Episode 2: Smile and Say Mise

Today's Quickfire is the Top Chef Favorite,  Mise En Place Relay Race! They will split into 2 teams:

Team Blue
Brother, Tyler, Rodgelio, Bruce, Adrienne, Joesph, Claudette

Team Green
Chris, Joe, Tanya, Laura, Tu, Carrie, Fatima

Task 1: Peel & Brunoise 1 Qt of Shallots
Task 2: Peel, De-stem & Slice 1 Qt of Mushrooms
Task 3: Butcher 20 (7-8 oz) pieces of Beef Tenderloin

As soon as they're done with the relay- the losing team has to start cooking with the time remaining! The QF winner gets immunity, $5K and dinner and wine for a year!!!

Tanya should have KNOWN she'd have to do this stuff, why would she have not been prepping?!?! Also I didn't know mushrooms could/should be peeled? Anyone else?

Bruce showed his experience for sure with his portions- damn.

Green Team loses the relay and they get to cooking... QUICK! They have VERY little time... 8 mins to make their dishes!

Rogelio's dish had a broken sauce
Tyler did "good"
Claudette was creative
Adrienne did pretty well this time
Joesph had good texture and flavor
Brother had good color and texture
Bruce had good texture on his veggies

They all did really well with their cooking, but the least favorites were Rogelio and Tyler, In the top are Brother and Joesph, but the winner is Joesph!

Elimination Challenge- Denver Chef Alex Seidel is going to take the chefs to his farm that supplies his 2 restaurants Fruition and Mercantile! They will stay in their same teams and create a 4 course progressive menu. Each course must have a specific ingredient, TBD at the farm... They will serve 20 Denver Chefs at Mercantile.  Their secret ingredient is CHEESE, one cheese per course! We should go to the farm and cheese taste!!!

Tyler is CRACKING me up hahahaha- I love him. I feel bad for Laura, but she needs to speak up if she wants a voice... she had to know everyone would have strong personalities... I do think Joe is taking over a bit much- it feels like he dictated every dish.

Team Blue
Course 1: Adrienne & Claudette- Smoked Trout & Zuchinni with Cacio Pecora (-)
Course 2: Joesph & Bruce- Beet Agnolotti with Sheep's Milk Feta (+)
Course 3: Rodgelio & Tyler- Lamb Loin with Shepard's Halo Cheese (-)
Course 4: Brother- Blueberry Tart with Ricotta (+)

Team Green
Course 1: Fatima & Laura- Cheese and Crackers with Shepard's Halo Cheese (+)
Course 2: Carrie & Joe- Ricotta Dumpling (+)
Course 3: Tu & Joe- Lamb & Corn Grits with Cacio Pecora (-)
Course 4: Chris & Tanya- Fried Dough with Sheep's Milk Feta Ice Cream (+)

Wow, Chris & Tanya's Fried Dough was Padma's "favorite dessert ever on TC!" Impressive considering that Shirley had the dessert bar set pretty high last season in the Finale!

Best Team had the worst dish! And the Winner is the Green Team! They really did a great job as a team, despite Joe's "leadership" and of course him and Tu's dish was the worst dish of the day... They're lucky they're on the winning team. The Chef who did the best job and win's the challenge is Carrie! Finally some Colorado redemption!

The Blue team is on the bottom this week- they really didn't incorporate cheese enough. Adrienne & Claudette and Rodgelio & Tyler had the dishes that sent the team to the bottom. Claudette really didn't bring it this challenge and is eliminated. I think she had potential, but needed to be true to herself- a lesson to all!

I did the points a little differently depending on who did well on the teams...
QF: Relay winners just got a point since they didn't have to cook. Real challenge points we only on the "losing" relayers.
Elimination: Winning team bad dishes and losing team good dishes got no points.  Team challenges are tricky...