Top Chef Recap

By Jason Lee

January 9, 2009

Two guys, a girl and a bitchy face.

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As for the other dishes, everyone loves Ariane's skate wing, saying that it was cooked perfectly. Leah's fried beans are too greasy (though the English judge finds it just fine, thank you very much). No one likes Carla's dish, which is far too heavy on the flavor of garlic.

At this point, I'm starting to wonder if Carla and Melissa will be going home.

The chefs head back to the Stew Room, with Melissa feeling really bad about her dish. She's worried that she'll get sent home without having shown her full potential as a chef. Honey, I'm really sorry, but you've had seven episodes with two challenges each (Quickfire and Elimination) and if you haven't shown your potential yet, then maybe you don't have any.

Padma enters and asks to see the chefs that made the skate wing, duck and scallop dishes...meaning Ariane, Stefan and Jaime are on top. At this point, I can only shake my head in disbelief at how Ariane has turned herself around in this competition. In every episode lately she has been a contender to win at least one of the challenges. I would have never thought that she would make it so far in such grand style after seeing the first two episodes of Season Five.




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The chefs come before the judges panel to receive their acclaim. Tom liked Stefan's dish and said the flavors were spot on. Toby liked that it was unmistakably German and perfectly cooked. Tom loves the combination of flavors in Jaime's scallop dish and Toby thought that the anis seed undertone complimented the caramel flavor of the scallop. Tom thought that Ariane's dish was refined and in particular, guest judge Novelli praises it as a great dish – he seems to think it was the best of the evening.

But who actually won the challenge? Ariane, who's won two Elimination Challenges and a Quickfire so far? Stefan, who hasn't won anything since the first episode? Or Jaime, who complained audibly about having won nothing? The winner is...JAIME!!! Well, good for her. I know she can be a grouch sometimes but she's clearly a good chef and I'm happy that she's finally won herself a challenge.

Jaime is all smiles and highfives as she enters the Stew Room and doesn't even seem bothered by having to tell Melissa, Eugene and Carla that they're in the bottom three. For what it's worth, I think those three are the three worst chefs left in the competition, so I'm fine with it, too.

The three chefs tromp out, filled with fear of the knowledge that two out of the three will be eliminated. What are the charges against them? Carla erred in using risotto, which, according to Tom, is not a garnish but a meal. Toby found it tart and bitter. Carla responds in a surprisingly intelligent way, outlining exactly what she should have done differently to make the dish a winning meal. I'm impressed, she definitely sounds like she A) learned her lesson and B) knows her stuff.


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