'Top Chef': Lee Anne says Malarkey shops like a 'monkey on crack', annoyed fans want him sent home 'twice'
Brian Malarkey (better known by his last name) is easily one of the most entertaining contestants on 'Top Chef'. Whether he's ranking fellow participants, forgetting to season dishes or even making curry ice cream — he has everyone's attention and has even managed to be a part of an insider's joke on the show. In a nutshell, he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
In tonight's episode of the Bravo-backed food competition series, the San Diego-based chef started with baking a coconut bread and whipping up some coconut ice cream. Previously, Malarkey struggled with the icecream machine during one of the quickfire challenges earlier, and ever since he's become a "joke of the house".
In her green-room confessional, Karen Akunowicz smiled goofily and said how she was hoping that second time would be a charm for Malarkey because the last time he tried his hands on the machine, big chunks of gooey cream fell from it.
However, Malarkey was able to prove Karen wrong. He finally got it right and created some delish coconut-honey ice cream. What did judge Padma Lakshmi have to say? It was incomplete for her and he didn't win the challenge. But the chef redeemed himself in the elimination round, in which he was paired with Lee Anne Wong.
The contestants were tasked with a rather different and unique challenge. They were grouped into teams of two and were asked to create dishes combining opposing flavors for the legendary conductor and violinist Gustavo Dudamel. And they did. Although, shopping and planning the dish for the evening was a challenge for Lee Anne and Malarkey, they survived, even though she thought food shopping with him felt like "monkeys on crack".
Malarkey and Lee Anne don't share the best friendship and it was painful to see them struggle as they went around the kitchen. They even had a lengthy argument about the plating but eventually, were able to agree on a lot of things.
The pair presented the judges — Padma, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons — with an interesting plate. Their dish was perfectly representative of bitter/ umami — beef with miso anchovy hollandaise, bitter greens, charred orange puree and Mimolette crisp. Everyone loved it and even though they didn't win the round, they came close to taking the cake.
As much as the judges enjoyed picking the winner — Melissa King and Kevin Gillespie — they had a hard time zeroing in on the losing team. Karen and Nini Nguyen were asked to pack the knives.
Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, fans thought Malarkey should have been sent home twice instead.