‘Top Chef: California’ episode 6 preview: Sudden death in San Diego

There are a number of things indicative of San Diego’s food culture: Great seafood, great Mexican food, and also a heck of a lot of local beer. In one way or another, these are all going to play out on Thursday night’s all-new episode of “Top Chef: California.” The chefs are going to get a chance to taste some beer created by the judges, and also use it as a fundamental building block for a dish that they all craft in hopes of making the panel happy.

We feel like the synopsis below does a great job of telling you what to expect:

“The chefs continue their California road trip and head south to San Diego where they cook-up the best high-end fish taco for renowned Mexican Chef Javier Plascencia. Things get extra spicy when another Sudden Death Quickfire threatens to send one of the chefs packing. Then Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Richard Blais and Emeril Lagasse offer a toast with a twist to the remaining chefs with their own hand-crafted microbrews. For the Elimination Challenge at Blais’ Juniper and Ivy, the chefs must serve up a mouthwatering dish to complement their ale.”

Perhaps the best part of the previews that we’ve seen for this challenge is that at some point during the latter stages of the Elimination Challenge, Isaac comes up with something known as “Banannaise,” a combination of banana and mayo that seems like it may be an instant hit. If nothing else, he’s really excited about it, and it also just so happens to be the title for the episode.

Of course, how could we also not mention the Sudden Death Quickfire!

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