This week’s Top Chef started out in the apartment shared by the Chestestants. The self-professed Dynamic Duo, Fabio and Stefan, were entertaining each other with witty banter while Stefan was carving a watermelon. A Bromance is definitely in the making between these two fan faves.

Hosea called his sister for an update on his father, who he let us all know had recently been diagnosed with cancer. She assured him all’s well and to keep pursuing his dream.

On to the Quick Fire Challenge: The task was to cook a holiday meal using only one pot. And, if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, the guest judge was none other than Martha Stewart! Wow, this show’s really getting some clout. There have been some interesting guests this season …
Eugene and Jamie opted for a stew; Stefan chose a veal Celtic ghoulash; Hosea went for paella; Melissa did pork and apples; Jeff made risotto with pork and potatoes; Karla chose a brined turkey breast; Ariane made a caulilflower puree with filet mignon, and Fabio cooked up mushroom polenta with duck breast.
After sampling all the dishes, Martha deemed Jeff, Eugene and Fabio most unworthy. While Hosea, Jamie and Ariane made the cut. Jamie was so ready to actually win a challenge, however, Martha was more impressed with Ariane. Ariane won immunity for the Elimination Challenge (and good thing she did). Seems Jamie’s always losing to Ariane.

For the Elimination Challenge the chefs were tasked to make hors d’ouevres for a Christmas themed AMFAR benefit (American Foundation for AIDS Research) in the Prince George Ballroom. They were given three hours to make enough treats for 250, including hostess and Tony award-winning actress Natasha Richardson. Guest just for this challenge was chef Michelle Bernstein.
Of course, there’s always a catch … and this one was each chef was given a line from the 12 Days of Christmas song and had to create their dish themed around it i.e. A Partridge in a Pair Tree, 5 Golden Rings, 3 French hens, etc.

"Once again, I picked a crappy theme," joked Fabio, who was unlucky enough to get 9 Ladies Dancing.

The rest were:
Hosea – 11 Pipers Piping
Jeff – 10 Lords a Leaping
Melissa – 8 Maids a Milking
Jamie – 7 Swans a Swimming
Ariane – 6 Geese a Laying
Eugene – 5 Golden Rings
Stefan – 4 Calling Birds
Leah – 3 French Hens
Carla – 2 Turtle Doves
Radhika – A Partridge in a Pair Tree

After shopping for ingedients, the chefs went to work in the Top Chef kitchen with Hosea smoking everyone out, while cooking his pork.

Unfortunately, the next morning when the chefs returned to complete and pack up their dishes, they found that someone had inadvertently left one of the massive refrigerator doors open and some food had spoiled. Specifically Radhika’s 40 ducks and Hosea’s 20 lbs. of pork, which left them at a severe deficit.
In the spirit of Christmas, all the chefs pulled together and helped their fellow contestants so everyone had a decent chance at the challenge. More pork was found and Radhika had saved the duck parts that she wasn’t using and made her dish with mostly leg meat.

All went well at the party, although some dishes were clearly not as well liked as others. Guests were all given red AIDS ribbons and asked to leave their ribbon at the table with their favorite dish. Despite losing his original pork, Hosea won the most ribbons and was the judges choice for best.

The bottom three were Eugene for his bad seveche, Melissa for her overpowering blue cheese and Jamie for her undercooked scallops.


Added just for fun!

Back in the waiting room, Chef Tom Colicchio stopped in to give the chefs a pep talk. Funny, how the last two seasons, the Top Chef judges kept saying that they didn’t think they could find contestants better than the season before, but they had.

Not the case this season. According to Colicchio, these folks just aren’t measuring up for a top cooking show like Top Chef. To cite an example Colicchio used Ariane’s 8 Geese/Laying dish, Deviled Eggs. "I mean, you’re never gonna win with deviled eggs," a clearly frustrated Colicchio stated. "You need to start making the dishes that got you here!"

After making his point, Colicchio let the group know that due to they’re banding together to help Hosea and Radhika and in the spirit of Christmas, no one was going home this week. All breathed a sigh of relief.

Up next (and I don’t think they mean next week, probably after the holidays), the chefs will face Gail’s replacement for the rest of the season, the obligatory snarky British judge Toby Young. And it’s clear by the preview that they’d prefer to have Gail back!