The subtleties were not lost on us, were they eager readers? C.J. was taped chattering like a magpie. He's never been to New York, our next cheftestant destination, and he stated he was looking forward to going there. He also said that he has yet to reach his potential. My poll sitting below overwhelmingly shows that we hoi polloi thought he should be booted off. Regardless of all the signs, I thought it was especially harsh that he never got to step foot in Manhattan. The broccolini did him in, and it did look terrible on the plate. It must have been awful for C.J. to hear he made the single worst dish in the history of Top Chef.
However, his farewell was classy, and I will miss him.As for Casey, she had a sterling night, winning the elimination challenge two weeks in a row. There's hope for all of us: One doesn't need good kniving skills in order to make top chef. Congratulations, Casey!
8 comments:
i'm not sure how i feel about this challenge.
i thought it was a shock to say the broccolini was the worst thing in all three years. REALLY? REALLY?!?!!!!
i wonder.
poor CJ. sara's dish seemed worse overall, but i guess those broccolini were just that bad.
I wish they had spent more time going over exactly how a delightful veg like Broccolini goes from green to gross.
Also, I'm feeling like these latest developments might be a little choreographed. Casey's assention reeks like Sam's elimination from the second season. Obviously, it's time for a female Top Chef, but I don't see phenomenal femme in this among this crowd. Casey is utterly unimpressive as a contestant. In a word, ditsy. I'm not convinced that she's really rising to the top so much as being groomed for the finals. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but even when she cooks veal, something smells fishy.
I guess I hate broccoli anyway, so it makes me cringe no matter what. But even as a broccoli-hater--I mean, God would have to come down off a cloud and hand me perfectly cooked broccoli before it didn't make me cringe--that broccolini looked horrendous. I had a feeling his time was almost up, anyway, but seeing the brown blech-ish broccoli clinched it for me. Or him, I guess, really. :)
Colicchio's blog had an interesting point about Casey's onion escapade--apparently her knives weren't sharpened, so she couldn't make fast cuts. Not saying that made it less painful to watch, or less her fault that she was so slow, but it was nice to have some reason for someone who worked her way up from the bottom of the kitchen to have such poor choppin' skillz. (oneoneone)
I thought Hung was the winner of the Quickfire challenge, and that's why he got first choice of protein?
Wouldn't it have been wiser for Casey to take the time to sharpen her knives, if dullness really was the problem during the earlier challenge?
You're right, Jen. I was amazed that Casey won two elimination challenges in a row. In my haste to get this post published, I identified one of her wins as a quickfire challenge instead.
And that's an interesting observation about Casey's knives, Michelle. Knowing her knives were dull, one would think she would have opted to whisk the egg whites instead.
RVA foodie, I'm in total agreement. Neither female shines, unfortunately. Frankly, I'm amazed that Hung has won so few challenges. He consistently places at the top but never quite gets the prize.
So it's like you say, CB, I'm not sure how I feel about this challenge.
CJ . . . boo hoo hoo. i like CJ. sad for him.
i think naming the broccolini the single worst dish in three years is really harsh. there have been some really awful dishes over the years. broccolini is kind of an afterthought, anyway.
given what i've eaten on continental airlines, i was pretty shocked at the sight of that kitchen.
CJ deserved to go. Hung deserved to win the Quickfire and be in the safe group for the elimination. Dale also earned safe-group status. Casey deserved her victory in the elimination.
So, I agree with all the decisions.
And yet, I feel like I wasted 39 minutes of my life watching it.
Especially the 7 full minutes of Continental Airlines planes taking off and landing and parked.
Really lame quickfire concept. Fairly lame elimination challenge. Lame guest judge, once again.
Why can't Bravo devise challenges that are entertaining to view and true tests of Chef's skills?
RVA foodie... Bourdain on his blog said that it's very bitter unless it's boiled or braised. In this case, it was baked. Maybe that was it? Also, baking green veggies on their own usually turns them dark like that.
I guess it was the bitterness?
I'm not sorry to see CJ go. I don't know why, I just didn't like him.
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