Top Chef: Wedding Bliss & Blues

Posted On May 10, 2008

Top Chef: Chicago
Wedding Wars

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

• Quickfire Challenge: Mise En Place Relay Race
• Elimination Challenge: Cater a wedding

Some might be sad that they replaced Restaurant Wars with Wedding Wars, but since Restaurant Wars usually end up being horrendous, and someone ended up being stuck serving instead of actually cooking, I didn’t mind it this way. Everyone got to participate in the preparation so it was more focused on the food. I did miss seeing the vision behind each team’s restaurant though. Some people might question why anyone in their right mind would want chefs on a reality show to prepare their wedding food, but I would have went for it! My food was good at my wedding, but I would not have minded turning it over to one of the teams, especially since some of it looked so good.

At the beginning of the show, Antonia is proud that there are four women left in the competition, since there are usually about two at this point. It is even four men and four women, so she thought that was awesome. I also think it is awesome, except that I think Lisa and Nikki should be gone already. On the guy’s side, I’m waiting for Spike to leave, and I don’t think Andrew has what it takes to be the best, but I think he should be one of the last to leave. I am still calling my own personal final four: Antonia, Dale, Richard and Stephanie.

Quickfire Challenge

When the chefs arrived in the kitchen, Tom was there. When they saw him, they knew what that meant, and he said so to Padma. Padma warned everyone that there was no more immunity for winning a quickfire challenge. I knew it was coming soon! She then told the chefs they are doing two of the most favorite competitions from the past and they needed to be divided into two teams.

First team: Dale, Lisa, Nikki and Spike
Second team: Andrew, Antonia, Richard and Stephanie

I feel bad for Dale since his team sucked. I used to not like Dale, but I think he has made some good food and I have seen him play well with others like Richard on past challenges. Dale said his team doesn’t have the strongest chefs on it, but they are capable. Lisa is not too thrilled about working with Dale again, but she has a better attitude. She said the last time, it worked out well, so she is ready for it. She had never worked with Nikki and Spike before, but she thinks it’ll be fine. No comment from people on the other team, but that’s probably because they are all good.

The challenge was Tom’s favorite challenge, the relay race, to show off their speed and skills. One chef would peel and separate five oranges. Then after Tom approved it had been done correctly, it would pass to another chef to clean and turn two artichokes with the stems attached. The third chef would clean and make two filets out of a freaking ugly monk fish. The final chef would need to make one quart of mayonnaise by hand. The winning team will get a useful advantage.

The first team was arguing over who would do the mayonnaise. Nikki said she had not made it by hand since culinary school and was asking how to do it. Dale was trying not to roll his eyes at his teammates since Nikki was not the only one that is freaking out about making mayonnaise by hand. After being amazed that Nikki was scared of making mayonnaise, Dale asked an excellent question, “Why are you still here?” If only he asked that to her and not just to he camera later.

Lisa and Antonia were on the oranges. Lisa’s hands were shaking, but she was cruising through the oranges. Antonia was going at a good pace, but not as quick as Lisa. Spike started on the artichokes when Antonia had two oranges left to do. Spike was thrilled with how quickly he was going on the artichokes until Andrew started with his secret weapon of a peeler and he flew through it. Spike broke his second artichoke while he was peeling it, so the lead was lost. They both finished at the same time. Richard and Dale were working on the monk fish at the same time. Dale was going fast, but Lisa thought he was hacking up the fish. It was ugly. It didn’t matter since they both finished at the same time. It was between Stephanie and Nikki with the mayonnaise. Stephanie was crazy whipping and Nikki could not keep up the whipping. Stephanie finished first and the second team won!.

Dale threw a fit and punched the locker because his team lost. Spaz!

Quickfire Challenge Winner: Andrew, Antonia, Richard and Stephanie

Elimination Challenge

Padma broke the news to the chefs will not be having restaurant wars, but wedding wars. They would be catering a couples wedding. Andrew and Dale were not thrilled about catering since they did not have that much experience with it.

One team would make the food for the bride’s side of 125 guests and the other team would make food for the groom’s side of 125 guests. The quickfire winning team got to choose bride or groom. They decided to go with bride, which surprised the other team. They felt they got the easier team. The teams would talk with the bride and groom about their tastes and wishes. Then they would have 45 min. to come up with their menus and an hour to shop at Whole Foods and Restaurant Depot. They had a budget of $5,000. Since the wedding was the next day, they were going to be working through the night. They had some cots set up for them nearby. Shockingly, Andrew was excited about working throughout the night because he’s like a meth head!

The groom wanted Italian food, which made Nikki so very happy since she was Italian. The team seemed to have it made. He wanted some crostini and bruchetta for appetizers. He said he loved lobster, steak, scallops and Chilean sea bass. For the groom’s cake, he said he loved German chocolate cake, but also loved chocolate hazelnut. Over with the bride, she was saying she liked potato, pizza, pasta, and chicken if it is fried. She said her family is from the south so they loved fried foods. Richard said he was from Atlanta, so they bonded over that. They were going to go with meat and potatoes and comfort food. She said cake was her favorite thing in the whole world. She wanted it to have layers and wants the outside to look interesting.

While the teams were planning their menu, Antonia threw out mini pulled pork sandwiches as one of the appetizers. Everyone agreed. Andrew wanted to do chicken nuggets. Antonia said that showed he hasn’t been cooking for long since crispy chicken will not be crispy served at a banquet. They let him go with his idea though. Andrew talked about how Richard usually ends up being the executive chef since he has a strong personality.

On the other team, Nikki said flatbreads for the appetizers was the way to go. Everyone decided to look to her for leadership since she bonded with the groom and she’s Italian. Nikki complained to the camera that she wished Dale wasn’t on her team since he loves to point fingers at everyone and he doesn’t work well with others. Dale was making some random comment about how he hates to go to wedding and put an entire appetizer in his mouth in one bite. What? Isn’t that what someone is supposed to do? That didn’t make any sense. Dale said the team was a hodgepodge where Lisa and Dale didn’t like each other, and Dale didn’t want to take direction from Nikki. He didn’t think any of them were very strong cooks.

After buying food and getting back to the kitchen, the teams had 14 hours to make everything. Lisa talked about the groom’s team doing very simple Italian. She does not have a lot of experience cooking Italian food, so she relied on Nikki’s expertise in that area. Not a good move, I think, since she has failed at most thing she has made on the show, including Italian food!

Groom’s Menu

Appetizers

• Assorted Flatbreads – Nikki
• Bruchetta – Dale

Buffet

• Tortellini – Nikki
• Mixed Vegetables & Cheeses – Spike
• Filet Mignon – Dale
• Chilean Sea Bass – Spike
• Orecchiette with Ragu – Dale

Cake

• Chocolate Hazelnut – Lisa

When Spike or Lisa had a question about how Nikki would do something, she would become very uncomfortable. She did not want to be the leader. I think if you don’t want to lead, then you don’t want to be a top chef so you might as well leave. Why is she there if she doesn’t want to be in charge of anything? She wanted no responsibility. Dale decided to just do whatever since there was no leader. No one decided to lead since Nikki wasn’t doing it. I think one of them should have done it if she decided to not do it.

As time moved on, Lisa said she was worried about Dale doing a half-assed job. His filets looked burnt. She said that to Nikki who agreed, but then no one did anything about it. Everyone was just waiting for others to fail. Dale was going to do all the proteins, but since he grabbed so much stuff to do, Spike ended up taking the sea bass away from him. He actually did something, but it was more so that he would look good at having a great sea bass rather than helping the team. Nikki asked Dale how he was making the ragu, which I thought was odd since wouldn’t they have decided that while they were coming up with the menu, not midway through cooking things? Then she complained to Lisa that Dale wasn’t a team player since she did not agree with how he was making the ragu. She said she was not going down for his dish.

Brides’s Menu

Appetizers

• Pizza – Antonia
• Pulled Pork Sandwich – Antonia
• Short Ribs & Blue Cheese in Phyllo – Stephanie

Buffet

• Crispy Chicken – Andrew
• Brisket – Richard
• Filet Mignon – Richard
• Creamed Spinach – Andrew
• Potato Gratin – Antonia

Cake

• Dark Chocolate & Lemon – Stephanie

Richard was concentrating on all the meats, sauces and braises. Antonia felt like she was in the army peeling a huge pile of potatoes. Andrew was making the spinach so he was buried in it. He had never made creamed spinach before. Richard was asking Andrew how he was making the spinach and how he was coating the chicken. It started to bug Andrew how much Richard was checking in. I didn’t see it as overbearing. I think it was more to do with they were all getting tired.

Being up for so long started to affect the chefs. Antonia started saying nonsense words. Andrew shut up completely, which shocked Richard. Lisa told Antonia her facial expression had not changed in about seven hours. Her response was to keep making the same face with no reaction.

Tom checked in about 7:30am to see how everyone was doing. He thought the groom side had an easier task since Italian food is easier for people to like. He said that Lisa gave a good reason why the groom’s cake didn’t look that great since he wanted something simple. He said he hoped the groom didn’t want ugly since that’s what they had. It wasn’t the prettiest cake, but I didn’t think it was ugly. Tom said it looked like a battleship. Tom thought the bride side was a bit trickier with the meat and potatoes. They need to pull it off to do it well. He said it had to be well seasoned and delicious since it was so simple. He had faith since they were a strong team.

Stephanie was smart when they were moving to the wedding site to move the wedding cake over in layers so it wouldn’t be destroyed. Everything made it over to the site unharmed. Now the chefs were worried about staying awake for the entire wedding after not sleeping all night.

When the chefs are getting set up in the kitchen on the wedding site, Padma came in with the judges for the challenge. Tom and Gail Simmons, along with Padma, and the guest judge was Gale Gand, the executive pastry chef and co-owner of Tru.

The wedding finally happened the food started to come out.

Appetizers

Antonia
Short Ribs & Blue Cheese in Phyllo

Guests thought it was awesome.

Antonia
Pulled Pork Sandwich with Pickle

Tom said it was good. The bride liked it, but said it was a little messy.

Antonia
Prosciutto & Goat Cheese Pizza

Gail said it was very mild. Guests said it was fabulous and the bride loved it.

Nikki
Sausage Pizza & Flatbread

People liked the pizza. Tom nodded his head as if it was good.

Dale
Bruchetta

While trying to assemble them, Spike said the bread was too crispy. The guests had a hard time eating it. Guests were worried about it being messy and spilling.

Buffet

Andrew, Antonia and Richard
Creamed Spinach with Star Anise, Potato Gratin, and Braised Brisket of Beef

Padma said the brisket was delicious.

Andrew and Richard
Filet Mignon with Horseradish Sauce & Red Wine Syrup and Almond & Basil Crusted Chicken Breast

Padma loved the filet too. Both Gail and Tom loved the horseradish sauce. Gail wanted to eat her whole thing of meat. Gail said it was her least favorite way to eat chicken. Tom said it was the worst thing on the plate. He commented that Andrew made the same exact thing in the kid’s challenge too.

Spike
Mixed Vegetables & Cheeses

The groom was very happy. He said it looked beautiful. Padma didn’t think they looked very appetizing. Gale said they were trying to wow everyone with how many varieties of veggies they had. Gail said that it was unoriginal and uninspired.

Nikki
Butternut Squash Tortellini with Brown Butter & Sage (right side of plate)

It is probably not the best indication if guests walk up to a dish and ask incredulously, “What is that?” Gale said the pasta was a little bit too sweet. Tom said it was also not very good.

Spike
Chilean Sea Bass with Artichokes, Capers, Olives & Tomatoes

Spike’s fish was getting raves from the guests.

Dale
Pork & Beef Ragu with Orecchiette

Tom did say that Dale’s pasta was pretty good.

Dale
Filet Mignon with Potatoes & Horseradish Cream

No comment about the meat from the judges while they ate it.

Cake

Stephanie
Dark Chocolate and Lemon

Guests liked it because it was creamy and there was a nice sauce.

Lisa
Hazelnut Chocolate

The bride liked it a lot. She said it was very moist.

Winners

The bride’s team was the winning team. Richard said he was the one that made the decision for the bride’s team since it was her day. Tom asked Andrew what he did. When he said the chicken, Tom pointed out it was the same chicken as the kid’s challenge. Andrew also made the spinach. Padma said there was some weird flavor in it. Richard spoke up saying adding the star anise was his idea. Andrew said he wasn’t happy with the spinach personally. Gale’s favorite dish was the wedding cake. Padma loved the pizza. Antonia made it. Tom commented that the other team had Italian, but the bride’s team pizza was better than the groom’s team pizza. Richard made the brisket. Gale said it was perfect. The overall winner was the person who took responsibility with the menu and made sure there were solid dishes all around, which was Richard. He said it should go to Stephanie for the wedding cake. They decided to split the winnings, which was a $2000 gift certificate to Crate and Barrel.

Losers

The groom’s team was the losing team. Lisa made the cake. Dale made the filets, fingerling potatoes, ragu, and bruchetta. Nikki made the tortellini and flatbreads. Spike made the fish and grilled the vegetables. Tom asked who was driving the team. Nikki said it was definitely was not her. She said people looked to her, but she didn’t play executive chef. Tom looked confused. Gale asked about the cake. Lisa said the groom didn’t want his cake to outshine the wedding cake. Tom said it succeeded in that respect since it wasn’t very pretty, but it was a very good chocolate cake. He asked who decided on the antipasti bar. Nikki said the groom did.

Tom said there were so many dishes, but it didn’t taste very good. Tom said the tortellini was dry and the filling was sweet like dessert. On the flatbreads, the crust was dry and hard. The filets were overcooked and the horseradish sauce was flavorless. Tom said the food needed to be seasoned well in order to taste good and it wasn’t. Dale admitted to toasting the bruchetta and then complained about how much stuff he did while others didn’t pull their weight. Gail told Spike that everyone really liked the sea bass. Dale said that it should have been good since it took Spike three hours to make it.

They were sent out of the room while the judges decided. Tom said that Spike did the fish dish well, but not much else. Gail said the fish dish was not enough to save him. Padma said he did do the vegetables, but she didn’t think he did them well in her opinion. Tom said that Dale felt like he shouldn’t go home because he did the bulk of the work. Gail said Dale should have stopped and said there was too much on the menu and cut it down. Tom was disappointed in Nikki since she had the most experience with Italian food, but didn’t do it very well. Padma didn’t like that she didn’t plan a menu. Tom couldn’t believe that she didn’t take the lead.

They were called back in. Tom said the menu was too big and they did not focus on individual flavors to make them delicious. Tom said that Dale might have done a bulk of the work, but they did not care for a bulk of it. Nikki had the most experience with Italian food, but did not assert herself. Spike did not carry his share of the load. Nikki was asked to pack her knives and go home.

Questions

• The show asked during the commercials, which chef annoys people the most: Dale, Lisa or Spike. Dale barely won over Lisa, but should it be her or Spike instead? I would have voted Lisa!
• Was it unfair to have the chefs work all night for the wedding? Should they have had two days to work on it?

Photo Source: Top Chef