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Top Chef Season 6

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apskip:
Alan Sepinwall, national television critic, dishes on Top Chef 6's opening episode. Featured are a photo showing Wolfgang Puck as the Guest Judge. There is an analysis of the "too bland" label that some who blog about Top Chef Masters have put on the master chefs; I do not agree with that criticism.

Sepinwall says that the Quickfire challenge will involve a line of showgirls and a poker chip.  The cheftestants include "a pair of competitive brothers, a James Beard Award winner who has an actual beard and a Haitian who builds a castle as his culinary creation." He goes on to talk about the future role of Toby Young, who is not among the judges on tonight's show. He apparently has watched tapes of his first season as a judge and is not pleased with his actions. I guess we can expect him to soften a bit in his future commentary.

So Top Chef 6 premieres tonight at 9pm. I am anticipating a really good season.

TexasLady:
 :hearts: :hearts: :hearts: Tonight's the night!!

apskip:
Better late than never. That's what I say about the tardiness of this recap. The first episode is the most difficult to recap because there are so many chefs who have yet to establish themselves in your brain. I stated weeks ago that my 2 favorites were Jennifer Carroll and Hector Santiago. Let's pay particular attention to how they do, as it is dramatically different.

The chefs arrive at the M Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and are welcomed by its Executive Vice President John Lepowitz . The Quickfire Challenge has each of the 17 draw poker chips to determine which of the Black, Blue, Green or Red teams they would be on. The luckiest person was Robin, who drew the Gold Chip and won $15,000 instantly from M Resort plus was immune for the Elimination Challenge. Later, Robin is asked if she is "feeling lucky" and wants to waive immunity so she can compete for another $15,000 prize, but she declines and kept her immunity.

The Quickfire starts with a relay race challenge. It requires completion of opening 15 quahog clams, peeling 30 shrimp, cleaning 5 lobsters and cutting chops from two prime ribs. Tom Colicchio is the judge and teams cannot pass the figurative baton from one station to another without his approval. The Red team is handicapped by the fact that Preeti was stuck with opening the clams but doesn't know how to do it. The team to finish first by a very small margin was the Blue team over the Black team. At this point it changes to an individual challenge individual contest and all members of the BLUE team compete against the other members of that team by cooking a dish using their specific ingredient from the relay race to demonstrate one or more of their vices for a $15,000 prize.

BLUE TEAM
Jennifer C. - clam ceviche w/lime juice and citron vinegar
Bryan - fennel crusted rib-eye w/ caramelized celery
Mattin - lobster w/bay leaves and star anise
Jesse - prawns and grits w/ polenta

Jen wins the $15,000 prize. She says she wants to win every Quickfire and Elimination Challenge no matter what.

Next is the Elimination Challenge, based on one or more vices that each chef must identify as their own (a couple of chefs cheat on this; no surprise that this happened). I consider the vices bit really hokey but most of the cheftestants played along with it.  The dishes produced are:

BLUE TEAM
Bryan Voltaggio - NY strip steak  with parsnip puree and bourbon reduction caramel
Mattin Noblia- buffalo rib-eye with Madeira sauce, zucchini mashed potatoes and garlic
Jennifer Carroll - poached halibut w/ whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch and black peppercorn sauce
Jesse - braised chicken w/ whiskey reduction, Yukon potatoes, fried egg
Robin (who could attach herself to any team and chose the Quickfire winner) - pork tenderloin stuffed with chorizo and bread pudding

BLACK TEAM
Mike Isabella - olive oil poached halibut w/ eggplant puree
Eli Kirschner - "buttered" scotch w/ scallops, cashews and beer powder
Ashley - chicken liver ravioli w/ red wine demi-glace
Hector Santiago- fried smoked rib-eye w/ carrot puree and ceviche of celery (note - Tom and Wolfgang Puck state that cooking this on the wood-fired grill would have been a winner but frying the rib-eye was a terrible decision)

GREEN TEAM
Ash - poached halibut w/ ratatouille and parsley coulis with the sauce on only half the plates due to the clock terminating more
Jen Z. - chile relleno stuffed with seitan and tomatillo salsa
Ron Dupree - jerk bass with collard greens and Haitian hash
Laurine - bacon donuts w/ chocolate and beer sauces

RED TEAM
Mike Voltaggio - rack of lamb w/ cocnut sauce and gnocchi
Preeti Mistriy - pork tenderloin w/ Bourbon sweet potato puree
Eve - shrimp and scallops in a curry cream sauce
Kevin - arctic char w/ turnip salsa verde, celery salad
 
As Guest Judge, Wolfgang Puck was in rare form. He had a devastating critique of purees by stating that "everybody has to put purees underneath everything. People think you need the steak and then put baby food under it." He also lauded many dishes but said that "we have a few turkeys." One of those was not the dish Jen C. prepared, as Wolfgang stated that her fish was cooked to perfection. He followed up with a joke that he did not know why she had to drench Scotch, Bourbon and cognac on it. Kevin's arctic char got praise from Wolgang. Tom says "I love a good chile relleno, but this is not a good chile relleno." in reference to Jen Z.'s dish. Talking about Eve's dish Gail says it is totally out of balance and Tom adds that scallops were not seared properly.

The 4 winners, Jennifer C., Ron, Kevin and Mike I., compete for the honor of being the first Elimination Challenge winner, who have won 3 of 5 Top Chefs. Kevin wins it. The 4 worst from each team are evaluated against each other to deteremine who must "packs your knives and go". That was Hector, Jen Z., Jesse and Eve. Hector was evaluated as worst on a strong team but not worthy of that fate. The individual who earned it with a really bad dish was Eve. She was sent home.

These are lively cheftestants. It looks like it will be a good season. To report on my 2 favorites, Jennifer won $15,000 and finished 2nd in the Elmination Challenge. Hector was worst of his team but judged to be too good to get rid of. I will continue to follow their progress a little more than I do for the average cheftestant.

TexasLady:
It's obvious already that we have a much more talented group of cheftestants and I'm happy to see it. Jennifer is going to be a strong contender, I agree with you. Two other I want to watch closely is Ron Duprat and Mattin Noblia.

This is going to be a good season!

ugot2bekidinmeny:
I loved the opening show! i loved the new twists toO!  the cash!! :wohoo:  and there are so many good chefs like TL said!!

 I think jennifer is gonna be strong but i don't know if her vigorous attitude will work in her favor

 i like ashley but i think  the guys have a higher caliper of skills

preeti disappointed me with not being able to shuck a clam!! hope she does better next week!

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