"I'm Gumby, dammit!" (Bravo photo)
Random thoughts on last night’s “Dinner Party” episode of “Top Chef.” Warning, spoilers ahead.
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Why was Padma dressed like Gumby? I’m no fashion expert (come on, I wear jeans and a T-shirt to work 90 percent of the time), but even I realized that was a hideous outfit.
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Glad to see Kevin win the $15,000 Quickfire. That kinda makes up for winning the set of pans earlier in the season. Man, the prizes this season are really all over the board. Kinda odd that his prize was bigger than the $10,000 Jen won for the Elimination Challenge. I liked how he was confident enough in his skills to take the cash. I think there are a few chefs there (cough cough, Robin!) who would have meekly taken the immunity.
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The slot machine Quickfire could have been more fun. Too many categories were repeated. And what did “stressed” even refer too? Food that was messed up? Food that was hard to make? It seemed too vague.
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There seemed to be even more product placement than usual this episode. It got to be a little annoying. And has anyone noticed that in the intro, they announce that the grand prize winner now gets $100,000 in Macy’s merchandise? So much for seed money to start up a restaurant, or to go traveling.
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Again, what is with the seafood dishes this week? Every challenge, there’s waaaay too much halibut, scallops and shrimp, especially considering that they’re in the middle of the desert. Vegas might be soulless, but can’t someone try a Southwestern theme or something? And enough with the ceviche! Eli’s mushroom ceviche in the Quickfire just looked nasty.
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Toby Young was surprisingly not too annoying. What was up with his Monet insult though? “It looks good until you see it up close” – maybe he had been up watching “Clueless” on TBS the night before.
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I’m curious about the reason behind Bryan’s snappiness to Kevin in the stew room. Hopefully he was just stressed and didn’t want people talking smack about his brother. It made for an oddly tense moment though.
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Loved how Mike I. was describing “his” dish at the dinner table – “I” was given these ingredients, “I” cooked so and so, until teammate Robin gave him an elbow poke. He’s such an ass. Did he really throw out everything she made for their dish? The constant trash-talk against Robin was mean and unprofessional, but not entirely unwarranted. I have to admit, he had a few funny lines about Robin’s blabbermouth. Her stream-of-consciousness gabbing kinda reminded me of Dug from “Up” – “I was thinking of Indian flavors and the I saw a blueberry and then I – SQUIRREL!” Also nice (and when I say nice I mean jerky) how he was talking smack as she was cleaning up and washing dishes all by herself.
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Tyler Florence seemed a little harsh in his reaction to Michael V. and Ash’s electrical troubles. Um, actually, I think a blackout is a pretty good excuse. Most restaurants I know close the doors if they lose power. And in a situation where you have no stove, just a wok plugged into the dining room wall socket, and no surplus of ingredients, it’s not like you can afford to have a backup plan. I think the circuit breaker snafu spared Ash. Even as lame as his performance was, you’ve gotta cut them a little slack.
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I was sorry to see Ashley go. I think this was the first episode where I was disappointed at who got the boot. She’d been cooking a lot better of late, and she’s still better than four chefs still remaining. But that’s the way the competition goes. She did everything for her team, from concept to execution, and it came back to bite her. At least she tried. Unlike certain other chefs who played passive roles.
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I was rooting for Eli to be sent home. What did he actually contribute to the dish? He oversalted the gnocchi and made Ashley to the more difficult prawn-grilling. And then (more damning in my mind) was clueless about what went wrong when asked at judges’ table. At least Ashley admitted her mistakes. And Eli, for all his boasting, has done nothing to prove he belongs there.
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Ash though, might have been the more logical choice to go. From what I could see, he didn’t contribute a single thing to the dish. Well, other than set the table, which . . . wow. His fawning hero worship of Michael V. was embarrassing to watch. For one, Ash all but admitted he has no business being there, that he’s not as talented and has no shot at winning unless the better chefs screw something up. So why keep him on the show? But while that was kinda pathetic, I saw a passive-aggressive, throw-him-under-the-bus potshot as well, basically saying Michael the Master was responsible for every part of the dish, from concept to cooking. Which seemed like an attempt to divest himself from blame when the dish didn’t turn out right. That bugged me. The judges seem to respect chefs who take responsibility for their dishes, good or bad, and Ash completely washed his hands of everything. Not cool. I’m ready for him to go home next.
