Top Chef Recap

By Jason Lee

February 12, 2009

This is what passes for a smile for Leah.

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
On top, we have the other two chefs. Carla is praised for being playful and introducing humor into her dish while Stefan showed his strong technique and expert preparation. I'm thinking Stefan wins but NO! It's Carla! Wow.

"You made one thing and everyone else made two, but doing one thing was smart and pushed you through," says Wylie. Carla is on top of the world, having won with a simple but good dish. It sadly reminds me of when Ariane won the NBC Today Show Elimination Challenge with her simple but good dish. I miss Ariane and hope that you vote for her for Fan Favorite.

Carla is promised a big advantage in the Elimination Challenge but before she finds out what it is, the chefs draw knives. On each knife is the name of a legendary American chef. Padma explains that for the final challenge in NY, five amazing, influential chefs chose what would be their pick for their "last meal on earth." Each of our contestants must cook the "last meal on earth" dish of the chef whose knife they drew. They are:

Leah: Wylie Dufresne, eggs benedict

Fabio: Lydia Bastianich, queen of Italian cuisine, roasted chicken and potatoes

Hosea: Susan Ungaro, President of the James Beard association, shrimp scampi

Stefan: Marcus Samuelsson, roasted salmon and spinach

Carla: Jacques Pepin, greatest chef in the world, roasted squab and peas




Advertisement



Carla, as the winner of the Quickfire, has the opportunity to switch with any chef if she pleases but she declines immediately. For one thing, she's over the moon about getting to cook for Jacques and secondly, she loves peas. She's not the only one who's excited about this challenge. Every chef (sans Leah, who still sounds high) seems almost bowled over by the opportunity to cook for these amazing chefs and is eager to get started.

The chefs take their $300 to Whole Foods Market and start shopping. The question for most of them is "how far can I take my dish?" meaning, are they supposed to stay traditional with the dish or should they spin it? On opposite sides of the spectrum we have Leah, who's going uber traditional with a very simple dish (I mean, eggs benedict? C'mon, how do you mess that up?) and Hosea who's out in Eugene/Jeff-land with a dish that barely resembles a shrimp scampi.

*CRASH*

There's a huge ruckus in the kitchen and we immediately know that someone's injured - but who? It's apparently Fabio, who's broken his pinky finger.

"Do you want to go to the hospital?" asks the medic.

"Hospital? I'll chop it off and sear it on the flat top and tomorrow I'll deal with nine fingers," Fabio scoffs. Despite his humor and bravado, he's having trouble cooking without his pinky. He can't peel the potatoes as well and because he can't use his knife properly, he's basically hacking away at the chicken with a cleaver. Having just seen "The Wrestler" this weekend, I'm afraid that he's going to chop his hand off by accident and run through the store, cursing at everyone he sees.


Continued:       1       2       3       4

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Friday, April 19, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.