Carrots and Pickles Send Chefs Gavin and Wiard Home From Top Chef

Last night's Top Chef Seattle episode and subsequent online show Last Chance Kitchen wiped out the remaining Colorado chefs. Eliza Gavin of 220 South Oak in Telluride was eliminated from the show and Tyler Wiard of Elway's along with chef Gavin lost the Last Chance Kitchen challenge.

Top Chef's quickfire challenge welcomed Marilyn Hagerty, famous for her review of the Olive Garden in her local newspaper, as guest judge. Charged with making a sweet and savory holiday dish, Gavin did not impress with hush puppies two ways. In the elimination challenge, the chefs had to impress actors Anna Faris and Chris Pratt at a party with family and friends. Chef Gavin prepared elk ribeye with elk sausage polenta, spiced carrots & huckleberry port sauce. Tom Colicchio harped on Gavin's carrots that were described as dry and lacking flavor. The Telluride chef packed her knives.

But wait, it was not all lost. Gavin was sent to the place that gave some promise of redemption to Tyler Wiard last week: Last Chance Kitchen. Last Chance Kitchen, a challenge that debuted in Top Chef season 9, allows eliminated contestants to compete head-to-head in a series of webisodes, with the winner eventually returning to the main competition.Tyler Wiard and Chris (CJ) Jacobsen won that challenge last week and now faced Gavin in a three-way showdown featuring two ingredients: pickles, which brought Wiard and Jacobson down, and carrots, featured in Gavin's losing dish.

"OK Tyler, this is is, this is do or die, show them what you got", said Wiard gearing up to cook. He made a deconstructed ceviche - pickles with fresh cucumber, grilled carrot and raw ribbon carrot, vegetables marinated in pickle juice and shrimp cooked with a little bit of cumin. Gavin made a brown butter carrot mash with scallops crusted in paprika orange and fennel and pickles that went into a succotash with mushrooms, bacon, and relish. "Tell me you like the carrots, that's all I care about," Gavin said to Colicchio as he tried her dish.

He may have liked the carrots, but Colicchio sent Gavin and Wiard home, choosing Jacobsen's pan roasted rainbow trout with carrot puree and charred pickle as the winner. "Take the L out of Lover, cause it's over," Wiard said.

Watch the Last Chance Kitchen here:

Eliza Gavin [Photo: TVGasm]