So We Think We Can Cook Masters

As we work our way through this season of Top Chef Masters, we're down to the last six cheftestants: Susan Feniger, Susur Lee, Tony Mantuano, Rick Moonen, Marcus Samuelsson, and Jonathan Waxman.

Episode 7's Quickfire challenge is to create a dish using leg proteins (crab legs, frog legs, leg of lamb, and so forth), and all the chefs run to the fridge to grab some legs. Rick wonders why no one's fighting him for the octopus "legs," before noting that 45 minutes really isn't long enough "to cook octopus traditionally." You just answered your own question, Rick. Regardless, he's going to sear them in a hot pan and then roast them in the oven. Good luck with all that.

Meanwhile, Susur is quickly and skillfully chopping his ingredients (before breaking a blender), and Jonathan is beating his crab legs with a pot. Tony is complaining about Susur taking up so much space in the kitchen, and Susan is frying up some chicken skin, while Susur tells another one of his Hong Kong anecdotes: "When I was sixteen, I quit school and I would hang out in the street. My brother said, 'Okay, you know, cut that shit out. You're coming to work at the restaurant with me.' And I love the kitchen! The chef would be smoking, he's yelling, he's swearing. It's exactly what I want."

The Quickfire dishes:

Tony: warm crab and potato salad with three types of coriander
Susur: indochine roasted leg of lamb with lamb meatballs, pine nuts, and dry cherry sauce
Susan: cumin-cilantro chicken with pickled tomatoes on quinoa and raisin pilaf
Jonathan: capellini with king crab leg, jalapenos, and mint
Marcus: confit of frog legs with curry broth and crab rice
Rick: egg in a hole with roasted octopus leg and bearnaise sauce

Jay Rayner and Olympic swimmer Jason Lezak (because he's got legs, get it?) are judging the quickfire dishes. Susan's plate is sloppy, and Rick's octopus is (of course) tough. They call Susur's dish "cute," which gets him riled up: "I don't like to hear the word 'cute' describing my cooking because I'm serious, not cute!" Awww, Susur is mad...isn't that cute?

Admittedly, Jay is in a pissy mood, and the scores reflect that: Tony, 3.5 stars; Rick, 3 stars; Jonathan, 3.5 stars; Marcus, 3 stars; Susan, 4.5 stars; Susur, 4 stars. Susan wins! And Susur is, as per usual, upset that he has not yet won a Quickfire challenge. Dude, you have had the top two scores in Top Chef Masters history! Get over it!

This week's elimination challenge is from Season 4: the tailgating challenge. The chefs have to cook for one hundred USC football fans on Weber grills. Susur has never heard of tailgating before, which is too be expected. Jonathan is feeling pretty confident, especially since he cooked on Weber grills for two weeks when the stoves for one of his restaurants didn't arrive in time for the opening. 

At Whole Foods, Rick is pissed, because Marcus ordered the chicken thighs he wanted and he thinks Marcus knew what he was planning and decided to sabotage him. That sounds paranoid but that also sounds like Marcus being an asshole. Marcus' interview, in which he talks about getting whatever advantage he can, doesn't acquit him of such behavior.

Susur continues to annoy Tony, calling him his "lucky charm" and that he could be a "Soprano chef."  Tony lets Susur know that's an offensive stereotype, but Susur just laughs.  He ain't care!   In fact, he's got much more to worry about: that he doesn't realize how exactly tailgating works until they show up at the parking lot the next day.  This is problem, considering that one of his dishes is dumplings.  The other immigrant on the show, Marcus, is only slightly more aware of what tailgating is, and he's making stew.  Soprano Chef Tony is grilling pizza, which is not at all an Italian stereotype.

From winning the Quickfire, Susan gets the advantage of wearing USC garb, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but keep in mind you've got rabid USC fans grading the food.  Rick doesn't understand why Jonathan is making steak tacos, when Susan is also making steak tacos, and she has her own goddamn taco truck.  Meanwhile, for the first time this season, Rick is straying from seafood and has made this great-looking Mediterranean chicken pita.  Extra garlic, please!

The tailgating elimination challenge dishes:

Jonathan: NY steak tacos with grilled vegetables and bordelaise sauce
Rick: chermoula grilled chicken with baba ghanoush and spicy slaw on pita bread
Marcus: grilled chicken and shrimp soup with a grilled vegetables couscous and a burger
Susur: Korean style skirt steak with roasted cauliflower and Austrian dumplings
Tony: grilled pizza with mozzarella, tomatoes, romano, arugula and prosciutto
Susan: skirt steak tacos, black bean and corn salsa, roasted pepper salsas

Susan's lesbian taco makes gay James Oseland feel like "a manly American," and everyone has a good laugh at that.  And of course, Jonathan's taco doesn't even compare to hers.  Tony's pizza has good flavors, but it's not uniform.  Marcus' dishes are good, but too busy.  Same with Susur; he attempts to defend his high-minded dumpling, leading Gael to suggest that "maybe a tailgate picnic is not a moment for high culture."  TRUE.

Marcus gets 10.5 stars from judges and 4 from the tailgaters, for a total of 14.5 stars; Susur gets 11 stars from judges and 4 from the tailgaters, for a total of 15 stars; Susan gets 12 stars from judges and 4 stars from the tailgaters, for a total of 16 stars; Rick gets 10 stars from judges and 3.5 stars from the tailgaters, for a total of 13.5 stars; Jonathan gets 7.5 stars from judges and 3 stars from the tailgaters, for a total of 10.5 stars; Tony gets 7.5 stars from judges and 2.5 stars from the tailgaters, for a total of 10 stars.

So Susan wins and Tony is out.  With her two wins this episode alone, Susan has won the most prize money of anyone so far: $32,000 for her charity, the Scleroderma Research Foundation.  Tonight: the chefs have to create a dish inspired by a Greek god.  Once again, Susur doesn't know what's going on!