We are getting close to the end on Tonight’s Top Chef Recap. Let’s see who goes home tonight. I’ll probably cry for whoever it is because I love them all. I’d kind of love for Sarah to be the comeback kid and win the whole thing. I love that she won last week. Beating Budda is hard to do. It all comes down to Evelyn, Sarah, Budda and Damarr.
The Quickfire Challenge
The final four meet Padma and the owner of the oldest Mexican restaurant in the country. They are most known for carne secca which is basically dried meat. So their challenge is to make a dish focusing on that meat. This is time for Evelyn to pull out another Mexican soup recipe. Everyone feels pretty confident. Damarr is more hopeful than confident. Budda is making an upside down tortilla. Damarr is going to serve them a piece of avocado (not even a half!) with a carne secca topping. Evelyn is so going to win this challenge. I think everyone knows it. Budda is unhappy with his tortilla.
Click Here For More Top Chef Recaps
Budda is in the bottom for the first time along with Damarr. They loved Evelyn and Sarah’s dish. SARAH BEATS EVELYN IN A MEXICAN CHALLENGE! She is amazing. She gets an extra thirty minutes to cook. I really wanted Evelyn’s grits. For the next elimination they have to make two dishes. One with cactus and one with chiltepin (a type of pepper that only grows in the Sonoran desert). One should be savory and one should be sweet. That’s going to be difficult for the guys. I already feel like either Damarr or Budda!!! might be leaving us tonight.
The Immunity Challenge
Off they go to Mission Garden where they learn all about cacti and chiltepin. The chiltepin is VERY hot. Damarr can’t deal with all the heat. Budda is making Tom Yum is a spicy Asian soup that is about to get a whole lot more spicy and he making a cake for his sweet item with cactus ice cream? I mean, the soup sounds delicious but a cactus cake? It’s Budda so it will probably be great. Sarah is also making a cactus ice cream so I guess that is a thing. Only she dropped all her ice cream mix before getting it into the freezer. Good thing she has that extra half an hour! But instead she decides to try liquid nitrogen for the first time. WOW!
Click Here For More Top Chef Recaps
Tom arrives to make the chefs even more nervous. Damarr is having trouble with his beans, first they were undercooked so he put them in the pressure cooker and now they are over cooked. Damarr and Evelyn are the top two favorites left to vote for. I went to vote last week and could not decide. I love them all too much. Also I just noticed this episode is two hours long. So is this the finale? Sorry. I have been a bit out of it lately. I’m starting to think a shortish trip to Tucson for a few days to try to see how I do with travel in my current state of health. I don’t think I can put my bag in the overhead without help. And I hate checking bags.
The Tasting
Budda is up first. His dishes look amazing as usual. I really love soup so I am dying to taste it. Then, It’s Sarah’s turn. Tom loves them both. So did everyone else. Tom loves Sarah. Then, Evelyn and Damarr bring out their first dish. Evelyn did a nopal relleno with a shrimp sauce. It’s a very spicy dish. Damarr made a BBQ pork shoulder with chiltepin and nopales (cactus) with a red bean purée. Oh! good move since the beans over cooked. Very smart. I have to admit these all sound very good. The guest judges loved Evelyn’s dish but Padma wanted more chiltepin flavor. Tom said the same thing about Damarr’s dish.
Click Here For More Top Chef Recaps
For the second course, Sarah is getting a glimpse of Budda’s extraordinary plating techniques and feeling less confident. She is worried about her ice cream that she had to try to make with liquid nitrogen. The all seemed to like Sarah’s dish but her ice cream was melting a lot. Um, welcome to Arizona? They have a lot of issues with Budda’s dessert. His is too cold. Geez. Next, Evelyn and Damarr serve their sweet dishes. Damarr went first with his cake and ice cream. The judges were raving about it before they even tasted it because is smelled so good. They love Damarr’s cake. Like really love it. They loved Evelyn’s too. Damarr could be in trouble.
The Judges Table
Once again they love everyone. But, Budda! might be in trouble? I don’t know who needs to go. They seemed to love every dish. It seems it might be Damarr. ;( Evelyn won! I thought it would be Sarah. Damarr is eliminated. And then there were three…
They tacked Top Chef Family Style onto this? I was hoping for the finale!
Bhudda’s dishes are so beautiful. His savory dish–with the way he arranges flowers and leaves around the perimeter–is a gift. The ending was not a surprise with how things went for each of them tonight. Love Damarr, sad he left.
The kids show, in my opinion, should’ve been the finale tonight. It’s a very cute and worthwhile show but the season could’ve been about 4 episodes lighter with less contestants.
Great episode and i’m still taking Evelyn for the win. Not happy Bravo tacked on the family show. And yes when I saw the length I also thought, ooh finally, hah! All I know is I’ll be searching for her pop ups when I go back to TX this winter. I guess they want to air it when the staff is back for WWHL, but whatever, I just wish they would stop these tie ins.
I am partial to Sarah, because she’s from Michigan, but honestly love them all.
Ah, you’re a yooper. Sarah does seem to be nailing it. Before she came back from LCK, I thought Buddha was a given, but not so much now. I love them all too.
Any one of the three finalist could and or should win. Sarah is a fighter and has been the comeback kid. Buddha has the best presentations and Evelyn is an amazing cook.
I have learned many things this season and it has been fun to watch.
I like them all but I am rooting for Sarah to be the ultimate comeback kid and win it all.
The chefs showed such talent and grace under pressure this season. I will miss the show when it’s over. No favorite to win. I’d be happy for any of them.
I was so disappointed that Damarr went home. He’s my hometown guy and I wanted him to win the whole thing. I honestly thought it might be finale night since the show was 2 hours. I haven’t been watching Top Chef Family so that was a little annoying.
This has been such a great season. I like them all. They are so talented
I’m so annoyed because the quick fire and challenge clearly favored Evelyn. She’s in her natural habitat and absolutely has a leg up on everyone.
If the finale doesn’t equal the playing field and go with a more neutral type of food, it’s all but guaranteed Evelyn will win.
evelyn does have a big advantage, being a local, but she still has to be innovative and do it well. That being said, I would love to see how she cooks in Portland. Texas has real regional cooking, as does the southwest and she knows them both. Buddha and Sarah appear to be the most original and the most flexible, so maybe it will go to them. I am just sorry it is ending soon, I just love Top Chef so much!
I was hoping for a Damarr vs Buddha vs Evelyn finale. Guess it wasn’t meant to be.
I love this season for all the cooking, this phenomenal group of chefs, and no manufactured drama. Everyone in the top 3 deserves to be there, although I thought Damarr had a good chance at winning too. I really like this season.