Final eight chefs, people, and it’s a strong group. I could see Brooke, Sheldon, Stefan and Kristen taking on any finalists from previous seasons.
It’s also time for … Restaurant Wars!!!
Sort of.
On to my thoughts on this week’s episode! Non-spoilers in the main body of the post; spoilers in the comments.
1. Brooke is adorable.
Her fangirl-level crush on Wolfgang Puck was awesome. I love seeing that kind of enthusiasm from contestants.
2. Stefan is … also kind of adorable, honestly.
I was annoyed with him early in the season, but he’s slowly won me over with his competitive-yet-chill attitude towards the whole Top Chef experience. I’ve also noticed that the other chefs, by and large, really seem to like the guy.
3. Mmmm, ginger.
If this Quickfire had you craving the spicy, fresh taste of ginger, may I recommend the Ginger Tom Collins?
Also, Bravo guys, any chance we can give the product placement a rest? Toyotas as prizes, fine. Healthy Choice funding every damn cash prize, sure, whatever. But do we really need the Truvia and Canada Dry Quickfires? Like any of these chefs would use Canada Dry in dishes in their actual restaurants. (My preferred brand of ginger ale is Seagram’s, personally.)
4. I like this spin on Restaurant Wars
This time around, the chefs are actually competing for the right to be an Executive Chef at Restaurant Wars. Our two Elimination Challenge winners will get to turn their concept into a restaurant!
I like this because it feels closer to how a real restaurant kitchen works. In Restaurant Wars, we often see chefs with strong points of view butting heads. This time around, the Executive Chefs have competed for and won the right to have their concept executed — there’s no question about what kind of restaurant they’re going to open, or who’s in charge. I’ll be interested to see if this strategy yields strong RW showings.
4. Yay Brooke!
She’s one of my favorites for the title so I was glad to see her win immunity. Plus, Vietnamese-inspired ginger squid sounded pretty awesome. Her joy at winning was also fun to see.
5. And the winners (?) are …
Sheldon and Kristen win the right to be Executive Chef. I was actually rooting for Josh to snag one of the slots. Not because I like him, but because I wanted a team to root against. Executive Chefs are often on the chopping block and I really don’t want to see Sheldon or Kristen going home. I love both of them.
6. Is Lizzie buckling under the pressure?
I think we had a good chunk of Judge’s Table edited out, because Lizzie sounded beyond pissed when defending her concept. The sarcasm felt really out of character for her. Is the pressure starting to get to Lizzie?
7. For the love of peanut butter crackers, how long is Josie going to stick around?!
You have got to be kidding me. Josie overcooks her pork, forces people to stand in line forever for the second time in this competition, and she’s still here?!
All right, given the rules of the challenge, I get why Micah went home. Josie at least had an interesting concept, whereas Micah went with one that was literally a Sex and the City joke. Also, I think he made a big mistake telling the judges that he went with a raw concept to appeal to rich women in Beverly Hills – that didn’t sound much like a concept “from the heart.” But I think Micah is a more talented chef than Josie and I was bummed to see him go instead of her.
Josie moves forward to wreck Kristen’s chances at victory (not a spoiler, just a prediction), and Micah moves out to …
8. Last Chance Kitchen
Where CJ wins again with his tartare. Yawn. I don’t dislike CJ but he doesn’t interest me much. If he beats out Kristen or Sheldon after the near-inevitable Executive Chef elimination, I’m going to really be sad.