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Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 9: "Egg wash? Brush? Inspiration?"
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Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 9: "Egg wash? Brush? Inspiration?"
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| bravotv.com |
Redeeming a late pass for this one. Blame it on the alcohol Phillies alcohol and Phillies.
So Episode 9 features what I think is the magic number for still-standing TC cheftestants � eight. This means a few things:
- The season's about to pop off from a stupid-but-enthralling drama standpoint.
- It's now way clearer who should be sent packing prior to the finals.
- RESTAURANT WARS!
But first, Quickfire: Accomplished chef/restaurateur and Top Chef Masters competitor Rick Moonen, along with the transcendently preggo-glow beautiful Padma, institute a TC first � the "Tag Team Cook-Off," for which the eight split up into groups of four and don blindfolds, creating weird David Lynchian tableaus such as this:
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| bravotv.com |
The first chef strips off his/her blindfold, picks ingredients and has 10 minutes to start prep for a dish. After time's up, the second chef has to pick up right where the first one left off and so forth, culminating in the last guy/girl finishing it up for judgment.
Team Red � Eli, Robin, Bryan and Mike V � bust out a pan-roasted NY strip with pickled veg and a miso-avocado pur�e, while Blue � our girl Jen C, Laurine, Mike I and Kevin � offer a pan-seared cod in a mushroom broth. Sustainable seafood king Moonen is impressed with both plates but ends up giving the W to Blue, despite Jen accidentally referring to her protein as trout when she describes it. "I called my black cod trout on national TV ... awesome," she laments. Don't you sweat it, lady. I've called short ribs spare ribs and spare ribs short ribs so many times that I think the National Association for the Preservation of Rib Sanctity (NAPRS) has a hit out on me.
The squad earns $10K to split, but Padma informs them that they can take a risk and earn a $10K prize apiece if they emerge victorious from the Elimination. Jen C does that circular finger gesture that doubles as the universal symbol for "let that shit ride" and it is on.
Elimination: RESTAURANT WARS. It's a little different this year, as the two teams are told they're cooking in Moonen's split-level restaurant, meaning they're not responsible for paint or d�cor and votives and napkin rings and all the other stupid shit that has messed up the teams in past seasons. I think this is an excellent idea since I couldn't care less about whether or not a bunch of scary-talented chefs have an eye for sconces. Team Blue decides on Mission as their restaurant name, while Red goes with Revolt, a clever nod to Robin, Eli and the Voltaggio bros.
Before we get into what happened, LOOK IT'S PADMA IN A BAR/LOUNGE SITUATION:
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| bravotv.com |
Mission screws up. Jen C's hazelnut butter sauce breaks, rendering her trout plate messy, and her bouillabaisse is poorly received. A lamb/carrot jam dish, conceived by Laurine but actually fired by Kevin, comes out of the kitchen both under- and overcooked. Mike I's asparagus dish and char tartar underwhelms. (Padma requests a side of salt at one point for her underseasoned dishes � so transcendently beautiful, SO COLD.) The most visible shortcoming of the team, however, is Laurine's mishandling of front-of-the-house duties � she looks les miserables the entire time, pouting and plopping plates down on the judges' table before skulking away with no explanation of what's being presented.
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| bravotv.com |
Revolt, in stark contrast, destroys it. Excepting a few minor mess-ups, all their dishes are hits, especially Mike V's chicken and calamari "pasta" and his cod with billi-bi (mussel) sauce. Robin and Bryan win over the sweettooths in the room, too, with a pear pithivier and a chocolate ganache/spearmint ice cream thing (right) that sounds delicious, despite it looking like it was made by a pastry chef from The Chronicles of Riddick. We're treated to the usual Volt brother bickering here, but we also catch a peek into Mike V's insane control-freak world when he flips his shit on Robin and talks to her like she's a insipid little kid (see title of post).
At judges' table, Revolt is dubbed the best entrant in Restaurant Wars history (!), and Mike V, deservedly, takes home the win, plus the $10K the Mission team forfeited. He wants to split it with his teammates, but Bryan thinks that's patronizing and says so. Mission's carted in, and it looks bleak for our girl Jen for a second, as the panel boxes her ears over her trout. In the end, though, the combo of Laurine's failed lamb dish and her dyspeptic FOH presence translate into her packing her knives.
Real quick, here are my unscientific, gut-feeling power rankings for the rest of this Top Chef season. In descending order, ranked by likelihood of taking it home:
- Kevin
- TIE: Mike V and Jen C
- Bryan
- Mike I
- Eli
- Robin
Thoughts?
My fave part of the ep was when Padma asked for more salt. She kind of shrugged her shoulders and smirked. Oh, Padma, you devious ice queen bitch! How I love you so!
Not even a mention of Jen in a bathing suit?? Slacking Lazor! Agree 100% with your final 7...though I would have left at least seven more bullet points blank between Eli and Robin. Kevin is so humble that it hasn't even been mentioned that he is the Babe Ruth of Top Chef, destroying the competition. Excellent cheftestants this season, but Kevin is by far the best.
Mike I is cockier than Eli, but when it comes down to it, Eli is better.
Eli is too immature, The brothers need to lose the sibling rivalry on camera-It's Jen and Kevin all the way!!
Padma was in top ice queen form this episode-so many cold stares! Did anyone else feel bad for Jen C. when she told the judges she felt broken (like her sauce)? So sad, Jen!
I'm going, in descending order: Kevin and Jen C. (tie--they're both so understated and good!), Mike V., Bryan, Mike I., Eli, Robin (how is she still there?). Hoping our girl pulls it off, though. No mention of the horrific name Revolt (backwards E)? I thought Padma was going to hurl. I, too, felt bad when Jen said she felt as broken as her sauce. Aw.
I completely agree with that order. Kevin is probably the best contestant on this show, yet. If he f's up and doesn't win some how, I will be so disappointed.
Beardie is the best.
[...] see, kind of like the fine-dining telephone game. Last season, I thought this blindfolded shitshow evoked a certain Lynchian doom. This season, though? Straight vintage-ass Madonna, [...]
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