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Top Chef D.C. Episode 14 (Finale Pt. 2): Sling blade
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Top Chef D.C. Episode 14 (Finale Pt. 2): Sling blade
I'm spoiling this rightrightright now so go away and hide if you don't wanna a spoonful of spoiler.
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Our dude Kevin Sbraga, the Willingboro native who we've been calling Jersey Kev on this blog since Day 1, took home Season 7 of Top Chef like a damn boss! And Brendan Fraser goes WILD! I'll be honest — as I touched on last week, I had this weird feeling that the sensationalized treatment of fellow finalist Angelo's freak ailment in the episode previews was something of a death knell for both Kev and New York-based chef Ed — what better storyline for the drama-guzzling sluts of the Bravo network than a lanky, peculiar half-Dominican chef rising from the dead on his Latino Lazarus grind to outcook two competitors not afflicted by unidentified Southeast Asian parasitic invasion?! I'm glad they didn't go there, I'm glad I was wrong, and most of all, I'm glad that this season's belt — unlike some otherrrrrr seasons — was scooped up not only by a chef who represented well in the final challenge, but did his thing throughout the span of the always-preposterous Top Chef season, as well. This final episode began with the transcendently beautiful Padma revealing that the remaining threesome would be randomly, knife-drawingly paired with three past Top Chef winners — Season 2's Ilan, Season 3's Hung (my dude! with the beast chicken game!) and last year's winner, Michael Voltaggio — who would serve as sous chefs. Ilan, who can be seen bitching at a Singaporean tailor about a suit in this video, ends up with Ed, Jersey Kev lands Michael V. (they're actually boys from back in the day) and Angelo, who as we know very well is a highly skilled Asiaphile who likes to talk about getting physically intimate with his ingredients (c'mere, you sexy geoduck, you!) is paired with mymanpotsandpans Hung. "I'm in Asia, I'm in the finals and I get Hung," he exclaims. "This is the trilogy." No, this is the trilogy, Ang (did he mean trinity?). Though I did like your chances a whole, whole lot at this point.
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Tom C, who seems very relaxed and jovial in this hemisphere (perhaps the tropical climate feels nice on his chromedome?) and your mom's favorite Gallic silver fox, Eric Ripert, hit up some markets to supply ingredients for the chefs' final challenge — to cook the best four-course meal (dessert REQUIRED!) of their lives. Each must do a veggie, fish, meat and sweet course, using identical components. Singapore is the world's number one exporter of Boo Berry, so obviously that's a priority. They also pick up rouget, cuttlefish, pork belly, black cockles (so hot right now) and slipper lobster. For what it's worth, this picture came up when I Google-Image-searched slipper lobsters out of curiosity:
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The three finalists kick with their sous (souses?) before the competition, and this is when Angelo first announces he's not feeling so hot. The next morning, Ed and Jersey Kev head to prep, but Angelo is so ill he can't even get up; he deathbed-whispers instructions to Hung over the phone, and then a doctor comes and visits him and sticks him with an antibiotic ass injection the physician informs him has about a "3 percent chance" of working. OK I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure that dude just made that up. Watch how easy: When I leave work today, I have a "100 percent chance" of drinking whiskey. Alright bad example, that's wholly accurate. Anyway, the shot seems to work on our dude, as he springs back up and dramatically re-enters the kitchen, Willis Reed-style, just in time for the big day. Silver living: The mystery ailment gave him a bit of time to catch up on all that reading he's been slacking on!
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The chefs and their assistants (Kev/Mike and Ang/Hung work together great, while Ilan seems to want to stick his nose in Ed's bidness a bit) put out their food for a group of esteemed diners, including a bunch of prominent Asian restaurateurs/chefs and prominent Asian-American chef/malcontent David Chang. First course: Kev does a veg terrine (Chang thinks that it "takes a lot of balls" to start with that); Angelo puts out pickled mushrooms with homemade noodles and char siu bao pork belly; and Ed rocks a corn veloute that Ripert le loves (shocker!). Second: Kev with the seared rouget/cuttlefish noodles/pork belly; Ang with an Asian-style bouillabaise; and Ed with a bacon-wrapped lobster and a stuffed rouget ("I need a user manual," Singaporean street food expert Seetoh says of the super-complicated presentation). The third course sees Kev with a duck breast/dumpling/bok choy plate; Angelo with a crazy-ambitious duck/foie/gras/cinnamon marshmallow concoction; and Ed gets Blalicchio style with it, doing a duck duo.
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FINALLY — and I think this is the course that really put Jersey Kev over the top, solid — Kev rocks a crazy-colorful, inspired "Singapore Sling 2010" (right), a tropical-fruity dessert version of the cocktail; Angelo puts out a bordering-on-savory Thai jewel shaved ice; and Ed — oh Ed, Ed, Ed — cedes his dessert duties to Ilan, who puts together a dull and confusingly received sticky toffee pudding. ("It's sort of like a fuck you," Chang says of the dish, though he was laughing and meant it as a compliment. Chang! Keeps 'em guessing!) The judges have kind words for each of the cheftestants and their dishes, but it's clear early on that Ed is out of the running based on his overwrought meat course and phoned-in Ilan pudding. (Ed gets weird and defensive about the dessert course at judges' table, too, which really seals his fate.) Angelo earns plenty of praise, but Tom C and others feel his courses needed work. That leaves our dude Jersey Kev, who is able to execute his vision in a cohesive fashion, with flavors, plating and innovation — they fawn over his dessert in a manner that probably has all the Top Chef: Just Desserts contestants real salty right now — humming along in equal stead. Good on ya, Kev! The guy is currently hunting for a local restaurant space to start his own spot. Hope to hear more about this soon. Also very excited to learn, via that interview, that he regrets the baby food Quickfire. First of all, thanks to everyone for putting up with these ridiculous recaps for another season. Now I wanna hear your opinions: Did the right chefs make the finals? What'd you think of the finale? Did the right man win? Let me know in the comments. Till next season!
I feel you, J, but the judges are pretty clear chefs are only as good as their last meal. It's an arbitrary rubric for sure, one that lets someone like Josea squeak in as the winner. It really does come down to that last challenge, who makes the best meal of their life. That said, I think Kev's cooking is way more deserving of the Top Chef crown than Josea's.
There wasn't much about Ed's dessert debacle that wasn't strange. Even if he delegated the course to Ilan, a weird decision in the first place, you'd think someone would stop and say, 'Well, we're in Singapore, and it's a hundred-and-fucking-one degrees out, and maybe sticky toffee pudding isn't the best idea." That's where Kev sealed it; his Singapore Sling 2010 is exactly the kind of refreshing humidity-cutter you want to eat in that sticky island setting.
Why did Ed bring up lemon curd in his comments to the judges? That's about as hard to make as Tollhouse Cookies.
And I've gotta agree with Terry; I love Gail, but she's not Transcendently Beautiful like Padma. Transcendently Girl Next Door, perhaps. Canadian Girl Next Door.
Nice to see some hometown pride, but my girl Tiffany woulda killed it in chef-to-chef combat. She owned every time they let her play to her strengths. But, it's ok because I think she's got fan favorite in the bag. No one else was nearly as likable. Thoughts, other commenters?
Are you serious? You don't have better question?
I like Gail a lot but Padma she's not. I had a hard time listening to her voice for that long!
Yup-Bravo finally had some Jersey that made the state look good. Kevin snuck up on us and by last week I was over the asshole Ed wo Tiffany, reminding me of Nicolas Cage, and I've been a restaurant owner long enough to know a drug addict when I see one, Angelo.
Did anyone else notice that Ed s complete delegation of the dessert course to Ilan did not come up at Judge s Table? Perhaps they edited it out, and I do give Ed credit for owning the dessert at Judge s Table. But had Ed won, the fact that he did not have the bandwidth to conceive the entire meal himself would have have put a cloud over his title and the credibility of the show itself. Given his ailment, the same is true of Angelo. There are as-of-yet undiscovered tribes in the Transvaal Basin that know Hung carried Angelo to the finish line on his back. And whose charitable comments did Bravo use to narrate many of Angelo s darkest moments? Our man, Jersey Kev. Thanks to Bravo's unsubtle editing, that s how you knew he won. But a well-deserved win it was.
What, no recaps of Top Chef: Just Desserts? Don t make me wait until next season, bro! Is Gail Simmons not transcendentally beautiful as well?
When I talked with Jersey Kev back in August, he told me " Stay Tuned". Glad I did. The day Kenny went home, Kev won this title. Great guy, great chef. Hope he comes to Philly with his new restaurant.
Look, I don't want to take anything away from Kevin, who came on strong late and shone in the finale. Props to him. He did great in Signapore and I will try to get to his place the next time I'm back east. And it's always nice to see Philly / Jersey represented.
However....
Can you really tell me he was the best chef there, especially throughout the year? I don't remember him winning any challenges before the last 3 episodes. I seem to remember him being on the bottom a few times, and in the middle a lot. I haven't tallied up the total wins from this season (I hope you have that data somewhere), but I have to think he rates below Tiffany, Angelo, Ed, and probably Kelly for actual wins in quickfires and challenges. Maybe even Kenny. I know that's not how they decide things, and that it's week-to-week, but it seemed really unexpected compared to last season. Last season, I was so happy that the people who made the finale had established themselves as the best chefs throughout the season. I'm still surprised that Kevin was there at the end. He stepped up when it counted, yes, but I hate to say that he's one of the more forgettable winners.
BTW, I think the desserts show will make up for our lack of Arnold. Diva power!
I called Jersey Kev's win early on in the episode and was super excited to be right about that one (despite the fact that I'm still miffed about my main girl Tiffany not ending up in the finals).
As a side note, despite Ilan's escalating doughy-ness (sooo evident in that suit-buying video), I still want to gay marry him forever and ever amen.
Top Chef: Just Desserts already seems slow, over-edited, and boring. While I certainly wouldn't mind a Lazor recap each week, this spin-off probably won't hold a candle to Top Chef in any way.
Top Chef: Just desserts was boring - I lost interest & stopped watching it. I love Gail but the real problem is Johnny Iuzzini
[...] off your bill at guilty favorite The Black Horse Diner and a $35 opportunity to see our boy, Top Chef D.C. winner Kevin “Jersey Kev” Sbraga, at Rat’s in Hamilton one last time. Restaurant Week [...]
Sorry, one more point - I just saw the link to season 5, which I agree was disappointing, with Josea winning. Funny, that's exactly who I was gonna compare Kevin to, except I couldn't remember his name (for a reason). Like Josea, he did fine and acceptable but was never really great or on top until the end. I think this season is like that, but maybe I'm too harsh on Kev.
Great commentary man! I honestly think that Ed saying Ilan handled the dessert himself would've been better than what was shown, with him basically saying, "I could've fucked up if I had taken a risk, do you really want me to do that?" But you're right, I don't doubt that they touched on that point at least once during judging and it just didn't make the final cut.
Doing these recaps causes me so much undue strife and hand-wringing that I just don't think I could make a Top Chef Just Desserts recap schedule part of my weekly grind. And yes, I realize how lame complaining about Photoshopping Tamesha's head onto Rihanna's body is.
I cannot believe you are comparing Kevin to Hosea! Kevin rocked it and deserved to win whereas Hosea should have been sent packing way before the finale
Whoa! Jersey Kev calling out PSN for a ridiculous comment on a Top Chef recap? I think this just made my day!
Okay, I know what my cat is being for halloween.
I'm really happy Kevin won (but come on, we all knew it when he quit Starr so quickly). However, this was the first season I really wasn't pulling for anyone. Maybe its just me, but I did not think the talent was on par with other seasons.
Great recaps Drew!!
Michael Klein's article in Friday's Inquirer states Kevin and his wife named their new son Kevin Angelo and he will be called Angelo. I'm wondering...did they do this in honor of Angelo Sosa? Welcome thoughts on this.
I checked, and statistically, Hosea and Kevin were pretty similar...Kevin was @ the top more than Hosea, but Hosea won more Eliminations. So that's definitely a good point. Perhaps this is geographic bias talking, but I really just enjoyed seeing what Kevin came up with this season moreso than what we saw Hosea cook.
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