Photo from Bravo TV

Welcome back faithful Washingtonians to another episode of Top Chef DC. I thought I’d try and mix things up with a running diary of tonight’s episode, ala Bill Simmons.

9:00 PM: Recaps are on, almost forgot about all that pea puree drama. As petty as the act sounds, it’s about time things got a little bit dramatic.

9:01 PM: Token shot of an empty bed and cut to a chef lamenting about the latest departure. Did it really take eight eliminations to make the competition “real” all of a sudden?

9:03 PM: Marcus Samuelsson, winner of Top Chef Masters season 2, is on hand to talk about the global food scene in DC, highlighting Ethiopian Cuisine. It is about time they dived deeper into the local scene besides politics and interns. The quickfire challenge is to create an Ethiopian dish.

9:05 PM: Amanda goes wild over goat leg while the other Chefs rag on Alex him like’s he’s the A-Rod of Top Chef. Can’t blame them, he shouldn’t be well liked with those kinds of rumors about. Meanwhile Angelo says he’s an expert on Ethiopian flavors- good thing he’s clearly been using them in his dishes up until this point. The best I’m going to expect from him is an Ethiopian egg roll.

via @angeloasosa (yes he’s on Twitter)

9:10 PM: It’s time to announce the winner and as Samuelsson praises Angelo I check out because he’s probably going to win.

9:11 PM: I wake up as Tiffany is announced the winner- makes total sense now that I remember those clips of her saying how she hasn’t won a challenge yet earlier in the episode.

9:12 PM: Advertisement for Going The Distance: a movie with another real-life couple of Barrymore and Long.

9:15 PM: Elimination Challenge: prepare a dish for a foreign country’s embassy staff.

9:17 PM: Angelo’s turn to choose and he runs- not walk to the board and picks Japan. What a surprise.

9:18 PM: Stephen has Brazil but no idea about Brazilian cuisine. However he has been to a Brazilian steakhouse. So has my roommate- she was telling me she went to Fogo de Chao today.

via @k1mmyt

9:22 PM: Alex is clearly a spaz. The chefs don’t respect him and he apparently has no technique or manners. He’s probably who I would be if I was a contestant on Top Chef.

9:29 PM: The chefs arrive at the Meridian International Center for the event.

9:32 PM: Jose Andres is a guest judge and is well know to DC as the man behind such places as Minibar, Jaleo, Zaytinya, Oyamel, and Café Atlántico.

9:35 PM: Why did you cut to a Swedish National to talk about the Stephen’s Brazilian dish?

9:37 PM: Again, why cut to a Bahama National to talk about the Mexican dish? Good to see they were able to really get each country’s representatives in the house.

9:42 PM: Angelo is a prankster… and also 12 years old. In a scene back at the house he covers the toilet with saran wrap.

9:47PM: At the Judge’s table Tiffany, Kelly, and Kevin are the best of the night in the end Tiffany gets the big win and ends the day 2 for 2. As a reward she receives $10,000 which surprises Jose Andres almost as much as Tiffany. The show will also make a matching donation to DC Central Kitchen but Tiffany appears to be freaking out about her own cash prize to notice.

9:58 PM: Ed, Stephen, and Alex are the bottom three this week. As much as we’d like to see Alex leave the producers need us to rag on him some more- and Stephen goes home packing.

via @bgluckman