'Top Chef All Stars' Season 8, Episode 3 Recap

['Top Chef All Stars' - 'New York's Finest']

After the first two installments of 'Top Chef All Stars,' you might have thought that there'd be fewer fireworks in Episode 3. Think again. Tonight's show didn't eliminate one chef, it eliminated two. That's two more fan favorites sliced and diced by the judges, leaving 14 still in the contest.

In the aftermath of Jen's ouster last week, it was surprising that the others were so anti-Jamie. Mike was especially harsh, but then Jen said in her exit interview that she and Mike had become good friends since the Las Vegas season. It was probably his emotions speaking more than anything else, because Jen's pork dish was supposedly really bad.

The Quickfire Challenge was a variation on the relay race, which is always fun. For this go-round, Tom wasn't judging. It was David Chang, a major restaurateur and owner of Mapeche.

The chefs were split into four teams; winners got $5,000 each, but no immunity. That would be crucial because without warning, the chefs were told that it was double elimination day. More on that later.

In the relay, the skills tested were new: peeling artichokes, chopping garlic and Frenching lamb racks. It seemed simple enough, although there were 400 garlic cloves to be minced! Also, Chang was much more exacting than Tom's been in the past. Seriously, how finely chopped do garlic cloves need to be?

The first team to complete the peeling, chopping and Frenching then had to cook in 15 minutes. Richard observed that there was "No time for democracy," which meant that he called the shots and his teammates followed.

There were two lamb chops and two lamb carpaccio dishes, the latter because of the time constraints. If you didn't get the relay done fast enough, there was no time to actually cook anything, so raw lamb had to work. One carpaccio and one crispy lamb chop were chosen and the cooked meat ruled the day. Team blue, Richard, Tre, Stephen and Spike, won the money.

This season has already presented some very tough challenges, and this week's elimination challenge was a doozy. Each team would go to a fine-dining New York restaurant where they have to emulate the cuisine of the celebrity chef. And each team was competing with each other, knowing two chefs were being axed.

It's hard to say which was the most difficult celebrity chef to re-create. Each one had a unique and exacting style. The cheftestants were blown away by the dishes presented in these restaurants. Carla and Antonia were honest enough to admit they were intimidated, while Angelo and Mike seemed almost overconfident. Marcel struck the right balance between being impressed by WD-50 and inspired by Wiley Dufresne's food.

The Marea team included Tre and Richard, both of whom did well with the judges. But Bourdain was down on Stephen's fish dish and Spike misnamed his dish to the detriment of the judges.

The Mapeche team had Angelo mixing salmon with white chocolate. It sounded hideous, but the judges liked what he cooked. Fabio's meat dish, however, was over fussy. Bourdain said Fabio's food was "hopelessly lost in the forest."

The Townhouse team was a mixed bag, with Dale blending a roasted veal chop with French toast. Jame's soup was lacking something, but the Casey and Antonia got good notices. David Burke liked Antonia's playful peas and carrots.

The WD-50 team was interesting. Because of his history with molecular gastronomy, I expected Marcel to really do well. Instead it was Dale -- playing to Wiley's favorite, eggs -- who made the biggest noise with the judges. Tiffani screwed up, but Carla's shrimp and grits was in her comfort zone. Bourdain thought Marcel was timid, and that was very un-Marcel-like.

When Padma called in Angelo, Dale, Antonia and Tre, it was obvious that they were the top four. The winner was Dale T.

Stephen, Fabio, Dale L. and Tiffani had the worst dishes. Fabio admitted he was confused by Chang's cuisine. Bourdain blasted Stephen for the perfumey salmon. Tiffani knew that she'd overdone the Wiley D. techniques. And Dale L. had served breakfast instead of dinner. Two were going to be sent packing.

This was really tough because these chefs don't seem like strangers. It feels like we know them and it hurts to see them fail. But, ultimately, it really comes down to the challenge and the food. The judges don't bring emotion to the decision, or so they say. It's just rate the dish.

It was my suspicion that Stephen and Fabio were going home. Tom sized them up and Padma announced that it would be Dale and Stephen packing their knives. Dale was embarrassed to be axed so soon. Stephen regretted that he wasn't up to par with the other chefs.

'Top Chef All Stars' airs Wednesdays at 10PM ET on Bravo.