# Top Chef 4/19 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299 "2006-04-19T14:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/21 "2006-04-20T14:39:20Z")
Well that shook out just about how I thought it would, except for Dave winning. I’m completely baffled by his behavior towards Tiffani at the end. They’ve seemed to work well together before, even if she’s a little brash towards him. But she is the better Chef and is a “take charge” type of person. Maybe something happened off screen; but from what we saw it was out of proportion. When you consider the previous crying jags, it seems Dave is just too emotionally fragile to be an executive chef, who has to stay in charge of a staff in a real kitchen. Although Stephen makes drama, I don’t think that’s why they keep him around. Last night was probably his most spectacular failure. Even when he fails, though, he takes chances and does understand the importance of presentation. If he can ever learn to rein himself in, he has potential. He did surprise me once last night. When it turned out Miguel had hosed the fish purchase and wasted $18 more on fish than planned; he said in exasperation that it was “two bottles of wine”. TWO!? Wow. Most of us know that you can buy decent, even good wine for $9 a bottle; but I wouldn’t have thought Stephen would ever buy anything less than $20. Miguel, on the other hand, failed again and again and again. He’s a line cook; but not even a sous-chef. Not having the fish scaled? WTF? I’m a home cook and even I wouldn’t walk out of there with scales on the fish. Harold seems to have checked out of the competition. Maybe he realizes he _loves_ cooking and being an Executive Chef or Chef de Cuisine would take him out of the kitchen too much. Perhaps he wants to be a Sous Chef, which is the highest ranking person in the kitchen who still cooks regularly. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/22 "2006-04-20T16:40:51Z")
**Homebrew** - No - you’re looking at it wrong. $10/lb X 8 lbs of fish = $80 = two bottles of wine. StG ---
**Author:** ![DVsickgirlDV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@DVsickgirlDV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVsickgirlDV)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/23 "2006-04-20T16:47:33Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Really, I think Stephen should’ve been kicked off, because the customer service issues they had were attributable to him, IMHO. Miguel made stupid mistakes ($7.95 instead of $17.95 for the fish? I began to wonder if he was trying to sabotage them right there), and the attempt to just hang back and hope the shit lands on someone else is pretty dangerous. Can someone elaborate a bit more about this? I missed last night’s episode so I want to hear the juicy details! ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/24 "2006-04-20T16:59:52Z")
I think **Homebrew** has it right. Miguel was supposed to get 6 pounds of fish. When he came back with a price of $7.95/pound, Lee Anne told him to get an extra pound. She was surprised it was so cheap because she was expecting it to be around $16/pound, so they had already budgeted to spend that much and were going to get 6 pounds regardless. When Miguel came back with 7 pounds at $17.95/pound, it was the extra pound that they wouldn’t have otherwise bought that Stephen was refering to. > [@amarinth](#): > > However, he did give up the most unintentionally funny line of the night when he said something like “their restaurant is warm and welcoming and comfortable - I don’t do those things.” I was thinking to myself, “No kidding.” ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/25 "2006-04-20T17:45:33Z")
> [@JeffB](#): > > I think **Homebrew** has it right. Miguel was supposed to get 6 pounds of fish. When he came back with a price of $7.95/pound, Lee Anne told him to get an extra pound. She was surprised it was so cheap because she was expecting it to be around $16/pound, so they had already budgeted to spend that much and were going to get 6 pounds regardless. When Miguel came back with 7 pounds at $17.95/pound, it was the extra pound that they wouldn’t have otherwise bought that Stephen was refering to. Exactly. Miguel really seemed to not understand why it was an issue. If you have a limited budget, $18 can make a significant difference. Stephen, likewise, was total out in space at the supply store. I loved it when he said he wanted to keep the total to $400 and the guy at the store simply replied, "we’re over $1,000 already."How many gravy boats did he intially order? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/26 "2006-04-20T22:47:57Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Well that shook out just about how I thought it would, except for Dave winning. I’m completely baffled by his behavior towards Tiffani at the end. They’ve seemed to work well together before, even if she’s a little brash towards him. But she is the better Chef and is a “take charge” type of person. Maybe something happened off screen; but from what we saw it was out of proportion. When you consider the previous crying jags, it seems Dave is just too emotionally fragile to be an executive chef, who has to stay in charge of a staff in a real kitchen. > > Although Stephen makes drama, I don’t think that’s why they keep him around. Last night was probably his most spectacular failure. Even when he fails, though, he takes chances and does understand the importance of presentation. If he can ever learn to rein himself in, he has potential. He did surprise me once last night. When it turned out Miguel had hosed the fish purchase and wasted $18 more on fish than planned; he said in exasperation that it was “two bottles of wine”. TWO!? Wow. Most of us know that you can buy decent, even good wine for $9 a bottle; but I wouldn’t have thought Stephen would ever buy anything less than $20. > > Miguel, on the other hand, failed again and again and again. He’s a line cook; but not even a sous-chef. Not having the fish scaled? WTF? I’m a home cook and even I wouldn’t walk out of there with scales on the fish. > > Harold seems to have checked out of the competition. Maybe he realizes he _loves_ cooking and being an Executive Chef or Chef de Cuisine would take him out of the kitchen too much. Perhaps he wants to be a Sous Chef, which is the highest ranking person in the kitchen who still cooks regularly. A sandwich without bread? Sounds like the mistake he did with the food carts. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299/27 "2006-04-22T20:33:44Z")
Okay, I finally got to see this episode. I kind of got the feeling that Miguel checked out of the show after the previous episode. It’s like he didn’t want to even make an effort because he was holding a grudge against a couple people\*. As Duke of Rat said his mistaking the price of the fish by $10 and not getting them scaled seemed almost like he was hoping to sabotage LeeAnn and come out unscathed because she was “in charge”. That backfired. Although, I think Stephen really bears most of the reason for their failure since it was the service that sucked I can see the reasoning behind letting Miguel go. \*Speaking of the previous episode, when the judges were trying to get Leann, Tiffany and Stephen to say whom they thought should go. LeeAnn only said that Miguel had trouble in the kitchen, she did not say she thought he should go home (but she never comes out and says that). Tiffani did indeed say Miguel should go home and Stephen agreed that Miguel had problems but wanted to see Andrea go first (man he sure had a hate in for her, didn’t he?). Anyway, it was pretty snotty of the judges to tell Miguel that both LeeAnn and Tiffani said he should go home. In regards to the previews for next week, I was curious don’t the schools that formally train chefs cover all areas including desserts & pastries? Weren’t at least Tiffani and LeeAnn formally trained? Why do they all get freaked out so much by desserts? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-4-19/353299.md?page=1)