The reason: Top Chef, the Bravo reality show, recently featured Chef Hector Santiago who reportedly - and it’s rare I use this word in connection with tofu – dished up a bean curd creation so impressive that Jet Tila of the Las Vegas Sun described it as “badass.”

It’s slide No. 10 here – and online reviewers so far have given it nearly five stars.

That’s right: “Badass” tofu.

I like the sound of that. That’s on par with bodacious bean curd.

The food is from China. But only in America can we produce a “badass” tofu dish - and this, mind you, is during one of the worst economic slumps in recent history.

I might be stretching this here (hey, it’s Friday), but: Yes, We Can. 

I missed the episode. I would have found a way to watch it had I known that a tofu surprise was on its way.

But I’m grateful that Tila’s review in the Las Vegas Sun was posted online Thursday.

Tila describes the dish that Hector made as ”Tofu, lemon-lime, tequila ceviche and guanjillo achiote tortilla.”

I know, I know: Very nice. Intriguing.

Tila writes:

…He picks a curd from a soybean (tofu) as his base, very gutsy. Then, he makes a homemade tortilla with masa (corn meal), a chile guajillo and achiote? It was easy to miss that he makes the tortilla dough, presses it out, then has to cook it on a flat top to set it (not shown on TV) and fry it into a chip! This is not easy stuff. Then he breathes flavor into naturally bland tofu with lemon, lime and tequila.

Homemade tortilla? And tofu? Together?

That’s thinking fast on your feet.

If I only made a homemade tortilla – without the tofu – I’d be pretty happy.

If you like tofu videos, here are two great ones: An Iron Chef episode and a chef preparing mapo tofu.