WHAT TREASURES HIDE, JING CHA SIU BAO, PILLOWED IN YOUR DOUGH? Okay. Loved loved last night's Top Chef All-Stars, and it's funny because normally I'm more of a fan of "let's see them do awesome things amid realistic constraints" than "let's make them uncomfortable and amp up the pressure." But in this case, we had a clusterfuck of epic proportions by placing the thirteen cheftestants in an insufficient kitchen and not reminding them that no one gives a damn about the plating at a dim sum restaurant. So: angry old people! kitchen chaos! an ill-advised dessert! turtle on a leash! jalapeño in your eye! And the glorious return of TC: Masters fave and kitchen badass Susur Lee, whom nobody doesn't like. Plus we got the Jamie "Top Scallop" montage.
Bourdain writes: "Of the carnage and recriminations, the filth and the fury that followed, I will speak little. Antonia, once again, became the repository for all the world's sins, left, it appeared, to cook nearly everything single handed. What a Trojan! She's like John Shaft -- always willing to help her brotherman, demonstrating a generosity of spirit that nearly doomed her. Had her own shrimp toast not been delicious, it might well have been her head on the block. For much of the show -- whether because of the edit or not, it looked like she was the only person moving in a kitchen full of stunned carp. As at the aftermath of a violent bar fight, the others present creeped slowly and stealthily away from the horror, unwilling to get blood or hair on their shoes. But she hung in. And at Judges' Table, when confronted about her central role in this greatest of face-plants, she stood up under brutal interrogation like a hard case career con refusing to put the much guiltier Casey in the soup. She made Sammy the Bull Gravano and Whitey Bulger look like punks. In the same situation, I suspect, the guys would have been jostling each other to drop a dime on each other."
Really solid episode, due to two really solid challenges, and Tom getting to prove that he's a badass, not just in the quckfire, but also in the rant at the end. However, disagree with the elimination decision. Yes, Casey's chicken feet were apparently really bad, but it was at least an effort to do something challenging and different that fit into the challenge, unlike Jamie's continuing effort to either not cook at all or compete on Top Scallop. Also, Casey's cart service took her out of the kitchen, where the real clusterf**k was, and I suspect she probably at least delayed and defused a little some of the anger in the room with her demeanor. In contrast, Jamie cooked the exact same thing she seemingly always cooks, didn't cook it well, and was a major factor in the kitchen delay. Because of how the challenge worked, two people had to leave their dish in another's hands, and it seems a little unfair to punish people who are strong at front of the house for being pushed into that role.
ReplyDeleteI am torn between believing that every iota of sense Jamie ever possessed before coming back on this season or if she is just flipping off the producers hard core. I really liked her in season 5, but here I just want to grab through the tv and shake her.
ReplyDeleteThere was one beautiful moment with Carla quickly saying to herself in response to all the angry diners, something like "Please don't eat me!" which was just hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI really, really liked the Colicchio quickfire participation. We've seen over the seasons (and even this season with Elia's snitfit) cheftestants question Tom's continued abilities. What a wonderful, wonderful "Oh, yes, this is why he has the right to judge you" moment.
Casey really really shouldn't have volunteered for front of house. She had a difficult dish to prepare properly, and not one that could easily be picked up and executed well by just any other chef. I would've thought something like, say, Fabio's short rib (which seemed to be a stick it in the oven and forget it dish) would make him a more obvious candidate to put front of house.
I was also surprised, even with his immunity, that Isabella wasn't called to the judges table for not being more of a leader in the expediter position.
Yep. The online recipe for Fabio's dish is, basically, "mix the seasoning, put it on the ribs, braise them in the oven for three hours with some green tea, soy sauce and honey."
ReplyDeleteI imagine Tom's visit back there may have helped Isabella, food not getting out was almost everyone's fault. Boy did they need Jenn Carrol keeping people in line.
ReplyDeleteAgreed completely on the elimination decision. I especially thought Jamie would go home when the guest judge pointed out that not only did she buy store-bought dumpling wrappers, but that she didn't know the correct way to cook them. That and her "greasy, stood around for hours, cheap takeout Chinese food longbeans" seemed to put her over the edge.
ReplyDeleteI really think that forcing the chefs to do front of house for this challenge was a bad idea, considering that the challenge was supposed to be all about speed and quantity.
I just DO NOT understand how nearly all of the cheftestants approached this challenge. Have none of them ever had dim sum? I can't think of a single dim dum dish I've ever seen that has been individually plated. The whole idea is to make something that looks okay but tastes great and can be made in big batches and go out in baskets or platters to be shared. This was ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAgree on both elimination decision (for all of Russ's and Sue's reasons) and the problem of making two chefs do front of house. I can't think of too many times on TC when being the person at the front of the house hasn't at least put you in danger.
ReplyDeleteBut what the hell were the chefs thinking? Dale should have stepped up and told them how to do dim sum. All of them should have ignored plating and cooked for speed and quantity (maybe none of them have ever cooked dim sum, but have they EATEN it?) Only Fabio's rib dish and the sticky rice made any sense to m as things that could be made in quantity and sent out quickly. Why was ANYONE doing two dishes, and why was one of the people doing two dishes Jamie, and one of them (Antonia) charged with ALSO doing Casey's dish? It's pretty rare when I think I could have handled a TC challenge better than the contestants, but this one, I could have.
I've really changed my opinion of Antonia. During her season, I didn't think she was very good, other than that she could make killer fresh pasta. This season, she's impressing me both with her cooking and her personality. Bourdain is right on.
Why doesn't HULU show Top Chef anymore??!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I feel it is my duty to include the skilletdoux.com blog's sensible defense of Jamie and scallops (from a post after the first episode of the season). here is an excerpt:
ReplyDelete"Jamie didn't touch a scallop until episode six. In that episode, her QF used scallop as a secondary ingredient, and her elimination used it as the central ingredient. So she did double up for one episode, which is what kicked it off. The next episode, because her treatment of the scallop in her elimination dish was savaged, she wanted to go back one more time to prove she could do it, which she did, getting a win. She didn't touch another scallop for the rest of the season."
I did like the subtitle that read "Caucasian dim sum", and it was clear the older Asian family were ready to walk out.
ReplyDeleteDid we even see either of the chefs working FOH? I agree that there was no reason to have two chefs out on the floor -- or at least we didn't see any. But since the restaurant's wait staff was there, it seems like the chefs should've focused on the kitchen. But otherwise, a solid episode, even if the ultimate result kept Jamie around for another week.
ReplyDeleteThe two chefs who may have the best idea about dim sum (e.g. Dale, Angelo) are also the two chefs who are the biggest into gamesmanship and may have subtly (or not so subtly) encouraged some of their fellow contestants to pursue self-sabotaging strategies.
If there's one consistent lesson for future contestants to take from this season, it's "Be selfish and secure your own dish. Do not rely on anyone else for your own continued success."
ReplyDeleteNo one has mentioned yet my favorite part of the show, which was that surreal digression about Fabio and his pet turtle. I don't know how good a chef Fabio may be, but he sure as hell is entertaining.
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be kind of a fun challenge? One chef conceives a dish, another has to execute. Losing dish sends both chefs home.
ReplyDeleteTo make it more exciting, make it a round robin thing, like Blais executes Tre's concept, while Tre executes Carla's, Carla does Jamie's, and so on.
I would totally watch Life with Fabio.
ReplyDeleteThe turtle on a leash cracked me up and makes me love him even more.
I actually respect Fabio's utter lack of range. He absolutely owns the fact that most everything he does is in a certain lane.
ReplyDeleteThey did something like this with the "pick your protein, now SWITCH!" quickfire last season.
ReplyDeleteI would also watch Life w/ Fabio. I would also request that Stefan come back occasionally as well.
ReplyDeleteI kind of wish they could've gone to a Dim Sum, so they would at least know what they were getting in to. This was so poorly executed that it just felt like a complete failure. (Also, being the unexciting diner that I am, I find it ludicrous that I'm more familiair with Dim Sum than these people are).
Yeah, sort of. But the first chef had nothing more to do with the dish after the second person took over. 2nd chef just had to use the protein they didn't select, they could make whatever dish they wanted with it. And only the 2nd chef was judged.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like to see is how well Chef A can give directions and how well Chef B can follow them. And to prevent sabotage, hold them both liable.
Here's what I think the chefs in the kitchen were thinking. They're thinking their ability to put out food doesn't really matter for the challenge. The only thing that really matters is the quality of the food on the Judge's plate. They're cooking for the judges, not the challenge.
ReplyDeleteI don't know they're wrong either. Casey didn't get eliminated because there wasn't enough chicken feet. She got eliminated because they were inedible.
It's essentially what Jen said in the stew room right before she got eliminated - something along the lines of "I don't cook for 200 kids, I cook for the judges."
ReplyDeleteIsabella was called to the judges table.
ReplyDelete