Slice Me a Piece of Cake- We're Safe!

All the favorites are going to stick around for another week!

This week's Top Chef was a team affair- team Quick-Fire and Elimination challenges. The Quick- Fire was a team relay: knife skills, artichoke peeling, fillet cutting, and mayonaise mixing. Team Richard, Stephanie, Antonia, and Andrew came back from a slow start to win the race. Team Dale, Spike, Lisa, and Nikki lost the early lead provided by Lisa's fast knife work. Oh well....
The Elimination challenge was different this year. Where it would have been "Restaurant Wars", there was instead "Wedding Wars". That's right. Wedding. Richard's team took the bride's tastes, and Dale's took the groom's. They each designed a catering menu based on their person's tastes and desires for wedding food. And don't forget- this challenge was to cater a WEDDING. Which means CAKE. Which means pastries and baking, the one thing that every chef on the show hates!
Following the bride's southern tastes, Richard made braised brisket, Antonia made fillet mignon, Andrew made breaded chicken and creamed spinach, in addition to the group-made hors-de-vors. And the cake? Stephanie made the cake. And it was amazing apparently, in look and taste.
Following the groom's Italian roots, Nikki and the gang created a somewhat mediocre Italian menu. What should have been super easy for Nikki- was not. And she was sent home for it, for her lack of direction and poor illustration of her Italian cooking experience. Her hand-made tortellini just didn't cut it this time. It's just a shame whiny Dale didn't also have to pack his knives, arrogance, and attitude and go too. Maybe next week.

But hurrah for Richard, the winner of it all! His brisket and his direction as team leader cinched the win. Stephanie's surprise cake-baking skills also paid off, with a special prize, and a boosted level of respect! She's a fantastic chef. And this is also the second time that her baking skills have shown through. Remember the zoo challenge, with the gorilla team's banana bread- one of the team's only saving graces? So snaps for Stephanie, and super snaps for Richard, who has risen high in my esteem. I started out strongly disliking him, and though I still sometimes refer to him as 'Tweety Bird', I really do like him.
*All pictures taken from Bravo's Top Chef. *