Top Chef All Stars

[lazarus]

Elia had to go, but they could have sent Stephen, too. He's likely next.

Overall, a good cast. A few stars are missing (especially Yukon Kevin), but the ones they got are all strong, except for Stephen.

I'm picking the finale to be between Richard and Angelo, with Carla filling out the F3.

The first two challenges were great, too, although the EC was a bit uneven. There's a difference between tweaking an already good dish that lost out to a better one and being stuck with a bad concept from the beginning (butterscotch scallops, for instance.)

Oh, I won't mind seeing Spike go very soon, hopefully.

[The empressof all]

1. Stephen has lost his campy edge

He's aged poorly and now seems stiff and overstuffed. I never thought he was brilliant but I think with his ability to use creative combos he presented some interesting flavors.

I love Richard and Carla. Angelo kind of annoys me but he's probably putting out the most "trendy" flavors.

I never got Elia...so I didn't care if she got the boot. I was surprised it wasn't Stephen though. My only thought was they cut him a break because he was called upon to recreate dishes he never made to begin with.

[romana]

2. Late comer

I didn't really start watching Top Chef until the fourth season, so I'm not as familiar with the earlier contestants, except Marcelo and Tiffany. That said, Elia clearly needed to go. Her work was sloppy, and she did nothing to improve upon the dish as far as I could tell.

Tom looks like he is so over Top Chef now, lol. I hope Bourdain injects some fire into the show (which he already has). I have never understood the appeal of Favio, so I laughed and laughed at that exchange between him and Bourdain. His dish did look like bug intestines or something. I love Karla, hope she stays around until the end. She just strikes me as down to earth and funny, and doesn't take herself all that seriously, which I like.

I think this is Richard's to lose (he should've won his season). But he has to keep doing stupid shit like continuing to plate after time was up. He knows better.

I predict a man will win (gee, wonder why I would predict that... >.>).