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Top Chef All-Stars

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apskip:
TC8, ep.5

This show marches on at a fast pace. For the Quickfire, a master chef was coming in to set a time standard that the competing chefs would be required to use to make a dish. That master chef proved to be none other than Tom Colicchio, which put fear into the hearts of the competitors. The clock was running throughout Tom's creation of a fish, clam juice, zucchini and tomato dish and it stopped at 8 minutes 37 seconds. That was the time that the chefs were then given. Dishes created were:

Angelo – yuzu branzino crudo w/ jalapeno + cilantro
Antonia – ahi tuna, tarragon, tomato salad
Carla – shrimp, mango, cilantro, mint
Casey – spice-rub filet basted w/ brown butter, fresh tomato relish
Dale T. – pad thai w/ egg noodles
Fabio – clams, fish, tomato broth, thyme garlic
Jaime – clam amuse bouche w/ bacon, tomato, cream
Marcel - black sea bass w/ basil broth, bok choy, chili oil
Mike I. – pan-roasted branzino, black olives, caper stew
Richard – foie gras roasted w/ aromatics, corn, coriander, port
Tiffani – New England clam chowder w/ celery + cream
Tiffany - pan seared bass w/ tomato relish, olives, capers
Tre – grilled beef tenderloin, seared foie gras w/ mushrooms, brandy sauce


The Losers’ group was Angelo (did a raw dish when asked not to), Dale T. (his egg noodles did not function) and Jaime (only 2 clams opened, the rest having failed to open). The Winners’ group was Marcel, Richard and Mike I. Mike was the winner of the Prius and immunity.

Elimination Challenge
This was a test of speed and efficiency in the kitchen. The chefs were to feed lots of food to lots of people quickly in a Chinese dim sum restaurant, Grand Harmony in NYC’s Chinatown. They would create pork, seafood, dumplings and pastry dishes, frequently served steamed. Richard’s framing dim sum as “Chinese tapas” strikes me as pretty close to the mark. The chefs purchased their ingredients in 45 minutes at a Chinatown market, with no signs in English and few staff able to speak English. They next had 3.5 hours to prep before the orders began. The choices of dishes presented a variety of complications for the chefs. Casey and Carla volunteered to be Front-of-House runners delivering food to each table, which meant that they would depend on others to do finish cooking and plating of their food. Mike I. was the Expeditor since he was immune. The general tone of the kitchen was pure chaos, with many chefs struggling to get acceptable quality and all unable to keep up with the volume/timing requirements. Richard summarized that “many were not ready and many were out of control.” One of the diners caustically referred to the food as “Caucasian dim sum.” Tom went to the kitchen to exhort the chefs to work harder and faster. One chef stated that it was humiliating to leave diners hungry.

Casey had problems with her chicken feet because she had to take off 4 nails on each of many chicken feet. She planned to have it finished in a wok, but Antonia did not do that. There were multiple joint dishes, with Dale and Angelo teaming up and Antonia and Jaime as well. Dale had an advantage since he had grown up in a Filipino restaurant environment that was similar in speed requirements. Fabio wanted to grill his meat but there is on grill and the oven did not go above 300 degrees. He predicts he is screwed.

Angelo – Viet spring roll w/ shrimp + pork
Angelo + Dale – cheung fun w/ xo shrimp
Antonia – shrimp toast w/ pickled scallions + mushrooms
Antonia and Jaime – long beans w/ Chinese sausage
Carla – vegetable summer roll w/ vegetable dipping sauce
Casey and Antonia – chicken feet w/ scallion pancake
Dale T. – sweet sticky rice Chinese bacon wrapped in banana leaf
Fabio – soy honey-glazed spicy pork rib
Jaime – scallop dumplings w/ water chestnuts + Chinese chives
Marcel – boneless chicken wing w/ scallion mayonnaise
Mike I. – pork + prawn steamed dumpling w/ spicy soy sauce
Richard – not shown; why not?
Tiffani - Chinese cabbage w/ cilantro; sesame salad w/ crispy curry chicken;
Tiffany – spicy pork w/ vegetables on steamed buns
Tre – orange ginger dessert w/ freshwater chestnut, toasted pine nuts, Thai basil

The Guest Judge was Susur Lee, proprietor of several restaurants and finalist in Top Chef Masters 2. He is very knowledgeable on Asian food. Judges comments while dining:

Fabio’s short ribs – very good
Angelo’s spring roll- both Gail and Susur rate it excellent
Tiffany’s dish – Susur like the vinaigrette; Gail thought only sesame came through
Marcel’s wings – Tom found them bland
Carla’s summer roll – beautifully wrapped per Padma but of no other value per Susur
Antonia and Jaime’s long beans – greasy and overcooked
Dale T. sticky rice – excellent
Tre’s orange dessert – must be served much colder to be effective
Casey’s chicken feet – must be deep fried or unsuccessful
Mike’s dumpling – soy taste too prominent
Jaime’s scallop dumplings – Tom said didn’t work; Susur said insufficient scallop

Judges’ Table started with this Losers’ group of 5:
Casey – bad judgment to not do chicken feet correctly
Antonia – long beans overcooked and excess oil but her shrimp toast was wonderful
Carla – her food was bland; her rice noodles were overcooked
Jaime – her own scallops dumplings poor and her joint long beans overcooked  and excess oil
Tre – his dessert a poor choice for the conditions

It is interesting that the two Front-of-House people were there along with their colleagues who were finishing/plating for them.

The Winners’ group was:
Tiffany
Angelo
Dale T.
Fabio

The individual winner was Dale.

The judges circled back to determine the eliminated person. Tom summarized this:
Carla – bland dish (a major crime most episodes but not this episode)
Antonia – overcooked long beans but saved by good shrimp toast
Tre – bad concept
Casey – chicken feet not deep fried as they must be for good flavor
Jaime – multiple sins

It was going to be either Jaime or Casey. Casey got the ax and Jaime once again used up one more of her 9 lives. She is so useless that it is truly amazing she has found one other chef each episode to do worse than her.

kiki:
Episode 6

Finally Jamie is out! :yess:

Although I didn't like the fact that there was no quickfire challenge.

TexasLady:
Yay! I'm finally starting to get caught up! I'm enjoying this season, and it is fast paced!  :yess:

apskip:
TC8, ep.6

The chefs were forced to wake up early and get to the Top Chef kitchen. There they found a sign “Gone Fishin” and a map to Montauk Point Lighthouse on the eastern end of Long Island. When they arrived there, two fishing boats were ready to take them out to sea. First, there was a knife draw to determine these teams:

Team 1 – Dale T., Carla, Tre
Team 2 – Mike I., Angelo, Tiffany
Team 3 – Antonia, Jaime, Tiffani
Team 4 – Richard, Marcel, Fabio

It looked to me that the strongest team would be Team 4. Padma announced that there was no Quickfire this episode. The Elimination Challenge was a team competition to catch as many fish as they could for 5 hours, then shop at a market for fresh ingredients in 30 minutes with $150 and finally cook for 2 hours for a beach party on the sand back on Governor’s Island at Water Taxi Beach. The resulting dishes would be served to 200 invited guests. Guest Judge was Kerry Heffernan, executive chef at South Gate restaurant and touted by Tom as a seafood expert.

Catching fish was subject to the whims of chance. One boat was doing much better than the other, but by the end there was an array of striped bass, bluefish and porgies to show for the efforts of the fishermen. Dale caught the largest fish, a striped bass, and proclaimed that his father would be proud of him.

Each team took a unique approach on how to split up the workload. Team 4 decided on just one dish with 7 major components. Team 3 opted for Antonia doing her own dish by herself and Jaime and Tiffani working together on dishes to a small extent. Team 1 had completely individual dishes. Team 2 all worked together for one dish, but Tiffany also had her own dish.

Here are the dishes for each team or individual:

Team 1 Carla – bluefish lettuce wrap w/ pickled watermelon, pumpernickel croutons
Team 1 Dale – fish tacos w/ bass, corn, avocado relish, crème fraiche, radishes, cabbage
Team 1 Tre – striped sea bass w/ Gazpacho salad, tomato, avocado

Team 2 Angelo/Mike/Tiffany – striped bass w/ corn puree, tomato, Aleppo spice rub, watermelon
Team 2 Tiffany – pickled bluefish, spicy watermelon rind, tomato confit, radishes, potato, dill

Team 3 Antonia – open-faced porgy po’boy, Old Bay mayo, cabbage slaw
Team 3 Jaime – striped bass w/watermelon salad, fresh dill, shaved radishes, cucumber water
Team 3 Tiffani – sautéed bluefish, tomato, roasted corn, zucchini ribbon salad

Team 4 Richard/Marcel/Fabio – sea bass, succotash, corn puree, Concord gastrique, jamon air

Comments by the judges while sampling the cuisine were:
Team 4 – beans mushy
Dale – tacos wonderful
Carla – fish
Tiffany – mashed potatoes heavy
Tre- took a big risk with sautée but it worked
Jaime – did not season her fish properly; “water on water”
Tiffani – lack of acidity and scales; left on forced bloodline to remain on, with nasty flavor impact, lacked elegance and finishing
Antonia and Tiffani – got credit for having the courage to use porgies (or was that all they caught?)

The Winners’ Group was Team 1 and Team 2. At Judges’ Table, they were told this:
Dale- perfectly cooked fish
Carla – brilliant
The individual winner was Carla. She won a 6 night trip to Amsterdam with $5K airfare provided by Hilton Hotels.

The Losers’ Group was Team 3 and Team 4. Richard, Marcel and Fabio were criticized for only doing one dish. Also, they had too much going on on the plate and their food was too heavy. The judges questioned what Fabio’s role on the creation of the dish had been, as he appeared to confine himself to chopping vegetables and following the lead of Richard and Marcel. Richard did a gastrique which was disliked. Marcel did one of his incessant foams, which really pissed off the judges as there was no need for one here. Tom declared Antonia’s dish to be the best of all presented, so she was definitely off the hook even though she was criticized for not providing any help to Jaime or Tiffani. Jaime had wanted to do something very light and her dish was criticized for being bland (the greatest sin of all), watery and insubstantial. Tiffani had only porgies to work with; her choice to leave the skin on and the bloodline in was lambasted.

My conclusion from the tone of the judges’ comments was that it would be Jaime and Tiffani leaving. That proved correct. Making a dish bland and insubstantial is viewed by the judges as the equivalent of not trying very hard; they reward risk even when it results in a failed dish and they punish nonentities severely. Tiffani had multiple bad choices in how she prepared and cooked her porgies.

TexasLady:
I loved the challenge of catching their own fish for dinner. It was fun for the chefs and a good bonding experience, even if it turns out to be short lived. Was this the best challenge ever, even if it wasn't  a quickfire? For me, YES!

I never liked Tiffany or Jamie so their departure is fine with me.  :tup:

Thanks for the recap apskip, as always it is excellent!

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