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.....

Top Chef Chicago - April 16th

So, tax season is behind us and I can have a real life again, so I treated myself to Top Chef and a couple of books, which I will blog about later.

This episode of Top Chef starts with Jen in a funk about Zoi's departure and with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. I wonder if that chip will still be there once she gets to watch the episodes and realizes that Zoi was called out two weeks in a row for lack of seasoning?

So the Quickfire Challenge is pairing food with beer. Okay, I know so of you out there are thinking, what? Beer is beer, they all taste the same, well I am sure all those big name lavels do tend to taste the same, but small, local micro-brewed beers are another thing completely. I don't drink mass marketed beers, but there is a little brewery in town here, Upland Brewery, and I do like a couple of their beers.
I was a little put off by Nikki's comments, that beer to her means fried foods, and that a coupld of them seemed to think beer was beneath them. I wonder how they would have faired on the vending machine challenge or the quicky mart challenge of past seasons.

Some of the foods were good, so missed big time, but in the end Jen and her chip on the shoulder won the Quickfire, and she claimed it was all because she had something to prove with zoi leaving, maybe that Zoi wasn't that good of a cook and she was better?

The Elimination Challenge was to Tailgate for a Bears game. Some of these people looked so lost! Have you never cooked real food? It reminded me of a few years back when Harold said something was beneath him to cook. Yeah, well, this is a test, lets see how good you really are.

I loved that we got to see the comments of alot of the people eating the food, and i was really surprised when they seemed to like everbody's food, but at the same time I am thinking how can you flub up a tailgate? Really!
I also loved Dale's reactions when he realized that he was serving food to Gale Sayers (a Chicago Bears legend) and then Richard Dent and William "The Fridge" Perry, also both bears Legneds from the 1980s SuperBowl fame. I thought it was great, and the way he was so humbled to be serving them, he really got the challenege and the meaning, this was more than just cooking to him, he was serving local legends and he rose to the occasion, so I was pleased that Dale won this challenge.

In the bottom, we had Nikki, Ryan and Mark. Okay, so Mark had no clue, he had never seen American Football, knew nothing about tailgating, and picked the wrong grill. I think he thought that picking the other grill would help him stand out, but it just messed with his flow and timing. He was constantly having to fix the fire and flame, and he was just rushing around and a complete mess. I didn't want to see him go home over this one challenge, I thinhk he is better than that.

Nikki, tried to make a New York classic, which might have went over at a Giants or Jets game, but not at a Bears game, then to top it off she ran out of half the food before the judges ever made it to her table. Not good, poor planning. I would have been okay with her leaving.
Ryan, well, Ryan just made it easy on the judges. He went with way too high class food, this was a tailgate party not a luxury box catering, and then to top it all off, he didn't even make the food well, and it was not good. Okay, so Ryan, pack your knives and go. I am glad. He was just really flying under the radar until this point, and then he talks the whole episode about this all being beneath him, or at least that was the vibe I got from him, so I am glad to see him go.

Now, I have to talk about Lisa. Lisa, Lisa, Lisa. Dale apogolizes for yelling at her the night before, that her negative attitude had just got on his last nerve and he is sorry. I have no problem with this. I think she does have a negative attitude and what does she turn around and say, that Dale apogolized that SHE made him mad, she calimed he could go *&$% himself. Well, no if you would just calm down a little bit, quit flinging the curse words around you might realize that he was right. The girl has driven a nail in the other nerve with me. At this point, it will be none too soon when Lisa and Spike leave for me. I am over them and really don't want to watch them anymore.

So what did you think? Did the right person win? Did the right person go home? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Top Chef Chicago - April 9th

Okay, so I am a couple days in getting this up, sue me! I'm sorry, but it's tax deadlines and I am tired!

So this week starts with the Palate challenge, you know the one they are blindfolded and have to taste test things and identify something. Great! They only told us who was the lowest and who had the top three scores, I really wanted to know everyone's numbers!!
Antonia won, getting 12 of the 15 tastes correct, not bad. Ryan and Jen tied with 11 or the 15 correct. You may be saying Ryan? Jen? Yeah, that is what I thought. Ryan is the forgetable guy that was paired with Mark last week and Jen is the mohawked girl in the relationship. yeah, I know they are both forgetable. i really wanted to know where Spike landed in those numbers....hum, I'm thinking maybe 7 or 8, maybe a 9. Then there is Zoi, and I am thinking she probably didn't do too good, 7.

Another team challenge. okay, enough already, I want to see them cook and fall flat on their faces themselves, no more team challenges, please!! So we have four teams, Earth, Water, Air and Fire.....let's see what they can do.

Fire:
This team is Dale, Lisa and Stephanie. Okay, Stephanie deserves a gold medal for dealing with Lisa, and I personally though Dale did a good job of not going off on Lisa, until the last two minutes of the show, but still. They fought tooth and nail on the menu, a first course for 80 people on a $500 budget. The finally decided that Stephanie would do a chile rubbed shrimp, dale a chile salad and Lisa bacon.
Let me move on as say that this team rocked it. The food was good, loved by all and they ended up your winners. Now, of course only one can win the prize and Ming, the guest judge decides to award it to Lisa for the bacon, becuase it was something he had never seen? Excuse me? Come to my house, I have been cooking bacon in the oven, weighted to lie flat for years!! Okay, so I don't add the miso, but still, something new? Do you not get out much Ming? What's the deal?

Air:
Well this team is forgetable. Ryan and Jen and whats-her-face, the one that does pasta all the time. Yep, they do duck, and it ends up being decent. It's not the top and not the bottom. It was funny, there were four teams, and this was the first time they only called one team in the top and then two in the bottom, so this team was just there. They weren't good enough for the top, not bad enough for the bottom, which is about all I can say for the people or the meal, I remember the duck and that is about it.

Water:
Richard, Mark and Andrew. Boil-in-the-bag salmon was their main dish. Fish swim in the water, cooked in water, was Richard's reasoning, and I am thinking, ugh. I am not a big fan of the bag cooking thing he did, I was thinking is would make it have the texture of mashed potatoes. I have never really liked the boil-in-the-bag meals anyway. And then Tom said it was mushy. Andrew went back a round and made the fake cavier again, okay, it might get a good review one time, but leave it alone, it can be over done if you do it over and over again. Really. Poor Mark, I think he was completely out of his element with Richard and Andrew, they are not his style of cooks, and I just don't think he had any idea what they food was going to be and what to do with them.
So they end up in the bottom two, and worse than the food.....scales! Yep, Richard either didn't clean the fish, or didn't clean the fish very well. Ming got a mouthful of scales! UGH! Bad, bad team!

Earth:
Antonia, who has immunity, Zoi and Spike, can you say conflict? Spike wants to make soup and Antonia and Zoi don't think that is a good first course? Excuse me? wasn't soup the traditional first course in history? How can you not want to do soup or not think it was a good first course choice? So they go with something more "earthy", mushrooms and beef....whatever.
Can we say bottom two!! This time is was about flavor, no seasoning, which is one reason I am thinking that Zoi did not do well on the palatte challenge, she claims that she is a heavy-handed seasoner, and Gail admitted that the Rosemary was overpowering, but that it was a bd choice to go with the mushrooms, as is you just shouldn't put the two together, but then what did we expect from Zoi....when the chocolate and wasbi won last week she promised us that is doesn't taste good, and since she knows what does and doesn't taste good better than the judges, why does it surprise me about her mixing mushrooms and rosemary, even I don't think that sounds good.

At round table, they decide since the dinners voted Earth the lowest that they are the bottom, and one of them will go, and since Antonia has immunity it is down to Spike and Zoi. Tom says I would like to send them both home and I about wet my pants, thinking please, please, please send them both home! But alas, my dream was not to be and only Zoi went home.

Okay, I am not sorry that she went home. She was in the bottom last week and really seemed to have no clue as to why and so she is defensive and mean when she gets up the next morning, and I am thinking did you even listen to what they are trying to tell you? Two weeks in a row in the bottom, and I am thinking that she was in the bottom in the first week or so too...so really, no surprise.

Spike, you can just go on home next week, although Lisa is going to give you a run for your money on that one. I can't stand her at this point anymore. She was running around the kitchen complain, slamming things, cursing and whatnot, and I am like, see ya! People were complaining about Dale, but I think she is worse. I haven't seen that much from Dale that bothers me yet, yea he thinks he is good, but you know what, so far he has been able to back up hie thinking that with his food, so I have no problem with him, unlike Lisa who is all talk and Spike who is even more talk.

So....what did you think? Did the right person go home?

Top Chef Chicago

Welcome to another season of Top Chef. This time around, we are starting in and set in Chicago, the heart of the midwest, and only about four hours from me!

So, we meet the constestants as they arrive in Chicago at Uno for lunch. I have to say I was excited by this because I have actually been there for lunch, long, long ago! Hubby took me there not long after we were married one weekend on my first visit to Chicago. There is something unqiue and wholesome about Chicago pizza, it is a meal in and of itself, and in fact it's usually two meals!

Okay...the two gals that revealed they are actually partners? What? Wait a minute, this is Top Chef, not Big Brother, leave the relationships out of the show, I want to see cooking, not relationships! That being said, when we get to the house and everyone is making nice and getting to know each other, two people annoyed me with their behavior, Nimia, who refused to get to know the others and went to bed while they were all talking and Dale, who played pool with himself and said that he had to think he was better than everyone else or he never would be, he didn't mingle either.
Yes, it's a competetion, but you are going to be with these people for awhile, get to know them. The old saying, "keep your friends close but your enemies even closer", haven't they realized that they need to make nice and get to know people or they will have no clue when it comes to group challenges and what the other chefs are able to do.

Okay....now on the quickfire they made Chicago pizza, and I have to say that alot of them left something to be desired. Too much crust, not enough crust, Chicago is a blend of just enough crust filled with wonderful flavors and fillings. That being said, I was okay with the way the top and bottom went and was ready for the challenge, which we all knew would be a team challenge, I mean, really, with that mean people, what did you expect.
Now, you notice that I haven't mentioned anything about the dishes in the challenge, well, I just don't know what to say. Some of them, I just didn't get. I mean, what were they suppose to be making, and then others, like the desert souffle, well I can't make a souffle, so who am I to judge, but it didn't sound bad, and I really think Eric would have been better served to have tried a dessert type souffle too. Oh, and was it Ryan that Rocco called as dense as his nochio? Well, I just think he had no idea what Chicken Piccata was, it was probably not something his mama served, and so he made what he thought it was, which went over like a lead balloon, What gets me, if you aren't sure of something why not ask? Oh yeah, right you don't want the competition to know you have no clue what you are doing?!

All I can really say, Nimia, well girl, you deserved your exit, and from the minute that you refused to getto know the rest of the cast of players and went to bed, I knew your weren't going to be here long. The other problem I had with her....she was so thin! I mean she looked model-sickly thin, and she is suppose to be a chef, if you brought me somethign to eat, looking that thin, I would be worried about eating it, because if you can't cook enough to keep yourself looking healthy then why would I think you could cook for me.

So, on to next week. So far, I have not picked a favorite or even any that I really like, other than the Australian, and that is just because I like listening to his accent.