TV SHOWS: Top Chef Seattle - Episode 4 Recap

The episode opens up with John and Josh having a war of words after last week’s elimination challenge. Stephan had one of the best quotes saying that it felt like he was on the “Housewives of Seattle”. The chefs enter the kitchen and are greeted by Padma and guest Naomi Pomeroy. You may remember Naomi from Top Chef Masters. Naomi is the owner of the restaurant Beast in Portland, OR. She has received mush acclaim over the years, including being selected as a finalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest. The curtain behind Padma and Naomi opened to reveal two hanging sides of beef. Their Quickfire Challenge is to butcher a cut of beef and create a dish in one hour. The chefs attack each side of beef to select their cuts. Chrissy and Carla had a little trouble getting one of the sides of beef off the hook. It wouldn’t be an episode without Stefan bitching about how loud Carla is in the kitchen.

Eliza created a flank steak marinated in soy with asparagus and cherries. John prepared braised ox tail with gnocchi and vegetables. Josh prepared beef meatballs with polenta and pickled shallots. Sheldon created kalbi round steak with tomato cardamom broth and a fennel salad. Brooke made a grilled hangar steak with smoked onion figs and cauliflower puree. Tyler prepared a Hispanic crudo with charred tomato sauce and a cilantro salad. Kristen made a Top Sirloin Tartare with Mustard Sabayon and a carpaccio salad. Micah created oxtail polenta with truffled romanesco cauliflower. Carla made a Sirloin Medallion wrapped in bacon and asiago risotto with marsala sauce. Stefan prepared a braised top round ravioli with marjoram and aged parmesan. CJ created a top round tartare with raw juniper and kohlrabi. Chrissy made grilled hanger steak with brown butter and a parsley and radish salad. Lizzie prepared a braised foreshank with turnips and dill.

The less successful dishes were prepared by Lizzie, Eliza and Tyler. The favorite dishes were prepared by CJ, John and Josh. The winner of the Quickfire Challenge was John. I’m sure CJ and Josh were not happy that John had won.

For the Elimination Challenge, Brian and Mark Canlis from Canlis Restaurant entered the kitchen. The challenge is to recreate the Canlis menu from 1950. The big surprise to the chefs was revealed by Padma when she mentioned that two chefs will be eliminated. The chefs looked over one of the original 1950 menus from Canlis and chose which dishes they would prepare.

The chefs arrive at Canlis restaurant and start preparing their meals. The judges for the elimination challenge are Padma, Tom, Emeril, Hugh Acheson, Brian and Mark Canlis.

The dishes that were prepared are:

Fresh Crab Leg Cocktail – Tyler

Marinated Herring – Lizzie

French Onion Soup – Josh

Steamed Clams Bordelaise – John

Canlis’ Special Salad – Chrissy

Seafood Salad a la Louis – Brooke

Fresh Hawaiian Mahi Mahi – Sheldon

Whole Milk-fed Squab – Carla

Mixed Vegetables – Micah

Calf’s Liver & French Fried Onions – Stefan & Kristen

Double Cut New York Steak – Bart

Gargantuan Baked Idaho Potato – Josie

Shish Kebab with Pilaf – CJ

French Mushrooms – Kristen

Vanilla Ice Cream – Danyele

Royal Hawaiian Supreme – Danyele

Mint Sherbet – Eliza

Fresh Frozen Hawaiian Pineapple Parfait – Eliza

At Judges Table, Padma brought out Tyler, Lizzie, Kristen and Stefan. The winner of the Elimination Challenge was Kristen. Padma asked for Carla, Chrissy, CJ and Josh. Tom said that Josh’s soup was cold. Padma thought it was too salty. Chrissy’s salad was soggy and over-dressed. Carla’s Squab was not prepared properly and most were under-cooked. CJ’s dish was dry and under-seasoned. The two chefs who were chosen to go home were Carla and Chrissy. 

But Carla and Chrissy were not going home quite yet. Last Chance Kitchen is back!! All four of the chefs who were sent packing their knives have another chance to redeem themselves and get back in the competition. Last Chance Kitchen is a web series that is aired on Thursdays. 

Jeffrey, Kuniko, Carla and Chrissy will complete in Last Chance Kitchen. The four chefs hang out in the “eliminated chef house”. Tom visits the four chefs to let them know that they will be competing in Last Chance Kitchen. The challenge for the chefs is to create a dish using the main ingredients from the dishes that got them cut from the competition. They can either recreate their eliminated dish, or create a new dish. 

Tom is the only judge for Last Chance Kitchen. Chrissy again prepared the Canlis’ Special Salad. Tom thinks this salad is better than the first. Carla prepared a whole squab with baked tomato and morels. Tom  didn’t say a word after tasting Carla’s squab. He just walked away to go sample Kuniko’s dish. Kuniko prepared a lemongrass cream potato chowder. Tom again did not say a word after tasting Kuniko’s potato chowder. Jeffrey prepared a pan-roasted halibut with peas and morels. Tom also liked Jeffrey’s second dish over his original. Tom did not like Carla’s squab. He said the legs were raw. The winning chef of the first Last Chance Kitchen was Kuniko. 

The preview for next week’s episode shows the chefs at Pike Place Market. They end up going to Sur la Table to purchase something to cook with to prepare their dishes, and Tom seems very pissed for some reason?!

Come back next week for a recap of episode 5.