TOP CHEF ALL STARS Spoilers
Feb. 17th, 2011 06:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomJust started watching last night's ep, and the Quickfire challenge is MAKING COOKIES FOR THE MUPPETS! Elmo, Telly, and COOKIE MONSTER COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE! Laughing my ass off over here. I'll watch the whole ep and then go behind the cut for more....
The Cookie challenge was hilarious. Running commentary from all three, and Cookie constantly saying, "Me can't handle pressure!" Several of the chefs noted they hadn't made cookies in years, if ever. Carla and Tiffany had great-looking cookies, but Antonia got in the top two with a cookie which (as Elmo noted) looked like a cow chip. Blais honestly choked on this one -- his ice cream "cookie" with zucchini (at Elmo's request) was just too out-there -- but got a moral victory anyway when Elmo gave his daughter a shout-out on national TV. Dale, who was mocked for putting potato chips in his cookie, won -- the salty-sweet combo impressed the judges.
No immunity from elimination at this stage of the game.
The Elimination challenge: leave your knives at the Top Chef kitchen. Schlep out to a huge Target store -- one of the ones with meat and produce -- in the middle of the night, and get everything you need to cook for 100 Target employees. As in, everything -- utensils, tables to cook at, place settings, all of it. Winner gets $25,000.
You have three hours.
Devilish challenge. The first thing you have to deal with is the lack of a proper stove.
Carla got badly bogged down with decor -- she kept looking for linens. She didn't get cooking until over 1-1/2 hours of the three were gone. She was rightly worried that her flavors would not develop.
Antonia rolled her eyes at everyone seeming to make soup. She was going for a soft egg dish which look really good.
Richard's, on the other hand, was (as Tony Bourdain said) "butt-ugly, but it tasted good."
Dale's was very clever -- using a steam iron to "press" grilled cheese sandwiches. I never learned that trick. And I DID NOT SEE THE OBVIOUS "IRON CHEF" JOKE UNTIL MING TSAI SAID IT. I AM ASHAMED.
Not looking good for Angelo. He took Mike's advice that his potato soup needed something, and I think he added too much salt.
-----
The stew-room vibe is amazing. Usually it's nervousness everywhere. This time... they've been up all night, the sun's coming up, and they're all numb.
Judges' Table: Dale, Antonia, Blais. Blais's two proteins went well together; Antonia's eggs came out perfect; and Dale's excellent tomato soup and audaciously grilled cheese sandwich won him $25K.
Now the bad news.
Carla's soup really needed a protein. (She'd been looking for salmon and couldn't find it.) Angelo's baked potato soup was both too salty and too rich. Tiffany's jambalaya didn't have the flavor it should have had, because of the packaged creole seasoning she used.
When Padma asked if any of them had final words before judging, Tiffany damn near broke down while telling them that in her home, Beaumont, TX, there weren't many chances to "dream big enough", and to thank the judges and the other chefs for the honor of working with them. As of this ep, I love Tiffany like I love Carla and Antonia.
It came down to Carla's dish being weak and Tiffany's being incomplete, but Angelo's being inedible. Bye-bye, Angelo.
-----
Back in the stew room, Mike was gaping. He couldn't believe it. I have more respect for him, mostly because of his obviously tight friendship with Angelo, but I have a hunch that, unless he wins outright, he's going home in the next two eps. He will not make the finals.
I am seeing Antonia and Blais in the finals pretty easily, with the other three running neck and neck for the third spot.
And now we are six.
Next week: Paula Deen, and the return of some of the losers.
Thoughts?
The Cookie challenge was hilarious. Running commentary from all three, and Cookie constantly saying, "Me can't handle pressure!" Several of the chefs noted they hadn't made cookies in years, if ever. Carla and Tiffany had great-looking cookies, but Antonia got in the top two with a cookie which (as Elmo noted) looked like a cow chip. Blais honestly choked on this one -- his ice cream "cookie" with zucchini (at Elmo's request) was just too out-there -- but got a moral victory anyway when Elmo gave his daughter a shout-out on national TV. Dale, who was mocked for putting potato chips in his cookie, won -- the salty-sweet combo impressed the judges.
No immunity from elimination at this stage of the game.
The Elimination challenge: leave your knives at the Top Chef kitchen. Schlep out to a huge Target store -- one of the ones with meat and produce -- in the middle of the night, and get everything you need to cook for 100 Target employees. As in, everything -- utensils, tables to cook at, place settings, all of it. Winner gets $25,000.
You have three hours.
Devilish challenge. The first thing you have to deal with is the lack of a proper stove.
Carla got badly bogged down with decor -- she kept looking for linens. She didn't get cooking until over 1-1/2 hours of the three were gone. She was rightly worried that her flavors would not develop.
Antonia rolled her eyes at everyone seeming to make soup. She was going for a soft egg dish which look really good.
Richard's, on the other hand, was (as Tony Bourdain said) "butt-ugly, but it tasted good."
Dale's was very clever -- using a steam iron to "press" grilled cheese sandwiches. I never learned that trick. And I DID NOT SEE THE OBVIOUS "IRON CHEF" JOKE UNTIL MING TSAI SAID IT. I AM ASHAMED.
Not looking good for Angelo. He took Mike's advice that his potato soup needed something, and I think he added too much salt.
-----
The stew-room vibe is amazing. Usually it's nervousness everywhere. This time... they've been up all night, the sun's coming up, and they're all numb.
Judges' Table: Dale, Antonia, Blais. Blais's two proteins went well together; Antonia's eggs came out perfect; and Dale's excellent tomato soup and audaciously grilled cheese sandwich won him $25K.
Now the bad news.
Carla's soup really needed a protein. (She'd been looking for salmon and couldn't find it.) Angelo's baked potato soup was both too salty and too rich. Tiffany's jambalaya didn't have the flavor it should have had, because of the packaged creole seasoning she used.
When Padma asked if any of them had final words before judging, Tiffany damn near broke down while telling them that in her home, Beaumont, TX, there weren't many chances to "dream big enough", and to thank the judges and the other chefs for the honor of working with them. As of this ep, I love Tiffany like I love Carla and Antonia.
It came down to Carla's dish being weak and Tiffany's being incomplete, but Angelo's being inedible. Bye-bye, Angelo.
-----
Back in the stew room, Mike was gaping. He couldn't believe it. I have more respect for him, mostly because of his obviously tight friendship with Angelo, but I have a hunch that, unless he wins outright, he's going home in the next two eps. He will not make the finals.
I am seeing Antonia and Blais in the finals pretty easily, with the other three running neck and neck for the third spot.
And now we are six.
Next week: Paula Deen, and the return of some of the losers.
Thoughts?
