Top Chef - 5/14

[gravitycrash]

@StGermain

I can believe that Lisa undercooked her rice. They had her saying a couple times “I’m going to leave plenty of time to cook my rice, because brown rice takes longer”. I can believe she just screwed up. And she still had that chip-on-her-shoulder head tilt. She’s constantly on the bottom and constantly making excuses as to why she’s there.

Andrew’s “That’s your opinion” to Tom was just stupid. Yeah, that’s the opinion of the Official Head Judge, doofus.

StG

Exactly. I’m not sure what chef to sneer at. How can you undercook rice? I know you can, but with the time allowed ?

Lisa makes me sweat. That is the best way I can describe her. Please just go away.

I’m a single guy and can manage to make non sticky rice. come on.

[Saint_Cad]

Have the judges ever said in an interview or on their blogs why violating the rules of an elimination challenge are handled so differently from case to case?

Is it possible, without shaving someones head, to violate the rules on a challenge so badly that you are automatically packing your knives? I would have said that not cooking the food you were assigned would be a given, but after the non-purple sober non-polish sausage, I’m not sure.

[Hippy_Hollow]

Maybe this is a dumb statement, but why not use a rice cooker (standalone or microwave)? It’s impossible to fuck up rice that way.

I got tired of Lisa’s whining that someone sabotaged her rice. Yeah, right. I somehow suspect everyone is too worried about their own dishes to screw up your poxy stir-fry.

Spike and his hats annoy me greatly. I actually was in his corner when he won the challenge. But then he proceeded to waste it away by doing Survivor-style shit and not doing a decent job with his dish.

Lisa pulled some bush league shit in calling Andrew out for not having a grain. First, that’s the judges’ job, not yours, hoser. Second, it was petty as hell and had all of the hallmarks of a second grader tattling on a classmate. I really don’t want her to go far based on that.

Overall, all of the possible eliminees were really snarky towards the judges. I wanted to smack all of them. And I want to like Richard, but I tend to suspect douchebaggery in anyone rocking a fauxhawk. We’re going to look back at those and laugh in about ten years as a hopelessly dated look:

80s: Leg warmers
90s: Ripped jeans
00s: FAUXHAWKS

[cactus_waltz]

@Hippy Hollow

Lisa pulled some bush league shit in calling Andrew out for not having a grain. First, that’s the judges’ job, not yours, hoser. Second, it was petty as hell and had all of the hallmarks of a second grader tattling on a classmate. I really don’t want her to go far based on that.

Yes. Whatever excuses she had for redeeming herself, it was clear that it was a strategy she used to a.) divert attention from her stupid rice and raw shrimp and b.) balance out her insecurity. I think it was simply bad character.

[flickster]

@gravitycrash

Lisa makes me sweat.

This one simple sentence has created a whole range on nightmarish images I am now trying to bleach from my brain

[Athena]

@Saint Cad

But remember that the irony is that she blatently violated the rules on the Improv challenge, supposedly in the name of improvising (i.e. the spirit of the challenge) but as she admitted she (and her partner) didn’t want to cook what they were given.

Not true. As I said earlier, a little research proves that Lisa and Stephanie did indeed use polish sausage in their dish. Editing made it look as if they didn’t.

@Liberal

Lots of people have been given slack on the rules. I had become accustomed to thinking they didn’t matter. I’ll miss Andrew.

Really? I’ve watched the last two-three seasons of Top Chef, and I really can’t think of a blatant rules violation that didn’t, at the very least, throw the chef in question to the loser’s table. Seems to me that the judges definitely take the rules pretty seriously.

[StGermain]

I would assume having cooking reference books and cookbooks, would be an automatic elimination, just like having pattern books under his bed kicked out what’s his name on Project Runway. He said he never looked at them, and I can believe that, because they’re never really alone, but he brought them, against the stated rules.

Athena - Can you expand on that? I thought they used chorizo, not polish sausage.

StG

[gravitycrash]

Ok Flickster I guess I should have said that Lisa makes me sweat in a bad way.

[Athena]

@StGermain

Athena - Can you expand on that? I thought they used chorizo, not polish sausage.
StG

From Ted Allen’s Blog:

@Ted Allen

It was a little unclear in the episode whether Antonia and Lisa used any of the featured ingredient, Polish sausage, in their dish.* Many people were sure that they did not, and thus, that they defied the challenge and should go home. While there is no such rule, per se, clearly, ignoring the terms of a contest is a great way to piss off the judges and get a plane ticket outta here. But what if a chef decides to think outside the bun, to do something conceptual? What if A&L had reinterpreted the idea of Polish sausage but used, say, higher-quality meat and more interesting spices? What if they made their own sausage with chunks of lamb, rosemary, fennel, and something Polish (I dunno – you got me) instead of whatever-the-heck kind of ground animals are in actual Polish sausage? That, too, would have meant they didn’t use the actual ingredient. Yet, it would have shown creativity and effort.

*As it happens, this is all moot. They did use Polish sausage. Not much. Not enough. But they did. Case closed.

Also, the recipe is posted here.

[Eyebrows_0f_Doom]

Then why did the judges ask why they did not use Polish Sausage, and Lisa never said they did? The entire episode they were dead set against using that ingrediant. Anyone can write a recipe after the fact.

[Cervaise]

@Dolores Reborn

“You don’t need to have security escort me out.”

Yeah, WTF was that comment about?
“Please pack your knives … but wait until we’re out of the building.”

[Athena]

@Cervaise

Yeah, WTF was that comment about?
“Please pack your knives … but wait until we’re out of the building.”

Earlier in the season Andrew told the judges that if they were going to kick him off, they’d have to have security carry him out because he wasn’t going peacefully.

[Cervaise]

Oh yeah, that’s right.

I think it’d be fun to talk to Andrew about food for about an hour. Maybe go to a nice restaurant with him and hear his thoughts on the dishes, or go to a grocery store and brainstorm our way through the produce section. Again, for about an hour.

After that, I think I might get a little stabby.

[Wile_E]

@Cervaise

Oh yeah, that’s right.

I think it’d be fun to talk to Andrew about food for about an hour. Maybe go to a nice restaurant with him and hear his thoughts on the dishes, or go to a grocery store and brainstorm our way through the produce section. Again, for about an hour.

After that, I think I might get a little stabby.

Better you get stabby before he does. I thought he might get stabby on Lisa the way he was looking at her.

[cactus_waltz]

@Wile E

Better you get stabby before he does. I thought he might get stabby on Lisa the way he was looking at her.

Hah. Lisa has a winning strategy now!