Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I guess somebody showed Toby the clips from last season, he isn't nearly as annoying this season.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Poor Ron. Every week he starts out saying he has it and every week his food turns out terrible. He won't be missed.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I had a couple of tweets with Toby, and I think he's alright.
He came on very strong at the start of last season

Glad Ron is gone, although all of the bottom 3 were weak, seems like in this ep a lot of failures...

That Pot Roast did look delicious though!

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Eli acted like a douche when he didn't win the quickfire.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Agreed. I think that was an edit though..

And this answers a question I had last time

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

yeah, I'm sure Robin having cancer changed Michelle Bernstein's taste buds.

And then Ash was bitter about it later. "i should just make a salad and an apple crisp" Dude, just make something that tastes good. The judges even said it last night. Had Ron not even remotely tried to deconstruct anything and just made a normal paella that tasted good, he wouldn't have been in there. Of course they consider the rules around the challenge, but taste is the most important thing.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Exactly. I couldn't believe there were cancer comments after she won that challenge. I thought that was pretty tasteless.

As for Ron, it seemed that nothing on that plate was cooked correctly. He spent so much time worrying about deconstructing that he forgot to actually cook something good.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

From what my concept of deconstructed is/was I do think Kevin nailed it.
All the pieces laid out that make up a mouthful.

Similar to how Brian showed mike I how to deconstruct the bearnaise.

Also Mike I did not know what Eggs Florentine was?

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Best line of the night...

PADMA: "I've had bull testicles before..."
PENN: "I'll bet!"

The one and only time Penn (or Teller) has ever made me laugh.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Exactly what I was saying. I think if he just blew off the whole deconstruction thing and just cooked a regular paella that tasted good (a big IF seeing what he's done so far), he wouldn't have been sent home. It's possible that they may have docked him some points and kept him in the bottom 3, but the other 2 would have had worse sins (overcooked fish, undercooked lamb and NO MASHED POTATOES ON A SHEPHERD'S PIE?!?!?!?!?!?)

I do think the advice eli and kevin gave him was a good one. Have almost like a crispy rice cake under the seafood. He just didn't get it. But he was like that from the start - not getting things. "My Vice is the 30 days i spent on a boat." Great story, but um, that's not a vice.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Ron sucked. I knew before the ep even started that, barring some catastrophic fuck up by one of the talented chefs, it was either he or Robin going home. Robin won immunity, so there you go. Ash isn't long for this competition, either. Ron seemed like an ok guy but was just so out of his depth here. I don't recall him once making anything good-I guess the closest would be his sweet ceviche last week, which still didn't get very high marks. Goodbye to him and his stupid fucking red crocs.

P.S. Michelle Bernstein is pretty damn cute.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

It was editing I'm sure, but I got a little worried about Jen last night.

Looked like she was having problems with her lasagne, and as Jamie points out on her blog that's the first time she hasn't cooked fish!

And Eli has done scallops twice now. Jamie used them 3 times in her season...
So Eli is going for the new Top Scallop!

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Is "classically trained" a codeword for "inability to be innovative"? Jen and at least one other chef last night complained that they didn't know how to deconstruct food because they were classically trained. By season 6 shouldn't these people realize that creativity and the ability to think outside the confines of traditional cooking are just as important to winning Top Chef as pure cooking skill, if not more?

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I wish the show took a bit more of a socially aware stand. I am not asking for much, but virtually all of the guest chefs are socially involved. Why not mention their cause? Give a donation to said cause? Or even revolve a challenge around it. I know they have done a few things in the past, including the Masters show, but not nearly enough. Having Michelle Bernstein on was a perfect opportunity; an opportunity missed.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Eater Blog

http://eater.com/uploads/2009_09_ronpaella.gif

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

His clam chowder was supposedly pretty good.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I thought that this was by far, the most boring episode of this entire season. I felt this sense of fatigue from the contestants that tends to happen mid-way through the season (and Tom expressed on his blog how this season the chefs were going to go strong the whole way). I expected a whole lot more from this bunch.

Still, the challenge was incredibly hard. In previous episodes I try to play along and imagine possible ideas. The problem with a lot of the dishes they had to "deconstruct" is that a lot of them have components that are already deconstructed. Usually the winner of a challenge like this is the person that has flawless execution - and in this case, that person definitely deserved to win, going head and shoulders above his competitors.

It's nice to see the competition heating up though. This is usually around the time when it gets incredibly tense, because only the good chefs are left. I have a feeling that the final four will be Michael V, Bryan, Kevin, and Jennifer. And I think that Kevin might take this home.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Remember Natasha Richardson in season 5? that was a great episode. I loved watching every minute of it. And contrary to Tom's assertion, I thought the food was really good. It was tragic watching that episode and then hearing of her death only a few months later.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

You'll note that the chefs who complain about her are the ones that end up on the bottom. The great chefs just left her alone, and focused on their own food.

True. He should have just made the rice, seasoned it, baked to get that crust, and made a saffron-crusted shrimp and a side of braised vegetables. Not totally deconstructed, but what can you do with Paella?

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I was wondering if he could have done something like use rice flour to make crepes and then stuff the crepes with the shrimp, etc.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

ha ha, also from eater blog:

And luckily for no one Teller keeps up his character and doesn't talk the whole meal. Really? Maybe let him sit this one out. Or, you know, speak. It's not like people think Teller can't actually talk. We realize that's just a thing he does when on camera. But we can handle it. For example, if Penn took a break from dying his chin beard and being a loud jackass, we'd still believe he was a good magician.

http://eater.com/uploads/2009_09_teller.gif

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Actually really surprised that Ash didn't go home today. He basically spent the entire show talking about his man crush on Michael and how he couldn't measure up to him. If he doesn't even think he has a shot at getting to the top, they should have dropped him and let Ashley move on.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I thought it was telegraphed that he was going home from the get-go
however the Jen/Kevin team - hello. Win Squared is what that time is, a whole ball of win.

I really think ashley had picked it up in the last couple of eps, so I Was disappointed to see her leave.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

I think the reason he didn't go home was because Eli and Ashley's dish was worse. Had Ash and Michael's dish been worse, no doubt he'd have been going.

Re: Top Chef Vegas - starts 19 Aug
 

Blog Quote from Toby.