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Any fear Richard Blais may have had about choking at the end of Top Chef is alleviated tonight. His dish looks magnificent. It is beef goulash, spaetzle with sour cream & apple strudel with tarragon cream. Other than a few nitpicks about the temperature of the dish, everyone quickly concurs on the quality of his meal. In fact, Wolfgang Puck gives him the ultimate compliment by saying that his mother would have approved of the meal. Stating the obvious, Richard Blais wins the final elimination challenge.

The only remaining question involves who will join him in the finale, which is odd since there is still a full 20 minutes to go in the challenge. At this point, Padma reminds Mike and Antonia about the envelope she showed them earlier in the episode. Antonia opens the envelope and reads the card inside: “There will be one more challenge to determine who claims the last spot in the finale.” Tom instructs the chefs to spend the next 45 minutes making “one bite” for each of the seven guests. The contestant who makes the best bite will join Richard to compete for the title of Top Chef All Stars champion.

Mike chooses beef tenderloin and lobster tails, food he describes as “high end product”. His plan is to deliver the best taste possible (obviously), but Mike once again chooses not to go for it in this episode. He’s zero for three in this regard. Antonia decides to do a spicy coconut curry broth to join some grouper. As she notes, this is new life for her since the elimination challenge seemed to be a demonstration of Murphy’s Law.

Antonia’s bite (sounds like a Twilight ripoff, doesn’t it?) is seared grouper in coconut lobster broth with a yam, apple & dill pollen relish. Mike’s cowardly cuisine is tempura lobster over beef tartare with caramelized olives & chimichurri sauce. Both dishes are well received. Morimoto, who had nothing kind to say earlier, is finally able to champion Antonia. He loves her dish so much that he wants a bigger piece. Mike’s dish requires correct assembly to ingest. As Gail states, she hates the taste of one of the components but when added as a piece to the puzzle, the overall bite is quite good.

As Morimoto states, the decision comes down to “Bang and very subtle.” Antonia has delivered explosive flavors that pop in the judges’ mouths. Mike has given them a map and some directions and hoped that the judges can find their way to great flavor. The decision is so close that a head count is taken. Gail, Michelle and Tom choose Mike while Morimoto, Padma and Melanie choose Antonia.

The tiebreaker is Wolfgang Puck. He vacillates. “If tomorrow I would wake up, which flavor I remember, it would be Antonia’s whereas, Michael’s tartare was technically prepared perfectly. It is a very difficult decision to make.” From his wording, I am convinced that Antonia will be going to the finale since the whole point is to have the most memorable bite. Alas, to the very end of the episode, Antonia is unlucky. Despite his word selection, Puck chooses Michael, who will join Richard in the finale of Top Chef All-Stars. A distraught Antonia struggles to complete her monologue description of her elimination. My heart goes out to her. The final female contestant on Top Chef All-Stars has been eliminated.

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