Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!In last night's episode of Top Chef, teams created dishes to serve at a block party in a Chicago neighborhood. First things first: This was one intense block party. We're talking moon bounce and dunk tanks. In fact, now that I think about it, the food didn't even look like the best thing there.In all fairness, however, I did enjoy this episode more than last week's (though the judges clearly didn't feel the same way about the food they tasted). The show has done a solid job of showcasing the chef's personalities by engaging them in absurd activities like foraging through random people's pantries for ingredients, and I definitely like the characters I'm seeing. Ryan has emerged as cute and sweet one to counter the craziness of Andrew and Spike, so it will interesting to see what happens after he gets kicked off in the coming weeks (he was in the bottom for both challenges this episode – I think his time is coming). Antonia is still my favorite, followed by lesbian couple Zoi and Jennifer. A Bravo Poll conducted during commercials showed that more viewers predict a woman Top Chef winner before a woman president, though I'm not sure whether that bodes well for this season or just poorly for Hillary.
On to the challenges: For the Quickfire, chefs had to reinvent an upscale version of a taco. A surprising number of competitors didn't understand the word upscale, and Erik (later eliminated for his sick-looking corn dogs) insisted that tacos are destined to remain street food forever -- a sad fate for both Erik and the taco. We knew he would be eliminated after he insulted guest-judge Rick Bayless. Richard won for his jicama taco with avocado, papaya and cilantro. He made enough for himself to eat, too, and it looked pretty darn good.
The elimination challenge was far more interesting because the Red Team (spearheaded by Andrew and Spike) was sure they would win, and didn't. The judges preferred the blue team's designer cinnamon chips (courtesy of winner Stephanie) to the down-home sliders and soggy Waldorf salad presented by the red team. I believe Andrew said he was so upset that, if eliminated, the show would have to "drag me out with security guards because I ain't going nowhere -- this is my house." Too bad, because that would have made for some excellent television.
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