Serious Eats
'Top Chef' Season 5, Episode 3: Food Fighters
It's Thanksgiving eve and while most of you are probably prepping for tomorrow's big meal, we're watching Top Chef so you don't have to. Questions on my mind going into tonight's episode: Will Stefan and Fabio continue to dominate? Will Ariane squeak it out for another week? I have to confess I'm beginning to develop a bit of a crush on Fabio, especially after last week's elimination challenge. But onto the show!
Contestants are back at the apartment hanging out. We can tell they are getting to know each other because Richard has given them all nicknames. Jeff "Don Johnson" Fabio "Cute Italian" Leah "the flirt." But this is a competition! No time for fun. Cut back to the kitchen where Padma introduces this week's guest judge this round, Grant Achatz of Alinea, in Chicago. Contestants are appropriately awed by both his talent and recent recovery from cancer. Padma instructs everyone to draw knives, which are labeled with random numbers like 168, 188, for the Quickfire Challenge. The numbers refer to pages in Top Chef The Cookbook
[Warning, spoilers ahead.]
The Pretender
Everyone is confident and gets to work. Jeff has fennel crusted pork chops, "I can do that in 15 minutes." BUT WAIT! Not so fast! About ten minutes into the challenge, Padma and Grant storm back in to the kitchen to tell everyone to stop what they're doing. They've changed their minds. The chefs must take the ingredients they're already working with and make a soup that will wow the judges. There's no time to make broth, but conveniently enough they're provided Swanson broth for this Swanson Broth Quickfire challenge. Suddenly, it ain't so easy. Leah has a tartar, how's that going to translate into soup? Carla's still confident, she's got a special ingredient: "love." Jamie loves making soup and the flavors in her deconstructed falafel, "I got this!" she declares.
Times up! Stefan's up first with a Thai green curry bisque with shrimp and scallop dumplings. Grant seems to like it. "The broth as a very nice aromatic quality." Daniel's ham and egg soup with sauteed mushrooms, corn, and cheese is another favorite. Grant calls it "a very good complement to the original recipe" (a black forest ham and egg bundle) and Padma exclaims, "I like ham and egg soup!" Grant also likes Carla's shrimp, tomato, and coriander soup with cucumber and avocado salad (must have been the love!), and Leah's chilled white asparagus soup with brioche, tuna, and tapenade. Grant says, "White asparagus is a tough ingredient to work with... I like it."
Jamie also scores points with her chickpea soup with pickled chiles, yogurt, and crispy shallots. Jamie, Leah, Daniel are the top three. And the winner is—Leah! She's immune from elimination, and this is her first Quickfire win.
Commercial break. Phew. There's an ad for Britney's new MTV special, "For the Record." Yeah Britney, WHAT THE HELL?
In Your Honor
And we're back! Padma announces the next challenge. "You'll be making Thanksgiving dinner for some very special clients." As the Quickfire challenge winner, Leah gets to pick her teammates. She quickly picks Jamie, Hosea, Stefan, Fabio, Melissa, and Radhika. Fabio is happy that he and Stefan will be working together. He declares, "Europe is united now." With the teams decided, who's the client? Daniel guesses Donald Trump. Cut to the television monitor. It's the Foo Fighters who are "huge fans" of Top Chef. The teams will have to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for the band and their entourage, who have provided a copy of their (legendarily amusing) tour rider to help plan their meal. Among other things, the rider documents their love of bacon and chocolate covered bananas. The teams will be cooking for the Foo Fighters' entourage of over 60 people including 18 vegetarians. The winners will be invited to watch the gig, the losers will have to clean up. On paper, Leah's team should win this challenge hands down, but this is Top Chef so anything could happen.
The chefs arrive at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena and are taken to the kitchen which is set up on a large outdoor patio. No fridge or freezer, one burner, and rows of microwaves and toaster ovens. Stefan has a catering company so he's calm and everyone else is freaking out. "But we only have one burner!!!" On the other team, Jeff starts organizing the team. Ariane has catered before, but her team isn't ready to trust her.
Time to go shopping! Each team has one hour and $1200 to spend. It's Team Sexy Pants (Leah's team) vs Team Cougar with Ariane as their mascot. She doesn't know exactly what a cougar is, but she thinks she likes it. The team's get back with three hours until service. Team Cougar's Eugene starts building a makeshift grill. Nice thinking. Maybe I should be rooting for the undercats. We get a first look at the menus. Team Cougar's menu: Butterball turkey, spoonbread stuffing with figs, roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, pork roast, mac and cheese, pumpkin parfait, peach cobbler, banana s'mores. Team Sexy Pants is working on: Butterball turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, side salads, pumpkin tiramisu, fruit crisp. Looking at these menus, neither team has a true vegetarian entree, except for possibly Team Cougar's mac and cheese (which turns out to have bacon). Could this be the tipping point?
There Is Nothing Left To Lose
Over on Team Cougar, Jeff is going for it and taking on two extra dishes, pumpkin mousse and spoonbread stuffing. He already screwed himself in the first episode by trying to do too much and didn't even plate all his food. This seems like a very bad move. Ariane is still out to prove herself with this turkey, and and her team continues to doubt.
It starts to rain. Fabio exclaims, "It starts to rain in my tiramisu! I ain't goin' home because it start rainin' in my tiramisu!" Daniel's potatoes aren't cooking fast enough, and everyone is freaking out and running around like mad to beat the clock. "By the skin of our ass we get it done" pronounces Edward. Time's up, and the Foo Fighters are hungry.
The Colour and the Shape
Team Cougar is up first, and as the Foos make their way down the line and it seems to be going well. Mac and cheese... and bacon! Dave Grohl is feelin' it. Back at the judges table, the Foos pan the stuffing for being too fancy. The mac and cheese is good. The potatoes are slightly "al dente" in a bad way. The ham is delicious, and they like that Edward went "all MacGyver" with his grill, but Ariane's turkey is really good, it's their favorite. Ariane has redeemed herself. They decide to save desserts for last, and head over to grab plates from Team Sexy Pants. Jamie's vegan cornbread stuffing is "super good" and has more flavor, and is not as dry as Jeff's spoonbread stuffing. The judges dig the yams. "Gotta burn the marshmallows" says Dave, and burnt they are. Dave says Team Cougar's turkey was better.
Time for the dessert off! Team Sexy Pants' desserts are a roasted pumpkin, honey, and cinnamon tiramisu and peach and blueberry crisp with whipped cinnamon cream. Team Cougar is concerned because their desserts are no longer hot. They serve a peach and cherry cobbler with vanilla cream, fresh fruit salad with pumpkin mousse, and banana s'mores with vanilla ice cream and chocolate ganache. "AWWW they got f*ckin smores!" - Dave Grohl.
The judges try Team Sexy Pants' desserts first. Tom and Gail are feelin' Fabio's pumpkin tiramisu. It gets a thumbs up consensus from the judges. No one likes Team Cougar's pumpkin mousse. "No more barfaits" coughs up Foo's drummer, Taylor Hawkins. The s'mores don't go over any any better based on Dave's remark: "Did someone offend the s'mores guy because i think he spit on mine?"
Decision time. In the end, it's really close. The Foos split their vote. Dave votes for Team Sexy Pants and Taylor votes for Team Cougar; he's not into desserts so much so he can overlook that. Here it comes... Sexy Pants pulls it out! I'm thinking Ariane is safe as she has clearly redeemed herself this challenge, and Jeff is on the chopping block for over-promising and under-delivering, again. Cut to concert footage. Woo hoo! Party time! Excellent! Cut back to sad, sad, Team Cougar breaking down the buffet.
One By One
Elimination time. Team Cougar lines up for the judges. Jeff rattles off a list of so-called curve balls including "God made it rain." Tom isn't buying it since the other team had the same curve balls. Jeff gets props for organization. Gail gives Ariane and her turkey a shout-out. Tom calls out the spoonbread stuffing as dry and overcooked. Daniel's potatoes were undercooked, and one of Tom's least favorite dishes. He questions Daniel for even serving them. But it's the desserts that really set the two teams apart. Jeff's pumpkin mousse comes up again. Grant really did not like the s'mores and says it was a "failed concept." Turns out what Dave described as spit was vanilla creme on top of s'mores.
The judges deliberate. "It comes down to the desserts," says Grant. "But what about those potatoes?" counters Tom. Carla's cobbler is the least offensive dessert. Jeff's dishes across the board weren't very good. Tom recognizes Jeff's natural leadership skills, but he had too much going on again. Grant's least favorite dessert: the s'mores because they didn't taste good and conceptually were a mess. Tom: "You don't have to do everything on the rider."
Decision time!
Eugene: Pork a high point from both teams.
Alex: Safe
Carla: desserts not a high point, but her's was the best of the three.
Ariane: Thanksgiving is all about turkey and her's was excellent. she's redeemed herself. I hope this is a turning point for her.
Now for the bottom three.
Daniel: Bad potatoes
Jeff: Bit off more than you could chew
Richard: S'mores were really disappointing
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
BYE BYE Richard. Oh well. Cue the waterworks. Dang. I feel for the guy.
Ed's Take
In the end, you can't argue with the judge's decision. I might have sent Daniel home instead, but that could be a function of his stupid "maybe it's her time of the month" remark. Jeff made two bad dishes, and might have been saved by his "leadership" skills. But really, how much credit should he get for leading the Cougar's to defeat. My man Eugene continues to shine. He's got pluck and skills. The Finn obviously knows how to cook, and Fabio knows how to charm and cook. That's a pretty lethal combination in a show like Top Chef. Among the women I think Leah has the chops and the judgment to get to the finals. As for Ariane, she may have won Colicchio over with her turkey breast, but I remain a skeptic. I still think she's going down. I love this Top Chef handicapping stuff, don't you?