A blatant excuse to re-post Dimeo's saucy Facebook pic.

Last night’s episode marked the end of Food Network’s slightly botched experiment with the tournament of Chopped Champions (the show returns to its normal schedule on October 13th). Last week’s winner, The Brooklyn Standard’s Cody Utzman, fought for a third win against previous winners John Lawson, executive sous-chef at Gordon Ramsay at the London; Diane Dimeo, chef of the underground supper club Red Box Bistro; and the owner of Exceptional Taste catering, Darius Peacock. Judges for the episode were Aarón Sanchez, Alex Guarnaschelli and Scott Conant.

Appetizers included live lobsters, bananas and endives. Peacock earned points early on for a stellar banana puree that overshadowed his too-tough grilled lobster; Dimeo, too, presented substandard lobster in her yogurty dish, which reminded Guarnaschelli too much of breakfast. Read more »

Michael Ferraro slices his ill-fated squid.

Apologies, Feed readers, for this late dispatch of Tuesday night’s episode of Chopped! We’ll be back in the saddle with (timely) recaps next week.

The second season of Chopped! moseyed along on Tuesday night with episode two. High-fives all around for the serious tristate-area representation: Chefs included Michael Ferraro of Delicatessen; John Lawson, executive sous chef at Gordon Ramsay at the London; David Kirschner (W Hotel in Hoboken); and Nicole Puzio (Ox Restaurant in Jersey City). Read more »