Yigit Pura Says "It Gets Better."

Top Recipe - Top Chef Just Desserts Episode 8

Find the printable version of Zac Young's Cap'n Crunch cheesecake here, and the recipe for his Pink Panther pavlova here.

Bravo Exit Interview - Eric Wolitzky

All Top Chef Interview with Eric Wolitzky

Top Chef: Just Desserts contestant, Chef Eric Wolitzky talks about his experience on the Bravo Show.

Highlights: His recommendation for any future contestants is to "memorize your recipes." Sometimes the chef with the best memory will win.

Also his best friend from the show is Erika Davis.

Click here for the podcast.

Click here for the Baked website.

Thank you Chef Eric!

ATC Love to Chef Eric Wolitzky

Ah, Chef Eric! He went so far in the competition, insisting all the time that he was naught but a lowly baker. But by the end, he certainly deserved to be called "chef." I don't think we ever had a doubt.

Unfortunately, the shortbread cookies he created to represent Oprah Winfrey and her friend Steadman Graham just didn't cut it for the judges, so they had to say farewell.



Everyone seemed truly sad that he was leaving the competition. Chef Eric may not be taking away the big prize, but he surely has gained a lot of respect and friendship along his journey.

This post is only for positive comments about Chef Wolitzky. If you have anything negative to say about him or his competitors, please do so here.

Congratulations, Chef Zac Young

Well - finally!

Zac Young has been dazzling us with his creativity all season, so it's about time that he wins an Elimination Challenge. His delightful desserts representing Julie Andrews and husband Blake Edwards charmed the judges and showed a lot of ingenuity. Plus, they were the right size for a "tea party."



Only four pastrycheftestants are left - will Zac win it all? Only one way to find out.

This post is only for positive comments about Chef Young. If you have anything negative to say about him or his   competitors, please do so here.

Reactions to Top Chef Just Desserts Episode 8

As this week's thrilling episode opens, we find that Danielle is pleased to be the last woman standing in the competition. And Yigit misses his friend Heather H. He's feeling down in the dumps and his confidence in his abilities is low.

For the Quickfire, the guest judge is cake designer Shinmin Li, wearing what appears to be an exceptionally wrinkled skirt. She's there to judge the pastrycheftestants' ability to make an edible bouquet in three hours. For the first time in the competition, we see pulled sugar work: Morgan makes a sugar bow not unlike the ugly things we put on Christmas packages, and Yigit makes exceptionally thin sugar vases. Morgan, of course, accidentally breaks one of them, and Yigit gives him the stink eye. Yigit then breaks the other extremely fragile vessel by touching it. Or breathing on it.

Morgan and Yigit finish on top in this challenge, with Morgan taking the win. He gets no immunity, but he does win a cool $5K in sponsor-provided cash. And Yigit takes this loss as yet another blow to his not insubstantial ego.

For the Elimination Challenge, the pastrycheftestants must cater a tea party for Dana Cowin and her "friends" (translation: people pulled off the street). Each chef is responsible for creating two small dessert bites for 100 people...based on a celebrity relationship of their choice. Yes, it's a celebriTEA party.

(Good thing I had been drinking while watching and was somewhat mellow, otherwise I might have thrown the remote at the TV and gone to bed. Are these challenges completely stupid, or what?)

Anyhoo...since Zac had a chocolate disaster in the bouquet challenge, he decides to create two non-chocolate desserts, based on Julie Andrews and husband Blake Edwards. Eric has chosen Oprah and her "boyfriend" Steadman as his inspiration. Yigit goes with Madonna and ex-husband Guy Ritchie. Danielle takes Conan O'Brien and sidekick Andy Richter. Morgan - who claims not to know anything about celebrities and their relationships - picks up a tabloid in Albertson's to get his inspiration: Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian.

As the pastrycheftestants enter the kitchen and make a beeline for the chocolate, they find this essential ingredient is "out of stock." Elvis Iuzzini comes in to break the bad news that chocolate is verboten in this challenge, so three of the five remaining contestants who had planned to use chocolate have to come up with a Plan B, and fast, because they only have three hours to work their magic. Yigit is suitably distraught.

The next day, they head to the venue, Madera Design House, which despite "design" in the name looks like a really depressing place to me, what with the walls painted in somber shades of Depression and Melancholy. The pastrycheftestants have one more hour to finish and plate their dishes and feed Dana Cowin's "friends" and the judges.

Maybe I heard wrong, but it seems that only Morgan and Zac got praised for their desserts, yet somehow Danielle also made it into the top three despite having had "leavening issues" with her cake, too much jalapeno in her topping, and a mismatched buttercream/oatmeal bar. Zac gets the win for his very clever (and non-chocolate) Pink Panther Pavlova and Cap’N Von Trapp Crunch with a Spoonful of Tarragon Sugar.

On the bottom are Eric and...surprise! Yigit. His cake is too bland and squishy to be Madonna. Eric, however, could only come up with two variations on shortbread for Oprah and Steadman. Sadly for him, his lack of creativity gets him the boot.

So what did you think about this episode? Did you think it was curtains for Yigit? How on earth is Danielle still in the competition? Leave a comment....

Blogger's Eye View

Photo courtesy of kevinEats.com

Today I wanted to share some blogger perspectives on tasting Top Chefs' food, starting with this post about Top Chef Masters contestant Ludo Lefebvre's Ludo Bites from Southern California-based blogger Kevin of kevinEats, who ate at the current sixth iteration of Ludo's "pop-up" L.A. restaurant on opening night. Click on over for Kevin's take - and stellar photos - of dishes including this Vietnamese-inspired hamachi sashimi with lotus root, jicama and papaya.

Photo courtesy of kevinEats.com

And this bruleed marinated mackerel with baby leeks and purslane.

Photo courtesy of kevinEats.com

For a unique perspective on Top Chef Season 6 finalist and Fan Favorite Kevin Gillespie's Woodfire Grill in Atlanta, check out this report from Sierra of forkheartknife - which is the name not only of her blog but also of her recently opened catering business and part-time restaurant in Cincinnati.

She was starstruck to find Kevin Gillespie eating brunch in her fledgling restaurant during his visit to attend International Bacon Day festivities and jumped at the chance to try his cooking on a recent trip to Atlanta. Like many a chef, she concentrated on the flavors and experience (rather than photography), but she brought back a lot of great notes to share.

Finally, have you ever wondered about those Schwan's Home Service meals created by the Top Chef contestants? Chicago blogger Christina of Dinner at Christina's tried out a couple in her own kitchen.

Photo courtesy of dinneratchristinas.com

See what she thought of the Schwan's frozen meals based on Kevin Gillespie's polenta and meatballs (which won him a Season 6 Quickfire) here and Season 7's Ed Cotton's gnocchi with mushrooms, asparagus, snap peas and edamame here.

Photo courtesy of dinneratchristinas.com

Tonight, on Top Chef Just Desserts

Here’s a special seasonal challenge from...er... “Gail” and “Johnny." And, with Danielle as the last woman standing, she’s gonna have to fight off Morgan and the other cheftestants if she wants to take top honors. You can catch it all tonight, Wednesday 11/3 @ 10/9c on, Top Chef Just Desserts.

Recap Roundup: Top Chef Just Desserts 7

Jordan Baker on the episode in general: "...how can you not love a Restaurant Wars episode? Yes, it was terribly predictable with the 'totally coincidental' division of the team along house faction lines; yes they went even more overboard than usual with the 'struggling underdog team pulls out the win' editing and storyline. But still. It’s like watching a Peanuts Holiday special. You’re not really in it for the surprises; you’re in it for the ritual of the thing"

My Monkey Could Do That on the Quickfire Challenge: "Zac vs. Morgan. Zac pretends that Morgan’s size and muscles give him an advantage, so he’s flailing. Morgan is not slacking, but he’s whipping and staring at Zac the whole time. Like, just intimidating staring, while Zac flails. It’s kind of creepy, and I don’t generally condone Morgan’s brand of creepy, but it’s also kind of awesome."

Culture Mob on the pastrycheftestants pastry shops: "Team Diva settles on 'adult candy-shop' as their theme, which doesn’t sound vaguely pornographic. It sounds openly pornographic. The other team doesn’t have a fun name, but I like Eric the most over there so I’ll call them Team Eric; they decide that their theme will be 'comfort.'"

After Elton on Dessert Wars customers: "The shop doors open and in come Real Housewives rejects that Bravo rounded up to film this (a.k.a. the 'customers'). I say they’re Real Housewives rejects because they start doing something that customers never do on the other restaurant wars episodes – they send stuff back, which is totally Real Housewife behavior.

Worse, they make all sorts of special off-the-menu orders, all, 'Can I have the icing on the side?' And 'I feel like having a piece of Princess Diana’s original wedding cake. Do you have any of that back there?' And most hilariously of all, 'I’m allergic to nuts and processed sugar.'"

Creative Loafing on the nail-biter: "I think all of us live tweeting the show last night were biting our nails in anticipation as to who would be cut. Would it be zany but lovable Zac? Yigit whom we love so well (especially with his shirt off)? Or would it be that mean old snake Heather? (You can probably guess my pick.)"

TWOP on the winners: "The black team won! Eric, Morgan, and Danielle look as shocked as Team Diva. They all screech and hug and make a joyful noise unto the pastry lords. Team Diva looks like they all ate a frog or something worse like grocery store birthday cake. Zac takes a moment to let us know how shocked he was because clearly he is a superior chef to Danielle. Also more humble."