…for as long as the brown girl is in the ring. :) I’m here in DC, on the Hill, at Chef Spike’s (Season 4 badboy) Good Stuff Eatery, where he hosts a Top Chef viewing party. If you are on my home coast, are DVR-ing it or otherwise don’t want spoilers, do not go past the jump!

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Time for the quick-fire challenge! The contestants have to recreate an iconic NY dish. Before they announce what that dish is, people here are screaming pizza, cheesecake…nope, wrong. They will need to make a HOT DOG, for Chef Donatella Arpaio.

Okay, I’m a life-long vegetarian who finds hot dogs repulsive and even I know that rice paper is probably a bad idea for a casing.

Brown girl’s strategery: Indian-inspired kebab dog w/caramelized onions and other gunk, from RAD-icka.

Poor Padma! There was a bone in her meat! Er…that didn’t come out right, even though it’s practically a quote from the offending chef.

zomg! RADHIKA gets props first from the quick-fire judge, thanks to those famous Indian spices.

…and Radhika WINS the quick-fire challenge with her seekh kebab-dog, which gets her immunity from elimination. That’s kinda huge, if only because it guarantees ONE MORE WEEK of her…and one more post for me. ;)

Real challenge— open a restaurant…filled with diners who are NY CHEFS WHO DID NOT MAKE IT. Ah, I predict much saltiness and crit. :D

I think Hosea is headed for a “Spike and the scallops” situation with his crab meat clusterfcuk! Don’t use canned or frozen shit! Ever!

Radhika is on the dessert team.

I am scared of the ostrich egg one of the other contestants is messing with. Very scared.

I think asking Radhika if your dessert is too sweet is probably smart since unlike that other guy, she’s not trying to screw you over/has immunity. Or, I could be utterly wrong. :)

“With Tom in your kitchen, you know you have to step your game up”- R

Would-be Cheftestants/diners are…interesting.

I love that Tom is just like my Mom— snapping at someone for tasting and then using same spoon for a dish. ;)

Someone said “chiffonade”! Drink!

“I could’ve done better than this” is, quite predictably, the prevailing sentiment among the diners who are NOT impressed with the people who won their spots.

Radhika’s dessert is characterized as sweet guacamole. Ouch. Good thing she’s immune from being kicked off…

Padma saves the DC cheftestant’s dessert by calling it one of her faves.

aside: Padma looks glorious in that coral/salmon top. :)

overheard at the next table: “Padma is the best Indian person who is a celebrity in America.” Thoughts, mutineers?

Oh wait, there’s more! “Sendhil (from Heroes) is a close second.”

Tom Colicchio drops the BOMB on ‘em: “you’ve set American cuisine back 20 years”. Eeeep.

C’mon Padma! Yell at her for almost making you barf!!

Fabio is an idiot, going on the offensive with the judges, for no reason. A very, very funny, amusing idiot. :)

Padma is so funny when she lays the smackdown. “You’re here because we LIKED your dish”. Also,

“I spit. Yours out. In my napkin.”

…oh, the glorious disdain!!!

Tom slams his dish and then Hosea looks like he just made tatti in his pants.

I totally agree with who got sent home (see that? I DIDN’T SAY WHO IT IS. WHO LOVES YA, BABY?)

Loser’s quote: “It’s a little disappointing that Ariane is still staying…when…Padma spit HER dish out…but…”

Overheard, here at the viewing party…”oy, she/he (the loser) has got to be Jewish…” Then when we all turn in unison, aghast…”What? I can say that. I’m Jewish.”

As for next week’s preview: “That looks like spit. On a plate.” Eeek, here’s hoping they didn’t say that to Radhika. ;)