Top Chef Masters Starts Tomorrow Night!

Can't wait! Top Chef Masters starts tomorrow night!

Looking forward to TV's premier cooking challenge show. It's the best, bar none.

Come back for Episode #1 recap!

Top Chef Recap - And Then There Were Three!

This week Jen, Michael, Bryan and Kevin returned to the competition to decide which three would continue on to the final. Napa was the venue.

Of course, when you are in Napa, you must include "Mr. NapaStyle", Michael Chiarello. Chef Chiarello, also a Top Chef Master, was the guest judge.

The QuickFire Challenge was to make a dish that incorporated and celebrated the Napa wine grape. The cheftestants had several varieties to choose from, including concord grapes. The prize, a brand new Toyota Prius. The catch, the chefs had to cook on a moving train, The Napa Wine Train. It took each chef just a few moments to get back into the competitive groove. Michael took the challenge and the Prius.

The Elimination Challenge was they had to cater a party for 150 people at one of the Napa Valley vineyards and each had to make two dishes which had to include a vegetarian dish.

Everyone made some mistake in the elimination challenge. Bryan definitely was the best. The only thing they said about his two dishes was that they needed a little more seasoning (salt and pepper).

Kevin made brisket as one dish and he didn't have enough time to braise it and it was "toothsome" as he called it. It wasn't tender and needed a little more time.

Jen's dishes were good. She wanted to grill duck, but the wood grill went out so she couldn't do that and wound up doing duck confit. It was good, but I think they held against her that she let the grill go out and couldn't do the dish she originally planned on.

Michael served a dish with an egg in it and the egg was undercooked. Yucky. I thought that was going to send him home especially since pregnant Padma got the most "raw" egg.

Jen went home. I don't understand why, but they sent her home, so it's the three amigos.

I think it's going to be Kevin or Bryan.

Top Chef Recap - Final Four

OK, now Eli is gone. I have to say I came to like the guy in the last few weeks. I saw more of him instead of the arrogance he displayed early on.

JEN! Love that girl! She took the QuickFire challenge. She's back! I was so bummed that she seemed to be on her way out, but she picked herself up and came back with a roar! Way to go Jen!

Bocuse D'Or. That's the premiere international cooking competition where twenty-four teams of two chefs from around the world are given five and a half hours to vie for the title. They must present a meat and fish dish with garnishes and they are scored on taste, presentation, technique and efficiency. The Elimination Challenge was a sort of mini version of that contest. Chef Gavin Kaysen (remember The Next Iron Chef?), who was America's representative at the last Bocuse D'Or competition, was the guest judge, as was the great and respected Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in California. The chefs were given a choice to cook a fish (salmon) or meat (lamb) dish. Jen, being the QF winner got an extra half hour to cook. The rest had four hours. Most chose the lamb, Michael V, of course, went with salmon. Gotta tell ya, not likin' MV these days. He's insulting and disrespectful to the other chefs. He said, "The food Kevin cooks is the food I cook on my day off." Nice Mike. And Kevin is a good guy, too. You can be confident, but how about a little civility like, oh, I don't know, your brother Bryan?

All cheftestants did well, but this is a contest where the judges look for something to criticize. After all, there are no perfect dishes. In the end, and for the life of me I cannot figure why, really, Eli was eliminated. This one caught me off guard because they way the judges were talking, I thought, for sure, Michael was gone because they found a bone in his fish which would have eliminated him immediately from the Bocuse D'Or competition. So Eli went home, upset, but with his head held high and deservedly so. Great chef. He did imaginary things with food. He'll continue on a path of success because he's got the drive and passion and imagination. All the best Eli!

So, we're down to Jen, Michael V, Bryan V and Kevin. Now, you know how I feel about Jen, but I have to go with Kevin as the winner. MV seems to wow the judges from time to time, but Kevin consistently delivers great food. Tune in next week to find out who is TOP CHEF!

Top Chef Recap - Restaurant Wars!

Well, it happens every year and the always anticipated Restaurant Wars went off last night on Top Chef. Rick Moonen of Top Chef Masters and Rick RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas was the guest judge for this episode.

The High Stakes QuickFire Challenge started it all off and set up the two teams that would eventually go into Restaurant Wars against each other. After drawing knives, Michael V and Jen picked teams. Michael picked his brother Bryan, Eli, and Robin. Jen's team was Michael I, Larine and Kevin. The challenge was to tag team a dish. The two twists were, except for the first to go, everyone was blindfolded and the team members could not talk to each other! How hard was that going to be? The only communication allowed was that each team had a minute to decide the order of chefs. It was up to the first person to choose the dish and get it started and then each subsequent chef had to decide what to do next based on what they saw when they got to the cooking station. I thought it was very cool!

Jen's team won and split $10K. Then they were given the option of taking the money or letting it ride on Restaurant Wars where each team member would get $10K if they won. They let it ride. That would turn out to be the first of a number of bad decisions that team would make.

Each team had $3000 to set up their menus. The advantage they had was that they didn't have to worry about setting up the front of the house as each team got to use Moonen's restaurant which is multilevel, so as the winner of the QF, Jen's team (Mission) picked the second floor, which was more of fine dining environment and the other team (Michael V's Revolt, a play on the chefs's names) took the more casual first floor setting.

Right off the bat, Jen decided, "no dessert". She said every team that tried dessert went home. Not sure that was a great decision. I think that was a cop out. They should have taken a dessert on. A Top Chef would do that. The other team produced two desserts which were very well received including Robin's pear dessert, which was the favorite of many.

Larine (Mission, Jen's team) and Eli took the front of the house positions. Say what you will about Eli and I don't care for him, he's got the gift of gab, so I think he was well suited for that part. Even though the two were taking on the FOH tasks, they were also responsible for a dish each.

Michael's team seemed to have it all together even though there was some tension between Michael and Bryan and Michael and Robin. They got past it to have a very successful service. With Eli seating and schmoozing, Revolt, although that was a horrible name for a restaurant, was anything but revolting.

Jen's team lost it quickly. They got "in the weeds" early and never recovered. Jen wound up steaming clams and mussels as each order came in rather than doing that task ahead of time and that really put her behind the eight ball. Eric Ripert, her mentor of five years, would have been surprised at how poorly she managed her station. Kevin undercooked lamb and if you've ever had lamb that was too rare, it's one of the most unpleasant dining experiences you can have. Undercooked lamb was going out and this after Larine declared that she would send food back if it did not meet the standards. Larine really fell flat at the front of the house even after volunteering for the task. She was not as engaging as Eli. Where Eli carefully and expertly explained each dish, Larine basically dropped the food and ran away. Eventually, Padma had to lasso her in to get a description of each dish. Not good. The evening fell apart for team Mission and they wound up losing Restaurant Wars. You could see how dejected they all were. They each realized that any one of them could be sent home for the myriad of poorly executed dishes that went out.

The judge's declared that Team Revolt ran the best restaurant of anyone in the six seasons of Top Chef and that's quite an honor. Though the team won, a single winner was picked from the four. Michael V got that honor as he was clearly the leader and driving force behind the success of the operation. For his win, and to the consternation of his brother Bryan, he won $10K, which he quickly and generously asked if he could share it with the rest of the team. Since it was his money, as Tom stated, he had the freedom to share the winnings, which he offered to each of his chefmates. Bryan, who was seething, refused the money. He felt his brother ran an unprofessional kitchen (with the way he treated himself and Robin) and got rewarded for bad behavior. That was the only downer to the whole evening for Team Revolt.

When Jen's team came to Judge's Table you could see how down they were. Each member wore worry and defeat on their faces. Each team member got vilified for one thing or another they did wrong, except that Mike I avoided any major criticism and he seemed safe. What he did was not spectacular, but it wasn't great either.

In the end, the judges felt Larine disappeared during the entire task and I think also, in the back of their minds, they must think the other team members (Jen, Kevin and Mike I) are stronger than her, which I agree with. So, Larine went home.

Restaurant Wars is so popular because you get to see each chef in the environment they spend the better parts of their lives in, a professional kitchen. The planning, the buying, the preparing. It's all so fascinating to see what goes into making a restaurant run successfully or not so successfully. It is also interesting to see how "competition" changes how each chef approached their chosen profession. When a "win" is on the line, will they perform as well as they do day in and day out when getting good food out on time is the win they are striving for? The dynamics of a contest really affects each person differently and in the end, the winner is the one or the team that can put the competition or the game to the side and let their experience and skill carry them to a positive end.

Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 8 Recap - Pairings

OK, let me get this out of the way. I don't like Eli. There, I said it. The guy's just not cool. He isn't nice. He's arrogant AND he's not the best chef in the competition. So, all of that combined makes Eli my favorite to get canned. He will.

Now, the crew had Charlie Palmer, owner/chef of Aureole, as guest judge. Charlie Palmer is HUGE! He's a pioneer. He legitimized the American Chef. In many people's eyes he is legendary. So, you can imagine the pressure that reputation brings. The Voltaggios had extra pressure as they once both worked for Chef Palmer. Bryan for ten years and Mike for a year as Executive Chef.

The Quick Fire Challenge was about pairings. The cheftestants had to pair food with the Alexia snack food of their choice. Apparently, these snacks have been provided to the chefs since the beginning of the competition, so they are familiar with the flavors. Basically, the snacks are flavored waffle fries, onion or potato strips. Eli comes out on top with his potato clam salad. Sounds horrible to me, but Palmer loved it. Eli, who at 25 lives with mommy and daddy rent-free, gets his first win. It only serves to make his head bigger than it already was.

For the Elimination Challenge, everyone drew knives. Each knife has a different pig body part on it, except for the lovely and talented Jennifer's. She had "Wild" on hers. Yes, wild indeed. However, it referred to the fact that she could choose whatever pig body part she wanted. She chose "belly". The task at hand was to participate in Palmer's "Pigs & Pinot" fund raiser. It's an annual Share Our Strength fund raiser near and dear to Charlie Palmer's heart. The challenge was to pair the pig with a Pinot Noir of their choice. The cheftestants are taken to Palmer's Aureole at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino with its three-story wine tower. Remember Season Four of the "Next Food Network Star"? They did Lisa Garza's "commercial" in that tower. At Aureole, everyone gets to sample a smattering of Pinots selected by the Aureole's Master Sommelier William Sherer. Pinots get picked and, of course, Eli has to berate some with bad palates as the camera pans to Robin.

The next day four hours of prep and cooking is ahead for everyone. The time includes the brothers Voltaggio scuffling over plastic wrap. Brothers will always be brothers no matter the age. It seemed like braised pork belly was a popular dish and, of course, Eli had the belly, as well as the love of my life Jennifer who picked it. Jen gets herself into the top four while Eli comes back to reality and is not in the top picks. Jen, the Volataggios and Kevin are the top rated dishes. Kevin did a yummy looking pate. Bryan braised spare rib while Mike V did pork cheek. In the end, Kevin came out on top. I like this guy. He makes fabulous food. These four are the top four contestants, in my opinion.

Robin, who the others wish is going home ("I hope they send grandma home," someone said), Laurine and Ash are on the bottom. These three have been here before and unfortunately for Ash, he got sent home. He never seemed to get untracked. He pined away that he never really cooked his food and as a matter of fact when he told Charlie Palmer how he really wanted to prepare his dish, Palmer answered, "Why didn't you? That sounds delicious." Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 6 Recap

Hi gang!

Not much to say about this week. It was, in a word, boring. Well, at least a little.

The Quick Fire saw a surprise winner, Robin! The cheftestants had to comprise an angel/devil dish with the same ingredient. Robin's dish impressed the judges with it simplicity. Here's the rub and it apparently rubbed Eli the wrong way. In explaining her dish, Robin mentioned that she is a cancer survivor. Eli complained, no whined, that Robin won because she mentioned this fact. That was completely unfair and put Eli in the crybaby category in my book. Uncalled for. Not classy at all. Bad boy Eli!

The Elimination Challenge had the chefs deconstructing classic dishes. Now, I don't get the whole deconstructing thing. Can someone explain it to me? I don't know what is acceptable and what isn't. The funny part of this challenge was that Mike I, the legend in his own mind, got eggs Florentine and didn't know what that was. In the end, the new love of my life, Jen, won with her deconstructed lasagna. Way to go Jen!

Top Chef Las Vegas Episode 3 Recap

This week Mark Peel (Remember him from Top Chef Masters? Think fish in a bag.), was guest judge.

First up, the Quick Fire Challenge! Pommes de terre, spuds, potatoes! There aint nothing like a potato. You can do a million things with taters, fry 'em, roast 'em, saute' 'em, and even make them into "pasta" (gnocchi). They absorbed the flavors you add to them. They are flavor sponges. Is there anything better than diner fries and gravy??

Well, the Top Cheftestants had 45 minutes to come up with an out of this world potato dish. In the end Ron, Jesse (someone getting used to being on the bottom) and surprisingly Eli wind up on the bottom with Jennifer (mussels), Ash (custard) and Ashley (gnocchi) are the winners of the challenge. Jennifer is named the challenge winner. Her dish really looked yummy!

After the Quick Fire was over, an Air Force Colonel, Dave Belote from Nellis Air Force Base, the home of the Thunderbird precision flying team, came out to inform everyone that the next day they would be cooking for 300 people many airmen and women that have recently come home from Iraq and Afghanistan or getting ready to be deployed to those forward areas. That's all the information they were given. Since Jennifer won the Quick Fire, she was given immunity from elimination. Thus, it was decided that she would be "Executive Chef" and organize and run the kitchen for the elimination challenge. She did masterfully, by the way. They also decided to team up in twos to accomplish this emotional task.

When everyone got to Nellis, they were taken into the kitchen they were to use. They came into an industrial kitchen with no pans or pots, stove tops or kitchen electric appliances like blenders or food processors, but large commercial vessels and cooking apparatus with which to cook their dishes. The complaints started when they got there, but Mike Voltaggio basically told everyone to stop complaining and cook. Once they got over the shock of the kitchen, the teams headed to the food to plan out their dishes, because until now, they had no knowledge of what was available to them. The food they were to use was standard military fare including canned veg and limited availability of spices and no fresh herbs.

What they came up with was mostly excellent, solid dishes, except, as Harold points out on his blog, a team actually made pasta salad. Harold calls it the ultimate cop out. I have to agree that at this level, you shouldn't be making the same types of dishes as 85% of BBQers in America. It's probably something most of you out there have made in some form or another.

The teams made the following:

• Mike and Mike - braised pork belly with mustard and soy sauce with peanuts on a lettuce leaf. Mike I also made a second dish, shrimp salad.
  
• Kevin and Eli - Southern braised pork shoulder with home style potato salad
• Bryan and Mattin - Greek style salad with cucumbers, chickpeas, olives, and olive oil poached shrimp
• Hector and Robin - Chicken three bean chili
• Laurine and Preeti - Pasta salad with broccoli, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts (sound familiar?)
• Jesse and Ron - New England Clam Chowder (it was about 100 degrees that day. Imagine eating piping hot soup?)

The dishes were served buffet style to all the troops and their guests in a spotless hangar that had several jets parked in it. To interject a bit, these types of challenges are always so emotional for me personally and usually for the participants. My father and two brothers served in the military and I have worked in the defense industry for many, many years, so military folk hold a special place in my heart. They deserve everything we can do for them and more because of the sacrifices they and their families make for this country. They are true heroes. God bless them all!

Back to dinner. You could see the gratitude of everyone as they sat down and ate and enjoyed the food being presented to them. Every dish pretty much got a thumbs up from the crowd. From the judges? Not so much.

As dinner progressed and we watch the judges sampling the food, you can, as usual, see who the favorites are. Mike and Mike pretty much nailed it with their braised pork belly. When you see Tom raise his eye brows and convey his obvious appreciation for the taste, presentation and technique of a dish, you know it was good and the chefs will be rewarded for it.

JUDGES TABLE

The teams of Mike and Mike and Eli and Kevin (becoming a personal favorite of mine) are called in first. They are the obvious top teams because of how all the judges reacted to their food during dinner. No surprise here. There is a twist coming, though. After discussing how much they enjoyed two out of the three dishes (Mike and Mike made two dishes. More on that in a bit.), the judges name Mike V's (he's the clear front runner in this very talented group) braised pork belly as the winner. This ties him with his brother Bryan at one Elimination Challenge win apiece. Now, the judges ask about the shrimp salad the Mikes made. It was Greek inspired shrimp salad conjured up by Mike I. Not a favorite of the judges at all with insipid flavor and undercooked shrimp. Mike I gets stunned when, as the judges tell who to call to the Judges Table (the losers), they tell Mike I to come back with Preeti and Laurine. He's obviously angry at this.

At Judge's Table, the three are taken apart for their dishes. Mike is incredulous about it. He thought his dish was good. Laurine didn't give much in the way of a defense and Preeti also thought, because her dish seemed popular with the crowd, that she came up with a good dish. However, Preeti finds out that pleasing the crowd and pleasing the judges are two distinctly different things. Preeti is asked to pack her knives and leave. Mike was still angry, but he survived. My take on Mike I is that he's not up to the level of the Voltaggios or Kevin, but he thinks he is because he's worked with Mike V. We'll see. He's a bit of a blowhard, but as baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is famous for saying,"It aint bragging if you can back it up!".

I have to say that I like the Voltaggios, but Kevin is probably the one that I am rooting for although I think that Mike V is the favorite. I like Kevin because he just cooks. So far there's been no drama from him. He seems to be able to cook in many styles. He has very good ideas of what he wants to do and he executes his ideas to a "t". This has been a very enjoyable season, so far.

Here's a thought for the week. Have you noticed how tattooed everyone is, especially the ladies? What's up with that? It seems like the culinary industry is a big supporter of the tattoo industry. Weird.

TOP CHEF MASTERS: It's Rick Bayless!

Rick Bayless won Top Chef Masters last night presenting "his life in food". His mole' sealed the deal as he presented four courses of exquisite food with great stories behind all of them.

Michael Chiarello came in second and Hubert Keller came in third.

The challenge got started with lovely Kelly Choi informing the three Master Finalists that their task was to tell a story of their culinary careers in food. First course was to be their very first memory of food. Second course, the dish that got them hooked and convinced them to head into the world of cooking. Third course an homage to their first restaurant and lastly a look at who they are now or where they are going in their career.

I have to say that all three of them did a great job showcasing their diverse backgrounds and experiences. Rick grew up in his dad's BBQ business. "Until I was about 15, my clothes smelled like hickory smoke.", Rick recounted. "I kept my dating clothes in a separate closet." Michael shared of his experience learning how to make gnocchi with his mom and how she would lean over his shoulder to show him how to push the dough down the gnocchi paddle. And Hubert told us about how on Mondays, laundry day, in his little town in the Alsace region, the ladies would stop and his dad's bakery and drop off a pot of stew to cook while they tended to the wash. A nice story.

The judges for the final brought together the three critics from this season, as well as Tom, Gail and Padma from Top Chef and the five Top Chef winners from the past seasons. Good to see everyone: Harold, Hung, Ilan, Stephanie and Hosea.

All were impressed with all twelve courses. No one slipped up as Michael thought they would. He said his job was to make sure there were no mistakes.

The finalists did not go it alone in this final task. A nice touch at the beginning was that there was a video greeting from each of the chefs sous chefs from their respective restaurants and then after the greeting and pep talk, while each chef was feeling pumped, in walks each of the sous chefs to help out for the task. That was a very cool thing.

So, in the end, I believe Michael did not win because David Oseland, who never gave Michael more than 3 and a half stars, gave Michael just three and a half stars. That was enough to give Rick the title and put Michael in second.

I wanted Michael to win, but I really enjoyed all three of the finalists. Hubert is obviously supremely talented and just the nicest of guys. Michael, though a hot-blooded Italian (I can relate being half Italian myself), is also just so talented and fun to watch. He makes cooking approachable. And Rick Bayless, although I am not a huge fan of his shows, impressed me with his obvious expert grasp of Mexican cuisine and his quiet and thoughtful approach to every dish he presented.

This was a great series. I wonder if they'll do it again. I hope they do although I don't know how they could possibly top this group.

Now, it's time for Top Chef Las Vegas and judging by the first episode, it should be pretty fun!

TOP CHEF MASTERS - Semifinal Recap

Last night was the next to last episode of Top Chef Masters. It was a good one!

As they have done the entire season, they brought back a Quick Fire Challenge from the past and they saved the best (or hardest) for last - Blind Taste Test! Even the seasoned (pardon the pun) chefs were apprehensive about having to identify twenty items without seeing it. Hubert Keller even remarked that you experience food with your eyes first, so blind folding each cheftestant would hamstring them for sure. All of them were not all that confident.

Michael Chiarello went first.

I like the way they edit each person's turn to make it look like they are doing a bad or good job. That was fun.

In the end Michael identified the most products, seven! He couldn't identify Hoisin Sauce ("I have no idea what that is." he said) and, surprisingly neither could Anita Lo. So, he went into the Elimination Challenge with five stars! Hubert and Rick Bayless were tied for second and were awarded four stars and Anita Lo rounded out the group at three and a half stars.

The Elimination Challenge brought back past cheftestants; twelve in all. The "Masters" had to quickly interview and then, starting with Michael, pick a team of three sous chefs. They each picked one chef until all twelve were picked. Fabio from last season was picked first by Michael, of course. Their Italian sensibilities matched perfectly. Once the teams were picked, the task was to create a buffet for two hundred guests and they got down to planning menus.

From the beginning it was obvious that Michael, unlike the others, was going to dictate every move everyone made. He made the point that they were competing for $100K and he wasn't going rely on someone else getting the win for him. He was going to make sure everything got done exactly the way he wanted it. It made him look heavy-handed, while the others were more relaxed and delegated more of the responsibility to the other team members even to the point of taking menu suggestions from them. Hubert, who had Richard Blaze, Mr. Molecular Gastronomy, on his team, even allowed Blaze to make avocado ice cream using liquid nitrogen, a technique that Keller had no experience with. It was a hit!

At the beginning of the challenge Michael had a run in with hot head Dale Talde from Season 4. Michael, who had a question about who was using what refrigerator, called Talde young man when addressing him. Sacre bleu! Well, Talde gets all uppity with Michael and goes after him, yelling at him and almost calling him out. But Michael, the class act that he is, just takes it and lets the incident die down and the challenge continues.

On the day of the challenge the chefs get into the kitchen and start to cooking. In walks Kelly Choi and everyone knows something is up. Kelly informs the group that they have to pack up and move to a different location; a hotel. When they get there, they immediately are told that the buffet will be outdoors on a patio in full sun. Anita is floored by this decision as she has centered her buffet on a raw bar and she has no way to protect her food from the blazing sunlight. She's worried. On top of all of that, each chef had to chose one of their three sous chefs to let go. This forces each chef to jump in and do more to ensure the success of their dishes. Chiarello is the complainer in the group, Anita is the worry wort, but Rick and Hubert methodically go about their business to get the food out and looking great.

In the end, I have to give top honor to Hubert. He and his "staff" pulled off eighteen, yes eighteen dishes. Amazing output and each and every dish got high marks. Rick and his team also did a fabulous job putting out a Mexican feast that everyone loved. Michael, after all the drama and complaining and angst, had some good dishes, but on the main dish, swordfish, the judges didn't like it's "furry" quality that came about because his electric carving knife broke and the knife they used to cut the fish tore it rather than sliced it cleanly. Picky? Yes, but this is Top Chef MASTERs after all and these guys have been to the party once or twice, so the bar is set higher and for good reason. Anita, alas, succumbed to the heat and the sun and her buffet was not so successful.

Hubert wins the challenge by garnering five stars from each judge. An amazing accomplishment. He beat Rick Bayless by half a star. Michael came in third and Anita was sent home, setting up the finals for next week.

For the final, it looks like they are bringing back each season's winners, as well as Tom and Padma to do the judging. That should be awesome! I'm looking forward to it. Come back next week for the season ending wrap up!