I missed it! ; (

i caught some of it! honestly i didn't know what chicken piccata was lol i mean i have heard of it but i wouldn't have known how to make it! (of course i don't cook!) i liked the head to head challenge.

i missed it too! luckily the always run reruns!

I thought it was obvious that if you are going to top chef Chicago you are going to have to make deep dish pizza (yum!) It was so hard to keep them all straight at first. I really liked the elimination challenge because it gave structure to identify the cheftestants. Nimma just didn't seem to fit in and this was not the environment for her to excel as a chef, I am sure she is a great chef. I think that Jennifer and Zoi don't have an advantage, maybe a disadvantage because it is hard to compete with some one you are in love with. Stephanie's duck a l'orange looked delicious as did the eggs bennedict! mmmmmm! I love Anthony Bourdain I want him on every show! Gail and Ted will probably be back throughout the season though. I really like Richard the crazy experimental chef and Jennifer half the couple, they both have the same haircut but I don't think that is it. I knew what Chicken piccata was. that wasn't it. Sorry this is so long, i have a broken leg so nothing else to do!

random addition, Rocco and Padma look so good together, that would be one beautiful child!

I think Nimma was a little out of her league, she seemed to have no clue on how to make a reasonably good scampi dish, which is not that hard! She seemed like a sweet girl but just not quite ready for Top chef. I wanted to reach into the TV and grab Stephanie's Duck L'Orange and the other contestant's Shrimp Scampi. Rocco looked so hot last night by the way

I love that this season is filled with totally crazy guys. Esp Spike and Andrew. Awesome.

I really think that being a couple on the show is a disadvantage, because you are supposed to be competing against each other. Nimma was already annoying me a little so I was actually glad for her to go. I too love Bourdain! He is my favorite and I really wish he were there all the time!

From the editing of the episode, my guess was that Stephanie would go home and Nimma would win — oops! Also, anyone else think Andrew talks like he's in Juno, all the time? "Padma was like, 'casa, m-f***ers ...'"

does Andrew think he is Gordon Ramsay? He's not.

Buzz, that was my favorite moment of the night was "Padma was like, 'casa, m-f***ers ...'" I hate to say it, but I too was glad to see Nimma go, she had already bored me a bit.

My favorite at the moment is Dale, who's got such a badass attitude. He's there to win, and you can tell! =D

Andrew got on my nerves -- his hyperactive intensity will bring on some sort of blow-up on the show, I think. I also hate when people have such a shoddy vocabulary that they have to use m-f***ers every two words or so. That totally turns me off. Nimma got on my nerves from almost the beginning, and sadly I thought her shrimp scampi dish was pretty terrible. The scene that clinched it for me was when they first moved into the house; although I can understand taht she's there to work and not to party all the time, her attitude seemed smug, and if it were me I'd at least want to interact with my housemates and fellow contestants. Stephanie's duck was my favorite dish.

Right now Ryan (so cute), Andrew, Spike, and Dale are my favorites.

Andrew reminds me of my friend, Todd... curse words and all. That 'casa, m-f***er..." line was hilarious to me.

I don't know how the hell Nimma messed up a shrimp scampi dish. I'm gonna agree with Lala, she did look bored. I will say Tom's face was priceless when she said she thought her Cauliflower scrabble was great.

I think Zoi and Jen have an advantage if they are planning to opening a restaurant or something together.

I love absolutely love to try that egg-roll that Stephanie made. It looks delicious.

I agree with you curvylibrarygal. I was really annoyed by Andrew. I was just saying to my husband this morning that it was totally uncalled for. I really like the elimination challenge because it made the chefs really try and beat out the other person, but I think Nimma was overwhelmed from the beginning. Even when they were hanging out on the first night, she just went to bed. I really like Stephanie because she is very open about her nerves but can obviously deal with it in the kitchen. Her duck looked great and I don't really like duck. I also like Nicky a lot. And I do know how to make Chicken Picatta......

Still having a hard time remembering who was who. I know I was fine with that girl leaving (not enough salt, too much salt, scrambled cauliflower? - sounds like she needs to work on her basic seasoning skills).

My husband kept getting the cute greek guy (Spike) mixed up with Andrew (f-bomb as I call him) which made him confused and annoyed me! LOL!

Too soon to tell on most of them. I don't think it's much of an advantage for the couple, it will be a distraction to them I bet.

Bourdain - old hat?! No, no, no - best part of the show as always!

• Some of those deep dish pizzas were downright pitiful. I was yelling at the screen “too much dough lady!” and yep, her pizza looked like a dough tsunami rolling onto some poor island.I would have made a greek inspired pizza with feta olives red onions maybe throw some kind of greens on top, seafood.

• The first show its always difficult to keep track of the cheftestants, especially when two of them decide to do the fauxhawk.

• I don’t think they have an advantage, both placed in the loser pizza group straight out of the gates, and I am glad they told everybody so its out there

• The 200 bucks of ingredients is a cool idea, IF you even use them. I would have brought a lot of different rare unique herbs and spices, oils, maybe some good old Norwegian items.

• I like the “classics” elimination challenge, it was cool to see one dish done two ways, and I was also yelling at the screen when that dude was telling us what was in his version of piccata.

• I wasn’t sad to see Nimma go, she had ZERO personality and even less passion about cooking. “I thought the cauliflower scramble really had a lot of cauliflower taste to it” Wha?

• Oh yea the Duck a’l Orange looked like freaking heaven. Especially the sauce, and skin on it. Although I was curious to how the marmite tasted.

• The Second I saw my Tony Bourdain I was wriggling in my britches with Joy.

• I don’t have a favorite so far, at this point I am usually missing the chefs from last season, for instance last night I kept saying “I miss CJ”

• I know how to speak piccata. And I do put capers in mine.

It was so cruel to make them stand in front of the judges while they tasted and commented on their dishes (but I enjoyed it!). They were not holding back!

It was a great show last night.
I thought it was hilarious when Andrew said ''Padma,casa..motherf*uckers..'' line. He seems kinda crazy,I don't think people are going to get along with him in the kitchen. Oh and Nimma,she definetely deserved to go home,she seems so boring also! What about Ryan,doesn't know what chicken picatta is but he seems so full of himself!

Oh and I love having Anthony Bourdain in the show!

It seems to me that there are a couple of morons on the show... 1. one guy didn't know what chicken piccatta is and 2. another guy didn't even know what mayonnaise is made of... did any one else notice the same thing?

Brandi13jrm, I also was really surprised that a chef didn't know what mayonnaise is made of. The chicken piccata guy -- was it Ryan? -- irritated me because I wish he would have just come clean about not knowing what the dish was, instead of his ridiculous 'oh, I was just trying to be innovative with the starch' approach. It was absurd and made him look even more foolish than if he'd been honest, imho.

Reading Rocco's blog at the Top Chef page on Bravo's site was pretty interesting. He commented that Andrew talks a lot, but so far doesn't seem to cook very well; that he definitely didn't "show strong" and that - in Rocco's opinion - he's not going to last very long. He also noted that they spent quite a bit more time trying to get Ryan to understand what was wrong with his not-exactly-chicken-picatta dish, but that he just kept getting defensive and wouldn't listen to them.

As for my own thoughts on the show, oh wow! It's great to have the show back! I've missed it far too much It is really hard to tell everyone apart at first, but a few stood out. Andrew is going to drive me nuts. Eric looks like he'd be kind of bullheaded, but seems to be something of a softy. He also remind me (lookswise) of Michael Symon, the new "Iron Chef."

Stephanie's Duck dish looks really nice, and I don't even like duck! hehe The idea of peaches on pizza, though, blech.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED seeing Tony Bourdain again - he's always so much fun, and it's great to see that he and Rocco had set enough of their spat from this summer well enough to be able to work well together on the judging panel. They need to get Ted back on soon, though - he's majorly awesome

I was shocked that Ryan didn't know what chicken picatta is and that Andrew wasn't familiar with how to make mayonnaise. I'm nothing of a cook, but I knew not to use breadcrumbs on chicken picatta, and that the sauce had lemon, butter and capers in it (though whether I could have taken those basic components and actually made an edible dish of it is a whole different matter.)

At any rate, it's great to have it back, looks like it should be a fun season!

I was really surprised by the number of f-bombs on a cooking show. Have they just edited them out in the past?

I was surprised too, shopper10024. Ironically, Rocco mentioned the same thing on his blog, so we're not the only ones.

(smacks forehead)I'd forgotten the mayo thing - I actually yelled at the tv when he said he didn't know how/what was in mayo! Seriously, I don't even *like it* and I know how to make it! I can't see him lasting very long.

Whenever Nimma opened her mouth, I couldn't help thinking of Jillian from Project Runway. At least Jillian made cute clothes — Nimma's dish didn't look appetizing at all!

The lasagna looked the best to me... mmm, lasagna.

And I think I'm completely alone in the corner on this one, but I absolutely cannot stand Anthony Bourdain. At all. I respect his opinion because I think he knows what he's talking about when he's not being obnoxious. But, I also think he's a pompous jerk. But that's probably (most likely) just me. In fact, I was relieved when the judging portion didn't revolve all around him and Colicchio like it has before.

I don't really think Jen (who has become one of my favorites, along with Stephanie) and Zoi have an advantage at all... I think that at least they have some emotional support, but it's neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. I think one of the great things about Top Chef is that usually, it's not about beating everyone else, it's about being the best. Although I did like the head-to-head action. Fun.

I would also like to note that Jen's pizza was on the favorites side. And it looked really odd but kinda good - grapes?! I also thought the peach pizza would be really good. So weird.

I was not at all sad to see Nimma go. Her dish looked and sounded disgusting. Cauliflower scramble? Ew.

And I had no idea what on earth chicken piccata is.

And now, I'm going to hide before all the Bourdain lovers come and get me!!

I LOVE this show. The only thing wrong with it is that the chefs aren't at my house making the food! haha. I get so hungry when I watch it.

I'm definitely excited to see where this season goes.

I didn't like Anthony Bordain. He nothing interesting to say. The new season of Top Chef is going to get interesting.

I totally knew the pizza challenge was coming - I can't believe they didn't see it! And I've never made a homemade pizza, let alone a deep dish one but even I know that dough rises and when you fill the pie pan more than half full, you're bound to have a whole lot of crust!

It always takes me a couple of episodes to get everyone figured out so I definitely have no idea who is who yet!

I think the couple is at a definite disadvantage. Not only will it be difficult to compete against each other but it could put them at odds with the other cheftestants. It will definitely be interesting to see how that all plays out.

Loved the head to head elimination challenge! I always love to see how chefs interpret a dish and this one was great. It was especially interesting since they were classics. I don't really know piccata that well but I did know that it had capers in it! I also thought the two souffle dishes were odd. Did he really use mashed potatoes??? I've never heard of that! And Nimma's shrimp scampi? She KNEW it was salty and she sent it out anyway! I knew when Rocco said that he would send it back if he'd ordered it in a restaurant that she was gone. And I was okay with that - she was already bothering me. No personality and, although she may have skills, she didn't show them off during this episode.

I also am not a big duck fan but the Duck a L'Orange looked scrumptious! I pretty much figured she'd be the winner after the judges gushed over it. I think she seems cute and personable so I was good with that!

I can't decide if I like Andrew or not. I'm over his cursing (which was funny the first few times and then got old) but I like that he's genuine. I think he'll keep the show interesting. Other than that, I'm still waiting for the personalities to develop on air to pick a fave.

And while I totally missed Gail and Ted, I do like Anthony and I adore Rocco. I think Anthony (did anyone notice the one chef call him Tony? I bet not many people do that!) brings an increased helping of honesty to the panel and, surprisingly, apparently does Rocco! They can guest judge any time!!!!

OMG! I just realized how long my post was...sorry!!!! I'm just so excited over Top Chef!

No need to apologize, IMO, Mel475 - you had a lot to say and you said it quite well

Nimma needed to go, she was annoying. Plus she was way too skinny to be a chef.

If you watch Anthonys show, most people call him Tony

oh wow who's the hottie next to padma in the picture?? (I haven't seen the show yet!)

CaterpillarGirl - that's funny about Anthony/Tony. I guess this was just the first time it caught my attention. I knew Padma and the others had called him Anthony so it just struck me odd when the cheftestant called him Tony. I guess I would think that "honor" might be reserved for someone who knew him! I'll have to pay more attention in the future!

Thanks Thorswitch! I was just very excited to talk Top Chef with others who like it too! My hubby could care less so I'm eager to read and share all about it when I can!

OH, I know what you mean about hubbies not caring - mine's the same way and I always want to talk about the fun little bits from the show!

Bah! Rocco is NOT hot!