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Y’all already know how I feel about magic, so let’s just get right into it.

Quickfire: Since Sin City is so full of goddamn temptation (we learn so much about Vegas on this show!), the transcendently beautiful Padma (who’s on Twitter apparently!), plus celeb chef Michelle Bernstein, task the remaining cheftestants (most rocking kerchiefs to honor fallen comrade Mattin) with cooking a duo of dishes representing the angels and devils on their shoulders. At the top: Mike V, who “transported” Bernstein (like this?) with two preparations of salmon; self-proclaimed fat kid Eli, who made one healthy scallop and one fat kid scallop; and Miss Popular Robin, who brought up her lymphoma diagnosis while explaining the motivation behind her healthy salad/apple crisp pair-up. Bottom three: Bryan, who struggled with execution; Laurine, whose chicken was (gasp!) boring; and Ash, who provided only one of his two planned dishes.

Robin nabs the QF and immunity, which does NOT sit well with Eli. “That’s a pretty good way to win a Quickfire — just tell people you have fucking cancer,” he snorts. Cottdamn! Everyone’s saying that they want Robin gone because they’re not impressed with her cooking, but if you ask me, I think it’s because they’re scared she’s going to pull a Hosea, bumbling through the season unnoticed until falling ass-first into the Top Chef title. In general, that TC winner’s inoffensive, middle-of-the-road offerings last season were the opposite of risky — but they also featured the fewest flaws. Keep one eye on Robin, foreal.

Elimination: Penn and Teller show up, and Kevin is excited, perhaps because they’re the first actual non-chef celebs to show up so far. Strangely enough, the pair refrains from spouting libertarian propaganda and telling everyone how stupid they are long enough to ask the cheftestants to “deconstruct” a classic comfort food-y dish. Knife-drawing commences.

Mike I gets eggs florentine and has no idea what to do because he doesn’t know what eggs florentine is. (It’s what your one mopey vegetarian friend always orders for brunch, Mike!) The classically trained Jen C is wicked stressed because she can’t dream up a creative way to break down meat lasagna. Mike V is in hog heaven with his classic caesar draw because it means he can sphere-ifize the dressing on some Battlesalad Galactica shit. Ron seems excited about drawing paella, but then struggles with the “deconstructing.” (Former TC finalist Richard Blais, no stranger to Star Wars references, tweeted this about Ron awhile back and I loved it.)

At the top: Ashley, who did a bang-up job on pot roast even though she was too poor to actually eat anything until like last month; Mike V; Kevin, who busted his ass on a chicken mole negro that blew away the judges; and, much to her surprise, Jen C, who thought she was going to go home. (Come on, Jen, you’re not going anywhere.) Kevin takes it, and gets an empty box of CALPHALON UNISON NON-STICK COOKWARE © as a prize. Yay!

Bottom feeders this week: Ash, whose inconsistently cooked lamb and lack of potatoes screwed up his shepherd’s pie interpretation; Laurine, with a mediocre fish and chips dish; and Ron, who was battered with all sorts of criticisms for his screwy paella. Big man from Haiti ends up getting hacked.

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It’s funny that both Ash and Laurine’s low-scoring dishes were British in nature, as this week marked the return of everyone’s least favorite Top Chef judge, one Mr. Toby Young. I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but I’m going to put it out there — I love that guy!

Here’s why. Is he a dick? Yes. Do I think he’s funny? No. Do I think he’s insightful? Not really. Are there panelists on this show who discuss food much more intelligently and eloquently than he does? Absolutely. But I still think Young’s important to Top Chef for one simple reason — he’s the only person in the world with the ability to make the rest of the judges squirm.

After season after season of success, Padma, Tom C, Gail and the rotating celeb chefs who sit behind that raised platform are resting on their laurels so hard that they got leaf prints in their asses. They’re in such insane positions of power that nothing makes them cringe. This is compounded by the fact that the chefs they toss around every week sweat like hobos down south in the summertime throughout filming. Young, somehow, is the only guy who can irritate the judges enough to elicit truly pissy reactions. Aside from Tom C clearly hating his British face, did you see last night, when Young angered guest judge Bernstein by saying that he thought it was stupid for non-Spanish speakers to pronounce “paella” like “pie-ey-uh,” since none of us are nearly as adamant about pronouncing Mexico like “Meh-hee-ko”? The look of rage in her eyes was wondrous. Young’s half-assed retraction while he smirked like a grammar school lad who’d just dropped a cherry bomb down the loo was even better.

So what do y’all think about Young? Perhaps his antics are an acquired taste, but I can’t get enough.

Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 6: Deconstructing Harry Padma

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Food TV, Top Chef. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.