Top Chef Power Rankings - Episode 3

I'll be getting back to some actual food here shortly... honest! But meanwhile, time to finally get caught up on the Power Rankings. (For the record, the previous two weeks' rankings were written at the time, but sat on the shelf while I got all of the photos and tables and everything sorted out).

The rankings are starting to firm up a bit. The show itself can be mighty misleading at times, but put the show together with the judges' blogs and the online recipes and some clearer pictures are starting to emerge. There are still a few people flying low, but I don't expect that to go on much longer.

Nice to see our first local hero this week. His body language is weirdly robotic and he strikes me as kind of an odd duck, but there's no knocking Rick Bayless. Unless you have a DVR and keep replaying his "we do serve tacos, but with a twist, that's for sure" line, which sounds weirder and weirder every time I hear it. In all seriousness, though, the dude knows his stuff and is a passionate, enthusiastic ambassador of Mexican cuisine. As a side note, Chicago is strangely overlooked by many as quite possibly the best town in the States for regional Mexican. I don't purport to be an expert in that arena so I don't want to go too far out on a limb here, but my impression is that it's too easy to just say it's all about southern California. Unlike Los Angeles, where the Mexican population is largely removed a couple of generations from the mother country and more homogenous in terms of regional origin, the Mexican population in Chicago is quite diverse and more recently arrived, and thereby more reflective of regional Mexican cuisine. It's no accident that this is where Bayless makes his home.

In any case, a nice challenge for the quickfire, with a few annoyances. First off, who does Erik think he is? Sure, the soul of Mexican cuisine may be in its street food, but what, the nation of Mexico doesn't do upscale? Just a dumb, narrow point of view. And even if you think it's wrong, adapt and do the fricking challenge or go home. And I don't mean to let Spike off the hook on that count, either. Secondly, it sure seems that Lee Anne Wong has been doing a stellar job of running the Top Chef kitchen since taking over, but c'mon, Lee Anne... you're in Chicago and you have your chefs pulling tortillas out of the fridge for a taco challenge? They should've been hot and steamy and fresh from any of a number of local tortillerias you have to choose from. In most areas of Chicago, you can't walk three blocks without passing a Mexican grocery that stocks fresher tortillas than that.

As for the elimination, seriously, what a disappointment. I realize it's tough cooking out of people's pantries, but did you see some of those kitchens? The chefs who were talking about cooking for "middle America" obviously didn't stop to look around. Sadly, a lot of coastal chefs and food nerds still trot out the tired, condescending rhetoric that here in the heartland, we're all just simple meat and potatoes folk who are frightened and confused by ethnic and creative dishes. It's an ignorant assumption that hurt some of the contestants this week, and it will hurt them again if they don't wise up. And while carting food offsite isn't common practice for most restaurant chefs, really, it doesn't take catering experience to know that a lot of things they're making aren't going to travel well. A couple of pot lucks or a brain should be enough to send up the red flag on some of these ideas.

One last note before this week's rankings -- my top and bottom counts on the challenges are a little nebulous when it comes to team events. I'm not scoring Nikki a top elimination for being on the winning team with that mac and cheese, for example. If the top and bottom folks aren't explicitly named, I kind of gauge the judges' comments and score accordingly. It's somewhat subject to the editors' whims and a fuzzy way of doing it, but I calls 'em like I sees 'em. Think of it like boxing. My scorecard might not mesh perfectly with the other judges', but hopefully it's obvious that we were, in fact, all watching the same bout.

Wins

Top

Bottom

1 Richard Quickfires 2 2 1 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 0 1 0 A quickfire win and a quiet week from Mark throws Richard back into the top spot. In the quickfire, he did exactly what takes you to the top on Top Chef. He listened to the challenge, attacked it with creativity, executed with precision and won himself immunity. For the curious, his jicama "tortillas" with avocado and papaya were fairly simple, seasoned with coriander and cinnamon. Goes to show this is a guy who understands that fine dining is rarely defined by a laundry list of ingredients. Shades of Hung's Arroz con Pollo on the elimination challenge (his paella recipe couldn't have been more straightforward), but having immunity, it's hard to fault him for keeping his tricks close to his vest. And unlike Hung, it was refreshing to see that he had the good sense to take Tom's criticism and not get into a snit, regardless of whether or not he felt the judging was accurate or nitpicky.

2 Stephanie Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 2 2 1 I don't feel like Stephanie quite earned her way back to the number two spot today, but still, how can you rank the person who's won two of three elimination challenges any lower than second? She managed to eke out a win against lackluster competition, but even then I think there was at least one dish on the losing team that had her beat but was ineligible for the win. Her quickfire dish, which didn't make the show, was a grilled beef tenderloin taco with a truffled poblano vinaigrette. The plating was sharp, and give her full marks for attempting to take the taco upscale. Obviously, something about it didn't work for Bayless or we would've gotten a peek, but whether or not she pulled it off, it at least struck me as interesting -- though I question the use of tenderloin. Fine if you're going to marinate it, bury it in a luxurious sauce or kick it up with an intense rub, but lacking flavor and suboptimal for a taco. Or maybe I'm just bringing my own T-loin prejudices to the table, here. She didn't exactly reinvent the wheel on the elimination challenge (and it isn't even clear to me that she prepared the fruit -- that might've been Lisa), but the "sexy drink" sounded interesting (no recipe, sadly), and she made a very wise choice in going with a light and refreshing dessert on a hot day. Sometimes, it's all about context.

3 Mark Quickfires 2 2 0 Last Week: 1 Eliminations 0 1 1 Mark goes quiet after making his big splash in week two, but he also doesn't embarrass himself, which is almost as good as winning this week. His quickfire taco, cut from the show, was a "mille feuille" (a rather loose usage of the term) with Tasmanian pepperberry dusted veal, avocado and tomato. I'm not familiar with Tasmanian pepperberry and a web search produced a couple of flavor descriptions that were, to put it charitably, vague. But while he went with an unconventional stacked plating that definitely had a fine dining look to it, I wonder if the dish didn't come across as underflavored. There's no recipe posted for his inside-out cookie but, oddly enough, there is a recipe for a simple spinach and goat cheese salad with grapes that was never mentioned on the show. My hunch is that he made both, but I just don't see anything to get excited about here.

4 Antonia Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 0 2 0 Still no splash from Antonia, but she continues to execute and receive praise for her dishes. Her quickfire was a nice looking crispy fish taco with tomatillo salsa and garam masala, and I suspect its exclusion was due to its lack of refinement. It wasn't taco truck fare, but it wasn't going to be featured at Topolobampo, either. Her bean salad was embarrassingly pedestrian, with canned beans, roasted peppers, Italian cold cuts and a balsamic vinaigrette. And yet, she executed it well and got some props from the judges. At some point, she's going to have to get a lot more interesting to stay alive. But in the meantime, flawless execution can keep her near the top for a while.

5 Dale Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 0 0 0 I was very tempted to move Dale past Antonia this week, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt just a bit longer given that she's had a little more share of the spotlight thus far. But I expect this to change shortly. Dale's quickfire was a soy-marinated tuna taco with avocado-yuzu puree, mango-jalapeno pickle and tequila cream. It seemed to me that fried corn tortillas would bury his raw tuna, so I wonder if that's why we didn't see it. But he took the challenge head-on, and his elimination dish was strong. Dale's been somewhat star-crossed thus far, his best dishes buried under criticism of his teammates. From reading the blogs, it sounds as though his grilled pork and pineapple skewers with smoked red curry BBQ sauce and marinated mushrooms and edamame was the consensus favorite, it's just that he was on the wrong team again. I know we're three weeks in now, but I keep reading his recipes and that breakout episode is coming. In the meantime, he slips a little again due to inaction.

6 Andrew Quickfires 0 1 1 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 1 1 0 Andrew makes another decent showing, his duck tacos with plantain jam and cotija cheese tickling Bayless' fancy, even if he didn't come away with immunity. He went weirdly conservative at the block party, making red and white sangrias, but he didn't catch any televised flak, and the large team format and number of unmentioned dishes makes me wonder if he didn't do something else as well. In any case, his taco keeps him in the top half of the rankings, and I'm actually starting to like the guy. He threw himself into the event, and his defiance at judges' table struck me as overexuberance rather than douchebaggery this time around. My suspicion is that he's a good-natured fellow who has the potential to get a little carried away. We'll see if that happens.

7 Jennifer Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 7 Eliminations 0 1 0 And now, the best of the rest for the third week running... Jennifer! More of the same from her in week three. Recipes look great, but she's still avoiding the spotlight like the plague. Her taco didn't look to be one of her strongest dishes, with grilled coho salmon, tomatillo salsa, carrot-shallot pickles and cabbage. It makes me a little concerned that she might not handle the transition to cleanly executed fine dining that the later weeks will require. But her sliders, which were singled out for praise, were infinitely more interesting than Sara N's from last season (not that this should shock anybody). Though you didn't get the detail in the show, they were made from a mix of ground chuck, flank steak, turkey and bacon, and she served them with a tasty looking chipotle salsa and a fresh provolone cheese sauce. Perfect for the challenge -- block party chow, elevated. She's another one who has to catch some attention soon. I certainly don't have her pegged to go the distance, but I still think there's more to her than we've seen thus far.

8 Spike Quickfires 0 2 1 Last Week: 9 Eliminations 0 0 0 Spike actually looked pretty good this week, relative to the rest of the field. His pork tacos took a subtle Asian angle, with the pork marinated in soy and the taco topped with mint, a mango sauce, fish sauce and sriracha (to go along with the tomatillo salsa). Bayless seemed very impressed by the flavors, but given Spike's reaction to being passed over, he apparently has chosen not to understand that ignoring the challenge's parameters isn't going to win you the prize. Labeling his elimination dish a "taco salad" is a little misleading. Looking at the recipe, it's actually a clean, sophisticated little dish with sautéed spiced chorizo, poached shrimp, avocado crema and a lime dressing that, again, works in some subtle Asian elements. Like Dale, if he's on the winning team, I suspect this dish gets more love. So if you set aside his problem with the sirloin tips last week, that's five solid dishes with the kind of clean, minimal appeal that will play well in the later stages. He has a shot at sticking around. Besides which, I get the impression that the s'more on a stick was his baby, and that's a great little repackaging of a classic.

9 Manuel Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 12 Eliminations 0 1 0 Manuel takes a pretty big jump here, but it's a passive one. He's making good if uninspiring dishes, but he sure seems like a one-trick pony and he's hanging around by not screwing up. His chorizo taco with nopales, picante verde and goat cheese certainly seemed nice, but it wasn't fine dining. And man, did he look crushed not to make the honor roll. Rightfully so. That's his house, to coin a suddenly popular phrase. I'm leery of BBQ that isn't low and slow, but his pork and chicken seemed tasty enough, even if it turns out that his chocolate "BBQ sauce" was -- I kid you not -- chocolate, ketchup and Worcestershire. Bottom line, if you count the Latin influences in his BBQ, he hasn't done anything non-Mexican since his pizza at the outset of the season. And while his food appears solid, it doesn't seem like the kind of creative Mexican that can allow him to ride a specialty deep into the contest. Yes, Ilan was all about the Spanish, but when push came to shove he got creative with great results. If Manuel doesn't break from his specialty very soon, look for the judges to call him out on it within the next two episodes.

10 Lisa Quickfires 0 0 2 Last Week: 8 Eliminations 0 1 0 Lisa, however, is headed in the opposite direction. I thought she showed some signs of life last week, but this week she just came out flat. Even setting aside the textural issues with her skirt steak tacos, pairing it with caramelized onions and pineapple doesn't win you big points, and certainly isn't fine dining. And her contribution to the party was... cabbage-apple slaw? It seemed like a good enough recipe, but nothing noteworthy. She might catch lightning in a bottle and bust out a good dish or two, but I'm starting to think there isn't much there.

11 Ryan Quickfires 0 2 1 Last Week: 11 Eliminations 0 0 2 Ryan was pretty much brutalized again, but I'm still inclined to think he had a better showing than Zoi, and he's at least shown a little more potential with a couple of nice dishes last week. His tacos looked terrible. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see squash and chickpeas playing together. And jicama-tomato doesn't seem like an inspired combination for his slaw, either. Though Bayless came across as incredibly finicky in criticizing the paper on his plate, I don't think that's what actually put Ryan in the bottom three. Then you've got the elimination, where he makes minor changes to a Waldorf salad, and they're bad ones. He's flashed a little potential, but the guy is clearly in over his head and in imminent danger.

12 Zoi Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 10 Eliminations 0 1 1 Zoi has a really rough week, escaping elimination by an eyelash, and it looks like she isn't long for this competition. I'd put her in the basement if not for the fact that I'm so down on Nikki right now. Also, part of what saves her from the basement is that while her pasta salad was savaged (nevermind that she did pasta salad in the first place), it's clear from the recipe that she's at least trying. It wasn't a run-of-the-mill recipe, including roasted garlic, some unconventional spices and hummus(?!), of all things. But one has to question the wisdom of dressing a pasta salad with both a vinaigrette and a hummus. And the judges hated it. Her quickfire, which you didn't see, involved blackened NY strip steak, seared scallops, nopales, tomato and queso fresco in napoleon form. But unlike Mark's, which had some panache even if the recipe looked a little uninteresting, hers just came across as very clumsy. Not a good indication that she's going to last as the judges get pickier.

13 Nikki Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 14 Eliminations 0 1 1 Well, no matter how bad you are, if you're at the bottom and manage to stave off elimination, the only way to go is up. Her taco, cut from the show, was definitely unconventional, but without cooking it up I'm skeptical about the flavor profile. She did a shrimp taco with nopales, peaches, fish sauce and sesame oil. Maybe I'd have been surprised, but I just don't see that working. Then there's the mac and cheese fiasco. Even if you cut her a little slack for being unfamiliar with the non-Newtonian properties of Velveeta, she's still making mac and cheese with bacon. Whee. I think she's toast. Put her in a challenge where she can cook whatever she wants, and she might be able to stick around a little while longer by working in her comfort zone (whatever that is). But this is the second straight week that she was probably saved by being on the right team and she hasn't shown any ability to adapt at all, so I think we'll be relieved of her company in short order (ha).

14 Erik Quickfires 0 1 2 Last Week: 13 Eliminations 0 0 2 You only get so many lives, and being on the bottom for two quickfires and two eliminations in the first three weeks means you're probably going home. I think it's clear that Erik wasn't going far, and this elimination isn't a surprise at all. Even if he's capable in his milieu, his style is too reminiscent of sloppy in-your-face Chili's style excess, and he was completely unable to adapt, either through a lack of range or stubbornness or both. First, he stubbornly refuses to make his taco upscale, even though that's the explicit purpose of the challenge (and he flat-out insults a respected chef who totally deserves better in the process). Then, he stubbornly sticks to his pet corn dogs, knowing full well that they aren't going to travel well. The brain just wasn't engaged, and from the sound of his exit interview that might not have been wholly unintentional, but it wouldn't have made a difference for long, anyway. This week, last week, next week -- he went at about the right time.

So, now that I've gotten the backlog of rankings actually posted, we can get down the business of real predictions. Judging from the "next time on" segment at the end of the show (always a dicey proposition), it looks like we're getting our first fine dining elimination challenge. My guess is that it's a relatively unrestrictive challenge, probably with some kind of thematic element, and the judges are going to be looking for creativity and execution. Plus, the contestants aren't going to sneak anything by Daniel Boulud, even if he is sitting across from Richard Roeper (why?). So, working on this flimsy assumption of the nature of next week's show, here's what happens. The creative chefs who can execute with attention to detail come to the fore. Richard comes out smelling like a rose, as long as he doesn't get too cute and turn off Boulud. Dale finally makes his big splash, and either Stephanie or Mark round out the top three. I'll peg Spike and Andrew as dark horses for the honor roll. Jennifer and Lisa stay out of the spotlight for another week. Jennifer will make some good food, and Lisa might, but neither will have the kind of high-end refinement needed to stick out here. On the other side, the chefs who aren't perfectly crisp in their execution are in trouble, which means Ryan, Zoi and Nikki are on the chopping block, with Manuel potentially slipping in there as well if he can't lose the rustic and play up the class. My hunch is that Ryan is creative enough to stave off elimination, leaving Zoi and Nikki on the precipice. Even though Nikki's currently at the bottom of my rankings, Zoi has shown great weakness in exactly what will be expected of her next week. Add that there will be a lingering sense that she probably should have gotten the axe last week, and she's done.

Discuss!

Updated Monday, March 31st - VERY MINOR SPOILER

Dicey proposition, indeed. A preview video on the Bravo website seems to indicate that the elimination challenge for Episode 4 will be another team challenge. So predictions are probably already blown.

Comments

[RM]

I thought Erik was pretty obnoxious to claim that there is no such thing as upscale Mexican food. Upscale and Mexican "don't go together"? Yeah, why not?

The other thing that stood out to me in this episode was a comment by judge Ted Allen after the block party, which was something like "if you think you're playing to the people and not to the judges, you are condescending to the people." I liked that way of looking at it, and it fits with your they-think-we're-all-meat-and-potatoes-folk theory very well.

[Skillet Doux]

Exactly.

And of course, to some degree you have to know your audience. Uni ice cream might be risky with seven year olds. But there were some chefs who were vastly underestimating (and condescending to) their crowd. Plus, the point the judges make, and that some contenstants forget every season, is that even if your audience isn't comprised of the most adventurous eaters, it doesn't mean they don't know good food from bad.

[Jenny]

Very cool. I never saw a "Power Ranking" for Top Chef. Nicely done!!! I would have Spike higher. BTW, is anyone here playing the last 2 game this season?

http://www.last2left.com/whatsinplay/top-chef-4

[Skillet Doux]

It's funny you mention that, Jenny, because right after I posted, I thought about bumping Spike up, but I decided to leave well enough alone. I think you're right. I don't know that I can justify kicking him above Andrew because of the elimination win, but I probably should've put him above Jennifer.

[Peggasus]

Right after Erik made that crack about there being no upscale Mexican, he said that Rick Bayless could 'go screw himself.' That made me see red, as I am a huge fan of Rick and his restaurants. Wow, what arrogance. I was glad to see him leave. Jerk.

[AmeliaB]

I really think that most of the chefs can cook. I think the ones who do best are the ones who listen, and realize that they need to give their best effort regardless of audience. (Of course, they also completely misjudged the people in the very nice homes...) I would never try to fry something and have it hold to transport, even to a neighborhood potluck. If I know that as a home cook, I can't for the life of me understand how several chefs have made this error already!

[saxdrop]

Rick Bayless and now Daniel Boulud as this week's celebrity chef judge. I didnt realize Top Chef had so much street cred.