I know, I know, I'm late again. And now I have three episodes to blog, because we get to also see who comes back from Star Salvation. For now, though, we get the First Final Four in between me jumping up to check on the corn fritters I'm making.
Live from New York, it's Food Network Star! Each of the guys gets a topic to present for two minutes. Eddie Football gets summer burger toppings, and he hopes that the trend of burgers winning will continue. I hope so, because you need a rally monkey, my man. Next up is after school snacks, and Mike roots for this to go to Brian Boitano. However, Lenny looks to Bobby like he enjoys snacks, so he gets this one. Alex the Sandwich King gets one-pot meals for a hot date. About the only way I can see him meld this with his theme is either pulled pork or one hella gourmet Manwich. Mike's thinking some sort of small calzones that can be deep fried in the pot. Alex is psyching himself out from the beginning, though, thinking about it as talking to a beautiful girl for two minutes. Brian Boitano gets breakfast and complains about the amount of times he's had to tackle eggs on this show. Just because you never do it in your private life is no reason not to expand your horizons now.
The contestants only get 30 minutes, so there goes the pulled pork idea. Alex is making a Portuguese bouillabaisse instead, but he thinks he can make the whole thing and add a million and a half ingredients in two minutes. Lenny is kinda taking it easy, making pigs in a blanket and ants on a log. Eddie Football somehow grew up in America without ever hearing of ants on a log. He's making beer battered onion rings and jerk ketchup to top a Caribbean burger. Brian Boitano is making egg crostini with smoked salmon spread. He's right that he has some lovely colors, especially with paper-thin radish slices on it.
Eddie Football presents first. I do like that he interacts with the host from the beginning. He's dancing back and forth a bit, but in a much more smooth manner than Michelle a couple weeks ago. He gets the attention of the host, who comments on how tight his muscles are! Eddie's radiant and Bobby can't stop grinning. Brian Boitano is next, and his motor mouth is leaving the host gaping. He flubs the actual cooking as the food processor did not want to work, but we will see if Alex screws up and saves him. Alex's time is ticking away on the story part of his presentation, because he still hasn't learned to cook and talk at the same time. The host also dings him on putting garlic in a date night meal. Yeah, he saved Brian Boitano's ass on this one. Lenny is also saving him with how simple his ideas are. Dude, at least use some andouille or something! Eddie Football was clearly the shining star in this challenge.
Snacking on my corn fritters as I blog the rest of this episode brings me back to summer nights with my grandma making them at the family cottage in Massachusetts. We'll see how the boys remember summer as they put together a 30-minute live show about summer food, alternating 5-minute segments. Their guest judges are from The Kitchen, including Alex getting faced with the first Sandwich King, Jeff Mauro. Eddie Football gets to parcel out the segments as his reward for winning the mentor challenge. He takes summer veggies for himself instead of sabotaging Lenny with it. He's not about to give Lenny indoor grilling, though, handing that to Brian Boitano instead. Brian Boitano's starting to annoy me with the pouting when he doesn't get what he wants here. Alex gets family reunions despite only ever having been to one, which leaves summer sweets for Lenny, with a crack from Bobby about not making pigs in a blanket.
Summer cookin', happens so fast. Unless you're Alex and his ingredient list, anyway. The boys have to include each other in their segments, but they at least have some time to plan together. Brian Boitano wants to plow through a complicated-sounding shrimp recipe, but we'll see if he gets plowed by the other contestants, especially as he has no plans for including them. Eddie Football starts out by planning just how to include his cohosts. Alex wants to make ramen, because his one and only reunion was in Indonesia. And everyone else starts smiling as they feel their chances rise. Jay wants to make a strawberry cocktail and coconut chocolate tarts, but we will see if he gets them done in time.
Eddie is making pasta out of veggie ribbons, which fits with his health focus. Brian Boitano is also grilling corn, which always makes me happy, but we will see if he can come back from his undercooked shrimp at the Fourth of July challenge. Jay gets his tart shells done just in time, but can he get the filling in place? Filling, yes, but no decoration or garnish.
The show is in front of a studio audience, which means Alex is a goner. He compares it to skydiving, but he's out of parachutes unless someone else gift wraps one and hands it to him. Eddie fumbles the pass as he puts his veggies into the pan, but it gives Brian Boitano a chance to take the pan and be included and he plays it off well. Brian Boitano wants to bring the grill inside and set your home on fire. Or is that his flaming personality? He's so in love with himself that he only uses his cohosts to model the word he just made up. As Mike says, he just made himself into that guy that you never want to invite to another cookout. And that's before he starts talking about someone going through his trash!! Wait, WHAT? I'm going to have to rewind and catch this again. He talks about his mother going through his trash at the family restaurant, but if he explains it gets cut off. Now let's see Alex's soupy reunion. He creates openings for the guys to be involved, but they have no clue what to say. Eddie Football finally jumps in to smell the broth, but that's nowhere near enough to salvage this segment. I think Lenny's tarts are safe. He involves the other cohosts by asking them what summer sweets they love. He includes his POV, but he still has 2 minutes left AFTER everyone has tasted. Good thing he has his cocktail as well!
Alex hopes his ramen is good enough to save him. Better start packing your bags for Asia, boy. Brian Boitano makes up for his past performance on shrimp but not for his presentation. Jay's tarts seem unfinished with no garnish, tarnishing his stellar presence on screen. Eddie Football's food scores a touchdown and gets the two-point conversion to boot. Giada pays lip service to this being a tough decision, but we all know it's not. You have a clear winner, a clear loser, and two people to fill the middle of the pack. They pretend that Brian Boitano is being considered for elimination before dropping the news on Alex.
The episode is gone and so are my corn fritters, so it might be bedtime. If you see another post from me tonight, it will because my determination overwhelmed my good sense.
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