Thursday, November 13, 2008

Top Chef New York Episode One

Woo-hoo! Top Chef is back! And though it seems like we've just finished the last season, this is one show I don't mind watching frequently.

Let's meet some of the season five cheftestants, shall we?
Fabio. That name is forever tainted for me by that long-haired dude with the big boobs who used to be in the I Can't Believe It's Not Good For You spread commercials.
This is the Season of the Bald Man.
See what I mean?
Jeff is so pretty, the film got all wonky. (See the second shoulder on the right?)
Blushing young Patrick is still in culinary school, but he thinks he can be Top Chef.
Lauren is pretty confident. I "hope" she's not getting them up too high....
Except for the plethora of tattoos.
"Gagnon?" Whatcha "gagnon," Dan?
Shaddup, kid.
I'll tell you about that later.

Tom's got competition....

There are other cheftestants, but I'm getting bored. Onward!

The Cheftestants gather on a grassy knoll and meet up with Padma and Tom. Unbeknownst to them (but they should know by now, if they've watched the show in the past) they are going to participate in their first Quickfire challenge. There are seventeen chefs, but only sixteen chef's coats in the hallowed Top Chef kitchen. Either someone goes naked...or someone is going home. Now.

The Quickfire has three stages. First, the seventeen have to peel fifteen apples with a knife. The first nine to complete the task to Tom's approval are safe; the remaining eight move to stage two.

Richard takes a big slice of his thumb and ends up bleeding all over the apples.

After the first nine finish, the remaining eight have to make a brunoise of apples, enough to fill a 2-cup measure. The first four to finish to Tom's exacting standards are safe; the remaining four have one final challenge - to cook a dish using apples. Lauren was among the bottom four.
Despite my craptastic time at Red Maple (I said I'll tell you later!), I want to send some MinxEats love to Jill Snyder.

There were vicious rumors floating around the Interwebs that either she or Baltimore-born cheftestant Melissa was going to be eliminated in this first round, but I'm happy to report they were unfounded.

Instead, Lauren Hope got the boot. She and Rainbow Brite both made salads, and I'm surprised that Tom didn't say anything to the effect of "but they didn't *cook* anything...." C'mon - a salad? How uninteresting, particularly Lauren's spinach-heavy variation.
On the other hand, Superior European Stefan, because he finished peeling his apples first, gets immunity for the Elimination Challenge.

After the Quickfire, the cheftestants get to play with the knife block. The knives - two each - are marked with the names of areas in NY famous for their ethnic cuisine. The resulting pairs of chefs must do battle against each other, creating dishes of their designated ethnicity (Greek, Russian, Middle Eastern, Latin, Jamaican, Italian, Chinese, or Indian).

After the chefestants are paired, they are finally allowed to check out their apartment. Rainbow Brite, Jamie, and Richard recognize their mutual gayness and quickly form an alliance.

The chefs then go shopping for ingredients in their neighborhoods. Several chefs are very unfamiliar with the cuisine they have been assigned, but tough titties.

Back at the lavishly appointed (by GE) Top Chef kitchen, the cheftestants get cooking.

Tell me, Stefan, what does "douche" mean in Finnish?

Finally, cooking is done and we meet today's judges - Jean-Georges Vongerichten and the boobaceous Gail Simmons.

Each pair of chefs present their dishes together, and the judges pick one over the other. Don't you hate when Mom and Dad play favorites?

Eventually there are eight who are safe and eight who are not. Among the safe: Superior European, Leah, and Eugene. And the dishes deemed the worst come from the pots and pans of Rainbow Brite and Ariane. RB's take on Chinese food involves stereotypical bok choy and gummy rice noodles.

Ariane's Middle Eastern cuisine incorporates undercooked farro.
Funny, I'd have thought that was a position to which you'd be very accustomed....

The chefs pick Superior European's dish as the winner, and send the two losers back to the As-Yet-Not-Full-of- Glad-Products stew room to fret about their fates.
Maybe because it's an American show, on an American network, with American contestants? At least up until this season.

Finally, they get called out again and Padma delivers the fatal blow to Rainbow Brite.

Not bald enough, apparently. Farewell, Rainbow Brite! I had hoped you would stick around because you seem entertaining, but alas, that was not to be. The remaining two members of Team Rainbow will miss you!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOVE IT! I think it's kinda funny that the two people who went to the same culinary school got voted off first. OUCH
And I can't wait to hear about the party at Red Maple. We couldn't make it.

Anonymous said...

Lars Rusins: Last night was meant to celebrate Jill, and Baltimore. And that was the driving force of the premiere party.I came up with the idea, and sold the tickets. Red Maple drove the planning. In their defense, a couple of things, out of their control did occur.Total attendees exceeded our projections by 20%. Long story. No excuses.Secondly, at 7:00, the TV was working great, something happened between then, and the show airing to cause a signal loss. Again, not an excuse.The event did, in my eyes, fail to meet expectations. At Baltimore Foodies, I am dedicated to providing guests with a great experience. If they aren't happy, I'm not.As of 1:00pm, I have received seven e-mails from attendees, expressing their disappointment. I offered my apologies, and gave each one a full refund, fees and all.Though the premiere party did not meet expectations, Jill did. She got through the first show, where others did not. I think that's the important thing. Baltimore Foodies has never been about me, it's about promoting the great, independent restaurants we have in Baltimore, and the chefs who work in them. ROCK ON JILL..!!!!

David Dust said...

Excellent recap, as always. But I couldn't pick Jill (or Melissa for that matter) out of a lineup. You know me and the interchangeable White Gals!

Also - I'm sending an email to Bravo about the lack of Gail's boobage. Unforgivable.

CLICK HERE for DavidDust's Top Chef New York recap.

XOXOXOXOXO

BTW - I can't wait to read about this event you went to. Sounds like a real humdinger!

Dodi said...

Yea! I'm glad you're back - I've missed your picture blogs since pr ended!!

Nanc Twop said...

'TomC fan club' - that's exactly what we said!

If Stefan wins again, do you think they'll all start buffing their heads?... 'Top Shavers'




eta:
Too much testosterone in those pictures?...
my verification word is 'vigra'...

Anonymous said...

First time commenting and I love your blog and Top Chef, etc. Though I must comment today because of your negative comment tattoo. Tattoos if done well and tasteful are beautiful. So a woman who has a lot of tattoos shouldn't be considered ugly just because of the tattoos. Yes I have tattoos and I know several beautiful women who do as well.

That is all for my rant. :)

~Mai

theminx said...

Hi Mai, thanks for your comment. Liking tattoos is a matter of opinion, and my opinion is that I don't like them. :)

Anonymous said...

I look forward to your blog on TC the most. I usually need a tissue to wipe my eyes afterward. I especially laughed at the Richard "Bear" comment. That was the first thing that came to my mind when he announced his inner queen. Thanks for another great recap.

bernal_vernal said...

Another great recap. I hope you reuse the Rainbow Brite hahaha picture in future reviews, it made me laugh.

John said...

I really thought - I mean REALLY thought - that Ariane was going home. Patrick was good for a laugh.

Oh, and the "hot tranny mess" thing? SOOOOOO WRONG! Ha!

Anonymous said...

When they first said 'Team Rainbow' i thought it was because their shirts matched the towels on the chairs. It was obvious what they meant after a second but still it threw me for a second. My boyfriend thought the same thing.

thank you for your great recaps

Kit Pollard said...

I'm glad that you felt the same way I did about Stefan.

And anyway, I'm pretty sure that he and Mr. Fabio have both been living in America for quite some time. If Europe is sooooo much better, why does he live in LA?