Top Chef Texas Episode 14: There's No Crying In Fine Dining

Image via Bravo

By Kelly Dobkin

She's baaaaack! At the beginning of last night's episode the winner of Last Chance Kitchen (Bravo's online-only show in which eliminated chefs fight it out to re-enter the competition) was revealed to be Beverly, to the chagrin of Lindsay and Sarah (who thought they had seen the last of her whiny-ass antics). Sarah doesn't waste time sharing her feelings on Bev's return: "I'm not happy to see Bev. She is off in her own Bev land, and I'm not buying a ticket there anytime soon." Hiyo! Tell us how you really feel, girl.

Anyway, last night's quickfire challenge is revealed to have crazy twist - the winner gets to choose between a new Prius and or a guaranteed spot in the finale. The challenge is to hunt for ingredients while blindfolded which makes for some pretty amusing television. There are obvious snafus as the contestants are unable to see what ingredients they are selecting (and must use every selected item in their basket). Beverly accidentally grabs avocado and more tragically, Ed accidentally grabs pork casings thinking the package is pancetta. Yikes. Sarah's dish is declared the winner and goes for the guaranteed spot in the finale, despite what the other chefs might think. Ed equates it with a lack of confidence and the other chefs vow that they would gone with the car because they want to "earn their spot" by competing in the elimination challenge. Yeah yeah whateves...


Next up - the elimination challenge - the chefs all being bawling uncontrollably as their chefly mentors slow enter the room. Michelle Bernstein, Tony Mantuano and Frank Crispo among the notables. Lindsay talks warmly of her mentor, Michelle Bernstein: "Michelle molded a girl from North Carolina with train wreck hair and taught me how to balance being a badass and a lady." (Wait...Lindsay considers herself a badass?) Paul cries the hardest and can barely put a sentence together. Ed is the only one who doesn't get too emotional and notes to the chefs later that he's "not much of a cryer." As for the challenge - the chefs must create a dish that would impress their mentors and make them proud. Lindsay seems to really like fish soups because she's made yet another one (she also recently made a bouillabaisse). Bev decides to do a "soulful Asian dish" because that's what her mentor likes - in this case, a fairly simple dish using risky wok technique. Paul makes a vegetable soup with 14 different plating steps and Ed makes seared pork belly with a canned smoked oysters sauce. You just know he's going down for the canned oysters.

In the end, Paul wins for his complicated soup and Bev moves on to the finale. Now it's down to Lindsay and Ed who have both made some missteps. Lindsay second-guessed herself the whole time, adding dried herbs and cream to her sauce at the last minute which she knew was a mistake the second after she did it. She breaks down after the judges call her on her mistakes and then randomly sobs: "I know there's no crying in fine dining." Ultimately Ed gets canned for using canned oysters (Whole Foods was out of fresh that day) and Lindsay scrapes by into the finale. Next week - the finale has a ski theme! Stay tuned here for more Top Chef coverage.