S14.E09: For the Kids

[joanne3482]

I really loved that Michael Volt said he had eaten at Sheldon's restaurant in Maui and complimented it. I appreciate it when the judges can appreciate the cheftestants as relative equals.

At this point I guess I'm happy with almost any winner. I'm in the Anybody but Casey camp and I can't define why... maybe because she has already had 2 goes at this. I love Shirley and Sheldon, but Sylva and Brooke have grown on me. So really I'm happy with any of their wins.  

[PamelaMaeSnap]

Loved this episode ... and the way-overdue departure of "no, you are never in the middle of the pack, you're always JUST getting out-sucked by someone better than you" Emily.

LOVED the Top 3 ... if I can only plop my butt in ONE seat on a train I'd pick #TeamSheldon because I just freaking adore him and adored him during his season as well ... but I would have NO problems with a great big upset #TeamSylva win either and would love to see them finish Top 2 ... that said, I am sure this is Brooke's to lose and she won't and I'm okay with that because I do like her.

Glad that what I perceived as an early possible "loser edit" of Sylva struggling to keep his patties together and our hearing more of his moving personal story was a fake-out. (By the way, because I have some short-term memory medical issues ... have they ever talked about the more recent professional tragedy of the arson fire at his new restaurant or did that occur after the filming of this season?) ... I think he should open a "Haisian" restaurant ... if he's doing the Asian thing and could tie in those yummy Haitian spices I'd be all in!

And hope that what I am perceiving from the "coming up next week" clips of Sheldon having a few possible epic fails is ALSO a fake-out. And I wish I could be planning a Hawaiian vacation to go to his restaurant, but at this point that is not on the agenda (maybe after we move to California, coming up within the next 2-3 years, it will be a little more do-able!)

Now, if I could just find out how one gets a chance to donate $500 per person to a fantastic cause and end up at an event like this, Mr. Snap and I would both be all in!

[Jeffurry]

"But if you watch her eyes when she says "vital," they light up in this weird way as if she's just said some arcane double entendre no one's heard in generations."

I love this. It reminds me of when I've gone to see Shakespeare plays and people in the audience let out a knowing "Haw haw haw!" at some random line because they'd learned about what it meant in their English classes.

[chiaros]

A well-deserved win for Sylva. 

Glad John Tesar got his cooking back on track.

Pleased Sheldon is staying with his own cooking and not attempt to do what is not in his heart as he tried to do in his previous season (as he briefly commented on) when he was pushed to do so by snide sarcasm from Brooke and Tom Colicchio's sneers about not pushing one's envelope.

Hilarious that Shirley Chung could not identify anchovy paste and even gagged on it.**

Bye Emily.

 

** Just a side-note, a lightly sarcastic commentary, if you will :-) ... Beijingers have some strong-flavored stuff in their cuisine including fermented stuff like fermented tofu but not fermented fish, heh. Anhui and Guangdong folks would snigger at her. Folks of Chinese ancestry but in SE Asia would laugh at her for this.

[kittykat]

14 hours ago, AttackTurtle said:

The top three tonight each sounded amazing as did John's dish.  I worried for Sylvia a bit when he was preparing his dish.  

As soon as I heard ice-box cake, I knew Emily was a goner.  

Im going to Maui in a month and Sheldon's restaurant is at the top of my agenda.  

Star Noodle is amazing.  Went with my husband a few years back on our honeymoon, it was nearly a 90 minute wait (we went on a Saturday night) but it was so worth it.  We went back a few days later for lunch and walked right in.

Still racking my brain over Emily's great things.

I just realized that Sylva is the last noob standing.

[needschocolate]

The only way you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a bowl of flour and a bowl of cream cheese is if you were looking at it from across a large room (possibly with the lights dimmed and one eye closed) - What is that bowl of white stuff? Hmm, could be flour or cream cheese or mayonnaise or rice or... 

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

Valiant effort by the editors to create suspense, when an amoeba could have figured out Emily was going home. 

It was pretty obvious ---

"Casey, your dish was great, just needed a tiny bit more salt. Like, maybe just one grain right on top."

"Shirley, your dish was wonderful, but there were so many great dishes that we had to get really picky"

"Emily, your dish was muddy, didn't make any sense, was too simple ..."

[pinguina]

When Emily said something along the lines of - I made some great things.  I was gob smacked!  I couldn't think of one thing that she made that received more than lukewarm praise.  Plus when she said the QF were not her thing.  Was she always at the bottom of them? Or just most of the time?  Anyway, I'm not sorry to see her go. As others have said, she was out of her league.

I thought Sheldon was cute saying, "Hey, there's a beach right outside of here." And cajoled them all to go out to play a bit.  

Brooke slightly teasing Sheldon about "termos".  It was a bit awkward.  She should have stopped when he clearly didn't get why she kept repeating it.

I'm glad that John is trying to change but (as I say to my students) show it don't just tell it.  And last week's fiasco wouldn't have been as bad if he hadn't participated/engaged with Katsuji.  

Sylva's lollipop looked delicious!  I'm glad he won.  

I will be happy if Sylva, Sheldon, or Brooke wins. :)

[Calamity Jane]

It is not acceptable to me that Emily outlasted, well, a bunch of people but especially Jim, and even Katsuji.  I think it was quite clear that those guys were far above her level overall.  She skated by a number of times when the judges' comments seemed much more negative about her food than about the PYKAGed chef.  Grrrrrr!  Last Chance Kitchen is not a good enough reason to pull such shenanigans.  

[dleighg]

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

Valiant effort by the editors to create suspense, when an amoeba could have figured out Emily was going home. 

 

Ain't that the truth. A speck of salt, hard to cut, vs something that people bring to a church potluck?

[dleighg]

I must be clueless, but in the "show article" (http://previously.tv/top-chef/top-chef-goes-blind/) what do the red "eye with slash through it" and green eye signify?

[chiaros]

Regarding various posts about John Tesar talking about his "Change" - I made a comment about this on another thread, which I believe is still true.

The "Talking Heads", I believe, also are records of cheftestants' responses at least in part to questions that the "interviewer" puts directly to the cheftestants. We never hear the questions; while the snippets of these "Talking Heads" are inserted here and there.

(Look also at the way the cheftestants appear in many of these "Talking Heads" (TH). Sometimes they have different clothes on, sometimes they have different facial characteristics, sometimes even within the SAME "Talking Head" snippet. This last episode had a "contiguous" TH of Sylva where he has 1) a mustache and 2) no mustache; within seconds of a "continuous" TH. They DID make him have the same T-shirt on, though. :-) )

Edited January 27, 2017 by chiaros

[dleighg]

2 hours ago, Tarasme said:

*sigh* Voltagio. ::::oldladygrossslobber::::

I can understand that MV isn't classically handsome but damn does he have "C" Charisma. And while I'm a goodie two shoes that is blissfully without my own ink, I don't begrudge him trying to out rebel the rebels- particularly if it gives him a "bad boy" aesthetic compared to his brother's (*triplequadruplesighdrool*) sweet goofy boy next door.

I like both of the Brothers V but especially am in love with Bryan. Wonder if someone can diagnose personality type by which of the brothers is preferred?

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I must be clueless, but in the "show article" (http://previously.tv/top-chef/top-chef-goes-blind/) what do the red "eye with slash through it" and green eye signify?

The red eye meant they didn't get it right, the green meant they got it right. In the show, it was a green checkmark versus a red X. The article did their own thing in their attempt to say what they liked versus what they didn't. I think.

[HunterHunted]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Emily.... might have wanted to stick to the original recipe with some type of sauce on the plate to elevate it. (God, I hate the word elevate, but it's appropriate here). She has seemed in over her head from the beginning, and her attitude didn't help. She's not on social media, that I am aware, to bitch about it but I'd be interested in hearing what she thought of the whole experience.

She was on Chopped, where she was bested by her ex-boyfriend. She didn't look particularly comfortable there either. I think she might have underestimated how difficult Top Chef would be. It's interesting that her ex didn't end up in the cast for this season.

As terrible as we all thought Phillip Frankland Lee was, his multiple appearances on Food Network shows taught him to get rid of the indecision with which Emily clearly suffered. 

Edited January 27, 2017 by HunterHunted

[Court]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I must be clueless, but in the "show article" (http://previously.tv/top-chef/top-chef-goes-blind/) what do the red "eye with slash through it" and green eye signify?

Red eye means skip, not worth watching.

Green means watch.

This recap is hilarious. 

[LuciaMia]

Quote

 What???? Emily is delusional. Did she ever put anything good on a plate?

Now, is Emily the one who, in the first episode or two, said she'd been fired twice for her attitude? Not a shocker.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 1/26/2017 at 10:07 PM, archer1267 said:

I should try the blindfold challenge myself sometime because I couldn't believe they were giving the chefs basic things like avocado, chicken, and cherries. But clearly it was hard if John mistook cream cheese for flour!

That seemed quite, um, surprising.   Emily identifying dried mango as fruit roll-up is a minor goof in comparison.   And given John's whole faux-pimento-cheese disaster, handing everybody pimento cheese was obviously more than deliberate.  But apparently this IS harder to do than it looks since I remember Rick Bayless on Top Chef Masters identifying hoisin sauce as...............ranch dressing.  And AFAIK Bayless isn't a smoker.  I think it's the fear factor as much as anything else - as Casey said, you keep bracing yourself for something you really don't want to eat that is widely eaten in some places - like, as she said, a raw fish eyeball.

On 1/26/2017 at 11:37 PM, annewithaneee said:

I'm still not feeling Graham on the judge's panel. I feel like there was some sort of acting/presenting coach on the MasterChef set and he's now programmed to oversell his lines and speak in the same cadence that the other judges over there do. When he delivers his critiques, he sounds a little like he's reading to a group of preschoolers. Sweet, but over-earnest and each word is punched too much. It doesn't work with Tom's more frank and natural delivery, and Padma's stoned bitchiness.

You've identified what kind of bothers me about him too.  And speaking of punching: "Literally, it was like punching you in the tongue!"  I'm so sick of this particular judging metaphor.  No, Graham, Sylva's food didn't punch you in the tongue or the mouth or the face or anywhere at all.   Enough with this. 

While Sheldon's dish was obviously a hit, I do wish he had done tea leaf rice.  Just because it sounds kind of amazing.

The thing about Emily's cake was, that her description of it sounded completely delicious to me - she just fucked up royally on the execution.  Sheesh, what a mess it looked.

Edited January 28, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[RealReality]

8 minutes ago, LuciaMia said:

Now, is Emily the one who, in the first episode or two, said she'd been fired twice for her attitude? Not a shocker.

Oddly enough, she may be the one who went through the change tesar keeps talking about.  I didn't think she was pleasant, but I didn't see a fireable attitude either.  Maybe she has truly been humbled.  As for the "great stuff" her cake last week was somewhat praised and I thought she did okay on a few quickfires.

[Bastet]

Quote

i spent part of the episode thinking Brooke would be in trouble on a technicality. They were supposed to take inspiration from their own childhood, but she she took inspiration from the crepes she makes for her son every week. I guess if the food is good, it doesn't matter if you follow directions!

It has never mattered in these "cook something inspired by a memory of ..." challenges, and over the years I think a good number of contestants have simply made up a story to go along with the dish they wanted to make.  In Brooke's case, she may very well have said the crepes were something she grew up eating, and has continued the tradition by making them for her son, and we were only shown the part where she talked about her son.  (If not, and she was asked "What does this have to do with your childhood?" that would have been an easy story to make up.) 

[Jobiska]

3 hours ago, chiaros said:

Hilarious that Shirley Chung could not identify anchovy paste and even gagged on it.**

She said fish paste though.  I think out of all the guesses we saw, she was the one who got something close most often (e.g. a lot of them said oysters for clams, including Shirley, but she had several other near misses as well.  At least she can be proud she didn't say "flour!")

I got several laughs from Sheldon in this show.  First he was finally able to buy his beloved pink floppy sun hat that he had been playing with earlier at Whole Foods.  Then his reaction to Shirley's going on and on about how naughty she was in her childhood was hilarious.  Then he's driving with John who's overanalyzing his conflict with Katsuji and going on and on and on and Sheldon yawns and looks like he's thinking "wish I was still listening to Shirley saying she jumped off buildings as a child...".

Speaking of which, I think when Shirley said she played with an elastic "thing" that she couldn't think of the name of, she meant what I grew up calling "Chinese jump rope," because she sort of hopped from side to side as she was saying it.  

Re happy childhood memories (and I didn't even notice that Brooke's was not from her own childhood!) I thought it was kind of funny that they did not specify that the memories had to be "remember food from your childhood," but I think they all did that (except Brooke, of course).  I mean I guess it makes sense because they're chefs so they would have happy memories tied to food, but the brief wasn't that specific.  I tried to think of my own and one was seeing sea turtles lay their eggs, but I sure wouldn't make turtle soup or eggs based on that!, and another was of joyful tears coming to my eyes when I came into my room and saw my beloved "lovey" stuffed animal which was a duck.  I wouldn't make duck!  In fact I've never eaten duck because of that toy--I loved ducks too much to eat them when I was little, and then I became a vegetarian as a teen.  So I'd have to get more meta to interpret those memories, I guess.  So I'd probably fall back on a happy food memory, but it would end up being more like Emily's, because I grew up in the 1960s.  Recreate a TV dinner or something?  heh.   Not that I'd be in the competition in the first place, of course.

Edited to add:  That particular style of recap is called the "watch/skip index" and assesses the scenes for their worthiness of being watched.  Since I don't think I've ever read a recap on any site until after I've seen the episode, those recommendations make me no never mind, and I wonder if anyone does use them that way, to save 10 minutes or something!

Edited January 27, 2017 by Jobiska

[dleighg]

9 minutes ago, Jobiska said:

Edited to add:  That particular style of recap is called the "watch/skip index" and assesses the scenes for their worthiness of being watched.  Since I don't think I've ever read a recap on any site until after I've seen the episode, those recommendations make me no never mind, and I wonder if anyone does use them that way, to save 10 minutes or something!

Thanks! I don't think I'd ever skip any part of an episode, mostly because if someone mentioned something about it here I'd have to go back and watch anyway! I like knowing what people are talking about :)

[Archery]

4 hours ago, PamelaMaeSnap said:

By the way, because I have some short-term memory medical issues ... have they ever talked about the more recent professional tragedy of the arson fire at his new restaurant or did that occur after the filming of this season?

Yes, Sylva mentioned it (and they showed harrowing video) during the set up for Restaurant Wars.  He said RW was bittersweet because he had just progressed to the stage of picking cutlery, etc., for his restaurant when an arsonist burned it down.  He experienced such stress about it that he lost his hair (over a picture of him with his former gorgeous long locs.)

[ratgirlagogo]

21 minutes ago, Jobiska said:

She said fish paste though.

She said shrimp paste which yes seemed closer than some guesses.

21 minutes ago, Jobiska said:

Speaking of which, I think when Shirley said she played with an elastic "thing" that she couldn't think of the name of, she meant what I grew up calling "Chinese jump rope," because she sort of hopped from side to side as she was saying it.  

Yes! like a kind of giant-sized cat's cradle.  And I was disappointed that she didn't say what they call it in Chinese?  I'm betting it's not just "jump rope."

[Jobiska]

Oops, yes, shrimp paste!  Thanks ratgirlagogo!

[marybennet]

I loved this episode.  I always like the blind taste test, and I thought all that food looked great.  I really want to try Sheldon's dish.  (I'm a Cancer.  Cancers like tea after taking long walks on the beach and putting extra fabric softener in the dryer.)

Sheldon and Brooke were buddies on the Seattle season.  They were the two left at the end before Kristen Kish came back.  They had a sort of running thing about her trying to talk like him, and there's one place where he tells her she needs to work on her pidgin, and he tries to get her to practice saying "thirteen" as "terteen."  So I think she had that in mind when she was saying "termos," and he either forgot or was really into what he was saying and didn't want to lose it (that way that you ignore a joke when it's interrupting your thought).  Her saying "termos," which might have bothered me all on its own, for me was in the context of their history of mutual affection. 

I would be so happy if the final three were Sheldon and Brooke and Sylva (with maybe Shirley).

Edited January 27, 2017 by marybennet
typo!

[Mellowyellow]

Speaking of Brooke and Sheldon being buddies I have visions of him playing the ukulele. Was it him or am I confused?

I love Shirley and Sheldon in this ep (and in all the other eps where they worked together). They need to have a show together.

I don't mind any of the remaining contestants but I would LOVE a Brooke, Shirley and Sheldon finale just because it'll be a hoot! 

[dleighg]

Just now, Mellowyellow said:

Speaking of Brooke and Sheldon being buddies I have visions of him playing the ukulele. Was it him or am I confused?

Yeah that was him (I just rewatched Season 10 while on the elliptical)

[bitchin camaro]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

Yeah that was him (I just rewatched Season 10 while on the elliptical)

That's one heck of an elliptical session!

[meep.meep]

The Quickfire - they did this in the first season, because it was won by Andrea (?) the nutrition expert, not by any of the great chefs.  Then they did it again in the season that Antonia was on, Season 4, and she won because she had actually practiced it.  It is something you can practice.

I've always wondered if they say anything about equipment or environment when they end up cooking at one of these "parties".  Whether or not you are eating outside, how hot it is, what kind of cooking equipment etc. can really have a major affect on how food is perceived.  If Emily had made ice cream to go with her cake, she might have won the thing instead of going home.

I was sure that Sylva was screwed when he had to remake everything, but he just stuck to his guns and got it done. 

I keep typing t everytime I need to type th            so Sheldon's accent has taken me over!

[Spunkygal]

33 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

The Quickfire - they did this in the first season, because it was won by Andrea (?) the nutrition expert, not by any of the great chefs.  Then they did it again in the season that Antonia was on, Season 4, and she won because she had actually practiced it.  It is something you can practice.

I've always wondered if they say anything about equipment or environment when they end up cooking at one of these "parties".  Whether or not you are eating outside, how hot it is, what kind of cooking equipment etc. can really have a major affect on how food is perceived.  If Emily had made ice cream to go with her cake, she might have won the thing instead of going home.

I was sure that Sylva was screwed when he had to remake everything, but he just stuck to his guns and got it done. 

I keep typing t everytime I need to type th            so Sheldon's accent has taken me over!

Don't know if the chefs were told that this was an outdoor function, but the fact that they were told they were going to Kiaweh Island should have been a clue that it was probably outdoors. 

[Corgi-ears]

Casey, you were "confused" because "all these dishes that find [you] at the bottom have the tiniest little comments"? Either tell you it sucked or it was great, and you don't want anything in between? You may be forgetting about your undercooked amberjack with gummy porridge. That was in the "sucked, hard and fast" category.

Sheldon's dish needed to get in my tummy. It reminded me of a (sadly dying) Hakka dish, thunder tea rice.

[carrps]

16 hours ago, RealReality said:

Is Top Chef copying off of *gasp* Hells Kitchen?  I never thought I'd live to see the day.  Of course, if this was HK, everyone would guess everything was "beets or turnips," because thats as far as most of their pallets get.  

As was said, this was on the very first season of Top Chef...long before Hell's Kitchen. I still remember LeeAnn identifying umeboshi plum!

Did Emily really use Cool Whip???? Or was she just referring to the original "recipe?" 'Cause Cool Whip is gross. Seriously GROSS.

[cooksdelight]

3 minutes ago, carrps said:

Did Emily really use Cool Whip???? Or was she just referring to the original "recipe?" 'Cause Cool Whip is gross. Seriously GROSS

I don't think she used Cool Whip, I think she had a mixture of stuff she put in the cake. Cool Whip would have turned to oil in that heat.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, carrps said:

Did Emily really use Cool Whip???? Or was she just referring to the original "recipe?"

The latter -- she was recounting how her grandpa made it, and then how she was going to spruce it up.  The Cool Whip part came when describing her grandpa's version, and we saw her with her own whipped cream in a mixing bowl (rather than a tub of Cool Whip).  There's no way the judges wouldn't have mentioned it if she'd used Cool Whip, and not even Emily would have used an ingredient like that.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Bastet

[ProudMary]

22 minutes ago, carrps said:

As was said, this was on the very first season of Top Chef...long before Hell's Kitchen. I still remember LeeAnn identifying umeboshi plum!

I also remember the S1 chefs heading back to the Top Chef house and jokingly re-creating the challenge among themselves with various junk foods, which was quite funny.

[AnnaBaptist]

I love that this episode was about childhood memories, because it brought back a couple for me. Not just the Chinese jump rope, which several people have mentioned already, but ochazuke. Every day after school, I would warm up the leftover breakfast tea, scoop out the remaining rice in the rice cooker from yesterday's dinner, and have ochazuke as my afterschool snack. My friends thought it was really weird, but a few of them actually liked it, and I introduced a number of children to the joy of short-grain rice in a world of Minute Rice and Uncle Ben's.

The spin on ochazuke puts me firmly on Team Sheldon now. He is such a lovely, positive person, and his food sounds amazing. That said, Silva's food looks outstanding, too, so he runs second in my book.

Much as I like Graham Elliot, he is just not a good fit here - kind of like Tosi on Masterchef. I'm certain we will not see him next season.

And please, more Gail and less Padma.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Tess23 said:

-I read online reviews of 'Emily's restaurant' in Charleston, and the food gets amazingly good reviews. Since she's the executive chef, good on her. All along, Emily's admitted that she knows she's not good at the game aspect of the reality show, and I'm guessing that's part of what brought her down.

Tom once said that there are Michelin chefs who would fail at top chef because of the structure.  He said that great chefs sometimes spend months creating perfect dishes, but they just can't cook well when being rushed. I'm like you, I wouldn't judge a restaurant based on the head chef's failure at top chef.

[mlp]

Jeff - Thanks for another great recap.  Loved it.

I haven't cared for Brooke since her own season but I never could quite put my finger on why because, overall, she doesn't have any glaring flaws.  This episode illustrated what I don't like about her.  She disregarded what they were charged to do (cook from a childhood memory) and did what she wanted to do assuming she'd be so good that they'd forget or overlook that detail.  And she was right and got away with it.  I think she's going to get her redemption/win if she can avoid doing something the judges can't possibly forgive or let slide.

[hkit]

19 minutes ago, mlp said:

Jeff - Thanks for another great recap.  Loved it.

I haven't cared for Brooke since her own season but I never could quite put my finger on why because, overall, she doesn't have any glaring flaws.  This episode illustrated what I don't like about her.  She disregarded what they were charged to do (cook from a childhood memory) and did what she wanted to do assuming she'd be so good that they'd forget or overlook that detail.  And she was right and got away with it.  I think she's going to get her redemption/win if she can avoid doing something the judges can't possibly forgive or let slide.

To be fair, Sheldon did something very similar in the Edna Lewis episode. They were tasked with pulling inspiration from her cookbook, but he made a very Hawaiian dish with pork and cabbage that he talked about his grandparents making. He also ended up on the top. There's been a long history of people making a good dish on this show and trying to fit it into the confines of the narrative/challenge. This isn't just a Brooke thing. 

[MaggieG]

Michael V can blindfold me anytime ;)

[Spunkygal]

Regarding the recap and a possible past romance between John and Casey, I get the impression that they knew each other from being in the Dallas restaurant scene for years and may have possibly worked together back in the day. . I've never gotten a past romance vibe.

[bluepiano]

21 hours ago, bitchin camaro said:

I feel bad for Emily. She was just out of her league.

John - stfu about your transformation. You're trying, and that is a good thing, but tooting your own horn about not being an asshole anymore doesn't make you less of an asshole. Just don't be an asshole. Problem solved.

When Emily said she wished she'd gone further, my first thought was that she went much further than she should have. Making an ice box cake when you're in the last seven was pretty ridiculous. Like Tom said, it's one thing if you're in a team and get assigned to do desert, but even if that was the greatest ice box cake ever you were still going to be in the bottom.

19 hours ago, RealReality said:

Is Top Chef copying off of *gasp* Hells Kitchen?  I never thought I'd live to see the day.

When the "chefs" on Hell's Kitchen struggle with that I've always assumed it's because their nincompoops. But I guess it is legitimately difficult to judge a taste without a visual. Some of the things they had to taste were pretty esoteric, but how do you mistake chicken for ham? Maybe I need to try this myself some day.

I did not Padma's little joke about enjoying a blindfold now and then. Of course people laughed. They had to, because she's a judge, and because not laughing would've been awkward. There have been some juvenile double entendres and sex jokes over the years on this show. For me it doesn't add anything.

Agree about Voltaggio's tats. The neck thing to me always looks gross, and I don't understand why a good looking guy would do that to himself. (showing my age).  In the hip northwestern city where I live, so many restaurant servers are all tatted up, and I have to remind myself that they're not actually unclean.

Edited January 28, 2017 by bluepiano

[racked]

Sheldon is just the best, and I loved how much Volt complimented him. I'm pretty firmly rooting for a Sheldon, Brooke, Sylva finale now. I want to try Sylva's beef lollipops so bad, they looked amazing. 

Padma seemed to really love Brooke's egg yolk, but I couldn't tell if the other judges were as crazy about it? 

Casey sure likes to talk about Tesar's inability to take blame when his dish is criticized, and then does the exact same thing every time she's criticized. She or Tesar can go anytime now. 

Edited January 28, 2017 by racked

[Red Bridey]

That side neck tat on Voltaggio looked like a tumor or a goiter.  Hate them.  Did he also have a tat over his Adam's apple, or was that a tracheotomy scar?  Gross, gross, grosss!  Can you tell I hate facial tats, well, all tats, but especially those that creep up to your face.  They make the neck look fat and short.  Jamie's creeped me out too.

I'm a picky eater, so much of this was not desirable to me, except for Sylva's and Shirley's dishes.  I like meat!  I am embarrassed to admit I would probably have gone back for seconds of Emily's boring dessert.

[Blonde Gator]

2 minutes ago, racked said:

Sheldon is just the best, answer I loved how much Volt complimented him. I'm pretty firmly rooting for a Sheldon, Brooke, Sylva finale now. I want to try Sylva's beef lollipops so bad, they looked amazing. 

Padma seemed to really love Brooke's egg yolk, but I couldn't tell if the other judges were as crazy about it? 

Casey sure likes to talk about Tesar's inability to take blame when his dish isn't criticized, and then does the exact same thing every time she's criticized. She or Tesar can go anytime now. 

Hi there.  Brand new to this site, which a pal introduced me to the other day, I'm really pleased to find a bunch of Top Chef nerds, inasmuch as their website has really lost much of its luster, no comments on blogs, and actually not much in the way of blogs, either.  You all make some very interesting observations that I missed on the first watch (Casey & Tesar's former acquaintance, plus?).  And then the backstory on Sheldon/Brooke's "Termos" banter, which I'd forgotten.

Anyway, I agree totally with you, I think the top three from the "For the Kids" challenge will be the Final 3.  I'm hoping Jamie gets back via LCK as well, he struck me as a sleeper before he committed hari kari for Little Ems.

As for Brooke's crepe & egg yolk, I suspect she heard "childhood memory" and kind of parlayed her own memory (perhaps her mom made her special breakfast) into the memory she was trying to make for her son, currently, hence the crepe.  The crowd didn't seem to love it as much as the judges did, from what we could see, but Tom at judges table said something like "Brook, that's the best brunch dish I've ever had". 

Thanks for having me, you all have a lovely site.

[Kenz]

On January 26, 2017 at 7:28 PM, avecsans said:

 

I will admit that I hate tattoos but obviously they are ubiquitous.  But Michael Voltaggio, just stop.  The skull on your Adam's apple is a bridge too far.  It won't look bad ass when you're 70.  Old lady rant over.

I so agree. I thought that skull on his throat looked like a big bullet hole from a distance. I always wonder what the mothers of these extremely tattooed people think to see their kid all marked up with that crap. Sorry, I'm a ranting old lady too.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Kenz

[Nordly Beaumont]

28 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

When the "chefs" on Hell's Kitchen struggle with that I've always assumed it's because their nincompoops. But I guess it is legitimately difficult to judge a taste without a visual. Some of the things they had to taste were pretty esoteric, but how do you mistake chicken for ham? Maybe I need to try this myself some day.

I think the panic of the time limit and the fact that MV said he did the challenge and there was nasty stuff figured in too. Nothing they were given was nasty, but Voltaggio put that in their heads and probably made them expect stuff more out of the norm than cream cheese and chicken.

When I quit smoking I kept waiting for food to taste so much better.... still waiting...

I never thought this before, but in Casey's first talking heads in this episode I thought she looked so much like Tatum O'Neal!

[Lillybee]

Sheldon or Sylva for the win. It could be me but I find Brooke smug.  I am glad that I didn't have to do this challenge, my mom was a barely passable plain cook. She did make things like liver soup and kidney stew (it tasted like piss). I would have to celebrate the few times that we ate out at the local Chinese place.

[VintageJ]

9 hours ago, RealReality said:

Oddly enough, she may be the one who went through the change tesar keeps talking about.  I didn't think she was pleasant, but I didn't see a fireable attitude either.  Maybe she has truly been humbled.  

I think that is exactly what happened.  She was humbled.  Which is a good thing.  As HunterHunted said, she underestimated Top Chef.  She underestimated the challenges and the other chefs.  She hopefully realizes that she still has a lot to learn.  I wish her luck.  By the end of her run, she seemed a completely different person.  

[VintageJ]

I think there is going to be a final four.  I pick Sheldon, Sylva, Shirley and Brooke.  I would be happy with any of them. But I ADORE Sheldon.  Love Sylva.  Love Shirley, like Brooke.