S14.03: Summer Bite Bash

[Whimsy]

The remaining finalists cook and present in teams at a private event for foodies and tastemakers. 

[LexieLily]

I don't know what a foodie or a tastemaker is, but all of those partygoers sure looked like random people pulled from the street to me.

[rustyspigot]

I might have heard incorrectly, but talking about your children in Italy but not cooking that was hilarious if that happened. I'll have to rewatch.

Did you know Rebekah was on a FARM? And FARM STUFF. In closing, FARM.

Edited June 25, 2018 by rustyspigot

[Wings]

Though this season is a dud, I still watch, often in horror.   Next out will be the tofu lasagna woman.  I might miss staring at Rebekah's strange smile/talk mouth.  Fascinating and repelling at the same time.  I cannot believe she beat out other contenders.  Cannot and will not.  

Nothing I wanted to eat and usually there is at least one thing in any food comp.  In Top Chef I usually want to eat everything, of course, but that is a league of its own. 

[cooksdelight]

I missed this one. Who left? Snore of a season or it would be on my watch list.

[rustyspigot]

5 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

I missed this one. Who left? Snore of a season or it would be on my watch list.

Rebekah and her FARM talk.

[J-Man]

Considering it was in LA and that these were supposed to be foodies and tastemakers, Jess should've promoted her dish as vegan. (It still wouldn't have worked any better, but at least it might have explained the unique spin she was going for.)

And also with respect to LA -- OK, we all know this was filmed months ago, so don't try to BS us and try to make us think it's actually summer ... especially when it's RAINING outside. It almost never rains in LA in the summer. 

[backformore]

Two dress styles I hate - the "cold shoulder" and the strapless-with-sleeves.  Giada found the one dress that was half of each style.

And Rebekah was dressed like a toddler, hot pink leggings and baby blue shirt with a bird of some sort on it.

And I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees that Rebekah has a strange looking mouth.  I can't figure out exactly what it is that's weird, though.

[LexieLily]

7 minutes ago, backformore said:

Two dress styles I hate - the "cold shoulder" and the strapless-with-sleeves.  Giada found the one dress that was half of each style.

And Rebekah was dressed like a toddler, hot pink leggings and baby blue shirt with a bird of some sort on it.

And I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees that Rebekah has a strange looking mouth.  I can't figure out exactly what it is that's weird, though.

And Manny was wearing a pink shirt and pink pants. Why?

[Aerobicidal]

It’s summer in Los Angeles, and Giada has her asymmetrical boob sailor couture out and proud. In fact, I can’t tell you how many people I saw emulating that style at Pride events this weekend. 

“I’m from the South, so when we pulled up into Rodeo Drive I expected to see buckin’ broncos and clowns servin’ bourbon pecan peach jambalaya cobbler. Lord honey, was I disappointed!"

I know that, in theory, Adam is a ringer, but he comes across more as a circler because he’s circling around the drain much like I can imagine him circling around a party at Guy Fieri’s house for guys who wish they had been in cool(er) fraternities and are forever bitter about it.

I’m still imagining the judges trying to force offensive sob stories on the contestants: “Palak, I love how you mentioned your cooking teacher in Morocco didn’t speak English, but you should have connected that to your own struggles learning how to speak English in order to audition for this show.”

“Bitches, I’ve been in this country for more than twenty-five years!”

“That is so not a compelling culinary point of view.”

The judges’ conversation about Adam’s dish is perfect for Pride. “It it hard?” “It’s really hard.” “Guys, I am telling you this is hard. You could break a tooth on it, at least if you had real human teeth.” “I wouldn’t come out to a restaurant that served something this hard.” “I will survive this dish but I can’t speak for others because I’m not every woman. I just took a tiny bite; it’s not all in me.”

Manny’s demo is going to be enlightening people about the brilliance of combining ketchup and mayonnaise? Wow! I haven’t seen anything so inspiring on Food Network since Sandra Lee combined Kwanzaa and corn nuts. Or since Sandra Lee combined diaphanous wizard sleeve blouses and deep-frying churros. Or since Tregaye combined poppin’ and being on fleek.

Who could have predicted that the pasta fest would have turned into a pasta clusterfuck? Surely not the food novelist, since tofu and three basils will clearly appear to the same audience as Lord Honey and Pie Style. Surely not Rebekah, whose hair looked a little bit better when she was on Hoarders. Surely not Katie, who . . . Well, I have the same reaction to her as Cosmo Kramer did to Mary Hart but that's my own challenge to overcome.

“The blindfold was obviously a misstep.” And there is a sentence that clearly belongs on a cooking program just like “directed by N. Night Shyamalan” belongs on a film that will win next year’s Best Picture Oscar.

Making it through the rest of this season will be harder than an overcooked Moroccan-style flatbread, but it’ll be worth it when Foot Network greenlights several seasons of Harrison’s show, The Ceviche Monologues, costarring a table repurposed (™Chopped) from FNS.

[GaT]

I'm sick of team challenges, what's the point of them? There's only one winner, not a team winner & I'm sick of watching people try to make food that doesn't conflict with a teammate's.

I'm glad Rebekah is gone, she was annoying.

It pisses me off that Harrison can use up almost all the time, & suffer no consequences. That's another reason to hate team challenges, if it wasn't for his teammates cutting him off, he would have wasted the whole 6 minutes.

Edited June 25, 2018 by GaT
because spelling YIKES

[J-Man]

They didn't explain how the teams were formed -- was it just random how they got into the three cars?

[MrHufflepuff]

3 hours ago, LexieLily said:

I don't know what a foodie or a tastemaker is, but all of those partygoers sure looked like random people pulled from the street to me.

The next big thing is to look like a random person pulled from the street.  You have just been taste-made!

[spiderpig]

Well, this episode was full of surprises.

NOT.

I wanted to stuff a bath towel in Harrison's mouth.  He's not as cute as he thinks he is, and I just wished he would STFU. 

I was eating better food in my living room than that shown at their parties - and I was munching Boudin Garlic & Chive Sour Dough Crackers right out of the box.

Giada - that striped dress.  There are no words.

I continue to watch not to see who wins, but who gets sent home and in what order.

[mwell345]

The right person went home, although a case could be made for Tofu lady and Blindfold Lady.  The blindfold was idiotic. 

Rebekah probably should have been gone last week, since the person on her team who was eliminated had no time to rehearse her presentation because Rebekah needed a zillion takes.  Of course, her teammates should have put an end to the constant takes, so whatever.  Not vested in any of these competitors.

The tofu lasagna was probably one of the grossest things I have ever seen on a plate. 

I wonder if Giada and Bobby have ever addressed what a contestant should do when one of their teammates is droning on and on and eating up their time.  Manny finally interrupted Adam (is that his name?), but by then it was too late.  No way was he and the other contestant going to get even half of their presentations in.   It's really not fair to them (and yeah, they won, so no big deal in the long run). 

And I agree - enough of the team challenges.  This is NOT Top Chef (not by a long shot). 

[Maya]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

It pisses me off that Harrison can use up almost all the time, & suffer no consequences. That's another reason to hate team challenges, if it wasn't for his teammates cutting him off, he would have wasted the whole 6 minutes.

Instead, Manny was scolded for not demoing anything. 

Tyler seemed kind of embarrassed that he was responsible for Amy being there. 

[joanne3482]

I think if Amy had owned the blindfold thing it could have been okay... "I can show you how to peel fresh ginger that's so easy you can do with your eyes shut!" Still not super great but if you're going to do something weird own it and do it whole heartedly. 

 

7 hours ago, J-Man said:

 

They didn't explain how the teams were formed -- was it just random how they got into the three cars?

 

I think that's exactly how the teams were formed.  

I was amused by the one who made the cilantro oil a'la Bobby Flay. I thought it was funny how he was going on about how you too can be like Bobby. 

[cherbitrary]

Was it just me or did Bobby seem not so happy Tyler was there? Maybe he"s just mad at him for sticking them wifh Amy again. I'm always happy to see Tyler, though.

Missed a chunk of the show. Did the Pasta Party have to be Italian? Wondered why Rebecca felt she had to change her dish.

In her final words Rebecca said something about having competed against some of the best talent in the country. Was she talking about a different show?  Because these people...I really hope they aren't the best we have to offer.

Edited June 25, 2018 by cherbitrary

[GeorgiaRai]

9 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

 "I can show you how to peel fresh ginger that's so easy you can do with your eyes shut!"

That's the only explanation I could think of for why she did this; i.e. holding a ginger root & a big knife, ask "can I get a volunteer to come peel this?  Ok, you...come on up... and put on this blindfold!"  Then swaps the knife for a spoon.   Maybe she explained it that way early on, but I sure didn't see it during her presentation.

[dewelar]

10 hours ago, Aerobicidal said:

Making it through the rest of this season will be harder than an overcooked Moroccan-style flatbread, but it’ll be worth it when Foot Network greenlights several seasons of Harrison’s show, The Ceviche Monologues, costarring a table repurposed (™Chopped) from FNS.

So, instead of cutting his fingers every five seconds, he'll be cutting his toes?

Anyway, glad Rebekah is gone, finally. Other than that, this was just blah. From the moment they told them what the challenge actually was, I knew they had to be hoping for a trainwreck, and all they got was a deflating air mattress.

1 hour ago, joanne3482 said:

I think if Amy had owned the blindfold thing it could have been okay... "I can show you how to peel fresh ginger that's so easy you can do with your eyes shut!" Still not super great but if you're going to do something weird own it and do it whole heartedly. 

Agreed. Actually, I think it could still have worked if she didn't need Palak to stand there and hold the blindfold. That went too far over the weirdness line. It also possibly cost their team the win. If there wasn't still so much cannon fodder, Adam or Palak could very easily have paid the price for not telling her not to do it.

I have no idea who will win, or even who I want to win. Maybe Christian?

ETA: Actually, who I want to win at this point is probably Palak. Who WILL win...I'll guess Katy.

Edited June 25, 2018 by dewelar
Remembered something

[Yeah No]

Harrison, what a douchebag!  How clueless and selfish can someone be?  I hated how the judges didn't call him on it except for Giada saying he threw the others off.  Meanwhile, last week they nailed Rebekah for using up too much of the team's time.  Not that I'm unhappy she's gone, mind you.  Her pasta looked like my husband's 3:00 a.m. snack with the leftover jarred sauce from the back of the fridge.

And tofu lasagna?  Seriously, I wanted to hurl when I saw that.  I actually felt sorry for Giada having to taste that monstrosity!

These team challenges are not entertaining anymore.  They are really phoning it in this season with the same garbage every week.  Now the challenges are pretty much the same shit different week.

13 hours ago, LexieLily said:

I don't know what a foodie or a tastemaker is, but all of those partygoers sure looked like random people pulled from the street to me.

Except that I don't think any of them was over the age of 30, so I kind of doubt that, unless they picked the trendiest neighborhood possible.  In the past it has looked like the people were at least from some kind of casting service or Craig's List and chosen to fit their target demographic.

Minor nitpick:

Amy used Israeli couscous, which was invented in the 1950s in Israel.  So while they may use it in Morocco, it's not technically Moroccan.  OK, I know it's a minor nitpick.

Edited June 25, 2018 by Yeah No

[dahling]

Rebekah: "I thought I would be here until the end."

Me: "You're the only one who thought that, dear."

I prefer finalists who display a modicum of humility ("I can't believe I'm a finalist!"), even if it's fake. 

[Wings]

The uneven judging happens every season.  I thought it was disinterest from Bobby and Gilda but now I think the editors are the biggest culprit.

  I am sure they scolded Harrison for taking up too much time as they did for Rebekah last week.  Time management is a big deal to them and they usually go after those who fail on it.  I think the editors left out the longer rap on that and just included the one comment.   Team challenges are all about timing and including the others. 

 Though Chris wasn’t able to include his cilantro oil it was clear he didn’t have time through no fault of his own.  I like him and he just may be in F2 with  Palak. He has a big personality like Guy.  I hate to compare them because I am not fond of Guy (understatement).   Chris is a good candidate for an on the road show.   

Edited June 25, 2018 by Wings

[Amarsir]

13 hours ago, Wings said:

Nothing I wanted to eat and usually there is at least one thing in any food comp.  In Top Chef I usually want to eat everything, of course, but that is a league of its own. 

Lamb kofta with harissa over cauliflower couscous seemed appealing to me. Unsurprisingly it came from top-contender Palak.

 

11 hours ago, GaT said:

I'm sick of team challenges, what's the point of them? There's only one winner, not a team winner & I'm sick of watching people try to make food that doesn't conflict with a teammate's.

Team challenges don't bother me because as a network "star" they do need the ability to work with others. Much moreso than on a straight cooking show. Also I don't really think it affects who gets sent home that much.  Rebekah tanked the food and the presentation, so she left. What bothers me is that we're doing teams with people who aren't ready to be tested for the nuance of interaction.  If they were all good cooks who understood the concept of "talk succinctly about food" then I'd be fine with narrowing down who is or isn't a team player.

[J-Man]

1 hour ago, dewelar said:

Anyway, glad Rebekah is gone, finally.

But not for long .... "Star Salvation" begins next week! (July 1.)

[dewelar]

6 minutes ago, J-Man said:

2 hours ago, dewelar said:

Anyway, glad Rebekah is gone, finally.

But not for long .... "Star Salvation" begins next week! (July 1.)

That doesn't count, because I don't watch it :) .

[mlp]

I was hoping they'd eliminate that whole last team of women and send Amy along with them.  Everything Katie says and does is like nails on a chalkboard.  The food novelist or whatever she called herself sort of gives me the creeps.  Rebekeh was the worst though.  She was totally self-absorbed.  I was glad to see her go.

What on earth was that dress Katie was wearing at elimination?  It looked like it was made from someone's crocheted bedspread.  Scarlett O'Hara did a better job with the drapes.

[19Bee63]

7 hours ago, mwell345 said:

The tofu lasagna was probably one of the grossest things I have ever seen on a plate. 

I know!  It reminded me of a picture from one of those "1970s Horror Food" websites.

[novhappy]

Something is just off this season that is resulting in a boring show in which we don’t seem to like anybody. The judging isn’t very interesting. Maybe it’s the editing but they only seem to be saying the obvious things we already are aware of and not adding to the conversation or episode. 

The team challenges, designed to drum up drama, aren’t working that great. I don’t remember many challenges from previous seasons but there has to be something better than everybody dividing up talk time. That the real crux of the last couple of team challenges. 

Also Rebekkah should have been sent home for the simple fact she changed her crab and macaroni dish to Italian pasta due to equating “pasta” with “Italian”

[spiderpig]

I have to agree this season is all-around horrible.  I'm watching as a time-filler until the new season of The Walking Dead in October.  I'm still rearranging my scale of dislikeability.  I can't take much more of Katie's in-your-face chirpiness.  Adam and Harrison annoy to the max.  Amy is heading into that territory.

Who's left?  Not that they'll get a show anyway.

[Wings]

1 minute ago, spiderpig said:

I have to agree this season is all-around horrible.  I'm watching as a time-filler until the new season of The Walking Dead in October.  I'm still rearranging my scale of dislikeability.  I can't take much more of Katie's in-your-face chirpiness.  Adam and Harrison annoy to the max.  Amy is heading into that territory.

Who's left?  Not that they'll get a show anyway.

Chris.  Right now I am rooting for him until he does something to irritate me.  

In my previous post I just noticed autocorrect changed Giada to Gilda.  :>   I kinda like that.  

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

Everything Katie says and does is like nails on a chalkboard. 

I really dislike Katie but she was 100% right to ask her teammates to start preparing for the team demo and Rebekah was 100% wrong to keep blowing her off.  

7 hours ago, Maya said:

Instead, Manny was scolded for not demoing anything.

Just like last week when Rebekah was scolded for picking burgers when it was the only choice available. 

In some ways, an hour is more than enough, but sometimes I think it would be useful, especially in the early going with a crowded field, if they ran the show 1 1/2 hrs and included not more drama, but more live footage and more of the judging.  For instance, we used to see the judges deliberate and talk among themselves as to why they were getting ready to make the decisions they make, but now they go straight to the aufing.

[Brookside]

The producers need to stop stuffing the male hosts into too small, buttoned sports jackets.  They look like Rebeka's sausage.

[mwell345]

1 hour ago, novhappy said:

Also Rebekkah should have been sent home for the simple fact she changed her crab and macaroni dish to Italian pasta due to equating “pasta” with “Italian”

 Rebekkah proved again this week that she’s unable to think outside her box. She seemed to struggle more than anyone else to comecup with a meal to fit the revised challenge, when really her original dish would have been fine,and she might have scored some points for NOT going the Italian route.

In the end she decides to heat up a can of tomato sauce, throw in some onions, crabmeat and pasta, and serve it to Food Network’s Queen of Italian Cooking.  

[PamelaMaeSnap]

I hate how much of a trainwreck this season is when I look forward to it so much! Last night Mr. Snappy saw I was sort of watching it and was upset I hadn't told him that Salvation Comeback Whatever Kitchen was over and the real thing had started and I sadly had to break it to him that it ... just ... sucks.

Also, if you put Katie and Glad-She-Didn't-Come-Back Sarah next to each other with their hair covered I would not be able to tell them apart (which may actually be part of the reason Sarah didn't come back because they've already anointed Katie T3).

I miss Yaku already.

[seacliffsal]

The fact that Rebekka didn't even saute/cook her onions before putting them in the tomato sauce just really seems to indicate the low threshold of cooking experience/expertise that some of these contestants have as the producers are going for "character type" rather than food mastery.

[Westiepeach]

45 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

The fact that Rebekka didn't even saute/cook her onions before putting them in the tomato sauce just really seems to indicate the low threshold of cooking experience/expertise that some of these contestants have as the producers are going for "character type" rather than food mastery.

Exactly. 

[spiderpig]

1 hour ago, mwell345 said:

 Rebekkah proved again this week that she’s unable to think outside her box. She seemed to struggle more than anyone else to comecup with a meal to fit the revised challenge, when really her original dish would have been fine,and she might have scored some points for NOT going the Italian route.

In the end she decides to heat up a can of tomato sauce, throw in some onions, crabmeat and pasta, and serve it to Food Network’s Queen of Italian Cooking.  

Hey - that's what my mother did during my formative years.  And I have the high blood pressure to prove it!

2 hours ago, Wings said:

 

In my previous post I just noticed autocorrect changed Giada to Gilda.  :>   I kinda like that.  

Rita Hayworth is giving you the Evil Eye from beyond the veil.

[Wings]

Rita Hayworth.   I suppose she played a woman named Gilda in one of those movies from the 1800s that you constantly watch.  I am right aren’t I?

Edited June 25, 2018 by Wings

[Psychobunny]

Katie is growing on me because although she can be bitchy she is also right. Last week they should not have included white potatoes in a dish where everything was supposed to be orange and this week they should have prepared for their presentation. I’m still rooting for Palak and Chris and surprisingly, they seem to be the ones who can cook. I saw where Amy was going with the blindfold and was just waiting for her to say it was such an easy technique that you could do it blindfolded. Still hate her, though..

[spiderpig]

Just now, Wings said:

Rita Hayworth.   I suppose she played a woman named Gilda in one of those movies from the 1800s that you constantly watch.  I am right aren’t ? 

Mais oui.  She was the ultimate temptress with her flowing red mane, even though the movie was black & white.  Really, wings...you ought to get out more!

[Wings]

4 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Mais oui.  She was the ultimate temptress with her flowing red mane, even though the movie was black & white.  Really, wings...you ought to get out more!

I was thinking the same thing about you.  :>

[spiderpig]

9 minutes ago, Wings said:

I was thinking the same thing about you.  :>

Let's just give this season to Palak so I can get on with my life.  (MasterChef until the return of The Walking Dead).

[LexieLily]

2 hours ago, mwell345 said:

 Rebekkah proved again this week that she’s unable to think outside her box. She seemed to struggle more than anyone else to comecup with a meal to fit the revised challenge, when really her original dish would have been fine,and she might have scored some points for NOT going the Italian route.

In the end she decides to heat up a can of tomato sauce, throw in some onions, crabmeat and pasta, and serve it to Food Network’s Queen of Italian Cooking.  

I wondered why she didn't just go with her original idea, either. Macaroni and cheese with lobster or whatever it was is technically a pasta dish. The theme was Pasta Fest, right? I wasn't paying too much attention to the special ingredients or decorations they pulled out of their trunk, but was it a "rule" that the pasta dish had to be Italian?

[Wings]

5 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Let's just give this season to Palak so I can get on with my life.  (MasterChef until the return of The Walking Dead).

Think of it as a fashion show. :>)

[smiley13]

That tofu lasagna was repulsive looking!  Jess should have gone for that abomination!

And how did the team Harrison was on win??  He completely botched the team challenge by not leaving his team members time to do their part.  

And Adam's food was inedible due to the brick hard flat bread.  Yet he skated through again.

I hated to see Rebekah go.  She was one of the only ones I like.  

Chirpy Katie and Bitchy Amy can go away anytime.

And how fortunate that Palak got a theme for a country she has been to?

I am glad that Manny had a good week.  And Christian is kind on non-descript, doesn't really stand out to me.

[Showthyme]

Giada needs to go. Take Harrison with you.

[jcbrown]

1 hour ago, smiley13 said:

And how did the team Harrison was on win??  He completely botched the team challenge by not leaving his team members time to do their part.  

I didn't get that, either. I thought the team Palak was on was the clear winner, sans Amy and her botched blindfold stunt. Is it because he is pretty (not to me) and Giada has the hots for him?

[jmthrd]

I’m lucky to have lived a life without much regret; choosing to watch the Westworld finale last night over this is going to be a black mark for the rest of my life. I am so upset with myself for doing that when i could have seen Giada react to Tyler Florence describe the morocco party as “lit”. Now that I look back at it, the only thing Westworld could have done to win me over last night was a shot by shot recreation of this episode with Dolores instead of Bobby Flay.

Every single one of these parties was a disaster in a different way and it was a treat to get to watch it unfold. I can maybe only see two people winning this thing at the end (either Palak or Christian) and it's the final eight, so we have five more weeks of this. I don’t know if it was the twist in the challenge, or if it was the teams, or if the Volkswagen Tiguan’s state of the art conference call feature was a means of hypnosis and everyone was in a state of trance, but whatever made this episode such a trainwreck needs to be isolated in a lab environment so it can be studied in its purest form.

Farewell to Rebekah, who I was not-so-secretly hoping would make the crab mac ’n’ cheese bites anyway and try to tie it into pasta fest. Star Salvation is yours for the taking.

[biakbiak]

I think they didn’t highlight it very well but that the pasta fest was supposed to be Italian to go with the other two being Moroccan and Mexican and the directions where stereotypical Italian (green white and red, a bottle of Chianti, breadsticks). I also think it was a requirement that they change up their dish that wasn’t highlighted because I don’t know why Jess didn’t just make her ratatouille and serve it with penne if they didn’t need it to be Italian and changed.

Did we ever see the end of the tortilla debate because at the end Manny served his slider on rolls instead of tortillas which I think was probably more successful than the tortillas would have been. 

Edited June 26, 2018 by biakbiak