I Love The Touch Of Your Balsamic

I apologize for the crude title, but when Chef Novelli said that to Leah I almost spit out my Diet Dr. Pepper. OK that's not true - I'm a regular Dr. Pepper girl. OK before I get into this week's episode, I want to respond to a couple comments: First, "pattycakes," I'm glad my errors crack you up and don't make you stop reading. Truth be told, my blog is the very last thing I do after I'm done editing everything else on the site, so I'm happy I even remember what show I'm blogging about! To all of the fantasy game conspiracy theorists out there, you actually crack me up, and I don't mean that to be condescending. Honestly, the show dictates the Fantasy Game points, the types of points have zero bearing on the editing of the show. I don't know how to convince you, but trust me. OK onto the show: Jean-Christophe Novelli is guest judge for the Diet Dr. Pepper Quickfire Challenge. The chefs have to create sweet treats without sugar. Honestly there are so many things with natural sugar in them, like fruit, that this shouldn't have been too hard. Basically it seemed like everyone made some sort of crepe or egg roll, which is fine by me because I'm a total sucker for that kind of stuff on menus. Gene's "hamburger and fries" may have been original to Chef Novelli, but I've actually seen that before at a seafood restaurant on Long Island, Starfish (which actually just burned down). Stefan had a problem with Hosea's dish, but I just thought it was funny that it looked like a line of weed running down the middle. Leah seems to put balsamic on EVERYTHING, but hey, it's working. Stefan's attempt at charm finally wore on me. And I keep thinking Carla might just be Jewish. First she makes latkes now chocolate coins! (What we Jews call gelt. Not to be confused with guilt.) Not having tasted them, I found Radhika's to be the most appealing too. And she used challah! On a sidenote: I'm liking Jeff more and more. While a lot of the chefs bitch and moan about challenges, especially the dessert ones, it seems that he's prepared for anything, and easily relates the tasks to challenges he has faced at his own restaurant, which I appreciate. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were allowed to do whatever they wanted and boy did some of them bite it. First, I just want to say Fabio's awe of Tom is adorable, and I'm honestly not sure anymore how to say Tom's last name correctly. I know there's some rule in Italian about the letter "C" at the end of a word, but not sure where Tom's last name falls into that. If someone knows, please enlighten me! OK, so the chefs can create whatever they want and Melissa picks fish tacos?! All I could think of was the Cheesecake Factory (my favorite chain restaurant). Fish tacos are on the menu, and although they're actually not very good, that's all I could think of. At Judges' Table, Tom kept saying "That's who she is." Melissa is fish tacos. Yikes! The twist of having the chefs judge each other didn't really do anything for me but the comments backstage were priceless. For example, Leah: "Do you think they were watching us?!" Um yeah. I do. Of all the dishes I have to stay I would have liked Stefan's and Ariane's the best. Stefan's sounded like something mildly heavy which I tend to like and I've never had that type of dumpling before. And I love skate. I visited one of my favorite NYC restaurants Market Table a couple of weeks ago and ordered the skate with corn and bacon. (Get the Brussels sprouts side too. So good!) Wnyway, besides Melissa's uninspired tacos, Gene got sent home for kinda yucky-sounding fish and daikon fettuccine. I don't even know daikon that well and the combo sounded vile to me. I gott asay they I do love a whole fish. I was having a discussion the other day where someone said something to the effect of whole fish on a plate being disgusting. I wholeheartedly disagree. It's delicious and I've been eating fish off the bone since I was little; my dad would bring home whole white fish for breakfast with bagels and lox. Mmm. Finally, Toby Young. I kind of love him. I agree that his one-liners dragged a bit, but my dealings with him so far (his blog, etc.) have been nothing but totally pleasant. So we'll see how he evolves on the show, but I like him. His blog is also hilarious and I think will give you a better perspective on his personality, so check that out. Also, let me know where you guys are making restaurant Week reservations. I'd love to know! Until next week where one of my favorite cheftestants Hung will be back! - Monica A. Reyhani