Last night's Top Chef: All-Stars began with an odd Quickfire Challenge: Create a unique fondue. According to Padma, this wasn't the '70s and they weren't looking for bananas dipped in chocolate.
This challenge was all kinds of crazy and the cheftestants would be their own judges. Mike said he was born in the '70s, so he never knew too many people who went to those gay fondue parties. Ahem, rude. Our favorite moment was when Dale called Angelo a stunning man and complimented his manicured five-o'-clock shadow. Comfortable-with-his-sexuality Dale made a pho-ndue, Antonia had a Jewish deli-themed fondue, and Richard had an interesting/nitrogen take on chocolate and bananas. Of course, they called one another's food pedestrian and Dale straight-up said, "I am going to be like a New York Times reviewer up in this bitch."
According to the ballots it was Dale who was the winner ― un-pho-king-believable!
Speaking of New York, the cheftestants went to Rockefeller Center to be led onto the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, just in time for Cell Phone Shootout. They grabbed their cell phones and had to shoot (photos of) quickly displayed food items. Antonia got stuck with beef tongue, and Carla was so excited that her phone captured chicken pot pie, a dish she'd been fantasizing about cooking. For the Elimination Challenge they had to cook the things they'd photographed. We learned later that it would be for Jimmy's birthday party, and that he hates mushrooms, mayonnaise, and eggplant.
Carla was the winner for her pot pie, and won a special segment on Late Night, plus a trip to Tokyo.
Everyone's favorite Italian import, Fabio, was the one sent home. He got stuck with a burger and fries; he couldn't even say burger, let alone make one. He used short-rib and brisket, which left his burger too meatloaf-y. He also had the idea to melt cheddar separately so people could add it if they wanted a cheeseburger. But Tom said the cheese sauce had turned green and granular and made an eek face.
Fabio left with this pearl of wisdom: You really are the only shadow standing in your own sunshine.
We were sad to see Fabio go, but this is All-Stars and we can still read his blog (he's still so pissed that Antonia's French mussel dish won the Italian challenge last week), his YouTube videos, and his awesome tweets.
We can't believe it's Fabio, but we'll keep on watching. Especially since next week promises muppets, and Bourdain calling for urine testing.
