I found it humerous that the team doing Christmas Story found out the hard way that you can't buy a duck in this cow town.

I feel like a lot of people are missing the point (or maybe I am)--it wasn't supposed to be "pick a food-centric movie and give us a dish that's like what you see in that movie." My interpretation of the challenge was that they were really supposed to be creative--take their favorite movie and interpret some theme or scene into a dish. No point in ragging on them for not picking appropriately "foodie" movies; any movie could have worked if the chefs were willing to think outside the box.

GardenofEatin wrote:I feel like a lot of people are missing the point (or maybe I am)--it wasn't supposed to be "pick a food-centric movie and give us a dish that's like what you see in that movie." My interpretation of the challenge was that they were really supposed to be creative--take their favorite movie and interpret some theme or scene into a dish. No point in ragging on them for not picking appropriately "foodie" movies; any movie could have worked if the chefs were willing to think outside the box.

Exactly what I was thinking!

I really would have liked the challenge a lot more if Roeper picked six movies, each pair got assigned one at random, they watched the movie together, and interpreted it in their dish. It would have made the episode more fun and would have strengthened the entire theme. Instead, we got pairs picking a kind of food and then picking the first movie that popped into their head that was remotely connected to their choice. Any real connection to the film was an example of good salesmanship.

On the other hand, I loved the quickfire challenge. A great, very difficult, concept that really helped separate the chefs from the cooks.

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:On the other hand, I loved the quickfire challenge. A great, very difficult, concept that really helped separate the chefs from the cooks.

Ooh, I think you've nailed it. Dale, Andrew, and Stephanie (probably a couple others if I thought about it) are showing they are Chefs -- even the quickfires are original dishes. Others are showing their rote skills: pretty grill marks arranged with slivered veg? Not a dish.

Unfortunately, next week we get another "Top Caterer" contest, with dinner for 300. With "Chef" meaning leader, these group challenges should be helping show the personality able to take the lead. Unfortunately, with more than a dozen iconoclasts in the room, there's too many chiefs, not enough indians.

Darren72 wrote:

GardenofEatin wrote:I feel like a lot of people are missing the point (or maybe I am)--it wasn't supposed to be "pick a food-centric movie and give us a dish that's like what you see in that movie." My interpretation of the challenge was that they were really supposed to be creative--take their favorite movie and interpret some theme or scene into a dish. No point in ragging on them for not picking appropriately "foodie" movies; any movie could have worked if the chefs were willing to think outside the box.

Exactly what I was thinking!

I agree too! The lamest interpretations are where someone takes a movie like Big Night, and makes Italian food, or Finding Nemo, and does shrimp. The best ones are more esoteric, creative interpretations.

I actually thought that using beef for Top Secret was good, IMHO, but I had to laugh during Top Chef when Lisa is shown telling someone (probably Stephanie) that, "there's this scene, in Top Secret, where Val Kilmer dresses up in a cow costume . . . " -- then the camera cuts away. Anyone who knows that scene was probably thinking, and . . . then what happened???? I wonder why they didn't air the rest of Lisa's sentence. . . Shows a wicked sense of humor on Lisa's and Stephanie's parts.

aschie30: I opine just that line of thought upthread

gardenofeatin: so, maybe one of the teams should've chosen Cube or Hypercube(then they could've really thought "out of the box")

Something I guess I did not pick up on at the time, but were all of the teams for the elimination challenge single sex? I know it was a random drawing, and Dale could have chosen to work with one of the women teams to make it not so, but interesting (and low percentage) nonetheless.

Well I'm glad that Zoi is gone. I'm pretty sure that last night she said again that the judges didn't understand her food.

Also, I think that Antonia did say that she wouldn't do soup, then later in the episode said that she "never said she wouldn't do soup".

The winning dish looked good, but I'm not sure how they decided that Lisa was the winner. Sure she cooked the bacon and people liked that part of it, but as far as the editing let us see it didn't look like she helped develop the concept of the dish. She was to busy bitching.

Sometimes I kind of wonder if the producers encourage the contestants to over react to things this year. People seem all around more like crybabies.

You know, it really didn't SEEM like Zoi got a bad edit- in fact, it seemed like she got more than a few passes on some egregiously bad dishes/decisions. Now I wonder, though, because they all seemed SO shocked that she was the one going home. The way it looked to me, it would've been ridiculous to send anyone OTHER than her to pack their knives.

I also don't think Lisa should've won, I definitely think that should've been Stephanie or Dale. Yes, Dale spent plenty of time bickering with her, too, but once they came up with a new dish, it seemed like he contributed more than she did.

Really, at this point, I'm just dying for Nikki to go home already.

brandon_w wrote:Well I'm glad that Zoi is gone. I'm pretty sure that last night she said again that the judges didn't understand her food.

She did. And the extended version of her exit interview isn't much better. She talks about how she was misunderstood and maybe she just doesn't have the personality they're looking for in a Top Chef and that's fine, she's not going to change -- she just cooks to cook. Nevermind that this is the third week in a row they haven't liked her elimination dish. By all accounts last week's lamb wasn't awful, just oversold. But everybody hated both her pasta salad and the carpaccio. She also complained in the extended exit interview about how the judges are tasting her dishes without really knowing her, so they're tasting her food "out of context", as though learning her life story will suddenly cause them to exclaim, "Oh! Now that I understand who you are as a person, Zoi, this doesn't taste like crap anymore!" It would seem she failed to understand that it's not the judges' job to prod and dig and pull teeth to figure out what kind of chef you are -- it's your job to show them.

sweetsalty wrote:You know, it really didn't SEEM like Zoi got a bad edit- in fact, it seemed like she got more than a few passes on some egregiously bad dishes/decisions. Now I wonder, though, because they all seemed SO shocked that she was the one going home.

Made even more interesting by the fact that in his extended exit interview, Manuel named Richard, Stephanie and Zoi when asked who he thought was going to be there at the end. You do have to wonder if maybe she's better than she showed. But based on what she showed, it's a little surprising she lasted as long as she did.

sweetsalty wrote:Really, at this point, I'm just dying for Nikki to go home already.

Amen to that!

I don't think I could handle watching an extended interview with Zoi, she really was such a self-pity party.

I've eaten a lot of really good food in my life at restaurants and never once have I known the Chef's life story, much less do I think I need to, to enjoy their food. That seems like the most bizarre cop out ever. I guess her cooking could be better than the THREE bad dishes in a row she put out, but I still couldn't handle her personality.

I don't think Nikki or Ryan will be there much longer.

Richard and Andrew need to start doing something different or they are going to get called out on not having any diversity. Tapioca "caviar" pearls again? Neat...

sweetsalty wrote:I also don't think Lisa should've won, I definitely think that should've been Stephanie or Dale. Yes, Dale spent plenty of time bickering with her, too, but once they came up with a new dish, it seemed like he contributed more than she did.

Really, at this point, I'm just dying for Nikki to go home already.

I am in complete agreement with both statements here. Lisa made...um, bacon? Are you telling me that Ming has never tasted bacon with a sweet glaze before? C'mon...sweet/salty is everywhere dude. And Nikki annoys the crap out of me...she should move from this show to something like Real Housewives, where her big hairdo will fit in.

My other annoyance is Spike's rotating hat line-up. What's with all the hats??? Is this now Project Runway? Get your reality-competition shows straight people!

wino66 wrote:I am in complete agreement with both statements here. Lisa made...um, bacon? Are you telling me that Ming has never tasted bacon with a sweet glaze before? C'mon...sweet/salty is everywhere dude.

So, possibly he is talking about something more subtle than just "sweet/salty" when he says he hasn't seen it before. Lisa, like Ming, works with an Asian palette of flavors; maybe there was something genuinely original about this. Another reminder that we can't taste the food and are having to take the judges' word for it.

re: Bacon -- I think it's more than the maple glaze:
Shiro Miso on bacon sounds like an umami-rama.

On the other hand, I think the judges are letting some of the more seasoned contestants off easy: Last week Spike got a pass over Manuel, even though he led that stinker of a summer roll, and this week Andrew's salmon really sounded like the loser.

I also am worried about the general chops of some of these folks: This is at least the third time the judges have complained about underseasoning (well, the Zoo mushrooms were overseasoned, but there's an exception to every rule), we've seen numerous mispronunciations. At least this week we didn't get a "Do you know what a _____ is?" from TC (souffle, paella... was there another?)

I got the impression from what Ming said that the unique aspect of the bacon was not the sweet-salty generally but the use of miso with the syrup.

Here's the ingredient list from the recipe:

Miso Syrup:
1 cup shiro (white) miso
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 cups rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups mirin
1/2 lb bacon

I still think it should have been Stephanie or Dale who won (mostly because I'm not a big fan of Lisa's personality), but it's not like Lisa just slathered some bacon with maple syrup and baked it for a while.

What I found funny was the folks trying to keep a straight face during the "confrontation" at the end. When Spike went off on Antonia, she was seriously having trouble not laughing. I assume it's because this was, to some extent, staged. But it could also be because Spike is a complete tool and has the best odds, with Ryan and Nikki, of being gone at the end of the next show. And what was with Dale grabbing his nuts as he yelled at Lisa?

I'm actually pretty suprised it wasn't Richard. He got a free pass on a number of pretty egregious errors last night in my opinion.

JLenart wrote:I'm actually pretty surprised it wasn't Richard. He got a free pass on a number of pretty egregious errors last night in my opinion.

Agreed. I was very concerned as Richard is one of my early favorites. I've never been a big fan of sous-vide fish preparations, so my gut was telling me that things were not going to end well for Team Water.

I don't know why, but I actually find Dale pretty hilarious.

Also, re: experienced chefs getting a pass...Manuel is certainly no rookie. He was a sous chef at Babbo (he was "Memo" in Heat), and was (until recently) the exec chef at Dos Caminos in NYC.

I don't think they get a pass for past experience, but they do for previous good performance on the show. They do that on Project Runway too. You can have a stellar record coming in, but if you mess up early you are screwed. Build up a record like Richard's on the show and they will let you skate a time or too. It probably also helps if they like your personality/viewer appeal.

Matt wrote:

Spike is a complete tool and has the best odds, with Ryan and Nikki, of being gone at the end of the next show

I'm a bit surprised Spike lasted this long. I think producers of pseudo-reality shows like to keep at least one A-hole on board for quite a while so people will keep tuning in waiting for him/her get the boot.

Note to Andrew: cooking fish w/ the head on != leaving scales on the fish. Dumbass.

Stephanie should definitely won the challenge. She came up w/ the dish at WF when they were floundering for ideas.

And Richard's salmon looked like a pink lump of mushy cat food. Yuck.

tem wrote:And Richard's salmon looked like a pink lump of mushy cat food. Yuck.

Actually salmon cooked sous-vide can look like it's raw, but has the texture of cooked. Yet another problem with food on television.

brandon_w wrote:Well I'm glad that Zoi is gone. I'm pretty sure that last night she said again that the judges didn't understand her food.

Also, I think that Antonia did say that she wouldn't do soup, then later in the episode said that she "never said she wouldn't do soup".

The winning dish looked good, but I'm not sure how they decided that Lisa was the winner. Sure she cooked the bacon and people liked that part of it, but as far as the editing let us see it didn't look like she helped develop the concept of the dish. She was to busy bitching.

Sometimes I kind of wonder if the producers encourage the contestants to over react to things this year. People seem all around more like crybabies.

If you rewatch the episode(I caught the last half after South Park, then watched the first half an hour later)...Antonia does, indeed, passively say she will do soup if...mumble...mumble...that's what everyone wants...mumble...mumble...

...lame episode...(don't get me started on those tarted up philanthropic Ladeez Which Lunches during the main competition...made my gorge rise the way those Chicago society rags do...blecch...

...it was kinda sorta humorous when the camera stuck on a table of these peroxided and sparkling attendees in order to record one offering, "if it were me...someone from Team Earth would get the boot..."

and her dining companion replendent in the latest David Lynch's Dune House Corrino drag turns to her and, restraining herself from snapping her fingers in a Z while stifling a laugh, smirks, "...oh no you didn't!")

at least this is the way I prefer to remember it

jesteinf wrote:

JLenart wrote:I'm actually pretty surprised it wasn't Richard. He got a free pass on a number of pretty egregious errors last night in my opinion.

Agreed. I was very concerned as Richard is one of my early favorites. I've never been a big fan of sous-vide fish preparations, so my gut was telling me that things were not going to end well for Team Water.

It went by very quickly, so many may have missed it, but somebody* at the judges' table mentioned that the carpaccio was voted the worst by the benefit-goers, another judge* said, "It was!", and the entire judges' table nodded in agreement. So, problems with the fish aside, it seemed to be unanimous that the carpaccio was everybody's least favorite dish. And though the judges have said they don't really have rules they abide by when making their decisions, when there's a team challenge they've been pretty consistent about choosing a losing team first, and then choosing their ultimate loser from that team. This is also, incidentally, why Nikki's still around. Even though the judges seemed to feel that her mushrooms in week two were the worst dish, the losing team was the gorillas, so they chose their elimination (Valerie) from that team. The same thing might've spared her at the block party, too.

* - Owing to a TiVo malfunction, I'm unable to review the tape

This was my favorite episode so far. Plenty of bitching and backstage drama and my least favorite cheftestant finally got the axe.

Liked the quickfire in that it wasn't subjective; there was a right and a wrong. The problem with that is a lucky guesser could have won immunity.

Richard got something of a comeuppance. His confidence was high, as it should have been, but he displayed a bit of arrogance that I hadn't noticed before. He almost got nailed for the same reasons Tre did last season.

Richard made numerous mistakes in this one. First, the decision to sous vide EIGHTY portions. I know his team was water, but that's a daunting task. Next, the choice of salmon. He had to know that WF wasn't going to have 40 or so fillets ready to go. That meant he would have to butcher large portions of a whole fish himself. Also, the fish apparently wasn't prepped at all, since the scales were still on it. Salmon is one of the hardest fishes to butcher with the pinbones and all. Finally, the decision to leave the salmon skin on. I find salmon skin unappetizing unless it's crispy, which is not going to happen sous vide. Removing the skin would have taken a lot of time, reinforcing the fact that it was a poor choice of protein. Richard DID get a pass on this one. Given his emotional reaction when they went back to the stew room, he knows it.

Not every piece of salmon had scales on it, so it wasn't as heavily panned as the carpaccio, which everyone seemed to have problems with. Also, even though we (the audience) are sick of seeing the faux caviar, it was new and interesting to those at the event, with the exception of Tom and Padma.

Zoi finally paid the price for her pasta salad. Just like Erik did for her two weeks ago, Zoi gave the judges a reasonable alternative to eliminating Richard. Her attitude toward Richard last week was completely unprofessional. Plus, we hopefully get the added benefit of not having to hear Jennifer make excuses for Zoi anymore.

Spike's an ass, but Jennifer had no business bitching at him. His argument wasn't with Zoi, it was with Antonia, and rightfully so. Jennifer was out of line for taking her frustrations for Zoi leaving out on Spike. Dale's comment was perhaps unnecessary, but Lisa is the last person who should take him to task on it. Good for Dale for letting Lisa have it.

Regarding Antonia, I don't watch much reality TV, but this is the first time I've seen someone with immunity deliberately sabotage the people she's working with. She's the last person that I would trust.

In Tom's blog, he refers to the prevalence of the use of foul language by many of this season's contestants. While Dale Levitski's cursing was pretty funny last season, it's gone way too far this year. I applaud any effort Tom makes to curb the use of such language in following seasons. This season is certainly not kid-friendly.

Finally, did anyone else notice Takashi Yagihashi sitting at the judges' table for the event? He went uncredited, which is not a surprise given his connection to Stephanie.

I have no problem with the language. The show airs at 9pm, that's primetime, not Saturday morning. By the time I was old enough to be allowed to stay up watching TV at 9pm, none of these words were new to me.

brandon_w wrote:I have no problem with the language. The show airs at 9pm, that's primetime, not Saturday morning. By the time I was old enough to be allowed to stay up watching TV at 9pm, none of these words were new to me.

I don't have a problem with it myself. However, I wouldn't want my niece or nephew to watch some of these episodes, yet I'd really think they'd enjoy the show otherwise. Plus, it's not just shown late at night. Bravo replays it several times during the week and weekend afternoons.

Stephanie should definitely won the challenge. She came up w/ the dish at WF when they were floundering for ideas.

Yes, but the judges would not have known that. She was gracious enough (if I recall her comments correctly) to give the team more credit than it seemed to have deserved for the final concept.

brandon_w wrote:I have no problem with the language. The show airs at 9pm, that's primetime, not Saturday morning. By the time I was old enough to be allowed to stay up watching TV at 9pm, none of these words were new to me.

Using profanity shows ones inability to communicate on an adult level. Occasional use of a profane word for humor works, while not lowering one to the gutteral utterances of animals.

I find the profanity this season to be over the top. Perhaps its a producers choice or through the encouragement of the producers that people are talking like this but it's ridiculous because its over the top.

brandon_w wrote:Also, I think that Antonia did say that she wouldn't do soup, then later in the episode said that she "never said she wouldn't do soup".

Nope, I went back and checked, and she most definitely said she WOULD do soup if they wanted to. In fact, she said if they wanted to do soup, she'd make a "f*cking good soup." While she wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, she seemed to be saying that if that's what her teammates decided upon, she would fully commit to it.

And jaybo, I don't think it's a fair characterization to say that she deliberately sabotaged her teammates. First of all, that just isn't logical. She had immunity, so it's not like it was her or them. In fact, both of her teammates were fairly weak competitors, so it wasn't even in her best interest to get rid of them at this point. Second of all, she didn't object to the soup out of spite--she really seemed to think that soup wouldn't be enough to wow them. I tend to agree. Even though the judges implied that a good soup is the test of a chef, they have in the past dinged cheftestants for doing soup on the grounds that it was too simple and not impressive enough.

In any case, I definitely didn't think Lisa should have won. She was just so annoying (and I realize much of that is editing, but seriously now. Quit it with the whining.) And cooking up some bacon gets her a trip to Italy? Wasn't a similar technique discussed here on the board not long ago? My vote was for Dale, though Stephanie was pretty deserving as well.