Top Chef - S8E1 Power Rankings

To reiterate my feelings from last week's postmortem:

Woot.

I'm already loving season eight. And I'm sure the elves will do plenty to make me grumpy before it's up (can't please everybody all the time), but really, could you have asked for a better start to an all-star season? While the discovery of new faces is always a fun part of the start of any Top Chef season, there's something to be said for hitting the ground running. We know these people. We've spent hours watching and (some of us) obsessing about these people. So there's no need to build to a crescendo. We have a nice mezzoforte going right out of the gate, and it's exciting stuff.

Even setting aside the small sample, I'm not sure the QF settles any debates about which season was the strongest. Not to take anything away from Jen, but a season six team without Pork Jesus or I Voltaggi is hardly representative of the best they had to offer. That said, it's an appropriate and fun start.

The elimination challenge really was brilliant, though. Even setting aside that it's a great test of their ability to see their mistakes, learn from them and edit their dishes, there's a lot of poetry going on here as well. It's easy for us to simply call it a neat idea, and I don't want to oversell the drama of it, but while I'm sure some of these chefs have been able to move on, there are some who saw their little slip-ups at the finish line as the difference between relative obscurity and victory and fame. And they've no doubt been obsessing over what they did wrong ever since. There's some serious demon-facing going on here. Some have suggested that this challenge wasn't really an even playing field, and that's true. Some chefs were dealt a particularly bad hand. But it's also true that that goes both ways, as I suspect it did with Spike... but we'll get to that in a bit. I have to believe the surprise over the judging broadcast in the kitchen was an editing construct. The chefs couldn't really not have seen that coming, could they? On the other hand, I'm still shocked when somebody turns up without a few good dessert recipes in their back pocket, so maybe a few of them really were caught flat-footed. It's something of a transparent attempt to sow the seeds of conflict, but at least it was tangentially appropriate to one of the challenge's themes -- take criticism. The only thing I found odd about the challenge was how freaking LONG they had to cook. Five hours? Really? Not complaining, I like getting people's best shot. But it's almost like they're trying to lull them into a false sense of security. No wonder Dale T. had time to make muffins.

I'm already loving, loving, loving Bourdain. I know he rubs some people the wrong way, but for me there's a difference between him and Toby Young. A few differences, actually. The first of which is that Bourdain is actually funny. If you can't laugh at his blog post this week, you need help. But more than that, there's something genuine about his rants. Yes, they're hyperbolic and savage and chock full of snark. But when he abuses Fabio's dish, one gets the sense that it isn't because he's been sitting there waiting for his opportunity to belittle somebody, but rather because simple constructive criticism can't possibly express how offended he is by a crime against pasta. At least that's how it comes across to me, and it resonates with me. Of course, to each his own. But I sincerely hope he isn't cowed by Fabio's response in the first elimination.

Really, there's only one thing that's troubling me so far -- a lot, actually -- though it's unlikely to be of any great consequence to anybody other than... well... me. A disturbing trend that started last season seems to have carried over and intensified this season. Less than half of the episode's recipes are posted online, and those that are present are poorly edited and seemingly incomplete. For me, this is a Total Nightmare. So much of my opinions of the contestants are based on my reading of their recipes. It's not a substitute for tasting, but there's a lot I can put together in my head by reading about their flavor combinations and techniques. And for half the field, it's not there this week. I feel like I'm doing this blindfolded. The recipes have always been my unedited look at the food, one that isn't subject to the elves' tricks. Mike Isabella said there was a weird kimchee-like marinade to Tiffani's fish. Was he right? Did he identify flavors correctly? Is it a flavor combination that I know works for me? No idea. A couple of other contestants didn't like Dale L.'s dumplings. But we never saw what the judges thought. And now I have no idea how he made them. Marcel put together a crazy-looking concoction of uni, caviar, Meyer lemon, fennel and olive. He's crazy technique-intensive, but was this smart MG or over-the-top MG? No idea. I'm still hoping this is just because it's the first episode and maybe it's tough to wrangle recipes out of everybody in the craziness of the first couple of days. But if this is the new norm, my most cherished Power Rankings tool has been completely crippled. And that really, really sucks. Elves, Bravo, if you guys are listening... somebody cares. A lot.

So while I feel like I'm kind of just chucking darts at the wall for anybody who didn't make an appearance at Judges' Table, here are the E1 Power 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 0 0 1 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 1 1 0 Be within striking distance in the preseason rankings, win the first elimination challenge, and I figure that earns you the top spot, at least for the moment. His QF with Tiffany apparently had a salt issue, which'll put you in the bottom in a hurry, but we don't really know who was responsible for what components. Of course, as half the team, he should have been tasting and commenting even if the broth wasn't his responsibility. And he, uh, certainly hasn't hesitated to do so before, even when it wasn't welcome. On the elimination dish, however, he reworked one of his finale dishes, hand cut ramen with braised pork belly, pickled mushrooms and watermelon. Last season, the watermelon was a big focus of the dish. The "broth" for the ramen, so to speak. This time around, it's a bit of sweetened watermelon foam working more as an accent than a core part of the dish. Incidentally, from reading around, it appears that Angelo had little more than a couple of weeks off between seasons seven and eight. You could read that to mean he'll be sharp because he's already going full bore, or you could read that to mean that he'll be tired, coming off season seven and his Singapore illness. Remains to be seen.

2 Richard Quickfires 1 1 0 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 0 1 0 Richard might have almost kicked off S8 with a double win. It hasn't been made clear, at least anywhere I could find, whether his dish would have been the winner had he not been disqualified. On the other hand, without those last-moment touches, perhaps he never would have even made Judges' Table. We can't say for sure. Which is precisely why disqualifying him from the win was the simple and correct answer. Tom mentions in his blog that once Richard was shown the tape, he understood the decision. So the guy makes mustard ice cream work, and then revamps his ill-fated finale pork belly and earns top mention. There's a recipe, but again, detail is lacking. There's mention at the table of the pork's crispy coating, but all the recipe instructs is to pressure cook it with lemongrass, Worcestershire, ginger and mirin. Clearly, we're missing something here. There are also radishes pickled with sugar, cider vinegar, ginger and coriander, and there's a cheddar and mirin foam. Gelatin figures in somewhere, but it's unclear how. Is my frustration showing, here? In any case, it sounds like a winner. Except for that whole plating past the buzzer thing. Slightly off-topic, I must confess that I'm puzzled by the amount of bile I've seen directed towards Richard this week for his comment about people remembering S4 for him choking. I kinda figured that we know enough about the elves' editing and he's built up enough goodwill that he'd get the benefit of the doubt on one out of context line like that, but... well, okay.

3 Tiffani Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 1 Eliminations 0 0 0 Tiffani didn't do much this week other than use too much raw garlic in her QF, apparently. Or maybe that was Stephen's fault. I'm intrigued by the idea of "cioppino gazpacho." Does that mean it was served chilled? Don't know. Her elimination dish looked like it was right in her sweet spot, creative but not overworked and heavily Italian-influenced. We know it struck a funny chord with Mike Isabella, but I wish we knew what the judges thought of it. In any case, while she didn't come up big in episode one, I don't really see any reason to drop her very far, so position three it is. In terms of how she works with others in the kitchen, I'm interested to see how she comes across this time around. As mentioned in the preseason rankings, she was kind of the original villainess, though time seems to have softened people's feelings about her. She mostly struck me as somebody who sometimes got prickly because she didn't suffer fools. And in season one, boy howdy, she was surrounded by plenty of fools. She's about the food, and kicking ass in the kitchen, and that's why she's pushing Stephen to get his plates in the pass as time's running out, even though he's her competition and clearly doesn't deserve the help. I'm reminded of one of our Iron Chef competitions, in which one of the members of the other team was a professional chef. When one of my dishes was going down in flames, he told me he felt weird not stepping in to help. "When you're in the kitchen, you pick each other up, no matter what." And at the risk of going all Psych 101, it seems to me that that's Tiffani. If you fall down, she'll pick you up, but you're going to hear about it because she doesn't have time for your crap.

4 Jennifer Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 0 0 0 Jen's off to a bit of a rough start, but I'm not going to drop her like a stone based on one solo dish. We've got too much history with her to not give her a chance to catch herself. And hopefully she will, because short of a brutal bottom appearance at Judges' Table, some "emperor has no clothes" kind of comments on her first solo dish are pretty much the worst possible thing that could happen to somebody who's shown the ability to fall apart quickly when confidence becomes an issue. I loved the concept behind hers and Mike's dish, fusing old-school mobster Vegas with modern day lobster tail decadence Vegas. And while I personally tend towards classic Italian, lobster should take to Carbonara beautifully. Wish I knew how they built the dish, but I love the idea. The duck issue is just puzzling. She was dead set on not oversalting it this time around. Was it flat because she overcompensated in the other direction? Just speculating.

5 Jamie Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 9 Eliminations 0 1 0 I don't know if she's going to be able to hang this high, but it's nice to be reminded that I'm not crazy for liking Jamie's style as much as I did the first time around. She definitely exudes a doesn't play well with others vibe, which many seem to feel will hurt her, but I'm not so sure. Without doing the math, I bet more talented chefs on this show have gone down because they didn't clearly delineate their contribution than because they weren't great team players. I'm not suggesting putting the team before yourself isn't admirable, I'm just suggesting that it isn't necessarily always the best way to win Top Chef. In any case, she gets the call-out as the good dish in her QF team's trio (even if it goes in the books as a bottom appearance), and despite her celery annoyance she turns the Ripert dish into her own and gets a top mention in the elimination. A strong start.

6 Casey Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 0 0 0 Ehhhh, I'm still uneasy about where I have Casey. But we don't need to be reminded that she can, in fact, cook. She seemed to have a central hand in generating her team's top-mentioned QF, and though she didn't make JT, her revamped braised pork belly with pickled peaches and whipped crème fraîche garnered some rather nice comments. So I'm going to punt on Casey for a week and see what happens.

7 Dale T. Quickfires 1 1 0 Last Week: 8 Eliminations 0 0 0 Dale was another fellow who, like Jamie, impressed me foodwise before exiting a little early. And he's another one who came out of episode one looking pretty good. He made the sausage for the winning QF dish -- from scratch in 25 minutes, for those keeping score -- and then, as Bourdain so eloquently put it, got himself unf**ked with the infamous butterscotch scallops, which gave me some small sense of vindication as well. The last time around, most people felt that his dish was a disaster of a concept, but I had a hunch the concept was just fine. It's been a while since this came up, but caramel is sometimes used in a savory context in Vietnamese (and perhaps other SE Asian cuisines, I'm not certain). The trick is to burn it just enough to develop some bitter, savory notes. Too much and it's smoky char. Too little, and it's candy. A little more char, a little better balance to the sweetness... et voila! You're unf**ked.

8 Dale L. Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 0 0 0 A little good, a little bad for what I suppose you could call my sleeper pick. Consensus seems to be that I have Dale L. way too high, and maybe this is a bit of a correction, though I still have a hunch he's going to show stronger than most expect. He was in on the season three QF, though I'm not sure precisely in what capacity, and we know that a couple of the other contestants didn't like his dumplings, though I wish we could have heard something the actual judges had to say about them. I found that one surprising since he's Polish Lithuanian (thanks, tcfan) and from Chicago. The fellow should know by dumplings, and seemed to do fine with them in season three, which makes me wonder if this was a preference issue rather than a true technical issue. But I'll ding him a bit nonetheless, put him below a few of those who look like they might have just missed top mention, and see where he goes from here.

9 Marcel Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 7 Eliminations 0 0 0 On paper it's a two-position drop, but it isn't really. This is mostly a matter of Marcel treading water while a couple of others move past him. I'm not too troubled by the apple issue on his and Elia's QF dish. If the apple being a little bit too thin is the worst thing he can say, you're doing fine. Lack of seasoning on the shrimp is more troubling. His elimination dish certainly was something to behold (or was it beholding us?), and I hate that we didn't really get any comments about it other than that it was bold. So Marcel will hang out around the middle of the pack for now.

10 Mike Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 11 Eliminations 0 0 0 Between the aforementioned bucatini QF and a vegetarian elimination dish that got some nice comments, Mike should probably get a bigger bump. But he also pissed me off: "Roast a leek, grill a leek, braise a leek, but It's still a leek." Mike, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Charleen Badman, the chef at FnB in Scottsdale, who braises leeks, melts some freshly-pulled mozzarella over the top, covers them with crisp mustard breadcrumbs and finishes the dish with a fried egg. It's vegetarian, it's all about the leeks despite the toppings, and it just made Food & Wine Magazine's Ten Best Restaurant Dishes of 2010. In short, you'd better not let Gail catch you saying that. So because you so blithely dismissed the noble leek, and because I'm still not 100% sold on you as a contender despite the fact that you held your own in what was probably the toughest season, I'm only bumping you one spot.

11 Antonia Quickfires 1 1 0 Last Week: 13 Eliminations 0 0 0 I can envision a trajectory for Antonia's already. She's going to creep and creep and creep her way up as I refuse to believe that her style can take down some of those near the top. Well, I don't want that to happen. I do think she's a strong chef and I want to acknowledge that a little better this time around, but I also want her to make me. This was a pretty good start, being in on the QF win and making a pork sausage with pigeon pea puree and roasted cherry tomatoes that looked closer to Pork Jesus simple than Antonia circa S4 simple. Really, I like the look of this recipe a lot (though perhaps that's because it's one of the few I can actually look at). The sausage is done with cilantro, onion, garlic and annatto oil, and the pigeon pea puree works in chives, leeks and raisins. More of this, and I won't be singing the same tune as last time. But I want to know it's for real before I give her anything more than a modest bump.

12 Carla Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 10 Eliminations 0 0 0 Called out for issues in both the QF and elimination, Carla came out of the gate a little unevenly. But none of this was anything that was going to get her into trouble. She went beef and beef, first doing a ribeye with apple and then doing a very straightforward and Frenchified strip steak with herbed mashed potatoes, compound butter and a very, very classic looking red wine sauce. Stated as her objective, she's staying true to herself in the early running. As far as the issues go, we seem to be talking about things that need adjustment rather than things that are going to get her into trouble, so here's hoping she's just finding her sea legs.

13 Spike Quickfires 1 1 0 Last Week: 16 Eliminations 0 1 0 Remember how I said a bad hand in this elimination could cut both ways? Case in point. If you made a pretty great dish last time that only needs slight adjustment, your task is easy, but the judges have already seen the dish. When you're saddled with one of the worst possible situations, however, it's all upside, and you can wow the judges with something totally unexpected. I have no way of knowing for sure, obviously, but I suspect this top mention was as much for being smart as it was for being a good cook. The judges rewarded the wit of finding a way of coping with some distinctly suboptimal product. Spike even seemed to acknowledge this in his line about the judges taking the bait. Which is absolutely fine. But I still have a hard time bumping him more than a few spots. I know, I know. He was on the top. His record already matches Richard's and is better than Angelo's. I just... I just can't. Not yet. If Spike can survive by being the craftiest MFer in the room -- and maybe he can -- I want to see him do it a little more before I kick him up significantly.

14 Tiffany Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 12 Eliminations 0 0 0 There's a very fine line between Refined Asian and Asian Lite, and I'm not sure Tiffany's elimination dish didn't fall into the latter category. I seem to remember that coconut curry sauce falling a little flat on both occasions. Still, I don't have a problem with her performance so far. I just haven't seen that much to go on, so we'll see if she can move up in the coming weeks.

15 Tre Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 14 Eliminations 0 0 0 Tre is also kind of just treading water down here, being mildly hit and miss in episode one. On the upside, he handled the pork for a top QF dish. On the downside, Jennifer Carroll thought the accompaniments for his cured salmon were all wrong. And while I don't know that I'd listen to any contestant who said so, I'm inclined to value Jen's opinion on an elegant, cured fish dish. I know everybody and their mother thinks I have him too low, and maybe I do. But I want to see something from him besides professionalism and reputation. I want to see a dish that kicks ass. How 'bout it, Tre?

16 Fabio Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 15 Eliminations 0 0 1 Now I'm remembering why I found myself wondering if I was coming down too hard on Fabio every week during the S5 Power Rankings. The guy can bust out a killer one-liner, but the things that were articulated about his pasta dish were exactly the kind of things that bugged me about his style the first time around. His pasta just always looks heavy and horribly oversauced to me. I'm not tasting it, I know, but... but... I just get a bad vibe from those photos. Pasta is simplicity. If it looks messy, it probably tastes messy. And the paper is a total conceit. And what's really frustrating about it is that a condimento that's a little saucy with crab and crawfish is something that's crying out to be roasted al cartoccio. Instead of just putting it ON paper, why not actually cook it IN paper? Then it's not a show. Then it means something. And I bet it'd be a better dish. My other frustration with Fabio is that he's coming across yet again as remarkably thin-skinned. Nobody wants to have their work insulted. But you signed on for a reality show, amico. It kind of comes with the territory. It's something you might excuse if this were his first time and he underestimated what it would be like, but Top Chef abuses its contestants, he knows that now, and he voluntarily re-upped. Between that, the grim look on his face and the comments about riding the elevator into hell, he certainly lends the impression that he doesn't really want to be here. And one thing we've learned over seven seasons of Top Chef is that if you don't want to be here, don't worry... you probably won't be for very long.

17 Stephen Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 18 Eliminations 0 0 1 Fabio is saved from the basement only because Stephen is one of the most obvious choices I've ever had for the final slot. I appreciate a man with style, but really, when you're cooking in a dress shirt and tie and your knife case looks like it was made by Bottega Veneta, it raises a lot of questions about where your priorities lie. And it shows. Yes, he was dealt one of the tougher hands in the elimination challenge, but he looks completely lost in the kitchen, he's already getting himself into trouble, and he's committing one of the cardinal Top Chef sins of being oblivious to his shortcomings. Over the next 2-3 episodes, I'm not sure which would be the bigger upset: if somebody like Blais or Angelo went home, or if Stephen didn't.

18 Elia Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 17 Eliminations 0 0 1 Elia's one of the ones I had a hard time explaining or justifying why I put her where I did, so on a purely selfish level I'm glad to see her depart right about on schedule. That disconnect between her and the judges that I mentioned last week? Here it was again. She thought her dish was great. They didn't. And I forgot to mention last week that the only reason Elia finished 3rd instead of 8th in S2 was because Mia wanted to go home and threw herself on the grenade, volunteering to leave, to save Elia. If not for that act, Elia would have finished in the bottom half of what is widely regarded (even if I don't agree) as the weakest season in the history of the show. Tom says in his blog that Elia's was the only dish of the lot that was actually worse the second time around. She didn't address the conceptual issues, she served the fish raw, and there's really no getting around that. There's an interview with her in the Chicago Tribune that I haven't yet read for fear of spoilers (I hope somebody will give me the all clear on that once they do or don't come to fruition), in which -- and please correct me if I have this wrong -- I understand she complains that they were told not to stray too far from the original dish and she followed the rules while the others didn't. To which I guess the logical responses would be 1) if everybody else strayed, wouldn't you think that perhaps you weren't the one to get the memo, and 2) what does that have to do with badly undercooking your fish? But the worst kind of criticism is criticism of something you haven't even read yourself, so I probably shouldn't even be mentioning this. Bottom line, it seemed like a solid elimination.

Okay, that was fun. Wait... what? I get to do it again next week?

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE TWO SPOILERS AHEAD

Well, I wasn't aware that Buitoni was going after the tween crowd, but apparently one of the Jonas Brothers (Joe? Jermaine? Jehoshaphat? Jujube?) will be running the show for the QF, wherein our chefs must make a snack for kids, which means we should be treated to plenty of shots of a glowering Tiffani. Dale L. seems to be taking the "throw candy at them" approach, which never seems to work as well as you think it will. Antonia pretty much has the kid cuisine market cornered -- in fact, I think she's working on a cookbook for moms kind of project right now -- so I expect her to do well. The elimination is a catering challenge that I suspect also involves the kiddos, since there were many shots of running and screaming. Again, Tiffani, not the kids. But she'll get through it. Somebody else bites it, I'm sure.

Discuss!

Comments

[Nsam]

Will do, Dom, I'll try to remember to give you the all clear for the Elia interview in the Tribune.

Elia still defends her dish and doesn't accept the judges' position. Yet, the comments from the other cheftestants who tasted her dish weren't favorable either, were they?

Yes, how far the revamped dishes could stray from the original versions is her main complaint: "Some of [the other chefs' dishes] were completely tweaked. Some of the main ingredients of the original dishes weren't even used. The techniques were not the same at all. It was made very, very clear to us by Tom and by the people that gave us the rules what the rules were. And I believe that a lot of people didn't follow them. I believe that nobody was held accountable for not keeping it true and the same. Especially the fact that a lot of the dishes were missing some of the main ingredients. It was definitely disappointing and you feel impotent that you can't bring any of this to light or make anybody really see it."

Also she complains about the field of cheftestants chosen to come back, in mentioning that she was originally inclined to say no to returning: "I was told it was going to be the top of every season, which it wasn't." Well, everyone in this field managed to improve their original dish -- except you...

Also she attacks Colicchio repeatedly: "Tom did a commercial for Coca Cola, which is basically poison. And at that time I remember him speaking about how he was against obesity and how children were tricked and all of a sudden maybe a check was good enough."

Okay, I'm laughing a little now, it's grimly funny to me. Really, I wasn't planning to have another kick or laugh at Elia, but this interview is something like 6 months after she was booted off so it's not like it's just the heat of the moment from being eliminated. Months later she's STILL fuming like this and going all scorched-earth.

Also, I was tickled again from reading your assessment of Fabio's pasta. Elia, in a TV Guide interview, defends it: "I did try Fabio's dish, and I didn't think it should have been in the bottom either. It was perfectly seasoned. It wasn't overpowering, and it's sad that a person like Tony Bourdain, who travels the world, has never seen the Italian style of serving pasta on a piece of parchment paper. I've seen it in Italy so many times. It blew me away."

Nope, not a good showing for her at all. I wonder what she'll have to say on the reunion show...

[bfish]

Dom, great analysis as always!

Nsam, thanks for excerpting the Elia interview here. I'd read it earlier and came away with a similar impression to yours. In another interview she complained that she was given palm leaves (I think) instead of ti leaves for wrapping the fish, and the former's thickness caused her fish to be undercooked. Basically, her message is, everything but the kitchen sink conspired against her/was grossly unfair to her. I think she comes across as pretty wacko because (1)as you note, she's had six months to come to grips with this; and (2) just what good is trashing Tom Colicchio going to do for her standing in the professional chef community?

I also have to ask, where are the Bravo minders that usually shadow the knifed contestants to make sure they don't damage the franchise?

[TxGriff]

Re: the Tribune interview, I think it's safe to read. The interview itself does not contain any spoilers; in the comments section someone interprets one part of the interview as a potential spoiler, but it was a pretty far-fetched and loose interpretation (imo). Nsam did a good job summarizing though.

Agree with the rankings for the most part, although I guess I'm confused why someone who was in the bottom of the QF and did not receive top mention for the EC is in 3rd, while someone who was in the top of the QF and placed similarly in the EC is 15th. I know the rankings aren't strictly about numbers, but I'm having a hard time figuring that one out.

[Bart]

I like your rankings. I'd probably rank Spike one or two spots higher, and Jen Carroll one or two spots lower, but otherwise, I'm feeling it.

I found it interesting that the consensus at the table for Jen's dish was, "I expected to be blown away..." Sounds like a lot of them bought into the whole Four Horsemen of the Chefpocalypse thing. Be interesting to see how that plays out.

Re: the Jonas brothers...I remember reading a while ago that one of the Jonas brothers is diabetic and testified in Congress on behalf of kids with diabetes, so I wonder if that'll be a factor in the challenge.

Can't wait for Wednesday!

[Maria]

Elia's "defense" of her dish in the interviews I've seen is pretty funny. On the one hand, he got a palm leaf, which is thicker than the ti leaf she worked with and so it led to undercooking. But on the *other* hand, the dish was meant to be served medium/rare, so there was actually nothing wrong with it at all.

[Wangus]

Great as always, Dom. Excited for the new season.

Re: Timing. I too was interested in the 5 hour time given to the contestants. My best guess is that it was decided necessary to give those dishes that were given a long time to make originally (mostly finale dishes) a chance to be similar to their 1st attempt. This of course made those with dishes that wouldn't take nearly as long technically have a small advantage in the sense that the clock isn't pressing on you.

For example, looking at Dale T.'s dish, I can't imagine that would take a lot of time to prepare in the first 3 hours they were given. Therefore, coupled with the immunity, Dale just started messing around. I personally found it hilarious.

[dach]

As to Elia, JT did point out that she had plenty time to test her recipe. Her final result did look awfully simple especially for a 5 hour all-star effort.

[AJ]

The only spoilers in the Elia interview are that she is kind of a nasty and immature person.
Oh, and Tom isn't interested in her whining.

[Skillet Doux]

"Agree with the rankings for the most part, although I guess I'm confused why someone who was in the bottom of the QF and did not receive top mention for the EC is in 3rd, while someone who was in the top of the QF and placed similarly in the EC is 15th."

I refer you to the note in green at the top of the rankings :-)

I don't reshuffle the deck every week. Previous position, even if it's just one week, counts for something. Nobody goes from 16 to 3 or vice-versa based on one episode. I just don't like for them to be that volatile. If I made a bad call on Spike in the preseason rankings and he continues to do well, he'll be near the top soon enough. Ditto the opposite for Tiffani.

[tcfan]

Love this blog! One minor correction--Dale L. is not Polish. He remarked about being part Lithuanian during his season, and an article on the web says "Dale is very proud of his Russian/Lithuanian/Swedish heritage and was a Russian language major at the University of Iowa."

[Skillet Doux]

Eek! Thanks, tcfan. Duly corrected. That wasn't an assumption based on the surname... I thought I remembered him talking about a Polish grandma at some point. Misremembering, apparently.

[1000yregg]

hey- kudos on the blog getting mentioned on Stephanie Izard's facebook fan page!
http://www.facebook.com/stephizard

[ZRD]

I agree with the other commentators; I didn't see/get the spoiler in the interview - there was commentary by random people who thought there was a spoiler, but I re-read it, and still didn't see what they thought they saw.

Also, they interviewed Tom, giving him a chance to defend himself, which was fairly well done.

[TxGriff]

Gah, I guess I wasn't clear. I was specifically referencing Tre, who performed similarly to Tiffani in the EC from what I can tell. Sorry for the confusing wording. Now, I know you acknowledged that Tre is controversially ranked, and I've been reading long enough to understanding the overall workings of the Power Rankings (well, from a reader's perspective anyways). And it's not like Tre showed anything last episode to merit a higher ranking. I'm just confused why Tiffany is THAT much higher and even Tiffany (S7) is ranked higher when she was in the bottom of the QF and didn't perform too well in the EC. Overall though, I think your gut instincts turn out to be pretty accurate :).

[timothy]

"Elia would have finished in the bottom half of what is widely regarded (even if I don't agree) as the weakest season in the history of the show. "

Just curious, Dom. What do you consider to be the weakest season? One? Seven?

Excellent rankings as usual.

[nomnomnom]

The rankings look solid. I'm probably ready to throw out this first challenge though. A team QF and a somewhat unbalanced single plate dinner party setting which didn't really give them much to work with.

I've always been more a proponent of single plate dinner party EC as the main ranking criteria. I'm just afraid we won't really get a "true" one of these for several weeks now.

What we will probably see is who really is there to win, and who is there to promote themselves, and who is just there for something to do.

Early on I don't get the sense that TiffanY, DaleT, or Tre are all that seriously invested. Though that probably will become more apparent even in the catering fest which is on deck the next 2-3 weeks.

[nomnomnom]

Episode 2 looks to me like a total throwaway.

Episode 3 looks to be the tone setter for the early season. Prep relay followed by the chefs splitting up to 4 high end nyc restaurants.

Now they are going to have a double elimination at some point so they will need 16 for E3 so that means E2 will be another single.

[ally]

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but regarding your surprise at comments against Richard - I think we gave him his one pass the first time he suggested that he should have won his season (during TC Masters), but twice (in context or out?) was too much. He's great and I love his inventive cooking, and I just wish that he could have just not said that even once (even if I happen to agree with him) because I loved the aw-shucks bit. He was 99% fantastic in his season, and it seems to me he has really come to show his stuff - mustard ice cream? For real. Love it.

Also, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it in response to your last post, but I believe Fabio's MG contribution early on was faux olives that he in fact used again later. I havent seen the season since so I could be wrong.

[Kyle]

As the original person (I think) who posted about Bourdain, I have one more general comment about the subject. After that I'm done with the topic. Reasonable people can disagree with whether or not he is funny. I don't think he is funny; but many people who create and post on this blog, as well as millions of others in the general population find him to be hilarious. I have absolutely no problem with that.

My problem comes when people state in an unequivocal manner (as several have on this blog) that he is funny. The implication of such a statement being that my opinion is wrong. I understand that this probably seems like a trivial matter to most people, but I believe that people should be able to discuss their opinions with the understanding that someone on the other end is being respectful of that opinion. Being told that "If you can't laugh at his blog post this week, you need help" is not respectful, it's condescending.

[Daniel]

I know it's not exactly the biggest interest 'issue' on the show, but am I the only one that thinks Blais looks malnourished? I remember him saying something about thinking he looked fat in his season, but he really does seem to have hurtled too far in the other direction. He's almost skeletal, and the hair seems almost a foot higher.

I just think he looked better before - and I'm by no means trying to insult him or poke fun.

[Danny]

Dom, as always an interesting Power Ranking. I agree that the QF did absolutely nothing to settle which season had the best chefs. The teams consisted of 2, 3 and 4 people, some had recently cooked together and others hadn't cooked together in years. Some teams had only top finishers and others had finishers much lower down the pack. And the city's gave different levels of challenge. For example, it is easier to come up with a representative Miami or San Francisco cuisine than a Los Angeles one. I'd also think that it would take more than one challenge to settle a probably unsettleable question.

[Skillet Doux]

C'mon, Kyle, it's intentional hyperbole for effect, not condescension. People have told me the same of Dane Cook, and while I may think they're insane, I don't take it as a personal insult. I may also state on this blog that the awesomeness of pork fat is empirical fact, not subject to opinion. Doesn't mean I actually expect vegetarians to seek medical attention. That we're talking about matters of opinion here goes without saying. The absolutism is supposed to simply be a fun way of saying that I think he's really, really funny. But if I don't have that kind of liberty in describing Bourdain's brand of humor without ruffling feathers, then I'll clarify by saying that I think he's hysterical, and though I don't understand why some don't, I acknowledge that you (and my wife, for that matter) fall into that category and your opinion is no less valid. But that's a much less interesting read, isn't it?

[Independent George]

I may also state on this blog that the awesomeness of pork fat is empirical fact, not subject to opinion.

What?!! I thought you meant that literally!

I feel so betrayed. I can't begin to express my hurt and disappointment.

[Wangus]

I agree with IG. I think we should have a vote to see if Dom should be removed from presidency position of the Secret Pork Fat Lovers club. All in favor?

[Independent George]

I agree with IG. I think we should have a vote to see if Dom should be removed from presidency position of the Secret Pork Fat Lovers club. All in favor?

Actually, I take it back. After further review, I believe my sense of betrayal was premature. Rather, I'm more concerned about Dom's mental health. If he's not willing to stand up on behalf of pork fat, then clearly something is amiss. Rather than revocation, I believe Dom's presidency should perhaps be placed in temporary suspension while he is committed to the appropriate mental health facility.

After all, our appreciation of pork fat is a matter of objective scientific principal, and not religion; therefore, we should treat his offensive statements as a call for help, and not a heresy.

[Polybus]

Pork fat? I'M IN!

(Thanks for the Rankings, Dom!)

[bryanD]

"Episode 2 looks to me like a total throwaway."---nomnomnom

Halt!
This season...There is no "anonymous red-shirted crewman"!

(Even Stephen is like...Chekov, or somebody!...Or maybe he's that big blond semi-regular chick that seemed to be Kirk's down-low girlfriend. EITHER WAY, There is NO anonymous red-shirted crewman!)

In further headlines, a peanut gallery meme is building in the wake of Bourdain's diarrhea diary, that by drunk-tasting and drunk-judging, Tom Colichhio is Not Respecting The Food.

Touche and ole'! (Tom, bless'em, CAN be preachy.)

[Skoolgirl]

Sure I'm speculating here, but did anyone else thing that Blais, had he not ran over time would have won the EC?

I still have Blais at number one and Angelo at number two.

Looking at their stats it could go either way.

[Skillet Doux]

Skoolgirl... if one of the blogs had said that Blais would have won but for the DQ, that's how I would have scored it as well. But I think people are making an unsupported assumption, there.

[Anon Man]

Dom, nice critique of Fabio's cooking. I must confess it hadn't dawned on me that Fabio hadn't cooked the meal al cartoccio. I kind of assumed he changed paper for a neater presentation (which I wouldn't want, but maybe some would). Nice catch there and a big hit on the authentic Italian points. My god, is the accent an act? ;)

[Skoolgirl]

Yeah, Dom I get that. Maybe they aren't saying where he placed because they don't want people like me arguing about it. :P

Also as not to take away from Angelo's win, but while sizing everyone up it would have been nice to know exactly where he fit into the top.

[HF]

One small correction for Dom, Tom C. says on his blog that it was his belief that Richard was fine with the decision after seeing the tape, not that he said he was.

I have a problem with the early episodes of every season in that there are so many dishes that need to be covered that each one gets airtime of maybe 3 seconds, barely enough time to read the description in some cases. Top Chef Basic Cable.

@bryanD, that's Yeoman Rand you're thinking of.

Favorite moment... Angelo says "It felt like I was being stabbed in the stomach." just as Bravo shows him getting an injection to the buttocks. Classic.

How lame is it of Bravo that it is Season 8 and yet it takes a contestant to point out that one of the chefs went over time?

Was it just me, or did anyone else catch that Tom C. was giving off a bad vibe when Tony B. was talking at the dinner table?

Damn, Fabio's QF dish didn't look that much more appetizing than his Elimination one.

Man, there is WAY too much spiky hair on this cast.

[JJ]

Great read, as always. I was thrilled with Angelo's win but I do wonder whether the short rest period between TCs is not going to begin to take it toil. After one episode it also seems clear that while there are a few ringers (most obviously Stephen, but I'm looking at you Fabio as well), it's going to be super tricky to predict who is going to make it to the end b/c you realize that talent is not the only gauge of success. I fear that Jen may have another psychological collapse. We'll see. (What troubled me the most about her showing is that her confidence in her product seemed in no way matched by the responses to the food.) As for Elia, I guess all her talk of "maturing" was just that: talk. Her rants have been embarrassing. They simply make her look unprofessional (her attacks on Tom) and, as Maria points out, completely illogical: on the one hand she stands by the dish, on the other the leaves were too thick and are to blame for the fish not cooking (as well as the other chefs bending the rules, i.e., cheating). Glad to see the back of her.

[Skoolgirl]

Dom just a mention about Mike I. I had previously talked about this on chowhound the interview blips.

Those talking head segments you see where they are talking about their dishes are set up interviews. They will ask them, what do you think is the hardest part of your dish? Do you think you dish is going to wow the judges. ETC.

I think Mike was responding to a question when he talked about the leeks and in general he is right. While others got more complicated dishes, or dishes with proteins he got leeks. He was worried about his dish being too simple for the judges. But he worked it out and got some very nice praise.

[Skillet Doux]

Skoolgirl... naturally. But I still think it demonstrates a remarkable lack of imagination.

[bryanD]

"Was it just me, or did anyone else catch that Tom C. was giving off a bad vibe when Tony B. was talking at the dinner table?"----HF

That's a good enough excuse for me to go re-watch the episode a day early...

Nope. Tom's harmonics are normal. However Bourdain appears to be vibrating back into his own abdomen briefly as Fabio lays into him across the table (well within reach, heh!). 1-pt: Fabio!

"@bryanD, that's Yeoman Rand you're thinking of."---HF

Duly noted. I wonder if the character is slyly named for the USAF/civilian RAND Corporation think tank. (RAND derives from Research ANd Development, which could be a kind of double entendre for the astro-lovebirds. Just a thought.)

Further unsolicited thoughts after reviewing ep 1: re: attitude problems (and so early!):

Tiffany (involuntary?) eye roll at QF results;
Dale Talde talking smack purely on assumptions;
Richard Blais pretending he's shocked Shocked! that he ran over the time limit no matter the feigned looks he gets from fellow stew room inhabitants. Quite bizarre upon review. Must-see.**

Note: Jen Carroll might be the real loser in Life Points of those still extant.

Also: In defense of Mike I and his insult to the majesty of the Allium family of fine foods, he comes off more nuanced upon reviewing. (He was basically blowing smoke)

Conclusion: Ep 1 was even more enjoyable upon second viewing (like Mean Streets and Casino). Bulletproof season.

**William of Ockham declares Tre the informant.

[doktarr]

Great read as usual, Dom. Here's hoping you get more material to work with in the future.

Random note: The "highlights of the season to come" sequence that they always do after the first episode was particularly revealing this time around (or at least, it sure seemed like it based on a one-time viewing). Anyone who has a DVR and enjoys ruining excitement could probably produce a decent approximation of the elimination order for the first half of the season by studying the clip. 'nuff said on that front...

[Jon Olsen]

Speaking of the sneaky intel, anyone else notice every episode title is available on the "scorecard" page? http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/cheftestant-scorecard

I don't think it constitutes a spoiler, but it does feed my speculations!

[David M.]

@bryanD: "Duly noted. I wonder if the character is slyly named for the USAF/civilian RAND Corporation think tank. (RAND derives from Research ANd Development, which could be a kind of double entendre for the astro-lovebirds. Just a thought.)"

Getting a bit off topic here - but Yeoman Rand was most definitely named after author Ayn Rand, whose philosophy of objectivism was a big influence on Gene Rodenberry.

Excited about tonight!

[garik16]

Jon, if those titles are correct, they are a spoiler:

Restaurant Wars would be episode 7, with TWELVE chefs left! A 6 on 6 Restaurant wars? Or 3 teams of 4?

That would be very different.