By Michael J. Lamp

"One and Done"

This year, the Masters will follow the traditional Top Chef-style, with one person leaving each week. There are definitely some heavy hitters in the group, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. It would be great to see a female chef claim the crown - especially in the Masters edition.

The premiere starts with everyone flexing their culinary muscles and boasting about their achievements. Gotta love chefs and their big ol' heads. Host Curtis Stone enters the kitchen and introduces the first Quickfire Challenge.

The chefs will compete, head-to-head, against the person they are standing next to. Each chef will grab a mystery box, which contains one ingredient. The chefs must create a dish using the ingredients in their box and their neighbor's box. Phew. Even the challenge explanations are long this time around.

James Oseland returns as a judge, this time joined by fellow author and food critic Ruth Reichle. The sheer presence of these two is bringing about some obvious lumps in the chefs' throats.

Out of the head-to-head winners, Traci Des Jardins' two salads with peanut butter vinaigrette and Mary Sue Milliken's chili cottage cheese cake are the judges' favorites. Traci is declared the winner and claims the first immunity.

The first Elimination Challenge is... Restaurant Wars! Wasting no time, I love it. The chefs are divided into two teams, and each chef will create one dish. The diners  - not our judging panel - will decide the winning team. "Restaurant Girl" Danyelle Freeman will serve as guest judge for the first challenge.

The red team is calling their restaurant 'Mosaic,' while the blue team decides on 'Leela.'

At Leela, John C. cooked up sweet potato & peanut soup, while Alex opted for a celery root & spinach fricassee. John S. made lamb rack with jicama, while Sue went with halibut & scallop with onions and artichoke. For dessert, Naomi whipped up chocolate torte with grand marnier, and Celina made pistachio cake.

Over at Mosaic, Floyd is working on short ribs with risotto and George is pulling together a slow poached salmon. I'm happy to say that I have had the pleasure of thoroughly enjoying Floyd Cardoz's short ribs when he was the chef at Tabla in Manhattan. Good stuff, people. Traci is making a warm bread salad, while Hugh focuses on sea scallops with grits. Rounding out the meal, Suvir is serving a berry & pear cobbler and Mary Sue is going with a classic chocolate cupcake.

Both services appear to go pretty well, and most of the diner's seem quite content with the food they're being served. Also, Hugh and Suvir are emerging as hilarious characters, but in a more lovable way than Top Cheftestants usually come across.

The weirdest part of service is definitely the front-of-house action. Naomi and Traci are handling the duties for Leela and Mosaic, respectively. Naomi is seating all the guests at once, which I've never really heard of, while Traci is going with the traditional approach of staggered seating.

Team Leela is called to Critic's Table first. Curtis lets the chefs know that while the critics preferred Mosaic, the diner's made the decision and chose Leela as the winning restaurant. Naomi's chocolate torte and Alex's fricassee were the standout dishes. Alex claims the individual victory, along with $10,000 for his charity. As a cancer survivor himself, Alex seems really happy to have won and it's great to see.

Mary Sue and Hugh are the only chefs from Mosaic called to Critic's Table. Hugh's overly salty scallop and Mary Sue's "safe" chocolate cupcake were the most disappointing dishes.

Hugh gets the (first) boot and is told to pack his knives. The other chefs are shocked. I'm bummed to see this, because Hugh seemed like such a nice guy and was clearly respected by his peers.

We'll talk to Hugh later today and get his thoughts on the Top Chef experience.

Top Chef: Masters airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

Follow Michael @mjlamp