Richard to Dale: “Hey bra, I’ll see you in the final.”

Andrew: “Guys, where’s that smoker?”

1 - Spike actually taught me something: how to make cool scallion curls. And he seems like he’s gone straightedge this week.

2 - They clearly don’t run “A Christmas Story” twenty-four hours a day on TNT in New Zealand during Christmas, as Mark has never seen the movie.

3 - Apparently no one watches previous seasons of Top Chef before they decide to become contestants, as Lisa and Stephanie freak out by the idea of doing a dessert course that’s not a crumble. Seriously? Every season, there’s some dessert-related challenge or course. If I was a savory chef and I knew I was going on the show, I’d beg Jacque Torres or Duff from Ace of cakes to do a stage.

4 - Andrew’s going to receive hate mail from the little people community for lampooning oompa loompas.

5 - Manuel and Spike use seabass over tilapia for their dish. Hmm, fish you can overcook for an hour and it still tastes ok or the seafood equivalent of tofu. Both excellent inspired choices. I sense an elimination.

6 - I wonder if Andrew’s having a tough time keeping it together watching Richard use his marijuana pipe…err, I mean “smoker”.

7 - The swiss chard on Manuel and Spike’s plate looks like Popeye dropped a dookie.

8 - Ted Allen big foots Richard Roeper and basically tells him that he’s doesn’t know how to judge a pasta dish.

9 - I get the feeling that eating this multi-course movie meal full of hack-job courses feels like eating at McDonald’s for Daniel Boulud. It makes you wonder how many bad meals Daniel must sit through in his life…

10 - The wonton has now replaced ras-al-hanout as Top Chef’s overused ingredient

11 - Manuel is clairvoyant. He called it. He gone. (Though he’s so nice, I almost want to cry….almost.)

12 - Next Week, East meets Midwest with Ming Tsai in the house

Oprah’s weak. She only shares her favorite things once a year. I, on the other hand, am back with another edition of my favorite, food, wine and restaurant dishes. These goodies were sampled in the last few months, but I haven’t written about them because they didn’t work in the context of a full-blown column. Enjoy. More »

Ryan Poli’s Arizona restaurant is a no go. He’s back in Chicago gearing up for a new project. He said he couldn’t comment on the new project, but we investigated, and inside sources tell us he’s going to be fine tuning some things in the Boka kitchen with executive chef Giusseppe Tentori, before taking a chef de cuisine role at Perennial (1800 N. Lincoln Ave.), the new project from the Boka/Landmark crew expected to open late this spring.

The former Butter toque spent the bulk of last year staging in Spain at hot spots like Alkimia in Barcelona and El Celler de Can Roca. If you’re not familiar with Can Roca, it’s probably the hottest restaurant after Ferran Adria’s El Bulli in Spain. We’re not sure if Poli will get to showcase the new chops, but we’re excited to find out.