Recap Roundup: Top Chef DC Episode 8

David Dust on Tiffany's plans: "Today is a new day in Washington, D.C. – and the Cheftestants are still talking about pea puree. Everyone except Tiffany, who is thinking about her upcoming Costa Rican wedding and how she is going to afford it. After all, those little cocktail umbrellas aren’t going to pay for themselves."

Jordan Baker haikus: "Adeus, Stephen. / Brazilians speak Portuguese / But you wouldn’t know."

Cliffieland on the drinking version: "They head to the Safeway to shop and Kenny reminds us that 'this is a competition.' (Drink!)"

What'ere, Jane Eyre hates on Alex (like everyone else): "Kevin agrees, crabbing that Alex's style of cooking is to throw a bunch of darts at a wall and hope it works, which it never does. He thinks Alex is the weakest chef left. Listen, if he stole the pea puree, I'm all for treating him like a pariah. In fact, if he stole the pea puree, I'm all for kicking him off the show."

Max the Girl on the anti-Brazil sentiment: "On the map, 7 countries, including the dreaded Brazil, which nobody wants. Who knew that Brazil was the 'kid with the back brace in gym class' of countries? Angelo went so far as to fake pick Brazil and then say, 'Just kidding.'"

Minx Eats on the boring: "Although playing with various ethnic cuisines should seem exciting and interesting, I can't help but consider this episode of Top Chef the Worst. Episode. Ever. (Or at least this season.) Why? Because nothing happened. Not even any manufactured drama like last week's "Pea-gate" to liven things up a little."

Reality Check (Baltimore Sun) on the losing dish: "Gail says Stephen's rice was 'mealy.' Ick. She also attacks his use of chimichurri sauce, which she says takes her to Argentina. Detour anyone? Tom says he got the basics wrong."

Pop Bunker on peagate: "Did he or didn’t he? That’s the question everyone seems to want to know. I don’t care at this point. The whole angle has been beaten to death, and to read some of the comments over at the Bravo website you’d think Alex slit someone’s throat or put rat poison into Ed food."

Serious Eats on Tiffany's Quickfire win: "This was Tiffany's first quickfire win, and as Ed said: 'She beat Angelo [who used to work at an Ethiopian restaurant], and that's the best part.' Indeed!"

Reality TV Magazine on the top three: "They loved Tiffany’s tamales. This was Kevin’s first time making Indian food, and he nailed it. Kelly’s dish was not only beautiful, but Jose Andres told Kelly that he went to Italy and her carpaccio was great, if not better."

Speakeasy (WSJ) on the map: "Just as the producers tossed in foie gras alongside rattlesnake during the weird proteins challenge, this time, Mexico, France and Italy are offered alongside Brazil and Spain. Actually, all the cuisines (which included Thai, Japanese, Chinese and Indian) weren’t as esoteric as say, Ethiopian."

Single Guy Chef on Ethiopian food: "And I just realized I have never eaten Ethiopian food, and here’s where I share another of my food idiosyncrasies, which is I don’t like to eat with my hands. So that whole slurping up food with bread in the middle of the table is not my idea of a complete dinner."

Eater.com on Marcus Samuelsson: "Swedish/Ethiopian superstar chef Marcus Samuelsson, owner of the Red Rooster and winner of season two of Top Chef Masters, is our Quickfire judge. Kevin calls him one of the greatest chefs in the country right now, which is sort of true, but is Samuelsson actually cooking at any restaurants currently? Red Rooster's not even open. Maybe cooking is like boxing, and you only need to defend your title once or twice a year and also it's very corrupt and violent."

Omnivore on the chefs' ridiculousness: "For last night’s menus-round-the-world contest, contestant Ed boasted that he’s an expert in Chinese cooking (the world’s oldest cuisine, with an unbroken history dating back 400,000 years to Paleolithic times) because he’s 'had some Chinese girlfriends.' Stephen felt confident tackling Brazilian food 'because I took my family to a Brazilian steakhouse once.' Alex got hungry pre-service and ate so many of his Spanish tortas that he ran out of food to feed the guests."

Creative Loafing on the Quickfire irony: "What was ironic about the Quickfire results, was that the chefs who made two of the three favorite dishes, went into the challenge blind, being in the aforementioned majority of those with no experience with the Ethiopian flavor profile — one even going on to win the challenge and immunity."

Grub Street on the edit: "Tiffany took the win, which was completely unsurprising considering the producers spent a good minute showing footage of her remarking that she was ready to win. Oh Bravo, it's not foreshadowing if you do it every time."

Best Week Ever makes me miss Stefan: "Are the chefs gonna pretend to be sad every time someone goes home? Because it will happen literally every single week. Can someone just step up and say 'Another one of the interchangeably poor chefs lost again, getting us closer to the weeks that matter?' Stefan Richter actually used to scream that into the camera six times per episode."