I like Dale better after this episode. I think the competitive nature brought out his worse (blame-casting, temper), but when he was in it to help a friend we saw a different and better side to him where he took the blame and was calm and helpful in a crisis.
I watched the show this morning and thought that he meant that statement to be the tie breaker, and so by sending Antonia home he had revealed that the crowd stayed away from her food after initial tastes.
I wanted Lisa to go home, but she has a knack for not failing quite as much as someone else, each time.
I think I liked Dale more than most people. He was great with Richard in the Improv challenge, and worked well on one or two earlier teams.
I admit being able to suck it up and work with people you don’t like or respect is an important skill to have unless you’re like me and wok in a one person business - still I get customers who make me WANT to punch lockers, but I never would. If Dale had been able or rein that in a little that he would be in the finale with Stephanie and Richard. Maybe they’ll let him try out again. Someone did that on Project Runway.
I do think Dale handled himself well, and didn’t waste (as far as the editors want us to know) a lot of energy punching or throwing things over what he clearly knew was a huge mistake. That Stephanie didn’t burst into tears on the spot or start screaming at or slapping him made me hope even more that she wins. Really, I would be satisfied with a Richard OR a Stephanie win… It seems that Richard is already more established professionally and the win would move Stephanie further along, so I’m pulling for her.
In the Bravo blogs all the judges say they judge based on the food that’s in front of them. I wish they had known when judging for last night’s ep the setback Stephanie overcame to not only not get sent home, but to be in the top 2. I hope They commment on it in their blogs.
Last week my husband read somewhere online, somebody’s blog or something, that they’d heard that Antonia won Top Chef. The writer was a friend of a friend or something.
So, we were surprised and disappointed to see that cockroach Lisa make it through yet another round.
She has only managed to stay in by being next to the worst, like you said, that’s not really bragging rights.
I’d be happy to see Stephanie or Richard win it. If Stephanie can keep up what she’s shown us this far I think she’s got it but Richard has a lot to bring.
If Lisa wins I’m going to disconnect my cable and never watch TV again.
I really like Dale and I was happy to see him working with Stephanie. I think he got the arrogant bastard edit, yeah he lost his temper a few times and I think every time he was stuck with Lisa. He worked well on the teams when he was working with Richard or Stephanie, people whom I think he respects. I got a little teary when Dale was all upset about possibly getting Steph sent home, but they didn’t panic, scream or blame and in the end the dish they came up with was the best one. Of all the dishes, Stephanie’s looked like the ones I’d want to eat - although pig skin doesn’t appeal to me, the salad still looked good.
The thing that still annoys me about Dale’s elimination is that he was told as the exec chef he should be able to get his staff to do what he wants. In reality yes, in a competition no. In reality he never would have hired Lisa for his kitchen and even if he had she would have been fired once she started giving attitude.
I also want to add that Andrew deserves some praise for not tweaking on Lisa. I think he showed great restraint. Although part of me wishes he had put one of those meat mallets to better use.
They must have a team that does nothing but disinformation. Before the series even started, the local buzz was that Erik Hopfinger either won or did really well. In reality, he was sent packing in what, the second episode?
I like chicharrones lots better than pork belly anyway. Richard’s starting to get on my nerves (though the bronze medal remark was hilarious), so I guess I hope Stephanie wins!
Pig corpses make me sad.
Chef Tom has a new blog on Bravo. Very interesting read.
Though Stephanie erred on the side of caution and threw out the pork belly. I bet it would have still been safe. They did have it packed in salt, spices, and brown sugar, after all. I’m thinking it might have even been more delicious without pussy refrigeration.
However, I think he’s overlooking the fact that while he might not know anything about the cheftestants for months after the show airs, the production company knows while they’re taping. During filming, they can (and do) observe the chefs and know which ones will be liked, and which ones will be detested by the audience. So while he can say that he’s not keeping people around because it makes for more drama (because he doesn’t know about the drama), that’s not true for the Magical Elves and he can not speak for them. The only thing that does speak for them is their disclaimer at the end of the show that they as producers have the right to make the outcome of the show however they choose to make it.
Heh, my favorite moment as well. It didnt make up for the sting that she was still there, but Richard knows her place even if she doesnt. I knew the bitch would stay another week though.
Word.
Actually, my favorite moment has nothing to do with Lisa. It’s when Richard won the car. The look on his face as they drove it around the corner was priceless. I’m starting to think he didn’t think he’d make it this far. Then again, he’s a new father, so he may need a new car.
Lisa is so outclassed by Richard and Stephanie it isn’t even funny (OK, it is funny). I am not sure if there have been two more consistently high performers in any season and I am pretty sure that no one has performed as poorly as Lisa for so long.
Is next week the last episode? Or is there a cookoff between the last two?
My wife had dinner at Buddakan earlier this week, and told the waiter that we were big fans of Top Chef and Dale. Halfway through dinner he came out to talk to her, and she said he was very, very nice and seemed pretty cool. She told him we were sorry to see him go, and he kind of shrugged and said, “Yeah, I made a big mistake.” So it was really nice to see him back, and to see him work so well with Stephanie. I wonder if the left-out-overnight pork belly was a blessing in disguise. I wonder if it would have been as much of a hit as the chicharrones were.
I’ll say it again, I’ll be happy with either Richard or Stephanie as the winner, and I just can’t see either of them screwing up in a colossal enough manner to let Lisa slip through. In fact, they’d both have to really screw the pooch for Lisa to get through, and I just don’t see that happening.
Man, Lisa just bugs more and more every week. I thought Stephanie showed a lot of class by not going out of her way to screw Lisa with her sous chef, yet Lisa still put on her bitch face when she got Andrew. I wanted to yell, “Hey! Would you rather have wound up with Dale!?” Then as I thought about it, I realized that she would have been bitchy regardless of who she got. She and Dale obviously don’t get along, I don’t think she likes Spike for his weaselly nature, and I get the feeling she doesn’t respect Nikki. So, you know what? Suck it up and get to work. Bitch.
Not to defend Lisa, because I don’t like her either, but Antonia wasn’t any better. I’ve loathed her ever since she decided she was too good to cook Polish sausage.
And she didn’t cook the beans. At this level, I think conceptual misses are less unforgivable than that kind of lapse in simple execution. If you can’t cook beans, you shouldn’t be there, period.
Plus, it was pretty clear to me that Antonia’s table was the one they were talking about that didn’t draw a crowd.
Obviously it’s between Richard and Stephanie now (and they should be the final 2. There shouldn’t even BE a 3rd person there), and I think that’s too close to call. I could see either of them winning and I’d be happy with either of them. I think Richard might have a tiny edge in skills, and I don’t think he’ll make any mistakes in execution, but it’s going to come down to who does better conceptually and that could really go either way. It will probably be a very close call and they’ll really have to nitpick to determone a loser (other than Lisa, that is, whose bronze medal I’m asuming is a forgone conclusion).
On the blogs they constantly emphasize how each week stands on it’s own. But I am just going to have a hard time believing that they won’t take into consideration the fact that Lisa has been in the bottom group so consistently. They may not explicitly say it is a criteria, but you know that thought will roll around in their minds and have an impact on who they select.
Sure, the producers get to see a lot more of the chefs than the judges do, but ultimately the judges decide who stays and goes. Perhaps the producers could overrule the judges, but Chef Tom has explicitly said that the only time they’ve overruled him was when he wanted to send home everyone and end the show after the Marcel head-shaving incident in Season 2. Instead they only let him kick off the worst offender, Cliff.
It drives me nuts to hear all the conspiracy theories about people being kept on the show for drama. The judges explain how and why the decision was made every week in their blogs, and saying they’re choosing based on drama basically amounts to calling them liars. (I don’t mean this to be directed at you amarinth; the commenters on the Top Chef website are the ones who are really accusatory.)
More likely I think what happens is this: The judges decide to keep someone like Lisa around because in their view there’s always been at least one person who did worse in any given challenge, and they’ve been told to judge each challenge separately and not on cumulative performance. In editing the episodes after they’ve been taped, the producers see that Lisa has survived deep into the competition, and because they’d like a villain they make sure to include all her bitchy comments that she’s been more than generous in providing. But to speculate the opposite, that the producers realized Lisa was the bitch of the show and forced the judges to keep her around and lie about their reason for it – that seems rather far fetched to me (not to mention insulting to Chef Tom and the others).
From Chef Tom’s blog:
So it was Antonia’s food that was the least popular. The editing in the episode made it look like he was talking about Lisa.
I forgot about that Diogenes Yeah that pissed me off as well. What? polish sausage is beneath you?
Lisa knows she is outclassed at this point. Richard and Stephanie may get co- Top Chef honors which would be cool.
I don’t think there have ever been two more likable top two Chefs yet. I won’t be sad if either wins.