By The Wiz
I can’t help but think that this would have been a veeerrryyy different episode had the quickfire gone a different way.
She was debating between Antonia and Dale, and had Dale won, well, then, he would have been on the dream team and we could possibly have said good-bye to Lisa, Spike, or Antonia.
As it is, as goes the restaurant, so goes the executive chef. It reminds me of when Tre left last season. I was so sad.
But, seriously, this was the worst beating on Top Chef I have ever seen. They could find nothing wrong with Dream Team’s restaurant. Oh the drama! Grit! We must wash the clams again! (I will admit to having flashbacks of the scales incident.) The only thing the judges didn’t like - the schmear on the dessert plate. Extraordinarily minor compared to the catastrophe that was Mai Buddha. Extraordinarily minor compared to..well..everything.
(Who wants gorgonzola cheesecake? I do! I do!)
I will admit to wishing Lisa had won the coin toss and gotten the executive chef role, then we wouldn’t be faced with possibly having to watch while she whines her way through the finals. Holy cow. I really want to think that some of this is editing, she can’t possibly be this unpleasant, can she?
I thought she was going to leave. I have never heard of Laksa, but apparently hers was nasty. That “baby vomit with wood chips” sure looked GREAT. The woman is like me - she can’t cook rice. Keep her AWAY from the rice, people. Did we learn NOTHING from last week? Dale did make that butterscotch weirdness, but they did like his dumpling at least. Well, a little, anyway.
There wasn’t one truly successful dish on their menu, (the short rib - maybe) while Dream Team didn’t have a dud among them. It must have been hard for the editors to try to make it look like it possibly could have been close, although they didn’t succeed if they tried. It was such a KO, it was impossible to pretend it was anything else.
Dream Team did it right - they didn’t overshoot, they kept it simple and clean, and they won for it. Every other restaurant wars episode has been a train wreck, I think largely because the chefs didn’t want to keep things simple, they always overshot the mark.
Stephanie finally gets a big prize for her win! Yay!
Anthony Bourdain rocks my world. I love him.
Spike is big on covering himself and not taking risks. Well, you go hang buddhas, Spike. Enjoy.
Final Four: Stephanie, Richard, Antonia, and……Spike?
Next to go: Please let it be Lisa. No more staying on technicalities!
Winner: I don’t care anymore. Richard, Stephanie, or Antonia would be OK with me. Just not Spike or Lisa.
Oh, golly, I wanted to jump through the screen when they didn’t send Lisa. I was yelling at the TV- at 11 o’clock at night!
I know Dale totally botched this one, but you are so right- if he had won the coin toss, he would still be there, and we wouldn’t have to endure another week of lemon-sucking, dour, sour-puss, bad attitude, icky-poo Lisa. I mean, really, could the chick possibly be ANY more unpleasant??
Spike. Spike just gives me the gleets. He’s like a freaking used-car salesman; he is slick and slimy.
I was so glad Stephanie won! She was so cute, too, in her dress and boots.
I have a total foodie-crush on Anthony Bourdain. Him and Alton Brown. I’m such a geek.
Comment #1 by Tracy MMay 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 amIt’s amazing someone can make the top-5 by being the 2nd worst every week. Lisa’s the worst top-fiver in the history of the show.
Comment #2 by Tim J.May 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 amYes! YES! She IS, isn’t she?? And that’s exactly what has happened- she is the 2nd worst every week- that’s the only reason she’s still there!
Comment #3 by Tracy MMay 22nd, 2008 at 8:57 amI agree 1000%. Also, I have a question for you all - do you think it would have gone a different way if Tom had been judging?
Comment #4 by The WizMay 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 amInteresting question. But has there ever been a restaurant war where the exec. chef didn’t go home? I think the result would have been the same. I do think Tom would have nit-picked the winners a little more.
Comment #5 by Tim J.May 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 amI dunno- Tom might have sent Lisa- he knows a lot more of her history than Bourdain does- I mean, we’re seeing this spread out over weeks, but they lived it in a compressed fashion, and Bourdain didn’t know her past foibles.
It just makes me ill that Lisa is still there. Dale was a much better cook than she is.
Comment #6 by Tracy MMay 22nd, 2008 at 10:20 amoh that Lisa is such a backstabbing hack!
Comment #7 by Steve EvansMay 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 amThis episode was gut wrenching for me. To see Dale go home before Spike or Lisa is just a huge error on the part of the judges.
I think using the logic of “it’s the executive chef who hangs” is wrong-headed for certain. Why? Well, Antonia didn’t get the prize, she was exec chef on this one. So following that logic Lisa should have gone home. She is the worst kind of person. She really thinks she’s beat Dale. Dream on sweetie, not happening in real life. She may get a little farther down the road on this show, but she’ll be some mid range chef her whole life. Because she is an awful person.
What a huge disappointment. (as if you guys couldn’t read that into my rant)
Loved the Richard team of course.
Comment #8 by chroniclerMay 22nd, 2008 at 11:02 amYeah, I think Tom probably would have had her pack her knives and go! Go! get the heck outta here!
Comment #9 by chroniclerMay 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 amI agree it would have been interesting to see what would have happened has Dale won the quickfire (which he came close to doing). While he has one big weakness (too much Asian food) I honestly thought he’d be in the final 3. However this put him right in his achilles heel. Having to work with Spike and Lisa. I honestly can’t figure out why he wanted to be the executive chef. Were I he I’d have been wanting to do what Spike did and stay as far away from Lisa as I could. This was a huge strategic blunder on his part.
I’m not sure Tom would have sent Lisa home. In restaurant wars the executive chef really carries a lot of the burden. And Dale just didn’t have solid food in his productions. How much of that was Lisa and Spike’s fault I can’t say. He got frazzled when he accidentally put the bad avacado into his dish. But that just doesn’t excuse what he did. And after the wedding wars he should have known what was coming.
Like you said it would have been much, much more interesting to have seen what would have happened with Dale winning the quickfire.
Comment #10 by ClarkMay 22nd, 2008 at 11:48 amIt would have been a whole different show- Dale would have picked Steph and Richard, and Lisa would have gone home.
Comment #11 by Tracy MMay 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 pmYep, yes, yes. ugh. I think what bothers me most is that Lisa was obviously chosen to participate in TC4 because of her personality. It must have shown in the tryouts as well, and the producers thought she’d be great in the mix. Well, boy howdy, has it worked out. Problem is that now she thinks she’s TC material. I cannot even imagine what she might be like to work with in the future. Glad I don’t live anywhere near her.
Comment #12 by chroniclerMay 22nd, 2008 at 4:18 pmI thought my head would explode when Lisa started in with the whole rice thing again. Enough with the rice! Get over the rice! I can’t believe she didn’t go home. Unpleasant is the nicest word I could use to describe her.
Dale has been a hothead, but his exit interview kind of broke my heart. I was very sad to see him go. Very sad.
Comment #13 by bythelbsMay 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 pmI was yelling at my TV. I can’t believe they sent Dale home before Lisa and Spike. Based on just that challenge, yeah, maybe. But based on logic, and the fact that this is supposed to be a contest to find the top chef? NO WAY. BOO.
Comment #14 by SueMay 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 pmbeen working alll ding dong day… my 2cents is late but gotta get it outa my head… Dale is a hot head.. but a good cook… did the ‘only asian’ cooking destroy him?… he could never be the ‘front guy’ he likes to be in control… so I knew spike would get a pass… but honestly… do they NOT take history into consideration… luck seems to be a part of the game.. when it is a fail it is a fail… no matter how many terrific passes you had before… but spike and lisa… seem almost like they helped dale to fail… really bugged me… dishonesty better not pay for those two.. this darn episode is playing on my nerves… I am gonna crack I telya… and the TV will be the one to pay TC does not seem to care if I am happy about the show… hmmmm
Comment #15 by nancyMay 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 pmnancyw
The reason less history was taken in account was probably because Tom wasn’t there. But in this case I don’t think the history (Dale won a lot) would have kept him there. They say they don’t take history into consideration but of course they do (otherwise Stephanie would be long gone). I just don’t think history is enough to trump everything. Had Dale done at least one killer dish he may have survived. But he didn’t so he didn’t.
Comment #16 by ClarkMay 23rd, 2008 at 10:30 am