Anybody else watch this last night?
And was anybody else sooooo glad we’ve seen the last of the icky facial piercings woman?
YES!***
And what an interesting way to be eliminated - make an amuse bouche out of whatever’s randomly available in Joel Robuchon’s kitchen.
The most interesting part is Tom’s Blog. He is kind of almost saying they have run out of competent female chefs in their auditions. I am so glad they dumped two this time. Lets seperate out the chaff and get onto it already. Mike is such a joke, and it is clear everybody, particularly the judges,knows it, but he thinks he is really impressing them.
It is just more and more painfully obvious the The brothers, Kevin and Jen are far and away better than the rest. I am guessing any one of the four would have walked away with any other season without a sweat. On the other hand one has a Michelin star, one is a Beard winner, and one runs a Ripert restaurant, like a pickup game where you find out the other team are All-Americans.(although the Ripert bit kind of sucks, I’m guessing we won’t see Ripert judge this year for fairness, but he is one of my favorite guests :()
realized after the fact there are spoilers in my post
Haven’t we seen “amuse” challenges before where cheftestants are slammed for not making a single elegant bite, that an amuse shoudn’t requre utensils? I thought so anyway so I was surprised when all three of them ignored that.
From day one I wanted to like Jessie because she cooks here in my town. (The restaurant is connected to a B&B and has weirdly limited seatings so I’m not likely to go there.) Last year’s Baltimore chef flamed out early (made a mess with an ostrich egg if I recall).
If someone invited me to Jessie’s restaurant I wouldn’t turn them down. I’m inclined to believe she might be a talented chef just not at all suited to the pace and pressure of the competition. I wouldn’t be. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think not winning top chef means you absolutely can’t cook.
I do have to say that facial peircings disincline me to seek out her restaurant. On season 2 or 3 of Hells Kitchen there was a woman with a facial piercing that became infected. They never mentioned it on the show and she never wore a bandaid ore anything. Scheeved me right out.
If you were competing would you rather sit at the table with or have your food critiqued by Joel Robuchon (et al)?
I still find Mike I’s personality grating. I fell out of love with Mattin when he said at judges table that he didn’t shoot down the idea of asparagus velouté. I was surprised that the rabbit dish didn’t win. Not disappointed or anything. I just guessed going into hte last commercial break that the rabbit would win.
Hi all,
I thought it was really sweet how excited and humbled Kevin (I think- the bearded guy) was to sit down and eat with those chefs. During the quickfire, I was thinking “hmmm, hope none of those girls go home” until they did that close-up of Jesse’s face with all the steel in it. EWWWWW- take it away! Worked out well for me, I hate to say.
If they’re using that as a criteria, that’s really random. I’ve seen some very nice restaurants that have amuse-bouche that require utensils, including one with slivers of very nice salmon and pickled vegetables (needed a fork), and a lemon-rosemary granita (spoon).
I’ll have to see if I remembered to program the DVR for this episode and the rest of the series; something tells me I forgot to before I went on vacation last week.
I don’t have anything against Jessie, really, but omg the facial piercings, they make my stomach queasy. 
I must say that I was glad that I won’t have to see it again.
Heh, Mattin, threw his partner right under that bus! I was almost hoping that he’d get sent packing cause he sure had a swelled head about that challenge; he was certain he’d be the winner.
I don’t know exactly what the criteria are for being selected as a “cheftestant” on Top Chef, but it seems like every year they get more and more who are just not very good. Well, maybe that’s wrong, maybe it’s just that they don’t do very well on camera, under that sort of pressure. Plus so much of it is edited - more than we can imagine, I’ll bet. Reality show is such a misnomer - they’re so scripted.
Ah well, I am entertained by a few, at least a few that I’ll admit to. 
It was just a criticism I thought I vaguely remembered hearing.
Really, what do I know? I haven’t eaten in a restaurant that doesn’t serve chicken fingers in a while. I’ve never been served an amuse bouche at Johnny Rockets.
It’s dangerous to set a series recording for a Bravo show and go on vacation. They multiply like guppies, choking out other shows.
I also remember judges criticizing amuse bouches for being too big. Not necessarily for needing utensils, but for being more like a regular appetizer, IIRC. So when I saw Robin pouring a small but not tiny bowl of soup, I thought she’d get reamed.
In fact, I thought Robin was getting the loser edit this episode, so I was surprised when the frog leg team wasn’t on the chopping block. I guess it’s that cooking frog’s legs is challenging, whereas I am able to turn out a perfectly cooked beef tenderloin every Christmas (even the year the power went out mid-roast), yet Hector still bungled it. I know they try not to consider prior performances, but I wonder if Hector went home in part due to recidivist Crimes Against Beef.
I still think Robin’s utter toast real soon. Let’s see, you’re cooking under pressure, for one of the best chefs in history. What do you do? Suggest an oddball earthy-crunchy ingredient that “intrigues you?” Yeah - buh-bye.
It’s possible Mattin forgot shooting down the asparagus veloute, but he sure looked like a scapegoating jerk up there. I liked that Tom noticed Ashley stopped talking because there was nothing to say without sounding like a kindergartner: “Nuh-uh, he did too veto the asparagus!”
Real contenders: Jen, Michael, Brian, Kevin, maybe Mike. It’s going to be a little boring while they pare down the rest. Though the preview indicates something next week will be entertainingly bad.
I think this season is quickly becoming my favorite. It’s combined the talent of season 4 with the “fun” characters of season 3. Except for Mike and Ashley, there aren’t really any bad people, personality wise.
It’s fairly obvious that Kevin, Jen, and the brothers are running away with the competition. Eli, and to some extent Mike, are close behind-ish. No one else has a chance.
I wasn’t happy at first with the elimination quickfire, after all, Stephanie was horrible with quickfires. But I’m happy with both people that went home.
I agree that failure to perform in these challenges doesn’t mean someone isn’t necessarily a good chef. After all, none of these are things that a good chef would typically need to do. Someone doesn’t walk into a restaurant and tell the waiter, I’d like an amuse in 15 minutes made from whatever’s on hand. Typically chefs are working from a menu that’s been prepared well in advance (possibly with their input), with all equipment they need, with all provisions they need, etc. So, there’s a huge disconnect between these challenges and the ability to cook. So, I dunno that this says anything about Jessie’s abiltiy or not. Now, I gotta admit, if I saw a chef with all those facial piercings, it would certainly turn me off my food. Do those lip rings cause her to drool in the soup? Ugh.
OK, so there’s a disconnect between the challenges and the ability to cook. However, when the chef (Henry?) fails to cook a simple piece of meat, that’s a whole nother story. That says worlds about his ability, that’s just simple cooking, letting the meat sit, etc. Brrrrrr.
MODERATOR NOTE: I’ve edited the title since there are open spoilers.
My thoughts exactly. Brian and Jen are firmly my favorites now.
So true. It applies even to Hector’s meat. If it needs to rest for five more minutes a good chef would rest it and let his customers wait for a few more minutes. He wouldn’t hack it up and toss some sauce on it because his waiters are getting antsy.
Still, the challenges add a dimension of competition to the show that makes it exciting. A better chef than Hector would have timed the meal more perfectly. How many ways can a “top” chef mangle a beef steak anyway?
Maybe this covered in another thread, but am I only the only one who strongly prefers TCM’s Kelly over Padma as a host? Chew with your mouth closed! You bascially have two jobs on the show, look pretty and eat, and you manage to mess up both with one bad habit.
I was happy to see Metal Lip go. She hasn’t been herself since she got there? Then she needs to go. And not to minimize the challenge, but Hector just needed to roast the meat and cut it nicely, no? I was glad they chose him to go, and was glad the French guy got brought down a peg. He should have just manned up about ruling out green things in the veloute.
The reason this is problematic for me is that it put some points in her column, and up 'til then I didn’t feel amy impulse to root for her at all.
I think that this season’s cheftestants are generally a good bit more talented than previous seasons were at this point. I would normally think of a Joel Robichon challenge would be suitable for the final three, not for about the 4th week. And most of them did pretty well.
I haven’t liked Jesse since the beginning. She’s been off her game for every challenge.
StG
Can someone explain the asparagus veloute situation? I fell asleep on and off, so I don’t understand the issue or why what Mattin said was controversial. Thanks.
spoiler spoiler spoiler…but you asked
I’m paraphrasing:
In Whole Foods Ashley said “What about using asparagus in the velouté?” Mattin said “Feh. No vegetables. You never use green in velouté!” In an interview she said “It’s a french cooking challenge and he’s from France so I guess I have to follow his lead”
Then at Judges’ Table Tom C was talking about the way the components related and asked if they had considered using asparagus in the sauce to tie things together better. Honestly I don’t remember exactly how it was answered but I did turn to my husband and ask if her really just said that and doesn’t he realize there is video of him saying not to use asparagus in the sauce.
She said something like “The idea came up”, and Tom turned to Mattin and said “And I take it you shot it down?” Mattin said, “No”, Tom said, “Oh, you didn’t?”, and Mattin made some unclear excuse about how it was their first try at it or something.
Ashley got quiet when Mattin denied that he’d shot her idea down. During deliberations, Tom interpreted this as her not wanting to throw her teammate under the bus.
Two things I just thought of from this episode:
No one made shrimp (and ended up in the bottom for it) in this episode. All it took was not allowing them to pick their protein.
And Mattin finally put an end to the “when in doubt, add bacon” rule.
Well, if anyone could misuse bacon, it would be the french 
Now, if a southern redneck had used bacon, he woulda won it !
I was kinda taken aback that the winner of the quick fire wasnt cooking for the biggest/bestest/most important panel of judges yet.
If I was an up and coming chef, I am pretty sure I’d wanna cook for em, not sit around with em.
He should have had immunity and the choice to sit or cook for em. And if he cooked for em, maybe more time to do so and more flexibility in his choice of what to cook, then perhaps a bit more time to get important input on his work. Now THAT would be a real prize IMO.
And whats up with these guys and gals messing up simple stuff when that all they have to do? (baring some kitchen disaster) I can see coming out on the the bottom for whatever reason because someone has to do it. Because you couldnt even cook a piece of meat remotely correctly, when thats pretty much all you had to do?