Top Chef - - Page 39

by BS

Top Chef Recap: Episode 9 – The Ides of April

Many apologies for the late post on this one, as I was off inventing oreo-vodka concoctions on the beach. TC is taking another week off tomorrow, so there is room today for an update on last week’s shocker of an episode.

After the previous restaurant wars challenge was called a draw, Team April (the dream team) went up for a rematch against Team Garage, now re-branded with the much fancier ‘Team Qatre’ but still clearly the scrub squad. As you might predict, the first guys got as cocky as Team USA going up against Argentina.

The scrubs, as was noted in the last recap, have suddenly developed quite the team chemistry, with Ms. Sara asserting her dominance over Howie and whipping him into submission.

Padma Lakshmi Wants to Nibble on Your Satay

Don’t forget to vote in the Endless Simmer Tastiest Chef Contest! The voting closes next week, at which point we will unveil our highly anticipated male version.

The Internets are really buzzing about the vote. Here’s a sampling of what we’re hearing:

“Where’s Sandra Lee?” (wherever she is, she’s probably cheating)

“I voted for rayray – I hope she wins!”

“Since this poll is for hottest chef and not hottest greasy skank who makes inedible crap, Rayturd is disqualified.”

At this point, I have to say I’m a little surprised at the results, with Giada De Laurentiis staying just ahead of Padma Lakshmi. Anything can still happen!

[poll=3]

Photos: FHM via MediaBistro, Esquire, FHM, Men.Style.Com

by BS

Top Chef Recap: Episode 8 – When Bloggers Attack

This week’s Top Chef started out with a refreshingly nice Daniel Boulard judging the quickfire, in which the chefs had to put a gourmet spin on the good ol’ burger. Most of the chefs oddly chose to make fishburgers, with Brian even admitting he was just turning his previous winner, the fish sausage into a fish burger. I was dying waiting for Tom Collichio to say “You do not take a fish sausage, pound it into a patty and call it a fish burger,” but no such luck. Boulard picked CJ’s seared scallop and shrimp burger as the winner.

Food Porn

Feminism has made many advances over the past century, but perhaps none more so than in the field of cooking. Once confined to the bland Julia Child stereotype, today’s most popular chefs are breaking out of the mold.

Now you’re not considered a real chef unless you’ve graced the pages of Maxim covered in a substance that may or may not be chocolate. So the question clearly arises, who is America’s Tastiest Chef?

Is it raunchy Rachel Ray or good girl Giada, who makes a great tomato sauce (haha). Or is it stone-faced Iron Chef judge (and intredip supermarket shopper) Cat Cora, or maybe it’s that other judge, Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi (yeah, we know, Padma doesn’t actually cook anything per se, but as the official pin-up girl of this site, she gets a free pass to the finals).

Equal Opportunity: Look for next week’s poll, in which we feature Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse covered in gumbo.

UPDATE: Don’t miss our second, manlier version of the poll: here.

[poll id=”3″]

Photos: Maxim via Cooking Light, Esquire, FHM, Men.Style.Com

in Contests / Desserts / Trends / TV 23 comments

by BS

Top Chef Recap: Episode 7 – Nobody Puts Baby in the Kitchen

First up, some bonus reading. New York Magazine has a piece on why Bravo reality contestants don’t end up making it big. Actually, I think Top Chef has followed typical post-reality show rules – only the first winner gets to become a superstar – and Harold, who recently opened a much-buzzed-about place in NYC, is our Kelly Clarkson. What NY Mag doesn’t seem to get is that we expect the people who don’t win reality shows to lose in real life, because that’s half the point of reality shows, they’re losers. The only mystery they clear up is why Project Runway’s first winner, Jay, can’t make it work, which seems pretty obvious when they reveal that he turned down the feakin’ prize money! Mystery solved.

This episode was crazy, ya’ll! An extra-long recap after the jump.

Top Chef Recap: Episode 6 – Fusilli Boy

This was the episode in any reality show when the producers wake up and say, wait a minute, we’re halfway through the season and for some reason we still have the most annoying and least talented person on the air. I wonder if our viewers resent that at all. Oh, poor Joey from Long Island.

Joey started the episode by declaring that things were really heating up and he was definitely going to throw someone “over the bus” or perhaps even “over the balcony.” Okaaaay.

For the quickfire, TC decided to forget about cooking altogether and just hold a food bee where the cheftestants had to identify crazy foods like Yucca and Chayote. The chefs didn’t do so well; I guess they have never been to Mt. Pleasant. The fix is clearly in for Casey, who not only gets hotter every episode, but also stumbles upon victories less convincingly. Her mystery food item to identify: bowtie pasta.

The elimination challenge was a theme only Liza could love: create a frozen pasta dinner. Cheating alert! Hilariously, both Joey and Sara M. got bitched out by their partners for choosing to use tri-color fusilli, the staple of such elegant settings as the Sbarro buffet line.

Long story short: Nothing too amazing is cooked, and they finally get rid of Joey for making another inedible concoction. Only one obnoxious fat guy left. The obligatory video of Joey bawling like a baby (and calling Rocco Dispirito a douchebag!) is actually pretty great.

Photo: flickr user richcianci

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by BS

Top Chef Recap: Lame Reunion Special

So Bravo really pushed the boundaries of dragging out a reality TV show this week by airing a reunion special – a third of the way through the freaking season. ~~Clearly I have better things to do~~ OK, not so much, but I’m not happy about it.

There are only two must-see moments, when Padma explains how she got the hottest arm scar this side of the Ganges, and Tom awkwardly reaches out to the bear community. Fortunately, they are both contained within this clip.

Photo courtesy Flickr user richcianci.

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