Top Chef 8/08

[XXXNoahXXX]

Oh, I forgot Dale was gay.

So






probably doesn't do it for him.

[steamraise]

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the whole "going out LOL PSYCHE" thing didn't serve any purpose beyond [censored] with their heads.

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Agree 110%.

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Sara M. bothers me for totally aesthetic reasons. Also, that dress made her look just nasty.

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Sorry but this poor girl looks nasty in every way.

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Hung has been a huge disappointment lately. He's starting to seem a lot like Marcel except not nearly as talented.
I mean, cauliflower foam with ice cream

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Oh yeah, Marcel's avacado and bacon ice cream was a much better idea.


Sara didn't seem to do much in previous episodes.
And she didn't put forth much effort here. Time to go.

Howie has a really bad attitude. Guess he will be next to go.

[slamdunkpro]

That was pretty cold, telling them that they’re going out on the town then sticking them in the roach coaches. I think it was particularly hard on the gals. Men and women dress differently to go out and the producers know this. On the other hand, if you were a contestant how you could you possibly not smell a rat here? OK I’ll admit the first thing I thought they were going to do after last week’s teaser is take them all out, get them good and hammered, then make them cook hung over, but this was over the top.
I dunno, if I was a smart gal contestant, I think I’d have grabbed a big purse and thrown a t-shirt and a pair of clogs or sneakers in it just in case.

Sara was an emotional wreck and looked close to a total breakdown, but I believe the only reason she was even still here was that the producers didn’t want 4 women gone in a row, thus they threw Joey under the bus last week in her place. She’s been a passive aggressive whiner since week 1. I still hate hate hate the team challenges. It’s obvious to all that teaming with Howie is almost a death sentence since his style is to lead via intimidation then jump out the door just as the bus goes over the cliff. Notice he never gets dinged for “poor leadership” like some of the others have. And of course what’s next? Restaurant wars! Who ever gets stuck with Howie should lock him in the walk in.

[The Farside]

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Oh, I forgot Dale was gay.

So






probably doesn't do it for him.

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I thought Tre won the platinum dance club card or whatever, not Dale.

[cbloom]

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My guess is that Howie got to stay because he makes the show "interesting" where Sara hardly talks and hasn't made much of an impact on the show. The difficulty is that all the crap that Howie does just detracts from what is supposed to be central about the show: the cooking.

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I imagine it was partly because Howie has actually done some top notch dishes in the past whereas Sara hasn't really done anything special in any challenge and has often drug her feet and not really pulled her weight. In the last team challenge her partner complained that all she had to do was cut the peppers and even that was taking her forever.

I think it would be fun to have a "food Olympics" show or something that was just basic skills for time.

[slamdunkpro]

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I imagine it was partly because Howie has actually done some top notch dishes in the past whereas Sara hasn't really done anything special in any challenge and has often drug her feet and not really pulled her weight.

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Well, if you read Collichio's blogs (when he was writing them - Bourdain's are so much better) It's all about the current challenge, the past means nothing (so they say). Supposedly that's why Sam got knocked off last season vs Ilian.

[Aloysius]

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Sara was an emotional wreck and looked close to a total breakdown, but I believe the only reason she was even still here was that the producers didn’t want 4 women gone in a row, thus they threw Joey under the bus last week in her place. She’s been a passive aggressive whiner since week 1.

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Yah, completely agree. Sara N.'s young but last night was kind of ridiculous. While Howie was definitely confrontational he didn't say anything that should reduce someone to tears. Also her behavior reinforces the stereotype of passive, meek Azn lady which irritates me on a personal Azn power level. She's clearly a very sweet girl, but this is a competition.

Also - ice in a milkshake? Huh?

Overall episode was really weak and both challenges kind of sucked, imo. Ice cream challenge for reasons noted above. Elimination challenge is kind of cool in theory, but all that stuff is ridiculously simple to make. So I guess the challenge was really about executing in a short amount of time, but still, who cares.

I think Howie stayed in large part because 1) as Dids noted, Sara N. just doesn't have the right temperament to be a leader; 2) he came up with the whole menu. But really, Howie, why choose to make Media Noche sandwich when you don't even have a plan for the press? Find some bricks dude.

Shame they wasted Govind Armstrong like this. I really like Table 8 - if the food at his restaurant is any indication of his potential commentary as a judge, they should've gone less ghetto for the challenges.

-Al

[bernie]

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Oh, I forgot Dale was gay.

So






probably doesn't do it for him.

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A gay guy seeing a 1/2 naked guy all wet and popping a cork on champagne in what could be seen as a phallic sort of way, it might do it for him. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Took me 3 tries to pry my eyes off her ass to see what was on the other 1/2 of the pic.

b

[WJL]

My wife and I watch this show every week . . .

1. We thought Dale won the immunity challenge over Howie because he is gay, and the celebrity judge wanted to have dinner with him.

2. Definitely harder for a woman dressed for a night out to do serious cooking than for a guy. Note Tre had his shirt off . . . Howie too I think. Most synthetic fabrics burn REAL easy.

3. Sara has done very little that was impressive this whole competition. Howie is the only chef to win 2 challenges in a row. No way she has a chance to win, but Howie has a real shot.

4. Sara was sort of an elitist, and very poorly suited for this challenge. I mean, this gal couldn't make a slider or a good milk shake? Anybody who couldn't hold a job at White Castle doesn't deserve to be Top Chef. The criticism about Howie's food was not that it was bad, but just that it wasn't great. Howie came up with the menu, which I thought was much more in tune with the spirit of the challenge than the other team's, but the execution was not good . . . from what we saw, I don't think you can blame Howie for that. Also, they should have put Casey out front . . . she can sell . . . and she was dressed for it.

5. We think Tre is the likely winner, but others are very close . . .

[TwoOuter]

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I dunno, if I was a smart gal contestant, I think I’d have grabbed a big purse and thrown a t-shirt and a pair of clogs or sneakers in it just in case.

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I totally agree. At this point you've gotta be prepared for anything. How could they possibly be shocked that they got Shanghai'd yet again?

I'd like to see the judges have to do blind tastings- not knowing who cooked what. Judge them on the food and presentation and creativity. As it is I think too many other factors come into play besides true cooking skills. Or else just call it Survivor: Miami Beach, make them have to start fire from driftwood and cook in the dark without lights.