He is absolutely, hands down, no question my least favorite. His personality reads fake and a show off, not a fan at all. Last week when he mentioned his TV show ... gag. And then this week during the quick fire, just everything he does rubs me wrong way.
Although, I have to say Leann was responsible for her hummus dish. I can't fault him for that. Leann is not in the zone, she has stumbled throughout this competition especially after pouring oil on the grill fire a few challenges back. I hope she can get out of her own head.
I'm tired of Jen Carroll coming back and being on several seasons. And she always has something go wrong, where she gets to be a victim. It's never her fault. ENOUGH ALREADY!
The task: Make anything you want, but you can only cook using the deep fryer.
Challenger is pretty confident with this task, to the point of deep frying some pork chops. Which... yeah that sounds pretty good. They mention that they decided to do this "during a Jewish holiday". From what I see, the show was taped in September/October last year, so you could extend benefit of the doubt and say that they filmed these first rounds of LCK duing Rosh Hashanah... but it's likely that they're saying this knowing that the episode would air around Passover.
Champion is kind of all over the place, at one point scrapping his sweet potatoes as they tasted like oil. Which... yeah. He ends up pivoting and doing things like frying cheese. Which is never a bad thing... if you're at a bar.
So in the end we have:
Challenger - Fried pork chop with latkes, applesauce and fried brussels sprouts
Champion - Fried goat cheese and mozzarella with tomato and corn jam.
Tom says it's a "close one", but I don't believe him. And sure enough, your winner is
Lisa. Successfully deep frying a protein like she did, combined with a fried cheese from Joe was, in my mind, a pretty easy call.
That's more or less what the challenger said. But it was weird that they'd even mention that when you kind of knew that they would shrug their shoulders and carry on.
So Episode 4
- We get some sort of boys vs girls thing, leading to a weird segue about Karen, Nini and Stephanie being "Padma's Angels"
- Nini really has a lot of jumpsuit/coverall-type outfits.
- Quickfire guest judge is Kelly Clarkson. Famous for
and winning American Idol or something.
- Apparently she's in that Trolls movie that streaming in your house real soon... assuming you pony up the money for it because your kids are getting on your last nerve.
- Quickfire is to take a bunch of random ingredients to make a dish, and each of those ingredients must correspond to a colour on a palette/colour wheel/whatever.
- Gregory talks about all his quickfire wins. I believe this is called "foreshadowing".
- Starting to get obsessed with Gregory's leather/pleather jacket/vest thingie.
- Malarkey tries to make a curry ice cream, and says something to the effect of it being the weirdest ice cream ever. Iron Chef Sakai and his trout ice cream beg to differ.
- I do love seeing the Quickfires because it seems like the chefs really go for it when there isn't anything at stake. Well aside from tickets to a Trolls premiere. Which I presume never actually happened, because you know.
- Gregory wins the Quickfire with a vegan soup
- Elimination Challenge: In teams, create a progressive 6-course dinner, including dessert, using food purchased at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. Oh and the dinner will be vegetarian.
- Teams are determined through knife draw. Blue team: Eric, Gregory, Karen, Jenn, Kevin and Melissa. Red team: Malarkey, Bryan, Lee Anne, Nini, Stephanie, Lisa
- Malarkey senses an imbalance of teams. This is also what might be called "foreshadowing".
- One team appears to be letting the market dictate parts of the menu. The other is somewhat fixated on doing what they do.
- Bryan can't find mushrooms as the regular shroom guy is not there. He has a restaurant in Santa Monica, so I guess he knows the shroom guy? Regardless, he needs to pivot.
- Nini claims that her dessert will be great. I'm always worried when chefs prematurely claim that their dish will be great.
- Malarkey is making what amounts to an upscale calabrese salad. Lee Anne, not to be outdone, is doing veggies and dip. Lisa deep fries brussels sprouts.
- Service... look, after 3 dishes it's pretty clear which team will win. After that, it's about who gets the win, who's in, and who's out.
- Oops, wrong show. I meant who has to pack their knives and go.
- Blue team wins, because they had superior food and had a logical progression
- And your winner... Melissa, with a corn chowder based in part on corn soup she had as a kid.
- Red team is the bottom, but the previous comments on Stephanie, Bryan and Nini's dishes made it clear that they were safe. Really need to stop doubting Nini, unless it's Restaurant Wars.
- Malarkey and Lee Anne were on the bottom again. I think this was Lisa's first time?
The person who lost in LCK really gave up in the challenge. Make a fried dish... "I don't fry food, typically." The chef who one was stoked at the prospect.
-I also predict Kevin and Melissa in the final four
-I'm honestly good with anyone but Jen winning.
-My celebrity crushes used to be actresses and the occasional singer. But now they're chefs and/or food personalities: I'm looking at you, Gail Simmons and Giada.
My celebrity crushes used to be actresses and the occasional singer. But now they're chefs and/or food personalities: I'm looking at you, Gail Simmons and Giada.
Not a fan of Giada. She comes off a bit disingenuous to me. She appears to be nice but just like giving Alex Gurnaschelli top seed in a cooking competition, it doesn't feel quite right.
Episode 5 - "Bring Your Loved Ones to Work"
- After last week's elimination, Lee Anne and Malarkey make up.
Quickfire
- The chefs roll into the kitchen to find Product Placement Phones at their prep stations
- One by one, they get calls from loved ones. Weird that we get this on two different shows on the same week.
- Loved ones are eating one of three dishes at Mozza, and the chefs must recreate the dishes based on descriptions (without photos) of their meal.
- There's a 3rd Voltaggio, and she's a pastry chef.
- Speaking of Gail, they need to bring back Top Chef: Just Desserts.
- Jen's sister cannot distinguish between chicken and fish. This may be a problem.
- Kevin's wife is quite clinical when it comes to describing the food.
- Melissa is the only person to have a friend as opposed to a relative/spouse. Guess her parents couldn't make it/didn't want to be on TV. Don't know if she has a girlfriend or not.
- Nini's mom appears to not have taste buds, because she can't taste arugula or balsamic glaze.
- Lee Anne's mom appears to stop caring about halfway through, deciding to eat her steak instead of relaying information.
- Guest judge is Nancy Silverton
- Bottom dish was Voltaggio, as his sister whiffed on the type of fish and the toppings.
- Top dishes: Mel, Kevin and Lee Anne
- Kevin wins immunity and $10,000. He rightly points out that it's probably going to his wife.
Elimination
- Chefs must create a "signature" item that people can "purchase" and take home with them
- They'll be serving food at Westfield Century City. Chef with the most "purchases" gets an immunity
- Loved ones will be helping to prep and serve the food
- The chefs seem to all get what the challenge is calling for. Which is good, because I didn't at first.
- But some chefs understand better than others. The chefs who are visible minorities are all going for ethnic-style items. Which is smart - the "guests" that Top Chef recruits tend to be foodies, and they probably don't want something they can get at a Whole Foods or Safeway.
- Meanwhile, Malarkey is making a herb/vegetable thing that will most definitely not look very bright the next day
- Stephanie is making a sauce of some sort
- Volt is doing a calamari bolognese, which sounds pretty darn good to me
- Eric is making doubles with a calypso pepper sauce. Doubles are surprisingly hard to find on the east side of the GTA. Stuff those things with channa and hot sauce... amazing street food.
- Jen is making a lemon ginger sauce that sounds pretty good. She decides to add some yogurt to it for some reason, and I'm thinking that this is not a good idea.
- Lee Anne's mom collapses in the kitchen, causing everyone to involuntarily stop everything while she's attended to. Thankfully it's nothing serious, but she's done for the day.
- Some of the other chefs/loved ones help Lee Anne finish her prep, which is really nice of them
- Serve day, as expected, has people really loving the ethnic foods and flavours.
- Lee Anne's mom is back, stuffing dumplings as if nothing happened.
Judge's Table
- Melissa wins people's choice with 31 tickets.
- Top 3 are Gregory (Haitian pickles), Nini (Ngoc Mam) and Eric (Pepper sauce).
- Gregory gets the win
- Bottom 3 are Malarkey, Stephanie and Jen
- And sent to LCK:
Jen. Malarkey is becoming a less annoying Josie. Doing just better than someone else, but needs to get better at his under-bus tossing
Ugh, this episode solidifies why I am not a fan of Malarkey. So pompous!!! Yes, as you said on the show you are both an ******* and a dick. However, the look his wife gave the camera when she was helping him in the kitchen was everything. God bless her for dealing with him everyday, I know I couldn't last 10 minutes.
Obviously, I wanted Malarkey gone. His relish did not look appetizing at all, it separated in the jar. He would've been better off putting it in a small plastic container like you find for salsa or hummus. Although Jen's sounded better than Stephanie's, I imagine the chunks of ginger were off very putting.
And man, I feel sorry for LeeAnn next week. They weren't on the best grounds after the vegetarian challenge, and she gets stuck with him?! NOO!! His personality is so overwhelming, his condescension in the check out line. I hope she doesn't go home due to being paired with him. She had some redemption today, I hope it won't fade with next weeks challenge.
Yeah, Malarkey is a jerk, for sure. I'm more annoyed that they give him so much air time. He's NOT. THAT. INTERESTING! And I'm a fan of so many chefs on the show, I'd love to see more of Melissa, Kevin, Bryan, Eric, Gregory...most of them, for sure! But yet--we have to have the segue of Brian's little book listing how great all the chefs are, with him on top, of course, because he has no self-awareness.
I always had my favorites (he was never one of them), but I don't recall him being on the top of my list to eliminate either. Man alive, he is now! My investment in the show is ridiculous because I will be literally clapping and cheering when he is told to pack his knives and go.
Last Chance Kitchen #4 - Wait... Tom's Cooking?
- So this week we've got
Lisa (C) vs Jen
- In a shocking twist, the challenger didn't think they should've been eliminated. Yeah, I know.
- The Challenge - it's a sauce off, and Tom is cooking the protein.
- No time on the clock, because the sauce must be ready once Tom is done cooking.
- Everytime we see Tom cook on this show (What Would Tom Cook notwithstanding, because wine) it's been pretty fast, so this should be interesting.
- Champ is hoping Tom chooses something on the bone, since that takes longer
- Hot pot sliced pork and a veal cutlet are rejected.
- Tom selects a bone in ribeye, which the challenger estimates will take about 20 minutes.
- Challenger was a saucier at one point, that should be something of an advantage.
- Champ wants to do a sauce that doesn't require a lot of cook time. They actually want to get one done in 10 minutes.
- So the idea is to do a chimichurri with... Maggi sauce? Interesting.
- Aside: I often use Maggi sauce, garlic and herbs as a marinade for grilled meats.
- Peanut gallery is giving updates on what Tom's doing, which is nice of them.
- Challenger appears to be throwing the kitchen sink into the sauce.
- Tom is actually going rather casual with his speed. His steak, by the way, looks great.
- And as I say that, the steak is put into the wood burning oven.
- This creates problems for both chefs, as the challenger doesn't think that they'll have enough time, and the champ has too much time, leading to some fiddling with the sauce.
- Steak is out and resting.
Champ: Maggi Chimichurri sauce. Tom notes that it's more of a condiment than a saucy sauce
Challenger: Beef au jus with harissa, lemon, ginger, garlic and dates.
The Winner:
Lisa (2). Jen's sauce was just a bit too thin. And next week is a play-in battle. Winner returns, loser stays on Edge of Extinction, probably.
The person who lost in LCK really gave up in the challenge. Make a fried dish... "I don't fry food, typically." The chef who one was stoked at the prospect.
And then this week during the quick fire, just everything he does rubs me wrong way.
I wonder if one of his relatives was the start of that phrase. 
I hope she doesn't go home due to being paired with him. She had some redemption today, I hope it won't fade with next weeks challenge.
