Top Chef California: Episode 5

By Jason Lee

January 20, 2016

Terrible and a mess. Farewell.

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Meanwhile, Wes (for what feels like the umpteenth time) stresses about cooking in Richard's restaurant. Stop me if you've heard this already, but Wes just happens to have taken over the Executive Chef position at one of Richard's other restaurants, and thus many of these challenges feel “designed for [him] to fail at.”

With dishes designed to pair with Padma's beer, first up are Chad with an herb-roasted opah with ginger hominy, jalapeño purée, and tamarind glazed carrots, and Amar with a sous vide chicken breast, crispy chicken thigh, jalapeño popper, and tamarind ginger chutney. Both dishes are big hits. Tom loves the sweet and spicy quality of Chad's dish, while Richard praises Amar's dish as “outstanding.” “It makes you want to keep going back to the beer,” he says.

Next up are Karen, Wes, and Jeremy with dishes that pair with Richard's beer. Karen offers a roasted duck breast with cocoa nibs, beet purée, and ras el hanout-roasted carrots. Richard loves the use of cocoa nibs, as well as her incorporation of sweetness through the beets and carrots.

Wes frets that he let his meat rest too long, and he ends up being right. He has a lamb with roasted beet purée and ras el hanout-roasted carrots. Emeril and Padma both fault him for his dry, dry lamb. Richard calls the dish one dimensional, lacking the nuance of his amazing beer.

Finally, we have Jeremy's duck with chocolate granola, habanero ras el hanout pickled beets, and a blueberry hibiscus reduction. Richard likes the visual of the dish but wishes there were more fat. Tom likes the granola but finds it light on chocolate flavor.

The next batch of chefs is led off by Marjorie, who pairs Emeril's beer with roasted potato gnocchi, chicken ragu, and roasted mushrooms. Tom asks if Marjorie braised her chicken in the beer (she did) because he can't taste any of the beer flavor in the dish. Richard is willing to overlook that, however, because he finds the dish utterly delicious.

Philip has a roasted duck breast with rutabaga purée. Unfortunately for all the people at home who strongly dislike him (including me), Emeril is a fan of the dish, praising the use of crackling and fruit. Sigh.

Last in this group is Carl, who has a grilled shortrib, ancho chile, coffee, and dried cherry salsa. Emeril wishes that he'd used a bit more salt, and other diners find that the flavors come too close to the beer, leading each to cancel out the other.




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The cheftestants working with Tom's beer are last up. Isaac kicks things off with a corn and crab velouté, crispy potato, king crab, and sriracha “bananaise” - a banana mayonnaise. After the table has a good laugh about that ridiculous name, Tom compliments the king crab and criticizes the velouté. Padma agreeds. “I don't think you needed [the velouté],” she says. “If you'd served me just beautiful toast and crab salad, it would have been a home run.”

Kwame is next with a chicken mojo, banana sofrito, and charred green onion. Tom is blown away by how good it is. “It's mojo street food but without losing its soul,” he says.

Last is Jason with pork and squid meatballs, grilled marinated squid, a carrot wheat beer sauce, and salsa povera. No one sitting at the table enjoys it. Richard proclaims it to be one of the weirdest things he's ever eaten. Tom hates the soggy texture of the meatballs. “It's bait,” he says.

Judges Table takes place in Richard's restaurant. Awesome. Very old school of them. Tom compliments the group for putting out “sensational” food for the most part. “It's getting tough and will only get tougher,” he warns. Padma, who's all business, announces the judges' top three: Amar, Karen, and Kwame. All three, Tom notes, were spot on in their flavors and pairing with the beers. Amar had amazing, assertive flavors, Karen had an addictive beet sauce, and Kwame made a street food dish that would have been at home in any fine dining establishment.

Though it seems like Kwame might be taking home his third win, Padma announces Karen as this week's winner. She's thrilled. After narrowly avoiding elimination last week, this is a welcome development. Good for her.

The news is not so good for the three chefs at the bottom of the challenge, Jason, Isaac, and Wes. Isaac's dish was ruined by his velouté, Wes overcooked his lamb, and Jason made a meatball dish that led Richard to wonder if it had been inspired by some alien cuisine (I kid you not, that's what Richard said).

At the end of the day, Tom says, it's the person who made the worst cooked dish that gets sent home. Though I initially suspected that alien-abduction Jason would be the one going home, Tom's comment leaves no one surprised that Wes is the one packing his knives today.

Wes chalks it up to the fact that he felt immense pressure cooking in Richard's restaurant, and that's what got to him. Frankly, though, he's been talking about this pressure all season - it just finally caught up to him. Wes didn't expect Top Chef to be as tough as it was, but he's proud of what he accomplished. And hey, at least he sent Angelina home.


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