by Michael J. Lamp

 

This week's episode of Top Chef: All Stars begins in the aftermath of Jen's departure. The show even starts with dramatic, panning shots of the Top Chef kitchen, empty no less! Mike, in particular, questions Jamie staying in the competition over Jen.

 

David Chang is with Padma for the Quickfire Challenge, ensuring that a bona fide culinary wet dream is in store. Maybe that's just me? Oh well.

 

This week's Quickfire is a two-part process. Teams of four compete in a classic Top Chef assembly line (breaking down lamb and chopping garlic and artichokes). Then, each team must create a dish from the ingredients they've been handling. The catch? The first team to clear the assembly line portion begins cooking and initiates a 15-minute countdown. This means that all four teams (finished prepping or not) will have 15 minutes from that moment. This leads to some rather hilarious eight or nine minute creations.

 

The teams that come out on top are the white team (Carla, Marcel, Dale T., Tiffany F.) and the blue team (Spike, Richard, Trey and Stephen). Carla and co., who finished the prep portion last, by the way, make a lamb Carpaccio, because - ya know - there was no time to actually cook the lamb. They fell just short of the winning blue team, though. Professor Blaze's crew sealed their win with a pan-seared lamb.

 

For the Elimination Challenge, the same four teams are assigned some of NYC ‘s hottest restaurants to dine at for a little inspiration. The selected restaurants create a dream culinary crawl. David Burke's Townhouse, Michael White's Marea, Wylie Dufresne's wd~50 and - of course - David Chang's Ma Peche are the chosen four.

 

Each chef must prepare a meal that recreates or pays homage to the chef whose restaurant they've been dining in. No pressure. Kate Krader of Food & Wine joins the judges on their mini tour of foodie NYC. They are even driving from place to place in a real, yellow cab. Adorbs.

 

The judges have picked one chef from each group of four as the favorite and one as the, well, not. This week's best are Dale T., Trey, Angelo and Antonia. Antonia's clever play on peas and carrots, Angelo's French/Vietnamese fusion topped with chocolate and Trey's fish-centric dish all earned high praise. None of them could topple Dale T. this week, as his unique take on Dufresne's love of eggs (he created what looked to be some amazing egg dumplings) land him in the winner's circle and will send him on a trip to New Zealand.

 

Holding it down in ‘less than' land are Tiffany F., who made a mess of Dufresne's molecular method, and Dale L., who attempted to pair veal with breakfast food. Then there's Stephen and Fabio, both of whom went overboard and threw the kitchen sink onto their respective plates. Making matters worse, Anthony Bourdain didn't love the smelly nature of Stephen's dish.

 

In the cruel world of Top Chef, sometimes it's not enough for just one chef to bid adieu. Both Stephen and Dale L. are sent packing in this season's first (and last?) double elimination.

 

 

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

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa

 

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