That’s fine in a restaurant, but this is a competition and Howie blew it. He took more time with his dishes so his one dish was better. No one is saying Clay is destined for greatness but at least he did the task. Imagine if a contestant had basically said, “I don’t know a damn thing about cooking Wild Orc meat so I think I will substitute Prime Rib.” No way that person should be allowed tostay. How is what Howie did any different?
BTW did that one woman say she was from Jamaico? Is that how it’s pronounced in Jamaica or something?
It was scarred last year, too. She doesn’t seem self conscious about it.
Well, my irritation wasn’t based on Clay love. I thought the guy was trying too hard and honestly probably doesn’t have the culinary chops to succeed on Top Chef. As someone earlier pointed out, he didn’t know what an amuse bouche was. Anyone who’s ever been in a fine dining experience has been exposed to an amuse. It really exposed how limited his knowledge was.
But I’m still irritated that Howie didn’t go home. Yes, he pulled that whole, “I’d rather do it right than to just half-ass it” routine, BUT … he had two hours. And he couldn’t get frogs’ legs prepped, cooked, and on the plate. Two hours. For frogs’ legs! These are things you can saute or fry in literally minutes. And it took him two hours.
I totally understand where you’re coming from Tommy Tutone, with the whole “I would rather wait the extra two minutes to ensure the order was right than to get something that came out on time and was lousy. Comp me a beer and apologize for the wait, but don’t serve me something that is lousy.” Maybe we just disagree fundamentally, but in my opinion, they’re not going to buy me off with a beer if my entree takes two hours to come out (unless of course there are other courses and things are staggered and whatnot - not the case in this competition).
To me, Howie’s performance was less like a slow but good restaurant, and more like a restaurant where you just get an endless line of bullshit excuses until you get pissed off and leave.
Padma’s scar came from a car accident when she was 14. She is the opposite of self-conscious about it:
Nevermind.
That’s very cool.
And very uncool is what the majority of the chefs made for their surf-and-turf. Looking at that spread of protein on the table was the culinary equivalent of seeing fireworks sitting in their launching tubes before the show begins. I’m just a skilled home-cooking amateur and I could have made better stuff than half of those chumps; I was abuzz with possibilities once they explained the challenge. The two they singled out for praise really did seem to be outstanding but otherwise everybody played it safe and basically went for a bunt. Man, I would love to get a tray of kangaroo and sea urchin and be told to go for broke.
Southern Boy’s food obviously, obviously sucked. Yeah Mr. Brooklyn screwed the pooch big time but Clay was doomed from the start. His departure doesn’t bother me all that much. The waste of fantastic ingredients rates much higher on the Snarlometer.