Author Topic: Top Chef 9  (Read 20806 times)

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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #50 on: February 02, 2012, 06:51:24 PM »
LAST CHANCE KITCHEN Ep. 10

This was Grayson versus Beverly with the winner regaining the main field to compete with the 4 chefs for the grand prize. The challenge was simple but difficult: cook a meal worthy of being in the Top Chef finale in 30 minutes.

Beverly elected this dish: red snapper in coconut broth infused w/ lemongrass, ginger, Thai basil, cilantro, fennel salad

Grayson elected: bacon-seared scallops w/gastrique of cherry and champagne grapes w/ pistachio and tarragon

Tom made his usual comments about Grayson’s dish having perfectly cooked scallops but a little grey in color and Beverly’s Asian flavors a bit sweet. I expected the usual resolution of Last Chance Kitchen in this final episode of it, but Tom (or the producers) was playing with the audience. We have to wait for the beginning of the next regular episode (ep. 11) to see who shows up. I predict that it will be Grayson. 

There was an example of Lindsay out of control.

Sarah was pissed off that Andy Cohen pushed her with a statement from the crew that Sarah felt like she had been robbed of the win. She assured a national television audience that it was not so.

Heather, Sarah and Lindsay were shown through clips to be queens of mean.

The drive from San Antonio to Dallas had a planned "mystery stop" so the chefs were not totally blindsided. The question from Edward or Paul (I think) while driving after that stop to Sarah was if she had a choice of a night with maser chef John Besh or $1000 which would she choose. She chose Besh  (but of course couldn't do anything about that).

« Last Edit: March 08, 2012, 03:00:31 PM by apskip »

Offline franxaverian

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #51 on: February 04, 2012, 08:17:52 PM »
If Beverly comes back in, it will be so interesting that 3 out of the 5 chefs left are from the third qualifying round (Lindsay, Paul and Bev).  ;)


Offline Squall

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #52 on: February 05, 2012, 01:38:49 AM »
I think it's Beverly that's coming back, but I so wish it was Nyesha, she kicked ass.
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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #53 on: February 10, 2012, 10:24:54 PM »
Top Chef 9, Ep. 11

This episode started with the revelation that Last chance Kitchen had been won by Beverly over Grayson. That put Bevely back into the mix with Edward, Lindsay, Paul and Sarah. The Quickfire was judged by Tom and Padma and based the objective was to

The competitors had the usual 30 minutes to select ingredients blindfolded and then cook regularly. Here are the dishes they created:

Beverly – Striped Bass with Avocado, Lime and Jalapeno
Edward – “Udon” with Ribbons of Zucchini and Mushrooms
Lindsay – Fish with Bulgur Wheat, Mascarpone and Broccoli Rabe
Paul – Sauteed Prawn with Thai Tomato Soup
Sarah – Corn Soup with Onion, Red Chili and Peaches

The winner would have the choice of a guaranteed spot in the finals or a Toyota Prius V. Commentary from Tom was:
Beverly – fish undercooked
Paul – prawn undercooked
Sarah – very ambitious combination that could either work or be awful; this worked

Sarah was the winner. She chose to take the guaranteed spot in the finals. That meant that there was a Prius V sitting around for the Elimination challenge top performer to win.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

The chefs other than Sarah were re-introduced to their primary culinary career mentors:
Beverly – Sarah Stegner
Edward – Frank Crispo
Lindsay – Michelle Bernstein
Paul – Tyson Cole
Sarah – was permitted to have a nice day off with Tony Mantuano

The chefs had $500 for ingredients to be spent in 30 minutes. They would prep for 2.5 hours and cook for 1 hour the next day in Citrus Restaurant of Valencia Hotel
The first major milestone was that Ed was looking for fresh clams none of which were  available, so he settled for tins of clams instead. Paul’s vegetable soup with a cream sauce which had 14 components, so he considered it great skill to bring them all together properly. Lindsay went with a seafood stew with cream. Beverly was going to cook her final dishes in 2 woks, which all agreed was quite difficult.

These were the final dishes presented:
Beverly – Gulf Shrimp and BBQ Pork Curried Singapore Noodles
Edward – Pork Belly and Oyster Crema with Pickled Vegetables
Lindsay – Seafood “Stew” with Couscous
Paul – Chilled Sunchoke Dashi Soup with Vegetables

Paul and Beverly were selected as the top 2. Paul won because of the perfection of his soup and he got the Prius, but they both got spots in the finale. That left the battle to not be eliminated between Lindsay and Edward. Lindsay made mistakes, principally using the cream in her soup (conflicting with her flavors) and a massive overdose of dried herbs. Edward had misconceived the dish from when he bought the tinned clams and his development of a smoked oyster sauce was a bad choice. That was enough to get him eliminated and Lindsay into the finale.

The finale appears to be in Whistler, British Columbia.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #54 on: February 10, 2012, 10:29:16 PM »
In post #45, I predicted that it would b e Paul vs. Lindsay as the two best chefs. I still think that. Sarah also made it in, but Edward was displaced by Beverly. I don't think either one of those has sufficient culinary skills to beat either Paul or Lindsay. We'll see within the next 2 weeks. 


Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #55 on: February 10, 2012, 10:44:46 PM »
I was sorry to see Ed eliminated. He made the fatal mistake of buying canned clams. I don't think Sarah is capable of winning but I've been wrong before, Beverly does have skills but I don't see her making final 2 either so I have to agree with your choices apskip.
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Offline kiki

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #56 on: February 10, 2012, 11:33:30 PM »
If Ed had made it to the F4 he would have  a chance in winning but as it is I agree that the fight will be between Paul and Lindsay, with Paul being slightly ahead, as he has been more consistent so far. Sarah is not that strong and Beverly so far has cooked well only Asian food, she hasn't shown a diversity in her plates, which is necessary to win.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #57 on: February 16, 2012, 04:27:53 PM »
Top Chef Ep. 12

The 4 remaining chefs arrive at Vancouver international airport and receive instructions from Padma to get to the top of the mountain at Whistler, a major ski resort 70 miles away and site of the snow-based events for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Padma announced there would be 3 “events” in their Culinary Olympics with the winner of each receiving $10,000 and going to the finale back in Vancouver.

The chefs learned that they would be doing “speed cooking” on a moving gondola in the 22 minutes it took to get from one mountain peak to another. They were given a wide range of really first-class looking ingredients but marginal cooking equipment. While the gondola was moving, they had to get out at a specific point and pick an ingredient that they must use. Paul picked wasabi, Sarah prune juice, Beverly horseradish and Lindsay horseradish. Here is what they created under these conditions:
Paul – seared lamb loin w/Cinnamon Gastrique, enoki mushrooms, fresh juniper, wasabi
Sarah - Chorizo Sausage w/ Gooseberry Sauce, Pickled Mushrooms 
Beverly –salmon tartare with anchovy, horseradish crème fraiche, and crispy capers
Lindsay – seared salmon with red quinoa “risotto”, chorizo, and horseradish vinaigrette

The commentary indicated that Paul came up short, Sarah was #3 and the battle for #1 between Lindsay and Beverly.

The second event was to chip away at huge blocks of ice and unleash the ingredient that was inside. Chefs had to do this enough times to have sufficient ingredients for a decent dish. Paul gave a lot of help to both of his less-strong competitors. Here was what they created;

Sarah – spinach soup w/almonds and crab
Paul - Brown butter poached king crab w/ mango chutney
Beverly – seared scallop w/ orange slices, red wine reduction, buttered peas, couscous

This time Paul was #1, Beverly #2 and Sarah #3.

The final event was a culinary biathlon between Beverly and Sarah. Beverly had the edge for the cross country ski portion and finished minutes ahead of Sarah. That gave her the opportunity to start shooting for whatever ingredients she wanted. She ended up with arctic char, celery root, truffles, fennel and beets. Sarah got rabbit, cherries, cabbage and hazlenuts

The dishes created were:
Beverly – beet + onion compote, celery root truffle puree, arctic char, fennel salad
Sarah - Braised rabbit leg + heart, cherries, cabbage puree and hazelnut sauce

This evaluation was very close but Beverly’s char was overcooked and overpowered by her other ingredients and that was the difference. Sarah was steady on her flavors throughout. Sarah was going to Vancouver and Beverly was going home.

There were 3 Olympic gold medal winners who participated in the judging (Gretchen Gleiler in halfpipe snowboarding, James Montgomery in skeleton, Cammie Granato for women’s ice hockey) were pretty useful as judges for a culinary competition, as what I heard from them was gradations of “great flavors”. For the next episode, in the previews I saw Anita Lo running around so hopefully there will be a preponderance of culinary leaders among the judges. 

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #58 on: February 16, 2012, 06:30:48 PM »
My predictions have not changed for many weeks. I think Paul will win a close victory over Lindsay in the final finale. The semifinal finale (my term to highlight the absurdity of going down to 2 finalists for the first time I can remember since Top Chef 1 and TC2) will see Sarah eliminated.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2012, 06:33:55 PM by apskip »

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #59 on: February 16, 2012, 07:13:33 PM »
I don't know why they had such a difficult challenge for Sarah and Beverly. Skiing, then shooting targets for the food, not a lot of time to cook. Since Beverly outperformed Sarah at every turn, it was hard to see her eliminated. I don't think Sarah is as strong as the other two.
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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #60 on: February 19, 2012, 05:26:47 PM »
The order of each "event" and the rules were both pre-set in advance. Having Beverly getting that huge lead in getting ingredients for the final event was a major "uphill climb" for Sarah. The fact that she persevered and won was a tribute to her culinary skills.

I see her as the weakest of the 3 finalists, but she is not about to roll over and play dead.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #61 on: February 19, 2012, 05:45:53 PM »
Texas Lady,

Wow, while I wasn't looking you got to 20,000. 

Current Posts: 20032

That's a huge achievement.


Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #62 on: February 23, 2012, 10:17:27 AM »
TC9, Ep. 13

Still standing in this competition are Sarah, Lindsay and Paul, clearly the three most talented chefs. They have relocated from Whistler to Vancouver’s Chinatown and have a Quickfire with a $20,000 prize. Each of them is paired with a Master Chef to Create an Asian Inspired Dish:

Sarah – Floyd Cardoz (TCM3 winner)
Paul – Takashi Yagihashi
Lindsay – Anita Lo

Each of the chefs has to develop a dish inspired by Chinatown and then it is a tag team process with their master to cook the dish at Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie. The masters cooked for 10 minutes, then the chefs, then the masters and finally the chefs, a total of 40 minutes.

These creations were:

Paul – Mirugai (giant clam) Sashimi w/Yuzu Dashi, Fried White Fish w/ copious Thai chile
Lindsay – Scallop three ways w/Dried Chinese Sausage, Water Chestnut
Sarah – Pan seared cod w/Coconut Curry, Dungenness Crab Salad, amaranth, greens, chilis, garlic

Sarah won the $20,000, her first victory in Top Chef 9.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

This is exactly what you would expect, except that it is to cook for 150 guests at the Vancouver Olympic Village a meal that incorporates both “fire” and “ice” (representing Texas and British Columbia) and also has a cocktail. The shopping time is 45 minutes and amount $1200 at Whole Foods. They have 5 hours to cook. The winner got an expense-paid trip for 2 to Costa Rica.

Here is what they created:

Lindsay – Halibut with fiery celery root salad, kale; Cocktail: "Encendido" (Vodka, Tomato, Horseradish)
Sarah – Five Greens Filled Pasta w/ Garlic, Chili, Spiced curry mousse Sformato; Cocktail: "Agrumi" (Gin, Kumquat and Mango)
Paul –King Crab w/ Sunchoke Chips, Lobster Broth, Lemon Snow, arugula garnsh; Cocktail: "The Pan Am" (Kaffir Lime, Thai Chilis and Rum)

The tasting by the judges (Emeril, Tom, Padma, Gail) and their Judges’ Table commentary resulted in this:
Lindsay – the raw kale should not have been there; her cocktail was good but not the best; halibut cooked properly, celery root salad very good
Sarah – cocktail on its own the best of the night, mousse too cold but complemented her past well
Paul – cocktail very effective, flavors outstanding; the arugula was problematical

The judges stated that they would ideally want to acknowledge the excellence of all 3 meals. However, they had to eliminate somebody. Sarah was told that she had earned a spot in the 2-chef cookoff for the grand prize. Lindsay was told to pack her knives. Paul was told he had won the vacation in Costa Rica plus the spot in the final 2. By what I could see (remember that we don’t have access to the critical tastings), that seems fair. It will be Sarah vs. Paul in the final episode of TC9.

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #63 on: February 24, 2012, 01:50:57 PM »
Thanks for the recap apskip, we were not able to be home Wednesday night and haven't watched this episode yet. I am surprised at the outcome and have trepidations for the final results.
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Offline coolio

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #64 on: February 25, 2012, 10:33:25 AM »
Lindsay  :torche

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #65 on: March 03, 2012, 06:38:04 PM »
TC9 Ep. 14, Finale

It’s the end of the line in the TC9 competition, the cook-off for $125,000, the Top Chef title, the place in the4 Food & Wine Classic held in Aspen and an article in food & wine magazine. Winning it will be a launchpad for ownership of one’s one restaurant. The finale is in Vancouver. It starts with a competition to cook the best possible dish in 45 minutes, except that the contestants are eliminated chefs plus two master chefs. Here is who created dishes for Paul and Sarah to sample as a basis for choosing which to select:
Chefs
Nyesha
Grayson
Keith
Chris Crary
Tyler (eliminated in the preliminary rounds)
Heather
Ty-Lor

Master Chefs
Barbara Lynch, owner/chef #9, Boston MA
Montero Canora, New York City

Any dish picked up to the limit of a 4 person team resulted in the chef or master chef creating it going onto the sous chef team of the finalist who picked them. Sarah’s picks resulted in a sous chef team of Nyesha, Grayson, Tyler, Heather. The one Sarah wanted badly for her dessert expertise was Heather, but it cost her getting Tyler by attempting to pick which specific dish Heather had created and making a mistake at that. Paul got Barbara Lynch plus Keith, Chris Crary and Tyler. Both Montero Canora and Colin Patterson (eliminated in preliminary rounds) were not picked in the 80% of the individuals selected for either team.

Paul and Sarah developed their menus from things they believed they did particularly well.  Paul’s menu was primarily Japanese-inspired.  Sarah’s menu was primarily inspired by Italian and German cuisine. Paul and Sarah were given the usual credit limit at the local Whole Foods and had to spend it in a specific time limit. Sarah’s team cooked at Black and Blue while Paul’s team cooked at ?.

The menu for Sarah was:
1. Squid-ink tagliatelle topped w/ Spot Prawns and Coconut
2. Rye Crusted Steelhead Trout w/ Pickled Beets, Fennel and Gras Pista
3. Braised Veal Cheek w/ Veal Sweetbread Sauce Polenta
Dessert – Hazelnut Cake w/ Roasted White Chocolate Ganache, candied kumquat

The menu for Paul was:
1. Chawanmushi, Steamed Egg Custard, Prawns and Pea Shoots, Edamame
2. Grilled Sea Bass w/ Clam Dashi, Pickled Radishes and Mushrooms
3. Congee w/ Scrambled Eggs, Uni, Kale, smoked albacore tuna
Dessert - Coconut Ice Cream w/ Puffed Wild Rice, Mangosteen Thai Chili Foam, candied kumquats

The meals were tasted by the families of each finalist plus these judges:
Group1 – Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Marco Canora, Mark McEwan (chief judge Top Chef – Canada), David Myers
Group 2 – Padma Lakshmi, Hugh Acheson, Emeril Lagasse, Bill Terlato
Final judging was the smaller group that did not include Marco Canora, Mark McEwan and Bill Terlato.

Here is the commentary from the judges:
Sarah 1 – very successful
Sarah 2 – very good, except that Sarah’s fiancée got this first and cautioned about bones; her beets were undercooked
Sarah 3 – first group of judges found this unsatisfactory due to overly chunky; that was fixed for the second but lacked “crunch”
Sarah Dessert – “over the top”, genius

Paul 1 – first group of judges great but overcooked for second batch
Paul 2 – excellent
Paul 3 – different opinions on textures
Paul Dessert – maybe better than Sarah’s

The core group of judges in a top Chef finale always compares dishes course by course. Here is what they revealed:
Course 1 – close but it went to Sarah
Course 2 – clearly Paul
Course 3 – toss-up
Dessert – again, a toss-up

So now they had to go to more subjective comparisons. Sarah was viewed as taking more risks while Paul had a comfortable menu. Fine detail execution favored Paul.

So who won? It was Paul judged to be Top Chef and get the large rewards.

I was satisfied with this season and with Paul winning.


Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #66 on: March 08, 2012, 02:49:15 PM »
A Top Chef Season is not complete without the reunion of the chefs and judges. That was live on BRAVO-TV in advance of the announcement on Watch What Happens Live of who won the $10,000 prize as Fan Favorite. The zillion female viewers of Top Chef voted as a block for Chris Crary ("Malibu Chris"), so nobody else had a chance.

There were special focuses on Paul, Lindsay, Beverly, Sarah, Chris Crary and Chris Jones. A viewer asked if Beverly was emotionally stable. Her response was that she cries a lot to improve her cooking. Other criers features were Lindsay, Sarah, Dakota and Chris Jones.

Lindsay honored Grayson by indicating that " (outspoken) Grayson said many things which I would have liked to have said myself."  Then there were examples of profanity used in the kitchen, which several chef likened to something necessary and appropriate.

There was  plug for Last Chance Kitchen and clips of each win there.

A semi-nude photo of Ty-Lor from "long before top chef" was shown for amusement.

The drive from San Antonio to Dallas had a planned "mystery stop" so the chefs were not totally blindsided. The question from Edward or Paul (I think) while driving after that stop to Sarah was if she had a choice of a night with maser chef John Besh or $1000 which would she choose. She chose Besh  (but of course couldn't do anything about that).

Gail Simmons got a parody of herself on film. She had the opportunity to plug her new book "Talking with My Mouth Full". 


« Last Edit: March 08, 2012, 03:04:26 PM by apskip »

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef 9
« Reply #67 on: March 19, 2012, 07:06:52 PM »
I'm so behind but I did get to see Paul win and that made me happy. I think it was a good choice.  :wohoo:
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