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Top Chef: season 6, episode 10
"Meat Natalie"
October 29, 2009 - 12:10a.m.
“Is competency enough tomorrow?”
This from Robin, speculating after her failed Quickfire whether she will simply survive another week—not on trying something ambitious and perhaps failing, but on serving up another steaming plate of mediocrity and hoping that someone ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 9
"Restaurant Wars"
October 22, 2009 - 03:10a.m.
My wife is one of the world’s biggest Top Chef fans, but she’s also been a little underwhelmed by this season. On the other hand, this is finally the season that has won me totally over to the ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 8
"Pigs And Pinot"
October 15, 2009 - 12:10a.m.
“Guess what? I didn’t come here to make friends. I came here to friggin’ compete.”
If you utter those words on a reality competition show—and many do, as you can see by the clips below that my Twitter ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 7
"Dinner Party"
October 7, 2009 - 11:10p.m.
Zzzzzzzzzzz…
Oh, hello there. [Wipes drool from side of cheek.] Here we are around the halfway point of Top Chef’s sixth season, and tonight’s instantly forgettable hour represents what New Yorker baseball writer Roger Angell once called “the ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 6
"Penn & Teller"
September 24, 2009 - 12:09a.m.
And now for my deconstructed recap of tonight’s Top Chef episode. Just jam a spoon into the computer monitor, stir up the random nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and hope it doesn’t turn out like Ron’s paella.
Just ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 4
Camping
September 16, 2009 - 11:09p.m.
Padma doesn't have to sleep in a teepee, no, but she's not on the same social strata as the chef'testants. Last week's episode exposed the chefs to the privilege of being part of the culinary elite ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 4
Vivre Las Vegas
September 9, 2009 - 11:09p.m.
A question: do you think you appreciate an episode of Top Chef more if you’re more familiar with the foods being prepared? Because if so, I apologize ahead of time. The week I fill in for Scott while he ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 3
"Thunderbirds"
September 3, 2009 - 12:09a.m.
A couple of notes right off the bat:
• So Ashley is upset about cooking for a bachelor/bachelorette party because she, as a lesbian, isn’t allowed to participate in the institution of marriage (in most states), yet she’s ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 2
"Bachelor/Ette"
August 27, 2009 - 12:08a.m.
Last week offered an exciting Top Chef two-fer: The season finale of Top Chef Masters, which quietly asserted itself as perhaps my favorite episode in franchise history (as I wrote in that blog, it was like watching a real-life, extended ...
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Top Chef: season 6, episode 1
"Sin City Vice"
August 19, 2009 - 09:08p.m.
Hello and welcome back to another season of Top Chef blogging. With this following right on the heels of Top Chef Masters, your friendly neighborhood recapper is feeling mighty fatigued—and a little bit hungry, of course—but after a ...
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Top Chef: season 5, episode 14
"Finale: Part II"
February 25, 2009 - 05:02p.m.
Hootie hum.The results of tonight’s viewer poll revealed that of the remaining three contestants going into finale, Carla deserved to win by an overwhelming 65% margin, with Hosea at 20% and Stefan bringing up the rear at 15 ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 13
Finale: Part One
February 18, 2009 - 05:02p.m.
The last two episodes of the season are set in New Orleans, and I’m beginning to regret not asking our own Amelie Gillette, a native of the city, to finish out the recapping for me. I know she tends ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 12
"The Last Supper"
February 11, 2009 - 06:02p.m.
Now if you’ll allow me just a second, I have to wipe away the image of Padma in that red dress from my head and focus on the task at hand. Katie Lee Joel, Katie Lee Joel, Katie Lee ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 11
"Le Bernardin"
February 4, 2009 - 05:02p.m.
First off, thanks for Genevieve Koski for filling in so capably in my absence. Given her own prowess in the kitchen—as evidenced by the delicious jailhouse “Nutriloaf” she prepared from a recipe ganked from an Illinois court case—Genevieve ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 10
"Super Bowl Chef Showdown"
January 28, 2009 - 05:01p.m.
Scott’s sitting out tonight, sick from what I can only assume is overexposure to Toby Young’s moldy quips, so I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for a second-string Top Chef guide tonight. And what an episode ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 9
"Restaurant Wars"
January 21, 2009 - 06:01p.m.
Restaurant Wars has long been the big signature Top Chef episode every season, and also the only one pre-finale that’s repeated without much variation. And based on tonight, as well as past years, the producers obviously know a good ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 8
"Down On The Farm"
January 14, 2009 - 05:01p.m.
Now I’m going to try to say this without condescension: I tip my hat to Ariane for making it this deep into the competition when she was clearly overmatched. She was a little like the flipside of Eugene: Both ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 7
"Focus Group"
January 7, 2009 - 11:01p.m.
As a critic, I tend to cringe whenever one of my kind pops up in movies or on TV, because they’re inevitably cast as villains—bloodless, heartless vultures who feast lustily on the precious creativity of others and spit ...
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Top Chef: season 5, episode 6
"12 Days Of Christmas - Martha Stewart"
December 17, 2008 - 11:12p.m.
“Merry Christmas!”
Just once, I’d like to see footage of the contestants giving season’s greetings to a Whole Foods employee in the middle of July, but alas, everyone is pretending that the holidays are upon us. It’s ...
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Top Chef: season 5, episode 5
"Gail's Bridal Shower"
December 10, 2008 - 11:12p.m.
Oh man, where to start? After last week’s dip into mediocrity, I was worried that a 75-minute episode covering Gail’s bridal shower was not going to be pretty; in fact, upon reading the synopsis before it aired, I ...
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Top Chef: season 5, episode 4
"Today Show: Rocco DiSpirito"
December 3, 2008 - 11:12p.m.
First off, many thanks to Noel Murray for covering the fake Thanksgiving episode while I was off having actual Thanksgiving in San Francisco, the city where Top Chef started. Between the Swanson and Butterball plugs, and the spit-covered banana s ...
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Top Chef: season 5, episode 3
"Foo Fighters"
November 26, 2008 - 11:11p.m.
Hey Chef-heads! Scott's winging his way to San Francisco to spend the holidays with his in-laws–and to continue living out his dream to eat a meal in every city where Top Chef has filmed–so I'll ... -
Top Chef: season 5, episode 2
"Show Your Craft"
November 19, 2008 - 11:11p.m.
Before I talk about tonight’s hugely entertaining episode, the Chicagoan in me has to express a little bitterness. When it was announced that Season Four was going to be set in my beloved city, it was obvious that Top ...
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Top Chef: season 5, episode 1
"Taste Of The Five Boroughs"
November 12, 2008 - 09:11p.m.
Welcome once again to the Top Chef blog, as I take you through another season of scallop-searing, demi-glace drizzling fun, this time in New York City, the undisputed capital of America’s culinary world. Having dabbled around in Los Angeles ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 15
"Reunion"
June 18, 2008 - 11:06p.m.
I hate to end this season’s Top Chef blog on an anti-climactic note, but hey, blame Bravo. The network seems to think that these reunion shows are necessary when, in fact, they’re usually pretty lame. (One exception: The ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 14
"Finale, Pt. 2"
June 12, 2008 - 12:06a.m.
Okay, first order of business: I’m scheduled to interview the Top Chef winner tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 11 a.m. CT. I realize that’s not a lot of time, but if you wake up with any questions, please ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 13
"Puerto Rico"
June 5, 2008 - 12:06a.m.
Oh dear.
I feel like I should just stop here and open the floor to your toxic comments, but I have to come to terms with my crushing disappointment just like everyone else—or at least the 91% text-voting majority ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 12
"High Steaks"
May 28, 2008 - 11:05p.m.
It saddens me to report that Scott is down for the count tonight, laid up by chills and fever. (And not Top Chef Fever, sadly–a condition characterized by spontaneous utterance of the phrase "sous vide" and vehement disagreement with ... -
Top Chef: season 4, episode 11
"Restaurant Wars"
May 21, 2008 - 11:05p.m.
Could Dennis Miller please sentence Dale and Lisa to six months of hard marriage? Or barring that, perhaps a double elimination?
I’m actually serious about that last suggestion—more on that later—but I’ve got another one, too ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 10
"Serve And Protect"
May 15, 2008 - 12:05a.m.
You’ll pardon me if I start with this personal anecdote, which I feel compelled to share whenever cops and food intermingle. Back in the limbo period between undergrad and grad school, when I living in Athens, Georgia and working ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 9
"Wedding Wars"
May 8, 2008 - 12:05a.m.
So how do you follow up by far the worst episode of the season? With by far the best, naturally.
Everything was clicking tonight: Fun challenges, lots of tension and bitchy one-liners, and enough attention on each contestant to where ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 8
"Common Threads"
May 1, 2008 - 12:05a.m.
So a 15-minute Quickfire centered on microwavable Uncle Ben’s rice and an Elimination challenge where contestants had to make a nutritious meal for family of four on a $10 budget? Going a little downmarket tonight, aren’t we?
Right ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 7
"Improv"
April 23, 2008 - 11:04p.m.
“The asparagus were supposed to be erect?”
This from pastry chef extraordinaire (and guest judge competentaire) Johnny Iuzzini, who seemed as confused and freaked out as I was about the ghastly ménage a trois between orange, asparagus, and a ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 6
"Tailgating"
April 17, 2008 - 12:04a.m.
In an earlier column, I listed a couple of important rules any Top Chef contestant should keep in mind if they want to stay in the competition. They are:
Rule #1: Pay attention to the frickin’ assignment (this edict came ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 5
"The Elements"
April 10, 2008 - 12:04a.m.
Wow. I’ll guess we’ll have to start with the coda first, since the show hasn’t had a coda before, unless you count the glad-handing that happens after the season finale. Zoi’s inevitable departure from the competition ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 4
"Film Food"
April 2, 2008 - 11:04p.m.
As the Film Editor of the A.V. Club, based here in Chicago, I was particularly excited about tonight’s episode—so excited, in fact, that I was willing to look past the professional jealousy of “famed Chicago film critic ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 3
"Block Party"
March 27, 2008 - 12:03a.m.
Tonight’s episode neatly demonstrated two important rules that all Top Chef contestants should know going in, yet some invariably stumble over them every season. And since one of the rules gets broken in the Quickfire and the other in ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 2
"Zoo Food"
March 20, 2008 - 12:03a.m.
Oh Valerie and Stephanie. Such good friends, and why shouldn’t they be? They’re both from Chicago. They work out together. They seem like they could really bond as the season goes on… Okay, enough of that. I’m ...
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Top Chef: season 4, episode 1
"Anything You Can Cook I Can Cook Better"
March 12, 2008 - 10:03p.m.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Top Chef blog, brought to you by the A.V. Club and the Glad family of products. Just so you know where I’m coming from, this is my favorite reality show on television ...
