Last night, the second installment of Top Chef Masters pitted four more celebrity chefs against each other: Wiley Dufresne, the mutton-chopped molecular gastronomer behind New York's WD-50; Elizabeth Falkner, the Susan Powter-haired owner of San Francisco's Citizen Cake; Graham Elliott Bowles, a tattooed Chicago chef that calls his cooking style "punk rock"; and Suzanne Tracht, a Los Angeles chef who looks like she's spent some time in Lindsay Lohan's tanning bed. In other words, plenty of fodder for our IM conversation during the show. 

Last night, we sat down and watched the premiere of Top Chef Masters, a Top Chef spinoff featuring world-renowned chefs battling it out in the name of charity. We were so excited about the show that we decided to chat about it in real time with one of our fellow After Hours bloggers. Turns out, a great cause does not necessarily make great television. Here’s what we had to say about the show’s first episode.

Aww. Carla. We still love you, girl!

Related Links:

• Hootie Hoo: An Interview with Carla Hall
• All Top Chef Recaps

Let’s be honest: We all went into last night’s finale thinking it would be a clear win for Stefan, but here in Washington everyone crossed their fingers and said a little prayer for our hometown girl, Carla. Hosea cruised into the finals only because the producers loved that he caused drama with Stefan, right?

Here’s the chefs’ challenge: Cook the best three-course meal of your life, and do it in the kitchen of the venerable New Orleans restaurant Commander’s Palace. Surprise, surprise—the cheftestants will have help. Casey, Marcel, and Richard, three also-rans from previous Top Chef seasons, saunter in. Stefan grabs Marcel to form Team Mean, Hosea goes for molecular-gastronomy whiz Richard, and Carla’s pumped to have Casey.

When the chefs begin to prep, Hosea tries to hoard all the foie gras, causing a shouting match with Stefan. Casey convinces Carla to cook a New York strip-loin sous-vide, a method using sealed plastic bags and a circulating water bath . . . and one that Carla’s never done. Eek, Carla—stick to your guns!

Is Carla Hall the next Top Chef?

In part one of Top Chef’s New Orleans finale, which aired on Bravo last week, local gal Carla Hall impressed Emeril Lagasse with her oyster stew and savory beignets, earning a place among the final three contestants. Loyal hometown fans loved Hall even before her quirky yet adorable “hootie-hoo!” call through the supermarket, but over the past few episodes, she’s proven herself to be a serious contender for the Top Chef title (and lifetime supply of Glad products).

The Takoma Park resident is originally from Nashville but came to DC to attend Howard University in the ’80s. Postcollege, she explored a few career paths—accounting for Price Waterhouse, modeling in Europe—and eventually followed her love of cooking to Bethesda’s L’Academie de Cuisine in 1995. She founded her own boutique catering company, Alchemy Caterers, in 2001.

The crazy in Carla has won us over. You go, Big Bird!

In her monotone, dragging voice, Leah opens this episode by telling us that cooking is the only thing she’s ever been able to do really well. Winning, she says, would be a validation of her hard work. Do we sense a sliver of enthusiasm?

Long-haired chef Wylie Dufresne, known for his quirky molecular gastronomy at Manhattan’s WD-50, is on hand as the guest judge. He’s obsessed with eggs (who knew?), so for the Quickfire Challenge, the chefs have an hour to create an egg dish that “will surprise our egghead,” says Padma, laughing.

Red in the face, Fabio exclaims, “I’m pissed!” when Dufresne puts him in the bottom for his sunny-side-up eggs two ways. He’s joined Hosea, who tried too hard to incorporate eggs into a Japanese-style breakfast, and Leah, whose potato ravioli were too heavy and greasy. Stefan (obviously) lands in the top with a whimsical eggs two ways—a poached eggs Benedict and a panna cotta with a mango “yolk.” But it’s Carla’s green eggs and ham that takes the cake for its playfulness.

We're in love with this man.

We’ve been waiting breathlessly all week for last night’s episode—or at least for the sultry Eric Ripert to play guest judge. We’re not sure whether it’s his French accent and signature pout or Padma’s barely-there tank top, but the chefs quiet down and behave for the visiting chef. Or maybe they’re just burnt out. Even Jamie, the last member of Team Rainbow, blushes a little bit.

For the Quickfire Challenge, there’s a March Madness-style tournament of fish fileting in honor of Ripert, master of all things oceanic. First, the chefs have to butterfly two sardines, the tiniest of fish. “I should just go home now,” says Leah. When Ripert and Padma come over to inspect Carla’s work, she cutesily just shoos them on—she knows she’s failed. Jamie says she’s never cleaned a sardine in her life—and it shows.

Where does all my crazy energy come from? The hair. Duh.

We’re thrilled right from the start of this episode when Leah claims that last week’s make-out session with Hosea was a drunken, one-time thing and it’ll never happen again. Finally, the show’s back to focusing on cooking, not kissing.

The chefs file into the kitchen to find Scott Conant, whose Italian restaurant, Scarpetta, was awarded three stars by the New York Times. Starting with Jamie, everyone writes his or her name on a chalkboard grid, and the placement ultimately decides the main ingredient each person will be working with. Then Padma tells them that they have to—wait for it—use their ingredient with Quaker Oats “in a new and exciting way.” Really? We’re not sure which is worse—this or last season’s challenge with Uncle Ben’s microwavable packets.