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Photo: David Giesbrecht / Bravo
We should've seen this one coming. Like Mephistopheles creeping up over your shoulder, like Javier Bardem asking you to toss a coin for your soul, there is on Top Chef a long, less-than-illustrious history of the politely grinning evil genius, just waiting to distribute the wrong advice at the right time to the weakest competitor in hopes of sabotaging their burgeoning careers in the kitchen.
In this season, that's been Angelo -- only the moniker of "evil genius" doesn't quite fit with him. He's more an over-gelled, presumably over-cologned version of Mike Meyers' Dr. Evil, flitting around the Top Chef D.C. brownstone, looking for anyone who'll listen to him. He's like the guy who sat over your shoulder in high school geometry, prattling on about how you were doing it wrong -- when really what you were doing was oh-so-right. You didn't listen, but the longer he went on, the more he wore down your resistance: "Maybe I should do it his way..."
Unfortunately, every evil douchebag needs an object of their bad advice, and this season, it's been Tamesha. The no-nonsense chef from Barbados has done everything but give Angelo a "talk to the hand" move -- whether out of politeness, or good humor, or -- shudder -- because she might be attracted to him. (We hope the latter is just a figment of the editor's imagination, for her sake.)
And if ever there was an episode where a chef might be off his or her game and susceptible to such a thing, it was this week. With emu eggs being hacked in half, chefs being switched from one ingredient to another, mid-dish, and some sort of confusing,cold-dish/Cold War-themed nautical cooking challenge facing our intrepid cheftestants, it was enough to disorient anyone.
Some came out shining -- the usually bottom-rung Kevin, for example, who skipped his way to his first show victory by using tuna and veal to good effect in a sort of crudo, laced with pine nuts and dill. But mostly, the feathers flew, as the chefs were allowed to judge each other along with the panel. If it wasn't Floridian Andrea thinking she was being slighted by guest judge Michelle Bernstein (a former Miami peer who was thought to have a chip on her shoulder), then it was Kenny, now judged by his cohorts and being totally paranoid/cocky about it.
Of course, leave it to Bernstein to state the obvious -- maybe his confused, busy dish (Lamb salad and black-eyed pea hummus) just sucked. But if Kenny sucked, Tamesha -- taking her evil-mentor Angelo's advice and creating a rhubarb jus that was both weirdly flavored and ill-fitting with her scallops -- belly flopped. Even the fish wasn't cooked correctly, a failing that could only be her own. As she made her tearful goodbye, we felt the first true hurt of the season so far.
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7-24-2010 @9:55AM Bruce Westcott said... Just what I want in my food: Metal shavings from the knife sharpening process. Dr. Evil seems to be Chef Idiot.
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7-24-2010 @10:53AM Elizabeth said... Seems pretty evil to show a picture of a different chef. If you're going to talk about Angelo, you should show a picture of him...
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7-24-2010 @11:06AM joan said... There is a lot of backstabbing going on in this season. It will be interesting to see who the final 3 are..
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7-24-2010 @1:21PM Mbeck77 said... I've seen every episode of every season of Top Chef. I even have the Top Chef PC game on my computer right now. LOL I've been obsessed to say the least! However, this season just seems so lacking. I couldn't name any of the chefs without having just watched the show over again and I find myself really not caring WHO wins this season. I can't wait for this season to be over with and Top Chef Masters to be on again!
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7-24-2010 @1:38PM Marilyn said... Beware the Rasputin!
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7-25-2010 @3:20PM Thomas said... I wonder how Mr. Hastings would have described the contestant Kenny if he was scripted to be this season's villian. However, since Mr.Sosa is of Italian and Dominican descent it appears to be acceptable practice to write about him in terms of trite ciche`s. For example, Mr.Hastings refers to him as " an over-gelled, presumably over-cologned version of Mike Meyers' Dr. Evil." Therefore, one may infer that Mr.Hasting's opinion of anyone named Angelo is beneath him. I would love to have seen Mr. Hasting's earlier drafts, perhaps such endearing terms as "greaseball" were in the original text. Such wrtiing in my opinion exemplifies that Mr. Hastings is a xenophobic bigot!
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7-24-2010 @7:38PM WhiskeyTango said... @Thomas
I think you need to address your own paranoid delusions of persecution first and foremost before you sling around insinuations of bigotry and racism. At no point during the article did I know the race of the person being described (I've not watched the show so have no knowledge of who is competing). It was only until your response that race was brought. Let me just say that none of the descriptors used in this article pointed at Angelo's race being the reason for his shady actions. None of the rhetorical devices used to describe Angelo's personality bespoke of any racial stereotype and in fact firmly place Angelo being described as an antagonist. An antagonist not because of the melanin count with in his skin or ethinicity, but instead an antagonist because of greed and an over-inflated sense of self-importance. I would like to put that just because your skin is a variation of color, that just because your heritage is different than another, doesn't not mean you can be a prick and not get called on it. When your a prick, it's universal, and at no time did the author of this article insinuate that Angelo's level of prick-hood was because of where he comes from. One needs to disengage their emotional thinking caps and instead use their critical thinking from beginning to end; had you done this you might just have noticed these things....or you might just be a self-important prick. If you'd like to really get mad, tell me your race and ethnicity and I'll be more than happy to fill your self-righteous wrath with a stream of true bigotry, intolerance, racism and cliche stereotypes just so you can lie to yourself, "I didn't waste any energy on rampant emotional stupidity."
XOXO - WT