Claudia Greco

Are you kidding? I could barely keep a straight face throughout the Romanian episode. After the Vlad statue bit, I just KNEW things would go horribly pear-shaped. By the time the Halloween party at the faux Drac castle rolled around, hubby and I were cringing (but howling) simultaneously -poor Tony! (PS: I don't think it made Romanian people or their food or culture look bad - just the corrupt officials and tourism apparatchniks who kept trying to hijack or derail the NR crew at every turn.)

Maybe with a gun at his head - or maybe not, even then !

I admit I'm happily anticipating Lisa's second burned rice fiasco, upcoming next week, in the middle of Restuarant Wars. Who will she blame for that? And how sour can the #1 player in the "sour, sullen, triptych of petulance" REALLY get? I don't think we've really seen the depth of Lisa's ass-puckering sourness. I'd love to see that performance in front of Bourdain at the judges' table. Ooooo. As Letterman once said, "Wake up the dog and give it a beer." THIS should be a stellar episode (!)

As a judge - not as a blogger. Too bad. I miss the snark.

****************SEMI-SPOILER****************************** Although I thought the girls would have it in for Matt (or at least Rosann), I was glad to see the vicious, manipulative and snarky Ben get thoroughly bollocked by GR. He kept engineering the voting to get rid of Matt - much like Corey trying to eliminate Christina - and the only one who came out looking good was Petrozza. Rosann still looks on VERY shaky ground for next week, though - she's had three really bad services in a row.

Ndy's hit it on the head. I've seen all of the Ramsay shows - from the earliest Boiling Point of 10 years ago, when he opened his own restuarant and started gunning to be the youngest 3-Mich Brit chef - through Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (both Brit and American, with the British version being much more sedate), the F Word and Hell's Kitchen, and while Gordon is a yeller, hyperactive and a perfectionist, he is nowhere near the sociopath he's expected to be on HK. Not only is he being told to ramp up the Evil Gordon, but that aspect of his personality is no doubt genuinely exacerbated by the fact that GR is handed a really useless lot of would-be chefs with a few exceptions) that would drive any chef of GR's caliber stark raving mad. Having said that, however, I still believe that GR does have a savage tongue on him and can be verbally brutal. Even though his staff is very loyal to him and he has extremely low turnout in his kitchens, he clearly does have a verbal bully in him. I remember on Boiling Point he just didn't chew out a cook - even after he was done chewing him out, he went back and badgered him relentlessly up and done the line endlessly. It's like once the verbal violence switch gets thrown, he can't lay off. I'm guessing that Gordo really is a lot nicer, on an hour-by-hour basis, than his TV and/or kitchen persona, but I don't think his screaming and bullying is an act, either - he definitely has that element to his personality, because it DOES show up when he is out of the kitchen. Face it - persoanlity-wise, he just isn't Thomas Keller.

Oh, God, an LA teenager who's never had shrimp and eats her meat well-done (OK, that part usually changes as you get older), and that brittle, pterodactyl mother! Made me shudder! Even Ramsay looked at her askance - "you don't want to get that mother angry at you" (or words to that effect).

I've been thinking Dale and Richard to the very end, but Christ, is Dale getting whiny - and screwing up. He needs to put on his big boy pants and be a team player until there is no team left. Now I'm rooting for Richard 1000% - a really class act, and nice guy, as well as talented chef. I agree that Spike will probably be next - he's been hanging behind the other chefs. Did I actually see Lisa smile last night? Oh, yeah - when she said, "Dale threw a tantrum and then needed to have his diaper changed." (!!) Well, at least she showed a glimmer of humor, finally.

I don't know - Rosann couldn't mash potatoes last week and held up the entire line, and she undercooked the mother's steak this week, but suddenly, SHAYNA'S a problem? Rosann's been on the block twice - back-to-back - and I don't understand how she keeps managing to dodge the bullet. I was so sure Matt was going to go this week, and he probably would have, if he hadn't told Ramsay he wants to cook on the women's team. Good TV drama is the only reason he's still standing this week.Corey hates eveybody, doesn't she? Can't stand Christina, and she was definitely gloating when Shayna got axed. Aiiiiii, mami - it's telenova time!

I'd have to agree about the miserable part. He came in with a lot of preconceived notions about Greek cuisine based on years of exposure to Greek diner food in New York (which kind of surprised me - I'm a New Yorker, too, and think he'd know better), but basically, since he hates dancing, animal-killing and gun scenes so much, he definitely has to work it out with his segment producers to avoid these things - or, if they are an inherent part of the culture and/or scene, just deal with it. The Greeks are a dancin' kind of people, but he wasn't forced to dance this episode, just watch. So? Is this so terrible?

Nice theory - wouldn't surprise me at all if it played out that way! :-D

I'm not in the Antonia sympathy camp this week. Tricky editing to play on viewer's emotions for Antonia's family situation doesn't mean she deserves to be a Top Chef. So while I don't buy into the feel-good story, I do give Antonia high marks for her cooking abilities this week and for winning both the Quickfire and and Elimination Challenges. Nice Job Antonia-now just keep cooking. ← I'm thinking the next two out will be Lisa, then Antonia.

I'd hqave to agree with you there. Twice now, the nominating woman has put her choices up for strategic reasons, and twice, Gordon has either overruled or disregarded her. Good for him.

Love Blue Mountain coffee! It's the ultimate caffeine jolt for coffee-craving New Yorkers. My husband brings burlap bags back each time he goes to Jamaica forabout $10 a bag - it's closer to $40 a bag here in NYC! The only problem is that Customs slits the burlap open every time - checking for the good herb, mon!

Vanessa was definitely a wuss, and I got tired of her weeping every week. She talked tough, like how she was going to tough it out with the burned hand, then she QUIT. Feh. I can live with Jen winning - she's a strong leader and capable cook and has big blue clangy ones. Bobby, however, is still a joke to me and Matt makes me mildly nauseous just listening to him. I'm wondering if Petrozza has got a come-from-behind gambit in his bag of tricks? He saved Louross' butt over the well-done meat AND got it past Chef Scott - hahahahaha! Ahh, those wily, Macchiavellian Italians!

It's $28 per week in New York, and numerous City Councilmen have tried to demonstrate how meager that is by living on it for a week - what Colicchio (a New Yorker) nicely glossed over is that person was trying to life on ramen, etc., and could not include any kind of veg, meat, etc. The Councilmen who tried it (Gifford Miller a few years ago, another young guy just this past week) all ran out of food by Day 5 and had to go scrounge from local food pantries - whose supplies are significantly lower than last year. That crack he made about $10 "not seeming so bad" is both glib, flippant and insensitive and he should know better.

If ONLY Ramsay's hyperactive ranting could be blamed on coke! I thought it ridiculous that Louross even got nominated for elimination - true, he wrecked a few steaks but his services usually have been good, and he's frequently rallied the men's team together. Matt, meanwhile, trashed NUMEROUS quail eggs during the same service - and no one even thought to put HIM up? Oy. Christine continues to be the victim of her team's dislike. She wouldn't have lagged so badly at the dessert station if she had Jen, like she was supposed to - but whom, unfortunately, had to leave apps and go babysit Rosann on veg, because she suddenly lost her ability to mash potatoes correctly. Oy! Another drink! And Rosann has the NERVE to say she's a better cook than Christine. It's a terrible trainwreck, this season, if a trainwreck also had a telenova wrapped around it and gratuitous nudity thrown in. You just can't turn it off. Ramsay's ranting, or the cheftestants' stupefying stupidity? Who can resist?! My money is still on Louross, the dark horse - but I'm keeping an eye on Jen and Christine. People hate Louross and Christine for a reason, I'm thinking, and it's not because "they cry like a bitch" in the kitchen. They certainly don't.

← I'd be OK with LIsa going home, too. She is always so negative and contrarian - but I guess that honkin' big piece of bread and the asparagus dish itself really DID stink!

I still think Antonia should have gone. She was the one that shot down using real Polish sausage right off the bat, and then kept on persuading herself and Lisa that they really were "improvising". They totally blew off the rules off the challenge. Why is it that Antonia always gets away with imposing her concepts on her team mates (or squashing others'), getting them all brought up to the block because of it, but yet she keeps escaping elimination? No matter how bad the asparagus tasted or how cheese-dominant it was, at least Steph and Jen followed both the rules AND the spirit of the challenge, and really tried to "sell" their dish. Lisa and Antonia basically defied the rules, made no explanation for their decision or even tried to justify it as "improv" - and they rather arrogantly downed shots of tequila without even offering them to their guests/judges. Bad move. You'd think they'd get the hint a pour a few even after one of the comics said, "What? None for us?" (Tequila was a component of their Chilen sea bass/chorizo (but not kielbasa) dish). Antonis needs a smack upside the head, I think.

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Or, as he's known on the Ruhlman blog, "Breck Boy Knowlton" (although he doeas have equally Prell-like bouncin' n' behavin' hair (!))

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ah, yeah, valerie kept calling them "bellinis," even at the end when colicchio corrected them. just bad. bye, valerie (just watching it now, tivoed so no idea who gets sent home) ← on tv, people always say "bellini" and "mar-sca-pone" and they said "parpadelle" once... there's others i'm sure. maybe it's a regional thing, but blini is blini, mascarpone comes from mascarpa in italy and pappardelle is just that. at least in my experience. ::shrug:: ← Actually, Valerie, Antonia et al. kept saying "buh-lini", which is even worse. And then there's saying "carmel corn" for "carAmel corn", or "carmelize" for "carAmelize". Carmel is right by Pebble Beach and Monterey. Caramel is the candy. Drives me wild every time I hear it.