No, no, no Gene. No thumbs up. You served deconstructed surf-and-turf sushi at Gail Simmons's bridal shower, then neglected to tell the guests how to eat it. We won't reveal here whether or not Gene was eliminated for his misstep, but you can read all about it...
Note: We reveal the winner and loser below.
And yes, we are going to talk about the big surprise ending. But first, here's what we learned last night:
1. Hooray- a new spin on the name-that-ingredient challenge. We do love the quickfire where chefs have to identify a mystery ingredient, but in this season, they mixed it up. Chefs went head to head and basically bid on how many ingredients they could name in a prepared sauce. We think salt and pepper should have been off-limits, but it was still a good judge of palates.
2. There's no peanut butter in mole sauce. That was Carla's first guess in the final round. As opposed to, oh, say, salt. Nope, Carla went with peanut butter (and lost).
3. Carla is not giving up her cooky mantle anytime soon. The "Hootie-hoo" call she was doing up and down the aisles of Whole Foods? Priceless. Apparently this is how Carla and her husband find each other in a store. One yells, "Hootie," and the other responds, "Hoo." Too funny.
4. Stefan may be bossy, but he's often right. Ok, he was wrong about Jeff's heirloom tomato sorbet (everyone loved it), but he was soooo right about women not wanting to make their own food at a bridal shower, in reference to Gene's sushi rolls. We think the demonization of Stefan is unwarranted, so far. We still like him.
5. There's no food that's blue. So says Tom Colicchio. The teams all had a theme—old, new, borrowed, blue—and Tom said no food is actually blue. "Blueberries are purple." Hmm.
6. Italian accents make food taste better! Fabio could have put a plate of Spaghetti-O's in front of those women and gotten Oohs and Aahs. We also think the "blue" team's sea bass looked pretty good. It seemed the judges just needed another losing team at the table, so that all of the criticism wasn't focused on Gene, Danny, and Carla.
7. Don't sneak mushrooms into your teammate's dish. Carla is a dark horse, we think. Her salad was nice until Danny put mushrooms in without asking. And then he stood firm on his decision. His taste level just seemed to underwhelm the judges, and he was eliminated.
8. Jamie was not robbed. Radhika was! Ok, let's discuss. Ariane won for making a perfectly cooked lamb—which, by the way, Jamie was eager to take out of the oven too soon. Yes, Jamie had the Indian idea and the special spice for the carrots. But Radhika was the one who marinated the lamb that Ariane cooked! And it was her cuisine.
It was pretty funny to watch Ariane's face when she won. She was as shocked as everyone else. Are the producers just trying to keep it interesting? Or did she really deserve it? What do you think?
Related:
Episode 1: Ethnic Foods Galore
Episode 2: Hot Dogs and Angry Chefs
Episode 4: Lights, Camera, Kathie Lee Gifford
(Images: Bravo)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
On point 2, when I saw there was a mole sauce, I turned to my Hun and said there were probably nuts, like peanuts, in it. Every mole sauce I've made has had nuts in it, and I'm convinced that what she thought was peanut butter, was actually peanuts. And she impressed me with what she was able to taste in the challenge before that--I mean, everyone was guessing salt and vegetable oil, and she came up with fennel?!
I think Stefan comes across as more overbearing than he is. I wonder if it's a European thing--a combo of any language barrier (I mean, yes, he's fluent in English, but there's still intonation and inflection and all that) and an ability to be forthright, as opposed to Carla, who sucked in every opinion she had to offer.
Danny's mushroom sneak. Jesus. I would've impaled his hand to the table with a boning knife. Ok, maybe not, but some kind of takedown would've been fair.
I don't know if Ariane necessarily deserved the win, but my heart leapt when she chose to put that lamb back in the oven as opposed to just get something in the plate, as we've seen so many contestants mistakenly do throughout the show's history. It takes nerve to make that choice, especially with a room full of waiting chefs and exasperated teammates staring you down. If that lamb had failed, her team would have, too.
view OneWallKitchen's profile
I liked the ingredient challenge. My wife also thought that salt shouldn't have been included but I disagree--salt is perhaps the most important ingredient--we've seen people get into trouble on the show for not using it.
The service of the bridal shower was messed up as the lamb was served before the fish. I'm sure the lamb was better than the fish but it would have been interesting to see the reaction if it had been the last course. Would it still have blown them away? And what's up with no dessert?
Stefan is very nuts and bolts. It wouldn't doubt that his business is very successful. He knew that the sorbet was a gamble--if the timing was right it would work, if not--failure. Obviously they got lucky with the hot lights, director's whims, etc.
I think the highlight of the episode (besides discovering a personal connection regarding the show) was the whole cast jumping in to help plate the lamb team's dish. That speaks for the quality of the dish as well as the character of the team. It's hard for anyone not to get behind something that they believe in.
view art's profile
Does Carla drive anyone else nuts? I cringe during her interviews.
view guttersnipe's profile
Gene should have been the one to go last night. He ruined the rice, then had a horrible cover up. On top of that, he changed to the whole "build your own sushi" idea which was a horrible lapse of judgment. Danny did sabotage the salad with mushrooms but how Gene sneaked by without getting cut was a miracle to me.
view allijean's profile
I completely agree that Radhika was the person who should've won the challenge. So far I've liked Jamie and I get why she's frustrated about being in the top but not winning, but she's getting annoying and whiny about it now. Good call on using the spice blend for the carrots, but Radhika was the one who made the lamb taste so good.
I'm fine with Danny being eliminated. I don't see how they could've kept him after he admitted to liking his team's dish and basically ruining Carla's salad. Eugene certainly would've been next on my list to go. I feel like he's made very little that hasn't been sushi, and even his sushi hasn't been that great.
view Heidz's profile
Having seen how many people screw up cooking lamb every season, maybe the judges were just relieved to find someone who can cook it right.
Jamie has indeed become annoying and whiny.
view jyw's profile
i like jamie, but she's gotta do something other than puree a vegetable one of these days to win!
view mrs's profile
I didn't mind seeing Ariane win since she had the good judgment call about cooking the lamb those extra few minutes, but I was disappointed to see not one nod to Radhika for the marinate or the yogurt sauce. Did the judges even know Radhika's contributions to the dish? Perhaps there was just a poor job of editing.
view aftermath's profile