Reactions to Top Chef Texas Episode 8

This week's venue was Austin, where the chetestants set up shop at Le Cordon Bleu. Once settled in, Padma and Tom gave them their Quickfire Challenge. Since Austin was the location where Twitter was unveiled in 2007, the chefs would be given instructions based on tweets provided in real time by Top Chef fans. To begin, the chefs were asked to make a dish that incorporated bacon. After several minutes of cooking, Tom and Padma selected another tweet; this time, the chefs were asked to add a hash component (as in hash tag, get it?). Later on, a tweet provided the idea of each chef handing off a random ingredient to a fellow chef. Mercifully, the harried hour of cooking came to an end and the tasting and judgment began.

On the bottom were Grayson, Chris J., and Ed. Grayson simply didn't do enough to make her dish distinctive, Chris J. oversalted his potatoes, and Ed burnt his hash. On the up side, Beverly and Sarah impressed the judges with subtle dishes that were spot on, and Paul was the winner for his unusual combination of ingredients including blueberries and clams. Paul walked away with $10,000, bringing his total winnings in the competition thus far to $30,000.

After the challenge, the chefs retired to their new digs at The Driskill. While having beverages in the lounge, Patti LaBelle came out to perform. Then Padma appeared to drop the Elimination Challenge bomb. In this case, the chefs were asked to create dishes that would honor the person who most inspired them to become a chef. There was 30 minutes of shopping at Whole Foods and 2 hours of cooking the next day.

In addition to Padma, Tom, Patti LaBelle, and her backup musicians, Superstar Chef Emeril Lagasse joined the group for tasting and judgment. In a switch, the bottom three were brought out first. Grayson and Heather used rib eye in their dishes and the lack of quality in the meat seemed to be their undoing. Both were accused of serving chewy meat. Chris C. was called out for his overseared salmon which bled albumen.

On the top were Beverly, who made beautifully prepared Korean-style braised short ribs, Ed, who prepared a vegetarian bibimbap, and Sarah, who executed her pork sausage stuffed cabbage with great technique. In the end, Sarah came out the winner.

Then the losers were trotted out again. In what Beverly saw as an act of karma, Heather was given the boot.

What did you think of last night's episode? Please leave your comments below.

Posted on AllTopChef.com