by Gina Scarpa and Chandra Clewley

The stakes were raised last night on Top Chef: Las Vegas and if the final five chefs wanted to live to see final four, they were going to have to pull out all the stops.  For their elimination challenge, the chefs had to create a dish featuring one protein (either lamb or salmon) and two garnishes for an all star panel.  Eli’s sausage wrapped lamb loin was thought to be undercooked by the judges and he was eliminated from the competition.  Today, he spoke to reporters in a press conference call about his experiences on the show.

Q. Gina, Reality Wanted: What made you decide to try out for Top Chef?
A. Eli: I was previously approached by the casting people, for previous seasons, kind of just sort of waived it off and didn’t do it. Richard Blais is a close friend and all, and he sort of gave me a push and a nudge so I decided to give it a go this year.

Q. Gina, Reality Wanted: There were some serious chefs on this season… Michelin Star recipients and James Beard award winners.  Were you intimidated at all right off the bat?
A. Eli: Um, you know, not really. It’s one of those things where you have to take it in context, like somebody is great in their kitchen and in their environment, but when you throw them a curve ball, and so many were thrown at us, it changes with who has the ability.

Q. Gina, Reality Wanted: On the episode last night, it seemed like nobody really did as well as they had hoped. What was it about it that was throwing people off? Was it the pressure of the challenge itself?
A. Eli: The challenge itself was just so immense and what was being asked of us was so immense… I feel would have been a great challenge to be a two day challenge or to give us sous chefs.  It would have been a huge advantage to have more time and I think the final product could have been exponentially better.

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: Out of all of the chefs that were judges and on the show, who was the person you are most impressed with?
A. Eli: We don’t really get any interaction with them.  They just come in and talk and then leave but Robuchon being there was immense; I have immense respect for Daniel Bouloud, guys like that for sure.

Q. Were you surprised at how emotional you got at the end?
A. Eli: You know, initially, it’s been a really long day, it’s toward the end of production in Vegas, that specific day was just hours and hours and just emotionally draining.  It wasn’t so much about going home as it was about being done with it all.

Q. How much did exhaustion play into where you were at that point?
A. Eli: I think a lot. I think it was pretty evident, especially amongst everyone that was there. I think even if you look at the interviews you can see it.

Q. Who did you find was your toughest judge or critic over the season?
A. Eli: I don’t really know who the toughest is over this season. They are all difficult for different reasons and often times, when you are in the middle, you don’t get any feedback at all.  You might have done your worst dish earlier in the season but other people were worse.

Q. In this last challenge, the judges seemed just as much, if not more, critical of Bryan and Mike.  Did you sense that they decided those two couldn’t be sent home?  Did you think it was fair?
A. Eli: I think that both of their dishes were better than mine, without question. I think they are just being hypercritical about everything. You know, when you have Jerome Bocuse sitting there, you’re going to be hypercritical and I think it was just a case of that.

Q. The way that it has been produced, it seems like they have been positioning those four as the top notch since the beginning. Did you and the others see it that way?
A. Eli: Yeah, I feel as though they were universally stronger competitors up front but I also feel that they really edited it that way. I think that they put a strong emphasis on how Jennifer Carroll started out strong and then started to struggle.  I think she would be the first person to agree with that up to that point.

Q. What was the best thing you ate that another chef cooked?
A. Eli: I didn’t get to eat a lot of the food, I ate a lot of the elements but I will say that eating Michael Voltaggio’s polenta with banana was a pretty existential experience. If you isolate the whole poetry and novelty of it, and actually eat it for what it is, it’s delicious.

Q. What were you expecting to see at Circus Circus on last week’s episode, you seemed a little disappointed when you walked in.
A. Eli: I don’t like Circus Circus. It was the least casino-esque. It seemed like a fair with skee ball game and it threw me off.  It wasn’t circus-like, it was a weird sort of twisted fair.

Q. They painted you as pretty unwilling to make amends with Robin last week. Why was she so hard for you to deal with?
A. Eli: I think, the more I have thought about it, the more I think it’s just a strong difference of personality. I don’t care for the person she is, or who she is outside of professionalism and her bistro.  I just don’t really care for her as a person.

Q. What did you think of your portrayal on this season?
A. Eli: I think it was accurate, you say what you say and you do what you do.

Q. What’s next for you?
A. Eli: I am just trying to stay open to new opportunities and I am looking around.  Anytime someone wants to open a restaurant in the south somewhere, tell them to give me a call.


Top Chef: Las Vegas airs Wednesdays at 10pm ET on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)


Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa and Chandra at twitter.com/chandraclewley

For more Top Chef: Las Vegas links, visit SirLinksALot.net