Top Chef Power Rankings - Episode 10

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!

Up is down! Right is wrong! Andrea makes chili! WITH MEAT!!!

This week was a little weird for me. This is, I believe, the first time I've ever watched an episode already knowing the result. It was certainly the first time I've done so after having read so much commentary. So perhaps the fact that I was already prepared for Jeff's departure and was expecting a big steaming pile had something to do with it, but I'm going to take the minority position and say that I liked this episode. Quite a bit, in fact!

The quickfire, not so much, though that had more to do with the chefs and less to do with the challenge. Make something good with oats. Nothing wrong with that! We're not talking about nasty pre-processed junk here (unless you're talking about some of the other oat products on display, but I didn't see any of the chefs reach for them). We're talking about a worthy core ingredient. Worthy of frying, anyway, which is apparently all you can do with oats. I'm a little disappointed that the lesson learned from the creativity of the full crew basically boiled down to "oats make a good crust for frying". At the same time, I have no idea what else I would have done with oats and a time limit, so I find it hard to criticize too much.

The elimination challenge that everybody seemed to hate so much though? I dug it! I thought it was fun! I would've liked to see them get at least half an hour or more (though the degree to which they were allowed to prep ahead of time is a little unclear), but otherwise it didn't bother me. Would it have sucked if Stefan had been the only one to lose his head-to-head and been forced to go home by default? Sure, but that would have been his fault for losing his head-to-head, not the challenge's fault (and, incidentally, he appears to agree). I'm not sure why giving five culinary students tiebreaker power was such a big deal either. If you get three of the four main judges, it isn't an issue. There have been plenty of times when the judges have gone to diner comment cards as an unofficial tiebreaker when they're split and having a difficult time making the call. Presumably, five culinary students are at least as worthy of breaking a tie as a bunch of random diners. As for the idea that we shouldn't be seeing this kind of challenge so late in the season, I dunno. There were no dumb surprises, they were granted a lot of flexibility, they were doing real, straight-up cooking and they were masters of their own destiny, which is more than we can say for a lot of challenges. And really, they had TWO ways to survive: either win your matchup, OR do a better job than any of the other losers. If you can't do either of those, I think it's hard to argue that you deserve to stay, regardless of the format that got you there. Besides which, looking at it purely from a production standpoint, bringing in seven previous contestants is both a big pain and expensive. If you like the idea behind the challenge, the earlier in the season it is, the bigger the logistical nightmare to make it happen.

One thing I will say is that this challenge is a perfect example of why I'd love to be able to see the challenge rule sheets that Lee Anne gives to all of the contestants. For those who aren't aware, Lee Anne has mentioned giving a little summary to all of the chefs outlining the rules of the challenge and any other pertinent information right down to a list of pantry items at times. We know the dish was supposed to reflect the city. But was it supposed to be football fare or not? What kind of prep was allowed the day before and what wasn't? It just isn't clear and for the obsessives among us, at least, it makes a big difference in how we see the chefs' performances. Can Lee Anne's rule sheets be added to the website, guys? Pleeeeeeeeease? After Judges' Table raw footage (as if), that's probably number two on my completely unrealistic Top Chef research materials wish list.

Anyway, I was expecting angst and I got entertainment. Episode 10 was good to me. On with the rankings!

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

1 Stefan Quickfires 3 5 1 Last Week: 1 Eliminations 3 5 1 Tough call for the top spot this week, but for lack of a big shift in momentum, I'm inclined to leave the top two where they are, even if I consider them more of a 1 and 1a. I might've dinged him for losing his head-to-head, but reports seem to be that it was solid food, just the lesser of the two dishes. I'd like to get some sense of what he was doing from the recipe, but while we've joked about minimal, incomplete recipes before, this one takes the phenomenon to comical new heights. The instructions, in their entirety, read "Mix all ingredients together and serve". Thanks, guys. His quickfire was an elegant little number though, and Conant had some really nice words for it in his blog interview. In any case, I'm disinclined to give much weight to Stefan's bottom appearance this week. It would have been really impressive if he'd gone the length of the season without standing on the chopping block, but everybody's there at some point and if anybody is capable of simply standing up, dusting himself off and moving on, it's Stefan. He may call himself a douche a few times first, but I don't imagine he'll be any worse for the wear.

2 Jamie Quickfires 0 5 2 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 2 6 2 Jamie just keeps on rolling, doing her thing and doing it well. Incidentally, though the only remaining contestant with fewer wins is Fabio (it's a three way tie just above him), Jamie is actually the most consistent top performer in my count, pulling in eleven top mentions to Stefan's ten and Hosea's eight. Her quickfire -- a little out of the box for her -- looks like a fresh angle on the now ubiquitous (and usually mediocre) coconut fried shrimp, working oats into the crust and serving them with a nectarine / fresno chile / cucumber salsa and avocados blended with crème fraîche, cucumbers and lime. As for her elimination dish, I'm completely ignorant in the ways of cioppino (despite last week's San Francisco trip -- writeup of Absinthe soon, provided I get my act together) so I have no basis of comparison, but it seems like a nice dish, and Conant practically tripped over his tongue praising her process. Apparently, she looks like a chef. Cooks like one too! Another strong week and yet more indication that this is, essentially, a two person race.

3 Hosea Quickfires 1 5 0 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 1 3 2 That said, Hosea's hanging around, and with the eliminations of the last two episodes and the inconsistency of those below him, he's almost looking like a lock for the finals at this point. His quickfire was a bit of a take it or leave it proposition. Wienerschnitzel with oats in the breading is still wienerschnitzel, and while it might have intrigued me had he brought the oats to the dish by choice, here it seemed more like shoehorning oats into a dish he does without them all the time. His elimination dish, the fried salmon roll with ginger-blackberry coulis and sesame apple salad, looks -- like so many of his other creations -- a little clumsy to me, but the guy brings flavor and is making mouths happy, which is the most important thing. And though it's already been said by the judges, it bears repeating. Keeping the salmon rare in a fried roll like that is, indeed, an impressive little technical achievement. I'm less interested in Hosea's potential for the finals than I was in Radhika's or Jeff's, but he brings some interesting stuff to the table, he's a consistently solid performer who probably won't do a faceplant and, barring the resurgence of Leah, he's the only one left who looks like he might be something more than a sideshow in a final battle with Stefan and Jamie.

4 Carla Quickfires 0 3 1 Last Week: 7 Eliminations 2 3 3 Who are you and what have you done with Hootie?!? Ah, what the hell. She's earned it. I waffled on whether to put Carla or Leah here, and I still think Leah has far more upside, but there comes a point where you have to stop ranking what these chefs could cook and start ranking what they're actually cooking. Last week, I said that Carla has yet to make a single dish that I could see in the finals. Well, this week she made two. Her quickfire tofu was marinated in soy, garlic, sriracha and a mix of citrus zest, then seared and crusted with oats, pecans, orange zest, ginger and garlic and finished in the oven. Meanwhile, she sits it atop a nice looking lentil and oat salad tossed with onion, bell peppers, pecans, scallions, snow peas, thyme, parsley, oregano and a bunch of citrus. Then she busts out a gumbo in 20 minutes. I don't think it was actually "gumbo", per se (how could you do that in 20 minutes?), but it was a creative little spin on the dish, it definitely hit the thematic mark, and it was tasty. End of story. I still don't think Carla has a prayer in the finals should she make it. But I think she has a good shot at getting there, and if she does, I expect it'll be a respectable defeat. She doesn't wow people, but she makes 'em happy, and while I don't know that that distinction would help her all that much in the finals, I suspect it's a mantle she'd happily accept. And that'd make two caterers in the finals, BTW, assuming Stefan makes it. Who'da thunk?

5 Leah Quickfires 3 4 3 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 0 3 1 Leah is just a big disappointment right now, though still a salvageable one. She would have borne the brunt of my wrath this week if I thought she was dissing chicken livers in the manner that some seem to believe, but watching it carefully, I think this is a false impression to chalk up to editing, intentional or no. Leah says two sentences: "I hear that Nikki's doing something with chicken livers," and "I don't want to sound too cocky, but I think I'm going to beat her." Problem is, I'm pretty sure they were stitched together, and even if they weren't I'm not convinced there aren't plausible alternate readings of that line. She may very well be looking down her nose at chicken livers, but it ambiguous at best from what's there so I'm not about to ding her for it. Her branzino with mussels, tomato, escarole and bacon, though interesting, isn't quite coming together in my head, and apparently it didn't come together on Conant's tongue, either. Her NY strip with creamed corn, arugula and tomatoes was good but ultrabasic, and she isn't going to beat Jamie at her own game. I know I say it every week, but I firmly believe she'll be a force in the finals if she hangs on -- so much so that I hope she does! But I'd say surviving to make the finals and going out with a whimper are pretty much even odds at this point.

6 Fabio Quickfires 0 2 4 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 1 4 1 It's been said both in the comments here and elsewhere that Fabio is just a more charming male version of Nikki, and Nikki's appearance this week only served to hammer this point home. Most of his dishes are poorly conceived and clumsily assembled, and on the rare occasions when he gets certain elements to cick, they're undercut by gross technical errors elsewhere in the dish. Add to this that all of his plates look terrible -- not that anything is going to look good on a yellow and green Packers plate (yes, I'm from Chicago) -- and he's become this season's whipping boy. Unlike many, I still find the guy just as charming as I did back in November, but he should have been gone a long time ago. His quickfire was just a poorly conceived dish, cramming sautéed corn and pancetta into what looks like a really, really heavy eggplant roll with bulletproof oat armor. Then he kills the deer again, and I'm not buying his excuse for a second. A plastic plate and a little bit of sauerkraut? That doesn't take your meat from a perfect medium rare to well-done. I think he knew he was on the precipice and was grasping for plausible deniability. He's lucky to still be around, he knows it, and his survival was reportedly by virtue of the fact that the judges dug his sauce, even if it only appears to be a blend of three different mustards from the recipe. I give him full marks for embracing his city, but of all the remaining contestants, he's the only one who looks like he just doesn't belong in the finals at all.

7 Jeff Quickfires 0 4 2 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 0 2 2 While I'm disappointed that Jeff's creativity and refinement won't be present in the finals (Stefan, Jamie, Radhika and Jeff was my personal wishlist as of two weeks ago), we can't say an ouster like this didn't seem a strong possibility, even if Jeff didn't see it coming. He made some of the most compelling dishes of the season, but in between his successes, stuff that looked great on paper elicited shrugs from the judges. Despite Jeff's implication in his exit interview that there were other factors at work in his elimination, the truth is that his food has was a frequent target for this kind of reception long before even the most hardcore conspiracy theorists would suggest the judges could be attempting to create storylines for the finals. More frustrating is that Jeff still doesn't seem to get it. He says he learned a lot from the experience, but he doesn't seem to have learned the most important lesson for him: that more doesn't equal better. And as much as he ragged on Josie's "ceviche", it was his dish that was the big tactical error. You just can't do ceviche in 20 minutes. So rather than try to fake it, Josie had the good sense to go way outside the box. The problem is that when questions of authenticity might arise, the closer you get to "authentic", the more expectations people bring to the table. By doing something hot with tortilla strips and whatnot (no recipe available, sadly), Josie made it clear that "ceviche" was just a play. Jeff's method, however, was close enough to traditional that it came across as half-assed rather than creative. But even setting expectations aside, I'm not convinced it was a good idea to begin with. Looking at the recipe, I can see where it might have across as flat. You get cold seafood in ceviche marinade ingredients and you expect that explosive flavor, but I would expect that effectively poaching and dressing the shrimp would result in a much lighter flavor that would seem like it simply lacked oomph. In the recipe, Jeff even seems to concede the point by suggesting that you go the poaching route only if there isn't enough time to fully cure it. And one of the lessons of Top Chef is that if you find yourself dumbing down elements for lack of time, stop and do something else instead. I would rather have seen Fabio go, and it seems like it could have gone either way, but once again, I can't quibble with the judges' conclusion. But he was full of neat ideas and here's hoping that with the benefit of some time off, Jeff will take some of the season's criticisms to heart. His exit interview got a rather charitable edit for broadcast, so it doesn't look good... but here's hoping.

EPISODE ELEVEN SPOILERS AHEAD!

Welcome back, Eric Ripert! Thanks for not wearing a Santa suit this time.

The Bravo site has kindly identified the two chefs in the running for the quickfire win, but I won't reveal them here. While the rule around these parts is generally that anything broadcast or posted on the Bravo site is fair game, I'm among those who are getting increasingly annoyed by how much they've been revealing as of late. At any rate, it's a prep race which I love, especially at this late stage in the season when you generally don't have to worry about chefs tripping over their shoelaces. Should be fun.

Oh, hey, we're shooting in New York! Chicagoans (your humble author included) were frustrated last season by the show's underutilization of their fair city, but season four was practically the Blues Brothers Cooking Hour when compared to how well season five has utilized New York thus far. This week's elimination takes place at Le Bernardin, which means creative and exceptionally refined seafood. Stefan should be fine. Jamie's style isn't exactly fine dining, but she's meticulous in her preparations and I expect she'll do well. Hosea's food is a little rough around the edges for a place like Le Bernardin, but he's ostensibly a seafood specialist so you'd think that would be a point in his favor. Despite her fish issues, Leah's successes have been of the creative and refined variety, so this episode might have comeback written all over it for her. Even if his flavors are on, I expect Fabio's sloppiness will stick in Ripert's craw, and unless Carla's throwaway bit about being classically trained and needing to get back to that was impressive foreshadowing on the editors' part, this doesn't exactly seem like a challenge tailor made for the comfort food queen, so I'd peg her for trouble as well. Here's hoping Hootie has a little more surprise love up her sleeve. It's time for Fabio to go.

Comments

[canasian]

Making up for disappearing on us by giving us the rankings twice?

Great write-up. Glad to have Carla out of the basement even if it is by default. By the way, as of this week, Carla and Stefan have broken the record for how far a caterer/personal chef has ever gone (the record previously held inexplicably by C.J.).

[Skillet Doux]

"Making up for disappearing on us by giving us the rankings twice?"

Whoops... thanks for the heads-up. Corrected. That's what I get for writing until 4:30 AM.

[kit]

"At any rate, it's a prep race which I love"

YES!! I've been avoiding the previews for exactly the reason you mentioned, so thanks for passing on this tidbit :)

[Bart]

Good entry!

Yeah, I'm disappointed with Jeff, too. I mentioned in the last entry that his food-snob comments turned me off completely. Look, I get that he wants to do more exciting things with the dishes, but he does it at the expense of flavor. And then he looks down on flavor?

Come on, now. I'll take simple, flavorful meals from Colicchio (or Ariane) over fussy, pretentious food that tastes bland.

[Lou]

What happened to Lee Anne's blog - did I miss something?

[Chris]

Rankings are almost too easy right now. I can't imagine anyone ranking a contestant more than a spot away from where Dom has them.

I remember Dom remarking in his season preview that Hosea is well-known in the Colorado scene for his success in Iron Chef style competitions. I wonder, given this info, if he doesn't have a set of dynamite dishes for a 3 person finals. He's obviously #3 right now, but given his "experience," I wouldn't be as surprised if he pulled the upset off if he got there.

[Skillet Doux]

"What happened to Lee Anne's blog - did I miss something?"

No, and in fact her blog from last week is now missing. They just reformatted the site and a lot of stuff seems to be AWOL. So far, I'm not a fan. The videos aren't grouped anymore, you can't jump from blog entry to blog entry... it's difficult to find things. But it seems to be more stable, so I suppose that's a plus.

Incidentally, isn't there some way to view the contents of a web folder without viewing actual pages or files? I seem to remember that there was some way to do this and it'd be a big help.

[aaalex]

Bart: not sure that's fair to Jeff whose avocado ice cream (was it?) evoked a thrill from the guest judge. He was also responsible for part of the meal at "Sahana" that almost got them through. I don't think he inevitably sacrificed flavor in his dishes. And his comment about Collichio's restaurant was a fair shot: if you're going to serve me a simple dish (chicken with rosemary) but charge me as if it were the latest from the hottest chef, you're being a hustler.

Don't get me wrong, I love roast chicken with rosemary and roast potatoes. But I'm not looking for it when I go to my favorite restaurant for a special evening out. (And I don't get too many of those, believe me.) I'll make the roast chicken myself at home and have friends over. (It's not that difficult to get right)

[kit]

"They just reformatted the site and a lot of stuff seems to be AWOL. So far, I'm not a fan."

The new website design is not intuitive for me, and I'm feeling too lazy to figure out whether something is just very cleverly hidden or really completely missing. For example, this ostensibly should be all Lee Anne's blogs:

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blogs/lee-anne-wong

But yah, like Dom says the latest one seems missing? Maybe she got censored, like the comments do, under whatever regime the Bravo Thought Police are currently favoring.

(Or maybe they're trying to get some of the hardcore addicts to disengage from the show, and stop pointing out things like outrageously misleading editing and faulty challenge design :) )

[Skillet Doux]

"For example, this ostensibly should be all Lee Anne's blogs:

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blogs/lee-anne-wong"

Exactly, which is why I'm hoping there's some way to browse the contents of that folder without actually opening the default page for it. Then, if the page hasn't been updated to include new links or if it's just too cumbersome to navigate, we could just check out a list of the html files therein.

Anybody? Is this doable?

[anon man]

Nice job Dom. Random comments:

1. You don't know Cioppino? For shame. Its an Italian influenced fish soup. A key ingredient is something that grows wild across much of San Francisco: fennel. Technically, I don't think Jamie's dish was a real cioppino given the time constraints, but at its essence it was still a fish stew/soup. In the same way that Carla made a "sort of" gumbo with the grits, Jamie made a "sort of" cioppino.

2. My favorite dish this week was Hosea's. An Asian version of Fish en croute was pretty cool. I wish I had those while I was watching the Super Bowl..

3. Fabio, povero Fabio. It is probably past his time, but you never know with him (and especially with Leah right there ready to fall on her face again). Every dish of his, there is apparently something awesome and something terrible. He made "subtle" mushroom ravioli with an overpowering pesto; he made the overcooked venison with a sauce that Tom described as excellent. There's one or two others like that I can't remember off the top of my head. He has elements of greatness mired in technical errors.

[Skillet Doux]

"You don't know Cioppino? For shame. Its an Italian influenced fish soup. A key ingredient is something that grows wild across much of San Francisco: fennel."

Well, I know OF cioppino, I've just never had occasion to taste any. Ditto bouillabaisse. Mediterranean fish stews are a weird gaping hole in my dining experience, though it has everything to do with a lack of opportunity and nothing to do with a lack of desire. Drop me in a restaurant that I can be reasonably certain serves a good cioppino or bouillabaisse and I'll be all OVER it. Shameful nonetheless, I know.

[Jake]

I have had Hosea as a dark horse for a while, and with all the other potential 3rd place folk dropping in the rankings or out entirely, he's winning the war of attrition.

The reason, as I see it, for Leah's drop and Carla's rise is simple: Carla is having fun, learning from criticism, and continually bringing her joy and freedom of spirit to her food. Leah looks like she gave up a few episodes ago and is mailing it in. I'm sure it's a grind, but that's part of the game here.

[Unhappy Gilmore]

I rank Leah higher based on potential. Maybe that is because I have been told how much potential I have - and have yet to show it!!

Saw the preview on the Bravo site and the only thing that resonates with me is the odious Toby and his inane comments.

[Weirdsmobile]

@Jake: Totally agree about Carla. She's just a lot of fun to watch amidst a crew of cheftestants that's otherwise kinda glum. I like her the way I liked chefs like Harold and Richard -- decent, down-to-earth, minimal drama, and taking a real and visible enjoyment in food and cooking. As much as she got flak from the judges about putting the "love" in her food, it was also pretty startling to realize how rarely that simple, core element of cooking -- putting your heart into your food and taking joy in bringing joy to others -- comes up in the view of the fine-dining world we get through the show.

[Charles]

aaalex: I completely agree with you.

Tastes good is tastes good, but this is Top Chef, not Top Cook. A lot of the dishes we've seen this year are things I feel I could do without breaking a sweat at home. And, I'm not even a good home cook.

I don't have a problem with Jeff going home, because he never adapted. However, I completely understand and sympathize with his frustration at outworking everyone in the kitchen and not receiving any credit. He should have sold out, toned it down until he made the finals, and then broke out the big guns. But, in the end, I think his pride wouldn't let him do that and that's what did him in.

[Unhappy Gilmore]

I do love Carla, but think her time is coming to an end. It would be a hoot for Hootie to be in the finals.

Putting love in your food is important and as an improving photographer, I am learning that one's connection to the subject makes a huge difference in a photograph. In the past, I could never understand or believe that. Seeing is believing. Tasting is believing (except for melted never frozen frozen desserts).

[Skillet Doux]

"I don't have a problem with Jeff going home, because he never adapted. However, I completely understand and sympathize with his frustration at outworking everyone in the kitchen and not receiving any credit. He should have sold out, toned it down until he made the finals, and then broke out the big guns. But, in the end, I think his pride wouldn't let him do that and that's what did him in."

An important distinction to make -- and one I'd intended to mention in the rankings before forgetting to do so -- is that I don't think Jeff went down because he did too much. It seems likely that his food suffered because he did too much, and he went down because his food was weak, and that's not at all the same thing. Tom et. al. have shown over the years that they're not against wild, creative and complex. They've sung the praises of chefs like Marcel, Hung, Richard and Andrew (and to a lesser extent, both Dales) for doing crazy, complex stuff. It just needs to WORK. If it weren't for the fact that the aforementioned chefs' more zany concoctions hadn't been received so well (with varying consistency, of course), I'd be down with those who insist Tom has a tame palate and prefers simple things, but the evidence suggests to me that the problem wasn't Jeff's complexity, but rather that said complexity didn't yield flavorful results.

Important distinction.

[ally]

I don't disagree with ranking Leah below Carla for the reasons you state. But I think it's interesting that she gets compliments from the judges when she herself seems to imply that she didn't really care or know what to do. Even phoning it in she apparently creates a decent dish.

[paula]

I'm with Charles on the Jeff thing. Dom, I think if Jeff had more time and fewer constraints (i.e., if he weren't on a nationally televised cooking competition...oops), the work he put into everything WOULD have paid off. You seem to be suggesting that he puts all that effort into every element and then they don't naturally work together--which, yes, would be a problem, but I bet that's not the case here. It's his inability to adapt to the constraints of the challenges and prioritize. To calm the monkeys, if you will. And that's why I'm eager to try his restaurant, to see if--under real-world circumstances--all that attention to detail and complicated layering really does work.

[Skillet Doux]

"Dom, I think if Jeff had more time and fewer constraints (i.e., if he weren't on a nationally televised cooking competition...oops), the work he put into everything WOULD have paid off. You seem to be suggesting that he puts all that effort into every element and then they don't naturally work together--which, yes, would be a problem, but I bet that's not the case here."

No, no, either you misunderstand or I'm not being clear. It's largely speculation, of course, but I've long been in the camp that felt Jeff's style was well-suited to the finals and that he'd step it up if he made it there. I'm just trying to get at two things... first, that Jeff was dead wrong in what appeared to be his attitude that doing more was meaningful even when it didn't work, and second that it's unfair to assume that the complexity of his food was the reason the judges didn't click with Jeff. That's all.

[paula]

Gotcha.

[DaveP]

Welcome back Dom!

I always think that everything was hashed out at the postmortem, but then your rankings bring something fresh to mind to discuss.

First, your comments on the oats' usage. I remember clearly now when the QF was first introduced, thinking, 'hey, I'd probably crust some protein in it and deep fry it... oh wait, that's boring; well this is why *I'm* not on TC.' And then everyone does something similar. :\

Second, your comments about Jeff's ceviche rings very true. I was trying to reconcile how Josie's warm "ceviche" won out despite neither dish being a true, traditional ceviche (needs hours to pickle, not 20 min), and Jeff's was closer to the real deal. Your explanation makes perfect sense, though I don't know if that's what the judges based their decision on.

--
Dave

[ally]

In my own search to re-read Lee Anne's blog from last week I came across her blog from the first episode of last season. In which she said something about best chefs of any season so far. So I just re-read her blog from first episode this season and she said "I was skeptical of a few choices for the cast and I can recognize a lamb when I see one, but that doesn't mean I didn't have high hopes for certain individuals."

So far I think Jeff has been the only real upset, so since she used the plural I wonder if one of your top two will be leaving? Or maybe she was talking about Leah. I can't imagine Jamie or Stefan leaving at this point. But you never know...

[kit]

For those of you jonesin' to reread Lee Anne's last, but longlost, blog entry, I found a cached copy (I apologize in advance for its length...):

Lee Anne's Blog
This Week's Special: Monkeyass in Empty Clamshell
Jan 26, 2009 3:16 PM

First off, let me apologize for my absence. I am sure you all understand; we've been busy filming finale in New Orleans, and I only had a few days back in NY to get my life in order as I am off to Los Angeles (on the plane as we speak). Plus, I unfortunately injured myself lugging around the TC pantry in NOLA so I was on crutches while we were filming which took up way more energy and pain medication than I thought it would. But I'm back, to get you caught up with my view of Season 5 hijinx.

Let me very quickly say that my team and I thoroughly enjoyed filming up at Stone Barns and working with Chef Dan and his staff. On the other hand, Team Culinary was overall disappointed with the end result of the animals that gave their last breath only to be offered as mediocre family style platters. Beyond the ugly butchering and general overcooking of the proteins, we styled out a huge selection of farm fresh produce and dairy only to be hit in the face with heirloom tomatoes drizzled in olive oil twice (props to Jeff for his fried green tomato, which at least had some depth and thought with the bacon corn relish). Seriously, this is Top Chef, and while I fully support and always lean towards the idea that simpler is better, did it really take Leah three hours to cut up some tomatoes and fennel? Ariane was bound to get thrown under the bus at one point or another, but while Leah and Hosea may seem wholly responsible for delegating lamb duty to her, at the end of the day she should've piped up if she was uncomfortable with her role. Each season I get to work with a new batch of contestants, and obviously I form my own opinions based on my interactions with them and also what I eventually see on TV. Ariane is one of those contestants that while not the most technically skilled, had a wonderful energy and demeanor both in and out of the kitchen. She was not only respectful to the crew and especially my team (you'd be surprised ...) but you could sense that she was really happy to be given the opportunity to be on the show, which is always taken for granted by at least a few of the contestants every season. I wish her the best, especially because she's a local Jersey girl!

Alright, everyone's favorite episode: Restaurant Wars. For the QF, we stocked that pantry with EVERYTHING, including foie gras and five different varieties of caviar. Anyways, I found the team choices to be interesting. Radhika, Carla, Jeff, and Jamie formed Team Sahana, which right out of the gate, had a much more appealing menu. Leah's Sunset Lounge man team of Hosea and Euroboy Baldie and Euroboy Italia made me smirk because I knew she had chosen a jumbo can of worms that as a young chef and female she just couldn't handle.

Let me touch upon the scandal briefly. Up until this season, it was never really an issue about "hooking up" on the show. Thankfully, all of our contestants until now had the presence of mind to realize that the cameras were always rolling and beyond that, he/she was there to win the prize, not get laid. Yes, we all make bad choices. Unlike the average A-lister who can't help the occasional paparazzi faux pas, as a contestant you are made to sign a blanket contract that says something to the effect that you give your consent to be filmed at all times (and though Top Chef is not a hidden camera show in the least, that did not prevent me from climbing the furniture to see if there were any devices hidden in the smoke detector, so on and so forth). So the turmoil, heartache, and Captain-Obvious-worthy-stupidity speaks for itself.

Restaurant Depot is a monster. Team Culinary spends quite a bit of time there every single season in combination with the supermarket sweep through Whole Foods to stock for QFs, and opening countless boxes of product from Calphalon and other sponsors it certainly takes the fun out of shopping and the whole Christmas experience. Watching them shop at Pier 1 reminded me of just that. The metal giraffe eventually became a Culinary and Art Dept mascot, and then respectively, a production wrap piñata. (Think of our favorite fax machine scene from Office Space).

Obviously neither Leah nor Radhika are in control of their teams, which in my mind lands responsibility squarely on their shoulders. After four seasons of seeing how RW goes down, if you are the team leader, then you'd better f**king lead. While Radhika looks like a mauve-swathed deer in headlights, Leah's continual, abysmal "I'm-frustrated-so-I-don't-care-or-at-least-I-will-pretend-not-to-care" attitude provokes an inner rage because I go through the casting process and I find it personally offensive when a girl I gambled and relied on to be that badass female presence just gives up. It's not that she's not talented, but she let her personal shit get in the way. I know it's happened to most of us. Just not during Restaurant Wars.

The food: let's start with Team Sahana

The carrot soup was good, if not basic. The chickpea cake with (*gasp!*) scallop was actually quite delicious and original; the soft/crunchy texture of the cake mixed well with the sweet tenderness of the scallop and overall was a very successful dish.

The snapper was really light and underseasoned, but maybe because of the swamp of tomato water it was sitting in. The lamb shank was practically perfect, I can imagine, as the cold food porn version I got to try was also amazing, even though it had been sitting for an hour.

Carla's desserts were poorly conceived and there are plenty of other options if the freezer isn't working (which it was, but they kept going in and out of it every five minutes, which is why it didn't work). She also could've spread her sorbet into a shallow layer in a hotel pan which would've assisted in it setting up faster. I wasn't sure why they would separate the components of the baklava dish, rather than make a composed dish which would've looked and probably tasted better. The spiced cake was just dry and could've been helped with some crème anglaise, whipped cream, or lots of sauce.

"Sunset Lounge" was Stefan's idea, go figure. They are very lucky that The Italian Stallion volunteered for front of the house; charming, dapper, and understanding of what sort of energy they would need for the customers in order to win.

The egg roll tasted like takeout, while the "Two Way Sashimi" was another example of terrible conception; I think "two ways" implies two different preparations, not a slice of tuna and a slice of salmon both with a slice of radish, jalapeno, and cilantro leaf, with the same soy vinaigrette. Beyond that, just boring, amateur, and underseasoned. The soup was thin in texture and the color of baby vomit.

Leah's raw black cod sat in this rice vinegar soupy base, which was maybe supposed to be reminiscent of a hot and sour tom yum style broth, but just ended up tasting sour. Really the most offensive dish of the evening. The short ribs were decent, but it was Stefan's desserts that really saved his team (or rather Leah) from the chopping block. They were both delicious and creative.

I totally and completely understand everyone's frustration and unwillingness to work with Stefan, but at the same time, why let him walk all over you? Looking at Stefan, he's the kind of guy you can get what you want from by either locking horns in a most serious manner to earn his respect (I'd straighten him out good if I had the chance), or just by adding a little sugar and sweetness. I'd be willing to bet he's much easier to work with, since he's a big softie underneath it all. Maybe Leah directed the sex appeal at the wrong person.

If I sound harsh and frustrated with the chefs and their food it is because I am. Believe me, we want them to succeed. But here's what you missed:

Each team was given sixty diners in parties of twos, threes, and fours the day they planned their menu. Each team was also given a reservation book and were responsible for booking and spacing out their dinner service, which was to be five hours long. Sunset Lounge wisely placed most of their reservations early, knowing that while dinner service may get backed up, at least their guests would be in the capable hands of Fabio and everyone would get fed. Radhika's team somehow booked several 11 p.m. tables for themselves, including a deuce for my best friend and her coworker. (You may see my Erin in the short purple dress caressing a cocktail while asking Radhika when their table would be ready). They were not sat until 11:40 p.m. because Team Sahana was so backed up in the kitchen and dining room because they couldn't turn tables, surely due to lack of communication between Radhika and the rest of her team. Not only did she seat my friends late, she very rudely told them they only had twenty minutes to eat and then had the nerve to complain to them about how hard it is being on the show. You can imagine my expression when my friends told me this afterwards (and we filmed on a weeknight, so I thanked them for being good sports about not getting out of there until after midnight). So from my perspective, Radhika automatically should've gone home because her behavior is the antithesis of what RW is all about. Even at Judges' Table she couldn't accept responsibility for her team or any of it's downfalls because I truly believe she had no idea what was going on. On a personal note, she's a sweet talented girl, maybe not cut out for high stakes competition but a young chef on the rise for sure. Best of luck to her.

Anyways, I can't even remember what's coming up for this week's episode, but hopefully it's a shinier penny than this week. Love you guys, talk soon.

[Glen]

Dom, I agree with your rankings and thanks for supporting the challenge. People's biggest concern seemed to be about the 5 students.
Fine, let's change the rules and say that if you fail to get the votes of a majority of the judges you are up for elimination. We would have still gotten the same three plus Jamie. Clearly neither Jamie nor Stephan were in any danger of going home so we would've still been down to Fabio and Jeff.

[Independent George]

Bravo's website his horrendous. It has the makings of being the brainchild of an executive who's never been on the internet by himself, but reads trade journals on e-commerce, and insists on having his webmaster implement everything he's read about with no regard to implementation or user experience. Hence, the cluttered design, the useless, memory-hogging flash animations, the incomprehensible archiving and page organization... It's quite horrendous.

[Darin]

I apologize for an off topic comment and I hope this does not acquire ire from the rest of the board. I faithfully get every episode from Itunes when they are available but sometimes the specials or one off's escape me as I don't have cable. Dom if this post is not welcome please remove it with my apologies. I just found out about the christmas episode with Eric Ripert (shout out to L20 as it was an amazing recommendation). I was curious if any other fans thought CJ looked a little "tired" shall we put it? He looked like he had been up for about 10 days before they filmed that episode.

As for this episode I have to say that Carla has won me over and I almost hope she wins just to make me smile for a day or two. Her interview on Bravotv.com is pretty awesome. She is way way too happy. Bottle that energy and make millions Carla.

[DPP]

WARNING! Watch what you're reading online via spoilers. I was browsing Top Chef on Wikipedia (don't ask me why, I just like to browse Wikipedia sometimes) not looking for spoilers and I unfortunately came across the info for tomorrow night, complete with quickfire highs and lows, and elimination challenge winner and loser! I don't know for a fact if this information is correct but it really irks me that I saw it.

[David]

Thanks DPP, although I take Wikipedia with a grain of salt, and never trust what's posted about future events. (Hey, I know these shows have been taped, but still.)

[canasian]

Reassurance that the spoiler is probably false!

Don't worry yourself about that, DPP. Without even looking at it I could tell you the wikipedia spoiler is a farce. Those pop up once in a while on the Top Chef and Project Runway wikipedia pages, but they're rarely ever true. (Once in a while someone will post on the win/lose/high/low chart the information as to the first six challenges on the day before filming starts! And people believe it!)

[Adam]

"Besides which, looking at it purely from a production standpoint, bringing in seven previous contestants is both a big pain and expensive. If you like the idea behind the challenge, the earlier in the season it is, the bigger the logistical nightmare to make it happen."

My argument is not that you bring in guests. It's that you put the chefs head-to-head, as they did in the first episode. In this episode, it was effectively a 14 chef head-to-head challenge, only 7 of the chefs had immunity. That brings me to...

"And really, they had TWO ways to survive: either win your matchup, OR do a better job than any of the other losers. If you can't do either of those, I think it's hard to argue that you deserve to stay, regardless of the format that got you there."

Imagine the following scenario:

#1 dish (guest chef) beats #2 dish (competing chef)
#3 dish (competing chef) beats #8 dish (guest chef)
#4 dish (competing chef) beats #9 dish (guest chef)
#5 dish (competing chef) beats #10 dish (guest chef)
#6 dish (competing chef) beats #11 dish (guest chef)
#7 dish (competing chef) beats #12 dish (guest chef)
#13 dish (competing chef) beats #14 dish (guest chef)

Admittedly, this is an unlikely scenario. But if this happened, you eliminate the chef that cooked the second best dish out of 14, and don't eliminate the chef that cooked the second worst dish out of 14.

This is the sort of thing that's possible when half of the chefs have immunity.

[Skillet Doux]

"Admittedly, this is an unlikely scenario. But if this happened, you eliminate the chef that cooked the second best dish out of 14, and don't eliminate the chef that cooked the second worst dish out of 14.

This is the sort of thing that's possible when half of the chefs have immunity."

Sure, it's technically possible, but while my probability is a little rusty, I believe they'd have to do this a few hundred more times to make that anything more than an incredibly remote outcome. It seems to me there are plenty of other far more likely twists of fate that can sink the top contestants that there's no reason to worry about this particular one.

Besides which, any time the field breaks into two teams, half of the chefs DO have immunity (at least in the sense that you describe). That's nothing new. In fact, it seems to me that the Superbowl challenge is significantly more equitable because at least it places each individual chef's fate squarely in his or her own hands, rather than subjecting them to the potential pitfalls of team dynamics.

[Skillet Doux]

Okay, some napkin calculations because I love this kind of thing. Those who actually know their probability, please step in if I'm off here.

For the second best to go home while the second worst survives, three things have to happen. First, #2 has to be matched up against #1. Second, #13 has to be matched up against #14. Third, the other five matchups have to be won by the guest chefs. So #2 has a 1/13 chance of drawing #1. Then, #13 has a 1/11 chance of drawing #14. Let's say the remaining matches are a coin flip. So the odds of this happening would be 1/13 * 1/11 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4576. I'm pretty comfortable with those odds.

But let's even say the guest chefs are a lot better and are expected to win 75% of the time. That makes it 1/13 * 1/11 * 3/4 * 3/4 * 3/4 * 3/4 * 3/4 = 1/602 (rounded). Heck, even if the guest chefs are expected to win 90% of the time, that still only makes it 1/242 (rounded).

I think the odds are slim enough that it's a non-factor. By far, the most likely scenario is that one of the worst dishes is going to go home.

[Adam]

I fully agree that that particular scenario is very unlikely. However, the 13th place dish winning was just something I threw in there for the heck of it. So, (replacing the 1/11 with 3/4) the second best dish going home is the sort of thing that only happens roughly 1 in 73 times. Unlikely, but really, really bad.

Moreover, if I expand this out to "one of the best 5 dishes goes home", it goes from 1 in 73 to more like 1 in 20. That's not acceptable, in my opinion.

(I'm pegging the competing chefs at 75% because, really, they SHOULD be better. Not only are they highly motivated and used to the rhythm of the competition, but they will, on average, end up finishing 4th in season 5. The "all-stars" finished much lower - Spike was the best at 5th place.)

"Besides which, any time the field breaks into two teams, half of the chefs DO have immunity (at least in the sense that you describe)."

No, that's not immunity in the sense I describe. I'm not talking about the immunity that Nikki, Hosea, Carla, Andrea, Jamie, Josie, and Spike earned by winning. I'm talking about the immunity that Nikki, Miguel, Andrew, Andrea, Camile, Josie, and Spike effectively BEGAN the challenge with, because they weren't actually in the competition.

No matter how terrible Nikki's dish was, she was not going to judges table, and was not going to get eliminated. THIS was the problem with the challenge, and THIS is what makes it possible for it to produce terrible results.

In the episode 1 head-to-head challenge, only one person (Stefan) came into the elimination with immunity. If Stefan had produced the worst dish that night, and the person competing against him had produced the second worst (which Ariane did, actually), then the third worst dish out of 16 would have been sent home. That's no great loss, and is pretty comparable to what happens in other challenges (Leah being spared in Restaurant Wars, to pick the most recent case). That's no big deal.

But with seven contestants out of fourteen immune from the start, it's a completely different deal. You can get really odd results.

[Glen]

While it's true that all kind of terrible scenarios could have played out, the reality is that they didn't. Whether you put all the Season 5 chefs who tied with the judges or the ones who lost with the judges you still end up with the two worst dishes - Fabio's and Jeff's - at the end. And there is nothing anywhere in the episode or on the judges' blogs to indicate anything other than that the two worst dishes out of 14 were Fabio's and Jeff's.

[Naomi]

Like food. Like TV. Don't like math. Head spinning. Eyes crossing.

;-)

[Skillet Doux]

"I fully agree that that particular scenario is very unlikely. However, the 13th place dish winning was just something I threw in there for the heck of it. So, (replacing the 1/11 with 3/4) the second best dish going home is the sort of thing that only happens roughly 1 in 73 times. Unlikely, but really, really bad.

Moreover, if I expand this out to "one of the best 5 dishes goes home", it goes from 1 in 73 to more like 1 in 20. That's not acceptable, in my opinion."

I think there's a logical fault here, though.

You say the all-stars should be winning 75% of the time (I realize we're throwing out an arbitrary number for the sake of argument), and you say there's a high change of one of the top five dishes going home, but if most of the winners are the guest chefs, then by definition almost all of the people up for elimination were on the bottom half... not the top five.

In essence what I think you're doing is speaking of scenarios where the "top five" are eliminated, but actually crunching the probability of their elimination as though they're in the bottom.

Unless you just mean the top five among the contestants, not including the guest chefs. But again, there I think your numbers are faulty. For one of the five best dishes to go to the chopping block while the bottom two survive, let's say that the bottom two finishers had the 11th and 12th best dishes... the best they could possibly be while allowing for the five above them to all lose. Number 12 only has a 2/13 chance of drawing an inferior opponent, and number 11 only has a 2/11 chance of drawing an inferior opponent. That's still only a 1/35 chance of one of the top five dishes among the contestants going home, except that because the top five contestants were all losers, the worst of them couldn't possibly have been any better than the 10th best dish out of the 14 presented.

In sum, if the 1/35 chance that the scenario you mention, where the bottom two of the remaining contestants are safe while the five best go to the block, and this results in the 5th best of the contestants being sent home for making the 10th best dish out of 14, I'm okay with that :-)

[aaalex]

slightly off topic, but an interesting article in the ny times about the fate of restaurants in ny city (including a brief note on colicchio's Craft:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/dining/04note.html?em

it's interesting how, in dire times, front of house matters.

[aaalex]

i should have written: how much, in dire times, front of house matters.it always matters, of course, unless your restaurant is so popular you can afford to be nonchalant.

[aaalex]

oops. my correction to a post was posted be fore my post.
what i said, originally was:

here's a link to an interesting article in the new york times about the state of restaurants in nyc:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/dining/04note.html?em

the mention of Colicchio's Craft is interesting, in light of Jeff's comments about the cost of a meal chez Colicchio.

[Allison]

@aaalex I also was going to post this article. The list of prominent chefs and restaurants is a serious crowd. Karen Waltuck's comments particularly struck me because Chanterelle is a Tribeca mainstay that made it through that neighborhood's aftermath of 2001, something not faced by most of the other restaurants.

[aaalex]

Allison: do you know the restaurant? I mean have you eaten at Chanterelle? I was kind of curious what its cuisine was.

[Allison]

Yes, I know Chanterelle & have eaten there on several occasions (in addition to dining, the Waltucks have been longtime supporters of a neighborhood school fundraiser). Classic French, with some twists. Always excellent, and I would highly recommend a visit during restaurant week for the value. Also, I have always found everyone in the restaurant to embody both grace and a down-to-earth quality.

[Allison]

Dom,

You always makes me reconsider my original TC thoughts about the competition & this is no exception. Even though I didn't like how the "fan" competition played out, I can see how it was a good idea in the concept of the show. While I have NO intention of doing the stats (I'm saving that energy for my doctoral degree), thanks for pointing out the fact that the contestants DID have TWO opportunities to lose. That was enough for me, combined with the fact that Jeff seemed doomed to lose because he wasn't listening.

I agree that I want a list of Leanne's rule sheets (also what's available if you want to start adding to that fantasy list) because it was clear that there was prep time, but no parameters, for example.

Glad to see you're back!

[Allison]

aalex,

Yes, I've been there. Chanterelle is primarily classic French cuisine and I expect excellence there.

[Cheryl]

ok..nothing to do with last week's challenge..reacting to tonight.
OMG..Leah should have gone..she had no clue what was in the dish she had to prepare...
Jamie used too much salt with celery and she's out?!!!
Are your kidding me?!!!

[karenology]

Yeouch this episode of Top Chef was painful...yet I knew as soon as she oversalted the celery, Jamie was done for. Still not sure whether or not it would have been better for her to leave it off the plate entirely?

[sprugman]

I'm in the "this challenge was problematic because the wrong person can easily go home" camp.

"And there is nothing anywhere in the episode or on the judges' blogs to indicate anything other than that the two worst dishes out of 14 were Fabio's and Jeff's."

I'm not going to go back and re-watch the episode, but my memory of it is that during the immediate post-eating judging the comments were relatively innocuous and that it was a fairly close call -- similar to other contestants that didn't wind up on the bottom. It was only during JT that Jeff and Fabio got shredded. The point being that there may have been several other dishes that would have been similarly shredded, but that squeaked by because of the structure of the competition.

Maybe Jeff's dish really did suck, and he deserved to go home, but I don't feel like we know that at all from the footage. In any case, I'm sorry to see him go, because I thought he had the most potential for creating interesting finals behind the top two, and that the gap between him and Hosea seemed fairly wide. If only he could have learned to edit himself....

[karenology]

especially painful, I might add, considering how much emphasis there was on Leah phoning it in! Augh, why not just go home now and stop wasting everyone's time.