COMPETING WITH KNIVES

The Watchword For This Week's Top Chef: Stressed

By Nicki R

IT'S BEEN TWO WEEKS SINCE THE LAST Top Chef EPISODE WHICH GAVE ME TIME TO MOURN RON AND TO WONDER: What the hell is Robin still doing on TV?

Tonight's Quickfire Challenge is creating a dish for cookstr.com using three keywords chosen by a slot machine. Robin's three keywords are stressed, umami and Middle Eastern, so she made a dish with a lot of cumin and curry oil. Sorry Robin but according to host Padma, curry isn't considered "Middle Eastern" and guest judge Tyler Florence thought it was nothing specular.

The contestant who nailed all three keywords is Kevin. He made a char-grilled pork with Vietnamese herb salad based on stressed, hot, & spicy Asian.

With the option of getting immunity or taking 15 grand, Ash takes the dough. Smart move for Ash, even if he gets kicked off this week, he'll still have money to help wipe away his tears.

Instead of being told what the Elimination Challenge will be, the chefs were told just to go home. Could it be that they get a week off to sit back, enjoy a break from this intense competition? Of course not! These are grown-ups on Top Chef, not some kiddies on the Disney slowing production with pesky child-labor laws!

Returning home, the chefs find that their kitchen is overstocked with food, dinner plates, flower arrangements, and assorted cookware.

Padma emerges from the shadows to reveal that for the Elimination Challenge is throwing a dinner party for Macy's Culinary Council.

The wannabes pick knives to see which famous chef they will cook for using that chef's bag of ingredients during this challenge. The chefs are: Nancy Silverton, Govind Armstrong, Tyler Florence, Takashi Yagihashi, and Tom Douglas. The contestants are thrilled to be able to cook for such culinary geniuses but Mike I. is not too thrilled to be teamed up with Robin.

The chefs scramble to the kitchen to claim their space and cook their dishes. Mike I. tries to do his own thing while Robin does her best to offer advice and make suggestions and basically just cruise by another week. Electrical issues mess up Mike V. and Ash's fish dish and they worry that it will send them home. Mike I has the same feeling when he sees Robin burning the tuna.

At the fake swank party, the judges discuss the ups and downs of the dishes and then move to the elimination room. There, team Laurine and Bryan and team Mike V and Jennifer cream the others. But only one cook can win and this week it's Jen for her broth in a BBQ kobe beef and cardamom, tomato and ginger broth dish. Jen gets $10,000 gift card to Macy's and the right to gloat. She says maybe she'll get something for Kevin with her gift card. Kevin, don't hold your breath.

When it comes time for the elimination, team Eli and Ashley and team Mike V. and Ash are called in. That's right everyone, Robin lives to cook another day.

Mike V. gets grilled about his overcooked fish and partner Ash stands by. When Padma asks if Ash he minds playing second fiddle, he compares it to washing Picasso's paintbrush. I waited for Ash to bow down before the presence of Mike but it didn't happen, at least not this episode. Ashley and Eli had to defend their undercooked prawns and oversalted gnocchi.

The defense was not good enough: Goodbye Ashley, pack your knives and go.

That leaves Robin and Laurine left among the ladies. Robin has strange staying power so maybe she'll be the next Top Chef? Nah, if Sanjaya can get kicked off American Idol, then Robin's turn is coming.

Nicki R. is a Southern girl living in the big city of Chicago. She loves quiet evenings a home watching horror films with her dogs Jezebelle and Zombie. Check out her blog, Hey, Look Behind You!