'Holy Asian Extravaganza!' -- 'Top Chef DC' Finale, Part 1

by Michael Thomas Hastings, Posted Sep 9th 2010 @ 11:00AM

Photo: Joan Leong / Bravo

What good is Singapore if we don't get to experience it through Tiffany's awestruck eyes? That was the question we were asking ourselves when we sat down to watch the endurance test -- for the chefs, at least -- that is the Top Chef finale. We know we should be over our favorite cheftestant's elimination by now, but we weren't.

Instead of Tiffany's brilliantly skewed, down-to-earth worldview, we got Angelo's weird, "I'm Asian on the inside" commentary on, well, just about everything. From the moment he arrived, he acted like he owned the continent. Boasting about his wok skills, mocking Ed's aversion to black cockles, Angelo loudly announced his dominance early on -- which, of course, made him a prime target for being taken down, something Ed was more than willing to attempt (and rather successfully, at that).

We much preferred Kelly's attitude: Tasting and smelling everything in front of her, she was a stranger in a strange land, determined to cook everything by flavor alone. Pluck doesn't get you everything, of course, but a Quickfire challenge noodle plate -- with lobster and cockles -- seemed to capture the essence of street food.

If Kelly was the eager tourist, Kevin was the under-prepared homebody, arriving in Singapore never having used a wok in his life. C'mon, Kevin -- you're married! Doesn't everyone get a wok as a wedding gift, even if they only use it once?

It was looking like Kelly and Kevin would definitely be on the bottom, but we had forgotten another contestant's key weakness: Angelo's tendency to freak out whenever he has a misstep.

When Ed beat Angelo at his own game in the Quickfire by serving up a simple but deceptively complex two-noodle stir-fry and winning last-round immunity, that was all it took. Suddenly, Mr. Asian Flavors was babbling to himself in the kitchen, tripping over his own feet, and spouting strange aphorisms.

"Everybody's heart is on the line -- and this could be our last beat." Who talks like that? And only a wizened park ranger would say this: "The spark in the forest has been set, and those flames are gonna be burning."

But he wasn't the only one having trouble. Kelly's patience to try everything weird and foreign was running out, and quick. "I'm sick of tasting all this s**t!" she shouted. "I can't read it!"

What the chefs whipped up, after sweating their asses off in their alien kitchen, was some of the best cooking of the season: Kelly's yogurt-cucumber soup with bitter melon was a great way to start a meal. Angelo's follow-up, an over-seasoned shrimp broth with dumplings, was almost too bold for the judges. Lucky for him, he impressed them a few moments later with a lamb tartare so tender and mild the judges almost mistook it for tuna.

Kevin brought his A-game with a tapioca porridge topped with a perfectly slow-cooked egg. And the immune Ed served up two stunners: a bowl full of sweet-and-sour pork topped with Chinese sausage, followed by banana-chile fritters that the judges couldn't stop eating (with Tom going so far as to say it was the ultimate stoner food).

The judges, however, weren't smoking anything when they named Ed the evening's champ. As for choosing a loser, the devil was in the details -- Angelo going too bold or Kelly's reticent spices. In this case Kelly's lack of cohesion on her prawn red curry second course was her downfall. While Angelo shed drama-queen tears over the thought of being sent home, Kelly kept her head held high as she marched back to the kitchen. Her classiness was almost enough to make us not hate the judges for getting rid of both of the show's strongest women before the final three.

Filed Under: Television/Film, Chefs
Tags: angelo sosa, AngeloSosa, ed cotton, EdCotton, kevin sbraga, KevinSbraga, tiffany derry, TiffanyDerry, Tom Collicchio, TomCollicchio, top chef, Top Chef DC, TopChef, TopChefDc