Top Chef: Choke Time

Top Chef: Chicago
Finale

The finale is all about the chefs being able to cook a full menu of whatever they want. It is their chance to really showcase what they do best at the end of this very long, brutal competition. Going into it, I am still amazed that Lisa is one of the final three. I thought for sure she was out the door as soon as Nikki was finally kicked off. I still would have much rather have Antonia or Dale going up against Richard and Stephanie.

Final Challenge

The three chefs come up to Padma and Tom next to three famous chefs standing at three different tables filled with various kinds of proteins. The three famous chefs:

  • April Bloomfield
  • Dan Barber
  • Eric Ripert

The final challenge was to create a four course tasting menu using a traditional progression, starting with fish, then poultry, red meat and finishing with dessert. They would be required to have a dessert course. I found it hilarious that Stephanie said dessert is not her forte since I think half of her elimination challenge wins have been from doing a dessert.

Each chef was able to choose which famous chef would be their sous chef. That means they also had to use whatever proteins were on that sous chef’s table. They were going to give the person who won the most elimination challenges would get to choose their sous chef first, but after the first part of the finale, Richard and Stephanie were tied at four wins a piece. They had the knife block out to figure out who would pick first. Richard let Stephanie grab a knife first and it had number one on it, so she chose Eric Ripert as her sous chef. Richard chose Dan Barber, which left Lisa with April Bloomfield.

That day, they had three hours to prep their menu and work with their famous sous chefs. Lisa was working with April Bloomfield, which gave her the following proteins to work with:

  • Oysters
  • Prawns
  • Crab
  • Mahi-Mahi
  • Chicken
  • Squab
  • Pancetta
  • Sweetbreads
  • Beef Tongue
  • Wagyu Strip Steak
  • Ostrich Steak

Lisa wanted to focus on Asian flavors since she has a lot of experience with that food, loves the way it tastes and wanted to show it off. April didn’t have a lot of experience working with Asian foods, but was ready to follow Lisa’s lead.

Richard was with Dan Barber who he said is a thoughtful chef known for his farm to table cuisine. The proteins Richard had to work with were:

  • Scallops
  • Halibut
  • Calamari
  • Abalone
  • Duck
  • Foie Gras
  • Guinea Hen
  • Prosciutto
  • Pork Belly
  • Venison
  • Rabbit

Richard wanted to show off his journey of being a chef from his classic training to his molecular gastronomy. Dan wasn’t sure if Richard had a menu figured out yet when they were preparing things.

Stephanie was working with Eric Ripert, trying to come up with her menu. He liked how simple she was making her menu. Her protein choices were:

  • Snapper
  • Hamachi
  • Caviar
  • Clams
  • Lobster
  • Veil Tenderloin
  • Chorizo
  • Rack of Lamb
  • Quail
  • Quail Eggs
  • Bacon

While everyone was prepping, Richard was amazing the chefs with his liquid nitrogen. He was impressed that he showed Eric Ripert something he had never seen before.

The next day, they arrived to find out that the sous chefs were not there. They had to prepare the meal on their own. Tom came around to check on the chefs while they were working. He was thrown a little by Richard seeming so nervous when he’s usually very calm. He thought it was because Richard had so many ideas going on. Tom found Lisa to be very calm. He thought her attitude and swagger helps her be a better chef. He found Stephanie nervous about her dessert and said that it could all come down to the dessert for her and it was a huge risk making a cake she only made once before.

Final Dinner

At the dinner, they had all the famous sous chefs along with some other special guests:

  • Alfredo Ayala – chef/owner of Delirio
  • Tim Zagat – founder of Zagat Survey
  • Gail Simmons
  • Ted Allen
  • Tom Colicchio

First Course


Lisa
Grilled Prawns with Chili Basil Sauce & Crab, Homemade Potato Chips

April really liked the texture she added to the dish with the potato chips. She also liked the spice in the chili sauce. Alfredo found the sauce too strong. Tim felt like he was in China.


Stephanie
Red Snapper, Truffled Clam & Asparagus Broth, Asparagus Salad

Ted said Stephanie’s dish was elegant. Eric said it was very delicate and Tom agreed. Alfredo thought it was the best of the three courses. Tom said it was good and it was almost really good.


Richard
Scallops with Mango & Pineapple Vinegar

Gail said the texture was like black truffle, but it wasn’t. April said the sweetness of the mangos were delicious and the scallop was perfectly cooked. Tim said that if it was simplified a little bit, it would have a better taste.

Second Course


Lisa
Tom Kha Gai Soup with Dumpling

Gail loved the soup. She said it was completely delicious. She could eat an entire bowl of it and be satisfied. April liked the lemongrass and the creaminess. Tim said he would have been happy to have seconds.


Stephanie
Quail Breast Over Lobster Ravioli with Mango-Lobster Sauce & Quail Egg

Eric liked the seasoning of her dish. Ted wished there was more lobster essence in the sauce. Alfredo said it was very delicate and the quail was perfectly cooked. Tom did not like the leeks. Gail agreed and said they were completely undercooked.


Richard
Guinea Hen, Chicken Egg, Foie Gras & Spring Vegetables

Eric liked the complexity and the earthiness of it, but he did have a hard time making a distinction between the ingredients. April enjoyed the freshness and said the foie gras was perfectly cooked.

Third Course


Lisa
Wagyu Beef with Chayote & Cucumber Salad, Hot Sauce & Garlic Chips

April said the beef flavor was nice, but it wasn’t tender. Dan said the sauce was so sweet. Alfredo commented that it was a repeat of the sauce from the shrimp dish. Gail loved the salad since it added an acid to the dish she didn’t taste anywhere else. Tom said her dish was pedestrian.


Stephanie
Lamb with Maitake Mushrooms, Braised Pistachios, Blackberry & Olive Tapenade

Eric was really surprised by the pistachios. He never thought they would go well with the dish. Ted said she made the pistachios in a way he had never tasted them before. April loved the olive tapenade and the brininess and lightness it added to the dish. Gail thought the dish was going to fail when she saw the olives, but loved the flavors when she tasted it. Eric commented it was the first time people were saying, “I love…” about a dish and he hadn’t heard that before this one. Tom said her dish was full of surprises and works.


Richard
Pickled Radishes, Mirin Broth & Pork Belly

Eric was surprised by how underseasoned it was. Padma said the element that had the most flavor was the pickled radish. Eric loved the radish and said it was borderline genius. Dan said that since he pressure cooked it, it was not as crispy as he would have liked. Alfredo agreed it was underseasoned. Tom said his dish needed work.

Fourth Course


Lisa
Black Thai Rice Pudding with Lime & Mango Creme, Taro & Coconut

Someone asked what was up with Lisa having chips in each dessert. Dan said it was a minor critique in a very exciting dessert. Tim said the rice and the coconut really tasted wonderful. He felt like he wanted more of it. April didn’t love it at first, but it grew on her.


Stephanie
Ricotta Poundcake with Tropical Furit & Banana Creme

Tim said it was okay, but it was nothing special. April said the cake was nice and moist. Eric said it was a little bit unrefined.


Richard
Banana “Scallop” with Bacon Ice Cream

Dan thought it worked. He thought Richard’s playfulness came through in a good way. Eric said it was important to focus on flavors and then you can be playful.

Judges’ Table

When discussing the first course, Richard said that he felt it needs to be an explosion flavor-wise and it needs to wake up your palette. Padma said a few of them felt that the dish lacked seasoning. Richard looked very confused. Lisa said for her first course, she loves shrimp and wanted to share with the judges the flavors and textures that she enjoys eating. Tom said it was a very assertive first course. It was very hot. He wanted to know if it was her intention. Lisa said they told her to put herself into her cooking and since she is a “spicy” person, she wanted to show them that. Ted said he loved the way she cut the potato chips. He found them beautiful. Stephanie wanted to do something “springy” with the green and white asparagus. Gail said it was beautifully presented dish. She really enjoyed it. Ted agreed and Padma said she loved it. It had a richness to it, but it wasn’t too creamy and heavy.

Gail asked Richard if he would have done anything differently. He said he didn’t really need the foie gras. It is a chef treat to add that in there. Gail said the dish was a little muddled and it lost the integrity of each flavor. Ted said it was unanimous at the table that the flavor in Lisa’s soup blew everyone away. Tom said the flavors were great. Gail said there was a lot of slurping at the table. For Stephanie’s dish, Tom thought the quail was nicely done and the pasta was flavored well. He did not like the leeks. He didn’t know what they were doing there and they were crunchy, meaning they were undercooked.

Richard wanted to be minimal with the pork belly dish and come back down from the richness of his second course. Ted asked if he considered searing it to get a bit more crispness on it. Richard said if he did that, he would lose the integrity of the meat to get the fat crispy. Padma asked Lisa what was behind her decision to make the beef the way she did. She said it needed to be just barely seared to keep it buttery and have a little bit of texture to it. It had to be the right balance. Tom said kobe beef is a little tricky and cannot be treated like a regular American steak. He said if you keep it rare, the fat never gets activated and then it becomes too chewy compared to melting in your mouth. Gail said the too-sweet sauce threw her off the beef. Stephanie was very happy with her lamb dish. Ted said her dish was one of the more creative dishes he saw all night. He had never seen a braised pistachio and he would like to see more of them. Tom said it was a perfect example of why one should always keep an open mind when they are eating because her dish was full of surprises. He thanked her for that.

Tom liked Richard’s dessert. He thought it made sense, it was crispy and the ice cream was well done. Padma told Lisa her dessert was delicious. Tom loved the texture and overall enjoyed it. Stephanie liked the flavors of her dessert, but thought she needed to work on the banana creme. It was her first time making the creme. Tom had some issues. He thought the cake was fine, but the banana creme wasn’t really identifiable. It was a miss.

Before letting them go to discuss things, they asked them if they wanted to add anything. Stephanie said that when she worked with Dale, he told her to stop second guessing herself and she felt that the dish she fell short on tonight was the dessert and she second-guessed herself on it. She said she will take that knowledge and learn, but she is was a Top Chef should be. Lisa said she felt very strongly about the menu she provided the judges. She was feeling very confident and thought they would think she deserved to win Top Chef. Richard spoke up and said he would admit that he choked a little bit. Padma asked where he thought he choked. He said he over thought some things and he didn’t feel it was his top performance on Top Chef.

After the chefs left, the judges discussed Richard’s choking comment. Tom agreed that he did make some mistakes. Gail said that he wanted them to know that he could have taken Top Chef if he hadn’t choked. He has the potential to do better. Tom thought both Lisa and Stephanie had some missteps as well, but overall they had three very good meals. Tom wanted to do a poll on courses. For the first course, Ted thought Lisa took it. Gail liked Lisa, but she loved Stephanie’s dish more. Tom liked Stephanie’s dish best. For the second course, Tom thought Lisa’s soup was the best. Gail agreed about Lisa’s dish. Tom liked Richard’s second dish too. Ted thought Richard over thought it. For the third course, Tom liked Stephanie’s meat dish the best and surprising. Ted loves pistachios so he liked Stephanie’s dish best. He did like that Richard’s dish was original, but he didn’t succeed with it. Tom did love Richard’s dessert. Ted loved it too and wanted to know when bacon ice cream would be in the store. Gail loved Lisa’s dessert best. Padma thought Lisa’s dessert was her best dish of the night. Tom said that they all agreed that Stephanie failed at dessert. Gail agreed, but thought there were high points in the entire meal that represented her as a good chef, like the lamb and snapper. Ted asked who had the best meal more so than just who won each course.

There was a lot of discussion since the judges made a comment about the morning birds beginning to chirp when they finally came to a decision on who it would be. The chefs were called back in. Tom told them they all cooked a tremendous meal and they were all amazing competitors. Tom told Richard that he gets a tremendous amount of joy from cooking. His food is whimsical, playful and sometimes plain outrageous. He told Lisa that Asian flavors are her thing. It is big, bold and it is all about her. He told Stephanie that she continues to prove that when they think they have her figured out, she surprises them with something from left field that surprises them. They based their final decision on which meal they would go back and like to have again. Padma said, Stephanie, you are Top Chef.

Questions

  • With Richard and Antonia pretty much choking after the hiatus of the normal season of the show and the finale, does the break actually hurt some chefs? You would think a break would give some people time to relax from the competition, but does it do more harm than good for some people? It was almost like what happened to Casey last season.
  • Did anyone else worry that Lisa might win at the last moment?

Photo Source: Top Chef

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