Top Chef All Stars thoughts

Was Jaime always this lame? I remember her being pretty tough and cooking pretty good food? How can this be the same wallflower that is on this all star season? Is she just wilting under the pressures of failing twice? I gave her the benefit of the doubt when she cut her finger and left to go get stitches. But now this? Hiding? I totally regret stating that she is one of my favorites. Now on the other hand, last night I remembered what was so awesome about Carla. She just totally came out, did her style food, against the disapproval of her teammates and WON! I must say that judges table is so nerve racking now that some of the weak links are gone. It really was crazy to see Spike go last night! Was his dish really worse than the others??

thoughts:

Are they really going there with Angelo again? I mean they went as far as Gail coming out and asking if they felt he was sabotaging?? REALLY? Lame drama

That being said, I wouldn't let anyone cook my salmon! What a dumb ass!

Most overused ingredient - yuzu

Taylor Dent? He had the personality of a head of lettuce, iceberg.

Top Chef All Stars thoughts

Now that was an episode! It was truly an All-Stars week with amazing food, interesting elimination challenge and power house guests. The level of food was what I would expect from chefs of this calibre that have the experience of competitive cooking. So much better than the first two episodes! The judging was fair and I was happy to see Dale win. His dish looked so delicious! All I can remember of Dale from his previous season are his temper tantrums. I like this kinder gentler Dale. Maybe he went to anger management or discovered kava root. Maybe there just hasn't been anything that pissed him off enough yet....

Farewell Stephen and the other Dale. Oh well, have to find someone new to pick on now that Stephen is gone.

thoughts:

I felt embarrassed for Tom when he made the Led Zeppelin analogy.

Where does Stephen buy his clothes? Really! I want to know!

Someone tell Angelo that he is not Asian. I understand embracing a culture but come on! Now maybe if he grows his hair long and wears it in a braid...

Top Chef All Stars thoughts

All I can say is wow! That Jen is a loose canon! She just lost it! Overall, a very sad ending since she was one of my favorites. She's totally bad-ass! But alas, she was (again) her own worse enemy, obviously overcompensating for her self doubt with a ridiculous and embarrassing display of bravado. She seemed like she snorted a couple of lines before judges table no? You don't want to see someone go out like that, not even for the sake of good TV. The location was cool but the episode seemed like one big quickfire. The elimination challenge was kind of lame. Making a buffet breakfast for 150 kids is not such an interesting challenge. The judges totally never mentioned anything about how kid friendly the breakfast was during judging. I don't think there are many kids out there that eat gazpacho and gnocci for breakfast. Then again, the Ngs eat dinner food for breakfast all the time. But then we are talking about Top Chef aren't we? Anyway, I'm still kinda uncomfortable from this episode.

thoughts:

Funniest comment - Dale re: Joe Jonas "I thought he was a pastry chef"

Most annoying chef du episode - Stephen. I liked how he thought he was doing the Italian thing with Fabio. He seems as Italian as Olive Garden. If they show that stupid clip of him opening champagne bottle with the machete again, I'll stop watching the show.

Most boring judge, ever - who thought it was a good idea to bring Katie Lee back?

Most tragic ending - Jennifer Carroll. Just say no, girl

Top Chef All Stars thoughts

The premier episode did not disappoint and in fact I am super excited about this all star season! Excellent choice to have Anthony Bourdain as a rotating judge. He's just awesome.

The bar is set pretty high in the kitchen and all the food looked pretty amazing. With a few exceptions of course. It's always sad to see Fabio on the bottom for a pasta dish. I mean, how embarrassing! I was never impressed and still don't know why Marcel is always in the mix. In fact, I had the opportunity to taste his food at Test Kitchen recently. To my surprise, he was the guest chef of the night and I was disappointed. His food is too contrived and is just not very good. The stuff he put out tonight was much of the same. Stephen is just so annoying, annoying personality, annoying wardrobe, annoying food. His body is so weird too. On that note, life must get better for all chefs that appear on Top Chef because they all gain so much weight! Well, all the women look the same but all the guys, not so good. For some reason, I do not remember Richard at all. I totally watched his season but he is a stranger to me. Who is he? Well, they sent home the right person. Ciao Elia. She was kind of annoying too, clearly not ready for the level of competition. For the most part it was fun seeing all the contestants and remembering particulars about each. I'm sure I'm wasn't the only one waiting for Dale to wig out and slam a sheet pan over someones head. Well, its going to be a fun season and you'll hear from me again! Did I mention that Bourdain is a judge????

Top Chef thoughts

I'm sure you're all waiting on pins and needles for my weekly Top Chef rant....well, maybe not! Nevertheless, you will get one. Hallelujah! Ash was so pathetic that I am willing to tolerate Robin one more week to see him go! Come on now! That cold pork loin looked sooooo boring! It was a challenge very close to the cookng's hearts, pairing pork with pinot! Annie would have took the prize home for her braised pork butt! I was salivating for the dishes from the usual suspects, the macho brothers, Kevin and Jen. That pork terrine looked out of this world. So the anti-Robin tension building up in the house is very entertaining. And what about Toby and his armpit comments? I like him! Can't wait to see restaurant wars next week. Looks like the you know what is going to hit the fan! Bets on if Robin will mention cancer again?

Top Chef, snoozefest

Is it me or is this season a big snoozefest? I would expect a season in Vegas to be much more fun and exciting. Half the contestants shouldn't even be on the show. The Ngs can cook circles around them. I mean, maybe only Annie knows how to make a bernaise from scratch but still... The redhead made a romaine salad with shrimp and sausage (that she didn't case herself)!!??!!?? Is this Top Chef or TGIF???