Top Chef Masters Episode 3 - The Ludo and Rick Show

Top Chef Masters Rick Bayless Photo:Bravo TV

Week three of Top Chef Masters saw the competition take it up a notch higher, perhaps due to the overwhelming competitive spirit of chef Ludo Lefebvre. If you thought Wylie was a madman last week, Ludo put him to shame.

Coming off a somewhat sleepy friends and family atmosphere in the first episode of Top Chef Masters, each subsequent episode seems to be getting a little more competitive, a little more ugly. Way to go Bravo on keeping the steam truck rolling! Here's a show idea...maybe a Wylie vs. Ludo showdown, Iron Chef style?

In this Wednesday's episode, Top Chef Masters featured queen of Napa Valley, Cindy Pawlcyn, Puerto Rican cuisine king Wilo Benet, French prodigy Ludo Lefebvre and Mexican authority Rick Bayless.

To put it mildly, this was the Ludo vs. Rick show. Not to diminish Cindy or Wilo, but Ludo came charging out of the gates with a determined competitive spirit not yet seen on Top Chef Masters. And Rick was there with a somewhat overly enthusiastic demeanor that reminded me of an over eager school boy. Kind of like a teacher's pet...and that definitely irked Ludo from start to finish...

The show yet again borrowed a page out of the Top Chef Season 2 playbook with the color quickfire challenge. Each chef had to prepare a dish inspired from a particular color.

Strangely, the judges for the quickfire challenge were a trio of women who were very versed in the way food should look. In response to finding out the judges were women, Wilo prepared a somewhat "feminine" dish of smoked salmon tartare with raw carrots and coconut milk and tomato sauce. Although he forgot to take the molding ring off, the women fell for the feminine touch and awarded him the highest marks with 4.5 stars.

Ludo's steak tartare failed to impress, even with the beet juice which was served a couple moments too late by the waiters. Working at a frenetic pace in the kitchen, Ludo and Cindy struck up an unlikely friendship as Cindy helped him finish plating his dish. Cindy has a very calming nature to her, and one sort of felt like she became a mother figure to the fidgety child in Ludo.

Rick and Cindy rounded out the middle of the pack with their roasted vegetables in mole sauce and yellow curry, respectively.

Onto the elimination challenge. This elimination challenge was miles trickier than last week's. The four chefs had to prepare "street food" for guests at Universal Studios theme park. And the added twist - they had to use innards and still make it desirable to the average theme park visitor.

The chefs were each assigned a type of innard with Cindy drawing tripe (stomach), Wilo getting beef hearts, Rick having to use tongue and Ludo ending up with the toughest ingredient, pig ears.

It was in the grocery shopping where Ludo's real colors started to show as he quickly accused Rick of copying his idea to do quesadillas by deciding to serve tacos. Rick Bayless, supreme authority on Mexican cuisine doing tacos? No!! He must have copied Ludo! Yeah, give it a rest Ludo. We get it, you aren't here to help anyone. Sorry bud, I don't think Rick needs help deciding to make tacos.

Cindy decided to make a tripe menudo, a classic hangover stew, declaring "I'm slower than these younger guys" so soup is easier to do under pressure.

Wilo rounded out the crowd with a traditional Puerto Rican sandwich using beef hearts, chicken and ham, conveniently delivered in a pita (or cup as Gael Greene would put it).

In the kitchen, it is clear some chefs are more nervous and anxious than others. While Cindy is so nervous she can't seem to get a handle of her pots, Wilo has the calm nature of a statesman. Ludo, yet again showing his competitive stripe is not nervous about cooking pig ears. After all, in his words "If you want to be a master, you have to know how to cook everything." Yes Ludo, we know you know how to cook everything.

On the day of the elimination, the chefs have to sell their food to the general public. A tough job considering they are all hawking various types of innards. While Cindy comes up with the slogan, Yummy Tummy, Rick takes it one step further with "Rick slips you the tongue." Uhm, that might be a bit much if you ask me.

Rick seems to score a home run with his tongue taco with chorizo and bacon. A cunning move to put in chorizo and bacon, as those are two winning ingredients that can make pretty much anything taste good. Always the eager beaver, Rick is a true salesman with his dish. This man is surely a Mr. Chatterbox to say the least.

Wilo served a pita sandwich of thin shredded beef hearts, ham and chicken. While successful on texture, the judges felt that there may have been too many elements in the dish and that the hearts didn't take center stage. Can you blame him?

Cindy's tripe menudo was billed as a hot soup to warm the soul. Unfortunately it seemed she went uber conservative on the seasoning, disappointing the judges.

Finally, Ludo's quesadilla. Ludo was a mess at his station, keeping all of his guests waiting, including the judges. As he bumbled around trying to explain why his dish wasn't done, he stated the obvious, "I'm the chef" to Jay's "We're the judges." Ludo was hoping his french accent would "charm" the judges, particularly Gael. Somehow, I doubt that worked. His french accent was neither that charming, nor does Gael look like a woman easily fooled. Serving a quesadilla that was more like "a grilled cheese with pig ears," Ludo landed near the bottom, just above Cindy's tripe.

In the end, Rick walked away with the third spot in the finals, leading Ludo to ask "How much Rick did you pay for that?"

Bitter much, Ludo? Don't worry, we all know you were head chef of L'Orangerie when you were 25 years old.