Top Chef: Seattle Recap

By David Mumpower

March 6, 2013

Padma does *not* hug the loser.

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Alas, Kristen stomps on any remaining hope with a breathtaking plate of food. The dish is red snapper with leeks, little gem lettuce, tarragon, uni & shellfish nage. Some of these things cannot be real foods. I think I played as Uni Nage in Final Fantasy IX. Gail provides one nitpick about the stringy nature of the dish, which causes CJ to speculate that they have Gail’s vote. Meanwhile, Hugh aggravates Gail by tweaking her about how easy it was for him to use a knife. Overall, the dish is very well received.

What happens next reveals the outcome without announcing anything. Tom takes this opportunity to reflect back on what both chefs have accomplished this season. What do we call this, class? Yes, it’s filler. Before the individual judges state their votes, we…cut to commercial. Top Chef returns at the 56 minute mark. Brooke has lost.

The judges notify the onlookers of what television viewers already know. Gail, Emeril and Tom unanimously support Kristen in what sounds like a close result. In fact, Emeril debates for a time after he is asked to decide. This leads me to an aspect of the new finale I will discuss in just a moment. For now, what is most important is that Kristen Kish is the winner of Top Chef: Seattle. In the process, she has become the second woman and third Asian-American to claim the title.

Most notably, she also becomes the first player ever to win Top Chef after being eliminated from the competition. This aspect of her victory justifies the existence of Last Chance Kitchen. Prior to its invention, a situation such as the Restaurant Wars fiasco with Josie would have summarily ended Kristen’s opportunity to win.

There are a couple of issues on this topic that suck for Brooke. The first is that she obviously was never eliminated. I mentioned earlier that Kristen, the loser’s bracket victor, should be required to do something more in order to claim the title. Maybe that should have been winning four out of five courses. Maybe there should have been a pair of challenges. If Brooke had won either one, she would be the champion. Whatever the choice, there is a slight imbalance created by Last Chance Kitchen. The players who make it to the end such as Sheldon and Brooke are not afforded the same opportunities as those eliminated previously.




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To my mind, the worst part of the situation for Brooke is simple. Had last week’s episode been a three player season finale, Brooke would be the winner of Top Chef. She unquestionably outperformed her competitors. Because of the timing, however, all that performance provided her was a spot in the finale. In other words, since Kristen’s return, she has out-cooked Brooke once while Brooke has out-cooked her once.

The “semi-final” occurred in a regular kitchen and was similar in tone to the rest of the season. The finale was performed in a new setting in front of a live audience. There were also assistants for this portion who were a larger factor than the Craft staff had been during the previous challenge.

The second issue I have involves the timing of this season. The primary competition occurred last July and August. The finale was performed in late January, only a few days after the Restaurant Wars episode of Top Chef had aired. The judges were provided ample opportunity to appreciate how much Kristen had been wronged in being eliminated instead of Josie. This situation made her sympathetic to the judges. Brooke had “won” by dominating the second half of the season. Kristen had been wronged. I believe that this perception combined with the public voting process for each course created unavoidable, very human issues that favored one contestant over the other.

Nobody is crying for Brooke because she is now one of the most famous chefs in Los Angeles. Her career is on solid footing for the foreseeable future. Still, she got at least somewhat screwed, which means the format still needs some tweaking. There were improvements made from Season 9 to Season 10 with regards to Last Chance Kitchen and now some more enhancements need to be performed for Season 11. A returning chef simply has to do more when they return to correct the imbalance with the never-eliminated players in the winner’s bracket. These are the seasonal nit-picks like Gail had with the stringy umami that requires a knife. She still voted for Kristen. I still loved the finale.

Overall, Season 10 of Top Chef was spectacular. The group of contestants was not only exceptional chefs but also great people for the most part. As such, they were easy to celebrate and fun to watch. Dropping all of the home drama in exchange for actual cooking drama was absolutely the correct choice. Top Chef: Seattle was a win from the casting department all the way through to the finale…or at least the semi-finale. The new format for the finale features a previously unknown adrenaline rush and is only a few tweaks away from being a phenomenal addition. All in all, I am sad to see this season end and cannot wait for the next one. In the interim, Empire State South, here I come!


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