Posts
Right off the bat, Not-Padme is ready to tell them all about their Quickfire. (It's their last one - the finale has no Quickfire). Time for the blindfolded taste test! They have 20 ingredients to identify. The chef with the most gets 5 stars, the next 4, the next 3 1/2, and the last 3.
Michael is up first and floundered on non-Italian ingredients. Hubert seemed to do ok. Rick was bold, but missed a lot from what we saw. Anita blanked on a lot of them, but got a couple of the harder ones (poppodums and dashi).
Hubert got 5/20, Rick got 6/20, Anita got 6/20 as well, and Michael got 7/20 and won the challenge.
For the Elimination Challenge, they have to "hire" staff, made up of prior Top Chef contestants, to help them with a buffet lunch for 200 Hollywood people the next day. They get 2 minutes to interview each chef before making decisions.
Michael was an ass in interviews, and demanded that people tell him is name and how to pronounce the last name. It was childish, in my opinion.
Michael had Brian, CJ, and Fabio.
Rick had Richard, Betty, and ... someone else who I barely remember. Dave?
Anita had Jamie, Dale, and Ilan.
Hubert had Spike, Antonio, and Elia.
Once teams were picked, Rick let people contribute ideas. Anita asked for ideas but didn't really want them. Hubert asked his sous chefs for input, too. Michael didn't have any interest in knowing what his sous chefs though.
They split teams up, $2000 between Restaurant Depot and Whole Foods, and then they have 3 1/2 hours to prep.
Back at the kitchen, there was a spat about fridge space. Michael, of course, got into it with Dale, and Dale certainly didn't like it when he was called "young man." I want Michael to win much less now, after seeing how he acts with people.
The next day, they had 2 1/2 hours prep. And, Not-Padme entered with a twist... the party location is changed, and they have to pack everything up in 30 minutes and move to their new location, where they will have their 2 1/2 hour prep. Chaos ensued. Their stations are outside, which is a blow to the chefs. AND - everyone has to cut one person. Michael dropped Brian, Hubert booted Spike, Rick got rid of Betty, and Anita got rid of Jamie (who was taking too long for prep, in Anita's mind)
In the end, Anita served an Asian Raw Bar with lots of sauces and a couple other things. The raw bar made people nervous.
Michael served a very Italian buffet, with risotto, shrimp, swordfish, and a couple desserts. Gael Green's hat wasn't sure about the texture of the swordfish, calling it like old swordfish.
Hubert served an 18 dish buffet which got very good marks from the judges.
Rick did a Mexican Food Buffet, including Richard Blais' liquid nitrogen avocado ice cream. The judges seemed very pleased with his dishes.
At Critic's Table, Rick said that he loved working with his sous chefs.
Hubert had a super complicated menu and he did that on purpose. They loved it.
Anita's ribs got good marks. The raw bar, not so much.
Michael's shrimp was called unnecessary, and the swordfish had a "curious" texture, which Gael Green's Hat called furry and mealy. How unappealing. He is also unable to delegate anything to his sous chefs.
Rick and Hubert have the highest totals for the night, so they are both safe. That's about right!
Rick's total was 21 1/2 stars. Hubert's killed it with the critics and got 5 stars from all of them, bringing his total to 22 stars, and his charity (Make a Wish) got an extra $10K.
Anita got a total of 17 stars, and Michael got 19 1/2, so Anita is gone. Doesn't change the fact that Michael acted kind of badly with his sous chefs. It was Anita's time to go, though.
Showing posts with label Top Chef Masters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top Chef Masters. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Top Chef Masters - 8.11.09
(I'm late, this is from last week's show)
Next round of the Champions Round!
The chefs entered the kitchen and saw a table overflowing with burgers and fries. Not-Padme introduced them to their Quickfire. They have to make burgers. Hubert sells a $5000 burger at one of his restaurants. Crazy. They also have to make a side dish. Spike from Season 4 will be judging them, along with Sang Yoon, who won best burger on the Today Show, and Morgan Spurlock, of Supersize Me fame.
Everyone worked on their burgers, and Anita decided to make a cheddar soup with mini burgers.. hum. Not the best decision, I think.
Rick did a Queso Fondito burger with 3 kinds of guac. Seems like the 3 kinds of guac was overkill.
Art made a corncake burger with fried green tomato chips. They seemed to like it.
Michael made an enormous hamburger with yukon gold potatoes and truffle something.
Anita made a cheddar soup with grilled burger and ketchup croutons, and onion rings. No one seemed to like it. Someone called it a Wish Burger. As in - I wish there was a burger.
Hubert made a Beff and Roquefort cheese burger with caramelized onions, with yukon gold potatoes. Didn't get grand reviews.
Hubert got 3 stars. Art got 3 1/2 stars. Anita got only 1 1/2 starts. Michael got 4 stars. Rick also got 4 starts.
For the elimination challenge, they will be catering a lunch party for Zoey Deschanel. I love her, but she's a nut when it comes to food. She is a vegan, and she is gluten intolerant and doesn't eat soy. No wonder she's so skinny.
They have to do lunch for 20 diners, and each chef is in charge of one dish.
Art went easy and bought rice ice cream, because he doesn't know how to make rice ice cream himself. Rick was helping out in ingredient help, because he is more familiar with the kind of restrictions. Michael found a quinoa pasta, which is gluten free. It's all about being flexible when your diner isn't.
Rick is making fresh corn tamales with black beans and mushrooms. Looked good.
Hubert is making a White Gazpacho, Timbale with avocado and asparagus, and a red beet salad.
Anita is making a spicy grilled eggplant with lentil salad, Indian style.
Michael is doing Quinoa pasta, salsa verde, and some pine nuts and meyer lemon.
Art has a strawberry soup mixed in with his rice ice cream (which he didn't like the texture of alone), and an almond brittle.
Zooey Deschanel is a huge fan of Top Chef, and is excited to have someone other than her mom cooking for her.
I love that these chefs work together, instead of sabotaging each other.
Hubert had a couple of his glasses of gazpacho fall over, but luckily, he had some extra. The diners liked his soup a lot. His avocado thing fell a little flat. Gael Green's hat loved the beet salad.
Anita's fish was kind of monochrome and black. Some of the diners thought it was a little overseasoned, and the lentils were a little "sturdy." That's a nice way to put it.
Michael's pasta dish was welcomed by Zooey, who missed pasta. Gael Green's hat had never heard of quinoa pasta before. Zooey said she wanted to go hug Michael for making her pasta.
Rick's tamales were called probably the best tamales Zooey had ever had. Good job, Rick.
Art's rice ice cream with strawberries, and strawberry champagne soup and almond brittle did not go over super well. Zooey prefers coconut milk ice cream, and while the brittle went over well, one diner said it felt like it needed more fat.
Time for Critic's Table!
Gael Green's hat picked up on my monochrome criticism for Anita's dish (and she left the eggplant sitting in oil overnight so that it sucked up the oil. Yuck.)
Art was criticized for buying his rice ice cream and then doing something lackluster with it. They were impressed with the butterless brittle (so was I)
Hubert ended up with 19 stars. Michael got 22 stars. Rick got 19 stars. Michael is the winner this week, and his charity gets an additional $10K. Anita's dish only got 2 1/2 stars from the diners, and it didn't get so much better from there. Her final total was 13 stars. Ouch. Art got reamed by the critics for buying the ice cream, and ended up with 12 1/2 stars, and he is out. Anita survived only because of Art's supremely poor performance, not because her food was anything to write home about.
Next round of the Champions Round!
The chefs entered the kitchen and saw a table overflowing with burgers and fries. Not-Padme introduced them to their Quickfire. They have to make burgers. Hubert sells a $5000 burger at one of his restaurants. Crazy. They also have to make a side dish. Spike from Season 4 will be judging them, along with Sang Yoon, who won best burger on the Today Show, and Morgan Spurlock, of Supersize Me fame.
Everyone worked on their burgers, and Anita decided to make a cheddar soup with mini burgers.. hum. Not the best decision, I think.
Rick did a Queso Fondito burger with 3 kinds of guac. Seems like the 3 kinds of guac was overkill.
Art made a corncake burger with fried green tomato chips. They seemed to like it.
Michael made an enormous hamburger with yukon gold potatoes and truffle something.
Anita made a cheddar soup with grilled burger and ketchup croutons, and onion rings. No one seemed to like it. Someone called it a Wish Burger. As in - I wish there was a burger.
Hubert made a Beff and Roquefort cheese burger with caramelized onions, with yukon gold potatoes. Didn't get grand reviews.
Hubert got 3 stars. Art got 3 1/2 stars. Anita got only 1 1/2 starts. Michael got 4 stars. Rick also got 4 starts.
For the elimination challenge, they will be catering a lunch party for Zoey Deschanel. I love her, but she's a nut when it comes to food. She is a vegan, and she is gluten intolerant and doesn't eat soy. No wonder she's so skinny.
They have to do lunch for 20 diners, and each chef is in charge of one dish.
Art went easy and bought rice ice cream, because he doesn't know how to make rice ice cream himself. Rick was helping out in ingredient help, because he is more familiar with the kind of restrictions. Michael found a quinoa pasta, which is gluten free. It's all about being flexible when your diner isn't.
Rick is making fresh corn tamales with black beans and mushrooms. Looked good.
Hubert is making a White Gazpacho, Timbale with avocado and asparagus, and a red beet salad.
Anita is making a spicy grilled eggplant with lentil salad, Indian style.
Michael is doing Quinoa pasta, salsa verde, and some pine nuts and meyer lemon.
Art has a strawberry soup mixed in with his rice ice cream (which he didn't like the texture of alone), and an almond brittle.
Zooey Deschanel is a huge fan of Top Chef, and is excited to have someone other than her mom cooking for her.
I love that these chefs work together, instead of sabotaging each other.
Hubert had a couple of his glasses of gazpacho fall over, but luckily, he had some extra. The diners liked his soup a lot. His avocado thing fell a little flat. Gael Green's hat loved the beet salad.
Anita's fish was kind of monochrome and black. Some of the diners thought it was a little overseasoned, and the lentils were a little "sturdy." That's a nice way to put it.
Michael's pasta dish was welcomed by Zooey, who missed pasta. Gael Green's hat had never heard of quinoa pasta before. Zooey said she wanted to go hug Michael for making her pasta.
Rick's tamales were called probably the best tamales Zooey had ever had. Good job, Rick.
Art's rice ice cream with strawberries, and strawberry champagne soup and almond brittle did not go over super well. Zooey prefers coconut milk ice cream, and while the brittle went over well, one diner said it felt like it needed more fat.
Time for Critic's Table!
Gael Green's hat picked up on my monochrome criticism for Anita's dish (and she left the eggplant sitting in oil overnight so that it sucked up the oil. Yuck.)
Art was criticized for buying his rice ice cream and then doing something lackluster with it. They were impressed with the butterless brittle (so was I)
Hubert ended up with 19 stars. Michael got 22 stars. Rick got 19 stars. Michael is the winner this week, and his charity gets an additional $10K. Anita's dish only got 2 1/2 stars from the diners, and it didn't get so much better from there. Her final total was 13 stars. Ouch. Art got reamed by the critics for buying the ice cream, and ended up with 12 1/2 stars, and he is out. Anita survived only because of Art's supremely poor performance, not because her food was anything to write home about.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Top Chef Masters: 7.22.09
I'm a week late! Sorry!
Jonathan Waxman is a former musician, and he trained people like Bobby Flay. Impressive. He's playing for Meals on Wheels.
Roy Yamaguchi is "the King of Fusion," and he is playing for Imua Family Services, to help kids with special needs get education and support.
Art Smith from Chicago, who is Oprah's chef, among other things. He's playing for Common Threads, a charity to teach kids how to cook. I like that.
Michael Cimurusti is a seafood specialist. He's playing for the Grameen Foundation, to empower women.
Not-Padme introduced their Quickfire to them. They drew knives for numbers and they have to cook from the aisle of Whole Foods, with minimal other stuff. They have $25.
Jonathan has the canned good aisle and had a hard time seeing properly, and was upset by that. Michel had the baked goods aisle and wasn't happy about that. Roy had the Italian food aisle and wished for soy sauce. Art had beans and grains and wished to make risotto.
Their judges are Whole Foods workers.
Roy had the pasta/olive oil aisle and produced - Pasta with fried egg and Asian flavors. The first reactions are "weird." However, one of the judges really liked it.
Jonathan had the International Foods Aisle and made - Mint, lentil, and roasted red pepper salad. It sounded really good to me.
Art had the beans and grains aisle and made - Multi-grain risotto with crispy rice salad. It got fantastic reviews.
Michael had the baking aisle and made - Chocolate parfait with ginger sautyrne syrup and sesame crackers. It also got really good reviews.
Jonathan got 3 1/2 stars. Roy got 4 stars. Art got 4 1/2 stars. Michael took it home with 5 stars. Good for him.
For the main challenge, they will draw knives but not reveal their picks. They will be creating a mystery box for other contestants and the chefs will have to use 7 of the ingredients in the box, to create something for culinary students and judges. The chefs are all hoping not to get sabotage, and seem to be nice about it. They have $300.
Roy drew Art. He got lots of produce and chicken.
Art drew Roy. He got Mahi Mahi, short ribs, and other good things.
Michael got Jonathan and gave him pork chops as one of his ingredients.
Jonathan got Michael and he got Lamb, portobellos, purple cauliflower, kumquats, and fun things... but Michael denied him fish.
They have 2 hours to cook.
Art made - Fried Chicken 2 ways, and mango pie. Gail Simmons thought it oozed Art Smith.
Roy made Short rib Kalbi and Mahi mahi. Gayle Green's hat thinks that mahi mahi can be boring, but loved the way he made it. Gail Simmons thought that it had too much lemon grass.
Michael made Loin of Lamb with sunchoke puree, brocolli rabe and purple cauliflower, and orange sauce that didn't make it to all the plates. Oops.
Jonathan made pork sausage & chop with cauliflower and celery root puree and black truffle. He bemoaned that he doesn't like more than 3 things on a plate. He called it an 80's retro dish. Gayle Green's Hat thought it was a charming idea and everyone seemed to like the flavors.
Critic's Table
Gayle Green's Hat thought that Michael's dish was better without the sauce, so she was happy not to have gotten a plate with sauce. Michael's roasted mushrooms had a bit of mandarin juice on them, and they sounded delicious.
Art's two chicken dishes were slightly competitive, but they loved his personality.
Roy's mahi mahi was unevenly cooked. Gayle Green's hat had perfect fish, but didn't like the mixture of the fish and the beef.
Jonathan's plating was questioned. His treatment of truffles (mircroplaning) was not questioned.
Jonathan's final total was 20 stars. Roy's final total was 15 stars. Michael's total was 17 1/2 stars. Art's final total was 22 stars, and Oprah's chef went on to the Champions Round.
Jonathan Waxman is a former musician, and he trained people like Bobby Flay. Impressive. He's playing for Meals on Wheels.
Roy Yamaguchi is "the King of Fusion," and he is playing for Imua Family Services, to help kids with special needs get education and support.
Art Smith from Chicago, who is Oprah's chef, among other things. He's playing for Common Threads, a charity to teach kids how to cook. I like that.
Michael Cimurusti is a seafood specialist. He's playing for the Grameen Foundation, to empower women.
Not-Padme introduced their Quickfire to them. They drew knives for numbers and they have to cook from the aisle of Whole Foods, with minimal other stuff. They have $25.
Jonathan has the canned good aisle and had a hard time seeing properly, and was upset by that. Michel had the baked goods aisle and wasn't happy about that. Roy had the Italian food aisle and wished for soy sauce. Art had beans and grains and wished to make risotto.
Their judges are Whole Foods workers.
Roy had the pasta/olive oil aisle and produced - Pasta with fried egg and Asian flavors. The first reactions are "weird." However, one of the judges really liked it.
Jonathan had the International Foods Aisle and made - Mint, lentil, and roasted red pepper salad. It sounded really good to me.
Art had the beans and grains aisle and made - Multi-grain risotto with crispy rice salad. It got fantastic reviews.
Michael had the baking aisle and made - Chocolate parfait with ginger sautyrne syrup and sesame crackers. It also got really good reviews.
Jonathan got 3 1/2 stars. Roy got 4 stars. Art got 4 1/2 stars. Michael took it home with 5 stars. Good for him.
For the main challenge, they will draw knives but not reveal their picks. They will be creating a mystery box for other contestants and the chefs will have to use 7 of the ingredients in the box, to create something for culinary students and judges. The chefs are all hoping not to get sabotage, and seem to be nice about it. They have $300.
Roy drew Art. He got lots of produce and chicken.
Art drew Roy. He got Mahi Mahi, short ribs, and other good things.
Michael got Jonathan and gave him pork chops as one of his ingredients.
Jonathan got Michael and he got Lamb, portobellos, purple cauliflower, kumquats, and fun things... but Michael denied him fish.
They have 2 hours to cook.
Art made - Fried Chicken 2 ways, and mango pie. Gail Simmons thought it oozed Art Smith.
Roy made Short rib Kalbi and Mahi mahi. Gayle Green's hat thinks that mahi mahi can be boring, but loved the way he made it. Gail Simmons thought that it had too much lemon grass.
Michael made Loin of Lamb with sunchoke puree, brocolli rabe and purple cauliflower, and orange sauce that didn't make it to all the plates. Oops.
Jonathan made pork sausage & chop with cauliflower and celery root puree and black truffle. He bemoaned that he doesn't like more than 3 things on a plate. He called it an 80's retro dish. Gayle Green's Hat thought it was a charming idea and everyone seemed to like the flavors.
Critic's Table
Gayle Green's Hat thought that Michael's dish was better without the sauce, so she was happy not to have gotten a plate with sauce. Michael's roasted mushrooms had a bit of mandarin juice on them, and they sounded delicious.
Art's two chicken dishes were slightly competitive, but they loved his personality.
Roy's mahi mahi was unevenly cooked. Gayle Green's hat had perfect fish, but didn't like the mixture of the fish and the beef.
Jonathan's plating was questioned. His treatment of truffles (mircroplaning) was not questioned.
Jonathan's final total was 20 stars. Roy's final total was 15 stars. Michael's total was 17 1/2 stars. Art's final total was 22 stars, and Oprah's chef went on to the Champions Round.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Top Chef Masters 7.15.09
This week's chefs are:
Rick Moonen, from NY. He is playing for the Cape Cod Sustainable Hook Fish Foundation.
Nils Noren is from Sweden, so I have to like him. It's like a cultural imperative. He's playing for the Friends of the French Culinary Institute, to give help to people who can't afford it.
Lachlan Patterson is from Boulder, CO. He is playing for the Denver Children's Hospital.
Michael Chiarello is from Napa Valley. He is competing for Clinic Ole, providing health care help to the Latino community.
Not-Padme introduced the Quickfire, where they have to cook with junk food. They have to use junk food to make something delicious. Michael chose first, and picked fishsticks and tartar sauce. Lachlan grabbed a hot dog, and Rick took the corndog. Nils snagged the fried shrimp. They are judged by people from the (BRAVO SHOW PLUG) show Flipping Out, who are fast food conneseurs.
Oops... Rick didn't get his food plated! Lachlan wasn't sure his sausages were cooked through! Duhn-duhn-duhn.
Presentation time!
Lachlan's "Hot Dog" dish - Prosciutto stufado with pork kielbasa. It was called kind of rare.
Michael's fish sticks - Swordfish meatballs with fisherman's sauce. It looked very good and got very nice reviews.
Nils' Fried Shrimp Dish - Shrimp with creamed corn, and pickled cherry tomatoes. They weren't sure that it took from the fried shrimp enough.
They were not happy with not getting Rick's food.
Lachlan got 3 stars. Nils got 3 stars. Rick didn't get any stars, obviously. Michael got 4 1/2 stars.
Not-Padme told them that their Elimination Challenge is to cook a three course meal for 100 people, all by themselves. It's a party for Top Chef's biggest fans - and they have to make appetizers, taking off from the three courses of a meal. They have $1000 at Whole Foods, then 3 hours to prep.
Rick's menu: Opakapaka ceviche, Branandeof scallop & shrimp, and a preserved lemon custard.
Lachlan's menu: Pineapple & Speck "fritta esotica", grilled beef short ribs, and strawberry frangipane tart
Nils' menu: Diced scallop, Slow cooked salmon, and chocolate & goat cheese ganache with a smoked lapsang tea.
Michael's menu: Shaved brussel sprout salad, spicy prawns, and balsamic marinated strawberries.
The day of service, they have 1 hour to prep before serving. Some of the chefs are using their waitstaff to help them plate as much as possible. Nils was done before the others and he was hoping that he didn't forget anything. He helped Rick in the end.
Not-Padma and the judges arrive. I'm beginning to wonder if Gael Green has a problem with the top of her head, like if she lost a chunk of hair in some terrible accident and it never grew back? Anyhow...
Nils seemed to get the best remarks for the appetizer round, along with Rick.
Many of them got very good remarks on their main course.
Michael had a problem with plating his dessert. He asked a woman to help him plate. Nils' smoked tea in his dessert was not a favorite of some of the diners - one person called it "too smart" for her. I think that was Sweet Pea from Project Runway.
Who will come out on top?
Michael's brussel sprout salad got good marks. Gael Green's Hat liked his prawns, but didn't like that you needed a knife to eat it. Gael Green's hat was also skeptical about "lawn cuttings" in her ice cream, but she liked it.
Nils' appetizer and entree got very good marks. The dessert was the least sucessful part of his meal, saying that the tea tasted like bacon. Since I know that Republic of Tea's Lapsong Souchang smells exactly like beef jerky, I can see that would not be pleasant in dessert. The judges called each dish gem-like, but didn't like the dessert, but they were impressed that he stood behind his dish.
Lauchlan didn't get many notes, but his food looked yummy. They didn't like the deep fried pineapple. They were split on the braised short ribs. One of the judges said his dessert had a strange meat like quality.
Rick got a lot of good marks for making his panna cottas individually. They really liked a lot of his food. They thought his dishes were high end, elegant comfort food.
Scores!
Rick's total is 17 stars.
Lauchlin's total is 15 1/2 stars.
Nils' total is 17 stars, to tie Rick.
Michael's total is 19 1/2 stars, so he wins.
How many more episodes before the Championship Round?
Rick Moonen, from NY. He is playing for the Cape Cod Sustainable Hook Fish Foundation.
Nils Noren is from Sweden, so I have to like him. It's like a cultural imperative. He's playing for the Friends of the French Culinary Institute, to give help to people who can't afford it.
Lachlan Patterson is from Boulder, CO. He is playing for the Denver Children's Hospital.
Michael Chiarello is from Napa Valley. He is competing for Clinic Ole, providing health care help to the Latino community.
Not-Padme introduced the Quickfire, where they have to cook with junk food. They have to use junk food to make something delicious. Michael chose first, and picked fishsticks and tartar sauce. Lachlan grabbed a hot dog, and Rick took the corndog. Nils snagged the fried shrimp. They are judged by people from the (BRAVO SHOW PLUG) show Flipping Out, who are fast food conneseurs.
Oops... Rick didn't get his food plated! Lachlan wasn't sure his sausages were cooked through! Duhn-duhn-duhn.
Presentation time!
Lachlan's "Hot Dog" dish - Prosciutto stufado with pork kielbasa. It was called kind of rare.
Michael's fish sticks - Swordfish meatballs with fisherman's sauce. It looked very good and got very nice reviews.
Nils' Fried Shrimp Dish - Shrimp with creamed corn, and pickled cherry tomatoes. They weren't sure that it took from the fried shrimp enough.
They were not happy with not getting Rick's food.
Lachlan got 3 stars. Nils got 3 stars. Rick didn't get any stars, obviously. Michael got 4 1/2 stars.
Not-Padme told them that their Elimination Challenge is to cook a three course meal for 100 people, all by themselves. It's a party for Top Chef's biggest fans - and they have to make appetizers, taking off from the three courses of a meal. They have $1000 at Whole Foods, then 3 hours to prep.
Rick's menu: Opakapaka ceviche, Branandeof scallop & shrimp, and a preserved lemon custard.
Lachlan's menu: Pineapple & Speck "fritta esotica", grilled beef short ribs, and strawberry frangipane tart
Nils' menu: Diced scallop, Slow cooked salmon, and chocolate & goat cheese ganache with a smoked lapsang tea.
Michael's menu: Shaved brussel sprout salad, spicy prawns, and balsamic marinated strawberries.
The day of service, they have 1 hour to prep before serving. Some of the chefs are using their waitstaff to help them plate as much as possible. Nils was done before the others and he was hoping that he didn't forget anything. He helped Rick in the end.
Not-Padma and the judges arrive. I'm beginning to wonder if Gael Green has a problem with the top of her head, like if she lost a chunk of hair in some terrible accident and it never grew back? Anyhow...
Nils seemed to get the best remarks for the appetizer round, along with Rick.
Many of them got very good remarks on their main course.
Michael had a problem with plating his dessert. He asked a woman to help him plate. Nils' smoked tea in his dessert was not a favorite of some of the diners - one person called it "too smart" for her. I think that was Sweet Pea from Project Runway.
Who will come out on top?
Michael's brussel sprout salad got good marks. Gael Green's Hat liked his prawns, but didn't like that you needed a knife to eat it. Gael Green's hat was also skeptical about "lawn cuttings" in her ice cream, but she liked it.
Nils' appetizer and entree got very good marks. The dessert was the least sucessful part of his meal, saying that the tea tasted like bacon. Since I know that Republic of Tea's Lapsong Souchang smells exactly like beef jerky, I can see that would not be pleasant in dessert. The judges called each dish gem-like, but didn't like the dessert, but they were impressed that he stood behind his dish.
Lauchlan didn't get many notes, but his food looked yummy. They didn't like the deep fried pineapple. They were split on the braised short ribs. One of the judges said his dessert had a strange meat like quality.
Rick got a lot of good marks for making his panna cottas individually. They really liked a lot of his food. They thought his dishes were high end, elegant comfort food.
Scores!
Rick's total is 17 stars.
Lauchlin's total is 15 1/2 stars.
Nils' total is 17 stars, to tie Rick.
Michael's total is 19 1/2 stars, so he wins.
How many more episodes before the Championship Round?
Friday, July 10, 2009
Top Chef Masters 7.8.09
Sorry for the late recap - busy busy busy...
And this looks like an episode worth waiting for! It's got Neil Patrick Harris!!! Yippeee!
Tonight's chefs are:
Douglas Rodrigez, who calls his cuisine tortilla-free latino cuisine. He's playing for Ayuda for the Arts, a Hispanic Culinary Scholarship foundation.
Anita Lo, who tends to work on the line in her restaurants. Her charity is Share, a charity for breast and ovarian cancer.
John Besh is from New Orleans, and he is playing for The Make it Right Foundation.
The last chef is Mark Peel, who worked for Wolfgang Puck. He's competing for Doctors Without Borders.
Not-Padme tells them that their Quickfire Challenge is going to be the Cook an Egg with Your Hand Behind Your Back challenge, from the Top Chef Allstars challenge. The judges are Gail Simmons, Terry Reish, an egg farmer, and Monica something-or-other, who runs a new breakfast restaurant.
They have 30 minutes, and have one arm in an oven mitt behind their backs. Mark looks to have a bit of an advantage, because his father had one arm, and he grew up watching him do things one handed.
Douglas' dish is: Open-faced corn cake with scrambled eggs & ham. They loved it.
Mark's dish is: Duck Egg pasta with egg & olive oil cream sauce. They were impressed by the fact that he made pasta with one hand, but he forgot the olive oil! D'oh!
Anita's dish: Soft scrambled egg & shitake mushrooms with truffle oil and oyster sauce. This got great reviews and is gorgeous.
Poor John only got one dish plated... so they have to share. His egg is not well cooked, and it was a bad mistake.
Mark's score is 2 1/2 stars.
John's score is 1/2 star. Ouch.
Douglas' score is 3 stars.
Anita's score is the maximum 5 stars. Good job to her.
They have to cook for Neil Patrick Harris and some of his friends, at the Magic Castle in LA, and they get a magic demonstation from Max Maven, magician & mentalist. They get cards dealt to them (which are blank when he draws them!) with different qualities of magic printed on them. They have to cook with their dealt cards as inspriration -
Mystery
Surprise
Spectacle
Illusion
John Besh got Surprise and is planning on doing something with liquid nitrogen.
Douglas got Spectacle and doesn't want to give anything up.
Anita got Illusion and is doing something with seafood.
Mark got Mystery, and didn't reveal much, either.
They have 2 hours to prep, and Tom gave a little visit. Hi, Tom!
After prep, they went ot the Magic Castle, which is a private club and get to the final cooking.
Mark's Mystery meal is: Tai Snapper in parchment with garlic mashed potato and leeks. The diners took a while getting into the parchment, but really liked it.
John's dish requires some help from NPH for the liquid nitrogen fun, and is salmon tartare with frozen cauliflower blini, and a cucumber salmon rose salad with frozen horseradish sorbet, and a Tempura Fried Lobster wrapped in smoked salmon.
Anita's Illusion list is a braised daikon with kombu caviar and steak tartar, which looks like a scallop, and a seascape underneath made of rice crispies. Reviews are mixed.
Douglas' Spectacle is Duck Four Ways, including an oyster ceviche, empanada with foie gras and figs sliced duck breast with confit, and a flaming coconut with soup. He put sterno on the outside of the coconut and it was a little dangerous... he wanted to use 151 Rum, but couldn't get any.
Time for some magic! Gael Green's hat liked the magic show, including a bunny emerging from a magician's mop of hair.
Critic's Table time.
John wanted to use different techniques that people don't know him for. Gael Green's Hat didn't really like the cauliflower blini, but Gail Simmons liked it.
Anita's presentation was very cool, but her broth was questionable as a side, but good as a sauce.
Douglas's flaming coconut was questioned. Gael Green's hat loved the oyster ceviche with the duck confit.
Mark's mystery dish amused Gael Green's Hat. Gail Simmons loved the pairing with sake.
Scores are tabulated.
John's total score is 12 stars.
Mark's total score is 18 1/2 stars.
Douglas' total is 13 stars.
Anita's score is 22 1/2 stars, and she moves on to the next round.
Good night. I wanted more NPH. Oh well.
And this looks like an episode worth waiting for! It's got Neil Patrick Harris!!! Yippeee!
Tonight's chefs are:
Douglas Rodrigez, who calls his cuisine tortilla-free latino cuisine. He's playing for Ayuda for the Arts, a Hispanic Culinary Scholarship foundation.
Anita Lo, who tends to work on the line in her restaurants. Her charity is Share, a charity for breast and ovarian cancer.
John Besh is from New Orleans, and he is playing for The Make it Right Foundation.
The last chef is Mark Peel, who worked for Wolfgang Puck. He's competing for Doctors Without Borders.
Not-Padme tells them that their Quickfire Challenge is going to be the Cook an Egg with Your Hand Behind Your Back challenge, from the Top Chef Allstars challenge. The judges are Gail Simmons, Terry Reish, an egg farmer, and Monica something-or-other, who runs a new breakfast restaurant.
They have 30 minutes, and have one arm in an oven mitt behind their backs. Mark looks to have a bit of an advantage, because his father had one arm, and he grew up watching him do things one handed.
Douglas' dish is: Open-faced corn cake with scrambled eggs & ham. They loved it.
Mark's dish is: Duck Egg pasta with egg & olive oil cream sauce. They were impressed by the fact that he made pasta with one hand, but he forgot the olive oil! D'oh!
Anita's dish: Soft scrambled egg & shitake mushrooms with truffle oil and oyster sauce. This got great reviews and is gorgeous.
Poor John only got one dish plated... so they have to share. His egg is not well cooked, and it was a bad mistake.
Mark's score is 2 1/2 stars.
John's score is 1/2 star. Ouch.
Douglas' score is 3 stars.
Anita's score is the maximum 5 stars. Good job to her.
They have to cook for Neil Patrick Harris and some of his friends, at the Magic Castle in LA, and they get a magic demonstation from Max Maven, magician & mentalist. They get cards dealt to them (which are blank when he draws them!) with different qualities of magic printed on them. They have to cook with their dealt cards as inspriration -
Mystery
Surprise
Spectacle
Illusion
John Besh got Surprise and is planning on doing something with liquid nitrogen.
Douglas got Spectacle and doesn't want to give anything up.
Anita got Illusion and is doing something with seafood.
Mark got Mystery, and didn't reveal much, either.
They have 2 hours to prep, and Tom gave a little visit. Hi, Tom!
After prep, they went ot the Magic Castle, which is a private club and get to the final cooking.
Mark's Mystery meal is: Tai Snapper in parchment with garlic mashed potato and leeks. The diners took a while getting into the parchment, but really liked it.
John's dish requires some help from NPH for the liquid nitrogen fun, and is salmon tartare with frozen cauliflower blini, and a cucumber salmon rose salad with frozen horseradish sorbet, and a Tempura Fried Lobster wrapped in smoked salmon.
Anita's Illusion list is a braised daikon with kombu caviar and steak tartar, which looks like a scallop, and a seascape underneath made of rice crispies. Reviews are mixed.
Douglas' Spectacle is Duck Four Ways, including an oyster ceviche, empanada with foie gras and figs sliced duck breast with confit, and a flaming coconut with soup. He put sterno on the outside of the coconut and it was a little dangerous... he wanted to use 151 Rum, but couldn't get any.
Time for some magic! Gael Green's hat liked the magic show, including a bunny emerging from a magician's mop of hair.
Critic's Table time.
John wanted to use different techniques that people don't know him for. Gael Green's Hat didn't really like the cauliflower blini, but Gail Simmons liked it.
Anita's presentation was very cool, but her broth was questionable as a side, but good as a sauce.
Douglas's flaming coconut was questioned. Gael Green's hat loved the oyster ceviche with the duck confit.
Mark's mystery dish amused Gael Green's Hat. Gail Simmons loved the pairing with sake.
Scores are tabulated.
John's total score is 12 stars.
Mark's total score is 18 1/2 stars.
Douglas' total is 13 stars.
Anita's score is 22 1/2 stars, and she moves on to the next round.
Good night. I wanted more NPH. Oh well.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Top Chef Masters 6.24.09
The chefs tonight are
Wilo Bennet is a chef in Puerto Rico, and he's been a chef for over 20 years. He's playing for San Jorge Children's Foundation.
Cindy Pawlcyn is the "queen of Napa Valley cooking." She's competing for a charity that helps the underinsured.
Ludovic Lefavre is the next subtitled chef of the night. He's playing for C.H.A.S.E for Life, to teach people how to do CPR to help save children.
The last chef tonight is Rick Bayless and he's competing for the Fronteir Farmer foundation, which gives grants to small farmers.
Not-Padma welcomed the chefs and introduced the Quickfire Challenge,and the chefs had to draw knives, which were different colors. They have to create one-colored dishes, and they are being judged by food photographer and stylists.
Ludovic's Red Dish: Steak Tartare with watermelon, red onion, and beet gazpacho. He was freaking out because the waiters didn't bring the beet gazpacho. The judges didn't like the gazpacho when it was poured on the plate, because it looked a bit like blood. Oops.
Cindy's Yellow Dish: Yellow vegetable curry over sweet corn grits, fried corn tortillas. I would eat that. They liked the different colors of yellow and different textures.
Rick's Green Dish: Roasted vegetables on a banana leaf, with tomatillo, green chili, and pumpkin seeds. They seemed to like it.
Wilo's Orange Dish: Smoked Salmon tartare with coconut milk and tomato paste sauce. The plating ring was left on the plate, and that's a mistake, but the judges liked the flavor.
Not-Padme announced the scores. Ludovic got 3 stars. Cindy got 3.5 stars. Rick got 4 stars. Wilo got 4.5 stars, ring mold and all.
For the elimination challenge, they have to create street food dishes to serve to the general public at Universal Studios. They will be using unique proteins, which they drew knives for.
Wilo got beef hearts. Rick got tongue. Cindy got tripe. Ludo got pig's ears. They have $300 to shop for additional ingredients, access to the entire Top Chef pantry, and 3 hours to prep. Ludo was upset because he was planning a quesadilla and Rick was planning a taco. Cindy was excited to work with offal, because she has actually started a club called "Girls Who Eat Guts." She's kind of awesome.
They have to use pressure cookers to get the offal cooking right (or it's a good idea to), and Cindy got help from Rick in setting it up. Ludo had a hard time getting everything done and refused help in packing up.
Ludo also had a hard time getting his stuff cooked at the event.
Gael Green's Hat made an appearance for judging again. How lovely!
Rick served up a tongue taco, and it sounded pretty good. The judges called it brilliant and melt in your mouth tender. Gael Green's Hat would like a second one.
Wilo was serving a Puerto Rican Tripleta with Heart in pita bread. Some of the judges thought it was a bit too much toppings, but the heart was cooked well.
Ludo was having a terrible time getting things cooked. He used his accent to try to get on the waiting diner's good sides. The judges said the quesadillas were kind of like a grilled cheese sandwich with pig's ear.
Cindy was serving Menudo. The judges liked the tripe, but some seemed to think it was a little underseasoned.
Not-Padme brought the chefs in front of the critics.
Total Scores are:
Ludovic: 16.5 stars
Cindy: 15.5 stars
Rick: 22.5 stars
Wilo: 19.5 stars
Rick wins this round, and I think deservedly.
Until next week!
Wilo Bennet is a chef in Puerto Rico, and he's been a chef for over 20 years. He's playing for San Jorge Children's Foundation.
Cindy Pawlcyn is the "queen of Napa Valley cooking." She's competing for a charity that helps the underinsured.
Ludovic Lefavre is the next subtitled chef of the night. He's playing for C.H.A.S.E for Life, to teach people how to do CPR to help save children.
The last chef tonight is Rick Bayless and he's competing for the Fronteir Farmer foundation, which gives grants to small farmers.
Not-Padma welcomed the chefs and introduced the Quickfire Challenge,and the chefs had to draw knives, which were different colors. They have to create one-colored dishes, and they are being judged by food photographer and stylists.
Ludovic's Red Dish: Steak Tartare with watermelon, red onion, and beet gazpacho. He was freaking out because the waiters didn't bring the beet gazpacho. The judges didn't like the gazpacho when it was poured on the plate, because it looked a bit like blood. Oops.
Cindy's Yellow Dish: Yellow vegetable curry over sweet corn grits, fried corn tortillas. I would eat that. They liked the different colors of yellow and different textures.
Rick's Green Dish: Roasted vegetables on a banana leaf, with tomatillo, green chili, and pumpkin seeds. They seemed to like it.
Wilo's Orange Dish: Smoked Salmon tartare with coconut milk and tomato paste sauce. The plating ring was left on the plate, and that's a mistake, but the judges liked the flavor.
Not-Padme announced the scores. Ludovic got 3 stars. Cindy got 3.5 stars. Rick got 4 stars. Wilo got 4.5 stars, ring mold and all.
For the elimination challenge, they have to create street food dishes to serve to the general public at Universal Studios. They will be using unique proteins, which they drew knives for.
Wilo got beef hearts. Rick got tongue. Cindy got tripe. Ludo got pig's ears. They have $300 to shop for additional ingredients, access to the entire Top Chef pantry, and 3 hours to prep. Ludo was upset because he was planning a quesadilla and Rick was planning a taco. Cindy was excited to work with offal, because she has actually started a club called "Girls Who Eat Guts." She's kind of awesome.
They have to use pressure cookers to get the offal cooking right (or it's a good idea to), and Cindy got help from Rick in setting it up. Ludo had a hard time getting everything done and refused help in packing up.
Ludo also had a hard time getting his stuff cooked at the event.
Gael Green's Hat made an appearance for judging again. How lovely!
Rick served up a tongue taco, and it sounded pretty good. The judges called it brilliant and melt in your mouth tender. Gael Green's Hat would like a second one.
Wilo was serving a Puerto Rican Tripleta with Heart in pita bread. Some of the judges thought it was a bit too much toppings, but the heart was cooked well.
Ludo was having a terrible time getting things cooked. He used his accent to try to get on the waiting diner's good sides. The judges said the quesadillas were kind of like a grilled cheese sandwich with pig's ear.
Cindy was serving Menudo. The judges liked the tripe, but some seemed to think it was a little underseasoned.
Not-Padme brought the chefs in front of the critics.
Total Scores are:
Ludovic: 16.5 stars
Cindy: 15.5 stars
Rick: 22.5 stars
Wilo: 19.5 stars
Rick wins this round, and I think deservedly.
Until next week!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Top Chef Masters 6.18.09
The four chefs competing this week are Graham Elliot Bowles, who calls his culinary style punk rock. His charity is the American Heart Association, in honor of his nephew who is awaiting a heart transplant.
Suzanne Tracht is the second chef this week, and she like simple elegance in food, with a focus on seasonal things. Her charity is Sova, a food bank.
Wylie Dufresne has been on Top Chef before, and he is known for molecular gastronomy. His charity is Autism Speaks.
The final chef this week is Elizabeth Falkner, an avant garde pastry chef, who also does other cooking. Her charity is Edible School Yard, and that's cool. It's about teaching kids about food.
Not-Padme welcomed them.
Quickfire
This week, they will create an amuse bouche from items in a vending machine, a challenge taken from season 2. The judges for the quickfire are Ilan, Betty, and Michael, all from Season 2, who took part in the original challenge.
Let the shopping begin!
They have 30 minutes to cook and create.
Elizabeth whipped out the liquid nitrogen to make some ice cream to go with her braised beef jerky. Interesting.
Not-Padma called time. Not everyone was happy with their dish.
Wylie's dish is a red onion and grilled cheese sandwich with Dr. Pepper reduction. The judges liked the presentation, but the reduction solidified. It was a bit too big to be an amuse bouche.
Suzanne's dish is fried shallot rings with a microgreen salad and a Dr. Pepper aoulli. They judges were salivating about that. Betty licked her bowl, or almost.
Elizabeth made a braised beef jerky with an orange juice, lemon, and horse radish ice cream. There were some faces, and the flavors didn't work for Betty. Ilan said it was a journey.
Graham made a tuna salad with pickled shallot, ginger orange bubbles and beef jerky miso powder. Betty called it brilliant. It got very high marks.
The scores were averaged. Elizabeth got 3.5 stars. Graham's tuna salad got 4.5 stars. Wylie got 3 stars. Suzanne got the maximum 5 stars.
Elimination Challenge
For the challenge, Not-Padme told them they have to cook dinner for the creators and writers of LOST. Neat. Suzanne is a LOST fan. The LOST creators want to know what would happen if chefs were stranded on an island. They can only use items on a weird-island-ingredient table, and they can shop from a "Dharma" list of canned and preserved foods. They have 45 minutes and $200 to shop at Whole Foods for the packaged and canned items on the Dharma Pantry List.
Cooking began.
Elizabeth's plan is: Ancho-Beer Braised Loin, Coffee Scented Poached Boar Loin, and Yam Papaya Pudding. She is cooking the beer sous vide.
Graham's menu is: Maki Roll with tuna & dehydrated pineapple, Tuna nicoise, and tuna a la plancha. Hope the judges like tuna.
Suzanne is making risotto with uni, clams, and prawns, wild boar strip with oyster beer sauce, and mango corn salsa.
Wylie is making Roasted Chicken with poaced egg, beets with dried corn, and plaintain puree. He is poaching his eggs in a circulating water bath.
Gael Green's Hat is back, along with other judges. The writers of LOST say that the dip in quality in LOST in Season 2 was attributeable to too much talking about Top Chef between them.
Dharma-dressed servers took the dishes.
Elizabeth wanted to do more sauce, but her food was taken before she could sauce it. The judges were split about the boar, but the pudding was compared to baby food. More sauce would have been appreciated.
Graham's traveling tuna trio was next. The judges really loved it. Gael Green's Hat didn't get a sound bite on this one.
Wylie's dish would have been better if he didn't get chicken on one plate... and two on another! It was resolved. Ooops. Gael Green's Hat loves Wylie's slow poached eggs. Others were not as convinced. The chicken was highly regarded, though.
Suzanne's meal was really yummy looking. It was called hearty and phenomenal, even though it was complicated.
Who will come out on top?
The critics were intruiged with Wylie's egg. Gael Green's Hat is suspicious of chemicals used in cooking, but loved his chicken.
They wanted to know how Graham thought of using coffee to crust his salmon, and they really loved his inventiveness.
Elizabeth's spices were very useful. They didn't appreciate the pudding, and really wanted more sauce.
Suzanne's crowded plate worked, and the critics really seemed to love her style.
While waiting for the judge's deliberations, Elizabeth decided to make chocolate chip cookies for the group, after claiming that she can make up a chocolate chip cookie dough in less than five minutes. Fun.
The final scores:
Graham's final tally was 20.5 stars.
Wylie's final tally was 20 stars. Graham puffed up about beating his friend Wylie.
Elizabeth's total was 16.5 stars. Ouch.
Suzanne ended up wtith 22.5 stars, and she won the night. Good for her.
Suzanne Tracht is the second chef this week, and she like simple elegance in food, with a focus on seasonal things. Her charity is Sova, a food bank.
Wylie Dufresne has been on Top Chef before, and he is known for molecular gastronomy. His charity is Autism Speaks.
The final chef this week is Elizabeth Falkner, an avant garde pastry chef, who also does other cooking. Her charity is Edible School Yard, and that's cool. It's about teaching kids about food.
Not-Padme welcomed them.
Quickfire
This week, they will create an amuse bouche from items in a vending machine, a challenge taken from season 2. The judges for the quickfire are Ilan, Betty, and Michael, all from Season 2, who took part in the original challenge.
Let the shopping begin!
They have 30 minutes to cook and create.
Elizabeth whipped out the liquid nitrogen to make some ice cream to go with her braised beef jerky. Interesting.
Not-Padma called time. Not everyone was happy with their dish.
Wylie's dish is a red onion and grilled cheese sandwich with Dr. Pepper reduction. The judges liked the presentation, but the reduction solidified. It was a bit too big to be an amuse bouche.
Suzanne's dish is fried shallot rings with a microgreen salad and a Dr. Pepper aoulli. They judges were salivating about that. Betty licked her bowl, or almost.
Elizabeth made a braised beef jerky with an orange juice, lemon, and horse radish ice cream. There were some faces, and the flavors didn't work for Betty. Ilan said it was a journey.
Graham made a tuna salad with pickled shallot, ginger orange bubbles and beef jerky miso powder. Betty called it brilliant. It got very high marks.
The scores were averaged. Elizabeth got 3.5 stars. Graham's tuna salad got 4.5 stars. Wylie got 3 stars. Suzanne got the maximum 5 stars.
Elimination Challenge
For the challenge, Not-Padme told them they have to cook dinner for the creators and writers of LOST. Neat. Suzanne is a LOST fan. The LOST creators want to know what would happen if chefs were stranded on an island. They can only use items on a weird-island-ingredient table, and they can shop from a "Dharma" list of canned and preserved foods. They have 45 minutes and $200 to shop at Whole Foods for the packaged and canned items on the Dharma Pantry List.
Cooking began.
Elizabeth's plan is: Ancho-Beer Braised Loin, Coffee Scented Poached Boar Loin, and Yam Papaya Pudding. She is cooking the beer sous vide.
Graham's menu is: Maki Roll with tuna & dehydrated pineapple, Tuna nicoise, and tuna a la plancha. Hope the judges like tuna.
Suzanne is making risotto with uni, clams, and prawns, wild boar strip with oyster beer sauce, and mango corn salsa.
Wylie is making Roasted Chicken with poaced egg, beets with dried corn, and plaintain puree. He is poaching his eggs in a circulating water bath.
Gael Green's Hat is back, along with other judges. The writers of LOST say that the dip in quality in LOST in Season 2 was attributeable to too much talking about Top Chef between them.
Dharma-dressed servers took the dishes.
Elizabeth wanted to do more sauce, but her food was taken before she could sauce it. The judges were split about the boar, but the pudding was compared to baby food. More sauce would have been appreciated.
Graham's traveling tuna trio was next. The judges really loved it. Gael Green's Hat didn't get a sound bite on this one.
Wylie's dish would have been better if he didn't get chicken on one plate... and two on another! It was resolved. Ooops. Gael Green's Hat loves Wylie's slow poached eggs. Others were not as convinced. The chicken was highly regarded, though.
Suzanne's meal was really yummy looking. It was called hearty and phenomenal, even though it was complicated.
Who will come out on top?
The critics were intruiged with Wylie's egg. Gael Green's Hat is suspicious of chemicals used in cooking, but loved his chicken.
They wanted to know how Graham thought of using coffee to crust his salmon, and they really loved his inventiveness.
Elizabeth's spices were very useful. They didn't appreciate the pudding, and really wanted more sauce.
Suzanne's crowded plate worked, and the critics really seemed to love her style.
While waiting for the judge's deliberations, Elizabeth decided to make chocolate chip cookies for the group, after claiming that she can make up a chocolate chip cookie dough in less than five minutes. Fun.
The final scores:
Graham's final tally was 20.5 stars.
Wylie's final tally was 20 stars. Graham puffed up about beating his friend Wylie.
Elizabeth's total was 16.5 stars. Ouch.
Suzanne ended up wtith 22.5 stars, and she won the night. Good for her.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
New Show Alert: Top Chef Masters
It's a battle of famous professional chefs! Will it be as good without Padme as host? Kelly Choi takes her place. They are playing for $100,000 for their charities.
We'll see!
They are doing 4 chefs at a time, against each other, and then I assume, down like a bracket.
First up is Michael Schlow. He is an Italian specialist. He's won the James Beard award, along with lots of others. His charity is for cancer.
Hubert Keller is next. He's also got a handful of restaurants, and among other things, trained White House Chefs on healthy cooking. He is playing for Make a Wish.
Christopher Lee has won many awards in his young career. His charity is Autism Speaks.
Tim Love is a Texan chef. He is playing for March of Dimes. He is not formally trained, and calls himself just a cowboy.
Quickfire Challenge (which they will be bringing back favorite Top Chef Quickfires from seasons past).
They have to make the most creative and original dessert they can make. Girl scouts will be tasting them, and the chefs will be able to see them, but the girl scouts won't see them. They have 60 minutes.
Tim started off with a shot of tequila. For himself. Not the girl scouts. Michael had a bit of a problem - his cakes didn't bake all the way, his ice cream base was liquid, and in the end, he just had candies and hunks of almost cooked cake. Yipes.
Michael - Milk Chocolate Cake, peanut butter chocolate candies and whipped cream. The girl scouts thought the candies tasted like tagalongs (girl scout cookies) and didn't really care for his chocolate.
Tim - Strawberries three ways. He included chicken fried strawberries. Interesting. One girl really liked it, but another didn't. The strawberry shake was called sour.
Hubert - Chocolate Mousse Swan with whipped cream couse, fruit with orange saboyan. The girl scouts were really impressed with the presentation, and seemed to love the flavors.
Christopher - French Toast with caramelized banana, orange sauce, and maple syrup fluff. One of the girl scouts didn't appreciate the caramelization and called it burnt. They didn't seem to like the fluff.
Michael got 2.5 out of 5 stars. Tim got 3.5 stars, as did Christopher. Hubert got a winning 5 stars. It was a pretty awesome dessert. Their quickfire scores will be added to their scores formthe elimination challenge, and the winning chef for the night will win $10,000 for their charities.
Elimination Challenge
They have to create a 3 course meal with a toaster oven, a microwave, and a hot plate. They will be serving them to college students and the panel. They have a very limited pantry, $150 to shop, and 2 hours to prep and cook.
There are 20 stars up for grabs in Elimination challenges. 5 come from the diners, and 15 come from the panel. Some of the chefs had a really hard time shopping, because they are not used to shopping for themselves. Bwah ha ha.
Tim's got a big problem the next day. He put his groceries in the freezer by mistake. Everything froze solid. Christopher admitted that if Tim pulls off making something edible out of that, he deserves to win.
On top of it all, they are cooking in dorm rooms.
Double bwah ha ha!
Tidbit - if Hubert wasn't a chef, he thinks he would have been a dj. That's pretty cool.
Students who live in the dorms come by to check out cooking progress.
Michael's menu is: Salmon Crudo, Cabbage Soup with Bacon, and a Pork a la apicius.
Tim's menu is: Scallop Carpaccio, squash & corn pozole (with no hominy), and skirt steak & braised kale.
Hubert's menu is: Fresh Scottish Salmon, Carrot & Pea Soup with cinnamon, and macaroni & cheese with prawns. He had to drain the pasta in the shower, and cool it there, too. and reheat it there. Fun.
Christopher's menu is: Red Snapper Ceviche, Creamy Risotto, and Pan Roasted Pork Chops.
Critics and Jay Rayner, Gael Green('s hat), and James Oseland.
Eating, the students were amazed that the dishes were made in their rooms. Hubert seemed to win the first course. I think that Hubert won the second round again, though Tim seemed perhaps close. Tim's kale was called bitter. Michael's pork was called overly peppery. I think Hubert won the third round, too, with his shower drained macaroni, though I think Christopher may have come close.
Critic's Table
Hubert's macaroni madness was applauded. Some of the judges didn't get or like the cinnamon in the soup. Gael Green's hat loved the cinnamon.
Michael's pork was lauded for flavoring, but Gael Green's hat thought that the pork was over done. She also loved his soup.
Tim's freezer snafu wasn't that bad, after all. The pozole was called great football food. The steak was ok, but a little too salty. His kale was admitted to be a little bitter.
Christopher's risotto was called delicious, even if the texture wasn't perfect. His pork chops were called well executed.
While the critics discussed, they seemed amazed that the chefs were able to get anything out of the dorm rooms. Hubert got high marks. Michael didn't cook his soup long enough, and cooked his pork too long. Tim managed to come back from adversity, and Gael Green's hat had lots of respect for him in his effort and improvisation. Gael's hat was also in favor of Christopher's risotto attempt, even though it wasn't really risotto.
Michael's Diner score was 3.5 stars. The combined critics gave him 7.5, upping his score to 13.5 stars.
Tim's diner score was 3 stars. The critics brought it up to 14.5 stars total.
Christopher's Diner score was 4 stars. The critics brought his total score up to 19 stars.
Hubert's Diner score was 4 stars. The critics brought it up to 20 1/2 stars. He took the night, got $10,000 for his charity, and moved on to the next round.
(The non-winning chefs will also get an undisclosed amount for their charities.)
We'll see!
They are doing 4 chefs at a time, against each other, and then I assume, down like a bracket.
First up is Michael Schlow. He is an Italian specialist. He's won the James Beard award, along with lots of others. His charity is for cancer.
Hubert Keller is next. He's also got a handful of restaurants, and among other things, trained White House Chefs on healthy cooking. He is playing for Make a Wish.
Christopher Lee has won many awards in his young career. His charity is Autism Speaks.
Tim Love is a Texan chef. He is playing for March of Dimes. He is not formally trained, and calls himself just a cowboy.
Quickfire Challenge (which they will be bringing back favorite Top Chef Quickfires from seasons past).
They have to make the most creative and original dessert they can make. Girl scouts will be tasting them, and the chefs will be able to see them, but the girl scouts won't see them. They have 60 minutes.
Tim started off with a shot of tequila. For himself. Not the girl scouts. Michael had a bit of a problem - his cakes didn't bake all the way, his ice cream base was liquid, and in the end, he just had candies and hunks of almost cooked cake. Yipes.
Michael - Milk Chocolate Cake, peanut butter chocolate candies and whipped cream. The girl scouts thought the candies tasted like tagalongs (girl scout cookies) and didn't really care for his chocolate.
Tim - Strawberries three ways. He included chicken fried strawberries. Interesting. One girl really liked it, but another didn't. The strawberry shake was called sour.
Hubert - Chocolate Mousse Swan with whipped cream couse, fruit with orange saboyan. The girl scouts were really impressed with the presentation, and seemed to love the flavors.
Christopher - French Toast with caramelized banana, orange sauce, and maple syrup fluff. One of the girl scouts didn't appreciate the caramelization and called it burnt. They didn't seem to like the fluff.
Michael got 2.5 out of 5 stars. Tim got 3.5 stars, as did Christopher. Hubert got a winning 5 stars. It was a pretty awesome dessert. Their quickfire scores will be added to their scores formthe elimination challenge, and the winning chef for the night will win $10,000 for their charities.
Elimination Challenge
They have to create a 3 course meal with a toaster oven, a microwave, and a hot plate. They will be serving them to college students and the panel. They have a very limited pantry, $150 to shop, and 2 hours to prep and cook.
There are 20 stars up for grabs in Elimination challenges. 5 come from the diners, and 15 come from the panel. Some of the chefs had a really hard time shopping, because they are not used to shopping for themselves. Bwah ha ha.
Tim's got a big problem the next day. He put his groceries in the freezer by mistake. Everything froze solid. Christopher admitted that if Tim pulls off making something edible out of that, he deserves to win.
On top of it all, they are cooking in dorm rooms.
Double bwah ha ha!
Tidbit - if Hubert wasn't a chef, he thinks he would have been a dj. That's pretty cool.
Students who live in the dorms come by to check out cooking progress.
Michael's menu is: Salmon Crudo, Cabbage Soup with Bacon, and a Pork a la apicius.
Tim's menu is: Scallop Carpaccio, squash & corn pozole (with no hominy), and skirt steak & braised kale.
Hubert's menu is: Fresh Scottish Salmon, Carrot & Pea Soup with cinnamon, and macaroni & cheese with prawns. He had to drain the pasta in the shower, and cool it there, too. and reheat it there. Fun.
Christopher's menu is: Red Snapper Ceviche, Creamy Risotto, and Pan Roasted Pork Chops.
Critics and Jay Rayner, Gael Green('s hat), and James Oseland.
Eating, the students were amazed that the dishes were made in their rooms. Hubert seemed to win the first course. I think that Hubert won the second round again, though Tim seemed perhaps close. Tim's kale was called bitter. Michael's pork was called overly peppery. I think Hubert won the third round, too, with his shower drained macaroni, though I think Christopher may have come close.
Critic's Table
Hubert's macaroni madness was applauded. Some of the judges didn't get or like the cinnamon in the soup. Gael Green's hat loved the cinnamon.
Michael's pork was lauded for flavoring, but Gael Green's hat thought that the pork was over done. She also loved his soup.
Tim's freezer snafu wasn't that bad, after all. The pozole was called great football food. The steak was ok, but a little too salty. His kale was admitted to be a little bitter.
Christopher's risotto was called delicious, even if the texture wasn't perfect. His pork chops were called well executed.
While the critics discussed, they seemed amazed that the chefs were able to get anything out of the dorm rooms. Hubert got high marks. Michael didn't cook his soup long enough, and cooked his pork too long. Tim managed to come back from adversity, and Gael Green's hat had lots of respect for him in his effort and improvisation. Gael's hat was also in favor of Christopher's risotto attempt, even though it wasn't really risotto.
Michael's Diner score was 3.5 stars. The combined critics gave him 7.5, upping his score to 13.5 stars.
Tim's diner score was 3 stars. The critics brought it up to 14.5 stars total.
Christopher's Diner score was 4 stars. The critics brought his total score up to 19 stars.
Hubert's Diner score was 4 stars. The critics brought it up to 20 1/2 stars. He took the night, got $10,000 for his charity, and moved on to the next round.
(The non-winning chefs will also get an undisclosed amount for their charities.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)