Top Chef Las Vegas Recap

By Jason Lee

September 4, 2009

It must be nice to be blessed with such a lack of self-awareness.

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For the most part, no dishes seem to be sending off alarm signals except for two: Jesse and Ron are making clam chowder even though they barely have access to enough kettles to cook their dish, and Laurine and Preeti, who have decided to make pasta salad. Talk about pedestrian.

Meanwhile, Jenn is absolutely living up to the role of Executive Chef. She's laying out cooking schedules, telling chefs to move on to their next station, breaking up chatty groups, etc. She's awesome. I think that when she returns to the real world, she could either be a great executive chef or run eBay.

Before we know it, the chefs are setting up their stations in the air force base. Long lines of air force men and women appear before each table, ready to eat. We also have Tom, Gail and Padma, looking slightly out of place in ordinary clothes. Many people make mention of the heat, but you'd never know it from the heavy-looking uniforms of the air force men and women.

Preeti and Laurine serve their pasta salad first, alongside a greek salad made by Pompous Mike. Jesse and Ron have their New England clam chowder with roasted corn. Robin and Hector have a three-bean chili with roasted chicken. Kevin and Eli have a Georgia-style braised pork with potato salad. Brother Mike and Pompous Mike have a braised pork belly with soy mustard sauce. Meanwhile Brother Byran has his strip loin with mushroom demi-glace.

The judge sit down to eat and it doesn't seem like there's a dud in the group. Bryan and Mattin's strip is well seasoned and cooked nicely. The chili and chicken is yummy. The chowder is a little thick but good. The pork shoulder and the potato salad is quite the hit. The only "eh" from the group is for the pasta salad, which is criticized as being "a hack job." Padma likes the fact that it's a light, vegetarian option but Gail calls it "not inspired or creative."




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The big hit, which I've failed to mention, Mike and Michael's pork belly, which is actually bacon but has been cooked like pork. "It's super, mega delicious," says Gail. Pompous Mike's greek salad, though, is not nearly as good. The shrimp was undercooked and the dish as a whole was flavorless.

Finally, we have the dessert of the chocolate bread pudding from Ash and Ashley, which is dense but tasty. Jennifer also gets props from the table for serving up a pretty good meal as a whole, with lots of variety and different things to try.

The Colonel thanks the chefs for cooking such a good meal for the service men and women - some will be heading off to combat, others are returning home but everyone really appreciated the meal. Robin starts to tear up. If I were there, I think I would be, too.

Back in the stew room, all conversation stops as Padma enters. She calls out Pompous Mike, Brother Michael, Eli and Kevin. Yep, all guys. Why? Well, the women are...yeah, yeah, you get it.


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