I have to say, the premiere episode of Top Chef All-Stars last night did not disappoint. There was drama, excitement, laughs, tears and we saw old and new Top Chef pals uniting.

The challenges were fantastic and give me hope for the future episodes. For the Quickfire, the chefs had to team up by season and create a dish together that represented the city their season took place in. We had teams ranging from two to four people and, with a four person troupe, Team Chicago (Blais, Antonia, Spike and Angry Dale L.) proved that old "too many cooks in the kitchen…" adage isn't always true. Their "avant garde" Chicago hot dog with mustard gelato was a hit with the judges.

For the Elimination, the chefs had to prepare the dishes that got them kicked off the show during their first go-rounds (i.e.: Angry Dale's butterscotch scallops, Fabio's crawfish stew, Tiffany D.'s coconut curry halibut, etc.). The good thing is that the rules allowed them to make changes to their original recipes so they could improve upon these former disaster dishes. Some took their dishes a different direction, while others didn't stray much from the original recipes and either executed them really well or just plain horribly (not to mention a few just looked wrong).

This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.