[Autocratic]

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Dibs,

Dale mentioned a while back that his dishes often suck the first time, but are good after a few times.

I think he's not quite as "smart" a chef as some of the others in terms of being able to conceptualize, visualize, and execute dishes on the fly. He seems to be a little all over the place w/ his dishes (and his thought process), which leads to them often seeming a little jumbled or not quite right. I can definitely see him taking some of his dishes and then taking a few tries to refine them into things that really work.

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I think Dale's greatest strength is that his best dishes are superb, and tend to get rave reviews (especially these last couple episodes). In this kind of situation he will probably always end up being a little inconsistent.