No, Tom saved him. They were trying to find something nice to say about it. He didn't respect the protein, and that's usually the kiss of death.

Usually that's true, but I have to say, giving Jacques Pépin bad hollandaise is the kiss of death. It's one of the five mother sauces, and if a chef can't do it right, they should go.

For me it was definitely between Hosea and Leah, but I feel bad for Hosea because the Shrimp Scampi / Tomate Provençale was such a bizarre combination in my mind.

Usually that's true, but I have to say, giving Jacques Pépin bad hollandaise is the kiss of death. It's one of the five mother sauces, and if a chef can't do it right, they should go.

I figured she was done when they pointed out that Eggs Benedict is all about the textures and she had all of them wrong. But after last week I didn't want to assume anything.

It's one of the five mother sauces, and if a chef can't do it right, they should go.

Speaking of last week...

I really liked the elimination challenge, as well. Just enough room for the cheftestants to express themselves, while needing to honor tradition as well.

I also loved that Carla knocked the peas out of the park. Something so seemingly simple, but she totally pleased the man who wanted the peas.

Good peas out of season is hard.

She really lucked out by finding fresh ones at the store--even the judges were surprised by the availability.

A good dish of green peas is not to be passed over. Yumm, peas!

and I liked that we could see her tasting them at the store, not just buying them blindly. With her simple preparation, all of the ingredients have to be perfect.

[link] - she should never have made it into the top 36 to begin with. she forgot her lyrics twice during hollywood week.

I don't want to hear the judges whine about people forgetting their lyrics this season because they put at least two people through who did that very thing during the last rounds in hollywood.

Tiggy - I wonder if that explains this article in sfgate.com.

Ooh, Survivor tonight, right?

Interesting thoughts from Toby's blog:

Last night’s episode was a good illustration of the golden rule when it comes to food reality shows: Keep it simple. I know from having been a judge on three different ones that the most common reason contestants are eliminated is because they over-reach; they opt for the fussy and complicated when, really, they’d be better off cooking the most straightforward version of the dish in question.

However, this is only a good strategy for avoiding elimination. Once you’ve reached the final, you have to pull out all the stops. So far on this season of Top Chef, Stefan, Carla, and Fabio have survived by cooking well in a fairly safe, conventional way. Hosea has been much more ambitious — and, as a result, he has been among the losers as often as he has among the winners. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the next two episodes and whether the other three can raise their game.

(emphasis mine)