Top Chef - S5E1 Postmortem

Well, given the dearth of good information available, I fully expected the preview rankings to be a season-long embarrassment, but I'm actually feeling pretty good about them! A couple of surprises, but two of my bottom four are already gone, and my dark horse scores a double win. Looks like another strong field. I'm jazzed. Anyway, I'll save most of my thoughts for the rankings on Monday, but I'll put up a postmortem thread like this after each show so we have a place to banter through the weekend. And we're off... rock on!

Comments

[Wangus]

Hey Dom! Welcome back.

Aaaand we're off. Expected departures, but a fun group nonetheless.

On a more local note Dom: the things you've heard (or lack thereof) on our Red Maple (Jill's place in Baltimore) are all pretty fair assessments. It's unimpressive at best and really just a more popular spot for its night bar. I've been there a couple of times with coworkers, and while the menu always seems interesting, the food tends to be all very one-note, often bland, and fairly uninspiring.

Hope you've had a chance to explore around Baltimore a bit lately; definitely give us some notes if you have.

Again, good to see you back.

-Andrew

[Clarita]

So happy to have your blog to read along with the show! This is going to be fun.

[reader_iam]

Well done--you've got good reason[s] to be jazzed.

I'm looking forward to following what you do here. Thanks!!

[Dan]

I was very surprised at the low level of food each put out: Her salad in the quickfire seemed like something assembled at a salad bar.

And for his elimination:

Take fish sauce/soy sauce, water, sugar, oil, vinegar, and some herbs and aromatics...like magic, you have the idiot's (and I include myself) version of a stir fry base. It's not hard to hit all the notes. So why was he hitting just one?

With all the qualified candidates they must get, I'm just always really surprised when they put on duds.

[Skillet Doux]

Well, Dan, I figure there are three ways you can look at it:

1) They may have been trying to play it safe, under the assumption that somebody else would screw up this early on. Keep it simple, don't take any chances, let somebody else blow it. Problem is, the level of cooking was generally pretty high, and you didn't see a lot of spectacular screw ups like we have in some other seasons.

2) The culinary students and caterers won't like to hear it, but maybe the producers want to try to maintain some diversity among their contestants, and it really IS difficult to find culinary students and cateres who can keep up with up-and-coming executive chefs.

3) Or maybe it's intentional. Throw in a few people who clearly lag behind the rest so your real contenders have a few weeks to get their feet under them and settle in before they're in any real danger of elimination.

[DaveP]

Ah, my favorite cooking show and my favorite blog about that cooking show are both back! Looking forward to another great season and your writeups, Dom.

As for last night's ep, glad to see Patrick go. Lack of knife skills + lack of Chinese cuisine (seriously, expecting an "udon-like consistency?") spells buh bye. Early on favorites are Stephan, even if he doesn't know what an emulsion is, Hosea (get a good vibe about him) and, surprisingly, Eugene. He either got really lucky last night or has some great instincts. Hopefully, it's the latter.

Can't wait to see the new rankings.

[Skillet Doux]

Thanks, Dave!

"As for last night's ep, glad to see Patrick go. Lack of knife skills + lack of Chinese cuisine (seriously, expecting an 'udon-like consistency') spells buh bye."

Yeah, I caught that, too. Between the "udon-like consistency" line and the mirin glaze, it sounds like he was either more comfortable with Japanese than Chinese (relatively speaking, anyway), or he fell into the "all Asian cuisines are pretty much the same" trap. Given that he touted the Asian cuisines class at the CIA as adequate experience to claim knowledge of the same, I'm leaning towards the latter. Just a bad showing all around.

[JonO]

I was so worried we'd have to sit through hours and hours of bad dishes backstopped by "but her husband is fighting for our freedom in Iraq!" And we don't! We don't have to put up with that at all. Maybe we'll get treated to good cooking start to finish?

I think Eugene and Jeff have got the school-of-hard-knocks-the-way-Bourdain-likes-it vibe going (who doesn't love the rags to riches/dishwasher to executive chef storyline?) and that'll take them pretty far. I'm nervous though that maybe Gene's grasped the romance of that bio conceptually, and is playing it up—the whole vague "new concept for major hotel" sounds a lot like something Stephen Aspirinio would say. Which sounds like fakery which makes me suspicious of the rest of his bio. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, but we still need to see if he's able to be good, too. I was amused to see Jeff have so much trouble plating. Hopefully we don't get too many more dishes this season that look like poo (Jeff's beans and corn, Jamie's eggplant).

Or should I say, I hope we get LOTS of dishes that look like poo, but from competitors we don't like?!

Stefan is going to be painted with a heavy "villain edit" through most of the show, obviously, and when he lands in the top four his presence will be all divisive n shit. The words "meat oil" from the mouth of Jean-George do not sound as appetizing as Stefan's cooking looked.

I think a lot of people are going to underestimate Leah (I think you have her ranked about right, though maybe you overestimated Ariane?) and possibly overestimate Fabio.

It's not just me, surely, but Ariane looks like the beautiful Lisa Edelstein (Cuddy on House, MD). Only a lot more... tired. Doesn't she?

So I guess I gotta go with Stefan, Jamie, Jeff, and Leah. With Eugene as my dark horse and Alex as my bet for a controversial too-early elimination. The others--simply made no impression.

So GLAD™ they eliminated *two* right away. Bang! Bang! Welcome to the Big Apple, baby!

[JonO]

Hm. no apostrophes or quotation marks? What gives with the editor on these comments, Dom?

[Joanna]

Gotta agree about Patrick - he meant well, and I do believe he had passion, but he just didn't seem to have the culinary experience and skill to even start competing at the level of the other chefs. I also think it was a serious misstep to go with a primary ingredient that he'd never used before. Of course, even if he'd gone with another type of noodle, the dish still would have been downright boring... at least he has years and years ahead of him to learn and improve.

So far, I'm pretty impressed with Leah - she's the only one who cooked two great dishes last night. Okay, maybe her apple-handling skills could use some work, but both her quickfire scallops and her Italian dish in the elimination challenge looked clean, well-executed, and interesting. I'm curious to see what she can do when taken out of her comfort zone.

Also, did you notice that in the preview for next week, someone said something to Stefan about him having immunity? Is it possible he wins the first *three* challenges of the season?

[Jason]

Joanna, I saw that clip, but I don't think it's necessarily from the next episode (the caption said "coming up this season on Top Chef", so I'm guessing several episodes were featured.

On to the show, fine with both eliminations, as both appeared to be weaker contestants anyway. Patrick could be quite talented, but his lack of experience would have been an issue.

I like Stefan as an early favorite, and it appears he can back up his confidence with actual skill, so his personality probably won't bug me (similar to Dale last year or Hung season 3)....also really liked Hosea and have high hopes for him. I liked Jill's personality, but after reading here that her current restaurant is none too impressive, maybe Leah is a better choice for best female (and maybe best in show)

I think it's very interesting that the winner of the first challenge has always been a serious contender (winning 3 times)...not sure that it is indicative of anything, or just a flukish coincidence.

[Jason]

Oops, completely forgot about Jamie. I liked what I've seen from her so far as well. Another early favorite.

[Skillet Doux]

“I think a lot of people are going to underestimate Leah (I think you have her ranked about right, though maybe you overestimated Ariane?) and possibly overestimate Fabio.”

We’ll see about Ariane. Like I mentioned, her menu didn’t grab me, but she’s been at it a very long time and has received a lot of positive buzz, so I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Gene was the opposite problem -- I want to believe that a guy who’s worked all the way up from dishwasher really has something going for him, but it was hard to put him higher with a blank resume. I guess the lesson is to trust my instincts more :-)

“Hm. no apostrophes or quotation marks? What gives with the editor on these comments, Dom?”

Ugh... don’t get me started. TypePad and I are not getting along lately on a lot of fronts. I’ve already submitted a ticket. I want to bail to my own server, but I have to get MovableType installed. Maybe this weekend if I’m feeling ambitious.

[Adam]

Agreed with Dan - I was shocked at the simplicity and banality of Lauren's salad. And I'm no cooking expert by any means, but I can put together a decent stirfry from basic ingredients just by taste.

I've eaten at Hosea's restaurant (Jax fish house) more than once, and it's always excellent.

Other than Eugene (15->6?) and Ariana (2->11?), and I suppose Stefan (7->1?), Dom's preview rankings proved remarkably accurate.

[Skillet Doux]

"Take fish sauce/soy sauce, water, sugar, oil, vinegar, and some herbs and aromatics...like magic, you have the idiots (and I include myself) version of a stir fry base."

"And Im no cooking expert by any means, but I can put together a decent stirfry from basic ingredients just by taste."

Not that his alternative got him very far, but I think avoiding stir fry is actually a good call. Good stir fry loses 30% of its awesomeness in the first two minutes and 50% of its awesomeness in the first five... scientifically proven fact! I mean, most foods lose something if they have to sit, but wok hay is particularly delicate. Unless they were allowed to fire a fresh plate right before judging, which I don't believe anybody has ever mentioned, I think stir fry is a bad idea. It's part of the reason I was aghast when Lisa BOXED a stir fry last season.

[Rosedel]

No love lost here for Lauren and Patrick's elimination. Lauren's salad was just too ordinary and Patrick's noodles cost him the challenge. I'm still laughing at John George's sarcastic comment, "put bok choy on the dish and it's Chinese food." LOL!

Maybe it's just me, but I think this season seems to be a redemption compared to last season in terms of more talented chefs. Then again, I'm still bitter about Lisa and watching the reruns didn't help. Heh!

FYI, I've been reading your non TC blogs and I tell ya, they make me want to go those places myself.

[Dan]

"Good stir fry loses 30% of its awesomeness in the first two minutes and 50% of its awesomeness in the first five... scientifically proven fact! I mean, most foods lose something if they have to sit, but wok hay is particularly delicate. Unless they were allowed to fire a fresh plate right before judging, which I don't believe anybody has ever mentioned, I think stir fry is a bad idea. It's part of the reason I was aghast when Lisa BOXED a stir fry last season."

Depends on the stir fry methinks. If you use chow fun noodles, it becomes revolting rather quickly. The one I made last night used a udon-like noodle and def. got better after a few hours sitting on the stove. Carrots age well, and onions are fine. I also had done a veggy stir-fry lo mein, and didn't use a stock, so there was nothing that could congeal and become scary. Of course, this is predicated on the idea that my stir fry was 'good' stir fry, which is an awfully large assumption, especially considering I do it in a regular pan.

I miss Lisa though. That bad food every show...that horrible bitchiness, every show. So far, the only personality of real note seems to be the the loon with the 'spirit guides', and she seems ripe for light mockery, not condemnation.

[Travis]

Dom! Glad to see that you're back. This looks to be a pretty good season. My thoughts:

1.) The level of cooking didn't astonish me, but it seemed to be pretty high across the board. I was expecting someone to really blow it, and no one did, which is a good sign for the quality of the season. At this point it looks like there's no Richard (someone playing on a much higher level than everyone else) this season. I miss that guy. For Ariane to be in the bottom tw even though the judges really liked the lamb on her dish speaks volumes.

2.) Having said that, Ariane is toast. And thats from a purely mental stand point. Steph wasn't the most confident chef, but to say in the first episode that you are coming on the show to confirm your abilities to yourself means that you're here for a long (or in this case, short) ride. I give her 3 weeks tops.

3.) Carla already drives me nuts. First with the caterer pride and then getting inspiration from 'spiritual guides'? You've got to be kidding me, just shut up and cook.

4.) Stephan and Fabio really got on my nerves with their Euro elitism. And yes, i realize the irony of a foodie like myself accusing someone else of being elitist. Stephan showed he's got some skills, but he also showed he's got some Hung-like traits. Bastard. The jury is still out on Fabio's skills, but he still looks like he's going to be a jackass.

5.) Was it Hosea that nailed the Russian dish with a total shot in the dark? That was pretty cool. I'd have been SOL if i got Russian food. I guess that's why i'm not on the show.

5.) As a SF Bay Area resident, i'm a bit ashamed of our performance last season, and was upset that we only got one on this season. However, Jamie looks like a very cool chick that i can really root for. I haven't had a chance to make it over to Absinthe yet (only been here for 18 months), but it has been moved to the front of my list. It gets great reviews, so i'm pretty confident in her ability to stay in this thing for a while.

[Independent George]

I absolutely loved the format of the quickfire; I was a little surprised that it was an elimination right from the start, but it was both fair and entertaining. Does anybody else get the feeling that the only reason Patrick & Lauren were selected was so they could be eliminated early, and give the stronger contestants a chance to get acclimated to the show? I pegged them as sacrificial lambs as soon as I saw their ages listed on the screen; whatever their talents, I knew there was no way they were going to stick around more than a couple weeks.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Gene, the working man. (Not that the others haven't paid their dues, but there's a difference between starting as a dishwasher and starting at CIA; that already tells me he's probably the hungriest of all of them).

[Omelet]

Wonderful to have your insights again this year, Dom. (We've kept SkilletDoux on our main toolbar since learning about it last season and enjoyed it all year long.)

[marya]

I just came across your blog, I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this season. I agree with your take so far.

Ariane not impressive, although I might be biased because of her stupid restaurant name.

Some web hosts provide Movable Type pre-installed by the way-- mine does.