- When Mrs. Commish and I have a craving for fast-food fried chicken (it happens more than I'd like to admit), we don't go for the Colonel or Popeye (not that there's anything wrong with either). We go for KKC, located in our local Exxon station. If you haven't yet tried it, go look for it. I'll let Dale do the explaining.
- I love the blindfolded taste test Quickfires. Every season I'm surprised at how poorly many of the chefs do, but the evidence over the years suggests that being blindfolded really is super disorienting.
- I'm a big boxing fan and love Muhammad Ali. Mrs. Commish and I visited the Muhammad Ali Museum on our trip to Louisville and it was definitely a highlight. My only regret is that we scheduled our visit in between two other things so we were on a self-imposed time limit. Otherwise, we would have spent most of the day there. Can't recommend it highly enough.
- If you are a boxing fan, Ali fan, or just an interesting podcasts fan, check out Bill Simmons' recent pod with legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum. There are some great Ali stories told.
- If I think too much about Adrienne thinking-she's-doing/not-really-doing/ultimately-ignoring Filipino food, I'll get too angry. Thanks Tom and Nilou for pointing out that Filipino food is not the same as the region Adrienne was referencing.
- "No? Alright. I'll go fuck myself..." This is exactly how I felt when I watched Eddie be eliminated both on the main episode, and in Last Chance Kitchen.
Power Rankings:
6. Sara
Quickfire Wins: 1
Elimination Wins: 0
X-Factor: Home-State Girl
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Sara performed well in this episode. Did Waffle-Gate light a fire under her? It's possible, but working against her is the pressure of being the home-state girl. And will cooking Kentucky food really matter when they get to Macau? Doubtful.
5. Adrienne
Quickfire Wins: 1
Elimination Wins: 0
X-Factor: Earrings?
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Adrienne is my typical riding-the-middle chef for this season. I barely remembered that she's from Boston, and I don't really know what kind of food she does. I know I have her fifth here, but I feel like she'll be the last chef eliminated before they go to Macau.
4. Justin
Quickfire Wins: 1
Elimination Wins: 0
X-Factor: Doesn't know what salt tastes like
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When I was initially piecing together the list in my head, I was first surprised at how low I had Justin, then thought about it further and realized this is right where he should be. Justin seems like he puts out some really great food sometimes. The other times, he gets weirdly flustered, like when not being able to identify salt, or not plating the correct number of dishes.
3. Kelsey
Quickfire Wins: 0
Elimination Wins: 1
X-Factor: Won the heart of Rich Park
At this point, I'd call Kelsey the dark horse. She has a big bag of tricks, does some really interesting food, and is confident. At this point, I think she and Eric are the two most likely to make it to the Finale Challenge.
2. Michelle
Quickfire Wins: 1
Elimination Wins: 1
X-Factor: Last Chance Kitchen Winner
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She wasn't in it for long, but as we all know, there is a strange, inherent value in coming out of Last Chance Kitchen. She really hit her stride in Nashville before making the weird rib choice at UK. Can she re-capture the magic?
1. Eric
Quickfire Wins: 0
Elimination Wins: 3
X-Factor: The hottest chef while also being one of the hottest chefs.
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Plain and simple: Eric is on a roll. The only thing against him is that he might be peaking too soon. Can he keep the hot streak going into Macau? He's cooking his own food and has been confident about it. Had prior contestants like Shirley and Carla figured this out sooner, they might be Top Chef winners today.
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