The second episode of Top Chef ran Wednesday night on Bravo. The bulk of the episode took place inside a fetish shop in San Francisco, since the main challenge involved making a sexy dessert. It was interesting to see some of the contestants cutting loose among the latex-clad party goers - one of which was RuPaul - while others were clearly out of their comfort zone. But as usual, there were two challenges on which the contestants were judged.

The first, quick challenge for immunity, dealt with presentation and the chefs were asked to make a fruit plate in 30 minutes. Elizabeth Faulkner of San Francisco's Citizen Cake served as the judge for this challenge. Some of the chefs really didn't seem to understand that not only were they making a fruit plate, but that they were competing against other people, so originality was important. Half of the chefs had garnished their plates with pineapple tops, which Ms. Faulkner didn't like, and the majority of the other plates looked very similar. She criticized some plates for looking like they were part of a buffet. The three top plates were Cynthia's, which was minimalist and used papaya seeds as a garnish, Harold's, which showcased his knife skills, and Stephen's, which used fruit and herb combinations served in espresso cups. Stephen won purely on originality; his presentation was gorgeous.

The main challenge also involved presentation because the theme of sexy desserts was to appeal to all the senses. It was obvious that most of the participants were not pastry chefs and that they had not had very much experience with non-savory dishes. The cleverer contestants used recipes that didn't require the precision of real baking, but other contestants ended up with "treats" that the judges were afraid to put in their mouths. A few of the chefs – like Cynthia and Lisa – put down their desserts by telling the judges what they should have done and not selling what they did. Others, like Miguel, sold their desserts like used car salesmen, getting down on their knees to appeal to their customers.
The desserts were:

• Lisa – Naughty Nuts  – Pecan tartlettes with chocolate shavings
• Tiffani – Fortune Cookie Fantasy  - Chocolate coffee cookies with cherries and hazelnut necklaces
• Cynthia - Moroccan tartlettes
• Dave – Tit for tat - Roasted strawberry pound cake with banana pastry cream
• Stephen – Bubbling Orgasm - Celery and Granny Smith apple gelee with champagne and pomegranates
• Candice - Edible underwear drawer  - sponge cakes with ganache
• LeeAnne - Asian is Sexy – Mini dim sum desserts
• Harold – Sticky Sex - Buttermilk gelato on banana caramel tarts
• Andrea – Creamy peanut butter balls with crunchy almonds
• Brian – Strawberry-Apple Crisp with hazelnut whipped cream
• Miguel - Total Orgasm – mango pillows with tapioca, chocolate shots

The judges loved Stephen, Miguel and Brian's desserts. Lisa's was tasty, but not sexy at all. Tiffani's was fun, but tasted atrocious, and Candice's cakes were not very visually appealing. Harold and Cynthia had problems with some of their creations melting and the judges did not have a lot to say about LeeAnne's food at all. Andrea's dessert looked like something a busy mother might make for her child's after school snack and she was eliminated. Miguel's enthusiasm and the great taste of his dessert won over the judges.

Next week Top Chef will divide the participants into two teams, which is sure to produce conflict between people who think they alone deserve billing as Top Chef.

Check out the other episodes ths season:

Episode 1 recap
Episode 2 recap
Episode 3 recap
Episode 4 recap
Episode 5 recap
Episode 6 recap
Episode 7 recap
Episode 8 recap
Episode 9 recap
Reunion show recap
Finale part 1 recap