Top Chef Masters - S2E5 Postmortem

Man, that's a tough one.

As much as you hate to see a taskmaster who spent so much time cracking the whip cut for not doing enough, Carmen's epitaph was pretty much written the moment the red team lost. I mean, yeah, it seems kind of unjust, but who else do you get rid of? Mantuano rocks two of three dishes. Lee does the work of three chefs. Samuelsson blew the beef, but it seems clear that his canapes were downplayed in the Critics Table editing to add a little suspense... anybody remember Rayner flipping over them and asking if he could marry Samuelsson? So what does Carmen have? A mini crabcake and some roasted corn. She was the object of two Top Chef team competition kisses of death: being the "leader" of the losing team, AND not putting out at least one great dish that she could hang her hat on when it came time for judging.

LOVE the fact that her teammates jumped in to defend her prep-light role so vociferously, though. And there's the difference between Top Chef Masters and Top Chef.

Nice win for Adams. That's a mighty big risk out-and-out ignoring the bride's instruction, but hey... it paid off.

Best part about the contestants for this Champions Round: Waxman's zenlike serenity, or Lee's F-Bombs?

Anybody else notice that Waxman marinated his chickens in garbage bags? Awesome.

"I think that crabcake would have held its own in Baltimore, the world's crabcake capital" -- Actually, James, after seeing the corn and avocado on top, nobody in Baltimore would have TOUCHED that crabcake. If there's one thing I learned from two years in Baltimore, it's that they don't like their crabcakes fancified.

Discuss!

Comments

[Independent George]

Poor Carmen. I really enjoyed watching her teammates stand up for her regarding their organization. I think that's an aspect of cooking that often gets overlooked, particularly on TC, and I'm glad her teammates appreciated it even if it didn't wind up saving her.

I love watching the contrast between Jonathan Waxman and Susur Lee; they exhibit 'Mastery' in completely different, and equally compelling, ways.

I found myself getting annoyed with the bride & groom. Listening to them plan the menus was akin to hiring Michaelangelo to paint the interior of your house white.

[Joe S]

All I can say is <3 Susur.

[Tony H]

The more I see of Marcus Samuelsson on this show, the less I like the dude. He's obviously super-talented but he just comes across as sort of a d-bag. I've seen him on other shows and he's always seemed like a cool guy but not so much here.

[grrigg]

My biggest problem with the episode is the team format. It seemed to me that at least one or maybe two chefs on the winning team gave weaker individual performances than Carmen, but were immune because their team won.

[nomnomnom]

I love how they manage to find some of the most picky eaters on the planet for these things. However, I'd imagine they coach the hell out of these guys to lay out all sorts of bear traps. And that assumes it's not completely faked which is certainly in the realm here.

[Peggasus]

Samuelsson is a d-bag? I think Lee is giving him a run for the money, I find him very unlikeable, despite his obvious talent.

Wait...what was I saying? I was too distracted by the bride's boobs in that nightgown of a 'wedding dress.' Good God.

[Dave_P]

Love the contrast between Waxman and Lee too. I'm praying those two make it to the finals. I was actually really worried about Susur this ep for drawing the dessert card, esp after he admitted he never made carrot cake before. I really want to see those two given full rein to go nuts, to completely do their own thing ala last season's finale.

Again, though, the team format for Masters sucks, esp in the champions rounds. If the winning team didn't get immunity, whoever made the cake for blue team (Susan?) would've been axed. Poor Carmen.

Bravo didn't have a chance to annoy me this week. I surfed away from TCM for all commercials and even the preview clips for the next segment.

--
Dave

[timothy]

Did the champions round have the same format last year with the one by one elimination? I seem to remember last year we had another set of "heats" or whatever you want to call them where single winners were advanced to the finals rather than single losers being eliminated. But maybe I am not remembering correctly. In any case I like this format because we see more of these highly watchable chefs. Speaking of seeing more, I agree that it was funny that we saw more rack of bride than rack of lamb.

[Dave_P]

Oh, forgot to mention, how lucky was that wedding party, to be catered by 8 master chefs (and likely for free)? I doubt there have been too many wedding parties served better. And sure you can make simple, but excellent food, but my god, the things I would've requested of them instead of "steak & potatoes" or "French & Asian, oh but I don't like, this, this, this, or anything else interesting." *sigh*

--
Dave

[Skillet Doux]

Timothy... it was the same way last year. Once the Champions Round field was filled, they went to eliminating one contestant every episode.

[garik16]

@grigg, i don't mind the team format really in this instance.....it's a traditional (well it's ALMOST restaurant wars) Top Chef challenge and the two-team format almost always results in someone who deserves to go home leaving.

Put it this way: A team wouldn't win if it had more than the worst two chefs on it (even a team with the best performance, and the three worst performances would almost certainly lose). Moreover, each team's effort involves clear INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS. Team A's members weren't hindered by being part of the same team as each other....if they cooked well, they were fine.

With a multiple team (lets say 4 teams of 2) format you have issues that the individual contributions are weakened to the point of being indistinguishable, and are harmed by bad chemistry. Here, each cook could cook what he wanted essentially (along with the guidelines).

It was carmen's fault she didn't cook an additional dish to go along with her organization as team leader, and she deserved to go home.

[the grammarian]

The "B" in Baltimore is a capital, while Baltimore is a crab cake capitol. I know it's a nitpick, but grammar matters.

[the grammarian eats shoots and leaves]

And just to post something actually on topic.....normally I'm not a fan of the Bravo editing machine, but I laughed out loud when they were able to freeze Jonathan's "aha!" look as Rick provided explanation.

[Skillet Doux]

The Grammarian... while I appreciate your commitment to grammatical pedantry, the capitol is the physical building wherein the legislature might meet to consider banning crabcakes topped with corn and avocado. Said building is, however, situated within the capital city.

No correction necessary.

[the grammarian eats shoots and leaves]

Damn, not only are you right but you were a gentleman about it. Thanks for the lesson, Dom.

[Skillet Doux]

No worries, Grammarian!

I've no doubt you'll find plenty to pick apart if you like. I tend to play fast and loose with the rules if it suits my tone. Plus, I do most of my writing at 2:00AM and never proofread anything :-)

[gilmore]

Garik16 is correct. Carmen could not cook a pork dish, and she folded immediately as to preparing another main course. If she can not cook a killer chicken, beef, seafood or vegetarian dish, she is not a master.

Susur is a killer competitor and competitive against himself. I hope he goes to the finals.

[Joanna]

I'm sad to see Carmen go, but I can follow the judges' train of thought and once they picked the winning and losing teams, it seemed sort of inevitable that Carmen would be the one to leave. Anyone notice that she cut her finger for the second time in 2 episodes? Girl needs to watch her knife!!

I also LOVED the quickfire. The tag-team was great the first time around, and even better this time. I can't understand why Susur didn't go first on his team, though, since he could probably prep every single thing in the TC pantry in 20 minutes. I couldn't believe that out of all the possibilities, with so many chefs, both teams independently came up with seafood stew made with mussels and scallops! And poor Waxman with the blindfold - I wonder if he could have had the option of just leaving the room instead.

[Megan H.]

Dom hit on the two points I was thinking: 1) Lee and Waxman are awesome to watch (if for very different reasons). 2) Marinating chicken in a garbage bag = win. Can you imagine the process being described to the bride and groom? "Yes, you cut up chicken, throw it all in a garbage bag and then pour a bottle of olive oil on top. Delicious!"

I can see why Lee might be off-putting to some, but his story about his partner (including multiple f-bombs) had me laughing out loud.

[JJ]

While a repeat of the Wedding challenge was a good idea, I don't understand why they had to break up into teams, with no one on the winning team available for elimination. Why not simply have all eight work together (with the chefs broken up according to appetizers, main dishes and desserts)? It's too easy, with the two team organization, for someone (on the winning side) to escape scrutiny. Having said that, I'm okay with Carmen going home b/c I still can't get over her winning the earlier round with a dish that incorporated ready-made sausages. Sorry, I just found it lame.

[Dawn]

The highlight for me was seeing Jen in the flashback, which reminded Chef Adams to get her sauce on.

I miss Jen :(

As for the Masters, I love & am rooting for Chef Kenobi.

[Independent George]

The thing I like about Lee is that, for all his profanity and seeming roid rage, all of it is directed inwards. This isn't like Ludo ranting about Moonen or the British (though I suspect most of that was actually intended tongue-in-cheek, like his assault on Graham Elliott); he's mostly railing against himself because sets a near-impossible standard. And I say near-impossible because we've seen him actually meet that standard. Twice.

[gilmore]

I have become a huge Susur Lee fan. I admire his pride and fierceness - and the inward direction of it as I.G. said. I do hope he wins.

I would also like to see Waxman in the finals too. Complete opposites.