I will be the first to say that I cannot wait for the new fall line-up and for all of my favorite sitcoms (and Desperate Housewives!) to return! Until then I have been torturing my husband with E! and Bravo! and all of their reality t.v. shows. Although I love a good reality show, I would much rather be reviewing, The Middle or Modern Family. But last week’s Top Chef- Washington D.C was worth tuning into, if only to see Alex finally get voted off. After being accused of stealing Ed’s pea puree, being a slacker, untalented, and a clown in the kitchen- Alex was finally voted off for a failed dish of Veal Parmigiana. He seemed sad to be finishing seventh of out seventeen, but in my opinion, he was lucky to make it so far.
Episode ten started with a quickfire challenge using a series of mystery boxes (the same for each contestant) that were introduced every few minutes completely changing the tone of the dish that the chefs started out with. Typically cool and calm Angelo quickly caved into the pressures of cooking a delicious dish and the chance to take home ten thousand dollars. Tiffany whips up a fish stew with fava beans, saffron, black garlic, and passion fruit and it wows guest judge, Wylie Dufresne, owner and chef of WD-50, in New York. She takes home title of the quickfire challenge and ten thousand dollars to share with her finance.

Talented and funny Wylie sticks around as one of the many guests who taste the dishes served up in the elimination challenge, and serves as the guest judge in the end. The elimination challenge is based on a CIA- theme and will be served at the CIA headquarters. Each of the remaining chefs are given a classic dish that they must disguise but stay tasty enough to let the judges properly identify what the classic dish would be. Knives are drawn to see who will be cooking what dish and the madness begins from there. Cobb Salad, Veal Parmigiana, French Onion Soup, Kung Pao Shrimp, Beef Wellington, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and a Gyro are pretty much needed to be deconstructed, or re-made, or flipped around to fool the guests, including Leon Panetta, Director of CIA. The winner will receive a trip to Paris, France.

Each chef has a bit of trouble getting their plates together, but in the end it is Tiffany and her gyro dish, Kelly with her Kung Pao Shrimp dish, and Ed with his delicious looking Chicken Cordon Bleu who are called to the judges’ table as the top three dishes. After talking up all of the winning dishes it is… Tiffany who is the ultimate winner! She says she will make her trip to Paris her honeymoon. Kevin and his cobb salad is the only person not to be called to the judges table that evening, as it was Alex, Amanda, and Angelo who were called for the three worst dishes. I wasn’t so sure that Alex would be going home. Amanda’s french onion soup looked and obviously tasted not so great. Her dish was at one point described as tasting like honey cough syrup. I thought that she may be the one going home. Angelo took a short cut with a store bought puff pastry for the base of his beef wellington, but it was ultimately Alex’s veal parmigiana that was voted worst dish. The veal was so tough most guests couldn’t even bite into it. I think that Alex may have gotten the axe from last week’s explosion from his peers, and the notches that have been stacking up against him. Although Alex isn’t my favorite, I think that maybe Amanda should have gone home, her dish was called “dishwater” by Wylie. And her disguise wasn’t a disguise at all, as she made soup… for her french onion soup. At least Alex was creative on that front. It will just be a matter of time though, because my call for the last three standing are Angelo, Ed, and Tiffany.

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