Previously on “Top Chef”: the final three went clamming and then cooked clams. This went mostly OK, except Shota cut his hand. Spoiler, this doesn't come up again really. Gabe finally won a Quickfire, not that it's terribly important. The final Elimination challenge is to make two dishes with Dungeness Crab, one cold and one hot. Each of the final three left things off of plates, or didn't finish a dish. But in the end Shota is declared the winner and then both Gabe and Dawn are passed through to the final. (click for more)
In general I hate when judges just kind of throw their hands up and say they couldn't decide, because that is their literal job, but they've had three person finales before. Padma greets the final three the next day (I assume) out at a vineyard. Tom is here also. Create a four course progressive meal. Tell the story of why you should win. They'll have the rest of the day for shopping. Huh. They're going to start with meeting with some farmers, I assume for produce, and then they can go wherever they want. Oh plus here are Byron, Maria, and Jamie, to be sous chefs. Dawn takes Jamie (because she's fierce and they have similar flavor profiles), Shota picks Byron (I mean, Byron's no slouch either), which leaves Gabe and Maria (you fools, they cook the same food). Six hours tomorrow to cook, and then three hours the day afterward right before service.
So there's one hour to plan right now. Gabe has kind of a plan, but he also wants to wait a little bit to see what he can get from the farmers and shops. I am sure there will be a mole. Shota wants to make Japanese curry, which is usually not spicy. Dawn has some ideas, but we know she doesn't plan a ton. She wants to make something inspired by Leah Chase. Shopping starts with...Whole Foods? Shota and Jamie shove each other and giggle. I think Gabe is planning a dessert. Tom didn't say anything one way or the other on if they had to make one. We see Shota and Dawn at the farm but not Gabe, although I assume he's gone there. And we don't see Dawn shopping anywhere else but the farm? Whatever.
So now for some reason the finalists get a house. I assume it's because they're in the Willamette Valley and they can't drive back and forth to Portland. I was also gonna say that they should only have room for two, but with sequestering maybe they always had the extra room. It's a very nice house. Dawn says the menu is coming to her slowly but when she was in the Olympics she trained for years for only a few seconds so she's used to it.
Day One. Dawn's decided that all of her dishes will have a bread component. Shota's rough menu: sashimi three ways, octopus karaage, beef tongue curry, and...then they don't finish. Karaage is fried nuggets. Gabe has head cheese, scallops, short rib mole. No one is mentioning their last courses. Dawn's rough menu: lamb tartare, green gumbo, jerk beef cheeks. The editing here is that either Jamie is dumb, or Dawn is bossy, because she is micromanaging everything that Jamie does in a way that is not happening in the other pairs. I think they imply Jamie asks what beef cheeks are? Not what they are but what the meat is like (you know, is it tender, do you have to cook it for a long time, like she's never worked with them before). But Byron and Maria are not shown asking this many questions. They are asking things like, “How thick do you want this puree?”
OK now we're going to find out about desserts. Shota is making hojicha cheesecake. Hojicha is roasted green tea. There is a lot of fire. Gabe is candying squash and making ice cream. Dawn has bread pudding. As the day ends, Shota and Byron tape up an oven, because his beef tongue is in there. He says it's not on, but it's cooking with the residual heat. He just doesn't want anyone to open it. There's a lot of tape, so hopefully that will work. Maria says he's brave. Dawn can't get her bread baked today, so she's going to proof it overnight and bake it first thing. Hopefully it won't overproof.
The finalists get home and find all of the All-Stars in the kitchen staring at them. Dale tells them it can't be that easy, and each of them has to pick an All-Star to cook against and if they lost, they go home. Ha! It was all bullshit, there's no battle. Dale was pretty convincing though. The All-Stars are making dinner. It's so nice to see them all hanging out and laughing with not only each other, but the people who are going to judge them tomorrow. It's a very nice camaraderie. Also the food looks amazing, of course. Such a nice dinner.
Finale Morning. Luckily for them the helpers get to return. The tongue turned out fantastic, and everyone is relieved. Dawn says the bread for course one is priority, even though her last course is a bread pudding, which implies that she has to make that bread, cool it, then cut it up and bake the bread puddings. She really has a lot of work to do. Gabe is letting Maria do a lot of stuff herself, it looks like, but then again she does know the cuisine he's making. Dawn is of course behind. It also seems like Jamie won't do anything without explicit instruction from Dawn. Everyone is done on time except Dawn, because of course. Of fucking course. Two plates are missing both bread and a fried thing.
Before the contestants even come out the judges have 1. discovered the missing items, and 2. figured out it's Dawn's plate and look massively annoyed. Everyone is sharing the bread, so there's at least that. Shota: sashimi 3 ways: mackerel, cured salmon, and tuna with soy sauce. Gabe: fried conchinita pibil head cheese with habanero ash emulsion, avocado mousse, and kumquat sauce. Conchinita pibil is roasted pork, usually the whole pig, so I guess he roasted the head, then picked it and fried the meat. Dawn: lamb tartare with tomato and celery salad, beef tendon puff and rice honey bread. Shota's dish is focused and clean. Gabe of course has great sauces but maybe the meat could have been crispier. Dawn has too many things on the plate again, and Nina tells everyone she told Dawn last night not to do that. It's a creative dish but of course she ran out of time to plate properly and she doesn't need all of the garnishes. Tom points out that none of her dish needed to be served a la minute, so why didn't she start plating earlier?
It looks like they have half an hour between courses. Jamie apologizes which is sad because this is in no way her fault. I think she finishes in time though. Shota: sauteed water spinach, sauteed burdock root, white miso burdock root puree with octopus karaage. Dawn: green gumbo with seafood and fermented rice fritter. Gabe: scallop aguachile with fermented pineapple and roasted scallop oil. The fermented part is actually made with kombucha, and aguachile is like ceviche. Gabe's dish is very refined and the kombucha is just the right amount of sweetness. Dawn's gumbo is flavorful but it had some octopus that was not cooked enough. Dawn had said she was inspired by Leah Chase for this dish, and Nina lets everyone know that the original dish is just greens and stock, and there is too much seafood here. Oof. Shota made a great second course, and Dale feels like it was a warm salad which is right for this part. Melissa thinks maybe it's too much of a side dish.
Lots of working and I feel like everyone is frantic but done in time. Shota: beef tongue curry with braised turnips and fukujinzuke pickles. I had to take a minute to figure out “fukujinzuke” but when I put it into Google the picture of the can came up and I immediately recognized it. We have that every year at New Year's, but you just buy the can and then empty it into a little bowl or whatever part of your bento. I've never made them from scratch but I've looked at that can for decades at this point. It's apparently a traditional topping for curry, but we just eat it straight. Dawn: braised beef cheek, blackeyed peas and buttered turnips. Gabe: short rib with chichilo negro mole, mushrooms and pickled persimmons. The curry is making Ed emotional, because this is the type of dish he would take to school and get made fun of, and now it's on Top Chef. However the rice was a little crunchy. Melissa doesn't love the plating. Dawn's beef is tender and the peas are perfect. Of course they love Gabe's mole but some of the mushrooms are too charred and bitter.
Shota (I think) says he likes soft ice cream. Gabe: candied delicata squash with cafe americano ice cream. Dawn: yam bread pudding with butter pecan anglaise with purple yam and apple compote. Shota: hoji tea cheesecake with cedar smoked gelato. Kwame says he'd order Shota's dessert again. Gail thinks maybe the gelato, while great, overpowered the cheesecake. They all seem to love Gabe's squash, and they like Dawn's dish but Brooke feels it's maybe too basic for this point.
Judges' Table. Shota had a ton of flavor in the sashimi and it was a great start. Dawn of course forgot some stuff, and Tom says other than that it was great. She's already crying. Gabe wanted to have a pig's head dish. Sauces on point as always.
Shota had a vegetable dish which was bold but maybe a bit of a side dish. Dawn elevated something homey but maybe not as much seafood. Gabe's scallops served as a bright palate cleanser and they love the kombucha sauce.
Shota's curry was delicious but the presentation was not refined enough. And the rice was underdone. Dawn's blackeyed peas were the star of her dish. Gabe had a great mole but Tom suddenly says that the meat was overcooked. Gabe responds that he likes that texture.
Shota says his mom used to always make them cheesecake. The texture was light and the smoked gelato was unexpected. Dawn's bread pudding reminded Tom of Thanksgiving. Gabe was fearless to serve candied squash.
First course, obviously Dawn had problems, and Gail argues it's inexcusable. They love Gabe's sauces but suddenly Tom says he didn't like the breading on the meat. I think Shota might take this one? They don't show anyone saying anything negative about his first course. Second course I think goes to Gabe. They love his scallops, but Shota's vegetables were too much like a side dish and Dawn put too much seafood in her gumbo. But the gumbo itself was great. Third course, Shota served undercooked rice, and it felt too casual. Gabe of course can't screw up mole, but he burned the mushrooms. No one says anything bad about Dawn's dish. So far we have one course per person. Shota's dessert was delicate, Dawn's dish was comforting, and Gabe's dish was unique. No one says anything bad about any dish, but they do spend a little more time talking about how Gabe's squash is the future of Mexican cooking.
Everyone comes back out, and everyone else is here to watch. And the winner is...Gabe. Well that's disappointing. Listen, if you're not on the internet a lot (and honestly that's probably smart) maybe you haven't seen, but after filming ended Gabe got fired from his job. For “repeated violations of procedure” or whatever. Basically he sexually harassed many women for a long while and lost his job. Obviously there's no way that the judges would know he'd get fired. But Gregory put on Instagram today a long screed about how he wishes he (and everyone else) had better judgment and so everyone assumed it meant that Gabe won and he's regretting that decision. And that looks pretty likely. I get that his food was the best today, but then he turned out to not be a great person so it's disappointing. Maria is crying, she's so happy. Shota says he needed this, and he's excited to go home and cook. He has a YouTube channel, MakeUmami, where he's been making dishes from this season and showing off his adorable dog. I hope he keeps making videos and he gets back into a restaurant. Dawn is proud of herself.
Thanks for reading everyone! I think “Project Runway” will be returning soon!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment