I’m in Florida for a little over 36 hours to see a few amateur players, including Louisville right-hander Kyle Funkhouser, who’ll pitch at the Phillies’ stadium on Friday afternoon. That killed my chat this week, although I’ll be back for one on Thursday. I’ll also have draft blog posts up on Friday and Saturday discussing what I saw in Florida. My chat with Colin Cowherd today on what WAR is and why we need it is available in mp3 form.
And now, the finale of Top Chef Season 12:
* Gregory says his end goal is to be the chef of “many different restaurant concepts.” Is that a typical goal? I guess it probably is now, the way the industry has changed over the last two decades, but I wonder if the previous generation of chefs had different goals when they entered the business. Mei’s comment is consistent with her statements the last few episodes – “I just want to show everybody that I chose the right career path” – as if she still needs some validation.
* The two chefs leave before dawn and end up getting in a hot air balloon. I hope the producers made sure neither was afraid of heights. They land in a field with Tom and Padma waiting. I’m not really sure what the point of this was other than some cool aerial shots of San Miguel de Allende.
* I don’t know what Padma was wearing around her neck there but they might want to check the pyramids to see if any of them were recently robbed.
* Elimination challenge: Make the best four-course meal of your life. In other words, it’s about the food, and only about the food.
* There’s a quick draft of sous-chefs. Gregory takes Doug, Mei takes Melissa, (her explanation: “duh!”), Gregory takes George, Mei takes Rebecca to help make a dessert. Five hours to cook. Mei serves first at Cent’Anni, after which Gregory will serve at the Restaurant at Sollano 16.
* Apropos of nothing, I do not understand Melissa’s personal style at all.
* Mei worked the pastry station at Bryan Voltaggio’s place to try to get some dessert experience. So she must have had some experience before, right? She couldn’t have dropped into that gig as a complete newbie.
* Gregory is (wisely, I think) trying to show he’s more than just a one-trick pony (I assume that’s a reference to his propensity to make curries), including a rather complex mole dish. Mei thinks he’s pushing himself in a different direction, so she says she has to show more flavor and technique to compete with him. I thought it was interesting that they shared their menus without any apparent reservations.
* Mei’s making duck. I’m shocked. But to be fair, she’s including huitlacoche and kimchi butter in this dish, so it’s not her usual duck dish.
* Did I hear this right from Mei to her sous-chefs when talking about making stock? “Drop them in the fryer – easiest way to roast bones.” Granted, that’s not something I’m about to try at home for fear of burning the house down, but the flavors must be incredible.
* She’s toasting yogurt and then using liquid nitrogen to create lime curd. I’d say she’s pushing herself just fine here. This dish almost sounds like she’s making it specifically to impress Richard Blais.
* Gregory is using green chorizo, which I admit I’d never heard of before this. Apparently it’s fatty pork mixed with chiles, spinach powder, and cilantro. That seems like the ideal sausage to use when play a practical joke on someone on St. Patrick’s Day. Bangers and mash with a surprise hit of capsaicin?
* He says mole isn’t traditionally served with (beef) short ribs. That seems like a pretty obvious combo though – and what he’s describing sounds a bit like a chile colorado, which can definitely be served with braised cuts of beef. His mole has 30 ingredients, so it’s a bit surprising he didn’t take Katsuji.
* The diners include Sean Brock, Traci des Jardins, Michael Cimarusti, and Gavin Kaysen, as well as Blais, Hugh, Gail, Tom, and Padma. Blais’ hair looks like he fell in a vat of Dippity Do. Not that that’s a bad thing, though.
* Mei’s first course is braised-then-fried octopus with fish sauce vinaigrette, avocado-coconut puree, and “some herbs.” She does love the fish sauce … I get it, it’s packed with umami, but if its flavor is too pronounced it goes all ice nine on the rest of the plate. Anyway, everyone loves this dish’s presentation and depth of flavors, including the basil-mint-cilantro herb combination, but the consensus is that the octopus was overcooked.
* Her second course is an allusion to the first dish she made on Top Chef, a congee, this one with carnitas, scallion purée, her own hot sauce, Japanese peanuts with lime spice, and an egg yolk. Everyone loves it. It’s a classic Asian comfort food item infused with Mexican flavors.
* Mei’s third course is the duck breast, which appears to be sear-roasted, with braised lettuce, kimchi jicama, and huitlacoche. Hugh loves the duck, but says he’s “not sold on the rendering of the fat,” which is kind of key given how awful a mouthful of solid duck fat feels. Tom says the dish has a “lot of interesting moments,” like the crunch of the jicama, but I think that’s a faint-praise comment from him. Blais says there’s too much kimchi relative to the more delicate flavor of the huitlacoche.
* We see her scramble to adjust her dessert at the last second after Rebecca informs her rather bluntly that it’s too sweet. There probably wasn’t room for subtlety at that point in the kitchen.
* That dessert is a strawberry-lime curd, with toasted yogurt, milk crumble with bee pollen, and a yogurt-lime ice. Blais and Hugh love the presentation. (Can we get a Vine of Hugh saying “Smoking!” in falsetto?) Tom, who’d earlier criticized Mei’s decision to make a dessert when she’s only a savory chef, says it’s the best dessert he’s ever had on Top Chef and happily retracts his earlier comments.
* So at this point it looks like Mei absolutely nailed two dishes (the congee and the dessert), did reasonably well on a third (the duck), and struggled with the fourth (the octopus). If Gregory nails three of four, he probably wins.
* Gregory’s first dish is a home run – he serves a grilled octopus with xoconostle, passion fruit, prickly pear, and cashew milk. Padma says it’s sublime. Tom says it’s a powerhouse. It certainly plays to the crowd here with the emphasis on local or traditional Mexican ingredients.
* His second course is a soup of shrimp broth with green chorizo, pickled nopales, and crispy shrimp heads. Sean Brock compares it (favorably, I think) to a bowl of gumbo. But the use of the whole shrimp heads, including their shells, gets a huge thumbs-down as Gail and Padma both end up saying the shell bits were too hard to swallow. I’ve had shrimp heads once, also fried, and wouldn’t go back for more for that exact reason. If he wanted to incorporate shrimp into the dish – he said he wanted to allude to the classic chorizo/shrimp pairing – this wasn’t the right way to do it.
* Now we see his own scramble, as Gregory realizes he forgot to add vinegar and sugar to carrot sauce in the beginning stages of cooking it. We didn’t see any of that part of the process, but how is that possible? Did someone take his eye off the dish? Did he have a checklist and miss that step, or lack any checklist at all? He tries to add some sugar and vinegar á la minute, then finds it’s too sweet, so he adds salt, which would just cover it all up.
* Third course: Striped bass with roasted carrots, radish, pineapple, tomatillo, and other vegetables. The sauce was indeed too sweet, exacerbated by the pineapple’s sweetness and insufficient acidity from other ingredients. Tomatillos don’t have much acid themselves; without lime to boost their flavor I find them really bland. Tom just crushes it, saying the dish was sweeter than Mei’s dessert.
* Gregory’s final course was his pièce de resistance: Braised short rib with red mole and agave sweet potato, with toasted pepitas on top of the beef. Everyone we hear praises how well the ribs are cooked. It’s a bit like pork belly – doing it well is hard, but if you do it well it’s automatic praise. Hugh says “this is spectacular, full- flavored, (with) long-lasting flavors.” Tom, who’s kind of the beef guru around these parts, is also raving about every bit, including the fried sweet potato skins.
* So that gives Gregory two home runs and two weak groundouts, I think. Just at this point, my gut impression was that Mei had won – each had two rousing successes, but her two lesser dishes were ahead of Gregory’s by a decent margin..
* Side note: How do the judges/diners eat all that in one night? I’d have been in “better get me a bucket” territory by the time the short rib showed up.
* Gregory says Top Chef was harder than getting sober. Okay, everyone, run to sign up for season thirteen!
* The Judges’ Table discussion goes pretty much as you’d expect given what we’ve already heard. Gregory’s soup didn’t come together, and he gets more criticism there than he or Mei receive for anything else. Mei executed much better across the board. Gregory’s fish dish was too sweet. Mei’s third dish (the duck) was good but her weakest, which was a mild surprise just given how much everyone killed her octopus. Gregory’s fourth dish gets 10s across the board, but Mei’s dessert does too. Blais says her dessert was “everything that was right in modern food,” while Tom ups his own grades on it by saying it was one of the best desserts he’s ever had in his life.
* Head to head: Tom gives dish one to Gregory; Blais says Mei’s octopus was the biggest technical flop of the night. Padma calls Gregory’s use of shrimp heads fatal mistake, Gail says the dish just did not work, while Mei’s congee was perfect, so dish two goes to Mei. The third course is the closest to a toss-up; Mei’s plate was too watery (which we didn’t hear earlier), but Tom still takes her duck over Gregory’s fish, saying the latter plate was just not about fish. The fourth was the strongest plate for each, but there’s a strong implication here that Mei’s was better. Padma says each had two flawless dishes, kind of a summary for anyone who just turned the show on with ten minutes to go, I guess.
* Blais says Gregory’s menu was more inspirational; Gail says Mei’s dishes were more successful. Inspirational – or aspirational – generally wins on Top Chef, including in the finale, but if you don’t execute enough of that vision you can’t win. Gregory might have fared better in some other seasons, or against other competitors, but Mei is one of the strongest technical chefs I can remember seeing on the show, so even a mediocre execution day for her is a great one for anyone else.
* Tom gives a little speech before Padma announces the winner, saying he “loves watching this young talent just emerging … you guys are the future.”
* The winner is … Mei, as expected. She did earn it with better execution, with only one flop (the overcooked octopus) of any sort. And she finally shows some emotion, crying and saying “holy shit” on repeat. But are her parents finally proud of her?
* Some final thoughts: Top Chef is kind of like the baseball draft; every year, we hear that it’s a down year, that the talent isn’t as good as last year’s, definitely not as good as five or ten years ago, and some years that turns out to be true – but not always. The 2015 MLB draft class is not a good one overall, for example. Top Chef’s season 11 crop was weak. But Season 12 turned out to be very strong. The final three chefs were all outstanding both in creativity and in execution, with a different balance for each of them but all seemingly capable of winning the competition. How many other seasons could Gregory have won, especially if he’d executed just a little bit better (e.g., cooking his carrot sauce right)? I think that despite some of the criticism lobbed at the show, some legitimate but more of it spurious, Top Chef continues to attract top-flight talent and to enjoy the support of a broad cross-section of the industry. This season was pleasantly light on drama, especially once Aaron, later arrested on a domestic violence charge, was eliminated, and I think the group as a whole, or at least the top half or so of them, was the strongest since the legendary season of the Voltaggios and Yukon Cornelius. As for how to “fix” the show, one I don’t think is broken in any significant way, the answer is quite simple: As long as they keep the focus on the food, there will be an audience eager to watch.
So, if you could change one thing about Top Chef for next season, what would it be? And do you think Mei was the right choice, even though Gregory outperformed her head to head for much of the season?
Don’t have much to add, but just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy these recaps and your food commentary in general.
Thanks, Arvind. Of all the things I write, this is the one that is truly for the readers. You asked me to do them, and you keep telling me you like them, so I treat them like work (at least in terms of my responsibility). And the fact that Blais and Hugh have said they enjoy them has definitely spurred me to keep going and try to make them better – this year, adding more culinary info on topics that were obscure, or at least that I didn’t know much about before the episode.
Solid season. Too much cannon fodder, though — maybe it’s time to dip back into the international pool to increase the depth of the field. Also, more Gail.
Tom said on Twitter it was the best food he’s had in a finale. I think that speaks to your point about the strength of this season and the ability of this show to continue to defy its doubters. Reality shows are generally as good as the talent as they bring in. I see no reason to think 125k and shit tons of phenomenal publicity will ever not attract top chefs.
All they need to do is focus on the food and stay away from gimmicks (including episodes without elimination challenges).
As for Mei beating Gregory…given his crisis of confidence and her general consistency, you can’t really complain too much. I loved Doug and felt like he got the short end of the stick with the last challenge (and was generally underrated despite putting a lot of wins on the board). But I’ve seen far worse champions (2006 Cardinals come to mind).
These were the two clear finalists, and each is a deserved winner, but if I have to pick nits I might give Gregory the edge based on the level of difficulty (like in Olympic sports). Mei is an executioner (as in she executes…), but Gregory is seemingly more inspired by food. So I guess that’s what it comes down to: perfect execution vs slightly flawed, but inspired food.
Answer me this, Keith: if you were given the choice to eat at either Mei’s or Gregory’s (hypothetical) restaurant, where would you eat?
Gregory’s. I mean, I’d eat at either place, but I think I’d enjoy the meal at Gregory’s more and would learn more about the ingredients from the ways he cooks and combines them.
in my mind there is no doubt that if each followed the normal process in adding their dishes to the menu, Gregory’s would provide a better experience.
Great synopsis, and I agree on the quality of the final three. This was the first season in a while I would have been content w any of them winning. Two things: 1) I think Mei’s comment about working the dessert line was in reference to the period between Boston and Mexico – so she hadn’t previously done it, but after qualifying for the finals, Michael V. allowed her to do it to prep for dessert making; and 2) I felt like Bravo kind of gave away the conclusion when they showed Mei/Gregory during the live commercial interlude – Mei has been extremely serious to the point of barely cracking a smile under any circumstance where she wasn’t completely successful, yet during that brief segment she was clearly quite happy. I certainly don’t fault her for being an intense competitor, but if she was filming that segment knowing that she’d lost, I don’t think she would have looked as happy.
Aside, was great to see S. Brock on there. Had the chance to eat at both of his places in Charleston recently and they were great!
Great season, and great write ups Keith.
What I would change, and it would probably be the only change- stop making the physical challenges part of an elimination. What would happen if a chef got injured, or a handicapped chef participated?
Totally agree. It’s inevitable that we’ll have a hearing-impaired chef, or a chef with even something as innocuous as a knee replacement or something, and TC will have to make the show more accessible.
Was it my imagination or were there less blatant product placement challenges than in recent seasons? I suppose my only wish would be to end (haha) or at least minimize that practice.
I noticed fewer of those too.
I can’t imagine this ever ending, especially in the age of DVR/TIVO, brands will always look for a way to be seen when a viewer can fast forward through commercials.
I honestly was shocked it wasn’t more.
I thought this was a really strong season in a few ways and having the two clearly best chefs compete without some kind of gimmick was a perfect end. Mei and Gregory would have won quite a few past seasons.
Two things I’d like with the show is a slightly more in depth explanation of the cooking techniques, maybe even have the winning dish be explained in a cooking segment web show. Or explain why a pressure cooker or a sous vide technique would work better. Also, have fewer chefs and more “non-elimination” challenges. Let us get 2-3 episodes to learn more about the chefs. The first 2-3 eliminations just don’t pack any punch, and having a smaller field can improve the overall quality.
I’d be happy if they’d resume posting recipes on the site, but that seems to have ended when their social media person changed about a year and a half ago. But I agree that more time watching these chefs cook and talk about cooking (and why they’re doing it some way, like, hey, frying bones for a stock!) would be great.
My favorite part about the season was that they didn’t focus on the stew room. They didn’t seem to have nearly as much of a stew room this year, possibly because of Gregory. That left more time for the actual food and conversations about food, instead of watching chefs argue while drunk. As the season went on, we get almost all of the relevant personal details about the chefs in the confessionals (including smack talk), leave all the other drama out of the show.
I always liked the stew room scenes, and thought they were often a funny little interlude, so I missed them this year; it didn’t occur to me WHY they wouldn’t have them though, that’s a great point about Gregory. I also missed them giving the chefs an opportunity to answer questions and defend/explain themselves to the judges, which was tied in many ways to the stew room
Same. I just did not pick up on that connection (Gregory’s sobriety -> no champagne in the stew room).
keith,
your recaps have over the past few years become an integral part of the top chef experience. they’re far, far superior to those at other outlets that exist entirely to recap television.
i can’t even recall how i ended up here–i assume it was a byproduct of something baseball related–but i’m glad i did.
as to what i’d change about top chef…andy greenwald had some interesting suggestions–i’m guessing that might be the impetus for the question? so, anyway a few thoughts…
— one of the concerns he raised was that the contestant pool has been watered down because chefs like jose andres won’t allow their chefs to compete. while that may be the case michael voltaggio obviously not only allowed mei to compete but supported the venture 110%. so did vitaley paley, owner of doug’s restaurant in portland, who from what i gathered pushed him to do so when he was hesitant.
also i feel like food culture has really changed over the last twelve years. there are more restaurants, more chefs, and more men and women entering the industry than there were decade ago. to be fair that’s somewhat anecdotal based on my time living in new york (and now LA) but it seems true from my vantage point.
— i think we can pretty much all agree that we’d prefer them to focus on cooking and less on theatrics.
— im not sure if it’s realistic, in terms of time constraints, to include more details about the cooking process (something andy mentioned). also im assuming the prevailing wisdom is more casual fans aren’t interested in that level of detail.
but i think that would be a perfect internet supplement. that it’s there for viewers who want to go deeper–beyond what’s on the broadcast, and practically it provides more content to drive folks to website.
In response to an earlier comment you decided whether you would eat at a consistent/execution chef’s restaurant or a more inspired restaurant. You chose the more inspired: Gregory’s. I would say that it seems like Mei has been plenty inspired in her cooking, it certainly reaches as much or more as all the restaurants you go to on a regular basis that aren’t Top Chef Winner restaurants (I assume). In my dining, I love inspired but I have to say if I will go more than once, I want consistent, I want powerhouse, I WANT execution. Over and over and over. Doing food right tops being creative and almost getting there, every time.
In our dreams we want inspiration, in our daily lives we want inspired food to be well cooked, every time. That’s what makes a top chef.
I don’t disagree, Karri, but I think under normal restaurant conditions – instead of the artificial time and staff constraints of TC – Gregory’s probably as consistent as Mei. That’s not to diminish what Mei did on the show, just that I don’t think TC simulates a real restaurant kitchen that well.
Overall I thought this was a really solid season, and a very strong top-3. I think we always tend to underestimate the talent early in the season, as we go through and eliminate the people who don’t belong. Ultimately we remember the winners, finalists, and standouts from previous seasons and forget that those seasons also had long slogs of uninspired food from chefs who didn’t really belong or have a chance to win.
I also read the Grantland article that Brendan references above, and I do think that Greenwald makes some solid points. I like the idea of several weeks without eliminations, especially at the beginning. Cut your first 4 chefs after the 4th episode, and base it on their body of work up to that point. That also helps to avoid one of the stronger chefs (cough, George, cough) from going out super early. On a side note – I hadn’t seen the NYPost article that was liked to in the Grantland article, about chefs becoming more reluctant to let staff go for long periods of time – and wondered if George’s return was contrived on the fly to maintain the peace with high-end kitchens, and specifically TC alum Mike Isabella.
I also loved the idea of a local mentor, and agree that the New Orleans episode where Emeril played tour guide was a highlight from that season. Greenwald also mentioned that Nashville was a rumored location for TC13, and then Sean Brock showed up for the finale last night – lets just say that I would not be sad to see a lot of Sean Brock in the next season. His appearances on Mind of a Chef were great.
I hope they do continue to focus on the food and even add some of the more in depth ideas. I think Brian Voltaggio did some additional scenes focusing on technique for the web duringa previous season. I can’t remember if it was New Orleans or the last season of TC Masters, but I remember watching a couple of those when they would show up On Demand. I certainly hope that they focus on what hard core TC fans enjoy, to keep us coming back, rather than junk it up attempting to draw additional viewers (although given the rest of what is on Bravo – I’m not sure how hopeful I can be).
Final note – thank you very much for writing these Keith, it definitely adds to my enjoyment of the show.
I think they could take a page from RuPaul’s Drag Race (don’t judge me unless you’ve watched it!) and have the first episode introduce half of the contestants who have a mini-competition where someone is eliminated and then the second week it’s the same with the second half of the contestants. My only change would be that the losers of the first two shows would not be eliminated but would compete – perhaps in a head-to-head quickfire? – in the third episode to determine who goes home. That way we spend more time getting to know the contestants. I mentioned it before in a previous Top Chef thread that they could learn a bit from The Great British Baking Show and give the contestants plenty of time to think about and maybe even practice what they are going to cook. I guess that could run up against the problem of chefs not wanting their employees to be gone for long, but I think the emphasis on 30-minutes to shop and then a few hours to cook is detrimental to finding out who the best chef is. I agree with the above comments on the physical challenges. I also think anything gimmicky (everything has to be made in aluminum foil or using items from a vending machine) should be reduced or eliminated. Finally, at least one challenge where everyone gets the same box of ingredients and has to make whatever they want.
The last thing the show needs is to drag (pun intended) the competition out even longer.
Hi Keith,
You mentioned on a comment that the show no longer posts the recipes on their site, but they have all the winning recipes posted throughout the season; including Mei’s winning dessert dish! Now, get back to work evaluating prospects and educating the old on how math is a good thing.
They used to post recipes for all dishes, and the recipes were usable. The recipe for Mei’s dessert dish is so vague and terse that I doubt anyone who’s below professional level could reproduce it.
One issue I have is that that totally wasn’t Mei’s dessert. The dessert she served is already a dessert that is served at the restaurant of the sous chef she picked to do her dessert. I’ve had that dessert at the Trencherman in Chicago, except it had pumpkin flavors (served during the fall/winter) instead of the strawberry (served during the spring/summer). It was 100% her sous chef’s dessert.
Hi Keith. I just wanted to say thank you for doing the recaps again. I enjoyed reading these as much as watching the show.
Keith – I love the recaps. One change to the format Andy Greenwald mentioned on Grantland was to reduce the number of competitors and have more non-elimination challenges. I personally really like this idea. Focus on bringing in the best (10?) chefs possible. It was clear from week 3 that Mei and Gregory (and Doug to some extent) were the best chefs. I’d also love to see them make the show more food nerdy. Give us some more technical info.
Keith–echoing previous comments, please do keep posting recaps. They’re fun to read, and they often help me think through my immediate reactions to the episodes.
In terms of changes for the show, though I know it’s not realistic, I’d love to hear more of the discussion the judges have about the dishes. I’d also like the feedback at the judges’ table to be more specific w/r/t ingredients, technique, and flavors so that I can understand their decisions better. When the judges’ decisions are hard to understand, I can’t help but feel like the show chooses narrative over food quality. That might not be the case, but they could make the reasoning behind their decisions better.
And along similar lines, I’d love for the show either to declare definitively that previous wins/losses/performance have no bearing on future verdicts, or to incorporate cumulative performance into the contest. Especially since they’ve stopped giving prizes for winning elimination contests (not even signed books by guest judges? Doug winning the painting was such a cool touch, but a rarity), it’s not entirely clear to me what incentive contestants have to push themselves early in the contest. I suppose there’s the value of making a name for one’s self as a talented chef for the TV audience. But when Tom and Padma make comments about Gregory or Doug being “on a roll” with quickfires or elimination challenges or whatever, that’s either artificial drama or a hint that that contestant has some sort of subtle advantage or disadvantage. I guess I’m just still bitter about there not being a knife pull for the ingredients for the semi-final. Ah, well. Thanks again for the recaps.
Fully agree with something you said on Twitter that another All-Stars would be great. Bring back Gregory and Doug, Stephanie and Shirley, Brooke, Edward. Plus, I really want to see Grayson and Katsuji in a season together.
Good recap. I was really happy that they made the finale totally about the food.
My suggestions for future seasons would include:
1) No one show kick off nonsense. We almost lost George, who was one of the stronger chefs due to a ridiculous first show challenge. Make at least the first few shows about the food with little nuance so you can see who the stronger chefs are, then change it up.
2) Less inane Padma commenting. I know what her role is, but I find myself rolling my eyes so frequently at some of her commentary that doesn’t add much substantively. I didn’t previously do that. Maybe I’m just tiring of her.
3) More Blais. Much more. He was awesome. I’d love to see other good quality past contestants come back for half a season or so of judging. Maybe a Mike Isabella if he has time or a Voltaggio or Paul, who Tom called the best contestant ever. Maybe a Fabio or Stefan (who would be nothing if not blunt). I’d love to see Mei back in the future too.
4) When they choose sous chefs, I’d like to see them have to choose different ones each time. I don’t think they need to create drama, but it would be fun to see some of these chefs cook again, and would give them a chance to highlight their skills again.
5) Less use of the word “beautiful” when describing your own food. O.k., that’s just a pet peeve of my own, not really a request.
Point 3 is where I diverged from the Grantland piece most strongly. Blais was amazing as a judge. His comments were sharper and more precise than anyone else’s but Hugh’s – and those two together in the finale? That’s a dream team at judges’ table.
Love your recaps. I came for the baseball but stayed for the recaps and food articles. It’s truly one of the best recaps out there period.
For next season, a local chef mentoring them full-time might be great. Teach them about the local cuisine better and maybe help them improve some of the failed dishes.
Or expand Restaurant Wars over two days and eliminate two people. After all, it’s just as important to see if you can fix the screwups of the first day of service as making them. Giving them an extra day of service would show how good they really are.
Keith, thanks for the great recap. To answer a question about Gregory’s checklist on the carrot sauce. Right when he get’s to the kitchen he tapes the steps to required for each dish which he had written out the night before. So the question is, did he leave the sugar and vinegar off the list or did he just forget to double check while he was cooking?
The one thing I would like to see changed is having an occasional episode with no time limits. They get the challenge, go shopping and then they can prep however they want before the challenge meal. I think they did something like that in Texas where the chefs had a chili challenge and could cook all night.
I definitely like the idea of a no time limit challenge. Or a deadline with plenty of advance notice – something like ‘Service is tomorrow at 6, we want to see a dish featuring x.’ That would give the chefs plenty of time to shop (watching them run through Whole Foods with a shopping cart is a huge waste of time on this show), open multiple preparations and strategies. Maybe Doug would want to stay up all night and smoke a brisket (although probably not on Boylston St), whereas somebody else will get extra rest because they’re going to cook scallops 10 minutes before service.
Is there any reason we have to be constrained to a one hour show? Project Runway is 90-minutes now when it’s first run. Shows like @Midnight often have uncut versions online. Rather than doing Last Chance Kitchen online, let’s have something online worth watching, like extended versions of the actual show. More on the preparation and extended judges’ table.
Great season, it really was. I agree w/ the others that say get rid of the gimmicks and just let them cook.
BTW- Keith. You mentioned hearing impaired chef. I know you like to be “correct” in terminology. The correct way is to say Deaf/Hard of Hearing. When you say hearing impaired, it’s considered an insult to the Deaf community because the word impaired suggests that there is something wrong with you.
dang it, thought I used the preferred term. Thanks.
Just also want to put here there is a difference between “Deaf” and “deaf” as well, with the former being used to describe a member of the Deaf culture; primarily those whose primary mode of communication is sign language, and do not use technology to hear. (This is painting with a broad brush, there can be Deaf people who use hearing aids.) The lower-case deaf terminology is more all-encompassing and also includes deaf people who use listening and spoken language outcomes.
Really fun season, great recaps as always. Mostly agree with Keith that the gimmicks don’t help, especially any challenge related to a corporate sponsor / product placement, or involving some sort of physical strength or quickness.
However, I have to admit I enjoy some of the off-the-wall challenges — the ramen noodle one using only dorm room leftovers was pretty gross, but I got a kick out of it.
Nice recaps, thank you!
Suggestions:
– With few remaining contestants, I’d like to see a tableside preparation quickfire challenge (good food and good showmanship required).
– To encourage “playing for the win” instead of “avoiding last place”, I would have a cumulative points system (1 for a quickfire and 2 for an elimination). If you are the points leader you cannot be eliminated. The points system would go away once the final 4 are determined.
– I like the idea of all players getting the same ingredients for a challenge, but I would have 10-15 ingredients and not all would have to be used.
– A gimmicky challenge would be to have everyone go shopping and upon return draw knives to see whose ingredients each chef gets.
I’d like to see Keith Law guest judge and then recap the experience!
(so would I)
Wholeheartedly agree with your last paragraph. Setting aside season 11, which left a bitter taste in most people’s mouths, the most beleaguered recent season was 9. I personally loved that season, because we got to witness arguably the most dominating performance by any Top Chef contestant in the show’s history. Paul Qui was just so far ahead of everybody else on that season talent-wise that it was enjoyable just to watch him cook rings around everyone.
KL, a note about Gregory’s menu decision, but we see in the show that he is making 4 brand new dishes to him. You point out in your recap you think it is wise for him “show he is more than a one trick pony” but hindsight being 20/20 do you think Gregory would have preferred to go with 4 of the best dishes he could make, regardless of location/cultural influence?
I agree that it was a bold move and all things being equal, I though his menu would have given him the edge given the local flavors and degree of difficulty (all be new to him). But his failure to execute new dishes ultimately cost him the title.
First, with all the cooking competition shows out there, Top Chef may have challenges recruiting or may start recruiting familiar names and faces. This season alone, I remember Mei from Knife Fight and Katsuji from maybe a Chopped episode. Which brings up a good point. It seems Top Chef was the means to fund a chef’s own restaurant. It seems now, all the comp shows are no means to find investors or help bring diners to their current restaurants. For example, Isabella, Byan Voltaggio, Shirley Chung. All non-winners who got their own kitchens or in the case of Voltaggio, expanding his. I’ve been to Volt & Range. Excellent places. Anyways, doing that leads potential competitors to think about just showing up on Knife Fights (though I guess Ilan would need to know of them at least) or Chopped, which a chef could show up for a days work and end up with $10k pre-tax and something to show potential investors, presuming they didn’t do something egregious.
Second, improvements. By far I think condense LCK. I want to say it started around episode 6,but really the viewers, IMHO, only want the real competitors to have a shot at LCK. Reduce it to the last 3 or 4 chefs eliminated prior to the finale city. Make it a one plate competition, meaning all 3 or 4 cook at once. Of course that would drive down web traffic and page counts, so unlikely to happen. But as another commentor pointed out, George kinda threw a loop in things. While I read some hate and vitriol towards him, it turns out that he was a strong competitor. So don’t eliminate anyone in the first 2 eps, but maybe “rank” them after 2 episodes.
Bottom 4 – 2 get elminated at end of Ep 3
Everyone else – whoever has worst Ep 3 dish gets elminated
That would help “thin the herd” while preventing a chef who could win it. from being elminated early, like George, without having him win his way back in through a LCK/non-LCK competition. That way, they are 3 episodes in, they’ll eliminate 3 chefs, just like it’s always been.
Finally, I only discovered your recaps recently. Wish I had known they existed when they started, because I end up reading about something I missed in the episode.
PS – Baseball is nearly back. Though I guess it never ends for you!
crap, I need a proofreader. “…are NOW means…” in my first paragraph.
Thanks for your great work Keith. I don’t know if you saw on Grantland the article about how they’d change it: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/how-wed-fix-it-a-four-step-recipe-for-restoring-top-chef-to-glory/
I like the idea of starting with less contestants, and having more episodes without eliminations where the chefs can just try to put out their best food without fear of screwing up.
On a side note, I’d love to hear more about Harry Potter from you. We’re currently reading it to our 7 year old son. He’s on the 4th book now, and has read and seen the first 3 movies. I don’t think we’ll let him watch the 4th movie or move on to the next book until he’s a little older.
I’m not sure how anyone made it through Greenwald’s article, it was more cloying than Gregory’s striped bass
* Apropos of nothing, I do not understand Melissa’s personal style at all.
My feeling as well.
Not much to add to your excellent write-up, as usual. Just a quick a message about the bank/credit card company that tried to show that Boston’s culinary scene was more than just chowder and lobster. Is braised rabbit it? Highlighting maybe 2-3 more restaurants or dishes would work better. I do like the fact they used a former Top Chef contestant who was from the area.
Keith- Thanks for doing the recaps, my wife and I typically watch every episode on demand on Friday night just so we can read the KLAW recap immediately after. I do like the Grantland idea where they start with fewer chefs and have more challenges that don’t include an elimination, especially at the beginning.
If I could change one thing:
Blind tasting, but they aren’t going to do that.
But there’s no reason not to do blind tasting in LCK. Just rotate the judges.
Season 11 was weak in a sense (an important sense) – they weren’t great top chef competitors. But you had some really accomplished chefs there. And I think that’s the problem – budding chefs are better competitors for this show. they are certainly more interesting.
These were 2 great chefs. I was glad to see the chef who cooked the best in the final actually win it (that happens about 50% of the time; including Blais’ year, when the worst chef by far cooked the best in the final, but they couldn’t let her win).
I would’ve been happy with either of them winning, but I don’t think Mei would have handled the runner-up position with half as much grace as Gregory did. Congrats to them both.
I agree that this was a strong season for Top Chef. I was starting to wonder if the talent well had run dry. I was kind of pulling for Doug, but the final three were all deserving and also likeable – as was most of the cast.
I’m just glad that the show has moved away from gimmicks like chipping the challenge ingredients out of a frozen mountain side or having to shoot targets. Also, they’ve got the final challenge correct again. That live finale where Kristen won and you knew the judgment well before the end of the show was a horrible innovation.
So I totally agree that sticking to the food and letting the cast’s talent and personalities shine are the winning ingredients.
On a side note: Mei is from the Voltaggio “coaching tree.” As this show matures it might be interesting to see from what other alumni new talent originates. Blaise? Marcell?
Could be a new wrinkle.
The reason Gregory lost was because he committed the cardinal (and unforgiveable error in Top Chef-dom) of making a dish that was cloyingly sweet. It’s harsh on the palatte, and other than over/under seasoning food, it’s one of the common reasons given for a dish losing.
Late to the party, but I finally got a chance to watch the finale, which means I finally was able to read your last recap. Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus praising these recaps. I thoroughly enjoy your baseball work and your advocacy of science/common sense, but these recaps are probably my favorite thing that you write. So keep ’em up! 🙂
As for improving the show, I’d love to see a more cumulative approach to the judging, something that takes past performance into consideration. Have you been a front runner who just turned out a bad dish? Well, maybe you stay in favor of someone who’s landed in the bottom week in, week out. That sort of thing.
But that would be such a fundamental change to the fabric of the show I doubt it’ll ever happen.
Another All Star season would be fun, too. We’re definitely due, with enough fun personalities and good chefs beyond the ones that already returned to round out a decent cast.