- The 17 new chef'testants team up for their first elimination challenge in which they must create a dish that represents their own constituency, where they are from and what they represent. The chefs serve their dishes at the famous National Cherry Blossom festival in Washington D.C.—Bravo Publicity
- Padma welcomes us to the seventh season of Top Chef, set in DC, as we see future episodes at the Nationals baseball park and first baseman Adam Dunn, a bit in space, something at the CIA (intelligence, not cooking) and Nancy Pelosi as a guest quick fire judge. Restaurateur Eric Ripert joins the panel as judge.
As usual, the prize is a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a booth at the Aspen food festival and $125,000.
The cheftestants are:- Alex Reznik, 33 Hometown: Brooklyn, NY; Resides in Hollywood, CA
- Amanda Baumgarten, 27 Hometown/Resides in Los Angeles, CA
- Andrea Curto-Randazzo, 39 Hometown: Vero Beach, FL/Resides in: Miami Beach, FL.
- Angelo Sosa, 34 Hometown: Connecticut; Resides in New York, NY.
- Arnold Myint, 32 Hometown/Resides in: Nashville, TN.
- Ed Cotton, 32 Hometown: Boston, MA; Resides in New York, NY.
- Jacqueline Lombard, 33 Hometown: Boston, MA/Resides in Brooklyn, NY.
- John Somerville, 42 Hometown/Resides in West Bloomfield, MI.
- Kelly Liken, 33 Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA/Resides in: Vail, CO.
- Kenny Gilbert, 36 Hometown: Cleveland, OH/Resides in: Telluride, CO
- Kevin Sbraga, 30 Hometown/Resides in Willinboro, NJ.
- Lynne Gigliotti, 51 Hometown: Philadelphia, PA/Resides in Hyde Park, NY.
- Stephen Hopcraft, 40 Hometown: Cleveland, OH.; Resides in Las Vegas, NV - Tamesha Warren, 24 Hometown: Barbados; Resides in Washington D.C.
- Tiffany Derry, 26 Hometown: Beaumont, TX/Resides in: Dallas, TX
- Timothy Dean, 39 Hometown: Washington D.C./Resides in Baltimore, MD
- Tracey Bloom, 33 Hometown: Rochester, NY/Resides in Atlanta, GA
We meet Tiffany first. She started working at IHOP in tenth grade and is now the executive chef at Go Fish in Dallas. Stephen left his wife and 13 month old twins behind to compete. Kenneth tells us is confidence level is a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.
They head straight to a museum to meet and greet.
Lynne is a chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and the oldest contestant. Arnold tells us in preparation for the show he got a stylist and a facial. Kevin and Kenny have known each other for a decade. Jacqueline is a caterer and "self taught chef." Timothy is from DC and says he's competing for his wife, who passed away three years ago. Angelo talks about having a Michelin star and just having been in Monte Carlo and Tim's take is that Angelo finds himself pretty awesome.
Padma and Tom arrive. She has clearly lost all the baby weight. John has two foot long graying dred locks and wears a bandana on his head.
It's Quickfire time, a mise en place competition. They have to peel potatoes, brunoise onions, break down four chickens and the four remaining chefs have to cook a dish with those ingredients. It's a high stakes quickfire, worth $20,000.
Amanda slices her palm open and feels like an "idiot." Kenny is done first, followed by Angelo. Five chefs don't go on.
Onto the onions, which have to be diced. Kenny is finished first again.
Onto the chickens, which Kenny also nails first, followed by Angelo. Tim and Kevin take the other two final round spots.
They start cooking. Kenny makes Moroccan spiced chicken two ways. Angelo is making roasted spiced chicken. Kevin made boneless chicken wing. Tim made garlic roasted chicken.
Time for tasting. Tom tells Tim there was too much cream in his dish and Kevin's broth was way too salty. Tom likes the way Kenny featured the roasted potato. He liked all of Angelo's flavors. The winner is: Angelo.
Kenny's reaction is "what the f---?"
Elimination Challenge They have to cook a dish that represents where they're from for 300 at the kick off for the Cherry Blossom festival. They'll be in groups of four, competing head to head. One from each group will be up for elimination and for the win.
The four top guys get to pick first. Kenny takes Tracey and she thinks it's because he thinks she sucks.
Ed is picked last. He's worked for Daniel Boulud and Todd English. Angelo gets to pick who Ed cooks with and sends him to Kenny.
They get $300 and four hours to prep tomorrow.
But first, on to the gorgeous DC town home.
The next day, shopping madness. Jacqueline goes for chicken livers for a mousse. John buys pre-packaged pastry dough.
Tim's group is Alex, Tamesha and Andrea. Alex, who was born in Russian, is making a deconstructed borscht with short ribs.
Kevin's group is Amanda, Jacqueline and Arnold. Kevin is making lamb sous vide.
Angelo's group is John, Tiffany and Kelly. He's making arctic char with smoked bacon froth. He's super confident. "I feel like an orchestra of flavors, I really can control every single note."
John is making a maple mousse napoleon. Stephen is doing potato crusted ribeye.
Kenny's group includes Tracy, Lynne Ed and Stephen. Tracey thinks Stephen's "some little hick from some country town, I'm sure he has no idea how to cook," she laughs.
John has problems with the ovens and burns his macadamia nuts and has to start over. Jacqueline runs out of time and decides not to strain her mousse.
Off to the event at the Andrew W Mellon auditorium. Jacqueline opens her mousse and finds it's grainy. She decides to cook it again to smooth it out.
The guests arrive followed by the judges, Tom Colicchio, Ripert, Gail Simmons. Amanda, repping Cali, made red snapper carpaccio with clementines, sencha oil, daikon and caraway gelee. Arnold, using Thailand and Tennessee, made kaffir lime and basil cake, palm sugar angalise and "Myint" (his last name) julep. Kevin, from south Jersey, made Pennsylvania lamb, meyer lemon and pistachio marmalade and spring onions. Jacqueline serves her chicken liver mousse.
Gail thinks Amanda's fish is messy. Tom likes Kevin's lamb. Gail and Eric aren't impressed by the mousse and Jacqueline knows it. "I just served grainy textured pate to one of the best French chefs in the world and there's just no way it's going to be OK," she says.
Stephen, from Ohio (the bio says Cleveland), serves potato crusted ribeye with celery root puree and scarlet (the Ohio State football color) stadium mustard vinaigrette. Ed, from Boston, made baked beans and a cod cake. Lynne, from New York, made waffles and corn and camembert ice cream. Tracey, from Atlanta, made grits and shrimp. Kenny, from Colorado, made a black bean mole on trout.
Tom thinks the shrimp is bland. Gail thinks frying the steak ruined the flavor. They like Kenny's.
Alex serves them his borsht. Tamesha, original from Barbados, made jerk chicken. Andrea, from south Florida and Italy made pork with potato gnocchi. Tim made pan seared Maryland rock fish.
Padma and Tom like the gnocci. Eric thinks Alex's meat is overcooked but Tom says it was deconstructed well. Tom doesn't like the sauces on Tim's.
Tiffany, from Texas, made cajun shrimp and crawfish salad. Kelly, from the Rocky Mountains, NY strip with fern and wild mushroom saute. Angelo presents his arctic char. John, from Detroit, explains his maple mousse.
Tom thinks Angelo's is "really good," but Gail thinks there's too much dill. They like Kelly's. They don't taste the maple in John's.
Back to judge's table. Padma comes for Kenny, Kevin, Alex and Angelo.
They had the top dishes in their groups. Tom and Gail compliment Kenny for his complex plate of food. Tom liked Kevin's simplicity. Gail tells Angelo his dish was "really smart." Tom tells Alex he honored his mother with his borscht.
Eric announces the winner: Angelo. And a front runner is established.
"They're going to be chasing me this whole time," he declares.
Time for the low rung: Stephen, John, Jacqueline and Tim. Tim is stunned.
Tom asks Stephen about the choice to cut his ribeye thin so it ended up one texture. Eric said it looked like a chicken nugget. Jacqueline tells Tom she's made the dish hundreds of times but couldn't do it without her recipe. John admits buying the puff pastry prepared might have been a mistake. "I guess I just was being stupid," he says. Eric tells Tim the skin on his fish was a problem. Tom notes that Tim was the only group leader who didn't win his group.
They're dismissed to discuss.
Tom says John's was an "amateurish" attempt at making a dessert. Gail can't get over the fact that Jacqueline tried to make a low fat mousse.
Some people enjoy the beer in the stew room and make giant dice out of cardboard boxes. Others, like Tamesha and Ed, announce they're there to compete, not play.
Verdict time. Tom recaps. And the knife packer is: John. "Making a dessert on Top Chef is a very big risk and it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped," he says. "I feel I've let down myself and my family and supporters...I just prayed that I'd make it through the first week or two. But I've found that every negative experience that happens to you makes you grow in a way that you've never known or anticipated could happen."
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