The episode opens up with John and Josh having a war of
words after last week’s elimination challenge. Stephan had one of the best
quotes saying that it felt like he was on the “Housewives of Seattle”. The
chefs enter the kitchen and are greeted by Padma and guest Naomi Pomeroy. You
may remember Naomi from Top Chef Masters. Naomi is the owner of the restaurant
Beast in Portland, OR. She has received mush acclaim over the years, including
being selected as a finalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the
Pacific Northwest. The curtain behind Padma and Naomi opened to reveal two
hanging sides of beef. Their Quickfire Challenge is to butcher a cut of beef
and create a dish in one hour. The chefs attack each side of beef to select
their cuts. Chrissy and Carla had a little trouble getting one of the sides of
beef off the hook. It wouldn’t be an episode without Stefan bitching about how
loud Carla is in the kitchen.
Eliza created a flank steak marinated in soy with asparagus
and cherries. John prepared braised ox tail with gnocchi and vegetables. Josh
prepared beef meatballs with polenta and pickled shallots. Sheldon created kalbi
round steak with tomato cardamom broth and a fennel salad. Brooke made a
grilled hangar steak with smoked onion figs and cauliflower puree. Tyler prepared
a Hispanic crudo with charred tomato sauce and a cilantro salad. Kristen made a
Top Sirloin Tartare with Mustard Sabayon and a carpaccio salad. Micah created
oxtail polenta with truffled romanesco cauliflower. Carla made a Sirloin
Medallion wrapped in bacon and asiago risotto with marsala sauce. Stefan
prepared a braised top round ravioli with marjoram and aged parmesan. CJ
created a top round tartare with raw juniper and kohlrabi. Chrissy made grilled
hanger steak with brown butter and a parsley and radish salad. Lizzie prepared
a braised foreshank with turnips and dill.
The less successful dishes were prepared by Lizzie, Eliza and
Tyler. The favorite dishes were prepared by CJ, John and Josh. The winner of
the Quickfire Challenge was John. I’m sure CJ and Josh were not happy that John
had won.
For the Elimination Challenge, Brian and Mark Canlis from
Canlis Restaurant entered the kitchen. The challenge is to recreate the Canlis
menu from 1950. The big surprise to the chefs was revealed by Padma when she
mentioned that two chefs will be eliminated. The chefs looked over one of the
original 1950 menus from Canlis and chose which dishes they would prepare.
The chefs arrive at Canlis restaurant and start preparing
their meals. The judges for the elimination challenge are Padma, Tom, Emeril, Hugh
Acheson, Brian and Mark Canlis.
The dishes that were prepared are:
Fresh Crab
Leg Cocktail – Tyler
Marinated
Herring – Lizzie
French Onion
Soup – Josh
Steamed
Clams Bordelaise – John
Canlis’
Special Salad – Chrissy
Seafood
Salad a la Louis – Brooke
Fresh
Hawaiian Mahi Mahi – Sheldon
Whole
Milk-fed Squab – Carla
Mixed
Vegetables – Micah
Calf’s Liver
& French Fried Onions – Stefan & Kristen
Double Cut
New York Steak – Bart
Gargantuan Baked
Idaho Potato – Josie
Shish Kebab
with Pilaf – CJ
French
Mushrooms – Kristen
Vanilla Ice
Cream – Danyele
Royal
Hawaiian Supreme – Danyele
Mint Sherbet
– Eliza
Fresh Frozen
Hawaiian Pineapple Parfait – Eliza
At Judges
Table, Padma brought out Tyler, Lizzie, Kristen and Stefan. The winner of the
Elimination Challenge was Kristen. Padma asked for Carla, Chrissy, CJ and Josh.
Tom said that Josh’s soup was cold. Padma thought it was too salty. Chrissy’s
salad was soggy and over-dressed. Carla’s Squab was not prepared properly and
most were under-cooked. CJ’s dish was dry and under-seasoned. The two chefs who
were chosen to go home were Carla and Chrissy.
But Carla
and Chrissy were not going home quite yet. Last Chance Kitchen is back!! All
four of the chefs who were sent packing their knives have another chance to
redeem themselves and get back in the competition. Last Chance Kitchen is a web
series that is aired on Thursdays.
Jeffrey, Kuniko,
Carla and Chrissy will complete in Last Chance Kitchen. The four chefs hang out
in the “eliminated chef house”. Tom visits the four chefs to let them know that
they will be competing in Last Chance Kitchen. The challenge for the chefs is
to create a dish using the main ingredients from the dishes that got them cut
from the competition. They can either recreate their eliminated dish, or create
a new dish.
Tom is the
only judge for Last Chance Kitchen. Chrissy again prepared the Canlis’ Special
Salad. Tom thinks this salad is better than the first. Carla prepared a whole
squab with baked tomato and morels. Tom
didn’t say a word after tasting Carla’s squab. He just walked away to go
sample Kuniko’s dish. Kuniko prepared a lemongrass cream potato chowder. Tom
again did not say a word after tasting Kuniko’s potato chowder. Jeffrey
prepared a pan-roasted halibut with peas and morels. Tom also liked Jeffrey’s
second dish over his original. Tom did not like Carla’s squab. He said the legs
were raw. The winning chef of the first Last Chance Kitchen was Kuniko.
The preview
for next week’s episode shows the chefs at Pike Place Market. They end up going
to Sur la Table to purchase something to cook with to prepare their dishes, and Tom seems very pissed for some reason?!
Come back
next week for a recap of episode 5.
