Hey, That’s My Name

Just one step away from the homestretch, the chefs are getting nervy. Everyone wants to go on to the final four, but since there are five contestants left, for one person that just won’t be true.

THE QUICKFIRE

The chefs arrive at a meat cutting plant. They are given their protective equipment and lead into the plant where they are each given a big hunk of dry aged meat and instructed to cut it down into 7 tomahawk chops in 20 minutes. Everyone seems to be having problems with this challenge except Spike who, whether you like it or not, is clearly very good at this (he mentions a few times that both of his grandfathers were butchers). Everyone else seems to be struggling, especially Stephanie – but as we’ve seen many a time before, success at the Quickfire isn’t necessary for her to wow the judges.

After time is up, the chefs box up their chops and head back to the Top Chef kitchen where they are greeted by Padma and guest judge Rick Tramanto of Chicago’s Tru. The chefs are given 30 minutes to cook one of their chops to medium-rare. They will be judged on how well they butchered the chops and how done the meat is. Stephanie and Richard are called out on the bottom for undercooking their meat and for not having the best butchering skills. Lisa, Antonia and Spike are on top, all cooking their meat well, but Spike takes the win for his “excellent” butchering skills.

THE ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

The chefs will be taking over Rick’s new restaurant for a night, each contributing an appetizer and an entree to the menu, using whatever food is located in the restaurants stores. Rick implores them several times to take good care of his restaurant. For his Quickfire win, Spike gets first pick on which proteins he wants to use for his dishes. He selects the tomahawk chops, stating that he fell in love with them in the previous challenge and then grabs a bag of frozen scallops. A few of the other chefs immediately criticize this choice, stating that they would have loved to use scallops, but having seen that they were frozen, were glad that Spike had taken them.

Tom shows up to check on everyone and lets them know that he will be expediting the line tonight, which Antonia seems really excited about. Filling his very large shoes at the judges’ table will be three VIP guests: the winners of the previous seasons of Top Chef. Richard delivers what he calls “Vitello Tramonto” for his appetizer, a dish with hamachi and sweetbreads that everyone at the judges’ tables loves. Rick, in particular, is totally wowed by this dish and states that he’d love to have it on his menu. For his entree, though, Richard underwhelms with a Prime Beef Filet with Potato Puree and Pickled Brussels Sprouts. The judges are unimpressed with the disassembled nature of the dish, noting that it tastes better together, so why not put it together (one wonders if he was compelled to present it in this manner because noted that his dish sounded fairly basic for Richard).  Lisa delivers Grilled & Chilled Shrimp as her appetizer and while they like some of the flavors, the judges don’t approve of the shrimp being chilled. For her entree, she serves a New York Strip with Spicy Apple Caramel Sauce and Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes. Everyone was a little nervous about trying the Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes, but they seemed to be pleasantly surprised by it. However, the steak not so much, noting that they were not evenly cooked. Not surprisingly, Spike’s scallop dish was not received well with the the frozen scallops being the centerpiece. His tomahawk chop was also underwhelming. While the steak was cooked well, the other elements on the plate, especially his sweet potato puree, were not done well. Antonia does a Warm Mushroom & Artichoke Salad with a poached egg as her appetizer (looks like what she did for the salad Quickfire), while everyone notes her egg is cooked well, they don’t really care for the salad. She fares much better on the entree with a Bone-In Ribeye and Potato Gratin. Rick loves this dish. Stephanie is the only chef that pleases the judges on both dishes. For her appetizer she serves Veal Sweetbreads with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts and her entree is a Beef Tenderloin with Salsify Puree.

Everyone gets pulled into the judges’ table together to get the critiques. Despite her all-around praise, Stephanie still looks like she’s worried she won’t make the cut (in the sea of egos that has surrounded her, this is kind of refreshing). Spike gets a little defensive about the scallops. When Rick tells him he shouldn’t have used them, Spike retorts that they were in his freezer, why would they be there if they weren’t good. Rick cuts him down to size, saying that it was his decision to use them and it the wrong one, regardless of whether they were in the freezer or not. The chefs get sent back to the stew room, Spike kicks himself for mouthing off to Rick, probably sensing that he just put the nail in his coffin. When they get called back, Stephanie gets the first ticket Puerto Rico. She looks so incredibly giddy and happy, it’s just adorable. For her win, she also gets Rick’s latest cookbook and a kitchen full of appliances like those that were in the Top Chef kitchen this season. I didn’t think it was possible for her to look giddier, but somehow she pulls it off. It seriuosly looks like her head might explode, she’s so happy and it’s really hard not to just totally fall in love with her. Richard gets the next ticket for having made the judges’ favorite appetizer. As whenever Richard receives any kind of news at the judges’ table, he looks like someone socked him in the stomach, but, you know, in happy way. Antonia is next, having made the judges’ favorite entree and she looks a glazed kind of happy. These three get sent off to the stew room to hug, squeal and just generally jump for joy. Again, very cute. Lisa and Spike are left to scowl at the judges. Neither chef presented satisfying dishes in either category, but in the end, Spike is deemed the greater of the two evils and asked to leave. He graciously exits (unlike when Dale left last week, none of the other chefs seem to be that surprised). And so, the final four are Stephanie, Richard, Antonia and Lisa: three girls and a guy who wears pink shoes.

THE CHEFTESTANT BREAKDOWN

Stephanie: She knocked it out of the park tonight, adding more evidence to the case that, while she can misstep from time to time, it’s very possible that she is the most capable chef in this competition. As Tom noted, no matter how tense the competition gets, it never really seems to get to her – except at the judges’ table.

Richard: The need to show is crazy side seemed to not serve him well with his entree, but all of the judges almost blew a fuse over appetizer they just loved it so much. When he’s on, he’s a force to reckoned with. But being experimental means that you can pay a price for going out a limb with something that doesn’t work right. In a way, I wish that he and Stephanie could both win, because I think they’re both pretty well matched and exhibit different versions of what a Top Chef should be.

Antonia: She certainly did well, but I had a sense of deja vu looking at both of her dishes tonight. The salad looked exactly like the one she did for the quickfire a few weeks ago and she made potato gratin for the Wedding Wars. For all the praise she got for her entree, I was a little disappointed. I think she can do better. She seemed to be playing it safe and I don’t think that’s going to cut it against competition this talented. She has to raise the game.

Lisa: Clearly the squeaky wheel amongst the final four. She hasn’t made a satisfying dish in really, really long time. She’s been on the bottom for weeks! Unless she pulls out something really good and original like she did with the Movie and Elements challenge, she isn’t going to last long. However, it’s hard to imagine she can, considering that both of the times she’s impressed the judges, she was paired with really talented chefs (Stephanie on both, and Dale on one of them). When she works on her own, she mostly just serves up mess.

Spike: While Spike has some talent, I think he mostly got as far as he did because he played the game right. He didn’t wow very often. He’s been in the bottom more than any other contestant this season and he’s never won an elimination challenge, while two that have got sent packing. He was hanging on by a thread and the moment he decided to use those scallops, he cut it. I’m still amazed at his inability to admit his own mistakes. In his one-on-one interview, he said that his advantage hurt him. No it didn’t! It wasn’t the advantage, it the way he chose to use the advantage. HE screwed it up. And until he learns to admit that the things that go wrong in his kitchen are his fault, he will not be as good as he can be.

NEXT ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

In competition this tense, anything can happen, but I think the edge is going to Stephanie right now for the win, with Richard nipping at her heels. Antonia could still pull out a win, but, as I said, she’s gotta step up her game. Lisa, however, doesn’t have a shot. She’s lucky she got this far. It should’ve been Dale.