They got rid of an incredibly talented chef in Hector.
I think his true Puerto Rican roots and sensibilities probably played against him a little.
As I said before, it makes him stylistically narrow in focus when specific things are required.
His cuisine is SO flavorful. Full of great Latino nuance.
One of the best meals I had in ATL was right after he got home from his stint in Las Vegas.
Just amazing stuff.
I hope this doesn’t hurt his career as he has intimated.
Kevin is great. This is set up for him too. He likes to improvise and is VERY good at it.
Eli is very talented and EXTREMELY young. This can only help him.
Yeah, that was tough to see Hector go. His food kicks ass.
Keving certainly had another nice night. As did Eli.
Even though I, like Don, am biased for the ATL crew, Kevin certainly comes across as not only a great young chef, but as someone who has that “it” factor.
His presence translates well on TV, moreso than just about any of the serious chefs this season.
I would imagine this will also continnue to work in his favor.
Also, can’t be just me feeling like TC really found some talent for the show this year.
I can think of only Fabio and Steffan from last year having a shot with this crew.
Collichio said as much last night.
I will certainly bow to your and Dennis’s first hand experience with his cooking, Don, but between botching a tenderloin and deep frying a steak, it really didn’t seem like he knew what to do with meat and his technique seemed lacking. But, that’s reality tv.
I’d love to try Kevin’s food. Everything he’s done has looked superb.
Not at all. I’ve had really enjoyable meals in barrios, but fine dining, no. Hector’s style of cooking reminded me of something I’d be happy to have on vacation say in Puerto Rico where I’m more concerned about the beach then with the food styling or sophistication of my dinner.
Brad,
I think you’re correct based on how it came across on TV. He made a couple of poor decisions perhaps, and was on the shit side of getting that meat done correctly.
Not a reflection of his skill. Perhaps he’s a bit less ‘refined’ than some of the other chefs.
I know that you leave his place here in ATL thinking, “damn, that was some of the tastiest food I’ve had in a while” Just my 2 cents.
100% agree. Loved the episode - really what the show should be about. Liked the Quickfire twist. The elim challenge was great. Loved that it was at Robuchon - where I once was fortunate to have an amazing meal. I still believe Jennifer is the one to beat, but agree that the Brothers V and especially Kevin have the best shot otherwise.
The top handful of cheftestants are very, very good. It’s not that the bottom half are bad - but they just aren’t suited to this competition - and does it ever show. One can pretty much guess who will be the next ones to go.
I think this loss really motivated Hector.
We had several dishes including a really crazy gazpacho that have been some of the best in ATL including Kevin and Eli.
Good place to go right now.
He has something to prove.
I have to agree with the consensus that it looks like it will come down to the V. brothers and Jen. Kevin is the scrappy one that looks like he’ll definitely put up a good fight all the way to his end.
The one thing I’ve always ‘hated’ about this show is that it can be such a tease. Some of the dishes look soo good and I want to try them but know I would never be able to recreate them.
GREAT episode. I really enjoyed it and agree with most of the posters that Jennifer, the Brothers V and Kevin are the ones to watch. No loss about Jesse going home, she never really showed her chops (if she has any). And Ashley is on borrowed time too.
Just watched this last night. Have pretty much the same opinions as everybody else here. I will add that I am quite happy that TC has taken a considerable step away from the catering challenges this season, thus far. Yeah, there’s been the one at the hangar, and the bachelor/bachelorette party was kind of “mini-catering,” but for the most part they’re just telling the contestants to ‘cook a great dish.’ The talent on this season may be the best of all TC seasons … maybe season 2 was better, maybe not – it’s close.
A serious question to those Eli supporters out there. What do you see in his stuff so far? Because I just don’t see him in the same conversation with Kevin, Jen, and the V Brothers.
Don’t get me wrong, I think he is far superior to any of the bunch that has gone home so far (as well as some of those still in the competition), and he seems like a nice enough guy, but I don’t think that what he has put on a plate thus far has been all that impressive. Just kind of forgettable. The only thing I can remember that he has made thus far was the potato salad for the Air Force challenge.
I’ve really been enjoying this season, too. That big-mouth Mike guy is hysterical…even at the Judges Table this week, he didn’t really give his partner (who carried him) the credit for the sauce recipe. Looking forward to him having to cook an elimination meal on his own. In the meantime, I enjoy the comic relief.
It also seemed right for Hector to go. Whether or not he is talented (and I trust folks here that have had his food that he is), he made a couple of major blunders, and one of them caught up with him on a night when no one else made a worse blunder. Clearly the meat wasn’t cooked and rested properly…he knew that, and it had nothing to do with his sensibilities. The deep-fried steak, one might argue appealed to one set of cultural preferences over another (though I’ve found the show to be quite open, especially at this point, when they aren’t yet tired of -another- scallop dish, etc.). But, in the end, it was the poorly cooked and cut meat that sent him home, and that seemed right to me, given the quality of the other dishes. There’s always some luck involved in these eliminations.
It’s hard to say without actually having tasted the food, but based on the appearance and descriptions, I think Kevin’s is the restaurant at which I’d like to eat (if I could pick only one).
While I find Mike I’s big mouth annoying…I 100% agree that Brian V should have spoke up about the Bearnaise. It was entirely Brian’s execution, and Mike took full credit for it. I think the judges knew it, hence why Brian got the solo win.
I am with you. Followed very, very closely by Jen.
Does anyone else find the sibling rivalry between the V brothers a bit contrived?
Coming from having 2 brothers, one older and one younger, there was always that rivalry and competition between us, but to be keeping score like they do…seems like production to me. Drama for the sake of drama.
I don’t think that you can put much stock in what each cheftestant’s restaurant would be like based on TC.
I put more weight on what they have done outside TC. Michael Voltaggio and Kevin Gillespie have been Beard nominees. Jennifer is Ripert’s chef de cuisine. Those three definitely have chops.
But forget about all of that. Does anyone have any idea how to make that candied bacon jam?
Eli is a very talented young guy.
He doesn’t have the seasoning of some of the others. He also is not quite the improviser that Kevin is.
He is very creative however.
I had a delicious sous vide lobster dish with some truffle butter and mushrooms recently that rocked the house.