Topic: Top Chef Chicago Season 4

[TexasLady]

Good riddance. She gets to join her beloved Zoi sooner than later and we don't have to listen to more of her drivel about wanting to win for Zoi. If she didn't want to win for herself she should never have been there in the first place because it is way too competitive.

ABSOLUTELY!! Thank you! Drivel it was.

Also Antonia had immunity, she should not have been so aggressive in choosing what they served in that competition.

I'm liking Richard and Dale, they are beginning to stand out for me. I also enjoyed Johnny Iuzzini as a judge. He was impressive and interesting, I hope they bring him back for future episodes.

[apskip]

TexasLady, you have your weeks mixed up. Antonia did have immunity for episode 5. However, in episode 7 it went to Richard and Antonia was in the bottom group of both the Quickfire and the Elimination Challenge. I want to point out that Dale was very secure in his talents and confident that Richard was his best possible partner, since most other cheftestants have been treated the immune chef as someone with a contagious disease that you don't want to have on your team. That was demonstrated forcefully when Antonia in ep. 5 threw her weight around and talked Spike out  of butternut squash soup that would have been a much better choice than what he finally chose. Richard and Dale were totally synergistic and very complementary and complimentary to each other.

[TexasLady]

TexasLady, you have your weeks mixed up. Antonia did have immunity for episode 5. However, in episode 7 it went to Richard and Antonia was in the bottom group of both the Quickfire and the Elimination Challenge. I want to point out that Dale was very secure in his talents and confident that Richard was his best possible partner, since most other cheftestants have been treated the immune chef as someone with a contagious disease that you don't want to have on your team. That was demonstrated forcefully when Antonia in ep. 5 threw her weight around and talked Spike out  of butternut squash soup that would have been a much better choice than what he finally chose. Richard and Dale were totally synergistic and very complementary and complimentary to each other.

You're right, I was suffering from BB overload.  That's what I meant, she nixed the soup when she had immunity and it was praised so highly when Spike finally made it. As they pointed out in the judging, good soup is an art. (PP)

We are beginning to see the talented people rise now, and I for one am glad about that!

[apskip]

Tonight's epsiode of TC4 will involve turning a single ingredient into a healthy meal using a microwave plus having Oprah's peronal chef  give a lesson in cooking for a cause.

Next week it will involve catering a wedding for 200 with the mother of the groom acting difficult.

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EPISODE 8

The Guest Judge is Art Smith, chef and owner of Tabla, personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, and a proponent of eating healthy and simple. He turns out to be one of the better guest judges in all of the TopChef seasons. The Quickfire is to create an entree in 15 minutes. In a blatant product placement effort, Padma states that Uncle Ben's rice cooks in the microwave in 90 seconds and is available to anyone who wants it. The dishes created are:

Andrew - wild rice crusted fish and sundried tomato pesto
Antonia - rice salad w/ skirt steak, arugula, cherry tomatoes
Dale - pineapple fried rice, grilled scallops, Chinese bay beans
Lisa - rice, corn, black beans, peppers, avocado creme and grilled shrimp
Mark - miso glazed turkey breast over rice w/ snap peas and grapes
Nikki - vegetables w/ mushroom, zucchini, snap peas, eggs
Richard - tuna steak and tomatoes over rice with yuzu vinaigrette
Spike - rice stuffed tomatoes w/ veal, port and rice wine vinegar sauce
Stephanie - brown rice pancake w/ scallops

The losers group was Lisa, Stephanie and Mark. The Winners group was Dale, Richard and Antonia. Antonia wins immunity.

Elimination Challenge
This is to create a healthful meal for a family of 4 on a budget of $10 spent at Whole with the cooking at Washburne Culinary Institute.  Padma promises "assistance" there. When chefs arrive they are introduced to their buddies, Common Threads Program culinary students age range about 7 to 11 who are paired as sous chef with each of the 9 chefs. Antonia is reminded of her 9 year old at home, who has told her not to come back home unless she has won the $100,000 prize. They cook together a lot, so this is not only a positive experience for Antonia, but she already has the principles down.  The dishes are served to the judges table and to a table of 4 of the students, one of whom actually was sous chef for it and must explain it to his/her peers. They do a very nice job for kids that age. The knife skills of those kids were quite high considering the strength factor. The head of the Common Threads Program is Art Smith and he is understandably proud of what his kids can accomplish. The meals were:

Andrew - Chicken Paillard, fennel, apples and orange salad
Antonia - Chicken vegetable stir-fry w/ Whole wheat noodles
Dale - turkey bratwurst, potatoes, onions, apples, red cabbage
Lisa - Chicken breast, edamame, black beans, peanut butter, apple French toast
Mark - vegetarian curry, coconut milk, cinnamon rice
Nikki- Roasted Chicken, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, tomato and cucumber salad
Richard - Roasted Chicken, black beans, avocado, lime, apple and beet salad
Spike - Pasta Puttanesca, carrot soup, semi-baked apples
Stephanie - couscous w/ eggplant and zucchini, Chicken s/ peanut and tomato sauce, apples, arugula

The judges has some strong reactions to these dishes. The winners group was easy to discern. On top were Nikki(!), Andrew, and Antonia. Gail's comments on Nikki's dish included excellent seasoning and use of diffiult-to-get-kids-to-eat Brussels sprouts. Tom's comment was that it was all done in one roasting pan. Andrew got raves for selling the kids on fennel, which might even be harder than Brussels sprouts. The win went to Antonia, who credited her daughter.

The losers group was the same as befire, Mark, Lisa and Stephanie. I knew just from hearing the nominees that Mark was going to be eliminated.  Lisa drew the comment underflavored from Tom. Mark drew the simultaneous comments not enough veggies from Art and no protein from Gail and several others. He was called sloppy by Tom and if that were the first time not so bad but it was the third time this season. Stephanie's feedback was overcooked, overcomplicated and that peanut and tomato were a poor combaination. The choice was Mark. He had been "on the bubble" several times before and was overdue to depart. Being in the double losers bracket was a bad mark for all three of these cheftestants. Lisa and Stephanie will have to work hard to get out of the losers bracket or they will soon be gone(which I think will happen since they are not talented enough to get ahead of the other chefs).

With the completion of this episode we have eliminated half the original group of cheftestants. There are still a few that should not be there (Nikki, Lisa, and maybe Spike), but Richard, Dale, and Antonia clearly should and Stepanie and Andrew are in a grey area.


 

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All TC4 fans note that this week's episode is one of those 75 minute ones. It will be from 10pm EDT Wednesday until 1115pm EDT if you are setting a VCR.

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EPISODE 9

QUICKFIRE
The evening starts sedately with the judge for the Quickfire being the esteemed Tom Colicchio. That gives it away that a major twist is coming. It's a return of the Relay Race, with the items changed up a little from last season to keep everyone on their toes. Knives are drawn for the teams of the evening:

Dale, Lisa, Nikki, Spike
Richard, Antonia, Andrew, Stephanie

Now, this was random but you have the 2 lowest performers on the same team and the 2 highest performers on the other team. Dale is an unhappy camper about being stuck with his teammates for the entire episode.

It starts with orange peeling and cutting into small precise pieces. Antonia is slow and Lisa gives her team a huge lead. Dale takes it and zooms through the cleaning and filleting monkfish with his team's lead maintained over Richard. Spike has brought a peeler with him and he is zooming further ahead on peeling 5 artichokes UNTIL a stem breaks and he has to do one over. He finishes in a dead heat with Andrew. It's all up to Nikki vs. Stephanie, which I expect to be an easy win for Stephanie given Nikki's earlier questions to the total group about how to make mayonnaise(which then became her task). Stephanie steadily pulls ahead by whisking harder and Richard tells her to do it "Chicago style" and  she wins for her team. They are promised a valuable advantage although there will be no more immunity for the rest of the season. The fourth judge will be Gail Gand, noted Chicago pastry chef.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE
Teams are introduced to Corey and JP, whose wedding is the next day. Corey and JP are both in the restaurant/catering business and will be assisting in the judging. The winning team is given the choice of catering the Bride's side or the Groom's side for a 125 guest wedding. Richard boldly states that they will choose the Bride, which is sure to be harder because it is her day. His team doesn't shoot him. The winning team consults with Corey and learns that she is from the Atlanta area (so is Richard) and her that her tastes are meat and potatoes. she mentions several individual dishes that she would like to see on the menu for her guests (you will see that menu later). The losing team consults JP and learns that he is from the Chicago area and Italian. He has several specific dishes he wants to see on the menu for his guests. He wants it buffet style. Teams then go off and briefly plan detailed menus:

Bride's Menu - prosciutto on flatbread, pulled pork sandwich with fresh pickle, braised short ribs and blue cheese in phyllo with almonds, beef brisket, filet mignon w/ horseradish sauce and red wine syrup, creamed spinach w/ star anise, almond and basil crusted chicken breast, potato gratin, dark chocolate and lemon cake

Groom's Menu - sausage pizza on flatbread, assorted flatbreads, mixed vegetables and cheeses, filet mignon w/ potatoes and horseradish cream, chilean sea bass w/ artichokes, capers, olives, tomatoes, pork and beef orecchiette w/ragu, , chocolate hazelnut cake


Teams were given 1 hour to shop at  a Restaurant Depot store plus back briefly to Whole Foods for a few flowers.. The Groom's team got $3000 and the Bride's $2000 wich I infer to mean that the Groom had about 75 of the guests and the Bride about 50. Now we come to the big controversy of the food preparation.  Teams then were left with 14 hours to prep and cook before one half hour into the wedding, when the food was actually needed. One notable event  was that Dale took over anything he could get his hands on, not doing them well but getting them done. Spike claimed back from Dale the cooking of the fish. All chefs apparently stayed up all night to get it done. This took a tremendous toll on them, particularly on Dale who when questioned by Tom Colicchio could not give a coherent answer. Why did the chefs have to work 14 hours straight? Let's assume that there was that much work per person, then why couldn't they have started 8 hours sooner so they could get some sleep? Was Tom Colicchio just playing a devilish test their endurance game? I don't see the value of that and think that TopChef creators (Tom and Gail Simmons) had better rethink their strategy when they have tasks designed to be all-nighters when that should not have been necessary. Tom volunteered his perspective on the difficulties of the respective teams. He thought that the Italian food would be the easier task because "meat and potatoes is so simple that it needs to be seasoned perfectly and really delicious". Watch what happens, as BRAVO would say.

Bride's team set up was Richard and Andrew serving, Stephanie as runner, and Spike in the kitchen(complaining as still banging it out). Groom's team set up was Nikki, Lisa and spike serving and Dale in the kitchen(no doubt they did not want him to piss off the guests). Comments from the judges while eating the groom's food were "uninspired, unoriginal". Uh-oh.

Judges table quickly decided, with prior input from the Bride and Groom, that the Bride's team had won, even though the judges played with that team a bit before telling them of their win. they asked who did what and found out that Antonia did the pizzas and Stephanie the wedding cake, which was a 5 tier production admired for its beauty(but not for its flavor). They didn't ask Andrew or Richard, I guess because they already knew what they had done. The winner was a surprised Richard. Based on the commentary I thought it would be Stephanie. However, Richard is magnanimous and has already had several victories. he insists that the victory be given to Stephanie instead. She wins $2000 in gift certificates at Crate and Barrel.

Losers group is interesting. It isn't going to be Lisa, who did a fine job on the wedding cake, whose flavor was judged superior to Stephanie's cake and whose cake appearance was limited by the Groom to be drab in comparison to the Bride's cake. The choices were Spike (who had not done a lot but who had done what he had done competently), Dale(who had taken on way too much and underperformed in general as a result), and Nikki(who as an expert in Italian food should have stepped up and been the leader on this task but totally refused to do so). I thought that Spike was safe for sure. I thought that Dale was probably safe because of his past record of high performance. I thought Nikki was in trouble because of her past record of low performance(most observers considered her overdue for elimination) and because she failed a crucial leadership opportunity. The decision was for Nikki to pack her knives and go.

[apskip]

The news is in that Sam Talbot, 3rd place finisher in TopChef 2 and chef most including me had picked to win it all, will be back as a judge this week.

It's worth a moment to speculate on who the next eliminee will be? I think the choices are:

Lisa
Spike
Andrew

They will not be Richard, Dale(even though he did poorly last week), Antonia or Stephanie. Those women are going to be kept in as long as possible, but Lisa just doesn't have what it takes for the Final 4. Spike is too up and down. Andrew can be brilliant at times, but he can't compete consistently.

I will hazard the guess of Lisa as the next one out, but that has just more than a 1/3 probability.

[apskip]

Episode 10 has 7 cheftestants at its start. The Guest Judge is the esteemed Sam Talbot, who most people including me thought had a lock on TC2 but faltered on insufficient flavor at the end. The Quickfire is to put "sexy" back into salad(what a joke!). Chefs had 45 minute to create and produce a salad of great appeal.

Lisa - grilled squid and lobster tail (Antonia complains here that Lisa is looking like serious competition; I have a totally different opinion of this nasty, churlish chef), bananas, yuzu vinaigrette
Antonia - "fatty" poached egg and mushroom w/ bacon vinaigrette and squash blossoms
Stephanie - "fall duet" pear, vinaigrette, poached pear, watercress; it was meant to have artichoke chips but she neglected to get them on the dish
Richard - ceviche of fruits and vegetables
Dale - poached chicken w/ nori paste, mirin, sake, rice wine vinegar (somebody observed that Dale has only one cuisine - Asian)
Spike - "sensual beef" skirt steak w/ pinaeapple, radish and cucumber
Andrew - Thai fruit salad w/ mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, sriracha sauce(as an aside, I finally found this in the local ShopRite. it is expensive at $3 for a small bottle, but tasty; now that I know precisely what it tastes like I am going back to regular less expensive hot sauce; this sriracha is imported from Thailand so I don't expect it to become reasonably priced)

Losers group was Lisa, Stephanie and Richard.
Winners group was Dale, Spike and Antonia. Spike was chosen the winner for his unusual combination.  He does not win immunity but gets a significant advantage.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

Sam introduces this because he is diabetic and needs low sugar. Low in cholesterol and carbs are also part of the rules. Not mentioned up front but worked in later are the requirements of "hearty, nutricious and delicious" quoting Tom Colicchio. This challenge is to develop lunch boxed for the Chicago Police Training Academy.
Whole Grain
Lean Protein
Fruit
Vegetables
The boxes are to be labeled including instructions on reheating.

Spike's advantage turns out to be 2 separate things:
1. Exclusive use of one ingredient from each of the 4 categories. Spike picks chicken, tomatoes, bread and lettuce. This was viewed mostly as a defensive move to block the others from using those ingredients rather than a strategic move to use them effectively in his dish. I don't think he really used bread, lettuce or tomato much if at all so he was open to serious criticism by Tom and Ted.
2. A 10 minute head start on shopping over the others.
The shopping limit at Whole foods was $175, with 30 minutes to spend it.

Stephanie - mushrooms and meatballs soup w/ barley, edamame, vegetable puree, fresh berries, yogurt
Lisa - shrimp stir fry w/ brown rice and spicy pineapple hot sauce
Richard - grilled tuna w/ chinois and lentils on a rice paper tortilla
Andrew - salmon roll, parsnips, pine nut rice, pineapple, pickled ginger wasabi(sushi and wasabi for policemen?;  what was he thinking?)
Antonia - curry beef w/ filet mignon, jasmine rice, berries and figs w/ grape syrup
Dale - lemongrass bison lettuce wrap w/ brown rice,  and herb(cilantro and basil) salad
Spike - chicken salad w/pita and crudites

Two things happened in the kitchen while cooking these dishes. Lisa had brown rice burn on her from high heat. She states unequivocally that someone turned up the burner when she was not looking. Others believe that Lisa just made a mistake and needed to cover it up to stay in the competition. I'm not sure what to believe, but it may not matter. Padma really dislikes the burned rice and Lisa explains that when it occurred with 12 minutes left it was too late to start cooking a new batch. Andrew apprently (was he brain-dead?) lost the challenge rules and lost sight of the requirement to have a whole grain in his meal. The judges noted when sampling his meal that there was no grain and this was a violation of contest rules. They did not say how they were going to deal with it, leaving viewers in suspense. We'll pick up the story later at Loser's judging.

When Richard presented his meals to the police trainees wandering by, he used a lot of salesmanship and showmanship. Spike complained on camera about this, but he was way off base. Richard was doing what real chefs sometimes have to do to effectively stay in business. If Spike doesn't like that, then he can try another profession besides chef.

Winners' group here was Dale and Stephanie. From the comments I thought it might be Stephanie but Dale was selected once again(obtaining redemption from his bad performance in episode 9). he wins a trip for 2 to Rutherford Hill winery in Napa Valley, California.

Loser's group was Spike, Lisa and Andrew. Readers note the 100% congruity of this list with the ending of my recap for Episode 9 when I predicted that these are the lowest 3. Spike was criticized for his hoarding of ingredients and failure to use them effectively in his dish. Lisa was criticized over the rawness of the shrimp and the rice and lack of flavor. Andrew was criticized for insufficient flavors and poor fit of flavors(sushi?) with the needs of a police trainee. Tom said that someone eating Andrew's lunch box would need to get get some delicious fast food afterward. Lisa wanted to give herself every advantage so she went after Andrew for his not following the rules. I think what happens is that chefs get a pass on that if their food tastes just good enough; if it doesn't they are gone. Lisa knew she was vulnerable because she was the only chef to be in both losers' groups this week.

The prelude to the announcement of who got eliminated was a summary by Tom Colicchio of the various meals:
Andrew hit the mark on the nutritional content but he didn’t on providing substantial, tasty fare.
Spike had weird crudités, bread, tomatoes and lettuce hardly used, and the questionable flavor combo of olives and grapes.
Lisa’s dish wasn’t a stir-fry but steamed vegetables and she should be checking on things more often.
So, as I have asked before, whose was the greater sin? No contest! Andrew got the boot, totally expected based on having 2 major sins this episode. There was a lot of verbal jousting between Andrew, who accused Lisa of throwing him "under the bus" and Lisa. It was just fluff for the cameras and did not amount to a hill of beans(have I reached my cliche limit yet?). I think Lisa was right to point out the infraction; in any case it was meaningless since the judges already were aware from counting ingredients in the meal that Andrew had failed to follow the rules. Andrew effectively let Lisa off the hook, as a double loser is almost always eliminated unless there is more than one.

It won't be long before Lisa joins him.  Spike may have some exceptional dishes from time to time, but he is not competitive with Richard, Dale, Antonia and Stephanie. Destiny waits one of those 4.

[TexasLady]

It won't be long before Lisa joins him. Spike may have some exceptional dishes from time to time, but he is not competitive with Richard, Dale, Antonia and Stephanie. Destiny waits one of those 4.

I agree with your assessment. Richard in particular is standing out for me, the other three as well. I cannot stand Lisa,  and frankly a chef with eyebrow piercings and messy hair is not something I'd like to see whether eating my dinner or watching it be prepared.   

[apskip]

The preview of next week showed the renewal of Restaurant Wars. What was not said but TV Guide is on top of is that the war will be focused on breakfast only.

[TexasLady]

The preview of next week showed the renewal of Restaurant Wars. What was not said but TV Guide is on top of is that the war will be focused on breakfast only.

 :sucks  Something new!! Breakfast is a challenge that  I will enjoy watching, especially to see the menu choices, decor and presentation. 

[apskip]

There will be no recap this week for Episode 11. I had it all written out, but the RFF system ate my recap when I attempted to post it. I am not going to do it again. The winner of Restaurant Wars was Stephanie and the loser was Dale, who lost out in what must have been a close decision to Lisa who remains(probably for only one more episode before all her sins catch up with her). The winner of the Quickfire was Antonia.

[TexasLady]

There will be no recap this week for Episode 11. I had it all written out, but the RFF system ate my recap when I atetmpted to post it. I am not going to do it again. The winner of Restaurant Wars was Stephanie and the loser was Dale, who lost out in what must have been a close decision to Lisa who remains(probably for only one more episode before all her sins catch up with her).

ARGH! I don't blame you for not wanting to rewrite it. 

I was disgusted with Lisa and Spike as well. I can't see either of them in the finals, I'm only sorry one of them will be in the final 4, I don't believe either one deserve to be there. I wondered if you thought Lisa sabotaged Dale. Her dishes received most of the bad comments, but she managed to turn it back (so it seemed) on Dale. I wonder if they chose Dale because he was the executive chef for this challenge, making him responsible for the fiasco.

[apskip]

Texas Lady, I said just that in the lost-forever recap. Lisa had bad performance on the Laksa soup and on the mango sticky rice. Dale contributed bananas to the sticky rice and made it worse, not better. Dale screwed up the butterscotch scallops. The mere thought of such a combination makes me shudder. It is no surprise that Bourdain thought it stunk as badly as Lisa's dishes. I think part of the problem was that the antipathy between Dale and Lisa motivated both of them to avoid the other because any interaction caused major friction. This meant that the teamwork normally present for a team was not there. Dale bore the brunt of the responsibility for that by being Executive Chef. He also created the culinary focus(Asian fusion) and had overall responsibliity for any food leaving the kitchen. I think that his ineptitude on several fronts was what caused his elimination even though there was plenty of negative performance from Lisa. For her what comes around goes around. Her reputation as surly, vindictive and nasty precedes her. None of the better chefs want to work with her and I will bet there is at least one more team elimination challenge coming.

[apskip]

For next week teams have to clean and chop a slab of beef, according to TV Guide.

[TexasLady]

For next week teams have to clean and chop a slab of beef, according to TV Guide.

This ought to be instructive, we'll find out who can and who can't properly cut beef.

About Lisa, if she ever watched previous seasons and I doubt she has, she'd be a little more open to working with her fellow chefs. The final two always need someone to help prepare their finale dishes. If by some miracle that I don't see happening, no one would want to help her. (I recall that Stephan and Dave got drunk the night before they helped Stephanie.)

Butterscotch on anything doesn't appeal to me. 

[apskip]

Texas Lady, I am not positive but I believe you meant to say "Stephen and Dave were not interesting in helping Tiffani", the Top Chef 1 runner-up.

[apskip]

Episode 12 with 5 Chefs Remaining(Antonia, Richard, and Stephanie from the "A" team and Spike and Lisa from the "B" team based on past performance)

Allen Brothers is a meat purveyor. The Quickfire starts with butchering meat for 20 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of cooking it. Guest Judge is Rick Tramonto, owner of Tramonto's Steak and Seafood restaurant as well as others. When the cooked meat was sliced for judging, his request of medium rare meat was met in my opinion by this:
Richard - I observe rare meat, Rick says inconsistent and undercooked
Spike - I observe rare meat, Rick applauds his superb butchering skill and his very good cooking of the meat
Antonia - I observe rare meat, Rick calls it perfect cooking
Lisa - I observe rare meat, no significant comment from Rick
Stephanie - I observe rare meat, Rick says butchering not good enough and undercooked

The winner is Spike who gets an advantage in the Elimination Challenge.

Elimination Challenge
This is a cookoff in Tramonto's Steak and Seafood where the 60 people reserved for that evening are going to be cooked by the Top Chefs (plus Lisa and Spike). There is one appetizer and one entree from each to go on the menu, created using only ingredients available in that kitchen(which is top of the line and probably not lacking for anything important) and cooking for 3 hours. Padma says that 3 special diners will join Gail, Rick, Tom and herself in evaluating those creations. The table where all those were at ordered tasting menus for all 6 of them(Tom was in the kitchen as the expeditor and got his own separately). This threw off the chefs, as 1/3 size portions had to be developed on short notice. I wonder if the Top Chefs really lasted the whole night until all 60 diners were done or whether they gave back control of the kitchen to its normal staff after the special table was served. Spike's advantage was to pick the 2 proteins exclusively for himself for both the appetizer and entree. He picked the tomahawk chops from the butchering and scallops, which were frozen. My wife said right at this point that this would be trouble for Spike since the last time he had that advantage he screwed it up. We'll see if it happens again.

The 3 special diners are introduced to the current Top Chefs. They are the winners of TC1, TC2, and TC3, Harold, Ilan and Hung. The menu looks good all the way around so this episode is going to be about execution:

Antonia - wild mushroom and artichoke salad w/ poached egg and bacon vinaigrette ; bone-in Rib-Eye Steak w potatoes gratin, shallots, roasted fennel, cipollini
Richard - Hamachi strips w nuggets of sweetbreads, radish, avocado, Yuzu; Beef Filet w/ potato puree, turnips, pickled Brussels sprouts and red wine
Stephanie -Sweetbreads, pine nuts, golden raisins, fennel; Beef Tenderloin, wild mushrooms, apple sauce
Spike - seared Scallops w/ hearts of palm and oyster mushrooms; tomahawk Chop w/ sweet potato puree, warm cipollini and Brussels sprouts
Lisa - grilled and chilled Shrimp, lemon zest and tomato on a crostini; New York Strip Steak w/ apple caramel sauce, peanut butter mushed potato  

The judges find Antonia's appetizer lacking, but they love her steak. Richard's Hamachi is judged spectacular but his beef filet just average. Stephanie got high marks for both her dishes. Spike's scallops killed him with the judges; the unfreezing of them and the inherent non-uniformity of those scallops had led the other chefs to the conclusion that Spike made a big mistake in not turning them back once he saw the low quality of this ingredient. Tom was unhappy with Spike's tomahawk chop being too simple and Spike not doing much to improve it. Lisa's shrimp recipe was not effective cold. Peanut butter mashed potatoes was a questionable choice from the beginning.

At Judges Table, the comments were:
Antonia - no comment on app; a perfect steak
Richard - appetizier according to Gail "the single best dish of the evening"; his steak was undercooked
Stephanie - the sweetbreads app was great; the entree was very good
Spike - choice of scallops was terrible, dooming that dish to failure; his entree was really good
Lisa - cold shrimp should have been warm; Tom gives her a lecture on cooking meat evenly top and bottom

So, where does that leave us? Stephanie wins again(Richard's sharing of his victory and prize weeks ago seems to have energized her). Richard is "safe" and going to Puerto Rico for having the best appetizer. Antonia is "safe" and going because of her best entree.

Losers' table will be a battle between Lisa and Spike. For those of you that read my recaps, it will be no surprise that both of them are low-rated by me. I like Spike as a person better and hope that he gets to go to Puerto Rico with the Final 4. Spike was killed not just by the scallops but also by his relatively minimal effort put into the entree(possibly because he had to constantly drain the scallops before they were pan-ready, he didn't have much time for this). Lisa has a bad appetizer, but not as bad as Spike. She was criticized for putting all her effort in developing flavors but little into technique. Tom contends that more effort on technique is the best way to get better flavors. If you remember what my wife said above, it will be no surprise that Spike bites the dust. The only problem I now have with this is that Lisa thinks she deserves to be in Puerto Rico, which in my opinion she does not. Given her competition, it wil not take long for her elimination once there.

[TexasLady]

Texas Lady, I am not positive but I believe you meant to say "Stephen and Dave were not interesting in helping Tiffani", the Top Chef 1 runner-up.

You're right.    Thanks for the correction.   

[TexasLady]

Episode 11 with 5 Chefs Remaining(Anotonia, Richard, and Stephanie from the "A" team and Spike and Lisa from the
Losers' table will be a battle between Lisa and Spike. For those of you that read my recaps, it will be no surprise that both of them are low-rated by me. I like Spike as a person better and hope that he gets to go to Puerto Rico with the Final 4. Spike was killed not just by the scallops but also by his realtively minimal effort put into the entree(possibly becasue he had to constatnly drain the scallops before they were pan-ready, he didn't have much time for this). Lisa has a bad appetizer, but not as bad as Spike. She was criticized for putting all her effort in developing flavors but little into technique. Tom contends that more effort on technique is the best way to get better flavors. If you remember what my wife said above, it will be no surprise that Spike bites the dust. The only problem I now have with this is that Lisa thinks she deserves to be in Puerto Rico, which in my opinion she does not. Given her competition, it wil not take long for her elimination once there.

I was hoping that both would leave but of course that wasn't possible. I suppose it is possible that they will bring Spike to Puerto Rico to assist one of the finalists, in that case I hope they bring back Dale who is more impressive to me than either Spike or Lisa.

Last night's episode was interesting because of the visit to Allan Brother's, the meat they had waiting to be butchered was amazing to see, as was Tramonto's Steak and Seafood restaurant. Moving Top Chef to Chicago was a inspired choice. I hope the producers change cities again for next season.

I do have a question for you apskip, I generally order my steak medium rare, but all of the quick challenge steaks looked REALLY rare to me. (But I would loved to have tasted them!)

[apskip]

Texas Lady, if I ate much steak it would be medium rare like you. Note that in my second paragraph in my recap I listed my visual impression of each chef's steak in the Quickfire. All were rare and not medium rare according to what I observed. Rick Tramonto downrated only Richard and Stephanie for undercooking, but it should have been all 5 chefs guiltyof that particular sin.

I see great benefits to moving TopChef around and I think the creators(Tom and Gail) see the same. We have been in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and now Chicago. There are plenty more metro area with a strong national culinary tradition, such as:

Philadelphia
Boston
Cleveland
Atlanta
Tampa
New Orleans
Dallas
San Francisco
Denver
Seattle
Las Vegas, which has lured many fine chefs to open restaurants there

If I were Tom and Gail, I would go to New Orleans next even though it has more of a regional cuisine than a national one.

[TexasLady]

Texas Lady, if I ate much steak it would be medium rare like you. Note that in my second paragraph in my recap I listed my visual impression of each chef's steak in the Quickfire. All were rare and not medium rare according to what I observed. Rick Tramonto downrated only Richard and Stephanie for undercooking, but it should have been all 5 chefs guiltyof that particular sin.

I see great benefits to moving TopChef around and I think the creators(Tom and Gail) see the same. We have been in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and now Chicago. There are plenty more metro area with a strong national culinary tradition, such as:

Philadelphia
Boston
Cleveland
Atlanta
Tampa
New Orleans
Dallas
San Francisco
Denver
Seattle
Las Vegas, which has lured many fine chefs to open restaurants there

If I were Tom and Gail, I would go to New Orleans next even though it has more of a regional cuisine than a national one.

Sorry, it wasn't clear what you meant, thanks for clearing the rare comment up. I agree with you, all the steaks looked undercooked, I could see that Spike did a better job of preparing the cut.

I would enjoy any of the cities you mention, even Austin, not as well known certainly as the others you mention. (I would become a stalker if they were filming here.) 

[apskip]

Top Chef4 Finale, part 1

Chefs arrive in Puerto Rico. They chat and Antonia reveals that she has been working 100 hour weeks at her restaurant. Uh-oh! They arrive at here they stay and Padma is quick to put them to work. She introduces Wilo Benet, the top chef in Puerto Rico. The Quickfire is to use plaintains to create a special dish for Puerto Rico. they have 40 minutes to plan and execute.

Antonia - crispy oysters w/cilantro plantain jam; fried plantain with spicy slaw(containing plantains)
Stephanie - tostones w/ seared tuna and pork; shrimp fritters w/ brown butter, lime and basil sauce
Lisa - tostones w/ pan roasted duck and mango papaya salsa; plantain, red onion and chorizo fritter w/ chutney slaw
Richard - pork meatballs w/ plaintain sauce; green plaintain chips w/ plaintain salsa

During the preparation phase, Richard dazzled me with his knife skills cutting onions. The winners of this were Lisa and Stephanie, both of whom did good tostones. Stephanie gets her first Quickfire win and Antonia and Richard are both in the losers category.

The elimination challenge is to provide food for a party of 100 people including the First Lady of Puerto Rico Luisa Avila. The catch is that dishes have to be created based on a pig. Each chef gets a whole pig to create a minimum of 2 dishes, but more are clearly going to impress the judges. Sous chefs are available from Andrew, Spike, Nikki and Dale. Stephanie's win gives her the right to assign sous chefs to their executive chef. She chooses Dale for herself, Spike for Richard, Nikki for Antonia, and Andrew for Lisa. The only combination that might get testy is Lisa/Andrew. The sous chefs are sent to a produce market to buy in 30 minutes for their chefs, who are busy butchering their pig. No dollar limit was mentioned beacuse there was nothing expensive to buy, as there was no protein in sight. Richard states his intent to "play his own game" and not do Puerto Rican food. During the buying, Spike speaks Spanish and has the edge on the others. Andrew does not and appears to have difficulty getting what he wants and discovering what else is available. Nikki does OK. Dale buys black plaintains. Prepping then continues until a 2 hour limit is reached(they will have 5 hours the next day before the party). Chefs find refrigerator space at a premium. A large pan of Stephanie's marinating pork is left out overnight; Dale owns up to the mistake and vows redemption to keep Stephanie in the competition. Stephanie elects to trash it, which means she might have one dish less than the others. Someone notes that Antonia is looking disorganized and not really into it.

Menus are:
Antonia - honey pork ribs w/ pickled sweet pepper salad; duck sausage w/ pigeon peas; curried pork w/ pumpkin and yucca;
Richard - BBQ pork shoulder w/ braised greens and mango; pressure cooked pork belly w/ pickled watermelon; pork ribs w malta and soy glaze; fresh ham w/ local long beans;
Lisa - pork filled yucca rellenas w/ Pineapple Mojo(Cuban marinade); citrus braised pork belly w potato and platain mash; adobo braised pork, black bean and ? tostones;
Stephanie - tropical fruit and prosiutto salad w/ chicarrones; coconut braised pork w/ black plantain pancakes; pork satay on skewers w/ miso almond sauce;

Winners were Richard and Stephanie. Richard was quizzed but not criticized by Tom for not being "out there" as usual and having a conservative menu. Stephanie's satay was a hit with Wilo. Richard wins a 2009 Toyota Corolla, a very substantial prize.

Losers were Antonia and Lisa. Both had major mistakes. Lisa was asked why she went with Latin flavors when Asian is her strength. She made a decent response about her Latin experience. Antonia's biggest mistake was pigeon peas that were undercooked, which Tom calls a major sin. She also had all dishes served on one plate, which tended to mix them together. She was rated as having the least sophisticated dishes. It's curtains for Antonia. What a pity! We will have Lisa in the Final 3. What a joke! Lisa vows to win to prove that she is the best chef due to the cold shoulder she gets from Stephanie and Richard. Nobody believes that except her, but stranger things have happened in past TopChef judging(witness the rise of Ilan in TC2).

Next week the finale is likely to be 75 minutes long, so set your VCRs accordingly.

[BballKates]

First you should add Minneapolis to that list.

Second I am frankly shocked that Lisa is still there. She has had a crappy attitude week after week, her dishes have not worked and she has not been one of the top chefs all season. Not to mention she has been on the cusp of elimination for like the last three weeks.

I think this is a two horse race frankly and I hope Stephanie wins. We have not had a female winner and it is about time. Personally I think Stephanie has been the most consistent and deserves it.