The winning dish: pickled shrimp with cucumber onion salad with citrus vinaigrette
Episode in one paragraph: It’s always a fun moment when celebrity super fans come on Top Chef. This week? Model Chrissy Teigen popped in for a quickfire challenge with dates, won by Seattle’s Jason Stratton. Next, Oprah and Obama favorite Art Smith showed up for a “big gay wedding” (which looked like a big set of vow renewals) officiated by Padma. The cheftestants were left to cater the affair and divided into teams for the dishes. The Shaw Bijou's Kwame Onwuachi ended up working on two dishes, because of the odd number of chefs: A pickled shrimp with cucumber onion salad with citrus vinaigrette (with Atlanta’s Wesley True) which ended up on top; and beef with creamed potato (done by LA’s Philip Lee) with a tomato/eggplant sauce by Onwuachi that ended up on the bottom. He ultimately won for the shrimp, while Giselle Wellman had to pack her knives for a bad asparagus and faro plate.
D.C. Performances: Ripple's Marjorie Meek-Bradley did a dessert (again) that was well-liked by the judges. Might she break the long-standing Top Chef dessert curse? The show belonged to Onwuachi, though, who is quickly becoming a force respected by both the chefs and the judges. Even if he hadn’t won for the shrimp, his tomato and eggplant sauce/garnish for the beef appeared to be the only thing saving that dish (and Lee) from elimination.
D.C. Wins: Quickfires, zero. Elimination challenges, three (Meek-Bradley, 1; Onwuachi, 2). Last Chance Kitchens, two (Garret Fleming).
Confidence Rating (out of 10): 11. We haven’t seen this kind of D.C. dominance since... well, maybe ever.
Photo courtesy of Bravo/NBC Universal