Thursday, February 17, 2011

Reactions to Top Chef All-Stars Episode 10

This week, we had probably some of the most charming guest judges of all, more charming than either Hubert Keller or Susur Lee - Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Telly. The three Muppets joined Padma in tasting and judging this week's Quickfire Challenge, which was to make...cookies! 

Of the seven remaining chefs' offerings, the fuzzy guest judges preferred Antonia's ooey gooey chocolate cookies  and Dale's potato chip shortbread over Blais' frozen zucchini-filled "cookies." Dale won over all, and gained an extra $5K for his success.

For the Elimination, the chefs headed to Target at midnight to shop and prepare a meal for 100 hungry employees. They could use anything in the store - utensils, appliances, food, plates - to create their food. For some reason, most chefs chose to make soup. It was a great idea for Dale, who also made grilled cheese sandwiches - using a griddle and an iron - but not so great for Carla or Angelo, whose soups disappointed.

Dale's dish tasted great, and his cleverness probably gave him and advantage that earned him his third Elimination Challenge win of the season and the biggest single-contest prize ever of $25,000.

Angelo oversalted his potato soup and got sent home, probably way too early. But we can probably say that of most of the dearly departed, huh?

So what did you think? Did Dale deserve to win? Was Blais cheated? Did you think Carla was on her way out? Please leave a comment!

9 comments:

MCWolfe said...

That must have been some mighty good tomato soup for it to be worth $25K! Frankly I was surprised Richard didn't win but without tasting the food its hard to know with these things.

I'm not an Angelo fan so I'm not really too sorry to see him go. At least he went out with a bit of grace unlike some other cheftestants (I'm talking to you, Marcel).

The elves are making me fear for Carla next week but I hope they're just messing with us again.

MoHub said...

Those crazy editing monkeys had me sure Carla was doomed, and I almost hesitated to watch through to the end. I definitely yipped when Angelo's name came out of Padma's mouth.

I'm definitely suspicious of the Carla soundbite in the preview for next week. Is she talking about her own redemption from this week's bottom-three finish, or is she referring to one of the eliminated chefs coming back for redemption to possibly earn a chance to get back in the game?

theminx said...

My thought was the latter - that one of the eliminated chefs was getting a chance to return to the fold.

tlv812 said...

I know alot of people didn't like Angelo and I really didn't either , but am I the only person that thinks it's a little suspicious that a seasoned chef got eliminated for over salting soup.Maybe someone messed with it or maybe they hadn't gotten the taste of Carlas over spiced soup out of their mouth.Some of the target workers said Carlas soup was to spicy to eat.I'm not saying it happened that way but it's just a thought .

theminx said...

If you watch the extended judging video on bravotv.com, Padma says she liked Carla's dish, apart from the fact that it seemed incomplete. Angelo's dish was egregiously over-salted. During the episode it was also said to be too heavy, and that nobody could eat a whole bowl of it. Apparently that combination of faults was worse than Tiffany's commercial-seasoning-flavored dish, and Carla's mere lack of protein.

I believe that it was Mike's soup that was too spicy for the Target diners.

tlv812 said...

When do they have the extended judges videos on bravotv.com?I appreciate the info.If I would have known that I probably would have not even have considered anything.Thank you very much.

tlv812 said...

Thanks for that.That makes alot of sense.When do they show the extended judges tables?

theminx said...

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/videos?field_collection_nid=63041

Kavitha said...

Most of the people don't like angel but i really like him.i feel,he is really a talented guy but that was not the day for him which was too early for him............. I like him a lot..... He is really a talented guy but that was not the day for him which was too early for him............. I like him a lot.....