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Top Chef Las Vegas: It Is All About the Pork
October 14, 2009 08:26 PM by DA Southern
Top Chef Las Vegas gives us more family time, well more of a dysfunctional family, as Robin continues trying to fit in as most don’t believe she belongs. In the process, the chefs will cross paths will renowned chef, Charlie Palmer, and the competition between the brothers will start to boil over. My, oh my, just another day on the Las Vegas strip on Top Chef Las Vegas.
The Quickfire Challenge
Eli and Michael were seen commiserating about their poor showing in the last challenge and Robin was again seen hacking off everyone with her mere presence in the house. Off the chefs went to the Quickfire where host, Padma Lakshmi and  Chef Charlie Palmer were waiting for them.  The art of pairing was the focus of the Quickfire as the chefs were pairing Alexia snacks with other stuff to create dishes with funny names and even quirkier flavoring. The brothers, Michael and Bryan, who both worked under Chef Palmer, were singled out as having worked with the chef, which meant they would probably not win the Quickfire.
Chef Palmer and Padma toured the dishes and all of the chefs seemed to be fairly confident in their dishes and Palmer didn’t act like he didn’t like any of them, except for Ash and Jennifer, whose pork chop was overdone. Robin, Ash and Jennifer were called out as bad and Eli, Bryan and the perennial star, Kevin, came out on top, but Eli got himself into some momentum as he picked up the Quickfire win, his first in the competition.
The Elimination Challenge
The challenge was all about pork as the chefs picked knifes with various meats on each of the knifes. The chefs had to pair the dishes for a dinner that would have Pinot Noir wine as the focus and the chefs got to sample the wine that would be focus for each of their dishes.
Eli has become our “I know better than most” spokesperson as he criticized several of the chefs for their bad wine choices and then managed to get into a confrontation with Robin as they cooked dinner for each other. What was so apparent was that the tension was so think you could cut it with a knife…a fine chef’s knife, that is.
The following day, the cooks went into as competitive as has ever been seen so far this season even to the point of the brothers, Michael and Bryan, getting on each other’s nerves and cussing at each other. The idea that they had to impress their former mentor, Chef Palmer, was indeed wearing on them in a big way, but it could cause one of them to go home, although that is probably not too likely.
Ash was taking a huge risk by not even cooking his pork tenderloin opting to serve it cold and Eli was concerned about the simplicity of his dish. Jennifer was doing her version of pork and beans and Michael V admitted that his dish was probably more “out there” than his brother, Bryan.
Chef Tom was in and was concerned about the number of the servings that many of the chefs had not yet finished. With one-hundred and fifty servings that each of the chef’s had to prepare, you could tell that several were as concerned as Colicchio was.
The guests and judges were in and Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine, Dana Cowin, joined Chef Tom, Palmer and Toby Young. Michael V’s dish was a hit; Ash was in trouble with his cold pork; Eli’s dish was good but not paired well with the wine; Kevin’s dish was a huge success; Mike I‘s dish was mixed; Bryan’s dish was a success; Jennifer’s dish was a hit; Laurine’s dish was called “cat food” and Robin’s dish was called “sliminess”. It definitely looks as though Robin, Ash and Laurine were in danger of being cut out of the competition like fat from the pork but the question as to whose dish was the worse, the cat food dish from Laurine, the slimy dish from Robin or the cold pork that Ash served.
The Judges Table
Padma called in Michael, Bryan, Kevin and Jennifer for the winning dish, basically the superstars of the bunch. Jennifer’s dish was called “the difference between a shaved armpit and a hairy armpit” by Toby young, which, believe it or not, was good. In the end, Chef Charlie Palmer gave the win to Kevin who again proved that he is a force to be reckoned with. Plus the fact that he said that he had a pig tattooed on his arm showed his determination to pork.
The losers, Ash, Laurine and Robin for the inevitable chastising and the remaining chefs were pulling for Robin to finally get the boot as they all thought she didn’t belong. Robin stood by her dish, which was probably her downfall; Ash thought his dish was too simple, but the judges thought that there was not enough seasoning and Laurine said she felt confident but that she ran out of time but looked like a fool when she didn’t actually know how to prepare part of her dish.
In the end, Ash was sent packing, irritating the rest of the chefs when Robin skirted the butcher’s knife once again. One thing has to be said about Robin, she has more lives than a cat and, while there is no chance that she will make it to the end, as she said, “She is here now.”
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Photo Credit: Bravo
Topics: Bravo Reality TV Shows, Top Chef |
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