Definitely cocky, but I never had a problem with that really. His whole "you're not gonna get bacon from me" was eye-roll worthy though. The guy gave you an easy out by telling you to use bacon, so if you're gonna do something else, make it good.

Best Fabio moment was his obvious distain for Rocco since he's clearly not a "real" Italian. Cracked me up.

Alex was a ******, once again it's a contestant who fails to make something he/she has done 100's of times in the early rounds. It's really not rocket science, I don't get it. Save the gambles for the later challenges where you're constrained on what you can use, etc.

Entertaining season so far though, as always it seems to get better once they kick more people off. Looking forward to the team challenges next week, I can certainly forsee Stefan making the Dale mistake from last season, rocking the individual challenges, but imploding on the team challenges.

It was great how he said "Where I come from, breakfast is sweet and fruity. But OK next time I'll just fry a piece of toast and put bacon on top with some bullsh*t egg and end up in the top 3."

That line was awesome, as was (as previously stated) his veiled jabs at Rocco dressed as praise but...he still hasn't won me over.

Give me a guy like Blaise, who is an awesome chef but humble and will readily admit his mistakes, which I don't foresee Fabio ever doing.

i went from disliking fabio to rooting for him too. the elimination challenge was incredibly boring to watch, same as last weeks. wheres the creativity? "make some turkey + pumpkin pie" and "heres 180 seconds, do some trivial bull**** for some bitch w/o a palette on some stupid talkshow" dont really make interesting challenges to me. after making that boring pork dish at Craft tho, i thought it was pretty obvious Alex wasnt staying long.

imo theres still too many hopeless chefs left for this to be truly interesting. gotta eliminate some more.

I loved that line, had to rewind it and watch it again.

Totally concur with the feelings of not really liking Fabio transformed to thinking he is awesome.

Next few episodes will drag along as the weed out the clearly weaker chefs but the final 6 to 8 down should be damn interesting.

Also thoughts on Danny? And how awesome is Tom Colicchio?

Ya Fabio is one of the few chefs that still keep me Tivo-ing the show. There's not too many others that I root for...sort of Ariane but she cries too much.

I think the blond with the tattoo has some game and will be top 3.

Yeah the tattooed lesbian definitely seems like she has skills. My dark horse pick, Eugene (aka BJ Penn jr.) definitely a big dissapointment.

Haha. Stefan is an *******, but in a good way. Not in the douchebag ******* way.

Edit: The filter never ceases to amaze me...what kind of prudes run this place?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008...rs_tom_co.html

Who gives a flying ****?

Take it easy d*ckhead. Just thought the Colichio fans/haters may have been interested.

Sorry, nothing personal.

I don't care tons about him personally, but the link is fine here.

I applaud how you circumvented the prude filter anyways.

Does anyone else get the sense that they've brought on slightly-less-talented contestants this season? The professionalism has sort of topped out. In fact, it's almost a different show from it's beginnings: respected, less name calling, no head shaving. But after last season I feel like they dialed it back a notch, picking real professionals but less potential culinary stars.

I'm actually a bit befuddled by this. Either (a) I'm simply wrong, which is quite possible; (b) less quality chefs applied, also possible; or (c) there was some reason from the producers that I can't fathom.

On the flip side, this is the funniest season ever.

I think the level of talent seems on par with seasons 2 and 3. Season 4 was just outstanding with the casting -- somehow they found a ton of super awesome chefs and it's going to be hard to ever repeat that. They do seem to be suffering from some stage fright though.

I will say that this is the first time since about two seasons ago that I wanted to crawl through my television and eat the f**k out of something: Hosea's paella looked so goddam good it made my mouth water.

Poor Eugene. That guy's as good as gone. So is Melissa; they're just obviously outclassed by the likes of Stefan, Radikha, and Fabio.

I'm not convinced Fabio is that good. But he's hilarious, and so I hope he makes it to the final.

yeah fabio's dishes haven't been well-received lately and as far as i can remember he's only had one quickfire mention as being good. maybe i'm wrong on that point, but he's definitely not been doing well

Fabio is a little up and down, with that "boring" Chilean sea bass the other week, a weak showing this time, and a bad quickfire or two. But he's also won an elimination challenge, nearly won the Today Show one, and seems to know how to play the game pretty well.

hes worthless at playing the game, did u see him in last weeks quickfire? my dead grandmom could name three ingredients in a lobster boulliabaise. dude is so overrated.

ps, what happened to the fun quickfires? last weeks was soooo awesome but now its just back to the same old "one pot, two minutes, four ingredients, simple simple simple" bull****.

I like how they acted as though they gave a gift to everyone by eliminating no one. I feel like that would annoy me as a contestant not in the bottom 3.

Also, Stefan has become pretty entertaining. Both he and Fabio are my favorites.

Lastly, did last year's winner end up opening a restaurant in chicago? If so, what's it called/what neighborhood is it in?

Izard was born in Stamford, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Michigan, and her culinary degree from Scottsdale Culinary Institute.[1] Izard was chef/owner of Scylla restaurant in Chicago, which she sold in 2007.

Izard intends to open a more ambitious and upscale restaurant in Chicago in the spring of 2009.[2][3] The restaurant will be called "The Drunken Goat," and she will be opening it with veteran restaurateurs Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz.[4][5]

Actually, she is aiming for a more casual, lower-priced restaurant. From the Chicago Sun Times, Nov 12, 2008:

"'It's sort of a Mediterranean-inspired gastropub,' she says. 'Fun and casual is what I'm going for.'

Izard had hoped to have the new space open by spring, but now says June or July is more realistic. She is currently in final negotiations to lease a space in the West Town/Wicker Park area..."



I'm kinda disappointed. I thought that winning the competition would push her in a more upscale, more interesting direction. I never made it out to her first restaurant, and was looking forward to her new one. A casual gastropub though? Meh.