"top chef recap" news and stories

Two weeks without a "Top Chef" fix. Bravo, how could you do this to us? First they left us hanging, wondering what the chefs all thought of the despicable Marcel's inevitable implosion/elimination. Then they teased us with previews of an old-school Italian challenge, complete with imposing dudes from legendary New York restaurant Rao's in shiny, double-breasted suits -- along with the Goodfellas/Sopranos grande dame Lorraine Bracco.

With three Italian-Americans left in the competition -- Mike, Antonia and of course, Fabio -- we couldn't wait to see each try to one-up the other. (The potential for a overconfidence crash-and-burn was high.)

Spoiler alert: Winner and loser are revealed after the jump.

It's only been two weeks since the last episode of "Top Chef," but thanks to the wonder of Bravo editing, it seems like it's been a lifetime. It's not just that the dry grime of the Vegas strip has been traded for the misty lushness of California wine country -- it's everything. The seasons have changed. Hairstyles have been altered -- or in Kevin's case, have gone completely untended. Padma is now buxom with child. For all we know, Michael has run out and gotten even more lame tattoos.

This can only mean one thing: We have entered the first part of the "Top Chef" finale -- now with 80 percent more pregnant pauses, concerned looks and furrowed brows! Certainly, the stakes are high enough without Padma, Tom and Gail being overly reverent and ominous, but still, they do the best they can to help ratchet up the tension.

The occasion this time was a Napa Valley "Crush Party," which, contrary to the moniker, was not a celebration of the complex flavor profile of Orange Crush. Rather, it was an opportunity for affluent wine-country moguls to let down their hair and ostentatiously stomp on some grapes with their bare, pedicured feet, thus celebrating the harvest season while their underpaid grape-pickers toiled in a faraway field.

Come back, Natalie! O, Nigella, where art thou? After a couple of heavy-hitting, sweeps-month episodes, last night's "Top Chef" was, well, a little subdued.

With the albatross that was Robin finally gone, and five not-quite-equal cheftestants left, the mysteries left in the season are few. Will Jen get her mojo back? Will the brothers Voltaggio go at each other's throats, like we've been hoping they would all season? Will snarky Toby Young disappear for good, already?

Instead of high tension, we got slow-burn dread and buttoned-down critiques, not to mention portentous montages of the chefs getting dressed, sleeping, or, in the case of Kevin, hanging rosary beads around his neck.

This Top Chef recap is a little late because I just recovered from my Thanksgiving induced food coma (Marisa sure can cook!). It is appropriate, however, to be writing about this third episode of the season during Thanksgiving weekend because it was all about Thanksgiving (it is as though that was planned somehow!).

And what says 'the holidays' better than a little product placement? The QuickFire Challenge featured the Top Chef cookbook as a key ingredient. I don't want to ruin this episode for anyone who might have recorded it, so I'll continue the recap after the break.