Top Design 3/21 Recap: No One Wants to Eat in an Airport Crime Scene

SueEllenMishke · 03-24-2007, 12:02 PM

The numbers are dwindling- last week we said goodbye to Eric, and only five remain. Tonight two worlds collide as the designers have some sort of challenge that involves Top Chef Judge Tom Collichio, and I hope he offers our Top Design judges a little lesson on proper judging and what to wear to the elimination ceremony.

I love 70s TV.
The three guys left have christened themselves Brady Bunch kids, but strangely enough, they all relate to the Brady girls, rather than the boys. Matt is Marcia, (because he’s the oldest, and because he likes to brush his hair 100 strokes each night before bed), Goil is Jan, (because he’s the middle “child,” enjoys wearing wigs to separate him from the others, and wears glasses), and Michael gets saddled with Bobby because he’s the youngest, and… well, that’s about it. Bobby was kind of a bland character, although he was once worried about catching the mumps after kissing an infected girl, which was pretty scandalous in its day.

Over on the women’s side, after they discuss who would be Laverne and who would be Shirley, Andrea and Carisa find a note from Todd and neither wants to open it. The guys also have a letter, and after Goil guesses that the letter dismisses Matt from the competition, they open it to see it’s good news and an invitation to Norman’s in Los Angeles for a lunch to celebrate all their hard work.

At Norman’s, the designers and Todd kick back at the Chef’s Table, which is a private dining room for the Chef’s special guests. Today’s client is an international chef, and their task is to design a chef’s table for his new restaurant. This chef uses only the highest quality ingredients, and they need to keep this in mind while designing.

At this point, the designers are guessing all sorts of famous chefs like Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and I’m personally hoping for Paula Deen, because she is just all sorts of fun!

The budget is $2000 for materials, and $40,000 for pieces from Pacific Design. Oh, and the client for this challenge will also be the Guest Judge. The designers have two days to execute, and Matt gets an extra hour since he won the last challenge.

Things I don’t want to see while I’m trying to eat.
The designers have thirty minutes to sketch, and then it’s shopping time. Strangely, $40,000 doesn’t go very far at the Pacific Design Center, and some of the designers have trouble marrying the arts and crafts and 20th century modern styles the client has asked for.

Back in the studio, Matt rethinks his idea of the leather floor panels, and Goil has a mini meltdown over the wood floor that he can’t seem to put together properly, and has to be talked down by his carpenter Sarah. Then, to get through his anger at the floor, he paints the walls in garish stripes, which is just what I want to look at when I’m trying to eat.

Andrea’s working on a slate wall, which while very cool, is very time consuming, and Carisa’s trying to step outside her normal love of bright colors and plastic, and class it up a little. She’s also having a little trouble with her perfectionist carpenter, and I personally think things would go a lot more smoothly if he would just take off his shirt and get to work.

This is not Top Carl!
It’s day 2 and time for the finishing touches. Goil immediately discovers that his stripes bled through the paint tape and look pretty terrible, and then tries to pull it off that it was intentional. Todd likens Michael’s artwork to crime scene photos, which is another thing I don’t want to see while I’m eating, and Carisa is still having trouble with her carpenter. She is really pleased with the $10,000 table she selected, but is terrified that one of the ceiling beams will fall, which it does, but luckily she had the foresight to move the table out of the way before that happened. I don’t think this is going to help Carisa’s relationship with Carl.

One hour to completion and the rooms are really coming together. I have to admit that I really, really love Carisa’s $10,000 table and wonder if I can get one at Target for a more reasonable price. Probably not. Everyone’s scrambling to get finished, and Andrea tells us that she sees Goil as her biggest competition, and that Carisa will probably do something over the top as usual, and then feels bad for her trash talking. Matt tells us that his wife and child will be very unhappy with him if he’s spent all this time away and doesn’t end up winning, so he really needs to take this challenge, and… wait. Wife and child? Matt? I was not expecting that. That’ll teach me not to read the bios!

I hope next week’s Guest Judge is Stephen Asprinio.
It’s presentation time, and the designers finally get to meet their client/ Guest Judge Tom Collichio, head Judge for Top Chef. Some of the designers are excited, but Carisa watches Top Chef and knows that Tom is not easy to please and can be pretty harsh. Today’s challenge winner will get a $2,500 gift certificate from Jonathan Adler’s store, and today’s challenge loser will receive complimentary airfare home.

Back in the White Room, Tom tells the designers that he loved Matt’s leather floor, could not figure out why everything in Goil’s room was mismatched, liked the application of the stone on the wall in Andrea’s room, didn’t care for all of the different chairs in Michael’s room and loved the fabric on Carisa’s banquette, but didn’t care for the banquette in general.

Judge Jonathan Adler then puts all the designers on the spot and asks which room each one would not like to eat in. Matt picks Goil’s room, Andrea and Goil choose Carisa’s room and Michael refuses to answer the question. Carisa selects Goil’s room, although she wishes she was brave enough to refuse to answer like Michael.

I guess you should have answered the question.
The Judges deliberate, and declare Andrea the winner. She gets a $2,500 gift certificate to one of the Jonathan Adler stores, the approval of Tom Collichio and does not have to go home.

Matt is given grace and is safe also, but between Carisa, Goil and Michael- one of them will be going home. Goil, you always think outside the box, so it would be nice if you could think about creating a room people actually would want to spend time in. Carisa- your room was a bummer, and so was your constant drama and excuses. Michael, your room was not luxurious, and your rug looked like it belongs in an airport, so goodbye, Michael.

Tune in next week to see someone injured, and maybe finally figure out exactly how many pairs of the same glasses, only with different colored frames Goil has, (I counted three this episode alone).

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calamari · 03-24-2007, 01:13 PM

A recap! A recap! Oh yes, yes, a recap! A wonderful recap!

Quote:

Todd likens Michael’s artwork to crime scene photos, which is another thing I don’t want to see while I’m eating

Chez moi, we'd been referring to this as the "abattoir" theme -- a little reminder of just how fresh the meat is.

Quote:

Wife and child? Matt? I was not expecting that. That’ll teach me not to read the bios!

So do design school career centers give little workshops on self-presentation, the way business schools teach assertiveness skills, only instead you learn to quirk an eyebrow archly and inject beginning French into your pronouncements?

03-24-2007, 12:02 PM	#1
SueEllenMishke Asst to the Regional Mgr Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 1,036	Top Design 3/21 Recap: No One Wants to Eat in an Airport Crime Scene The numbers are dwindling- last week we said goodbye to Eric, and only five remain. Tonight two worlds collide as the designers have some sort of challenge that involves Top Chef Judge Tom Collichio, and I hope he offers our Top Design judges a little lesson on proper judging and what to wear to the elimination ceremony. I love 70s TV. The three guys left have christened themselves Brady Bunch kids, but strangely enough, they all relate to the Brady girls, rather than the boys. Matt is Marcia, (because he’s the oldest, and because he likes to brush his hair 100 strokes each night before bed), Goil is Jan, (because he’s the middle “child,” enjoys wearing wigs to separate him from the others, and wears glasses), and Michael gets saddled with Bobby because he’s the youngest, and… well, that’s about it. Bobby was kind of a bland character, although he was once worried about catching the mumps after kissing an infected girl, which was pretty scandalous in its day. Over on the women’s side, after they discuss who would be Laverne and who would be Shirley, Andrea and Carisa find a note from Todd and neither wants to open it. The guys also have a letter, and after Goil guesses that the letter dismisses Matt from the competition, they open it to see it’s good news and an invitation to Norman’s in Los Angeles for a lunch to celebrate all their hard work. At Norman’s, the designers and Todd kick back at the Chef’s Table, which is a private dining room for the Chef’s special guests. Today’s client is an international chef, and their task is to design a chef’s table for his new restaurant. This chef uses only the highest quality ingredients, and they need to keep this in mind while designing. At this point, the designers are guessing all sorts of famous chefs like Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and I’m personally hoping for Paula Deen, because she is just all sorts of fun! The budget is $2000 for materials, and $40,000 for pieces from Pacific Design. Oh, and the client for this challenge will also be the Guest Judge. The designers have two days to execute, and Matt gets an extra hour since he won the last challenge. Things I don’t want to see while I’m trying to eat. The designers have thirty minutes to sketch, and then it’s shopping time. Strangely, $40,000 doesn’t go very far at the Pacific Design Center, and some of the designers have trouble marrying the arts and crafts and 20th century modern styles the client has asked for. Back in the studio, Matt rethinks his idea of the leather floor panels, and Goil has a mini meltdown over the wood floor that he can’t seem to put together properly, and has to be talked down by his carpenter Sarah. Then, to get through his anger at the floor, he paints the walls in garish stripes, which is just what I want to look at when I’m trying to eat. Andrea’s working on a slate wall, which while very cool, is very time consuming, and Carisa’s trying to step outside her normal love of bright colors and plastic, and class it up a little. She’s also having a little trouble with her perfectionist carpenter, and I personally think things would go a lot more smoothly if he would just take off his shirt and get to work. This is not Top Carl! It’s day 2 and time for the finishing touches. Goil immediately discovers that his stripes bled through the paint tape and look pretty terrible, and then tries to pull it off that it was intentional. Todd likens Michael’s artwork to crime scene photos, which is another thing I don’t want to see while I’m eating, and Carisa is still having trouble with her carpenter. She is really pleased with the $10,000 table she selected, but is terrified that one of the ceiling beams will fall, which it does, but luckily she had the foresight to move the table out of the way before that happened. I don’t think this is going to help Carisa’s relationship with Carl. One hour to completion and the rooms are really coming together. I have to admit that I really, really love Carisa’s $10,000 table and wonder if I can get one at Target for a more reasonable price. Probably not. Everyone’s scrambling to get finished, and Andrea tells us that she sees Goil as her biggest competition, and that Carisa will probably do something over the top as usual, and then feels bad for her trash talking. Matt tells us that his wife and child will be very unhappy with him if he’s spent all this time away and doesn’t end up winning, so he really needs to take this challenge, and… wait. Wife and child? Matt? I was not expecting that. That’ll teach me not to read the bios! I hope next week’s Guest Judge is Stephen Asprinio. It’s presentation time, and the designers finally get to meet their client/ Guest Judge Tom Collichio, head Judge for Top Chef. Some of the designers are excited, but Carisa watches Top Chef and knows that Tom is not easy to please and can be pretty harsh. Today’s challenge winner will get a $2,500 gift certificate from Jonathan Adler’s store, and today’s challenge loser will receive complimentary airfare home. Back in the White Room, Tom tells the designers that he loved Matt’s leather floor, could not figure out why everything in Goil’s room was mismatched, liked the application of the stone on the wall in Andrea’s room, didn’t care for all of the different chairs in Michael’s room and loved the fabric on Carisa’s banquette, but didn’t care for the banquette in general. Judge Jonathan Adler then puts all the designers on the spot and asks which room each one would not like to eat in. Matt picks Goil’s room, Andrea and Goil choose Carisa’s room and Michael refuses to answer the question. Carisa selects Goil’s room, although she wishes she was brave enough to refuse to answer like Michael. I guess you should have answered the question. The Judges deliberate, and declare Andrea the winner. She gets a $2,500 gift certificate to one of the Jonathan Adler stores, the approval of Tom Collichio and does not have to go home. Matt is given grace and is safe also, but between Carisa, Goil and Michael- one of them will be going home. Goil, you always think outside the box, so it would be nice if you could think about creating a room people actually would want to spend time in. Carisa- your room was a bummer, and so was your constant drama and excuses. Michael, your room was not luxurious, and your rug looked like it belongs in an airport, so goodbye, Michael. Tune in next week to see someone injured, and maybe finally figure out exactly how many pairs of the same glasses, only with different colored frames Goil has, (I counted three this episode alone). __________________ I was made to understand there were grilled cheese sandwiches here.