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Top Chef Chicago Season 4

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apskip:
Episode 6

The fallout from last week's action includes Ryan correctly stating that Zoi's departure stirred the pot, Dale's apology to Lisa for communicating poorly with her, and Lisa's retort that Dale can go ****(a word not allowed on live TV and bleeped out by BRAVO) himself.

The Guest Judge is Karin Grievson, chef of Avec in Chicago. 16 mugs of beer are on the table. In the Quickfire, each cheftestant gets to sample 3 and pick one for their use(as a carton of bottles, not as a mug). The goal is Simple Pleasures, to marry up beer flavor with apporpriate food. I wonder how beer got selected(why not wine, for example?). Somebody on the Chicago area Beer Distributors must have used a hunk of their Publicity budget to buy their way into Top Chef. Chefs have 30 minutes to cook.

Here are the dishes selected:

Ryan - they did not show a caption; I heard him say epaulets of lamb criponnet on the second viewing
Spike - Charcuterie Plate w/ Tapas of Clams
Richard - Grilled Tuna Sandwich
Dale - Pork tenderloin grilled with miso caramel sauce and pretzel crust
Mark - Juniper Spiced Lamb Rack w Beer Sauce
Andrew - Rainbow Trout w Raspberry Gastrique and Pears
Antonia - miso Cod, Sauteed Cabbage
Nikki - Citrus Marinated Shrimp
Lisa - Bacon cheeseburger w/Potato chips
Stephanie - Steamed Mussels, Cilantro Viinaigrette, Grilled Bread
Jennifer - Shrimp  and Scallop Beignets w/ fennel, avocado and pepper purees

Worst were Nikki, Spike, and Dale. Spike was due to an inappropriate pairing of food for that beer(or any beer). Dale was because the pretzel crust made it too dry.
Best were Richard, Stephanie and Jennifer. Richard was cited for great use of spices, Stephanie for excellent mussels. Jennifer was named Best of the Best and won immunity for the Elimination Challenge.

Elimination Challenge
For this Karin leaves the judges panel and is replaced by the owner of Avec Paul Kahn. The challenge is to cook for tailgate parties outside soldier's Field where the Chicago Bears are playing a regular season game the next day. Each person has the usual time and money contstraints at Whole Foods. There is 2 hours to prep in the topChef kitchen, then 1 hour to setup and cook at the site. Each cheftestant is given the choice of a gas grill or a Charcoal grill. Only Mark chooses charcoal and you see him lugging bags of briquettes an dhaving a messy grill so I bet he is sorry he did that. I should note that among the Fans sampling and rating this food were Richard Dent, William Perry and Gayle Sayers, three grerats from Chicago Bears football history.

Spike did jicama and pineapple slaw in lime dressing with spiced chicken wings.
Ryan did grilled chicken thighs, bread salad, poached pear w/ creme fraiche and huckleberry sauce and brandy cocoa drink.
Richard did a patty melt w/ sapicy mayonnaise and pickled cucumber and other vegetables.
Dale did marinated baby back ribs tandoori and potato salad with golden raisin, mango and turmeric.
Mark did chicken and scallion skeweres in soy and onion glaze plus New Zealand corn chowder.
Andrew did a jerk chicken sandwich with peaches.
Stephanie did pork tenderloins w/ pear, potato and bacon salad plus rosemary vinaigrette.
Jennifer did Chicken roasted w/ Harissa and Quinoa Tabouli.
Lisa did corn cakes w/ skirt steak and salsa verde.
Nikki did sausage and peppers w/ onions and choice of hot or cocktail sauce, grilled shrimp, Asian cole slaw and spiced cider. However, she had a problem that her customers had run her supply of peppers and onions low by the time the judges arrived and so they did not get the true impact of her dish.

My guesses based on fan reaction were that Mark and Nikki were in trouble and that Dale would do well. The Judges Table confirmed that Dale, Stephanie and Andrew were the best. Dale won and was awarded the Summit 650 grill he had cooked with plus a TopChef #4 Bears uniform. Nice redemption for his poor Quickfire showing.
The worst group was Nikki, Mark, and Ryan. Nikki had the lowest score from the fans and the judges rated her dish low. Mark had serious sanitary problems which he was warned about plus his New Zealand corn chowder was gritty and the charcoal flavor he was seeking was destroyed by thick sauce coating the meat. Ryan got the rap for serving dishes inappropriate for a tailgate party. He did a salad when a sandwich was called for among other problems.

So, which was the worst sin? The judges decision was that Ryan was going home for inappropriate food.

marigold:
Tom Colicchio says Bravo has received complaints about Top Chef 4’s profanity

http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/

In a weird little coda at the end of Top Chef 4 last week, the contestants erupted into a fight, sort of, that was difficult to parse because so many people were getting made at each other for different reasons—and because the whole thing was a big bleep-fest.

As it turned out, some people, including head judge and chief ornery bastard Tom Colicchio, have noticed that this season has more profanity, and they’re not happy. People leaving comments on BravoTV.com, always the best gauge of public opinion, “had criticized this season’s profanity from ‘day one’ and that Bravo, which broadcasts ‘Top Chef,’ had received complaints as well,” The New York Times reports, attributing the information to Colicchio.

Tom said that “the way they’re bleeping” might be problematic. The Times artfully describes that by noting that “Bravo’s censors leave much of the offending syllables intact. … Instead of a fig leaf, the network holds up a sprig of parsley.”
Andy Cohen told the paper that the profanity has been striking but is just the way these chefs are. “It’s struck us from the first cut we got of the first episode. At the network all we can do is bleep like crazy and, you know, maintain our standards while maintaining the integrity of what’s going on in the kitchen. I mean look, it’s who these people are, and we try to show these people as they are.”

One of the current contestants, Spike Mendelsohn, said his family was shocked and “I was actually surprised myself when I watched it. I didn’t want to be so foulmouthed.” But he also doesn’t wish he’d done something differently. “Not at all, that’s who I am,” he said.

For the full artcle by The New York Times (it's two pages long) here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/dining/16profane.html

TexasLady:
Thanks Ca, it's not surprising that people are offended by the profanity, they probably have children watching with them (Although it is run late in the evening but the reruns are not.) I'm just not impressed this year, I don't see any standout chefs, I'm tired of the bickering and really tired of hearing because Zoi was eliminated, Jennifer got all bent out of shape. Proof to me that people in relationships should not be in the same competition.

That said, no one stands out so far for me, with the exception of maybe Richard.

apskip:
The next episode of TC4 will feature major interaction with Chicago's Second City comedy group.

apskip:
Episode 7

Cheftestants enter to see a huge table of sweets and are presented to the Guest Judge, John Iuzzini, Executive Pastry Chef. His judging talents go way beyond just desserts. The Quickfire is to Make a Great Dessert. The winner will get his recipe in the new TopChef Cookbook and it will be the only one from TC4 to be in there. So, they are off and whipping, baking, chopping, etc.

Andrew - Chocolate Ravioli in Pudding
Dale - Halo Halo, shaved ice, Avocado, Mango, Kiwi, nuts, and unidentified spices
Mark - Pavlovas made with wattleseeds from New Zealand
Richard - Banana Scallops w/ Banana Custard
Spike - Pineapple Rum Raisin Souffle w/ Toasted Coconut  (Note: chosen to demonstrate risk-taking vs. Chocolate cake for which he had memorized the recipe)
Antonia - baked lemon curd w/ lemon cake
Jennifer - Chocolate Cake w/ Salted Basil Ganache
Yoghurt w/ fruit puree, fried wontons and strawberries
Nikki - buttermilk cake w/ berry sauce
Stephanie - Chocolate Cake w/ chocolate dipped Banana Bits

Losers group are Antonia, Spike and Mark. Winners group had Lisa, Dale and Richard. Richard was selected as the winner for his dessert creation. Ironically, there was no recipe. He made it up on the spot, but now it will be enshrined for history. He also gets immunity for the elimination challenge.

Cheftestants are told they will have a nice relaxing evening at the Second City, Chicago's famous comedy group which spawned much of the origiinal Saturday Night Live cast. It evening at the improv. In the middle of the show, the skit asks for the audience to call out emotions (up to 5) and colors (up to 5) with nothing given away so far. Then it is a food ingredient(up to 5) and two of the cheftestants immediately "get it" and figure out that they have just been given their next assignment.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE
They are right, with 5 pairs self-selected and each one assigned to an emotion, color and ingredient which MUST be used in their dish. The pairings are:

Andrew Spike - Yellow, Love, Vanilla
Dale Richard - Green Perplexed Tofu
Mark Nikki - Purple Depressed Bacon
Antonia Lisa - Magenta Drunk Polish Sausage
Jennifer Stephanie - Orange TurnedOn Asparagus

Dishes created then were:

Andrew Spike - Squash Soup w/ Vanilla Creme Fraiche
Dale Richard - Tofu marinated in beef fat in Green Curry
Mark Nikki - Pork Loin, sweet Potatoes, Grape Sauce, Brussels Sprouts
Antonia Lisa - Sea Bass on top of Chorizo Sausage, Purple Potato Puree w/ tequila
Jennifer Stephanie - Meange a Trois of Orange Gastrique and Vinaigrette, Goat Cheese, Asparagus and Fried Bread

The judges comments during the dining focused on Squash Soup and the Tofu in Green Curry as great dishes. Pork Loin was kind of blah. The use of chorizo rather than Polish Sausage was criticized. The "too much on the plate" and "goat cheese is the center of the dish instead of asparagus" criticisms were leveled at the Menage a Trois.

Judges Table came back with similar results. The two male pairs were the easy winners. Dale and Richard were selected as the overall winners and each got $2500 of Calphalaon cookware. The two female pairs were judged as the worst. Antonia and Lisa were there for not following the rules and substituting chorizo for Polish Sausage. Also, they were told that using Polish Sausage and Beer was a natural comination that they had overlooked. Lisa responded that she had not overlooked it, but she despised Polish Sausage. However, their dish was tasty and I predicted at that point that they would both survive. Jennifer and Lisa were in deep trouble on flavor. They were asked who did what. The better parts of the dish, the gastrique and vinaigrette, were done by Stephanie. The fried bread that was too big and too thick to cut with a knife and heavy use of the goat cheese which was despised by the judges were all Jennifer's ideas. In addition, she tried to defend how her plate was really about asparagus as a phallic symbol. It did not wash and she was eliminated. 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.

Speaking of that, there were multiple comments throughout the evening about there being no margin for error. One mistake and you're gone. We are now to the point in the competition where that is essentially true except for Richard, who has massed enough wins to have some protection from a single major mistake. It's hard to see how anyone is going to beat him given the depth and breadth of his skills. Also, Spike is now warranted is telling Antonia to go shove something up a part of her anatomy based on the success of his squash soup recipe, which she stifled in a prior episode.

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