Watch It with Us: 'Top Chef Las Vegas,' Ep. 2
Tonight at 10 p.m. EST come join us as we watch the second episode of Top Chef Las Vegas. Expect Todd English as a guest judge, and a battle of the sexes for the Elimination Challenge.
Jump in the comment thread as the episode unfolds. And if you need a refresher course on the sixteen chefs, check out our Episode One recap.
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42 Comments:
I met Jen Carroll last week after eating an amazing meal in her restaurantand she is so nice! She even invited me to come back and see what the kitchen is like (I'm 16 and maybe aspiring to be a chef). It's quite clear why Eric Ripert hand-selected her to run his reaturant, 10 Arts, in Philly. The only problem is that she wasn't giving up any info about this season of Top Chef
foodieteen at 8:50PM on 08/26/09
I've got my money on Kevin this season. He seems to think through everything he is doing, and takes this more seriously than anyone else (in the first episode, at least). Plus...beards rule. :)>
pastry262 at 9:25PM on 08/26/09
I've never heard anyone pronounce ceviche "ce-veech" like that. Was that a nickname or just an alternate pronunciation?
Erin Zimmer at 9:26PM on 08/26/09
Oooh, people trash-talking seitan. This is gonna get feisty.
Erin Zimmer at 9:35PM on 08/26/09
Scotch, bourbon, AND cognac at the same time? I like Jen's style.
Erin Zimmer at 9:49PM on 08/26/09
Let's go team Ashley Merriman!
Julian at 10:02PM on 08/26/09
I don't know which would be worse—two ingredients, or twelve.
Carey Jones at 10:04PM on 08/26/09
Todd English looks like the product of a one-night stand between Sean Connery and Sean Connery.
harveyj at 10:05PM on 08/26/09
This is Top Chef, not Top Scallop. But seriously, how could you mess up a scallop?
Julian at 10:07PM on 08/26/09
Every year the cheftestants seem to live in the shooting location's worst example of housing bubble excess. Last year, Williamsburg condo. This year, Vegas suburbs McMansion.
harveyj at 10:08PM on 08/26/09
Mmmm, "bread toast."
Carey Jones at 10:08PM on 08/26/09
Kevin's looking to perform pretty well this season.
Julian at 10:10PM on 08/26/09
which brother is which?
val1s at 10:13PM on 08/26/09
This is when Jen should be joining the dude's team.
Carey Jones at 10:17PM on 08/26/09
wait, boys are cooking for the bachelorette and vice versa?
LetThemEatQueso at 10:20PM on 08/26/09
alright, i live in philly and love it so obviously... voting for jen c. one of my good friends worked as her sous chef and he said she scared the shit out of him. i love that she's against the whole boys vs. girls thing. she seems the most down to earth.
cheesebreadbutter at 10:27PM on 08/26/09
Kerchief plus baseball cap: no, no, no!
Carey Jones at 10:31PM on 08/26/09
Argh! Ceveech again?! What is wrong with this chick?
killatofu at 10:32PM on 08/26/09
Wellll, it's pretty clear what subplot the producers decided to edit into this episode...
harveyj at 10:33PM on 08/26/09
@cheesebreadbutter: the problem with Jen C's argument is that she said that the male female differentiation didnt matter on how someone could cook. If that is the case, then why complain if its the same as a random team selection.
val1s at 10:42PM on 08/26/09
i HAAAAAAATE mike i.
cheesebreadbutter at 10:43PM on 08/26/09
@val1s- I understand what youre saying, I think that its just that bravo made the whole gimmick BOYS VS. GIRLS. whereas randomly, it doesn't seem so bias. does that make sense? it did turn out to be pretty independent cooking though, which i didn't expect.
@foodieteen - do you have a philly food blog? you sound like an author of one of the blogs i read
cheesebreadbutter at 10:47PM on 08/26/09
Eve or Preeti. Or both???
Julian at 10:49PM on 08/26/09
eve sucked again, she's out
val1s at 10:54PM on 08/26/09
None of the judges has ever said a single positive thing about Eve. In either episode.
Carey Jones at 10:55PM on 08/26/09
Well at least she was a good sport about it.
Julian at 10:59PM on 08/26/09
Yes, thank you, Eve is gone!!
Sakura at 11:03PM on 08/26/09
So glad that Eve left. Her personality was just so down. Every scene she was in made me just feel kind of drained of energy.
wunami at 11:04PM on 08/26/09
Laurine or Brian to win it all.
Sean Connery = OK, double dose (see harveyj) = creepy!
brookes at 12:11AM on 08/27/09
@Erin "ce-veech" is the French pronunciation, which isn't suprising for her to use considering she works in an Eric Ripert restaurant.
bojo14 at 7:31AM on 08/27/09
Am I the only one that was annoyed by the whole same-sex marriage topic by Ashley (I think that's her name)? I'm 100% pro same-sex marriage, but the challenge had nothing to do with the marriage debate. If you're a lesbian professional chef, might you not have to cook for weddings or anniversary parties once in a while? It just seemed unnecessary.
pbelardo at 8:15AM on 08/27/09
pbelardo, that is exactly what I came in here to say! I don't know if it was contrived by the show producers or if Ashley is just such a drama-queen attention-whore that she decided to make a big deal out of if, but the whole thing was really getting on my nerves. You know what? If the challenge offends you that much, quit the show. There are plenty of other chefs who *want* to be there.
Cupajo at 8:53AM on 08/27/09
PLEASE! don't put spoilers on the front page by Xing out the losing contestants faces-- you did this with Top Chef Masters and it was truly annoying.
gracemetcalf at 9:01AM on 08/27/09
I agree that the same-sex marriage "controversy" seemed liked it was a bit forced and set up or at least egged on by the producers. Notice that most of the gays who got dragged out to the griping table just sat there and never said a word about it.
I guess the chick who was so upset will never take a job catering a wedding or cooking dinner for a couple on their anniversary or honeymoon. Please.
Remander at 9:08AM on 08/27/09
@pbelardo My take on Ashley's same-sex tangent (which I'm in favor of btw) was to remember the audience the producers are editing for. Bravo TV has a huge following in the gay population and this was a way to speak to an issue many are concerned with.
Glad Eve is gone, just wasn't a good fit for the show.
Please let's get rid of Jesse. STOP CRYING!
hungrytraveler at 9:58AM on 08/27/09
Forget Ashley. Let's figure out who this season's Leah & Hosea are going to be!!
Julian at 11:36AM on 08/27/09
perhaps when this episode was recorded, california's prop 8 was in the news. it may seem a little removed from the public eye right now, but when the california supreme court was handing down its ruling, it was hard for anyone in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community to ignore.
any chef can bring his/her politics to the table and reap/suffer the consequences.
as far as controversy is concerned, would you cook for an anti-abortion or pro-choice function if your personal politics disagreed? maybe. maybe not.
but would top chef force the contestants to do it?
shuffer at 1:24PM on 08/27/09
Shuffer: Sorry but that rationale just doesn't fly. Signing on for a cooking show in Vegas, and then pouting because they want you to cook for a wedding-related event is just juvenile. She even admitted that she knew it was probably going to happen. So what's her problem, exactly? She seemed to have a beef with Top Chef for 'putting her in that situation' more than society in general for 'not letting her get married'. Imagine a chef who is in Gambler's Anonymous who signs on for Top Chef: Vegas and then pisses and moans because they keep asking him to roll dice and play poker as part of the challenges. Man up, Nancy. You knew what was going to be involved before you showed up, so you have no one to blame but yourself.
Also of note, the best hamburger I've ever had in my life was at a restaurant where the chef was a very strict vegetarian (for morale reasons). She managed to take his personal convictions out of the picture and give the customer what he wanted. Why is Ashley so special
One of two things is going on. Either Ashley is a spoiled, whiny little attention whore who has to piss on everyone else's good time (in which case, she needs to be the next to go), or the producers just injected a little manufactured drama to boost ratings (in which case, Top Chef is not the show I thought it was and is, in fact, more like Real World)
Cupajo at 1:42PM on 08/27/09
@cheesebreadbutter no, I'm just a 16 year-old kid. I was thinking about starting one, maybe I should get on that because I love food and like to write... which blog? you got me curious
foodieteen at 2:21PM on 08/27/09
What bothered me most about the same-sex marriage discussion was how the producers decided to frame Preeti and Ashley in the same shot and show it from 3 different angles. What was that all about?
bkbella at 4:11PM on 08/27/09
I don't have a problem with her bringing it up and stating her opinion and standpoint. But repeatedly bringing it up like that. It was annoying. But, I'm sure the producers and editors did their part in playing it up.
Additionally, it seemed a little awkward for the rest of the contestants when they got back to the house post-prep and she was still complaining.
wunami at 7:03PM on 08/27/09
Michael has many meathead-like qualities. Most assholes are just that way and don't know it, Michael seems to try at it.
I like both Voltaggio's, but they would really have to be outstanding to both make it to the final three. It could be compelling telie for the episode where they go from four to three. Could there really be the two of them in the final three?
"On the Line" does a great job of explaining the Ripert way. Will JC be the poster child for "anti-Ramsay/ MP White" school?
Laurine is an absolute mystery to me after two entire shows. I remember nothing about her.
It was about this time last season that we thought Ariane was going to be the next to go. Is Jesse this season's Ariane?
dineomite at 12:00AM on 08/28/09