Top Chef Season 4

[Gruzia]

Ugh! what a dissapointment!!! i cant believe she stays! I am so sick of looking at that sour, sour face!!! and spike? what a weasel.

[Ndy]

It was great to see Richard dominate as usual, but I'm extremely aggravated to see Lisa moving to the next round. How does she manage to survive? SHE SUCKS!

[Zeemanb]

And so a very dramatic choice goes home......snore.....

Totally weird and coincidental, but it was funny to see Jose Andres, if for no other reason than I've got minibar reservations next Friday night.

Just my opinion, but the bigger the guest chef..............the bigger the graciousness, all class all the way.....

[prasantrin]

OK, I don't get to watch Top Chef, and I won't get to until this summer (if I'm lucky), but anyone want to PM me about who went home? I won't mind the spoiler, really!

[dockhl]

I really liked the guest chefs a lot, thought their comments were well made.

No question Spike=snark.

I hated looking at him almost as I hate looking at Lisa (a lot !) I don't watch 'Survivor' and think this has very little to do with that type of mentality; it is about who is the best in cooking, organizing, planning, motivating a team.....right?

RIGHT ?

How many are needed for the final? How many are left?

[malarkey]

I think this was one of the best shows of the season. LOVE restaurant wars!

The right person went home, ab-so-fucking-lutely. This was Dale's chance, he was at the helm, he was in control. He should have risen above Lisa's grouching and pulled the team together. But he didn't. And his behavior in front of the judge's panel was pathetic.

Edited May 22, 2008 by malarkey (log)

[Pierogi]

That whole TEAM was pathetic ! Dale was a total a-hole, Lisa was her normal petulant, pouty sour self and Spike is a slime. Was anyone else totally skeeved out when he was waving that skanky hat of his over the stock pot??? Ewwww.

Spike got lucky -again- by not being in the heat of the battle. I would've been happy if any of them had gone. Dale deserved to go for that hideous scallop dish and Lisa for the laksa and the sticky rice. They BOTH deserved to go for attitude and for the inability to play well with others, as Chef Andres pointed out. But ultimately, Dale was *quote* IN CHARGE *unquote* and as AB said, if the food going out wasn't what would please the customer he should've kicked butt. Between his lack of leadership, his bad choices on dishes (that dessert looked like something my dogs disgourge when they have upset tummies, not to mention the scallops) and his attitude during Judge's Table, I think it all combined to sink him in the end.

On the plus side, I was so happy to see Stephanie finally shine ! I just love her, and Richard of course, and I'm actually starting to like Antonia as well. She's really come through as the going has gotten tougher.

Best line tonight.....AB's about the dish having the consistency of baby puke garnished with wood chips. LOL !

Yes, Zeemanb, I agree totally. I have been completely impressed with the guest judges like Rick Bayless and Eric Ripert and all. They all seem like such wonderful, and as you said, gracious, people, who want to teach and share their talents. Very cool people. Not to mention, well, I have just the tiniest little crush on Chef Andres.....(must be the "E-spanich" accent..... ) Between Chef Andres and AB it was a very, very good night..........*sigh*

[KristiB50]

Butterscotch scallops

I'm glad Stephanie won again. I'd be happy with either her or Richard winning.

I wish Tony would blog.

[Kevin72]

Definitely missing Tony's blogging after last night.

More random observations:

Ever naive, I started worrying about Team Antonia doing a "gastropub" since Tony's so down on the concept.

Steph doesn't even need to win the grand prize now. Her prize last night was pretty sweet on its own.

Why oh why would you want to be calling the shots on restaurant wars? If you're team lead there's basically a 50% shot of you going home. I'd rather have seen Lisa sent packing (when's the last time she WASN'T on the bottom?), but after the Tre Incident last season it made sense for Dale to go. Better still, they should have sent the whole losing team home and saved the budget. Then for next week's ep, the final three just go eat at Alinea.

Also, I think that they need to do a Quickfire of Who Can Sleep In the Latest next. This is what, their third or fourth sleep deprived day after Wedding Wars?

I read this elsewhere, but this seems to have been the best executed Restaurant Wars episode: usually they're disastrous for both teams. Previews make it seem like next week is one of those infamous "nobody wins" episodes.

Finally, a compliment to Bravo: last season's top chef couldn't seem to go three episodes without having to do a retrospective or a clip show. Have they even done one this season?

[pax]

I think this was one of the best shows of the season. LOVE restaurant wars!

The right person went home, ab-so-fucking-lutely. This was Dale's chance, he was at the helm, he was in control. He should have risen above Lisa's grouching and pulled the team together. But he didn't. And his behavior in front of the judge's panel was pathetic.

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Remember last season when Sara snapped off someone's head during restaurant wars, "Do it AGAIN", and she was roundly applauded for it at judge's table. And whoever it was, the little short guy, he caved and did it again. She had what it took to pull a team together. Dale didn't, even though he might have been a more talent chef.

[Kim Shook]

I think the right person went home, based on just that episode, but I can't wait for Lisa to GO! And Spike managed to ooze out of responsibility by doing FOH and, to be fair, seemed to do a very good job of it. But he didn't fool Bourdain one bit. Did you see the look he gave Spike right at the end of B's comments?

[PDC]

Personally, I got worried that Bourdain would boycott the judgement after the chefs were shown drinking Michelob in the stew room.

[Reignking]

I really thought Richard would've been the one to try such a strange cheesecake. Since it was so successful, I'd be really interested in trying it. I guess gorgonzola works with sweet potato, but not watermelon

I bet he wished he had known that he was serving Jose Andres before they had created the menu -- he would've pulled something special out of his bag of tricks.

Dale and Lisa never should have been in the kitchen together -- that was just a recipe for disaster.

[Reignking]

i love this show!

anyone know why jose garces wasn't able to plug his restaurants at all?

they just introduced him with no mention of the what, 4 or 5 places he owns in dc. i thought that kinda weird.

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Jose ANDRES. They plugged his PBS show, Made In Spain (which isn't available on my local PBS station!).

[Vinotas]

Wow, Dale is gone! I am a little surprised, I was expecting Lisa, with all her rice-related screw-ups, to be going. Then again, it could be that those scallops were particularly awful (and they sure do sound nasty). Still, I think Dale has more skills than Lisa, despite his disposition. Looks like Lisa will probably be next on the firing line, which IMHO is not a bad idea. Heck, I was half-expecting the judges to send both Dale and Lisa home.

That said, this was a great episode.

[Tess]

\Why oh why would you want to be calling the shots on restaurant wars?  If you're team lead there's basically a 50% shot of you going home. 

It's a gamble for sure, but it worked out great for Antonia. She was just emerging from the pack and now she's firmly in the top three.

I love, love, love Stephanie. She is killer cute and very professional at the same time.

[Kevin72]

\Why oh why would you want to be calling the shots on restaurant wars?  If you're team lead there's basically a 50% shot of you going home. 

It's a gamble for sure, but it worked out great for Antonia. She was just emerging from the pack and now she's firmly in the top three.

I love, love, love Stephanie. She is killer cute and very professional at the same time.

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But it's a lot of gamble for very little gain. Antonia didn't win the Big Daddy prize after all (was she team lead?).

As I've read elsewhere, Dale should've let Lisa take the lead role if they were both butting heads about it and then let her go down in flames. He knew he was on a scrub team, so why not get out of the way and just be a grunt.

Agree on Steph! It would just kill me if she (or even Richard or Antonia) gets cut with Spike and Lisa still around.

[Claudia Greco]

I was sorry to see Dale go, since I think he has real ability - but Bourdain was right. Not only did he let Lisa make laksa when he, Dale, doesn't know ugatz about it, but even when he and Spike realized it was too smoky, he should have made Lisa do it over again (maybe under Spike's direction, since he supposedly DOES know how to make laksa). Yeah, sure, Lisa probably bitched back at him, but as exec chef, he needed to bark back at her and get the laksa, of all things, straightened out. (There was time.) Too bad that Dale didn't know that Bourdain hates sweet, cloying things - the butterscotch on the scallops was ripe for disaster. He'd have fared better just miso-glazing the scallops. More traditionally Asian. Better flavor balance. And would have dodged the bullet of Bourdain's own palate. Still, I can't believe that Lisa screwed up TWO dishes, both of which she's cooked before, and still survived! Rice and blame, rice and blame! How many times can a professional cook screw up rice in a single week?!!

Did you notice that Bourdain's original bon mot "[the mango sticky rice] looks like baby vomit with wood chips on top" was modified to "looks like baby food with pot pourri on it"? Either that, or the customer who reportedly wrote that has very a similar palate to Bourdain's and the colorful wit. Both lines had me laughing.

It was fun watching Bourdain fill in for Colicchio with a certain gravitas - less snark, but deadly serious. I thought he looked like a black-tipped reef shark patrolling the coral when he went into the kitchen. "Be afraid - be VERY afraid!"

Next best line of the night (over Dale and Lisa's squabbling): "Okay, okay - I'm not your parole officer!" and (squinting suspiciously at Spike): "I'm not sure if it's guile or you're really lucky, but -" Bourdain obviously has Spike's number. What a hoot!

[handmc]

When it happened I was upset with Dale going home. I think it is becuase Lisa and Mr. Slime were allowed to continue on. Dale, until the scallop debalce, what was he thinking? Showed more skill as a chef than his two teammates. I cannot wait until the other two go, they suck.

Tony as head judge I think really worked well. He was far more scary that Tom and I think his candor and wit really work well with the format of the show.

Jose is one of my favorites. I am lucky we get his made in Spain show out here and I love it.

The stupidity of going all Asian with your concept when you have a very vocal judge which has spent a huge part of the last four years in places you can only imagine, eating food you will never taste is astounding. I love Asian cooking and I have never seen anything remotely like the scallop dish Dale threw up on the plate. It was folly to chose to lead that team and more foolish to agree to open an Asian restaurant.

Edited May 22, 2008 by handmc (log)

[Sony]

As happy as I was to see the gastropub team win, I was a little peeved at Antonia continuing to minimalize the depth and complexity of Asian food. I think she said something about the other team opening a "Chinese restaurant"......

Not that there's anything wrong with a Chinese restaurant. But Asia's a whole lot bigger than China, as varied as the cuisine within that country in itself is. The dishes they chose to do had influences from at 3 different Asian countries besides China. She's got a dent in my book because of her perspective (or lack of it).

As many of you have expressed, I was also thinking that I wouldn't be surprised by any of the losing team's members to go....though I think I wanted Dale to go the least. I wish he could have risen above the fray. Oh well, more slime and sourness to go.....

(Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder (hope) that it's just the show environment/stress/editing that's making some of these characters unlike their genuine selves? I don't like rooting for people to go home....)

[Elrushbo]

I think this was one of the best shows of the season. LOVE restaurant wars!

The right person went home, ab-so-fucking-lutely. This was Dale's chance, he was at the helm, he was in control. He should have risen above Lisa's grouching and pulled the team together. But he didn't. And his behavior in front of the judge's panel was pathetic.

←

Gotta disagree-Lisa screws up yet again, and the better chef went home again. She should have left last week. She messed up EVERYTHING she made. Sure, Dale wasn't great himself, but he has demonstrated a lot more talent than her.

That was a huge mistake, no way is Lisa a better chef than Dale. NO WAY. Looks like a political/network decision to keep a certain number of female chefs in at all costs.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Elrushbo (log)

[wkl]

The stupidity of going all Asian with your concept when you have a very vocal judge which has spent a huge part of the last four years in places you can only imagine, eating food you will never taste is astounding. I love Asian cooking and I have never seen anything remotely like the scallop dish Dale threw up on the plate. It was folly to chose to lead that team and more foolish to agree to open an Asian restaurant.

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i could be wrong, but weren't the concepts picked and the chefs in the kitchen cooking when bourdain came in and announced he was filling in for tom c?

also, i'm no fan of spike but, i gotta believe he played dale and lisa big time. that smirk on his face when they were melting down in front of the judges led me to believe he knew that would happen and figured he'd just get out of the way and let it happen.

[daisy17]

That was a huge mistake, no way is Lisa a better chef than Dale. NO WAY. Looks like a political/network decision to keep a certain number of female chefs in at all costs.

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This is my one major issue with the show. I don't think they officially consider previous performance - they eliminate whoever screwed up the most on that episode. I'm sure that past performance comes into play a bit in their evaluations, but I don't think it's what the elimination decisions are based on. Doesn't seem right to me.

[Claudia Greco]

I have no problem with the three chefs who are grounded in Asian food opening a restaurant with an Asian concept, Bourdain or no Bourdain. But, as the exec chef, Dale had to make sure he knew each dish and how it should taste before it left the kitchen - or, if not, he should've made Lisa fix it under Spike's guidance, since they both agreed the laksa was very smoky, had no heat, etc. He could've personally saved his own butt by staying true to authentically Asian dishes and just omitting the butterscotch in the scallop dish - scallops caramelize beautifully on their own if cooked properly. Going "Asian" didn't kill that team - bad execution and bad judgment did.

As pointed out by a previous poster, Dale also could've saved his own butt by forcing Lisa to be exec chef, therefore making her wholly responsible for not only the two failed dishes but also for letting them go out. As Bourdain told Dale, as an exec chef, if any of his cooks were putting out bad food OR giving him lip about it, he'd jump all over them right then, right on the line - not after dinner service.

Good thing for Richard he wisely decided not to smoke anything this episode, well before Bourdain prowled in (!)

[Ndy]

Agree on Steph! It would just kill me if she (or even Richard or Antonia) gets cut with Spike and Lisa still around.

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I think if that happened I would quit watching.