Top Chef Spoiler Alert

Another week has passed on Top Chef and our local peeps are still in the running. The Frederick News Post did a good recap this week.

The quickfire challenge saw Bryan V get dissed for a black and white angel and devil dessert dish that was supposedly "poorly executed". Maybe I am a favoritist but it looked well executed and he seemed surprised. Well it had lychee in it. Lychee is my favorite. Mike V made a dish of salmon smoked in traditional and nontraditional ways, and I wanted to eat it. According to contestant Eli in his blog post, "The dish that should have won was Michael V. Everyone in the room saw how elaborate his work was, the level of execution, and were just stunned. It was brilliant. He integrated two dishes, as opposed to a duo, while showing multiple techniques and philosophies." Robin won the quickfire with her salad and cobbler, which obviously seemed unfair to several of the chefs, including Eli, because they griped about it. But here's the thing: if she's not that good then she'll be out soon anyway.

The elimination challenge this week was to deconstruct a classic dish. And by classic I think the producers meant a classic dish that people can make at home. Chefs drew knives with the names of the dishes written on them. Lucky Kevin drew chicken mole. Bryan V got a Reuben and Mike V got a Caesar salad. According to judge Tom Colicchio, "Mike...created his dish brilliantly. Brilliantly. The dish had all the components of a Caesar Salad but was beautiful. If you ate it blindfolded, you’d think, “Oh, Caesar Salad!” Kevin edged him out for the win simply because his mole was just so flavorful. But they were both special." Kevin's mole looked awesome, and I was dying to try it. I also wanted to try Mike V's dish. Bryan's deconstructed reuben made with tuna also looked like something I want to eat as soon as possible. Eli's dish deconstructed itself by exploding out of its pressure cooker. And last but not least, Ashley's caramelized pot roast had pretty little foams and blended things next to it that looked like the rites of spring. Kevin won the elimination challenge, of course, and it was a great turnaround from a mole he had not done so well with in a previous episode.

Ron went home, because he some how mixed up overcooking a paella with deconstructing it, though the other chefs tried to give him pointers.