Top Chef

Speed and stamina were two ingredients the eight remaining chef-testants needed to stay in the competition this week. Dividing into two teams of four and with immunity no longer offered in the Quickfire Challenge the relay race was on.

Though swiftness was needed for the QFC, it was apparent where the ultimate strength was going to lie by the way the teams were divided. With hands shaking, Lisa gained a lead over Antonia sectioning oranges but that was lost when Spike broke the stem of his artichoke and was victim of Andrew and his secret weapon—the peeler. Richard and Dale were evenly matched filleting a monkfish but Stephanie whipped into the lead over Nikki when making mayonnaise from scratch.

If I were getting married I'm not sure I'd be game to have a menu created and prepared the day before the wedding. But that's exactly what the happy couple Corey and JP agreed to for their 250 guests.

The benefit of winning the QFC was being allowed to choose a menu for either the bride or the groom. Smiling Richard makes a wise decision and convinces his team to take what is considered to be the more difficult task of cooking for the bride. Spike doesn't get it and questions why Richard would pick working for the person who is perceived to be the more nervous on their special day. This is just one instance in an episode that is full of contrasts.

The Bride's team worked well together and pulled out a victory. Richard inserts himself as leader of his team and isn't above poking fun at himself for wearing pink shoes and picking out the floral decorations. Stephanie steps up to the plate and takes on the unenviable task of making a multi-layered wedding cake. (She also had the foresight to assemble the cake at the location to avoid any last minute mishaps.) Antonia plugs along even when she looks as if she's asleep when stirring a pot.

Andrew was pumped, psyching himself to work all night and verbalizing his culinary excitement. The portion of the Bride's team that appears to not go smoothly is Andrew resenting Richard's "driving the bus". And though it sounded good, his Almond and Basil Crusted Chicken wasn't very crispy and was considered a repeat of last week's challenge with the kids. The judge's didn't like the dissonance of Andrew's creamed spinach but Richard took responsibility for adding star anise.

Bonus points go to Richard who ended up splitting the winning $2000 Crate & Barrel gift card with Stephanie for taking on the cake.

Even before the eventual lack of sleep set in during the 14+-hour cookathon, the Groom's team was unfocused. Since Italian food is Nikki's specialty and was what the groom requested, she had the opportunity to build on last week's good showing and prove that she could be a top chef. But she wanted no part of it and the team suffered from lack of direction. Nikki didn't even follow her opening comments about the need to fight harder at this point in the game. Her lack of leadership coupled with a dry Butternut Squash Tortellini with Brown Butter and Sage that was too sweet sent her packing.

Gail Simmons said the Groom's team had too many items that were uninspired. Though the team pointed fingers at Dale for doing a half-baked job his hustling wasn’t appreciated by them or the judges. By taking on too many duties Dale stretched himself too thin, didn't excel at one dish and was perceived not to be a team player. Spike took advantage of this and though he made a successful Chilean sea bass he didn't carry his weight. Spike's antagonistic ways and Dale's temper will most likely prove to be their downfall.

Lisa was wise to be quiet at the Judges' Table, and caused no problems working solo on a flavorful but what Tom Colicchio called an "ugly" chocolate hazelnut cake. I would like to have heard more about both cakes from guest judge and executive pastry chef of Chicago's Tru restaurant, Gale Gand.

Second Bites
• Did Lisa and Stephanie get any assistance with the cake recipes or did they create them from scratch?
• Does Spike like his cocktails a little too much? In one of the opening scenes, Andrew is talking to Spike who is in bed and has a nightstand full of champagne and wine bottles. Are these empties or is that actually a mini-bar? He's also pouring himself a glass of wine in the stew room…
• Text Poll: Which chef annoys you the most? Dale was the winner with 46%, Lisa a close second with 39% and Spike had 15%. How would you have voted?

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With this season of Top Chef taking place in Chicago it was only a matter of time before we heard the name Oprah. Her personal chef Art Smith was on hand as the guest judge for both challenges. I don't know if I could prepare an entrée in 15 minutes as the chef-testants had to do in the Quickfire Challenge but I wouldn't have considered using Uncle Ben's 90-second microwaveable rice an option.

Though she's had uneven showings, I was projecting Stephanie to be a frontrunner but after losing both challenges tonight, along with Mark and Lisa, I'm starting to have doubts. Chef Art initially called her Brown Rice Pancakes with Scallops clever but then later said the pancakes were too heavy and the scallops unnecessary. Would he have preferred maple syrup with them?

Lisa was told her Rice, Corn, Black Beans and Peppers with Avocado Crème and Grilled Shrimp was unoriginal and Mark's Miso Glazed Turkey Breast was tough, dry and needed sauce.

On the upside, Richard is spotlighted again with his "well-balanced" Tuna Steak and Tomatoes with Yuzu Vinaigrette. And Dale's Pineapple Fried Rice with Grilled Scallops and Chinese Long Beans is the dish I wanted to taste tonight. But Antonia won immunity with her appealing hot and cold Rice Salad with Skirt Steak and Arugula. She could have slacked off for the Elimination Challenge but scored big again by creating a simple and delicious dinner for four with a budget of $10.

One nice thing that Top Chef does is occasionally associate its challenges with worthy organizations. This season we shopped for locally grown foods at Green City Market, went to a Meals on Wheels charity event and alerted families how to get closer with suggestions at mealstogether.com. Tonight Common Threads is the organization highlighted that connects children of many cultures and teaches them understanding and acceptance of others by way of cooking and sharing nutritious meals.

Some of those children, the "little" extra help as Padma called them, were cute but added lightness to the episode and served to soften some chefs' edges. (This might have also been the call of the producers asking editors to remove any bleepable words and present an episode suitable for the children to watch with their families.)

Antonia gained good karma after a phone conversation with her daughter. (I guess the knock-knock joke with the punch line "smell mop" helped.) She also brought her experience as a single mother to whip up a winning Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry over Whole Wheat Noodles.

Andrew's three words of wisdom: simple, old and new. Keep it simple, take something old and make it new was the philosophy he learned from his mother. Serving Chicken Paillard Andrew was told he expanded the little chefs' culinary language by accompanying it with fennel and apples. Nikki threw chicken and mixed vegetables together and was praised for her "one pot wonder."

I'm glad Stephanie is still around but I had to agree with the wrinkled nose and scrunched-up face that Tom Colicchio gave her for the Peanut Butter and Tomato Sauce over Chicken with Eggplant and Zucchini Couscous. As Zoi said about Richard's white chocolate-wasabi sauce, I promise you that doesn't taste good. Even without undercooked edamame, Lisa used a lot of ingredients and still created a bland Roasted Chicken with Black Beans and Lime. There were no tomatoes used with the peanut butter on her apple French toast.

I waited all week to hear Mark say at the Judges' Table: "I think Tom doesn't like me…how do I make this guy happy?" Mark would still be around and would have made Chef Tom very happy if he had added some protein to the Vegetable Curry, used more vegetables than sweet potatoes and the odd choice of cucumber, cut back on the sweetness, spent his budget more wisely and had a neat presentation.

Second Bites
• If it was mentioned before I didn't remember that Andrew weighed over 200 pounds in high school. Looking good, dude. Way to go!
• Chef Tom was playful asking Richard and his assistant if they made the onions sweat by putting them on the treadmill.
• Gail Simmons got a dig in when telling Stephanie her mushy couscous was the telltale sign of a restaurant chef that doesn't cook at home. Do you think that's true?
• Text poll: What was the toughest challenge? The $10 budget came in first with 57% (and shopping at Whole Foods doesn’t make it easier), that was followed by the 15-minute time limit at 34% (I would have been frazzled) and all but 9% would have wanted to work with a Kid Sous Chef.

For more tasty treats about Top Chef, dig into our Online Video Guide.

Improvisation was the theme of this episode and creating a delicious dessert for the Quickfire Challenge was a heavenly first course. If the table of pastries didn't have you salivating, perhaps renowned pastry chef and guest judge Johnny Iuzzini, considered one of New York's sexiest chefs, did. (But I couldn't help wondering what happened to the buffet of beautiful sweet treats.)

As host Padma Lakshmi said, preparing desserts has regularly been the Achilles' heel for the chefs. This has more to do with using exact measurements rather than improvising with flavors. I've baked a Sacher Torte many times but would never try it without consulting the recipe.

Chef Johnny didn't like the composition of Mark's mini-meringue Pavlovas or Hat Guy Spike's pineapple rum raisin soufflé, though he was complimented for the attempt. On the bottom of both challenges, Antonia served a lackluster brûléed lemon curd with lemon cake.

I've not tasted the shaved ice and milk mixture called Halo-Halo that Dale served and adding avocado, mango, kiwi and nuts sounded tasty. Both he and Richard were on top of both challenges but Richard's Banana Scallops with Banana Guacamole and Chocolate Ice Cream was considered the most original and the recipe will be included in the next edition of "Top Chef The Cookbook".

As the chefs watched the improvisational comedy troupe at Chicago's Second City, it became clear that the Elimination Challenge would be a combination of random colors, emotions, and ingredients offered up by members of the audience. But the challenge eventually mimicked the quick thinking of the comics when some of the chefs had to go to Plan B after they discovered that there were no electrical appliances to assist them.

Andrew good-naturedly accepted the absence of a food processor and used a ricer to purée the squash for the soup he made with Spike. After blaming Antonia a few episodes ago for pushing a carpaccio dish on him, Spike got a second chance to serve a squash soup. (Andrew: "Soup's down. Thumbs up!") By adding a dollop of vanilla crème fraiche it enabled him to incorporate the required "inspirational" words of yellow, love and vanilla, and they became one of the two top teams. Padma said she liked the soup so much she could have licked the bowl. I'd love to see that!

Richard once again thought outside the box when inventing a dish for the tricky combo of green, perplexed and tofu. Grilling the tofu was classic but marinating it with beef fat was inspired (though unappealing to me). Dale's contribution of adding green curry delighted most palates and his eggplant slurry, initially perplexing, ultimately intrigued me. But this dish delighted the judges most and won them both $2500 worth of Calphalon cookware.

Antonia and Lisa used their required color magenta when they served purple potatoes. Incorporating the word "drunk" didn't mean they should do a shot of tequila when serving their dish and not offering it to the guests. And they should not have placed sea bass front and center instead of the required Polish sausage. Substituting chorizo and using it in the tequila sauce didn't enhance their improvisational style, getting called on a technicality by Tom Colicchio and Chef Johnny for serving a fish dish.

The telltale clip of the evening happened early on when Jennifer was preparing for the challenge and said packing her knives was a bad omen. This ultimately played out as she and Stephanie attempted to concoct a ménage à trios for the words orange, turned-on and asparagus. No one was turned on by the orgy of items on the plate particularly the protruding log of goat cheese (with oil seeping out), asparagus that was meant to be erect, the unnecessary olives and tough grilled bread. Though the judges said the dish lacked finesse, Jennifer accepted the criticism and packed her knives for a second time.

Second Bites
• What ingredients went into Richard's banana guacamole?
• When Tom announced a second twist or "improv" by packing everything up to finish prepping and serving their foods at the Top Chef house, Lisa slammed the others during her confessional for not having prepared for this. Do you think she was prepared for this twist?
• What's the deal with Mark's comment about Richard's pink shirt matching his skin tone? He also wears pink Crocs, not that there's anything wrong with that…
• Andrew's opening comment: the room is a little uglier now that Ryan's gone. Wah.
• Ted Allen is quick-witted and always injects humor. When comedian Alex Fendrich said he loves Polish sausage, Ted points out that the comment is directed to the gay guy and follows up with a the response: "I'm not Polish!"

For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.

As this evening's episode of Top Chef began, the Quickfire Challenge totally influenced me to toss out the calming cup of tea I had made and reach for an icy cold beer. It's too bad I didn't have some of the "simple pleasures" that the chefs were asked to concoct and accompany one of 16 beers they had on hand.

Joining Padma for the QFC was Koren Grieveson, head chef at Chicago's Avec restaurant. Appropriately dubbed "poker face", Chef Koren gave minimal comments like "needs more acid" to Andrew's rainbow trout with raspberry gastrique. His sweet and sour-type sauce looked good but I questioned pairing trout with beer. Dale's roasted pork tenderloin with pretzel dust, I mean crust, was not moist, and Nikki, on the bottom in both challenges this week, was told her citrus marinated shrimp had too much breading and not much seasoning.

Poking fun at her hairstyle, Jennifer chose LandShark lager and prepared shrimp and scallop beignets that would have been tasty with my Corona. Skating through the middle of most challenges so far, she re-channeled the negative energy from Zoi's loss last week and whipped up an immunity-winning dish that was light, not greasy, and used well-balanced flavors.

Catering the tailgate party at Soldier Field for the Chicago Bears game brought out some notables for the Elimination Challenge. In addition to guest judge Paul Kahan (Chef and owner of Blackbird and Avec restaurants), former Bears players Gale Sayers, William "The Refrigerator" Perry and Richard Dent were on hand to help choose the fans' top and bottom three dishes.

At the end of the first day of preparations, and after taping the refrigerators shut, it was nice to see the chefs return home for some down time and to chill out. Particularly funny was watching Hat Guy Spike, who has made several lesbian comments about Jennifer and Zoi, sipping champagne while taking a bubble bath with Mark.

Stephanie was on top in both challenges and I found two more items I wish were accompanying my beer. She followed up her Steamed Mussels in Cilantro Vinaigrette in the first challenge with Pork Tenderloin and Rosemary Vinaigrette with Potato and Pear Salad. Antonia also scored with her Jerk Chicken Sandwich, taking Chef Tom Colicchio's advice to include the banana and pineapple in the sandwich instead of serving it on the side.

Scoring a touchdown with a complexity of flavors in his Tandoori Baby Back Ribs and a Raisin-Mango Potato Salad, Dale won the challenge and took home a Bears jersey and a Weber Summit 650 gas grill. (A quick search shows the price range to be $1700 - $2000.)

Mark, who prefers rugby to football, chose not to throw shrimp on the barbie and fumbled with his Chicken and Scallion Skewers. As the only one cooking with charcoal, he was told its smokey flavor was too heavy for the hearty Soy and Onion Glaze. Not only was his New Zealand Corn Chowder gritty, he put the spoon back in the bowl to serve after using it to taste the soup. But being unsanitary, wearing a messy apron and having a sloppy presentation were not enough to get him kicked out of the game.

Nikki specializes in comfort food but didn't comfort the judges when there were not enough peppers and sauce for the sausage sandwiches she served to them. Being compared to Richard who blended veal and pork into a paté Nikki's short cut of buying her sausage instead of making it from scratch plus the disconnect of having shrimp on hand only gave her a penalty.

Ryan, the self-proclaimed metrosexual who has only been to a football game twice, was out of his comfort zone prepping a multi-course meal for sports fans. He gets points for easily schmoozing with the crowd over Andrew wearing a football helmet or Hat Guy Spike making a crack about the Bears in the Super Bowl. But ultimately this was the wrong crowd to try and serve food that was "light and fresh". Perhaps as suggested he should have served his marinated chicken in a roll instead of next to a bread salad. But he was tackled and thrown out for serving not only brandy cocoa but a poached pear with crème fraiche and huckleberry sauce. And yes, I could easily have had this with my beer too.

Second Bites
• While catering Block and Tailgate parties are fun the Film Food and Meals on Wheels challenges allowed for more upscale dinners. We are nearly half-way through the season, but so far have the challenges demonstrated the true extent of a top chef’s talents?
• I was glad that there were no team challenges this week and the chefs competed one-on-one.
• Text Poll: Who would you most want to touch in touch football? 16% = Yourself, 34% = Padma, and 50% voted for Tom.
• I've eaten panzanella made with crusty bread, tomatoes, basil and a vinaigrette but I didn't see anything that was red in Ryan's Bread Salad. How was his variation made?
• I could be wrong but does it look as if Richard wears fuchsia-colored Crocs?

For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.

How do you account for taste? Celebrity chef Ming Tsai was on hand for tonight's episode that from start to finish had everyone's palate cooking overtime. My favorite challenge each season is Restaurant Wars but Antonia was doubly stoked when she won her favorite Quickfire Challenge to compare and identify 15 higher quality ingredients while blindfolded. With the highest score of 12 out of 15 correct, her immunity seemed to cause the most friction in the kitchen.

The Meals on Wheels Chicago Celebrity Chefs' Ball was the setting for the Elimination Challenge, which used a theme of the four elements. Accordingly, each chef pulled a santoku knife and divided into four teams of three to create a first course that complimented water, air, earth or fire for 80 guests. Ironically, each team had a pair that worked together in last week's EC.

I'm a big fan of butternut squash soup but might not have wanted to serve it to a crowd of 80 people. Keeping it hot enough rather than having the server spill it would give me pause. Antonia did say she would be on board to make a squash soup but eventually sold Spike and Zoi on the idea it may not appear to be of high quality. Only in her confessional did she speak out against it. Ultimately it was Chef Ming who said that a well-made soup would have been the way to go. The Earth team just couldn't win. Head judge Tom Colicchio wanted to get rid of both Zoi and Spike for not rejecting Antonia's input over serving a bland beef carpaccio. But to her detriment Zoi was responsible for intentionally under seasoning the accompanying mushrooms and frisée salad, which is what got her eliminated.

I couldn't wrap my head around what went wrong with the fish preparation over on team Water. Richard's method of poaching the salmon not only changed its texture but also did nothing to help him get rid of the scales. Mark was called out for his vanilla parsnip purée and this is probably the third time Andrew pulled out the tapioca pearls.

It's interesting that Jennifer gets by each week neither being on top or on the bottom. The Duck Breast with Citrus Salad and sparkling Pomegranate Prosecco presented by the Air team might have gone by without a negative comment had Chef Tom been a fan of the trend of serving little drinks with dishes. And it might have been a little redder had our buddy Ryan not thrown out most of the pomegranate juice. His comment must have been bleeped, but I had to laugh when Nikki told him that you draw more attention when you curse.

Stephanie has only faltered once in the EC. Tonight she not only kept Dale and Lisa at arm's length but also made the grilled shrimp with pickled chilis. But it was Lisa who impressed the judges with her method of laying the bacon flat with the fat facing the same direction and basting it with maple syrup and miso showing Chef Ming that she too can make east meet west.

Second Bites
• Tempers really flared from members of both the winning and the losing teams. Do you think those with the loudest voices (Dale, Lisa, Spike) will be done in by them?
• The text poll listed Dale, with 56%, as the contestant who deserves a spanking for being the most difficult over Lisa and Antonia. I'm still stuck on Andrew's comment from two episodes ago about not leaving and having security drag him out.
• What was the term used referring to the method of poaching by the Water team? And was this done in a pouch?
• Considering the drama of this week's losing team, should the person with immunity be less involved in the decision-making during a team challenge?

For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.

This week's episode required the chefs to think with both sides of their brain, demonstrating their technical skills as well as their imagination. The Quickfire Challenge was almost more demanding than the Elimination Challenge, and it came with a higher reward giving the winner immunity rather than sending someone home.

Padma, joined by Chef Daniel Boulud, who makes a return visit as guest judge this season, announced that for the QFC the chefs were to create a beautiful vegetable plate demonstrating at least three techniques. As Richard said, technique is more than knife proficiency. And while I can appreciate the fact that not all chefs attend culinary school, should they not be well versed in creating food art? Perhaps the word art isn't accurate but there is a lot to be said for presentation.

It was interesting that both Richard and Ryan spent time training with Chef Daniel, but Ryan vocalized that preparing foods like this was not his style. Lisa also mentioned this and was told her poached egg, blanched asparagus and batonettes of bell pepper showed no train of thought and went back to basics. Manuel may have used the "sentimental jinx" this evening by saying he missed his sons. Chef Daniel told him that he showed level one techniques with his blanched asparagus and brunoise of yellow pepper. At least he knew that brunoise is a method of fine dicing.

Looking almost as frazzled as her accompanying chiffonade of frisée but landing a cut above the rest was Zoi serving a shaved asparagus salad and a "perfect" poached egg with batons of green beans. Richard presented varied textures with his blanched mushrooms, pickled beets and sliced radishes but Dale won immunity showing "amazing knife skills" with daikon marinated in tobanjan. (As I've previously mentioned I prefer milder flavors, which is probably why I've never encountered the term for spicy miso sauce known as tobanjan.)

Entering the reel world of the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were to satisfy the palates not only of the judges but also of film critic Richard Roeper, actress Aisha Tyler and other guests with foods inspired by favorite movies. The chefs broke into teams to prepare a six-course meal that you wouldn't find at a concession stand.

Even if you rarely go to the movies it shouldn't be a set back. Ryan seems like a really nice guy and I can't imagine what he would have made with his first film choice Dumb and Dumber. Mark's little known choice of the Australian dark comedy Bad Boy Bubby, about a mother who has kept her son in seclusion for 35 years and, well, let's just say I don't think this would be tasty too. Luckily Ryan recalls (with help) A Christmas Story, and just like in the movie, the store is out of the duck that they had hoped to buy. Coming up with Plan 9 (from Outer Space) Ted Allen and several guests liked the flavors of their quail breast with carrot purée, cranberry chutney and quail spring rolls.

Serving the sixth course, Lisa and Stephanie, who won last week with a dessert, were wise not to present a rerun. I would never have considered the film Top Secret! a culinary inspiration but their NY strip steak and braised short ribs with caramel sauce was called "harmonious". Aisha thought the dish felt organized but Ted wanted to know "does it say Val Kilmer in a cow suit?"

Richard's favorite film was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and it proved to be an inspiring first course. He won the challenge delivering a smoked salmon accompanied with Andrew's faux caviar made of tapioca pearls (which he used before) and a wasabi white chocolate sauce. What connected the food to the movie was telling the judges that if you floated to the ceiling after drinking the fizzy pear and celery soda burping would be the way to get down.

Zoi did not comprehend Richard's risk-taking flavor combo. She and partner Antonia also could not translate what they considered to be the vibrancy of the two women in Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her when presenting a rack of lamb with saffron cauliflower purée. Maybe they were subtly influenced by the fact that the two women actually spend most of the film in a coma.

It was thumbs down for Manuel this week even though Spike was the Vietnamese cuisine expert. Though Chilean sea bass was faulted as a limp choice for their summer rolls, the tilapia Spike wanted to use wouldn't have been any better. It was correctly suggested that a firmer shellfish like lobster would have been the better choice. And adding the Swiss chard garnish did nothing to make the plate cohesive. Manuel had a sense that he was going to leave and I'll bet he won't be watching Good Morning, Vietnam with his sons for quite a while.

Second Bites
• If Manuel had insisted on creating something inspired by Like Water for Chocolate, would Spike have been the one leave? Or would it have been Zoi or Antonia?
• How are your knife skills? Can you create more than a tomato rose?
• The text poll wanted to know what you thought of Andrew's idea to present the food as Oompa Loompas. 85% thought it "fell short". Was it wrong of me to burst out laughing at his playful impersonation?
• When thinking of film food, I would have picked Amélie because she worked in a café and I love French pastries and espresso anytime of day. What film would you choose to satisfy your cinematic taste buds?

For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.

¡Hola! Tonight's episode started with a south of the border accent as Mexican gourmet chef Rick Bayless joined host Padma Lakshmi to watch the 14 remaining chefs go mano-a-mano in the Quickfire Challenge. Chef Rick is the owner of Chicago's Frontera Grill and its sister restaurant Topolobampo. He also has a line of food products, which I've previously purchased (perhaps at Whole Foods), and can personally say the Frontera brand salsas were muy bien.

Reinventing and creating an upscale taco was slightly more challenging than I thought it would be. As Chef Rick mentioned, they were served a lot of "street tacos". Erik seemed perplexed at dressing up simple foods and it showed in his end product. Though sounding like a flavorful combination, his chipotle braised chicken taco with avocado and pomegranate salsa was called a train wreck and was the least favorite dish. It sort of reminded me of the mashed potato soufflé from the first episode.

Ryan's taco had a pomegranate jicama salad, which also sounded good, but Chef Rick was not impressed with the paper wrapper as garnish. Lisa served a rare skirt steak, typically a tougher cut of meat that requires a longer cooking time, which was unchewable. I thought Manuel would get a mention for using cactus petals and chorizo with picante verde sauce.

Spike's ground pork with tomatillo sauce was said to have "super soul-satisfying flavor" and Andrew soared high with his duck breast with plantain jam and cotija cheese. Richard not only won immunity for offering shaved jicama as tortillas with avocado, papaya and cilantro stems, but also will have his dish featured on the menu at Topolobampo.

As the chefs split into two teams for the Elimination Challenge, Padma explained that they wouldn't be shopping for their ingredients. They were to go door-to-door and gather foods from the neighbors participating in their annual block party. The event corresponds with mealstogether.com, which I learned after looking it up is a site devoted to bringing families together at mealtime. With the hectic pace we tend to keep these days it seems like a great tool to help parents spend more time with their children.

The block party looked like a fun outing and the Red Team took some down time afterwards to shoot hoops and drink beer. Though neither team had a great showing, it was the Blue Team that squeaked by with the win.

Richard was criticized for serving paella with seafood and sausage but without a crunch it was more like a pilaf. (Perhaps he just didn't use the correct pan.) Amazingly, it was Stephanie's "Sexy Drink", made with lavender, citrus, mint, simple syrup and seltzer, and the mixed fruit crumble with cinnamon sugar wontons that gave her a second EC win.

In addition to Stephanie I really thought we would hear more raves about the women this week but there were none. Nikki was on the bottom a second week in a row, this time for macaroni and cheese, which she said was a signature dish. From the Red Team, I'm keeping an eye on Jennifer, who was neither positively nor negatively mentioned. Girlfriend Zoi was slammed for a pasta salad she never wanted to make.

Except for charming the neighbors, Ryan never got his groove on in this episode. He seemed to have thought out the logistics of transporting the components of his Waldorf salad individually, but having boiled the chicken it added unneeded water, there was no crunch, and white balsamic was substituted for mayonnaise.

Erik was told to pack his knives and go for the mini corn dogs that were probably crispy when he made them but became soggy while warm and covered during transit.

Spike was a master at charring the smores lollipops, which Padma dropped on Ted Allen's shoe, but he and Andrew we a little full of themselves as they copped an attitude toward the judges that showed they can't take criticism and don't play well with others.

Second Bites
• Have you made use of mealstogether.com, and if so, what benefits did you gain?
• Was Spike being competitive or heartless when steering Antonia away from a house he had visited but knew had a full pantry? (In the end, it didn't help.)
• What did Nikki say to Erik when she hugged him goodbye? It sounded like "Padma soufflé".
• The text poll wanted to know which would happen first: a female president or a female Top Chef. 85% chose the latter.

For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.

In this second episode of the new season of Top Chef, first impressions may change. A fowl-mouthed zebra can change his stripes and some winners who were proud peacocks ate crow.

If we continue to see more sunny sites of the city, I may have to take a trip to Chicago. The outdoor Green City Market, making locally grown food available to chefs and the public, was a great location to begin the Quickfire Challenge. With all of the fresh meats and produce, the hardest part for the cheftestants was selecting only five ingredients to prepare an entrèe.

After everyone scrambled to locate his or her choices, Spike took a moment to chill and watch a guitar player perform. As Mark was zipping from stand to stand, I felt bad for him when he had forgotten to take his mizuna (a peppery lettuce that I think is similar to mustard greens). And I wasn't quite sure what Richard was going to come up with when choosing the eucalyptus leaves.

Richard had a potential soul mate with molecular gastronomist and guest judge Wylie Dufresne, who said they "tend to play in the same sand box." But Richard's braised chicken with apples, eucalyptus and butter disappointed and was deemed oily. Using the aromatic plant was certainly an original choice, but since oil was an allowable option, perhaps he should have omitted the butter.

Andrew was unfocused and eventually disqualified after listing six items. (I laughed when Padma noticed the mistake and slowly said: "Did you say balsamic?") Ryan bounced back nicely from the chicken piccata debacle to create a "moist and juicy" sirloin with lettuce, radishes, potatoes and Dijon. Even with one item down, Mark pulled through to win immunity by also preparing a sirloin but was cited for contrasting the bitterness of a turnip with the sweetness of peaches.

Heading over to the Lincoln Park Zoo for the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were to cater a party for 200 people and pulled knives with assorted animal names on them to become teams of three. Yes, I was initially puzzled too and let's just say I was glad to hear that the teams were to prepare foods based on what the animals eat….

I can't quite imagine a vulture snacking on Team Vulture's tasty menu. Zoi soared high with her Moroccan lamb meatballs with ricotta and pomegranate syrup as did Mark with his anchovy on quinoa croquettes. Over on Team Penguin, Andrew toned down his language and came up as the winner this week. His charred squid ceviche with soy-balsamic tapioca is the dish I wanted to taste the most. Also his yuzu and mint glacier sounded better when I realized I confused the sour citrus fruit with kuzu (a root starch used as a thickener).

Dale, appropriately on Team Bear, was at odds with Nikki and her mushrooms stuffed with blueberries. At the judge's table Dale repeated that he didn't produce the dish yet he topped them with more pecorino cheese without telling Nikki or Spike. Gail Simmons said they looked like something the bears would produce instead of eat! The biggest problem was serving them to the judges — cold — after it was decided to hold them back.

Incorporating meat into the vegetarian guideline for Team Gorilla wasn't a setback. The judges were pleased with Antonia's lamb and edamame lettuce cups. But former coworkers Valerie and last week's winner Stephanie each prepared items that should have been made on the spot and ultimately had moisture problems. Stephanie premixed her roasted pear and crab salad, tossing it with salt, which drew liquid from the pears and made it watery. She got points for serving her mother's banana bread with caramel sauce. Valerie should have waited to make her black olive blinis to order. The small pancakes would have tasted fresh, not soggy and soft, and would have prevented her from being asked to pack her knives and go.

Second Bites
• Someone on Team Lion made a Bison Tartare with a tarragon coulis. Bison is not a part of my regular diet. And though I'm familiar with a fruit or vegetable coulis (an uncooked, puréed sauce) how exactly was the tarragon coulis made?
• Regarding the text poll, wouldn't you say Judge Tom is more of a bear than a gorilla or a penguin? (Though I've seen some waiters look like penguins.)
• Do you think Antonia contributed to Valerie's exit when responding to Tom that given the option she would rather hire Stephanie?
• Did anyone expect Richard to disappoint guest judge Wylie?
• Has Andrew redeemed himself from his questionable first impression last week?

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Even though a new winner was crowned on Project Runway, Wednesday nights will continue to be fierce with Bravo's other flaming hot competition show Top Chef. I hope you're as excited as I am about the new season, so with 32 dishes to consider in the premiere let's dig in.

The 16 competing cheftestants arrive in the Windy City and head over to Pizzeria Uno to get acquainted and sample the restaurant's signature deep-dish pizza. Serving as a clue to their first challenge, I don't think anyone was surprised when host Padma Lakshmi and head judge Tom Colicchio showed up to announce that the first Quickfire Challenge would be to create a deep-dish pizza.

Miscalculating how dough rises, using too much crust and unfamiliarity with the kitchen were problems to overcome. As someone who was crafty enough to create a tattooed tuna carpaccio for his audition video, Andrew should have thought to gather the tools he needed or he wouldn't have had to compromise and use a cast iron skillet when Richard used two deep-dish pans instead of one. Ultimately Andrew's pizza with smoked marinara and prosciutto wasn't one to win over the judges.

Arriving at their new home with pizzas in delivery bags, the chefs meet Rocco DiSpirito who introduces himself as the episode's guest judge. He and Padma must have fasted in order to tackle tasting 16 different kinds of pizza.

Though considered too dry, Nikki's white pie with mushrooms, truffle oil, Romano and comté cheese would have appealed to me. Also Nimma's, with assorted mushrooms and stracchino cheese but it ultimately was lacking salt. Another creative pie given thumbs down was Zoi's broccoli, pesto and lamb sausage pie that "had a lot going on". And Stephanie used a melon-tomato sauce that sounds good in theory but without getting a whiff of it I'll have to trust Rocco saying it had a "funky smell".

Top pie favorites belonged to New Zealander Mark, using chicken and zucchini with the yeast extract known as Marmite, and Richard, creatively topping with peaches, sausage and taleggio cheese accompanied with a sweet tea sauce. What kind of tea did he use?

For the Elimination Challenge, winning chefs pulled knives and chose an opponent to cook head-to-head and create a classic dish. Andrew was looking forward to squaring off with Richard after the pizza incident. But with no mayonnaise in the kitchen for his crab cakes Andrew was reduced to making it from scratch and rejecting Richard's offer to use his. As a finalist, molecular gastronomist Richard showed "forward thinking" when using his own smoker on the combination of Moroccan spices known as ras al hanout.

Joining Padma, Tom and Rocco at the judge's table was Chef Anthony Bourdain who may be blunt but always has a fresh perspective. When Spike and Lisa both prepared successful Eggs Benedict, Bourdain suggested picking the winner by imagining which dish would taste better if you woke up with a hangover.

Another close call was picking the better lasagna entrée. Nikki edged out Jennifer by making her own noodles — pretty impressive considering she constructed it all within 90 minutes.

While Mark chose to present a deconstructed duck a l'orange, Stephanie won over the judges by using the entire duck. Her seared duck breast over bok choy and mushrooms with duck leg spring rolls and orange glaze was the first winner of the season.

Neither Ryan nor Valerie's Chicken Piccatta passed muster. Ryan tried unsuccessfully to defend using breadcrumbs instead of just an egg-based batter. I thought he might be an early favorite when his accompanying lemon-potato gnocchi aroused my interest until Rocco snarkily commented that it was not only Ryan's gnocchi that were dense. Ouch!

Even if I hadn't taken a soufflé class at Williams-Sonoma last weekend I never would have considered adding potatoes as Erik did.

Nimma did some quick thinking when her cauliflower flan fell and turned it into a scramble. (Who told Tom?) Perhaps overcompensating for her undersalted Hunter-style pizza, Nimma then oversalted her Shrimp Scampi. Whenever you hear the judges say the food is inedible you can bet that no matter how nice the cook is they will be asked to pack their knives and go. And that's just what happed to Nimma.

As Tom said, you have to know the classics before you can expand on them. I'm looking forward to seeing new classics in the weeks to come.

Second Bites
• Even with a lot of restaurant experience, I'm always learning new things on this show. Ras al hanout is a combination of Moroccan spices. Preferring milder flavors, the hot sauce Sriracha that Dale used was new to me. I've had sake and I've had martinis but never a saketini. Did Mark add vodka to the sake to tini-ize it?
• In the previous finale competitions chefs were allowed to bring specialty foods with them but were they also allowed to bring with them $200-worth of items to work with from the start of the season?
• Regarding the text poll, 78% said Jennifer and Zoi didn't have an advantage by being a couple. (Wasn't 22% yes circled?) Do you think competing with your partner can be a comfort or eventually become combustible?
• It's difficult to pick early favorites this season but I think we have to include Richard just for bringing liquid nitrogen and a smoker to cook with. I'm sure Marcel would. Who do you think will be sticking around for the final challenge?

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