Some thoughts on TC:

I thought some of the sauce/proteins options were odd. I would have put the sauce meunière with the trout, but then you’d have the cuisses de grenouille with the béarnaise, which doesn’t seem right. The béarnaise would classically go with the chateaubriand, but then there’d be no option for the sauce au poivre. Only the lobster with the sauce américaine and the lapin chasseur seemed to be givens.

I agree with the result, because I think Hector and Ash had the easiest dish, but I was really disappointed by the fact that Mattin didn’t cop to nixing the asparagus, although I don’t think asparagus velouté would have been a good idea.

Other thoughts: I was sad to finally hear Mattin’s accent. Harsh. Joël Robuchon’s French was to die for. So sad that Padma did not learn to pronounce his name correctly. Sigh. Of course, she also mispronounced Fleur de lys, which I had thought was only a Kelly Choi problem, but alas no.

Mostly I agree with this:

So for the Top Chef finals, we're all predicting Kevin, Jen, & the brothers, right? Can everyone else go home now?

with an outside chance for Eli and maybe Mike I (much to my dismay).

How are you supposed to pronounce Fleur de lys?

I was sad to finally hear Mattin’s accent. Harsh.

It didn't sound like Joël Robuchon even recognized him as a native speaker.

How are you supposed to pronounce Fleur de lys?

You actually pronounce the s, which is an exception to the general rule, so I wouldn't expect people to know that. However, you'd think with Keller practically a regular they would have figured it out by now. Or, you know, have checked.

It didn't sound like Joël Robuchon even recognized him as a native speaker.

He really didn't sound like one. I had to rewind to verify what he said. But he may have been nervous. He had spoken French in the kitchen earlier, and it sounded totally different.

Huh. I didn't know that!

But then my French teachers always despaired of my accent, so.

Well, the assumption should be that you don't pronounce the s. The bigger crime is pronouncing Joël as one syllable, as if she were channeling the Katie Lee bot. In front of him no less! Note: everyone else was saying it correctly.

Was it supposed to be Jo-el?

All I know is, the previews for next week look good. "Uh oh, Tom's walking away ..."

I was happy to see Chicago represented by Jean Joho.

Some day, I'll make it to dinner at Everest, I swear! Just because it's there. And good.

Was it supposed to be Jo-el?

Yeah, the accent means you pronounce each vowel separately, as in Noël (Christmas), or the name Loïc. Again, not that one would know that automatically, but everyone else I heard said it right, so it was clearly out there in the ether.

Kat, I'm reading your blog entry for last night's SYTYCD, and I so agree on just about everything, including the hotness of Phillip, the Day 2 tapper. He reminds me of the young Harry Belafonte, but maybe even sexier.