Pigging Out: Waste Not, Want Not on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Once again, Raymond Blanc has thrown down a gauntlet to the seven remaining couples in his deliciously addictive reality series, Last Restaurant Standing: to utilize every piece of a half of a pig--from head to tail--and maximize their profits.

It's no easy feat when you consider that many of these chefs haven't worked in professional kitchens... and their front-of-house counterparts don't exactly know how to sell offal to their customers. And, to me, that's half of the fun of this winsome and engaging series: to see just how these starry-eyed restaurateurs cope with the pressure and expectations of Raymond and his inspectors.

This week on BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing ("No Waste, No Loss"), the teams would either sink or swim when faced (quite literally) with the gorgeous, free-range, organic pork delivered to them by local butchers. After all, the point of the exercise was to see how much use each restaurant could get out of the pig as they attempted to maximize their profits by reducing waste.

So how did they do? Let's discuss.

Lindsie and Tim. At True Provenance, Tim made a bit of an error including the pig's brains in his brawn, a traditional pork terrine made out of offal, rather than saute it as one might sweetbreads. Raymond definitely found fault with Tim's decision to include the creamy brains in the head terrine but it wasn't enough to get them put into the latest Challenge. However, I do have to take fault with Lindsie's front-of-house management. It's utterly clear (and rather sad) that she doesn't share her husband's love of food; it's not a passion of hers and this is demonstrated from the lackluster way with which she attempts to sell his dishes (telling people that brawn is brains and other parts of a pig's head might not be the most effective sales tool) and from her lack of general food knowledge. Which is somewhat depressing as I do feel Tim is a good chef and DOES care about his cuisine... but it might not be enough of incentive for Raymond to open a restaurant with them.

Michele and Russell. This duo, who own The Cheerful Soul, completely bounced back from some major chaos during their restaurant's first few weeks in business and even managed to keep their cool when their veg order went missing (it was delivered to some farm for no explained reason) for most of the day. Russell's pork roast looked absolutely delicious, his brawn was easily the best tasting of the many brawn dishes sampled by Sarah Willingham, and Michele retained more control over the front-of-the-house this time around. (Hell, that one frustrated customer from two episodes ago even came back to give The Cheerful Soul another chance.) It's hardly a surprise then that Raymond awarded them the Restaurant of the Week this time around. Can they manage to pull it together and stay on top? We'll see but they definitely proved this week that they deserve to be in this competition... if they can figure out the marketing and service elements and keep cool under pressure.

Helen and Stephen. I had my doubts about Helen and Stephen's child-friendly concept at first but they have proven to be some rather powerful competitors this season. Helen was definitely squeamish when it came to that pig carcass in her kitchen, but she managed to pull it together and cook up some exquisite pork-based specials that pulled in the most profit out of any other team this week. Helen's skills in the kitchen (which seem to be blossoming, even when coming face to face with a beloved pig) are matched by Stephen's attentive front-of-house management and his ability to sell any dish with flair. He was the only team member to play up the pork's heritage and make it absolutely appetizing to the punters, using words like "organic" and "free-range" and waxing enthusiastically about how beautiful it was. Well done, Stephen.

Laura and Peter. Once again, The Welsh Wok has managed to squeeze by despite my feeling that they really should have been placed in the Challenge this week. They completely misunderstood the point of the challenge: specifically, to maximize profit by decreasing waste. A number of blunders: Peter's thought to only offer pork dishes (thankfully Laura vetoed him on that) and the wrong-headed concept of huge Asian-style pork platters, which threw large portions of pork at the customers, most of which went uneaten... which was exactly the opposite of what Raymond hoped they would do. Additionally, Peter ended up reducing his most expensive cuts into little more than charcoal. Badly managed all around and the results were hardly surprising as this duo landed the least amount of profits out of everyone... yet the least amount of alleged waste. Still, Raymond calculated just what they had done from seeing those figures. I doubt this restaurant will be open for much longer.

Alasdair and James. The best friends, who run The Gallery, really need to take a course on communication, as there seems to be none between them. I was shocked when James kicked Alasdair out of the kitchen when the butcher brought the pig over rather than include him and educate his front-of-house counterpart about what they would be serving that evening and empowering him to sell these dishes in the best possible manner. Of course, that matters little when you only have four tables booked in the entire restaurant. Not good. Not sure what Alasdair was hoping to achieve by standing next to a vacate road hoping to attract customers but it clearly wasn't working. These two need to communicate, share the load, and figure out some marketing ploy based in the nearby towns and villages in order to turn some profit quickly. I think James is a fantastic chef but I wasn't surprised, based on their performance, that Raymond would put them in the Challenge.

Caroline and Chris. I really want to like the Wallace-faced Chris and Caroline but their restaurant, Ray White's, consistently serves bland food... and every chef is only as good as his seasoning. You can't be sending out underseasoned, undersalted food repeatedly, nor can you be a chef with a bad palate. Chris is finally now tasting the food (one step better than when he started) but it's going out when it's completely unsalted. Adding to this problem: Chris and his frustrated sous-chefs use the dining room's salt grinders to season the food rather than have bowls of salt readily available. This is Cooking 101. Not a surprise at all that these two are in the Challenge this week.

Mike and Harriet. And then there was father-daughter team Mike and Harriet, who operate The Blue Goose in Oxford. I've been pretty blunt about my feelings regarding this team but I'm now more clear about where the blame fully lies. Harriet's cooking is quite good; the dishes she was sending out looked beautiful and her passion for food is completely evidence. Her father Mike, however, is useless. He completely mismanages the front of house and seems hellbent on getting them eliminated from the competition: using a bread knife to cut home-made fliers; only handing out 12 leaflets after seven minutes and then quitting; establishing an arcane system of numbering the pork specials and then not informing Harriet and confusing everyone. And then there's his utterly bizarre greeting of "welcome to the madness" to his would-be patrons. What on earth is he thinking? Can he be that clueless that he believes he is charming and humorous? His words are always awkward and uncomfortable and he does his daughter absolutely no service whatsoever. His umbrage at Sarah's remarks proved that he is completely not self-aware whatsoever. Unless he can get his head around supporting Harriet and running the restaurant, these two are utterly doomed. I will be amazed if they make it out of Raymond's Challenge once again... but stranger things have happened on this series, after all.

What did you think of this week's episode? Which teams do you predict will have their restaurants remain open after the Challenge? And which team will close their restaurant's doors forever? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Oxford Formal Halls"), three teams enter Raymond's latest Challenge and must observe ancient dining protocols when serving a formal dinner at three prestigious Oxford colleges.

Teams Motor Along During Raymond's First Challenge on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Sayonara, Sorbets & Seasons.

There really wasn't any way other that last night's episode ("Motorway Service") of BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing could have gone.

Challenged to create a menu for a bustling lunch service at a busy motorway service station and market their concepts to the public, the couples were split into three teams on the task, with one restaurant to be closed for good by Raymond at the end of the Challenge.

I thought that this was a fantastic way for Raymond to truly see the couples under intense pressure, out of their normal comfort zones in their own restaurants, and forced to deal with a specific clientele at a very specific location. It would also allow the cream to rise to the top as there was no way to come out of this task without proving to Raymond that they had the requisite passion and drive to make it in this cutthroat industry.

I thought that Harriet and Mike did a fantastic job. Mike proved his worth to his team by demonstrating some marketing finesse, using blue footprints on the floor of the station (leading to their counter) and having Alasdair dress up as a blue emu (in honor of their namesake Blue Goose) in order to get the punters in. I was worried that Harriet's decision to photograph pre-made and purchased food on their promotional materials (rather than make the dishes herself) would come back to haunt them, even on a technicality level, as such a practice is actually illegal. (I was surprised, however, that Harriet didn't say that it was actually Helen's idea to do so.) Food photography and food styling is definitely an art form in itself but it was another example of this duo trying to out-think the competition by cutting corners (as in last week's episode when they only served 13 guests in order perfect service). Points deducted for not having a meat offering, serving the fish pie in a trough rather than in individual ramekins, and for serving those tennis ball-like deep fried children's fish cakes under the guise of a "healthy kids' meal." Ick. Still, I am glad that this father and daughter team will remain in the competition as I still don't really have a feeling about the strength or weakness of Harriet's actual cooking yet.

Russell can cook and definitely had the best tasting offerings on during this Challenge. Sarah Willingham distinctly seemed pleased with the taste and substance of Russell's dishes, such as his children's fish pie and the beef lasagna. The marketing however, which fell to Michele to carry out, was abysmal: consisting of Michele handing out Cheerful Soul stickers to kiddies. And they don't seem to be able to prioritize very effectively, either. With only 40 minutes of time remaining before they had to be done cooking and photographing the food, Russell seemed to be helping Michele order some containers on the phone rather than getting on with the cooking. And sure enough they only managed to get three of their dishes photographed in time rather than the required five. Badly done. Raymond reamed Michele for this later and finally cut her off when he got tired of her excuses. These two seem like a nice enough couple but I'm not really convinced that they can hack it in the restaurant business.

And there was Richard and Scott of Sorbet & Seasons. I had a feeling that they would be going home even before the Challenge began and they didn't disappoint as they completely mishandled the task at hand, not getting the correct information out of the motorway service station rep and not asking the right questions. The coq au vin did look a "prehistoric" mess, to paraphrase inspector David Moore. And the carrot cake was an absolute fiasco. Plus, they didn't individually portion and had ordered an excessive amount of food as they never found out how many people to actually cook for. Plus, their marketing scheme of handing out sorbet to people wandering into the station in search of lunch was misguided from the start. If they wanted to showcase sorbet (a surprise anyway since they never seemed to want to at the restaurant), they should have offered it as a free dessert with the purchase of lunch. Easy peasy.

So it certainly wasn't a shock when Raymond declared that he would be closing Sorbets & Seasons. While Richard and Scott may have been absolutely charming, they were so out of their depth in the restaurant business and, even to me, didn't seem to have the killer instinct or zeal for this vocation.

What did you think? Would you have sent home Richard and Scott? Did Harriet and Mike make an egregious and unforgivable error by using someone else's food in those marketing photographs? Who are you rooting for to win the grand prize? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("No Waste, No Loss"), the seven remaining teams must prove to Raymond and his inspectors that they don't waste food by using every single part of an organic pig from head to tail while making appetizing dishes.

Overcooked Rice, Missing Cutlery, and Sorbet Soup: Opening Night Redux on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I am already hopelessly hooked on Season Two of BBC America's culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing.

If you're not watching the series, you're missing out on what must be one of the very best food-themed series on the air today (yes, I'd definitely place it squarely alongside Bravo's Top Chef) but also one of the most tense and revealing hours on television, as everyday couples (spouses, friends, fathers and daughters) are pushed to their limit when they open their own eateries. I like to think of it as Top Chef meets The Amazing Race, only without the Pit Stops and frequent flier miles.

This week's episode ("Pay What It Is Worth") had the eight remaining teams asking their customers to only pay what they believed their meal was worth. For one team--Alasdair and James--it was the first time on the series that they got to open their restaurant (if you remember, they missed Opening Night due to a gas leak) and for others it was an opportunity to push themselves to do better than they had the week before.

So which teams impressed me and which ones astounded me? Let's discuss.

I have to say that if I was going to choose one restaurant to eat in out of the teams' eateries so far, I'd have to say that James and Alasdair's The Gallery would be it. Despite some teething problems on their Opening Night--the lack of cutlery presented to inspector Sarah Willingham, the maddeningly reductive menu, the squabbling over the arrangement of the bread--The Gallery so far seems the most like a professionally-run establishment. While Alasdair definitely needs to fine-tune his lacking attention to detail in the front-of-house, James definitely wowed me (and Sarah) with his cooking, a full head and shoulders above the mess he served Raymond in the first episode. The salad of scallops and beetroot looked exquisite as did the sea breem but James definitely needs to get his head around the notion of adding value. Yes, guests would be surprised by just how lavish their dishes were compared to the sparse descriptions but his menu offerings were so blase that it would be hard to get the punters in in the first place.

Stephen and Helen clearly have something going for them at Nel's and it made sense that, given the number of covers they did, Raymond would award them Restaurant of the Week. Still, Helen now needs to elevate the look and presentation of her food, which is far too messy and housewifey and doesn't immediately scream restaurant-level cuisine. Stephen is a superb front-of-house manager and their restaurant was buzzy, filled to the brim, and convivial. It's just the food that needs some work. Pleasing the kids is a good thing but it's the parents, after all, who have to pay and this duo will have to work a little harder to make them happy.

I was shocked that, when faced with dwindling supplies, Tim would start cutting portions of food in half (or into increasingly smaller fractions) rather than tell customers that they had run out of specific dishes. This was especially a problem when he would send over vastly different portion sizes to the same table, as he did with the summer pudding or the gateaux (which was cut from the US telecast). I'm glad Lindsie finally put her foot down and told him to stop doing it; sadly, however, it's clear that her head is not in the game. This experience seems to be Tim's dream rather than a shared one and it shows in her lack of knowledge about the food. Yes, she is missing their child but I wonder if Tim should have gone on the series with a different partner.

Richard and Scott are not long for this competition. I just don't understand their Sorbets & Seasons concept as they are not cooking seasonally nor are they showcasing sorbets, despite being told by Raymond that they better get sorbets on the menu fast. I don't understand why they would not follow Raymond's advice and changed their ghastly sorbet to a soup at the last minute... but didn't update the menu. They've now had multiple opportunity to refine their concept (or throw it out the window) but haven't. And they still don't seem to understand what most people enjoy about sorbet in the first place. An avocado mousse on top of a crab salad does not a sorbet make.

Mike and Harriet once again played it way too safe and tried to overthink things by only serving 13 people in their restaurant... on purpose. I get that they are trying to refine before building, but this was beyond ridiculous. They need to step it up and fast and Mike has got to learn to be more polished and less confrontational towards the guests. His impulse to demand payment for drinks after making people wait two hours for food (after they prebooked their requests days earlier) was unforgivable.

Still not understanding Laura and Peter's Welsh-Chinese concept and clearly they aren't either. But the woefully overcooked rice (sticky and crunchy) that Peter served was inexcusable. They really need to sit down and rethink what they're trying to accomplish at the Welsh Wok.

We didn't really see enough of Michele and Russell to see just why Raymond put them in the challenge but she seems destined for a minor breakdown as she overbooked their restaurant, The Cheerful Soul, and couldn't get a handle on running the front of house.

Who are you rooting for so far? Who do you think will sent home next week after Raymond's first Challenge? And who can go all the way to get their very own restaurant? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Motorway Service"), Raymond challenges three teams to set up shop at a motorway service station and convince hungry travelers to eat at their food bars.

Talk Back: Season Two Premiere of BBC America's "Last Restaurant Standing"

Just wanted to share a few quick thoughts about the first two episodes of BBC America's addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing, which kicked off its second season last night.

As always, it's early days on the series, so much of the action focused on the couples preparing their signature dishes for Raymond and his inspectors, Sarah Willingham and David Moore, and setting up their new restaurant spaces... just in time for Opening Night. Well, for nearly all of the teams, that is.

You read my advance review of the first three episodes of Last Restaurant Standing, but now that Season Two has launched, let's talk specifics.

First off, I'm really quite surprised and disappointed by the performance of mother-and-daughter team Annette and Kashelle. Kashelle seems like such a natural in the kitchen and we see her in pre-shot segments preparing some truly gorgeous Caribbean food, so why on earth would she opt to prepare a mango whiz, a dish that required no cooking whatsoever? In actuality, the entire dessert took quite literally three minutes to prepare, including the time it took to pour out the tinned mango pulp, mix in some cream, and squeeze in some lime. Did they really think that this was the most indicative of their style of cooking and the strength of their food? Did they play it far too safe?

I knew that they'd be getting cut from the competition as soon as Kashelle opened up that can of mango and I can't say that I'm disappointed, though I did have high hopes for them initially. There was no way that Raymond and the inspectors were going to let a display like that slide by and I knew right away that this couple was sailing off into the sunset before the restaurants even opened.

I'm totally baffled by Laura and Peter's Welsh-Chinese fusion concept (they seem to be equally confused) and I'm not sure why they didn't just name their restaurant after the building's dragon motif. After all, dragons figure prominently in both Welsh and Chinese mythology and there was a bloody dragon on the front door, so wouldn't that have been more indicative of what they're trying to pull off than The Welsh Wok? Just a thought.

I'm also not sure that former British Airways flight attendants Richard and Scott are long for this competition. Their restaurant, Sorbets & Seasons, is woefully mismanaged, Scott has no control over his kitchen (yet again, a sous chef rises to take the reins), and their concept is just odd. I had assumed that, in addition to serving seasonal food, they would treat the sorbets as they are traditionally used in fine dining: as an intermezzo palate refresher between courses. Not as they did by having a pea and mint sorbet shoved onto the menu... and then have no one order it. Sorbets should be light and refreshing, not heavy, creamy, or savory. Color me confused.

I was quite disgusted by watching James sweat into the food and work quite so hard to produce one dish for three people... when the challenge really involves cooking better than that to deliver fine dining for 80 covers. His arrogance is really quite off-putting as is his way of talking to best friend Alasdair, but I will say that I felt sorry for the boys not to get to open their restaurant due to a gas leak. If it had been any fault of theirs, I wouldn't have sympathized but as it was so out of their control, I did feel bad, given the amount of prep work James had done. Can he calm down and lead coolly rather than with an iron fist?

Likewise, I felt really bad for Harriet, who is teamed up with her father Mike, who is running front of house at their Oxford restaurant The Blue Goose. Mike had a good idea in asking diners to pre-book their dinner options but completely screwed up whatever advantage they may have had going into Opening Night by completely mismanaging the front of house, not working out a table plan for the restaurant, and then having the gall to demand payment for drinks from customers who were leaving after waiting several hours for food they had ordered two days earlier. Badly done, Mike.

I thought for sure that they would be sent home after Opening Night but I was glad to see that Raymond had a change of heart and opted to keep them around for another week before putting them into the Challenge. It was Harriet that I really felt for; nothing was said about her cooking or the food at the Blue Goose, because very few people actually got to eat it. I would hate to see them sent home because of Mike's inept front of house.

But I am curious what you all thought of the episode. Were you happy to see Harriet and Mike stick around for another week? Does hyper-arrogant James need to be knocked down a peg or two? Who are you routing for to win their own restaurant? And who do you think should be eliminated straightaway? Talk back here.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the eight remaining couples have another chance to please Raymond and his inspectors and tweak elements that didn't quite work for Opening Night; James and Alasdair have a chance to open their eatery, The Gallery, after the gas leak; three couples are selected to go into Raymond's Challenge.

If You Can't Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Restaurant (Business): An Advance Review of Season Two of "Last Restaurant Standing"

Longtime readers of this site know of my near-obsession with BBC America's addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing, which returns for a second season of kitchen catastrophes tonight.

As in Season One of Last Restaurant Standing (which airs in the UK as The Restaurant), famed chef and two-Michelin-starred restaurateur Raymond Blanc (of the fantastic Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons) gives nine couples the dream of a lifetime: the opportunity to open their very own restaurant with him. But before they get to that point, they'll be culled one by one as they are given the keys to individual restaurants and tasked with running them, including everything from devising the menu and preparing food, to training staff and designing the decor.

Assisting Raymond in keeping tabs on the would-be restaurateurs are Raymond's diligent and attentive inspectors, including Season One's Sarah Willingham and newcomer David Moore, the owner of the two-Michelin-starred Pied à Terre in London. Sarah and David are the eyes and ears of Raymond in the field and there's little they don't notice, whether it's a lack of cutlery at a table service, the unhappiness of hungry diners, or chaos in the kitchen.

Think of it as Top Chef's Restaurant Wars challenge every week, albeit on a larger scale and with amateur cooks and novice restaurateurs rather than classically trained chefs. And just like on Top Chef, these competitors quickly feel the heat of the kitchen... and the sharp sting of regret. Every decision they make comes under Raymond's review and every other week, three of the underperforming restaurants will be placed in The Challenge, a last-ditch effort to see if they can sink or swim under Herculean odds... like running a highway rest stop restaurant.

This season's hopefuls are a motley bunch, comprising a mix of styles, attitudes, backgrounds, and skills. There's father-and-daughter team Mike and Harriet, who hope to take over Oxford with their concept for The Blue Goose, their eatery which promises modern remakes of classic dishes... but they quickly run into trouble with front-of-house, overseen by Mike, on their opening night. There's husband and wife team Peter, a Blue Chip company exec, and Laura who manage to confound both Raymond and the locals with their Welsh-Chinese fusion food; sparring best friends Alasdair and James who hope to perfect a fine dining concept but leave doubts in the judges' minds after delivering an awful signature dish; flight attendants Scott and Richard who have a bizarre concept involving seasonal food and sorbets... but fail to deliver on either front (just wait until Episode 3 to see it truly hit the fan).

Who else? Well, there's ex-naval officer Stephen and his wife Helen who offer rustic European fusion-style food in a family restaurant; newlyweds Chris and Caroline who promise a menu of British food made from high-quality ingredients... in a restaurant named after an English version of Raymond himself (Ray White's); dating couple Michele and Russell offer a friendly atmosphere at The Cheerful Soul but leave their customers anything but; and line cook Tom and his HR manager wife Lindsie devise a brasserie focusing on true provenance but don't quite seem to grasp the concept.

Having seen the first three episodes of Season Two (including tonight's two-hour season premiere), I'm once again hooked on Last Restaurant Standing's elegantly simple concept, its blend of winning casting and dramatic, high-pressure stakes, and its fantastically subtle narration (provided, this season, by Cranford's Barbara Flynn). The cast itself is a great mix of heroes, villians, misfits, and hopefuls and it's easy to become invested in their struggles and triumphs. On no other series could one feel bad for an arrogant team when it seems like they'll miss Opening Night because of a gas leak at the restaurant. And yet Last Restaurant Standing accomplishes just that rather effortlessly.

While the pressure is just as intense as it was the first time around, Season Two adds another layer of difficulty for the contestants by including new inspector David Moore, a man who would seemingly rather slap the wannabe restaurateurs than crack a smile. Winning him over is not going to be an easy feat.

Nor will it be to please Moore's teacher himself, Raymond, who remains just as precise and demanding as ever. However, it is nice to see Raymond demonstrate some tasks for the contestants this season, such as when he shows the couples how to elevate a boring bowl of gazpacho into something quite extraordinary and memorable. It's these little touches, the details and extras, that turn a restaurant into something magical and one can't help but feel that, regardless of the outcome, each of these couples is blessed to have been in the presence of a true alchemist.

Season Two of Last Restaurant Standing launches tonight with two back-to-back episodes at 8 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Out of the Frying Pan: BBC America Announces Season Two of Fiery Culinary Series "Last Restaurant Standing"

Sharpen your knives (and your claws), BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing returns later this month with a brand new season.

Launching Tuesday, January 27th at 8 pm ET/PT, Season Two of Last Restaurant Standing (or The Restaurant, as it's known in the UK) will find host and judge Raymond Blanc (of the world famous two-Michelin starred Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons) and judges Sarah Willingham and David Moore selecting one of nine couples to win their own eatery as they compete head to head over 14 weeks by opening restaurants that serve everything from traditional British fare to--wait for it--Welsh-Chinese fusion food.

As in Season One, each of the nine couples, who have little to no professional cooking experience, must transform an empty restaurant into their very own, individual eatery and open it to the public within a week.

The nine couples competing for a shot at their own restaurant this season are:

• Kashelle, a single mum, and her mother Annette, offer a Caribbean-inspired menu.
• Stephen, an ex-Naval officer, and his wife, Helen, offer a rustic European fusion-style cooking set in a family restaurant.
• Caroline and Chris, a young married couple, serve a simple menu of traditional British fare made from quality ingredients.
• Peter, a blue chip company executive, and his wife, Laura, have the chance to amaze us with their Welsh-Chinese fusion concept.
• Best friends Alasdair and James offer a fine dining concept.
• Buffet business owners Michele and Russell serve up a warm, friendly place with eclectic furniture and home-sewn table cloths.
• Tom, a line cook, and Lindsie, his HR manager wife, offer a modern European-style brasserie.
• Father and daughter team, Harriet and Mike, devise a diner dishing out modern takes on classic dishes.
• Scott, an airline manager, and his partner Richard open a relaxed meeting place, serving up seasonal, locally-sourced food.

Which couples will buckle under the immense pressure and have to close their restaurants prematurely and see their dreams go up in smoke? And which couple will make it all the way to the end and win the restaurant? Find out this month.

Season Two of Last Restaurant Standing launches Tuesday, January 27th at 8 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

One Couple Gets the Restaurant of Their Dreams on the Season Finale of "Last Restaurant Standing"

What a wild ride it's been this season on BBC America's hit culinary series Last Restaurant Standing. I was literally on the edge of my seat (and nearly fell right off my perch) waiting for Raymond to announce the winner of this deliciously addictive competition series.

Who would be opening a restaurant with famed restaurateur Raymond Blanc? Would it be twins Jess and Laura whose whole-foods concept was a hit with locals and regular customers? Or Jeremy and Jane who often seemed outdone by their luxurious and ambitious eight-course menu?

A tough decision, even for Raymond Blanc. But before he would decide which couple to award the restaurant of their dreams to, he would put these two teams through their toughest Challenge to date: opening a version of their branded eateries in his French hometown, Besancon, where they would have two days to freshen up their spaces, design a menu, market their eateries, prep ingredients, and serve their food to the locals, including Raymond's family and his petite mere, Maman Blanc.

I thought this was a fantastic and fitting challenge, a chance for Raymond to return to the scene of the crime as it were: the location of his very first culinary job and, in an amusing anecdote about a teenage Raymond cooking crepe Suzette for his mother, the source of his humility as well. It was an opportunity for the teams to prove to Raymond that their concepts worked, even removed from the safety of the British countryside towns.

I was a little worried watching Jane this week. Once again, she seemed to be cracking under the immense pressure that Raymond had placed upon them and I was slightly terrified that they wouldn't be able to pull everything together in time. Jeremy has got to learn to be able to plan a menu in advance or at least have specific ideas in his mind when they go to source ingredients. It's too time consuming to make two trips to the market and, while one needs to be open to inspiration, organization and vision need to go hand in hand in a successful restaurant.

As always, timing wreaked havoc with the kitchen. With many orders of eight courses to produce, the kitchen quickly fell behind and diners were left waiting for hours to complete their lengthy, drawn-out meals. (Cut from the US version: inspector Sarah Willingham's interminable wait for her eight courses.) Still, it didn't look good that Jeremy told Raymond that he would return to England with his tail between his legs as his eight-course menu didn't work. Don't ever show weakness in front of the chef and don't apologize for your ambition. Sure, they could have done four courses and had it been a success, but they shouldn't also feel entrapped by their restaurant name. As Raymond admitted, Eight in the Country is JUST a name. It doesn't need to refer to anything concrete or specific. I do think they would have been better off sticking to four (or maybe five) courses, as it would have given the kitchen a little more breathing room throughout the competition. But live and learn.

Brown & Green's Jess and Laura were diligent and organized, but they did underestimate the appeal of their famous lamb burgers with mint and feta and didn't purchase quite enough food. (What you didn't see in the US edition was Jess summoning Laura from the front of the house to make their gargantuan burgers smaller in order to stretch them out, rather than asking one of her sous chefs.) Still, they created an enchanting atmosphere for their guests, aided and abetted by the delightful musical stylings of the French pianist they hired for the evening. While the classic music (Chopin no less!) didn't quite summon to mind a English garden, it created a relaxing environment and live music definitely added to the ambiance. Laura is also the consummate hostess though I do wish she hadn't worn that medieval serving gown, a costume choice which seemed unnecessarily complicated and unnecessary. (Don't gild the lily, ladies!)

I was really pulling for the twins to win this competition but I was concerned that their restaurant--a casual, laid back whole-foods concept--didn't exactly jibe with Raymond's own portfolio. At the end of the day, I had a hard time envisioning Raymond (who, yes, does have a less opulent line of French brasseries under the Brasserie Blanc banner--along with the delicious Le Petit Blanc restaurant in Oxford which I used to frequent as a student--as well as his high-end eateries) opening a cafe-style venue with the twins. Jeremy and Jane's vision and passion seemed much more suited for fine dining and in line with Raymond's strict, quality-obsessed management of his restaurant empire.

Was it a little staged that John Lederer chose the twins for his pick, Sarah picked Jane and Jeremy, and Lee Cash was "undecided still"? Sure. But it did heighten the tension and make it a little less obvious who Raymond would pick. I do think that both couples showed enormous potential, resilience, and strength of character throughout the competition and could see both teams running their respective restaurants, but I really did want Raymond to give this opportunity to the twins.

In the end, however, I do think Raymond was thinking the same thing that I was: that his culinary aesthetic meshed a little more easily with Jeremy's, hands-down the best chef in the competition from the very first day (despite his ability to get flustered and rely a little too heavily on cookbooks) and so he awarded the prize to Jane and Jeremy.

I was shocked that after congratulations and much hugging from the twins, the episode just... ended. No final interview with Jess and Laura about what's next for them (even though even other ousted couple had the opportunity) or, hell, even with Jane and Jeremy about what this means for them personally. For such a beautifully produced series, this was a little disappointing of an oversight and it just felt extremely anti-climactic to cut away with no real feeling of resolution. Sure, Laura and Jess may have appeared afterwards on spin-off series You're Fried in the UK, but here we got no opportunity to, well, say goodbye.

As for Last Restaurant Standing, I'll miss having this addictive pleasure to look forward to week after week. But rest assure that I will be bugging BBC America to bring the second season of this brilliant series--which begins production in the UK this summer--back to the airwaves quickly. Hopefully, they'll take a page from their own playbook with Torchwood and air Season Two as close to UK broadcast as possible. After all, I'm hungry for more.

Grant and Jess Experience Kitchen Nightmares on "Last Restaurant Standing"

And then there were two.

I was on the edge of my seat while watching last night's penultimate episode of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (the finale airs next Tuesday), though it was remarkable to see how much was cut from the US telecast from the original British version, including some scenes that further painted challengers Grant and Jess as slightly coming apart at the seams. But more on that in a bit.

In this week's episode, married marketing professionals Grant and Laura and twin children's entertainers Jess and Laura entered Raymond Blanc's latest Challenge: to cook two of their restaurants' dishes in the kitchens of Raymond's fabled restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and serve it to 30 of Raymond's guests while their teammates worked the front of the house, making sure everything ran smoothly out front. While professional chefs like those on Top Chef could have had this in the bag, it was a quick reminder that the players here are amateurs and that the standards of Le Manoir dwarfed those at their own respective eateries. This is two-star Michelin fine dining at its very best. Would they be able to meet Raymond's rigorous standards or would they collapse under the pressure?

The pressure clearly got to poor Grant, who--as Raymond suggested--seemed doomed from the start, almost as if he woke up that morning and knew he wasn't going to win and therefore didn't put all of his energy into the competition. That said, the revised version of his cullen skink (a Scottish soup of potato, onion, and fish) was absolutely stunning, especially with the addition of serving the soup tableside by pouring it from a beautiful pitcher. Raymond's coaxing and suggestions clearly paid off their, as it transformed the dish from its humble origins into something one would expect to encounter at a fine dining establishment. I do think that he also improved his pollack dish (originally it was crusted and perched atop fondant potatoes and samphire) but the customers still seemed let down by the dish and complained that the fish was overwhelmed by the flavors of the roasted potatoes and samphire. No one called Grant on the fact that he served two fish courses instead of diversifying, a problem I had with his menu from the start. I would have liked to have seen him do something a little bit different, even if his main course wasn't beef.

On the other side of the kitchen, Jess found herself more than a little overwhelmed. I thought her rustic take on a broad bean bruschetta--here elevated to a beautiful broad bean salad with mint and crouton--looked delicious and was fresh and bursting with spring flavors. As for her tuna--marinated in a dry rub of chilies and coriander--being overcooked, Jess wisely didn't send out many of the steaks, which had sat for too long waiting for Grant to catch up. (Quality always over speed.) But she was forced to send some out--which Raymond discovered--when there wasn't enough time to fire off a whole other fleet of tuna to get her dishes and Grant's ready at the same time at the pass. Jess also listened to her commis a little too readily, adjusting the seasoning of the tuna... a major complaint that many had as it was oversalted. In the kitchen, Jess, you've got to realize that you are the one calling the shots and not the Le Manoir commis.

Her explanation for this to Raymond was sadly cut out of the US version, along with some scenes that shed a little more light on what it was like in the kitchen. The scene in which Grant finally unearths a few new potatoes... and realizes he'll need about 5 kilos more for the dinner service was a much longer scene, including an exchange between a downtrodden Grant and Raymond, who tells Grant that he needs to keep his head up and get some energy back. Jess meanwhile has a mini-breakdown in Raymond's amazing vegetable garden but ends up finding inspiration in the freshness and beauty of the garden's bounty (trust me, it's a thing of beauty) to turn her outlook around and gain some perspective. Both are definitely put through their paces in this Challenge and both are forced to present two attempts at their dishes for Raymond to approve before they can be served that evening. That both crucially transform their humble dishes into something more elegant and subtle is a testament to their skills.

Out front, both Lauras dealt with the stress of service in different ways. Scottish Laura, who has always been the consummate hostess throughout this competition definitely crumbled under the pressure, unsure of where to place the cutlery, overlooking crucial details, and fumbling throughout. Twin Laura, on the other hand, really did rise to the occasion, offering a polished, dignified presence in the dining room and never outwardly cracking under the strain, offering a smile and a kind word (albeit sometimes through gritted teeth as John Lederer remarked.)

But only one of these teams would advance to the final round to compete with Jeremy and Jane for the chance to own their very own restaurant with Raymond. Would it be Laura and Grant, whose Scottish-themed restaurant Jacques Tamson's improved the most over the course of the competition? Or twins Laura and Jess whose whole-foods concept restaurant Brown & Green caught on with the locals (and their regulars), even though the place wasn't consistently taking enough profit?

In the end, I do think that Grant and Laura shot themselves in the foot a bit with their pessimism and outward, well, honesty. It's one thing to feel like a fish out of water during a competition of this magnitude, but it's quite another to admit to Raymond and his inspectors that you had no idea what you were doing during the latest challenge. Come on, guys, you're marketing executives. You should be able to sell yourselves better. I knew right then that it would be the twins going into the finals. And that Grant and Laura would be closing their restaurant forever. I do think that the twins do have a stronger brand overall and I am happy that they're still fighting and still trying to win rather than succumb to panic. Will they triumph over Jeremy and Jane? Find out next week.

Next week on the season finale of Last Restaurant Standing, Raymond takes the finalists to his home town of Besançon, France, where they will have less than 48 hours to open their own restaurant here for one night and introduce the French to British cuisine, devising a menu that will appeal to the French and train a new team in a foreign language. Which couple will emerge as the winner and will run their own restaurant with Raymond Blanc? I can't wait to find out.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Farmer Wants a Wife (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Audition: Barbara Walters' Journey (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("Ready for My Close-Up"), in a bit of a switch-up, the four remaining girls must photograph Paulina Porizkova for a challenge and then perform in a photo shoot, directed by judge Nigel Barker, that requires them to impersonate famous movie icons... but the judges aren't at all pleased when none of the pictures are particularly stunning.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Frequently Asked Questions"), Adam and Danny have only 72 hours to obtain vital intelligence from a mercenary about a missile attack in London but Danny finds himself troubled by Adam's methods.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Wedding Wars"), a quickfire challenge puts the chefs' knife skills to the ultimate test and then the chefs split into teams to cater a wedding and nearly fall off their feet when they must cook for fourteen hours straight. This elimination challenge looks like it might just be the one to fray several chefs' nerves and possibly lead to a complete and utter mental breakdown.

An Inspector Calls on "Last Restaurant Standing"

The competition is heating up on BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing, with only three couples remaining. I think that over the last dozen or so weeks, Raymond and his talented team of restaurant inspectors have managed to cull the wheat from the chaff and I am pleased with the final three teams left standing.

This week definitely put the pressure on all of them to pull out all of the stops, to entertain and delight their customers, to increase their nightly bookings and turn their tables, and--most importantly--to impress Monsieur Raymond Blanc, who dropped into each restaurant unannounced at various points during the weekend service. It was immensely interesting to see how the front of house and kitchen dealt with his arrival and his presence throughout the evening; in every case, the chefs neglected the food to focus on Raymond. Hell, Jeremy stood there for 15 minutes chatting with him pleasantly about this, that, and the other, while pans nearly boiled over and tickets lined up across the board. Ouch.

But the most intriguing element was to see Raymond poking his nose into the behind the scenes action at Jacques Tamson's, Brown & Green, and Eight in the Country to see how well organized and hygienic the chefs were and, for a Last Restaurant Standing first, to taste their food. Did it live up to Raymond's expectations? Was he treated well by the staff? Let's discuss.

Personally, I'd be happy with any of the teams winning at this point but I was slightly disappointed by what Raymond discovered in some of their kitchens. I've been of the mind up until now that the vegetarian haggis served so lovingly at Grant and Laura's Jacques Tamson's restaurant in Windsor (at time accompanied by a Robert Burns poem, no less) was definitely homemade. Not so, as I depressingly learned from this week's episode: Grant buys them in ready-made and pre-packaged in plastic wrap and keeps them in the cooler. I thought this was pretty sad, in fact. One of their selling points is authentic Scottish cuisine (they seemed to have dropped the French influence along the way) and I assumed--incorrectly--that this was a restaurant specialty, handmade with love and, er, sheep tripe. Points off there for inconsistency, Grant, especially since you did run out of the haggis and had to invent another vegetarian menu option for Raymond on the spot. While I wasn't so turned off by the puff pastry idea as Raymond, I do think that Grant could have come up with something more original and Scottish-themed for the dish that just a puff pastry with vegetables and cheese... served with mash and peas.

At Jess and Laura's whole-foods concept restaurant Brown & Green, homemade wasn't the issue but pre-packaged frozen veg was. For a restaurant that claims to be as fresh and healthy as the girls', I was hoping to see them cooking with more farm-fresh ingredients and less of the supermarket-purchased frozen variety, even though they were all organic. Now I get that some ingredients are actually better frozen (baby peas, for example) because they are picked when perfectly ripe and kept in that state rather than sitting around during the trip to the market, but it did seem as though all of the vegetables were bought in that fashion, which did sit slightly at odds with their culinary ethos. I also thought the restaurant's hygiene was called into question by Raymond, who discovered a kitchen landing covered in detritus, a cabinet filled with dirty, broken dishes and cookware, and moldy raspberries (from several weeks back) on the top shelf of the refrigerator. I was definitely disappointed by this sights. I've been rooting for Jess and Laura for a while now but this definitely made me question whether they are quite ready to run a restaurant... plus, they did have difficulty getting punters in the door for the weekend service, despite sending the servers out with vouchers and fliers.

Over in Eight in the Country, Jeremy definitely seems more in control of his kitchen lately and isn't scrambling over cookbooks while preparing dishes as he was just a few weeks ago. Sure, Jane definitely wears her heart on her sleeve, but I do think that these two have come leaps and bounds as a team and their restaurant can run like a well-oiled machine when they don't get panicked. I definitely think that Raymond's suggestion to write down the time a table has arrived, ordered their food, and been served should be on every ticket, especially since the kitchen and front of house have a hard time remembering how long people have been waiting. And a little more care needs to be put into quality control as Jeremy inadvertently fed a dish of undercooked salmon to a child. But their problems tend to be more in the details and timing than in hygiene or freshness. It was no surprise that they would once again win Restaurant of the Week and be assured of a spot in the finals. At this point, I do think they are the team to beat and whoever else ends up in the Final Two will have their work cut out for them.

As for the other teams, I definitely can see why Raymond put Grant and Laura and the twins into the Challenge. Both teams really need to prove to Raymond and his inspectors that their concept works, that they are committed to be in this business for the long haul, and that they deserve a spot in the final round. Who will emerge to battle against Jane and Jeremy for a chance to own their very own restaurant with Raymond Blanc? Find out next week.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, two couples head to Raymond's celebrated restaurant, Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, where they must work in the kitchens and front of house, stepping up to meet the standards of one of the very best restaurants in the world and producing food and service to rival those of Raymond's in his two-star Michelin establishment. There will be tears, tantrums, and demanding customers and only one team will advance to the final rounds with Raymond's blessing. I can't wait!

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Farmer Wants a Wife (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Boston Legal (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("We Are Spartans!"), the girls train like gladiators for a challenge, with the winner getting a luxe shopping spree in Rome; later, Tyra directs the girls for a photo shoot in a Roman villa.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Celebrity"), MI-5 is called in to investigate when the baby of a rock star (guest star Andy Serkis) and his supermodel wife is kidnapped.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Common Threads"), the contestants are tasked with making a healthy meal using a single main ingredient... in the microwave, Table 52's Art Smith drops by as a guest judge, and Mark tells Tom Colicchio that he thinks the Craft guru doesn't like him very much. Ouch. (See below.)

Chamber of Love or Torture Chamber on "Last Restaurant Standing"

The competition is heating up on BBC America's deliciously stressful culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing, with two of the final four couples going into Raymond Blanc's latest challenge this week.

I knew this week's episode would be a stressful one, with both Lloyd and Adwoa and Grant and Laura strong, competitive teams. If I had to give the upper hand to one of them, it probably would be Grant and Laura, only because Lloyd is still severely struggling in front-of-house. He lacks that "spontaneity" as Raymond dubbed it, so crucial in a fantastic restaurant manager and is far too reactive and not proactive enough in his role; a real shame as Adwoa's cooking is so magnificent and so special and original that put a damper on the entire enterprise.

Raymond's challenge this week was to host a singles event in their respective restaurants; he provided them with 20 young professionals and it was up to the couples to find like-minded individuals with which to pair them and host an evening that would delight and entertain everyone in attendance. After devising their "themes" for the evening--Grant and Laura went with understated elegance and Lloyd and Adwoa with "sexy jungle"--both teams, aided by Jane and Jeremy and Laura and Jess, took to the streets to lure in some singles for the event.

Grant and Laura were very, very smart to demand £5 up front from the punters, in a ruse clearly designed to get them to show up. They also sought out, after looking at the profiles of the guests Raymond provided them, individuals who were of the same age and professional background as their other guests, tailoring the dating pool around the stats of those they were meant to be catering to. Lloyd and Adwoa, on the other hand, did not ask for any money up front and most of the guests that they had spent an entire day wooing didn't turn up that night... or gave them wrong contact information. Ouch. They also cast a far wider net, drawing in anyone who was single, regardless of age or background.

But the real difference had to be (A) the cuisine and (B) the atmosphere. At Jacques Tamson's, Grant and Laura's Windsor restaurant, the food was Scottish with a shared seafood platter (a major misstep, in my book) intended to be a talking point, followed by lamb noisette with mash and minted peas. Not exactly romantic fare; if Grant wanted to stick with Scottish lamb, I would have done something more elegant like a rack of lamb and made the accompaniments a little more refined. After all, this is meant to be a first date for these men and women and you want tasty, easy to eat food that is not overly filling or heavy. On the atmosphere front, Laura did a wonderful job of keeping the event flowing, offering cocktails, ice breakers, chair-swapping, and raffles throughout the evening but always keeping it sophisticated and age-appropriate. She also knew her clientèle very, very well and nearly matched them ahead of time, based on their interests and personalities. Theirs, in my opinion, was far more successful and more in line with what Raymond wanted in the first place.

Over at Spinach & Agushi, Lloyd and Adwoa's Ghanaian restaurant, Adwoa took a different tack with the food than Grant, composing seven exquisite, tapas-style dishes that were delicious, light, and sexy. With 40 dishes to get out each time, Adwoa definitely challenged herself in the kitchen and delivered on all fronts; the food looked absolutely amazing and was a full head and shoulders from Grant's lamb dish.

Lloyd meanwhile was an affable host/MC for the evening but wasn't actually running the restaurant at all. And I have to say that I thought that the Chamber of Love idea that he devised: turning the filthy plastic sheds behind the kitchen into private roosts for wooing couples set the wrong tone for the evening and was, well, pretty creepy. It would have been one thing to transform that space with torches and couches into an outdoors lounge area for anyone... but to pick names at random (including people happily ensconced in conversation with others) and then force them into the "love chamber" for five minutes seemed a little too middle school for me and not really appropriate for professionals looking for a love match. The age range also seemed all over the place and, while the event was a raucous time for many, it was clear that not everyone appreciated the sensibilities behind the evening.

I was really quite sad to see Adwoa and Lloyd go. I think Adwoa is a real talent and has a very strong brand and culinary aesthetic; they were also genuinely nice people even if Adwoa needs to believe in herself and her food more (I could not believe that she couldn't answer Raymond's question about romantic food!). I can see her running a smaller establishment somewhere--hopefully with less serving staff--in a ten-table restaurant that would give her absolute control over the kitchen. I do think that she learned a hell of a lot over the course of this competition and my hat is off to her: she ran the most professional kitchen of the bunch. I actually did get a little teary as Raymond told them that he was closing their restaurant. Sigh.

Only three couples remain. Who will inch closer to owning a restaurant with Raymond Blanc and who will be put into the next challenge? Find out next week.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the remaining three couples are surprised when Raymond unexpectedly turns up at their restaurants and pokes his nose into every single decision they've made up until that point, tasting the food and seeing if their service is up to his high standards... and uncovers moldy ingredients, undercooked food, and unhappy customers.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("Viva Italia"), the girls--including Fatima after her last-minute travel document debacle--head off to Rome, where they must film a commercial in Italian.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Outsiders"), MI-5 believes that Islamic terrorists are behind a computer virus plot that is causing chaos.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Improv"), the chefs are tasked with creating a dessert to satisfy chef Johnny Iuzzini's sweet tooth and they get a lesson in improv from legendary Chicago comedy troupe Second City. Plus, what in the hell is going on with the dinner guests? Find out tonight.

Can You Cancan?: Contestants Delight Customers on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I was more than a little baffled by some of the ideas thrown about in last night's episode of BBC America's addictive culinary competition series, Last Restaurant Standing.

Raymond Blanc had tasked the four remaining couples with creating restaurant experiences that would "surprise and delight" their customers, while increasing the number of bookings (and for the first time start to turn tables), and I expected them to seriously give the matter quite a lot of thought.

One of my favorite elements of the meal at Tom Colicchio's Craft (besides the legendary and delicious food) is when the waitstaff bring you a complimentary cellophane-wrapped pastry for the next morning. It also needn't be free: at Grace, you can order a morning-after box of treats to go or stop by Wednesday nights for "doughnut shoppe," when pastry chef Maria Swan pairs a changing selection of doughnuts with various ice creams and sorbets and a host of other delicious toppings.

Instead, there were ideas both silly (Laura and Jess' cancan) and soggy (LLoyd and Adwoa's chocolate-dipped strawberry afterthought).

Which isn't to say that all of the couples came up with lousy ideas: Jane and Jeremy settled on bringing in a local winemaker to allow guests to participate in a free and impromptu wine tasting with dinner, with the winemaker on hand to discuss his locally produced vintages. It was personalized (he went from table to table), unexpected, and most importantly it fit in with the brand and message of the restaurant. Eight in the Country caters to an upscale clientele and their tasting menu (or even a la carte options) jibed nicely with the casual elegance of the wine tasting. I knew that Jeremy and Jane would be safe from Raymond's Challenge, even if Jeremy did spectacularly mess up with that party of twenty. He had the foresight to go around locally to try to get booking, snagged a woman who wanted to do an al fresco lunch for twenty guests, and then never bothered to call her to confirm the booking or get back to her with a possible pricing, as he had promised. And when confronted about it by Jane, all he did was shrug and say it wasn't his fault. Grr. (I do hope he watched the footage where he tells the woman that he would call her.)

Grant and Laura come up with the idea of a Burns-inspired night for their Scottish restaurant, Jacques Tamson in Windsor. While I agree with Sarah Willingham that it seemed a little too gimmicky (Grant toasts his vegetarian haggis with a Robert Burns poem; Laura traumatizes guests with her off-key rendition of "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose"), at least they tried to do something interesting and risky. Personally, I'd have been a part of the 50% of customers cringing in agony. I don't like theatrics with my dinner unless they're on the plate and being forced to listen to Laura warbling would have put me off my food... especially as the couple believed that the experience was repeatable from service to service. Maybe if there was a professional singer in there, but I'm just not seeing it.

I had high hopes that Laura and Jess would come up with something spectacular to "entertain and delight" the customers but they ended up alienating their female guests when they burst through the doors halfway through service to perform a raucous cancan. (At least it was choreographed.) What they didn't show during the US version of the episode was the (male) guests posing for pictures with the twins; photos that were given away with the restaurant's branding on it. The photography idea was... okay but the notion of giving something to take away is what these guys really needed to focus on. Even more telling: the reason the girls were suddenly crying during their time at the judges' table was cut from the US edition. Inspector John Lederer castigated the girls for their cancan, which he felt played up their sexuality far too much, with two blonde girls flaunting themselves for the public, an accusation which did not sit well with the twins, who said that their dance was innocent, joyous fun. Even I got teary-eyed as the accusation completely threw them for a loop but, in a restaurant that does cater to 60% female guests, that was a major consideration that they overlooked.

And then there was Lloyd and Adwoa. I am so frustrated with these two that I can't even articulate how upset it made me to see that they only had six bookings for Friday night. Not six tables, six people. Especially in light of the fact that some nights during the competition, they've been so busy that there's been a queue of people outside Spinach & Agushi waiting to try their Ghanaian cuisine. Lloyd leaves the restaurant unmanned and ill-prepared for service to go and stand in a supermarket car park, trying to hand out leaflets to people passing by. Ouch. People can smell desperation a mile away and Lloyd just stood there, trying to give drivers a piece of paper as they left the car park. It was doomed to fail from the start and he should have definitely sent one of their many, many staffers out to try to drum up business rather than waste time doing it himself.

As for the "delight," all Lloyd and Adwoa came up with was a melted chocolate dipped strawberry at the end of the meal. This was a shockingly bad idea that smacked of laziness: there was nothing surprising or delightful about it and having customers wait over an hour for food in an empty restaurant counteracted any customer courtesy that they might have been striving for. Poorly done, guys. Even more telling: that the waitress was bossing Lloyd around. While Adwoa's food might be as tasty as can be, these two have got a ways to go before they can consider opening a restaurant.

It's no surprise then that Lloyd and Adwoa, along with Grant and Laura, are put into Raymond's latest Challenge. Unless they're able to pull a miracle out of a bag somehow, it's looking more and more likely that these two won't be making it to the final round. Will they sink of swim in the challenge? Find out next week.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, two couples enter Raymond's latest challenge: to create a singles' night at their respective restaurants and help their customers find love and have a fun, romantic time in the process. But in order to do so they have to fill their restaurant with suitable suitors for the twenty young execs that Raymond has lined up for them, a task easier said than done.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate (ABC; 8-10 pm); 'Til Death/Back to You (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("For Those About to Walk, We Salute You"), Paulina turns up to teach the girls how to properly behave during interviews and public events and the girls are then dressed by designer Jay Godfrey and tasked with display their new social skills at a cocktail party filled with to the brim with fashion VIPs. Elsewhere, one of the girls realizes she lost her travel documents and may not be able to accompany the girls to their secret international location.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Persephone"), Zoe becomes a scapegoat when an operation leads to the death of an undercover police officer and is charged with involuntary manslaughter.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Tailgating"), the chefs are tasked with creating a dish that not only works with but enhances the flavor of a specific drink; a tailgating task has guests dumping their food in the trash rather than eating it; Ryan claims to not to be a sports fan; Nikki comes undone during the challenge; Spike and Mark take a bubble bath. Yeah, I'm really not sure about that last thing either...

Zapped: Couples Create Microwavable Meals on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Was it just me or was that just a truly stressful episode of Last Restaurant Standing last night? While I always find the series engaging and informative, I have never been quite so stressed as I was last night whilst watching it before.

Maybe it had something to do with the breadth and scope of Raymond Blanc's latest challenge or the fact that the playing field has been largely cleared of the incapable, with only five couples remaining at the start of the episode. By the time Raymond sat down with the players by the end, another restaurant had closed its doors forever, leaving only four couples left on the series. The heat is definitely on in the kitchen.

Raymond tasked the three couples with translating their restaurant's brand into pre-packaged microwave dinners, which they would then have to cook, design, and package before pitching to two leaders in the package dinner world from Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer's. This was their toughest challenge to date and reminded me of one of the tasks you might see on Top Chef: rigorous, demanding, and filled with little traps for the unsuspecting couples. Branding is one thing but taking that sort of marketing and translating it to the shelves of a supermarket chain (while also keeping the quality high) is quite another.

I was really, really pleased with Jess and Laura's performance. Raymond put them in the challenge to wake them up, accusing them of coasting during the competition and not pushing themselves to take enough risk. I think they definitely excelled at this challenge: they thought outside of the box (heh) and identified a niche market--microwavable, healthy dinners for kids--that wasn't currently being served and molded it to Brown & Green, their own brand of wholesome, whole food that was cheeky and playful as well as delicious. Plus, who doesn't love the name Kiddywinkles? Looking at the packaging, the ingredients, and the quality of the food, I would have bought that meal for my child if I wasn't able to cook for them. It contained the very essence of their brand and didn't skimp on quality; it was risky without being overly ambitious.

I do wish that they had thought about the cod sustainability issue but with less than a day to turn this entire project around I thought that the judges were being a little hypercritical with them. (They did ask the fish monger who told them the cod was from the English side of the Atlantic and was fine.) Their pitch was on target as well (other than the cod issue), presenting the buyers with an appropriate jingle that summed up the product, the demographic, and their core values. Food looked and tasted good but I do agree that the brown rice in the children's chocolate rice pudding could create a heavy feeling in a dish that should be filling but still feel light and airy. But all in all, I thought they did great and was pleased as punch that Raymond declared them the winners of the challenge. Fingers crossed that their win works to keep them engaged and taking risk next week.

As for Jeremy and Jane, their failure to excel at this challenge was dictated from the start. I understand that Jeremy has certain principles about his eight-course tasting menu at Eight in the Country, but he's so damn inflexible about everything that it's impossible for him to succeed. You don't go to a pitch and tell the client--who has a huge stake in whether or not you pass or fail this task--that you don't approve of microwavable dinners and don't like the microwave. No, you keep that to yourself and focus on the task at hand: creating the best possible microwavable dinner that you can. I think that they had it all backwards in this task, focusing far too much on the package and presentation (well, in the photograph, anyway) and not enough about thinking about how the food would look, taste, and cook after being zapped.

Does their high-end culinary philosophy work for a line of pre-packaged dinners? Absolutely not. But Jeremy refused to broaden his way of thinking to find a dish that wasn't overly rich and dated that would work. Plus, why would you again make a dish that's overly complicated that you haven't tried before for something like this, i.e., the white chocolate and black cherry fondant? That's not taking risk, that's just foolhardy. And their presentation to the clients was messy, unorganized, and unimaginative; plus, Jeremy somehow managed to forget his ONE line of dialogue. It was, sadly, an embarrassment.

Finally, there was Emma and Martin, who managed to squeak by in several previous challenges but I had a feeling that, unless Jeremy and Jane's dishes really failed to hit the mark, they'd be going home last night. It was a calculated risk to choose a dish like Lancashire hot pot for their pre-packaged meal, especially as there were a number of other brands already using that very same dish on the supermarket shelves; the point of the challenge was to be innovative and on brand. And I think they failed on both accounts.

Over the past five weeks, this lovable twosome put their heart into this endeavor and yet ended up failing time and time again. Perhaps it was their inexperience with marketing or branding. Or, more likely, it was the fact that they didn't really have a concept for their restaurant at all. They cooked contemporary English food like a zillion other restaurants but had a French name (Bravo!) for their eatery and no twist; they tried to use a bistro concept without understanding the actual terminology or meaning behind that style of cuisine. And yet the thing they seemed to love most was honest, homey Northern fare... but didn't offer a single Northern specialty on their menu. Why were they not serving things like Lancashire hot pot and similar at a place called North? Why did they not use the slogan "From North to Mouth" on their packaging? Even better still: why did it take this long for them to realize what their restaurant concept should have been from the beginning in order to make it unique?

Color me confused. I understand that they are innocents in way over their heads but these are simple, simple questions that they should have had the answers to before the competition began. As much as I love them, I am glad that Raymond called them out and told them that they should never, ever open a restaurant on their own and that they are not cut out for this business. That has nothing to do with the quality of Martin's food but with the lack of business acumen and vision necessary to run a restaurant successfully.

It was only fitting that Raymond close Bravo! after all of this time. I do think that Emma and Martin had a good run and are genuinely good and decent people but it was long time that they left this competition.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the couples must focus on the customer, devising ideas that will "surprise and delight" every customer who walks through the door, but quickly realize that what pleases one customer alienates another; Jess and Laura attempt to put on a high-spirited dance routine, which upsets some clients, while a singing performance at another restaurant leads to embarrassment. Still bigger problems loom: one couple can't seem to fill their restaurant and control the staff, while another discovers that their food is ending up in the bin.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); American Idol (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Primetime (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("Top Model 10 Confidential"), it's clip show time already as we're forced to sit through an hour of previously unaired footage from the season so far, including model wrestling matches and NYC firefighters practicing runway walks. Gee, I was hoping for a new episode...

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Love and Death"), Zoe and Danny follow a rogue scientist who has the capability to make and detonate a biological weapon over a large population.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("The Elements"), the chefs must complete in a complex taste test and cater an upscale charity event for 230 guests; Dale shows his temper following the challenge; and Jennifer redecorates the holding area by throwing chairs all over the place. Mmmm... smells like drama!

A Brand New Day on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Competition is seriously heating up on BBC America's addictive culinary competition Last Restaurant Standing yet I can't believe how one couple has managed to muddle through this far.

Yes, ladies and gents, I am talking about the lovable but way-out-of-their-depths Emma and Martin who have the natural ability to amuse and charm but whose restaurant Bravo! lacks brand identification, profit, or, well, customers for that matter.

This week, Raymond Blanc raised the stakes yet again for the remaining couples: in addition to filling their eateries with hungry (and cash-holding) customers, they'd also have to perform two tasks: to create a cooking course for at least six pupils and to clearly define their restaurants' brands. Were the teams able to solidify just what makes each of their restaurants unique and what are their individual selling points? Let's find out.

Grant and Laura. I have to say, when this series first started, I didn't have such high hopes for Grant and Laura's Scottish-French fusion restaurant, Jacques Tamson's in Windsor. It was such a risky blend of disparate cuisines and the punters didn't exactly seem to be flocking in numbers to the restaurant. Yet over the last few weeks, these two have managed to pull it together. Laura was right to insist about the waiters wearing Flower of Scotland tartan ties (as much as Grant resented it) and the couple smartly went on a local radio show to promote the restaurant and have fun with their Scottish brand by bringing deep-fried Mars bars on the air... and then sell them with ice cream as a tongue-in-cheek dessert. It was only fitting that they did win Restaurant of the Week this go-around; they completely took on Raymond's advice and made their brand recognizable and concrete... while having to deal with a truculent kitchen porter, no less.

Jeremy and Jane. These two went into this week with such overconfidence that I knew it would all come crumbling down this week. Jeremy's cooking demo was an absolute disaster from the start; beginning by having everyone seated at a table looking at the "paperwork" was a bad enough beginning but it didn't prepare me for the sight of Jeremy continually glancing into a cookbook (!) during his crab cake demo. I have no idea why he would have chosen to make crab cakes if he wasn't familiar with the recipe and had never made them before. I also don't know why he wouldn't have involved the pupils in the actual cooking process. Perhaps then he might have not neglected to include the actual crab in the crab cakes... That said, they did manage to turn a profit this week but, like Raymond and his inspectors, I am not sure if they have a strong enough brand. Eight in the Country's entire identity seems to revolve around the notion of a leisurely eight course tasting menu, but if no one is coming in to order it and most people seem to be in the mood for a quite meal, are you fulfilling your brand by serving one or two courses to nearly all of your customers? They really have to rethink their commitment to the menu if they hope to stay open much longer.

Lloyd and Adwoa. I really don't understand why their Ghanian restaurant, Spinach and Agushi, isn't making more money. Week to week, their profit margin seems to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride yet they always seems to have a crowded dining room... and an excess of staff, unfortunately. While we didn't get to see Adwoa's cooking school in very much detail, it did seem like her young customers were having a blast... which is why I could see that this couple would opt to capture Surrey's student population with a special student meal deal that promised two courses for a low, low, low £9.50. But their big mistake was not limited the offer to specific days or hours. That sort of low price will attract some of the area's 9000 students but they can then choose to fill your dining room during peak hours, not order spendy wine, and take away profit. Lloyd and Adwoa should have limited the usage from 5-7 or so each day in order to fill the tables early and then turn them over quickly for a second seating.

Laura and Jess. I love the twins but Raymond is right: it does seem like they've been coasting for a while now. They have a great brand in their casual whole food eatery Brown & Green and a loyal customer base but they should be more busy than they are. Their cooking course was a definite success from the viewpoint of customer satisfaction: they offered hands-on demonstrations, cocktails, wine, and a full meal... all for free. Why didn't the lovely ladies charge the attendees? Especially as they didn't use the opportunity to leverage the course as a means to getting more bookings at the weekend? Their brand exercise--selling bottles of their homemade hummus, a popular staple at the restaurant--was pretty sub-par, as they only had 10 jars to sell and had a hard time doing that. Yes, it represents the restaurant and is portable and cheap to produce but it didn't lure in any NEW customers. And that was the point of the exercise. For the first time, the twins will enter Raymond's challenge (after twice winning Restaurant of the Week) and I do hope that it spurs them to become more creative and determined about making their restaurant more profitable.

Emma and Martin. Finally, there's Emma and Martin who seem to have more lives than a cat. By all accounts, they should have been sent packing a long time ago but Raymond has a soft spot in his heart for this couple. Still, it was shameful that Emma didn't know what a "brand" was and neither of them could categorize what their restaurant Bravo!'s brand was... or what kind of cooking it offered, especially since Emma's contribution to the brand challenge was the slogan "Where the food we love becomes the food you love," but then Martin couldn't name any specific cuisine he loved (he offered paella) and Emma couldn't name a single dish on their menu or really explain the restaurant's concept.

Of all of the restaurants still open, Bravo! lacks a clear focus. It purports to be bistro-style contemporary English cooking, but those two ideas are definitely at juxtaposition. Putting bistro on a flier doesn't make your restaurant so. Emma's other ideas--offering glasses of wine to random folks on the street and forcing them to take a confusing flier... and a £10 champagne and barbecue dinner--just confused the issue more. I am not sure how champagne and BBQ go together or how they advance the idea of bistro-style contemporary English food. Color me confused. Seeing as they only turned a £7 profit, tt was no surprise that they would be going into the challenge yet again this week and it will take nothing short of a miracle if Emma and Martin make it out of there still in the competition.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, three couples enter Raymond's latest challenge: to come up with exciting microwavable meals and pitch them to two high street stores, creating an innovative and original dish that also has mass appeal, producing eye-catching packaging, and offer an informative and personable presentation. This could just be the challenge that makes or breaks them when they learn what might fly in the restaurant doesn't work on the supermarket shelves.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("If You Can't Make It Here, You Can't Make It Anywhere"), the models get split into two groups as they head out on go-sees and later participate in a Broadway photo shoot (where they will be shot through a plastic sheet while laying face down in water). Meanwhile, one model gets a second makeover (guess who) and another is injured. Please be Dominique, please be Dominique...

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("A Prayer for My Daughter"), Adam tracks a pro-Israel extremist after a peace negotiator disappears.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Film Food"), guest judge Daniel Boulud drops by to test the chefs on their knife skills and the contestants have to cater a film-themed dinner party for film critic Richard Roeper.

Brotherly Love (and Loads of Confusion) on "Last Restaurant Standing"

If you watched last night's episode of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing, I am curious to know what you thought about the latest elimination.

To me, it was a foregone conclusion that brothers Michael and Ed would be the ones to get the chop and their restaurant, the woefully struggling Treacle Well, would close its doors forever. This week, the three teams in the challenge--the brothers, Emma and Martin, and Lloyd and Adwoa--had to cater a three-course dinner for 50 guests at a dinner at Blenheim Palace.

I thought that Lloyd and Adwoa were smart to fuse their trademark Ghanian cuisine with a lighter, fresher menu that reflected what their group--businesswomen from Banbury--would come to expect from a networking dinner. Their only hiccup: that terribly plated dessert of tropical fruit and cream, which looked slopped on the plate without any forethought. Personally, I would have done a parfait, layering their stewed fruit with thick cream, if they wanted something light and simple. As it was, it looked more suitable for a cafeteria than an elegant dinner.

Emma and Martin did a good job cooking for and entertaining their guests, a group of Oxford rugby players... in spite of their lack of organization. Martin neglected to purchase any chef's whites for his agency staff (Grant ended up fashioning aprons for them out of leftover fabric from the tablecloths) and only brought one frying pan with him. Which would have been bad enough, except that he had to cook no less than fifty steaks for his hungry guests. Raymond Blanc was right to scold him and teammate Emma for not organizing themselves better by writing a list of all of their essential ingredients and equipment ahead of time. (As it was, Martin had to sneak into the house to steal that frying pan as he had actually not brought any with him.) Still, their food--salad of warm chicken livers and seared steak with veg for the main--looked gorgeous, though once again dessert proved to be tricky: their pavlova was a disaster and the kitchen ended up serving thick whipped cream and strawberries in the end. Not the best save but serviceable all the same.

Then there was the brothers. Sigh. I knew it was going to be a major catastrophe as soon as I saw Michael being delusional again about his menu, his skills, and his customers. What would you have served a group of Bangladeshis from Oxford, knowing their tastes in advance? Certainly not traditional English fare: chilled asparagus vinaigrette, seared lamb, vegetables en papillote, chocolate truffles? Yet that's just what Michael did, serving underseasoned, bland (at least to the palettes of his guests) food that they were unaccustomed to--0ne man admitted he had never even eaten asparagus before--and which was completely unsuitable for the client. The lamb was also completely undercooked, rare in the middle, which was insulting to the guests; Ed and Michael completely missed the point of using halal meats, if they weren't going to cook them appropriately.

Knowing that he had 30 vegetarians in attendance--more than half of his guests!--why was the vegetarian entree such an afterthought? After his failed attempt at making a vegetable tart (also unsuitable), Michael then came up with the awful idea of shoving some carrots, peas, and leaks into some greaseproof paper with some cream and wine and calling it papillote. The paper parcels completely failed to puff up and the end result was a soggy, greasy mess that baffled the guests and was just utterly depressing. Why not cook a big batch of spicy vegetable curry with fresh veg and loads of heat? Why force your cuisine choices onto the customer?

Even Ed, who is usually logical and realistic compared to his brother, failed to notice how unhappy the guests were and how much food was going uneaten. As much as I had rooted for the brother early on, it's clear that they are in way over their heads and had to be the ones to get cut from the pack.

But what did you think: was it time for them to head home? Should inspector Sarah been quite as insulted and irate about their choices as she was? And who is moving into the frontrunner position to win this competition and earn their very own restaurant with Raymond Blanc?

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the couples have to come up with distinctive brands for their restaurants that will make them stand out amid a crowded marketplace; one wastes all of their marketing budget on printing leaflets that are riddled with errors; others turn up on the radio; Jeremy's cooking class idea is an apocalyptic disaster.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("House of Pain"), the girls are forced to put on unitards and get pointers from Tyra on "expressing themselves" at the end of a runway; one girl gets to have a photo shoot with judge Nigel Barker while posing nude; three girls gang up on one of the model wannabes who doesn't seem to know how to turn off her alarm clock in the early morning.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Who Guards the Guards?"), a notorious writer is nearly murdered while under MI-5 protection, leading the team to investigate a Pakistani terrorist organization.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Block Party"), Rick Bayless drops by as a guest judge while the chefs are tasked with putting on a neighborhood fiesta and tensions between the contestants--especially one couple--reaches a breaking point.

NBC Gets Its Own Culinary Competition Series

I wonder: is it really news nowadays when NBC buys yet another international format?

Regardless of that fact, I was at least intrigued by NBC's latest reality order for The Chopping Block, based on an Australian format to be executive produced by David Barbour and Julian Cress that sounds completely similiar to BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (or, as it was known in the UK, The Restaurant).

In this case, the Peacock has cast, er, highly eccentric retired chef Marco Pierre White (who trained Gordon Ramsay... and then replaced Ramsay on the UK version of Hell's Kitchen) in the Raymond Blanc taskmaster role. White was last glimpsed on these fine shores in the recent Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode when he traveled to England.

The series will follow eight couples as they compete for their own restaurant. However, unlike Last Restaurant Standing, the couples will be split into two teams that will compete head-to-head in adjoining restaurants in Manhattan.

The result is like crossing Top Chef's Restaurant Wars challenge with Hell's Kitchen and LRS, with the teams participating in typical reality challenge fodder like designing their eateries. launching marketing campaigns, and drumming up business for their new ventures... all while working together a la The Apprentice. Their success will be monitored by a group of professional food critics who will act as judges and review the restaurants.

I'll likely check out The Chopping Block when it launches next season--especially if they wisely schedule it when Top Chef is out of season--but this Last Restaurant Standing addict can't help but be stung by the lack of recognition for that BBC2 format, especially as NBC thinks that they are being original by having their teams made up of couples. ("The real novel twist is having couples," said NBC reality chief Craig Plestis. "That's where you're going to see all the drama.")

Paging Raymond Blanc, perhaps?

Still, if you can't take the heat, then chances are you shouldn't be in the kitchen at all.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Beauty and the Geek (CW); It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown/Just for Laughs (ABC); American Idol (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); One Tree Hill (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC; 9-10:30 pm)

10 pm: Jericho (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Miss/Guided (ABC; 10:30-11 pm)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Beauty and the Geek.

I'm tempted to tune out altogether after the latest disastrous "game-changing twist," but it gets one more shot before I give up on this series. On tonight's episode ("Raps, Rhymes, and Geeks"), the geeks compete against the beauties in a talent show (gee, I wonder who wins), while one of the beauties proves that she'll do anything to stay in the house.

9 pm: Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America.

On the seventh episode of this addictive British import, it's a gruesomely fantastic episode as the remaining teams must motivate and train their staffs with sales techniques but Raymond has a trick up his sleeve and announces that they will have to include a mystery ingredient in their menus and promptly sends each restaurant a batch of live eels, which they must kill and serve to their guests that evening. Will the teams rise to the occasion? Or will they be at each other's throats? Find out tonight.

10 pm: The Riches on FX.

It's the second season opener of a Televisionary fave, The Riches, tonight ("The Last Temptation of Wayne"), Dahlia, the kids, and Cherien's mother hit the road while Wayne remains behind in Edenfalls to deal with Pete and gets an offer from Hugh that may be too good to pass up.

Season of the Witch: Couples Aim for Local and Seasonal on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I came home yesterday to discover a large pile of DVDs of culinary competition series, Last Restaurant Standing, from the good folks at BBC America, who know full well my undying obsession with the Raymond Blanc-hosted series.

Despite numerous other television offering (including several series I need to catch up on), I spent the evening with the future Mrs. Televisionary watching several episodes (heaven!) and sitting on the edge of my couch, glued to the television set. Over the course of the next few episodes, the remaining couples will face their toughest challenges yet and nearly reach the brink of collapse.

For those of you not watching Last Restaurant Standing, you really are missing out: it's gripping, tension-laden, and provocative. It also gives you a first-hand glimpse into what it takes to run a restaurant and, I am sure, will deter a few would-be restaurateurs from entering the business after seeing what these couples go through. (For those of you who ARE watching, I'm curious: What about the series appeals to you? And have your post-Top Chef perceptions about professional kitchens changed after watching the series?)

This week, three couples went into Raymond's latest challenge: to create a menu based around local, seasonal ingredients and and to tie the menu together with a special evening based around local history. It's a tough order for these inexperienced chefs and managers, but Scottish couple Grant and Laura manage to pull it off charmingly. Based in the shadow of Windsor Castle, the couple's restaurant, Jacques Tamson, offers a nine-course tasting menu that offers a taste of Windsor through the ages recounts the history of the royal family, from Saxon days to the present.

Ambitious? Yes, but smart and clever. The duo lucks out in that they can buy all of their meat and veg (not to mention cheese, etc.) from the royal parks shop, which sources all of its ingredients from the royal farmlands, just a stone's throw away. They also dress the restaurant (and themselves) using theatrical props to create an armor-laden stronghold suitable for their royal-themed evening and entertain their guests remarkably. It was undeniably clear that these two would be safe from elimination.

At Eight in the Country, Jeremy and Jane's relationship hit the skids as they constantly bickered and argued during this challenge. I'm not sure why this team, so strong in the initial rounds of the competition, has waned so considerably but now, instead of fighting to keep their restaurant open, they're fighting with each other... and not paying much attention to Raymond's brief: keep it local, keep it seasonal. Instead, Jeremy designs a menu more suitable for winter: parsnip soup, lamb stew with root veg. Whah? Additionally, his team has created a fantastic picnic-themed evening based around the Henley Regatta, but Jeremy's dishes fail to match the casual elegance that this idea conjures. And I refuse to accept that, especially armed with a list of local suppliers from Raymond (!), that Jane and Jeremy couldn't find any local, seasonal ingredients. In the end, they opt for Australian carrots, French lettuce, and a plethora of European and vaguely English veg and serve an asparagus starter (locally source), in which they offer each guest two mere spears! For shame, guys.

And at Monk's, mum and son team Nicola and Tom once again struggle to get the food out and have it taste and look pleasant. It was inexcusable that Nicola served inspector Sarah burnt toast, even if Adwoa did cook it. It's the chef's responsibility to check for quality control at the pass and, despite her many promises, Nicola has still not stepped up and taken control of her kitchen. While they did stick to seasonal, local food, what they served wasn't up to the high standards that Raymond Blanc's name suggests and this team has squeaked by time and time again to remain in the competition.

In the end, Raymond had to close Nicola and Tom's restaurant though it was a tough decision between them and Jeremy and Jane, both of whom failed the challenge for different reasons. Still, I agree with Raymond's edict: Nicola and Tom have had several changes to pull it together and make Monk's work and they just haven't, despite Tom's polished presence in front of the house. Still, I couldn't believe Nicola's stroppy attitude towards Raymond upon being eliminated. It never really sunk it, did it, what Raymond meant when he told her repeatedly that there was a difference between a home cook and a chef? Nicola may be a good home cook but she cannot run a kitchen and the quality of the food at Monk's supports this, as does the disorganization and lack of leadership in the kitchen. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, it's a gruesomely fantastic episode as the remaining teams must motivate and train their staffs with sales techniques but Raymond has a trick up his sleeve and announces that they will have to include a mystery ingredient in their menus and promptly sends each restaurant a batch of live eels, which they must kill and serve to their guests that evening. Will the teams rise to the occasion? Or will they be at each other's throats? Find out next week. It's a doozy!

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("Where's the Beef?"), the girls visit the meatpacking district and pose with beef carcasses for this week's photo shoot and Jaslene drops by with a runway challenge for the remaining models.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, catch the start of Season Three tonight on BBC America, the perfect jumping on point for new viewers. On tonight's installment ("Project Friendly Fire"), Tom is a fugitive after being framed for an assassination and goes on the run after shooting Harry in order to escape.

10-11:15 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

Season Four of Televisionary obsession Top Chef begins tonight. On the season opener ("Anything You Can Cook I Can Cook Better"), sixteen chefs arrive in Chicago and must put their own unique culinary spin on a Chicago classic. (For sneak peek, read my advance review of the Top Chef premiere here.)

Child's Play on "Last Restaurant Standing"

One of the things that I find most interesting on BBC America's culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing is how much the competitors' standings can shift from week to week. One week, your eatery has earned Raymond Blanc's coveted Restaurant of the Week award; two weeks later, it seems like you could be going home and your restaurant's doors closed for good.

That's just what happened to former superstars Jane and Jeremy, whose multiple course restaurant, Eight in the Country, was the clear winner during the series' first week. Since then, however, things have gone downhill for the couple. In recent weeks, they've struggled to book the restaurant and the introduction of an a la carte menu (in addition to the restaurant's namesake eight-course prix fixe) meant that their take went down considerably as no one opted for the more expensive tasting menu. In fact, they were the only couple this week to actually lose money, landing a negative balance at the end of the day. Ouch. Consequently, a disappointed Raymond Blanc--who scolded Jane and Jeremy for their poor profit-taking and surprising lack of customer happiness--forced his former golden children into the next Challenge.

Meanwhile, things couldn't be more different at Adwoa and LLoyd's Ghanian-food themed restaurant Spinach & Agushi. If it seemed like anyone was going home that first week, it was these two. The restaurant was poorly managed at the front of the house, Adwoa nearly killed inspector Sarah Willingham with undercooked chicken, and it was just a scene of chaos and confusion all around.

This week, Adwoa and Lloyd took home the Restaurant of the Week star and I couldn't be happier with Raymond's decision. These two took on board every suggestion that Raymond and his team made and managed to turn their restaurant completely around. Adwoa is the ONLY chef on this series that runs her kitchen like an actual restaurant. Food goes out quickly, empty plates come back, happy patrons buzz about, an actual queue forms outside. A lesson for their fellow competitors: this is how you do it, folks.

Lloyd and Adwoa also did brilliantly during the children's task. Challenged to come up with a children's menu and a special early pre-dinner service for the kids and their parents (complete with entertainment), they pondered with whether to remain true to their restaurant's Ghanian theme or whether to just serve the kids "burger and chips." Happily, they chose the former, refusing to sell-out and demean their vision of the place, but willing to tweak the recipes and dishes enough that children would like them as well. Adwoa called the experiment an "introduction to Ghanian food" and I have to say that I was impressed with this duo all around this week.

The others didn't fare so well, though I was happy that previous winners Laura and Jess did so well this week as well (despite a nasty burn that nearly shut down the kitchen in the middle of service). As for the teams' marketing ideas, I couldn't help but scratch my head. Grant and Laura's haggis-themed scavenger hunt which attracted two participants and ended up costing them £150 without any promise of paying customers? Bizarre, especially given their marketing and promotions background and a "hunt" that consisted of one location.

Martin and Emma, meanwhile, planned a 100-balloon "launch" but neglected to fill the balloons with enough helium (and tied weighty notices to them) so that they all just stayed sank in the local square... not that anyone seemed to notice. Eeek. Tom dressed up as a monk to promote the restaurant he and his mum Nicola run together... and was avoided at all costs by all passers-by.

Eddie, in a misguided attempt to drum up business for the Treacle Well, insulted a concierge at Oxford's luxe Randolf Hotel (stayed there several times, BTW) by asking whether he could commission favorable recommendations for his restaurant, a grievous offense in the eyes of a high-minded hotel staffer who takes his hotel's reputation very seriously (and rightfully so). It was a disaster to attempt this, especially as the Randolf Hotel has a fine dining establishment of its own, and every attempt to win over the concierge was met with steely resolve. Though he did appreciate the flowers Eddie brought.

All in all, these teams really need to step up their game and concentrate on filling the seats at their restaurants and hitting the street to market, market, market. While Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares can teach you many things about how to fix failing restaurants, the most important thing he always tries to impart to his subjects is the importance of marketing, of forming solid reputations among the locals and getting them to (A) try the restaurant, (B) impress them with the quality of the food and service, and most importantly (C) come back again and tell their friends.

If any of these teams want to win the grand prize at the end of Last Restaurant Standing, they'll have to do just that. Right now, all eyes are on Lloyd and Adwoa and Jess and Laura...

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, Jeremy and Jane, Grant and Laura, and Tom and Nicola face the challenge of their lives: they must host gourmet evenings with local produce and offer entertainment celebrating local history. Some end up encountering difficulties sourcing seasonal ingredients (really?) and others decide to break the rules...

Being Catered to Isn't Rocket Science on "Last Restaurant Standing"

There is justice in the world, after all.

I'm speaking of course of this week's episode of the highly addictive BBC America reality series, Last Restaurant Standing. When we last left the remaining eight couples--each on a quest to open their own eatery with celebrity restaurateur Raymond Blanc--three teams had been pushed into the challenge after yet another disastrous weekend. For Martin and Emma, Sam and Jacqui, and Nicola and Tom, one of their restaurants would be closed forever and their dreams dashed.

The challenge this week: to feed a potential crowd of 800 rocket scientists at a laboratory canteen outside Oxford during the lunch crush... and to make profit doing so. In order to achieve this end, they would have to carefully price out each portion, determine food costs, and maximize their profit-taking at every turn. Or that's what they were meant to be doing, anyway. In their inimitable style, Sam and Jacqui once again managed to miss the point of the task at hand and devised some incredibly elaborate (and ultimately vastly misguided) rubric for determining their potential profit.

I do have to say that over the last few episodes, Jacqui has managed to grow on me a little bit. Say what you will about her preening need to be in the spotlight (rather than have it placed on the food), but she always tries her hardest to get the job done and does genuinely want to see The Ostrich flourish. Her husband Sam, on the other hand, is once again oblivious to time constraints, profit-taking, and organization and seems to lack any leadership skills whatsoever. It's absolutely clear to me that these two should not be in the restaurant business; Sam is meant to be running the kitchen but once again leaves his team to fend for itself. The Yellow Team ends up carrying Sam along and wastes precious time trying to get Sam to focus on completing little tasks, as he cannot and will not look at the big picture. Nor does he write up a timeline for the day, give his team members any direction, or seem to appreciate the fact that they have a very limited amount of time to prep and cook that much food.

They also neglected to buy any sugar, needed for their Mexican-themed apple crumble, and have to buy it off another team. Their marketing campaign did seem to pay off: they had a long queue throughout the lunchtime rush to try out their Mexican specials and Jacqui's personal appearances--armed with free lime cordial and the promise of free nachos--did get the punters to show up. Still, they probably would have done better had they actually, you know, costed the food as they made very little profit in the end, something that Raymond fortunately called them out on.

I was really pleased with Nicola and Tom's progress this week. After another disastrous service, Nicola seemed to crumble into a shell of her former self and couldn't seem to maintain any order in her kitchen. This week, Nicola did a complete 180 degree and took the reigns of her team, was organized, efficient, and led by example. The result: her team, which opted to serve a lunchtime roast (succulent roast pork, crackling, roast potatoes, veg, and a crumble), won the challenge. They were smart with their marketing, placing hundreds of fliers advertising the food and a special deal (main and pudding for £4) all over the lab, and an offer that caught on with the scientists. Plus, who doesn't love a roast?

Bravo to Nicola for showing the most improvement in such a brief spell. While she could have crumbled under the weight of the challenge, she definitely used it as an excuse to change her behavior and step up to the role demanded of her. And, when asked by Raymond and his inspectors for their cost, they were able to effortlessly answer the question, unlike Sam and Jacqui. Well done, guys.

As for Emma and Martin, I really did think they were sunk this week. While they seemed to do everything right at the beginning--and had prison cook Martin and military cook Jeremy on the team--they seemed to be the least busy during the lunchtime rush. Not helping things was the fact that their food, while well-prepared, seemed the most like what these scientists would be eating on a daily basis: chicken chasseur, rhubarb crumble. What Emma and Martin had on offer seemed like catering food rather than the hearty pleasure of tucking into a roast or a specialty like Mexican food. Plus, they had actually set their price point lower than the rest of the teams (which kept theirs at the £3.50 maximum allowance), guaranteeing them less profit in the end, despite keeping their costs at an astounding 80 pence per portion.

Still, in the end, Raymond chose to keep Emma and Martin's restaurant open another week and closed The Ostrich for good. It was a tough decision for the Manoir aux Quat' Saisons owner but I definitely believe that he made the right choice. While Emma and Martin clearly need to step it up in the coming weeks and turn a profit, they do at least seem to genuinely care about their restaurant and this experience. Sam, meanwhile, wanted to play drums in his restaurant and have someone else run the place and cook the food. Clearly delusional about how much work (and love) have to go into making a restaurant hum along, Sam isn't cut out for this profession at all. Au revoir!

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the seven remaining couples fight it out to lure in more customers to their restaurants, attempting every marketing ploy from balloon releases to free gifts. They are also tasked with creating a special children's menu with entertainment (too bad Jacqui's not there anymore), which quickly transforms their smart eateries into absolute chaos.

Profit is the Name of the Game on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I know I am going on and on about BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing like a broken record, but you would not believe the number of emails I've gotten from readers who have tuned in to the new reality series (airing Tuesdays on the digital cabler) and fallen under its spell.

This week's episode found the eight remaining teams trying to turn a profit on their new restaurants by introducing some special cocktails and desserts. For some teams, like twin sisters Laura and Jess, it was an opportunity to prove themselves to mentor/head judge Raymond Blanc after he called them out for not challenging themselves in the first installment. Together, these two managed to sell their specialty cocktails (which looked amazing) to no less than 71 out of 73 customers that night. And they played it smart by using simple, inexpensive ingredients to keep the per-portion price way down and then made £3.50 profit on each dessert. Bravo, girls. It was no surprise that Laura and Jess walked away with the Restaurant of the Week award; I was dead impressed with the two of them throughout the episode as they managed to be smart, economical, and creative and front of house and the kitchen were beautifully in sync, unlike many of the other eateries this week.

Speaking of which, Sam and Jacqui once again proved their ineptness, delivering inedible food to the customers (which most refused to pay for), ghastly cocktails and desserts (two of which had to be scrapped as they were vile), and basically making another mess of it again this week. To add insult to injury, Sam once again neglected his duty as the restaurant's chef to focus on setting up his drum kit, disappeared from his station at the pass, failed to prep any ingredients (he had to run to the supermarket two hours before service to buy everything) and then fired his sous chef for failing to keep it all together without proper supplies, help, or guidance. Smart one. I do have to give Jacqui credit for trying to hold everything together in the front of the house and for realizing that they had to price out each portion of dessert in order to, you know, make a profit, a question to which Sam just shrugged and asked "why?" Need I say more?

Also disappointing: Martin and Emma, who failed to follow the brief and did not create any cocktails or desserts ahead of time. Emma was saved by her Italian waitress, who quickly concocted three specialty cocktails, complete with winning names, but Martin outright refused to offer desserts. Even more shocking was that he seemed to think that Raymond wouldn't call them out for this, a bizarre oversight that made them ripe for sending through to the challenge next week.

Also placed into the challenge are mother and son team Nicola and Tom. Poor Nicola can't seem to gain the upper-hand in her own kitchen and her confidence has been sorely dented by last week's performance. Instead of rallying behind making improvements and implementing change in the kitchen, she's become subservient to her own sous chef and hired even more staff, driving their overhead even higher and sending profits plummeting. I really want to see them make this work and with a beautiful space for their restaurant (a centuries old former monastery) I would hate to see them give it up so soon.

While Jess and Laura walked away with Restaurant of the Week, the unofficial prize for most improved has got to go to Lloyd and Adwoa whose Ghanian restaurant showed the biggest signs of 180 degree transformation from the opening weekend. Their restaurant was convivial, buzzy, and the punters were genuinely happy to be there. Well done!

But for previous winners, Jeremy and Jane, this week was a wake-up call as things in the kitchen hummed along beautifully but the front of the house was falling apart at the seams. Poor Jane did her very best to keep it all moving along, but--thanks to sub-standard staff (who did little more than stand around gossiping while Jane did all the heavy lifting) and lack of support from chef Jeremy--they found themselves nearly sent into the challenge. These two have got to find a way to work together better and complement each other's domains if they have hopes of regaining their lost title.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, Sam and Jacqui, Nicola and Tom, and Martin and Emma must battle to keep their restaurants open as they are tasked with serving a large-scale lunch for hundreds of scientists; as one team discovers they've forgotten some basic ingredients and another bemoans the lack of oven space, the pressure is on to make the most profit... or give up their dreams of owning their own restaurant.

Talk Back: BBC America's "Last Restaurant Standing"

So you've read my advance review of the original UK episode (sadly, edited down here for US audiences) and watched last night's two-hour launch of BBC America's latest unscripted series, Last Restaurant Standing.

So what did you enjoy about the series and what did you dislike? Did Sam and Jacqui irk you as much as they did me? (Sadly, a whole subplot involving Sam making a phone call to complain about a sous chef candidate right in front of the poor old guy was cut.)

Who are you rooting for and, based on this week's installment of Last Restaurant Standing, who should win this cutthroat culinary contest?

Talk back here.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); One Tree Hill (CW); Supernanny (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Cashmere Mafia (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

No, it's not the start of the new series (damn!), but the second of two specials entitled "Exposed," in which the audience gets to relive "favorite moments" from the series. Like maybe when Jael made a fool of herself and jumped in the pool at Benny Medina's party. Good times.

10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("The Art of Fashion"), it's time for one last field trip, where the designers get to use their own unique artistic visions to create a design, before leaving to go and design their own lines. Looks like there will be four runway shows after all this year!