It's been quite a busy time for Venezuelan chef Lorena Garcia in season 4 of Bravo's Top Chef Masters. She's lost her new best friend Art Smith a few weeks ago but then ended up winning last week's boxing-style competition and making it into the final four.
The weeks are getting more and more difficult, though, with Chef Lorena facing serious competition from the other three remaining chefs: Kerry Heffernan, Chris Consentino and Patricia Yeo, who actually taught Chris and has had it in for Lorena throughout the whole show. And one of the ladies DID go home, so was it Lorena who didn't make it into the final three?
Read more ¿Qué Más? 'Top Chef Masters': Lorena Garcia fights for the win with Latin dishes!
This week started out REALLY tough. The Quickfire challenge put the chefs into teams (Kerry with Lorena; Chris with Patricia) where one of them cooked two dishes and the other one ran around the pantry picking out ingredients. Unfortunately, things weren't very smooth for Kerry and Lorena; he ended up not having enough time to cook her dish properly and the judges chastised her for not having a complete dish.
Luckily, though, Chef Kerry won so the two of them split the winning money for their respective charities. Then it was on to the Elimination challenge. The four remaining chefs had to cook a picnic-style meal for Dîner en Blanc, a flash-mob style pop-up dinner party where everyone dresses in white. It was held at the Venetian in Las Vegas and the chefs stressed about not being able to serve food that was hot or cold (basically, it had to be room temperature).
Read more ¿Qué Más? 'Top Chef Masters': Lorena Garcia's BFF Art Smith heads home! (VIDEO)
Chef Lorena served up a Huancaina-style potato salad with aji amarillo and cilantro; a jerk chicken salad with mango & caramelized pine nuts; and a jalapeño chocolate mousse with raspberries and whipped cream. The guests absolutely fawned over her mousse and I'm right there with them! Well, except that I'm just ogling the dish through my TV.
When it came time to face the judges, Lorena didn't do so well. It was her and Patricia (for serving a dish that SHOULD be only served hot, what an idiot!) in the bottom, after Chef Chris won and Chef Kerry came in a close second. Thankfully it was the hateful Patricia who went home in the end (after smugly saying that "the better person will stay in the competition")—so WOO HOO for Lorena!
The Latina chef is advancing to the Final Three and the semifinale episode next week and I just can't WAIT! Will she end up being the first female Top Chef Master? I sure hope so!
Image via NBC
