bravofan27

I liked the judge that called them "injera bites." They were sort of like a cross between a fry bread or a fritter. I think of those silver-dollar flapjacks that you put jam on top. I wouldn't call them "toasts" because they were fried, but maybe because the injera was toasted to make it injera first, he used that term? Not sure. The look like tacos, because he folded them after they were fried on both sides so the injera part was on the outside, then put a dallop of the egg yolk honey "jam" on top. It's a very complicated little bite. I looked through menus at Ethiopian restaurants, and I didn't see anything on menus where the injera was fried. So yes, very "New American" style. There was one dish where injera was shredded up with beef and fried, but it was definitely more like a stew.

If you are talking about the site that I posted, the authors said that the pictures they used were generated by AI, but the recipes were their own best guess on how to make the dish. So the pictures are basically random machine generated images. Ignore them.

Mad respect for Jennifer for sticking up for herself. I personally gasped when I watched Cole literally push her away and instruct her to count like a little child. OMG, I would have lost it. I wonder if he figured out what he did wrong. It will be interesting to see how long Jennifer will tolerate Rob. I see this all ending badly and I'm here for it. This show is awesome. I just love it.

Tristen instructed Zubair to cook them like grilled cheese. There is a copycat recipe here: https://www.relaxedrecipes.com/all-bakers-dishes/pollo-"dorengo"

I really like Mina. Mark is really happy and loves her. He's a bit clueless, likely from having a full-time wife for so long, but he is really trying. Mina is a beautiful woman. Will Mark take the tissue off his face? Seriously though, he has good hair, and really nice teeth. They are his natural teeth and it really gives him a youthful appearance. Mina and Mark don't look like they have a huge age gap. PSA-- don't get veneers. They look awful, like dentures, and age someone considerably. I think the issue with Mina and Visas is she and her son are not citizens of France. I'm not sure where her citizenship is, but it's obviously a problem. And for her son to travel, she might need permission from his father, which who knows what country that is and how difficult it is for all admin work. Alliyah is so focused on how she looks, she really can't have a conversation, IMO. Every time she is upset, is because of herself, how she was treated, what she went through. I don't see her really caring about anyone else. She has been through a lot. EVERYONE has. She's not the only person in the world to face adversity. I just can't stand her. I am really liking Shawn. He is very generous and has tried his best to be communicative. He's really hurt, and Alliyah just isn't getting it. They are married. Even though he is taking care of her and has money, he has needs and wants to be heard. He's human. She's just all about herself and wanting a pity party. "Cancel your pity party, take ownership of your life." "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It's the worst habit you could possibly have."

Richard has been sporting that extra long (high) spikey hair for a long time. Hey, he has hair, many men his age don't. He can play as much as he wants. LOL. I read an article saying that Tristen is making African food a new part of "New American" that makes a lot of sense. I personally LOVE injera. I would love to see it on more menus.

I was kind of hoping for an upset, but it would have been weird if Tristen didn't win since he has been nailing every challenge after Restaurant Wars, and maybe even before that. He understands fine dining and he's really intelligent, so he can replicate any dish using ingredients that are less utilized and make it work perfectly and give the judges something they haven't had before but is still familiar to them. Shuai's soup with one big dumpling was strange. Not sure what he was thinking there. Some of Bailey's food looked weird to me.

Kristen was cutting her teeth on the WI season. Previous seasons, if the chef's didn't perform up to par or seemed to cut corners regarding technique or whatever, they were harshly criticized at judging, which IMO, made them shape up and perform better the next go. Tom and his kitchen visits? Brutal, but meant to amp up the pressure and sniff out poor technique or vision. Padma was extra with her harsh comments and wrinkled face when she didn't like something. They gave chefs lots of feedback in the past which clearly stated their expectations for performance. WI seemed lackluster, IMO, because they sort of gave it to Kristen, and she was so overjoyed to be there, I think that influenced the chefs in what they did. I recall at one point, Tom was so unimpressed, that Kristen was sent in to tell the chefs they all need to do better. And I think, if memory serves, they did.

Puffy is a good description of Chantel. She is so desensitized to plastic surgery and procedures; she might end up like Brandi Glanville where her body at some point just rejects the filler. She came onto the show just having a tummy tuck, so maybe there is some swelling from that if they did lipo. She is kind of sloth like-- super slow, and seems low energy, so I don't see her working out and getting toned. Plastic surgery can only do so much. I like Elise. She perfectly flawed. I think she came on too strong with Rob, and when he backed off, she's doing damage control. Jennifer is going to win this game because she plays it cool with her love interests. Tim as talked so much smack about her (and he was horrible to her back when he visited) I get her anger. Tim's assessment that Elise and Jennifer are so used to men bending backwards for them, that when they get rejected the lose their minds is totally without merit. That said, why purposefully try to bring someone down? Jennifer and Elise need to realize that they were played and, though it sucks, get over it.

I'm vanilla, but Cole is too vanilla for me. Then again, he maintains interest, so maybe there is a wild guy in there. Jennifer, "he has elegant mannerisms" -- yeah, he's kind of feminine. Colt's personality has improved a lot now that he isn't so attached to his mom. I continue to not see the appeal of Rob.

Tristen's mom has been a lawyer since 1987. She was a JAG, or a military lawyer and military judge. She's been a lawyer her entire career in the military and since Tristen was a baby or toddler. She was in law school before Tristen was even born.

I don't think blind tasting would work on this show, because part of their decisions on who wins and loses is based on the chefs' defense and explanation of their dishes. Plus, it's fun when the judges ask the chefs to explain why or what they were thinking when they did this or that, and it provides more depth and interest in their journeys and styles and whatever.

I think they meant Ceasar.

The bolded part is a big assumption. Has he ever said that? (Rhetorical question). Tristen was off my radar for the most part until he made the comments about wanting to top Massimo so badly and how bothered he was by his Italian and French cooking rhetoric. I'm not going to schedule a therapy session to talk through where my feels about Tristen and his genuiness manifested-- it's not that serious. LOL.

I think Schuai's approach is solid-- take the challenge and try to create something reminiscent of the food he grew up with, borrowing memories of his grandmother's cooking. Tristen has a more academic approach to cooking, taking the challenge and making it into a lesson of sorts of the culinary impact of African culture and a remembrance of the transatlantic slave route. Bailey, to me, seems her approach is to be quirky. I'm not sure if she can pull off a win, but I am rooting for her. I do think it would serve her to present as though she was taking this seriously and up her professionalism-- she comes off sort of childish and lackadaisical on purpose, which is confusing why she wants to show herself that way in this context.

I am on the fence. I sort of side eyed Lana when, after coming on the show and saying she wanted to be the first African American woman to win top chef, and then, later in a challenge, focused on German food and said her "German dad would be proud" for changing her narrative when the challenge fit. Tristen has been consistent with his narrative of cooking African inspired food (his bio dad is European as well-- Swedish). But I also side-eye him, because he tries to downplay his privilege. His mom is a professor and lawyer, yet he seems to want to come across as someone that had to overcome great adversity. It seems forced at this point. It just makes me wonder how genuine he is.

I really like Tristen, don't get me wrong, I really do. And he is not only good at cooking, but a great chef in that he can command a kitchen and he isn't intimated by others. That actually was the first thing that impressed me about Tristen, is how effortlessly he took control, and was in charge. He's definitely a leader. It's rare to have someone on this show that can make amazing food AND command a kitchen and reign in a bunch of egos. Even Massimo was submissive to him. My one gripe that has nothing to do with his winning criteria. He was raised by a single mom his whole life. His mom didn't get married until he was almost 18. Yes, the man she married was his stepdad and clearly influential, but why doesn't Tristen give his mom any credit for raising him? I'm sure it was super super hard for her, and I'm sure he was influenced by her. It's like Tristen would rather credit his talent to a man than a woman. It just stings sexism to me.

Bailey is going to have an advantage here being the only one that specializes in Italian food. I think Tom really likes her as well. I didn't miss Massimo at all, I think his energy would have been too much for the finale.

https://workboots.com/tradecraft/how-to-choose-coveralls-and-overalls

What's up with the dark circles under Sarper's eyes? He looks dehydrated and malnourished. Greg and Joan seem to really love each other. I think they will figure it out. Any's story is odd. Her family is worried about her dating a married couple, but are fine with her being a dancer at a place known for legal prostitution? It's just not adding up to me. The whole thing seems wonky. Jessica should try to learn Spanish. Allayiah making everyone wait that long was incredibly rude. I can't stand her.

Did anyone catch Tristen's shade? "I want to go to Italy and cook Ethiopian food."

If Massimo foraged mustard they need a redo! Where are the lawyer chefs? LOL. Regarding overalls, Cesar came prepared. He had those same overalls in his mushroom foraging flashback pics. Not to get too technical, but overalls are great. They are like an apron-- you wear them over your normal clothes and they catch all the grease and dirt, grime and what not and allow freedom of movement. Painters, famers, mechanics (and now foragers) wear them all the time.

I'm not a huge fan of theater majors. I don't think Massimo is obnoxious with a huge ego either. I would argue Tristen has a larger ego. Massimo is just being himself. My sense is Bailey is performing a character. Just my take on it.

I felt really bad for Massimo. It seems he put all the foraging ingredients on the cracker thing, and focused on a non-foraged based sauce, which the judges loved, but thought it was too basic (mustard). They are all going to miss Massimo. Tristen is going to have to step up his game for entertaining us, as Shuai and Cesar are super quiet and shy. Bailey has personality, but it's in a theater drama major type of way-- like a female Pee Wee Herman. I think she gets on people's nerves, and I'm not sure if she has a chance to win, given she is so focused on looking "quirky cool" like a counterpart to Massimo. We will see. Massimo pulling out the dramatics, again, when talking to the judges was fun, and I think the judges are going to miss his energy. Tom gave the poor man a hug, and I think his vote was for Bailey, but he was swayed by the foragers. At the very beginning of the episode, when Bailey was waxing pitifully about missing her friend, Massimo mentioned he was a girl dad and loves spa days. When Tristen said he likes manicures, I swear Massimo looked at him with renewed interest. Maybe they will be buddies after all. LOL.

I actually liked this show-- much much more than other groupings like Last Resort, which were all horrible. It's the first time I've liked Chantel, she definitely has aged a bit, but in a good way. It was fun, and it will be interesting to see how everything plays out.