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"Watching last night&amp;#039;s episode of TCM, I found myself wondering how the producers choose which chefs will compete against each other. It almost seemed that this time, there was an odd-man (woman) out \u2013 Chef Suzanne Tracht, of Los Angeles restaurant Jar. The critics described her as a west-coast chef, preferring simple, seasonal, ingredient-based cooking. She was pitted against chef Graham Elliot Bowles, who talking-head Tom Colicchio described as a young hot-shot and &amp;quot;great tattooed guy,&amp;quot; New York City noted molecular gastronomist Wylie Dufresne, and San Francisco&amp;#039;s confident, innovative pastry-turned-executive-chef Elizabeth Falkner. First up: the famous vending-machine quickfire challenge of season 2 fame: make an amuse-bouche using ingredients found in a vending machine. Graham was so excited! Wylie declared his fascination with snackfood as he examined each potential ingredient with care. Suzanne? She said, &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not too familiar with vending machines. I&amp;#039;m not even sure where to find one.&amp;quot; Surprisingly, the three season-two quickfire judges, Betty, winner Ilan, and vending-machine-challenge legend Michael, loved Suzanne&amp;#039;s fried shallots with a Frito crust and Dr. Pepper aioli. This week&amp;#039;s elimination challenge was linked to one of my favorite shows (after Top Chef in all forms, of course!), LOST. Chefs had to cook for creators, producers, and writers of the hit ABC show using island-appropriate ingredients like wild boar, sea urchin and chicken \u2013 plus only Dharma-approved pantry items \u2013 mostly canned or dried. (On the show, the Dharma Initiative is a mysterious group of scientists and workers who lived on the island years ago; all of their food products carried an octagonal logo). I did actually LOL when host Kelly Choi held up the Dharma-approved booklet of products, and then even harder as the waitstaff serving the critics and diners carried plates of food wearing Dharma Initiative uniforms. Wylie Dufresne fared slightly better, though he did mistakenly plate two pieces of chicken on one plate and leaving judge Jay Rayner without the main protein. I was a little worried that would spell disaster for Wylie, but the critics seemed to laugh it off, thoroughly enjoying his take on chicken and egg. Surprising that they let it slide given the history of Top Chef. I can&amp;#039;t imagine Tom Colicchio allowing someone who misplated a dish to go basically un-reprimanded. Is it just me, or are the critics too nice? (Even Elizabeth said, &amp;quot;I think they were nicer to us then we were when we were Top Chef judges!&amp;quot;) Graham continued his tuna theme (after making a sophisticated vending machine tuna salad during the quickfire challenge) with a trio of tuna dishes using dried pineapple, kalamata olive oil and coffee to flavor each element. Finally, Suzanne finished with a grand finale of island delights, serving heaping plates of sea-urchin risotto, mango salad, boar, pasta\u2026 and probably more! (My fingers couldn&amp;#039;t type as fast as she was reciting the plates&amp;#039; contents, to be honest.) After receiving a perfect five stars for her amuse-bouche (hmm, I wonder if every quickfire winner on TCM receives five stars? That could certainly greatly affect the results.), the critics&amp;#039; scores were enough to give Suzanne the win, sending her to the Champions&amp;#039; Round. I was surprised she won, especially given her positioning as the least adventurous chef, but her quiet skill, determination, and thoughtfulness \u2013 &amp;quot;I think of this as a holiday meal,&amp;quot; she said, as she presented to the critics \u2013 gave her the edge. Ps \u2013 To my top pick Elizabeth Falkner (who made chocolate chip cookies while waiting for the critics&amp;#039; decisions): If it had been the chocolate-chip cookie challenge, you totally would have won! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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