Recap Roundup: Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 9

This week on Top Chef: Restaurant Wars! Blindfolds! Broken sauces! And bloggers...

Cliffieland on our first glimpse of Bikini Jen: "Chef Jennifer is in a bikini, which really does beg for commentary. Hence here ‘tis. Great chef. Great bod. No ass."

Jordan Baker on the good and the bad: "Let me put it this way: it may, as Tom claims, have included the best restaurant they’ve had at any restaurant during Restaurant Wars, but it was also the most boring of all Restaurant Wars."

Minx Eats on our teams: "I am dubbing the teams 'Team Bicker,' comprising Michael, Bryan, Eli, and Robin, and 'Team DickHer,' Kevin, DoucheyMike, Laurine, and Jen. Kevin is neither a dick nor a her, but I couldn't convince Jen to trade him for Eli just to make my name work out better."

Reality Check (Baltimore Sun) on Restaurant War's best improvement: "The biggest shock of Restaurant Wars this season is the cheftestants don't have to plan the decor of the restaurant! They aren't given some shoddy warehouse space or tent to turn into a restaurant."

Gather.com on Blue's bad early decision: "In a bizarre decision, the blue team chooses Laurine for front of the house. Out of all of them, I think she's the worst choice; she exudes no warmth or personableness."

People.com quickly summarizes: "Things quickly went downhill for Jen’s team. The chefs seemed stalled and distracted — and so did Laurine, who wasn’t ready for the diners when they arrived. Preparations were much smoother for Michael’s team, though he and Robin sniveled over her dessert, cursing at each other and fighting."

Entertainment Weekly on the recess-style team selection: "It was actually kind of sad when Robin had to go to the red side out of process of elimination — like the kid who gets picked last at dodgeball."

Christenam on the Voltaggio boys (about whom the bloggers are seriously mixed): "This is the point where I have to admit that the Voltaggio brothers have grown on me. I gave them a bad rep, since they seemed like such cocky jerks, but they can back it up and aren't completely douchey."

Eater LA speculates: "What I think I am saying is that whoever of the two [brothers] wins (assuming Kevin leaves the show because he gets sent on an errand to Rivendell by Gandalf) gets to sleep with Padma. Maybe one of them is the father and that's why she can't announce it?!"

Omnivore Atlanta on Jen: "Over the past few weeks Jen has cooked through illness and battled anxiety, but during last night’s famous restaurant wars, the lone female superstar actually floundered, serving not one, but two poorly executed pieces of fish."

Premium Hollywood on the Quickfire: "They would have a tag team cookoff, in which each chef had 10 minutes out of 40 to complete a dish, but while one chef was working the others were blindfolded. Man, that looked HARD."

Showtracker (LA Times) echoes my thoughts: "For a second there, it looked as though one of the contestants in the Final Four might be going home. Didn't Jennifer's eyes look weepy during her interviews? No one was happy with Kevin's undercooked lamb, either. Can you imagine the horror of watching Robin, Laurine, Eli and Mike I. outlast one of those two?"

It Happened Last Night on what was kind of great about the Quickfire: "They really do know their food and were able to puzzle out, improvise and sometimes even change the flavor profile/plan that was implemented. That was really something to watch."

Food and More (Atlanta Journal Constitution) on the three scariest words in a cheftestant's world: "'Padma wants salt!' Three words to strike terror in the heart of any chef."

Gawker on Michael V.: "Michael Voltaggio hasn't yet learned yelling 'Relax!' at somebody does not make them obey—and conversely, yelling 'Obey!' at someone doesn't make them relax. He continues to antagonize his older brother Bryan who is one day going to pummel Michael bloody."

Meal Ticket (Philly City Paper) on Jen's misstatement: "Sustainable seafood king Moonen is impressed with both plates but ends up giving the W to Blue, despite Jen accidentally referring to her protein as trout when she describes it. 'I called my black cod trout on national TV … awesome,' she laments. Don’t you sweat it, lady. I’ve called short ribs spare ribs and spare ribs short ribs so many times that I think the National Association for the Preservation of Rib Sanctity (NAPRS) has a hit out on me."

The Celebrity Cafe on the Red team's drama: "By the third course there was a considerable tension in the air between the two Voltaggio brothers, complete with underhanded and under-the-breath comments and more piercing stares from Mike. By Robin’s dessert course, it seemed like there were too many cooks in the kitchen. But wait, there were only three."

TV Squad on why TC is different: "The thing that sets Top Chef apart from similar shows such as Project Runway or Hell's Kitchen, is the level of professionalism on display. While both of those shows have strong contestants, on the whole, the pool seems more amateurish than those on Top Chef. This was clearly evident in this week's episode with the Quickfire Challenge."

Best Week Ever on knife choices: "Blank knives with two of them saying 'First Choice' and 'Second Choice'?? What happened to knives that say 'Rutabaga,' 'Shoehorn,' and 'Dennis Quaid?' ('When I drew ‘Dennis Quaid’ I wuz like, whoa!')"

Speakeasy (WSJ) on moms: "To no one’s surprise, Robin was picked last for teams. 'I’m the mom here,' Robin says, sounding exactly like our mom does when she’s aggravating her children. 'They’re stuck with me.'"

Express Night Out on what's good: "There's nothing like a bunch of nervous, arrogant chefs opening an eatery in three hours to perfume the air with anxious excitement. Then, throw in one of the coolest quickfires in 'Top Chef' history and a kindly, sweet facade from Toby Young and you've got yourself a quality episode."

Limecrete on corporate speak: "Padma tells the chefs that they can only go so far on their individual talents, and Rick agrees that they work with bunches of people, and thus need 'synergy'. I put that in quotes because corporate buzzwords annoy me, especially when they're unnecessary, and can be replaced by eminently respectable words like 'teamwork' or 'cooperation'."

Max the Girl on sibling rivalry: "'When we were kids, I was the instigator and Bryan was always trying to look out for everybody,' says Goofus, in a rare moment of self reflection. Ah, plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose."

Procrastiblog on the producers: "Since Jennifer was the obvious second choice for elimination, and Kevin the third, one might be tempted to speculate the producers put a thumb on the scale in favor of the top contenders. Far be it from me to suggest such a thing. But one might be tempted."