David Ross

Those are beautiful. Good Lord package them up and sell them!

Sorry for the poor photo. The taste of the dessert far outweighed the fuzzy photo. Toasted Coconut Cake, Grilled Pineapple, Whipped Cream:

Wow, your Skate looks delicious! Very nice.

I love that! Tom Cruise, (aka Ryan), in his briefs cooking up some pasta. You can really see that connection, (Ryan as Cruise), can't you? And what about the Chicago based movie "The Blues Brothers?" Could a Top Chef, (maybe Ryan?), create a dish using the simple ingredients from this classic exchange in the movie...... "I'll have four fried chickens and a coke" (Jake) "And some dry white toast please" (Elwood) Hmmn. Chicken, Coke and dry white toast. I wonder what sort of dish the Top Chefs would have presented using that theme!

By the way, the winning recipe of Team "Willy Wonka"-Andrew, Richard and Dale-is posted on the Top Chef website.

That was actually a Willy Wonka reference, not a molecular gastronomy reference. It was a reference to the chewing gum that Violet grabbed from Mr. Wonka, which had the sequential flavors of a three-course meal -- tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie. Richard also made a crack about how the diners might levitate from their fizzy drinks, as in the movie (and book), and that to get back to the ground, they'd have to belch. Just for the record. Christopher ← Point well taken. Thank you for the correction. Richard's team obviously won for the flavors, the execution of the dish, the presentation and for being the team that was most succesful at marrying their dish to the movie theme. But in some small way I suppose one could say that Richard's comments reflect a satirical view of a popular cooking technique of the day. Doesn't really matter though, that Salmon dish looked awesome.

Although we are only four weeks in, this was my favorite episode of season 4 so far. A fine episode of cooking. For the most part. I liked the fact that the producers presented the Chefs with two challenges that tested their culinary skills. And while I am sure we will see some ridiculous challenges in the coming weeks, I hope that we will not be shamed with one of the absolute worst challenges of Top Chef seasons past. Was it year one or two when the Chefs were challenged to create a sumptuous dish using ingredients from the pantry of the local Convenience Store? You remember, dishes of Fried Pork Rinds and Suzy Q's. How dreadful. But in contrast to my criticism of laughable challenges of the past, I give kudos to the webnerds at Bravo for adding a new feature to the Top Chef website, "Rate The Plate." I like seeing photos and descriptions of the dishes presented by the Chefs. But.....a word of advice to the keepers of the website....make it fair for all the Chefs. It you click on the photo of Andrew's Quickfire dish, you see a horribly out of focus plate with something red, something white and something black. That's it, a bad photo and no description of the ingredients in the dish. That isn't fair to Andrew. Just two clicks away you see a clear photo and description of Dale's winning Quickfire dish of "Daikon Marinated in Tobanjan, Tournee of Avocado and Cucumber." Looks nice Dale and you deserved the win. All the Chefs and all the photos deserved the same treatment. Make "Rate the Plate" fair for all Bravo. I did like the Quickfire Challenge testing the chefs "technical" skills. I did chuckle a bit to myself, (and said a little "I told you so"), when Chef Boulud prophetically told the chefs prior to announcing Dale the winner to "take 5 minutes to THINK of a plan." Exactly Chef and what I've screamed about for weeks-put some thought into your dish first before lighting ten burners on the stove. Think first, cook second, lest you might present a weak dish ala Manuel. Sadly for Manuel, Chef Boulud had to admonish him for his dish being "very weak, a fennel frond is NOT technique." Ouch! Richard has established himself as the front runner at the first turn of this long horse race. He really was the "Top Chef" of the team with Andrew and Dale as his Sous Chef partners. And what a team they were. Their dish of "Smoked Salmon with Faux Caviar and White Chocolate with Wasabi" looked as delicious as the judges said it tasted. And what a beautiful presentation with the accompanying cocktail of "Pear and Celery Soda." Fabulous and definately a "Top Chef" dish. As always, comedic relief was rife in this episode, with two amusing quips standing out in my mind: Andrew-the herky-jerky one who has given us three weeks of cheftainment, doesn't disappoint this week when he proclaims that "we will make them (the judges), culinarily crap in their pants." Well, I don't know if they crapped when they tasted the white chocolate-wasabi combination, but your team did win. Richard-the Chef who by his own self-admission is a student of the School of Molecular Gastronomy, shared a bit of insightful humor about how silly this particular art form can be when he said it's a "bit like a gumball that tastes like a roast beef sandwich that turns into a blueberry pie." No thank you, I prefer your Salmon please. And of course, we can't leave this week's show behind without commenting on poor Zoi, the woman with the white chocolate inferiority complex. Zoi opened the door of intimidation when she said that "I can't compete with white chocolate." And..."if that's what THEY want, then I'm outta here." Zoi-the door is now open for you to walk through. What the judges want isn't the only key to success on Top Chef Zoi. Had you created the lamb dish that fit within the theme-the one you sort of described to the judges-and had it awakened the tastes of the judges through its bold flavors, you and Antonia may not have been before the judges as one of the two least favorite teams. All in all, a good episode.

Edited to add that this dish is of course from "Babbette's Feast." If my budget of $150 wasn't enough to buy quail, black truffles and foie gras, and if Whole Foods had some turtle meat, (nah-they wouldn't sell meat from a precious species like a turtle would they?), I would have gone with: Potage a’la Tortue (Turtle Soup) Failing the budget crunch and lack of politically unpopular ingredients, I would have settled for the dessert from Babbette's Feast: Baba au Rhum avec les Figues (Rum Cake with Dried Figs)

I don't think the budget for the Elimination Challenge, ($150 for 8 diners), probably would have been enough to create a dish from my favorite movie with a food theme: "Caille en Sarcophage avec Sauce Perigourdine" (Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce) Even if the budget would have covered the cost of the ingredients, I doubt that the Whole Foods market where the Chefs shopped would have sold lobes of foie gras-reportedly banned from being served in Chicago restaurants.

Richard's been doing variations on the smoke theme for a little while now, and I had the pleasure of experiencing it in Atlanta twice with a mussels dish. It works. I can see how some might be turned off, but when you have the dish in front of you, with the chef bringing it out and explaining the smoke, you get it. And the aroma is, like he said, the proverbial cherry on top of the sundae. The dish would be great without it, but it adds that extra touch. I've also experienced Alinea's "pillow" and "burning leaves" - those are certainly more "elegant" ways of doing something similar - but the restaurant Richard was at (Element) was decidedly more casual and inexpensive. ← I'm not discounting the use of smoke and Richard has been and continues to be my favorite for being named the Top Chef. Go Richard. I think leading his team in presenting that wonderful salmon dish using a hint of smoke was extemely creative. I just can't buy into using plastic wrap to uncover the dish.

← Sorry, the computer clicked faster than I could on that last post. The dreaded plastic wrap once again raises its ugly head! Darcie I totally agree with you about that darn plastic wrap. I ranted about it when Richard used it on his first dish on episode #1. Tacky, tacky, tacky. Certainly Glad Wrap is one of the many sponsors of Top Chef that is trying to get their products noticed-I seem to remember having seen some plastic containers sitting next to a roll of Glad Wrap in the pantry. I'm not all that bothered by the commerical aspects of Top Chef. Without sponsors of course there wouldn't be a Top Chef. But when the urge to hawk a product becomes so blatant that it interferes with the theme of the show, then that really, really, bugs me. It just seems odd to me when I see a product like Glad Wrap used by a Top Chef to showcase an upscale dish that would be served in a nice dining room. Very unprofessional looking. I just have to believe that there are very nice china serving dishes in the pantry that are fitted with lids or domes that could be used instead of that flimsy, silly plastic wrap. I think that would be a more classy way for Richard to transmit his smoke signals.

Erik is still spewing bad breath about tacos and Chef Bayless-even after his Top Chef 15 minutes of fame. Check out the March 27 Q and A with Erik over on Grub Street. He has some rude things to say about Chef Bayless and the taco fiasco. And apparently his culinary career is really taking off. He mentions on the post that "My guys are talking to Vince Neil from Mötley Crüe." Hmm. Wonder how that plays into Erik's cooking career....

Well--I did have a few more glasses of wine after 8:03p.m. on March 28, but the wine was more interesting than commenting on Padma's declaration about Stephanie's wonton. I don't really have a problem awarding a fruit cobbler with streusel topping and a fried wonton garnish as the winner of the Elimination Challenge. I think it could be the perfect, winning dish for a summer block party if it was prepared properly using seasonal fruits. I liked the idea that Stephanie enhanced the fruit flavors with some basil and lime. I've always qualified my opinions about the dishes on Top Chef by noting that I'm only offering an opinion based on what I see through the television. I can't back up my opinions with the ultimate test-the taste test. But in this case, I think what I saw on television is more than enough to shout back to Padma that deep-frying wonton wrappers cut in cute shapes and sprinkling them with cinnamon-sugar is not in fact "genius." Tasty, sure. Tasty to the point of being in "love" with the wonton, maybe. But just not "genius" in terms of the concept.

I'm reading through two cookbooks right now-"The Boston Cooking-School Cookbooks," written by Miss Fannie Merritt Farmer of "Miss Farmer's School of Cookery." The two editions I am reading were published in 1913 and 1921, respectively. I plan on trying some of the recipes and we'll see how they turn out. Some of the recipes are based on cooking using a woodstove and call for a "hot oven," so I'll have to do some guessing when I try some of the techniques in the cookbook.

You might also check out Max Jacobson's good review of Carnevino in the April issue of Las Vegas Life. It made me hungry for a thick, juicy steak in Las Vegas.

Great approach. Just start building a list of choices, and menus and prices if you can get them online, then make your selections. You'll see lots of postings and photos of Las Vegas meals on eGullet to help with your search. Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn offers a Prix Fixe Menu at $48 if you dine prior to 7pm. There are 3 choices each of an appetizer, main and dessert. The menu is posted online. I'm hopeful we'll see restaurant prices in Las Vegas come down this Spring. Hotel prices have already come down. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that gaming revenues, the driving force of the Las Vegas economy, were down in February, so I think we will see the hotels and restaurants lower prices to attract more people to the casinos. I just booked a week at The Mirage for a trip in May and on both Friday and Saturday nights the room was only $135 a night. That's quite a bit lower than what I would have paid for the same room at the same time last year. Maybe the menu prices will follow suit.

Speaking to our Top Chef topic, this debate first came to light on Wednesday's episode when some of the top whiners on Top Chef snorted that they didn't think a taco was upscale. While their soapbox rants added to portraying them, (Erik and Spike), as the bad boys of the Top Chef clan, they were clearly missing the objective and goal of the Quickfire Challenge. Spike apparently contained his personal thoughts on tacos and presented Chef Bayless with an appropriate dish that met the challenge-and Spike was awarded a spot for creating one of the top three upscale taco dishes. Well, isn't it curious how the saying "what goes around comes around," sometimes rings true in the end. One of the Top, Top Chef whiners was Erik-he failed miserably in even coming close to meeting the challenge he was told to attempt. It wasn't about the philosophical aspects of the challenge. Erik was roundly booed by Chef Bayless for his feeble taco attempt. Erik's gone now and the competition moves on.

Tonight I started with a Chinese Celery Salad with Dried Shrimp. A bit "grassy" for my taste but a nice, crisp salad. Many thanks go to gfron1 for giving me the recipe for this next dish, Shrimp with Thai Lime Butter. I served the shrimp with grilled green onions and a broth that had Chinese sausage, dried shitake mushrooms and noodles.

Looks delicious. But you are, in a way, sort of making my point. To me this would be a Mexican Influenced dish, not classic Mexican cuisine. ← You might be right. I'm certainly not the expert on Mexican cuisine and I was merely looking at the issue from what I found on Chef Bayless's website and the posted menu for Topolobampo. It would be interesting to hear how the Chef would answer the question. This is certainly an interesting topic and one that would be appropriate as a new topic in another forum. But in terms of Top Chef, either way you look at the issue of whether or not there is an upscale or classical Mexican cuisine, most of the Top Chef contestants still didn't follow the directions for the Quickfire Challenge.

If you would like an idea of what "upscale" Mexican cuisine looks like, I recommend going to Chef Bayless's website. Go to his Topolobampo Restaurant and click on the menus. One example of what I would call upscale Mexican cuisine is this dish from the Spring Dinner Menu: "Langosta en Crema al Almendra: pan-roasted Maine lobster in velvety almond-thickened guero chile cream. Red quinoa and garlicky braised mustard greens. 38.00" I'd say that is a pretty good example of an "upscale" dish. Maybe I am naive, but I would have thought that the Top Chef contestants, knowing the competition was going to be in Chicago, would have studied the menus at Rick Bayless's restaurants. Surely they would have anticipated he was going to be one of the judges and would have prepared by familiarizing themselves with his cuisine and the dishes he serves at his restaurants. Wouldn't they?

I agree with you. Those were sorry-ass corn dogs for sure. I think Erik said "There isn't much you can do with hot dogs." Yes there is Erik, you wiener, you leave the hot dogs in the neighbor's fridge and don't turn them into soggy, little weinie's coated in pancake batter. I had to watch Episode 3-"Block Party"-a third time this afternoon to see if repeated viewings would change my mind about this episode. It didn't. Personally, I think this was one of the weakest efforts from the Top Chefs that I've seen. The food was for the most part very average. I guess it is safe to assume that the Top Chef contestants don't read our opinions on these pages. If they did, they might gain a better understanding of what they should be doing in the kitchen in order to be successful at the judges table. We’ve already agreed that in previous episodes, the chefs committed the ultimate sin by not tasting their food before it went to the judges. Falling in line with that seasoning failure is another fundamental error in judgement that we see committed on a regular basis by the Top Chefs-willingly or unwillingly-to understand the specific challenge before them. Since I’ve just opened the first bottle of wine, my version of the Top Chef Commentator’s drinking game, I’ll focus on the “Quickfire Challenge” tonight. (It could take more bottles of wine than I have in the house to get through the entire episode tonight). Here are a few suggestions for the “Top Chefs:” -Rather than creating a dish in your mind while you barrel like a bull through the kitchen, I’d suggest you just take a deep breath and put a few moments of thought into your dish. Andrew was quoted as saying he felt like he was “running around like a New York rat.” Yes Andrew, you were. (Andrew fidgeted like he was over-medicated on drugs that he purchased through the internet from a foreign pharmacy. How Andrew produced one of the top taco dishes is beyond me). Don’t create a dish as you go because that can be a recipe for disaster on the other end. You’ll hear that call for “2 minutes left” and wish you had taken those 2 minutes up front to plan your dish appropriate to the challenge. -You’ve got 30 minutes in the Quickfire Challenge, so make sure you keep the dish simple in terms of just a few, but exceptional, ingredients. Choose a cooking method that you can do in say 25 minutes, and then you’ll have 5 minutes for plating. If you create a complicated dish on the fly as you race through the pantry gathering a plethora of ingredients, you just may be surprised 30 minutes later when Padma barks “knives down, hands-up Chefs.” -On this point of timing and following the specifics of the challenge, I’ve got a hint for the Top Chefs-follow the example set by the winners. Richard used just three main ingredients-Jicama (as the "tortilla" in the taco), Avocado and Papaya-in his thoughtful, perfectly executed “upscale” taco dish. And Richard gave me a “gotcha guys” moment when he graciously asked the judges if he could taste one of the tacos with them. That was a crafty move. A Chef who is excited to taste his dish shows me that he’s confident in his food. And he won. (I do have a small criticism for Richard and the Judges-“upscale” tacos should not be served off a wet cutting board. A nice white plate with a few sprigs of cilantro would have been nice.) -Present a dish that speaks to the challenge you have been given. Please, please, don’t rant on and on about how your personal interpretation of the “taco” conflicts with the challenge before you to create an “upscale” version of the taco. That’s not what has been asked of you. You’ve been challenged to create an upscale version of a taco that would be suitable on the menu at TOPOLOBAMPO in Chicago-a restaurant owned by one of the country’s foremost Chefs of Mexican cuisine and the winner of “multiple James Beard Awards.” If you are conflicted between your personal opinions and the challenge before you, (Erik and Spike), it just might cloud what you put forward on the plate for the judges. (Erik). What you might think is “street food” in Cabo is not what you were asked to present to the judges table. It would have been funny if Chef Bayless overheard Erik say that Chef could “go screw himself” in response to the judge’s criticisms. But I don’t think Chef Bayless was watching that interview of Erik slamming the judges critique of his taco mess. Chef Bayless put Erik’s taco drek in simple terms without the aid of an edited clip when he said quite simply that “it was a mess.” And not the winner. A few more glasses of wine tonight and I might just comment on Padma’s culinary revelation at the judges table for the Elimination Challenge when she proclaimed that “I love the wonton…The wonton is genius!”

Hello Synergy-I echo the questions that rjwong and jsmeeker are asking you. Before I give specific restaurant recommendations for Las Vegas, I always ask some basic questions like what type of cuisine you are interested in, location, atmosphere and the one biggie-price. The price of dining in Las Vegas is quite expensive. You will be hard-pressed to find a steakhouse on the strip with entree prices in the $15-$35 range than you've suggested. There is a steakhouse at the Circus-Circus property up on the North end of the strip that might be in that price range. I haven't been there but it does get decent reviews. But the hotel is not in the exciting part of the strip and I think it is rundown. The prices of steaks at the top houses on the strip are averaging around $50. There are some lower cuts that aren't as expensive and some high-end beef like Kobe that raise the steak prices to over $100 per plate in some cases. Most of the high-end steakhouses do not include side dishes-the potatoes and the creamed spinach are an additional cost. I would recommend these restaurants: Jean-Georges is the steak restaurant at Bellagio, Craft by "Top Chef" judge Tom Collichio is down at the MGM and the Capitol Grille is at one end of the Fashion Show Mall overlooking the strip. Additional choices might be SW Steakhouse at Wynn and two new steakhouses at the recently opened Palazzo-Carnevino by Mario Batali of Food Network fame and Cut by Wolfgang Puck. You can find menus and prices posted online for each of these restaurants. If you are springing for the cost of a suite at Bellagio, you may want to consider paying the cost for dinner at one of the top steakhouses. I think it would add to your fun and memorable Las Vegas experience.

Wow, thank you. I'd encourage everyone who doesn't own a hard copy of one of Fannie Farmer's cookbooks to check out this wonderful website.

This looks fabulous! And it's ironic you are posting this delicious looking mutton because we have been talking about how hard it is to buy mutton in America over in the "Why is Lamb So Expensive" thread in Food Traditions and Culture. Count yourself lucky that you have mutton chops available.