Top Chef Masters 4.5 Recap

This week's duo of challenges once again seemed to have no connection to each other. First off, the Indigo Girls came around to judge the Quickfire. One of the girls is a vegetarian, while the other eats meat, so the challenge was to create carnivore- and vegetarian-friendly versions of the same dish. After being humbled by the caliber of food presented to them, the Girls chose Takashi's Japanese-style tofu dish as the winner.

The Indigo Girls exit stage left while A Girl Next Door enters - none other than one of Hugh Hefner's former bimbettes. Holly Madison, who somehow has achieved the title of "Miss Las Vegas," is having a pool party and she wants the Mastercheftestants to create canape-sized brunch dishes for 150 bikini-clad pals. Takashi finds it all to be "unberievable."

After shopping, the chefs have 2 hours to prep, and then an additional hour the next day to finish their dishes. Also at the pool party are the Critics, including James Oseland, who makes a prat of himself over the scantily-clad hunks, even getting challenged to a push-up contest by one of them.

The food comes out and Holly makes surprisingly intelligent comments about most of the dishes. Art's biscuit sliders, Kerry's crab and corn fritter, and Takashi's panna cotta are favorites, but top honors go to Lorena for her bunuelos, which are both crisp and tender. Thierry, Patricia, and Chris don't fare as well with their fare. Chris' dish is a bit too complicated for some of the rube palates in the place, and Patricia's pulled pork lacks..something. But Thierry's croque madame, with burnt toast, missing egg, and too-thick bechamel gets him kicked out of the competition.

While it's sad to see Thierry leave, it was even worse to see Art Smith frolicking in the pool wearing a bright green Speedo.

So what did you think? Please leave a comment!

Posted on AllTopChef.com