Tag Archive 'Top Chef'

Jun 13 2008

A look back at the 2007-2008 television season, Part 2 of 3

Published by Jessica under Entertainment,Television

As promised, here’s the second pieces of my recap of this year’s television season, focusing on my Tuesday and Wednesday shows.

Reaper
I wanted to like Reaper a lot, and it seemed, for a long time, that the show was doing whatever it could to chase me away. I largely go into it because of Kevin Smith’s involvement in directing the pilot. However, I was also intrigued at the prospect of a female writing team delving into the supernatural genre that I’ve enjoyed so much on television. While the pilot had a lot of fun stuff in it, the first half season of Reaper was incredibly underwhelming. It resembled, for me, the freak of the week plotting that made the first season of Smallville so pedestrian. I was also unimpressed with the chemistry (or lack thereof) between the male and female leads. Thankfully, that part seems to have resolved a bit. The light through all of the darkness, though, has always been Ray Wise, who has been so incredibly winning as the show’s Lucifer. He’s dashing. He’s charming. And when he needs to be, which is not that often, he can be scary. I’m feeling about where Reaper is heading. In the back seven, the plot began to grow from week to week and the capturing of escaped souls began to be less of what was going on in each episode. We got more serialized plotlines involving a demon uprising and whether or not Sam is, in fact, the spawn of Satan. Along with the new storylines came a host of fantastically entertaining guest spots. Lucy Davis (of the the original Office and Shaun of the Dead) and Kandyse McClure (of Battlestar Galactica) gave Ben something to do other than be the least interesting of the show’s guy trio. But, of course, the best stuff in these latter episodes came from Ken Marino (Veronica Mars) and Ian Black (Ed) as Tony and Steve, the boys’ new neighbors who just happen to be demons planning a revolution (and maybe the cutest gay couple I’ve seen on TV in awhile). I want these guys to be in every episode their so damn fun. How about a Tony and Steve spin-off? Anyone? All in all, I’m glad I stuck with Reaper. I was worried I would regret it, but they really pulled it out in the end. I’m looking forward to its return next season and, hopefully, a more evenly plotted season.

The Riches
I have discovered that The Riches, for me, is a show that I prefer to watch in a clump rather than week to week. I haven’t quite put my finger on why that is, but I get much more enjoyment out of it when I see several hours strung together, than stretched out over many weeks. I watch The Riches mostly because its Eddie Izzard’s show, though Minnie Driver also does really great work on it. This season brought a lot of rifts in the Malloy family and I worry about what this will mean for season three. What I liked so much about the first season was that, even through the craziness that this family went through, they were a team, they stuck together and they seemed to escape that cliche that happens so often in shows with teenagers where the kids always turn on the parents. Well, season two didn’t exactly do that. By the season finale, both of Wayne’s teenagers had rejected him, one of them having run away from home. I hope that the writers won’t keep the family splintered for very long because they’re more fun when they’re working together. I’m also amazed that they didn’t do more with Jared Harris. I expect we’ll see more of him next season, but while he was in several episodes this year, we didn’t really get into who he was and what his history with the Malloys is. I was a little disappointed with this year’s episodes, I hope to see a little more when it returns.

Pushing Daisies
I think that this may be my new favorite show. I’m disinclined to state that outright, considering that it had less than half a season due to the strike. However, I have rarely experienced as much joy watching a show as when I watch Pushing Daisies. It’s whimsical, fun and one of the most original things I’ve seen in a long time. Really, I strongly recommend that you catch up on this one before its return in the fall. I’ll tell you, it’s definitely an out there concept and there are some people that won’t be able to deal with that. But if you want to see something fresh and unique, you have to check it out. I really think it’ll be worth your time. Lee Pace has said that they’ve been taking the time off to re-work the show to make it better and a little bit more depth. I can’t wait. In fact, there is no show that I watched in the past year that I’m more excited for DVD set or the 08-09 return of than Pushing Daisies. I miss my friends from the Pie Hole.

Law & Order
Another season, another cast change… or three. The first episode of the season brought a few shake-ups but they weren’t the last. With Fred Thompson’s departure, Sam Waterston moved into that position, leaving his spot to be filled by Linus Roache. I’ve actually liked Roache in the movies I’ve seen him, but his feet haven’t quite grown to fill Waterston’s shoes. A much more welcome change was the replacement of the abysmal Milena Govich with the wonderful Jeremy Sisto. He’s got the dark and brooding thing going, but he always throws in the funny, too. Still, I was incredibly sad to see Jesse L. Martin go (and without them ever working in a reason for him to sing!), but Anthony Anderson has been pulling his weight pretty well (he did guest on Veronica Mars, so he gets some credit in my book for that alone). I was also really happy to see Tom Everett Scott pop up in the last episodes of the season as an Elliot Spitzer-like governor. I like Scott a lot and they seemed to leave the door open for him to return in adversarial role. I’m all for it. Despite all the shake ups, though, the flavor of this Law & Order still hasn’t changed much.

Top Chef
This was my first year watching Top Chef and I really only watched it because it was based in my city (and there was nothing else on when it started). I started out curious and then I got a little hooked. As stated in my first Top Chef recap, I’m not a reality show kind of girl, but most of the things that piss me off about reality TV didn’t seem as pervasive in this one. Still, I’m not convinced I’ll be returning to Top Chef next season. It was fun while it lasted, but I was beginning to tire of it toward the end.

So, that’s all for now. I’ll return in the next few days to to rap up Thursday through Sunday shows. Gotta go watch the last BSG now. Until then!

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Jun 05 2008

The crowded kitchen: Top Chef leaves the Windy City

Published by Jessica under Television

Six months since they left Chicago, the chefs trickle into the Puerto Rico airport. Steph’s been travelling in Southeast Asia, Antonia’s been opening her restaurant, Richard opened a restaurant and impregnated his wife (both mentioned on the website and not the episode) and Lisa cut her hair. They immediately hop in an SUV and are off to their first Puerto Rican challenge.

THE QUICKFIRE

The chefs are presented with a table full of plantains and other produce and told to make two kinds of fritters, both using plantains. The guest judge for this episode will be Puerto Rican chef Wilo Benet. Antonia and Richard end up in the bottom and it sounds like they both made an error in choosing how to use their plantains. Stephanie and Lisa end up on top and, at long last, Stephanie picks up her first Quickfire win and looks quite pleased about it. She won’t find out what her advantage is until tomorrow and tonight they’ll be partying in Old San Juan where Padma’s getting her groove on.

THE ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

The chefs will be cooking for a garden party at the governor’s mansion. Each chef will be given a whole pig and must make at least two dishes from different parts of the animal. They will have help, though, as each will be given a sous chef from one the four previously eliminated contestants (Andrew, Dale, Nikki and Spike). Lisa notes that her choices are limited since she doesn’t like Dale and Andrew thinks that she threw him under the bus (gee, what would have given him that impression, maybe it was you throwing him under the bus). She states this as if it is no way her fault that she feels she can only work well with half of the people up there. As a reward for her Quickfire win, Stephanie gets to assign the chef match-ups. She takes the diplomatic route, deciding to pair people up with chefs they can work well with (see that, Spike, that’s how you work your advantage, not like an ass). She chooses Dale for herself (a phenomenal match-up, in my opinion), Spike for Richard, Nikkie for Antonia and – perhaps forgetting their altercation at the judges’ table on his elimination episode – Andrew for Lisa. They are then told that the sous chefs will be going to market to get the non-Babe ingredients, while the top four stay behind to butcher the pigs. (I must point out that Stephanie adorably refers to the pigs as “Wilbur.” Gotta love a girl that makes a Charlotte’s Web reference right before she’s going to carve up her little oinker.)

The sous chefs are off to market and Andrew’s being all weird and funny again (I missed him). It’s possible he is frightening the natives, though. Spike seems to be fairing better with the language barrier. (Having worked in a restaurant – in a waitstaff capacity – for a mere five months, I’m a little surprised that career chefs don’t have a better handle on the language.) Dale start grabbing some black plantains, insisting that people don’t like them because they look rotten, but that they taste just like candy and he thinks Steph will dig that.

Back at the kitchen, the head chefs are beating and sawing their poor little piggies. Both Lisa and Richard lose the heads of their mallets and Lisa insists that hers is retribution because she’s Jewish. Stephanie apologizes to her pig, calling him “buddy.” I’m worried she may be too attached, that’s what happens when you name things you’re going to eat. Richard gets a last minute inspiration to use a non-alcoholic malt beverage called Malta to glaze his pork and through the wonders of modern technology, conveys this to Spike by shouting into a little piece of plastic.

The sous chefs return with the groceries. Antonia and Nikki get all girly over mangoes and honey. Richard gets all OCD with some green tape. Lisa starts bitching at Andrew, and I start having some deja vu when Richard talks about her bad attitude in the kitchen. Where have I heard that before? As everyone congratulates themselves on a hard day of work and exit the kitchen, the camera pans ominously to tray of pork bellies that belong to Stephanie. Duh-duh-DUHHHH!

The next day everyone arrives at work and Dale immediately notices his major fuck up. But Stephanie, cool cat that she is, doesn’t lay into him or anything. She makes the executive decision to toss them and try to come up with something else, believing that two dishes, while it meets the requirements of the challenge, will not be enough and she’ll go home. Dale is extremely repentant (mostly to the camera, because Stephanie accepts his apology right away and is ready to move on). But these are two extremely inventive people and after some fretting, they come up with something (I’m not 100% certain that any of the other match-ups would have been as good at that kind of last-minute thinking).

Nikki insightfully points out that Antonia seems off her game and I got this impression myself from the first point she appeared on the screen. Maybe she’s overworked from opening her new restaurant, maybe she’s missing her kid, whatever it is, this is not the same chef we’ve seen for the last twelve episodes.

The menus the chefs serve up are thus:

Stephanie’s Menu: Chicharrones, Fruit & Prosciutto Salad, Coconut Pork with Black Plantain Pancake and Pork Satay on Sugar Cane

Richard’s Menu: BBQ Pork Shoulder, Pork Belly with Pickled Watermelon, Ham & Beans and Ribs with Malta Glaze

Lisa’s Menu: Yuca & Pork Rellena, Citrus Braised Pork Belly and Adobo Roasted Pork Tostone

Antonia’s Menu: Pork Belly with Sweet Peppers, Porks Sausage with Pigeon Peas & Rice and Curried Pork

Stephanie’s the only one we see get any real feedback. Wilo really likes the black plantain pancake and Gale like the last minute salad. Tom tells Richard he did a really nice job, but everyone else has their mouths full of pork. Gale notes that Lisa’s Potato and Plantain mash that’s served with pork belly is sweet and her intonation does not suggest that this is a good thing. She notices that they’re not finishing one of her dishes and Tom dismisses her by saying it was “delicious.” Was he saying that just get the heck away from her? They ask Antonia some questions about her food, but don’t really comment on it, but Nikki tells her she did a good job and it is kinda cute.

Richard and Steph are at the top (I know, you’re just as surprised as me, right?). Richard picks up the win and, for his troubles, gets the difficult task of figuring out how to get his brand new 2009 Toyota Corolla from the island of Puerto Rico to his home in Georgia. Antonia and Lisa are at the bottom. Lisa’s dishes are criticized for pretty universally being unbalanced: too sweet, not enough pork, etc. Antonia gets flak for serving all of her dishes on one plate rather than separately and for undercooking her pigeon peas. In a decision sure to upset everyone, they judges choose to send Antonia home. Everyone hugs goodbye and then, in the midst of Stephanie and Richard looking forlornly at their shoes, Lisa take a moment to point out that they haven’t congratulated her and that that means they don’t think she should be there. Uh, yeah honey, you said yourself that you thought you were going home. Everyone, including you, think you shouldn’t be there, because you shouldn’t be.

THE CHEFTESTANT BREAKDOWN

Richard: Weak in the Quickfire, but strong in the Elimination, it’s a familiar pattern for our two top chefs. For me, the interesting thing about Richard this week was his one-on-one interviews. He was much more negative than he’s been before. On previous episodes he’s offered criticisms of the other chefs but always in an observational, that’s-cool-it’s-just-now-how-I-roll kind of way. But here he echoed a lot of what Dale had said previously about Lisa. I didn’t fully get it until the end of the episode. I think Richard, Steph and Antonia are buddies. Having weathered Wedding and Restaurant Wars together, they’ve been in the chef version of the foxhole and they’ve bonded. And I think that they all also know, just as we do, that they’re out of Lisa’s league (hell, Lisa basically said that she knew that). So, I think Richard was sad to his friend have to go home before her time, and then to have the lesser chef get on her high horse about being congratulated for getting lucky, it just rubbed him the wrong way and brought out the Lisa hatred we’ve all been feeling. (It occurs to me that maybe he’s also seen some of the other episodes at this point and in the heat of the Chicago tapings hadn’t seen the side of her that we’ve all seen over the past few weeks and has bad blood towards her for that, as well.) I’m actually more concerned with his “I’m the best chef here” comment in next week’s preview. I prefer my Richard Blais with his ego on the side. I’ve liked him in this competition because he’s been a head down, get it done, no gloating kind of guy, even when he’s clearly been blowing the competition out of the water. I’m hoping that working with Spike this week didn’t rub off on him too much.

Stephanie: Finally pulling out a Quickfire win, Steph had a really strong week, even if she didn’t win the Elimination (which is also why I’m bothered by Richard’s comment – give the girl her due, dude). She’s been on quite a roll lately and it’s been great to watch because she makes you feel good when she wins. And while Richard’s dishes may have been the best this week, Steph was the Top Chef in the kitchen all the way. The way she handled her Quickfire advantage was pure class and the way she rolled with the punches on the pork belly flop without any real sign of a bad attitude (she didn’t even bring it up at the judges’ table to curry favor – you know Lisa would have done that). She’s not only a good cook, she’s clearly a fantastic boss.

Lisa: Up until the last minute or two of this episode, I had it in my head that Lisa had changed in the time since she left Chicago. She seemed much less catty (though she was a little bitchy to Andrew in the kitchen) and she seemed like she had spent a lot of time and effort into expanding her culinary knowledge, especially in the area of Puerto Rican cuisine. She offered up dishes that were unique compared to what we’ve seen from her before and I was impressed. But then she had to pull out the why didn’t you congratulate me for not getting eliminated bit and dropped back down in my opinion of her. This is, to me, clearly a sign of her own insecurity. She basically said that she didn’t think she should be there, that it was “realistic” to think that she would go home. I also loved the lack of logic in her explanation to this. She started out by saying that it wasn’t a popularity contest, but that as chefs they should congratulate her. If it’s not a popularity contest, why do you care if they congratulate you?

Antonia: I’m very sad to see her go, but as I mentioned above. She was off her game. I don’t know what it was, but this was not the same Antonia. She capable of better and it’s a shame that she’s not in the top three, because she belongs there.

SO WHO’S THE TOP CHEF

At this point it’s anyone’s game. As long as anyone is Richard or Stephanie. Lisa would have to pull out a miracle to win this thing. Richard and Stephanie are both clearly capable of winning, it’s just a question of whether they trip up and do something silly as they both have in the past (see Steph’s peanut butter and tomato couscous or Richard’s sous vide salmon with fish scale garnish). My heart is with Stephanie, not only because she has such a sweet and humble disposition, but also because it would be really nice for Chicagoan to win Top Chef Chicago, let alone the first woman. That being said, I love Richard, too. I wish it was possible for them both to win because I think they both have great Top Chef qualities that the other doesn’t. Richard is wildly inventive and brings a wonderful artistry to his cooking. When he puts together a dish, I feel like I’m watching someone write a story or paint a picture. It really is a work of art when he does it well. Stephanie is cool, calm, works well with anyone and has a consistent record of bringing new flare to old standards and is better at being restrained sometimes than Richard is. As long as it’s one of them, though, I’ll be happy.

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May 29 2008

The crowded kitchen: Top Chef raises the steaks

Published by Jessica under Television

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.

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May 22 2008

The crowded kitchen: Casualty of the Top Chef War

Published by Jessica under Entertainment,Television

Once again, someone with actual talent goes home while two subpar chefs manage to tread water for yet another week. Lame.

THE QUICKFIRE

Tom tiptoes into the house to wake the chefs. For the Quickfire, they’ll be serving time as a short order cook at a popular Chicago breakfast place. Everyone grumbles. Spike points out that he’s served as a short order cook and that cooking eggs is really hard. Very few people seem to actually be very good at this. Stephanie has trouble with poaching, Richard doesn’t do well with the rapid fire order and Lisa cooks some styrofoam along with her eggs. Antonia and Dale are called out as the top two (so much for Spike’s experience in “The Hole”), but Antonia takes it for her calm demeanor. Tom tells them that he will not be at this Elimination Challenge because of a prior engagement and hands them an address where they are to meet Padma for the next portion of the competition. The Chicagoans scratch their heads at the unfamiliar street name, but thanks to the glory of modern cell phone technology, they make their way to the warehouse space.

THE ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

At the warehouse, Padma gleefully announces that Restaurant Wars have returned (no mention that she totally lied about them being gone two episodes ago). Antonia gets a monster advantage by getting to choose her teammates and, because she’s a smart cookie, she goes with Stephanie and Richard. It’s a essentially a Wedding Wars rematch sans Nikki and Andrew. Dale doesn’t fault Antonia, saying he would have picked the same people and says that he does think his team is stronger than last time, no offense intended to Nikki (yeah right).

Reunited, Team Awesome immediately gels on a gastropub theme. Antonia is the executive chef, Richard the chef de cuisine and Stephanie the front of the house manager. The great thing about this team is that there are no egos here. Everyone gets along and respects one another’s talent. No one is trying to show anyone else up, they’re just trying to do the best they can. Plus, of the three people on their team, both Richard and Stephanie have opened restaurants before, so there’s some solid experience there, as well.

Team Gimpy does also come together pretty quickly. All three have experience and a speciality with Asian food, so they decide on an Asian fusion restaurant. Lisa and Dale both want to be executive chef, so they flip a coin and Dale wins. (When is a win not really a win? When it means that by winning you get to captain a leaky ship.) Spike makes one of his brighter strategic decisions to be the front of the house manager, keeping himself out of that damn kitchen.

In the kitchen, both teams seem to be having their share of difficulties. Team Awesome was having problems with their freshly made pasta. I begin to get a little concerned that if this team goes down, someone that should win could go home. Anthony Bourdain drops in, causing Team Gimpy to have heart palpitations. He’ll be filling in for Tom this round and they’ve got a dish on their menu (Laksa) that he says he takes “very seriously.” Lisa and Dale start out pretty civil, but the existing animostiy between the two of them just slowly boils over, with Lisa blaming her bad attitude on Dale’s (because it’s not like she’s ever been pissy when he was nowhere near her *ahem* last week).

To help them out, the chefs are offered an extra pair of hands from one of the last four eliminated contestants. Gimpy gets to choose first and Dale snaps up Jen (partially, I think, so that he can have someone on his team that he actually likes). Awesome takes Nikki to help with their pasta problems and while I think she’s the weakest “Top Chef” of the bunch, as an extra work horse, it seems like a pretty solid decision. Andrew and Mark leave the kitchen with their tails between their legs, having been picked last for dodgeball.

Things seem to be going pretty will with Awesome now, but Gimpy’s shit is hitting the fan. Dale accidentally mixed a brown avocado in with his pretty green ones, causing an element of his dessert (the same one he made in the dessert Quickfire) to look kinda like, well, poo. This immediately sours his mood about everything else. Dale and Spike also give a taste to Lisa’s laksa and both think it’s too smoky and just downright not so good. Lisa’s also having issues with her dessert, a mango sticky rice.

The restaurants open to customers with Stephanie and Spike (sans hat!) getting all dolled up to greet the masses. They both clean up very nice. The judges visit Warehouse Kitchen, Awesome’s restaurant, first. They heap praise on just about everything put in front of them from the first courses of Beet Salad and Linguine with Clams to the main courses of Trout and Lamb. Richard made his Banana Scallops dessert (the one that landed him in the Top Chef cookbook) and this group is less impressed with it. Bourdain, in particular doesn’t like the chocolate smear on the plate because he thinks it looks, well, like poo (that’s right, it’s a second food looks like poo reference). The judges are skeptical of Stephanie’s Gorgonzola Cheesecake dessert, but are turned around after tasting it. It’s clear that Team Gimpy has their work cut out for them to show this menu up.

Making their way over to Gimpy’s Mai Buddha restaurant, jokes are made about the silver tablecloths and purple napkins, including a reference to Steven Tyler’s microphone. The laksa is the first dish out and it does not set a good tone for the meal. Bourdain describes eating it like putting your nose into a campfire. Ouch. The main courses are split. Dale’s Butterscotch Scallops are universally reviled, while everyone likes Spike’s Braised Short Rib recipe. Again, the desserts are split. The Halo Halo is well received (the poo factor having been brought down a tad, it looks mostly green now), but Lisa’s rice is described as baby vomit with wood chips. Again I say, OUCH.

The diners were given comment cards, but it’s absolutely clear who the winners and losers are in this challenge. Team Awesome’s praise session at the judges’ table is brief. Stephanie is awarded the win for her two dishes, as well as for the initiating the gastropub theme. For her troubles she wins a trip to Barcelona and she’s just so damn cute in her acceptance of this.

Team Gimpy, however, comes to the judges’ table with the same scowls we’ve come to know and revile. Lisa takes the lumps for her crappy dishes, though she does try to blame the rice on Dale. Dale takes the lumps for his scallops and, actually, for a lot of what went wrong, stating “I fucked up.” Spike doesn’t have much to own up to because, as with Wedding Wars, he didn’t do much. Mostly, he hung buddhas, which, since this is <em>Top Chef</em>, is a really important skill to have. They used his recipe for the short ribs, but since he was busy being the metrosexual interior designer, he didn’t actually cook it, Dale did.

In the stew room, Spike and Lisa decide to show how adult they are by sitting five feet behind Dale and talk smack about him like he can’t hear them. Real mature, guys. Then, when he calls them out for it, Spike says, “we weren’t only talking about you.” WTF?!? The sad victim of an unfortunate coin toss, Dale is sent home for being in charge of the doomed ship that was Mai Buddha. Had Lisa won the coin toss, I imagine that the menu, in all its atrocity, would have been the same, but she would have gone home for it. It’s a sad day, because Dale was a really gifted chef and Spike and Lisa aren’t. The opposing team is shocked and dismayed to hear that he’s going. Spike pats Dale on the back and gives him a man hug, but Lisa sits in the corner with her arms crossed like a little bitch. In his exit interview, Dale is weepier than any of the other contestants thus far, stating that he will miss Antonia, Richard and Stephanie (no mention of Spike and Lisa).

THE CHEFTESTANT BREAKDOWN

Stephanie: Back on top again! She definitely hit it out of the park tonight by making good food and giving a good presence to the dining room. I’m really worried she’s going to trip herself up again like she has in the past and cost herself the top four position she deserves, but I’m crossing my fingers.

Richard: The well-oiled machine that was their team meant that both Richard and Antonia didn’t stand out that much. He got it done as he always does. His beet salad was very well-received, even if Bourdain didn’t care for the Banana Scallops.

Antonia: She showed some great composure in the Quickfire, but after that she, like Richard, didn’t cause a lot of fireworks, beyond being part of the really good team. She was responsible for both of the main courses, which were very well received.

Lisa: I think it’s kind of a travesty that Lisa got to stay, while Dale left. I get it, but given that both of the dishes she did were universally detested and this is supposed to be contest about people being good cooks, it seems to me like she should have been sent packing. And that’s completely discounting the horrendous attitude that she’s maintained the entire time she’s been here. She doesn’t deserve to still be around and the idea that she may end up in the final four is just sad.

Spike: It’s hard to be really upset with Spike this week because, frankly, he didn’t really do anything. He decorated the restaurant and put on a suit. Yay? Stephanie was the front of the house manager, too, and she managed to make two dishes. Why did Spike’s managerial duties keep him from doing anything but contributing a recipe for a braised short rib? I think if Tom would have been at the judges’ table this week, he would have taken Spike to task much more for this.

Dale: I’m really sad to see Dale go. He was a really good chef and kept getting saddled with Spike and Lisa. It’s true that, had he been a nicer guy to work with, he might have ended up on the good team, but I still maintain that, while Dale’s attitude could be bad, Lisa has shown hers to be much, much worse. He should’ve been in the final four, it’s a damn shame that at least Spike or Lisa will end up in the spot that should have been his.

NEXT ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

For the love of all things culinary, if both Spike and Lisa end up in the final four it will be a sad, sad commentary on <em>Top Chef</em>. I realize that the smallest foul up can get you sent home at this point, but these two should’ve been out a long time ago and if Antonia, Stephanie and Richard aren’t the final three then this competition is in no way legitimate.

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May 15 2008

The crowded kitchen: Top Chef boxes it up

Published by Jessica under Entertainment,Television

The cheftestants began the episode all kind of sluggish, not having fully recovered from their 48-hour wedding war blitz. Everyone, that is, except for Andrew, who I’m not actually sure needs sleep to survive.

THE QUICKFIRE

The contestents are greeted by this week’s guest judge, Sam Talbot from season 2 of the show. For the duration of the Quickfire, Antonia looks like she’s about to pass out from Sam’s intoxicating man musk. This effect is probably only encouraged when he challenges to the chefs to put the sexy back in the salad. Andrew ends up the monkey in the middle (kind of appropriate) with a fruit salad. Richard, Lisa and Stephanie come in the bottom. Sam isn’t impressed with Richard’s ceviche. Stephanie didn’t actually manage to finish her plate, even though she had a whole 45 minutes to make a salad. Lisa put squid and lobster in her salad, but somehow managed drown these ingredients out with the use of banana, which Padma said is all she tasted. Her facial expression looks like she is attempting to bore a hole through Sam’s head as he tells her this. Dale, Antonia and Spike come to the top. Dale puts together a poached chicken salad with nori. Antonia makes a poached egg and mushroom salad with a bacon vinaigrette (bacon, be still my heart) that looks really good and that Sam actually refers to as “sexy” – I’m amazed the girl didn’t faint. Spike makes a salad with skirt steak and pineapple. Based on his responses alone I expect Sam to pick Antonia (and based on her expected reaction, I really hoped this would be the case, too), but sadly he hands Spike his first win of the show. Since there is no more immunity, Spike instead gets an advantage in the next challenge. He will be allowed a 10 minute head start on shopping and will get to choose four ingredients from each of the required groups for the challenge that only he can use. This is an improvement over last week’s “advantage” and in the hands of Spike it’s definitely going to make things tough for the other contestents.

THE ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

The chefs will be making boxed lunches for the folks at the Chicago Police Academy. Their goal is to make healthly alternatives to the normal greasy cuisine that makes up this demographic’s midday meals. The dish should be low in carbs, sugar and fat and must contain a whole grain, lean protein, vegetable and fruit.

In exercising his advantage, Spike turns on his strategic brain (which, if you’ve seen him sound off to the camera about what he thinks is good strategy, you might have noticed by now, it isn’t always based in reality). In the store he selects bread, tomato, lettuce and chicken – electing to himself make a chicken salad. In my personal opinion, he actually did the other people a favor. I think this choice kept the dishes from being a bunch of different kinds of sandwiches and chicken dishes, which I think would have been likely. His choices do cause some of the chefs to grumble more than I would have expected.

In the kitchen things are fairly low key. That is, until Lisa starts screaming that someone turned the burner on her rice up to high, causing it to burn on the outside and be undercooked on the inside. There are some quick cuts to the likely suspects who seem much too engrossed in making their own food to have bothered to do this. It also seems odd that the camera wouldn’t have caught someone doing this. The other chefs voice to the camera that they think it’s much more likely that Lisa did this herself and I have to agree.

The chefs present their food, along with handwritten heating instructions to the cadets, and just about all of the feedback we get from them is good. Stephanie presents a meatball and mushroom soup, along with a vegetable puree. Everyone marvels at how filling the dish is. Dale makes a bison lettuce wrap (it’s actually made with cabbage is lettuce is not allowed). Antonia makes a comment that Dale will be hurt by constantly serving up Asian food, but the judges’ only complaint is that it could use a bit more heat. Antonia serves a beef curry with a desert of berries with a concord grape syrup (mmmmm, fruit with fruit on top, yummy). Richard delivers a unique version of a burrito wrapped in rice paper with tuna, quinoa and lentils – these are all things I like and I’m a picky eater that usually balks and a bunch of things mixed together – it looks kind of weird, but everyone seems to dig it. Spike’s chicken salad is not impressing the judges, especially since he has chosen to use the bread, lettuce and tomato as basically a garnish. They’re also thrown by his mix of olives and grapes inside the chicken salad. Lisa’s shrimp stir fry is deemed bland with not only the “sabatoged” rice being undercooked, but also the shrimp and the long beans. Andrew serves up a sushi roll in which replaces the rice with ground up parsnips and pine nuts. It sounds like an interesting idea but I think Padma describes how everyone else feels by stating simply that it is “weird.” It’s also worth noting that by not including rice, Andrew missed the whole grain requirement of the challenge. Whoops!

Andrew learns of his faux pas in the stew room and shakes it off. Lisa, however, is still bitching about how someone that couldn’t possibly be her fucked up her rice. Dale and Stephanie are called in as the top dishes this round. Dale is praised for his use of bison since it’s filling like beef, but has much less fat. He is awarded with the win and a trip to see where is bottle of wine gets made.

Andrew, Lisa and Spike are brought into the bottom and make up one of the sourest groups of people to face the judges’ table yet this season. The judges read Andrew’s attitude as ego. Me, I actually like the guy, and I think he’s just on the defensive. He clearly takes nutrition very seriously (on a previous episode he confessed to being an obese kid) and he put a lot of thought into making a very healthy dish and he seems genuinely offended that he isn’t getting any credit for this. Spike decides that the best way to defend his dish is to pick a fight with Tom – who knows why, he doesn’t seem to be the best decision maker. Lisa cries foul on the rice, yet again and the judges state that even the rice isn’t her fault, she can’t blame the “nasty” shrimp and undercooked beans on anyone else. There’s some dead air and Padma asks if anyone has anything else to say. Lisa decides to point out that Andrew broke the rules – in case the judges forgot what they were. Tom points out that they didn’t. Andrew tells, in no uncertain terms, that this was a pathetic move and she comes back with “you would’ve done the same thing to me” which I think we can all agree is not true. The judges do not seem impressed by Lisa’s catty move, but in the end they do send Andrew packing. He exits very graciously and I’m sad that the little spaz won’t be around anymore, he always made for some good entertainment.

THE CHEFTESTANT BREAKDOWN

Stephanie: Back on top again! Still the most consistent, though Dale’s up there with her quite a lot, too. Of course, unlike Dale, she’s much more graceful when she’s in the bottom.

Dale: A winner again. It was a non-asshole week for him (seems to be an every other week kind of thing, since next week he looks to be yelling a lot) which is always nice. Say what you want about the ‘tude, the boy can cook.

Richard: A light week for Richard, bottom in the Quickfire and middle in the Elimination. Not a whole lot of noise coming from his corner.

Antonia: I don’t get why she didn’t win the Quickfire when it seemed like they liked her salad better than Spike’s, but like Richard, she was in the middle for the Elimination, thus making it “blah” week for her.

Lisa: For all the bitching that the chefs do about Dale’s attitude (and granted a lot of that bitching does come from Lisa), I think Lisa’s is SOOOO much worse. She doesn’t take any responsibility for what she does. She’s totally disrespectful to the other contestants and to the judges. And on a week where she makes a lousy dish that’s totally undercooked she has the gall to talk the camera about how “there are people who don’t belong here.” You’re right, honey, and that person is you.

Spike: The only chef left without an Elimination challenge win under his belt. He’s treading water at this point. It’s just a matter of time.

Andrew: I’m sad to seem him go, especially since I think he’s better than Spike and, when he’s doing well, he’s better than Lisa, too. He was clearly the youngest of the bunch and the most fun to watch, without adding unnecessary drama into the mix.

NEXT ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

What I said last week. It should be Spike or Lisa. However, at this point, a good chef could make a bad mistake that gets them sent home and those two could be spared a little longer. It’s possible Dale’s temper could get the better of him like it did last week and badly effect his cooking. It’s possible that one of the other heavyweights could slip up like they have in previous episodes and have no one left to shield them from their mistakes. But the longer Spike and Lisa stay in this competition, the more disappointed I shall be.

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