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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The world of pie and tart crusts
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2006 @ 5:11PM
Ed said...
Why would Frank even consider trying to make a crust when the cooking environment was specifically left unknown. It was time for his pompous butt to go.
Elia and Michael made great choices by choosing prepared food as ingredients.
One thing I would have liked to have seen more of was just what exactly did the chefs have access to as far as equipment. We saw cast iron frying pans and some mixing bowls. Did they have access to cast iron dutch ovens?
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12-07-2006 @ 11:07PM
Alex said...
Nope, no dutch ovens.
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12-08-2006 @ 12:46PM
Dmnkly said...
Does anybody else think that this week's challenge was absurd to the point of being flat-out stupid? I understand the need to make good TV, and I completely understand (and love) that artificial restrictions can both test and bring out somebody's true creativity. But being asked to plan and shop for a dish without even the slightest hint of what, if any, equipment you'll have to work with? That's not restrictive... it's just crippling.
I'm getting frustrated with season two... the genuine contest vs. artifically created drama meter seems to be skewing way too heavily toward the latter.
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12-08-2006 @ 6:42PM
David Schloss said...
@dmnkly
I could not agree more. Telling someone you're going to cook for an unknown type of person, using an unknown cooking environment isn't the type of thing that ever happens to a chef. It doesn't replicate anything. Sure, sometimes a chef might have his gear breakdown, or might go to cater somewhere and it turns out a piece of equipment doesn't work or isn't present. But to not even know if you have running water or a pan? That's just silly.
Then to tell the bottom three that they didn't seem to rise to the challenge? Feh.
I agree it was dumb for Frank to choose a quiche based on the challenge, but it was a bad idea for a challenge.
Season 2 is much less compelling, and I think the chefs have much less talent than last year. So far I've seen very little that makes me go "wow" the way I did last season.
During the episode my wife said "I hope one of chefs brings a shark, so they can cook it, then jump over it."
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12-08-2006 @ 10:56PM
Dmnkly said...
'During the episode my wife said "I hope one of chefs brings a shark, so they can cook it, then jump over it."'
Brilliant :-)
Regarding the talent of the chefs, I'm not sure. Through the first five or six episodes I absolutely agreed. But now I'm starting to wonder if it's a matter of the chefs' talent or simply the editing. It's like they take eight dishes, and blow through the descriptions in 15 seconds. I feel like I barely have enough time to register the ingredients, much less to actually consider the dish. I don't remember this being an issue with season one, but then my memory is pretty useless. So I'm curious. I wonder if there are some really great dishes being turned out, but we aren't getting a chance to see them.
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12-13-2006 @ 1:39PM
Ivan said...
Is Top Chef a food show or a food fight? Those with doubts can put them away for good this season. All the episodes so far are about personality clashes, cheating scandals, toiletry items on the floor, with bits of food content thrown in as afterthoughts - just enough to satisfy the Top Chef' show title. It's 'Survivor" with state-of-the-art Kenmore Pro Kitchen appliances.
Let's face it, if the producers had truly intended to create a show about food, they would have dedicated a lot more time on each dish that the 'Cheftestants' created. Yes, the challenges were often impratical and silly but true food enthusiasts would have liked to see just how each contestant had strategized to overcome them.
As it is, viewers are offered but a bare glimpse of each dish. Ingredients? Cooking methods? Idea behind the dish? Forget about it! We spent more time watching Mike give up his cheese for beer than his making the actual steak sandwich.
Do the producers think that we would be bored by the food preparation? As fans of Iron Chef can testify, a well-paced, well-edited cooking show can be very entertaining.
In the Top Chef substance vaccum, the viewing audience is left with trivial superficialities the likes of Marcel's hair, Frank's tattoos and Marisa's 'sexy' audition tape. Is Mia a two-faced liar? Is Betty bi-polar? Is Sam an instigator? Who cares? This is supposed to be a cooking contest and the challenges and the finished dishes should be featured front and center.
Most bloggers have commented that the group this season is far less talented than their Season One counterparts. Maybe so. But is it fair to judge them? So far we have been shown so little of what they could do or have done.
Finally, in my opinion, the editing of the shows leave a lot to be desired. I have noticed that the scenes at the judging table were at times 'choppy', which suggests to me that the editor has been cutting and pasting lines out of sequence for dramatic effects. Naturally this occurs in all TV productions but the way it's done on Top Chef strikes me as rather amateurish.
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12-20-2006 @ 5:08PM
Jeremy said...
I have been thoroughly disappointed this season. They have turned a creative show into yet another "HElls Kitchen." Cooking has become a hobby to me and I love to pick up bits here and there from watching others cook. This season has very little focus at all on the food. Like so many have said...it's all about the personality clashes and fake drama that I find this season disgusting. Hats of to the producers...you really messed this season up...I tend to think they have the same casting folks as the 2nd season of "Hell's Kitchen"
And as far as the editing goes....I'm so glad someone else picked up on that. I'm an editor in my 8-5 incarnation and this show has been given to the interns. It's terrible. There are so many inconsistencies as well as flat out poor editing I'm surprised they're able to pass this one off.
God I hope season 3 is better or they just end it now.
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