Top Chef - S6E7 Postmortem

Ah, well. It was a good run.

It can't always be the weakest link to go. Had to happen sooner or later.

Like others, I'm bummed to see Ashley go. I liked her food and I liked her. And I regret the fact that I didn't manage to get to Branzino when I was in Seattle last month (not that I got much of anywhere other than the convention center).

Two episodes back, I said I'd feel a little better about Jen if she made a flatiron steak that rocked Tom's world, and lo and behold, she did it. Last episode, I said I'd feel a little better about her if she won an elimination challenge, and lo and behold, she did it. So what would make me feel a little better about Jen next week? If she snatches Tom out of his seat and busts out a killer tango? If she stays up all night sculpting geologic formations out of mashed potatoes? If she lands a massive roundhouse kick to the side of Mike I's head? What do you think? I'm taking suggestions.

Gush much, Ash? I like Ash, but... wow. He won't be living that one down anytime soon.

Anybody else notice that Jen seems to be the only one who addresses Colicchio as "Tom" rather than "Chef"?

More thoughts I'm forgetting... I should really write this stuff down while I'm actually watching the episode.

Discuss!

Comments

[Dreamboat]

Jennifer Norris round kicks the stomach flu into a winning light tomato chutney, rendering it powerless!

[Dave K.]

Tyler Florence? Was Giada not available? At least she would have restored the decolletage quota with Gail absent.

[Anne]

Was it dress like Kermit the Frog week at Padma's?

[Scott]

I am really, really, really, really, really sad. I haven't been on the Ashley train, but honestly, I was growing really fond of her because of her personality and the fact that she's starting to show some promise. IT seemed like she's the third interesting chef to go, after Hector and Ron. Sad and woe is me.

[Anne]

Oh, I just finished. I'm really sad, too. I just really liked her. I can't even say why, but I was rooting for her from the beginning. I'll miss her on the show.

[kit]

Anne says: Was it dress like Kermit the Frog week at Padma's?

I know! I couldn't get Gumby out of my head.

[KinderJ]

Sad to see Dom's streak broken. Glad that we still have Mike V. Still grinning at the face Mike I was wearing as Robin... talked... and.... talked...

And what the Helsinki was up with Ash at judges table? Was this auto-bus-chuckery? Pre-emptive-auto-bus-chuckery?

It was a shame to loose Ashley, she had some good dishes but both elements of the dish were buggered and apparently the prawns were worse than the gnocchi. In a perverse way I am kind of amused by them. The fake out was pretty good- when the preview said 'salt lick' I must admit my first thought was Mike I.

Sad to say I like the misogynistic so and so. My shame is great. Will go hide on other, inferior blogs until time has washed my sins away.

[Dreamboat]

GUMBY!!! kit, you nailed it! haha

I was also sad to see Ashley go. She was a strong competitor. Tom had some nice things to say about her in his blog. I have a feeling that she will go a long way in her career.

[Dave_P]

In that it was Ashley or Mike V, I was happy it wasn't Mike tonight, but... yeah, I'm sad to see her go too. Definitely near the top of the MotP.

Kevin - any doubt he was taking the cash? And prolly a new suit from Macy's! Kev & Jen = Dream Team. Esp w/the V-bros split, really, it wasn't a fair contest.

And what an awesome win for Jen! About time she got an EC. Once again, she worries me for no reason w/her illness and poor QF showing in the 1st half of the ep.

As for the "you can't blame the equipment" comment, while that's true in most circumstances, the chefs were already dealing w/tight quarters, minimal supplies and time pressure. They disqualified one competition for a faulty freezer or something last season--I think faulty equipment is a perfectly valid reason not to send someone home. Dunno if Mike would've survived if not for the half-raw prawns and salty gnocchis though.

Wonder who the special guest for next week's ep is? (No, I don't want any spoilers.)

--
Dave

[kit]

Ack! From Tom's blog:

We didn’t know, as you did from watching the program, that when Ashley gave the gnocchi to Eli they were fine, and he then oversalted them. We knew only that Ashley had made the gnocchi.

I'm sure Tom knows making a comment like this is going to spur alot of debates on whether Eli should have gone home instead...

[po]

Once again, Ash lacks balls. Strangely enough, he's still around.

Can they at least lose the gimmicks and trickery for just one episode?

[Ooba]

I was also sad to see Ashley go. She had really started to grow on me the past few weeks. I also sort of don't mind Mike I (don't ban me from the site :)- I just don't think he is serious about some of the things he says. Plus I've eaten at his restaurant many times and love it. Bryan got the claws out when Kevin was talking about his brothers dish. I don't think Kevin meant any harm or judgment - he was just asking about the dish. Nonetheless still love the Volts.

[Independent George]

I'm sorry to see Ashley go, but I think she left with her reputation intact, if not enhanced.

As the guy who spent the most time defending Mike Isabella, let me be the first to admit I was wrong: he is a complete jackass.

I love the fact that Jennifer won for a sauce that seemed like she came up with almost as an afterthought. It was almost unfair that she and Kevin could be on the same team; was it really a surprise that they won?

Does anyone find it odd that the QF prize was 50% more than the EC prize?

[poor yorick]

I've been a devoted lurker since Ted sent me here from bravo, but I haven't posted til now. I'm also a little sad about Ashley. Wildly amused by Ash, though. And, as irritating as Robin clearly is, utterly disgusted with Isabella. Editing, schmediting - the dude is loathsome.

Re, food: How fantastic did Kevin and Jen's dish look? I have to say I called the win for that team (along with all the other readers of this blog, I'm sure) the moment it was announced. And how great to see the non-protein contributor take the credit. (I'm sure it's happened before, but not often.) I dare Dom to keep her below Mike V now....

Re, stew room: Yes, it's possible Kevin said something insensitive that we didn't see, but didn't Bryan look like a hyper-defensive dick? I have a little brother too, so I get it, but to snap at Kevin like that? Wow.

Re, Ashley v. Eli: If, over the years, there are any things Tom hates as much as poorly cooked meat, they are 1) screwed up seasoning and 2) screwed up gnocchi. Having had the best gnocchi of my life at Craft in nyc, I'm surprised Eli didn't go.

Re, next week: Love the intra-Borg bickering!

[Independent George]

As for the "you can't blame the equipment" comment, while that's true in most circumstances, the chefs were already dealing w/tight quarters, minimal supplies and time pressure. They disqualified one competition for a faulty freezer or something last season--I think faulty equipment is a perfectly valid reason not to send someone home.

That was my first reaction, too, but Colicchio actually had a pretty good explanation in his blog:

...the mistake they made was that they put a piece of fish on the skillet and walked away from it. Had one of them attended to it from start to finish... he could have done something the second he saw the heat fail or heard the sizzle. But while the power outage might have kept the fish from becoming crispy as they wished, it did not cause the fish to be overcooked as it was. Had Mike been watching over the fish more carefully, he could have prevented its becoming overcooked.

[KinderJ]

Now, while Mike I is never going to be a sensitivity trainer, I do kind of get where he is coming from on this. He does not trust Robin's skills, and she personally irritates him. So he isolates himself, and tries to do enough to ensure his survival. Whether that distrust is justified, we can debate. I would probably have done something similar, though I hope in a less obviously vicious way. Despite the disfunction and disjunction between Robin and Mike, they managed to stay out of the bottom. Not a problem free dish, but not a problematic one either. I am not sure what that tells us, insufficient data. I kind of wish I had Tivo so I could go and check their segments again. If I had to guess? I would say that his strategy worked. I kind of wish I knew more about how each of them contributed to the dish.

[Krazikarl]

Re: Kevin and Bryan

Yeah, it was kind of jerkish for him to go at Kevin like that. I mean, of course they are going to talk about the food. What else are they going to be discussing in that situation? Kevin didnt say anything bad and he doesnt seem like the kind of guy who would try and take a dig at somebody else's work anyway.

That said, the stress is starting to get to them pretty clearly. So I'd chalk it more up to stress than anything else.

[babyarm]

I have no idea how Ashley went home in that foursome. I guess I have to "read the blogs" to gain some insight, but Ash basically was saying "I'm done just kick me off and be done with it", and they sent Ashley home.

I was on her bandwagon for awhile, and perhaps she wasn't going to win, but she had a chance to make a good name for herself and maybe shake some things up.

Ash is on seriously borrowed time at this point. Makes the next few weeks less stressful having another Nikki around though. I mean I could easily see a bottom group of Ashley and a couple of top tier guys on some cooky challenge and boom they are gone.

Looks like the pork challenge next week for Palmer is going to be another team competition? That was uncler to some extent. Odd number so unless they make the QB sit it out it would have to be teams of 3. Great to see them working with entire sides of pork. I can't wait.

[Another Dave]

While I think Mike I is an idiot, the little Bravo intermission was hillarious with Robin talking and talking and talking...

[Bawdy George]

Well, IMO that was another dumb, contrived challenge. And Ash should have gone packing rather than Ashley. And would have kept the streak alive.

And I would really like to know the behind the scenes of the everybody hates Robin edit.

2 other observations:

1. Kevin's damning with faint praise regarding Tyler Florence was very funny.

2. BVolt's protectiveness of his brother when speaking with Kevin was way cool.

[poor yorick]

One of the best things I've read from TC's blog:

"I hear in Ash’s comments, in which he conceded that he considers Mike V. a better chef than himself, that he expects only to go so far in this competition. Washing Picasso’s paintbrushes? Ouch. If he tries to beat Mike V. by doing Mike V.’s food, then he’ll have a very hard time, because Mike looks at food quite differently than Ash does. Mike’s thinking, “When I think ‘pancetta,’ I think ‘carbonara,’ so therefore I think ‘pasta’… so how do I get the egg in there? Ravioli.” (Remember, the key question in that whole line of reasoning was a “how” question. I’m always saying that this is the question to be asking …”How…?”) Mike’s using different things as touchstones and going from there, using the familiar in an unfamiliar way. Ash doesn’t think that way; he’s more literal, and his inspiration to do food is more conventional. His way of making a carbonara, if left to his own devices, would likely have been to make a carbonara with a piece of fish atop it. So when he comes up against an unconventional thinker, Ash thinks, “Oh, he must be better.” But actually where Mike V. is better versus just different is that he has the technical proficiency to pull off his concepts."

[Scott]

I am kind of surprised they're so down on the down power. I think what bothered me the most about this elimination is that you get the feeling that Ashley went home because she had a bigger hand in the dish. It reminds me of season four when Lisa and Dale were on a team and Dale went home because he had a bigger hand in the dish a la did more things wrong. I feel that it's a tough way to judge because there really is no way for judges to know these things. CLEARLY, Eli had Gnocchi and Ashley had the prawns.

That said, it makes sense to not send Ash home, he's on the better team.

I am so happy for Jen and Kevin. I'm not surprised Bryan reacted the way he did. I mean, is anybody? He comes across as a complete ass throughout the entire competition, but that's why we like them. They're all competish and very little about the games.

I find it ironic that Michael I complains about Robin if anything because Michael I talks just as much as Robin does according to me, the viewer. Never been a Michael I fan, but I mean they scored a good dish and I'd be a fool not to attribute that mainly to Michael I.

[Scott]

I would like to say after rewatching the episode again, I am still really really sad by Ashley's departure. I just genuinely like her as a person and it's sad that she went home for something she didn't deserve. Sounds odd after people like Sam, Asian Dale, Tre and such got eliminated, but I haven't been more sad about an elimination than Ashley's

[lamelama22]

Hey Dom, you should keep calling out Jennifer Norris - it is driving her to deliver apparently, lol. You ask her to cook a steak and she knocks it out of the park. You question her ability to wow the judges and win an elimination... and boom! Round-house kick of $10k tomato awesomeness.

I was sad to see Ashley go too, but she kind of brought some of that on herself. I remember her not throwing Mattin under the bus at judges table, and she did the exact same thing here with Eli... except this time the judges couldn't see through it and he didn't royally screw up otherwise. She just seemed too nice to lay the blame on other people (not a bad thing, but a liability in a competition).

Independent George, as someone else who has defended Mike I. and gotten viciously attacked (in a mob mentality/froth of the mouth defy all logic frenzy) for it on this board for one or two of his earlier passing and totally reasonable comments... Yea, I totally agree - he's a total asshole. Granted, I said that before and earlier just defended a particular comment or two, but his behavior tonight seemed inexcusable. Some of the comments, like talking to the camera about how he thought he was better than her as a cook, very honest and blunt, arrogant, narcissistic, and something an asshole would do... but that's okay to a degree (you're allowed to be an ass on your own time). But what bothered me, what really angered me, was when he talked down to her in person and ignored her / talked over her in front of Coliccio and the judges/diners, like when he was like "You gave ME these ingredients, and I had a hard time making MY dish for you all by MYSELF".

And did he purposely throw Robin's food out of the fridge and onto the floor so they didn't have to use it, or was it just cut that way? Cause that's like one of the biggest dick moves ever in Top Chef history if he did.

KinderJ: Yea, that was my favorite part of the show, where Mike I. is just reduced to a blank "I want to kill myself" stare as Robin just thinks out loud. Those comments were hilarious too... "Oh look! A car is driving by" LOL.

Btw I traveled up to Philly had breakfast at Jennifer's restaurant... and realized no matter how much I love this show I will never ever enjoy fine dining - I just simply do not have the taste buds or palette for it. Oh well, it was still enjoyable to try something new & different.

Speaking of, does anyone else NEED to eat while watching Top Chef?

[poor yorick]

Bawdy George:
1) yes!
2) no!

[anon man]

Three quick comments:

1. The long cut of the stew room where Kevin and Mike I were grilling Bryan on his brother's dish was notable for its length. I think that Kevin and Mike were shocked that Michael was on the bottom and were probing the brother as to what happened. Bryan didn't want to talk about it, which is understandable, but wow, that was tense.

2. Ash failed in his attempt to throw himself under the bus. His basement spot is secure in my opinion.

3. For a dish that finished in the top 2, Laurine was more or less invisible in the EC. I think she got 5 seconds more screen time than I did.

[anon man]

One other thing (sorry for the double post), but it bugs when we hear judges say "we can't take into account [problem X]." Thus is a game show, not a restaurant. As we heard Michael V note, if the power goes out in your restaurant you get more time and have more product. Not the case here. Really. if the kitchen caught on fire while you were dining, they would offer you a free glass of wine and ask you to wait while they refire your meal. Can't do that when the clock strikes zero and there's no leftover fish.

I understand the mentality that they need to judge the food, not the problems, but if they take that too far, next time they try that, contestants will be shoving others down the stairs, checking heads into walls, or crushing a fallen chef under foot like a Who concert in order to get prime location in the real kitchen.

[Independent George]

As much as it hurt her, I really appreciate the fact that Ashley didn't throw Eli under the bus over the gnocchi. It probably wouldn't have helped her anyway, but it was an act of grace on her part, and I think better of her for it.

I think Kevin takes sole possession of the #1 slot tonight, followed closely by Brian, Jennifer, and Michael V.

One more episode, and then the traditional spot for Restaurant Wars. Please please please let the Top 4 survive at least that long.

[shawna]

I can't believe they are still fooled by the whole "have a night off to relax" act. Maybe they just want so badly for it to be true that they are in denial haha.

[Cousin Sam]

ugh, stupid TC website, I can't get to the "The Council Has Spoken" video. Anyone know what Ashley did to piss off the producers?

[kit]

Re: Bryan & Kevin in the stew room

I understand how Bryan could come off as being a jerk in that interlude, but my personal reaction was I felt so badly for him, because he was obviously freaking out over the fate of his brother. If you watch Kevin while Bryan is talking, he comes across completely unfazed (which is probably really just a testament to how nice and diplomatic Kevin is). One thought I had is it's possible that they often discuss dishes and "pass judgment" while killing time in the stew room, and Bryan just wanted to head that off before the conversation went there.

Well since I'm already devolving into personalitystuff, did anyone else find it adorable that Jennifer was so genuinely upset about Ashley leaving? Speaking of Ashley, she comes across simply adorable in her exit interview.

[garik16]

My Power Rankings and thoughts on the ep:

Tier 1 - The Top 4:

1. Bryan - Another top mention for a dish that was mostly if not wholly his (More on this in a sec). We really didn't see much of their work on this dish, but another top elimination performance keeps him at #1.

2. Kevin - Quickfire Win and on the Top side of the Elimination Challenge? Granted he was paired with Jen, so anything less than being on the top would have been a disappointment. Still a rocking performance.

3. Jen Norris - Sure she was at the bottom of the quickfire, but the elimination win makes up for it. The Sauce was obviously grand and heck, SHE CRACKED A SMILE! SHE SHOWED EMOTION! Who is this person?!!

4. Michael V. - Top Quickfire mention was pretty damn good, but the Elimination was a bit off. Yeah Yeah i know that the overcooking was partially due to the power problem, but still the judges seemed to have a lot of problems with the conception of the dish. This is the first time we've seen Mike with Bryan's quickfire problem of overthinking an idea and its enough to drop him below the other 3 of the top Tier, who have yet to be on the bottom of any elimination challenge.

---------------------
Tier 2 - The Potential Spoilers:

5. Mike I- Listen, Mike's an absolute jerk. Robin knew or proported to knowing asian flavors. Mind you she thought curry was middle-eastern, but still...he SHOULD have let Robin have a greater part in the dish and him "throwing out all of her work" was just plain dirty.
And yet....he still managed to put together the 3rd place dish. All by HIMSELF in essence. That's pretty impressive when you consider the top dish was the two top tier chefs and the #2 dish was Bryan with a more cooperative chef. You have to admit the talent is there, and that will be evident in individual challenges. Like the quickfire, which he rocked yet again.
He seems like he's very likely to be this year's Lisa.
-------------------------
Tier 3 - Barely Hanging on

6. Laurine- Really 6-8 can go anywhere on this list right now. Laurine has two top mentions so she gets a spot here. At the same time...every time Laurine has been on a team, she has bended over to the other chef.

At first she was with Preeti and we know how that turned out.
Then she was with Eli in the French challenge and basically seemed to go along with Eli and his "cream sauce."
Now...anyone else think that the dish in question was Bryan's and not Laurine's?

If she's on a team that is not with a top partner, or is in an individual challenge that involves some complexity, she's GOING TO BE IN TROUBLE. But since I can't tell for sure if her performance today was her or Bryan's work, She gets 6th for now. Just a

7. Eli - I think Eli should have gone home today. If Ashley had spoke up for herself and informed the judges of Eli's salting, I think he would have. And to top it off, he was bottom of the quickfire. He's only 7 and not 8 because he's shown he has the potential to wow the judges with the right challenge, and could manage to somehow sneak past a few higher chefs.

8. Robin - Lost in all the Robin drama is that we really didn't get to see what she could do in the elimination here. But she gets 8th because a. she hasn't shown anything impressive in the past and b. CURRY IS NOT MIDDLE EASTERN. Seriously. Still she might upset some challenges simply by the fact that if she's on a team, the other partner is likely to put it so much effort that that partner might get the boot instead of her.

------

Tier 4 - Dead Man Walking

9. Ash - No changes here. I liked that he basically was trying to throw himself under the bus to save Michael...but still HE LEFT THEIR COOKING STATION TO SET THE TABLE! That's like Rick Bayless saying he was going to use Betty to decorate. If he had THAT MUCH TIME ON HIS HANDS, he should have been keeping an eye on the temperature of their fish. I'm fine with him giving in to Michael's ideas. That's fine and a nice move for a contestant here to survive to the next round, but he PUT IN NO WORK WHATSOEVER. He is the one chef i couldn't see sneaking through sheer luck into the top 4.

[Independent George]

One last comment, then it's time for bed.

Every time I see a chef using the mandoline without a handguard or kevlar glove, I want to scream. I realize most people aren't nearly as clumsy as me, and thse are professional chefs, but still... Those things are deathtraps.

[Cousin Sam]

Independent George, I've never used a mandoline in my life, but that shot also gave me the willies.

And as far as Dom's powers of precognition, he was almost there: Ash---. Sometimes things just do not become all the way clear.

And not to delve too far into the evil edit theory, but Robin's constant chattering is getting on my nerves too. Can't help but think if I were in a room with her I'd want to smack her by now.

[timothy]

I can't argue too much with the elimination decision, but it bugs me a little that the two people who did the least on the worst dishes were never really in danger of going home. Doing nothing to stop failure is arguably worse than failing in an effort to succeed.

[Bart]

This whole episode made me uncomfortable.

When Mike I. joked about being beaten by a girl, he was clearly just joking around. When he talked about throwing out everything Robin cooked...that was just in appallingly bad taste.

Ash's turgid praise at judge's table was just embarrassing. Plus I never felt like Voltaggio was ever in any real danger of elimination.

I had a hard time liking this episode, but I am glad to see Kevin and Jen C. continue to perform well.

[The Last Stop]

1. Did anyone else have flashbacks of the "Norm Macdonald Fan Club" when hearing Ash speak about Michael? Ha!

2. Why have all those great chefs and not have any of them speak during the episode?! Did Govind Armstrong say anything? And if the producers were using these chefs for this round anyway, why not have one of them be the host instead of Tyler Florence?

3. Kevin is on a roll. Again, I think he gets the #1 spot this week(though I can see an argument for keeping Bryan there). 4 wins!

4. Michael has a 9 year old daughter?

[kit]

Bart says: "When Mike I. joked about being beaten by a girl, he was clearly just joking around. When he talked about throwing out everything Robin cooked...that was just in appallingly bad taste."

I find it interesting that a number of comments have expressed a negative reaction to Mike I.'s behavior this episode. In contrast, I found his beaten-by-a-girl comment to be in appallingly bad taste, and have maintained a low opinion of him ever since. As a result, I had almost no reaction to his antics last night, because he was living up to (down to?) my low expectations of his "personality". I'm not saying I'm right or wrong about this, just throwing out another perspective.

[Esther]

I'm torn about Kevin -- I absolutely love watching him (he's probably one of my favorite contestants), but I'll happily admit that it's not as innovative/flashy as the Voltaggio brothers. That said, he's consistently smart. I love that even though he's never cooked Asian, he a) didn't make the boring pan-Asian mishmash that chefs often fall into, but focused on specific flavor combinations, and b) made food that he felt confident making well: grilled pork with a fresh salad, barbecued Kobe beef. He's thinking about what he does, he's clearly got a great palate for flavor combinations, and we've yet to see a single real execution problem.

According to Tom's blog, Jen was really sick. So, y'know, go her. I have mixed feelings about a sick chef cooking (though if you're not sneezing, it's less of a big deal), but she rocked a fascinating (and totally non-seafood) dish that evening. I'm impressed.

Mike I's assholery is almost enough to make me hit the mute button every time he's on. He does seem to have cooking chops (the Quickfire dish wasn't pretty, but an emulsion of yuzu, buttermilk, olive oil, and ginger, served over mushrooms? I'm intrigued.), so he's probably not leaving any time soon. My consolation is that this may be one situation where being on Top Chef for a while hurts rather than helps a chef's career. Have we seen that with anyone previously?

(BTW, when you have a contestant who claims to have worked a lot with Asian flavors, and you've never worked with them, totally disregarding any input from her seems like sheer arrogance/stupidity. It has me wondering whether he's really that much of a douche, or whether she's so grossly incompetent that he just wouldn't trust her advice on anything.)

Ashley: makes me sad. I think it was the right decision, given what the judges knew; their dish was clearly worse than Ash and Michael's, and she refused to tell them that Eli had oversalted the gnocchi (according to Tom's blog). That said, I don't think it was entirely undeserved, either. I don't know too much about spot prawns, but if Ashley was paying such close attention and wasn't under a time crunch, and they still came out unevenly cooked, that speaks to issues of cooking and observation.

[babyarm]

While it's not a sure thing it has been a pattern that a chef getting hardly any screen time the week before goes off the next week. Especially at this point in the season.

Laurine is certainly in trouble in my mind in that capacity.

[Naomi]

So sad to see Ashley go :-( Like others, I just really liked her. I'm pretty sure she couldn't have actually taken the whole thing so I guess it doesn't truly matter when she left but I knew she could have gone farther than this and I really enjoyed watching her.

Given the chose betweeen her and Michael V. though, of course I'd prefer her to go.

Am I crazy or didn't they show Robin cooking the tuna, Mike grimacing and complaining that she was doing it all wrong, and the judges praising the tuna. After the show I kept thinking I was glad that they weren't in the top because I was worried that it could have gotten unpleasant with Mike taking too much, undue credit but maybe I misread that moment.

Although I thought Bryan was way too prickly in the stew room I also thought it was sweet. He was totally freaked out that his brother was in the bottom and didn't want anybody speculating even though that's probably what they always do and clearly Kevin meant no harm. I kind of liked it.

And yeah, how about the discovery that Michael V. has 2 kids and one of them is 9!

[Naomi]

Would have liked to see more explanation of everyone's adjective in the quickfire. Only a couple of people explained that portion (or at least that's all the editors chose to show us). For example, what was stressed about Mike I.'s dish?

[KathyV]

I found it very interesting the exchange between Kevin and Bryan in the stew room. But what I find more interesting is what Bryan actually said. Paraphrasing here, "If you didn't taste the food, you can't judge it." That makes me wonder if the editing elves didn't make sure that was aired to silence a few food bloggers run amok.

[dc]

Esther via "BTW, when you have a contestant who claims to have worked a lot with Asian flavors, and you've never worked with them, totally disregarding any input from her seems like sheer arrogance/stupidity."

Only as far as you respect the other person to walk their talk. It backfired for Ashley to give chefing reigns to Mattin's in the French challenge.

[Dan V.]

Isabella is a New Jersey jerk, there's no two ways about it. On the other hand, I wouldn't trust Robin with a potato gun. The "I think I'm going to eat this orange!" segment got a lot of laughs out of me, though.

[Independent George]

I don't have as much problem with Ash playing second fiddle as everyone else. Obviously, there's a middle road between Mike I's "I'm going to ignore everything you say" and Ash's "Yessir Dear Leader", but there's no shame in deferring to someone else if you think they've got a better handle on the situation. While his explanation was ridiculous, I will give him credit for not going the opposite route. He very easily could have said something along the lines of, "Well, Michael's style really doesn't mesh well with my own, so I decided I'd rather be a good teammate than try to force things. I would have liked to have had more input, but I thought that would only make things worse at that point." That's probably closer to the truth, but it's also kind of a sneaky way of throwing Michael under the bus.

[Esther]

@Independent George: I don't have a problem with Ash playing second fiddle, either; if the primary concern was to put out the best food, that makes sense. However, on TC, the judges tend to be pretty harsh against teammates who step back and (literally in this case!) decorate the table. You can't be judged on your cooking if you don't cook. If their dish had been worse than Ashley & Eli's, I'm not sure who would have gone home, but I suspect Ash.

[paula]

Put me in the camp that found Bryan's stressed-out, prickly defense of his brother endearing and completely understandable. I think considering the circumstances he was fairly respectful of Kevin, and Kevin seemed to take it in stride. I may be alone in this, but I really enjoy the scenes we get of the brothers together and their obvious mutual respect and love for each other, even while they're clearly competitive, too. It feels very real and positive--two attributes that are more often than not mutually exclusive in "reality" tv.

Oh, and Kevin should totally be #1 after tonight. Seems there's nothing this guy can't do.

[KinderJ]

You know, given the Mike I/Ash polarity debate, I am really wishing we had more footage of Laurine working with Bryan. How did she react to his suggestions? It seemed a very 'Bryan' dish- what did she contribute? Clearly their dynamic worked, but what was different? Where did it fall on the Mike I-Ash scale? With Kevin and Jen, there was clearly mutual respect and camaraderie, with both partners making distinct contributions. We know lots about the bottom teams and the middle pair. The only team we lack data on is Bryan and Laurine. Anybody else curious as to how that played out?

[Naomi]

Cousin Sam

ugh, stupid TC website, I can't get to the "The Council Has Spoken" video. Anyone know what Ashley did to piss off the producers?

It was a silly, little thing about rearranging furniture and lawn ornament animals.

[Danny]

Judging from Mike I's own words I don't think that it would matter if Robin was the best chef of the bunch. He still would have ignored her because he thinks that women shouldn't be chefs. He has no respect for any woman. I agree that being on this show is going to do more to hurt him than help him in his career. It was asked if this happened with anyone else. I would bet that Lisa is not being besieged by offers from restaurants to work for them.

I'll admit my ignorance. What the heck is umami flavor? I have never seen that term on any menu anywhere in the world. Help! Someone please explain.

[paula]

p.s. My comment about Kevin really stems from his dish for the QF. He's never cooked Asian, yet made something spectacular. Also, that QF was idiotic.

[Skillet Doux]

"I'll admit my ignorance. What the heck is umami flavor? I have never seen that term on any menu anywhere in the world. Help! Someone please explain."

My wife asked the same thing. It's really tricky to explain. It's a fifth basic taste sense, along with sweet, sour, salty and bitter. I don't remember the exact chemical that triggers the flavor (some sort of glutamate -- MSG is basically an umami booster), but the best way I can think to describe it is sort of a rich, satisfying sensation. It's heavily present in cured meats, many cheeses, miso, soy sauce, fermented items, anchovies, stocks, potatoes, tomatoes... plenty of others as well, but that might give you a sense. Stuff you think of as hearty and satisfying often is umami-rich.

[Dave_P]

Independent George: Good catch on Tom's comments on the faulty skillet. It's a good point, but I don't *entirely* buy it. You multitask in restaurant kitchens all the time, and you always walk away from food on occasion, trusting the equipment to do its job, and your internal clock to remind you to get back. Granted, they only had one dish to prepare (with multiple components), but you still sorta need to trust your equipment (provided by the show!) not to fail you. Then again, when working in an unfamiliar kitchen (even though they lived there), you *should* keep an extra eye on your food cooking, esp delicate proteins, so I concede some of the point, but not all of it. :)

I'd totally forgotten the "family style" portion of the competition before reading Tom's blog just now. Really, the final dishes had almost nothing to do with it or the whole, "families on a budget," theme and was more about how to make the best dish out of the ingredients (and equipment) given. Which is exactly how each of them should have competed to win. Personally, I would've made a big pot of stew or something though.

Mike I... I dunno, how much of that was his own DBaggery and how much was working w/Robin? Because *everyone* who's worked with or around Robin's been getting a bit of the as**ole edit (and prolly not just the edit either). Also, there's no one else this season who's really being a schmuck so he's a natural hate-magnet. Seriously, put him next to say Spike, Lisa & Dale from S4 and he's not bad at all. Put him in S2 and he's downright lovable. Don't wanna defend him too much, but I also don't think he warrants quite all the hate he's getting.

--
Dave

[dc]

@Ooba "Does anyone find it odd that the QF prize was 50% more than the EC prize? "

How about compared to Kevin's EC prize of a set of non-stick pans. That was so lame it was funny ... it was like 3rd place consolation prize of daytime game show.

[paula]

"Seriously, put him next to say Spike, Lisa & Dale from S4 and he's not bad at all."

I respectfully disagree. His asshattishness stands up quite well to Spike's (and it's probably worse. Spike struck me as someone who didn't really believe the crap he said, whereas Mike I. wants you to THINK he doesn't believe it, but he really does.). Dale? Dale wasn't a dick unless he got drunk. Lisa...well...Lisa's in a class by herself. That's a whole different kind of unpleasantness.

[Independent George]

The reason I found Mike I's behavior so much more objectionable than before is that this is the first time where it actually involved anything inside the kitchen.

It's one thing to talk smack in the interview room (and I'll still defend him on the misogyny charges seemingly based on a single, tongue-in-cheek comment about a chef he pretty clearly has a good working relationship with), it's an entirely different situation to arrogantly dismiss every contribution from your partner despite admitting far less familiarity with the ingredients & flavor profiles, toss out her work, and undercut her before the judges.

[anon man]

A quick thing that dawned on me last night. I'm assuming that next week there's a regular challenge and the week after is Restaurant Wars. (8 players left.) I have a love-hate relationship with RW. On the one hand, its fun to watch them in their element (actual restaurant cooking), on the other hand the person who goes home is often someone we want to see continue. For those of us who want to see the "Top 4" make it to the finals intact, two weeks from now will be a big test to avoid one of them saying "I was the Exec. Chef, I take responsibility" and then being sent home.

[KathyV]

"October 21st: Top Chef: Las Vegas - Restaurant Wars New
The galloping gourmets take on the sprawling and time-tested "Restaurant Wars" challenge, in which they must manage all aspects of a restaurant owned by "Top Chef Masters" player Rick Moonen. The tasks include serving, cooking and hosting. Moonen serves up a guest-judge turn."
Per tvguide.com

So does my wanting to see the dream team of the Brothers V, Jenn & Kevin all together against the rest seem a little like overkill??? nah.

[kit]

Jamie has an interesting take on pulling Asian for a food-style:

Though, in my opinion Asian is really one of the easier cuisines to cook even when you know nothing about the technique. If you know the flavors, which almost all basic home cooks do (ginger, garlic, soy, chili, sesame), then it really isn't that difficult to come up with something delicious if you are a technically-skilled chef like Kevin is.

Does anyone have thoughts/reactions to this? I'd be interested in hearing it. One comment that keeps reappearing with regards to Kevin is how "balanced" his flavors are, which really makes me want to take a trip to Atlanta to try his food :)

[Esther]

So does my wanting to see the dream team of the Brothers V, Jenn & Kevin all together against the rest seem a little like overkill??? nah.

Hahaha. That would be one way to ensure that none of the frontrunners go home. (And given his disdain toward everyone remaining, Mike I. would probably take charge and go down with the ship.)

My dream Restaurant Wars would split up the top four -- say, the Brothers V on one team, and Jen & Kevin on the other. They would kick ass in the kitchen and put forward the best Restaurant Wars the show has seen. In the end, one of the bottom-tier people would go home for screwing up their own dish.

I can dream, anyway . . .

[karenology]

paula: Wow...yeah, Isabella seems quite the Jersey jackass, but worse than SPIKE, that monstrous asshat? Really? Mike I. consistently demonstrates solid culinary skills, whereas Spike always seemed like he just wandered in to the Top Chef studios from another reality show.

[dc]

ashley's website, http://ashleymerriman.com/, has a photo of a prawn over gnocci dish. (To get to it, click on food, then click the down triangle on lower left.)

[Independent George]

My dream Restaurant Wars would split up the top four -- say, the Brothers V on one team, and Jen & Kevin on the other. They would kick ass in the kitchen and put forward the best Restaurant Wars the show has seen. In the end, one of the bottom-tier people would go home for screwing up their own dish.

That's what I'm hoping for, too. Thus far, only 1 out of 10 RW teams (12, if you count the S3 mulligan) can actually claim success; every other "winner" has really been the team that screwed up less.

I think the worst case scenario with that setup would start with the fact that the V Brothers' style really doesn't mesh well with anyone but each other. If one of them leads a team, I suspect that there will be some difficulty integrating a menu. I can imagine a situation where each individual dish was acceptable, but the lack of unity on the menu winds up sending the EC home.

[Danielle]

I know we say this every season, but... GAH, why do they always eliminate the team leader/person-who-had-most-to-do-with-the-failure rather than the person who had nothing do with the failure b/c they did *almost nothing*? So aggravating to see the bottom of the pack skate by unscathed.

[Lon]

Have they even shot the finale yet? If not, having seen pictures of a pregnant Padma, I will be interested to see how she survives the different smells and tastes.

My other other comment is about Ashley. Some people are too nice to survive a competition and I think Ashley falls into that category.

[fr]

Does anyone else find it curious that they never showed Eli adding salt/over salting the gnocchi? This is something that the cameras never miss in previous episodes (a pivotal point that causes someone to go home). Just makes me think that he didn't over salt it and that ashley may have done it herself in the making. Just a thought for everyone who thinks eli should have gone home rather than ashley.

[paula]

karenology: No question that Mike I. appears to have better cooking chops than Spike. I consider that a completely separate issue from their personalities, which is what I was judging. Mike's aggressive disdain for Robin (who, for the record, I'm certain would get on my last nerve, too)--ignoring her contributions completely, both behind the scenes AND, especially, in front of the judges--edges his Asshattery over Spike's in my book. Spike was a dick and a weasel, to be sure, but to that degree? I don't think so.

[Will Allen]

Hey, I just heard about this forum on a Football Outsiders thread. Great commentary! Here's the perspective of lifelong football nut and 10 year cooking fan.

Arguing about chefs is like debating quarterbacks. My theory is to defer to the most intelligent competitor, unless the most intelligent competitor has obvious physical shortcomings, which I suppose in cooking would mean being handless, color blind, or without a sense of taste/smell. Thus, I'm going with Kevin this year. Any guy who turns down a full-boat scholarship at MIT in order to work in a kitchen is likely going to handle any challenge some food critic or chef is going to throw at him. Having said that, Jennifer reminds me of Mike Singletary; she simply doesn't tolerate fools. Also, the two brothers are a little Peyton/Eli-ish, so they can't be counted out. Robin is obviously Joe Theismann, football analyst, not Joe Theismann, football quarterback

[jh]

It is also a possibility that they never showed the oversalting because it was never caught on camera. The house isn't set up like the normal TC kitchen that has space for both chefs and camera crew. With all the teams in different places and moving around in the house, it is very likely that a camera was not focused on Eli at that moment. Though they probably had one on Robin and Mike I. permanently to catch the potential fireworks...

(And while I thoroughly enjoyed Mike I's expression and Robin's "eat and orange" segment, I was a bit peeved that Mike I is sitting there bashing Robin, while she's cleaning the work area. His blatant disrespect for people is appalling.)

[Bart]

Independent George: It's one thing to talk smack in the interview room (and I'll still defend him on the misogyny charges seemingly based on a single, tongue-in-cheek comment about a chef he pretty clearly has a good working relationship with), it's an entirely different situation to arrogantly dismiss every contribution from your partner despite admitting far less familiarity with the ingredients & flavor profiles, toss out her work, and undercut her before the judges.

Exactly how I feel.

I also forgot about the Voltaggio snap-back at Kevin, but this does raise an interesting idea. Since apparently the chefs dissect the loser's dishes in the stew room, I'd like to see more of that, what they had to say about each other's dishes.

[Skillet Doux]

"Does anyone else find it curious that they never showed Eli adding salt/over salting the gnocchi?"

Not in the least for a number of reasons.

1) They don't have a camera on every competitor. I believe they have two or three cameras covering the entire kitchen. If something big and obvious happens like, say, a pressure cooker blowing up, of course all of them are going to cover it. But salting goes on constantly, and it isn't noteworthy unless it's too much, which you'd have no way of knowing until after the fact.

2) Also, as jh mentions, even if it were SOP for them to capture everything, this didn't take place in the TC kitchen, which is designed to make it easy for the camera crew to get their footage. They barely had room in the house for the chefs, much less the chefs and the camera crew. You'll notice there weren't many closeups of food prep at all. Just too crowded.

3) Let's say they got lucky and DID catch it on video. It couldn't be less interesting to watch. If he's sitting there hemming and hawing and asking Ashley if he should add more salt, that's one thing. But otherwise, it's one of 50 times he takes a little sprinkle of something and tosses it in a pan.

[Will Allen]

Also, while I appreciate Tom's remarks about the danger of leaving a cooking piece of fish unattended, I thought Toby's remarks, along the lines of "If you are running a restaurant, you don't have the option of telling diners that it's too bad the equipment failed", was really dumb. Hey, Toby; if you are running a restaurant, you don't have 150 amp electric service!

If TLC puts the chefs in a condemmned building where the roof collpases in mid-preparation, is Toby going to say, "I'm sorry, but in a restaurant, you can't just say to a patron that you are sorry that a truss squashed the souffle"!

[Skillet Doux]

FWIW, the Bryan/Kevin stew room thing is a total non-issue as far as I'm concerned.

Kevin was just talking, Bryan got a little prickly because he was feeling defensive about his brother, Kevin noticed Bryan was, understandably, a little on edge and promptly dropped it. We learn that Bryan cares about his brother and Kevin isn't oblivious and/or insensitive, and they're both adults who can just let it go if somebody gets a little bent out of shape rather than turning it into a shouting match.

[jw]

re the Mike I jackass-ery and the propensity of TC to send home the leader of any failing team... If he was that sick of Robin, and she was claiming more familiarity with Asian flavors, perhaps the more strategic move would be to let her take the lead. Do his part and do it well, then if the dish failed it would be her head on the chopping block.

[Independent George]

Welcome, Will. I hereby retract any threats I made to you over at FO. I think you realize by now that Singletary isn't a QB, so I would actually go with the Unitas comparison for Jenn: level-headed, no-nonsense, efficient.

I'd rather do WR comparisons, just so I could compare Mike I to Terrell Owens (undeniably talented prima donna prone to throwing teammates under the bus).

Jennifer is the young Marvin Harrison, because she's got an excellent all-around game without being flashy. Plus, should you cross her, you just might find yourself gunned down in the street under mysterious circumstances.

[KinderJ]

Dom-concur on the Kevin/Bryan thing. My brother and I will say the most outrageous crap to each other, but still have each other's backs. Just because they tend to be so controlled does not make them emotionless.

@Will Allen- Does that make Kevin Brady? As a Pats fan I like it, but he seems to lack that 'I am going to @#$@ing stab you, then myself if we don't make that next play' vibe I usually associate with Tom Terrific.

[altoids]

@ Danny, Skillet Doux:

I'll take a stab at defining umami. In Japanese, umami is basically the rich, sweet taste of animal fat, and is written with the Chinese character that means "rich flavor." But because Japanese (and Chinese) cuisine also has a highly developed vegetarian cuisine (due to Buddhism), vegetarian chefs paid particular attention to creating umami with vegetarian ingredients.

In traditional Chinese or Japanese cuisine, these flavors are traditionally associated with umami: soy sauce (and other soy derivatives), black bean sauce, rice wines, mushrooms (particularly shittake, matsutake), green onion and leeks. And of course, animal fat and collagen of any kind.

RE: Bryan vs. Kevin:
Bryan feeling a bit protective of his little brother - I totally understand. Since Bryan and Kevin are both adults, I really don't think this means much of anything.

RE: Ashley going home:
It's all been said before, but I wish Ashley stood up for herself a little bit. I knew she was doomed once I saw that Tom blamed her for both the undercooked/underseasoned prawns and the over-salted gnocchi. A mistake that could have easily been avoided.

RE: Mike V.
Not his fault...at all. It was a BS challenge to begin with, making people cook in the living room on a freaking electric skillet. Then the power goes out, on a panchetta-wrapped piece of fish, which needs precise heat control to get a nicely cooked fish with a crisp layer of panchetta. This is not a real situation, it was massively unequal (the shameless stake out the best spots), and just bad luck.

[Will Allen]

George, I just have this vision of Jen addressing her staff; "I WANT WINNERS! I would rather go into that kitchen without a sous chef, without any line cooks, and be late with every dish, than have someone in there who is not COMMITTED! You cannot cook with such people! Can't do it! I WANT WINNERS!" On the other hand, the Harrison analogy has merit. Maybe Jen could open a fine dining/upscale carwash/gun range establishment!

KinderJ, I see Kevin as more of a Joe Montana type; utterly relaxed and in the moment at all times, because he sees where others are blinded. I can see Kevin in restaurant wars, when others are tightening up, saying to his teammates, "Hey guys, look over there, it's Will Ferrell."

Mike is obviously Jeff George; no leadership skills and
an outsized sense of entitlement, combined with a wild overestimation of his own performance.

[Cyranetta]

What I found particularly sad about Ashley is that she was essentially sabotaged twice at Judges' Table -- once by Mattin and once by Eli -- and both times her refusal to reveal the partner's flaw hurt her standing (although I can't see how she could have gracefully corrected the mistaken impression).

The contrast to the team of Jen and Kevin is stark. I was delighted when one of the judges asked about which one was the leader, and they kind of looked at each other as if the thought had never occurred to them, as is doesn't seem to have. It is a pleasure to see how two people with a minimum of ego issues can still produce competitive quality.

[Will Allen]

Cyranetta, Kevin and Jen both have well developed egos, as is typical of talented, accomplished people, but they also both are willing to sublimate their egos to their respect for each other, and more importantly, their respect for cooking as a craft/art. It's almost a Zen sorta' thing.

[Independent George]

I was delighted when one of the judges asked about which one was the leader, and they kind of looked at each other as if the thought had never occurred to them, as is doesn't seem to have. It is a pleasure to see how two people with a minimum of ego issues can still produce competitive quality.

Agreed. It's interesting to look at the dynamics of various pairings this season.

Collaboration:
Jennifer/Kevin(+), Jennifer/Michael(+), Kevin/Eli(+), Hector/Laurine(+), Ashley/Ash(+).
Eli/Laurine(-), Ron/Robin(-), Ashley/Eli(-), Ash/Hector(-).

Leader:
Jennifer*/Field(+), Brian*/Mike(+), Brian*/Laurine(+), Brian*/Mattin(+), Ron*/Robin(+), Michael*/Mike(+) Mike*/Robin(+).
Michael*/Ash(-), Mattin*/Ashley(-).

I did that from memory, so I've probably gotten some wrong/missing, but I see some interesting patterns.

Brian has done extremely well in the lead role, but hasn't been in a true collaboration yet. Michael has done extremely well collaborating with Jennifer and leading Mike, but obviously fell while leading Ash. Kevin, true to his nature, has been extremely successful in his two collaborations, but we haven't seen him giving any orders yet (given his job in real life, I don't think that will be a problem). I treated Jennifer as an Executive Chef for the airbase challenge, and graded it a success; she was just as successful collaborating with Kevin and Michael (interestingly, her primary responsibility in both was preparing the sauce).

[Independent George]

Will - I love the Jennifer motivational speech, but Kevin really strikes me as the chef most likely to drop his trousers for no apparent reason.

[Max A]

Two things that bugged me in this episode:

1) Ashley left before she won something. For the second time in Top Chef, I feel like a lesbian I was really pulling for to win big got booted too soon. (Of course, I'm referring to Jamie from last season).
2) Does the fact that EVERYONE in this season has botched shrimp this season whenever it was made bother anyone else???? Not only is it poorly prepared for at least the 5th time in this season, but it gets Ashley sent home!!! I feel like the next quickfire should focus on making a shrimp dish, and offer $30,000 for whoever finally breaks this bad shrimp streak.

[Moe Greene]

Until they start making rules to protect Kevin, he's no Brady.

[Independent George]

I hope nobody's put off by the football talk; I just figured that after our previous foray into Derrida, a few ridiculous football analogies wouldn't be too bad.

[Independent George]

Max: shrimp = the new scallops?

[Bill G]

Why is everyone upset at Mike I, and no one at Eli? As far as I'm concerned, if anyone on the show seems cocky, abrasive, and just plain mean it's Eli. Plus, he really hasn't done anything to back it up.

I enjoyed seeing Jamie's blog say that Kevin/Norris' Kobe BBQ was better than almost anything made last season. This top 4 just won't let up.

[Will Allen]

Max, I noted that as well, and I think part of the reason why it gets chefs booted is because getting a couple of dozen shrimp correctly done usually does not require a high level of skill. I mean, just stand there a few minutes, pay attention, and cook the shrimp correctly, will ya'?

[Will Allen]

Oh, there is no doubt that Eli's self assessment is delusional as well. He, at least as well as I can remember it anyways, does not seem to openly disparage other people as frequently as 'ol Mikey does.

Yeah, if The Brothers team up Kevin and Jen in restaurant wars, against the other four, we may witness a world-historical mismatch.

[Danielle]

Re. Ashley not standing up for herself: I assumed that she recognized, going in, that it was essential not to come across as a jerk—especially since only one person can win. The prize for most of these chefs is big-time national exposure.

Anyway, her website says she's now cooking for Alex Guarnaschelli in NYC, so whatever she's done has clearly worked.

Agreed that Eli hasn't backed up his talk with much... which I'm sad to admit, because he looks like two friends of mine and thus I've been instinctively rooting for him.

[doktarr]

I think gnocchi is second only to pasta salad in the "dish of death" hierarchy. How many times has a gnocchi dish been in the bottom, as a percentage of total gnocchi dishes over the history of the show? I think it's remarkably high.

There's absolutely no effin' way that Tom didn't call Ash out in the final sequence before Padma delivered PPYKAG to Ashley. His performance in this challenge was pathetic, and it's only the greater failure of the other dish that saved him. Otherwise, he suffers the fate of Carlos and Michael M. in season 2. If Ashley & Eli had put out a better dish, I'm pretty confident it's Ash who would have gone home, not Michael V. The editors just cut out Tom's criticism of Ash to make it seem like Michael V. was in greater danger than he was.

[Skillet Doux]

"Anyway, her website says she's now cooking for Alex Guarnaschelli in NYC, so whatever she's done has clearly worked."

Less notable than you think. I believe she worked under Guarnaschelli in NYC before she went out to Seattle. She's coming home to roost more than moving up.

[anon man]

@doktarr,

Gnocchi is one of those dishes that can either be done really well or horribly. There isn't much middle ground. Often its too heavy or gluey. Properly done, its light and fluffy. There's even a French version (which I've never done), which I think is more like a pate a choux than a potato dumpling. (I know it isn't exaclty like a pate a choux, but its close, IIRC.) The point, either way is it must be light. Heavy = death.

And, personally, I would say custards are the death dish. They never set up on time and are often bad.

[karenology]

anon man: I should show your comment to my friends! Made gnocchi parisienne not too long ago, and they were actually shocked that the gnocchi were so light and fluffy. I guess they have been accustomed to the denser kind. They still liked it but didn't consider it "real gnocchi," which is fair I guess since it's not made with potatoes. Here's a recipe:
http://fotocuisine.com/2008/08/26/gnocchi-parisienne-with-vegetables/

[Lou_NJ]

I'm sorry to see Ashley go and the only thing that will make it better is to see ELi the weasel go next. He plated half the prawns ... but they were the cooked ones, so he had no idea about the problem??? I don't trust him and something in my gut says not to go to either his or Mike I's restaurants.

Mike I sits there while Robin chatters to herself and cleans up - he is in DC and clearly republican - mean commenting while not offering any help with cleaning up the mess. With all the football commentary I had to go political.

[doktarr]

Incidentally, did anyone notice that between the time teams were selected and the time dishes were served, Bryan and Laurine got ZERO air time? My wife and I had missed some of the assignments, and we managed to figure that pairing out only by seeing the other four pairings. We joked that they couldn't be struggling because the editors would want to foreshadow that, but it was a bit of a surprise to find them actually on the top.

[Steve]

I feel bad for Ashley, as she could have overtaken Mike I. as the top MOTPer.

Still, I'd rather have her go than any of the tier of the Voltaggios, Jennifer and Kevin. How do you only choose three?

Yikes!

I'm rooting for a four-person finale.

[Danny]

Dom and altoids. Thanks for the explanation of umami. I wrote about my appreciation of the new format of the Next Iron Chef and this is an example. On NIC there would have been a pop-up explaining what umami is. I bet 95%+ of the TC audience had no idea what it is. I happened to know what seitan is but again, I bet 95%+ of the audience watching didn't.

All in all a rather lackluster episode. I finally got my husband to watch - we get the east coast feed on HD, so 7 PM) by making a really great Thai dinner. I promised that the show would deliver great things. He appreciates my love of cooking and food and has supported it in many ways but he likes Hell's Kitchen (what can I say.....you love them for other reasons). First we had the pointless slot machine QF - the second two words were used by all but did anyone make anything that was stressed or tired or blue? Then the second challenge cooking on dull equipment and each getting a fairly dull bag of food with no instructions of how much or how little of it they had to use. For instance, the spot prawn bag also had duck but it did not appear in the unfortunate finished dish at all.

[hayamyma]

I think it is worth noting that the chefs knew their cooking conditions when they decided what to make, IIRC, although they had the obvious constraints of what was in the bag. Given that, perhaps Mike V. and Ash should have chosen something more amenable to being cooked on a glass table using a wok and whatever the other Macy's electrical appliance that was there.

I would think more kindly of Michael I's Robin mockery if he had gotten off his butt and helped clean the kitchen. I think Mike V. was pretty embarrassed by Ash's judging table speech.

[The Last Stop]

Lou NJ, why do you assume Mike I is a republican? Do you think that there aren't any liberal douchers? Cooking at a "hip" DC joint like Zaytinya and from his whole fashion sense and vibe, barring any direct political statements from him I'd be inclined to peg him as a liberal. Unless that was a joke that went over my head, in which case I apologize.

That said, on a second watching today it actually did look like he dumped Robin's food from the fridge in the "slice of life" segment. Maybe Dom could do another polish-sausage-gate-esque DVR montage?

[natmicstef]

Although people laughed and may have been embarrassed with Ash's speech he was telling the truth. He is not deluding himself that he is in the same category as Michael V. Trying to throw himself under the bus may not have been competitive but it was admirable as was Michael V's reaction. It was also nice to see Bryan put his arm around his brother when the disaster was realised as it was to see Michael V hug Ashley when she was told to PYKAG.
There seem to be quite a few good friendships forged.

[Scott]

"Given that, perhaps Mike V. and Ash should have chosen something more amenable to being cooked on a glass table using a wok and whatever the other Macy's electrical appliance that was there."

Plus it seemed like some of the chefs hustled to get to a good spot in the kitchen, and these two didn't and got the short end.

[A.L.]

Agree with much of what's been written, but let me add:

1 - like Mike I., I'm from northern NJ. I know tons of guys like him. Cocky, all attitude, high propensity for being dismissive of women (they may dote on their girlfriends, but do they really respect them?), but that's not a definite. Mike I. is immature, boorish and rude. Doesn't make him a bad chef, just a poor choice for roommate, teammate, etc.
2 - something has been bothering me for a few seasons - maybe it's just me, but sometimes as they show the contestents (or the judges) eating, to see how they hold their utensils amazes me. Last night it was the way that Mike V. was holding his knife and fork, and I remember seeing Harold Dieterle awkwardly hold his knife in previous seasons. I know that it varies throughout the world, but I've been finding it puzzling.

[kit]

Ok not exactly on topic, but I miss Bourdain!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxs3Y1HCZAk

[jkelley]

Okay so here's my thoughts after watching the show and reading the comments:
In interviews and blogs that I read, both Jennifer and Ashley were positive about Mike I. They had the context of his comments during the show plus those two seem to have a values and work ethic that is reasonable and on target. If they don't hate on Isabella, I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Tom seemed to have issues with the concept of Mike's dish, not only with the cooking process. Tom questioned the egg yolk ravioli thing, the definition of carbonara, and even the use of halibut. IMO he thought Mike overthought the dish and THAT was why it was on the bottom. The cooking issue (as BS as the challenge was by forcing them to cook on a glass coffee table) seemed secondary for Tom.

Altoid: Thanks for the definition of Umami! Just one more question: Is Umami found in spice/liquid format or is it what is achieved by a combination of ingreidients? Is this what I've heard described as "that soft feeling in your mouth?"

Lastly, I love the way Jennifer doens't talk about women in the kitchen, she just proves she belongs there with her passion, work ethic and talent. Jennifer FTW!

Thanks Dom!

[SorchaRei]

Is Umami found in spice/liquid format or is it what is achieved by a combination of ingreidients?

Umami is a basic flavor profile, like sour, sweet, salty, or bitter. You don't buy a jar of "sour spice", and in the same way, you would not buy a bottle of "umami".

On the other hand, some ingredients are heavily umami, just as lemon juice is primarily sour or bad soy sauce is primarily salty (good soy sauce is a combination of salty and umami).

[jh]

For anyone interested in the scientific aspect of umami, as well as the other distinct tastes, the basic idea is that the tongue contains receptors that recognize particular compounds which then gets translated in the brain as salty, sweet, bitter, etc. For example, MSG (monosodium glutamate), soy sauce, and parmesan cheese are some foods that are rich in glutamate, an amino acid. Glutamate binds to and activates the taste-mGluR4 receptor, and we recognize this flavor as umami. There are corresponding receptors that have been identified for the sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. If a food contains both sweet and salty components, both types of receptors are activated, and thus, we distinctly detect both flavors.

And contrary to popular belief, all parts of our tongue can taste all the different flavors. This is a nice article about the "tongue map":

http://www.livescience.com/health/060829_bad_tongue.html

This concludes the neuroscience lesson for today.

[KinderJ]

A.J.- re knives and forks. Yeah, that bugged me too, and I remember the episode you are talking about. It kind of made me wonder. This may come off as classist or something, but I seriously wonder if anyone ever taught them to use a knife and fork properly. Just saying, from the available evidence it does not look like it. And I wonder why.

Kit- I too miss Bourdain, but my guess is he is having waaay too much fun globe trotting to judge TC.

[Laura]

I was annoyed that they keep having that British food critic on. He called someone's food a "Monet" which was a line from the movie, "Clueless." He only subtracts from the show.

[Joanna]

Largely OT but I happened to catch Richard Blais on Iron Chef America last night, filmed way back before he was on Top Chef. Turns out one of his soux chefs was none other than Eli. I was sort of aware that they had worked together before, but I was still surprised to see him - and he looked like such a little kid!

Also, thinking back on it, I find it interesting that Eli doesn't seem to use molecular gastronomy at all, even though he obviously worked closely with someone who uses it heavily. Makes me curious to see an Eli/Voltaggio pair at some point.

[altoids]

Is Umami found in spice/liquid format or is it what is achieved by a combination of ingreidients?

The closest you can get to a "umami" spice is to buy MSG. But MSG is not a perfect substitute - most people can tell when a food has been artificially enhanced with MSG, which often causes a slightly dry palate, and increased thirst.

Here's another way to describe umami. Sip a spoonful of unsalted, clear chicken or beef broth, and distribute and hold it in your mouth. The broth should have a flavor that can't be described otherwise - it's not salty, or sweet, or creamy. Swallow the broth. You should still have a lingering taste of richness in your mouth. That's umami.

Now cleanse your palate (oolong tea works well), and let's go for round two.

Coat a spoon with gravy or pan drippings. Lick it, and distribute the flavor in your mouth. Analyze the taste - not the saltiness or sweetness, but the rich, full taste. But don't confuse umami with creaminess. Cleanse your palate and try again with melted butter. Butter is very creamy, but has little umami. The richer, complex, meaty taste of pan drippings that can't be found in melted butter is umami.

Round three: Saute mushrooms (button mushrooms will do) in a neutral oil, with a bit of salt (or no salt, but salt enhances all flavors). Mushrooms need to be cooked for a while to develop umami, so wait for their volume to shrink by half. Eat them, and notice that meat-like richness of flavor. (Similar to the grilled portabello sandwiches vegetarians eat.)

Round four: Saute blocks of firm tofu in a pan, until their edges are golden brown. Add soy sauce and some rice wine as a braising liquid. Cook the tofu until the color of the braising liquid has penetrated the tofu. Add a generous amount of Chinese leeks. Wait for the water of the leeks to cook out. Serve. This is full of umami. It should have a taste that far more complex and "meat-like" than, say, cubed tofu in a garden salad.

[Naomi]

Altoids, thank you for that post! You described many things that I love. I've always though of myself as a savory girl but now I know I'm more accurately an umami girl!

[gilmore]

Naomi, can we say to you "umami" instead of "yomama"?

[zsparks]

I want Jennifer to make robo-Bryan cry.

[zsparks]

p.s. Paula, yes - Bryan's testiness - his first display of emotion! - was very sweet.

[paula]

Jennifer Norris invented umami.

Altoids: Is that you, Richard Blais? I think this is the first time I've read a comment on this board and sat back and thought, Whoooa. Well done.

[mncharm]

"Tom seemed to have issues with the concept of Mike's dish, not only with the cooking process. Tom questioned the egg yolk ravioli thing, the definition of carbonara, and even the use of halibut. IMO he thought Mike overthought the dish and THAT was why it was on the bottom. The cooking issue (as BS as the challenge was by forcing them to cook on a glass coffee table) seemed secondary for Tom."

Agreed -- he definitely made the point that it wasn't just that the fish was overcooked, but there were conceptual problems. Which makes Ash's gushing even more embarrassing. I like Ash, and understand his point, but dude...

[Naomi]

gilmore - :-)

[mena]

I thought Ash's fawning over Michael was really over the top, to the point that IMO it seemed disingenuous. Like Ash was oh so politely smiling as he very quickly distanced himself from their dish leaving only Michael V to take all the blame. A very slick & sly move on Ash's part.

Very sad that Ashley is gone and the likes of Ash & Eli are still around.

[Esther]

altoids, what a great comment -- makes me want to do an umami tasting!

I find it interesting that almost every cuisine has a core ingredient that's extremely umami-heavy: fish sauce in Thai cooking, parmesan (and the like) in Italian cooking, bacon in Southern cooking, etc. It's rarely the center of the dish, but -- just like a squeeze of lemon brightens most dishes by enhancing the acid -- it provides the umami that makes everything else more satisfyingly delicious.

To bring it back to Top Chef: I found it a little sad that the umami people all dove for the mushrooms. There are so many great sources of umami out there! But then, the chefs as a whole largely seemed to focus more on "make a good dish vaguely within the chosen cuisine" than sticking close to their flavor/mood combinations.

[Danny]

"In interviews and blogs that I read, both Jennifer and Ashley were positive about Mike I. They had the context of his comments during the show plus those two seem to have a values and work ethic that is reasonable and on target. If they don't hate on Isabella, I'm willing to cut him some slack."

I haven't read an Ashley interview but in the Jennifer interview that I read she indicated that he really does think that women have no place in a chef's kitchen but that she still liked him. Her willingness to ignore the fact that he is a bigot does not sway me in the least. I find it impossible to overlook anyone being a bigot and his treatment towards Robin (she identifies him as the leader of the bullying) from the Mattin scarf to tonight's episode has been nothing short of dispicable and unforgiveable. You just don't treat another human being the way he treated her. My only quandry is should I remove Spike's asshat or Lisa's asshat to give to Mike I?

[kchick627]

One of the reasons I really enjoyed this season of Top Chef was because I liked the contestants, especially Ashley. I liked the way her food seemed, but I also liked her as a person. I genuinely thought she made good TV and she is the one I would most like to know in person. I'm sad she got kicked off and I hate that she could have defended herself about the gnocci...but at the same time, the fact that, like Tom said in his blog, she treats the teams like teams made me like her more as a person. It's too bad we won't be seeing more of her.

Also, isn't Top Chef about being the best Chef? I understand that Ashley was the leader of the worst dish. However, Ash was nothing but a sous chef, a helper, whatever for the second worse dish. He didn't behave like a Chef, he let himself be lead. How did he not get kicked off?

[anon man]

Danny,

I haven't read all the source materials mentioned but remember that it was Jennifer that was particularly unhappy in the pool party challenge with cooking with the other women as a team. Maybe part of it was the gender equity issues we don't discuss here, but maybe, just maybe, Jennifer thinks that women are not good chefs, herself excluded. I base that on nothing than the especially nasty tone she had in that 15 second interview clip they showed, but it stuck with me.

There is sexism in kitchens, absolutely. Whether Mike I is the problem or just an example of the typical attitude is another discussion. Personally, I don't get it. A good cook is a good cook.

kchick, this comes up every season. Every once in awhile someone gets booted for trying to win "Top Sous Chef", but by and large, its high risk, high reward (see my comment on RW episodes). I think in this particular instance, Michael basically used Ash as a sounding board. "What if I [do a bunch of stuff you've never considered]" "Wow!, golly, that sounds good, sir". Tom's blog tries to tease out "better chef" from "more innovative". Michael is clearly a great chef, but not every great idea is a great meal. I can count any number of dishes from restaurants that I adore where I've had the occasional dish that misses. The penalty? I don't order it again. In real life, if its a big miss, it leaves the menu or business declines. On TC, the dish fails, and they go home. A tough room, indeed.

[bfish]

Altoids, thank you for the thorough explanation of umami! I was feeling it from your meat gravy and cooked tofu descriptions. How about marrow from beef or pork bones; does that fit the profile? Those are some flavors that send me. Pork "sidemeat" used to cook various vegetables Southern style does as well -- I'm convinced that if I'd grown up with hard core Southern cooking and been able to eat as much of those goodies as I wanted I'd be long dead from some form of cardiovascular disease.

[ROBO-PUNTER]

Hypothetical situation for the upcoming restaurant wars episode -- the quickfire winner is given a choice of $15,000 or choosing their team. The entire team, not just the first person a la Season 5.

We saw Kevin scoff at immunity and go for cash in this week's episode, and I think any of the other top-tier chefs (and Mike) would do the same. But getting to build a team out of all four big dogs would be really tempting, and if someone other than that bunch won, they could build a team of 3/4 of the top group, isolate the fourth on a VASTLY weaker team, and have a decent chance of knocking him/her out.

If Mike won, in such a situation, I'm pretty sure we would have a team of Voltaggio brothers, Jen, and Mike, which would be far and away the strongest restaurant wars team ever. Meanwhile Kevin has to counter with Laurine, Eli, and Robin/Ash. Or imagine a top four chef winning, picking cash, then drawing knives and getting the weak team by pure chance.

Personally, I would love to see Michael, Brian and Mike (and Robin, just for insane amounts of drama) square off against Kevin and Jen. One one side, crazy avant-garde deconstructed magic food. On the other, perfectly prepared meat and fish with not much froufrou.

Or is it too early for this kind of stuff? ;)

[òste e còc]

Does Glad make shampoo? They should give her some.

[altoids]

Naomi, Paula, Esther, bfish:

Thanks for the complements! I'm just a amateur cook, nothing fancy. I just think that given the limited ingredients and time that we plebeians have, we might as well use technique to make it taste as good as possible. This really plays to the strengths of East Asian cooking.

I must confess, I've only had beef marrow once - and I was actually a little disappointed, it wasn't nearly as flavorful as I thought. It tasted like dilute beef broth jello. But soup bones definitely create umami when boiled. I think pork sidemeat with veggies is definitely the right idea, bacon and greens using bacon to add some meaty goodness.

Esther: I've never thought of cheeses as being umami-boosters, but I think you're right! Parmesan has umami, although it feels weird for me to say that, because, due to my culinary background, I associate umami more with soy-based flavorings than dairy. As the umami concept becomes more international, I think people will discover that a lot of things have umami in them.

[FleetoPod]

Thanks Dom for creating this blog and for all the many hours of hard work you put in. I enjoy your very insightful posts as well of those from your many foodie fans!

I found the "Umami Information Center" website. Check out the article on Umami Rich Foods:

http://www.umamiinfo.com/umami-rich_food/

Thanks everyone for introducing me to the fifth taste!

[gilmore]

Ham hocks work much better in greens, black-eyed-peas, crowder peas, etc.

[zsparks]

"Does Glad make shampoo? They should give her some."

Hey, look - Mike I! Thanks for posting.

[ally]

anon man - "Maybe part of it was the gender equity issues we don't discuss here, but maybe, just maybe, Jennifer thinks that women are not good chefs, herself excluded."

Seriously? Seriously? Jennifer, to me, seemed to be saying, "why are you trying to set the women up against them men, it's irrelevant." How does that translate into her thinking that women are not good chefs? That is preposterous.

Jennifer is a good chef with a gender-neutral attitude. She is no different than any other great chef on Top Chef other than the fact that she is edited as a female chef who doesnt show emotion.

Interpreting her remarks as some kind of chauvanism against female chefs is irresponsible at best.

[jh]

Harold writes in his blog this week that he "liked the egg yolk ravioli idea and in [Michael's] mind he thought the egg yolk would have been the sauce. I do a salted duck egg yolk ravioli basically the same way."

I wonder if given the proper equipment, if the dish could have been a winning one?

[aaalex]

ally: you know, there is such a thing as valium. nowhere did anon man say that he knew jennifer's attitude. and nowhere does he, for a second, condone the idea that female chefs are in any way inferior to male chefs. so, what's with the "irresponsible at best" comment? (and what is it at worst, i wonder? evil?) he was speculating on possible reasons why jennifer accepts that michael i. is sexist and yet still like the man. also, during the interview, she WAS the most vehement that gender isn't important in the kitchen. the other female chefs were self-conscious about the strength of the men. robin wanted to show that the women were as good as the men, but jennifer was violently dismissive of the gender thing altogether. unless you know her personally, how do you know she doesn't have a chip on her shoulder? as anon man said, she's working in a sexist environment and she may, unconsciously, accept some of the parameters of that environment. it isn't a nasty comment on jennifer. it's a comment on the environment. also: it's sheer speculation - which is what most of us engage in - and anon man hedged his comments by preceding them with the words "maybe, just maybe". "maybe" means he's not sure. it means he doesn't stand by what he says as fact. he's trying to understand jennifer's attitude. your idea that jennifer has a gender-neutral attitude is not the truth (unless of course you know her personally), it's just an idea you find easier to live with.

[paula]

I think Anon Man raises an interesting possibility. I just really hope it's not true.

[anon man]

ally, no offense intended. As we've discussed, the edits can be deceiving. Was she making a remark that was more annoyed than anything, as you would suggest, or was she making pissed that she was cooking with the women because she perceived them as weaker? Who knows. But, I might also suggest that two are not necessarily in conflict. For whatever reason, many of the early departures (Eve, Jessie and the other Jennifer (or whatever her name was)) and some of the other perceived weaker chefs (Robin) this season were all women. She may be gender neutral but she also wouldn't want to be paired with the "weaker" team, merely because she's a woman also. It is a competition after all.

[Chris]

sorry for the late reply. grabbed it on demand this week :)

Just wanted to make a quick note on Mike (yes, ANOTHER). I'm not so sure if I'm more irked by his overconfidence, his misogynistic tendencies, or his complete inability to work in a team. Did anyone else notice he kept on saying "I" instead of "we"? Even if you can't stand somebody you need to be able to work with them. A less cocky (smarter) contestant would have taken a backseat to Robin if she knew the flavors, and if she fell flat on her face with flavors that she knew, she would have just gone home. THEN he would have been seen as a hero :P jus' sayin.

[mena]

anon man, I've wondered the same about Jennifer. Even so early in the season it was pretty clear that the female chefs, as Hector put it, were more green. So, I wondered if Jennifer's issue had more to do with being put on the weaker team than about gender.

If the female chefs had been more... seasoned my gut tells me that Jennifer wouldn't have had as much of a problem with the teams being gender split.

I dunno, she's a hard one to call. She's talented for sure and possibly the strongest female chef of all the seasons but I was really disappointed when Jennifer joined in with Laurine's Robin-bashing. Like leave that stuff to Laurine, Mike I and Eli. Jennifer didn't need to stoop to their level.

[jse91]

What annoys me the most about Mike I is that he made TC unwatchable for me. I just erased the episode midway through. Robin is annoying to be sure. But he is a bully who picked her as his target day one. I just can't watch bullying. It isn't entertaining or pleasurable.

[Hillary]

I literally threw a fit when Ashley was eliminated...I was soo upset! Can't believe she's gone while Robin, Ash and Eli are still there. Come on Top Chef, bring her back somehow!!

[kit]

Re: possible reasons Jennifer was unhappy about the gender-based teams

What with editing and all, let me just assume that she thought her team was the weaker one. It could be that she really, just based on their abilities divorced from their gender, thought they were some of the weaker contestants. Alternatively, somewhere mixed into her opinion could be gender bias (I agree that, generally speaking, being a member of a minority group does not preclude an ability to be biased against that minority group).

Personally, the thought never crossed my mind that gender would influence her opinion of a chef. For me, it's like thinking Tom may be demonstrating gender bias because he's sent home so many female chefs. Or that his comments in his blog, about why it so happens that this season the female chefs are on average weaker, are just to rationalize his latent gender bias against them. Here's his comment on it:

At this stage of the game, we are fielding enough comments both from contestants and viewers about the fact that the three (and now, with Jessie’s loss in this week’s Quickfire Challenge, four) first chefs to go home were women that it seems worth a comment from yours truly. And so, a note about casting: The casting directors of Top Chef always cast an equal number of male and female contestants, but this is a ratio not seen in the industry itself. There are not nearly as many women as men in the field. In past blogs I’ve delved into the inequities facing women in the workplace, so I won’t reiterate it all here. More men typically try out to be contestants on Top Chef, giving us a larger male talent pool to draw from. In no way does this mean that women are somehow deficient as chefs. It is simply a matter of the numbers.

It almost points to another level of gender bias. If you're an observer who wonders if Jennifer may be biased against female chefs, but never wondered it about the head judge who holds strong sway over who gets sent home after so many female chefs went home, then "maybe, just maybe," you're demonstrating bias about a woman's ability to rationally evaluate her colleagues' abilities. (anon man - I am not at all trying to suggest that this is what is going on with you, I'm just trying to say when it comes to coming up with plausible explanations for behavior with such limited information, sometimes more is needed than just saying, well such and such evidence is consistent with my theory.)

[babyarm]

The previews this week give away nothing at all. It does address that the Volts have worked with Palmer in the past, however.

Whether this means Eric Ripert comes in later on remains to be seen.

Bourdain will have to wait for a padma-free season to show up again, sadly.

It does appear they will prep in their normal kitchen and finish in Areole(spelling?). I'm all for padma using the wine cellar contraption they have.

[anon man]

Kit, well said. Actually, given what we've seen in the cast this season, I do think Jennifer could have rationally looked at her team from that episode (which happened to be all the women) and decided it wasn't the more capable team. Its not a question of gender bias from Jennifer, its a question of wanting to win.

As for Tom and his implicit biases, I have no clue. Before he became a celebrity he spent many decades in kitchens. I'm not a professional chef, but everything I've ever read is that its a pretty "drop'em and measure" kind of atmosphere. So, who knows what's in his head after all the years in the back of the house.

[Skillet Doux]

FWIW, an old friend of mine from high school -- female -- who worked the line at some very prestigious fine dining restaurants first got her start under Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern, and she tells me he's absolutely awesome, so I'm inclined to think gender bias isn't an issue with him.

[jh]

Once you start pointing fingers at Tom and the rest of Judges Table, then what does this say about Dom and his prescient Power Rankings??

tongue -> cheek

[anon man]

Dom, thanks. That doesn't surprise me.

[ally]

I have awakened from my valium coma (mother's little helper, a female drug? ;) and I appreciate your response, anon man. It is a sensitive subject for me because I'm a female science professor and deal with crap attitudes toward women all the time. It is VERY easy for me to understand how one can like a sexist male, even openly sexist males. Openly sexist males are preferable, in fact, because at least you know where you stand. Being a sexist doesn't mean necessarily that you are a bad person, imho. I guess that is a post-feminist attitude.

The weakest competitors were female for sure, and I believe Tom explained the problem in an early blog -- per capita there are fewer female chefs, so if you try to get an even number of male and female competitors, statistically a larger number of the weaker contestants will be female.

I don't think that Top Chef is sexist, agist, racist or any kind of -ist other than food-ist. And to be honest I dont even really mind Mike I (my skin being a bit thick, see above). I just didn't want Jennifer's possible attitude about the weakest chefs to be broadened into her thinking women as a group are worse chefs. Seeing as how she's a women, and seeing as how there are plenty of great female chefs, I don't see how she could possibly have that attitude. She seems extraordinarly matter of fact and sensible.

[ally]

Oops, my apologies for not seeing kit's post concerning Tom's discussion of equal numbers of male and female chefs.

[jse91]

Why will Bourdain have to wait for a post-Padma season? What'd I miss?

[Duffy]

Mike I is certainly not devious or two-faced about his attitudes -- he declared at the outset that he intended to take control, ignore Robin, put out his dish his way, and not go home. Risky? Sure - but it worked. I suspect Colicchio knew what was going on -- he as much as said so at JT. Mike could have been called out on this, but was not. This is a competition, and Mike's strategy did work. What's next?

[kit]

jse91 -

I think it's in reference to some comments Bourdain once made about Padma:

When asked about most foodies’ favorite cooking competition, Bravo’s Top Chef (his blog for Season 3 was nominated for a Webby), Bourdain said he was a huge fan of host and fellow chef Tom Colicchio but snubbed co-host and former wife of Salman Rushdie (?!?), Padma Lakshmi. Jabbing at the beauty’s intelligence, he said she wouldn’t be his first choice for Barack Obama’s cabinet…or to host a show.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/2008/11/all_the_nasty_bits_from_an_eve.php

Well, if she ends up missing a season or some episodes due to her pregnancy, maybe Bourdain will make an appearance! I can always hope :)

[zsparks]

Holy Smoke (but why must I care so much?):

Ally - are you Female Science Professor?!

Padma is pregnant?!

Isn't Bourdain's absence Food-Network imposed, and what can we do about it?!

[Chris W]

I noticed a lot of people saying "Mike I should have taken a backseat and let Robin ruin the dish since she claimed to know the flavors and that way if she failed she would have been eliminated not him."

That's ridiculous. I'm not defending Mike I's attitude. It too was ridiculous. But nothing in the history of Top Chef shows that sitting back and letting your partner fail will save your butt. If anything, watching how ready the judges were to kick off Ash for bowing down to Mike V to the consequence of a failed dish should have been a good sign that at the end of the day Mike I made the right decision, no matter how smug he was about it.

6 seasons of Top Chef have shown that it's always--ALWAYS--better to avoid being "on the bottom" and being up there for elimination because you never know what the judges are going to say (eg Manuel). Especially when you're a talented chef and you let a less talented chef take the reigns to the failure of the dish.

Still, he didn't have to be so pompous about it.

[kit]

Chris W says: "But nothing in the history of Top Chef shows that sitting back and letting your partner fail will save your butt."

I don't know if I completely agree with this. If you're a MOTP chef, one way to "overstay your welcome" is by letting the more risk-taking chefs stick their necks out and get chopped when one of their risks happens to stumble. As an example, during restaurant wars Spike didn't want the executive chef position, letting Lisa and Dale flip a coin over who would take that leadership role. Bourdain, once again, describes it better than I ever could:

[Dale] was even more unfortunate in that he WON the coin toss, after which he made the regrettable and ultimately foolish decision to anoint himself Exec Chef. Looking around at who he had to work with, and knowing, one would hope, that he was unlikely to be able to either lead or inspire them, he could have put ego aside and stayed out of the line of fire and avoided the clusterf**k.

The Spike Strategy (and make no mistake, it was a strategy), while not to be admired, was smart.

Notice, by the way, that when Dale and Lisa asked about how things were going in the dining room, Spike lied, telling them everything was fine. He knew--believe me--otherwise. His shrug and "I dunno" when asked about the "rice buying incident" at Judge's Table is worth noting as well. He knew Dale picked the rice pudding stuff out. He just saw no reason to not keep both teammates twisting in the wind.

http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/read/very-bad-things-blogging-top-chef

I have no idea if Mike I. would have been better off taking a backseat to Robin, as a strategy for ensuring he survived elimination. I can just understand why, given the history of Top Chef, it can be a viable, though annoying, strategy.

[Skillet Doux]

"As an example, during restaurant wars Spike didn't want the executive chef position, letting Lisa and Dale flip a coin over who would take that leadership role."

True, Kit, but I'm not sure the situations are entirely analogous. Spike may have been decorating the tables, but the RW format meant that he could still bang out his own solid dish to hang his hat on. In last week's elimination, taking a backseat meant that, like Ash, you were pretty much just decorating the table.

[kit]

Dom - I see what you mean. I guess my next question is whether it's possible when you're putting up just one dish, to take ownership of just a portion of the dish (e.g., executing the protein really well), and then arguing that deferring to a teammate with regards to concept was appropriate since the teammate professed more familiarity with that style of cuisine.

[SorchaRei]

I don't think Bourdain's coming back to Bravo, period. He wrote his blog there for free and then they (without his permission) attached a "sponsorship deal from some beer company to it. He stopped blogging there for that reason.

His position was that he was writing for free, and he didn't want it to appear that he was being sponsored or paid for it. Plus, I don't think the Michelob would have been his choice of sponsors. . . .

[Shelly]

Duffy, Mike I. certainly was devious in that he didn't tell Robin what he was doing, and that he was assigning her tasks then throwing the results out.

Re: the sitting back strategy, I think we seen far too many times that chefs who do something and fail will be sent home before chefs who do nothing. It pays not to be team leader, and not to be the one whose ideas are used.

[aaalex]

for me, jse91's comment about this episode best reflects how i felt: it's incredibly painful to watch the insensitivity of the other chefs towards robin. however annoying she may be, her constant talking is obviously a response to the pressure and anxiety that top chef imposes on its contestants. her relief at winning a quick fire, last episode, was palpable and understandable and laurine's comment that she wouldn't "shut the f*ck up" was immature and uncivil. it seems none of the chefs (save kevin, hector and mattin), has the maturity or charity to understand/forgive robin's defense mechanisms. and the editors of top chef have entered the game as well. the three-stooges-like music used as robin talked on and on was just as unkind. they put someone in a house full of immature people, put her under huge pressure and laugh at her neurotic responses. at times, watching this episode, it felt as if i were being made to watch a cruelty i'd really rather not be part of.

season 6, which started off so well, is turning out to be "season 2 + season 4". and in this episode the nasty vibe of "season 2" was almost unbearable. i've watched every other episode at least twice this season, but i just can't bring myself to watch this one again. also, in the previews, it looks like we get yet another dose of eli being rude. so, i'm not looking forward to next week, either. the show has become too much about rude behaviour and whoever made the decision to go with this robin/eli storyline (to the point of getting people to vote for one or the other on the bravo website) has seriously damaged this season for me. for the first time, i found myself wishing for carla or fabio ... some bit of pure, tension relieving good humour. i miss season 5, despite the superior level of cooking this year.

the thing is, i just don't care any more if michael i. is a jerk or if eli is an ass or if robin is untalented and annoying. it's become less about the contestants than about an embarrassing, sometimes unwatchable flaw in this season. though my sympathy is entirely with robin (who is human and flawed and has to bear the brunt of a collective immaturity), i'm not sure how you right this season's ship, how you take away the bad taste these last episodes have left. if eli and michael i. both go, you still have the disrespect the other chefs - including jennifer but excluding kevin - have shown. if you get rid of robin before her two chief tormentors, it'll feel like they've somehow won. the only way through, that i can see, is if robin finally gains some measure of respect from the others before she goes. not for her sake, but for our sake, for the sake of those of us who can't stand to watch a human being tormented for what is, in the end, a fairly trivial reason: a reality tv show.

it's a shame, really, because kevin is, increasingly, one of my all-time favourite contestants: polite, talented, quick, and obviously brilliant. i hate that whenever i think of him from now on, i'll have to think of all the unpleasantness surrounding robin and michael i. and the just about unbearable eli.

[lamelama22]

Regarding the idea that Jennifer's comments about the women vs. men challenge and her lack of attacking Mike I. about his off-the-hand comment means that she feels that women shouldn't be in the kitchen... that's reading into things a lot and blowing things out of proportion.

I think it's much simpler. Like Chef Tom said in his blog post in regards to Jennifer's comments at the time, there are simply less women statistically in the kitchen than men. Therefore, when casting the same number of men and women for the show, statistically you will be left with an uneven average level of skill between the two sexes. She thought the competition was a little unfair, said so, and further said gender shouldn't matter and thus shouldn't have been part of the challenge... which normally I would agree on, but, again as Colicchio said, they only did it because it fit the bachelor/ette party theme. And again as I've said earlier, Mike I.'s little offhand comment was blown way out of proportion, which is why I think she didn't go after him over it: it's no big deal. I think people are actually looking for drama where there really isn't any (because gossiping is fun), which is funny since most everyone on here says they hate the drama/edits on the show... but guess what, it's working - it's designed to get you trying to read between the lines, chat it up online (like we're doing now), tell your friends, and watch the show! :)

Oh and whoever said Mike I. was worse than Spike/Dale/Lisa... no way. Eli is worse than Mike I. - he's snarky, actually more of a jackass/pompous, especially since he's done nothing to back it up, and he's flat out lied at judges table. Mike I. tried to take a little too much credit about a dish he actually cooked in a victory, but that's a far cry from flat out lying to throw a competitor under the bus. I mean, Spike actively tried to ruin challenges for his competitors and was a total asshole to people, Dale had violent/explosive outbursts, Lisa was just... Lisa (I was at a loss for words here). Hell, neither of them compares to Howie from Season 3, or most of the cast from Season 2. This season is just so much more vanilla than the other seasons.

aaalex:
I don't think the... somewhat silent disrespect most of the chefs have shown Robin makes this season bad by any means. I mean... go watch a few episodes of Season 2 again and you will think NOTHING of anything done so far this season. If anything, with the exception of Mike I. and Eli, they are being polite by not disrespecting her to her face.

I do think some of what Mike I. did last episode was unprofessional and inexcusable, but I guess that's part of the strategy in a competition. If you truly believe that your coworker can't perform at the level they need to (which seemed warranted when she started massacring the fish according to Mike I.) but they want/insist on doing their part, you have to engineer ways of minimizing the damage, most of which will not be pretty and all will be disrespectful. BUT it gets the job done (assuming you can do the majority of the work yourself) and is more pleasant for all involved at the time as opposed to telling the person to their face what you think of them and their abilities and starting a big fight and not getting the job done. I hate to again use a grade school analogy but it fits here perfectly - it's like how in grade school the teacher always ALWAYS pairs the smartest kid in the class with the dumbest kid in the class. Guess how the situation usually works out? Exactly like the Mike I./Robin situation did. A passing grade for the group, no fights between students, and silent disrespect from the smarter kid towards the dumber kid. I mean, this is just common group tactics... I had to go through this same kind of bullshit in college, not to mention high school or earlier.

As for the disrespect towards/treatment of Robin, it's pretty clear that the other chefs think she is nowhere in their league in terms of cooking skill - which is warranted by the way (hence the silent disrespect), she should've gone home earlier, definitely in the Mattin episode (based on both skill level and how they screwed up), and they are apparently fed up with living with someone who is about as annoying as Jim Carrey's character in Dumb & Dumber (wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?). I can almost guarantee that if you were doing a job and forced to live with a coworker doing the same job as you and getting paid the same but they were doing 1/2 the work or a really shitty job and getting away with it, all the while they were annoying you 24/7 in whatever is the worst way you can imagine... at the end of two weeks you would also be disrespecting them, if you hadn't killed them yet.

[Danny]

Lamelama22, I have to disagree with you about 2 things.

First, Robin and the tuna. While Mike I moaned about Robin's tuna cooking, one of the very few things that we know about the judges' reaction to the dish was that they loved the way the tuna was cooked.

Second, Mattin was the right person to go. Tom spit out Mattin's ceviche (done 3 ways but it turns out actually done one way) which is a first for TC. Tom has never done anything like that. And Tim Love got sick from eating Mattin's ceviche. Given that, and the foolishness of boasting of the non-existent 3 way, I don't see how anyone else but Mattin should have gone.

aaalex (hope I got enough a in there) I really hear where you are coming from. I've DVR'd all the episodes and rewatch them but no so much the last couple of ones. The difference between S2 and this season is that although they treated people poorly, all of them had giant egos. This season feels more like 3rd grade - picking on the perceived weakest person (and I don't mean cooking ability - I mean perceived personality strength). Having been one of picked on ones it is difficult to watch the group dis with the scarves, the open bullying and Mike I's loathsome treatment. Yes it might have been good strategy to do what he did to survive another day, but he didn't win. Isn't winning the point. Robin may well be spot on with Asian flavor profiles and having the grace and intelligence to hear what Robin wanted to do might have given him a win instead of a pass.

[aaalex]

lamelama22: i haven't watched season two since it was on. this summer, to introduce an english friend of mine to top chef, i re-watched seasons 4 and 5 with her. i TOLD her about season 2, but i couldn't bring myself to go back to it. so, you may be right that this season isn't as bad. i can only go by the cringe factor, though, and this season has made me cringe in a way only lisa and the cast of season 2 have made me cringe. i just don't enjoy watching the way robin is treated by the others or by the editors. it's undignified, speaks poorly of the contestants (save kevin, mattin, hector) and confirms me in my dislike for reality tv in general.

when people talk of disliking the editing or the characters, there is an understanding that this editing does create commentary. no one would deny that. but the sheer cooking prowess and companionship on top chef masters created as much commentary, so one can ask why the need for nasty, high school drama. who's being served, here? and, if nasty drama is the point of top chef, why not really humiliate the contestants: make the women wear bikinis and the men speedos while they cook, deprive them of sleep to the point they don't know where they are, let them listen in on negative comments made about them by others. this too would garner commentary by an audience, but is commentary by an audience really the sine qua non of a show's success? i don't think so, and i don't watch top chef to see people humiliated, though admittedly it sometimes happens and i deal with it because the cooking and the expertise under pressure is sometimes really inspiring.

robin may be annoying but she's nowhere near as annoying as the jim carrey character in dumb and dumber. that's a silly comparison, at least going by what we've seen so far. she's not mean-spirited or stupid or aggressive or self-inflated. she talks non-stop. of all the social sins a human can commit, that one is pretty low on the hateful scale. she doesn't refer to her cancer any more than, say, eli refers to his fatness. and she is in no way so inferior a chef that she deserves the treatment she's gotten from the others. sorcha rei, who actually ate at robin's restaurant, pointed out that the food was good and that some people in seattle loved it. no way is she doing "1/2 the work and a really shitty job", as you put it. she's doing better than ash, for instance. (also, it's important to remember that all of the chefs here have had to meet certain criteria. none is incompetent, though some respond less well to the environment of the competition than others.) also, i doubt robin is, as you put it, annoying "24/7". there would be a great deal more footage of her BEING annoying, if she were. it's not as if the top chef editors are unwilling to show people being annoying. what we're seeing is a group dynamic in which one person is singled out by the group as being weak and is treated by all (even ash, for gods sake) as a whipping person. hector did not treat her that way. on her face book page, robin talks about him as her friend. she also mentions mattin as one who treated her with respect and kindness, despite what was going around them. so, what we're seeing are some weak followers (ash, laurine), some more aggressive tormentors (eli, michael i.) and some stand up humans who are all about the food: kevin, above all.

again, maybe you're right that this is not as bad a season, personality wise, as season 2 but what i said was: this season is shaping up to be like season 2 + season 4. (i disliked season 2 but liked season 4.) there are great chefs AND cringe-making, childish personalities. to my mind, the longer this robin story goes on, the less pleasant this season becomes. to me, this is doubly disappointing because this year started off being one of the best, if not the best (for the first three episodes) and has degenerated.

[Naomi]

If you truly believe that your coworker can't perform at the level they need to (which seemed warranted when she started massacring the fish according to Mike I.) but they want/insist on doing their part, you have to engineer ways of minimizing the damage

But the problem with that, as Danny pointed out and as I mentioned a couple pages back, is that this belief may not be warranted. The cooking of the tuna was praised by the judges. Mike I. felt she was massacring the fish but I think he felt that because of his own preconceived notions of Robin, not because of facts.

As someone who was bullied all through school, I too cringe at the Robin hate-fest but I also have some thoughts on it.

aalex describes a group dynamic in which one person is singled out by the group as being weak and I agree. I think that this dynamic has less to do with Robin's performance in challenges (she's actually done better than some people are remembering) and far more to do with her personality. Now let me be clear, I in no way mean she deserves this treatment. But, I think her constant talking might belie a certain amount of insecurity which the other chefs pick-up on and as such, they instinctively treat her as lesser.

[dc]

I wouldn't assume to put kevin on some pedestal. He could just as well be getting the paragon edit, as Mike I. gets villain one. In a bravo blog interview when Kevin is asked about eli & robin comment, he danced his way around the whole drama and excused it as stress induced.

I parse 1st person blogs and post-episode interviews to figure what I think is a more complete truth of the matter. I noted no one defends her (includes Jesse, Mattin), EVERYONE is annoyed by Robin, but not to bully her, more wanting to avoid or get away from her. The bravo edit really focus on drama to boost it 10=fold, like media focus on shark attacks and missing young women.

I work in teams all the time in the tech industry. It is very clear very quickly who the heavy lifters are, who carries their own weight and who are drags on projects but are boss's favorite or protection. It can be very frustrating, cooler venting, sometimes even more open conflict. I've heard much worse stories about workplace drama (even to violence) in union shops, at a conflict resolution workshop I attended. Some conflict is just is reality when assigned work in small teams.

So from my work experiences, the 'nasty' drama is more reality than not, so its not whitewashed scripted TV workplace or novelization. I enjoy drama for what it is, a reality slice of talented folk in stess cooker fishtank, not a wishful thinking fantasy.

[KinderJ]

One of my all time favorite books is Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling. It's a lightly fictionalized account of his life at a boarding school that prepared kids for Sandhurst and colonial service. Now those kids were bullied! And, you know, beaten and subjected to quite literal psychological warfare by both their teachers and the older students. The thing was, this was all quite deliberate and intended to produce people who could go out and endure anything the world threw at them. Staggeringly vicious and unpleasant? You bet. Many of the products could be termed psychotic or at the least suffering from severe personality disorders? No argument from me. But they were tough.

I have never worked in a kitchen, or done catering or anything like that, but from what I hear it's an extremely high pressure environment, hot, steamy, dangerous and a clock is always ticking down. These pressures help create an environment where skill and confidence are the only things respected. If you cannot get the job done, if you cannot convince your team that you can get the job done, then you will be mocked and disrespected. Various Bravo blogs have all stated that the purpose of the show is to deliberately crank up various stresses found in a kitchen. The thinking runs, not unreasonably, that anyone can put out great food with unlimited time and an unlimited budget, but not everyone can under stress. Part of that sorting process is the cast members. Blais said in his Bravo blog that within the first few minutes of meeting each other, the cast members start the self sorting process- the contenders, the no hopers, the dark horses. Robin was, as pretty much everyone has noted, lumped in the no-hopers category from pretty much day one. Part of the challenge of the show is to be able to survive the pressures of the house and the other cast members, to defy their categorization and to triumph. Sure, it's easier if you are popular, thats one less pressure. But popular or not,, you still need to produce. I feel like fair just has nothing to do with it. Bullying is not fair. Life is, as popularly noted, unfair. And yet people endure and succeed. I will bet that Robin will be a tougher, stronger person from her experience on TC. But I will not be sorry to se her go.

[Maria]

I think the "arc" the editors are going for is that Eli and Mike I. are the villains, and Robin the victim. I believe that's why we're shown plenty of douchey moments but we haven't seen how Robin came to be the least popular person in the house. I don't approve of Mike I.'s treatment of Robin, but to me it's telling that no-one seems to be defending her.

I feel like Robin may like this role, to be honest. She said she wore the neckerchief on her arm because she doesn't want to be one of the "pack" (or something along those lines), so it's likely that she went into the show thinking she would be the outsider.

Again, this certainly does NOT mean Mike I is an angel. But while everyone seems to agree that editing can make you look bad, I suspect it's also making Robin look better than she was.

[mena]

Yes, workplace drama is a reality, especially in a pressure cooker environment like Top Chef. But dc, you bring up a key missing ingredient here: conflict resolution.

Any manager worth their weight would know that a conflict like this needs to be addressed & resolved before it brings the whole place down. And I agree with aaalex, the childish bullying that the chefs are displaying is threatening to bring this whole season down.

Of the remaining chefs, I think all but Eli have management experience. Even someone with minimal management experience would have to recognize that some kind of resolution is desperately needed here. Regardless of how much they don't like Robin personally, the kind of festering animosity that is brewing is not good for anyone.

Besides the aggressive bullies looking bad, the other chefs look bad for passively letting the hatred stew.

Since the episodes have aired, IMO the fact that none of the chefs have shown any remorse or even any empathy speaks more poorly of them than of Robin. It really makes them look like the Season 2 gang who also showed no remorse or regret after physical assaulting Marcel. They're blaming the victim.

[dc]

Conflict resolution not always a viable solution; thats why there are so many divorces. Sometimes the only choices are either enduring the situation or breaking up the team. At conflict resolution workshop the worst stories just made the instructor throw up his hands and tell the complainer to avoid the other person as much as possible.

The s6 TC conflict/bully method seems more a freeze-out, silent treatment, alienation of Robin. Like "mean girls" style. She refuses let them win by shutting-down shutting-up going away, instead keeps buzzing along, getting her airtime and blog-time.

[Bill G]

Who's going to organize a petition to Bravo informing them that if forced to choose between Padma and Bourdain, we'd take Bourdain by a mile.

The only real question is if we'd suffer through Katie Lee-Joel to get Tony back.

[aaalex]

kinder j: that's kind of insane. stalky and co. is nasty, because kipling hated his time at the english boarding school, after the "paradise" that was the indian of his childhood. stalky and co. wasn't meant as a how-to for building tough guys. even if it had been, though, there's still the question of why you'd want to WATCH such punishment for entertainment.

thankfully, season 6 is nowhere near as brutal as kipling. robin holds her own fairly well, because she's an adult. i don't pity her or anything. i just don't like seeing the childish freeze-outs, put downs and ridicule. i watch top chef for the artistry, the quick/inventive thinking, and to learn about things like "what is umami" (which, thanks to independent george, i can't even think about without thinking "yomama"). it's the old question we had at the end of top chef masters: do people watch top chef primarily because it's a reality show with plenty of human misbehaviour or because it's a show that takes you into the minds/creativity of exceptional chefs. it's both, of course, but dc, say, seems to prefer the reality tv side. me, i prefer the chef and creativity side.

[aaalex]

ps (re: bill g)... bourdain over padma in a heartbeat. sign me up. i'd actually like to see bourdain bitch-slap toby in an argument about the proper pronunciation of "huevos". (now, judge on judge violence ... you couldn't pull me away from the tv ... :)

[KathyV]

Ok... this will probably put me smack dab in the middle of the minority of one, but I don't like Robin. I've read some of her comments on sites, facebook, etc.
{{From facebook: "Chef Robin Leventhal http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/videos/not-a-family-affair
OK, the juicy fight is aired...slightly edited but essentially all here for the viewing pleasure of the lovely people i got to share the house with!"}}

So, it seems, at least to me, that she is relishing her role as victim. The impression I've gotten is that of self-imposed, woe-is-me, look at me martyr. Which type of person has always struck me as more than a little bit passive aggressive. So, yes, while Mike I and Eli are showing their asshattiness. Robin might just deserve some of the cold shoulder she's getting from the other chefs.

[aaalex]

KathyV: actually, a lot of people don't like robin. only six posts up, you'll notice kinder j writing that he won't be sorry to see her go. it's probably 50/50. so, you are not alone.

[Independent George]

kinder j, there's a reason why that sort of thing isn't practiced in the military anymore: it's awful. For every 'tough guy' you produce, you get three sociopaths that might have once been made into effective leaders. Read Tom Ricks or Bing West's books on Iraq to see what's expected of people in really stressful, high-pressure situations, and compare that to military behavior in the Victorian era.

[mena]

I'm not saying Robin didn't deserve the cold shoulder. The best way to not get stuck with an annoyingly chatty person is to not engage them in conversation. What I think Robin didn't deserve was the openly aggressive and hostile treatment she received at the hands of Mike I and Eli.

Oh and to chime in on the Bourdain love - I would swap him for Padma in a heartbeat. I don't think Katie Lee Joel would come back, but I wouldn't mind Kelly Choi.

[jh]

From the editing, it appears that Mike I and Eli are the instigators against Robin, the victim, while the rest of the group shuns her, gives her the silent treatment, talks about it behind her back. While Robin's personality could be very grating to be around 24/7 in a pressure filled environment, it's really easy for all of us on the couch and computer to say that we would be have differently in same situation. The other chefs sitting back could be a defense mechanism to not agreeing with her personality. Some people are passive aggressive, while others deal with the situation in a in-your-face approach. The herd mentality may also be in play. Granted, some possess the rare social ability to get along with everybody, but the dynamics that we see are evident from the playground, to high school, to the water cooler, all real world places used in this blog to describe this situation. While it's easy to critique the behavior of the chefs, maybe we should also take an introspective approach.

A foodish comment about the episode: one thing that bugged me, as well as Tom, is that all of the dishes, save Kevin and Jen, were not true family-style dishes. They were just individual servings that happen to be on a plate together. To me, this is akin to skirting around the challenge like the Martha Stewart one-pot quickfire. While a great tasting dish can get pretty much save you anytime, for once, I would like the judges to admonish the chefs (regardless of taste) when so many of them skirt the essence of a challenge.

[Kyle]

It is interesting that an overarching theme of the responses on the blog to this season (or at least the ones not related to the food aspect of the show) have dealt with the dislike for Mike I/Eli for their attitudes. But in the responses to this post above, the majority of the comments are for replacing Padma with Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain has made his name and his living by demeaning and belittling anyone and anything that he does not like or deem worthy. Everyone wants to praise him for "telling it like it is," but it is almost mean-spirited in its nature. I don't see how this type of personality on the show would be any different from the Mike I/Eli/Toby persona that people seem to dislike. So mark me in the No Thanks column for Bourdain.

[paula]

My 2 cents (because I can't resist): I don't like Robin, either. Yet I'm in total agreement with aaalex. And Kyle...very interesting observation. I like my Bourdain in small doses on TC--bring him in every once in a while to shake things up, but any more than would be just too much for me.

[poor yorick]

Kyle,

Bourdain has made his name and his living by being a gifted food writer and tireless advocate for diverse cuisines. When he criticizes (which, yes, he does frequently) it is to hilarious and - most significantly - illuminating effect.

This is in marked contrast to "Mike I/Eli/Toby" who just sound like fools.

[aaalex]

kyle: i have to agree with poor yorick, alas, though i don't know him well.

[ally]

It just occurs to me that the main reason that some of us think these contestants are so nasty to Robin is because of what we see in the contestant interviews. I can remember seeing Laurine complaining (venting?) and Mike I, well, need I say more. But generally they make comments in the interview room. Eli is a jerk, and even Richard Blais seems to be separating himself from Eli in his blog (he seemed to be promoting him early on due to his association with him, but the latest blog evaluation of him is pretty cold).

Aside from Eli, other people seem to be answering questions about various situations. Its like Tom said -- Jennifer only talked about being sick when asked a direct question during an interview. Kevin is extraordinarily good at dodging the question but you sort of know what is underneath (its a southern thing, in my experience). Lots of other people can be pretty acidic, or asshatish ;). I would absolutely hate to be judged by some stupid thing I said on camera in answer to a baited question. Bourdain is funny when he criticizes, which is his gift. And he also gets to add some humanity and compassion into the edit of his show. Most people have the good and the bad in them, but clearly the producers of TopChef (nonmasters) don't seem to see any real incentive to give a kind edit to the contestants.

I agree that for me, this "drama" isn't necessary to make a great show. There seems to be some sort of spitefully gleeful ill-natured editing of the show, which speaks more to the producers than the contestants. IMO. I'm sure others will disagree...

[anon man]

Ally, I think you're onto something with the personalities and conflict:

I can see where Robin's constant talking could get irritating. We've all had colleagues who drive us nuts. (The secretary with the loud cell phone, the guy in the corner office who yells for his secretary, whatever.) We deal with it quietly until it becomes unbearable. Imagine if every day after work, someone came in your and asked "What do you think of [the person with cell phone]. Isn't that annoying...", and then proceeded to egg you on until you said something. If you're a blunt person like Jennifer, you'll come across one way that maybe could be misconstrued (see our previous discussion), if you're evasive, they won't get much useful, and if you're loquacious like Mike I, they'll eventually get something that you wouldn't want shown at the Christmas Party.

[Dreamboat]

"Besides the aggressive bullies looking bad, the other chefs look bad for passively letting the hatred stew."

I don't agree. The other chefs have nothing to gain by intervening. This is a competition, and artificial environment. Unless the aggression directly affects a given chef, then there is no incentive and no advantage to getting involved. This is not a restaurant kitchen environment where the scrabbling between 2 or more colleagues can cause a bad service.

It will be interesting what will happen during RW if Robin makes it that far, especially if she is on a team with either Mike I or Eli. If that happens then I bet other chefs on the team will step in and stop the nonsense, at least for the duration of the challenge.

[karenology]

KathyV: Jeeezus bananas, Robin is awful in that video! I hope she's out next so the drama will be done and the show discussion goes back to the awesomeness of the top four.

[KathyV]

Ally, you are sooooo right. This drama isn't necessary. I will just sit back and dream of the show (hopefully 3 weeks from now) when Robin, Eli and Mike I are gone and all of this bickering will be over. Hopefully, then the focus will be on the food.

Mena -- Sometimes it is impossible not to engage an annoyingly chatty person in conversation. Some uber-loquacious people view a polite "Hello" or "Good Morning" as a request for non-stop verbal barrage.

Bottom line, we are merely spectators. Just as with the food, we don't taste it so we truly can't accurately judge it. We aren't exposed to the what goes on in the house 24/7, only snippets of what the evil glad product elves want us to see, so we can't truly be too critical of any one person.

But........ I still don't like Robin. LOL

[gilmore]

I am wondering what strategy Eli is using, if any. He worked under Blais for a while, was his sous chef on Iron Chef, etc. Surely he got some strategy tips from Blais (unless contractually, they could not talk. Eli would be a fool not to learn from Blais. Maybe he is a fool.

[jse91]

aaalex - What you said!

One thing worth recognizing - One doesn't have to like Robin to despise Mike I and Eli or vice versa. I am not rooting for Robin, though I am rooting for the other chefs to act like decent human beings.

[babyarm]

For those that seem to be 100% sucked into the robin/mikei thing there's another video for you to feast on along those lines up on bravotv.

[natmicstef]

I agree with Ally and Anon man. I don't agree with the bullying or meanness but if asked in an interview what I thought about someone, I can see myself if sufficiently stressed/annoyed, saying something scathing about someone. That doesn't mean I am a bully. These people are in a competition that is taking place daily..a QF and an elimination and 6-8 hours in a stew room daily...it just amplifies every characteristic or emotion. Taking Mike I and Eli out of the equation, I don't think I have seen any of the others saying anything wrong.

[Lon]

You may notice Bourdain is not the only judge who no longer is involved with Bravo. Ted Allen hasn't been back for several years after serving as an almost permanent judge. I no longer read his blog; I lost its URL in a computer swap and simply didn't look it up again. I do remember he had some cutting comments about Bravo and the format of Top Chef. He now hosts two shows on Food Network, which Bourtain despises.

While I do miss Bourdain in some ways (his pithiness and to the point comments), I don't miss his negativity. I'm not sure he could qualify as a chef-type judge anymore as I think he's more involved in his Travel Network show than as a chef, although he's still listed as "chef at large" for his former restaurant.

[gilmore]

Wolfgang Puck was both funny and vicious as a judge during week 1. For one dish, I recall him saying that you would be invited over for the meal, and if you were ever asked again, you would not go. The bacon/chocolate doughnuts also were ridiculed, as was the fried steak.

[aaalex]

on another subject altogether:

here's a recipe for bacon jam i found while traipsing about online. don't know if it's any good, but it made me wonder if kevin got the idea for his from the company that sells it ...

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/10/08/bacon-jam-your-wildest-dreams-come-true/

[lamelama22]

KathyV:
Yea that video clearly shows that it's Robin who instigates everything. She goes up to Eli/Mike V. while they're cooking and tries to tell them how to cook their dinner, then when they try to not engage her, she makes very rude bitchy comments to get under their skin while not shutting up the whole time. I'm glad they showed that unedited. Eli got the villain edit in the preview for the next episode, but it's clear that she really got under Mike V.'s skin as well as he got pissed at her and she drove them both out of the kitchen.

I agree with you that from her comments she definitely relishes the "victim" role. To me, it appears that that is how she motivates herself - "They don't think I'm on their level, I'll show them". Which is fine if you keep it to yourself... which she doesn't.

aaalax:
To respond to your comment that Top Chef Masters didn't have all this BS... that's because it was a totally different situation/kind of show. The chefs basically showed up for a day and knocked out their meals, and that was it. They are the best of the best in the country and Bravo wasn't about to show any of them in a negative light (until the regular Top Chef contestants got involved). Not to mention they are all professionals who have been in the business long enough to try to act professional at all times (ie. When S4 Dale was calling out Michael Chiarello, he just tried to ignore him and bite his tongue - or Bravo edited out him talking back). They weren't bunking together like 3 to a room for 2 weeks straight, where every person's little quirks can get on your nerves. They're not people with 30 years of experience working together for just one day. The equivalent of Top Chef Masters was probably the first episode, maybe two of Top Chef Season 6. Then the situation evolved. Like it or not, Top Chef is 1/2 cooking show, 1/2 reality show, and in reality shows you show the reality of how people deal together (ie. The Real World). Masters was like 9/10 cooking, and while I did like it a whole lot... it was a tad bit boring at times, because I'm not knowledgeable enough to get over-excited at all of the food/technique porn, and some of the reality stuff breaks it up. That's why Top Chef is done the way it is, so it appeals to a wider audience. Maybe a 70-30 balance would be better, but then again, why would they mess with a formula that obviously works very very well?

To be honest, I don't get the whole "they're treating Robin badly" thing. Other than a few comments she's provoking, mostly from Eli/Mike I., who have the personalities that they'll talk back when they can't take it anymore, the others just seem to be trying to be professional and just ignore her incessant talking/whining. You'll notice this is the same attitude Chiarello took towards Dale in Masters, but when everybody has to do it to one person because she irritates and instigates fights with everyone else, it appears that they "bullying" her? I don't get it.

And yes, I know Robin's not as stupid as the guy from Dumb & Dumber. I was just making the comparison, as I noted, to the specific scene where he makes "the most annoying sound in the world" driving a regular guy nuts. It was just a pop culture reference to the idea I was trying to convey... Working with someone for like 8-10 hours a day and then living with them for the other 10-12 hours of the day, for 2 weeks straight, (like I said, 24/7 - which I don't get why you disagreed with that), and they are someone who is annoying you nonstop, you are bound to at the very least not like them and at the worst kill them, with the occasional lash out or angry comment in the middle. Not to mention responding to "private" question time with the cameras and baited questions (good observation Ally).

You mentioned you don't think Robin's that annoying because they didn't show enough of her being annoying? They dedicated like 8 whole minutes of a 43 minute show JUST to that. The reason they didn't show more is because they couldn't without cutting out more vital stuff that would show what happened in the competition, lol. I mean, they cut out any video of Brian/Laurine's cooking just so they could show extra video of Robin being annoying. How much do you want?

Also, I went back and watched the episode again taking note of every line so as to not miss anything, and no, they never said anything good about the cooking of the tuna or that is why they liked the dish. All we got was "I liked it" and "it was successful". They did criticize it for having too much tuna on the plate, which could have been either of them. Robin probably cut it too big, but Mike I. let it go out that way, so... both of them.

I do actually think Eli might be going home this week, if Robin managed to get under his skin enough and get him off his game (the fight happens the night before the elimination). Maybe that's her plan?

On happier topics:
I just realized I was right by Mike I.'s restaurant in DC the other day... Saw the sign, was a block away. Heh. I would go try it just to try another Top Chef 6 Contestant's food, but it's not my kind of food and I know I won't like it, so I'm not gonna bother. Maybe I'll drive up to Baltimore to try Jesse's food?

I would love to see Bourdain fill in for Padma . Who is blocking him from Bravo, btw? They won't bring back Katie Lee-Joel... Bravo knows enough not to torture its audience like that again, right? RIGHT?! lol.

Also, I miss Ted Allen too. But at least he got his own show somewhere on some network, a show I've never seen... :(

My favorite judges table would be Bourdain, Ted Allen, Gail, and of course, Tom. I think Ted/Gail would cancel out any of Bourdain's negativity, keeping it neutral and fun to watch!

Who would be your all-time favorite judges table? (assuming you could also replace the host for this one time?)

[lamelama22]

Oh the Mike I. "throwing" her food on the floor thing, I just watched that again and made sure to catch what was said.

It was just an edit - him saying that and then cutting to him accidentally knocking food out of the fridge, made to make him look like a contender for biggest dick in TC history.

When it falls out, he looks genuinely surprised, Robin looks over and says "It's wrapped!", and he says, "I know". The food was completely wrapped in plastic... so no big deal.

[Maria]

For the record, if Bourdain had a problem, it was with Bravo, not the show. Grub Street reported from the New York Wine and Food Festival panel with David Chang and Bourdain and while he panned Hell's Kitchen, these are his thoughts on Top Chef:

he defended Top Chef (which he's appeared on), praised Tom Colicchio, and explained, “On that show, the worst chef that day goes home and the best chef that day wins. That's not bullshit.

[Dave F.]

Question: Is it clear whether in the kind of team EQ done in this episode, the judges first determine which dish was worse and then pick one of the two perps? Or can they choose the worst performer who happened to put out the second-worst dish?

[aaalex]

lamelama22: i don't deny top chef masters was a different show. i mentioned that i PREFER to know more about the cooking, to learn more about what a chef's thinking (as opposed to feeling). if you found top chef masters "a tad boring", we'll just have to disagree. i liked it, found the level of interpersonal drama pretty much just right and felt i got to know what makes rick bayless, for instance, a great chef. (the episode in which each chef revealed the connections of food to their childhood was, for me, one of the most brilliant episodes of any cooking show i've ever seen.)

i also explicitly said that i recognize that top chef is 1/2 cooking and 1/2 reality show and explicitly mentioned that i preferred the cooking aspect to the interpersonal aspect while accepting that others (like dc and, obviously, you) probably prefer the reality show drama. the point is, i find things like eli insulting robin cringe-inducing. whatever i think about michael i., i found his comments about robin just embarrassing, not at all entertaining. i watch the show despite those moments, not because of them. in fact, top chef is the only "reality show" i watch at all.

i don't know when, on the show, robin has whined. i'm in canada and can't watch any of the bravo extras. so, i haven't seen the video you're talking about in which robin provokes michael i and eli. what i've seen, on the show, is an obviously nervous woman whose defense mechanism is talk: not insult, not put-down, not whining, just talk. as i said: of all the things humans do when they're nervous, this falls low on the hateful scale.

the idea that she's annoying 24/7 is exaggerated. when she's working at challenges on her own (most of the quickfires and a number of the eliminations) she's not bothering anyone in particular. and she and hector, by the way, worked together without a hitch to make that three bean chili. no drama, no fighting. so, she is not universally annoying. i think you're exaggerating her flaws, at least given the evidence we've seen on the show. that she is flawed: no doubt about it. that she is annoying 24/7 and most (or all, as you suggest) of the chefs feel murderous feelings towards her: arguable. eli clearly has real problems with her, but he's the most egregious example, and he comes across as a nasty bit of goods. even michael i. hasn't been so personal in his attacks. he doesn't think she's a good chef and he finds her demeanour distracting and annoying. (in fact, in terms of top chef villainy, i don't think michael i. is that bad. i much prefer him to ilan hall or lisa fernandes. he's playful, if indiscreet in his comments.)

the "bullying" doesn't have to be direct, as you seem to think. you don't need to have someone on your case all the time to feel alienated or put down. it's clear the other chefs have made the environment one in which robin feels very insecure. most of them have called her (her in particular) out for her lack of cooking talent, but as others have noted: robin is not as bad as ash, did better than eve (who didn't want to be there), and has actually won a qf. (which prompted eli to accuse her of using her cancer to her advantage.) she successfully ran her own restaurant and, in her thinking, has revealed a mind that maybe over-elaborates, using too many spices, but is at least daring. her worst failures were her shrimp (which has brought a couple of the chefs down this season) and her snails (which she simply didn't know how to deal with). in previous top chefs, we've seen worse chefs than robin. so, the other chefs aren't being realistic when they insult her cooking rather than, say, ash's. what their insults show is a collective dislike that allows any of them to say unjustifiably severe things about her cooking while remaining part of the group. on this score, ash insulting robin's cooking was almost amusing. here's a guy whose only success has been accidental and HE'S down on robin? you know, from that alone, that dog pack behaviour is going on and that ash, who insulted her publicly in the stew room, was trying to stay on the right side of the main group. (robin has also written that the ever popular mattin was given grief for his kindness to her.) so, the "bullying" is in the atmosphere created, one that has singled robin out as the person anyone can insult with impunity. under the circumstances, it makes perfect sense that robin should feel belittled, that she should try to find some dignity in her position, and that she should try to get her own back when she can. (what in god's name would these people have done with lisa fernandes, one wonders?)

i mentioned that if robin had been more annoying than they've shown, they would have shown it. what i mean is that if there were MORE to robin's behaviour, we'd have seen it. if she were mean-spirited, angry, devious, cheating or any such thing. we'd have seen it. as it is, we see the same thing over and over and over: robin is a chatty cathy. yes, i get it. i don't need to see a second more of it. the amount of time devoted to robin, last week, was entirely excessive and unenlightening. how much more do i want? what in the world, in all i've written, makes you think i'd want ANY more of that? i'm one of the ones who likes the cooking, not the drama. no offense, but i'm inclined to think all of that "robin drama" was put on for people like you who found top chef masters "a tad boring".

finally: "they" didn't criticize robin/michael i's dish for having too much tuna on the plate. chef yagihashi said (and i quote exactly) they did "very, very well but, if i were them, i'm not going to put the scallops and the tuna, you know, same portions". that's it, and that's very different from saying "there's too much tuna on the plate". the other judges liked the dish very much, though tom commented on the tension between robin and michael i. you obviously have a nasty bee in your bonnet where robin is concerned, to the point where you want to make her into
a. an unbearable monster everyone hates
b. a bad chef (who didn't know better than to throw a hunk of tuna on a plate)
c. a woman whose plan all along has been to annoy people into being "off their game", like poor, poor eli. (really? do you really think robin is responsible for eli's distraction? isn't he an adult? aren't distractions what professionals deal with all the time? and even if one accepted that robin distracts eli isn't it also the case that eli distracts robin? why should she be criticized and not him do you think?)

this is exactly why i can't stand all the drama. it leads people like you (again, i'm not trying to cause offense) into what i think is an entirely unrealistic and exaggerated dislike for a person you've met only through top chef editing. it also leads you to misread what i've written. i said, while thinking robin's situation is terrible, that i don't pity her or anything. i think she's an adult. what i hope is that this story arc resolves itself in a way that gives back some dignity to a show that, through its first three episodes, was wonderful and that has become too much about a rather tawdry and repetitive and unnecessary confrontation of personalities.

[nolaluv]

I think Mike I. is so cocky and annoying. He has rarely won a challenge, but he acts like he is "top chef". He is probably a good chef, but not great. Bryan is probably a great chef, but I don't care for him. My favorites are Kevin & Jennifer.