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(Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!)Just like Nikki's blueberry-stuffed mushrooms, last night's episode of Top Chef was forgettable. We all guessed that Valerie would be sent home during the first three minutes of the show, when she received a disproportionate amount of airtime to discuss her friendship with competitor Stephanie. Why does the editing always give it away? (I know, I know: We get to know her and then feel sad when she leaves, yawn). So there weren't many surprises, but there's still plenty to discuss. Rather than shake up our ideas of which chefs are the strongest, this episode pretty much confirmed the order that we established last week. Though Stephanie ended up in the bottom after winning last week and Richard bombed his Quickfire, I don't think we'll see either leaving anytime soon. Other strong competitors include Antonia, Mark, Zoi and Andrew if he can keep it together (honestly, from the look on his face, it seemed like he knew that the balsamic vinegar would disqualify him in the Quickfire, and he was hoping the judges wouldn't notice – or am I just biased?). Though I love his personality, Erik's dishes look consistently sub-par to me, and we haven't seen enough of chefs like Lisa or Manuel to pass judgment. Spike ("I molested the produce section") is a similarly undeveloped character.
We could go on to analyze the dishes of both the challenges (Quickfire: 5 ingredients from a Farmer's Market, Elimination: Cook mainly with foods from the diets of 5 animals), but the fare was a standard mix of the good (I wanted that banana bread), the bad (soggy crab salad) and the ugly (how many feces allusions can you make about one mushroom dish?). Wylie Dusfrene was no Bourdain, and I think the show lacked for not including Colicchio in the first 30 minutes or so.
In the end, I didn't care that Andrew won, or that Valerie lost (other than my sadness at seeing two women leave in the first two weeks). Next week, I want more drama and more flames.
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3-20-2008 @11:27AM A-Pow said... Totally agree. Not mention they harped like crazy on Mark for forgetting the mizuna at the Farmer's Market.
That sucks for Valerie, we went to culinary school together and she can cook. I think is interesting how the editing completely f-ed up what was a good show.
I do like Andrew and his a.d.d./crystal meth/hyperactive personality. He should be fun as the shows go on.
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3-20-2008 @1:28PM benjikim said... The strongest contenders on that show are:
Richard Blais, Andrew D’Ambrosi, Dale Talde, Spike Mendelsohn
sorry to say but the female contenders don't really match up
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3-20-2008 @2:22PM RobynT said... Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to the first episode, but I felt like this show changed my opinion of a lot of folks. Okay, just Andrew I guess. I thought he was a joke, like just there for crazy in the first episode, but in this one I started to like him. Like his crazy has a sense of humor I guess.
For the other folks, I just like seeing 'em go up and down I guess... Like the New Zealand dude, Nikki...
http://halfassfoodie.blogspot.com
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3-20-2008 @10:25PM jrsygir1 said... i thought these were supposed to be better chefs than in other seasons....its like they have a few tricks and we will see them in the first few shows but they dont seem to have any depth or the ability to think on their feet and really create....are any of them looking as good as sam or whats his face from perilla? and andrew makes me dizzy.
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3-21-2008 @1:08AM Mike said... This show blows... it is all about Gordon Ramsey and Hell's Kitchen.
-M.
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3-21-2008 @9:09AM laura said... I wanted that quinoa and sardine bite that the penguins made!
So far pretty happy with who they have let go
And as most of the top chef Blogs have pointed out, its BLINI, not Bellini.
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