?uest for Love

Hello my little Roots. Can we all agree that this was perhaps the happiest episode of Top Chef ever? And it's pretty much all thanks to Jimmy Fallon and his merry band of gentlemen. I can't wait to talk about the Elimination Challenge, but first, there's Quickfire business at hand.

This Quickfire was a throwback to the '70s, where y'know people did drugs, had orgies, and ate fondue! Or, at least the latter. I actually really enjoy fondue. Fondue dishes can be found on a lot of menus, like the choocolate fondue at Dos Caminos, but fondue restaurants aren't quite that common. Perhaps like me, I wasn't quite sure what made all these dishes fondue, as I've only ever had cheese and chocolate types, but according to Wikipedia: "Since the 1950s, the name "fondue" has been generalized to a variety of other dishes where a food is dipped into a hot liquid, including chocolate fondue, where pieces of fruit are dipped into a melted chocolate mixture, and fondue bourguignonne, where pieces of meat are cooked in hot oil." The chefs, therefore, offered a wide array of options, which they all got to sample because they were the judges! What a twist! Dale won in the end with his take on pho, and everyone else basically made their conspiracy theories about why they didn't win. Oh well. Unlike the chefs, my main disappointment was that we didn't get to hear Padma say "Don't worry, girls, I've got the fondue!" all Phyllis Nefler-like. If you didn't get that Troop Beverly HIlls reference, you should probably Netflix it immediately.

Moving on to the happiest Elimination Challenge, like, ever. I will admit that when Jimmy took over the Late Night time slot, I had my doubts, but, wow, was I wrong. His show is a breath of fresh air -- he not only has the Roots as his houseband for God's sake, but he's amazIng with his guests because he actually knows what he's talking about in the pop culture world. Now, I found out we'd be taping this episode day of. Since the show is taped in 30 Rock, also home to the Bravo East Coast offices, employees were allowed to attend. I have no idea where I was that day, but I wasn't in the office. I'm never out of the office! Saying I was bummed would be an understatement. I've only been to one taping of Top Chef, and that was on my birthday a couple years ago. I was amped at the thought of going to another one, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be. I take solace in the fact that this was a great episode to watch from my couch, though, and that the audience wasn't served any food, so I didn't miss that much! (I'm so sadistic.) The chefs, stupified, all came out to see that they're on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! Jimmy has them play Cell Phone Shootout to decide what dish they'll be preparing for the host's birthday lunch. They all choose from a list of very traditional, mostly American cuisine, and get cookin'. How funny was Carla when she chose chicken pot pie? She lost it! Over chicken pot pie! I'm sure I've lost it over even stupider things (like my new Verizon iPhone), so I really can't criticize her for that. Nothing too crazy happens in the kitchen, but, man, would I have loved to have sat at that lunch table. Everyone was adorable and hilarious! I especially loved Jimmy's anecdotes about he and his wife watching the show, pausing it, and saying what they would've cooked (like we do in this blog!), and his mom giving him a recipe from Food & Wine to submit to Food & Wine! And Higgins! And A.D. Miles! Love them all. Only thing that could have made it better would have been if The Roots were there.

The dishes presented looked pretty good overall. I think the win could have gone either way. Everyone was impressed with Antonia's beef tongue. (Text beeftongue to 27286 to get a special ringtone FREE!)  I was kind of floored by how everyone was treating beef tongue like it's some exotic meat. I grew up on it, and honestly I guess I never realy realized what it was, but my mom would literally put the whole sliced tongue on the table. You can pretty much go to any "Kosher-style" deli, and get some. It's very flavorful.

It looked like the final decision was really between Angelo's apparently innovate flavor combinations and Carla's chicken pot pie. Our judging tends to go towards the simple dishes made perfectly, but I really thought maybe Angelo could've taken this. But then again, Jimmy was on a quest for love, and whose recipes always include a few heaping spoonfuls of the good stuff? Carla's! G-d, I can't even imagine how awesome Carla will be on Fallon. They're both such happy people, I honestly think the studio might implode from allt heir positive energy! Don't forget to tune in on Thursday to watch her segment!

That all being said, I really want to try Angelo's dish. Fortunately he just opened his new sandwich shop pretty close to my apartment, so maybe I can beg him to make it for me.Unfortunately, Fabio, Dale, and Tiffany didn't fare so well. I realy, really thought Tiffany was going to go because it seemed she just didn't make the right dish. Dale could've also just as easily gone home for overseasoned food. Although all the judges thought the whole dish was too salty, I still want to try it. I love Philly cheesesteaks and I love pretzel rolls. My best friend loves them so much in fact that she had them as her dinner rolls at her wedding, and they were delicious! (But salty.)

Ultimately, Fabio went home. As i write this, I'm dreading the fan reaction to this elimination. Talk about Fan Favorite! I can't think of a better example of how un-rigged this show is. (It's a word.) What producer in their right mind would get rid of Fabio?! Anyway, his booger (burger) was dry. Don't worry, Fabio, I used to call burgers boogers too (well, when i was in 1st grade.) I don't think Fabio's idea of using different meats was a bad one, and honestly who doesn't like meatloaf?! I wonder what would have happened had he not made that apparently horrific cheese sauce. I'm sure Fabio will be happy to return to his turtle... and the rest of his family. This episode really hit me with how close this competition is becoming, that anyone can really go home at any time. No one is safe. Not even Angry Dale.

So although I'm sure many of you are very upset over Fabio's elimination, hopefully the rest of the episode put a smile on your face. Tell me your favorite moments! And tell me where/what you've been eating. Until next week, Happy Noshing!

P.S. That blue mesh shirt of Angelo's is for real. One of my colleagues saw him on the streets of NYC wearing it, and texted me about it. When it came up on this week's episode, I called her into my office immediately to confirm it was the same one. It is!