Food Morning, Vietnam

Top Chef - Season 11, Episode 4

Previously on Top Chef: Aaron woke up not knowing that some salt, some kale, and half an hour were all that stood between him and elimination. The chefs were taken to Commander's Palace and told to replicate some of the dishes there. Michael's condescension meter continued to climb, and Stephanie pulled a biscuit recipe out of her ass. Not literally, thankfully. Justin's beignet pulled down the win, and while Louis' seasoning blend ruined many a plate of fish, Bret's messy presentation and undercooked veal was deemed the greater culinary crime. 15 chefs remain. Who will be eliminated tonight?

Surprisingly, there is no Quickfire this week, meaning that half the episodes so far have been pure Elimination challenges. I wonder why they structured it this way. Padma introduces guest judge Eddie Huang, who describes the arrival and inclusion of Vietnamese cuisine into New Orleans culture. I had no idea, though I'm not surprised. I'm writing this from St. Louis, which like New Orleans, was originally based on French citizenry, but happily weaves pockets of other ethnicities into its food culture. The fifteen chefs are broken into teams of five, and told that they must present a Vietnamese menu, one course of which must include shrimp. The teams shake out to be:

Red: Shirley, Carrie, Justin, Nina, and Patty
Orange: Louis, Nicholas, Michael, Brian, and Carlos
Green: Travis, Bene, Sara, Janine, and Stephanie

I'm sorry, red and orange? James' hi-def TV or no, these aprons quickly become indistinguishable. You had a big color wheel to choose from, producers. What, purple is an issue for some reason? Anyhow, the green team is super-pumped because both Travis and Sara are self-proclaimed experts in Asian cuisine, and Travis has extensively traveled in Vietnam.

Before the challenge starts, though, the chefs are taken on a brief tour of Vietnamese eateries in New Orleans for inspiration. Good thing, because apparently Carlos has never even tasted Vietnamese food. Between this and the people who had never tasted the proteins in Episode 1, methinks the talent pool for this show may be getting stretched a bit thin. The chefs are taken to a bakery, the shrimp docks, and a noodle house. On the bus between destinations, menus are discussed. Travis wants to do a tomato sauce and incorporate Romaine lettuce, assuring the other chefs that while not exactly the standard of the country, he's totally eaten them in Vietnam, so they'll be fine. Sara is unconvinced. During the shopping segment, a harried green team appears to pick up a bunch of lemongrass and then put it back at Sara's behest. They're all running around like headless chickens, and probably wouldn't realize it if all that was in their cart was toothpaste and peanut butter.

Cooking. Shirley works on a BBQ shrimp dish that utilizes plenty of butter. Michael and Patty do prep work for their teams without being in charge of any particular dish. Dangerous. The green team realizes they don't have any lemongrass, and are decidedly unhappy about it. No lemongrass, tomato sauce, and Romaine lettuce. I feel like I'm in Vietnam! Provided Vietnam is located inside the nearest Olive Garden. The orange team is making a black pepper squid with cabbage that sounds fantastic, though this particular preparation doesn't look particularly appetizing. We may not be in a post-racial society, but we're getting closer with statements such as Brian's that he's Korean, but that doesn't mean he is a sudden expert in Vietnamese food, because his real focus is Peruvian cuisine. Hehe. I love little twists like that, like when Carrie fused inspirations from Iowa and Trinidad for her gumbo. Schoolhouse Rock was right! More cooking happens. Aside from Travis' overconfidence, it's not terribly compelling.

Service. The orange team's spring roll is good, but not the sauce it comes with. The fish head soup incorporates so much tomato that it tastes like minestrone. The pho is too watered down. The squid dish is bland. I don't know if these chefs are too hesitant with the seasoning or people in New Orleans just expect more zing, but I don't think I've ever heard the word "bland" thrown out so much in a single season. Over on the red team, Shirley is a little more angsty than Brian about her perceived expertise. Sure, she's Chinese, but as she says, "Can you imagine? I'm an Asian and I got kicked off on the Asian food challenge?" Heh. It doesn't look like she has much to worry about, because the judges love her BBQ shrimp. They also serve a noodle soup with beef belly, a pho that is much preferred to the orange team's, a raw beef salad, and a rather icky-looking custard for dessert. The green team presents pork lettuce wraps with pineapple shrimp sauce, an oxtail and shrimp noodle dish in tomato sauce, and a macaroon. The judges dislike pretty much all of it, especially the overcooked shrimp and gummy rice.

Judging. The orange team's pho was disappointing, but the spring roll was good. The red team nailed the pho and the BBQ shrimp, and the green team was a mess from top to bottom. So the red team goes to winners' circle, with Shirley scoring the individual win for her shrimp. Naturally, the green team is on the bottom, and they are savaged. The shrimp was terrible. The rice was terrible. The sauce was terrible. Nothing about the menu was particularly Vietnamese.

It's looking bad for Travis or Sara, the perceived leaders of the team, but we're hit with another surprising elimination when the overcooked shrimp looms so large that the judges axe Janine. She gives a pretty standard exit interview that I don't remember a word of, either because she never made much of an impression beyond the sandals and Daisy Duke shorts she wore in the first challenge, or because I'm too busy trying to compose a shrimp-on-the-barbie joke in my head that never quite gets there.

Overall Grade: B+