Tippity-Top Chef

Finally! I finally watched the TC finale!

Again, I'm working from memory, so forgive me any lapses in detail...

They start with the contestants learning what their final challege is -- to create a traditional four-course meal progressing, well, traditionally: fish, chicken, red meat, dessert. They each get to choose a sous chef from three world-renowned chefs: Eric Ripert, whom we've seen before, April Bloomfield, and Dan Barber.

The cheftestant with the most elimination challenge wins gets to choose first, BUT since Richard won the elimination challenge in Part 1 of the finale, he tied Stephanie, so they have to draw knives. Richard tells Stephanie to draw and her knife has the number one on it, so she gets to choose first. She chooses Eric Ripert, who seemed like a great match for Richard to me, but he's apparently kind of a demigod in the chef world, so they all probably wanted him. Richard chooses Dan Barber and Lisa gets April Bloomfield (and they seemed to get along really well, so I guess it worked to Lisa's advantage. Hmph.). They all go to the kitchen and work on the menus and prep for the next day.

The next day Tom comes in and tells them, No sous chefs, you're on your own! Y'know, I imagine these curve balls wouldn't seem quite as bad to the contestants if he didn't seem so gleeful when throwing them.

Here are their final menus:

Lisa
Prawns with Chili Basil Sauce, Crab, Potato Chips, and Pea Tendrils
Tom Ka Soup Dumplings with Organic Chicken, Golden Threads, Toasted Chilies, and Cilantro
Coriander and Soy Glazed Wagyu Strip Steak over Chayote and Cucumber Salad with Garlic Chips and Chili
Black Thai Rice with Carmelized Coconut, Mango Cream, and Crispy Taro

Richard
Grilled Scallop with Mango and Pineapple Vinegar
Guinea Hen, Duck, Foie Gras, Chicken Egg with Spring Vegetable
Pork Belly with Pickled Radish and Mirin Broth
Banana Scallop with Bacon Ice Cream and Cilantro Stem

Stephanie
Sauteed Red Snapper Filet with Truffled White Asparagus and Clam Broth
Seared Quail Breast with Butter Poached Lobster Ravioli and Mango
Roasted Lamb Medallions with Maitake Mushrooms, Braised Pistachios and Blackberry
Ricotta Pound Cake with Lime Glaze, Pineapple and Salted Banana Cream

There really wasn't a lot of drama in this episode. I hate to say it, but it was pretty boring.

Competence + Less Loser Screentime = Snooze-a-rama

Richard and Stephanie are not too exciting to watch, though it is interesting at times because Richard tries all kinds of whack-a-doo techniques. He's the technogeek of chefs. Loser is so self-confident it's disgusting, and she STILL has to be a witch. Stephanie is second-guessing her dessert and Loser's all, "You always say that and then you win so don't hand me that. Get some self-confidence." Then she has to say something to the camera about how a chef should be self-confident, whatever, blah blah, YUK. Shouldn't they also be something OTHER than a bitchy black cloud hovering around the kitchen? With more than four dishes that they've cooked thousands of times to present to the judges in a cooking competition?

I was really going to call them all by their correct names, because the nicknames are admittedly kind of lame, but she just brings out the worst in me. I no likee her.

During the meal, they show various judges -- the usual suspects plus the three sous chefs mentioned above, plus a few other chef-world dignitaries such as chefs, a Zagat, and... that may be all. Anyway, they all comment on the dishes and it's making me nervous because a lot of the comments are positive for Lisa. (See, I'm making an effort!)

Richard gets thumbs up and down (bacon ice cream sounds gross even to me, a lover of bacon bacon BACON, but everyone on the show seemed to love it, so. Who knew? Well, all those chefs, obviously, but it's new to me.). Stephanie also gets some positives and negatives, and there are a few negatives for Lisa, but she's getting enough positives that I start to glisten a little. Just a little dew, not sweat. After all, I'm a lady doing lady things, going about my ladylike business. (Oy! That's Little Britain alright.)

Dinner's over, the contestants come in, the diners applaud, Padma thanks them for a wonderful dinner, then they go back to stewage. Then... judges' table!

The cameramen (-people) got to try out some fancy stuff in this episode; the producers must have realized that it was a snoozer, so they said Knock yourselves out, do whatever you can to jazz up this steaming plate of Valium with a Lunesta gastrique.

So they did. They had some stuttering shots that used fast motion when Richard was chopping, for instance, stuff like that. Then at judges' table, they showed the judges talking, then Padma's all, "Okay, let's bring them out." Cut to the contestants walking toward judges' table down this odd little alley/street/driveway, cut back to judges waiting, back to contestants walking. Are they any closer? It's hard to tell. Back to judges, just staring, waiting. Back to contestants. Closer? Yes! Okay, back to judges, looking all stern and serious. (You can't smile at someone while you judge them? Bless your little hearts, come on down South and we'll show you how!) Back to contesta- Whoa! Hello, chefs! Here you are! They were just yards down the alley, and suddenly there they are. It's like they walked in slow motion at first then sprinted at the end, only they aren't out of breath and sweaty. It's like... magic. So, funny editing. (I told you the show was boring.)

The judges go through each dish with the chefs, telling them good and bad, which the chefs all take pretty well, Lisa in her usual Tough Guy With No Chin stance. Tom surprises Stephanie, telling her that he couldn't figure out the purpose of the leeks on her quail dish, and, besides, they weren't cooked. Stephanie's mouth dropped open -- well, slightly, she's one of the most expressionless chefs I've seen on this show -- and she said, Not cooked? He said, No, they were crunchy. Apparently leeks are supposed to be soggy or something. Not being a cook, I wouldn't know. (Note to self: crunchy leeks = BAD)

The judges finish this Q&A (or Insult & Compliment or Mess With Chefs' Heads, whatever) and Padma asks if any of them have anything to say. They pause and it seems like they will all just stand or fall by their meals, when Stephanie says Dale told her on the last challenge not to second-guess herself and she did on the cake, and she's learned from it and she is top chef material (not exact words, I'm paraphrasing as best I can!). So LOS-- grr, Lisa says they kept telling her to express herself or something and so she did and she cooked herself (if only!) and that's her personality -- she's spicy! (really?) bold! (okay, yeah) sweet! (whah?) sour! (YES) -- and yada and she should be TC yada blah blah yuk. Richard says that he choked and he's done better and he, I don't know, could have done better, wishes he had, something like that, and the judges look faintly surprised but still mostly mask-like.

The contestants head back to stewage, where Lisa promptly starts saying she thinks Stephanie (I think she was talking to Stephanie) nailed dishes one and three but she (Lisa) got two and four, so *shrug* "I don't know." No, you don't, so please SHUT THE FUDGE UP.

The judges finally stop looking like frozen mannequins and discuss the contestants. It is unclear which one they've chosen. Well, of course, gotta keep the suspense going. Oh! In the meantime, Bravo has done a text poll on who should be Top Chef. The results: Stephanie 60%, Richard 36%, leaving Lisa 4%. No love for the Angry Chef. I'm surprised she got that much. It must have been friends or... No, wait. Hmm.

Anyway, the judges call the chefs back in and look all stern and Tom says something about how they all did a great job and the person they chose just had the best overall meal or something... oh hell, I can't remember what he said. Then he looks at Padma and she looks sad, as if it pains her to pass along the news that the next Top Chef is... Stephanie!

Not-Lisa relief courses through my benumbed veins! Though, really, if I hadn't been half asleep throughout the episode, I would have realized it wouldn't be Lisa. They showed too many positive comments for her, which usually means Not the Winner. They try so hard on reality competition shows to not telegraph the winner that they usually end up doing just that. It seemed like the judges really weren't too enthused with Richard's dishes this time, like they just weren't feeling Richard. The vibe was not going his way.

Because they wanted a woman to win? Maybe. I hate to think that may be at least partly why Stephanie won (though they are all, of course, toeing the party line that Of course that's not why she won!). The other guests did seem to really like her dishes as well, not just the judges, so I think she deserved it. So... sisterhood! Whoo!

The Other White Meat

Oh my hell. In last night's episode, part 1 of 2 of the finale, the contestants were in Puerto Rico. (Where I totally want to go now.)

In the quickfire challenge, they had to use plantains to impress Padma and the guest judge, Wilo Benet. (Apparently pronounced Willow, which made me miss Buffy all over again.) The contestants all start working and bring out their dishes to the judges. Antonia and Richard don't fare so well, Stephanie and Loser do well with Stephanie FTW. It seems to me that Loser practiced cooking Puerto Rican food during the break, and I have to say, if so, that was pretty smart. The others don't mention anything like that, though they could have, of course.

By the way, Loser now looks totally like a guy with her new butch haircut, but it is still a vast improvement over the greasy straggles hanging over the bandana we were treated to before. BUT she keeps wearing tank tops and shlumpy long shorts (board shorts? too-short capris? who knows?) and it is NOT the look for her. Maybe she's become a reality show contestant junkie and is angling for a spot on What Not to Wear. All I know for sure is that I now have to start calling her Lumpy.

The elimination challenge is to cook three dishes from an ENTIRE PIG for a party of VIPs. So they have to butcher poor Babe and create three dishes for the glitterati party; no pressure! But (of course) they'll have help! Out come Dale, Andrew, Spike, and Nikki. I have to wonder why the same losers keep showing up -- do they just use the most recently eliminated? Okay, I just checked and apparently that's it. So I suppose, in theory, that means they are getting the strongest chefs from that season as assistants. Unless by some fluke someone stays way past their due date (I'm looking at you, Spike).

Stephanie's advantage from her quickfire win is not only to choose her assistant, but to ASSIGN all the assistants to chefs. Lumpy is already bitching to the camera about how she doesn't get along with Dale, or Andrew, or... Really, does she get along with anyone? I bet she argues with herself. Stephanie says she doesn't want conflict in the kitchen, so she takes Douche (who I would have chosen just because I think he's the best chef in that bunch, but apparently she's also known him for ten years) and assigns Spite to Richard, Tiny Pasta Dancer to Antonia, and Crazy to Lumpy. Lumpy is -- drumroll, please! -- not happy.

The sous chefs run off to the market to get fresh stuff for the chefs, while the chefs start carving their individual Babes. (Note to self: NEVER be a chef.) I much prefer my meat to be completely unindentifiable as the animal it once was. So. Crazy can't speak Spanish so he's struggling at the market, but Spite apparently knows some, we only hear Douche say Gracias, and we don't hear TPD say anything at all in Spanish, but those three seem to do fine. Back in the kitchen, the chefs have been carving and separating and butchering, but mercifully they don't show too much of it. By "it" I mean gross parts of the poor pigs. The sous chefs come back and everyone moves along. Stephanie and Douche seem to really be grooving along, and I have high hopes because they are both talented. Everyone wraps up and crams their stuff into the inadequate refrigerator space and leave for the evening.

Cut to: Camera focus on rubbed pork belly, left out by DOUCHE.

They come in the next day and Stephanie discovers the Douche's bonehead mistake. She is completely calm and starts thinking about what else she can do. Douche apologizes and she says shortly, "That's okay." Wow. I was impressed. There is NO WAY I wouldn't have lost my temper. And can you imagine what paroxyms of rage Lumpy would have flown into? Actually, I kind of wish we'd seen that.

Cut to: Douche the Homeboy says to the camera that if this makes her lose, he would never forgive himself. Well, I think he really meant it, it looked like he was about to cry in one shot. In another, he had on douchey shades and was acting all Homeboy Down the Kitchen, Yo. STOP BEING SUCH A DAMN DOUCHE.

Back to the kitchen, where Stephanie and Douche have come up with something else. And this is where I think the truly talented chefs show their mettle -- being able to come up with something else quickly enough to fit it in when your original plans fall to pieces. And not something else like me throwing some rice-in-a-bag on to boil because the potatoes fell on the floor or something, but something else good enough to win a cooking competition. Somehow I think Lumpy would NOT have been able to do that. So I think they need to add a challenge like that toward the end of a season when they've already (presumably) weeded out the total washouts. Ahem, producers? Could you get on that, please?

Anyway, they all move on. Lumpy is being her usual sunny self, spreading doom and gloom wherever she goes. Everyone is so over her. Poor Crazy.

Cut to: PARTY! The chefs are at their stations, finishing dishes, making things, lalala. We see various comments by the judges and some of the people at the party, but of course they don't make it extremely clear what's coming.

Cut to: Judges' table. Padma goes and calls Richard and Stephanie. She's all solemn, as if we don't all know that means those two did the best. All season the first ones called have been the favorites. Maybe TC wants to shake it up a little next season, producers? (I'm going to have to start asking for a consultant's fee. No more free tips!)

The pattern remains unchanged and Richard and Stephanie are the favorites! And the winner is... Richard! And his prize is... a brand new car! Yes, a car. No, this is not the Price is Right. Richard was understandably taken aback. (It was a 2009 Toyota Corolla, so, nice, but still... weird, right? Next thing you know we'll have car commercials featuring chef montages à la American Idol.)

The winners now have to send the losers out. The judges go through why they are the losers -- at least two of Lumpy's dishes have problems, if not all three, and Antonia's peas were undercooked. Plus she put all three dishes on the same plate -- gasp! The judges were apparently stymied by this. "If they're on the same plate, I can't distinguish them. I can't taste the difference." What? Seriously, WHAT? Just putting them on the same plate somehow completely confounded your taste buds? If all three of her dishes tasted that similar to one another, don't you think, really, that you would have still realized it even if she had served each one on a separate plate? Really? It's like they all suddenly came down with Homer Simpson's brain: "Look, I don't like you and you don't like me, but let's do this thing. Other people had bits of stuff on different plates and she just handed us a single plate with a lot of stuff on it. Is it all the same, just more? Are these different items of... eating stuff? Is this, whatchamacallit... food? Am I eating?" D'oh, indeed.

So they hear the losers out, send them away, deliberate in a strangely retarded way (see plate discussion above), then call the losers back. Lumpy's double chin is in evidence as usual, along with her buttonhole mouth and narrowed eyes, but it's not as pronounced as usual. Either she's watched earlier footage or she's been reading blogs because it wasn't as bad as it used to be. Antonia just looks normal, a little apprehensive. The judges berate them again, then Padma pauses dramatically and says...


Antonia, please pack your knives and go.


ANTONIA!! Why does past performance not matter to these people?! Arrrrrgggghhhh!! I can't believe Lumpy is still there! Antonia thanks the judges and shakes all of their hands and Lumpy smirks at them and says, "You won't be sorry." Well, they'll be the only ones. The losers go back and Antonia tells the winners she is outie. They are understandably shocked. They hug her and she leaves.

The other three sit there for a moment, then Lumpy says, "I know you didn't want Antonia to go, but it would be nice for you to tell me congratulations." Oh, YES SHE DID. She is the most uncouth, clueless, ridiculous person I've seen on a reality show in a while. Mostly because the current ANTM cycle is over, but still.

Stephanie just looks at her then shakes her head a little and says, "Congratulations." Richard mumbles his congratulations, then cut to him saying to the camera, "You won the bronze medal. Congratulations." He's usually pretty milquetoast, so that was kind of harsh for him.

Feel better, Lumpy? There's nothing like grudging congratulations for warming the cockles of the ol' heart, is there? She then proceeds to say, "I know you liked Antonia, but it feels like you think the wrong one went home." Well, DUH. The WHOLE WORLD thinks the wrong one went home, dear Lump.

You know Stephanie and Richard are thinking "How did we end up slumming it with this angry weirdo?" but they don't show it. They must be itching to beat her. It makes the competition seem a little meaningless. You know, like if they let every child "win" a race, it means nothing to have come in first. It denigrates the whole competition by making it not a competition at all, so what's the point? I know they still win something here, but I think it must be less fun and pride-inducing to beat Lumpy than Antonia or Douche. I still can't believe that no matter what else, she is now THIRD PLACE for the competition. Antonia and Douche must be so pissed.

In my opinion, Top Chef ought to be ashamed. To let her get this far when there were other more talented chefs is just a joke. It makes the competition look lame. And it hadn't seemed lame to me before. It's a sad day when Top Chef disillusions you almost as much as ANTM makes you feel dirty and used.

Random Samples

Bunny is moving into 18-month clothes (What's that? Oh, he's not quite a year old, thank you for asking!) and it's making me sad. I used to have to fold his onesies in half down the middle because they were too small to fold like I do our shirts, which is to hold the shirt up facing me, fold the sleeves in behind the shirt, then fold the bottom up behind the top (I really hope that makes sense). But now, the 18-month clothes? I CAN FOLD THEM LIKE OURS. He's getting big! I mean, I'm happy he's growing and all that but... he's already not looking like so much of a baby anymore. *sigh*

Have I mentioned that he is cruising (walking while holding onto something) all over the place now? And tries to stand up when he's crawling? And he now has SIX teeth?! *SIGH*

Also, I was thinking about Top Chef; the fact that there are three women to one man heading into the finale indicates that they are finagling for a woman to win this season. Well, that's great, I would love a woman to win, but I don't want a woman to win just because they think it's time one did. She should win because she's the best chef, not because she has ovaries.

If they did this on purpose, and got rid of most of the men, especially Douchey Dale, to stack the odds in favor of women, that's just... gross. If they were deliberately looking for reasons to send men home, Richard must have survived either because they needed to keep one man on so the PC pabulum wouldn't be quite so obvious as it went down our virtual throats, or because they just couldn't scrounge up a reason to send him home, or both. Meaning they would have had to pull something out of their... hats to get rid of him and it would have been completely transparent. And we're talking Top Chef here, not ANTM. You know, subtle.

I've come to the sad acceptance of ANTM being completely rigged; if you were paying attention, it was pretty apparent even by the second cycle, but now... painfully obvious. I don't like that, but since I primarily watch it for the photography and it doesn't seem to matter, anyway -- it's not like the winners go on to become the next Cindy Crawford or Heidi Klum -- I've let it go. But if Top Chef is going to descend down the rocky and treacherous path to the Level Playing Field of Mediocrity, well, let's just say I'll pack MY knives and go.

Meat the Chefs

No? What's at Steak? Steak Your Claim? High Steaks? A Lot at Steak?

Anyway. Sorry this is a little delayed, but I had computer problems yesterday and then this stupid thing called work sort of interfered.

This week on Top Chef, the judges FINALLY cut the Sultan of Smarm, the King of Kiss-Ass, the Monarch of Mean-Spiritedness… yes, finally, SPIKE. It was about time he or Lisa went, and it was a close call between the two. I’m not okay with Loser Lisa staying, but I’m more than okay with Spike going.

I can’t believe Loser made it to the final four! It’s a travesty that Dale isn’t there; I wonder if Tom was mad when he heard what the stupid guest judges did last week. I still can’t believe Bourdain was so stupid.

Okay, I won’t go into that again.

This week, the cheftestants had to butcher and grill tomahawk chops for the Quickfire. I missed the beginning of the show, so I don’t know what exactly happened as they prepared for this challenge, but Antonia, Loser, and Spike did well, and Spike actually won. Gag. Anyway, the Elimination Challenge was for each chef to create an appetizer and entrée to be served at Rick Tramonto’s restaurant. (He was the guest judge this week.) They had to use ingredients found in his kitchen and they had, I believe, three hours to prepare their dishes and each had his or her own workstation to prepare their dishes.

Spike’s advantage for winning the Quickfire was to choose his proteins – in five minutes – for each dish (appetizer and entrée), and no one else could use what he chose. So he went into the cooler and poked around and decided to use the tomahawk chops for his entrée and scallops for his appetizer. The scallops were frozen and practically every other chef told the camera they were glad he had chosen them, because they wouldn’t have wanted them anyway. So as usual, bonehead Spike completely wasted his advantage.

The others chose their ingredients and everyone got started. They had to cook dishes for guests at the restaurant as well as judges Rick Tramonto, Padma, Gail, and Tom, and the VIP guests – the winners of the first three seasons of Top Chef: Harold Dieterle, Ilan Hall, and Hung Huynh. What they showed of those previous winners was actually pretty positive; they seemed to be judging dishes fairly and not trying to be overly critical.

What we saw of the comments of the judges as they ate was, as near as I can remember:

Antonia
Appetizer: Warm Mushroom and Artichoke Salad, Poached Egg, Bacon Vinaigrette

Egg poached perfectly, but salad limp (the word soggy may have actually been bandied about)

Entrée: Bone-In Ribeye, Roasted Fennel, & Cipollini Onions, Shallot & Potato Gratin

Very good, well-rounded entrée, perfect for a steakhouse

Loser
Appetizer: Grilled & Chilled Shrimp, Confit Lemon Zest Salad with Baby Tomatoes & Crustini

Shrimp shouldn’t have been chilled, but lemon was great

Entrée: NY Strip Steak, Spicy Apple Caramel Sauce, Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes

Surprisingly, they liked the mashed potatoes, though it sounds gross (apparently there’s just a hint of peanut butter in them), but the steak was - you guessed it - under-seasoned

Richard
Appetizer: Hamanchi, Crispy Sweetbreads, Radish & Yuzu

Perfect, delicious; Rick Tramonto said he would put it on his menu in a heartbeat.

Entrée: Prime Beef Filet, Potato Puree, Turnips & Red Wine with Pickled Brussels Sprouts

Pretty good, I think; I can’t remember much about what they said here. I know that, at judges' table, Tom said the meat wasn't cooked consistently, but he didn't eat with the other judges in the restaurant, he acted as Expediter for the cheftestants instead.

Spike
Appetizer: Pan Seared Scallops on a Bed of Roasted Hearts of Palm & Oyster Mushrooms

Not good. Scallops not good, hearts of palm apparently didn’t seem fresh either.

Entrée: Tomahawk Chop, Sweet Potato Puree, Blanched Brussels Sprouts & Cipollini

I can’t remember what they said here except that it seemed like he had added honey to the sweet potato puree and it was way too sweet. Well, yeah, I guess if you add something sweet to sweet potatoes, it would be too sweet. Who would do that?? Oh, yeah, Spike.

Stephanie
Appetizer: Veal Sweetbreads with Sweet & Sour Sauce of Golden Raisins & Pine Nuts

Very good; the only negative comment was from one of the past winners of Top Chef (I think Harold, who is so awkward and prissy and kind of mean); he said he would have liked the pine nuts roasted, but otherwise it was great. Everyone agreed it was great.

Entrée: Beef Tenderloin with Salsify Puree, Wild Mushrooms & Apple Sauce

I can’t remember comments except they all liked it.

(I’m sorry, I know I should really tape the thing so I can review it before I write this, but who has the time?!)

Okay, on to judges’ table.

They called all of the chefs in, since they’re down to only five, and began their critique of each cheftestant's dishes. When they told Spike they didn’t like the scallops and he shouldn’t have used them – Tom was really blunt about it, said he shouldn’t have used frozen scallops, period – they said it’s part of the chef’s responsibility to make sure he doesn’t use inferior ingredients, and shouldn’t even accept delivery of something inferior, and Spike shot back, “Well, it was in your walk-in. If it was inferior it shouldn’t have been in your walk-in.” Rick Tramonto said, basically, “Fair enough. I’ll take that, but you have to take this: you shouldn’t have used them.” Spike finally had the sense to shut up. When they were asked to leave so the judges could discuss, Spike went to Rick Tramonto and shook his hand (he’s big on shaking hands, even when he shouldn’t*) and said it was an honor, blah blah, backside smoochy smooch. Ugh.

*When he was sorting his sad scallops, Tom walked up to do his usual pre-challenge chat/mind games and Spike reached out to shake his hand, glove and scallop juice and all, and then went RIGHT BACK to touching the scallops. Doesn't anyone on this show believe in hygiene??

In the storage/stewing room (stewage!), Spike said he had no idea where that comment to Rick Tramonto came from and he couldn’t believe he said it. Well, here's what I think, Spike: you're an asshat, that's where it came from. Either he just lost his temper and blurted it out, or he thought he was going to get cut anyway so he made a comment like that so he could blame his elimination on that rather than poor cooking choices (or just plain poor cooking). I’m not sure he’s clever enough or humble enough for the latter, though, so I’m guessing he just lost his temper. Wow, what a puzzle, what a complicated guy.

Meanwhile, the judges discussed the chefs and it was clear right away that Antonia, Richard, and Stephanie were safe. Finally, sense reigns! They zeroed in on Loser and Spike. And here is the first time that I’ve been disappointed in Padma: she said that Loser “has an amazing palate” but just didn’t move out of her comfort zone or something inane like that, and Tom disagreed. Thank you, Tom! What amazing palate? They’ve said time after time that her food is under-seasoned, and last week she couldn’t tell her dish was too smoky until Dale told her it was and she still couldn’t fix it! (Alas, poor Dale!) Anyway, Padma, what were you thinking? Did you have too much wine with dinner?

Moving on, they called the chefs back in and proceeded to tell Richard that his appetizer was their favorite appetizer and he was safe. Then they told Antonia that her entrée was their favorite entrée and she was safe. Then they told Stephanie that they liked her dishes and she was the WINNER! So those three were all relieved and excited and had to leave the room. (Ha ha – they were asked to by the judges.)

The judges then proceeded to tell Loser she had been on the chopping block FIVE times, and Spike he had been on it SEVEN times. This, of course, begs the question of WHY one of them will be in the final four? And was Dale on the chopping block before last week? If so, it was maybe once. And have either of these losers won an elimination challenge? Okay, yes, Loser has won one; Spike has won ZERO. Dale won TWO. And it’s interesting that their track records suddenly seem to matter, when the judges obviously didn’t care about that last week! Okay, okay, enough about Dale. I wasn’t a fan of his personality, by the way, just his talent. I hate unfairness so his untimely elimination really rankles.

They finally told Spike to pack his knives and go and he took it pretty well. I would have been equally happy with either of them leaving and was really wishing the judges would throw convention to the wind and say BOTH of you pack your knives and skeeeedaddle! Wishful thinking. Ole Moana Lisa is still with us.

Next week: FINALE! I’m assuming Loser will get cut pretty quickly, despite her new manly, yet much more attractive - and apparently washed, hairdo. If she doesn't, I’ll be irate about that for a while. (But at least I’ll have moved on from the Great Dale Debacle of 2008!) Between the other three, it’s anyone’s game. I thought Stephanie was really strong for a while, then Antonia was doing well and Stephanie faltered, and now Stephanie has stepped up, so who knows? I still think Richard should be in the top two (if they go down to two, which I think they do; my memory is almost nonexistent these days), but I would be happy with any one of those three winning.

Top Whaaaah?

On last night's episode, the chefestants got woken up at 5:45 am by a surprise visit from Tom. Wow, what a fun way to wake up! Not only a strange man's voice saying, "Hey! Wake up!" but a strange man who gets to JUDGE you, gets to decide your FATE for you. Nice. (Not that Tom is a strange man, necessarily; you know what I mean.)

So they straggled down to the kitchen and Tom told them their quickfire challenge was to go to Lou Mitchell's, a very busy Chicago breakfast landmark, to work the short-order egg station. They each had to work it for a set time and the winner would be the person the owner of the restaurant would hire. It was over quickly, we didn't see much of each chef, but it was enough to make me NEVER want to be a short-order cook.

Though a tough decision between Dale and Antonia, Antonia prevailed. Go, Antonia! Whatever, I like her.

The chefs then went to meet Padma for a description of the elimination challenge. Restaurant wars! Antonia's prize for winning the quickfire was to choose her team. She chose her team members from the Wedding Wars challenge, Stephanie and Richard. Well, duh. The only other decent chef is Dale, and working with him seems to be like working with a hungover porcupine. Oh, hell, that's an insult to porcupines. Sorry, little guys.

The teams got busy planning their restaurant themes and menus and buying ingredients and decorations. Team Winner (I'm just assuming) went with Warehouse Kitchen, a gastro-pub theme, and Team Loser (even if they, by some miracle, won the challenge, still... losers) went with a – surprise! – Asian-themed restaurant, Mai Buddha. Tom was absent for this challenge, so he was replaced by da da dum... Anthony Bourdain. Who would totally freak me out. Tom doesn't pull punches, but Bourdain, I don't know, can really put people down. Way down. To China from North America down. Anyway.

Team Antonia (naming each team after its executive chef) moved along at a nice clip, calm, organized, pleasant, professional. Stephanie handled the front because she's opened her own restaurant before; she also created two dishes. I was a little unclear on how she managed this since she was out front, but I don't know how much she did before she had to go out there. Oh yeah, each team got to choose help from past contestants and TA chose Nikki to help them with the pasta.

Team Dale chose Jen to help them. (Poor Mark and Andrew didn't get chosen.) Spike handled the front for their team, presumably so he wouldn't be the one to go down in flames if they ended up losing. I'm so sick of wiliness – wow, that looks wrong but I checked and it's actually right – helping these people move along. It's supposed to be Top Chef, am I right? Not Top Manipulator?

Team Dale had problems from the start. Dale put a rotten avocado in his Halo Halo and had to try to fix it, so he was in a bad mood right away. Then Lisa couldn't get her laksa right, Dale kept telling her it was too smoky, Spike said it was sour (?), and she just couldn't seem to figure out how to correct it. Since she didn't seem able to tell anything was wrong with it until they told her, I don't know why they thought she would be able to fix it. That's it, I'm just calling her Loser from now on. Does she even have taste buds?

Loser was also in charge of a dessert – mango sticky rice – and she couldn't get the rice sticky! Now, I'm no chef but I know that one rice gets sticky while the other doesn't – I think short-grain gets sticky and long-grain doesn't, but don't quote me. I told you I don't cook. But even I at least know there's a difference. And she's supposed to be a CHEF! Ugh, she infuriates me!

Meanwhile, Spike took credit for braised short ribs but, as it turned out later, it was just his recipe and Dale actually cooked them. I think Dale should have gotten credit for them if they turned out well, but I'm not sure he did. Dale also created butterscotch miso scallops with spicy eggplant and pickled long beans for one of the main dishes.

Of course, Dale and Loser spent most of their time in the kitchen arguing and cursing and Spike either avoided them or egged them on, depending on his mood. It was about as pleasant as you would expect.

Finally, dinnertime was over and the judges – substitute head judge Anthony Bourdain, guest judge José Andrés, Ted Allen, and Padma – went back to the judges' table. The results...

Team Antonia won, naturally. Their dishes were well-received by the judges and the other diners. The judges particularly liked the fresh linguine and clams with sausage and horseradish creme fraiche, and the gorgonzola cheesecake with sweet potato puree and concord grape sauce. Both of those dishes were... Stephanie's! So she won the challenge.

I was a little surprised because, like I said, I don't see how she did those dishes if she was out front. Did she prepare them early? Did she just provide the recipes and the others did the actual work? I know Nikki helped with the pasta; did she get credit? Also, Nikki told them there was grit in the clams and Antonia tasted them and said there was, and Richard rinsed them again, so it seems like maybe he actually cooked the dish? I don't know, it wasn't clear to me. It doesn't seem like she should have won if she didn't actually cook them, but I like her okay, so it didn't really bother me.

On to Team Dale, the clear losers in so many ways. Spike again did his best to distance himself from the fray, saying the lack of teamwork was a problem between "those guys." The judges mentioned later that he was smart to do that; maybe, but smart in a sneaky, cunning way, not really intelligent and certainly not honorable or decent. They slammed Dale and Loser for the lack of teamwork, especially Dale as the executive chef, but didn't say anything negative about Spike's uninvolvement – BY DEFINITION a COMPLETE lack of teamwork. I'm so sick of him and his slick smarminess. I can't understand why it works for him.

Predictably, the judges hated the laksa because... all they could taste was smoke. Imagine that. Loser actually stepped up and took the blame for the laksa. Dale said, "I don't know laksa, I trusted these guys" and Spike said, "Well, it wasn't like any laksa I've done," both completely leaving Loser flapping in the breeze. Which was kind of yucky, but it since was her dish, and they tried to tell her how to correct it, it was understandable.

Then Spike wanted to take credit for the braised short ribs and Dale stepped in and said he cooked them, it was just Spike's recipe. I don't blame him, I'd want credit if I'd done the work. Especially with Spike trying to slide out of all responsibility and yet take credit if it looked like the judges were about to say something positive.

Dale took credit for the butterscotch disaster and I think was surprised that the judges hated it. HATED it. Anthony Bourdain and José Andrés absolutely excoriated it. They almost gagged. That's pretty bad, given that Anthony Bourdain will apparently eat just about anything, and like most of it. It was also very interesting because Dale had been doing so well before this serious misstep.

I can't remember what they said about his dessert, the Halo Halo. I know they said something at the dinner table about it being a good idea or interesting or something, but I don't remember if they liked it or just the idea of it.

They also didn't like the mango sticky rice and here Loser tried to shove responsibility off onto Dale by saying he told her what rice to use and it wasn't a rice she was familiar with. He said, "I did not tell you to grab that rice!" Loser looked at Spike to back her up and he just shrugged and said, "I don't know." Way to help the team, Spike ol' buddy ol' pal! Oh well, maybe he really didn't know. And I don't know who was right about the rice issue, but I have to ask WHY would Loser use a rice she wasn't familiar with? That makes her not only a loser but also a dumbass.

So the judges asked them to leave and take their squabbling with them (they didn't actually say that, but they were thinking it). They apparently only considered booting Spike off briefly, though, in my opinion, he deserved it for not taking enough actual CHEF responsibilities. He needs to get called on his chickensh*t scheming ways. Can you tell I'm sick of him? And his straggly almost-there facial shrubbery – no, not even shrubbery, just weedy growth. And his hats. And his icky voice and manner. And his teeth. Ugh. I need to go take a shower now.

There, that's better. Now the real debate – Dale or Loser? The judges were being hard on Dale because he was the executive chef but I think that's a completely specious argument. Here's why. I presume that in a real kitchen, the executive chef has some actual authority. Maybe not to fire employees (unless he also owns the restaurant) but at least to relegate one to chopping onions, if the EC decides the person has offended him. (For simplicity, I'm going with him since I'm mostly talking about Dale here.) Obviously I don't know much about how kitchens actually run (beyond what reading Kitchen Confidential taught me a few years ago), but I'm guessing something like this actually goes on.

Given that, how is the executive chef position in these challenges at all similar? They have no actual power over these people, and they all know it. The judges chastised Dale for not controlling his team and his kitchen, but I ask you, and would love to ask them, how much control can he actually have? He can't fire Loser, he can't even take over her dish, can he? I guess he could have taken it over and tried to fix it and then the judges would have been told that she couldn't even finish a dish and he had to try to salvage it. But then he would sink with her if it still wasn't any good. That's so not fair.

I understand that in a real kitchen, the restaurant is only as good as its weakest dish, so the executive chef has to be sure that everything going out to customers is as good as he thinks it should be, but in that case, he also has much more authority and control over the kitchen. Here the position is largely spurious and just means the chef has put himself on the chopping block. I think they should get some credit for stepping up and trying to take on the thankless extra responsibility, but they don't. They just get slammed for it. I really hate that about this show.

I also think they should take past performance into consideration. Who in real life would get fired for one mistake? I mean, unless you did something actually illegal or cost the company millions of dollars through sheer stupidity. Most of the time you get a little break, especially if you have a good track record.

Well, you can see where this diatribe is heading. They cut Dale. DALE! He was definitely a prickly pear and difficult to work with, but he also had talent. Despite his mistakes this time. So these judges, in all their infinite wisdom, kicked off the only talented chef that the losing team had on it. Way to go, judges! Right on!

It should definitely have been Loser. She should have been kicked off a looong time ago. If I have to hear her whining and complaining past the next episode (unless Spike is the one to go next time), I'm going to cut a ...something. Probably just my palms with my nails. But still. It will hurt and I don't like pain. So, judges, help a loyal viewer out?

I'm so aggravated by this episode. I wonder if the verdict would have been different had Tom been there instead of Bourdain?

Top four should have been Antonia, Dale, Richard, and Stephanie. Top three should now be Antonia, Richard, and Stephanie. Top two should be Antonia and Richard, with Richard FTW. Although it would be nice for a woman to win; Richard, despite his pink shoes, just doesn't qualify.

Boxing Match

I missed ANTM last night -- I know, the FINALE! -- so I can't talk about that. I'm going to try to catch it when they run it on Sunday.

But I did see Top Chef!





Last night they had to create a "sexy" salad (whatever) for the Quickfire Challenge and Spike won. His first win. Maybe the guest judge thought he was cute? Maybe it was actually good; people have really liked some of his dishes throughout the season. Anyway, he didn't get immunity but he did get an advantage for the Elimination Challenge.

For the EC, the cheftestants had to create a hearty, healthy, delicious box lunch for Chicago's finest (police or police academy students or both, I wasn't clear). They had to use something from each of these food groups: protein, grain, vegetable, and fruit. Spike's advantage was an extra ten minutes to shop and what he chose, the others couldn't use. So he deliberately chose chicken, bread, tomato, and lettuce so no one else could use those box lunch staples. I may have to call him Spite from now on. What an ass. The others then got to shop and were much more creative, some because they now had to be, and some because they just are.

They went back to the kitchen and started creating their lunches and it went pretty smoothly except Lisa's brain had apparently stopped working altogether. First she got shrimp -- why, hello, cholesterol! -- and had to be TOLD by Crazy Andrew that it's loaded with cholesterol -- you sneaky little artery-clogger, you! -- so she decided to just use it sparingly. Then, even though she was calling her dish stir-fry, she decided to use brown rice. Okay, whatever, it's "creative." But brown rice takes forever to cook and they only had two hours to prep, cook, package, and store their lunches in coolers to take to the cops. So she did her vegetables and shrimp, then went to check her rice and discovered that someone had turned the flame all the way up! Her brown rice was ruined! SABOTAGE! Everyone else was like, whatever, get over yourself. She decided to hope for the best. (Yes, that always works out well.)

Let's see... Andrew did some sort of weird sushi rolls, using pine nuts and parsnip instead of rice. Spite did an odd chicken salad with olives and grapes, and only used the tomato and lettuce as sort of lame decoration -- kept them from the others and then didn't even really use them! Ass! Lisa did her shrimp "stir-fry." Stephanie did a mushroom, leek, and meatball soup. Antonia did a curried beef and rice dish. Richard did a grilled tuna burrito and was admittedly annoying, asking every cop that came to his table, "The question of the day is: do you like burritos?" I generally like Richard and think he's talented, BUT. Annoying! Dale did yet another Asian dish. Not one to roll the dice, our Dale. But he used bison, which was smart.

The top two judge faves (Chicago's finest didn't get input -- no respect!) were Stephanie and Dale. Guess who won? Yes, of course Dale. At least he didn't lose his temper this week (that we saw, anyway) and so was just his usual sort of surly arrogant self. Sigh. It's almost too bad he's such a good cook.

The bottom three were Spite, Lisa, and Andrew. Even with his advantage and his pettiness, Spite STILL didn't do well. The judges said the chicken salad tasted weird and apparently he spent the whole two hours just doing that. He said, "Well, olives and grapes are sweet and salty, what don't you get about sweet and salty?" Ooh, the nerve! Tom (Colicchio, head judge) just smiled and said, But olives have a flavor, they're not just salty, and that flavor didn't work. Or something like that. SNAP. Good to see karma working a little magic there. Lisa's brown rice was underdone -- ah, the SABOTAGE worked! -- but the judges also called her out for having underdone shrimp (gag) and something else wasn't right, but I can't remember what it was. Andrew's sushi apparently wasn't very good and it wasn't a filling, satisfying lunch.

So, here we go. Andrew and Lisa, both with pretty bad defensive angry attitudes, start defending themselves. Lisa told the judges about the SABOTAGE and the judges basically responded that even if she was a victim of SABOTAGE, it's her responsibility to keep an eye on her dishes. THANK YOU. Besides, she's not so talented that the others would need to resort to SABOTAGE to get rid of her. Tom then said, Well, the shrimp were underdone, too. She had nothing to say to that. Trapped, she threw Andrew to the wolves and said, Well, he didn't follow the rules, he didn't have a grain. Tom basically replied, We know, Lisa. Very adult-to-a-difficult-and-disappointing-child.

Andrew defended himself in a predictably unpredictable, uncomfortable way. Very impassioned speech about how he studied nutrition for years and this was the most healthy dish in the world that he gave those cops and if they didn't like it... They didn't show him actually using curse words in front of the judges but it seemed a near thing. He used them plenty at other times, yelling at Lisa, talking to the camera... Seems to be just the way he speaks. Anyway, he and Lisa got into it and the judges seemed to find it all very distasteful. Well, it was. Two awkward and frankly not very likable people showing their asses... not pleasant. So the judges shooed them away and discussed.

Back in the storage area the cheftestants waited and Andrew and Lisa argued and Andrew finally just stared at Lisa in a completely creepy psychopathic way. I think he is seriously unhinged. The judges called the bottom three back in. They all stood in front of the judges' table like it was a firing line and looked defiant. Padma looked at them sadly and said...

Andrew, please pack your knives and go.

TENSE MOMENT.

Andrew, in a complete surprise move, handled it extremely well, and was gracious and almost charming about it. He asked the judges if he could shake their hands and thanked them for the opportunity. He hugged Spite several times before he left and they were very enthusiastic about each other and hooking up later and staying friends. With benefits?

So exit Crazy Andrew. I still can't believe he took it as well as he did. Good on you, Andrew!

Next week: RESTAURANT WARS. See chefs who have no idea how to actually run a restaurant scurry around like little mice, little angry mice, squeaking at fellow mice to do this FASTER and that BETTER and YOU ARE RUINING OUR CHANCES, YOU STUPID MORON, WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?

This is Reality

* spoilers *

I only saw the last part of the second half of ANTM last night, so I don't really have much to say except that last week Tyra told Whitney to stop being so sexy and then the guest judge this week said that Whitney needed to be sexier! And do you think Tyra stepped up and said, Well, last week she was being too sexy so I told her to bring it down, so that is probably what happened. Um, no. Tyra stepping up? Not gonna happen.

Anyway, they finally, FINALLY, booted Dominique off. Who took it really well, and was actually kind of endearing in her "I'm so great" kind of way. Nice to see a positive attitude, even if it's a little arrogant.

I still say Anya for the win. The only reason Whitney has made it this far, I think, is because she's the smallest plus-size girl they've had. And she is really pretty, though, strangely, that doesn't always seem to carry much weight on ANTM. (Ooh, I just did what I accused the judges of doing last week! Ha! I didn't even realize it.)

I wish they would stop comparing Fatima to Iman; while there is a superficial resemblance, Fatima has nothing on Iman (even though in these pictures Iman is probably twice Fatima's age):















On to Top Chef! Again, if you aren't watching, you should be. Do it, watch it, do it, do it, doitdoitdoitdoit.

This time they had a WEDDING to prepare the food for, and the team that won the Quickfire Challenge got to choose Bride or Groom and they chose the BRIDE. Crazy!

The Quickfire Challenge was the relay race one that is really fun to watch. It was down to the wire, unlike last season, when Casey took three hours to chop an onion. The team that won it was a much stronger team, with Richard, Antonia, Stephanie, and Andrew, but, like I said, it was close. Dale, who is such a prat, pitched a fit about losing, hitting a locker and yelling F**k! Then he had to have his diaper changed. (As Antonia said. Hee!)

So the wedding was fun -- I mean, we didn't see much of the wedding, just the food parts. Which is good, how boring to watch some strangers stand there and say some vows. Ho hum. Get to the food!

The bride's team had to create a wedding cake and none of them are pastry chefs, so... very daunting. Stephanie took it on and it turned out nicely. I mean, it looked nice. Apparently the groom's cake tasted better, but looked much worse.

The bride's team won, and Richard was the winner out of the contestants. He wanted to give the win to Stephanie, since she took on the cake, so they ended up sharing it. I thought that was nice. Very collegial and respectful.

Nikki, on the groom's team, was cut. It wasn't a surprise, she didn't seem like a strong contender anyway.

Next week: Dale loses his temper! Richard wears a pink shirt! Lisa says something negative! Andrew says something bizarre! Spike wears a fedora! Stephanie and Antonia act normal!

You can't wait, can you?

Reality Bytes. Bits? Maybe Nibbles.

Here we go again. I know, right? Anyway, I watched ANTM and Top Chef last night (WHY must they be on the same night? At least they're not on at the same time.)

* spoiler alert *

ANTM

Easy to see Katarzyna was going down. Obviously they didn't like her; they couldn't even be bothered to pronounce her name right. So it looks like the winner will be Anya. But who knows? They've kept Dominique around despite her missing tooth. I mean, look at this (from fourfour; Rich Juzwiak does a hilarious recap of ANTM every Monday. You should never, ever miss it.):










They gave Dom a hard time about how she was dressed at judging, like they were surprised. Tyra told her, while giving her her picture which meant she was still-in-the-running-towards-becoming-America's-Next-Top-Model, that she needed to work on it and then said "So it looks like Dominique" (or something like that; I don't have the show memorized or Tivo'd or whatever, I'm working on memory, people, and it's become a nervous, timid little thing lately) and I thought, That's what she's doing now, Tyra! Ugh. This cycle is so annoying.

Whitney isn't going to be around much longer. She keeps landing in the bottom two and they're only keeping her so it looks like they aren't a bunch of fashionatrixes (-trices?) who are disgusted by the fact that she isn't a size 2. Well, Tyra probably likes to keep the plus-size girls around longer so she doesn't look quite so behemoth next to the contestants. (And my point here is that the girls are usually unhealthily skinny, not that Tyra is too big. I think Tyra looks fine.)

And they always make comments that have to do with weight and size when they speak to Whitney, and I'm not sure they're aware of it. It's either sly and mean, or it's unconscious and unbelievably un-self-aware. (Hm. There has to be a better word for that. Oblivious? Stupid?) I wish I could remember (again with the creaking brain machinery) what exactly they said, but it seems like Miss Jay, Nigel, and Tyra all did it. Maybe it's scripted, which means it's sly and mean. Alright, I found a couple of comments and now they seem more unconscious than deliberate. Calling Whitney down, Tyra said, "Last but not least, Whitney." Okay, people say that, it may not have meant anything more than that. And when Nigel was talking to the judges he said, "There's a lot to Whitney." Then he went on to make it seem like he meant personality-wise, but when he said it, Paulina made a face like, Are you talking about her weight, man?

And what is with Tyra trying to pretend like she feels maternal towards these girls? Do you plan to not bother to pronounce your own daughter's name correctly someday, Ty-Ty?

Let's not forget that she chooses the "best picture" that they judge the girls on. Oh, no chance of rigging the competition there, no! Again, ANNOYING, this cycle. But I have to watch it to the cold, grim finale now.

Top Chef

Again, if you aren't watching, YOU SHOULD. And you don't have to be a foodie to enjoy it; as I said, I don't cook, don't like to, and don't even really like to eat more than a few things. It's become a bone of contention between my husband and me: he likes to try new things and likes most of what he tries; I don't like to try anything new and almost never like it when I do. It's a problem. I'd be perfectly happy eating the same four things I know I like, tra-la. Anyway, we struggle on and try new things because I want to make sure we have interesting things for Bunny to eat. Healthy, too. Another struggle.

Okay, this post sort of got away from me for a moment. Back to Top Chef.

So last night they had an interesting challenge -- to make a healthy, tasty meal for a family of four on a budget of $10. I think they get to use staples that are in the kitchen already, so they had only to buy main ingredients (but at Whole Foods, which, you know, a little pricey). Still, challenging. It was fun to see what they came up with. AND they had to cook with kids that are part of the Common Threads, an organization... oh, I'll just let them tell you: The Mission of Common Threads is to educate children on the importance of nutrition and physical well-being, and to foster an appreciation of cultural diversity through cooking.

So, again, fun to watch. Mark got cut (hee, that never gets old)(yes, to me) this time. I was sad to see him go, I liked him, but I wasn't very surprised. His cooking didn't really seem to be of the same caliber as some of the other chefs'.

Top Chef

Second post in one day, yeah! I'm feelin' it, dawg.

So those of you who watch Top Chef can read this; the rest of you should watch it. I don't like to cook, or really even eat more than about five things, but it's still fun to watch.

This week they kicked off Ryan, which sort of surprised me. I really thought Nikki or Mark would go. I guess they edit it that way to throw viewers off. From what I've seen (and granted we don't see everything, re comment directly preceding), Nikki should go. It seems like she doesn't ever do very well. I know people who cook better than she seems to, and she's a chef? Hmm. I like Mark, so I was glad he didn't go, but his station was a mess and besides the fact that it's gross to taste your chowder or whatever and then use the SAME SPOON to dish it out for others to eat, who would be stupid enough to do that IN FRONT OF THE JUDGES?! Well, Mark would. Sigh.

That's still not as gross as Howie from Season 3 who sweat like a maniac and DRIPPED ALL OVER HIS FOOD. They never said a word to him, apparently, and that frankly grosses me out more than a little bit of Mark's saliva. I say they must not have said anything to him at all because he never started wearing a hat or sweatband when he cooked. GROSS. I was so glad when he left, just so I didn't have to watch his sweat dripping into the food OTHER PEOPLE WERE ABOUT TO EAT anymore. Just the memory gags me.

I think Antonia and Stephanie are doing really well; I hope they continue to do so. It would be great if a woman were to win. It seems like the chef's world is dominated by men, so to have a woman win seems like a step forward. I think Jennifer and Lisa are pretty good but don't seem as strong.

I hope they kick Spike and Andrew off soon. Spike because of his attitude (though it doesn't seem as bad as it once did, editing again?) and Andrew because he's just weird. Not in a fun, interesting, entertaining way, but rather in an uncomfortable he-might-just-stab-you-with-a-fork way. He seems to be a pretty good chef, though, from comments he gets. I don't care for Dale's attitude, either, especially the gangsta affectations, but he also seems to be talented. Richard, of course, is a strong competitor and I expect him to be in the top three.

I was sad to see Manuel kicked off because he seems like such a nice guy. The others who have been kicked off I'm not too upset about. I don't even remember Nimma so I may have missed an early episode. I thought Zoi had a pretty bad attitude so I didn't mind her packing her knives and cutting out. Hee.

The strongest contenders that I see so far for the top three are Richard, Stephanie, and either Dale or Antonia. Of course, it only takes one bad dish for someone to get the boot, so you never know. And that's what makes it fun to watch.