Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Re: Up in the Mountains | This Is a Kick-Ass Trailer »

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Chow / TV Last Night on Top Chef: A Certain Occurrence

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 2:15 PM

Last Night on Top Chef, a certain thing occurred.

Due to popular demand/previous freakout, the rest of this post may be found after the jump.

Spoiler alert: Neither of these people went home.

www.bravotv.com
Spoiler alert: Neither of these people went home.

She flew too close to the sun, and her spun sugar melted in the heat.

www.bravotv.com
She flew too close to the sun, and her spun sugar melted in the heat.

Hometown hero Robin Leventhal was finally shown the Top Chef kitchen door last night, and even she didn't seem surprised. In front of the judges panel, for an elimination round of dishes inspired by visits to different casinos (reaching much, producers?), she said she wasn't proud of her dish. Then during deliberations, she said something like, "Just send me home now." (Update: Apparently that was sad-sack Jen. The ladies both were so beleaguered...) Her assigned culinary fomenter was the Bellagio, where she was captivated by the big Chihuly ceiling installation in the lobby, talked about being a creative person, and decided to make a panna cotta with glassy spun-sugar decorations.

The spun sugar failed to set, and Robin confessed to this failure as she was serving the judges, saying she'd never tried to make such a thing before. Everyone I was watching with: "NOOOOOO!" Owning your mistakes seems to matter—at least sometimes—to the panel, but this was Robin kneecapping herself. Her transparency failed to charm them, and they all thought the panna cotta was too firm as well. Guest judge Nigella Lawson got in some serious digs in her posh accent, notably saying that panna cotta should be like "the inside of a courtesan's thigh"—which, one might argue, should not be penetrable with a spoon. Also: How does Nigella know so much about the insides of courtesan's thighs? Also: WOW, THAT'S PRETENTIOUS AND ANNOYING. Especially in the posh accent.

Eli's peanut soup with pulverized popcorn and pink fluff sounded much, much ickier, but it seemed that in the end, Robin's overreaching brought her down. She tended to get experimental over and over, excited to try new things but then tripping herself up in the execution; her menu at Crave on Capitol Hill never strayed far from comfort-food favorites. She'd ended up in the bottom bracket many times. Combined with tension between her and the other chefs—who often remarked that she talked too much and opined that she did not deserve to still be there—the whole Top Chef experience must've been tough for Robin. The Top Chef powers-that-be are getting back to me about when I can talk to her about it.

Maybe the main lesson is don't take inspiration from Dale Chihuly.

Comments (22) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

This show has gotten so fucking boring, predictable, and lame.

Posted by yup! on November 12, 2009 at 2:22 PM

The judges drone on about basing the eliminations on week-by-week performance, except for last night, when they ceased judging and simply said "this person has come far enough." Eli and Jen both served worse food. Weak.

Posted by Mattini on November 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM

haha <3

Posted by Swearengen on November 12, 2009 at 2:37 PM

@2 - agreed. I would've gone with Eli (but I can't wait to try his Reuben Benedict when that new cookbook comes out).

Posted by vinylsaurus

on November 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM

eli's dish looked like someone swept the floor of a circus tent and threw the resulting sludge in a cuisinart. blargh.

Posted by spoiler alert on November 12, 2009 at 2:45 PM

Eli is just gross. I wouldn't touch anything he cooked for fear that he'd get his boogers and hair product in it.

Posted by Soupytwist

on November 12, 2009 at 2:47 PM

Nigella's comment was not pretentious and annoying, it was sexy and sexy.

Posted by Luckier on November 12, 2009 at 2:54 PM

I wanted a hometown gal to do better. And I sincerely liked Crave and treated myself to diner there often. I always had to go there solo because my boyfriend said he didn't like the weird tension that came out of the open-to-the-restaurant kitchen. Perhaps there is something to what he felt and the other contestants. But, I never felt it when I ate her food.

Posted by Scrabbleship on November 12, 2009 at 2:56 PM

It was Jen who said "just send me home now", not Robin.

And the quote from Nigella was not pretentious. It was perhaps the only part of the episode where Nigella got to be Nigella: saucy, English, sybaritic and sensual. I'm gay as they come, but even I kind of want to get with Nigella.

Tough break for Robin. We've seen chefs get thrown off their core strength before. Karla being the biggest example last season. Hope her next endeavor brings her much success.

Posted by Local fan on November 12, 2009 at 3:10 PM

Robin has been out of her depth for a while now and should have been shown the door long ago...before Ashley and Mike left, at least. The Final 3 has been painfully obvious for a while: Kevin and 2 brothers.

Posted by rexmundane on November 12, 2009 at 3:12 PM

But what's up with loser Jen? I have to believe something else off-screen is going on. This woman was so confident and in control the first 3 weeks and did well and then poof! There's this little mouse who can't cook at all. She did say, "I'm ready to go home."

Robin held on way too long.

The judges may say they vote based on that week but clearly they don't. Jen is toast, though, if she doesn't get off her ass and cook something. I hate the two brothers (but I would eat the food they cook) and want Kevin to win.

Posted by westello on November 12, 2009 at 3:47 PM

I actually thought about you spoiling it for me and made sure to watch it last night. Thanks for not spoiling this week. I had clams made by Robin a couple years ago and they were awesome. That being said, it looks like she should consider herself lucky that she made it this long. Also, Michael Voltaggio sure seems like the worst kind of dick.

Posted by clint on November 12, 2009 at 3:48 PM

Why is she dressed like she's going to burning man?

Posted by veo_ on November 12, 2009 at 3:50 PM

@13 ... have you seen how people in seattle dress? its pretty much like value village barfed on you and then gave you a cute hair cut.

Posted by alithea on November 12, 2009 at 4:14 PM

I believe Nigella said the panna cotta should "tremble" like a courtesan's inner thigh, thus resolving your problem with penetrability by spoon.

Posted by InfinitePest on November 12, 2009 at 4:25 PM

i hate michael voltaggio with the power of a thousand suns. what an egomaniacal dipshit asshole. his brother brian, on the other hand, is a darling. it was time for robin to go. they should have kept ashley.

Posted by Lizabeth on East Harrison on November 12, 2009 at 5:13 PM

1. I wasn't a fan of Robin on the show, but I'm sure the producers didn't want me to be.

2. Nigella is sexy, and it was "a seventeenth-century courtesan's inner thigh".

3. I also want Kevin (lovingly referred to in our home as Yukon Cornelius) to win. Anyone who has such a pure, beautiful, deep love for pork has this rebel Jew's vote.

Posted by singing cynic on November 12, 2009 at 5:14 PM

@17 Nigella is extremely sexy. I admit to having several impure thoughts when I saw Padma and Nigella ordering room service and was disappointed to have the camera reveal that they were actually in different beds.

Posted by clint on November 12, 2009 at 6:01 PM

I thought for sure Jen was going home this time. Not a single nice thing was said about her dish. With Eli, they said it was a disaster but at least he gambled. I heard one or two positive comments about Robin's, but zero nice things about Jens... fucking editors.

I have a serious pet peeve with this and many other shows: what's with all the "coming up!" shit? I don't want to see what I'm going to see again anyway after the dumb ads. Just go to commercial, skip the "coming up" shit, and give more airtime to stuff I'm not going to see multiple times.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on November 12, 2009 at 8:01 PM

20 Comment Pulled (No) Comment Policy

@20: Ummm...

Posted by baconpussy on November 13, 2009 at 9:49 AM

I just wish Padma and Nigella had been sharing a bed in the quick fire. That's what it looked like at first, but then they had to dash my little lesbian hopes when they panned away.

Posted by efs5r on November 13, 2009 at 5:15 PM