Last week was very heated with Elizabeth Rivasplata being sent home for not properly leading her Restaurant Wars team. With only one female left in the competition, Trista Sheen will have to step up and stand out.
This week’s quick-fire challenge was a mystery. Richard Blais was a guest judge and he introduced the theme for this competition: the can opener. The chefs had to use the can opener to open three unmarked tin cans with unknown contents. The contents of each can had to be used in their dishes. Some of the ingredients revealed were cranberry jelly, coconut curry, pickled celery, hotdogs, pickled eggs, coconut milk, tomato paste, sauerkraut, hummus, and both beef and chicken broth.
David chose to pick five cans and came up with beef chowder. Curtis seriously sliced his knuckle on a mandolin, however it did not slow him down, even as his glove filled with blood. The chefs on the bottom were David Chrystian, Jonathan Korecki, and Carl Heinrich. The chefs on the top were Ryan Gallagher, Curtis Luk, and Trevor Bird. Ryan won for reinventing his canned sardines dish and would receive immunity in the elimination round.
The elimination round was a challenge to the chefs to deconstruct traditional main dishes. They had to take the essence of the original dish, play with texture and temperatures, and put it back together as an even better meal. Ryan Gallagher went first and got eggs Florentine, Curtis got tuna casserole, Trevor got spaghetti and meatballs, Zavier got quiche Lorraine, Jimmy got chicken potpie, Trista got meatloaf, David got chicken noodle soup, Jon got strawberry cheesecake, and Carl got chili.
The guest judge for this challenge was Johnny Reid, a Juno award winner and multiplatinum country artist. David made a tureen to redeem his last episodes failure. Trista made a tartar meatloaf, which judge Shereen Arazm could not have, as it is raw meat. Trista made a hot steak for her instead. Xavier had a beautiful plate that the judges loved. Trevor had an excellent play on spaghetti with a sauce-filled meatball that exploded as you squished it.
The top chefs were David, Trevor and Xavier. Xavier was the overall winner for his excellent deconstruction of a Quiche Lorraine dish. The chefs on the bottom were Jimmy, Jonathan and Curtis.
Unfortunately, Curtis Luk was sent home on this episode as a result of his poor tuna casserole not going over well with the judges. Although he could use some work on his culinary skills, his jovial presence on Top Chef Canada will be missed!
