Personally, I think “The Hat” should have been sent packing.
That said, the other thing that jumped out at me in this episode was the classy departure of tonight’s loser. Even if it was something that had been mentally rehearsed over and over since the start of this season because the chef knew he didn’t have the chops to win, it was still classy.
Good episode, though I’m starting to get rather sick of Bravo continuing to telegraph who will be going home in the first few seconds of the show. One of the very first lines in tonight’s show was Manuel talking about his kids and I knew right then that he’d be out.
I agree flickster The hat thing is annoying anyway. Manuel showed class throughout the competition so I was sorry to see him go.
Andrew? Lay off of the Nyquil or coke dude. Take a Valium or something.
Mr. I cooked in my fathers restaurant at age 11? Please just go away. I don’t want to know your name.
If I had to choose a potential winner, first would be Stephanie, another strong dish. Did anybody notice that she seemed to give more credit to Lisa than was really deserved?
Richard, Dale and maybe Mark are my other front runners at this point.
Another fun episode. Looks like the drama begins next week.
Considering that Manuel was behind the choice of sea bass which they did not like and the swiss chard side thingy it’s probably fair that he got the boot because they were the two aspects of the dish most disliked.
I had to laugh about the wasabi/white chocolate thing being tasty when white chocolate in a savory dish made Chef Ramsay vomit on Hell’s Kitchen the previous night.
I really think I hate Zoi. She seems like there is a real hellacious bitch seething beneath the surface who’s just getting ready to have a major meltdown. She always has this look on her face like she’s smelling something nasty. And that comment, “if white chocolate and wasabi are what it takes to win then I guess I’m out of here.”, I really wanted her to be the one to leave then.
Zoi does seem to have an attitude. I can’t decide how I feel about her yet. Or her mate for that matter. They are flying under my radar screen so far.
Forget telegraphing; did you happen to notice the results board in the background during the promo for next week’s show? They had already listed the winners of next week’s quickfire and elimination challenges. Thanks, Bravo.
Whoah, are you kidding? How can they possibly miss that??
I, for one, was glad the smoke machine pooped out. No gimmicky machines! Gah.
As soon as Hat/Manuel picked, “Good Morning, Vietnam”, I knew they were going to get called on picking a movie to go with Vietnamese food as opposed to vice versa.
Also, I was ready to hate on Manuel for insisting that they do something Latin-inspired, and then he surprised me by agreeing to the Vietnamese, a “fringe” cuisine he’s obviously unfamiliar with. He should have said something! In the same vein, I’m sick of Nikki always wanting to cook Italian/fresh pasta. And Dale always pushing Asian-fusion. Talk about one-trick ponies! I know everyone has their forte but, if you can’t work comfortably outside of your own particular ethnic cuisine, then you have no business being a chef.
I thought it was pretty obvious that the two pork cuts meant to symbolize the two women. I think it was inordinately dumb of the judges to ask why they served two pieces of meat instead of one.
Who else noticed that Padma was really showing off the boobs in the blue dress during this episode? Very pretty dress!
I noticed Padma’s cleavage. Does this make me an evil male? I swear I am focused on the food.
Really.
That wasn’t the line that got me - it was the “I promise you it doesn’t taste good.” line with all of the nastiness in her voice while she said it.
It sounded like she was being horrid to the other team because they were more creative than she could even imagine being.
Yep, that really rubbed me the wrong way. Well gee whiz, you didn’t taste it did you? If you are a chef and don’t get that odd ingredients handled properly can actually work well togther then how limited is your experience or imagination?
I have had two different people who have worked with Dale tell me what a prick he can be. From the teaser for next week it looks like we may get to see that side of him soon.
And, although I saw it coming, I was sad to see Manuel go. He seems like a classy man with a lot of talent in the kitchen.
I was so disappointed that no one picked Soylent Green… :eek: 
Besides her adherence to pasta I’m a little tired (4 shows in?) of everything being Nikki’s signature or specialty. I make fantastic stuffed mushrooms…mac&cheese is my signature dish…fresh pasta is my specialty. How much time have we already spent watching Nikki trying to fix things. And last night the judges said her pasta was too floury.
I missed the posted names in the preview, but dinner for 350? In one sitting?
These challenges don’t seem to be addressing the qualities I equate with being a “Top Chef”.
At least the movie one wasn’t one of the blatant product placement ones.
In the break after the elimination challenge was explained my husband and I were trying to pick movies. I was really hoping someone would serve some really creative liver dish…with fava beans and a nice chianti.
I was really hoping Mark would suggest doing second breakfast.
I was, however, happy that the Bravo editors went to great lengths to show us what a moron Sean is. I can’t stand him.
I’m a rank amateur, but I would have served the lamb chops double, so they’d be joined together instead of two separate pieces. Anyway, Zoi really showed some bitchface last night and after her snark I don’t mind if she goes.
On a shallow note, Padma’s wardrobe was absolutely gorgeous this episode.
That’s why I never watch the next week promos for Bravo’s shows. (And I mute the TV when they go to commercial so I don’t have to hear the “Coming up next” bit. Seriously, I am already watching the show. Why are you showing me what will happen next? :smack: )
I noticed her cleavage too, and I am a straight female, but my reaction was more “damn skinny bitch with her nice perky boobs!”. It’s a food show, have a host with some meat on them!
Which one’s Sean? It seems to be taking me longer each season to learn their names, partly because I just identify them by old names. Richard is this year’s Marcel, Jennifer is “the girl with Dale’s haircut” (Dale from last season)…Nikki’s is the new Micha, and so on.
Sean? there’s not a Sean (unless they have him listed with a different name on the BravoTV web site)
Lot’s of Padma love…For those that have an interest, a Google image search will result in many of her charms being displayed 
Not Sean – RYAN. You know, I thought that might be wrong when I typed it out first.
I can’t tell you how deeply satisfying it was that the two people who were most dismissive of the winning taste combinations (without, you know, actually tasting them) were in the two teams on the chopping block (though the nice Manuel, alas, was the one to go). Spike strikes me as a tool, Zoi seems like she’s always about to break into tears, and I’m enjoying Mark more and more every ep (I suspect he really saved Ryan’s ass).
I thought it was pretty weird that the pair ups randomly threw everyone into same-sex groupings.
I thought it was hilarious that the lamb team kept playing up how Talk to Her was a movie about strong women when, in the actual film, both women are in comas through the entire movie! :rolleyes:
And I don’t know which was weirder–playing up Richard Roeper’s status as a critic or Aisha Tyler’s status as an actress when they are both just about equally bad at their “jobs”.
What was with Ryan throwing out Dumb and Dumber as a movie selection? Ignoring the fact that it’s hardly a great movie, what type of food was he thinking would go with it? Beans?
I loved that Mark mentioned Once Were Warriors – one of my favorite movies.