Top Chef - S8E9 Postmortem

Meanwhile, over at Television Blend, heads are exploding.

It's like the icing on the cake of watching a Carla win, knowing that they're going to be forced to come up with even more contorted logic to justify keeping her at or near the bottom. Meanwhile, I need to decide how big the bump will be. The good news is that if anybody feels it isn't enough, I can always just point to the other power rankings out there. They're making me look good.

I know you wouldn't know it from the way I write about him half the time, but I'm so sad to see Fabio go. Again. The dude's way too much fun to watch.

So apparently we're in the midseason comfort food lull, which is fine. The late episodes need to be hardcore, so I'm okay with the elves getting it out of their systems now. Though the preview makes me wonder if we won't be fondly remembering this episode for its sophisticated challenge. I'll have to make sure there aren't any heavy objects within arm's reach next week. I love my TV.

Much to digest this weekend. Some annoyances food-wise, but a very, very entertaining episode.

Discuss!

Comments

[Bart]

I really enjoyed this episode. I totally thought Dale was going home.

Thoughts:

- I'm so over Blais's ego.

- That Buittoni clip/ad was obnoxious.

- I really thought Dale was a goner.

- The song? Hi-larious.

- Carla's enthusiasm is freakin' INFECTIOUS!

Congratulations Matthew!! You must be so excited!

How will this affect the rankings? Will Blais lose his top spot almost as soon as he got it? Gotta seriously consider Carla for #1 or #2 now, and Antonia's right up there as well.

[Amanda P.]

All I have to say is "Tokyo"! Someone is going to have to make sure his passport is up to date! World tour, Top Chef style.

[Trillium]

Ecstacy & Agony:

Ecstacy - Carla winning. I was sooo happy and rooting for her. Bravo Carla!
Agony - Fabio being eliminated. Obviously I didn't taste his burger but it sounded good to me. Maybe it was traditional but HOW DID IT TASTE???

Dale's sounded awful. Jimmy Fallon even said it is important to TASTE your food and he said he couldn't stomache the third bite. Dale should have gone home IMHO>

[metalkfoodieoneday]

YAYAYAYAY!! Carla!! WOOOHOOOO!! Perhaps now she will start to get the respect she deserves!!! She deserves to be higher up than she's been placed. And, she's the last one from her season to be still on, right? Three elimination wins, three trips! YAY CARLA!!! (YAY Matthew!!)

and then WAAAHHHH! No more Fabio. :-( Such a drag!! No more accent...no more funny expressions. Thank G-d there is still his Twitter feed....

[paula]

That Byootoni meal spot was nauseating. Richard--"mmm, this is my favorite one!"--needs to be less of a whore. And he also needs to stop telling people exactly how to cook the foods they're not familiar with. I love Antonia, but part of the challenge should be figuring out what to do with your own ingredients, even if you've never worked with them.

On the other hand, you can see why Richard believes his own hype (and has even started referring to himself in the third person). They DO all seem to defer to him, and that says a lot.

[Vinn]

Wow. Dale's lucky to be there still. Fabio :( I'm so sad you never won when you should've (yes Antonia, I include your mussels, and yes Blais, your RW win), and even sorrier you're not going to grace my TV anymore.

Hope you win Fan Fav again though ;P

Fabio's sounded good actually, so that's weird. Perhaps it tasted funky.

Blais, ego check pleeeeeeease.

Also, Carla, much as I love her, really needs to tone down the hootie hoos ahaha. My ears are asking very nicely for it.

[JimD]

No offense to Carla, but when did this season morph into 'Top Chef: The All Stars Cook Comfort Food Classics'? Her chicken pot pie must have been amazingly tasty to beat out one contestant mastering an unfamiliar ingredient (Antonia) and another blending a very unusual combination of ingredients into a delicious sauce (Angelo). And I guess Richard had no shot - I mean, does ANYONE have a 'special place to be brought back to' that involves ramen noodles?

I have to say, I'm somewhat disappointed that the Restaurant Wars episode that was one of the best TC episodes ever has been followed by a string of gimmick-laden challenges that are more of a culinary obstacle course than a true challenge of what defines a 'top chef'. Less celebrity pandering and restrictions, please.

[Karen B]

If Carla is not ranked no. 1 now, there is conscious/unconscious bias at work. Go Carla :-)

[Redpoint]

Gail in her blog actually calls Dale's food delicious, just too salty, so it doesn't seem like he was in terrible danger.

Really annoyed by Richard's attitude this episode. Especially in the QF. He made up so many excuses for the fact that he wasn't considered the best.

Ditto annoyance--Mike and his sour grapes towards Antonia.

Love to see Antonia do so well with the beef tongue, and outdo Mike again.

I'll be psyched to see Antonia and Carla in the top three!

[Dreamboat]

The episode was SOOO FUN. At least until they called the bottom 3 into judges table. Then the reality that one of these great chefs would be told PPYNAG. :(

Just some examples of LMAO
Fabio – “Boooger”
Carla freaking out on the Jimmy Fallon show. Then freaking out in the kitchen
Dale laughing when Padma asked why he had Mike on the bottom
Angelo and his tight pants
Antonia making Buitoni for dinner!!
Mikey – Jimmy’s side kick (sorry, don’t know his name) saying how much he loves Mike’s sausage
Blais – “I don’t need a helmet and 40 lbs of dry ice to cook”
The beef tongue song

Final notes:
I love Blais. And he is so over thinking all of this! Argh!!!
Tiffani so this close to being burned out
And Fabio…I love you man!!! You are my daughter’s all time favorite chef. She will be devastated when I tell her that you went home.
And Carla & matthew will be very jet lagged next year :D
At this point, it is anyone’s game.

[Redpoint]

I don't know, JimD, but I bet Angelo or Dale could have created that special place if they got to cook ramen noodles.

[Nicole]

"And I guess Richard had no shot - I mean, does ANYONE have a 'special place to be brought back to' that involves ramen noodles?"

JimD, I absolutely do have a special place for ramen noodles, having grown up in Southeast Asia. Moving to the Midwest in high school, there was not anywhere I could get the food of my youth. In college, on the East Coast, I discovered an Asian grocery that carried spicy ramen and I would make special trips just to indulge that craving. I thought Richard's dish looked delicious. Of course, we dont' get to taste, but if I were eating with my eyes, his would have won.

And I've never had chicken and dumplings. Might have to give them a shot sometime soon.

[infinity728]

Carla's infectious enthusiasm - I loved her for it. Better than the gnawing worry or biting snark displayed by others. It was saddening when she mentioned while shopping that perhaps taking home a third EC win would make the others see her as a contender (paraphrasing a bit there). Whatever hunches followed people coming into this season, she's clearly proven herself here.

I never noticed how much shorter Dale is than Carla before they were standing side by side presenting their dishes. Perhaps that's where some of his desire to look down his nose comes from? Just a thought.

Totally heartbroken about Fabio, but kind of saw it coming.

[Krazikarl]

Did the previews for next week have somebody cooking with an iron? Good lord next week looks bad.

[chrish]

Agree that ramen absolutely has a special place for many people, and the egg on Richard's looked beautifully cooked. Maybe hard to make a great broth in that time, wasn't clear how he went about it, although I imagine he made every effort. I dunno what the diner's expectations coming in about ramen were though. Carla and Matthew should absolutely have a good bowl of ramen or two while they are in Tokyo. Such a great eating city.

[Independent George]

1. Matthew needs to tell us just what goes into that chicken pot pie. Seriously.
2. Beef tongue is delicious, and very Italian; I'm genuinely shocked that Antonia had never prepared or even eaten it before.
3. Like others, Blais annoyed me tonight, which surprised me. Until we get further evidence, I'm going to blame the elves, because it's so out of character for him. I wish I could have tasted his QF - I thought the idea was a brilliant deconstruction, but I wonder if his execution just needs refinement - the nitrogen-cooled chocolate might have been overkill.
4. I thought Dale was a goner, but his QF looked delicious. I LOVE pho (though I always pronounced it with the hard 'O'; who knew?).
5. I didn't like him much in S5, but Fabio really grew on me, and I was sorry to see him go.
6. Why, oh why, do these people keep insisting on putting cilantro in all their dishes? Ugh.

[LB]

I'm so happy for Carla. Still pulling for Angelo to win overall - that sauce looked amazing - but I like that Carla was the first to get her third win this season.

[Independent George]

Also: COOOKIEE MONSTERRRRR!!!!

[Independent George]

Also: COOOKIEE MONSTERRRRR!!!!

[mar]

I love Carla and am not doubting her winning dish, but do you think personality might have played a little part in selecting the winner? Jimmy Fallon had to be excited about having Carla on his show over the more sedate Antonia or the slightly bizarre Angelo. On the other hand, the comic value he might get from Angelo... maybe not. :)

Favorite line - when Tom was asked about Carla's dish: "Too busy eating."

[Independent George]

Ack. Sorry for the double post.

Anyway, overall, I enjoyed the episode, but I actually found the QF much more interesting than the EC this week. I go weak in the knees for pho, so I'd have probably dunked my head into Dale's fondue pot. I thought Carla's curry idea was clever; I'm very curious about Richard's, because I can see that being either brilliant or a disaster, with nothing in between.

Last, for those (including myself) who thought Dale was done, this is from Gail's blog:

...Dale's meat was delicious, the flavors were great, the cheese was good, and everything was well done. It was really spicy, which was great, but he forgot to account for the fact that the pretzel roll he used had a layer of rock salt on it. Combined with the cheese and the meat, which were all overseasoned because he was so worried about other seasonings, he just overcompensated. But otherwise the dish itself would have been good.

[Joanna]

Dreamboat - you forgot Dale's "pho.....ndue"!

I was worried again for him this week, but it did seem like they liked the flavors of his dish. And despite Jimmy Fallon's comment about tasting your food, I got the impression that he tasted the filling and salted it to an appropriate level, but combined with the layer of salt on the pretzel (which he said he forgot to factor in) it got a little out of control.

I'm sad to see Fabio go in terms of the energy he brings to the show, but I think it was his time. And I thought he might be a goner as soon as he started melting that cheese straight instead of turning it into more of a cheese sauce. I tried to make my own mac & cheese that way once and the results were... not pretty. Unless you were craving a big congealed orange pasta mess.

[ally]

How much do I love Carla? Let me count the ways.

She officially has the best EC record now. She was actually tied with Dale and Angelo for this week, as far as EC go. Richard has QFs too, which had pulled him ahead.

IMO, Richard had one brilliant week. His interviews just made him look sort of sad this week. I'm not enjoying that.

Carla, i don't know. It seems that not even her fans (and we are many) take her seriously. I continue to think this is the American dilemma--do we really only respect those that tell us how good they are? Anyways, glad to see her get another win.

Maybe by now we (and/or the judges) are just over the presentation/fancified foods of the last 20 (?) years? Clever clinical cold bananas and chocolate fail in the face of savory Pho.

Richard seems to be one of those contestants who is so convinced of his own rightness that he's not responding to the signals coming from the judges, signals which say...just make it taste good. Many commenters here aren't agreeing with judges' decisions based on perceived difficulty. Maybe some want an Olympics Diving type of scoring: level of difficulty plus taste plus presentation. Maybe we need a different show for that. :) Anyways, I'm not a judge, and to be honest I don't really judge the judges. Seems to me, Carla is pulling ahead, whether we can believe our own eyes or not. Gratz matthew on another awesome trip!

I just continue to love this season, and again, I can't wait to see what happens. We just passed the halfway mark, and the field is so much stronger than for a normal season. I'm still saddled up.

[juli]

-This episode was the do-over of do the "remake a classic recipe" episode (enough to be interesting, but not so much it isn't recognizable). Was that season 3?? Can't remember offhand.
-Loved the enthusiasm (sorry JimD) and am sorry the creativity went awry for Tiffany and Fabio. However, I immediately downloaded the BEEF TONGUE ringtone from bravo. (I know, I'm irredeemable, craven, even!)
-Fallon was obviously a knowledgeable fan who couldn't stomach sending someone home (Sorry, Jimmy, it's part of the job description.)
Blais pulled back at the exact moment the helmet and dry ice would have been of value; textbook definition for irony, not coincidence.
And Carla! I tried not to think of the foreshadowing all week; the cameras kept Carla out of who was clearly the top at judge's table...and then there was Dale's criticism. I kept to the Zen side, "If it's her time...etc." So glad the simple enthusiasm for good food made with love won the day. Enjoy Tokyo, Matthew and Carla! I'm wearing the "I was manipulated by the Elves and it's OK" T-shirt tonight, and I'm fine with my lot in life.
-Over-correction by Dale. Betcha big bucks he knocks it out of the park next week.
Dom, You were mostly right, for all the best reasons.
Officially done gushing now.

[bfish]

It seemed pretty obvious, though the excessive salt was a turn-off, that out of the bottom three Dale was safe. I really thought Tiffany would be knifed for her chicken and dumplings when one diner likened it to tortilla soup. She strayed way too far from the traditional southern dish. OTOH, meatloaf instead of a juicy burger would be a big disappointment, and Tom really hated the cheese sauce on top of that. Conversely, his love of Carla's chicken pot pie made it clear that she had a good shot at the top spot.

As others have already noted, Richard's arrogant comments and excuses were annoying. We all know that the elves can choose, or not, to include that in the edit so I wonder what story they're telling?

Off the subject of the food, what is the deal with Dale and his fascination with Angelo's good looks? A few episodes ago, it was "Angelo, siren of the seas" and tonight it was tight pants/see-through purple shirt or something like that. Actually, I find it amusing and somewhat charming because I like both of them (and hope to see them in the finals). I do think, despite his great QF dish, Dale's EC offerings this episode and last have to bring him down in the SD rankings.

I wish there had been fewer humorous(?) asides and insider jokes in the lunch conversation, and more focus on what the food tasted like.

[Dreamboat]

Joanna, I am sure I missed many funny quotes from this episode! That is why I loved it :D

And I agree with you about the cheese. Perhaps Fabio has never tried to make a cheese sauce with cheddar. It simply does.not.work. It becomes an oily clumpy mess.

[Beatrice]

I loved Jimmy Fallon for being so torn up about sending someone home. It was very endearing.

[Tim]

A bit too gimmicky of an episode for me to totally get behind. Fondue and Jimmy Fallon's favorites? Not what I'd consider Top Chef material, but I'm not paid to come up with that definition. I have to admit, kind of like mar, that the thought of Carla being the most "interesting" for cooking on Jimmy's show might have played a factor, I'm not saying it did for sure, but it did cross my mind just slightly. Next week, Sesame Street? It seems like they saved the silly stuff for what I think should be a more skillful part of the season.

[ally]

The last thread was making me think of "simple" dishes that could really be messed up. Speaking of bad cheese sauces, I have made the world's most horrendous rarebit sauce. Ever. Poor Fabio, he is not a boooorger man.

[Danielle]

@ally: Thing is, for the EC this week it sounded like Richard really did just make plain old delicious food.

Is nitrogen-cooled fondue a common trick? It's very clever.

[ally]

@Danielle, I'm not disagreeing at all. I guess it wasn't as delicious as others, as Gail discusses that they were split on it's deliciousness. I'm wondering how many times I can use the word "delicious" in one day. :)

[Duffy]

Ohh, Ally, please tell me what you did? I need something to erase my rarebit trainwreck. Was yours all lumpy and separated, or just a congealed glob?

[ally]

Duffy, this should make you feel better--it first was just lumpy and separated, I tried to fix it, and THEN it became a congealed blob. I'm sure it got worse from there but I think I passed out.

[Dave]

It might just be me, but it looks like the elves are setting up Richard for a fall before the finals. I hope that's not the case, but it honestly looks like they're building up his own sense of pressure and expectations.

@Ally, I think part of the issue is that Richard has been to judge's table less than the rest of the field. If I remember correctly, there have been numerous episodes where he's been juuuust outside of the top or bottom 3, and if you're not in the top or bottom, you get 0 feedback.

Combine that with the fact that 1 top appearance was for RW, and his bottom was that 3-headed fish dish, and you can see how he can be wondering how his dish actually performed. Looking at the rest of the cast, almost everybody else left has 7 Elimination Challenge JT appearances. Antonia has 8, and Fabio was eliminated on his 9th. Meanwhile Blais has 6 and Mike I has 4.

I forget who said it on which season, but apparently the worst thing that can happen (well, besides being eliminated) is to end up in the middle, because you don't know why you're in the middle.

[Sprugman]

@ally, I read Gail's comment on Blais differently - not that they were split on whether or not it was good, but rather that they were split on whether he'd done enough with it. My take is that Fallon was expecting fireworks and got soup and was disappointed. I could be wrong, of course....

[Steve]

Carla showed episodes ago that she was not plagued anymore by the insecurities that nearly knocked her out early in her season. Clearly stronger than Antonia.

Dale had a Jennifer Norris couple of episodes - seasoning issues - but I don't doubt that he will rise out of the rut for the finale.

Blais, I'm sorry to say, falls into a similar category as Marcel. Whereas Marcel was pretty much mediocre all season but many folks would not acknowledge it, Blais has been good - but not great. He shared a win for a team challenge and then won Restaurant Wars for being the "consulting chef". As much as I love him, his stature has not been matched by his food. After this episode, I think he falls below Angelo, Carla and Dale.

Angelo, after a couple of undistinguished episodes, is back.

I go with:

Dale - this was just a bump
Angelo
Carla - most wins, but doesn't strike me as strong as Dale and Angelo at their best; and I do feel that Dale and Angelo will continue to cook at their best.

Richard

Antonia

Mike

Tiffany

[BritBrit]

Wow, Buitoni. I never thought I'd miss Glad product plugs, but here we are.

[timothy]

The rankings will be very interesting on Monday. There will be people that will put Dale at number one and others who will put him at five. I look forward to Dom's take. I actually think my rankings would be:

Carla
Angelo
Antonia
Richard
Dale
Mike
Tiffany

[Steve]

Poor Fabio. Didn't he see the TC episodes where everyone always get dinged for doing the meatloaf "hamburger"?

[Steve]

There is a four-part finale. Any news as to how many contestants get to compete?

[Nsam]

A four-part finale? Good grief, that sounds like overkill.

And yet, I am excited to see where it will be held. How are they going to top Singapore? I'm really curious.

[Steve]

Bahamas

[Anon man]

Povero Fabio. He's never made a burger before? I'll miss him even on a food level since the "all Italian all the time" was comforting. I won't miss his "I love it!" thing which was starting to sound like (and be annoying as) the Russian dude on DirectTV ads. (If you have no idea what I talking about, consider yourself lucky.)

Crazy Carla is back and comes away with the win anyway. As Fabio would say "I LOVE it." Looked like a good dish even though I will admit to not being fond of chicken pot pie.

I don't know when Carla and Matthew are going to have time to take these endless number of week long vacations all over the world. Congrats to team Hootie.

[redpoint]

Carla
Antonia
Angelo
Dale
Richard
Tiffany

I think this is what they deserve. Angelo and Dale tied for third. It looks like Blaise's ego is beating him, and what's worse, it's not allowing him to see or respect the talent in others.

[redpoint]

I forgot to rank Mike just above Tiffany.

[lb]

I have it

Carla - most wins
Angelo - several top appearances in EC challenges despite only winning 2 (plus that sauce and fondue looked inspired)

and the rest I'm not sure but Tiffany D is at the very bottom.

I was pretty worried for Angelo this week - so glad to see him do well in a QF for once too! They've been providing him a lot of endearing color throughout the season with others teasing him, etc. Maybe they're trying to improve his image after his first season? It ultimately means nothing as likeable winners are not a forte of this show but I do enjoy these little diversions.

[paula]

My thoughts on the remaining contestants:

Tiffany: No one said her dish tasted bad, just that it wasn't chicken and dumplings. Gail's blog says it was very tasty. I'd put her above Mike at this point, who's QF dish was apparently nasty and Tom didn't like his EC dish, either.

Mike: See above. Also, his personality annoys the hell out of me. Just go away.

Fabio: I'm really sad to see him go. He was such a fun addition to the mix, and I'm glad he redeemed himself after seeming like a goner for the first few episodes. I just like how he played the game and always had a great sense of humor and perspective on the whole thing.

Dale: I don't care for him much personally, though some of his zen interviews and wry comments have been pretty entertaining. He's great when he's working in his comfort zone, but he's too prone to spectacular flame-outs, so I won't be surprised or terribly disappointed if he misses out on the finals.

Carla: Just a wonderful personality and she is kicking ass, which is so fun to watch. I love how thoroughly sure she was that if she got chicken pot pie, she'd win, and she did! Because she's not one to overhype herself, when she said that, I believed her. I want her in the finals. Way to go, Team Hootie, and enjoy your around-the-world adventures.

Antonia: I love her. I'd like to pass the bong with her and sing songs about beef tongue while Carla makes us chicken pot pie. The fact that Richard had to tell her exactly how to cook the beef tongue bugs me, but I still give her credit for turning the well-cooked meat into a nicely composed and apparently delicious dish. I'd like to see her in the finals.

Richard and Angelo: I offer a theory. Both of these guys can't help themselves when it comes to sharing their knowledge and techniques. They're capital-letter Food Nerds, which is awesome, and they love to share the love. They also have tremendous egos, which feeds that need to share. But in the past, when they've helped other contestants, it hasn't really hurt them--but I wonder if it might be this season. The people they're helping this time around aren't cooks who might be in over their heads; they're kick-ass chefs who had a real shot at winning their seasons. Helping them can definitely bite them in the ass.

I know all the chefs help each other to a point, and they should (tasting, offering little suggestions here and there, pitching in when a chef is really in the weeds). But telling someone exactly how to cook beef tongue when they've never cooked it before is terrible strategy.

Both these guys (well, Richard more than Angelo lately--curious, isn't it, that Angelo's saboteur edit has mysteriously disappeared) need to stop thinking of themselves as the best of the best, constantly flexing their muscles to their teammates. Play your own game, stay out of everyone else's, and let your food speak for itself.

I would like to see both these guys in the finals, because they're two of the most creative, innovative chefs this show has ever seen. Also, Angelo is just batshit crazy, but oddly endearing. I can't look away.

[ally]

@Sprugman: I meant to say that they questioned the "degree of deliciousness" not that some thought it wasn't delicious, so I think we read Gail's comment in the same way.

[Bart]

All this talk has jogged my memory of another favorite part of the show - of Jimmy Fallon and Carla geeking out over the crust on the bottom of the chicken pot pie.

For those of you who suspect that Carla was named the winner because she'd make for great TV, I humbly submit this as Exhibit A:

Tom: "Can't talk now, too busy eating."

When Tom Colicchio, no stranger to Top Chef food, can't stop eating a dish, that is saying something.

[paula]

Here's something else I'd like to get some feedback on (sorry--slow morning at work):

I'd like to know why well-made "comfort food"--a.k.a. Carla's wheelhouse--is spoken of dismissively, while, say, well-made Asian cuisine--a.k.a. Dale's wheelhouse--gets him all kinds of respect. If you specialize in a certain kind of cuisine and make it all the time, have eaten it all your life, doesn't that even the score a bit, no matter what kind of food it is? This is actually a serious question, and not meant (solely) to provoke. I make comfort food, and I make Asian food. Once you get the hang of both styles, I don't know that I'd say one's harder to do than another. So why is one considered more Top Chef-worthy than the other?

[Independent George]

Blais pulled back at the exact moment the helmet and dry ice would have been of value; textbook definition for irony, not coincidence.

See, I completely disagree with that sentiment, and it actually ticked me off when Fallon said it. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but what that indicated to me that Fallon reallly doesn't understand what Richard does, or why he does it. It's something we've talked about before - techniques exist to improve flavors and textures; when you use them just to use them, it's pretentious and distracting. It's what Marcel does, and is why Marcel is gone. The fact that Richard made straight ramen, and seemingly pulled it off, makes it more impressive, not less.

I'd like to know why well-made "comfort food"--a.k.a. Carla's wheelhouse--is spoken of dismissively, while, say, well-made Asian cuisine--a.k.a. Dale's wheelhouse--gets him all kinds of respect.

I agree. Reading Gail's blog, it sounds like Carla really elevated it & knocked it out of the park with the dehydrated peas (pardon the mixed metaphor). Kind of like what I was saying above, good food is good food, and a chef shouldn't be penalized for it.

I'm also very biased here - I have a deep, deep abiding love for chicken pot pie, ramen, and pho, so this whole episode made me very, very hungry.

[jw]

Paula:
I think people don't respect "comfort food" because we're familiar (mostly, given certain assumptions about culture, etc) with it - i.e. "my grandma makes good chicken pot pie, how hard can it be"...which I actually think is a cop-out, because good food is good food, and even familiar comfort food can be made with an innovative twist, which Carla seems to be doing.

I also think it's a little ironic that Dale is getting all kinds of respect for doing, basically, comfort food of a different kind - the pho? the dishes made from the discarded fish parts? he directly linked that to the dishes he ate and learned in his childhood....

Thrilled that Carla won - also thrilled that Angelo seems to be back - would have loved to have tried that pork.

Richard? I LOVED him during season 4, but his ego has really put me off this season, from the beginning, with the "I should have won my season" remark. As an Atlanta resident, I've eaten at his restaurants multiple times, and I always think - great ideas, but not my favorite food. For what it's worth, I'd hands down rather go back to Kevin's Woodfire Grill for some of his "comfort food"....

[Kyle]

As of last week, it really feels like the competition is starting to heat up. My rankings:

1. Antonia - She may not have as many wins, but she has been solid. I think unless there's a week where everyone else performs perfectly, she's making it to the finals. Once she's there, I think she has a good shot.

2. Dale - Two weeks in a row now that I thought Dale was a complete goner. And right before that, he looked like he was in total control. I don't get the feeling he's done though.

3. Carla - I love to see her kick ass! It's hard to not want her to win. On top of that, I think I want to eat her food the most out of all of the chef's. On another note, I didn't comment on it but the work she did for the Mizrahi quickfire was absolutely gorgeous.

4. Richard - I didn't watch his season, but I just don't see the "wow". I basically have him and Angelo in my head together.

5. Angelo - I also don't get the "wow" from him, this season or last season. Today's dish was one of the first ones that really sounded awesome to me. Beyond food, sometimes he annoys me and sometimes I think his quirkiness is endearing. I wish he'd learn how to say "chipotle" though.

6. Tiffany - She's the one I'm rooting for and I had a feeling she'd stay around for quite a while. When she drew chicken and dumplings this week, I thought she was going to be in the top. When she said she was putting a southwest spin on it, I thought she had it in the bag. It didn't look like what I was expecting at all. She's way behind the top 5 at this point, but I see her outlasting a few more (maybe even getting sent home right before the finale again).

7. Mike - I would've ranked him last in my pre-season rankings, and I'm surprised he's stayed around this long. He's proven that he definitely knows how to stay out of trouble, but that won't last much longer.

Personality wise, I'm really ready for Mike to go - especially after this week's line where he substituted "gay" for "stupid" when talking about fondue.

4. Richard - D
3. Richard

4. Angelo

[Kyle]

Oops, ignore that jibberish at the bottom of my post.

[redpoint]

Richard's mind is nimble, possibly the most nimble, but does he put his soul in his cooking? I rank Antonia, Carla, Angelo, and Dale above Richard, because (from the perspective of the tv) their food has heart, whereas Richard's is all intellect.

[Naomi]

Tom's blog is finally up:
http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/blogs/tom-colicchio/from-beef-tongue-to-burgers-chicken-pot-pie-to-cheese-sauce

[paula]

I don't really think Richard's food is all intellect. He loves the toys and the gimmicks, and he gets a huge charge out of taking the expected and turning it on its head. But ultimately, I think what really gets him going is making something unexpected taste great. He has a childlike enthusiasm for the possibilities of food, and I think that can be considered soul.

[Bill G]

I'm probably the only one who won't miss Fabio. I'd had enough of him after week 2. Happy to see Angelo bounce back, I thought he had the win. In addition to his dish being tasty, he was innovative in a way that blew Tom's mind.
Two disasters in a row for Dale, I see a major drop in the rankings for him.
Carla & Antonia are dominating.
Blais doesn't seem to be enjoying himself and it seems to be affecting his cooking.
Impressed that Carla learned from her last win and contained her excitement when sending the bottom three out.

[pietranseri]

redpoint, I agree entirely. I often watch Richard and I'm fascinated -- I can hardly wait to see what he'll come up with next. It's fun to watch. I really is. But I don't often think, Get. In. My. Belly! with Richard's food.

I very often think that with Antonia, Dale and Carla, though. (And Kevin. How I wish Kevin had been along for this season).

I suppose where you rank Richard depends on how you value his inventiveness, versus Carla's ability to make beautiful, subtle changes to dishes, but still capture the spirit of the classics, or Antonio's ability to elevate simple (*drink!*) dishes.

[Danielle]

Following on what jw wrote:

I think people don't respect "comfort food" because we're familiar (mostly, given certain assumptions about culture, etc) with it - i.e. "my grandma makes good chicken pot pie, how hard can it be"

Those assumptions also give all us amateurs too much credit. What was the season where the judges said something like "good lord, any grandma could make a decent pie"? That was ridiculous. Sure, maybe, if your grandma came of age on a farm in the early 20th century. When did frozen pie crusts first appear... the 1950s? If you check community cookbooks, there's a lot of frozen pie crust and very few homemade-from-scratch.

At any rate, as my dad says, "You know what your grandmother used to make for dinner? Reservations."

[jordanhc]

I dont think anyone else brought this up yet, Im curious to understand how going on the Jimmy Fallon Show worked, I cant figure out if they actually went on a real episode. If they did go on it would have been months ago when they filmed and that would have given away the top 8 right? Anyone know what really happened?

[paula]

Fabio's blog today is awesome: http://fabioviviani.com/blog/

[Krazikarl]

Here's how you know how good Richard is:

People are bashing him simply because his food was only good for the last few challenges and not great.

Dale is bottom 3 the last two challenges and people are moving him UP. But Richard gets nearly universally positive comments and people are in a panic about him and see the need to move him way way down simply because he was merely good and not great while making Ramen noodles and being in an Italian challenge that was pretty far out of his wheelhouse (simple, no frills food that matches a classic ideal).

Expectations are an interesting thing, but lets take a step back here and look at what is actually being said about the guy's food. He hasnt been hanging on by the skin of his teeth the last few challenges (like Dale has), but has been getting good comments and just missing out on the top.

[Bill G]

In reading Fabio's blog I realize why I can't stand him.

[aaalex]

i'm sorry but, whatever i think about anything else in this world, there is only one truth: fabio is awesome, exactly as advertised by paula. i'm still laughing and, really, i may be laughing for a while thining about who i want to run me over with their car ...

[Sweet Sue]

Favorite line of the show? "Jimmy Fallon, Ima gonna make you a boooger an you-a- gonna falla on your knees."
Oh Fabio, sob, it just won't be crazy fun without you.
Bravo needs a new show that just follows Fabio around all day.
Congrats to Carla; I've never heard Tom say anthing quite like "too busy eating."
As far as comfort food getting little respect, I think it's because it's associated with women-my mom used to make, my grandma used to make, etc.
A woman in the kitchen doesn't get the same respect that Mr. Wizard does.

[Danielle]

Okay, this was good. From Fabio's blog:

... Dale is beating himself up with a stick of Pancetta that later on will bring home and cuddle with it cause he’s sorry that last time at rao’s he made it Blend….

[Independent George]

I often watch Richard and I'm fascinated -- I can hardly wait to see what he'll come up with next. It's fun to watch. I really is. But I don't often think, Get. In. My. Belly! with Richard's food.

Really? Because I think just that quite often - yesterday's ramen being the most recent example. Or the malta-braised pork ribs from the S4 pre-finale.

I think that when people think of Richard only in terms of his MG techniques (like Jimmy Fallon apparently did), they're making as big a mistake in thinking Carla can only do simple comfort foods. No, and no.

[mar]

Kyle wrote about Angelo: I wish he'd learn how to say "chipotle" though.

What's wrong with his pronunciation? He said it the way I learned it in Texas - ch-POTE-lay. There are some variations in accent but it's close. It's not like he said ch-pot-l.

[Karen B]

I was completely turned off by Fabio's blog-didn't think it was funny, but catty and mean-spirited. Oh well, one person's funny is another's distasteful!

[pietranseri]

Ind. George, I don't never think Get In My Belly in relation to Richard -- and you are right to point out the malta braised pork, because I did desperately want to try that -- but I don't often think that in relation to Richard's food.

I still expect to see him in the finale. Maybe Richard just gets such a cerebral edit that his food comes off as kind of cerebral, too? It is entirely possible I am a victim of the editing monkeys.

[mncharm]

I'm surprised by the comments on Richard here. Obviously, as we've said countless times, you can't know these chefs from watching the show. That said, I don't see the big ego that others are seeing. To me, it appears the other chefs have a tremendous amount of respect for him -- and to the extent he is "meddling," perhaps instances such as RW where his entire team credited him for elevating their dishes contribute to this.

I interpreted his last comment of the night to mean that he sees Carla as major competition...and who can blame him for being annoyed that he hasn't won any trips? Carla has certainly deserved her wins (and did last night), but if I were Richard, I'd be a little annoyed (not at Carla, just at the circumstances) that I didn't have any trips to go along with my wins.

For all I know, though, he's an arrogant ass in real life. I'm just not seeing it from the show.

Also agree that it seems to some extent that he's held to a higher standard -- anything less than a win seems to be a dissapointment. He's had no major failures this year (other than the ridiculous dish that seemed to be driven by Marcel), which I don't think any other contestant can say.

[dfan]

Kyle wrote about Angelo: I wish he'd learn how to say "chipotle" though.

What's wrong with his pronunciation? He said it the way I learned it in Texas - ch-POTE-lay.

I thought I heard him say chi-POL-tay.

[Kyle]

I heard chi-pol-tay too:)

[Alamos Road]

Uh oh. Shades of Season 7 Kenny "Beast in the Kitchen" from Richard during the quickfire challenge. "My competitors are out to get me"; "my competitors are threatened by me."

@mncharm: That's Richard who's holding Richard to a higher standard, and who thinks anything less than a win will be a disappointment.

[mncharm]

Alamos -- that's fine -- but just because Richard is holding himself to a higher standard (and I do think that yes, he probably does expect to win every challenge), why should we (for example, in terms of power rankings)?

[JJ]

"Angelo - I also don't get the "wow" from him, this season or last season. Today's dish was one of the first ones that really sounded awesome to me"

You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but since most of us don't get to taste the food we have to leave it to the judges' responses to gauge the "wow" factor of the food and, as others have said before me, Angelo is one of a small select group of contestants on all seasons of Top Chef whom the judges (Tom, in particular) have really been impressed by (in capital letters). And, by this, I don't mean just liked the food but were WOWed by it. For this reason, and for the level of competence he's shown this season (and with the return of his mojo this week) I'm kind of dumbfounded that someone could rank him as low as 5 out of 7!

As a side note: I agree with the previous comment about how this new season has been nothing but a positive for Angelo (unlike some other contestants, like Jaimie, who probably regret returning). No matter where he places – and I'm rooting for him to make the final – he has definitely lost the saboteur/creepy villain edit that the editors saddled with him last season. Loved the musical number performed by Angelo, Carla and Antonia. LOL.

[JJ]

Oh, and here's my rankings for what it's worth.
1. Angelo
2. Carla
3. Antonia
4. Dale
5. Richard
6. Mike
7. Tiffany

Look forward to Dom's! It's going to be interesting for sure.

[Danny]

Sorry, but Richard just seemed whiny this week. I don't consider having my tongue stick to food to be a plus.

Yikes, off to perform on a cruise ship next week and do not want to pay for the high-priced snail-like internet service on ships so I won't see the rankings. Honestly though, isn't it time that Carla move up the list?

[Bart]

@mncharm - I don't know about the others... and I really don't want to get into this too much... but the things Richard said about the quickfire rubbed me the wrong way. Stuff like, "I deserved to win, I was clearly the best, they'll just vote against me" (I'm paraphrasing here).

Really, Richard? Really?

[Independent George]

As a side note: I agree with the previous comment about how this new season has been nothing but a positive for Angelo... he has definitely lost the saboteur/creepy villain edit that the editors saddled with him last season.

You're only saying that because he's such a beautiful man :)

BTW, in S4, was it Dale that commented on Richard's nipples, or was it the other way around?

[paula]

I have to admit, when Richard was talking about how nobody would vote for him in the QF because they're intimidated by him, I was nodding my head. Do I think Richard has a big ego and has been puffed up by all the praise he's gotten since his season? Yes. Do I think he's justified in feeling that way? Yes.

But it does make me like him just an eensy bit less.

[rabrab]

Why is 'comfort food' is so easily dismissed? "Familiarity breeds contempt." That knowledge has been around since the ancient Greeks.

I'm also wondering if Richard's fondue was ranked so low in part because the nitrogen made the chocolate banana bite too cold; that the extreme cold killed the flavor...

[paula]

It's "stir the pot" time! Has there ever been a male contestant who's been under-appreciated/under-ranked because his style was deemed "comfort food," the way some of the wimmenz have?

(Seriously bored at work. I fully accept that this argument/suggestion may hold no water whatsoever. Just throwin' it out there for the fun of argument.)

I'm thinking about Kevin Gillespie. When I think of the dishes he won the most praise for (based solely on my memory of a two-years-past season), I remember them as hearty, meaty, Sunday dinner type stuff, but elevated. I wonder what his recipes would look like side-by-side with Carla's? Maybe they're very different in terms of complexity--could be. But if not (and I know, that's a big if), it's interesting to note that he was universally lauded as a great chef and was consistently top-ranked, despite what might legitimately be called "comfort food."

Again: This suggestion is brought to you straight from the top of my head and may have absolutely no basis in reality. We now return you to your regularly scheduled commentary.

[doktarr]

This was the first week where I agreed 100% with Dom's rankings, and it was also the first non-team episode where I successfully predicted winner, top, middle, bottom, and out before the judge's table. That said, I think it was a short-lived run of understanding this season; I don't really have a strong opinion on this coming week's rankings, except that Mike and Tiffany are probably on the bottom.

Hope you have some vacation hours to use, matthew!

[Skillet Doux]

Paula...

Regarding Pork Jesus, two thoughts. First, he most definitely was not universally lauded as a great chef. We all liked him around these parts, but I'm still shocked by how often I see comments elsewhere talking about how his stuff looked like home-cooked meals, how he obviously wasn't in the same league as the Voltaggi, etc. etc. I think those people are stupid, but they're also numerous.

As far as how Kevin's and Carla's dishes look side-by-side, to me -- as somebody who looked very carefully at the recipes -- they looked *VERY* different. The thing about Kevin's food was that it projected this very rustic simplicity, but he used some very smart and very unconventional pairings and techniques. And he tended to use very few ingredients, but he'd wring everything he could out of every ingredient he used. I'm working off memory here... it's been a while since I've perused his recipes. But that's what I remember of him.

Carla, to contrast, tends to use far more traditional flavors and pairings. She gets in her tweaks and twists and signature touches, but she's usually working from a very traditional flavor palette. She's also not the slightest bit afraid of throwing 40 ingredients at a dish if she thinks it's appropriate, which I don't ever remember seeing Kevin do (though I'm sure he probably did at some point).

So I guess in some ways, to my mind, they both do comforting food (though I hate to pigeonhole them so simply), but while Kevin made it interesting by putting unconventional ingredients and pairings into very simple, approachable formats, Carla makes it interesting by taking more conventional ingredients and pairings and executing them with an exceptional amount of care and elevating them with some very subtle but important refining touches. And I also don't mean to suggest that they aren't both eminently capable of stepping out of those boxes. But yes, generally speaking, both comforting, but very, very different to my mind.

I know it's an oversimplification, but if you're around, Matthew, I'd be really curious to see if you and Carla feel that's a fair characterization.

[anne]

Richard needs a hug.

[paula]

I didn't realize the rest of the world didn't feel Kevin had a rightful place in the Four Horsemen lineup. And yeah, I can see what you're saying about Kevin's recipes vs. Carla's...

Still, though. I'm kinda fascinated by this idea of comfort food being seen as not "chef" food, the association of comfort food with "the way girls cook," and how these things might relate to why women are underrepresented and (allegedly) undervalued in professional kitchens. And I do still wonder about my original question--has there been a guy on this show who's been accused of only making "comfort food" and was undervalued for that reason?

[Independent George]

This is a week late now that the Super Bowl is over, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to make the NFL QB comparisons:

Angelo - Tom Brady. He's a beautiful man.
Richard - Peyton Manning. A technichian that makes difficult plays look routine, unfairly criticized for choking.
Dale - Phillip Rivers. An elite competitor whose talent is sometimes overshadowed by his temperament.
Carla - Matt Ryan - A successful, talented player who somehow always seems to get overlooked.
Antonia - Joe Flacco - Another big-game talent that seems to get overshadowed by flashier players.
Tiffany - Eli Manning. Undeniably talented, but erratic. Makes hard plays look easy, and easy plays look hard.
Mike - Jay Cutler. Talented, but abrasive, inconsistent, and far too sure of his own skills
Fabio - Brett Favre. He just has fun out there.

I wish Will Allen still commented here.

[jh]

@paula- S1 was so long ago, but perhaps Dave? I remember when he won with mac n cheese, and I had the impression he wasn't highly regarded on the same level of Harold, Tiffani, and Le Anne.

@IG- like the analogies. I might even have had Carla as Aaron Rodgers for the same reasons. He didn't get invited to the Pro Bowl, but look who's laughing now.

[Bart]

If Cliff came back as an All-Star and rocked it, he could have been Mike Vick.

[ally]

IG: Fabio is Brett Favre? I don't see it. What struck me last night is that Fabio said he wished he could have stayed a little longer, but didn't seem to think it was because he would show them that he would win. Favre is in it to win it every time. How about Fabio as Mark Sanchez - nice hair, does a good job, can flame out if he's not comfortable (-10 degrees in New England is the football equivalent of having to Kook a Boooorger).

[mncharm]

Jamie is Jay Cutler. Wouldn't play with an ouchy.

ZING.

Dom, I big immediate forgiveness. :)

[Independent George]

Jamie is Jay Cutler. Wouldn't play with an ouchy.

I actually thought of that! I wish I had done the comparisons a few weeks ago for that alone, but then, I would have had to come up with comparisons for Marcel, etc.

If Cliff came back as an All-Star and rocked it, he could have been Mike Vick.

Yeah, I deliberately stayed away from the dogkiller. The rapist, too.

[Independent George]

Oh, and Fabio as the Sanchize is perfect. Nice one, Ally.

[Laura C]

Wow. I was not familiar with Television Blend but I've just been reading their rankings and I'm stunned at the scale of the ignorance and misjudgment over there. Never mind the consistent underrating of Carla, check out the view that Marcel was one of the greatest threats of the competition. He was in a weak season and barely slipped through to the finals, without many wins along the way. I think his reputation for always doing foams was undeserved and I'll make that point until the cows come home, but nonetheless he was a fairly underwhelming competitor.

[rab01]

IG -- yeah, I'd have compared Isabella to Roethlisberger if not for that. Great list.

Ally - the Jets won that game in New England, just saying :)

[ally]

rab01, I think they lost 3-45 at New England in December, just sayin ;)

[Independent George]

Dom's challenge for the Power Rankings: continue the NFL analogies, only with kickers.

[jh]

Or maybe NFL coaches. Any dibs on who's Bill Belichick or Rex Ryan?

[pietranseri]

Yeah, but, the Jets did beat the Pats, in New England, in January. When it mattered.

I love the Sanchez comparison. Fits much better than Favre, imho.

[TxGriff]

I was one of the first people to bring up the "people remember my season for me losing" comment way back in episode 1, but gosh, I'm starting to feel kind of sorry for Richard. I agree with everyone that his comments were off putting, and that his performance so hasn't quite lived up to the hype, his own or otherwise. Which isn't to say that he's performed poorly (he hasn't), just that his peaks don't seem as high as they did in S4. I'm waiting to be WOWED, and it hasn't happened yet. Is that do in part to unrealistic expections that are outside of Richard's control? Possibly. But who's to say that Richard isn't partly responsible for perpetuating those expectations (I think he is)?

I do think mncharm has some good points. Part of what we (I) expect from Richard trancends his food- in S4, he came across as a kind, intellectual, incredibly talented, but humble person. The more exposure he gets, the more complexity we see, and he doesn't fit the cooker-cutter mold the editors previously created for him. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just that now when I hear Richard say something (seemingly) arrogant, I'm totally taken aback, and my perspective on who "Richard Blais" is changes. However, someone like Marcel or Mike I. could make a similar comment, and it barely even registers with me, because I expect those behaviors from them (the expectations existed from the beginning, in other words). Is it fair to hold Richard to a different standard when similar behaviors from others are excused, or at least, expected in some capacity?

Really, these are just my own musings, I don't mean to imply that everyone here is thinking along the same lines I am.

On another note, Angelo has officially creeped his way into being one of my favorites. He's obviously talented, but beyond that he's just kind of crazy (in a good way), and elicits such interesting reactions from the other contestants. On that note, I think Dale has a little man crush- first the comparison to being a merman, now a musing on his beauty, tight pants and see through shirts? His Russian bride better watch out! If she's even around anymore...

[Scott]

I think what bothers me is that the food being cooked is so boring. This really differs from Kevin in season 6 who cooked easy comfort food against the Volt brothers because Kevin's food was still interesting. it's the way these challenges are structured. I love Jimmy Fallon, but I mean he's not a food critic. So wasn't that fashion guy last episode. Where are teh big rigs in seasons past? I don't want to see a favorite contestant going out for cooking a freaking burger.

[rabrab]

Scott, I'm curious, why is it a problem that Jimmy Fallon isn't a food critic? (I'm not picking solely on you, but it was your comment as the latest in a number of similar complaints that inspired me to finally ask.)

What's wrong with having people who understand and love food, but don't get paid to eat (and write or talk about it) judging? I think Jimmy made a better judge than Toby ever did -- he was able to talk intelligently about what he liked and didn't. Toby struck me as more concerned with whether it was "dated" or "trendy".

[nomnomnom]

Haven't really read the comments here yet. I'm starting to lose faith in this season. The challenges really haven't been all that strong or creative. I'm really wondering if the loss of LeeAnn was really the shark jumping moment of the franchise. Take away the known personalities and histories and there isn't much else redeeming about this season.

They have just run through a varied set of regional cuisine one week after another. The challenges have been so narrow in scope nobody can really put any sort of style. What was fun about LeeAnn was that the chefs that truly had an underlying style were able to show it in each EC in their own way and succeed.

Now if the EC isn't right square in your wheelhouse you probably don't have a chance of reproducing the "right" food as if there is an answer to each question posed by the challenges.

[Alamos Road]

@Scott: I'm with you. Maybe we got spoiled by the panoply of big name chefs in Season 6 (which I chalked up to the Las Vegas venue), but the only challenge I've really loved this season was Episode 3, NY Finest, with the contestants cooking for Chang, Dufresne, et al. Cooking at Rao versus cooking at Joel Robuchon's? Doesn't thrill me.

[LB]

I go back and forth with Richard. I like that he helps people out to their benefit; I don't like how he treats it like a sacrifice. If it's so problematic, he shouldn't do it and no one would think worse of him.

I watched one of those un-aired clips with him and Dale and he talks about helping Antonia with the tongue. Then mentions even Angelo asked him something - could have been minor for all we know - and Richard dropped something walking over to Angelo which deprived his dish of some ingredient. I felt bad for Richard but if his point was about sacrifice, it's his own fault. Even Dale mentioned if it was wise to help others - albeit he phrased it as not trusting Angelo when there are only 7 people left.

Anyway either do it with a smile or don't do it at all.

[Duffy]

Is nomonomonom watching the same show as the rest of us?

[nomnomnom]

Agree Ep3 and maybe Ep1 are the only ones that stand out. The rest are totally forgettable so far. The quickfires are more memorable for being completely absurd rather than inventive.

[Redpoint]

Can we make a pact not to use the word wheelhouse anymore. :-)

[Redpoint]

I'll be Tigger to your Eeyore, nom. I'm having a great time.

[matthew]

I was over the moon about the show last night, but had to shut it down because I had to be at a conference at 7am today. I'm playing catch up with the comments, so I'll come back with something more substantive once I read everything. With that said...

1) Thanks for all the high fives and congrats! Carla just kept saying "Awwww" as I read her some of the comments from the first page. (She's on the train coming back from taping the Jimmy Fallon show.)

2)Dom - I think your characterization about Kevin and Carla is spot on.

[HF]

I wonder if Richard really thinks liquid nitrogen fondue was the best tasting thing at that table.

How does a professional chef "forget" that a Philly soft pretzel, the second thing Dale thinks of when he thinks of Philly food, might be salty? Why even go with that gimmicky supermarket product in the first place (Hey look, Marge! They got rolls flavored like pretzels!) How does Dale not take a bite of it, think "Dammit that's salty" and scrape the salt off the bun? I'm hating Tom Colicchio's defense of it (it wasn't too salty at first, just after you ate it?). The lovely and luscious Gail Simmons (nice intro Padma) does a better job, and she makes Carla's pie sound pretty amazing.

What was Carla thanking Dale for at the end regarding her crust?

How can you not love Fabio, when he's all about the love?

[twelden]

Re: the complaints about the challenges, I don't really see that this season is any worse in terms of the number of "constrained" or "gimmick" challenges than past seasons. For example, Season 6 is viewed by many (including me) as the best TC season, both in terms of quality of contestants and challenges. And there were some terrific challenges - the French All-Stars challenge with Robuchon et al, the Bocuse d'Or challenge, and the Pigs and Pinot challenge come to mind. But the contestants were also sent camping, had to cook for the Thunderbirds with limited supplies/equipment, and had to cook for Natalie Portman at Craftsteak. Thus, while I would agree that the best challenges of Season 6 were better than the best challenges this season (so far, at least), the so-called gimmicky or constrained challenges are no better or worse than what was done that season, and don’t seem to be occurring any more frequently.

Also, I also can't help but wonder if TC is purposely going for more of an "everyman" vibe this year due to the economy. Perhaps the producers were concerned that viewers would be turned off by a series of "high-end" challenges where the contestants cook at restaurants where a single meal costs more than many families’ weekly food budgets. The dim sum challenge, Rao's, and even Fallon’s comfort food all have a certain "democratic" appeal to them ("democratic" in the general, not political party, sense of the word). Viewer this year might more easily "connect" to the experience of eating at a favorite neighborhood restaurant rather than at, say, Daniel. This is of course pure speculation on my part, but perhaps the producers are trying to capture what they perceive to be the zeitgeist of our time?

[HF]

"They have just run through a varied set of regional cuisine one week after another. The challenges have been so narrow in scope nobody can really put any sort of style."

Seems that way to me too, at least the last 2 shows... "A burger's supposed to be this, you didn't give us a burger. Chicken and dumplings are supposed to be that, risotto's supposed to be the other thing, you didn't give it to us."

[Steve]

How are you doing, Dom?

I hope they take four to the finale!

[TxGriff]

I really should proof read my comments before posting them. I look back at them only to find misspelled (and sometimes made up) words, poor grammar, punctuation errors...and unfortunately my shame remains eternal on the internet once the comments are posted and there to stay. Oh well. Keeps everything authentic :).

About Jimmy Fallon judging, it didn't bother me. I think it's good to have a mixture of chefs/critics/food enthusiasts on the show. He made some thoughful comments and really seemed to be a big fan.

Nom- you're not enjoying this season, really? I think it's been my second favorite, after S6. Which season did you like best? I agree a few of the challenges of been gimmicky (next week's previews in Target don't look promising...although the thought of Anthony Bourdain eating in a Target is really funny to me), but there are gimmicks every season.

[bryanD]

Thx TxGriff for interrupting that NFL sidebar.
(TC-driven *bisexual Angelo* meme morphing into 'merkin Sports Talk! coincidence? YOU BE THE JUDGE! :o)

Re: Blais. Barcode Butt is generous in action (cooking advice for Antonia, etc) so screw Das Elfin and their voiceovers. Barcode Butt is a good soul, yet being of a philosophical bent, he tends to announce Himself. Simply a personality trait. Any popularly perceived arrogance on his part must be weighed against BB's clear lack of deviousness.

Congrats to Carla. Am I the only person here that thinks (with some very minor advance work) Carla has the potential to be a sensation in Japan? TV? Animated billboards? Anime muse?

"I love Jimmy Fallon, but I mean he's not a food critic. So wasn't that fashion guy last episode."---Scott

I've only known Fallon from his fish-face being in the Pop sections of Gawker and HuffPo, etc. I must say, though, that he was an excellent food guide IMO. And his "people" were funny. Jimmy Fallon Show: WIN! This TC episode: maybe the best so far this season. (The fondue challenge was good! Dale's: nice, but not fondue-friendly: 2nd Place. Antonia's GENIUS! (chipped beef angle!))

"I don't want to see a favorite contestant going out for cooking a freaking burger."---Scott

I would love to see ULTRA "SIMPLE"(tm) omelet, quiche, burger, and steak ECs done early in the season to eliminate the chaff, the delusional, and appliction-fibbers.

Of course, such exhibitions might embarrass TC casting offices, thus culinary spirographs.

"Why even go with that gimmicky supermarket product in the first place (Hey look, Marge! They got rolls flavored like pretzels!)"---HF

Ha-ha! It's so funny because Dale might as well have been a Martian! From MARS!

"Also, I also can't help but wonder if TC is purposely going for more of an "everyman" vibe this year due to the economy."---tweldon

That would be absurd and anti-historical. Say, the escapism of the Bleak 1930's versus the muckraking of the Booming 19OO's. But as this is Top Chef, you may well be 100% right. (Certainly next week's chinese plastic linoleum flourescent-lit Target-flog looks to be diarrhea-inducing for even the very driest space-dust robot.)

[bryanD]

"---(next week's previews in Target don't look promising...although the thought of Anthony Bourdain eating in a Target is really funny to me)"---TxGrff

YOU'RE GOOD, TG! Excellent point! If neo-punk and publick jester, Anthony Bourdain, lets the ridiculous chow-call to the center of low-ceiling'd Target-Hell go un-commented-upon (La Bourdain), then Tony might as well retire to a chalet somewhere and concentrate on "hookers and blow". And his *cough* Fiction.

[Independent George]

How does Dale not take a bite of it, think "Dammit that's salty" and scrape the salt off the bun?

He probably tasted each component separately, which were apparently very good individually. I would also guess he didn't taste the bun because he didn't prepare an extra sandwich, and it's a bit gauche to serve a sandwich with a bite mark in the side of it.

[Allison]

Mostly loving the show & thoroughly enjoying the blog the past few weeks, but haven't had much time to read/write/post.

If anyone's out there, Carla's on Jimmy Fallon tonight making her chicken pot pie.

[matthew]

@HF - Carla said she thanked him because Dale was very calm and gracious (putting up with her whirlwind) as she was flipping out trying to plate the 12th "beauty plate" with just a minute left on the timer.

Here's a link to her segment on Jimmy Fallon last night. http://bit.ly/gDrCap

Carla also did a funny, behind-the-scenes clip with Andy Cohen - http://bravo.ly/foJQnU

[Naomi]

Hee hee ... Carla said boobies ...

[paula]

TxGriff: Well said on Richard. That's how I feel, too.

BryanD: I rarely understand a word you're saying, but it's kinda fun trying to figure it out. :)

[pietranseri]

Good to see Gail back last night. Are we ever gonna get Gail and Bourdain together? I might explode with joy.

[TxGriff]

Ha, paula, I agree about bryanD's comments. I feel like I understand the overall message, but some of the particulars elude me.

Someone made this comment before, but it's so funny how identities are created on this blog. I can tell a bryanD post before looking at the username. Same with nomnomnom. And aaalex. And many others, I'm sure. We have a great little internet community!

[Bill G]

"How can you not love Fabio, when he's all about the love?"

I think he's better suited for a Vegas lounge act than a cooking competition. He's all about the love when he's being complimented but he can't take the slightest criticism and he turns into a whiney baby when he doesn't agree with a decision.

[redpoint]

-Interesting watching the extended judges table clip. Jimmy Fallon said Richard was close to being in the bottom 3.

-Loved Carla's clip with Andy Cohen: Carla being asked who's the hottest chef in the cast, and saying Mike is the sweatiest.

[paula]

Fabio's not all about the love, people. Carla is! And in a more disturbing way, Angelo is.

To paraphrase a good quote from a bad movie: "We can love our [food]. We just can't LOVE our [food]."

[mncharm]

TxGriff, many things well said.

Perhaps most disturbingly, I agree with you on Angelo -- whereas before I used to have to take a shower after watching Top Chef, I now find the creepiness amusing. Yikes.

Love the NFL kicker comparisons. Yeah, I'm doin' it, 'cause I like football.

Richard in S4 = Gary Anderson. Perfect season, honks the big kick when the pressure's on.

Jamie = Shane Suisham. Kicks so far off, why even bother trying?

Carla = the Gramattica brother who injured himself celebrating. :) (All in good fun; just had in mind Dale ducking for cover while Carla plated the last dish.)

[Jse91]

Pea salt? Is that a thing? I am just uneducated. But what a great idea. One of the blogs mentioned that I was a really great addition to the dish.

In the very beginning of the show, when they were hanging out in the bar, it was clear that Mike was being a total dick to Antonia about her win. Fabio was surely giving her a hard time, but was a attempting to be lighthearted. Though you could Antonia knee there was some bias in his banter. But she said that Mike was the only one who wouldn't congratulate her. For me, this leaves no room for doubt. Mike is a sexist jackass.

[Jse91]

Sorry about the mistakes in the last post. Sometimes my iPhone takes liberties with my writing.

[redpoint]

In the Jimmy Fallon clip, Carla demonstrated how to make pea salt: simply grind dehydrated peas with salt in a spice grinder. She didn't show re-making it into little balls, like it looked on Top Chef. Wonder how it tastes; it doesn't sound exciting, but I guess it could be.

[mncharm]

Anyone else think Fabio would have done better if he had served his burger with melted Velveeta? I honestly think it would have improved it.

[Independent George]

Velveeta is wildly underrated as an ingredient. No, it's not 'real' cheese, but sometimes, fake cheese has its uses.

[mncharm]

IG -- amen. I am not embarrassed to list nacho cheese in my top five cheeses. Yes, unusual to see it on a cheese plate, but agreed that hardly means it is without merit.

[Skoolie]

I've been thinking about Carla and why some/most don't think she is a force to be reckoned with. I think it goes back to a few judgments we tend to hold.

She doesn't hold a piece of paper from CIA - We forget that talent comes from within and skill comes from learning. If you've got talent you can learn if you don't have the talent then your just a master of skill.

She doesn't sing her praises - She's not constantly talking herself up.

We are tricked into thinking that complexity always rules over simplicity. This isn't true. A Chinese water color may only have 30 brush strokes where as Van Gogh may have over 3 thousand. Each beautiful and yet not above the other.

We suffer from "We can do that" syndrome - A chicken pot pie, we can make a chicken pot pie, but no one make Carla's chicken pot pie. The judges say sometimes simple is best but they also know that the flavor has to be there, it has to be elevated, this is top chef all stars after all. We can't taste it from the TV. Obviously there was something very special there.

I think after Tiffany goes home we'll be at some strange apex where it really is anyone's game.

Can the Dark Horse with the soulful love and positive outlook keep trudging on?

Will the Professor blow himself up in some sort of strange chemical experiment

Will Angelo Ever find the speed between bad ass and cry baby?

Will Dale eventually let his temper get the best of him?

Will Mike ever get out of the middle, will he fail to execute a lamb dish?

Can Antonio keep consistent, or will she fall to execution.

All Stars has been a tough one to call.

[jw]

Another random thought to add to the "de-valuation of comfort food" discussion: After seeing the preview for next week's show....why is it that when guys make comfort food, the judges call it "stoner food"?

[redpoint]

Fantastic observation jw. If a woman made it, it would be called grandma food.

[Skoolie]

I've met a lot of stoners in my day and I've never seen them cook mussels and fennel or chicken pot pie, unless you are talking about heating up a Marie Callender.

A stoner's cullinary talents lie with menu items such as easy cheese and ritz crackers, out of the box mac and cheese, Shake and Bake Chicken, and memorizing the numbers of pizza hut and chinese take out places while remembering to order enough chinese donuts to feed your roommates.

Just saying :P

[mncharm]

I know Bourdain has pulled that out once or twice, including once for a Dale dish earlier this season, but don't recall the exact dishes. In any event, I think its a small enough sample size to read anything into it.

Plus, I tend to agree w/ Skoolie, I don't equate comfort food with stoner food.

[Ramodres]

Here is my ranking of the first 7 seasons, ordered first to last. (Including my choices for the 4 strongest chefs from each season, winner listed first)

Season 6
Michael Voltaggio, Kevin Gillespie, Bryan Voltaggio, Jennifer Carroll

Season 4
Stephanie Izard, Richard Blais, Dale Talde, Antonia Lofaso

Season 3
Hung Huynh, Dale Levitski, Casey Thompson, Tre Wilcox

Season 5
Hosea Rosenberg, Stefan Richter, Carla Hall, Fabio Viviani

Season 7
Kevin Sbraga, Angelo Sosa, Ed Cotton, Kelly Liken

Season 1
Harold Dieterle, Tiffani Faison, Lee Anne Wong, Dave Martin

Season 2
Ilan Hall, Elia Aboumrad, Marcel Vigneron, Sam Talbot

P.S. - I based my ranking on my perception of which season had the strongest chefs, but I also think this could serve as my ranking of favorite seasons too.

[matthew]

Given Antonia's comment about smoking pot a few episodes back, you'd think she might have some insight on whipping up some stoner food. :-D

[HF]

matthew, thanks for the explanation (Carla was great on Late Night)!

@ Fabio critics, I thought most of Fabio's "whining", this season at least and with the exception of Bourdain's making fun of him, was tongue in cheek. I think he was having fun with Antonia regarding fennel being French. I don't think Fabio was expecting to go the distance, so he was just trying to have fun, enjoy the perks, build his brand name and learn a trick or two. He took the meatloaf burger criticism graciously and exited with a smile and kisses all around. Go back and watch how warmly everyone seemed to be towards him when they were hugging good bye. My opinion, for what it's worth.

[ally]

To be honest I'm sick of the more casual food/family style food/food served out of a moving van and would like to see some fine dining.

[Nikki L]

Ramadres -

I agree with everything except:
1. I would put Angelo first in his season (even though he didn't win, he seemed overall stronger than Kevin and he was sick for most of the finale)
2. Foe season 2 would go Ilan, Sam, Marcel, Ilia. At least definitely Ilia last. Sam was much stronger than her and I think her All Stars performance showed she was at least weaker than Marcel. I thought she kind of skated by most of the season.
3. I would put Stefan and Carla before Hosea.

I would also probably put season 7 3rd or 4th (probably 4th). Even though there were a lot of weaker chefs, I think Angelo has proven that they were relatively strong. I'm really starting to think that the lack of LeAnn may have had something to do with how exciting the season was as we are seeing that even with these great chefs, the show is a little less exciting due to the nature of some of the challenges.

[Anon Man]

Bourdain's "stoner food" comment was directed at the egg and pork belly dish in RW. I'm not sure what to make of it.

@Matthew, Thanks for the clips. The "bowl of compliments" line was beyond awesome. I think "compliments" will be the official name for salt in my kitchen going forward.

The clips are also good for demonstrating Dom's point about Carla's cooking being traditional, but with subtle cleverness. Pea salt = dried peas ground up with salt. Rocket science? No. Genius? Possibly. Clever? Absolutely. She uses all the basic usual ingrediants in a pot pie, but makes the broth a slightly more refined veloute and amps up the herbs (using Sage and Rosemary which are very classic with chicken, if not pot pie), and then, cooks scraps/pieces of dough to go at the bottom of the bowl, giving that soggy dough goodness that Fallon went nuts for, but also improves on by having it have the golden flavor from baking it. It looks like a pot pie. Having read the recipe, it sounds like it tastes like a pot pie in a comforting way, but also is modernized enough through herbs, pea salt and the slight deconstructing of it to make it memorable.

[John Coctostan]

I may be in the minority around here, but I don't miss Lee Anne being a part of the show. I thought it was great at first, and I imagine that it was beneficial to have a former contestant to know what is/is not reasonably possible when coming up with challenge ideas. However, I suspect that as time went on, and she spent more time on the production side (and farther away from being a contestant), she lost that perspective. The defining moment for me was the episode in S5 when the contestants had to cook a Thanksgiving meal for The Foo Fighters using only microwaves and hot plates (and whatever else could be improvised - go Gene!). We hated the gimmick, the contestants hated the gimmick, and they got hammered for not doing anything exceptional. No kidding. Lee Anne defended the challenge saying it shouldn't have been that hard as long as you got creative. At that point I said, "Yeah, she's gone to the Elves Side." Now, you could argue that she was merely being a good employee by defending the challenge, but that wasn't the vibe I got from her blogpost.

It should be noted that next week's episode looks like an even more gimmicky version of the episode I just mentioned. If these chefs excel at wowing the judges, then it puts the lie to some of my argument above, but, hey, these *are* all-stars.

[SteveNJ]

Just watched the clip from the Jimmy Fallon show. LMAO. Carla was so funny and personable. Nice to see her in a non-competitive setting. If she had a show I would definitely watch her.

[redpoint]

--Anyone else annoyed by the Team Top Chef blog? Is the writer the new LeAnn? So flip, so lacking in substance. LeAnn's blogs were at least more interesting.

--Is it sacrilege? Season 6 was actually one of my least favorite seasons (except 2 and 1, tho I enjoyed them at the time). I was rooting for Kevin. I couldn't get into rooting for any of the other contestants. Mike V. acted like a jerk. Bryan seemed fine, but reminded me of a dentist. Eli and Mike I. acted like asses, and were really mean to Robin, who was also really annoying. Jen didn't interest that much me as a person--she reminded me of a jock. Mmm. Maybe Ashley was also someone I rooted for, but unfortunately she got out too soon. Okay, so the top 4 or 5 made some interesting food, and that saved the season, but I only had one person to root for, so i don't have great memories of it.

-The season I most enjoyed was 4. Followed by 5, then maybe 3&7.

[Naomi]

Team Top Chef blog? Is the writer the new LeAnn?

I believe the person who writes that blog is an editor for Bravo's website - she doesn't work on the tv shows. I haven't read it much this season but in past seasons, she approaches it more as a fan than as an insider as she doesn't actually have anything to do with the show itself, if I'm understanding correctly.

[timothy]

You all got me thinkin' that stoner food would be such a great quick fire challenge! They could go to NYU and serve dorm kids at 2 AM. I am pretty sure liquid nitrogen bananas would do pretty well in that one.

[Anon]

Did anyone see the extended Target EC sneak peak on Hulu? Crossing fingers that Carla isn't in trouble next week.

[Vega]

I flailed and screamed like a little girl when Carla won. I am such a Carla fangirl. Maybe *now* people will start giving her the respect she so richly deserves.

[paula]

Timothy: They did do a challenge like that! I forget which season (Casey's season?), but they served out of trucks outside a strip of bars at 2am. They told them they were getting dressed up for a night out, then made them cook. So cruel. ;)

[pietranseri]

But Paula, timothy has taken this a notch up. Food trucks are so trendy. And timothy, they shouldn't go to NYU or Columbia or Barnard -- take them to Queens College or up to Fordham and let them serve in a dorm there. That would be awesome.

[foodiewannabe]

Got my Food & Wine the other day - great Carla article -will try her asparagus soup with parmesan shortbread coins - well within my skill level "wheel house". I was admittedly not a gung ho fan in her season - the more this season progresses I am so impressed with her - not just her culinary skills but the person - grounded, self-aware and probably one of the most successful contestants, now and in the future, because of the aforementioned traits that propel her to succeed within a framework of who she is, as a chef and a person. What a lovely gal.

[paula]

Here's a good challenge for the future: Have them go through an EC. Send them all to the stew room for hours, where they'll all naturally get drunk and paranoid. Then send Padma in to say: "Just kidding! That wasn't your EC. Your EC is actually to cook us a three-course breakfast using only Byootoni meals and Swanson broth, each course served artfully in a Glad bag. We'll be waiting for you in the Prius. Your time starts now!"

[timothy]

Paula, I missed that one! Season 3 is the only season of which I haven't seen every episode. Pietranseri: yeah, your idea is better. When I said "NYU" I suppose I was revealing the breed of stoner that I know and love and have been/occasionally am.

[garik16]

I really can't watch any dorm episodes without being disappointed at this point when the chefs don't use the shower to make their pasta.

[jh]

I'm always disappointed in the morning when my cheerios don't magically turn into a smurf village.

However, I keep a bag of cheetos in case I don't have velveeta for mac 'n cheese.

[timothy]

garlik16: seriously. Have you ever lived in a really, really small apartment and found yourself using the shower as part of your kitchen? I'm just sayin'...I'm no Hubert Keller, but sometimes these things happen.

[matthew]

Check out the article with Fabio from TV Squad

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/11/top-chef-elimination-interview-/

What jumped out, more than anything, was Fabio's declaration that the of the seven remaining chefs, all the men had superior skills compared to the three remaining women. I don't necessarily want to kick the gender can around some more, but, regardless of my attachment to Carla, the bright line drawn between the remaining men and women was too hard to overlook. The insult added to injury in the piece was Fabio saying that Carla, Antonia, and Tiffany are on par with him in terms of culinary skill, and are incapable of mastering things like the guys. Ugh!

This got me to thinking about the dynamic that gets shown only briefly during the episodes. We briefly get shots of all the guys sitting out on the patio/deck of the apartment talking and drinking...drinking and talking. It definitely gives off the vibe of a boys club, and I suspect that is not much different than what a lot of female chefs experience in the culinary circles. It seems that only the "bad ass" (read: acts, drinks and swears like the guys) female chefs, like Jenn, are welcomed into the frat.

[timothy]

matthew, thanks, as always, for your comments. yeah, that's all very infuriating. all i know is that i have been craving chicken pot pie for the past five days. none of the other chefs on that show trigger such responses in me. i mean, for all his skill, i have never craved mike isabella food. anyway, i could go on, but the fratboy culture of the food world does come across on the show. and i think that is one of the reasons carla is so beloved: it's not that there is something so wrong with the bad ass prototype (until, you know, someone does something harmful), but it's just nice to know that that model is not the only model. if a person can be said to stand for something based on how they come across on reality tv, then i'd say carla stands for being one's self, making amazing food in a professional way, kindness and sincerity without being fake, and just all around excellence. more power to her!

[aaalex]

matthew: nothing personal, but your spin on fabio's words is more severe than fabio was.

the question was: You spoke well about Mike, Richard, Dale and Angelo. Don't you think as highly of Carla, Tiffany and Antonia?

and the answer: "No, I don't think about them in the same way for one reason and it's the same reason I didn't win. Mike, Richard, Dale and Angelo are the most well-rounded chefs in this competition. This is not "Top Passion" or "Top Heart." This is 'Top Chef.' I don't think that Carla, Tiffany or Antonia have the skills to be 100 percent knowledgeable about everything. The four guys have big knowledge and I think that will get them to the finale.

Don't get me wrong. I have great respect for Carla, Tiffany and Antonia, but they are like me. They are one-sided chefs. Carla does very homey, comfort food. Antonia does American food and sometimes French. Tiffany does soul food. I do Italian, that's my limitation. It is what it is."

i have to say, i think he's right that his own limitations are what hampered him. (cultural limitations even more than culinary.) i think he may be right about tiffany's being limited, too.

about antonia ... it seems more complicated. during season 4, antonia cooked simply and was less impressive than either stephanie or richard. (miles beyond lisa, of course, but that's another - very instructive - story.) "impressive" meaning, as fabio has it, possessed of real range. this season, antonia hasn't exactly shown that she's developed great range. she does what she does well. (i like her, would like to eat her food, and hope she gets to the finals, but you couldn't mistake her for stephanie or richard or either of the voltaggios or kevin) i think fabio's right about her, ultimately, but mistaken that "range" is the capital thing in a winning chef. (again ... lisa fernandes making the final comes to mind.)

where fabio gets it completely wrong is, of course, with carla. i really don't know why her "french technique" moment hasn't registered with him. i actually wonder why fabio thinks she went further than he did on season 5. (and how he rationalizes her going further than him this time, too.) maybe he thinks she's lucky. but for those of us watching, the most striking thing about season 5 - aside from producing the least impressive winning chef of all - was precisely the revelation of carla's range. maybe people fixate on her "love" moment and took her for someone too spacy to be real. hard to say, but if there's any single chef who is most undeservedly belittled, it's carla.

about dale, richard, angelo, isabella ... i think fabio is only half right. dale when pushed out of his comfort zone is not THAT impressive. isabella seems at least as limited as antonia (and it was interesting hearing antonia complain that isabella without his moroccan spices is lost) but isabella doesn't have antonia's ability to exactly deliver on what she promises.

angelo and richard do seem to have more range than any of the others still left. angelo, in particular, has performed pretty well in most circumstances. but their range isn't necessarily what's going to do it for them. in fact, richard's most self-revealing moment came when he mentioned that he sometimes has trouble editing himself. in other words, his "range" offers him too many possibilities and that can hamper.

still ... whether you think fabio is right or wrong, he is consistent. he places himself not with richard or dale or angelo. (nor did any of them think that highly of fabio's skills. richard called him "a magician", but that's a bit of a put-down, since it somewhat denigrates fabio's technical ability.) fabio places himself with those he - and to an extent WE - see as "limited". (i remind you that, at the start of this season, dominic had carla 10th, tiffany 12th, and antonia 13th out of an initial field of 18. of antonia, dominic wrote: "while she's technically sound and thinks well on her feet and could go deep because of it, her food fought to stand out in her own season, much less an all-star season, and particularly in a field where a lot of people can execute, it'll keep her out of the later stages.")

again, matthew, it's easy to get caught up in this fairly manufactured "boys vs girls" vibe. but if you allow that fabio was speaking as a fairly informed professional chef (as opposed to a chauvinist), he didn't assess his competitors much more differently than many of us did. (i agreed with dominic's pre-season predictions, thinking only that jamie wouldn't go that far.) so, i guess i'm saying, i was much less put off by what fabio said about carla, tiffany and antonia than you were.

[Bart]

It's been mentioned before, but I think that the perceptions exist partly because the girls lack swagger (I use that term very, very loosely).

Consider: Jen Carroll had swagger, and she found her way among the Four Horsemen, even as doubts were raised about her ability to cook food beyond seafood and sauce.

Consider: Carla has zero swagger, and never toots her own horn. But when she noted that she was classically trained in French technique, that was a major revelation. She doesn't say, "Oh look I'm a badass chef." She just cooks, and people like her food.

The same can be said for all the chefs who were humble. It's not a gender thing. Antonia and Stefanie didn't toot their own horn, but they clearly have exemplary skills. And on the other side, look at Kevin Sbraga or Kevin Gillespie: both were awesome chefs but they never went around announcing that they were badasses who had to be respected, like Kenny "The Beast" or, lately, Richard Blais.

They just cooked. And there's nobody but the judges to toot their horns for them. And when Carla's on, she's on. We've seen Tom and other guest judges fall over themselves when she hits it out of the park (her food in the penultimate episode of season 5 comes to mind). Ditto Kevin Gillespie and the other humbler chefs.

[EdT.]

aaalex scribbled: "where fabio gets it completely wrong is, of course, with carla. i really don't know why her 'french technique' moment hasn't registered with him."

Probably for the same reason he never accepted that Antonia's "French dish" beat out his "rustic Italian" dish at Raos. Because, to his ITALIAN mind, they're FRENCH. And therefore, not at the same level. Or even to be taken seriously. As you noted... it's a cultural limitation. Regional/cultural bias can be even more deep-seated than many of the "isms" we rail against.

~EdT.

[aaalexis]

EdT scribbled: "Probably for the same reason he never accepted that Antonia's "French dish" beat out his "rustic Italian" dish at Raos. Because, to his ITALIAN mind, they're FRENCH. And therefore, not at the same level. Or even to be taken seriously."

no, i don't think so. he teased antonia because he understood the challenge to be one centered on homey ITALIAN cooking and, with some justice, identified her dish a "moules a la mariniere", a standard FRENCH bistro dish. it wasn't a case of someone having no respect for french cooking, it was a case of fabio feeling he should have won because he followed the rules (ie. do us some home-style italian food) whether you agree that antonia's dish was french or not, fabio had a point and wasn't attacking french cuisine as a whole.

the fact remains, though, that carla's knowledge of french cuisine along with her penchant for american comfort food IS indicative of range. (just as richard's MG technique along with his nouvelle american cuisine is a sign of his "range".) maybe he wants carla to do asian as well as french as well as american. but of the competitors left, the ONLY one who - one suspects from the evidence we've been given - could pull all those off well is, maybe, angelo and, an iffier maybe, richard. dale and isabella seem as limited or MORE limited than carla.

but i'm inclined to go with what Bart wrote. carla is "sotto sotto" personified. you don't notice her until she passes you. she's passed fabio twice now. if fabio's capable of learning, he may just wake up and go "hmmm ..." when he thinks about carla's performances.

[aaalexis]

i mean, carla is, clearly, ninja trained.

[Anon Man]

As an Italian, I'm ok with Fabio's basic assumption that French cooking is inferior to Italian cooking. ;)

On the caliber of the remaining contestants, I think the differences, which happen to break on gender lines, is that the men all have clear styles: the scientist, two Asian devotees and Grek. The women, while they have their own styles, seem less easy to pigeon hole. I'm not sure that's a weakness given that its a competition. This isn't to say that they don't have styles (comfort, or straight-ahead, or New American for each of the three), but I think that they adapt well for each challenge.

[aaalexis]

anon man: a "grek"? that kind of works for describing isabella because i'm not really sure what his specialty is ... italian? well, he fucked up the pasta. moroccan? well, his lamb wasn't THAT good, by all accounts. spanish? he trained under jose andres, but doesn't seem all that spanish-influenced. (at least, he hasn't brought the tapas, this season ...) to me, isabella's as undefined as the three women, but in a bad way, since he doesn't seem to do anything all THAT well.

[timothy]

isabella cooks raw cactus really well

[matthew]

Thanks for the great points.

@Bart: I agree that Kevin S.and Ed didn't talk themselves up that much, but I was annoyed end with the constant back-and-forth and obsessing about each other -- particularly Ed's thing with Angelo. Yawn.

@aaalexis: I will say that I don't think the "boys vs. girls" thing is, necessarily, manufactured. To me, it something I see from season to season and is rather obvious. Take a quick scan of the last few comments on Fabio's contestant thread over at TWOP. You'll notice that a number of people also read of his comments to separate the guys from the women. I'm not looking to create/manufacturer issues...just calling it like indeed it. I do appreciate getting different perspectives, though.

@EdT: What I find interesting about the French/Italian dustup is that a number of renown chefs have averred that the dish can be found in Italy. I wondered if Fabio's idea of Italian food was limited to northern Italy, and he is not as familiar with southern Italian dishes. Kind of fits into the regional thing.

[aaalexis]

matthew: hmmm ... well, maybe "manufactured" isn't clear. there is, as has been pointed out constantly, gender bias in the profession. (it cuts both ways, as "top chef: just desserts" perhaps unintentionally showed.) no one doubts that men and women are not (inevitably) thought of or treated as equals in real life (and not, of course, exclusively in kitchens). BUT ... on top chef, the situation is "manufactured" in the sense that it is played for drama, for tension, and for entertainment. the producers of top chef USE the gender divide for entertainments purposes. (i mean, really, did we NEED to see the whole tiffani bra-less thing?) so, "manufactured" =, for me, has to do with what happens on this television show, not what happens in real life. i find myself going on and on about this, but it is important to make a distinction.

[Anon Man]

@aaalexis, damn typo. I meant Greek. Yes, I know Mike is opening an Italian place here in DC, but he cooks a lot of Greek flavors (see, lamb fondue with feta. See, also, his comment from his season about "needing his yogurts".) Although, nice to see you take the typo and run with it.

Mike's clearly a good chef, but under pressure he runs to Greek flavors. That's my larger point on the men: in a pinch, I have some assumptions about what they are going to do. I don't think of Carla or Antonia or Tiffany and say "when they are in the weeds, they're going to do X".

Oh, and for the record, I think fennel and mussels is Italian.

[aaalexis]

anon man: i don't want to get into a spat about italian, but ... "Oh, and for the record, I think fennel and mussels is Italian. "

no. actually, "fennel and mussels" are neither "italian" nor "french". they're ingredients used by the french, the italians, the greeks, the spanish ... by whomever, wherever they're available. fabio called antonia's dish "moules a la mariniere" because andtonia's dish WAS "moules a la mariniere". BUT it was ALSO "cozze in bianco" or "mejillones escabechados", etc.

fabio wasn't wrong, he just isn't particularly broad. so, he's as limited in his thinking as he is in his cuisine.

[ally]

@aaalexis: It's quite possible I'm not really understanding your point, but, ... OK, I'll bite...

In real life, I'm quite certain that what happens is much, much worse than the rather bland, censored whines of the male (and female) contestants on Top Chef. Trust me, things get a hell of a lot worse in real life. Peoples lives and livelihoods get ruined at times when they are targeted by men (or women) who are, for lack of a better word, evil. I'm just going to project my experiences in a male-dominated field onto the chef world, but, I know that it gets vicious, and it gets personal. What we're seeing is lighthearted, and civilized, and at times sexist. I'm not upset about it, because really it honestly is just part of life and is usually pretty harmless. But saying that it is not representative of real life is absurd.

[aaalexis]

ally: my point is not that these things - chavinism, sexism - don't occur in real life but, rather, that we're being shown these things - they're being highlighted - in order to create sensation. the conflict between the men and women is being used to create talking points, to get ratings, to entertain.

i think this is a problem because, of course, we NEVER get the context of what is said and done. we are manipulated. and we are being manipulated in order to make someone money. our reactions to this manipulation are what the producer is looking for. so when, on a blog of some sort, people start to wrestle with the idea of "sexism" or "chavinism", the producer knows he/she's done their job. i think, though, because we tend to talk about "sexism" as we see it in this highly manipulated medium and divorced from real context, we are not being given a chance to discuss/examine "sexism" in a useful way. the sexism on top chef is a kind of pantomime sexism, exaggerated and pointedly black-hatted.

to be somewhat flippant: making a point about piracy based on the version of Peter Pan you saw last week is not at all helpful when thinking through what's going on in somalia. in the same way, making points about "sexism" based on what you see on top chef is not helpful either. in the real world, "sexism" (or racism)is a problem that comes at you in unexpected and non-glaring ways.

[Skillet Doux]

I must say, the only thing about this discussion that makes me uncomfortable is that it seems to preclude the possibility that one might fairly believe that the strongest remaining competitors happen to be the men. It certainly isn't an opinion I share, but I don't know that it's so patently absurd that it deserves the assumption of bias.

[aaalexis]

dominic: yeah, i entirely agree. the best of the rest MAY be the men. we just don't know, because we haven't tasted ANY of the food. but we're being manipulated into seeing things as "men versus women", so we tend to get lost in that particular "space". and once you're in that space you tend to argue about generalities: "men are not better than women" or "women are as good as men", etc. you kind of lose the reality of these particular people. of course, how much do we know about any of these chefs anyway?

[ally]

Rule of thumb for me would be, if you think "the men are better than the women" it is most likely stemming from sexism. Ranking them in order with all of the women happening to be at the bottom wouldn't necessarily be sexist (although it would defy logic at this point I think). Saying the women have limited skills, like Fabio did in that interview, reeks of sexism IMO. Although, if it was a competition in fish cleaning, I'm afraid it would be epic fail for the women. :)

[redpoint]

The men might be stronger than the women in terms of creativity and surprise. But I see no evidence this season that they are stronger in taste. (I would take both Mike and Tiffany out of this equation, because I think they are the weaker chefs of this pack).

[nomnomnom]

I have no idea where I come down on this men/women thing, but the trend nobody has mentioned is how for the prior the seasons episodes 1-7 or so are roughly 85% female eliminations. If you account for the declining population the first 7 episodes are dramatically slanted towards removing the fairer sex from the competition.

The females that do survive the first 8 episodes have an extremely strong likelihood of making the finals. The math on this is sort of messed up because the seasons each are of different lengths, but using some simple math any women making the final 7 have about a 20% stronger chance of making the finals than any man.

[mncharm]

Anon Man, thanks for the reminder re: Bourdain's stoner food comment on the egg and pork belly dish.

Not exactly something I'd call "grandma food," no matter the gender of the chef...

[matthew]

I think, to address Dom's interjection, is that what bugged me about the assertion that the four men remaining are stronger than the three women is based on mixing metaphors, if you well. Fabio's premise that the men are better was because they are more capable of doing many things. Yet, in the same breath, he says that Carla, Antonia, and Tiffany are limited because they cook a specific style of food. That's where the rub lies with me. As I see it, all of the men have very specific styles or influences. Some more than others, but still. Angelo almost always cooks Asian. As does Dale. Mike has done a lot of Mediterranean-themed dishes. Richard does his "spin" on contemporary American. I am not suggesting that any of the men are not capable of doing other styles of food. Mike - Italian, for instance. It just seems silly to base an opinion about the aptitude of Antonia, Tiffany and Carla on style, but completely overlook or dismiss that as issue with the men.

I am not quick to call sexism, homophobia, racism or other -isms, but sometimes when something is staring me in the face, I react.

Apologies if I'm rambling.

Happy Valentine's Day, by the way!

[rab01]

Really, I don't think that Top Chef should be tarred by the attitudes of two of the contestants in it. I think it's clear that Mike Isabella has an undercurrent of sexism running through his humor. I don't think it makes him mysoginistic or that he would discriminate against a female chef in his kitchen but that's the way his mouth runs. As for Fabio, I think he has a gendered approach to the world. By that, I mean he talks in terms of men and women rather than just people. Think of his various comments about female diners during Restaurant Wars and during Gail's bridal dinner. When he sees a female chef, I bet he sees a woman first, chef second. Sometimes, that leads him to make comments that people find charming. Sometimes, it leads to comments that sound offensive.

I think for most of the other male chefs on the show, they see the food first, the chef second, and the gender of the chef a distant third. And, I definitely think that's true for Tom Collichio.

[aaalexis]

uhmm ... a few posts back, i wrote "chavinism". twice!
i meant chauvinism, of course.

chavinism?
wearing gold chains, track suits, talk with an english accent and hating on anything that smacks of upper class culture?

[jh]

I think Fabio was a bit misguided when he suggested that the guys had more breadth and depth than the ladies.

While there is the notion of a boys club, it is entirely possible that the girls are secluding themselves. We've already seen how Mike and Antonia clash, they're not going to want to hang out and gossip in their free time. If, for example, Carla likes talking to Antonia more than Dale, Carla will hang out with Antonia. Dale and Richard are good friends. And the dominoes start to fall and the guys and girls are hanging out separately. Maybe the remaining girls don't like to be out on the rooftop and around smoke. Who knows? But I doubt any of the guys/girls would reject the other gender if they crashed the party.

Also, sexism does go the other way. How many girls are brought up with the idea of "girl power, you can beat the boys"? That statement seems fine, but the moment you switch the genders to "boy power, beat the girls", you become a sexist pig. Why is the first statement acceptable but not the second?

As far the bra incident, I was ROFL. It reminds me of the boys who bring over bugs to scare the girls, just in reverse. Mike, for talking such a big talker, fled that room like it was nobody's business.

[Karen B]

"girl power, you can beat the boys"? That statement seems fine, but the moment you switch the genders to "boy power, beat the girls", you become a sexist pig. Why is the first statement acceptable but not the second?"
JH, the reason one is ok, and the other is not is due to the consistent across the board marginlization of women. As is famously known, women make what 73 cents for every dollar a man makes. Men are vastly more represented in politics, as CEO's, as chefs, as writers, etc, etc., etc. When a marginalized groups states "we are able to do just as well as the entitled group, or better" it is not prejudice, but claiming equality. This discussion of gender issues in Top Chef does not happen in a vaccum. If Tom Colicchio is absolutely nonbiased re: women, (and he may well be, I certainly don't see any overt sexism)you know he had to grow into that, as the professional kitchen is a very sexist place. And you know what? We women get very very tired of sexism in the world, and having to deal with it. This may be why Carla and Antonia and Tiffany form a natural community- as respite. Finally, thank you so much Matthew for your insights. They are much appreciated by me and I am sure, many others.

[Scott]

The reason why the gimmick challenges in this season bother me than seasons past is because this season is all-stars. This season is supposed to be the best, Top Chef is supposed to pull out all the punches. I mean, I think this is like the dunk contest. You don't judge the all-star game dunk contest by inviting nobodies or people who just happen to like basketball like Ashton Kutcher to judge. no, if lebron james or other allstars are in that dunk contest, you invite the best, Michael Jordan, Dr. J, everybody that is a somebody.

[Scott]

Sorry, i interjected this argument about sexism. It's interesting that people are throwing this word around and making it men vs women. Reminds me of the election in 2008, the people calling racism are the african americans themselves. people need to stop being so sensitive. Yes, people judge, racism, sexism exist in society today. But we also judge people on weight, height, looks, fashion, A LOT of things and yet NONE of those things are talked about. I actually believe weight is a much bigger deterrent in modern society than racism or sexism, but then again I'm from SF where not going to the gym is a crime.

To Fabio's interview, I semi-agree with him. I would lump Isabella with the women as the weakest of the group. I honestly want exciting food to win and I don't get excited by Carla's, Antonia's and Tiffany's food. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing comfort food, my favorite chef from Season 6 was Kevin. I just don't find their food at all interesting.

I think Fabio is just biased towards Isabella because he likes Isabella so much. But, I don't see anything wrong in thinking the lady chefs are weaker than the remaining men. It's not anybody's fault it falls on the sex lines. Jen Carrol and Tiffany F. were definitely in my beginning top five, it's nobody's fault that they got eliminated so fast.

I don't worry about sexist people, I know they exist and they usually don't try to hide the fact of who they are. However, I worry about people who find sexism where none exists. It's friction like this that causes people to think less of the situation.

[jh]

"When a marginalized groups states "we are able to do just as well as the entitled group, or better" it is not prejudice, but claiming equality." -Karen B

I have no problem if one group claims that they are just as capable. But ironically, if they are claiming to be better, how is that promoting equality?

[ally]

I haven't seen much "exciting" food from any of the contestants, unless you want to talk about surprising flavor combinations that apparently work, and the prize is seemingly going to Angelo for that. (Go ahead and remind me if I'm missing something there, because I'm thinking of last week's pulled pork in particular).

I hope the challenges allow for us to see more creativity by the chefs, or that the chefs decide to take another comfort-food challenge and take it to another level. I am loving the season, but I think many of the challenges seem to be limiting the chefs somehow.

[Karen B]

"I don't worry about sexist people, I know they exist and they usually don't try to hide the fact of who they are. However, I worry about people who find sexism where none exists."
Scott, as a man you don't have to worry about sexist people,and sexism has no negative impact on you- although it does on the women in your life. Similarly as a white person I don't have to think about racism because I am not the recipient of racism. i can pretend it doesn't exist, or isn't that bad, etc.I think actual sexism and actual racism have a much more detrimantal effect than "finding sexism( or racism) where none exists". However this is not a forum on gender studies, so this will be my last post here on that issue. I do find it ironic that some of the men posting here are so sure there is no gender bias on this show. I would not be so quick to make this statement if persons of color were talking about racial biases.

[Independent George]

We're getting way off-topic, but I'm a person of color who generally finds it more offensive when people go out of their way to tell me how important diversity is, or when people take headcounts to make sure enough people of race/gender X is represented.

[Scott]

Karen: I am a guy so I'm not the foremost authority on gender studies. I am, however, a minority that has certain issues that I know I am judged upon. Like I said, I'm not foreign to getting unequal treatment due to things that are beyond my control. I wouldn't argue that I'm sure my life experience would be different if I was a woman, but then again, my life experience would be different if i was an attractive Caucasian male with a rich inheritance as well. However, I'm not bothered by this as much as people marginalizing the issue by pointing at everything and thinking racism exists or that I am being treated detrimentally because of this. It really makes my efforts seem far less important.

[infinity728]

Can I just say how much I love this board? Intelligent, thoughtful, civil debate is not as common as it should be.

@Karen B in particular, your words echoed almost everything in my thoughts, and better stated than I could have done. So thanks for that.

I adore Fabio. But adoring someone doesn't mean you can't see their faults and I think he's wrong here. Someone posted a comment above than anyone is an explosion away from going, now more than ever, perhaps especially with the shenanigans that it appears we're getting this week. Any loss but Tiffany or Isabella would be an upset, I think.

Here's what else I think:
1. Angelo
2. Carla
3. Richard
4. Antonia
5. Dale
6. Isabella
7. Tiffany

I don't think we can eliminate from our thought processes the ingrained prejudices of a thousand moments lived. The best we can do is become aware of them and how they might influence our reactions so we can try to counter-balance them. For example, I loathe Mike Isabella with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns and also the Yankees, but I think Tiffany is weaker, so I don't drop him to the last spot.

@aaalex I think Season 2's Top Chef was less impressive than Season 5's as well.

Peace,
∞

[DPP]

Karen,
Yes, "reverse" sexism exists. I am a guy who faces sexism. I am a waiter working with a staff of about 25 women and 3 men (It was closer to 50/50 when I started 5 years ago). My supervisor is a middle-aged woman who is probably the most sexist person I have ever met, male or female. Without getting into too many specifics, I have worked with her for 5 years so this is more than just a hunch or me misreading her. She constantly refers to the waitstaff as "the girls", as in "I scheduled 10 girls for Friday night". She also has targeted and treated unfairly nearly every male waiter and busboy we have ever had; the only reason she likes me is because I have been there so long and the owners really like me.

[Steve F.]

So excited for the finale...March, they say.

My rankings this week:

1. Dale - just a bump...no reason why he won't bounce back easily.
2. Angelo - still got it.
3. Carla - fantastic! But, there is always this nagging feeling about Carla's ability to put together a winning finale menu.
4. Richard - just hasn't been that impressive...just good.
5. Antonia - doubt if she can overcome the others' creativity.
6. Mike - solid...but not enough.
7. Tiffany - time's up.

[Anon Man]

Is it too late to start my campaign for Carla to be in the #1 spot? (Kidding, kind of, but maybe not really.)

[matthew]

Forgive me for another sports analogy, but the suggestion of moving Carla to the #1 spot makes me nervous. It's usually just when a team takes over the top spot that they get tripped up. Trust me, I want Carla to make it all the way, but if #2-4 puts her in the running, I'm cool with that.

FWIW, I apologize if I shook the hornet nest. However, I do find that having a safe space to share opinions, respectfully, helps all sides. Just one more reason I love Skillet Doux.

[dc]

It doesn't have to be sexism. There is also real gender differences in communication style, and can lead to misunderstandings and friction.

I enjoyed an audio college course on gender communication by linguistics Prof Deborah Tannen, who does research on how people socialize and communicate. The 8 hour audiobook course I had borrowed and highly recommend: "Communication Matters I: He Said / She Said: Women, Men and Language." http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/audio_course_thats_not.html

I found it very compelling and enlightening. Using research observations, it begins with how girls and boys play differently; to men, women socialize among themselves differently. A basic difference was group bonding, whereas generally women friends talk as equals and how they are the "same", men verbally spar or otherwise compete to emphasize differences, independence in determining social hierarchy. (She disclaims it isn't universal, hard and fast rule for every individual, but is the most common group dynamic.) This leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding, unintentionally hurt feelings or worse, in many contexts from marriage, workplace, school, other relationships.

[nomnomnom]

I still have no confidence in Carla. The EC's she's winning are just not that impressive in the long term. I assume they will eventually get around to doing some more contemporary food.

My general feel is the finals will consist of:

Blais, Dale, Angelo, and Antonia

Antonia's near misses and wins doing what she's doing still has me more impressed than anything Carla has done. I fail to see how Carla can be ranked above Antonia in any forward looking poll. It's just not as simple as saying more EC = better.

Behind this it is really hard for me to figure who drops off the next few weeks. The Target EC is going to again show very little, and next week is a catering challenge. Assuming Carla and Antonia survive this week you should see them last next week as well setting up a showdown for the female in the finale in 3 episodes time.

[jh]

@nomnomnom-What is your ranking for each of the EC challenges this season?

[redpoint]

I'm wondering, nom x 3, what you don't see in Carla's food that the rest of us do. Most people on the board seem to think her food looks awesome. Who can forget Jacques Pepin and Tom drooling over her cooking? Think about her winning dish in the tennis episode--it was quite complex, or her unusual and very-well received bluefish dish. Look at the praise she received over her dish at wd-50. It's not all refined chicken pot pie.

[matthew]

The Target EC challenge has all the signs of another race to the bottom situation.

@nomnomnom - I think if the criticism about this season is that the challenges, across the board, haven't been that spectacular, I don't get how you only knock Carla wins as being unimpressive. Further, at the risk of sounding like a complete homer, contemporary food is the least thing outside of Carla's grasp. That is, unless you mean funky plating, smears, food stacks and smoking plates. True, she doesn't go with MG wizardry (not that there's anything wrong with that). That's just not Carla's style. I will say that she has taken some interest in looking at how MG and some other techniques could add a little twist to what she does, but it will likely never become her default. Further, as Dom pointed out, Carla's style (palate and flavor concepts) is very classic, but updated to reflect new/different ingredients one might not expect.

When Carla catered, nearly all her clients hired her for what would have to be considered high-end, contemporary food. I find it funny that comments on a number of blogs treat a focus on flavor (Antonia & Carla)as a pejorative. All this to stay, I'm not trying to convince you of Carla's skill, but it just feels that evaluation of skill is highly subjective, and prone to personal preferences, not what's demonstrated over time on this All Star season as well as the contestant's respective seasons.

[Anon Man]

@matthew, sorry, wasn't trying to give you hearburn. Just trying to send a little love Carla's way in light of the recent dust up here. In reality, I would probably go Angelo, Carla, Blais, Antonia, Dale, Isabella, Tiffany, but there isn't a big gap in the top 5 in my mind.

(Also, the show was recorded months ago, so it isn't like the sports team analogy, unless Tom Brady could go back in time after winning the MVP to choke again in the playoffs. But, I see where you were going with that.)

As for the next challenge being a little too kitchen impossible, I would rather see quirky challenges with good judges, rather than good challenges with mediocre judges. Gail's comment about Blais not making the top last week because Jimmy was expecting/wanted MG and Blais just did something straight-forward, is sticking in my mind right now.

[mncharm]

Will be curious to see what the Power Rankings look like.

I sense a lot of people would like to see Carla or Antonia in the top two. I'm of the mind, though, that Richard and Angelo are one-two, and here's why:

There is no question that in a finale, Carla and Antonia have the skills to win it all. None. They've demonstrated they are excellent chefs and can put together, time and again, well constructed dishes that obviously taste great. That is a winning formula.

However, to win it all, you have to get there: and to me, the reason for putting Richard and Angelo on top is that I see them as the least likely to self-destruct prior to the finale episode. Although Richard hasn't necessarily pulled off the "wow" factor many of us have expected as consistently as we've liked, but for the collaboration with Marcel, he has completely avoided the bottom. I believe Angelo has as well (with the exception of some quick fire challenges, which I don't count as highly).

For that reason, I think they have a better chance, today, of being champ.

Dale obviously is in the category for those with the talent to win, but he's also been to close to elimination for me to put him as high as Richard and Angelo.

So to me, it's Richard/Angelo followed in some order by Antonia/Carla/Dale.

[Steve]

Re: Matthew's comment, (btw, hi Matthew; I don't think we've commented on each other's postings before) are they filming the finale now? I wasn't sure. But I guess it makes sense, based on your comment and the just-released news that the finale is being filmed in the Bahamas.

[Steve]

And it seems clear to me that the Big Four: Dale, Angelo, Carla and Blais, will make the finale. Antonia only if one of them falter.

Look at the highs/wins:

Angelo 6-2
Carla 5-3
Dale 4-2 plus 3 OFs
Richard 4-2 plus 3 QFs
Antonia 4-1 plus 1 QF

Mike 1-0 plus 1 QF
Tiffany 3-0

[twelden]

As has been said before on this blog, those who underestimate Carla do so at their own risk. But, 3nom, I simply can't understand your supposed logic in saying that a "forward looking" poll would rank Carla lower than Antonia. Of the remaining chefs, only three have ever run the gauntlet and made the final episode - Richard, Angelo and Carla. Thus, Carla has already demonstrated her ability to consistently make food over the course of a TC season that the judges deem good enough to warrant an appearance in the finale. Couple her past experience/success with her success this season, and I think that an objective, "forward-looking" poll would have to rank Carla near the top, along with Angelo and Richard. In other words, what other objective criteria is there besides past performance plus current season success?

In your comments this season, you have often dismissed certain challenges (primarily those won by Carla and Dale) because those challenges don't meet your criteria for what a "representative" TC challenge should be. But that is a wholly subjective evaluation - in my view, there is no such thing as a "representative" TC challenge; there are simply the challenges presented to the contestants in any given week, the ultimate goal of which is to survive and advance. Carla has now proven her ability to play the "survive and advance" game over the course of more than 1-1/2 seasons of the show, and she has garnered significant praise from a diverse body of chefs (Collichio, Peprin, Dufrense) along the way.

You also seem to believe that the nature of challenges will somehow change over the course of the next few weeks to fit your subjective criteria for what a TC challenge should be, but what evidence do you have for this? Next week's Target-inspired episode certainly does not support such a supposition. And, more importantly, what evidence do you have, beyond your subjective evaluation of the chefs' abilities, that Carla lacks the skills to rise to the occasion if the nature of the challenges does change? As has already been noted above, she rose to the occasion when asked to cook French food in her season, something many people assumed would be outside her "comfort [food] zone". She rose to the occasion when asked to cook at WD-50 this season, something many people felt would throw her off her game. And, as Matthew (showing great restraint, IMO) has noted, there is no evidence she can't cook "more contemporary food", a phrase which itself is highly subjective.

In sum, 3nom, it seems fairly clear that your subjective evaluation of Carla leads you to hold her skills as a "Top Chef" in low esteem, an opinion to which you are of course entitled. But please don't dress up your opinion as objective fact when the evidence of Carla's success as a TC contestant is stacked so overwhelmingly against you.

[matthew]

Steve - I don't what part of my comment suggested anything about the finale. That's just not the case. As was the deal with Season 5, Carla doesn't tell me a thing about what happened, nor do I ask. She takes the confidentiality clause very seriously. Each week I'm a wreck. I am as nervous as cat in a room full of rocking chairs, worrying about her fate. The only upside to being in the dark is that I get to be honestly surprised when she does well. If you thought she was doing a river dance when she won, you should have seen me! :-)

[Steve]

Matthew, I'm sorry if I read too much into your comments.

[nomnomnom]

My feelings on Carla are completely equal to my feelings about Kelly last season. Since this message board is broken up into pre and post episode threads it's not worth rehashing for the 10th time. I was also tooting Kevin's horn much earlier than most and dogging Kenny early as well for the exact same reasons as I'm dogging Carla now. Their paths are quite similar.

Now to the challenges this season there is a major hole in my thinking that I acknowledge. They have not given a "true" challenge since E3 which really can differentiate who has it and who doesn't. Of the top 4 in E3 three of these still remain and the two who were also on the bottom are now gone.

I try to evaluate who is looking likely to WIN the entire competition, not who will die on the vine along the way and in what order. Carla has impressed on soups, comfort food, and in very narrow interpretive challenges. Antonia to me has done much more. I can break out their relative merit long term if there is some appeal in that.

[redpoint]

Mmm. "Carla has impressed on soups, comfort food, and in very narrow interpretive challenges." I respectfully disagree. Episode 3 Carla did fantastically, and only wasn't in the top because Dale was in her group and he won the whole thing. The fish challenge, which she won, doesn't fit this description. Maybe her peanut stew is like a soup (?) but it was complex and original.

[twelden]

3nom, I for one would like to read your "break out" - it would provide some insight into the thought process that leads to what tend to be fairly conclusory statements about the chefs' relative strengths and weaknesses.

We will have to agree to disagree that Carla has only impressed on "soups, comfort food, and in very narrow interpretive challenges", but again, I am looking at her body of work over the course of her season and this one, and not merely at the results of individually constrained challenges. We will also have to agree to disagree that E3 is somehow more indicatve of a "true" TC challenge than any other, and I am not sure how trying to mimick another chefs' style (doesn't that qualify as a "narrow interpretive challenge"?) tells us anything about how the chefs will do when asked to cook their own food in a final.

As to your skills as a prognosticator, what could I possibly say about your clearly superior abilities that you have not already repeatedley said yourself?

[nomnomnom]

Redpoint>I don't like giving free passes for not beating someone that is still in the competition. Until the Statue of Liberty episode there is probably no way I can see Carla rising in my ranking above Blais/Dale/Angelo regardless of what she cooks or what they cook, period. Blame the loss of Lee Ann, blame Tom, blame Bravo, blame whomever you want for this craptastic season of challenges. You can call it anti-homerism or whatever, but it's just the way I have this thing set to roll out. I'm sorry.

[matthew]

@nomnomnom - You know, I can go along with the general criticism of the challenges this season. I, too, was expecting a bit more. Where I stop, though, is making an assumption on skill. FWIW, I'm willing to bet that the contestants weren't necessarily thrilled by a lot of the so-called gimmicky challenges, but they take what's handed to them. For that, I can't blame the chefs, nor do I make judgments on a chef's overall competence of skill. I mean...how many times in their careers will these chefs be cooking on burners at the end of an aisle at Target? (Unless it's a paid demo. And then, no one is expecting haute cuisine.)

I think would be telling if the chefs, themselves, were asked about who they respected or thought was really talented. Perhaps, the most revealing would be for the chefs to say whose food they really liked to eat. I just may be that the chefs you seem to admire -- Richard, Angelo, Dale -- respect folks like Antonia and Carla...and the same in reverse. I can tell you, for a fact, that Carla speaks very highly of all the chefs named and others not mentioned.

In the end, we're talking about things we've merely seen, but not experienced. We all have our subjective criteria for what we think makes a talented and/or skilled chef. Even though I disagree with your assessment, I appreciate you sharing your opinion.

[bryanD]

"Look at the highs/wins:
Angelo 6-2
Carla 5-3..."---Steve

That's as impressive as it is counter-intuitive.

I blame Carla for touting Love over tortured genius!

[matthew]

I hate to belabor this, but I forgot to add something about which I am curious and hoped to clarify. When you say, "I still have no confidence in Carla." do you mean that you have no confidence in her chances to win TC; or no confidence in her abilities as a chef? I suspect it's the former, but I thought I would ask.

The funny thing about saying "I still have no confidence in Carla" is that if she falls, we'll hear a valedictory "See! I told you!" If she presses through to the end, it will be because the challenges were BS. I could be wrong, that's how I'm reading your commentary.

[gdiss]

3nom: to follow up with matthew's last post, at one point you posted how Kelly going out 4th validated your opinion of her as a chef (several power rankings back). How is placing 4th a negative and validating she doesn't belong there? You could say the same thing that Jen placing 4th against the Volts and Kevin was a validation that she was overrated. I've got to agree with matthew - if Carla wins the whole thing will you be blaming this on the failures of the other chefs or the challenges? I don't have a problem with opinions at all, only calling subjective ones objective.

I've brought this up before and I think it's fitting to bring this up again: Bourdain has a great Top Chef chapter in his book and one of the main points he brings up is consistency. Who can make good food consistently? Sure someone may be really innovative, but if a so called "boring" dish (I'm using that slightly sarcastically) tastes much better, who should win?

[Skillet Doux]

Though I disagree with a lot of his conclusions, I'm going to step in to defend nomx3 here a little bit. If I'm putting words in your mouth, nom, please say so (I know you will :-)

Many of those who rank Carla and contestants like her lower (nom, Television Blend... though they're absurd about it) are those who are taking a purely predictive look at TC. You could have won the last three challenges, and every challenge up until the finale could be right in your sweet spot (we banned wheelhouse, right?), if they don't think you can win the finale, you're going to be ranked low. Whether they're right or wrong in that assessment is, naturally, a topic for debate. But that's one important way in which their take differs from my Power Rankings.

Second, when Nomx3 talks about "true" challenges, I believe he's referring to the type of challenges that sync up most closely with the finale and the kind of "cook us your best food" challenges that tend to be stacked towards the end of the season. So since we're talking about the purely predictive approach, it's not that his "true" challenges are any more or less meaningful than any other, it's that he feels they're more meaningful in terms of identifying who is more likely to succeed in the later rounds.

So to head off his answer, Matthew, I suspect that nom has total confidence in Carla as a chef, it's that he doesn't feel her specific skill set and style is best suited to the kinds of challenges and expectations the contestants typically face in the finals. Think baseball. Some teams that win the most games over a 162 game season can struggle in the playoffs when the impact that a dominant 1-2 pitching combo can have are greatly amplified. A team that won 85 games might be more likely to win the World Series than a team that won 100 games if the former has two pitching superstars and three who really should be in the minor leagues and the latter has a strong, balanced rotation with no dominant arms.

As for myself, I used to think much more along nom's lines. The first couple of seasons I did the power rankings, it was all about trying to tease out what demonstrated styles and skills were most likely to pay dividends down the line. I probably used to be a bit more predictive as well. But I'm not so sure the show hasn't changed a little, and is perhaps more willing to embrace food more in Carla's style, in no small part because I think the restaurant industry in general has been trending in that direction. Around season three or four, I would have said Carla didn't have a chance, not because she's any less talented, but because I think the judges tended to look for a style of food that isn't as well-aligned with her style. But while I won't fully believe it until somebody like Carla actually does win the whole thing, I suspect the timing is right if she can keep it up.

In short, I think a lot (though certainly not all) of the disagreement is because we're simply assessing different things. There's no magical formula for chef greatness that allows us to score them all on a continuum with scientific accuracy. When it comes to Top Chef, all we can do is try to look at what the judges tend to value, and try to determine which contestants are strong in those traits. But even then, it's mostly guesswork, which is why I like to keep the Power Rankings as a fun, nebulous amalgam of awesomeness rather than making it strictly predictive. But that's by no means a universal approach, and it certainly isn't nom's.

[rab01]

Nom -- I think you're wrong about what characterizes a "true" Top Chef challenge. Season 6 was atypical. If you go backwards through the seasons, I think you will find more catering challenges and "gimmick" challenges than fine dining challenges. Since Season 1, the final challenge has been a meal but, since Season 2, the semi-final challenge has been catering to a party. The last regular season episode is generally a fine dining meal but before that all bets are off, and so on.

From your recent comments, I finally understand that nothing that happens in the actual episodes can/will place someone like Carla above Richard/Angelo/Dale in your rankings. That's fine. But, I don't think those rankings are of the same type as Dominic's "measure of current awesomeness." I respect where you're coming from in terms of ranking people's prospective chances of winning but I don't think it's a sufficiently grounded place for your dismissiveness of others' opinions.

I'm not trying to boost Carla. (I, like many here love what I've seen of her attitude and performance but I like pretty much all the chefs that are left.) Personally, I'm rooting for Richard and Dale to make the finals because I like watching them cook. I'm rooting for Richard to win because I think it matters more to him than to anyone else left in the program and I like seeing effort and commitment rewarded.

[matthew]

Thanks Dom! That was a great response that makes complete sense. I have attempted to be as objective as possible about comments about Carla, speaking as a fan of the show more than her husband.

[nomnomnom]

Of course I have nothing against Carla as a chef. I'm just playing along with the whole ranking game like everyone else. I can certainly see how people could/would think that the trend in cuisine today also benefits the style she is winning with. There maybe something to this.

I do think that if you look at the chefs that ultimately won you do find that only with the exception of Hosea that each chef won a more typical finale challenge along the way. I'm still at a loss to explain the Hosea thing except he really did his homework, and Stephan didn't. So it goes.

I would expect this trend to continue in the All-Stars except they've sort of jammed the radar with all these really narrow and absurd challenges.

[twelden]

nomnomnom said: "I do think that if you look at the chefs that ultimately won you do find that only with the exception of Hosea that each chef won a more typical finale challenge along the way."

This statement anticipated my next question, which is whether there is actually a corollary between winning such a challenge during the season and winning the season? I have never had the ability to do the sort of in-depth research that Dom and, apparently, 3nom, have done, so it would be interesting to see the facts if someone has them at hand.

On the other hand, even if this is the general rule, I can’t help but wonder if this season might be an outlier given that contestants such as Angelo, Richard and Carla have cooked in the final episode before, and have presumably learned some lessons from that experience. Assuming for the sake of argument those chefs make the final, which they have previously demonstrated they have the ability to do, might the experience which comes from having already cooked in the final episode of a previous season outweigh the predictive results of any individual challenge from this season?

[ally]

Wow Dom, posts like your last one just go to show why you are running the best Top Chef blog out there. (Besides your regular food blog, which I have actually been following and I think your perspective on cuisines you are really familiar with is so smart and edumacational). I appreciate how much you can step outside and analyze whats going on so well.

Anways, thank God we are talking about the chefs again :) Even better when we get rankings again (cough).

But in the meantime, all this talk about the chefs made me think of them in the context of the real world and not Top Chef.

If I had alot of money to create a high concept, clever, fancy restaurant, I would leave that in Richard's hands. I think he is the most brilliant, witty, creative guy on the show.

If I wanted to take my family out to dinner to impress them I would take them to any restaurant run by Carla. (over Antonia).

If I wanted to have the most delicious and surprising bite of food, I would go to a restaurant run by Angelo. (over Dale).

If I wanted to be kissed by the owner, I would go to a restaurant run by Fabio. (haha).

As has been pointed out by many of you very recently, all of these attributes of the individual chefs don't necessarily lead to winning Top Chef. It is still anybody's game (except Isabella and Tiffany IMO).