Nookie Dominates Thailand on ATW in 80 Plates

Fenway Park executive chef Steve "Nookie" Postal came out on top yet again in last night's episode of the new Bravo show Around the World in 80 Plates. This time Nookie competed against his fellow cheftestapants in Thailand, and his team of two won every challenge, from shredding coconuts the fastest to selling the most street food to locals. Watching Nookie fumbling with coconuts and mucking his way throw a rice paddy, one gets the sense that this is exactly what the show's creators saw in their minds when interviewing the affable if not balletic Fenway chef. (That and dollar signs.)

Nookie has emerged to be the class clown: he can't fit on the little, Thai coconut shredding stool, all the women laugh at him in the market, and a fellow contestant describes him as "an admitted tortoise." Though his food is described by a local expert as being "like a pretty woman without makeup" (meant as a criticism), it's Nookie's team that sells nearly double the food as the rest, thanks in part to his willingness to water down some juice in order to make it last. "You can take your morals and take a (bleeped) hike," he says, defending the decision. And as a result, he earns safe passage to the next destination: Hong Kong, where, judging from the preview, he is attacked by crabs.

· All coverage of Nookie on Eater [~EBOS~]