Thursday, September 24, 2009
Restaurants Living the dream: 'Top Chef' Las Vegas, Episode Six
Posted by Emily Hansen on Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Toby Young is back, and he's still “very, very British.”
In last night's magic-themed episode of “Top Chef” Las Vegas, Toby Young, the show's resident foul-mouthed, analogy-making Brit, returned to judge the remaining cheftestants' deconstructed versions of classic dishes, from a showy Caesar salad to eggs “foreign to me,” alongside deconstructionist showmen Penn and Teller. Fittingly, both classic British dishes — shepherd's pie and fish and chips — flopped last night, failing to meet Toby's, or even Teller's, expectations. Ash's shepherd's pie was clunky on the plate and poorly cooked (his tomato looked like a bad tomato Provencal I actually did get at a buffet in Vegas) and Laurine's fish and two chips, aside from being overcooked, failed to recreate the fatty flavor of fries.
Ultimately, though, it was Ron's pathetic paella, his countless mediocre fish dish of the season, that was deemed the worst of the night and sent the Haitian chef packing his knives. While I doubt Ron thought he was the best chef of the bunch, his disillusioned commentary (“I could win for this,” “I've made award-winning clam chowder”) made him seem out of touch with the competition and his abilities throughout much of the season. Thankfully, his heartfelt goodbye saved some face and helped to show that at least a part of his cocky/confused persona was created in editing. Keep living the dream, Ron — one day you can cook for Tyra Banks.
The remaining Atlanta chefs are doing a better job living the “Top Chef” dream. Kevin, Atlanta's best shot at a final-four slot, won last night's elimination challenge for his deconstructed chicken mole negro with a pumpkin and fig jam, impressing guest judge Michelle Bernstein with perhaps the prettiest dish of the night. Although not as fancy as Michael Voltaggio's version of Caesar salad, which was a magic show in itself, Kevin's dish managed to seem hearty and yummy even in fine dining portions. I think it's that difference between the two dishes and the two chefs that will come head-to-head as the season goes on.
Although Atlanta's other representative, Eli, certainly fell in the hearty camp along with Kevin, his sweet and sour pork “testicles,” which were well-received by the judges, were mostly overshadowed by his attitude in last night's episode. I can respect that he felt he should have won the quickfire challenge (after all, his brown butter risotto was deliciously devilish) and I can even appreciate his faux cocky attitude (“I'm the best f-'in chef here”), but I had a hard time swallowing his particularly callous response to Robin's win. Sure, Robin isn't the best chef there (in fact, now that Ron's gone, she might be the worst), but I doubt that she won the challenge simply because she said she had battled cancer. The comment might have seemed funny when Eli played it in his head, but in reality, I think it just made him seem bitter. And I have higher expectations for his wit. (Read Eli's response to the incident on Bravo's website.)
On a side note, I was happy to see Jen fumble a little last night. Her reaction to the tougher challenge made her seem more human, and despite her fears, her deconstructed meat lasagna was still ultimately good (I'll take that crusty cheese top, Padma). Voltaggio brothers, watch out.
(Photo courtesy Bravo TV)
Comments (14)
Showing 1-14 of 14
As a recent cancer survivor, I wasn't sure who to be more annoyed with last night: Robin, for playing the cancer card in a fricking cooking competition, or Eli for callously calling her out for it. Lost a little respect for both of them (and yes, I have read Eli's rationalization). That said, so much of what is presented in these shows depends on the editing, and they're clearly trying to set up Eli as a whiny, attitude-heavy nerd. If they can't get a bitchy enough quote from Mike I., Eli's the go-to guy. So I'll cut him some slack. Robin, on the other hand, I'd have been happy to see go home weeks ago. She's clearly out of her depth (and not in a charming, reversible way like Carla last season), and Hector and Mattin did not deserve to go home before her.
like
dislike
I've made this comment before, but I really hope I won't have to make it again. These columns (not this one, but many) are full of talk about cherishing other cultures through their food. But it is not only through food that we must appreciate other cultures, it is also through writing and, not to put too fine a point on it, spelling. It is callous and lazy to drop diacritical marks. If you don't know how to get them, here are two options: (1) Search for the word in question (with or without the diacritical; Wikipedia will find the result anyway); then copy the proper spelling from the Wikipedia article. (2) Use the Windows character map (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map). But don't leave it off; doing so sends a message to people of that culture that you just don't care. Today's example: It is "tomato Provençal" (with a cedilla under the c) not "tomato Provencal."
Could not agree more about Hector going home before Robin just being wrong. I never felt impressed with Mattin, though. He didn't really embrace any of the elimination challenges; not even the French one.
@ Joe, go post your crap in a teachers blog or something. You grammar correction is really not contributing to this forum. That being said although I think that Elis words seemed callous I was thinking the same exact thing when she repeated her Cancer story for the second time.
Joe, I guess we're all just too provincial fer ya! hahaha I am really feeling "over" the whole Top Chef thing. It's too overproduced/edited. And I don't like challenges that set the chefs up for failure (like the desert challenge). I'm watching it to see great chefs make beautiful, inspiring food, not to watch Collichio spit things out. And, clearly, the right people are not always being sent home (Hector/Robin). IMHO
Uh-oh, looks like the Grammar Police have shown up. Hey Joe, you're c's got sumpthin hangin off it. Better git that ther thang fixed. As to the show, Eli should have let that comment remain in his head but oh well. I still say Kevin (who looks like a viking) and the Voltaggio brothers (who's last name sounds like viking descent) face off in a pseudo-Nordic finale.
I have a comment/suggestion/complaint: Can you please NOT post who got the boot the next day on the MAIN PAGE? Some of us have things to do on wednesday nights and DVR the show. I check this blog everyday at work and get mad every week because you spoil it!! At least this week there was no huge picture of who got the boot... a step in the right direction.
Hi all, I'm working to not put spoilers in the lede, or where you'd see them on an RSS feed, or even hinting at then with the artwork. IEATFOOD, are you talking about on the CL homepage? Was the headline there a spoiler or something? We will continue to post about the show, including spoilers, but I'm hoping to make it so if you don't actually consciously read the post you won't have the show spoiled for you.
Besha, Thanks for making sure both the graphic and the lead in did not indicate a winner or loser this week. Not that we want to see Toby Young every week. 8-) Was it me or did Eli and Kevin look shorter than they really are when they were sitting on the couch coaching Ron? If you want some crust/crunch on your rice you wouldn't keep flipping in the pan.
I meant the Omnivore blog main page. Not the main CL page. And thanks for listening :)
I'm sick of all the people who read this blog and expect us to wait for them to watch the show. If you missed the show, taped it, DVR'd it, had a hysterectomy and couldn't watch it, then eff off and don't read this blog. It's that simple. You know we're going to talk about it today. You know it's going to be a topic on Omnivore.com, ajc.com, E! News, Entertainment Tonight, The View, The Soup, Law and Order, CSI. Just stay on media silence if you can't watch it at the proper time.
Not wanting the loser's ("loser" is shorter than "eliminated contestant") picture in the main Omnivore feed (or the main CL page, for that matter) is understandable, but not wanting the loser's name to appear in the teaser for this article on the Omnivore feed at all is asking a bit much. It was in the 2nd paragraph this week, so you'd have to be reading actively to really know who lost (since several names were mentioned before the loser's name). The teaser is automatically generated from the first ~250 words of the article; forcing the author to avoid mentioning the loser's name within the first 250 words of an article that is usually ~600 words long seems a little unreasonable to me.
Joe's comment reminded me of the brief bit they showed from judging where Toby mispronounced "paella", apparently on purpose, and guest judge Michelle Bernstein looked like she wanted to slap him one good for insinuating that English speakers can and should mangle the pronunciation of foreign-language words. I sorta felt the same way that Michelle looked -- like, how weird was it that an educated cat like Toby was actively promoting cultural ignorance? Don't televised "experts" have a responsibility to use their presence in our living rooms to inform and teach? And I guess the same applies to bloggers who have a sizeable Internet audience! Spelling things correctly is a good thing to do. But Joe, sir, "callous" is a ridiculously strong word to apply to missing a diacritical mark. Not everyone who writes about food knows about how the French language works -- honestly, it's callous and lazy to assume that everyone has had the same education you have! Perhaps, if you haven't already, you'd serve yourself better if you contacted the editor privately and calmly about any spelling errors you find. Especially when they're in words that wouldn't get picked up by MS Word's US English spellcheck, they're probably just honest mistakes, not international incidents.
@JSF3000 -- Dude, calm down. I didn't say don't talk about the show. I said could you avoid putting a big picture of the loser of the main page (and preferably the headline of the post) like here: http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/omnivore/2009/09/17/wild-wild-chefs-top-chef-las-vegas-episode-five/ and here: http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/omnivore/2009/09/10/bacon-jam-top-chef-las-vegas-episode-four/
Latest in Omnivore
-
Local restaurants honor the late Warren Bruno
Percentage of sales will be donated in Warren Bruno's honor.
-
Weekend food events, May 25-27: 3B Fest, a patio party, and more
Weekend events for Friday May 25 to Sunday May 27.
-
Waiting on Shaun Doty's chicken at Ansley Mall
It's a game of retail dominoes
- More »
