Recap Roundup - Top Chef All-Stars Finale Part 3

Monkeys as Critics on potentially bad choices: "Mike gets first pick. He picks the canned goods competition for Antonia, because it’s the toughest and most disgusting. So much for chivalry. Antonia picks hot dogs for Richard. Richard picks the one pot challenge for Mike. Richard thinks this will be challenging, and Antonia thinks he’s stupid. Mike will get to cook with any ingredient he wants in the kitchen, as long as he only uses one pot. Does Richard not realize Mike can wash out the pot and reuse it?"

Jordan Baker on Tom in the kitchen: "Tom thru! You know, one of the things that’s sadly lacking in recent seasons is the Tom thru on a regular basis. They need to bring that back – I miss hearing what he has to say. In this case, he says that Mike picked the easiest dish for himself. THANK YOU, Tom, for acknowledging in one compact phrase that this is a radically uneven challenge and that Mike is full of shit when claiming he has one of the harder challenges."

Minxeats on Japanese food: "And finally, Morimoto tells Antonia about the deceptively simple lunch of miso soup, pickles, and sashimi that his mom prepared for him when he came home from playing baseball. Mom, apparently suffering from OCD, used to pick through the rice to make sure all the grains were the same size before she cooked them. No pressure, Antonia."

My Monkey Could Do That on bullshit: "Back in the hotel Antonia gives Mike crap for screwing her twice over in both challenges. He tries to accuse her of wanting it easy, but she claims to be happy to have Morimoto. If she pulls it off, it’ll be awesome. That’s true. Then Mike tries to tell her she has the easy one, and he and Richard have the challenges. Antonia calls him on his bullshit and says if that was so, then why didn’t he take Morimoto? He says because he knew Michelle would be the biggest challenge."

Reality TV Calendar on Mike: "Had Mike had any confidence in his own abilities, he would have chosen Morimoto for himself – or, if he really wanted to win at any cost, he could have chosen Morimoto for Blais; thus assuring the “cousins” would move into the finale together. Since Mike has made his disdain for female chefs no secret, he unsurprisingly said he wanted to be sure to go against Blais in the finale."

Max the Girl on pre-Elimination Challenge jitters: "The hotel room now resembles One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Antonia is prone to random jags of laughter. Richard is the poster child for nerve-related acid reflux. And Mike is pacing uncontrollably. They really are like some sort of social experiment gone awry."

A Just Recompense on making good decisions: "Antonia gets hamachi from the cooler, which is always nice for raw preparation. She tastes it and it tastes awful, it’s about to go rancid. She uses tuna instead, though she knows it’s less flavorful. Good move, Antonia, because rancid hamachi is the flavorful you don’t want."

Carol Blymire on the judges: "The judges and dinner guests arrive: Padma, Tom and Gail, the three chefs and Melanie Dunea, author and photographer of 'My Last Supper,' which came out, like, four years ago. What’s next week, guys? Cooking from 'Liberace Cooks'? Way to be timely."

David Dust on season 8 in general: "Come to think of it, this entire season should have been called Top Chef: Meatloaf - a little bit of good meat and a whole bunch of filler."

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Posted on AllTopChef.com