Recap Roundup - Top Chef Texas Episode 14

Jordan Baker on Ed: "Ed being gone is ridiculous. Ree goddamn diculous. He’s been a standout since the very beginning – and I mean literally the beginning – he’s the only one of the remaining contestants I even remember as an individual from the play-in rounds. And his performance has been fairly solid throughout – I have to qualify that, because I checked online and he’s actually been in the bottom more times than I’d thought. But still. His food has been memorable, he's been a good team player and a solid workhorse, and (and it's pathetic that this makes him an exception in this season), he's never tried to fob his problems off as someone else's fault. I declare him Top Ed."

Minxeats on Quickfire prizes: " The winner of the challenge gets a choice between a brand new Prius V or a guaranteed spot in the final Final Four. You know, I've seen so many commercials for those damn Priuses (Prii?) that it is now officially on my list of 'Wouldn't Buy if It Were the Last Automobile on Earth,' along with anything the hosts of Top Gear call a 'Supah-Cah.'"

Max the Girl on mentors: "For reasons not quite made clear, this turns into an enormous blubberfest. Paul in particular really needs to get a hold of himself. Both he and his mentor—Tyson Cole—are doing some serious Stage 5 ugly crying. Also, did anyone else get the sense that Bev’s mentor:
a. Barely knows her? b. Doesn’t really like her that much?

Here’s the challenge: Make a dish that will make your mentor proud. (Except for you, Sarah.)

Sarah’s mentor—Tony Mantuano (I also hear he’s a helluva disco dancer)—is there, too, but just for show. They end up going to the Golden Corral for dinner."

A Just Recompense on being blindfolded: "It’s kind of funny watching them stumble all over each other in the pantry. Sarah keeps demanding to know who is touching her; she must know it’s Beverly. Edward tells her it doesn’t matter, it’s another person, that’s all she needs to know, but we all know it does matter. People get lost. People walk into things. Something brown and gross is dripping from Beverly’s basket. Paul is trying to find a lemon. Edward is trying to figure out what a package of cryovac’d meat is. Sarah says she’s making a stew so she can only spend five minutes getting ingredients: “No way I’m losing to Beverly.” Girl, your bitterness is showing. What, were you beaten by a tiny Asian woman when you were a child or something? Sarah finishes shopping first, then Lindsay; Edward is last."

Eater on guess who's back? "Ed, Sarah, Paul, and Lindsay arrive at the kitchen to find five cloches. Ed realizes there are four chefs and five cloches, and I realize how much I hate having to hear the word 'cloches.' I say 'buenos cloches, mi amor.' Everybody's got bets on who's coming back, and Tom reveals that Beverly defeated Grayson (and a few others) to return to the Top Chef kitchen. She is extremely excited (spastic), but she does not receive a warm welcome. Sarah is mad both because she doesn't like Beverly and because she lost a bet to Ed about who would come back. Beverly now has to give Ed a pack a cigarettes and a banana. Cool bet! Sarah says that 'sounds like a fun night.' What do you mean, Sarah? If I get your drift, and I think I do, the idea of you having sex with a banana and chain-smoking cigarettes all night is one of the least fun things I can imagine."

Entertainment Weekly on Beverly's dish: "It was nice to see the chefs take some big risks to do their mentors proud. Beverly cooked her dish on a wok, which was a bold move because woks force you to cook to order, and very quickly. She ended up having to flash her gulf shrimp with barbecue pork and Singapore noodles at the last minute. She didn't think the presentation would impress the judges, but she cooked 'straight from the heart,' which her mentor Sarah Stegner would appreciate. Sarah Stegner loved the heat and the flavors and pointed out that the shrimp was cooked perfectly. Tom noted that cooking in a wok for so many people is quite difficult and risky because you can't go back and re-season the food."

Gail Simmons for PopWatch on Ed's dish: "Ed’s dish was a different story. Everything in his dish was cooked well—the meat, that beautiful crispy pig skin. The pickles were outstanding. But his addition of that creamy smoked oyster sauce changed the entire dish and in fact, made a piece of that dish, for me, inedible. All of us found it really unappealing. He had an idea for a dish and he went to the store with that idea in his brain and couldn’t get off of it even when he discovered that he couldn’t use fresh products. He compromised the integrity of his dish by using smoked canned oysters. Smoked oysters have a purpose. My uncle smokes his own oysters and cans them and they’re delicious when they’re used properly. But here they take on a very synthetic smokey flavor and that smoke flavor overpowers everything. It was just completely unnecessary and detrimental, which is really unfortunate. That doesn’t mean we don’t think Ed is fantastic and an amazing chef. We know that he is outstanding [but] this wasn’t his day. He went down a road that he couldn’t turn back from and unfortunately it cost him elimination."

My Monkey Could Do That on reactions: "They let Beverly move back into the house and she unpacks for some reason. Why? Even if you make it, you’ll be moving after this challenge. Beverly insists on making everyone tell her if they were excited to see her, and I can see why they don’t like her. I mean, she doesn’t deserve to be bullied or to have Sarah talk to her like she’s five years old, but maybe some consideration of other people. They probably were not happy to see you. I mean, Ed tells her they were all excited because they thought they were in the final four, and they cut to Beverly with her fork halfway to her mouth, looking shocked like she can’t believe it. Duh, another person to compete against is not going to be welcome no matter what."

Posted on AllTopChef.com