Top Chef Boston Recap: Finale Part 2

By Jason Lee

February 9, 2015

Seriously? You're going to make me cook with ants?

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“I got totally screwed on that one,” he laments to the camera.

The chefs pile into cars with their sous chefs and start planning out their dishes. Doug tries to push Greg to make a guava dish as a dessert, but Greg will have none of it. He not only doesn't want to make a dessert for last, he insists on his guava dish going first. He’s being quite bossy so far.

Meanwhile, Mei says that she wants to do guacamole. My mouth drops open. What on earth is she thinking? Guacamole? That is the stupidest thing I’ve heard from her all season. This clearly fails Tom’s oft-repeated standard for a good Top Chef dish - “Did you really think you’d win with (insert dish)?” If you can’t see yourself winning with a dish, then you shouldn’t be making said dish.

The cars stop at an awesome-looking outdoor market. It reminds me a lot of the outdoor market that the chefs got to explore in the Singapore finale in Top Chef: DC. The chefs all struggle trying to find their “highlight” ingredients in the market. Deftly navigating the market and communicating with the vendors with ease, Katsuji proves that, as a sous chef in Mexico, he’s worth his weight in gold.

Afterwards, the chefs retire to their gorgeous, palatial digs for the finale. Doug notes that this is the biggest challenge of the entire season, as the winner gets to compete for the title. He shares his dream of someday having his own restaurant in Montana. Meanwhile, Mei reminisces about the lack of support she’s received over the years from her family. Winning the title, she imagines, would finally win her the respect she’s been denied.




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As these little vignettes play out, alarm bells go off in my head. Emotional segments like these often portend doom later on in the challenge at judge’s table. Quite pointedly, Greg gets no such vignette for himself.

The chefs are back in the kitchen before they know it the next day. For our benefit, they take us through the menu and their dishes one by one. Greg is first with his guava soup. He’s confident because he loves guava - he’s aiming to make a bright first course that’s equal parts tart, tangy, and spicy. Something to awaken the palette.

Mei will be next with her unstrategic, stupid, ridiculous guacamole. I’m still shaking my head over that one. Mei, though, believes she can make something fresh and new by incorporating prickly pear into the guac.

Doug will be third with his ant eggs. Katsuji has advised him that escamoles is treated a bit like caviar in Mexico. Thus, like all chefs do with caviar (insert sarcasm here), Doug is going to make a Spanish tortilla with escamoles aioli.

Mei’s second dish will go fourth with a huilacoche pasta. Melissa’s sole responsibility, Mei tells us, is to make this pasta for her. I’m not sure how smart this is - though Melissa made a good smoked eggplant pasta last time around, it was also the dish that got her eliminated.


Continued:       1       2       3       4       5

     


 
 

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