Introductions ... Miami guy (Jeff) is a dork with feathered hair, thinks he's the Aussie doc on House - we have a front runner for Padma's eye, Hawaiian dude (Eugene) covered in tats - most likely to punch a locker, one person sounds interesting (Radhika) - global small plates, some guy has an inner queen (Richard) - let's just hope she can cook, a CIA (the culinary one) student (Patrick) - would be an upset if this guy makes it 4 weeks, but I like the wine screw T-Shirt ... First quick fire challenge ... whoa, elimination challenge right off the bat, emphasizing how tough it is to conquer the New York culinary scene ... part 1, peel 15 apples with a knife, looks like there's a local guy from Jax (Hosea) - not my favorite restaurant, but tough to be a seafood restaurant in Denver / Boulder ... first blood drawn as someone cuts themselves, what the heck?!!! why are bloody apples ok! (Tom is a softy I'd DQ that) ... guy from Finland (Stefan) good with a knife - quickfire winner, likin' him, knife skills get my respect ... part 2 of the quick fire is brunois of apples (2 cups worth) ... and no brunois is not the hardest knife skill ... uh oh, Radhika is already on the ropes ... down to the last 4 people and 3 move on, part 3 is cooking with the apples, 20 minutes ... double uh oh, Radhika is thinking 20 minutes is only enough to sort her spices ... Patrick (CIA student) is all about perfection he says, ok let's see how that apple salad tastes ... doh, Lauren made a salad ... Patrick an apple slaw (read salad) ... Radhika an apple chutney with pork (hey at least she showed she knew what a pan was) ... Leah seared scallops ... Leah moves on ... Yay Radhika moves on ... the buddies from CIA are both on the chopping block ... survey says ....... later Lauren, Patrick next to last.
Elimination Challenge setup ... get out the knife block ... Chinatown, Long Island City, Jamaica, Little Italy, Little India ... sounding like New York neighborhoods ... 8 pairs of 2 contestants have to prepare a dish representative of their 'hood, and it is head to head between the pair.
Back at the pad ... The pad is choice, nice view ... team rainbow has 3 members this year ... Fabio from Firenze (Florence, Italy) is funny - "In Europe there are two types of people, Italians and those who wish they were Italian" ... tension from the American xenophobes directed at Fabio and Stefan, maybe they don't realize how fun the last 8 years were across the pond ... off to the store the next day ... Jaime - deconstructed greek salad ... Hosea - Russian food for Brighton Beach, chooses caviar ... Leah, lived in Italy and cooking for Little Italy (instant front-runner for the challenge) ... Eugene, humble but determined cooking Indian food (1st time).
Time to Cook ... 2 hour limit, lots of people working out of their wheelhouse ... Richard is monkey - Lamb Sliders in a pita, really? ... Leah, looking strong ... Jeff running way late (19 steps with 3 minutes to plate) - dork might be going home ... utencils down.
Judging ... Jean-George Vongerichten as guest judge, wow ... Gail Simmons is back again, her palate rocks ... Stefan crushes Ariane ... Richard just called Tom a cutie, his dish looks like fast food - Jamie edges out Richard ... Radhika and Jill, Radhika's cooking is now suspect with a visually icky and conceptually silly dish (just lost my favor Radhika), Jill cooked a very conceptually interesting and visually compelling Jamaican preparation - Macadamian crusted plantain fritters with jerked scallops (Jill takes Radhikas spot) ... Jill wins easily ... Fabio should have beat Jeff (Tom voted for the pork demi-glace, a cool idea), conceptually cool and great knife skills, much more sophisticated dish, but missing the Latin roots that Jeff has from Miami; Jeff wins but unimpressively, visually and conceptually pedestrian, close to street food ... Hosea and Carla - Hosea just gave the judges fish on crackers essentially, but the judges see "culinary eloquence" (let's see if he can do something beyond HORS D’OEUVRES); Hosea wins ... Leah wins with fish and risotto, underachiever I think ... Patrick's dish is called one note, Daniel made a 20 year-old Wolfgang Puck salad, both bottom feeders me thinks ... Alex and Eugene, Alex does ok, Eugene accidentally rocks the house - Eugene can flippin cook ... Chinatown was the worst, "Patrick failed miserably" ... guessing Patrick is out, maybe Ariane or Radhika (so much for first impressions).
Side note ... what is wrong with America, why do the Real Housewives of Orange County even exist, let alone get put on TV? What a vacuous lot of insipid bling-crusted monkeys, talk about signs of the apocolypse.
Judges Table ... chit chat about the judges being like dogs lovin' the salt - maybe they never watched Anne Burrell ... Patrick and Ariane on bottom ... Leah, Stefan, and Eugene on top ... Stefan wins and acts like he's been there before ... Patrick is out even though Ariane couldn't cook Farro.
The viewer contest ... 70% are rooting for rainbow trio, 30% for Euro Duo ... I've seen more cooking and less talk from the Euros so they got my vote ... now they're both duos after all.
Early favorites - Eugene, Stefan, Fabio, and Leah ... favorites to leave are Ariane, Alex, Richard, and Jeff.
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