Top Chef - S7E0 Power Rankings

Holy crap! Top Chef is almost here!

I'd like to take a moment to applaud Padma for her decision to breed. Sounds like it bought us a little extra time between seasons six and seven and boy howdy, did I need it. This stuff is exhausting, you guys. But as much as I'm usually ready to hang myself by episode ten (wait and see when I use my get out of the Power Rankings free card for the season... that's usually when it's become a slog), it's always exciting to start a new season. Perhaps doubly so this season, because of the little surprise judging shakeup that occurred a month or two back.

For those who might not have heard, everybody's favorite snarky Englishman, Toby Young, is on the outs, having been replaced by everybody's favorite fishy Frenchman, Eric Ripert. And while I'd still kick Ripert to the curb in favor of Jay Rayner in a heartbeat, this is a pretty freaking good catch (ha!) for the Magical Elves. Ripert's been around a lot as a guest judge. He knows the drill. He handles the spotlight quite well (even if the Santa suit incident was... unfortunate). There's no questioning his bona fides when it comes to culinary knowledge, and though some folks have expressed fear that he will crush and destroy anybody whose seafood is anything less than absolutely perfect, I think he's shown an ability to be very understanding and constructive in his previous judging stints. This is a regime change I feel great about.

I feel a lot less great about the preseason rankings this time around. First of all, last season's were too freakishly good. I have no idea how that happened. So let's be clear right off that bat, that will not happen again. Then, there's the field this season. I feel like I'm researching Supreme Court nominees. As if they've been picked specifically because they aren't leaving a nice paper trail. Last season, there were a few like that, but this season is packed with chefs who may have traceable resumes, but whose current work is shrouded in mystery. And among those to whom I could pin a menu? Seasonal Contemporary American. All of them. Well, not ALL of them. There is kind of a lot of French. But cripes, it seems like they're all cooking the same damn food this season. And what's more, I feel like the field is a little more compressed top to bottom. The throwaways are harder to throw away and have just enough mystery to make you wonder if there's a total sleeper in there somewhere. And the top tier have question marks... ones that will be resolved very quickly, I'm sure, but question marks nonetheless. The talent level is high again. It's no season six, and I don't think we're going to see anything like the four horsemen, but if last season hadn't completely blown the curve, I'd be super impressed by this crowd. And I still am. I just bothers me that in the top tier, last season was a matter of picking who I thought was most likely to kick ass and take names, and this season is a matter of trying to figure out who I think is least likely to be a surprise washout.

Confidence level, low, but here it goes anyway. As last year, the preseason rankings, in reverse order:

Wins

Top

Bottom

17 Jacqueline Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Jacqueline (that's jack-LEEN, apparently) might have some skills, but she's chock full of warning signs, not the least of which is that she's a 9/11 career changer who was originally in advertising. Which explains why the website for her catering company, Jacqueline Lombard Events, is so slick. That she did a stint at Otto looks semi-interesting, until it's revealed that she was doing pastry. No less noble, but that's a bonus for Top Chef, not a baseline. Where it gets really problematic is when you try to figure out what kind of food she's cooking now. Her newest restaurant project, Leña, isn't off the ground. Her website has been oddly scrubbed of all menus and recipes, leaving no clue as to her style. In fact, the only information I could find about any of her food was a handful of reviews of Gansevoort 69, where she developed a comfort food menu that's garnered responses ranging from mediocre to awful. Yeah, everybody and their brother is doing comfort-ING food nowadays, but she really takes it to an extreme. Meatloaf with diced peas and carrots? Grilled chicken sandwich with guacamole? BLT? The menu reads like the clubhouse grill at a public golf course. And I've seen photos. They look about as good. One blogger tried her Spaghettios (yes, she served spaghettios) and said Chef Boyardee's Franco American's were better. Ouch. Far as I can tell, she has a really pretty website with a long list of big name clients. But it's tough to go on that alone. I'm putting her at the bottom of the pile until further notice.

16 Amanda Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I'm very uncomfortable putting Amanda this low, not because I've seen anything to make me think she deserves anything higher, but because I just haven't seen anything. She's worked within Joachim Splichal's organization and was even executive sous of his ill-fated seafood joint, Paperfish, but I just have absolutely no idea what she can do. She trained at Le Cordon Bleu and has seemingly bounced all over the place, hitting a few Michelin-starred places in Europe as well as -- by her own description -- just about all of the fine dining restaurant in Los Angeles (a dubious claim, but okay). But what does she cook? No clue. Has she ever designed a menu or even her own dishes? Couldn't tell you. She isn't even attached to a restaurant at the moment, listing her occupation as "consultant." She's a total mystery contestant who could turn out to be some kind of mega sleeper. But I doubt it. So I'm putting her near the bottom.

15 Lynne Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 If this were 2001 instead of 2011, I might have Lynne a lot higher. And it's not because of her age (51). Unlike some, I don't buy the theory that anybody over a certain age is washed-up. She may prove to be, but I'm not jumping to that conclusion. No, the reason I bring up ancient history is because once upon a time, in a town called Atlanta, Lynne had a very warmly-regarded restaurant called Grappa, where she prepared her "hands off" cuisine, treating things simply and letting ingredients be. And I can see that appealing to Colicchio, in particular, if she does it really well. But Grappa is long, long gone, and it seems that she's spent her time since then as a professor at the CIA. Excuse me, assistant professor. Now, I hesitate to throw out fighting words that start with "Those who can't do," but it does kinda make you wonder. Maybe not. Maybe she's a fabulously skilled chef who was simply seeking a little stability. After helming a failed restaurant, post forty no less, I can see how regular hours and a steady paycheck might be mighty attractive. But even if so, she's been out of the fire for a while. Gotta consider her a bottom-tier contestant with upside potential.

14 Tamesha Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 There are a lot of reasons I can't put Tamesha very high. At 24, she's very young. She's never held an executive position that I can find, and while her bio lists her style as modern American with French and Asian influences, I've seen no concrete examples thereof. What she has going for her is that she's currently sous at The Oval Room, which is really rocking the DC food nerds I know right now. And what's more, she was brought there by Executive Chef Tony Conte, who left Jean-Georges' stable and took her with him. So she has to be a formidable technician, and she's working a hot kitchen. That has to be worth something. And bonus, home field advantage.

13 Kenny Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Kenny's another contestant I have a very, very tenuous grip on. He runs a company called Passionate Culinary Enterprises, which "is focused on assisting food and beverage organizations to become synergistically sound." Okay, then. Basically, it looks like restaurant management and consulting. And in his intro video, he even talks about how he'd really like to go beyond the food and bring some leadership to Top Chef. The guy's already pegging himself as a manager rather than a creative. But he has real restaurant experience. He made a little buzz down in Florida about a decade ago, and his most recent project is all of the food for a Telluride resort called Capella, including their fine dining restaurant, Onyx. But damned if I can't find anything anybody has to say about Onyx, good or bad. Onyx doesn't even post a full menu, instead highlighting just two or three dishes. Kenny defines his style with a grocery list of ethnic cuisines including Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Native American, Moroccan and African. Sure you didn't miss any there, Kenny? But that's not exactly evident in his current work. But dig a little bit, and it turns out he's done a number of dinners at the James Beard house, and some of them look kind of interesting. So I'm going to put him near the top of the bottom tier. There might be some sleeper potential here. At the very least, he should be technically sound enough and experienced enough to survive for a while.

12 Tiffany Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 This is about where I feel there's a transition to the middle of the pack, and while it's tricky to find daylight between most of them this season, I feel like I have a pretty good grip on where most of them are coming from. Tiffany does seafood, and this means so could be Ripert's best friend, or his favorite punching bag. She's the executive chef of Go Fish Ocean Club in Dallas, and it has a menu of clean, crisply presented seafood with Asian and the occasional island accents. Oysters with green apple mignonette; fried green tomatoes with shrimp ravigote, radish pico and remoulade; olive oil poached escolar with fiddlehead ferns, morels, corn and garlic confit; jerk fish... you get the idea. Tiffany has been heading up the kitchen there since 2008, so she's had some time to get her sea legs (ha!), and a recent writeup from the Dallas Morning News was rather complimentary. Plus, the food goes a fairly refined route, which would help in the later stages should she stick around. Plus, I like the fact that her alma mater, the Art Institute of Houston, apparently thought enough of her to let her do some amount of instruction so young. Yeah, I know, could've been the culinary equivalent of a TA for all we know, but it implies she was a good student. Of course, she's young, there isn't a ton out there about Go Fish and she's bound to fall into Ripert's crosshairs at some point, so there are some significant marks against her, but I think she might show us something that merits sticking around for a bit.

11 Alex Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I'm not sure why, but I'm getting kind of a dark horse vibe from Alex. And I say dark horse because his menu is out there, it's clearly his, and yet I'm having a heck of a time finding much in the way of commentary upon it. He trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Vegas, and worked at Lutece and a number of restaurants in the Bally's empire before catching the eye of Ivan Kane and moving to Los Angeles to launch Ivan Kane's Cafe Was. Cafe Was looks more like a theme park than a restaurant, but what little I can find seems to be positive, and his menu looks interesting, at least. He terms it "California Bistro," which looks to me like mostly straightforward French bistro with some creative touches. The problem is that so little has been written about the place that I'm really not sure what to think. Is it untouched by the MSM because it's young, or because it looks like a theme restaurant? Hard to say. So I just can't put him any higher. But there might be a little surprise potential here.

10 Arnold Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Arnold makes me nervous. First because he's a big personality, and you always have to wonder if the big personalities get a bit of a pass on skill. Second, because he's a career changer who started as a figure skater (you can't make this stuff up). And third, because of his cooking style. But we'll get to that. In his favor, he comes from a restaurant family, he did some training in NYC including some involvement in the Jean-Georges empire that I couldn't nail down, and he currently owns and is the EC for three successful Nashville area restaurants. Launching three winners (even if two of them are fairly young) is impressive for a 32-year-old, no matter where you live. What gives me pause is that his three restaurants -- PM, Cha Chah and Suzy Wong's House of Yum (you read that right) -- absolutely scream scene over cuisine. And some menu items are pushing into Tex Wasabi territory. Deluxe Asian wonton nachos with BBQ pork, queso blanco, edamame, cilantro pico, sriracha and red curry crema... wait, what? Seriously, it reads like your worst Asian fusion nightmare. The menu at Cha Chah, a tapas joint, is a little less frightening, but it also lends the impression that he's dabbling in cuisines rather than learning them. But all of the local press I could find is quite positive and, again, the guy's launched three winners, so I'm trying to respect those facts even if my instincts say no, no, please, no.

9 Tracey Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I have Tracey in the upper end of the MOTP (middle of the pack) because she's been around a while, seems well-regarded back home, is coming out of the CIA and might have a little extra versatility. Actually, she's been around quite a bit, bouncing around Georgia and Florida for a number of years. Then she was sous at Luna Park in the Orlando area before landing at her current home, Table 1280 in Atlanta, where she was elevated to EC in early 2008. She does contemporary American with some Southern touches, sending out dishes like royal rock shrimp with Logan Turnpike grits and maple cheddar; black bass with shaved cauliflower, sweet celery, white truffle oil and salsa verde; or a Niman Ranch pork chop with toasted farro, asparagus and pickled ramps. A lot of her pairings are fairly conventional by today's standards, but by all local accounts I could find they're cleanly plated, properly prepared and quite tasty. She hasn't gotten enough notice to make me think she's anything more than a middle-of-the-packer, but she seems capable. Also in her favor is the fact that she does a lot of themed menus to coordinate with the productions and art exhibitions at the Woodruff Arts Center, which houses the restaurant. When the terra cotta soldiers roll into town, maybe Chinese isn't her specialty, but that kind of flexibility could help her survive when she's forced out of her element. And she does pastry, which is the Top Chef equivalent of a mini derringer in a calf holster.

8 Timothy Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Though Timothy is somehow supposed to be an almost star who has trained with some big names, I'm troubled less by what I've heard about him and more by what I haven't heard about him. He came up under Jean-Louis Palladin in DC, who thought enough of him to make him Chef de Cuisine of Palladin in NYC. And his bio notes that he's worked alongside Alain Ducasse (indeed, it looks like he spent some time at Louis XV in Monaco), Roberto Donna, Guenter Seeger and Patrick Clark (even if the careful wording of "worked alongside" gives me pause... heck, I worked alongside Charlie Trotter.) But here's the thing. Timothy has spent the past six or seven years in Baltimore, and I lived -- quite literally -- four or five blocks from his place for two years. And I basically heard nothing. He opened his first restaurant, Timothy Dean Bistro, in 2004. When the Bistro started tanking, he converted it into TD Lounge, which is what it was for most of my stay in Baltimore. And now, he's just launched Prime Steakhouse (which, BTW, uses choice meat), and the lead critic for the Baltimore Sun seems to feel it's a just shy of great kind of restaurant. So why, when I ping the Baltimore food nerds for a little info, do I get a collective shrug in return? Admittedly, Timothy has had a lot of distractions. He's been involved in a couple of very high-profile lawsuits, and it sounds like he lost his wife to breast cancer a few years ago. Maybe a little Top Chef-style isolation, where he has nothing to do but concentrate on the food for a few weeks, is exactly what he needs to show this great culinary promise he's supposed to have. But I'm dubious.

7 John Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Here, I see another bit of a break as we move into contestants who have some strong credentials, but aren't cracking the top tier because there are just some question marks. I realize I just put a guy who was a James Beard nominee in 2008 and 2009 down at number seven. And no, it's not an indication of an incredible top six. It's just... it's just... I dunno. Something about John's whole situation gives me pause. He's an engineer who fell into a restaurant called The Lark, outside of Detroit. And he's been there for sixteen years, working his way from garde manger up to Chef de Cuisine, a position he's held since 2006. So the guy has spent his entire culinary career in one restaurant. And that one restaurant is a bit of an odd duck. The Lark is an old warhorse with an old world decor managed by old world Europeans who guided its mostly old world European menu. You choose a main course, and with that main course comes a nondescript salad and a selection from the "hors d'oeuvre trolley." If you order their signature Rack of Lamb Gehghis Khan, you get a little printed card showing how many they've now served. And yet, it's now overseen -- and has been for four or five years -- by a guy who supposedly is into all kinds of eclectic, international flavors? The menu's oddly schizophrenic. Roast prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, Tournedos Rossini, Lobster Thermidor, prime beef strip loin with Burgundy reduction on one hand. Then there's macadamia nut crusted barramundi with tropical fruit relish and ginger beurre blanc, morel and artichoke Napoleon with pine nuts and tempura vegetables, grilled loin of rabbit with garlic flan... I mean, nothing's that far out there but it almost seems like there's a culture clash going on, and I just don't know what to make of it. And yet, a lot of people love the place. It's been around forever, charging $70-90 a head for this prix fixe menu. But reading around, I just kind of get the impression that it's coasting on reputation. I haven't read anything good from any source I trust, and there's a little too much, "Yeah... it's really not all that," going on. I don't know. Sometimes those early James Beard nominations are peppered with big fish in small ponds, and I wonder if this is one of those situations. I may regret starting John off so low, but there it is.

6 Andrea Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Andrea strikes me as a "you know what you're going to get" contestant, and I feel like I can already see her trajectory: Solid at the start, maybe a little vanilla but steady, slowly outpaced as it gets into the second half of the season. She's a CIA grad who's run a restaurant called Talula along with her husband down in Miami for about ten years, and it's gotten a lot of great press. At first, I thought she might be a heavy hitter, but then I started looking a little more closely. She was one of Food & Wine's best new chefs... in 2000. The NY Times listed Talula in a section of "places to be now"... in 2003. Their website is chock full of nice press clippings... from 2004 and 2005. I started to get the impression that maybe time had just passed Andrea by, and then I fell upon a piece in the local alternative paper that basically said exactly that (the sharp retort from Andrea's husband in the comments section of that post was... interesting). But some food nerds seem to love the place, and claim that Talula is still one of the best joints in the area, it's just that Miami Beach tourists have been seduced by glitzier options that have opened in the interim. Adding another layer of interest is that Andrea and her husband are just now opening a place called The Water Club with a really basic-looking sandwichy salady kind of menu that would seem totally nondescript except for the fact that it seats 500 people. Based purely on her husband's response to that post in the Miami New Times, it's clear she and her husband have something to prove. Either they cook the right way and they've been outpaced by more glamorous options, or they're still cooking like they did a decade ago and the rest of the world has moved on. Guess we'll find out which.

5 Kevin Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 He's from Jersey, he's a big, beefy guy, and he runs a place called Rat's Restaurant. This does NOT tell you all you need to know about Kevin. It's rather misleading, in fact. Kevin, as far as I can tell, is not season seven's Joey/Howie/Danny. First off, Rat's Restaurant is actually a reference to The Wind in the Willows, and it's located at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton. And second, in his intro interview at least, Kevin strikes me as rather soft-spoken. So he's not what he seems from a quick glance at the bio. So what is he? Well, he's been running Rat's since Stephen Starr took it over last summer, where he's been putting out a French-Mediterranean menu with some creative touches... toasted peanuts with the duck pate, sea beans with the butter-braised lobster tail, smoked chickpeas with the steamed halibut, etc. There are some less unique options too, like the spinach ravioli with parmesan froth, sweet pea puree, porcini mushrooms and lemon oil. Of course, the menu actually reads "raviolis," so maybe you can't take the Jersey out of the kid after all. But the thing I keep coming back to is that it sounds like he made a pretty good showing at the 2008 USA trials for the Bocuse d'Or. Now, we can debate the merits of the competition, and the award he won was for presentation (meat, natch), but it takes an incredible amount of dedication to jump into that fray, and the fact that he was even on that stage says something. And with two or three years as Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz in Philadelphia and a stint as culinary director of Jose Garces' restaurant group, it isn't as though his resume is light. Thing is, he's originally from Hamilton, and now he's working in Hamilton. My hunch is that he could've move onto to bigger and better things, but decided he'd like to be home for a little while. I'm getting a good vibe here. Rat's is kind of under the radar, but I think Kevin might have some surprises in him.

4 Angelo Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I have Angelo as a near miss for the top tier. What I like about him is that he's a CIA grad who spent a lot of time in prominent positions for Jean-Georges restaurants, including stints as executive sous at Spice Market and even Jean Georges. What I don't like about him is that the first restaurant he opened as EC, Yumcha, tanked in under a year, and he's now running a sandwich show. Which sounds worse than it is. Sosa is all about creative Asian, and Yumcha, somewhat in the spirit of Jean-Georges' own failed 66, was a very open, modern take on Chinese cuisine. Chinese-inspired might even be a more appropriate way of putting it. And from what I can tell, people really liked it! Important people who know their food, even! So I can't figure out why the place didn't make it, and it's tough digging up info on places that have been closed for five years. Perhaps some NY food nerd can fill us in, here. So now, he runs Xie Xie, which is an Asian sandwich shop with five sandwiches. Not banh mi, mind you, but Asian sandwiches. Really interesting, creative ones, actually, that people -- important people who know their food, even -- seem to rather like. So I get the feeling that the guy was stung by Yumcha's failure and is kind of regrouping. I'd feel better if it weren't taking so long, but it seems like there's a lot to like here. Heck, the guy was even invited by Alain Ducasse to do a guest menu at Spoon in Paris (though I didn’t particularly like Spoon). It’s just... five sandwiches, huh?

3 Kelly Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 Here we enter the top tier, even if I kick it off with one that could (and probably will) come back to bite me in the ass. I just can't help but rank Kelly awfully high. In some ways, she has Eve written all over her. Her restaurant, Kelly Liken (oy), is in a very small, insular community, she's been running the place since 2004, and everybody seems to love it. But she hasn't traveled, hasn't worked in any big kitchens I can find, and has seemed pretty content to do her thing out there in Vail, Colorado. Which is great, if she's good. And she might be as good as the limited press suggests. She's a CIA grad, she's pulled down a James Beard nomination, Bon Appétit was all over her at one point... she's been making some noise out there. Heck, she even has camera experience. She recently challenged on Iron Chef America, and lost to Jose Garces. Sadly, I missed it, and it wasn't exceptionally close. Garces beat her by five points, including a large-ish gap in the all-important "taste" category (the ingredient was bleu cheese). But again, the fact that she was asked on the show says something, and I'm sure she took a lot away from that experience that's going to come in handy on Top Chef. And I like the cut of her jib. She cooks a fun-looking contemporary American menu with a lot of local influence, including dishes like Dungeness crab salad with tomato-watermelon gazpacho, chili oil and pickled watermelon rind; pan roasted duck breast with wild rice hoe cake, sautéed arugula, blackberry conserve and cassis gastrique; and Colorado rack of lamb with eggplant caviar, feta studded farro, pickled red-onion fennel salad and creamy cucumber raita. The only red flag -- and it isn't a small one -- is that her latest venture, a casual joint called Rick & Kelly's American Bistro, is getting savaged. But if it turns out that she's simply a one-restaurant chef who can't maintain a satellite, is that necessarily a bad thing?

2 Stephen Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I have never been less confident about my top two picks, ever. And the reason is that I'm kind of flying blind on them. Let me explain. Stephen is a total pro who's been around the block a few times. He's externed with Charlie Trotter and Thomas Keller (I think). He's been working for Michael Mina for over a decade, and is currently EC of Michael Mina's Seablue in Vegas, sous at Stripsteak before that. In fact, it kind of sounds like he's been Mina's go-to guy when it comes to maintaining the empire as of late. He's been around the right people, and I don't have the slightest doubt that he's going to be technically sound, a total pro, and that he'll be around late. Or at least late-ish. But what does he cook? Got me. Mina's food, I guess. And so you see why I look at the number two next to his name and kind of shake my head. Guess we'll find out if he can be a number one, or if he'll always be a number two. Um. You know what I mean.

1 Ed Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: n/a Eliminations 0 0 0 I'm similarly nervous about Ed. Holy cow, does this guy have a resume. CIA, Olives with Todd English, No. 9 Park with Barbara Lynch, executive sous at DB Bistro Moderne and Daniel with Daniel Boulud, a stint as EC of Veritas, BLT Market with Laurent Tourondel... he's had his ass kicked for many years by some very high-profile chefs. And he ALMOST escaped the Stephen trap, since he just launched Plein Sud with Frederick Lesort, so I can at least get a look at his menu. But Plein Sud is less than a month old, and there's precious little to read about it just yet. It's brasserie cuisine, and it looks pretty straightforward, but he just has to be rocking it. Has to be. Right? *fingers crossed*

Ladies and gentlemen, your Top Chef Season Seven contestants. May they not embarrass me.

A quick side note, now that we're out west, I'm going to be doing the postmortems on delay this season. It's not that we don't get the show the same time as everybody else. We do. It's just that dinnertime with two little kids isn't the best time to be concentrating on Top Chef. DVR is my friend, and I'm compelled to use it. But my intention, provided I remember, is to always post the thread before the show starts, so you guys can even yak as things develop if you like. And then I'll jump in a few hours later once I've had a chance to catch up. Starting Wednesday.

Discuss!

Comments

[Steph]

My sister and I did up our own power rankings this season, and they look a lot like yours! The exact positions don't match, but they're awfully close.

[SinoSoul]

Aight Dom, I almost NEVER watch TC, but here's a inside PR tip for you that might change the odds.

Amanda is, at least as of 4 days ago, associated with the venerable LA seafood institution Water Grill. While TC isn't as enamored by seafood as we'd like, that's an additional established restaurant to support her "just about all of the fine dining restaurant" claim.

I'll let you know how the food tastes Thursday?

[Nicole]

As a Philly girl, it looks like Kevin is going to be my best shot. I've eaten at most of Jose Garces' places in town and never been disappointed, so that line on his resume says a lot.

[1000yregg]

Great preview to the new season as always, Dom.

[TGP]

Dom,

I almost always respect your knowledge (for a food blogger), but your rankings always mistify. That dude from Detroit runs a restaurant that looks stodgier, more old-school than Eve could ever be (and Eve is damn old-school), but he's in your top 10? While Tamesha, who is a sous-chef at a well-recognized top restaurant in DC, which you and I both know will produce at least strong technique, is in 14th?

Come on, man.

Also, let's stop using culinary school as a marker of anything. It isn't.

[Jake]

For what it's worth, Rat's is a very well-regarded NJ restaurant (although the name has always thrown me off too), and has been for quite some time. I'm a bit out of the loop on the Jersey dining scene (11 years removed now), but I still hear about this place with some frequency. I'm not at all surprised that it could be turning out great food.

[Skillet Doux]

TGP...

With both Tamesha and John, I absolutely agree, I want to put her higher and I want to put him lower. But in both cases, it basically comes down to one thing that I felt kind of tied my hands.

Tamesha's 24. How long could she have been out of culinary school? Two years? She could be a total prodigy. But what do we have to go on? At least the other relatively successful young contestants (Ilan excepted) were EC's by the time they went on Top Chef and had some kind of menu to reference. With Tamesha, it's impressive that she's a sous at a place that's on fire so soon out of training, but there's just nothing else to go on.

As for John, I agree for the most part. For all of the reasons I talked about. And c'mon, there are only 17 contestants. Top Ten can still be the bottom half, and he's only two off the dead center. But you tell me which is crazier.. putting the guy who runs the place that looks weirdly stodgy in the top half, or putting the guy who got back to back James Beard nominations in 2008 and 2009 in the bottom half?

And as for culinary school, it may not be a determinant, or even a strong marker,how else are you supposed to find daylight between people about whom there's very little public information other than looking at all of the little pieces, no matter how small? I agree, it's not highly meaningful, but doesn't mean it's meaningless.

[Skillet Doux]

And P.S., TGP, before you throw stones at the rankings, I'll refer you to the rankings for last preseason :-D

(Ohhhhh, I'm so going to regret that one.)

[Skillet Doux]

SinoSoul... thanks for the heads-up. And that's exactly what's so maddening about her. There are these vague associations with all kinds of places, but nothing to hang anything on.

[altoids]

Thanks Dom for the power rankings! I really enjoy them because they make the first few episodes far more intelligible - with so little screen time for each contestant early on, every extra bit of information helps greatly. We were spoiled silly by last season, but here's to a good sequel!

Just as a quick reminder to the more brave than I:

In the last season, betting on the top 4 in the pre-season power rankings would have given you a nice profit in Vegas. Those rankings were probably an aberration, but would anybody care to try that experiment this season?

[nomnomnom]

I put a tiered ranking with no particular order up in the TCM final 4 thread, and this list is pretty well in line with that except for John being about 4 spots down from my list.

I think the guy does do a few inventive menus from time to time at his place. It's not MG or anything, but he's got a shot and his haircut is good for at least a few dodges.

Last year was a little easier since you had one guy that had I dunno A STAR! Both Volts and Kevin's resume read phenomenally well and Jen's was probably good enough to read as number 1 to start the season. And after that there was a huge dropoff.

Looks like they formed this group more like season 3. Very litle MG no super studs, and some personalities. I expect the cuisine to be a little more approachable this time out.

Interesting that Kelly did an Iron Chef. Good catch. I'll see if it can be downloaded.

[jh]

You've actually predicted the person(s) going home the first episode the last two seasons in a row. If you do it this again this year, I can only assume that you've seen an advanced screening and you're pulling one over all of us with all your hedging :-P

I appreciate all the hard work you put into these posts. These beginning ones are especially helpful for distinguishing all the contestants. Otherwise, it just tends to be a blur.

[SorchaRei]

The people I know who see screens of Bravo competitions (I know people who have seen Project Runway before it moved, Work of Art, and - ick - Shear Genius) all say that screens come without the final result visible. My theory is that Dom is just a smart, knowledgeable guy who puts a lot of time into this. Which I personally appreciate a great deal.

[Skillet Doux]

Believe me, jh, if I had advance screeners I'd have saved myself the embarrassment of putting Eve at number five last season.

Speaking of which, it was TGP who immediately told me I was smoking crack when it came to Eve last season. So if John's an early washout, I surrender, TGP. No more letting accolades get in the way of my gut.

[Anon Man]

Among my DC-foodie crowd, the Oval Room is known as "The Overrated Room".

But, you won me back with the "Tex Wasabi" critique. When I was younger, we used "Carlos Murphy's" as the reference for such culinary sludge.

[jordanhc]

Agree with Nichole, as a philadelphian I'll be rooting for Kevin all the way, although I didnt actually root for Jen last season. Culinary director for Garces from 2008-2009 says a lot, they opened Tinto and Distrito over that time which are both exceptionally good restaurants. Also dont overlook he was apointed EC at Georges earlier in his career by Georges Perrier. For those of you who may not know much about Philly thats a big deal as well.

[Wangus]

Hey Dom, we miss you out here in Baltimore! (Okay, so I'm in UVA now doing the whole med school thing, but it's still Baltimore in my heart).

For some Timothy Dean info from me: Went to the bistro twice, one for RW and one because we had gift cards. I get the same vibe you've been getting from other Baltimore food-guys. What it boils down to is that I didn't eat anything that made me emotional in either a good or bad way. Food was for the most part very competently prepared and the flavors and pairings, while not outdated, weren't clever or interesting. Nothing really drew me back and I'd much rather take my money to Jack's/Bicycle/etc (RIP Bicycle).

Did you ever go to VIN in towson while it was open? Because if so, TDB compared pretty much exactly to it. And that's not exactly praise-worthy.

Hope you and your family's doing well in AZ!
-Andrew

[Bart]

Hooray, they're back! :D

As a Jersey boy, through and through, Kevin is going to be my main man this year.

Unfortch, I don't have a car or else I'd make the hike to Hamilton (it's right outside Trenton, which is just on the other side of the Delaware and a bit north of Philadelphia). I live in Jersey City/Hoboken, so there's no easy way for me to get there. So much for scouting ahead of time!

Hopefully Kevin will show you the real Jersey, and not MTV's fabrication of the 'Jersey Shore' (need I remind folks that The Situation and Snooki aren't even from New Jersey?)

Also, I checked out that Miami New Times article... awkward. But then, aren't we all overly sensitive to perceived slights against our loved ones? I know I am. If nothing else, I hope Andrea comes out strong and proves her critics wrong.

Heck, I hope that's true of all of them, but somebody's got be the first to go. I'm officially excited about this season.

/Please, oh please, let there be a "cater to the President/Vice President/Michelle and her daughters" episode.

[Neil]

Love the rankings and love the blog Dom! It looks like there are no MG contestants this year. Post-Voltaggio backlash maybe? Also, I have Angelo as my favorite, along with Stephen. I don't know why, but he's got some impressive credentials, and they both kind of remind me of Michael from last year in the sense that they seem a little ballsy. Maybe not AS impressive skill wise, but the field does seem to be a little weaker up top this season, although deeper.

[Independent George]

As much as I enjoyed the level of last year's chefs, I agreed with the criticism that the show strayed from its roots. The show should be about highlighting young, rising chefs making a name for themselves rather than showcasing chefs who've already made it. Last season was great from a food pr0n perspective, but I think it was a bit too much. I'd rather have a deeper pool of less-established talent than watch Florida play Central Michigan.

[TGP]

Three things.

1. Last season was pretty easy to predict. The Voltaggios were just great chefs to begin with. Period. I'd known their food for four years before the season aired (although I am a chef too...).

2. Where they work is a much better indication than culinariy school will ever be. That's all I'm saying. I'll take a contestant with one year in a Michelin-star kitchen over a contestant from the CIA with a crappy resume anyday.

3. James Beard nominations don't mean anything, unless you're a finalist. Especially in that region of the country. Even the finalists can be questionable, since it's all based on industry nominations. Alex Young, from Zingerman's Roadhouse, always gets to be a finalist for that same region. The food there is quite mediocre, and completely overpriced. Yet every year for the last couple of years, he's a finalist. (not to say anything about Zingerman's deli, which I love).

[TGP]

P.S. I'm totally in agreement for the top 5 though, but maybe not in that order.

[Skillet Doux]

"1. Last season was pretty easy to predict. The Voltaggios were just great chefs to begin with. Period. I'd known their food for four years before the season aired (although I am a chef too...)."

True, but as somebody who isn't a chef (or connected to the industry in any way other than irritating hanger-on, really), I got the top four and only had a couple significantly out of place (though one of those was, admittedly, a doozy). You're right, it's not rocket science, but my point is cut me some slack, dude... I did okay last season!

"2. Where they work is a much better indication than culinariy school will ever be. That's all I'm saying. I'll take a contestant with one year in a Michelin-star kitchen over a contestant from the CIA with a crappy resume anyday."

100% agreed. And if there's a place where I took two otherwise similar chefs, one of whom was a CIA grad with a crappy resume and the other of whom was self-taught with a great resume, I'll happily admit that was a mistake. As I was careful to point out with Tamesha, the reason she's so low is because she's so incredibly green.

"3. James Beard nominations don't mean anything, unless you're a finalist. Especially in that region of the country. Even the finalists can be questionable, since it's all based on industry nominations."

I don't know that I agree with the absolutist stance that they don't mean anything, but I agree to a point, and if you read rather than simply looking at the number, you'll see I said as much myself. You could argue that I'm giving too much weight to those nominations, and you might be right. I just couldn't bring myself to drop the guy all the way to the bottom half based on that. I tried to give it a little bit of weight. If not for that, I've got him down around... oh, I don't know... maybe 12 or so.

[LaLaura]

It's almost time! I'm so glad you will blog this season as well. Skillet Doux and Top Chef go hand and hand around my house!

[jh]

If fans can get Betty White on SNL, and Leno's helping a campaign for Sig Hansen of Deadliest Catch to get on Dancing with the Stars, is there any way we can get Dominic Armato of Skillet Doux and Guybrush Threepwood fame, on Top Chef as a guest judge?

And can one just imagine the blog entry detailing the experience after that episode airs? Just how magical are those editing Elves...

[gilmore]

Thanks Dom (and the other posters). Your work is appreciated.

[Independent George]

I wonder if I'd actually prefer Dom to remain independent of Top Chef. While it might be nice to have 'our' man on the inside, that carries a lot of burdens and responsibilities with it which I'm not sure I'd like to see. I'd like to imagine Dom describing a TC meal with the same level of detail as his restaurant reviews, I'm not sure he'd be allowed to do so if he were on the inside.

An outsider's perspective can be incredibly valuable. What if we took up a PayPal collection to send Dom on an eating tour of Top Chef restaurants? First stop: Stephanie Izard's Girl and Goat in Chicago's west loop, (hopefully) opening in three weeks.

[Bart]

In case any of you are interested, Politico has a nice little sneak peek for this season's Top Chef:

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1006/top_chef_sneak_peek.html

It's spoiler free, although it does list a few of the upcoming guests and mentions a couple of the very early themes (within the first two episodes or so), so if you're a real stickler for not knowing that sort of thing, then bypass it :)

[paula]

I've been on the fence about watching TC this season at all, until I realized that I wouldn't be able to keep myself from reading Skillet Doux anyway. And if I didn't watch, I wouldn't be able to jump into the discussion. Can't have THAT. All hail Dom and his merry band of foodsters!

[matthew]

Hey Dom. Great to be back with you, and the gang, for another season. Carla and I are heading off to Spike's tonight to watch the first episode. It should be interesting. I'm not sure how much time Carla has spent looking through this season's lineup, but she will be giving impressions. I'll be sure to see if she can stop in with some comments. If not, I'll share her impressions along with mine.

[Skillet Doux]

Welcome back, Matthew!

Glad to hear from you again, and if you or Carla feel like sharing a little insight along the way, we'd certainly love to hear it :-)

[jackie]

jh: that would be awesome, but it would weird to hear Guybrush calling out the contestants on their mistakes!

[Wilma Flintstone]

I'm sure I'm going to regret this trivial "correction" on a blog about serious food, and I realize, Dom, that you were only quoting someone else, but for the sake of accuracy.....Spaghettios is not Chef Boyardee (which makes the oh-so-yummy Beefaroni); the little round Os in tomatoey sauce is a product of Franco American.

I've used a false name for obvious reasons.

p.s. Dom, thanks so much for this site. I love reading your posts.

[dach]

Hey everyone. Back for another season of sd's quality insights and conversation about TC.

Thanks Don for once again creating such quality informative pre-season rankings, so we know who and what to watch out for. I always find it difficult to get emotionally in to the first couple of episodes of these season long competition shows, because of the large number of random seeming strangers thrown at me. Your list helps out a lot.

Ahh... bottom 3 are the 3 cute girls. Well, maybe one or more will pleasantly surprise and be a deserving MOPer.

I'm looking forward to see either Brian Vol guest judge... or some challenge involving BV's Volt restaurant.

Go TC DC!!!

[Skillet Doux]

Wilma... never been so pleased to have been wrong :-)

Dach... if one of those three is a sleeper, it's Amanda. There are two picks I'm nervous about embarrassing me, and that's one of them.

[Kristin]

I live just up the block from Xie Xie and it's mighty tasty and I'm a huuuuuge fan. Of course, I might just be enamored because we're right off Times Square and most of the food in the area is sub-par tourist fare. This is our first Asian sandwich shop in the neighborhood, while trendier areas like the east and west villages have Baoguettes on almost every corner.