The very LAST episode, btw, finished taping about a week ago. There was a lag in production between all the main episodes and the final with the last two standing. .... and I'm actually glad that I DON'T know who won.

Weird food simply to be "unique"?Send it back!
 

This show just demonstrates the lack of training most of todays "top"US chefs have.They all would be seriously out of place in a true chefs kitchen.
The lack of knife skills,shoddy mis en place,lack of basic knowladge of ingredients,they rush rush rush-and yet they have no organizational skills.
And the food is so wierd for wierdness' sake.I think I would send back at least 2/3rds of what they have presented.
And the judges,well ,,,, I think they doth protest too much.Saying"this is inedible"over and over and over,,,without taking the time to explain what is wrong with it-shows lack of knowladge on their part.I send dishes back and fully explain what is wrong with the dish-technicly.
I do not like meanie shows like this.Seeing others fail is not my idea of entertainment.

I disagree. The contestants on the show have demonstrated in front of "true chefs", (i.e. Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, Tom Colicchio, Afred Portale, etc.) dishes that have received rave reviews. Furthermore, last year's winner, Ilan had been a sous chef at Casa Mono in NYC - owned and supervised by Mario Batali. Additionaly, this year's contestant Lia (sent home already) is a sous chef at Jean Georges in NYC.

I think there are examples of chefs on each season that are less classically trained than others - but the mix of different backgrounds and expertise make the show interesting. You have to remember, that some challenges are equally bizarre (the redesign of American classic challenge this year, and the snack machine challenge from last year) as the food that's been created as you cite above. Bizarre or repulsing food to one person can be creative and exciting food to another.

I am just waiting for Howie to explode and kill six people. That being said, I have rooted for him since the beginning and continue to root for him.

I love this show! I am hoping that Hung is hung tonight :D Can't STAND him. Sara cheesegirl is just lazy imo and pretentious as all get out!

Here is my list of "gosh I hope they win order":

Tre
CJ
Casey
Howie
Dale
Hung
Sara (cheese)

IMO, The Garage is gonna win.

Just hoping that means CJ won't be heading home.

I never,ever eat in a restaurant that is owned or has associations with
" celebrity " chefs.
The very fact that they're celebrities means they're not in the kitchen doing the cooking.
I mean - the Jamie Olivers and Gordon Ramsay's of this world own restaurants on several continents - how can they possibly be in all of them at the same time cooking or at least supervising the cooking.
So what's the point in paying a premium price for a chef who isn't there !

Despite loving Restaurant Wars - kinda disappointed we're going to see it two weekends in a row...i was hoping they'd send both Dale and Howie home - send a message to all the remaining chefs.

With the exception Of Jean George Vongerichten,the chefs you mention-while celebraties-and very good cooks are not world class classical chefs.
Very few world class chefs would make interesting hosts of TV shows,there have been exceptions-but they are very few.
At least the Iron chef shows(the Japanese one)occassionally had true master chefs demonstrating the skills and discipline that only years in an apprentice program(which we do not have here in the US)can create.

Was anyone else surprised at everyone's professionalism during this week's episode? It was nice to finally watch an enjoyable episode after the past two debacles.

-FlyerBeek

I can't believe you don't consider Eric Ripert a world-class chef! His restaurant, Le Bernardin is possibly the best seafood restaurant in the world!

sad to see tre leave...seemed like a really great guy.

I'm done. No more Top Chef for me - this show is an absolute farce. :mad:

On of the top competitors is eliminated while the Jamaican cheesemonger (who should have been gone a month ago) comes in first.

Even without tasting a single dish, I must ask: what are they smoking?

-FlyerBeek

sara did a good job tonight, tre didn't. i've been rooting for tre, but he dropped the ball tonight. no doubt, he was one of the best chefs left, but he failed tonight...bummer.

I disagree. Where did Sara M. actually excel tonight (besides chopping onions quickly)? Yes, she did lead her team to victory - but that feat largely seemed to rest on the shoulders of every one of her teammates other than her.

Now, I'm certainly not saying that Tre was the best and Sara the worst this episode . But, certainly, some on her team seemed to perform far better than her this evening (Dale, in particular, seemed to do an excellent job). Likewise, some contestants on Team April (notably Brian and Casey) simply didn't contribute while Tre still managed to do a decent job pulling it all together and despite two rough dishes (the salmon starter and bread pudding) everything else received great reviews.

Certainly none of us have the benefit of actually sampling the dishes or witnessing the complete deliberation among the judges - but just based on the material used for the episode the decision doesn't appear well reasoned. In fact, there was hardly any explanation as to why Tre was dismissed and he received nearly as much praise from some of his team's dishes as he did for the two dishes in question.

Well, just my thoughts anyway...

-FlyerBeek