Top Chef All-Stars

BTW, if you get the Science Channel, Blais has a cooking show on there. He goes head-to-head against a classic restaurant's version of, say, a hamburger. But Blais does his version and lets eaters judge.

 

If you're in Atlanta or Birmingham, PLEASE go to FLIPburger Boutique. It's Blais' place. So freaking good.

http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/

 

I think I agree with you on Jamie. She's playing the game, and eventually she'll be discovered as having no chops and be sent home. If I was one of her fellow chefs on the show, I'd be hating her guts. As a viewer, I love that and will be watching to see the fireworks. Makes for better TV.

Blind tasting wouldn't work, because even though the judges say they are just looking at the food in front of them, they obviously factor in the past history of the chefs every week. If Fabio made his "pillowy" gnocchi every week, eventually Tom would have a pissy comment about the show being "Top Chef, not Top Gnocchi" and he would go home for not doing anything but his signature fallback dish.

With every week that goes by, I am more convinced Carla is going to be a major factor in the finale. She doesn't do anything flashy or gimmickly (Blais) and isn't the loudest (Fabio), but she just seems to be more and more solid and consistent every show.

 

Carla has really grown on me. During her season, she annoyed me at first, but she ended up being a solid chef and made some pretty good-looking dishes.

I'm enjoying this season more than the last season of Top Chef, and I think it's because the challenges are so much more intense.

 

I'm with you on Carla. Now, if all of the finalists would simply tell their sous chefs what to do and not let them take over a single thing in preparation ...

 

Anyone else very into Bourdain's blog? His take on Angelo helping Spike get eliminated:

You can read the whole thing here: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/blogs/anthony-bourdain/shot-with-his-own-gun-aka-the-best-laid-plans?page=0,0

 

Another hot chick eliminated last night. Farewell Casey.

 

Another week, another chance for Jamie to go home, but she's somehow safe once again, yet despite cooking TWO of the judges' least favorite dishes.

I'm really starting to think it's rigged.

 

The ongoing survival of Jamie is quite bizarre.

And if you want a good laugh, follow Fabio on Twitter, live during the show and all week on various topics. Somehow, he manages to write the way he talks.

'Jamie did you ever heard of LEAN CUISINE ?? come frozen, 8 minutes and is done !! ;-)) love you girl ;-))'

'Jamie ?? ONE CLAM ?? are you F kidding me ?? LMAO'

'LOVE THIS ONE !! Humans and Dolphins are the only knows animals that sometimes both eat and have sex for pleasure !!'

 

There's a difference between subpar and inedible. Casey deserved to go. As for Jamie, there's always one chef that sucks but survives a few weeks (like Alex last season)

 

I have always liked Carla, even during her season.

She's very quick/smart, you can tell, and I think she benefits from that in subtle ways when it comes to her thinking and her cooking, and, in a quiet, under-the-radar way even when it comes to strategy and gamesmanship, if/when that's ever necessary.

In short, she is likable, and also, her very entertaining, in a positive way. She strikes me as somebody you'd like to get to know and who would be good to have over as a fun, interesting dinner guest.

 

True, inedible should always be eliminated before subpar (although I think I remember at least one instance where the judges described the food as inedible, but eliminated someone else instead). But shouldn't she get a pass for not actually being the one that F'd up the dish? She took a bullet to be front of the house (or as much FOTH as you can be in dim sum) and relied on Antonia to do her dish. And clearly, Antonia focused more on her shrimp toast than Casey's chicken feet.