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Planning to launch a taco truck?

​Watching last night's episode of Top Chef, we were nervous as soon as we saw our two S.F. homegirls --- teamed up for the big feed-the-troops challenge -- preparing pasta salad. With bowties and sundried tomatoes, no less! Oy. Meanwhile, the competition was braising slabs of bacon, roasting loins of beef, and barbecuing pork shoulder, while little Jen took command of the whole brigade like a four-star general. When we talked to Preeti Mistry last week, she told us, "When we first saw Jen, we thought, 'She's gonna be easy.' She's killer, she's a great chef." Little did we know that SFoodie would be talking to Preeti again so soon -- and that Jen's name would come up again, too.

This morning, Mistry said that, with 20-20 hindsight, she thinks that doing something other than the pasta salad might have been a good idea. "We had kinda divvied it up," she said. "Ash and Ashley were going to do a dessert, the proteins were taken. We knew we were going to do a vegetable side that might be more of a main course for a vegetarian. Part of that was the ingredients we were given. The Colonel had said that it was an industrial kitchen, but that the airmen were savvy in terms of their palate. What we got was sort of the bottom of the barrel. There was not one fresh herb in the place, not even garlic. We used a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning, we used a lot of lemon zest, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper -- I suppose I wish Laurine and I had made an Alfredo pasta, or roasted broccoli in soy, garlic, and ginger, and done something Asian. I don't remember for sure, but I'm sure there were sesame seeds there."

She said she's still not feeling Jesse and Ron's clam chowder. "The hot chili made sense, but not clam chowder with butter and cream on a 90-degree day, as opposed to making something fresh and light. Maybe there's so many crappy pasta salads out there that it gets a bad rap."

Asked if she was surprised that Ashley, who was so offended last week at having to cater bachelor and bachelorette parties when gays can't marry in most of the U.S., didn't mention the military's anti-gay bias, Mistry told us, "Yes, I commented on that last night while watching the show with friends. I don't really agree with war and the military-industrial complex, but I support the individuals. I don't agree with Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

When summoned to the judges' table after what she told us was at least a six-hour wait in the holding room ("it's hot and sweaty!"), she already knew her fate. "I wasn't surprised that it was me and not Laurine, because it was her first time there. I knew it was me as soon as Mike said it was us three."

Her favorite to win? "I definitely was very impressed with Jen, and I really hope she wins. Kevin is really kind of awesome, and I think everything he makes is brilliant. I really love his style."

On Mistry's future plans: "I'm really happy at Bon Appetit and Google -- it's a really great place. I'm concentrating on making the food that I do better and better each day. I'll work on some side projects -- maybe a pasta salad cookbook! San Francisco's really into street food these days. I might have to buy a taco truck and take it out on weekends!"