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Janine Falvo was clearly too good for her ex, but her story does have a happy ending. As we found out in the time between completion of this column and its publication, Janine has now left her previous home in San Francisco behind and is working in Atlanta. In fact, she prepared food for the New Orleans Saints/Atlanta Falcons game. You are doing God’s work now, Janine. Next time we’re at a Falcons game, we’re giving you a hug, whether you want it or mace us for it.

Catching up to the competition, there are six chefs remaining. Three of them (Laurent, Molly and Andrew) had nothing catastrophic go wrong yet their dishes were not good enough to earn a coat. The other three (Janine, Edward and Grayson) all had time management/equipment issues that prevented them from putting their best foot forward in the first round. As such, two of those three are the most likely to advance in the competition in our estimation.

Edward makes his situation more dramatic when he cuts his finger in a savage manner. Remember last season when Jamie Lauren needed a couple of stitches and hid out for the body of a challenge? Edward’s cut pumps up about seven million times as much blood. The producers of the show send in a medical official to inspect and treat the wound, but Edward treats the aid as an inconvenience. He does his best Ronnie Lott impersonation by stating that if he had to cut off the finger to guarantee a spot in the competition, he would do that, just as Lott cut off part of his finger in order to play in the playoffs one season. Desire is not an issue with Edward.

The chefs present their dishes at Judges Table. Edward delivers a delicious looking bowl of duck with BBQ sauce and sweet Asian custard. The Kentucky restaurateur describes his dish as a mix of Asian and Southern cuisine. Molly is worried that she overcooked her dish of jumbo stuffed prawn, mousseline of shrimp, soy glazed watermelon and rice. Janine (whose ex is a total bitch, remember?) presents a seared scallop with baby clams, bacon and corn with a watermelon garnish. Grayson, who is very confident that her dish will earn her a coat, offers polenta with bacon wrapped shrimp and a port wine fig sauce.

Zero camera time Laurent makes scallop two ways, a tartare and seared on a bed of fennel with saffron. Texas native Andrew’s dish is the strangest looking as there is a bowl of mussels with cherry and fregula. Underneath the bowl on the side is a charred corn panna cotta with shrimp. It looks like a biscuit stuck to something unbecoming has been taken out of a garbage can and placed on the plate. In our opinion, Grayson and Edward win the aesthetics battle for this challenge.

The judges ask a few key questions of each contestant. Hugh isn’t impressed with Janine’s ostracized watermelon until she points out that it was also a part of her main dish. Emeril tells her it is a well-executed dish. Suck it, Hugh and Janine’s ex! Tom curtly states that Molly’s shrimp is overcooked and Hugh agrees. She will not be moving on. Emeril also loves Edward’s dish, but Hugh states that it isn’t the way he wants to eat duck. Early in the competition, we are noticing that Emeril and Hugh’s palates clash quite a bit. Tom doesn’t understand Grayson’s dish at first until she explains that she wrapped the shrimp in bacon. At this point, Tom cedes that hers is a good dish.

Andrew does not get the reaction he had wanted as everyone agrees that the bowl of mussels stands alone as a great meal. The afore-mentioned garbage biscuit is the lone sticking point. Laurent’s tartare is a complete bust. He will not be moving on, either. Based upon the initial reactions of the judges, our original theory that Janine, Edward and Grayson are the players to beat is well founded. Only Andrew seems to have any chance at a coat out of the remaining three competitors.

The judges debate a bit further and while our inclination is that Grayson is a mortal lock and Edward is the next most likely to earn a chef’s coat, the praise for Janine’s dish makes us reconsider. To our surprise (and his relief), when the results are revealed, Edward is the first one to earn a coat. Laurent and Molly are quickly eliminated for their inferior dishes, leaving Andrew, Janine and Grayson to compete for the final coat. Moments before Andrew is eliminated, Tom all but confirms that if the upstart chef had created only the bowl of mussels, he would move on in the competition. Unfortunately, the totality of his dish is lacking. In the end, our buddy Janine is the unlucky one as Grayson earns the final Top Chef coat and with that, the field of 16 is set.

While we lament the fates of several of the unlucky 13 players who did not earn their way into this competition, this idea to create a competition for the honor of being a Top Chef player is a good one. We hated it when we first heard it, but the first two episodes created a rare amount of early season reality show tension. Ordinarily, a new season begins with an introduction to the participants and a cursory demonstration of who the early victim is. How many of the first people voted off of Top Chef do you even remember? This season, however, we grew to enjoy characters such as Chaz and felt heartbreak for the ill-treated Janine while earning early respect for Grayson and Edward, both of whom rose to meet their first challenge. We hope that this becomes the default start to every season of Top Chef from this point forward. It makes for great television.

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