Downstairs the chefs line up once again before His Majesty, Chef Ramsay, who is standing in front of what Bonnie says looks like a covered piano. She wonders if they'll have to sing about food today. Close Bonnie, but no cigar. Today the chefs will showcase their creativity by working with... lobster! Chef Ramsay uncovers an enormous tank filled with live lobsters. Julia doesn't think she's ever even eaten lobster. Brad is stoked. Bonnie is worried because she hates killing lobsters. She says she always cries, to which Rock adds, "So do the lobsters." ZING! Chef Ramsay recalls the taste-off from a couple of weeks ago and reminds everyone that when Josh was fed lobster he thought it was a scallop so today he can't participate in the challenge, he can only coach. This will even out the number of players on each team. The challenge rings of Iron Chef, with each team having one hour to create three lobster dishes (the secret ingredient you know), and Chef Ramsay will judge which team creates the best dishes. They have to reach into the tanks to choose their lobsters and the lobsters' claws aren't rubber banded, so there are a couple of pinches. Bonnie tries to get out of grabbing a lobster by going to fetch a pan, but it doesn't work. She has to dive in anyway. She whines - not quietly - the entire time, but manages to catch a huge lobster. She winces and whines while she throws it into the pot. Oh brother.
"What? I have to touch the food? Ew!"
On the Blue Team, Rock is going to fry up some lobster tail while Brad whips up a bisque. Josh coaches Melissa in making "chilled lobster" so we'll see what that ends up meaning. Melissa confessionals that the guys on the Blue Team are "confident and they have great ideers." We'll soon find out! On the Red Team Julia is making lobster risotto and Jen is of course worried because of Julia's limited knowledge so she is giving her many tips. As the seconds count down everyone plates their surprises and lines up in front of the judge.
First Bonnie and Melissa go head to head presenting Chef Ramsay with salads. Bonnie has made grilled lobster salad with baked apples. Apparently grilling lobster is a huge risk but it paid off because Chef Ramsay finds it "very nice." Melissa has a citrus herb salad with poached lobster, so that is Josh's "chilled lobster" dish. Unfortunately Chef Ramsay says that the lobster isn't really cooked properly. Bonnie wins the point. Now Julia presents her lobster risotto, which also gets a "very nice" from Chef Ramsay, but he says the risotto isn't as exciting as he would have liked. Rock uncovers his buttermilk fried lobster tail which Chef Ramsay finds very ambitious and cooked perfectly. Rock wins the point. Imagine that - the challenge is neck and neck! That never happens! Let's see how it ends. Jen presents a lobster and crab bisque that is "nice" and Brad has a more modern version of lobster bisque, whatever that means. It is also "nice." Chef Ramsay is in a conundrum because both final dishes are so great! We go to commercial watching a lobster sink to the bottom of the tank blowing bubbles in the shape of a pitchfork.
Oh those graphic editors!
We come back and Chef Ramsay picks... the Red Team! Bonnie says it's because Chef Ramsay doesn't like foofy food, but I don't think that's it. The girls' prize is a photo shoot and interview with In Touch magazine, which is pretty cool. I bet Chef Ramsay was much more excited to watch the girls get their hair and makeup done than he would be to watch the guys. Although, it could have been perfect for Josh if it were a GQ shoot instead of In Touch. The girls run off squealing while Chef Ramsay tells the guys that their punishment is to rifle through all of the trash in Hell's Kitchen and separate out anything that can be recycled. Someone is a bitter party of one and that someone is Rock. He is not pleased. He reminds us again that he grew up in the ghetto - yes Rock, we remember - but he's never gone through trash. Well maybe not, but your team keeps losing!
« Recap: America's Got Talent: The Best We Can Do? | Main | Preview: Scott Baio is 45 and Single »
Comments (14)
Frankly, I don't see how any of these people could be given the top spot at a huge luxury resort.
The men are awful in one way or another; no matter how much, Julia learns, she can't be the top chef creating dishes; Bonnie is just too ditzy to be the boss and Jen picks up stuff out of he garbage.
I just don't like any of them.
1 of 14 | Posted by jmchez
|
Posted on July 11, 2007 8:21 PM
Wow, swift recap! We only watched it last night and then - dey it is!
Great stuff with the rock/lava metaphors.
Yeah, the gals won the photo shoot prize -- QUELLE SURPRISE!
The gals did scrub up quite nicely, but I am surprised you didn't include a screencap of the moment when Jen turned to her left and presented us with her profile -- my god, that woman has a schnozz (a huge, honking nose) on her!
Actually I want to give Rock props for keeping his cool when he had to do that humiliating task of collecting the garbage at the photo shoot. He calmly asked, "Is that all you needed me to do?" then departed, (mostly) saving his ire for the confessional.
Very cool.
I think it may be a showdown btw him and Julia, which would be very interesting.
LOVE the gremlin pic! LOL.
Oh yeah, note the massive boobs jutting out as Melissa took her jacket off. Wonder how many times they got her to do that before they settled on the best camera angle?
jmchez - I agree it's a weak line up, but Rock (hissy fit aside) still delivers the goods.
2 of 14 | Posted by Donna Martin Graduates!
|
Posted on July 11, 2007 9:52 PM
OMG You almost made me choke with the gremlin picture. TOO hilarious!!
I agree though that Rock should've been called out on his piss poor attitude.
I mean I can understand getting upset, but he just went insane with rage.
3 of 14 | Posted by Shollia
|
Posted on July 11, 2007 10:25 PM
Wow. I just don't understand these people. The women's team did well, but they still talk crap about Julia behind her back. Shut up Bonnie! You have performed WAY worse than her so far - stupid nanny should shut her trap.
And some of the other things in this episode...geez:
1) Picking recyling out of the trash. Who cares? The pile that they were given was almost ALL recyclables anyway and it's not like they didn't have gloves. If you smell afterwards, who cares? Take a shower.
2) The fire in the pot thing. I learned in grade 7 cooking class that when a pot is on fire you A) smother it B) take it off the heat soure/turn the heat off. How can you become a chef and not learn these things? Cripes.
3) The whole spaghetti thing was ridiculous. I am not a professional chef (although I am a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself) but I know that you don't add pasta until the water is boiling. Isn't that like, one of the basics of cooking? Geez.
None of these people seem competent to run a restaurant. Jen could, but she's too much of a wuss. Bonnie and Josh are idiots, Rock has a pissy attitude and Julia, much as I love her, would need to learn more before she could have her own restaurant. Brad seems to me to be the best candidate, but even he has made some Grade-A idiot mistakes.
Who knows? Who cares? That is the question.
~Georgia~
4 of 14 | Posted by georgiababe
|
Posted on July 11, 2007 11:06 PM
The gremlin pic totally cracked me up, but you missed the great inadvertant double entendre by Ramsay- "You screw everything you touch!" That's right up there with the blissfully unaware Bonnie saying, "I've always liked to put things in my mouth."
And I have to say, your photo captions are getting funnier and funnier. They're the icing on the cake. Or in Josh's case, the potatoes with the Wellington.
5 of 14 | Posted by coolbyrne
|
Posted on July 12, 2007 8:54 AM
Didn't the girls win the photo shoot challege last year, too? Besides, who would you want to hang out with? I'd cheat for them too.
As for Julia, I agree that she'd need more study before being appointed the head of a fancy restraunt. But I think she could run the hell out of a Roscoe's or something. Too bad Hell's Kitchen doesn't have a fan favorite. That could be the prize.
6 of 14 | Posted by mesha
|
Posted on July 12, 2007 1:54 PM
Didn't the girls win the photo shoot challege last year, too? Besides, who would you want to hang out with? I'd cheat for them too.
As for Julia, I agree that she'd need more study before being appointed the head of a fancy restraunt. But I think she could run the hell out of a Roscoe's or something. Too bad Hell's Kitchen doesn't have a fan favorite. That could be the prize.
7 of 14 | Posted by mesha
|
Posted on July 12, 2007 1:55 PM
lol. "melissa looks for scallops"... the caption and picture made me bust out loud. thank you!
8 of 14 | Posted by nurseratched
|
Posted on July 12, 2007 1:58 PM
ho wow honeyG... your recaps just keep getting better each week... and so fast.. that is a feather in your cap! (not that taking 5 days like one of my other favorite recappers is bad... but the next day!!! that is unheard of!!)
And onto the Rock heard round the world... it was quiet the over reaction but I think Chef Ramsay must have saw just a bit of himself in that little tantrum and didn't mind.. and the recycling was only seperating recyclables anyway.. there was not rotten food in there, no maggots, no over cooked risoto..... and how freaking long would it take to get that many wine bottles??
and do I think the challenge was set to have the girls win.. yep because a soup beat out poor brad ans his contemporary Bisque? no way.. he just wanted the chicks in the shot.. and Bonnie... does she look like Elizabeth hasselbacks little sister or what..... a ringer if you ask me... and hat is the tat on Julia??? isn't she a bit old for that?
The something drastic Chef will do next week is mix the teams up... bet ya a plate of elk meat risoto!
9 of 14 | Posted by GIFFORDSAZ
|
Posted on July 12, 2007 4:24 PM
Yes, I have to agree the Gremlin pic is great!
Honestly, Rock would be the only one I could see winning this thing. Everyone else is pretty much worthless.
Can you imagine any of these hacks on Top Chef? Those are the real cooks.
10 of 14 | Posted by Saabotage
|
Posted on July 12, 2007 9:00 PM
Personally I think Chef is getting soft in his old age. The Chef Ramsay of the previous seasons would never have given anyone a second chance like he did to Melissa last week and the boys this week.
Anyway great recap! Very funny!
11 of 14 | Posted by abbeylane
|
Posted on July 13, 2007 5:52 AM
As a life long Philadelphian (Go E-A-G-L-E-S), I can tell you all that Le Bec Fin is and has been for quite a long time considered the finest of the fine dining in the city. For Jen to say she worked there isn’t a small omission. That’s like saying you had a desk job during “the war” and later casually mention you knew everyone on the Manhattan Project. And it wasn’t mentioned in the recap but Jen rattled off a few other fine Philly restaurants that she worked at not the least of which was Morimoto whose owner and head chef you Food Network watchers will remember is… wait for it… an IRON CHEF.
I don’t think G-Ram is getting soft. I think they lost an episode when Aaron left so they made up for it by keeping Mellissa an extra week. That and they knew that she was a complete screw-up and would create some good drama in the Blue Kitchen. The almost elimination of one of the boys - that’s was just a reality show fake-out. We should be used to that kind of trickery by now.
As for Rock’s magma explosion (wow, that sounds dirty) it’s a stressful competition and I think he’s just frustrated with losing all the time. Yeah he probably over reacted but at least when it came time for the dinner service he pulled it together and was a professional. Give the man his due; we’re all entitled to freak-out every now and then.
Great recap. Great screen caps. Keep up the good work. Until next week, SHUT IT DOWN!
12 of 14 | Posted by MODULUS
|
Posted on July 13, 2007 7:49 AM
^ Very nice analogy, there, Modulus (the war one) unlike most people who compare the oddest things and try to tell you it's the same...
13 of 14 | Posted by Donna Martin Graduates!
|
Posted on July 13, 2007 3:00 PM
Seems like the best matchup for final two would be Rock and Julia. Who would want to eat at a restaurant run by Jen, the dumpster diver? The other two men are just a couple of lugs. And Bonnie seems like an overprivileged sorority girl who's working as a "nanny" while waiting for her big break in Hollywood.
14 of 14 | Posted by MarshmallowPie
|
Posted on July 14, 2007 2:10 PM