Top Chef Recap

By Jason Lee

January 9, 2009

Two guys, a girl and a bitchy face.

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Pepcid AC, anyone?

The other chefs sound like they're making some pretty tame dishes as well. Fabio makes homemade pasta and lamb. Radhika makes a lobster bisque. Hosea is making halibut wrapped in bacon. Jeff is making tapas, which typically includes a wide variety of appetizers in Spanish cuisine . . . an exceedingly odd choice given that the judges will be eating family style.

And then we head over into Scallopville. Jaime, having botched her scallops on last week's challenge, has thrown down the gauntlet and is making another scallop dish (this time, with fennel and orange). Carla wants to make a vegetarian dish but adds a scallop on top of it as she's worried that the judges will think that she can't cook proteins.

Group A makes their final preparations before service and Fabio, who took a page out of Top Chef Season 3 Winner, Hung's playbook and sous-vides his duck, has begun to slice his duck only to find that it's completely under-cooked.

Given that 20% of the eligible chefs will be going home, I find it hard to imagine a scenario in which Fabio does not go home for this mistake. All too often, the judges have taken a chef to town for undercooking an ingredient: Sara Mair in Season 3 with her undercooked chicken, Antonia in Season 4 with her undercooked pigeon peas, Jaime in Season 5 with her undercooked egg . . .

The judges sit down around a single table with five empty seats on the other side for the other foodies and critics. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!!! In a crazy, amazing, wonderful twist, the other five diners are the CHEFS FROM TEAM B!!!!




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*breathes heavily into a paper bag*

Okay, call me stupid, but I totally didn't see that twist coming. Personally, I think it's one of the best twists in the history of the show.

Team A is shocked when they enter the room and find that their competitors will be tasting their dishes and giving their "unbiased" comments to the judges. Hosea immediately suspects that Team B will discredit their food in order to save themselves.

Team A pulls themselves together and heads back into the kitchen where...oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!!! The dinner is being taped and all six chefs on Team A will be able to watch the judges and contestants sample their food and hear what they have to say!!!!

BEST EPISODE EVER. I heart Top Chef. This is captivating reality television.

The diners dig in and all is not good with Radhika's lobster bisque. Stefan voices great disdain for it while Tom dismisses it as "too heavy-handed." New judge Toby Young introduces himself to the chefs and to us by announcing in snide, pompous, British fashion, "I've found the weapons of mass destruction and they're here in this soup."


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