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Top Chef Season 6

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ugot2bekidinmeny:
 :'( heartbroken Ashley fell on the sword. she shouldn't have. (:;) instead she should have thrown eli under that bus.  :knuckles: he ruined the dish and she knew it. i think that freaked her out which in turn caused her to over look the cooking properly of  the prawns  :groan:

I'm glad that jennifer pulled through after being sick earlier.. she gets alot of confessional time  so i'm thinking she will be here for a while competing. :yess:

apskip:
I do not think that calling out Eli's role in the saltiness of the gnocchi would have saved Ashley, but there is a minor chance that it could have. It makes no difference in the longer run. The top chefs have clearly been established and they will be the last 5 chefs remaining:

Kevin
Jen
Bryan
Mike V.
Michael I. (he is a up and down in his performance, not consistent, so he might not make it)

Chefs for whom the handwriting is already on the wall include:

Robin
Laurine
Ash
Eli

apskip:
TC6, ep. 8

We have almost reached the halfway point in number of chefs left. There was a lot of desultory picking-on-Robin conversation going on. Apparently she talks incessantly, not appreciated by any of the other chefs. It should not be long before she disappears from TC6, so this problem should be solved that way. Robin does take it as a personal mission to stay in the competition.

Charlie Palmer is the Guest Judge for the Quickfire. He has steak-oriented restaurants in Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC and plus Aureole, Aureole at Mandalay Bay, and Dry Creek Kitchen in the Napa Valley where he lives. The voltaggio Brothers are not thrilled to see him; Mike worked a short time for Charlie and Bryan for 10 years (most of his culinary career). Charlie is quick to divulge to the chefs that he has had a past relationship with them, but will be absolutely unbiased in his judgments.  The Quickfire Challenge is to pair the snack foods by Alexi with a dish that perfectly complements it. The chefs have to select a snack food (they have been eating them for weeks in the Top Chef villa) and then decide what best fits.

The dishes produced by the chefs in 45 minutes were:

Jen - Sauteed Pork Chop with Tomato Sauce and Feta Cheese
Laurine - Swordfish with Spinach, Asparagus, and Fava Bean Puree
Robin - Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Avocado Mousseline
Ash - Chilled Cucumber Soup with Creme Fraiche, Crab and Red Pepper
Bryan - Seared Rib Eye with Pickled Onion, Sauteed Mushrooms and Chile Peppers
Eli - Potato Clam Salad with Fennel, Celery, and White Truffle Sauce
Kevin - Warm Bean Confit Tomato Salad with Fresh Herbs and Creamed Corn
Mike V. - Tuna Tartare with Avocado, Pickled Onions, and Jalapenos
Michael I. - Chilaquiles

Charlie Palmer rated Ash, Robin and Jen in the loser group. Jen had stated that due to the continued cooking of her pork (she took it out of the oven later than she should have) if Charlie did not taste hers first she was figuratively "cooked". Robin's dishes have been frequently uninspiring. This time she did not develop decent flavors. Ash was told that his pairing of ingredients was a poor choice.

The winners group was Kevin, Bryan and Eli. Eli was praised for his excellent idea and the perfection of cooking the clams. Kevin was rated as "very good". Bryan's dish was executed perfectly. However, what's in a word? Kevin wins. There is no prize mentioned nor is immunity given to him. Having another victory is a big kudo for him, however.

The Elimination Challenge is later at the Aureole at Mandalay Bay restaurant. The chefs draw knives to indicate what part of the slaughtered pig they get to cook. Jen drew a WILDCARD which entitled her to choose anything. She choose pork bellies. The choices of the others will be embedded into the description of their dishes. The goal of this challenge is to pair up a dish with a specific wine that was chosen from a group of 9 pinot noir wines from around the world. It is the Pork and Pinot challenge. They have 30 minutes and an undisclosed amount of money to shop at Whole Foods for ingredients. Then they have 2 hours to cook and 1 hour to prep for outside serving under tents. They must cook 150 tasting portions for an undisclosed group of guests.

Here are the pinot noir selections:
Jen - 2005 Chanson Clos de Beze 
Laurine - 2005 Chanson Clos de Feves
Robin - 2005 Mischief and Mayhem
Ash - 2007 Standord
Bryan - 2007 Rochioli
Eli - 2007 Terlato Family
Kevin - 2006 Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills
Mike V. - Cuvaison
Michael I. - 2005 Wairau River

The dishes developed by the chefs were:
Jen - Braised Pork Belly w/ tomato, celery, black olives, truffles
Laurine - Pork Butt Rillettes over arugula salad
Robin - Brined Center Cut Pork Chop
Ash - Chilled Pork Tenderloin over cherry, asparagus, Brussels Sprouts
Bryan - Braised Pork Spare Rib w/ cherry and coffee
Eli - Braised Pork Belly
Kevin - Pork Leg Pate
Mike V. - Root Beer Braised Pork Cheek
Michael I. - Stuffed Pork Shoulder over orange blosson yoghurt

Judges were Tom, Charlie Plamer, Toby and Dana Cowan, editor-in-chief of Food and Wine magazine. She had a lot to say during the tastings.

The winners group was Jen, Mike V., Bryan and Kevin. There were positive comments from one judge each, but the winner was Kevin. He won the opportunity to be a guest judge in Charlie Palmer's annual Pigs and Pinot festival. Kevin regards that as a pretty good prize.

The losers group was Laurine, Robin and Ash. All were told that their efforts to pair the pork dish with their assigned wine were abysmal as none of them were close.  Ash was told he failed to develop any flavor in his dish. Ash explaiend that his original concept would have. Tom told him that he was annoyed by Ash continually second-guessing himself. Laurine was told by Charlie that her described method for making rillettes was totally invalid and what she produced was not in fact a rillette. It needs to have poaching in fat to develop its flavor. Robin was told that her flavor dwevelopment was hindered by weird and gummy textures that could have been due to the use of a thickening agent. I expected that the eliminated chef would be Laurine. I was a bit surprised when Ash was given the boot instead although both were double losers for the Quickfire and Elimination Challenges. The only two hypotheses I have are that Laurine's dish although not a rillette tasted OK or that the producers intervened in an attempt to keep the male/female chef ratio from going to 4.0. However, the handwriting is on the wall for Laurine and Robin. They can't be staying much longer. Although Eli missed out on the loser group he has been slightly stronger but still unimpressive so he will be leaving soon too.

TexasLady:

--- Quote from: apskip on October 08, 2009, 11:19:49 AM ---I do not think that calling out Eli's role in the saltiness of the gnocchi would have saved Ashley, but there is a minor chance that it could have. It makes on difference in the longer run. The top chefs have clearly been established and they will be the last 5 chefs remaining:

Kevin
Jen
Bryan
Mike V.
Michael I. (he is a up and down in his performance, not consistent, so he might not make it)

Chefs for whom the handwriting is already on the wall include:

Robin
Laurine
Ash
Eli


--- End quote ---

I agree with your assessments for top and bottom. Jen and Kevin are both extremely strong competitors. Robin won't last much longer and actually I was surprised that she wasn't cut before Ash, Laurine seems to slide by a little because generally she knows what she did wrong although she had no clue how to make her dish.

apskip:
TC6, ep.9

This episode was one of the finest ever on all of Top Chef's seasons. There were some big surprises for some of the best chefs.

The guest judge is Rick Moonen, another of the Top Chef Masters chefs who has a restaurant RMSeafood in the Mandalay Bay resort (along with Hubert Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Charlie Palmer, Alain Ducaisse and Michael Mina; how's that for competition?). Getting a fresh supply of seafood daily to Las Vegas, about 300 miles from the nearest coast, underscores the difficulty he faces. He is also the author of the Fish Without a Doubt cookbook and the champion of the concept of Conservation Cooking based on using only fish from sustainable fishing practices (fish adequate in numbers to regenerate).

The Quickfire is 45 minutes to create and cook a dish based on sustainable practices but with no communication between chefs on a team, who are blindfolded until it is their turn to cook for 10 minutes. The key was to leave huge clues on the way they wanted the dish to proceed for the later chefs.  Knives were drawn and Jen and Mike V. were the captains picking 3 other chefs for their team. Jen chose Kevin, Mike I. and Laurine. Mike V. chose his brother Bryan, Eli and had to take Robin. Chef choices were:

Bryan//Mike V./Eli/Robin - Pan Roasted NY Strip with Whipped Miso Avocado Puree

Jen/Kevin/Mike I./Laurine - Sablefish with Sauteed Mushrooms, Shiitake Broth and Radish Salad

Jen started the stock and set it up for poaching as the finishing method. Laurine worked the fennel. Kevin could see that but took it in a different direction to have pan searing as the finish. Eli prepped the chicken; Laurine worked the thyme; Bryan sauteed the beef; Mike V. finished it.

There were opportunities to compare Jen vs. Eli, Laurine vs. Robin, Mike I. vs. Bryan and Kevin vs. Mike V. All of those look fairly even except that Jen and Bryan would have an edge. The judging was based on the entire team results. Rick gave the nod to Jen's team with the edge provided by excellent stock. They won $2500 each and the opportunity if they passed that up to win $10,000 each in the Elimination Challenge. It doesn't take much of a mathemtician to figure out that you go for the $10,000 each, as they had about a 50% chance of winning it.

The teams were the same for the Elimination Challenge, Restaurant Wars, done as usual but since they were working in an existing restaurant (RM Seafood) the decor was already set. Jen's team got the opportunity to choose whether they wanted to cook at a fine dining establishment or a casual one. They picked fine dining, which was the upstairs level of RM Seafood with its own kitchen. Ingredients were purchased with $1500 each at Restaurant Depot and Whole Foods, with 2 team members buying at each one. Then they had 3 hours to prep and cook. A Front of the House had to be selected to plan (but not execute) one course for each team. Laurine volunteered because she figured she was the weakest in the kitchen but had good people skills. Eli got the job for the other team as the least experienced. Jen's team decided on no dessert beacuse of high risk. Robin is really good on dessrts so they decided to take the risk that past top Chef Restaurant Wars teams that botched a dessert course all lost.

Dishes were:

Bryan - Duo of Beef, Braised Short Ribs; Chocolate Ganache with Spearmint Ice Cream and Chocolate Tuiles
Mike V. - Chicken and Calamari 'Pasta'; Cod with Mussel Billi-Bi
Robin - Pear Pithivier
Eli - Smoked Arctic Char with Beet Sauce and Horseradish Cream
 
Jen - bouilliabaisse, with steamed clams and mussels she elected to make-to-order; trout with hazelnut brown butter sauce
Kevin - Pork 3 Ways; cooked Laurine's lamb
Mike I. - Asparagus and Six-Minute Egg; Arctic Char Tartare
Laurine - lamb with carrot jam

During the cooking there was one altercation. Robin is no favorite of Mike V. and she rightly felt he was picking on her. She pushed back and insisted that her dessert dish not be altered to suit the whims of Mike V., particualrly as he had already done that at the design stage. Things got pretty heated, as Mike V. was trying to force Robin to follow his leadership. Also, Jen pulled her usual disappearing act when Tom came by during cooking to chat with her. She really hates those chats and as best I can remember has actually not had one yet after 9 episodes. She always manufactures some excuse. Let's see if she can sustain that for the entire season! Laurine promised Tom that if her lamb dish came by not cooked properly she was going to send it back.

The judges were Padma, Tom, Toby and Rick. They split a full meal into halves (2 portions for 4 people) and ate at REVOLT, the name of Mike V.'s restaurant, and later MISSION, the name of Jen's restaurant. As they ate at REVOLT, there was general agreement that the dishes were all good, particularly the dessert. The kitchen for MISSION was in big trouble, as Jen's decision to do a complicated fish dish and steam-to-order the clams and mussels was putting MISSION way behind and vulnerable to the judges. Rick could not believe any chef would attempt to steam-to-order for the bouilliabaisse. The judges hated her trout and the brown butter sauce as it had broken. Kevin sent out to the judges a rare lamb when medium-rare had been ordered. Laurine decided by Kevin's standards it was medium rare, so she let it go despite her earlier promise. This was a big mistake, as the judges were all over this.

The handwriting was on the wall in big bold letters: MIKE V.'s TEAM WINS! There was no doubt about this becoming the outcome. Mike V. himself got the prize as the winning chef. I thought Robin deserved it for excelling in the face of adversity, but she is still standing so that is something. Mike V. got $10,000 and asked if he could split it with his team. He was told yes and attmepted to do so, but his brother out of pride refused his share.

The losing team had the 2 best chefs in the competition previously and both had made mistakes and were in big trouble. Jen's sin of overreaching was obvious for all to taste. Kevin's impact was visual but also obvious. Laurine had drawn criticism from the judges all night for not doing the proper job as Front of the House. They had to driect her to tell them about the dishes. Eli had smoothly delivered this information about the other team's menu. Mike I. was mediocre but clearly not at risk as the best chef on his team for that meal. It had to have been a difficult decision for the judges, as making object lessons of stars has a certain appeal. They chose instead to get rid of the deserving Laurine, who has been low-rated throughout the competition, and keep Kevin and Jen, who will be better chefs as a result of what happened.

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