Top Chef Las Vegas Recap

By Jason Lee

November 17, 2009

Good riddance!

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column


After breakfast, Padma and Nigella return to the kitchen to deliver the news. Bryan, who's won three Elimination Challenges but no Quickfires, ends up on the bottom because of his use of vanilla. Nigella says that she was breathing in dessert but eating breakfast. Also on the bottom is Robin, who didn't provide enough contrast in her blintz.

On the top, we have Kevin, who demonstrated a strong understanding the challenge (though I'm not sure how - it was just room service breakfast in bed, right? Didn't everyone do that?). Nigella also liked Eli, whose dish had a wit and a tang that slapped the jetlag out of her. I have a feeling that Eli had the most dynamic, flavor-bursting dish and will win...and I'm right. Eli wins. He doesn't get immunity, but his dish will be the only Quickfire recipe included in Top Chef's new Quickfire recipe book (In all major bookstores now!).

The Elimination Challenge seems curiously open-ended. Each chef will draw knives with the name of one famous Vegas casino. They will have all day to explore the casino and plan a dish inspired by what they see. Then, they will have to bring that dish to an event with 175 guests at the top of the World Market Center.




Advertisement



Each chef goes on their merry way, taking a look at their respective casino. Michael goes to New York, New York and decides quickly to do a tribute to NY firemen. Jennifer goes to Excalibur and can't come up with a single good idea (DAMMIT!). Bryan goes to Mandalay Bay and decides to do a dish around sustainable sea wildlife after visiting one of their aquariums. Robin is captivated by a glass Dale Chihuly sculpture in the lobby, with its vibrate rainbow-hues. Kevin goes to Mirage and finds a tropical oasis. Eli, our fat little midget, goes to Circus Circus and comes away with an idea to do something around clichéd circus foods.

The chefs sit around their beds, going over some of their ideas that night, but hours later they find themselves back in the kitchen. They have three and a half hours to prepare food for 175 people. There isn't a lot of drama. In fact, the only person who's having trouble is Robin. She wants to do a panna cotta with shards of colored sugar to evoke the Chihuly sculpture but her sugar doesn't set and she has to junk it.

Guests enter and the judges head over to Jennifer's table first. She says that her dish is inspired by the Sword and the Stone myth, delivering a piece of grilled NY strip with a red wine reduction, beets, truffles and fresh herbs. She has a little hors d'oeuvre sword stuck in the meat. Nigella criticizes the size of the meat, saying that puts her in "wench mode," since she can't cut it. After biting into it, she declares, "This is the stone," meaning the meat was too tough. Ughhh. Chalk up another disappointing dish from Jennifer.


Continued:       1       2       3       4

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.