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Top Chef Chicago Season 4
TexasLady:
--- Quote from: apskip on May 29, 2008, 09:35:16 AM ---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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: apskip on May 29, 2008, 01:29:17 PM ---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.
--- End quote ---
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.) :lol:
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.
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