After waiting an extra week to see this episode of Top Chef Masters, I can say it was worth the wait. The one-arm-behind-your-back egg cookery Quickfire showed how ambitious these Masters can be - Mark Peel made pasta! A shame he forgot to put olive oil on it before serving. On the other hand, I was somewhat surprised at how un-ambitious John Besh was with his simple - and raw - baked egg dish.The Elimination Challenge was interesting - cook something that can be described by the words "mystery," "surprise," "spectacle," and "illusion." Chef Peel's fish en papillote did have an air of mystery and Chef Lo's scallop/daikon fit "illusion" (anyone think she was going to use bananas when she started talking about scallops? a la Richard Blais? no, me neither.) but Chef Rodriguez' flaming coconuts weren't quite the spectacle he intended and Chef Besh's surprises fell a little flat.
It was nice to see Gail Simmons on the judging panel - did anyone else notice her "take charge" manner during the Critic's Table chat about the meal? And who knew Neil Patrick Harris was a foodie?
So what did you think about the episode? Please tell us in the comments.
5 comments:
Well, my bet early on was for Besh to win it all, based on his experience on Next Iron Chef America. Boy, was I wrong. I do want a copy of that picture of him in his Marines uniform, though.
I'm sorry. I had to unsubscribe from your feed because you keep giving away who won!!!!!
I keep watching the episode KNOWING who won and that ruins it for me.
Sorry. :(
P.S. any reason why you do comment mod AND word verification? :D I mean.. it's usually one or the other... :D
What? I give away who won AFTER the episode airs...I only mention the four who participate BEFORE the airing. I hate spoilers and am very careful not to give things away. Of course that's assuming I know anything, which I don't until after I watch an episode.
I do comment mod because otherwise I don't see the comments when they come in. And I use word verification because I don't want to have to moderate a bunch of spam comments. :)
I really felt like Gail's presence got the show back on the rails and gave the critics' table it's teeth back (they've been so unfathomably nice up until now).
Count me as one of those who was surprised at John Besh's lack of performance. I'm happy that Anita Lo won, not just because her food seemed to most interesting but because I'm loving the fact that the women are doing well. I really didn't expect to see two women in the finals after only four shows. Yay!
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