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The first dish of Restaurant Wars was created by Lizzie. It is a charcuterie of rabbit, pickled turnips & yellow beets in chicken & rabbit broth. The refinements are readily apparent on the dish itself. The judges are euphoric over the start to their evening. The rabbit scarcity proved to be no detriment whatsoever to the flavor of the dish.

The second dish goes less well. When Kristen fires the dish, disaster strikes. A simple query of, “Did we test this?” is met with a stoic of reply of, “No, not yet.” Kristen reaches her breaking point at this moment. Josie is not her employee. She is a fellow Top Chef contestant who still has a chance of winning the competition (technically). The lackadaisical behavior on display for the past two days has led to a dish so poor in technique that Kristen fears that the sauce may explode. “The bouillabaisse is a fucking mess. I would prefer one of the dishwashers in place of Josie.” The brutal part of this insult is that it is comes from the heart. And the dishwasher could not have done any worse.

Remember when I said that service would not be a problem? Several of the customers as well as the judges notice the delay in the delivery of the second dish. Josie’s meal is a bouillabaisse of halibut, Dungeness crab and bay scallops with shellfish broth. The judges compliment the crab but note that the scallops and halibut are both cooked poorly. Worst of all, there is no consistency with regards to the broth. Tom innately recognizes that “something happened back there." You have no idea, Tom.

The next plate goes only marginally better. Kristen’s beef bourguignon features a braised short rib, garlic puree, mushroom & carrots. Tom immediately asks, “Where’s the sauce?” Not understanding, Gail tries to show him. His point is that in claiming to reinterpret the dish, the women did not do enough to differentiate it from the regular version. The lack of daring leaves the judges disappointed.

The rest of the women’s dishes are quite good. Brooke produces a baked gougère, St. Agur blue cheese, roasted radish & stone fruit compote. Danny Meyer complains that he may lose a molar trying to bite into the food but the judges agree that the flavors all work well.

The dessert is Kristen’s almond cake macaroon with coconut custard & caramel buttercream with praline added for the crunch. The chief complaint about this dish is that it is not a macaroon. This is recurring theme during the entire menu. Some of the descriptions misled the judges regarding the expected flavors of the dishes. On the plus side, everyone agrees that the charcuterie is so delicious that the women may yet win thanks to that dish. They need the men to make a lot of mistakes, though.

Next, Urbano’s service makes Atelier Kwan look above reproach. At some point during the evening, Stefan develops an attitude about the process. A line of 20+ people waits for tables to open. Stefan does everything he can to convince guests to leave upon completion of their meals. These customers are here for the Top Chef experience, however. They are in no hurry to leave. He grows frenzied as the chaos increases. Stefan is always kind of a jerk. Seeing him in full-on uber-jerk mode is unsettling.

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