TV Dinner: 4/20-4/26/2008
Lidia’s Italy 4/20 — Lidia prepared pizzelle, stuffed with escarole and sausage. It was actually interesting to see because it was basically the same ingredients as last week, escarole stuffed in a yeast dough, but with a completely different preparation. These were folded into empanada-like triangles and baked in the oven. She also made baba au limoncello (instead of rum), which was something new for Lidia’s mother. (PBS, Sunday at 5:30pm)
Iron Chef America 4/6 — New Mexico’s Martin Rios took on Bobby Flay in Battle Tomato. It was a pretty one-sided battle; not even Rios’s fried camambert could save him. Although the judges didn’t think either chef really knocked it out of the park, Flay won by a comfortable margin. (Food Network, Sunday at 10pm)
Last Restaurant Standing 4/22 — It was a two-team elimination challenge, and the theme was “Romance.” Blanc challenged the couples to “transform” their restaurants. He supplied them with 20 “young professionals,” they would have to find 20 more and host a singles night. Grant and Laura went the traditional romantic route, with white tablecloths, candles on the tables, etc. Lloyd and Adua transformed their restaurant into a “sexy jungle,” a phrase which Lloyd would go on to use about 50 more times during the episode. He wanted to convert an old shed out behind their restaurant into a private “love chamber,” but the women tried to veto it quickly. He ended up getting his way. Laura went out of her way to find young professionals to match the ones who were already coming, and collected the entrance fee up front to insure their attendance. Lloyd got anyone he could, did not collect the fee, and so got several cancellations on the day. Grant thought that squid would be a good “talking point” for the couples, and did a little pantomime with a whole dead squid. When Blanc’s inspector came by Lloyd and Adua’s “sexy jungle,” she said she loved the “love chamber,” calling it “a moment of genius.” I remain skeptical. In the end, Blanc actually looked torn about who lost, but he did the right thing and eliminated Lloyd and Adua. Only 3 couples left. (BBC America, Tuesday at 9pm)
Hell’s Kitchen 4/22 — “I’d love to say good night, but it was a shit night,” Ramsay told the chefs, and sent them off to bed… only to call them back at 12:35am to return to the kitchen to clean it up. Corey, who was already on the outs with her team, decided she would rather go back to her room and go to sleep. The next day, Ramsay announced that they were going to make the menu simpler so that the chefs could handle it… actually, he said they were turning Hell’s Kitchen into a family restaurant with burgers and fries, but it comes down to the same thing. There was a pasta making challenge, though the dough was premade, and the women won (again). They got to take a trip to the amusement park at Santa Monica Pier, while the men did all the prep work. Ben, trying so hard to ingratiate himself, volunteered for a special assignment and ended up literally shoveling shit (there were ponies for the children to ride). During the service, Craig was put on the pasta station, and even though the men had no confidence in him from last week they tried to pump him up. Unfortunately he only got annoyed. “Pasta is easy to cook,” he said, and then said what sounded to me like “it’s not rocket scientist [sic] to make pasta.” I swear, I rewound it and watched it twice. Of course, he screwed up the pasta. Vanessa gave herself a nasty burn and will have to see a plastic surgeon, and seemed to have lost the use of her hand. The women completed an entire service first and won the night, then went over to help the men finish up. Craig again refused the help. At the end of the service, the funniest exchange I’ve ever seen on Hell’s Kitchen happened. It went something like this: Ramsay: You really surprise me. Ben: Thank you, I was hoping you’d notice how hard I work. Ramsay: You surprise me by being so TERRIBLE. Ben: Oh, thank you. Ben, Matt, and Craig were called out to defend themselves. Ben vowed to give 100%, Matt 125%, and Craig — “I don’t know percentages. Just over that.” Craig was (mercifully) sent home. (Fox, Tuesday at 9pm)
Top Chef 4/23 — Andrew said that the room “got a lot uglier” after the elimination of pretty-boy Ryan. For the quickfire, Johnny Iuzzini (pastry chef at Jean Georges) asked the contestants to make a dessert. The winner would get their recipe featured in the Top Chef Cookbook, the only chef from the current season to be in the book. Dale only brought one dessert recipe with him, so he had to use it. Spike knew a chocolate cake recipe, but he decided instead to try a souffle in order to impress the judges. This is a pretty good strategy actually, since he may have to keep that recipe in hand for an elimination challenge. Richard told us about how clever he was while making banana “scallops” with banana guacamole, which Padma called “strange and delicious.” He won immunity. “I’m not a one-trick pony,” he said. The chefs were then sent for a night out at Second City. At the show, the actors asked the audience for a color, and emotion, and… an ingredient. The chefs knew what was up. “My immediate thought is that we are fucked,” said Lisa, and it was hard to disagree. Here are the five courses they had to make: Yellow Vanilla Love, Orange Turned On Asparagus, Green Perplexed Tofu, Magenta Drunk Polish Sausage, and Purple Depressed Bacon. The chefs were also forced to improv during their cooking: the electrical equipment was taken away, and they changed the venue at the last minute. Dale and Richard won with their tofu cooked in beef fat with green curry (green, perplexed, and tofu), and Spike finally got to make his squash soup, which Colicchio called “straightforward and delicious.” The losers were Antonia & Lisa for their chorizo (instead of Polish sausage) and Stephanie and Jen for their “erect” asparagus with orange. Lisa didn’t want to accept that they should have used the ingredient they were given, and the judges decided that Jen and Stephanie’s dish was the worse one. There was no way Stephanie was being sent home, having won so many challenges, and so Jen was kicked off. The contestants seemed shocked by this, though if she is as great a chef as they made out, we didn’t see it on this show. She always seemed to be in the middle of the pack. Next week: Tiny sous chefs! Bloody fingers! Does Tom like Mark?! (Bravo, Wednesday at 10pm)
Posted by Howard
Related Posts:
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment