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Top Chef Season 3
apskip:
Top Chef3 has a winner. Unfortunately, Casey had a less than stellar performance so it was between Hung and Dale. The decision had to be very close, but they gave the title and the $100,000 to Hung. I will have more detail in the morning.
TexasLady:
--- Quote from: apskip on October 03, 2007, 10:43:34 PM ---Top Chef3 has a winner. Unfortunately, Casey had a less than stellar performance so it was between Hung and Dale. The decision had to be very close, but they gave the title and the $100,000 to Hung. I will have more detail in the morning.
--- End quote ---
I'm sure it will be another beautifully written report and I will certainly appreciate it. Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't the 4th dish (Scallops) for Dale a collaboration 50/50 with CJ? That could have been a factor in their decision.
I must say that while I said I didn't think Dale should have been in the final 3, he did a great job. Casey had physical problems adjusting to the hight altitudes at Aspen, you could hear it in her sighing and breathing when she was prepping and I think it threw her off her game.
Loved the actual competition, hated the final reveal.
apskip:
--- Quote from: TexasLady on October 03, 2007, 11:15:32 PM ---
--- Quote from: apskip on October 03, 2007, 10:43:34 PM ---Top Chef3 has a winner. Unfortunately, Casey had a less than stellar performance so it was between Hung and Dale. The decision had to be very close, but they gave the title and the $100,000 to Hung. I will have more detail in the morning.
--- End quote ---
I'm sure it will be another beautifully written report and I will certainly appreciate it. Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't the 4th dish (Scallops) for Dale a collaboration 50/50 with CJ? That could have been a factor in their decision.
I must say that while I said I didn't think Dale should have been in the final 3, he did a great job. Casey had physical problems adjusting to the hight altitudes at Aspen, you could hear it in her sighing and breathing when she was prepping and I think it threw her off her game.
Loved the actual competition, hated the final reveal.
--- End quote ---
Texas Lady, let me address your comments. Dale did "get his chef back" during the last few episodes. I do not think that he lost points for collaborating with CJ any more than Hung did for collaborating on the cake with Sara. I thought Dale was going to be the winner, but the judges had other ideas. I think that Hung's consistency throughout the competition was the tie-breaker between them. Casey did have problems with the altitude, but so did Dale. 11,200 feet is no joke. I think Casey's recipes had more problems adjusting to the elevation than she did, as it was apparent that she had to make adjustmentts that threw her off. Her major problem, however, was inattention (probably caused by having to deal with altitude adjustments on other things) on the pork bellies, which dried out. That was the dish that murdered her with the judges.
I have to agree with you. The public voted 58% for Casey to win and that's what I wanted. The fact that she didn't was a disappointment. Nobody can say that Hung didn't earn it, but he does not inspire confidence as a human being and leader.
apskip:
FINAL FINALE
Casey, Hung and Dale go up the chairlift at Aspen to the Aspen Mountain cClub at 11,200 feet and find that their final competition is simply to make the best possible 3 course meal with the ingredients(which are diverse and copious) in front of them plus their special ingredients brought from home. They have 35 minutes to plan a menu and turn it in to Tom. Once he has that, knives are drawn to determine who is going to be their sous chef for 3 hours. They are expecting eliminated contestants, but Top Chef has a huge surprise for them. Stepping out of the first gondola (and thereby assigned to Hung) is Rocco Dispirito. Out of the second (and assigned to Casey) is Michelle Bernstein. Out of the third (and assigned to Dale) is Todd English. These celebrities can only chop and prep; they cannot offer any advice on the menu or seasoning even though they clearly had some which was captured on voiceovers later. For example Michelle had serious reservations about the complexity of Casey's menu, particularly the pork bellies. Todd was worried about the complexity of Dale's recipes. The menus are:
Hung - raw sliced hamchi with tomato vinaigrette
shrimp with caramelized tamarind sauce and coconut foam
Duck Sous Vide with truffle sauce and chanterelles
Casey - Foie Gras, cinnamon scented scallops, and apple
Prawns with lobster and mushroom broth
Pork Bellies with peach
Dale - Foie Gras with peaches and arugula
Lobster with Gnocchi with mushrooms
Colorado Lamb
The cooking was split over 2 days, the prep day and the finshing day. With one hour left to go in the cooking on the finishing day, Tom Colicchio comes to throw his ususal curveball. He offers the option of adding a fourth course, plus the availability of a sous chef for that hour. Knives are drawn.
Hung gets Sara and chooses Chocolate Cake with Raspberries
Casey gets Howie and chooses Beef with Cabernet Sauce
Dale gets CJ and chooses Scallops
Judges Table has the celebrity chefs plus the unusual addition of Brian, the 4th place chef, who mentions eating his $100,000 meal (that's a good one, Brian). Two early comments were that Casey's dishes had "too much stuff" and Dale's scallops dish was exceptionally good. Tom referred to Dale's lobster as "inedible" although others did not agree with him. A lot of minor comments followed. It was clear that Casey was not going to be Top Chef, but it was a tossup between Dale and Hung at that point.
The final round of discussion was:
Gail got to conclude that Hung's first course was best and Casey's the worst
Dale's Scallops won the extra course honors.
Both Hung's Duck and Dale's Colorado Lamb were rated superb. Todd English called Hung's dish "3 Star Michelin".
Tom referred to Dale's lobster as "inedible" although others did not agree with him.
Gail made the statement that Dale's Colorado lamb was the best of the 4th courses, but that cannot be true since my notes clearly identify that as a 3rd course.
The Aspen part of the competition was concluded with the chefs left in suspense. Months later, live from Chicago, the final decision is announced at the end of this show: Hung wins. I believe that it was a tiebreaker between he and Dale decided by his consistency throughout the entiere season, which is a no contest nod to Hung. Marcel is shown congratulating Hung(both work at Guy Savoy in Las Vegas and note that Hung used a foam in his shrimp dish). Casey is a gracious loser, having known back from the comments back in Aspen that she didn't do well to win.
I think the "live finale" concept is ridiculous and Top Chef ought to get rid of it ASAP. It make them look stupid. This is not Survivor. This is a serious show.
marigold:
An interesting article on Tom Colicchio vs. Gordon Ramsay:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071008/en_nm/michelin_newyork_dc
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