Top Chef: Oh for the days of wedded bliss

Last night's episode of Top Chef brouht out one of my favorite Quckfire challenges. That's right: It's time for Palate Wars. (cue fanfare).

For those of you not paying attention to Top Chef (and, if you're a foodie type person, I'm not sure why you wouldn't) Palate Wars pairs up the chefs into twos, requires a tasting of a compound ingredient (usually a complex sauce) and then requires the contestants to name as many ingredients as possible. This season the contestants were paired up in twos, and faced off in "rounds" NCAA Tournament style.

Round One

Sauce: Shrimp and Lobster Bouillabaisse (30 ingredients)

The first round is typically marked with conservatism, and this episode was no different. Hosea moved on only having to name four ingredients (think about it: salt and pepper are two) and Carla was eliminated on her first stab. Granted, she probably had a brain freeze but still.

Round Two

Sauce: Thai Green Curry (number of ingredients not revealed)

The biggest star of this round was Stefan, who named seven ingredients correctly and moved onto the finals to face Hosea. (who named six) This set up a final battle between Stefan and Hosea with immunity on the line....

Finals

Sauce: Mexican Mole

Hosea vs. Stefan, and "arrogant" Stefan chokes. They changed it up a bit this round, having the finalists alternate naming a single ingredient until someone "won" a round. It was tomato paste that did Stefan in. Hail and hello Hosea, we'll see you next week with your immunity in hand.

Elimination challenge: Gail's Bridal Shower

Judge Gail Simmons is getting married, and the Top Cheftestants get to cater her Bridal Shower. A Bridal shower that's being attended by approximatley 40 co-workers from Food & Wine Magazine by the by. Funny how that works.

The good news is there won't be a "product placement" limiter in this episode, which is a good thing. Last season I thought the show relied too heavily on processed food product placement. This year has seen less of that and, if you ignore Grant Achatz embarrasing statement that "I use Swanson's broth in my kitchen" (yeah, for the prices you charge you BETTER not Grant) this season has been relatively free of that. Besides, Top Chef isn't near as good fitting them into the show as are the trainers on The Biggest Loser, which has some of my favorite product placement spots....ever.

The bad news is: This is another "team" challenge, which I've decided are designed with the sole purpose of driving storyline and creating friction between the players. The downside to this, in my opinion, is that the food often plays second fiddle to the personalities. If I want to watch a show where sub-par food and good personalities can win the day, I'll tune into The Next Food Network Star.

The Teams

Something Old: Stefan, Hosea and Jeff

Something New: Daniel, Eugene and Carla

Something Borrowed: Jaime, Ariane and Radhika

Something Blue: Fabio, Leah and Melissa


My first thought when watching this? Here's another challenge that's right in Ariane's wheel-house. Basically this is nothing more than a catering gig, and Ariane has proven to us she's adpet at that in the Thanksgiving challenge where her Turkey was the "best dish" according to the judges. My instncts proved correct when Ariane "won" the challenge due mainly to her cooking the lamb dish that was (in truth) conceptualized by Jaime and Radhika. This run of good luck by Ariane (and her strong showing in the "television episode") has led many bloggers and commenters to elevate her to "favorite" status. I'm still going to play the contrarian and disagree. Ariane is on a hot-streak because she is in the middle of a run of challenges that are in her comfort zone. As a caterer she's used to talking to groups of people, and she knows the cooking techniques required. It's no accident that Stefan is also doing well in these challenges is it not?

I really thought that Jeff would be the winner based on judges comments. His tomato sorbet was roundly praised by the judges, and I like the conceptualization of heirloom tomatoes as "something old" by the chefs, even Hosea's dish seemed to be well received. (although, he admitted to taking a back seat because of his immunity, classy move)

The big clunker of the day was the "new Sushi" plate by team Something new. Not only was it a mish-mash of ideas, but Daniel tried to get too fancy by adding poorly prepared mushrooms to the bottom of Carla's salad. Carla, for some reason staying mute (her spirit guides perhaps?) didn't call him out on this, almost a fatal move. During prep I thought that Eugene and Daniel could be in trouble and, at judges table, I was proven correct. Tom Colicchio lamented that he couldn't send all three constestants home, something that I think will be remedied soon enough. I don't see either of the remaining two in the finals based on their cooking range and skill.

Of course, the "big drama" that the producers are trying to push is Stefan vs. the world. Stefan likes Jaime (who procedes to fit in that she's a "lesbian" in every episode), Stefan tells the other team how to cook, tells other chefs what to make, etc. Some people are using this as a reason to not like Stefan, but I just see it as him utilizing game play to try and create seeds of doubt in chefs he feels are beneath him skill wise. I still have Stefan in the lead spot, but he hasn't been as "on point" of late so he needs to refocus on cooking his dishes, and stop worrying about the dishes of the other contestants.

Here's my top five as of the end of episode 5:

1. Stefan
2. Hosea (up one)
3. Fabio (down one)
4. Leah
5. Jeff


Predicted next to go: Melissa.

In the on-deck circle: Eugene.


Ciao until next week Top Chef.