Where we might have dreamed of some good, country-ass, rustic pasta -- we got cazzo instead. It is mind-boggling the bungled fundamentals, the elementary misunderstanding of basic Italian staples, the missed signals that went on in the kitchen during this course. Mike Isabella, at least, understood the challenge. His rigatoni with braised calamari and cherry tomatoes should have been great. The sauce (or the "gravy" as some old timers might call it), was just right: classic, familiar, delicious. But he'd ignored the very wise Junior Pellegrino who had advised earlier that "you can use dry pastas," and attempted to make his own fresh rigatoni. It was hard, too tough and it didn't cook enough (I'm not convinced it ever could) -- as a result it never took in the sauce, and went down like a mouthful of bullets. To his credit, he knew. I have never seen a more unhappy, shamed, and repentant-looking contestant stand before us at Judges' Table.Or, as Bourdain said on the show, “Some poor bastard in the Witness Protection Program is eating this right now.” Solid, straightforward challenge (I'm ignoring the Mizrahi amusement), and while I was surprised which of the bottom three went home, it was clear that this was the bottom three. [Also, does this really qualify Lorraine Bracco to be billed as an "award-winning actress"?]
Thursday, February 3, 2011
"I WASN'T AROUND FOR THE QUICKFIRE, SO MAYBE I MISSED WHY PADMA WAS DRESSED LIKE A SUPERFRIEND": Bourdain on the pasta disaster that was last night's Top Chef All Stars:
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