So, today is Thursday. Therefore, it's Thoughts on Top Chef day. After the huge disappointment of Tre's departure a couple of weeks ago, this is exactly what I needed. I am not a Howie fan. Frankly, he is a bit of a curmudgeon...which is nothing new to Top Chef. In fact, one might characterize Season One winner, Harold Dieterle as a bit of a curmudgeon. However, he was of the cuddly variety. However, I never felt the warm fuzzies for Howie or thought of him as cuddly. He was sweaty, or Sweaty McSweaterson, as I like to call him. Also, he was not a team player. Something essential for a Top Chef (which he realizes as he packs his knives). Season Three is probably the nicest group of chefs...clearly the most professional and accomplished group. However, he was always moaning and complaining and sweating profusely. Eww. He also had a serious problem with speed and timing. Considering almost all of the challenges are timed, that's a problem. So, I say all that to say, tonight was my favorite episode EVER!
The episode starts off with CJ talking about the last challenge and how he did it "for the team". True, Tre is an Executive Chef and more qualified for the position. However, dude you are not a slouch in the kitchen. You own your own company. You want to be Top Chef. Step up to the plate. Also, not helping with Tre's Unbread Pudding was not in the best interest of the team. So, I'm not buying it, but whatever. We find Hung upset about Tre's departure. He considered Tre on his level and pretty much felt bad that his primary competition was gone. Well, he felt bad for all of five minutes. As he should be. No need to wallow. I'm rooting for Hung...it's his game to lose. Lastly, we find Casey saying something. I think it had to do with the fact that she is one of two female chefs left in the competition. But, I could not get over an observation made on one of the Top Chef message boards (yes, it's that serious for me)...namely, Casey is like the Black Widow. Seriously, I hope she never considers Hung a friend. The day she does is the day he's gonna pack his knives. I mean, seriously, stay away from her.
Now, on to the quickfire challenge. They were assigned an aisle at a store and given $10. They were asked to come up with something using ingredients from their assigned aisle and a few items from the Top Chef pantry. Interesting challenge. Hung's dish reminded me of Frank's Alice in Wonderland fantasy. I thought it was creative, but so not right for this. Casey's "banana pudding" looked interesting. I can imagine the ginger and mango pairing up really well. Casey is growing on me. Brian, Brian, Brian. I'm so mad that he ended up with the canned meat aisle. I have a hard time feeling it was decided by the pull of the knife. He picked up Spam. Seriously, he did. The dish he created was composed of Spam, corn beef hash, onions, and a balsamic reduction. I'm not sure how that all worked. I guess it worked just fine. He won the quickfire. I have to admit, it was beautifully plated. Then, there was Howie, who was so displeased by his dish that he trashed it and presented nothing. *sigh* That just annoyed me. First of all, everyone knows that although the judges constantly complain about the cheftestants (TM Keckler from TWOP) serving dishes they need to shove down the disposal...they really don't expect you not to present a dish. But, he blathers on about integrity and blah blah blah. It was lame. The other dishes were not that memorable, so I'll wrap up my thoughts on the quickfire.
Elimination time. Party food for 60 beautiful people at a fashion party. So Fun! Brian allowed everyone to have input. Good idea. However, he failed to make any decisions. Seriously, there were too many items. Ambitious, but not really. I mean, chicken salad on crostini? Salmon mousse on Cucumber? Asparagus with Prosciutto? Word? My appetizers are a little more ambitious than that. So, disappointed. Ambitious quantities of food, but a rather unambitious menu. However, Casey's beef carpaccio went over well. Served in a Chinese soup spoon. I'm so over stuff being served in spoons. But, I admit it was pretty. Oh, Sarah's tomato bread pudding. It looked really good...like a little popover! I will definitely have to try out that recipe. They attempt dessert again. Again, they fail miserably. What is with these people and dessert?!? I understand they are not pastry chefs, but come on. Everyone has at least ONE dessert they can make with their eyes closed. If not, have they never watched this show. Dessert is the Achilles Heel of almost every contestant. I can recall only one person, Dave, who actually thought to memorize a dessert. OH, and he was from the 1st season. Call me MC Lyte, cause I cram to understand.
Judges' Table. Basically, everyone sucked except Casey, Sarah, and CJ. While they were discussing what went wrong, Howie requests permission to address the judges. Then, here we go with all the pontificating and blah blah blah. He withdraws from the competition. So, I get up and start doing my happy dance. But, wait...Padma says it's not up to him. Really? Word? He can't decide to quit something he volunteered for. They let Otto quit last season. They allowed Mia to quit last season. But, noooo not Sweaty McSweaterson. Not Tom's Sweaty Golden Child. All of this was rather unsettling. They have to let him leave. He should have left the 1st episode. LET HIM LEAVE! They dismiss the cheftestants, discuss amongst themselves, call them back in...only to knife him. Woooooooow. That was mean. If they did that to another cheftestant, I would have called shenanigans. But, since it was Howie I just got back up and resumed my happy dance...complete with maniacal laughter.
The episode starts off with CJ talking about the last challenge and how he did it "for the team". True, Tre is an Executive Chef and more qualified for the position. However, dude you are not a slouch in the kitchen. You own your own company. You want to be Top Chef. Step up to the plate. Also, not helping with Tre's Unbread Pudding was not in the best interest of the team. So, I'm not buying it, but whatever. We find Hung upset about Tre's departure. He considered Tre on his level and pretty much felt bad that his primary competition was gone. Well, he felt bad for all of five minutes. As he should be. No need to wallow. I'm rooting for Hung...it's his game to lose. Lastly, we find Casey saying something. I think it had to do with the fact that she is one of two female chefs left in the competition. But, I could not get over an observation made on one of the Top Chef message boards (yes, it's that serious for me)...namely, Casey is like the Black Widow. Seriously, I hope she never considers Hung a friend. The day she does is the day he's gonna pack his knives. I mean, seriously, stay away from her.
Now, on to the quickfire challenge. They were assigned an aisle at a store and given $10. They were asked to come up with something using ingredients from their assigned aisle and a few items from the Top Chef pantry. Interesting challenge. Hung's dish reminded me of Frank's Alice in Wonderland fantasy. I thought it was creative, but so not right for this. Casey's "banana pudding" looked interesting. I can imagine the ginger and mango pairing up really well. Casey is growing on me. Brian, Brian, Brian. I'm so mad that he ended up with the canned meat aisle. I have a hard time feeling it was decided by the pull of the knife. He picked up Spam. Seriously, he did. The dish he created was composed of Spam, corn beef hash, onions, and a balsamic reduction. I'm not sure how that all worked. I guess it worked just fine. He won the quickfire. I have to admit, it was beautifully plated. Then, there was Howie, who was so displeased by his dish that he trashed it and presented nothing. *sigh* That just annoyed me. First of all, everyone knows that although the judges constantly complain about the cheftestants (TM Keckler from TWOP) serving dishes they need to shove down the disposal...they really don't expect you not to present a dish. But, he blathers on about integrity and blah blah blah. It was lame. The other dishes were not that memorable, so I'll wrap up my thoughts on the quickfire.
Elimination time. Party food for 60 beautiful people at a fashion party. So Fun! Brian allowed everyone to have input. Good idea. However, he failed to make any decisions. Seriously, there were too many items. Ambitious, but not really. I mean, chicken salad on crostini? Salmon mousse on Cucumber? Asparagus with Prosciutto? Word? My appetizers are a little more ambitious than that. So, disappointed. Ambitious quantities of food, but a rather unambitious menu. However, Casey's beef carpaccio went over well. Served in a Chinese soup spoon. I'm so over stuff being served in spoons. But, I admit it was pretty. Oh, Sarah's tomato bread pudding. It looked really good...like a little popover! I will definitely have to try out that recipe. They attempt dessert again. Again, they fail miserably. What is with these people and dessert?!? I understand they are not pastry chefs, but come on. Everyone has at least ONE dessert they can make with their eyes closed. If not, have they never watched this show. Dessert is the Achilles Heel of almost every contestant. I can recall only one person, Dave, who actually thought to memorize a dessert. OH, and he was from the 1st season. Call me MC Lyte, cause I cram to understand.
Judges' Table. Basically, everyone sucked except Casey, Sarah, and CJ. While they were discussing what went wrong, Howie requests permission to address the judges. Then, here we go with all the pontificating and blah blah blah. He withdraws from the competition. So, I get up and start doing my happy dance. But, wait...Padma says it's not up to him. Really? Word? He can't decide to quit something he volunteered for. They let Otto quit last season. They allowed Mia to quit last season. But, noooo not Sweaty McSweaterson. Not Tom's Sweaty Golden Child. All of this was rather unsettling. They have to let him leave. He should have left the 1st episode. LET HIM LEAVE! They dismiss the cheftestants, discuss amongst themselves, call them back in...only to knife him. Woooooooow. That was mean. If they did that to another cheftestant, I would have called shenanigans. But, since it was Howie I just got back up and resumed my happy dance...complete with maniacal laughter.
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