TC8, ep.3
The Guest Judge was David Chang, owner/chef of the Momofuku chain of restaurants plus his flagship Ma Peche. The Quickfire was a team challenge with four teams of 4 competing in a mise-en-place relay race, then to cook the best dish in 15 or less minutes from the ingredients in their mise-en-place. The reward was $5000 for each member of the winning team, but no immunity. The mise-en-place was simultaneously peel artichokes, crush 400 cloves of garlic and debone a lamb roast. When these were completed for the first team, a 15 minute clock would start its countdown, the time within which all teams must finish the mise-en-place plus create and cook their dish. This was a highly sophisticated challenge. The biggest differentiator between the team was their approach to the garlic. Spike went with peeling them, placing them on a cutting board and using a second board to smash them open. Another team had Antonia attempting to peel each one separately. The mass quantity approach created about a 5minute minute advantage with the other 2 teams in between.
The teams were:
Green – Angelo, Tiffany, Mike I., Fabio
White – Antonia, Dale L. Jaime, Casey
Red – Dale T., Tiffani, Carla, Marcel
Blue – Spike, Richard, Stephen, Tre
The dishes created were:
White - Lamb carpaccio (raw), artichoke chips, artichoke salad, garlic oil
Blue – crispy lamb chop, artichoke 3 ways, aioli, garlic, lime juice, fish oil
Red – lamb carpaccio, capers, garlic, Reggiano (cheese), salad w/ artichoke
Green – cooked lamb w/ garlic, Tandoori spices, spiced yoghurt, slivers of artichoke, dill salad
The judging by David Chang rated in the losers’ group Red for poor persimmon and parsley flavors and Green for allowing thyme and dill to blow out the yoghurt flavor. The winners’ group was White for a new way to serve raw lamb and Blue for the bold flavors of their crispy lamb chop. The winners were the Blue team, Richard (who took charge), Spike, Fabio and Stephen. They won the $5000 each.
The Elimination Challenge provided an opportunity for the same teams to each go to a different cutting edge restaurant in New York City to enjoy the cuisine and recreate the style of its chef in a meal. The restaurants were:
David Chang’s Ma Peche – Green team
David Burke’s Townhouse – White team
Michael White’s Medea – Blue team
Wiley Dufresne’s wd50 – Red team (note – Marcel was in 7th heaven on the chance to be in Wiley’s kitchen and cook molecular gastronomy food)
This challenge pitted each of the chefs on a team against each other, with one judged in the winners’ group and one judged in the losers’ group. The judges were Kate Krader, restaurant editor at Food & wine magazine, Tom, Padma, Anthony Bourdain and the chef from each restaurant for the chefs cooking in that restaurant only. The judges shuttled between restaurants by taxi on a predetermined schedule. Their results would send 2 chef home, a rare double elimination. Here were the ingredients in the dishes created and prepared:
Tre – grilled swordfish, mushroom pannacotta, basil oil, braised artichoke
Stephen – coho salmon, black mission figs, broccoli rabini, fennel pollen
Spike – seared branzino caponata w/ spicy prosciutto vinaigrette
Richard – crudo of Spanish mackerel, braised veal shank, fennel mustarda
Fabio - roasted lamb, w/ hoisin BBQ plum sauce, corn tomato salad, lemongrass chevre, ricotta
Angelo – turmeric marinated fish, white chocolate, salmon roe, chorizo, dill, cilantro
Tiffany – crudo of summer flounder, pickled radish, peach puree
Mike I. – warm sockeye salmon, eggplant, marinated tomato, poached peach
Dale L. - roasted veal loin, peanuts, popcorn, French toast, corn, thyme caramel
Casey - coconut halibut “scallop”, ginger-carrot emulsion
Jaime – smoked tomato and onion soup, Heirloom tomato salad
Antonia – pea puree, carrot puree, seared scallop, pickled carrot
Tiffani – broken heirloom melons, tomato, powdered ham, taleggio
Marcel – Vadouran lamb, tzatziki, pickled red onion, anti flatbread
Carla – shrimp, grits and okra w/ poached shrimp
Dale T. – sunny side up egg dumpling, w/ braised pork bellies, milk ramen w/ beef, pork,
The comments from the judges while dining were:
Tre- simple, delicious
Stephen – “head shop” taste, too much on the plate
Spike – the word caponata did not apply
Richard- beautiful and flavorful
Fabio – heavy, got lost in the forest (Bourdain vs. Fabio, round 2), too much on the plate
Angelo – creative, risk-taking, flavorful, innovative
Tiffani – tasty
Mike I. – like it particularly eggplant, solid
Dale L. – Veal w/ heavy sweetness
Casey – brilliant idea, beautifully cooked
Jaime – too simple, not creative
Antonia – assertive seasoning
Tiffani – lost control and put too much on the plate
Marcel – restrained, bland (so Marcel did not rise to the occasion cooking for his idol)
Carla – well prepared but safe, liquid nitrogen use not effective
Dale T. – loved it, broth excellent
Stephen commented that Italian food was right up his alley, since that is the cuisine he knew the best. Marcel noted that he has been accused of plagiarizing Wiley Dufresne’s dishes. Carla tried to use liquid nitrogen for the first time. Wiley stated that the philosophy of his restaurant is “playing with something familiar.”
The winners’ group was these chefs, with judging summary comments included:
Antonia – pea and carrot purees excellent
Angelo – white chocolate use was genius, exciting
Tre – fish perfectly done
Dale T. – used egg artfully, but with restraint
I found it surprising that Antonia was in this group instead of Casey based on the earlier judges’ dining comments. Dale T. was the winner.
The losers’ group was these chefs:
Stephen – put too much on the plate; expertise on Italian muffled by not cooking much recently
Tiffani – tried to do too much (as Marcel had observed, used every cutting edge technique she knew)
Fabio – Asian approach using peanut and oils overdone; heavy-handed
Dale L. – worked for kitsch w/ peanuts, popcorn and French toast, but putting veal on a breakfast plate is a sin; this “circus” was not good
There were chefs who were second place finishers in regular Top Chef seasons in this group, so a really good chef would be eliminated no matter what. Based on the judges’ comments, I projected that Fabio and Tiffani would be eliminated. However, as frequently happens, the editing of the episode attempted to misdirect the viewers. The actual eliminees were Stephen and Dale L. Stephen admitted that he was not up to the par of the other chefs due to a lot of time out of the kitchen ( I believe his real expertise is wines and front of the House). Dale stated “this is fair.” However, I think the producers may have intervened so that the Fabio versus Anthony Bourdain battle stays on camera for future episodes.