‘Cucumber Puree’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

There is a reason that we love DC- and Top Chef DC. Washington DC is a Top Chef town with many former contestants and judges working in the area. This week the names we’ve grown to love locally returned to the small screen.

But first, a baby challenge.

With Padma fresh off a pregnancy (sporting a turtle shell for a shirt) and Tom with young children of his own, the two hosts challenge the chefs to create an adult meal with a companion purée for a child.

The chefs certainly came up with baby food that I wouldn’t expect to see in the grocery store aisle. Duck with Spinach? Curried Sweet Potato Bisque? Pan-Seared Rib Eye?

Certainly choices for those being fed with a silver spoon I suppose. Of course I am a 26 year old blogger with no kids- is making your own baby food the in thing for DCers or do you head for the Gerber aisle?

Out of the dishes created I really didn’t think Angelo’s “layered creation” looked appealing at all- more like something dug from a dirty stream than a delicious dish. However the judges loved it.

Timothy Dean was once again listed among the worst- not a good start for the struggling DC local. This either means he’s going to go home or have one of those underdog moments of success.

Tamesha and Kenny win the challenge and get $10K for their success- however no immunity.

For the elimination challenge the chefs would pair up and cook a full day of meals with top two meals in each round earning immunity and sitting out the rest of the challenge. In the end one team of two would be eliminated.

What was really interesting was that the chefs could pick their own partners- which led to a arbitrary pairing-up that was faster than a class of seniors during Prom season. Tiffany ends up with Tim- and she must be reading We Love DC because she knows that he’s not doing so good- and vows to take the lead.

For the challenge a panel of Top Chef alumni graded the dishes including Mike Isabella, head chef at Zaytinya (I’ve been there- pretty good stuff); Bryan Voltaggio of Volt; and my fav- Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery and We The Pizza.

So the race is on to win the breakfast round, a race so tight that Alex and Ed didn’t have time to put hollandaise sauce on their dish. The clip shows them hesitating before the buzzer- I would of just slopped it down until somebody yelled at me. Of course that would of started drama but hey it would of made for better TV.

Tim and Tiffany and Amanda and Stephen win the round- which riles up everybody including Kenny and Angelo. As the chefs complain about what they did wrong I have to be the voice of reason here.

Look Angelo, Kenny, and everybody else- I bet you guys had great stuff but you can only pick two dishes! It wasn’t like everybody else’s dish was terrible! But alas they decided to play the, “WTF, mate- I just worked my ass off and now I have to cook some more!?!?! I don’t want to go home!” card.

Cut to the chase more cooking and lunch is served. Angelo and Tamesha and Alex and Ed are safe while Andrea and Kelly get chided for serving canned beans that weren’t cooked. The diss prompt a cutaway of Andrea once again dropping that she was one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs in 2003.

Well it’s 2010 honey. Shut up.

So now it’s them two along with Kevin and Kenny and Arnold and Lynne left in the running. One team will go home while one team will… win a prize?

Wait so one of the teams that couldn’t win one of the two rounds gets a prize? Not just any prize- a trip to Italy and Spain!?!?

Maybe it was to shut up Andrea, who along with Kelly won the final round. Oh no Team Kenny and Team Arnold are on the chopping block!

While the judges  appear to disapprove of Kenny and Kevin’s short ribs more than Arnold and Lynne’s undercooked pasta; to have Kenny leave the game so early would give Angelo a big advantage the rest of the game.

So it made sense to me that Arnold and Lynne packed their knives. Right after they leave the credits role with the fine print “with consultation of the producers.” Look sometimes your rep will save you in the end and I personally think it did with Kenny.

What do you think? Would of rather have seen Kenny and Kevin get booted instead?

Patrick Pho

Patrick has been blogging since before it was called blogging. At We Love DC Patrick covers local Theatre, and whatever catches his eye. Patrick’s blog stories, rants, and opinions have been featured in The Washington City Paper, Washington Post Express, CNN, Newschannel 8 Washington, and NBC Washington. See why Patrick loves DC.

You can e-mail him at ppho [at] welovedc.com