Keep Fishin'

Hello my little Quickfires! I call you that this week since we didn't have one in-show. I also called this week's blog "Keep Fishin' " as an ode to Weezer. I want to start by saying that yes, you are all correct. My "hometown" of Long Island is a big place. I'm not from Montauk, but would like the liberty of taking a little local-ish pride in this week's challenge if you'll allow it.

There are some great places on Long Island to fish. In addition to Montauk, Freeport is also a hotspot. I've only ever fished for fluke (which I've actually noticed on a lot of menus recently), but I always caught tiny crabs. Sooo, I would have had a lot of trouble with the first portion of this week's challenge, where the chefs broke up into groups and actually had to catch their own fish, Tom-Colicchio's-American-Express-Shine-a-Light-on-Small-Business-commerical-style. As entertaining as this was (although I could've done without all the fishy sexual innuendo), I was really worried one group wouldn't catch a fish. I really don't know what the protocol would've been had they not, but I guess we'll never find out!

We'll go through each of the groups quickly this week. First, Richard, Marcel, and Fabio only decided to put out one dish. While this strategy seemed less than stellar, Jamie hit the nail on the head when she said it was a cop-out because you can't determine who did what. Sooo, what may have looked like a cop-out, actually may have saved them in the end. As big a Richard and Marcel fan as I am, I'm not wholly convinced they shouldn't have been the ones to go home this week. And I think if they had made two separate dishes that were as bad as the one they put out, they might have. But because the judges could say, "Jamie made this horrible dish... and Tiffani made this horrible dish," it was easier to find decisive fault with what the ladies produced, so they went home. This is all conjecture obviously, and I'll be sure to read the judges' blogs to get the real story.

I'm sure no one's upset to see Jamie go home, but her elimination just seemed so unsatisfying to me. It wasn't like a previous week where it really felt like maybe she deserved it. Sigh.The other two teams both did heads and shoulders above the bottom two teams. Although I've never been to Water Taxi Beach, my friends have and it's apparently a good time. I'll tell you one thing, whenever I end up going, I think a fish taco would probably be what I'd be most inclined to order. Carla took a gamble with her bagel and shmear take on the taco, but apparently it was delicious, and so, I'm happy for her! She not only embraced the fish challenge, but the locale.

The only other thing I really want to comment on is Marcel. I'm not prepared to defend him this week (I'll leave that to commenter Catherineb) because his behavior towards Dale with Tre was just bizarre. I thought he was going to break into one of his famous rooftop raps while arguing with Dale! As much as I usually think the other chefs just don't get Marcel, and I'll probably defend this guy against anything, I'm going to pick my battles and this week isn't one of them. What's interesting is that even if Marcel was right in his argument with Dale, his chicken nugget from last week's dim sum challenge wouldn't have won. And he thought it would have. Marcel needs to learn to focus on his own dishes.

In happier news, I finally ate at Ma Peche, and it didn't dispappoint. Many people recommended the ribs to me, but unfortunately they're not currently on the menu. Everything was excellent, but the cod was a standout. From Chatham, Massauchetts, it was served in this delicous ginger broth with coconut and shellfish. Part of me wanted to order the Montauk striped bass because it felt so relevant to this week's challenge, but I quickly realized that's not a real reason to order something. I'm checking out Nikki Cascone's new place, Octavia's Porch next Tuesday, so I'll let you know what I order then.

Until next week, Happy Noshing!