A Just Recompense on no vegans allowed: "Paul is hoping to make something you think is cold but when you eat it, it’s hot. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds clever. Paul finds 'essential oils' to make snow. Hugh notes in his blog: 'Paul is pulling the claws off live lobsters. This will make the animal rights people really happy.' I love Hugh. You know, when Tiffani Faisson chopped a lobster in half and tossed it into a screaming hot skillet in the Season 1 semi-final, the blogosphere roared with outrage. I’m guessing Paul’s crustacean dispatch will go without comment, the difference being we could actually see Tiffani’s lobster twitching in the hot pan. And we like Paul. We like Tiffani now, post All-Stars, but not then."
Jordan Baker on something I missed completely: "Padma congratulates Paul on moving on to the finale, and on winning a trip to Costa Rica 'where you can experience what it’s like to source some of the world’s best fair trade coffee.' Because that’s what people want to do on a vacation."
Max the Girl on that weird name game: "I’m not saying that the final 3 are a little dull, I’m just saying that they showed them playing a word association game in the car ride to Vancouver. (And did anyone catch the rules to this game? Steven Seagal leads to Sammy Hagar which leads to Q-Tip which leads to Barbara Bush? Was it the “washed up celebrities of the 80s' name game? Or perhaps just the 'blurt out any celebrity’s name you can think of' game?)"
Eater on something completely unrelated to Top Chef but funny as heck: "Our contestants have survived the cold of whistler and and the heat of Texas, so they are throwing a 'Fire and Ice' cocktail party. Is this related to the chain of "Mongolian grills" called Fire and Ice? I only went to one once, in the mall near where I went to college. The concept was you picked out your proteins, vegetables, and sauces from a salad bar, then you handed it to some dude to cook on a griddle for you. I was dining with a bunch of strangers, and while picking out my sauce, I tasted the habanero jerk sauce with my finger. Then I went to use the bathroom and THINGS were touched. I came back to the dinner and my crotch was on fire. I kept going back to the bathroom to try and splash water down my pants. It was a really fun meal, and one I remember fondly."
Entertainment Weekly on the Quickfire: "The chefs met Padma and Emeril in Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie where masters of Asian cuisine Anita Lo, Floyd Cardoz, and Takashi Yagihashi were waiting for them. The chefs were each paired with one of the masters for a tag-team Quickfire Challenge in which the chef and master had to take turns cooking a dish one at a time in 10-minute intervals. The winner stood to win a whopping $20,000. Sarah crossed her fingers for Takashi, who does seem crazy awesome, but Paul drew his name instead. Lindsay drew Anita and Sarah got Floyd. Best name ever for a grown man, not a great name for a baby."
Gail Simmons for PopWatch on Lindsay's final dish: "It’s interesting, when I first [tasted] Lindsay’s dish I actually really liked [it]. Then, when we started taking apart each component — because that’s what you have to do finalize whose [dish] is better — we realized that while each individual component was good [and] she didn’t make any mistakes, there wasn’t a lot of creativity. [Her dish] wasn’t as interesting as the other two, we didn’t feel she pushed herself in terms of the concept as much. There were also a lot of different things in the dish that didn’t necessarily go well together, even if they were individually well done. As a whole we didn’t think it completely came together. I thought [the tomato ice] was a really good idea, but she sort of put it separately and [it] didn’t serve a purpose in that way. So, the ice component of her dish was completely removed from everything else. It just felt like it was a bunch of disparate pieces instead of being a really cohesive plate of food. Her cocktail was certainly the least creative, the most ordinary. It was basically a Bloody Mary, which I can make myself at home. I can think of those flavors, they’re very common, classic flavors, whereas the other two contestants made cocktails that were interesting, especially paired to their dishes, and really creative. Not that her cocktail was what sent her home, but it all plays in. I really liked her celery root salad. I thought it was a little bit fiery. It was hotter than the other two. Unfortunately, in terms of choosing from the three, [Lindsay's dish] was just the least interesting and overall the least compelling."
My Monkey Could Do That on Tom's "bitch hat": "Tom time! Paul is making his soup, which will be poured over 'lemon snow' tableside so it will all melt together. Tom cruelly asks him why he didn’t win the Quickfire, and Paul says it’s just that Lindsay and Sarah just made better dishes. Lindsay has halibut (served hot) over some kind of salad (served cold). And tomato granita. Tom…I think Tom has his bitch hat on today. He reminds Lindsay about Restaurant Wars, and how Beverly overcooked her fish, and then says it seemed like it was overcooked because that’s how Lindsay told her to do it. Ha!"
Posted on AllTopChef.com
No comments:
Post a Comment