Thursday, August 13, 2009

Reactions to Top Chef Masters Episode Nine

It was kind of amazing to watch master chefs do so poorly in the blindfold tasting Quickfire. I can understand having problems with chervil and dashi, but peanut butter? hoisin? It was good for a chuckle. Makes me want to try it at home and see how tough it really is.

As for the Elimination Challenge - wow! Leave it to former TC cheftestants to bring a little drama to the show. Hothead Dale Talde really blew up at Michael Chiarello--perhaps uncalled for, but I cheered him on. Chiarello had readily put on the asshat during the sous chef selection process and showed the face I always thought he had. The other chefs were more confident and gave their sous a little freedom. It worked well for Bayless, who let Blais loose with the liquid nitrogen, and not so well for Lo who may have had problems with the rate of Jamie's shellfish-shucking.

So what did you think about this episode? Was Dale out of line? Would you eat avocado ice cream? Please leave a comment with your thoughts....

8 comments:

Kristine said...

I was very excited that Hubert Keller picked Antonia first, then LMAO when he said he was stuck with Spike and then kicked him off. He was very gracious as well to give so much credit to his sous chefs. And I agree with you about Michael "what's-my-name" Chiarello. I truly hope it's Rick or Hubert who take it.

LauraK said...

Seriously - ketchup, almonds, peanut butter, maple syrup and oregano. Five ingredients that ANYONE should have been able to identify.

The rest may have been a little more obscure, but come on - MASTERS.

Anonymous said...

Check out Grub Street New York
Anita gives a good explanation on why she cut Jamie...

And, Bravo, damn your editing!

David Dust said...

I don't normally advocate violence, but Chiarello deserved to be smacked.

XOXOXOXO

BaltimoreGal said...

I don't know, if you read the blog that Dale wrote and the interview Michael gave- it makes Michael look a whole lot better.

theminx said...

BaltimoreGal - to what Michael Chiarello interview are you referring? His whole "what's my name" routine showed me enough about him. He must be pretty insecure to treat a bunch of professional chefs like children.

Bah. Never liked him, never will.

HeartbreakRidge said...

I don't care how much of an asshat Chiarello was, Dale was a rude and obnoxious punk.

eric3000 said...

Yeah, the masters seemed to do much worse in the tasting challenge than any of the regular contestants on the show. Funny!

And Dale's outburst was ridiculous but at least he wasn't being obnoxious through the entire episode, like Michael. Wow, that guy seems like a tool.