"preview" news and stories

Most of the time, when I watch the Top Chef quickfire challenges, I think to myself that I could handle the challenge (or at least keep my head above water). However, as you'll see in the video above, tonight's quickfire is really designed to separate the truly skilled chefs from the rest of us. Eric Ripert is the guest judge and he challenges the chef'testants to fish fileting contest.

Tune in tonight to see who wins the quickfire and who later gets eliminated from the competition. These days, my money is on the obnoxious Stefan to take the win, although I'm still hoping that Jamie is able to pull through to the end. How about the rest of you?

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Last week on Top Chef, we saw the chef'testants put through their paces both with canned goods and some gorgeous, farm fresh foods. Ariane was sent home based on the poor job she did butchering some lamb.

This week is the halfway point of the competition with just eight chefs left in the running and so they're bringing back Restaurant Wars, in which the chefs are divided into two teams and told to create and run a restaurant for a single night. The guest judge is Stephen Starr (restaurateur behind Buddakan and Morimoto, among many other restaurants) and he'll determine the who the team leaders are in tomorrow night's episode.

Make sure to tune and see what happens!

Originally limited to New York, MenuPages has been expanding quickly lately. The site, which features not only the hours, address, etc. of many restaurants, but also their menus and prices, so you know exactly what you're getting into before you go. MenuPages recently came to LA and even more recently launched in Philadelphia. Other cities the site covers include Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington.

If you've never used MenuPages before, it's worth a look, since you'll be able to determine whether a given restaurant actually has anything on their menu that you want to try, unlike straightforward restaurant reviews (and they have user comments/reviews, too), which only provide a price and the descriptions of a few dishes. The restaurant categories are more location-specific than most, too. For example, in Los Angeles, there is a distinct option for restaurants that serve Wings, while in Philly, there is a category for cheesesteak places. If the food you're craving isn't on the pre-set list, another great feature of the site is the "find a food search," which allows you to narrow down your restaurant selection to those that serve flourless chocolate cake or lobster rolls.

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