by Michael J. Lamp

 

Another week, another dessert gone wrong on Top Chef: DC. Jacqueline Lombard's banana pudding with strawberries (and a lot of sugar) didn't interest the judges, and she was sent home. Jacqueline has kept quite the positive attitude throughout the entire process, though, and when she spoke to RealityWanted and other reporters, her optimism shone through, even when asked about her more cutthroat competitors.

 

Q. Michael, RealityWanted: What was the atmosphere like at judges' table? It seemed to get pretty combative between the two teams.
A. Jacqueline: It was pretty crazy. I think I spent about half of [the time] being very nervous and the other half bent over laughing. I got into it with Angelo's team. People were scrappy. It was tough. When they called Angelo's team and ours, we thought maybe we were the top teams. And then we realized that was not the case at all. My team felt very strongly that our team, while in the bottom two, was much less offensive in terms of the problems with our dishes.

 

Q. Michael, RealityWanted: What do you think is worse? The lack of nutritional value in Kenny's dish or Amanda's boozy chicken?
A. Jacqueline: The lack of nutrition. They served a brown meal with carbohydrates in all four of their dishes. There was rice in the chicken burger. Their dessert had oatmeal and apples in it. There were major flaws in all four components of their meal.

 

Q. What would your ideal last meal be and why?
A. Jacqueline: Oysters on the half shell, then probably my lobster salad. A clambake with foie gras to round it out.

 

Q. If you could've cooked one thing for President Obama, what would it be and why?
A. Jacqueline: Flank-grilled piece of fish. That's one of his favorite dishes.

 

Q. Do you think doing a dessert on Top Chef gets you kicked off? Amanda mentioned that the person who cooks dessert gets sent home.
A. Jacqueline: I definitely think with hindsight knowledge of the show that there is a point to the statement. I definitely didn't want to be the one on my team doing dessert, but it was a team effort, and I was the only member of the team with pastry experience. And everyone made a point of bringing that up.

 

Q. Did anyone bring up sherry in a kids' meal?
A. Jacqueline: Absolutely. In Amanda's defense, the sherry she purchased was $4 and her cooking method burned off the alcohol. We talked about splitting the budget four ways, and when we got to the register we were $30 over. We were looking at it as dessert being the smallest portion size. There were 19 oz. of no salt and no fat, with 1 oz. of sugary dessert.

 

Q. Do you feel that Angelo sabotaged his team? Was he trying to get Kenny sent home?
A. Jacqueline: I really don't believe that. I think it was more that he and Tracy were really relaxed. I think the mistake they made was that because they were relaxed, they didn't give enough thought or effort to the design of their meal and were more having fun with it. Tracy's one of my best friends from the show.

 

Q. Amanda appeared to not be a great team player. Is that the case?
A. Jacqueline: Amanda's a great girl. I'll be seeing her in LA next week. Amanda takes the competition very seriously, and she's out for herself and just herself. In this competition, that's a good attitude. Where we parted ways was on the fact that this was a ‘team' challenge, and the people that won the challenge had a team theme. Angelo's team defended themselves as a team first and individuals second. I defended the team, which I was proud of, but everyone else on my team only defended themselves.

 

Q. What's the best place you at at in DC?
A. Jacqueline: We didn't get out much. We did get to go out to Zaytinya. They gave us a fabulous tasting menu, with items on and off the menu. [Former Top Chef contestant] Mike Isabella came out and talked to us, which was an emotional moment for all of us. It hit us what we had just been through - and had yet to finish.

 

Q. Any advice for future contestants?
A. Jacqueline: Watch the show before you go! I can definitely say that was my biggest weakness - not understanding the scope of the competition. There are certain strategies that work well in the Top Chef kitchen.

 

Top Chef: DC airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Michael at twitter.com/mjlamp

 

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