Can’t really argue with the decision. No dish for the quickfire, and the two worst dishes for the elimination challenge. I really didn’t like this challenge. First off, catering isn’t really the top level of what a chef does. All of the chefs are restaurant chefs. On top of that to give them such a limited budget. Sure Howie had the worst dishes, but he had to put half of his stuff back.
I like Howie but that “I’ll leave” crap really pissed me off. I’m a little disappointed he went, but those antics made it a lot easier.
Good riddance to Howie. Now we can get on with the show.
Very lackluster performance on all but the top three’s dishes.
If not for Howie, I think Hung would have followed Tre out of the kitchen. While his may not have been the worst dish, he showed a complete lack of interest in just pumping out a dish that was more reminiscent of a 60s card night with the bridge club.
I thought it was kind of lame that they wouldn’t let Howie DOR. Players have quit before on this show and they haven’t tried to stop them. Not that Howie shouldn’t have been the one to go, but I can understand why he’d want to dispense with all the fake drama and just leave.
I thought they were busting Hung’s balls too much too. So what if a dish is classic? If it tastes good, it tastes good. I think they just look for excuses to dick with him.
I liked how CJ handled his salt screw up QF with a little dry, self-deprecating humor instead of giving up and throwing his dish away like Howie did.
Howie obviously saw the writing on the wall. I will not miss seeing him sweat into the food. Hung should take his little QF smurfy dish and get with Frank from S2 with his smurfy dish (“Was your childhood memry a drug experience?”)
Can’t say I’m surprised re Howie. He was already on his way to crash-and-burn. But I do have to give him props for sticking to his guns because 1) the adage “don’t put it out there if you’re not proud of it” is true, and 2) abiding by the “just put it out there and move on” mentality endangers you to turn into a Mikey from Season 2. Howie was trying to avoid #2. In his estimation, the best thing for him to do was to take himself out.
The elimination challenge? OK, so most of these folks don’t cater. But if they’ve been in the biz for awhile, they all must’ve done some sort of big-soiree-with-the-trappings thing at some point. Granted the amount of $ was a drawback, but as Sara, Casey, and CJ proved, all it takes is a bit of imagination to make a dish special. I can understand why the judges gave Hung a hard time – c’mon, what he did wasn’t difficult and it was safe. Not something you would’ve expected judging from his Quickfire.
I was disappointed that the Sara/Casey dessert collaboration didn’t come together. One thing that’s always struck me about TC is just how little pastry/baking experience (with the exception of Elia) any of these cheftestants have. Given the time sequences any sort of major baking is an automatic no-no, but there are some relatively simple and quick things you could do…???
Who’ll be in the top 3 is still anyone’s guess. Sara’s beginning to grow on me. I hope she makes it.
Later, Howie. That guy had the worst body language ever, arms crossed, lips pursed, head shining like Uncle Fester.
I make a mushroom duxelles that’s super tasty, and doesn’t look like goose shit.
I didn’t care for the elimination challenge at all – I want to see them making actual dishes, instead of this canape crap. I do agree that for the most part they went for boring choices, especially Hung and Dale. And as a Spam aficionado, I was psyched to see Brian win the Quickfire!
I think Howie saw the writing on the wall, and started auditioning for post-show fame(whatever he expects that to be). It just seemed like he scripted it for himself. He half-assed the quick-fire, then played the I have standards card. Then spent the elimination being Mr. A+ teammate, before finally graciously asking to leave and taking one for a friend.
Hehe I know the Producers of these shows are asses generally but the whole, “You can’t quit, you’re fired” thing was pretty good, particularly for that blowhard.
I’m amazed no-one called what’s his face on his ‘found’ goat-cheese in the quick-fire. It certainly wasn’t in the spirit of the competetion, although I can’t speak to the letter.
:eek:
Did I see them pour cream into the mouse mixture then try to whip it? Shouldn’t they have whipped it first then tried to fold it in gently, instead?
I, with reason and confidence, believe that I could walk into Howie’s restaurant and have a very good meal with some innovative and hearty nonpretense. I’d definitely eat his food, and I belevieve he has the makings of a great and practical chef. Most great chefs are practical. The fact that his 'tude grates the delicatti indicates only one thing to me. None of you should ever go into the food business.
Well, that makes as if it appears you have a personal knowledge of Howie. And that you took a personal afront to my statement.
So I’ll take the bait and respond.: I never said he didn’t have a sucessful food place. I never even said( in this thread) he is a bad chef. Although I will say now he is not a great chef. a great chef can make someting taste good(which I can co) and can make it look good(which he failed at on that episode)(( and which I would fail at miserably I damn well know))
But my comment was in relation to the fact that I think he is an ass who thinks his ass-edness can catapult him into the kind of bare-knuckle-no-hold-barred-blast-from-the-soul-honestly that gives Anthony Bourdain street cred. And I think this episode was a calculated and sad effort to do that, and I find it pathetic.
And If you are trying to say that my cooking skill is not sufficient to get onto a national cooking program, well yeah you are right I will never claim otherwise . But that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact he is still a world class ass.
Oh, wah wah wah. If you’re such a good buddy of Howie, you should stay out of discussions of the show, because he’s been edited to be the jerk of the season. Howie’s a great cook with occasional forays into being a chef. He can probably run a great kitchen. He gave me my favorite moment this season when he quoted back Anthony Bourdain’s own book back to him to dispute what he was telling him. But he wasn’t good for this show… the time pressures got to him, he couldn’t hang with the team work… he needs to stick with a kitchen where he can be the boss.
Challenge was to make a dish out of ingredients from one aisle in the supermarket with only $10. Notables include:
Hung drew the cereal aisle. He made this village thing with ground up blue fruit loops for a river/sea, green for land, and brown for like a street/path. There were mounds of whip cream, which I suppose were people, and a fried egg for a sun. He got hosed by his aisle and I thought it was a creative use of what he got.
Brian got the canned meats/seafood aisle and won with a spam based dish. He topped the spam with fried eggs, deep fried onion, and a balsamic reduction sauce. It looked pretty good for SPAM.
Howie’s dish fell apart and he decided not to serve anything. He had the canned/dried fruit aisle, and I’m not sure what he was going for.
Look, Howie is what is it is. I am only trying to stick up for good food when I see it. This top chef show is such a heartbreaker. They’re all good chefs in their own right, but this format ruins and makes regardless of chops…it’s what sells. I’ve never been much of one for popularity and slick marketing contests. The cutting board is skewed to the knife.