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Top Chef Masters Episode 6: Let's see how long we can go without using the word "bromance"
Top Chef Masters Episode 6: Let's see how long we can go without using the word "bromance"
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The final Top Chef Masters episode before the six-slot championship round featured massive amounts of dudelove. In a way, it represented both what is most and least appealing about this spin-off � while it's refreshing to watch pros hand out cellophane-wrapped bundles of luvandrespect to each other, the lowbrow, finite-attention-span reality TV fan in all of us wants needs to see jettisoned colanders, drunken screaming matches and duplicitous pan-fried sabotage on the reg.
I don't see the show getting any more trashy. These last few episodes will probably feature a good amount of bro-hugging and cheek-pecking and helping-hand-ing as the sextet reaches for that $100K donation. Maybe I'm wrong � but if I'm not, at least it'll make the Aug. 26 debut of the regular Top Chef seem that much trashier/glorious.
This week's lineup: Art Smith (former personal chef for Oprah and onetime contender for the head chef job at the Obama White House); Michael Cimarusti (seafood-focused chef from L.A.'s Providence); Jonathan Waxman (the iconic NYC chef whom I, for some reason, associate with all those funny-named restaurants in American Psycho); and Roy Yamaguchi (the Hawaiian fusion chef who's got an outpost here at 15th and Sansom). These dudes were so goddamn kind and sweet and close it was kinda like:
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In a way.
Quickfire: The chefs get assigned the "Aisle Trail" � each man has to cook a dish using ingredients taken from a single grocery aisle, with a budget of 20 bones. Cimarusti, who's referred to as a "young little chicken" by Smith (dudelove sesh starting right about ... now), gets the baking aisle; he ends up with a chocolate parfait with ginger and rum. Yamaguchi, vexed by the dearth of Asian ingredients in his area (no, there's no soy sauce in the pasta section, Roy), whips up noodles topped with a fried egg that two-thirds of the Whole-Foods-worker judges find "strange." Waxman, with the international aisle, comes up with a lentil salad, while the grains section leads Smith to a risotto. Cimarusti edges his buddies out with a perfect QF score from the judges.
Elimination: The cheftestants head back to Whole Foods to pick out 11 ingredients apiece. The twist is that their basket is then handed to a competitor, who must use seven of the 11 mystery items in a dish. So this is where it got real cute: While the chefs could've filled their baskets with a bunch of disparate crap, each gives the next guy a fighting chance, selecting versatile veggies and proteins. "I want Art to show the world his love and passion for food," says Yamaguchi, who blesses the Southern chef with some chicken. Awww. When are y'all going to go on a group camping/whitewater rafting trip together, and I can please come?
Yamaguchi admits he's not the best at thinking on the fly (who is?), and it shows in his mahi/short rib dish, as he ends up with a mediocre 15 stars. Waxman ends up with a total of 20 for his "retro '80s" (see, American Psycho!) pork chop dish, edging out young buck Cimarusti's 17.5. Smith, however, ends up on top, earning 22 stars for a delicious-looking fried/ smothered chicken dish served with a teeny mango pie. Everyone hugs and snuggles. "I love the way you all took care of each other," Gael Greene tells the foursome. Daw.
So here's the Final Six:
- Anita Lo
- and this dude!
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I'm rooting for Art.
really? I hated Art's name dropping. We get it, you cook for famous people. Keller used a dorm shower to cool his pasta. He's by far my favorite. I still think Garces or Perrier coulda done well. oh well. btw, did anyone else find Jen Carroll's scream in the promo for the real top chef to be so forced as to be unintentionally funny?
Great picture! I haven't seen this much manlove since Fab and Stefan and I love it!
rory: I agree that the name-dropping was a bit much — but I did find the way he did it amusing. I think I like Smith because he's perhaps the brightest personality on the show yet. Keller's right up there for me, too. Should I geek the F out like last season of Top Chef and do some dorky-ass POWER RANKINGS again? Anyone? I'm sure Garces or Perrier will pop up on one of these shows before we know it. Regular TC's going to have to come to Philly eventually...can you imagine GP as a guest judge? He would destroy the kids and I would love every second of it. Re: the screaming in the promo — I was just talking about that yesterday. I feel bad for the contestants in that you know the director was like "OK, now SCREAM AS LOUD AS YOU CAN!" to them, a la "YOU'RE A MONKEY DEREK!"
Power rankings! Do it! Mine would be: 1. Hubert 2. Art 3. Anita 4. Chiarello 5. Bayless 6. Tracht And yes.. this was my favorite episode by far. :)
What school were the culinary students from? I couldn't make out the logo- Was it Johnson and Wales?
[...] cut-above six-pack — Hubert Keller, Suzanne Tracht, Rick Bayless, Anita Lo, Michael Chiarello and Art Smith — rocking menial tasks they probably haven’t rocked in [...]
[...] Masters was too, but since everyone was competing for charity, there was some sense of camaraderie, as we noted — but judging by the take-no-prisoners approach of many of the NIC competitors (full rundown [...]
[...] Chef producers concoct. I don’t think it has much to do with raw ability, either — remember Roy Yamaguchi stumbling on Top Chef Masters? Wacky on-the-fly cookery just ain’t in their makeup. “Why do they sign up for the show, [...]
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