The Wizard of Oz-Dark Side Of The Moon entry for Top Chef, Season 4 the Final 5
They showed Mike Eruzione during the Pens-Wings game. He now looks vaguely like Herb Tarlek from WKRP.
Tonight's comments helped along by Ruvei Barbera D'Alba and Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon. Both go perfectly with the Mrs's awe-inspiring spaghetti with portobello mushroom sauce.
minus 1 minute: This must be the week the Gorgon (Lisa, copyright Adam Platt) goes home, right?
0 mins: The Mrs. blames Bourdain for Dale going instead of Lisa last week. Fair comment, Bourdain has always been a "buck stops here with the head chef" guy as opposed to Collichio who might've sent home the person who executed the crappiest food. Which was Lisa.
1 Please God, no more grooming shots.
3 Damn, a butchering challenge? I've gotta get my Father In Law to critique this.
4 We call FIL. He says "Wow, look at those rib-eyes. They look nice, put them on the grill". They wind up not showing enough to get a sense of how skillfully or properly they broke down the steaks.
6 They're cooking steak? That's idiot cooking. The only way to screw it up is to cook it to a different doneness than the customer wants or season it wrong.
7 Richard wanted to sous vide the steak? I've lost some respect there. This ain't rocket science.
8 He's not even tasting these steaks? WTF?
10 Ooooh, the Gorgon can cook steak. Whoop de damn do. Spike wins, let's hope he uses the advantage more wisely than the lunch box episode.
11 The FIL calls back horrified that nobody appeared to eat the steaks. The Mrs. calms him down by saying "the crew ate them!". He also says there's no way they could've judged the steaks without tasting. This comes from a guy who owned his own butcher shop, butchered in supermarkets and was a meat buyer so I believe him.
18 Picking frozen scallops is not the greatest idea. The other chefs seem to agree. Stephanie equates sweetbreads with chicken mcnuggets. Not exactly my experience, guess I haven't had them in the right places, eh?
20 Spike realizes the scallops are f*****d. Probably too late.
21 Blais knows the score. It's a steakhouse, you play it straight. Steakhouse customers want meat and potatoes, period. They don't want creative cuisine. Collichio screws with his head a bit.
23 The noose tightens around Spike. "I have no problem using frozen scallops" brings a death look from Darth Collichio and the bad music from the producers. Collichio announces he's expeditiing. It'll be no Hell's Kitchen service but it could be fun.
25 Harold, Ilan and Hung are the guest judges. Rock. Harold's restaurant Perilla is pretty good, IMO. Free plug to the handful of people who see this blog.
26 3-1 Pens. Cool.
30 The Mrs. points out the Ilan could maybe have done better than a T-shirt for the occasion.
33 Stephanie's sweetbreads look great (no innuendo please) and the comment about toasting the pine nuts is nitpicking. Toasted pine nuts are burnt 9 out of 10 times. Trust someone who burns them for his wife's pesto sauces...
34 Holy crap, Richard just did the often fatal "little pies of food". Uh oh....
35 Everyone but Tramonto dumps on Lisa's dish. Yay!!!
36 They love Steph's entree. Awesome.
38 The Mrs says "Spike is going home, and that sucks". I agree. The Gorgon has no place in the finals but we'll have to stare at her pouty bitch face for a few more weeks. Damn.
39 3-2 Pens. Uh oh.
45 Uh, was sending the scallops back an option? Spike is 100 percent right here unless there was something in the rules sheet that said they could send back their ingredient if it was substandard. This is clearly an excuse by the producers to axe Spike and keep the Gorgon for drama purposes in the final episodes.
49 "This is about what's on the plate and not personality". That sounds like Spike is gonzo. The Mrs. wants to throw something. I guess that's the point though, you need a bad guy to root against and the end as much as you need good guys to root for. Or at least that's what the producers think.
50 Pens win 3-2. So at least it's a series now.
55 Stephanie is in the finals. She gets a cookbook for it? Oh wait, she gets a bunch of appliances to. That's a much better prize. Blais and Antonia are in too.......so here come the bullcrap.
56 They bring up that Lisa has been on the block 5 times and Spike 7. Ugh.
57 F**k you Padma.
58 I hope they make Lisa fly in the cargo hold. Somehow I doubt it. Well, there's no chance she wins it (right? RIGHT???????)
00 What's on Iron Chef?
Tonight's comments helped along by Ruvei Barbera D'Alba and Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon. Both go perfectly with the Mrs's awe-inspiring spaghetti with portobello mushroom sauce.
minus 1 minute: This must be the week the Gorgon (Lisa, copyright Adam Platt) goes home, right?
0 mins: The Mrs. blames Bourdain for Dale going instead of Lisa last week. Fair comment, Bourdain has always been a "buck stops here with the head chef" guy as opposed to Collichio who might've sent home the person who executed the crappiest food. Which was Lisa.
1 Please God, no more grooming shots.
3 Damn, a butchering challenge? I've gotta get my Father In Law to critique this.
4 We call FIL. He says "Wow, look at those rib-eyes. They look nice, put them on the grill". They wind up not showing enough to get a sense of how skillfully or properly they broke down the steaks.
6 They're cooking steak? That's idiot cooking. The only way to screw it up is to cook it to a different doneness than the customer wants or season it wrong.
7 Richard wanted to sous vide the steak? I've lost some respect there. This ain't rocket science.
8 He's not even tasting these steaks? WTF?
10 Ooooh, the Gorgon can cook steak. Whoop de damn do. Spike wins, let's hope he uses the advantage more wisely than the lunch box episode.
11 The FIL calls back horrified that nobody appeared to eat the steaks. The Mrs. calms him down by saying "the crew ate them!". He also says there's no way they could've judged the steaks without tasting. This comes from a guy who owned his own butcher shop, butchered in supermarkets and was a meat buyer so I believe him.
18 Picking frozen scallops is not the greatest idea. The other chefs seem to agree. Stephanie equates sweetbreads with chicken mcnuggets. Not exactly my experience, guess I haven't had them in the right places, eh?
20 Spike realizes the scallops are f*****d. Probably too late.
21 Blais knows the score. It's a steakhouse, you play it straight. Steakhouse customers want meat and potatoes, period. They don't want creative cuisine. Collichio screws with his head a bit.
23 The noose tightens around Spike. "I have no problem using frozen scallops" brings a death look from Darth Collichio and the bad music from the producers. Collichio announces he's expeditiing. It'll be no Hell's Kitchen service but it could be fun.
25 Harold, Ilan and Hung are the guest judges. Rock. Harold's restaurant Perilla is pretty good, IMO. Free plug to the handful of people who see this blog.
26 3-1 Pens. Cool.
30 The Mrs. points out the Ilan could maybe have done better than a T-shirt for the occasion.
33 Stephanie's sweetbreads look great (no innuendo please) and the comment about toasting the pine nuts is nitpicking. Toasted pine nuts are burnt 9 out of 10 times. Trust someone who burns them for his wife's pesto sauces...
34 Holy crap, Richard just did the often fatal "little pies of food". Uh oh....
35 Everyone but Tramonto dumps on Lisa's dish. Yay!!!
36 They love Steph's entree. Awesome.
38 The Mrs says "Spike is going home, and that sucks". I agree. The Gorgon has no place in the finals but we'll have to stare at her pouty bitch face for a few more weeks. Damn.
39 3-2 Pens. Uh oh.
45 Uh, was sending the scallops back an option? Spike is 100 percent right here unless there was something in the rules sheet that said they could send back their ingredient if it was substandard. This is clearly an excuse by the producers to axe Spike and keep the Gorgon for drama purposes in the final episodes.
49 "This is about what's on the plate and not personality". That sounds like Spike is gonzo. The Mrs. wants to throw something. I guess that's the point though, you need a bad guy to root against and the end as much as you need good guys to root for. Or at least that's what the producers think.
50 Pens win 3-2. So at least it's a series now.
55 Stephanie is in the finals. She gets a cookbook for it? Oh wait, she gets a bunch of appliances to. That's a much better prize. Blais and Antonia are in too.......so here come the bullcrap.
56 They bring up that Lisa has been on the block 5 times and Spike 7. Ugh.
57 F**k you Padma.
58 I hope they make Lisa fly in the cargo hold. Somehow I doubt it. Well, there's no chance she wins it (right? RIGHT???????)
00 What's on Iron Chef?
Comments
Was thinking the same thing...
33 Stephanie's sweetbreads look great
Especially in the "previouslys"
10 Ooooh, the Gorgon can cook steak. Whoop de damn do. Spike wins, let's hope he uses the advantage more wisely than the lunch box episode.
I think that was his big downfall. Twice he had a chance to pick ingredients and twice he screwed up. If he can't choose good stuff might as well cook at Denny's.