly start to get their ingredients checked, and it's neck and neck with the three remaining teams. Spike asks for a check on the garlic that he finished up for Stephen, and Chang says that there are big chunks in it and Spike has to redo it. Finally, Chang says it's okay, and the blue team starts cooking with twelve minutes left. The red team starts with just over ten minutes left. The white team is still doing prep.
Blais decides to take the lead for his team because there's not enough time to huddle up and come up with a game plan. Finally, the white team finishes with eight and a half minutes left. Both the white team and the red team are doing lamb Carpaccio so that they don't have to cook the meat, which will save them time. What cracks me up the most is that the minute that the blue team finishes, Spike sends Stephen off to get some plates. Like he obviously knows that Stephen isn't going to be any help with cooking, so why bother? The other teams are frantically trying to get their dishes together, and it's all very fast-paced and frantic until time is called.
The white team (Carla, Dale T., Marcel, and Tiffani) made lamb Carpaccio artichoke chips, artichoke salad, and garlic oil. The blue team (Blais, Spike, Tre, and Stephen) made a crispy lamb chop with artichoke three ways (raw, crispy, and braised) with chili aioli. The red team (Antonia, Casey, Jamie, and Dale L.) gets a big laugh when Padma accidentally greets them, "Hello, ladies. (long pause) And Dale." They made makes lamb Carpaccio with capers, garlic, Reggiano, and fresh herb salad with artichoke. And finally, the green team (Angelo, Mike, Tiffany, and Fabio) made lamb with garlic, tandoori-spiced yogurt, slivers of artichoke, and dill salad.
David Chang is ready to discuss his favorite and least favorite dishes. He did not like the red team's dish, because he thought the Parmesan and parsley overwhelmed everything. He also didn't like the green team, even though they had the most time, because the thyme and other seasonings overwhelmed the rest of the ingredients.
He did like the white team, because he thinks it was "very unique" (even though unique doesn't take a modifier) to serve the lamb in the Carpaccio style. Really? Unique? Even though another team did it too? He also thinks that their dish was "deceivingly complex." And he liked the blue team's crispy lamb chop due to their bold flavors. And the winner is the blue team. That was a really fun challenge to watch. Well edited and a good test of skill and talent. Blais interviews that he likes winning the money, but he also likes that he's earned some trust from his teammates.
For the Elimination Challenge, Padma reminds them that New York is considered by many to be the restaurant capital of the world. They will remain in their groups and each group will dine in one of New York's best restaurants. The challenge will be to create a dish that would fit in on that restaurant's menu. The green team gets Ma Peche, which is one of David Chang's restaurants. The red team gets Townhouse, which is a modern American restaurant owned by David Burke. The blue team gets Marea, a modern Italian restaurant owned by Michael White. And the white team (which includes Marcel) gets WD-50, Wylie Dufresne's restaurant, which has a strong emphasis on molecular gastronomy. Well, that hardly seems fair.
Padma explains that they will cook individually and be judged against the others in their group. And two cheftestants will be eliminated. So presumably the worst from each group will be considered to go home. That would suck if you were in a really awesome group and just happened to have the worst dish. I understand that these arrangements make it easier for home viewers to track and easier for the judges to judge, but I always feel a little bad when someone just gets put in an unfair group. Then again, with the level of talent this season, it's pretty equal. Fabio is already shaking his head and laughing because he's going to have to cook French-Vietnamese fusion food. Well, so are the three others in your group, and other than Angelo, I don't know how much experience they have with it. So suck it up. This is Top Chef, not Top Gnocchi.
So the cheftestants head out to their designated restaurants. Antonia, Dale L., Jamie, and Casey go to Townhouse. Dale notices that the presentation is very important, and there is an illustration in the menu of how a certain dish is constructed. Meanwhile, Angelo, Mike, Tiffany, and Fabio are eating at Ma Peche. Angelo totally has a culinary boner over the food, since it's French Vietnamese. He's practically Frenching the food as it comes to the table, and then he nearly jams it up his nostril. Then he delivers a forty-five minute dissertation on why each dish is so awesome. And look, I get that he knows his Asian food, but he doesn't say anything that insightful. It's like, "The arugula is peppery." No shit, Sherlock. Tiffany interviews that Angelo is really annoying to eat with, and no argument here.
Blais, Spike, Stephen and Tre are eating at Marea, the Italian resturant. The first dish is sea urchin. Tre says that it's not his favorite and Stephen is like, "This one will change your mind." Is there anything more annoying at a restaurant than when someone tries to convince you that you like something that you don't like? As if you are a picky toddler? No, I really don't like sautéed mushrooms and you can tell me how awesome they are all you want, but when there are ten million other ingredients in the world, I think I can live a rich and full life without eating them. Stephen tells everyone the history of the restaurant and what a blowhard. I'm on Tre's side here. Blais interviews that the food is elegant and simple, so he's a little worried because his own dishes sometimes need editing.
Tiffani, Carla, Marcel, and Dale T. are eating at WD-50. Carla explains, to people who haven't watched any other seasons, that Wylie Dufresne is known for modern techniques, especially molecular gastronomy. And that's not exactly Carla's bag, so she's a little nervous. One of the dishes they are served is a scrambled egg block, which looks gross, but is apparently delicious.
Back at Townhouse, Jamie is wearing a printed T-shirt to a fine dining establishment. She didn't bring one dressy shirt with her? Come on. She looks like an asshole. Anyway, their first cocktail is served with a glass resting inside a fish bowl with an actual fish in it. Poor fish. Anyway, it seems that the chef's style is really wacky and whimsical, including a rack of lamb with an octopus on it. I don't know. Antonia interviews that all of the dishes started out very basic, and then the chef grew them from there. But at heart, they are basic, good dishes.
Back at the apartment, the cheftestants are all planning their dishes. Stephen talks about how he knows fine dining and fashion is his obsession. So why is he dressed like the Good Humor man? Also, how does an interest in fashion make him a good chef? I'm confused.
The day, the cheftestants arrive at the kitchens of the restaurants where they ate the night before. I notice that either they did their shopping off-camera, or their shopping was done for them. I approve of this development in the show's editing. I always thought the trip to Whole Foods was a waste of time, unless something happened there that affected the outcome, which it rarely did. And even if it did, just have someone talk about it in an interview and be done with it.
Mike is really interested in beating Angelo, since he would be the obvious favorite to win in a challenge where he's cooking French Vietnamese food. Mike dismisses Tiffany's dish as something that should only take a few minutes to prepare.
Antonia has decided that even though her restaurant's food was crazy and whimsical, she's determined to take a simple dish like peas and carrots, and then just add some elements to make it fit the challenge. Sounds like a solid plan. A really good dish will always take you to the round, even if it doesn't exactly fit the challenge's parameters. It might not win the whole thing, but this early on, just put out good food.
Carla is very mindful of how she went outside of her comfort zone during the finale of her season, and it didn't work out. So she's a little wary of trying to cook crazy Wylie Dufresne style food. Meanwhile, Stephen is having trouble with the Vitaprep and Blais worries that Stephen isn't going to make it. Tre knows that his strength is in Texas food like steak, so he's chosen to make swordfish, since it's the most steak-like fish. Tre also has a great laugh. I hope he stays in a while, just so he can laugh in interviews.
The judges arrive at Marea first. Colicchio, Padma, and Bourdain are joined by the restaurant's owner, Michael White and Kate Krader, the editor of Food and Wine. The chef explained that his food comes from the Northern Italian tradition, so we're going to see a lot of seafood as opposed to what many think of as Italian food: pasta, tomato sauces, and the like. Tre presents his dish first: grilled swordfish, braised artichoke, mushroom panna cotta, basil oil. Spike serves seared branzino with caponata and spicy prosciutto vinaigrette. Blais offers up crudo of Spanish mackerel, braised veal shank, fennel mostarda. And Stephen has Coho salmon, black Mission figs, broccoli rapini, and fennel pollen.
The judges like the crispy skin on Spike's fish, but they think his caponata (a type of eggplant salad) is too loose. I guess they mean that they want it to be thicker and more cohesive; the way it was plated, it kind of looked like he just threw some olives and capers and eggplant on the plate under his fish. Bourdain points out that if he had called it something else, it would have been more acceptable. He should have said it was deconstructed; the judges love that shit. Blais gets high marks for the flavors in his dish, and Chef White thinks the preparation fits in with how his restaurant prepares food, a good sign. At first, the judges seem to like Stephen's salmon, but as they taste it, they realize that the pollen is overwhelming. Bourdain comments that it "tastes like a head shop." So I'm guessing it has a strong incense or sandalwood or patchouli kind of smell. And finally, they like the simplicity of Tre's dish, and his panna cotta gets high marks.
The judges head to Ma Peche . Fabio wants to please David Chang, but he worries that it's like an Asian grandma trying to make fresh pasta for him. Well, only if the Asian grandma is in a reality competition where she claims to be the best all-around chef. It's called Top Chef, not Top Italian Chef. I'm starting to think that Fabio isn't long for this competition and I'm starting to wonder how he lasted so long in his own season. Angelo, meanwhile, is in full geek out mode and decides to add white chocolate to his fish and meat dish. Great idea or terrible idea? We'll find out.
Fabio made roasted lamb, hoisin plum BBQ sauce, corn tomato salad and lemongrass chevre ricotta that he made himself. Tiffany serves crudo of summer flounder with pickled radish and peach puree. I kind of see what Mike was saying about how her dish should have taken like ten minutes. Mike offers up warm Sockeye salmon, eggplant, marinated tomatoes and pickled peach. Angelo prepared turmeric marinated fish, dill, cilantro, salmon roe, chorizo and white chocolate.
The judges use words like "flavorful," "innovative" and "bold" when discussing Angelo's dish, and Kate Krader admits that she thought the white chocolate idea was crazy, but it totally works. They also like Mike's dish, because it is simple, but flavorful. Tom gives the eggplant a special mention. Fabio's dish, on the other hand, is confusing to the judges. It's much heavier than the other dishes (which were all seafood-based), and Chang says that it combines ingredients that he would never put together. Bourdain gives Fabio the benefit of the doubt and says that he's a talented cook that got "lost in the forest." While there are no real problems technically with Tiffany's dish, Kate thinks it lacks an element to elevate it above the rest, and Chang says that it's similar to dishes you would see at a lot of other restaurants.
, the judges head to Townhouse, and in the cab, the judges discuss how David White has always been avant garde and out there. In the kitchen, Casey mentions that Dale L. is asking her to taste every part of his dish, and in her opinion he just has too much going on the plate. It's not clear if she ever tells him this. It's not her place to, since it is a competition, but then again, they are like besties. Anyway, Casey has concerns about Dale's dish.
Dale L. served roasted veal loin with peanuts, popcorn, French toast, corn, and thyme caramel. Casey wasn't kidding about the dish having too many components. Antonia prepared pea puree, carrot puree, seared scallop, and pickled carrot. Casey made coconut halibut "scallop" (not really, but seared to look like one), tapioca "caviar" (faux, again), and ginger-carrot emulsion. Jamie offered smoked tomato and bacon soup with heirloom tomato salad.
The judges try Jamie's dish first. Bourdain wonders if the addition of smoke makes the dish better, or if it's just there to be there. Chef Burke doesn't think the dish has enough wow factor, and I agree. It's basically soup and salad, which is fine if that's where you start, but for this particular challenge, it needs something more. The presentation isn't even that exciting. I'm worried about Jamie, y'all. I don't know if her head's in the game. Then they get to Dale's dish. Padma points out that it's a sweet dish that he slapped some veal onto, and Burke thinks it's creative, but it's too sweet. They love what Casey did with the faux scallop made of halibut, and add that it's beautifully cooked. Antonia's dish was simple, but whimsically presented. Colicchio thinks it might be too salty, but Burke likes "assertive seasoning." Back in the kitchen, Jamie worries that her dish was too subtle. I think she's right to be worried.
Weird interstitial. Marcel claims that some of Wylie Dufresne's sous chefs accused Marcel of stealing a dish for his own restaurant. And now he has to cook in Wylie's restaurant. Marcel finds the whole thing really amusing and interesting; no one else really cares.
Over at WD-50, Dale T. explains that he's making a sunny side up egg dumpling and braised pork belly. He's not even trying to get all molecular gastronomy; he knows it's not his bag, and he will fail. But he is making a kind of unusual dish with good flavors, so it does fit the menu. Tiffani is making something that involves freezing melons with liquid nitrogen. She admits that she kind of knew it was a bad idea, but for some reason she's unable to pull the trigger and remove that element from her dish. Marcel thinks that Tiffani is using techniques just to use them, not to enhance her dish. And Marcel would know, Mr. Foam For No Reason.
The judges arrive and the final group serves its food. Dale T. made the aforementioned sunny-side up egg dumpling, braised pork belly, and milk ramen with bacon, beef, and pork. Tiffani has broken summer heirloom melons (she froze them and shattered them), with powdered ham and taleggio. Carla offers poached shrimp, grits, and okra chips. Marcel prepared vadouvan lamb, tzatziki, pickled red onion, and anti flatbread. Isn't that just bread? It looks like a hunk of bread.
The judges immediately think that Tiffani's dish needed to be edited, just as she feared. They especially think that the melon was overpowering and didn't need to be there. Bourdain thinks that Dale's dish is awesome, and Colicchio comments that the broth "tastes like breakfast." They love it. When tasting Carla's food, the judges don't find anything wrong, but also think it's pretty safe. I think that's probably smart for Carla; while I would like to see her do something more outstanding, I think this probably wasn't her challenge, and she knew it, so she just decided to make something that tasted good and was done well from a technical standpoint. It's not like what Jamie did in that it was a complex dish. It just wasn't a Wylie Dufresne dish. The judges are surprised by how timid Marcel's dish was, and Tom even calls it bland. Wylie levels the same criticism at Marcel that Marcel lobbied at Tiffani: that he used the techniques, but they didn't add to the dish at all.
Judges' Table. The cheftestants arrive in the Stew Room and the wine is poured. Carla makes fun of herself for using the molecular gastronomy equipment and everyone laughs. I really love her. Padma enters and asks to see Dale T., Antonia, Angelo, and Tre. They are the top four. Colicchio tells them that the chef owners were impressed, and Padma adds that the challenge winner gets a six-night trip to New Zealand. Not even sponsored by anyone? Wow. Bourdain praises Antonia for her playful take on a classic dish. Kate Krader specifically mentions Angelo's addition of white chocolate and Angelo does his faux humility thing that bugs the crap out of me where he smiles and bows his head. Ugh. He is gross. Tre talks about his dish, and says that he tried to make the fish the star of his dish. Colicchio says that he succeeded. Bourdain refers to Wylie as "an egg slut" (and anyone who has watched past seasons of this show knows that), and Dale says he knew it, but admits that he didn't use any of Wylie's crazy techniques to make his dish. Bourdain says he didn't need to, and was smart to practice restraint. So who's the winner? Kate says it's the chef who did well representing his kitchen, and that was Dale. Whoa, Dale! I would not have picked him out early on as someone who would win an Elimination Challenge. This really is kind of anyone's game. Except Stephen. But I'm getting to that.
Dale T. has the dubious honor of sending in the bottom four: Dale L., Stephen, Fabio, and Tiffani. He urges them to fight hard and stand up for themselves. Carla quickly adds that they should fight hard but also be nice, and Antonia quips, "Don't pull a Jen." Heh. Padma reminds them that two of them will be going home. Fabio starts out by admitting that French and Vietnamese are not his areas of expertise. Bourdain is sympathetic, since David Chang is a tough chef to emulate, and thinks that perhaps Fabio put too many components into his dish and overcompensated. Fabio thinks he used all the right ingredients for the cuisine, but knows he overdid it. Colicchio had some technical issues as well. Fabio thinks he was mimicking Chang, but Colicchio says he has to be true to the dish he's making, even if it's different than his inspiration.
Stephen is kicking himself, because he considers himself an expert in Italian food and wine. And he says this with Fabio standing right there. Anyway, Stephen thinks his problem was putting too much on the plate, and he should have edited. He thinks otherwise he could have won. Bourdain tells him that his dish was too perfumey and overwhelming, and Kate says that the salmon was well cooked. Colicchio leads Tiffani when he asks if she was seduced by all of the different equipment available to her in the kitchen. Tiffani agrees, and says that she wasn't true to her own food. Colicchio tells her that her food was watery and mushy. And finally Dale L. says that he considers Burke's dishes to be "food with jazz hands." Everyone chuckles, because that's a good description. Colicchio says that the problem was that Burke starts with a classic dish and adds his point of view, and he couldn't suss out Dale's inspiration. Dale says he makes a buttermilk French toast dish on his own, and he tried to add to that. Colicchio says that the problem was that he gave them a breakfast dish with veal on it. I wonder if Dale wouldn't have been in the bottom if he had just eliminated the veal. Or even used pork belly instead, so it was more like bacon and then toned down the sweetness.
The cheftestants are dismissed so the judges can talk. Padma thinks it's a really interesting challenge, but some of the cheftestants missed the mark. Everyone agrees that Dale L. cooked his food properly but it was way too sweet so it was a problem of concept. Stephen had similar problems in that parts of his dish were good but as a whole it was, as Bourdain says, "unpleasant to eat." Bourdain thinks that Fabio lacked confidence, and Colicchio thinks there was too much going on. And Bourdain thinks that Tiffani's dish was more parody than homage, and Colicchio calls it "one technique too many."
The cheftestants return to find out which two of them are going home. I started to get really worried about Tiffani at this point. Colicchio tells Stephen, "You may have great knowledge of Italian food. I have great knowledge of Led Zeppelin; it doesn't make me Jimmy Page." Oh, SNAP! Tom. Anyway, we've already heard what was wrong with each dish, so let's get on with it. Padma tells Stephen and Dale L. to pack their knives and go. Whew! I liked Dale L., but frankly, I'm just happy to not have to type the initials after each name. Now there is one and only one Dale. No one is sad to see Stephen go, but everyone is sad to see Dale go. Aw. Stephen admits that his cooking skills have atrophied as he has not used them, and the competition was really tough this year. I still kind of wonder why he was even chosen. I mean, he was memorable, but it seems like everyone else was memorable as a good chef, and he wasn't. Dale L. jokes that he'll return for Top Chef Seniors. I can't wait.