by Gina Scarpa

On tonight’s episode of Top Chef: Las Vegas, the contestants meet up with Padma Lakshmi and restaurateur Charlie Palmer in the kitchen.  Charlie has worked with Bryan and Michael before but he promises to judge things fairly in tonight’s quickfire challenge.    Here’s the challenge: Create a dish based on a snack food, Alexia’s new crunchy snacks to be exact.  It doesn’t seem very easy to take a cracker and base an entire dish around it.

Charlie’s least favorite dishes came from Robin, Ash, and Jennifer.  On the other hand, Eli, Bryan, and Kevin fared very well.  Eli’s potato clam salad with fennel, celery, and white truffle sauce ends up being the winning dish.  No Voltaggio win here!  Ash is quite frustrated after landing in the bottom yet again and I really can’t blame him.  It seems like he can’t catch a break on Top Chef!

The chefs draw knives to see what they’ll be working with in tonight’s elimination challenge.  That “what” ends up being the part of a pig.  This challenge is called Pigs and Pinot, based off of a charity event that Charlie throws every year. Jennifer draws a wild card and can choose any part she wants.  She goes with the belly.  Other parts include the leg, the shoulder, and the butt.  Ew.

Master Sommelier William Sherer meets with the chefs to introduce them to several different kinds of Pinot Noir to choose from.  William offers up some advice, which is to make sure that the balance is really there between the dish and the wine.  After the bottles are chosen, it was time to head to Whole Foods.

Back at the apartment, the chefs have really ganged up on Robin.  They don’t feel that she deserves to be in the competition.  Whether she does or doesn’t is irrelevant.  Last time I checked, they’re not on the panel of judges.  Worry about yourself.
 
Here are the dishes that the chefs served tonight:
Ash: Chilled Pork Tenderloin, 2007 Standord Pinot Noir
Bryan: Braised Pork Spare Rib, 2007 Rochioli Pinot Noir
Eli: Braised Pork Belly, 2007 Terlato Family Pinot Noir
Jennifer: Braised Pork Belly, 2005 Chanson Clos de Beze Pinot Noir
Kevin: Pork Leg Pate, 2006 Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
Laurine: Pork Butt Rillettes, 2005 Chanson Clos de Feves Pinot Noir
Mike I.: Stuffed Pork Shoulder, 2005 Wairau River Pinot Noir
Michael V.: Root Beer Braised Pork Cheek, 2006 Gunvalson Pinot Noir
Robin: Brined Center Cut Pork Chop, 2005 Mischief and Mayhem Pino Noir

Padma calls Michael, Bryan, Kevin, and Jennifer to judges’ table first.  Not even a little bit surprising that these four chefs have the best dishes of the night.  The winner of this challenge is Kevin, who is especially excited since he has a tattoo of a pig on his arm.  I’m not even kidding.  Kevin has been a star all season!  For his prize, he gets to be a guest chef at the 2010 Pigs and Pinot event.  That’s huge.
 
Ash, Laurine, and Robin land in the bottom this week.  Robin’s dish was lacking for the judges, Padma tells Ash that his dish lacked flavor, and Laurine is told by Toby that her dish tasted like dry hash.

In the end, it is Ash that is eliminated and Robin lives to see another day on Top Chef.

Top Chef: Las Vegas airs Wednesday nights at 10pm ET on Bravo.
 
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
 
 
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