ariane

If you're a regular Top Chef watcher -- like me -- you know that when it comes to being a straight-shooter, down to earth, regular person, professional chef Tom Colicchio fills the bill. He's a tough judge, but pretty fair. He's also supposedly a world-class chef and restaurant mogul, but since I've never been to any of the Craft restaurants to had him cook a meal for me, I have to assume that's true.

One thing I do know is true, however, is that Tom Colicchio saved a life. Seriously.

On Monday night at a pre-Inaugural benefit in Washington, D.C., hosted by cookbook scribe Joan Nathan, when the hostess choked on a piece of chicken and author Alice Waters screamed for someone to help her, Chef Tom rushed over, assessed the situation and gave Ms. Nathan the Heimlich maneuver. After a few pulls, the chicken was dislodged and the party resumed.

The New York season of Top Chef has been fun, albeit a bit predictable. It seems like in every one of the episodes, you can peg who's going to be eliminated by the time Padma, Colicchio and company hit the judges' table. Even this week's addition of the Simon Cowell-like Toby Young as the new judge didn't derail the elimination train from its ultimate destination: the ouster of the two chefs everyone thought were in over their heads to begin with.

The fun part is that the producers are throwing challenges at the chefs that are pretty brilliant in their deviousness. For instance, last night the chefs had to cook for their potentially toughest critics... their fellow competitors. The results were mixed, to say the least. As in the previous weeks, the food produced by the chefs was mostly mediocre or uninspired. The people that challenged themselves ended up falling on their faces.

Which leads me to this question for you all: Would you eat at any of the contestants' restaurants? Follow me after the jump and I'll explain.