Top Chef
Week 4
This was the fourth week of Top Chef Season 5, New York. 13 chefs remain after Alex was sent home last week for the Creme Brule that wasn't. Tonight's guest judge: the omnipresent Rocco Dispirito.
I'll write up more shortly. Tired now.
Quickfire Challenge
To start the show the contestants have to do a "Quickfire Challenge" which is generally a skills test. Today's was a cooking challenge - the contestants had to do an Amuse-Bouche of breakfast food. And before they started - Rocco tips them that he really likes bacon.
You do know what an Amuse-Bouche is, right? Yeah, neither did I. It's a single-bite representation of a dish. Not even really an appetizer; just supposed to be one bite. Not all of the contestants got that right, a fact that Leah observed in her one-shot and that Rocco observed in his evaluation. Many of them did two bites; Jeffrey actually did two dishes.
Leah won immunity for this week, yet again.
Elimination Challenge
For the Elimination Challenge the contestants had to prepare a dish that they would present in a 2-1/2 minute live TV spot. They had one hour to prep (remember that, it's important) then 2-1/2 minutes to present.
First the winners...
- Ariane did a lovely salad.
- Jeff did an odd looking, but very stylish, roll.
- Fabio did a nice simple tuna dish.
Not very successful were...
- Melissa. She made habanero shrimp that were SO spicy that Tom spit his out and at Judge's Table Padma said that it made the entire left side of her mouth throb. Melissa then had the gumption to stand there and say she tasted them and thought they were fine. Ummm...leaving aside Rocco's comment that he didn't see how she could possibly have tasted them and thought that level of spice was acceptable, if Padma thinks your food is too spicy then you've got a problem. PADMA! She's Indian. She grew up on curry. She WROTE A BOOK on cooking spicy foods. If she thinks your food is too spicy then give it up.
- Jamie. She did a duck egg dish and the egg turned out raw. She was there more for her attitude which was deemed not camera friendly however. Tom observed that had the egg been fully cooked then the dish would actually have been pretty good. But she got mad (at herself) that the egg failed and she folded her arms and shut down on camera.
- Alex. Oh, Alex. Alex decided to be different and do a Creme Brule. Remember when I said the one-hour prep time was important? There are a number of recipes I've found for a Creme Brule. Not a single one of them can be done in under an hour. And Tom, at Judge's Table, told Alex that he had picked an impossible task - Creme Brule, almost by definition, takes more than an hour to make. Alex never did deliver an actual Creme Brule.
Though I thought Melissa's impossibly hot shrimp and her sort of odd defiance at Judge's Table might have gotten her sent home, ultimately it was Alex's terrible decision and ultimately total failure to produce the dish that got him asked to pack his knives and go.
The Winner? Ariane.
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