Top Chef Power Rankings (11/11/09)

We are now down to the final 5. Last night’s episode featured the casino’s of Las Vegas as inspiration for the Chef’s dishes. Each Chef got to go to the casino and experience what the casino had to offer including playing with dolphins at the Mirage, attending a medieval tournament at Excalibur and seeing the Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef. Last power rankings top 3 finished on top while the bottom three finished on the bottom. Robin made a poor dish, maybe not the worst of the night, but her track record of being on the bottom sent her packing. We are now down to 5 with 1 more challenge before the final 4. Does anybody know where they are going this year?

Top Shelf

Kevin “Red Beard” Gillespie



After winning both quick fire and elimination challenge last show, Kevin followed it up by finishing in the top of both this week. His fish dish drawing inspiration from the Mirage was a judges favorite and from the way they talked about it I expected it to win.


Bryan Voltaggio



Bryan finished in the bottom of the quickfire because he added vanilla to his breakfast dish. Bryan drew inspiration on the Mandalay Bay for the elimination challenge where he produced one of the chef’s favorite dishes. Him and Red Beard are still the top two chef’s but brother Mike has significantly closed the gap.


Mike Voltaggio



Mike was the elimination challenge winner last night with his play on the chicken wing drawing inspiration from New York New York casino. I was a little surprised that he won after hearing the discussion from Toby Kieth. Dish still came out good and he is closing the gap between him and the top 2.


Chopping Block


Eli Krishtein



I was debating about putting Eli on the bottom. I think the tailspin that Jen is in, and her saying she wants to go home, puts her a little behind Eli. Eli did win the quickfire last night with what looked like a tasty Breakfast Rueben. I actually feel the judges disliked his dish the most, but he had a better track record then Robin. Saying that, I feel Eli drew the short stick with casinos. Circus Circus is a hard concept to come up with (which he struggled) and compared to the other places the cheftestants went, Circus Circus does not have as distinguishing features as the others.

Jen Carroll



The judges said it last night, the contest is a marathon and it looks Jen has hit a wall. She is talking to herself in the stew room saying she wants to go home. She has continually been getting flustered as well. I feel like her ceiling is higher then Eli’s and maybe even Mike Voltaggio, she has not been performing in recent weeks.