I don't know how to tell them apart. Aren't they too young for Botox? The muscles in their faces do not move, ever.

The older one is more soft-spoken and his arm is not covered in tattoos. IIRC from the bio, the older one is in MD, and the younger one in LA.

Not sure anyone in their late 20s/early 30s needs botox.

If you read through the thread here, Robin was identified early on as on eof the 'weaker' chefs.

I think that the other cheftestants do not like the hen pecking they are subjected to. Again, this could all be editing.

I have seen lots of people whose muscles on their faces move similar to thos of the V Brothers. No Botox involved.

The Brothers, Kevin, Mike I and Jen are simply on a different playing field than the rest of the cheftestants. Eli, may be a dark horse with Jen perhaps.

I was joking, but it just seems strange that they never change expression.

I disagree...it was not like Charlie Palmer was the only judge.

Every dish by the top 4 in the last EC looked better than what the bottom 3 had. I ate at Volt 2 weeks ago and Bryan was there...every dish I had looked better than the bottom 3's as well. :p

The Judges have always appeared to be true professionals. I do not see them throwing a competition based on a past colleague. Also, this is not the first time a judge has appeared on the show who has some way been connected to a contestant.

Aside from that, I would say that the top meals from last night certainly looked like they deserved to be on the top.

Once again, I said it may not be fishy, it just looks that way sometimes.

However, clearly one of the V-boys was worried that Palmer liked the other brother better.

Looking to do that in the next few months - I had wanted to visit when he first opened, but never got up there. His being on the show, just back the desire and this time will make it work.

You should read Richard Blaise's blog on BraoTV.com. He talks about when he had to cook for his mentor on TC. Interesting comments.

http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/richard.../prodigal-sons
http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/richard.../prodigal-sons

The sniping at Robin is petty and disingenuous. I'm sure she has some annoying habits, but in my opinion, I find Mike I., Ely and Bryan V. also quite annoying oin some of their behaviors. And yes, they seem to be all better chefs than Robin, and they also can seem quite annoying.

The ganging up on Robin sinks this show to the depths of Hell's Kitchen. And while that may make for more drama, it does take away from the professionalism and class of the chefs on Top Chef, versus the lowlifes on Hell's Kitchen.

And FWIW, I think it'll come down to Kevin and Bryan V., with Kevin named as this season's Top Chef.

Do you all buy the hype?
 

Does everybody here buy the hype that ALL of the judjes on the show are pitching about the quality of the cheftestants competing this season is SO much higher than any previous season?

Maybe on average I suppose, but whenever I think back, I think back to:
Season 1: Harold, Lee Anne
Season 2: Sam, Marcel
Season 3: Hung, Dale, Casey, Brian, CJ
Season 4: Richard, Spike, Dale
Season 5: Stefan, Jeff, Fabio

There are others that I know that I am missing, but the above group just seemed increadibly talented. Maybe one day there will be a TC Winners competition.

But do you really think that this group would be dusted off by the current TC Season 6 group?

Yes. She does.

She was a complete tyrant in her restaurant in Seattle (now closed) which we thought was pretty decent in a few visits. Turned out our visits happened to occur when she wasn't in the house. Once we went back and she was there... buh bye.

The capper was when my wife and a business associate (both pretty mild professional women) were having coffee and dessert one evening, following a meal in which both entrees had to be returned for having been bad or cold, and in one case, wrong. Robin came up to their table with the bill, slammed it on the table, and barked, "You have to leave. We need your table," and marched away. (There were several empty tables, and nobody waiting in the rain outside.)

Other acquaintances who used to go there said they quit for similar reasons. There are too many other decent restaurants in Seattle, and no reason to frequent one operated by a whackdoodle.

She closed her restaurant when the building was converted into yuppie condos or something. As far as calling a woman you never met a tyrant and saying she deserves nastiness, well, I think you don't know what you're talking about.

Never met? Says who? Were you at the next table?

Actually, "tyrant" wasn't the word I really wanted to use.

Deserving nastiness? No, probably an overstatement. Deserving sympathy? Nope.

The program is showbiz. 99% of the drama is created in the editing room. But her place had terrible service, snotty staff, and - believe me - the tone was set at the top.

BTW her space is being converted into a practice/performance area for a struggling not-for-profit dance company. It's not the best time to be building yuppie condos in Seattle. Actually, not the best neighborhood, either. I just don't think she could afford the (cheap) rent.

Restaurant Wars!
 

Restaurant wars tonight. I have always thought that this episode needed to be a special that was allowed an extra half hour or so. There is just too much going on to get an idea of what the cheftestants have individually contributed. There is also the restaurant wars curse of an otherwise front runner getting lopped off because of a poorly run restaurant. From reading the blogs, it sounds like this is the cheftestants most feared episode.

I suppose production costs make it impossible to get an extra half hour of footage for these complicated episodes. You would think that with Bravo's format of repeating everything every week, you could easily adjust the occasional episode to take a bit more or less time. Especially as the competition increases. Oh well.

Hey has anybody heard anything about any holiday specials this year with former cheftestants reurning to cook?

I am guessing that we will see Robin finally exit, or perhaps Laurine. I am not sure who the 'proprieters' are this week as I deliberately do not watch the 'coming next week' portion. How about pitting the two brothers against one another :)