Top Chef - S9E3 Power Rankings

Not a bad start, right?

A couple of pretty decent challenges, some problems to be sure, but overall a high level of competition that looks even better when you peruse the recipes. And oh, buddy, am I glad that the recipes appear to be markedly improved over the last couple of seasons. The list isn't comprehensive -- a few are missing -- but it really helps around the periphery when nudging folks in one direction or the other.

Hooray for snake! I don't believe I've had rattlesnake, but I've had snake a number of times in China... not recently enough to remember the finer points, but enough to remember that I liked it a lot. A dry-fried preparation with garlic, chile and Sichuan pepper stands out in memory. In any case, though not widespread in the States, an honorable protein.

And a great elimination challenge to start as well, diving right into the culture of the city. Some past seasons have been criticized for failing to take advantage of their environs, so it's nice to see the chefs diving in right off the bat. At the risk of getting all rah rah (it may be a theme this season), I couldn't be less surprised to see the team with five Chicagoans take down the team with three Angelenos. One of my recurring crusades is that beyond Rick Bayless, Chicago Mexican doesn't get the love it deserves. Thankfully, it seems that's starting to change. In any case, the Judges' Table edit always brutalizes the losers, but Tom did say at a couple of points that the quality in general was very high for both teams, even in a challenge where some of them were undoubtedly unfamiliar with the cuisine, so I think that bodes well for the season.

I'm a little puzzled by the lack of a winner. Actually, troubled would be more like it. I hope that isn't a trend. For the time being, I'm not giving anybody a win on this elimination challenge in the stats, either. Maybe more information will come out in some other venue.

In any case, let's get down to it. The rankings are always rather volatile at this point in the season. Folks are going to bounce around a lot. That's mitigated somewhat by the play-in round, but still, there's not a whole lot to go on just yet. Here we go:

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

Wins

Top

Bottom

1 Chris J. Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 3 Eliminations 0 1 0 One of the things I hate is when somebody backs into first place. But you know, we only had one individual winner in this episode and the two above him stumbled a touch, so I'm going to go ahead and give the nod to Chris J. for the time being. Plus, I saw something in one of his recipes that I really, really liked. There's no recipe for his Cumin Braised Rattlesnake with Bacon, but his empanadas are surprising in their simplicity. The empanada dough is masa, water, shortening, baking powder and salt. The filling is poblanos, mushrooms, Oaxaca cheese and onions. That's it. And it seemed as though it was one of the favorites of the evening (though it's hard to tell without a winners' JT). What I love about this is that Chris is CdC of Moto, which is even wackier than Alinea in its techniques and presentations. Of course, just because somebody is focused on modernist cuisine, that doesn't mean he isn't also a fabulous traditional chef. Achatz is fond of saying that any of his guys could kick ass at a French restaurant, and I'm certain it's true. The skills necessary to make great food are the same no matter what techniques and tools you're using to get there. But that Chris was willing, even this early in the competition, to set aside the kind of "look at me" cuisine that he's undoubtedly capable of and bang out a simple, delicious, traditional dish says a lot about his wisdom and confidence going forward, I think. A good early indicator.

2 Paul Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 1 Eliminations 0 1 0 A little stumble from Paul knocks him out of the top spot, but a nice recovery in the elimination keeps him from falling too far. His BBQ Rattlesnake with Peaches, Fried Peanuts & Southeast Asian Spices is a really, really interesting-looking dish, and it seems his downfall was Johnny Hernandez strong focus on getting the flavor of the snake to come out (which I like, actually). It's true, a really good chef should be able to quickly sear off a piece, have a taste and adapt. But I'm disinclined to ding him too much for this particular stumble. He came right back, though, with Tom's favorite canapé of the evening, and looking at the recipe, that he's bringing together these flavors successfully is really kind of impressive. Shrimp, yuzu, corn, garam masala, sour cream and fennel (among others)? That's one heckuva cross-cultural balancing act. A nice recovery keeps him at number two.

3 Heather Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 4 Eliminations 0 1 0 I wanted to leave Heather right where she was, since there wasn't a whole lot of info to go on, but I just couldn't quite pull the trigger on giving Chuy number three. Her quickfire dish didn't make the edit, and there's no recipe, but there's a photo of the dish on Rate the Plate (no title), and it looks like a chicken fried rattlesnake with biscuits and gravy. Could've been just off the top, could've been just off the bottom. Who knows? For the elimination, she takes one for the team. Yes, she has pastry experience, but still, that's probably not what you'd rather be doing. In her defense, all reports were that the weather was extremely hot, so I wouldn't give her too much grief for the leaning tower of tres leches. But she made the tastier cake, and that doesn't count for nothing. Consider this treading water until we see her cook some more.

4 Chuy Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 8 Eliminations 0 1 0 So the girls get a quinceañera and the boys learn to slaughter a goat? I've gotta say, I'm good with the goat. I'm probably overreaching with this one a bit, especially considering that his cabbage didn't go over very well (though there's no recipe for the cabbage, so definitive attribution is elusive), but I liked the way the guy seemed to take control and help out his teammates. It's always hard to tell from the edit, but one certainly gets the impression that he elevated everybody's game in this challenge. In an early episode with no winners' JT, those kind of intangibles weigh a little more heavily than they ordinarily would. Or maybe I just love that he made birria. Either way, Chuy makes a big jump.

5 Beverly Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 11 Eliminations 0 1 0 Rounding out the upwardly mobile section of this week's Power Rankings is Beverly, who apparently put out a pair of really strong dishes. Dakota nudged her for the quickfire win, but as rare as it is to find good Asian fusion, that Rattlesnake Nigiri looked like a strong dish, expressed some creative flair, slyly referenced eel nigiri, and earned high praise from Hernandez. The Beef Short Rib Asada with Pina Kimchi was straight-up Korean-Mexican fusion, and even if she got an eyebrow or two for mimicking the upscale taco truck grub du jour (yes, Los Angeles, I know, that was so 2009), she made the challenge hers and it seemed like her dish was very well-received. To call her driven would appear to be a gross understatement, and though a commenter pointed out last week that she seems the most likely to crack and shiv somebody, maybe walking the edge a bit will help. Anyway, a strong start from Beverly.

6 Dakota Quickfires 1 1 0 Last Week: 9 Eliminations 0 0 0 As the only chef with an actual win this week, I would have liked to put Dakota higher, but then she had to go and do a faceplant on the elimination. Yes, she had immunity, and yes, she took one for the team by doing the cake, but still, immunity is the only thing that saved her from the bottom. Still, that Beer Battered Tempura Rattlesnake looks really nice, with a "Succotash Salad," Zucchini-Almond Gazpacho, Lime-Almond Vinaigrette and Orange Crème Fraîche. That's worth a bump, if not as big as it would have been without the cake wreck.

7 Sarah Quickfires 0 1 0 Last Week: 2 Eliminations 0 0 1 The damage from the cochinita pibil is mitigated somewhat by a top mention in the QF. Her Flash Fried Rattlesnake in a Brown Butter Sauce is exactly the kind of simple, straightforward dish with subtle creative touches that's been playing well with the Top Chef judges the past couple of seasons. She just fried the snake, added some tomatoes macerated with citrus and thyme, and made a brown butter with shallot, capers and lemon. Simple, clean, and apparently delicious. Too bad she went on to make the palest cochinita pibil I think I've ever seen. But I'll get to that in a moment. In short, I suspect she'll bounce back, and unlike her cochinita compatriot, a strong QF dish spares her a huge drop.

8 Edward Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 7 Eliminations 0 1 0 I actually would have liked to give Edward a slight bump up for what looked like a nice gazpacho, but the positioning didn't quite work out that way. Edward was also lost in the QF edit, and there's no recipe, but Rate the Plate identifies his dish as Rattlesnake Gumbo with Habanero Orange Sauce. Certainly sounds interesting. Would have liked to hear more about it. The tomatillo gazpacho was a pretty safe move, but it was well-received and I'm not about to ding him for nailing a safe choice. He treads water until we see more.

9 Whitney Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 6 Eliminations 0 0 0 Forget about Whitney? So did the editors, apparently. Talk about flying under the radar. That may be the most invisible edit I've ever seen a contestant get. But while there's not much to go on from the show, we actually have a recipe to work with. There's no info on her Pan Seared Rattlesnake, Fennel, Avocado & Pomegranate Seeds other than the name and a photo, but there's a recipe for her Green Chile Pozole. I believe pozole with green chiles is more New Mexico than Mexico Mexico, but there's nothing wrong with a creative take on a classic. I am, however, a little troubled that the only cut of pork therein is shoulder, and I'm even more troubled by the inclusion of canned hominy. But given her total lack of coverage, we'll let her tread water for the time being... which in this case means that a few folks who got screentime leapfrog her. Don't consider it a demotion.

10 Nyesha Quickfires 0 0 1 Last Week: 10 Eliminations 0 0 0 I feel like I should ding Nyesha a little bit for the bottom appearance in the QF, but overcooking an exotic protein in a quickfire doesn't seem like the worst sin, so I'm going to just let her hang out here for another week. One gets the impression that her ceviche was... okay. There's no recipe to refer to. Though her use of pond chicken (my recent experience with tilapia notwithstanding) is unfortunate and, unsurprisingly, apparently provided questionable texture. As a friend once said, "Can we all just agree not to order tilapia anymore?"

11 Chris C. Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 13 Eliminations 0 0 0 We don't get much to go on with Chris. No top mentions. No bottom mentions. No recipes. Rattlesnake Nicoise with Olive Oil Pudding and Olive Panko sounds interesting, but we have no indication of how it tasted. He made corn, which seemed to go over well, and I don't want to dismiss it but without a recipe it still looks like... corn. So for the time being, he'll leapfrog a couple of folks who take a hit. Stay tuned.

12 Lindsay Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 5 Eliminations 0 0 1 Seven positions is a big hit, but it's early in the season and that was really embarrassing for a number of reasons. There's one point on which I'll defend Lindsay. It's been suggested here and in some other venues that she should have specified that the shrimp not be cooked. In a word, no. When you're cooking at that level, you shouldn't need to specify that your shrimp not be cooked any more than you should need to specify that your asparagus not be canned. Perhaps I exaggerate slightly, but not much. That little curveball aside, however, talk about whiffing on a fastball right down the middle of the plate. She was the Executive Chef of a Latin restaurant in Mexico for three years. So even setting aside that wrangling a great Latin meal out of a crowd of cooks is precisely her job description, given her time in Mexico, her recipes are really surprising. It seems that the negative response to the pork huarache may have been limited to the slicing on the pork, which was Keith's department, so we'll grudgingly give her a pass on that (yeah, she leads a kitchen all day, she should fix what needs fixing, but absent an official chain of command, that can be a tough trigger to pull). But the cochinita pibil is really inexplicable. It's funny, I was reading the recipes and taking notes, and I thought to myself, "This is so weird, it's completely lacking all of the aromatics," and then I rewatched the episode and noticed that Johnny Hernandez said the exact same thing. So at least there's a pretty good indication that the posted recipes line up with what's going on the plates. And while it's made clear that they couldn't find sour oranges, I'm kind of puzzled by the choice of clementines. Why not cut it with a little lime juice? I'm less sure about that second criticism, but these are some puzzling choices for somebody who really should know a thing or two about Mexican. Contrast Lindsay and Chuy. This was a challenge tailor-made for both of them. One rose to the challenge, one fell flat on her face. We'll see if Lindsay bounces back, but this performance does not inspire confidence.

13 Richie Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 15 Eliminations 0 1 0 So who wants to tell Abuela that the chicharrón she identified as "auténtico" was made with garlic powder, tapioca starch and Ultratex 8? Blend the above with oil, water and salt to make a dough, roll it out, steam it, dehydrate it, fry it, and you have a garlic "chicharrón." Too bad the judges seemed to feel its texture wasn't right for the dish. This was always the issue I had with Moto. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Still, there seemed to be some positive vibe for the dish as well. And I'm going to let Ty-Lör's elimination bottom trump Richie's QF bottom, but he's hanging near the bottom until further notice. Richie's a guy who I think could surprise. But not this episode.

14 Ty-Lör Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 14 Eliminations 0 0 1 Ty-Lör ended up on the chopping block, but his Carne Asada was well-received, so one gets the sense he was never in any real danger. Still, starting out at 14 means there really isn't any place to go until he shows something strong, and his Chicken Fried Rattlesnake, Slaw, Pickled Vegetables and Salsa apparently didn't make enough of an impression to stand out either, so we'll leave him down here for the time being. Which isn't to say that I think he's in immediate danger of elimination. I suppose I don't feel that way about anybody near the bottom, though somebody has to go next week. We'll see, I guess.

15 Grayson Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 16 Eliminations 0 1 0 That Grayson officially gets a top elimination is a technicality and a gross miscarriage of justice, because man, it doesn't sound like anybody liked her mole at all. Mole is really, really, really tough to do well. But still, blowing it out with cinnamon is something a good chef ought to be able to avoid, even if it's not a specialty. And it wasn't just the balance... the judges mentioned that the texture was off as well, and there's definitely no excuse for that. It sounds like Grayson dodged a bullet by being on the winning team, and on that basis, I see no reason to move her out of the basement.

16 Keith Quickfires 0 0 0 Last Week: 12 Eliminations 0 0 1 Well, I found Keith rather likable and on that basis I'm sad to see him go, but really, this was a no-brainer of an elimination. Frozen cooked shrimp? That's just not okay. Flour tortillas on his enchiladas? Some have suggested that authenticity shouldn't matter if it tastes good, but that's just it... they didn't. Yes, taste trumps tradition, but the reason the latter is valued is because there's a REASON corn tortillas are traditional in a dish like this. In extended Judges' Table, everybody commented that the only good part of the dish -- the salsa -- apparently wasn't even made by him. Should his teammates have picked him up? Yes. Should they have had to? No. And that's the crux of it.

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE FOUR SPOILERS AHEAD

Hooray for Susan Feniger! Can't say for certain, but the format of next week's quickfire looks really cool. It's a chile challenge, apparently the chefs can choose their chile, and hotter peppers have a higher dollar value attached. Is that the prize if they win the quickfire? $20,000 for a ghost chile is not chump change. Looks like another opportunity for Chuy to shine, perhaps a shot at redemption for Lindsay, and I have a hunch Paul might rock this one as well. It sounds like the elimination is a chili cookoff (note: chile does not equal chili), and... uh oh, Beverly's losing composure already. Here's hoping that bump up wasn't premature. In any case, I'd say the Texans, present and past, should have a natural advantage here. Let the bean/anti-bean skirmish commence.

Discuss!

Comments

[1000yregg]

glad you could get to the rankings. hope your family gets well soon

[KinderJ]

No beans in Chilli? Is that... really a thing? Is it just meat and aromatics or something?

Great rankings, and I agree about Keith. I liked him too but he definitely was his own worst enemy. Shame, but that's a competition for you.

[Skillet Doux]

KinderJ... it's not just a thing, it's dogma. Be careful where you talk about chili with beans.

[TokenOmnivore]

KinderJ - I knew someone from New Mexico that would make a chili with just meat, green chilis, and potatoes.

For a version of a TX chili, take a look at http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2009/02/more-precise-texas-chili-recipe.html. Again, no beans. No tomatoes. It's about the chills. As for the coffee and chocolate, a little espresso and cocoa powder in a chili really round out the flavors.

[Anon Man]

I happen to like "Korean Mexican", popular in food trucks, as Tom mentioned, but even a fair number of Korean restaurants have started doing it as adjuncts to the menu. That said, my wife's prediction is that Beverley is going to do "Korean version of ______" every week until she gets booted for not doing anything except "Korean version of ________". Who wants to bet her chili will involve some use of Korean short ribs? (Which I love, mind you, but my money is on that schtick getting old before the end of the calendar year, episode wise).

[Libster]

I have eaten rattle snake when I was a kid. My uncle made batter fried rattle snake with a dipping sauce and I remember it tasting a bit like chicken. But then again gator also taste a bit like buttery chicken. Maybe it's just reptile meat in general. I liked it and I've never had it since although if given the opportunity I would eat it again.

That is why I did enjoy seeing Dakota make her dish it seemed as though she was channeling my redneck uncle all the while elevating the dish to top chef standards. I'm glad you raised her up even though she took one for the team and made that dreadful cake.

I am dumbfounded by Lindsays mexican dish. If you've helped open a restaurant in Mexico with Michelle B. and worked there for years you better believe I'm holding you to a standard. She had a huge advantage and she blew it.

I meant to write about Keith in the post mordem but work had me wrapped up. I agree with Dom. I think the judges don't mind variations, and spins on classic dishes what they do mind is when it fails to work.

My great aunt is of Mexican decent born and raised in San Antonio and I have seen her make enchiladas with flour tortillas as well as corn. Corn is the authentic way but her flour tortilla enchiladas are also delicious. When using flour for enchiladas you need to crisp them up so they don't get soggy. Keith didn't do this. Combine that with other failures and he packs his knives. He over thought details that were important and under thought the ones that were. I think he has a great chance at a nice little run on LCK at least for a few more episodes.

[Gilmore]

I lived in Texas a while and did the chili contest circuit. The only things visible were the meat and the sauce. If you had other ingredients (onions, garlic, masa, beans, etc.), they were cooked down or blended so they became part of the sauce. Invisible flavor.

Don't count out Edward when using chiles.

[Independent George]

I do hasten to add that while I stand behind my shiv comment, I do find Beverly's OCD strangely endearing and kind of adorable. I didn't mean sound so negative - it's just that, from what we see through the lens of reality television, she makes Blais look like Animal from the Muppets.

[Genevieve]

IG, I didn't find it adorable when she butted to the front of the meat counter shouting that her order was the most important one they'd fill all day. Self-and-parental applied pressure to be the best is one thing, but rudeness is another.

[KinderJ]

Genevieve- I take your point, but in her place I must admit I would also be pretty pushy to get my order filled. She may have been running short of time, and felt she had to jam her order in ahead of everyone else. That being said, I don't seem to remember any chef on any of the other seasons pulling a stunt like that, so it may well just be her being rude.

[bfish]

Dom, or anyone, what is the preferred alternative to the dreaded* canned hominy? Here in southern Virginia that's all I've found in the stores (though with the nearest WF about 40 miles away -- have only been once -- if that's the answer I'm out of luck). Hominy is an important food item in this part of the world, between southern cooking/soul food and a rapidly growing population of Mexicans and Central Americans. I love it and would welcome the opportunity to try a form other than canned.

*per your comments on Whitney's dish

[Skillet Doux]

bfish... Dried and bagged, not unlike beans. I've heard it can be obtained at Whole Foods, particularly in Texas, but even if not it would certainly be at the Mexican market.

The only thing that gives me pause is I'm not sure if there were timing issues that might have been problematic for dried hominy.