TOP CHEF Spoilers
Feb. 26th, 2009 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomAnd the winner is...
... announced at the end of the recap, silly. ;)
So. We started in New York with seventeen challengers. And it has come down to New Orleans, and the final three: Stefan, the Chefinator; Hosea, the bitter rival; and Carla, Teh Love Goddess. GO CARLA!
They have breakfast on the Creole Queen paddle boat. Carla is still boggled she's in the final three, but she thinks she's got the momentum. Hosea says he has more to prove; he doesn't own his own business, unlike the other two, and it would suck to go home at this point and not be Top Chef. Stefan says his food is much better than Hosea's.
They meet Tom and Padma at the New Orleans Collection. The challenge is "simple": cook the best three-course meal of your life. Bring everything you've got. They'll be cooking head-to-head, serving simultaneously. They do not have to make a dessert. Twelve judges and guests.
Oh, and they'll be cooking at Commander's Palace. Two-hour prep tonight at the Audubon Tea Room. Aaaaaand they'll be getting some help.
Previous Top Chef finalists Marcel Vigneron (from Season 2), Casey Thompson (Season 3), and Richard Blais (Season 4). SO FUCKING COOL TO SEE RICHARD! And, honestly, Casey. Astro B- er, Wolver- um, Marcel? Not so much.
They draw knives to pick their sous chef. Having won last week, Carla draws first, but picks the number 3, so she picks last. Hosea gets 1, and (saying Marcel reminds him of Stefan) picks Richard. Stefan picks Marcel ("... a great chef -- a bit of a twat, but who's not?"). Carla gets Casey.
Off to the Audubon Tea Room. Right off the bat, Stefan and Hosea get into it over who gets the foie gras. Stefan took two of the three loaves, Hosea takes one of Stefan's Stefan says he needs it and left him one, Hosea says he needs it and offers 1-1/2 each, Stefan says "Keep it", they hate each other some more. I wonder if Carla wanted foie gras, as neither man seemed to take her into their calculations. And, I've had foie gras. How much do you need?
Stefan says two hours isn't a lot of time to prepare the best meal of your life. Hosea has a rough outline: raw fish for the first course, scallops and foie gras, game for the third course. And he'll sleep on it.
Stefan complains because Richard has nabbed all of the caviar for Hosea.
Carla's strategy is big flavors. She wants to do French food, a version of bouillabaisse, and also beef as comfort food ("exciting, but still... a little refined"). Casey suggests sous-videing the beef. Hosea says he's never seen Carla do sous-vide, but if it works it's gonna really work.
Stefan is going for basic, great flavors. Not going for gosh-wow, but keeping it simple and making it as good as possible. Smart man.
That evening, the chefs are visited by a voodoo card reader. She's got a coffin with bones in it. Stefan asks questions about his love life ("How about... a girl named Jamie?" Still seeking the unattainable, I see). The woman says it could be his girlfriend. Stefan says he bought three voodoo dolls the last time they were in New Orleans, and stabbed his Hosea and Carla dolls many times.
Final Challenge: The next morning, the chefs go into Commander's Palace, to find Tom waiting with a tray of strange-looking ingredients. Welcome to Top Iron Chef. Basically, the three-course meal is now a four-course meal. Carla says the butterflies in her stomach are now bats. The chefs have to make an appetizer pass tray, using traditional New Orleans ingredients -- crab, red fish, or alligator.
To decide who gets what, each gets a slice of King Cake. Whoever gets the little baby inside the slice (no, I'm not making this up) picks their protein, and assigns the others to the other two chefs. King Hosea gets the baby. He takes the red fish, and gives Carla the crab and, in a completely unexpected move, assigns Stefan the alligator. In an interview spot, Hosea gives Stefan the finger.
It is a whole fucking alligator, seven feet long.
Hosea decides to do a griddled corn cake with a remoulade and blackened red fish. Stefan (who butchers that sucker beautifully) decides on alligator soup. Carla decides on shiso soup with blue crab, but she can't focus on the rest of her meal, she's so hung up on the appetizer.
As time inexorably ticks away, the chefs settle on their final menus:
Dinner time. That sure looks like Fabio. There's Ti Martin, the proprietor of Commander's Palace, and there's Gail looking way hot in low-cut purple.
Hosea takes his appetizer out, and there's Susan Spicer, John Besh, Rocco Dispirito, Hubert Keller, and Hosea is nervous as hell.
Blackened red fish on corn cake w/Creole remoulade & micro cilantro -- "Wow"; "Nailed it"; "Everything complemented the red fish"; "great presentation -- lots of imagination".
Stefan says Hosea was trying to screw him up with the alligator, but it won't work ("MY hundred thousand dollars, dude").
Alligator soup w/celeriac, parsley leaves & puff pastry -- "Fantastic"; "I really like the last little touch with the puff pastry"; "lovely"; "well done". Yeah, it was Fabio I saw.
Carla comes out with a big, "Hi! How are you?"
Shiso soup w/blue crab & chayote Thai salad -- "nice... concentrated flavor", "well cooked", "the crab hits you, and then all the flavors that accompany it". That last was from Branford freakin Marsalis.
And here we are at the big table. Besides judges Toby Young and Tom, the only guest I hadn't mentioned before was the Commander's Palace executive chef, Tory McPhail.
First course:
Second course:
Hosea calls Stefan his nemesis, and admits that Stefan's dessert looks beautiful. Stefan says Hosea doesn't know how to do dessert. The soufflé is bubbling, it's too hot, and Carla decides not to serve it. She's disappointed.
Third course:
Carla is worried. She doesn't feel it was the meal of her life. Hosea says he can hold his head high. Stefan says there's no way to know what the judges will think.
Judges' Table: Gail praises Carla's appetizer and first course. The sauce for her main course was good, but the texture of the meat was not right -- as Toby says, "far too refined... polite... fussy... anemic." Tom asks how much influence Casey had, and he looks troubled at Carla's answer that, yes, Casey suggested it and "yeah, I'll try that -- I know about it but I don't do it." Carla says she could not serve that soufflé. Tom says (and oh man, do I agree) that it seems Carla let her sous chef talk her out of cooking the food that got Carla to the finale.
Hosea's hors 'douvres was praised. It's admitted, with good-natured laughter, that it was fun to stick Stefan with the alligator, "and he would've done the same to me". Toby thought it was fresh and light, but without enough citrus to bring out the best in the dish. Everyone likes the apple compote with the foie gras. The venison dish was again praised, but Toby says a meal should have a beginning, middle, and end, and this had two middles. Hosea says he doesn't usually need dessert, and would rather showcase savory flavors. Another dubious look from Tom.
No, Stefan has never cooked with alligator before. Tom and Toby both liked it a lot. Gail says the carpaccio tasted watered down. Tom doesn't get freezing fresh fish so you can slice it thin. Stefan says, "But did it taste good or not?" Tom says it was somewhat bland. The squab is universally praised; Tom calls it the strongest dish of the night. Gail asks if that dessert was the last note he wanted? Stefan says, "Yes."
Oh man. I think it's gonna be Hosea.
They ask each why they should win. Stefan says he deserves it -- he's been very consistent overall, always good food. Hosea says he did a great job tonight. Carla says when she cooks her food, it's really delicious, there's a lot of heart. You can hear the tears as she says her food is good, when she makes it. She knows Casey screwed her up. Thanks so, so much, Casey.
My god. Stefan comes over to comfort her.
They go off to await the decision. Carla is still crying, and Stefan comforts her again.
The first thing the judges agree is that Carla is out of the running. THANKS SO FUCKING MUCH, CASEY.
The two chefs come from very different backgrounds -- Stefan more classical, but while Hosea may not be as technically skilled Padma finds a thoughtfulness to his food. Tom points out he got to the finale. Toby says Stefan's menu was better thought out. Overall opinions: the alligator soup was great, the halibut was bland, the squab was perfect, the dessert was pedestrian at best. Tom says the arc of Hosea's meal was a very nice progression. Toby says the venison was undoubtedly the best finale of the evening -- he still makes a point about it not being a dessert, but Gail points out that dessert wasn't required, and Hosea gave a meal she would be completely satisfied with. Stefan was so high with his soup, went way down the seafood, back way up with the squab, and back down with the dessert. Tom says Stefan's food has precision, but he doesn't see any soul in his food. Toby says if they give it to the most soulful chef, they have to give it to Carla.
The chefs are called back out.
Tom tells Carla that when they see her food, from her soul and her heart, they love what they see. Hosea put together a nice meal, very steady across the board. Stefan had some amazing highs, but also some lows. Ultimately, they made their decision based on how the meal tasted, from start to finish.
Congratulations, Hosea!
Stefan: "If I had made a different dessert today, I would've won. They expected more from me, so.... Would I love the title? Absolutely, no doubt about that. But I don't turn around and look back, 'Ay, oh god, I'm bitter, I didn't get the hundred grand, I'm not Top Chef, Season 5' -- I'm second runner-up, man! I'm happy, dude!"
Carla: "I should've done my food, and I will not make that mistake again, but... when I came here, I wanted to show people a different way of competing, to compete with love. So I did one of the things I wanted to do here." I FUCKING LOVE CARLA.
Hosea: "It felt amazing to win... but to have it come down neck and neck with Stefan just made it all that sweeter. That was the icing on the cake. It felt really good. This is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I know a lot of people are gonna be proud of me for this, and I couldn't be happier. Things are gonna change. I'm sure."
As I said before, I think this was a very strong final three, and any of them could win. Obviously, I was rooting for Carla, but Hosea was very good and very consistent, and as a number of us figured, Stefan tripped himself up with overconfidence. I think we'll be seeing all of them again, very soon. Congratulations to all of them, to Hosea for winning, and to Bravo for a hell of a good Season 5.
Thoughts?
... announced at the end of the recap, silly. ;)
So. We started in New York with seventeen challengers. And it has come down to New Orleans, and the final three: Stefan, the Chefinator; Hosea, the bitter rival; and Carla, Teh Love Goddess. GO CARLA!
They have breakfast on the Creole Queen paddle boat. Carla is still boggled she's in the final three, but she thinks she's got the momentum. Hosea says he has more to prove; he doesn't own his own business, unlike the other two, and it would suck to go home at this point and not be Top Chef. Stefan says his food is much better than Hosea's.
They meet Tom and Padma at the New Orleans Collection. The challenge is "simple": cook the best three-course meal of your life. Bring everything you've got. They'll be cooking head-to-head, serving simultaneously. They do not have to make a dessert. Twelve judges and guests.
Oh, and they'll be cooking at Commander's Palace. Two-hour prep tonight at the Audubon Tea Room. Aaaaaand they'll be getting some help.
Previous Top Chef finalists Marcel Vigneron (from Season 2), Casey Thompson (Season 3), and Richard Blais (Season 4). SO FUCKING COOL TO SEE RICHARD! And, honestly, Casey. Astro B- er, Wolver- um, Marcel? Not so much.
They draw knives to pick their sous chef. Having won last week, Carla draws first, but picks the number 3, so she picks last. Hosea gets 1, and (saying Marcel reminds him of Stefan) picks Richard. Stefan picks Marcel ("... a great chef -- a bit of a twat, but who's not?"). Carla gets Casey.
Off to the Audubon Tea Room. Right off the bat, Stefan and Hosea get into it over who gets the foie gras. Stefan took two of the three loaves, Hosea takes one of Stefan's Stefan says he needs it and left him one, Hosea says he needs it and offers 1-1/2 each, Stefan says "Keep it", they hate each other some more. I wonder if Carla wanted foie gras, as neither man seemed to take her into their calculations. And, I've had foie gras. How much do you need?
Stefan says two hours isn't a lot of time to prepare the best meal of your life. Hosea has a rough outline: raw fish for the first course, scallops and foie gras, game for the third course. And he'll sleep on it.
Stefan complains because Richard has nabbed all of the caviar for Hosea.
Carla's strategy is big flavors. She wants to do French food, a version of bouillabaisse, and also beef as comfort food ("exciting, but still... a little refined"). Casey suggests sous-videing the beef. Hosea says he's never seen Carla do sous-vide, but if it works it's gonna really work.
Stefan is going for basic, great flavors. Not going for gosh-wow, but keeping it simple and making it as good as possible. Smart man.
That evening, the chefs are visited by a voodoo card reader. She's got a coffin with bones in it. Stefan asks questions about his love life ("How about... a girl named Jamie?" Still seeking the unattainable, I see). The woman says it could be his girlfriend. Stefan says he bought three voodoo dolls the last time they were in New Orleans, and stabbed his Hosea and Carla dolls many times.
Final Challenge: The next morning, the chefs go into Commander's Palace, to find Tom waiting with a tray of strange-looking ingredients. Welcome to Top Iron Chef. Basically, the three-course meal is now a four-course meal. Carla says the butterflies in her stomach are now bats. The chefs have to make an appetizer pass tray, using traditional New Orleans ingredients -- crab, red fish, or alligator.
To decide who gets what, each gets a slice of King Cake. Whoever gets the little baby inside the slice (no, I'm not making this up) picks their protein, and assigns the others to the other two chefs. King Hosea gets the baby. He takes the red fish, and gives Carla the crab and, in a completely unexpected move, assigns Stefan the alligator. In an interview spot, Hosea gives Stefan the finger.
It is a whole fucking alligator, seven feet long.
Hosea decides to do a griddled corn cake with a remoulade and blackened red fish. Stefan (who butchers that sucker beautifully) decides on alligator soup. Carla decides on shiso soup with blue crab, but she can't focus on the rest of her meal, she's so hung up on the appetizer.
As time inexorably ticks away, the chefs settle on their final menus:
- Hosea: trio of sashimi; scallops & foie gras w/pain perdu; venison loin w/wild mushrooms
- Stefan: halibut & salmon carpaccio; squab w/braised red cabbage & schupfnudeln; ice cream & chocolate mousse w/vanilla syrup & lollipops
- Carla: seared snapper w/saffron aioli & crouton; sous-vide New York strip steak, potato rod w/merlot sauce; cheese tart w/apple coins & marmalade
Dinner time. That sure looks like Fabio. There's Ti Martin, the proprietor of Commander's Palace, and there's Gail looking way hot in low-cut purple.
Hosea takes his appetizer out, and there's Susan Spicer, John Besh, Rocco Dispirito, Hubert Keller, and Hosea is nervous as hell.
Blackened red fish on corn cake w/Creole remoulade & micro cilantro -- "Wow"; "Nailed it"; "Everything complemented the red fish"; "great presentation -- lots of imagination".
Stefan says Hosea was trying to screw him up with the alligator, but it won't work ("MY hundred thousand dollars, dude").
Alligator soup w/celeriac, parsley leaves & puff pastry -- "Fantastic"; "I really like the last little touch with the puff pastry"; "lovely"; "well done". Yeah, it was Fabio I saw.
Carla comes out with a big, "Hi! How are you?"
Shiso soup w/blue crab & chayote Thai salad -- "nice... concentrated flavor", "well cooked", "the crab hits you, and then all the flavors that accompany it". That last was from Branford freakin Marsalis.
And here we are at the big table. Besides judges Toby Young and Tom, the only guest I hadn't mentioned before was the Commander's Palace executive chef, Tory McPhail.
First course:
- Stefan: smoked salmon & halibut carpaccio w/micro greens, citrus vinaigrette & caviar
- Carla: seared red snapper over saffron aoili, braised fennel & grilled clam
- Hosea: tuna, hamachi & black bass sashimi w/fennel oil citrus & fried tempura bits
Second course:
- Stefan: pan seared squab, braised cabbage, schupfnudeln, foie gras & grape jus
- Carla: sous-vide New York strip steak w/seared potato rod & merlot sauce
- Hosea: seared scallop w/foie gras on pain perdu, apple preserves & foie gras foam
Hosea calls Stefan his nemesis, and admits that Stefan's dessert looks beautiful. Stefan says Hosea doesn't know how to do dessert. The soufflé is bubbling, it's too hot, and Carla decides not to serve it. She's disappointed.
Third course:
- Stefan: stracciatella ice cream, chocolate mousse, vanilla syrup & banana lollipop
- Carla: apple tart coin w/blue cheese & walnut
- Hosea: pan-roasted venison, chestnut & celery root purée w/wild mushrooms
Carla is worried. She doesn't feel it was the meal of her life. Hosea says he can hold his head high. Stefan says there's no way to know what the judges will think.
Judges' Table: Gail praises Carla's appetizer and first course. The sauce for her main course was good, but the texture of the meat was not right -- as Toby says, "far too refined... polite... fussy... anemic." Tom asks how much influence Casey had, and he looks troubled at Carla's answer that, yes, Casey suggested it and "yeah, I'll try that -- I know about it but I don't do it." Carla says she could not serve that soufflé. Tom says (and oh man, do I agree) that it seems Carla let her sous chef talk her out of cooking the food that got Carla to the finale.
Hosea's hors 'douvres was praised. It's admitted, with good-natured laughter, that it was fun to stick Stefan with the alligator, "and he would've done the same to me". Toby thought it was fresh and light, but without enough citrus to bring out the best in the dish. Everyone likes the apple compote with the foie gras. The venison dish was again praised, but Toby says a meal should have a beginning, middle, and end, and this had two middles. Hosea says he doesn't usually need dessert, and would rather showcase savory flavors. Another dubious look from Tom.
No, Stefan has never cooked with alligator before. Tom and Toby both liked it a lot. Gail says the carpaccio tasted watered down. Tom doesn't get freezing fresh fish so you can slice it thin. Stefan says, "But did it taste good or not?" Tom says it was somewhat bland. The squab is universally praised; Tom calls it the strongest dish of the night. Gail asks if that dessert was the last note he wanted? Stefan says, "Yes."
Oh man. I think it's gonna be Hosea.
They ask each why they should win. Stefan says he deserves it -- he's been very consistent overall, always good food. Hosea says he did a great job tonight. Carla says when she cooks her food, it's really delicious, there's a lot of heart. You can hear the tears as she says her food is good, when she makes it. She knows Casey screwed her up. Thanks so, so much, Casey.
My god. Stefan comes over to comfort her.
They go off to await the decision. Carla is still crying, and Stefan comforts her again.
The first thing the judges agree is that Carla is out of the running. THANKS SO FUCKING MUCH, CASEY.
The two chefs come from very different backgrounds -- Stefan more classical, but while Hosea may not be as technically skilled Padma finds a thoughtfulness to his food. Tom points out he got to the finale. Toby says Stefan's menu was better thought out. Overall opinions: the alligator soup was great, the halibut was bland, the squab was perfect, the dessert was pedestrian at best. Tom says the arc of Hosea's meal was a very nice progression. Toby says the venison was undoubtedly the best finale of the evening -- he still makes a point about it not being a dessert, but Gail points out that dessert wasn't required, and Hosea gave a meal she would be completely satisfied with. Stefan was so high with his soup, went way down the seafood, back way up with the squab, and back down with the dessert. Tom says Stefan's food has precision, but he doesn't see any soul in his food. Toby says if they give it to the most soulful chef, they have to give it to Carla.
The chefs are called back out.
Tom tells Carla that when they see her food, from her soul and her heart, they love what they see. Hosea put together a nice meal, very steady across the board. Stefan had some amazing highs, but also some lows. Ultimately, they made their decision based on how the meal tasted, from start to finish.
Congratulations, Hosea!
Stefan: "If I had made a different dessert today, I would've won. They expected more from me, so.... Would I love the title? Absolutely, no doubt about that. But I don't turn around and look back, 'Ay, oh god, I'm bitter, I didn't get the hundred grand, I'm not Top Chef, Season 5' -- I'm second runner-up, man! I'm happy, dude!"
Carla: "I should've done my food, and I will not make that mistake again, but... when I came here, I wanted to show people a different way of competing, to compete with love. So I did one of the things I wanted to do here." I FUCKING LOVE CARLA.
Hosea: "It felt amazing to win... but to have it come down neck and neck with Stefan just made it all that sweeter. That was the icing on the cake. It felt really good. This is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I know a lot of people are gonna be proud of me for this, and I couldn't be happier. Things are gonna change. I'm sure."
As I said before, I think this was a very strong final three, and any of them could win. Obviously, I was rooting for Carla, but Hosea was very good and very consistent, and as a number of us figured, Stefan tripped himself up with overconfidence. I think we'll be seeing all of them again, very soon. Congratulations to all of them, to Hosea for winning, and to Bravo for a hell of a good Season 5.
Thoughts?
