Top Chef: Sea-Faring Appetizers

Top Chef: Miami
Chef Overboard

Previously I complained about the team challenges, but I like them more now. I like them when the chefs can still individually showcase the food they make, but I also like how it shows if the chefs can lead too. It made me a fan of Sara after the last episode since I thought she did an awesome job as an executive chef, while other people that I have thought would be good leaders just don’t step up to the plate.

Quickfire Challenge

The guest judge for the episode was Micahel Schwartz, the chef and owner from Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink. He’s touted as an up-and-comer in Florida cuisine. Padma asks him his advice on what to make for people in the area and his sage advice was making food that looks and taste great. Fabulous, specific advice!

Each chef drew a knife with a number on it. The number on the knife corresponds to the number in an aisle on where they will be shopping. They had 10 minutes to shop and only $10 to purchase food. Once they were back in the kitchen, they had 20 minutes to prepare something. They did have access to the Top Chef pantry, but only to limited items that were pulled from it.

Howie was dreading making anything from his aisle of canned fruit, boxed juices and powder drinks. Hung was excited since he loves to be creative and he felt like a child at heart so his cereal, coffee and canned milk aisle made him excited. CJ wasn’t sure what he was going to do with a bunch of sauces in his aisle. Dale wished he had some protein on his aisle, but he was stuck with canned/dry soup. Brian couldn’t believe his luck with the canned seafood aisle, but he kept thinking that Tom was going to call him out on only making seafood, so he went for the Spam.

Howie was admitting defeat before he even began. He was pouting in the grocery store. He continued to pout in the kitchen saying he wasn’t going to make anything he’d be happy with and he hadn’t made anything yet! Hung said it was his favorite challenge while he crushed Fruit Loops. Everyone was laughing at his insane looking dish. He had little white blobs of whipped cream for mountains in one corner, with chocolate drink mix as dirt. The crushed blue/purple Fruit Loops were for a stream and some leeks for vegetation. Dale called it a smurf village. CJ had some issues since he grabbed salt instead of sugar in his dish so he ruined it, but it was too late to fix it. Howie was trying to make a sauce with mandarin oranges, but it fell apart. He didn’t like it, so he just dumped it out and had an empty plate for the judge.

Sara – Canned Vegetable Aisle
Ravioli with White Beans and Sweet Peas

Padma said it was not as bad as she thought it would be. Is that a ringing endorsement?

Brian – Canned Meat Aisle
Spam, Corned Beef Hash & Fried egg with Onions & Balsamic Reduction

Michael seemed very frightened of the Spam, but once he tried it, he said it was very good and congratulated Brian.

Dale – Soup Aisle
Ramen Noodles with Hominy, Black Beans, Queso Fresco & An Egg

Dale warned them it was very spicy. Michael agreed it was very hot and Padma started choking on the spices. They both downed some water before moving on to CJ.

CJ – Condiments Aisle
Curried Potato Risotto with Bitter Orange Marinade, Leeks with Hot Banana Peppers

CJ tried to explain the difficulty in his aisle where everything was pickled or were pre-made sauces. Padma wasn’t falling for his excuses. His dish looked like two blobs of yellow. He warned them that he used salt instead of sugar, but neither one got that it was a mistake. Instead they looked at him confused about why he would make that choice. Michael did say it looked like a mess.

Casey – Cookie & Cracker Aisle
Pudding with Mango Preserve, Ginger Snaps, Lemon & Whipped Cream

She wanted to use ginger snaps instead of the traditional vanilla wafers for her pudding. Michael said it was very good.

Hung – Cereal Aisle
Eggs with Leeks & Potato, Cereal, Chocolate Drink Mix, Whipped Cream

Even before trying it, Michael asked what heck was the dish in front of him and it looked crazy. He kept mumbling, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” This put Hung on edge. He commented later that he didn’t expect to win since the judge was so closed minded. I wasn’t sure how you were supposed to eat it.

Howie – Canned Fruit & Juices Aisle
Banana Mousse with Canned Mandarin Oranges Sauce

The judge, Padma and everyone else was shocked that Howie didn’t present anything. He talked about his integrity of not putting anything up there that he wasn’t happy with, but did tell them what he would have made. Dale said the challenge was difficult but didn’t look kindly on Howie not bothering to put anything out there. CJ thought it was a cop out.

Michael’s least favorite was Howie. He also called it a cop out. He said CJ’s dish was too salty and a mess on the plate. CJ thought that was a bummer to be in the same area as Howie who didn’t even make anything.

Brian was the winner of the challenge. He said Brian took some chances and put it together to make something that looks fabulous. He said it would fit into any Miami restaurant and he is now a Spam believer.

Elimination Challenge

They would be catering a party with pretty young things and a designer named Esteban. They needed to feed 60 people for $350. Brian’s award for winning the Quickfire was choosing who would be the team leader. He said he would take it. He said got into the business to be a leader so he would do it. Brian had everyone brainstorm on their own and then get together to decide as a team on what to do. He grouped some people together and had others make stuff on their own. Howie was making two things since he didn’t make anything on the Quickfire. They all chose on their own what they would do. Brian facilitated, but didn’t really lead. There wasn’t really a theme.

At the market, he gave each person $50 each for what they were going to make. Howie already went over his budget when he hadn’t bought half of what he needed. Brian had to do some shopping for him since he sucks at it. Dale showed up and said he could save money on his dish if he swapped out his goat cheese for yogurt. What? He said it would be healthier with yogurt, but how does that even taste the same? They came in just under budget. Everyone was doing really well working as a team though, even Howie. He was working super hard to work with everyone. How nice!

The challenge ended up on a yacht with a very, very tiny kitchen. I thought about how Howie might start sweating in the tight area! CJ was satisfied that the ceiling was tall enough so he didn’t hit his head on it. Dale was having difficulties with his sacrifice since the yogurt and cream cheese was not as thick as the goat cheese would have been so it was falling apart a bit. Hung said he was making some cucumber topped with salmon mousse which was a classic and good for people with an average palatte. Average? Where’d that come from? Hung and Dale also made a chicken salad which is common, but Hung said it was tasty.

Everyone thought Howie’s dish looked horrible except no one said anything, even Brian. He was letting stuff go out that didn’t look spectacular. Howie even asked Brian what he thought and he said it was good. Brian said his job as a leader was to let everyone shine or fail on their own. What about making the team succeed? I think that would have been the objective of being a good leader.

The judges were Padma, Tom, Michael Schwartz and Dana from Food and Wine magazine. Brian made the mistake of announcing to everyone that the food was ready instead of just showing up with the plates. The plates were cleared as soon as they were brought up, which left the guests asking if there was more food.

Sara
Tomato Bread Pudding with Basil Cream

Padma said it was savory and nice.

Howie
Mushroom Duxelle on Puff Pastry

No picture of Howie’s dish, but imagine a little pile of poop on a puff pastry and there you have it.


Brian
Ahi Poke with Shallots & Pickled Jicama

Michael said it tasted like seaweed, and it didn’t sound like a compliment.

Dale & Hung
Apple & Chicken Curry Salad on Crostini

No comments on it when anyone ate it.


Hung
Smoked Salmon Mousse on Cucumber with Meyer Lemon & Caviar

No comments on it when anyone ate it.


Dale
Yogurt Puffs with Tomato, Zucchini & Watercress

Michael said it was a bad choice with the yogurt. Dana said it pops out at you and not in a good way.


CJ
Shrimp & Scallop Sausage on Brioche with Pickled Ginger & Jicama Salad

Everyone seemed to liked it a lot. CJ was happy with the way it turned out, saying it was very pretty.


Casey
Beef Carpaccio with Watercress & Fried Caper, Shiitake Broth

Esteban said it was his favorite dish. Dana said it was incredibly ambitious.


Howie
Asparagus & Prosciutto “Cigars” with Parmesan Cheese

Michael said it was ugly and greasy.

Guests were talking about dessert that they had heard about. Casey and Sara ended up with less chocolate mousse than they thought, so they added whipped cream to it. It turned into pudding. They whipped it to add air into it and it turned into practically water. They had everyone taste it. They all agreed that it was best to not send it out since it turned out a mess.

Judges’ Table

Michael said all the food was uninspired. Dana talked about how almost everything came out on some kind of bread. Michael did love Casey’s dish. Dana loved CJ’s dish. It was very pretty. Dale’s dish did not work with the yogurt. Tom had issue with Howie making a dish and calling it a cigar. He said that is not appealing. The other dish tasted like mud. Tom had an issue with why Brian didn’t edit it better and why he let some dishes go out.

They brought everyone in so they could ask some questions. Tom liked that they decided to not send out the dessert since it didn’t meet their expectations. When Padma asked him why he decided to have some do two dishes and others do one dish, as executive chef. Brian said he wasn’t executive chef, but leader to a bunch of chefs. Tom called BS and said he was splitting hairs. They said they did so many dishes for variety. Dana asked why no one noticed so many dishes were on bread. Brian’s excuse was they only had thirty minutes to shop. Wouldn’t they have figured out their shopping list the night before when they decided what to make? He could have made sure of that before they went shopping, even as a leader and not executive chef. Michael said that he was not thrilled with the overall presentation. He said there was a lack of color in the food.

Tom called Hung out on his food choices. Dana asked why he didn’t update it. Tom asked if he could make something better. Hung said of course he could, and Tom said that’s wanted to know. Howie said he was happy with both of his dishes, but when they asked what he thought about his mushroom dish, he said it wasn’t spectacular to look at, but tasted good. Michael called Howie on that saying he made such a fuss at the Quickfire about not presenting food he was happy with, yet he served crap on the yacht. Doh! Tom asked why he stretched himself so thin when they had a limited budget. He said it wanted to make up for the Quickfire. Dana said that when she sees the asparagus dish done, the asparagus is big and plump. Howie admitted to just grabbing it in the market without really looking. Eh? He doesn’t need quality ingredients in his food?

Tom could not believe that Dale gave up the goat cheese in order to have the chicken dish. Tom thought they should have gave up the chicken and kept the goat cheese for Dale’s dish. Tom laughed about everyone coming out and saying that it all went well, but when they called them on things, they were agreeing with the judges. Howie said they couldn’t do much with the limited budget. Tom pointed out that Sara and Casey did a great job with their budget that was the same as everyone else’s, so he didn’t buy the budget excuse.

When Tom asked if they really thought the chicken, asparagus and mushroom dishes were really good, no one said anything. Howie decided that he would take himself out of the competition. He said he has been a team player recently and did not want to see Brian go home when he thought that Brian did a great job being a leader. Padma said it was the judge’s decision, not his about who would go home. Tom sent them all out of the room.

They talked about loving Casey’s beef dish and CJ had great, happy flavors. Sara’s bread pudding was delicious. Michael didn’t like either of Howie’s dishes. They were uninspired. They couldn’t believe they did the chicken and gave up the goat cheese in Dale’s dish. Dana did not like Hung’s cucumber dish. It was so boring. Speaking of boring, Brian’s tartare dish was like any other tartare dish. They also didn’t like how he approved all those dishes that went out.

Winners

Casey, CJ and Sara were all winners. Michael picked Casey as the overall winner. It was her first time winning an elimination challenge. She won a MacBook Pro.

Losers

Dale was there because he didn’t use his budget like he should have. Hung was there for not making the best thing he knew how to make. Howie was there because of his uninspired food that didn’t taste good. Brian was there because he said he would lead a team, but not take responsibility when people fail. Howie was sent home.

It took them long enough! He was actually behaving lately, but he seems to be off too much. I think the winner should almost always be on.

Photo Source: Top Chef

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