Top Chef, Season 4, Week 2

Last week the first person asked to leave was Nimma who served a dish that was unsalted for the quick file challenge and overcompensated with a dish that was over salted in the elimination challenge. Look out when one of the judges comments that your dish was inedible. It certainly seems that not everyone can shine when faced with that much pressure.

They were asked to make Pizza for the quick fire challenge so we saw some interesting and unusual Pizza dishes. Since we can't taste the food we viewers have to rely on the judges' opinions along with the presentation and the confidence shown by the chef to know if it is a winning dish. We saw Richard's peach pizza and wondered what that tasted like and the judges, Roco DiSpirito and Padma were pleased with it. Richard calls his type of cooking molecular gastronomy, sorry I don't know what that is but maybe we will have a better idea if he sticks around awhile. Go to Rocco DiSpirito's blog on Bravo's site and read his opinions about the contestants and the food. Last week he wrote about the Pizzas he tasted and about Pizza in general and that was interesting.

It was Stephanie's duck dish that took the prize in the elimination challenge, but we also saw real promise in Richard surprising the judges with each dish. Nikki's made from scratch Lasagna looked good too. This show is about personalities as well as expertise and we haven't seen these chefs enough to know who the real contenders are.

This week we waited to see who would shine and who would falter. Fair or not it is the week to week failures that convince us that one chef is better than another and who we think should go home. But, we are always shocked when someone who was consistently winning messes up and is sent home while we say noooooooo.

This week's judge of the quick fire was Wylie Dufresne and the challenge saw them meeting at the Green City Market to choose five total ingredients to make an entre. Richard went out there again using eucalyptus with chicken, but he didn't impress the judge. We are still watching Richard because he tries something different every time so far. The judge liked Ryan's dish, Valarie and Mark's dishes were at the top of the quick fire. He then chose Mark as the winner with immunity for the elimination challenge.

The pecking order cleared some this week showing us where the talent seemed to be. Just when you think you know who the leaders are, one mistake and they are out, so keep guessing and watching while the challenges narrow the field.

For the elimination challenge they were split into teams with the names Penguin, Lion, Vultures and Gorillas and the challenge was to prepare dishes for a cocktail party of 200 people at the zoo. They were to cook dishes based on the diet of the animal like their team name. Who comes up with this stuff? At least they were told what these animals do like to eat, would you know? The point is to see if these people can work together. The judges were Tom, Padma, Gail and Wylie Dufresne. They seemed to be impressed with all the teams but the least favorite were the Gorilla Team and the Lions. The winning teams were the Vultures and the Penguins. Mark seemed to be having a good day since he won the quick fire and even though he had immunity he was on one of the winning teams for the elimination challenge. The Vultures and Penguins had the best dishes. Mark had a great week, but the winner turned out to be Andrew whose squid dish won the elimination challenge.

Standing in front of the judge's table as one of the losers is akin to being questioned by the teacher in front of the class when you know you've done something wrong. That is where the Gorilla and Lion Teams ended up. It always looks painful. The dishes that got them there were Stephanie's crab salad, (last week's elimination winner), then there was Nikki's mushrooms (a bad idea to even serve them on her part), and Valarie's bilinis (she shouldn't have precooked them). Even though Stephanie was on the chopping block, she kept her head with her banana bread (thanks Grandma). In the end, Valarie was sent home.

Now we wonder, will Richard go too far in trying to be different? Did Andrew win because of talent or was it just luck? Will Mark shine again next week? And, will Stephanie redeem herself? What do you think?