Top Chef - S7E10 Postmortem

Biggest. Missed. Opportunity. Ever.

Did nobody consider disguising their dish as a different famous dish? Particularly somebody else's designated dish? What if Alex had done a layered veal lasagna cooked in a soup crock with melted cheese over the top? Veal Parmigiana disguised as French Onion Soup. What if Amanda had done a beef tenderloin and wrapped it in pastry with an onion and cheese concoction in place of the duxelles? French Onion Soup disguised as Beef Wellington. There could have been so much more awesome.

So is this the first time somebody has won four challenges in a row? I'll have to check.* I know there's never been a back-to-back double win. I'm trying to remember if there's been a double win bracketed by an EC and a quickfire win, spanning three episodes. I don't think so.

Apologies again about this week's inadvertent hiatus. Won't happen again.

Discuss!

*UPDATE : Huh... not only has nobody won four in a row, as far as I can tell, three in a row has only been done once... and one of those three was a team challenge with no single designated winner. Any guesses? (No peeking!)

UPDATE II : D'oh! As Elizabeth points out below, Angelo won the first three challenges. I was so busy looking at past seasons that I looked right past the first half of this season. So put Angelo and the mystery contestant in the three-in-a-row (sort of... team win for the mystery contestant) club.

UPDATE III : By the way, the answer is Antonia. The 15-minute Uncle Ben's quickfire, the healthy meal for a family of four under $10, and a team win in the mise en place relay. Incidentally, Stefan was a great guess. He put up back-to-back wins four times, but never quite managed to string together three.

UPDATE IV : Cripes, I need to have my head examined. As Merlin's Nephew points out below, there was... you know... a whole episode in between Tiffany's double wins. So that'd be four of the last six, not four in a row. Eeeysh.

Comments

[Bart]

1. Why was it on late again? I preferred the earlier time!

2. That CIA dinner was HILARIOUSLY awkward. Notice how everybody laughed the hardest during the "he should be hanged" joke? Granted, I'm sure some of it was sycophantic, but... my goodness, these folks are INTENSE.

3. Clever of Kelly to look at a premade Kung Pao for an ingredient list.

4. Damn, Alex. Another classy interview. When is someone going to flip a table? I expected Kenny "The Beast" to at least eat a cameraman, and Alex to curse everyone out. They did neither.

5. Tiffany is ON FIRE. She deserves the top spot in the rankings.

[Independent George]

Woo! Tiffany for the win! I'm officially rooting for her the way I rooted for Steph.

The most impressive thing I saw tonight was Kelly's autopsy of Kung Pao. That was really smart.

When they explained the rules to the QF, the first thing I thought of was, "Make a stock from the fish bones, and throw all the other crap into it." I'm surprised more people didn't try the same thing.

Poor Alex. I wasn't especially impressed with his cooking, but I hated the pile-on. Even if he grated on people, he deserved respect as a professional, and he showed a lot more class than was given to him.

How does a rice cooker screw up rice? How is that possible? Did Kelly put too much water into the machine, expecting it to boil over at altitude?

Tiffany is obviously on a roll, but so is Kevin.

1. Tiffany
2. Angelo (this happens to every contender at some point. Steph, Steffan, and Jennifer all had mid-late season swoons, and pulled out of it).
3. Kevin
4. Kelly
5. Ed
6. Amanda

[bryanD]

Confused challenge in taxpayer-financed rat-house setting**.
Never a good thing.
Far from classic.
(Will happily rate Tiffany higher next time, of course.)
Alex deserved to go (tough "veal"??? Ergh!).
Unfortunately, Amanda remains to botch yet another dish and to render another episode de facto non-classic by her presence. Ugh!

**The on-camera display of the footman interrupting Director Panetta's reality show tomfoolery is Most Reassuring and is proof positive that America is(!), and shall remain(!), Safe(!) forevermore(!) in perpetuity!!!1! (As seen on TV)

[Daniel]

Man...they started off with Kelly saying she was going to find a prepared kung pao sauce and I'm moaning to myself, "No,No, No!!" and then she finishes the voice-over with 'to see an ingredient list,' and it was such a nice turnaround.

That's the kind of editing we need, not the pea-gate crap.

I was a bit surprised everyone fell down so badly over the 'deconstruction' aspect of the challenge. Kelly's soup wasn't particularly creative, but felt like a definite high note of deconstruction in that group. Perhaps I'm underselling the creative aspects of Tiffany's gyro? It didn't seem like much of a stretch to me from what I saw.

I would have loved to have seen a french onion grilled cheese or a french onion pot pie from amanda. Or a cobb omelet? A beef wellington cheese steak sub or kabob or something might have been fun. People seemed overly flustered during the quick-fire too. Hopefully we'll see some regrouping and re-energizing soon.

[Steve F.]

Clarity?

After this episode:

Good and solid: Angelo (everyone has a bad day, Angelo's the most creative), Tiffany and Ed, in that order

Inspired, but hard to know when they will have a bad day: Kelly and Kevin

Time to go: Amanda (been in the bottom for about half the episodes

After Amanda goes, I'm betting a real free for all....

[Steve F.]

Angelo's still the most consistent and creative chef. Tiffany's become the Kevin of the season - best flavor profiles.

The problem with Kelly and Kevin, despite Kevin's current amazing run, is you don't know whether or when they will have a bad day.

I am hoping that Amanda does go next week because that will cause all the chefs to push harder to do their best, knowing that it is an even field (because, really, anyone can win - even if Tiffany has the Midas touch right now).

[ally]

Independent George - I'm not sure how Kevin is on a roll? Ed was in the top three and Kevin was in the middle...what am I missing?

[timothy]

I take back the good things I said about Angelo last week re: his treatment of Alex. Perhaps it was the way it was cut, but the scene between the commercials made him seem like a bully in junior high.

[mill]

I was kinda disappointed by the EC since I watched Impossible Dinner ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWVBGda_4js ) the other day. Or how about MasterChef Australia where they had to make Heston Blumenthal's chicken liver parfait coated in mandarin skin gel and made to look like a mandarin.

Just imagine what the Voltaggios would have conjured up.

[Lon]

Obviously, here is no comparison between Dinner Impossible and Top Chef. Totally different level of chefs and totally different concept. But I understand what mill is saying: Imagination does seem to be lacking on the part of most of the contestants on Top Chef this season.

That said, I find that I have enjoyed the last two episodes. Nothing personal against Angelo, but I liked that he did not finish in the top on this show. Adds more mystery to the finals. Except for Tiffany, none of the remaining chefs seem to be consistently dominant.

Before I pick Tiffany as the winner, however, I am remembering that there is a gap between the end of the regular season and the finals. This season, the first shows were done in March-May, which probably would put the finals in July. During that time period it seems one of two things happens: chefs overthink their efforts; or they really get supercharged as Hosea and Michael V did.

Right now I would not attempt to pick the final 4. (I did try and gave it up.) And I like that I can't finalize the top chefs. More power to Dom if he can.

Obviously, even Angelo is stuttering. Some people need an "enemy" to perform and perhaps Angelo is one of those types who misses Kenny as an opponent. Or maybe he's just wearing down because he certainly does not seem as strong as he was earler in the season.

[JJH2]

Another decent episode. It's great seeing Tiffany on such a streak. I hope she continues it right through the finals.

Not a huge fan of the mystery box Quickfire challenge. I love it when the chefs are given a few key ingredients and forced to make a dish around it - like the onion, potato, chicken challenge of season 3. You really get to see the different interpretation that each chef puts on the ingredients. But the more ingredients you add and make mandatory, the less room you have for interpretation. When you end up with six or seven of the same ingredients, and you have to use all of them, things start to look the same.

As for the EC, none of the chefs did an amazing job with the disguise, although some of the food looked very good. I thought Tiffani's looked a little anemic, but everyone loved it. I thought Kelly's actually looked really good, and was a pretty good disguise on top of it. Angelo's puff-pastry wellington pizza was a major conceptual disaster (although I note that Tiffani won the cook off round of one of the holiday specials with a puff pastry round topped with some kind of meat) and he is seriously lucky he didn't go home for it. Tom's blog really savages every single aspect of Alex's dish.

I am starting to really look forward to the finale, although NOT the much-teased NASA episode that will lead us into it. Blech.

[Bart]

Three in a row winner? Hmmm... I'm going to have to venture a guess that it was Stefanie Izard.

[Independent George]

Ally - he was in the middle, but was praised for his dish; on the basis of the comments, I remember being surprised Ed got the nod instead of Kevin. He also got high praise despite being on the losing team in RW, and placed high in the embassy EC before that. I think that counts as a roll, especially considering his prior inconsistency.

Bart - it couldn't have been Steph - remember, she
struggled mightily with the QFs early on.

I would guess Steffan from S5.

[ally]

IG, OK, I can see that, I guess I was disappointed because I was hoping for a fired up Good Kevin. Speaking of being surprised by Ed being selected - coming from WD, the compliment "well you really know how to cook chicken" didn't really seem complimentary...!

My guess is he of the fauxhawk, Richard Blais.

[nomnomnom]

I totally missed the time switch and had to watch it with commercials. Ugh. I forgot how horrible the ads were on Bravo. How do people stand this?

I think Tiffany had begun to really pull away 3 episodes back. Nothing she is really doing is knocking anyone down, but it's just enough outside the box that it gets your attention. A poor man S6Kevin.

They are really trying hard to make it look like Angelo's wheels are coming off. And notice that they are now airing interviews taken at the finale location in Montreal. Coincidence?

Ed has looked very solid for several weeks now. I think the Ed fanclub always thought he was sandbagging a bit. And it's showing now he is a threat.

Next week is Amanda's last week. Has to be. She's had a solid run, but nobody survives that many weeks in a row fighting for their life at JT. (Lisa excluded) The other three are also finding themselves in a comfort zone.

[Susan]

Hmmm. I personally disliked Alex from the first couple of episodes; he seemed incredibly over-the-top chauvinistic about woman. Not from the cooking, but his comments about them were incredibly rude. So I have had a sour taste in my mouth. If the chefs had to put up with those types of comments continually, he would surely grate.
That said, he always seemed to be a trainwreck of planning and organization. His time would eventually be up. His food seemed to miss on all levels last night.
Angelo. This episode puzzles me. Did the vaccum of losing Kenny do it? Did the fact Kenny went home inspire fear? If we didn't know better from all the episodes we have watched and were just starting from episode one, I would say he'd be gone tout suite. We'll see.
I wondered, at one point Kelly's rice cooker seemed to show a readout of 1:31 on the time. I didn't know if that was a setting or just the run-time. Will the Denver, Rocky Mountain contestant mess up another critical element due to sealevel cooking? Inquiring minds...

[GlennM]

I'd really like to have seen what Richard Blaise would have done with this challenge.

I know I'd be fried at this point in the season if I'd even made it this far (fat chance!). But a little armchair quarterbacking and I'm struck that nobody hit the food coloring aisle at Whole Foods. Or played around with different countries. Make the French onion soup an Italian panini. Or dye the hummus in the gyro and put it on dark break to make it look like a reuben.

Wish they'd done this challenge earlier in the season when folks weren't burned out.

[Independent George]

Susan - I'm very curious about the rice myself. After years of railing at contestants, "Why not just use a freaking rice cooker?", I am honestly perplexed at how it could have happened.

My best guess is that due to the altitude in Colorado, you need to put additional water in the pot in order for the cooker to work. Since the boiling point is depressed by the lower pressure, water would tend to boil off before cooking the rice; additional water might be needed to ensure that the rice cooks through. At the lower altitude, maybe Kelly put additional water into the pot out of habit? Too much water results in the mushy, overdone rice she seemed to end up with.

Also: I imagine this was edited out, but I really hope she credited Tiffany at JT for her help with the rice. If she would have won, she really would have owed it to Tiffany's assistance. Tiffany was under no obligation to do so, and it's definitely to her credit that she helped with $10k on the line.

[Polybus]

I'm surprised that this group seems to have devalued Kelly so much. Granted, she was in the bottom on RW (a team loss), but the only other time was for over-salting her steak. On the other hand, she's been in the top group at EC quite a bit (I don't have a count handly) or in the middle.

Alex had a classy exit, but I agree with Kevin that it was time for him to go.

I believe that Tiffany will take Angelo's place at No. 1 in the Power Rankings this week and she deserves it. Amanda is the only remaining bottom-dweller and I see the other five all in the hunt to win. A good day - a bad day - it could be the difference at this point.

Although this season isn't one of the best, I really do like the parity. It's fun seeing who is going to come through each week and it's been anyone's guess up to this point.

[Independent George]

I don't think it's so much a matter of devalueing Kelly as it is the parity of the contestants. At this point, I think Tiffany & Angelo belong as the consensus 1-2, but just barely ahead of 3-4-5 (who are interchangeable).

I mean no disrespect to her, but Amanda's really the odd one out at this point - the distance between her and #5 (whomever that might be) is bigger than the gap between #1 and #5. Even so, her biggest weaknesses are inexperience and inconsistency (the latter probably a result of the former); I think she's still got a couple good dishes left in her, and could easily be a surprise entry to the finals. For the sake of the competition, I do hope she's the one to go next week, but if she made the finals, it'd be hard to say she didn't deserve it.

[Bill]

It's interesting how over confident the chefs become when they get on a hot streak.
I think last night was typical of Angelo when forced out of his comfort zone. He's great within his range but that range is narrow.
My weekly defense of Amanda: she's missing but not by as much as we're being led to believe. I don't think it's a done deal that she's the next one to go.

[Joanna]

I actually liked the sound of Angelo's dish when he first described it - beef wellington disguised as pizza - but he completely underdelivered on the concept. It sounds like what he put out there was neither disguised nor particularly tasty. With that said, I'm glad he's still around, because I do want to see what he's capable of, and I know it's more than what he did in this challenge.

As for Kevin, I gained a fair amount of respect for him when he talked about Alex at the beginning of the episode. Instead of saying flat out that he thought Alex should go home, he said he should "go home or step it up." This seemed much less petty than a lot of the complaining last week; Kevin's problem wasn't that he disliked Alex, or thought he couldn't cook. He just thought that Alex wasn't cooking at a high enough level and was sort of skating by, and if Alex could step it up and legitimately compete with the other chefs, Kevin would have respected him for it.

And my favorite line of the night was Tom talking about how much he really, really likes Cobb salad. Me too, Tom. Me too.

[Independent George]

And my favorite line of the night was Tom talking about how much he really, really likes Cobb salad. Me too, Tom. Me too.

Heh. I do, too, but the funny thing is that the reason I love it is because I always thought of it as a club sandwich disguised as a salad. A part of me hoped that Kevin's deconstruction would have turned it back into a club sandwich.

I know it's an unfair comparison, but I decided to take a look at last year's postmortem on the deconstruction challenge. Sadly, we spent more time talking about the Robin drama than the food, which was rather outstanding.

Off-topic, but the preview for that episode also inspired my favorite Top Chef Comment Thread ever: Postmodernism, and Fennel Funnel Cake Nyotaimori Padma.

[Elizabeth]

Didn't Angelo pull three wins in a row? The first quickfire of this season, first elimination, and then he and Tracy in the bi-partisandwich Quickfire? Just my guess based on recollection of the season! (And, by the way, I've never commented before, but this is by far my favorite Top Chef blog :) )

[wolfefan]

I enjoy Wylie Dufresne, but wouldn't this have been the perfect episode to have Michel Richard as the judge ? (DC area people - I'm thinking of the right guy, aren't I? Disguising food is one of his specialties...)

[Polybus]

I thought we were talking about 3 EC wins in a row.

[gdis]

Once again it seems as if Tom is getting pissed at the comments on bravotv.com! His blog kind of railed on everyone again.

I thought this challenge would be right up Angelo's alley. I don't know if it's the editing or if he was really off, but for the sake of the competition, I hope he steps it up. That being said, I thought this was one of the better EC's this season (not that the chef's did well, just that I love this concept). It's a good late in the season competition as the weaker chefs would really struggle with this. It forces both creativity and taste. We were spoiled last year with the home runs hit in the deconstruction challenge. I think some of these dishes would be much easier to disguise than others, but all were very doable.

I have to hand it to Alex: he rubs me the wrong way but he left in a very classy way. Everyone else looked like an a**hole (except Amanda) because of how well he handled it. It was time for him to go and I think he knew it. I had such high hopes for him after the Borsch in the first episode. What pissed me off about the whole thing is how the other chefs seemed to blame him for others going home.

[Shay J]

I like this season. There hasn't been a Voltaggio Brother or a Blaise or a Stephanie or a Stefan, but that doesn't mean this group is bad. Aside from the really big stand-outs in previous seasons, everyone else was about on par with our current group. Last season was a really good convergence of talent, but it was really top loaded. I like the parity. It makes it more interesting.

I would put Tiffany at the top because she's responded better to pressure than anyone else during the run of this season. She was steady and solid and now she's picking up steam. I think that she's Antonia, but a bit more skilled. Angelo is the designated "creative" person of the season, but he's bowing under all the weight.

I've got to admit that Amanda is growing on me. Ever since that disastrous sherry wine jus incident, she's been more self-aware than most contestants (past and present). Like folks here, I just think it's a matter of seasoning on her part to get her ready to pump out consistent dishes.

[gdis]

Also, looking at the remaining contestants, if all were to open a restaurant and I could only eat at one without knowing anything about it, I'd choose Angelo's. It would it either blow me away or I'd hate it. With the others, I know what I'm getting.

At this point last season it would be a toss up among the Volt brothers and Kevin. No way I'd be able to choose between the three.

[Skillet Doux]

Elizabeth... D'oh! Of course you're correct. I was so busy combing through past seasons I looked right past the first half of this season :-)

Make that Angelo and one other. Sort of (team win and all).

[Nikki L]

One thing I really noticed this week is the difference between contestants who help eachother and those that don't. It seemed to come out in full force this week.

People who want to win against talent
Tiffany - helping Kelly with her rice
Kevin - saying Alex should go home if he is faltering but should stay and bring the challenge if he can step it up
Amanda - hoping Alex can fix his overcooked veal

People who want to win any way they can
Ed - saying he was happy Angelo was having a bad day because it would be great to get rid of the threat
Alex - (not this episode but in cold wars) not telling Amanda about the cartilage in her dish.

Angelo and Kelly have also shown themselves to be in the "Win any way they can" group.

It obviously has nothing to do with the cooking but I always have more respect for the contests that want to win against the best instead of winning because someone made a mistake or had a bad day.

[Sweet Sue]

Was it Kevin from last season?

[SteveNJ]

Regarding the rice cooker. We have the exact same cooker that Kelly used in the episode, and when my wife and I saw it on the screen we said at the same time "Her rice is going to be overcooked". Every batch of rice we have made in that cooker has turned out overcooked, so we have stopped using it all together. Just glad Kelly was able to recover. Also hope my local favorite Kevin continues to do well.

[jh]

Didn't someone last season (or another previous season) also have a problem cooking rice in a rice cooker? With all the fancy gadgets, TC could invest in a decent rice cooker.

[Susan]

Ahhh. Thanks SteveNJ. And jh, they were at CIA, so I am going to assume this was a CIA gadget. Who'd a thunk a useless gadget at CIA? (Ba da bummmp.)

[louc]

I enjoy Wylie Dufresne, but wouldn't this have been the perfect episode to have Michel Richard as the judge ? (DC area people - I'm thinking of the right guy, aren't I? Disguising food is one of his specialties...)

Yes, Michel Richard and he would have been absolutely perfect, Wolfefan. I'm trying to remember what a dish was that looked like a fried egg the last time I ate at Citronelle. Some sort of yellow roasted pepper and what was the white? It made me laugh aloud when I bit into it. It looked like an egg and tasted so different, pure whimsy.

I was a bit disappointed at how uncreative the chefs were in this episode. Then again, they looked pretty exhausted after that mystery box challenge so maybe their brains were fried.

I had the same reaction as Daniel. I was aghast when she grabbed the Kung Pao sauce...and then read the ingredients. But really, Kelly, you've never had Chinese takeout?

[rab01]

Angelo is clearly an excellent chef and I suspect will place no lower than 2d when Dom does his next power rankings but (there's always a but) is he actually creative? I've gotten the impression during the shows that he usually does dishes that he has done before. His wide experience has stood him in great stead but I wonder if this is why he flailed around a bit during this episode.

Was this the first time he had to really create a dish on the fly? Dom -- do you know whether Angelo has been largely cooking from his prior menus?

This is not meant as a knock on him -- just a question that might affect which challenges will be the hardest for him going forward ....

[Bawdy George]

Tiffany was already my favorite and her altruism toward Kelly makes me pull for her even more to win this thing.

And I like Angelo a lot more after RW, IMO he should clearly have taken the win for holding that team together. Looks like he gets the burnout edit, but I wonder if the fact that he was forced into cooking something non-Asian (or Ethiopian) led to his weak dish. Has he done non-Asian to date, I can't remember. Oh yeah, celery and peanut butter, maybe I'm onto something.

Also I like Wylie as a judge - very jocular in this one. What unfortunately sticks in my mind about him was during TCM I read the comment somewhere that "he's into molecular gastronomy, maybe he should introduce his hair to some shampoo molecules".

[timothy]

I don't think Angelo really has a creativity problem. I can't remember everything he has prepared, but little Quickfire moments stand out in my brain. I remember during the pie challenge he basically said that he wasn't a baker but that he would look at it as a curry challenge. Yes, perhaps you could say he was turning the challenge into an opportunity to make something he was familiar with, but that is a form of creativity, and it's in line with what Kevin and Tiffany seem to do. They look at something, bend it to their will, and come up with something unique. Angelo also did something similar during the toothpick challenge. He was going to make "pineapple sushi," which combined the familiar with the new; then when the pineapple wouldn't stick, he looked around the kitchen and found a cucumber. Yes, cucumber bowls have been done before and are perhaps passe, but the act of thinking on the fly and shifting and coming up with an near-winning dish is the evidence of creativity.

[paula]

I could tell by the editing that Alex was going to go home, because they were redeeming him (through Amanda's comments, and through his own high-road analysis of all the grade-school crap thrown his way). But I was so sad to see Angelo's wheels come off. That's good, though. He needed that.

As for Tiffany: I've been rooting for her since very early on, and I still am. I think she's awesome on multiple levels. However, while she was indeed very high class in helping Kelly, earlier in the episode she made a point of saying she wasn't going to do anything to help Alex (when he was looking for a can opener). So she's no saint.

And I completely agree with Joanna--Angelo's idea to turn beef wellington into a pizza was a very clever idea. But he obviously changed his mind on that, because the final result was billed as a "tartlet." Boo. And I agree, Dom, that this was a hugely wasted opportunity. I would have loved to see Blais and Michael V. go head-to-head on that challenge.

[paula]

OH, one more thing. Interesting that Kelly had never cooked Chinese and ended up in the top for her interpretation of it, while Kevin landed in the top for his interpretation of Indian (which he'd never cooked) a couple of episodes back. It's almost an advantage, isn't it? Having never cooked a specific cuisine, but being a pretty accomplished chef otherwise, it makes sense that your "interpretation" of that cuisine would seem fresh.

[timothy]

Paula, good point. It's really how most good cooks work, isn't it. They don't necessarily replicate other great dishes, but they often make those dishes fit what they do well, and in that way they create something original. We could add Tiffany to that list too. She didn't know Ethiopian food as I recall, but she won that challenge.

[nomnomnom]

Watched the tail end of this one again, and noticed off hand in the preview that Rick Moonen rolls his eyes at serving of raw fish at a ballpark. Except 3 or more already do sushi. Safeco, Petco, and Comerica to my knowledge already do Sushi and from what I gather it isn't half bad really.

It looks like the three male chefs are preparing some version of a philly cheese steak. Yawn.

[Polybus]

I've noticed going back a while that there is a friendship between Tiffany and Kelly that hasn't been played up (probably because the editors favor the friendship between Ed and Tiffany.. oooh).

I really like both Dom's and Paula's comments concerning the missed opportunity for creativity. Blais v. Michael V. in this challenge would have been awesome. I have been re-viewing S4 E6 (Film Food) and am amazed at how the top three teams attacked the challenge. Blais-Dale-Andrew went way over a cliff on "Willie Wonka" and amazed everyone. Stephanie and Lisa created a great dish for "Top Secret" (hey, Ted Allen - that wasn't Val Kilmer in the cow suit) and Mark and Brian somehow created a really inventive and tasty dish for "A Christmas Story". Although panned on presentation, Antonia and Zoi also created a terrific dish for "Talk to Her". The real clunker was Spike and Manuel, who completely missed the boat on "Good Morning, Vietnam" and Manuel got sent home. It was a great choice of film - with the terrific opportunity to create American-Vietnamese fusion (Robin Williams and Chintara Sukapatana), but Spike and Manuel were like brain-dead on putting it together. There was no thought at all in the dish.

I love these challenges that call for high creativity.

[paula]

Oh, and Dom: Angelo did consider disguising his dish as a different famous dish. He was going to do a pizza, and cut the beef to look like pepperoni. And doesn't traditional beef wellington also feature foie gras? (I need to look that up). He could have made some great little fois faux-mushrooms to complete the disguise.

[Skillet Doux]

Paula... that's true. But "pizza" is a little less iconic than the types of dishes they were being assigned. And the execution fell somewhat short of his concept :-)

But the idea was nice.

[Skillet Doux]

As for Beef Wellington, yes, there's liver pate along with the duxelles... I'm uncertain whether the strictest interpretations specify foie.

Where's Oste e Coc when you need him?

[paula]

I think he must have talked himself out of the pizza concept altogether, because the final dish was called a tartlet. Seriously, I think if he'd followed through on the pizza concept--with real pizza dough, faux pepperoni and mushrooms, and, I don't know, maybe a bechamel sauce (not classic wellington, but still, might evoke the buttery-ness of the original pastry), he could have been up for the win.

[paula]

p.s. Now I can't stop thinking about that pizza, which would be delicious. I'm going to have to make it myself. :)

[paula]

I forgot about the duxelles! So he could have used real mushrooms, and disguised the foie as something else. Damn.

[Bart]

He could have smeared the foie across the pizza like a sauce. Foie is almost pink-ish, so it'd be a passable imitation of pizza sauce, maybe.

[Polybus]

Mmmm... it's almost lunch time here. That pizza would be really good!

[Merlin's Nephew]

Not to take anything away from Tiffany, but how exactly is this a 4 in a row? Her streak was broken by both the team quickfire loss and Ed's win in restaurant wars. That said, double wins separated by one episode is still extremely impressive.

[potty mouth princess]

nomx3: a couple small items.

1)I've been spoiled and your final destination is not correct. A witness watched part of the F4 QF filming. That's all I'm saying about that.

2)They serve sushi in San Francisco; despite being a local, I'm an A's fan and don't pay attention to the stadium name changes (as it seems to almost yearly). But yes, I can confirm the sushi at Petco and Safeco are very well received). I think Oakland serves it as well, but you have to work to get it. One thing in common: These are all temperate climate settings; I'm not so sure about DC, even early this season wasn't the east coast gripped in the beginnings of the miserable summer? Ugh.

This appears to be the group challenge where each puts up a dish. My favorite of these later challenges, despite real enmity that can never be rivaled on a competitive show of REAL talents, was the 7 Deadly Sins challenge.

As a baseball geek who has visited numerous stadiums (won't try the Latin plural) around the country, I actually look forward to this challenge.

[mac]

I disagree that Alex was a class act. I wasn't impressed by his cocking, and the only win came with considerable controversy. But his treatment of the servers in restaurant wars was atrocious. If you do not invest in your staff they have no reason to invest in you, and face it the menu may be intriguing, but the recommendation from the server is often what sells the dish. Another fact is the food is fabulous & service poor you will probably give a restaurant another try, but if the food was awful & the service was great, you'll tip the server good but you won't go back. Alex was way over-due to go home, and though I live close enough to visit his restaurant, I won't because of the attitude he fostered on air, he wanted to be a "bad boy" but he didn't have the charm or the talent to pull it off.

[EdT.]

@mac - I would caution against reading too much into how a contestant is portrayed on Top Chef (or any other Reality TV contest show, for that matter.) Remember that a whole lotta footage is left on the cutting room floor, which means we see only the data that the editors/producers want us to see - they are trying to tell a story, and "drama sells" when it comes to Reality TV.

Even Lisa H (as d-baggy as she was during her season) was probably not as one-dimensional as we saw on the show.

~EdT.

[dach]

This episode looked like both burnout and lack of creativity.

Tiffany winning gyro dish looked like last season MikeI gyro dish he made in the cookout challenege.

Not surprised. Angelo is the only one with the skills to pull off something 'top chef' level creative. The judges where clearly disappointed with Angelo, complimenting the skill demonstrated in Angelo's dish but pointing out the obvious lack of creativity.

The only ones I thought where creative, not looking like their base dish, was kelly kung pao shrimp as soup and Alex veal parm as meat entree.

[timothy]

I agree with Mac. Alex's cocking was kind of annoying. Underneath the cockiness, however, I kind of saw glimpses of a good guy who was trying to be tough to compensate for his insecurity. He kind of had a scared kid quality, and thus, he made me want to give him a big ol' hug and tell him life was going to pick up. Don't get me wrong; I'm not defending his cocking, but I guess I'm just saying he probably wasn't as big a cock as he came across on television.

[Duffy]

Well, just finished 10 straight hours on Bravo's marathon. In watching them straight through, several observations.

Angelo's slide becomes obvious. The wheels fell off about three episodes back, and gradually through the current show, his lack of steam is becoming more apparent. The elves even caught Tiffany commenting on it. Could be that he caught the same midstream malaise that did in Jen last season.

Kelly's improvement is not as dramatic as Tiffany's, but there has been a solid maturation on her part as well. I think it is obvious from Tom's comments that her faults that have appeared have not been such that she was ever in any danger of being sent home. They have not been nearly as serious as the flubs of Ed and Kevin when they have landed in the bottom. Moreover, she has done some remarkable cooking with remarkable aplomb in the more recent episodes. How many think that they could put together a deconstructed and then camouflaged Chinese dish such that it would still be recognizable at the table, by reading some ingredients off a sauce bottle, and then still place in the honors?? Or foresee the problems with chafing dishes, make midstream, intelligent changes to her menu, and still place in the honors?? Or calmly accept the criticism of a dish that someone else finished and (apparently) didn't taste, without complaint or attempt to pass the buck? This lady is a remarkable chef with a great sense of self confidence and personal dignity.

Ed somehow avoided the sash of the villain despite his repeated serious bad mouthing of all the chefs except Tiffany. Each episode has Ed zapping a different chef -- not good spirited smack talk, but downright mean spirited slams. With friends like him, enemies are superfluous.

All said, I think it now goes
(1) Tiffany,
(2) Kelly,
(3) Angelo,
(4) Kevin,
(5) Ed, and
(6) Amanda

[Polybus]

Okay, I've been thinking about it for five days and I'm finally ready to weigh in as well. I have to agree with Duffy down the line.

1) Tiffany
2) Kelly
3) Angelo
4) Kevin
5) Ed
6) Amanda

[ally]

I can't give up on Angelo being in the top two, and I'm thinking his fall from grace is temporary. And maybe now Kelly's sense of refinement will be more in keeping with the final challenges. But to be honest, 3-5 are a crapshoot imo.

1. Tiffany
2. Angelo
3. Kelly
4. Kevin
5. Ed
6. Amanda

[Bart]

Not going to stray far from what the others have said, although I think Kevin deserves to be up slightly higher.

1. Tiffany
2. Angelo
3. Kevin
4. Kelly
5. Ed
6. Amanda

Honestly, at this point, it really should be:

1. Tiffany
2. Angelo
3. Kevin
3. Kelly
3. Ed
6 Amanda