Top Chef Power Rankings: Top Chef Season 6

Top Chef - S6E4 Power Rankings

Gads, this episode was humbling for me and I wasn't even there.

My fears about the quickfire proved to be mostly unfounded, and I couldn't be more thrilled. If you have to kick somebody out on a quickfire, the second chance is the way to do it. Also, it's worth noting that Tom's blog revealed that the snails were cleaned and par-cooked, a process that would have taken too much time for the contestants. So that leveled the playing field quite a bit and allowed them to focus on their creative takes rather than snail technique. Most notable part of the QF? We didn't get a full description of the snail dishes that he felt were weakest, but he didn't seem that put off by them. If so, that means that a field of 14 cooked snails, and even with a 45 minute time limit, not a single person bombed. This is remarkable.

Not as remarkable, of course, as the incredible panel of judges assembled for the elimination challenge. This would've been impressive in the final episode, to say nothing of episode four. As I said in the postmortem, where the heck do you go from there? It certainly makes you wonder what they have in store for the end of the season.

The rankings are markedly unexciting this week. But before we dive in, allow me a moment to splash a liiiiiiiitle bit of cold water on everybody, and a little history for those who are newer to Top Chef:

In season one, the cream of the crop was definitely looking like Tiffani, Harold and Lee Anne, until everybody made lamb, Lee Anne unexpectedly got the axe and Dave snuck into the finals.

In season two, Sam, widely considered the favorite, didn't make the final episode while Ilan, considered by most to be the third-best chef in the competition at best took the whole thing.

In season three, Tre, considered by most to be one of two clear frontrunners, didn't make it past midseason in a surprise elimination, while Dale L. who looked like an also-ran suddenly found his mojo in the final third of the season and narrowly missed the win.

Season four was looking to most (the judges included, apparently) like a season-long coronation of Richard Blais, until he choked away the final (his words!). Meanwhile, Dale T., considered by many to be among the top three and a near lock for the finals, was a surprise elimination a few episodes away from the finals while Lisa, who didn't cook a great dish all season, just kept hanging around and hanging around and hanging around while one other person always bombed out, and she made the final meal.

Season five was similarly seen as a season-long coronation of Stefan to most, with Jamie as his only serious competition. But Jamie became a surprise midseason elimination, while the funny/lovable/awesome but -- for most of the season -- culinarily tame Carla suddenly caught fire in the last third of the season and gave everybody a two-person battle in the finals. Except that she and Stefan then choked in the final meal and Hosea -- who most considered along for the ride -- outcooked them both to win.

Point being, yes, Jennifer, Kevin and the Brothers V. seem to be establishing themselves as a solid top tier. And yes, they could all make the finals. But history suggests that probably won't be the case. Because we can't get enough of bad sports metaphors around here, that's why they play the games.

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	Michael V.		Quickfires	1	1	0
1	Last Week: 1		Eliminations	1	3	0

This top tier is making it really difficult to shuffle anybody around. Nobody's stumbling. Everybody continues to pull down wins. And I try not to shuffle the deck simply for the sake of doing so, especially when the four in question now all have four wins apiece. So at the risk of keeping things nice and boring, we're keeping the top for right where they are for the second week in a row. Should I have flip-flopped Mike V. and Jennifer? Well, she did get top mention in the quickfire. But then he's the one who took apart rabbits like R. Lee Ermey takes apart marines, and the mustard noodle that had everybody oohing and aahing was undoubtedly his work. His quickfire escargot lasagna looks like a fun little dish, even if is freaks out the pasta purist in me:

"For pasta, blend flour, milk and egg yolks in a robot coupe. Place contents in a vacuum bag and cryovac until it becomes dough."

Sounds practically metaphysical. But if I can get past the fact that he's making pasta dough in a food processor -- no small task, even if Italian isn't his thing -- it's hard not to get enthused about snails in veal stock, garlic, thyme, butter and parsley sandwiched between pasta with creamed chanterelles, brown butter and crushed hazelnuts. Plus, Tom called it out in his blog as one of the better dishes that didn't get airtime. So Michael stays right where he is for now.

2	Jennifer		Quickfires	2	4	0
2	Last Week: 2		Eliminations	0	2	0

And he has three people breathing down his neck. Though I'm tempted to send Kevin or Bryan -- both of whom walked away with actual wins this week -- past Jennifer, she performed strongly enough that I'm not quite ready to pull that trigger. Another week like this from Kevin and Bryan though, and I might. Her QF pulled a lot of traditional flavors but really, really turned it up a notch, which is why she earned top mention, no doubt. She sautées chanterelles, grills ramps and blanches brussels sprout leaves, then tosses them all in -- get this -- foie fat. The snails are sautéed with preserved lemon, garlic and shallots and then the whole thing is sauced tableside with a sauce that's made by blending brown butter with yuzu and chicken stock to emulsify and topping with fresh chervil and tarragon. Drool. Meanwhile, it has been pointed out that neither snails nor sauce chasseur are seafood. And while this is true, it is also true that neither are meat (well, you've got rabbit bones in the chasseur, but -- nevermind). In any case, it's a baby step. Looks like next episode is a cowboy cookout, so I want to see a flatiron steak that rocks Colicchio's meat-lovin' world. THEN I'll call her Jennifer Norris.

3	Kevin		Quickfires	1	2	0
3	Last Week: 3		Eliminations	1	2	0

Honestly, I'm not sure whether winning the quickfire was an award or not. When you're a chef and you have the opportunity of a lifetime, to be in the presence of a panel like that, would you rather eat with them or cook for them? I'm sure that's a difficult question to answer honestly, but I'd be curious to hear what Kevin would have to say. Anyway, Mattin notwithstanding, we get more evidence for the "bacon makes everything better" crowd (I agree... to a point), as Kevin's bacon jam seems to be what really wins over Boulud and Colicchio, the latter of whom admitted in his blog that upon returning to his kitchen, he immediately started working on his own version. This bacon jam has to be some seriously intense stuff. Though bacon fat jam may be more accurate, since as far as I can tell, it looks like he discards the cooked bacon. He renders the bacon in the oven, then removes it leaving the fat. He cooks onions in the fat until they're deep golden, adds brown sugar and chicken stock and pops it back in the oven to reduce way down. Then he adds more stock and reduces way down again. Then he seasons, adds more stock, blends, adds honey and reduces again, before finally mounting with butter. Yow.

4	Bryan		Quickfires	0	1	1
4	Last Week: 4		Eliminations	2	2	0

Bryan wins the elimination, the judges (thankfully) seeing through Michael I.'s treatise on teamwork. Tom says in his blog that it was clear which brain was behind the dish. Which frankly just means that he was paying attention. Two top filets of trout fused with transglutaminase activa RM and cooked sous vide with a deconstructed béarnaise thickened with xanthan gum? That doesn't exactly bear Michael Isabella's signature, even if he was on the same "let's ditch the traditional béarnaise" wavelength. Tom is once again so taken aback that I hope the culinary purists out there take note. MG has taken a beating from all kinds of critics and food nerds, but when the guy who developed a menu like Craft's is reacting so positively to Bryan's successes, that should tell you that when it's done intelligently and for the right reasons, great things can result. Anyway, I keep Bryan on the bottom of the top tier simply because the nature of his style is that it's more risky. If he makes the final showdown and can simply do his thing, my feeling right now is that he'll be on equal footing with the rest. But he also seems the most likely to flame out with a funky dish that misses the mark before then. Here's hoping that doesn't come to pass. I don't care if he does come across like an accountant in his interviews. The dude's fire is on the plate.

5	Michael I.		Quickfires	0	1	0
5	Last Week: 8		Eliminations	0	2	1

Yes, the guy has ridden the Voltaggio train for two weeks running and he can be a big ol' bed-wetting doody head, but let's give the guy some credit. He has knocked out a couple of rockin' dishes and the only blemish on his record is the Greek salad where it seemed clear -- as stupid as it was -- that he didn't even bother trying. Which doesn't mean the guy isn't his own worst enemy, but it doesn't mean he can't cook, either. And we saw more of the Episode 1 Michael I. this time, that being the guy who may not look top tier, but is technically sound and can bust out some impressive dishes. His QF was right out of his bag of tricks, sautéed snails over skordalia (a Greek potato and garlic puree) with a spring onion and ouzo broth. As he mentioned, it's a treatment evocative of the isle of Crete, from which Michael apparently is descended. Which, as somebody pointed out (wish I could recall where) lays to rest the question of whether or not he's a Cretean (ha!). Speaking of which, while I try not to dwell too much on the more controversial personalities here at the TCPR, and while I realize bringing this up again runs the risk of waking a sleeping giant, I was reflecting this week on some of Mike's more colorful statements of episodes past with the benefit of some time and a little B-roll this week of him screwing around with Jennifer. And the truth is that his misogynistic money quotes could plausibly be either unforgivably offensive or playful and totally self-aware, all depending on how familiar he is with the person he's referring to and the kind of rapport they have. It's all about context. And thankfully the TC editors are all about providing us with as much accurate context as is humanly possible. My money's still on him being kind of a jerk. But the point is, who knows?!? (P.S. Though I know I'll have nobody but myself to blame, please don't run off 75 consecutive comments about whether or not Mike I. is getting the villain edit or is actually a villain. Pleeeeeeease?)

6	Eli		Quickfires	0	0	1
6	Last Week: 5		Eliminations	0	2	0

Eli rounds out my little "just off the pace" tier, and I have him below Mike I. both because Mike had a strong-ish week and Eli got a little abuse, albeit unofficially. His QF was a little uninspired, but that's only when held against the competition. It still looked like a nice dish, with sautéed sunchokes and mushrooms and a brown butter, cream and banyuls vinegar sauce, topped with a little mint, tarragon and pea shoots. With his contribution to the elimination dish, the sauce Américaine, it's unclear to me whether he chose to ignore tradition, or was actually unaware of what the sauce traditionally is. What's not in dispute is that what he prepared isn't sauce Américaine. Describing it as "basically lobster bisque" strikes me as more than a little dubious, but if his intention was simply to try to hit on something that a non-food nerd would grasp, I suppose it isn't that ridiculous of a comparison. But still, the big departure from tradition -- even moreso than his addition of Sichuan peppercorns -- was cream. Which isn't a problem if it's good, but the judges seemed mildly annoyed by it. Or perhaps his mistake was not pushing the envelope far enough, so the judges were inclined to frame those differences as mistakes rather than reimaginings. In any case, deviating from the norm is good. Just make sure it works.

7	Ash		Quickfires	0	1	0
7	Last Week: 10		Eliminations	0	0	1

Now's the big drop. And really, the seven spot this week is a total puzzler. Ashley was here last week, but she was on the bottom of both challenges and was nearly eliminated. Robin didn't fare much better. I'm certainly not putting Ron or Laurine at the top of the MOTPers. So even though it means a three position jump, which seems absurd for a fellow who was on the chopping block, I'm going with the guy who seems to have screwed up the least over the past couple of episodes and give Ash his moment in the sun. Besides, he's my new hero for what he said about being on the bottom of Judges' Table:

"It's painful because they're right."

That Ash qualifies as the hot hand at the moment is a little ridiculous, but there it is. His QF was a snail and leek galette with chanterelles (must've been one beautiful box of chanterelles hanging out in Boulud's kitchen), bacon, juniper, pernod and thyme. In the elimination, even though he was technically on the bottom, I think you have to give him a pass. There were there because of Hector, and the truth is that his sauce may have been awful, and it may have been divine. Problem is, it was completely lost. All three of my MOTPers this week were on the chopping block. With Ash, at least, it wasn't his fault.

8	Ashley		Quickfires	0	1	1
8	Last Week: 7		Eliminations	0	0	2

Despite some not insignificant rough patches, and to the consternation of some, Ashley still strikes me as having the most potential among the MOTPers. That said, with a week like this, I can't just leave her at number seven. If the recipe is accurate -- though I have my doubts on this one -- it isn't hard to see how she ended up on the bottom of the quickfire. Snails, mirepoix, leeks, pernod, cream, butter. Doesn't scream excitement. Her foie amuse saved her bacon, and that was even simpler -- foie, pineapple, tarragon, oil, salt and butter. But with an amuse like that, it's all in the technique. Keep it simple, make it POP. Then, on the elimination, at least her instincts didn't lead her astray. Her culinary instincts, I mean. Her instinct to let Mattin run the show, yeah, that wasn't such a good one. What I find more troubling than her poussin problems, actually, was Tom's comment that her pasta was off. That should be her bread and butter. Okay, wrong starch. But you take my point. Then Mattin lies through his teeth about shooting down the asparagus veloute idea, and she just stands there and takes it. Admirable or stupid, I'm not sure which. But in any case, Ashley just looks frazzled. I don't see her going the full Jesse route just yet, but she needs to regroup. I'm keeping her as high as I am because I think she can turn it around. But otherwise, she could drop like a stone.

9	Robin		Quickfires	0	0	1
9	Last Week: 9		Eliminations	0	0	0

Hey, look... Robin!!!

Aaaaaaand, she's nearly eliminated. Probably not the splash she wanted to make. Robin's another, like Ashley, where I feel like there's a decent cook in there trying to get out. The difference between her and Ashley is that Ashley's decent cook has, on a couple of occasions. I'd sure like to know what Tom and Boulud didn't like about her quickfire. It's interesting, I'll give it that. I have no idea what makes it "Bagels and Lox". Toasted slices of rye bread... oooooooooookay, bagel I guess. But can somebody tell me how snails poached in wine, citrus, coriander, caraway, and thyme, then paired with a saffron-citrus compound butter and a jam made with onion, shallot, leek, sherry vinegar, St. Germain liqueur, sugar and bay constitutes "lox"? Because I sure can't figure it out. Anyway, I'm guessing the judges thought it was a little busy. Just a stab in the dark. I have nothing to base this on other than my reading of the recipe. Similarly, her end of the frog legs meunière is called out for being -- natch -- a little busy. Sounds like she's trying to do a little too much.

10	Ron		Quickfires	0	0	1
10	Last Week: 11		Eliminations	0	1	0

I don't really feel like Ron is in imminent danger, but I just can't find anything to get excited about with him. His very first dish of the competition, at least, showed some life. Since then, it's been meh, meh, meh. His QF escargot Provencal was... predictable. And he had technical issues on the frog legs, overbreading and overcooking them. If he could show a little more style like he did in the first episode -- even if it's a little clunky -- I could move him into the middle of the pack. But for now, I feel like he's in limbo, not in immediate danger, but not really doing anything interesting either.

11	Laurine		Quickfires	0	0	0
11	Last Week: 13		Eliminations	0	0	1

Laurine is somewhat Ron-esque, except that she doesn't even have a distinctive dish to her name just yet. Well, that Moroccan lamb chop at the pool party didn't look too bad. But really, there's not much to go on here. Tom notes that the chefs were admonished not to trot out the ol' parsley, garlic and butter treatment for the snails. Then, she goes ahead and trots out parsley, garlic and butter. To be fair, it's at least an imaginative repackaging of the classic. They're in melted garlic butter with thyme, served atop a spinach risotto and drizzled with parsley oil. But it just looks like a clunker in this crowd. Then she overcooks lobster for the elimination, even if Eli's contribution to that failure might be suspect. Pasta salad momentum keeps her near the bottom. I want to see something out of her. Until then, she's near the basement...

12	Mattin		Quickfires	0	1	0
12	Last Week: 12		Eliminations	0	0	1

...a spot reserved, this week, for Mattin. The Frenchman butchered French. That's not a good sign. Though I must say, I'm feeling a little vindicated since I've been relatively down on him since day one. (That bit last week where I said he might be safe in the French challenge? Yeah... just ignore that.) That he flat-out lied about nixing the asparagus veloute was low, but the judges were blissfully ignorant of that fact during shooting. What he did, however, was make a terrible veloute. That puts him in their crosshairs, and in imminent danger of dismissal.

13	Hector		Quickfires	0	0	0
13	Last Week: 6		Eliminations	0	1	2

This one totally bums me out. I really thought Hector had potential. And actually, I'll stand by that. I think he did. But you can't complain one bit about this elimination. Destroy a simple piece of meat like that in front of Tom Colicchio and you're toast. Sounds like Hector's pretty bummed about the elimination, too. I think that's the first time I've heard somebody come out and say that being eliminated when they were is going to hurt their career. I don't know if I buy that, though. Twice, the judges were unhappy with his steak. The first time, you could debate the propriety of tossing it in the fryer. This time, there was no doubt. But does anybody really think that's going to significantly reflect on what your experience would be like at his restaurant? He was on for a while. He showed some good stuff. He got his name out there. I suspect Hector'll be just fine.

14	Jesse		Quickfires	0	1	3
14	Last Week: 14		Eliminations	0	0	2

Jesse, despite how much this competition crushed her, IS just fine. I got two more reports just this week that she's turning out some really good food at Abacrombie back in Baltimore. So she seems to have gotten past some of the paralyzing self-doubt she showed in her exit interview. What I didn't particularly like was her calling her elimination BS, as she didn't feel Robin's dish was an amuse. First off, I don't see the point in getting that pedantic about it. Whether or not Robin's tiny soup was an amuse is debatable. I've never heard anybody complain about the tiny glasses of liquids that so many of the masters turn out as amuses, and does the fact that it was in a tiny tureen rather than a tiny glass make the difference between survival and elimination? Not to hold out Rick Tramonto as an authority on the subject, but he is the only chef I know of who's devoted an entire cookbook (and a rather nice one, at that) to amuse, and he has plenty of amuse recipes that involve multiple (tiny) bites. Bottom line, if your food tastes the best, you win, and it didn't. Deal. And given that she basically pitched a tent on the chopping block starting with the very first elimination challenge and survived perhaps even a little longer than she should have, it seems to me that she's not in a position -- much as I would have liked to see her succeed -- to be too critical about the judging. Anyway, she sounds like one of those contestants who can turn out some tasty food on her own terms, but who just wasn't suited to the competition. She said she wants people to know that she doesn't suck this bad[ly], and I have it on good authority that she really doesn't. If you're in Baltimore, it sounds like Abacrombie is worth checking out.

And with that, it's back to the three ring circus!

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE FIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

The quickfire, at least, I can get behind, even if it is our second consecutive "unusual ingredient that many of you have probably never cooked with" quickfire. I don't have a lot of experience with cactus myself, so I'm not sure that I have much to say about this one. Except that Mattin has apparently never touched it. Strike one.

The elimination, meanwhile, is another survival challenge, with tiny workstations, blazing sun and a hot, difficult-to-control campfire. I don't mind the goofy and the zany with quickfires. I get a little prickly when the eliminations are so chaotic. But we'll see what happens. The kids are all right. Except for Mattin, who it appears might be attempting to sidestep the challenge entirely by making a ceviche and avoiding the open flame. Hardly seems sporting, and I doubt it'll go over well, if I'm reading this correctly. Strike two.

Y'know, I hadn't watched the preview videos until after I put Mattin in the basement, but now I'm feeling a little extra good about it. Which I guess means I'm already patting myself on the back based on what the TC editors have shown us in the previews.

What's WRONG with me?!?

Discuss!!!

Posted at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)

Top Chef - S6E3 Power Rankings

Okay, it's official. I'm in love with the season six cast. The "we're going to drop you into an absurd pseudo-kitchen" challenge is a mainstay of Top Chef that I've come to accept as a frustrating necessity of the reality genre when I'm feeling charitable, and an infuriating annoyance when I'm not. At best, it's always been a wasted episode, IMHO. So what does the season six cast do? They rock the house, mostly turn out a great meal and actually make the process of watching them prepare it entertaining. These guys can't even crash and burn when they're supposed to.

So, yeah, couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised with the episode. And with that, plus an apology, I'm going to jump right into this week's rankings. I left for Seattle on Thursday and just returned early this morning, and as evidence of how busy the trip was, I'll merely point out that I was staying half a mile from Branzino (where Ashley is cooking) and didn't manage to get there. So I'm a little short on time for extensive editorializing this week. But I wanted to at least get the rankings up on Tuesday morning so there's some time for discussion.

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	Michael V.		Quickfires	1	1	0
1	Last Week: 1		Eliminations	1	2	0

I imagine there are many who feel that Jennifer's performance as Executive Chef should have earned her the nod, and we'll get to that, but I still can't justify kicking a guy out of the top spot for winning the elimination and getting the chefs to fawn over his dish like they did. His QF didn't make top, seemingly due to a slightly undercooked potato. But it's a slick-looking dish with kind of a Japanese feel that otherwise earned some nice praise. As for his elimination, I'm a little surprised that Colicchio seemed so floored by the idea of braising slab bacon. Seems like a natural line of thought given the ubiquity of braised pork belly, even if trying it with a cured rather than fresh product was a little risky. But even setting that aside, the judges just completely fawned over his flavors and there's no denying that he managed to put together a surprisingly composed-looking dish coming out of that kind of a kitchen. So he hangs onto the top spot...

2	Jennifer N.		Quickfires	2	3	0
2	Last Week: 2		Eliminations	0	1	0

...just barely. It's still early, but this is really looking like it could be a see-saw battle for the top spot the whole way. Put me squarely in the camp that thinks Jennifer deserved to stand up with the top group. In the end, it's a cooking challenge and the decision not to let her touch any food was outside of the box a little, so I could understand the judges not wanting to give her a win. But it certainly appears that she contributed as much as if not more than anybody else in the field, and it would have been nice to see her get an official shout-out. Though we know Tom did a walkthrough of the kitchen from some of the bonus video, we don't know how much of her organizational acumen he saw, so that may have contributed to the decision. Also, it's possible that the judges chose not to recognize the unofficial restructuring of the challenge that went on between the chefs, but more on that later. Before the elimination, she pulled down a quickfire win with a really elegant dish that, as Mark Peel noted, seemed almost classically French. Though it did work in some Asian flavors in the form of ginger and lemongrass. A silky-smooth potato sauce with Asian aromatics, duck fat, mussels and white wine? This recipe sings to me. I've not the least bit of doubt that it's a big winner. Oh, and for those keeping score, Jennifer's now made five consecutive seafood dishes. This can't go on much longer, can it?

3	Kevin		Quickfires	0	1	0
3	Last Week: 3		Eliminations	1	2	0

Even when he isn't winning or getting top mention, Kevin's food always looks good to me. Take his quickfire dish. It didn't receive any official notice from Peel. But you can't tell me that yam braised with bacon, thyme, lemon, demi-glace, tarragon and garlic that's then placed atop a yukon gold, cauliflower and duck fat sauce and served with cauliflower, asparagus and mushrooms doesn't sound fantastic. And the braised pork shoulder for which it appears he was primarily responsible missed out on an elimination win only because the judges were busy making lovey eyes with Michael V. Almost as important as the fact that he's made a habit of being at or near the top? The fact that he hasn't stumbled even the slightest bit. If I have to put my money on one person not to win, but just to make the finals? Right now I put it on Kevin.

4	Bryan		Quickfires	0	1	1
4	Last Week: 4		Eliminations	1	1	0

Not the slightest bit of movement in the top four. Exciting, I know. Unlike Kevin, Bryan seems like a bit of a riskier proposition so far, but his mistakes haven't been crippling and he's hit some soaring heights, so I'm keeping him right on the edge of what I consider the top tier right now. His creative take on vichyssoise, with parsnips, sunchokes, smoked salmon roe and fennel pollen earned some positive words if not top mention, ditto his elimination collaboration with Mattin, even if their strip loin with mushroom demi-glace and cauliflower gratin was kind of a snoozer. Basically, I see no reason to move him up or down this week.

5	Eli		Quickfires	0	0	1
5	Last Week: 7		Eliminations	0	2	0

Sneaking into the top of the second tier, a little surprisingly (even to me), is Eli. He had a little stumble with what Peel considered an overly-sweet quickfire (even if I'm intrigued by the fact that his yam puree contained ras el hanout and cilantro), but this is his second straight with top mention and all kinds of praise for his elimination dish, and I think he's earned his way to the top of the MOTP'ers. What's more, I like how he's earned his way to the top going both wacky and simple. His tuna tartare last week was kind of all over the map flavor-wise, and yet he made it work. While this week, his potato salad was nothing more than potatoes, onions, celery, hard-boiled eggs, mayo, mustard, vinegar, relish and sour cream. He's shown he can succeed by throwing some wild flavors, and he's shown he can succeed by dialing it back and making a simple classic something special. Even if his wonkier concoctions will get him into trouble now and again, I think this bodes well for him.

6	Hector		Quickfires	0	0	0
6	Last Week: 6		Eliminations	0	1	1

This week, Hector treads water. He doesn't pull down any mention, but I like the way he thinks. That potato trio in the quickfire had a couple of cool elements, most notably the sweet potato. It did make me think of Peruvian ceviche, and I like that he kind of turned convention on its head by flipping the dominant ingredient, braising the potato in fish sauce, soy, aji mirasol and garlic before topping with a touch of cilantro and fresh lime. As for the chili, it's impossible to say to what degree he or Robin was driving, but it looks like a pretty decent dish and Gail called it out as an unheralded success in her blog, so we know he continues to do good work since his little slip-up in episode one.

7	Ashley		Quickfires	0	1	0
7	Last Week: 9		Eliminations	0	0	1

Meanwhile, Ashley gives me the excuse I need to get her a little closer to where I suspect she really belongs. That gnocchi was an ambitious little quickfire dish, and not because it was gnocchi. While I don't particularly want to try it, 45 minutes doesn't strike me as unreasonable. But the rest of the dish didn't receive short shrift, including sautéed mushrooms, an arugula cream, freshly-made ricotta (not as daring as it sounds, but still impressive), and fried garlic chips. Now that's a lot to get done in 45 minutes, and she did it in top mention style despite losing her water to Preeti. The bread pudding she made with Ash -- well, it was bread pudding. But it was under difficult circumstances and it did the job. Let's just say that it's on the basis of the quickfire that she's a mover this week.

8	Michael I.		Quickfires	0	0	0
8	Last Week: 5		Eliminations	0	1	1

Michael continues to slide since his strong start, and even though I bet he comes back strong sooner rather than later, this week's near elimination drops him a few more notches. It's too bad his quickfire dish -- the potato "risotto" with peas, mint, lemon, mascarpone and crab -- didn't quite come together, because it looks like it has a lot of potential. That Greek shrimp salad, though? I'm of the opinion that he deserved every bit of abuse he got for a couple of reasons. First, there's much talk -- including from Mike V. himself -- that they were a team and they should have risen or fallen as a team. I say nuh-uh. The idea to split the field into teams of two was a great organizational idea, but that wasn't among the challenge's parameters. As far as I can see, Mike and Mike were a team in name only, completely parting ways in the kitchen and each doing his own dish, and as far as I'm concerned they should have been judged as such. Imagine you're judging and you have two contestants in an individual challenge who worked on their own dishes but say they should be judged as a unit simply because they declared themselves a team. Does it seem right to spare one of them the axe simply because of a completely arbitrary self-imposed designation that had nothing to do with the challenge's parameters? When we're down to five contestants, can two of them declare themselves teammates and both go to the finals if either one of them makes a great dish? It'd be stupid then, and it's no less stupid now just because the field is larger. It'd be different if they'd been assigned as teammates and the challenge was meant to involve division of responsibilities, or even if they'd actually worked on both dishes together, but as it stands, saying that Mike I. deserves credit for the "team's" pork belly is simply skirting responsibility for putting out a bad dish. As soon as they discovered that Mike I. was solely responsible for the salad and hadn't actually worked on the pork belly as they'd been led to believe, I think they did exactly the right thing by ignoring that "team" designation and judging Mike I. for what he actually cooked. And he's lucky he didn't get sent home for it. It's almost as uninspired as the pasta salad, and blowing off a "throwaway" dish simply because your "teammate" has your back with a good dish is cheap, cheap, cheap. He absolutely should have been called on it, and I'm glad the judges did it.

9	Robin		Quickfires	0	0	0
9	Last Week: 10		Eliminations	0	0	0

And with the ninth position, we leave the MOTP'ers and enter limbo. Robin is now the only contestant who hasn't received top or bottom mention for a single one of her dishes, so it only seems appropriate that she's almost exactly in the dead center of the rankings, but that's not why I have her here. She's actually put together some nice looking food, including this week's rustic potato hash (with champagne vinaigrette, pancetta lardons, frisee, fennel and fried egg) and her chili collaboration with Hector, but she still hasn't made a splash of any kind. Granted, that's tricky in this field. But as solid as she seems to be, it's hard to put her any higher unless she stands out somewhere. In any other season, I suspect she'd be near the top of the MOTP'ers. This season, however, she's still in hiding.

10	Ash		Quickfires	0	1	0
10	Last Week: 11		Eliminations	0	0	0

Ash, on the other hand, actually has made a small splash, but on the balance his dishes have looked less impressive to me than Robin's, so I'm exercising a little rankings discretion and keeping him one notch below her. If you want to know what I think of Ash passing off his failed ice cream as a custard, you need only know that my dessert for Iron Chef Peach -- which the judges loved -- was billed as Vanilla Lacquered Peach with Coconut Rum "Ice"... and for fear of incriminating myself, that's all I'm going to say about that. There's an important lesson there, though. If something doesn't quite turn out right, don't stammer, turn beet red and apologize. Sell it, baby. In any case, flub or no flub, it looks like a great dish, the sweet potatoes being scented with sage, cinnamon and star anise. I'm sure it didn't need to fully freeze to taste delicious. Then he makes a simple bread pudding with Ashley and, like Robin, we're still waiting for him to make a move up or down.

11	Ron		Quickfires	0	0	1
11	Last Week: 8		Eliminations	0	1	0

As with Ashley, I'm going to take some minor indicators as an excuse to put Ron closer to where I think he belongs. He has not given us anything noteworthy since his first dish of the competition, and today he makes one mediocre dish and one questionable (if tasty) call. The left half of his plate was, quite literally, nothing more than yellowtail, sweet potato, salt and pepper. That just isn't going to fly, and Peel called him on it. And though Ron thanked him for the portion of the dish he said he liked, when the judge identifies your vegetable on the side as his favorite part of the dish, that isn't a good thing. A totally flat and uninspired quickfire. It sounds like the clam chowder was well-prepared, but it's totally conventional and I, too, question the wisdom of serving that dish on a hot day. I thought it before Gail said it. It's not the dish's heat that's the problem. It's the cream.

12	Mattin		Quickfires	0	1	0
12	Last Week: 13		Eliminations	0	0	0

It's been said that Bryan identifying Mattin as "a solid cook" is a mark in his favor, but I say the opposite. If that's the best compliment Bryan can muster, I believe he just made my case for Mattin as embodying uninspired competence, and uninspired competence doesn't get you far in this crowd. His quickfire was, as Mark Peel noted, rather pretty. But it was cod poached in fish stock and set atop a red pepper puree with a few quenelles of plain mashed potatoes. That dish needs some interest that it just isn't getting. And then he was part of team filet in the elimination challenge, and I wasn't particularly thrilled to see Bryan working on that dish, much less Mattin, who hasn't shown anything the least bit interesting yet. As long as he doesn't screw up he might hang in there for a few more shows, but the neckerchief's days are numbered. I feel like my preseason prediction of midseason hanger-on is looking just about right at this point.

13	Laurine		Quickfires	0	0	0
13	Last Week: 12		Eliminations	0	0	1

I actually feel better (though not that much) about Laurine than I do about Mattine, but there's no forgiving that pasta salad and I have to ding her for it. If not for that, I'd probably have Laurine in limbo with Robin and Ash (though still below both of them). Though she hasn't gotten any attention, she's put together a couple of interesting dishes. I think she has some upside. Not that much, but it's there. We'll have to wait and see if she gets to show it before she's squeezed out by stronger competition.

14	Jesse		Quickfires	0	1	2
14	Last Week: 14		Eliminations	0	0	2

I still think Jesse has shown more potential than Laurine, Mattin, Ron and maaaaaaaybe even Ash, but she just isn't getting it together. For those who referenced Stephanie's shaky start in season four, I'd like to point out that she'd won two elimination challenges by the end of episode three. I'm not so sure it's an apt comparison. I do agree that Jesse could make a move if she'd quit shooting herself in the foot. I'd love to comment on her quickfire soup, but something's clearly amiss with the recipe. Her "Sweet Potato Soup with Ginger, Brown Sugar, and Cayenne Pepper" officially contains neither ginger nor brown sugar. And I think she was riding the chowder champion's coattails in the elimination. So this opinion isn't based on this week's performance so much as what we've seen before and the fact that I keep hearing good things about her restaurant from friends back in Baltimore. But for the third week in a row, she was fortunate to skate by. If she can't turn it around and ends up in the same zip code as the chopping block next week, she's gone.

15	Preeti		Quickfires	0	0	0
15	Last Week: 15		Eliminations	0	0	2

As bad as Mike I's shrimp salad looked, you don't make a pasta salad like Preeti and Laurine did and survive. Let's review: farfalle, canned artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning(!), broccoli florets, vinegar, dijon, honey, olive oil, lemon juice. Seriously?!? I can't say it any better than a friend of mine did over at LTHForum:

"That pasta salad looks like a nice dish....if you want to be executive chef of the Whole Foods deli counter."

And if anything, I think that's being kind. Really, when it comes down to it, Laurine was saved by her shame, while Preeti made the mistake of having none. Sending out a dish like that is borderline insulting. Even if you aren't convinced that pasta salad is a bad idea in the first place, you're competing in Top Chef and you couldn't do SOMEthing to make it look like it didn't come out of Cooking Light magazine? It somehow seems appropriate that Preeti seemed so obsessed with color in her dishes, as though she was more concerned with appearances than she was with creativity or flavor. It's also notable that we just NOW discover she's a recent culinary school grad. She says in this episode that 9/11 is what drove her to cook -- that she enrolled in culinary school "a few years" later. The program she did couldn't have been less than two years. By my rough count, that means she wasn't working in the field any earlier than late 2006 or early 2007, which would mean she's barely two years out of culinary school, which explains a lot. My feeling is that we didn't miss much by losing Preeti early on.

I'm not so sure we're going to be saying the same thing at the end of next week, though...

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE FOUR SPOILERS AHEAD

Daniel Boulud and Joel Robuchon in the same episode this early in the season? Yipes. No pressure, guys. Though I suppose it's good that at the very least they'll be judged by some serious chefs, because the structure of next week's challenges is downright frightening. Let's be absolutely clear about what's going to happen in next week's quickfire. Somebody is going home for how they handle snails. Now, I have nothing against snails. I dig escargot. I love abalone, and that's nothing more than a big ol' sea snail. But they're touchy little buggers, and really, who spends time cooking snails? I was already girding for a double elimination. With so little chaff left, it was almost assured that somebody promising -- one of the MOTP'ers who's done some neat stuff -- would be going home. But an elimination quickfire with snails as the protein? Nobody's safe. Except maybe Mattin, of all people. And all I know is that in the elimination preview video, I'm seeing an awful lot of chaff and NONE of this week's top three.

I have a very bad feeling about episode four.

Discuss!

Posted at 01:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (49)

Top Chef - S6E2 Power Rankings

Well, I managed to work it back to Tuesday, anyway. Hopefully we get all the way to Monday next week.

Sorry again for the delay, folks... it's tricky with the big field (and houseguests). In any case, season six continues to amaze and astound and lay the groundwork for what just has to be a seriously fantastic second half of the season. Tom seems practically giddy, and as much as I've written about Top Chef, that's not a word I often (read: ever) find myself applying to Tom.

The much ballyhooed "Battle of the Sexes" pretty much turned out to be a non-event, which is as it should be. That said, it turned out to be another great challenge and I thought Todd English made for a rather nice guest judge, and he had some great things to say. I also enjoyed the quickfire's hook, adding interest without completely kneecapping the contestants (as cruel as snake eyes would have been). And while I'm still of the mind that they're applying the big cash prizes to the wrong challenges (the quickfires already have incentive to win rather than merely survive), the field is so strong that it might not matter. Do you see anybody playing it safe?

Since it's inspired so much talk this week, I thought I'd weigh in on the carpaccio discussion. First, a bit of history. Carpaccio's a much younger dish than most suspect, and it's one of those rare dishes with very clear, traceable origins. It's generally agreed that it was first served at Harry's Bar in Venice in the 1950s (Incidentally, a lovely place to have a meal that'll make you feel as though you're a Hollywood star traveling abroad in the 1930s, even if the prices are absolutely heart-stopping). But even in the short ensuing decades, what's generally sold as carpaccio barely resembles the original. Thinly sliced chilled beef topped with olive oil, shaved parmesan, arugula and lemon seems to be the most popular variant, but the original was simply the beef with a drizzle of fresh mayonnaise flavored with mustard and a touch of Worcestershire sauce. While I enjoy the newer "standard", there's a certain minimal elegance and focus on the beef that I think has been lost, and-- well, now I'm just rambling. In any case, Ashley's use of the term this week caused some confusion, with people wondering if she had paired beef with her watermelon and what, precisely, the term means. Fact is, carpaccio has a much broader colloquial meaning these days. You'll see the term widely applied to anything sliced thin and served cold flat on a plate with some manner of topping -- beef, fish, vegetable, fruit, whatever. Even in Italy, menus will almost always specify "Carpaccio di Bue" (beef carpaccio) to clarify that the star is beef as opposed to something else. So the question isn't whether it can be applied to things other than beef. It is, widely and regularly, and that's simply the reality of the situation. The real question is whether or not it should be, and while I'm usually somebody who's annoyed by linguistic drift when it comes to dish names, I have to confess that carpaccio is one that really doesn't bother me. And I think that's because unlike a term like Kobe beef, which often erroneously suggests an ingredient's source, or a term like Spaghetti Bolognese, which is applied to similar dishes that aren't the same, the meaning of the word "carpaccio" has, in practice, changed from the title of a dish to the description of a technique. What's more, it's a technique that, frankly, could use a little shorthand. "thinly sliced and served cold flat on a plate with toppings" is more than a little cumbersome for most menus. But title anything "X Carpaccio" and you immediately know exactly what you're getting. In short, its adopted meaning isn't so much a misnomer or a bastardization as it is very meaningful shorthand for a technique applied to the original dish of the same name. For that reason, put me in the camp that's AOK with Ashley's use of the term.

Okay, enough rambling for one week. On with the rankings! It's the early going, so things are still pretty volatile with a few people making big jumps, but I still feel a whole lot better about where most of the crowd is than I did last week. I'll be curious to hear what you think.

Oh, and P.S... Bravo needs to find a new transcriptionist. This week's recipes brought us canneloni beans (cannellini beans), guanjillo chiles (guajillo chiles), aioli croutin (aioli crouton), and my personal favorite, apricot mastrada (apricot mostarda). I know food and once upon a time I worked as a transcriptionist for over two years. Just sayin'.

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	Michael V.		Quickfires	1	1	0
1	Last Week: 5		Eliminations	0	1	0

Yes, I just gave number one to a guy who hasn't won an elimination. And no, I can't really justify it yet. But this is still week two, the Wild West days of the Power Rankings, and the guy's impressing me. I'll hang my hat on the fact that if he weren't in Kevin's group last week, he'd be the only chef who's been in the top on every challenge thus far... well, every challenge in which the full field participated... okay, this is a lot of qualifiers. He's first this week for looking strong last week and narrowly missing a double win this week, and that's that. The Nitro Gazpacho really was a great twist on a classic, even if it wasn't developed on the spot. It was on the menu at The Bazaar well before this season of Top Chef was underway. But that didn't bother me like it bothered some, and then he turned right around and did something just as wacky and effective that clearly was developed right on the spot, making a fresh sorbet version of the cloying alcoholic shot it was meant to be paired with. Incidentally, for those who would write off the use of things like liquid nitrogen as pure MG nonsense, this dish was actually a perfect example of an intelligent use of new technique. He wanted to do a sorbet, and he wanted it to contain a lot of alcohol. Problem is, alcohol doesn't freeze very well. That is, unless it's subjected to temperatures of -321°F. Anyway, as I'd hoped, he's rocking.

2	Jennifer		Quickfires	1	2	0
2	Last Week: 1		Eliminations	0	1	0

And with Jennifer Z. eliminated, I can eliminate one of the last initials. Huzzah! So, did anybody else murmur "oh, crud" when she went for the frozen seafood, or was it just me? Thankfully, Jennifer pulled down top mention in the quickfire, and while we have no way of knowing how she would have compared to the top fellas owing to the structure of the challenge, comments in the cabana seemed positive, so I'm keeping her just off the pace. Her smoked salmon with lemon, garlic, shallot, parsley and jalapeno emulsion looked clean and married good flavors. Her octopus ceviche with garlic, shallot, vinegar, fennel, onion, mint and every citrus under the sun also looked quite lovely, and bonus points for hewing it from a cephalopod iceberg. That said, let's examine Jennifer's first four dishes: ceviche, poached halibut, smoked salmon, ceviche. She can't ride that horse all the way to the finish line, and we've yet to see how she handles non-piscine protein. I'm not worried. Just noting for the record.

3	Kevin		Quickfires	0	1	0
3	Last Week: 2		Eliminations	1	1	0

Kevin had a quieter week two, but didn't do anything to dampen my enthusiasm for his chances. Quite the contrary, he pulled top mention for a quickfire dish that only further solidified my impression of his cooking. It's a really cool-looking composed and partially cooked salad employing blanched asparagus, a fennel cream, soft-cooked egg, mint, olives and the always underappreciated celery and celery leaves with a champagne vinaigrette. You CAN win friends with salad, and this is the type that would win my interest on a menu. As for his elimination dish, an almond and green grape gazpacho is by no means novel, but crab struck me as an interesting addition, and I loved the thought behind amping up the cucumber to pick up the apple in the shot. The guy's thinking. Frankly, given the comments in the cabana, I was really surprised when he didn't make top four. But that should tell you something about just how strong this field is right now.

4	Bryan		Quickfires	0	1	1
4	Last Week: 4		Eliminations	1	1	0

I'd like to move Bryan up, especially since he's won one of only two eliminations thus far, but he's been a little uneven in both quickfires and I can't quite bring myself to put him above any of the top three just yet. His quickfire, a sous vide cod with dual sauces that play on peas and carrots, is a good dish in theory, I think, but it would seem it had some execution issues. His play on chips and guacamole, on the other hand, suffered no such fate, and struck me as brilliant both technically and creatively. It's not often you see all four judges falling over themselves, and while I suppose he never needs to win a quickfire as long as he keeps doing well in the eliminations, I'd still like to see him do a little better under intense time pressure before I move him up.

5	Michael I.		Quickfires	0	0	0
5	Last Week: 3		Eliminations	0	1	0

Michael I. takes a little dip this week, mostly on the strength of those surrounding him, but also because of a bit of a boneheaded maneuver on the elimination. For the quickfire, his scallop crudo with avocado puree and corn nuts (Corn in ceviche again? Peruvian is making its move!) looks tasty enough, but didn't merit any mention of any kind. His elimination, lightly cured arctic char with caper sauce and a bit of cara cara orange (a sweet, reddish, low acid navel, in case you were wondering) fell flat in the flavor arena according to the judges, and also fell victim to one of the classic canapé/amuse blunders. Texture, texture, texture. Little single bites must pop, and that goes for texture as well as flavor. Cured fish + creamy sauce + citrus segment = mush, and I'm sure that factored into the judges' impressions of the dish.

6	Hector		Quickfires	0	0	0
6	Last Week: 14		Eliminations	0	1	1

And just like that, Hector comes bouncing right back. Though his quickfire didn't receive any screen time, it was thin-sliced jamon serrano with a sherry-kumquat emulsion and date "carpaccio" (there it is again!). Wasn't good enough to merit recognition, apparently, but it's the kind of creative Latin fare I'd like to see a lot more of. For his elimination, however, it seemed like he was right there with the folks at the top. Not only did he do great things with tofu (though, for the record, I love tofu and don't view it as a substitute food), but it was a creative Latin dish that even worked in a little MG. The tofu was marinated simply with lime, lemon, salt and tequila, and then dressed with mango and cilantro-mint pearls (agar agar), topped with cucumber, mint and pickled garlic, and a freshly made, pressed and fried guajillo-achiote tortilla chip. I'd love to see a Latin chef make a real run, and I'm glad to see Hector running strong after a little stumble out of the gate. Besides, the guy looks like he could have gone to cooking school with Danny Trejo, and there's nothing that isn't awesome about that.

7	Eli		Quickfires	0	0	0
7	Last Week: 9		Eliminations	0	1	0

Eli snuck up on me a little this week. I didn't expect to have him as high as I did, but there he is. His quickfire was an interesting little number that sailed under the radar, steamed mussels with a butter caramel, sherry vinegar and ras el hanout sauce, topped with breadcrumbs and cilantro. It's wacky enough that I wonder if it didn't quite come together, but that's purely speculation. This isn't one I can put together in my head. His elimination won some significant praise, though, especially from Gail. And she's dead on. You have to do something seriously interesting to impress with tuna tartare these days. It's nothing if not busy, including coconut milk, lime, yuzu, aji amarillo, fish sauce, truffle oil, ginger, garlic, red pepper, yellow pepper, scallions, mint, cilantro, basil, sesame powder, green tea powder, soy sauce powder, lactic acid, rice paper and onion, not to mention the puffed wild rice that received so much attention. Of course, number of ingredients have nothing to do with quality, but the ability to balance that many flavors is impressive, especially when set against a mellow canvas like raw tuna. He's got the evil scientist look down, and it's starting to look like it might be appropriate.

8	Ron		Quickfires	0	0	0
8	Last Week: 6		Eliminations	0	1	0

Ron wasn't overtly called out for any problems this week, but what signs there were weren't terribly positive. First there's his quickfire, which received zero screen time, and consisted of seared salmon atop spinach and cannellini beans that were dressed with Chablis lemon butter. His elimination looked a little uninspired, a light vegetable sauce and underseasoned lobster. Might not have been called out in previous seasons, but against this crowd it sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm definitely still trying to get a handle on Ron, and I wonder if we got his best shot in week one.

9	Ashley		Quickfires	0	0	0
9	Last Week: 7		Eliminations	0	0	1

I actually feel better about Ashley than I do about either Ron or Eli, but you don't botch a dish like that panna cotta and not get dinged for it. I dug the look of her quickfire dish, a grilled lamb with quick apricot mostarda, mostarda being a fruity, sugary Italian relish of sorts that's made with a ton of dry mustard or, even more authentically, extremely pungent mustard oil, so that it kind of straddles that sweet/savory divide. Her first elimination dish also looked nice and earned big praise from English, which was impressive given how little went into it: watermelon, mint, strawberries, balsamic and grilled ricotta salata (far denser, drier and salty than the ricotta to which most are accustomed -- though softer than most, it's actually used mostly as a grating cheese in Italy). What I didn't like was how incredibly underdone that lamb looked, and how badly she botched the panna cotta. The latter I actually find more forgivable than the first. It was a mistake born of zeal, and I don't doubt that if that were her only dish, she might've nailed it. It just lacked focus, both from a technical standpoint and as evidenced by things like the fresh/dry bay issue. "Fresh or dry, fresh or dry, fresh or dry...... eh, I'll just use both." Despite these issues, I think she's actually one of the more promising MOTP'ers (Middle Of The Pack), but I have to ding her here.

10	Robin		Quickfires	0	0	0
10	Last Week: 8		Eliminations	0	0	0

And now we enter the chunk of contestants I'm not quite sure what to do with just yet. The next four haven't really distinguished themselves, but then they haven't done much to hurt themselves either. Robin's was one of the quickfire dishes that didn't get any play. And for rolling a difficult three ingredients, I think she did a rather nice job of trying to make something interesting of it. She topped seared duck breast with fennel and golden raisins, braising and then grilling half of the fennel bulb (which was then combined with the raisins to make a relish), shaving and frying the other half, and making a coulis out of the fronds. Three ingredients is tough. There's simple and there's simple, and I like that she was working multiple preps of one of her ingredients, trying to pull more and varied flavors out of it. It didn't earn her any mention, but it strikes me as smart. Her elimination was the duck mole on plantain chips, and I think it's set the record for most ingredients in a Top Chef dish. I count 37 (not advocating, merely reporting). In any case, Robin's had some interesting looking recipes and Gail had good things to say about her in last week's blog, so I'll put her on top of this particular heap.

11	Ash		Quickfires	0	0	0
11	Last Week: 10		Eliminations	0	0	0

Ash, similarly, hasn't received any top mention and he's mostly flying under the radar, but his chicken wings received some kind words. His quickfire was a simple seared bass with arugula, sort of a tomato confit and a sherry/tarragon vinaigrette. Could have been great, could have been mediocre, all depending on the ingredients and execution. All we know is it wasn't awesome or terrible. And though I hate to pigeonhole the guy in terms of style so early, his elimination actually seemed a bit of a departure for him. They were noshy, Asian-style chicken wings with pickled pearl onions. The wings employed sesame oil, serrano chiles, Sichuan peppercorns (huzzah!), sambal, sriracha, sweet soy, regular soy, mirin, lemongrass and ginger. Noshy Asian-style. Anyway, I'm still seeking more of an angle on Ash.

12	Laurine		Quickfires	0	0	0
12	Last Week: 15		Eliminations	0	0	0

Laurine was another short straw in the quickfire, pulling three ingredients. And unlike Robin, I thought she kind of took the easy way out by making soup. Don't misunderstand -- those who remember the Spike Mendelsohn soup debate from season four know that I was a staunch defender of the power and appropriateness of a good soup. But three ingredients -- even for a soup -- is awfully low, and like Robin, I would've liked to see her get a little more creative with their use. Do something to showcase the different flavors that can be brought out of one of your ingredients. Choose an ingredient with multiple components that have different character. Anyway, her elimination looked interesting to me, lamb with a nice spice rub and a relish made with pine nuts, pomegranate molasses, lemon, mint, parsley and shallots. Despite being so low in the rankings, she's got a little game. I'll be curious to see if she manages to stand out at all in this crowd.

13	Mattin		Quickfires	0	1	0
13	Last Week: 12		Eliminations	0	0	0

My impression of Mattin is definitely colored by my experience at his restaurant (which is half written up already). Let me be clear -- I don't think there's the slightest thing wrong with the guy's food. It's simple, it's good. I just don't see him doing anything interesting at all, and with this crowd that's going to mean an even earlier exit than usual. His quickfire was a ginger carrot soup with a little sour cream for garnish. Okay. Not that there's anything wrong with ginger carrot soup, but if you're going to do soup, could you at least throw an interesting combination or something? And his elimination was a prettied up classic -- a bit of bouillabaisse in a cup, with aioli and a crouton on the side. It's unclear to me whether he did or did not do an actual croquette. It's in the name of the recipe, and the judges said it wasn't very good, but there's no mention of it in the actual recipe -- just a crouton. In any case, no, the guy isn't blowing it. He's just blending in too well. Aside from the neckerchief, of course.

14	Jesse		Quickfires	0	1	1
14	Last Week: 11		Eliminations	0	0	2

Jesse had a rough week. Well, another rough week. And some are probably wondering why she isn't on the bottom. I had her there originally, because it's tough not to put somebody on the brink of elimination who's been on the bottom of all three challenges with a bottom so far. The conservative and probably the smart pick is to say she's about to kick the bucket. But between the two who look like they're on the brink, Jesse has actually shown some potential, and it's on that basis that I'm keeping her out of the bottom spot. Between the lack of a good sear on her scallops and the lack of any texture, her quickfire had problems. But there was the genesis of a good dish in there. Similarly, her elimination dish -- sort of a take on chicken soong, was apparently busy and unbalanced and the decision to throw in the ginger beer was just puzzling. But again, I just have a feeling that if she can pull herself together and start cooking smart, she's going to turn out some good food. It has to be right now, though, or she's a goner.

15	Preeti		Quickfires	0	0	0
15	Last Week: 13		Eliminations	0	0	1

Preeti's dish, on the other hand, I actively dislike. Her quickfire seemed okay -- an unaired "Spring Benedict" -- that put asparagus and poached egg atop sourdough toast, and topped them with a faux hollandaise that puzzingly substituted olive oil for butter. I appreciate the fresh angle. I'm just not so sure it's a good one. With the possible exception of the egg yolk, you just removed the single best part of eggs benedict. Her elimination, though, was just ill-conceived from the start. I don't like to suggest that some dishes are so overdone you just can't do them anymore. But black and white sesame crusted tuna? That's one thing I hope I never see again and I don't doubt the judges feel the same way. Then it's put atop a fried wonton skin, which only adds to the bad '90s fusion vibe, pairs it with eggplant which is puzzling (and was to the judges as well), and adds a largely superfluous and inappropriately whole shiso leaf, seemingly because it looked pretty. And then she seemed oblivious to its problems, which is never a good sign. The judges see potential in Jesse and would like nothing more than for her to find her footing. In Preeti, however, they're getting puzzling food from somebody who doesn't seem to understand why it's puzzling. Given another close call between the two, I'm thinking that tips the scales in favor of Preeti's elimination. And one final thought... scuttlebutt before the show started was that Preeti had a penchant for working Indian flavors and techniques into her cooking, but we're three dishes in and it's nowhere to be found. I'd sure like to see some of that, but here's hoping that wasn't somebody's assumption simply because she's Indian, because that would be Lame.

16	Eve		Quickfires	0	0	1
16	Last Week: 16		Eliminations	0	0	2

There was a point during this week's episode when I embarrassingly lost control and started yelling at the TV screen. It went something like this:

"I'm pretty much focused on my dish because I'm having some issues with the lack of flavor in the shrimp."
"That's because you cooked the shrimp."
"The vinaigrette is not penetrating it or affecting it at all."
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU COOKED THE SHRIMP!"

Am I the one who's out in left field here? I know there are those who advocate par-cooking shrimp for ceviche, but in my experience, the second you cook those buggers, nothing's penetrating them. The whole point of the ceviche is that the acid "cooks" the seafood. Otherwise, it's a cold shrimp salad. Anyway, Eve turns in two more failures and deservedly gets the boot. To her credit, in her exit interview, she managed to sing the familiar "I didn't put my best foot forward because I was having trouble with the format" tune without taking the Zoi route of acting as though the contest she just lost was beneath her, anyway. As mentioned in the comments, some chefs can rock their own kitchens but don't work well in the TC pressure cooker. That could certainly be the case with Eve. But she sure didn't inspire confidence, huh?

Starting to get a sense of where everybody lies. There are still a few of the quiet folks who could suddenly shine or bomb. But I doubt either is going to happen next week. Speaking of which...

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE THREE SPOILERS AHEAD

Why am I getting the uneasy feeling that we're going to hate the next episode? On the surface, without seeing the official setup, the quickfire looks to be straightforward enough. The elimination, on the other hand, looks to be another in a long line of "now we're going to cripple our chefs and see how they do" challenges. I understand wanting to see how they handle pressure, but without getting ahead of myself, this one's looking a little ridiculous. We'll wait to see the details, of course, but from the previews it looks to have all the makings of the kind of survival challenge that can send somebody home long before they should go. Here's hoping that doesn't come to pass.

Discuss!

Posted at 07:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (43)

Top Chef - S6E1 Power Rankings

Okay, I need to stop agonizing over this and write something.

I love the mise en place relay. It's always one of the high points of the season. But I hate that they put it first this year. Partly because it's already gone and I don't get to spend half the season looking forward to it, but mostly because for the first power rankings, I only have one dish to go on for three-quarters of the field. I realize this isn't significantly different from last season, but it's still frustrating. And we couldn't even get a peek at the technical skill of three of the contestants because Preeti was still mangling clams while Bryan was frenching prime rib.

No complaints about the start of the season, though. When, after the first episode, you're looking at positions 12 and 13 -- and even 14 and 15 -- and thinking, "Hey, they made mistakes, but there's still some compelling stuff here," it's an embarrassment of riches. Seriously... seventeen dishes (21 if you count the quickfire), only two complete flops. Ted Allen is thinking he jumped ship a little too soon (I keed, Ted!).

So for lack of that much to review just yet, let's dive in, shall we? It's still largely guesswork this early, so be kind. Try to at least let me get two dishes out of everybody before raking the rankings over the coals, eh? :-)

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	Jennifer C.		Quickfires	1	1	0
1	Last Week: 2		Eliminations	0	1	0

Well, that didn't take long. The contestant most widely-recognized as the favorite jumps right out of the gate and makes a big splash. Her Clam Ceviche with Citron Vinegar was, as she fretted, rather simple: the citron vinegar, lemon and lime, tomato and onion and a few fresh herbs. But dishes like that are all about balance, and it sounds like she nailed it. And though she missed the elimination win, her Poached Halibut in a Whiskey, Bourbon and Scotch sauce pulled down copious praise from the judges and it seems she narrowly missed. About the only negative thing you could say is that she was Ripert's sous at Le Bernardin. She'd better be able to rock clams and halibut. For all we know, she couldn't handle meat to save her life. But without evidence to the contrary (not that I actually consider that a possibility), up to the top she goes.

2	Kevin		Quickfires	0	0	0
2	Last Week: 4		Eliminations	1	1	0

Let me tell you how thrilled I am that my sleeper just rocked the first elimination challenge (hint: very). I even thought about putting him at number one, but even if Jennifer's win wasn't against the full field, I'm going with quantity, at least for the moment. Kevin didn't even get a chance to touch the rib, which is a shame because I'm willing to wager -- based on the fact that his restaurant does all of their butchering in-house -- he would have been a beast. But we go on what we have, which is a sophisticated little fish dish that plays simple. I adore arctic char. And he treats it with fennel pollen and a little thyme-garlic oil bath, pickles the turnips with cider vinegar, shallots, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, and adds them to cucumber, fennel and caramelized celery to make his "salsa verde", and finishes the whole thing with a parsley, tarragon, basil and chive puree that's brightened with a touch of orange oil. And though it's of lesser importance, an ability to articulate himself at Judges' Table could really be an asset down the line. I was already excited about this guy, and now I can't wait to see what he does next.

3	Michael I.		Quickfires	0	0	0
3	Last Week: 7		Eliminations	0	1	0

So much for a nice, uneventful season. Michael I. has already succeeded in making himself almost universally loathed and we're only one episode in. He's already getting the villain edit -- not that he's making the editors' job all that difficult -- and the only question is whether he's a chauvinist pig or if he just plays one on TV (is one really better than the other?). Also, it looks like he'll be sticking around. First, he shucked clams faster than the Le Bernardin sous. Then, he won what Tom identified as one of the toughest groups, and earned universal praise for a dish with some depth. I suppose his Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Eggplant Puree is technically Greek / Eastern Mediterranean, but that doesn't begin to cover it. The halibut is poached with bay, thyme, basil, garlic and lemon. It's topped with a punchy green olive harissa that's made with the olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, sherry vinegar, caraway, cumin and coriander, and set atop a fairly mellow eggplant base that's made with onion, garlic, tomato, sherry vinegar and basil. If his nastiness isn't simply a matter of trying too hard to stand out at the start of the season, it's looking like Michael I. might be the producers' guarantee that they'll have a villain in the later episodes.

4	Bryan		Quickfires	0	1	0
4	Last Week: 3		Eliminations	0	0	0

Bryan made some mistakes, so some might be a little surprised that I still have him at number four, but there's method to the madness. First, his dishes are looking impressive. His crusted rib eye with caramelized celery and raisin puree had some technical issues -- ones he recognized -- but Tom seemed positive about the dish despite its shortcomings. But perhaps even more notable, in case you missed it, his elimination dish had Tom Colicchio searching for words to compliment a piece of sous vide beef. For those who aren't familiar with Tom's tendencies, this is no small feat. He's working in some fun flavors -- sumac, hickory smoke and long pepper for the strip -- making impressive looking dishes and, it would seem, narrowly missing. I'm betting he gets his feet under himself shortly, and starts banging out some winners.

5	Michael V.		Quickfires	0	0	0
5	Last Week: 1		Eliminations	0	0	0

It would seem that Michael V's absence in the top four was less a function of his dish and more a function of Kevin's presence in his group. The judges' reaction to his dish seemed exceedingly positive -- with Tom and Puck talking about how you don't put out a dish like that unless you're a true professional -- and it looks great to me, too. A little Asian and a little African without forcing the issue, it also did some interesting things with cauliflower. And here, as with his brother, is where the things that went unsaid mean as much to me as the things that were said. His lamb was accompanied by cauliflower gnocchi. And how did Michael achieve that cauliflower gnocchi? By cooking grated cauliflower in cream, blending it with brown butter, and solidifying the mixture with xanthan gum and calcium gluconolactate. Why is this notable? Because nobody complained about it, and I have a hard time believe the editors wouldn't let us watch Colicchio teeing off on superfluous MG technique. Though it's hard to say, it appears that he not only put together an impressive dish, but did so using wild technique without getting too cute about it. This bodes well, I think.

6	Ron		Quickfires	0	0	0
6	Last Week: 16		Eliminations	0	1	0

Ron, in the outset at least, appears to be one of my two big misses in the preseason rankings. And his dish does look like a lot of fun, seasoning his bass with curry, ancho, cumin, brown sugar and soy, dressing it with a vanilla rum butter and piling it up with a hash made from four potatoes and a slaw made with jicama, watermelon and a pile of sweet peppers. Ron was in the top and earned some praise, so I have a hard time putting him any lower, but three things give me pause. First, with Ash, Laurine and Jen Z., he was in a weak group. Second, brash exotic flavors tend to get tiresome after a while. He'll need to be able to dial it back a bit from time to time if he wants to go deep. And third, coming out of relative obscurity to make a splash in the first episode with some bold, wild flavors is in the Eugene mold -- and we all know how well that turned out last season. So color me still a little skeptical, but here's hoping he sticks around, if for no other reason than because it'll provide some wonderful variety to the flavors we're seeing.

7	Ashley		Quickfires	0	0	0
7	Last Week: 8		Eliminations	0	0	0

And here we enter the middle of the pack, where you might as well draw names from a hat at this point. But I'm giving the number seven position to Ashley, first because we didn't hear much about her and this is almost exactly where I had her in the preseason, plus she gets a little bump for special mention in Gail's blog as a favorite dish that was buried in a tough group. Plus, I dig the look of the recipe: liver and ground chicken-thigh ravioli with thyme, bourbon and a little lemon zest? Italian, but subtly modernized. Good-looking stuff. Hopefully we learn a little more about her next week.

8	Robin		Quickfires	0	0	0
8	Last Week: 11		Eliminations	0	0	0

Robin distinguishes herself in a similar fashion, as one of Gail's noted favorites who couldn't make it out of a tough group -- and this despite the fact that her gastrique didn't make the plate. One thing really bugs me about her start though, and that's her choice to hold onto immunity. There's been some debate in the comments about the mathematics of the decision, and I agree -- based purely on the numbers, it's a dumb move. But even setting the numbers aside, think of it this way. You're hanging onto immunity because you're worried you're not good enough to survive the first elimination challenge, but you're giving up a shot at $15,000 because you believe you'll be able to survive the next FOURTEEN?!? Either you're good enough to win it all, or you aren't. If the former, you're good enough to beat at least ONE person out of seventeen. Go for the $15,000. If the latter, you aren't going to win the $100,000 anyway. Go for the $15,000. If there's any logic to holding onto immunity in this situation, I sure don't see it. And as much as it pains me to agree with Michael I., it just speaks to a lack of confidence.

9	Eli		Quickfires	0	0	0
9	Last Week: 9		Eliminations	0	0	0

Eli looks to be doing some precious, artsy MG out of the gate, and unlike the Voltaggios above, he isn't doing it quietly enough to avoid annoying the judges. For entertainment's sake, I hope he doesn't change a thing. It's fun to see some stuff that's really out there, and when done well it can amaze even the most curmudgeonly traditionalist (see: Bourdain and Adria). On the upside, though, it looks like a pretty good dish, even if the judges seemed to feel it was a little overworked. They noted his scallops were beautifully seared, and he plated them with a sauce of scotch reduced down to a syrup, seasoned with shallot, garlic and lemon juice and mounted with butter. Add some sunchokes, glazed chard and a little ultra-tex 3 and xanthan gum thickened coconut water -- well, let's just say that at heart it isn't as space age as it sounds. A little less "look at me!" and maybe it goes over a little better.

10	Ash		Quickfires	0	0	0
10	Last Week: 10		Eliminations	0	0	0

Ash starts the evening at 10, and he's the very definition of flying under the radar in week one. He doesn't get a chance to dirty his apron in the prep relay. He's neither top nor bottom in the elimination, the editors don't show a single comment about his dish, and the blogs say nothing about him. He poaches halibut in oil with savory, leek, bay, clove, juniper and lemon, plates it with a pretty simple ratatouille and a parsley puree that's seasoned with cloves and more juniper. I like the look of the dish. I love juniper and think it's underused. I DO like the look of his recipe. Just not enough to know what to do with him in the absence of any other info. So... uh... he ends the evening at 10.

11	Jesse		Quickfires	0	1	0
11	Last Week: 12		Eliminations	0	0	1

Yes, I know she was in the bottom four. And yes, I know Mattin beat her out within her own group. But to me, Jesse looked better in failure than Mattin did in success. She put together a simple and soulful dish for the quickfire, spot prawns over creamy polenta with a mirepoix-fortified lobster stock, and Tom was impressed by the depth of flavor she was able to develop in such a short period of time. And in the elimination, though she clearly had problems with the bird, she put together an interesting dish, braising chicken in Maker's Mark, cooking potatoes and eggs in fat rendered from the carcass, and matching it up with a mousse made from the liver. That's a compelling dish, even if it tripped her up a bit. Plus, she seemed to know exactly what she'd done wrong, which is a good sign. It looks to me like there's promise here.

12	Mattin		Quickfires	0	1	0
12	Last Week: 15		Eliminations	0	0	0

Some probably won't think this is fair, especially considering that Jesse, who was in his own group, was in the bottom four. The guy demolished those lobsters in the prep race, and then put out two dishes that received some praise despite their problems. But here's what bugs me. Tom said that while his lobster was perfectly cooked, his quickfire dish lacked flavor. And while his buffalo rib eye with Madeira wine sauce (carrot and celery, deglaze with Madeira, add demi-glace... snooze) was generally deemed okay, it's boring as sin and was accompanied by mashed potatoes served in hollowed-out zucchini. A sky-is-the-limit challenge to give the judges their first impression of your style and that's the best you can do? Really? The thing is, this pretty much jives with my experience at his restaurant (speaking of which, I'd better post about it before he's eliminated). Everything was fine. It was competent. I couldn't find much fault. But almost none of it was in any way compelling. He may have executed this week, but my hunch is that in this crowd, he's going to stand out as boring. We'll see what he brings next week.

13	Preeti		Quickfires	0	0	0
13	Last Week: 14		Eliminations	0	0	0

This one mostly comes down to having started Preeti low, and not seeing anything to merit movement. Though she's rightfully taking abuse for it, I'm reluctant to read too much into the clam debacle (almost as painful as watching Casey chop onions). You know how to do it, or you don't. She didn't. The stupid thing was not speaking up about it. But does that really reflect on what kind of cook she's going to be? I doubt it. Her elimination recipe, on the other hand -- well, it's nothing I can get excited about. Pork tenderloin with fennel crust, a pork jus with a bit of cardamom, ginger bourbon yams, cherries in butter and vinegar? I dunno, I don't doubt it was tasty, but nothing there will stand out, especially in this crowd. More data needed. She can hang out down here for the time being.

14	Hector		Quickfires	0	0	0
14	Last Week: 6		Eliminations	0	0	1

I kind of wanted to put Hector higher. And I almost did. I don't think his dish was unsalvageable. An aji amarillo carrot puree? Celery ceviche with celery jus? There's some interest there. More than anything, he's paying for a singular sin -- tossing the steak in the fryer instead of on the grill. The question is, just how big of a sin was it? The food snob in me wants to say, "Good god, man, how could you throw a beautiful rib eye in the fryolator?" The less rigid food nerd in me wants to say, "Sure, why the hell not? If it works, it works!" Of course, it didn't. Or the judges couldn't get past their fryolator prejudice to see that it did. We'll never know. But in either case, this was a blunder. A bad one, but a blunder, and not necessarily indicative, I think, of Hector's overall talent. Though when he speaks of people "fry[ing] everything in Puerto Rico," I wonder if he'll end up being a little like Elia, whose palate was simply seasoned a little differently than the judges by virtue of having grown up overseas. In any case, he lives to see another day, and I suspect he'll bounce back. He's gotten too much recognition not to.

15	Laurine		Quickfires	0	0	0
15	Last Week: 13		Eliminations	0	0	0

I suppose I should probably have Laurine higher, but... well, I just don't. She blew the doughnuts. There was bacon on her plate. There was some melted chocolate. Other than that, her contribution is pretty much limited to a kind of interesting beer sauce. Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe I'm prejudiced towards caterers. Maybe I'm prejudiced towards desserts. I just know I couldn't bring myself to put her higher than any of the people above her.

16	Eve		Quickfires	0	0	0
16	Last Week: 5		Eliminations	0	0	1

Yow. That number five preseason ranking is looking pretty embarrassing right about now. TGP, you called it. Even if she has her wine and executes cleanly, her shrimp and scallops with curry cream did, indeed, look "amateurish at best, and stuck in the nineties." If this is representative of her work, I'm wondering where the heck all of those glowing reviews came from. I'll reserve judgment until we see some more from her, but this does not bode well for Ann Arbor's greatest hope.

17	Jennifer Z.		Quickfires	0	0	0
17	Last Week: 17		Eliminations	0	0	1

At least I can take solace in the fact that I called the bottom. Jennifer Z. joins Lauren, Nimma, Clay, Suyai and Bats**t Insane Ken in the First Eliminee's Club. And while I'm sure I'm going to catch hell for this from somebody, she deserves it. Seitan? Seriously? There was more seitan in that single chile relleno than I care to consume for the rest of my natural life. Don't get me wrong, I'm generally an every ingredient has its time and place type of guy. But when it comes to foods the sole purpose of which is to emulate other foods, that time is never and that place is nowhere. Unless you're a vegetarian, there's just no excuse for seitan. And it didn't help that she totally miffed the execution. If she butchers a chile relleno filled with meat, or if she handles that seitan absolutely perfectly, perhaps she's still around and Eve is long gone. But the combination of the two was deadly. On the bright side, in watching her exit interview, she defended her protein to the end, thereby setting herself up to be spokesperson for the National Seitan Council.

So there it is! More data is clearly necessary. Sorry for the delay with this edition, folks. These early episodes usually take 8-10 hours to review and write up, and it's been a crazy week. I shall endeavor to stick to the Monday schedule from here on out. Looking forward to next week-- er... tonight. And speaking of tonight...

WARNING : MINOR EPISODE TWO SPOILERS AHEAD

Next week's quickfire, under the supervision of Todd English, is a great idea. Roll two dice, and whatever number comes up, that's the number of ingredients -- excepting oil, pepper and salt -- that you have to incorporate into your dish. Preview makes it appear that the Brothers V. both show strong and raise the stakes on their sibling rivalry, but we all know how editing on the previews can be. On the dismaying side, next week's elimination is both a catering event, and is billed as the "Battle of the Sexes", which is just peachy. And Jennifer just stole my heart by saying it's a stupid idea. This season's contestants don't seem to be into the BS. With the exception of Michael I., of course, who has been nicely set up as a focal point for this episode. Oy. Anyway, it's a little early to start making winner and loser predictions, so I'll let it ride one more week before doing so.

Discuss!

Posted at 02:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (42)

Top Chef - S6E0 Power Rankings

*phew*

Now that I've gotten mostly caught up on the backlog and have all of that pesky food stuff out of the way, we can get down to business.

I keed, of course. My heart is and always will be with the restaurant and recipe posts, which I will strive to keep up with as the season progresses. But for now, it's time to shift focus once again and get ready for season six of Top Chef.

Things pretty much look the way they did at the conclusion of last season. Padma's still looking sultry. Gail's still looking perky. Tom's still looking stern. Toby's still looking British (except now we wish he were Jay Rayner). And the field is looking... well... awesome.

Seriously, I don't think this is overexuberance on my part. Of course you never know until they start cooking, but on first blush, this looks like it could be the strongest cast yet, and not by a narrow margin. The big guns are hardcore. The middle of the pack all look very strong in interesting ways. And even the "chaff", if they can be called that, almost all have something compelling about them. There are 17 contestants this season. 14 of them are Executive Chefs / Chefs de Cuisine / Chef-Owners. Of the remaining three, two are sous chefs (one having just left an executive position), and one is a caterer. Folks, there are four James Beard nominees here (one of them multiple times). And it's an older, more mature crowd. Only four are under 30, two of them by a scant year. And of the two young turks, one of them is one of the James Beard nominees!

My only complaint? Two Jennifers, two Michaels, and an Ash and an Ashley.

Anyway, long story short, those who complained about the strength of last season's field? I think the producers might have actually listened to you. What's more, I don't think we're going to end up in that situation where everybody plays it safe for the first half of the season waiting for the chaff to be separated out because, at least on first blush, it looks like there's barely any chaff. If the training and bios and awards and menus that I'm looking at are any indication, we aren't going to need to go more than a few weeks in before there's a talented chef being eliminated every week.

Before we get to the rankings, a little shout-out to my old high school pal, Chef Jenn Wylie, who helped me separate the Ivy Leagues from the community colleges when it comes to culinary schools. Jenn is currently catering and teaching classes while raising her progeny, but she's worked in some pretty stellar kitchens under some pretty stellar chefs, some of whom Top Chef fans just might recognize. Hopefully we'll get to do something a little fun with her later in the season, but for now, thanks for the intel, Jenn!

So let's get right to it, shall we? As we did last year, the preview rankings are in reverse order to help maintain some suspense. I've worked my meager amount of Google-fu to nab as much info as possible, but there's much that's unknown and a lot of guesswork involved. So try not to come down on me too harshly when one of my top three tanks in episode one and one of my bottom three makes the best dish Tom's ever had. If nothing else, this should give you a good sense of who's who. I found, last season, that doing the preview rankings had an enormous impact on my enjoyment of the early episodes. Rather than a blur of faces and names, I actually had a sense of who was who and could remember who did what. So consider this your scorecard. And with that, here we go!

Wins

Top

Bottom

17	Jennifer Z.		Quickfires	0	0	0
17	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Let's take a moment to revel in the fact that my bottom-ranked contestant -- the one who seems least likey to win -- was an executive chef until a month ago, and is now sous chef at a highly respected Philadelphia restaurant. Though her bio lists her as executive chef of El Camino Real, she just left this month to take a sous chef position at Xochitl. Though a step down the ladder, I'm thinking this is actually a forward move. Xochitl looks to be a very well-regarded Yucatecan restaurant with a very interesting menu. El Camino Real, on the other hand, sounds more like a glorified watering hole with burritos and Texas-style BBQ. To be fair, that's a little overly simplistic. There was some creative stuff on the ECR menu, and the Philadelphia Inquirer gave her attempts at upping the ante a nice little shout-out, but it was also troubled by significant execution problems under her watch as recently as April. Add to this the fact that she's a Latin specialist, which has been a hard road on Top Chef for anybody not named Rick Bayless, and that the other Latin specialist in the field is a two-time Beard nominee, and I'm thinking that even if their styles are very distinct it's going to be hard for the judges not to hold her up against Hector. Doesn't sound like a recipe for success.

16	Ron		Quickfires	0	0	0
16	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

I have Ron near the bottom for the same reason I had Eugene near the bottom last season: it's really hard to find any information about him. Though he's listed as the executive chef at the Hollywood Beach Marriott in Florida, the hotel's website doesn't even acknowledge that the restaurant exists. It does, and it's called Latitudes Cafe, and its menu is very difficult to find. Ron's culinary background actually sounds pretty darn cool. He's originally from Haiti and his style purportedly fuses Caribbean, French and Asian, but that's barely evident on the rather staid Latitudes Menu that sandwiches the occasion element that looks like it might be his doing between BLTs and chicken sandwiches. Plus, his signature dish is a flourless chocolate cake, which makes him and 2.7 million other chefs. Here's hoping for some wild, exotic flavors from him. But while he could very well surprise, there isn't much to go on from what I could find. If he's a diamond, he's a diamond in the rough.

15	Mattin		Quickfires	0	0	0
15	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Mattin is season six's token Euro, complete with accent and jaunty neckerchief. French/Basque is his thing, and he's chef/owner of a San Francisco restaurant that's been around for a number of years, which are all pretty good indications. But while visiting the West Coast last month, I dropped in to check out his restaurant -- Iluna Basque (writeup forthcoming) -- and couldn't get excited. A friend and I sampled eight or ten dishes, many were enjoyable and there wasn't a clunker among them, but there also weren't any eye-openers. We did taste two of his specialties as listed on the Bravo site, the boudin noir and stuffed calamari and they were, indeed, the best of the bunch and very enjoyable. But if that's as good as he gets, he doesn't stand a chance. Based on our meal at Iluna Basque, he's a midseason hanger-on at best.

14	Preeti		Quickfires	0	0	0
14	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

I initially had Preeti a little higher, but after mulling it over for a bit, I had to ask myself why. For reasons that I can't figure out, she seems to be a buzz pick. Maybe it's just the Grub Street piece that identified her as the life of the party. That's the thing about buzz... it isn't always based on substance. That she trained at Le Cordon Bleu (London) certainly says much, and the idea of somebody who could potentially fulfill Radhika's promise by doing French with Indian influences is certainly compelling. But in the end, I haven't been able to find a menu that reflects her work anywhere, and her last two positions are hard to get jazzed about. She's currently executive chef at one of the restaurants on the Google campus, and while the Google commissary is legendary, it is still a corporate commissary. Her previous position was executive sous at the altogether boring by Top Chef standards Acme Chop House, and if the widely reported start date for shooting is accurate, it seems likely that she was at the helm when the SF Chronicle raked them over the coals in April. Buzz or no buzz, Cordon Bleu or no Cordon Bleu, there are too many question marks for me to put her much higher at the moment.

13	Laurine		Quickfires	0	0	0
13	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Laurine is this season's lone caterer, and while that would have earned her a straight ticket to the bottom in previous seasons, here in the post-Carla post-Stefan era, we have to look a little more closely. Yes, she's a caterer, but she's also a CIA grad who has been running a successful catering business in San Francisco, so she must be doing something right. She describes her style as Italian and French with some Thai and Chinese flavors -- the modern large palette -- and the sample menus for her catering business, Left Coast Catering, look simple and seasonal with some nice little twists. I didn't see anything to lead me to believe she's going deep, but if she can execute, her style is one I could see sticking around for a while.

12	Jesse		Quickfires	0	0	0
12	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

I almost feel a little guilty shoving the Baltimore girl down to number 12, but while I found some good indications in researching her, they're all very recent. She's a Bmore native who worked on the left coast for a while before looping back, and she's now executive chef at the small restaurant for an almost-as-small urban bed & breakfast called Abacrombie. Abacrombie is an old, venerated Baltimore stalwart that recently underwent something of a shakeup, culminating in new ownership: Jerry Pellegrino, also owner of Baltimore's highly regarded Corks. Pellegrino installed Jesse as his executive chef, and it sounds like she stuck around just long enough to get cast for Top Chef. The Baltimore Sun had some very favorable things to say about her work back in March, but the other buzz I'd heard had been minimal, at best. I heard more about Red Maple before last season, and we all know how well that worked out for Jill. Jesse may be very good, but she's being somewhat stealthy about it. There's surprise potential. There's surprise potential for a lot of people near the bottom this season. But without a broader body of good buzz, I'm having a hard time putting her much higher.

11	Robin		Quickfires	0	0	0
11	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Robin is Carla minus the culinary training, plus a successful restaurant. She's another second career chef (artist being the first), and her locally-beloved Seattle restaurant, Crave Bistro, seemed to be doing quite well until a lease dispute shuttered it earlier this year. Word is that people hated the crowded tables and snotty service, but loved the grub, and her creative, jazzy comfort food is of a genre that still has legs. I'd feel better about her if she'd received some amount of formal training, and complaints about a slow kitchen are something of a red flag, but still, she's been doing it and doing it well, so there's no reason to think she won't bring some game. Plus, she kept Crave going while battling lymphoma, so a little sleep deprivation ought to be a breeze.

10	Ash		Quickfires	0	0	0
10	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Ash is the lone New Yorker this season, and it seems like there could be a lot of potential here, but it's hard to get a handle on just where he stands. By some accounts, he's a hardcore Dan Barber farm-to-table type, and the menu where he's the sous, Trestle on Tenth, certainly seems to reflect that. The problem is that he's the sous, working under Chef Ralf Kuettel, so it's hard to know where Kuettel ends and Ash begins. Also, reviews for ToT have been a little uneven, but that's the NY press talking. If the guy can stand on his own two feet, it looks like he could do very well, but we'll just have to see.

9	Eli		Quickfires	0	0	0
9	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Eli's another CIA grad, and he's an Atlanta native who worked under the old guard of the Atlanta restaurant scene, Daniel Rathbun, and the new guard, Richard Blais. He's currently executive chef at Eno Restaurant and Wine Bar, where he's only just recently taken over and it appears that he's been tasked with bringing an outdated menu up to speed. And according to some of the local press, he's doing a fine job of it so far. He describes his style as "techno-organic", meaning that he's unafraid to use ultramodern techniques, but not at the expense of the integrity of his ingredients -- which sounds like he's paying his ingredients' integrity lip service, until you see his menu and get the impression that he really is exercising a great deal of restraint. His menu looks good, he's been well-trained, he's come up under some big names and the local press is paying attention. Sounds like one of the more promising of the middle of the pack to me.

8	Ashley		Quickfires	0	0	0
8	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

It's hard not to like somebody who says she wants to make her diners feel as though they "got beat in the face with a stick of butter." Apparently, her dishes tend towards the rich end of the spectrum. But this isn't a case of butter and cream, butter and cream, butter and cream. She's a grad of the Institute of Culinary Education in NY which, while not the CIA, is not without prestige. Most recently she's been working in Seattle, both at Tilth -- where it would have been difficult to escape without some serious ingredient respect -- and now at Branzino, where she's turning out rich and rustic-looking Italian that's been pulling down some very, very good reviews. I'm giving her the edge over some of the other middle-of-the-packers on the basis of those reviews, and the style of Branzino's menu, which I think will play well in Top Chef.

7	Michael I.		Quickfires	0	0	0
7	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

There are a couple of question marks about Michael I. -- most notably his lack of formal training -- but nothing that should overshadow an impressive resume. He has, indeed, gone on the grand tour of some well-respected restaurants before finally landing at Zaytinya in DC, which puts modern twists on Greek and Middle Eastern mezze. Though executive chef at Zaytinya, it's a Jose Andres restaurant, which raises the question of where Andres' influence ends and Michael's contributions begin. But given that he seemed to be something of a Greek / Middle Eastern specialist even before arriving at Zaytinya, I think it's safe to assume that he's having a significant impact on what is a very well-reviewed menu. Mediterranean flavors are flexible and well-liked, Greek and Middle Eastern isn't something we've seen a lot of on Top Chef so there should be some novelty factor, his modern take should allow him to keep things interesting, and given that he's been working with Andres, it seems likely that a little wow factor will sneak in there as well.

6	Hector		Quickfires	0	0	0
6	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

If there's a specialist in Latin cuisine who's finally going to push through and make it to the second half of the season, Hector's the guy. He's a CIA grad who's chef/owner of Pura Vida down in Atlanta, he's been doing modern tapas and other Latin fare there for a number of years, and he's garnered a fair amount of attention for it. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution named Pura Vida their restaurant of the year a few years back, and Hector has twice made the long list of James Beard nominees for Best Chef - Southeast. I have nothing more to add, except that the guy sounds exactly like he looks, which is awesome.

5	Eve		Quickfires	0	0	0
5	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Some are pegging Eve for the top spot, and it's hard to fault them. She trained at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris edition, and has been running a widely praised and locally beloved restaurant in Ann Arbor for six years now. She's got a proven winning style, that of traditional French technique that pulls in the flavors of Africa and Asia, and as an ambassador for Slow Food she knows her sourcing. She perhaps doesn't have the stunning pedigree of some of the other chefs on this season's roster, but she makes up for it with a very mature, personal style that should stand out against the crowd. And she's been doing it, day in and day out, for quite some time now. Since the Ann Arbor restaurant press isn't quite as thorough as the other cities represented, I'll feel better once she starts putting food on plates and I can see that the buzz around her isn't completely illusory. But in the meantime, I think she has to be considered one of the favorites.

4	Kevin		Quickfires	0	0	0
4	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

I'm not sure if I can justify this one. He's no slouch, but going by the numbers, Kevin probably shouldn't be fourth. His school, the Art Institute of Atlanta, isn't one that conjures up images of culinary masters. He hasn't trained under the kind of heavy hitters that the other folks at the top have. And at 26, he's one of the babies of the lot. But I have a hunch this guy is going deep. For starters, there's the fact that he's a James Beard rising chef award semifinalist. Then, you have to consider that a year ago he took over the reins at a beloved Atlanta institution, Woodfire Grill, and much of the local press seems to feel that he's not only holding down the fort, but making it better. He's a big farm-to-table guy, they buy huge sides of beasts and do all of their butchering in-house, the menu is simple but refined and very ingredient-focused -- Kevin is born and bred to be Colicchio's kind of chef, and if you win over Colicchio, you're three quarters of the way there. Call it a hunch, but I bet he goes deep and has a shot at unseating some of the more pedigreed chefs that surround him.

3	Bryan		Quickfires	0	0	0
3	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Here's where it gets torturous for me. I think I've juggled the top three spots a least a dozen times. Bryan's a CIA grad who came up under Charlie Palmer and was sous at Aureole (NY) before being shipped down to DC to helm Charlie Palmer Steak, which got an awful lot of attention. He's now on his own, chef/owner of VOLT (yes, it's all-caps) in Frederick, Maryland, where he's been turning out locally-sourced fine dining with the occasional MG twist for about a year now. His food is snazzy, but it tends to utilize classic flavor combinations, and I think the fact that he's so dedicated to local agriculture (does Vegas have local agriculture?) won't be lost on the judges. VOLT's been getting some very favorable press, and friends I trust have had some great meals there. Hence, top three.

2	Jennifer C.		Quickfires	0	0	0
2	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Jennifer C. is causing me consternation. It's very difficult to simply gloss over the fact that she was sous chef at Le Bernardin -- Le Bernardin -- and was selected by Ripert to head up his new venture in Philly, 10 Arts. But there's something oddly shy of enthusiastic about the press on 10 Arts that gives me pause. It looks like she's doing deceptively simple New American with a little wow factor, which will suit Top Chef nicely, and she's certainly one of the favorites to be there at the end, but due to reasons I'm not sure I can justify, I'm not prepared to anoint her the frontrunner as so many others have.

1	Michael V.		Quickfires	0	0	0
1	Last Week: n/a		Eliminations	0	0	0

Of course, I can't really justify putting Bryan's little brother in the top spot, either. All I know is that I REALLY LIKE Michael Voltaggio. There are a lot of good reasons why, but this was one quote that got me:

"...but also to bring a new integrity to the show, trying to keep the show more about cooking as opposed to a reality TV show."

No BS, let's cook. Right on, Mike. Anyway, this sweet little treat of a quote is far from the sole reason I have him in on top. The guy's been decorated more than a Top Chef Christmas tree, pulling down Mobil, Michelin and Beard recognition while helming a number of high-profile restaurants for high-profile people, including Charlie Palmer and Jose Andres, and he has a modern fine dining style that pops. Oh, and did I mention that Marcel and Hung were his underlings? I initially held him back a bit because it seems like his menu at the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa is the first that's really his own, and that's only just recently. Instead, I gave the nod for the top two spots to those who have been turning out their own vision for a while. But on the final pass, I juggled again and put him at number one. The crowd at the top is so impressive on this go 'round that no matter who's sitting atop the pile, I find myself saying, "Well, why him instead of him or her?" So I'm going with my gut. Let's just say I have a good feeling about Michael Voltaggio and leave it at that.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Top Chef Season Six contestants. I have a good feeling about this season. Let's do this thing.

Discuss!

Posted at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)

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