Last night on Top Chef, the contestants had to make a hot dog that stood up against New York's finest and then serve lunch at Tom Colicchio's restaurant, Craft. The diners were all rejected applicants who didn't make the show, and holy cow were they a bitter, smug bunch. Whew.
Note: We reveal the winner and loser below...
Seriously. We're sure plenty of genius editing was involved, but these people sounded grade-A obnoxious. But here's what we took away from the episode:
1. Can it be that hard to top a NYC street dog? We've eaten our fair share of hot dogs in this city, although, admittedly, not one of Angelina D'Angelo's (the famous hot dog purveyor who went up against the chefs). But we'd prefer a freshly stuffed sausage most of the time, which is why it was so disappointing that Jill used a store-bought dog to make a summer roll.
2. Radhika made a mark. We weren't sold on her, but her Indian, kebab-style dog looked pretty tasty and she seems very cool under pressure.
3. In fact, they all seem pretty cool. Maybe there's a backlash from last season, where so many of the contestants were arrogant and rude, but this bunch (so far) is unusually nice and humble. There's a little trash talking here and there, but overall they all seem much more mature than last year's group.
4. Hooray for cooking their own dishes. Group challenges where a chef ends up cooking a dish that's not her own idea are no fun. This season seems to be steering away from that. The chefs conceived and cooked their own dishes for the New American lunch menu, and that was a good thing.
5. There was no love for Jeff's mini cornbread things. We didn't catch exactly what they were, served in little cocottes alongside his chicken, but that's because there was no love (or time) for them. Were we the only ones who thought they looked delicious? Maybe they weren't.
6. We're fickle. Last week we loved Eugene. Now we're on to Fabio. So we like a winner. Sue us. But those "spherical" olives that Fabio created, which were like jiggly egg yolks molded under water, were awesome. Plus, he is always so jolly and happy.
7. Ostrich eggs are scary. First, Jill couldn't even crack it. Then, the enormous yolk pouring out of that thing was pretty daunting. Her quiche, according to the judges, tasted like glue- yikes. We think Jill could have fought harder for herself (blame the ostrich!) and Ariane would have been sent home.
What about you? What did you think of last night's episode?
Related: Episode 1: Ethnic Foods Galore
(Images: Bravo)
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Jill or Ariane. Either could have been sent home but I don't think it matters much. I don't think either are really up to snuff and Ariane will be going home soon enough.
view hyperRevue's profile
I personally can't stand Fabio when he talks. 'In Italy blah blah. Since I'm Italian blah blah.' When he will be forced outside his Italian specialization, I can see him flopping.
The spherical olives were cool, but I found most of his stuff was rather cliche.
I think Ariane looks like Amy Poehler from SNL when she has her hat on..
view crazykj's profile
I was in a way disappointed with the chefs this week, new american cuisine should be just that...I saw it from fabio with the olive technique, but that was it. This is only the 2nd episode, but this is NYC and I expect the best with brand new ideas
view greenT's profile
Well, Jill? (the one who was booted) was the only one who made a hot dog. Everybody else made sausages. The winner was not a hot dog. Just sayin'!
If someone created an emulsified sausage with hints of paprika and garlic and adorned it in a creative way we'd be talking. How can you compare a boiled weiner to a chunky farce?
I thought having the rejected applicants taste the food was a brilliant idea. I loved some of the characters like the guy who was obviously an actor posing as a chef to get on tv.
The ostrich egg move showed how risky it must be to experiment under a Hollywood style lens. Could it have been cool? Could it have tasted incredible? Sure, maybe after some tweaking. But it seems like there is no room for playing. It sucked, your gone, next. It's easy to make these judgments from the sideline but everyone is different. Some people are always challenging themselves and see taking the "safe" way out as cheating themselves.
The addition of the Euro's does add an extra layer of drama. The jokes and attitudes that are sometimes lost in translation can be very funny.
view art's profile
You'd think Jill would've learned from Patrick's using noodles he's never cooked with before that cooking with a foreign ingredient in a competition isn't the best idea.
Ariane makes me think of that old saying--something about a happy chef making good food and a miserable chef making bad food. She's like Eeyore here, and it's so painful to watch. She wasn't willing to stand by her dish before she sent it out, and that especially bothers me.
I'm still cheering for Gene, but as previous seasons have shown, you never know how a person is like (relatively, in terms of reality TV) until a handful of episodes in.
Did Jeff's cornbread dish have chorizo mixed in? The judged did mention liking those. I think they looked very appealing, too!
As for the hot dog competition--I love hot dogs, and as already stated, most of those were not hot dogs.
view OneWallKitchen's profile
Jeff's mini cornbread things got plenty of love. They were chorizo spoonbread and the judges liked them better than the chicken. My prediction for the season: chorizo is the new bacon.
And Fabio's dish was lame: classic Italian is not New American even if you gussy it up with a trendy molecular gastronomy trick.
view BillJ's profile
Fabio's olives were invented by Adria. See here:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2006/09/13/dining/1194817116543/olives-at-el-bulli.html
Funny that none of the diners or judges mentioned that (are they not allowed to promote chefs who aren't guests on the show?)
view irksomecushion's profile
As an Indian-American, I was so happy that Radhika won the hot dog challenge!
I really enjoyed all the cheftestants going to their assigned ethnic communities.
view atxgirl's profile