Bravo's Real Housewives isn't the only franchise hitting President Obama's backyard. Yes, Top Chef has hit Washington D.C. The current crop of 17 cheftestants is an eclectic group and that's a very good thing. I haven't blogged Top Chef since Season 2 when Ilan won. That was also the season of Marcel. I'm hoping this year we'll get plenty of highly skilled chefs who simply make great food. I don't mind drama, just please don't be anywhere near as much drama as there was during the Ilan, Marcel, Cliff, Sam and Betty era. Each year, I find that right off the bat there's one chef that may cook fabulously, but his or her personality instantly gets on my last nerve. This year's choice: Angelo Sosa from New York. Obviously this guy can definitely cook. But what set me off was this line:
"I want to be the first contestant to win every single challenge."
Seriously? I think everyone who goes on Top Chef would love to do that, but it's not going to happen. And if it does happen, then kill me now because I don't want to see a show where one person dominates entirely. There are others who did contend for this honor (or dishonor since I'm talking about making a bad impression) like Tracey Bloom. I'm keeping my eye on Kenny Gilbert too. He's clearly a great chef but I'm wondering how cocky he's going to get as the season rolls on. But no worries I'm someone who has an open mind so while this week Angelo may have annoyed a lot, in three weeks he may be my favorite. It's happened many times.
Quickfire: Mis En Place Tournament
-Peel 10 Potatoes: 12 fastest will move on
-Brunoise 10 cups of Onions: 4 chefs will be eliminated
-Break down 4 chickens into 8 parts: 4 fastest chefs will move on to the finals
-Finals: Use the potatoes, chicken and onions to make a dish
High Stakes Challenge: $20,000 prize
This is such a good Quickfire to start things off because the competition's fierce from the very beginning. It seems like many chefs have great resumes so to fail is not going to be good for their egos. And we know chefs have some massive egos.
During the Quickfire, Kenny from Colorado is the man. He finishes first in all three rounds before the finals. He's set the tone and everybody realizes the guy has some mad skills. However, it's Angelo who wins the high stakes Quickfire and pockets 20 thou. Not bad for the first day of the competition.
Elimination Challenge: Create a dish that reflects where you're from
-The chefs will be cooking at the annual Cherry Blossom Festival for 300 young, successful Washingtonians
-There will be four groups and the individuals within each group will be going head to head. One person from each group will be up for the win, one chef will be up for elimination.
Angelo, Kevin, Kenny and Timothy get to choose who they go up against. Angelo picks Tiffany and Kenny picks Tracey. They obviously don't think Tiffany and Tracey have what it takes to win. All four guys select chefs they think will be easy to beat. The ones that get chosen last can sort of feel good about their skills being more of a threat than the ones that get chosen first. Angelo also gets to choose the team that takes the last guy standing, so he sends Ed to Kenny's team. Kenny's team is the only one to have five chefs. Here's how the teams break down:
-Tim's Group: Tim, Alex, Tamesha, Andrea
-Kevin's Group: Kevin, Amanda, Jacqueline, Arnold
-Angelo's Group: Angelo, John, Tiffany, Kelly
-Kenny's Group: Kenny, Tracey, Lynne, Ed, Stephen
Kevin is going with a lamb sous vide. Good luck with that buddy. It never seems like those that go the sous vide route have a lot of success with the dish. John's going to make a dessert. He scares me the most during this prep time for the elimination challenge.
The Event
I love when Padma introduces the judges because not only are Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons once again in attendance, but renowned chef and former Top Chef guest judge Eric Ripert has joined the show as a full-fledged judge! Yes, that deserves an exclamation point. I'm beyond excited he's part of the show. Does that mean we will no longer be seeing that English Simon Cowell-type judge anymore? Awesome.
Weird crossover thing going on: Dr. Andy Baldwin, U.S. Navy, formerly of The Bachelor (he was the officer AND a gentleman) was part of the young and successful Washingtonians tasting the Top Chef cuisine. He's very much into all things healthy so Steven's potato-crusted rib-eye (basically fried rib-eye) didn't sit too well with him. He said he wouldn't serve that dish to his kids.
It seems like Kenny chose his group the best. He's the only one in his group that received great reviews.
The Judges' Table
Padma calls one guy from each group to come stand before the judges: Kevin, Alex, Kenny and Angelo. They represent the top dish from each group. So Kevin's lamb sous vide and Alex's deconstructed borscht are both super successful as are Angelo's arctic char and Kenny's cinnamon-coffee rubbed trout. There you have Kenny vs. Angelo once again and it's only the first episode. The rivalry is on. Eric announces the winner: Angelo. Boo. I'm glad his food was good, but Angelo taking both challenges is frustrating.
The ones up for elimination are: Steven, John, Jacqueline and Timothy. Timothy's shocked. Is he going to be one of those that can't see the flaws of his dish? Eric says Steven's fried rib-eye looked like chicken nuggets (ouch!); Gail is wondering what Jacqueline was thinking when she admitted to trying to make low-fat chicken liver mousse. Jacqueline also admitted not having memorized her recipe. Meanwhile, John says he bought the puff pastry already prepared which doesn't bode well since that means he really wasn't responsible for a third of his dish. Eric had issues with Timothy's rockfish and more specifically the skin on the fish. It was chewy. I'm glad Timothy owned up to his disappointing dish. The judges expected more from Timothy since he was one of the final four in the Quickfire.
The 1st cheftestant going home: John the dessert guy. I'm kind of upset. He's a personality that I would have loved to have seen a couple more episodes.
I had high hopes from the quickfire; things didn't turn out so well in the first elimination challenge but I'm excited to see where the season goes from here. For me the first episode is usually extremely difficult to keep things straight because there are so many names and faces to remember. It'll be great when we get down to the top ten so we really get to know these wannabe Top Chefs.
Random Thoughts
-One of my favorite parts of the entire hour is when the top finalists enter the judges' room. I love the dramatic music cue and I love the way the editors cut the scene. We already know these guys are going to be praised for their delicious food, but I like that I can expect this same entrance every episode. It's much better than when those up for elimination enter the room.
-I love John. He's odd. But I love him. I love his oddness. Too bad he's already gone.
I enjoyed your recap and commentary!!
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