Thursday, July 15, 2010
Food media 'Top Chef' D.C, Episode 5: For God’s Sake, Quarantine That Duck
Posted by Joel Silverman on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 1:49 PM
We’re a third of the way into the Top Chef: DC competition, and the early promise of a super-slate of restaurant-owning competitors has faded. Lacking drama in the kitchen, the struggling producers are making the most out of Angelo’s MSG-scented seduction of Tamisha. The poor girl needs to watch out for this culinary lothario, because when Padma announced that for the Quickfire challenge, “you’ve got crabs” to cook, Angelo blanched and admitted that he’s “had crabs before, and so that brought back bad memories.” Ick.
Kenny came close to winning the Quickfire by breaking one of Top Chef’s most reliable truisms: Chefs who get fancy and show off by making multiple dishes when just one would do have always been slammed for it by the judges. Kenny proclaims himself “a beast in the kitchen” and backs it up by making a trio of Korean crab bisque, a crab bruschetta, and a warm sesame crab salad that all looked appealing.
Amanda returns to her boozy tricks by plopping her crab salad on a sauterne gelée that drew a gasped “wow” from Padma. Amanda asked brightly, “is that wow as in yummy?” but Padma just meant the kind of wow that means she won’t be able to taste the remaining offerings because her tongue is numb now. Ed won the Quickfire with a Thai-inflected crab dish that perplexed Timothy, who grew up picking crabs, and apparently thinks no-concept home cooking is enough to survive in this environment.
The chefs move on to a locavore challenge at a postcard-perfect “humane farm” where the lambs are sung to tenderly before being gently slaughtered, and where field workers with green cards making more than minimum wage apologize to the lettuce before harvesting it. In a Top Chef first, Kelly makes dessert and doesn’t get kicked off the island for it. In what should be a Top Chef last, Angelo boasted about how perfectly he butchered and cooked the duck: “I made love to that duck, to be honest with you.” Will somebody please test that duck for crabs?
Now, if I’d been told I was cooking outside in a cow pasture, I would have snuck a bag of charcoal into my Toyota Sienna™ Trunk Pantry, but instead the chefs struggle with the amemic heat produced by the gas grills provided for them. Kenny was unfazed by this obstacle. He won with a perfect curry, which Tom points out was ballsy to serve to Padma, who has used her Top Chef fame to write an Indian cookbook. Dubbed “Black Angus” by Amanda, and the self-proclaimed “alpha male” of the house, Kenny is starting to look like a front-runner here, as Angelo is trying harder to get camera time than to produce winning dishes.
In over his head, kind-but-perplexed Timothy packs his dull knives and goes, flashing a peace sign and advising the survivors not to forget to use salt and pepper. More exotic spices don’t have a place in Top Chef: D.C.
Comments (2)
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I love that Kelly took Tim's beets away, leaving him with a flavorless turnip dish, sending herself to the top and sending him home.
Am I really not supposed to serve salad in a bowl? What should I do with my salad bowls?
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Is it just me or was last night's ep really really boring? Like, when will they stop cooking outside and start on with the cool challenges that Bravo was careful to emphasize (NASA, CIA, Nationals, etc.)? This is just getting to be more of the same, although last night had ~drama~.
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