Top Chef Power Rankings - Episode 3

PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING!!!
There's a lot of sneaky intel out there, especially this season, but I'm endeavoring to keep this blog a spoiler-free zone. This isn't just for the readers, but for me, too -- I don't want to know what happens! As such, anything that's already been broadcast or has been posted on the official Bravo site is fair game for discussion, but if you've heard rumors that one chef has been hosting a lot of dinner parties, or that another chef was spotted boarding a plane to an exotic locale, please keep them to yourself... thanks!

Will the favorite please step up?

Seriously, can we just call it a four or five way tie for the number one spot this week? Everybody at or near the top kinda did pretty well or paired a good dish with an off dish, but nobody made a strong case for the top spot. Makes for great television, but frustrating power rankings.

Not as frustrating, however, as the episode was itself. I hate episodes like this. The quickfire? Aside from the fact that we've reverted to only seeing about half the dishes, I have no complaints. I made my peace with cheesy promotional challenges a long time ago. As a ten year commercial-skipping DVR veteran, I figure I have only myself to blame (welcome to the future of television, folks). But the elimination challenge was pretty much the worst of everything. Massive teams where the winner and loser do little to reflect on individual performances. Bad conditions and dumbed-down equipment creating a situation where even the best chefs could totally screw up. A massive curveball that required complete retooling of all planning done the night before. A catering challenge. Hordes of dishes leading to incomplete or omitted recipes, scant coverage of what was made, and confusion over who made what. Yes, we had a rock band and a fun storyline (setting aside the whole "we're pretending our 'Thanksgiving' isn't in the middle of the summer" thing), and I understand that a show like this needs to cater both to food nerds and reality TV fans, and that some episodes will favor one over the other, but let's just say that this is the kind of episode the food nerds hate... if I may be so bold as to speak for the food nerds.

Doubly disappointing is that this is the episode Achatz drew. You have one of the keenest, most creative minds in food today and you're serving him out of chafing dishes. Just seems like a waste. If you're going to force the chefs to prep for a holiday chow line with microwaves and toaster ovens, at least bring on Bourdain to maximize our enjoyment of the carnage. Though, in all fairness, I was a little taken aback by how solidly the chefs did. This was definitely a challenge that had total meltdown written all over it, and while there were plenty of flops to go around, it seems like the quality of the fare in general was surprisingly high.

Two totally random side notes before we move onto the rankings. First, this is now the second week in a row that there's been a random 30 second segment of the show thrown into the middle of a commercial break. Can we just stop this right now? Please? Second, do we all look that lame at concerts, or is it just chefs? I'm going to see one of my favorite bands on Friday, and I'd like to know so I can decide whether to rock out or quietly hang back in a corner nursing a beer. This is important stuff.

This week was a massive pain to try to decipher when it comes to the rankings. I've done my best, but even if I thought this week's elimination was a good measuring stick (I don't), so much info is completely inaccessible that what little scraps are left are probably overvalued. My take? This is one of the rare weeks where the quickfire means a lot more to me than the elimination. So if the top spots seem a little arbitrary... well... that's because they are. In the absence of a clear frontrunner and good intel, I'm letting my gut do a lot of the talking this week. In fact, you know what? Screw it. Nobody gets number one this week. I'll bring back the top spot when somebody grabs it.

The power rankings are not purely a prediction of who is most likely to win, or an assessment of last episode's dishes, or a reflection of the contestants' historical performance, but rather a nebulous amalgam of all three, combined with a little bit of gut feeling, to provide a relative measure of current awesomeness.

Wins

Top

Bottom

2 Jamie Quickfires 0 2 0 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 0 2 0 Ideally, I'd like her to make a bigger splash before moving her into the not-number-one-highest-available-spot, but with everybody else in the top tier running a little hot and cold, I'm loving her consistency right now. She's banging out great dish after great dish and she knows it. This week, she kicks out another great soup, this time based on chickpeas with vadouvan -- the culinary world's pet spice du jour -- an herbed yogurt and pickled chiles. Again, relatively simple with a little personal touch, and Achatz gives it top mention. In the elimination, her charred corn salad with cucumber dill dressing and wax beans with bacon, onions, sage and toasted almonds were fairly straightforward, but Team Sexy Pants' (ugh) savories were well-received, and this one was about adaptation and survival, not creative brilliance. I'll feel better about her when she busts out a win or two, but she's always right there with the best and the fact that she hasn't broken through yet is, I think, just a matter of happenstance.

3 Stefan Quickfires 1 1 1 Last Week: 1 Eliminations 1 1 0 Some seem to feel that Stefan is simply treading water since starting off with a bang, but I'm not sure I agree. It's true that he did ham, beef and turkey in an exceptionally uninspiring manner for the elimination, and apparently dried out his turkey a bit. But as mentioned above, I'm disinclined to read too much into an elimination like this, and though he didn't get top mention for his soup, Achatz' comments made it seem as though he must have just missed, and I love the look of it. It's the sort of light, refined Asian dish that reminds me a lot of some of Harold's work from season one -- a coconut and curry based bisque with Thai aromatics and gently poached shrimp and scallop dumplings. He hasn't pulled down the wins in the past couple of weeks like he did at first, but I still love what I'm seeing in his recipes and I'm leaving him near the top.

4 Leah Quickfires 1 1 1 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 0 2 0 I might've given Leah the top spot if she hadn't made mashed potatoes for the elimination. Not that there isn't an art to perfect mashed potatoes, especially under those circumstances, but talk about using your immunity to take a vacation. I'm kicking her up here based on good vibes from some previous dishes and a really, really impressive quickfire this week. The genius of the quickfire was that it should be relatively easy to turn anything into a soup. Provided the flavors work together, there should be a way to make them do so in liquid form. That said, she drew the short straw, then turned right around and knocked it out of the park. White asparagus, nicoise olives and raw tuna? Took it right in stride. She hasn't been totally consistent, but she hasn't made any mistakes and she's put out a couple of really sophisticated dishes. So I'm bumping her up. Or I would be, if not for the lack of a number one shuffle.

5 Gene Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 1 2 0 Now's probably a good time to mention that my win/top/bottom count doesn't necessarily jive with the Bravo site's. Though I let them influence me, I keep my own scorecard for the episodes where it isn't cut and dried. Tom says in his blog that he would have given wins to Gene or Ariane if given the chance, and that's good enough for me. So chalk one up for Gene. Anyway, as much as some of our top chefs have been running a little hot and cold, I've been running hot and cold on Gene. I know I like the guy. I'm just not sure from week to week whether I believe in him or not. Episode one, he looked strong. Episode two, he looked a little gimmicky. Episode three, he looks calm, capable and above all, resourceful. Everybody loves the field-rigged hibachi (especially Jeff), and they should. Once again, the guy's using his head and refusing to get rattled, and that'll go a long way. His soup, since you didn't get to see it, dropped a seared scallop in a shiitake beef consomme (not actually a consomme, but we'll give it to him) and paired it with a fennel, mint, yuzu and pickled grape salad. Meanwhile, the fruit of his hibachi, the maple smoked pork loin, was done with cranberry marjoram sauce and an apple chili chutney, and was one of the most interesting elimination dishes out there. He's going big and brash, and I'm still not sure whether he's doing so skillfully or just making noise. On one of the website videos, a chiron pegged him as an executive chef for Roy's, which I believe is the first hint we've had as to his actual background (Addendum: Apologies to commenter riry, whose link to this article provides this information and more... I just caught your comment, riry!). His food looks a lot like Roy's. Big and brash and loud. I found Roy's, while enjoyable, not terribly refined and overly sweet. If that's what Gene is doing, he'll survive for a whlie, then take a header close to the finish line. But if he can take that style of cuisine, exercise a little restraint and keep adapting as well as he has, he'll have a shot.

6 Fabio Quickfires 0 2 0 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 1 2 0 Fabio takes a bit of a dive this week, partially because last week's jump was borne more of a sense of obligation than genuine enthusiasm on my part, and partially because he nailed two of my pet peeves this week. First, at the risk of being immodest, here's what I wrote last week: "If they think they're going to impress Grant Achatz with some funky technique, they'd better know what they're doing. I've eaten at Alinea, and Achatz isn't just doing crazy for crazy's sake. He's one of the wackiest guys out there, but his wild techniques and presentations have real thought and purpose behind them. He won't be buffaloed because something's 'cool'." And here's what Achatz had to say in his blog interview about Fabio's use of alginate and xanthan gum with the asparagus and olives in his soup: "I think Fabio was trying too hard. He is a smart guy ... and read me and my cooking style ... so he went for a more advanced approach to technique to try and impress ... but it was a bit off. To me that is a sin. Play with fancy technique only if you can make the overall dish better." I can't object to Fabio's pumpkin tiramisu on a tasty level. The recipe looks like a winner and I appreciate him marrying the traditions of his home country and adopted country. But I know tiramisu. I live a block away from the guy who probably invented it and his wife. We eat at their bakery all the time. My toddler loves her so much he cleans her display cases every time we visit. And Fabio, ladyfingers and coffee do not tiramisu make. Especially when you're adding cream cheese. I bet your dessert tasted great, but the term has become debased enough without actual Italians helping. In all seriousness, though, I still consider Fabio a contender. I just think he's been a little uneven.

7 Radhika Quickfires 1 1 1 Last Week: 8 Eliminations 0 1 0 I still have some serious reservations about Radhika, but now she has my attention. My initial impression was that her food looked overly trendy and more flash than substance, and yet she continues to collect good comments. Another week or two like this and I'll have to put her among the contenders. Her soup -- another that wasn't shown -- was a very basic white bean, bacon and onion affair that she perked up with a curried meatball and quick pickled pear and apple. I'd like to taste it, but it looks neat. And her vegan stuffing, though it doesn't look like much on paper, was universally praised as one of the best of the spread. My gut still tells me she's cooking a little too cute for her own good, but she's threatening to prove me wrong.

8 Hosea Quickfires 0 2 0 Last Week: 7 Eliminations 0 1 1 Hosea had a quiet week, which probably isn't a bad thing after last week's near miss. His soup, a tomato and corn affair with some shrimp, cilantro oil and chipotle, was probably tasty even if it isn't anything I can get too excited about on paper. His elimination looks pretty basic, but was among the well-received Sexy Pants desserts and apparently beat Carla's similar offering in a head-to-head. It's a basic peach and blueberry crisp with candied walnuts flavored with tons of spices. He hasn't fully bounced back from last week, but I still think he can be a contender and I'm curious to see what he brings over the next couple of episodes.

9 Jeff Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 0 0 1 Jeff is my big enigma these days. My gut and reading of his recipes still tell me that he's a lot better than he's showing, but at some point you need to get it on the table. And his recipes that look really interesting to me are frequently ignored by the editors. Whether this is because I'm misreading them, or because he isn't executing them, or because they're setting him up for a big comeback, I don't know. But I dig his soup. When I do fennel and apple soup, I like to do it with a lightly sweetened juniper cream. But I think I like his idea better. He does it with a fig and bleu cheese custard, and I think that sounds awesome. What's indisputable is that he's a take charge guy, and what's more impressive is that nobody seems to mind. He's clearly a natural leader. And I know there's a lot of bellyaching out there, with people complaining that leaders are frequently sent home when they don't perform and their team loses and that Jeff should have gone as well for consistency's sake, but I say get over it. The show wouldn't be made better by perfect consistency and ironclad rules. It'd be made boring. Allow the judges a little flexibility and let them suss out who they think does and doesn't belong. Besides which, his tendency to take charge may yet come back to bite him in the ass. But my feeling is that, despite his current standing, there's nobody in the middle of the pack more capable of suddenly rocketing to the top. If he can do less and do it better, I think he'll light it up.

10 Carla Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 9 Eliminations 0 1 0 Carla, like Radhika, is one who I'm reluctantly acknowledging. She said she's here to prove that caterers can bring it too, and she's already proven that she can do more than most of the caterers we've seen. Whether that's going to translate to significant success, I still have my doubts, but let's give some credit where credit is due. She's another who, like Stefan, appears to have just missed top three in the quickfire. She drew a tough knife, having to turn Lia's poached shrimp with avocado and cucumber into a soup. That sure screams gazpacho to me, but I'm kind of impressed that she went hot with her soup, and Achatz seemed to like it a lot. It wasn't... um... particularly pretty, but flavor's what really matters. It's a little difficult to get a handle on what she did for the elimination challenge, since the website editors saw fit to throw her cobbler, pea and feta salad, green and yellow beans and various accompanying sauces all into one frankenrecipe. I'm not seeing anything here to get excited about, and from the Judges' Table conversation it sounds as though she narrowly avoided the bottom three, so I'm keeping her on the lower end of the middle of the pack. But she's hanging in there.

11 Alex Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 10 Eliminations 0 0 0 Not much to say about Alex. He seems to be making a point of staying completely out of the spotlight. No wins, no tops, no bottoms. And then, this week, he gives us a roasted squash soup with a little saffron and shrimp, and a five cheese mac with bacon. If it weren't for the Foos' bacon fetish, he would have gone completely unnoticed for another episode. Seriously, man, can we get something to work with here?

12 Melissa Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 12 Eliminations 0 1 0 Also competing for least notable contestant is Melissa, whose only marks on the scoreboard come courtesy of this week's team victory and her status as sixth fastest apple peeler in the field. Going with an Italian wedding soup seemed a pretty obvious route given her recipe, but Achatz didn't seem to feel she did a particularly good job of it. And then she did old school sweet potatoes with some stewed fruit and apple cider. I suppose not standing out is better than getting your neck on the block, but Melissa has yet to demonstrate why she's here.

13 Ariane Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 14 Eliminations 1 1 2 Perhaps most amusing this week was watching Ariane acting all surprised and perturbed that her teammates were keeping her on a short leash. If the centerpiece of my team's menu rested on the shoulders of somebody who completely botched the last two elimination challenges, I'm thinking I might be a little cautious too. Shockingly, it turns out that she actually was in control, making a nice orange-brined turkey breast with mushrooms and caramelized shallots. So she pulls out the pseudo-win, and I pull her out of the basement. But I'm not moving her any higher than a notch for two reasons. One, her lamb soup with couscous looked a little clumsy to me and Achatz didn't like it. Two, if preparing a Butterball turkey breast in a toaster oven is what it takes to get your mojo back, I'm not entirely certain that qualifies as a ringing endorsement of your abilities.

14 Danny Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 13 Eliminations 0 0 1 Just when the guy finally shows me something to get excited about, he turns around and immediately blows that goodwill. He also had one of the tougher draws in the quickfire, but he seems to have made a hearty, fun dish out of it, and I love the idea of dropping a whole poached egg right into the middle of his soup. Then he undercooks his potatoes, puts vegan "bacon" bits into his stuffed mushrooms, produces a plain Jane fruit salad and makes balsamic ranch dressing by doctoring up a bottle of Hidden Valley. A lot of people think he should have been the one to go, and based on some of the extra intel that didn't make it into the show, it's not an unreasonable conclusion.

15 Richard Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 11 Eliminations 0 0 1 The honor of being the one to actually depart, however, goes to Richard, even though we only got a little part of the story. Turns out that Richard did not one but two other dishes that were never shown or mentioned on air. The Foos apparently expressed an affinity for caprese salad in their rider, so Richard took it upon himself to make one, no matter how inappropriate to the holiday. No recipe was posted, but it sounds as though he went the common and shameful route of making a pesto dressing, thereby taking the simple elegance of a caprese salad and muddying it up. He also made one of his old favorite T-Day dishes, his spicy sweet potatoes, and to hear him tell it the judges rather liked them. So unless he's patting himself on the back, this means he had one solid dish and raises the question... why him and not Danny, who appears to have mangled everything? For starters, the s'mores were just a terrible, terrible idea. It's like they were just thrown out there without any real thought or consideration, and the judges tend to find that insulting more than anything. The judges, Top Chef bloggers and forum commenters all over have tried to articulate what, precisely, was wrong about them, but speaking as somebody who writes over 5000 words about every episode of this damn show, I think this is a case of overanalyzation. It doesn't take a food genius to look at the spread, look at Richard's s'mores and say, "Those are really dumb." So there you have it. They were dumb. And that's not how you want to stick out. But even if that isn't enough to make you feel that Richard deserved the axe, I wonder if this is one of those episodes where the quickfire didn't sneak into the elimination a little bit. Danny took a tough draw and made a neat soup, while Richard did a pseudo-Mexican mish mash and forgot to add lime juice. As tiebreakers go, that isn't a bad one. While Richard seemed like a pretty decent guy on the show, his exit left me a little annoyed. Setting aside the ultraweepiness, he made the mistake of explaining how he was such a good guy for not throwing Danny under the bus. Good guys don't make a big point of explaining how they're such good guys, Richard. Doubly annoying since the claim that you actually had something of value to tell the judges seems rather specious. Based on what you said in the exit interview, it sounds less like meaningful intel and more like general bitchiness. Triply annoying because this is coming from the same guy who effectively said on camera that he lied to Ariane about what he thought of her parfait in the hopes she wouldn't fix it. If you're going to pat yourself on the back for taking the high road, it's best to make sure you do so consistently. In any case, moot point. Competition goes on, and with Richard gone, maybe we'll be spared Tom's strut in slo-mo.

MINOR EPISODE FOUR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Next week Rocco's back, and though he's always a little smarmy, I've actually enjoyed him on the show and he usually has some very intelligent and illuminating things to say. Preview video reveals the quickfire as a breakfast amuse bouche challenge, which I really like. It takes a very specific type of dish that will allow the chefs to show off some technical skill, and puts it in an unfamiliar context that will allow for a creative take on the same. Wish I could say I felt the same way about what looks like the elimination challenge. I like Top Chef precisely because I don't care who the next food-related television personality will be. I'm interested in Harold Dieterle, not Tex Wasabi. But as with every episode, this is mostly speculation based on very little actual footage. We'll wait to see what happens. Looks like there's some serious culinary carnage, so hopefully we'll be able to define the pack a little better.

Discuss!

Comments

[Babyarm]

This year is a little odd in the editing. Too hard to know who is actually good this time around. It seems like due to the backlash from a certain unpopular someone making it deep into the competition they are now focusing on the dregs of the show so as perhaps to not give ammo to the conspiracy theorists. It also seems that the bottom half of this season is much worse than the bottom half of the previous two seasons so that could play a role.

Sadly, it looks like the next 3-4 weeks are pretty much just going to be spinning wheels. Though I look forward to the "Christmas" show in 4 weeks ;-)

[Ally]

Great perspective on the episode, as always, thank you very much.

Am I right in thinking that this episode fits into TC trivia as the only (first) episode where a "punishment" has been dealt to the losing team as a whole?

[Bill]

Nice to see Jamie in the almost #1 spot since she is the star of my TC fantasy team. By the way; how do you feel about emergence of TC fantasy leagues Dom?
I ate at Fabios restaurant last Saturday and I'm getting a little flak at Chowhound for saying it's a notch or two above Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. That comment was taken as a negative. I'm not a fan of either of those places but Fabio's (Cafe Firenze) is in the same general price range so I used them for comparison. I did enjoy eating there, in fact my wife wants to go back this weekend for our anniversary dinner.

[Skillet Doux]

"I ate at Fabios restaurant last Saturday and I'm getting a little flak at Chowhound for saying it's a notch or two above Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. That comment was taken as a negative. I'm not a fan of either of those places but Fabio's (Cafe Firenze) is in the same general price range so I used them for comparison. I did enjoy eating there, in fact my wife wants to go back this weekend for our anniversary dinner."

In all fairness, Bill, regardless of how you may have meant it, I think you have to get at least seven or eight notches above Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill before that could reasonably be taken as anything other than an insult :-)

[Wangus]

Nicely done. I picked Jamie as my favorite early on, but like you, I haven't yet felt that she's proven it yet. Yes, she's done her soups really really well, but I want to watch her bang a non-liquid dish out of the park before I go jumping up and down shouting 'yay lesbian girl'. (And no, I don't feel that labeling her as such is weird if bravo wants to shove it down my throat for about 10 minutes every week).

As for the holy tiramisu: I am in full support of Carminantonio as the originator of the lovely dessert. If nothing else, he and his wife may be the two nicest individuals you'll ever meet in the Baltimore. On one hand I'm jealous that you live so close to them; on the other I'm glad that I don't have that temptation surrounding me. I'd have to start running everyday just to lose those pounds. Vaccarros coming out the hunt valley is already bad enough, and that's still a 15 minute drive.

[Polybus]

I think you've done another great job with the rankings. It is almost as much fun to read your blog as it is to watch the show.

Over Thanksgiving, I went back to San Francisco, where I lived for many years before moving to Santa Fe. I took the opportunity to dine at Absinthe, the restaurant where Jamie Lauren is the EC. I was extremely impressed with the meal and since I've tasted a bit of her menu, I am now inclined to put her at the top.

Also, before I left on the trip, I downloaded the first season of TC to my ipod so that I could watch it again from start to finish. What impressed me the most from watching it is that twelve competitors appears to be the right number. When I read complaints about how this season seems to be unfocussed, I think part of that is simply that there are too many chefs to follow and too many shows to fill up with interesting challenges. With twelve contestants, the field is stronger from the beginning and it is easier to focus on the challenges.

We're not even down to twelve yet this season!

[anon man]

A few random comments. First, you're being way too hard on Fabio. Tom like the "tiramisu" with pumpkin. The substitution of cream cheese for Marscapone is interesting but not a deal killer. Maybe he did it intentionally, or maybe they don't sell it in stop and shop (or wherever) Rochester. I mean, its not a real city. Its not a perfect subsitute, but it works, especially if you whip the hell out of it and smother it in a strong flavor like Pumpkin.

Also, I would have expected Radhika and Gene to move up further. Radhika had what was considered the best overall dish and Gene gets major props for his inventiveness with the burner. Sure, its not what Grant does, but it shows creativity, which is the essence of what Grant does and really the point of both challenges.

For these ratings if you really wanted to punt on the #1 and declare a muti tie, the list co #1s, listed alphabetically. Just a suggestion if you're unable to choose for some reason.

And, unrelated... Personally, I've never really believed the story that tiramisu was from Baltimore. Its a variant of other Italian desserts, and for one thing, he doesn't use brandy in his version, which I feel is essential. But, that's a different blog discussion...

[Skillet Doux]

"First, you're being way too hard on Fabio."

Oh, absolutely. I'm using that mostly as an excuse to put him where I think his food has shown he belongs. I felt kinda hamstrung by the win last week, but my sense is that he's really only shown us 4-5 food.

"Also, I would have expected Radhika and Gene to move up further. Radhika had what was considered the best overall dish and Gene gets major props for his inventiveness with the burner."

I'm not sure that's true about Radhika. It was clearly one of the favorites of the night, but Tom didn't even mention her among his unofficial winners. And yeah, Gene does get major props for the burner. But as much as I love the inventiveness, you win for food, not for equipment wrangling, no matter how creative. Plus, as mentioned, I'm loathe to read too much into this elimination for ANYBODY, Gene included.

"For these ratings if you really wanted to punt on the #1 and declare a muti tie, the list co #1s, listed alphabetically. Just a suggestion if you're unable to choose for some reason."

Yeah, I could, and I actually thought about doing just that, then decided it would be a cop-out :-)

"And, unrelated... Personally, I've never really believed the story that tiramisu was from Baltimore."

Well, I don't know anybody who's claimed it's from Baltimore. Carminantonio lives in Baltimore NOW, but at the time when tiramisu is generally acknowledged to have appeared on the scene, he was running a large pastry operation in the Veneto that supplied desserts to many of the restaurants in the area, including the one that claims to have invented the dish. I don't know anybody who questions that it came from Italy... it's just a question of whether it was this restaurant or that restaurant or a baker who used to live in the Veneto and now lives in Baltimore.

[Anne]

I read Tom's comments on the "winners" as saying he would have liked to give those people the win, but they were from the losing team--so Radhika couldn't really have qualified.

When you talk about intel, where do you get it?

[Nikki D]

Thanks for the great rankings again. Really, I love it when it's down to about 8 chefs because you get interesting team challenges (i.e. Restaurant Wars) and can actually see all the dishes each chef made.

On a side note, I was reading Tom's blog and he was talking about Richard: "If the rider said they liked Caprese Salad, would you have made that for Thanksgiving? I'm thinking not. And then to make the bananas into S'mores...?"

So if our shady bear DID make Caprese Salad like you said, he was doubly on Tom's bad side.

And randomly, have you ever considered trying out for Top Chef???

[Skillet Doux]

"I read Tom's comments on the "winners" as saying he would have liked to give those people the win, but they were from the losing team--so Radhika couldn't really have qualified."

I agree, but if he had felt Radhika's dish was the best, I think he would have just said so. I think the point he was making was that there were two people he would have been happy giving the win, but he was hamstrung by the team victory.

"When you talk about intel, where do you get it?"

Same place everybody else could... the blogs, the videos, etc. I don't have access to anything that isn't readily available to everybody. I'm just a little obsessive about parsing it :-)

"And randomly, have you ever considered trying out for Top Chef???"

Oh, no. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooonononononononono. If I got a half an hour to think and plan before each and every challenge, I like to think -- probably erroneously -- that I could hang through the earliest rounds and not totally embarrass myself. But doing "here's your challenge... go!" over and over again? Forget it. I think it's way harder than people think. It's probably harder than I think.

So, yeah... no :-)

[Jason]

One quick comment regarding the Caprese salad (and the Thanksgiving theme in general)....since it was actually summer when they filmed it, it was probably one of the more seasonal selections offered, and would have made sense in that context (not as a Thanksgiving meal, but as a selection that was offered. Oh, the Foos like Caprese salad...tomatoes are in season, well, that's easy). I didn't really think of the impact of trying to make Thanksgiving dishes without fall vegetables being in season until reading on another blog, but that may have been the toughest curveball of all, really.

[Skillet Doux]

"I didn't really think of the impact of trying to make Thanksgiving dishes without fall vegetables being in season until reading on another blog, but that may have been the toughest curveball of all, really."

This is a really good point, and of course it explains the prevalence of canned pumpkin puree. Even when you're aware this was shot in the summertime, it's easy to forget the impact that has on available produce. Of course, I doubt very much was unavailable, but some of it probably wasn't at its peak.

[Laura]

I appreciate the time and effort you put into this blog. What I enjoy about Top Chef, besides of course watching it, is reading your rankings. Good work!!

[Adam]

Here's the WashPo article on the origin of tiramisu:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071000327.html

[Lon]

So far I am totally underwhelmed about this round (hard to call them "seasons"). I felt the same way through the first four or five shows last round also. At least Richard Blais and Stephanie Izard were showing their chops early on as technical favorites. Pretty hard this year to get enough info on any of the candidates.

After the really good first show, I am really disappointed at the performances so far. I think the challenges, overall, are better. The chefs' responses don't seem as individualistic or outstanding.

I agree totally with the lack of a #1 this week. Until someone has a couple of elimination wins, I wouldn't put anyone there. This may be a year when someone who hasn't shone that much will win it all. Or we may get a Dale like we did in round 3 who improves enough each week to make it to the finals.

[Danny]

Great write-up. I look forward to reading them every week and enjoy your site very much even when it's not Top Chef Season.
The elimanation challenge had all of the elements that I hate in a challenge. First, so many dishes were made that we didn's see or hear of many of them and very little clue of who did what. Second, I am really over the whole catering thing. There are many great chef's who would be bad at catering which is often about creating mass quantaties of foods that can be reheated, kept warm or cold for long periods of time and able to be dished out with a spoon or a fork. Third, I hate the silly obstacles put in their path. What's next, a wedding cake made from an Easy Bake oven? It is doubtful that the world's greatest chefs have ever attempted to make great dishes using a hot plate, toaster and microwave ovens, outside in the rain and with no cooling devices.
Make the challenges interesting (like turning a dish into soup) but not ludricous. I won't be surprised if there's an elimination challenge soon where the cheftestants have to cook a meal while balancing on a large medicine ball.
That being said, I love the show and watch all of the episodes at least twice.

[Skillet Doux]

"I won't be surprised if there's an elimination challenge soon where the cheftestants have to cook a meal while balancing on a large medicine ball.
That being said, I love the show and watch all of the episodes at least twice."

And that about sums it up perfectly. The good episodes are so much fun, you'll still watch the irritating ones multiple times :-)

[David]

Great write up--again! At the risk of being redundant, you truly do put together a wonderful recap and contestant ranking.

I agree that the EC was a let down. It was beyond chaotic. It bordered on being silly. I would have appreciated seeing the full range of dishes prepared, even if they couldn't take time to show the review of each. Perhaps that's what the editing did - cut out the unremarkable.

I did enjoy the QF challenge. Translating one of the recipes into a soup is not easy, and I think Dom is right to put more emphasis on that challenge, for ranking's sake, than on the EC.

I look forward to tonight's episode. A breakfast challenge and a Today Show challenge. Despite the wobbly start, I still enjoy Top Chef. I agree with others that my annoyance may be tied to the larger number of contestants. But, if memory serves, they had the same number last season, and the connection to particular contestants started to gel when there were about eight chefs remaining.

[Gilby]

They actually had one more this season, but they knocked out two in the first episode.

And I like the larger number of chefs. It gives a few early episodes where talented chefs can get over their jitters while some lesser lights go home.

[Bill]

In all fairness, Bill, regardless of how you may have meant it, I think you have to get at least seven or eight notches above Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill before that could reasonably be taken as anything other than an insult :-)

I haven't eaten at an Olive Garden in at least 15 years so I'll leave them out (although my memories of it tend to be unpleasant).
There is a Macaroni Grill across the street from work and I occasionally go there for work-related lunches. On a 1-10 scale I'd say the food is average, about a 5. It's not horrible and I've never felt like spitting anything out. I have definitely been to worse Ital-Amer restaurants. On the same scale I would give Cafe Firenze a 7.5, not quite in the "A" range but close. This is based on the four dishes at our table, all of which I tried. The best, by far, was the butternut squash ravioli, which was truly excellent.