Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Recap Roundup - Top Chef Texas Episode 10

Jordan Baker on nerds: "Back. At the chefquarters at the Driskill, the chefs continue planning. Ponytail Chris calls this challenge 'The Kobayashi Maru' of Top Chef. Oh, lord Jesus. I can’t decide if I’m more embarrassed for him using that reference, or myself for knowing what it means even before he goes into his convoluted and super dorky explanation."

Minxeats on conspiracy theories: "The next day is the girls' turn. During prep, predictably, Sarah and Lindsay talk to Beverly like she's a child, and Bev - used to the abuse - just takes it. Oddly enough, Lindsay assigns the execution of her halibut dish to the hated Beverly, who has her own complicated dish to prepare. Why didn't Lindsay give her dish to Sarah or Grayson? Presumably it was because she wanted Beverly to fail, to screw things up for her, so she'd have someone to blame at Judges' Table. Just a theory."

David Dust on Team Estrogen's performance: "Now it’s the ladies’ turn. The gals seem to instantly be at each other’s throats, with Lindsay and Sarah talking to Beverly like a child who rides the shortbus. Also, their service is a mess – with people (including the judges) waiting to be seated and long wait times for each course. However, the judges seem really happy with the vast majority of their food."

Max the Girl on names: "'The bottom line, the food just didn’t wow us,' says Tom. 'All of you get an F here. Any one of you could go home for the mess that was Canteen.' (Huh. So maybe “Mess Hall” would’ve been a more appropriate name?)"

A Just Recompense on confusion: "We join the chefs as they enter the Palm Door. No, that’s not a typo, it’s how Texas spells Palme D’Or, which is why it’s such a good thing American textbook publishers gear everything they do to Texas (in the same way all bakeries used to kowtow to Pennsylvania). Later, Edward will refer to it as the Pink Avocado which will confuse the hell out of me (is he joking? Aphasic? On LSD? Seriously, a pink avocado is the sort of thing you’d see on LSD) until I discovered, thanks to google, that The Palm Door is a catering hall and the resident catering service is the Pink Avocado. Whew. Glad that’s solved."

Eater on nuts for coconuts: "Ed makes a great looking dessert, but he calls it an Almond Joy cake and infuriates Tom, apparently an Almond Joy super-fan. 'Where’s the coconut? You can’t call it an Almond Joy cake and not have coconut.' When Ed explains where the coconut is, it’s not enough for Tom. Future Top Chef contestants, take note: don’t deprive Tom Colicchio of his coconut. He loves the stuff."

Padma Lakshmi for PopWatch on women competitors: "A lot of times we’ve been accused of sexism because not that many women make it to the finale. The truth is — [though] Tom and I are not involved in this — we try really hard when we cast the show to have an even balance of men and women. If you look at the real professional food world, you will see a very uneven balance. So, we actually bend over backwards to make sure we find interesting, talented, and experienced women to be on the show and we were excited that there were enough women by the time restaurant wars came around that there was an even number. Then, of course, the women won."

Entertainment Weekly on Bully, Part II: "When Beverly pitched doing lamb ribs, Sarah said lamb ribs don't exist, basically. It was a completely BS argument, whatever it was. When Beverly suggested a beet dish, Sarah and her unclassifiable haircut (see photo) said there were too many beet dishes out there already, and how dare she bring another one into the world. 'Beets, beets, beets!' You know, just speaking as an enthusiastic restaurant-goer, I'd guess that there are, like, a billion brussels sprouts being served in New York City as I write this, but that doesn't stop Sarah from serving up an endless supply. Out of other ideas, Beverly finally brought up doing short ribs. Of course Sarah scrunched up her face and said, 'Again?' She was referring to Beverly's short ribs and edamame puree from a few weeks ago. Remember that just last week, Sarah heartily defended Heather for using Ed's cake recipe not once but twice. At this point it's pretty clear that Sarah will hate any of Beverly's ideas just because they're Beverly's and she's an easy target. It probably wouldn't occur to most people to badger a person just because she appears particularly easy to hurt, but that's apparently what Sarah does. I don't like throwing the B word around, but like Heather, Sarah is a bully."

Cliffieland on giving praise where it's not necessarily due: "... the women win and it's Beverly who's awarded the prize of the night's top dish.

This, naturally, galls Sarah and Lindsey soooo much that, once back in the kitchen, Sarah suggests that they all bow down and kiss Linsey's feet for actually having been responsible for the win. (If I have to concoct a way that that makes a lick of sense, I can only imagine that she was suggesting that Lindsey deserves credit for, unlike the men's team, having had the foresight to hide the kitchen from the judges' view so they couldn't see the raging bitchfest that was happening back there.)"

Foodie Buddha once again offers up this week's culinary terms.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

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