Top Chef - S8E15 Postmortem

Never been so happy to see the Top Chef Twist Envelope™.

Exactly what I was hoping it would be. Wish granted. I'm okay with somebody moving on with a challenge like that. But not going home. A fine finish.

Well, result excepted. But that's a matter of personal preference, and not in any way an indictment of the process that got them there.

Very much looking forward to the finale. If you'd told me a month ago, I would have been supremely annoyed. But I want to see the food, and Mike's been bringing it, so I'm happy to have him here.

One more Power Rankings coming shortly... Discuss!

UPDATE : Hokay, folks... after a brief cooling-off period, comments are back on. I don't want to get into setting rules and regulations or anything like that, nor do I think it's necessary. But perhaps a quick reminder that I'd like to keep this mostly topical, related to the show and, above all, civil is in order. I don't mind a little chatter. I love that this is a a real little community, and I want you to feel like you can put your feet up. And it isn't ALL about the food. Personalities are a part of the show, of course. But lengthy tangents or getting all TMZ on the contestants is pushing it a bit, I think. Last night was a first, and I've no doubt it'll prove to be a grand exception. Sorry for the shutdown, and thanks as always for making this a fun place to hang out!

Comments

[garik16]

I really hope this twist re-balances this challenge, as this is totally unfair.

Richard-> Dessert, a top chef's bane.
Antonia-> Miso Soup, etc. (Way out of her comfort zone)

and there's Mike.....Fried Chicken. Seriously. WTF.

[Cousin Sam]

are Mike and Antonia *really* cousins, or has that just become a long-running gag?

[mncharm]

Richard killed it. Well deserved win; he's been dealing all season.

Watching this on closed captions, bc Bravo's sound is not working on my cable system. KILLING ME.

[attheapollo]

i'm a huge fan of the twist!!!!!

[garik16]

Well Mike v Richard. Antonia got a raw deal in that she never had a real shot to avoid the twist.....while Mike had no business not avoiding the twist (Fried Chicken with Biscuits. Seriously).

Disappointingly unfair challenge for Antonia. Fortunately, Blais rocked it.

Looks like Art Smith is among the final judges.

[Karen B]

not unexpected, but soooooo bummed. I really wanted Antonia to go all the way. Mike sure had the luck-Fried Chicken and biscuits and gravy- cooking it for someone who never ate it at home? vs Morimoto's hoem cooked Japanese food. Oh Well, so it goes.

[Canuck]

I really liked the twist. I wish they used it more often in elimination scenarios.

I knew Antonia was gone about halfway through the episode when she burst into tears. It was a sad, sinking feeling, because you knew she was gone, and there was nothing that could be done about it. She did get a raw deal in terms of the final dinners, which is why the twist was the right thing to do: give her another chance to avoid a raw deal.

I think happy Richard's come back. All it took was winning a challenge. He seemed really satisfied with his dish, and was justly rewarded. I'm excited to see who he picks for his squad in the finale...I bet Dale and Fabio find their way there.

I like the format for the finale, too. Running a dream restaurant? Creating your own ultimate vision for one night? That seems sufficiently epic.

Wait, do I actually like everything? Am I not cynical enough? Maybe I should hate on the Quickfire.

[Dreamboat]

The elves are at it again -- grrrr.

In season 4 and 5 I usually knew who was going home because they showed a clip of Padma looking at the chef while she said PPYKAG. I mentioned it once on this blog, but I am sure I was not the only fan who noticed. They stopped doing this .. until now!!! The clip they showed at the end of this episode showed her looking AT a chef and saying they won. WTH?? Why would they do that??

Maybe it is a trick. Maybe the do a little switcheroo before she says it. Maybe they did different takes with her looking at each chef. I don't know but I am not happy!!

I will post more about THIS episode once I get over my irritation at the elves.

[dave_p]

An early Antonia interview showed her crying, and I was thinking, 'where's this coming from, you haven't even... oh!' And I knew she was a goner. Good job again, Bravo.

That hamachi looked nasty--I can't even believe she put that in her mouth. Do they not provide sashimi-grade (the tuna looked it, at least), or fresh caught fish? In the Bahamas?

Miso... I'm assuming they went shopping, or they provided some, right? It's not like Antonia's going to make it from scratch. Hell, I wonder what she did for the dashi. Really impressed with her results, though it sounded like she missed the subtleties.

Looks like Antonia's "disadvantage" and Mikey's "advantage" were nullified after Richard's win and they were on even footing again. I wonder who would've been sent home on the basis of just their original dishes?

Richard absolutely killed it. Goulash & strudel? I wouldn't even know where to start. Good luck to him in the finals.

--
Dave

[pottymouth princess]

You can't tell who Padma was saying "You are Top Chef" to because they angled the guys and did not show where she was situated in relation to them.

Talk about screwed. Separating rice grains vs. chicken and biscuits? Puhleeeeease. Even Blais would have screwed up Morimoto's menu in some way. Not much use for his precious LN in the bento box.

I can't stand either of the cretins left. I'll be busy all summer, so now is as good of a time as any to check out of Top Chef for good. Peace, out.

[Bill]

As much as I respect Tom I find his dislike of spicy food annoying. Too bad Bourdain didn't have the deciding vote.

[Redpoint]

Skip the fact that I'm drying my eyes, and on to the Mike hatred . . Describing Michelle Bernstein as one of the top "female" chefs.

[Kenny]

I still want your pasta, man.

Well, maybe not as fun as I though it might be... but, a fun diversion.

Long live Antonia! In post Top Chef glory at that.

PS --- I'll let go of the pasta and move on....

[JJH2]

I hate to see Antonia go. I liked her a lot the first season and loved her this season. She cooks food that I think I'd love to eat. She has a really positive personality and takes the show in stride, and she has a knack for navigating difficult challenges. I was all set to cry foul when she pulled Morimoto and had, I think, a far more difficult challenge than either Mike or Richard. If they called the elimination challenge just based on their main courses, it looked to me like Antonia was clearly in last place.

But then... they really gave her a shot, and she just narrowly missed it. And ultimately I'm OK with that, because as much as I dislike Mike's personality, he's really brought it since getting to the Bahamas, and I give him a lot of credit.

In a lot of ways, this has been a very frustrating season. This is not the finale I wanted to see. Richard is there, which he should be. Everyone else I would have been happy to see in the finale - Tiffani, Jen, Antonia, Dale, or Angelo - all fallen before their time. That's the nature of the game, but it's disappointing just the same.

[mncharm]

Richard a cretin? That's just sour grapes that your favorite lost, because there really is no rational basis for that analysis.

[doktarr]

I'm really glad they did that last challenge bit. I was saying early in the cooking that Antonia was going home and that it was pretty crappy to go home in the next-to-last challenge for not being able to execute a specific Japanese dish.

Without that last bit, the episode would have left a bad taste in my mouth, but with it, I found it to be a very nice episode.

[mar]

So much going through my head now...

Richard's food was the only food I wanted to eat in the EC. But then, I grew up eating goulash and spaetzle and strudel. It wouldn't be my last meal, but it has great sentimental value, I guess. Much as I love me some fried chicken, Mike's did not appeal. And Antonia, poor Antonia. She had the hardest road in these challenges and just barely missed. I was practically crying at the end. Clearly I need to forgo my TC cocktail.

Go Blais, beat the pants off Mikey in the finale. I fear it's not happening, though. The last preview shot of Blais looking happy and Mike looking worried? Yeah, uh huh. Right.

Final challenge - not sure what to make of it. My initial feeling is disappointment. Not "cook the best meal of your life", but "create your dream restaurant". So much more than food goes into that, and I want the finale to be about the FOOD. And with multiple former contestants working for each finalist, the possibility of difficulties there is terrible, though I like to believe they will all be professional and work for their finalist. I hope I'm wrong and it is a fabulous finale.

Still terribly disappointed for Antonia.

[Madeye Gamgee]

Got to agree with mncharm. I've met Richard Blais in several of his restaurants, and labeling him a "cretin" is, well, cretinesque. He thoroughly respects his competition -- maybe to the point of apparent paranoia -- but don't confuse competitiveness with misogyny.

[Independent George]

I'm sorry, guys. I jinxed it for all of us. I always liked Antonia, and was hoping for a S4 reunion in the finale.

I would have been really pissed if Antonia was eliminated on her tuna, as it wasn't her fault the hamachi was bad. In the end, though, the 'twist' was perfectly fair.

I actually thought Mike's chicken & empanada looked & sounded fantastic, but yeah, it's really annoying when the batter falls off the chicken. Also: how does a chicken dry out when you sous vide it? I thought the whole point to the technique is that it's pretty damned hard to overcook something at 200 degrees.

Redpoint - I half expected Mike to ask her how long she'd been a female chef...

[Canuck]

I'll echo these pro-Richard comments. Maybe I'm a cretin myself, but when I look at Richard, I don't see a jerk. I see a guy who is absorbed in the completely admirable pursuit of being the best at what he does. He's always been willing to help out other chefs with problems, and I certainly think he's funny. I'm rooting for him to win.

[Independent George]

Also: I was convinced that Richard was getting the axe since the first interview clip, where his eyes were very obviously wet. This was true in every other clip afterwards, too.

[Kenny]

Sigh. Sigh. SIGH!

I am sighing, but ok with it all.

It's still going to be fun to watch the last episode.

By hook or by crook , dammit. It will be fun! ;-)

[Dreamboat]

I have recovered from my earlier rant. I am sorry, but I was pissed that the elves did that. It is just as bad as the losing chef crying during the episode (like they did with Antonia and Dale and many others).

In general I like the "Last Meal" challenges. Morimoto was supremely hard. And then to not have sushi-grade seafood available was tough. For this reason I am glad that the chefs had the final cook-off for the "last bite".

But this judges table was very different than any before. This time it was not the 3 regular judges plus guest judge, but all the diners participating. Has that happened before? I don;t think so but I could be mistaken.

Antonia -- during her season I was not a big fan. I was not against her, it is just that she did not do anything that endeared me to her. I thought she cooked well, but I was neither upset or happy when she left her first season. But this season was different. I felt much more connected to her. I felt like I "knew" her (as much as you can a reality TV star) in a way that I never felt in her season. I am sorry that she will not be there to cook her food in the finale because I bet it would be awesome.

I was soooo relieved when they announced that Blais was cooking in the finale. The did not say he won, but I guess he did. As I have said before, I am a big Blais fan!

And I cannot discount Mikey. He came prepared. He has won the majority of the challenges in the Bahamas. He came PREPARED.

I am looking forward to next weeks challenge. I want to see them both bring it!!

[Trillium]

very happy for Richard, glad to see that he was back on his game in today's episode! hopefully, it gives him momentum and a little extra confidence to not get down on himself in the finale.

very disappointed that Antonia went home. I sure hope they don't make her come back as a sous chef next week.

very disappointed that Mike has an opportunity to perhaps take the Top Chef mantle. don't think that he's anywhere in Richard's class as a chef and as a human being, he's very low class.

[dan_boston]

I also noticed the 'female chef' comment. It seemed idiotic - who gives a crap whether she's a female chef or not?

I would get a little annoyed when Carla and Tiffany would constantly bring up gender...but hey, I know that manufactured (and un-manufactured) tribalism is pretty natural, and it makes sense to take your motivation where you can find it.

But Mike just really seems to find every opportunity to aggrandize his own (until the Bahamas) minimal accomplishments while seizing every opportunity to make extremely petty little digs. I don't think it's wholly damning, but it does make him pretty distasteful.

So here's a dig of my own: Who trained you over the break, Mikey? Because you really don't seem to be cooking your food any more. It just seems like we are seeing a lot less of Mikey the pretty boring executive chef, and a lot more of Mikey, the talented and competent Sous.

I guess I'm a little burned out - most of the chef's I definitely wanted to see at this point in the season are gone; Tiffani dropped out so early, as did Jen. Angelo and Dale would have been fantastic. Marcel just never made much of a showing, and also doesn't seem to have learned about modulating himself.

I was very happy to see Carla and Antonia develop so well - while Carla still had some confidence issues, and was occasionally less strategic about her risk taking than I would have liked, she put forth some great looking meals. Antonia, whom I dinged in her season for just not seeming creative enough, also seemed this season to have given her repetoire the expansion it needed.

So there were a whole host of people I would have liked to have seen in the finals this season against Blaise. I'd just be a lot happier to know who actually made it.

[Sprugman]

Good episode. Glad Richard got the win, and seemingly by a fair degree. It was really obvious, both from Antonia's interviews and from Mike's who won the (fun & redemptive) twist.

[Jon Olsen]

Hey pottymouth, forget you! Whatever your problem is with Blais, you discredit it and discredit yourself. "Cretins."

Whatevs, princess.

[bfish]

dan_boston, you said exactly what's on my mind. I'm still following and interested but not nearly as engaged or enthusiastic as I would be if those you mentioned had made it further -- particularly Angelo and Dale T. Good to see Richard pull it together but he is not facing the cream of the crop.

[pottymouth princess]

@Jon, would you prefer "condescending ass?" Because with his constant reminders that he is better than...well...anyone who ever cooked on TC, including the Masters, I'm fine with that shading of my chosen adjective.

The appellation is just more obvious with Isabella.

We're all entitled to our opinions and this season has been the Richard Blais Redemption Tour. My husband, who had no idea who any of these people were, was yelling at both of these guys to shut up (for different reasons) during the first episode he watched.

No worries here; most of the world's greatest chefs are also the world's biggest cretins (I would use stronger language but out of respect to Dom I purposefully stopped there).

[Danny]

I didn't like this episode because it seemed that whoever got Morimoto (love love love his restaurant in Philly) was at a distinct disadvantage. He wanted Sashimi and rice. Unless you can obtain sashimi-grade seafood it is not going to be terrific. And then even if you do get awesome fish, to make the dish correctly would involve slicing the fish correctly and then doing nothing to it. That leaves the rice and the miso soup to be creative with. Morimoto was clear that he wanted perfectly cooked sushi-style white rice so there is not much room to be creative beyond maybe finding a substitute for the sweet vinegar. Miso soup - again Morimoto stressed that he liked the traditional soup so creativity is hampered. Given all that I think Antonia did a great job.

Question. Is it appropriate for somebody who doesn't like "spicy" food to be a judge in a cooking competition?

Mike's dish seemed subpar and the obvious loser. He made fried chicken that was dry and had the coating falling off it. The two best things about fried chicken: Moist chicken and great crunchy coating that you eat at the same time that you eat the moist chicken.

Finally, this has bugged me before. If they are supposed to make one bite of food or an Amuse Bouche then it should be one bite of food. What Antonia and Mike produced was a small appetizer, not a single bite of deliciousness.

Can't really find a reason to root for either of the two remaining contestants. I was a big fan of Richard's during his season but not this season both for his attitude and his food. His dish tonight looked yummy but liquid nitrogen yet again? It's becoming his version of Marcel's foam. And Mike is just loathsome......sexist, homophobic and egotistical.....what a great package. Bring on the crickets and TCM.

[Independent George]

I love the fact that we're all defending Richard against the 'cretin' remark, but not Mike (even though Matthew, the one person here who actually knows him personally, has testified on his behalf). I've made my share of snarky comments about Mike, and find him overbearing and mildly offensive at times, but I think we're overdoing it with the personal hatred of people we're watching on television.

[doktarr]

I think Mike hams it up big-time for the camera in those interviews, but the other competitors seem to enjoy his company most of the time. I've known a lot of people who talk trash and act like clowns, but have a heart of gold. I don't know for sure that Mike Isabella is one of those people, but I certainly don't know he isn't.

[Independent George]

Pottymouth Princess: I propose a case study for you. Get a good night's sleep. Have a nice lunch tomorrow, come home eat dinner, enjoy some time with the family, then log in and read your comments over again with fresh eyes. Try to look at them from the perspective of complete strangers who've never met you before, and whose only knowledge of you is what you just wrote. Think about how you come across now to we internet strangers, vs the people close to you in real life.

Think about that, then think about how we've all reacted to Richard, Mike, Marcel, Ilan, Hung, Steffan, and every other villain or pseurdo-villain that's ever shown up on Top Chef.

[Berz]

How was Mike's QF a "one pot" dish? He seemed to place sliced greens in a sautee pan while his meat was in the pressure cooker, and served his dish atop salad that was not prepared in the pressure cooker, as far as I can tell. The win gave him the chance to assign "last suppers" AND 5,000. His fried chicken was a "fail" in my opinion. SOOO disappointed in the result.

[Roger C]

There's no such thing as an official "sushi" or "sashimi" grade of fish. The FDA recommends that fish meant for raw consumption has a "parasite destruction guarantee", which means it has to be deep frozen for a period of time sufficient enough to kill parasites. Usually this happens on the boat right after the catch. The "sushi-grade" fish you get can still go off if it's not handled or stored properly, or used in a timely fashion, which sounds like what happened to Antonia's hamachi.

[Independent George]

His dish tonight looked yummy but liquid nitrogen yet again? It's becoming his version of Marcel's foam.

I take issue with this statement. Heck, the first part of the sentence belies the Marcel comparison; the fact that the dish was so well received indicates that he is using it not as a crutch, but as a means of genuinely improving his food. The fact that it's not readily apparent how he even used it just by looking at the food tells us pretty clearly that it was used for something specific, and not to dazzle or distract.

Looking at the recipe, the only place where it makes sense for when it was used is step 4 of the streudel - too quickly cool the filling so it could be added to the pastry. That sounds perfectly defensible to me.

[Independent George]

On the other hand, the recipe seems to be only tangentally related to what he actually prepared, according to Gail:

Richard's flavors were that of a pure goulash –- paprika, beef, sour cream, spaetzle – all of these flavors that really go together well for a reason and are indicative of Austria. That was delicious. But he put his twist on it. He did a dehydrated sour cream, and he cooked the goulash in a pressure cooker. The strudel had this dehydrated tarragon cream, which was similar to the dehydrated sour cream, it was crumbly and dry, but when you ate it with the apple strudel and it melted in your mouth, it became really creamy, and had lovely texture and flavor.

[anonymous]

I really wanted Antonia to move on instead of Mike!

Whats funny though is, I ate at VOLT, Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant in late December, and my boyfriend and I both thought we saw Mike Isabella in the kitchen and were like "why would he be there?" That was definitely around the time he would have been preparing for the finale. Now, watching these episodes, I think you can definitely see some of Bryan's influence in his cooking.

[Krazikarl]

Man, you could really see how hard the editors are pushing the "Richard Redemption" story. Even Tom made multiple comments and asked multiple questions to Richard on the subject.

[marmalade]

It's common knowledge that Bryan Volt is an investor in Isabella's new place. Bryan, Jen Carroll and Mike are all in the DC area, and since Mike admitted he worked with Jen to hone his fish skills, it is not a giant leap of logic to assume that Mike did some time at Volt.

That was actually apparent to me last week with the treatment of the pineapple.

[Danny]

Roger C, while there may be no official definition of sashimi/sushi grade fish (I have no idea if there is or isn't)it is a term commonly used by those who procure the fish and is frequently seen on menus. It may be like pornography - you can't define it but you know what it is when you see it. If you put sashimi grade tuna next to regular tuna you can readily see the difference just as there is a difference between ebi and regular shrimp. The hamachi that Antonia had looked funky and would not be something you would see served in a good sushi restaurant. There is also a big difference in price at fish markets between regular fish and "sashimi-grade" (there, I put quotes around it). The daily auctions at Japanese fish markets certainly shows that.

Independent George, I got the impression that the nitrogen was used with the sour cream. Used too much or not too much is, I suppose, subjective. S2 of Top Chef, the other chefs made fun of Marcel's many foams but the judges didn't seem to mind it. It seems that sometimes MG is used when something less complex would do just as well if not better. If I remember correctly, in his season, Richard Sous Vided (past tense of sous vide?) salmon and it come out not as good as if he had cooked it in a more traditional way and this was pointed out by the judges. Like I said, it is subjective, but to me MG is used by Richard (and sometimes the other contestants) at times when it seems just like something showy and not as good as a traditional method. I'm a little fuzzy but there was a QF this season where Richard brought out the nitrogen and the judge criticized it (was it a breakfast challenge and Gail, I think, said that it hurt to eat it and in a confessional Richard said something about sometimes you need to feel pain in order to enjoy food). If this was not Richard I apologize.

I was a big fan of Richard in his season. There was a sense of joy and playfullness both in his food and his attitude. I miss the Richard who made an edible glacier at the Museum and who created Perplexed Tofu. He was wonderful to watch and I always wanted to taste his food. This season, it feels to me like a lot of the joy is gone. There is a tenseness in both his food and attitude. It is hard to imagine the Richard of his season making only one dish with two other chefs in order to be safer regarding elimination.

I miss the Richard of that season. I miss his food and I miss the twinkle in his eye. I don't like seeing him look miserable and worried all the time and to me, it has restrained his food in some sense. I much prefer Richard winning over Mike because Mike's food has been overall uninteresting, the shift in his food in the Bahamas seems strange and I find his comments loathsome. Saying something sexist is not okay because he's clowning around. I'm someone who was a victim of that kind of playfullness when I was a kid and there was nothing funny about it. I do want Richard to win but I won't be cheering in the way that I would have during his season if he had won (and I thought Stephanie deserved the win).

[i like food]

Hi, first time poster, long time lurker...I feel like I "know" many of you! :)

Richard said during his presentation that the sour cream was frozen (?) with LN, but he utilzed the tank by dumping its contents onto something during prep. I guess that was the strudel?

Richard is a lot of things, but I don't think anyone opinions about cheftestants from Ken to Mike I. should be personally attacked. I've been on boards since the '90's and this kind of thing is inevitable. As someone else pointed out, notice how the blogger is being attacked for her position on one cheftestant, but not the other.

I personally can't stand either of them, be it their food or personality. I preferred Antonia's dishes; while simpler, they can be considered "starter" dishes for newbies. Her fare reminds me of a healthier version of Kevin Gillaspie's heart attack inducing comfort food. THAT is a guy I would have backed in this competition.

[paula]

I realized last night that I'll be traveling next week and will miss the finale. And then, after watching the show, I realized that I don't care.

It's all about the food that gets you to the finale, and clearly Mike did some schooling with three of the four horsemen before the Bahamas, and if his food was better than Antonia's last night (besides her ridiculous handicap in the actual EC challenge), then so be it. It's a game, Mike's playing it right, blah, blah, blah.

However: I feel pretty confident assuming that Mike is a dyed-in-the-wool sexist and not someone who just plays one on TV. Go back and listen to some of his interviews when he throws off comments about "the girls" or even last night's "compliment" that MB is one of the best female chefs. There's no irony when he's saying those things; he's not mugging for the camera (though he does, indeed, play up the cocky bravado in a lot of other situations). Don't tell me he has female friends so he can't be sexist (Victoria Jackson has gay friends, too).
Watch those clips, and when he says "girls" or the "female" qualifier, replace it in your head with "Asians." Or "gays." Would so many people shrug that off the same way they shrug off his boys-are-better-than-girls bias? As a "girl," I'm so very, very, very tired of that persisent attitude.

You can tell me I'm overreacting, and that it's just a TV show. Well, as a TV personality, Mike does not entertain me. He just makes me mad. And I don't want to watch next week because I'm going to have to look at and listen to that jackass fully 50% of the time. If Sour Richard wins, good for him, but Mike will still be an ass and he'll still crow about how he came in second to the best. If Mike wins--well, I can't afford another TV when my shoe goes through the one I have.

This is my self-righteous way of saying I'm really, REALLY sad to see Antonia go.

[Independent George]

If he has been training with three of the four horsemen, I do give a lot of credit to Mike for it. He's effectively been staging at some top restaurants, which is extremely hard to do at his age. Most people wouldn't - and don't. It requires a certain level of humility which we haven't seen before.

What I find interesting is the way Tiffani effectively went 'soft' and was eliminated early, while Richard went hard and pushed his way through to the end. Dale went soft and did really well before flaming out. Jenn, I think, just got cocky.

[Danny]

Paula, I know what you mean. To those who say he's just kidding, I ask myself, with all the things there are to joke about why does he choose to joke about things in a sexist and homophobic way? I spend an hour on stage joking and somehow in 29 years of performing I've managed not to make those kind of jokes and still be successful and funny. Imagine, during the oyster shucking competition when Mike said (I paraphrase) that there was no way he was going to be beat by a girl he instead said that there was no way he was going to be beat by someone who is black. Imagine the uproar. Would anyone have said, "Oh, he's just kidding"? Somehow sexism and homophobia are considered a safe, funny way to behave. It's not. I know that it is all about the food but it still sickens me that he might win. Somehow I can't imagine winning making him a more sensitive and enlightened person.

Judging from this season, Mike's kind of thinking may be quite prevalent in the food industry. If it is, it would certainly go a long way in showing why professional cooking is so male-dominated. Working in a kitchen full of Mikes (who are just kidding, ha ha) would certainly make for an uncomfortable work environment.

I know that it is "legal" for him to have spent 3 months getting coached before going to the Bahamas but if this turns out to be true, doesn't it take away from the win? Yes, people spend a year making one dish over and over to prepare for the Bocuse but that is a very peculiar and rarefied type of competition and everyone involved understands that the chefs will be spending a year practicing.

I'm sorry for writing such long posts that veer off topic but it is a subject I feel very passionately about. I'm going to start following the Tweet rules and limit the number of words I use.

[rab01]

Mike was either being stupid in constantly trying to throw stumbling blocks at Antonia (he should've tried to hamper the person he thought was his biggest competition) or being fatalistic about his own skills (nothing he threw at Richard would've been enough to knock him out and he couldn't risk competing against Antonia on even ground).

Danny -- the edible glacier wasn't Richard it was the "culinary boner" guy who left for a box lunch.

IG -- if you want to give credit to Mikey for staging at this point in his career, what kind of credit do you want to give Richard for staging now, even after the competition is over?

[Independent George]

IG -- if you want to give credit to Mikey for staging at this point in his career, what kind of credit do you want to give Richard for staging now, even after the competition is over?

Way, way, waaaaay more credit. He's got two babies and a successful business. Who the heck stages at this point of his career?

[Independent George]

Apologies for the double-post - rab01, do you have a link? I'd love to read the deatails. Mike staging in preparation for the finale is one thing - Richard staging after the competition is akin to a young partner at a growing mid-tier law firm taking a leave of absence to clerk for a Supreme Court justice.

[nomnomnom]

I think throwing stuff at Antoinia was the right call. Mike knew Blais could probably suffer most anything and still outcook him.

Having him paired up with Carla would have been funny though.

[Danny]

Thanks Rab01. Now that I think about it, was the Museum episode the one where Richard did the Sous Vide with the salmon? And now I can't remember which challenge Spike made the soup for (as opposed to the one where he wasn't allowed to make the soup). Things blur.

[Anon Man]

The envelope did make the episode, which was great. Dig deep and live. Love it, even if I would have preferred Antonia over Mike. I wonder though, if that envelope was always comning, or if it was being held in case the result was what it was. Redaing the comments, it looked like Antonia's dish was easily the worst, but also clearly the hardest of the three. What if she had blown Mike's socks off and finished second? Maybe they would have 86'd the envelope. Just musing.

But, agree with the others, the intervew about half way through where she started crying was the dead giveaway. Booo.

[Bart]

I enjoyed this episode. And, maybe it's just me and my mood, or maybe it was the editing, but Richard seemed a lot less annoying this episode. Before this season began, I was pulling for three chefs to win it all: Carla, Richard and Tiffani Faison. I'm still pulling hard for Richard to win, because I think he's proven to be a Top Chef, but at this point, I wouldn't mind seeing Jersey Mike take home the crown.

Jersey represent. First Kevin Sbraga, now Isabella.

Really sorry to see Antonia go. But then, I was also really sorry to see Angelo Sosa go, Dale Talde go, Tiffani, Carla, Jen Carroll, etc...

Funny how it comes down to season 4 versus season 6, the two strongest seasons. Of course, had you told me before the lineup was announced, I would have guessed Blais and either Bryan Voltaggio or Kevin Gillespie. Barring them, Jen Carroll. Isabella's strong run is unexpected but definitely welcome.

Still, seeing Tiffani win would have been deeply satisfying from a storytelling perspective, and seeing Carla win would have made a lot of us here on Skillet Doux very, very happy.

That said, I'm on Team Richard for the finale, but as long as both contestants put forth strong dishes and make it extremely difficult for the judges to decide, I'll be a happy camper.

[rab01]

IG - Sorry, I don't have a link. In his twitter feed, Blais responded to a compliment from Chris Cosentino by reminding him that he still wanted to arrange a time when he could stage at Cosnetino's restaurant. I guess Blais wants to learn more about how to cook offal. He was also talking about staging during an upcoming trip to London.

[Bart]

By the way, from Gail Simmons' interview on Bravo's blog:

"Bravotv.com: Did you think Mike had the easiest dish? Even Tom seemed to think so.

GS: Well in theory yes, but it depends on what you do with it. It was American, so it's definitely something that most people are familiar with. I would be surprised to find a top chef in this country who hasn't had fried chicken at some point in their life. It was certainly the most familiar. I don't think it was the easiest, because clearly it wasn't perfect. Boy, do I wish Carla Hall was around for this challenge. She would have nailed that fried chicken."

I wish that too, Gail!

[Independent George]

Yeah, I don't think All-Stars is complete without Brian V or Pork Jesus, but it's important to remember these aren't TV stars, but actual people who have lives & businesses to attend to. I'm actually surprised this many people returned for All-Stars.

My preseason top 4 were (1) Richard (2) Tiffani (3) Jennifer (4) Dale, so I'm in no position to criticize anybody else's predictions.

[Anon Man]

My top 4 were Richard, Tiffani, Angelo and Dale L., and that worked out well...

[dave_p]

A few things that occurred to me while reading the comments:

I really loved having all 7 diners participate in the JT. It would've been criminal to have Morimoto & Bernstein not participate in the judging their own last meals (assuming Puck would've been the standard guest judge). The final voting (the 3-3 tie seems a *bit* contrived) was awesome too. Everyone has their say in the discussion, but at the end of the day, you vote for the winner.

The "non-amuse" bugged me too, but most ppl seem to be okay w/multiple bite dishes of this style. I still think it takes more skill to concentrate all the flavor you want into a single bite of food, rather than a small plate. Still, both "cheated" at that so it was a fair competition, at least.

There's no FDA guidelines for sushi-grade anything, but there are usually accepted practices, temps & times frozen, etc. That hamachi looked nothing of the sort. Speaking of sashimi, after reading Gail's blog, I'm really wondering what Antonia did w/the tuna--she says she tinkered too much with it. And I'm *really* curious as to how she made her miso.

As for the various anti-X contestant comments... haters are going to hate. It's the internet, folks.

--
Dave

[BK]

Man, I'd love to see Wolfgang Puck on Top Chef Masters. What a blast that would be. Remember how much fun he had on Iron Chef? (Where he destroyed Morimoto in Battle Egg)

[Lon]

What really struck me about this episode is the "last supper." It was all classic food, the things chefs enjoyed when they were children.

I suppose it's because they are so used to preparing and eating "fancy" foods now.

I had never heard of the "Last Supper" book. Need to look that up.

[Canuck]

For my money, my last supper would probably be the potato kugel, beef brisket and matzah ball soup my grandmother always made. It may not be the best food I've ever eaten in the world, but it's what reminds me of home.

[Independent George]

Dom already has a pr0nographic post on what my last supper would be. I can say without exaggeration that, in the right circumstances, I might be willing to kill for xiao long bao. I don't think I'm alone, either.

[Independent George]

Aaaagh. Forgot to close the tag.

[Bart]

My last supper would be Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by my mom, with her turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans, with a glass of wine picked out by my dad.

They, of course, would have to join me for the meal, as would my grandparents (all of my grandparents are dead, but I'm sure there's a "temporary resurrection" clause in there somewhere) and my boyfriend.

Hey, might as well make it a good one.

[Canuck]

@IG: Holy wow do those look good. I've never had the pleasure of eating xiao long bao before, and I highly doubt there's any where I'm from. Sigh.

[attheapollo]

just to give you all a laugh, here were my preseason picks as well: 1) Richard....after that it gets embarrassing....2) Jen Carroll 3) Dale Levitski (sleeper pick) and 4) Marcel Vigneron...oh well, at least the guy i was most sure of is still up for the title!

[matthew]

My heart is really heavy today for Antonia. It's disappointing to see her get so close to the end and not make it. I have been around her only a couple of times, but she is genuine and very talented. A real sweetheart.

I'm bouncing around a bit, so forgive me for non-linear comments.

I agree with those who think the one-bite (aka tapas plate) was a good way to determine the second finalist. I was a little surprised that Antonia didn't tone down her curry after receiving comments in the QF that the spices were too strong. Nevertheless, I thought Antonia was through to the finale.

I have to give it to Mike. He is cooking his ass off in the finale episodes so far. I am going to stay out of the discussion about whether Mike is cooking "his own food," solely because I haven't really had Mike's food before to know the difference between what's his concept and one he borrowed while training for the finale. It's all rather subjective without knowing for sure. As much as it got to me during the episode, I have to give Mike credit for playing the game. If I were Mike, I probably would have given Antonia Morimoto as well, simply because I would think Richard would do something inventive with his food. (Read, I don't think Mike thought he could eliminate Richard based on the challenge, so he honed in on getting rid of Antonia -- based on the cuisines.) It, too, call bullshit, though, with Mike saying that he had the hardest dish. Not everyone can fry chicken well, but the idea of making fried chicken and biscuits is far less daunting, in my mind, than making Austrian or Japanese fare, particularly food connected to childhood food memories. Michelle Bernstein's memory was from childhood, but nothing prepared by her parents. There was clearly more room for license.

As Independent George mentioned earlier, I have been around Mike a number of times. Not in close, personal situations, but out in public with his wife. He has always been friendly toward me, and never said anything remotely derogatory or untoward regarding Carla. However, Mike is a larger-than-life, perhaps center-of-attention, kind of guy. That's not a knock. Nothing wrong with being "that guy." With the clarification, I admit that, as I mentioned a couple posts back, that I am a little taken aback by the things he says on the show. I'd like to think it is stuff said in the moment, but I don't know. I can't discern what's real and what's puffery. I think that's what Carla was getting to with some of the "boys club" comments. While not universal, I think when guys get together and start talk puffing out their chests and talking a lot of shit, most women don't want to be a part of that. That's what I took from the division with the men an women in the competition. Probably only Jenn Carroll was comfortable listening to all of that blather from the guys (Mike, Fabio, Tre, Dale), whereas most of the women (Antonia, Tiffany, Tiffani, Carla) simply removed themselves from the testosterone zone. I think the flap recently in some of the press about Carla's comment on Watch What Happens Live has been overblown. Sorry, I didn't mean to linger on that, but it's been bugging me.

As for the food itself.

Antonia. Ugh. Irrespective of how she got Morimoto, she had to cook the food. I didn't get the Scotch Bonnet on the tuna. I can understand looking for some form of heat, like you'd get from wasabi, a chunk of hot pepper would probably be too much for most. (Personally, I love really spicy food, so that would have hit a note with me.) It has been said, but I'll co-sign on the head scratching about Tom Colicchio's issue with spices. It seems a bit unfair to have a judge, who openly says that he doesn't like spicy food, knock food because it's too spicy. Now, that's not to say that Antonia's one bit curry wasn't too spicy, because others commented on the heat, but I'm just saying it seems like a bias that shouldn't be there. I don't like cantaloupe, but I didn't ding Susur Lee's cold melon soup when I had it. I actually tried to appreciate the flavors and merits of the dish. Ok. End of rant.

Mike

Mike's fried chicken and "biscuits." I admit that I still don't get Mike's spin on the biscuit. Something, in my estimation, don't need to be recreated or reconstructed. Sometimes, a classic is a classic for a reason. Just make a good interpretation of the classic and all will be pleased.
As for the chicken, I am not really surprised that the chicken would have been dry, even if sous vide. In fact, it all makes sense. If you sous vide the meat, and then have to go back to fry it with the breading, 1) the breading won't stick, and 2) the meat will likely dry out because of breading is coming away from the meat. I've actually had fried chicken prepared that way, and the execution seems to be really tough. Mike's one bite looked tasty, but based on the judges comments, it seemed to lack flavor. I guess he got props for technical execution. I guess that won out over Antonia's spices. That's a tough call to make if you ask me.

Richard

I really don't have much to say here. It appears that he did a good job recreating the flavors in Puck's food memory. I am happy that he is showcasing that he's more than liquid nitrogen and crusted ___. I'm happy to see Richard in the final.

So, here we are with a two-person final episode. As long as there is good food, which appears to be the case from the previews, I'll be happy with either winner. I just hope that whomever wins does so with a healthy dose of humility. Meaning, please tone down the self-aggrandizement.

[BK]

Doesn't Richard look like Ed Grimley in this pic?
http://twitgoo.com/k5cph?cx=u

That's totally mental, I must say ...

Of course, Ed Grimley never had a hottie on each arm.

[Independent George]

I'd also add that, for my last supper, just this once, I'd feed the dog at the table. She might even enjoy it more than me.

[doktarr]

To bring back the whole Mike/"cretin" thing briefly -

I didn't mean to excuse some of his casually sexist comments, which I've noticed for some time as well. It goes back to S6, when he considered his top competition to be only the top male chefs, even after it was clear that Jen was kicking his tail. The "one of the top female chefs in the country" comment did not go unnoticed in my household, either. So yes, I think Mike is carrying around a male-dominated worldview - one that appears to be prevalent in the industry.

That said, I'm not ready to read mean-spiritedness in the way he treats the other people on the show. Yes, he teases a lot, but every interview comment we've gotten, even from his regular foils like Antonia and Jen, has said that the guy is a good friend and fun to be around. This is a far cry from the sort of genuine antagonism I saw in, say, the Ilan/Marcel relationship. Ilan's teasing of Marcel felt a lot different to me than Mike's teasing of Antonia.

In short, I'm drawing a distinction between prejudices that Mike may hold (which I'm inclined to believe do exist) and the way he treats people (which appears to be meant in good fun, and is taken that way by the recipients of his barbs).

[Skoolie]

"In short, I'm drawing a distinction between prejudices that Mike may hold (which I'm inclined to believe do exist) and the way he treats people (which appears to be meant in good fun, and is taken that way by the recipients of his barbs)."

I agree. to me it looks like he's trying to come off cute and funny and it gets misconstrued.

[Skoolie]

I loved the ending twist but hated the dorky quick fire twist.

They had the ending twist there all long. I knew when they got to judges table and the twist card hadn't been pulled out yet exactly what it was.

There were some elements of game play and strategy but the twist did help even out things. The best moves on while the other two battle out it. This isn't a reality show first but a first for top chef.

I'm thinking about if I was there and had the knowledge I have about the 3 last supper judges who would I pick and why?

Well you might be able to conclude that Morimoto is going to do something Japanese, and Wolfgang something Austrian, Michelle Bernstein is from Miami is has a lot of Latin influence. I'd pick her I go to Miami a lot and have and eat and know a lot about Latin food. Mike concluded Michelle was the best bet but who would have thought she would pick fried chicken? I would have never had guessed.

All of Mike's risks paid off. He seemed to understand that he isn't going to win if he doesn't take the risk.

Someone mentioned Mike's strategy to get Antonia out. Was it being stupid or fatalist? or could it even be a thought that Blais will choke again. We've seen Blais nerves get the best of him on some of these challenges this season. Maybe he is really terrified of loosing to her, if you buy into the fact that he really is a misogynist. (which I don't). But why did just discredit Anonia for not being able to win? She's been really strong this season, just as strong if not stronger than Blais sometimes. Just a thought.

And while we are on the subject I agree with Independent George calling anyone low class, cretin, misogynistic based on the edits of a tv show is just wrong.

I don't mind Tom's issue with spicy. In fact its hard to gauge since I'm not sitting there eating the same thing as him but different people have different palettes and that's why there is more than one judge.

From what I've seen over the years is that Tom does like spicy to an extent. I'd say he's in the realm of medium to spicy. Gail mentioned scotch bonnet. I love jalapenos, they are on the scoville scale of 2,500 to 8,000 units and scotch bonnet is at 100,000–350,000. For me too much takes away from the dish. If I wanted that much heat I'd just eat the pepper raw and sweat bullets.

He may just have a more sensitive palette than you. It doesn't make him a bad judge, just a different judge.

Antonia's Raw Deal
I agree sticking her with Morimoto was out of her comfort zone. I believe everyone would have felt that way. He was very particular. I think she tried and did the best with what she had. He main problem was not realizing that Morimoto is a client of sorts and sometimes it's better to deviate from the client and to make it your own a little more.

It's been said here before - Make the challenge fit you not the other way around. Honestly she seemed a bit intimidated by Morimoto, and who wouldn't be.

Also screwed on rotten fish. There was no shopping shown. So I have no clue if she bought that nasty Hamachi or if it was given to her by production. If she bought it herself then it is her fault. If not who the hell did they send to get the fish? I could see it looked bad in the package. I can't believe she tried it. lol. It was a good call to switch it out.

[Skoolie]

"In short, I'm drawing a distinction between prejudices that Mike may hold (which I'm inclined to believe do exist) and the way he treats people (which appears to be meant in good fun, and is taken that way by the recipients of his barbs)."

Agreed - To me it looks like he's trying to come off as cute and funny and it gets misconstrued.

Also note it seems like the women on the show do like him, except for Antonia but obviously she finally figured out his personality.

[mcbrgss]

I just wanted to mention that Dale still has the most wins.

[Skoolie]

Dale could have rocked the Morimoto challenge I think - even with stinky amberjack.

[Sweet Sue]

It's been really bugging me all season that I couldn't figure out whom Richard Blais resembles.
Then, because of the death of the late, great Elizabeth Taylor, I got it.
Blais is a little bit taller, other than that, he's a dead ringer for Mickey Rooney!
As for Isabrutto, what Paula and Danny say and then some.
Would love to watch the finale, but I'll be busy with my monthly arm waxing. Tell me how it all turns out.
In short, I'm drawing a distinction between prejudices that Mike may hold (which I'm inclined to believe do exist) and the way he treats people (which appears to be meant in good fun, and is taken that way by the recipients of his barbs
Good for you, I don't have the privilege for such magnanimity--being a woman and all.

[Skillet Doux]

Okaaaay, this comment thread just took a turn for the odd.

Even if I thought this topic were germane to the discussion of Top Chef, the nature of it combined with the extreme paucity of information that's been released leads me to conclude that it is, at best, a very, very icky thing to start speculating about.

Let's move on, shall we?

[Canuck]

Dom: Well said. I know I'm a newbie, but this thread has seemed unusually snippy for some reason.

[Alamos Road]

Matthew, I've been wondering if you and Carla will still be able to take the trip to Tokyo. Or will still want to.

[doktarr]

"Good for you, I don't have the privilege for such magnanimity--being a woman and all."

Are you just being snarky, or do you really believe that it's impossible to draw that distinction if you are the personal victim of the prejudice? I didn't say I was excusing Mike's sexism (IF it exists - again, I'm not going to claim certainty about this based on Bravo's edits). All I said was that as far as I can tell (again, same disclaimer, although this is backed up by other interview comments) Mike was well-liked by the other chefs and the comments he made to them were generally made in good fun.

I'm not a woman, but I am Jewish, and I've known plenty of people who were perfectly nice, decent, friendly people to me, despite carrying various antisemitic prejudices. Does that mean it's OK for them to be antisemitic because they didn't let it affect the way they treated me personally? No, but they DID treat me well personally. It's just two different aspects of those people. One doesn't negate the other.

[Skoolie]

Lets not entertain the idea any further.

look into the blue blinky like and say with me, this never happened, this has been erased.

and blink!

So who thinks Mike has any shot of winning? I mean he really could since he's on a roll. Who do you think is the underdog? Do you always route for the underdog?

and who will be crowned crowd favorite?

[Redpoint]

Fan favorite guess 1. Carla, 2. Antonia.

[Skillet Doux]

Skoolie... my wife and I were just discussing this last night. She thinks Carla's a lock. I think Carla has to be the favorite, but I don't think you can count out Antonia or even Fabio. Particularly Antonia. I think she earned a lot of fans this season. And the more recent departure -- even if only by a couple of episodes -- will always be fresher in people's minds.

[garik16]

Dom, I think Fabio will win it. Remember who watches Bravo. And Fabio won it over Carla the first time.

[Canuck]

I think Fabio wins it. He's certainly been exhorting his fan base (via his recap blog, which is frequently hilarious).

[Sweet Sue]

I answered doktarr and nicely, I thought.
Was my comment deleted?

[Nsam]

The preview vids for next week's episode are finally up on the Bravo site and they look great. I'm getting pumped.

I was hating having Isabella in the finale but I'm getting into it now -- classic Villain vs. Hero. And despite the buzz of naysaying that's made itself heard here, I'm firmly in the camp of Blais as well-deserving (if somewhat annoying) hero. Please don't let Isabella win...

[Canuck]

Of course when I first start commenting on the site all hell breaks loose. Geez, guys, I'm only a Canadian. ;-)

[mncharm]

Wow, this really went off the rails in a hurry, didn't it? That's disappointing.

[mncharm]

...but that's what Canadians will do to a thread. :)

[Skillet Doux]

Sweet Sue... Definitely not. Didn't see a comment from you. Must've not gone through. I haven't deleted anything... up until now! :-)

Sorry, guys... this is getting a little out of hand. A rarity, Canuck, I assure you. I'm pulling the whole exchange. Try to find it in your hearts not to label me a fascist jerk. Those who have been here for a while know this is something I *rarely* do.

Clearly, it's time for season eight to draw to a close :-)

[mncharm]

Although I realize this post may get caught up in the deletion -- completely appropriate, Dom, thanks for canning it.

[Canuck]

@mncharm: We're not used to threads. They normally freeze and become all splintery anyways up here. Very impractical for the climate.

[Canuck]

And Dom, that's the right thing to do. It just sucked, plain and simple.

[Skillet Doux]

The deed is done. Funny gaps in the conversation above may be due to deleted posts. Nothing personal, moving on. Let us never speak of it again :-)

[Independent George]

All I know is I had my P/NP proof posted in the comments to the Sandra Lee thread, and suddenly it's gone. I'm sure that was an accident, too, Dom.

[dan_boston]

As a very general principle, I don't really care about any of these contestants' personal lives or histories unless they are either:

a) relevant to the food they make
b) relevant to statements they specifically evidence on the show.

And I'd heavily discount b, because I don't really care all that much about most of the 'personalities' of the contestants. So, for example, I'm not going to be particularly interested in Mike's history or non-history of sexism in his personal life. Or how great and nice of a guy Marcel is. Or who dated whom in high school and how that did or didn't work out.

Now, if Jenn Carrol was revealed to be a Nazi, or Tiffani turned out to be a cage fighter, or Carla turned out to actually be Neo...that would be totally different.

But as far as I can tell, the judges couldn't give a crap about anything other than the food that is presented to me, and I'm a little hard pressed to understand why any of us should feel the necessity to delve particularly deeply into any of these folks histories or personal lives...I just don't see how its relevant or enlightening.

[aaalex]

canuck: i'm canadian, too. maybe it's the force of two canadians being on the same blog at once. all hell breaks loose.

alos: there was SNOW in toronto today.
i'm just saying ...

[KinderJ]

Snowed in Boston today too. I would love to say it instantly reminded me of dehydrated sour cream and LN creations... but no, mostly there was just harsh language and fists shaken at the sky.

Going back to soup dumplings, I actually ordered them once by accident. Annoyed the crap out of me at first (I am sensitive to very hot drinks, and these were near boiling), but once they cooled off they became delicious.

[Canuck]

@aaale: Seriously? Ugh. I suppose the landscape's trying to portray the Leafs' ice cold playoff hopes.

I'm from Halifax via Ottawa, so I hadn't seen snow in a really long time...until today, which had light flurries. What is going on with this country?

[Canuck]

That should be aaalex, not aaale. Stupid typing fingers.

[KinderJ]

Canuck- Frozen by snow?

[aaalex]

canuck: on the other hand, typing aa "ale" kind of proves yr a canuck, eh ...

[Mahalo]

I'm posting late, so I'm not quite sure what has happened with the some of the comments that preceded my post.

Re: the closeness of the EC results between Mike and Antonia.
This TV Guide article today says that Wolfgang Puck originally was leaning toward picking Antonia's dish, but changed his mind after the filming break. I found this interesting. Since I was rooting for Antonia, it makes me feel sadder.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Chef-Shocker-1031060.aspx

Since they've already filmed the Reunion episode, I wonder how they are going to announce the Fan Favorite winner?

[mncharm]

You should move to a warmer climate, like balmy Minnesota.

[aaalex]

mncharm: you know, there needs to be an Extreme Top Chef set somewhere the contestants can lose a finger through frost bite, if they don't complete a challenge fast enough. it's okay going to the bahamas and other suave locales for the finale, but there needs to be a finale in the yukon or in alaska, mid-winter.

[KinderJ]

I can see Padma now-

"Well, we all liked the elk cooking finale so much, we decided to update it. We will be helecoptering you to a beaver dam in the Northwest Territories, stark naked and armed only with your chef knife. Cook the meal of your life for fifteen guests, and you must include at least four different proteans. You have four hours, good luck!"

"No twist?"

"Surprise! We slipped you powerful sedatives- it's the middle of winter! And you don't get to pick your sous..."

[aaalex]

kinderj: now THAT's a twist!

or you could go with: "Surprise! You'll all be rubbed down with fish oil and timberwolves will be let loose in the kitchen!"

makes the finale's judging easier, too.
the winner is whoever lives.

[Skillet Doux]

Mrs. BTW... I don't particularly want to get into who's right and who's wrong, who insulted who, what did or didn't step over the line, etc. What I'd like to do is move on, and since that wasn't happening on its own, I pulled everything related to the contentious topic. I'll ask again, please just let it go.

[kevin]

Re: fan favorite, it's a tough call right now. When the voting opened a few weeks ago, @bravosweeps on twitter was flooded with votes for Fabio and Carla. In recent weeks, Richard and Antonia have also been getting more votes, but not quite in the same volume as the former two. Fabio has really been pushing his fanbase for votes though. Still, rooting (and submitted 60 votes) for Carla!

Mahalo: I wonder what Tom said to change Wolfgang's mind. Do we know if the break happened before all 7 judges voted, or after the 3-3 split happened?

[Nsam]

Oh god, oh god, I seriously don't know whether to laugh or cry. The tagteaming, the piling on. Mouth agape.

Come on, everyone, ladies, fellows. Dom has better things to do than to deal with this graffiti on his site.

[Skillet Doux]

Quite right, Nsam!

Cooling off period, go!

If anybody would like to discuss anything privately, feel free to drop me a line. Email is at the top right. But no need to do so on my account.

See you all sometime tomorrow :-)

[doktarr]

I watched the preview video, and I really like the way they're doing the sous chef selection. My guess, though, is that the results will be basically the same as they would be if they were allowed to pick them by name. "Gee, I wonder who did this foam?" "Gee, this reminds me of an app at 10 Arts." "Gee, I wonder who did the Pork Dumpling."

I'm not sure who they'll pick, but I'll guess Mike picks Jen, Tiffani, and Antonia, while Richard picks Dale, Fabio, and Angelo.

[rab01]

Doktarr -- if you're right, who would handle front-of-house for Mikey? And, will we be subjected to a million comments from Mike about how awesomely "his girls" have been working for him? (sigh)
Looking at all the contestants, I'd have to say that Dale would be my first pick for a sous-chef. He's shown that he's always energized and pushing hard. Other chefs can match his skills but they've had more moments where they've lost focus/interest. Really, who would you pick for prepwork between Tre/Angelo/Antonia/Jen/Tiffani/Tiffany, etc.? If Dale were off the board, I'd take Fabio because he's shown he's that much better than anyone else at front-of-the-house. (Actually, I'd take Fabio first but I'd be afraid that the judges would excessively discount front-of-house knowing that it's Fabio's skill, not mine.)

[doktarr]

"if you're right, who would handle front-of-house for Mikey?"

oooh, good question. I wasn't really thinking about it from a Restaurant Wars angle.

Truth be told, if I were Mike I'd steer clear of picking Antonia, just because her head might not be in the right place coming off the elimination. So... I dunno who I'd pick, but FotA would be a strong consideration. Carla, maybe? Casey? Spike?

"And, will we be subjected to a million comments from Mike about how awesomely "his girls" have been working for him? (sigh)"

Well... at least a few, yeah.

[rab01]

Actually, I wouldn't be shocked if there was a slight twist involving front of the house. I've always thought that TC insists on contestants handling the front because the person presenting the food has to be a "character" instead of a hired waiter. For the Finale, they might insist that Richard and Mike come out with the judge's plates.

That said, Dale Levitsky and Spike both handled the front reasonably well on their seasons. Also, Dale L. has been a waiter in his career. Throw in Stephen Aspirino who's quirky but obsessively attuned to front-of-house issues and has focused more on that side than on cooking in his career. I'd think Carla would be great at it based on personality alone but I'd have bet Tiffany would be really good too ...

Dale L. would actually be a pretty strong last round pick.

[nomnomnom]

I haven't taken a microscope to the previews yet, but they are not at all trying to hide who is on what team. It should be very obvious to break it down to the last person.

[bryanD]

TWO WEATHER CHANNEL AFICIONADOS "DO" A TOP CHEF BLOG.

Posted by: Canuck | March 24, 2011 at 04:35 PM
"Dom: Well said. I know I'm a newbie, but this thread has seemed unusually snippy for some reason."

Posted by: mncharm | March 24, 2011 at 07:17 PM
"Wow, this really went off the rails in a hurry, didn't it? That's disappointing."

Posted by: mncharm | March 24, 2011 at 07:22 PM
"Although I realize this post may get caught up in the deletion -- completely appropriate, Dom, thanks for canning it."

Posted by: Canuck | March 24, 2011 at 07:25 PM
"And Dom, that's the right thing to do. It just sucked, plain and simple."

"The deed is done. Funny gaps in the conversation above may be due to deleted posts. Nothing personal, moving on. Let us never speak of it again :-)"
Posted by: Skillet Doux

Posted by: Canuck | March 24, 2011 at 07:25 PM
"@aaale: Seriously? Ugh. I suppose the landscape's trying to portray the Leafs' ice cold playoff hopes.
I'm from Halifax via Ottawa, so I hadn't seen snow in a really long time...until today, which had light flurries. What is going on with this country?"

Posted by: mncharm | March 24, 2011 at 08:00 PM
"You should move to a warmer climate, like balmy Minnesota."
==================THE END======================

[saluki]

From the Bravo promos on TV today it seems Tiffani Faison is one of Mikes chefs. Considering the job she did for him in the For the Gulf episode quite an advantage.....Weren't the grit coated shrimp her idea as well? Looks like Richard has Antonia---hope she's not burnt out..... Didn't catch the others.

[Mahalo]

I've looked at the Bravo TV website finale preview videos. Looks like all but one 16 chefs are there to compete as sous chefs in waiting.

[Mahalo]

"Looks like all but one 16 chefs are there to compete as sous chefs in waiting."

I meant, "all but one of the 16 chefs". . .

[doktarr]

Yep - it looks like Dale L. couldn't find time for a trip to the Bahamas. ;)

[bryanD]

OK, I've half-way recovered now from the shock of a brutally maimed skilletdoux topic thread. (Good night, Elizabeth Taylor, wherever you are!) Can only concentrate on what's before my face, darkly. I see saluki and Mahalo fluffing the preview videos...and fine preview videos they are, too! To wit:

Item: SO! Just now Top Chef discovers blind judging when it doesn't involve them? Hmmm, and yet better late than never. Automatically excellent and instructive.

Item: "Restaurant"? Bah. Even Hell's Kitchen retired this exercise in bonus obfuscation of the matter at hand. On the plus side, I wonder if Blais will be as big a fan of stainless steel and pyrex settings as his musical website portends...or will he hedge?

I'm thinking hedge and lose. Go Trigger Mike.

[Mahalo]

Can I just say, I'm happy that this topic thread has reopened? :)

Not so reveal any 'sneaky Intel,' but I think some of the Bravo previews are tipping off who are 4 or 5 of the sous chefs who will be working in the finals.

[Independent George]

Ok, I decided to go back to Dom's preseason entry on Mike, and noticed this:

He's ditching the Greek for what looks like Italian comfort food -- what he describes as the kind of food cooked by his grandmother.

Was the Ellis Island challenge the catalyst for this? Graffiato is set to open... well, now-ish (Spring 2011). If he left Zaytinya in August 2010, which I assume is either right before or right after filming, then the question is when did he secure financing for the new venture? That sort of thing usually takes at least a year. I assume he must have already had a concept in place - did he change it based on that one challenge on TC? Or did it solidify an idea he'd been toying with for a while?

[Mahalo]

@Independent George,

I read somewhere that Mike had been working on his concept for a Graffiato style restaurant before he competed on TCAS.

Oh here, I found the article. Looks like he was just about to secure his restaurant space last July.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2010/07/01/mike-isabella-is-leaving-zaytinya-to-open-his-own-place/

[ally]

I'm also posting late ..have no idea what kind of sh*t-bomb happened, thank god.

But I was puzzled by early comments regarding "staging." I'm not familiar with the term, but does it mean "learning how to do something better"? If so yes I think Mike has been staging.

Saying that Richard shouldn't be doing that in this stage of his career? I really must be misunderstanding this term. In academia there is this thing called the "sabbatical" that is specifically intended for very well trained and smart people to grow and expand their knowledge base. At least in my field. I don't understand how anyone that isn't like at CEO level or something can be at a stage in their career where they don't try to grow and learn.

This is why i'm for Mike all the way if he gets the title. I don't think Kevin went in and was exponentially better. He'd just improved. Mike seems leaps and bounds beyond where he was. As i said in a post on an earlier thread, i'd be interested in how this expands beyond this competition, if it does. Like, will MIke's restaurant showcase interesting, tasty, non-predicatble food. I'm open to the idea that someone can go in, really take something more seriously for the first time in their life (epiphany-like) and go forth and conquer.

This is of course not considering personalities at all, just the food competition. I think Antonia really had a hard row to hoe this episode, and she is just a champion, and she should be proud. But I'm happy to watch what happens in the finale.

BTW, all that said, I am for Richard all the way and I hope he gets it. But I won't think that Mike winning is the complete travesty that e.g. a Hosea win was back in whatever that season was that I want to forget.

[Skillet Doux]

Ally... A stage is when a restaurant takes a cook in to do a brief, unpaid stint in the kitchen. Sometimes it's offered with an eye towards a potential hire, sometimes it's offered simply as a courtesy. But the idea is that the cook who's staging is a visitor who's there to learn. So when Richard's talking about trying to find a stage while traveling, he's obviously not looking for a job, but rather a kitchen that will allow him to trail somebody for a few days to learn some new dishes, techniques, etc. Ditto Mike during the break. It sounds like he spent some time in some other kitchens, learning some new tricks and flavors and such.

[matthew]

@Alamos Road - We haven't taken any of the trips yet. Carla and I have discussed looking at a way to make the Tokyo trip something where we can help out. Everything seems a bit tenuous right now. I'd like my 15 year-old son to go as well. Community service is part of his high school curriculum, and along with going to New Orleans, I think this would be a good service experience for him -- all of us, for that matter.

[Trillium]

Ally, thanks for asking that question; I, too, was wondering what that meant. Thanks, Dom, for the explanation.

I am a bit turned off by the notion that Fabio is campaigning for votes.

I like the idea of them 'running restaurants' for the finale. The Top Chef should be more than just a great chef but should also be able to develop a concept and lead people.

[infinity728]

Trillium, Fabio isn't so much campaigning for votes as he is reminding his existing fan base to vote for him, which they appear to be doing, in spades. I expect Fabio or Carla to take fan favourite.

Also, great name. ;)

As for the finale ... I believe the judges when they say it's purely a meritocracy, but it did hurt that 60% of the top five were female, and the last two standing are Richard and Mike. I don't think Richard really choked in his season, and think it has become his touchstone to say so. I do hope he wins, but I have a feeling it will be Mike.

[bryanD]

"BTW, all that said, I am for Richard all the way and I hope he gets it. But I won't think that Mike winning is the complete travesty that..."---ally

Mike's win would be best for the Top Chef franchise, as Mike is a working cook and Blais is a traveling flim-flam artist of some talent, for sure. (Yes, I still think Mister Blais softly letting the impression stand, hither and yon, that he owns the Flip Burger properties of Messers Mills and Stewart, and in such a public way, is very interesting to say the least. It's like the CINTAS man saying he owns the company of which he provides the uniforms each Thursday.)

[rab01]

Oh please, Bryan. You're the only person on earth who thinks that Blais' descriptions of his role at Flip are anything other than what ownership wants him to say. What's the point of hiring as your creative director a very visible person unless he visibly connects himself with your product?

I have no idea whether he has an equity stake; no idea whether he claims to, nor could I care.

[bryanD]

"Oh please, Bryan. You're the only person on earth who thinks that Blais' descriptions of his role at Flip are anything other than what ownership wants him to say."---rab01

Are you intimating a corporate-approved "by your leave" strategy? Then why isn't Blais' (wiki and) net site reconciled to it? After all, he has air superiority, right? No pesky legal docs entailed?..that anyone would bother to look up/pay for, etc? Why the furtiveness and the letting of claims lapse?

No, I'm sticking by my guns on this until Mister Blais pipes in here at skilletdoux and lays me out.

"...no idea whether he claims to, nor could I care."---rab01

See, I ignored this part...I'm a romantic, believe it or not.

[Richard Blais]

BryanD: I do indeed own a percentage of Flip. We have 2 Atlanta Restaurants, 1 in Birmingham, and a new concept opening in the Virginia Highlands area. Are you an Atlantan?
If so we (Flip) will be holding a viewing of TC This Wednesday, and I can have my partners who you seem to know make sure they say hello. If not, I'd be more than glad to meet you at one of our locations and spend some time with you discussing our operations.
-rB

[HF]

I enjoyed your comments ally.

[bryanD]

"BryanD: I do indeed own a percentage of Flip."---RB

Hello, Chef Blais. General partner? Officer? Your website and wikipedia page needs some severe updating if so. I shall look forward to reading it and will issue my own diarrhea-laden mea culpas after reading---since I *might* be addressing a robot now. :o)

"Are you an Atlantan?"----RB

SEE? Irrelevant! re: "robot"? Or is this just that Blais charm? :-)

"I can have my partners who you seem to know make sure they say hello."---RB

"KNOW?" It's called Google. A big fat 10-20% of news sources/food reviews don't jibe with the "owner" thing. This therefore gets inquiring minds typing. No article that mentions "Mills" mentions you as any kind of owner.
I hereby promise(!) that upon my timely reading of your wikipedia update, I shall embarrass myself stringently on your behalf.

PS. psst! [whispering] do you win?

PPS. If you are R.B., no offence, but reality teevee is the path you've chose, and per your Mojo:

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"---Henry IV

[Skillet Doux]

bryanD... While I am ignorant of the nature of Flip Burger's ownership/management structure, I can confirm that that is, in fact, Richard Blais and not a robot.

[bryanD]

"While I am ignorant of the nature of Flip Burger's ownership/management structure"---Skilletdoux

I felt like David Irving investigating that myself.

"I can confirm that that is, in fact, Richard Blais and not a robot."---skilletdoux

Well, I didn't mean robot robot; I meant maybe hot wife with deep-set coal-black fiery eyes that scares me.

[Independent George]

Yes, but what if Richard Blais really is a robot? I mean, how do we know he's not?

[infinity728]

BlaisBot would be an awesome name for a band.

I also think the method of choosing sous chefs in the finale is brilliant. I wonder how much they judge on flavour and how much they judge by who they thought made each dish?

[bryanD]

@IG: that was hilarious! (SNL:post-1980: so ashamed!)

Ben Stiller Show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_0bZxf_BwA

[rab01]

Richard - Glad to "see" you on skillet doux (though I wish it were during a food conversation).

I still don't care how much of an ownership stake you have in Flip. I just want to know when you're opening one in the NY area.

[bryanD]

"Richard - Glad to "see" you on skillet doux (though I wish it were during a food conversation)."---rab01

Why the passive-aggressiveness, rab01? Let me help.

FlipBurger shakes are universally hailed as the bee's knees of shakes! And these FlipBurger shakes are unquestionably the product of one Richard Blais, and not an abuse of LN at all! If there is a *pan* of RB's shakes, I've not read it---and I am one busy-ass reader!

See? Also, Flip's *basic* burgers are well worth the trip, indubitably, so the reviews say roughly 100%.

Fair's fair. And now that Sir Richard has been "lured" out, what IS your food question, Rab01?

[doktarr]

Damnit, IG. I was so sure I was going to be the first one to make the "what if Richard Blais is a robot?" joke.

bryanD, I really don't know what this whole thing is about, but the idea that Richard should run off and update his wikipedia page in order to satisfy you is really, really silly.

... OK, I just checked. Wikipedia says he consults @Flip, his page says that Trailblais runs Flip. Neither either confimrs or denies ownership, either implicitly or explicitly. What, exactly, are you complaining about?

I think rab01's point is that if we're going to get only one or two comments from Richard on this blog per season, it would be way cooler if those were insights into how he approached a certain dish or something, as opposed to dealing with hearsay about his business ventures.

[Duffy]

What possible business is it of ours what the exact ownership interest held (or not held) by the chef in the restaurant operation he or she cooks at might be?

[ally]

guys, i don't want to speak for bryanD

but as i understand it, he has always been a fan of commenting on, reporting, continuing, or even creating TC conspiracy theories.

that he went so far on this one as to challenge Blais (if you're reading this, hi, i'm a fan) to respond, and then he responds? that is good e-comedy, folks.

although, bryanD, now that the man behind the flimflam has been revealed, i'm wondering where the mea culpas are >.>

[bryanD]

Hello. Just checking the damage. Not as bad I thought.

"...although, bryanD, now that the man behind the flimflam has been revealed, i'm wondering where the mea culpas are >.>"---ally

I thank Richard Blais for appearing here and look forward to the update of his official pages---which are shorting him still---at which point I will surely respond. I will say my positive pursuit of the issue here at skilletdoux is over, as "Elvis (Blais) has left the building".

"...but as i understand it, he has always been a fan of commenting on, reporting, continuing, or even creating TC conspiracy theories."---ally

Shush! The Case of the Two Blaises is closed!

"...that he went so far on this one as to challenge Blais (if you're reading this, hi, i'm a fan) to respond, and then he responds? that is good e-comedy, folks."---ally

Par for the course. I've been flagged, banned, officially accused of downloading @#$% Harry Potter...you name it.

"What possible business is it of ours what the exact ownership interest held (or not held) by the chef in the restaurant operation he or she cooks at might be?"---Duffy

I blame Top Chef. They take the Everyman meme too far to make the money appear bigger and demoted Blais to harried chef-proprietor instead of corporate consultant with a good gig going. Now the intertoobz are confused.

[Kathy from Austin]

This is starting to remind me of the Christmas dinner from hell with adult family members/cousins. They love each other and fight like hell when emotions run high.

This season has really hit a chord particularly since we "know" the candidates and have an affinity for/against them and feel their losses keenly. But truly the commentators here, and especially our host Dom, are special and while I missed the meltdown that precipitated the closing of comments (never have seen that before!) I appreciate the posters here and their wisdom.

[ally]

lol! i read "intertoobz" as "internoobz"

[HF]

You're too pure... I read it as "interboobz".

It's spelled just like it sounds... Wojciehowicz.

[mncharm]

Just when you think this thread couldn't get any stranger...

This is so bittersweet. My favorite Top Chef contestant shows up to post...and it's only to shoot down some crackpot theory regarding the ownership of his restaurant and whether it matches the all-important wikipedia entry. Ack!

Richard, come back! Throw us normal people a bone!

And forget about opening a restaurant in played-out NYC. Minnesota is where the action is. :)

[Polybus]

Richard... psst... think Santa Fe.

[bryanD]

I suggest Blais bring his thing to Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Why:

Greater-area pop. 420,000+; Dirt cheap rents, cheap utilities; No showcase restaurants to speak of; lots of Old Money; large private($$) Tulsa University one mile from alleged "4th-largest" LBGT($)core community in America ("SHOPPEEENG!"): rents here are cheap as well; despite booming infrastructure projects, one can still get across town in 15 minutes(!); dine outside 9-10 months/year($); there is no MG restaurant in Tulsa; to drive my sales pitch home, there IS a rather popular 4-course FONDUE restaurant! See? This bespeaks a certain, if inchoate...yearning that I think can be "advantaged".

[Steve]

I am still hurting over the elimination of Dale, Carla and Angelo. In the semi-finals and finals, there shouldn't be any more twists or technical challenges. It should only about the best food the chefs can put out with the best ingredients and resources available.

While it is a game show, it doesn't play as one. Us viewers expect the winner to be the actual, best all-around chef. Not the one that cruises through the competition and then makes his best and most adventurous food at the end.

The semis and finales should give each chef the best opportunity to shine - and not get tripped up over inconsequential factors.

[pepperjack]

If Richard is a robot, his human emotion chip seems to be on the fritz. Does he run on LN like Bender runs on booze?

[rab01]

You know you're jonesing for the TC finale when
... you find yourself skimming the chefs' twitter feeds.

BTW, the Blais family's nicknames for their kids are rye bread for Riley and brioche for Embry

[Polybus]

A four-course fondue restaurant? How could anyone resist? With the bonus of benzene fumes and oil pumps, hoowee! Sign me up!

[bryanD]

"A four-course fondue restaurant? How could anyone resist? With the bonus of benzene fumes and oil pumps, hoowee! Sign me up!"---Polybus

Oh, you DO need to be signed up! (Your pants will be returned to you in "1 1/2 - 3 hours", so just relax and enjoy the fondue!)

http://www.meltingpot.com/default.aspx