I told you...

that "Last Restaurant Standing" would be a great replacement for "Top Chef" - because Tuesday night's episode was straight out of the "Top Chef" archives. This was a challenge episode - where the bottom 3 couples are pitted against each other for a chance to stay in the competition. The challenges are very interesting - the first was at a large petrol station, the last one was at a university, and this week's was on a plane! I'm sure you all remember "Top Chef: Miami" where the chefs had to prepare a dish for the Continental Airlines staff in order to advance from Newark, NJ to New York City. Well, this was essentially the same thing. The bottom 3 had to shop for and prepare a meal for first class that was representative of the concept and theme of their restaurant. Since there are 6 couples left, each of the challenge couples was paired up with a non-challenge couple. The chef counterpart of each pair worked together in preparation, while the front-of-house counterparts had to learn how to properly set up and serve first class all while keeping within the time limits. We did have a classic "Top Chef" faux-pas - the chef of one of the challenge teams bought frozen prawns (Spike and frozen scallops, anyone?) - big no-no. If some of you are trying to catch up with this show, I won't post any team spoilers, but there were a few things in this episode worth noting.

• As I have mentioned before, the head judge is Raymond Blanc, a French chef and restauranteur. The ultimate prize of the show is to open a restaurant with him. I'm pretty sure this is the first time he has tasted the chef's food since the very first episode - or, as my husband pointed out, as far as we know. That was kind of exciting, but probably kind of a bummer for the teams who were in the clear - that would seem to be good exposure.
• One of the other two judges was initially forgotten by two of the three teams. I could see that happening once, but twice! That was pretty crazy.
• The prize for winning this challenge (besides staying on the show) was kind of a big one. If your meal and presentation won, this particular airline would start serving your dish. Kind of cool, especially if they advertised it with your restaurant name.
• Lastly, even though this challenge didn't take place in a restaurant, it further solidified the connection between quality food and quality service as the key to success in the food world. This show really highlights both of those aspects, which I've never really seen in a reality cooking show before. Good job, BBC!

Exasperated

This is how I feel about a lot of tv shows I have been watching as of late. Most often mentioned was this past season of "The Bachelor," but this extends to 'scripted' shows as well (no "Hills" or "City" cracks, please). I guess I just need some resolution or something.

First up, "Chuck" (I just said upchuck, hahaha). I realize that my husband, myself, and my in-laws are the only ones watching this show, but more people should. If you need a little Seth Cohen in your life now, Chuck Bartowski is your man. To get you up to speed, Chuck (Zachary Levi) is a twenty-something-year-old guy, working at Buy More (Best Buy), but he also has goverment secrets in his head like he's a human hard drive or something. Since he is a valuable government asset, he is monitored by two handlers - Sarah Walker of the CIA (Yvonne Strahovski) and John Casey of the NSA (Adam Baldwin, no, not those Baldwins). Chuck and Sarah are in a cover relationship, but Chuck is really in love with Sarah and she may be in love with him. So basically I'm really freaking frustrated because Chuck is a nice guy who doesn't deserve to have this information in his head and he can't have a normal relationship because he's in a fake relationship (although he did try to have a secret relationship with Rachel Bilson, I'm not kidding about this Seth Cohen thing). I feel bad for the guy and I am not into the Ross-Rachel, will they/won't they thing. So...exasperated.

"Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles" - Full disclosure time people - I have not seen any of the Terminator movies. I, more often that not, have no idea what is going on with the show anyways, plus my husband (who has seen all of the movies) can't even really fit this in with the Terminator storyline. Talk about frustrated! The first season was pretty good, fast-moving and whatnot. Now it's at this mopey standstill, although someone did get killed last Friday. I kind of feel like, let's resolve all this time travel nonsense and I don't know what because I don't know what happens. One MAJOR plus is the addition of Shirley Manson to the cast. This woman is PHENOMENAL. Best robot ever - except for Summer Glau as Cameron. I don't know if it's a compliment to be able to play a robot well, but these ladies handle it!

A fellow blogger mentioned the P-L-A-Y-E-D nature of this past week's "30 Rock" and I will agree that the Liz-baby, Tracy-Jenna storylines are a little washed. But my favorite dynamic is that between Liz and Jack anyways, so I'm doing pretty good on that front. Plus - Kenneth.

"House" is the other one that's got me frustrated. The Foreman-Thirteen relationship seems forced, and House and Cuddy get into that whole Ross-Rachel territory. Again - the best dynamic is that of Taub and Kutner. I did like the look into House and Wilson's relationship this week. It's nice to have friends. Plus - the plot is kind of the same each week. Unsolvable case, some random something that applies to it in House's personal life - case solved. There's no variance, except for the patience and the illness.

Last, but not least - "Project Runway." I'm just ready for the Weinsteins (or whoever) to get over themselves and get this business on the air. I don't watch "Make Me a Supermodel," so my Wednesdays are empty now!!!

Reunion wrap-up + long-promised preview/review

Well, readers, it has been a week of reunions in the world (or my world, I suppose) of reality tv. Let's get to it.

"The Bachelor: After the Final Rose, Part Two" - I'm not kidding, that's the full name. This hour was just about as throw-away as I expected it to be. Probably the weirdest part was the opening where they threw together Naomi, Kari (my husband kept asking who she was), Nikki, Erica, and Stephanie to rap about the shocking ending. I totally buy Naomi and Stephanie being there - they made it pretty far, had all kissed Jason, knew the girls - but the other 3 were kind of random. To my unsettled surprise, most of them seemed to support Jason, because they all knew what it was like to be in love with him and they knew he had a tough choice. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Maybe they were just really glad they weren't part of this switcheroo, but I mean, come on, stand up for your fellow ladies! He did you girls wrong! So that was a little disappointing, not to mention pointless. They did take some comments from audience members, so that was kind of cool. But again, these people weren't there. Move it along, Chris! He does by reading a quote from Melissa, who obviously didn't want to be there. She's doing surprisingly well, glad things played out the way they did (I also read a statement from her that mentioned she had been extended the offer to be the next Bachelorette, but turned it down as she has decided her reality tv days are over). Love her. So then they bring Molly out and Chris talks to her about how and why she took Jason back - stellar question. She said she never fell out of love with him and she grilled him the night of the first 'After the Final Rose.' In this case, I agree with what Trista Sutter (the first Bachelorette) has said about this whole thing - it would be really hard to trust someone when you knew they have already picked someone else over you. Blah blah blah, bring out Jason. He again said he didn't have any regrets and didn't want to. My main question here is - don't you kind of regret needlessly breaking Melissa's heart? I mean, I know it only made his relationship with Molly stronger, and of course Melissa is better off, but wouldn't you kind of wish you had seen the forest for the trees and picked your right girl in the first place? I mean, I do. I dated some lame guys - they did get me ready for my husband, but there is a part of me that wishes I could have avoided some of that. ANYWAYS, long story short, they did actually appear really into each other, which is good, and Molly will be moving to Seattle. Plus they gave them the tent from their first one-on-one date. Now it's Bachelorette announcement time! And it is none other than America's Canadian Sweetheart - Jillian. I had previously stated that unless Stephanie or Melissa were the next bachelorette, I was done with this franchise (sorry, Chris!). We'll see how long this resolve lasts since - what else am I going to watch this summer?

"Top Chef: New York" Reunion Special - Hosted by the ever-lovely Andy Cohen, featuring, I believe, all of the contestants and judges. What a treat! I think my favorite part about these reunions are the previously un-aired footage along with the montages. Favorite un-aired moment - Jamie and Leah drunk at Judge's Table. HILARIOUS. Most of the montages concerning Stefan were great as well. Everyone seemed to be getting along, so that was also a plus. Hosea and Leah have both been broken up with by their significant others and are not together, though they mentioned that if they were in the same place they would give it a try. Fabio was voted fan favorite. Fabio's mother and Hosea's father are not doing well, and they showed a picture from Gail's wedding!!! Pretty good special, nothing earth-shattering.

So what will you watch now, you ask? I recommend "Last Restaurant Standing" on BBC America. The premise is: world-renowned restauranteur Raymond Blanc (my husband says he must not be that famous since he hasn't been on "Top Chef") has selected 9 couples with which he would possibly like to open a restaurant. One half of the couple is the executive chef, while the other half is in charge of front-of-house. Raymond also has two restaurant expert judges to form a panel. He gives each couple an actual restaurant and they have challenges and are eliminated. At the end, the winning couple gets to open a restaurant with Mr. Blanc. My husband and I were initially confused by the format, so I'm going to lay it all out for you. Each episode is an hour and a couple is only eliminated every other episode. So one episode they have a particular challenge that they have to execute within their restaurant. They meet with Raymond and the judges and one restaurant is selected 'restaurant of the week' and 3 couples are selected to go into the challenge. The next episode is the challenge - they are thrown into a different part of the food world and must adapt excel because otherwise they are eliminated. In these challenges, the members of the other couples are split up into the challenge couples, making for a sort of team challenge. The thing I really like about this show is that it is more about restaurants than cooking. I am learning how hard it is to run the front-of-the-house and that good food really matters. It is filmed in Britain (one guy looks like he is straight out of Wallace & Gromit, I swear) and Raymond is French, so the accents are struggle, but we have found it very compelling. I really recommend adding it to your weekly viewing if you have BBC America and are looking for another food-related competition. Woo!

I will not accept this rose...

Congrats, ABC, you've done it again - pulled off "the most shocking and dramatic finale/after the rose special in Bachelor history." Oh, yes, along with most other females in my age group across this great country of ours, I watched 3 hours of "The Bachelor" last night with bated breath, only to be continually jerked around by ABC and Jason Mesnick. Good Lord.

Let me tell you about my history with "The Bachelor/ette." Of the 13 seasons of "The Bachelor," I have watched 4. Of the 4 seasons of "The Bachelorette," I have watched 2. I was first introduced to the show by my freshman year roommate. We watched Aaron Buerge smash 3 ladies into the ground (our favorite was Gwen - second runner-up). Then ABC so smartly brought Trista Rehn (first runner-up from the first season of "The Bachelor") back for the first season of "The Bachelorette." As said roommate had already watched Trista get crushed in the first season, we of course watched Trista's search for love (did I mention that some hall-mates of ours seriously considered a tv intervention in the form of stealing our tv? this may have had something to do with the fact that we would tape stuff in our room, someone else's room, and then watch tv in a third person's room - in hindsight, the intervention may have been a good idea). But as this roommate moved on to another college and I moved onto another roommate (the one who let us watch her tv while we were taping in two other rooms), "The Bachelor" and its derivations fell by the wayside. I didn't even watch Trista and Ryan's wedding.

Fast forward to my after college roommate. She DVRed the entire season of "The Bachelor:Rome" - you know the one with the 'Italian' 'prince' who didn't speak Italian? Enter Ice Storm 07 and a marathon watch session/DVR cleaning out and ABC had me back, even though Lorenzo didn't pick our fave (Sadie). Then, in a GENIUS MOVE, ABC picked a bachelor from Austin - my hometown. Well, I had to watch it (although as a rule, I am not a patron of his bars due to the cast of "The Real World:Austin" - wow, this post is not endearing me as particularly intelligent or social). Then Brad Womack did the unthinkable, and the most awesome thing I have seen to date on this meat market of a show, he didn't pick either girl! People were pissed! Not me, though. I applauded Brad for his honesty, I mean what are the actual chances of finding true love on a reality show with 25 women picked out for you by producers? I mean, really. I read this week that Brad actually knew none of the women were right for him much earlier than the final rose ceremony, but he was contractually obligated to go through the rest of the hoopla. So then jilted DeAnna is the new bachelorette, so I'm already sucked in, and then they go ahead and keep recycling and pick Jason for the new bachelor and now you're up to speed.

My husband and I actually watched this season together, which I really appreciated. We both got into it, had a clear favorite, made fun of everyone else along the way, and were generally glad that we met each other at a club like normal people. We were way pulling for Melissa, though we both had a soft spot for Stephanie, and had a categorical dislike for Molly. Imagine our elation when he finally proposed to Melissa. And then just like that, ABC ripped it away. It didn't even last 5 minutes (much like their relationship - OH!!!). Then Molly just took him back like it ain't no thang. Really? Does this happen in real life? Overall, I feel duped and confused and I don't like Jason anymore. I'm glad he gave ABC some genuine drama, but was it worth it to break two women's hearts in the end? Did the arbitrary DeAnna appearance ensure a confusing finale? Maybe we'll find out tonight on part 2 of "After the Final Rose."

Something I haven't mentioned...Chris Harrison. I'll tell you why - I love the guy. He has the best job and seems to have genuine relationships with these crazy contestants. In his blog this week on ew.com he mentioned that the next time he and his wife go to Dallas, Melissa will be the first one they call to go grab a cold one. Well, Chris and Mrs. Harrison - let me extend the offer that the next time you're in Austin, we'll go grab a cold one. I didn't really love the way he had to coddle the break-up along last night, that was uncomfortable and awkward. But I guess when your contract mandates it (on all sides) you just have to grin and bear it. And while we're talking about ew.com, check out their recaps blog as well. I can only hope to learn to write that way - it's phenomenal. Here's a tease from this week's edition entitled "This is (not) your wife": "And by 'putting it all out there,' she means mounting him on a rented massage table and tenderizing him with baby oil like the big piece of beefcake that he is." I KNOW - AWESOME.

Quick clarification of my "Top Chef" post - I didn't want to imply that I thought that Hosea didn't deserve to win - he apparently cooked the best meal. I only wanted to express my disappointment that Carla (especially) and Stefan did not rise to this particular challenge. Thank you.

Hmm...

Spoilers ahead - FYI.

One time, I was reading up on "Top Chef" drinking games on the interwebs. Each version I found was very complicated. One in particular involved having two teams - Contestants vs. Judges. Again, it was confusing, but it was something along the lines of every time Padma said something ridiculous or that she didn't seem qualified to say, the Judges team took a drink. On the other side (and this is the one I do remember very accurately), if a contest said something full of foreshadowing that would probably doom them in the end, the Contestants team took a drink. This is exactly what went through my head during the "Top Chef" finale last night when Carla said early on, "I know I can do this if I just cook my food."

So last night my husband and I rushed home (we were at church for Ash Wednesday, but we have priorities, man!), grabbed some beverages and cookies, and settled in to take in the episode.

The episode broke down like this: Breakfast; pick sous chefs by drawing knives; Hosea-Richard, Stefan-Marcel, Carla-Casey; cook the best meal of your life using what's available at this restaurant; fight over foie gras; sous-vide; TWIST - eat king cake, find baby, dole out Cajun protein for appetizer course - Hosea-redfish, Carla-Blue Crab; Stefan-alligator; alligator sucks; service; judging.

With the aforementioned quote, it did not start off looking well for my buddy, Carla. Alongwith the rest of the "Top Chef" viewership, we wondered who would the sous chefs be? I would like to say that I recognized Richard Blais while they were still in the shadows - it was the hair. The pairings seemed perfect, until it went downhill.

Carla and Casey teamed up for a girl power team, and I was a little excited by this. They are both Southern with French training (Casey learned how to cook from her French grandmother) and super ladies. Oh, was I wrong! The SECOND Casey mentioned doing the steak sous-vide, I knew Carla was done for. This was also when I realized I was really really pulling for Carla. Then came the tart-souffle debacle. It was painful.

The OTHER irritating part was Hosea and Stefan's exclusive competition. Not ONCE did they mention Carla (maybe this was creative editing, but I think they were just being competitive boys). Had Carla cooked her love-soul-food, she would have blown both of them out of the water. Their respective menus are as follows.

Appetizer course: Hosea - redfish on griddled corncake with remoulade, Stefan - alligator soup, Carla - chiso Blue Crab soup with chayote salsa (TIE - all awesome)
First course: Hosea - sashimi 3 ways, Stefan - hamachi, Carla - bouillabasse (Carla wins, but Hosea's is a little better than Stefan's)
Second course: Hosea - scallop with foie gras, Stefan - squab with cabbage, Carla - Meat and potatoes/sous-vide NY strip steak with potato log and excellent sauce (TIE between Hosea and Stefan)
Third course: Hosea - venison with mushrooms and blueberries, Stefan - ice cream with chocolate mousse and a banana lollipop, Carla - something that was missing a bleu cheese souffle (Hosea wins)

Judges Table was just heartbreaking. You could see that the judges were disappointed by Carla and she was even more disappointed in herself - and then just had to count her out and choose between the boys (this same thing happened to Casey during her finale...). Then followed one of the most touching moments in "Top Chef" history (in conjunction with the 12 Days of Christmas challenge earlier in the season when all of the chefs pitched in to help Hosea and Radhika), Carla was explaining why she should be Top Chef while tears were streaming down her face and Stefan was moved and reached out to comfort her. Then later, in the stew room, he wiped away her tears. He may be cocky, but it was nice to see a gentler side.

When it was all said and done, Hosea edged out Stefan, and I was just disappointed. I liked Hosea a lot early on, he was even one of my faves, but then came the dalliance with Leah (didn't you like their lip-to-lip congratulatory kiss?!) and he (and she) just lost all class in my eyes. Although Stefan was overly-confident, he was much more constistent than Hosea. I will concede that his cockiness led to him phoning in the last few challenges, though. And Carla - my least favorite after the first episode, but then my heart's pick to win. She cooked with soul (like Stephanie) and maintained a positive attitude throughout, gaining friends rather than enemies. Good luck always.

Next week we are treated to a reunion special. I'll be tuned in and let you know what I think.

The ballots are in...

and one girl had to win ("Bring It On," anyone?)!

Anyways, the long-anticipated Academy Awards aired last night from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, it felt a little eternal. How did I fair in my movie-viewing, you ask? How were my predictions? What did I think? Don't worry, readers, you are about to find out.

First off, as far as all of the big awards go (not including documentaries, foreign language, and shorts) - we did see all of the movies that won. I did not think that was going to happen because I was almost FOR SURE that Mickey Rourke was going to win for "The Wrestler." I did see all of the animated shorts (shocked by that win, but I should have seen it coming, I'm just a sucker for rabbits), but none of the others. Biggest upset of the night - "Departures" over "Waltz With Bashir" in the Best Foreign Language Film category, I had read some articles arguing that "Waltz" should be eligible for Best Picture. Period. It looks violent, but I imagine we'll see it when it opens in Austin.

So my husband and I printed out scorecards and filled them out while watching the red carpet coverage. We came up with a scoring system that entails making up to two selections for each category - what WE want to win, and what we think the Academy will pick. Last year we had 3 categories - what we wanted, what should win, and what will win (I think it was because of our love for both "There Will Be Blood" and "Juno", and the inevitability of "No Country for Old Men") - this proved to be too complicated. So for scoring you got 2 points if you accurately selected what you thought the Academy would pick and 1 point if what you wanted to win did in fact win. For instance, I thought that the Academy would pick Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, but I personally thought Sean Penn would win. Since Sean Penn won, I got one point. Conversely, I thought the Academy would pick Kate Winslet for Best Actress, but I thought Meryl Streep gave the best performance. Kate Winslet won, so I got 2 points. I ended up with 36 out of a possible 48, while my husband got 26. A few I was just totally wrong on - Best Costume, Best Animated Short - and a few I just didn't amply use my 2 selections (Best Original Song). I was overall happy with all of the awards - especially the sweep by "Slumdog Millionaire." Everyone that won was gracious and I almost choked up a few times (Dustin Lance Black's win for Best Original Screenplay - phenomenal and well-deserved, plus he looked all of 15!).

The show itself...was okay. I thought Hugh Jackman was a good host. Each of his musical numbers went on a little long (plus we all just really wanted to see Beyonce do "Single Ladies"), but they were fun. As per usual, WAY too many montages. I think it's honorable that the Academy was trying to recognize films that were not nominated, but the Oscars are not about those movies. Mostly that was 15 more minutes of blah blah blah. I did like the vignette with James Franco, Seth Rogan, and the DP guy - especially when he told this year's best cinematographer to suck it. I appreciate the "In Memoriam" montage each year, but this year they were trying to do all of this artful camera work to keep Queen Latifah in the shot and you couldn't read all of the names. Cyd Charisse just deserves a little more remembrance than that. The 5 actors/actresses things was kind of cool, but I was disappointed because I had tried to pick out in each movie we saw what scene they were going to show for each nominee as they were announced. I'll just have to assume I was right.

Everyone looked great, no blatant missteps. Didn't love Sophia Loren or Jessica Biel. Lies - Miley Cyrus' dress was terrible. Mickey Rourke was right on and I loved his tribute to Loki, his chihuahua. I mostly didn't like getting to bed after 11, but I don't think this sort of thing will ever change.

To look forward to...maybe some commentary on "The Girls Tell All" tonight, definitely a "Top Chef" wrap-up, the promised look into "Last Restaurant Standing," and I believe Tuesday night will become movie night at our household - so there are still movie reviews on the horizon. Thanks for reading!

Hootie!

EXCELLENT episode of "Top Chef" last night, wouldn't you say?! Spoilers ahead, so be warned!

First up - my one issue with the episode (and I guess reality tv in general) - the bringing back of eliminated contestants to get their hopes up and get in the heads of the remaining contestants. Don't get me wrong - I love Jamie and really wanted her to be in the finale (I suppose I sort of got my wish), but these people already lost fair and square. Fair and square on the other side, the remaining contestants deserve to be there (thank God Leah didn't make it through either time). Basically, I think it's unfair to those who were rightfully on their way to the finale.

Side note - I definitely fell in love with New Orleans over the course of this episode. My in-laws took a trip there over New Year's and told us how much we would love it. I was already convinced, but this made me start planning a visit in my ol' noggin. Gorgeous. All I can think about are grits and gumbo now.

Let's move on to the Quickfire. Once I got over the initial shock of ridiculous-ness, I was intrigued. Emeril Lagasse was the guest judge and I was expecting the Emeril from tv ("Bam!" and yelling and such). There was none of that. He was simply a great New Orleans chef who is very passionate about New Orleans and its food. The challenge was to cook a Creole dish using crayfish (I would say crawfish, but whatever, they're delicious so what does it matter). It really seemed that they were all successful. Leah, of course, seemed the least motivated, but as Stefan pointed out - she has often had no idea what she was cooking and pulled off a win, so you can never really count her out. Jeff, our friend from Miami, got the win and an opportunity to compete in the elimination challenge. But in a twist straight from "Project Runway" (black and white challenge with Angela and Vincent, anyone?), Padma informs the Final Five that in order to compete in the finale-finale Jeff had to WIN the ENTIRE challenge. In that case, two of the chefs who came to New Orleans originally would be packing their knives. Heavy stuff, man, no pressure.

ELIMINATION TIME - The chefs are taken to a warehouse that stores Mardi Gras floats to hear about the challenge. They must cater a masquerade party at the New Orleans Museum of Art (I would assume thats, NOMA, coloquially) for Orpheus (some group). The catering consists of two appetizers and one cocktail - and one dish must be in the Creole style. They got to do their prep work in the kitchen of one of Emeril's restaurants, pretty cool. So if you win, you're in the final and YOU WIN A CAR. I liked it better when they surprised Blaise with the car last year, but maybe they thought that surprise was blown. I don't know. What follows is typical kitchen drama - will I be done in time? what in the world do they think they're making? I hate this guy, my food is just so much better than everyone's, I hate that guy, blah blah blah.

Party time - the judges arrive in masks. Poor Tom and Emeril, is all I have to say. Padma is kind of dressed like a barmaid, but what does any of that matter because we soon learn that Gail is back!!!! I loved Carla's exclamation of "love you, girl!" As we all know, Carla missed Gail immensely, and so did I. Party food rundown:
Hosea - Gumbo (with a dark roux, this is key), pecan-crusted catfish, and a hurricane
Fabio - rabbit sausage maux chou (?) over grits, pasta of some sort, muffaletta bread, and a bell pepper martini
Stefan - gumbo over grits, apple beignet, and a black cherry and rum beverage
Jeff - fried oyster, Pot de Creme with crawfish, and a cucumber mojito
Carla - oyster stew, shrimp and andouille beignet, and a cranberry lime spritzer
At the end of the party, they all seem to have done a phenomenal job and I had no idea who they would eliminate.

When it's all said and done, the top 3 are Carla, Jeff, and Hosea while the European Duo comprises the bottom two. Carla is announced the winner - as far as I can tell there were no missteps or complaints. Even though her drink was non-alcoholic, Emeril still found it refreshing and her food had soul! I love love Carla now, so I was pretty excited. Jeff was so close on this one, but said he would be leaving with his head held high - and he should, he really stepped it up. Good for him - though it was ok with me because I really thought the other four deserved the chance. I thought they strung Hosea along a bit because he was really in the top, but they left him in there with Fabio and Stefan like he was in the bottom. Ultimately, Fabio was sent packing for the muddled flavors of his rabbit dish and his too-sweet cocktail. Stefan was admonished for his cocky and laissez-faire behavior.

Next week - the finale! with a twist! of course! Soon, I will blog about the best show you're not watching that will also fill the void that "Top Chef" will leave in our lives once it ends next week - "Last Restaurant Standing."