Thursday, October 08, 2009

Top Chef: Home Cookin'

Last night saw the return of Top Chef: Las Vegas after last week’s rerun. I actually thought it was kind of a boring episode but there were a couple of surprises. For the first time in the competition we saw Jennifer at the bottom (in the quick fire challenge) and Michael on the chopping block (in the elimination challenge). Jennifer had some issues with being sick and Michael had some issues with equipment. Jennifer bounced back to win the elimination challenge and Michael escaped from being sent home.

Kevin ended up winning the quick fire competition and the choice of 15 thousand dollars or immunity in the elimination challenge. He chose the money. That would have been my choice as well. The quick fire challenge ingredients were determined by the spin of a slot machine. What made Kevin’s win even more impressive was the fact that he never cooks Asian food. He’s looked strong from the beginning and I’m still confident he’ll make it to the finals.

The elimination challenge required the chefs to draw knives in order to team up and to determine what they would be cooking. It was literally a grab bag of food provided by the guest chefs who are all involved in the Macy’s Come Together program to provide 10 million meals for Feeding America. Once again Kevin was at the top along with teammate Jennifer. Jennifer was voted best on the team and won a 10 thousand dollar gift card from Macy’s. Lame.

Ashley and Eli were the losing team with Ashley getting most of the blame and sent home for some undercooked prawns and salty food. I understand completely, there’s not much worse than undercooked sea food. I was disappointed to see her leave as I thought she had turned the corner and was starting to get a rhythm, plus she seems like a really hard worker.

Some other quick thoughts:

It was funny to see Robin and Mike Isabella teamed together. His reaction was priceless! I really hope he gets some justice next week and is sent home. Unfortunately I think it will be Robin, again. I’m still surprised she’s made it this far but I still don’t like the beating she’s taking from the other contestants.

The judges seemed to be in a mellow mood this week. Even Toby wasn’t his usual d-bag self.

You’ve got to love the Bravo previews for next week. It looks like Eli and Robin will be going at it again and maybe we’ll see the brothers (Michael and Bryan) turn on each other. Probably not, in typical preview fashion it will be a lot less dramatic than advertised.

Just as I was over ceviche early in the season, I'm now starting to grow weary of scallops. Every week at least a couple of people prepare them in both of the challenges.

My first episode picks are all still alive. I think I'll remain safe for at least two more episodes.

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