Photo from Bravo TV

Welcome back to DC Top Chef, we missed having you around the town. After a couple of weeks of relative boring DC tie-ins the past two episodes finally included some DC sightings to talk about.

Last week on Top Chef:

• Last week’s episode, titled “Cold War,” was timed perfectly with spy trades and Angelina Jolie films in the news.
• Quickfire Challenge: make dishes out of exotic proteins. Duck testicles? Gross.
• Andrea bitches that guest judge Michelle Bernstein has a bias against her because they are both rivals back in Miami.
• Ed continues to name drop, citing how he’s so familiar with these ingredients after cooking with Todd English
• Angelo gets an amazing idea for his Duck testicles: Testicle Marshmallows. What? Unfortunately we won’t get to see it- a twist in the challenge has everybody passing their dishes to the left.’

• Now Kevin has to work with the duck testicles and basically the quickfire challenges reverts to a porn with the way he’s talking about his ingredients: “I’ve never worked with Duck testicles or any testicles…”
• Andrea continues to bitch about the guest judge, the world continues to not care.
• Bernstein gives Angelo a backhanded compliment on his quickfire dish: great flavor but texture is off.
• Is it just me or is Kenny always doing too much with his dishes- it’s like every dish he makes has to be a two-way or three-way.
• Oh no did this recap revert back to a porn?

• Kelly wins the quickfire.
• Elimination Challenge: create a dish that will be served cold, that will be judged by your opposing team of peers.
• Chefs take a cruise on the Presidential Yacht to brainstorm
• Ed and Tiffany continue their attempt at a Top Chef Showmance.
• Tamesha doesn’t like Amanda’s spazzy style. Come to think about it- not many people like Amanda’s spazzy style.
• Angelo’s mentoring Tamesha is kinda shady- is he helping or hurting?
• The chefs are harsh on each other as they judged the dishes- Kevin wins the challenge and Tamesha goes home.
• The biggest news however: it’s revealed that Angelo and Ed used to date the same girl. What?

Ok now that we are all caught up let’s talk about this week’s episode.

Top Chef DC must be learning from having White House chef Sam Kass on the show: hot Washingtonians sell. So when guest judge congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) surprised chefs at the Quickfire I’m sure viewers had lots of great things to say about the hottest youngest member of congress.

The quickfire challenge addresses one of the more interesting House Ethics Rules: a ban on accepting meals from lobbyists unless it is hors d’oeuvres served on a toothpick. So thus begin the quickfire challenge: create a delicious dish that can be served on a toothpick. Indirectly, the challenge was to create a dish lobbyists would serve to lawmakers. Fantastic. The victor of this challenge got they also got immunity, $25,000, and the admiration of registered lobbyists everywhere.

There’s not a whole lot you can make that’s toothpick friendly, I saw countless dishes involve scallops (but unfortunately no bacon.) In the end however Angelo racks up another win with some kind of mush on a cucumber.

The elimination challenge takes on another DC tradition: The Power Lunch. Because we all know most laws that get passed around here are settled over lunch. That must make Five Guys a de-facto Capital Lounge.

The chefs are handed the keys to The Palm restaurant to cook lunch for a group of political/media personalities. As the chefs head to Whole Foods Angelo admits he doesn’t really know what a power lunch is- but does buy lots of soy sauce- because we all know he knows Asian food better than me and my parents.

After the chefs frenzy about to prep their dishes for the lunch next day they retreat back to the home where we once again see Kevin pimp it out in a robe. Ed and Tiffany are spending a lot of time together and the other chefs start to notice. Tiffany, who’s engaged, says nothing is happening but I still say why not have a showmance- it’s what all the politicians do in DC anyways.

Ed is excited about his pea puree while Alex has no idea what he’s doing (which is normal for Alex.)

The next day the chefs head to The Palm to cook their lunches for their power lunch group: Senator Mark Warner (D-VA); John Podesta from the Center for American Progress; DC chef Art Smith; and a whole lot of NBC News personalities including Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Kelly O’Donnell, Luke Russert, and Savannah Guthrie.

Ed can’t find that Pea puree while Alex mysteriously has some to garnish his dish.

I approve of the power lunch group but I am sorted weirded out that Tom had to be secluded away to taste the dishes as well. Sure he was going to play a little Tim Gunn role while walking around the kitchen during the challenge but it just struck me as an odd sight to see him alone in a kitchen tasting the dishes while they cut to the busy dining room. I hope Tom gets to eat at the adult table next time.

In between courses we overhear Luke approve of the Obamaburger. I wonder if he was talking about the Prez Obama Burger at Good Stuff Eatery. If so then props for Luke for a subtle plug for a Top Chef restaurant. I also noticed Luke was ready with the one-liners, “The meal gets the Best Actor Oscar but the supporting cast isn’t there.”

Alex, Ed, and Tiffany make it to the top three with Alex winning thanks to… his pea puree.

Ed is clearly fuming, already suspecting that Alex stole his puree and is now reaping the rewards.

Andrea ended up packing her knives after a meal that just didn’t work out.

A solid episode that made great use of The District, however lots of questions still remain: did Alex steal Ed’s pea puree? Is Ed and Tiffany Falling in love? Why does Angelo polish his black canvas sneakers? Feel free to lend your guesses in the comments!

I Know The Place!

The Palm: The restaurant was voted “Best Power Lunch” by Washingtonian Magazine, which explains how the 19th street eatery was targeted for this week’s challenge.

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