Super Chefs vs. Top Chefs

For the longest time, if you asked me what my favorite food competitive reality show on TV was, I'd have said Top Chef, no question. But after a strong All-Stars season, returning to the traditional format has actually felt a little tired. There are still a ton of chefs left so I don't want to speak too soon but no one is really impressing me so far. And surprisingly, I might be enjoying another food show more right now: Next Iron Chef. I hadn't even watched the last couple of seasons (and I don't watch Iron Chef America regularly either, I might add) but the cast and the new format has just been really fun. Let's check in with both!

Top Chef: 

Bravo's motto seems to be that you can never have too much of a good thing so this season started off with two extra "audition" episodes. They started off with 29 chefs and had this odd bracketed elimination to narrow them down to the usual 16. I found this to be somewhat unfair...each of the three groups had different challenges and the judges handed out the chef coats as they went so the odds just seemed really stacked against the chefs in the last group. They also put a number of chefs "on the bubble" and put them through an additional challenge to fill the last few spots. I personally found these episodes to be pretty boring. Just too many chefs, too many dishes, and not a lot of reason to root for one chef over the other. 

Once we got into the "real" competition, it did feel very much like just classic Top Chef, but I don't think anyone has really distinguished themselves yet. One new interesting thing that I do like though, is this "secret" side web competition called Last Chance Kitchen. Each chef eliminated from the main competition goes head-to-head against the winner of the previous week's installment and supposedly the last one standing will get to return and compete in the actual finale. Tom Colicchio himself hosts and judges. I'm not sure how this will affect the outcome of the season, if at all, but it's a fun little extra nugget.

The Next Iron Chef:

This season was dubbed the season of the "Super Chefs" and for good reason...Food Network did a pretty awesome job getting together a cast of already very recognizable TV chefs. These chefs have their own cooking shows, have competed on or judged other food reality shows, and have been challengers in Kitchen Stadium. The only possible WTF contestant was Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef fame...but he was eliminated first anyway.

I very much like the format changes they made. Each episode now starts with the regular "Chairman's Challenge" (the most ridiculous thing about this show is how everyone from Alton Brown to the judges and competitors all defer to the Chairman who's really just a hilariously over-the-top actor...) which have themes such as improvisation, storytelling, risk, etc. and then the bottom two in that challenge have to complete in the "Secret Ingredient Showdown" which is basically a mini Iron Chef challenge--30 minutes to make one dish with the secret ingredient. I'm definitely a fan of this two-stage elimination, especially since the chefs are all so strong.

There are four chefs left standing: Michael Chiarello, Geoffrey Zakarian, Elizabeth Falkner, and Alex Guarnaschelli. I think either Zakarian or Falkner would make the best Iron Chefs...they're both super creative and can really execute. Chiarello was surprisingly kind of a beast on Top Chef Masters but I don't think Iron Chef needs another Italian specialist and honestly I find Guarnaschelli to just be kind of annoying.

Actually Top Chef Masters is probably a better show to compare to this one just based on the caliber of the chefs -- and Next Iron Chef definitely wins out. Masters was somehow really boring, maybe because the stakes just weren't as high? That was just a title, whereas this is, well, another job and probably growing recognition?

Top Chef All-Stars Finale Thoughts

For those of you who, like me, felt like this All-Stars season was really long, you're absolutely right. This season had 17 episodes as opposed to the usual 14. This probably sounded like a good idea because this is a group of chefs that we already knew (and possibly love), so what could be better than spending more time with them? Unfortunately a lot of favorites and big personalities got eliminated rather early and we were left with quite a few unexpected chefs nearing the end. Richard and Mike as the last two chefs standing did end up being pretty evenly matched but that stretch of episodes with Angelo, Dale, and Carla all getting eliminated while Tiffany and Mike continued to skate by really made me start losing interest.

Mike didn't really start picking up speed until the very end--he was safe in the middle for the majority of the season--but I can't deny that his food in the Bahamas was clearly top-notch. Richard had the best record of anyone this season and he never really choked. So since I obviously couldn't taste the food, I was pretty much judging on personality, and I most definitely preferred Richard to take the title. Richard could be annoying too--always insisting he should have won his original season (as if Stephanie wasn't deserving at all) but also having weird moments of "hating everything he does"--but Mike's loudmouth personality just rubbed me the wrong way. His overconfidence and constant trash talking was a huge turn off.

So I was very nervous for the entire episode and then very, very relieved when Richard was announced as the winner. A lot of people had him pegged as the frontrunner before the season even started and I'm really glad he lived up to expectations. I thought he was smart in how he used Spike to be his "spy" and use the information to adjust his dessert for the second group of diners (and judges). It's clear that he's both a great leader and a chef. Congratulations Richard!

Leftovers:

- I thought the way they had to choose their sous chefs was a little unfair -- usually the finale is all about "do whatever you want" but then I guess there has be some Top Chef shenanigans. It didn't end up being an issue but I totally laughed out loud when Mike got Jamie.
- Both Richard and Mike wanted Jen as their sous chef even though she flamed out super early so glad her reputation hasn't been tarnished. Did anyone notice her huge crazy hair though?
- Poor Antonia...just eliminated and then has to get right back in the kitchen to help her former competition. I was pretty indifferent to her pretty much right up until the finale but I think she's kind of grown on me.
- What is up with Richard always making this face? (see left)
- It was very weird that Mike had his whole family come to join him and Richard got...his uncle?
- Those little live commercial bits with Padma and Gail were extremely awkward.
- Petty, but I thought Mike's dirty chef coat every time he came out to talk to the judges was poor form.
- That Curtis Stone is everywhere nowadays. He's on America's Next Great Restaurant and now he's hosting Top Chef Masters too.
- While I wasn't rooting for him, I am very much looking forward to Mike's new restaurant in DC. There better be pepperoni sauce!

Spoiled: Consuming media in the age of DVR, blogs, and wikipedia

I started really getting into television because of a combination of two things: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the internet. They came into my life at about the same time when I was in junior high and they really fed into each other. I had friends in real life that watched Buffy too but they weren't quite as obsessed as I was, so I turned to the internet. I became a regular at the official Buffy "posting board" (an early message board/chat room type thing) where fans from all around the world discussed and dissected the show and our obsession with it. In those days, I had a VCR that I could record episodes on but I generally watched the show live and got onto the PB immediately to see what everyone else thought.

Spoilers back then had a slightly different meaning to me...they were generally information about future episodes, gleaned from casting notices and people who were extras and stuff like that. I knew that reading spoilers in a lot of ways ruined the effect of the show, but I just wanted to know everything. I would occasionally go through these stages where I'd endeavor to remain "spoiler-free" and I'm pretty sure that I enjoyed the show more but eventually I'd go back to old habits because I so badly wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Then a few years ago, something else happened: I got a DVR. In many ways, this was one of the best things to ever happen to me (I'm not exaggerating). I wasn't tied to network airing schedules anymore, I could record two things at once, and I could fast-forward through commercials (and boring parts of shows like American Idol) among other things. I can't imagine my life without it.

But there's a side effect to the wonderfulness of the DVR: I now rarely watch shows "live" or right away. Depending on what day it is and how much I like the show, I watch most shows a day or two later, or in some cases, weeks later. Which means that spoilers now have a different definition: it's what happened on a show that's aired already but that I just haven't watched yet. And yes, I still read them!

It's especially bad with reality shows. For example, Top Chef airs on Wednesday nights at 10PM, which is past my bedtime (yes, I go to bed that early). So right when I wake up on Thursday morning, there are the recaps from various blogs in my Google Reader, which of course I have to read. I try to skim and just see who won and who was eliminated but I mean, what else is there? I then generally watch the show after work that evening and the suspense is completely gone.

Horrifyingly this behavior has now spread to movies and books, thanks to wikipedia. I've never been very timely with these...I rarely see movies in the theater and I generally wait for books to get to the library. I have been known to sneak a peek at the ending of a book before reading the whole thing (confession: I read the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because I was so afraid that someone important was going to die) but now I can go to wikipedia and read the entire summary of a book before I even have it in my hands. It's especially bad with books that are in a series, like the Hunger Games and Steig Larsson's Millenium trilogy. The same goes with movies. It's just too easy!

So I think I'm going to embark on another spoiler-free experiment. There is actually one TV show that I've already been spoiler-free on: The Vampire Diaries. I watch it pretty much live every Thursday night and because of the huge amount of twists and cliffhangers (VD has a cliffhanger practically before every commercial break), I'm always so glad that I didn't know what was going to happen beforehand. The few times I couldn't watch it live and read spoilers, my enjoyment was definitely diminished.

I'm not going to change my viewing habits...I'm just going to really restrain myself from reading recaps and avoid spoiler-y blogs and websites. A lot of scripted shows are on hiatus until April, so for now my two main challenges will be Top Chef and The Amazing Race. Wish me luck, and I'll report back in a month or so!

Top Chef: Oh, who cares?

So...I've mentally checked out of this season of Top Chef. I didn't recap last week's episode because essentially nothing happened: the chefs were finally given some freedom to cook whatever they wanted, they all produced good dishes, and the judges decided not to eliminate anyone. Bo-ring.

Now we're in the Bahamas with the final five, two of which I wanted eliminated weeks ago (Mike and Tiffany), and we're back to the usual Top Chef shenanigans cooking with just a flat-top, microwaves, and a deep-fryers...one of which catches on fire and shuts down the kitchen. All the food gets contaminated and the chefs have to start over. Richard and Antonia took this as an opportunity to completely change their dishes, with mixed results.

None of the chefs seemed particularly happy with their dishes, and the judges weren't terribly enamored either. There were a lot of mistakes in execution and odd combinations and ultimately Carla was sent home for undercooked pork. Richard, despite a sudden lack of confidence, fares well but Mike takes his first elimination win.

Mike's comment that he thought Carla, Tiffany, and Antonia played it safe just to get to the finale got me pretty mad. Carla had won three elimination challenges, and Antonia two. Before this episode, Mike had won two Quickfires but he was "safe" (neither in the top or the bottom) in 7 eliminations, far more than anyone else. He can cook but he's a douche and if he wins, I'm going to be pissed.

Actually, I think if anyone wins besides Richard, they're going to go into the pile with Ilan, Hosea, and Kevin as underwhelming Top Chef winners. Unfortunately, Blais seems to be in danger of self-destructing once again. Not a good time to become a headcase. For some unknown reason the finals are being stretched out this season and there are still three more episodes to go. Let's hope he keeps it together...

Leftovers:
- The Quickfire was not that interesting despite the return of former Top Chefs. I liked seeing Stephanie again but Hosea and Kevin I could care less about and Michael Voltaggio was sporting a really bizarre haircut.
- Did the chefs really think there was like a King and Queen of the Bahamas?
- I've actually been to that restaurant in Nassau, Twin Brothers. The judges looked hilariously out of place crammed into that booth.
-Why did the chefs not come out to meet the judges? It was odd having Tom announce the dishes.
-Richard's theory of nuts: peanuts=rock n' roll, walnuts=British rock, almonds=classical, hazelnuts=hippie, pistachios=pop. Um...yeah.

Top Chef Southern Style

It's the eternal Top Chef debate: should the judging take past performance into account? The show was developed by the same people as Project Runway with its "one day you're in, the next you're out" mantra and the judges have been very staunch, for 8 seasons now, in judging each challenge on its own. But does this really leave us with the best chef in the end?

I can't argue with many of the winners so far, but there's a side effect to this: the chefs hanging around by just not being the worst each week. The most egregious example of this was Lisa from season 4 who made it to the finale after being in the bottom group 5 of the last 6 eliminations. And in this All-Star installment with many of the chefs being people who supposedly left too early during their original seasons...it just seems kind of ridiculous that Mike and Tiffany, who have both yet to win an elimination challenge are still in the competition while Angelo and now Dale are out.

I don't know if I really have any good suggestions to improved the judging but as a TV viewer who obviously can't taste the food myself, I can't not think about cumulative performance. When a chef is repeatedly in the bottom three...shouldn't that mean something? Towards the middle of the season I was pretty excited because it seemed like there were so many contenders for the title. But now I don't think I'd be happy with any winner except Richard. I love Carla and Antonia has surprised me by actually being memorable but it wouldn't feel right to have either of them win over Richard unless he has another meltdown.

This week's challenges were Southern-themed thanks to guest judges Paula Deen and John Besh. Paula Deen presided over, what else, a deep frying Quickfire challenge. Antonia either forgets or doesn't have time to plate a second dish and is disqualified even though Paula wanted to give her the win, Richard can't resist using liquid nitrogen again and makes fried mayonnaise, and Mike wins with a stolen idea from Richard? I didn't like Mike very much during his original season because he was always making these slightly offensive comments but this time around I'd been kind of dismissing him as just being a loudmouth. But I don't know, this move was pretty suspect. A chicken "oyster" served in an oyster shell is pretty dang specific and Mike himself admits that he got the idea from Richard's notebook. I don't know about "chef law" or whatever, but this was definitely not cool.

For the elimination challenge, the chefs have to cater a benefit party for fisherman displaced by the Gulf oil disaster. In a fun but not particularly meaningful twist, their proteins come with a sous chef: a recently departed cheftestant. Tiffany complains about Marcel, Carla is shocked that Tre doesn't actually know Southern food, and Fabio and Richard reunite the bromance but there isn't too much drama there. Richard takes the win with an unusual snapper and pulled pork combination over grits and wins a trip to Barbados, to which he invites Fabio! On the bottom are Carla, Tiffany, and Dale. The judges have problems with all the dishes but deem Dale's to the be the worst, and just like that, one of the frontrunners is gone.

I'm disappointed. I was actually a fan of Angry Dale from season 4 but was really happy to see Not Angry Dale do so well this season. It's definitely a shame that he's gone but at least he got some redemption in terms of how he presented himself.

Top Chef: Brought to you by the letter T

Was that not the cutest Quickfire challenge ever or what? For some reason I don't have many memories of watching Sesame Street growing up but those muppets sure are adorable. Elmo especially brought it, declaring "TMI" to Padma's cinnamon-cardamom sidebar, giving an "Elmo loves you" shout out to Richard's daughter Riley. and yelling "cow chips" to describe Antonia's cookie. The challenge itself yielded pretty pedestrian results (as is generally the case when the chefs have to make desserts) but the commentary and judging by Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Telly was just fantastic. Dale took the win with a no-bake sweet-and-salty potato chip, pretzel, caramel and chocolate creation that sounded kind of amazing.

When I saw the preview for this week's elimination challenge, I wrongly assumed it was going to be a junk food challenge or something like that. But actually it turned out to be more a test of endurance. The chefs were dumped at a huge Target at midnight and given three hours to produce a dish for 100 employees. This Target appeared to have a pretty extensive grocery including meats and produce so it's not so much about the ingredients but the fact that they have to run around and get EVERYTHING they need from the store shelves, including tables, utensils, appliances, dishes, even decor.

I guess because the only burners available are pretty weak electric ones, most of the chefs decided to make soups, even though all of them talked about soups needing time for the flavors to develop and that was something they didn't have a lot of once they got everything they needed set up. Carla for some reason got completely discombobulated and lagged way behind the others looking for...tablecloths? Her soup was deemed underdeveloped and needing a protein or some more substance and landed her in the bottom. She was joined by Tiffany, whose jambalaya was mushy and Angelo, whose baked potato soup was inedibly salty.

In the end Angelo was sent home. I wasn't necessarily a fan of his--he can be annoyingly arrogant but is also just plain weird--but it is pretty crazy that he (and Tiffany) did these two seasons pretty much back to back. Last week I named him as a frontrunner so his elimination was definitely a bit of a shock.

On top were Richard, Antonia, and Dale. Dale won for his steam-ironed grilled cheese and spicy tomato soup, though I might have given the win to Antonia just because she successfully cooked 100 over-easy eggs. Are these three now the frontrunners? Richard has been extremely consistent, Antonia is getting better and better every week and Dale appears to have gotten his groove back (along with $25,000 in winnings  in a single episode). I still can't see Mike or Tiffany making it to the end, but I am still rooting for Carla to stick around. Only a few weeks left...

It's Late Night with Top Chef!

Let's start off this week's recap with a guest opinion. My brother's friend Tim had this to say:

I think the problem I have with Top Chef right now is these are some of the best chefs they've had, but they keep throwing them into rather mundane cooking challenges. These chefs should be expected to put out Michelin quality food, instead they're getting time constraints and team challenges. They cook pedestrian comfort food week after week for celebrities, not top culinary minds. No wonder Carla wins so much, or Antonia wins with a bowl of mussels. Or Dale wins every Asian-related challenge. They are too much into their comfort zones. The only time this year these chefs were really put to the test was that challenge with the 4 executive chefs at those really nice restaurants. That is what they need to do more, force them to take their craft to another level, not just finish the job due to time constraints. Hell, give them all the time they need. These are some of the best chefs in the country, but their cooking has been pretty uninspiring so far. Not what I expect from the best of the best.

I sort of agree with this, but really, this is just par for the course with Top Chef. This is still a reality show, so the time constraints are unavoidable and even on Top Chef Masters they have to cater parties and cook for celebrities. It looks like next week will have the requisite lowbrow challenge (are they shopping at Target?) and while this won't produce fine cuisine, I don't think Top Chef would be Top Chef without making the chefs do some ridiculous things.

Speaking of ridiculous, Fabio apparently can neither pronounce nor cook a hamburger. The elimination challenge this week was to cook a birthday lunch for Jimmy Fallon. The chefs went to a taping of Late Night where they played Cell Phone Shootout (I gather this is a regular feature on the show...I like Jimmy Fallon but I don't watch late night TV) to pick a dish. The choices were collected from Jimmy's friends and family and were generally in the comfort food category. Carla literally jumped for joy at picking chicken pot pie while Antonia got stuck with beef tongue (which Richard told her how to cook and basically helped her into the top group).

Most of the chefs stuck pretty close to tradition with their dishes, although there was no specific direction to do so. Carla took the win (and her third trip!). It looked pretty classic but I loved the sound of the dehydrated "pea salt." Tiffany and Fabio strayed the furthest--Tiffany with a chicken and dumplings that was more of a tortilla soup and Fabio with his "boo-ger" that was more of a dry meatloaf sandwich--and the judges knocked them pretty heavily for it.

In the end, it's Fabio who's eliminated. I can't say that I'm too surprised or disappointed...he's a great personality and Italian chef but he hasn't shown himself to be very versatile.

So with over half the chefs gone, let's check in on some stats (I love the handy little color-coded elimination charts for reality shows on wikipedia):
Quickfire wins: Richard (3), Dale (3), Antonia (1), Mike (1)
Elimination wins: Carla (3), Richard (2), Dale (2), Angelo (2), Antonia (1)
Carla, Richard, and Angelo have only been in the bottom once, Tiffany and Antonia have been in the bottom 4 times. Mike has been coasting safe for the most part, with only 1 appearance in the top group, while Fabio has been called out in either the top or bottom group every single week.

So looking at these stats, it looks like Richard and Carla are the frontrunners at this point. Dale and Angelo could be in that group too, but Dale's been slumping lately and Angelo hasn't won since the first two weeks of the season. Antonia's been building up some steam lately, so that leaves Tiffany and Mike as the weak links. But no one is running away with the competition, which is the way it should be since this is All-Stars after all.

Leftovers:
- Disturbing: fondue makes Richard think of his parents at a nude party?
- I thought the Quickfire was pretty forgettable in general, even if they did get to judge each other. With Marcel and Jamie gone, there just isn't a whole lot of animosity among these chefs. That's not necessarily a bad thing...the producers have been focusing a lot more on funny rather than drama.
- I've heard that a lot of chefs don't really cook for themselves but seeing them eating those prepared Buitoni pastas was really...sad.
- Apparently you can download the Beef Tongue Song as a ringtone. Um...yeah.
- Does anyone else feel like this season has been really long already? I think it's because they did Restaurant Wars earlier usual (5 person teams instead of 4, or even 3 like in season 1). I feel like that challenge is usually the turning point where people stop just trying to survive and start trying to win but that didn't happen so the past two weeks have been dragging.

Top Chef: Molto Italiano

After the excitement of Restaurant Wars and no new episode last week, this week's Top Chef was kind of...boring?

The Quickfire challenge was truly bizarre. I guess Bravo wanted to do a little cross-show promotion inviting Isaac Mizrahi from The Fashion Show (Bravo's replacement for Project Runway that I, a big PR fan, never bothered to watch) to guest judge, but making a dish just for show that's not going to be tasted? For some reason this made me think of that plastic food you see in display cases at Japanese restaurants, but actually it turned out to be kind of an art challenge using food as your materials. I was a little confused by the judging, especially with Richard's win because I thought that black ice cream looked really gross. Meh.

Moving onto the Elimination challenge...this was similar to the dim sum challenge in that it zeroed in on a specific cuisine and put the pressure on a few chefs because of their background or self-proclaimed expertise. This time around, it was the Italians, Fabio, Mike, and Antonia who were confident that they would take this Italian-themed challenge.

Thankfully, this wasn't a team challenge. Three chefs each had the antipasti, primi (pasta), and secondi (meat) courses. (No dessert?) The ladies chose the appetizers and all fared well: Carla with a minestrone, Tiffany with a non-traditional but successful polenta and sausage terrine, and Antonia with a simple mussel dish that ends up winning. I've never been a huge Antonia fan...when the cast list for All-Stars first came out, she was the only pick that I didn't understand because I didn't think she was particularly likable or memorable or anything. So another meh here. I think I would have been happier to see Fabio win for his chicken cacciatore and polenta.

On the bottom was the entire primi course. I can understand why Mike and Dale decided to make their own pasta despite being told by Frankie Junior of Rao's that dried pasta was perfectly acceptable. Top Chefs in the past have made their own pasta with good results, and it's something the judges are impressed by. Too bad both of them messed up. Mike's dish could have been good had the rigatoni been properly cooked, while Dale's seemed to have failed in conception...it was bland and under-sauced. I know that Italians are pretty picky about their pasta but honestly, even I can make a decent pasta dish. Poor showing, guys.

As for Tre, he put out risotto, while everyone panned as being just completely technically wrong. I thought this was odd considering in his original season he did a risotto that was praised by Tom himself. Sometimes I feel like if the judges all agree on something, they just end up convincing each other that it's much worse that it actually is. And this ends up getting him the boot.

Tre was one of the All-Stars that seemed to have so much potential but never broke out during his original season and I'm sad to see the same thing happen this time again. He's clearly a solid chef and a nice guy too but I guess this just wasn't in the cards for him. Not exactly a shocker, but definitely a disappointment.

Leftovers:
- I've definitely seen jars of Rao's pasta sauces in various stores, but I had no idea that it was actually a restaurant in New York. Probably because apparently no one I know ever has a prayer of ever getting a table there.
- That Lorraine Bracco is pretty fun. Perhaps I should watch Goodfellas finally.
- I don't know if I've ever had great polenta. Hm.
- Dale has been rising in the ranks for weeks but some might say that he deserved to be eliminated this week. I'm kind of glad he wasn't though, because I still want him to go all the way. Has anyone noticed that he's been mentioning his girlfriend an awful lot lately though?
- Next week: something with Jimmy Fallon!

Top Chef: Good riddance!

Forgive me for spoiling this right off the top, but YES MARCEL IS GONE!

Most of my hatred this season has been directed at Jamie and she was finally, rightfully eliminated last week, but watching Marcel crash and burn this week was just pretty dang satisfying. Dale might have picked Marcel as the other team captain because he didn't want to work with him, but it also perfectly set him up for failure. No one else wanted to work with Marcel either!

The difference between the teams were stark. Dale picked his perfect team: Richard is obviously fantastic, Fabio is Mr. Front-of-House, Tre's solid, and Carla, though she was last picked, has desserts in her arsenal. They had a great concept (that was very in line with the pop-up restaurant concept, as Dana Cowin pointed out), harmonious planning, and smooth execution. Richard wins his second elimination challenge, but I think Dale and Fabio were both quite deserving too. Dale was eliminated during Restaurant Wars during his season so this must have felt really redemptive for him. He did lose his cool momentarily with the wait staff, but I'm pretty thrilled at how he's been performing and handling himself this season. He and Richard are clearly the frontrunners at this point.

Whereas on Marcel's team, things start falling apart right away and they don't get it together during service. Tiffany found herself at the front of house but didn't really know what she was doing and her bubbly personality didn't translate well, and things at the back of house were just chaotic, with Mike and Marcel clashing and Angelo and Antonia just trying to get through the night. The team dynamics obviously affected the food, which was judged by an overwhelming majority of diners to be the worst of the night. 

The problem with Marcel is that he just doesn't command respect. Period. During his original season, I thought maybe he was just immature and he needed time to develop his people skills. But it's been 4 years since then and he really hasn't changed at all. He says in his post-elimination talking-head segment that he didn't think he made any mistakes except in choosing his team. Um, delusional much? He doesn't know how to play well with others, never mind lead them. And will he ever quit making those stupid foams?

Odds and ends:

- I didn't think the Quickfire was that interesting but the disdain that fish butcher had for the badly prepped fish was pretty funny. 

- Ludo Lefebve is not nearly as fun when he's not all manic in the kitchen.

- I did respect Angelo for at least trying to be supportive of Marcel. Marcel sucks, but the others could have at least tried to make things work.

- The judges didn't say a lot about Tre's dish, but Corona-lime sauce sounds delicious. And now I kind of want a Corona...

- Marcel is actually going to be the host of some food science-y type show on SyFy. Guess who won't be watching?

Top Chef: Something's fishy

First of all, I want to say that I was really excited to see the chefs go to Montauk because I'm just really fond of that place. I've been there the past two summers and I can't wait to go again this year. Maybe I should try fishing!

No Quickfire this week, as they decide to make the chefs actually go out on boats and catch fish to cook for the Elimination challenge. they get 5 hours to fish, which seems like a long time, but I guess they wanted to make sure everyone got something. They try to manufacture a little drama here, but in the end, they all caught plenty of fish.

The chefs were split into teams of three, but weren't instructed on how many dishes they needed to make. So Richard, Marcel, and Fabio decide to only do one dish; Tiffany, Mike, and Angelo collaborate on two dishes; while the others all basically do their own dishes. This made judging a little tricky. I guess it worked out that Jamie and Tiffani both had worse dishes than Richard/Marcel/Fabio, so they were both sent home. If the Richard/Marcel/Fabio dish had been the absolute worst then I assume Richard and Marcel would have been eliminated, since Fabio was basically just the prep cook.

Anyway, I've been wanting Jamie gone for weeks so I'm glad she finally got the boot. Her attitude this time around was just so...distasteful. And I don't think she made a single good dish the entire season so far. Tiffani, on the other hand, I'm upset about. I think she's a strong, creative chef, but I guess she was just undone by not enough knowledge of the fish she chose? I'm glad she got a chance to kind of redeem her TV persona and went out with class.

As for the winner, I LOVE Carla! So glad she hasn't gotten lost in the shuffle and is distinguishing herself. It was so sweet how she felt bad telling the others they were on the bottom and said "I should have contained my excitement." Don't let Marcel make you feel bad! You rock!

Just a taste:
- Marcel's faux-gansta talk (complete with arm movements) drives me NUTS. This is why, despite the whole head-shaving incident, I still hate him. Was very glad to hear Dale took anger management and didn't engage the little punk.
- Yet anther crazy Angelo tidbit - he's irrationally afraid of sharks!
- "No fish for Fabio today!"
- I thought it was kind of a shame that they drove everything back to the city to cook. I guess they didn't want to or couldn't house the chefs in Montauk overnight.
- I eat meat, but I was little disturbed by Tom's comment "when you kill it you have respect for it."
- Next week, Restaurant Wars, Bourdain AND Ludo Lefebvre!

Top Chef: Now serving dim sum

So the Tom Colicchio Quickfire did not turn out to be quite as fun as I hoped. First of all, they weren't competing with Tom at all - he just set the pace. And it was clear that Tom was really prepared. He seemed organized because he had thought it all through beforehand! Running around and completing it in less than 9 minutes was still kind of impressive (not sure how much cooking Tom does these days but I'm sure it's at not Quickfire-speed) but the chefs had a much harder job having to see what's in the kitchen, conceptualize, and then execute.

So of course there were some pretty sad dishes served up. Why am I not surprised that Jamie sucked once again? Kudos to Mike Isabella for the win (including immunity and a new Prius). His former restaurant in DC was all Mediterranean small plates so this was right up his alley.

Moving onto the Elimination Challenge...um, disaster! I often gripe about these kind of team catering type challenges but this trainwreck was pretty entertaining to watch. I do wonder if the restaurant patrons knew what they were getting themselves into, though. Somehow I doubt many people in Chinatown watch or know what Top Chef is so I'm curious about what they were told. Some white people are going to try to cook your dim sum? Oh, and you might be on TV, so feel free to get angry?

As expected, Dale and Angelo fare pretty well in this challenge. Dale does a sticky rice, Angelo a crispy spring roll, and together they do a rice noodle roll, all of which look delicious and happen to be some of my favorite dim sum items. I was also happy to see Tiffany and Fabio do well, as they were probably some of the least likely to pull out passable Chinese food. I was actually souring on Fabio the first couple of episodes but my hate has been transferred to another.

Yes, Jamie, of course, who survives again! I'm really at a loss to remember why I used to like her. Was it because of Stefan? I did find it hilarious that everyone groaned when she said she wanted to do scallops and they put in a little clip package of all the scallop dishes she did during her season.

I was pretty sad to see Casey go. I don't eat chicken feet (even watching other people eat them grosses me out) so I can't really comment on whether it could have been a good dish or not but it didn't really sit well with me that she was eliminated even though she was up on the floor and her dish had to be executed by someone else. I was pretty neutral on her during her original season but she's clearly a team player who's not afraid to take risks. Unfortunately both of those things sunk her this time...

Leftovers:
- Fabio's pet turtle??
- Loved Tom asking Gail if she was going to finish Dale's sticky rice.
- Susur Lee was the perfect judge for the Elimination. He was such a rockstar on Top Chef Masters. He has a restaurant in DC that I've been wanting to check out.
- Mike's dumplings at least looked like he tried to pinch the edges and make them look pretty, as opposed to Jamie's, which were just so flat and sad.
- Marcel vs. Dale next week? Team Dale!

Top Chef: Match Point!

Whenever I see a big "event" on Top Chef, I assume it means catering which I don't think really produces the best food so I was happy to see that the Elimination Challenge was NOT catering, but kind of a culinary tennis game held at Flushing Meadows with a middling pro tennis player as a judge, which had chefs from two teams "serving" up dishes head to head. The food ostensibly had to be geared towards athletes but that seemed pretty open to interpretation.

So let's talk about Jamie. She hasn't necessarily changed since her season, she was smug and defensive back then and she still is. But as Blais pointed out, she's "got a story going on." This is the second time in four weeks that she hasn't put out anything. I don't think I'm alone in finding this...problematic. A Top Chef should win because they consistently cooked great food, not because they're great self-preservationists. She's clearly not a team player and her general air of "whatever" is extremely tiresome.

As for Spike, I actually thought his strategy made sense...the problem was that none of the chefs were going to admit that their dish was the weakest and automatically put themselves up for elimination. And I don't know why he let Angelo bulldoze his dish. It sounded like the shrimp was his downfall though and that was all him. Angelo seemed to kind of screw up Tre's dish as well...I don't think he's deliberately trying to sabotage people but it is a little odd that his own dishes win challenges but when he interferes with another chef, they end up on the bottom.

Really happy for Carla! She'll always be underestimated because she just has a kooky personality but her soup was one of the more interesting things I've ever seen on Top Chef and I'm glad she's breaking out a little earlier this season.

Odds and ends:
- Have we ever seen the chefs socializing outside of their house? The opening segment with them at the "bar" must have been in the morning or something because they seemed to be drinking coffee and eating like...fruit and bread.
- The Quickfire was wacky but kind of comic gold. Using the handle of pan, a cob of corn, a big piece of bacon, a celery stick as stirring utensils? Whacking everything with anything? Apparently a pepper grinder is not a tool though.
- It's "undone-te."
- Mike's childishness vs. Marcel's childishness. Mike is the crazy fun kid that makes everyone laugh. Marcel is the annoying kid everyone wants to smack.
- Mike got a free pass this episode too but nobody really said anything about that...
- Did the "tennis fans" watching get to eat anything?
- Tennis is one sport I actually know the rules of. They were following normal tennis scoring but if they had gotten to 40-40 with only one chef left on each team then I guess they would have skipped the whole deuce thing...
- Next episode looks EPIC. Cooking head-to-head with Tom and then serving dim sum to crotchety Asians? Can't wait!!!

Top Chef: Getting serious!

Interesting how they're beginning each episode with an extra little elimination recap from the past week. I guess there's more interest since we already know these people and theoretically every elimination should be a shocker since these are the All-Stars?

After some silliness last week, Top Chef gets down to business. This week had the kind of challenges that are usually reserved for later in the season. The Quickfire was the a twist on the now-class mise en place relay race: each team of 4 prepped 3 ingredients simultaneously, then had to create a dish with the ingredients, but time expired for all the teams 15 minutes after the first team finished their mise en place. Superstar NYC chef David Chang was the judge, who I'd been waiting to come on the show (especially since he and Bourdain seem to be pretty chummy), but I thought he was kind of wasted here. At least he was part of the Elimination too. Anyway, two teams elected to do carpaccio since they didn't have enough time to actually cook the lamb, but the team with most time ended up on the bottom. No immunity.

The Elimination challenge was kind of awesome but definitely tough. The chefs were split up and sent to 4 top NYC restaurants: Marea (Italian), WD-50 (molecular gastronomy), Ma Peche (French Vietnamese), and Townhouse (eclectic American, emphasis on eclectic). They sat down for a special meal, then had to create their own dishes that would fit in with their assigned restaurants' menus.

On top: Dale T, Antonia, Angelo, and Tre. Asian Dale capitalizes on Wylie Dufresne's obsession with eggs and wins despite not using any of WD-50's crazy techniques or equipment. Very smart. Nice to see Tre starting to break out a little bit, and man, Angelo is kind of killing this competition so far.

On the bottom: Fabio, Tiffani, Dale L. and Stephen. All of them were pretty aware that they messed up, so no Jen-like outbursts. Two were eliminated this week, so bye-bye to Dale L. and Stephen. I can't say I'm all that upset--while I like Dale as a person, I never really saw him as having as much competitive drive as some of the others. I hear that he and Sara Nguyen from his season have a new restaurant in Chicago that's doing extremely well, so good for him. As for Stephen, he's obviously more of a front-of-house guy now. Nothing wrong with that, but this is a cooking competition.

I'm thinking Fabio's days are numbered, but obviously anything can happen, especially as it seems we're returning to the world of catering next week. But really, he's been on the bottom 2 of 3 eliminations and he's not even saying that many amusing things anymore!

Random observations:
- I can't stand how Angelo must describe all his food as "beautiful." Let the people eating decide if it's beautiful or not, ok?
- The green team's aprons did not look particularly green to me.
- Why am I not surprised that Jamie made soup?
- I can't remember a single Bourdain quote! There's something wrong with that.
- 6 night trip to New Zealand is pretty sweet...but not nearly long enough!

Top Chef All Stars: Dinosaur time?

It's definitely been awhile since I've blogged weekly about a show...we'll see how long this lasts!

Wow, Jen. I was really a fan of hers during the Las Vegas season. Her performance wasn't that consistent and she had this tendency to psych herself out, but I liked that she was a strong, confident woman in the kitchen and held her own against some of the best chefs of any season (Kevin and the Voltaggio brothers).

But man did she come back with a chip on her shoulder! I was totally cringing watching her be so vocal at Judges' Table and in her confessionals. I'm sure there'll be a reunion this season and I wonder if she'll change her tune after seeing this episode. Also, her dad kind of sounds like a dick.

Honestly none of the dishes in this challenge seemed very inspired. The Brontosaurus team had food that didn't seem very breakfast-like but did seem to have an advantage in terms of plenty of ingredients. I was kind of glad to see that someone finally made good gnocchi though. The T-Rex team did seem to have it a bit rough only being able to use meat/eggs/dairy but it seems like execution was as much a problem as conception of the dishes. All Stars or no, Top Chef is always still Top Chef. These are professionals who would love to do plated fine dining every week but that's not how this competition goes...

Last season I started getting kind of annoyed at the judges (mostly Tom) for being so disapproving all the time. I mean, I guess if the food's bad, the food's bad, but they can be kind of all over the place with their criticism. Usually they appreciate when a chef knows what their mistakes were but Tom blasted Tre for not fixing his sauce. And Katie saying that they shouldn't serve something if it's not good was ridiculous...a missing component can ruin a dish as much as a flawed one. I guess it's unrealistic to expect them to be consistent all the time though.

As for Jamie leaving to get two stitches in her thumb? That did seem a little lame...if it was later in the season I think that could have factored into the judging.

Random tidbits:
- Dale T. thinking that Joe Jonas was a pastry chef
- That one kid examining Spike's chips and dip with a hilarious expression of confusion/disgust
- The return of the robotic Katie Lee (sans Joel)
- Stephen trying to describe his "uncomfortability" about sleeping on cots in the Museum of Natural History (which sounded super cool to me, by the way...I LOVE that museum)

Top Chef All Stars

Just a few weeks ago I mused on why I haven't been blogging about Top Chef. It's still an excellent show (and I'm really happy it finally won the Emmy) but it was getting to be too much of the same. Apparently the producers felt this too because they did exactly the right thing: an All-Star season!

They did a really phenomenal job casting the cheftestants from seasons past who either barely missed out on the title or were cut cruelly early or were just popular personalities. There are a lot of contenders. I'll do a rundown later in the post but let's talk about the first episode challenges first.

I liked the concept of the Quickfire, making a dish that represents the city their season took place in, though I thought it was possibly unfair that some seasons had only 2 people while others had 4. I didn't really form many opinions here, although, it's so strange knowing everyone already. Usually the first few weeks of a season I don't know who anyone is and I'm just kind of waiting for the cream to rise to the top. Here, I want to absorb what every single person is doing!

The Elimination challenge, though, was ridiculously brilliant and also a little evil: the chefs all had to recreate the dishes that sent them home. They all looked pissed when they saw what they had to do. And then there's more: they're split into two groups and each will get to eat the others' dishes. And then there's more: they get to watch the critiques. Oh, and by the way, Anthony Bourdain is a regular judge!

It was so interesting to see how different the challenge was for everyone. A lot of the chefs who were booted earlier in their seasons had truly terrible dishes to salvage: Spike's frozen scallops, Dale T.'s butterscotch scallops, Mike's vegetarian dish, Jamie's salty celery. Since they had a lot to improve on, I actually think they fared better than the chefs that made it to their finale. More often than not, the finalists had great dishes conceptually that they just failed in the execution of so I think the difference was probably less noticeable. The exceptions were Angelo, who went on to win, and Richard Blais, who might have won had he not bizarrely continued to garnish his plates after time was up. I did feel bad for Stephen, who was kicked off during Restaurant Wars for being front of house and had three dishes he didn't even really make the first time around.

And the first one out is Elia. I was surprised that she didn't do more with her dish, but she was definitely being a little too proud, thinking that it shouldn't have eliminated her in the first place. I wasn't a huge fan of hers originally but she's obviously talented and being out first really really sucks.

Here's my breakdown of the rest of the chefs:
Stephen (S1) - I remember hating him during the season but at the reunion and various specials he somehow redeemed himself. I see him as more of a sommelier and plating guy though, so not sure how far that will take him.
Tiffani (S1) - I rooted for Harold to win over her because of her sometimes unpleasant personality but I wouldn't mind seeing her do well. I'm curious to see how she matches up against people from later seasons where the talent was seemingly increased.
Marcel (S2) - Still hate him.
Casey (S3) and Dale L. (S3) - I like them both but don't really have an opinion beyond that.
Tre (S3) - He placed 8th in his season, the lowest of all the All-Stars, so we didn't get to see very much of him at all. Definitely looking forward to him proving himself.
Richard (S4) - My first instinct was that he's going to win this. Hopefully his mistake in the first episode was a fluke. All-Star seasons of reality shows can be strange though with top contenders falling early (see Survivor and The Amazing Race).
Antonia (S4) - Meh. The only chef that I don't really remember anything about...
Spike (S4) - I've been to his burger place in DC and it's pretty damn good. I don't know how exactly that translates to the fine dining type stuff of Top Chef though.
Dale T. (S4) - I was a fan of his for some reason despite his anger issues. Hopefully he can keep it together this time (though I'm sure it'll be entertaining if he doesn't).
Carla (S5) - She was the underdog in her season and she's still that now. I imagine her dessert skills will come in handy again.
Jamie (S5) - Don't make scallops every week again! She definitely went home too early the first time around.
Fabio (S5) - I imagine he's kind of just there for the soundbites.
Mike (S6) - I've been to his former restaurant in DC, Zaytinya, and I loved it. Hopefully he'll keep the misogynistic comments to a minimum.
Jennifer (S6) - There's only been one female Top Chef so far. I think a dream top 3 for me would be Tiffani, Jamie, and Jen.
Angelo (S7) - He grew on me throughout his season and being sick during the finale was really sucky, so I guess I'm glad he's getting another chance. It's too soon for me to really be happy to see him again though.
Tiffany (S7) - I got the impression that her season was relatively weak in general, so another case where I wonder how she stacks up against everyone else.

Oh, and I have to say, the season preview looks pretty awesome. Especially....going head to head with Tom Colicchio! Finally putting where your money mouth is, Tom!

"The Beast" Goes Home

Hola readers, Kevin here to write a short post on the departure of Kenny this week on Top Chef. I'm sure most Top Chef viewers were surprised/disappointed/outraged by the decision. Of course I would have preferred Alex to "PPYKAG!" but I think the outcome was fair. Although Kenny did an admirable job fostering cooperation and communication on his team, he was ultimately responsible for 2 dishes that simply did not work.

On Top Chef, each chef is judged for his or her work on that episode alone...this is a somewhat controversial rule, but I think it makes the competition that much more fierce, because it reduces the chance of someone weak from continuing on. But wait!!! you say...then how the heck do ppl like Alex and Lisa from season 6 stick around so long?!?! I guess the system has holes as well especially with Team challenges where someone can coast through. Which incidentally, creates a whole lot of drama for better or worse.

Besides, if one actually looks at the data...one sees that Kenny simply has not been delivering on his massive swagger. According to the handy dandy wikipedia chart, he has only 1 win and 1 high. He's had 3 "ins" and 3 "lows." This is not stellar by any means.

Anywayz... I'm not sure who I'm rooting for this season. Maybe Kevin? He is from Philly...

Top Chef in the big city

So wow, Stylista went down the tubes incredibly fast. There's really no one tolerable left in the competition, and honestly, I can't believe how catty everyone is. I've watched a ton of reality shows but I can't remember one where all the contestants were constantly sitting around openly attacking each other and saying why everyone else basically sucks. Perhaps this is what happens when all the contestants are in their twenties and think they're smarter than everyone else?

Anyway, thankfully the creme de la creme of reality competition shows, Top Chef, is back. And this time they're finally in New York, my hometown!

Eliminating someone right off the bat in the Quickfire was a surprise but they did get to actually cook something and the bottom two made SALADS. Yes, it's 20 minutes, but have they not watched the show? Salads do not win challenges! It's funny how the weakest emerge right away though. Lauren's salad was especially lame--what, greens with bacon and balsamic? What skill or creativity did that require? And no surprise, Patrick gets himself eliminated later in the episode. It's interesting to note that these two were the youngest cheftestants, 21 and 24. I wonder why Patrick especially was cast...they keep saying that the caliber of the chefs has only been increasing but then they pick a culinary student? Oh, well, they're gone.

I'm glad that they brought back the head-to-head format from last year for the elimination challenge. Sixteen people is a lot to introduce in an hour and I still don't remember a lot of names but the format helps. I was looking at the results from last season and the winners of the matchups were pretty telling -- Stephanie, Richard, Lisa, Antonia, and Dale were all winners. This time, the winners were Stefan, Eugene, Leah, Hosea, Jamie, Jeff, and Daniel. Stefan's obviously distinguished himself as a frontrunner, winning both challenges. He's irritatingly overconfident but at least seems to have the talent the back it up. Eugene's my early favorite, he's scrappy and worked his way up from being a dishwasher, and I thought it was really smart how he tasted some prepared food at the market to try and recreate since he wasn't familiar with the cuisine. Leah rebounded nicely from the Quickfire, though she did get lucky and was assigned her own cuisine. Hosea seemed to impress Tom and he had some nice plating, and Jamie successfully pulled off the ever-popular deconstruction trick.

I love that the show has enough credibility to attract people like Jean Georges to be guest judges (his sniffing the dishes kind of cracked me up). I'm expecting a lot of big names this season since so many live in New York. And exploring all the different ethnic neighborhoods was fun, though I was unaware that Jamaica is actually a hub of Jamaican food, and where's Little India? I thought Italian, Latin, and Chinese were a little obvious but amazingly a lot of the chefs had trouble with those...

Top Chef: Sigh of Relief!

Yay, Stephanie! I imagine there was just a collective sigh of relief among Top Chef viewers when Stephanie was announced as the winner last night. She was definitely my favorite--solid performance throughout the entire competition, very calm and professional in the kitchen, respected by her peers, and most importantly, great food!

The episode didn't go at all as I expected--who could have guessed that Blaise was going to crash and burn? I was so bummed for him--in terms of creativity and vision he was definitely the most talented chef there and it was disappointing to see him not really be in the running for the title. He looked really upset, but I have no doubt that he'll have a great career regardless.

Truthfully, the episode itself was a little boring. The celebrity sous chefs are a fun touch that they started last year, but nothing all that interesting happened during prep, except for maybe the liquid nitrogen bit, but because I've actually made liquid nitrogen ice cream a few times (I think every engineer does this during undergrad) I wasn't really wowed.

I wish we'd seen a little more of the deliberations. They obviously edited it to make it suspenseful until the very end, but we didn't get much explanation on how they came up with the winner. While they were eating, I thought Stephanie was the clear favorite, with three strong courses and one that was just ok (her dessert). But then at Judges Table, they started to talk up Lisa's dishes and slammed Steph's dessert. I wonder how close it was. I got the feeling that Gail was leaning towards Lisa but I'm pretty sure Tom wasn't going to have any of that. I think I saw his eyebrows kind of raise after Lisa's final statement that she had the qualities of a top chef.

I did kind of have the feeling that Lisa was going to step it up. I have no doubt that she went home and really prepared for this final challenge--probably more than the other two. And while I love Thai/Vietnamese food and obviously I don't know what her dishes really tasted like, it didn't really seem very different from what you'd get at any respectable Thai restaurant. I think Stephanie's lamb dish is what really sealed her win--it was different and unexpected and ultimately impressive. I'm hoping that we maybe get a little more insight into the final decision during next week's reunion show though.

I thought it was great seeing all the chefs come back at the end. Am I a little crazy or did Dale look kind of cute?

Top Chef: The One Who Just Won't GO AWAY

After season 2's finale of Ilan vs. Marcel I was almost ready to throw in the towel with Top Chef. Ilan's disgusting behavior might have made a lot of people root for Marcel instead but I couldn't stand Marcel either and it was just a really unenjoyable season altogether. But I stuck with the show, and season 3 was really nicely professional and the right person won (in my opinion anyway).

And so we come to season 4. If Lisa wins, the show will lose every bit of credibility it gained back last season.

I don't CARE what food gets cooked next week, I don't care that they don't take past performance into account, they CANNOT crown someone who's been in the bottom for 6 out of the last 7 elimination challenges (7 out of 7 if you count that she was on the losing team for the wedding challenge). Not when Richard and Stephanie have been so strong all the way through (not to mention their better attitudes, leadership skills, and general culinary execution). Just...NO. And I don't know, maybe this is a false sense of optimism, but I don't think the judges would stand for that kind of outcome. Richard and Steph both have to have disasters happen and with the traditional "cook the best meal of your life" challenge with no gimmicks I don't think that's all that likely.

Anyway, as for this week's episode...as much I hate that Lisa's going to be on my TV for yet another week, I can't say I'm that upset that Antonia was eliminated. She's performed well and put out some good food, but I don't think I ever found any of her dishes to be all that interesting or exciting. I'd really much have preferred Dale in the final three over either of them.

Speaking of Dale, how Stephanie dealt with his could-have-been-crucial error just really highlighted how cool-headed and professional she is. Can you imagine the fit that Dale himself or Lisa would have thrown if their sous chef did that to them? Steph collaborated with the sous chef that she trusted, came up with a replacement that nearly got her the win, and didn't make excuses. I'd really be ok with either Richard or Steph winning, but I'm definitely rooting for Stephanie. Stephanie for first female Top Chef!! Or at least fan favorite?

I do have to give Richard some props for the really funny quip he made at the end about Lisa winning a bronze medal. Week after week she's been on the brink of elimination only to be saved every time by someone who did a slightly worse job than she did. I fail to see how that's something deserving of congratulations.

Food reality roundup

Top Chef: At first I thought that the zoo animal themed challenge was really random and bizarre but as it got going I kind of liked it. It gave the chefs guidelines rather than restrictions and they came up with some pretty interesting combinations, much better than the very basic canapés that were put out during last season's yacht catering challenge. I thought that the Gorilla team was going to be called out for not adhering to the vegetarian diet of their animal, but I guess they had enough problems otherwise. It's still too early for me to really have any favorites (there are only handful of people whose names I even remember at this point) but I was glad to see Mark pick himself back up after being in the bottom last week and I was kind of relieved Stephanie didn't get sent home after such a great start. Nikki and Dale are starting to annoy me though...

Last Restaurant Standing: I started watching this show on BBC America on a recommendation from Televisionary, and I've really been enjoying it. I missed the first couple of episodes but I'm hoping they rerun in a marathon or something at some point. The premise is a sort of competitive version of Kitchen Nightmares minus Gordon Ramsay. Raymond Blanc, who's apparently some famous British chef I've never heard of before, gives each of 9 teams of two with little or no restaurant experience (they're married or engaged or siblings or mother-son) a small restaurant in the English countryside, and the winner of the show gets to "go into business" with Raymond and keep their restaurant.

Each week has the teams running their restaurants according to a challenge from Raymond such as marketing to families or serving certain ingredients, and they're judged on their performance in that challenge in addition to their profits. Then the three worst teams must compete in a challenge to determine which restaurant gets closed that week. The judging takes place in a very Donald-Trump-Apprentice-esque board room which kind of cracks me up, but overall the show is pretty entertaining. Though food is obviously important, the focus is less on specific chef skills and more about the whole business of running a small restaurant, which is really just as hard as I think it would be. It originally aired last year in the UK so you can already look up who wins, but definitely check it out if you get BBC America.