Top Chef is back in action in New York City,where the new batch of chefs arrived at Governor's Island to meet up with Padma and Judge Tom. They wasted no time in getting this show started by announcing that there would be a three part Quickfire challenge that would grant immunity to an early winner but also eliminate one of the contestants right off the bat.
In keeping with the New York setting,the Quickfire was all about apples. Round One had everyone peeling fifteen apples,with the first nine to finish being safe. An eager fellow named Richard wound up cutting his thumb but he still went on and was in the first nine,blood stained fruit and all.
After another round of dicing the apples,it came down to four of the chefs creating a tasty apple dish in twenty minutes. Lauren was told to pack her knives and go due to her apple salad not being as good as her friend Patrick's was. He was sorry to see her leave but not as sorry as she was for being the first one out.
Then came the Knife Pull,to begin the Elimination Challenge. Folks were set up in teams of two,to cook off against one another. Each team had a different NYC neighborhood with it's own signature style of ethnic cuisine(Little Italy,Chinatown, Brighton Beach,etc)as their inspiration.
A strong contender for the win here was Eugene,who faced off against Alex in Little India. Despite never having made Indian food before,he made a classic lamb and rice dish that wowed the judges(especially Padma)big time. Eugene's promising start is even more interesting due to the fact that he hasn't had any culinary school training,just worked his way up the ladder,beginning as a dishwasher. He's definitely going to be one to watch here.
Leah was also up for the win,doing better than Melissa with her Little Italy plate. She decided to go with a more modern Italian style,with a farro risotto and red snapper with mushrooms on top.
Victory,however,went to Stefan,who also had immunity. He had Long Island City(Middle Eastern food)to work with and he double teamed his plate with a duet of lamb chops and an onion beef skewer.
His fellow competitor in Long Island City,Ariane, ended up on the chopping block for her lamb and farro risotto flop of a dish. Seems that her farro was undercooked to the point of throwing her whole meal off kilter.
She survived to cook another day,thanks to Patrick having to pack his knives and go home for his less than stellar Chinatown offering. He made a big mistake in choosing to use black rice noodles,something he was completely unfamiliar with.
The noodles turned out to be gummy and tasteless. Also, his whole concept of the dish was about as Chinese as chop suey.
Patrick is still in culinary school,so he'll have plenty of time to learn more and
become a good chef. He took his loss very well(wonder if those who follow him out the door will be able to say the same thing)and the judges all felt that the food offered up for this first elim was pretty good and a sign of better things to come.I hope so,too.
It'll be awhile before Project Runway appears on Lifetime,so to give us an idea of how they can do a fashion forward competition, here is Blush: The Search for the Next Great Make-Up Artist. They have quite a cast of characters assembled for this little shiny face shindig,that's for sure.
First,we have Maxi,who brags about all the music video artists he's worked with and who loves to wear odd hats and elaborate costume party masks whenever the mood takes him. He won the early challenge of using food and flowers off of a buffet table to create a fantasy look but his snotty attitude during the Elimination challenge at the judge's table cost him a big win.
The challenge was to create a make up look for Dannii Minogue to have for her new music video,using the theme of "Twisted Disco" as the inspiration. The person who won that was Todd,who also announced that he was color blind. Why he won for this look is beyond me-the girl looked like a disco clown:
The one who went home was Jessica,who kept saying that she wouldn't change her approach to her work no matter what and didn't understand why the judges found fault with her making faces pretty. Pretty is fine,hon,but when your client asks for an over the top look,that's what you have to deliver. Blush is certainly not a dull day at the rodeo,so I'll be keeping an eye on this series:
Heroes returned this week,with Hiro learning more about the past of his friends and foes on his spirit quest,such as Claire having another fire wielding relative,Linderman's role in Papa Petrelli's deadly betrayal by dinner,courtesy of Angela and an early encounter between Elle and Sylar that ultimately pulled him further down the road to evil.
The worst was yet to come for Hiro;upon awakening from his time traveling spirit walk,he was bound and determined to use his newly acquired knowledge to save the day. Unfortunately,he wasn't the only one to get a wake up call. Now,if that isn't a hell of a way to end an episode,I don't know what is!:
RANDOM NOTES:
TAR: Team Divoree,Kristy and Kelly,were eliminated this week and I was so glad to see them go. The two of them have been pretty dippy but the gals had a major case of the stupids during this round that even rivaled the airheaded nature of Team Superbad.
First,there was a Roadblock,that had one person running thru a courtyard of people celebrating Holi(a yearly festival that has folks tossing powdered dyes and water at each other while dancing)to climb up one of three ladders to look for an envelope marked "Amazing Race" amongst a batch of "Try Again" ones for their next clue.
When Kelly wasn't whining about having the colorful powder being in her mouth(maybe it would've been a good idea to keep your lips closed there),she kept grabbing random envelopes off of the rack,which were,of course,empty. It took some time before they reread the instructions to figure out what they were doing wrong:
Then,they chose a Detour task that had teams looking for small numbered signs on power lines in a market place to write down and show to a man at a sewing machine to approve. Trouble is,the ladies chose to have their taxi drive them up and down the street,making it hard for them to find the right numbers to record.
Team Superbad was on foot but had the same problem. The fellas offered to team up with the gals but they refused,which was very dumb since two earlier teams worked together and managed to make it to the Pit Stop ahead of them. Heck,Ken and Tina had a Speed Bump to go through and they finished the Detour before the last two teams did! Dumb,dee dum,dum,DUMB!:
NUMBERS,NUMBERS,EVERYWHERE
BYE,BYE,LADIES-SEE YA,DON'T WANT TO BE YA!
I haven't watched any of my shows in weeks. I didn't even know Top Chef was back on! Thanks.
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