Also: I’m guessing that with Top Chef airing on Bravo and all, they had no choice but to get the gayest looking congressman to come and be a quickfire guest judge (not that that’s a bad thing, o’ course).
This cheating crap has been bothering me for quite a few seasons now, and this may well be the last one I watch because of it. Put some freaking cameras in the kitchen, and catch these things, and put a stop to it. Send the MFers home if they can’t win by cooking.
I can’t wait for Alex to go home, he gives me the creeps. Ed too.
I’m actually cool with Angelo playing the mind game though, I think that’s fair game, and anyone who forgets they are in a competition deserves what they get.
The dude’s unfortunately against the repeal of DADT and voted against federal hate crimes laws covering attacks because of the victim’s sexuality. He might look it but he’s not voting like it. He kind of looks like he could be Neil Patrick Harris’ half-brother or cousin or something, that might be part of the reason.
Course, dressing like this on occasion doesn’t help those rumors. The choice of picture partner (work warning, cheesecake and beefcake on display) in these shots might argue the other way, though.
Anyway, yeah, I’m not thrilled with PeaPureeGate here, and I am rather annoyed* that the producers didn’t do anything. Were the cameramen too focused on something else when Alex was rooting through the coolers, or what?
- I originally typed “peeved.” :smack:
This season is getting harder and harder to predict, I think. That may be its only redeeming quality, because the chefs are certainly a step down from last season.
At this point, I’d guess Angelo and Kelly definitely make the final four, but I’m not sure who will join them. I guess two of Kenny, Kevin and Ed, but man I don’t have much confidence in either of those two. It wouldn’t totally shock me to see Tiffany make it.
I was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival this past weekend, and Fabio was the MC of a garlic cookout. He was hilarious, full of energy, warmth, and rambunctiousness, and it reminded me how completely inert these contestants are this year. They’re really boring, so it’s hard to root for (or against) anyone since most are complete non-entities. Angelo seems clearly the best of the group, but he’s too even-keeled and colorless to care about one way or the other. And as for everybody else, there are whiners, criers, the deluded (Stephen & Kenny are battling for that title), and the serenely competent, but they’re all dull dull dull. Tiffany seems full of good humor and personality and is the one I’m warming up to the most, but it’s still hard to tell how good she is (though she’s clearly one of the most likable).
And if I never hear “pea puree” again in my entire life, that’d be good enough for me.
So does anyone know what the deal is with the house ethics committee and some rule about how food must fit on a toothpick?
No, it was Amanda who said she had never cooked a porterhouse.
It was something the Democrats brought in when they retook the House in 2007, and it’s as dumb as it sounds. The rule forbids congressmen or congressional aides from accepting meals from lobbyists, but there was an exception for any food that can be eaten standing up with a toothpick. Here’s an article about it:
Ah, dumb IRL, but quite advantageous for the TC producers, as it made for a challenge that was frightfully compelling television. Erm, in theory anyway.
I didn’t say that. I think it was taken off of a post that quoted me. But I did think it was surprising that anyone would have gotten that far into Top Chef and not have cooked a Porterhouse. And putting vanilla with fish is just wrong (I personally had a horrible fish/butter rum sauce experience once.)
I didn’t want to assume he took the puree. The “Who turned my oven down/who burnt my rice” stuff happens every season and sometimes accidents just happen. But Ed said he didn’t know the other guy made it also, but at the end, they showed where he was sitting right there when others were discussing it. He KNEW the other guy was making it. While I grant it’s possible he forgot, I don’t think he did and I think he lied.
The salt thing was stupid. I know salt can bring out flavors, enhance your food, and be considered a seasoning, but if someone told me my food was bland, even I know adding salt just makes it salty. Sure, the right amount of salt would be an improvement, but the judges want to see other seasonings or sauces or whatever.
I thought it was a good quickfire and main challenge in concept and in execution.
The producers really screwed this one up.
Don’t get me wrong — I’ve never liked Alex. I find him creepy and offensive as all get-out, not to mention being a major asshole. (Not bothering to point out to a competitor who asked him to taste a dish that it was full of cartilage, the scene from next week’s show when he and Kelly are reaching for the same pan that is stored on a top shelf and grabbing it away from her just because he can due to his height.)
But, if he didn’t steal the puree, then they have really engaged in some serious character assassination on this guy. He may genuinely be just a creepy jerk who can cook a decent mean once in a while, but with this edit, I believe they have at least 85% of the audience convinced that he is a slimeball who stole someone else’s dish and rode it to victory. (And since Ed was in the top 3, that likely would have put him over the top.)
At the very least, though, he’s a liar, since he said that he didn’t even know that Ed was making a puree. Yes, you did, dude, since you overheard Kenny and Andrea discussing it the night before. Even if you didn’t steal the puree, you certainly stole the idea. (Though that may have been subliminal.)
I’m not buying that the producers have no clue what happened. What, no footage of him pouring the peas into a blender, or bringing out an immersion blender to the pan?
And I would have thought that each chef had their very own cooler that had only their own stuff in it, all very clearly marked. And even if they have to finish their prep work in 2 hours sharp, I would think that they would allow an extra 20 minutes to allow the chef (or staff) to clearly mark each of those Glad containers with the contestant’s name.
This episode should give potential contestant serious second thoughts about competing. It’s bad enough that the edits can make you look like a bad cook, thus potentially harming your restaurant, but now it can make you out to look like a morally bankrupt cheater as well.
The thing about the pea puree is, they both would’ve needed to buy the ingredients at Wholepaycheck Foods if they were going to make it. You might not be able to prove he didn’t steal it, but he could at least prove he also bought the peas, making it plausible that he also made the dish he served. I’ve already erased the ep from my DVR, but I’m going to rewatch it when it’s on to see if it shows him buying peas.
StG
When Alex was talking to Kenny the night before, Alex said he had bought English peas at Whole Foods and Kenny said that Ed bought the same ones. So he did buy his own peas (unless stealing the puree was something he planned, which I doubt), but he also knew that Ed had them.
What was suspicious to me was in the kitchen when Ed asked Alex if he took the puree, Alex said, “I didn’t take the puree. I don’t have any peas.” 
Immediately lying and saying you don’t have something that you obviously do is a clear sign that he stole the dish.
Ed really should have said something to the judges. That was not right, at all. I guess he figured since he was in the top then at least there was no danger of him going home. I’m sure that, had Ed been in the bottom three, he would have told the judges he thought Alex stole his food.
YWalker, Great thoughts on the pea purée issue. I think the editing was such that they almost have to come up with some way of bringing the question to resolution. Does the Palm want to put a dish on the menu and honor Alex with a picture if the integrity of the dish is at issue? I don’t think that they do. So they are going to need to find footage of Alex making the purée.
With regard to the last point, anyone who ever goes on a reality show needs to know that editors can do so many things to make look like a total douche. Fortunately for production, contestants always seem to be willing to help by doing or saying something stupid.
I think perhaps Alex stole th eidea purposefully, and the puree accidentally. I.e. he was picking up his and got the other guy’s too. But the cartilage incident leads me to believe that he’s they type who would be fine with not fixing the error once he was asked about it. The way his eyebrows twitch when Ed asks him is interesting. . .
Cooking foreign food was the feature in this episode. The QF was Ethiopian. The EC they drew knives to pick the country.
I wish they had given the chefs some basic information about the cuisine they had to cook. I’m not sure Tom or any other American chef knows the cuisines of every country in the world. Some basic information about the ingredients available and styles of cooking would have made the EC more legitimate. Especially since they were cooking for diplomats from those country’s.
Better yet, they could have done a box challenge like TC Masters. At least then the chef would have the appropriate ingredients and spices for the cuisine they were cooking.
Glad to see Tiffany pull a double win on the QF and EC. That rarely happens on TC. One concern is whether she made her own masa dough? The judges raked a cheftestant over the coals and sent him home for using store bought dough early this season. I hope Tiffany made her own masa dough for the tamales. I looking forward to seeing how the tamales were actually made on Top Recipe
Kelly continues to do good. I was glad to see her in the top this time.
So long Stephen. I’m not going to miss you.
Next week Restaurant Wars! 
My favorite part of the episode was Angelo pulling the old “Saran Wrap on the toilet” trick. We used to do that at camp when I was a kid.
Still no real resolution to Pea Puree-gate. The most questionable thing to me is the video footage from last week (they showed again in this ep) when Ed asks about the missing puree and Alex says something like he didn’t use any peas at all. How did he make his own pea puree without peas?
I had no idea Ethiopian food and restaurants were so popular in some areas in the US.
I’m not a fan of the challenges like tonights EC where they only have Sterno to heat the food. It seems to severely limit what kind of dishes they can pull off. It may be realistic from a catering standpoint, but it doesn’t make for the best television presentation.
I like Tiffany and was glad to see her win both challenges. The overall competition is still pretty wide open. The only ones left I can’t see having any chance of being the ultimate winner are Amanda and Alex.
I thought it was funny about the chef that got China. IIRC they had the Chinese diplomat talking about how good and authentic it was. Then later, here is the chef being taken to task by the judges for how “wrong” he had done it . Perhaps the diplomat was being diplomatic?
Count me as someone else who was happy to see Tiffany have such a great episode. She is growing on me each week.
Stephen is someone I’ve been very lukewarm about so seeing him eliminated was no big deal other than the fact I can’t stand Alex. Pea purée thief or not, I’m ready for him to be gone.