This episode seemed to be about icons and noodles. The first iconic noodle was Kraft Dinner as featured in the quick fire challenge. The second icon was guest judge Lidia Bastianich who decided that Xavier Lacaze’s noodle dish was enough for him to pack his knives. Not yet an iconic noodle but definitely worth mentioning is the beautiful mind of Chef David Chrystian. The more we see have him the more we want. The pint sized looking Chef got off to a slow start but as of late has been mind blowing in the kitchen.
Turns out it was just a trailer teaser when it looked like this episode was going to be a double elimination. The Kraft Dinner quick fire challenge was fun to watch with the Chefs having to prepare two versions (casual and refined) of the dish for a $10,000 prize. As we predicted Chef Lacaze, much to his credit, had little experience with the iconic dish and confessed to being a “KD virgin.” Chrystian continued to entertain, and win, with a sour dough KD grilled cheese sandwich (casual) and bacon wrapped KD with seared scallop. The grilled cheese looked amazing. Chef Chrystian is on a bit of a roll, remember Rob Rossi last season? Chef Rossi kept winning near the end of the series and Chrystian does seem to have some momentum that has also helped him in earning $18,000 over the last few episodes. As Chrystian pointed out, and we agree, Chef Jonathan Korecki's use of coconut milk instead of regular in his coconut curry KD was simple but "genius."
The elimination challenge asked the Chefs to make an Italian family style 6 course feast for guest judge Lidia Bastianich. Chef Chrystian continued his wild ride with a whole fire roasted fish. Keeping the dish so simple in an Italian challenge perfectly exemplified the rustic nature of this style of cuisine. The winner of the challenge was Jonathan Korecki whose soups seem to be his secret Top Chef weapon. Chef Korecki did a play on a traditional stracciatella by using a poached egg.
The reason Chef Lacaze went home seemed a bit like it was for stubbornness. Guess you got to watch those classically trained French Chefs with their my way is best attitude as Judge Mark McEwan immediately questioned why Lacaze did not use '00' Italian flour. Lacaze's served braised veal breast with pappardelle, aged pecorino and sautéed radicchio. Lacaze said, "My veal is sexy, I would like to make love to my veal, it's beautiful." Not sure how I feel about having food after the Chef has made love to it and this also seemed to be the case with the judges who found the dish salty and his noodle undercooked. All this love was enough for Lacaze to be sent home.
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