Welcome back, Chicago foodies! We see the chefs in recovery mode the day after the meltdowns we witnessed last week. Jennifer is now calm, after kicking a chair the night before in true whiskey-dad fashion. You know the type: the kind that get all mean and shit after a few drinks, but are sweet as hell the next morning fixing pancakes while the kids shiver in fear at their plates, unsure if they can request eggs. Dale apologizes to Lisa in a way that sounds like, "I'm sorry I yelled at you…it's just that your personality sucks so hard." Lisa greasies, "Dale can go f*bomb himself."
Quickfire Challenge. The chefs walk into the kitchen to find pitchers of different beers lined up on the bar, behind which stands Padma and guest judge Koren Grieveson from Avec. It seems as if she and Lisa have the same hairdresser. Namely, their pillow. Despite this, Grieveson's uber poker face is impressive and we vow never to sit across a card table with this woman who would totally smoke our sausage and eat our cigarettes. Each chef gets to pick a beer and create a meal in 30 minutes that goes well with said beer. Stephanie says that pairing a beer with food is an art because you don't want the food to overpower the beer or the beer to overpower the food. In lesser circles, this is known as maintaining your buzz without losing it and falling asleep or getting ill and spoiling it entirely (Ed. Note: Aaaaa-men!). It's almost as if Bravo has tossed in the towel about hiding Padma's drinking and has decided to simply incorporate it into challenges. Lisa says she loves beer. Oh, honey, we could have told you that.
Bottom three: Dale lands in the bottom with a pan-roasted pork tenderloin with a miso caramel, topped with crushed pretzels. Lisa smugs her approval at this. Nikki makes citrus marinated, battered shrimp with an Asian coleslaw. We're pleased to say that her shrimp were not battered by Jennifer. Spike lands here, too, by making an over-glorified snack tray.
Top three: Richard, who makes a grilled tuna sandwich with pickled vegetables, mustard seeds and coriander. Stephanie impresses Grieveson with a dish of steamed mussels with cilantro vinaigrette and grilled bread. Jenniferscores with shrimp and scallop beignets with fennel, avocado and pepper puree.
Winner: Jennifer! Good on you, whiskey dad!
Elimination Challenge. The chefs will be serving food at a tailgate party for a Bears game with the fans deciding the top and bottom three chefs. After shopping, the chefs scramble around the kitchen. Andrew mentions the addition of bacon to his dish because it's Chicago… and Chicagoans love bacon. You know, it's actually hard to argue with the guy on this point (Ed. Note: Again, Aaaa-men!). The chefs do their prep work before heading home to relax before the big game. Spike and the Hobbit drink some beers and hang out in the bathtub which the other chefs seem to identify as "play wrestling" that ends with some kissing. Eh, we think they were both in need of some down time. We get a glimpse of the Hobbit stewing in dirty bath water which looks like chicken stock gone bad.
At the game, all of the fans appear to be enjoying the food, with the small complaint that Ryan's food is difficult to eat. Guest judge for this round is Paul Kahan, owner of Blackbird and Avec. Spike asks some fans when the Bears won the Super Bowl last and the editors kindly refrain from adding in the sound of a needle careening off a record. The judges make the rounds and, overall, are fairly impressed. However, Nikki has managed to serve all of her peppers before the judges can taste them. The Hobbit bumbles around his charcoal grill, making a mess of his station, looking just like Hyde from "That 70's Show" as he serves the judges.
Judges Table. At the top, the fans have chosen Stephanie, who did a great pork tenderloin and a potato, bacon and pear salad with rosemary vinaigrette. Dale does well with the fans after grilling a great rack of ribs made with a Tandoori marinade and a warm potato salad with mango and raisins. Antonia impressed with her jerk chicken, served with grilled banana and pineapple. Colicchio comments on Stephanie being in the top once more but this week, the winner is… Dale for his complex ribs. Lisa banshee cries in the background somewhere.
Ryan ends up in the bottom three for trying to create a California-style Ponderosa at the tailgate – too many things, none of them all that good. Nikki finds herself facing her failure to make sausage and save some peppers for the judges. And the Hobbit gets called out for his sloppy work area and unsanitary tasting techniques. The judges don't even comment on his chicken and scallion skewers with soy and onion glaze. Padma sobers long enough to send Ryan off packing his knives.
Next week: The chefs tackle pastries and take on comedy. Let's hope for some excitement to shake up the season.
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After Ryan's speech about how he spends his money on fine clothes and couldn't be bothered to consider sports or tailgaters, I was overjoyed to see him get the boot. I hate it when chefs on this show start talking about the divide between themselves and "regular people," with that pearls before swine mentality. I'm fairly certain I'm not the only one who has experienced both foie gras and open pit barbecue in my life. Also, I'm trying to shoehorn the word "rubes" into this comment, but it isn't really working.
UTV - Yeah, Ryan seems like...a dandy. I was surprised it was him. I thought it would be Nikki, but I wasn't sorry to see him go. Rubes. Heh.
Ryan's word-vomit was cracking me up. The more he talks, the more he reveals what a poser/fraud/douche he is -and he just can't stop himself.
Also, i was at that 2nd City show. The big "they're gonna help us improv" is a tease.
Yeah and if my last meal came down to some fancy foie gras or some dry rub ribs from rendevous in memphis I'm going to pick the ribs 100% of the time.
Yeah, I really thought with the direction of the episode that the "Aussie" (who would hate that the bears fans didn't refer to him as a New Zealander!) was heading home as with the bubble bath "love" scene they were really setting up a angry lesbian split from sig. other gets back at
Spike by removing his secret gay sig other from the house. . .But, really, was the bathtub scene all that bad??? They had clothes on, and were soaking their feet. . that was me after Lollapalooza last week. . .AND, my god, they had a couple living in the house, what would be the problem with 2 men having a romantic connection.
I'm glad Dale won. . .his food looked awesome and he was an actual Bears fan.
Best moment, Nikki comes back from the grilling of the losers circle, turns to the hometown hero Stefanie and says something along the lines of "Have you been in there with Ryan? He's verbose, it was rough." Kudos to Stef for just saying "No" when she could have said "No, I'm always on the winning side, not your loser side of the challenge."
Nikki is next up on the chopping block. . .girl can't make sausage.
Damn straight, Wu! I love the Rendezvous. 17th Street Bar and Grill in(of all places) Murphysboro, Illinois, has the best ribs I've ever eaten.
I was just amused by the incongruity of Ryan's comments in this episode and in the fourth episode. He puts his nose in the air for sports, but his favorite movies are Old School and Dumb and Dumber?
The producers during the neighborhood challenge did a fair job representing Chicago folks, which is a breath of fresh air from normal TV crews coming to Chicago going out of their way to show the sweatiest, fattest, most mustachioed people possible.
But then they really found the most mullets and beer guts in this episode. It depresses me to think that maybe thats all they could find here.
And everything UTV said, ditto.
Pencil - spill the details! Please. :)
UncleWu - agreed. I love ribs.
Lamgray - Yeah, the bath didn't seem like that big of a deal to me. I laughed at Nikki's question and yeah, Stephanie handled it very smoothly.
UTV - I've had ribs at 17th Street; they were awesome.
Vorare - You're right; that seems odd. Those movies are such guys' guys movies, you'd think a fan would also like sports. Heh.
Plum. . .I'm sad to say, I also watched the new Real World last night. . .and, have no fear. . Angry Chicago guy that works as a trainer and lives at home is definately represented. . .continuing on the stereotype.
From the moment Ryan disembarked from the plane at O'Hare and bragged about how he was leading the line in his parent's restaurant at twelve, I've been waiting for this moment to arrive. this was someone who needed to be beaten a bit as a child.
What he needed was a serious dose of humility, although I think the judges' criticism of his cooking went above his head.
They were definitely on the mark with the bottom three. I'm fine with any of them leaving the show.
Do you think Padma shared part of her stash with Paul Kahan? He looked mildly baked at the judges' table.
I really don't think I can get behind Dale after his strange crotch-grabbing outburst last week. I mean, would you want to work in a kitchen with a crotch-grabber? I myself have in the past, but the coworker was female and tended to grab the crotches of others during encounters in the walk-in cooler. Fun!
I guess my picks are Richard and Stephanie and I'd like to see a woman win this year so…
Also, as a preview for the Second City episode, Rob Janas is always a dick to everyone.
He's that guy that never bothers to learn anyone's name and ignores you unless you want something. So him shitting on Ted Allen is pretty par for the course for him.
I was glad to see Ryan and his snobbery (and mediocre food!) go... but I would have been equally happy with Nikki. I mean, she *bought* her sausage at Whole Foods?!?! That's an affront to Chicagoans, chef's *and* New Yorkers! C'mon, it's not that hard to make some damn sausage, and it would have been an opportunity to really shine. Any *chef* would have jumped at that. And, hey, if she made sausage with peppers and onions and _bought_ the sausage, just what the hell did she *do* all prep-day?!?! L'ame.
I still want Stephanie to win... her food is consistently good and looks like I would enjoy it. Richard's food generally looks good, too, but I have to pull for the Chicago people. And although I don't like Dale much, his ribs looked great, and he recognized Gale Sayers, so he gets his Bears cred.