Project Runway All Stars 12/19/13--"#Nina's Trending" summary

Previously on Project Runway: Time to design for QVC. The designers had to make a gown for the program director to wear to some party near the Oscars. Winner will have their dress sold, naturally. Viktor revealed to Elena and Seth Aaron (and the country) that he was HIV+. I’m not sure why it was now, but it happened. Zanna said green doesn’t sell magazine covers, and jewel-toned strapless gowns are boring. It’s not for a magazine, Zanna. Korto made a very simple maxi dress but with a bright orange skirt and she was the winner. She also made a dress that is very easy to manufacture, but it was pretty. Irina made a very complicated wedding dress, essentially, that fell apart on the runway. For once the judges actually took the dress falling apart into account and sent her home. I think other people had worse dresses but whatever. (click for more)

Alyssa makes everyone tell her how All-Stars is different from the regular show. Korto says she can take things better. Oh and the judges are nicer. HA because Nina is here. Yay! She plugs some blog or something, and bloggers. They will each pair up with a blogger to identify “a fashion trend” and design an outfit around it. Somehow everyone will predict the biggest trend for 2014 and then the bloggers are models so I’m glad to see they haven’t forgotten about the “real woman” challenge. But you know all these people left know how to handle that. The “twist” is it has to incorporate purple. Oh sorry, “The 2014 Pantone Color of the Year”, radiant orchid. There is a hilarious moment when Alyssa pauses before the reveal, and Elena says “Black?” in a really hopeful voice. Then Elena pretends she loves purple. Nina says the winner will get to shoot a video with her endorsing them, that will go on the front page of the fashion blog. Sure, that’s a good prize. Nina’s endorsement. Oh, and then Pantone will give them a bunch of stuff.

Everyone picks bloggers based on headshots. All the bloggers look like models so it’s not exciting. As the designers watch videos of the bloggers, they all seem like regular beauty/fashion bloggers…except Seth Aaron’s pick. As soon as she comes onscreen, I thought, “…did they plant a drag queen in there? Awesome!” Seth Aaron interviews that Gigi is transgender. So not quite the same. She’s still gorgeous though. All the bloggers come into the workroom and they discuss designs. Elena claims to be “the bright color queen”. Is she? For some reason I can’t decide if she is and I don’t feel like looking it up. I thought Gigi would be a twist but I don’t think it will affect Seth Aaron. Chris obsesses over not being able to find the right shade of green. Did Mood pull the purple color for them? It doesn’t look like it. I can’t believe they would make them hunt for it.

11 hours to work. Elena gets pissed about how everyone is using neoprene like she did three years ago. I guess in retaliation she’s using a handsaw to cut up fabric but it’s really loud. No one is happy. I don’t know if people are really trying to predict trends so much as they’re just trying to do cool stuff. But it does look like everyone has orchid. Viktor is making a jumpsuit and is worrying about being in the top. Elena is worried about Nina, because Nina hates her. Well, I don’t know if Nina hates her or Nina just won’t let her get away with anything. Seth Aaron tells Elena that Nina can smell fear. Probably.

Zanna time. Korto is making a white suit. Seth Aaron’s seaming looks nice, actually. But it’s bordering on a Star Trek uniform. Chris claims he hasn’t seen a “feminine trench” and Zanna immediately says “Burberry”. Hee. Viktor’s trend is “good girl gone bad” which doesn’t really seem like a trend. It’s not him? Or something. Elena’s coat is crazy. But it does look well made.

Model fittings. Korto’s blogger brought in shoes. Love it. Elena’s crazy coat is way too big. Viktor doesn’t like how his jumpsuit looks so with an hour left he’s decided to start over. I think he’s making a dress out of black neoprene, cutting holes to show the purple. He really doesn’t want to be in the bottom. I can’t tell if they’re showing him saying that all the time because he wins or because he’s out.

Runway day. Chris talks in confessional about what he has to do today, and flips off the camera. Hilarious. The models appear and Viktor’s model really likes his new dress. Lucky him. Hot makeup guy Scott. Viktor manages to break the zipper on the dress. At least it’s on his model already. Elena fixes it I think.

Georgina is gone AGAIN. Did she get sick or something? Christian is here. His hair looks mostly normal. Also Nina is back, of course. Also Francisco Costa. Why do we have two guest judges all the time now? Seth Aaron: black sheath dress, in neoprene I think. There are two stripes that start at her shoulders, then curve in to her waist and back out again, along with matching stripes in a belt. It looks good. Elena: black miniskirt and a gray and purple jacket. The jacket has a big peplum and a high crew neck. It looks really huge on her tiny model. The purple is in thin stripes over the light gray. I think it’s a cool jacket but the proportions are off. Viktor: black dress with a full skirt. The purple shows in holes he cut in the black. Over this is a white leather jacket. It’s really retro 50’s, like a girl wearing her boyfriend’s jacket after prom or something. Chris: army green lace trench dress. That is what Chris described it as. The front has a mullet hem and he left the lace at the hem so there’s a scalloped edge. It’s double breasted, with a belt, and then it’s green and gold lace. A lace trench coat. The purple is in a clutch. Korto: white pants and a white sleeveless top. The top has layers folded over with some purple tint to it. It looks fantastic. The layers are big, so it doesn’t look too busy, and the tint is not really obvious which is nice.

Viktor thought his motorcycle jacket would stay timeless, but Nina tells him it’s happening now so it doesn’t count. But the dress is cute. The color layer under the black is the only new thing. Elena’s jacket is all thin lines like a maze. The proportions are off, or maybe it should be a blazer. She succeeded on texture but everyone hates the way the jacket looks. Her blogger loves it though. Seth Aaron I guess made a trend out of sewing in panels. So the color is not appliqued on? That’s the trend? Sure. It’s the best showcase of the color but it certainly is not new. I think Nina is bored. When you get close to Korto’s top you can see that the purple is lining the folds. So as you look straight on at the top, you can see just a tint of the color, because it’s underneath the white. The one thing is they don’t like the shoes. Nina hates the bag and shoes but she loves the rest of it. Chris names his trend “new vintage Paris soft military”. Sigh. Isaac likes the dress more now that he knows what is going on. They don’t seem to like it that much. Nina says the lace looks like seaweed. Chris says “Thank you” in a flat, annoyed tone, and Nina replies “It’s not a compliment”. Hee. Chris explains that he does know it wasn’t a compliment.

Chris is kind of whiny about Nina but that was funny. Korto approached the challenge in a really smart way. She’s the only one who made pants. Elena’s jacket has a great texture but it’s too big for the model. Isaac wants her in the top but Alyssa and Nina make faces. Alyssa asks Nina to stay forever and I think she should. Seth Aaron made a very nice dress that they have seen too many times before. No one likes Viktor’s jacket. Chris put too many things in his trench, and then he was so proud of his purple clutch. But no one liked that he only put the color in the clutch and not the clothes.

Korto is the winner! She asks permission to skip. Hee. Seth Aaron is in. Elena is in. Viktor is out. So you kept him last week when he had that terrible puckery green dress but then he makes a decent dress and you send him home? Over a lace trench coat? Whatever. He loved everything he did and knows that plenty of women would love that leather jacket.

Next time: ready-to-wear. Elena tears something, Georgina actually shows up for once, Chris runs around. I’m not sure when this will air, but if it’s right after New Year’s I might be late in posting. I’m pretty sure it’s not on next week though so enjoy the break!

Top Chef 12/18/13--"Giving It the College Try" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: the Quickfire involved product placement, which is annoying but preferable to having the product placement in the Elimination challenge. Anyway, make something with coffee. Shirley won with coffee crusted tenderloin. Then everyone was supposed to make a dish they crave when they go “home”. The secret requirement today is “comfort food”. Nick made gnudi, the same way he makes them for his kids, and he got emotional about it. I think the judges remembered that because he won. Travis made biscuits and gravy, with jam, which might have been good if the biscuits were cooked. So he was sent home. (click for more)

On Last Chance Kitchen both Travis and Louis had to make Asian dishes, to mock Travis and his “Captain Vietnam” cockiness from previously. They both managed to do a really good job, but in the end Louis’s tripe won. So Louis has held on so far.

Nina says Travis was her escape, they would just talk about whatever, not competing. All her friends are gone. Now that there are only eight of them, it’s not enough to just not screw up.

Questlove is here for the Quickfire. He says he will go anywhere to try food. Today is a stop for…a marching band. Well maybe just drums. Oh, because drumsticks. UGH. That is a lame tie-in. It’s almost as bad as product placement. Almost. Whatever, anyway, drumsticks, and at least they have things other than chicken. Winner gets immunity.

30 minutes. It’s first come, first serve, and in the rush to not get stuck with giant turkey drumsticks a lot of things end up on the floor. Like Shirley. Nick tells us how he’s such a great human being that he helped Shirley instead of getting what he wanted and now he’s stuck with quail. Because Shirley took the duck that he wanted. Don’t brag about what a martyr you are, Nick. Stephanie got turkey which she dunks in the deep fryer and then onto the grill. Nina is going spicy as if that is a shock to anyone. Carrie took squab, and she is confident even though it will be easy to screw up. Justin feeds Nick’s martyrdom about being a good person and getting stuck with quail. He’s got a frog leg recipe, so he’s fine. The duck is overcooking. Brian is making…chicken soup? With the drumstick meat? Also goose shrinks down when you cook it. Carlos tries to cut the bones with a chef’s knife so they don’t stick out so much. It doesn’t look very successful. Nick is kind of obnoxious about Carlos and “self-taught” people. On the one hand, don’t be condescending. On the other hand, if culinary school will teach you not to dent your knives on cooked goose leg bones then I guess that’s good information.

Carrie: squab legs marinated in thyme, juniper, and cocoa powder, with fig mostarda. Brian: chicken soup, chicken skin crackling, with parsley and Thai basil. Shirley: crispy duck leg with Szechuan chili salt and mint. Nina: jerked guinea hen charred with juniper berries and scotch bonnet peppers. Stephanie: fried and grilled turkey leg with sriracha and sour cream buttermilk dressing. Nick: twice fried quail legs with sesame sauce rolled in gomaiso. The chyron says “quail eggs”, like, way to go Bravo. You correctly spelled “gomaiso”, which is unhulled sesame seeds and salt, but you couldn’t figure out “legs” vs. “eggs”. Justin: chicken drumettes with smoked aioli, herb salad and sorghum vinaigrette. Carlos: fried goose leg with cranberries and apple salad. Padma asks if he smashed the bones because she just got a shard of bone. Oops.

Nick’s quail was too salty, which I’d like to point out has nothing to do with getting quail instead of duck. Justin was not creative enough. Goose was overcooked, plus Carlos didn’t need to smash the bones. Clearly. High marks are Carrie (squab was cooked properly), Nina (also cooked properly and not spicy), and Brian (the skin was still crunchy like a drumstick). Carrie wins. Nina and Brian look pissed.

Elimination challenge: cook for freshman orientation at LSU. Hee. They have to feed lunch to 500 freshmen at the dining hall. The dining hall has all their supplies, which are the same supplies the food service always uses. So no fancy Whole Foods things. Winner gets a car. Giving the car away a little early, aren’t we? Tonight they’ll sleep in the dorms, as if this is a hardship for 8 people who have been living 4 to a room already for weeks.

As people are packing they talk about their college days which is random. Shirley wants to win the car to give to her mom. Brian is super excited about going to college and is babbling about keggers and whatever. To be fair, he’s responding to what I am sure is a producer-prompted question from Nick. But Shirley is realizing how annoying she must be when she talks all the time. High fives for the two perky student tour guides. They seem like every student tour guide ever. They get a tour, including to see the live tiger they keep as a mascot. That tiger looks bored. Justin makes a “revenge of the nerds” reference. They actually have to make their own beds, which is hilarious, but they all get single rooms so it’s not like it’s so terrible. Carrie doesn’t know how to make a bed.

Cooking time. As everyone runs around Nick says they need to talk about stations before anyone touches anything. Eight stations, eight chefs. They start hollering about who wants hot or cold stations. Shirley immediately claims the station with the wide flattop grill. Carrie doesn’t really want a cold station, but she recognizes she has immunity so she just sort of shrugs it off. The chefs also have to call ingredients, because there’s not really enough of any one thing for more than one person to use. So if someone wants to use asparagus, there won’t be enough for anyone else. Shirley is making fried rice. The drama begins when Carlos says he is going to make some type of seafood that needs the plancha, the giant grill that Shirley called. Shirley says she needs that for the fried rice. Someone offers that other hot stations have grill space, but Carlos says it’s too hard to work on. There’s a wood-burning oven, but he can’t use that either. Shirley interviews that Carlos’s true personality just came out. I think Shirley may have agreed to use the oven, but I think she should have stood her ground. She already called it.

There is a terrible commercial for some kind of sauce things starring Brooke and Josh. Josh’s mustache has gotten more obnoxious. That’s what I got from that. I think it’s for those kits that have two sauces, one to cook with and one to finish with? If so, this commercial is better than those ones where Rocco and Carla Hall are children with terrifying giant heads.

3 hours to cook. Nick says he marked his oven so he could use it throughout service. Shirley did end up using the wood-burning oven, so she’s changed her dish. Justin doesn’t want to “cook down” to people so he’s making shrimp and asparagus and cauliflower. Stephanie wants to make pimento grilled cheese and she’s having to use whatever random cheese she finds.

Tom time! Carlos tells Tom he’s going to cook his fish on the flattop and then put it in the oven. So he does need an oven? He didn’t mention that, I don’t think. Stupid. Shirley talks about her charred tomatoes and does not say anything about Carlos. Nina is trying to make corn puree, but they only have a regular-size cocktail blender. Not big enough for 500 people. Justin rolls his eyes at people’s boring food. Some food service people show up to help serve. Nick fills his oven with plates, to keep them warm, I guess. Doesn’t the dining hall have some other way to do that? I mean…I would assume they don’t keep an oven set aside to warm plates. Unless they just serve everything on cold plates; I guess that could be the situation.

As the freshmen show up there is a lot of running around, especially for Nina, who is trying to fry chicken on the fly. Brian has a huge line for food, while not one person wants Carrie’s broccoli. She says “It’s not my fault kids are stupid and don’t eat their broccoli.” Sigh. Carlos realizes that the oven is full of plates, and Nick couldn’t care less about Carlos’s needs. Now he has to cook the fish all the way through on his plancha that he got through whining, and it makes him behind. I know Nick said he marked the oven, so either he didn’t do that very clearly or Carlos decided that wasn’t important. Or possibly Carlos didn’t bother to check to see if there was a free oven. Nick was jerky earlier but I’m going to side with him on this one. Stephanie is trying to be consistent with her grilled cheese and soup, and decides to just go ahead and put the sandwich in the bowl (propped up on the side) because she figures everyone is going to dunk the sandwich anyway.

Gail and Emeril are here for judging. Shirley: roast beef with potato puree and fire-roasted tomato relish. Nina: fried chicken with sweet corn puree and pickled onions. Brian: shrimp cake and spinach with chipotle aioli. Gail and Padma go sit with some students, next to boys whom I’m sure were thrilled. The shrimp cake has big chunks which is good. Shirley did a great job too, so good for her. Nick: roasted pork, parmesan grits and bacon brown sugar gravy. Tom says it looks like cafeteria food but in a good way. Nina’s chicken breading is falling off, and her puree is bland. Nick’s food is also bland, but the gravy is OK.

Carrie: broccoli salad with herbed yogurt sauce and pita bread. Justin: marinated gulf shrimp, cauliflower, asparagus, and garlic puree. Justin’s dish tastes weird. Gail is bored with Carrie’s dish. Stephanie: spicy tomato soup with grilled pimento cheese sandwich. Tom and Emeril go over to Carlos’s station, but he is still grilling fish so he makes them wait. The shot of them eating Stephanie’s dish as they stand at the counter is funny. They’re just chilling, eating soup standing up and talking about how he’s slow. Tom harasses him and says they’re hungry, to which Carlos replies “They, ah…took my oven”. When asked by Tom he throws Nick under the bus. Well that was quick. Nina hears him and is shocked at how ”fucked up” it is that Carlos is saying Nick stole things. Carlos: seared tilapia with chile ancho and Mexican coleslaw. After all that the fish is good. Stephanie’s decision to put the sandwich in the soup has backfired because by the time everyone got back to eat it, it was soggy and falling apart. Nina’s falling behind too. Tom and Emeril go to Nick to stir shit up and tell him Carlos is blaming him for stuff. Nick wonders aloud how an oven he’s been using all day could be “stolen”. A good point.

Commercial interlude: Stephanie thinks she is secretly a lunch lady. Then everyone talks about hairnets.

Nina thinks this was the hardest service. Stephanie wants more wine. Nick brings up the oven, and Carlos rolls his eyes as if this has been blown out of proportion. You brought this on yourself, dude. Carlos’s defense? “I really need [sic] an oven.” Everyone else gangs up on him and says Carlos should have communicated that then, which he didn’t do. “But I didn’t say it in a mean way.” What? Insane. Nick lays it out: he used the oven to roast pork, then to warm plates. When Carlos came and asked to use it, he said no. Then Carlos told the judges that Nick “stole” the oven. This is petty, Nick says. Carlos apologizes and says his intention was not to throw Nick under the bus. Yes it was. Why else would you do that? I don’t buy his “I didn’t mean it” excuse. The video comes on and the judges liked Brian, and Shirley. Carlos gets nailed for taking too long, although the food was delicious. Stephanie hears her sandwich fell apart, and she looks upset. Justin had no seasoning, and Nina’s chicken fell apart. And there was a point where people were not getting corn puree. The judges slam Carrie for coasting on her immunity and making vegetables because she should be in the bottom. Oops.

Padma collects Shirley, Brian, and Carlos. Nick says “Dammit” quietly, and they put in a shot of Carlos grinning in a “Sorry dude” manner. Does that really go there? If so, don’t be an asshat. You’re not going to win because you took too long to serve. At least I hope that is the situation. Carlos only gets a small slap on the wrist for taking too long, as the judges are more interested in telling him how the fish was cooked well and the slaw was good. Brian had most students’ favorite dish. And somehow the spinach really worked. Shirley manages to tell the judges no one wanted the wood-burning oven, while not saying she got stuck with it or that Carlos stole her station through whining. I hope Carlos takes notes. Her roasted tomato relish was delicious and the meat was well cooked. The winner of the car is Shirley. Awesome. She’s so excited she’s jumping up and down.

Stephanie, Nina, and Justin have to face the music. Nina ran out of corn, and her server was serving chicken without waiting for more corn puree so her dish was incomplete. Gail thinks the corn was the worst part of the dish anyway, so the kids that only got chicken maybe got a better dish. Stephanie put cottage cheese in her sandwiches, in her quest to find whatever cheese she could. Plus the sandwich got soggy. Justin’s defense consists of “If I had made something simple and boring I could have crushed it but I did more work than everyone else.” Yeah…that argument doesn’t always work. They do gently let him down instead of nailing him for acting like he’s better than everyone. He was too “cheffy”.

Nina was inconsistent, and it’s a big deal that she ran out of corn. As the judges talk they realize she made several batches of varying quality. Justin’s food was consistently bland. Stephanie’s soup was fine but they get upset over the sandwich. This is one of those situations where if Stephanie had just said “grilled cheese sandwich” she might have been better off. Tom expects sharp cheddar in his pimento cheese, which she couldn’t find. Also she used cheeses that don’t melt.

Tom has one last chance to nail everyone for their screw-ups and make school-related comments. Justin is sent home. Tom says he cooked the worst dish, period. Justin says today proved he’s too stubborn to compromise his ingredients. Or season anything, apparently.

Next time: more serving large groups, more Carlos being unprepared. He needs a sushi knife, he asks Nick for one because he’s insane (Nick is the last person who’s going to help him), Nick refuses, Carlos is insulted. Duh, Carlos. Anyway, I think this episode is airing on New Year’s Day and I will be out of town, so I probably won’t have it up for a day or two.

Last Chance Kitchen: Justin wants to take it out on somebody. Sure. Louis is actually kind of surprised to see Justin “so early”. Justin is still convinced he’s better than everyone. Tom informs Justin that even though he is from here, he still failed at a lot of stuff. So he’ll have to make dishes based on ingredients from Louis’s home of Northern California. Louis will be using Louisiana ingredients. This seems unfair. Louis and everyone else have been using local ingredients this whole time. They probably studied up before coming out to be on the show. 30 minutes to cook. Louis ended up with crawfish, squash, corn, okra…looks like rabbit. Justin has sardines, quail, grapes, goat cheese. Crab. Nice. Louis knows he’s not shafted but he’d switch with Justin any day. Michael babbles about salt poaching or something dumb. Then he bugs Justin about why he got eliminated. Justin just says he didn’t get eliminated for sardines. Louis is going old-school French. Louis seems to be pretty on top of things. Justin reveals that he lived in California until he was 21 so this challenge “twist” is dumb on all levels. Justin knows he might have plated early. Louis is way behind and is still cooking in the last minute. Justin: grilled sardine with roasted corn and sherry vinaigrette. He did not use the crab or grapes in the box. Or avocado. Louis: redfish almandine with corn puree and crawfish sauce. He ignored peaches and rabbit. Louis’s sauce was delicious but a little spicy on the end. Justin got a good flavor from the grill and crunch from the vegetables. If Tom had to find one flaw, it would be the sardine was a little dry so Louis wins again. He is relieved because he thought Justin would be his biggest competition and now things will be easier. Justin is pissed because he thinks his sardine was perfect.

Project Runway All Stars 12/12/13--"As Sewn on TV" summary

Previously on Project Runway: Everyone has to design for Marge Simpson. This meant everyone pretending Marge is a real person, to the point that Chris said his design was based on the fact that Marge was just a housewife and wouldn’t want anything too sexy. And then Isaac got offended by that. Sigh. Anyway, Irina made a very pretty purple voluminous thing and won. Jeffrey’s dress was poorly made and everyone seems tired of his tortured artist shtick so he was eliminated. (click for more)

Down to six. Everyone is out somewhere where there is a helipad. Alyssa plugs QVC and says they’ll all be taking helicopters to the studio. Lots of freaking out. Also all the boys go in one copter and the girls in another for some reason. Wow, QVC has sweet offices. This week’s challenge is about “red carpet glamour”. Because QVC has a red carpet gala around the Oscars? Sure. Lisa Robertson, who is “QVC Program Director”, will wear the winning design. Not Alyssa? She must be able to sit and stand in it. Winner will have “a version” of the dress for sale on QVC. Everyone gets a tour and then they practice talking to the camera and presenting things. They mostly are OK at it except Elena. She kind of flails. They go to another studio and joke around for a bit before drawing. Chris wants a dramatic train. Those are hard to move in because everyone steps on the train. Isaac shows up in a hoodie and tells people to pull out all the stops. Well that was useful. Shopping is shopping. People want dramatic gowns and there seem to be a lot of mermaid silhouettes. Korto is doing orange to set herself apart from all the black.

10 hours to work. I know because Irina complains about the time. Chris has a one-up on “some” people because he’s done some gowns already this season. I don’t know who he’s talking about. Elena is doing all new things and it’s not working. She is at least self-aware enough to know she’s about to freak out. Korto is kind of eye-rolly about it because Elena is fine. Viktor lays all his fabric out on the floor. He interviews that something is bothering him and he needs to talk to someone about it. Seth Aaron agrees with this, that Viktor is off his game, but then nothing happens. Korto gives Seth Aaron crap about making multiple dresses. He is actually using the neoprene that Elena avoided. She didn’t want to do the same thing she always does.

OK, so now Viktor is talking about being a private person but he’s “living with something” and he’s not sure how people will take it. Is he HIV+? He takes Elena aside, and Seth Aaron, and they go into the lounge and he tells them he’s been HIV+ for seven years. Oh my God, I am a horrible bitch because my first response is “So?” and then my second response is “Why is he doing this now? What is he trying to gain from it?” I’m a terrible person. It just feels weird and shoehorned in here. At least when Mondo told everyone he’d just made a print about it. I don’t know why this is coming up during a red carpet challenge but there you go. He hasn’t told his family yet (well, now they know). Seth Aaron and Elena are supportive and of course won’t treat him different, because they wouldn’t anyway.

Zanna time. She says the gown must look as amazing in photos as it does on TV. “If I see one jewel-toned strapless gown in here, there’s gonna be trouble.” Hee. Cut to Chris saying that’s what he has. Oops. He is going to add some leather pieces. Viktor’s dress is shiny olive and Zanna is like, green doesn’t sell. I love green. Whatever, Zanna. Seth Aaron has a weird length, and Zanna actually talks him into leaving it a tea length? Or making it short? Something. No train. Elena is layering fabrics and Zanna loves her idea. Irina made a white dress so she must make it not look like a wedding dress. Korto has a very large amount of tiny pleats but she’s got a lot of work to do. Before Zanna leaves, she tells everyone this isn’t All-Star work and any of them could go home. Ouch.

Lots of really frantic working. Model fitting. Chris complains that his model’s ass is too big. Irina tears her dress. Now there’s a photo shoot? Zanna did it so they could see how the dress photographs. Most people’s look OK, but Korto’s orange is really bright and Viktor’s shiny green is laid bare so you can see all the puckering and mistakes. Korto doesn’t like the way her pleats look so it sounds like she’s scrapping it with 30 minutes to go. Simpler top and a beaded belt.

Runway day. Everyone seems to be freaking out. Viktor’s dress is really puckery. Hot makeup guy Scott. Final fittings go really well except for Irina, because of her fabric and how it’s splitting. But somehow everyone gets finished. Not everyone can walk easily, though, so we’ll see.

Georgina is gone AGAIN. Stupid. Mondo is here instead. Guest judges are Lisa from QVC, whom they met at the offices, and Elizabeth Moss. Alyssa says they’ll be considering photos as well as the runway. Chris: long dark blue gown, which was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. He’s put some black leather shoulders on it, so now there’s a keyhole but it’s still sleeveless. It’s a mermaid skirt, with tulle giving it volume. It’s pretty, and the skirt has that pleated/torn thing he used to do that gives texture. He’s the one that used to do that, right? It looks like even pleats but also like he’s sewn thin strips onto the skirt? Viktor: olive green satin gown, which is so long she looks like she’ll trip on it. There’s some vertical seaming and then two matching ruffles down the sides and some smaller ruffles at her hips. It doesn’t look good. Plus she’s walking on the bottom of the gown, basically. Seth Aaron: the fabric is a shiny silver with black stripes in it, to give it some pattern. The front is slit high in the middle, with a high neck and strong shoulders. The back has a big keyhole…but then it’s even worse than Viktor’s. He’s placed the fabric vertically, but with a solid panel over her butt so her ass looks huge. It looks like the width of the fabric panel, like it’s so stiff it’s just sticking out. Ugh. The front has the stripes in a chevron pattern so why isn’t the back like that?

Korto: the top is a simple V-neck with thin straps. I think she took the fabric and sewed it to the skirt, then twisted it to make straps. This is in beige/light gray, and then a sparkly belt and the orange in a flowy skirt. For the time she had, it looks great, but it’s also maybe not fancy enough. Also I think there are pockets. The back is asymmetrical. Elena: high crew neck, sleeveless, in a purple. It looks like purple with some black on top, a lace or something with stripes. The hips have some volume, but it looks nice. Interesting. Upon closer inspection the black makes small pieces, lined up in columns and rows, like dashes. I do like it. The back doesn’t have a train but it looks like she’s bustled it? Like when you see wedding gowns that have some ribbons or buttons to pull up the back of the train for the reception. Irina: mermaid dress in beige, so it doesn’t look too much like a wedding dress. The top looks corseted, with a plunging strapless neckline. The skirt has white flowers or something appliqued to the skirt. The train is huge. And then the model has trouble walking back up the stairs. It’s super dramatic but better for standing around for photos, I think.

When the models all come back out to the runway, everyone can see Irina’s skirt tore right along a seam. Oops. Seth Aaron totally loves his dress. Alyssa likes it, but Mondo points out the front of her skirt has a really weird shape. It stands away from her legs like wings. Isaac hates her ass. Plus the slit in the front is really high. Irina was going for “orchid plant” but everyone can see the tear. Irina whines “She tore it!”, like, way to blame your model. It’s kind of puckered but not as bad as Viktor. Lisa doesn’t think she could walk in it. Alyssa tells her that in the photos it really looks like a wedding dress. Elena wanted a texture on top of something shiny. That’s what she says. Isaac likes the textile, but he thinks the silhouette is dowdy. They don’t really like the back, where the skirt bunches and there is maybe a seam right under her butt. Korto wanted something free, plus to have pockets to put things in. It does look comfortable. The top is kind of bland but the orange is great. When Chris talks about his gown he leaves out the part about how all the leather is because of how Zanna said it was too boring. There are some leather details that don’t show up in the photos. Isaac loves the navy. Viktor has made a flattering dress, but it really does not photograph well, and the wings are weird. The judges argue about his dress, is the color good, are the wings good, whatever.

Chris had a very innovative gown, with a good mix of textiles, even though the picture wasn’t stunning. Seth Aaron took a risk, I guess, but it’s not flattering at all. At least people would talk about you. Korto’s dress is not as glamorous but it’s easy to move in and they like the orange. Oh, that was the top three. Huh. Irina made a wedding dress, dramatic, but falling apart and a wedding dress. Elena’s dress is not sexy but they at least like the fabric. Viktor had great ideas but it was boring and in an ugly puckery fabric.

Seth Aaron is in. The winner is Korto! Yay! She’s so happy. Chris is in. Viktor is in. What? That dress sucked. UGH. Fine. Irina is out. Huh? This is dumb. Fine. I bet she’s somewhere blaming her model for purposely tearing the dress. She’s already won once so she’s fine with going out.

Next week: Nina Garcia!! And she’s judging! She says something about seaweed to Chris, who says “Thank you” in a snippy tone, and she says back “It’s not a compliment.” I’m excited.

Top Chef 12/11/13--"Like Mama Made" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: Restaurant Wars! Which I always enjoy. The people who have been winning were on one team, but of course that team crashed and burned. You can usually tell who will fail: either one team is clearly dysfunctional, or they both look sort of OK and then the “favorite” team will lose. Justin took over and was a jerk, but then Sara also failed at the front-of-house stuff. According to most sources I read she really should have made a ticket for the judges’ table, instead of just verbally telling Justin they were ready to eat. I’ve never worked in a kitchen so I don’t know. Anyway, in the end Sara was sent home for failing. Nick was a great executive chef and made a delicious dish and won. The judges also said Travis was better at FOH than Fabio, which I doubt. I mean, Fabio. (click for more)

On Last Chance Kitchen Louis handily defeated Sara. They had to pick sous chefs and give them instructions while blindfolded. Louis was a little bit more innovative.

Justin talks about how he was afraid he was about to go home. Travis says he feels like one of the guys. Then he talks about how he’s been ostracized and how once he had a chef pull him aside and tell him gays weren’t allowed in the kitchen. Who does shit like that? Anyway, Travis says he’s really happy to be here which means his days are probably numbered. He’s made friendships that will last a lifetime. Oh yeah, he’s toast. Louis had a confessional saying exactly that the episode he was eliminated.

Hubert Keller! Nice. Ugh, product placement coffee. To be fair, it’s Dunkin Donuts coffee which is a thing people get crazy over, so at least when Padma talks about how great it is, there will be plenty of people who agree with her. They must make a dish using coffee. Winner gets immunity plus $10,000. Stephanie says all her stuff is old and crappy.

30 minutes. At least when cooking with coffee it’s not super important you have fancy brand-name coffee. Right? Plus no one is using the brand name. Also not everyone is doing dessert which is nice. Shirley wants a new air conditioner. Stephanie is making crepes and bacon jam and something sweet potato which sounds delicious. I would order that. Carlos tells us his wife makes the coffee for him, and talks about meeting her and when they started dating. Hmm, but Travis already got screen time. People run around and then Brian says he’s making risotto which is dumb. It’s a curse, but he’s just won the last two Quickfires so he’s feeling cocky. Nina feels her competition is Nick because he always thinks about everything. Carrie doesn’t have time to make crepes so she’s going to simplify them somehow. I don’t know how. Brian is out of time and is cursing a lot.

Travis: Alaskan sockeye salmon, coffee ponzu, and coffee roasted eringi mushrooms. Carrie: coffee custard with candied coffee beans and cocoa nibs. Brian: coffee risotto with Andouille sausage and sugar snap peas. Carlos: coffee and macadamia sponge cake with mascarpone coffee sauce. Nick: roasted sockeye salmon with hazelnut coffee caramel and hon-shimeh mushrooms. Hon-shimen? I can’t read my TV. That’s two mushrooms varieties that I’ve never heard of. I’m impressed. Shirley: coffee crusted tenderloin with garlic puree and coffee brown butter sauce. Stephanie: sweet potato and goat cheese coffee crepe with ham and bacon coffee jam. Holy crap that sounds delicious. The judges are non-committal but psshh. Delicious.

Brian’s risotto didn’t taste like coffee, but Hubert doesn’t say anything about uncooked rice so I guess that’s something. Nick’s was unpleasant. Oo. Shirley’s pairing with garlic was great, and Carrie’s custard was very nice and satisfying. Stephanie’s dish was surprising but all came together. Yay! I’m glad because if I was out somewhere I would have ordered that, and been really disappointed if it had sucked. Shirley is the winner! She’s about to hyperventilate.

Padma introduces the Elimination Challenge by saying going home is a good thing. Anthony Mackie comes out. He’s an actor that was in 8 Mile? Sure. I didn’t see that movie. He talks about the things he craves when he comes home after working. Today’s challenge is to make the dish you crave when you go home. $275 to shop and 2 hours today to cook. Tomorrow, they’ll have an hour to get it together. Leah Chase and her family will be there too (you’ll remember her from a previous Quickfire). The main thing to know from shopping is that Justin would use squirrel if he could, but that is not a thing they sell at Whole Foods so he’s buying chicken thighs instead.

This is a nice challenge. It’s not necessarily “Cook your heritage” or even “Cook your mom’s dishes” because it’s just whatever you like to make at home. You could use one of your own recipes that you like. I mean, my guess is the secret requirement today is “comforting”. But that means different things to different people. “Comforting” to me is sticky rice and seaweed. Actually I would make my mom’s baby back ribs recipe and sauce. Probably, assuming I made it this far and didn’t choke, which is unlikely.

Nina is making curry chicken which sounds great. She’s busting whole coconuts for coconut water. Nick is making gnocchi, or possibly gnudi. Stephanie throws her family under the bus and says they can’t cook, so she’s making mussels which is what SHE makes for THEM. Carlos wants to make some pork dish which normally takes six hours, so he has to bust out the pressure cooker. Shirley kneads dough, which apparently shakes the whole table. Stephanie asks her to try not to rock the table too much, and Shirley is like “Sure, but my next motion is also annoying.” Hee. I think everyone survives. Travis is making plum jam to go with biscuits and gravy. Oo…kay.

Tom time! Travis’s biscuits do not have buttermilk. Tom makes his “Are you SURE?” face. Shirley is hand-making noodles in a pork sauce. She tells Tom it’s like pasta Bolognese. Yum. Brian has steak and potato salad, because his dad always grilled and then mom made the rest of the meal. I hope it’s fancy. Lots of running around last minute.

Back at the house everyone smells something as they come up the stairs. Emeril broke into their house to make them dinner! Hee. The soup looks great. Brian reveals that his dad had three massive strokes last year. Aww. He starts crying and his solution is to keep on talking really fast to try to keep going. I like Brian. He’s kind of a spaz sometimes but that was genuine. After Emeril leaves everyone picks out the three things they’d pick if they had to only eat three things for the rest of their lives. Stephanie picks out mussels, bread, and cheese, which sounds pretty good. Justin picks champagne, caviar, and tacos. Heh.

Nina calls her grandmother. She’s feeling a little homesick because of the challenge. Her grandmother would take care of them when her parents were traveling. I wonder if that’s her grandmother’s curried chicken. Probably. Nick feels guilty he missed his daughter’s first steps and things like that because he was working. I always wonder about when people say things like that. You know you feel guilty that you’re not at home but you’re still here on the show. You chose to come on the show, you know? I mean, not that I don’t think he feels guilty but if he really felt super guilty he’d have stayed home, right?

One hour to prep. Justin has this one hour to make rice and he is freaking out that it might not be perfect. Brian discovers there is no grill of any kind, so he has to find a grill pan for his steaks. Travis tells us he made “tester biscuits” yesterday and they were great, but today he only has one shot. Shirley has immunity so she’s preparing to take some risks. Travis’s biscuits look fantastic, but when you break them open it looks raw. He freaks out, which seems to consist of putting his head on the counter and looking pale. Leah Chase and the judges and guests arrive. Leah says she came to the restaurant to be a waitress, but no one in the kitchen knew what was going on so that’s how she ended up in the kitchen. Carrie is trying to poach 13 eggs at once. Travis is covering the biscuits in gravy (as you do) hoping they’ll cook.

Carlos: cochinita pibil with black beans, orange pico de gallo, and corn tortilla. Brian: Korean BBQ New York strip with potato salad. Travis: biscuits with maple sage sausage gravy and sour plum jam. I don’t know if I like the idea of biscuits and gravy with jam also. The flavor of the gravy is great but the biscuits are raw. The wrong group to serve crap biscuits to. Carlos’s pork is delicious. Brian doesn’t have any charcoal flavor. Hmm, another secret requirement.

Nick is freaking out that he will run out of time. He cries in confessional, as we see footage of him crying while plating. Nick: ricotta gnudi with pancetta, peas, lemon, and parmesan. He gets choked up describing it. Shirley: Beijing noodles, fermented bean and pork sauce with pickled radish. She gives it a name but I don’t know what she said. Stephanie: mussels with spicy pickled peppers and tomatoes. And homemade focaccia. The gnudi are perfect. I think the judges are moved by Nick’s emotion. Shirley did a great job too. Tom loves the pickled peppers and mussel combination from Stephanie.

Justin is thrilled his rice turned out. Justin: Louisiana rice with chicken thigh gravy, pickled mirliton and jalapeno. I think mirliton is chayote. Carrie: creamed asparagus over toast and poached egg. Nina: curried chicken with fried bakes. “Bakes” are just fried dough, so then “fried bakes” seems redundant. Everyone raves over Carrie’s dish and the egg. Nina has great flavors but it seems everyone wants some rice. Justin’s is a little dry. But I think it still tastes good. It looks like everyone got praise except Travis, and he even got some praise.

Commercial interlude: Anthony gives Tom shit about…something involving “mechanically separated meat”. I have no idea what just happened.

No one wants to go home on a challenge where they cooked something so important to them. Video time. Everyone made delicious dishes and cooked from the heart. Carlos, Nina, Stephanie, and Carrie get praised. Stoned Padma makes a comeback when she says “I liked the mussels” in that monotone she used to do all the time. They also say Travis’s gravy was good but say nothing about the biscuits. Actually I think they say something nice about everyone. Padma collects Nick, Stephanie, and Carlos. These are the top three! Nick really doesn’t want to go home, but his dish was executed perfectly and was from the heart. Stephanie and her boyfriend go “fishing” but don’t catch fish, and Anthony gives Tom shit about that, so I guess the commercial interlude was about fishing? Why do I feel so out of it? Basically I think Anthony and Tom went fishing and Tom caught nothing so Anthony won’t let him forget it. Stephanie cooked everything beautifully and the pickles were a really interesting combination. Carlos had a delicious dish and they all wish they had had more tortillas. Nick is the winner! Anthony tells him to relax.

Loser Gong for Travis, Brian, and Justin. Padma says it was a difficult decision, and they had to nitpick. Brian knows the lack of a grill hurt his dish, because he couldn’t get any charcoal flavor. There wasn’t anything wrong with the dish, just that everyone wanted some charcoal flavor. Travis knew his biscuits were undercooked. Tom wonders why he would continue if he knew while making the biscuits they weren’t working. You can’t scrap half your dish on the day of with one hour to go. Come on, Tom. Justin says he craves his dish when other people make it, and they make it sound like it’s not “his” specialty. It needed more gravy. It sounds like he plated too early and the rice soaked up his gravy.

Padma wanted more chicken and less rice from Justin. Brian’s steak wasn’t that memorable. Travis had crappy biscuits, and they somehow think he should have not served biscuits. But you can’t just eat gravy and jam.

Tom tells the bottom three that it’s hard to send someone home for cooking something that reminds them of home. But then they send Travis home so I guess it’s not that hard. He says this show tests you as a person and he’s learned to be open about who he is.

Next week: college students, Carrie makes broccoli, Carlos throws people under the bus.

Last Chance Kitchen: Travis says he’s better than some people who are left, so he’s ready to go. Louis is here to beat Travis. Tom makes fun of Travis’s random striped socks. Then he brings up “Captain Vietnam” and basically tells Travis that he’s very cocky about Asian food. So here are a bunch of Asian ingredients for you to cook with! Prove you’re not full of crap! Heh. I’m entertained they didn’t have him make biscuits, but instead called him on the more annoying cockiness. You must use at least three of these proteins, plus shopping from the Hong Kong market. Louis reveals his wife is Korean. Oo, battle of the Asian spouses! 45 minutes to cook. Travis tells the peanut gallery he’s making bitter melon soup. It’s tricky but he’s pissed that Tom thinks he’s “self-proclaimed”. Because he really does know what he’s doing. Louis is putting tripe in the pressure cooker. Travis makes squid cakes. Everyone laughs at Louis for some reason and he says they’re assholes. Michael is still annoying even in the peanut gallery. Tom hovers and Travis has the balls to tell Tom he’s making him nervous. But then he says he nailed it. Everyone is confident. Travis: bitter melon soup with squid cakes. Louis: braised tripe, dried shrimp and Chinese sausage with bamboo shoots and bok choy. Now, they were supposed to use three of the proteins but I don’t know what other proteins Travis used. Both dishes were really good and they both managed to develop the flavors in under an hour. Travis’s soup wasn’t bitter and the squid was not rubbery. Louis successfully made tripe and had lots of flavors. Louis is the winner. Travis says he’s not angry because his dish was very hard to do and he pulled it off. Louis says he’s worked hard enough that this would be a good payoff.