Noelle Myers recaps the11th episode of Top Chef New Orleans!

With only six chefs remaining, there is a lot of drama still to come this season.

Jacques Pepin greeted the chefs as they arrived for the Technical Skills Quickfire.  The chefs had to prepare Jacque’s favorite dish – Dover sole with artichokes and grilled asparagus.  Jacques showed the chefs exactly how to prepare this dish, including the butter rose.  The chefs were all in awe watching the famous chef fly through the prep of the dish.  They had 35 minutes to duplicate the dish.

Only two of the chefs actually finished the dish – Shirley and Nick.  Nina and Stephanie came close, while Brian and Carlos struggled with the challenge.  Nick won his first Quickfire and received immunity.

For the Elimination Challenge there was a battle of cuisines – French Cuisine verses Spanish Cuisine!  Two chefs, both with two Michelin Stars, mentored the chefs for this challenge.  Dominique Crenn, the first woman to receive a Michelin Star rating in the US, mentored the French Team.  Julian Serano, mentored the Spanish Team.  The chefs drew knives to see who would be on which team.

Nick, Shirley, and Stephanie drew the French Team, while Brian, Nina, and Carlos drew the Spanish team.  Each team had to create a five course meal, highlighting five ingredients common to both cuisines. They had to highlight – Olives, Almonds, Mussels, Chicken and Chocolate.

Dominique was a very progressive chef and very relaxed.  She urged her team to make progressive modern French food.  Julian was much more into micromanaging and very old school.  He showed his team every cut and plating technique and stuck to traditional Spanish food.

Jacques, Dominique, Julian, Padme, Emeril, Tom and the executive chefs of the restaurant, Revolution, were the judges for the evening.  The teams served their meals, course by course, simultaneously.

The First Course – For the French Team, Shirley highlighted olives in her snapper ceviche with dehydrated olives and olive oil ice cream.  For the Spanish Team, Nina also highlighted olives in her enslalada russa with green olives, gulf shrimp, and potatoes.

The Second Course – For the French Team, Stephanie highlighted the mussels, with pickled and poached mussels, crustacean jus and tomate.  The Spanish Team highlighted almonds with Nina’s ajo blanco with almonds, crab and cherries.

The Third Course – Shirley and Stephanie worked together to create the French Team’s ode to chicken, chicken liver mousse with roasted chicken bouillon.  Carlos focused on mussels for the Spanish Team.  He made mejillones a la romesco (mussels with romesco sauce) and crispy leeks.

The Fourth Course – Nick was responsible for the French Team’s chocolate dish.  He made Cornish game hen with spiced chocolate and a corn silk nest.  Bryan and Carlos teamed up to make the chicken dish for the Spanish Team.  They made pollo con arroz y saffron (chicken and saffron rice).

The Fifth Course (Dessert) – Nick was once again responsible for the French Team’s dessert.  To highlight the almonds, he made a marcona almond flan with plum and dark cocoa.  Bryan stuck with Chef Julian’s idea and made a chocolate flan with strawberries.

At the table there were many mixed reviews.  Each guest mentor fought for their team.  There were some interesting attitudes, but they all thought it was a good meal over all.

At the Judges Table, Padma called the Spanish Team in first – they were the favorite for the night, and Nina was chosen as the winner.  That meant that the French Team was on the bottom and as Nick has immunity, it would be either Shirley or Stephanie to go home.  Nick’s dishes were the ones that put the team on the bottom, Shirley and Stephanie’s dishes were loved by the judges.  The judges tried to get Nick to give up his immunity and “fall on his sword” but he would not give it up, so it ended up being Stephanie that was sent to face Louis in Last Chance Kitchen.

Next week – Dumpster Diving?  And Nick and Carlos’s fight takes another turn.