A Little of Your Time

"Mary Sue has covered the bed with tostadas, which is not any fetish I've ever heard of." Oh, Hugh. And, hello my little spanikopitas. We'll return to Hugh's words of wisdom later, but first, a seven-minute Quickfire in which the chefs had to create "heavenly" food. The twist? The chefs would be judging each other's food. This group seems to have an enormous amount of respect for each other, so everyone was fairly constructive in their critiques. I got the biggest crack out of Mary Sue who looks like she is physically incapable of saying a harsh word about anyone or his/her food -- it's adorable. Hugh got saucy with Curtis, which I also enjoyed. In the end, Traci came out on top ... again. Based purely on looks, I probably would've enjoyed Traci's dish the most as well. But maybe I just have beef on the brain. A few colleagues and I did the Beef 7 Ways at ma peche last night, and well, I've still got the sweats. Everything was delicious -- and in my opinion the tendon salad was exceptional, and the brisket with marrow and shallots was maybe the best brisket I've ever had. (And I'm a Jew from Long Island, so that's saying a lot!)

Aaand that brings us to this week's Elimination Challenge featuring Maroon 5. I'm a fairly big Maroon 5 fan, so I just had to prove it by showing you all of my concert tickets.

They're one of the few bands I can honestly say (and do say) I was listening to before they hit the Billboard charts, as exhibited by my 2003 ticket. The Downtown venue has since closed, but I remember seeing them with my sister, having to leave early because she felt sick, but not before noticing the members of the boy band O-Town in the general admission audience! I also remember first hearing "Harder to Breather" on the now defunkt 92.7 WLIR (it may have been WDRE at the time), and just kind of falling in love with the group. And who could forget Kara's Flowers appearance on 90210 (the original). Sooo seeing Adam, Jesse, and the boys come out for Masters was a thrill. They all had very different requests of the chefs, ranging from a Thanksgiving meal to something with corn (Not only did MIckey have the best request with corn, but I also thought he had the most constructive comments.) Overall, the food offerings reminded me of the restaurant concept, Panaga in last week's episode of Happy Endings (look it up), and like what the chefs whipped up for the Food Fighters in Rochester during Season 5. I recall many lowlights and a few highlights, and here was much of the same thing. There were forgettable dishes like Floyd's salad, the one Adam Levine said he could make himself, and some moments of genius like Traci's steak. Like the chefs in Rochester, these chefs faced their own equipment challenges, rockig and rolling (literally), while cooking on moving buses. These poor chefs. But they rose to the challenge. Perhaps no one more than Alex, who got sent home. He just did way too much, and all of his dishes suffered for it. I liked Alex, so I was sad to see him go, but there were so many laugh-out-loud moments in this episode that made up for it.

1. First of all, I found it fascinating that the two teams came up with the exact same menus.

2. Adam Levine threatens to stab James Oseland with his fork. I don't know whose side to take, but I do know that that's a fight I'd like to see!

3. Drummer Matt Flynn called the grapes on tapioca "grape contacts." Hilarious.

4. Gail Simmons predicts that the mashed potatoes will be the band's Yoko Ono. Aw, we've missed you, Gail!

5. And finally coming full circle, Hugh comments on the tight plating quarters, saying "Mary Sue has covered the bed with tostadas, which is not any fetish I've ever heard of." It looks like in next week's episode he says something is so poignant, he's going to vomit in his mouth. I can't wait to hear the rest of it!

Sooo, wht did you think? Were you sad to see Alex go? And, what have you been eating? Until next week, Have a Nosh!