Top Chef Power Rankings - Preview

Well, you knew I had to come out of hiding for this, right?

We are but hours away from the premiere of Top Chef season five, and I'm totally ready. We have New York as the setting, the producers have assembled what looks like the usual band of chefs, caterers, wannabes and miscreants, and returning to praise or smack them around as appropriate are... well... most of our judges.

Sad I am to report that Ted Allen has left Top Chef (no, not just because he said such kind things about me!). As he mentions in his blog, his dance card was getting a little crowded, and the choice between guest judging somebody else's show and getting picked up for the second season of your own show isn't really a choice at all. So congrats, Ted, on the success of Food Detectives (not to mention another mystery show yet to be revealed). I can't speak for everybody, but I'll certainly miss your take on the TC contestants.

Ted's replacement is Toby Young, about whom I can't say I know much, at least foodwise. Sure, he wrote a couple of books and was a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and has made appearances on some British food shows... but all that matters to the Power Rankings is what kind of palate and food knowledge he brings to the table. For that, we'll just have to wait and see.

Since you can see from the date of my last post how much blogging time I've had as of late, let's get right to the contestants! This season, we're going to start off with a little preview of sorts. I've tried to do a little preliminary research into the crowd, checking out pedigrees and menus where I can, in the hopes of getting a sense of who we should be watching out for. I doubt I've learned anything that won't make itself fairly obvious by the midpoint of the first episode, but all the same it's nice to have some sense of where these folks are coming from, other than the microscopic bios posted on the Bravo website. Since this is a preview, to maintain a little bit of suspense, I'm going to go reverse order until we've actually seen what these people can do. Also, no elimination predictions for now -- just a little early handicapping. The folks near the top are the ones who look like they have a chance to go deep, and the folks near the bottom seem, on the surface at least, like they're probably ticketed for an early exit. Given that the producers have selected some fairly low-profile individuals, there's even more speculation than usual. But then, that's the whole point of the Power Rankings, isn't it? And so, without further ado, your season five lineup:

Wins

Top

Bottom

17 Patrick Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 The fact that he's pursuing a culinary education is more than we can say for some of this season's contestants (not that you need a degree to go places in food), but Patrick is young, he doesn't appear to have much, if any, real-world experience, and history has not been kind to the culinary students. It looks like he favors simple, satisfying vegetable dishes, which might buy him some time, but without any other information to go on, it's hard to predict that he'll be around for long. But, as one of the low-information contestants, he could turn out to be a complete surprise. I imagine we'll discover quite quickly where, precisely, he belongs in the rankings.

16 Carla Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 The Top Chef pecking order goes something like this: Executive chefs, other chefs, caterers, personal chefs, culinary students. Top Chef's caterers have been known to survive for a while on guile, but they've never gone deep, and on first glance, I don't see anything from Carla that leads me to believe she'll be any different. She runs Alchemy Caterers in DC, and the website is currently under construction (surprise!), but a little Google searching turned up an older site from about five years ago with a little information and some sample menus. When the dinner menu lists only "Chopped Hearts of Romaine With Blue Cheese, Pears, & Balsamic Vinaigrette" and "Grilled Filet Mignon With Mushrooms & Baked Potatoes" as entrees, that doesn't inspire confidence. The hors d'oeuvres are a little more hopeful, but still look like standard catering fare. Carla may very well have grown quite a bit in the years since this old site was posted, but what little I've found doesn't look promising.

15 Gene Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Gene's bio is more than a little cryptic. It lists him as an executive chef and chef consultant, says he's about to be the executive chef of a "new concept for a major hotel and casino in Las Vegas", but it doesn't actually mention anybody or anyplace he's worked for, specifically. I ranked him above a couple others for two reasons. First, because he's apparently worked his way from dishwasher up to executive chef (purportedly), and that definitely says something about his effort and dedication. Second, he's from Hawaii, which means he's probably well-versed in a lot of flavors and is coming from a place with a naturally creative culinary tradition. But all of this is really a shot in the dark. In the first episode, it could come out that he's a short order cook who tanks the inaugural challenge by boiling beef and I wouldn't be that surprised.

14 Lauren Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Lauren is the chef tournant at Jag's Steak & Seafood in Cincinnati, and though I'm mostly unimpressed by what I see, there's room for optimism. The biggest thing working for her is her position as chef tournant, which basically means she's the jill-of-all-trades who can step in and cover any station in the kitchen. Versatility goes a long, long way in Top Chef, and that could be a big asset. Plus, she's a CIA grad, which definitely accounts for something. On the other hand, the menu at Jag's, while not hers, looks terrible, and the restaurant mysteriously disappeared from Cincinnati Magazine's annual top 25 list back in 2006, not to be seen since. Also, her home is listed as "Stationed at Fort Stewart, in Georgia" and her clothing for the publicity photos is camo print. If that doesn't scream "I'm here to make good television", I don't know what does.

13 Melissa Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Melissa's one of the contestants who's difficult to get a handle on. She lists her specialty as Latin, and she works as sous chef at Centro Latin Kitchen and Refreshment Palace in Boulder, a place that, despite its name, seems to be very well-regarded locally. The problem is that it isn't her menu, so I have no idea what she's like creatively. She's one of two contenstants from the Big Red F Restaurant Group in Colorado, which I'm tempted to call a positive, but I'm not sure. Based on the bios and what little I can find, she's a tough one to peg.

12 Danny Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 This season's entry in the Beefy New Yorker division is Danny Gagnon (hey, not an Italian this time!), who's a CIA grad and chef de cuisine at Babylon Carriage House in New York. The guy has a great education and is working a successful NY restaurant, so you may wonder why I have him in the bottom half. First, again, the menu at Babylon Carriage House isn't his -- at least not officially -- so it's hard to know what he does. But more importantly, his specialty is listed as "Italian/Asian Fusion", which just gives me the jibblies.

11 Richard Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 The West Coast bear is Richard, who is the executive sous chef at Confidential Restaurant & Loft in San Diego's gaslamp district. While the gaslamp district is quite charming (great place to catch a baseball game, incidentally) those I know who have spent time there haven't been terribly complimentary about the restaurant scene. And Richard professes a love of simple food, which is good to a point, but when your favorite simple recipe is lightly grilled chicken breast with crumbled gorgonzola, dried cranberries, baby spinach salad and a light balsamic vinaigrette, the word that comes to mind is boring. Perfectly tasty, I'm sure, but not the kind of food that will take you deep in Top Chef. But on the other hand, Confidential is a trendy tapas lounge. Even if it isn't his menu, at least he's been preparing more than grilled chicken breast. I'm not sure what to expect from him.

10 Radhika Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Radhika is the executive chef at Between Boutique Café & Lounge (another unfortunately named establishment), which has the distinction of being located about three blocks away from my old place in Chicago. Too bad I left before they opened, or I might have something to report other than gross speculation. She runs a trendy, loungey world tapas kind of place, and while I can't say I'm overly excited by the menu, she's working in a lot of flavors -- including her native Indian -- which means she should, at least, be interesting. What little word I've heard around Chicago is generally positive, but Between isn't exactly flying high on the radar. It sounds like she'll hang around, but unlike Stephanie from last season, I haven't heard anything that leads me to believe she'll be going deep, other than the fact that she's a bona fide executive chef, which usually indicates good things.

9 Jill Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Jill, executive chef at Baltimore's Red Maple, rounds out the "Trendy, Loungey, Global Tapas" category that seems to be rather expansive in season five. I suppose the worst thing I can say about Jill is that, despite living in Baltimore for a year and a half now, I'd never heard of Red Maple until reading her bio. I'm not sure if this says more about her food or more about how little we've been able to get out since moving here (probably the latter), but nonetheless, subsequent resarch and consultation with local food nerds hasn't turned up a lot of love for Red Maple. The menu is ultrastylish food that hits all of the trendy ingredients, and folks who know their stuff (read: Tom and Gail) will see right through it if it isn't also well-grounded. I've no doubt she's capable, but I'm not feeling a winner with Jill.

8 Alex Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Alex is interesting enough that I wonder if I shouldn't have him higher, but something I can't quite put my finger on holds me back. He's a Spaniard by birth who worked at Calle Ocho in New York and Cuba Cuba in Colorado before landing in LA, where he's now executive chef at Restaurant 15 -- an interesting little concept place. Dinner at Restaurant 15 is a prix fixe affair, where you choose an appetizer and entree and get the chef's dessert of the day for $15. Simple elegance on a budget is something that always appeals to the TC judges, and working on the cheap is a skill that will most definitely come in handy. The biggest mark against him is some mixed reviews of Restaurant 15 in the blogosphere, but I've heard enough good stuff that it looks like there's potential there. Plus, even though he's well-versed in Latin flavors, you wouldn't know it from his current menu, so it doesn't look like he'll be a one trick pony.

7 Stefan Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Okay, remember what I said about the Top Chef pecking order above? Forget it. Yes, I know, I know, he's a caterer. But I have a good feeling about this guy that maybe I can't quite justify, but I have it anyway. For starters, his catering business is based in Yountville, CA -- as in Napa Valley, home of the French Laundry Yountville, CA. You don't succeed in food there unless you know what you're doing. And while his menu is obviously catering food (protein, vegetable, starch, doable in volume), it looks unusually good. Also, catering is a relatively recent gig for him. He comes from an executive chef background, working quite a bit through Europe. So let's just call this guy the dark horse. I have a hunch he's going to show us something.

6 Fabio Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I suppose there's no mystery about who's taking on heartthrob duties this season. When you're named Fabio, you hail from Florence and you look like that, it's a pretty good bet that you could crack a can of Spaghetti-Os and still have a good chunk of the TC audience in your pocket. Thankfully, by all indications, this executive chef of Cafe Firenze in California knows what he's doing. My only concern is that while his menu looks fantastic, it's straight-up traditional Italian. He has one trick pony written all over him. I'm betting he executes well and chugs along great until one of the judges finally says, "pasta again?" We'll see. Of course, he's Shatner's personal chef, so -- well -- I'm just going to leave it at that.

5 Leah Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I feel kinda dirty putting the modern, creative Italian chef ahead of the straight-up traditional Italian chef, but I'm just trying to be honest with myself here. Leah's a CIA grad who's been working with the right people. Though her bio lists her as Centro Vinoteca's sous chef, with Anne Burrell's departure (Food Network, and all) I believe she's now acting executive chef, and it sounds as though she's been largely running the show for some time, anyway. The restaurant has been very well-received, and buzz is that she hasn't missed a beat stepping in for Anne. I'd be concerned that even creative Italian might be a little narrow, but she comes from a "Filipino, Russian-Romanian, Jewish" family and professes an affinity for Thai, so she might be showing more than pasta -- at which she apparently excels, having worked at Michelin starred La Mandia in Italy. She's a little fresh on the executive chef scene, and I think it's going to be tough for an Italian specialist to go all the way, but she definitely looks strong.

4 Hosea Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Hosea is the other half of the Big Red F Restaurant Group duo, but unlike Melissa, he's built up a public reputation. He's currently the executive chef of Jax Fish House in Boulder, where he's gotten a great deal of local acclaim. He's also pulled down some awards, and he's the seven time undefeated Flatiron Chef Competition champion. Flatiron Chef is a local Iron Chef style event, which says to me that the guy performs under pressure in goofy competitive scenarios and, by all accounts, loves it. His menu is creative seafood with influences from all over the place, in terms of both technique and flavor. The only thing that gives me pause is that his dishes look a little busy and heavy-handed. But he certainly seems to have both the skill and competitive spirit to go deep.

3 Ariane Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Jersey girl Ariane is another CIA grad who's executive chef of CulinAriane (what's with the awful restaurant names this season?... says, uh, the guy whose blog is named Skillet Doux), a little neighborhood joint in Montclair, NJ. Her menu's kind of scattershot, with European and Asian both well-represented, and to be honest, it doesn't excite me. And yet, it sounds like the restaurant is quite beloved locally, and a NY Times review, while somewhat mixed, was generally quite positive. Most importantly, she seems to be executing cleanly, she's doing her food, and she's been doing it successfully for quite some time, and that says something. I'm going to let my misgivings over her menu take a backseat to the restaurant's reviews, and presume she's earned them.

2 Jeff Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 And now we get to the two who really excite me. I actually flipped the top two about four or five times before finally posting, so it's more like 1 and 1a, but I'm giving the edge to Jamie for reasons I'll explain shortly. Jeff came up gutting fish, but worked his way through Florida, then California, then back to Florida to work under Norman Van Aken, before landing as chef de cuisine at The DiLilo Beach Club and earning a 2008 Florida Rising Star Chef Award. His restaurant is, from what I can tell, the only one that's bordering on fine dining, and I think that's going to help him to stand out. His menu looks really, really crisp and extremely creative, integrating exotic ingredients in very matter-of-fact ways. And it appears that he'll only be broadening his palate, since he's just returned from a sabbatical that took him around the Mediterranean. The fact that it's hard to find any reviews of his restaurant gives me a little pause, but combined with the award, I'm going to presume it means he's just about to break. Obviously, I can't taste the man's food, but if his flavors match his creativity and what appears to be some very crisp execution, he's going to be there at the end.

1 Jamie Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Jamie is the executive chef of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in San Francisco, and it looks like this woman knows what she's doing. Even setting aside the fact that she's getting great reviews in a food town as discerning as San Francisco, I'm totally in love with her menu. She's a CIA grad who worked in France for a number of years, and her menu is bistro French and Northern Italian with some creative modern American touches. She looks to me to be in the mold of Harold -- well grounded in classical technique with a great respect for ingredients, but with just enough of a creative flair to keep people guessing. Not to mention which, Absinthe made Food & Wine's 2008 Go List, so Gail's already in her pocket. If anybody could be classified as a ringer, it's probably Jamie. It's still early speculation time, but I'm picking her for the finals.

So there they are. Try not to judge me too harshly when tonight's episode airs and we discover that Patrick has some serious chops, Jamie can't boil water and Italian/Asian Fusion is going to be the next big thing. We'll be back with the usual postmortem immediately after the show, followed by the first official Power Rankings on Monday.

Discuss!

Comments

[Peggasus]

Yay, youre back! I am so nerdily excited for tonights show. The bottle of wine is already chilling! This is a nice bit of background research youve done here too.

[Jared]

I appreciate you taking the time to write these blogs. I enjoyed your non-top chef posts as well, but itll be nice to read your work consistently.

[Jesse]

I can vouch for the food at Absinthe - I was there most recently on election night. The food is superb (and the bar is excellent too!)

[=R=]

Thanks, Dom, for the informative kick-off post.

Just to let the snark begin Ill say this:

In spite of his kindness toward you, I cant say Im too broken up about Ted being gone. I think itll be a much better fit for him at Food Network.

Im very much looking forward to your trailing Season 5. Your write-ups are the perfect condiment for the show.

Thanks again,

=R=

[Ed T.]

Dom - glad to see youre back. Also, I am somewhat saddened that Ted *wont* be back this year, although his role always seemed to be somewhat, hmmm, shall we say, token-ish? I really thought they were going to make better use of him than they did. I do happen to think he is actually a better fit for Food Network, and hope his new show is better than Myth Busters, Food Edition ... errr, Food Detectives.

Italian-Asian Fusion? As in Chicken Sashimi, perhaps? Makes about as much sense as the number of so-called high grade chefs who serve undercooked chicken on National TV.

~EdT.

[canasian]

Ive missed this blog so much! I mustve checked back three times a day to see if you were back. Interesting to see the backgrounds of these chefs. I usually like to keep the chefs preshow record out of my judgement of them, but Ill make an exception since it came from you.

[Skillet Doux]

Hey, all!

Good to be back :-)

I have a heck of a backlog to get posted, so hopefully there will be some good non-TC stuff interspersed with the Power Rankings over the next few months.

T-minus 139 minutes and counting!

[Ted Allen]

Dominic! Great work, as always. Ive said it before, Ill say it again--you cover TC smarter and better than anybody. Love the preview. Not that Im gonna watch this piece-o-shit show or anything. ;)

R, as much as I love the network that saved me from print journalism, Im going to take it as a compliment that you see me fitting in better with Ina, Alton, and Giada than with the Real Housewives. EdT., we are completely retooling Detectives, which I totally agree had problems (some of them my doing). And my second show will be announced early next week! But enough about me.

Im with SkilletDoux—my money is on Jamie. Although Carla clearly has the best hair.

Cheers, T

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

Welcome back! I cant imagine watching this season of Top Chef without Skillet Doux.

[Allison]

What Jared said. Ive been looking forward to your analysis of Season 5. Nice start!

[Jason]

Cant tell you how excited I am to see a blog post already. Not ready to comment on any first impressions yet, but do think Ill have some early favorites. Cant wait til Monday!

Thanks Dom! And Ted, now that youre not affiliated with the show, Im sure you can let your unabashed comments fly here, right?

[Dan]

Hey Chief,

Nice to see you back for the new season. Two things:

1. How does a nice straight boy like you end up with the term bear in his vocabulary?
2. This is now the 5th or so season of Top Chef. How the hell do contestants come onto the show without having practiced their basic prep and knife skills? How do they come on the show without having a panoply of go-to-recipes from a variety of cuisines? Dont these people do any prep work? How can you not know how to put together an Asian dish? How can you be so ignorant of Middle Eastern? Come on....take a week, do some research.

[Skillet Doux]

Hey, Dan... you learn a lot of things when you do extensive Google searching on anybody :-)

But in all seriousness, if youre a reader of the Top Chef blogs, theyve been making a big deal out of Toms real or imagined popularity within the bear community since sometime in season three (TC PR at work?). And Richard didnt exactly do anything to dispel that notion last night.

As for prep, it could be argued that there are so many possibilities its impossible to really prepare, but I agree... anybody who took a little time to comb through the old episodes could come up with a list of ten dishes thatd be likely to save their proverbial bacon at some point. Hubris, maybe? The show definitely attracts a lot of big egos.

[DaveP]

Damn, I wished I'd read your blog before watching last night's ep. I only read their bios and would've liked to have known a bit more about the chefs before watching them compete.

Well, you were spot on about Patrick, though in fairness, it was easy to spot. Where do line cooks go in your pecking order? I mean, Ilan did win season 2, though that season was too flawed for words. Eugene's a very pleasant surprise. Hope he didn't just get lucky.

[michelle @ TNS]

ditto what DaveP said - wish i had read this before watching (let along liveblogging!); i would have been able to keep them all straight.

i cant root for jeff yet because he just comes off as too douchey, but im definitely feeling jamie.

[ArC]

Hasnt Italian-Asian fusion been a thing since Marco Polo? =)

[Skillet Doux]

"Damn, I wished I'd read your blog before watching last night's ep. I only read their bios and would've liked to have known a bit more about the chefs before watching them compete."

"ditto what DaveP said - wish i had read this before watching (let along liveblogging!); i would have been able to keep them all straight."

You know, I wish I'd done this for every season so far. Usually those first two episodes are just a total blur of people. But having done the research, I knew exactly who everybody was and knew (mostly) what to expect from them, so I could actually concentrate on what they were doing rather than trying to figure out who was who. It was kinda nice.

[Polybus]

Welcome back indeed! I did not expect a preview posting or believe me I would have been here early, too. It was surprising to see Power Rankings in a preview, but I have to admit that you are very much in the ballpark. Since I had no expectations, I felt that Stefan clearly did the best job. However, since I often root for people who dont win (Harold was my only accurate prediction so far), I must say that I really like Radhika and Gene, though Im not sure that Gene is going to be able to back into a good dish like he did in this episode.

The pressure to succeed in this environment must be overwhelming. In the past, when weve seen an excellent chef make some elemental mistake, it makes for really good drama. I am still stunned at Richards failure to win last season. And Im thinking that probably Stephan and Jeff seem to be the most likely candidates (among the best chefs) for a melt-down this year.

Im looking very much forward to the new Power Rankings on Monday. Its good to have you back!

[Nikki D]

*Sigh* Ive MISSED this blog (and Top Chef) so much and Im glad youre back!

Thanks for the nice preview - cant wait for the rest of the season!

PS-Jamie, Jeff and Stefan are my favs, but Im secretly pulling for Radhika (though I wasnt impressed in episode 1...)

[Dan]

Toms hot. Except for that one episode where he was wearing some beret that made him look like a douche. What can I say? Id do him.