Oh Come ON!

You know, for seven seasons of Top Chef, Chef Tom, either in his Bravo blog or at judge's table, always talks about how he would approach a challenge or how he would have made a successful dish. For seven seasons we obsessively anal Top Chef fans screamed for him to put his money where his mouth was. Never happened. Then Top Chef Masters happened and I thought for sure he would step up and compete. Hasn't happened yet. Then the tantalizing previews that the All Star chefs would get a chance to compete against Chef Tom. NOW that's what I'm talking about.


Well.....turns out the only thing the chefs got to compete against was Tom's cooking time. To which I call SHENANIGANS!!!!!!

It's one thing to have 10 chefs fighting over product in a refrigerator, space at a stove, or just not running into each other or camera people. It's a WHOLE nother thing to have the kitchen to yourself, the stoves or ovens to yourself and have no freaking twists like making a dish with no utensils. Questions I have: Did he know what product would be available, did he know clams would be available, did he have time to conceptualize his dish ahead of time? Who was judging his dish? Did it meet the Quickfire challenge rules?

I totally get that Tom is fast and that the whole theme of this episode was you've got to be quick but let's not forget how Tom was introduced for this little ego stroke, touted as one of the best chefs in the country. (Also note, not one of the All Stars guessed who it was, ouch!) If he's one of the best then I say, man up, put yourself against the next round of Top Chef Masters and we'll see how you do. Until then....SHENANIGANS