Dining the Friendly Skies

Top Chef recap time!!! Yeah, I realize it's really late. Yes, I'm aware that this week's episode will be on in a few minutes. What can I say?

It's morning and the chefs are asleep in their beds. That is, until Padma annoyingly calls for them to wake up. CJ was all kinds of excited. Dale, not so much. Tee Hee. Hung dared to dream that maybe she had cooked breakfast for them. But, no. As Dale guessed, it was a breakfast challenge. So, there they are in tattered sleep clothes, robes, slippers, and bare feet...expected to cook a delicious breakfast. LOL. Of course, Hung and his monkey (throughout the show, Hung has referenced 'his monkey') in his manic running around knocked over a glass jar. Of course, he left it on the floor. But, enough about that. The food. Oh my goodness, after this challenge, I had a hankering for breakfast. Hung prepared eggs sunnyside up, seared NY steak topped with mushrooms and onions, and a smoothie. Ok, I wanted that smoothie. It consisted of papaya, bananas, honey, condensed milk, and Grand Marnier. That sounds sweetly delicious. Sara decided to prepare egg in a hole, using whole grain bread. The bread was prepared in the manner of french toast. She also added some prosciutto and maple syrup. She had the salty sweet action going on. Casey prepared a savory french toast with a sunny side up egg. She prepared a celery salsa to accompany her dish. CJ prepared strawberry and cream crepes. He also served a smoothie of blueberries, dates and marscapone. Dale presented a ham, apple, and onion frittata with mustard hollandaise. Brian presented a lobster and butter poached egg with smoked salmon and kalamata olives. There was more. A lot more in fact. He had alot going on with that dish. He also made a berry smoothie. Hung and his monkey reigned supreme. His prize, Padma's book. I was underwhelmed on his behalf. But, Hung was surprisingly non-snarky.


After the quickfire, the contestants were told that they were going to NY. Of course, they were super excited. But, oh no. This is Top Chef. The Magical Elves have a great time pulling the carpet from beneath the chefs. So, only the chefs that survive the Elimination Challenge will move on to the Big Apple.


Elimination Challenge: To create delicious airplane food. It must fit in a certain space, and withstand cooking for at least 10 minutes in the same container. Since Hung won the GF, he selects his protein first. He selects the seabass, which is an oily fish that will not dry out after the nuking. Brian selects NY strip. Dale selects filet mignon. Sara selects salmon. Casey selects veal. CJ selects halibut. My favorite part of this challenge is that my favorite person in the culinary world, Anthony Bourdain is a guest judge. He is the King of Snark. The only thing better than his little zingers is how much HE enjoys his little zingers. In the end, Hung and Casey emerge with the best dishes. Casey is victorious. That's two weeks in a row. She is really pulling out in the end. The judges were not happy with Sara's dry salmon and not-so-good couscous, CJ's too minty salmon and horrid broccolini, and Brian's mushy lobster-purple potato hash. Sadly (or not so sadly) CJ's broccolini is declared the single worst dish in Top Chef history (an overstatement I'm sure), and he was told to pack his knives and go.