Ah, a nice one hour episode. That’s what Bravo gives us each week for “Top Chef,” unlike “Hell’s Kitchen” on Fox, which has become a two-hour marathon akin to “American Idol” on Tuesdays. But I digress. Last night’s episode began with Kenny getting a letter from his girlfriend as encouragement, something he needed after finishing second to Angelo time and again, and then being on the chopping block last week. Meanwhile, Angelo was still seething about how Kenny threw him under the bus at the judges’ table last week. Dude, you were playing the game, remember? You totally deserved that.

Then renowned pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini and regular judge Gail Simmons were there with Padma to introduce the quick fire challenge. Johnny and Gail will be the co-hosts of a new show, “Top Chef: Just Desserts” soon. Anyway, their challenge was to create a pie from scratch in two hours. The winner of the challenge would have immunity for the week.

The least favorites of the pie challenge were Alex, who made a white chocolate and tapioca pie that had egg in it, prompting Johnny to say it was more like a quiche; Ed, who made a banana cream pie but then inadvertently added celery with peanut butter to it. What??; and finally Tracey, who made a blueberry almond crunch pie.

The top dishes for the quickfire were Kelly, Stephen and Kenny. Kelly made a chocolate ganache; Stephen a curried apple pie; and Kenny a bananas foster pie with Chinese five spice. Kenny won this time, finally, and he would have immunity this week.

Next came the elimination challenge, and for this one the chefs had to re-create an American tradition, the summer picnic. They would be catering a picnic for Capitol Hill interns, using Weber barbecue grills. In prep work, Amanda and Alex got into an argument about who had dibs on an oven. Seriously? Chef Jonathan Waxman would be a guest judge this week.

Arnold admitted that he wasn’t a grill guy, so he just watched everything Kenny did and mimicked it. Amanda and Tim both made ribs, and Tracey was making Italian sausage patties. Anyway, the top four were Arnold, Ed, Amanda and Angelo. Arnold made a sesame lamb meatball; Ed a tuna dish with lentil hummus; Amanda the dry rubbed ribs; and Angelo made Vietnamese lettuce wraps with smoked egg salad. Angelo admitted that Amanda’s ribs were better than what he made. But in the end, Waxman got to announce the winner this week, and it was Arnold. The same Arnold who wasn’t a “grill guy.” Awesome. I have to say though, I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten Arnold’s food in Nashville, and dude has mad skills.

The bottom four this week were Tim, Stephen, Tracey and Kevin. Tim made pork two ways with beans and greens, and his downfall was probably that Amanda’s ribs were so much better. Stephen made a bass wrapped in bacon that the judges just disliked across the board. Tracey’s sausage sliders just had too much fennel and were a mess overall, and Kevin’s flank steak with rice and beans was too safe in the eyes of the judges–and his rice was overcooked while the beans were undercooked.

In the end, it was Tracey sent home. She’s been in the bottom too often, and was lucky last week to have immunity after being paired with Angelo.

So we’re now down to 14, and this season is just beginning. Let me know what you thought of the episode and see you next week!

Last night’s episode of “The Next Food Network Star” featured two unique challenges. The first was a chili pepper challenge, in which the 9 remaining chefs had to stake their claim to a specific type of chili pepper on a table and then create at dish with it to present on camera for 30 seconds. The winner would have their dish featured at all three of Bobby Flay’s restaurants.

Paul made a scallop dish with habanero and coconut sauce; DAS made some sort of sushi with tuna; Aria made a pork tenderloin with chili marinade; Herb a yellow chili spring roll with crab salad; Brianna made chili and chicken kabobs; Serena had Anaheim peppers and made a salad with mango and avocado; Tom made poblano with chorizo; Aarti made a steak with serrano chutney; and Brad made chicken and shrimp with coconut peanut sauce using Thai chiles.

The worst of the challenge according to Flay and the other judges were DAS’s sushi and Herb’s spring roll. Herb immediately slipped into this depression that was kind of sad and made me feel really bad for him. He was left wondering if he should really be here. They really liked Tom’s dish and presentation as well as Aarti and Brad, but the winner of the challenge was Brianna. She can be corny and annoying at times (and by times, I mean all the time), but it really seems like she knows how to cook.

The main challenge of the episode was to take the comfort foods of the childhoods of three acclaimed chefs–Jonathan Waxman, Susan Feniger and Eric Greenspan–and re-invent said dishes to reflect their own culinary point of view. Waxman and Feniger were recently contestants on Top Chef Masters on Bravo, so it was cool to see them here. The contestants were broken up into groups of three–and each group was assigned to one chef. Tom, Aarti and Herb were assigned to Waxman; Serena, Brad and Brianna to Feniger; and Aria, Paul, and DAS to Greenspan.

Waxman’s dish was lamb with potatoes; Feniger’s was fried chicken with basic iceberg salad; and Greenspan’s was steak with macaroni and cheese.

Tom made a leg of lamb with smashed fingerling potatoes; Aarti made ground lamb kabobs with pomegranate molasses; and Herb made a lamb with shallot and red wine reduction. The judges liked Tom’s dish but loved Aarti’s. She appears to be a front runner more and more each week. Meanwhile, Herb swung and missed again.

Serena made an Italian style chicken cutlet that was heavy on the breading; while Brad and Brianna both made authentic fried chicken that, I swear, made me want to jump through my TV. Brad’s was with an aioli and Brianna’s was a chicken & waffles dish inspired by her own childhood since her dad had taught her to make it. The judges praised Brad and Brianna but didn’t love Serena’s take, saying it wasn’t authentic enough. I’m not sure why they stress point of view so much, but then berate the contestants when they don’t stay true enough to the task. Huh?

Aria made flank steak fajitas with jalapeno mac & cheese; DAS made a New York strip with 3-berry relish and a basic mac & cheese; and Paul took a huge risk by making a pork tenderloin with marscarpone and spaetzle. Yikes. DAS did not dazzle and his nervousness on camera shone through again. Meanwhile, Paul just veered way too far from the actual challenge, and Greenspan even made a comment that being Jewish, he never even ate pork growing up. Oops. And while they liked Aria’s dish, they didn’t love it…they only liked it more than the other two guys’ creations.

So the winners were Aria, Aarti and Brad–and each was safe from elimination this week. Next to safety were Brianna, Tom and Paul. I have no clue why they gave Paul a free pass, especially since he really messed up this challenge.

It came down then to DAS, Herb and Serena. Serena was declared safe, and then it was between DAS and Herb. Herb was given a pep talk by Flay about lifting his head up and getting back in it, and DAS was sent home. Bob Tuschman made the comment that DAS was getting slightly better each week, but he feared that by the show’s finale, he would not have progressed enough to be a network star. And that was a very correct assessment.

Okay, so we’re down to 8 now–Brad, Aarti, Serena, Herb, Aria, Brianna, Tom and Paul. I think we’re going to see Paul, Herb, Serena and Brad exit soon, and maybe Tom. But Aarti, Brianna and Aria seem to be the best overall performers when you combine cooking chops with TV appeal.

What do you think? Let me know in the space below, and see you all next week…

Their quick fire challenge was to create a dish with just $20 and the use of a single aisle at a grocery store, drawn randomly. Jonathan drew the aisle with canned veggies and dried beans, and wound up making a red pepper and lentil salad. Art had the rice aisle and made a risotto with crispy rice salad. Michael had the baking aisle and made a chocolate parfait, and Roy had the pasta aisle and made an Asian style spaghetti with an egg on top. The judges for this were Whole Foods employees, and they liked just about all of the dishes, but loved the chocolate parfait the most…..even after Michael claimed to not be much of a dessert expert. So Michael wound up with 5 stars, Art 4.5 stars, Roy 4, and Jonathan 3.5…all of which would go toward their final score.

The elimination challenge was another “Top Chef” favorite, the mystery box challenge…..each chef would create a mystery box for one of the other chefs from which they had to make a dish. Roy and Art drew each other, and Jonathan and Michael drew each other as well. For Art, Roy chose chicken, corn and yams among others…..Art gave Roy mahi-mahi and short ribs…..Michael chose pork chops, cauliflower and black truffles for Jonathan….and Jonathan gave Michael lamb, portobello mushrooms and sunchokes. The judges were regulars Gael Greene and James Oseland, with “Top Chef” regular Gail Simmons filling in for Jay Rayner.

Art, who has southern roots, made fried chicken and a mango tart, and I’m pretty sure the judges are still licking their fingers. It’s almost unfair I think to make fried chicken or anything with bacon! Anyway, Art made a surf and turf but some of the judges thought he over-sauced the fish. Jonathan made a pork sausage and pork chop with cauliflower puree and black truffles, and the judges were mixed on this one, though Simmons went on and on about how the earthy truffles made the dish. Finally, Michael, who is a seafood chef, made loin of lamb with sunchoke puree and cauliflower….the judges were mixed on this one too. It’s also worth noting that while Jonathan challenged Michael a bit by not giving him seafood, the others made sure they gave their opponents the best chance to shine…and the love-fest these guys had for each other was at a higher level than in earlier rounds of the show.

Anyway, at judgment time, Roy earned 11 stars between the diners and the judges, giving him 15 total. Michael, who was in the lead after the quick fire challenge, earned 12.5 stars, giving him 17.5 and eliminating Roy. Jonathan earned 16.5 stars, giving him 20 total, and eliminating Michael. Finally it was Art….and we all knew they loved his chicken and tart…..Art earned 17.5, including a perfect 5 from Gael Greene, to give him 22 stars total and the victory.

So Art will join Hubert Keller, Suzanne Tracht, Rick Bayless, Anita Lo and Michael Chiarello in the finals, which begins next week with the grand prize being $100K for charity. This show has been really exciting so far, so seeing the best of the best square off now is going to be really fun to watch. Join us next week and let us know your thoughts on last night’s episode….