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I absolutely love Bourdain. They should definitely utilize him more.

As for the cook-off, there is no way that Dale should have left before Lisa. No way.

The way I see it, there were three apples on the losing team.

One apple wasn't quite to my liking and the other two apples were rotten to the core.

If I were a judge I would have thrown BOTH of the rotten apples in the garbage and give the blah apple a chance to ripen.

It was a ridiculous decision that must have been motivated by something behind the scenes.

To me, simple logic was not employed by the judges here. One cook possesses at least some qualities of a winner. Top Chef should be absolutely embarrassed if Spike or Lisa makes it to the finals or wins the competition as they possess zero qualities of a winner. So, Top Chef made a poor investment in their own future and their integrity.

That said, if Dale weren't such an a-hole sometimes, he wouldn't always end up with the loser team. Ironically, this experience was probably what he needed to get him ahead in the real world and that can get him farther than a 5 minutes of glory television show.

The best line of the show--"I'm not a big fan of the smear."

Stephanie really comes off as the consummate professional. Her former experience as a restaurant owner and operator really came through in this challenge. She could definitely win. But does someone who already had and lost a restaurant want another one?

Totally agree....but I'm sure that Bravo thinks they need a villian to keep the ratings up. That's why you'll see Lisa or Spike (how the hell has he gotten this far with so little talent) make it further than we expect.

It seemed like Dale was progressively losing his cool over during the last 3 or so episodes, making it harder for him to work with the more obnoxious contestants. I don't think he deserved to go, though, since nothing Lisa made turned out even halfway decent and Dale's track record for good dishes is WAY better than Lisa or Spike.

Speaking of Spike, he should have been gone so long ago. He's managed to stay aboard through cunning, and while that may be some kind of skill, it's definitely doesn't make him worthy of any of the people left in the competition. ugh, how can someone who is constantly churning out mundane crap still be in it at this point? ugh.

Does anyone know the name of the breakfast place where they had the Quickfire challenge? I missed the beginning and love a good breakfast spot =)

I've heard that Stephanie closed her restaurant (Scylla) to be on the show. I think it had been fairly successful and well received critically. I certainly hope she wants another restaurant, because I want to eat there.

mrsemerald: the breakfast place was Lou Mitchell's

Dale's elimination was a "Great Cook, Awful Chef" elimination. I want him to cook me dinner, but I don't want to go anywhere near a resaturant where he has to get along with anyone in order to make a decent meal. I did think it was cute how emotional he got.

Dale was an a-hole and clearly wasn't going to win Top Chef but seriously, he goes before Lisa and Spike?? Dale made huge mistakes this episode but he was working with 2 of the biggest doofuses on the show - he was doomed to lose. I think if Tom had been there he would have saved Dale based on his past performances. My favorite line last night was "You're not talking to your parole officer." ha ha!!

@Nikita,

I thought the same thing--If Tom was there Dale wouldn't have gotten kicked off.

@shikaakwa,

Stephanie had already re-concepted her restaurant to try to keep it going so I'm not sure if she left it to be on the show.

@mrsemerald,

unless you like bad diner food that's not cheap and you like to wait in line when you are hungry, you won't like Lou Mitchell's.

I can't help but compare how many times Dale has been in the top to how many times Lisa and spike have been in the bottom. They're around because other people choked.

I agree that there was probably behind-the-scenes commentary that might make the decision make more sense, since they said they were in agreement. I'm not sure Tom would have done differently--he helped eliminate Tre in S3--also a head chef with a bad dish in restaurant wars.

I disagree that Dale is an a-hole who can't work with others. Every time he worked with Richard they worked well. He worked well with the good people. Lisa and Spike brought out the worst in him.

Any hope that we could get them both eliminated next week so we can fast forward to the good chefs, and neither of their undeserving selves make it any further.

One more thought about this debacle.

There was absolutely no discussion in the judging about the themes of the restaurants. Is that not an important element of restaurant wars?

There was one snipet of Bourdain questioning the relevancy of a particular dish in a gastro pub setting during the tasting. Why was that not revisited. Did the winning team earn points for the gastro pub idea? Did the other team earn points for sticking to their Asian theme?

I know it's pointless...the more you think about it, the more credibility the show loses.

Oh yeah, and the mean girl ruined rice two times. Duh judges. She spoon fed you guys bad rice two times! Suckers! Third times a charm!

i don't think it's fair..they already proved those two pairs are the best and worst working together..why do it again? it's roadkill in a sense. dale shouldn't have gone home because of the point you bring up imo. both were negative, one just expressed it physically as well as verbally. to me some challenges need to be redone or just thrown out, because the restaurant wars, the wedding wars, and a few other challenges are always done poorly, no matter which season it is..hum....that's right judges.

i think anthony is extremly rude just for the cameras. i think he can get the point across without being such a rough character.

It seems that the advantage for this week's quickfire made for an unfair competition. The fact that Antonia was allowed to handpick her team left Dale screwed. Honestly who in their right mind would pick Spike or Lisa. They are completely useless in a team.

With the contestants that are left, I'm sorry to say will make for a weak finale. Richard (who is a shoe-in to win) and Stephanie are great, but others that are left clearly need to be weeded out before then.

Seems to me -- strictly a producers' decision not the choice of the judges.
See the same thing happen on other shows (Wendy Pepper on Project Runway Season 1).

And I just want to add, I have a couple coworkers like Lisa. People like that are really aggravating and probably the worst to work with. They never learn and they never think about their own responsibility.