Top Chef Charleston Recap: Episode 9
By Jason Lee
January 31, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
When the chefs get back to work, they find Padma standing next to Michael Voltaggio in the Top Chef: Kitchen. Michael, as most TC fans likely know, won Top Chef: Las Vegas over his brother, Bryan, and tops Sam Talbott as “Hottest Top Chef-er” in this writer’s humble opinion.
But it ain’t about looks in this Quickfire Challenge - to the contrary, it’s about taste. The producers are bringing back one of the funnest Quickfires: the blindfold challenge. Each cheftestant will get five minutes to taste 20 ingredients blindfolded in a test of their palette. The chef who names the most ingredients will win not immunity (nope, that’s no longer up for grabs) but 14 cases of Terlato wine.
It’s highly amusing how many ingredients that would seem to have strong, recognizable flavors (clams, chicken, balsamic vinegar, etc.) seem to trip the chefs up when they’re not allowed to use their eyes. The one that seems most vexing is pimento cheese, which even John (who memorably tried to do a version of pimento cheese in Restaurant Wars) couldn’t identify. After all the chefs are done, Emily (five right), Sylva, and Shirley (both eight right) end up on the bottom, while Brooke (16), Casey (11), and Sheldon (ten) are adjudged to have the best palettes. While Brooke is thrilled to have won the wine, she’s even more thrilled to have beaten Michael Voltaggio, who tried out the challenge before the chefs and got 11 right.
But, of course, Padma notes in a less-than-smooth segue, senses mean nothing without memories. The Elimination Challenge will task each chef with taking a trip down memory lane and creating a dish inspired by one of their happiest childhood memories. They will serve those dishes a $500-per-ticket cocktail gala to benefit the MUSC Children’s Hospital.
The chefs are quick to find inspiration. John recalls his mother making shrimp scampi and proceeds to buy every piece of king crab in Whole Foods, leaving Sylva (who’d wanted to do a crab cake) with nothing but consternation. He decides instead to do a dish inspired by his memories of the holidays in Haiti. Sheldon is doing a rice and tea dish, which brings back memories for me - I often remember using leftover tea at restaurants to make a “tea soup” with whatever remained from the dinner. Brooke takes a slightly different track by doing a dish inspired by memories of making crêpes for her son.
When the chefs arrive at the cocktail gala to start prepping for service, they’re stunned to find out that they’ll be outside in the hot sun the entire time. Sylva’s beef “lollipops” are slumping in the heat, forcing him to re-roll almost all of them. Meanwhile, Emily is struggling with her take on an icebox cake, using a ring mold to hide the fact that they didn’t soak up enough mascarpone and coffee liquor.
Meanwhile, by Michael’s suggestion, the judges do a tequila shot before meandering around with the crowd to the various food stations. Michael and Padma sample Casey’s take on a crab macaron (yeah, it sounds ridiculous to me, but it’s basically crab on something looking like puff pastry). Both judges adjudge the dish to need a “smudge” more seasoning, or something that would add a bit of heat or acid.
Brooke has herself a hit with a savory crêpe filled with fresh ricotta, trout roe, and some crispy prosciutto. Tom deems it as decadent as breakfast can be, and Graham praises how creative and delicious the dish is.
Getting less good news is Shirley, who does a dish inspired by memories of sneaking out behind her mother’s back with a friend to get street food. Though her roasted leg of lamb with Beijing spice tastes good, both Padma and Michael criticize the fact that it’s incredibly hard to eat at a cocktail party. After they leave, Padma offers the (probably correct) conclusion that Shirley would have been better off serving her dish on a stick or skewer.
Emily’s twist on her grandfather’s icebox cake has a similar flaw in conception. While it tastes good, Tom faults the dish for not elevating far enough beyond the original version, and Graham notes that it lacks the heart and soul that others had.
For example, like Sheldon’s toasted barley tea with steamed snapper and mushrooms (which, frankly, seems like it’d be awful to eat on a hot, sweaty day). Michael adores it, and Padma gives the combination praise and advice that “this is the type of food that I associate with you.”
Sylva is running behind on his service, with lines forming due to people coming back for seconds. And with good reason. His beef “lollipop” with ground rib eye scores with Tom. Graham says it’s like “a punch in the tongue,” insofar as it delivers flavor upon flavor.
And Sylva’s tongue punch lands him in the top three for the challenge. Tom appreciates that Sylva took something really simple and blew it out of the water, making something truly delicious. Brooke is also in the top three with an egg yolk crêpe that Padma adored - it was rich without being greasy. Tom declares it the best breakfast/brunch dish he’s had. Finally, the third person in the top three is Sheldon, who put so much umami in his dish that Graham describes it as “liquid zen.” Though it was a day of great food, Sylva takes home his second Elimination win of the season.
Fun fact: only Brooke and Sylva have won two Elimination Challenges this season. Of the remaining chefs, only Sheldon has not won an Elimination Challenge.
Of the four other chefs, John is spared due to his shrimp scampi, which was a huge hit. We have a female-dominated bottom three of Emily, Shirley, and Casey. Tom notes that all of the dishes in the challenge were good, but minor things separated those at the top from those at the bottom. For Casey, it was the fact that her dish was just barely under seasoned. For Shirley, her dish was difficult to eat and inappropriate for the setting. For Emily, her flavors were muddled and she didn’t do enough to take her grandfather’s icebox cake to the next level.
With only seven chefs left in the competition, Tom notes, the only safe route is to be in the top, because any small error can send you home. And today, that’s Emily. Her dish came from a “do no harm” mentality, and while that might work in a team challenge where a chef can get away with being innocuous, the lack of ambition in this challenge was her downfall. Also, her muddy flavors.
And Emily is fine with that. She consoles herself with the knowledge that she’s not going home for cooking a bad dish. She came here to win (though nothing about her cooking showed that) and even though she didn’t, she tried her hardest and won’t have any regrets. She hopes that everyone remembers her for all the great things she put on the plate in this competition.
Good luck trying to remember what those were.