Top Chef Las Vegas Recap
By Jason Lee
September 4, 2009
Mark, before announcing the losers in the challenge, mentions that he knows what the chefs are going through, since he himself competed in Top Chef Masters. Time is the hardest thing to deal with in this challenge and not everyone dealt with it well. On the bottom are Eli's yam and pistachio puree, which was too sweet, Ron with his yellow tail, which was bland and overcooked, and Jesse with her oh-so-spicy soup.
Yep, Jesse in the bottom again.
On the top are Jennifer, with great combination of flavors in her mussels, Ash, with a nicely flavored "custard," and Ashley with her gnocchi. I'm thinking that Ashley will pull out the win but it turns out to be Jennifer. She doesn't win any money, but she's happy to have her immunity.
"Favoritism," Mike says dismissively, ignoring the fact that Mark Peel had no idea how the other judges had reacted to Jennifer's food. He just can't get over the fact that a girl has beaten him pretty consistently now.
The Elimination Challenge will have a special guest: Colonel Dave Belote, commander of the 99 Air Force Wing stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. As he enters to stand in front of the chefs, I note humorously that he's still shorter than Padma.
For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs will have to cook for 300 people: members of the air force and their family. These soldiers travel all around the world and have great palates. The chefs all mention how eager they are to cook for American troops.
Back at the house, the chefs gather in the living room to decide their plan of attack - of course, Pompous Mike lays out the plan, so I can't be sure if anyone else had a hand in developing it or if he just decided on their own.
In any case, with 15 chefs, Jennifer will be the executive chef since she has immunity. The rest will split into seven groups of two, each responsible for one dish. Everyone agrees to this plan and they break off into pairs. Most of the groups make sense, except for the "last-kid-picked-on-the-kickball-team" group of Ron and Jesse, whom no one wants to cook with.
Ron seems unhappy about cooking with Jesse. I can't imagine why...
Part of the challenge is that the cheftestants don't know what ingredients they'll have or what kitchen equipment they'll be provided with until they get to Nellis Air Force base. When they arrive, it's the nightmare scenario. All they see are rows upon rows of canned and dried food. There are no burners and no pots. "Worst-fear kitchen," says Ash sadly.
The chefs scour the kitchen for ingredients and two-by-two, they come over to Jenn to give their ideas for a dish. She gives the okay to the acceptable ones and everyone starts cooking. For the most part, the dishes sound okay - we have a bread pudding from Ashley and Ash, a pulled pork dish from Michael and Michael (who've also decided to do a greek salad for some odd reason), NY strip steak from Bryan and Mattin...
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