Top Chef 4, Episode 5: The Elements of Cooking

Last time on Top Chef, Manuel got cut for failing to bring anything to the table – figuratively speaking – in a challenge inspired by the chefs' favorite movies. Whose food will be tasty, and whose exit will be hasty this time? Let's find out.

We get our usual "morning round-up" of the chefs talking about what happened last time. Antonia's still ticked that her and Zoi's Talk to Her dish didn't speak to the judges. Zoi says the "fact" that she got "jacked" on the last challenge lights a fire underneath her. You didn't get jacked, honey; you just failed to deliver. Jennifer doesn't get why the judges didn't like Zoi's food, but as the two of them are sweethearts, she admits she's a bit biased.

And it's into the Quickfire challenge we go! The guest judge is Ming Tsai, whom Lisa describes as being known for his "east-meets-west cuisine." This challenge is all about a trained palate, he says – it's the blindfold taste test. Antonia's psyched because this is her favorite challenge on the show.

The twist is this: Each chef will be served a pair of items: a "high-end" version of a particular food and a lesser version (i.e., the one I can afford). They have 20 seconds to guess which is which. Winner gets immunity. Andrew says that "if you're blind, (this) is really hard to do." I'm not sure that was the most politically correct thing to say, but then again, this is Andrew.

Ryan is first. He gets a cheap maple syrup and a more expensive maple syrup. He guesses correctly. He goes again, this time with bacon, and is right once more. Up next is Stephanie; she blows it on crab. We don't see if Lisa gets it right or not, but she does knock over a bottle of water since she can't see it. Dale picks right on chocolate.

Wait, there's Lisa again. She guesses one wrong, but picks the right butter. You know how smooth that pick was? Like buttah! Sorry, had to do it. She also guesses right on some aged cheese. I'm unclear on how many tries each chef gets now. Dale's unhappy that he missed on caviar. Jennifer gets pork right. The clips are flying by now and we're not even seeing what they're eating anymore, so just imagine Padma saying "correct" and "incorrect" a lot, and you've got the idea.

Time to announce the results. The lowest score was six out of 15 (okay, so they got 15 tries, I get it). Stephanie admits she sucks at Quickfires. There's a tie for runner-up at 11-of-15 – those contestants are Ryan and Jen. Zoi is irritated than Jen beat her by one right guess. Now, now. And the winner, who got 12-of-15 is… Antonia! She's very pleased, obviously.

Padma tells us about the elimination challenge – the chefs will be cooking for the Meals on Wheels Chicago Celebrity Chef Ball. It's being catered by a group of, well, top chefs (the kind who are famous for reasons other than being on a reality show), but they're only going to be preparing the second through fourth courses; our contestants will be creating the first course, to set the tone for the dinner. Ming Tsai warns them to keep it simple and focus on taste.

The theme of the event is the four “elements”: earth, water, fire, and air. Suddenly, I'm in the mood to hear some Earth, Wind & Fire. Sing a song, everybody! Apparently, it's going to be another team challenge (enough already!), with each of four groups creating another element-inspired meal. Isn't this basically the same idea as the zoo party challenge? Are they having trouble coming up with stuff this season?

Knives are drawn, teams are determined, and only 15 minutes are available to plan menus, which makes Richard unhappy. Team Water is Mark, Richard, and Andrew. Seems like Richard and Andrew play well together, which is something Andrew digs about this draw. Team Air is Jen, Ryan, and Nikki. Jen is thinking immediately of "little birds." Nikki thinks using birds is too simplistic an idea.

Team Earth is Spike (this time wearing Bear Bryant's hat) and another Zoi-Antonia match-up. You know, because it worked so well last time. Spike wants to do a butternut squash soup, but Antonia thinks that's not nearly high-end enough. However, if that's really what they want to do, she'll go along with it begrudgingly. Spike is scared to be teamed with Antonia, because she has immunity, which means that if they lose, his chances of going home are greater. He should stop worrying about that and listen to her, since she's dead right about the soup.

Team Fire – Steph, Lisa, and Dale – are talking grilled food, naturally. Dale suggests beef tartare, but Lisa isn't feelin' it. Now Dale is thinking about deviled eggs, because he wants to not be so literal; fire = devil = deviled eggs, after all. Much like Antonia, Lisa thinks going with something as tiny and simple as an egg is "weak." Dale doesn't see himself working well with Lisa and her negative attitude. Stephanie's concerned because Lisa's hard-headed and Dale is a "self-proclaimed ***hole."

At the grocery store, Team Water is looking for fish that they can poach in a controlled water bath. Oh, here go the mad scientists again. Team Air wants duck, in order to serve it cold. Team Fire is … pretty much lost. Dale's still pitching ideas, specifically about "crazy hot spices," and Lisa's wanting to go Asian to impress Ming Tsai. This team is just not getting along at all, and I'll be shocked if they don't end up in the losers' spot.