Top Chef - S5E4 Power Rankings

Pssssssst. Shauna! If we wanted to see who's the best caterer with their hands tied, we'd watch this show. If we wanted to see who's the best food television personality, we'd watch this show. But we're watching your show. Can we get back to seeing up-and-coming chefs showing off their skill, style and creativity in an attempt to win seed money for their restaurant/catering dreams? Kaythanksbye.

In truth, my annoyance with this week's elimination challenge has waned with time. I'm still not entirely comfortable with Top Chef making forays into the realm of some... other... shows, but at least I can appreciate the logic. Yes, once casting has finished their job, the competition is about your food, not your ability to mug for the camera (I'm looking at you, Danny). But at least the challenge wasn't framed as a television star casting call, but rather as an exercise in the blunt reality of working in high profile restaurants these days. Like it or not, today's best chefs are celebrities, and even if they don't seek fame, fame will seek them. You don't have to have a Food Network show and a book deal and a line of signature cookware, but if you aspire to the heights of the profession, it's probably a good idea to learn to be comfortable cooking on camera. And though timing, personality and knowing your audience all figured into the mix, in the end the chefs had to make a good dish. A number of chefs didn't finish in time or embarrassed themselves on camera, but the ones who found themselves on the chopping block were those who made bad food.

Once again, though, I totally dug the quickfire, even if far too many of the cheftestants were unclear on the concept. "One bite" is the phrase that's tossed around a lot, but that's an overly simplistic and narrow definition, I think. Yes, small is important, but it's as much about refinement and excitement as it is about physical size. Amuse bouche is a fun little tease. It's the one time that it's okay to be overly precious. Amuse needs to be small, it needs to be highly refined, it needs to be beautiful, and its flavors need to absolutely pop. The chefs were presented with a real-world challenge that asked them to produce something they should understand and be able to execute, and by putting amuse bouche in an atypical context -- breakfast -- they were given another avenue to express their creativity. Once again, the quickfire tells us more about our chefs' core cheffing abilities than the elimination.

And yet, we're still left with a large pack of chefs who have made a splash here and there but failed to firmly establish themselves as favorites. Reading around the 'net, it seems that most people see this as an indictment of this season's contestants. I think most people have short memories. The general consensus is that Richard and Stephanie had established themselves as highly talented heavy favorites very early on last season, and that's not completely untrue, but I think time has exaggerated the memory. In the first three episodes, Richard had a couple of really interesting winners, but also had a chicken soup and paella that were strongly criticized. It wasn't until episode four that he really broke out, and then he immediately followed that with the sous vide salmon fiasco that put him on the chopping block. Stephanie, meanwhile, got that first win with the great looking duck dish, but Rocco savaged her pizza, she survived a lousy crab salad in episode two because she was lucky enough to be on a team with the only two chefs who performed worse than her, and her episode three win was for a fruit crumble. Meanwhile, Antonia, Dale and even Mark looked very strong in the early running. Point being, as easy as it is to say in hindsight that we all knew they'd be there at the end, and while many of us did, in fact, have them at or near the top of our lists, I don't think it was the obvious call at the time that so many remember it to be. Don't misunderstand, I'm not yet convinced that this season's latter stages will have the same kind of heavyweight bout vibe of last season's, but it's early. I say give this season a few more weeks to develop before deciding it's populated by a bunch of hacks. There's good stuff beneath the surface. The kids can play. We've yet to see their best.

And precisely because we've yet to see their best, no number one again this week. Digging through this pack is still tricky. Nobody's really broken free, and the fact that they've been kneecapped in half of the eliminations so far doesn't help, but we're eight dishes in and if you look at the complete body of what they've made so far, it's possible to get a sense of where they're coming from, even if they haven't made it crystal clear for us just yet. So with this week's rankings, I'm starting to shift away from the week-to-week horserace that typifies the first quarter of the season, and look a little more at the big picture. By no means are we throwing out last week's rankings or ignoring this week's results, but having just done a review of each chef's performance thus far, I'm bumping them a notch or two based on the impression I'm left with. Incidentally, I'm up against multiple deadlines, leaving for an important trip at the end of the week and the sickness has just descended upon me, so forgive me if I breeze through some of the less interesting cheftestants this week. I hope to be myself again next week.

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

Wins

Top

Bottom

2 Leah Quickfires 2 2 1 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 0 2 0 She isn't doing much with the eliminations, but if she keeps winning quickfires I suppose she doesn't have to (for a while, anyway). Her fried quail egg with spicy tomato, bacon, parmesan and and fried sage was fairly straightforward but absolutely perfect from a technical and philosophical standpoint. She kept it compact and pretty. Working her herb in as a fried crisp on top made for both a great presentation and a textural contrast that might've been lost in a larger dish but pops in a single bite. And where Jamie used a slice of fresh tomato, Leah cooked tomato down until almost dry, intensifying the flavor so that the tiny bite would carry more oomph. Decisions like these may seem small, but they aren't made lightly and they separate the good from the great. In comparing the first quarter of this season to last, what struck me as the biggest difference was that last season had featured a few more wow dishes at this point -- the creative dishes that display an unusual level of sophistication. And yet, Leah's turned out two or three that, in my estimation at least, seem to fit that category. Dishes like the farotta with snapper and the asparagus soup with tuna would fit right into the finals. Even her scallop and apple dish, though she arrived at it by being slow with the knife, looked interesting and well-executed. We don't know how her seared duck with corn, blueberries and citrus sauce was received since the judges seemed more concerned with her lack of presence on camera, but in the pure tests of culinary skill she's turning out some impressive dishes. There's no breakaway performance here and she's not without stumbles. I'm keeping number one in my back pocket. But she's won two quickfires in a row and she's turned out a couple of the most impressive dishes. In this field, that earns her the not-number-one-highest-available-spot.

3 Jamie Quickfires 0 3 0 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 0 2 1 Unlike most, I do think Jamie was in real danger this week. Yes, her error was small compared to Melissa and Alex, but eliminations on Top Chef always have a logic to them -- even if that logic isn't always consistent from episode to episode -- and I started to worry when I could see the logic behind which they could separate her from the other two. Melissa grossly overspiced and brought her palate and judgment into question by insisting there was nothing wrong with the result. Alex made a decision so far disconnected from reality that his dish was dead in the water before he even started cooking it. Jamie's sin, slightly underestimating the time she needed, seems minor in comparison, and it is, but it produced what I would consider the worst consequence. If the host of the show goes rushing for water you might not be invited back, but capsaicin junkies will be intrigued and the rest of the audience might even be amused. If your crème brûlée doesn't set, it still looks pretty and the host probably won't say anything. But if the host balks at eating an undercooked egg or -- god forbid -- brings up the S word, you could have a full blown PR problem. I don't mean to suggest it would be warranted. I'm in the camp that resents having to pull teeth to get a raw egg with my sukiyaki, much less the accompanying visual assessment of how likely I am to sue. But raw egg hysteria is widespread, and the argument that in a live television context Jamie's mistake was potentially the most disastrous is, I think, a fair one. I'm less inclined to lend any weight to the criticisms of her attitude. It seemed clear to me that she was upset only with herself, she stepped right up and calmly took her lumps like a grownup at Judges' Table, and while it doesn't excuse her performance, I doubt anybody honestly believes that's how she would have reacted if she were really doing a live demo rather than a staged one. In any case, I can't justify leaving somebody at the top after landing on the chopping block, but with the given that she survived, she racked up another near win and this particular elimination hasn't done anything to change my opinion of her performance or her prospects.

4 Stefan Quickfires 1 2 1 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 1 1 0 Like just about everybody else in the top half, Stefan had a decent week but still hasn't gotten back to the expectations he set in the first episode. His amuse, the huevos rancheros served in the shell, was a perfect example of why amuse shouldn't be so narrowly defined as "one bite". Rocco had it absolutely right. It was more than one bite, but that was amuse in spirit. Like Leah, he went for intensity by going heavy on the yolk in his mix. The flavor profile wasn't anything special at all -- egg, cheddar, cream, salsa. But by poaching instead of scrambling and going with a beautiful presentation, he elevated it and made it special. And then he did a completely mundane minestrone (I smell a tactical decision not to do anything risky) and, apparently, didn't do much to sell it. But the reason I have him at number four isn't fading episode one glory. I still love what I've seen in some of his recipes. I see some neat ideas, nice pairings and interesting flavors in clean, well-articulated dishes. And even if we'd never seen episode one, I think I'd still feel that way. Incidentally, for all of those who want to run out and start topping eggs, it is a fun presentation, if a ton of work. For Iron Chef Egg, I did a spicy Asian egg salad trio that was served on little round toasts under eggshell caps (we tipped them slightly so you could see the food for the photo), and a souffle trio that I got to rise out of eggshells. Two dishes x three eggs x fifteen diners = 90 beheaded eggs. I gave up on the topper that Stefan used after about ten of them, and went to the sanding band on my Dremel. Worked shockingly well. It would sand through the shell while leaving the membrane intact, so I could then rinse away the eggshell powder before exposing the egg inside. I got perfectly smooth cuts in seconds and I got to cook with power tools. What's not to like?

5 Fabio Quickfires 0 1 1 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 1 3 0 Am I the only one who rolled my eyes when Fabio expressed trepidation at this week's elimination? You could sit in front of the television blindfolded and still know that he's a natural for this. Fabio could be eliminated next week, and he would have already won Top Chef season five. If he wants it, he'll have his own show before the end of next year. But when it comes to actually winning the competition, I just can't put him any higher. He's made some smart moves and earned some praise, but I still haven't seen the kind of distinctive, sophisticated, confident dishes that he'll need to get past the middle part of the season. His amuse would have been fine if you like sweet breakfast and a milkshake (I don't). When it comes to the elimination, however, I greatly appreciate the need to stay simple, but there's simple fresh and interesting and there's simple boring. Sesame crusted tuna, roasted carrots and asparagus and balsamic reduction screams early '90s -- if not late '80s -- to me. Keep it simple, fine, but give it something. Just one little twist, one little unconventional ingredient, and you can make that dish fresh and interesting again. Maybe he's holding back, but as much as I like the guy -- he's impossible not to like -- he has yet to cook like a winner. He's had some success, he seems to be capable (atrocious plating aside) and my feeling is he'll probably be hanging around late, so I'm reluctantly putting him near the bottom of the top tier, but I do so with significant reservations.

6 Gene Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 1 2 0 If Gene had given me anything to go on at all this week, I would have left him above Fabio. Who knows? Maybe he did. But the editors didn't show us a thing. So to keep you abreast of what he's doing, his amuse was a one bit pork sausage and bacon sandwich on rye made with an over easy quail egg and bacon yamamomo vinaigrette. I'd like to know how the sausage, rye, egg and fruit blended, but even more, I'd like to know where the hell he got yamamomo. Yamamomo, or mountain peach (yama = mountain and momo = peach in Japanese), is a funky little stone fruit from China and Japan that looks kind of like a large, spherical raspberry and it has a really pleasant, clean sweet flavor. But while I've gotten them in American restaurants and I don't doubt they're obtainable by the general public, I don't think I've ever seen one in a store in the States. And in any case, it was a quickfire, so he couldn't have shopped for it. There's no way that's part of the TC pantry, and despite a lot of freeze framing, I couldn't spy them on the breakfast table. Did he bring some along? Can you buy canned yamamomo? Anyway, his elimination dish looks nice and I thought it was a pretty good choice. He did a tuna sashimi with snow pea shoot salad and daikon vinaigrette. It wasn't overly complicated, anybody can do it, but between the ingredients and spooning sizzling oil over the raw fish, it had some wow factor for your average viewer. Perhaps the judges thought it too complicated, or perhaps he just wasn't quite as strong as the top three. Or maybe they were also concerned about the fact that he didn't seem to know the difference between sushi and sashimi. Here's hoping he was just frazzled by the clock and couldn't get the answer out. In any case, with Gene, he's showing creativity, he's articulating a style, he's met with some success, and I think the questions with him is one of finesse. A lot of his dishes look kind of heavy handed, which could get old quickly. We'll see.

7 Jeff Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 9 Eliminations 0 1 1 I've been looking for an excuse to bump Jeff up, and making Kathie Lee's head explode seems as good as any. The fact that his sumac spiced malfouf roll with muhamara sauce put him on top pretty much blows the theory that Gene didn't make top three because his recipe was too complicated. There's a lot of stuff going on in that recipe, and I'd love to see how he got through the demo. This only further bolsters my impression that the guy is fast fast fast. Which doesn't help him unless he's also good, but it's interesting. It's hard to see what Kathie Lee found so offensive in that recipe, but it wasn't just a matter of spice, as some have suggested. When Ariane did her demo on Thursday morning, Jeff's dish came up, and Kathie Lee used the word "putrid" to describe it. No matter how fast and charming Jeff may have been during his demo, I can't believe the TC judges would have put him on top if his dish didn't also taste good, so I guess that tells us something about Kathie Lee's palate that I'm sure surprises exactly nobody. His loaded potato and yogurt sorbet with fruit skewer amuse looked fine, but man, this guy has got to learn to do less. You get the impression that it might finally be sinking in, and I just have this feeling that he's going to start to shine when it does. We'll see what he does next week.

8 Radhika Quickfires 1 1 1 Last Week: 7 Eliminations 0 1 0 Radhika also received scant coverage this week, and what little coverage she did receive was to cover the fact that Rocco didn't cover her dish. Thanks, guys. That was a valuable use of screen time. She nailed size and presentation with her amuse, making a little potato cake with a marble-sized plain jane omelet with hollandaise. I'm thinking it lacked pop. Her elimination dish, on the other hand, certainly wasn't lacking for pop. Her sweet heat shrimp calls for a cup of garlic chili sauce, two cups of sweet chili sauce and curry powder. It looks like a bit of a mish mash, but I'm not comfortable passing judgment without tasting. Too bad she didn't finish on time, or we might have learned something about it. In any case, mostly due to a lack of information, I'm letting her tread water.

9 Hosea Quickfires 0 2 0 Last Week: 8 Eliminations 0 1 1 Ditto Hosea, for whom we got even less feedback than Radhika. His amuse was a sweet potato hash with fried quail egg, curried bacon, spinach and maple syrup. I can see that all working right up until I hit the maple syrup, which gives me pause, so I wonder if that's why we didn't hear more about it. His elimination dish was a crispy ahi roll with spicy ginger dipping sauce, which combined wasabi and sriracha and strikes me as muddy pseudo-Asian. Not that I have a problem with pseudo-Asian, but it tends to get overly busy and sweet and I suspect that's what happened here. Though I do like the idea of using crushed wasabi peas for texture. Anyway, as with Radhika, I'm going to punt on Hosea this week.

10 Ariane Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 13 Eliminations 2 2 2 She's won half of the elimination challenges on my scoreboard, but I can't put her higher than ten. You'd think this means I have something against the lady, but I swear, I don't. I kinda like her, actually. And unlike some, I'm not going to knock her salad. Yeah, it was taking the easy way out, but what's wrong with that? It was a smart move. Maybe not quite as smart as it seemed, since she didn't know she'd be cooking for the Today Show's fourth hour gaggle until after the fact, but still, simple, easily obtainable local product, tasty and a combination of flavors that, even if it's obvious to food nerds, is going to strike your average viewer as kind of interesting. Her cream cheese and bacon stuffed french toast with chile syrup even got a little nod from Rocco. So why can't I bring myself to put her any higher? I think it's because when she's winning, she's doing so by cooking turkey in a toaster oven and making a really, really simple salad -- skills that will be meaningless by the midpoint of the season. Meanwhile, what she's screwing up are the kind of fundamental cooking skills that she can't survive for long without. He failures speak more to me than her successes. And while the little bit of confidence she's managed to muster these past two weeks may very well allow her to flourish going forward, I'm not kicking her up until I see it. I don't care what the scoreboard says.

11 Carla Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 10 Eliminations 0 1 0 Add Carla to the list of people with a non-episode. Her amuse was just a small version of pancakes with fruit and strawberry syrup. She needed to either elevate it technically or creatively to stand out, and she did neither. One gets the impression she thought, "Hey, silver dollar pancakes are small," and then stopped thinking. The judges said her elimination dish tasted fine, but she didn't finish, and it was Tex Mex tortilla soup. She's not screwing up, and her flavors seem to be solid, and that will probably carry her for a little while. And again, it's nothing personal. I know she's rubbing some people the wrong way, but she seems like a sweetheart and while I'm not down with grand pronouncements about spirits and the universe, she's got a quirky kind of charm. But strictly from a competitive standpoint, while many are saying she deserves more respect than she's receiving, I just don't see what I'm supposed to be getting excited about. Competence in preparing pedestrian dishes?

12 Danny Quickfires 0 1 1 Last Week: 14 Eliminations 0 0 1 Apparently Tex Wasabi is alive and well and on the set of Top Chef. I could almost get behind Danny's oafish but enthusiastic charm... right up until he pointed at the camera and said Baba Booey. While I've pretty much lost interest in watching him, I give him credit for knowing what he wants and not being afraid to admit it. That said, I'm sorry, Danny. The role of breakout personality this season has already been taken. The reason Danny's so close to the bottom was perfectly encapsulated in his amuse. Zucchini blossoms stuffed with bacon, potato, garlic and mushrooms and breaded and fried with corn flakes? Seriously, Danny? Zucchini blossoms are a delicacy, and a delicate one at that. I'm all for high brow / low brow fusion, but it has to actually work. I don't know how you can even taste a zucchini blossom with all of that going on, much less determine how it matches up. The reason Danny's not all the way in the basement, however, is perfectly encapsulated in his elimination dish. There's no recipe posted, but he did a ginger sweet soy marinated skirt steak with cabbage salad, and Padma, at least, seemed to like it. So even if he made an ass of himself and set off every smoke detector in the building in the process of making it, he seems to possess the ability to stumble his way through an edible dish every now and again...

13 Melissa Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 12 Eliminations 0 1 1 ...which is more than we can say for Melissa, who removed her magical cloak of Top Chef invisibility only to make a completely inedible dish and narrowly avoid elimination. There was absolutely a case for her elimination as well, and a lot of people -- Lee Anne included -- think she should have been the one to go. And it wasn't just a matter of too much heat or Tom's narrow palate (an accusation, BTW, that I think has been vastly overblown). Rocco called it inedible. Padma all but called it inedible. And Lee Anne pointed out that not only was it unfathomably hot (seriously... she blew out the entire panel), but that it was completely lacking acid and salt. Like Rocco, Lee Anne is convinced she's lying and there's no way she tasted her dish, or if she did, she has no tastebuds whatsoever. I think the judges would have liked to eliminate Melissa. The problem was that while she gave them a terrible dish to taste...

14 Alex Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 11 Eliminations 0 0 1 ...Alex didn't give them a dish at all. There's been a lot of muttering around the boards -- others didn't even finish making their dishes, so why were Melissa and Jamie, who completed problematic ones, put on the block when it seems all they would have had to do was say, "Oops! Couldn't finish in time!" to save their skins? The answer is that as part of the demo, everybody had a completed plate ready to swap out for tasting. Everybody, that is, except for Alex. For starters, this decision to make crème brûlée was absurd. We're not talking about underestimating the time you're going to need by a little. We're not talking about underestimating the time you're going to need by a lot. We're talking about a full-blown disconnect with reality. Unless you have a 30 foot long scarf, travel around in a flying police box and can alter the laws of time and space at your whim, you don't make a slow braised dish for a 15 minute quickfire, and you don't make crème brûlée when you have one hour. So not only was it not set properly due to a completely baffling choice, but Lee Anne points out that he forgot to take it out of the freezer, so he didn't even have a completed dish for the judges to taste. They were left with the little bit of hot custard he had at the demo table. How do you let that slide? And what was the incredible creative inspiration that got him so fired up he couldn't even tell the difference between one hour and four? Adding a little bit of rose water to a plain crème brûlée. Woo. Alex seemed like a really sweet fellow. And, good for him, he apparently has a new BFF waiting for him in the sequester house and a beautiful bride waiting for him back home. Maybe the anticipation of seeing both was simply too much for him. Whatever the reason, Alex's head clearly wasn't in this competition.

EPISODE FIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Huzzah! It's time for the culinary bee! With a twist! The chefs are paired? Any guesses? I'm stumped. Will one try to fool the other? Will they taste each other's dishes and attempt to identify the ingredients? It can't be the latter... I have no idea how you'd standardize that across pairs so that you could declare a winner. If we were at eight or sixteen remaining chefs, I might think playoff brackets. But I'm looking for thoughts, because I have no clue what they're planning. Or, you know, I could just wait two days and find out.

As for the elimination, it looks like we get a real honest-to-god straight up cooking elimination again, even if it's a team effort. The chefs cook for Gail's wedding shower, and do four courses based on the old "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" line. I've seen some complaints that we're getting another catering challenge, but it doesn't look like the group is THAT big to me. The chefs are working out of a real kitchen and the numbers look manageable, so in practice I think this is going to end up looking more like a large dinner party than a catered event. In any case, we even know the teams from the preview. I'm thinking Stefan, Jeff and Hosea doing something old look like the ones to beat. I might have put Leah, Fabio and Melissa up there, but they're being asked to do a blue dessert? That pretty much saddles them with blueberry, right? I suppose they could interpret it a little more broadly and do something with bleu cheese. In any case, that draw is looking like a severe handicap. I'm sure they'll pull through, but I'm not pegging them for the top. On the other end, I'm thinking Carla, Danny and Gene doing something new looks like the team that could be in trouble. Of course, the always misleading preview leads us to believe that Ariane has some serious problem cooking lamb, and we all know how much Top chef judges loooooove lamb that isn't cooked properly. So for the win, given that he’ll have a teammate with a strong personality who knows restraint and can reign him in a bit, I’m putting my money on respected team leader and prep beast Jeff. If that teams wins, I could also see it going to Stefan who, with his catering experience, could come out looking like the hero. I'm thinking it'll come down to whoever's fingerprints are on their dish concept. And I'm going to say that we lose either Carla or Danny this week, with an outside shot at ousting Ariane.

Here's hoping I'm healthy by Wednesday.

Comments

[Independent George]

Dom, I totally with your assessment of the challenges so far. Thus, in honor of your work, I hereby present my Top Chef Season 5 Challenges Power Rankings:

1. Week 1 QF (Big Apple): The gradual progression from basic skills, advanced skills, to actual cooking gave us three shows for the price of one. By limiting the cooking to four contestants, it also got around the worst aspect of the early episodes - not enough time spent highlighting each dish.

2. Week 1 EC (Melting Pot): The absolute perfect challenge for NYC, they put the chefs in a situation to succeed while showcasing the location.

3. Week 2 EC (Show Your Craft): I'm actually surprised they went with this challenge so early in the season; I'd have figured Colicchio would have waited until only the stronger chefs remained before letting them take over his restaurant. Regardless, restaurant challenges are what we live for, since we get to see the chefs in their natural environment.

4. Week 4 QF (Amuse-Bouche): Amuse-Bouche is all about first impressions, and the presentation is as important as the flavors. This makes it perfect for television, where we (unfortunately) can't taste the food.

5. Week 2 QF (Hot Dog): As a New Yorker transplanted in Chicago, I take my hot dogs seriously (if only we could get Chicago dogs - or Italian Beef - out of pushcarts, I would be in heaven). Better yet, none of the contestants looked down their noses at the humble, yet magnificent, hot dog, and really tried to their best with the challenge.

6. Week 3 QF (Rolling w/ the Punches): I'll probably have to pay off my mortgage before I can afford to eat at Alinea, but I'm biased towards anything featuring Grant Achetz. It's just too bad he wasn't in his hometown for Season 4, but I suppose fighting cancer is slightly more important than television.

7. Week 3 EC (Foo Fighters): (a) pointless celebrity gushing + (b) gimmicky premise + (c) pointless, gimmicky EC conditions (toaster ovens and microwaves only?!!) = awful challenge. The most interesting element (Eugene's MacGyver-ed pork) was barely even mentioned.

8. Week 4 EC (Today Show): Dom already said everything important about it, but I'm still angry at Kathy Lee's utterly classless reaction to Jeff's dish. I'd have really loved to hear the judges' comments on her gag reflex (it's was as much a rebuke on their palates as it was about his cooking), but I suppose that would preclude her from having anything to do with Top Chef ever again. Hey, wait, why didn't they do that again?

[B^2]

I was among those annoyed by this elimination challenge, especially early on when it was unclear whether or not they'd be judged on their TV personalities rather than their food.

But in retrospect it occurs to me that it's kind of disingenuous to object to this challenge when it's really just a microcosm of the show itself. The cheftestants are in the first place chosen at least partially by how they come across on video -- otherwise, they'd be selected according to their resumes, not audition tapes.

I also experienced an irony overload watching the cheftestants getting incredibly nervous about appearing on TV in a high-pressure situation...WHILE THEY'RE APPEARING ON TV IN A HIGH-PRESSURE SITUATION.

[Bill]

It seemed odd the way they edited Gene's comments, as though they were trying to make it appear that he couldn't define sushi and sashimi.
Made my second trip to Fabio's restaurant (Cafe Firenze) on Saturday. As expected dinner had more of a wow factor than lunch.
My wife had chicken parm, which was standard faire but I had lamb shank with gnocchi and I thought it was outstanding.
Entrees were in the $25-$35 range. Fabio was popping out of the kitchen from time to time to mingle with the crowd. Periodically you'd hear someone at another table say, "Look there's Fabio."
The town where the restaurant is located is kind of a redneck/BBQ town but it was obvious from the Saturday night clientele that people are traveling to eat there. Lots of surgically enhanced Beverly Hills types in attendance.

[kit]

Hi SD!

I completely agree with your comments about not writing this season off yet as “a bunch of hacks.” I got really excited the first episode when Tom made those comments about how he thought we had a strong season. I may be crazy, but I don’t think Tom is one of those over-effusive praisers, so for him to say that was pretty indicative in my book. Plus, I was really wowed by the ethnic food challenge. I’m not an amazing cook of course, but I do love ethnic food but would have simply no idea where to begin to make it! Ok yes, the episodes since then have not been as exciting food-wise, but of course the “curveball meter” went off the charts in the more recent episodes, as compared to the first one, which I think they specifically designed to not be too constraining in terms of facilities and time available.

In any case, this show would be rather boring if week after week the same 2 or 3 chefs went around schooling everyone else. Yes, strong contenders are exciting, but even more so when they occasionally bomb! (Personally, I see the occasional bomb as an “occupational hazard” for risk-taking.) For example, I was a Hung fan in Season 3, and some weeks he did not do so well (and then proceeded to make a cringe-inducing ass of himself at judge’s table, oh memories), and tuning in each week to see if it would be a good week or bad week for him was definitely part of the excitement.

And of course, LOVE THE RANKINGS, thanks so much, and I hope you’re feeling better soon!

p.s. I am in shock that you Dremel’d eggs, ridiculously cool.

[anon man]

Man, you are ROUGH. Still no love for Fabio? He's consistently in the top and still he can't get above Stefan? Yow.

I guess the top 5 or so including Fabio and Gene are probably long term keepers and no complaints there as a group. I think my quibble comes below that. Raddhika and Jeff and Hosea I think are over their respective heads. Carla I've decided is actually pretty decent, despite being a caterer.

I would say that Hosea, Melissa and Danny all go next, followed probably by Ariane who I want to like, but for the reasons you articulate probably isn't a long term keeper. Of course which of those will be this season's Mike or Lisa? Who will last way longer than they should?

[Ed T.]

A couple of thoughts:

1) I was also struck by the irony of the cheftestants freaking out over being asked to do a TV demo, given where they were at the time. Also, I think Tom was right - IIRC, the previous winners have all been asked to put in their share of TV time, and as Ariane said, this type of exposure can do wonders for a restaurant/catering business/whatever.

2) I try not to read too much into what is/isn't said. After all, what we are seeing/hearing is what the producers/editors WANT us to see/hear. Their job is to tell a story - a story of a cooking competition, spun in the style of a Reality TV show. Which means that things like Gene's relative non-appearance, or Ariane's "redemption", must be evaluated in the context of how these stories advance the overall plot, and create the desired result (which is to make people more interested in watching the show, and seeing all the product placements.)

3) I don't see any problem whatsoever with the challenges to date. Sure, they may seem hokey, and out of place for a show like TC which is aimed at the hardcore foodies among us, but... at the same time, the various challenges test out different aspects of being a chef (even if some of them seem more suited to the next Rachael Ray than the next Eric Rippert.)

4) Dom, I hope you get to feeling better - by Wednesday, if not sooner.

~EdT.

[redpoint]

Do you have any pointers on how to look up recipes on the bravo website? When I do a search I always get an error message. I can only get the recipes using the hot links section, with a prechosen category.

Thanks.

[babyarm]

bravo tv doesn't like any browser but IE. I pretty much use IE only for bravo.tv. That may be your issue.

I wonder what a "something borrowed" would entail? I am not creative enough to think of something along those lines.

I have high hopes for "something old" though in team euro's hands. They should be set up to blow that out of the park theoretically. I'd love to see an interpretation of something super old world like salt cod in the right hands.

[Maria]

Wow, I thought there was no way for me to enjoy your rankings any more than I already did, but the reference to Doctor Who sent you straight into my list of favorite people in the world. Thanks for your effort, and I hope you get well soon!

[AJ]

I have to agree whole heartedly with Maria, I thought it couldn't get any better & then you dropped the Doctor in & suddenly I had mental images of David Tennant traveling through time & space to give his creme brulee time to set. Hilarious.

[canasian]

I just want to point out that while the challenges this season have not been that great, look at the first four challenges from the previous ones (starting at season two, because season one I've really only seen reruns of, and they don't rerun the early episodes. Yes, it's amazing I kept with the show after starting with season 2, but the day before the season 3 premier they had a season 1 marathon...must get back on topic...going off on tangent...):

Season 2:
Episode 1: Mystery box - okay, I see what they're getting at
Episode 2: Asian Catering - it's catering
Episode 3: TGI Fridays - forgive me if I say this somewhere else along the line, but this was THE WORST CHALLENGE EVER
Episode 4: Diabetic camp cooking - Lots of restrictions, yes, but they very well may be asked to do this in their careers at least a few times. Sounds like this week's challenge in a nutshell.

Season3:
Episode 1: Offbeat surf-and-turf - Good challenge
Episode 2: Upscale Barbeque - technically catering
Episode 3: Update the classics - interesting challenge
Episode 4: Trios - Loved this challenge

Okay, so season three had pretty good challenges to kick off, but for me, this is the exception that proves the rule, because Season 3 was my favorite season.

Season 4:
Episode 1: Head-to-Head Classics - One of my all-time favorite challenges, but it all goe downhill...
Episode 2: Cater at the Zoo - catering
Episode 3: Block Party - catering
Episode 4: Movie Dinner - One of three fine dining challenges ALL SEASON (for those counting, if you call next week fine dining, we already have two fine dining challenges this season. I don't count resaurant Wars - it's in a class all its own.)

And also, we all know Carla doesn't go home this week, because she's shown getting all excited over Martha, who judges he Christmas episode, judging by the stocking hung behind her. My guess is she either wins or goes home that week.

[Skillet Doux]

"Do you have any pointers on how to look up recipes on the bravo website? When I do a search I always get an error message. I can only get the recipes using the hot links section, with a prechosen category."

Happens to me all the time. Once you've done the first search and gotten that first error message, keep pounding refresh until you get through. Rarely takes more than 4-5 tries.

"And also, we all know Carla doesn't go home this week, because she's shown getting all excited over Martha, who judges he Christmas episode, judging by the stocking hung behind her. My guess is she either wins or goes home that week."

Nope, the editors got you! That Carla flipping out reaction shot was actually from this past week, when they were watching the Today Show segment and Ariane won. Wonder how she feels about the editors giving everybody the impression she's a Martha Stewart freak? :-)

[Kenderthane]

It appears as if Top Chef has 2 types of viewers. Those that watch it for the "up and comers" that show innovation, and those that watch it to see who the best of the batch is in any situation. I have to say I fall into group B, who is patiently waiting for the convenience store challenge from season 1 to return. If they switched to just one of either type of challenge they would probably lose a significant number of viewers, and I agree that the gimicky challenges need to be done early in the season. I believe the chef's are having problems understanding the challenges being placed before them, and preparing what they think would be....cool. Those that actually try to understand the challenge and it's limitations tend to do the best. When they throw a swerve in the middle of the challenge makes for good tv, but is a bit much (example, the thanksgiving episode).

[Skillet Doux]

Kenderthane... actually, I kinda dug the convenience store challenge (though the vending machine was just absurd).

I didn't mind the actual restrictions of this week's challenge, I just kind of felt like, look, there's a reason we watch your show and not that show. You don't have to go there. Plus, as Lee Anne pointed out, it's not just a matter of adapting... it requires a different skill set completely unrelated to cooking. It's an exaggeration, but in some ways they might as well have a footrace to decide who gets to work with which ingredients. The better runners will have a leg up, but how is that an assessment of their cooking skill?

My annoyance with the Thanksgiving challenge was one of scale. Almost all of these challenges restrict the chefs to one degree or another. But those restrictions can bring out their creativity to a point, after which it just becomes arbitrary and you see people having problems that really have nothing to do with their cooking skill. And that's what it all comes down to for me. When I start feeling less like the funky challenges are less about showing us what these chefs can do and more about just watching carnage and waiting to see who's lucky enough to end up on top of the pile, I get frustrated.

[Doug]

"(though the vending machine was just absurd)."

Aw, come on. Mikey's offering to that challenge was one of the funniest moments in Top Chef history. :-)

Anyway, I more or less agree with your ratings, though you're higher on Stefan than me. I totally agree Jeff seems to be right on the cusp of figuring out how to "get" this contest, and after that we'll really see where he belongs.

I always get annoyed by "multi-gimmick" contests, like the Thanksgiving one. You know, where you think you know what's difficult about the challenge and then they throw a random and ill-fitting AND in there (i.e. AND... you only get toaster ovens and microwaves for cooking).

And no matter how they spin it, I thought this elimination challenge was terrible. Yes, I get their point. But no... none of that is what makes this show good. Next Food Network Star is not that great a show in the first place, and dumbing it down for a challenge on this show makes about as much sense as having a challenge where Gordon Ramsey curses at them through a dinner service. Different concepts... different shows... know what makes yours good and stick to it, thank you.

[kit]

I am slightly ashamed to admit this, but I secretly would love to see Gordon Ramsay on this show. It's like when non-reality TV shows do crossover episodes, like what? Those people co-exist in the same world? Jessica Fletcher is hanging out with Magnum and Higgins? (Argh I'm dating myself.) As a caveat, I first saw Gordon Ramsay on his BBC shows where, compared to his Fox shows, he's much less of a caricature (he actually spends screen time doing things other than insulting random people, screaming, or hurling food...huh, just realized the premise for Hells Kitchen is basically "Stewie from Family Guy runs a kitchen"...)

[Ally]

I still like Stefan because at his best he produces nice, clean, simple but elegant dishes that are plated simply but elegantly. Did I mention he is simple but elegant?

Plus, if you noticed, he had the Harold signature "aw shucks" attitude/body language/posture upon winning elimination. Which I found endearing.

But, I still am rooting for the underdog of the season -- go Gene and your bad self. He has been surprising if nothing else.

[David]

Let me start with my usual praise of the blog. It takes considerable time to do this and it's appreciate. What I really enjoy is that you go beyond merely watching the show and giving a surface analysis. You go through the recipes and cull other information. While I don't agree with some of your rankings, your blog is where I turn first to get objective opinions.

I started writing this differently (a stream of thoughts about each person as they came to me), but I've rearranged things. Here's my take on those at the top, near the top to middle and bottom.

The Top (those who should make it to the final four):

Stefan with an "aw shucks" attitude? Are we watching the same show? I read Stefan to believe he deserves to win every challenge--evidenced by his "whatever" response when his World Dog landed him in the bottom three. I agree that he presents well, though I'm not an exclusive fan of minimalist plating. (Oddly, as much as I like rustic food, there's something that bothers me about Fabio's plating. It's sloppy.) I do get the sense the Stefan delivers good flavor, which, to me, is more important. Unless he has a Dale-like gaffe, I suspect he'll be around in the final.

Fabio is good, folksy, but, as I said earlier, he's clunky with his plating. I do have some reservations about the breadth of his palate/flavor profiles. When he's been off, the criticism is that he's flavors were off or overpowering. I think that's correctable, and also believe he's a contender to win.

Near the Top:

I can understand how Leah has risen to the top, but like Jeff, there's a bit of nonchalance that I think may trip her up before too long. (For the record, I'm completely disinterested in that "thing," sexual chemistry as Carla put it, with Hosea.) I suspect she'll make top 6 or 7, but not higher.

Jamie is one to watch out for. If she can get her brooding in check, I think she'll go far. I'm curious to see how she'll do when teamed with others. She seems to work best alone. She had problems with Stefan on Thanksgiving, and the previews seem to show more acrimony between the two. I believe she talented enough to make it through to the finale, but she may fall short if her temperament gets in the way.

Middle (those who could make it to the finale):

Hosea hasn't shown much, to me, that merits movement, but when he's performed he's been solid. As many others have said, it's still relatively early, and the mettle of many of these chefs will be tested in the next 3-4 weeks. Paring off the next five chefs will really reveal who could/should be vying for the win. I think Hosea is capable.

Carla is a bit of a lightening rod for chatter on the blogs. Most comments seemed to obsess about her eyes and kookiness. I couldn't care less about those things. In fact, I like kooky. What I've seen from Carla is food that gets favorable comments for taste, but seem to be missing out because of her plating. If she comes around to merging the solid flavors with better presentation, I think she could be a sleeper. In a way, she reminds me of Antonia, who had a great palate, but lacked a flash. We'll see.

Bottom (Those who I'd be surprised if they aren't cut):

I don't know about Jeff. There's something about him, an aloofness, that I think is going to be his undoing. He may make it to the top 6 or 7, but I don't see him making it to the final four.

Ariane is someone who I reluctantly put in the bottom because she could be a surprise. However, when I put her up against my call for a sleeper, Carla, I just don't see her breaking out. There have been several comments about her food that seem to be criticisms of basic technique, let alone flavor. The most incredibly seasoned meal can be ruined if it's overcooked. (Or undercooked in Jamie's case.) She will either rise into the top 7 or fall off before then. Either way, I honestly don't see her vying for the finale.

Eugene seems to be a fan favorite at this point, but I'm not sold. He impressed with the makeshift grill, but other than that, he strikes me as a bit one dimensional. I just don't know how he will do with truly creative work, or as Dom pointed out, delicate items. When I look at his food, I see mass scale food you see at hotels in Vegas. The items look nice, but it feels formula to me. To me, there's a difference between someone who's come up in the kitchen and learned to execute dishes created by someone else and creating your own dishes.

Danny seems like he should be working P.F. Chang's with the dishes he's been putting out. Now don't get me wrong, I go to P.F. Chang's every once and again, but I don't expect revolutionary food or culinary bedazzlement. Danny seems to be carrying a bit of a chip on his shoulder that may get in his way. I give him 1-3 more shows before he hears PPYKAG.

Melissa is another one that is almost a non-factor on the show. The first time we really saw her (I'm still trying to remove that image of her dancing at the concert), she nearly burned the taste buds off every tongue on the panel. I don't see her around much longer.

[Ally]

David --

If you watch Stefan's reaction to winning at the judge's table, first episode, and aren't reminded of Harold's demeanor, I do beg your pardon. Harold is my favorite of the winners, both food-wise and human being-wise, so I don't want to disrespect him, far from it.

I'm not saying that Stefan is the same as Harold behind the scenes (!!!!). (I don't think I want to know what many chefs are like behind the scenes.) All the judges see of the contestants is in the food in front of them and at judges' table.

[David]

Thanks Ally. Harold is probably my favorite over the years.

It may be as simple as two people looking at the same thing, yet seeing it differently, I'll have to go back and look at Ep. 1 to see Stefan's reaction. I don't have your recall, but I just don't see the same humility as Harold. I think the difference, for me, is that Harold seemed confident and wanted to win; while Stefan strikes me as cocky and expects to win. Maybe they are much closer, as you say. I just don't see it.

[TomClevo]

I'm still frustrated by last week's challenge because they squandered a great idea: Cook for rock stars taking into account the requirements in their rider. Make rock and roll food. Making it a Thanksgiving challenge took all the fun out of it. Everything becomes homey comfort food. Where's the rock and roll in that?

I found this "meta" challenge kind of fascinating. Judges discussing who is good on TV and who is not? I don't think we've seen that before and it was pretty revealing. I think we know now that Fabio is going to have to kill someone not to make the top five and they are enamored of the Ariane "Comeback Kid" storyline (not sure for how long though). I think Jeff was actually a victim of being too telegenic. He had what is usually a good strategy for this type of challenge: Make a good dish that pleases the judges rather than dumbing things down and you can always blame the plebes for not getting what you're doing. I think he was just too successful on TV for his own good so he wound up getting the Kathie Lee treatment.

[Skillet Doux]

"I am slightly ashamed to admit this, but I secretly would love to see Gordon Ramsay on this show."

You know, Kit, I started watching the old BBC Kitchen Nightmares a while back, and if that's the Ramsay we'd get, I have to agree. I was surprised by how much I liked him. Problem is we'd probably end up with Hell's Kitchen Ramsay.

Totally unrelated, the thing that's really striking to me is just how many of these people I could see in the finals. It really seems like a very even field so far. Of course there are those I consider more likely to make it to the final four than others, but of the remaining 12, there are really only four (Melissa, Danny, Carla and... I guess Ariane) who would genuinely surprise me. People like Hosea, Radhika and Gene might need some luck, and Jeff would have to get his ass in gear, but at this point, I wouldn't consider it a shocker if any of them made top four. That's a whole lotta people who are in this thing.

[David]

What does it say about Radhika that I forgot to include her in my assessment?

[Bill]

It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Radhika in the finals. She seems to operate on an even keel so I suspect she'll work well with others and if memory serves correct the judges have liked the flavors in her food so far.
She may not be the most innovative but as Antonia showed last season, solid skills and a good palate can carry you a long way in this competition.

[DaveP]

I'd love to see Ramsey on the show, maybe along with Bourdain as substitute head chef again. The JT would set new standards for brutality.

I totally agree with Dom's take on Ariane, but I'm still not sold on Jamie, and I got Jeff higher. Leah's really impressing me of late, but the fact that she absolutely mails it in from time to time worries me a bit. Then again, Casey (s3) mailed it in a few times with immunity and she made it to the finals, so as long as Leah can cook when it counts, I think she'll make the final four.

--
Dave

[anon man]

Dom,

I repeat my urging from last season that you try to go on Hell's Kitchen. You would have blog material for 5 years.

[Gilby]

As I've said before, only two would really surprise me if they made the finals. Melissa and Danny just aren't even close to being legit competitors, let alone contenders.

Carla seems, to me, is definitely legit, but she doesn't quite measure up as a real contender for the win.

I'd guess that two or three others could join her in that group (solid competitors, but not real contenders.) The thing is, I'm not sure which two or three. I could see any one of the other nine emerging as real favorites for the title or favorites for the "played a good game but left at the right time" crowd. And that's not because this is a bad group. Rather, it's incredibly deep. I'll do a breakdown later that compares this group to the past couple of seasons'.

[Mann of Sandd]

Count me in as someone who would like to see the BBC version of Ramsay on the show. I find Ramsay's bastardized Americanized shows entertaining in a guilty pleasure sort of way, but his BBC shows seem to be informative and they focus more on the food and other factors that actually matter, rather than Gordon's personality. In fact, besides TC, the BBC Kitchen Nightmares is probably my favorite food related show.

[Adam]

Independent George,

Agreed with your challenge rankings, with one exception: I think the "Rolling w/ the Punches" QF was better than the hot dog challenge. Forget the gimmicky change-up for a moment, and what you are left with is "make a soup out of XYZ ingredients". That's a fair challenge and one that shows the chefs' creativity.

Are you the same "Independent George" who posts on Football Outsiders? Football nerds who double as food nerds, unite!

[Independent George]

Adam - yep, that's me. Hey, FO did have that post on the most vegetarian-friendly NFL stadiums a few days ago, and season 4 had the Bears tailgating challenge. At this rate, I'm going to get the two sites confused and start posting lame jokes about Jamie's deceptive speed and Fabio 'just having fun out there', or Gus Frerotte earning the Mike Midgley award...

Intellectually, I understand what you're saying about 'Rolling w/ the Punches', but... Hot Dogs! That challenge just spoke to me on a visceral level.

[Danny]

As always, a great blog. I hope you realize how much value you add to Top Chef. Please feel better soon.
Next Food Network Star is a poor imitation of Top Chef (of course I do watch it - it's a cooking competition) so why would Top Chef want to do a poor imitation of Next Food Network Star? It's like Xeroxing a copy of a copy of a copy.
Best example. The book Auntie Mame was great (I know it has a different title) and the play was really good and the movie was very good and the musical play was good and then we end up in the movie Mame starring the horribly miscast Lucille Ball. You can only make so many copies of copies before it all goes terribly wrong.
Also, I would be happy to trade Rocco and Kathie Lee for bringing Ted Allen back.

[redpoint]

Am I the only one who finds Rocco smug, humorless, and without charm? All these shows keep bringing him on, but I've never seen a moment when he adds anything to the show. Do you ever watch a show with him on it and later say, wow, Rocco was on it, and remember the great thing he said or did? Enough already.

[Steve]

Well I'm glad to see that you backed off on Ariane. I fully agree with your view of what makes a Top Chef and how the field is winnowed down.

That said, I will reiterate my point that Ariane overcame adverse circumstances to cook the "perfect" lamb. Yes her team needed help to plate the dish in time. But I view that as another couple of plus' on her side - holding out so the dish is cooked correctly and asking for help when she needed it. So I still believe that she accomplished something "extra" beyond her technical role, and warrants winning over Radhika. Cooking red meat "perfectly" is not something we see much on Top Chef.

However, I still believe that Jamie's leadership and creativity should have made her the winner this episode. Poor Jamie. At least so far, she seems to be the one to beat, but no wins.

As for the rankings, I would place Ariane per her EC wins above Hosea and Radhika but below Fabio. I don't think she'll make it past the top six. I think that despite her technical skill she does not have the mature artistic vision to be Top Chef. Still, that doesn't mean that she can't make it to the top of the middle group based on that technical proficiency. She is on a roll and I'm rooting for her!