TEAMS:
District LA: Amar, Kwame, Jeremy, Phillip
Palate: Karen, Marjorie, Carl, Isaac
Switching things up a bit this year- both teams have to serve lunch and dinner, and they have 24 hours to make it happen! Plus everyone on the team has to take a turn being Executive Chef and Front of the House for a service! Whoa.
Poor Isaac is getting the total shaft. I get he's not the best chef of the group, but you should still show some respect to your peers! Even Phillip is being heard and he's a pain in the butt! I do like seeing Kwame take charge though!!! However 5 mins later- flip it and reverse it, Missy Elliot style! Isaac enjoying his girl power team and Phillip and Kwame butting heads big time! Oh the stress of it all!
District LA's strategy of putting the judges first backfired as the judges are noticing that people are not eating and are not happy! Corn Soup and Asparagus Salad went over very well, but the Chicken and Salmon are so-so. Services is seriously backing up and they didn't finish their service when the clock timed out... Side note- did anyone else think it was funny that Gail was drinking beer instead of wine? She seems like such a wineo girl...
Lunch service overall seems to go pretty well for Palate except for the fact people won't leave! Marjorie is a clever fox offering drinks to get people up- but totally missed the judges arrival! Salad was good, but Carl's Terrine missed the mark big time! Flank Steak was the favorite and the Seafood Stew was solid.
The judges liked District LA's starters and Palate's Entrees- mixed bag for lunch!
Dinner service gets underway for Palate, but District LA is still serving lunch!!! Tom brings them all together for a quick pep-talk and tells them not to play it so safe! What will that mean with so little time to change anything?
Karen kinda screwed her team over... If you do front of the house, you have to do a dish that is already cooked and just needs some assembly. Phillips didn't get that memo either!
Palate: Judges really like that Majorie can bake- her monkey bread went over very well! I have never had tripe, but ewww... at least the judges liked it! The Snapper went over well but the judges are over crudo- it's been overdone! Karen's services is spot-on which is surprising since she had no time to train the staff. Isaac's Lamb was great but Karen's Trout was terrible, not just poorly executed, but was a poor concept. Marjorie's cheese plate was ok, but her panna cotta and berry soup had a weird flavor and the champagne did not help! Is this the dessert kiss of death???
District LA: The menu had no cohesion. Kwame's amuse bouche did not work, at all. Amar's gazpacho looked REALLY good to me, different, but great flavors. Phillip's "salad" is so weird and the judges agreed. It seriously looks more like a dessert and it's BS he had some random come help him. I wonder if that will disqualify him?
As front of the house- all he's doing is talking about his own restaurants- not the food being served, self preservation I guess? Jeremy's risotto is a gluey mess even before the judges ate it, you know it's bad if they can SEE it! Kwame's chicken thigh was overcooked and one-note. Amar's Pork Belly has WAY too much vinegar if the judges make the "little kid ate a lemon" face! Is anyone Tasting this food???? Jeremy's Rib Eye is "fine" and I don't think that's gonna cut it. I think District LA was a total fail.
Here is a points reminder:
Head Chef Winning Team: 7pts
Winning Team: 5pts
Losing Team: -3pts
Head Chef (Losing Team, if not eliminated): -5pts
After lunch it was neck and neck so I am giving the extra points off dinner service. Carl get's Head Chef points and Isaac is named the winner.
FINALLY Phillip is gone!!!! It's about time, although I really thought they would eliminate 2 chefs!
On to the Bay area!
Restaurant wars turned out pretty good for us. We got a fair amount of points and Phillip is gone.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure we can catch up with just Marjorie and Carl left. They will need to go on a tear.
Secretly, outside of our team, I'm kinda hoping Kwame wins. He seems cool and has been very consistent. He also seems like he would really appreciate the win.