Michael: Angel- Rillettes of Salmon, Devil -- Confit of Salmon and Ice cream. Kevin: Angel -- Halibut and seasonal veggie, Devil -- devilied egg puree and bacon. Ron: Angel -- Chilean Sea Bass with Corn hash, Devil -- Chilean Sea Bass with Yucca. Ashley: Angel -- Scallop Crudo, Devil -- Seared scallop Puttanesca. Eli: Angel -- Scallop with radish top pesto, Devil -- scallop with brown butter risotto. Bryan: Angel -- frozen coconut. lychee and vanilla, Devil -- Dark Chocolate Mousse. Jennifer: Angel -- scallop crudo with olive oil, Devil -- Seared scallop with butter. Ash -- Angel -- custard that didn't set and he couldn't present, Devil -- Spicy asparagus custard with peppercorn shortbread. Robin: Angel -- Arugula, apple and fennel salad, Devil -- Cardamom apple ginger crisp. Laurine: Angel -- Chicken and veggie consomme, Devil -- Chicken saltimbocca. Mike: Angel -- Cucumber yogurt soup, Devil -- Rack of lamb kabob style.

The chefs that Michelle liked the least were Ash, Bryan and Laurine. The chefs that Michelle liked the best were Michael, Eli and Robin. The winner was Robin. Now, here's the interesting thing, Eli who I never thought was an a$$ or a jerk before, shows his true colors. He assumes that she won, because she told the story about how she is a cancer survivor. Eli, trust me, if she had the choice of being stricken with cancer so that she could win this quickfire, or lose the quickfire and never have had cancer -- which one do you think she would pick? Which one would you pick? Don't be a SORE LOSER and an ass. And, yes, Robin annoys the hell out of me too, but I will not make light of her battle with cancer.

Penn and Teller come in to show them some sleight of hand and then to explain how the sleight of hand trick works. Their elimination challenge is to deconstruct a classic dish. They draw knives for their dishes. Jen - meat lasagna, Michael - caesar salad, Ash - shepherds pie, Robin - new england clam chowder, Eli - sweet and sour pork, Laurine - fish and chips, Kevin - chicken mole negro, Bryan - rueben sandwich, Mike - eggs florentine, Ashley - pot roast, Ron -- paella.

Some of the chefs have experience in deconstruction, some do not. At this point, I really can't tell if Ron's issue is truly a language barrier, or if there is something else going on there.....this isn't the first time that he has not been able to pull off the challenge because of some misinterpretation of what was being asked of him. Not sure if it is genuine or a crutch. Jury is still out on that one for me.

The idea of deconstructing a dish is to separate all of the components in a dish and re-assemble them in a differenty way so that the originial dish is still represented.

Toby the tiger is back from England and judging this competition. All of the chefs are not looking forward to cooking for him. He is like the Simon Cowell of judging.

The chefs that were liked most by the judges are Jennifer, Kevin, Ashley and Michael. The winner was Kevin who won a set of calphalon union dishes! Great job on the mole!

The judges did not like Ron, Laurine and Ash. Ron ends up packing his knives and going home, so I guess I will still have to wonder exactly what his deal is.

I doubt that any of these chefs have ever worked with cactus. Tim Love is here to judge the quickfire -- you may remember him from Top Chef Masters. It is also a high stakes quickfire, the winner will get 15K. However, the winner will not get immunity.

The chefs that didn't do well with the cactus were Ash, Ron and Michael.

The ones that did the best job of dealing with the ingredient were Laurine, Mike and Mattin. The one that won was Mike.

For the elimination challenge, they will be going camping. They will prepare lunch outdoors for two dozen cowboys. The ranch is rustic, and they will be spending the night on the ranch to get them ready. The ranch, is just that. They arrive and see that there are fire pits for them to cook in and they will be sleeping in teepees. No really, small teepees that sleep two. Now, bugs, snakes, scorpions would all be in my mind when I find out that they will have to sleep there. Yikes. I would not be a happy camper -- pardon the pun.

The chefs are all saying that it is like 100 degrees outside and that is before they get near the fires they have to cook on. Yikes. I don't see any refrigerators either. I hope there is something to keep their food cold -- it turns out that they are using coolers. I hope that they bought dry ice to keep their stuff cold.

Now for the food: Mike -- pork gyro with apple and fennel tzatziki. Eli -- tuna sandwich with sun-dried tomato mayo and radish salad. Laurine -- sauteed arctic char with tonatillo salsa, corn salsa and grilled potato. Ash -- grilled chicken paillard with corn succotash. Mattin - ceviche three ways salmon with apple, spicy tuna and cod with corn. Robin -- grilled romaine salad with drunjen prawns and spicy chicken sausage. Bryan -- roasted pork loin, corn polenta, dandelion greens and glazed rutabaga. Jennifer -- snapper with duck confit, daikon, carrot and tomato water salad. Ashley -- seared halibut with avocado mousse, bacon, tomato and braised romaine. Ron -- coconut, lime, mango and tuna ceviche, and a haitian coconut mojito. Kevin -- roasted duck breast with mole and tequila marinated watermelon. Michael -- dahsi with miso and mirin cured black cod and watermelon.

So, for the first time this season, we have Tom spitting out food. That can't be good. Mattin's ceviche was too raw and fishy for Tom. Robin's shrimp was also inedible. Tim said it tasted like chlorine yum! Ron's mojito was, according to Pama, disgusting. So, we know who is in the bottom three.

The top three cheftestants are Laurine, Ashley, Michael and Bryan. The judges liked all of their dishes. The one that really won them over was: Bryan! Congratulations! In the end, they sent Mattin home. He seemed surprised, but after last week's performance, I don't know why.

Tune in next week to see where Top Chef takes their contestants!

The challenge is to create a dish using escargot. The winner will get immunity, the loser will go home. Ouch. Elimination for a quickfire. Talk about big stakes. The chefs that are in the top are Mike, Kevin (he made a bacon jam), and Jennifer -- the winner was Kevin. Go Kevin. I think he is turning out to be my favorite this time, although the brothers and Jennifer are looking good too. The ones on the bottom were Ashely, Jesse and Robin. But they do get a chance to redeem themselves. The three of them will do an amuse bouche cook-off. 20 minutes -GO!

Robin comes up with an avocado soup, Ashley does foie gras and pineapple, Jesse does a tuna tartare with quail egg. Going home? Jesse. To be fair, she has been in the bottom practically every round so far. Good Luck, Jesse.

For the elimination challenge, the chefs draw knives, except for Kevin. Curiouser and curiouser.....The knives have 6 proteins and 6 classic French sauces. Rabbit, Trout, Chateaubriand (filet), Poussin (young chicken), Lobster, Frog Legs. The sauces were Bernaise, Poivre, Meuniere, Veloute, Sauce Americaine, Chasseur.

They must pair up and make dishes using those proteins and sauces. Kevin does not have to cook. His prize for winning is sitting at the table and eating with the judges. The judges for this round are the most important French chefs in the US, heck possibly in the world! They will be cooking for Hubert Keller, Daniel Boulud, Laurent Tourondel, Jean Joho and wait for it ---- Joel Robuchon THE most celebrated chef ever. WOW! What an opportunity, and what pressure! Amazing. What must be going through their heads -- Don't Screw Up!

They will actually be cooking at Joel Robuchon's restaurant as well. The teams were Ron & Robin -- Frog Legs and Meuniere; Mike & Bryan -- Trout and Bernaise; Jennifer & Michael -- Rabbit and Chassuer; Ashley & Mattin -- Poussin and Veloute; Eli & Laurine -- Lobster and Sauce Americaine; Ash & Hector -- Chateaubriand and Poivre.

For the most part, the judges were pleasantly surprised at the new chefs. The most successful dishes were the Rabbit and the Trout. Bryan did the trout sous-vide, but he also used some molecular gastronomy. He also talked Mike through the deconstructed bernaise that went over really well. In the end, that gave him the win. Not only did he win the challenge, but he also won a week of time at Joel Robuchon's restaurant. Wow! They weren't kidding when they said Vegas was going to have high stakes -- the only problem is, how will they top it next season?

The dishes that did not impress the diners were the poussin and the chateaubriand. Mattin's sauce had too much bacon (apparently, not everything is better with bacon) and the chicken was dry. The judges questioned why they didn't use the asparagus they put on the plate in the veloute -- Mattin lied through his teeth and said no one had thought of it. Ashley had suggested it while they were shopping. To Ashley's great credit, she chose not to throw him under the bus. Ashley, if you will remember, also didn't take a pound of flesh out of Preeti's hide when she used and threw away her water from the previous quickfire. You go girl. Integrity is a good thing. Hector had trouble getting his meat to cook. In the end, it was not really ready to serve. They chose to cook the loin whole, and it did not pay off. Hector left himself 2 minutes to cut 24 pieces of meat, and they looked like it too. His unevenly cooked meat and bad butchering sent Hector home. Although, personally, I would have sent Mattin.

Next week looks promising. Cooking out in the desert, and we see Tom leave the table to go spit something out -- that is never a good sign. It does make for a great tv show.....see you then!

During the quickfire, Preeti was in need of asparagus blanching water, and luckily Kevin had some -- unfortunately, Preeti used Ashley's gnocchi water. Not only did she use it, but she then dumps it out and starts a new pot -- with 13 minutes. Ever try to boil water in 13 minutes? Much less cook the gnocchi in it? Yikes.

The potatoes that flopped came from Eli -- sweet potato mash that was too sweet; Jesse -- sweet potato soup that was too spicy waaaay too spicy; Ron --Sweet potato crusted yellowtail with fennel and leeks. The out of this world potatoes came from Jennifer -- Mussels with potato sauce; Ash -- sweet potato custard (that was supposed to be an ice cream); Ashley -- potato gnocchi looks like Preeti's mistakes didn't hold her back at all. And the winner is Jennifer, she has immunity for the elimination challenge.

The elimination challenge this week is the first team challenge. They must create a meal for 300 soldiers in the airforce and their families. The catch? They don't get to know what ingredients they will have to work with OR what kind of cooking aparatus they will have. Since they are odd in numbers, they decide to let Jen be the head chef and they will pair up to make a dish. When they arrive at the airbase, they find exactly what you would expect. Lots of canned foods -- spam included (spam, spam, spam, spam wonderful spam, ah Monty). They did have a good assortment of proteins though.

The dishes that were put forth: Ron & Jesse: Clam Chowder; Mike and Michael: Braised Slab Bacon and a Shrimp salad; Preeti and Laurine: pasta salad; Kevin and Eli: braised pork shoulder and southern potato salad; Ash and Ahsley: chocolate peanut butter bread pudding; Bryan and Mattin: ; Robin and Hector: chicken chili.

Some of the food looks sooooooo tasty! The braised bacon, the pork shoulder and the chili looked scrumptious to me. I was less enthused with the clam chowder (with canned clams *shudder*) and the pasta salad (really my 4 year old could have put that one together).

I was very happy to see Top Chef involving our servicemen and servicewomen. I have the highest respect for the individuals that put their lives on the line every day for our country AND I hope that each and every one of them will be home very soon. Thank you for your selflessness and service. We can never thank you enough.

The troops seemed very pleased with their meals. Many of them had recently returned from their tours of duty and others were about to be deployed. Some of them were very happy to have some tastes that brought them back home.

The chefs that came out on top were Mike Voltaggio, Michael Isabella, Eli and Kevin. Their braised bacon and pork shoulder with potato salad were on point. The chefs on the chopping block were Preeti, Laurine and Michael Isabella. Yes, I said Michael. He put together what turned out to be a tasteless shrimp salad to go with the brilliant braised bacon. Imagine that!

The winner this week: Mike Voltaggio and his braised bacon. Preeti packed her knives and left. Really she did seem to be clueless as to why she was on the chopping block to begin with. Comparatively, she couldn't wrap her head around the fact that a boring pasta salad was not Top Chef cooking.

The chefs come into the Top Chef Kitchen and see a craps table. Well, alright then. They are also greeted by Todd English. Padma tells them that they will roll the dice to decide hwo many ingredients they will be able to use in the quickfire -- they are given salt, pepper and oil as freebees. Also, the winner of the quickfire will also win $15,000. Come on -- Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

The chefs whose rolls were not lucky for them: Jesse -- bad scallops; Eve -- too much blue cheese; Bryan -- too much yuzu. The chefs that rolled lucky: Michael V -- frozen gazpacho; Jennifer -- nice salmon; and Kevin -- a bed of greens with a perfectly cooked egg. The winner? Michael V -- $15,000 richer and one up on his brother.

For the elimination round, an engaged couple enters the kitchen with a tray full of shots. The chefs must create appetizers to compliment the different shots. They will also be grouped in teams men v/s women. (how original -- couldn't they have just drawn knives? but I digress).

The shots they had to pair appetizers with are Moscow Mule, Tequila, and Golden Delicious (which I can't find a real recipe for). The women are working for the bachelor and the men are working with the bachelorette. Each team has to do two appetizers to pair with each shot. The bachelorette is a pescatarian -- eats fish no meat, so they need to take that into consideration too.

There were some cheftestaints that had difficulty with the idea of doing a wedding challenge -- because under the current laws, they could not get married, but all persevered on!

I think my personal biggest problem with the cheftestants is that some of them chose to jump into the pool, that was being used for the party, after they "finished" their competition. Come on gentlemen, you are the hired help. This was not your party. I thought it was not in good taste....stepping down from soap box now.

The most successful appetizers were: Mike V -- apple sorbet with goat cheese cracker; Hector -- Tofu ceviche; Bryan -- sweet and sour macaroon with guacamole; Eli -- tuna tartare.
The least successful appetizers were: Eve -- shrimp ceviche; Ashley -- bay leaf panna cotta (one of two that she did, if she would have stuck with her first one, she might have been in the top -- don't they ever learn?); Preeti -- Tuna and eggplant on a wonton crisp with a shiso leaf (nuff said); Jesse -- lettuce cup that was sloppy and poorly executed.

The winner of the challenge is Bryan with his merangue guacamole appetizer. I would love to have tried it. I love a good guacamole! Going home tonight is Eve. Maybe she will have better luck at the casinos. One more thing that is bothering me -- why would you have a bachelor and bachelorette party together? Come on -- no strippers, and in VEGAS, ah well! Next week, more surprises!

Alright, lets very briefly meet the 17 chefs competing: Ron, executive chef from Haiti; Preeti executive chef from San Fran; Mike I, rising culinary start nominee; Hector chef/owner rom Puerto Rico; Kevin, James Beard nominee; Ashley chef from Seattle; Jesse executive chef from Baltimore, Mattin chef/owner from France; Jen C. chef de cuisine for Eric Ripert's 10 arts; Jen Z sous chef from PA, Robin, chef/owner and cancer survivor; Ash, sous chef; Michael and Bryan brothers who like to compete; Bryan is a James Beard nominee and Michael is a Michelin star recipient; Eli, executive chef; Laurine, caterer; and Eve, chef/owner from Michigan.

Luck be a Lady Tonight!

To the quickfire! The first one is the mise en place race! Woo Hoo! Love it. Each cheftestant chooses a poker chip from a hat. This determines their team. Lucky Robin picked the gold chip, and she doesn't have to compete in the quickfire, she can move strait on AND she gets immunnity for the elimination challenge. Cool. They have a bit of a different spin though, the first leg: shuck 15 clams; leg 2: peel 30 prawns; leg 3: clean 5 lobsters; leg 4: butcher 2 chops from a whole prime rib. More difficult than cutting onions, butchering chickens and whipping egg whites, no?

From the quickfire, we learn that Preeti has no idea how to shuck clams, which is really bad for her team because clams start the race and she can't even get her 15 done before the other teams are all done. Wow. The race is really beween the blue and black teams. The blue team wins the mise en place race.

Their prize for winning is doing a cook-off to determine the winner of the challenge. The winner of the quickfire wins immunity and $15,000. Their challenge is they must create a dish with the item the prepared for the mise en place. The winner was Jen! Congrats.

The elimination round is to cook a dish they are guilty of. They will cook against their previous team members. One of them will be up for the win and another will be up for elimination. They have $150 to spend this time.

The chefs whose vices brought them to the top are: Ron -- made a tasty jerk bass , Mike I -- made an olive oil poached halibut, Kevin -- made a gorgeous artic char cooked slowly, and Jennifer C -- made a poached halibut with lots of alcohol. The one that walked away with the win was -- Kevin.

The chef's that let their vices get the best of them were Hector, Jen Z, Jesse and Eve. Really, their dishes are not worth mentioning save the one that was eliminated. Jen Z. made a pepper that was stuffed with seitan (a hard ingredient to begin with -- what were you thinking?!?!?!?!?!?) She goes home to her son.

Wonder what they will be up against next week? Only one way to find out.......see you then.

They were given $1300 to make their meals. The regular critics are going to be joined by the regular Top Chef judges, Tom, Padma and Gail -- as well as the past winners of Top Chef.

The heart, love and soul that each an every one of these chefs put in their dishes is just incredible. Of course, since this IS Top Chef, they were thrown a curve ball on day two. This caused a few moments of panic to say the least. They played a video -- and were surprised. Each of the sous-chefs from back home had videotaped greetings and words of encouragement for them. Finally, a NICE surprise. It gets even better! A few seconds later, the sous-chefs walked in the kitchen to help them! Awesome. They fell right into step to help.

Breakdown of the courses was this: FIRST COURSE

Rick -- Barbecued quail with hickory house sauce, sour slaw and spicy watermelon salad. Hubert -- Baeckeoffe; a lamb, beef, pork and potato stew from Alsace. Michael -- Crispy Potatoe Gnocchi with fonduta and ricotta gnocchi with tomato sauce.

SECOND COURSE

Rick -- Ahi Tuna with Oaxacan black mole, plantain tamale and grilled nopales. Hubert -- Salmon souffle, royal ostera caviar and riesling sauce, choucroute flan. Michael -- Polenta with rabbit, asparagus, wild mushrooms and grilled duck and rabbit liver.

THIRD COURSE

Rick -- Achiote marinated Cochinita pibil with sunchoke puree and crispy pig's feet. Hubert -- Lamb Chop with vegetable mouselline and blanched garlic with a vanilla merlot sauce. Michael -- Ginger stuffed rouget, mango salad, fresh wasabi and bottarga.

FINAL COURSE

Rick -- Arroz a la tumbada, tomatoe-jalepeno broth and chorizo air. Hubert --Sweetbreads with perigord truffles on scrambled eggs and spinach and wagyu beef cheeks and celery puree with pinot noir, lemongrass and ginger sauce. MIchael -- Brined short ribs with 5 onion cavalo nero and essence of smoldering vines.

Practically everything was well received. The winner won by half a star. But -- there can be only one!!!!!

And the winner is: Rick Bayless!!!! Go Rick! Viva Mexico! Go Chicago!

Ok, now I have to tell you that my husband and I were AT Frontera Grill Wednesday night (Rick's restaurant) and it was packed with people. There was a private viewing party in the bar to see the finale. No, I was not part of that, we just went there for dinner. My husband acutally ate the black mole sauce with duck for dinner -- and it defies description. Umami is the only word. Seriously, when you are in Chicago, you must visit his restaurant. You have no idea what you are missing.

Congratulations Rick, and to the Frontera Foundation.

I think more than acutally getting fewer stars for their challenge, the masters were worried about what everyone would think of their palettes if they missed easy ingredients. (Don't worry Rick, I am still pulling for you even though you guessed plum for a mango). I honestly thought that Hubert was going to be the big winner here, boy was I wrong!

In first place with 7 items (out of 20), Michael, second place was a tie with 6 items between Anita and Rick and dead last with 5 was Hubert. Wow.

This elimination challenge was lots of fun to watch. Top Chef brought back some of our favorite contestants to become assistants for the masters! How cool is that? There were 12 people to interview and each chef had 2 minutes with each of them. Rick and Hubert spent time asking them about what they like to cook to find out what their flavor comfort zones were, Anita had worked with Jamie in the past and relied on her judgement to pick helpers. Michael garnered the animosity of each helper by making them cut up carrots and other vegetables during their time. Nevermind the fact that while he was doing that, he was also playing Alpha Dog asking them all "What's MY name?" and don't forget how you are supposed to refer to me. Yeah, he came off like quite a Jerk (notice the capital J). Spike was the only one that absolutely refused to show off his knife skills to Michael. Yeah, well that is Spike.

So, they all chose teams and started to cook. Rick and Hubert I thought used their teams well. They both asked for,and used ideas from their sous-chefs. Richard Blaise even talked Rick into making Avocado ice cream with nitrogen table-side. Wow.

Te best drama from the episode though was the fighting and posturing between Dale and Michael. Apparently, Michael took offense to Dale "stealing" the fridge that he wanted to use. And apparently, Dale took offense at being called "son" from Michael. Dale -- grow up! I am perfectly willing to give you the fact that Michael was being quite an ass in this episode, but of all the things to go ballistic over, please. Good thing there weren't any more lockers for you to beat up. *sigh*

The challenge was to create a buffet for 200 culinary world guests. In typical Top Chef fashion, they threw a whole bunch of curve balls at them right in the middle of the game. First, they were allowed to prep the day before the event for a few hours -- which went well despite the posturing. The next day, they would have more time to prep. They chefs start their pots and start cooking when Kelly comes in and tells them to pack up. They will be finishing their prep somewhere else. The actual site of their buffet; they had been under the impression that the buffet was going to be at the Top Chef site.

So, they all pack up and haul a$$ out of the frying pan and into the fire. Their new venue was a rooftop in the blaring sun with no shades. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that Anita was going a raw bar -- in the sun?!?!?!??! ewwww. Too late to change now, there is no time. Well, at least they have helpers this time, right? Wrong! Now they are told that one of their helpers must say goodbye. They will have to finish with 2, not the 3 they had planned on. Bad Top Chef, bad!

In the end, Hubert and Rick really had the better spreads, IMHO because they used the talent and culinary help of their assistants, and didn't just turn them into work horses. (Oh, they still worked hard, but it was really a team effort). In the end Anita's raw bar really did her in. I would not have wanted to taste anything on that bar after it had been sitting in the sun. Blech.

The top winner was Hubert this week -- he and his team put out 18 dishes for the party. Yes, you read that right 18, and every one of them was a gem. Rick came in a close second. Michael will be the third Master Chef in the final. Sorry, Anita, it just wasn't your day.

So, next weekwe get to see who will win the $100,000 for their charity. GO RICK! GO RICK! And don't forget that the new season of Top Chef also starts next week. I can't wait to meet the new cheftestants.

The burgers stacked up like this:
Rick -- Queso Fundido burger with a trio of guacamole -- I am salivating at the thought.

Art -- Cornmeal Hoecake burger with fried green tomatillos and coleslaw. -- I LOVE fried green tomatoes!!

Michael -- Hamburgese Enorme with truffle manchego chips - a GIANT burger covering three buns, and manchego chips -yummy!

Anita -- Cheddar soup with grilled burger, ketchup crouton and bacon fried onion rings. Hmmm, that's really all I can say about it.

Hubert -- Beef and roquefort cheeseburger with carmelized onions and rustic potatoes. Deeeeelicious!

The stars were given out like this: Hubert -3 stars, Art -- 3.5 stars, Anita -- 1.5 stars, Michael -- 4 stars, Rick -- 4 stars.

The elimination challenge is quite a challenge. Zooey Deschanel, who I loved in Tin Man BTW, is giving a lunch party. There are however, a few (well a lot) of restrictions. First she is vegetarian, (vegan, really) she also is gluten intolerant, no dairy or eggs either, and she doesn't eat soy. WOW. What are they gonna come up with ?

They each decide to take different courses. They decide to go kind of in flavor order; Hubert, Anita, Michael, Rick, Art.

Zooey is a huge Top Chef fan, and she is uber-excited that people are actually cooking for her. She says most of her meals are raw vegetables, ya think? And she is very appreciative of the whole thing.

First course: Hubert: White gazpacho, timbale of avocado and asparagus and red beet salad.

Second course: Anita: Spicy grilled eggplant, lentil salad with cashew sauce.

Third course Michael: Quinoa pasta with salsa verde and pine nut gremolata.

Fourth course: Rick: Sweet corn tamales with chili-braised black beans and brasied greens.

Fifth course: Art: Strawberry champagne soup with strawberry rice ice cream and almond brittle.

Some dishes were quite well received, Michael, Rick and Hubert -- others not so much, Anita and Art. The star count: Hubert: 19 stars, Michael: 22 stars, Rick: 19 stars, Anita: 13 stars, Art: 12.5 stars. Poor Art!

Michael Chiarello wins this round and all but Art move on to the next round. Wonder what yummy things are still to come.

The chefs in the prelimiary round are:

Jonathan Waxman -- New York, NY -- chef/owner of Barbuto restaurant. His charity is Meals on Wheels.

Roy Yamaguchi -- Honolulu, HI -- Chef/owner of Roy's Restaurant (and many others). His charity is Imua family services.

Art Smith -- Chicago, IL -- chef/owner of Table 52. His charity is Common Threads.

Michael Cimarusti -- Los Angeles, CA -- chef/owner of Providence restaurant. His charity is the Grameen foundation.

This quickfire begins with a knife pull -- each knife has a number on it. The numbers correspond to an aisle number at the store --we know which one, I don't have to mention it. They get $20 and a limited supply of pantry ingredients to create their dish.

Jonathan gets aisle 3, which has in it, Canned fish, International, Condiments and salad dressing. He creates mint, lentil and pepper salad.

Michael gets the baking aisle with protein bars and sweeteners. He creates a chocolate parfait with ginger sauterine syrup and sesame crackers. I would have loved to taste this.

Roy gets the aisle with italian ingredients -pasta and sauces. He creates a pasta with fried egg and asian flavors. Roy has a hard time managing his time and himself without helpers.

Art has aisle 4 with beans, crackers, soup and rice. He creates a multi-grain risotto with a crispy rice salad.

The winner of the quickfire is Michael, although, to be fair -- he did have the advantage of having chocolate!

The elimination challenge is a little different this time. They again draw knives but are not to show the result to anyone else. It turns out they picked the name of another chef and they will be responsible for purchasing the ingredients for that chef's challenge. They chef then needs to use 7 of the ingredients in the "mystery box" to create a dish. Will they help or hinder their competition?

They all choose well for their competitors. No one was even inclined to choose bad ingredients. That is true showmanship, I am not sure that would happen on the real Top Chef. Poor Roy, he looks like he has never shopped in a supermarket before. Well, then again, he probably hasn't.

Roy and Art chose ingredients for each other and Michael and Jonathan exchanged mystery boxes. All the items were well used and appreciated.

The mystery boxes created the following concoctions:

Art -- Fried Chicken two ways -- crispy buttermilk smothered and regular fried chicken. He also made a mango cobbler for them, which they loved.

Roy -- Surf and Turf -- Short Rib Kalbi and Mahi-Mahi. There were mixed reviews on his dish, but he had the same difficulties from the quickfire and time management.

Michael -- Loin of Lamb wth sunchoke puree, broccoli rabe and purple cauliflower. He also had time management issues, he wasn't able to sauce all of his plates.

Jonathan -- Pork sausage and chop with cauliflower and celery root puree with microplaned black truffle over.

The winner of this elimination round is a choked up Art with 22 stars. He will compete with the rest of the champions in the champions round. Which is starting now.......

_______________________________________________________________

The Masters competing in this round are: Anita Lo, Art Smith, Hubert Keller, Suzanne Tracht, Michael Chiarello and Rick Bayless (go Rick! -- although I should give a shout out to Art since he is from Chicago too)

The quickfire challenge, they have to work in teams. They pull knives that say either Pepper or Salt, 3 of each. Their quickfire is the infamous mise en place relay race. HA! This is actually pretty cruel, but should be entertaining. Tom Colicchio is going to judge, just as he did on the regular Top Chef. Each team has to choose one chef to do the following 1) open 15 oysters 2) dice 5 onions and 3) butcher 4 chickens 4) separate 5 eggs and beat them so that when you turn the bowl upside down it will stay in the bowl for 5 seconds. This means that with each team of 3, two of the chefs will have to do two of the tasks. The winning team gets a advantage in the next round.

Suzanne and Hubert shuck some oysters -- winner tie! Art and Hubert with the onions -- winner Art! Chicken butchering Michael and Anita -- winner tie! Rick and Art separate eggs -- winner Rick!

They get start the elimination round with 5 stars, the other team with 4.

They all have to now create their signature dish for the others to taste, so that they can ize up the competition. Their dishes are:

Hubert -- Lobster and Truffle Cappuccino with Corn Madeleine. Art -- Seared Grouper with hearts of palm, trumpet mushrooms and meyer lemon zest. Anita -- seared Sea Scallop with potato puree and bacon, sea urchin and mustard greens. Michael -- Fennel Balsamic Quail with mosto cotto mostarda, sauteed greens and roasted apples. Suzanne -- Chopped Sirloin with green peppercorn sauce and fried egg. Rick Rack of Lamb and black pasilla chile with mission figs. YUM!!!!!

Their elimination challenge is to take one of their competitor's dishes and re-create it with their own spin. Yowza. Like Rick says -- that's mean!

Hubert gets to pick first since he went twice on the winning team from the quickfire, whomever he chooses will have to re-invent his dish. He chooses his former team mate Anita. Everyone else has to draw knives. Rick and Michael compete (even though Michael was chanting the whole time "don't pick me" and Art and Suzanne will be re-creating each other's dishes.

Art re-interprets Suzanne's dish like this: Ground Lamb Scotch Egg with Sweet Potato fries and Tomato Tart. Rick re-interprets Michael's dish: Quail with parsnip and prosciutto stuffing over wild greens. Suzanne reinterprets Art's dish: Roast Grouper with gnocchi, peas, bacon and parsnips. Hubert re-interprets Anita's dish: Seared scallop with cream of sea urchin over fingerling mashed potatoes. Michael re-interprets Rick's dish: rack of lamb stuffed with fig mostarda, chick peas and fried rosemary. Anita re-interprets Hubert's dish: Corn Chawanmushi, champaign gelee and lobster biscuit sandwich. How can I get to be a judge on this show, that's all I wanna know. Yum!

The final standings come out like this (drum roll, please)

Rick and Anita have the highest scores Rick -- 23 stars and Anita -- 24 stars; her charity wins another 10,000 and she gets to go on. Rick also gets to go on. (woo hoo). Michael gets 18.5 stars, Hubert gets 21.5 stars, Art gets 15 stars, Suzanne gets 14.5 stars. Suzanne is the competitor going home. The rest return next week to cook it out again!

Rick Moonen -- Las Vegas NV -- Chef/owner of RM Seafood. His charity is Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman's Association.

Michael Chiarello -- Napa valley CA -- Chef owner of Bottega. His charity is The Clinic Ole Foundation.

Lachlan Mackinnon Patterson -- Boulder, CO -- Chef and co-owner of Frasca Food and Wine. His charity is The Denver Children's Hospital.

Nils Noren -- New York, NY -- Vice President of Culinary Arts for The French Culinary Institute's culinary, pastry, bread and Italian food departments.

For the quickfire this week, the master chefs had to re-create junk food into fine cuisine. Their judges are people that know their junk food, Jeff Lewis and the cast of Flipping Out. They drew knives to determine the order of junk food dibs.

Michael Chiarello -- chose Fish & Chips. His appetizer was fish balls with dipping sauce. It was very well received.

Rick Moonen -- chose Corn Dogs. He didn't finish his deep fried fish dog, so the tasters didn't get to rate it at all.

Nils -- chose fried shrimp. He made shrimp with corn and pickled tomatoes. They enjoyed the dish, but lamented that it wasn't fried at all.

Lachlan -- chose hot dogs. His dish was a soup with a hand made sausage. The judges loved the soup, but the sausage was underdone.

For the elimination challenge, the masters had to create a three course meal for 100 people all by themselves. Yikes. They did breathe a sigh of relief when they were told that the dishes were to be appetizers. The appetizers were then served to the judges and Top Chef fans -- including some other Bravo players -- like Sweet Pea from Project Runway.

Here are the dishes they served up:
Rick -- Appetizer: Opakapaka and barramundi ceviche with yuzu avocado and grapefruit; Main Course: Brandade of scallop and shrimp, fennel, salad with truffle oil; Dessert: Lemon panna cotta with ginger, macadamia nut, coconut and pineapple.

Nils -- Appetizer: Scallop with smoked potato cream. Main Course: Salmon with Napa cabbage, chorizo, broccoli puree and madeira sauce. Dessert: Chocolate goat cheese ganache, cara cara orange gel and lapsana cream.

Michael -- Appetizer: Shaved brussel sprouts salad, citrus vinaigrette and marcona almonds : Main Course: Prawns with rice flour, chili and garlic oil ; Dessert: Balsamic marinated strawberries with basil gelato and chocolate creme fraiche.

Lachlan -- Appetizer: Fritta Esotica fried pineapple wrapped in speck; Main Course: Grilled beef short ribs with anchovy parmesan vinaigrette and horseradish; Dessert: Strawberry francipane tart with yogurt semifreddo.

Sorry this is such a short review, but I have hit the highlights. The winner of the challenge was Michael Chiarello. He will go on to compete in the next round of Top Chef Masters. There is only one more round left to this heat. Tune in next week to find out who the last challenger will be.

Our contestants are:

Douglas Rodriguez -- Philadelphia, PA Chef/owner of Hola, Alma De Cuba, and a few others. His charity is Ayuda for the Arts.

Anita Lo --New York, NY Chef/owner of Anisa and chef/partner of Rickshaw dumpling bar. Her charity is Share.

John Besh -- New Orleans (Nawlins) -- LA. Chef/owner of August, Luke Domenica and Besh Steak and more. His charity is Make it Right Foundation.

Mark Peel -- Los Angeles, CA Chef owner of Campanile. His charity is Doctors without Borders.

Their quickfire this week is an homage to Escoffier, known to some as the father of French cuisine. He believed that you could test any chef by making them cook one ingredient -- an egg. In season three's all-star episode, they asked them to cook with one hand tied behind their back, as I recall the somalier won that challenge with a perfectly cooked omelet. The masters are being asked to do the same. The judges for this quickfire are Gail Simmons, Terry Reish and Monica May.

They don't really have their hands behind their backs, they have to cover the one they aren't using with an oven mitt, and they are given 25 minutes to create their egg dish.

I must say it is pretty amusing watching them try to knead things and cut open packages with one hand. In an interesting bit of trivia, Mark Peel's father was born with one arm, so he grew up seeing his dad do everything with one arm -- does this give him an advantage? Their dishes are:

Douglas -- Open-faced corn cake with scrambled eggs and ham. The judges enjoyed it.

Mark -- fresh duck egg pasta with egg and olive oil cream sauce. The judges comment that it is bland, and Mark realizes he forgot the olive oil. Oops.

Anita -- soft scrambled egg and shitake mushrooms with truffle oil and oyster sauce served in an eggshell. The judges enjoyes it.

John -- slow cooked egg. Unfortunately, his eggs never set up, so he has only one dish, partially cooked, for them all to share. Yikes, does not go over well.

The stars are scored: Mark 2.5 stars, John .5, Douglas 3, Anita 5. Go Anita!

The elimination challenge is to create a delicious dinner for Neil Patrick Harris and his friends. Ok, sidebar here -- if you have not yet seen Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, where have you been and you need to check it out RIGHT NOW. Ok, I'm back now. It will be served at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. They bring out Mas Maven, magician and mentalist to get some face time and make it look like instructions. He does a card trick. They all take a card, when they turn it over they have 4 words printed on them: Mystery, Spectacle, Illusion and Surprise. They need to use their word, to inspire them to create their dishes.

Mark "Mystery" -- Tai snapper in parchment with garlic mashed potatoes and leeks. With a condiment of scallion oil and a Dassai sake.

John "Surprise" -- Salmon tartare with cauliflower blini, cucumber and salmon roe salad with horseradish and creme fraiche sorbet, tempura fried lobster wrapped in smoked salmon.

Anita "Illusion" -- Braised daikon with kombu caviar and steak tartare made to look like a scallop.

Douglas "Spectacle" -- Duck four ways; Oyster ceviche with duck broth, empanada with foie gras and figs, duck breast with butternut squash, duck soup with young coconut (that happens to be rubbed in sterno and is on fire).

The diners were also treated to a show at the Magic Castle. For those of you that don't know, it is a private club for magicians and their guests.

Here are the star totals:
John -- 12

Mark -- 18.5 stars

Douglas -- 13 stars

Anita -- 22.5 stars

Anita Lo is the winner of this round. She gets to move to the next round. Woo Hoo! I can't wait to see what happens on the next episode.

Wilo Benet - San Juan, Puerto Rico. Chef owner of Pikayo (and a judge from the season that ended in Puerto Rico). His charity is San Jorge Children's Foundation.

Cindy Pawlcyn - Napa, California. Chef owner of Mustards Grill. Her charity is Clinic Ole.

Ludovic Lefebvre - Los Angeles, California. Chef owner of Ludo Bites. His charity is C.H.A.S.E. for life.

Rick Bayless - Chicago, Illinois. Chef owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo (GO RICK! - can you tell I'm from Chi, and love Mexican food?) His charity is Frontera Farmer Foundation.

The chefs were asked to draw knives for the quickfire challenge. Each knife was a different color. The chefs were to create a dish using foods of the color they chose. Wilo drew orange; Cindy drew yellow; Ludo drew red; Rick drew green.

The judges they had for this contest were food stylists and photographers. Three women, Chris, Joan and Christina.

Wilo created a lovely smoked salmon tartar with coconut milk and tomato paste sauce. They loved the look and taste, but would have preferred it if he had remembered to take off the ring that he used to shape the salmon. 4.5 stars

Cindy went with a yellow veggie curry over sweet corn grits and fried corn tortilla. The judges enjoyed it, but they didn't love it. 3.5 stars

Ludo had some trouble with time management. He made a steak tartar with watermelon and red onions with a red beet gazpacho. There was supposed to be a tomato that didn't get plated on time and the waiters forgot to bring the gazpacho (that Cindy plated for him) to the table right away. Unfortunately for Ludo, it may have been better without the gazpacho, when it was poured over the tartar, it looked like bright red blood all over the plate. Appetizing! 3 stars

Rick roasted some veggies and covered them with mole verde (made with tomatillos -yum), green chilies and pumpkin seeds. It was served up on a banana leaf. 4 stars

They were told their elimination challenge was to serve street food to hungry people at Universal Studios Hollywood. Then they had to draw knives again. These knives had a number on them which corresponded to a covered serving dish. The serving dishes revealed offal -tada! Here is how the drawing went: Wilo - Beef hearts; Cindy - Tripe; Ludo - Pig Ears; Rick - Tongue. They were given $300 and half an hour to shop at Whole Foods, then 3 hours of prep today with 1 hour of cooking and preparation on site.

Wilo has never worked with or tasted beef hearts before. He decides to slice them very thin and use them as part of a "tripleta". This is a traditional Puerto Rican sandwich that has beef, ham and chicken. It is traditionally served on a Puerto Rican roll, but he serves them in a pita with spicy or non-spicy sauce.

Cindy takes her tripe and makes Menudo (no not the boy band from the 80's!), but a traditional Mexican soup/hangover cure. It is made with tripe and therefore is quite appropriate. The problem is that tripe takes a looooong time to cook properly and she didn't know how to use a pressure cooker - she does now, thanks to Rick Bayless. It turned out to be a cold day, so soup was very welcome to the guests.

Ludo decided to make quesadillas. He has never made quesadillas before, so he has to ask Rick what cheese he should use. He cooks the pig ears the day before and then made his quesadillas on site. Since he hadn't made them before and wasn't quite sure how to make the equipment work to cook them properly, he was at a disadvantage, but then why would you put yourself in such a place? He added chorizo, pinto bean puree and lime aioli to complete the dish.

Rick took the lengua and made tacos. Cooked the tongue in the pressure cooker, as it also takes a long time to tenderize. He mixed the tongue with chorizo, bacon, guacamole and pickled onions - all served on a corn tortilla. Yum. Gael actually said she wanted another one. Yum!

The final results are:

Cindy 15.5 stars; Ludo 16.5 stars; Wilo 19.5 stars and Rick 22.5 stars.

Rick Bayless wins this round! Way to go Rick!!!! His charity will get $10,000 and he makes it to the next round to compete for $100,000. Wonder who will join him and the others? Tune in next week!! I know I will!