‘The Taste’ recap: The chefs whine and dine

Things are finally heating up both in and out of the kitchen on ABC’s “The Taste.” On Tuesday night’s episode, personalities clashed and even the judges found themselves at each other’s throats during judgment.

For the team challenge, each contestant prepared a food and wine pairing with an Alamos Malbec from Argentina. Each team selects one spoonful to represent the team. If that spoonful is chosen as the best, the chef who prepared it gets immunity. Former sommelier at the French Laundry and former head sommelier at Per Se, André Hueston Mack, and David Kinch of Manresa Restaurant acted as guest judges and mentors.

The chefs turned into anxiety monsters while the mentors decided which spoon would represent the teams. On Brian Malarkey’s team, Khristianne Uy gave her best evil eye, but Malarkey chose whiny chef Adam Pechal’s spoon to represent the team. Despite Diane DiMeo thinking she’s God’s gift to mankind, Anthony Bourdain went with Uno Immanivong’s Thai beef salad for his team, Nigella Lawson chose Erika Monroe Williams’ lamb dish for her team and Ludo Lefebvre picked Gregg Drusinsky’s bonito-crusted short rib dish just to “shut up his mouth.”

Mack and Kinch went with Drusinsky’s dish for the win and joined Lefebvre’s team as kitchen mentors during the elimination round. Each chef was given a choice of German Riesling, California Chardonnay, French Côtes du Rhône and Italian Barolo to pair with their dish. Lefebvre’s team clearly had the advantage with Mack and Kinch in the kitchen, but none of the chefs listened to any of their advice. Instead, they were defensive and argued. They clearly had no idea who they were dealing with!

Sarah Schiear and Shawn Davis, two chefs from Lefebvre’s team, landed in the bottom, as did Huda Mu’min and Monroe Williams from Lawson’s team. Lawson and Lefebvre fought to minimize the faults of their team dishes, but Malarkey was all too quick to remind them of how much they hated the dishes when they tasted them. Lawson couldn’t stop interrupting Lefebvre, and Malarkey had way too much fun goading the Frenchman on. After all the bickering, Davis and Monroe Williams were sent home.

Best moments:

Bourdain wandering into everyone else’s kitchen like he owned the place, all while sipping a glass of red during the team challenge. He’s drinking while everyone else is freaking out. Sounds like the Bourdain we know and love.

Everyone admitting how they really felt about contestant Gregg Drusinsky. “He’s just someone I want to hit all the time,” said DiMeo, a.k.a. Cruella. Apparently, you’re not the only one. Even sweet as pie Lauren Scott doesn’t like him.

ALSO:

‘The Taste’ recap: Comfort food heats up

‘Rachael vs. Guy’ finale recap: Dean McDermott wins!

Somm alert: Andre Hueston Mack appears on ‘The Taste’ tonight

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