Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Recap Roundup - Top Chef Seattle Episode Two

Mary Alice of Charm City Cakes for the Baltimore Sun on Mr Irritating: "Dear John Tesar, either wear your glasses, get some Croakies or take them off. Don’t prop them on your forehead. Is that your haute cuisine take on Guy Fieri’s backwards sunglasses? Because it’s just as irritating. Especially in front of the judges."

Minxeats on sky high: "For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs get to cook for Seattle restaurateur extraordinaire, Tom Douglas. They will get 47 minutes to cook. Why such a weird amount of time? Well, they'll be cooking in the kitchen atop the Space Needle, and it takes 47 minutes for that thing to make one revolution. 'There's a kitchen up there?' you ask. Yes, a whole restaurant, called Sky City. And the prices are sky high. I suppose they figure that if you've spent $19 to get up there to begin with, you might not be averse to forking over more money for dinner. Maybe the change in altitude will make you light-headed enough to pay $38 for pear and brie agnolotti. Or $56 for lamb chops. And if you think, 'oh, I can just make a meal out of a couple of appetizers, or an $11 salad and $9 soup,' you're wrong. The minimum charge per person is $35 - it says so right on the menu."

A Just Recompense on Belgian influence: "“In Belgium, we’ve been conquered so many times, we just keep everything from everyone who’s conquered us.” Dang, he’s right: The Romans (57 BC), the Franks (5th century AD), Austria (1477), Spain (1566), Austria again (1714), France (1794), Holland (1815), and Germany in both world wars. And Belgium is still there. That’s flexibility."

Atlanta Journal Constitution on the Quickfire: "The teams have a very short 20 minutes to prepare some form of local shellfish – complete with many jokes about everyone’s favorite phallic bivalve, the geoduck. The orange team looks like the clear favorite to crash and burn, due mostly to the fact that Carla is one part diva, one part Real Housewife, and two parts nutcase. What else is there to want in life than to 'be a James Beard and have a nice ass'?"

Reality Tea on the cheftestants' reaction to the twist: "Padma announces that Stefan, Josie, and C.J. will join Top Chef Seattle as competitors. The kitchen is full of nervous laughter and fake smiles. Tyler adds, 'Bullshit!' Josh whispers to Danyele and Eliza, 'It's gonna suck. I'm gonna get into fights, I'm sure, now.' To us, he says, 'F*** them. I hate them all." Micah shares, 'I'd love to whip their asses. Bring it on.'"

Grub Street on getting to know you: "Then the gang goes to a place called Olive 8, which sounds like a sexy robot superspy but is actually a hotel. They proceed to drink and chat and get to know each other. Jeffrey talks about coming out to his family and his relationship with his fiancé Jim. The new crop of chefs ask Josie, 'Why are you here again?' with unconcealed contempt. She says she wants to win as the 'global soul chef.' She adds, cryptically: 'Ride on and rock on, rock stars.'"

Hit Fix on Stefan: "Chrissy declares that Stefan looks like a thumb, and he's an evil villain. I now want to hear everything Chrissy has to say, because Stefan really does look like a thumb and that's a little bit brilliant.

Eater on Padma's first appearance this season: "During last week's premiere, Padma Lakshmi was heard and not seen and I began to worry that maybe she'd had an accident of some kind, that she was just a brain in a jar somewhere recording monotone voice-overs and appearing on QVC to sell jewelry and spice mixes. But to my great relief last night she arrives to greet the fifteen contestants in the Top Chef Kitchen, wearing an outfit, as she often does. Padma's clothes are very confusing. She is a television personality and former model, and basically a brand at this point. But if on average she wears two outfits an episode, for 13 episodes a season, and now this is her 9th season, has she run out of normal clothes? Do you think she buys off the rack? I do not know. She is gorgeous but she dresses like a mean rich aunt who invites you to dinner then clucks her tongue when you wear jeans, and you're like, 'it's a weeknight, so relax,' and she's all, 'wouldn't it be fun if I took you shopping?' and, uh, no it wouldn't, because most people who shop where you do have dentures and see-through hands. Here is Padma a few weeks ago at a Halloween party at the Hard Rock Hotel."

Posted on AllTopChef.com

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