A Chef Odyssey

This special space edition of the Top Chef Live Chat went to infinity and beyond thanks to the handful of eager, young chat room moonwalkers. Teresa Burnett showed up early to announce, "I wait all day for this."

Teresa had to wait a tad bit longer as first it was time to bathe in the post-Emmy glow! Mimi, the siren of the chatroom, piped up: "Hi, guys! Congrats to Top Chef on the Emmy! Patty continued: Congrats on the Emmy! Bout time." Live Chat Host and sometimes funnyboy MattyBravo responded with his typical mix of sincerity and outright lies, "Thanks for the Emmy love, gang! As you may have noticed, Bravo Monica won't be joining us tonight - she's still nursing a post-Emmy hangover!"

Even without the much missed Bravo Monica, the chat must go on and go on it did. Chatterer kingpin Judd Shapiro felt like one thing was missing though: "No Ed in a dress this time?" Let’s hope he’s saving it for the reunion.

For the Quickfire Challenge, Food & Wine’s Dana Cowin showed up and had the chefs create a wine-specific dish. A robust 88% predicted Tiffany would win with her Shiraz-infused dish, but it was one-time favorite, recent also-ran Angelo who took the cake. Chatterers were shocked and Graham cracker enthusiast smoreslife enunciated their thoughts best "Yayy!! Angelo's backkkk" That fourth "k" in "back" really shows he was serious.  

Perhaps the harshest statement came from relative newcomer and the decidedly taken Atneys Girl who muttered, "Angelo is cut throat, you have one he will cut it." And he'll probably turn it into some kind of Asian dish too!

When the Cheftestants made their way down to the NASA command center which, as Host MattyBravo put it, "sort of looked like it's out of an 80s sci-fi movie, Live Chatterers were excited about two great American inventions: Tang and Buzz Aldrin. "Use Tang! Use Tang" shouted Teresa Burnett. And Chatterer "dukey" agreed, telling the room "I want them to pair something with Tang!" But the appearance of the second man on the moon dwarfed even the granular deliciousness of Tang. Just take it from veteran chatterer Burnt Toast who said he was "Buzzing about Buzz!"

From there, some members of the chat starting auditioning for Top Chef Season 8 by pitching their own spaceflight-ready dishes. "I would jerky-fy a fillet but leave it moist with mushroom & caramelized onion," said Teresa Burnett. Mmm, jerky-fy! But Mimi chimed in with a critique of Teresa's intergalactic culinary ambitions: "Hmmmm...Teresa, that sounds good! Will sauces break when freeze-dried?" Good point Teresa. We'll just use Tang!

After Tiffany's mussels froze and her dish had to be altered at the last minute, chatterers were worried about the potential Fan Favorite. Like when Steven said "That interview did not bode well for Tiffany," or when Shannon agreed that the judges "didn't really like tiff's too much..." Those comments Carly got worried. "Oh no I really hope that Tiffany doesn't go home! She's my favorite!"

It must have been Angelo's "making love" to his short ribs that helped him pull out the win, but chatterers were less than excited. "OMG now he is talking about making love to the dish, Angelo make me gag," said OliveAnne. Judd Shapiro ran to his keyboard when he heard the comment, saying he had to come back to comment on Angelo's new cooking technique. "He made love to his food and took a submissive role? Does he realize what he just said?" Then Ruby took it a step farther – perhaps a step too far – when she said "Angelo is having an American Pie moment." We'll have to leave it at that.

Of course, chatterers were more than upset when Tiffany was told to pack her knives and go. Perfect attendance chatterer "Guest" exclaimed "No! Not Tif!" and Paula wasn't liking the decision either: "I am so disgusted! Kevin should have gone home! I loved Tiffany!"

But inside the flood of disappointed comments came shouts of "fan favorite" for Tiffany. Only time, and your votes will tell!