Top Chef - Season 11, Episode 3
Previously on Top Chef: The word "gumbo" was said so many times that it lost all meaning. With two hometown chefs competing in New Orleans, Michael decided to distinguish himself by being The Assy, Condescending One. Carrie's gumbo may have looked like something out of The Exorcist, but it was spot-on in terms of flavor, and she sailed into the Elimination Challenge with immunity and a perky smile. The chefs split into teams to serve food out of trucks at muggy, humid building sites, so naturally Jason let his handrolls sit around getting soggy, the better to give him time to charm guests with banter like "So, are you guys...from here?" Carrie's empanada dough scored her yet another win, while no amount of casual hair-flipping could save Jason from the chop. 17 chefs remain. Who will be eliminated tonight?
We get the same can-you-believe-so-and-so-got-eliminated blather we get all the time, and since these are shorter recaps, let's dispense with the Monday Morning Quarterback session for now. Besides...yes. Yes, I can believe that somebody got eliminated. It kind of happens every week. Quickfire Challenge. Since there are still practically enough chefs to field an entire baseball game, Padma speeds things up by announcing that this Quickfire will be the end of the road for one of the contestants. Dana Cowin is here as guest judge, and explains that the chefs' task is to take a food trend that is heavily overused, and make it fresh and exciting again. I like this idea! There are certainly plenty of cliches in the food world, and keeping things lively is incredibly important.
The chefs draw knives for their trends, which turn out to be: Kale, Bacon, Smoked Food, and Putting an Egg on Top of Everything. I rather like the whole egg thing, but I can see how it could get out of control. Dana explains why she's sick of all these things, mentioning that if she never sees a kale salad again, it'll be too soon. The chefs are given a mere thirty minutes to throw their dishes together, and spring into action. Janine can't get to the scallops in time, and has to hurry to get some pork cooked. Stephanie somehow makes pasta from scratch, then soaks it in bacon fat. I still don't have a great read on her as a person, but that is fucking impressive. Bret makes a kale salad, because it's not like anyone explicitly said not to. Except that one time two minutes ago. Michael continues being loud and annoying, and his food follows his lead, billowing smoke all over the place. Nina makes a tiny little Scotch egg, while Shirley makes shirred (baked) eggs on congee, which looks so delicious, I hurt my nose trying to dive through the screen to get it.
Judging. The kale group seemed to get the worst of it, though Patty finally gets some kind words. Good. Not that I don't think these things should be decided on merit, but it was tough to watch her get verbally smacked down in challenge after challenge. Bret is chided for making kale salad. I know these chefs are under an enormous amount of pressure, and the show is heavily edited, but after that whole "We rock because we have leftover food!" last week, and now this... Bret may be a little dumb, you guys. Still, even his mistake doesn't compare to Aaron's inedibly salty kale. Poor, affable Aaron has to pack up and leave on the spot. In happier news, Padma is as big a fan of Shirley's congee as I am, and she wins immunity.
That settled, it's time to move on to this week's Elimination Challenge. The chefs are taken to Commander's Palace for dinner. Everything looks extremely tasty, and James pipes up that when he ate there, it easily ran $200 for dinner for just a couple of people. Yeeks. Each course is shown in glorious detail. There's a shrimp and tasso dish, some speckled trout with crawfish, a veal chop tchopitoulas, and a strawberry trio for dessert. This is no mere field trip, though. The Elimination Challenge will split the chefs into the tables they happen to be sitting at, and each table will be assigned one of these dishes to recreate. Another good challenge! We've seen so many where the chefs are given a dish and told to "modernize" it or make it healthier or to put some sort of spin on it. In this case, they're being judged on an ability to straight up imitate someone else's dish. It's pretty refreshing.
The shopping and prep segments are as spastic as ever, but there isn't much to comment on. Just some minor drama with Bret getting in the way as people plate, and Shirley missing beets, and Michael upping the ass factor yet again by dumping Nina's okra on the counter when she mistakenly uses the serving dishes with his name on them. It all gets resolved pretty quickly. A table of judges and notable chefs, some of whom created the very dishes the chefs are recreating, get settled in the dining room. They sample the original dish first, then judge the contestants' against it for flavor and presentation.
Shrimp and Tasso: Bene's sauce is the best of the bunch, while Michael's presentation is lovely, but his shrimp are woefully overcooked. So he's messed up shrimp and gumbo, and still manages to preen around as the quintessential New Orleans chef. Go ahead and imagine one of those weeeeee-OOOOOOHHHHHHHH foghorn sounds for me, will you? Thanks, you're a peach. Nina's presentation is off, but her food is delicious. Travis continues his quest to prove that he is a contestant on this show.
Trout: It doesn't seem like the most complicated of the four dishes, but it's pretty lackluster across the board. Louis made the seasoning blend for everyone, and did a poor job, so everyone's fish is bland. Nicolas' is bland + unevenly blackened, Carlos' is bland + burned, and Louis' is bland + did I mention bland? Only Janine is able to escape the judges' disappointment.
Veal: Brian's Brussels sprouts are undercooked, while Shirley's veal is overcooked. Bret was unable (or unwilling) to claim enough grill space in time, so although his sauce is fine, his presentation is awful, and the meat has no sear. Surprisingly, Patty comes away with the best reviews for this course. I continue to be heartened by her... Well, not resurgence, but a handful of validation, anyway.
Dessert: Sara's beignet is greasy, and she didn't put the necessary white chocolate on the plate. Both Carrie and Stephanie do an excellent job on the strawberry cocktail and the biscuit, which Stephanie is surprised to have pulled off, given that she's never really made one before. Still, Justin's beignet puts the judges into the biggest raptures.
Fret 'n sweat. The chefs listen to the judges talk about how dessert was the best course. That never happens on this show. Usually, these people would fall apart if they had to make a chocolate chip cookie from a recipe tattooed on their forearms. Judges' Table. Justin, Stephanie, and Nina are called in as the top three. Stephanie is very pleased with the reception her biscuit got, but this challenge is Justin's to lose. He doesn't. Lose, that is. I would like to try these hallowed beignets of his. I've only had New Orleans beignets once, and I found them lackluster. Maybe I just didn't eat the right ones.
Bret, Carlos, and Louis are called in as the bottom three. Louis cops to making the seasoning blend for everyone's fish, and when he goes on to admit that he didn't even taste that blend before the dishes were sent out, the judges' jaws drop like he just announced he routinely throws babies into wheat threshers for funsies. Bret has poor time-management skills, and should have made room on the grill so that his veal wasn't so underdone. Carlos simply had burned fish, but that's bad enough. Burned fish is the worst.
Elimination. As with last week, I'm fairly certain I know who's going. There's no way Louis is overcoming that seasoning mistake, especially after saying he didn't even taste it. But just like last week, they pull the rug out from under me. Bret's veal has gotten him the chop. Get it?!? Veal chop? Oh, never mind. Given everything he's said and done these past couple of weeks, it's no great surprise that he went out early. It's not like I'll miss him, but his final interview is ultra-depressing. He just gives the camera a thousand-yard stare and says that he has no job right now, and no idea what he's going to do. Yikes. Now I'm worried that it's not just his veal that's going to get stuck in the oven.
Overall Grade: B
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