S12.E15: Mano a Mano

[yourmomiseasy]

As I was watching, I realized I couldn't decide who I wanted to win.  Any of the final four would have been fine with me from a personality standpoint and they all seemed like great chefs -- it's hard to say without tasting their food, but their dishes usually looked and sounded amazing.  It seems like Mei nailed it though and she's a deserving winner.  I enjoy her resting bitch face and stoism.  It broke my heart one episode when her facade cracked and a couple of tears slipped out.  But what do I know, I also enjoy Blais.

 

I stopped watching Top Chef after the stupid cross country skiing skeet shooting challenge.  I'm glad I came back to it this season.  I think this might be one of the best seasons I've seen.  It was great to see a bunch of reality contestants actually get along and to not have stupid drama overshadow the cooking.

Edited February 12, 2015 by yourmomiseasy

[Brooke0707]

Mei's dessert did not look appetizing to me. It looked like feta cheese and yogurt. I guess I don't like the modern style. I also don't like how she plates everything on the side of the plate.

[cooksdelight]

One thing I noticed that Mei did, and Gregory did not, was to taste a totally composed dish with her sous chefs. All three women tasted it, and if adjustments needed to be made they had time to fix it before plating the rest. Gregory didn't do that, at one point he was really rushing just to get things on the plate. Had he done so, he would probably have left those carrots off the plate.

[stopeslite]

This season seemed to last forever.

 

They couldn't have shown Mei calling her parents, right? Because nobody was allowed to know who won until it aired? I imagine Voltaggio signed a nondisclosure agreement with Bravo that lasts until THE END OF TIME, so he was the only one ok to call.

 

As soon as Gregory said "It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life", I said "EXCEPT KICKING DRUGS" and before I could even finish the thought he said "...except for when I went sober". Oh, Gregory. 

 

 

Mei knows deep in her heart that winning TC won't change her parents view of her.

 

That's what I think, too. They don't want her to be a chef. Being a great chef won't change that she's still a chef. It's not going to help their relationship any; might even make it worse because she thinks it should matter and now they won't respect her choice in career or her skill at it.

[Pickles]

Just an observation about Mei. When she was hugging people at the end, both of her hands were in fists. That just struck me for some reason. I have never seen anyone hug like that before. Perhaps that is her way of remaining closed off? I did not get the idea she was a comfortable hugger, not that it matters.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I also don't buy into Mei having created the best dessert EVAH: TC has demonstrated short term memory time and again.  I can buy it was very good on the night and good enough to trump Greg's mole.

 

 

They've had some pretty bad desserts on TC over time, so I can certainly believe that this was the best dessert that Tom has ever had on TC, especially during  a finale.  I thought it was smart of Mei to stage at a dessert station before the finale - she obviously had given a lot of thought to that dessert before coming to the finale and it paid off for her.

 

I will say, I appreciated Gregory taking a bit of a risk, utilizing Mexican ingredients and flavors, and not trying to coast his way through the finale.  I think that may have hurt him, ultimately, because he hadn't had the chance to develop some of those dishes, but if you are going to lose, I think it is better to do so because you took a risk. 

[Lamb18]

Regarding dessert: Tom said Mei's dessert was the best dessert he's ever had on Top Chef and one of the best desserts he's ever had. He did not say it was the best dessert he's had in his life. I can believe it was the best dessert he's had on Top Chef - I started watching at season 4 and haven't seen anything like it on the show or any dessert having the reaction that Mei's did. It was interesting that she bought sweetened yogurt by mistake and cut the sweetness with more of the liquid nitrogen frozen lime things to give more tartness.

[Ms Anthrope]

I couldn't quite believe that the judges were raving about how beautiful Mai's dessert looked (and tasted).  Don't know about the taste, but the dish looked like slop to me. Lots of different items tossed messily in a bowl.  It looked like something scraped of a plate before going into the dishwasher.

 

I also don't get the hate for Blais.  He doesn't seem more opinionated than any of the other judges.  If anyone annoys me, it's Tom -- who give me the impression that his opinion is the only worthwhile one.

[JTMacc99]

Yeah, I found that the reaction to her dessert made ME happy.  I like it when they take chances and win.  Same for the stink-eye they gave Gregory when he said short ribs with mole and then they all licked their plates clean. 

 

And on that note, I was very happy for Mei. She was a deserving winner.  And had Gregory made better food than her in this episode, I think I would have felt the same way for him.  First time in a while on this show where I was in that position.

 

 

Tiny triumph: during the episode I tweeted "Richard Blais' hair makes me so angry". He retweeted. Ha.

Nice!  His hair was unusually stupid this time. It looked like he might have gotten one of those shrimp heads caught in it, and then a couple seagulls landed on his head and tried to pull it out.

[Julia]

Aw, go Mei. I actually tuned into Andy Cohen's wankfest afterwards to see her and Gregory, and whatever anyone else has to say about her, Gregory seems to feel as if she's the only one there who was on his level. I think the only one on her level was Doug, but given his perspective I appreciate that he's giving her the respect she's due and not, say, pretending he threw the match to a lesser talent by not playing at the top of his game.

 

I also don't get the hate for Blais.  He doesn't seem more opinionated than any of the other judges.

The thing about Richard is, he's kiss up kick down. He's obsequious to the other judges to the point where Gail and Padma were practically pantsing him on camera because he just laps it up and asks for more. Let him talk to a contestant, though, and he's all lame general insults about the food he's clearly written down and thinks are Oscar Wilde-level clever when they mostly lie there like Toby Young steaming turds.

It triggers my embarrassment squick insanely hard to watch someone try to cement his place at the cheerleaders' table by a strategic combination of groveling and bullying other people to amuse the cool kids. I think far, far less of him for it.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Julia

[perfectstorm]

The show redeemed itself for me this season - it more about the food - than the kitchen drama, personality clashes that have often plague other seasons.  The contestants on the whole were likeable people, professionals - the exception was probably Aaron, and fortunately, he got canned fairly early on.

[stillshimpy]

Except for his perpetually alarmed hair, Blais didn't bug me here.  Yes, he does do that "stick the plate of food up my nostril" thing, but that's fairly common with food critics to help judge the seasoning.   I just wish the camera crew would let discretion be the better part of valor and not focus on it, it's unappetizing as hell to look at, even though I get why they do it.  However, whereas I thought he was really showing some strain in earlier episodes, I thought he settled in and did a good job on this one.  I actually kept forgetting he was there until they'd focus on him and his startling hair would catch my eye.  Basically if the dude eases up on the gel or gets a haircut , he's fine.  Also, I'd rather not see him interact too much with Tom or the other judges, because he does have a too eager thing going on that is just uncomfortable to watch. 

 

But in terms of his judging, I think he got much better and more specific over the course of the season.  

 

I don't actually have a lot to say about the finale because I was going to be happy no matter who won.  I like both Gregory and Mei.  It was pleasant to see them interact with their Sous Chefs.   It's always nice to feel like the camaraderie is real.  Gregory, George and Doug seemed like they worked well together.  I ended up liking George just fine, although again, there are undeniable hair issues.  

 

They couldn't have shown Mei calling her parents, right? Because nobody was allowed to know who won until it aired? I imagine Voltaggio signed a nondisclosure agreement with Bravo that lasts until THE END OF TIME, so he was the only one ok to call.

 

It was hilarious hearing Volt attempt to inject inflection into his voice.  He's just not the most demonstrative of men (which is fine, the man is a badass chef) so it came off like a super computer trying to approximate human emotion.  It was cute and also a little scary at the same time :-) 

[AriAu]

So much to enjoy about this Finale-very high quality cooking and ideas, and beautiful plating. 2 very worthy cheftestants and a very worthy winner. Tom gushing over a dessert...a dessert!

Couple of observations-Rebecca must be a really good chef since she kept getting picked for a sous. Clearly the other cheftestants respect her skills-reminded me of Jennifer Bieste in TC Chicago and Ashley in TC Vegas-went home too early and everyone on the show knew it.

More Sean Brock and less Blais please.

.

A couple of things I didn't like

1. Gregory choked on the fish/carrot dish as badly as Blais did on his dishes in TC Chicago. He pulls that one off and we have a real dog fight. We don't like to use the choke term, but I am afraid he did this time. Gregory is so likable (and his story is so uplifting) that we don't want to say it, but....

 

2. It bothers me that they do so much prep and "training" during the period between the end of the season and the start of the Finale season. It allows people to make up ground and skew what we saw all season-Hosea beating Stefan by figuring out how to make a great gumbo was the top example, along with Isabella coming up with all new ideas in All Stars. Mei working a dessert station and clearly coming up with that dessert and Gregory completely changing his flavor profile just seemed out of context to what we had seen-it was almost like 2 different shows. Since everyone gets the same chance to train and knows where they are going (which gives you some idea on challenges) it is not unfair, but it just sorta bothers me.

 

3. I should have made this #1-Blais' hair!!!!!! W T F was that.

[bc1795]

I have no problem with Mei winning  but it was sort of telegraphed way back when with discussions of women winners on this show.  Also,  Blais  -- aren't you a Food Network game show host now?  --  Get lost.

[jackjill89]

Richard is a talented chef. He seems to have a huge self-esteem problem. He's not happy with his success and reeks of desperation to play with the big boys. He can come off as very arrogant, but I think that masks his need for validation at every turn. I think that's why he annoys me so much. He needs to just own his success, be happy with it and stop trying to prove he's better than everyone else. 

[Primetimer]

Can you believe this is the last episode of Top Chef this season? Because we can't.

Read the story

[hendersonrocks]

All in all, a satisfying finale and a really good season--I enjoyed it, and it feels nice to have some good seasons back-to-back.

 

My biggest peeve from the episode was the judges (and I think Tom, in particular) side-eyeing Mei for daring to make dessert--something like you stick to 4 savory courses if you're not a dessert master--and then going over to Gregory's and side-eyeing him for NOT making a dessert. Which is it?! I get they had just had a great dessert at Mei's, but I can just as easily imagine them being all har, har...will be tough for Gregory to beat Mei on dessert and he probably shouldn't be trying this! It's the inconsistency that drives me nuts.

 

Richard has a blog up on Bravo.com with the title "Winning is Overrated." Heh. (It's from last week and is basically a love letter to Doug.)

 

Well done, Mei. You're awesome.

 

 

[sourpickles]

Yay, I actually got one, go Mei! I really thought Greg would win. I said before Should vs. Will is totally different things. And I did find Kristen vs Brooke more interesting. But that's me. G lost me in that whole group elimination thing (everyone in one room) when he spoke up against, Adam, was it? about not letting someone do a dish. I hate the whole everyone there thing and I really hope they discontinue it next season. Serves no point to me, leave the rest in the stew room. Also hate that the credits are one millisecond long. I liked it much better when I could see everyone and learn their names. Awesome Mei called Voltaggio. Thought that was cool. It might have been a short season episode wise, but it still felt verrrrrrrrrry long. Maybe with all those people coming back? Don't know but congrats to Mei (and Gregory) and may they parlay this into much success.

[kermitmissesjim]

I wanted Mei to win from the word "go," because a) she is just herself, and I admire that in women especially; and, b) she worked with Michael Voltaggio. I am personally a Bryan Voltaggio fan (not so much Michael, and was disappointed that Bryan lost Top Chef), and I know the brothers collaborate and Mei would have some of Bryan's influence in her training.

I love it when my first pick wins.

[candall]

After a season where Top Chef Boston felt like my second job, I forgot to record the finale.  Couldn't be happier for the news.

 

And if Mei phoned Voltaggio instead of her parents, good for her.  She took care of herself sharing her triumph with someone she knew would be happy for her.  Why risk diluting her joy by exposing herself to her parents and hoping she'll get a pat instead of a kick?

 

I hope her parents get their own little embarrassing kick in the cultural bias when their friends start congratulating them on their daughter's accomplishment.

[Qoass]

So how long before we get an all-stars show in which Gregory opines again and again that it's not that the winner was better but that he choked and made one little mistake?

[Noreaster]

What a feel-good episode. I like when the judges seem to be really impressed with the food. 

 

The only major mistake in the finale seemed to be Gregory's third course being overly sweet. The other negative comments were more like nitpicks or matters of personal preference. Decision seemed pretty clear-cut especially given the lack of heated debate at judges' table.

 

I do wish the final was a restaurant-like challenge instead. I like seeing the contestants run kitchens and adapt to problems that might arise during service. (Would Gregory change his carrot sauce if he had time?  Can the contestants maintain consistency and not get in the weeds as the night rolls on?)  Maybe the show didn't go that route because of the limited executive chef experience with this group...really just Gregory and George among the final few. On paper, the talent level this season is pretty lacking.  

 

Put me in the camp of liking Blais.  I judge the contestants partly based on how they are perceived by their fellow contestants.  It was clear Blais got a ton of respect on the All-Stars season. Even as he was being overly critical of himself (annoyingly and all the time).  He has his opinions for sure, but so do the other judges.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Noreaster

[suetoo]

I loved this finale.  Every season, I hope for a woman to take it, and this was well-deserved.  I especially loved how they both talked in detail about what they were cooking and why, and you got a good understanding of their approach.  I thought that Mei and Greg both managed their sous-chefs beautifully, and Mei using Rebecca was very, very smart.  The way she thought on her feet to fix her dessert was very impressive, and the results were spectacular.  Grergory failed when fixing his mistake.  Gail clearly was pulling for Mei. Richard (whom I cannot stand) seemed to be the only one pulling for Gregory.

 

The way I saw it, they loved Mei's first course, but Gregory's was perfect.  Mei's octopus was a little tough, but otherwise, it was an excellent dish.  They were poetic about Mei's second couse, and really disliked Gregory's.  They both had problems with the third course, but Mei's seemed better overall as I heard some positive comments where I heard none for Gregory's.  And they both had perfect 4th courses.  So if you look at it from a numbers perspective, they each won one course, and tied the last course.  They semed to like Mei's third course better, so she was the clear winner. 

 

I liked Gregory, and Doug, and Melissa and thought that this was a great season. And it was all about the cooking!

[Bastet]

I liked Tom poking fun at himself after Mei's dessert turned out to be so spectacular, like, "See, making dessert is a great idea!" when he'd spent all that time talking about how it's silly to risk it when you're not a dessert master.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong---the only bad comment I can remember about Mei's food was that in the first course her shrimp were a little overdone & dry. Then, Gail said she didn't mind the chewiness.

 

Octopus, but, yes, that's all I can remember. Even though the judges all said Gregory's fish course didn't work because of the sweetness, they just said Mei won that round, rather than saying she really took it like they did when picking her congee over Greg's soup in the second round.  I don't remember them saying anything negative about her duck dish, but there must have been some quibble there that I'm forgetting.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Bastet

[Lamb18]

On Mei's first course I remember them saying the octopus was a little chewy and third course something about the rendering of the duck. I think that was the only negative comment on the third course.

[Julia]

I don't remember them saying anything negative about her duck dish, but there must have been some quibble there that I'm forgetting.

Hughnibrow said he wasn't sure the fat was rendered properly, but it sort of flew by. There was no chorus of grave nods the way there usually is if we're supposed to take it seriously.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Hughnibrow said he wasn't sure the fat was rendered properly, but it sort of flew by. There was no chorus of grave nods the way there usually is if we're supposed to take it seriously.

 

Yes, Hugh had a bit of issue with the rendering of the fat but it couldn't have been that big of an issue because a). no one else mentioned it and b). even he qualified his criticism about it.

 

It's interesting that Blais was trying to say that Mei chewy octopus was the biggest technical flaw in the meal, since it seemed that everyone else - including Tom - thought that Gregory's sweet fish was technically flawed. 

 

At the end of the day, I think that these meals each reflected Mei and Gregory's style over the season.  Mei had a consistently high quality meal (with one or two minor flaws).  Gregory's meal was more uneven, but produced a few wonderful hits (the octopus and the short rib mole) and a few real misses (the soup and the overly sweet fish).

[TudorQueen]

Caci, you're not alone. I still love Blais and if I ever had a chance to eat a meal prepared by a molecular gastronomist, it would be him.

I was very happy for Mei, but sad for Gregory. Then I comforted myself with the fact that my two favorites made it all the way to the end. That doesn't happen so often.

Gregory's description of the difficulties presented by mole reminded me of the mole with which Rick Bayless won his season of TC: Masters, and how, when fans asked him to add it to his restaurant menus, he declined, talking about how complex it is and how long it took him to master it.

[nottopbravo]

Can you believe this is the last episode of Top Chef this season? Because we can't.

 

 

What?  No Top Chef reunion special? 

[jette]

Poor Katsuji looked devastated that he wasn't chosen to be one of Gregory's sous in the finale. To add salt to his wound, Gregory went the all-Mexican inspired flavors route. That said, I was happy that Doug was picked - it was as "duh" a moment as Mei choosing Melissa though, really. 

 

Add me to the queue of folks who despise Blais - it's like he has a sour face much of the time because - the horror! - other chef's food is being praised.

[AriAu]

Gregory's description of the difficulties presented by mole reminded me of the mole with which Rick Bayless won his season of TC: Masters, and how, when fans asked him to add it to his restaurant menus, he declined, talking about how complex it is and how long it took him to master it.

 

Bayless had it on the menu (I think at Topolobambo) shortly after he won-he did the whole winning menu for a few weeks-but it is not part of the regular menu, altho there are lots of moles on the menu at both places.

[meep.meep]

I'm happy that Mei won, I would have been happy if Gregory had won.

 

But, that congee looked horrid, worse than it usually looks!  (Clearly I'm not a fan of the dish.)  Why do people want to eat mushy food with uncooked egg yolks?

 

If they want to start mucking with the judges, replace Gail with Francis Lam.  Replace Blais with Hugh Atchisen or Emeril or Hubert Keller.

[JTMacc99]

I liked Tom poking fun at himself after Mei's dessert turned out to be so spectacular, like, "See, making dessert is a great idea!" when he'd spent all that time talking about how it's silly to risk it when you're not a dessert master.

Me too. But I also get exactly where he is coming from with the emotion he had behind his original opinion.

 

Far, FAR too many chefs on this show mess up the contest part of it.  Talented chefs get themselves sent home all the time because they screw up the game play.  I think Tom was simply looking at history on this show, thinking about all the good things Mei has done so far, and dreading the idea that she could make an ordinary dessert when she had a much higher chance of making an extraordinary savory dish.

 

And I guess that's why it was fun to see Tom backtrack. His heart was in the right place when he doubted the decision, and he was clearly very happy to have been proven wrong. 

Edited February 12, 2015 by JTMacc99

[Bastet]

I know, that's why I liked it so much.

[GaT]

Just an observation about Mei. When she was hugging people at the end, both of her hands were in fists. That just struck me for some reason. I have never seen anyone hug like that before. Perhaps that is her way of remaining closed off? I did not get the idea she was a comfortable hugger, not that it matters.

I noticed & thought that was odd too. 

[Julia]

Replace Blais with Hugh Atchisen or Emeril or Hubert Keller.

The words "replace Blais with Hubert Keller" just shorted something in my brain.

I feel like maybe the problem with Blais in this job is that they really haven't given him anything to do. He seems to me to be most accessible when he's embracing the geek, like Alton Brown back when he still had some respect for his audience. If they cut a few of the never-very-interesting talking heads and let Richard explain to the audience (maybe in a voiceover while the screen showed cooking) about some of the obscure techniques or ingredients while the contest was going on he'd be adding value and making the slow part of the show go faster.

Instead he's trying to snark. And I don't think Richard is good at snark. I think he has too little respect for the people around him to come across as good natured when he's snarking.

[KarmaG]

What they chose to show of the judges' comments made the "wow, this is so close" theme sound like a reach, since comments at the dining tables and at JT indicated Greg beat Mei in the first course, she really beat him in the second, she beat him in the third, and then they both had flawless dishes in the fourth.  To me, that makes Mei a pretty easy choice.

 

I'd have loved to eat all their food, other than the sweet fish dish.  This episode made me so hungry!  The food just looked and sounded so delicious.

 

Before reaching judges table, my hubs and I tallied the rounds/comments and said the same thing. It's obvious Mei has it. Also there was a spot for WWHL  with Mei and Gregory during a commercial break and the looks on their faces definitely made it clear who won. Congrats to Mei. Though she wasn't my fave/pick, she definitely earned it.

[KarmaG]

I've always thought they should give the second place person something - maybe $50,000, $25,000 - I don't know, they get so far and then, splat.  

 

I agree. I wish they gave them something.

[carrps]

 But then I wouldn't have cared for Mei's kanji or duck...

 

It's a different Asian thing -- congee, not kanji. :-)

 

I am very happy for Mei. I'm glad she won. I was hoping she would pop a couple of those frozen lime things in her mouth just before she served her dessert so mist would come out of her mouth when she talked to the judges. 

 

I yelled "She's a dragon -- she's gonna win!"

 

I was really tickled to see how happy George was that Gregory chose him as one of his sous chefs. That seemed completely genuine. Also thought that Mei was really smart to choose a sous chef who appeared to be a dark horse but who Mei knew to have good dessert skills.

 

All in all, a really satisfying season.

Yes, I noticed that, too. I was really surprised by how much I liked George by the end of the season.

 

And hallelujah Mei won! As with someone else upthread, it's the first time I've picked the actual winner from the first show. I have no issues with her personality or lack of "hugginess."  I was wondering, though, if Mei's closed fists were a result of trying to hold herself under control with the stress of waiting for the announcement of the winner.

 

And can the Richard talk be moved to another venue? It's getting a little boring and repetitive. Thx.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Also there was a spot for WWHL  with Mei and Gregory during a commercial break and the looks on their faces definitely made it clear who won.

 

Very dumb move by Bravo to show that spot because it was glaringly obvious who'd won.  Seeing it actually pissed me off.

[Madding crowd]

I didn't like Mei talking down about Gregory's dishes when Tom came in the kitchen. It's poor sportsmanship in my opinion. In general, I liked both Mei and Gregory, but I wanted Gregory to win. I think it could have gone either way, but I think they wanted Mei to win from the get-go. Gregory had two superb dishes (octupus and mole), one dish with mixed reviews (some people liked the gumbo,Padma didnt), and one dish that was disliked by all. Mei had octupus which was declared dry and chewy, congee which was liked but not rated superb, duck which had mixed reviews, and a superb dessert. So, I think they both made mistakes.

I did laugh at Tom saying "You were bold to make a dessert" and "You were bold to not make a dessert". I do wish they wouldnt show previews for the Andy Cohen thing; it always gives away who the winner is by there face.

[carrps]

Forgot to mention that I was fairly certain that Mei won when Michael Cimarusti reallllly didn't like Gregory's sea bass. Cimarusti is known for seafood. Eat at Providence if you ever get the chance!

[Bella]

What?  No Top Chef reunion special? 

 

Not on the database we use. But more importantly, not on Bravo's website. If anyone learns anything different, please let us know!

 

It's a different Asian thing -- congee, not kanji. :-)

 

And can the Richard talk be moved to another venue? It's getting a little boring and repetitive. Thx.

 

Yes, and yes. More specifically, for the Blais discussion, he has his own thread. 

 

I always assume that some of the criticisms are nitpicks that the judges toss out there in case the two contestants are extremely similar.  Then they have a recorded statement that the editors can include in the episode, and the judges don't look insane for eliminating someone for whom they've had nothing but praise. In fact, I suspect that, unseen by us, there are occasionally producer prompts along the lines of "okay, if you had to find something wrong with this dish, what would it be? Come on, someone, anyone, gimme something to work with! Please, I'm begging you."

[cooksdelight]

I only remember a reunion after Texas, and I think they felt they had to do that in order to address all the mean girl stuff that went on that season.

[Bella]

I only remember a reunion after Texas, and I think they felt they had to do that in order to address all the mean girl stuff that went on that season.

 

Why do I think they've done other seasons as well. And Texas? I just wanted that over. Yeah, Paul Qui rocks and I don't want to see the rest of these folks on my TV again, thank you very much. Go. Away.

[Julia]

They've definitely done other seasons. I think they just don't want to have to ask Aaron about his arrest.

[KarmaG]

observations-Rebecca must be a really good chef since she kept getting picked for a sous. Clearly the other cheftestants respect her skills-

 

 

I only remember her being picked as Sous Chef for this final challenge. She wasn't picked in an earlier one like Melissa, Katsuji and George were. In fact, we'd forgotten Rebecca was even on the show :P

All in all, a satisfying finale and a really good season--I enjoyed it, and it feels nice to have some good seasons back-to-back.

 

My biggest peeve from the episode was the judges (and I think Tom, in particular) side-eyeing Mei for daring to make dessert--something like you stick to 4 savory courses if you're not a dessert master--and then going over to Gregory's and side-eyeing him for NOT making a dessert. Which is it?! I get they had just had a great dessert at Mei's, but I can just as easily imagine them being all har, har...will be tough for Gregory to beat Mei on dessert and he probably shouldn't be trying this! It's the inconsistency that drives me nuts.

 

 

My husband and I said the same thing. Super annoyed by it. 

Edited February 12, 2015 by KarmaG

[Bastet]

Mei picked Rebecca as one of her sous chefs (KeriAnn was the other) in the first EC in Mexico, where they had to cook a dish representing the artist's work.

[KarmaG]

Mei picked Rebecca as one of her sous chefs (KeriAnn was the other) in the first EC in Mexico, where they had to cook a dish representing the artist's work.

Thanks, somehow I totally missed that.

[hacman00]

I think the real reason Mei will never be a success in her parent's eyes is that she was born without a penis.