‘Top Chef’ Houston ‘Last Chance Kitchen’ Recap: Ghost Kitchen Wars

Friends turned rivals Jackson and Sarah have 45 minutes to create a carryout restaurant concept
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Sarah Welch and Jackson Kalb learn about this week鈥檚 ghost kitchen challenge via FaceTime.

There are eight chefs left on the main Top Chef show, so that could only mean one thing: It鈥檚 time for Restaurant Wars. Ashleigh Shanti, who has been on the bottom several times, wins the show鈥檚 signature challenge with her leadership of her team鈥檚 restaurant concept Matriarc.

Jackson Kalb, who has been on top several times, gets sent home for basically ghosting the judges at the Chef鈥檚 Table. His failures are thrown into his face when he gets to Last Chance Kitchen, where he has to face off with Sarah Welch, his friend and teammate from the challenge in the first episode, which they won together. Also, before getting sent home Jackson finally 鈥榝essed up he has no sense of taste and smell, and there is shockingly very little drama from the chefs.

Via FaceTime, judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons tell Jackson and Sarah they have to come up with a ghost kitchen concept, cook three dishes that travel well, and take it to Tom鈥檚 house in Houston where they will serve Tom and Gail.

Both chefs decide to go with what they know. Sarah creates 鈥淛amaisan,鈥 fusing Jamaican and Asian flavors. Jackson goes back to his roots with casual Italian.

For Sarah鈥檚 courses, she does jerk shrimp larb (again with the shrimp for the person allergic to the shellfish), a Korean 鈥渟tyle鈥 fried chicken with curry powder, and a coconut fruit salad inspired by mango sticky rice she had in Thailand.

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Sarah Welch presented jerk shrimp larb, a Korean 鈥渟tyle鈥 fried chicken with curry powder, and a coconut fruit salad.

Jackson makes mandilli di seta, which is a handkerchief pasta with pesto; eggplant and fonduta; and chicken with salsa verde. For the fonduta, he can鈥檛 find parmigiana so he grabs some mystery cheese. He still can鈥檛 really taste or smell so this should be interesting.

Forty-five minutes flies by and they barely finish getting everything into the takeout containers. They pack everything up and head for Tom鈥檚 house.

Jackson gets a lot of compliments from Tom about the pasta, the bright salsa verde, and flavorful chicken. The mystery cheese ended up working well so Jackson dodged a bullet there.

Sarah鈥檚 food is also a hit with the judges.

鈥淛amaisan 鈥 didn鈥檛 know that was a thing, but it makes complete sense,鈥 Gail says. The larb packed a lot of jerk flavor and brought the heat. The chicken was unlike anything she鈥檇 had before, Gail says. And the dessert was bright and fresh.

Tom says both concepts were on point, but one was just a bit better 鈥 and Sarah wins again. She continues to look shocked when she dispatches yet another chef who outlasted her on the main competition and is even more so to send Jackson packing.

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Judges Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio taste Sarah and Jackson鈥檚 food.

While technically Sarah was eliminated more or less around the same time other Michigan chefs have gotten the boot on Top Chef, she鈥檚 advanced further than anyone else through Last Chance Kitchen. If she keeps it up, she could be back in the game.

There鈥檚 still a way to go before she gets there, but in the meantime, I have an open letter for Sarah:

Dear Sarah,

Please bring a 鈥淛amaisan鈥 ghost kitchen to Detroit ASAP.

Thank you,

Dorothy


Catch this season of Top Chef at 8 p.m. on Thursdays on Bravo, and stream Last Chance Kitchen on YouTube following each episode. For more information, visit 听.