Top Chef Season 5

[ulterior epicure]

Is it just me, or has Stefan crossed the line from being merely arrogant to full-bore obnoxious?

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It's not you. He is an ass.

I'm amazed at Carla's performance in the past few episodes. I'm happy for her, but surely not convinced that she should win the competition.

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I have loved Carla from the beginning. I won't say that I'm NOT surprised that she's in the final three. And I won't lie and say that I DON'T hope she wins. But I'm afraid all of the signs are pointing to Stefan as the winner.

I hope the judges surprise me.

[scubadoo97]

Boy has Carla grown on me. From early on I had doubts she would make it far but like the tortoise she imitated, LOL that was hilarious, she has pulled away to the front. Go Carla Go.

I was sad to see Fabio sent home. He was tremendously entertaining during this entire season. Wish his food was better. He has had some real winners but a lot of duds

Was glad to see Hosea out beat Stefan with his gumbo. Disappointed in the constant fixation Hosea has with Stefan. Just concentrate on making yours the best will get you a lot further. Of course there is a lot of editing that plays this pissing contest up.

Stefan is IMO one of the most talented but he is cocky and sometimes indifferent. While he's out for a smoke he better watch out for Carla

I was glad that Jeff won the chance to continue to compete. I had my doubts that he would stay in the game considering he had to win by a larger margin.

All in All an interesting twist on the episode and may the best chef win

[oakapple]

1) that the divide between the judges' comments as aired on how stellar Jeff's dish was and the blogged comments that it tasted like sterno is vast. In other words, how in the world would a judge be able to begin to heap that kind of praise on anything that in any way tasted like fuel in the first place?

I think it happened because: A) Remember, Jeff made two dishes, not one; and B) Though he obviously made some kind of error with the sterno, it does not undermine other technical decisions he made that turned out well.

2) secondly, I guess I'm just putting myself in Jeff's place as to how I would feel (actually Jeff was shown commenting on feeling good about the positive response to his dishes) initially receiving such praise only to later discover on a blog that my dish was anything but wonderful.

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I simply interpreted it that they were being gracious, which is admirable.

Was glad to see Hosea out beat Stefan with his gumbo.  Disappointed in the constant fixation Hosea has with Stefan.  Just concentrate on making yours the best will get you a lot further.  Of course there is a lot of editing that plays this pissing contest up.

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Exactly. Remember, in those contestant reactions there's a producer asking questions, probably along the lines of "Do you feel any competition from Stefan???"

[Dr. Teeth]

Is it just me, or has Stefan crossed the line from being merely arrogant to full-bore obnoxious?

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Well, c'mon the guy wears a t-shirt that says "I make good babies," in most of the early episodes. Is there any guy on the site over the age of 16 who thinks that's appropriate to wear outside the house (or inside for that matter)?

[GordonCooks]

Given the theme, it played to Stefan's and Carla's catering strengths - Carla performed up to snuff and Stefan played it to "not lose" Hosea's success relied on a huge amount of preparation I'm guessing. He strikes me as a very focused and studious cook. He probably read every cookbook he could get his hands on in the interim. I always enjoyed Fabio's personality - had the theme been cajun monkey's ass - he would have come out on top.

Given the final 3, Hosea seems like the long shot but hard work and preparation has excelled in the past. Carla and Stefan's grounding in French technique put's them in similar company but you cannot overlook Stefan's extensive experience working abroad and in Michelin starred kitchens. It's just at a whole other level.

[ulterior epicure]

... but you cannot overlook Stefan's extensive experience working abroad and in Michelin starred kitchens. It's just at a whole other level.

That's what some would say about a tortoise and a hare.

[oakapple]

Given the theme, it played to Stefan's and Carla's catering strengths - Carla performed up to snuff and Stefan played it to "not lose"....

I think "can't lose" is more like it.

...but you cannot overlook Stefan's extensive experience working abroad and in Michelin starred kitchens. It's just at a whole other level.

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If skill will out, Stefan should win, but he has to stop acting like it's in the bag.

By the way, what is the reason for moving the last two episodes to New Orleans? Obviously last night's episode had a Creole theme, but I believe the last episode is always freestyle: chefs cook what they want, which means they could be cooking anywhere. So did they move the thing to New Orleans just to get one episode with Emeril? Or is there something more subtle that I'm missing?

[GordonCooks]

... but you cannot overlook Stefan's extensive experience working abroad and in Michelin starred kitchens. It's just at a whole other level.

That's what some would say about a tortoise and a hare.

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More like Rocky Aoki and Masa Takayama

[HOLLY_L]

With respect to Jeff, I thought that after the first judge's table, he said something to the effect of "they only had positive things to say about my food" or some such. Am I misremembering? If that was really the case, and if Jeff's oysters really tasted like sterno, that seems more like the judges were being more disingenuous/playing to the camera/game rather than gracious to me.

[pedie]

I suspected that Fabio might be going home after seeing an article in our local newspaper, the Daily Breeze (covers the South Bay of Los Angeles), written by food editor, Natalie Haughton. Title: "Rising to the Top: Chef Viviani brings love of Italian food to Americans." It isn't posted on their website yet, so I could not include the link. I covers Fabio, his restaurant, his background and his experience on Top chef, but states that the winner will be announced next week and that Fabio is prohibited by contract from discussing the specifics of any sho not already aired. But it was a bit suspicious that they chose this Wednesday to run the article. Yes, I believe in conspiracy theories! :-)

I was sorry to see him leave and thought that Stephan should have been handed his knives.

[Holly Moore]

...

By the way, what is the reason for moving the last two episodes to New Orleans? Obviously last night's episode had a Creole theme, but I believe the last episode is always freestyle: chefs cook what they want, which means they could be cooking anywhere. So did they move the thing to New Orleans just to get one episode with Emeril? Or is there something more subtle that I'm missing?

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I'm guessing an on-the-ball convention and tourism bureau and an overall interest on the part of the talent and producers in supporting the rebuilding of the New Orleans food scene.

[Reignking]

They usually move the finale to a new location -- Aspen, Puerto Rico, Hawaii...

Edited February 19, 2009 by Reignking (log)

[Dignan]

They usually move the finale to a new location -- Aspen, Puerto Rice, Hawaii...

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Yep, plus Vegas and now NOLA.

[Chris Amirault]

I'm rewatching the episode with my daughter, and I have to say that the cocktails appear to be dump-on-the-floor wretched, and not just Carla's "cocktail." It really shows that recent, fundamental innovations in mixology, not to mention classic principles, are still foreign to chefs that know about sous vide, hydrocolloids, and foams.

[tsquare]

Come on over to Spur Gastropub in Seattle and you can have both!

[daisy17]

I'm rewatching the episode with my daughter, and I have to say that the cocktails appear to be dump-on-the-floor wretched, and not just Carla's "cocktail." It really shows that recent, fundamental innovations in mixology, not to mention classic principles, are still foreign to chefs that know about sous vide, hydrocolloids, and foams.

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I really surprised by their lack of understanding of balance in a cocktail.

[Chris Amirault]

Agreed. Why would Fabio want a sweet drink with his maque choux or pasta? And don't get me started on cucumber mojitos with Jeff's food....

[ulterior epicure]

I'm rewatching the episode with my daughter, and I have to say that the cocktails appear to be dump-on-the-floor wretched, and not just Carla's "cocktail." It really shows that recent, fundamental innovations in mixology, not to mention classic principles, are still foreign to chefs that know about sous vide, hydrocolloids, and foams.

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I really surprised by their lack of understanding of balance in a cocktail.

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Are we basing these comments off of personal, first-hand knowledge, or through-the-screen (or judges' mouths) tasting?

[Chris Amirault]

I'm basing them on the chefs' descriptions of their drinks, the ingredients, and the utter incompatibility of those things with the foods they prepared.

[Reignking]

That cucumber mojito looked like it came from a Bacardi bottle. And they had a bartender that they could've used.

[Chris Amirault]

They had serious limitations: warm ice, the need to bottle everything beforehand, lousy plastic cups. But clearly no one knew anything about the storied history of New Orleans cocktails, or about balance (as daisy17 said), or about aromatic garnishes as simple as twists.

[daisy17]

They had serious limitations: warm ice, the need to bottle everything beforehand, lousy plastic cups. But clearly no one knew anything about the storied history of New Orleans cocktails, or about balance (as daisy17 said), or about aromatic garnishes as simple as twists.

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It would have been awesome if someone had pulled a Sazerac out.

[hsm]

Our Fabio is apparently about to share how to do easy, stress-free Italian food, paired with a martini instead of wine in his new cookbook. More here including why he'd rather be Colicchio than Batali.

[DanM]

So did they move the thing to New Orleans just to get one episode with Emeril? Or is there something more subtle that I'm missing?

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Very simple, tax breaks and government incentives.

Dan

[oakapple]

I'm rewatching the episode with my daughter, and I have to say that the cocktails appear to be dump-on-the-floor wretched, and not just Carla's "cocktail." It really shows that recent, fundamental innovations in mixology, not to mention classic principles, are still foreign to chefs that know about sous vide, hydrocolloids, and foams.

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If the cocktails were that bad, then apparently Emeril, Tom, Padma and Gail were just as ignorant as the chefs, since they certainly didn't have the extreme reaction that you did. Having said that, none of these chefs is a career mixologist, so I would not expect them to be brilliant at it, just as I wouldn't expect a mixologist to be a brilliant chef.