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Top Chef Season 6

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ugot2bekidinmeny:
geeze apskip..  i don't own a restaurant but that doesn't mean i don't understand what  being JUDGE about is  like.. I worked in the food business for over 10 years and was  and am alternative in my look and was extremely successful at it.

i have known top chefs and worked in high end places where tats and piercings  did not ruin one bit of business but i understand your issues with it.

 I'm just not a judgemental person.. talent is what the show is about.

  and wow i can't believe you brought up sandee's hair..  that's the least of issues out there when you have chefs that pick their noses.. scratch their crotch and  spit around the food and then you eat it.

IMO appearances mean nothing.  it's talent in my eyes

apskip:
Those of you who set VCRs need to know that this Wednesday's episode of TC6 goes until 1115pm.

apskip:
TC6, ep. 3 opened with the introduction of guest judge Mark Peel (you're about to get the joke) and mountains of potatoes. He is the chef/owner of Campanile in San Francisco and was a master chef competing in Top Chef Masters. The cheftestants for the Quickfire Challenge must create an out-of-this-world dish with potatoes.  
Quickfire dishes were:

Ashley - potato gnocchi with mushrooms and ricotta cheese
Bryan - sunchoke and Yukon gold vichyssoise w/ applewood smoked caviar
Eli - yam puree w/ whipped bliss and bourbon maple syrup
Hector - steamed sweet potato w/ fish sauce and lime purple, potatoes and ham
Jen - steamed mussels, Yukon gold and blue potatoes w/ lemongrass potato sauce
Jesse - sweet potato soup w/ ginger, brown sugar, cayenne pepper
Kevin - bacon-braised yam w/ potato sauce, asparagus, mushrooms, cauliflower
Laurine - vegetarian potato burger on portabella mushroom bun and fingerling chips
Mattin -  poached cod w/ blue, Yukon and sweet potato purees
Michael V. - confit tuna and potato sandwich
Mike I. - potato risotto w/ king crab and mascarpone
Preeti - Saffron Poached Russian banana fingerlings w/ asparagus and tomatoes
Robin - purple and fingerling potatoes, white yams w/ pancetta, frisee and fried egg
Ron - sweet ptoato crushed yellowtail w/ fennel and leek stew

Mark Peel judged the worst dishes as from Eli, Ron and Michael V. Eli's was too sweet and Micahel V.'s was too spicy. The best dishes were by Jen, Ash and Ashley. Jen was declared the winner, with immunity from elimination this episode.

The chefs were then given a pep talk by the commander of Nellis Air Force Base 8 miles from Las Vegas, home of the Thunderbirds stunt performers. It is also the location of the United States Air Force Warfare Center and a major training location for both U.S. and foreign military aircrews. The chefs were going to provide a substitute for the mess hall food for the 300 lunchers expected on any given day. The Elimination Challenge was to act as a total team and cook the best things they could for the troops, many of whom were on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan or coming back from there and some family members. They were to use the standard base mess kitchen and its standard supplies. Those supplies were mostly canned food, a few fresh vegetables, varities of meat and spices. It was the kitchen equipment that was limiting, as chefs had one huge vat and oven trays to cook with, but no normal burners or pots. The military prepares food by the tray, not for smaller quantities.

The chefs divided up the responsibilities quickly. Because Jen was immune from elimination, she was appointed Executive Chef, which would have been an excellent choice even if she had not been immune. Teams of two were formed and each one had one dish (although a few did two) as their primary responsiblity. The teams of Preeti/Laurine and Ron/Jesse each had one weak link who had been in the worst category at least once.  Jen had to sort out the bottlenecks and timelines and priorities to decide who got the available time on scarce equipment for their dish. I commend her for doing an excellent job. The dishes were brought in large trays for serving purposes to the hangar serving as a subtitute mess hall. The troops were assembled before entering the hangar into 2 lines, which went through 2 identical stations.

Elimination challenge dishes were:
Ash/Ashley - Chocolate bread pudding with peanut butter sauce
Eli/Kevin - Georgia style braised pork shoulder w/ potato salad
Jesse/Ron - New England clam chowder w/ roasted corn
Laurine/Preeti - farfalle pasta salad w/ sund-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers. artichoke hearts, broccoli, red onion, red wine vinaigrette
Mattin/Bryan - roasted beef strip loin w/ mushroom demi-glace and cauliflower gratin
Michael V./Mike I.- braised pork belly w/ soy mustard and peanuts; Greek shrimp salad w/ cucumbers, chick peas and olives
Robin/Hector - 3 bean chili w/ roasted chicken

The troops loved the meal, probably a bit upscale from their normal fare. The judges loved some of it. The best dishes were the pork, Eli/Kevin and Michael/Mike. The judges quizzed Michael and Mike to determine what role each had played with the pork belly dish and who had focused on their salad. They discovered that Mike had helped Michael only a little, but Mike was 100% responsible for the Greek shrimp salad. Michael was judged as the winner, with the cachet that goes with that even though there were no prizes for it. I was surprised that Jen was not conisdered for the winner's group. Maybe the immune person is not eligible, but I thought she did the best job of all as Executive Chef.

The worst were determined to be Mike, who was astounded and angry about this, Preeti and Laurine. The judges told Mike his salad was treated like a throwaway with little seasoning or flavor. The farfalle salad of the other two had a similar problem. By quizzing them carefully, the judges discovered a major attitudinal difference between Laurine who after the fact wanted to correct the dish but obviously couldn't and Preeti who could not even comprehend that there was a problem with that dish.
Preeti was eliminated and I think that was a fair and resonable choice.

apskip:
I suffered an attack of "the computer ate my homework"  causing me to have to write this a second time after the completed but not submitted document was being checked for mistakes.

The guest judge is Daniel Boulud. This Quickfire is of the "shock and awe" type with a very special reward and the chefs are told that the loser will be eliminated immediately. Note that they do not have Padma be his Quickfire shadow. That role goes to Tom. The Quickfire is in 45 minutes to create and cook a dish with snails (escargots if you wish) as the protein. The dishes selected and presented are:

Ash - Snail and Leek Galettes with Chantarelles and Bacon
Ashley - Escargot Mirepoix Soup and Salad
Bryan - Escargot with Red Wine Risotto, Spinach Emulsion and Marcona Almond Froth
Eli - Snails with Mushrooms, Sunchokes, and Truffle-Banyuls Sauce
Hector - Carribean Escargot with Pickled Mushrooms
Jen - Escargot with Grilled Ramps, Brussels Sprouts, Chanterelle Mushrooms and Yuzu
Jesse - Escargot, Mache, and Fried Tomato
Kevin - Escargot Fricasse with Mushrooms, Brussels Sprouts and Candied Bacon Jam
Laurine - Sauteed Escargot, Lemon Risotto, Spinach, Parsley Pesto, Garlic Butter
Mattin - Fava Bean Crostini with Excargot, Sauteed in a Piment d'espelette and anise
Mike V. - Escargot and Chantarelle Mushroom Bolognese
Michael I. - Sauteed Escargot Over Potato Garlic Puree, Spring Onion and Ouzo Broth
Robin - "Bagels and Lox." Poached Excargot, Marmalade, Gooseberries, and Rye Crostini
Ron - Escargot Provencal with Caramelized Shallots, Pernod, and Fresh Herb

Boulud selects the winner (or at least it is not clear what input, if any, Tom who is sampling the same dishes has). Tom apparently decides who is the loser (what input Boulud has in this is unclear). The losers group is Jesse, Robin adn Ashley. They are invited to take part of a 20 minute creation of an amuse bouche. They choose:
Robin - Avocado Soup with Yuzu, Green Apple, Mustard Relish, and Crab
Jesse - tuna tartare with gooseberries and sorrel and a quail egg with fried bread
Ashley - foie gras with caramelized pineapple, tarragon and ramps
The loser is Jesse, who is eliminated. I will not be sad to see her lack of cooking skills and particularly her lip ring go.

The winners group is Mike I., Kevin and Jen. Kevin's bacon jam carries the day and he wins immunity that takes him out of the elimination challenge entirely but makes him one of the diners and commenters along with a panel of very distinguished French chefs. In addition to Boulud, who will serve on the group of 4 (with Tom, Padma and Gail) making the final decisions, the guest judges are Joel Robuchon, whom many consider the best of the best in this category (I have eaten his cuisine in Paris 26 years ago and it was special). He owns these 14 restaurants:
Hong Kong - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon
Las Vegas - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Joël Robuchon at The Mansion
London - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon
Macau - Robuchon á Galera
Monaco - Restaurant Joël Robuchon
New York - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
Paris - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, La Table de Joël Robuchon
Tokyo - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Le Chateau de Joël Robuchon, La Table de Joël Robuchon
 
3 more guest judges were Hubert Keller (who finished 3rd in Top Chef Masters recently), Jean Joho, and Lauent Tourondel.

It is now clear why the Quickfire loser was eliminated; they needed an even number to do what they planned. An alternative would have been to schedule this for the following episode, but something must have prevented that. So in order to have exactly 6 pairs of chefs, one had to go. The pairings were based on a knife draw (6 drew a protein, the other 6 drew a sauce), then a mathcing up of a protein person with an appropriate sauce person. The proteins were frog legs, rabbit, chateaubriand, poussin, lobster and trout. The sauces were veloute, meuniere, Americaine, au poivre, Bearnaise and chasseur. The pairings and resulting menu was:

Jen/Mike V. - Rabbit Chasseur with Mustard Noodle and Shiso
Hector/Ash - Chateaubriand, Sauce a Poive with Confit de Pommes and Spinach
Mattin/Ashley - Sauteed Poussin and Ravioli with Sauce Veloute and Green Asparagus
Robin/Ron - Frog Leg Meuniere with Lemon Confit, Mache and Arugula Salad with Fried Capers
Michael I./Bryan - Warm Cured Trout with Deconstructed Bearnaise sauce
Eli/Laurine - Lobster, Sauce Americaine with Cauliflower Puree

The shopping is 30 minutes at Whole Foods with $200(there are 10 diners). Cooking is done at the hallowed Joel Robuchon Brasserie. The competing chefs are suitably shocked and awed by who will be eating their dishes and rating them. Kevin is regarded to be one lucky dude.

The food is served course by course and the diners freely comment on what they aer eating. Among those comments are:
Frog Legs - overcooked, dry and "masked in flavor"
Deconstructed Bearnaise sauce - well executed
Lobster - lacks genuine flavors
Poussin - bland overcooked and dry
Chateaubriand - overcooked, hacked up in carving and little sauce
Rabbit - perfectly cooked

So, I think that tells you where things stand. The rabbit and trout dishes were praised, the lobster and frog legs did not do well, and the Chateaubriand and poussin dishes were in big trouble. The nomination of the winners group reflects that. It is Michael I., Bryan, Mike V. and Jen. The nod goes to Bryan beacuse he had the idea for and provided the recipe for the deconstructed sauce Bearnaise which Michael I. executed so well. He wins the opportunity to spend a week at Joel Robuchon Brasserie working for free with Joel Robuchon. That is something most of the other chefs envy.

The losers group is no surprise either. Hector and Ash are there for Chateaubriand sauce au poivre and Mattin and Ashley for the poussin sauce veloute with bacon (not the asparagus that Ashley had wanted to do but backed off when Mattin told her it was not classic French). Tom seemed to think it would have been a much better choice. Anyway, they both stay around and so does Ash. The chef doing the most damage in last night's show by a huge margin was Hector, so he joined Jesse is packing his knives adn leaving. I like Hector but whatever skills he has did not seem suited to the actual tasks in top Chef, which are more than fair.

apskip:
TC6, ep.5

Another week of Top Chef. What challenges are they going to have to solve this week? The introductory material shows Bryan bragging that the 3 top chefs in this competition are himself, his brother Mike, and the other Michael. He is right about 3 of the top 5, as he appears to have forgotten that Kevin and Jennifer have been consistent winners too. He looks at the mostly inept other women left in the competition and predicts that Robin will be leaving soon.

The Quickfire starts with the introduction of Guest Judge Tim Love, owner of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Fort Worth and recent contestant on Top Chef Masters. You can bet that this episode will have a southwestern flavor. Padma says that Top Chef producers polled the audience about which of these 3 fairly unusual ingredients they wanted to see the chefs cook with: rattlesnake, kangaroo and cactus. The winner was cactus, so Tim tells the chefs that their Quickfire is to make the most succulent dish using cactus. The chefs have 45 minutes to do so. I noticed in the course of setting up for this that all chefs were preparing 2 plates. I have only seen one being shared by the Guest Judge and Padma, so my guess is that the second one is for the camera that records for the Top Chef website.

The dishes selected are:
Laurine - cactus salsa on achiote-glazed Pork chop
Mike V. - avocado roll, red cactus coulis, cactus cocunut Ceviche
Ashley - cactus jelly doughnut w/ orange creme anglaise
Michael I. - cactus and tuna ceviche w/ pipian
Ron - chipotle Swordfish and mango Crab salad with cactus sauce
Ash - cactus grilled cheese
Jen - warm chorizo and cactus w/ queso fresco
Bryan - Halibut and cactus Ceviche, tempura cactus
Eli - scallop Ceviche w/ cactus Vietnamese salad
Kevin - Pork tenderloin with cactus marmalade
Mattin - red cabbage puree, breaded cactus Halibut with tequila-pickled cactus
Robin - goat cheese and shiitake salbute with nopalito and sweet onion slaw

The comments Tim made shile sampling and evaluating were instructive. Kevin's cactus was "slimy". Ashley's dish was  good. Michael I.'s relish was not appreciated but the rest of the dish was. Mattin was told by Tim that he is a fan of the tequila. At this point the loser's group was announced. Ash had "no cactus flavor".  Mike V. and Ron were selected to be the losers bracket.  Mike V. was told his dish "didn't work". Ron heard that his fish was overcooked and the crab tasted rancid. The winners were identified as Laurine, Mike I. and Mattin. Laurine had developed "great flavor". Mike I.'s dish was really prepared and showcased the cactus properly. Mattin also showcased the cactus. This was a high-staked Quickfire, so Mike I. won $15,000 but no immunity.

The Elimination Challenge was to cook for Tim and 24 of his friends outdoors at a local Sandy Valley ranch, 45 minutes from the Las Vegas strip. After shopping for 30 minutes with a $150 budget, chefs would the next morning have 75 minutes to prep and serve. The chefs got to use an outhouse and spend the night under the stars in tepees to prepare them for this experience. The heating system was a group of open pit grills. They were trays and some ancient plates and utensils. The requirement was for high-end cuisine in a non-high-end setting.

The dishes were:
Mattin - 3 Way Ceviche w/ Salmon with apple, spicy Tuna, Cod with corn
Ron - coconut lime mayo tuna ceviche w/ a Haitian coconut milk mojito
Jen - snapper w/ duck confit, daikon, carrot, tomato water salad
Mike V. - miso-cured black Cod w/ dashi and shiso
Laurine - southwest Arctic Char, tomatilla salsa, roasted corn, grilled potato
Robin - grilled chicken sausage w/ drunken prawns, grilled romaine salad
Bryan V. - roasted Pork loin, corn polenta, dandelion greens, glazed rutabaga
Ashley - seared Halibut with avocado mousse, bacon, braised romaine
Eli - Tuna sandwich w/ sundried tomato mayonnaise, radish salad
Ash - bourbon glazed chicken paillard w/ corn succotash
Kevin - roasted duck with mole tequila, marinated watermelon
Michael I. - Pork gyro with apple and fennel tzatziki

Judges comments while tasting the dishes were: Michael I. was not exciting. Eli's choice of tuna was strange in a ranch setting. Mattin got a no-confidence vote form Tom who walked away from the table to spit it out. Robin's dish was "terrible". Jennifer's sdish tasted great. Mike V.'s combination of rutabaga with other flavors worked well. Ron had "one of the better ceviches." Kevin's mole was great.

The winners group were Laurine, Ashley, Mike V. and Bryan. Tom said that Ashley had cooked her strongest dish to date. Bryan heard from Tim that his was "restaurant quality in the desert." Laurine was told hers was simple but effective. Mike V. according to Tom had excellent cooking and great flavors. The winner was Bryan.

The "most disappointing dishes" were by Robin, Ron, and Mattin. Ron was told his ceviche was passable although the sauce was too sweet, but the drink was horrible. He said he wanted to do something with the coconut milk, but he does not drink himself so he used an island recipe.  Robin was told her BBQ sausage and drunken shrimp were poor. Mattin had chunks of raw fish in the ceviche. Based on all the comments, it was obvious that Ron was safe and Mattin would probably be going home. He was eliminated.

For next week, Penn and Teller will be involved. Also, judge Toby Young was shown on camera, so it is virtually certain that he has returned for the remainder of the season. I will be disappointed if the Guest Judges are eliminated, as they had added a lot of value to recent episodes.
 

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