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Top Chef New York Season 5
apskip:
The Guest Judge was Rocco DiSpirito, most recently a Dancing with the Stars competitor but usually a celebrity chef. The Quickfire Challenge was deceptively simple: create an amuse-bouche (which I think Leah defined as a one bite starter). Chefs were told that Rocco loves bacon, so they were supposed to infer that the dish should be savory because that is what he thinks is correct for breakfast. One chef did not agree and many did not follow the "one bite" philosophy.
Fabio - he created a sweet breakfast dish, a brioche with brulee banana and expresso cream
Jamie - Bacon Lettuce tomato breakfast sandwich
Daniel - cornflake crusted zucchini flower stuffed with hash
Stefan - Huevos Rancheros w/ salsa and cheese
Ariane - French Toast w/chli maple syrup
Melissa - French toast, eggs, strawberries, bacon
Jeff - twice baked potatoes, yoghurt sorbet with fruit
Leah - bacon, quail eggs, cheese w/ grilled bread
Radhika - feta cake w/ omelet, bacon, Hollandaise sauce
Those chefs not having their dishes shown in this Quickfire were Hosea, Eugene, Alex and Carla.
The judging by Rocco was very direct. He hated Fabio's sweet breakfast and Fabio commented that he should have listened to the hint. Daniel's use of corn flakes did not resonate.
The race for the best was between Stefan, Leah and Jamie. Stefan was lauded for his fancy container (hollowed egg shell cut precisely) but I say who cares since it does not impact the food and Tom Colicchio is adamant on the quality of the food being the only criteria for judging. Leah was lauded for great arrangement of flavors in one bite and Jamie for beautifully assembled and perfectly prepared dish. The nod went to Leah, who won immunity for the Elimination Challenge plus Rocco's book "Rocco Gets Real".
The Elimination Challenge was to do a 2.5 minute live demonstration of a dish for television. Chefs had limited time to buy produce and only one hour to prepare for this. Fabio talked the fish retailer in Whole Foods to allow him to cut tuna himself. Hosea and Eugene then did the same. We will surely have 3 tuna-based dishes. Here is the menu:
Fabio - tuna w/ roasted carrots and asparagus salad
Jamie - bittersweet salad w/ duck egg, bacon and caviar
Alex - rose infused crème brulee
Daniel - ginger sweet soy skirt steak w/ cabbage salad
Stefan - minestrone soup w/ pancetta and herbs
Ariane - New Jersey beefsteak tomato salad w/watermelon and feta cheese
Jeff- Malfouf roll w/ shrimp and muhammara sauce
Leah - seared duck breast w/corn and blueberry hash
Eugene - tuna sashimi and pea shoot salad
Radhika - sweet shrimp and cucumber salad
Hosea - crispy ahi tuna roll wasabi peas
Carla - tortilla soup
Melissa - blackened habanero shrimp
Comments by the judges were:
Leah - she ran over, so "it's a good thing you have immunity"
Alex - he too ran over but worse his brulee never set properly in the one hour prep time
Daniel - he smoked up the studio plus his hamming it up was over the top
Stefan - showed insufficient personality
Ariane - perfect presentation
Winners were Jeff, Fabio and Ariane. The overall winner for the second time in a row was Ariane, whose comment on this was "move over you young kids, here comes the old lady". She has redeemed her poor showings in the first 2 episodes.
The bottom were Melissa, Jamie, Leah, and Alex. Leah was immune and not subject to elimination.
Now an extraordinary (but clearly highly planned) surprise happened. Tom snuck into the sleeping quarters and awakened the 3 top competitors. He told them that their dishes would be judged by the 4 TODAY show hosts and taped at 6:37am for showing on "the day after the episode shows". That would make it this morning for the showing. So that occurred without incident except for Cathy Lee Gifford spitting out Jeff's shrimp on-camera. The judges went with simple and flavorful and picked Ariane's dish as the winner. She will also get a 5 minute live spot on the TODAY" show sometime and she won a set of chef's tools from Rocoo..
The 3 remaining losers were now judged. Melissa had been defensive during her presentation when criticized. Jamie let the lack of doneness of her egg whites throw her off and was angry on camera. Alex picked a dish which had no chance at setting up in time and then his on-camera presentation failed, leaving him without crème brulee. The loser was Alex, who went home to his fiancee for their marriage in one month (actually August 28).
marigold:
:) nice recap apskip
marigold:
An interesting article:
Padma Lakshmi’s Food Demo a Little Easier Than ‘Top Chef’
Though her cookbook Tangy Hot Tart and Sweet came out more than a year ago, Padma Lakshmi appeared at Whole Foods Bowery on Saturday for a signing and, echoing last week's Top Chef elimination challenge, did her own demo. Padma made a sweet-potato-and-lima-bean dish, which the author herself described as “really forgiving.” Good choice for a demo, though it certainly wasn’t as pressure-filled as the one on Top Chef: Padma’s presentation lasted about twenty minutes, and she had an assistant to manhandle the stove. (And to terrify — a few times, Padma leaned over and micromanaged the assistant’s stirring.) During the audience Q&A, Padma reiterated her love for La Esquina and coconut milk, which she “joneses for … like people jones for coffee.” The host also noted that, because she is around for the Quickfire challenges, she is the only judge on Top Chef who eats every dish — “the vessel from which Top Chef flows.” With that image in mind, we asked her about the season so far.
How would you have performed on the food-demo challenge on Top Chef?
I like demos, because it allows you to cook and talk. I mean, here we have a lot more time, so it’s okay. I actually prefer to do the demo instead of have the assistant. This is the first time I’ve done it this way, and it actually befuddled me a little bit.
What’s your favorite Top Chef dish so far this season?
The corn soup, that really beautiful soup that Jamie made. I like really beautiful, simple food. I don’t like it when people try to be clever just for clever’s sake.
Food aside, are there some contestants that you like based on their personalities?
By the time I got to really know the contestants, the season was almost over. And that was good, because I try to keep my distance from them whenever they are not in front of the judge’s table, because I really don’t want that to color my thinking. It usually happens in the beginning of the season, when the contestants don’t know yet, they’ll come up to you and they’ll say, "Hey, nice skirt" or something. A producer will come up, very discreetly, and say, "Step away from the judge."
Do you stay in touch with any former contestants from prior seasons?
I see Sam and Ilan sometimes, but I don’t really keep in touch with any of the contestants. I have gone to Le Cirque … where Andrew cooks. If they’re in the kitchen, they’ll come out and say hi to me.
Link: http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/12/padma_lakshmis_food_demo_a_little_easier_than_top_chef.html
marigold:
Tom Colicchio & Padma Lakshmi
From his Craft Restaurant in the Flatiron District,
Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi share tips for finding the City's best burgers,
freshest mozzarella and the largest selection of Indian spices
marigold:
Next week on Top Chef:
TOP CHEF
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS - MARTHA STEWART
12-17-2008
On the eleventh day of Christmas, Bravo gave to me…eleven chefs a cookin'. Television host, author and magazine publisher Martha Stewart guest judges the quickfire challenge. In the spirit of the holidays, the chefs use their skills to give back to the community by catering a Christmas cocktail party hosted by special guest judge, actress and foodie Natasha Richardson, for AmFar, the foundation for AIDS research. Richardson has been actively involved in the fight against AIDS since her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes.
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