Top Chef Chicago’s First Casualty
Was anyone else surprised that Nimma was going home? I certainly wasn’t.
The only way to win this game is to cook well and know how to play the game. I knew from the second I saw Nimma’s interviews about not wanting to socialize and just go to bed that first night, that her personality was not going to be strong enough to go far. Not only do you have to whip up yummy food, but you have “play the game” and get to know your competitors to learn their strengths and weaknesses. Sad to say, but skill alone won’t get you to the very end.
One thing that surprised me was the number of contestants that hailed from San Francisco (woo hoo!), 4 out of 16. And 50% of the SF chefs are a one couple in a relationship. What are the odds of you AND your partner making it onto the show in one season?
For their first Quickfire Challenge, how fitting was it that they were asked to make a signature deep dish pizza? Very Chicago, I must say. All of the pizzas looked pretty decent, there are too many to talk about them all, and I barely know the chefs to pick a favorite so early in the game. I will say that the pizza made with peaches and taleggio sounded pretty darn interesting and delicious. I’d like to try that one!
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Celebrity Chef Rocco DiSpirto was the guest judge for this round. He and Padma split the group in two, the favorites and the not-so-favorites.
In the Elimination Challenge, the cheftestants were paired up to go head-to-head to recreate or interpret a classic dish. One chef from the previous Quickfire’s favorites group against one of the not-so-favorites. Whoever lost the head-to-head would be eligible for elimination.
I kind of liked how they did it this way – in past seasons, the cheftestants how were not in the very bottom or very top never got feedback on their food. They just knew their food enough was good enough to get to the next round. I wonder if they’re going to keep this up. We’ll just have to see.
Winner for this round went to Chicago-girl Stephanie for her recreation of Duck a la Orange. And of cours, we know the chef eliminated in this episode was Nimma. She marinated her shrimp scampi in parsley (??) and then over-salted. One thing I’ve learned while watching Top Chef is that if you can’t do the basics, like season your food, you’re going home.
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On March 14th, 2008 MandyPandy said:
I caught part of that episode. I was surprised and shocked to see that Rocco DiSpirito looked kind of hot (though still douche-y). Remember when he was on “The Restaurant’? I can only assume that homeboy had some work done or this is an entirely different guy named ‘Rocco DiSpirito’, ’cause old Rocco made my vagina go dry.
On March 15th, 2008 Lilan said:
I’ve never seen The Restaurant but I hear that it was really bad and gave him a bad rep. But, I think the Rocco is SUPER cute and I’ve liked him on this show a lot. He made a couple of appearances on TC season 3 and even got into a tiff with Anthony Bourdain – quite amusing, I must say!
Give him another chance, girl!
On March 16th, 2008 Pauline said:
I have Spike going all the way in my last 2 game. Any of you playing this season?
http://www.last2left.com/whatsinplay/top-chef-4
On March 16th, 2008 Lilan said:
Hey Pauline,
Thanks so much for stopping by! I’m not playing a fantasy game, but I’d really love too! I don’t have a favorite yet, but I think that Andrew guy is cocky enough to go pretty far.
And thanks for sending the link, I’m definitely going to check it out!
On March 25th, 2008 Maysonbt said:
favorited this one, man