It's episode 10 and our chefs are looking bedraggled, showing signs of long nights, stress and constant drama on their no-longer fresh faces. We're feeling their pain a bit, too. After Restaurant Wars' fireworks, episode 10 was one long denouement.
Natalie Portman, Tom Colicchio
Speakeasy's erstwhile favorite, Jen, is looking in sore need of sleep and a day spa, and appears to never have fully recovered from her bout of sickness during the "Cooking at Home" episode. Certain shades of limelight can just wreck a girl's complexion.
Jen falters throughout the entire episode; her new peer is Robin. What does this mean? Does Speakeasy abandon its once-golden girl when she's down or do we start to making eyes at beardy Kevin, who's on a hot streak and has none of the ego of some other people we could name.
This week's quick fire: create a TV-style dinner based on a television show. Kevin gets the easiest job ever when he has to make a dish inspired by "The Sopranos." He handily wins, to no one's surprise. To our continued dismay, Jen doesn't get her act together and lands in the bottom two of the Quick Fire, along with Robin. Oh, honey.
When told the elimination challenge involves cooking at Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak, the chefs stay up late like kids on Christmas Eve, with recipes for Kobe dancing in their heads. The next morning, they run into the kitchen, unwrapping lamb chops and calling dibs on lobsters like tots at Christmastime. And then....Tom arrives with his special guest Natalie Portman. Oh, wait.
She's vegetarian. Could've called that one a mile away.
All the carefully-laid plans for gently braised beef, delicately spiced Kobe and divine lobster tails disintegrate before their eyes. The chefs race anew, but this time they're calling dibs on eggplant and morels. Robin goes all hyper over the mushroom selection and goggles over fresh garbanzo beans.
Kevin, our calm in the center of the kitchen mania, sets about to prepare a satisfying dish that won't make anyone miss the meat. Mike Isabella swaggers, convinced he's got this one in the bag. Mike Volt pontificates about the textures in asparagus.
At the dinner, Natalie, the judges and assorted guests thrill over Michael Voltaggio's banana polenta dish while Italian chef Paul Bartolotta winces at the heresy. The highlight of the dinner sequence was Padma's unintentional double-entendre about Bryan's dish, that led to a dirty riff about mouths and things in mouths that we're too modest to fully transcribe here. (These people are funny! We simply must be friends.)
The party atmosphere is dampened when Jen comes out to present her dish. As she serves sauce tableside, her hands shake so much that she spills sauce on the table and on the dishes. The table turns quiet in sympathy.
Our top three this evening: Kevin (yay! I know, we're fickle), Michael Volt and Eli. After Kevin wins for his hearty kale, turnips and mushrooms, Volt snarks that he could've done that in his second year of school and, like, it was just a pile of vegetables. If he'd known that the judges just wanted a mushy pile of vegetables, he could've done that too blah blah someone tell him to stop talking.
This week's bottom three: Jen, Robin and Mike Isabella. Jen doesn't defend herself as much as talk her way into a hole, leading Natalie to call her "defeatist." Mike Isabella's leeks were badly done and his "whatever, bitches!" attitude is cited as the reason he's sent home.
But wait! When his name is announced to leave, Jen grabs his face with both hands and kisses him deeply, prompting Gail Simmons -- and us -- to raise eyebrows in surprise. (Is there a romance we didn't know about? Bravo, come on!)
As he leaves, Mike takes a parting shot at Robin, who for all her travels to the bottom is still standing.
Next week: A Top Chef reunion dinner. The next Top Chef Las Vegas teases something about Padma "upstairs in the bed," all loose hair and inviting smile. Wait. What?
