by Michael Lamp

 

They teased it in the previews; we know it's coming...the double elimination on Top Chef: DC! Dun dun dun.

 

As sad as it will be to say goodbye times two, this show always starts with too many people, so I welcome the double dismissal. I also love alliteration. (You might say I adore alliteration.)

 

Last night's Quickfire Challenge is for the babies. Literally. Since Padma and Tom are both new parents, they are having the chefs create a dish that can be pureed and served to the wee ones. It's also a high stakes Quickfire, so there's $10,000 in it for both Tom and Padma's respective favorites.

 

Timothy's overcooked lamb didn't do it for the judges. Neither did Alex's herb-heavy puree, Kevin's pool of blood under his duck (gross!) and Kelly's flavorless dish that was full of lemon seeds. Yum! Tom loved Lynne's flavor combinations, but chose Tamesha's dish as his $10,000 favorite. He seemed to really love her homemade licorice oil. Meanwhile, Padma went gaga for Angelo's "elegant" baby food, but gave her $10,000 to Kenny's dish for being "yummy food." It's a baby challenge, so we get baby vocabularies, apparently.

 

The chefs pairs up for the Elimination Challenge (here's that double elimination!) and are joined by guest judge Beth Scott of Hilton Hotels & Resorts. The winning dish will be added to the menu at Hilton hotels.

 

This challenge is extra-intense and thus way more fun to watch. In short, everyone cooks breakfast. Then, two teams will be declared safe, and the rest will cook lunch. Two more teams will be deemed safe, and the remaining three teams will cook dinner, after which one team will pack their knives and, you know, go.

 

The judging panel features some familiar faces, as well, including Spike, Mike and Bryan, all of whom work at or own restaurants in the DC area. It's fun to watch Tom act all frat boy around his chef ‘bros.'

 

There is some hilarious flirting going on between Tamesha and Angelo. It's mostly Angelo flirting and Tamesha laughing. After the breakfast round, the elated teams of Amanda/Stephen and Timothy/Tiffany are all safe. Kenny freaks out a bit, but then gets back to the kitchen to start on lunch. Sadly for him, he's also cooking dinner. After lunch, Angelo/Tamesha (celeb couple name: Tamelo) and Alex/Ed are deemed safe. This leaves the teams of Kenny/Kevin, Arnold/Lynne and Kelly/Andrea left to cook for their lives.

Kenny/Kevin and Kelly/Andrea are both making short ribs - showdown! Kenny and Kevin are pairing theirs with carrots and potatoes, stew-style, while Kelly and Andrea focus on the glaze, with a side of polenta and mushrooms. Meanwhile, Arnold and Lynne are going with pineapple red curry mussels with squid ink pasta.

 

We end up with the three dinner teams at judges' table. The catch is that one team cooked the challenge's winning dish, and one team is going home. Quite a twist! Who's the winning team? I bet those teams sitting in the stew room are pretty irritated.

 

In the end, Kelly and Andrea come out on top, thanks to their gooey glaze. They get their dish on the Hilton menu and each win a trip to Europe. Not too shabby!

 

After the winners bounce, it's time for the bottom four to claw each other's eyes out. Lynne throws Arnold under the undercooked pasta bus, and Kenny's lack of glaze-friendliness gets him called out, like whoa.

 

It was clear they were never going to send Kenny home, even if his teammate was among the weakest remaining chefs, and so Lynne and Arnold were scarified, even after both serving up judges' favorite dishes in the past. Just goes to show that no one is safe! This isn't the Next Food Network Star!

 

Top Chef: DC airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Michael at twitter.com/mjlamp

 

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