Top Chef ™

Top Chef ™ Challenge Type:

Elimination

Brunch on a Table

Michelle: "I was definitely inspired by brunch today. So I did a play on gravadlax and bagels instead. I did cured salmon with beet biscuits. There's pickled beets with capers, and then there's a little egg with caviar and then a fig jam with bacon. And the chips are seasoned with beets and Cajun seasoning."

Judge: "Michelle, why did you choose to not use the whole table?"

Michelle: "I really just wanted you to be interactive with this. More importantly, time is tough."

Judges' comments

"She bunched it all up. Needed to give it some room to breathe."

"You know, a big surface like that could be super intimidating. How do you get all these elements to stand alone on their own?"

"And, like, Michelle, knowing the barbecue and the crab boils and things that she does ... this is unlike her. She's normally so expansive."

"The biscuit is very strange to me. It feels almost uncooked. I think it's uncooked."

"Seems like that microwave sponge. Other issues. This doesn't taste very good collectively. There's a lot of things clashing here. It's not successful."

This doesn't feel like her at all.