Previously
on “Top Chef”: the loved ones came for a visit, to eat some good
food and explain to the contestants over the phone what the dish
looks and tastes like so they could replicate it. Kevin won, because
even though his wife is not actually a chef, she has an eye for
detail and a very sensitive palate. Then everyone had to make some
kind of product to sell, sauce or whatever. Also make a dish
showcasing it. Lee Anne's mom did get sick, and almost fainted, but
it was not as immediately serious as the previews acted like. Melissa
sold the most product, but Gregory was actually the winner for his
pickles. Jen made ginger sauce but the texture was gritty and in her
dish she mixed it with yogurt which diluted the flavor. So she was
sent home. (click for more)
On Last
Chance Kitchen, Tom said Jen and Lisa should make sauces and he'd
make the protein. Lisa's sauce was too thick and Jen's was too thin,
but Lisa's was declared better. Also Tom told her next week someone
was coming back to the competition.
OK also
when I went to the website to watch Last Chance Kitchen and What
Would Tom Do? I had a lot of problems finding the newest episodes,
because Bravo's website has always been garbage. They had Tom and the
host doing the Quickfire, but they did not have Tom doing the
Elimination challenge and making a product. But it's there now? Get
it together, Bravo. Anyway, Tom made eggplant relish and put it on
lamb chops. But he put raisins in it so imma have to pass.
In the show
previouslies they focus on Bryan totally screwing up the Quickfire,
for some reason. I mean, they didn't even explain what the Quickfire
was. It's weird is all.
Everyone
gets up early. Nini and Malarkey compare crystals? Sure. Melissa gets
sucked in and says she's superstitious so why not.
Padma is
waiting for the Quickfire with Chris Bianco. No one freaks out a lot,
but it does seem like they know who he is. The Quickfire involves
using flour. There is a big table with probably two dozen types of
flour. None of it is all-purpose. No immunity for the winner, but you
will get $5000.
30 minutes
to cook. Melissa tells us that some of these flours won't make any
gluten, so that's a thing. Bryan is making something without a ton of
flour in it, but he's made it before. Gregory has tapioca flour,
which I think he's used before because he's gluten-free. Karen sets
something on fire. Malarkey is attempting the ice cream machine
again. Coconut flour? Is that a thing? Lee Anne is making buckwheat
dumplings, although she says that there isn't any gluten so she's got
to modify. She won't take the risk of baking because it's so precise
and you can't open the oven to check on it. Nini has her
grandmother's recipe for rice flour crepes. As much of a recipe as
she has because of course there really isn't a written recipe.
Stephanie has corn flour and she wants to make gnocchi, but she's not
sure it will work. Bryan has a lot of things happening. Malarkey's
dough is really not working. In the end he doesn't get all his stuff
on the plate.
Lee Anne:
buckwheat polpette with brussel sprouts, kimchi, apple, and fennel.
Polpette is a meatball? Eric: roasted cassava and cornmeal porridge,
with black cod, pancetta. Gregory: nutty tapioca pancakes, blueberry
compote and maple syrup. Stephanie: blue corn Parmesan gnocchi,
chipotle, peas, cabbage, and tomatoes. Bryan: roasted sole with
hazelnut Kalamata olive crumble. The flour is only in the crumble.
Karen: spinach falafel with carrot mint tzatziki. Nini: “banh xeo”
Vietnamese rice flour crepe, soy sauce glazed mushrooms, delicata
squash and shrimp. Melissa: duck fat almond flour financier, smoked
shoyu whipped butter and pink peppercorns. Kevin: cornbread with
Umbrian style beans and greens, pancetta, fennel, olive oil.
Malarkey: so he didn't get his donut on the plate so he's describing
it to everyone. Sigh. Coconut ice cream with coconut cracklin. No
donut. Padma says his ice cream was lovely and he brags to the room
about it.
Obviously
Malarkey is in the bottom. Bryan is also, because he didn't use
enough of the flour. Melissa made beautiful financiers, Gregory made
complex pancakes, and Nini had a personal dish with a great texture.
The winner is Gregory. He's glad for the money because he's opening a
restaurant and can use all the cash he can get his hands on.
Padma tells
them to step it up for the Elimination Challenge: celebrate the 100
year anniversary of the LA Philharmonic. They'll be feeding the
conductor and 60 members of the orchestra. They all draw knives for
taste profiles. Each chef has to pair up with someone that has a
different taste profile, and they'll make a dish that showcases both
tastes. So salty/sweet, or sour/umami, or whatever. Then Padma lets
them pick their own partners. Karen and Nini immediately hold hands
and pair off. They have sour/umami. Kevin and Melissa have
salty/sweet, which should be no problem. Bryan and Eric have
bitter/sweet, which could be interesting. Lee Anne ends up with
Malarkey, and they have bitter/umami. She's nervous because of how he
tried to throw her under the bus that time. I mean...he had a point,
and last week was the first week she'd done well practically this
whole season. Padma then drops the bomb that this is a double
elimination. So hope you're happy with your teammates! The last pair
not shown is Gregory and Stephanie, and based on the other pairs they
should have sour/salty. Nini was eliminated on a double elimination
last time so she's not thrilled. They're all going to go meet the
conductor right now, and then they'll have two hours to prep and cook
tomorrow.
On the way
to meet the conductor of course everyone talks shop. Gregory didn't
pick based on tastes but on the fact that he's worked well with
Stephanie before. In confessional they're very relaxed. Stephanie
tries on Gregory's leather vest and they giggle. All the teams are
chatting about stuff, but the shot of Lee Anne and Malarkey is just
them sitting there not talking. The concert hall is that one with all
the curves, that I'm pretty sure causes a ton of problems because the
sun reflects off the curves and blinds drivers and heats up the
condos nearby. The inside is really nice though. They all have a nice
conversation about balance and contrast, and various people talk
about classical music and inspiration. Melissa acts worried, which is
hilarious because on the surface Kevin and Melissa is the team to
beat. Outside there is brainstorming. Eric is putting in some East
African maafe caramel. Maafe is peanut stew. Bryan is excited about
it. Everyone is getting along, except of course Lee Anne and
Malarkey. Lee Anne at least knows they both have problems with
editing.
Shopping
seems more frantic than usual. Lee Anne and Eric fight over the
endive, and Lee Anne wins. Bryan is also using his second choice for
proteins. Melissa says cabbage looks like the ceiling of the concert
hall, but they have to elevate it. Karen says she and Nini are very
focused and are blending their two styles. Malarkey is buying things
for a backup plan? When Lee Anne asks him what something is for, he
actually just says she'll see. That's obnoxious.
Two hours
to cook. Melissa and Kevin are braising cabbage with some pork
crumble? I guess. Bryan is very excited about Eric's caramel recipe.
Gregory interviews that it's hard to make a dish with only two flavor
profiles. Stephanie knows that Malarkey and Lee Anne is a dangerous
combo. They do fight about the plating, because she wants him to
reign it in, and of course Malarkey does not want to do that.
Judges are
here. The conductor says he got his job because he was imitating the
conductor, who saw him and asked if he wanted to be his assistant.
Stephanie is worried about the double elimination. Gregory and
Stephanie: sour/salty: sea bass glazed with miso, mirin, sake, with
sauteed celeriac, pickled apples, bacon, and yuzu. Tom says
everything in this dish is salty and sour. Not just, some things are
one and some things are the other and you have to have a bite with
each component to get the idea. Every item in the dish has both
flavors in it. Also the broth is spicy which they all discuss if it
belongs.
Kevin and
Melissa: sweet/salty: fish sauce caramel roasted cabbage, with apple
and cured pork crumble. Padma tells them she's glad they focused on a
vegetable, and then once they're gone she says she loves that there's
a punch of flavor the minute you put a bite in your mouth. Everyone
seems very excited, probably because the dish just sounds
interesting. It's exactly the kind of thing I would order, because I
like the way it sounds and it piques my interest. It's addictive.
Malarkey's
carrots are not on the plate. The ones he wouldn't explain. Lee Anne
and Malarkey: umami/bitter: beef with miso anchovy hollandaise,
bitter greens, charred orange puree and mimolette crisp. Mimolette is
a type of cheese. When Padma asks how they got along Malarkey gives a
non-answer. It's well balanced, and Gail says that it might be the
best food from the two of them this season. It's not overdone, which
they can both do.
Eric and
Bryan: sweet/bitter: pork with maafe lacquer with bitter greens. Gail
says it's very subtle, but it could be sweeter. The crust has a bunch
of flavor, but there's not enough of it. Uh oh.
Nini and
Karen: umami/sour: tomato broth with poached cod and pickled
cucumbers. It's light and delicious, but the tomatoes are not umami
like they intended. After service Padma hollers at the chefs that it
was a good meal, and tells the instrumentalists to break a leg.
Judges'
Table. No one is told top or bottom. Everyone says they loved working
with their partner, even Lee Anne and Malarkey. Padma says all the
dishes were great, but the winning dish stayed closest to the flavor
profiles, and that's Melissa and Kevin. I told you guys. Lee Anne and
Malarkey were close to winning, which is impressive. It had a subtle
bitterness which was wonderful. They are safe. Stephanie and Gregory
had a good balance of sour and salty, but the spiciness was too much.
They're still safe though.
So the
bottom is Eric and Bryan, and Nini and Karen. Nini and Karen used
fresh tomatoes, which weren't umami as they intended. Karen says that
they were compressed with fish sauce and lime juice, but they just
got sweeter. Bryan and Eric had good bitter flavors, but they were
lacking sweet. Bryan thought the pork lacquer was sweet, but they
painted it on the outside of the pork loin and sliced it, so there
wasn't as much of it on each plate.
Time for
deliberation. It's very nitpicky today. Karen and Nini actually
amplified a third, unwanted flavor (sweet) which took away from the
flavors they wanted. Eric and Bryan didn't have enough of one of
their flavors. Back in the Stew Room everyone talks about how hard
this challenge was.
Tom talks
about a tortured music analogy, and then Nini and Karen are
eliminated. Aww. But come on. Did you think they'd keep those two
over Bryan and Eric? I certainly didn't. Padma tells them not to go
anywhere just yet, because they have the chance to get back into the
competition tonight. Tom sheds his suit jacket, puts on a chef's
jacket, and says that Last Chance Kitchen starts right now.
Hilariously he tells the other judges he'll take it from here.
Next time:
machetes, restaurant wars, everyone has to pitch their restaurant,
Stephanie from season 4 is here.
Last Chance
Kitchen. WHICH, I watched on YouTube because Bravo's website is
trash. We watch Karen and Nini get eliminated, and then the peanut
gallery shows up. Karen whines that she is really tired. Tom asks the
reigning champ to step forward, and Jen acts like she's going to
pretend to be the winner. Tom gives them shit and asks if they
thought they'd have to fight everyone, and Karen is like, who the
fuck knows? Fair. Tom brags that he even cooked steak last week, and
Karen asks if he got judged. “Your steak was our least favorite
steak today.” Ha! Anyway, there are two challenges between them and
going back. If you lose the first challenge you're out. Karen and
Nini were supposed to do umami and sour, but they gave sweet and
sour. It was a good dish but it didn't follow the challenge. This
challenge, however, is to make a sweet and sour dish on purpose. The
top two move on to the next challenge.
30 minutes.
As they run around Joe says something “girls”, like, “27
minutes left, girls” or something. Karen is immediately offended
and tells him to say “chefs” and then says “Where I'm from they
call me chef”. Joe says he didn't want to say “guys” is all.
Lisa has a sweet/salty/spicy sauce she makes on her food truck. Going
to put it on some scallops. Nini is thinking steak and onions? But
she's going to put fennel and passionfruit on there. The peanut
gallery tells her not to include the passionfruit seeds. Karen has
shrimp and grilled pickled pineapple. Lisa feels very confident. Nini
is marinating three steaks, just in case. Apparently good, because
when she puts the one steak on the grill it flares up and she has to
toss it.
Tom Time!
He asks what's up, and the peanut gallery says they think they're
doing sweet and sour dishes. Heh. Karen has a lot of things going on
and Tom doesn't really have comments. Lisa has a complex sauce, and
jokes about deep frying her scallops. Nini also has a ton of things
going on. She forgets about her steak, so it's burnt on one side.
She's down to her last steak, which she has decided to deep fry. It's
not looking good. Karen is worried she's too simple.
Karen:
sweet and sour shrimp with pickled pineapples. Nini: skirt steak with
caramelized onions and grilled fennel salad. Lisa: tamarind scallops
with kaffir lime potato chips. Tom says that one dish was better than
the other two, nicely balanced, and that was Karen. Huh. It wasn't
heavy, which you can get when you do sweet and sour. Nini's sauce was
sour, but the steak was undercooked. Lisa wanted sweetness from the
scallops. Tom does not say if she succeeded.
We wait to
find out who won until part 2. Thankfully this episode is working on
the Bravo website. Anyway, it's going to be Karen vs. Nini. Nice. Bye
Lisa.
Both Karen
and Nini talk about how much they want to win. Tom says that the cool
thing about Top Chef is being part of the Top Chef family. So you're
cooking family meal for everyone. Tom also keeps talking about using
odds and ends, because you're thrifty, and sometimes there's themes,
but do whatever you want. 45 minutes to do whatever you want. Make
however many dishes you want.
Lisa
reemerges to the peanut gallery. Someone asks if anyone is making
dessert, and Nini says no one has time for that. Nini is making
chicken curry and mango salad. She wants to cook it until the fat
separates. Karen has whole fish and lots of herbs. She almost wipes
out running to the stove. Her confessional is about how she's not
concerned with hurting herself, but with being hurt enough to have to
quit, because so many people sacrificed so she can be here. Karen's
confessionals really irritate me.
Tom Time!
Karen says she's going to attempt pasta, in addition to whole fish
and a salad. Tom is shocked because he says family meal is boxed
pasta. When Nini says she's making curry, Tom says that's perfect
because Padma isn't here and his curry standards aren't nearly as
high. Heh. The peanut gallery is setting the table. Karen does know
it's not a good idea to make pasta. I think she gives up and uses
dried pasta. Karen interviews that she assumed that she's not going
to win because Nini's curry is going to be too good. I don't like
this edit. Karen admits to Tom she had to use dried pasta, but he
doesn't care. She's also deep frying the fish, which seems fancy or
whatever. Nini goes to plate and discovers it's scorched. How? It's
boiling in a sauce. She says she's done, and everyone's seen that
it's burnt. Jen tells her to pull it. So now the sauce may be torched
too, and everyone is suggesting how she can fake it. Somehow it
doesn't taste burnt so she's going to go for it.
Nini: green
curry chicken with delicata squash, green mango salad, and jasmine
rice. Karen: crispy branzino with salsa verde, aglio e olio pomodoro
with balsamic roasted fennel. Nini says that curry is great to use up
scraps. Tom says it doesn't taste burnt. She saved it. They do like
it. Karen says that a whole fish is the epitome of communal eating.
Karen and Nini aren't eating because they're too nervous. No one
wants to be Tom.
It was
simple food but good. The curry was great, and the mango salad
complimented that really well. Karen's pasta was necessary, and she
didn't batter the fish which was nice. Tom's going with what was the
best dish on the table. Karen wins. She breaks down ugly crying
immediately. I'm shocked they told us who won. The fish was amazing.
Nini is happy for Karen, but she understands why, because she burnt a
lot of things. But the good part of this is that Nini is now the
winner here, so she'll battle the next person who gets eliminated.
On “What
Would Tom Do?” first the host swigs wine directly from the bottle.
Then Tom gets experimental. He's going to do bitter and sweet,
bittersweet roasted beets, artichoke and radicchio salad. I think he
should just get assigned two profiles. He makes artichoke broth,
reduces beet juice, and admits he doesn't know 100% where he's going
with this. So a roasted beet, then the artichokes, and radicchio
leaves drizzled with the reduced beet juice. Tom says artichokes make
everything else taste sweeter.
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