Top Chef Power Rankings

Top Chef Masters - S1E9 Postmortem

Well... that was... interesting. I'm, uh, going to let you guys comment on our little confrontation this week. I'm rather curious to hear how Chiarello came across to everybody.

Okay, I always dug Bayless, but the dude is totally my hero now. At this point, I'm ashamed to have doubted him earlier.

That said, yow... clean five star sweep from the critics for Keller. Odd that he actually scored lower with the crowd than Bayless. From the way they were raving, I thought he might've gone 20 straight across the board.

Fun, as well, to see... well... most of the old contestants. I have to admit, I was more than a little amused by Betty's "Yeah, guess that's me" look before Bayless could even open his mouth. Perhaps because she had been tasked with prettifying the table, but amusing nonetheless.

Tough break for Anita Lo. I liked her a lot and I'm looking forward to checking out Annisa next time I have a chance. The twists were particularly hard on her, but still, that was the whole point of the challenge.

Very much looking forward to the finale next Wednesday. I'd love to see Bayless win, but I think you still have to figure Keller is the odds-on favorite. Postmortem might be a little late in the evening next week. I'm traveling and might be catching the show on delay. But if nothing else, I'll try to get a placeholder post up to fill in later so you guys can get the ball rolling.

Discuss!

Top Chef Masters - S1E8 Postmortem

Weeeeeeeeoooooooo, that was close!

I'm not sure how you get defensive about doing store-bought ice cream as the centerpiece of your dish. And I'm more confused by the argument that he didn't have a recipe and wanted to get it right. Nobody told him he had to do ice cream. It was just a bad choice made especially bad by the fact that he probably had the easiest course to veganize. Do something fun with fruit. Why confuse things with a lousy ice cream substitute?

Related random thought, why have we never seen any contestants cracking something open in the store to taste it? Your budget here is $300, it's the centerpiece of your dish... just taste it! Worst-case scenario, you just spent $5 saving yourself from putting something lousy on your plate. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

And incidentally, Rayner makes me like him more and more every day. Rake Smith over the coals for store-bought rice cream while simultaneously sticking up for the sanctity of pasta secca? We're totally simpatico, buddy. The whole "fresh pasta is better" trope is one of my huge pet peeves, too.

Keller keeps rocking, Bayless does his thing, Lo has an off night (she'll be back), and Chiarello busts out a big winner. The next elimination could be brutal.

And for anybody who didn't keep watching through the credits, it looks like a season in the spotlight and reality show fame haven't done much to mellow Dale Talde. I always liked the guy, but I have a hard time believing Chiarello did anything to merit that kind of blowup. Guess we'll see. Gotta start warming up for Top Chef, anyway -- which, by the way, has been moved up to August 19th for those who might have missed it. Looks like we'll have a TCM finale / TC premiere extravaganza! And me traveling in San Francisco that day. Anybody in the bay area want to host a viewing party?

Discuss!

Top Chef Masters - S1E7 Postmortem

Does the mise en place race ever get old? I'm thinking no.

You got me, ScorchaRei... you trusted, I doubted... and I'm the Chicagoan! Anyway, I think it's safe to say that Bayless rocking non-Mexican for a near win is the big story this week. Maybe even bigger than Lo rocking again. That was some serious fawning from the critics. Impressive. Guess I know where my first stop is going to be next time I'm in NY.

Keller's dish looked awfully nice, and it would seem he wasn't on top only by virtue of the fact that he wasn't quite as strong as Lo and Bayless. Sad to see Tracht go. Of course, I'd be sad to see just about anybody go. Well... maybe except for the guy who almost did (he cooked his signature dish for the president, don't you know!). I'm trying to think... has a Top Chef contestant ever been eliminated for finishing too early? In any case, I imagine Chiarello will bounce back, which would make Smith the odds-on favorite for elimination next week.

It's kind of odd that we've flipped from weekly winners to weekly eliminations, now. On Top Chef, no big deal. They're all young turks. Somebody has to go. And when you have a crowd of masters, okay, so somebody rocks a little more than the rest that day. But when you're looking at lineups like these -- how do you single somebody out and say you no longer deserve to be here? Yow.

Looking forward to next week. Discuss!

Top Chef Masters - S1E6 Postmortem

Awwww... Christmas for everybody except Michael Cimarusti, and the old battleship is the only one who can't fully embrace the spirit of giving. And bearing in mind that no fish for the seafood specialist is as nefarious as our secret shoppers got this evening, can you imagine the train wreck this challenge would be with the usual field of Top Chef contestants? *shudder*

And thusly, all of Hubert Keller's dashing silhouettes are filled and we move onto the finals, with Chicago representing a third of the finalists, which I'd feel better about if Art Smith didn't rub me the wrong way. The guy could be the sweetest fella in the world. But every time I see him on television, whether by virtue of his words or the edit, I find myself saying, you know, Art, I'd like to hear a lot less about who you've cooked for and a lot more about what you've cooked.

So let's review:

• Hubert Keller
• Suzanne Tracht
• Rick Bayless
• Anita Lo
• Michael Chiarello
• Art Smith

My money's on Keller or Lo. Lo beacuse she totally smoked the opening round. Keller because I can't say no to that radiant silver mane. Plus: ability to use dorm shower for good rather than evil. Dark horse? Tracht. Critics love them some understated brilliance.

Whaddya think?

Top Chef Masters - S1E4 Postmortem

Two words:

Flaming coconut.

I'm a little tied up and will leave the commenting to you guys again for the moment, other than to say that Mark Peel cracks me up and I'm sad to see him go. But now that I've had a chance to catch episode three... what the hell were Lefebvre and Pawlcyn thinking doing Mexican with Bayless in the house?

(And, really, could Bayless possibly have drawn any better than he did?)

Top Chef Masters - S1E3 Postmortem

Hey, folks. Sorry for the delay. Yesterday was "move out of Baltimore and drive to Boston" day. Haven't yet seen the episode myself, but I'll jump in once I do.

Discuss!

Top Chef Masters - S1E2 Postmortem

Of course they brought back the vending machine.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, but I don't remember the pantry being at the chefs' disposal the last time around. Could GEB have possibly gotten anything more squarely in his wheelhouse? Would've been nice to see GEB advance, strictly from the standpoint of blatant homerism. S'ok. Bayless is up next week.

Where the hell was Jay Rayner when they were looking for a British critic for Top Chef?!?

And is anybody else amused that the silhouettes of the "final round" chefs are all Hubert Keller, flowing mane and all?

Talk amongst yourselves...

By Popular Demand

No, no power rankings for Top Chef Masters, sorry :-)

Despite numerous requests, between the move, the new baby, the new business and flying out to California every month (for two really, really exciting projects), I just don't have it in me at the moment to write with any regularity (or at all, really, but I hope to change that shortly). However, some folks have requested a place to congregate and discuss the new show, so here it is! Even if I don't have anything particularly interesting to add, I'll try to get a post up for you guys to banter. Once we get into next season and things have settled down a bit, maybe I'll do something with Masters. But for now, I'm keeping it loose.

I have to say, I like the format. This could be a fun show. But one thing struck me as particularly notable. For all of the grief restaurant reviewers get, this was a rather amiable bunch, don't you think? Smart, constructive criticism that wasn't over the top and respected the work the chefs were doing. Heck, the night's harshest critic was the befreckled Girl Scout.

Anyway, looking forward to next week... and thanks for all of the well-wishes on all fronts!