Top Chef's Jeff McInnis

South Florida chef Jeff McInnis was booted off Top Chef last week, but today he chatted it up in an exclusive interview with TV Talk as he drove down Alton Road in South Beach on his way to work as the chef de cuisine for the DiLidio Beach Club at the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach.

We talked about what he learned on the show and memorable behind-the-scenes moments. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, he came off very nice and not conceited at all. The whole time we were one the phone, I never once saw him wink at me or fix his hair. Here is our Q&A:

Q. I noticed they tried to play off your looks and make you look kind of cocky and vain at the beginning. But then it kind of died off. Did you work hard at not giving them any footage they could use for that angle?

A. I guess they did. It was no big deal. They built a character, but I am not upset about it. I am not conceited, and I don’t use my looks. It is about the food, but I am not upset about it. People magazine misconstrued my words and made me sound upset about it. I am just getting use to this, so I have to watch what I say a bit.

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Padma Lakshmi

Top Chef’s host Padma Lakshmi has announced that she is now designing a jewelry line. In keeping with the whole food theme, the line is inspired by seeds and pods, like cardamom, lentils, and cloves.

Now, you may ask: What do food and jewelry have in common? And I would ask you back: Haven’t you ever wanted to hang an expensive gold lentil from your wrist? Have you ever eaten a black bean and thought, “If only it were an accessory!” Well, we now have a line of jewelry for you.

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Top Chef Judges: Tom Colicchio, Scott Conant, Toby Young and Padma Lakshmi

Well, they got to rumble, and it made for a fun episode that was themed around the NFL Super Bowl.

As always the episode threw the contestants into an obviously branded Quickfire challenge that paired oats with different food groups. Most of the contestants went for the obvious, using the oats as a coating.

New York restaurant owner Scott Conant was the guest judge and didn’t pull any punches. Right off the bat he seemed to not like Fabio. He had a bit more bite in his comments for him, but he loved Jaime. In the end, it was Jeff who went a bit overboard with the oats, coating fried chicken, fried zucchini and using the oats for his corn salad. It was heavy and pulled him to the bottom.

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Top Chef Judges: Stephen Stars, Tom Colicchio, Toby Young and Padma Lakshmi

And so the war begins. Stephen Starr is the guest judge. As a successful restaurateur, he is highly qualified to pick who will act as “chef owner” during the ensuing restaurant war. For the elimination challenge, the chefs have to create food that would exemplify their restaurant and sell Starr on the concept.

Well, it goes to show you that karma can be an interesting if not a complex concept. Radhika and Leah were at the bottom on the last episode and, in my opinion, either one deserved to go home more than Ariane. They were the winners of the Quickfire challenge and were pitted against each other as the restaurant leaders.

Radhika is focused on Indian and Middle Eastern flavors and Leah on Asian influences. Winning is a double edged sword since the leader of the losing restaurant is the one almost surely to be sent home.

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Team Lamb: Ariane, Leah and Hosea

Tonight’s elimination challenge had our chefs visiting a farm to play with their protein. The contestants drew knives to determine their teams of Pig, Chicken and Lamb, and then at the farm they met the animals. There is nothing like frolicking with a baby lamb before you butcher it and beat it flat with a stockpot.

Somewhere, in the distance, I heard a vegetarian scream.

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Let the cooking begin. The quickfire challenge has the chefs making a quick bite out of canned goods in 15 minutes. Could these chefs be bigger snobs? I mean, I am no fan of canned food, but let’s be serious: Who hasn’t had to open a can of tuna or beans at some point in our lives?

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Jeffery and Fabio cooking during tonight's new episode of Top Chef: New York.

The kids are in bed, the dishes are washed and desert is waiting. There is nothing better than a little indulgence while watching tonight’s Top Chef: New York. Having desert while watching numbs the taste buds just enough to keep me from getting green with envy. Forget HD, I need a conversion to Taste o’ Vision!

Here is a little info on tonight’s episode. The chefs will have a quickfire challenge that has them cooking culinary delights from canned goods in 15 minutes. Season 3 winner Hung gets to serve as a quickfire judge. Hung was a bit cocky so it should be interesting to see if he has gained enough confidence in himself to not have to belittle others.

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Co-hosts of ABC's The View

As a kid, did you ever put fighting fish in the same fish bowl to see what would happen? Did you ever try it with six fish? Well, if you didn’t, don’t waste your time, just watch Ann Coulter on The View this morning.

Ann Coulter, a Palm Beach County resident, visited The View to promote her book “Guilty – Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America.” I don’t like to talk politics, so I won’t, but everyone repeat after me: AWKWARD.

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Team Lamb: Ariane, Leah and Hosea

For the elimination challenge our chefs visited a farm to play with their protein. The contests drew knives to determine the teams of Pork, Chicken and Lamb, and then at the farm they met the animals.

Somewhere, in the distance, I heard a vegetarian scream.

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