Top Chef Masters: Art Smith is Eliminated
The “Top Chef Masters” contestants walked into the Quickfire Challenge room to a table full of burgers and fries. Their challenge was to make a gourmet burger with one side. For some reason, Anita decided to think outside the box and make a soup with little burgers in it. That almost eliminated her. The judges – Spike Mendelsohn, Sang Yoon, and Morgan Spurlock – only gave her 1 ½ stars. Michael and Rick tied with 4 stars each, Art was given 3 ½ and Hubert was given 3.
It looked bleak for Anita going into the challenge, which was to cook for actress Zooey Deschanel. But, there were restrictions – she said she was vegetarian (vegan really – no diary, fish, eggs, or meat), gluten intolerant, and didn’t eat soy. The chefs were a bit freaked out, but most came up with great, tasty dishes. Each judge had to cook one dish and Art volunteered to make the dessert. Someone jokingly asked him if he was trying to go home.
Michael chose to purchase ready made pasta for his dish and Art bought rice ice cream. The judges were a bit shocked that both chefs chose to buy something, but while it worked out okay for Michael (he was the eventual winner), it doomed Art. The top three chefs were Michael, Rick, and Hubert. The judges thought Rick’s corn tamales were light and sweet, they thought Hubert’s dish was elegant and thoughtful, and loved Michael’s pasta dish, even if the main ingredient was bought, not made. Rick and Hubert tied with a score of 19 and Michael won with a score of 22, so he got another $10,000 for Clinic Ole.
Art and Anita found themselves on the bottom. Art was two stars ahead of Anita, so I thought for sure she might go home, but the judges only gave him a total of 6 stars – a total! They really hated the taste of the rice ice cream and hated it was store bought. While they were amazed by his brittle with no butter, he still fell ½ star short and was sent home.
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