Top Chef Masters - S2E6 Postmortem

Awwww, man, just when I was starting to think Jody might make a run.

Though, truth be told, it's already at the point where I'd hate to see anybody go. I want to see Lee at the end, I'd love to see Waxman at the end, and for a third? Pick 'em. Anybody would make me happy. Every elimination from here on out will hurt.

It's funny, with the possible exception of the squid, and I'm not even sure about that, the goat leg struck me as by far the easiest ingredient to work with. Yet that's the only one that was botched by both chefs who picked it. Complacency, maybe? Or just chance. But interesting.

Waxman dodges a bullet. *phew!*

Love the little variation on Susur's reaction to a midrange score. Three and a half stars usually sets off a barrage of profanity, not a contented smile. Of course, he did do Marge Simpson in pork chop and purple potatoes. Hung's Smurf Village has a little competition.

Speaking of Susur, he had this one nailed from the word go. Mantuano thinks he could rock everything except the sea cucumber? Are you kidding, Tony? A chef from Hong Kong? I'm surprised he didn't pick it.

But even though 2.5 stars is a pretty wide margin, props to Moonen for hanging with Susur working in his comfort zone. He's right, we have kind of pigeon holed him as the fish guy. Okay, well, he kind of pigeon holed himself. But point being, the dude can cook.

And even more than that, props to Feniger for doing anything with sea cucumber. How do you approach an ingredient like that when you're not familiar with it? Yet another reminder... just because these people have very, very distinct personal styles, it doesn't mean they aren't flat-out talented across the board.

Discuss!

Comments

[Joel]

Smurf Village - I had forgotten about that. Yikes.

I was a bit worried about RM when he started dumping that transglutaminase in his roulade - guess it seemed to work out okay.

Feniger is the next to go - or Waxman - although that will be tough. Marcus isn't even cooking these days, so I'm honestly surprised he's still around; dude seems to pull it out somehow.

If Lee doesn't win this thing...it's because he chokes. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

[Esther]

Susur's certainly continuing to get the villain edit, between the bacon-fat theft (and his "masters should learn to adapt" comment) and the table-space hogging. Unfortunately, it's working; I'm finding it increasingly hard to sympathize with him at all.

Also, his victory reinforced what bugs me about this kind of challenge. Any time a situation will put some chefs in a completely new and challenging culinary situation (sea cucumber?), while putting others in a safe comfort zone, it's really hard to have a fair fight.

Remind me how long they had for the elimination challenge? Every good method of goat preparation that I know relies on slow, long cooking; that, to me, was the challenge of the goat. How would you have cooked it in that time limit?

[lamelama22]

When you say Hung's Smurf Village, are you referring to Frank's "Wonderland Mushroom Fantasy" from 2x03 or Hung's Breakfast Diorama from 3x11? They were both called Smurf Land/Village in the episodes. ;)

I actually think Frank's was more out there than Hung's. Hung's was like a little kid playing with food - of which he was self-aware, and it was for fun in a quickfire (and probably tasted good). Frank's was more outlandish because he tried to re-create Alice in Wonderland / Super Mario Bros with giant mushrooms & crap using burgers & vegetables in a 3D plate. Not only that, but he did it in an elimination challenge, was totally serious about it / thought it was fine, thought that that complicated a presentation could be done repeatedly in TGIF restaurants, and it apparently tasted pretty crappy. lawl.

Haven't actually seen this TC:M ep yet, but I can't wait to see what's on that level... lol.

[timothy]

Suser is not really coming across as villainous to me. His supportive comment to Jody upon her exit seemed pretty sincere, and his reference to "Bewitched" was really cute (as was the picture of him in his twenties). I also see him as multi-talented and self-assured, but not ridiculously arrogant. Wow. I just described him as confident, cute and nice. I think I officially have a crush on the guy.

[aaalex]

i agree with timothy. i don't think susur IS getting the villain edit. it was actually mantuano's fault he left a pan of bacon fat in a corner without telling anyone he would be using it later. he should have kept an eye on it. bad management, on his part. (also, there wasn't any "theft". susur threw his cuttings/garbage in a pan he thought had been abandoned.) besides, susur was right: master means when something goes wrong you adjust. it's more or less exactly what tramonto said in the previous round. as to the table space: if mantuano gave up table space that he needed, how is that susur's fault? do you really think mantuano's a shrinking violet? it feels to me as if, during his interview, it was a matter sour grapes. finally, as timothy mentioned: when jody was kicked off, susur hugged her and said "i love your cooking". there wasn't a hint of insincerity in his words. is there a greater compliment one chef can pay to another? i don't have a crush on susur, but i think he comes across as really sympathetic. he's never cursed anyone but himself, unlike, say, moonen, whose grousing about ludo was small-minded and tiresome. (that said: i thought moonen came across very well this episode. i started to like him again, as i had during the first TCM. in part it's because waxman, who is incredibly likable, kissed moonen and talked about him with such affection.)

amusing editing moment: rayner and oseland complaining about the vegetable stuffed phylo pastry on susur's dish. it was so obvious the editors were looking for ANYTHING to create drama/tension/doubt that i knew, as soon as rayner mentioned the one dubious element, that susur had won. (the judging was exactly as it had been when susur got 19 1/2 stars ... they niggled about the only thing they could criticize on his plate.)

and the "comfort zone" issue isn't really a problem for me. it's pure luck of the draw and the chef has to deal. at some point, every chef in the competition will be pushed out of his/her zone. susur didn't know anything about "the simpsons". he accepted that it was outside the range of his cultural reference points. he was pleased to get 3 1/2 stars because he'd done the best he could under the circumstances. but more than that: it was inspiring to watch susan feniger deal with the sea cucumber. she'd never cooked sea cucumber before, but she decided to use a protein she was unfamiliar with ... two ways! her fried sea cucumber was considered a revelation and, despite not knowing heads or tails about sea cucumber, she was in the top four. that speaks volumes about the level of accomplishment of these chefs.

as for the goat: mantuano chose second, BEFORE susur. he deliberately chose the goat. jody chose goat when there were other choices as well. they chose goat because it was familiar to them - it was in both their zones - and they assumed, knowing the time constraints, that they could make a go of it. hard to see how either chef was hard done by there.

i agree with dominic, here: i like every one of the remaining chefs. it would be just great to have a moonen, lee, waxman final. but i'd be just as happy if feniger or samuelsson or mantuano made it. now that we're actually getting to see how they think in the kitchen, it's hard not to admire them.

[Dan V.]

Boy, Waxman really had an off day today, didn't he? He got by the skin of his teeth there. I like to think that he's like an old, wizened Kevin.

[Independent George]

Ok, my inner game theorist cringed at the results of the draw (or my inner fantasy football player, at least). If you're giving seven chefs a choice between 14 proteins, the fair way to do it is to split it into two rounds and reverse the order after everyone is given a chance to pick. Moonen, as winner of the QF, should have been the only one to pick both. This minimizes the effect of the draw and forces the chefs to think more strategically. I'm sure Susur would have done just fine with any of the proteins (more on that below), but it wasn't a coincidence that the top three were the first to draw.

I'm again quite stunned by just how completely Susur rocked it, but the fact is the elimination challenge was right in his wheelhouse. I don't think any of those ingredients except the goat would have qualified as 'exotic' to a Cantonese chef. He still gets credit for nailing it - after all, he didn't just win, he dominated, and it's almost a TC cliche for chefs to get overconfident and lose the challenge they had every reason to win. At the same time, though, this was an even bigger advantage than Rick Bayless doing a street food challenge at the exact time he was working on his new street food restaurant.

Waxman definitely gave us a scare last night. Is there anybody not rooting for him?

[Dave_P]

How do you make a meal for Homer that doesn't include doughnuts or pork chops? Or both? Mmm... pork doughnuts... gargle... Felt bad for Susur not having a clue about the QF, but that was more than balanced out by his mastery of the EC domain. Oh, and I don't think he's getting the villain edit either--if anything, he's looking kinda cuddly w/some of his interviews.

Kangaroo is just lean beef, afaik. I'd think that'd be the easiest to work with. Goat's prolly not much harder. My family used to make soup w/geoduck as the base as a substitute for beef in our "wakame soup", so I totally applauded making a chowder out of it (and, you know, it *is* a clam). Personally, I would've been stuck w/the black chicken--I'd have no idea what to do w/that. Duck tongues too, but it looks like you can just deep fry it and it'll be tasty.

I love sea cucumber, but like one of the bloggers said, it's always made the same way in Chinese cuisine. I did have a raw preparation once in a Japanese restaurant so was hoping someone (other than Susur who could prolly rock that thing in his sleep) would have the guts to just marinade in some acid & oil and serve raw. Well done, Susan! Deep fried was something I was cringing at until the tasting--now I'll have to try it myself. :)

Waxman definitely dodged a bullet this time. I still think he'll be around late, hopefully all the way to the finals. If Susur didn't win this challenge, and by a good margin, I would've been worried. No need for concern. Poor Jody, I was hoping she'd be the third in the finale.

Agree with IG about the selection process, btw. I was also thinking that Moonen should pick his two and then everyone picks one at a time. I really don't expect Bravo producers to understand anything about game theory though. Oh, thanks for letting us know what Tony & Susan scored. They were stuck in the middle, so no one obviously cares about their performances.

Remaining weak links IMO are Susan, Tony & Marcus. Moonen's a tough bastard who I can see sticking around a long time, maybe to the end. Still rooting for Waxman & Lee.

--
Dave

[jh]

When Waxman talked about feeling lost in the challenge, I kept thinking about Carla and her philosophy of cooking with love. Waxman didn't love his food, and it showed on the plate. Yet I feel that if he had truly embraced the challenge and not gotten caught up with being outside of his comfort zone, he could have easily been in the top with his duck tongues. I'm always amazed watching these chefs work outside of their comfort zone and still produce fabulous dishes because their techniques and flavor knowledge are so strong.

Jody mentioned Julia Child as an inspiration for her. I wonder if she talked to Waxman, since he is "The Godfather" and Julia used to hang out at his restaurant.

Although Marcus is an accomplished chef whose food I would love to eat, his edit rubs me the wrong way. His confidence is bordering on arrogance, and in some of his interviews he talks himself up while very subtly putting the other chefs down. Perhaps it's because I never see him laugh or smile, or really get the sense that he's enjoying the experience.

Susur, like Brian Voltaggio, seems to be much better at the EC than QF. However, I think it's a matter of time before Susur begins rocking the QF. One of my favorite parts of this episode was a brief snippet at the beginning. When the chefs are lined up and Kelly is about to announce the quickfire, all the chef as lined up nicely, and then there's Susur, flexing his arms and cracking his knuckles preparing for battle.

[Independent George]

Anybody else watch 'Dirty Jobs' on the Discovery channel? I was having flashbacks to Mike getting squirted on by the geoducks. I half expected Barsky to be one of the judges, but, alas, Discovery is a vassal of the Great Mouse, and Bravo by GE.

[Vega]

Hey Dom, did you hear about Season 7 of regular Top Chef having replaced Toby Young with Eric Ripert? What's your take on this? Personally, I'm psyched.

[nomnom]

I have no idea why the two goat leg chefs didn't break out the pressure cookers. None.

[aaalex]

how odd moment this "bacongate" thing is. above, esther wrote that susur stole mantuano's bacon fat. i was sure susur hadn't stolen it. but then, in this week's online blogs, the bravo editor also calls it stealing and gael greene accuses susur of "borrowing" the fat. i thought i must have been mistaken, so i watched the show again.

this is the word-for-word transcription of the incident:

mantuano: susur? what did you do to my bacon fat? oh no ...
susur: i didn't know you were there.

mantuano (voice over): i'm thinking my dish needs more bacon flavour. unfortunately, susur decides to use that pan with the bacon fat for some of his garbage.

susur's dish was pork chops, but they weren't fried in bacon fat. and mantuano wouldn't have called susur's food "garbage". so, it's pretty clear on second view that susur didn't steal anything from mantuano.

as i don't find susur at all unlikable, i really wonder why so many people - including one of the judges - found it easy to believe susur "stole" something from mantuano? if nothing else, i'm willing to bet that stealing or "game playing" would offend susur's sense of dignity. as he said in an earlier episode, "master" means something to him and he tries to behave accordingly.

[josh]

bravo just posted bios for next season of cheftestants! can't wait for your pre-season power rankings - last year they were right on!

[josh]

Oh, and eric ripert as a REGULAR judge!

Only way to top this would be to bring back bourdain.

[Lon]

Overall I'm not enjoying this season of Top Chef Masters nearly as much as I did the first season. The format change is part of it, I think. A lot of good chefs never really got a chance to display their talents because of the team challenges.

And I'm also disappointed at the quirky challenges thrown at the Masters. Does anyone else feel the same? It's one thing to test Top Chef contestants on black chicken and the like; it's totally another thing to make them the basis for TCM.

[Independent George]

Ripert - replacing Toby Young?!! Just about the only thing that could make that better is bacon.

[garik16]

Lon, what's the difference between last year forcing the chefs to have to cook for a Vegan who didn't eat any wheat products and this?

I fail to see the difference really....both involve heavy restrictions. Here while the proteins were restricted to what they could choose, they had no restrictions around them.

I thought the challenge was fair.

----------------------------------------------
Meanwhile: Ripert replacing Toby is terrific.

[Babs]

I had to record this week's episode so I'm now just playing catch-up but please, please, please tell me that Rick didn't just sweat onto his plates. Please.

[jh]

Replacing Toby with Jay Rayner would have been better, but I can't complain about Ripert. I also wouldn't have minded Wolfgang Puck and an encore of flying donuts.

In case anyone is interested, there has been a heated back and forth between Toby and Jay with some very choice word:

http://eater.com/archives/2010/03/30/hating-toby-young-british-jay-rayner.php

[Vega]

^^^ Goddamn Jay Rayner is so cool. If Jay Rayner doesn't at least guest host once on regular Top Chef, I will cry and cry and cry.

[gilmore]

It was good to see RIck Moonen being someone other than the fish guy. Again, his and Susur's passion is great.

I hope they have already filmed the finals. If not, Susur could be in trouble. Gael Greene has now, for the third time in three episodes, dissed Susur Lee. First time was for his outrage at the judging in his first quick fire. Next week, she wrote "And if I’d heard him blithely telling Carmen “You are the girl,” i.e. good at backup for everyone else, it might have colored my final vote." I took that as a compliment - as we sometimes say "You're the man!". This week, the bacon fat incident. Plus Gael bemoans the fact that another woman was sent to pack her knives.

Hard to believe she once "plated" Elvis.

I am getting to the point where I want her to pack her hats and go.

Jay, on the other hand, continues to shine. His blog on eating exotic food is great - "it was an awful lot of sperm for a straight guy"!!
http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters/blogs/jay-rayner/the-first-time

Moonen, Lee and Waxman would be a great finals. Sorry Gael, no women again.

[gilmore]

How about Rick Moonen getting a massage at Whole Foods? Gotta love him.

Why would anyone think a chef would use someone else's ingredient? Even something as simple as bacon fat might be different than what it appears. What if the bacon had been rendered with ginger and garlic or jalapenos? the taste would not be what the thieving chef would have thought and consequently would ruin his dish.

[aaalex]

gilmore: re: susur lee and gael greene: great point about taking something another chef has cooked. greene's attitude is just odd. is it that she has trouble understanding susur's accent? or does she assume that his chinese roots make him necessarily sexist? (he's as much north american/canadian as he is chinese.) or is it that she just doesn't like him? (he didn't call carmen a "girl" in any negative sense. he reacted to someone else saying "you're the man" and then: why didn't she mention susur's obvious respect for jody?)

it isn't as if greene's allowed her negative feelings to influence her voting. she's given susur's food 5 stars, twice. but there's an undertone that's kind of weird. and she's not alone. i guess some viewers react negatively to his use of the f-word and assume he's an angry man. but i don't see the anger as aggression. i see a competitive man who's most often pissed off at his own failings.

jh: thanks for the link to the rayner/toby young "flame war". rayner, of course, comes off best and makes an irrefutable point about toby young's ego. i do feel sympathy for toby young, though. he was probably hired by the magical elves production people as a simon callow figure. and he tried to give them that callow-english thing. but his one liners were obviously forced and, worse, UN-revealing of the food he was judging. a single sentence by jay rayner tells you more about the food he's eaten than reams of toby young tells you. (besides, toby young once insisted that atmosphere was MORE important than food in his reviews of restaurants. could that be because toby's palate wasn't all that refined?)

as to eric ripert as judge ... he's certainly got a major league palate. he's one of the greatest chefs in the world, with le bernardin consistently making top 20 lists of the world's best restaurants. but, for my money, the best judge in the top chef franchise is jay rayner. he has no chef experience, as far as i know, but he's tremendously articulate. his judging of the two teams' collective creations last episode was calm and straight. no drama. and the chef's in the viewing room leaned forward to hear what he had to say.

is ripert likely to be as articulate as rayner? i doubt it. for one thing, ripert is french and struggles a bit to articulate his thoughts. then again: ripert is a technician's technician. is he likely to give priority to technical expertise over taste? (that would disadvantage any number of chefs in the past who hadn't gone to school but still managed to make good food.) wouldn't ripert make a better judge for TCM? (he should be a COMPETITOR on TCM!)

i'm a jay rayner fan, obviously. and i'd love to hear what he had to say about the one-level-lower cooking on TC. but ripert should be fine. the man is knowledgeable and very likable - as far as one can tell from his appearances on TC. should make for an interesting JT on the coming season.

[Skillet Doux]

Count me among those who are puzzled by the distaste for Susur. I'm finding him supremely likable, and every time there's a negative comment about something he said, I find myself thinking that his tone said something completely different to me.

Go figure. Seems like he's somebody who just rubs certain people the wrong way.

On Ripert as judge, not to take the comments here too far astray, my initial reaction is that he's going to be a fantastic foil for Colicchio. If there's been one criticism of Colicchio's judging (though he seemed to do well with it this past season), it's that he seems to be almost suspicious of highly refined food. His style's a little more rustic, a little more honest, a little more pure, and it shows in his judging. My hunch is that Ripert is going to be great for those times when a contestant puts forth a very complex, refined dish and you get the sense that Colicchio just wants a perfectly seasoned, cooked piece of meat.

I make it sound as though this is some flaw in Colicchio's judging, which I don't believe to be the case at all. I just see the potential for complementary styles there, which would be great.

Of course, as everybody else, I'd still rather see Rayner judging Top Chef. But let's be honest. We've seen how he reacts to the Masters' rare missteps. Am I the only one who thinks a season of Top Chef might very well put him over the edge?

[aaalex]

dominic: no, i think you're right. eating some of the not-done-right food on TC might be painful for rayner. and as rayner's pretty sincere it might be painful to witness the tongue lashings he'd mete out. (might also drive him nuts. but ...

being outside of the bravo USA zone, i've never seen any of the extended judging sequences on the bravo website. has rayner been barbed and mean in the extended sequences?

at JT, on TCM as broadcast, i prefer rayner's reactions to what he doesn't like to james oseland's grousings. (not that i dislike oseland. i think he's pretty good, too. for instance, in his defense of the salt content in mantuano's crostino, i think he was as legit an authority as rayner.) i can't think of a moment - a BROADCAST moment - when rayner was outright cruel to a chef. but ...

in any case, your point about ripert balancing colicchio is ace. ripert, colicchio, simmons is pretty close to a perfect balance at jt. (not sure why padma's needed, but nevermind.) on the other hand: ripert, colicchio, rayner ... i'd have to shoot myself because the universe i know does not contain perfection.

[gilmore]

Ripert should be great. Besides being an upgrade for the chefs, I expect to learn from his comments, which is part of the judging experience.

aalex - Greene's negative feelings about Susur have come on her TCM Blog after viewing the episode. While judging, she was not aware of his comments or the bacon incident. Concerning wedding wars, she said "And if I’d heard him blithely telling Carmen “You are the girl,” i.e. good at backup for everyone else, it might have colored my final vote." That is why I fear her vote if the finals has yet to be filmed. She might let her emotions overrule her taste buds.

[nomnomnom]

It would be nice to have a separate thread to discuss TC7 contestant lists.

This ain't my rodeo, however.

[Danny]

I guess I have one problem with Susur and the bacon fat. I have a bunch of garbage....do I a)throw it in the garbage can and/or garbage disposal or b)throw it in a pan of bacon fat. I do a lot of cooking in my kitchen and I must admit that I have never once put my discards in a pan. What would be the point? Don't know what Susur's motive was, it just seems like a strange thing to do.

[Skillet Doux]

Danny... I have. I'm working quickly, trying to keep my space clean, the garbage can is on the other side of the room -- toss it in the used pan. It's contained, and I'm not messing up the rest of the space I'm working with.

Don't know if that's what was motivating him, but I find it entirely plausible, is all.

[Independent George]

It would be nice to have a separate thread to discuss TC7 contestant lists.

This ain't my rodeo, however.

Dom usually does a separate TC preseason power rankings before it airs.

[Skillet Doux]

Preseason rankings and TC7 discussion are coming... I need a week or two :-)

[BritBrit]

Hooray Dom! That's the best news I've heard all day. Knowing that Preseason ranking are on the horizon will carry me through this dreary Monday afternoon.

P.S. As a long time lurker I just want to say that I love this site. Thanks for all the work you put into it! We appreciate it.

[Independent George]

Preseason rankings and TC7 discussion are coming... I need a week or two.

Huzzah! If I might be so bold, what I really miss are the podcasts...

I realize you have several small children that require your attention and just moved about five bajillion miles, but now that you've revealed your secret identity as the Mighty Pirate, I really want another podcast. I mean, I already mentally read your posts in the Threepwood voice, hearing them aloud again would produce a small, but statistically significant, chance of my head actually exploding.

[Kinderj]

I am a little on the fence about Ripert being a regular guest judge on TC. It's not that I am sorry to see Toby go (for all that I used to defend him) but that I am unsure how his strict focus on classic technique will translate in the more freewheeling world of Top Chef. This may well be worry for nothing, and for all I know he loves a dive bar cheeseburger after work. Hell, Keller makes a mean late night bacon and egg sandwich...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXAJAyLdUXU

so best not to assume about Ripert. But I kinda do, and I kinda worry. Am I crazy?

[Kinderj]

Oh, and Dom? Much though I would love to see your power rankings, take your time on them. You just nailed it last season, and I remember the season before that being eerily accurate as well. I reckon that if you keep this up, Magical Elves are going to call you up and use you as a freaking casting consultant. Crazier things have happened...

[aaalex]

kinderj: no, not crazy. or at least not alone. i expressed the same reservations above. but i thought dominic's point about ripert was spot on. ripert's technique-centered mindset potentially offsets coliccio's more "simple is best" point of view.

fun to speculate either way, though.

[Kinderj]

Aaalex- I certainly see that line of argument, though I am a bit leery of sliding into a technique versus flavor dichotomy. These are two of the very best chefs in America, Ripert arguably one of the best in the world, and I don't think anyone here would dispute that they both know technique AND flavor. I would just hate to see some mid-tier chef get knocked out in the early rounds for failing to perfectly (picking a probably silly example at random) brunoise a carrot. Or just marginally undercook a sole or any other sort of seafood. I worry a bit about the fate of guys like Kevin, who use very, very sophisticated techniques, but use them in a way that appears rustic and unrefined. It's going to be amazing on the palate, but will Ripert have a prejudice against non-classical technique? I guess time will tell. Or, you know, the input of someone who has actually eaten some of his food. Because I am just working off of what I see on TV and read on the internet...

One other point you raised in passing, and I am kind of curious about my self- what is Padma's role at judges table? Does she actually have a vote? She samples the dishes, I know that, but does she vote or simply act as an informed moderator? My recollection is that she is always the one who turns to the rest of the table and asks some variation on 'So have we reached a decision?' No one seems to ask her if she has reached her decision. Does anyone have a line on this?

[aaalex]

kinder j: actually, while we're on the subject... remember the episode from season 5 where the chefs had to duplicate a le bernardin recipe? i seem to remember hosea complaining that stefan had chosen an "easy" dish to duplicate. (the brute stupidity of hosea comes to mind every once in a while. has there been a less worthy winner? what was stefan supposed to do? chose the most difficult dish so hosea could thrive?) the dish stefan chose was baked lobster, and it was very simple in its execution. i bring it up to suggest that ripert obviously knows and appreciates simplicity as well as elaborate technique.

when the chefs in season six had to compete for a spot on the american team at the bocuse d'or, the kind of judging involved - unbelievably anal nitpicking - was a horrible turn off. ripert didn't strike me as anywhere near as finicky as bocuse jr, thomas keller, et al. (i know the bocuse d'or judges HAVE to be finicky, but i found the process unpleasant to watch.) so, given the evidence of the elegant simplicity of some le bernardin dishes and the relaxed judging ripert did in that episode, i think he'll be alright. i'm looking forward to hearing his opinions, the more i think about it.

but ripert's presence makes padma's presence DOUBLY unnecessary. why on earth, with two great chefs and a very good writer/trained cook (simmons) at the table, would anyone need padma's two cents' worth?

[Kinderj]

Re-Hosea, yeah that was just... not so good really. Loved Fabio, even sort of loved Stefan, but Hosea was just this sort of passive aggressive hole in space. Anticlimactic.

I do disagree slightly on your analysis of the Le Bernadin challenge, though. Lobster Mayonnaise and Lobster Hollandase (sp) (I don't recall which it was, but this applies to both) are comparatively simple dishes, certainly in comparison to the other dishes served at that lunch. Because they are so simple, they require exacting technique to pull off, especially if you are trying to make a perfect imitation of a Ripert dish. If you recall the judges were able to detect, based on the texture, that the sauce that Stefan had produced was hand whisked, rather than made with a blender. The implication seemed to be that Stefan's might have been a little better.

But now imagine a palate that notices (and cares!) whether a very basic sauce was whisked or blended judging the 'cooking on the beach for surfers' challenge. I just don't see him getting into the spirit of it at all. I could see him ragging on all the contestants for the food they produced for that challenge. What would he be able to contribute? You needed better knife skills while prepping on a beach? You failed to poach your eggs at precisely... etc. On the other hand, maybe having Ripert on hand will discourage deeply stupid EC's like that one. We can but hope.

Padma is certainly easy on the eyes, and she never gave me the 'soulless doll' vibe I get from some other spoke's models, but I am inclined to agree that, at this point, she does not add much in the way of insight or analysis. Which is why I wanted to know, does she have a vote at judges table, or is she the moderator? Does anyone know?

[Kinderj]

aaalex- re the Bocuse D'Or, I did not have quite as visceral reaction to the judging, but I certainly understand the feeling. While I respect the competitors and achievements of those who participate in the Bocuse, I have a mild dislike of the tournament it's self. It always struck me as profoundly pretentious and, unlike Top Chef, adds nothing to the cultural conversation about food. No one watches the Bocuse and thinks 'I want to make that tomorrow!' You put some of the very best chefs in the world through absolute hell, so that they can prepare something you will sample for less than thirty seconds? With the most absurd, nouvelle cuisine plating winning the day? I'll pass. I guess my main problem with the tournament is that no one competing seems to be having much fun. And while the chefs on Top Chef were all honored and excited to be cooking for that panel, it did not look like any of them were having fun with it either.

[Skillet Doux]

"I would just hate to see some mid-tier chef get knocked out in the early rounds for... marginally undercook[ing] a sole or any other sort of seafood."

Do you think somebody is now in more danger of an early exit for making a small error with seafood because of Ripert than they've always been for making a small error with a steak because of Colicchio?

What's more, seafood may not be his "specialty" as it is Ripert's, but you'd better believe that Colicchio knows when sole isn't done properly. He doesn't need Ripert to tell him that.

By contrasting their styles, I don't mean to suggest that Ripert is now going to be the hardass judge. I actually think Colicchio's brutal, he just tries to be constructive about it. And I also don't mean to suggest that Ripert can't appreciate and judge simple food. Great chefs appreciate simple food because they get it, and even if they turn on the ability to pick nits when judging something like the Bocuse d'Or, it doesn't mean they don't know a freaking great cheeseburger when they have one.

I just think it'll be nice to have two successful chef judges with contrasting styles, is all. And though I'm working off memory, I seem to recall Ripert being a great judge -- not afraid to call out problems, even small ones, but keeping them in perspective and not allowing some minor technical defect to overshadow an otherwise great dish.

My hunch is that this will work out very well. I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

[aaalex]

kinderj: it'll be interesting to see what the level of competition is on season 7. if the chefs are at the level of the season 6 contestants, "slightly undercooked sole" might be the ONLY way to discriminate between equally worthy candidates. if the competition is at the level of season 5, it's unlikely that overcooked sole will kill anyone's chances. (you might have to VULCANIZE the sole to lose to, say, lauren or patrick.)

your point about simple dishes requiring immaculate technique is well taken, though.

dominic ... re bocuse d'or judging: yeah, it's pretty clear if you watch the video of thomas keller making a sandwich for adam sandler - or if you read his bouchon cookbook - that chefs like keller can turn on or off the nit-picking thing, that they know their cheeseburgers and fries. the bocuse d'or is - legitimately - about picking nits because the competition is all about technique and when judging the techniques of chefs at the highest level, it will come down to the finest details of knife skills. what i was suggesting in bringing the bocuse d'or up, though, is that when ripert was on TC, he was nowhere near the level of finical anality displayed by the bocuse d'or judges. he was entirely reasonable and lucid. (i remember his generosity above all, his admitting that some of the chefs had difficult tasks.) so, i'm pretty much in complete agreement with you: i'm looking forward to seeing the french and american sensibilities playing off each other.

[jh]

I'm not worried about Ripert being too caught up in the technicalities, especially when he's presented a wonderful tasting dish. Though he's been on TC multiple times, the one appearance that sticks out in my mind is the QF in part 1 of the finale of Season 3. Casey, Hung, Dale, and Brian cooked trout with by the stream with nothing more than camping equipment. I don't recall his criticism of Dale's and Brian's dishes, but he said that Hung's dish was precise (though needed a touch of acidity), and Casey's dish had soul. He gives Casey the win.

Count me in with the crowd looking forward for the power rankings, aka spoilers of when everyone is going home. I'm interested in how well this crop of chefs stack up against last season. Kevin revealed in an interview last year that he applied to TC as a last ditch effort to save the restaurant, which is now booked nearly every night. I can see many more "top" chefs applying to get customers in the door, which can only mean better food for us to salivate over.

[gilmore]

jh - I too was going to mention the Season 3 quickfire. Plus, Ripert hangs out with Bourdain. There is some "regular guy" behind that accent and menu. On one episode of Bourdain's show, he went back to be a line cook at his old restaurant. He invited Ripert to cook with him. Ripert worked the grill for the first time in his life (he said) and did not make a mistake (according to Bourdain).

Dom - add some variety to your predictions as this is
Washington D.C.

- how many Spike appearances will there be? one or none?

- What is the over/under on gratuitous Obama (either one) references?

[rab01]

Since Michelle Obama is involved in the campaign against childhood obesity, I wouldn't be surprised to see her take part in a school cafeteria challenge.
But God, I hope Spike is kept far away from the set.

[Independent George]

Forget Spike; Frederick, MD isn't that far from DC. Michael Voltaggio is a distinct possibility.

[Skillet Doux]

Other Voltaggio. Michael's in L.A. Bryan's in Frederick.

[SorchaRei]

For anyone who wants to know if there is anything to Ripert besides exquisite technique and stunning palate, I suggest reading his book A Return to Cooking. That, plus the fact that he gave the trout QF win to the soulful dish over the precise one, is more than enough for me to be happy that he's coming on-board.

Link to the book at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Return-Cooking-Eric-Ripert/dp/1579653936

[Pants McCracky]

I'm gonna have to disagree with some of you guys about Jay Rayner. I'm a fan of the UK series Masterchef: The Professionals, a competition between aspiring chefs who usually are a few notches below Top Chef proficiency, and whenever Rayner's guest judging on that show he's typically very kind to what are often some seriously lame dishes. I think he's tougher on the "Masters" because of the elevated level of expectations. I'd love to see him installed as a permanent judge on regular Top Chef.