Overall, Top Chef remains a high quality reality competition, not an easy feat after five seasons. True, there still needs to be fewer gimmicky challenges (such as cooking in the desert or creating "deconstructed" dishes), and more focus on making good, quality food that doesn't require transport and completion elsewhere (in bags and containers from the Glad family of products). The two best challenges this season were Episode 4's French cuisine challenge and Episode 8's pig and pinot noir pairing. In the upcoming episode "Restaurant Wars", two teams of four create an entire mini-restaurant in the span of a day. This challenge has become stale after five seasons. Hopefully the producers will come up with an interesting variation for the Las Vegas crew (but probably not).
In the past eight weeks, the weakest chefs have been booted from the competition, and none of these eliminations were surprising. The stuffed pepper Jen (not Jennifer) made the first week was gross looking, and apparently tasted even worse. Eve was bland the following week. Preeti couldn't clean clams or make pasta salad. Jesse was always quick to explain to the judges that she knew what she did wrong, but never improved. Hector, Mattin, and Ron were clearly out of their league compared to the rest of the group. Ashley had some good dishes in her, but was always just a bit off. Recently eliminated Ash never understood why he was constantly in the bottom.
The remaining eight chefs, with two exceptions, possess an amazing amount of talent and skill. My opinions, from least to most talented:
Bottom Tier
Robin: By being consistently not terrible, not exceptional, and not unlucky, the annoying Robin has not been booted yet. However, she has managed to be downright annoying. While this may just be the editing process, there may be some truth in the shrewness that remains. She's not a very strong chef. Unlike last season's Carla who was stealthily good and really impressed the judges in the latter half, Robin does not have the skills, or even the redeeming quality of niceness, to go further. There always seems to be one of these types in every season, annoying but able to hang on because other people suck more. Please, please, Robin, just shut up and leave. Let the door hit you in ass on the way out.
Laurine: Laurine should also be booted soon. She's been on the bottom three times in Elimination Challenges, and one Quickfire. Her food just looks - and tastes - bland, under-seasoned, and the culinary equivalent of beige. Snore.
Middle Tier
Eli: While I admit to having a bit of a crush on Eli in the first few episodes, his whining, complaining personality took care of that. He was also a bit of a dick for insinuating that Robin played the "cancer card" to win immunity in Episode 6. He's got good skills, and the mustard potato salad he made for the "Thunderbirds" episode was incredibly tasty (and I can speak from experience from eating it in real life - it is awesome), but he's just acts too immature and lacks the grace and poise necessary to make it to the final three.
Mike (Isabella): In our house, Mike was immediately nicknamed "B.O.D." or "bag of dicks" as in "eat a bag of dicks" after the first two episodes. He's an annoying North Jersey guy down to the attitude and accent, but he does possess a decent skill set that could take him to the final three. (If he doesn't hit someone before then.)
Top Tier (a really stellar collection of chef this season)
Jennifer: I have loved local Philadelphia chef Jennifer (nicknamed "Ten Jen" because she works at 10 Arts (warning, automatic music)) since episode one. She has skills, a palate, composure, and the ability to run a kitchen (as demonstrated in the "Thunderbirds" episode where she assumed the role of executive chef). Some bloggers have been labeling Jennifer as a bit of a bitch, which is completely untrue. (To pull out the feminist card, if she was a man, no one would label her as difficult.) I can't wait to eat at 10 Arts when this is all done.
Kevin: Santa Claus! (Sorry, had to get that out of the way.) Kevin has presented himself as an extremely solid, good-hearted, graceful person. He hasn't ragged on other contestants, even keeping his mouth shut during Robin pile-ons. He presents as wise beyond his years (only 26, one year older than Eli, and the second youngest of the remaining chefs), and does amazing creations with pork. If it weren't for that Santa/gnome-like beard, I'd be crushing on him hard.
The Voltaggio Brothers: I prefer the classic style of older brother Bryan rather than Michael's experiments in molecular gastronomy. Although he's only three years older than Michael, Bryan has more experience and composure in the kitchen. (Bryan worked for chef Charlie Palmer for nearly ten years, Michael seems to have bounced around more, racking up more unusual cooking experiences.) If the producers decide to keep one brother in the final three, it should be Bryan. However, I have a suspicion that the producers will keep both brothers in the final three, and play up the "sibling rivalry" angle until the bitter end.
My ideal final three: Jennifer, Kevin, and Bryan. Of these three, any would be an excellent champion.
Below, a clip from "Thunderbirds" with Jen in charge of the kitchen:
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