Top Chef: Las Vegas, Episode 10 – Where’s The Beef?

Previously on Top Chef: Las Vegas, one team of four chefs had the best effort yet in Restaurant Wars … and the other team lost Laurine. Somehow, Robin is still around. Will she still be here after this week? Let’s find out.

I just noticed that one of the executive producers of this show is Liz Cook. How appropriate is that last name? But I digress.

Anyway, Jen is still upset and embarrassed for losing the last challenge. She’s beating herself up about it. Robin, on the other hand, is happy with how it all worked out. She’s proud of the fact that she’s still here and holding her own.

Quickfire challenge: Padma awaits in the kitchen with Paul Bartolotta, a big name in the Vegas culinary scene. Paul looks a bit like a high school teacher from 1965, but he’s an accomplished Italian chef with a great personality.

Set up over in the corner is an uncomfortable looking wooden couch, two TV trays, and a 50-year-old TV unit. Interesting. This challenge is being sponsored by TV Guide and involves putting a gourmet spin on the classic TV dinner. Cool! TV is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I collect TV Guide issues like the guy on the subway on Seinfeld, so I like this idea.

Even cooler: The chefs will be drawing knives bearing the names of classic TV shows for inspiration. Kevin pulls The Sopranos. Now how do you do this without being too literal about Italian food? Eli picks Gilligan’s Island. Everyone cracks up, since he’s such a Gilligan himself. Jen has The Flintstones. Robin gets Sesame Street (also fitting – Robin just has a Big Bird type of personality). Bryan pulls M*A*S*H. Mike I. gets Seinfeld. Michael V. draws Cheers. The last two are two of my favorite shows of all time, so I’m interested to see how the Mikes handle them.

The chefs have 60 minutes to cook, and … they’re off! Robin reveals that as a child, she was raised on health food and not allowed to watch TV. Wow. That runs so contrary to my whole existence … I think I understand what Robin’s problem is now. She needed more candy and TV as a kid! She does know Cookie Monster and Big Bird, at least, so she’s thinking about making a cookie and an egg. Hmm.

Michael was used to his and Bryan’s mom putting dinner on the table at 6 every night, but after the kids moved in with their father, they got more accustomed to the TV dinner lifestyle. He wants to do a spin-off of something you’d normally find at a bar for Cheers. Wasn’t that spin-off called Frasier? Jen, meanwhile, is thinking about a steak or something with a bone in it – heh – but there’s nothing like that in the fridge. Who does she relate to most on The Flintstones? Pebbles, because she has a cute little boyfriend, Bam Bam. “I don’t know that I like that he carries a club around and pulls her by her hair… but it could be fun sometimes.” Hee hee hee.

The only thing more foreign to Eli than the TV dinner concept is Gilligan’s Island, which was before his time. Oh come on. It was before my time too, and I’ve seen a ton of episodes! That’s no excuse. Nevertheless, his dish has an island feel – “It smells like a Jimmy Buffett concert.” Bryan knows his show was set during the Korean War, but he’s going will All-American food … the kind of thing the boys would want when they finally come back home. Nice take on it, Bryan. Likewise, Kevin is thinking less Italian, more like the family spread – since the Soprano clan was all about family.

Jennifer’s food isn’t coming out how she wants. Her cream sauce is burning, and she isn’t happy. This girl has just become a mess. Her attitude is killer her right now. But no sense in worrying about it now – time’s up!

Poor Jen is first. Instead of Padma and Paul coming around to taste as usual, they’re sitting on the couch and eating off the TV trays. Nice touch! Jen has a TV dinner dish (you know, with the compartments) holding chicken roulade with garlic cream (which was burning), pea salad, and caramelized peaches. I don’t see her show in this at all. Paul asks how she feels about the dish and she gives a non-answer that really says volumes.

Mike I. has never seen Seinfeld before. Sheesh! What’s with these people? Paul can’t believe it and neither can I. Apparently, Seinfeld represents sausage and peppers, mushrooms and cheese, and warm fruit salad with toasted pine nuts to Mike. I would have gone with something much more definitively Jewish – or maybe a nice marble rye – but whatever. Paul has never met a toasted pine nut he didn’t like. Me neither.

Kevin did braised meatballs with creamy polenta, roasted cauliflower, and honey roasted pear. See, now I see The Sopranos in this! Eli gets the Island theme right too – macadamia nut crusted shrimp with sweet potato puree, herb salad, cherries, and bananas. Michael’s take on Cheers is a chicken tender parmesan with braised Swiss chard and cherry pie. No alcohol?

Robin wanted to play with the colors of Sesame Street and “the big eyes.” When I think of “big eyes,” I think Anime. Totally different. Anyway, she’s made a burger with an egg on it, crispy kale, carrot salad, and an almond-laced cookie. Paul doesn’t sound very impressed with the food, but he likes her inspiration. Bryan’s M*A*S*H dish features meatloaf, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and apple tarte tatin (like American apple pie). The judges say, “Mmmm.”

So whose dishes “are up for cancellation,” asks Padma? (Nice touch.) Jennifer, who raises her fist in mock triumph (pea salad was unimpressive, roulade didn’t hit the mark), and Robin (burger meat was dry, dish wasn’t special).

Ah, but who has a chance at going into syndication? Kevin (concept consistent, meatball very Italian, pears perfectly cooked), Bryan (made the judges go “mmm”). So who’s the winner? That would be …

Kevin. No immunity this time, but a version of his recipe will become part of a line of Top Chef frozen foods available from Schwan’s home service! Very cool. I didn’t know they had those! Kevin wants his picture on the product (heh). Kevin says the Schwan’s man used to come to his grandmother’s house when he was a kid (mine too!), so he’s hoping maybe his grandma will get to eat his very own TV dinner.

Elimination challenge: The chefs will be taking over judge Tom Colicchio’s Las Vegas restaurant Craftsteak at the MGM Grand. Ah, now this is fun for me. I’ve been to very few of the restaurants featured on this show (hey, I’m from small town Kentucky; we don’t get out much), but this one, I have visited, and it was excellent as one would expect (I had Kobe skirt steak). For one night only, Tom’s menu is theirs, to serve four judges and seven other guests. Hmm, and we already know that vegetarian actress Natalie Portman is there … let’s see how this plays out.