It was a pop-up restaurant showdown in NYC on the latest installment of Top Chef All-Stars!

The episode began with a fillet-o-fish-off at Eric Ripert's Le Bernardin restaurant with, surprise — Anthony Bourdain! Yes, kids, he's still here. After hacking away at the fish, the four chefs who did the best — Jersey Mike, Angry Dale, Marcel and Richard — then had to take the nasty parts of the fish (i.e.: the collar, head, liver, innards, etc.) and create a Le Bernardin worthy dish. Dale's bacon dashi with salt roasted cod collar. He made a silk purse out of a sow's ear with that dish.

With the Quickfire win came immunity for Dale and he also got to choose the team leader for the opposing restaurant for Restaurant Wars. Being the strategist that he is, he chose Marcel, saying it was so he wouldn't have to work with him, but we all know what his ulterior motives were (though not having to work with Marcel is a pretty sweet deal in itself).

Dale, Blais, Fabio, Tre and Carla teamed up to form Bodega, and created a fun, playful menu of "stoner food" (to quote Bourdain). Etch (as in "wretch") was comprised of Angelo, Tiffany, Antonia ("The Black Hammer"), Mike Isabella and captained by Wolf Boy himself, and had a menu of "elevated", "Medi"-inspired food — that didn't look Mediterranean at all. Fabio, of course, took the role as charming maître d' who wooed all of the ladies, and the same role was forced upon Tiffany who did a disappearing act most of the time — even when the judges came to be seated!

The cool twist in this Restaurant Wars episode was that the diners were able to try both restaurants and vote to decide the winning team. The ultimate winner and person chopped would then be decided by the judges. Finally! A challenge where they can actually cook for the guests! Of course, if you want to give your guests undercooked food and cat spit (a.k.a.: foam) for two courses, that's your prerogative.

This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.