Top Chef Chicago

[Laurie]

Neigborhoodies has a bunch of Top Chef tee-shirts . I want the "I tasted it in my head and it came out the way it did" shirt. Also, the "I would rather it had tasted good" shirt. And maybe also the "This is inedible" shirt. And definitely the Hung! shirt.

[Laurie]

Wait... whaaaaaaaaat? ...are the judges smoking?

[Omar]

Wait... whaaaaaaaaat? ...are the judges smoking?

I would have booted both Dale and Lisa, but if I had to pick one, it would be Lisa for botching two dishes and "being Lisa."  It was fun to see Antonia/Blais/Stephanie deliver such an ass-kicking. 

[Laurie]

I fucking hated Spike's smarmy little smirk at the judges' table. What a douche!

If Lisa had won that goddamn coin toss, she'd be gone. 

[Andy]

I was upset that andrew got kicked off until I found out how close he was to spike.

[Laurie]

I was upset that andrew got kicked off until I found out how close he was to spike.

Ha! Too true.

Gawwwd, I can't wait for The Gorgon, as the folks at New York Magazine call Lisa, gets the boot. And hopefully her eyebrow piercing yanked out.

[Sarah]

I think Dale was booted because the producers decided keeping nasty Lisa in the mix would make for better television.  Unfortunately, because Spike very cannily kept away from the kitchen for the most part, kicking him wasn't an option.  Too bad--of the remaining chefs, he is by far the worst.

Antonia has been growing on me for a while. 

[Andy]

spike still being there is a crime.

[Omar]

The judging generally seems to assign more of the blame to the Executive Chef in the team challenges.  Dale was essentially finished when he won the coin toss because there was obviously no way that his team would defeat the A/B/S juggernaut.  There was nothing he could have done to prevent Lisa's campfire cauldron and vomit w/ wood chips.

[Sarah]

Yeah, I know they picked him because he was the exec.  Damn his foolish pride.    I liked the little fellow, esp. in his interviews, where the silly gangster mannerisms did not surface.  His crying because he was going to miss Stephanie, Richard, and Antonia was cute, too (Antonia's farewell hug was quite heartfelt--did you notice?).

Watching Top Chef has inspired me to watch various other cooking shows, to buy new knives, and to take more interest in cooking in general.  (I loved cooking for years and years and then lost a lot of my oomph about ten years ago.  It's nice to want to make stuff again.  Today, for example, I made a nice chocolate-ricotta pie [recipe from Giada De Laurentiis's show; she's pretty annoying, but there's not much to choose from on the Food Network (though I'm very fond of Jamie at Home)].)

[jbissell]

I'd be fine with Bourdain filling in for Tom permanently.

[Martin]

The judging generally seems to assign more of the blame to the Executive Chef in the team challenges.  Dale was essentially finished when he won the coin toss because there was obviously no way that his team would defeat the A/B/S juggernaut.  There was nothing he could have done to prevent Lisa's campfire cauldron and vomit w/ wood chips.

I agree with this and everything else you guys just said!

Just watched the episode and I'm pretty upset. Dale was left on a sinking ship.

Spike's smirk, Lisa's bandana and crossed arms... gah

[Martin]

[joanna]

no one has mentioned butterscotch scallops yet? dude lost his mind, i'm convinced of it.

[Omar]

Lisa looks like a cross between Chim-Chim from Speed Racer, Paul Goddard from the Atlanta Rhythm
Section, and Deion Sanders if he really let himself go.