I think that overlooking the pre-made pasta would have been easier if he had done more with it or besides what he did.
The restrictions on them were pretty amazing. with the exception of the vegan part, our God kids have the same limitations. (It STINKS) but there is a lot out there that they can eat, so I was suprised that the actress said she rarely eats cooked food.
That's called the Raw Foods diet. I've met a few people on that and they are fanatics.
one even went onto say how one of the oldest living people was a man from China who was 112 years old. He used him as an example, saying the man said he practiced Chinese traditional medicine and and only ate vegetables.
But I know a lot about Chinese traditional medicine, their herbology and practices like Chi Gung & such. The Chinese traditionally cook
everything including lettuce. Their 4000 year old research has shown that when you eat raw vegetables, the body actually has to work to produce extra enzymes and acids to "cook" the food inside the body to break it down. So the body has to actually do more work if you eat raw foods. Cooking breaks down foods to be more easily digested. Just because that old man said he was a vegetarian didn't mean it was RAW vegetables. If he was a traditionalist, it never would have occurred to him to have to say he cooked all his vegetables. It would be a given in the same way a Christian wouldn't have to state he believes in Christ.
An Indian woman was with us, and even she said that in her culture (which is mostly vegetarians too,) they also cook almost all their foods.
But this Raw Foods guy, and the few others I've met go nuts if you gently challenge their ideas that we are killing ourselves when we eat cooked foods.
The evidence doesn't bear them out. Since the first cave man's ability to make fire, mankind has grown in strength, resistance & age. The populations in both India & China are growing. Neither are on the verge of extinction.
Just like last week when Rick's meat grinder wasn't working and Art gave him his. Earlier in one of the challenges someone was having trouble with a mixer I believe and someone else gave up theirs and even took it to their station. This is what being a true chef is about!
The Top Chef kitchen needs some technician to go over it with a fine tooth comb. The ice cream/sorbet maker wasn't working earlier in the season. In fact, it wasn't working when Stefan, last season, tried to make a sorbet and ended up making a cold soup or something instead. I think someone else had that problem, earlier, too.
Maybe that's why Art didn't even bother making a sorbet. He'd have all the ingredients, but no maker to make it with.
He's definitely not the "type" I would go for as far as looks. Not sure how old he is. I guess I can't resist a man who cooks.
For someone who has to speak a lot, you'd think they'd get someone with a pleasant speaking voice. 
Here I am, 52 and 
with a TV Chef 
