TOP CHEF Recap: Vivre Las Vegas

Well, the obvious place to start here is OMG THE HIGHSTAKES QUICKFIRE! Am I right? That WAS high stakes, and intense. I was gripping the heck out of Billy’s arm, on par to when we see horror movies (which is like, every weekend, because I’m a huge fan). And really, it seemed like a VERY difficult challenge and I really felt like it was up in the air, especially given how many of the chefs said they hadn’t worked with escargot, and even the ones in the top (except everyone’s favorite, Mike Isabella) commented on how difficult they were to work with.

As far as the bottom three were concerned, it was no big shock to see Jessie there, and I felt like Ashley’s admitted complete lack of experience with snails was what landed her there. I was REALLY hoping she wouldn’t get sent home because I thought of all that group, she is easily the most talented. Robin is just sort of a non-entity to me, so I was just meh about her.

I did like that they let them have a little cook-off and didn’t base it entirely on the escargot, and I actually thought that Jessie had a shot at staying, since that was a pretty cute little amuse bouche, but they sent her packing and you know, I think it was time. I liked her exit interview and how what she really wanted people to know was that she didn’t suck this much, and that she hadn’t felt like herself in the competition at all. And you know? I believed her. Some people aren’t cut out for the competition thing, as we’ve seen in numerous previous seasons and on a variety of other reality shows. It happens, and I think she’ll be fine out in the real world.

As for the top three, we see Jen there again, as well as Mike Isabella, and the eventual winner, Kevin. And by the way, Patty—you pointed out last week in the comments that he looks exactly like Yukon Cornelius and OH MY GOD HE DOES. He SOOOOO does. It’s all I could think about every time he smiled, and there was a whole lot of smiling this week. Good call on that. Anyway, I officially love Kevin, and I am rooting for him HARD. I would LOVE to eat his food sometime, and he’s so nice, and funny, and humble yet competitive. I loved during his talking head how he said it’s good to win those things because it shows people that you’re serious, you know what you’re doing, and you came to play. I’m sure that Kevin would’ve loved the opportunity to cook for his hero, Joel Robuchon, and I know he would’ve impressed him, but I’m sure he loved the opportunity to sit and eat dinner with him too, and I was really happy for him.

As for Mike Isabella … sorry folks, I think we may be stuck with him for awhile. Although, I don’t know, sometimes it seems like it could go either way, and like he’s not that great and he’s just hitched his wagon to the Voltaggio star, but on the other hand, he does seem to do pretty well on Quickfires and so forth, so we should probably just plan on seeing his pompous ass around. But I will say, he didn’t annoy me as much this week. I was happy to see, especially during the little grocery shopping bit, that they seem to have accepted Jen as “one of the guys”, playing around with her and giving her the respect she deserves. Mike admitted that Michael and Jen were the power team, followed by him and Bryan, and I thought that was pretty humble for him and turned out to be true. Also, was anyone else picking up on a little sexual tension between Michael and Jen? I mean, it could’ve just been mutual respect, but I think they might liiiiiiike each other a little bit, and if you’ve ever worked in a kitchen, you know how slutty it can be up in there. Maybe they’ll try to secretly make out, HOsea and GonnoLeah-style, and we’ll get to see the whole thing, except I won’t be all mad and grossed out about it. I’ll be like … YE-AH! That’s just me, though.

Alright, as for the rest of them … and you know, that really is what they are—“the rest of them”. I feel like I have a VERY clear idea of who will be in the final 4 (Kevin, Jen, and The Bros), and I think Mike Isabella will be with us for awhile. Everyone else seems to just be sitting ducks, waiting in a line to be picked off, you know? Anyway, Billy and I both agreed that we like Eli but that he’ll only go about as far as the middle of the pack, and we like his personality more than we find his cooking especially interesting. He’s funny, though—I see him as a little bit of an Andrew (season four) character, maybe minus some temper.

I already liked Ash, but he REALLY won me over after he came back in from Judges’ Table and said that it’s horrible, and that it really hurts because everything they say is right. And I feel like ultimately, it takes a really big person to admit that. He did throw Hector under the bus a little more than I feel like is common practice among cheftestants who don’t hate each other, but I can definitely chalk it up to nerves and survival instinct, although I’d hope at the next one that he’d lay a little lower and just let people dig their OWN graves.

And dude, I felt bad for Ashley. I mean … here she is with the French chef, who is telling her not to do things that she eventually got dinged on, and you know, it totally was her fault for listening to him, but it was also a partner challenge and of course you’re going to listen to the French guy when you’re cooking French food for another French guy, you know? And I was really glad that the judges picked up on that. I feel like this season, we’re seeing a lot more of Gail than we ever really have, and I think she’s very naturally perceptive on these things, and how the interpersonal side of stuff works. And she just has insights that cut right to the chase. I think she was probably Ashley’s saving grace this week. And I was with Tom—it really was Mattin’s week to shine and he kind of faceplanted it. And man, when he straight up DENIED shooting down Ashley’s idea for the asparagus in the veloute, I wanted to strangle him with his stupid little red bandana. I REALLY thought that the Season Five Birthday Curse might still be in effect and it would be “peace out, Mattin”, but apparently it’s been broken and instead we lost Hector.

HECTOR! Oh, that one made me sad. I was ready for Mattin or even Ashley to go, but I kind of loved Hector. He really needs to be a character actor in movies. But I just felt like he came on so strong after the first week, and he was always interesting. I loved his little going away speech though about how he wanted to stay longer, but now people will just have to come eat at his restaurant to see how good he is. Oh, Hector! I totally would!

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty good episode overall, and I did like the challenge. It was really cool to see the chefs so awestruck at getting to cook for someone who is basically a hero in their industry (although me and Billy felt like Mike Isabella might have been faking it and maybe didn’t know who he was), and I did agree with Gail that they probably couldn’t have done THAT dinner at THAT point in the competition in any other season. Not that certain contestants couldn’t have pulled it off during any given season, but not the majority of the contestants, the way they did here. It is a REALLY talented group this year. And their PLATING! I just can’t get over that—every single dish that goes out looks like a tiny little artwork. They’re KILLING it.

And I got to see my Hubert! Don’t worry, Hubert—my Kevin love hasn’t made me forget about you! Of course whenever Hubert is on I wish he was the star of the show, but I know they’ve got to give Joel Robuchon the main focus. And Billy and I both agreed that Robuchon was much more gracious and complimentary than he really had to be. He seemed like a really nice, very decent person, which was nice considering you could see how being named Chef of the Century could give someone a bit of an ego.

Alright, I’m turning it over to you guys! What did you think of the High Stakes Quickfire? Did you agree with the eliminations? Any new thoughts on the contestants or the challenges? Bring it on in the comments!

SB has many interests, including photography, her pets, entertainment, traveling and writing. She does have a day job, but that mostly amounts to her being a sarcastic young woman with a lot of time on her hands, which is why she appreciates the opportunity to recap.