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Finally, we have Stacy with a grilled ribeye and king trumpet mushrooms. And, sure enough, the judges can’t get past her overcooked veggies. Additionally, Tom thinks that she cut her ribeye too thinly.

The cheftestants are called to Judge’s Table and Tom comments on the difficulty of trying to attract both casual diners and foodies via a single menu. He notes, though, that it’s no problem if a team or two failed to lure any diners in, so long as they made the best food.

The winning team - meaning, the team whose menu was requested the most by the diners - is the purple team. Sigh. “I knew I’d win,” says Aaron, totally overlooking the fact that it was a team challenge. Richard says that the team did a nice job incorporating buzzwords into their menu. “This is Top Chef, not Top Buzzword,” I tell Richard through my television. Tom says that the team also delivered on their menu promises, save for Katsuji with his horrible ravioli. “It was by far the weakest dish,” he says, and if Katsuji didn’t have immunity and wasn’t on the winning team, he “would be going home.” I am again blown away by Katsuji’s propensity either to make great food or really bad food one week to the next.

Padma tells the orange team that they liked their dishes and that they’re safe.

We’re down to the blue team and the grey team. From them, James, Stacy, and Rebecca are deemed to have served the worst dishes. None of these selections is a real surprise, and two of the three will be going home today. Tom hated Stacy’s overcooked veggies, while Stacy said she liked them. Richard notes the difference between standing behind a dish and being honest. “The vegetables were annihilated,” he says pointedly.

For Rebecca, she’s criticized for having no char on her fennel, despite it’s advertisement as such. Richard says that she also should have added more sauce, and that her dish felt like “mediocre room service.” Ouch. Richard is starting to show that he really knows how to throw shade.

Finally, Tom questions James’s ratio between oil to vinegar in his salad, saying he needed to incorporate more oil. James tries to blame his team for not allowing him to do the dish that he really wanted to do. Tom points out that he still had no excuse for actually making a dish that could send him home.

It’s chopping-block time, and the two chefs leaving us today are James and Rebecca. Tom says that they both had the same problem: the dishes didn’t work out in execution and were simply too trite. There was a fundamental lack of innovation.

In their closing moments, James laments his failure to go with his gut and do a “louder” dish. Rebecca says that she’s grown through this process and wants another chance. She says she’s ready to head off to Last Chance kitchen. I look forward to seeing the two of them there.

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