Top Chef Las Vegas: Big Gambles on the Strip

This week's episode started with breakfast in bed for Padma and guest judge Nigella Lawson, but it certainly wasn't a leisurely day for anyone. The chefs were hard at work with a catering event, and the judges struggled to get through a few of their dishes.

Note: We reveal the winner and losers below.

One of our favorite food TV personalities, Nigella Lawson, stopped by last night to serve as guest judge. Here are our thoughts on the episode:

Padma and Nigella look GREAT first thing in the morning. They also seemed a little awkward in this painfully staged Quickfire. We love that Jennifer offered them chipped beef on toast (or S.O.S.), and although Nigella made a bit of a face, we could totally imagine her sneaking into the kitchen at the end of one of her shows and making herself that very dish. The vanilla in Bryan's egg with crab, asparagus and polenta ruined it for Nigella, but the dish at least looked beautiful. Eli won the challenge for his hangover breakfast of Egg Reuben Benedict with Thousand Island Hollandaise Sauce.
The luck of the draw. For the elimination challenge, the chefs were set loose on the strip, each with a specific casino to build a dish around. Kevin and Bryan lucked out with the Mirage and Mandalay Bay, allowing them to focus on sustainable seafood (though surely some will take issue with this being played out in the middle of the desert). Jennifer seemed to really enjoy herself at the Medieval Times-like dinner show at Excalibur, but she set herself up for cheesy soundbite criticisms when she served an overcooked steak skewer inspired by "The Sword in the Stone."
Trend alert: hot wings and blue cheese. Michael's New York New York-inspired Boneless Chicken Wing Confit with Curry and Blue Cheese Disc looked very tasty and ended up winning the challenge. But we had to giggle when Padma marveled at how the cool blue cheese played off the spiciness of the chicken.
Clichés and insults and metaphors, oh my! Eli didn't try very hard to mask his feelings about Circus Circus, describing it as sad and using a raspberry to represent the hotel's "one redeeming aesthetic element." His feelings must have come through in his dish because the Caramel Apple Peanut Soup was a complete disaster. Toby Young put the nail in the cliché coffin, saying, "Like most people who come to Vegas, he has gambled and lost." (We'll admit to using a few Vegas clichés ourselves.) But, for us, the standout comment of the night was Eli's double mixed metaphor in reference to Robin: "She’s oftentimes been lucky enough to be the lesser of two equals. Hopefully the buck's about to run out on that one." We played that one back several times.
The buck, indeed, has run out. We were inclined to stick up for Robin earlier in the competition, but we found ourselves dumbfounded at her choices last night. It's almost like she's never watched the show, or participated in 10 previous challenges. Let's count the head-shaking moments: She 1) made panna cotta, the perennial Top Chef disaster dish, despite the fact that 2) she'd never made it before, 3) for a catering event. When her sugar sculpture element didn't work out, she 4) made excuses to the judges as she handed them their plates. The judges also found this too much to bear, and Robin was sent home. Who will the chefs gang up on now?

What did you think of the episode?

Top Chef Las Vegas Roundups
Week 10: Hold the Meat
Week 9: Restaurant Wars!
Week 8: Top Chef Las Vegas: Of Pigs and Pinot
Week 7: Like No Dinner Party We've Ever Had
Week 6: Angels and Devils
Week 5: Foam on the Range
Week 4: All Things French
Week 3: The Best of Plates, The Worst of Plates
Week 2: A Shot At Love With Tequila

(Images: Bravo)

Comments (16)

I just wish when they did these catering events they used real plates. Everything looks like crap on plastic plates.
I was surprised Eli couldn't come up with anything better than popcorn crumbs and peanut soup. Circus food/carnival food would seem to be kind of easy - easier than "mirage", whatever that would be.

I found the whole breakfast in bed thing super awkward.

Based on previous performances, Robin should have been sent home. But Eli's dish really seemed like the worst of the episode. I was surprised he didn't get cut.

I was a little ill thinking about how many eggs Padma and Nigella had to eat for the breakfast challenge. I like eggs, but it still seemed like too much...

I'm really sad that Jennifer is coming apart at the seams.... I really felt like she was in it to win it at the begining. Also *this* week I decided my favorite Votaggio brother is Bryan. I'll probably change my mind though... Like maybe if I'm in the mood for more tattoos in the future...

Kevin (my favorite cooking garden gnome) and the v-boys in the final. Jennifer just can't seem to handle the pressure and Eli's judgement is just too iffy. I mean, come on, that "soup" looked like barf. He's just lucky he didn't get sent home.

I'm looking forward to next week's episode where one of the V brothers says to Kevin something like, "I cook your food at home on my day off."

The chicken wing dish was like an ad for Polyscience (go polyscience!)--the wings were sous vide and cooked in an immersion circulator and the blue cheese disc was "cooked" on an anti-griddle.

I can't believe Jen made sh&* on a shingle! Junk food! I'm not trying to be a snob or anything but wow, processed lunch meat and cream.

I could see the vanilla working if it weren't too heavy. Wouldn't have been interesting to see all of the judges taste it.

I thought Kevin should have won based on the fact that Mike V said chicken wings are quintessintially New York, New York. Hello dude, they're from Buffalo. Perhaps someone with a Michelin star should know that.

Did anyone else notice perfect Padma's slip up?: "...you've won a two-day, three-night trip..."

Whoever said that Jennifer is hitting the wall on the show last night is right. I hope she can get it together. I'm really rooting for her to pull through.

But at least there's Kevin. I love that dude. And every week he says/does something that makes him even more awesome.

I read somewhere that Jennifer should have done some sort of stone crab and swordfish combo to play with the sword in the stone idea. And I agree. Did anyone else scoff at Tom when he said that Jennifer should have known more about medieval cooking styles? Really? Are they teaching that in culinary school these days?

As a fan from Buffalo, NY - how did Mike not know that chicken wings are from Buffalo not NYC? Also - Padma was surprised that blue cheese goes with chicken wings?!?

glad Robin is gone...

Kevin isn't a garden gnome. He's Gimli from Lord of the Rings.

I hope Jen gets it together since she was one of the better chefs. Kevin, Jen, and the V brothers would probably be a strong final 4.

I thought Eli said Robin was "the lesser of two EVILS." And, while I'm glad to see her gone, I thought Eli should have gone home. It did, as someone above noted, look like vomit.

And I, too, am sad to see Jennifer fall apart. She's been my favorite (with Kevin) from the get-go. And it'd be nice to have a woman in the final.

jennifer has one more episode to get it together. her performance has just been pathetic.

i will say that even though eli's concoction looked supremely disgusting, circus circus is no place for inspiration. it's like going to a dirty broken-down carnival for inspiration.