Top Chef - S7E1 Power Rankings

Well, heck, I thought that was a pretty good start to the season.

Starting off with a prep challenge is becoming tradition at this point, but I have to say, I thought the way they structured it this time around was particularly elegant. A multi-stage knockout guaranteed that only the strongest prep beasts would get the chance to cook for the win, and the manner in which they then used those results to form teams for the elimination was great, and I particularly loved the use of the 17th contestant. Last man standing is, in theory, the biggest perceived threat of those who didn't make it to the cooking phase. Let the winner decide where he goes.

The elimination, too, was perfect as a simple get to know you challenge, even if we didn't actually get to know everybody. It's always frustrating for the first few episodes when there are a few contestants about whom you hear absolutely nothing, and many more about whom you hear very little. And the show's edited pretty tightly. Barring additional time, I'm not sure where you get the few more minutes you'd need to give us more info about some of the dishes. But we at least got to SEE everything, and this is a marked improvement over some previous seasons. So I'm finding it difficult to complain.

Which is why i'm a little surprised to see that there are people so down on season seven already. To those people, I'd like to point out that at this point last season, Ron Duprat had more top elimination finishes than both of the Voltaggi put together. Point simply being, it's early, folks... let's give this a little time before jumping to conclusions.

And now I'm going to jump to some conclusions.

As in previous seasons, there's so little to go on at this point, the rankings are all over the map and probably will be for another episode or two. Until we have a little more data, I'm just kind of slinging people around. And there are a few moves that might look rather surprising except for one important note in Tom's blog. He stated that there was one group of four -- he didn't identify which -- that was uniformly strong. So much so, in fact, that he said they all could have been in contention not only for their group, but for the entire challenge. The question, of course, is which group? Certainly not John or Jacqueline's groups. Which would leave Kenny/Stephen's group or Alex/Timothy's group. This also means that either Timothy's or Stephen's dish wasn't as bad as the edit would have led you to believe. Stephen's group was five rather than four, and I might consider that Tom had simply forgotten one of those groups had an extra contestant, except that the five person group also included Tracey and Ed, both of whom received some on-air criticism. So I think that group has to be Alex/Timothy/Andrea/Tamesha. And that's why you'll see some of them where they are.

Okay, let's do this... on with the rankings!

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

Wins

Top

Bottom

1 Angelo Quickfires 1 1 0 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 1 1 0 Second-easiest call in the field (the first-easiest was... um... made for me). Win the first two challenges, take the top spot. For his QF, it sounds like Angelo pulled a lot of flavor out of a very simple recipe. The chicken was seasoned with cumin and salt and sautéed. The potatoes were julienned and simmered in vegetable stock with butter. And the jam was onion with curry, sugar and rice vinegar. There's really not much there, but he made a compelling dish out of it, and that says quite a bit. The char wasn't quite as simple from a construction standpoint, but it looks very uncomplicated in terms of flavor. The shallots are pickled with a little vinegar, sugar and ginger. The tapioca is spiced with Kashmir chiles, chipotle chiles and smoked paprika. And the foam is basically just chicken stock that's been simmered with bacon, garlic and thyme before being strained and hit with lecithin. The flavors aren't complicated, but he's doing a lot to bring them out, and they apparently work great together. Sounds an awful lot like his mentor. Only one thing that bugs me about Angelo, though it has to be nothing. Supposedly, he earned a Michelin star running a restaurant in the West Village. As far as I can tell, Yumcha is the only place he's run that's been in the West Village. And I sure can't find where Yumcha was awarded a Michelin star. Yumcha folded pretty quickly (after Angelo had a falling out with ownership and he and the entire line walked out in the middle of service, apparently)... did it do so after the star was awarded but before the book went to press? Or are the online listings omitting Yumcha because it had closed by then? Anybody have a copy of the 2005 or 2006 NYC Michelin guide who can shed a little light on this?

2 Kenny Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 13 Eliminations 0 1 0 Unlike Ron last season, Kenny sure doesn't give the impression that he just happened to start off with an unusually good week. Dude dominated the prep table and put out two interesting and well-received dishes. I'm not quite sure how adding paprika and dill to five-spice powder makes it Moroccan, but hey, the duo of chicken with Moroccan spice went over pretty well. Add a simple onion confit, blend some potato, onion, chicken stock and olive oil to make a coulis, make a little ragout with fiddlehead ferns, dried cherries, pumpkin seeds and honey and voila... a Moroccan-esque near-winner. His elimination dish was even busier. 41 ingredients has to be a Top Chef recipe record (and that's after removing duplicates from separate sections), and it explains why he's so fast at the prep table. He has to be. First you lay down a mole made with black beans, chorizo, pumpkin seeds, chocolate and a horde of chiles and spices. Then a polenta enriched with goat cheese. The trout that's cooked with butter, cilantro and lime, but not before being rubbed with coffee, cinnamon and a bunch of other spices. You make a vinaigrette with chorizo, agave, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, orange and cherry vinegar, you bake up some garlic tuiles, you add a dollop of tomatillo relish that's made with onions, bell peppers, cilantro, agave, lime and chile powder, and top it all off with some quinoa that you cooked and then fried up crispy. No sweat, right? Gail's first impression wasn't unreasonable. That dish looks like it needs some serious editing. But surprise, it worked. And Kenny's in the second slot.

3 Kevin Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 0 1 0 Third spot goes to Kevin. Tom dinged him for a salty broth in the QF, but he was still on top of both challenges and appeared to have redeemed himself with the elimination. And that QF dish didn't look too bad, even if it didn't quite hit. Very conventional flavors -- chicken, onion, potato, garlic, lemon, tomato, mushroom -- but he simmered the chicken wings, then deboned and sautéed them before serving up with the resulting broth. Simple little twist that might've worked, but I'm betting having (and I'm speculating here) Swanson chicken broth rather than chicken stock to work with bit him in the ass. Get used to it, Kevin. It isn't the last consumer product you'll have to use. His elimination dish was also very simple, but the flavors look a lot more compelling to me. Simply cooked lamb, drizzled with a natural jus bolstered with veal stock, and paired with a Meyer lemon and pistachio marmalade with a little slivered spring onions on top. Kevin looks like he'll be around for a while.

4 Alex Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 11 Eliminations 0 1 0 Alex rounds out the top group and is the other big mover. Unlike the three above him, I don't feel entirely confident that he'll maintain this level, but he was on the top of the elimination and missed being on top of the quickfire by a few seconds, so he'll join the early leaders. The flavors of his deconstructed beet borscht are very, very straightforward. Essentially, it's very simply braised short ribs, a roasted beet puree, some wilted cabbage with a little cherry vinegar and crème fraîche whipped up with some goat cheese. But in deconstructing it, the reimagined soup took another proven form, that of the braised short rib with pureed sauce and soft vegetable. Small wonder it worked, and a simple, smart play on Alex's part.

5 Kelly Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 0 0 0 Kelly may have washed out of the first round of the prep race, but I'm reluctant to read too much into an inaugural challenge that required steady hands and had the additional gravity of a $20,000 prize. No doubt some were suffering from opening day jitters. I have Kelly on top of the second tier for garnering some very positive comments, including a blog shout-out from Gail, having the unfortunate luck of being in Angelo's group, and a recipe that looks good to me. Her NY strip was rubbed with fennel pollen and juniper berries, plated with mushrooms, asparagus and fiddlehead ferns, and sauced with a currant-infused port reduction and "Kelly Liken Currant-Lavender Sauce" which makes it sound like she brought her own line of bottled sauces with her. Either that, or she just really likes to use her name which, given the eponymous restaurant, may be the case.

6 Andrea Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 0 0 0 I have Andrea right behind Kelly because she was in Tom's favorite group, her dish seemed to go over rather well, and she also put out a recipe that looks interesting. She makes sautéed potato gnocchi kicked up with ground chorizo, serves them with pork shoulder slow-braised in the usual suspects plus New Mexican chiles and orange juice, and tops it with a little gremolata, sautéed spinach and mushrooms, pan-roasted squash and manchego. There's a little fun in there. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

7 Arnold Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 10 Eliminations 0 0 0 It might be a little unfair to put Arnold behind Andrea given that Gail fawned over his dish in her blog, but I feel like I just can't give a dessert as much weight this early. Not because it's any less difficult, but just because it's different, and the exception rather than the norm. That said, this looked like a nice cake, made with kaffir lime and basil, served with a bourbon ginger snap and topped with a coconut crème anglaise and a gelatinous concoction of cardamom, lemon juice and basil seeds. Oh, and the whole thing was paired with a lemongrass "Myint" julep (*groan*), so he already has a leg up on the inevitable booze challenge.

8 Tamesha Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 14 Eliminations 0 0 0 Yeah, I know, this one doesn't make any damn sense. But she made the second-to-last round of the prep race, she was in the group of death, and Timothy, who's at number 9 for reasons I'll get into at the moment (and which also probably don't make any damn sense), lost out to her in his group, so I feel compelled to put her higher. Her recipe doesn't look all that exciting, but let's remember that this was part of the "any one of the dishes in that group could have won the whole challenge" group. Essentially, she made a jerked chicken meatball with polenta, a tamarind sauce and a tropical fruit slaw. But it apparently earned Tom's admiration, so here she is.

9 Timothy Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 8 Eliminations 0 0 1 Yes, I know, somebody who was on the chopping block and who took criticism for both of his dishes is at the midpoint of the field. Did I mention that this doesn't make any damn sense? I'm basically punting on Timothy because he has both good and bad notes for this episode. On the good side, he made the final round of the quickfire, and he's in the group (I'm pretty sure) Tom identified as providing four dishes all of which could have potentially won the whole challenge. On the bad side, his garlic roasted chicken with potato galette, fennel, cherries, ras el hanout and oyster mushrooms had too much cream, and those comments at JT sure didn't SOUND like those that would be applied to a dish that "could have won the whole challenge." But here's my line of thinking. Tom says outright that all four of the QF finalists cooked "adeptly," and Gail stated in her blog that Tim's elimination dish "could have been a winner if only he had paid attention to a few crucial details." So my hunch is that Timothy got a bit of a misleading edit, and that the bottom of his group is still worthy of the middle of the pack. Exactly. 'Sides which, most of the people below him are there not because they showed poorly, but because they didn't show at all. Seems odd to move them up for the grand achievement of appearing on the show. I say we need another week to figure out what's up with Timothy.

10 Ed Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 1 Eliminations 0 0 0 Ed's at the top of the bottom half, basically because I'm not going to bust the preseason number one down any further for two seconds of vague discontent from Tom and a partygoer saying that the cod didn't work for him. Ed made what basically looks like a more refined version of a Baltimore coddie, served with baked beans, shaved fennel and a mustard aioli. Tom's complaint was that there wasn't enough cod, but all the coddies I had in Baltimore were mostly potato, and they worked just fine for me. So I'm going to put the best possible interpretation on this and guess that Ed was shooting for a sort of traditional form that just didn't sit well with Tom. And he just didn't seem all THAT annoyed to begin with, so we'll stick with number ten for now.

11 Amanda Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 16 Eliminations 0 0 0 Amanda, somehow I doubt Tom Colicchio and Eric Ripert were impressed by the California culinary history lesson. But that said, it was at least an interesting-looking recipe that garnered minor criticism. She dusted clementines with sencha, made a daikon-caraway gelée, pickled some cucumbers and put all three on top of raw snapper. So, uh... yeah, we'll see what she does next week.

12 Lynne Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 15 Eliminations 0 0 0 Lynne is one of two contestants about whom we essentially learned nothing. Zero feedback on her dish. We know it was better than Stephen's and worse than Kenny's. Which also doesn't help. Recipe looks neat, though. Another dessert, she made waffles with corn-camembert ice cream, bacon praline, bourbon apple butter, maple-cardamom syrup, caramel syrup and acorn squash jam. And hey, she made the second-to-last tier of the prep race. So I suppose I should probably put her higher than two or three of the folks above who received negative comments. But I can't bring myself to move her based on nothing but her recipe. She'll have to just hang out in the nebulous portion of the bottom half this week.

13 Tiffany Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 12 Eliminations 0 0 0 Ditto Tiffany, who is in the exact same boat as Lynne, better than John, not as good as Angelo, zero feedback. Not much to go on. Her not much, however, was a cajun shrimp and crawfish salad with ravigote sauce (that'd be of the mayonnaise-based New Orleans style variety rather than the traditional French variety), fried tomatillos and a bacon vinaigrette. She flew completely under the radar and her recipe didn't look quite as interesting to me as Lynne's, so she's essentially 12a.

14 Tracey Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 9 Eliminations 0 0 0 I don't really have anything more to go on with Tracey than I do with the others, but there's one thing that bothers me. Tom seemed significantly underwhelmed with her dish for the three-quarters of a second we saw him talking about it. Problem is, the grits with maple cheddar and rock shrimp looks like it's Tracey's de facto signature dish. I found multiple writeups that all called it out as a favorite. So if Tom just grimaced at what may have been her best shot, she's toast.

15 Stephen Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 0 0 1 Stephen had a rough couple of days. First round washout in the QF. Chopping block in the elimination. Scathing words from Tom and a chicken nugget comparison from Ripert. Plus, the guy's already sporting an episode nine strung-out look, and we're only two days in. It occurs to me that Stephen just left 14-month-old twins at home. I'm trying to decide whether this means he's already done and will be a quivering mass of goo by episode three, or if he'll follow the opposite trajectory of the typical Top Chef contestant and actually get more rested as the season wears on. Either way, he's not looking so hot right now. UPDATE: I neglected to mention that I'm betting Stephen will bounce back. I don't imagine you become a Tourondel hit man without some serious skill. But you can't lead off the season like that and not be near the bottom of the pile.

16 Jacqueline Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 17 Eliminations 0 0 1 He's looking better than Jacqueline, though! Damn... so close to nailing the first exit three seasons in a row. Jacqueline sure didn't make a good showing for herself. Though I call shenanigans on the recipe. A quarter pound of butter for a pound of liver is not "almost no fat." The recipe she couldn't remember on the show? I suspect that's the one I'm looking at. What's more, the recipe says it's a duo of mousses, and Tom says in the extended judges' table video that she screwed up both of them, but I don't see two in the recipe. In that same video, Ripert talks about how he considered Jacqueline and John for elimination and settled on John. Good enough for me, even if I didn't already think so myself. Jacqueline now inhabits the basement.

17 John Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 17 Eliminations 0 0 1 Cripes, John, at least Eve had the courtesy to stick around for an episode before washing out. And she didn't describe elements of her dishes as "just an instrument to bring the mousse to your mouth." And she didn't use three prepared items in her very first dish (the puff pastry, canned mango in syrup and a third item not identified but referenced in the extended JT video). Basically, it's clear that John screwed everything up. Everything. Even the stuff that was premade. Can the dude actually cook some good food? Who knows. He put bad mousse and bad sauce on frozen puff pastry. And I agree with some of the comments that there's nothing inherently wrong with frozen puff pastry. But your very first dish, when it comprises such a substantial portion of what's on your plate? Bad, bad call. We know he had some oven issues, but it's still amazing -- particularly looking at the recipes -- when you compare what John did with his time as compared to what some of the other chefs did with theirs. The goal was to introduce yourself and where you come from. John said he doesn't do pastry, and the judges couldn't taste the maple in the dish. With Jacqueline, at least they could look at her dish and see a (mostly) good idea, poorly executed. John gave them absolutely nothing to put forth as a point in his favor. He seems like a swell (if odd) fellow, but eliminations don't get much more deserving than this.

So there it is. Consider these the knee-jerk reactions they are until we get a little more data.

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE TWO SPOILERS AHEAD

Sadly, it doesn't look like that data is coming this week. I'm already gearing up to hate episode two. The quickfire is a really lame variant on cooking with one arm tied behind your back (also lame), and the elimination is a grammar school cafeteria challenge. So it looks like we might not learn much about the contestants other than which are going to be ultracompetitive bastards and which of them hate kids. But Kelly runs a food program for schoolchildren, so consider her the favorite.

Discuss!

Comments

[gilmore]

Nice job as usual. I will focus on the bottom and think you have nailed it.

Who, knowing they are going to be on Top Chef, needs a recipe?!?!?!?

The only spoilers this season are the politicians who will be soiling the screen.

Maybe this week is the Obama healthy eating challenge. Soil away.

[Sam]

Love the power rankings!

Is anyone watching the unintentioanlly-hilarious Next Food Network Star? A train wreck that I can't turn away from! I would love to see clever episode recaps for it.

And, shudder, both Waxman and Susan F turn up in next weeks Star episode! Perhaps they share a publicist.

[1000yregg]

Checked my 2006 NYC Michelin book- no listing for Yumcha.

[Skoolie]

Pretty close to what I had for the power listings however I had tracey at 15 and stephen at 14 because I feel like tracey is giving it all she's got, and stephen just hasn't gone full speed.

I'm worried for Alex, The borscht looked really good, but can he continually pull off that quality of food to keep up? That was obviously a dish he has known his whole life, and has been cooking for a long time. Perfect for the challenge but can he rise to other challenges that may not be as easy for him?

[dach]

Stephen, drop from preseason #2 to #15. Ouch! Got to be a record drop.

I'm looking forward to explanation as to what happened week 1, whereever he ends up in the competition.

[Bart]

Looks good, Dom! Can't really argue with any of your rankings, particularly those towards the middle/bottom of the pack. As you've noted, we've simply not seen enough of these players yet.

There's the possibility that a few of them might climb through the ranks quickly, but if the first episode is any indication, the top trio of Angelo, Kenny and Kevin are here to say. Last season we had the Four Horsemen.

We need a catchy nickname for the top three. Maybe we should acronymize them: KAK?

Of course, if Alex continues to be a strong contender, it can be expanded to say KAKA. Just throwing that out there.

[skoollie]

lol at kaka. Angelo is much too arogant I would predict that he faulters on a challenge and that its either going to humble him or send him into a downward spiral.

If Timothy was indeed the one who had the toughest group then I don't think we've seen the last of him. I also believe the Kelly Liken is still a contender she just hasn't had a chance to shine yet.

[nomnomnom]

Holy kneejerks batman.

I think you have the men mostly sorted out, but the other side is a mess. If you are for the most part throwing out preseason and going off E1 Leah v2.0 is much too low.

Really I think knowing what we know now Tiffany and Leah2 are the 1a1b females to beat. The Vail chef looks ready to implode just like Stephen, and Tamesha's was so great they chose to spend 0.00 seconds on it. That's never a good sign (and often an early season elves setup for failure).

And yes, this is basing thing heavily off the previews as well as editing tendencies. Andrea is a wild card. I can see a case being made for her winning that side this episode.

[Kurt]

So apparently Arnold does drag acts in his spare time...
http://www.youtube.com/user/arnoldmyint

[Babs]

Did I hear Padma correctly during the judges' introductions that Gail is getting ready to host a dessert competition show? If so, a show like that could be good considering how many problems desserts seem to present in all seasons (and in this first episode).

[Daniel]

In terms of Tracey, I remember Tom's complaint was that the shrimp had no flavor, and thinking at the time that maybe her error was something as simple as forgetting to brine them?

Of course, even if that's true, it doesn't necessarily help her - on the one hand, simple mistake with an easy fix. On the other hand, critical mistake for this early in the season.

In terms of Arnold, his performance and look in that video seem to be pretty polished. Hopefully he'll be able to bring that level of execution to his food.

Overall, I think it's a good thing that there isn't a group of obvious elite in this competition. Will make the mid-season more interesting.

[Skillet Doux]

"If you are for the most part throwing out preseason and going off E1 Leah v2.0 is much too low."

Really? You think so? A cut hand in the quickfire, and the sole feedback for her dish being a complaint from Gail that the fish was crudely cut and a snide comment from Tom about how Puck would have seasoned it better merits putting her in the top half (which she's only two spots away from)? We know her food is interesting. We don't know if it's good yet.

And Tiffany? One of the females to beat? Huh? One of the few chefs for whom we've heard precisely zero criticism of her food, positive or negative?

Tamesha's up where she is for one reason and one reason only. Tom indirectly stated -- presuming I've identified the correct group -- that her dish could have been in contention to win the challenge if she'd managed to get out of her group. Which is more than the nothing we've heard about Tiffany and the mild negative we've heard about Amanda.

Don't get me wrong, I think both Tiffany and Amanda have big upward potential. But right now, you'd put them high based on... what? Good looks? Talking a big game? Identifying neo-classical California cuisine?

Plus I'm mystified that you're so down on Kelly. She and Andrea are the only two women who actually received praise for her dish. If that's what she does when she looks like she's ready to implode, I'm anxious to see what she does once she's settled down a bit.

Which is a lengthy way of saying I disagree :-)

[Skoolie]

I'm agreeing with Dom, while the girls haven't been strong enough to land themselves in the top 3 yet, its just the first episode and Kelly and Andrea did earn praise which is better than negatives or a non mention.

I toyed with putting Kelly as number 4 but since she didn't give me a reason to I put her 5th as well.

I think in the upcoming episodes she is going to show us she deserves to be in the top pack. She's been in high pressure situations like iron chef and lets face it, she is pretty damn good.

And who knows who the dark horse is going to be, it's still to early to tell.

and I always wonder when they have challenges like this, if it was a single challenge who would be the top 4 and the bottom 4 because I doubt we'd have the same results but I bet we'd have the same outcome.

[Anon Man]

This star-gate thing may only kind of bother you, but it REALLY bothers me. We have the 2006 guide, no dice. If anyone can prove he's full of crap (and he very well might not be), then I personally think he should be DQ'd. Let's have a little integrity. I don't care how good his food is; the producers can still have some personal conduct standards.

[jh]

I've looked around on the internet for NYC Michelin star restaurants, and have found no mention of Yumcha.

http://gonyc.about.com/b/2005/11/01/michelin-ratings-in-new-york.htm

http://www.bankersball.com/2006/10/26/michelin-star-rated-nyc-restaurants/

Not sure if this will help the investigation at all, but Angelo Sosa has a website (www.angelososa.com). Taking only what I know about him from the first episode, he appears to be an arrogant name dropper, so if he has earned a Michelin star, I am surprised that his bio has no mention of receiving a Michelin Star.

Bart, I suggest waiting on KAKA. Afterall, he is sitting out the next match...

[Daniel]

That website makes me want to claw my own eyes out...but I know that wouldn't erase those awful memories. I will spend the rest of this season doing my best enjoy his food while erasing the cloying memory. Thanks, JH.

I don't know...the sad truth is that becoming a 'name' in the culinary fields seems to depend far more on self-promotion and schmoozing than it does on actual talent in the kitchen. So far, he certainly seems to have the latter, so even though it might be nauseating, it's hard to fault him on working the formers.

[rab01]

I have this weird feeling that Angelo wasn't talking about one of "his" restaurants but one where he worked maybe as a senior sous chef. I think his phrasing was something like "we earned a Michelin Star serving asian food, which isn't easy, so I'm comfortable with asian flavors ..." If so, I tihnk he was talking about one of Jean George's restaurants.

[nomnomnom]

Big response. Wow.

Well here's my logic.

The way you have it:

Kelly
Angela
Tamesha
Leah2
Tiffany

I think this focuses far too much on their single episode performance at this point. None of the 5 was particularly distinguished, or horrible to hit the board in either challenge. To shake up them based on 10-20 words of critique, and in doing so setting aside their resume is a little rash.

Kelly has been tipped as low energy, and emotional. Both of which don't play well long term. This is enough for me to place her below 10th. And I am really beginning to buy into the "It's not what you cook, but where you cook" mantra. (Note: Not forgetting Hosea here). I can already see she doesn't have the stomach for this fight.

Andrea is a total mystery, but there is nothing at all to suggest an early exit at this point.

Tamesha didn't even warrant screen time, right? Not even more than an introduction? This is a bad sign. Usually that means they are setting up a feature on her early. That's never good. Her resume still reads as bad as it did last week, and the recipe for the jerk meatball seems
super safe to me.

Leah2 let fly a softball to Tom, or otherwise she'd have been anonymous. You never give Tom a comment like "This is my improvement on (Big time chef X)" and expect him not to send it to the bleachers. I think her resume reads well enough to be able to scam enough stuff of prior menus. I'm calling her to the top 3 by mid season. Bank it. She played it safe E1 and I can actually foresee her being a threat to win this thing now.

Tiffany is more a hunch. Her restaurant in Dallas wasn't exactly met with glowing reviews by my wife and friend, but I get the feeling she has the energy and enough to sway Eric one way or the other. And another thing to note is that in a timed contest having fish as your specialty has always helped people. It's just quicker to prep and cook. You can coast 5 episodes easy that way.

The rest of the women look to be early season fodder.

So I have order of finish right now as:

Leah2
Angela
Tiffany
Tamesha
Kelly
others

Incidentally Tom is hosting a dinner at Craft in Dallas Thursday. If afforded the opportunity I'm going to pass him a card with this website if he wasn't already aware (I think he probably is).

[Anon Man]

@rab01, so he's talking about Vong then? I think that has one star. But, I'm not sure he worked there from his bio.

[Bart]

nomnomnom - Not to interrupt your conversation with Dom, but I definitely remember Tamesha getting an invitation. If I recall correctly, she's the one who shouts "Obama city!" in the very beginning (among other things).

[kit]

Re: Angelo & the Michelin star

For some reason I'm completely intrigued by this Michelin star mystery. I tried to find an online listing of the 2005 Michelin star recipients (the episode labels him a "2005 Michelin Star Recipient"):

http://gonyc.about.com/b/2005/11/01/michelin-ratings-in-new-york.htm

I don't know anything about NYC neighborhoods, but I noticed Annisa has a star and is located in the West Village, Annisa being Anita Lo's restaurant. Anyone else have any ideas?

[TxGriff]

@Bart

Tiffany was the one who yelled "Obama City", although she wasn't seen much after that. She and Tamesha both made it to the second to last round of prep though.

[jh]

The Michelin star mystery continues.

According to the website's mission, "ChefDb is an ongoing project aimed at documenting and promoting the work history of chefs and restaurateurs from around the world." (Someone should double check how good/updated the website is).

This is Angelo's page:

http://www.chefdb.com/nm/3774/

The only restaurant listed there that has earned Michelin star is Jean-Georges (3 stars), where Angelo was the executive sous chef.

Feel free to correct/add if I've missed something.

[rab01]

I checked some of Angelo's profiles from before he appeared on Top Chef and none of them mention him getting a Michelin star as an executive chef. The articles that call him a Michelin-starred chef seem to be regurgitations of a recap-article from the first episode. I don't think he was talking about Yumcha and I don't think he meant to take sole credit for a Michelin Star. I don't know which part of Jean-George's empire he was talking about (or whether it was one of the other high-flying chefs for whom he has worked) but I also don't think he has been resume padding or we'd have seen it in the older New York magazine articles and the like.

[Independent George]

No disrespect intended, but between Eve last year, and John this year... what is up with Michigan?

[KinderJ]

Look, Michigan is just going through some stuff right now, ok? It just had a huuuuuge fight with it's girlfriend, it's dog needs worming tablets, the cable is on the fritz- its just just not a good time right now, ok? Sometimes Michigan just wants to have an oven-ready pastry, drink a beer and chill. Michigan does not need your drama. Michigan has it's own drama. Why does everyone want to see Michigan cry? Michigan wont cry. It's strong. So strong. So strong.

[Independent George]

Why does everyone want to see Michigan cry? Michigan wont cry. It's strong. So strong. So strong.

Ok, now I'm crying!

Also: Michigan went 1-7 in the Big Ten last year.

[KarenF]

Maybe Michigan has been poaching chefs from West Virginia. Karma. It's all about Karma.

[Anon Man]

So, JH, the only restaurant with a star is French, not Asian. So, I'm still left with the conclusion that his comments were full of crap. But, in retrospect, if he only lied/misled his fellow-competitors, then I say that's ballsy gamesmanship. Since they are cut off from the outside world, no one can call him on it. If he told the same tale to get on the show, then I still think he should be booted.

[paula]

KinderJ: Ha!

But speaking of sad Midwestern states, my poor home state of Ohio didn't come off too well, either. "Since everyone in Ohio's favorite dish is meat 'n pertaters, here's a steak McNugget. Now, 'scuse me while I set a spell and whittle this here stick."

[scythide]

Really like that Michael V is doing winning recipes this year. Much better presentation than Fabio, and I like that he doesn't shy from the non-traditional techniques. http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/top-recipe?__source=hp_topfivelist_4&cid=tab2

[KinderJ]

Paula-

Be fair. Ohio has produced more Astronauts than any other state, and is still home to Neal Armstrong. My dad drove through his home town a couple of weeks ago, cannot seem to recall the name. But hey- since there is a NASA episode, odds are good there will be Buckeyes in a positive light!

[KinderJ]

Independent George-

The odd thing is, I bet that a bunch of the tailgaters for those games would have, at the least, survived this challenge. I have had some seriously good food hanging around in the parking lot at the football stadium in Madison, waiting for the kick off. I bet the guys from Michigan would want to at least win that fight.

[dach]

scythide:

That Angelo EC recipe was pretty crazy. Techniques/tricks I will never try. And his fish was sashimi. I never noticed Whole Food sold sashimi grade fish. It must be expensive, and taken up his whole budget. OTOH, Whole Food does have fresh sushi stand, so they must have sashimi grade fish.

Next time I'm in WF I need to check out how much that fish Angelo used goes for. No way I'm doing his recipe. Maybe I'll try it with wasabi, ginger, sweet soy, make some sushi rice. Mmmmm...

[JJH2]

scythide,

Thanks for posting that! I can't stand Fabio and the one winning dish video I saw him in was awful. Michael V. is great! He seems a little nervous, but he's so knowledgeable about food and MG that he knows exactly why everything is being done and has no problem conveying that information to the audience. I actually learned a lot about the dish.