By Sarah
OMG IT'S PEE WEE HERMAN! Raise your hand if you watched him every weekend as a kid. *raises hand* (OF COURSE I'm raising my hand.) Dudes, creepy or not, Pee Wee was where it was at.
This week's quickfire features pancakes, not one of my favorite breakfast treats, to be sure, but still a once-in-a-blue-moon guilty pleasure nonetheless. Although Paul is totally speaking my language with a champagne fritter-type pancake, the winner is Ed. While he doesn't win immunity, Ed does get $5,000 large. It's his first quickfire win, so good for him.
For the elimination challenge, the chefs must, ON BIKES HAHA, find a restaurant at which to cook. They'll then have to cook a lunch for Pee Wee and his friends. I think this is a Top Chef first, is it not? Full-on asking random restaurants, "Hey, can I, uhh, cook in your kitchen?"
The chefs head out on shweet Schwinn bikes and as Ed says, "We're like a biker gang." No you're not, Ed. Not you're not like a biker gang AT ALL.
The chefs decide to hit up the local farmers' market with their scant $100 budgets, then branch out on their own to find their restaurants. Lindsay, totally breaking the newly-formed (by me) yet undocumented and unspoken rules, finds a restaurant, Mad Hatter, but then leaves to go try to swipe some cous cous from Grayson's restaurant. Meanwhile, Sarah snags Lindsay's spot at Mad Hatter. Lindsay ultimately has to cook at a hot-dog stand. A HOT-DOG STAND. As Bev would say, "Karma!"
Somewhere along the line, in between my baby screaming and my husband talking on the phone, I missed one of the parameters that was set. Something about paying the restaurants who let them cook there? I don't know. Anyway! Back to the Alamo the chefs go to finish cooking their food before service.
There are a whole lot of chicken and eggs at the table today, which, I don't know, sort of totally fits Pee Wee, doesn't it? I can't really put my finger on it, but Pee Wee and egg salad just seem like the perfect match.
The winner of the challenge this week is Lindsay. Good for her! Despite her trying to jank cous cous from Grayson's restaurant, I have always liked Lindsay, so I'm glad she's in the final four.
Paul is -- shocker -- safe, but Ed, Grayson, and Sarah are on the bottom. In the end, Grayson is sent home. I think I speak for all us when I say, Not Surprised. I liked Grayson, but she'd been skating by for awhile now. Adieu, Grayson, we'll miss you!
But wait, there's more!
Throwing a wrench in the entire rodeo is the announcement that the online Last Chance Kitchen we've been ignoring all season is actually going to be a part of Top Chef. So, next week, Beverly and Grayson will compete for a slot on the show. Again.
What are your thoughts on the Last Chance Kitchen twist?
I think they were paying for the food they used from the kitchen. And I think they were using a map of restaurants who agreed to participate ahead of time. The asking was for show.
Posted by: Rachel | February 03, 2012 at 03:35 PM
Ahhh this episode! It was a first to my memory too. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but reading it through your lens makes me like it a bit more.
I agree with Rachel's comment. When we were watching it, Zach made a really good point: For liability reasons you cannot just let some rando off the street cook in your restaurant. There was MUCH discussion about all this, and we figure they probably planned it out ahead of time, provided proof of insurance, got the kitchens to agree, etc. so that the asking really was just for show, and they had to pick from limited restaurants in a specific area. And if I worked in one of those kitchens I would have been STOKED to be there that day. How fun to be able to help a Top Chef a little.
Posted by: Caitlin | February 03, 2012 at 05:06 PM