Resident Foodies say: Chef Geoffrey Zakarian and Chef Anne Burrell were in the bottom two this week and had a cook-off with Ponzu and Panko bread crumbs. The twist was that they had to make a dessert, instead of a savory dish with the two Japanese ingredients.
Zakarian made a soufflé, while Burrell made a zucchini involtini. The judges really liked both dishes (as Michael Symon said, both were Iron Chef worthy dishes), but ultimately decided to keep Chef Zakarian based on his technical skills, which all three judges have continued to rave about. The judges also thought he had one of the top dishes earlier that evening, so that probably helped. Zakarian was in the bottom two only because Chef Burrell was given the vote, based on her victory last week in the NYC challenge, to pick the least risky dish of the night. She picked Zakarian because he cooked wagyu beef in the least risky way of the remaining chefs. Ironically, Burrell had the most time to cook her dish (based on her victory last week), but ended up in the bottom two, pitted against the chef she selected for the bottom. She picked her poison.
The competition is now down to the Final Four: Chef Zakarian, Elizabeth Falkner, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, and Michael Chiarello. Two men, two women. Two West coasters, and two East coasters.