I was traveling for work this week, and of course, the hotel didn’t carry Bravo, so I had to wait until tonight to watch Wednesday’s episode of Top Chef.
Minor crisis, but it was averted. The TV in my bedroom is currently not working (it likes to take a vacation every six months or so… don’t worry, it’ll be back), and I didn’t set my TiVo in the living room to record the show. Fortunately, my bedroom TiVo recorded it despite the vacationing television, and thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to transfer the recording from the bedroom TiVo to the living room TiVo. Phew…
And, we won’t get into the discussion about how many TiVos I have. It’s a food blog, not a TV blog. I owe you no explanation.
Now, back to the show…
I curl up on the couch and hit play. The first thing I notice, which I must have totally missed last week, is that the stakes have been raised considerably for the winner. They still get the Food and Wine Magazine feature, and the showcase at the Food and Wine Expo in Aspen (which, by the way, I’m dying to go to). But they also get $100,000 worth of merchandise from Macy’s, and $125,000 to help make their culinary dreams a reality furnished by the makers of the Glad family of products. If I remember correctly, they used to get a suite of kitchen appliances (of the stove and fridge variety, not the toaster oven and blender types), but I can’t imagine that the most expensive GE or Kenmore appliances cost $100k. The biggest shocker of all – they increased the grand prize to $125,000. I had no idea! A 25% increase in this economy? That’s unheard of.
Okay, enough about the prizes. Back to the show…
The cheftestants arrive at the Top Chef kitchen, and Padma is there with a craps table and the guest judge for this week, Todd English. Has he ever been a guest judge before? I remember him appearing in one or two of the finales as a sous chef, but I can’t recall a guest judge appearance. I obviously don’t know Todd personally, but he has always struck me as unbelievably arrogant. Also unbelievably sexy, but I digress.
It’s another high stakes quick fire. The winner of the challenge gets immunity as well as a $15,000 chip from the M Resort. The chefs will roll a pair of dice on the craps table, and they have to prepare a dish that uses the number of ingredients that they roll – no more, no less. Salt, pepper and oil are free ingredients.
The smallest number rolled is a 3, and it goes to Laurine. The highest number rolled is 10 – both Kevin (last week’s winner) and Brother Bryan get the ten.
There are still too many contenders to describe what everyone did, but I will tell you that Ashley served practically raw lamb, Brother Mike made a funky gazpacho (a new twist on an old classic, per Todd), and Jesse tried to seer scallops in a non-stick pan. Come on, even I know that you need to use a stainless steel pan to get a good seer. Todd describes her scallops as “blonde.” I guess they were kind of dumb as well as not very good. They certainly didn’t look appetizing.
Todd declares Brother Mike the winner, while putting Brother Bryan on the bottom with his sous vide black cod that was “pretty rare.” The sibling rivalry is off to a great start. Younger brother Mike wins the challenge and $15,000, and Bryan has to stew (no pun intended). Mike has to talk about how great it feels to beat his brother, because Bryan has already achieved his chef dreams by opening up his own restaurant and Mike is still working for the man. This will get old pretty fast. If I want to watch families fight, I’ll go visit my own.
With the quick fire out of the way, it’s time for the elimination challenge. They divide the chefs up into teams, and it’s a battle of the sexes – men vs. women. They are catering a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. The women will cook for the men, and vice versa. The challenge is to prepare dishes that fit the tastes and preferences of the couple, while at the same time pairing with one of three shots.
The shots are tequila, a Moscow mule (described as “gingery, vodka, grape-fruity”), and a golden delicious (described as “sweet, gooey and disgusting”). The bride is a pescatarian, which is a vegetarian who eats fish. The groom sounds like he’ll eat pretty much anything.
The teams plan their menus, do their shopping and it’s back to the kitchen. Because she feels like there is enough time and money, Ashley makes the almost always bad decision of making two dishes. Ashley also makes it abundantly clear that she is more than offended by the challenge. She’s gay, and she is very upset to be participating in a wedding challenge when gay people are not allowed to get married (in most parts of the country). It’s totally okay for Ashley to feel the way she does, but I have to say that it’s a cooking competition taking place in Vegas. She had to be prepared for the potential of something like this. Vegas is kind of famous for its weddings. Preeti, who is also gay, didn’t have the same reaction as Ashley, and I was actually surprised at how laid back she was when she said “this is the world we live in today.”
The party is poolside at the M. Jen calls it the most gorgeous pool she’s ever seen. It was very nice, but not sure I’d go that far. I don’t understand what the point is of having joint bachelor/bachelorette parties. Unless the point is to have Top Chef pay for them.
Our judges this evening are Tom, Padma, Gail and Todd English. No Toby yet. These guys are at their best when they are brutally honest. In summary, they hated Eve’s ceviche, Ashley’s panna cotta (the second dish, naturally), Jesse’s Thai chicken lettuce cups, non-brother Mike’s arctic char, and Ron’s lobster cocktail. They loved Brother Mike’s apple sorbet and goat cheese cookie, Brother Bryan’s sweet and sour macaroon, and Hector’s tofu ceviche.
Somewhere between the party and the judge’s table, a few of the men decided they were going to jump in the pool. The judges must have left by then. It struck me as awfully unprofessional. If I ever threw a party, and the caterers decided to jump in my pool before the party was over, I’d be a little upset.
Now, it’s time for judge’s table. Padma enters the stew room, and requests to see Brothers Bryan and Mike, Hector and Eli. So, the men win and these are the favorites. The women were pretty confident, and look upset.
The judges deliver high praise for Eli’s tuna tartare, with the ginger matching very well to the ginger in the shot. They thought brother Mike’s sorbet and cookie was great from concept to execution, and said brother Bryan’s dish was a really fun play on chips and guacamole with margaritas. (Apparently, there was guacamole inside that macaroon.) And Hector’s dish will change people’s minds about tofu.
At the end of the day, Todd English said it came down to the two brothers, and Bryan wins! Mike looks a little disappointed that he didn’t beat his big brother, but for crying out loud he won $15,000. Let. It. Go. Plus, Bryan is my favorite of the two brothers… a little older, a little wiser, a little more mature, and yeah, a little hotter.
But now it’s time for the bad news. Eve, Jesse, Preeti and Ashley are in front of the firing squad. Eve and Jesse are two for two on the bottom – not good. They are the two remaining of my top three to be eliminated first. I think I hate looking at the lip ring more than I hate hearing the squeaky voice, so I’m hoping Jesse gets sent home.
They tell Jesse her dish was really watery, and she starts crying. Apparently, she didn’t use ginger in her dish, but used some of the ginger beer from the cocktail so that the dish would go with the drink. I guess that decision backfired.
Eve’s shrimp were described as flavorless, and she made some lame excuse for why that was so. Tom is biting his tongue to keep from really letting her have it, but Todd doesn’t hold back. He says that a chef should know when something is not right, and know enough to do something about it. Preeti is surprised she’s there. She thought her dish was a crowd pleaser. Tom tells her the tuna wasn’t so much as marinated as it was cured.
And of course, Ashley’s two dish decision is haunting her. They loved the watermelon carpaccio, but hated the panna cotta. Ashley isn’t surprised – she identified the many flaws of her second dish. Todd tells Ashley that her watermelon carpaccio was one of his favorite dishes. I’m guessing this ultimately saves her ass.
So, I’m hoping it is Jesse who is told to pack her knives and go. I can always mute the TV when Eve speaks, but I can’t stop watching when they show Jesse. TV isn’t very good without the visual.
But, I have to live with Jesse for at least another week, because it’s Eve who is told to pack her knives and go. Another week down, another chef sent home. TiVo stopped recording before I could see what’s in store for us next week, so I’ll have to wait (or read TV Guide) to “watch what’s happening” on Bravo next Wednesday.
Until then… it’s time for me to pack my own knives and go… to bed. (And I’m putting my stake in the ground for Jen and Brother Bryan as my early favorites.)
Minor crisis, but it was averted. The TV in my bedroom is currently not working (it likes to take a vacation every six months or so… don’t worry, it’ll be back), and I didn’t set my TiVo in the living room to record the show. Fortunately, my bedroom TiVo recorded it despite the vacationing television, and thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to transfer the recording from the bedroom TiVo to the living room TiVo. Phew…
And, we won’t get into the discussion about how many TiVos I have. It’s a food blog, not a TV blog. I owe you no explanation.
Now, back to the show…
I curl up on the couch and hit play. The first thing I notice, which I must have totally missed last week, is that the stakes have been raised considerably for the winner. They still get the Food and Wine Magazine feature, and the showcase at the Food and Wine Expo in Aspen (which, by the way, I’m dying to go to). But they also get $100,000 worth of merchandise from Macy’s, and $125,000 to help make their culinary dreams a reality furnished by the makers of the Glad family of products. If I remember correctly, they used to get a suite of kitchen appliances (of the stove and fridge variety, not the toaster oven and blender types), but I can’t imagine that the most expensive GE or Kenmore appliances cost $100k. The biggest shocker of all – they increased the grand prize to $125,000. I had no idea! A 25% increase in this economy? That’s unheard of.
Okay, enough about the prizes. Back to the show…
The cheftestants arrive at the Top Chef kitchen, and Padma is there with a craps table and the guest judge for this week, Todd English. Has he ever been a guest judge before? I remember him appearing in one or two of the finales as a sous chef, but I can’t recall a guest judge appearance. I obviously don’t know Todd personally, but he has always struck me as unbelievably arrogant. Also unbelievably sexy, but I digress.
It’s another high stakes quick fire. The winner of the challenge gets immunity as well as a $15,000 chip from the M Resort. The chefs will roll a pair of dice on the craps table, and they have to prepare a dish that uses the number of ingredients that they roll – no more, no less. Salt, pepper and oil are free ingredients.
The smallest number rolled is a 3, and it goes to Laurine. The highest number rolled is 10 – both Kevin (last week’s winner) and Brother Bryan get the ten.
There are still too many contenders to describe what everyone did, but I will tell you that Ashley served practically raw lamb, Brother Mike made a funky gazpacho (a new twist on an old classic, per Todd), and Jesse tried to seer scallops in a non-stick pan. Come on, even I know that you need to use a stainless steel pan to get a good seer. Todd describes her scallops as “blonde.” I guess they were kind of dumb as well as not very good. They certainly didn’t look appetizing.
Todd declares Brother Mike the winner, while putting Brother Bryan on the bottom with his sous vide black cod that was “pretty rare.” The sibling rivalry is off to a great start. Younger brother Mike wins the challenge and $15,000, and Bryan has to stew (no pun intended). Mike has to talk about how great it feels to beat his brother, because Bryan has already achieved his chef dreams by opening up his own restaurant and Mike is still working for the man. This will get old pretty fast. If I want to watch families fight, I’ll go visit my own.
With the quick fire out of the way, it’s time for the elimination challenge. They divide the chefs up into teams, and it’s a battle of the sexes – men vs. women. They are catering a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. The women will cook for the men, and vice versa. The challenge is to prepare dishes that fit the tastes and preferences of the couple, while at the same time pairing with one of three shots.
The shots are tequila, a Moscow mule (described as “gingery, vodka, grape-fruity”), and a golden delicious (described as “sweet, gooey and disgusting”). The bride is a pescatarian, which is a vegetarian who eats fish. The groom sounds like he’ll eat pretty much anything.
The teams plan their menus, do their shopping and it’s back to the kitchen. Because she feels like there is enough time and money, Ashley makes the almost always bad decision of making two dishes. Ashley also makes it abundantly clear that she is more than offended by the challenge. She’s gay, and she is very upset to be participating in a wedding challenge when gay people are not allowed to get married (in most parts of the country). It’s totally okay for Ashley to feel the way she does, but I have to say that it’s a cooking competition taking place in Vegas. She had to be prepared for the potential of something like this. Vegas is kind of famous for its weddings. Preeti, who is also gay, didn’t have the same reaction as Ashley, and I was actually surprised at how laid back she was when she said “this is the world we live in today.”
The party is poolside at the M. Jen calls it the most gorgeous pool she’s ever seen. It was very nice, but not sure I’d go that far. I don’t understand what the point is of having joint bachelor/bachelorette parties. Unless the point is to have Top Chef pay for them.
Our judges this evening are Tom, Padma, Gail and Todd English. No Toby yet. These guys are at their best when they are brutally honest. In summary, they hated Eve’s ceviche, Ashley’s panna cotta (the second dish, naturally), Jesse’s Thai chicken lettuce cups, non-brother Mike’s arctic char, and Ron’s lobster cocktail. They loved Brother Mike’s apple sorbet and goat cheese cookie, Brother Bryan’s sweet and sour macaroon, and Hector’s tofu ceviche.
Somewhere between the party and the judge’s table, a few of the men decided they were going to jump in the pool. The judges must have left by then. It struck me as awfully unprofessional. If I ever threw a party, and the caterers decided to jump in my pool before the party was over, I’d be a little upset.
Now, it’s time for judge’s table. Padma enters the stew room, and requests to see Brothers Bryan and Mike, Hector and Eli. So, the men win and these are the favorites. The women were pretty confident, and look upset.
The judges deliver high praise for Eli’s tuna tartare, with the ginger matching very well to the ginger in the shot. They thought brother Mike’s sorbet and cookie was great from concept to execution, and said brother Bryan’s dish was a really fun play on chips and guacamole with margaritas. (Apparently, there was guacamole inside that macaroon.) And Hector’s dish will change people’s minds about tofu.
At the end of the day, Todd English said it came down to the two brothers, and Bryan wins! Mike looks a little disappointed that he didn’t beat his big brother, but for crying out loud he won $15,000. Let. It. Go. Plus, Bryan is my favorite of the two brothers… a little older, a little wiser, a little more mature, and yeah, a little hotter.
But now it’s time for the bad news. Eve, Jesse, Preeti and Ashley are in front of the firing squad. Eve and Jesse are two for two on the bottom – not good. They are the two remaining of my top three to be eliminated first. I think I hate looking at the lip ring more than I hate hearing the squeaky voice, so I’m hoping Jesse gets sent home.
They tell Jesse her dish was really watery, and she starts crying. Apparently, she didn’t use ginger in her dish, but used some of the ginger beer from the cocktail so that the dish would go with the drink. I guess that decision backfired.
Eve’s shrimp were described as flavorless, and she made some lame excuse for why that was so. Tom is biting his tongue to keep from really letting her have it, but Todd doesn’t hold back. He says that a chef should know when something is not right, and know enough to do something about it. Preeti is surprised she’s there. She thought her dish was a crowd pleaser. Tom tells her the tuna wasn’t so much as marinated as it was cured.
And of course, Ashley’s two dish decision is haunting her. They loved the watermelon carpaccio, but hated the panna cotta. Ashley isn’t surprised – she identified the many flaws of her second dish. Todd tells Ashley that her watermelon carpaccio was one of his favorite dishes. I’m guessing this ultimately saves her ass.
So, I’m hoping it is Jesse who is told to pack her knives and go. I can always mute the TV when Eve speaks, but I can’t stop watching when they show Jesse. TV isn’t very good without the visual.
But, I have to live with Jesse for at least another week, because it’s Eve who is told to pack her knives and go. Another week down, another chef sent home. TiVo stopped recording before I could see what’s in store for us next week, so I’ll have to wait (or read TV Guide) to “watch what’s happening” on Bravo next Wednesday.
Until then… it’s time for me to pack my own knives and go… to bed. (And I’m putting my stake in the ground for Jen and Brother Bryan as my early favorites.)
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