Previously on “Top Chef”: the finale began in Paris, as the Quickfire involved the wall challenge, where contestants had to explain to someone how to make a dish without being able to see them. They really should invest in some headphones or something so people can hear each other. Surprisingly the partners were not loved ones but athletes. Ali managed to win, partially because he used actual measurements for seasonings so the two dishes would taste the same. Then everyone had to make a dish featuring mushrooms. This went pretty well, for the most part. Sara won, by making soup. She and Buddha were in the top (listen we all knew Buddha was going to the end, it's nice someone else won for a change). It came down to Gabri having a better dish, but Ali having more mushroom flavor. Do you keep the person who made a better dish or the one who was better at the challenge? They kept Gabri and Ali was eliminated. (click for more)
Guys, it's Padma's last episode as host! It's sad. The contestants wake up at 5:45 AM to get ready. We have montages of everyone's journey. I mean you can watch the season. They arrive to a very fancy hotel/set of shops? And go to the roof to meet Padma and Tom. The final challenge is to make whatever you want: four courses, one big table (as opposed to a whole restaurant full). Buddha says if even one of the guest judges came to his restaurant he'd shit himself. They draw knives for former contestant sous chefs, and it's interesting they are only presented with Amar, Ali, and Tom. That's it? No one else could come to France? Sara takes Amar (they both use big flavors); Gabri picks Tom (has lots of skills and is funny “for a German guy”); Buddha gets Ali. They don't mention how much time they'll get to cook.
Gabri announces to Tom he's doing Mexican, to no one's surprise. Buddha is going to focus on himself, as opposed to his family like he did last season. Sara is making Southern/Creole/French/Jewish. Maybe not all at once. All three of the finalists have their menus all laid out already. Sara is making burgoo and Gabri is cooking grasshoppers. Interesting. I think Buddha is representing all the different places he's from, his family is from. Sara is making cake with peas. Amar is very confused.
They all get in cars to go shopping at little shops, although I thought they were going to the place they were on the roof of? Lots of specialty shops, like, here is the butcher, here is the bakery. They show each chef not able to find one thing, although they could have just not been at that particular store. Gabri takes sweet potato instead of plantain, Sara gets liver instead of sweetbreads, and Buddha is about to buy some prawns but he runs back to a store and buys the last lobster in the tank so he doesn't have to change his menu. See they play it like Gabri just gave up immediately but did he? I hate that, just show them looking everywhere. Luckily I think Gabri brought his grasshoppers from home. He finds a tiny Mexican store in the middle of a random street and buys a whole bunch of stuff. Maybe plantains?
This restaurant they're cooking in has a very nice kitchen. They will have four hours to cook today. OK so they showed Buddha running to a store, then the lobster tank with one lobster in it. Now suddenly Ali is breaking down at least half a dozen lobsters. This is what I mean, why show the empty tank at all? Buddha is making rainbow trout, lobster, ngau lam which I think is a noodle dish, and lamingtons for the last course. Gabri has esquites (street corn but off the cob), empanadas, chiles en nogada (stuffed poblanos with walnut sauce), and chocolate tamales. He feeds Sara a grasshopper without telling her what it is. Couvillion (probably close to a gumbo), liver and onions, burgoo (a stew made with whatever meat you can catch), and pea cake. So everyone is making a dessert course. It must be mentioned that the liver and onions includes cookie butter. Various people in the kitchen notice something burning, and of course it's Gabri again. Beans again? It looks like he tries to pour them off but he might not be able to. He has to use canned beans instead.
Tom Time! He has appeared in his chef's jacket. Sara describes her menu and Tom doesn't have many comments. Gabri is still emotional. Buddha jokes he's already applied for next season. So Buddha's concept is regional dishes, but all tied to him with French produce. Sure. Tom tells the sous chefs they have the night off but the finalists should meet him somewhere. Sara's tomato water is very spicy but she's hoping it will mellow.
So the finalists wander off into the streets of Paris, Buddha has a paper map which is the best. As if they'd let them just wander off. They go to Marsan, to meet chef Helene Darroze. This restaurant is gorgeous, and they have the chef's table which is outside the kitchen in an alcove that they clearly built the kitchen around. First course is some kind of meringue with caviar on top, which is placed on your hand, and then you eat off your hand. This is dumb but also I am about it. They talk about why they all came back to Top Chef. After his season was over Buddha was sad he wouldn't get to do it again, so of course he signed up again. Sara saw other contestants who had kids and also careers so she knew she could also do it. Gabri owes his life to the kitchen so he wants to prove himself.
Final Day. They only have 2.5 hours to cook today but the sous chefs are back. Gabri has sweet potato dough to make empanadas, but it's too wet I think. I don't think they will hold together. Sara's cake is bright green but she says it's her mom's recipe. Tom says the grasshoppers remind him of dried fish. All the judges and guest judges walk into the restaurant in a big group, and they get a hilarious shot of Gabri looking out of the window in the kitchen, freaking out. Buddha has the tuiles out again.
Gabri's overall menu is “humble and traditional dishes of Mexico”. First course: sweet corn esquites with grasshoppers tostada, corn mushrooms, and lemon hollandaise. “Corn mushrooms” is I'm pretty sure huitlacoche, so I wonder if he thought that was one Spanish word too many? Sara is making her regional cuisine with local French ingredients. First course: seafood couvillion with tomato water. Buddha tells them he represents different places. First course is America, because that's where he's living right now. Rainbow trout, potato, celery, with caviar, clam veloute, and butterfly oyster cracker. Sara's dish was spicy which I don't think everyone liked. But it has so much personality. The tostadas are a little overcooked, too toasty, but they really love that Gabri had the guts to serve grasshoppers. Buddha's dish is beautiful, if maybe too saucy.
Sara tells Amar to wait to carve the liver until the absolute last second, but of course that's when she discovers it's undercooked. That would suck if she got this far and lost on an execution mistake. She knows if she had sliced it earlier she could have seared it in a pan but it's too late now. Gabri: sweet potato empanada with black bean filling and cheese foam. It's also covered in sliced almonds and looks like a cookie. Sara: veal liver and onions with cookie butter and figs. Buddha: red curry bisque with blue lobster, pickled squash salad, and ravioli dumpling. Sara's liver is basically inedible. Also the cookie butter. The curry is dense, mostly because Buddha's served two butter sauces in a row. But the flavor is amazing. Gabri's empanada was surprising, although one of the Mexican chefs says maybe it's not an empanada. So second course isn't going well.
Gabri: “chiles in nogada” ground beef sausage and dehydrated fruit filled poblano pepper with sauce of nuts. Sara: burgoo with roulade of rabbit loin, boudin blanc, and crepinette, with cornbread madeline. Boudin blanc and crepinette are both types of sausage. Buddha: lamb with eggplant, pickled onions, and lo shui. Lo shui is “master stock”, I believe the type of stock that a restaurant never throws out and then they advertise their base stock is 50 years old or whatever. The burgoo is wonderful. Refined and rustic at the same time. Gabri's flavors are wild but they are intrigued. Buddha has executed very well.
OK so if anyone is interested in watching Project Runway (the “first” All-Stars season) I just spent this commercial break making sure my series recording was set up properly. And it says that the first episode is actually on Wednesday, and then a marathon all day Thursday, with another showing of that first episode, and then episode two. Not sure why it's on a day early but sure. I will be recapping that but it'll be late both nights because I have other plans. Actually if they keep it on Wednesdays it'll always be late until the summer is over. But it's on the way.
Buddha is scooping dry ice or possibly liquid nitrogen into his dessert plates. Because Buddha. Ah, I think it's when you put bowls on top of larger bowls and the larger bowls have dry ice and a little water so they smoke. Gabri: chocolate tamale with hazelnut filling, and hazelnut and goat cheese ice cream. Sara: English pea cake with pistachio butter, lemon curd, and buttermilk sorbet. All of the presentations have been very pretty, but Sara has decided to tear the cake into small irregular pieces and then dot the lemon curd around it, instead of serving slices. It's odd. Buddha: lamington with raspberries, coconut bavarois, and raspberry jam. A square cake, with a white molded flower, and little tuiles shaped like twigs or antlers. Padma says she's proud of them all, while she gets choked up. Aww! The chocolate tamale is great and bold. Memorable. Buddha had great technique, again. Sara's cake is so different, and she told them it was her mom's recipe so they're touched.
Judges' Table. Padma tells them all the meal was stunning. They should all be proud. Gabri's tostada was over-toasted but everything else was great and they love that he served grasshoppers. Sara's seafood was all raw, and it had so much flavor. Although the tomato water was aggressive. Buddha's plate was stunning, and they show another shot of it because I didn't see it that clearly before. The fish is in a round disk, and then the potato and celery makes petals, then caviar for the middle of the flower and a butterfly tuile on top. The veloute was a little heavy, but it wasn't a failure.
Gabri had a good empanada, but maybe too much cheese sauce. But don't change any of the flavor. Sara knows her liver was not cooked enough. Oops. Buddha had a good mild curry, which they praise.
Gabri wanted more spice in his chiles in nogada. But the combo was perfect and Tom praises him for using all humble ingredients. Sara's sausages were spectacular, and Tom says he's never had boudin that was so light. Buddha's lamb was well-cooked and they're using the word “technician”.
All the desserts were stunning. They're using that word a lot. Goat cheese ice cream is audacious. But Gabri's flavors always work. Padma tells Sara that her dessert was the best thing she ate all day. I think she's getting emotional about it. Buddha's dessert was beautiful and I think this is the second dish where they were like “it's executed well”. Tom tells the finalists that he hasn't been in the kitchen for some time but they've all inspired him to get back in the kitchen.
Gabri's tostada says the most about the chef that made it. Sara's was a perfect first course, and Buddha's was a work on art, so Tom thinks they can't say one or another is a winner. In the second course, Sara lost for sure, but they don't seem to agree on the other two. Third course, Gabri was creative and Sara made the dish that represented her perfectly. They can't say enough about Sara's cake. Back in the kitchen Gabri says he considers Sara and Buddha his friends, and Buddha smarts off that he's been waiting two months for that. Gail liked Sara's food the best but the liver has really tanked her chances. It sounds like if it had been perfect they would be about to give it to her. Gabri had the best flavors, but is his technique up to the level it should be? Helene tries to argue that if you have a good sense of flavors and heart, you can be taught technique. Tom replies they have to judge only on today. I mean, they're not going to only judge on today because it's impossible. But I get his point that it's not like hiring someone, where you know you can teach them later.
The winner is Buddha. I thought for sure they were leaning away from him because every comment was about how technically great he was, and they were going to last minute argue that he doesn't have enough heart or something. I really wish Sara had cooked her liver, I wonder if she would have beaten him. She's glad she was able to get this platform to show that women can have a work-life balance. Gabri tells us this is his way to demonstrate love. Buddha calls his wife to tell her that he won, and when he goes to thank her for “helping” (not sure what she supposedly did and honestly it sounds like he's saying it because he thinks he should) she replies “oh you wouldn't be there if not for me, that's for sure”. Heh. They go to a big wide shot with all the crew, and Tom thanking the behind-the-scenes crew for all of their hard work.
They've already ordered another season, which I'm assuming is getting underway shortly. Not sure who is replacing Padma. Also next week I will be back with Project Runway. Thank you for reading!
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