Top Chef: Veggie Time!

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Top Chef: Las Vegas
Meat Natalie

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: TV Guide Quickfire – Reinvent a classic TV dinner
  • Elimination Challenge: Cook at Craftsteak at MGM Grand

I love when the show throws what should be obvious twists out to the chefs, who would normally see it coming a mile away, but at this point in the competition, they are starting to get exhausted and not thinking straight. It reminds me of the season where the chefs thought they were going out to a night on the town at a club, but ended up having to work the food carts outside.

Quickfire Challenge

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The guest chef for the episode was Paul Bartalotta, an Italian chef in Vegas. Their challenge was a TV Guide Quickfire where the teams would be taking a classic TV dinner and giving it their own interpretation. They would choose knives to see which class television show would inspire their dish.

  • Kevin – The Sopranos
  • Eli – Gilligan’s Island
  • Jen – The Flintstones
  • Robin – Sesame Street
  • Bryan – M.A.S.H.
  • Mike – Seinfeld
  • Michael – Cheers

They had 60 minutes to prepare their dish. Then we learned about the lack of television watching from some of the chefs. Robin had been raised on health food and wasn’t allowed to watch television (which is probably why she’s so weird) so she had never sat through an entire episode of Sesame Street. She knew it had Cookie Monster and Big Bird so she thought the dish should incorporate cookies and an egg. WAT! Eli had apparently never seen a rerun of Gilligan’s Island, but he was going for cheesy, island-fare food.  Finally, Mike had never seen Seinfeld. How is that possible?

There were some chefs that had actually seen their television shows that they picked. Michael was going to do a spin-off of something one would find at a bar for Cheers.  Jen wanted to do a steak or something that had a bone in it to relate to the Flintstones, but there wasn’t anything in the Top Chef kitchen so she grabbed a chicken. Bryan picked M.A.S.H., which was set during the Korean War so he was concentrating on making something that would have been served during that time–meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Kevin knew family was very important to the Sopranos so he was going to make some food that you would expect to find at a family spread.

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Jen – Flintstones
Chicken Roulade with Garlic Cream, Pea Salad & Caramelized Peaches

Jen was not happy with her dish while making it. When Paul asked her how she thought she did, she said, “Eh…well…I feel okay.”

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Mike – Seinfeld
Sausage & Peppers, Mushrooms & Cheese, Warm Fruit Salad

Some toasted pine nuts were on top of the salad. Paul said he never met a toasted pine nut that he didn’t like

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Kevin – The Sopranos
Meatballs with Polenta, Roasted Cauliflower & Roasted Pear

Padma really liked the cauliflower.

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Eli – Gilligan’s Island
Macadamia Nut Shrimp with Sweet Potato Puree, Herb Salad, Cherries & Bananas

Paul said it was nicely done.

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Michael – Cheers
Chicken Parmesan with Braised Swiss Chard & Cherry Pie

Would this be bar food? Paul liked the fennel that he tasted in the dish.

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Robin – Sesame Street
Burger with Egg, Crispy Kale, Carrot Salad & Almond Laced Cookie

Robin said when she thought of the show, she thought of the big eyes, so she played with that idea in her food. Paul said he liked the direction and inspiration.

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Bryan – M.A.S.H.
Meatloaf, Mashed Potato, Asparagus & Apple Tarte Tatin

Padma said it was really good. Paul agreed, saying it looked really good too.

Losers:

  • Jen – Paul said the pea salad was kind of “eh” and the roulade didn’t hit the mark.
  • Robin – The burger was dry and not special.

Winners:

  • Kevin – The concept was consistent. He liked the meatballs. He loved the pears. They were perfectly cooked.
  • Bryan – The roulade was beautiful. They loved the dessert.

Overall Quickfire Winner: Kevin

Kevin did not win immunity, but his recipe will be in a new line of Top Chef frozen foods.

Elimination Challenge

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The chefs were told they would be taking over Tom Colicchio’s kitchen at Craftsteak at the MGM Grand. They would be taking over the menu for one night for four judges and seven guests. All the chefs are planning for their meat dishes. They went into the kitchen the next day and drooled over all their choices of meat to work with. Then Tom called them out to meet the special guest of the evening, which was Natalie Portman. Eli told the camera that the only important thing she has done is Star Wars, which is the most important thing anyone can do. Ah, stupid Eli. If only you had seen her in a movie where she was able to actually show she could act.

Tom let Natalie fill the judges in on her tastes. She said she was pretty adventurous and really liked different cuisines. She is a vegetarian though. She was also a judge. They all freaked out about having to make vegetarian dishes, which I really don’t think should be that difficult for an accomplished chef. They go into a huge pantry that was stocked full of many vegetables. Jen and Eli both wanted to work with eggplant so they flipped over it. Eli won. Jen decided to use some baby eggplants instead of working with something else. Robin was thrilled since she said she loved to cater to vegetarians in her restaurant. Mike said that 20 of his dishes on his menu at home were vegetarian so he wasn’t worried. Kevin said that each year, when he and his wife observe Lent, they take meat out of their diet and are essentially vegetarian. He said he works on making sure that they feel satiated with their food, even without meat present.

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Robin was so amazed at all the different vegetables and fruits available to her that she  couldn’t focus. She was hoping all the different components she had would come together. Mike had a problem when he discovered that his boiling pan of water was not boiling when it should have been. He decided to just stick to his original game plan since he thought he would not have enough time to switch to something else. When he was cutting his leeks to make them look like scallops, he discovered that they were 100% cooked.

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Robin
Stuffed Squash Blossom, Beet Carpaccio, Fresh Garbanzo Beans & Chermoula

While Robin was plating, she ran out of time and didn’t get garbanzo beans on three plates.  Someone said there was too much salt in the chermoula. Padma said she felt like her ankles were swelling. Natalie said she didn’t think she had ever had fresh garbanzo beans before. Tom pointed out that he didn’t have any. Natalie thought it was beautiful and she loved looking at the food. Gail said there was definitely a salt issue. Tom said overall the seasoning was weird. There was a balance issue overall.

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Eli
Confit of Eggplant, Lentils, Garlic Puree & Radish Salad

I didn’t think what was on the plate next to the eggplant counted as a salad, but Natalie liked the salad a lot. Gail loved the texture of the eggplant. Paul said the presentation was great, but he got a little lavender in his mouth, which he found polarizing. He felt like he was sucking on a bar of soap.

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Michael
Asparagus Salad, Japanese Tomato Sashimi & Banana Polenta

Michael felt like he takes more risks than the other chefs. He wanted Natalie to scratch her head thinking that she didn’t know why she liked the dish, but she did. Natalie was excited to hear there was banana in the polenta and thought it was really good when she tried it. Gail liked the reaction of the guests. She wasn’t sure about the big lumps in her polenta, but it did taste good. One of Natalie’s friends called Michael “Picasso,” which sent the Top Chef judges into giggles since it was the second time someone had called him that. Natalie said the dish made her smile and laugh, but she was also confused.

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Jen
Charred Baby Eggplant, Braised Fennel, Tomatoes & Verjus Nage

Jen noticed her plate was smaller than the other plates that had gone out. She was not happy with the way her plate looked. Jen spooned the sauce over everyone’s plate, but she was so nervous she was shaking. She had no idea why her nerves were getting to her. Gail liked the way the dish tasted and thought the sauce was the best part. She didn’t think it was very substantial as a main dish. Natalie said she ran into that a lot when dining at restaurants. What she receives is usually more like a collection of sides. One of Natalie’s friends said it would have been a beautiful side dish with a nice entree next to it, a steak preferably.

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Mike
Whole Roasted Leeks with Onion Jus, Baby Carrot Puree & Fingerling Potatoes

Mike told them that he wanted them to feel like they had a protein with the leeks. Gail said the dish smelled like turnips or cabbage. Tom said if it was a steak, it would be too rare. One of Natalie’s friends loved the colors on her plate. Natalie said she wanted to like it since she loves leeks and purple is her favorite color. Gail said that there was probably a good idea in there, but it wasn’t executed well.

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Bryan
Artichoke Barigoule, Confit of Shallot, Wild Asparagus & Fennel Puree

Bryan ran behind so he did not get everything on his plate that he had prepared. There was some fried thing that was left in the kitchen. Natalie commented that it was “lemony” and spicy. Padma said, “It is like a little prick on the tip of my tongue.” Natalie started laughing saying, “Don’t say that!” Padma tried to say she wasn’t sure about the shallots being paired with the garlic blossoms. They were small, but tasted “big in her mouth.” Tom said, “You went from ‘tiny prick’ to ‘big in your mouth’.” One of Natalie’s friends said, “That’s what usually happens.” Excellent dinner conversation!

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Kevin
Duo of Mushrooms, Smoked Kale, Candied Garlic & Turnip Puree

Kevin was disappointed that his dish was sloppier than he wanted it to be. It wasn’t as pretty as some of the other dishes that went out. Paul said it was richer and felt more like an entree. Gail said it tasted meaty. She thought the only off-balance part was the smoke in the kale as really strong. She said when she ate it with anything else, that was all she tasted. Tom said that Kevin’s dish proved that vegetable dishes do not need to be light all the time. One of Natalie’s friends said that he didn’t miss a pasta, grain or even a meat in the dish. Natalie concurred, saying, “It’s a manly vegetarian meal.”

Judges’ Table

Padma asked to see Kevin, Michael and Eli. Eli seemed a bit shocked that his name was called. She told them that they had their favorite dishes of the evening. Starting with Michael’s dish, Tom said that it reminded him of why he always needs to keep an open mind. He didn’t think that bananas and polenta would work, but he found it a fun and successful dish. He pointed out that Natalie was “giggling like a school girl” at one point. She said it was “very rare for food to make you look at one another and think ‘What is going on? Who is his dealer and does he want anymore clients?'” Gail told Eli that she thought his dish was incredibly beautiful. Tom said it was an interesting and fun dish to eat. Natalie told Kevin that she loves kale and people rarely smoke it well. It had a good texture and she found it to be wonderful. Tom said that every bite was a mouthful of flavor and he didn’t miss the meat at all. Natalie picked the overall winner. She said the one that brought together inventiveness and cohesive flavor was Kevin. He won a suite of GE appliances like the ones he had been using in the Top Chef kitchen. Kevin was thrilled to win for the challenge since he said he had shown the judges he can cook meat, but now he showed that he could cook vegetables too.

Michael was a sore loser! He told the camera later that he could have made Kevin’s dish in twenty minutes. He said he could have made that the second year of his apprenticeship, so he was pissed off he didn’t win. Who cares how simple a dish is when it really comes down to flavor? It sounded like they liked Kevin’s dish best since it filled them up the most, seemed like an entree and it would probably be the dish that Natalie would order again if she had the chance out of all the dishes. With this fabulous attitude, I don’t want him to win the overall competition. I would much rather it go to Kevin or Bryan.

Robin, Jen and Mike were sent in to see the judges. Natalie asked Mike why there wasn’t a protein on the dish. She said as a vegetarian, it was the most important thing for her to get in a vegetarian dish. He said his plan was to braise the leeks, cut them up into medallions, sear them so they looked like scallops, and that would be the protein. I wonder if he thinks that would magically make them into a protein if they looked like one. Gail actually asked him if he knew that leeks aren’t a protein. He said yes, so I guess he didn’t answer the original question about why there wasn’t a protein on the plate! Padma said the leeks were very pungent and strong in the middle because they weren’t cooked uniformly. He explained his trouble with his pan issues that slowed him down with the leeks, but he thought his carrot puree and potatoes were cooked correctly. Tom said the carrots were okay, but that it didn’t matter. He couldn’t get past the fact that raw leeks are bad. Tom said that he could cut up and roast a leek in 20 minutes. He said it wouldn’t look like a scallop, but it would be cooked. Mike said, “I didn’t think of it, but whatever whatever. What are you going to do?” I think that’s an awesome attitude and answer!

Padma moved onto Robin. She piped up right away saying she was thinking of a protein since she wants to give vegetarians protein. I was thinking that they hadn’t asked her a question yet. She then started talking about how she had never worked with fresh garbanzo beans before and had never stuffed a squash blossom before. They still hadn’t asked her a question. She said she was trying to play off a chickpea falafel and she was trying to do a lot on the plate. She wasn’t sure it really all worked well together. The judges still hadn’t talked to her yet!  She does know how to sabotage herself! Tom finally piped up and said what he heard was she was all over the map when describing her dish and it never came together since it couldn’t. There was never one thing to tie it together. Gail said the sauce was very strong. Natalie did like the garbanzo beans as a protein. Tom pointed out that two people didn’t get them on their plates. She said she ran out of time plating.

Padma told Jennifer that she did not see two hours of cooking on her plate. Tom said it felt like she was putting together a garnish. She agreed saying it was a little bigger than an amuse. Padma talked about how a few people were wearing the sauce she made. She said she was very nervous when she came out. Gail asked if there was something in particular about the challenge that made her more nervous than usual. She said that they just make her nervous. She said she was shaking right then. Tom said her performance was starting to suffer. She said if they gave her another chance, she would need to pull herself up out of it, but if not, she understood and thanked them for the chance.

The chefs were sent out. Tom said he loved the challenge since it threw them off their game. Some of them rolled well with the punches and some of them were flustered by it. Natalie said it was a very real-life challenge. She said she constantly walks into restaurants without vegetarian entrees and the chef’s are forced to improvise. Padma was confused with how seasoned of a chef Jennifer was that she didn’t think that her dish was going to be enough for 12 people. Tom said that she took a garnish and tried to make a dish out of it.  Natalie said she was being super defeatist. Tom said they had seen it before at the point of the competition and some chefs psychologically start falling apart and second guess everything they are doing.

Gail said Mike’s dish had several issues, the biggest being the leeks were severely undercooked.  Tom said if leeks are cooked too quickly, the outsides turn to mush before the insides are cooked and that’s what happened. Gail said she noticed some arrogance from Mike. Gail said she got from Mike that he was thinking, “Well, maybe I didn’t do really well tonight, but I’m not going to go home for it.” She said they couldn’t take that stuff for granted. Natalie said he seemed to focus on the leeks being the issue, but she didn’t like the other elements on his plate either. Tom agreed saying that Mike had said his leeks were messed up, but the rest of the dish was great. Tom said, “No, it wasn’t. It really wasn’t. Don’t kid yourself.” Natalie agreed.

Padma felt that there was a complete lack of an idea in Robin’s dish. Tom said he felt like she was looking at each piece individually and getting excited without making  a plan. Natalie said it was a bad idea that she was using two things in her dish that she hadn’t worked with before. She didn’t think that sounded like a good idea. Gail and Tom agreed.

The chefs were called back in. Tom said they were all thrown a huge curveball when Natalie announced she was a vegetarian. He said chefs are judged on how well they handle the challenge when they are given these requests. He told Mike he was not sure why he couldn’t cook leeks in two hours.  He said he seemed focused on trickery instead of putting together a great dish. Tom told Robin that she put together a pretty plate, but it was very unbalanced. He told Jennifer that in the last couple of challenges, she had completely fallen apart. It felt that she made a garnish and thought it was good enough. He said “good enough” was not going to cut it. He said they had some wonderful dishes from their competitors, but he felt that they did not rise to the occasion. Padma asked Mike to pack his knives and go.

Questions

  1. Could you believe that Mike had never seen an episode of Seinfeld? I can see how some of the other shows were missed, but I thought that show was so all over the place so much that it would be hard to not see at least one episode.
  2. What did you think about Michael not thinking Kevin deserved to win? Is he right or is he being too arrogant?
  3. Did you think Mike deserved to go home instead of Robin? What about Jen who seems to have given up lately?

Photo Source: Bravo

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