''Top Chef'': Taco Isn't Cheap

On to the team challenge, which I'm not going to spend too much time on because it got boring really fast. They arrived at a random neighborhood in Chicago to find out what the challenge would be. ''As you know, Chicago is a city made up of neighborhoods,'' Padma told them. Okay, I had to pause right there. No way! Neighborhoods? In Chicago? ''The reason you're in this one,'' Padma said, ''is because they're having their annual block party tomorrow, and we want you to help make it the most memorable yet in a Mealstogether.com elimination challenge.'' Eh? Anyway, it was the kind of regurgitated ''Let's cook for Middle America'' challenge that they've done in previous seasons — big whoop, hamburgers and corn dogs — except this one did have one socially intriguing twist: They had to go grocery shopping in people's homes. (Insert knock-knock joke here.) Erik called it ''one hell of a curveball.''

This episode generally lacked tension and infighting. Erik got booted. No surprise there. (I will miss the big guy.) So before I split for this week, I thought I'd mention three things that are really apropos of nothing:

First, Andrew made me laugh for the first time when he seemed to genuinely ask his teammates, ''You guys smell that?'' A teammate bit — as did I — and said, ''What?'' ''Success,'' he answered, in a very meathead-Kazakhstan way.

Second, Padma's promotional spots are ridiculous. ''Let's put Padma in a sexy dress showing cleavage,'' a Bravo exec must have thought to himself, ''and then let's have her take a bite out of an apple.''

Third, the poll during the commercial breaks asked, ''Which will happen first? (A) Female President. (B) Female Top Chef.'' Eighty-five percent of voters chose Female Top Chef. This means two things: (1) Given the outcome of this week's episode, perhaps the First Lady could be Stephanie, and (2) this does not bode well for a former First Lady who's running for (A).

What did you think about the episode? Did Andrew go overboard when he defended his work by saying they'd have to drag him out of there if he lost? Would you like to see more drama from this group? How numskulled was Erik for pre-frying his corn dogs? Did he learn nothing from what happened to Valerie last week? And based on this week's ep, who do you think is most at risk of going home next time, when Daniel Boulud will be guest judge? (I’d say Ryan.)

You Might Also Like

• All About Top Chef
• The Q&A Chewing the fat with the ''Top Chef'' winner | Helin Jung