Top Chef All-Stars Episode 3 sure was action-packed

by Teresa Gubbins, Shannon Sutlief

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Dallas contestants make nice showing.

Episode 3 of Top Chef All-Stars, the Bravo series featuring former Top Chef contestants including Dallas chefs Casey Thompson, Tre Wilcox, and Tiffany Derry, was one of the more complex episodes the series has ever had.

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Carla Hall and Casey Thompson on finale of Top Chef Season 5

In the Quick-Fire Challenge, the chefs formed four teams with four chefs each, who had to race through a technical skills challenge -- break down a rack of lamb chops, chop 40 garlic cloves, and trim a bunch of artichokes down to the heart, then use those ingredients in a dish, all in the span of 15 minutes.

For the Elimination Challenge, the four teams ate at some of New York's best restaurants, and then had to come up with a dish that matched the cuisine of the restaurant. Dale won for his inventive, judge-pleasing egg wonton. This week, they sent home two chefs: Stephen, whose salmon had too much perfumey herb, and Dale, whose veal with popcorn and peanuts seemed ill-conceived.

PegNews staffers TG and Shannon take it in, four chefs at a time:

SS: I thought this was a good episode. Really good challenges. I only wish they'd have saved one of those extra 15 minutes for it.

TG: The show had a lot to keep up with, plotting wise. I'm exhausted.

SS: I liked how they picked four different restaurants.

TG: Yeah the structure of this show was very good. Since Asian Dale is one of my favorites, I'm happy with his win. I was surprised to see Antonia up there. Peas and carrots. I wonder why they got rid of two people this week.

SS: I don't remember them doing a double elimination before, except in the finals.

TG: Tom was on a post-episode show and he said something interesting -- that all of these contestants already have a following, so any dismissal is difficult.

SS: I recognized all of them immediately, but I couldn't name the winners of some seasons.

TG: Stephen seemed like a pretty obvious dismissal; he was kindof due and they showed him talking quite a bit at the beginning. I was afraid the other one was going to be Fabio. I'm glad Fabio lives to survive another day. He's entertaining. And I don't care about Dale at all.

SS: I thought Fabio was gone, too. Dale was a surprise, except that Casey was worried. Fabio's little deal about "if I go, I go" was the misdirect!

TG: He says something clever every week. Last week, it was "leetle peelows made from potato." This week it was about Angelo: "He wears his pants a little too tight for me."

SS: I didn't get the quickfire right off. Then when I realized that the winning team got 15 minutes and everyone else got less, it was diabolical!

TG: And Casey got to vindicate herself for the onions. I think Casey is presenting very well. The only Dallas contestant not showing well ... is ... I can't speak the word.

SS: Crudo? Really?

TG: There's so many personalities, she seems in a little over her head. And since I love Angelo, I can't love her because she dislikes him.

SS: But I do get that Angelo would be annoying. He's a talk-through-it person, and she's an inner-thought person. It would get to me.

TG: But I'm a talk-through-it person! I enjoyed during the quickfire, when David Chang said something nice about one of the teams, and they all said to themselves afterwards, "He said 'nice job'!" Like they were reassuring each other.

SS: Yeah, it was a cool little celebration. Like, OMG, David Chang totally likes us! And it was Blais, wasn't it?

TG: Now why'd you have to ruin the moment? So sick of his congratulating himself. I've already 100% had my fill of him. The way he keeps blowing air out of his mouth, like he's blowing up a balloon. Full of hot air is what he is. Him and his stupid hair.

SS: I really liked him in his original season, but I was glad not to see him in the top four tonight. I liked that it was Tre, Antonio, and Dale. We haven't seem them a lot. I liked Antonio's dish, and I'd like to see more of her.