Just going on the record here again, Alex is my absolute favorite so far this season on "Top Chef." Let's continue. We went right into the quickfire with guest judge Rick Bayless, the don juan of Mexican cuisine in the United States. The chefs were asked to reinterpret the taco, one of my favorite munchies ever, accompanied by some zesty fiesta music.

Manuel wanted to represent his Mexican heritage and employed cactus paddle in his dish. Spike used pork, Alex filled his with some duck and plantains and Richard overreached again (in my opinion, anyway) with his jicama shell. Enough already, buddy. Just do some cooking and concentrate on your flavors, not your quirkiness.

Hands Up! Manuel used his accent to the best of his advantage and got a laugh from the judges for his efforts after Padma predictably remarked that he knows his way around a taco - because he's Mexican, not because he worked at Dos Caminos in NYC, of course. Erik came back strong with a traditional taco after his poor showing last week. Andrew's duck taco received high marks, and Richard loves to be different and not just by way of his hair.

Losers? Erik got hammered for his presentation and bad attitude, Lisa's steak was too tough and Ryan wrapped his with paper. Bayless was displeased by the paper.

Winners? Andrew, Richard and Spike.

Manuel was not very happy at all. His honor had been attacked.

The ultimate winner? Richard's taco won the award from Bayless and will be served in some of his restaurants. I'm so not going to order that one. I want the duck.

Team competition again - I'm kind of bored by it. The teams were just colors this time, no animals, which was less exciting after last week.

The chefs did a fine job of acting like they don't know where they're going, but with Bayless on the show, the elimination challenge obviously had to have something to do with Mexican food as well, right? I sincerely doubt that "Top Chef" would have asked Rick Bayless to judge a contest in any other cuisine.

Elimination Challenge

The chefs are asked to cater a block party. The catch? They had to go knocking on doors for their supplies. It was like trick or treat, except it was for food, not candy, and it wasn't Halloween. Richard told us he's not a people person...big surprise. We were treated to some footage of panhandling chefs invading kitchens, refrigerators and the personal space of neighborhood residents. Andrew and Spike hit the jackpot with a lady who was stockpiling food for nuclear winter.

After collecting their loot, the blue team went with upscale. The red team decided to keep things real for a block party by jazzing up hotdogs and burgers for a child-packed crowd. We were treated to a lot of exposition from Richard, which was weird because he's immune to elimination. At this point in the episode, the focus is usually on the chef who gets knifed.

Everybody played nice for the most part. No drama - just some folks complaining about their respective tasks. Dale was too good for this task and so was Zoi. EXPLAIN -- WHAT WERE THEIR TASKS? They better have knocked their dishes out of the park, right?

Then it was time for Colicchio's perusal. He was impossible to read as he pondered the doom of each chef. Wasn't Tom scary with his smiling, talking and tasting? The chefs packed up and were ready to roll to the party.

Party Time

Nicci's mac and cheese was dried out and apparently pretty bad. That made two bad weeks in a row for her -- she could be in trouble. Richard did some more blah blah blah about being upscale. I think you made your point. Andrew was ultra-confident in his team's pedestrian fare. The blue team had a fruit crumble that the judges liked, but they also liked the red team's cookies. This thing was pretty much neck to neck, as far as I could tell. Spike thought that the red team was too personable to lose, but let's see what happened.

Judge's Table

Blue team was called in first, and it appears they left the judges hungry. Nicci's dry mac and cheese took the first hit, and Richard's pilaf-like paella took a beating. But it was just a big fake-out because the blue team won, largely in thanks to Stephanie's crumble.

The red team was not happy about taking the loss on this one, not happy at all. I smelled a battle coming. Erik's corn dogs took the first salvo, and they tried to actually defend it when it was obvious the judges hated it. If they had known what was good for them, they would just shut up at this point. Zoi was on the ropes for her oily pasta salad. Andrew mumbled something about security guards and dragging him out and his house, that was all types of awesome. This could have spelled disaster for him.

Instead, Erik and his soggy corn dogs had to pack their knives and go. He seemed cool. He looked cool. But the guy just didn't cook very well while he was there. Goodbye buddy. Better you than Andrew.

Next week, Daniel Bouloud! Fine Dining! No teams!

Recap by Larry Grodsky
Starpulse contributing writer