This week the competition on Top Chef got even more intense as the  contestants faced one of their most difficult challenges yet. Not only did the chefs have to cook, but they had to come up with a concept and start a restaurant from scratch. The needed a name, decor, tableware and, most importantly, time, which they didn't have. As an unusual twist in this episode, the incentive of immunity was eliminated from the quickfire challenge and instead, a prize was offered to the winner. There was no guest judge, either. Chef Tom Colicchio stepped up to offer the challenge and the prize.

Tom is opening a branch of his restaurant, 'wichcraft, the fast food variation of his craft restaurant, in San Francisco and asked the chefs to prepare the perfect sandwich, a food that 'wichcraft specializes in. The winner would get his or her sandwich on the menu when the West Coast 'wichcraft opened. Fast, portable and delicious would win in the sandwich competition. All the chefs did well, but Miguel's Falafel sandwich was the flavor winner. Unfortunately, Miguel made his a "deconstructed" sandwich, which meant that it had to be eaten with a knife and fork. A sandwich without bread is not a sandwich, and instead of Miguel, Tom gave top billing to Harold's sandwich of mortadella with grapes, roasted peppers and sunchoke mayonnaise on sourdough. The recipes for Stephen and Dave's sandwiches, both of which looked delicious, are on the Bravo site.

Once the sandwiches were finished, the main challenge was revealed and the chefs were divided into two teams. One team had Tiffani, Dave and Harold, while the other had Stephen, LeeAnne and Miguel.

Tiffani's team came up with a concept called American Workshop, meant to be classic American food done well. The customers were seated at large communal tables, which was a fun idea, though the team did not carry out their vision of family-style service because they plated foods individually. Family-style presentation would have made the fairly common concept more interesting. Dave worked the front of the house, hosting and serving, while Tiffani and Harold cooked. Their menu included tuna tartar (a throwback to episode 5 for Harold), roast chicken, roasted vegetables and a fruit crisp. The diners and the judges didn't think that the tuna went with the rest of the menu, but loved having Dave in the dining room.

LeeAnne's team decided to go for Spanish food and named their restaurant Sabor. LeeAnne has been to Spain, while Stephen clearly has a great regard for restaurants like El Bulli, so the idea worked well. Their menu included a tapas trio, red snapper with crispy risotto cakes and a olive oil gelato. Stephen worked the front of the house, but irritated the diners a bit by trying to educate them before feeding them. There were a lot of problems in the kitchen and during prep because Miguel made a lot of mistakes, possibly as a result of not being as enthused about the idea as his teammates. The diners loved the food, calling it "amazing" and "worth the wait."

Ultimately, the winner of the contest was Tiffani's team. The prize for winning was that one member of the team would get to go to the Cannes film festival. Tiffani thought she deserved to go and so ardently dismissed her teammates contributions to their victory, that she drove the nails into her own coffin and Dave, whose excellent service won them the competition, was chosen. On the other team, LeeAnne was at no risk for elimination and, though Stephen was weak in timing his service, Miguel's amateur mistakes, including forgetting to ask for the fish to be scaled when he ordered it, and total lack of leadership got him eliminated.

The judges warned Stephen that he would have to make sure to show off his kitchen skills in the next round, or he might face elimination, too. Harold was also told to show more leadership, as he simply followed Tiffani's instructions in the kitchen.

In the promo for the next episode, it was revealed that the chefs would have 24 hours to cater a wedding. The problem is that none of them know how to or are willing to bake. I know that I saw some boxed cake mixes in the preview, which is probably not a good sign....

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Episode 5 recap
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