We’re in the home stretch everyone! Only six chefs left! Shout outs to Flemingdon Park! Go Trista!

DALE is back! In a DEEP V! Whoop whoop! I so have a new appreciation for Dale, even though I wasn’t a fan when watching last year. He definitely brought an intensity that’s missing this year. Dale’s loving life since he won Top Chef Canada, and he’s busier than ever folding t-shirts balancing his restaurant and his life at home with his son. And oh snap! Here’s Ayden to help judge the Quickfire Challenge, which is to create a dish for kids out of some questionable ingredients. They are:

Carl: Liver + Asparagus – liver parfait pb & j sandwich with tempura asparagus

Trevor: Squid + Brussels Sprouts – deep fried calamari and brussels sprouts ‘slaw

Trista: Rabbit + Mushrooms – rabbit fingers and sauteed mushrooms with dill sour cream

Jonathan: Lamb + Artichoke – grilled lamb with honey mustard dipping sauce and artichoke dip with chips

David: Mussels + Radish – mussel and potato galette with tomato and radish salad

Xavier: Mackerel + Eggplant – potato string wrapped mackerel and eggplant confit

The worst are Xavier and Jonathan’s dishes and the best are Carl’s and Trevor’s. The winner is Trevor!

For the Elimination Challenge this week, we have the winner of Top Chef Masters Marcus Samuelsson as our guest judge. The cheftestants are challenged to put their heart and soul on the plate, and create a dish to reflect their personal food story. Marcus says their dish should tell a story and still be elegant.

The consensus is that this is the most challenging elimination to date, because the dishes are so personal and they have to be served to one of the best chefs in the world. Here we go:

Xavier – mediterranean vegetable terrine with crispy vegetables, beet reduction and olive sour cream

Judges say: aesthetically gorgeous, happy he’s done something different, well executed, pretty to look at

Jonathan – scampi consomme with scampi pierogi, confit potato, swiss chard and garlic oil

Judges say: Marcus loves it, incredible, humble dish but made it elegant, broth is a masterpiece, Dale loves the broth, just good cooking.

Carl – bacon wrapped salmon with sunchokes fava beans and beurre blanc

Judges say: Marcus doesn’t taste the love and soul although he does have great technique

Trista – dumplings in broth, poached chicken thigh, curried carrot puree , fried chicken, rice and peas

Judges say: very Toronto, Marcus says there are technical flaws, Dales  says it’s tasty but not refined. Mark would have preferred the thigh crispy. Marcus found plastic on his chicken.

David – grilled flank stank on boiled beef and cabbage sauce, cabbage roll with creme fraiche croquette, and beet horseradish roulade

Judges say: Mark loves it, creme fraiche fritter is a revelation, Marcus likes the horseradish roulade, Dale loved it too. Humble beginnings, elegant plate, he succeeded.

Trevor – peanut butter molten lava cake with salted banana ice cream and strawberry vanilla jam

Judges say: flavours aren’t clean enough, flavours are too sweet, Dale and Mark can’t finish theirs (I don’t think I would have had that problem, this sounds delicious to me!)

Shereen is definitely trying to bring her A game in from of Chef Samuelsson, and this is the critique she comes up with:

“You want to translate banana and peanut butter, but you gotta do it in a way that we all go this is great, you can’t just say I really like this and I’m sorry that it doesn’t taste great.” What the hell is she even trying to say??!?

Back in the closet, Lisa calls in David, Jonathan and Xavier. They are the best! Xavier’s dish was light and fresh. David’s dish was complex, the acidity was perfectly balanced and Marcus wants to bring the horseradish roulade back to Harlem. Jonathan’s broth was amazing, they really felt his soul, his grandma would be proud.

The winner: David!

Carl, Trevor and Trista head in to face the judges. Trevor’s dessert was underwhelming/overwhelming and no one could finish it. Carl’s plate didn’t have enough soul, he’s technically talented, but who is he as a chef? Trista’s chicken dish never came together, and Marcus found plastic on his plate.

Going home: Trista 🙁

Next time: A Kraft Dinner (barf) High Stakes Quickfire and an Italian feast at Fabbrica with Lidia Bastianich.

Alright, so I’m going to say this was the best episode to date this season! I was super excited for Trevor’s dessert dish…I may have to try re-creating that at home…since I already make my own strawberry jam and banana soft serve is as easy as tossing frozen bananas in the food processor. We’ll see.  With next week’s high-stakes Quickfire, this means there’s only two episodes left, as the Top 3 will be set by the end of next week. So let’s make our Top 3 and winner predictions here! I’m going with a Top 3 of Jonathan, Carl and David and Jonathan as the winner. Post your predictions below!