'Top Chef: Houston' Episode 4: Sarah and Robert face the heat in double elimination round
In the previous episode of Bravo's 'Top Chef: Houston' all 13 contestants were in an Asian night market preparing their own version of Asian street foods. Unluckily, Sam King's potato dish was not up to the mark and saw him being sent home.
Now Episode 4 of 'Top Chef: Houston' Season 19 just upped the challenge from the last time. Show host Padma Lakshmi introduced a new challenge and welcomed guest judge Chris Williams to the show. Read on to know how the chefs fared in this double danger.
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The previous episode was a bit easy compared to the recently aired one, as the episode titled 'Doppelgangers' had a double-elimination round. The leftover 12 contestants after Sam's elimination will cut the competition to 10 contestants. The winner of this challenge would get an advantage in the Elimination Challenge, but not immunity. So, who was the unlucky duo to pack their bags and travel back to their houses?
Williams, a chef and restaurateur, announced the quickfire round. The challenge paid respect to Lucille B Smith, who is a culinary trailblazer and fed figures such as Martin Luther. The contestants were assigned the challenge to make their own biscuit dish. Needless to say, the chefs had to bring out their best as this was a double-elimination round. Competing in the “Doppelgangers” round were Damarr Brown, Jo Chan, Monica Feybesse, Evelyn Garcia, Robert Hernandez, Jae Jung, Jackson Kalb, Luke Kolpin, Buddha Lo, Ashleigh Shanti, Nick Wallace, and Sarah Welch. The teams had to break into two for the elimination round.
It was a bit tense for the chef contestants as not all of them were confident about their biscuit-making skills. Buddha was especially worried since last week he tried samosas for the first time and he ended up in the bottom three. Luke did not seem too confident either. Robert tried to make sweet corn biscuit with strawberries and a Japanese brown sugar whipped cream while Evelyn went with poached egg, chorizo, and country gravy. Jackson, meanwhile, wanted to keep things simple. With his scallion biscuit glazed in hot maple with ostrich sausage, crispy cheddar, and fried egg he sure got the judges talking.
Once it was time for elimination, guest judge, chef Wylie Dufresne joined the judge's panel. The elimination challenge was to form teams of two who would work together to create a pair of dishes that would look the same but have different flavors. Jackson got to pick first, so he chose Buddha, Damarr went with Monique, Nick with Jaw, Jo with Evelyn, Ashleigh with Like, and Sarah ended up with Robert. This was an important round since it meant both members of the losing team would be sent home. Nick and Jae stuck to noodles, one with udon and the other with daikon. Buddha took to preparing strawberries to look like Jackson’s tomatoes. And Robert and Sarah focused on trying to create similar shapes with their dishes; Sarah made a shrimp dish! Sarah is allergic to shrimps.
Jo and Evelyn's pork belly couldn't get as tender as they wanted it to be, while Robert and Sarah found that Robert’s panna cotta hadn’t set properly. It was certainly a race against time and taste for the teams. Although the dishes had pretty good flavors, Jo and Evelyn were in danger because of the dry pork belly. However, the end changed dramatically because Jo and Evelyn managed to impress the panel of judges with their goat cheese cheesecake dessert. Sarah’s brioche was too firm, while Robert’s panna cotta was too loose.
When it came to decision-making, Jackson and Buddha, and Ashleigh and Luke won the judges' favor. Sarah and Robert, and Evelyn and Jo ended up in the bottom two. The judges said both teams made basic cooking errors but dessert saved Evelyn and Jo and as a result, judges decided to eliminate Sarah and Robert from the show.
