Top Chef: Season 3

[hshiau]

I'm afraid Casey has hit the glass ceiling. I clearly heard in the quickfire, her dish referred to as the best. Yet when it comes time to announce the winner, she gets the pat on the rear and Hung wins.

I thought I had heard hers was the best by far during the Quickfire too. I did a double take when he announced it was Hung who won. Based on that, it would have been nice to know the reasoning behind the decision.

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They definitely should have explained it better than his not being able to give her the win because she's cute. However, I wouldn't feel too bad for her. She's got the Mac Powerbook and the 1st class tickets anywhere in the world. Hung won NOTHING!

Edited September 21, 2007 by hshiau (log)

[KensethFan]

Casey's been on top of her game for the last few weeks and again this week. She is out cooking Hung. There is no doubt about that. She is delivering the goods while Hung is just running his mouth in self-aggrandizement and truly failing to deliver. But just to keep things interesting and to fulfill the reality tv (non-reality really) role, they have to give it to Hung and keep the drama up.

[theisenm85]

I thought I had heard hers was the best by far during the Quickfire too. I did a double take when he announced it was Hung who won. Based on that, it would have been nice to know the reasoning behind the decision.

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If you go to www.bravotv.com , you can read some of the judge/other blogs. Collichio's blog in particular is probably the best for why judges made the decisions they did. In the quickfire, Casey had a small presentation problem because the potato didn't wrap all of the way around the fish. The fix for this was to cut the fish to accommodate the size of the potato. That was something Hung did, and Casey didn't. While it wasn't mentioned in the final cut, Tom was pretty confident that Sirio would have noticed that.

For the real challenge, Tom really took issue with the "Coq au vin" Casey served, as that wasn't really what she served. (He went beyond the small explanation that made it to the TV version.... he really didn't like that move) Also, apparently, Hung's dish was really freaking delicious save the pommes dauphin being a bit underwhelming. He only half explained that away, saying that the rest of hung's food on that plate, (skin, chicken), were so good that the potato didn't matter, but I guess that does nothing for casey.

It's always good to remember that there is more to reality tv than meets the eye. While the blogs aren't the answer to all of the things that might puzzle us on the show, they start to show more of the real thought process at least.

[David Ross]

I agree with everyone-this week's competition was the 'best' of the season. I say 'best' because as you all know, I've been hungry for the producers of Top Chef to put more emphasis on the serious aspects of food and cooking into this season's show. I think this episode proved that there can be a place in the show that caters to our demographic of serious foodies while still keeping an element of drama.

Personally, I didn't think the Sea Bass dish served at Le Cirque looked all that good. Of course the true test would have been if I was sitting at the table eating the Sea Bass, but the potatoes looked burned to me.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more explanation about the set-up of the quickfire challenge. There wasn't a reference to the sauce, I think it looked like maybe a veal jus? And there wasn't mention that the sauce was pre-made by the kitchen staff or if the chefs had to make their own sauce? I couldn't find any clues in Bourdain or Collichio's blogs that said anything about the sauce. Since the chefs only had about 30 minutes to prepare the dish I doubt they made the sauce from scratch. Just a minute detail this cook would like to know.

It really seemed odd to me that Dale didn't seem to have a clue as to how to use a Mandoline. I don't think you'd have to be a classically trained French chef to know how to set-up and use a Mandoline but maybe I'm wrong. I thought for sure we were going to see someone head to the emergency room in need of blood transfusions as I watched some of the cheftestants stick their fingers out too far while they sliced potatoes on that razor sharp blade. Yikes, Dale be careful with that thing!

And poor Sara. Sara seems to have just given up the will to win-or any will for that matter. She didn't seem to care as witnessed by her dis-organization in the Le Cirque kitchen. Imagine-being so distracted by where the dirty dishes go that you serve raw fish to Cirrio Maccioni! For God's sake I wanted to shake her by the neck and say "forget the *&%$# dirty dishes and just cook the dang Sea Bass Sara!"

And another example of what I would call Sara's tired, 'ready to go home to Jamaica' attitude was that mess of a chicken dish she served at The French Culinary Institute. What was she thinking? I am sure her Jamaican influenced chicken dish can be quite good. But she was specifically told to do a 'classic' dish using chicken, onion and potato and she was in America's premier French cuisine institute. Duh. Doesn't that make you assume you should probably do a French dish? And you are cooking for Andre Soltner. As Bourdain referenced in his blog, an aspiring chef cooking for Soltner would be akin to an American Idol wannabe singing for Celine Deion. I think you'd want to put your best dish forward.

Sara, Sara, Sara. Think for just a few seconds when you are faced with a challenge. Think before you cook and you may end up with a better dish.

So I wasn't surprised Sara was sent home. Her fish in the quickfire challenge was raw, her chicken dish in the elimination challenge didn't meet the theme and it was also raw according to more than one judge. Nearly as poor of an effort as CJ's Broccolini last week.

But I wasn't too impressed with Brian or Dale's dishes in the elimination challenge and I think they are slipping on some dirty water on the kitchen floor.

Colicchio said that Brian's 'Sheperd's Pie' was a mess but tasted good. Gosh, I didn't think the French liked much of anything about British cuisine, including Sheperd's Pie. But duly noted by the judges, the taste of Brian's dish was good-albeit saved by the pheasant sausage and fresh ramps in the topping of the pie. I just thought Brian didn't stick with the intention of the theme and got lucky he didn't go home.

Dale got way too trendy, then really missed the mark. I bet if he were to have a conversation with Soltner he'd be scolded by the Master that it isn't really necessary to do a duo of anything. Just take a decent, 'classic' ingredient like chicken and you can make ONE beautiful dish. Last week Dale forgets steak number 18 and leaves that poor Flight Attendant looking around the cabin for his dinner. This week Dale forgets his delicious sauce for his chicken entree. That probably won't pass him on this year as Top Chef if he forgets how to boil water in Aspen.

I remember attending a cookbook signing when Chef Soltner came to Portland many years ago. I got the sense back then from listening to him speak and reading through his 'Lutece' cookbook, that he was a simple man creating simple food that at one time was described as the best classic French cuisine in New York.

Chef Soltner has described himself not as a chef and certainly not a celebrity chef but as a craftsman. I remember him saying at the cookbook signing that as a craftsman his skills were really no different than the skills of the cabinet maker or the wood worker. Take the finest grade of wood and shape it with loving hands using perfect technique and you end up with an heirloom article of furniture. Good advice for a Top Chef isn't it?

Chef Soltner gave me that same sense of the craftsman at work this week as I listened to his comments about the dishes on Top Chef-you don't need a trendy, overly-wordy menu description to justify charging $45 for a plate of chicken. But you do need to cook it right and treat it simply so the chicken flavor stars. I think that is why they chose Hung and Casey as the top two chefs.

[David Ross]

I also wanted to add that I would like to see Casey and Hung in the final cook-off-if that is what is planned for this year's finale.

I liked Hung's cooking talents right from the start. I keep going back to that very creative dish he did in the 'Surf and Turf' challenge of Geoduck and Black Chicken. It was creative and not at all what you would have expected from 'surf and turf'-i.e. Steak and Lobster. And I remember the judges liked the flavors and taste of the dish. I just knew that Hung wouldn't be working in the kitchens of Guy Savoy Las Vegas unless he was a talented chef. I doubt Chef Savoy and his executive chefs would let Hung trim celery if he didn't have some talent. I think in the two French challenges this week-the Sea Bass entree at Le Cirque and the Potato, Chicken and Onion challenge at the French Culinary Institute-Hung's technical skills and his creative talents came out and he was really ahead of most of the others in my opinion. I don't like the guy's attitude, but I do respect him as a chef and I do give him points for mentioning that he's an immigrant trying to make a name for himself.

My sentimental choice is Casey. She's really started to pull out some surprising dishes in the past few weeks. I think some of us had probably thought Casey was on the lower tier of contestants. I for one thought Tre was sailing through to the finals. Tre blew it with those smoked potatoes among other failures. But Casey has been consistent and then last week really took the lead with her Veal dish and the side of Cauliflower Gratin. I'd sure eat that on Continental Airlines.

This week I thought Casey held steady under what must have been incredibly intense pressure. Imagine walking into the kitchens of Le Cirque and being challenged to duplicate one of their special 'VIP' entrees. Did you see the looks on the faces of those chefs? They didn't appear to be fans of Top Chef!

But Casey endured and I actually was cheering her on as she stood Colicchio down when he kept pushing her on the 'rooster in Coq au Vin' issue. Soltner didn't seem to have an issue with Casey using a Spring chicken in her Coq au Vin and in the end, Colicchio acquiesced and agreed that the flavors were right on. So who gives a damn if she used a rooster, a Capon, a Poussin or a Spring chicken? You go Casey.

[robert40]

The sea bass is a signature dish that has been on Le Cirque's menu since the days of Daniel Boulud.

The sauce is a red wine reduction that I doubt could be produced in 30 minutes.

Edited September 22, 2007 by robert40 (log)

[MsSumida]

The sauce is a red wine reduction that I doubt could be produced in 30 minutes.

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It's posts like this that make me wish Bravo would put the complete rules of each challenge on the web site so I had a better understanding of what was really happening.

[Doodad]

Did you see the looks on the faces of those chefs? They didn't appear to be fans of Top Chef! <p>

No doubt. That was a most withering glaze. The guy putting up with Sara looked on the edge of losing it.

Edited September 23, 2007 by Doodad (log)

[Fpoint]

The one thing I noticed was that during and after the quick fire the only name Sirio Maccioni seemed to remember was Cassey's.

What I don't get is why did Brian get off so lightly for using a pre-made pheasant sausage in what was supposed to a basic chicken dish. This seemed like him 'not cooking' yet again. There was more talking about what Cassey called her dish than to Brian's skirting the rules.

[Al Abonado]

The sauce is a red wine reduction that I doubt could be produced in 30 minutes.

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It's posts like this that make me wish Bravo would put the complete rules of each challenge on the web site so I had a better understanding of what was really happening.

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I do believe they mentioned somewhere( or read on one of the many Top Chef blogs) that the sauce was provided for them, because there was no way they could complete the dish in the time constraints if they had to create the sauce themselves.

[pimptenshi]

Last episode was awesome!

I wish TC had 2 endings: One with hung as the winner and other with him loosing to Casey, just to hear his comments in both cases ^^

[kiliki]

Hung won NOTHING!

He undoubtedly did; they just probably edited it out. I geeked out and was watching Sara's exit interview; one caller (yes they have live calls) asked why she didn't win a prize when she won a challenge, and she said she did, but that it just didn't make it into the final show.

GO CASEY!! Food aside, her calm, cool and collected manner just blow me away. She's so much classier than most every contestant we've seen each season.

[RAHiggins1]

Whole Chicken

Idaho Russet Potatos

Spanish (Yellow) Onion

What dish would you have prepared if you were on Top Chef?

I'm thinking chicken stuffed potato dumplings with an onion (shallot) puree.

I know Dale made potato dumplings earlier, but this is combingin all three elements in one dish with an equal use of each.

[rconnelly]

Whole Chicken

Idaho Russet Potatos

Spanish (Yellow) Onion

What dish would you have prepared if you were on Top Chef?

I'm thinking chicken stuffed potato dumplings with an onion (shallot) puree.

I know Dale made potato dumplings earlier, but this is combingin all three elements in one dish with an equal use of each.

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I can't remember how much time they had, but I would've done a roast chicken with roasted potatoes and onions alongside. Wine, butter, seasonings, lots of basting....simple yet if done correctly is one of the best meals in the world!

Edited September 24, 2007 by rconnelly (log)

[David Ross]

There are some interesting posts over in the "Top Chef-What Would You Make?" thread. I'll put a post over there myself with a suggestion on a dish I would have done for this past week's episode.

[RAHiggins1]

There are some interesting posts over in the "Top Chef-What Would You Make?" thread.  I'll put a post over there myself with a suggestion on a dish I would have done for this past week's episode.

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I haven't seen that thread, I'll have to go look for it.

[Bruschetta]

I can't remember how much time they had, but I would've done a roast chicken with roasted potatoes and onions alongside. Wine, butter, seasonings, lots of basting....simple yet if done correctly is one of the best meals in the world!

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My thought exactly. There is flat-out nothing nicer than a perfectly roasted chicken. I like to do mine with preserved lemons in the cavity and garlic cloves under the skin, and baste the heck out of it.

And maybe I'm overly conservative, or too much of a purist, or something. But is there anything better to do with potatoes than some variation of mashed? I love the texture, especially alongside juicy roast chicken. Green salad, tarte tatin, and I'm in heaven.

It ain't fancy, but it sure is good.

[Claudia Greco]

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[Kevin72]

Not much to say about this one; seemed like more or less and excuse to get rid of Brian before moving on to the finale. Twice the judges mentioned how good the quality of the chefs has been this season, but it's certainly not anything the judges have bothered to say previously in the in the past, oh, 4-5 episodes.

It would seem pretty evident that Casey's got it locked up (uh-oh). The ongoing meme this season has been that Hung is techinically proficient but his dishes lack heart and it was really piled on him last night. I thought for a second he was going to be going home in a true late season twist. But I've kinda grown to like the guy; he is what he is and doesn't seem as passive-aggressive as Marcel last season. And Dale's become increasingly reliable for a funny quip each episode as well. I thought his speech about why he should stay was touching.

[Slamdunkpro]

Best moment from last night - Colicchio is skewering Casey over her dish with Gail piling on when Eric Ripert shuts them both up with "I disagree". After his pronouncement from the mount they were both visibly squirming to dig themselves out of their respective opinion holes

[Claudia Greco]

And Dale's become increasingly reliable for a funny quip each episode as well. I thought his speech about why he should stay was touching.

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I was really happy to see Dale not only make it to the final three, but win an elimination challange. And his speech not only was very touching, but rang true. Hung gave an amazing performance about soul and what food meant to him - truly Oscar-worthy. Given he got all verklempt about the subject in the side interview/soundbite BEFORE the challenge, I think Hung has been picking up on the technically perfect-but-soulless vibe he's been getting recently. Oh, how about how he LOVED to be working with elk?!

Brian was destined to go, barring a massive FU from Dale. Unless Hung really screws up next week or gets snotty with the judges, he won't be going home. While I originally thought Hung would win it, I'm actually beginning to suspect Casey might take him down after all. And, yes, for a few minutes there, I actually thought it might be HUNG going home this week. Let's hear it for Dale's fabulous saucing (!)

[rconnelly]

And Dale's become increasingly reliable for a funny quip each episode as well. I thought his speech about why he should stay was touching.

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I was really happy to see Dale not only make it to the final three, but win an elimination challange. And his speech not only was very touching, but rang true. Hung gave an amazing performance about soul and what food meant to him - truly Oscar-worthy. Given he got all verklempt about the subject in the side interview/soundbite BEFORE the challenge, I think Hung has been picking up on the technically perfect-but-soulless vibe he's been getting recently. Oh, how about how he LOVED to be working with elk?!

Brian was destined to go, barring a massive FU from Dale. Unless Hung really screws up next week or gets snotty with the judges, he won't be going home. While I originally thought Hung would win it, I'm actually beginning to suspect Casey might take him down after all. And, yes, for a few minutes there, I actually thought it might be HUNG going home this week. Let's hear it for Dale's fabulous saucing (!)

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Hung's harangue seemed more for the judge's sake. Not that he isn't passionate about his craft, but all of a sudden he's talking about the soul etc.

Just so much blather. Too little too late

[Darcie B]

Hung's harangue seemed more for the judge's sake. Not that he isn't passionate about his craft, but all of a sudden he's talking about the soul etc.

Just so much blather. Too little too late

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I have two minds about this. One is that the "proof is in the pudding," i.e. you can talk about soul all you want but the food speaks for itself. There is a disconnect between what he says and what he does.

The other thought I have is that maybe he IS putting his soul in the food...but he just ain't got a lotta soul.

[Reignking]

Interesting editing. Why didn't we hear about Hung's past and family earlier? Because Bravo wanted to make Hung the villain. Now that we're down to the finals, they are trying to humanize all of them.

[Zeemanb]

Best moment from last night - Colicchio is skewering Casey over her dish with Gail piling on when Eric Ripert shuts them both up with "I disagree". After his pronouncement from the mount they were both visibly squirming to dig themselves out of their respective opinion holes

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Totally agree..... I need to go back and watch it one more time to make sure it wasn't just choppy editing, but it looked like Gail almost gave herself whiplash from changing direction so quickly! And I have to add, unless Ripert is a hellion off camera, he comes across to me as a nice guy who takes his job as judge very seriously and genuinely wants to give valuable insight.

I'm already wondering how they're going to craft Season 4....... my short term memory isn't the greatest, but I think Howie was the biggest drama queen/villain this year, and they REALLY had to go wild with the editing to build it up as much as they did. They didn't really have any bitter rivalries and nobody was booted off for assault. Most of the cheftestants could actually cook food, got along with each other, and there have been some REAL chefs acting as guest judges. So (in spite of the same type of ridiculous challenges) I have enjoyed this season far more than the second, but I'm wondering if BRAVO will consider this "good tv" and keep going in that direction. Guess it all depends on the ratings, but I'll bet it worries some execs when you're down to the final three contestants and the biggest "villain" to root against is a guy who dumps stuff on the floor and doesn't chip in to help when he gets done early.