"Top Chef: Chicago" Episode No. 3: Just (Stephanie's) desserts

Stephanie said it best: “Yippee!” Our hometown gal is two for three in elimination challenges this season, and that’s the best start we can remember for any “Top Chef” contestant. Tom even said her dessert at tonight’s Ravenswood Manor block party probably won the challenge for her entire team—that’s gotta feel good.

Erik, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well—and we don’t have a lot of sympathy for him. He repeated two sins we’ve seen over and over again on “Top Chef,” one as recently as last week. Here’s what did him in ...

1. Inability to follow directions: Listening and following directions are a couple of those kindergarten skills that some people never really pick up on. Erik might be one of them. The quickfire challenge was pretty clear: Create an upscale version of a taco. It was not, “Tell us if you think Mexican and fine dining go together.” Yet Erik created a traditional taco, then told us, “I don’t think fine dining and Mexican go together … so he can screw himself …” We won’t even dwell on the fact that “he” in this case is Rick Bayless, who has pretty much made a career of making Mexican and fine dining “go together.” Erik didn’t follow directions, and that’s why he lost the quickfire.

2. Not accounting for transportation: If you even have a hunch that your dish is going to get dry/soggy/gloopy in transit, it is. This was Valerie’s downfall last week, when her blinis went awry. Did anyone learn from her mistake? Not Erik, apparently. His corn dogs were doomed to be soggy from the start, and that’s why he had to pack his knives and go.

Other highlights and lowlights:

Best inadvertently (we assume) kinky comment of the night, courtesy of Zoi: “Jenn and I know each other’s palates better than, obviously, anyone else.” Uh, obviously.

Best segue of the night, courtesy of Ted Allen: “Speaking of Middle America, which I think is where Waldorf salad comes from …”

New annoying habit: Andrew’s tendency to bust out his Borat impersonation at every available turn.

Biggest sequencing error: The drive to Ravenswood Manor, which puts the chefs in their Highlanders heading toward a Korean neighborhood (says Dale) then passing by the Hard Rock Cafe, then “taking a left” to magically arrive in … Ravenswood Manor! The jump from what’s presumably Lawrence Avenue to River North is a stretch, to say the least, and we’re pretty sure that taking a left just after you pass the Hard Rock won’t get you to Richmond Avenue, block party or not.

Geography errors aside, Chicago got some good screen time this episode. There was a nice, Midwestern “what’s mine is yours” element to the pantry-raiding elimination challenge, and Bayless represented well in his role as judge.

Our only complaint? When Spike, referencing a hot dog, said matter-of-factly, “That’s what they like here.” Oh, really? I mean, Chicago loves a hot dog, but isn’t it a little insulting to the good people of Ravenswood Manor to imply that they are so into hot dogs that they wouldn’t appreciate anything else?

OK, maybe we’re a little defensive. In fact, we were almost over it—but then Zoi got us all fired up again with her comment at the judge’s table that began, “We just decided that it was Middle America …”

Hi, Zoi, welcome to Chicago. We’re thrilled to have you. But we are located in neither the geographic nor the culinary “middle” of America. 

Just ask Stephanie.

For a detailed play-by-play and even more commentary, check out The Stew.