9/10/2009

in

The judges raise the stakes by eliminating a contestant early in the high-stakes quickfire challenge.

Sara Eason

This week was French cuisine week for Bravo's "Top Chef." Contestants were pushed to their culinary limits when they found out that not only were they cooking with snails, but one of them was going to be sent home before even getting the chance to compete in the elimination challenge.  
  
Robin Leventhal, Jesse Sandin, and Ashley Merrimen were the bottom three in the escargot high-stakes quickfire. They were given a second chance when the judges made them create an amuse bouche or a one bite dish. In the end, it was 30-year-old Jesse Sandin, executive chef of Abacrombie Fine Foods that was eliminated.  
  
Kevin Gillespie won the quickfire with his Snail Fricassee with bacon jam and parsley puree and won immunity from the elimination challenge. Renowned chef Daniel Boulud was the guest judge for the high-stakes quickfire challenge.  
  
For the main challenge, contestants had to draw knives with different French sauces and proteins then pair up to create a classic yet modern French cuisine that would wow some of the most famous French chefs in the world. Joël Robuchon was the guest judge for the night which made the contestants even more nervous.  
  
French contestant, 29-year-old Mattin Noblia, thought that he had this challenge in the bag. Sadly, he and his partner Ashley Merrimen were in the bottom due to his bacon sauce. But in the end, Ash Fulk's partner, Hector Santiago, was sent home after judge Gail Simmons said his chateaubriand looked like it was "hacked with an axe."  
  
Now the female chefs of "Top Chef" can breathe a collected sigh of relief as a man finally gets sent home for the first time in the 6th season.