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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, June 11, 2008 at 11:37 PM
We're still in Puerto Rico, having just witnessed the departure of Antonia last week. The three remaining chefs—Richard, Lisa, and Stephanie—are brought before Tom and Padma where they find three famous New York chefs—Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin, Dan Barber of Blue Hill, and April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig—each standing by a separate table of proteins and ingredients.
Tom announces that the final challenge will be simple: Create a four-course tasting menu for nine diners, starting with fish, moving to poultry, then red meat, and finishing with dessert. As the challenge is outlined, both Lisa and Stephanie express some concern about being forced to produce a dessert. One senses that a storyline is unfolding, even with just this one small hint.
The "sous chefs": Eric Ripert, Dan Barber, and April Bloomfield.
Furthermore, Tom tells the contestants that they'll have Ripert, Barber, and Bloomfield as their sous chefs for the competition. Who gets whom? And, perhaps more important, who gets the smorgasbord of proteins arrayed in front of each one of them? [A table full of spoilers, after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, June 5, 2008 at 1:00 AM
Time has passed. Fauxhawks have changed hue. Do-rags have been discarded. Hair has been shorn. Other than that, it's a remarkably familiar bunch that arrives in sunny Puerto Rico for Top Chef's penultimate competition.
Once Antonia, Richard, Stephanie, and Lisa land on the island, they're immediately whisked away to the beach where they meet Padma and guest judge Wilo Benet, one of Puerto Rico's pre-eminent chefs. He informs the crew that they've got a Quickfire challenge to attend to, which consists of creating pairs of small fried snacks called frituras. Basically, it's beachy snack food. Good for carbo-loading with an ice-cold cerveza. And the chefs will need to center their snacks around the plantain, a favorite local ingredient.
[Spoilers después del salto.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, May 29, 2008 at 1:22 AM
We've got five chefs left. Lisa, Stephanie, Richard, Spike, and Antonia. Last week, we lost Dale. If you are still misty-eyed over that cut, head on over to Bourdain's blog for the straight dope on why Lisa and Spike are still wearing their whites.
As this week's episode begins, there's just one more elimination before the remaining four chefs head to the finals in Puerto Rico. On the way to the Top Chef kitchen, the group makes a side trip to Allen Brothers, a well-known meat purveyor in the Chicago area. Here, the contestants don hairnets, gird their loins, and sharpen their knives before heading into the back to cut some steaks.
The Quickfire challenge is laid out by Joanne, a representative of Allen Brothers. Each chef is given a dry-aged rib rack that they need to convert into Tomahawk Chops, thick steaks with long, completely frenched ribs still attached. They have 20 minutes to make the steaks look perfect.
[Thinly sliced spoilers after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, May 21, 2008 at 11:18 PM
I have a feeling that Tom Colicchio regularly shows up at 5:45 AM in most of the chefs' nightmares. That said, at the beginning of this episode, well before the sun cracked the horizon, the head judge arrived loudly at the Top Chef barracks.
And if the pre-dawn wake-up call wasn't enough, Tom tells the six remaining chefs that their Quickfire challenge will be to work the egg station at one of Chicago's best-loved (and busiest) breakfast spots. Of course, in the hustle, I managed to miss the name of the place. Any Chicagoans? A little help in comments, please...
[Spoilers, over easy, after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, May 14, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Alright, we're still in Chicago and we still have six more chefs to sort through, several of which I hadn't pictured making it past week two, much less week ten.
Here's who's left, with a cheat-sheet in case you still don't have the names straight: Lisa (pierced eyebrow), Antonia (unflappable expression), Stephanie (curls) , Richard (fauxhawk), Dale (headband, grimace), Spike (hats), Andrew (beard, crazy eyes).
As we head into the Top Chef kitchen for the Quickfire, we see that this week's guest judge is Sam Talbot, a popular finalist from Season Two. He and Padma introduce the opening challenge, which is to make an innovative salad, or as they embarassingly put it: "bring the sexy back to salad." [Insert eye-roll here.] The chefs have 45 minutes and access to whatever ingredients they need.
[Incredibly sexy spoilers after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, May 8, 2008 at 12:17 AM
Looks like we've got a supersized hour-and-fifteen-minute episode this week called "Wedding Wars." So, before it even starts, we already know it's a group catering challenge. Right out of the gate, the eight remaining chefs head to the knife block and break out into two teams of four.
On Team Fork, we've got Antonia, Andrew, Richard, and Stephanie. (Lots of wins on that team.)
On Team Spoon, there's Dale, Lisa, Nikki, and Spike. (Lots of hats and bandanas on that team.)
And it makes sense that teams have formed because it's time for everyone's favorite the Quickfire Relay Race, with Tom Colicchio subbing in as referee and arbiter of relay hand-offs.
[Spoilers after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, May 1, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Last week Jen was sent home, under slightly saucy circumstances, apparently. I think that means all my local San Francisco contestants have been kicked to the curb. On a related note, I nearly ran over Zoi in SF's Mission District a few days ago. Sorry, Z. My bad.
Still, even with the City by the Bay woefully unrepresented, the show must go on. The guest judge for the Quickfire and the entire episode is Oprah's personal chef, Art Smith. The Quickfire Challenge gave the nine remaining chefs 15 minutes to make a complete entrée. The consensus was that this was no easy task. Several contestants claimed that even the 30-minute challenges caused near bedlam on the cooking line.
So what's the answer to this seemingly impossible situation, which is meant to simulate the intense time pressures of a popular restaurant? Uncle Ben's microwavable whole-grain rice.
[Once you stop laughing, make the jump, where the spoilers will be ready in about 90 seconds.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, April 9, 2008 at 11:30 PM
Last week, Top Chef bid goodbye to Manuel and left Spike in the mix to stir up some controversy. Would that strategy pay dividends this week? Not in the QuickFire, which was a pretty sedate affair. No cook-off this time. It's a blindfolded palate test! Guest judge Ming Tsai, chef-owner of Blue Ginger in Boston, announces that each contestant will try to determine the higher quality item in 15 pairs of ingredients.
Most of the contestants seemed to do alright, especially since the fast-forward editing of this challenge didn't really amp up the drama in any meaningful way. After the blindfolds were removed and the scores tallied, a very confident Antonia had correctly chosen 12 out of 15 ingredients and was rewarded with immunity. Close seconds Jen and Ryan each got 11 answers correct, while Stephanie, who already has two Elimination challenges under her belt, brought up the rear with 6 out of 15. Oops.
[Spoilers after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, April 2, 2008 at 11:11 PM
Like any good movie director, Top Chef decided to create some drama in the very first scene of tonight's episode. They introduced the idea that Jen and Zoi have an advantage because they're not separated from their loved ones. They even set it up with a sound-bite from Jen herself, talking about keeping some distance to defuse any suggestion that she and her partner are giving each other unfair support. Spike, always good for a snide comment or two, offered his assessment that the couple have a "slight advantage" and, in the Top Chef competition, that could make all the difference. It was the laugh-out-loud line of the show, for sure. Of course, part of me hoped it was true, so we could bid adieu to Spike (and his ludicrous hats) as soon as possible.
That would have to wait, however, because back in the kitchen, Daniel Boulud came in and announced the QuickFire Challenge: Make a vegetable plate using three different culinary techniques. After a frantic 30 minutes of slicing and dicing and brunoising, the master chef offered his appaisal of the results.
[Movie spoilers after the jump.]
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From Required Eating
Posted by Harold Check, March 19, 2008 at 11:55 PM
This week, with 15 chefs still in the running for the Top Chef crown, the show settled into familiar rhythms and let the audience begin to appreciate the contestants' skills and personalities.
The Quickfire Challenge involved 30 minutes of shopping at the Chicago Green City Market and required a dish with no more than five ingredients, not including salt, pepper, sugar, and oil. Mark, the New Zealander, managed to harass a bunch of vendors and leave behind some of his ingredients. Silly hobbit! [Warning: Spoilers after the jump.]
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Website: http://www.shiftingchannels.com/
Location: San Francisco
About: a blogger and podcaster who watches too much TV and reads too many comic books...
Favorite foods: eggs, spaghetti, carne asada tacos, sushi
Last bite on earth: the crab-stuffed calamari at Sassabune in Honolulu