Top Chef Charleston Recap: Episode 8
By Jason Lee
January 24, 2017
And the food isn’t much. As an appetizer, the judges get a sweet potato tamale (southern food much?) from Katsuji, which has a nasty, burnt taste, and a orangey, gloppy mess from John that’s supposed to be crab dip in the form of pimento cheese (cause that sounds delicious), but which lacks any crab flavor.
Things improve marginally in the entrées with Katsuji’s fried green tomato and almond gravy beef tongue, which all agree is good. Sadly, Sheldon’s one dish - an acorn stew with sorghum cod - has only one texture (mushy) and lacks any edge or acidity.
Heading into dessert, Tom remarks, “this dessert better be the most amazing dessert in the world.” It’s not. In fact, it can’t even be found. Casey checks in with the kitchen and finds John complaining that he needs SEVENTEEN of her desserts to be plated. Realizing that if she doesn’t get it done, it won’t ever get done, Casey rolls up her sleeves and starts plating her strawberry lemon sorbet with buttermilk curd meringue, which thankfully for her, the judges like (though don’t really see where all the work went, as it’s basically some strawberries with cream). It’s better than Katsuji’s blackberry cobbler, though, which has dough on top that’s totally undercooked.
All in all, Tom adjudges the Southern Belle team to be not very southern and not very good. It’s an easy call naming the Latitude team the winner. As a testament to (a) how hard this challenge is and (b) the amount of stress she was under as the leader of her team, Shirley bursts into tears. Tom thinks Sylva’s halibut was great, Padma enjoyed the broth from Shirley, and Emily has something to smile about for the first time in a while (lets see how she does in her next individual challenge, though...), but Brooke deservingly goes home the winner for her unflappability in the front of the house and for her great appetizer.
Top Chef takes a turn into Jerry Springer territory as the judges switch their attention to the Southern Belle team. Tom calls John’s attempt at crab-pimento cheese a “1970s recipe,” and Padma says it tasted of “tinned fish.” Sheldon’s one dish (you had one job!) was not very good, which Sheldon attributes to the “tension in the kitchen” (yeah, and the quality of my homework during middle school was poor because of the volume of my Backstreet Boys cassette tape was turned up loud to drown out my parents arguing downstairs). Casey takes some flack for not actually being present in the dining room, but she validly points out that SOMEONE was going to have to plate those 17 desserts, and if wasn’t going to be her, who was it going to be, huh?
It wasn’t going to be John, for sure, as he was busy expediting all those dishes in incomprehensible fashion. The judges ask Katsuji why he didn’t take the reins as executive chef when he had the opportunity - he blathers on about some BS about how he wanted to show off his cooking skills and allow John an opportunity to shine as executive chef. John then points out that Katsuji’s lack of restraint in planning his menu left everyone to pick up the slack, including him, in prepping for his three dishes, which, oh yeah, constituted HALF of the team’s menu. Katsuji does a pretty on-point impression of a sarcastic 13-year-old girl thanking John for how great a job he did and how helpful his assistance was. Tom asks whether Katsuji’s decision to have John work as executive chef was a bad one, and in a moment of pique, Katsuji agrees that it was a bad decision. “Sometimes you pick the wrong people,” he says with no hint of shame, prompting John to accuse Katsuji of setting him - assigning him to be executive chef but then preventing him from doing anything other than helping Katsuji prep for his dishes.
“ALL RIGHT,” Padma says, bringing things back to order before sending the chefs back to the stew room so that the adults can discuss things. While John and Katsuji continue their feud backstage, the judges consider their options. Padma takes Casey off the table, as she “valiantly” did what she could and made the best dish of the meal (her dessert). All judges agree that Katsuji bit off more than he could chew, but they also agree that John's crab/pimento cheese combination was the worst of the night. In determining who goes home, it’s decided that it’ll be the chef who bears the most responsibility for the failure of the team.
And that’s Katsuji - appropriately, I think. Padma notes that team suffered from a lack of teamwork and an over-abundance of ego, with no true leadership. As she announces that Katsuji will be packing his knives, Shirley, Casey, and Brooke all surreptitiously nod in agreement - they know it was the right decision. As he leaves, Katsuji congratulates himself for never having played it safe during this season. He took a risk every time. “There I go being like John,” he chastises himself upon more reflection, “always making excuses. ‘Yeah, I took a risk,’” he mocks himself. He did. And he deserves to go home for it.
Boy, bye.
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