Montclair restaurateur Ariane Duarte sent home from 'Top Chef'

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Lamb, which had served "Top Chef" contestant Ariane Duarte so well in a previous challenge, proved to be her downfall on Wednesday's episode. And it's ironic, because her teammates in the challenge had more experience in butchering and rolling the meat but let her take the lead -- oh, we feel a metaphor coming on -- the proverbial lamb to the slaughter.

Duarte, who co-owns CulinAriane with her husband, Michael, did not start off this season of "Top Chef" auspiciously, racking up two near-ejections, most notably an overly-sweet dessert concoction that host Padma Lakshmi spit out. But she righted herself and even won two elimination challenges, the second for perfectly-cooked marinated lamb.

In Wednesday's episode, which came halfway through the season, the three teams were sent to the Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., to produce a seasonal, family-style lunch that honored their respective proteins, lamb, chicken and pork.

Duarte's teammates Leah Cohen and Hosea Rosenberg ceded the lamb to Duarte because of her previous success with the protein, but she struggled to butcher and roll the lamb. Rosenberg, who later said he had plenty of butchering experience, only helped her tenderize the meat (Dan Barber, the chef at the on-site restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, chided the team for that, saying that baby lamb is inherently tender). Cohen stepped in and helped Duarte tie the roast, although Cohen admitted she could have done a better job.

Come judgment time, judge Tom Colicchio (Elizabeth's own) called Duarte out for her "amateurish attempt at butchering," though Lakshmi says she pitied Duarte because her teammates didn't come to her aid. "I feel sorry her too," snarked judge Toby Young, "because she can't cook."

In her exit interview, Duarte, who lives in Verona, criticized Cohen and Rosenberg for not being team players (oh, and she called Rosenberg "a wimp"). But she says that the experience taught her how to roll with the punches. "I think my family will be proud, and that's what counts."