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Top Chef Masters Episode 7: Six degrees of cheferation
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Top Chef Masters Episode 7: Six degrees of cheferation
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At the outset ofTop Chef Masters, I predicted that it wasn't going to get compelling till the championship round, when the winners of the first six eps would face off in a series of so-below-them challenges in the name of a hefty $100K charity prize. Last night, the finals got rolling, and my prediction held true, as the Quickfire featured the 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 decades.
Yes, it was time for the mis en place relay race. (Y'all remember when Season 3 winner Hung STRAIGHT DESTROYED the chicken butchering challenge?) Working in threes, the chefs had to take on the thankless jobs that their staff typically handle � shucking oysters, dicing onions, chopping birds and whipping up egg whites into a stiff froth. Our fave Tom C. � heretofore known as "Big Daddy," thanks Art Smith � who dressed like how your dad dresses for church for the occasion, acted as ref.
Impressions � Lo, who did the chicken thing like a champ (lesson: always pick the Asian to do the chicken), kills it when she describes Season 3 race participant Casey as "some poor woman chopping onions for way too long." Bayless referring to Keller as a "French demigod" = somehow creepy. Smith making a "cry myself a river" crack while hacking his onions = fully expected, fully appreciated.
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Keller's team wins, and the chef, who took on two tasks in the race, picks first for Elimination � each chef must reinvent a competitor's signature dish. Keller picks Lo's scallop/urchin, sticking her with his lobster cappuccino; Tracht and Smith flip-flop, taking on seared grouper and chopped sirloin with a fried egg, respectively. (The Obamas love that grouper, says Smith � hey, have you heard he's friends with them? Also Oprah?) The last pair-up sees Chiarello handing his quail over to Mexican master Bayless, who puts his roast lamb with pasilla chiles and figs in the hands of the Italian chef.
Judging the plates are a group of TCM cast-offs, including the dude Ludo Lefebvre, who apparently enrolled in dialect lessons after Bravo subtitled him, Morimoto-on-Food-Network style, in Episode 3. Producers didn't feel the need to do this to him this time around, causing Ludo to be like "the fuck?"
The judges like Keller's urchin cream, so he gets 21.5 stars. They're also all about Bayless' not-that-Mexi interpretation of Chiarello's plate,� earning him 23. Winning, though � and earning a gushing "genius" nod from Britcrit Jay Rayner � is Lo, who tallies up 24. (Her twist on Keller: corn chawanmushi, champagne gel�e and a lobster biscuit sandwich.) Smith, who stuffed a boiled egg inside a ball of undercooked lamb (Gael Green calls it "grotesque") gets just 15 stars, but the ax falls on Tracht, who drastically overcooks her fish.
Nice how this group worked out to be relatively diverse � two women (one Asian), a French dude, a Medi-looking dude, a gay dude, a white dude who at least knows a lot Mexican people ... foreal, we're about one armor-wearing dog and one wheelchair-bound child away from
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Next week: Zooey Deschanel. (500) Days of Forcing Chefs Against Their Will to Cook Vegetarian.
love your take on the program, second only to the show itself! thanks for the links, twitters, graphics and creative mix of media ingredients. northern cali reader
Great pic of the Burger King Kid's club! I think this group is really fun together and I love watching them, maybe except Chiarello who is kinda creepy. Even though I want Hubert to win I started to get a little sad when Art was so close to getting offed. Most importantly though, did anyone else notice Tracht's pink frosted lipstick?!
Rick Bayless is awesome.
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