Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen 2

The rules are the same. If you get booted from Top Chef Texas, you have one last chance to redeem yourself. There’s no whining, passing the buck or bus driving. There’s only food and Tom Colicchio judging it.

Beware, there are spoilers below!

Last battle had Andrew defeating Janine. His opponent is Keith, who made the error of buying pre-cooked shrimp along with creating an enchilada dish with flour tortillas.

The segment begins with Keith PYKaG. Keith says he was pissed to be the first to leave (who wouldn’t) and he was shocked and let down that Lindsay and Sarah were acting like it was an individual challenge not a group one. Some chefs see the bigger picture and other don’t. For as angry as he sounds, they show him giving Lindsay a hug in the stew room before leaving to go back to the house. At the house, he finds a letter that says, “you have another opportunity to prove yourself”.

This is a mise en place race where you make a dish incorporating the ingredients. The mise en place isn’t focused on, but it appeared the ingredients are: clams, onion, radicchio, garlic, bell peppers, lemon and oregano/mint/cilantro (I can’t really tell).

Andrew sticks with his Mediterranean style cuisine and makes clams with grilled radiccho and peperonata, which Tom liked.

Keith made southern clam duo: clam ceviche with lemon zest and steamed clam with pancetta with a glass of champagne. If you don’t know where you stand, it’s never a bad idea to add a little alcohol to the mix. Tom thinks Keith’s food is subtle and the clams were steamed to perfection.

The next episode will have the Last Chance Kitchen’s Reigning Champion against the next eliminated in Top Chef Texas episode 4.