chiaros

Regarding Jason's pork & squid meatball dish – I went poking around briefly, and it seems pork & cuttlefish/squid IS a combination common in Catalan cuisine, and not just "historical". From what I could see from a not-that-extensive look the more usual combination is pork meatballs with cuttlefish/squid pieces, not unlike what we saw on Jason's plate --- but it is not clear if Catalan folks combine chopped-up/minced squid into the meatball. In any case, fish and cuttlefish balls, and cuttlefish (alone) balls are common in East/Southeast Asian cuisine...perhaps if Jason made his more in the style of E/SE Asian balls instead, where the combined meat mixture (whether fish, beef, or pork, or beef+tendon, or fish+cuttlefish, etc) are slapped and kneaded vigorously to change the structure of the protein fibers in the mixture to give the balls what is known as the desired "song hou" (in Cantonese) texture - where the ball is tender but "springy" so that when one bites into it it sort of yields but is "bouncy" and has a kind-of slight "snap" to it, they may have been received better? Or not - these judges have shown themselves to be pretty odd in their assessment of non-Western cuisines in the past. In contrast, it looks like Jason made it with minimal kneading (would that be correct? or not?) and gave the balls a mushy texture, which I could well imagine would be nasty and might accentuate the worst aspects of each component? Maybe he was thinking of the sort of soft, almost-no-resistance "meatballs" with bread in it that is favored for certain Italian Red Sauce dishes and the like? Eh, just thinking out loud here...

Why not? It *was* his dish, as another poster pointed out above, laid out by him; and after the others commented he needed help with executing it Angelina was "brought on" and then seemed to start messing with it whereas he was clearer in his mind about what he wanted to achieve in the dish, it appeared to me. In TC Season 12, episode 5 ("It's War"), at Judges' Table, Gregory Gourdet, the favorite of many folks here and elsewhere stuck his mouth in unbidden (he even raised his hand, to catch the attention of the judges, then opened his mouth) and criticized Adam Harvey for "allowing" Aaron Grissom to make what he (Gregory) also slammed as a bad dish, then further blew his own horn by stating that HE (Gregory) would NEVER have allowed such a dish to ever be made if it was HIS team, etc etc. Personally, I view Gregory's interjection as far more objectionable than anything Jason could have done.

I thought it was fine for Jason to pipe up at Judges' Table. I don't share the distaste others here have for his doing so, and in fact rather like that he spoke up to shoot down Phillip's delusional statements, if not mendacity. I would subscribe to the view, expressed by some others, that in what must have been much more extensive "discussions" on his dish at JT (than we saw) he - Phillip - may well have said stuff that either alienated the others even more than usual or maybe stuff that ascribed support from all of them for his dish. Certainly he wasn't the only one who piped up that we saw - the editors left in that snippet of Marjorie joining Jason in laying it on Phillip. As it turns out, there is a definite suggestion of this in Gail Simmon's blog on this episode, where she said, as part of an entire paragraph devoted to the incident: Note she (Gail S) referred to "the other chefs" (plural). In her preceding (even lengthier) paragraph she also said this:

Ethnic neighborhoods in the Boston/Cambridge area. Ethnic dining in the Boston/Cambridge area. BTW I dislike the term "ethnic", really. After all, "English cuisine" is the cuisine developed by those of English ethnicity. And so on for any cuisine one might care to name. If one means "cuisines unfamiliar to a typical white anglo-saxon person living in a standard white area in the USA" then it might be an idea to say that.

I just took a quick review of the last three episodes. The panel of chefs available for the still-active contestant chefs (with the chosen chefs in bold and non-selected ones in Italics) were: Pre-Finale Part 1: James Rigato, Katsuji Tanabe, Adam Harvey, Aaron Grissom, Ron Eyster, Katie Weinner, Keriann Von Raesfeld, Joy Crump, Stacy Cogswell, Rebecca LaMalfa and George Pagonis. (This represents all the cheftestants from the beginning of the season – except for Michael Patlazhan who never "came back" even for Last Chance Kitchen and was never seen again after his dismissal in Episode 1) Pre-Finale Part 2: Katsuji T, James R, Rebecca L, Stacy C, Adam H, Keriann VR, Melissa King, Katie W, George P. Finale: Rebecca L, Stacy C, James R, Katie W, Melissa K, Keriann VR, Adam H, George P, Katsuji T, Doug Adams. p.s. I can't imagine that all the "missing chefs" from the 2nd and 3rd panels were attending court hearings. :-) I am mildly curious though why they weren't on the last two panels. I *do* note that panel #2 (Pre-Finale Pt 2) consisted of the chefs who WERE selected in the Pre-Finale Pt 1 plus the eliminated chef from P-F Pt1 (Melissa K); while the panel for the Finale consisted of those same chefs who were selected in P-F Pt1 plus the last two eliminated chefs (Melissa falls into both camps here).

I would be pleased if John Tesar won for Best Chef Southwest. ;-) (Yes, he's not everyone's sweetheart but I think he's both talented and deserving as well as the antidote to all those Oh Play Pretty Play Nice Politically Correct Pearl Clutchers. :-D ) Besides, I think it would be great for "Jimmy Sears" to poke folks in the eye from time to time.

Eater National has a facebook page on this "arrest" where several of the commentators say that the charges were dropped and at least one says that the charges were false.

So did several of the other chef-judges. (Oh, Eric Ripert also sticks his nose into the dishes all.the.time.) Blais is nothing unusual in this regard.

Mei Lin is Top Chef Season 12. Well done. I note she calls Michael Voltaggio with the news. He and his brother is her family, really, after all. Glad Gregory did not win. ETA: But I note that George did his part perfectly and turned out very-well executed octopus. I will be glad to eat at George's place, and Mei's when she (eventually) sets hers up. (Doug's too, especially that "hunting lodge" he dreams about)

Count me as another one who dislikes Gregory. He rubs me the wrong way and his actions often seemed either a little...self-serving or self-aggrandizing. I wish it was Doug in the finale rather than Gregory. However, his bromance with Katsuji I still find weird, if not a little disturbing. Just my view. I remember his saying in a Talking Head in a past episode that he and Katsuji would be best friends forever...then immediately say that *that* was frightening, and a little sad... In the Portland article cited above he also made these comments: Interesting, and confirmation of what he also said "on air" earlier about Katsuji always "poking, poking you" and purposely provoking responses from others - especially from Aaron.

If one looks at Mei Lin's Facebook page(s) (maybe)

Yes, that's right. It would seem that Doug is the 4th finalist. I assume that there would be a 4th artist painting a picture (but not shown in the preview) paired with the 4th finalist, which was also not shown but who is probably Doug. cooksdelight, for the record the preview shows the sous chefs for the three "known" finalists to be: Mei - Rebecca & KeriAnn Melissa - George & James Gregory - Katie & Stacy

I'm a little disappointed that George didn't make it. I would have preferred that Gregory left instead. I also agreed with Wylie Dufresne's assessments of Gregory's and George's dishes and his giving more points to George for "swinging for the fences", even if he fell short, as more befitting of the challenge. Melissa seems to be getting to her peak now, which works out well for her. I barely notice George's sweating. His hair looks fine to me too. (Doesn't bother me. Many people including A-list actor hunks sport that hair style too, at least from time to time.) I notice his food and his person, not so much his sweat, unless his sweat also smells strongly - but of course I don't know if it does or does not since I am not there in person. I find him an agreeable enough chap. Funny, I also thought lots of people sweated naturally, some quite heavily, when they did physical labor - and cooking intensively is hard work. I somehow also suspect there are more than a few sweaty line cooks and sous chefs in BOH in professional kitchens dripping into the plates of diners - it's just that the folks in FOH don't see it, heh. There have been other "sweaters" (including Doug - and he certainly had rivers of sweat dripping off his nose into the food in the final LCK) on this season of TC as well as on previous seasons too.

The preview of the first elimination challenge for the finale, posted on Bravo's website, would seem to show who won the final Last Chance Kitchen. Watch carefully and you will see who the sous-chefs (two per finalist) are for Mei, Melissa and Gregory (the fourth finalist is not shown). Hint: one of Melissa's sous-chefs is one of the two final LCK contestants, implying that this person lost that final LCK... (I took some screen shots too)

I think it is a common observation that professional chefs tend to be heavy-handed with the salt. Here's one article that talks about how salt is needed for flavors to bloom, yes, but also talks about the phenomenon of over-salting that goes on in professional kitchens. As for myself, I have definitely eaten the food of esteemed chefs (or the food put out by their kitchens) in high end restaurants that were DEFINITELY over-salted. Here's a post of mine (yes, I am the author of that post) relating to the subject.

I should clarify that I was referring to his "talking head" (TH) within the episode proper. I just re-watched episode 1 (the relevant bits) and 1) correction, he questioned Tom C's and Padma L's palates in his "TH just after they tasted his food"; and 2) in his TH after he was told to PPYKAG he said Tom C should be more open minded, needs to grow or he (Tom C.) would be left behind, and that he didn't care what Tom C. thinks.

Michael Patlazhan was the first cheftestant to be eliminated in the first EC in the first episode. In his exit interview he severely questioned Tom Colicchio's (TC's) palate, declaring that he thought the chili/hotness etc of his dish was just fine to him and there was something wrong with TC's palate.** He also declared with certainty that he didn't care what Colicchio thought, and basically told TC to take a flying f*ck. ** Mind you, I myself question TC's ability to judge anything else other than US-American and American-Italian food, and doubt his ability to properly assess cuisines like Chinese (in all it's regionalities) amongst various other non-Western cuisines. Ditto José Andres, for that matter, even if he fancies himself as an "Asian Food" interpreter. Their notions of what "Chinese" or "Asian" food is is deeply suspect to me as judged by their reactions to stuff that traditional consumers of the cuisines (like a Chinese Embassy staff member) had declared as "authentic" and "very good" but which they panned (amongst various other declarations of theirs); and which was also just wrong to me (as regards TC and JA) from my perspective of eating such cuisine for much of my life. (However, TC is the head judge; and the show really should be called "Who Wants to Cook for Tom Colicchio & Friends")

Regarding the "Sudden-Death QF cook-off" as well as LCK: I found it interesting that Michael Patlazhan was NOT included amongst the cast of previously-eliminated cheftestants. I wonder if his exit interview comments got him specifically barred by Colicchio or someone else, or if he refused to participate. In any case I am pleased, in a way, that George Pagonis made it back into the main competition. I think he deserves the second chance and quickly showed he can cook, both in the cook-off and in the EC. Whether he was "fresh" (an advantage) or "unused to the time constraints or pressure" (a disadvantage) is subject to debate.