Author Topic: Top Chef Chicago Season 4  (Read 43768 times)

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Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #75 on: June 05, 2008, 05:07:21 PM »
Well written as always Apskip.  :tup:  Foreshadowing Antonio's demise was the comment made by Nikki that she needed to step up her game because Antonio seemed off somehow. (Never really explained for us.) I'm really sorry that she was eliminated, but she did not do as well as she could have,

I agree with you BBall, I cannot stand Lisa but I will say her hair makeover made her look a lot cleaner and stylish and she did well in the quick fire. (I felt vindicated when the poll showed 91% of the viewers voting felt she should pack her knives and leave.)  :tup:
I believe it is her negative attitude that is her downfall. It was particularly telling that she harbored ill will towards Richard and Stephanie for not congratulating her for being a finalist, I did not see her congratulating them either. (Maybe I missed it.)

I see that Bravo's online poll gives Stephanie the Top Chef pick over Richard and it could well turn out that way. I don't believe that Lisa will have that honor.

I'd love to see Minneapolis host the show.
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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #76 on: June 05, 2008, 07:58:25 PM »
Minneapolis could be the site of a future Top Chef competition, but don't hold your breath, TexasLady.. There are many other cities which deserve it before Minneapolis. I have listed them in a recent post.


Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #77 on: June 06, 2008, 12:28:29 PM »
 ;) Personally I would advocate for Austin... We have excellent facilities for the kitchen space needed, several Whole Food Markets (and another that is even more amazing called Central Market) and I could stalk report on happenings!  :tup:

BTW, Whole Foods began right here in Austin!! (Wish I'd bought stock way back then...)
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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #78 on: June 11, 2008, 10:08:19 PM »
The new Top Chef is Stephanie, who outcooked Lisa and Richard in Puerto Rico. She was slightyl better than Lisa tonight, with Richard a distant third. More detail coming in my recap.

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #79 on: June 11, 2008, 10:30:26 PM »
The new Top Chef is Stephanie, who outcooked Lisa and Richard in Puerto Rico. She was slightyl better than Lisa tonight, with Richard a distant third. More detail coming in my recap.

I'm looking forward to your recap Apskip. I do believe it was very close.

Congratulations Stephanie, first female Top Chef!
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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #80 on: June 11, 2008, 11:05:57 PM »
Top Chef 4 finale started with the introduction of the chefs to 3 master chefs who would assist them one-on-one as sous chef. Stephanie drew knives with Richard to determine who got first pick. She won and picked Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin. Richard chose Dan Barber of Blue Hill. Lisa was left with April Bloomfield of Spotted Pig. Each sous chef came with a table of proteins:

Lisa - oysters, crab, Mahi-Mahi, Chicken, Squab, pancetta, sweetbreads, Waygu beef strip steak, ostrich steak
Richard - scallops, halibut, abalone, calamari, duck prosciutto, pork belly, venison, rabbit
Stephanie - red snapper, hamachi, caviar, clams, lobster, veal tenderloin, chorizo, quail, quail eggs

It looks to me that the TopChef creators wanted ot have a diverse meal, so they deliberately did not give each chef the same ingredients. I did not spot any gross inequities.

The next day there was 4 hours prep time before serving the tasting dishes. The sous chefs had not shown up when Tom came to announce that the chefs were on their own with no outside help(not even the eliminated candidates). the Do It Yourself principle was prevailing. This put a lot of pressue on all of the chefs, particularly Richard whose cuisine depends on more exacting and detailed preparation. Lisa commented that her food was very simple compared to Richard's.  Lisa was going with Thai and Viet food. Stephanie was sticking close to her strengths by using fruits and multiple proteins in most dishes except that she hates to bake and doing a dessert was going to challenge her to the max. All chefs logically had to consider revisions to their recipes and menus, but none of that was highlighted on the show. the final menus were:

Lisa - grilled prawns w/ chile basil sauce, crab and potato chips; Tom Kha Gai soup; Waygu beef w/ chayote and cucumber salad, hot sauce and garlic chips; Black Thai rice pudding w/ lime and mango creme, taro, coconut
Stephanie - red snapper w/ truffled clams, asparagus broth, asparagus salad; quail w/mango lobster sauce, lobster ravioli and quail eggs; medallions of lambw/ braised pistachio, blackberry, olive tapenade; ricotta pound cake w/tropical fruit, banana creme
Richard - scallops w/ mango and pineapple vinegar; guinea hen, foie gras and chicken egg; pork belly w/pickled radish, mirin broth, spring vegetables; bacon ice cream and banana scallop

There were a few more garnishes, but they will have to wait for tomorrow morning's rewind of the tape.

Comments were generally favorable to Stephanie and Lisa, but not to Richard. The only thing thte judges really like about his food was the dessert. He underseasoned and bland. Lisa's beef sauce was too sweet. Stephanie's pound cake was mediocre except for the braised pistachios. When asked, richard admitted that he choked and made mistakes with his dishes. The judges went down a head-to-head comparison of the courses as a way to settle the selection decision.

First course was a tossup between Lisa and Stephanie.
Seecond course went to Lisa.
Third course went to Stephanie.
Fourth course went to Richard.

Summary comment was that Richard was joyful and outrageous in his cooking and that Lisa was totally Asian and that her food reflects her strong personality. On Stephanie Tom had no really significant comments, but she was named Top Chef. I totally agree. She earned it. Lisa did surprisingly well for someone who came late out of the pack.



« Last Edit: June 12, 2008, 07:07:15 AM by apskip »

Offline BballKates

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #81 on: June 11, 2008, 11:31:18 PM »
So happy Stephanie won!  :jumpy: :jumpy: :hearts: :hearts:

I was worried for a second that Lisa won cause she cooked so well. Then when they showed a clip of the reunion and they said something about her getting dirty looks on the street. I thought oh crap she won and people are pissed and giving her dirty looks. But I think the judges realized that Stephanie was consistent all year, didn't over complicate dishes, and cooked a variety of food throughout the season.

Kind of felt bad for Richard he had a really off night and he knew it but kudos to him for being honest. Not being like cocky Lisa.

This is becoming one of my favorite shows and I am so excited to see where they take the show next.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #82 on: June 12, 2008, 06:50:30 AM »
I can answer that question. Top Chef has announced that the next series will be Junior Top Chef, with kids 13 to16 competing. Since regular TopChef is on of Bravo's hits, I am sure it will be back for TC5 but don't know when.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #83 on: June 12, 2008, 07:35:37 AM »
I have summarized the winners of the Elimination  Challenge and the Quickfire by episode

1 Stephanie         8 chefs incl. Richard
2 Andrew             Mark
3 Stephanie         Richard
4 Richard             Dale
5 Lisa                  Lisa
6 Dale                 Jennifer
7 Richard/Dale    Richard
8 Antonia            Antonia
9 Richard            Richard/Stephanie
10 Dale               Spike
11 Stephanie      Antonia
12 Stephanie      Spike
13 Richard          Stephanie
14 Stephanie is Top Chef

I was surpised to see that Lisa had won elimination challenges twice and a Quickfire once.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2008, 08:15:56 AM by apskip »

Offline Duffer

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #84 on: June 12, 2008, 02:40:59 PM »
Yea! Congrats Stephanie


Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #85 on: June 13, 2008, 04:14:29 PM »
I was surpised to see that Lisa had won elimination challenges twice and a Quickfire once.

I am surprised as well! My only impression of her has been standing with her belligerent attitude, arms crossed at the judges table. How many times was she also in the loser category? I think at least 5 if not 6.

I also believe we will hear about Richard in the future, he is very talented.
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Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #86 on: June 13, 2008, 04:15:24 PM »
Yea! Congrats Stephanie

Welcome to RFF Duffer! 

:welcome: :welcome: :welcome:
The choices we make dictate the life we lead.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #87 on: June 14, 2008, 12:30:51 PM »
Here's something interesting, an interview of Stephanie by her home-town Chicago Tribune:

Stephanie Interview

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #88 on: June 18, 2008, 11:48:03 PM »
It's time for the Top Chef4 Reunion special hosted by Andy Cohen. Last year Cohen's material (questions prepared by the writing staff) was pretty weak, so I am hoping for improvement. Fortunately, there is some. Everyone gets a chance to be heard except Nimma, Nikki, Erik and Manuel. Part of that may be their reserved personalities in comparison to the more high profile chefs. Videos were shown to support certain lines of questioning and prove what chefs actually said in the heat of the moment. Richard is the only chef not actually there.

Andy asked Stephanie what it was like when Padma announced that she was the winner. Her answer was blah.

Andy asked the judges what they thought of Richard's choking comment in the Finale. Tom said that it was consistent with Richard. I think Gail said that he
was being honest and forthcoming about how he felt then.

Tom asked Stephanie if she would rather be known as the winner of Top Chef4 or the first female Top Chef. She said Top Chef4 winner.

Video clips captured what Andy called "romances" between Mark and Spike, between Richard and Dale, and between Andrew and Spike. Commentary was from Andrew that "what you see is what you get."

Mark announced that he had gotten married 3 weeks ago and will be staying longer in the U.S. than originally planned.

Andy asked Jen and Zoi what it was like to compete against each other. Both said that it was a handicap and either would have done better alone. He followed up with a question on whether Inernet reports that they have broken up are correct. They refused comment, so probably those reports are right.

Antonia accused Spike of trying to psych people out. Incidentally, I originally was thinking of her as my fan favorite but a somewhat nasty side of her came out in this hour.

Dale and 6 other chefs report that thye are still having nightmares associated with Top Chef4.

Ryan was caught on film highlights explaining how a bad dish really wasn't. He was shown numerous times being verbose, particualrly on his vision of the underlying food principles.

The curse of unexpected bad performance was passed from Casey in TC3 to Antonia in TC4 (although I can make a splendid case for Richard).

There were outtakes of the stew room(the holding area after intially judging to just before the final elimination announcement). Sometimes this took as long as 8 hours.

In one video of judging from the Finale, Gail is asleep when caught on camera.

Mark's famous line of "Tom doesn't like me" was shown along with Tom's response that this was not true.

Andy asked about controverisal judges decisions. One example was how Richard's not cleaned off scales only ruined his dish for one or two people while Zoi's bad mushrooms were bad for everyone.

Lisa's negativity was shown in several different ways. In one, Anthony Bourdain nailed it perfectly when he said that she was not inclined to accept any criticism frorm the Judges Table or anywhere else.

The issue of throwing people "under the bus" came up. Lisa was shown doing it to Andrew. She admitted that this was stupid and unnecessary behavior. Continuing on, Andrew states that being is chef is being an entertainer. Lisa reponded with his being hyper all the type. Andrew admits to being ADD.

Andy notes that Gail seems to be pretty interested in Spike.

Dale to Lisa: "you get to bitch and whine anytime you feel like it."

Richard called in from Atlanta where his wife was about to give birth. He has opened a restaurant Home in Atlanta. His molecular gastronomy and hi-tech gadgets and special ingredients were the most interesting part of several episodes. Andy asked him what happened in the Finale. Richard admitted that he drove himself too hard and did not relax, causing him to overthink things(exactly what Anthony Bourdain said).

Fan favorite was about to be announced. Andy had tried to stir up interest in several chefs but of course it was already too late to vote. Tom stated that it could be anyone except Lisa, who had no chance of being fan favorite. Then Andy stopped the mindlessness by stating that Stephanie had also won the $10,000 prize for fan favorite. She claimed to have some borderline behavior during the episodes, but i did not notice anything significant.

Tom stated that this was the best overall season for Top Chef chef skills.

Several chefs volunteered comments on pithy aphorisms to live by in a restaurant kitchen:

Erik- run the other way and later practice your plating skills.
Stephanie - pay attention to the rules
Richard- if you are having fun, let it show and later have fun
Lisa - deal with the pressure as best you can



« Last Edit: June 19, 2008, 10:09:58 PM by apskip »

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #89 on: June 20, 2008, 09:29:48 AM »
Excellent recap as always, and I enjoy your comments as well. We weren't able to watch the reunion last night and this will make it more interesting when I do get to view it.

I had to laugh about the comment that Lisa wouldn't be the fan favorite, I know she certainly wasn't my favorite although it seems that she can deliver nice dishes. Richard would have been my choice, wish I had been able to vote.

I also thought it was a big mistake to have two contestants in a relationship, it was bound to cause problems with the other chefs and it certainly did. Zoi seemed to be the stronger of the two, it would have served her better if she hadn't been distracted by wanting revenge. I hope TC learns from this and doesn't make this mistake again.

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Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #90 on: June 20, 2008, 03:13:16 PM »
Texas Lady, thank you for the kudos. I disagree with a small part of what you said. I thnkk Jennifer was by far the better chef of the Zoi/Jennifer couple, but we never really got a chance to find out with their elimination on adjacent episodes.

Offline apskip

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Re: Top Chef Chicago Season 4
« Reply #91 on: July 09, 2008, 10:05:11 PM »
Ferran Adria, the top proponent of molecular gastronomy (including those foams that Marcel Vigneron and Richard Blaise both loved to use), invited 10 American chefs to a 2.5 day workshop at El Bulli, his restaurant in Roses, Spain. Marcel went and so did a New Orleans chef who wrote an article on that visit. Here is the link: Molecular Gastronomy Workshop