Sugar Rush

I must admit, things got funky on last episode -- how about Matthew’s gravy foam? And where Rebecca was told to pass the mic!

Now seven chefs remain to compete! And interesting how Sally hangs with the boys because she thinks she is better than the girls, and how Katzie does not like it and she promises that she will kick her butt? Time will tell us. Also, getting deeper into the competition Chris and Matt are getting even closer now and promising that they will watch each other’s back! I think it is cool and definitely part of a competitive strategy.

Let’s get to the Quickfire Challenge: guest Judge Mark Israel, baker and owner of the Doughnut Plant in NY, definitely a pro and huge donut lover. Since the donut can be found in so many flavors, shapes and size, today’s challenge is: create the perfect donut! And in order to pump up the chefstestants, a $10,000 is offered to the winner, but no more immunity from now on! And what a surprise when Johnny announced that the chef who will serve the least favorite donut, will be eliminated, talking about pressure now. But that’s what I love about Top Chef, always the most unexpected! The hardest now is getting through pressure!Little disappointing when Megan confirms that she is not taking the risk, by making a yeast donut. Why?  When on the other hand, Carlos goes for it! Love the idea and the practicality of Sally’s approach and going for the option on making sticks in order to dunk it into the coffee cup. Also, she is the only one who incorporated coffee into her glaze. She is all about flavors! And what happened to Matt with his ginger beignet? Did he truly run out of time to fill the cream into the beignets? Surprisingly, Orlando made a spicy donut that came out bland. Carlos' orange and lemon zest bombolinis with passion fruit cream looked clean and terrific, and the flavors were simple yet exciting and exotic. Congratulations, you deserve to win, and I would have loved tasting it and judging it! Sorry Megan. Your sounded like something went wrong, and it is disappointing being eliminated because of a donut!

Down to six chefs facing the Elimination Challenge! And what is the challenge? Chocolate. All about chocolate. A perfect challenge, no dirty tricks, with a very clean cut at the end! Two teams, Red (Matthew, Chris, and Katzie) and Blue (Orlando, Carlos, and Sally), and having to create a magnificent showpiece and being responsible creating their own signature chocolate dessert -- a challenge where pure creativity is expected!

By watching the two teams and seeing the way they were handling the challenge made me feel so satisfied and happy. Six professionals so geared up and competing for the title of TCJD! It gives me another sugar rush!They literally created two stunning masterpieces, and what a great idea on having the chefs working in separate work areas --definitely a mind game. The Blue Team came up with a great idea on telling the evolution of chocolate, where chocolate has started from the cocoa pod and how to utilize it by molding and bending it, making sugar flowers, and a number of different things.

They used difficult techniques and movements with contemporary approach. Great surprise when Gail announced to whom they will be serving their chocolate desserts… to each other! So now you can truly see their personalities, and for me it was an eye-opener to watch them judging, being mean, sometimes unfair, and not holding back, in particular Orlando about Katzie’s dessert cube. But after all, the judges only, at the Judges' Table have the last words.

My only comment is that I was not extremely impressed by their individual/ signature chocolate desserts. My expectation was set higher, in particular seeing the high level of the two teams' showpieces! And I agreed with Dannielle and Wylie when they saluted both teams for their excellent work on the showpieces.

And again, congratulations to the Blue Team! A sour ending for Katzie.