Top Chef Masters Recap
By Jason Lee
August 21, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Well, not yet. Tonight is the finale of Top Chef Masters and we have the connoisseur of Mexican cuisine in America, Rick Bayless, French culinary expert, Hubert Keller and pompous Italian and all around not-nice-guy, Michael Chiarello.
I am clearly rooting for either Rick or Hubert to take this home. Anyone but Michael. Please.
There is no Quickfire Challenge this time around - the three finalists drive up the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway (I highly recommend it if you're ever in Southern California) to the gorgeous Getty Villa where we find Kelly waiting for our chefs, dressed like a Valentine.
She explains that the final challenge will explore each person's life history as a chef. It will be a series of courses based on their career. The first dish will be inspired by their first food memory. The second will be based on what made them decide to become a chef. The third will be based on the opening of their first restaurant and the fourth will tell us a little something about where they will be headed in the future. In essence, it's their autobiography as a chef using food.
My first reaction to this challenge is awe. This is such an extremely deep, complex challenge. It really requires some real maturity and some significant life experience. This is not a challenge that Tom, Gail and Padma could ever assign to the Top Chef finalists. Only Masters need apply.
Speaking of Tom, Gail and Padma, they will be joining our usual critics (Jay, James and Gael) at the dinner table along with the five Top Chef winners from our past seasons. It strikes me at how competent Top Chef is at creating celebrities - iconic chefs that they honor, crown and celebrate at any given instance.
And I love it every time they do.
The chefs have $1,300 to spend at Whole Foods market and I'm blown away. I can't imagine spending $1,300 at Whole Foods at my hometown store in Los Angeles. That's just so much money. I mean, I could spend it at Trader Joe's easy, but what on earth would I fill my shopping cart with in order to rid myself of that kind of dough?
Too bad our chefs couldn't have used a little part of that budget at the Apple Store. One Mac laptop and boom, they're done.
But no, no, they have a job to do and $1,300 will be just enough to cover it. They get down to business and spend the bulk of their afternoon getting all of the heavy lifting done. They return to the kitchen in the morning to get everything ready for a perfect meal when what does Rick notice by his station but a remote control! I wonder what that could be for...
The Masters, clearly anticipating a huge twist ("Where are we packing up and moving to now?" wonders Michael aloud), are hugely surprised when they turn on the TV and watch heartfelt messages of encouragement from their sous-chefs at home. I'm really happy for them; that was a wonderful surprise.
As the tape finishes, we see the doors open AND THE SOUS-CHEFS WALK IN THE DOOR!!! Oh wow, I actually have goosebumps. These Masters are trying to cook the meal of their lives in such a way as to tell a story about their own life and now they have a little bit of support from their own kitchens to help them out. To me, this is the best moment of the entire season.
But not for Rick. His sous-chef has not cooked his seafood properly, with some pieces raw and some pieces overcooked. Bah, you can't find good help anywhere these days.
The meal begins and everything looks amazing. In particular, I can't help but notice how beautiful Stephanie is. I totally have a crush on her.
Up first, we have the chefs' first childhood memory. Michael's memory is of his mother teaching him how to make gnocchi and so he's served gnocchi two ways: one a crispy potato gnocchi and the other one a ricotta gnocchi. Hung, ever the snob, thinks that Michael's sauce is underseasoned. Tom likes the gnocchi.
Hubert made an unpronouncable French dish called baeckeoffe, basically a stew made of lamb, beef and fish. He tells a charming story of how, where he grew up, every Monday was laundry day so his father would make this dish and when the women came back from the river, they would all eat this meal at lunch. Well, everyone at the table loves it. Padma feels like this is something a grandmother would make (cause it's so homey). Elan wishes that Hubert had left the whole pot of the dish at the table for them to eat.
Rick, who grew up in a BBQ restaurant, has made BBQ quail with his family's recipe. Everyone loves the sauce. Stephanie says that she can picture Rick eating this in his backyard and Hosea remarks that as a food memory, this dish is his favorite.
I'd say that Round 1 goes (narrowly) to Hubert.
Second dish is up, the dish that made them want to become a chef, and Michael has made a polenta with rabbit, asparagus and grilled duck, which is confusingly served in a jar. What, did he rob a Smuckers factory or something? In any case, the polenta is fantastic, with Gail saying that she wants to bathe in it and Jay remarking that he wants to eat it "until the cows come home."
Hubert has made a salmon mousse that he had sampled at a restaurant near where he grew up, which just happened to be the only 3-star Michelin restaurant in eastern France. Stephanie loves it and Harold is in awe of how hard the dish was to make and says that it's inspired him to learn more about French cooking.
Rick, for his second dish, has made a oaxacan black mole with a plantain tamale. It looks absolutely delicious. I want to lick my television. Gail confesses that she's never had a mole that good and James says that he could taste every ingredient that went into it. Tom has the best line, saying, "If this is what inspired him to make Mexican food, it's brilliant."
Round 2 has extremely strong dishes from everyone but you gotta think that it goes to Rick.
For the third dish, Michael makes a ginger-stuffed rouget fish with a mango salad and fresh wasabi. To me, though, the fish looks like a big, fried turd. Hosea remarks that the wasabi is a little intense. Elan says, "it's crispy and nice, but that's it."
Hubert comes out with a lamb chop with vegetable mousseline, blanched garlic and vanilla merlot sauce. I gotta say, it looks extremely similar to Dale's deconstructed ratatouille in the Season 3 finale. Hung compliments the vegetables, which he says are cooked perfectly. Tom thinks that the garlic is too raw (which is strange because Hubert had been so proud of the way that he'd prepared the garlic, blanching it in three different liquids to remove the sharpness) and Padma thinks that the infusion of vanilla likens the dish unpleasantly to dessert.
Rick, on the other hand, has made an achiote-marinated cochinita pibil, which apparently is a suckling pig, resting on a sunchoke puree. Gael immediately compliments the puree, saying that it's far more sophisticated than she'd thought it to be. Padma takes a moment to remark that most foodies don't give Mexican food the same status as French or Italian but that there's nothing un-sophisticated in Rick's menu.
Rick has hit another home run and takes Round 3.
For the last dish, Michael has made brined short ribs with cabernet. Padma says that his dish stole her heart, Harold loves the basil salad and Jay loves the story that went along with it (I didn't hear any story but whatever).
Hubert has made two dishes (never a good idea in a finale, right Tiffany?) and combined them into one: sweetbreads with perigoro truffles and wagyu beef cheeks with a celery puree. The diners don't say much other than random remarks about the truffles. Strange.
Rick finishes his menu with an arroz a la tumbada with a tomato broth. It looks like some rice with a bunch of seafood thrown in...which, it turns out, is overcooked. Tom points out that the mussels are dried out. Jay says that it's not Rick's greatest dish, comparing it to someone's "granny putting on a pair of hot pants and dancing at a disco." Ouch.
I think Round 4 goes to Michael. Seeing as how Rick was the only one who won two rounds in addition to the convincing way in which he won them, I'd have to say he's the winner here.
Back at Critics Table, there's much praise and much criticism going around. Everyone loves Michael's shortribs, appreciated the gnocchi and really enjoyed the polenta. However James feels lacked the fish interpretive flair. Jay says that there's a difference between simplicity and underworked and finds this dish to be underworked.
For Hubert, the stew he served as the first dish was absolutely stunning, warm and soothing with rustic touches but elements of pure sophistication, but no one enjoyed the raw garlic in his lamb during the second course. Kelly echoes Padma's earlier complaint about the vanilla being too sweet as well. For the last dish, Gael Greene in particular loved the beef cheeks and the sweetbreads. James comments on how you always feel "cared for" by Hubert.
With Rick, there are effusive compliments flying across the room. The BBQ quail was scrumptious and the watermelon salad was "genius" according to Gael. The mole was "phenomenal" according to James. Jay says that he just wants to sit around making guttural noises of appreciation instead of talking about that dish. As for the fourth dish, the seafood stew, the main complaint is that the ingredients were overcooked.
Still, nothing has convinced me that anyone other than Rick has won this thing.
The Masters come back out and the scores are announced.
Michael gets four and a half stars from the diners, four and a half from Gael, three and a half from James and four and a half from Jay. Those are some really solid scores (other than James) and he has a total of 17. That will be hard to beat.
Hubert gets only four stars from the diners, four and a half from James, four from Gael and four from Jay. Wow, only James liked him better, though with 16 1/2 stars, he's only half a star behind Michael. But half a star is enough. Either Rick takes this thing or Michael is the new Tom Chef Master.
From the diners, Rick gets four and a half stars...same as Michael. Jay gives him four and a half and James gives him four and a half. If he gets four stars from Gael, he wins the whole shebang.
And from Gael Greene...four and a half stars!!! He's done it! He has 18 stars and he's dumbfounded. Rick is so happy and you know what? I am, too. He's been a class act the whole way and he really deserved this win.
"Viva Mexico," says Rick. His dad was a pit master in a BBQ shop and now his son is a Top Chef Master. What a great ending.