Top Chef Season 4

Top Chef started back up with Season 4 last night. It looks like they have some great chefs for this season. And it looks like there could be a lot of drama between the chefs too (lots of creative editing).

I look forward to seeing "What Happens".

Parker

Re: Top Chef Season 4

An interesting twist on the first elimination challenge—especially seeing 2 different interpretations of the same dish. I loved finding out that many of the pros had no idea about some classic dishes, while others had lost (if indeed they every had them) some basic skills like making soufflé.

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Yeah, I thought that was really wild. Here they are already well established executive and sous-chefs and going back to the classics, etc. really threw them for a loop. I believe they got rid of the only line chef they had on the show this year. I didn't see anyone listed as just a "cook" as they have had in the past.

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I think that there is one personal chef. It is always a bit unclear just exactly how much of a background they have—as well as the caterers (although I don’t think that there are any this season.

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I looked up the contestants’ bios Parker and it was interesting to read that the two (Zoi & Erik) who could not make the soufflé are also self-taught.

For me the funniest (and most ironic) moment was to listen to Andrew (who has gone to culinary school) spout off about being the prime contender and it turned out, that not only did he forget to buy mayonnaise for his crab cakes, not only did he not know how to make mayonnaise, but that he did not even know the basic ingredients from which to begin making mayonnaise. He had some good luck in that Richard let him in on the secret.

I’m pretty sure that some of our HTF stalwarts (are you there Jeff?) would have had no problem with these two items. Though I hasten to add, that we would all lack the necessary skills to even qualify.

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Yeah, even I know how to make mayo and I don't cook. Personally I see Richard kicking some major butt this season as he is pretty laid back and knows his shit without having to tell everyone he does. Even Chef Colicchio looked at him like "WTF is that" when he brought out the bowl with the smoke in it. I also see Nikki and Stephanie doing well. I see Dale and Andrew causing the most drama.

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This is an interesting part of the season, where chefs can make mistakes (and even have disasters) and still survive simply because someone else has screwed up even more. A couple of really bad dishes (and their creators) did not get the chop because Valerie’s contribution was doomed from its conception—and that it failed in execution sealed the deal.

Surprisingly Andrew played nicely with the other children.

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It is going to be interesting with Andrew this season. I see him becoming a real pain. Sort of like Marcel (aka Wolfman) from season 2 and Hung from last year.

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Don’t forget that Marcel made it to the final, only losing, with characteristic bad grace to Ilan. And Hung won. No way is a guy who does not know how to make mayonnaise going all the way. Hung could have whipped that up with one arm tied behind his back (and while he was slicing and dicing with the other).

OTOH, he did redeem himself to a degree last week—and there are a couple of other competitors who already look to be out of their league (Erik who had no clue about soufflés, for example).

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I have not seen the 3rd episode yet but...

My impression of Andrew is that he is only capable of cooking dishes that he has already made (or something similar)... he can't come up with things on the fly very well. I too was shocked by the Mayo incident (making mayonnaise is cooking 101). Of course they are editing the show to portray him as a pompous ass... which means that he will likely be around until the last 1/3 of the season (people need the 'villain' to root against).

I don't think Erik is going to last very long... he has yet to make anything reasonably impressive. His farmer's market quickfire challenge actually made me laugh (OK, 5 ingredients... I'll cook 3 random things and put 2 spices on each and put each in a pile).

Some of the women on the show are good chefs but I haven't seen a lot of mental toughness & self assuredness that will get them through to the later rounds.

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I saw Erik getting the ax with his corn dogs. The man knew that they would get soggy yet he made them anyway. Oh, well. Rock on dude.

I heard somewhere that the typical time they spend waiting for the judges to make their decision is around 4 hours. Can you imagine cooking up some crazy meal with a limited budget and unrealistic time frame to have to then set around 4 hours waiting for a judgement. I would love to see Padma or Chef Colicchio put up with some of the challenges they come up with for them.

I wonder why Billy Joel's wife left after the first season and Padma took her place.

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I’m sure that Padma would not be able to cope, as she is not a chef, nor is Ted Allen. But Colicchio and most of the various guest judges would no doubt be able to cope successfully (that does not mean that they would necessarily win),

Re: Top Chef Season 4

Very fitting that Eric got the boot after insulting Rick Bayless (not the least by saying that Mexican food could not be fine dinning). I have several cookbooks by both Bayless and Diane Kennedy and have eaten at Rick’s Chicago restaurants and can say with certainty that one does not have to live where I do in order to find upscale Mexican cuisine.

Of course he was not the only one who could not get past tacos being (only) street food (not that there is anything wrong with that).

OTOH, I’m sure that his corndogs were really great—right after they were out of the fryer. But he (and others) lost the plot on the time delay and transport.

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I wonder how Richard's tacos would taste. We have a great little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant called "El Sombero" that makes really good pinned tacos and HUGE enchiladas. It is one the best Mexican restaurants I have eaten at over the years.

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I sort of feel bad for these Chefs since the last 2 episodes should have been called "Top Caterer" and not "Top Chef". It's not really fair to these folks who are executive chefs and line cooks who are used to putting hot food out to customers within a couple of minutes of being cooked suddenly being asked to cook food that will survive hours in a hot box.

That being said, the guy that cooked the corn dogs should have know they wouldn't hold up. Also every one of his dishes looked exactly the same, very sloppy deconstructed meals spread all over the plate.

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OTOH Tom, as one of the judges mentioned, every one of these guys would have done some catering at some point in their careers and (at their level) should know which foods would hold and which would not. Plus these were teams of seven each. It is inconceivable that at least one or two on each team would not have quite a solid background on transporting food.

While there were two or three who failed miserably (mac & cheese and bad pasta salad), Eric even suspected that his dish would not hold up—and probably not a good idea to tell Rick Bayless that Mexican food could not be fine dinning. I assume that the judges (as professionals) put that out of their mind, but it does go to show that Eric had no clue.

The secret on the early rounds is to fail when someone else is worse—this will not work later on, so look out mac & cheese and pasta salad.

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Actually one strategy works all the way to the end: Always come in second to last unless there is a 3-way finale.

Chef Colicchio complained in a previous season that no one was trying to win. Well duh. The contestants actually watched the show and realized the only thing that can happen each week is you get sent home. There is no advantage for coming in first versus 2nd to last. Safe and slightly better than the current worst chef is the order of the day. If they truly wanted creativity and boldness then they need to redo the rules from "Who fucked up today" to "who is the overall weakest chef to this point" with a point system, say 3 for top-tier, 2 for middle, and 1 for bottom tier and dump the current lowest point chef. The judges decide how many belong in each tier from 0 to all of them. Plus they could skip sending anyone home until the 3rd week and dump the weakest 3 chefs to at least give everyone a reasonable chance to show what skills they have. The points would just determine who gets into the finale or maybe just to the round of 4 but the winner would be the best chef of the final challenge.

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My rule of thumb is if I know what or what not to do (as an untrained home cook) then it should be very basic knowledge for these 'top chefs'. Everyone who has ever fried something and taken it to a party knows that it will get soggy. Everyone knows that when un-altered Velveeta cools it turns into a brick. I agree with Chuck... the majority of the contestants are playing to not lose.

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The team that won this week pulled out all the stops—something that I’d also say about the second place team.

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You have those that really want to shine and step up to bat. Then you have those that are going to set back and "Watch What Happens". This season I think we have a lot great chefs that really want to do a great job and aren't afraid to step up. It may get them sent home in the end but they did put their best foot forward. Some of them are forgetting the fundamentals but all of them are putting their food out the best they know how for the limited time and budget they have.

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And one of the big criticisms of the guys that made the summer rolls, was that they did not spend enough, given the money they were given.

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What a great episode. First we got to see Dale wow guest Judge Daniel Boulud (creator of the famous DB Burger) critique the contestants’ technique (Dale blew everyone away with this knife skills) and then we get an elimination challenge just for this forum: each team had to create a dish based on their favorite movie.

With Richard Roeper as a guest for a six-course dinner, the top teams not only prepared what appeared to be great food, but were creative in using the movies for their inspiration as well, although the judges did comment that many of the teams (mostly lower-ranked) seemed to decide upon their dish and then pick a movie instead of the other way around.

Willie Wonka was the choice of Andrew, Richard and Dale who talked about how much fun it would be to have a gum ball that starts out tasting of one thing and then another and then another. So they created an appetizer of smoked salmon, with wasabi and white chocolate. Now this would not be something that would seem to have any appeal, but the judges loved it—though the not-so-inspired teams trashed the idea (even though not actually having tasted the dish).

The other end of the scale was the (losing) Good Morning, Vietnam inspired summer roll that only seemed to have Vietnam in common with the dish and movie.

The movies and dishes:

•Willie Wonka—Smoked salmon with faux caviar and white chocolate wasabi sauce (Andrew, Richard (named the winner) and Dale (won Quickfire)
•Good Morning, Vietnam—Summer roll with black vermicelli, green apple, chili rubbed Chilean sea bass and swiss chard (Manuel (eliminated) and Spike)
•Christmas Story—Quail breast with carrot puree, cranberry chutney and quail spring rolls (Mark and Ryan)
•Il Postino—Tortellini with cavolo nero, ricotta, pecorino, squash and peppercorn (Nikki and Jennifer)—the judges did not think that the movie inspiration matched the dish.
•Talk to Her—Rack of lamb with saffron cauliflower puree, romesco and gramalata (Antonia and Zoi)
• Top Secret—NY strip steak, braised short rib and apple potsticker with caramel sauce (Lisa and Stephanie)—this was the second-place dish—this was the last course and Lisa & Stephanie did not want to make a desert, hence the caramel sauce (did not sound good, but the judges loved the combination)

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As a nod to this week’s efforts and the opening week’s soufflé disaster, I made a carrot soufflé (Mark commented that his carrot puree tasted great) last night.

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I know one of the chefs and, while he's done well, he really hasn't stepped up to the plate (so to speak) yet.

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My G/F is a gourmet cook and I love good food and enjoy cooking myself, so we watch alot of cooking shows together(I always have FoodTV on). Ive hadent seen this show in awhile, but caught this last night and enjoyed it. Next weeks looks to be REALLY interesting.

I was suprised the Christmas Story meal wasnt one of the top2 since that one went over so well at the table.

Watching this I was wondering what would I possibly do for 2001 A Space Odyssey

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What is wrong with Andrew? When Dale picked his and Richard's team to join, he went on about the weak gravitating to the strong. WTF? Dale is weak? He had just won the quickfire challenge! Anyway, what did he care about joining a strong team? He was immune anyway.

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Andrew is this year’s young, aggressive, obnoxious twit (who can cook—but I’m guessing not so well as he thinks). But he is still better than Spike who is also obnoxious and dismissive of everything with which he disagrees. Such as the two top dishes this week.

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I'd also like to see "plays well with others" as part of the judging. When you are a world-famous chef and everyone loves your food, then you can be a complete a-hole to everyone in the kitchen. Until that time you need to be able to take orders and work with other people. Those who refuse to listen to their team leader and just do their own thing even when it doesn't fit in teams' theme should be shown the door. This is especially true in the "run your own restaurant" type challenges. Another mild "being an a-hole" is refusing to help a competitor plate when they are short on time, especially if they are on your team.

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I think that there have been quite a few times where a losing team lost because one or more of the contestants did not play well with others. Many of the ‘big ego’ chefs still manage to work well together when forced together on a team. In this last case (Andrew bad-mouthing Dale), those comments were made to the camera, not to the team and in actually working with the team, Andrew worked well with the other two (Dale seemed to take a back seat, but then as he had immunity, he had no reason to not let the other two do as they wished).

OTOH, the judges often castigate those who let a forceful personality take over and ‘just go along’—this is especially true when the dish turns out bad.

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Dale is an ass. First he criticized Lisa for being "negative" when she didn't agree with his first idea for the Fire Team's dish. Then, when they won, he got all pissy because she won with "bacon". The judges were wowed by an original idea for a simple ingredient. If she hadn't been "negative" they might not have won the challenge. Dale is quite possibly the best chef this season, but he needs to find a little humility!

The Earth Team failed because they didn't execute the dish well, not because they didn't do soup. But, they should not have let Antonia push them into something they didn't want to do, especially as she had immunity.

Then Dale shows his anger at Lisa for winning the challenge by accusing her again of being "negative". Then Spike tries to deflect the blame for Zoi's ouster by attacking Antonia. She should not have responded to that.

It's getting more interesting!