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Padma drives the contestants to their next destination. It is a house with a pair of special guests inside. Popular Los Angeles chef Roy Choi and celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse are in the kitchen, cooking dinner for Josh, Sheldon and Brooke. Choi and Brooke are old friends and in fact Choi indicates that his current job had been previously held by Brooke.

Choi recounts one of the most memorable stories in the history of Top Chef. A self-professed “scumbag” as a teen, Choi experienced a transcendent moment when he watched Lagasse cooking on television. Lagasse, who is seated beside him during the story, had no idea that he would be the focus of it. He listens intently as Choi reveals that watching that show at that moment caused him to research culinary schools in the area. From that moment forward, Choi was a chef. Emeril is understandably touched by the revealing anecdote. The two clink glasses in a toast of celebration about the man Choi has become. This is a wonderful moment of television.

After the meal is finished, the obvious moment arrives. Padma reveals the stipulations for the upcoming immunity challenge that will determine the finalists for Top Chef Season 10. The trio is informed that they must create a dish that reflects the defining culinary moment in their lives. Brooke is particularly confused by this announcement. She is famous for having wanted to be a chef since she was four years old. So her dish may be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and paste.

The next several minutes of television focus upon Josh. His wife calls to inform him that her water has broken. He replies, “I really want to be there.” Her crying is obvious during the phone call. I give her tremendous credit for the next tidbit in the conversation, though. When informed that he is still not finished with Top Chef, she forcefully states, “Well, if you are still competing, you just need to win.” Even in labor, she has her eye on the prize. In the immortal words of 300, “Only Spartan women give birth to real men.”

In a brutal turn of events, Josh must begin to cook the most important meal of his life while his mind is fixated on the impending birth of his child. No contestant in the history of Top Chef has faced a larger impediment in a challenge.

Sheldon reveals that the seminal moment in his life was watching Sam Choy cook on Hawaiian television. He proceeds to behead a fish and stuck the giant noggin in boiling water. The fish’s giant eye stares at me wherever I go. Tom Colicchio and he have a conversation that people always plate their fish too soon. Sheldon determines that he will wait to plate until the last possible moment, which causes Tom to state defensively, “If you don’t get it plated, don’t blame me.”

Tom also comes over to quiz Brooke about what I presume will be the winning dish. She states that the plate has not “completely come together in my head.” Trust Brooke to poor-mouth the situation moments before her inevitable domination. I’m going to look like an idiot in a few hundred words if she gets eliminated.

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