Top Chef Chicago - April 23

Last night was Top Chef night, and boy did I need my Top Chef fix! It was great, in fact I even watched the re-run of it right after the original, two hours of Top Chef, what could be better? Well, blogging about it of course.

Okay, so the Quickfire Challenge is to make a dessert. Now to preface this challenge Padma even says if you have watched in the past you know that dessert has been the downfall of many a chef. So explain to me why we have people who have no idea what to do going into this? Antonia says she has never mae a dessert? Excuse me? Once you knew you were going to be on Top Chef, and espically her who said she practiced for the palette challenge, wouldn't you be learning at least one or two desserts that you could do when the challenge came? Why are you not prepared? I was floored!

To be honest though, I was surprised, all the dishes were pretty well received. Antonia, Mark and Spike (or Andrew, they are beginning to look alike to me) were in the bottom. Dale, Richard and Lisa were in the top, with Richard winning for his Bananna Scallops. I actually thought his dish looked good and I would want to try it. I liked Dale's too.

Elimination Challenge, after a trip to Second City they get a five course menu. The audience at Improv throw out a color, and feeling and a food, and that was what each course was to be. This time, they were allowed to pick their own teams, and so Richard and Dale teamed up, and I thought ok, this will be good. Those two cook alot alike and they get along well, so there can be nothing bad come out of this one, and I was right as they ended up winning for their "Green Preplexed Tofu".

Andrew and Spike teamed up and made a squash soup, which during the PI's Antonia says during the last team challenge he wanted to make soup and she said no, so if he wins with this she is going to throw up....Eat your words girl, he is a better chef than you, because he ended up in the top two, and Antonia was once again in the bottom. Andrew and Spike were "Yellow Vanilla Love" and they made a Squash soup with a Vanilla Creme Fresh. It actually looked good and the comments were all good.

Now that being said, and before I move on to the bottom two, I have to say that the comments from the judges and people eating the dinner, were once again all good. The food has stepped it up a notice, and even the bottom two were good dishes, so it came down to technicalities for the bottom two. This is awesome! i can't remember a season where the quality of the dishes were this high throughout, where all the dishes were good, no on bombed and they have to knit-pick to get to the bottom. I loved it! I am so pumped for the rest of the season!

Antonia and Lisa teamed up and were suppose to make Polish sausage but they added a little Chrizo at the end to the dish instead. Okay, wait....you were given a theme, stick to it. And at the end, judges table, shut up and listen! I wanted to just smack Lisa, but then we all know she is not my favorite. She just wouldn't listen to what they were saying. It was nuts.

Jen and Stephanie were in the bottom too, and I don't think Jen understood that she was to listen to what they had to say either, she was surprised, well. Let's just get to it, in the end they sent jen packing and you know what, I am not sorry. I would have been happy to see Jen, Lisa or Antonia either one go.

Now I just have to say about Lisa, wash your motuh out with soap girl! I am over it! Every time she opens her mouth it is f*&%ing this and f*&%ing that and I am tired of it! I know in the first episode they were all cursing, but once the nerves settled, you hardly ever hear any of them saying anything except when warranted, and then there is Lisa who adds it to every sentence whether it needs it or not. I am done with her, she is negative and doesn't listen. Proven by last week when Dale told her her negative attitude was wearing on people, and she told him to f*&% himself, that right there is an example of the negative attitude, you can't take criticism. I am more than ready to see her go home!

As to who I think might win this? It's between Dale and Richard. They are hands down the best chefs out there this season, and they can cook circles around the others, proven by the fact that no matter who Dale is paired with he ends up in the top, and although Richard had the one bad turn in the bottom with Andrew and Mark, other than that he ends up in the top all the time too. I think it will be exciting to see them continue to cook and wow us throughout.

I think Mark might be in over his head, and I am wondering if he might be going home next week, he does pretty well in the team challenges, as he works well with people, as long as he is with someone strong, he is good, but by himself or with a weak teammate he falters.

Only time will tell.....