Forget the patriotic themes of the past few episodes, tonight's installment of Top Chef: D.C. is all about global cuisine.
For the Quickfire Challenge, Marcus Samuelsson, the winner of last season's Top Chef Masters, plays guest judge and puts it to the chef'testants to prepare Ethiopian cuisine. Is that really fair? It's probably about as fair as the pie challenge: Not everyone (surprisingly) had ever made a pie, and it looks like not everyone has cooked (let alone, tasted) Ethiopian food.
Angelo thinks he's going to win because he worked for an "Ethiopian concept restaurant". Don't worry, it's just the usual foreshadowing — he probably won't win.
The Elimination Challenge is very D.C.-centered in theme: Each chef must prepare a dish based on one of the foreign embassies in D.C., and they'll be judged by chefs, ambassadors and dignitaries representing each country. I'm hoping Angelo gets a cuisine he's never prepared before — it's time for Golden Boy to get knocked down a few pegs.
Mr. Burns (Alex) is proving to be this season's villain as each episode progresses. In the preview video below, he is seen taking a pot from a very high shelf and leaving poor short Whatsherface (Kelly) to fend for herself when she reaches for the same shelf. That's just plain dastardly. She also calls him "aggressive". I call him "just plain creepy".
Who do you think will be going home tonight? Will it be hooker and eight-ball loving Mr. Burns? What about roller coaster Kevin (because he's been back and forth from the top to the bottom)? Or will we finally be rid of the ever-so-annoying Leah 2 (Amanda)?
Check out the preview videos below.
Tune in to Bravo tonight at 9 pm EST/8 pm C, join our Twitter party during the show (Jeff: @JeffHouck, Katie: @culinarypirate), and listen to our podcast here tomorrow! (You can even download us on iTunes!) Check out our fellow Top Chef fanatics, Please Pack Your Knives And Go and All Top Chef, for the latest news (and some laughs).
Videos after the break:
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.