Photo from Food Network Website

This recap is going to be a little light on food details, because I was rolling out sugar cookies for a baking project as the second half of the episode aired. I also contemplated giving up these recaps because I feel like no one is watching, as evidenced by the lack of Final 5 picks in the comments last week. But then I saw Richard BLAIS in the preview for next week, so I decided I can at least make it to Episode 7, which is more than halfway to the end.

So, we know this episode is going to be Restaurant Wars, but with an odd number of chefs, someone’s gotta go right off the bat. Lisa and Mark introduce a High Stakes Quickfire, and the chef with the worst dish is going to be sent home immediately. What could be the basis of this High Stakes Quickfire? Something extremely challenging and complex, of course. That’s right: soup and sandwiches. The evil behind this selection is soon revealed, as we learn the winning dish will be featured on the Milestone’s menu. That explains everything.
 
Anyway, Gabriell is eliminated here because his gazpacho had no flavour and his croissandwich was haphazard.
 
A curious thing happens next where Mark decides that Jonathan‘s combo of an asian sub and consomme are the winning dish, BUT it’s Carl‘s pairing of a club sandwich and gazpacho that will be featured on the Milestone’s menu. I guess Banh Mi is too fancy for the likes of Milestone’s customers.
 
Jonathan’s advantage is that he gets to be a team captain for Restaurant Wars, and also assign the other team’s captain. He chooses Elizabeth, and you just know that team’s going to be a shit show, based on what happened last week. This was definitely a strategic move, good for you Jonathan. He also gets to pick first and he selects Carl. Elizabeth picks Jimmy (to his dismay) and the teams end up as follows:
 
Fable
Captain: Jonathan
Front of House: Trevor
Carl
Curtis
David
 
True North 
Captain: Elizabeth
Front of House: Ryan
Jimmy
Xavier
Trista
 
Chefs take over Susur’s restaurants on King West, and get to work. Elizabeth is a HOT MESS in the kitchen; she can’t call the pass and looks like she has trouble adding. The judges arrive with Susur and his ponytail (business as usual: shiny, bouncy) as well as his two sons.
 
Brief descriptions of the food, because I was busy rotating cookie sheets:
 
True North 
Starters
– corn soup (room temperature, very sweet, not in a good way)
– summer vegetable salad (good combo of cooked and raw)
– octopus salad (perfectly cooked)
 
Mains
– roasted pork (good, salty, crispy)
– duck breast with white beans (tough, undercooked, cabbage had no flavour)
– wild sockeye salmon (perfectly cooked, seasonal)
– potato risotto (disaster)
 
Dessert
– dark chocolate torte
– plum almond cake with peach compote and sour cream ice cream (can’t taste plum)
  
Fable
Starters
– duck and quail terrine (foie gras not cooked, no definite flavour)
– marinated tomato salad (good combo of sweet and salty)
 
Mains
– ontario beef, hollendaise (everyone loves it)
– sage gnocchi with butternut squash (yummy)
– salmon, carrot purre and peas (cooked perfectly, lots of flavour)
 
Dessert 
– peach crumble panna connta (void of flavour)
– chocolate cake with cherry sorbet (cake too sweet, ice cream isn’t set)
 
Team Winner: Fable
Individual Winner: Carl
 
All you really need to know is that with True North in front of the judges, Jimmy throws Elizabeth under the bus (cliche reality tv term alert), and says she wasn’t a leader, couldn’t manage her team, and didn’t know how to call the pass. Jimmy, you might as well have a red sharpie of destruction on you. Last week Elizabeth wouldn’t share an oven with him, and he took her out as swiftly as Emily Thorne lit Mason Treadwell’s house on fire.
 
Going home: Elizabeth
 
Next week: Richard BLAIS in the house! This is keeping me holding on for at least one more week!
 
Anyone out there? Anyone still watching this show? *Crickets* If you are, share your predictions for the Final 5 as we head into the back half of the season. And tell me this: how does Richard BLAIS get such a great vertical on his hair?