Top Chef Masters - S2E3 Postmortem

Now that's a little more like it. Drama's incidental, the chefs get to flex their muscles a little, the challenges are solid... great episode.

Ludo isn't winning any Top Chef congeniality awards. But in his defense -- much as it pains me to defend him (even if only from a food standpoint) -- he IS a French chef who's now drawn street food and pub food. The bravado looks especially bad given how he's performed, and he certainly should have done better with the Irish stew, but he hasn't exactly gotten a pitch he can handle. When he comes back for TCM3 (bank on it), if he gets anything even remotely close to his wheelhouse, I'm betting he makes a better showing for himself.

If Gail sticks with this rotation, it looks like that means Jay Rayner is going to the bench next week. Maybe I'll just wait for episode five.

Gael absolutely nailed my exact thoughts on the Yorkshire pudding debacle. That must have absolutely KILLED Peel to have to serve. Poor guy.

Sad to see GEB miss again purely for reasons of civic pride, but Waxman and Moonen should both be a lot of fun in the second half of the season. I'm not sure whether this pair is yin/yang or matter/antimatter, but just having them both in the same room ought to ensure that the show is at least entertaining.

Back to some grub shortly... been a little busy 'round these parts.

Discuss!

Comments

[Dan V.]

Ludo really dragging the show down tonight. What a bummer.

On the other hand, I'm not surprised Waxman won with that shepherd's pie. It felt like a Kevin take on it. Distill it to the core and reinterpret without losing the spirit. Throw in near perfect execution, and it's a recipe for a W.

[Mann of Sandd]

It was nice to see a good showing by all involved. Seems like Mark Peel did well except for the Yorkshire pudding disaster. Was bummed that Graham Elliot and Wylie didn't make it further, but I have no complaints with the results as is.

[aaalex]

dan v: sorry to disagree with you, but ludo was one of the best things for me. very entertaining, though he must be a bit of a pill in the kitchen. he and waxman made this a really enjoyable episode. (and i liked that, after ludo came back from serving his "irish stew", he mock attacked graham elliot. ie. their set-to wasn't that serious or it was but they got over it.) i HOPE he's back next year or, at least, takes over chef academy from the much more annoying french guy there. (when you think of it: where in the world could you find a more stereotypical "french chef"than ludo? i mean, he even ranted about "zee eng-leesh an zere fud".)

this week again, though i don't mind gail on regular TC, i just hate seeing her here. i guess i think of TCM as being osland, rayner, greene and i kind of scratch my head wonder why gail is needed here at all. if rayner's not on next week, i agree with dominic: it'll be a lesser show.

maybe what made this episode the best so far, for me, was that i knew the six from last year. i haven't liked dufresne in the past. i found him haughty. but his playful competition with graham elliot was great. it really humanized him, for me. and i was actually heartbroken for mark peel. you just knew, when he opened the cold stove, that it was all over for him. and the whole waxman listening as food "talked" to him thing ... very funny.

this week, i went in knowing the personalities, so i really cared who was going to win. (though i have to say: from the diner's/judges' reactions, and from how the food looked, i would have been shocked if waxman and moonen hadn't won...)

[Dan V.]

@aaalex,

"dan v: sorry to disagree with you, but ludo was one of the best things for me. very entertaining, though he must be a bit of a pill in the kitchen. he and waxman made this a really enjoyable episode. (and i liked that, after ludo came back from serving his "irish stew", he mock attacked graham elliot. ie. their set-to wasn't that serious or it was but they got over it.) i HOPE he's back next year or, at least, takes over chef academy from the much more annoying french guy there. (when you think of it: where in the world could you find a more stereotypical "french chef"than ludo? i mean, he even ranted about "zee eng-leesh an zere fud".)"

I don't watch TC:M for the drama, I watch it for the food, and to me it looked like Ludo failed on both counts. I know he can make some really kickass food, but I guess I have very little patience for types who gripe when things don't go their way. Suck it up and try to do the best you can with the cards you're dealt. That's the mark of an excellent performer, be it culinary or otherwise. For someone to bluster like he did, he sure missed the mark.

That's not to say that I disliked this episode. I really enjoyed it. I've never been a big fan of Wylie, but between him and Graham in this episode I really got a sense of friendly competition, as opposed to Ludo and Rick (who can be a bit of a jerk himself at times). I really enjoyed Waxman's philosophy and I did feel for Mark. I've been in his shoes before, and I can't help but feel for him. As they say, there is always next year...

[nomnomnom]

Thought they tailor made that challenge to do two things, take the MG out of the equation and make Ludo complain about English pub fare.

I know Dom made a case last week that the remaining un-competed (for lack of a real word) are worthy, but I've seriously never heard of them. May wait till the Final 8 to pick this series up again. Waxman/RM should make things great once they get back in the mix.

Also, would it be so freaking hard to have a production staff test out the oven. Make a sheet of pre made cookies or something. If it's broke, fix it. Seriously.

[km]

I wonder if the issue with the oven was really the temperature or rather that the poor guy didn't remember the precise ratios for a yorkshire pudding off the top of his head (and who could blame him). If it was the temperature, I worry that this is the lack of LeeAnne's influence. Hopefully not.

[Skillet Doux]

Just because the oven wasn't up to temp when Peel expected it to be, I wouldn't assume that means there was some problem with it. Some heat up faster than others. Could be that one's a little slower than he's accustomed to. Or it could be that in the rush, he wasn't giving himself as much time as he thought.

Or maybe it was a bad oven.

[timothy]

Gael Greene, on her Bravo blog, referred to a "faulty oven gauge". I don't know if she was just speculating or if that exactly was the problem.

[Megan H.]

My favorite part of the episode was the mixture of Gael Greene with the housewives. Clearly, someone at Bravo HQ didn't want the fate of the quickfire resting entirely on the housewives' broad.......shoulders.

[Dave_P]

I have to say, that was the first episode of TCM2 I really enjoyed. Maybe because of Waxman, but I finally got a sense of true virtuosity in the kitchen. Seeing him finish his QF first and sip on his cocktail, and I think he finished his EC early too, reminded me of the mastery exhibited by the likes of Hubert, even when cooking pasta in a college dorm.

Ludo really grew on me last night. He was horribly arrogant (hey, he's French!), but actually somewhat sympathetic, esp his reactions to the Housewives. He cracked me up a few times, most w/his commercial cutaway, something to the effect of, "take those carrots and enjoy yourself tonight!" :) And really, why should the fish guy get fish and he has to deal with pub/street food 2 seasons running?

I was really pulling for Wylie to advance with Waxman, and it was close. I don't begrudge Moonen his win, but he seemed to get lucky (or just persistent) with his fish draw. I wished Ludo would've stuck to his fish, or at least have them flip for it.

Felt terrible for Peel. I'm glad someone on the JT (Gael?) recognized his plight. I think another lesson we've learned from TC is never trust the equipment; stick to stovetop cooking as much as possible. Oh, and make your own damn sausage!

Oh yeah, Bravo sucks. Aside from more horrible editing, do they really have to announce the winner first, and then start peeling off the losers til we get to the last guy standing?

--
Dave

[bryanD]

Best episode so far this season: a B+.

I didn't like the way the chef's "got to" "sort it out" "among themselves" regarding dish assignments, though.
I.e. Evil Eye for Moonen in Finals (sparing last ep's Stew Lady). Moonen's desperation not to fail SHOULD be an ameliorating circumstance, but somehow it's not for me. BUT he DID *Call It* first... Heaven forbid no fish angle for him!

Now, about those oven gremlins....HOW does a chef NOT *feel* that his oven isn't raising immediate ambient temperture, no matter how hot or how cool the kitchen is? (I can also smell the close metal, I swear)
And how do all these ovens malfunction for the Top Chef production crews? My cheapie NEVER has. EVER! Now, if this show were Top Washing Machine Operator, I would not be so skepticle.

[aaalex]

dan v: i hear what you're saying and i too watch TC/TCM mainly for the food. unfortunately, as someone remarked last week, with the sheer number of contestants per week on TCM2 and the time out for charity identifications, there's just less time this year for the food itself. that's part of what sucks this year, i think. no TCM2 contestant's recipes on the bravo site, no significant time devoted to the process of each dish equals: sheer reliance on the judges for a sense of what is good or not. (i would love to try out waxman's shepherd pie and moonen's fish sauce, just to see what's up with them but, as it is, i don't really know what made them special.)

this week, i could certainly understand why someone would find ludo annoying (in his blog, rayner called ludo a schmuck, before saying he liked him), but it felt to me like ludo was just playing the villain. the pepe-le-pew comment was, on its own, a pretty good indication he doesn't take himself all that seriously. (no one who did take himself seriously would have brought it up at all... i think ...) also, ludo was genuinely awed by waxman and said he had learned simply by cooking beside the man. if you're looking for the truly annoying one: i think it's rick moonen. he's obviously a good chef and all, but it was ironic listening to him insult ludo for his constant complaining when what we saw was moonen's constant complaining about ludo. to me, ludo failed on the food front, certainly, but he made this episode amusing. until we get down to much smaller numbers of chefs competing in an episode, i suspect we're going to have to be grateful for whatever electricity the drama generates. (the loud, repetitive TC universe music isn't doing it for me at all this year.) i'm looking forward to the final episode.

bryan d: the weird thing about the inevitable oven failure over the last few years is that i've begun to think the last thing i'd want anywhere near my kitchen would be anything with "GE" and "monogram" on it. it's pretty bad advertising.

next week: i'm going for the "canuck": susur lee. i've actually eaten his food and i know it can be good so, finally, i feel a little civic pride.

[JJ]

For me, the whole season has been a dud and not simply because the contestants have been blah (save for the last episode, which consisted of contestants from season one) or because the drama has been forced. I'm happy for the show to be "all about the food", but my question is whether it has been? I found it a bit depressing that the less adventurous dishes, once again, came out on top. I also disagree with just about everyone about preferring that the Quickfire challenges not count towards the final score, b/c now it has rendered this segment almost pointless; worse, it's simply an excuse now for Bravo to do cross-promotion. Why bring together the country's master chefs and have them feed the Real Housewives of Orange County, who have nothing to say but "I don't really eat red meat" or "I don't like ginger"! It was total BS, as Ludo (god bless, him) stated. Yes, this episode was more fun – mainly b/c it contained a (more) lively group of contestants and b/c of the alcoholic content, but ... the show has in no way improved on the opening season where it had charm and talent and an infectiously positive vibe.

[aaalex]

jj: hard to disagree with anything you said. i wonder if the solution, food-wise, isn't to make the show longer - say, an hour, so you can really get into what each chef is trying to pull off. and if the solution, chef-wise, isn't to invite great foreign chefs. it's a ridiculous dream, but i'd sit up for a ferran adria vs thomas keller final show down.

re: the quickfire - it's become all about the charities. and you've got to imagine that the ONLY reason some of these people - who, after all, are well established and don't have to face the kind of public humiliation mark peel bravely went through - do TCM is the prosect of money for causes they deeply care for. waxman talking about the flood of support for his charity after last year's TCM was pretty interesting.

[Dan V.]

@aaalex:

I can see what you're saying there. I can't really disagree much with it.

It's interesting how Moonen got the "arrgoant jerk" edit even though in last year's episode he came off much nicer.

I also agree with the lack of focus on the particulars of the food. I find I'm having to rely on (edited) critics comments to get a feel for it, which is bumming me out too.

@JJ: I'm in agreement with you too. An extra half hour would make all the difference. We haven't exactly had a "dorm shower pasta" moment yet.

[rab01]

They screwed up in picking the size of the field for each prelim. 6 people is too many to showcase when you haven't seen any of them before. I could not tell you the specialties of any of the challengers from the first 2 episodes - but I largely knew them in this third episode from their prior stints or other sources and that made all the difference. Hopefully, they'll go back to 4 people per opening round next season (with maybe an overstuffed episode for returning chefs).

[aaalex]

for those interested, here's restaurant magazine's prestigious list of 50 best restaurants in the world, with el bulli being knocked off its perch for the first time in quite a while ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/26/worlds-50-best-restaurants#10

kind of fun to see where the chefs we know from top chef are. thomas keller (per se beats french laundry by quite a few places), daniel boulud, grant achatz, eric ripert ... all top twenty...

[gilmore]

Late to the party, but using last year as a guide, I remember the three other chefs in the group with Waxman were in awe of him, even though he did not win. I had never heard of him until that episode. Moonen got zero in last years quick fire and came close to winning.

Based on those impressions from last year, I am glad they are moving on and I can see more of their work.