Scenes from last week…I love reliving the last few moments of Michael’s triumph. I love him. I wish he could compete every week. Ah well, this next group looks like it has a few spicy numbers.
I like the neckline of Kelly’s dress in the intro. I’ve seen it so many times by now.
The new chefs walk into the Top Chef kitchen. First up is Jonathan Waxman from
Ooh, cute Roy Yamaguchi walks out.
(Do yourself a favor, if you are ever in a place where there is one, go to it. They’re wonderful. I’m still nursing my bottle of Lychee Liqueur inspired from one of his cocktails.) A graduate of the CIA, James says
Cutie patootie Art Smith, owner of Table Fifty-Two among others, is next. Gael says everyone thinks of him as Oprah’s chef, but I have feeling from the previews that he’s going to bust out of the nice guy stereotype and be his own man. That soft Southern accent may hide a steely interior. He’s nervous because he’s been a judge. He’s there, because he wants to make money for his charity Common Threads.
The last chef is Michael Cimarusti of Providence restaurant in LA. Gail: "Extraordinary seafood restaurant." He has TWO Michelin stars. His charity is the Grameen Foundation. He’s proud that he’s the youngest of all of them, by at least decade. He thinks of Jonathan as a rock star.
Jonathan says Art has a weight advantage.
The Quickfire challenge begins with drawing knives. They draw numbers one through four. They have to make a dish that corresponds with that aisle in the supermarket…AND with only a 20 dollar budget. Art reminds us that he’s cooked for presidents and kings and NOW? 20 dollars? Is he saying that’s beneath him? Hmm, is he already coming out of the niceness box that Oprah had him wrapped up in?
Jonathan complains that he doesn’t “deal” with canned stuff. He also says his eyes don’t work that well, so it’s hard to read the labels.
Michael is kind of screwed, I think. He has to shop from the baking and protein bar aisle and he’s definitely not a pastry chef, he says. (His wife is.)
Art has beans, crackers and rice. He’s thinking risotto. Art says he can teach Michael a few things.
They’re told that the judges are food experts, but not in the conventional sense. We learn that judges Peter, Becky and Dave all work at Whole Foods. Who did they have to pay off to get on Top Chef?
Jonathan can’t get the pressure cooker to work. Art can’t either. Funny. Michael shows him. Good line from Jonathan, “If you’re not clear about your vision, the dish is not going to be that clear.” (Interesting…coming from a guy who can’t see.)
This is a great episode, because it’s about the cooking, not so much about personality, although it is hard to contain Art. But it’s clear that these guys all know what they’re doing. Top Chef Masters is sooo much better than regular Top Chef and, needless to say, it’s many classes above TNFNS.
Michael is making a chocolate mousse type thing.
At the last minute,
Jonathan says he doesn’t think
Pasta With Fried Egg & Asian Flavors
I like that the judges don’t know whose dish is whose. One judge: “The vegetables are weird.” Another one: “I’m digging it.” Art (to us) belittles it as just a pasta dish and thinks it’s boring. Another judge thinks the combo is weird. Becky likes it because she’s never had eggs on pasta before. Who are these people?
Haven’t they ever stir fried spaghetti with a bunch of vegetables and served it with a yummy crusty runny fried egg on top. It’s fabulous. These folks know nothing. ANOTHER one says, “I’m finding this really strange.”
Sorry,
Jonathan
Mint, Lentil & Roasted Pepper Salad
One judge: “I really, really like this – lentils with the peppers. This is really good.” The most thoughtful one, the woman (of course) says, “There’s a spice in there, a real bite to it.” The last judge says: “A lot of good flavors, just too much on the onion.” I can’t help feeling that these folks (except the woman) are employed as shelf stackers, rather than anything having to do with actual food.
Art
Multi-Grain Risotto With A Crispy Rice Salad
I have to say just the name of this dish sounds a bit strange. What’s a CRISPY rice salad and why would you have it with risotto? From Mr. Know-Nothing: “Great combination, even the textures. Nice crunch. This is great.” Other Know-Nothing: “I like that crunch, the rest of the dish is fantastic.” (I’m not saying this dish ISN’T good, I’m just mad that the judges were so prejudiced against the egg on the pasta.) Art seems to be clearly in the lead.
Michael
Chocolate Parfait With Ginger Sauterne Syrup & Sesame Crackers
The egg-hating judge: “Oh my god, I absolutely love it.” The woman tastes the liquor. The other guy loves the ginger: “Very well done.”
The results:
Jonathan:
3½ stars
4 stars
If they gave him that high a rating, what were they complaining about? Probably the woman gave him 5 stars and that made it come out higher.
Art
4½ stars
Art says (to us), with a little giggle, I’m going to take the show. He IS cute.
Michael
5 stars
Jonathan says he’s a great chef and Michael nicely says that using chocolate probably gave him an unfair advantage.
That is sooo true. I try NOT to order chocolate desserts in restaurants usually. (Crazy, I know) But I really feel that that’s no real test of a chef. Chocolate would taste fabulous chopped up in a cereal bowl with milk. I want something more challenging.
Jonathan says he’s dead last, but he’s comfortable with his cooking.
They draw knives, but must not reveal the name on it. They have to put together a mystery box of 11 ingredients. Then each chef must use 7 of those ingredients to create a dish for The Elimination Challenge. The twist is that the chefs know for whom they’re gathering the ingredients, so I suppose that gives them ample opportunity to mess with their fellow chefs.
I don’t really like this, it comes under the category of mean, a bit. Just let them cook, but whatever. Let’s see what they do with this. Why do I think Art may be quite sneaky and tricky and give sweetbreads to a seafood chef, or Russian ingredients to a Hawaiian fusion chef or goodness knows what else?
They will be cooking for the critics and culinary students. They have 300 dollars and 45 minutes to shop. I’m relieved when Jonathan says, ”The word sabotage (with) a professional chef does not exist.” He says he has great respect for the chefs, so he’s not going to screw with them. Good for him. Let’s hope his colleagues feel the same way.
Luckily, Art says, “No chef wants to be in the weeds and hopefully they’re doing the same for me.” Whew! Michael also says you’ll see “more camaraderie” and “less back biting amongst the Top Chef Masters than regular Top Chef. Oy, we haven’t heard from
Jonathan remarks that
This is interesting. We see a scene where the chefs all dress in civilian clothes and cook for each other with Kelly. They make a fabulous meal and sit down together. Cute.
Art drew
Michael and Jonathan drew each other. This is becoming a love fest. Michael proclaims that Jonathan was one of those chefs in the 70’s and 80’s who shaped “the framework of what’s going on today.” So nice, so sweet. Their mothers would be proud. He gave him pork chops.
Jonathan says it’s always better to give than receive, as Michael opens his box. BUT Jonathan gave him no fish. Interesting. What’s THAT about? He did give him interesting ingredients, including kumquats and
Michael says he’s known for fish, but he’s comfortable with meat as well.
Jonathan’s eyes are bad. I feel bad for him, although I still don’t know why he didn’t get fish for Michael. They’re cooking along. They help each other. Art tells us he uses food to bring people together.
They come down to the wire and Michael doesn’t have enough time to sauce all the plates, which he says was very disappointing.
Art is charming when he comes out in front of the diners. He says there’s no better way to show love to people than to feed them. “Feed people and they will come.” He says he really wants to win for his charity that not only teaches kids how to cook, but how to be good people.
Art
Fried Chicken
Gail: “This just oozes Art Smith. It oozed out of him when he was describing it.” That may not be the most attractive way to put it, but I get what she’s saying. James is bit reserved, because he says it feels as if this is totally in Art’s comfort zone. One of the culinary students is thrilled there’s a little dessert at the end. Another one says everything on the plate complements each other.
Short Ribs Kalbi & Mahi Mahi With A Lemongrass And Ginger Crust
Michael
Loin Of Lamb With Sunchoke Puree, Broccoli Rabe & Purple Cauliflower
Michael mentions that he didn’t have time to sauce everyone’s plate. Should he have said anything? I guess they would have noticed. Gael: “The sunchoke purée was absolutely perfect with the lamb and all those vegetables.” James says nothing was bad, but “nothing tasted incredibly delicious, BEYOND the piece of meat.” Maybe if he had been given fish, it would have. Culinary student (kinda OLD culinary student): “Really excellent dish.”
Jonathan
Pork Sausage & Chop With Cauliflower Celery Root Puree & Black Truffle
Jonathan explains to the table that it was challenging for him to use all those ingredients, because he normally cooks with three. He says (to us) that he was happy to see the culinary students looking so enthusiastic. He was amused at the critics “eyeballing” his food, which is not known for its presentation. He told us he and Gael Greene go way back. Go way back…wink, wink or just go way back?
Gael (with a huge smile on her face) says she loves “the philosophy of doing a homey 80’s dish.” James: “A very, very successful great home cooking kind of dish.” A student thought it was creamy and smooth. Another one enjoyed every second.
Back in the kitchen.
Art says he’s really nervous and he knows that judges can be not so nice.
At Critics table, Michael says he ran out of time at the end. Gael says his dish was better without sauce, so she was happy she didn’t get any. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
OH my, listen to this from James. With his head cocked to one side, he asks Michael,” Do you feel the ingredients were synchronous on the plate?” Does he mean do they go together or does he mean were they made at the same time? Whatever. The word actually means “occurring or existing at the same time, so it makes no sense.
Michael says, not giving away for one second if he knows what James is talking about or not, that he tried to bring out the flavor of everything on the plate. Gail loves the mushrooms and Michael says there was a squeeze of mandarin juice at the end. Gail says that gave it a brightness.
James wants to know if Michael was stymied by the ingredients. He says not at all. James say he doesn’t really feel everything worked together as a whole, but then he says, “Job well done.” Huh?
Art says his goal was to show what he’s about and that he equates food with love. James says his mango cobbler was a knockout. Art says Jonathan told him to just let it be, honey. James is amused that they called each other honey. James says he wasn’t so sure about having 2 kinds of chicken dishes on the plate. Gael says the crispy crackling crust on the chicken was extraordinary.
Gael wonders why Jonathan picked such a big plate and that the sauce went running all over the place. He says he would have preferred a smaller plate, but he’s more concerned with the flavor.
James, squinting at Jonathan in a kind of haughty way, asks, “What made you decide to treat the truffles in that finely shredded way, rather than shaved?” Are we supposed to be impressed that he noticed the treatment of that minuscule ingredient? Actually, I am…very.
His answer is very interesting. Jonathan says to get the full value of the very expensive truffle, he uses a microplaner. He says you can spread that truffle to 50 plates instead of 10.
He also no longer uses boutique chickens, for which he was very famous at Jams. He talks about that in this interview and says they’re too expensive and he uses
Gale says that when she “dug in… it was all so earthy and it all made so much sense.” Deep in his core he’s still that
Back in the kitchen,
Gale appreciates the sense of respect that the chefs all had for each other. She was awed by it and she loves Art’s sentiment.
Kelly says
Gale liked all the components of Michael’s dish individually, but that they didn’t really have much to do with each other.
Okay, my prediction: I think this is looking like a Jonathan Waxman win from the critics. But he had the lowest score before, so Art will bring it home. YUP, that’s my prediction.
Gale thinks Michael’s sunchoke purée brought his dish all together.
Gael says everyone was wild about Jonathan’s food. James says that HE (James) was not “there with the truffle.” James does say that that plate of food was fundamentally connected, which he can’t say about the others.
Jonathan says to have the critics talk about his food to his face is like judging one’s children. Art sighs hugely and puts his face in his hands.
And the results:
Jonathan
Quickfire – 3 ½ stars
Diners – 4 1/2 stars
Critics – James 4; Gael 4; Jay 4
Total – 20 stars
Quickfire – 4 ½ stars
Diners – 3 stars
Critics – James 2 1/2; Gael 2 1/2; Gale 3
Total – 15 stars
He’s dismissed. Awww.
Michael
Quickfire – 5 stars
Diners – 3 1/2 stars
Critics – James 2 1/2; Gael 3 1/2; Gale 3
Total – 17½ stars
James is tough!
Art
Quickfire – 4 ½ stars
Diners – 5 stars
Critics – James 3; Gael 5; Gale 41/2
Total – 22 stars
Art pulls it off. Go me. Who knew it??! Although I DID think it was going to be closer and that Jonathan would score higher. Jonathan is happy that he gets a donation and I think he’s actually relived not to have to come back. Art is kinda crying and he wants to call his mom. Art says he’s never won anything before and he did pull out a deserving win. I do wish Jonathan had won, though, because (fish or no fish), he is the grand master of them all.
4 comments:
I wanted Michael to win :|
Watched Food Inc?
I watched this! I watched this! I thought Jonathan was the life of the show. I liked him very much. Do you think he's a smoker?
Of course, Art was the life of the show, too. How can you not love that man?
I think Roy's pasta sounded delicious.
I never thought about not ordering chocolate in a restaurant for dessert. That's an excellent point.
I can't wait to see the final match up!
Nandini,
Yay for Michael!
It was funny about Food, Inc, We went to see it and arrived at the theater and it was all closed up. There was a handwritten sign on the window that said "Power Outage". Do you think it was a conspiracy?
Yay, Em,
Now you know I'm not crazy. Thank you for agreeing about Roy's pasta. I may make some right now and throw an egg on it.
I'm glad you never heard my chocolate rant before. Sometimes I think I repeat myself a bit (A BIT?!!). That's one of my cardinal rules, not to order chocolate desserts, which I do occasionally break (with pleasure).
Cyn,
It's going to be good! Each is strong in his or her own way and it really depends on what they throw at them to figure out who's going to win.
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