Chicagoist: Top Chef Chicago Recap, Week 6

Dave!

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:58:06 -0600

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.

plumbum82

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:44:33 -0600

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.

benschomatic

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:25:46 -0600

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…

Chuck Sudo

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:04:48 -0600

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.

lamgray

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:45:34 -0600

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.

L. Stolpman

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:24:14 -0600

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.

plumbum82

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:23:12 -0600

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.

vorare

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:17:35 -0600

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?

UTV

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:06 -0600

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.

lamgray

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:09:36 -0600

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.

unclewu

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:07:25 -0600

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.

pencil

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:04:12 -0600

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.

L. Stolpman

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:29:24 -0600

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.

UTV

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:18:11 -0600

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.