‘Top Chef’: Men dominate the battle of the sexes ... and one of the ladies goes home

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Aug. 26, 2009

9:58 p.m. PST: I’m calling Eve. She will be the contestant who goes home this week, and I’m calling it before tonight’s episode of ‘Top Chef: Las Vegas’ gets underway. Why? Because she deserved to get cut during last week’s premiere, too. Not using seitan earned her one more episode, but I predict that she’ll go this week.

10:07 p.m. PST: And after coming in the bottom two last week, her Quickfire Challenge offering is a ... salad. A grilled asparagus salad. With blue cheese, because she likes ‘assertive’ flavors. If by assertive she means ... clunky? Ordinary? (Note what Kevin did with his asparagus salad. Unusual. Beautiful.) Todd English puts Eve in the bottom three. I’m feeling good about my choice. Moving on.

....

11 p.m. PST: Yup. So I thought. Eve really did remind me of Clay from Season 3. You just wonder what the casting people saw in her. Were they tickled by her Michigan accent? Were they pissed that she had never before seen an episode of ‘Top Chef’ when she applied to be a contestant? From the looks of the menu at her Ann Arbor restaurant, she doesn’t even have a unique culinary specialty. I just don’t get it. On a season that boasts a James Beard Award nominee (Kevin) and chefs who have trained with industry greats (Jennifer, Michael, Mike, et al.), where does someone like Eve fit in? Answer: She didn’t. And it’s no fun to hear someone like Todd English have to call her second attempt at a shrimp dish ‘nasty.’ You just feel sorry for her and wish her off the show to put her out of her misery. Ah well, two down. Moving on.

I’m betting on Robin to go next, but that’s only based on her total lack of screentime so far and lackluster molé. (And after Rick Bayless’ crowning 27-ingredient achievement? For shame.)

What else?

It was battle of the sexes week, and immediately I think the women are going down. A tough challenge -- matching dishes to shots -- the guys still pulled it out. Side note: I can’t tell if I like Michael or not. The problem might be that his brother, Brian, who is also in the competition, appears to be more serious but way less of a tool so far, no? Brian is an acceptable shade (whereas Michael is an unnatural yam color) and does not wear a backward baseball cap. They both can cook though. And it was nice to see them split the evening’s spoils.

But back to the women. While Jennifer is clearly talented and Ashley seems to be as well (based on my own experience eating her delicious hamachi dish during the press tour), Jesse followed her quickfire near-win with dried chicken last week, Robin ran out of time, Laurine made golf-ball-hard donuts, and Preeti was still a question mark.

I won’t go into what a misstep Ashely made in choosing to make panna cotta -- and for a bonus dish that was not required. Most desserts require a different set of skills from a chef. It’s why there are separate pastry chefs in restaurants. I’m sure she won’t make that mistake of trying post-dinner courses on the fly again.

Laurine’s lamb went over well. Jesse, once again, made a mistake in execution. But outside of Eve, it was Preeti who made the week’s biggest mistake. Curing a fish overnight? Sounds like a recipe for mush unless we’re making gravlax, and that takes considerably longer. Salt ‘cooks’ a fish, so to speak, and unless you’re really curing it, eight hours is murky territory. I can only imagine what eight hours must have done to that tuna. (Had she just seared or roasted it with the spices as a crust, it probably would have worked just fine.) But then she topped it with eggplant? Those two mushy textures just don’t sound right together. Good thing Eve was there to take the fall for the team.

My finalists picks remain the same: Kevin, Jennifer, Mike. I’ll throw in the brothers as well.

Still not convinced by Preeti or Ron, but for some reason, I think Jesse could pull it together and last a little while longer. What do you all think? Did the right person go home? Who are you rooting for so far?

-- Denise Martin