Top Chef – Serving Lunch at Craft
Posted by Patsy Kreitman on Edible TV
Last week’s episode felt a bit rushed with two eliminations and such quick snippets from each chef. This week slowed down a little bit, but not by much. It seems that until they get down to fewer chefs, it’s just too much to squeeze in focusing on the chefs all that much.
Onto the Quickfire Challenge! Guest judge this week was Donatella Arpaia. She is another chef that inspires awe amongst all the competing chefs. This challenge pitted everyone against Angelina, who owns a hot dog stand in one of the NYC boroughs. Her hot dogs are extremely popular, and the chefs were instructed to create their own version of the hot dog to be compared to what Angelina would serve.
First let’s talk about the bad news. Jill opted to use a store-bought hot dog saying that she didn’t think she had enough time to make her own, while every other chef made their own. Stefan chose to create a World Hot Dog. To say that the judge’s faces told the story of what they thought is an understatement.
Now, the top three in this challenge used unique ideas to create unusual hot dogs. Fabio went with Mediterranean flavors, which were very well-liked by Padma and Donatella. Hosea used smoked bacon in his hot dog, which sounded like it added a really nice touch. Radhika incorporated Indian flavors and the result was a moist and delicious hot dog that helped her win immunity this week.
For the elimination challenge, the chefs were told that they would be running a Top Chef Restaurant in NYC. They were to create a 3 course New American Lunch menu for 50 New Yorkers. Later, Tom showed up and added to the challenge. They would be serving the meal in his restaurant, Craft. As for the 50 New Yorkers, they were chefs who did not make the cut to be on Top Chef. You could see each chef just deflate as they thought about how critical the rejected chefs would be, and they would be cooking in Tom’s restaurant. Talk about pressure!
Of the 15 chefs left, they managed to divide up into 3 groups of 5 for each of the courses without too much issue. Of course, that was after a bit of shouting and Jeff jumping in to tell them to split up and see where they were at that point.
As expected, the diners were very critical from the moment they began to read the menu. In some cases, it seemed warranted. Once back at Judges Table, they called in the chefs of both the stand-out dishes and the way below par dishes. Tom said he was actually a bit surprised at the low quality dishes served this week as compared to last week.
Of the six people called in, the top three were Carla, Fabio and Jamie. Carla’s rustic apple tart was a favorite among the judges and the pastry was nice and flaky. Jamie’s cold corn puree soup had the right texture and combination of ingredients to be in the top three. Fabio made a beef carpacio that was very unique because of his addition of the spherical olives. They were such a nice surprise that the judges awarded him the win for the week. If you are keeping score: Europe - 2, USA – 0. I don’t think most of us are, but Stefan and Fabio seem to be drooling over the possibility that one of them could be the first European with the Top Chef title. It’s still pretty early to be declaring that type of win, and we’ve seen what overconfidence can do to some competitors.
Now, the final three left at the judges table were Hosea, Ariane and Jill. Ariane was no surprise after last week’s failed attempt and this week creating and serving something that was so sweet Padma actually spit it out. Hosea made a cold crab and mango salad that was not well-liked and many of the diners noted that it tasted like canned crab – which it was. Jill took a chance in going with an ostrich egg to make her quiche. As the judges explained, the idea was good but not well executed. A quiche is not going to stand up to the creative ideas of the other chefs. Jill was asked to “pack her knives and go.”
Next Wednesday night, you’ll want to take a break from your Thanksgiving preparations because the chefs will be making Thanksgiving dinner for the Foo Fighters. That’s sure to be a great challenge!
Photo courtesy of Bravotv.com
