I am woefully behind in recaps but I am excited to do this Top Chef recap. Apologies. I am making all the wrong choices and doing all the wrong things. It is hard when your exercise places shut down and better food choices are not always available. It is hard enough to make the right choices when the right choices are easier. Sigh. But we have had a few days of sun in a row. So that helps. I hope you and yours are all well.
Tonight’s episode is a tribute to LA Times restaurant critic, Jonathan Gold. Wow, I was unaware that homeboy Kevin Gillespie had a serious tumor on his kidney. He is happy to be alive and wants to win. The chefs all break into groups to go to all the places that Jonathan Gold reviewed. This food porn is making me hungry. I love Eric Adjepong so much. Nini is making masa ball soup? Crazy or genius? We shall see. I wish everyone would stop mispronouncing ‘tumeric.’ And by mispronouncing I mean not saying it like I do. Because, clearly I am right. The accent is on the FIRST SYLLABLE!
Union Station
And we are off to Union Station. Never been there. Find it odd there is a giant restaurant there. But hey, we learn something new every day. They have made 200 portions of food for the guests including Jonathan Gold’s wife. Beef tartare makes me nauseous just hearing about it. I got distracted because Lawn Kid showed up looking for work/money. Sigh. This is getting very old. He needs to get somewhere and stay there. Gregory pronounced turmeric “the right way”! Actually, I might actually be um… that word that starts with wro…Sigh. Since apparently I can’t even spell it. Shut up. 🙂
Click Here For More Top Chef Recaps!
Also Jonathan Goldman’s wife and Tom are WRONG. No one wants mushy cabbage. Cabbage should have a bit of crunch left. AND BACK OFF MY MAN ERIC. But Eric should be fine. We haven’t had the Tom Colicchio vagicide yet. Angelo also pronounces turmeric the right way. I’m just saying. I hate Tom and Jonathan Goldman’s wife. Sorry. NOT SORRY. LeeAnne… come on. Cheese and fish is NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! Oh, Stephanie! You do not serve an “Indian Nacho” to Padma! Girl! Really? You are going home. Kevin was a big hit.
Judges Table
So that annoying woman is not Jonathan’s wife but his good friend. I do find her exceedingly unpleasant whoever she is. Nini, Kevin and Bryan Voltaggio were the top three. Kevin wins! Way to bring it for the ATL homeboy!
Click Here For More Top Chef Recaps!
ERIC IS ON THE BOTTOM? IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE? Thank God he doesn’t have a vagina Stephanie is going home. If they send Eric home, I will stop watching this season. In the end, they send Angelo home.
I thought Stephanie was going home. As long as it wasn’t Eric, I am OK. No matter who goes home each week, it will make me sad. I like every one of them. Malarkey kills me. A one-man show. I understand it has to be a food winner, but I have emotional favorites. I love Voltagio and I have a soft spot for Nini (THIS one). But Kevin has won my heart. Again.
I really enjoyed this episode. Hearing the stories about Jonathon Gold and his positivity was much needed during this crazy time.
What is the right way to pronounce turmeric? I add the R like library. Libary and tumeric? What I know is it stains everything and tastes good.
Was sure Stephanie was going home too. With Eric in the bottom three, my heart raced. Would love to taste his food, as it’s probably nothing I’ve tasted before.
Wish I had all the ingredients they do. These days it is how to make an egg interesting.
You can get most of the spices online. I hope my Oaktown Spice survives this mishagas. Especially after Spice Ace closed.
I agree with the accent on the first syllable, but there’s an “r” in there, as well as in syllable two: “TUR-mer-ic”
Loved this episode and the food looked amazing! Did not want to see Eric leave so I was okay with Angelo packing his knives and going.
Just finished reading 2 of Ruth Reichl’s books and have to admit they were pretty good. She has a very interesting back story.
.
Such a beautiful episode! I just wanted to cry when the restaurant owners were sharing their stories. And now I want to visit LA and go eating.
You’ll have to wait a while, Janabanana. Good food to be had, but it’s all on lockdown. I hope the restaurants can survive this.
Someone somewhere in comments obviously doesn’t have a big dog. Banjo would like to go outside at 1:31 am. Or when he would like to eat. I am not no when he is eating or what day it is… But he will let me know.
LOL I will “not no.” What is wrong with this dog letting me not” lol..” Shut up! Go away.
Didn’t we just eat three or four hours ago? No one is starving the big dog. HE WILL LET ME KNOW if he wants something…:)
Turmeric is known to be an effective anti-inflammatory. Choose turmeric wisely and ensure any encapsulated turmeric contains black pepper as the combination provides the benefits. Google it for more info and what prescriptions to avoid. I take it for arthritis and my dogs take it too.
It is TURmeric not turMERic, and the first R is basically silent, right? 🙂
I love all of these people, even Jen, so it is hard to see any of them go. I was sorry to see Angelo go, but glad it wasnt Stephanie or Eric.
Fun fact, Tom Colicchio’s wife and my sister went to high school together, they are still FB friends.
I’ve liked Eric since he was on last season. He is so humble and so proud of his heritage. He doesn’t make excuses. He just does the best he can with the hand he is dealt. I also find him so handsome . His beautiful complexion, warm smile and height gives him a mysterious regal quality. Kevin is a total sweetheart. When Parma was on WWHL Andy asked her from all the seasons which chef would she hook up with or was most attracted to.
She said Kevin because of his passion for cooking, the way he describes food and his intelligence.
i absolutely love and agree with this entire comment. There two boys are some kind of wonderful.
Kevin was a past favorite and I was surprised at how talkative he was this season. I remember him as being silent and all business. Now I know why he changed.
Was anyone else noticing the large numbers of people? How our world has changed.
Angelo struck me as a douche, but I softened when he said he had a special needs child.
Ruth Reichl is a food critic icon in her own right.
I sure she is, but do not like her. And yes, the people at all the events on these prerecorded shows kind of freak me out.
Ruth is one of my favorite “famous people” ever. I didn’t realize when I heard about her books that she was the Ruth in Berkeley who spoke beautiful French to my grandmother at restaurants. (She is much nicer than she comes across on TV.) As soon as I read the first book, I knew. But Didi was gone by then.
Jeremiah Tower … my God! His Santa Fe Bar & Grill was one of my all-time favorite restaurants. Gorgeous building — the old Santa Fe train station. At that time, SUDDENLY, after years of being “the plain ones,” my best friend and I somehow attracted a lot of male attention. Tower always would FLUTTER around our table with comp food. It hit me — AHA! — there were always LOTS OF GORGEOUS young guys with us, both friends and lovers. Gay and straight. Naughty Jeremiah.
Is it just me or does anyone else see a younger version of Aunt Edna from National Lampoons Vacation when they look at judge Nancy Silverton. I don’t recall if she judged the last episode but she did judge the first challenge at the beach.
I felt the same way about Eric…I was worried for him.