Top Chef: Episode three

by Teresa Gubbins , April Powell

Making a low-fat, low-cholesterol meat loaf is harder than it looks.

Here's this week's ejected Top Chef, Micah, who's only 8 minutes and 15 seconds from getting the axe.

Staffers April Powell and Teresa Gubbins play "Ebert and Roper" on Episode 3 of Wednesday night's Top Chef series, starring Dallas chefs Tre Wilcox of Abacus and Casey Thompson of Shinsei.

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TG: You know, I could swear this season is supposed to have two chefs from Dallas. You wouldn’t know it from this episode. I didn’t hear Tre Wilcox brag ONCE tonight about how "he’s a competitor."

AP: Yep. He and the chick from Shinsei were pretty much anonymously in the middle. Honestly, I can't even remember which dish she covered in that montage.

TG: And yet Tre was all over the beginning. Maybe they set up the contenders up front, and now they're weeding out the middle?

AP: They seem to be trying to build some drama around Hung. As if his name isn't drama enough.

TG: It’s turning into "the vilification of Hung".

AP: That whole thing where he turned off the oven and ruined someone else’s dish. And the complaints about him hoarding shellfish.

TG: He LEFT THE CRAWFISH ON THE FLOOR!

AP: Is your anger over the health of the shellfish or the cleanliness of the kitchen?

TG: No anger - just pity for the poor little crawfish. I was mildly surprised Howie won. I think they’re keeping him for entertainment value. Is that his name? The one who's constantly saying he doesn't want to make friends.

AP: Mike and I decided that he's sort of like a Tor Johnson mini-me. He shook the judges' hands like a troglodyte.

TG: Haha! He did. But OK: "Tor Johnson" … ummm?

AP: The wrestler who played the big, dumb ogre in Ed Wood? Just think Uncle Fester on steroids. Except really short. At least he took his shorts off tonight. There's something about a chef in shorts that kind of creeps me out.

TG: Totally. Mario Batali. I don't need to see your knees, dude. The faux-hawk guy always wears challenged pants too.

AP: Oh, yeah. Faux-hawk with his crop-pants and clogs always makes me think of the little Dutch boy. Aren't there health codes against that?

TG: I think it's only "no open-toed shoes". I did like this challenge, the "everyday dishes" idea. Chicken a la king, haven't you tried to make a lowfat version of that? I have.

AP: Not that, I'm afraid. I'm not that adventurous.

TG: It's stuff people can relate to. Better than that week when they were making meals out of tongue.

AP: It was much better than tongue.