What did he say?? I missed that part!
After he won TC2, Ilan gave one of those mini interviews where he was going on and on about Harold being a boring individual and that his style of cooking was boring. He (Ilan) was going to be the more exciting Top Chef.
Always thought Season 1 was more about food and Season 2 was more about dysfunctional personality.
OK, fixed.
You're right, of course!
Random thoughts on last night's All Star episode:
Quickfire Challenge: Having professional chefs cook eggs with one hand behing their backs is just stupid. OK, producers? Stephen's omellette looked wonderful but I really wanted to taste Harold's egg dish. Sam's looked really good too, though.
When the chefs went back to the hotel, I loved that Harold told Marcel to grow up. Coming from any of the S1 contestants, that would have been good, but Harold's the dean of the cheftestants IMO and I just loved that he smacked Marcel down but good.
I'm happy to say that Ilan came across as the most disorganized, scatterbrained and unprepared of any of the 8 chefs. He also seems to have not a clue as to where his career is going. Suddenly, he was challenged to prepare something other than Spanish cuisine and he couldn't handle it. I can't stand that little creep.
OTOH, Harold's new NYC restaurant,
Perilla, is almost ready to open in the West Village. I'd love to eat there someday.
Elimination Challenge:
If Stephen would have allowed Dave to make the Floribbean style scallops as he wanted to, I'd bet that the S1 team would have won in a shut out. I didn't really see any of the chefs explaining to the judges that they were going for a Mediterranean theme with their dishes. Dave's original prep for the scallops sounded much more appealing than what he ultimately prepared.
In the head to head challenges, I love that Stephen/Marcel and Harold/Ilan ended up competing against each other. It was perfect. Stephen's lobster dish looked to me to be the best dish of the night. Marcel: Foam and gelee, ugh, enough already. And, even though the judges weren't raving over Harold's duck meatballs w. gnocchi, it was great that he beat Ilan in my book. I would love to have tasted the meatballs. I thought that was a very clever preparation. Obviously, I'm glad Ilan's dish fell flat. It seemed that Ilan's dish was the worst overall according to the judges.
The only head to head I thought was close was Tiffany/Sam. Both Kobe beef preparations looked delicious. I think Sam could have won easily but the judges wanted a clear victory for the S1 team (as did I.) They're both talented chefs no matter what.
All in all, it was a fun episode last night. I really hope that Season 3 focuses more on the food and less on the personalities but TC is a reality show first, cooking show second so I'm not holding out all that much hope.
Slightly off topic: Is anyone other than me watching
The Next Food Network Star on Sunday nights? I didn't watch last season, but my son did and he liked it better than
Top Chef so I'm giving it a try. Anyone else?
TC Season 3 here we come...