Only one week into season two of Bravo's Top Chef and things are already getting a lot more interesting, primarily because we are getting to know the players a little bit better. The honeymoon seemed to wear off quickly, as at the start of the show everyone agreed that they really felt like they were in a competition now that someone had been asked to pack their knives and go.
This week, things started off as usual with a quickfire challenge, though this one required a 4:30 am wakeup call. All the chefs headed off to the Los Angeles fish market where they were given $100 to pick out fish for sushi. Once they returned to the kitchen, they were given 30 minutes to prepare a dish for the guest judge, Chef Hiroshi Shima, an expert in the field.
The main problem was not time or money, but the fact that a lot of the competitors had only minimal experience working with sushi. This is in contrast to the chefs from last season, who seemed to take every possibly opportunity to use toro or other raw fish. Mia, for example, not only did not like sushi, but was actually ill during the competition. Luckily for her, the only benefit to winning the quickfire is immunity, and her unappetizing rolls neither helped nor hurt her. The top sushi dishes were prepared by Otto, Elia, Ilan and Clif, but it was Clif's dish of Hama Hama Oysters with Ginger, Soy, Mango and Jalapeno that won him immunity.
Wasting no time, the contestants were immediately divided up into two teams for the elimination challenge. Each team would prepare either Vietnamese or Korean food to be served at a charity benefit to 1,000 guests, and each would need to prepare one hot dish and one cold dish.
Team Vietnam was well organized and was led by Josie, who had previously worked for a Vietnamese chef. They were helped by the fact that two members of their team were caterers and used to serving large crowds. Their dishes included Braised Pork Pho with Carrot Vermicelli, Summer Rolls with Pickled WaterMelon and a Cucumber Refresher Drink, with the drink added in because they were so organized they had extra time and budget.
Team Korea, on the other hand, was wildly disorganized. All the male team members got drunk on sangria before they could plan a menu, so they were barely together the next day at the market, where in the confusion, the team accidentally ended up with an extra box of lychees. The lychees later proved to be a huge problem, when Marissa accused Otto of stealing them and he, claiming it was an honest mistake that they left with more than they paid for after buying so much, had to go to the store to return them. Their menu included Spicy Braised Pork with Kim Chee, Sticky Rice and Lotus Chips and a Jasmine Tea Pannacotta with Tapioca and Candied Taro Root, which Marissa, the pastry chef, really wanted on the menu.
When all the food was served, Ming Tsai, the guest judge for this challenge came around to sample the food, as did the other judges and Padma. They loved Vietnam's cucumber drink, but found the pork to be overcooked and dry. Korea's pork, on the other hand, was perfect and everyone was impressed that they made a decent kim chee in basically one day. The pannacotta was as hard as a hockey puck, however, and not even any of Marissa's team members liked it.
In the judging room, Vietnam was pronounced the winner for teamwork and presentation, though their food was just "ok." Betty, who made the Cucumber drink and spearheaded theire presentation, was declared the individual winner and was given a limited edition Kyocera Sashimi knife, one of only 100 in the world, from Ming Tsai.
After much finger pointing from Team Korea, Otto said that he felt responsible for the difficulty the team had in working cohesively and apologized for his lapse in judgment on the lychee issue. He voluntarily resigned from the show, and probably saved Marissa from elimination, since her failure at making the dessert was the sole reason that team Korea did not win the challenge.
Did you miss the season premier, check out our recap or just tune in to Bravo on Wednesdays before the new episode airs, since they'll run the previous episodes again leading up to it.









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-26-2006 @ 11:54PM
Angela Pitt said...
As soon as my boyfriend finishes with his sports, I'll
watch the episode. Thank God for the DVR! I like having the preliminary scoop; it's just the right amount of information without giving away too much.
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10-27-2006 @ 12:39PM
Laura said...
I felt bad for Otto, while it wasn't an "honest mistake" as he first claimed, I wished he hadn't resigned so as to take out that nasty Marissa. In fact, I wish the judges had just gone along with their original statement of "If Otto takes responsbility, Marissa goes."
I also wonder if Cliff didn't prepare the drinks to handicap his fellow competition - these are some tough competitors! I wish it was more about the food, but I suppose the other competitive factors make it more interesting.
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10-27-2006 @ 10:44PM
Adriane said...
Laura- I totally agree! Otto def. took the fall for something that wasn't entirely his fault.
Couldn't the girl (forget her name..)who heard him right outside the store just as easily brought them back in herself? Nope...instead she kept her mouth shut and went along with it...boo to her!
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10-29-2006 @ 5:50AM
Gary B said...
Man, That knife Betty recieved was niiice. After watching a little of last season and Food Network's next big star, I think Bravo's got the winning show for sure. Hmm...full kitchen, $100k, and a bunch of other stuff Vs. A tv show that will last about a month or two...hmm...hard choice...
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11-03-2006 @ 10:39AM
ZenKimchi said...
I just watched episode 2 and was excited when they announced a competition using Korean ingredients. But it just made me increasingly frustrated -- especially Marissa's dessert. Only Ming Tsai mildly pointed out that it wasn't Korean.
It wasn't at ALL Korean. The ingredients -- taro, jasmine tea, tapioca -- are more likely to be found in the international section at Costco in Korea rather than in any local Korean market. It just again displayed that Americans just group all Asians together as one culture.
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12-14-2006 @ 2:06PM
Robert Silvestre said...
hi to all from south america. Thank to cable television we also are washeing top chef is on of the best reality cooking show on tv. Iam hoping that we can have a reality show in latin america like top chef it will be very interesting do to all the flavor that we offer.
good luck to al the chef
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