Top Chef Postmortem - Episode 11

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!

Well, this sucks.

First off, in my defense, I'd like to point out that while I've already read the J-word three times in the comments, Jamie was actually eliminated months ago. It's not my fault!!!

Secondly, sorry this took so long to get up tonight. Whoever redesigned the Bravo site should be shot. It was always broken, but at least you could find everything with a little determination. Now, you can't even get part two of Jamie's exit interview? Epic fail, Bravo.

Most importantly, what a fricking bummer. I'm not suggesting the judges' call was unwarranted, and Jamie doesn't appear to object to it either, but that doesn't make it suck any less.

No more commentary tonight. Too depressed.

P.S. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

UPDATE : Okay, I lied. A couple of quick thoughts. Lop off the last two minutes, and it's a great freaking episode from start to finish. Those who are pissed at the result would do well to consider the episode that got them there as Exhibit A for why you can't give up on this show, no matter how disappointing an elimination may be.

Look, I know some are angry, but raising the producer boogeyman? C'mon. Much as it hurts, Jamie blew it, she knew it before her dish even left the kitchen, and it was written all over her face for the rest of the episode. Yes, everybody on the block made mistakes. But while Hosea and Leah made mistakes that made their dishes less than the originals, Jamie was the only one who had the misfortune of making a mistake that rendered her dish inedible. There's no getting around that.

Lastly, has Hootie just been lying in the weeds this whole time, or have the editors been waiting to spring her on us? For nine episodes she cooks hearty, soulful American food and then she's suddenly all about classic French technique? I still haven't seen anything that changes my assessment of her chances in the finals -- but I feel like we're suddenly getting a completely different chef. Weird.

Comments

[aaalex]

Yes, but what a brilliant show. I thought last week was fine, but this was an interesting challenge, an entertaining quickfire. It showed Carla to be much more than you might at first think and, of course, it's clear Stefan is a very very talented man. Nice to read Stefan talking about how much he will miss competing against her, and nice to read Jaime own up to her bad food. fantastic show.

[KarenB]

done, done done with this season. I am a pretty big Top Chef junkie, but this is producer manipulation I think and even if not, no joy left in Mudville so I am out....

[canasian]

Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

No comment. Will wait to stop crying (yeah, I cried over this one) and try to make some sense of this.

[aaalex]

If anyone's actually heard Jaime's interview: what did she say on camera? Anything different from the Q and A on the Bravo site?

[Adam]

After all my whining and complaining in the last thread about the unfairness of the setup of that elimination challenge, I feel as though the top chef gods have slapped me upside the head and reminded me that, well, stuff happens on this show. Both Hosea and Jaime probably drew what would have been their bottom choice, and for one of them it was their undoing. And heck, if they switch the order of the last two fish in the quickfire, Hosea is the one cooking Lobster.

The editing will always play tricks with us, but it sure seemed like Tom wanted Leah to go home.

[Independent George]

Reading the blogs, I can't fault the decision; of the bottom dishes, hers was the only one that was inedible. Had it been merely subpar, I think Leah gets sent packing, but it was apparently so bad that there was never any question.

While I'm not convinced that the talent level this year was especially bad, this may yet the worst lineup for the finale - worse even than season 2. All it will take is one little slip-up from Stefan, and we're left with Hosea, Leah, Fabio, and Carla. Nothing against any of them personally, but I think we can agree that we just lost 2 of the 3 strongest chefs in consecutive weeks. I'm now officially nervous.

[karenology]

Clearly, Dom, your review of Absinthe made Jamie five months ago oversalt her celery ;)

I am bummed as you, because now the finale will be just Stefan napping for 3/4's of it while the other two chefs panic (or give up, if one of them's Leah).

[Dom's cousin]

Dammit, dammit, dammit. What is happening to our chefs?

I (almost) don't care who else besides Stefan (who I'm convinced will take it all now) makes it to the finals just as long as it is NOT LEAH! Argh!

[aaalex]

The thing that makes me feel more optimistic (well, if I don't think about Stefan getting stupidly eliminated so that Hoseah or Leah win the final) is the emergence of Carla as kind of skillful. She occupies a weird headspace, but she knew a beyrre rouge when she saw it and we were reminded she'd studied French cooking. It would be great if she could do one more great dish of her own, but still ...

[Steve]

Well...it's Stefan's to lose now...no one else left comes close in technique or creativity. Very sad...and the reason why I strongly recommend that the judges keep the option of factoring in past performance as they see fit. Without Jamie and Jeff, what kind of contest will the finale be? Duh.

Yay for Carla finally getting her confidence and competitive edge. I'm sure she came in second in the elimination challenge. Wouldn't it be funny if she comes in second for the season? Nah...couldn't happen. (?)

Dom, you were right again. Jamie's attitude towards challenges she doesn't relate to was her undoing.

[Independent George]

I agree with Aaalex - regardless of how I feel about losing Jamie, this was an outstanding episode. I absolutely loved the setup of both challenges.

[Gilby]

Crap.

[Lou]

Tom said her fish was well cooked. Hosea didn't let his monkfish rest. Leah gave up in the QF and one judge said their portion wasn't cooked. Also Jamie was the only one Eric R didn't stop by to critique/help. H/L stayed on because of the drama - not their food. The show may have finally jumped the shark with this fish episode.

[Gilby]

Producer interference? What exactly did you drink, KarenB, to come up with such a dense notion?

There was no producer interference. That was painfully obvious. I did, however, spend the last commercial break hoping that there was, at least just a bit, and that would be enough to save Jamie.

It's not so much that I was rooting for Jamie....It's just that I wanted an interesting finals. Jeff and Jamie both would have been interesting in the finals. And both are gone.

[aaalex]

Lou: I love the idea of a show "jumping the shark" on a fish episode, but no one, not even Jaime, was surprised she was given the boot. Hers was the only dish deemed "inedible". Toby tried to defend her understanding of the dish, but he couldn't eat her black fish either. Sad to see her go, but hard to fault the judges.

[Beatrice]

At this point in the season, and in the fifth season of the show, can the contestants really not have suspected that lunch was part of their challenge? As soon as Tom said there were going to be six courses I said to myself, Ahah! six contestants -- six courses -- they are going to have to recreate the dishes. I actually suspected, seeing Jamie scrutinize one of the dishes, that she might have caught on. But at least a couple of them obviously did not. How could you possibly not have made that connection?

[donnie jeffcoat]

The responsible thing to do would be to start showing the audience Lazy Leah's background already. What's her deal? How long has it been now? One more thing: Why the Hell does Leah keep touching her face in the kitchen?

I am rooting for a flushed out dynamic between Carla and Stefan, because, well, there is nothing to lose.

[E L]

the thing about leah was that she didn't even know what she did wrong. she described what happened to her sauce as if she was unaware of the culinary term for it--"breaking". she's clueless, as opposed to jamie, who knew the technique, knew what she did wrong, but just made an error.

leah is also a child. she's a brat who quits when things get hard and giggles about what a 'hot boy' eric ripert is. get her off!

[donnie jeffcoat]

One more thing: Toby is not qualified whatsoever to be a judge on this show. If Jeff, Radhika, and Jamie all go, then so should Toby.

Bring back Ted Allen!

[aaalex]

I kind of agree Toby should just go. Doesn't add a thing to the show, personality-wise, but he also says on his blog:

"If Stefan has a shortcoming it is that his food lacks imagination, but no one could doubt his credentials as a skilled technician."

strange thing to say after the restaurant challenge when his imaginative desserts were what saved his team. Or is it that he saved his team despite the lack of originality of his desserts? Doesn't compute, for me. Toby makes no sense at all as a judge.

[kit]

Dom - in case you're still looking for part 2 of Jamie's exit interview...

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/videos/beyond-ripert-pt2

[KinderJ]

I really, really liked this episode, and I have a profound loathing of seafood. The challenge was simple but hard: recreate a subtle, exquisite dish to world class standards. Creativity is an important skill in a chef, of course, but so is meticulous attention to detail. As I understand it, and god knows I am no expert, what separates a guy like Tony Bourdain from the Ripert's of the world is that utter laser-like focus on detail, and the ability to knock out the same perfect dish every single time the order is called. This challenge savagely exposed the differences between the top two chefs- the creative Jamie and the precise Stefan. They both are very skilled, but the perfect recreation of a dish you did not care for, well, Jamie just could not pull it off. Damn shame.

I did wonder if the judges took into account the difficulty of each recreation when scoring the dishes. According to the Ripert interview on the Bravo web page, the lobster dish was simple, but very easy to screw up. He seemed very impressed with Stefan, so... I am just curious how close Fabio and Carla came to winning. Top notch episode.

Oh, and to the people who keep accusing the producers of interfering- You want to go call Tom Collicchio and Eric Ripert liars, never mind the other judges, you want to tell them that their pallets and integrity are for sale? Don't tell us. Tell them. Go on. I freaking dare you. Me? I have eaten at one of Collicchio's restaurants. I would not dream of it.

[august_west]

I was more disappointed in Jamie's attitude concerning the challenge than the result. She essentially said Ripert's food was boring and/or uninspiring?!? And please bring back Gail Simmons. Ted Allen brought very little to the table imo.

[Dreamboat]

Well sh!t!! I really wanted Jamie to make it to the finals. I hate to see her leave now.

But know this: Regardless of Top Chef, Jamie has a HUGE career in front of her and will be impressing many many people in years to come. Good show Jamie!! And I agree with you that braised celery is just kinda weird...

[Unhappy Gilmore]

Adam - if they switched the char with the eel in the quickfire, Hosea may not have made it to the final round. I would bet that Fabio would come in second.

[Dreamboat]

I usually do not post twice, but I just read this in Eric Ripert's Q&A and ROFLMAO!! LOVE IT!!

Bravotv.com: When Leah gave up on the arctic char, what were you thinking?
Gone baby gone …

[kit]

A couple of comments regarding Jamie saying she's "bored by this kind of food, it's not something [she's] inspired by".

This came across pretty harsh to me at the first viewing, but I *think* she was just trying to express what her personal preferences are, in terms of the kind of food she finds exciting, interesting, and therefore inspiring.

I thought Tom might ream her for being disrespectful or something, but he was actually less reprimanding than I thought he would be, and chalked it up more to that notion of personal preference as well: "Jamie expressed that Eric’s food really didn’t do much for her, and as misguided as that may be, I respect it. As good as Eric is, his work isn’t every chef’s cup of tea."

Also, being super-obsessive, I noted that the outfit she was wearing, for when she made that comment, is the same as the one she's wearing in her exit interview, which for me sorta changes the context. It's not like right after lunch, she did an interview ragging on how boring Ripert's food is. At this point she's been eliminated, and she's probably being asked alot of leading questions about why she think she got eliminated, whether the food at lunch inspired her, etc.

Also, is it just me or does Hosea do as much as possible every episode to live up to Ariane's characterization of him as a whiny b***h or whatever it was she called him...

[kit]

Kinder J says: "According to the Ripert interview on the Bravo web page, the lobster dish was simple, but very easy to screw up."

Hmmm, just wondering from what part of Ripert's interview you got that. He says, "In fact, the lobster dish Stefan had to make was not that simple." Was there something else Ripert said as well that I missed?

[aaalex]

Kit: no, it's not you, Hosea really does seem more and more like a kind of pathetic, whiny b***h. The obsession with beating Stefan is just, after a while, childish. Of course, maybe it's Bravo that wants it that way: either because Hosea will suffer because of this obsession or because he'll triumph over Stefan in the end. The way they include so many clips of Hosea going on about Stefan, it's got to be one thing or the other.

[Jason]

After a disappointing last episode (for me anyway), THIS was a perfect example of why I love Top Chef. Loved the QF and the Elimination challenges.

I thought Leah would go home, but I understand why Jamie did. Count me in as one of those thinking that it's Stefan's to lose now (not that it wasn't before).

One quick thing...what an awesome prize for Stefan's win in the Elimination.

[aaalex]

Jason: I missed the significance of Stefan's prize. He got a copy of Ripert's book and then ... what, exactly? Do they hang out? (I didn't catch it all.)

[Dave_P]

This was absolutely an awesome show, maybe my favorite of the year. Except for the last 5 min. Honestly, for the first time all season, I realized I wanted absolutely no one eliminated. Not even Leah, but mostly because I hadn't seen the QF (missed the 1st 10 min the first broadcast; when I saw it, I wanted her gone... again). Still, Jamie was doomed when she didn't get her dish critiqued by chef Ripert (and how cool was that?!). That's too big of a competitive advantage to overcome. Plus, it may have just been the "elimination" edit, but Jamie seemed out of it with her, "I find [Ripert's food] boring" comments. Still, she gave it her best shot, but messed up her celery on a technical level. I hate to see her go, but it was a fair ruling ane I think the editing made it seem closer than it was between her and Leah.

Stefan will absolutely steamroll into the finals, and I mean the final 3. I won't quite go so far as he's gonna take it all since anything can happen on a given night, but he's absolutely dominating right now and his 2 biggest competitors just got sent packing in 2 successive episodes.

I'm also picking Carla for the finals (final 4, at least). Nice to back up her talk of a classical training from last week's episode. Between Fabio, Leah & Hosea, one of them will slip up, but all have shown *something* during the course of the season (some earlier than others) that makes me think we'll be in for a very good final two rounds, esp. if chefs like Leah can get her head back on straight.

BTW, how about all the teamwork in the kitchen displayed this episode? This late into the contest, at that. I really gained a lot of respect for all the remaining chefs just seeing that (which was another reason I was sad to see anyone go).

Next week, Wylie Dufresne and... I didn't recognize the other celebrity chefs. Still, sounds like quite the stellar cast the way Tom was talking it up.

--
Dave

[Skillet Doux]

"Next week, Wylie Dufresne and... I didn't recognize the other celebrity chefs. Still, sounds like quite the stellar cast the way Tom was talking it up."

Jacques freaking Pepin, man!

:-)

[kit]

Dave_P says: "Plus, it may have just been the "elimination" edit, but Jamie seemed out of it with her, "I find [Ripert's food] boring" comments."

I also was struck by how strange her demeanor was during that comment as well, which led me to suspect it may have come from her exit interview, meaning she would be the one getting the boot. Someone pointed out for the last episode how bummed Jeff looked in some of his interviews that they showed before they showed the elimination, which seemed to indicate that Jeff would be getting the boot, and that definitely popped into mind when I saw how she looked during the "boring" comment. Hence my investigations into what outfit she was wearing for the exit interview, ha!

Of course, at the beginning of the episode I was worried about Fabio, since he was getting the "calling home, doing this for my family" edit - those wily editors get me every time :)

[KinderJ]

Kit- No, you are quoting more exactly. I was using the term 'simple' in the sense of using relatively common ingredients and techniques. When Ripert called it 'not so simple' he was pointing out that it was difficult to execute really well. I think that when I wrote that post, I had conflated what I remembered about the dishes construction and his saying that it was not so easy to make,and coming up with a misleading attribution. My bad.

[KinderJ]

aaalex- The second part of the prize was following Ripert in his restaurants for a couple of weeks, picking up tips, technique, etc, then flying off for a food festival. I may be flubbing this a bit, but it's something like that.

[SorchaRei]

I have come to the conclusion that when Carla said she's classically trained and for some reason, it had fallen by the wayside, she was telling the truth. I don't know whether he spirit guides were talking so loud in the early part of the contest that she forgot her training, or what. However, once she remembered that she is classically trained, her food changed. Good for her!

[kit]

SorchaRei says: "I don't know whether he spirit guides were talking so loud in the early part of the contest that she forgot her training, or what."

Or maybe they started saying, "hey, we just remembered you're classically trained, let's try that instead of emoting love!" :)

[Vega]

...

...GAIL

[Scott]

You know, as much as I love Ted Allen, let's not forget that under his watch as well as Anthony Bourdain's did poor Dale get sent home last season for food that was not as bad as Lisa's. It's really hard to fault the judges but I think, to a point, when Tom asked which is worse doing something wrong or not knowing how to do it at all, I was thinking not knowing how to do it at all. How could you send someone home who did it wrong over someone who had no clue? I found this profoundly puzzling. Chefs have cooked inedible food in the past but got by, off the top of my head I would think Richard's unscaled Salmon.

This season's talent level is definitely a bit lower. I remember the challenge in season three where they had to recreate that fish in that famous restaurant for the QF and none of them had a critique. I found that challenge pretty hard too but Hung got off perfect.

Sadly, my GF saw Jamie outside Absinthe today and took a picture with her. My gf asked Jamie if she won the final and Jamie said you have to wait and see. NOw both my GF and I feel that the question must've dug at her heart. I really liked Jamie because her personality is great and also she had heart.

To repeat Vega, and Carla

...
... GAIL! I MISS YOU COME BACK.

[Anne]

I think if the food had been equally bad, Leah would have gone home. But It wasn't. Jamie's was, alas, nearly inedible, far below the rest (read Tom's blog for more on this.). I do think that missing out on Chef Ripert's critique was too bad, and a real competitive disadvantage. It was really quite unfair to let some people get it and not others.

As for Hosea's Stefan thing, it just feels like a pissing contest, except only one guy's pissing. The other is cooking great food.

[Robert Johnson]

1. The Bravo website has gone from bad to worse. It's always been hard to find things on the site, but now it's impossible. The only way I found to get to part 2 of Jaime's interview was to guess at the URL.
2. It was a joy to watch Jaime's exit interviews and her entrance into the losers' apartment. She was upbeat, positive, and a real sweetheart. I'm sorry she went home.
3. I agree with Jaime about braised celery - even Eric Ripert's genius couldn't make it something I'd want to eat.
4. In a voice-over, Jaime said she didn't have time for Ripert to taste her dish - in other words, it appears to have been her choice not to get the benefit of his mid-cooking advice.
5. I suspect Jaime's celery was too salty because she didn't take into account the saltiness of the ham, with which she seemed to be unfamiliar (for example, she turned to Stefan for advice on how to break it down).
6. I really enjoyed how much the chefs appeared to be helping each other out. Stefan seemed to have his hand in lots of other people's dishes, in a positive and generous way.
7. Stefan is definitely and deservedly the man to beat, his skills are so well-developed, but wouldn't it be wonderful if Hootie were to rise to the top?
8. Toby isn't a good fit with Top Chef, and I hope this season is the last we see of him. I was going to say the worst judge ever, but that honor has to go to Rocco, whose creepiness makes my skin crawl.

[anon man]

Great episode, bad result. Not necessarily the wrong result given the product, but still bad. Now, I'm not super-schooled in classic French techniques, but some of these dishes seemed really classic/borderline basic. Lobster with asparagus and a mother sauce? Pretty easy. The one who really surprised me was Leah. The Asian-themed dish? She pooched it? This from the chef who notes her Asian heritage and has clear influences from that part of the world?

For those of you who think its the producers, think again. I think its the evil influence of Toby Young. Tom seems to have Leah marked for death. His comments at judges table implied that he was annoyed the Leah had no clue what she was doing and didn't seem to care. Jamie on the other land knew what she did wrong and how to make it better. This was no different than Hootie's self-saving at JT a few weeks ago. But Toby couldn't get past that he hated Jamie's dish. Maybe he convinced Tom that the badness of Leah's dish was worse than the ambivalence of Leah.

I also really liked the QF. A classic skill, and Hosea did pretty well with the eel given that he hadn't done it before. Give him a couple more tries and maybe he beats Stefan the eel machine.

Random thought: I wonder how Jeff, who was certainly doing a lot of odd details in his food would have fared with WD? There's no real MG guy this season, but Jeff's food, with its weird combos of sorbets and odd garnish might have been the closest (minus the chemicals and water baths, of course).

[Elise]

After seeing this episode I was thinking, "Well, Stefan just won this season..." Then it hit me, the final is in New Orleans, home of classic French food mixed with American soul and filled with love. Since they try to do something related to the locale for the final Carla's chances just got a whole lot better.

All she has to do is make it there.

I would have loved to see Jeff do this challenge. Better yet, just sit back and watch Hung take apart a sardine, that would have been a thing of beauty.

[kit]

Robert Johnson says: "I was going to say the worst judge ever, but that honor has to go to Rocco, whose creepiness makes my skin crawl."

I know alot of people strongly dislike Rocco, but I have a hard time understanding where it comes from. Personally, I enjoy his appearances as a judge, he seems very knowledgeable about food and has genuine restaurant chops. True, he may more fairly be characterized as a celebrity-whore than a restaurant chef these days, but that doesn't seem to change the fact that he's got the qualifications to judge food. I found this recent article about him in the NYTimes interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/dining/17rocc.html

One interesting quote in there was from a NY food critic:

"Anthony Bourdain was so funny and so amusing that he became a show-business personality, and we don’t question that, because he was not a great chef who sold out. He was just a perfectly ordinary cook. But somebody like Rocco, who is exceptionally gifted, seems to have thrown it all away — that’s why people are so upset about it."

[babyarm]

At this point last year Blais had it in the bag and choked. Nothing is certain. I never thought Jamie was all that and was primarily a function of kind editing.

Tough one to go out on. I wondered at the time couldn't she have just flooded that celery with just regular old chicken broth or something to rinse the salt off? Hell, putting raw celery down was perhaps the best choice at that point.

That being said she did not let eric taste a demo. Those that did fared much, much better.

[Megan V]

Are there no more blogs from Leanne? Or, if she has written something about this episode, could someone please post a link?

I hate that the editors use the post-EC interviews throughout the show. It was clear from Jamie's flat affect and post-crying complexion that she had lost.

[aaalex]

I think the thing with Jamie is she wasn't ready to have Ripert taste her celery. It's really her own fault, as she had gotten behind in her preparations. Also, her saying braised celery is "weird" (okay, maybe after she'd lost, but still) was a perfect clue to her biggest flaw: not caring about anything but her own food. I'd love to visit her restaurant, but she wasn't always in spirit with the challenges or the show. I kind of wonder why she chose to compete, if she wasn't going to give it her all, whatever the challenge? What she was called on to do was difficult, but an interesting challenge for a chef of her caliber. She should have done better.

[caulder]

C'mon. Producer manipulation? Jumping the shark? No way. That episode smoked! I loved it! I loved that Jaime got eliminated, not because I thought she was bad, but because I thought she deserved it. And I can't stomach Leah. I hate her pouty-lipped expressions, I hate her "can't do it" whining. I hate her "I'm better when I'm with a guy" attitude. I hate the way she's constantly moaning about some how she's blowing a quickfire and then acts all shocked when she wins. And while Jaime's had her share of woe-is-me moments, I feel like there's someone in there. But the moment she started bitching about Ripert's food—"I'm bored"—I knew she was gone. I had almost no confidence in my guess, at least until she wasn't ready for Ripert to taste her food on the walkthrough. I must have missed the shot of the producers pouring salt into her celery.

On a happier note, how about that prize? Wow. I mean, wow.

[kit]

In case anyone's interested in more footage of squirmy eel butchering, Gordon Ramsay featured the eel on the F word:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL98UUovxJQ&

the heart is *insane*.