This past week's episode was the last time the cheftestants competed together in Sin City. Bryan revealed that he may not be able to pay some bills if he doesn't win. Well maybe he should have taken the money his brother split with everyone from Restaurant Wars. Kevin mentioned he misses his wife, aka Mrs. Claus. Eli declares that Richard Blais of Season 4 is like his father and he would like to kill you now, so prepare to die. And Jen... she got rid of her sideways ponytail.
The guest judge this week was Gavin Kaysen. Handsome guy but he's either really short or Padma was wearing really tall heels. He presented the quickfire challenge based off his dish in the Bocuse d'Or in which he made a Ballotine: a protein, within a protein, within a protein. Jen teased us with the idea of making a Turducken, which she thought was really funny.
Luckily, she didn't do one, because she won the challenge with a seafood ballotine. Padma gave her a "welcome back" and Kevin gave her a wink. I think the highlight, though, was Eli feeding Kevin.
Lowlights? Michael's constant pouting.
Since Jen was the winner, she won an extra 30 minutes to cook for the Elimination Challenge, which was Top Chef's own mini-version of the Bocuse d'Or competition. They had the choice of either lamb or salmon for their protein.
Michael grabs the "nicest, fattest, legs" he could from Whole Foods while Kevin doesn't know what he's going to do. When they get back to the house, everyone starts conceptualizing his/her dish except Michael. He went straight to bed in his chef clothes and his nice fat legs.
Once again, Bryan tries to reduce his braising time, but 10 hours to 4 hours??? Yeah good luck ::insert Bryan's nervous laugh::. Tom comes into the kitchen to do his check up, and for once, Jen wasn't running away from him. Instead, Tom kind of runs away from Eli after he tells Tom that he's just trying to make his food small, sexy, and tight.
The esteemed table of guests included Jerome Bocuse, Daniel Boulud, and Thomas Keller. As prestigious as this table of culinary giants was, you had Padma examining and playing with her food. Don't look so confused Padma, it's food!
Most of the contestants had issues with the doneness of their meat. Kevin's of course looked deliciously tender. I almost took a bite out of the TV screen. Although he had the best cooked meat, a couple of the guests and judges felt his food was a little too simple. That didn't stop him from bringing home another win, and $30,000! He's going to be a millionaire at the rate he's going! But perhaps he should share his wealth with Bryan, since he was the one who told him how to cook sous-vide.
The Judges' Table seemed pretty rough for the rest of the remaining chefs, but in the end, Tom told them it was a pleasure watching them cook throughout the season. Basically it went something like: "You guys really sucked today, but hey it was great watching you guys cook!" But for Eli, it was the last time Tom would watch him cook small, sexy, and tight. I think it was the first time I felt for Eli when he started to cry.
And this brings us to the final four: Bryan, Michael, Kevin, and Jennifer. These were the four I wanted to be on top all along. I can't wait for the Finale in Napa Valley where all their hairstyles change!
Stay tuned for my ballotine quickfire challenge!
1 Comments:
I have to say I was surprised that in this last elimination challenge before the finale most of the chefs performed poorly in terms of the taste of their dish. To me it seemed like Kevin won because he did everything by the book.
I don't know if you've noticed but more than once has Michael put out a dish where one of the components comes off of The Bazaar menu. For example, the boneless chicken wing, nitro gazpacho, cauliflower couscous are all dishes on The Bazaar's menu. And the deconstructed caesar salad he made in the elimination challenge in the Penn & Teller episode bears a striking resemblance to the "Not Your Everyday" Caprese. Therefore, it make me wonder whether those components are his original creations or Jose Andres', and he just decided to use it on the show-after working at The Bazaar months prior.
Eli's departure was saddening since he was pretty much a kid brother to the remaining 4 cheftestants. In the end, it seemed like it was inevitable when compared to the 4 high caliber chefs. And from those kind words from his mentor, Richard Blais, it's safe to say that we'll be seeing more of Eli.
To me this season of top chef is the best one yet, with some of the most talented chefs. Although Tom's comment about "enjoying watching them" carried a tad of sarcasm and insincerity, he has gone on record and said numerous times that this season had some of the best tasting food out of all 6 seasons. I just can't believe it's all coming to an end in 2 episodes.
It was sad to see Eli go, but ever since the Vivre Las Vegas episode where Kevin was safe with Jen, Bryan, and Michael in the top, I knew that they were going to be the final 4. It's not a coincidence that these 4 are also the only ones that have been winning the elimination challenges. To tally up the elimination challenge wins: Kevin-5, Bryan-3, Michael-3, Jennifer-1.
The finale in Napa Valley is definitely going to be interesting and such an appropriate location to cap off this amazing culinary journey. It will be nice to see the fantastic 4 change out of summer attire into their fall wardrobe, along with their hairstyle change-especially Jen. Did she get a perm back in PA because...hellooooo big hair!
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