that was two seasons ago. Yes, the asian doode won. I believe that was the Hung/Casey/Dale finale

Not much to say about this week's episode except PASTA SALAD????

What were they thinking, it didn't even look like GOOD pasta salad, but like the junk that's been on every buffet I've even had imposed upon me.

Hung... yes, thats the Asian doodes name... ^

So what happened to this guy after he won.... did he open his own restaurant or something.... is he now a gazillionaire celebrity chef...????

Good observations all, and I agree with them. I think sometimes the judges try to add a little personal conflict into the mix and to me, that's not necessary. It usually arises by itself from the different personalities of the chefs.

Top Tattoo! I love that. :D At least they don't all get together after a challenge and start smoking like chimneys, a la Hell's Kitchen.

Man, I was amazed tonight. I thought Hector would last a few more rounds. But, I gotta say "all he had to do was put the beef in the oven!!!"

I thought that any of the top four could have walked away with the prize tonight, and I'm now looking forward to the rest of the season.

Hector looked like a good chef. I really think that they just did not want to kick another female off of the show this season.

Also, I thought that the comment about the higher level of the chefs this season than any other by this point was funny. Are they really that much better? A few of them are excellent, but most seem just Ok. Too funny that the real competition seems to be between the brothers. There are a half dozen this year that are solid to this point. This is fun. I am glad that TC6 is bringing it this season.

Wow! What a group to judge this week. That must have been fun. ^

Jenn C continues to kick .... Fantastic!

The Volt. brothers are really creative. Very impressive.

Add Kevin and they'd make the final 4. Too bad they're all in this season...they would surely have won if they were in the previous seasons separately. It's like night and day compared to the previous "winners" like Ilan and Hosea...*blech*

Don't really need a translator, I'd listen to Chef Robuchon all day long if he can talk that much! :D

Has anyone else noticed that when they talk, nothing moves but their mouths and then barely. It's as though they have had massive amounts of plastic surgery.

I thought Ashley was gone when Frenchie (who screwed up the sauce with the bacon) lied about not vetoing the asparagus in the sauce. Nothing worse than a liar. I hope he goes next.

I'm still a bit confused about the whole asparagus thing. When Ashley asked about it in the store he DID veto it saying something about how it doesn't go with veloute sauce, and she walked away without it. Then it wound up on the plate anyway. Maybe I blinked and missed something.

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought she wanted it in the veloute sauce as (I thought) Tom suggested at judges table. I thought that is what he was vetoing. Anyway, it's deleted now! :D

I'm a big fan of Kevin, though the brothers and Jenn are amazing as well.

You HAVE to be able to roast and carve a tenderloin to have a hope of lasting on this show.

That being said, I thought Ashley would have been voted off (perhaps there is something to the 4 females in a row would have unbalanced the show).

I was also amazed that the frog leg dish didn't make it to the chopping block. It looked blah and unappealing.

I was floored by both of the winning dishes tonight. Deconstructed Béarnaise! Wow. That rabbit looked fantastic as well.

Agree with all the comments about last night's show.

My only addition is that I do not like an elimination on a quick fire challenge. As Collicchio (sp?) himself said, it's hard to send someone home after one small taste.

Actually, he had more than one small taste. The escargot dish was a pretty good indicator of which one really deserved to go home.

I sometimes wonder if it's just about the food or sometimes is about the personality of the chef or prejudices of the judges (e.g., I didn't like what this person cooked the last two weeks so I'm not going to like this either).

Agreed, that's how I read the situation as well.

Based on the judges' blogs (even on past seasons) the producers have only intervened once or twice (Marcel's headshaving attempt and maybe the refrigerator failure). The judges really don't care if it's a male or female chef leaving.

If you look at the accolades and caliber of chefs of this season compared to all the previous seasons, you'll notice that this season's cast is noticeably stronger. It seems like half of this season's cast has received or been nominated for some James Beard or Food&Wine award. Most are head/executive chefs. Stage/training/worked at top restaurants worldwide.

My only minor issue with the casting this season is that aside from Hector and possibly Preethi, the cooking is pretty homogenized to American/French styles.

I absolutely love this show, and I think the contestants are a mixed bag. Quite a few people who have been sent home already I had to wonder how they got onto the show in the first place. That being said, Jenn, the brothers and Kevin are quite talented. And Michael from the brothers is quite cute ;)

j

Bingo! We have a winner!! ^ ^

Couldn't agree more.

Noooooooooooooooooooo! Hated seeing Mike I. win $15K.

Mike V. is hanging out with Mike I. too much...starting to act and sound like a sore loser.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! Another win for Bryan. The only dish that fit in the theme AND seemed delicious.

What's with using seafood on a desert ranch? 3 ceviches?!

As soon as Tom spit out his food I knew the french guy was done.

Kind of a weird show last night. I prefer they let them cook in a real kitchen but challenge them with the ingredients and whatnot.

Well, frenchie is gone. I found it interesting that the entire episode they sort of showed his bad side, and then he was gone. Creative editing, I guess.

But, what an odd set of challenges. First we have the quick fire with cactus. Cactus? At least most of them pulled off something edible.

Cooking over open pit fires with almost no kitchen support without telling them what they were walking into seems a bit of a stretch to me. I guess I would have gone in assuming the worst and planned for little more than a source of heat - which is pretty much what they got into.

What was wrong with the shrimp, exactly, were they spoiled or did they just taste really, really bad.

I gotta agree with the "why would you serve cerviche to a bunch of ranchers when you know you're going to be outside in about 500 degree heat."

They did a really poor job of explaining that. I have to assume that they became spoiled somehow.

Tom Colicchio wrote in his blog on bravotv.com that he didn't like the ranch challenge either. Besides cooking outdoors, he says, there was nothing specific to being in a ranch, not to mention the desert heat.

He also explains their judging criteria; it's an interesting read.

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blog...io/desert-heat

(I no longer live in the US, but still watch the show, thanks to iTunes/AppleTV).

I would have been happier had the producers better informed the contestants of the nature of resources available...fire pits, utensils, etc., but the "chefs' surprised me by being unable to adjust their planning and menu choices to potential circumstances.

Obviously, several of them were simply "strangers in a strange land". None of the chefs seemed to really consider any of the standard dishes for outdoor prep, some examples of which the judges would have been hard put to let their taste buds get in the way of expectations "high-falutin'" styles and cuisine.

I must admit, had I been called upon for a similar challnge, I'd have been left looking for skewers at the market, suitable cuts of beef or lamb (or even pork), grilled veggies and imaginative approaches to a salad. Other than perhaps shrimp (and that grilled), I can't imagine choosing fish (even though the a couple of the fish dishes emerged well).

Sadly, no "Dutch Oven" biscuits.....(and no real attempt at kabobs, an almost automatic choice to me).

^ If I were a judge for this episode I'd have hoped to get something that reinterpreted "chuck wagon cuisine" in a new and innovative way. Something like deconstructed frank and beans.

From the blog, there were apparently spoiled:

Maybe Robin’s shrimp turned overnight.

I like Tom's use of the word "cheftestant" and learned from the blog that the open fire pit was actually PROPANE.

Near the end of the show, it was either Laurine or Melissa remarking that something smelled really bad when someone opened their cooler.

Yes, the shrimp went bad. And she didn't taste it before she sent it out.

Robin is a friend of mine - I met her years ago in Seattle, before she opened Crave. She is such a genuinely good person and a brilliant chef, I'm hoping she wins!

But I really think she hasn't gotten much attention on the show. I've been specifically watching out for her and it seems like they do the little cutaway interviews with everyone but her (they have never done one). Twice they have completely skipped her dish. I haven't noticed that happen to anyone else.

So, I wonder what is up. She of course can't say anything about the results but from some interviews and Facebook posts I think she may have gone pretty far.

As for the others, I like(d) Matin, I like Jessie though I wish she was turning out better food, I'm already tired of the twins and their invented rivalry, and I wish Mike the d-bag would just get sent packing already. Aside from Robin the one I want most to win is the fat bearded guy. I like his plates and I like his personality.

Im glad frenchie has gone, he was too arrogant

Ditto. Every time he spoke, I wanted to go all Van Gogh on my ears.

:D :D :D

^ (just watched the show last night) I have to agree. Once told that they would be cooking for "cowboys" someone should have been thinking of upscale though rustic food. Also, one of the contestants (now departed frenchie?) stated that they didn't modify their cooking for the client, they just let their food stand on its own. That's ridiculous. So is serving ceviche and most of the seafood dishes that were created. Who ever heard of a cowboy eating fish? :confused:

Given the $150 and cooking for 12? I’d have suggested:

Pork tenderloin w/ Whiskey pan sauce
Baby Anise and Wild Mushrooms
I liked the “baked” potatoes, but may have tried for a rice based starch.

Another interesting side I’ve had before was a Cesar Salad using smoked Romaine lettuce.

Heck, This is one of the only challenges I’ve ever felt like I might have had a shot at winning. :)

Looking forward to tonight’s show.

[QUOTE=NoClu;12425677I liked the “baked” potatoes, but may have tried for a rice based starch.
[/QUOTE]

I like your menu. Instead of baked, I've got this great recipe for potatoes that are cooked with olive oil, garlic, sea salt, rosemary, and pepper. They get all roasted on the grill.

* Toby Young was at his brutal best. ^
* Michelle Bernstein lashing back at Toby about Spanish pronounciations was fantastic.
* The look on everyone's face when Robin won the Quickfire was priceless.
* Kevin's dish looked awesome.

First, Robin may be the luckiest cheftestant in the history of the show. I'd have to think about that a little longer to confirm my suspicions, but she should have been gone in about every episode this year and has simply been lucky. Part of luck is creating your own luck and it appears that is how she got through last nights episode again. I do not think that she will last much longer.

Ron has been hanging on by a thread on occasion as well and this time I think he just got confused and ran out of time. Again, a part of the game/contest. I enjoyed watching Ron, but there was never a doubt that he was not going to make it to the final eight chefs.

Michael V, Kevin and Bryan V are consistently creative and produce the best food.

Micheal I and Ely are less consistent but produce interesting meals.

The remainder are brilliant on occasion and middling on average. I suppose it will all depend on when they peak in their brilliance compared to the others.

That Lasagna last night looked great. I am not into Pot Roast, but it sounded amazing. Great work by the chefs.

If you are not reading the Blogs on Bravo TV, you might be missing a quarter of scoop behind a lot of the competition. Especially the look behind the judging table. This is well worth a gander once a week, or if you do not mind the trees, print it out and it makes for better reading than your Hemispheres. :D

Interesting, as it seems to me that Robin gets more face time than just about anybody but Mike. Now that everyone seems to dislike her (her non-stop chatter seems to be getting to a couple of the chefs), I would expect we'll be seeing even more of her.

I thought that more face time on reality shows meant you were going to be eliminated soon. While Robin seems to be outcooked by the other contestants, there seem to be a lot of poor sports out there. When they announced her quickfire win, the younger brother did not clap and I think Ely's comments were so base. She created the most compelling story and married it to the food she made -- that was the whole point of the challenge.

I see her and Ash going in the next couple of rounds, though I would not mind if Ely got bounced.

...and the fact Eli was using a damaged pressure cooker. That's real smart. :rolleyes:

There must be more to the pressure cooker story. Supposedly there are shelves of new pressure cookers available to the cheftestants in the kitchen.