As we start watching, Dave has to be as careful as our friend Justin from when he was on Jeopardy because he already knows who's going home. As a result, we may get less commentary from him; I just hope what we do get from him has his usual level of humor and snark.
Ah, the Iron Chef challenge, where contestants have to become both an Iron Chef and Alton Brown. Although, as Dave points out, this isn't as hardcore as the real Iron Chef, so it's really more like Aluminum Chef or Zinc Chef. This time, they do have to do three dishes and judge their opponent's dishes, so maybe it's at least Galvanized Chef.
Because this is Iron Chef, they get sous chefs from the last 4 eliminated. Mary Beth notes that Penny is back like a horror movie villain, which just sets the stage for her drawing Penny to work with. The secret ingredient for Vic and Mary Beth is rack of lamb. Allez cuisine! Vic wants to make a carpaccio with arugala and balsamic and a lamb patty melt. Dave isn't sure how well he'll be able to pull the latter off and thinks he needs to make his third dish some sort of chop so he shows he can use all of the rack of lamb. Mary Beth is doing three different chops: grilled, roasted, and pan seared. Dave notes, "That's nice, but what are your other two dishes?" Vic's carpaccio becomes thin-sliced instead of pounded because it was falling apart when he pounded it. Suzie so far is doing a decent job of commentating on this change. Vic does resist the temptation to go Vegas on his lamb and stick with Mama's Boy. Jeff comments on Mary Beth planning an umami explosion. Alton thinks this is fraught, and Jeff comments that Umami Explosion was the name of his high school band...it was progressive.
Penny is costing Mary Beth time in making sure each chop is just right. Then again, we learned she was like that during the food truck challenge. Alton comments about Penny's leisurely pace often leaving to losing, and Penny's facial expression looks very "too bad for her." Jeff is given the challenge to take the show to commercial, and he rises to the occasion, asking who has the chops to win. Suzie shows that she still needs to improve on her food knowledge. Vic triple fries his french fries. They have crunch, that's for sure...a little too much crunch. As for the third course, after Bobby is pretty much horrified at using mint jelly, Vic asks, "Why was the mint jelly in the Iron Chef kitchen?" Dave points out, "It was a distractor, a trap that you, Vic, not only stepped right into, but when it snapped on your leg, you said, 'Oooh, this actually feels good!'" Mary Beth shows her plan is lamb in different seasons. She starts with winter and accompanies the lamb with Israeli couscous, commenting that she likes to grill outside in winter. Like most of MB's dishes, this one needs a little something more. Her fall dish, pan-seared lamb with pears, needs more finesse. Her late-winter/early-spring lamb is badly overcooked. Giada was really having to hack at the lamb, reminding Dave of the disastrous bacon steak from the same challenge last season. I know the Israelites sacrificed lambs by burning them on the altar, hon, but you don't need to do everything they did even if you do like their couscous!
Ooh, Jeff and Suzie have lobster as their secret ingredient. Just don't make Chris' cream cheese roll that claimed to have lobster in it. Suzie is making a ceviche and a lobster stew over a potato cake, as well as a lobster enchilada. She's concerned about having enough time for the ceviche and describes it as "short-form ceviche." What have we told you about short-cuts? Suzie works with the time constraint for her enchilada in an interesting way, using swiss chard to wrap it rather than more time-consuming wrappers. What I would love to see Jeff do is to make his POV come out without repetitiveness by making a lobster sandwich for each meal of the day. He could start with a lobster benedict, either calling it an open-faced sandwich or putting English muffin on top as well. Lunch could be the lobster roll he was already talking about, and dinner could be a fancier lobster sandwich, maybe open-faced on crostini? Ooh, he's making a BLAT: Bacon Lobster Avocado Tomato, using the avocado in place of mayo for the creaminess. Or wait, he's not, since there are no avocados. The judges are ragging on him for planning a main ingredient he doesn't have, but avocados have been present in the pantry most of the time. He's also making a lobster taco with a fennel-raddichio slaw. Vic has to explain harissa and can't, although he does at least make Bobby laugh by describing it as the Devil's toothpaste. MB is doing pretty well in her commentary, as we would expect from a food writer.
Jeff's lobster roll looks mundane, but it tastes great, especially with his addition of walnuts. Bob tells him that he is cementing his reputation as the Sandwich King, and Susie likes that he is continually expanding the idea of "sandwich" by adding things like tacos. The lobster was fried in the LBT, but the tempura batter was too thick. Jeff had to use store-bought mayo (looks like Hellman's) in all 3 dishes, and Giada told him to try adding lemon to mayo, saying it'll change his life. We'll have to try that. Suzie's short-form ceviche turns out to be the exception to the rule on short cuts, and she produces three outstanding dishes. Wow, there's actually nothing to snark on for her!
Evaluation time - cue ominous music here. I think either Vic or MB is going home. Overall, I think Vic has done a better job, but they're fairly even today. Which will the judges use, today's performance or overall performance? That's going to decide which one goes home. Susie wins her battle, but I'd put money on them both being safe this week. Vic wins his battle, which makes him safe. That's what really seals it, MB is going home. And I was right. MB shows a lot of class in her response. Suzie gives Vic a backhanded fist bump...never seen that before!
I'll be watching the finale live so I can hit Publish Post as soon as the credits roll. The preview shows that they send someone home after the first challenge to go from three to two rather than keeping three till the last minute like they did the year of Lisa, Adam, and Aaron.
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