Just finished watching. What a season, even though the finale was little disappointing, this was still the best Top Chef season ever hands down. Would've wanted Bryan (or Kevin) to win it, but knew immediately it was going to be Michael after they set it up for Bryan pretty strongly.

Well, after the Padma Stare in last week's preview, we knew it was Kevin or Michael.

I don't think making a pie crust that would be up to the exacting standards of the judges on the show is nearly as easy as you think it would be.

found this section interesting

haha, the comments after that interview are great:

John Kessler
December 11th, 2009
11:26 am

Jennifer Brett over at Peach Buzz is reporting that there are no reservations available at Woodfire Grill through Jan. 5. If that’s the consolation prize…..

If true, what a ****ing bitch. I hope she stays really fat after pregnancy and can't lose the weight!

Personally I agree that braised and crispy pork belly has been overdone and I would have loved to have sampled the whole roasted version.

Let's not get carried away. The vast majority of human beings, even those in the First World and who eat in decent restaurants, have never had a braised pork belly with crispy skin.

If I ever get rich, I will take a bath in braised pork bellies, then exfoliate with the crispy skin.

Has fried chicken been overdone? Grilled burgers? Peking duck?

I'm just saying it's not a gimmick, it's the optimal preparation.

her enhanced momma-cleavage during the dining scenes was pretty hawt

imo the best aspect of this ep, which it seems I liked more than most, is that there was lots of disagreement from the judges and chefs on the dishes. Usually there's a groupthink thing going on, either at the table or in the editing room. Here it was good to have one chef say he hated something and another tell him to gtfo.

The taming down of Toby has been excellent imo.

Since he became executive producer I'm starting to believe that it's Colicchio's decision alone who wins. Perhaps Gail and Toby and Padma bring things up that he didn't notice at first, but I really think it's up to him. The winner does what Colicchio thinks is cool. Pork/Bacon being the cool thing right now, but it's not everything. Colicchio is always looking for the next thing, the thing that HE is interested in rather then what we think is cool. Putting bacon in everything is so 2008. (See the I don't like bacon in my dessert comment.)

Kevin's comments about the Pork belly and the brisket were spot on. They should be soft, but not mushy. I too have eaten the short ribs at Colicchio's place and found them to be overcooked.

Definitely overdone! Burgers should be cooked on a flat top.

in protest of this crap decision of not letting kevin win, let's turn this thread into a thread about gordon ramsey's new cooking show where he's nice to ppl and acts friendly...it's strange to see

what show is it?

It's on Fox. Gordon Ramsay's cook along or something like that. Don't think it's aired yet.

preeti sucks my testicles

Are enough of you guys watching Chef Academy to warrant a thread?

Yes! Do itttt

Such a thread would be relevant to my interests.

When does it air? Worth watching?

I think Mondays at 10, it's On Demand too. It's not bad, the chef is kind of a goofball in a funny Euro way, not overly aggressive like Ramsay. I think the people in the Academy are somewhat interesting and unlike most reality cooking shows, you can learn by watching his lessons. This week was vegetarian for example and I made the Mint Pea Soup last night, it was really good.

Whoa cool. Did you just estimate the amounts? I haven't seen this ep yet but I know in the past they don't say exact amounts.

They generally put the recipes on the Bravo website i think.

hey guys and entertainme:

the reunion show is an hour earlier than usual tonight.

i'm guessing tivo won't automatically record the reunion show?