Exit Interview - Ashley Merriman

ATC Love to Chef Merriman

We said goodbye to Chef Merriman this week. The judges were unimpressed with the undercooked prawns and overly salted gnocchi she and Eli delivered during the Elimination Challenge, and held Ashley responsible.

Ashley was in the top four for several episodes running and came into this challenge with confidence and a good attitude. Unfortunately, she knew her gnocchi was too salty before sending it out, and it cost her.

This post is only for positive words for Chef Merriman. If you have anything negative to say about her or another chef, please click here.

Congratulations, Chef Carroll

Congratulations to Chef Jennifer Caroll, who overcame a nasty cold this week to wow the judges with the tomato, cardamom, and ginger broth she and Kevin made to accompany their Kobe beef BBQ.

All the judges praised the dish for its flavor and texture and Toby Young said he couldn't stop eating it at the end of the meal. Chef Carroll won not only bragging rights, but also a $10,000 Macy's gift card - that she says she'll use to buy Kevin something nice.

This post is only for positive words for Chef Carroll. If you have anything negative to say about her or another chef, please click here.

Reactions to Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 7

This week, the chefs host a dinner party. But not the fun kind of dinner party that I have at my house, where everybody gets loaded before dinner makes it on the table. No, this is the kind of dinner party in which demanding and critical guests hand you a bag of ingredients, tell you to cook something delicious in two and a half hours, then rip it apart because you didn't have the skill to make sure the circuits wouldn't short out. I'm pretty sure Miss Manners wouldn't approve.

But let's go back to the beginning. Before we ever headed to the chef's house, we had the Quickfire, which starred a slot machine. Each chef pulled the lever and was delivered three little words to cook around. Words like "adventurous," "umami," and "Middle Eastern." Nobody seemed pleased with their trio, though Padma and guest judge Tyler Florence were fairly complimentary of most of the dishes, except for those belonging to Eli, Robin (because India's not in the Middle East, and Padma's the last person you want to make that mistake around), and Jen C., who seemed to be fighting an ugly sort of cold.

Kevin continued his winning from the last episode, and Padma tells him that this is a high stakes Quickfire and that he gets to choose between $15,000 and immunity. He takes the money. Because he's smart - he's clearly an awesome chef.

So then we get back to the Elimination Challenge - the dinner party, prepared in the kitchen of the Top Chef house, for the Macy's Culinary Council. The chefs choose knives and pair off, each receiving a bag of ingredients from one of the chefs on the Council. The pairs are:

• Mike I. and Robin (and boy is he pissed)
• Bryan and Laurine (though you wouldn't know it, since they get no screen time until the end)
• Michael V. and Ash (who is comfortable playing second fiddle to Mike Volt's brilliance)
• Eli an Ashley (who are pretty cool with it)
• Jen and Kevin (also pretty cool with it - they didn't show it, but you just know they both had to be thrilled)

Cooking-related antics ensue, as the chefs try to figure out how to work together in a small kitchen and how to work within the confines of the ingredients. The only real drama occurs when Michael V. and Ash blow a circuit using a wok in the dining room, causing their halibut to stop cooking mid-stream (and ultimately ending up in overcooked fish).

In other corners of the house, Mike I. was busy trying to ignore Robin. How the two of them managed to put out even decent food is beyond me. And Ashley and Eli managed to oversalt their gnocchi, though where the blame for that lays, it wasn't clear.

In the end, Ashley was sent home for the oversalted gnocchi topped with undercooked prawns, and Jen C. plowed through her cold to take home the win for the Kobe beef BBQ and tomato, cardamom, and ginger broth she made with Kevin. She took home a $10,000 Macy's gift card, too. Bet Kevin wishes he won this week instead of last. Jen did say she'd buy Kevin a suit or something from Macy's, which was sweet.

So...no big surprises, no big drama, and unfortunately, no dishes that it looked like I couldn't live without. But questions - as usual, I had a couple of questions:

• Michael V. has two daughters? How did I not know that?
• Could Jen be any more professional? She looked seriously sick, but was all about not letting it affect her food. Good for her.
• And could Ash be any cuter with his Michael V. chef-crush? Cleaning brushes for Picasso? Wow. It was nice to see Michael thank him, too.
• Speaking of the Volt brothers, I also enjoyed the little sibling tete-a-tete...and hearing Bryan tell everybody to stop talking about Michael's dish while he wasn't there. OK, that's not really a question, but I liked the loyalty anyway.

What do you think? Anything really mouth-watering in there for you (food or drama)? Please leave a comment with your thoughts...

Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 7 Previews

Poll - Who Will Be PPYKAG'd on Top Chef 6 Episode 7?

Changing things up here a bit - we usually ask who you think will be the winner, but this week we want to know who you think will get the axe.

poll by twiigs.com