I wasn’t paying close attention, but didn’t Padma say something about Lisa having an excellent palate? Almost every episode has involved Lisa making something that either lacked seasoning or was completely overdone with respect to one ingredient. So I was puzzled by that but maybe I misheard it…
I did hear Padma say that about Lisa, and concluded that it must be possible to have a good (refined, whatever) palate without being able to translate that into making food at the same level. I liken it to me being able to tell when a piece of art, or furniture or clothing is well made, without being able to make any of those things well myself.
My new Top Chef fear is that Lisa will be (rightly imho) eliminated in part one of the finale. Then she, Spike and Andrew (as the last 3 eliminated) will return to work as sous chefs for the finalists, and she’ll still sneer and bitch and screw up the rice.
She did. Something about an “amazing palate”. I was like, “Since when?”
Over at the Bravo website, Chef Tom mentions in his blog that he thought Lisa should’ve been eliminated this round. It was a difficult call.
However, I wonder if Spike would not have been eliminated if he hadn’t shot off his mouth.
Wouldn’t that be Dale coming back? Whoever gets him as sous chef (except for Lisa) will have a huge advantage.
My mistake…still Lisa would be coming back. If that is what happens and Richard ends up with Dale’s help I think that’s a pretty unbeatable team.
It’s pure speculation anyway, last season the help was not from cheftestants at all, but from “star” chefs.
I’m rooting for Stephanie to win all the marbles. I wouldn’t be sad if Richard or Antonia won, but a win for Stephanie would make me happy.
This is clearly a case of one of these chefs is not like the other:
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Stephanie has no solo quickfire wins (there was a group quickfire), but leads the pack with an impressive 5 elimination challenge wins. She has finished in the high group four other times and the low group 3 times.
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Richard has been in the low group only once, as part of a team with Andrew and Mark. He has 2 solo quickfire wins and 3 elimination wins and three other times he was in the top group.
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Antonia has the most solo quickfire wins with three. She has one elimination challenge win and has been in the top group an impressive six other times. She has been in the low group 3 times, twice while teamed with Zoi and once teamed with Lisa.
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And Lisa, has no quickfire wins, has one elimination challenge win, when she was teamed with Stephanie and Dale, has been in the top group just one other time and has been in the bottom group five times, all within the last six weeks.
I wasn’t staring at him, but perhaps he was eating “European” style.
when she was at the Judges’ Table, I was thinking how she and Matt from Hell’s Kitchen could be brother and sister.
Nope, it was a strange underhanded grip, I noticed it, too.
Did Lisa use shrimp for at least one dish every episode? I know it’s been a lot, and I can’t remember any exceptions.
Reading some of the blogs at Bravo I found it interesting that more than one person said that Lisa was actually really nice off camera. I find this hard to believe but those editors can be a tricky bunch.
Maybe they decided that Lisa would be the bitch/villain this season.
No- my parents eat “European style”, this was different and…odd
I was sorry to see Spike go.
I found it interesting that Chef Tom flat out said in his blog that Lisa should have been sent home for Restaurant Wars instead of Dale. (Of course, Colicchio wasn’t part of the judging for that week.) I expected him to say “Well, not having been there I can’t really say,” but he seemed to think it was pretty clear cut from just watching the episode.
It’s very telling how Richard, Stephanie and Antonia all are promoted to the final four by their skills, while Lisa just happened to not be the worst.
Still feeling bitter over the loss of Dale.
I found this bit of information on last night’s episode fromTom’s blog very interesting:
I liked this set of challenges a lot. It was distinct and focused, it was challenging in a non-ridiculous way, it was solo effort, it was open yet well-enough defined, good ingredients, same point of departure for fairer judging, no stupid human tricks, and I’m sorry Dale didn’t live to see it, I’d have loved to view what would come of that. For once the food mostly looked good, so I’m thankful for that. The guest judges were a nice touch, I guess, though I don’t know much about S1 and I think Ilan is a major douchebag.
Do sweetbreads taste like organs? or are they really chicken nugget-like?
Which blogs? I’ve been reading LeeAnn’s and I don’t remember any comments about Lisa except that she really was negative all the time. She did say that although Dale was intense during the competitions he was passionate about food and a really nice guy off camera.
Sweetbreads are organs, so I guess the answer is “yes”. I can’t really describe what “organs” taste like, though, since they all taste different from each other: the heart tastes different from the liver which tastes different from the gizzard which tastes different from the sweetbread.
Lisa has the most horrendous bitchface. Has she never seen herself at the judges’ table? The double chin doesn’t help, either. I wanted her eliminated on her greasy appearance alone. Next week’s makeover isn’t much better, but she looked less greasy.
It’s criminal to not have Dale in the final four. I would gladly eat anything that the top three cooked, as well as Dale. Lisa’s food would be cooked poorly and lack seasoning. (WTF was up with Padma’s comment? Everybody says Lisa’s food is underseasoned.) And she’d blame it on someone sabotaging her station.
I think Spike fucked himself by trying to call out that chef re: the scallops being in the pantry to begin with, and had he not done that, he might still be with us…
They’re kind of like veal McNuggets, very mild and sweet like a scallop.
Well, there was a little satisfaction in watching Spike screw himself over after taking the safe job in last week’s challenge and letting the other two screw themselves over.