The chefs for this latest round of Top Chef Masters were Wilo Benet,Cindy Pawlcyn,Ludo Lefebvre and Rick Bayless and not only did they have to recreate two past TC challenges but also had the infamous knife pulls as well.
The Quickfire was to make a dish based on one color. Ludo wound up with red,which inspired him to whip up a steak tartare with watermelon and a beet gazpacho. He freaked out a little when the sauce wasn't served right away,but the taste testers felt that it didn't add much to the plate anyway.
Rick Bayless won the QF,for his interpretation of Green as roasted veggies with a mole verde served on a banana leaf. The Elimination challenge wasn't as tasty sounding;the chefs had to make street food(to be served at Universal Studios' theme park)but the main proteins they had to use were what are known as "offal"(organ meats). The choices were beef hearts,tongue,tripe and pig ears.
Cindy was thrilled to be able to use offal(she even mentioned being a member of a group called Girls Eat Guts)and made a menudo out of the tripe. It did go over well,but some of the judges complained about a lack of seasoning in the broth.
Ludo had the pig ears and planned on making a quesadilla. He even asked Rick Bayless for some suggestions during their shopping trip(Bayless is big into Mexican cuisine)and then got annoyed when Bayless pick up ingredients to make tacos. Dude,you know the guy's into Mexican food,duh!
Ludo was very moody and annoying with his whole "I trained in France and therefore am a culinary badass" attitude. Give me a break,buddy boy-you had trouble just getting one quesadilla ready for your customers at the stand,plus the judges! Not so bad ass,if you ask me.
Bayless won the whole shooting match,for his tongue tacos(which lead to a couple of jokes about Bayless slipping the tongue there)with bacon,chorizo and pickled onions. The judges raved about it,especially Gael Greene who wanted to have seconds! Bayless seemed like a truly nice man,giving his fellow chefs support and help during the challenges,so congrats to him.
Next week's episode has a special celebrity guest,Neil Patrick Harris(Dr. Horrible himself)and some magic tricks for the chefs to endure:
There was more teamwork this week on The Next Food Network Star that had the contenders pair up to make a three course meal for Ina Garten,aka The Barefoot Contessa,and friends. While Michael got all flustered and tongue tied during the early consumer tip portion of the early challenge,he and Jeffrey put together a great dinner made with inexpensive ingredients that came across as high class cooking.
The drama came from another team,Teddy and Debbie. Debbie wasn't willing to trust him after what happened with him,Brett and Melissa last time and her instincts were right on the money. Each chef was responsible for one dish apiece and one of the courses had to be a collaboration between the both of them.
Teddy and Debbie pooled their ideas and came up with a great meatloaf,which Teddy tried to claim all the credit for at Judges' Table due to his dessert being a halfhearted mess.
I'm still not happy with Debbie regarding her behavior during the first episode but she didn't deserve to be treated like that. Eddie wound up going home,after being in the Bottom Two for the third time,plus his crappy attempt at making a Paula Deen salad(Dude,atleast be original with your own failings!)and his condescending attitude towards Melissa,but in my opinion,both of those bozos should've been given their walking papers:
On True Blood,Jessica's family reunion went off as badly as predicted;oh,Sookie, that was not a good move to make,not at all. Bill was right to yell at you there,even tho you didn't mean to hurt anyone.
I get the guilt trip but everyone knows that new born vampires tend to go after their loved ones first and despite the fact that Jessica's dad does appear to be a ill tempered jerk who's quick to use his belt as a disciplinary device,you should have gotten all Amy Winehouse and said no,no,no!(especially for that poor little girl's sake):
Meanwhile,poor Lafayette is doing his best to stay alive in the clutches of Eric and the rest of the fang gang there. His determination to survive seems to make a good impression on Eric but there's no guarantee that he'll be allowed to live,one way or the other.
I do think that Lafayette would make a cool vampire and you gotta give the man serious props for having the balls to make his case to Eric and his crew at such a crucial moment like that. It would be a shame to keep him around for only two episodes and with such an elaborate set-up as this,we may be seeing Lafayette around Fangtasia sometime soon:
RANDOM NOTES:
RESCUE ME: One of the subplots this season has Garrity undergoing kidney removal due to a 9/11 related cancer,which has given the show an opportunity to get musically surreal,plus give the actor Steven Pasquale a chance to show off his pipes. A little wacky to be sure,but done well and with a nice dash of dark humor that this show is best known for:
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