Let the Sun Shine

I knew this would happen. You enjoy one episode so much that the next one is inevitably a let down. This episode certainly was a sun parched low to my French high.

The Quickfire Ingredient. Cactus. The Guest Judge. Tim Love, another leftover from Top Chef Masters. If you didn't watch when he was on then or didn't notice in this episode, Tim enjoys a good snort of tequila. A lot. Hell, that should have been the Quickfire ingredient. Maybe then we would have had an episode with a little more pizazz. Mike I. wins the Quickfire because he uses a lot of cactus in his New Jerseyian Greek food. Laurine and Tintin round out the top three. It shouldn't be a surprise that two of the bottom three are Ron and Ash. The big surprise was who joined them.That's right, Michael V. In the bottom. He looks a little surprised. Use it Michael, use it to inspire you to bigger and better things. Not more cerviche. Now as a couple of our observant commentators have pointed out, the cerviche method of preparation is getting used like a Real Housewife's credit card. In this Quickfire alone, of the dishes shown, three used the preparation to describe their dish. This is not a good sign. Also not a good sign but surely a funny sign is Tintin's pronunciation of the word cactus.Me neither, Tintin, me neither.
The Elimination challenge didn't really seem to be as much as a challenge but more of an exercise in Drama Production. So the best way to do that was to plop the chefs down in the middle of the desert and make them spend the night, sleeping two to a tepee. Really little tepees.Make them cook on fire pits.
Take away their hair gel...Brutal, dude, just brutal. Yet despite the serious lack of hair gel...
...the chefs must cook High End dishes for Cowboys. You know what that means - CERVICHE for EVERYONE!!!!Poor cowboys. (Somewhere ZZ Top is missing a member.) Now the criteria for the challenge was pretty wide open so the chefs had a lot of latitude in what they could make. Most chose some sort of seafood or went really simple. The better chefs, recognizing that if you could get past the setting and concentrate on a good tasting dish true to their style, counted on doing well. Standing tall at the winning Judge's table were the Battling Brothers Voltaggio, Laurine and Ashley. Mike V - not Mike I. Despite two newcomers to Happy Judge's Table, Bryan takes a 3rd Elimination win.This is not a look that says Brotherly Love at all. Perhaps Bravo might look into a Family Counselor as potential product placement.

At the loser's Judge's Table. CERVICHE FOR EVERYONE!!

Robin, Ron and Tintin face the judge's wrath for bad shrimp, raw cod and apparently a god awful coconut mojito. Perhaps using your naked finger as a tasting device might have something to do with that last one.Despite this finger foul, it's the half assed, triple threat of bad cerviches that finally sends Tintin back to his restaurant in Fran..uh...California. I'm making a Blog Command decision and counting his cerviches as 3 instead of one, add Ron's sweet cerviche, in total gives us 7 cerviche type dishes in episode. I'm sure that's a new Top Chef record. Another member of the kitchen fodder takes his rightful place in the Condo of Shame, I'm sure wearing a black manscarf of mourning for his lost opportunity.Don't let the cerviche hit you on the way out, Tintin.