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Jeremy is next with a dish that has NOTHING ON THE PLATE. There are tiny bits of food sprinkled here and there, with some cocoa powder, crème fraîche, carrot dust, and milk powder. It resembles something parodying the “dish that costs $300 but contains little to no actual food.”

Marjorie has bologna spaghetti with a Twinkie crumble and spinach purée. I bet it tastes fine, but it's visually not a showstopper.

Isaac has four bits of food splashing in from the four corners of his plate, with cheese, chocolate and fruit. Kind of meh.

Kwame's “lunchmeat special” is also a bit bland for my tastes, but Christine and Padma seem to like it a lot. Specifically, they like the fact that it looks like it could be an actual dish... which, I thought, was not the point.

Karen has a dessert made of Oreo cookie dust, Cheetos icing, and donuts. It's gorgeous, but not all that innovative. It's just a very, very nice looking dessert.

Finally, we have Philip, who turns his dish round and round and round trying to find just the right light for his Instagram picture. Kwame calls out from the sidelines, “It's go time, bro.” Padma starts counting down the time he has left. I scream at the TV, “Just use Valencia and be done with it!”

And that's that. The cheftestants won't find out until after the Elimination Challenge tomorrow which dish has garnered the most likes. Until then, the chefs are going to have to cater an event - a big event. Introducing the challenge is Neil Fraser, a very well-respected Los Angeles chef, and one who'll be familiar to anyone who's watched Top Chef Masters. He reminisces about old time Beefsteak events, where politicians and gangsters used to get together to drink booze and eat meat. In the spirit of that, the cheftestants will be asked to cook for a black tie version of the Beefsteak, each in teams of three. There will have to be one seafood dish, one meat dish, and two sides. Harkening back to actual Beefsteaks, there will be no utensils, no plates, and no napkins. The diners will be looking to enjoy a gluttonous feast with their hands.

Philip, Jeremy, and Amar (our first group) get to work planning and Philip declares that he wants to do a lamb dish on the bone so that diners can take the meat by the bone and dig in. Jeremy isn't sure it's a good idea to do LAMB at a BEEFsteak, but Philip gets his way.

A similar conversation is being had with Isaac, Marjorie, and Chad. Isaac wants to do a chicken-pork sausage, despite Marjorie's belief that beef would make more sense. Again, Isaac prevails.

Finally, Kwame, Carl, and Karen are the only team who actually is going to serve beef. Good for them.

After shopping and initial preparations, the chefs head back to the loft to rest up for what will be a long day. Philip calls his wife and reminisces about when he first met her in middle school and how they started their two restaurants together. This nostalgia immediately raises red flags for me - giving a chef any time to talk about how much he or she misses so-and-so, or how much he or she is missing home, usually portends the impending departure of that chef from the competition. It's Bravo's version of “be careful what you wish for.”

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