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Top Chef Las Vegas: Angels and Devils

2009_09_24-topchef-pt.jpgThere was no shortage of personalities on this week's episode of Top Chef with guests Penn and Teller and Michelle Bernstein, and the return of judge Toby Young.

Note: We reveal the winner and losers below ...

 
 

2009_09_24-topchef-kevin.jpgWith the cheftestants' numbers dwindling, tensions were flaring – as they often do. This week's episode delivered plenty of cattiness, rolled eyes and bruised egos – oh, and some food too. Here are a few of our thoughts:

  1. Someone packed a lot of red scarves. The remaining chefs seemed pretty bummed about Mattin's exit last week. In his honor, they all wore a red scarf to the quickfire. Aww. We love it when everyone comes together.... And then they promptly commenced with the backbiting.
  2. No love for Robin. The rest of the chefs also seemed to be in agreement that they wanted Robin gone. Laurine complained about her constant talking in the kitchen, which was followed by a short clip of Robin narrating her progress. OK, a little annoying. Eli took great offense to her quickfire story about embracing healthy foods through her battle with cancer, and nearly everyone's eyes rolled when she won. Here's the thing – Michelle Bernstein is no stranger to Top Chef, and she's proven herself to be a pretty tough judge in the past. Whether the cancer story was a cheap ploy or not, Robin wouldn't have won the challenge without great-tasting food. Period. It may not have been a fancy, high-concept dish, but as we've seen on Top Chef so many times before, that's rarely the point. And in our opinion, Robin is hardly the only contestant who has skated by on sub-par dishes in past episodes.
  3. Eggs Foreign to Me. The elimination challenge had the chefs deconstructing classic dishes. Mike I. pulled Eggs Florentine, and had a hard time figuring out exactly what goes into the dish. He asked around and some of the other chefs were confused about it too. Either that, or they were messing with him.
  4. No Toby, that is how you say paella. Toby Young made his return to judges' table and got right to the snarky comments. (According to his Bravo blog, he was scheduled to judge an earlier episode, but a bike accident left him TUFTY - "too ugly for telly.") He dug in his British heels on the pronunciation of paella, arguing that American's don't say 'Meh-hee-co,' so why say 'pie-ey-a?' Michelle Bernstein promptly noted that she is Latin, and does, in fact, use the Spanish pronunciation of Mexico. So there. But call it whatever you want – Ron's paella was deemed neither deconstructed nor good, and he was sent knife packing. There didn't seem to be any argument about the pronunciation of mole, and Kevin's interpretation made him the week's winner.

Next week, it looks like the chefs will be doing some home cooking. That should be interesting!

So, what did you think of this week's episode?

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Previous Top Chef Las Vegas Roundups
Week 5: Foam on the Range
Week 4: All Things French
Week 3: The Best of Plates, The Worst of Plates
Week 2: A Shot At Love With Tequila

(Images: Bravo)

Tags

Food TV, Top Chef, Las Vegas, Michelle Bernstein, Penn and Teller

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Comments (9)

Now when Toby Young appears I am channeling my inner Carla and pleading "Gail?"

posted by FromTheFuture on September 24th 2009 at 10:44am
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Is anyone else getting tired of Eli proclaiming that he is the best chef there? I think not...

Mattin might have be loved by his fellow chefs, but his food never appealed to me, or his attitude - sort of childish.

Also, when the cheftestants are bitching about Robin (or anyone else), do you feel that they are posing/staging their comments for the ever-present cameras? It felt like that, a little, when Laurine was complaining about Robin.

posted by jgphotomom on September 24th 2009 at 11:33am
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I'm just glad that Ashley is finally cooking. See how much time you have to cook good food when you're not too busy whining about gay marriage?

posted by Cupajo on September 24th 2009 at 12:31pm
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I thought most of the deconstructed foods looked silly. Just make a stupid ceaser salad already. Maybe I was in a bad mood last night :)

posted by Nikita on September 24th 2009 at 12:38pm
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I'm loving Kevin. Great chef, no attitude. Here's hoping he goes all the way.

posted by hyperRevue on September 24th 2009 at 1:26pm
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I'm not a fan of Robin, but she took the challenge (Good vs. Evil) and nailed it. Salad or Dessert...brilliant (whether she meant it to be or not).

posted by cweingarten on September 24th 2009 at 2:19pm
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Oh these shows always have producers ask tons of questions and then figure out how they'll stage things. So Robin was probably talking and some producer says, "Laurine, tell me about Robin in the kitchen. So she talks a lot? How do you feel about that? Tell me more!"

The chefs aren't the only ones stirring the pot on this show!

posted by percent on September 24th 2009 at 5:57pm
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Ron's paella: it kind of looks like barf.
Robin: after seeing Mike I complain about her incessant talking in next weeks previews, maybe she is a weirdo.
Kevin: love him. Not just because my name is Kevin. He's awesome. I feel like the elder brother and him are the best chefs. Jennifer too. You don't get a job for Eric Rippert without being a badass.
Ashley: I love her more than Kevin. Such a cute little lesbian.

posted by Detective Ventriloquist on September 24th 2009 at 8:44pm
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@ cupajo

Whining about gay marriage? That was like one episode, and probably mostly creative editing.

Why shouldn't she be upset about the fact that Americans don't have gay marriage?

posted by quitecaro on September 24th 2009 at 10:11pm
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