This season's Top Chef is in the windy city, "hog butcher to the world" to quote Sandburg and home of Pizzeria Uno. Yum! There are a number of contestants from my old home, San Francisco. We learn alittle later that Jen and Zoi are a couple. Gee go figure, it was just a matter of time for there to be a dueling chef couple. After a few bites, a few introductions, Padma comes in a for their first quickfire challenge, they will have $200.00 to create their own deep dish pizza. Some of these chefs have no idea on how much pizza dough they should use. Nikki uses so much dough it filled the entire pan. Ok, I'm not professionally trained, but I even knew that was way too much-what are you making, bread or pizza? Her only saving grace was that lasagna she made for the elimination challenge, it looked so yummy!
The elimination challenge featured a remake of some of our old favorites. You know lasagna, chicken piccata, souffle, eggs benedict, to name a few. Erik said he hasn't made souffle in 20 years and it showed. He made a cheese souffle and added tortilla strips on top which caved in the souffle. Hey Erik, don't you know souffles are light and airy and very delicate? And what was that brown stuff smeared across the plate? Looked like my dog wiped his butt on that plate, gross!
Ryan was supposed to make Chicken Piccata but he didn't know what chicken piccata was. Can you say lemons and capers? He kept referring to starch, starch, starch. When I think piccata, I'm thinking lemons, lemons, lemons. Honey, you need to take a crash course on classic foods 101. In the end Nimma, maybe she can cook ethnic food, but her shrimp with cauliflower pus looked awful and the judges said that the shrimp was way too salty. She seemed like a nice enough girl, but I guess we'll never know as she was told to pack her knives and leave. Anyway, we can dish about the dishes, unfortunately without the pics!-Single D
Top Chef Chicago! Love it! When the contestants met at Uno's I couldn't believe it! I have been to that Uno's and sat in that first booth! I was so excited! Uno's pizza is wonderful. If you ever get to Chicago, you have to go, it's deep dish at it's finest. Ok enough of the travel log. While the constestants were getting to know each other, two of the women, Jen & Zoi quickly announce they are a couple. Doesn't that sound a little like something on Big Brother? We'll see if they can handle the heat in the kitchen.
The quick fire challenge, make deep dish pizza, what else? As the chefs come up with their creations, we see a whiner emerge, Andrew. He goes to get a pizza pan and finds that Richard has taken two pans. Instead of saying, dude-how about a pan, he goes back to his station muttering under his breath and, in the off side, trashes the guy for taking two pans dropping the F bomb with every other word. He ends up using an iron skillet which I don't think was a bad idea, his pizza fell apart anyway.
At first my mouth was watering wanting to be a judge on the pizza challenge until I actually saw some of the pizzas. One girl used so much dough that it ended up looking like a large muffin and someone else used dried mushrooms with no sauce. The one they seemed to like the most was Richard, the pan stealer, with his peach and sausage pizza. Sounds gross but, hey, if it works....
The elimination challenge was a bit more involved. The chefs paired off to cook head to head choosing a dish from a list. Of course the souffle was last to be picked and for good reason, apparently no one from this group could or would make one. The two that tried failed and earned scathing remarks from the judges, one of which was guest judge hottie Anthony Bourdain. Tony can judge my cooking anytime! I could also say something about the brown stuff smeared on Erik's plate looking like some bodily discharge, but Single D said it pretty good.
What was up with Ryan not knowing how to make Chicken Piccata? Maybe he was making a Weight Watchers version or something. No Ryan! Butter and lemon, butter and lemon, say it with me.... In the end Nimma and her oh so salty shrimp and uninspired cauliflower whatever was sent to pack her knives. That girl went from one extreme the other in one show. First it was bland pizza with no salt to let's have a little shrimp with the salt. That's ok, I don't think she would have made it too far, she should come back when she gets over her stage fright.
Double D
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