Paul Qui Wins Top Chef Texas In Vancouver British Columbia Canada

Top Chef Texas Winner Paul Qui

Paul Qui winning the Top Chef Texas title, beating Sarah Grueneberg was a nice Top Chef finale result.

Paul was a nice guy and Top Chef throughout the competition. Sarah seemed to become a nicer girl and Top Chef competitor as the competition played out week after week.

I found Top Chef Texas entertaining, just like I have all previous Top Chef seasons.

But, I did not like the tendency to skew the challenges to having a Fear Factor element that seemed to have little or nothing to do with being a chef.

Like some of the finale competitions in Canada.

Having to cook in a moving gondola at Whistler in British Columbia was just ridiculous. Paul is a bit of an acrophobe. How does making him cook in a swaying, moving gondola show off his chef skills?

And then following that challenge with an equally absurd challenge where the chefs had to break blocks of ice to release their cooking material.

The final cooking challenge of the finale seemed gimmick free.

Apparently both chefs did real well, turning out good food with few mistakes, working well with their supporting teams of former competitors. Along with one celebrity chef helping Paul, because he picked her dish in the pick your sous chef's dish challenge.

Sarah handled well being hit with the bad luck of liking the dish of that guy who got booted before the cooking really started, booted for bad butchering. I think his name is Trevor. Trevor is what is known as a douchebag. Google it if you are unfamiliar with the term.

Anyway, I've no clue where Top Chef is heading to next. I enjoyed them cooking in Texas.

The Top Chef Texas Last Chance Kitchen Redemption Island Twist Does Not Work For Me

I am liking Top Chef Texas, but I am not liking the Redemption Island addition called Last Chance Kitchen.

For one thing, to watch Last Chance Kitchen you have to watch it online on the Bravo TV Last Chance Kitchen webpage.

The last Chef standing in Last Chance Kitchen gets to re-enter the competition. I do not know how that works.

Several episodes ago there was a Top Chef Texas episode where Padma told two Chefs to pack their knives and go.

Those two Chefs Padma sent packing were Dakota and Nyesha. The Chefs had been paired in teams of two, with it being Nyesha's misfortune to be paired with Dakota, who messed up whatever it was Dakota and Nyesha were cooking. Dakota accepted full blame for the error.

After being sent packing Dakota and Nyesha soon found out about the Last Chance Kitchen Redemption Island twist.

In a 3 way Last Chance match up it was Dakota vs. Nyesha vs. Whitney, cooking in a wok with cactus as the main ingredient.

Tom Colicchio is the sole judge in Last Chance Kitchen. He judged Nyesha's cactus dish the best, and thus began Nyesha's string of beating one Chef after another.

The following week Nyesha was up against Heather the Bully, with the challenge being using 3 techniques, Frying, Injecting and Foaming to make a dish.

Colicchio again liked Nyesha's dish best.

Next up was formerly fat Malibu Chris, who was sent packing by Padma due to bad barbecue at the brutal BBQ challenge. Chris and Nyesha had to make a dish from ingredients bought at a Gas Station.

Colicchio again liked Nyesha's dish best.

The latest Chef told to pack his knives and go was Ty-Lor, a victim of the brutal Restaurant Wars. When Ty-Lor faced Nyesha the challenge was to make a pastry dessert in 30 minutes. Each chef got to pick a sous chef from the already booted Chefs. Ty-Lor picked Malibu Chris, while Nyesha picked Ty-Lor's friend, Heather.

Colicchio again liked Nyesha's dish best.

Now, I'll get to why I don't like this Last Chance Kitchen Redemption Island twist.

This week Ty-Lor goes from the exhausting Restaurant Wars to being told to pack his knives and go, to finding he is still in it and has to do some more cooking.

Meanwhile Nyesha is not exhausted from Restaurant Wars, she just calmly relaxes and awaits her next opportunity to have Colicchio like her dish best.

The week before, when Padma sent Malibu Chris packing his knives and going, it was after a grueling, staying up all night, of BBQing, and then being out in the hot sun the next day, finishing the BBQing.

While Malibu Chris went sleep deprived and cooked in grueling heat, Nyesha just calmly relaxed and waited in air-conditioned comfort.

Clearly this gives a HUGE advantage to the Chef who is already on Redemption Island, waiting in Last Chance Kitchen. With each fallen Chef, Nyesha gets stronger, as she has more and more time to rest, while the still competing Chefs are put through all sorts of misery.

I can see where there will be some semblance of poetic justice if Nyesha keeps knocking off the incoming Chefs and gets back in the competition, after her earlier elimination, which seemed very unfair.

Top Chef Texas Cooks In Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Western Bistro Where Dakota & Nyesha Are Sent Home For Raw Venison

Tim Love Drinking Tequila with Padma

That is Padma on the left, Tim Love in the middle, and Formerly Fat Chris on the right, during the Quickfire Challenge on this week's Top Chef Texas.

The Quickfire Challenge this week had to do with choosing a specific Don Julio tequila selection and somehow making it taste good with some food item of the chef's creation.

Tim Love and Padma then sampled the tequila wares, taking shots of tequila as they did so, with each sampling. By the end of the sampling Padma and Tim did not seem too tipsy.

Ty-Lor, he of last week's BBQ steak cut hand disaster, won the Quickfire. But no Immunity. The pain of the lack of immunity was somewhat mitigated by winning $5,000.

For the Elimination Challenge Tim Love flew in some of his chef friends for Game Night at his Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The chefs were paired with whoever they were standing next to.

That had Heather and Bev cooking together. Heather being the Big Bully who picked on Beverly last week, but won a new car anyway.

The chefs were told what game they would be cooking. Wild things like quail, venison, elk and duck.

And that they would be cooking in the kitchen of Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Western Bistro.

This is the first time whilst watching Top Chef that the cooking took place in the town I am living in and in a restaurant with which I was familiar.

I thought to myself, Lonesome Dove is not very big, how are they all going to cook there? Turns out, the size and lack of air-conditioning of Tim Love's kitchen did turn out to be an issue with the sweating chefs.

On his Bravo Blog, judge Hugh Acheson had this to say about Tim Love and his kitchen, "Time to get to Ft. Worth. Tim Love owns this town. It’s a great honky-tonk town. The tiny kitchen was about 150 degrees and the chefs are vying for space in an already emotional clusterf---ed space."

We only saw a short flash of the Fort Worth Stockyards before we entered the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro. We saw no Cattle Drive down the Stockyards main drag, no cowboy on a horse.

The chefs were tasked with judging each other's cooking, deciding who the 3 worst teams were, with the regular judges judging who got told to pack their knives and go.

I am liking Top Chef Texas. But, I am not liking all the team challenges. When do we get to the part where the chefs are judging solely on their own cooking?

And this week's teaming was the most unfair. Double elimination. Worst team totally goes. Dakota told Nyesha she was a whiz at cooking venison. Nyesha trusted Dakota. Nyesha's part of the dish was not criticized. Both were told to pack their knives and go due to Dakota's undercooked venison.

Meanwhile, Quickfire winner Ty-Lor, teamed with Edward, cooked quail, deemed by Acheson as the best dish, to him, of the season, giving them the win. And $10,000 to split. This was a good payday for Ty-Lor.

Next week the chefs leave the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex and head to Austin. I hope it is not another team cooking challenge.

Top Chef Texas Last Chance Kitchen Won This Week By Chuy

I am enjoying Top Chef Texas.

Top Chef is making Texas look pretty appealing. That is until this week's move from San Antonio to Dallas where the chefs went to 3 homes in Highland Park to cook a Progressive Dinner for what appeared to be Bravo's future The Real Housewives of Dallas.

Top Chef Texas has added a twist called Redemption Island, I mean Last Chance Kitchen.

In Last Chance Kitchen a chef, who Padma has told to pack his or her knives and go, returns to the homebase to find a note from Tom instructing the chef to return to the kitchen for a last chance.

Big Keith Rhodes had won 2 Last Chances. This week he was up against this week's bootee, Chuy Valencia. Chuy & Keith had to butcher some beef to Tom's satisfaction and also cook one of the steaks, also to Tom's satisfaction.

Tom liked Chuy's best. To watch Last Chance Kitchen you have to go to the Bravo website. Or you can watch it below.

At the Bravo website you can also watch casting videos of the Chefs. That is Chuy in his audition video in the picture above.

I'd been reading viewers comment about how obnoxious Chuy is in his audition video, which seemed surprising due to the fact that Chuy has been pretty much likable on the show. I have now watched Chuy's casting video. I now understand why viewers found it obnoxious.

Among the many moments in Chuy's audition video that are a bit cringe worthy was the moment when he informed us that he had been "banging about 10 different chicks every 2 weeks." And then stopped with that incessant banging when he had a STD/Pregnancy scare.

I think Chuy may suffer from little man syndrome. He is very tiny. You can watch Chuy win Last Chance Kitchen below (click this week's video to go to the bigger screen Bravo version of Last Chance Kitchen)...

Top Chef Texas Premieres Tonight On Bravo TV 9/8C

Tom & Padma in Top Chef Texas

Seconds ago I saw this ad on my Durango TV Blog. I then checked to make sure what the ad was telling me was correct.

It was.

Tonight Top Chef Texas has its premiere on Bravo at 10/9C.

Top Chef Texas takes place in Austin, San Antonio and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

I was at the Fort Worth Stockyards a week ago today. As I was sitting on a bench beside the main street that runs through the Stockyards I saw a beautiful brunette in cowboy boots and a short skirt walking towards me with a group of less beautiful sorts. From a block away I thought it was Padma Lakshmi. I was soon to be disappointed that it was not Padma.

Celebrity Chef, Tim Love, who has been on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, has two restaurants in the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Love Shack and the Lonesome Dove Bistro. I suspect Tim Love will show up on Top Chef Texas.

Former Top Chef cheftestant, Casey Thompson, was associated with a restaurant in Fort Worth, the Brownstone, but she was rarely there and has now moved on to a new restaurant in California's wine country.

Tre Wilcox, who was on both Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars, has a restaurant in Dallas. I believe Tre ceased being Executive Chef at Loft to open his own restaurant, named, I think, Marquee Grill.

Defunct Restaurant Go Fish Boat Club's Website

Fan favorite, Tiffany Deery was Executive Chef at Go Fish Ocean Club in Dallas. However, according to Dallas News "DRG Concepts has closed Go Fish Ocean Club , the North Dallas restaurant where "Top Chef" star Tiffany Derry ruled the stoves."

I thought I remembered reading that Tiffany had moved on, but not that her restaurant had closed.

Go Fish Boat Club still has a website up and running, on which they feature Tiffany Deery. Maybe with the recovering economy the restaurant re-opened and re-hired Tiffany.

I must remember to make sure my DVR is set to record Top Chef Texas.

Top Chef Texas In Dallas, San Antonio & Austin Adding Judges Emeril Lagasse & Hugh Acheson

My favorite Reality TV hostess is coming to my town. That would be Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi coming to Dallas.

Top Chef Texas is taking place in San Antonio, Austin and Dallas.

BRAVO has yet to announce when this Fall that Top Chef Texas is going to premiere.

BRAVO has announced that famed restaurateur and celebrity chef, Emeril Lagasse and fellow celebrity chef, Hugh Acheson, who rose to fan favorite fame on Top Chef Masters, will join Padma, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons as judges in Texas.

Hugh Acheson is known for his amusing commentary. And his signature uni-brow.

BRAVO's ads for Top Chef Texas are indicating that everything is Bigger in Texas. Living in Texas I can tell you that this is true. Including the people. Many Texans like to eat. A lot.

One of the ways Top Chef is being bigger in Texas is by having the competition taking place in 3 different cities. San Antonio and Austin are fairly close to each other, at about 80 miles between the two towns. Dallas is about 270 miles north of San Antonio.

That's a long time in the saddle for Padma to ride her horse from the Alamo to Big D.

Methinks Top Chef Texas is going to be very amusing and entertaining. With some Barbecue and Tex-Mex in the mix.