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Top Chef Masters Episode 10: Over before it started
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Top Chef Masters Episode 10: Over before it started
Top Chef Masters, the 10-episode miniseries run that tested the limits of how much petty, humiliating crap one group of bewildered superstar chefs can be put through, is history. Who won?
RICK BAYLESS.
The Chicago-based chef bested Hubert Keller and Michael Chiarello in a four-course cook-off judged by the Masters crew, the regular Top Chef-fers (Tom C., Padma and Gail, who should have a spin-off that involves them driving around in a Saturn and solving food-based mysteries) and past TC winners Harold, Ilan, Hung, Stephanie and Hosea.
The thematic approach for each course � the final three had the help of their favorite sous chefs for the meal � was melodramatic to say the least, but at the end of the day it was the ideal challenge for these three, all of whom
For the opener, the finalists whipped up a dish that represented their first food memory, Anton-Ego-scarfing-ratatouille style. Bayless, whose family ran a barbecue restaurant when he was a kid ("barbecue sauce coursed through my veins"), prepped smoked quail with watermelon. Chiarello got the ladies at the table to crack a little with his story of his momma guiding his hand over the gnocchi board. Keller accompanied his Alsatian lamb/beef/pork stew with a paint-a-peasant-portrait story about women in his teeny French village eating the stuff on laundry day. He's the only dude in history capable of making laundry day sound idyllic. "You can feel that he's been cooking that dish since he's been a child," coos Ilan, who probably used his leftover broth to drizzle-write his digits on a side plate for his new French BF.
Second, the chefs were asked to prep the dish that made them want to become a chef. Keller's beautiful salmon souffl� and Chia's polenta in a claspy jar were hits, but it seemed like Bayless ran away with this one thanks to a 27-ingredient Oaxacan black mole with ahi tuna. Alright fine, but I will say that I feel like food heads are predisposed to caressing mole over all other sauces because it's so whimsical and sexy, what with all the painstaking effort and million-and-one secret elemental components that comprise it. Mole is The Wire of sauces.
Third challenge � each chef had to recreate a dish from his first restaurant. Ahh, so '80s. Bayless' cochinita pibil gave way to Chia's Miami-influenced ginger-stuffed rouget with mango salad and Keller's lamb chop with a vanilla merlot sauce. "Rick's speaking my language here," says Hosea.
Fourth and final task � developing a "heady dish" that conveys where you're heading as a chef. Keller wants to stay budget-conscious since we're in a recession, so he serves sweetbreads (OK, affordable) and Wagyu beef cheeks (is Wagyu anything affordable?). Chia brines a short rib with five kinds of onions, while Bayless gets a little guff for draping chorizo "air" (too fussy for the Rickster?) atop a paella-type deal with tomato/jalapeno broth.
Each man gets stuck with a few quibbles at judges' table, but in the end, Bayless takes home the bragging rights and the $100K charity prize with a score of 18 stars, edging out Chia by one.
I definitely had some critical things to say about Rick and his presumptuous television personality, and I still think he's kinda enamored with the sound of his own voice, but it would be wrong of me not to point out that I didn't warm to the guy quite a bit as the championship round of Masters transpired. There's something about his geeked-out, child-like excitement over all aspects of Mexican cuisine � even after cooking in the same style for decades � that's infectious. I called his victory earlier this season and it's dope to see him give a hefty boost to his Frontera Farmer Foundation.
So congratulations of a well-deserved win, chef Bayless. (I'm still ambivalent about the fact that your brother is Skip Bayless, but we'll talk about that some other time.) Now producers: If Tom C. isn't a competitor next season, I'ma pitch a fit.
I agree...Bayless grew on e as Chiarello become less and less bearable. That said, I still want Perrier or Vetri on there more than I want Tom C. *waits for obligatory anti-vetri or anti-perrier comment* I've come to accept that Rick likes his own voice on TV just because of all the damage that must have come from being related to Skip Bayless. ick. Keller had a disadvantage--his first restaurant was an earlier, french cuisine. Is there anything American palates have moved away from more than 1970s/80s French cuisine?
I'm sad Hubert Keller (my fav French chef/dj) didn't win but I'm happy it went to Bayless and not Chiarello. When I saw Hosea at the table I almost vomited.
I too am glad master Bayless won...super chef that he is! However I think Hubert Keller seemed just as good with his French cuisine amongst the garlic mistake. Would have been happy if either men had won...both just wonderful people! Michael Chiarello was a big disappointment to me personality wise but am wondering if he got gipped a bit with one of the top critics. The other two gave him accolades so just wondering? However to me the right man won .......yippppeee
Haha, I think Hosea is going to be the one winner that everyone forgets in a few years... oh he won? Oh really? Him? Huh. I'm happy for Bayless. He seems like a stand-up guy. I am a little pissed, on a personal note, because one of the few good things I thought I was getting from moving to Philly to LA was improved Meixcan food.... but it hasn't been all that great, and it seems like he's got some of the best around, in Chicago. Shouldn't SoCal have a monoply on this? Oh well.
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