Last week belonged to Jennifer and Dale, who either found inspiration in the elimination of their girlfriend (Jen) or their hatred of Lisa (Dale). What will drive this week's competition? Chicago's comedy titans, Second City! But first...

Quickfire Challenge: Top Chef decides to make the contestants tackle their weak spots head on, challenging them to make a dessert that will land them in the Top Chef cookbook. On hand to guest judge the panicked chefs is sweet sultan Johnny Iuzzini.

This week's Top Chef proves that it's always the simple stuff that gets you, as the chefs are tasked with cooking a tailgate for Bears fans -- a challenge that sees some of them struggling to relate.

After a heated post-elimination (Zoi went home for her unseasoned mushrooms) tensions are running high in the house. Jennifer wants to win one for her girl, and Dale and Lisa just want to prove each other wrong.

Hi fellow foodies! I'm filling in for Megan, who's enjoying the fine cuisine of Italy. Yep, jealous! Antonia is still miffed that she was on the bottom for the film challenge. Zoe felt "jacked" after the challenge - Jennifer was surprised at the poor reception of their dish. For today's Quickfire Challenge, Padma introduces the guest judge, Ming Tsai from the Blue Ginger restaurant (and a line of Asian stuff that they used to sell at Target, if I'm not mistaken.) This competition is about good taste. It's time for the annual palate test. Everyone's blindfolded and has to taste a variety of pairs of the same ingredients - one is high-end and one is not. Each person has 20 seconds to figure out which is the higher quality - of course, the winning chef gets immunity. Ryan is up first, thinking that his palate is ready to go since he didn't eat breakfast. Whatevs. He gets maple syrup, and picks the right one. Then bacon, which he also aces. Stephanie gets crab wrong. For shame. The contestants go through chocolates, butter and cheeses. Dale got all of the Asian ingredients correct, but screwed up and picked sub-par caviar. Jennifer correctly identified the quality pork, I'm not making a joke about her and pork, because she looks like she can beat the snot out of me. My favorite, Kiwi Mark got one wrong. Faux-hawk Richard seems pretty confident, as does Antonia.

Last week, Spike stood out as this season's troublemaker, while Richard quietly led his team to victory. Are we spotting a trend, or will someone new make their mark?

Quick Fire Challenge: Chef Daniel Boulud (who incidentally, both Ryan and Richard have worked for) is the guest for this week and as a highly trained French chef, he wants to test the contestants on their culinary skills. He asks them to make a vegetable plate employing at least three techniques and instantly, a number of the chefs are bummed. They just aren't into this kind of precision. Daniel puts Nikki, Lisa and Manuel in the bottom three, and Zoi, Dale and Richard in the top. Though Richard is a former employee, Daniel gives Dale the edge. He's got immunity.

Last week saw the second girl sent home. Will the trend continue, or can the ladies man up?

Quick Fire Challenge: Chef Rick Bayless is on hand to preside over a fancy taco face-off, the premise of which seems to irk some of the contestants, who contend that Mexican food cannot be upscale, and tacos should be street-style. Spike, who is setting himself up as this season's badass, certainly runs with it, making delicious but low-end tacos that Rick loves...but he gives the win to Richard for playing the game and going upscale. Richard not only wins immunity, but his jicama tortilla vegetarian tacos are going on the menu at Rick's restaurant.

Chefs in ChicagoThis week we get our first team challenge and a visit from molecular gastronomist Wylie Dufresne. Who has to pack up their knives and go? Read on!

Quick Fire Challenge: For the QF, the chefs have to cook a meal using ony five ingredients, using items purchased from the farmer's market and their kitchen. The only "free" ingredients are salt, pepper and oil. Mark, who was in the bottom last week, looks to redeem himself and is all business at the market. Which makes it even funnier when he leaves his lettuce behind. Wah-wahh.

Chefs in Chicago Project Runway has ended, paving the way for Bravo's second best show, Top Chef. This season the chefs are in Chicago, and what better place for them to meet than at the Windy City's culinary mecca, Pizzeria Uno?

After chowing down on some deep-dish pies and sussing out their competition (including dating chefs Jennifer and Zoi) Padma drops the obvious on them: their Quick Fire is...deep dish pizza!

and then there were three

Going into last night's episode, Hung and Casey were the obvious favorites. By the end, someone's fortunes had drastically changed. Who was named the third Top Chef?

The three finalists have been through it all, so there's no quick fire challenge today. Everyone gets the same ingredients, same use of their from-home materials and the same amount of cooking time to put together a three course meal entirely of their creation. Instead of serving separately, the contestants' courses will go head to head.

The final four meet up in Aspen after a month off. You’d think it was a year the way they’re acting. However, the hot air balloon ride was cool, even if you’ll never get me up in one of those again. Dude! I KNOW what can happen in a hot air balloon.

QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Colorado! This is my country, y’all, and there’s no place like it in the world. But, I don’t think they got to truly appreciate its beauty once the Quickfire started. Guest judge this week is Eric Ripert of Le Bernardine in NYC, whose specialty is seafood. As soon as they walk down to a stream where Padma and Ripert meet them, you know what’s coming. The Fry Pan River Challenge is all about the trout.