Cookie Monster: "C" is for "kooky."
Last night’s Top Chef: All-Stars began with Dale mouthing off. “I’m not like these new-school parents who are like ‘we’re all winners’ ― f@ck that. That’s bullshit, man! Who ever said losing is okay? In what country is that cool?”
In the Quickfire, the culprits of that mentality ― the Sesame Street gang ― emerged. Their mantra: Everything is A-okay. Richard, who has an alliance with Dale, is obviously one of those parents. In his house, he said, Elmo is like Elvis.
As Padma explained the challenge, Cookie Monster couldn’t stop blurting out his favorite word. That’s right ― the cheftestants had to create a cookie for him, Elmo, and Telly in 45 minutes. Health-conscious Elmo requested cookies with zucchini, but Cookie Monster, a traditionalist, wanted chocolate “chippies.”
In an ironic outcome, Dale was actually the winner of this childish challenge for his pretzel and potato-chip shortbread with salted caramel chocolate ganache. The authority, Cookie Monster, loved the sweet and salty mix. When it comes to Dale, we can’t seem to get beyond salty.
Padma sweetened things up by announcing that the winner of the Elimination Challenge would receive $25,000. All the cheftestants would have to do is raid a Target in the middle of the night and make a dish for 100 employees. A Greatland Target, mind you, so there was produce and lots of food, but they’d also have to grab appliances, utensils, and tables.
Dale was straight-up ironing grilled cheeses, while Carla was only interested in her table display. Guest judge Ming Tsai said that perhaps Dale was trying to be an Iron Chef? But Bourdain called it stoner food and started asking for a urine test. The strangest thing about the challenge was how many soups emerged.
Sorry for focusing on Dale, but he was, once again, the winner, taking home 25 grand for a grilled cheese, tomato soup, and an iron.
All the soup people were at the bottom, where they joined Tiffany‘s jambalaya. In the end, Angelo went home for a too-salty baked potato soup. Angelo had gone from the finale of last season’s Top Chef straight to All-Stars ― the exhaustion finally got to him. We were sad to see him go, but not as sad his biggest fan, Mike. Total mancrush.
Next episode we’ll have Paula Deen and cheftestants of eliminations past. We’ll be watching to see if anyone gets hit with a ham.
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
