Top Chef Masters, Season 3, Episode 6: Road Kill

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Naomi opts to sear foie gras, Hugh’s humor emerges when he glances at her work, with a wish I were her moment. He’s no longer super excited with his tuna tartar. “I may be making the most elaborate cat food of all time,” he laments. Traci is battling beef and nerves. Floyd flies through the kitchen like his pants are on fire, Celina is losing her confidence.

With time up, Curtis announces they will be tasting their competitors’ dishes, ranking them first through seventh place. Hugh ranks his cat food last, as does Traci and Floyd. Staci and Naomi are neck in neck. Alex lands in the middle. Celina doesn’t fare well, nor does Floyd. Traci takes the $5k and immunity. Celina lands on the bottom, yet again. Somehow she keeps squeaking by, but are her days numbered?

The Elimination challenge begins with choosing teams. The red team consists of Alex, Floyd and Celina. Traci chooses Hugh, Naomi and Mary Sue for the black team. Hugh declares he’d be happy to just be Traci’s dishwasher. They will be serving the members of the band, Maroon 5 at a hotel. The challenges premise is to give the boys a touch of what they miss when on the road. To add just one more twist, they will prep and cook in RVs while en route to the site. Time and space guaranty to be major issues so four against three may not be an advantage.

Every inch of the RVs are used as the teams prep and cook. The sofas, beds, even the bathroom. Let’s hope those RVs were brand new, shall we? Seems the black team has a distant relative of Mario Andretti at the helm. They take corners as if they were sporting around in a Lotus and food is flying everywhere. “Could we get a warning the next time you’re gonna take a turn like that?” Hugh begs. 

As soon as the guests sit down, the food arrives. Along with the band, Curtis, James and Danyelle are joined by Gail Simmons, a Top Chef judge alum. Floyd delivers a winter salad and steak with soy marinade. Celina passes the corn soup, spanakopita and cous cous. Alex presents his pasta dish, cheese free enchiladas, coconut almond tapioca and turkey cutlets. Celina’s soup is a major hit. Unfortunately, her spinach pie is a flop in James’ eyes. Curtis is happily surprised with Alex’s vegan enchiladas, particularly since there is no cheese involved. The penne dish is not well received by the critics. Adam Levine, lead singer enjoys the Floyd’s steak and everyone loves the turkey gravy. Back on the other bus, people are beginning to get snippy. 

Team Black heads to the dining area with Mary Sue’s salsa diablo with guacamole and vegan tostadas. Hugh’s so cool stuff includes corn soup and spanakopita. Sound familiar? Traci hands over her Japanese style steak with miso braised daikon. Naomi delivers her stuffing coated turkey with apple crisp. The diners are in agreement that the meal works on multiple levels, but Hugh’s corn soup fails when placed next to Celina’s. Naomi’s fried turkey gets mixed results. Throughout the meal, the members of Maroon 5 were not shy about their likes and dislikes. These sit down dinners work well because viewers really get to hear from everyone, unlike the cocktail parties where time only allows for snippets. High points were Traci’s steak, Mary Sue’s tostadas, Hugh’s spanakopita and the margaritas. 

To critics table we go. The black team is on top with the diners gushing over the little touches that set their dishes apart. Danyelle calls Hugh’s dish urbacious. which ‘is defined by the author of one blog for architects as “gritty, metroploitan style that totally rocks, dude”.’ This description suits Hugh well. Traci racks up another $10k as the winner and heads back to give team red the bad news.

Facing the firing squad, Alex is called out for perhaps taking on too much, where Floyd is lambasted for doing too little. Floyd admits his food was on the bland milder side, but defends himself by saying he wanted to keep in line with the rest of the meal. “Who cares?” Gail quips. The individual dishes were being judged, not the meal at large. Lesson learned. Celina is whacked for her spinach pie cous cous combination. Danyelle called it “forgettable.” 

The critics chat about their likes (few) and dislikes. Curtis doesn’t want Alex tossed under the bus for juggling like Barnum and Bailey brother, mentioning the other chefs didn’t step up to help him. Floyd’s dishes were pedestrian at best. Celina gets no kudos for her soup, but pairing cous cous with spanakopita is a mortal sin. In the end it is Alex who is thrown off the tour. Still, over the weeks he won $10k for his charity. While he agrees with the judges’ decision, he also is grateful his passion for cooking remains dear to his heart. Alex leaves, head held high, knowing something good came from his experience.

Next week, Mary Sue suffers a kitchen accident and Hugh is sure to deliver more dry wit lines. Will Mary Sue run to the hospital? Will Hugh crack a smile? We’ll see.