Top Chef Restaurant Wars Spoiler Discussion -- (edited)
First of all, consider me gobsmacked. The SECOND that Gregory did not pick Melissa for his team I KNEW he was doomed. Kevin's team had HUGE heavyhitters including himself, Melissa and Bryan Voltaggio. Gregory's team seemed woefully outmatched containing a bunch of folks who for various reasons were on the bottom just about every week including Leanne, Stephanie and Malarkey. Gregory himself seemed to be the only heavy-hitter on that side. And THEN Gregory planned to NOT DO THE OXTAIL DISH WHICH ALL THE JUDGES LOVED DURING THE PITCH CHALLENGE. I thought to myself, there's no WAY Kevin's team could lose.
And then Kevin decided to do TWELVE different dishes (dumb). And none of the dishes besides the Country Captain seemed very special. And then Kevin couldn't find the right spices for the curry aspect of the dish, so he couldn't duplicate or improve upon the flavor. I still thought his team had the upper hand, but then the dining room was a bit of the disaster and the mushroom dish was deemed not good.
With the way it all started I would have never guessed that Kevin's team could lose. But he made so many bad mistakes during execution and didn't even seem to know the decisions were bad. Even his dessert was a disappointment. He could have made the case for Karen to get the chop and he would have had a decent argument, but he decided to go the noble route. She created the mushroom dish that no one liked and she was front of house and couldn't get tables turned. I think she also spilled a glass of wine on a customer.
That said - it was very cool to watch those underdogs win. And it was a testamant to Gregory's intelligence and understanding of the game to not only turn out some really good food, and take some risks, but he was also smart enough to put Malarkey at front of house where Malarkey could shine. With Malarkey out there Gregory knew he didn't have to touch any other aspect of FOH - aside from the menu he wrote - so he could focus all his attention on the kitchen. He got Leanne back on track when communication started getting funky and I want his recipe for that fish. Badly. Most importantly, Gregory got a heavy-hitter who had won numerous challenges eliminated from the competition (although Kevin may be good enough to get back in thru Last-Chance Kitchen). That, in and of itself, was HUGE.
If you ask me, Gregory stealth-annihilated Restaurant Wars and kicked the shit out of that very difficult challenge. And using HAITIAN CUISINE WHICH HARDLY ANYONE BUT HAITIANS EAT. I think this win was a Masterstroke by our sweet, little Vegan chef.