- Wedding bells are a' ringing. In the second episode of "Top Chef: Las Vegas," the chef'testants will have to adapt swiftly to a city famous for its quickie marriages by catering to a poolside bachelor and bachelorette party.
- 16 chefs remain. Kevin won last week and one of the Jens went home.
Jesse is glad she nearly won the Quickfire, but bummed about being in the bottom. Eve, also in the bottom last week, wonders if she should change her approach. The Voltaggio brothers adjust to living together.
Quickfire
Padma awaits them with Todd English, a chef and restaurateur, and a craps table.
They'll roll die to determine the number of ingredients they get to use. Salt, pepper and oil are freebies. It's a high stakes Quickfire, the winner gets $15,000. They roll.
Kevin -10 Mattin - 4 Michael -8 Hector - 5 and so on...
Laurine has the lowest with 3. They have 30 minutes.
Mike V goes with a gazpacho and hits the nitro. Kevin tries to figure out how to cook with so many ingredients.
Laurine made asparagus, leek and lemon. Todd says Mike V's is a "great twist on a traditional" and Kevin's "really nice."
Todd picks his least favorites: Jesse's scallops weren't seared enough and Eve's bleu cheese was overpowering. He says Bryan's uzu was overpowering.
For his favorites he picks Michael V, Jen and Kevin.
The winner is: Michael V. (Who earlier said if he's going home tomorrow, he's going home with $15,000.) He's pleased to have won and beaten his brother. He also gets immunity.
Elimination Challenge They'll be experiencing bachelor and bachelorette parties. They'll be competing on teams based on sexes with the men cooking for the bride and vice versa.
Jen thinks a battle of the sexes is ridiculous.
They meet the couple, who are carrying trays of shots: golden delicious, tequila and Moscow mule (ginger, vodka). They want food paired with the shots, two dishes per drink.
The bride says she's a pescatarian (fish only), but some guests will eat meat.
The groom likes lamb, shellfish and sweets.
They shop with $800 per team.
The women go for lamb (Laurine) and octopus (Jen).
The men get tuna tartare (Eli).
They have two hours to prep back in the kitchen.
Jesse thinks she's going home if they don't win.
With immunity, Michael says his goal is to beat his brother Bryan, who has his own restaurant.
Ashley's not excited about the challenge because, she says, as a gay person, she doesn't have the right to marry.
Ashley thinks she has time to do another dish, which Jen thinks is a terrible idea. But she says the groom clearly wanted something sweet.
With time ticking down, Hector races to get his food into the containers.
Back at the house, Ashely's still fired up about the challenge. Preeti, who's been with her partner for 13 years, understands why she's upset, but says this is the world we live in today.
The next day, the parties are poolside at M and they arrive to set up. Michael's a little worried about the sun.
Eve is having issues with lack of flavor in the shrimp.
Laurine thinks the boy's food is contrived and the women's is more familiar and will do better.
The guests arrive. They eat, do shots and strip to swim suits.
Padma, Gail and Tom arrive with Todd English.
For the Golden Delicious Robin made a duck mole with cocoa nibs and apricot. Laurine made a Moroccan lamb chop with pomegranate and pine nut relish.
With tequila, Eve made shrimp and avocado ceviche with smokey tomato salsa and popcorn and Jen made an octopus ceviche (again, she pronounces it without the accent) with citrus vinaigrette.
The judges call Eve's "nasty." The guests and judges like the octopus.
For tequila Ashley made a watermelon carpaccio with ricotta salata and aged balsamic. For Moscow Mule she made bay leaf panna cotta with cranberry powder and honey. Preeti made coriander and sesame crusted tuna with spicy eggplant and wonton crisp.
For Golden Delicious Jesse made Thai chicken lettuce cup with shiitake mushroom, shisho and ginger beer. The judges think there's too much going on and it doesn't go with the shot. Tom thinks Preeti's isn't professionally done. They like Ashley's watermelon but not the panna cotta.
The judges head for the dudes. For Golden Delicious Michael V made apple sorbet and a goat cheese cookie. Kevin made chilled almond soup with crab, cucumber and white grape.
Tom thinks Michael's is "excellent.
With tequila Mike I. made arctic char with smokey caper sauce and cara cara orange. Bryan made a sweet and sour macaroon filled with guacamole, corn nuts and corn puree.
For tequila Ron made a lobster cocktail with habanero tomato sauce and Hector made tofu, lemon-lime, tequila ceviche. Gail thinks Hector did a beautiful job but there's no salt or flavor on Ron's. (The bride likes Ron's, though.) The judges also think Mike I's is flat. They think Bryan's is great. Gail thinks the brothers could end up head to head.
For Moscow Mule shots Eli made Thai tuna tartare with puffed wild rice. Mattin made bouillabaisse with aioli crouton and petite basque croquette.
For Golden Delicious Ash made an Asian chicken wing with pickled pearl onions.
The judges like Eli's but don't love Mattin's. Todd likes Ash's.
And then suddenly some of the male chefs are stripping off their clothes and jumping in the pool. The women are appalled.
Mike I. explains his nicknames for people, including "the pickle brothers" for Eli and Kevin and "Ninja" for clumsy Eve.
Back in the stew room, they wait among the Gladware. Padma comes back for Bryan, Hector, Eli and Mike V.
Judges' Table
They're the winning team and four favorites.
Todd says Eli's went well with the shot. He tells Mike that he "knocked it out of the park." Gail loved the texture of the macaroni.
Todd announces the winner, saying it came down to the brothers. Bryan takes it. Mike says he's happy to see his brother win. Tom reiterates again that they all did a great job.
They go back for the losers: Eve, Jesse, Preeti and Ashley.
Padma tells Jesse hers was really watery (Jesse starts crying) as Gail goes on, saying it was muddled. Jesse says she didn't think it was a winning dish. Eve says she didn't love the shrimp, and Gail says it wasn't balanced. Tom asks Eve why she didn't try to fix it. Preeti says she liked hers and the guests did too. Tom says her tuna seemed cured and Padma says it was hard to pick up. They critique her for her shiso garnish wilting.
Padma asks Ashley why she did two dishes. Todd points out she had one great dish. Ashley knows the panna cotta wasn't perfect.
They send them away.
Jesse thinks she's going home.
Todd thinks Ashley's good watermelon was one of the best dishes of the day. Padma gives Jesse credit for knowing what she did wrong, but Gail says she pulled that before. Tom doesn't think Eve understands what she's going for. They think Preeti's didn't match up and Tom's baffled she thought it was good (they cut to her defending it in back).
Decision time.
Tom recaps, telling Ashley if she'd done one, she wouldn't be there. He tells Preeti she didn't have the skill to make hers work. He says either Eve or Jesse could be sent home for theirs.
The knife packer is... Eve.
"It doesn't change how I feel about myself or my cooking. I didn't feel like myself in this setting. I feel like my combinations are more unusual, and it might not have made sense for the judges. For the future I just want to go back to being myself...and go back to trying to create something special."
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