It was a big week on Top Chef. Last night's episode included one of the most difficult challenges to grace the Top Chef kitchen, and once again, Bravo upped it's star power wattage with appearances by all-stars from the food industry. Chef Gavin Kaysen is the guest judge for the Quickfire Challenge (For those of you who watch the Food Network, he competed in the first season of The Next Iron Chef - this season's winner will be revealed Sunday). He is a James Beard award winner and represented the United States in the Bocuse d'Or, which is basically the Olympics of food competitions with teams from around the world competing. For the challenge, the chefs are told to reinvent one of Chef Kaysen's dishes, a ballatine, which is a protein, within a protein, within another protein. The chefs get creative, but the ones who have been known for their creative and risky takes on food, the Voltaggio brothers, make a few mistakes. The winner is actually Jennifer, who falls back on her strengths with a seafood dish. Things are starting to look up for Jennifer again, and Padma even says, "Welcome back."
As the winner of the Quickfire, Jennifer gets an extra thirty minutes to cook in the elimination challenge, where the chefs are told that they will be competing in their own mini Bocuse d'Or. The chefs have to make one main protein dish and two side dishes, and will be serving elite chefs like Thomas Keller, the President of the US Bocuse d'Or team, and guest judge Jerome Bocuse, the son of Paul Bocuse of whom the competition is named after.
The name of the game is taste, creativity, technicality and execution. It seems like Kevin is going to have the hardest go at it. He has to ask Bryan for help in how to use a special cooking technique for his lamb. Bryan gives him some tips and then goes on to say that he doesn't know if his brother would have been so generous (Will it ever end with those two!?). After checking in on the chefs, judge Tom Colicchio tells the chefs the winner of the challenge will get $30,000. If that's not icing on the cake, I don't know what is!
Kevin is the first to serve the judges. He executes his dishes will, but Keller calls it elementary (But only because it is obvious that Kevin is a talented chef). Michael "Picasso" Voltaggio doesn't impress the judges with his platter of food. His techniques are complex and interesting, but his flavors just don't shine and one of the judges finds a bone in his salmon. Bryan creates a beautiful platter of food, but the execution suffered from time constraints and his lamb was undercooked. Eli also undercooks his lamb and fails in other technical aspects, but still has interesting flavors. Jennifer is the last to present and the judges are disappointed with the technical inconsistency of her food, even though it tastes good.
At the judging table it is announced that Kevin is the big winner of the challenge because he executed his food the best. In addition to the $30,000, Kevin also wins a spot on the U.S. Bocuse d'Or team, which is an incredible honor. However, the night is just a tiny bit bittersweet for Kevin as his best friend in the house, Eli, is sent packing. So the final four are: Michael, Bryan, Kevin, and Jennifer, who were obviously the most talented chefs in the bunch from day one.
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