Kitchen up with "Top Chef." Get it? Kitchen? Catchin'?

My "Top Chef" partner in crime, Malavika, is out for a few days, but I'm certain she'd be equally aghast that Nikki -- a.k.a. "blue tinted glasses chick" -- continues to survive since our "Commercial Interruption" breakdown a few weeks ago.

Like rancid leftovers that eventually become far too pungent to ignore, the trash will be taken out shortly, no doubt. But amazingly on last night's episode (one of the best so far) Nikki survived a tailgating challenge at Soldier Field -- you could have inserted bulging Packers fans into this same food-tasting mix -- even though she failed to make her own sausage.

Think about that for a second.

It's a food-based reality show. And she used store-bought sausage. And she's a chef.

Anyway, Malavika will be heartbroken to know that "Mimbo" Ryan -- who, despite his jock-ish exterior, revealed that he's clueless about football, and instead likes to "go out and dance" -- was chopped off the show like so many onion bits on a cutting board. Look, if your "California tailgate" concept is so terrible that it can't beat a chef who used store-bought sausage AND forgot to leave enough peppers and onions for the judges to accurately rate her food ... well, Ryan might want to become a Subway sandwich artist or start flashing his smile for "Hottest Reality TV" calendars. He was like the Rex Grossman of chefs while in the Soldier Field parking lot.

Football analogies aside,"Top Chef" is really hitting stride now that some of the fat has been sliced. Stephanie, Richard and Dale have established themselves as legit frontrunners (How can you not root for shy Stephanie at this point?) Spike and his stupid hat poses are Public Enemy No. 1. Lisa finally made her presence known, and dang, I like it much better when she was never on camera. Heck, even foul-mouthed Andrew completed a sentence last night without using the f-word!

(One minor gripe: What was up with the creepy poll question: "Who would you most want to touch in touch football?" That Tom Colicchio, or third from left in the main photo, won in resounding fashion tells you something about the "Top Chef" audience, for sure ...)

So yeah, now's the time to start watching, folks! If you need more incentive, read this hilarious A.V. Club post entitled, "If you like Mark on 'Top Chef,' you're totally voting for Hillary." Warning: some Andrew-like naughty words are sprinkled throughout.

"Top Chef" airs at 9 p.m., Wednesdays on Bravo, but repeats play throughout the week.

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com