joel robuchon

Annnnd, the domination of the women continues on Top Chef Season 6 episode 4. In the quickfire challenge, Tom Colicchio and a guest judge raised the stakes: the loser would be immediately sent home. The challenge? To produce a stellar snail dish. Kevin once again nabbed top honors with snails, candied bacon and mushrooms. Jesse, Ashley and Robin landed in the bottom three, where they were given 20 minutes to create an amuse-bouche in a three-way cook off. Jesse, after a long stay in the bottom, was finally sent home. Her last words were, "I promise I don't suck this much." It's possible that people's nerves get the best of them, especially on national television. But so far, that hasn't affected Jennifer, Kevin or Michael V., who continued to amaze into the elimination challenge.

Well, actually, due to his victory, Kevin had the special honor of sitting out the challenge and eating the other chefs' meals along with the judges, who included a round table of top French chefs, including Joel Robuchon. As for the other competing chefs, they were asked to draw knives engraved with the names of French sauces or proteins. Each sauce naturally corresponded to a protein, matching the chefs up in pairs. Ash and Hector did steak and peppercorn, Eli and Laurine a lobster and lobster bisque, Ashley and Mattin chicken and veloute, Bryan and Mike trout and bernaise, Ron and Robin frogs legs and Jennifer and Michael V. rabbit. Ron and Robin proved to be an interesting pair. While Robin buzzed around the chill Ron like a hyper bee, it seemed as if Ron might become irked. He maintained his cool, however, showing his temperment (and appearance) are more akin to an easy-going Jabba the Hutt.

In the end, Jennifer and Michael V. and Mike and Bryan shown. The show is getting a bit repetitive with those on the top. Clearly, talented chefs always perform well on Top Chef. But I don't think I've seen another season quite so lopsided, with those in the bottom unable to move up, and those on the top firmly planted there. It's like the poverty line. Any way, Bryan pulled in the win with his skillful cooking on the trout. His prize: cooking in Joel Robuchon's Las Vegas restaurant for a week.

On the bottom were Ashley and Mattin with a botched and overly bacon-y veloute sauce and Hector and Ash with an overcooked and improperly carved steak. Ashley is really the only one here who is no stranger to the bottom. But in the end, it was Hector's mistreatment of the meat that sent him packing. He was certainly an interesting character that brought a unique, authentic Latin american style of cooking to the show. I guess French cooking was his downfall. Next week: cooking outside in 100 degree weather. Goody!