Finally! Bravo's Top Chef was back on schedule with a new episode this week and now that the show had only nine chefs, there was more individual coverage of each one and we got to see everyone's dishes, which was sometimes a bit of a problem early in the season, especially with the quickfire challenges.
The theme of this week's episode was Raw and Cooked and the underlying theme seemed to be about technology and what chefs could do when there wasn't a lot of it around. For the quickfire challenge, the chefs were taken down to the Redondo Beach Farmer's Market and told that they had to create a mouthwatering, filling dish using entirely raw ingredients. They had a budget of $20 to spend at the marked and were then given 30 minutes in the kitchen to "cook" their food. They were also introduced to the guest judge, Raphael Lunetta, the chef at Jiraffe.
Given the high quality of the produce and fish available at the market, none of the chefs had too much trouble coming up with ideas and everything looked pretty good when Raphael and Padma walked around to taste things. The bottom three finishers were Betty, with a Halibut Ceviche that was dinged for poor presentation; Michael, who had an uninteresting Watermelon and Salmon Jerky Napoleon; and Mia, whose Raw Corn Salad was tasty, but showed the chef that she didn't try to showcase all of the wonderful seasonal ingredients that she found at the market as well as she could have because, for example, she left a perfect heirloom tomato at her station instead of adding it to the dish.
The top three finishers were Elia's Tuna with and Asian-inspired Spinach Salad, Frank's Scallop Carpaccio and Marcel's Watermelon Trio. In the end, although other chefs criticized his dish because of its simplicity, Chef Lunetta found Marcel's food to be the tastiest and most inspired dish of the challenge. Marcel was rewarded with immunity - something that he was grateful for as soon as the chefs heard what the elimination challenge was going to be.
For the elimination challenge, the chefs had to prepare breakfast for a group of mystery California athletes to eat after their morning workout. Breakfast is often overlooked when it comes to fine dining, but to make the challenge even more difficult, the chefs were not told where they would be cooking or get to find out in advance what type of equipment there would be available. Planning a meal when you don't know if you're going to have a stove, an oven, a whisk or a frying pan is hard. The chefs had to pick ingredients and come up with backup plans as well as main ideas because they simply had no way of knowing if it would be possible to make what they had in mind.
It was obvious that the people they would be cooking for would not be a basketball or football team, but none of the chefs took the word "California" into close enough consideration to realize that the athletes in question would be surfers. It turned out that chefs had to cook over a fire pit on the beach. Immediately, problems arose. Frank planned a quiche, which needed an oven to work, and had no backup plan. Michael forgot his eggs, although he did have the good idea to purchase a fulled cooked roast chicken at the grocery store as part of his dish, which was certainly a reasonable move in a challenge where it would have been possible that they wouldn't have access to any equipment. Sand was everywhere and the chefs had to work kneeling on blankets.
It wasn't clear how many people they thought they would have to serve, but all the chefs looked surprised to see almost 50 surfers - including Chef Lunetta - walking up the beach for breakfast. The dishes were:
- Mia - Crab Cakes Benedict with Mango Cream
- Sam - Scrambled Eggs, served Toad in the Hole style on a bagel
- Marcel - Poached Eggs, Hash Browns, Gravlax & Cream Cheese with Bacon Lardons
- Elia - "Breakfast Lunch and Dinner" Waffle with Ham, Cheese, & Fried Eggs
- Frank - Zucchini & Salmon Scramble and Cannoli Cream with Strawberries
- Cliff- Chicken Apple Sausage with Sweet Potato Hash & Chive Scrambled Eggs
- Betty - Black Forest Ham & Egg Bundle, Corn & Leek Ragout on Rustic Toast
- Michael - Chicken & Eggs Tacos
- Ilan - Spanish Tortilla on 'Pan con Tomate' with Chipotle Aoili
Considering the cooking conditions and the high stress levels of the chefs (who all jumped in the water when the challenge was over), everything turned out reasonably well. The surfers' favorites were Betty, Mia, Elia and Ilan's dishes. Betty's had perfect eggs and a beautiful presentation. Mia's was the surfers' top pick. Ilan's was praised for being nutritious and very snackable, easy to eat even on the beach. It was Elia who won the challenge overall. Her dish's combination of sweet and savory wowed even the most cynical judges who didn't think that they'd like the combination. And because she used frozen waffles, it would be easy for everyone to recreate.
The judges were surprised by the bottom three chefs: Frank, Cliff and Sam. All are usually strong competitors, but all were hung up on the difficulty of the challenge and never really found their stride on the beach. Sam's dish was the surfer's least favorite and the judges felt that it wouldn't have been that hard for him to dramatically improve the presentation of his brownish eggs. Cliff made no excuses for his sloppy presentation, but fared better than Sam because his food was still tasty and neither heavy or greasy. After having to scrap his quiche idea, Frank was lost. His dish didn't have any cohesiveness and his eggs were way overcooked - to the point of being burnt and rubbery. He was the one asked to pack his knives and leave.
Next week's episode will feature Ted Allen. Catch up on the whole season here:
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