I'm a fan of -- gasp! -- a reality show

Not sure Dale wasn't the best at the end, but what decided it was that Hung was better throughout. Dale won the final four and wowed the judges with the food in the finale, but that was it.

 

I'm sad for Dale. But by the end, against my will, I was kind of pulling for Hung. Stockholm? Who knows. But I was kind of happy.

And he broke out foam in the finale.

 

Casey just signed a movie deal: It's called "Get on top, chef," and will be on Cinemax by Christmas.

 

I'm glad that Hung won -- he was obviously the best chef. It would have been closer if Dale hadn't ruined the lobster dish.

Casey's complete breakdown during the last two challenges was really something. She was the favorite heading into the finale but gave the worst performance by far both times (in the last challenge, she was clearly worse than Brian but he lost due to her past track record).

 

I know everyone had to deal with the same issues it presented, but if you want the perfect meal, shouldn't you hold the final in a place where altitude doesn't change the way you cook?

And what exactly was the point of adding the fourth dish with an hour to go? Leave the gimmicky shit for the early challenges.

Idea for a between-season special: Four teams of three: winners, runners-up, top semifinalists and top guys to not reach the top 4. Because I could do some business with a Tre-CJ-Cliff trio.

 

Question: When they asked Dale about his scallop dish and he said it was "100 percent 50-50," ... um, didn't CJ pretty much just handle that one?

 

Agreed. Although his answer was better than Casey's answer when they asked her about her beef dish. They were trying to throw her a bone because that was actually good, and she said it was 100% Howie. The Judge visibly cringed at that point.

 

Fairly predictable ending, but I'll say this: I think all three of those meals would have beaten Ilan or Marcel from last year's final.

So the general level of cooking was higher.

 

Hey Philospher what restaurant is he working at in Chicago? I'd love to go up there!

 

Sola ... on Lincoln, near the corner of Lincoln and Irving Park. He was there last Saturday night, and even though he wasn't our waiter, he was happy to come and talk to us once I motioned to him. Basically he spent half the night taking pictures and talking to people ... the owner should pay him real well. I think half of the people there were just there to see him. If you go, try the shortribs.

 

Caught the finale last night -- some random thoughts:

-- how silly was it that the judges wore the same clothes from the judges tables in order to give the appearance on reruns that it was all done in Aspen.

-- Casey deserved to lose just for how she tried to sell Howie down the river. You weren't even supposed to have a sous chef -- don't blame him if you can't plate your food properly.

-- Lucky that it was a 3 person finale -- otherwise it wouldn't have been close.

-- Dale needs to be less self-critical

-- I liked that Hung won -- he may lack some social skills, but he was consistently the best all season.

 

This third season of Top Chef was awesome. It made me laugh, smile and yell at the TV. I don't do that very often.

Hung was definitely the best, but it was cool to see Dale improve over time.

Can't wait to see Season Four in Chicago.