Clay Bowen talks to Meredith Arthur from his job at the University Club of Santa Barbara, where he returned after his defeat on the opening of Top Chef’s third season. His amuse-bouche is what brought him down: an apple-bowl fruit-soup concoction that was deemed more of a first course than an amuse. With a little help from a Bravo publicist (that’s the Emily whom Clay confers with), also on the phone, Bowen discusses his day in the Miami sun.

Bowen doesn’t want to guess who might be this season’s top chef, but judging from this taste test showdown, Hung is the favorite so far. Check back next week—and throughout season three—for updated predictions.

Listen to all of this season’s Top Chef podcasts:
Season 3 Round Table
Hung Huynh
Dale Levitski
Casey Thompson
Brian Malarkey
Sara Mair
CJ Jacobsen
Howie Kleinberg
Tre Wilcox
Sara Nguyen
Joey Paulino
Lia Bardeen
Camille Becerra
Micah Edelstein
Sandee Birdsong

Need a little refresher course? Listen to last season’s Top Chef podcasts on CHOW.