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apskip:
There is news from BRAVO of 3 series for later in 2011:

"Rocco's Dinner Party," where chefs compete to throw the ultimate dinner party for Rocco DiSpirito and his celebrity friends, will premiere later this year.

The network announced casting will begin on the ninth season of "Top Chef".

"Top Chef Masters" will return for a third season later this year with Curtis Stone as host.

For me, the news about TCM 3 is the mos important as I loved TCM1 and liked TCM 2. I also consider it a no-brainer that there will be TC9.

apskip:
TC8, ep. 7

This episode began with 10 chefs remaining. Mike made a gratuitous remark about how Marcel is essentially obnoxious and disliked. Anthony Bourdain escorted those chefs to the kitchen of Le Bernardin seafood restaurant (run by Eric Ripert) to watch seafood prep chef Josef Thomas at work. From 7am to noon every morning he cleans, guts and prepares 700 to 1000 pounds of fish. When he is on vacation, it takes 3 sous chefs to do his work. He can reportedly prep one fluke and one cod in 8 minutes, so the TC8 chefs are given 10 minutes to do that in part one of a Quickfire to quality standards judged by Josef. The outcome of that was as follows:

OK – Angelo, Dale, Marcel, Richard
Marginal - Mike
Cut Himself so did not finish - Fabio
Did Not Finish – Carla
Inadequate Quality – Antonia, Tiffany (in spite of being the only chef from a seafood restaurant), Tre

Richard said that he had been the seafood chef at a restaurant earlier in his career. It was McDonald’s and his job was preparation of the Filet O’ Fish.

The second part of the Quickfire involved the top 4 of those judged OK and it was to be judged by Ludo Ludovic, one of the 6 chefs on both Top Chef Masters 1 and TCM2 and chef/owner of Ludobites. It was to take their own leftovers (tails, heads, belly, cheeks, back fins, liver) and make a good dish out of that in 45 minutes. During that time Mike tried to take some of Marcel’s equipment and leftovers because he wanted a shortcut and Marcel resisted that. The dishes developed were:

Richard – schnitzel of cod belly, ragout, braised collar, fried skin, potato salad
Mike – pan-roasted belly, confit cheek, charred collar, tomato sauce
Dale – fluke back fin sashimi in cucumber fluke liver sauce; also bacon dashi w/ salt-roasted collar
Marcel – cod mousseline, yuzu chili oil, fluke broth

Ludo and Anthony had positive comments about each dish:
Richard – great flavors
Mike – beautiful, light, vibrant
Dale – great and able to use the liver
Marcel – delicious and texturally interesting

They awarded the prize, immunity for the Elimination Challenge, to Dale.

Elimination Challenge   
The chefs returned to the Top Chef kitchen and Padma told them that they had 24 hours to get a pop-up restaurant running and its success would be judged by the diners. The individual winner would win $10,000. So, who will those diners be? Nothing is stated explicitly, but there will be some big clues later. Dale got to choose the team captain for the other team, so he chose Marcel because he did not want him on his team. Marcel then got picks 1, 3, 5 and 7 for his team and Dale picks 2, 4, 6 and 8. The teams were:
Marcel – Angelo, Mike, Antonia, Tiffany
Dale – Richard, Tre, Fabio, Carla

Dale stated that getting Fabio was like stealing a top draft pick, as his skill in the Front of the House could be decisive for Bodega, the name of his restaurant. Tiffany was Front of the House for Marcel’s restaurant, named Etch with a Mediterranean inspired theme. /there were supposed to be 50 diners, who would eat in one restaurant followed by the other. The judges’ scores would count just like any other diner. Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine was a diner and the preponderance of young good-looking females made it likely that many of the diners were from Food & Wine, although the telecast did not indicate that.

Fabio introduced himself to the Bodega waiters and gave them guidance on the menu, including asking him for clarification of anything they desired. Tiffany did an inferior job of the same task. Both of them were also providing a dessert for their team which would be plated by others. Marcel put a foam on his menu. Hadn’t he learned that foams in every meal makes him look ridiculous? Apparently not!

Orders were placed and one of the first dishes from Etch was rare when medium rare was requested. All the judges observed Fabio’s special gifts in action as Front of House for Bodega. Tiffany was annoying the judges with her high-pitched nervous laugh (it annoyed me great deal all the time, so I understand).

The Bodega menu for first courses was:


Dale – bag of potato chips w/ fried herbs
Richard – raw tuna belly, fried chicken, chilis, lime
Dale – maple roast bacon, egg, cheese w/ homemade focaccia

The Bodega entrees were:
Tre – chicken, grits, Corona lime sauce, cheddar cheese
Richard – chicken fried codfish, Brussels kraut

The Bodega dessert menu was:
Fabio – amaretto cake, capuccino mousse, candied lemon peel
Carla – blueberry pie w/ dry milk ice cream

Etch first courses were:
Angelo – crudo of fluke, grapes, pink peppercorns, lemon zest
Tiffany – frisee and shaved asparagus salad w/ egg puree, chorizo
Marcel –roasted monkfish, kalamata olives, pepperonata. parsley

Etch entrees were:
Mike – braised pork belly + octopus, cannellini beans
Antonia – ricotta gnudi, braised oxtail ragout, arugula, lemon zest
Mike – slow-cooked lamb chop, cauliflower puree, turmeric, honey

Etch dessert was:
Marcel – Duo of Peaches, sweet peach, unripened peach, w/ coconut foam + powder

There was a lot of conflict in the Etch kitchen. Marcel thought he was in control, but Mike and Antonia were not listening to him; they were uncooperative and doing their own thing. Angelo was nominally supporting Marcel, but his one attempt to promote peace and harmony failed. Presumably he wanted one of his teammates to hang themselves. When it was over, Marcel thought Etch might have won, but Antonia was sure they had lost.

Team Marcel got called in to Judges’ Table first and notified that they had been chosen by only 17 or 76 votes tabulated. Tom asked why the poor performance. Marcel tried to explain it by “last-minute issues.” Tom was not buying that. He wanted to know who had failed to provide the plan to execute complicated food. At that moment you knew who was going to be eliminated, as there is only one person with that responsibility on a team. Antonia was told her dish was far too salty. Tom asked: “Why foam? Why now?” to Marcel. The desserts of Marcel and Tiffany were criticized as having poor taste. Tiffany’s asparagus flavors were bad as she had allowed all of it to leach out into the cooking liquid. Angelo was told his pink peppercorns were not really Mediterranean and his flavors were overwhelming. Mike, Marcel and Antonio then attacked each other for bad performance. Angelo said they were acting like children, which was true. Team Marcel was excused temporarily and Team Dale was summoned.

They knew that they had won. The only question was which individual had won. The obvious choice was Dale because as the equivalent of Executive Chef he had the responsibility for the total effort. Richard made the argument that he had served as technical advisor, helping each of his teammates. Specific comments about these chefs were:
Tre- flavors great, food delicious
Fabio – service top-notch; dessert outstanding
Dale – egg dish was a treat
Whoever had done the potato chips (multiple of them) – deserving of major credit

Team Marcel was called back in and here were the comments:
Overall management of the team – unbelievably bad (Marcel’s fault); every team member appeared to be out for themselves and there was no cohesion
Antonia – too salty
Marcel – dessert terrible
Mike – lamb and pork dishes barely acceptable (he’s off the hook)
Angelo – kept his head down and failed to help anyone else
Tiffany – poor FOH performance; asparagus had no flavor

With Antonia, Mike and Angelo off the hook, it came down to a decision on whether Marcel’s sins had been bigger than Tiffany’s. She did badly but he did worse, as his team had no leadership. Marcel was eliminated. He was philosophic about his elimination. He
did not think he had done anything wrong except choose the wrong teammates. He stated that he was the most misunderstood chef in the annals of Top Chef.

I was unhappy with the latitude Antonia and Mike took to not follow the guidance of their team captain. Both of them are marginal anyway (along with Tiffany and Carla), so I don’t expect them to last much longer. The contenders for the season at this point are Richard, Angelo, Dale and Fabio. Tre has been along for the ride and if he does not step up and distinguish himself positively he will also be out soon.

DavidJunior:
I'd have to agree with your assessment of which chefs are in it for the long haul and which ones are cannon fodder

In trouble:
Tiffany- very invisible the enitre season and has been scraping along the bottom
Tre- the only thing I can remember about him is that incessent laughter, plus he mentioned his family- the "kiss of death" in reality shows
Mike- all I've gotten from him this season is that he's funny and stubborn, very lackluster performance compared to S6
Antonia- started off kind of strong, but has definitely petered off recently.  What is it now, three bottom group appearances in a row?

Middle of the pack:
Carla- she's been relatively strong throughout the comp., but the only times she's really shown is when she wins
Fabio- very rocky start, but has seemed to find his groove recently, he's still a little inconsistant for me at the moment tho

Frontrunners:
Dale, Angelo, and Richard- all have performed spectacularly throughout, and none were really in danger of being eliminated, at least so far

I've also heard a rumor that the F4 is all-male, not saying it's true, but it is more likely with the editing bias that's taking place

lostinTARland:
Food Network Canada is behind, episode 4 is set to air tomorrow.

Having said that, it ticks me off that Jamie is still there and Chefs like Jenn and Dale are gone. She is either the cagiest (is that a word?) competitor there or she has a gold horseshoe lodged somewhere in her body.

She did not impress me in her original season and I am less impressed with her in this season

apskip:
9 chefs remain as we start this episode. The Guest Judge for the Quickfire only is Isaac Mizrahi, famous fashion designer. The task was to create in 30 minutes a visually stunning dish that would not be tasted. Only presentation counted. The chefs grumbled about that as they furiously worked on their concepts. Here were the dishes they presented:

Angelo - pineapple skins,  curry salted egg, dill, the misspelled word "crocadile" painted on the table
Antonia - yucca potatoes,lentils, nuts, seeds
Carla - borscht w/ sandwich, lattice of cucumbers
Dale T. - beet puree, cantaloupe, maple syrup meringue, avocado, mango
Fabio - tuna w/ sidewalk of caramel mushrooms umbrellas, lemon juice
Mike I. - carrot puree, roasted eggplant, egg yolk
Richard - black chocolate ice cream w/ menthol crystals, herbal salad, mint ice cream dots
Tiffany - almond gazpacho, grapes, dirt made of rye bread
Tre - smoked salmon, beets, curry noodles, food colors

The losers' group was Angelo (superfluous writing on the table), Dale (looks like everything left over from making a dish) and Tre (too simplistic). The winners' group was Richard, Carla and Fabio. Richard won immunity in the Elimination Challenge.

Elimination Challenge
This was to create an Italian feast to be served to the leadership of Rao's Restaurant plus a manager of another branch, a bartender and Lorraine Bracco, award-winning actress, owner of Bracco Wines and consummate Italian foodie. Knives were drawn to assign one of the 3 courses of an Italian feast, each of which comes with advice from one of the principals:

Antipasti (appetizer) - chef Dion                                             Antonia, Carla, Tiffany
Primi (first main course, usually pasta) - Frankie Junior  Dale, Mike, Tre
Secondi (second main course) - Frankie Senior               Richard, Angelo, Fabio

Teams had 30 minutes to shop and 2 hours to prep, then the courses were staggered for final cooking at Rao's restaurant. Antonia noted that Tre was heading for trouble on risotto because he had not coated the rice properly. Tre had won a risotto competition in TC3 with Anthony Bourdain as Guest Judge and wanted to try a different approach. Tiffany burned her polenta but somehow made it come out all right.

Here were the dishes presented:

Antonia - mussels w/ fennel, white wine, garlic and parsley ciabatta
Carla - minestrone soup, basil oil tomato, homemade focaccia
Tiffany - polenta terrine w/ Italian sausage, roasted peppers, herbs, tomato/mozzarella salad
Dale - fresh pasta, pancetta, Brussels sprouts, chanterelle mushrooms, pecorino romano
Mike - spicy calamari, fresh rigatoni, tomato sauce
Tre - grilled vegetable risotto, marinated tomato, fresh basil
Angelo - sauteed pork chop, cherry peppers, green olives, pancetta
Fabio - pollo alla cacciatore, polenta el pecorino
Richard - fresh pancetta cutlet, broccolini, pickles, cherry tomatoes

Comments by the diners and later only the judges at Judges Table were:
Antipasti - polenta with sausage very good, soup with parmesan authentic
Primi - nothing good, with Anthony Bourdain asking how 3 professional chefs could **** up pasta so badly
Secondi - Richard's very good, Fabio's chicken cacciatore very Italian

The winners' group was Antonia, Carla, Tiffany and Fabio (who was supremely confident because Italian food is his expertise. However, it is also Antonia's and she won with what Fabio rightly called a French dish, pissed that he did not win this challenge. The losers' group was all of the Primi group - Dale, Mike, Tre. Anthony Bourdain was vociferous in his criticism of all 3 dishes. Mike's pasta was undercooked with too much egg. Dale's pasta was crumbly, sauce insufficient and the pancetta bland (Lorraine Bracco asked how this was possible). Tre had used a different approach than when he had won a risotto competition in TC3 with Bourdain the guest judge, but this risotto was not cooked right and tom stated that "you blew the rice away with garnish." It looked to me that the biggest sinner was Tre and he and Dale had also been on the bottom for the Quickfire.

It was saynonara to Tre. He is a solid chef but not highly skilled with Italian cuisine.

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