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Top Chef Season 6

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apskip:
TC6, Ep. 14, Finale

It's a culinary showdown between Kevin, Bryan and Mike starting at the Rutherford Hills Winery in Napa Valley. Kevin tells us that he had been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but decided to start a culinary career instead. Padma states that Kevin has won 5 Elimination Challenges and Tom later in the show says that the Final 3 won 12 of 13. That statistic clearly demonstrates why they are the finalists. Mike adds a sly remark that Bryan won Elimination Challenges but no Quickfires. Fortunately, there has not to my knowledge ever been a Quickfire in the finale. Usually the mission is to cook the best possible meal, sometimes with constraints and sometimes not. This time there are serious constraints:

Course 1 is to be created using a box of obscure ingredients containing one Pacific rockfish, a Meyer lemon, a Matsutake mushroom, anise hyssop and Kabucha squash. The initial reaction of the chefs was "these ingredients don't go together".

Course 2 is to be chef's choice - anything goes.

Course 3 must be a dessert. Kevin is upset because he does not consider his dessert skills to be very advanced.

In addition, they will have a sous chef for a brief prep period that evening and for 3 hours cooking time the next day, both at the Citrus restaurant. Knives are drawn and this is the result:

Kevin - gets Preeti (who he considers useless as he assigns her only 2 of the 20 prep items, doing the rest himself) and Ash
Bryan - gets Jen (lucky him) and Ashley
Mike - gets Jesse and Eli (who he is very comfortable with)

Prep begins immediately and Preeti, Ashley and Jesse are utilized for these tasks while the later eliminated sous chefs are reserved for the following day. The results of the prep period were the mise en place for the following day.

Now you know that in Top Chef episodes there is always a twist. So the 3 chefs are hanging out in their living quarters the next morning waiting for Padma to present it to them. Instead, the knock on their door is from their mothers, who they are glad to see. When they arrive at the Citrus restaurant Tom has a surprise for them. No, it's not another 2 cars. He tells them that in honor of their mothers there will be a new course (Course 0 is my counting system) that reflects their culinary experiences as a child. So adjustments have to be made rapidly in the plans of the chefs.

The distinguished tasting panel included the 4 final judges (Padma, Tom, Gail and Toby) plus this distinguished chef/owners:
Bill Terlato, President/CEO of Terlato Family Vineyards
Donatella Arpaia, chef/owner of bellini, davidburke & donatella, anthos, Mia Dona and co-owner of Eos  in Miami
Douglas Keane, chef/owner of Cyrus restaurant, obtaining a Michelin 2 star rating for it
Steven Starr, restaurant owner of 11 Philadelphia restaurants, 2 in NYC, 2 in Atlantic City and 1 in Fort Lauderdale
Drew Nieropont,  co-owner of Nobu with Robert DeNiro
Sam Nazarian - co-owner of Katsuya's restaurants in Brentwood, Hollywood and Glendale CA, XIV and Bazaar

In addition, for the first course only, Kevin's mother and Bryan and Mike's mother joined them for the dish in their honor. Mrs. Voltaggio stated that Mike had never hated everything she cooked when he was a child. How ironic!

Here is the menu choices they make:

Bryan
0. Sardine, German Butterball Potato, Heirloom Tomato and Panko Bread Crumbs
1. Rockfish Sous Vide, Kabocha Squash with Curry and Meyer Lemon
2. Venison Saddle with Purée of Sunchokes and Orange Juniper Sauce
3. "Dulce de Leche" Cheesecake with Fig Sorbet, Poached Pear and Basil

Kevin
0. Southern Fried Chicken Skin with Squash Casserole and Tomato
1. Pacific Rockfish, Roasted Squash, Crab Broth and Roasted Matsutake Mushroom
2. Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli and Caramelized Ham Jus
3. Roasted Banana, Toasted Peanut with Chocolate Bacon Mousse and Bacon Brittle

Mike
0. Cream of Dehydrated Broccoli, Fried Broccoli and Spot Prawn
1. Dashi-Glazed Rockfish, Sweet and Sour Crab Salad with Squash and Meyer Lemon
2. Fennel-Scented Squab Breast, Pistachio Cassoulet and 3 different Textures of Mushrooms
3. Chocolate Caramel Coulant, Butternut Squash Brûlée and Butternut Ice Cream, with pumpkin seeds

During the cooking process, Mike's dessert was overdone in the oven as a result of his negligence. Kevin said that Ash was working very rapidly on his behalf and he appreciated that.

The tasting panel commentary during the courses included this:
Mom's Honor course
Kevin - excellent job of highlighting flavors
Bryan - underseasoned
Mike - prawn overwhelmed by broccoli flavors

Mystery Box course
Bryan - underseasoned, plating not very original; Tom thought the rockfish/ lemon combination was super

Do Your Own Thing course
Bryan - Tom thought the venison was perfect
Mike- Donatella thought something was a little off

Dessert Course
Mike - Tom says his ganache was close to right, but he had to serve it immediately after leaving the oven or it dries
Kevin - Stephen  hated the use of pork in diessert but Gail defended it

The tasting panel was excused and the final judges talked with the chefs and gave them some feedback . Their comments were:

Bryan - Toby says he cooked with restraint, Gail was happy with the venison, Tom mentioned sparse seasoning
Kevin - Padma says his chicken took lots of flavors; Tom - squash revealed new flavors as you ate it; Pork dish deficient
Mike - Toby says pickled sonata was bold and appropiate; Tom said it kept revealing new layers of flavors; Gail said cake was dry but the flavors were excellent

Each chef was given the opportunity to share his philosophy:
Bryan - these dishes showcased my cuisine and style.
Mike - I don't want Bryan to be top Chef (because Mike wanted it for himself). I love what I do.
Kevin - I cook food that's soul food, which reflects who I am
Now, did you find those statements enlightening or were they the usual crap that people say in such situations? You don't have to answer that because it is a rhetorical question.

The judges then deliberated and the snippets revealed in the telecast included these:

Course 0 Mom's honor
Gail - Kevin created a great dish
Toby - I liked Bryan best
Tom - Mike's broccoli overpowered the poor prawn and dish needed acid; Kevin's puree great and chicken skin crispy

Course 1 Mystery Box
Mike was best; toby loved his "pickled sonata", which I assume is the sweet and sour
Kevin massacred the mushroon by making it too tough to eat but his broth was perfect
Bryan had a one note dish, competent but not exceptional

Course 2 Anything Goes
Bryan - Tom says the venison exceptional
Mike - Gail says squab fine but cassoulet was a problem
Kevin - Toby hated the pork belly dish; tom says it needef more cooking time and more complexity

Course 3 Dessert
Mike - Tom said he burned his coulant dish; Gail called it "dry" but she thought his flavor combination was excellent
Kevin - Toby summarized with "he had a bad night"

Padma brings them in for the verdict. She says "one of you is Top Chef". This causes me to think it will probably be Bryan and definitely not Kevin. I was half right. Kevin was put in 3rd place first. Then Bryan says that he can't think of a better outcome than he and Mike being the top 2. The winner of $125,000, some cookware and the title of Top Chef is Mike.

I have difficulty understanding that outcome. The usual process is to see who wins each course. With the problems that Mike and Bryan had, my judgment is that Course 0 went to Kevin. Course 1 was a clean win for Mike. Course 2 was a close win for Bryan. both Kevin and Mike made mistakes on the dessert. That should have resulted a win for Bryan. Why didn't it? In her blog on BRAVO.com, Gail cites the complexity and subtlety of Mike's dishes as the main reason for his win. Tom revealed in his blog on BRAVO.com that my rating of Bryan as best for course 2 was not correct as Bryan's perfect venison was beaten by Mike's even better squab. I think the title of Tom's blog say it all,
"Bait n Switch", as the producers make I believe conscious editing decisions to mislead the viewers into thinking Bryan should win. In fact, it is reported that Bryan, Mike and Kevin all through Bryan had won.

That wraps it up for Top Chef 6, except for next week's special TC6 Reunion.

TexasLady:
I'm with you apskip. I thought it was clear from last week that Kevin wouldn't win but from the comments I was semi-surprised that Bryan didn't win. I believed that the brothers competing was a ploy by the producers but from the comments I thought Bryan would win. However as nasty and caustic as Mike has been I thought he would get the nod from Tom and Gail. In the voting for who the audience wanted, Kevin was the strong leader and Mike at the bottom.

"Mike - I don't want Bryan to be top Chef (because Mike wanted it for himself). I love what I do." The judges laughed but he spoke the truth.

I will probably continue to watch Top Chef but I don't love it as much as I used to, but I will say this was probably the best crop of chefs since the series started and I forget which judge said Kevin will be a superstar and I believe he will.  Jen and Eli are both going to do well and we'll hear from Jen again, she's a fine chef.

I wonder apskip, did this finale seem flat to you? It did to me.

Thank you for your fine recaps!

apskip:
TexasLady,
I'm not sure that flat is the right word. But it seemed quite different than typical finales. You never know, based on the disregarding of all prior achievements, who is going to win until it's over and at least TC2 had a major upset. For the TC6 Finale I think the challenge was a bit bigger than the others. Having a twist with the Mother's Honor course was something done before and expected, but although the mystery box has been used before in Top Chef episodes, I cannot recall it ever being in a finale. Those were very difficult ingredients that did not go together easily. The only course comparable to a typical finale was the chef's choice - anything goes course. That is how most finales go. Having a required dessert course was also something quite new and even at this level, there has been only one Top Chef Final 3 chef in the history of top Chef with outstanding pastry chef skills. Desserts are hard for general-purpose chefs because the requisite knowledge is so specialized. Now you know what I think about this topic.

TexasLady:
I liked the addition of having to make a dessert because that's where a lot of the chefs fall. The mother's being there, sort of an obvious thing in retrospect since two of the finalists were brothers. The mystery box was interesting and it was a big hurdle for Kevin. I read Lee Ann's blog and she explains what did Kevin in and I can see why Kevin fell in points because he didn't know how to prepare the matsutake mushrooms.

A worthy read: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blogs/lee-anne-wong/thank-you-and-good-night

tory:
it has been a while sence i have gotten over here to comment sry, i thought this whole season was flat, jmo it was like tar there realy wasn't a lot of bickering or hooking up it was realy predicable,jmo :cmas11. i guess i am the only one who liked the brothers i could c they were cooking great trew the whole season and i heard /read that michael won by a mile it was not close at all. i saw him on watch what happens live on bravo the other night and he was realy funny and was tellling the viewers to vote for kevin for fan fav. he said he got allong with every body and talks to his bro and kevin a lot. there was no real bad guy this season so when he made a of remark it got aired cause they realy had nothing else, there was no drama, no pushing ad shoving or forigin accents the whole season was flat for me.
also about the plant again jmo if they were a plant it was a bad idea becaus they were miles a head of the other chefs and they did not know kevin was going to b that good so they would have had a realy loop sided show, i like the show with more amatures and more compation this season it was all missing.. :cmas5

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