Daddy Tom strolls in to crush confidence and see who he can intimidate the most using the power of frowns. He stops by the blue team first and asks what their "Sexy Drink" really is. To my surprise it's not gin and roofies, but rather just a lot of sugary ingredients, lavender, and carbonation. Both Daddy Tom and I think this is not so much sexy as it is boring and misnamed. He then goes over to Erik on the red team to ask about teamwork, and freaks Ryan out a bit when he questions their decision to exclude mayo from a Waldorf salad.
Upon arriving at the block party, the chefs have 20 minutes to set up while the locals swarm around them. As feared, the transportation time has left Erik's red team corndogs soggy, and Nikki's blue team mac and cheese completely dried out. The fact that they both suck as chefs isn't helping either one of their dishes, either. However, both teams decide to roll with the dishes because there isn't much they can do at this point.
Are you guys sure this is the ANTM audition?
Scar & Co arrives - this week we got Rick from the QF, Daddy Tom, and Ted Allen (yay!). With that, the chefs begin serving their food. The blue team's strategy is to plate the food for the guests, to go along with their more upscale dishes (and hopefully avoid serving the crunchiest part of Nikki's mac and cheese). Over on the red team, Evangelos encourages childhood obesity by giving a plump little girl a chocolately dessert, and she moans in delight. Not a good sign for her high school years. Chicago kids are dickwads.
The judges stop by the blue table. Ted Allen is very excited about the concept of sausages, and Richard agrees that his favorite kind of party is a sausage fest. After collecting one of each dish, the judges walk away to eat, leaving both the team and us viewers without any idea what they're thinking.
Instead, we switch right to the judges approaching the red table. Again the judges merely collect dishes and leave the chefs befuddled as to what they're thinking. They do take a second to mock Evangelos - in yet another stupid hat - for describing his s'more in a faux French accent. He's a douchebag, we get it. Stop giving him so much camera time. While discussing the s'mores, Scar once again demonstrates her lovely table manners by dropping half her s'more on Ted's shoe. I can't decide which is classier - that or her Punky Brewster-inspired ensemble.
Yes, I am aware I married a cartoon character!
The judges meet up to compare notes, while Twitch and Evangelos play with some of their mental peers - the age 8 and under sect at the block party. Meanwhile, the blue team watches their antics nervously, assuming the red team must have kicked their asses to be that relaxed and carefree. No, they're just idiots. Calm down. Sure enough, when we get back to the kitchen, Scar calls the blue team in first, and the red team sits in shock.
Once they're in front of the judges, Daddy Tom tells the blue team that it was a really close decision because both teams fucked up pretty bad. Nikki gets called out first for her mac and cheese when she makes the mistake of piping up too early. Rick points out it was a brick, and she didn't use the Velveeta correctly. Richard is next, and Daddy Tom says his paella was actually rice pilaf since it was missing a key preparation component. Luckily for Richard, it still tasted okay and he has immunity.
Enough harassment. The blue team is the winning team, and the chefs all exhale and giggle with the released tension. Specifically, the judges like Antonia's bean dish, but give Yoda another win for her involvement with both the Not-Really-Sexy Drink and the wonton dessert that I would have very much liked to try. So far this season, this judges seem to rewarding chefs who take on two simpler dishes and do them well, rather than chefs who take on only one complicated dish. And that's two out of three for Yoda.
Feel the Force, bitches!
In the waiting room, the red team is getting drunk and using their beer bottles to cool their sweating foreheads. The blue team sends the red team to face the judges and then celebrates - Yoda doing what I can only imagine is a Yoda dance, and Mutton fashioning a didjeridu out of a huge roll of paper. Way to live up to my stereotypes, guys.
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Comments (14)
Great recap, LoLo! Loved the Princess Bride reference!
1 of 14 | Posted by kdfinjpn | Posted on March 29, 2008 1:02 AM
I'm surprised Erik lasted as long as he did. The souffle w/the tortilla chips was horrid last week. I don't understand why these people can't figure out how to make their food work when it has to sit for a couple of hours! Soggy corn dogs, watery chicken salad, chewy mac n cheese - ugh! Twitch and Spike drive me nuts, but they are kind of fun to watch together! Great recap, LoLo, your screen recaps are the best!
2 of 14 | Posted by valmommyt | Posted on March 29, 2008 4:41 AM
I thought Daddy Tom should have thrown out Twitch just for his comment!! I couldn't believe he said that. Upscale bar-b-que? I think not, they could have done so much better with what they had and I'm talking about both teams. There is nothing upscale about corndogs, pasta salad, mac and cheese...
Great and funny recap! I was sad to see Eric go though, although besides Twitch, I'm not sure who should have been packing.
3 of 14 | Posted by featherhead | Posted on March 29, 2008 4:46 AM
I agree that it was Erik's time to go but I must say he did a 180 for me from that first episode and I actually think he seems nice and a relatively calm influence in the kitchen.
I think there is a shot at a woman winning this season- richard is going to be difficult competition but he is too much like Hung and Marcel.
I think in the top tier will be Antonia (she hasn't done poorly yet and she keeps her shit together) Yoda-if she can stay cool under pressure which almost definitely won't happen, and Jennifer- I think she has a lot of potential and is going to come out as a big winner soon.
or I could end up totally eating my words next week. get it? EATING my words...
4 of 14 | Posted by chunkymonkey | Posted on March 29, 2008 7:55 AM
my boyfriend has a didjeridu. its the frickin sweetest thing ever.
thats not important or relevant, but seriously that thing ROCKS. everyone needs one.
5 of 14 | Posted by aman | Posted on March 29, 2008 9:19 AM
Long time lurker here, first time poster - Awesome recap! LoLo, you rock on this and you can tell that you're totally into the show. :) By the way, I think Richard said he was using a jicama to wrap his tacos in the QF, although I missed the beginning so I can't tell you for sure. Those are yum yum good, btw, and eaten raw taste like the result of a warped marriage between a carrot and a water chestnut. Good snack!
6 of 14 | Posted by teri00 | Posted on March 29, 2008 10:53 AM
You're right Teri -- it was jicama and it actually looked really refreshing to me. It sort of looked like a Vietnamese spring roll rather than a taco though.
I can't tell two of those guys apart -- the one that you had like 50 screencaps of is Spike, right? So is he who you call Twitch? The other is Evangelos? I seriously cannot tell the two apart when they are onscreen, and the added nicknames just make it more confusing for my poor addled brain.
But, that doesn't prevent me from saying: great recap! I love this show -- thank you for making it even more entertaining!
7 of 14 | Posted by zbird | Posted on March 29, 2008 12:09 PM
Hey everyone! Thanks as always for the comments -- I love having you guys to watch and discuss this show with!
Teri, Zbird, you're both right -- it was a jicama that Richard used, which I mistakenly thought was a kind of potato. I should have double checked that one, so thanks for catching it!
As for the nicknames, Spike and Evangelos are the same guy. He said in the first episode that his real name is Evangelos, and since he drives me nuts, I'm perversely calling him that because it was clear he's embarrassed by it. Twitch is Andrew, the chef who won last week's EC. They do look an awful lot alike and they hang out together too -- sometimes the only way to tell them apart is look to see who's shaking uncontrollably (and that would be Twitch).
Hope that clears things up!
8 of 14 | Posted by LoLo | Posted on March 29, 2008 12:43 PM
Does anyone else think twitch looks and acts like the actor from alpha dog, not sure the name ...but if you recall the movie it was his younger brother that was the plot of the movie and got killed. we def need a screen cap/movie clip of the 2 side by side
9 of 14 | Posted by Anonymous | Posted on March 29, 2008 5:38 PM
Rick Bayless is a douchbag! What is up with the weird looking beard and when he smiles it's scary! Like serial killer scary! And one more thing Rick, shut up! He was way over-the-top negative and the other "real" judges just had to sit there while he flapped on and on. Me thinks he is trying for his own reality show...
I think the bad pasta salad making girl chef should have gone home.
10 of 14 | Posted by bingo blog boy | Posted on March 31, 2008 8:08 AM
grr this episode made me mad.
Obviously I wasn't there to taste the food, but for a block party I definitely found the red teams menu to be more appealing. The way the judges were mad because their food was so low brow- it was dissapointing. THey had to cook for kids. Kids don't enjoy a lot of what was on the blue menu. And also the judges didn't pay for the food, the guests of the block party did, it was their food and they really should have taken a vote from the crowd, because every time they interviewed them they seemed to prefer the red team over the blue.
11 of 14 | Posted by tvkitty | Posted on March 31, 2008 8:51 AM
Did anyone notice the really gross thing that richard did while making his taco? He put the mixing spoon in his mouth, then right back into the bowl. I DVR'd it to make sure. Didn't the first ever contestant on Top Chef get booted for licking his finger, then putting it back in the sauce?
12 of 14 | Posted by misswatchsomuch | Posted on March 31, 2008 9:35 AM
Awesome recap yet again! Even though the entire thing is funny, LoLo is the screencap master! Especially the brilliant: (Evangelos) Just a mere two inches more and we'd be in business...friggin awesome!
I had some mixed thoughts on this episode. I was actually impressed with how well the red team seemed to work together, I mean, there was like no blaming someone else when one of them fucked up, or anything! That being said though, I completely agree with Ted, if you're gonna make simple, everyday food like mac&cheese and salad, it better be the best shit they've ever tasted (ahem..Nicki)
Since I've brought her up, let me rant on how much Nicki pisses me off - so far she's made, pizza, mushrooms, lasagna, and mac&cheese. Umm...seriously? If anyone tells me that she is the "Italian" chef, I will cry, because besides the lasagna she basically has proved that she's qualified to cook lunch at an elementary school - Nicki, please cook something that hasn't already been perfected by Chef Boyardee or Red Baron. If she makes Beefaroni next week I'm gonna kill myself.
Anyway, I still like Beasty and Antonia. They seem to take challenges and roll with it while not being complete shitters.
Again, loved the recap! (...and Richard agrees that his favorite kind of party is a sausage fest. - awesome!!)
13 of 14 | Posted by carmelicious | Posted on March 31, 2008 2:34 PM
I haven't been to a sausage party in a long time--sounds good to me. I agree with Dick Tracy--Evangelous looks like a douche--esp in his hat. I don't know why people listen to the other teams, esp when they say it's cleaned out--like they would help them not waste time.
Aren't there a few other dishes that can be made with weiners--i'm just sayin'
Beyond Stupid for Erik to plow through knowing full well--I was really not impressed with his cooking at all . . . deserved to go.
Good call on Nicki, Carm. Once again, mac and cheese--is there nothing else that can be made with velveta besides edible underwear--oops, that's my trick!
Thanks for the recap LoLo!!! I like your nicknames, makes it easier for me, esp w so many chefs at this point!
Twitch is a dick too--"my house" puuuleeese!!!!
14 of 14 | Posted by juddfan | Posted on March 31, 2008 4:52 PM