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The second set of contestants is Stefan, Brooke and Joshua. Stefan delivers a chicken cordon bleu with garlic aioli & lemon. Like Lizzie’s dish, I am blown away by the amateurish nature of the presentation. Most of the chicken looks like fish patties with lemon slices on top. If I were ever served this in lieu of a bucket of chicken, I’d burn the offending KFC down to the ground. Emeril simply states, “I have the blues right now. I have the chicken cordon blues.” The other hilarious question is, “Wasn’t he already on Top Chef?” All of the judges agree that Stefan has attempted a safe, cowardly dish.

“I made fried chicken.” – Joshua, who deserves to win for this statement alone.

As the other Top Chef wannabes deliver failed dish after failed dish, Josh presents smoked fried chicken with hot sauce & blue cheese. The bowl looks a bit busy yet the end result is gorgeous. The judges heap praise upon his dish. Colicchio states that he had never had smoked fried chicken before. He clearly does not consider the plate of food to be perfect, but he does note “it had the most flavor of any chicken on the table”.

Brooke is in trouble before her dish is even sampled. The afore-mentioned Jon Shook and his partner, Vinny Dotolo have shared a secret with Padma. They once interviewed with Brooke to be line cooks at one of her restaurants. They did not get the job. These two gentlemen are now world-renowned restaurateurs thanks to their eating establishments, Animal and Sons of a Gun. Before then, Brooke determined that they were not the best candidates to be her line cooks. I sincerely hope that the people who got those jobs were Richard Blais and the Voltaggio Brothers.

With her humiliation fresh, Brooke presents a dukkah-crusted chicken breast with wilted escarole & tomato salad. The presentation of the dish hides the presence of the chicken. Given Brooke’s kitchen struggles, this may be intentional. This is easily the worst plate of food she has served this season.

The news grows worse for the best remaining contestant as Wolfgang Puck eviscerates her dish. “What is this show called here? I wouldn’t even call it The Apprentice.” Vinny Dotolo is even more cutting with his simple statement. “I’m glad I didn’t take the job.” Colicchio describes her entire cooking process as unfortunate. There is a legitimate chance that Brooke and Kristen will be squaring off in Last Chance Kitchen tonight.

Judges Table does not occur until the following morning, presumably because all the judges need to sober up. By the end of the evening prior, Stefan has had the epiphany that his dish was too safe for the competition. In the morning, his emotions are further frayed when he speaks to his mother on the phone. She has been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for 18 years now. The conversation reduces him to tears, and he does not have Kristen to cheer him up afterward. That was not a dig for once, simply more bitterness and outrage on my part over last week’s elimination.

The top group is revealed. Josh, Sheldon and Lizzie are the top performers in this challenge. Lizzie is the only real surprise. In my estimation, her presence speaks more to the failure of the other three dishes. Wolfgang Puck acknowledges that her dish was not fried chicken. Similarly, the lack of chicken presented by Sheldon is also critiqued. From the wording of the judges, I strongly suspect that he would have won if not for the fryer malfunction.

In the end, there is no surprise about the champion of the fried chicken challenge. Josh served real fried chicken that was tasty and novel. He deserves this, his first victory during Top Chef: Seattle. And just like that, two of the three people who had yet to win this season have joined the winner’s circle. If the trend holds next week, Lizzie will win one of those challenges as well. Currently, she is the only remaining chef without a victory.

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