Season 7 of “Top Chef” on Bravo kicked off last night, and this season it will take place in Washington DC, home of the White House, insane traffic, and great restaurants. Just like in most seasons, you can just about tell who is not going to last long, who can really cook, and/or who has an ego the size of the city they are taping in.

This season, in addition to the regular judges Padma Lakshmi (host), Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio, renowned chef and restauranteur Eric Ripert was added to the team. I won’t try and list all of the chef-testants by name and where they are from, because there are just too many of them to keep track at this point! But we’ll let you know who is standing out for various reasons.

The group met atop a tall building in DC and when Padma and Tom walked in, Colicchio announced the quick fire challenge. They each had to peel 10 potatoes, and the five slowest would be eliminated. The next round was to brunoise 10 cups of onions…brunoise is a fancy term for small dice. The slowest four would be eliminated. Then the third round was butchering four chickens, and the top four would advance to the final round, which was to cook a dish in 30 minutes using the ingredients they just prepped.

In the final four were Angelo, a dude with a huge ego who could also back up that huge ego; Kenny, who was faster on every challenge; Timothy, who is from DC; and Kevin. Kevin and Tim were both eliminated right off the bat–Kevin made a boneless chicken wing with hot and sour broth; and Tim made a roasted chicken with potato galette and mushrooms. In the end, Angelo’s roasted chicken wing with onion jam and potato noodles beat out Kenny’s chicken two ways with potato puree and onion con fit. Kenny was pissed, and Angelo went on and on about how great he is. Ugh. So Angelo won $20K as it was indeed a high stakes quick fire.

For the elimination challenge, the chefs would have to prepare a dish that signified where they were from, and they would be catering a party for 300 people to kick off the Cherry Blossom Festival. Each of the four who made the final of the quick fire had to choose chefs to compete AGAINST, forming four groups. So getting picked first in this case was not a good thing.

The bottom four and top four would be chosen one from each group.
The top four was Angelo, Kenny, Kevin and Alex. Angelo won, again, and I’m not sure what his dish was but I know it had bacon froth and that really impressed the judges, especially Ripert.

The bottom four wound up being Stephen, John, Jacqueline and Timothy. Stephen made a crispy rib-eye steak and made a fancy “O” arrangement to signify Ohio; John made a maple mousse in pastry that he didn’t make from scratch; Jacqueline a low fat (?) chicken liver mousse; and Timothy rock fish with the skin on (and a very thick skin at that…ewww).

Each of these four made glaring errors, and Colicchio admitted it was very tough to send someone home this soon, but they had to do it. It was John, whose maple mousse lacked maple flavor, and using store bought puff pastry was also a big no-no.

So there you have it…we are off and running, and already we can see that Angelo, Kenny and Kevin are going to be strong competitors the whole way…just like Kevin G. and the brothers Voltaggio last season.

Who do you like? I’m pulling for Kenny, because while I didn’t taste his food, I feel like he got screwed in both challenges. Let me know what you think in the space below!

On Bravo’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas” last night, Penn and Teller were guests as well as chef Michelle Bernstein. But there was no magic act when it came to elimination time….because there are a few of these contestants that are hanging by a thread with the likes of Jennifer, Kris Kringle (Kevin) and the brothers Voltaggio that are barreling toward a showdown.

For the quick fire challenge with Bernstein as the judge, the chefs had to create a dish that displayed their own personal battle (i.e. something like an artery clogging dish alongside a heart-healthy one). The winner would have immunity for the elimination challenge.

The least favorites were Ash, who made some sort of custard; Brian, who made a chocolate dish that probably tasted better than it looked, or maybe not; and Laurine, who Bernstein said made a dish with no inspiration. Yikes. The favorites were Michael, who made two kinds of salmon; Eli, who made a risotto; and Robin, who made a raw salad that representer her surviving cancer, and a decadent apple crisp. Robin won, and Eli was bitter afterward, saying Robin used her cancer to gain an edge. Dude, easy!

On to the main challenge and replacing Gail Simmons this week would be British wiseass critic Toby Young. Vegas staples Penn & Teller would also be on hand to help eat and judge. The challenge was to de-construct classic dishes so that all of the flavors would blend together at the end to taste like the original dish. Some of the chefs were baffled by this challenge, including Jennifer who was fearing elimination for once.

Here is what they wound up choosing randomly:
Mike Isabella: eggs florentine
Mike V.: Caesar salad
Brian: Reuben sandwich
Laurine: fish & chips
Ash: shepherd’s pie
Jen: meat lasagna
Ron: paella
Eli: sweet & sour pork
Ben Folds (Ashley): pot roast
Kris Kringle: chicken mole
Robin: New England clam chowder

As they were cooking, Eli’s pressure cooker blew its top….and considering that he brought his own pressure cooker and the kitchen had plenty of their own, we had to wonder why he did this. And who travels with a presssure cooker anyway? Oh wait, my mom does, to make her famous mashed potatoes when she visits us.

Anyway, as host Tom Colicchio visited with each chef as they were preparing the dishes, Jennifer was trying to avoid him because she was so busy trying to make her dish a good one. Ron and Mike I. were totally confused by the challenge.

Anyway, at judgment time, Ben Folds, Michael V., Kris Kringle and Jennifer were the favorites. They loved the flavor of Ben’s pot roast, loved the way Michael de-constructed his Caesar salad, the way Jen melted cheese on top of meat and pasta and especially the thought and intricacy that went into Kris Kringle’s mole….and he was declared the winner this week.

The worst dishes this week were by Laurine, Ron and Ash. Laurine’s fish was overcooked and she only served two chips with each dish because many of the ones she cooked were soggy. Ron did a lousy job de-constructing his paella, and he was probably hurt by the fact that every other chef was trying to give him advice (in fairness, he did ask them for the advice). And Ash was pretty clueless about shepherd’s pie, and when his potatoes did not cook properly, he tried to substitute some sort of parsley puree. Think about that for a minute….parsley for potatoes? What was this guy thinking??? Anyway, I really thought Ash should have gotten the boot for that, but they instead chose Ron. All I can say is his paella must have really tasted awful for them to choose him.

So okay…..we’re down to 10 now….Mike, Mike, Brian, Laurine, Ash, Jen, Eli, Ben Folds, Kris Kringle and Robin…and you can bet Ash and Laurine are going to be next to go…with Robin, Ben Folds, Eli and Mike I. the next tier. I’d be really surprised if Jen, Mike V. Brian and Kris Kringle weren’t the final four, but who knows? This is reality TV after all, so anything can happen.

Who do you like? Who don’t you like? Let me know in the space below and see you next week….