If anyone ever woke me up in the morning by pulling my covers off and tickling me, it would be their last living act.

I didn't care for this week's challenge, but since they're nearing the end, hopefully we're moving more towards real cooking challenges. If I hd to geuss, I'd say the next three eliminations would be Malarkey-Sara-Dale, with Casey and Hung being the final two (unless one of them makes a major misstep).

I think there's a good chance Hung will screw up, in which case I think it'll be Casey/Sara.

I think Casey and Hung have the best chances to win this thing, especially given that next week's competition should basically be a free ride for Hung.

gleam wrote:I think Casey and Hung have the best chances to win this thing, especially given that next week's competition should basically be a free ride for Hung.

Yeah, if the impression the promo left was at all accurate, this next one looks like it's squarely in Hung's wheelhouse. I'm actually a little worried about our Chicago boy this coming week. I know Brian's the popular pick for chef with one foot in the grave, but I expect his seafood will come across quite nicely in a fine dining context. I think Dale's cleverness has suited him well through these adaptation challenges, but I'm not convinced yet that "refined" is his strongest point. We'll see.

What's the general consensus on the local boy?

Has anyone been all that impressed by his Chicago cooking (leaving out the show creations)?

I get the impression that he's just not in the Guy Savoy league.

From what I've seen, I would go to a restaurant where Hung was doing the cooking, but I'm not sure I would go out of my way for a Dale restaurant.

[Editing note -- Sorry for turning Guy into Gus. My bad. In my defense -- only one cup of coffee so far this morning]

DML wrote:I get the impression that he's just not in the Gus Savoy league.

I don't think anyone on this show is in Gus Savoy's league. Gus Savoy is the guy slinging hash at a roadside diner. Guy Savoy, on the other hand . . .

DML wrote:From what I've seen, I would go to a restaurant where Hung was doing the cooking, but I'm not sure I would go out of my way for a Dale restaurant.

Given Hung's freestyle creations on the show, I'm not sure I'd want him to cook for me; they never go over with the judges, either. I think Hung is the ultimate sous chef; he takes direction well and he needs to be reigned in. He is NOT an executive chef, which is really the direction they're going with "Top Chef."

Hung has been behaving lately. Once he starts misbehavin' again, he may get fast-tracked off the show. He's been in the bottom a lot.

Setting aside Hung's technique, I think Casey is really the most talented one. She has a superior palate.

To clarify my prior post -- I meant somebody who churned out Guy Savoy creations, and not Guy Savoy himself.

[Edited again to correct the name. Too bad there was not a waitress for Dale's own Cru here watching over me. SHE would have noted the error immediately and made sure the entire section of the restaurant was aware of it. Fine staff they have over at Cru].

I cannot speak to Hung's food since I've never eaten it. That said, based on what I've seen on this show, he seems like more of a talented technician to me than someone who can successfully compose dishes or menus. His beautiful food rarely looks appetizing.

Dale's food, I've had the pleasure to have eaten at La Tache and Trio Atelier and it was really delicious. The veal cheeks dish at Trio Atelier were right up there with the best preparations of that dish that I've ever tasted. Even his croque-monsieur was distinctive and memorable. The guy knows how to turn out dishes that satisfy.

=R=

In term's of Dale's food -- i have to say that I had a couple of dinners at La Tache when he was chef there and they were lovely meals. They were very bistro oriented steak frites type things but still quite good. My mother said it was one of the best duck breasts she had ever had and she loves duck. I remember liking it too, actually and I'm not much of a duck fan.

I also totally dig Orange -- it's fun and playful and a tasty breakfast.

I think he's got a shot at the top 3 at least -- Hung's stuff always leaves me uninterested and while Casey seems to know what she's doing -- her odd manner of inflection and her uncanny resemblance to Jennifer Aniston kinda freak me out.

I think Sara also has chops -- she was a martinet when she was exec cheffing the restaurant war. Her tomato bread pudding hors d'oevre looked really really tasty and I think had I been at that party, i would have been hovering over those.

Dale's food seems to me to be like Dave's from Season 1. And Dave was my fave that season despite his hissy fits.

Um, so just watched on I-Tunes, and, while I realize that the episode title was "Snacks on a Plane," the fact that your rather sultry (and, it would seem, booze-loving) Lady co-host gave away the fact that she was indeed burning skin with the old seven-foot cyclops with that dew-eyed look as she apprised him of his need to pack his edges does not give you the right, ever, to dress like a one Samuel L(eroy) Jackson.
Such haberdashery should not exist for the over-13 set (yet, oddly, seems to find its niche amongst caucasion males in the slightly overweight crowd--a la kevin james).
The road to sartorial hell is surely paved with Kangols.

ParkerS wrote:Um, so just watched on I-Tunes, and, while I realize that the episode title was "Snacks on a Plane," the fact that your rather sultry (and, it would seem, booze-loving) Lady co-host gave away the fact that she was indeed burning skin with the old seven-foot cyclops with that dew-eyed look as she apprised him of his need to pack his edges does not give you the right, ever, to dress like a one Samuel L(eroy) Jackson.
Such haberdashery should not exist for the over-13 set (yet, oddly, seems to find its niche amongst caucasion males in the slightly overweight crowd--a la kevin james).
The road to sartorial hell is surely paved with Kangols.

Hysterical. Proof that NYers are over-fashioned.

Re: Hung comments... keep in mind that a lot of his creations are under extreme limitations. Half the time his just has fun with it and still does well enough to not get the boot where many of his fellow contestants are cooking for their dear life just trying not to get the boot and fail. When he goes for what he knows to be crowd pleasing dishes he has consistently been in the top 3. I would argue that until the last cook-off, it pretty much is top cook despite what the judges and guests say over and over. Chefs are not given a mystery bag before each service.

Apropos of nothing Top Chef per se, but I want to be the voice in the wilderness supporting product placements. There's a simple reason that product placements exist these days. Many (many) people don't watch commercials. We've been blessed from them through the magic of Tivo/DVR, On Demand (and to a lesser extent DVDs). Now, the entertainment business IS a business, not a charity.

All the smart people in this business have seen the same thing. No commercial watching. Who wants to pay for a not-watched commercial. So, they need the money some other way. The go-to for sure is product placement and related sponsorships. It's the trade-off. If not, there would be a massive effort, I am sure, to criminalize (in some way) DVRs.

Me, I'm perfectly fine with the montage at the beginning that implies the cheftenstants get $100,000 worth of Glad wrap. All of that stuff I can live with because it's a hell of a lot more fun (and easier) to watch Top Chef off the DVR than any other way.

One of the things that my 15 y/o son and I have come to find humorous is Casey's continually mounting irritation with Padma. In this past episode, she could barely contain her contempt towards her when it was her turn to speak about Padma waking them up or Padma meeting them at the airport. I think after the "you're going clubbing, but no wait you're cooking" challenge, Casey just lost her patience with the woman.

I'm starting to feel a bit frustrated by watching some of these silly challenges that they've had for the chefs this season. At first I thought that perhaps last season's group was more talented, and maybe they were, but I also don't think the challenges that the chefs have been given this season have allowed them to give us a real view of their talent...or as much as we can get without actually eating their food.

Kwe730 wrote:I'm starting to feel a bit frustrated by watching some of these silly challenges that they've had for the chefs this season. At first I thought that perhaps last season's group was more talented, and maybe they were, but I also don't think the challenges that the chefs have been given this season have allowed them to give us a real view of their talent...or as much as we can get without actually eating their food.

This is not the first time I've heard that last year's chefs were more talented and I don't understand the basis for that. If you've happened to catch the reruns - Mikey and Betty were horrific. There is nobody that we've seen this season who is as bad as Mikey or Betty, but CJ has come pretty close to Mikey (tuna casserole, anyone?). That CJ garnered such a fan base is beyond me.

But I agree that the super-focused elimination challenges do not allow them the opportunity to show off their chops. Hopefully they remedy that for next season.

aschie30 wrote:But I agree that the super-focused elimination challenges do not allow them the opportunity to show off their chops. Hopefully they remedy that for next season.

I’m not so sure the prevalence of highly restrictive challenges isn’t a matter of perception.

All three seasons have followed pretty much the same format. The first third of the season is fairly open-ended, allowing the chefs to get their feet wet and to let us get to know them. The middle third bookends restaurant wars with a bunch of restrictive (sometimes ridiculously so) challenges. And the final third sets the cream of the crop loose.

I think it’s hard to see it right now since we’re right on the Act II / Act III transition and have just watched the two most restrictive episodes of the entire season, but in general there really haven’t been that many stupid challenges this season, and certainly I think there’s been vast improvement over the previous two seasons (for which I suspect we can credit LeAnn Wong and her new position as culinary consultant on the show). Grocery store aisle beats vending machine any day, and there’s been none of that “you have to shop and prep today, but your cooking equipment and utensils for tomorrow are a total mystery” crap.

I mean, take it episode by episode:

Episode 1
Quickfire – Improvised Amuse
Elimination – Exotic Proteins

Episode 2
Quickfire – Citrus
Elimination – Grilling / BBQ

Episode 3
Quickfire – Aquarium Seafood
Elimination – Reinvented Family Favorites

Episode 4
Quickfire – Gin Cocktail Pairings
Elimination – Upscale Trios

Episode 5
Quickfire – Frozen Pie Crust
Elimination – Soap Opera Latin Lunch

Episode 6
Quickfire – Culinary Bee
Elimination – Frozen Pastas

Episode 7
Quickfire – Coldstone Creamery
Elimination – Post-Bar Food

Episode 8
Quickfire – Creative Burgers
Elimination – Resturant Wars Part I

Episode 9
Quickfire – Mise en Place Race
Elimination – Restaurant Wars Part II

Episode 10
Quickfire – Grocery Store Aisle
Elimination – Tight Budget Hors d’Oeuvres

Episode 11
Quickfire – Blender Breakfast
Elimination – Airplane Food

So of those 22, the vast majority were extremely open-ended. I think the only highly restrictive and/or stupid challenges have been the improvised amuse, the frozen pie crust, the frozen pastas, the grocery store aisle and the airplane food. The Bombay Sapphire, Coldstone and Red Robin quickfires all had annoying product placements, but at their heart you had gin pairing, ice cream and creative burgers. Those are incredibly open-ended. Even the blender breakfast. They weren’t instructed to blend only, they were instructed to use the blender in some capacity. So I think what we’re really talking about is five highly-restrictive/dumb challenges out of 22. Which means that in more than three-quarters of the challenges thus far, the chefs have pretty much been free to do as they pleased.

I think we both agree, then, that we haven't seen a good open-ended elimination challenge (Restaurant Wars excepted) since the Latin lunch (episode 5). I'm generally okay with a more restricted quickfire (although I thought the sight of the chefs playing Cold Stone Worker with the spatulas was truly demoralizing). But the eliminations in the middle of the season have bordered on the ridiculous. Frozen foods - come on. Airplane food - pulease. A cocktail party for a "white hot" designer - ugh. If they left the product placement to the quickfires and let the elimination be more freestyle and skills-focused, I think the show would be more interesting. We're getting to the end here. (Don't they eliminate one more and then we're in Finale Episodes 1 & 2?) I don't know what's on tap for next week, but if it's another product placement-focused elimination, then it will be a shame because I don't feel like I've gotten a sense of what each remaining chef can really do.

Well, I'm not sure we do agree, there

Episode 5... absolutely agreed. Good one. Open-ended, keep it Latin.

Episode 6... I don't care if this is what modern chefs need to know. Dumb.

Episode 7... time to think and shop to make food out of a well-equipped kitchen coach for the late night bar crowd? What's wrong with that? Just because it has to have boozer appeal doesn't mean it can't be wildly creative and delicious. Take away the dramatic context, and at heart it's a very simple, solid challenge.

Episode 8... Restaurant Wars I
Episode 9... Restaurant Wars II

Episode 10... take away the boat and the drama and what do you have? Make delicious and beautiful hors d'oeuvres, make whatever you want, and keep it under $50. Yeah, it was dressed in pretention, but like episode 7, at heart it was a very simple, solid challenge.

Episode 11... not absurdly so, but more restrictive than I like to see in an elimination, agreed.

So I think the points of contention must be the roach coaches and the yacht, because otherwise we're talking about two weak eliminations over the run of the season. If you take away the setup and the drama and the surroundings of the bar food and the yacht appetizer challenges, don't you think those two were actually very simple, open-ended challenges in which the chefs were perfectly set up to show what they could do? In both, there were only very broad format restrictions and they could pretty much shop and cook how they pleased.

It's not just that the roach coach and yacht challenges were on carts and boats but that they (1) were team-oriented, which leaves each chef, to some extent, at the mercy of his or her team; (b) were targeted for a specific crowd they wouldn't normally cook for (models or drunken clubgoers) and (3) involved limiting cooking and/or budgetary circumstances (such as a boat or a roach coach). As a result, we don't get to see how each chef would really perform if not presented with these constraints. Sure, I get that there are always budgetary constraints, but these chefs don't cook for hungry, drunken clubgoers, they don't cook in roach coaches or on boats. Same with the hors d'oeuvres - they're not caterers who have to dial down their offerings to suit the crowd they're feeding. You don't go to Guy Savoy expecting hot dogs, and you don't go to Abacus expecting pizza. Each chef presumably has a distinct style and honed talent that suits the restaurants they've worked at. These silly challenges don't allow them to show them off. Take Hung - he was blasted for serving smoked salmon mousse on a cucumber but look who he was cooking for! People who are more concerned about their waistlines than having good food! (Even Tony Bourdain commented that Hung, in that episode, was finally cooking for other people and not himself.) What is the point of all those challenges where every chef is thrown into unfamiliar circumstances that they'll unlikely ever face? The outcomes don't really show me anything.

In addition to the two episodes I talked about above, the gimmickry has extended to that ridiculous frozen food challenge (something they're not trained or would ever want to do) and the airplane food (ditto). I thought the latter episode was especially absurd because the main thrust of the challenge was figuring out how to make a dish that can be reheated at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes in questionable airplane ovens. Hopefully, that's not a skill set that they will ever have to develop.

You could argue that cooking out of a vending machines shows off their creativity and adaptability more than the airplane food show does.

Well, I think we've clearly identified the point of contention

We're in total agreement when it comes to the frozen pasta and flight meals.

As for the roach coaches and the yacht, I think you're not giving chefs (both these specifically, and chefs in general) enough credit. No, in the course of their careers, most of them aren't going to face those particular scenarios (though there were caterers present!). But if a chef got through one of those challenges without showing off what s/he can really do, allow me to argue that it's the fault of the chef, not of the challenge. I think any chef who complained that he couldn't show off his talent under those circumstances is either A) copping out, or B) untalented. They weren't crippled by a lack of good ingredients, kitchen facilities or unusual food format. They were simply asked to make satisfying late-night grub in one case, and hors d'oeuvres in the other. If a chef is so single-purposed that he is only capable of expressing his creativity and technical skill when in a fully stocked restaurant-class kitchen, and can't bring his style and talents to those two scenarios with very, very limited sets of restrictions, I don't see how you can argue that the problem lies with the show and not with the chef.

'Sides which, I've seen plenty of restaurant kitchens that weren't NEARLY as nice as either the yacht kitchen OR the coaches

Dmnkly wrote:They weren't crippled by a lack of good ingredients, kitchen facilities or unusual food format. They were simply asked to make satisfying late-night grub in one case, and hors d'oeuvres in the other. If a chef is so single-purposed that he is only capable of expressing his creativity and technical skill when in a fully stocked restaurant-class kitchen, and can't express himself under those very, very limited sets of restrictions, I don't see how you can argue that the problem lies with the show and not with the chef.

'Sides which, I've seen plenty of restaurant kitchens that weren't NEARLY as nice as either the yacht kitchen OR the coaches

They were, to some extent, crippled by a lack of good ingredients with the tight budget in the hors d'oeuvres and in both situations, they were caught between cooking for the an "unsophisticated" crowd and cooking for the judges. But I agree that it's not so hard to make something satisfying for a crowd, even in a roach coach and/or a yacht, but they simultaneously have to please the judges (who seem to be looking for something different in the food than the crowd), work with a generally hostile team, and within a tight budget (in one of the episodes).

Take the roach coach episode. If all they had to do was whip up something for a clubgoing crowd, then I agree, any chef worth his or her whites should be able to do that. But they are being judged by people with more sophisticated palates. I don't particularly remember the crowd commenting favorably on Tre's winning dish (shrimp and grits) but the judges loved it. In fact, several clubgoers liked the sliders (the ill-fated Sara N.'s dish), but the judges commented that they were dry. (Sliders are dry!) In one instance, the crowd is happy, but in the same instance, the judges are nitpicking.

In the yacht episode, those same meaningless constraints rear their ugly heads. We hear Dale getting blasted by Dana Cowin because the yogurt filling didn't work, but he only substituted that in order to save money and because he thought it would be healthier (in both instances attempting to work within tight budgetary limits and please the crowd). I don't recall hearing one bad thing about Hung's salmon mousse from the crowd, but Dana Cowin thought it was "just so bad" because it was "so" outdated. Do you think the fashionistas cared about that as they were guiltlessly snarfing them up?

So, at the end of both challenges, it was less about whether they could cook something but whether they walked a fine line between meeting the challenges' constraints, working on a team, working within a budget, working in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable setting, and cooking for a crowd that is not really interested in food. You end up with a result that is more dumb luck than any sort of a demonstration of talent.

One or two of these type of challenges per season I can see, for sheer entertainment value, but when coupled with the airplane food and the frozen food elimination challenges so relatively late in the season, I feel like I'm being cheated.

Well, I think on a show like Top Chef where you're serving hundreds of people and seeing maybe 20 seconds of crowd reaction in each episode, it's difficult to make any conclusions about what the crowd at large thought. Even if you accept that the editors choose snippets that they feel best represents the crowd, there's no way the camera crew covered enough ground that the raw footage wasn't an insignificantly small sample. It's different on the challenges where it's a smaller group, or even when they have the people fill out report cards and the judges can say, definitively, that such-and-such dish was the crowd's favorite. But there's no way you could say with any degree of accuracy what that club crowd did or didn't like from watching the episode. Ditto, for example, how the yacht group felt about Hung's mousse.

And I understand your point about a difficulty in shooting the gap between the crowd and the judges, but I'm not convinced that choosing who to please is an either/or scenario. The judges are sure to be more critical, but then I think you're just talking about a higher standard, not a different one. I think everybody on that judging panel appreciated late night booze food... they just wanted it to be GOOD late night booze food.

As for the others... ingredients? Yeah, Dale got screwed, but that strikes me as a grand exception. Casey, Sara and CJ seemed to do just fine. They weren't vastly better chefs than everybody else, and I don't buy that they were lucky... they simply took a moment to engage their brains. As for the "unsophisticated" crowd argument, how do trendy Miami clubgoers and fashionistas differ significantly from the standard restaurant crowd? Don't the young, trendy, moneyed and figure-conscious comprise a large chunk of the clientele at any upscale urban restaurant? And as far as working on a team goes, I think there'd be more of an argument there if they actually WERE working as a team. But the reality is that, for the most part, everybody is creating and executing their own dish. Of course there's some negotiation in ensuring that all bases are covered, but still, these "teams" are comprised more of individuals than they are of specialized cogs.

But in the end, I suppose it just comes down to a difference of opinion about the severity of the constraints. In the two challenges we're discussing, yeah, the hurdles are there, but they strike me as very, very minor and nothing that should get in the way of a chef's ability to express himself unless he's just looking for an excuse. If anything, I think the failed dishes in these challenges haven’t been the result of the chefs’ inability to cope with the constraints ,but rather their unwillingness to do so. Did Hung’s mousse, Joey’s cigars and Sara’s sliders and milkshakes suck because of the constraints put on them? I could be wrong, but in all three cases it seemed a lot less like inability in the face of adversity and a lot more like simple hubris and laziness.

aschie30 wrote:We hear Dale getting blasted by Dana Cowin because the yogurt filling didn't work, but he only substituted that in order to save money and because he thought it would be healthier (in both instances attempting to work within tight budgetary limits and please the crowd).

A quick side note... the former, absolutely. The latter was simply an after-the-fact attempt to save face. He was standing in the checkout line with goat cheese in hand and went back for the yogurt only AFTER Howie came up over budget.

Dmnkly wrote:As for the "unsophisticated" crowd argument, how do trendy Miami clubgoers and fashionistas differ significantly from the standard restaurant crowd? Don't the young, trendy, moneyed and figure-conscious comprise a large chunk of the clientele at any upscale urban restaurant?

Not in Chicago! There are/were certain restaurants where trendiness is key (Butterfly 8 comes to mind), but by and large, they're not great restaurants, more just flash. In Chicago, I think, there is a distinction between where the fashionistas go and where the good restaurants are. Maybe there's not a lot of fashionistas in Chicago, I don't know. But I look at Alinea, which in sheer flash and publicity value, has been the hottest restaurant in Chicago, and when I was there, it was frequented by no one under 32 (I think I was the youngest), most of which were well-heeled, but uninterested in going clubbing after dinner. Granted, that was only my limited experience on that one night, but I have similar experiences eating at some of the "hotter" restaurants around town that are known for their food first.

But I digress. Apparently the yacht challenge just put me over the edge! I thought, another crowd that just doesn't seem to give a crap about the food. I think it's more interesting to feature those palates that most likely suit your viewing audience. (As annoying as the medals-clad Chaines were to me, their input at least seemed somewhat informed.)

I see your point; the chefs should be able to cook and there was no reason why they couldn't churn out good junk food and hors d'oeuvres that satisfy both the judges and the partygoers. But I still stand by my conclusion that the winner of those challenges is someone who managed the many parameters and/or limitations of the challenge, not necessarily someone who showed they can really cook. This late in the show, I want to see more of that.

I fully expect that the producers require next season's Top Chef to cater to a huge group of LTHers. Not only will they have to make a ton of food, but they'll represent an informed and opinionated group; so comments should be interesting!

aschie30 wrote:I fully expect that the producers require next season's Top Chef to cater to a huge group of LTHers. Not only will they have to make a ton of food, but they'll represent an informed and opinionated group; so comments should be interesting!

Complete and total agreement!

I may be temporarily transplanted, but I can be there, fork in hand, with less than four hours' notice

I fully expect that the producers require next season's Top Chef to cater to a huge group of LTHers. Not only will they have to make a ton of food, but they'll represent an informed and opinionated group; so comments should be interesting!

Hell yes - especially if one of the cheftestants makes pizza or BBQ. Speaking of which, seeing as how TC is going to be Chicago-based next season, has there been any talk about where they're going to be shooting? I would imagine either a build-out by Bravo (expensive) or using an established kitchen (CHIC or Kendall)?

Loved last night's challenges! Both the quickfire and the elimination challenge. I laughed when Dale compared the faculty of the French Culinary Institute to Jesus' apostles. What I loved about them, though, is that they are all so confident in their skills, they didn't feel the need to tear down every. single. dish. They had valid criticism, but also commented on the positive aspects of each dish, which I thought was really very cool.

Casey and Hung continue to impress, even if I can't stand Hung (which I think is his goal- everybody remembers the villain). I definitely think it was time for Sara to go, but funny that both of her dishes ended up raw. I was really worried for Dale- I don't think he'll be the Top Chef (nor do I think he should be, as much as I love him), but I hope he at least brings his A game next week. I've got my fingers crossed for Casey, but ultimately, I have to admit that Hung is probably the superior chef.

I also enjoyed last nights episode and challenges. Although when they gave the lead in for the elimination challenge and Padma had the ingredients hidden under the silver cover, I thought she was going to open it up to expose offal, and thought that, that would have been a cool challenge.

They really should have just invited Casey and Hung to Aspen and told everyone else to go home.

Bourdain's blog for this weeks episode is really good, I learned a lot about Andre Soltner, which was nice, because I didn't know much about him.

Allow me to be the voice of dissent here. Hung shows technique, which is important, but when it comes to him executing technique, he falls short -- a lot. I wouldn't put Hung in the top 2 necessarily -- he's on a bit of a roll right now, but that doesn't mean he won't stumble.

I have to admit that I felt a bit misled and/or cheated by the editing in last night's episode. The editors set it up that Dale was in the bottom 2 because the flavors of the duos did not pan out and he forgot to plate his all-important sauce. Yet, no mention was made by the judges whether or not he executed basic technique which is what, I thought, the challenge was about (and why the base ingredients were so simple). Very frustrating because I thought Dale might get booted for a concept that was not very good in execution.

Anyhow, it wasn't until well-after Sara and Dale were interrogated and during his deliberations that Tom acknowledged that Dale's dish was executed well (although conceptually faulty)!! At that point, I practically started screaming at the TV that Sara had to go because she failed on technique!! But the editing was crafty and created more of an issue than I really think there really was in judging. (I mean, there's no way that Soltner would place the greater weight on concept over technique.)

Personally, I was hoping that someone would do a simple roast chicken with an onion confit. And if I was served Brian's dish, I would think that there was a kid in the back playing with food and this is what he came up with.

N.B. Although Le Cirque was the product placement in the quickfire, and the FCI in the elimination, I was much more satisfied with the purpose behind both of these challenges and it showed off their respective skills (although played more to Hung's than anyone else's).

I think it was a one of the best episodes of this season so far, really. i mean...they were REALLY cooking. No silly tasks, no ridiculous timing issues -- they were allowed to truly cook. I thought the quickfire was a really great challenge -- especially to see each of their dishes up against each other.

And, our boy Dale gave some excellent quips and comments in the talking head portions. What he said about cooking being all heart and when you don't have one -- it isn't good -- I guffawed out loud at that. I think Dale's got excellent tv chops, really. Nothing like an honest but cheeky gay man....that's why I have so many of them as friends!

Although I'd love for him to come out on top, I agree that Dale will probably not be the Top Chef. However, I'm certain he will gain big time from this experience. I just hope Chicago does. I'd love to see him get a great new restaurant out of this -- i think he only consults at Cru.

I'm pulling for Casey to win this one. Hung may be a technically decent chef but I think Dale called it on the guy. No heart.

Maybe you guys already knew this but according to this report, Part 2 of this season's Finale will air in Chicago on Oct. 3.