For Top Chef’s first episode in Maui, finalists Shirley, Nina and Nicholas welcomed back Last Chance Kitchen winner Louis and faced a Hawaiian-themed double elimination challenge.

Louis Is Back In The Final Four

Shirley, Nina and Nicholas judged the Last Chance Kitchen dishes and ended up blindly choosing Louis over Carlos. This makes the eighth Last Chance Kitchen win in a row for Louis, who now rejoins the finalists for the Quickfire Challenge: a Spam Dish for Hawaiian chef Sam Choy.

Shirley put her own twist on a Spam musubi (aka Spam sushi) that impressed Choy. Nina worked on a breadfruit and teriyaki Spam dish that was praised for its intense array of flavors. Louis made a very elaborate Spam mousse, which Padma enjoyed. And finally, Nicholas created a Spam broth using, among other ingredients, seaweed, dried shrimp and clam juice. Nicholas’ broth won the challenge and the $10,000 prize. Nicholas, still stressed about the elimination to come, jokingly mentioned surrendering the prize money for immunity – a request denied.

So, Nicholas headed into the Elimination Challenge with everyone else. The chefs were given local produce and Hawaiian ingredients. For the Elimination Challenge each chef would have to use his or her ingredients to come up with a Hawaii-themed dish. The judges added on the pressure by making this a Double Elimination, meaning two chefs would be going home at the end of the night.

Shirley And Louis Eliminated

During prep, Nicholas was aggravated and yelled at Nina while Nina and Shirley spoke openly about their desire to be the last two chefs standing in the finale. Nina and Shirley’s cockiness could have been the kiss of death for the duo, as it inspired Nicholas to pull out an opakapaka with jalapeno that wowed the judges. Meanwhile, Nina got some unfavorable reviews for her grilled opah fish whit a jabanero sauce that the judges found a tad too spicy. Shirley had better luck with her honey-glazed pork bun. The judges warned her that it was a bit sweet, but still excellent. Finally, Louis also worked with a grilled opah dish, but paired it with a sweet and sour potato and coconut sauce. Unfortunately for him, the judges got un-even cooked pieces of fish, some over-cooked. In comparison, Nina’s fish was perfectly cooked.

Louis was the first chef eliminated, followed by Shirley. In next week’s big finale, Nicholas and Nina will go head to head with the help of three previously eliminated contestants.

Top Chef airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Bravo.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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