Who puts ice in a milkshake? Sara N., that’s who. On that basis alone she deserved to be sent packing. And it’s worth noting that control-freak Howie countenanced this crime against ice cream.
Speaking of crimes against ice cream, the scariest moment of last night’s episode was a shot of Hung chopping up cauliflower for the Cold Stone Creamery-sponsored ice-cream mix-in quick-fire challenge. Not satisfied with leaving disgusting enough alone, Hung also saddled his ice cream with candied pistachios, white chocolate, mint, tempura flakes and tamarind-brown butter sauce. The cauliflower wound up in something he called “cauliflower white-chocolate espuma.” (Marcel must have been spinning in his temperature-controlled water bath; “espuma” is Spanish for foam.)
Guest judge Govind Armstrong was being kind when he told Hung that there was too much going on in the ice cream and that it was difficult to decipher the flavors. Well, Hung had as much use for Armstrong’s opinion as he did for Alfred Portale’s. In his own mind, Hung had simply failed to create “something simple, catchy for the common people.”
The elimination challenge, which pitted Brian, Hung, Tre and Sara M. against CJ, Casey, Howie and Sara N. in a late-night bar-food contest, was pretty boring. Tre’s bacon-wrapped shrimp on cheese grits was the big winner, Sara N.’s icy shakes and under-seasoned sliders were the losers.
Yes, Sara N. deserved to go, but I agree with her and with Casey that making the women cook in their going-out finery put them at a distinct disadvantage. If the producers had wanted to level the cooking field, they should have made the men put on heels, skimpy tops and makeup.
In her final moments Sara N. showed herself to be a class act. No blubbering a la Joey, and she made an observation that should be tattooed on the forehead of every Top Chef contestant: There’s a fine line between being competitive and being an a**hole.
By the way, the great Anthony Bourdain, who is an occasional guest judge on Top Chef, is writing a blog on Bravo's web site which is nothing short of brilliant.