Note: Contains spoiler info. Missed the show? More "Top Chef" air times. Last time on "Top Chef": The remaining cheftestants put their best potato-centric dishes forward for the quickfire, with Jennifer's steamed mussels with Yukon Gold and blue potatoes and lemongrass-potato sauce winning her immunity. For the elimination challenge, the chefs worked together to cater a buffet for 300 men and women of the Air Force and their families. Michael V's braised pork belly with soy mustard and peanuts earned top honors, while Preeti was eliminated due to her loyalty to an overcomplicated, poorly-integrated pasta salad she helped create.

This week was all things French cooking. Daniel Boulud, decorated French chef and owner of restaurants in the U.S., Canada and China, was the guest judge and introduced a quickfire that challenged the cheftestants to prepare a dish that used escargot as the main protein. With 45 minutes to cook and the Boulud Brasserie kitchen contents at their disposal, he stakes were extra-high; not only did the creator of the best dish earn a special surprise, but the maker of the worst dish was eliminated.

Leading the quickfire pack were the now-usual suspects: Jennifer's escargot with grilled ramps, brussels sprouts, chanterelle mushrooms, and yuzu; Mike's Greece-inspired sauteed escargot with potato-garlic puree, spring onion, and ouzo broth; and Kevin's winning escargot fricassee with mushrooms, brussels sprouts and candied bacon jam. While Mike's dish was praised for capturing the soul of Crete and Jennifer got kudos for the element of surprise brought by employing yuzu, the sweet surprise of candied bacon made Kevin stand out from the rest.

Standing out from the pack in a less notable way were dishes by Ashley, Jesse and Robin. Fortunately, they had a chance for redemption, given 20 minutes to make an amuse-bouche using anything in the kitchen, no escargot necessary. Ashley served up a foie gras with caramelized pineapple, tarragon and ramps that was called a great idea with good acidity, but Boulud and Colicchio wished the pineapple was more caramelized. Robin prepared an avocado soup with yuzu, green apple-mustard relish, and crab, well-liked but a little short on the seafood. But it was Jesse who was cut, after her tuna tartare with sorrel, gooseberries, fried egg and fried bread lacked spice.

For the elimination challenge, the cheftestants drew knives that turned out to be printed with the names of different sauces or proteins used in classic French cooking. Pairing up sauces with complementary proteins, the chefs were divided into six teams of two to prepare a six-course meal. They had a $200 budget, two hours to cook in the "Top Chef" kitchen, and another hour the following day at the challenge venue's kitchen. As you might notice, with Jesse cut earlier in the episode there were 13 chefs remaining; Kevin's quickfire win not only landed him immunity, but also a bye in the elimination challenge. Instead, he would join the judges at the dinner table — along with four of the most influential French chefs working today.

At the dinner table along with the regular judges' table crew and guest judge Boulud were an intimidating bunch, to say the least: Hubert Keller (co-owner of Fleur de Lys, owner of Burger Bar, recent "Top Chef Masters" finalist), Jean Joho (proprietor of such restaurants as Everest and The Eiffel Tower), Laurent Tourondel (owner of BLT Restaurants) and Joel Robuchon (world-renowned chef and restaurateur, French restaurant guide Gault Millau's Chef of the Century). (Pictured: "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi with guest judge Daniel Boulud and regular judge Gail Simmons of Food & Wine.)

Rather than I, a French food novice, explaining the elements leading the cheftestants today, I direct you to these Wikipedia entries about proteins in French cuisine and sauces in French cuisine. The teams broke down as such:

• Ash (sauce au poivre) & Hector (chateaubriand) • Jennifer (sauce chasseur) & Michael V (rabbit) • Laurine (sauce Américaine) & Eli (lobster) • Mattin (sauce velouté) & Ashley (poussin) • Mike (sauce béarnaise) & Bryan V (trout) • Robin (meuniere sauce) & Ron (frog legs)

Laurine & Eli flew under the radar, as did Robin and Ron, neither disappointing the judges enough to end up in the bottom two, nor impressing enough to be a top-two team.

The two favorite teams were no surprise: Jennifer and Michael V versus Mike and Bryan V. The former pair created a rabbit chasseur with mustard noodle and shiso, hailed as a brilliant idea inspired by a classic combination. Meanwhile, the latter's warm cured trout with deconstructed béarnaise was thoughtfully de-boned and reassembled. Ultimately, Bryan snagged his second elimination challenge win for his well-prepared, expertly-presented protein — nabbing in the process the opportunity to work for a week at Robuchon's self-named restaurant at the MGM Grand.

Rounding out the least favorites were Ash & Hector (pictured), for their sauce au poivre and confit of potatoes and spinach with chateaubriand, and France native Mattin & Ashley, who served seared poussin and ravioli with sauce velouté and grilled asparagus. Ashley's searing of the young chicken made the protein very dry and heavy, while Mattin's sauce was criticized as being too gravy-like. Ash's sauce barely made it to the plate, because Hector took too long to prepare his meat, which was also poorly-butchered, didn't rest long enough, and was different temperatures for different diners. Not surprisingly, all of the problems Hector encountered with his protein led to his dismissal.

This episode really cemented who the heavy hitters are this season: Jennifer, Kevin, Mike, and brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. As pointed out during the elimination challenge dinner, no previous season had the talent level to bring out so much high quality food so early in the competition; these really do seem to be the best batch of cheftestants yet. It'll be interesting to see if any of the others make the bold moves necessary to rise to the same level as these five. But then, if past seasons are any indication, leadership can be as important as the actual output; in particular, superior chefs have been cut in the fan/competitor favorite "restaurant wars" episode when the teams they headed came up short, even when their own dishes were well-received. I guess all there is to do is make like the Bravo slogan and "watch what happens."

Chrysta Cherrie is the entertainment producer/copy editor for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at chrystacherrie@annarbor.com or 734-623-2526, and follow her on Twitter @chrystacherrie.