Top Chef Las Vegas 9/2 *spoilers*

[Neenahboy]

Preethi was the right choice...I was amazed at how defensive she was over an unimaginative pasta salad. Though I have to say, Laurine is not long for this show. It says something that I couldn't remember who the hell she was when they started focusing on her this week.

Jessie must have compromising photos of Tom and Padma. Yet again we have a bad realization in the latter stages of dish prep: "Oh s**t, it's way too spicy!" How many more of those do we have to suffer through?

Kevin definitely has to be the favorite now, and it seems like they're in the beginning stages of painting Jennifer as the villain. I'm not sure if it's the unfavorable edit or not, but she seems poised to become the Stefan of this season.

[Ment]

Jenn C. kicks ass, with the limited kitchen equipment that whole challenge could've went south without her time management skills.

[montag]

Yep, my favorites to win are:

1. Jen
2. The brother that one the elimination last night (the one with the tattoo)
3. The due from Atlanta with the beard

[NatasNJ]

I am routing Jen cause she is a PHILLY GIRL!!!!
Though the brothers or Kevin both seem like solid chefs.

[Frylock]

Preethi was the right choice...I was amazed at how defensive she was over an unimaginative pasta salad. Though I have to say, Laurine is not long for this show. It says something that I couldn't remember who the hell she was when they started focusing on her this week.

Jessie must have compromising photos of Tom and Padma. Yet again we have a bad realization in the latter stages of dish prep: "Oh s**t, it's way too spicy!" How many more of those do we have to suffer through?

Kevin definitely has to be the favorite now, and it seems like they're in the beginning stages of painting Jennifer as the villain. I'm not sure if it's the unfavorable edit or not, but she seems poised to become the Stefan of this season.

Really? I took Jennifer as a class act, while Kevin is just full of himself.

That had to sting to come out with the winners, and then hang around for the losers!

[pmyers]

Jenn C. kicks ass, with the limited kitchen equipment that whole challenge could've went south without her time management skills.

I agree that she did a great job.....I don't know about getting on somebody for chatting as long as everything is getting done, though.

[Aniketos]

Really? I took Jennifer as a class act, while Kevin is just full of himself.

That had to sting to come out with the winners, and then hang around for the losers!

Really? Kevin seems like one of the nicest guys the shows ever had.

[Ment]

Really? I took Jennifer as a class act, while Kevin is just full of himself.

That had to sting to come out with the winners, and then hang around for the losers!

You're confusing Kevin (from Atlanta) and Michael Isabella who has a hard-on to get Jenn C. out cause she won't take his crap.

[mrpantstm]

I was surprised the judges didn't comment more about Jennifer taking over the executive chef role and not producing a dish. I think with her in that position they were really able to perform. Otherwise, it would have been an epic fail. No one coordinating what stoves to use. Madness.

While Mike is a d-bag, it was a good idea to put Jennifer in that position, not just because she could do it but because she had immunity. If the judges disliked it, well they were safe.

Good episode. But even I can make a pasta primavera salad.

[gossamer88]

You're confusing Kevin (from Atlanta) and Michael Isabella who has a hard-on to get Jenn C. out cause she won't take his crap.

He's also an arrogant a-hole...Michael that is.

[Cindy1230]

Just curious, has anyone gone to a restaurant where a top chef contestant works/owns?

Michael Isabella is supposedly the executive chef at Zaytinya here in DC. I've heard great things about it for years, just haven't there. But he isn't listed as executive chef at a website I just looked at.

Spike from a previous season has a burger place in DC as well.

[sushikitten]

I didn't get why the judges whined about the hot clam chowder but not the hot chili? Selective editing?

[Neenahboy]

I didn't get why the judges whined about the hot clam chowder but not the hot chili? Selective editing?

They did a few times, but it was nowhere near as obvious. They probably focused on the chowder because it came from Jessie and Ron, two people who have done jack squat thus far and really needed to step up.

[verdugan]

I was expecting Ashley to complain how it was unfair to have a challenge involving the military when 3 of them don't even have the right to serve in the armed forces :rolleyes:

[pmyers]

I didn't get why the judges whined about the hot clam chowder but not the hot chili? Selective editing?

I do remember a conversation about both dishes being hot and then one of the judges commented on the idea of hot cream on a hot day.

[mrpantstm]

Just curious, has anyone gone to a restaurant where a top chef contestant works/owns?

Michael Isabella is supposedly the executive chef at Zaytinya here in DC. I've heard great things about it for years, just haven't there. But he isn't listed as executive chef at a website I just looked at.

Spike from a previous season has a burger place in DC as well.

I've heard good things about Volt in Frederick, MD. Not that far from D.C. Bryan is the chef/owner. Been meaning to get there myself.

I was expecting Ashley to complain how it was unfair to have a challenge involving the military when 3 of them don't even have the right to serve in the armed forces :rolleyes:

Hah I was thinking the same thing but figured it was too snarky to bring up here. It's not that I'm trying to bait the issue or really disagreeing with her, it just goes to show how ridiculous a thing it was to bring up in the first place.

[BadlyDrawnBoy]

I live in SF, so have been to Absinthe where Jamie works.
Coco500 which was where Jen Biesty worked, she's moved on to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel now.

I've seen Erik around his restaurant Circa a lot for some reason, must be smoke breaks :) Never been into it though.

[verdugan]

it just goes to show how ridiculous a thing it was to bring up in the first place.

Exactly! And don't worry about the snarky -- just put a smiley and you're fine.

[JETarpon]

I find it beyond comprehension that Ashley was able to cater an event for an organisation that would not let someone who is openly gay such as herself be a member without pitching a big old fit about it.

[Neenahboy]

I find it beyond comprehension that Ashley was able to cater an event for an organisation that would not let someone who is openly gay such as herself be a member without pitching a big old fit about it.

It wouldn't surprise me if she were approached by producers after the taping of the wedding episode and told to knock it off.

[pdhenry]

It wouldn't surprise me if she were approached by producers after the taping of the wedding episode and told to knock it off.Nah, producers have more control over what airs than that. It it really bugged them they would have edited it out.

[RockJock]

Just curious, has anyone gone to a restaurant where a top chef contestant works/owns?

Michael Isabella is supposedly the executive chef at Zaytinya here in DC. I've heard great things about it for years, just haven't there. But he isn't listed as executive chef at a website I just looked at.

Spike from a previous season has a burger place in DC as well.

My wife and I have been to VOLT run by Bryan Voltaggio, the restaurant is about 20 mins from our house. We really enjoyed ourselves and ate some things things that we normally would not have tried. It was pricey but we thought worth it. We are going to go back to do the kitchen seating that they offer.

Having eaten the food of one of the chefs has really change our perspective of the show.

David

[Hansky]

It wouldn't surprise me if she were approached by producers after the taping of the wedding episode and told to knock it off.

To the contrary, I have to assume the subject is a point of emphasis for them for whatever reason (the ratings, social commentary of Bravo or the producers, etc.).

[jradosh]

I do remember a conversation about both dishes being hot and then one of the judges commented on the idea of hot cream on a hot day.

This.

A cream-based dish is not going to fare as well in the heat as chili. The only thing that saved them was the boring, bland pasta dish.


When Padma walked into the hanger... OMG :eek:

[verdugan]

This.
A cream-based dish is not going to fare as well in the heat as chili. The only thing that saved them was the boring, bland pasta dish.


Also the chowder was good, or at least the guy from Boston said it was good. The pasta salad was just pasta salad, and like you said, it was bland.

[mrmike]

Also the chowder was good, or at least the guy from Boston said it was good. The pasta salad was just pasta salad, and like you said, it was bland.

It's a tough call. They also made the only veggie dish. It seems like when chefs do this they almost always get smacked down. I find that often vegetarians have a lighter palate than others, expecting the veggies to stand on their own rather than be covered up by a sauce (tasty or not).

Given what they had to work with I don't know what sort of veggie dish they could have made that would have been appropriate to the event and satisfying to the judges, but I agree it seems they could have tried harder. Still...

[Craigbob]

Just curious, has anyone gone to a restaurant where a top chef contestant works/owns?

Michael Isabella is supposedly the executive chef at Zaytinya here in DC. I've heard great things about it for years, just haven't there. But he isn't listed as executive chef at a website I just looked at.

Spike from a previous season has a burger place in DC as well.

About 8 years ago when I was in Atlanta for work I went to Woodfire Grill. I seem to recall it was pretty good then.

[TAsunder]

The first time I knew I wanted to post this message was on 9/11. And then after several years wherein I did nothing about it, I finally posted it! Inspirational!

[pdhenry]

:confused:

[JETarpon]

The first time I knew I wanted to post this message was on 9/11. And then after several years wherein I did nothing about it, I finally posted it! Inspirational!

:confused:

Preeti. The defining moment of her becoming a chef was 9/11. Because she cooked that day. Or something.

[Neenahboy]

Preeti. The defining moment of her becoming a chef was 9/11. Because she cooked that day. Or something.

Yep, and then two years (really? the defining moment of your life and you wait TWO YEARS to fully act on it? really?) later she enrolled in culinary school.

[mrpantstm]

It's a tough call. They also made the only veggie dish. It seems like when chefs do this they almost always get smacked down. I find that often vegetarians have a lighter palate than others, expecting the veggies to stand on their own rather than be covered up by a sauce (tasty or not).

Given what they had to work with I don't know what sort of veggie dish they could have made that would have been appropriate to the event and satisfying to the judges, but I agree it seems they could have tried harder. Still...

I think veggie dishes can be more interesting that a pasta salad (and a bad pasta salad at that). Top Chef Masters had a whole meal of vegan dishes which blew away a pasta salad. Granted they didn't have the limited options that the contestants had.

[etexlady]

I hope Jesse goes soon so I will no longer have to look at her body piercings.......yuk.

[Bob Coxner]

I think veggie dishes can be more interesting that a pasta salad (and a bad pasta salad at that). Top Chef Masters had a whole meal of vegan dishes which blew away a pasta salad. Granted they didn't have the limited options that the contestants had.

I would say the Masters had more limited options. Remember this was for Zooey Deschanel. She was vegan, couldn't eat soy and had a gluten allergy.

[JETarpon]

But the masters were not limited in their ingredients to what was already in the military kitchen. Making good vegetarian when most of your ingredients are canned is harder than making good vegetarian with more restrictions when you can hit whole foods

[JETarpon]

I think in a challenge like this, the group that decides on their own to fill the vegetarian niche is going to lose. If they had cooked good food with meat, and there were no vegetarian dish, nobody would have been singled out for there not being vegetarian. As the judges said, they thought too much about the event and forgot that this was a cooking competition.

[TonyTheTiger]

I disagree with the vegetarian option being singled out. There are some very good vegetarian dishes that could have been made that wouldn't have drawn the attention that this pasta salad did.

The reason that was a failure is because it showed no imagination, not because its lack of a protein.