Bourdain checked in with the teams, à la Tom, but he's so much more of a Chatty Cathy, providing some comic relief now that Andrew the maniac is gone. ''The difference between the two teams' comportment is very striking,'' Bourdain said. ''Antonia, Richard, and Stephanie's team are deliberately creating modest expectations. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to exceed those expectations. But nobody is reaching too far or taking any big chances with this menu. Over at Mai Buddha, things could go really, really well here or really badly. They say they're all very comfortable with Asian food. You know, Asia's big. How good can you be at all of those things? I hear the word laksa, I have very high expectations. But if Dale, Lisa, and Spike pull this menu off, it would be an inspiring accomplishment. We have two very different teams tonight, and they're offering us two very different dining concepts. This should be a really interesting meal.'' Bourdain should have taken bets.
José Andrés, who has a PBS show called Made in Spain, was the guest judge this time around. He, Bourdain, Padma, and Ted Allen first tried out Warehouse Kitchen, where they cumulatively had the following to say: ''This is delicious.'' ''This is a nice presentation.'' ''I really love this dish.'' ''How much do you love that they leave the skin on the trout?'' ''It's like, my God.'' ''They're not joking around on Top Chef.'' If you were on the other team, how would you like to follow that? Not so much, right? Though you might have a leg up on dessert as long as you don't have any brown smears on your plate, which reminded Ted of ''New York City sidewalks.''
As food started to go out on the Mai Buddha side, Lisa noted that ''it's probably the first time I made a huge mistake in this competition, and I'm going to suffer for it big time.'' I just want to utter four words: magenta, drunken Polish sausage. But maybe this was worse. Dale and Lisa cannot coexist in the same kitchen. There was constant yelling about who could take what criticism and who's negative. And it obviously affected their food, according to the judges and the customers: ''It was just too damn smoky.'' ''Compared to this atrocity, it wasn't bad.'' ''I don't know exactly what we're eating here.'' ''It's baby vomit with wood chips.'' ''It was like putting my face in a campfire.''
(Gosh, before I get to the judges' table, I have to say this: Richard, for goodness' sake, we thought your hairdo on its own was bad, but take off the headband!)
Team Warehouse Kitchen received plenty of kudos, with Stephanie ultimately winning the challenge and a trip for two to Spain. Team Mai Buddha was lambasted for their lack of teamwork and really bad ideas for food. ''You're the executive chef, and you don't even know what a laksa is?'' Bourdain said to Dale. Regarding that dubious seafood dish, he said, ''Hearing the words 'butterscotch' and 'scallops' together in the first place was very worrying to me; it looked like a melted candy bar.'' Dale was forced to pack his knives, which wasn't a total surprise this time but would have been a shocker in recent episodes. The entire episode hinged on that coin toss of executive chef. If Lisa had won that, I think she would have been saying goodbye, not Dale.
What do you think? Should Dale have gone? Were you surprised that he was so teary-eyed and felt so disappointed in himself? Would things have been different if he had made friends instead of alienating himself from the pack? Who are your ideal four to make it to the finale? As for next week, what do you suppose that red-rover business at the judges' table is about?
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