S12.E12: The Final Battle Of Bean Town

[stillshimpy]

I agree with everything here except Isabella.  He has changed over the years and I don't mind him so much anymore.

 

I am willing to concede that Isabella has improved greatly since his original turn on the show and he's so well liked by his fellow contestants, I am almost certainly wrong about his sexism too.  I am really not a grudge holder in real life, so I don't know why I cling to my Isabella dislike.   After all everyone does continue to grow as an adult in different ways.

 

He just hit one of the few notes with me that I can never quite stop hearing no matter how often I see a person:  He seemingly belittled his fellow chefs based on gender and it grossed me out.  I really do need to let go of it, I know.  It's clearly not representative of the guy altogether because a lot of the women involved with this show speak very highly of him.  

 

Edited January 22, 2015 by stillshimpy

[The Solution]

I think the producers must be following our conversations here, since we saw a discussion of Mei's facial expression and Richard Blais being as close to edited out of the episode as you could get once he was filmed at the table with the other judges.

 

I definitely thought Mei had this one since Tom was so blown away by her food that he couldn't find words. Not being able to describe what you just ate but loving it = innovation in my book.

 

I didn't think walnut miso was any more innovative than two types of fried skin in a soup. Gregory just wasn't selling his story to the judges very well.

 

Other than Mei's food, the thing that intrigued me the most was the green apple harissa, but not when coupled with badly-charred octopus.

 

Overall, I think we have the right final three this time and would be happy to see either Doug or Adam added to make the final four.

[Miss chi chi]

I'm still concerned that George has been cooking half the time of the other chefs and IMO gives him an advantage. He doesn't have to dig as deep into his recipe bag and Judges aren't getting tired of him making similar dishes. It would be easier to make something considered "innovative" because of these factors.

[Special K]

I noticed that, after George presented his dish, and the judges gave their initial feedback, Padma was shown dismissing him and instead of her usual "Thank you so-and-so," she said something like "George, please return to the kitchen...now."

 

Translation:  "Get your sweaty face as far away from our dining experience as possible."

[Rammchick]

And George cry-babying over no pork belly?  Oh please give me a break. I was yelling "BACON" at him (or salt pork) interspersed with INNVOVATE GEORGE!!!

 

 

The thing I kept yelling was "Pancetta!"  Bacon is smoked and that smoke note might not have been something he wanted in his dish, but pancetta is not.  Oh well.

 

Innovation for innovation's sake doesn't really work.  In the end, it's about whether a dish is something you want to eat.  I always think of the amazing creativity at restaurants like Alinea and El Bulli.  Fantastic masterful, wonderful.  Definitely an incredible culinary experience.  But would anyone choose to eat it again over their favorite comfort food?  Doubtful.  That being said, the innovations found at these sorts of restaurants didn't come about in 3 hours.  They may have taken months to perfect, in some cases.  And sadly, a risk is only rewarded if it pays off, which is what Gail said, and which we've seen occur on Chopped over and over.  So I don't really blame Gregory for playing to his strengths.  I just wish he had pushed the boat out a little farther.

[Crucial]

I looked at the comments before I watched the episode and dang that sweat was nauseating.  George could have wiped himself and how could none of that sweat get in one of those dishes.  There was a shot of one drip ready to fall while he was working on the dishes that was just gross.  I'm still rooting for Mei to win and I hope she does. I thought her dish was more innovative than Melissa's but either one I could see winning.

[FineWashables]

 

Who's the over-charred octopus now, bitch?

Too funny.  Been giggling over this for hours now.  God, I love these recaps.

 

I was disappointed that nobody told Gregory that it's Top Chef, not Top Coconut Milk.  I thought Mei's dish was hands-down the most creative with that bean thing, and I applaud her as the only cheftestant in forever to design a dish specifically to please the judges.  It's nice to see someone actually play this as a game, strategically.  So go Mei!

 

 

 

 

[Lura]

I thought that the LCK winner would join the group at the end of this episode.  I guess this means that Doug, George, or someone else will show up in Mexico.  I expect that person to be Doug because I think the judges like him as much as it sounds like the audience does, but I really do like George and would not be unhappy to see him make it back.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

Poor Gregory has certainly fallen into a slump lately.  I feel sorry that his nerves seem to be getting the best of him.  Hopefully, a break in filming before Mexico will help him and others to settle down a bit. They must be dead tired by now!

 

After all this talk about the men, watch Mei or Melissa take it all!

Edited January 23, 2015 by Lura

[Pepper Mostly]

I don't remember... The guy was from Harvard, but did they say if the classes were for Harvard students or if they were for younger kids outside of the University?

 

If it is for the Harvard kids, I would imagine that the school will publish something about it, and other colleges will pick it up relatively quickly.  If it is for high school or younger kids, the idea might find its way into places here or there.

 

Its a Harvard course. (I work at the other large university down the road--and last year my boss taught a new course called "thermal-fluid science in the kitchen") she linked to the Harvard course in her course web page:

 

http://www.seas.harvard.edu/cooking

 

I am definitely keeping my eyes open this fall for the lecture series!

 

Padma, honey, no one from Boston calls it Beantown. That's for tourists.

[PepperMonkey]

Apologies to George fans, but I have been mostly unable to watch this since he returned to the kitchen. I guess it's okay that he came back, since they obviously planned to do that twist at that point in time, but Oh Em Gee, the moisture....

I know these people have eaten some George sweat in his dishes and it makes me nauseous to even type it. Also, I don't see what was so creative about him as a chef that he merited a return anyway. Okay, okay, I grant you the first one out on a quickfire, but it could have been any one of them. It just happened to be him. It's a game; that's the way it's played.

 

Gregory has largely disappointed recently and his playing it safe just to get to the finale is a tad cowardly. But then again, I guess, you know, GAME! Yadda, yadda, how it's played, etc.

 

I haven't cared for Melissa since she screwed over Mei with the clams that time, but she really has forged ahead at the end here, so kudos to her. I didn't like Mei at first, but have grown to love her.

 

Hope, hope, HOPE that dearly departed and much beloved sci-fi author Doug comes back from LCK instead of George. I'm rooting for either Mei or Doug to win it and won't be disappointed with either as winner.

[Jodithgrace]

I was confused about the bean challenge. We were shown bins of dried beans, but beans have to be soaked for hours before they can be used. There is a shortcut using boiling water, but even that would eat into the QF time way too much. Canned beans wouldn't have the same flavor as beans made from scratch. And in fact one of the contestants did use canned beans for a sauce and identified them as such. So..did TPTB provide pre-soaked versions of every kind of bean on that table?

 

Other than that, it was an enjoyable challenge. I laughe when I saw George's "glow" since I knew that the forums would explode. I think what poor George suffered from is what we theater folks call "flop sweat." As soon as the judges mentioned that his octopus was over charred, he burst out in sweat! I felt sorry for the poor guy. But between that and his hair, he was not an appealing sight.

 

Another thing that made me laugh was the judges' insistence that there were only three tickets to Mexico. Then, in the previews for next week, we see LCK..in Mexico!Not to mention the inevitable parade of eliminated contestants, also in Mexico. So I guess there WERE more than three tickets, Padma!

[Merneith]

To reply to something in the article -

But I guess not cooking your protein well trumps not doing the challenge. I cannot stress this enough, everybody: cook your protein well. If you do nothing else in your dish right, at least cook your protein well.

Oh, that's always been the case on Top Chef. Nothing will get you eliminated faster than disrespecting your protein in front of Tom Colicchio. It's even worse than inappropriate salt levels.

And really, at the kind of restaurants these guys are associated with, is it too much to ask that they not carbonize the seafood?

George makes me tired, so I'm not sorry with the result, although Gregory is also working my nerves. I also thought it was sort of shady for Melissa to claim that she was helping Mei. I hope Mei kicks out the stops.

[cooksdelight]

Melissa had so many talking heads, for a while there I thought they were going to revoke her immunity.

[AriAu]

God, I love these recaps.

 

I actually laughed out loud a few times-they are great. However, I am shocked, SHOCKED, that there was no comment on Mei attacking that banana. Given the usual mentions of anything even slightly sexual, I figured it would play prominently once she was shown eating it a few times.

[Noreaster]

Man, I think it speaks to how boring this competition is when most of the comments are about a contestant's sweat!

 

The decision to eliminate George seems consistent with Top Chef judging over the seasons.  Execution trumps everything else. Challenge parameters and "creativity" usually come into play only when the judges need a tie-breaker (when the top two or the bottom two are really close). In this case, I wonder if the judges would have deliberated as long as they did if Wylie was not there and pulling for George (I'm assuming based on the editing).  

 

I'm glad George was able to get some decent exposure on the show. And he went out by taking a big risk which is always good to see.  I felt the same way when Doug was eliminated. 

 

At this point, I'm pulling for Mei or Melissa to win. Gregory has gone way down in my estimation.  And I'm against the LCK concept so would root against whoever came back via that route.

 

 

[meep.meep]

Gregory gets major points over George in my book, just because he's been through so many more challenges.  George got back after Restaurant Wars, right?  So he missed something like 8 shows, each with 2 different challenges.  To make the finale, he really needs to pull out a perfectly executed show stopper.

 

Melissa kind of phoned it in during the first half of the competition.  Mei's been consistent all the way through.  Gregory was brilliant in the first half, and has been levelling out since then, but not bottoming out.  George was resting.

 

I hope Doug comes back from LCK.  I haven't even watched it this season.

[cooksdelight]

When watching reruns of this season before this episode aired, I was surprised at how many times Mei and Melissa were in the bottom.

[jackjill89]

When George was complaining in his TH about how tired he was and how hard he worked, I wanted to reach inside my TV and smack him for all the other contestants. He has cruised to the final four by jumping back in 2/3 through the competition and cooking middling food.

I think we need to let clamgate go. Obviously Mei has. She and Melissa seem pretty close and I don't for one minute get a "stab in the back" vibe from Melissa. I think she genuinely wanted Mei to go to the finals.

I really want one of them to win. Gregory's food bores me.

[Julia]

I think we need to let clamgate go. Obviously Mei has.

 

I'm not that confident that we know what Mei is thinking :)

 

Well, that and the voiceover about how close they are being played over other footage makes me wonder kind of a lot when she said it.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Julia

[locomoco]

After all this talk about the men, watch Mei or Melissa take it all!

That's what we thought last season with Nina, Shirley, and then Nick stole the win...

[Katmai]

 

George makes me tired, so I'm not sorry with the result, although Gregory is also working my nerves. I also thought it was sort of shady for Melissa to claim that she was helping Mei. I hope Mei kicks out the stops.

Agreed! I was surprised Tom didn't say anything (from what we were shown) when Melissa told him she was helping her. It totally sounded passive-aggressive to me.

 

Poor George...but he did look very, very nice in the glimpse we got of him last week with no greasy hair.

 

During the QF, we got a profile shot of Padma in her purple dress, when she was explaining the challenge, and I had to back it up and stop to look at her belly as she looked prego. I know she's mentioned gaining weight during filming, but that was some pouch she was sporting, but then I looked for it, and didn't see it during the EC in that white dress. I know I'd pack on the pounds if I ate all the judges do.

[betha]

Mei's slowly evolving flavors actually seemed like the most innovative cuisine to me. The idea of an entrée that kept changing with each bite, to the point where people with palettes as sophisticated as the judges couldn't really explain what they were tasting, but kind of knew they liked it was quite impressive to me.

I don't know, one man's "evolving flavors" seems like another man's "too much going on on the plate."

Not having tasted the dish, I can't judge, but "evolving flavors" seems like a cop out for innovation to me.

Did not think Melissa was trying to throw mei under bus at all! She wants her friend to come to the finals even though she might beat her. I think Melissa rocks and it is more than Mei deserves.

[Bastet]

I don't think there was any ulterior motive to Melissa's comment, either.  She and Tom were discussing what this challenge was like for her given the fact she'd already been guaranteed advancement and she said she was going to enjoy herself and see if she could help the others, then offered as an example of that the things she and Mei were doing together (which seemed to be based as much on the fact they were stationed next to each other and using some of the same ingredients as on their friendship).  She just does not give me an underhanded vibe at all (which is why I was surprised she took all the clams), so I don't think she thought of the potential negative implications (e.g. Tom quizzing Mei on how much help she had with her dish should things be neck and neck at judging) when she said it.

 

That Mei and Melissa each want to win, but in the interim really want to go to the finals together, makes me like them all the more.  I like all the remaining contenders as chefs and as competitors, but I'm hoping either Melissa or Mei emerges victorious.

[AriAu]

Gregory gets major points over George in my book, just because he's been through so many more challenges.  George got back after Restaurant Wars, right?  So he missed something like 8 shows, each with 2 different challenges.  To make the finale, he really needs to pull out a perfectly executed show stopper.

 

When Top Chef New York headed to New Orleans, Jeff got back in through a Quickfire (or something), but the rule was to continue on he needed to win and not just not be eliminated. If I remember correctly, he came in 2nd and did not go on to the actual finale.

I felt like they should have done something like that with George-he should have had some handicap once he came back, if for no other reason the fatigue factor and the fact that the others had already used many of the recipes they came to the show with.

[betha]

Melissa didn't take all the clams... Mei took all the clams--more than she needed for herself. Then Adam took some and Melissa took some, and mei only had three left. I can see why Mei was annoyed, but I didn't really think she had too much room to be upset given she expressly took them all at the beginning so that no one else could have any.

Edited January 23, 2015 by betha

[bluepiano]

Unfortunately I don't think we're done with George. It's kind of the joke of the season that no matter what happens he will keep coming back. From my point of view, since he was already brought back into the competition once (and at a fairly advanced stage) he should not have gotten yet another crack through LCK. It doesn't seem fair that he can beat Doug in just one head-to-head and be in the finals, when Doug survived so many more eliminations over the season, But then, nothing about the special treatment given George has been fair.

 

If Gregory can be criticized for not innovating because he made a Thai soup, then what about George, a Greek chef, making octopus, which as Tom C. pointed out, he's made thousands of times before. The flavors may have been creative, but he certainly didn't step outside his comfort zone with the protein. And then to not have cooked the octopus properly, that seemed like a major fail that left the judges no choice.

 

I am not likely to ever eat at a Wylie Dufresne restaurant, because his food appears to be overpriced and gimmicky, at least based on what I've seen of his multiple TV appearances. It's like the culinary equivalent of those obscenely expensive vanity gifts "for people who have everything." I can understand the novelty appeal of molecular gastronomy for food critics, wealthy foodies who eat out constantly, and people on expense accounts. But if I'm paying $100 per person for dinner, I'm much more likely to want to eat something like a classic French dish than a science experiment.

Edited January 23, 2015 by bluepiano

[biakbiak]

Mei was annoyed, but I didn't really think she had too much room to be upset given she expressly took them all at the beginning so that no one else could have any.

It seemed Mei grabbed the box because she got their first and for efficiency sake, she wasn't hording them she immediately agreed to share them with Adam and than Melissa took them without asking from Mei's station.

Edited January 23, 2015 by biakbiak

[Mooncake76]

I think Gregory kinda got spooked when he landed in the bottom for taking a risk during the Thanksgiving challenge and he's been playing it safe ever since then.  It must be tough winning all the time and then suddenly be put in a position of getting kicked off.  Melissa is on the opposite trajectory; she had been in the bottom multiple times early on and throughout the competition, but she has really picked up her game despite her past missteps.  She talked about challenging herself a lot in these last couple of episodes and how that was her goal in this competition.  It appears to me that that's a healthier attitude to adopt than one where the focus is simply to not get kicked off.  In any case, I thought I would have been upset with the possibility of Melissa becoming Top Chef, but now I think she would be deserving of it.  Still want Mei to win though.

 

Like others, I didn't like George for a long time because of the Isabella connection, but he turned out to be a pretty decent guy.  I don't think it was fair he got to come back the way he did, so for that reason alone, I'm glad Gregory is moving on.  But I do feel bad for him going on a challenge where he really embraced the theme of the challenge and ended up being penalized for it.  I also liked that he was good-natured about it, telling Gregory that he basically knocked him out twice.  I wouldn't mind seeing him back in an all-star season, but for the same reason I wanted Gregory to move on, I hope Dougie comes back from LCK instead of him.

[Calamity Jane]

Now that I look closely, I guess Mei is a lot younger than I'd been thinking, but it rocked me back when she said she thought of Melissa as an older sister.  I thought she was 10 years older, easy. 

[awaken]

I think I'd be just fine if I never saw octopus heads coming out a meat grinder ever again.

[Mmazeo]

Let's ax Gregory and have a 3 way dance for the finale with Mei, Melissa and Doug.

I think Mei takes it. She's been as consistently great as anyone since Paul in Austin.

Melissa didn't take all the clams... Mei took all the clams--more than she needed for herself. Then Adam took some and Melissa took some, and mei only had three left. I can see why Mei was annoyed, but I didn't really think she had too much room to be upset given she expressly took them all at the beginning so that no one else could have any.

No no no. You do not take from another chefs station. You suck it up and get something else.

[cooksdelight]

I think Mei takes it. She's been as consistently great as anyone since Paul in Austin.

I think she only won one Quickfire, and maybe one elimination. She was in the bottom several times.

[biakbiak]

I think she only won one Quickfire, and maybe one elimination. She was in the bottom several times.

She was only in the bottom of an elimination challenge once (undercooked protein on a well received dish when Tom chose her ingredients), she won three and been very close in several others, narrowly losing to both Gregory, Melissa, and Doug I believe.

Edited January 23, 2015 by biakbiak

[Brooke0707]

I don't like Melissa. When she was ragging on Gregory for doing Asian food a lot, I was thinking, is this coming from the same person that repeatedly does "beautiful gardens"/roasted veggies?

[AriAu]

I think Mei takes it. She's been as consistently great as anyone since Paul in Austin.

 

I think she only won one Quickfire, and maybe one elimination. She was in the bottom several times.

 

According to the Wikipedia chart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Chef_(season_12),  Mei has only been in the bottom one time and has been on the high end very consistently, While she has only won 1 quickfire, she has been close a few times. She has been consistently strong, but not on the Paul Qui level, and likely not on the Stefan level (in TC New York, albeit against a pretty weak crew).

Edited January 23, 2015 by AriAu

[Mmazeo]

I think she only won one Quickfire, and maybe one elimination. She was in the bottom several times.

All kinds of wrong. She's been in the top 6 of the last 7 weeks.

[cooksdelight]

All kinds of wrong. She's been in the top 6 of the last 7 weeks.

Yes, I know. I made an error. I stand corrected.

Gregory has the most wins at four, followed by Mei and Doug with three each. Doug has never been in the bottom until he was eliminated. Melissa has two wins. And Katsuji had three wins as well.

[Noreaster]

But then, nothing about the special treatment given George has been fair.

I agree, assuming "special treatment" also includes George getting specially screwed by one of the most poorly designed quickfires ever.  

 

If Gregory can be criticized for not innovating because he made a Thai soup, then what about George, a Greek chef, making octopus, which as Tom C. pointed out, he's made thousands of times before. The flavors may have been creative, but he certainly didn't step outside his comfort zone with the protein. And then to not have cooked the octopus properly, that seemed like a major fail that left the judges no choice.

Being innovative doesn't mean that every single part of the dish has to be unfamiliar or new.  If it was just about the protein, then Mei and Melissa should also be criticized for cooking duck. And remember, George wasn't really planning to do just octopus.  He wanted to pair it with pork belly, and even complained, as they were leaving the store, how the judges were probably going to criticize him for only using octopus and being "Mediterranean George".  

 

But George really did try to embrace the spirit of the challenge.  Doing things like the apple harissa that were new to him (and the judges). Playing around with different textures and making an octopus fritter. 

 

For Gregory, it seemed like he wasn't stepping outside of his comfort zone enough. He was just adding salmon skin and chicken skin to a dish that he is otherwise very familiar with.

[hendersonrocks]

It's great to see Mei and Melissa kicking ass and taking names. I like both of them, and I like how they cook (at least from what I can tell!). That said, I've been surprised to see Melissa kick it into high gear--I wasn't expecting it based on the first 3/4 of the season, whereas I completely expected Mei to be here from jump.

 

Gregory, on the other hand...oh, Gregory. I'm just bummed at what the last few weeks have done to you. In many ways I think I'd have felt better if both the male G's were sent packing this week, even though I adore Gregory, and his eager beaver interviews, and his spectacles.

 

And dang, San Miguel de Allende may have just vaulted into my vacation destination list. It looks GORGEOUS.

[candall]

I'm a cynical sort and I think this final challenge was more or less designed to let the judges justify sending home whomever they chose--and that's exactly what they did. 

 

Someone mentioned during the show that it's possible to create a truly innovative dish, but only after you try it out a hundred times, fine tuning as you go along.  Given an hour to ponder and limited to the Whole Foods venue, what could anyone possibly offer these judges that would make them sit up and say, "Well, there's something I've never thought of!" 

 

"Molecular gastronomy" comes to mind as a whole new ballgame, but I don't think Wylie Dufresne plated up the result the first time he poured the liquid nitrogen.  (Or whatever he did that made him famous.)

 

I admire Gregory for his backstory, but feel a bit sour about his save, especially since he would've been eliminated last week.  If I got to make my very best dish and you had to experiment with something off the cuff to produce fresh and creative and delicious, you'd protest. 

 

Re the human soaker hose--the recap is hysterical--I'm a freakshow-strength sweathead, like George.   That's going to pay off for him in a few decades, when he'll still be dewy.

 

 

[Nutjob]

Mainly, I'm just glad George is gone because I don't think he should have ever been back on the show in the first place. It's not his fault, I know, but this show made a huge... I mean HUGE... mistake bringing someone back that late into the series who hadn't done any challenges in the interim. He got to sit around for a few weeks while the others, including Katie, worked their tails off.  Gregory probably deserved to go based on the challenge, but I think the judges were righting what was a bad production decision (and Tom had to be part of that decision) to let someone back in the way George came back.

 

Plus, George is sweaty and gross, and I'd never eat anything he made.

[carrps]

Melissa didn't take all the clams... Mei took all the clams--more than she needed for herself. Then Adam took some and Melissa took some, and mei only had three left. I can see why Mei was annoyed, but I didn't really think she had too much room to be upset given she expressly took them all at the beginning so that no one else could have any.

Two. She left Mei two clams.

 

And that's my last word on clamgate.

[Latverian Diplomat]

I have to disagree.  Ultimately, the question should be, "Would anyone want to eat this dish or return to the restaurant that served it?"  A chef known for innovative dishes might draw people to the restaurant but only good food will bring them back.  You may get brownie points for swinging at the fences but in the end, a strike out is still a strike out.  And it could cost you the game.

I think another key place where George fell down was that he didn't make the successful part of the dish, his Hrissa, the star. He had too many unnecessary distractions on the plate. A key part of innovation is editing. You've got to be able to recognize what's working and what isn't and adjust for that.

 

I will say, I was disappointed that none of them actually tried to make a Boston Baked Bean dish in the Quickfire.  I mean, they didn't have time to do it from scratch but still, it would have been nice to see someone try.

I think cooking with molasses would have been way harder than cooking with beans, which are an important ingredient in many cuisines and have a variety of types and preparations. I suspect the prominence of molasses in Boston is a vestige of the infamous Triangle Trade, and perhaps they didn't want to get into that. Or maybe molasses is just mostly useless except with baked beans, or to make rum. :-)

 

It was a lecture series in the School of Engineering - I remember reading about it in the Globe.

 

Re: George and Mike Isabella - I don't like and have never liked Mike Isabella, but I don't judge George because of Mike.  They are two different people.

 

Its a Harvard course. (I work at the other large university down the road--and last year my boss taught a new course called "thermal-fluid science in the kitchen") she linked to the Harvard course in her course web page:

The lecture series with the guest chefs was a flashy public presentation of the gen ed course. The course is probably intended to get people excited about fulfilling their science requirement (which is fine, another great course idea in that vein was a physics of music course a friend of mine took -- great idea poorly implemented according to him).

[FineWashables]

Guess the Great Clam Snatching Controversy will become one of those unanswered issues, like the Great Oven Temp Controversy and the infamous Mystery of the Pea Puree.  Wonder why they're willing to show so much footage of shopping and devote so little time to explaining any of the things we're really curious about.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I think cooking with molasses would have been way harder than cooking with beans, which are an important ingredient in many cuisines and have a variety of types and preparations. I suspect the prominence of molasses in Boston is a vestige of the infamous Triangle Trade, and perhaps they didn't want to get into that. Or maybe molasses is just mostly useless except with baked beans, or to make rum. :-)

 

I mean, yes, it is but I don't really think anyone has to discuss the slave trade in order to use molasses as an ingredient.  Anyway, it was a disappointment because they made a point of saying how the dish has gone out of style - which is true - and perhaps if one chef had made a creative version of them, they might rebound as a dish.  I am a strong proponent of reviving Yankee cooking - I get annoyed when people presume that the South is the only region that has a culinary tradition - so I would have liked to see this great old dish get a boost.

 

re: the clam incident - I think we've spent way more time debating it here than either Mei or Melissa thought about it at even the time it happened.  It's a competition, they both want to win, these things happen, and they don't seem to really care about it one bit, so I am not going to spend a minute being upset about it.

 

I agree, assuming "special treatment" also includes George getting specially screwed by one of the most poorly designed quickfires ever.

 

 

I agree with this.  Part of the reason I didn't have much of an issue with bringing George back is because I thought that the way he went out was poorly designed and unfair to him.  In my view, he more than proved that he deserved to be there.  While I thought that Gregory should have been knifed in this episode, I can't get too worked up about George going home, either, but regardless, he proved himself to be a good chef several times over.

Edited January 23, 2015 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Julia]

I'm not sure how it's a mystery. Mei picked up a basket of clams, and shared them with another contestant who asked. Then she walked away and Melissa came over and took all but a very few of what was left and walked away without telling Mei that she'd done it. This was accompanied by a talking head from Melissa saying that she wanted those particular clams and that she was done being nice. 

 

We can debate whether what Melissa did was appropriate (my view is that it wasn't), but there's no question what it was.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Julia

[AriAu]

It's great to see Mei and Melissa kicking ass and taking names. I like both of them, and I like how they cook (at least from what I can tell!). That said, I've been surprised to see Melissa kick it into high gear--I wasn't expecting it based on the first 3/4 of the season, whereas I completely expected Mei to be here from jump.

 

Clearly, these chefs come onto the show with a few recipes in their back pockets. The show has been on long enough that they have some idea what challenges they will see and they use them when they work. I always remember Brian Voltaggio making some hard shell thing with guacamole inside and then finding out that it is a well known appetizer on his menu.

Any chance Melissa was hoping to get by with weaker stuff early in the season and save her best stuff for last-her rise this late in the season has been surprising based on what we saw early on, when she made a salad and otherwise barely survived. Would be some risky gamesmanship, but who knows.

[DarkRaichu]

Now that I look closely, I guess Mei is a lot younger than I'd been thinking, but it rocked me back when she said she thought of Melissa as an older sister.  I thought she was 10 years older, easy. 

I came here to comment on that too.  I thought Mei easily had 5 years on Melissa, but damn, she was probably not even 30. Call me victim of her RBF :D

 

Second point.  Mei told Tom that Michael V did not give her any pointer as far as the show.  Such tough love, but that sounded about right coming from Michael V.

 

Melissa vs Mei for the final, but I am afraid one of them will fail next episode.

Edited January 23, 2015 by DarkRaichu

[Calamity Jane]

Guess the Great Clam Snatching Controversy will become one of those unanswered issues, like the Great Oven Temp Controversy and the infamous Mystery of the Pea Puree.  Wonder why they're willing to show so much footage of shopping and devote so little time to explaining any of the things we're really curious about.

Sponsorship, perhaps?

[Mmazeo]

How old is Mei? I can't find it on the Bravo site. Tough call. She has some immature moments but she's extremely talented and poised. I'll guess 27?