"Top Chef" (2006-) Reality Chef-Competition Series on Bravo - Now in Season 16

[zoramargolis]

I found it fascinating that T. Dean was harshly judged by Eric Ripert for leaving the skin on his rockfish--it seemed to be the primary reason he was included in the bottom-scored group. However, that seems to be the locally "traditional" way to serve rockfish: pan-crisping the skin and then oven roasting until the fish is done. That is certainly the advice that the fish chefs at BlackSalt always provided. So--is this an example of outsider "experts" not being attuned enough to local food? The challenge was to present a dish that represents where the chef is from--it seemed to me that Timothy Dean had done that.

A trustworthy source informs me that Timothy Dean, at age 18, was mentored by Jean-Louis Palladin at the Watergate, at the same time that Eric Ripert was the sous chef there. Hmmm.

[B.A.R.]

I think it wasn't the thickness of the skin that Ripert did not enjoy. I have cooked a lot of local rock in my day, and some of the skin has been far to thick to keep on the fish, IMHO. That may have been the case here.

[monavano]

I think it wasn't the thickness of the skin that Ripert did not enjoy. I have cooked a lot of local rock in my day, and some of the skin has been far to thick to keep on the fish, IMHO. That may have been the case here.

Is it verboten to serve fish with skin on if the skin is rather thick and perhaps best not eaten? Can't you just eat the flesh and forgo the skin? Is it like cooking chicken with the skin on and then choosing not to eat the skin, but the meat benefits by staying moist?

[mdt]

I found it fascinating that T. Dean was harshly judged by Eric Ripert for leaving the skin on his rockfish--it seemed to be the primary reason he was included in the bottom-scored group. However, that seems to be the locally "traditional" way to serve rockfish: pan-crisping the skin and then oven roasting until the fish is done. That is certainly the advice that the fish chefs at BlackSalt always provided. So--is this an example of outsider "experts" not being attuned enough to local food? The challenge was to present a dish that represents where the chef is from--it seemed to me that Timothy Dean had done that.

I am sure that it was more than just the skin that was a problem. I tend to think that Chef Ripert knows a little something about cooking fish. I don't think they were looking at local in exact sense, but more as the inspiration. Just look at all the other dishes, especially those that were praised.

[thistle]

I love TC, even bad TC (season 2, I'm looking at you)-my picks for top 3 this year are Kenny Gilbert, Kevin Sbraga, & Timothy Dean (because Angelo bugs me for some reason). The female chefs seem a bit overshadowed, but I have hopes for Tamesha, Kelly, Andrea, & Lynne-I want them to whittle down the field some more, I want CRAZY challenges (who was high when they came up w/ this challenge?-next week's preview), what can I say? I still watch Chopped, TCMasters, & even HK....

[thistle]

This is embarassing, but when I woke up in the middle of the night last night (I have frequent insomnia), I passed the time by thinking about what I would cook, for my 'constituency'. I'm the furthest thing from a TC that you can imagine, but some of those dishes did not appeal to me at all. I bet my dish would score better, if I included bacon or foam, though...

[stickmoon]

The thing I noticed about the first episode was how much more watchable it was than last season...I loved last season, but I despised the way Bravo presented it...the same annoying Real Housewives commercials over and over and over, and then as if that wasn't enough, their heads popping up out of the Bravo logo in the corner of the screen during the episodes. Last Wednesday all the commercials were normal...best buy, ge, etc, and a total absence of promos for other shows on the network. Plus, they moved it to 9pm instead of 10pm, which I like.

Now, I just hope that this season will be about great cooking and does not devolve into a contest of which male chef has the biggest (ahem...) zucchini.

[giant shrimp]

I found it fascinating that T. Dean was harshly judged by Eric Ripert for leaving the skin on his rockfish--it seemed to be the primary reason he was included in the bottom-scored group. However, that seems to be the locally "traditional" way to serve rockfish: pan-crisping the skin and then oven roasting until the fish is done. That is certainly the advice that the fish chefs at BlackSalt always provided. So--is this an example of outsider "experts" not being attuned enough to local food? The challenge was to present a dish that represents where the chef is from--it seemed to me that Timothy Dean had done that.

when they were called up for the final decision on who was to pack up their knives, tom colicchio faulted him for his choice of rockfish from all the better possibilities for representing the region's cooking, didn't he?

[zoramargolis]

From Tom Colicchio's blog on bravotv.com:

In fact, it’s interesting to note that given how the challenge was structured, each group needed to have a winner and a loser while, in fact, one of the groups was so uniformly strong that any one of the dishes in that group could have won the whole challenge. Those four just happened to be squared off in a heat against each other, so one edged out the others in that group and emerged victorious while another of those very fine dishes landed its chef in the bottom.

were Timothy Dean and Angelo in the same group?

[bookluvingbabe]

From Tom Colicchio's blog on bravotv.com:

were Timothy Dean and Angelo in the same group?

No.

I remember thinking that all of the dishes in Dean's group seemed strong but his was maybe a smidge weaker than the others.

If the producer-monkey's know about his bad boy rep, and I'm sure they do, then putting him on the hot seat early makes sense. Get him to react and you have good tv.

But I spend as much time deconstructing the editing of these shows as I do actually watching them.

[mdt]

No.

I remember thinking that all of the dishes in Dean's group seemed strong but his was maybe a smidge weaker than the others.

If the producer-monkey's know about his bad boy rep, and I'm sure they do, then putting him on the hot seat early makes sense. Get him to react and you have good tv.

But I spend as much time deconstructing the editing of these shows as I do actually watching them.

He has a bad boy rep? I thought he was trying to hard to compete with the other alpha males on the show. I never heard of him until this show, but that is not a surprise. Could it be because of his "revolutionary" steak house in Baltimore?

[shogun]

Any specific reason you don't like her?

I love Chef G, and I say that having melted off the side of my hand in her class (Cuisines of the Americas)! Was still a great class.

Just found out about this whole "Chef G on Top Chef" thing today, so have to try and track down the premier. Sounds like it didn't go so well?

[Toogs]

I am sure that it was more than just the skin that was a problem. I tend to think that Chef Ripert knows a little something about cooking fish. I don't think they were looking at local in exact sense, but more as the inspiration. Just look at all the other dishes, especially those that were praised.

I also think that his was a dish that could have been great a la minute but fails as a catering/steam table dish when the skin sogs. Also I just wanted to say something substantive so perhaps my post survives the nightly cull and now I can talk about Padma's boobs. Well I don't have much to say other than she inspires me to want to have children. Probably only with her though.

[Ericandblueboy]

The goal of being on Top Chef is not only to win, but to get free positive publicity. Tamesha doesn't do that for me (twice she said something totally rude and self-centered, IIRC). Neither does Angelo by telling the viewers of his dislike for Kenny for no apparent reason. Did they not learn from last season? Mike Isabella might be a good chef but he sure pissed off alot of viewers, some going so far as to say they'd never eat at his restaurant again. Bryan Voltaggio was so boring because he never said anything bad about another contestant and now his Table 21 is one of the hardest tables to get in the US..

Did the show alter the rules? I thought there's only going to be 1 losing team. Kenny was certainly under the impression that if his team loses, he'd have a 50% chance of going home. Instead, they took 2 members of two losing teams, thus halving Kenny's chances of going home.

[monavano]

The goal of being on Top Chef is not only to win, but to get free positive publicity. Tamesha doesn't do that for me (twice she said something totally rude and self-centered, IIRC). Neither does Angelo by telling the viewers of his dislike for Kenny for no apparent reason. Did they not learn from last season? Mike Isabella might be a good chef but he sure pissed off alot of viewers, some going so far as to say they'd never eat at his restaurant again. Bryan Voltaggio was so boring because he never said anything bad about another contestant and now his Table 21 is one of the hardest tables to get in the US..

Did the show alter the rules? I thought there's only going to be 1 losing team. Kenny was certainly under the impression that if his team loses, he'd have a 50% chance of going home. Instead, they took 2 members of two losing teams, thus halving Kenny's chances of going home.

The math was a bit fuzzy, but I was truly happy to see 2 members of the other losing team up on the chopping block. Kenny, for all his smack-talk on the first epi, needs to assert himself more. I would have been on Angelo's case if I saw him, with immunity, futzing around with a fancy way to put PB on celery. Truly, Angelo can win the sandwich challenge with one hand tied behind his back and the best he can contribute to his team is something I slap together with blinders on? He tried to sabatoge his team Kenny, and I think that what we've witnessed over past seasons is many times, a chef with immunity will say "hey, what can I do to help, tell me what you want me to do". No "I" in team and all that...

The winning team with their tacos deserved the win. They were in the spirit of the challenge and it looked delicious.

[jiveturk21]

I don't feel that Angelo was sabotaging his team, I feel that Angelo was just being a big dummy by thinking that he could make a peanut butter foam, slap it on some celery and call it a vegetable.

I will tell you, however, that if all the bickering keeps up, I may not be able to watch the show. I can't remember a judge's table where all of the teams on the bottom just ripped into each other like that. There is often a lot of bickering going on between two contestants, but this was pretty much eight contestants willing to say anything not to get kicked off the show. And, to be honest, all of them looked awful because of it, no one came out looking clean.

[monavano]

From Tom C.'s blog:

I cannot believe that no one* stopped Amanda from making that sherry chicken for a cafeteria full of children. One last note: It almost appeared as though Angelo really played the rest of his team, trying to lose so that Kenny would be sent home. I don’t know if it’s true, but it certainly seemed that way…

I was surprised that Amanda thought it was ok to serve children a dish with alcohol, that no one on her team had the foresight or fortitude to step up and put the kabosh on it, and that no producers or judges or crew thought to step in. There are perhaps moral, religious and safety issues that may apply. Moreover, Amanda should not have had the proverbial finger pointed at her, because if her actions were so egregious, someone (TPTB) should have stopped that food from being served to the kids. There were parents out there probably expecting that somebody was in a position of authority to ultimately oversee the safety and well-being of their children.

*wasn't Tom walking through the kitchen, chatting up the chefs about their dishes? I mean, don't see it coming down the pike and then act all gobsmacked.

[cajcaj]

From Tom C.'s blog:

I cannot believe that no one* stopped Amanda from making that sherry chicken for a cafeteria full of children. One last note: It almost appeared as though Angelo really played the rest of his team, trying to lose so that Kenny would be sent home. I don’t know if it’s true, but it certainly seemed that way…

I was surprised that Amanda thought it was ok to serve children a dish with alcohol, that no one on her team had the foresight or fortitude to step up and put the kabosh on it, and that no producers or judges or crew thought to step in. There are perhaps moral, religious and safety issues that may apply. Moreover, Amanda should not have had a finger pointed at her, because if her actions were so egregious, someone (TPTB) should have stopped that food from being served to the kids. There were parents out there probably expecting that somebody was in a position of authority to ultimately oversee the safety and well-being of their children.

*wasn't Tom walking through the kitchen, chatting up the chefs about their dishes?

I think I remeber Tamesha telling Amanda that she should really use tomato paste instead, but Amanda was so insistent on using the sherry.

[monavano]

I think I remeber Tamesha telling Amanda that she should really use tomato paste instead, but Amanda was so insistent on using the sherry.

Yup, at least she tried. It probaby would have turned out better! That and a couple splashes of balsamic would have been nice.

[Pat]

Her insistence on the sherry was rather strange, both from the school lunch angle and a cost standpoint. It was like she got that idea in her head and nothing could dissuade her. I'm wondering what kind of sherry she actually got, though, and whether it was sherry or supermarket "cooking sherry." The employee at Restaurant Depot seemed puzzled when she asked where the alcohol was but then directed her somewhere in the store after she specified cooking sherry. If she used Holland House or equivalent, that would have increased the sodium content of the dish through the roof, above and beyond the sherry issue.

[cajcaj]

Her insistence on the sherry was rather strange, both from the school lunch angle and a cost standpoint. It was like she got that idea in her head and nothing could dissuade her. I'm wondering what kind of sherry she actually got, though, and whether it was sherry or supermarket "cooking sherry." The employee at Restaurant Depot seemed puzzled when she asked where the alcohol was but then directed her somewhere in the store after she specified cooking sherry. If she used Holland House or equivalent, that would have increased the sodium content of the dish through the roof, above and beyond the sherry issue.

I agree - I wondered where she'd bought it too. It was also kind of strange how at judge's table when Tom called Amanda out for having the budget for sherry, she made that face like "I dunno...oh oops" and the look Jacquline had on her face was like "yea, what the hell woman". Yet Jacqueline had never thought to challenge her on that during the buying process?

[Al Dente]

Also I just wanted to say something substantive so perhaps my post survives the nightly cull and now I can talk about Padma's boobs. Well I don't have much to say other than she inspires me to want to have children. Probably only with her though.

Hey, back off bud...

Padma, if you're reading this, please answer your phone. Or give me a call at 301-555-1212 so we can work this out.

Miss you,

Al

[ktmoomau]

You know I wasn't offended last season by Mike and his comment. But I was really offended last night by Angelo to the point that I wouldn't eat at a restaurant I knew was his. It wasn't that he said he didn't like Kenny or even that he looked like he tried to throw his team under the bus (Kenny clearly said I got dessert, someone else took main course so the other get whats left). What really disgusted me is that he could care less what he sent to his customer. Perhaps because they were children, or because he had immunity. Anyway that left such a bad feeling for me that he didn't care about the customers themselves. Here was a chance to make a great impression on a lot of young children, who probably thought all these people were totally cool. Had he cared he could have really done something neat and inspiring. Or at least something healthy and tasty. I would never want to dine at a restaurant with a chef who cared only when it was "important" to care in their minds. I want a chef that thinks every meal is important. It was that lack of care or passion that really left me disliking him.

And serving sherry should have sent Amanda home, I don't care how sugary and starchy that pudding was, serving sherry to children would get most people fired. She just seemed rude to everyone and I wish she would have paid for it.

[DanCole42]

And serving sherry should have sent Amanda home, I don't care how sugary and starchy that pudding was, serving sherry to children would get most people fired. She just seemed rude to everyone and I wish she would have paid for it.

Amanda is prettier than Jacquline.

[ktmoomau]

Amanda is prettier than Jacquline.

Until you wake up the next morning to her bitchin. Was that too much? She is much prettier though, I will give you that.

[thistle]

I can't remember a TC season, where I started off disliking so many people-I agree, Amanda should have been kicked off for being clueless (& her snapper w/clementines, daikon/caraway gelee looked gross, too). Maybe because there's so many contestants, they're trying to get ahead of the pack, but it comes off as desperation & backbiting. The low key team of Kevin, Andrea, Timothy, & Alex was my favorite this week, their food looked great & they worked well together (although I dislike team challenges). Revising my favorites-Kenny (who was SO ambushed), Kevin, Ed, maybe-Tiffany, Timothy, Alex...

[thistle]

& I think Kenny & Ed were trying to 'play nice', but they should have said to Angelo & Tracy, "STFU-you (Angelo) do dessert & you(Tracy) do a veg (a real veg, not celery w/ pb), & just taken control of the situation-I think they were kind of blindsided....

[Pool Boy]

You know I wasn't offended last season by Mike and his comment. But I was really offended last night by Angelo to the point that I wouldn't eat at a restaurant I knew was his. It wasn't that he said he didn't like Kenny or even that he looked like he tried to throw his team under the bus (Kenny clearly said I got dessert, someone else took main course so the other get whats left). What really disgusted me is that he could care less what he sent to his customer. Perhaps because they were children, or because he had immunity. Anyway that left such a bad feeling for me that he didn't care about the customers themselves. Here was a chance to make a great impression on a lot of young children, who probably thought all these people were totally cool. Had he cared he could have really done something neat and inspiring. Or at least something healthy and tasty. I would never want to dine at a restaurant with a chef who cared only when it was "important" to care in their minds. I want a chef that thinks every meal is important. It was that lack of care or passion that really left me disliking him.

And serving sherry should have sent Amanda home, I don't care how sugary and starchy that pudding was, serving sherry to children would get most people fired. She just seemed rude to everyone and I wish she would have paid for it.

I find myself not really liking any of the chefs this season. It also seems to me like a clear step down from the overall quality level of participants, but perhaps I don't know what I am talking about. That said, a lot of this is all about the editing (to create 'drama'). I did think the combined apron thing to the quickfire was pretty cool. And as for the sherry thing....the chicken looked pretty unappetizing, but particularly from a child's perspective. That said, getting thrown off for cooking with sherry doesn't seem so obvious to me -- most of the alcohol probably burns off during the cooking process. Deciding to go ahead with sherry (costing $x) instead of allowing the teammate to get the needed ingredients (chocolate) was basically stupid. But it is a competition, too, so people do things to sabotage the other contestants and improve how they appear to the judges...

[DPop]

Two episodes in and I can safely say that this is far and away the least talented Top Chef group in the show's history. I count 8 people that have no business even being on a show like this, and only 2 (Angelo and Kenny) who would make it past the first 4 days last season. What a disappointment.

[hungry prof]

Two episodes in and I can safely say that this is far and away the least talented Top Chef group in the show's history. I count 8 people that have no business even being on a show like this, and only 2 (Angelo and Kenny) who would make it past the first 4 days last season. What a disappointment.

As those British World cup announcers like to say of unseemly tackles, don't you think that's a bit of a rash challenge? Not sure how you can conclude that after two elimination challenges. I'll give all the chefs a break on the first challenge. It's their first time doing this. The pressure would throw most people of their game. I bet if we looked back on past seasons we wouldn't find many great results in the first challenge. The second challenge put them under some pretty intense resource constraints. As for the Quickfires (if one can even judge chefs from the Quickfires), the first one was basically a knife skill competition, and the second one involved them tying one hand behind their back.

I'm not saying that these chefs will all turn out to be great, but it does seem a tad early to pass such definitive judgment.

[hungry prof]

Ok. So maybe DPop is right and more prescient than I gave him credit for. The picnic challenge was a good opportunity to show us some creativity and some real skill, but the results were generally pretty boring and cliche. I love flank steak on the grill as much as the next guy, but in this context, it was a real yawner. I thought the tuna sandwich was just about the only interesting thing that anybody made. At times, this episode seemed more like one of those (inane) home cook challenge shows on the Food Network than Top Chef.

[mdt]

Ok. So maybe DPop is right and more prescient than I gave him credit for. The picnic challenge was a good opportunity to show us some creativity and some real skill, but the results were generally pretty boring and cliche. I love flank steak on the grill as much as the next guy, but in this context, it was a real yawner. I thought the tuna sandwich was just about the only interesting thing that anybody made. At times, this episode seemed more like one of those (inane) home cook challenge shows on the Food Network than Top Chef.

There are probably a bit of circumstances that drive these choices. They had to shop at the P St. Whole Foods with only 30 minutes and spend no more than $400 for 50(?) people. I would also like to know how much time they had to think about what they are going to make before they go shopping. Could lack of time cause the uninteresting dishes?

[Ericandblueboy]

All I know is now I have no interest in dining at Seablue in MGM Grand. Chilean sea bass wrapped in bacon and cooked on a grill - and he thought he could've been a contendah?

[zoramargolis]

Preparing fish purchased at Whole Foods is inevitably a risky choice.

[Ericandblueboy]

According to the bald, overweight Italian-American judge's blog, they had to edit out their criticism of the food prepared by the overweight alternative lifestyle female chef at the picnic because it was obvious her food was so bad compared to others, so as not to give away who is going home. Said overweight alternative lifestyle female chef also was in the bottom 3 of the quickfire pie-making challenge, which I find shocking since her bio contained:

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, she decided to go down South to launch her culinary career as the opening Pastry Chef at the award winning Sia’s Restaurant in Duluth, GA.

[ktmoomau]

I agree the quality of the chefs is way down this season. Many of the past contestants could wipe the floor with these people. I just wish I could see Jen from last season just demolish them.

[thistle]

Not feeling it yet, but I'm trying to find some favorites in these chefs-what I find kind of disturbing is how I stay up late after the episode airs, thinking about what I would do for the challenge-I went out today & bought a bunch of apricots, to make an apricot/almond galette (&I don't like pies, either), the barbeque, as much as I love pork, slow-cooked, I would probably try chicken thighs, heavily-spiced, -I'm sure it's much more difficult than it looks on tv-I'd love to try some kind of informal 'Top Chef' camp, where they challenged you w/ this stuff...

[dartmouth05]

Preparing fish purchased at Whole Foods is inevitably a risky choice.

Why?

[hungry prof]

Why?

I'll let Zora speak for herself, but I agree with her. I find WF fish to be overpriced, inconsistent (at best), and of dubious sustainability. In fact, I've stopped buying fish there altogether. I'd much rather spend a few extra dollars to get consistently great and sustainable fish at a place like Black Salt.

Just to keep this on topic, it is reasonable to think about the ways in which WF constrains the options available to the chefs. For example, I love duck on the grill, but every WF I know of around here only carries frozen Bell & Evans duck breast. They're actually decent when defrosted in the fridge overnight, but they may have been an impractical choice for the TC contestants given their time constraints.

[monavano]

According to the bald, overweight Italian-American judge's blog, they had to edit out their criticism of the food prepared by the overweight alternative lifestyle female chef at the picnic because it was obvious her food was so bad compared to others, so as not to give away who is going home. Said overweight alternative lifestyle female chef also was in the bottom 3 of the quickfire pie-making challenge, which I find shocking since her bio contained:

"This? You couldn't see this?"

I agree the quality of the chefs is way down this season. Many of the past contestants could wipe the floor with these people. I just wish I could see Jen from last season just demolish them.

I"m tending to agree. So far, I'm not seeing anyone really shine just yet.

I'll let Zora speak for herself, but I agree with her. I find WF fish to be overpriced, inconsistent (at best), and of dubious sustainability. In fact, I've stopped buying fish there altogether. I'd much rather spend a few extra dollars to get consistently great and sustainable fish at a place like Black Salt.

Just to keep this on topic, it is reasonable to think about the ways in which WF constrains the options available to the chefs. For example, I love duck on the grill, but every WF I know of around here only carries frozen Bell & Evans duck breast. They're actually decent when defrosted in the fridge overnight, but they may have been an impractical choice for the TC contestants given their time constraints.

After buying pathetic, broken and half-starved mussels a couple times, I pass.

[Pool Boy]

I am really just bored with the bulk of the contestants this season. There is nothing yet to really wow me happening in the dishes presented. Ah well.

I think I need to go see if there is a thread on fish mongery, particularly to see where people buy fresh seafood in suburban MD. Going to Black Salt to buy fish would be great, but I'm not up for an hour there and an hour back just to get said fish. I need someplace at least remotely convenient to my job or home.

[stickmoon]

So far, I'm not seeing anyone really shine just yet.

Tom Colicchio agrees.

[eatdrinkmore]

We posted an interview with Arnold Myint today over at EatMore DrinkMore http://eatmoredrinkmore.com/2010/07/02/eatmore-drinkmore-interview-with-arnold-myint/

Restaurant Eve was one of his favorite restaurants in DC. He was super nice and kind enough to grant us an interview, so make sure you cheer him on!

[monavano]

Tom Colicchio agrees.

Yes! I read his blog and he sounds downright pissed and disgusted with the attitudes he's seeing. I wonder if it's perhaps one reason why the next epi is a double elimination.

That'll get someone's attention.

[hungry prof]

Yes! I read his blog and he sounds downright pissed and disgusted with the attitudes he's seeing. I wonder if it's perhaps one reason why the next epi is a double elimination.

That'll get someone's attention.

If Tom Colicchio were put on the spot to make a pie like that, could he do it? I'm skeptical that he'd do all that much better. Maybe that's a new twist that TC should introduce: once a season, if a challenge is deemed unfair by the contestants, they can throw the challenge back at Tom. If Tom can't do it to a level that pleases the other judges, then they all survive. If Tom does well, then there's double elimination the next time around.

[ktmoomau]

If Tom Colicchio were put on the spot to make a pie like that, could he do it? I'm skeptical that he'd do all that much better. Maybe that's a new twist that TC should introduce: once a season, if a challenge is deemed unfair by the contestants, they can throw the challenge back at Tom. If Tom can't do it to a level that pleases the other judges, then they all survive. If Tom does well, then there's double elimination the next time around.

Really though a decent pie isn't hard... if you can't remember the recipe for pie crust then I am just not sure about your memory abilities, when you know you are going on a show like this wouldn't you brush up on a pie, a dessert, classic sauces and dishes? I know Arnold said he was just winging it, but that just isn't very smart. And fruit pie, chess pie or pecan pie fillings have all of really 3 or 4 ingredients and are delicious. I think Tom could probably make a great pie in all reality. I am not a baker at all (read the baking 911), but I can whip out some good pies, no recipe. And if you don't remember the pie crust recipe, why not make a crust similar to a graham cracker crust?

[cjsadler]

Timothy Dean in another mess.

[Michael Landrum]

Timothy Dean in another mess.

To quote John Gardner's Grendel: Eek! Oh no!

Oh no! I hope I am not next to be sued (for stealing his revolutionary, mastermind-driven steakhouse concept)--especially since I am not a minority!

[Ericandblueboy]

Lynne totally screwed over Arnold tonight. He wants her to cook the pasta but she insists on doing it in the last minute because she's cooked fresh pasta plenty of times before and knows how to do it properly. Lo and behold, she under-cooks the pasta and their team gets sent home. She's seen later saying she should never let Arnold take the lead. Way to take responsibility!

[ktmoomau]

I am so sick of crabcakes benedict for breakfast, I can't believe that got any credit. It is on every menu anywhere. You don't need a Top Chef to come up with that dish. Tonight's results just floored me. I am really disappointed in this season. I could stop watching, but I keep hoping for a glimmer of hope.