It never ceases to amaze me how “Top Chefs” can be completely taken off stride by simple things, like charcoal. Make a killer dish using a sea urchin - no problem, light a charcoal grill - clueless WTF
Another WTF moment - the scotch bonnet habanero peppers - Duh, they’re hot. Did I miss something - how did she use them at the BBQ.
Yet one more WTF. Don’t go through the trouble of cooking on a grill and only use it for a heat source and still cook like you were in the kitchen. I agree - for that alone - pack your knives.
Yeah, I agree Sandee tried to cheat the challenge and got busted. I think that was worse, on balance, than not being “upscale” enough because “upscale” is kind of subjective and it can be argued that sometimes rustic IS upscale, or at least can be presented that way.
Not much personal drama, even with a bit of the Joey from New York histrionics. For the most part, this season has really been about the cooking, not the personalities and I’m finding that kind of refreshing.
When they did their grocery shopping, there was a shot of them loading bags into a van with California license plates.
Either someone drove a plain-Jane minivan from California to Florida, or they’re being dishonest with us and really shooting in California and are only doing their exterior shots in Florida.
My money’s on the latter.
Oh, Joey has got to go. Twenty pounds of bluster and twenty pounds of crap in a ten-pound sack.
Could be a rental vehicle. When I’ve picked up rentals at airports the license plate doesn’t always match the state you are in.
On the other hand they could have also used it to transport stuff from California and had a studio flunky drive it across country.
Even I know you should wear gloves when working with hot peppers.
I’m starting to like Hung more and more, especially after Joey’s whining about the watermelon champagne. CJ’s one of my favorites as well; there’s something innately likeable about him. Joey’s just an idiot. All his New York posturing is hilarious.
There is still too much people for me to be able to focus on this show, so I am mostly watching to have a clue when I start enjoying it at around final 8 or similar. Still, some things are too obvious even for a scatterbrain like myself. Joey is all talk. I can’t wait to see him again in the final 3 and have the judges lose patience with him.
I don’t think Tre’s (or whatever his name is) dish was bad enough to be chosen for the bottom (not that I tasted it). Especially when they had such strong bottom dwellers already. Here is hoping that it stings him into action and not that it hurts his ego and sends him down. Texan in a barbeque challenge chosen for the bottom. Ouch.
And the drama queen girl, please! send her home to her daughter already.
IIRC, she used the scotch bonnets in the brine for the meat. She thought it would be inedible as it soaked overnight.
Try as I might, I can’t like Hung. I know he’s this seasons ass and the fact that I’m buying into it annoys me. I am delighted to see no friggin’ foams so far, though. He has the chops to back up his attitude.
I was worried that Tre & Hung would dominate too much, so I was glad to see the final 3 turn out the way it did. I think Joey’s & Howie’s days are numbered, and I won’t really miss either. And the two cutest women (Casey & Camille) get virtually no screen time, while I’m still trying to remember if Lia has done anything at all!
It’s still pretty early, but I’m still much more optimistic about this year over last season’s train wreck.
As much as Joey was a drama queen over the whole thing, I do agree with him about the watermelon shooter. That was a very low blow to steal it. “When you think of barbecue, you think of watermelons” my ass.
What I want to see are the season one and two winners whose dishes were dismissed and dissed by the season three players who thought they could do soooo much better come back and laugh in their faces.
I’ve got to disagree. If he’d served up lemonade in that citrus challenge, and someone else served lemonade at the barbecue, I’d bet he’d be bitching about that as well. Whatever happened to “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?”
If it was in the same challenge I might agree, but Joey didn’t do his watermlon shooter at the barbecue, he did it in the quick challenge. If somebody does something once does that mean no one can do anything similar for the rest of the show without being accused of stealing? It’s not even like Joey was the first person who ever made a watermelon drink.
Did anybody else notice that Dale was mysteriously edited out of that episode. They didn’t say what he made and he was not on camera at all (save for some quick shots with him in the background). I thought I might have missed the ep where he got the bump, but he was in the waiting room wearin’ a bandana.
I don’t think it’s overt favoritism by the show for him, but Howie has definitely dodged the bullet a couple of times. When his failure was execution, they threw a chef out on taste; when his failure was taste, they threw out a chef on execution.
But he hasn’t stood out in the Quick Fires and has been in the bottom of each Elimination, so it’s only a matter of time…
I swear to God, when I heard Howie and Joey arguing, I thought this sounds just like a New Yawker and a Long Islander or maybe just two New Yorkers arguing. Howie might be a lifelong resident of Miami, but I bet his family is from The City. What’s up with that?
Howie should have gone, yet again. If you’re a chef from Miami and you’re pulling the most generic Caribbean food out … and your Jerk sucks…Dry, overcooked, and boring… by all accounts…then you should respectfully withdraw as a representative of the Miami food scene. Inexcusable.
I don’t get the judges reasoning this season!? What kind of editorial bullshit is this???!!!
I think that they are giving Howie the pass because they are in his Hometown… a professional courtesy but total bullshit. I predict Joey will be the next to go…then Howie. These fucks might be good for drama but their food sucks.
Explain this one to me (as I said, there are still too many contestants for me to focus on who is who). Are you saying that there is a contestant whose dish was not shown at all?
I don’t get how Sandee can be tossed because she basically didn’t do the challenge, yet Howie the week before got to stay when he even more flagrantly didn’t complete the challenge. While I agree that not actually ddoing BBQ is a bigger offense, I tstill think Howie should have gone because the week before they established that how your presented dish actually tastes is more important than the challenge itself. Although Sandee’s dish apparently wasn’t very good anyway, so who knows? I just wish there was some consistency.
Joey was way off base with his complaint, I mean Huung added watermelon to champagne, it was hardly a show stealer, adding things to champagne is hardly cutting edge. Heck , there is a well0known drink with Guinness and Champagne.
Yes, his dish wasn’t shown at all. It’s odd that they totally glossed over a contestant like that. I went over to the fora at TWOP just to see if I had been mistaken, but someone else noticed that too.
I think the difference is that while Howie didn’t complete the challenge last week, it was only a question of coming up a few seconds short on time (he had the fry basket in hand when the bell went off), Sandee didn’t even attempt to do the challenge. There’s a difference between trying and failing and and not trying at all. Howie might have problems with his timing but he doesn’t cheat. Sandee cheated. Also, she spells her name in a very annoying and precious way and deserves to lose points just for that.