Top Chef Masters Recap
Episodes 1 and 2
By Jason Lee
April 16, 2010
Presented to Kelly are:
- An Italian baguette with manchego cheese, garlic, cilantro and lime from Carmen
- A triple cream cheese sandwich with prosciutto, almonds, tomato and rosemary from David
- A grilled cheese with gruyere and cheddar with a cup of gazpacho and salad
- A taleggio goat cheese and olive grilled cheese sandwich with a pear, pine nut salad from Thierry
- A feta farmer cheese with dates on raisin nut bread with an herb salad from Monica
Again, this episode feels really Top Chef-y. Kelly goes around naming her likes (focus on the sandwich by Carmen, Moroccoan flavors from Monica, tang from Marcus) and her dislikes (too many almonds from David, wanted more talegio from Thierry). And the winner is…Monica! Nope, no stars or nothing. Just a winner.
For the elimination round, the Masters have to cater a celebrity birthday party in Beverly Hills. The celebrity is Mekhi Phifer, who I’ve never heard of (he was apparently a doctor on ER) and he wants soul food. The Swedish-raised Marcus Samuelson cringes.
As the winner of the Quickfire, Monica has an advantage: she gets to choose her protein first and no one else will be allowed to use that protein.
The Masters shop and prep and then head to bed. The next day, they kick things off in the kitchen of a glamorous Beverly Hills hotel - when Carmen realizes that she TOTALLY FORGOT HER STEW BACK AT THE TOP CHEF MASTERS KITCHEN! She jumps back in the Lexus and heads back to the kitchen in total LA traffic. She’s only 16 miles away, but every second in traffic eats away at the two and a half hours that she had to cook.
While Carmen sits in traffic, Monica and David try to help her out by cooking her yucca mash. Marcus and Thierry refuse to help out, saying that they have their own dishes to cook. Though well-intentioned, Monica and David end up burning the yucca and the ingredient is rendered unusable.
Needless to say, this is NOT turning out to be Carmen’s day.
Carmen manages to finish off her stew, though sans yucca, and Monica and David try to complete their own dishes in a rush. Marcus and Thierry smirk.
The Masters head poolside and set up their stations. The judges are treated to:
- BBQ chicken with mac and cheese plus collared greens from Marcus
- Oyster soup with sausages from Carmen
- Sweet potato custard with crab meat, hush puppies, and pickled watermelon from David.
- A pork shoulder rub with Moroccan flavors, farrow, roasted cauliflower and a Brussels sprout slaw from Thierry
- Shrimp and grits from Monica
The judges this time around are James, Jay and Gail (OMG, I love Gail). As you can imagine, they find many things to love and hate from each dish. Their biggest issues with the dishes served are that Marcus’ collared greens are too fussy, Carmen didn’t make her own sausage, Thierry had too many components on the plate, David was too experimental, and Monica’s shrimp were undercooked. DAMMIT.
At this point, I was totally rooting for Monica. She helped Carmen out to the detriment of her own dish. Marcus played the “this is a competition and I’m in it for me” card and I never like to see that rewarded.
In crazy, wholly unexpected surprise, Carmen ends up with the highest score of any of the Masters. WHOA. Literally, I was floored. Kelly says that this is “the most amazing comeback in Top Chef Masters history,” and I have to agree. “Should I faint now or later?” asks a stunned Carmen.
Of course, that leaves only one spot and I’m hoping that it’s Monica.
Thierry ends up with 8 stars from the judges and 3 from the diners for a total of 11. David gets 7 stars from the judges and 3 from the diners for a total of 10 (ughh, what an embarrassing score). Monica gets 9 ½ from the judges plus 3 ½ from the diners for a total of 13. My heart sinks; I know that won’t be enough to beat Marcus.
And it isn’t. Marcus gets 10 from the judges and 4 ½ from the diners. He goes on to the next round. Boo.
Continued:
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