Knife Block: My Thoughts on Tonight's Season Premiere of Top Chef Masters

In watching tonight's season premiere of Top Chef Masters, the haute cuisine culinary competition series that spun out of Top Chef a few seasons back, it's easy to get a sense of what's been lost rather than what's been gained by the format changes. (The latter can be summed up in two words: Ruth Reichl.)

Gone is Kelly Choi, she of the perfectly coiffed mane. Gone is the complicated but novel star-based ratings system. Gone are the early heats.

What remains is rather like Top Chef. Or exactly like Top Chef, in fact, save for the experience of the master chefs competing here and the fact that their winnings go to the charities of their choice rather than into bankrolling a restaurant.

Choi has been replaced by suddenly ubiquitous Aussie chef Curtis Stone, yanked onto the cable channel while still appearing on NBC's America's Next Great Restaurant. He's affable enough but his omnipresence--from here and the NBC show to commercials--is a bit off-putting, if I'm being entirely honest.

The scoring system is gone completely. Chefs now compete in the Quickfire and Elimination Challenges but the only scoring that's done is occurring behind the scenes. The winner of the Quickfire receives immunity from the Elimination portion of the episode... and the chefs are all sticking around until they're picked off one by one.

While this does allow for the viewer to get a better sense of the individual players over the course of the season (or I'm assuming so, having only seen the season opener), it's this change that makes this spin-off feel like a carbon copy of the original more than any other. While these chefs dazzle with their creativity, innovation, and abilities, it's really just another iteration of Top Chef, albeit one where the chefs competing have less to gain (or lose), other than a sense of pride or a blow to their egos.

Instead, Top Chef Masters hopes to distinguish itself from its forebear with its challenges. In the season opener, the chefs are put through their paces by competing in one of the toughest and most brutal of Top Chef crucibles: Restaurant Wars. In pitting the masters against each other in this fan-favorite challenge, the producers seem to be setting us up for a season full of insane challenges; the implication is that this is going to be the easiest thing facing these masters.

There's a bit of thematic shorthand going on here, but it also rankled a bit. After all, these chefs run their own restaurants and have done so for years. It should be a cakewalk for them, after all. And, while there are some surprises in the mix in tonight's episode, the overall simplicity and ease with which they largely pull off the evening is a testament to their individual experience level. Even without participating in competitions, these chefs have kept their knives finely honed.

And that's a good thing, but it's also somewhat disappointing. Coming off of a particularly strong season of Top Chef, it's hard to shake the sense that we've seen all of this before just a few weeks ago (when the all-stars themselves went through Restaurant Wars).

Which isn't to say that Top Chef Masters won't end up offering a thrilling season of culinary highs and lows, because it's still likely to do so. It's just a shame that the producers took away the original touches that made this iteration separate and unique within the franchise.

However, what's most promising is the presence of Reichl here at the critics' table. She brings a certain je ne sais quoi to the mix and a nice counterbalance to James Oseland on the whole. Reichl is warm where he is prickly, and she's articulate, intelligent, and passionate. She's the heat needed to make the changes here palatable and much of my interest in watching will likely stem from Reichl's participation this season. (Yes, if you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of Ruth.)

All in all, it's an entertaining if low-key start to the season. I'll be watching as always but I also want to see some excitement and difference begin to permeate the season.

Will you be watching tonight? Which chef are you rooting for? Happy to see Reichl at the table? What are your thoughts on Stone? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Top Chef Masters premieres tonight at 11 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

History on the Plate: The Top Chef Masters Season Finale

I really enjoyed this season of Top Chef Masters, which came to a close last night with a heart-stopping final showdown between three of the strongest chefs in the competition.

It was only fitting that the season finale ("Top Chef Master") would ask each of these master chefs to reflect back on their lives and their careers and pull together a final three-course meal for the critics that reflected where they had been and where they were going.

Happy childhoods, struggles, and painful memories--as well as creative awakening--were all demonstrated on the plate as Marcus Samuelsson, Susur Lee, and Rick Moonen faced off for the title of Top Chef Master and a substantial donation to the charity they were playing for.

So how did they do? And who walked out of the Top Chef Masters kitchen as the ultimate winner? Let's discuss.

At this point in the competition, I'm glad that we didn't see a final Quickfire Challenge and instead the time that would have been used focusing on that challenge was spent getting to know the backstories of the final three competitors.

Hearing about Samuelsson's adoption to Sweden as a child, Moonen's childhood spent clamming with his dad, the death of Lee's first wife, all of these things brought me closer to knowing--and therefore understanding--each of these chefs, their creative inspirations, and the source of their culinary passions.

For their final challenge, each of them would have to prepare a three-course meal that reflected three pivotal moments in their lives: where they came from, when they realized that they wanted to be a chef, and where they're going, their culinary journey displayed in three dishes that encapsulated their collective experiences.

So what did they prepare? Let's take a look.

SAMUELSSON:

• First Course: lightly smoked char with sweet horseradish-shellfish broth and mashed root vegetables
• Second Course: Salt cured duck with foie gras ganache, sour tomato jam, and aged balsamic
• Third Course: Berberre-flavored hamachi meat balls with sea urchin broth and wild mushroom couscous

I thought that Samuelsson offered a real variety of tastes, flavors, and textures as well as a global perspective that captured both his African heritage and his Swedish childhood.

The most successful dish of the three had to be his second course of duck as the critics were blown away by the foie gras ganache (really a masterful presentation) and the the salt cured duck. Just a beautiful plate that was well conceptualized and well executed and which didn't fall into one of the traps that Samuelsson has all season long: he didn't overload the plate or gild the lily. Instead, he presented an accomplished dish that showed great skill and creativity.

His least successful dish did seem to be that final dish, a traditional African presentation of tartare that didn't quite win the critics over, thanks to its dry texture. I commend Samuelsson to sticking to his guns and not catering to Western appetites but I also think that sometimes there do need to be baby steps involved with introducing a culinary tradition into a new area. There isn't a lot of exposure to African cuisines within the Western world and there are certain preconceptions about taste and texture that have to be overcome. Could he have cheated it a little and still get his point across? Sure, especially as I keep coming back to Gail Simmons' critique about the texture of the tartare.

MOONEN:

• First Course: glazed kushi oyster with American sustainable caviar, hamachi, and live sea scallop crudo
• Second Course: "Bacon and Eggs," with braised pork belly, poached egg, truffles, Sardinian gnocchi, and turnips
• Third Course: New Zealand venison with matsutake mushrooms, pear butter, stuffed cippolini onions, Brussels sprout leaves, and natural jus

I have to give Moonen credit for trying something different here, veering away from fish to only present one seafood-focused dish of the three and absolutely nailing his final course, a succulent and perfectly cooked loin of venison that had me salivating on the television screen. Pairing the venison with matsutakes and that amazing pear butter was inspired, picking up the subtle flavors of both to create a dish that captured the essence of the forest and the magic of those wild, woodsy, and fresh flavors. It's a dish I'd gladly eat every day.

Likewise, his oyster was stunning. I'm not an oyster fan but I would have devoured that kushi oyster in a heartbeat. Exquisite presentation, amazing flavor profiles, and a plate that could only have come from a chef's chefs, a true master in every sense of the word. Less successful, however, was Rick's second course, with some critics taking exception to the firmness of the gnocchi, while some criticized him for using pork belly and not allowing it to crisp enough to impart the bacony flavor the dish promised. Still, Simmons praised the perfection of the poached egg on the dish, which lusciously oozed out its yolk to create a silky sauce for the gnocchi, turnips, and truffles...

LEE:

• First Course: royal of steamed scallop with Cantonese black bean sauce, dim sum shrimp and crab croquette
• Second Course: tuna with wasabi mousse, picked cucumber and artichoke with charred sea bream
• Third Course: Lamb Thailandaise with Chiang Mai sausage, peanut and green curry sauces, mint chutney and polenta

I fully expected to be wowed by whatever Susur Lee would be preparing for this final battle and he didn't disappoint, though I was confused--as were the critics by that mount of tuna, inexpertly cut and studded with pickled cucumbers. It resembled nothing less than an alien creature and did not exactly look particularly inviting, especially as it stole the eye away from the true star of the plat: that charred sea bream, which had all of the critics raving. Sometimes less is more and sometimes you have to be able to step back, edit, and look at a plate with a critical eye. Could he have done better by thinly slicing the tuna into a sashimi? Likely yes.

However, it was a rare misstep in a three-course meal that was otherwise absolutely stellar. That scallop in black bean sauce looked amazing as did that crispy croquette of shrimp and crab with its web of fried tendrils. But the true star was that Thai lamb and Chiang Mai sausage, a stunning display of Thai cuisine infused with modern, pan-Asian asthetics and flavors. Some questioned the polenta, but I bought his explanation of lightness there. A masterful dish that offered multiple sauces, multiple flavors, and a true understanding of Asian cuisine.

Who would win? Which of these three extremely talented chefs would take home the title and bragging rights to the title of Top Chef Master? I actually believed that it would come down to a showdown between Lee and Moonen, as Samuelsson had nailed the second course but his other two dishes didn't seem to be as strong as Moonen's or Lee's in the first and third course categories.

So I was extremely puzzled and a little confused when Jay Rayner gave Samuelsson five stars, the highest of any of the chefs, when the editing hadn't exactly showed the critics to be that bowled over by all three of Samuelsson's dishes... to the point where I actually thought that he was the least likely to walk away the victor. Did I miss something? Were the judges that much more pleased and blown away by Samuelsson's three dishes than it initially appeared?

But despite having few criticisms for either Lee or Moonen--both of whom looked shocked--it was Samuelsson who walked away the victor, entirely on the strength of that five-star rating from Rayner. Odd, no? While I think Samuelsson is a super-talented chef, I didn't think his performance this season had him tipped for the winner, nor did I think his overall meal this week quite matched up to Lee or Moonen.

What did you think? Did the right chef win? Who would you have given the title to? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Top Chef Masters may have ended, but a brand-new season of Top Chef begins next week on Bravo.

Geoduck and Monkfish Liver, Oh My: Scary Surf and Turf on Top Chef Masters

I know that a lot of people were turned off my this week's Elimination Challenge on Bravo's Top Chef Masters, given its use of some out of the ordinary (okay, extreme) ingredients, such as geoduck, black chicken, duck's tongue, kangaroo, sea cucumber, and monkfish liver.

While I haven't eaten a single item that was on offer here, I like to be open-minded. I'm somewhat culinarily adventurous and, if one of these master chefs cooked something, I would eat whatever they put down in front of me, if I had the chance. Even if that was something as unpalatable as the Pacific Northwest's phallic-looking bivalve the geoduck or the sea cucumber, which Susan Feniger described as "a slug."

So while it didn't exactly stir my appetite, I was fascinated to see how each of the chefs would adapt and use these ingredients on this week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Scary Surf and Turf").

Tasked with using two unusual proteins--a land-based one and a sea element--the seven remaining master chefs would have to construct a masterful dish that would satisfy the critics and the extreme cuisine experts assembled. But before that, a lighthearted Quickfire Challenge that rewarded the chefs creativity and their knowledge of The Simpsons.

So how did the chefs do? Let's discuss.

I thought that the Quickfire Challenge was really quite a lot of fun. I especially loved the idea that the chefs would have to conceptualize their dish around a specific Simpsons character and everyone there--save Susur Lee--seemed to be intimately familiar with The Simpsons or at least had enough of a surface knowledge to fake it, as they'd be cooking for creator Matt Groening, producer Matt Selman, and actor Hank Azaria... as well as Chief Wiggum, Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart, Moe, and Apu.

Here's what they made:

• Jody Adams (Lisa): cracked wheat salad with goat's milk ricotta, barbecue beets, and baked kale chips
• Susur Lee (Marge): purple potatoes, pan roasted pork chop, glazed grapes with mustard sauce
• Tony Mantuano (Chief Wiggum): fried bacon-honey pizza dough with boozy coffee
• Rick Moonen (Homer): shrimp "sloppy D'Oh!" with truffle potato chps and beer
• Susan Feniger (Moe): millet crispy treats with peanut butter chips, donus, and Mexican hot chocolate
• Marcus Samuelsson (Apu): Indian-style tomato soup with condiments of rice, chickpeas, chutney, melon, and nuts
Jonathan Waxman (Bart): spaghetti bambino with grilled tomato, ham, and cheese sandwich

While Lee managed to pull off a convincing portrait of Marge, I didn't really think that it quite met the brief here; yes, Marge may have found it fun to encourage some levity and fun with the food (chocolate chip faces on pancakes and all that), the items that made up the portrait seemed odd and thrown in to make the look rather than the taste work (olives, pretzels, etc.)... and Mantuano would have done better here had he been able to use more bacon fat to infuse the saline porkiness into the pizza dough. But he was unable to as Lee used his pan of rendered fan as a trash receptacle. (Grr.) I thought that Samuelsson delivered an amazing traditional Indian repast but it wasn't quite in fitting with Apu's need to assimilate. Waxman nailed Bart precisely with a beautifully rendered, delicious, and simple meal of spaghetti and grilled cheese. I love Feniger's millet treats (she serves them at Street) but didn't quite get what she was going for here with Moe; everything should have slid down a notch to more of a sleazy/cheap quotient. I thought that Adams nailed Lisa's entire culinary ethos with a beautifully rendered vegetarian dish that played with unexpected texture and juxtaposition... But it was Moonen's seafood take on the sloppy Joe that earned him the win here, transforming the humble dish into something elegant and refined, thanks to some shrimp and truffle oil. Well played, sir.

For their Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to select two unusual proteins from a rather gruesome table display and then combine them into a single dish that showcased both proteins to their fullest. I will admit to being unfamiliar with the taste of all of these ingredients (I'm no Andrew Zimmern) but I was intrigued by how the chefs would deal with not one, but two, extreme cuisine items on a single plate, a delicate balancing act that would require some serious conceptualizing and precise execution for it to really work here.

Here's what they made:

• Moonen: poached black chicken mousse and roulade, monkfish liver torchon, butter leeks
• Mantuano: crostino with calamari in zimino, goat cheese ravioli with braised goat sauce
• Lee: poached monkfish liver, black chicken veloute, black chiken with monkfish liver, beggar's purse with vegetables
• Adams: Sicilian-spiced roast goat, geoduck and chickpea chowder, homemade harissa
• Waxman: giant squid fritto misto, fried duck tongue, fideo with duck tongue
Samuelsson: geoduck and kangaroo sausage, geoduck with couscous, geoduck and kangaroo tartareFeniger: marinated sea cucumber, fried sea cucumber, kangaroo with juniper sauce

No surprise here that Susur Lee came out ahead. Given his familiarity with the ingredients, I do think that the judges were hoping to be wowed by his creativity and Lee did not disappoint. When the critics' only real complaint is that something tiny and minuscule seems superfluous on the plate, you know that you've won them over completely. I thought that his use of classic techniques and modern presentation were elegant and refined. The way that he boned the chicken leg and stuffed it, mirroring its image with the monkfish liver and chicken was brilliant. No surprise that he walked away with a near perfect showing here.

Working with same ingredients, Moonen also nearly walked away with the top spot, transforming his black chicken and monkfish liver selections into a classic French preparation that pushed him away from his reputation as "the seafood guy" and showed his range and his classical training. A beautiful dish that I would have eaten in a heartbeat, even with the addition of the leeks, which some critics seemed to think gilding the lily a bit.

I think Mantuano had a fantastic idea with his dish and only wish that he had been able to braise the goat for longer to create more of a rich and goat-laden sauce for his velvety pasta here. The critics seemed split on the seasoning of his crostino but that was more a quibble than anything. Not a winning dish but a very well done one that would have been better received had there been more than just ribbony pieces of tender goat atop those pasta pillows.

Feniger needed some editing, though I thought that her ideas were spot-on. She marinated the sea cucumber and served it raw with some tofu... and also deep-fried it for another preparation, which she served with some soba noodles, the latter of which made the critics sing with happiness. But the profundity of elements on the plate: various salads and garnishes overcrowded the presentation, resulting in a confusion of ideas, tastes, and textures. Overload, really.

Poor Jody. She too had problems with the goat and attempted to cook the goat rare by roasting it, which didn't quite result in the texture necessary to enjoy the protein: it was far too chewy and needed to have been cooked longer... and it made me very nervous about her chances here. The critics did love her geoduck and chickpea chowder which they raved about, and thought an absolutely perfect use of the geoduck. Alas...

Likewise, poor Jonathan Waxman was in a fog this week and I was concerned that either he or Adams would be the one to get the boot this week. His plate seemed schizophrenic at best: a messy hodgepodge of elements: fritto misto, fideo, fried duck tongues, of which threatened to spill off the plate. Waxman was clearly out of his element here; gone was the cheery, optimistic, and magical alchemist and, in his stead, remained a bewildered chef who had no idea what he was putting together.

I thought Samuelsson would excel at this challenge but, after seeing his dish, I knew that he too would wind up in the bottom three with Adams and Waxman. I wasn't sure what to make of his over the top plate: there was sausage, way overcooked geoduck with couscous, a tartate, and an oversaucing that looked more like a broth on the plate. Too much and in need of rethinking here.

Ultimately, it came down to Waxman and Adams and the undercooked goat was what did Jody Adams in, unfortunately. I'm really sad to see her go and was hoping that both she and Waxman would stick around to the final rounds. (I'd have been far happier to see Samuelsson go home this week.)

What did you think of this week's episode? Would you have send Jody Adams home? Would you have awarded the top spot to Susur Lee or Rick Moonen? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Tailgating"), the chefs are tasked with a Quickfire with a very specific focus: the leg; later they turn their skills to an even bigger challenge, preparing a tailgate feast for college football fans.

Top Chef Masters Preview: Leg Up on the Competition


Top Chef Masters Preview: An Important American Tradition

Wedding Wars: Nuptial Nightmares on Top Chef Masters

Kudos to the producers for putting the master chefs through their paces with two of my favorite all-time Top Chef challenges, back-to-back.

This week on Top Chef Masters ("Wedding Wars"), the eight semi-finalists gathered back in the Top Chef kitchen to discover that they wouldn't be able to glide through on their earlier wins this week. No, the producers were determined to get these chefs to experience the full pressure and heat of Top Chef by making them participate both in the tag-team cook-off and--shudder--wedding wars.

As fans of Top Chef well know, wedding wars is one of the toughest and craziest challenges ever devised on the series as the chefs have limited resources and--even more critically--time to pull together an entire wedding reception (including cake!) on their own. Not only to do they have to get food out fast but it has to taste good, satisfy the 150 guests of the wedding, and make the bride and groom happy.

It's worth noting, of course, that the bride and groom seem to have very specific things in mind, both in terms of what they want and what they don't want. So it's up to the chefs both to make their clients happy while also remaining true to their culinary ethos and pleasing the critics at the same time. No small thing.

So how did the eight champions do? Let's discuss.

As I said earlier, I was really looking forward to these two challenges because both of them really force the chefs to work together and participate in activities in which they really are handcuffed.

The tag-team cookoff is one of my favorites because it forces the chefs to think on the fly and continually adapt someone else's dish that they've wandered into mid-stream. Here, the chefs were split into two teams, with Jody Adams, Susan Feniger, Rick Moonen, and Jonathan Waxman comprising the Blue Team and Carmen Gonzalez, Susur Lee, Tony Montuano, Marcus Samuelsson making up the Red Team.

Had it not been a random decision, I would have wondered why the teams split this way with some of the strongest players landing on the Blue Team... but, as it turned out, that mattered very little both in terms of the Quickfire and with the Elimination Challenge.

For the Quickfire, the Blue Team prepared a mussel and scallop stew with orange and fennel, while the Red Team took a similar tack and cooked up a truffle-spiced shellfish broth with a seared piece of fish that was served on top of prosciutto.

It was interesting that both teams immediately went for the same proteins and decided to go for seafood. I felt terrible that Waxman, a severe claustrophobic, had such difficult wearing the blindfold during the Quickfire but he ended up going on to infuse some bitterness to the dish with some sauteed fennel. While it seemed as those judges Kelly Choi and Jay Rayner had a problem with that, the Blue Team's dish actually did win, landing their team with $10,000 to split amongst their charities.

Elimination Challenge:

Blue Team:
The Blue Team offered up several passed hors d'oeuvres including: Waxman's red pepper pancakes with smoked salmon, caviar, and lemon zest; Feniger's spicy potato bhajia fritters with mint-cilantro sauce and tamarind-date chutney; and Adams' pancetta and melted raclette tarts.

For their entrees, Adams made a Dijon rack of lamb with rosemary, farro, and autumn vegetables. Waxman offered a roast chicken with tarragon veloute and cauliflower puree.
And seafood master Moonen created an a la minute seafood mixed grill with poah, Coho salmon, and swordfish with sweet and sour eggplant.

To round out the meal, Feniger made an Egyptian semolina cake with berries and cream while Adams made Bananas Foster, the bride's request and her favorite dessert, which Adams served with cinnamon, ginger, candied pecans and a rum-caramel sauce.

I thought that the Blue Team did a fantastic job here. Their passed hors d'ouevres were each beautiful little morsels of savory goodness. Some complained that Waxman's red pepper pancakes were too big but that's really a quibble when it appeared to taste deliciously. And everyone--guests and critics alike--raved about Adams' raclette tarts... and her risky rack of lamb.

Considering that the bride said that she didn't care for lamb, Adams took quite a chance by offering it up as the red meat offering on the bride's side. But everyone was bowled over by the masterful lamb, including the blushing bride herself, who may have just become a lamb convert after the experience. Waxman once again proved that he is unequaled when it comes to preparing "simple" food, here transforming a humble chicken into something magical and transcendent. But it was Moonen who had a rare misstep; considering he was working with his specialty (fish), he really had problem with his preparation as the fish weren't cooked to perfection. Hmmm...

Feniger's wedding cake was dry and the presentation wasn't exactly up to snuff. But it was Adams to the rescue with her delicious Bananas Foster, a dish she had never prepared before that evening but which drew raves from the guests and the critics. It did appear as though Adams might push them over the line into victory...

Red Team:
Over on the groom's side, the Red Team offered Gonzalez's jumbo lump crab cakes with avocado relish and Samuelsson's lobster roll with Asian pear (served in a spoon) and his honey mustard-cured tuna as hors d'oeuvres.

As entrees, there was Samuelsson's roast beef tenderloin with grilled onion ragout and pomegranate sauce and Mantuano's flaming ouzo shrimp and pasta with fire-roasted tomatoes, feta, and capers. Side dishes included Mantuano's potato gratin and Gonzalez's roasted corn relish.

Lee's desserts including a mind-boggling array of sweets including Croque-en-Bouche, carrot wedding cake, upside-down raisin pudding with butterscotch sauce, and chocolate profiterole with whipped cream. (Wow.)

But despite the staggering spread at Lee's dessert buffet, there were some real missteps here from the Red Team, aside from some crowd-pleasing standout dishes such as Samuelsson's lobster roll and cured tuna and Mantuano's shrimp and potatoes au gratin.

Rather than win over the judges with the variety and scope of their menu, the Red Team made some puzzling choices. While there was a red meat, a seafood option, and a pasta dish, they didn't really coalesce as the Blue Team's dishes did (with the exception of Moonen's) and instead of separate side dishes, I felt like these should have been connected to individual proteins instead. No one could figure out what Gonzalez's roasted corn relish was supposed to go with, though she viewed it as either a salad or a side dish. But it felt like neither, really.

Furthermore, Samuelsson's beef was deemed "mushy" by the judges, although the guests read that as "tender" instead. Mantuano's pasta was overcooked rather than al dente. Lee let himself down with the carrot cake, though he had never made one before (though neither had Adams made Bananas Foster). I think he was saved by the fact that he pulled off a Herculean dessert buffet all on his one.

But the critics were confused by what Gonzalez did. Yes, it was a team effort and, yes, she made the crab cakes and the corn relish and oversaw the logistics and helped set up, but there wasn't a dish that had that Carmen Gonzalez imprint on it, something that the judges could point to to see her influence on the evening. While she explained it as the fact that she didn't think her Puerto Rican flavors would meld with the rest of the offerings, I thought it was an odd excuse: the entire exercise was about adapting under extreme pressure and working as a team to deliver a singular meal.

It was no surprise then that Gonzalez was the one to be sent packing while the Blue Team walked away the winners and Adams was singled out for praise as the ultimate victor of this round.

What did you think of this week's episode? Would you have sent Carmen home? Was Adams the right one to win this week's challenge? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Scary Surf & Turf"), the master chefs are tasked with using often unappetizing proteins in a surf and turf dish; actors from The Simpsons judge the quickfire challenge.

Top Chef Masters Preview: A Simpsons Challenge:



Top Chef Masters Preview: Susur's Energy:

Family Affair: Master Chefs and Modern Family on Top Chef Masters

If you've ever been on a working television or film set, you know the mad rush that the lunch call is as the cast and crew head towards a makeshift dining room--usually set amid film equipment and discarded set pieces--to grab a brief respite before heading back into the madness.

Caterers specialize in delivering fast, fresh, and tasty grub that's all ready to go when the crew is meant to go on break and it's a brutal business. So that rhythm and pacing would be the perfect challenge for the five new master chefs entering the Top Chef kitchen this week: Rick Tramonto, Maria Hines, Debbie Gold, Joey Adams, and Susur Lee, the latter of whom was named one of Food & Wine's Ten Chefs of the Millennium. (No small matter, that.)

On this week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Cast and Crew Meal"), the master chefs were tasked with creating a perfectly styled fruit plate and preparing a cast and crew meal for the actors and staffers on ABC's comedy series Modern Family. (Huh, a single episode that combines my love for Top Chef with that for Modern Family? Heavenly.)

The first season of Top Chef Masters suffered a serious dearth of female master chefs; producers this season seemed to be aware of the gender inequality but this week seemed to contain most of the women competing this season, an odd shuffling of the contestants that was all the more apparent because there were only two men competing this week. While I was glad to see female chefs represented so strongly this week, I do think that there should have been more of a gender balance before now. (Last week's episode, which featured returnees from Season One, featured no female chefs.)

Having said that, I thought that the chefs this week were almost universally strong contenders. Despite her nerves, Joey Adams proved to be one of the toughest competitors here, dominating both rounds. Despite the fact that I was hoping that Adams would make it through to the next round, I was a little surprised that the producers would opt for a "high stakes Quickfire Challenge." After all, that made sense within the context of the Las Vegas season but here, on Top Chef Masters, it seemed extremely out of place, particularly as the challenge--a fruit plate--didn't exactly scream golden ticket to the champions round. But that's just me, anyway. (Was anyone else irked slightly that winning the Quickfire Challenge meant a guaranteed spot among the champions?)

For that Quickfire Challenge, the master chefs had to create an artful presentation of fruit, using 25 fruits from a basket to create a palette that would amaze with its beauty and presentation and delight the palate. (Heh.)

So what did they prepare?

Quickfire Challenge:

• Tramonto: herb and fruit shooters
• Hines: Northwest trio: apple soup, grilled fig, and berries with berry mousse
• Gold: pecan tempura-stuffed fig with persimmon and tangerine
• Adams: fig and walnut tart with pomegranate syrup and zabaglione
• Lee: East Meets West fruit plate with blackberry "ravioli" and Thai basil

There were some head-scratching decisions being made here. I get the spirituality of Rick Tramonto but I thought those culinary/inspirational cards were totally out of place on the plate, much less in a culinary competition. You want to do that in your restaurant, that's cool, but really?

Susur Lee went way over the top with his plate, an East-meets-West cacophony of flavors, textures, and colors that was visually confusing and a little off-putting. I think had he just stuck to those gorgeous and inventive "raviolis," he would have fared better here.

I wasn't sure what to make of Debbie Gold's pecan tempura-fried figs, which I found confusing and odd. A misstep there. And I got what Maria Hines was attempting to do with her starter-entree-dessert concept but it didn't quite work as they all seemed a bit like dessert to me. Had she really wanted to nail the concept, she could have made the first two offerings more overtly savory rather than sweet.

Which left Adams, who absolutely nailed the task, despite nearly destroying her pastry in the flash-freezer. Her dish--fig and walnut tart with pomegranate syrup and zabaglione--was clean, beautifully presented, and made fantastic use of the fruit on offer. It's no surprise that she won... and walked away with a guaranteed spot among the champions, giving her immunity in the upcoming Elimination Challenge.

For that challenge, the chefs had to prepare an cast and crew meal for the, uh, cast and crew of ABC's Modern Family, who--along with the critics--would decide which other chef would advance to the next round. They were tasked with taking a traditional family meal and infusing it with a more modern sensibility.

Here's what they each prepared:

Elimination Challenge:

• Tramonto: truffled white beans with escarole and grilled sausage
• Hines: sockeye salmon with sumac, lemon, paprika potatoes, French beans, and almond mink
• Gold: glazed pork loin with apple butter and winter squash slaw
Adams: braised chicken thighs with mushrooms, semolina gnocchi, and herb salad
• Lee: roasted chicken and farce curry with polenta and grits, tomato jam, chili-mint chutney, and grilled pineapple

I thought that Tramonto's dish looked absolutely fantastic but it didn't really seem all that modern, despite his argument that the use of the truffle oil elevated his dish from its more humble roots. (Personally, I would have used fresh truffle in addition to truffle oil, if that was his argument.) It seemed a little more homey than I think the critics anticipated here.

I had a feeling that Hines would do well with her sockeye salmon dish, which fused the sort of traditional Pacific Northwest comfort food staple with an ultra-modern approach with the use of the almond milk, a genius addition that was wholly modern and also helped to keep the salmon moist. I also appreciated her use of undervalued (at least in American cuisine) sumac, which I wish I'd see more of. Definitely modern and creative... and despite Tramonto's line about seeing Hines' mistakes, she scored better than he did here.

Gold was critiqued for the fact that her glaze and apple butter rendered the pork too sweet and she was also taken to task for the fact that the pork was way undercooked and stringy. Gold seemed aware of this back during the first prep period, yet never really was able to turn it around, despite opting to grill the loins instead of putting them back into the slow-cooker.

Adams had immunity but she still scored well for her chicken and gnocchi dish, which would have been considered pretty classic family fare but her addition of a fresh herb salad took the plate into the more modern era. It's little touches like that which can transform a dish into something else. Well played.

But it was Susur Lee who used the Elimination Challenge as an opportunity to redeem himself after his disastrous showing in the Quickfire. Here, he delivered a stunning dish of curry with roasted chicken and farce (a chicken sausage), polenta and grits, tomato jam, chili-mint chutney, and grilled pineapple. While Jay Rayner thought the pineapple out of place on the plate, it was the only criticism of an otherwise flawless dish that earned five stars from every critic and a nearly perfect score from the diners, giving him 19 1/2 stars, the highest score in Top Chef Masters history. No surprise that he'll be moving on to the champions round with Joey Adams, both of whom did quite extraordinary work this week.

I loved the way that the cast of Modern Family jumped into the challenge, with Julie Bowen asking each of the chefs repeatedly, "what's that?" (It was beyond cute.) And Rico Rodriguez, not surprisingly, got in a fantastic line about liking spice in his life. Seeing Eric Stonestreet, Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ariel Winter, and co-creator Steve Levitan (along with Bowen and Rodriguez) discussing the chefs' food warmed my heart to no end. These guys are absolutely adorable.

Do you agree with the critics' decisions? Would you have sent Lee and Adams to the next round? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Wedding Wars"), the champions round begins as the master chefs compete in a blindfolded relay race; later, teams are challenged to cater a wedding out of mobile kitchens.

Pub Grub: The Master Chefs Have to Remake Homey Classics on Top Chef Masters

Ah, pub food.

For all of its humble origins, British pub food is exactly what I crave on a long, cold night, conjuring up an image of a roaring fireplace and a nice pint of lager. It's earthy, homey, stick-to-your ribs sort of food and it's just as often terrible when it's made without care or love. But in the right hands and in the right kitchen, it's just the thing to banish the mid-winter blues.

On this week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Pub Food"), six master chefs from Season One--Jonathan Waxman, Ludo Lefebvre, Mark Peel, Rick Moonen, Wylie Dufresne, and Graham Elliot Bowles--returned with a second shot at glory as they reunited in the Top Chef kitchen to compete for charity, a spot in the next round of competition, and a chance to redeem themselves.

But in order to do so they'd not only have to craft a dish best paired with a specific Stoli-based cocktail (and serve it to--of all people--cast members from Bravo's Real Housewives of Orange County) and then reinvent some humble pub grub and transform it into something they'd serve in their own restaurants.

So how did these master chefs cope with the pressure a second time around? Let's discuss.

I have to say that I like challenges where it pushes the chefs out of their comfort zones. After all, the producers of original-flavor Top Chef force their competitors to take on complex and often frustrating challenges, so why shouldn't these master chefs--who have considerably more experience than the other competitors--be put through the ringer just as much? Here, they were forced to pair food with cocktails and reinvent British pub food into something sophisticated and modern, food more along the lines of the high-end British gastropub concept: simple concepts that have been elevated and produced with high-quality ingredients.

For their Quickfire Challenge, the chefs were given a chance to sample some Stoli-based cocktails and then select one that they would then pair with a dish that they they felt embodied and complimented the cocktail they had chosen. It's far easier to pair food with wine than it is cocktails, which often have exotic and fruit-based ingredients that are far more challenging to match with the food on the plate.

So how did they fare? Let's take a look.

Quickfire Challenge:

• Bowles (coriander mule): crudo of black cod with an edamame and red onion salad
• Waxman (lemongrass mojito): pork tenderloin and poblano-stuffed shrimp with avocado butter
• Lefebvre (nutmeg apple mojito): roasted pork chop with rosemary, thyme, and garlic
• Peel (ginger figgle): mussels custard with lime and figs
• Moonen (forest fruits): cream biscuit berry shortcake
• Dufresne (Russian Tea Room): arctic char with lentils, bacon, crispy potatoes, and lemon yogurt

Proving that the simplest dish is often the best, Waxman finished a whole twenty minutes before everyone else and walked away the winner of the Quickfire Challenge, thanks to his elegant yet simple dish of pork tenderloin and poblano-stuffed shrimp. He wisely intuited that the judges--here the cast of Real Housewives of Orange County--didn't want huge plates of food but rather smaller bites that complimented the drink; the heat of his dish was balanced nicely by the lemongrass in his drink and Waxman proved that he was a force to be reckoned with for a reason.

As for the others, it's hard to say that anyone had a bad dish, per se, but the Housewives sure were picky about everything, with several of them expressing contradictory opinions or just outright dislike of certain ingredients (ginger being one of them).

But it was Waxman who clearly set the tone for the entire episode, with his dexterity manipulating simple ingredients in a complex way, allowing the flavors on the plate to stand out more than trickery or theatricality. Simple is often just better.

But for their elimination challenge, they'd have to take a simple dish and elevate it to a new level. In this case, British pub food. Having won the Quickfire, Waxman was able to get first pick from six standard classics, selecting shepherd's pie (always a favorite of mine) and leaving the others to squabble over the remainder. Particularly Moonen and Lefebvre, who nearly came to blows over fish and chips. (While Ludo was a little whiny about it, I do have to agree that seafood expert Moonen shouldn't have been able to cook to his strengths quite so blatantly.)

Here's what they prepared:

Elimination Challenge:

• Bowles (steak and kidney pie): free-form steak and kidney pie with roasted beef tenderloin, chanterelle puree and bacon-kidney vinaigrette
• Waxman (shepherd's pie): shepherd's pie with lamb, mashed potatoes, and parmesan cheese
• Lefebvre (Irish lamb stew): beef tenderloin with confit of potatoes and clarified butter, roasted peanut miso and caramel of Guinness
• Peel (toad in the hole): toad in the hole with seafood sausage, onion sauce, lobster broth, and mustard greens
• Moonen (fish and chips): chicken-fried sable with lemon confit tartar sauce, twice-fried potatoes, and fennel slaw
• Dufresne (bangers and mash): Merguez sausage, smoked mashed potatoes, onion jus, and julienned snow peas

I thought that Bowles' presentation was gorgeous. He really thought about the elements of the dish and applied some skill and vision to elevating the humble steak and kidney pie to a new level, though the judges did seem to think that he had a particular aversion to kidneys and tried to mask their flavor rather than let them shine. (Me, I'm also averse to them as well.) Kudos for his chanterelles and his vinaigrette.

Waxman once again stuck with the basics, preparing a simple dish with very few elements on the plate and made them shine. I wondered if his mash was a little too liquidy but it didn't matter as it seemed to approximate something akin to a bechamel in consistency: creamy, loose, and flavorful, it set atop perfectly cooked lamb, taking shepherd's pie to a new level of transcendence.

Lefebvre seemed to hate Irish lamb stew from the start, instead delivering a dish that seemed to have stopovers in every major city other than Dublin. Miso and peanuts? Caramel? Raw root vegetables? He couldn't stop denigrating the lamb stew and puffing himself up about the "work of art" that was his dish... But the judges and the diners didn't exactly see eye to eye on that.

Poor Mark Peel. I thought he had some really good ideas for translating toad in the hole to fine dining, making his own sausage but out of seafood, creating a lobster broth, and adding mustard greens to the mix. But, thanks to a cold oven (and therefore cold oil), his Yorkshire pudding--one of the key elements of the dish--turned into a doughy, undercooked abomination rather than the light and ethereal--and burnished--treat that Yorkshire pudding is. Very sad as I have a lot of respect for Peel and he was let down here.

I mentioned before that I thought that Moonen should have gotten something other than fish and chips to work with. A seafood guru, he offered a nice plate that offered some changes to pub standard fish and chips but I wasn't really all that impressed. Sure, it looked good and the judges raved about the sable and the slaw but they seemed very disappointed in the chips, which were far too big and got tough as they cooled. Still, give a seafood expert a fish...

I thought that Wylie Dufresne handled himself far better here than he did in his appearance on Season One of Top Chef Masters, where he seemed to almost have a meltdown in the kitchen and was unable to deal with the timecrunch and the pressure of competing. While he threw himself into a rivalry with Bowles, Dufresne concentrated much more on his own performance this time, delivering a knock-out dish that didn't have any molecular gastronomy tricks but rather just a beautiful plate that offered some tweaks to bangers and mash (smoked mashed potatoes, snow peas, onion jus). The only complaint was that the Merguez was slightly overcooked.

But ultimately, it was Waxman and Moonen who moved onto the next round. I could have called that from the start of the Elimination Challenge, but I was really hoping that Bowles could have been in there instead of Moonen.

What did you think of this week's episode? Agree with the critics' verdict? Who would you have sent on and who should have been sent packing? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Cast and Crew Meal"), the master chefs take on craft services as they prepare meals for the cast and crew of ABC's Modern Family.

Soul Food Celebration: Grilled Cheese and Poolside Stew on Top Chef Masters

If you're participating in a reality competition series, should you help out a competitor if they find themselves in the weeds? And does the answer to that question change if you're competing for charity?

This week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("It's My Party"), the season's second, welcomed five new master chefs to the Top Chef kitchen--Carmen Gonzalez, David Burke, Marcus Samuelsson, Monica Pope, and Thierry Rautureau--as they made their way through a Quickfire Challenged designed to tie into National Grilled Cheese Month (yum!) and catered a soul food-themed birthday party atop the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills (about a block away from where I live) for actor Mekhi Phifer (ER).

But one chef found themselves in a bit of a bind when they realized they had left a crucial element of their dish back at the the Top Chef kitchen and had to return to collect it while the timer continued to tick down. Which is where the above question really came from. Given that these are master chefs who are competing for glory, certainly, but also charity, should they have put their own dishes at risk to help out their colleague? Or should they forge ahead and not give said colleague's success or failure a second thought?

Ordinarily, I think reality competition series are all about the individual's chance of winning but with charity donations on the line, doesn't everyone really win in the end? These guys have all had enormous success so shouldn't need the validation of a Top Chef Masters win to further massage their egos.

I was happy to see that the producers ditched last week's doubles arrangement to allow the master chefs to compete individually. I think it just makes more sense for the series and for these famous faces to compete on their own. (That said, I would have been really angry if I had been one of last week's losers to see that the chefs won or lost based on their own dishes and not those of their partner's.)

This week, the chefs were tasked with creating an outrageous grilled cheese for Kelly Choi in under twenty minutes. There would be no guest judges and no other palate to think about other than Kelly's. One of the chefs--I believe it was Carmen Gonzalez--said that the best way to test a chef's prowess is to order the simplest thing on the menu. I'd agree with that: not only does it force the ingredients and preparation to shine but there's nowhere for the chef to hide their mistakes. It's either flawless or a mess, with no real middle ground.

So how did the chefs do? Let's take a look.

Quickfire Challenge (Grilled Cheese):

• Carmen Gonzalez: Italian Baguette with manchego, garlic, cilantro, and lime
• David Burke: triple-cream Cheese with prosciutto, almonds, tomato, and rosemary
• Marcus Samuelsson: grilled gruyere and cheddar with tomato gazpacho & salad
• Monica Pope: feta on raisin walnut bread with basil, cilantro, and mint salad
• Thierry Rautureau: grilled taleggio & goat cheese with olives, harissa and a pear, pine nut and baby arugula salad

Grilled cheese is a funny thing: slap two pieces of bread around some cheese and melt it and you can call the dish done. But the humble grilled cheese can take some massive gastronomic improvements and encapsulate just about anything melted between some sort of bread.

While Samuelsson offered a full meal on his plate--a grilled cheese, a gazpacho soup, and a salad--I didn't really feel like he pushed the actual grilled cheese to another level. (A fan of Samuelsson's cooking, I actually didn't feel like he came off particularly well in this episode.) Burke overloaded his plate with a ton of ingredients that didn't really seem to gel all that well (almonds and prosciutto AND a whole pickle?).

The magnificently hatted Rautureau offered up an almost inside-out take on the grilled cheese with taleggio on the outside of the bread but Choi chided him for not having enough taleggio (a virtual reversal from last week's episode when James Oseland believed that the taleggio was too strong). Gonzalez offered a Latin twist on the Italian sub that was nicely spiced.

But it was Pope who won this with one hand tied behind her back, delivering a flawless and drool-inducing feta on raisin walnut bread with basil, cilantro, and mint salad, an exotic grilled cheese that seemed to bridge Greece and the Middle East somehow, evoking a Marrakesh market stall redolent with heady spices. Well done. Considering her nervousness going into the episode, I was impressed with how well Pope delivered the goods here. I can honestly say that I wanted to reach into the television and have myself one of those grilled cheeses right then. Yum.

But that was only the first challenge; next, the master chefs would have to get in touch with their inner selves to deliver their own takes on soul food for a party of 150 people celebrating the birthday of actor Mekhi Phifer at the Thompson Hotel rooftop pool.

Here's what these masterful chefs prepared...

Elimination Challenge (Soul Food):

• Carmen Gonzalez: oyster & hot sausage stew with cilantro
• David Burke: sweet potato custard with green beans, corn & crab BBQ, pickled watermelon, and hush puppies
• Marcus Samuelsson: BBQ chicken with mac & cheese and collard greens
• Monica Pope: peel and eat shrimp, mac and cheese-style grits, with smokin' ocra, pickled green beans, and tomato jam
Thierry Rautureau: Moroccan-spiced pork shoulder, farro, roasted cauliflower, and Brussels sprout slaw

It's important to note that Gonzalez, having left the stew at the Top Chef kitchen, had to return there during their scheduled on-site prep time in order to pick it up and return back to Beverly Hills... all during insane Los Angeles rush hour traffic. No easy feat and it left Gonzalez with just the stew to serve up as she had no time to prepare her yucca for the mash. After freaking out about the missing stew, she asked her fellow competitors to prepare her yucca and keep an eye on it while she raced back and forth between the Thompson and Top Chef HQ.

Which is where things went wrong. (Or right, depending on how you look at it.) I was happy to see that several of the chefs were more than willing to lend Gonzalez a hand, even though they were racing against the clock to complete their own dishes. There should be a sense of camaraderie and support among these master chefs, who aren't eager and hungry young upstarts but established professionals in their own rights with reputations and vast careers. Which is what really irked me about Samuelsson. Yes, this is a competition but at the end of the day, you're competing for a charity; to get so focused on a personal need to win and to conquer the other chefs puts a bad taste in my mouth. Samuelsson flat out refused to help Gonzalez, an odd position that earned him some confused reactions from his fellow master chefs. Not cool.

Experimentalist Burke once again overloaded his plate with a variety of elements but everyone--especially Gail Simmons and James Oseland--praised him for his pickled watermelon, a preparation he had never attempted in the past. I also appreciated the little deft touches: the egg shell serving as vessel for the custard and crab hash, the wrapped hush puppy. But too much bacon, the lack of cohesion between the custard and the hash sealed his fate.

Pope had what Simmons called "the most soulful dish" of the season and praised Pope's grits, which earlier Jay Rayner hadn't really appreciated all that much, saying that it was "an acquired taste which [he] hadn't acquired." (Ouch.) Oseland praised the spicing and flavor, saying that she elevated the dish to a new level, while the jam and pickled veg were also praised. But Pope's dish was marred by a major problem: the peel-and-eat shrimp that she had purposely left in their shells were completely undercooked. Eeek. (I felt really bad for Pope at the end of the episode, as she said that the lesson she learned from this experience, because of Samuelsson, was to just look after herself.)

Samuelsson's chicken and mac and cheese were universally praised, with the succulence of the chicken and the almost deconstructed nature of his mac and cheese getting major points, but the critics really seemed to almost take offense to the fussiness and complexity of the collard greens. While Samuelsson defended his approach, saying that he didn't want to compete with grandma, there's something to be said for simplicity and rustic quality of the greens. You don't need to mess with perfection. Still, it was a minor flaw in an otherwise perfect dish, earning Samuelsson a place in the champions round.

Rautureau took some risks with his dish that paid off beautifully, with the Brussels sprouts slaw (delicious!) and farro (unusual for a soul food dish) being singled out for excellence but several of the critics seemed unhappy with his decision to keep the corn and onion in his salad raw. His thought was that spicy food needs a cooling element and the rawness of these ingredients would be able to capture that sensation. But Rayner and Simmons were both concerned by the amount of elements jostling on the plate that didn't really complement each other. Just way too much going on there.

Gonzalez explained the circumstances that led to her abandoning her yucca mash, originally intended to sit underneath the stew, but having to race back and get the stew (while sadly the yucca burned) left her scrambling for a new direction. She thickened the stew and served it very simply with some cilantro, creating a pared down yet soulful dish that--very surprisingly, in fact--ended up making her the winner of this round. Hell, it didn't even matter that she didn't make that sausage herself.

I'm really impressed that Gonzalez managed to pull off a victory when faced with such setbacks. She nearly threw in the towel early on when she returned to the hotel and I'm glad that she continued to persevere and push through. It proves, yet again, that it's not over until it's over.

What did you think of this week's episode? Would you have awarded Gonzalez the top spot? Was Samuelsson right not to help Gonzalez? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Pub Food"), the master chefs must convince high-brow clients of pub grub's merits as they try to show that flair and flavor can be found elsewhere than just in haute cuisine.

Smoke and Mirrors Gourmet: First Dates on Top Chef Masters

It's good to have an iteration of Top Chef back on television, a breath of fresh air--or the enticing aroma of cooking, at least, wafting through my TiVo.

Last night's season premiere ("First Date Dinners") found the first week's six master chefs--Ana Sortun, Govind Armstrong, Jerry Traunfeld, Jimmy Bradley, Susan Feniger, and Tony Mantuano--competing for a shot at the next round and a sizable donation to the charity of their choice when they were forced to contend with a flashback Quickfire Challenge from the very first season of Top Chef and an Elimination Challenge that tested not only their skills in the kitchen but also how well they could work with their teammate to conceptualize a duo-plated dish.

What's that you say? Teammate? Yes, these masters were paired together throughout the entire episode, making it even more essential that they stopped thinking of themselves as the chief and more as partner chefs if they had any hope of coming out on top. It was a novel conceit for the first episode of the new season but I do hope that subsequent weeks find these masters more on their own. I'd hate to see some exceptionally talented chefs sent home each episode because their partner wasn't quite up to snuff that week.

But that's a thought for another day. In the meantime, here's what I thought of last night's installment.

I have to say that I thought that the Gas Station Creation Quickfire was one of my favorites of all time from Top Chef because it really pushes the chefs to come up with something innovative and exciting out of the most humdrum ingredients. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but limitations can also prove to be the gateway to some real creativity. While the producers managed to trick the chefs into thinking they were going to be preparing some Chinese food as their cars began driving around Los Angeles' Chinatown district, it was a particularly funny ploy to get them to the gas station convenient store, where many of them were baffled by what to do and thrown by the fact that the menus they had painstakingly created during the ride over were now absolutely useless.

I have a lot of respect for Govind Armstrong but in this episode, he really managed to rub me the wrong way. Perhaps it was his snooty attitude towards Quickfire judges The Bravery or his abhorrence at having to pick ingredients from a gas station. But the 8 Oz. Burger Bar (and former Table 8) chef has been a judge on Top Chef before and should have known what he was getting into here. I also didn't like the way that he seemed to laugh at partner Jimmy Bradley (of Red Cat and The Harrison) for offering a cold dish... even though the critics seemed to like Bradley's lamb carpaccio far more than Armstrong's chop.

But enough on that front. What did the chefs prepare this week? Let's a closer look...

Quickfire Challenge:

• Jimmy Bradley and Govind Armstrong: Cheetos macaroni with grilled Slim Jims and tomato soup
• Tony Mantuano and Susan Feniger: maple bread pudding with caramelized bananas
• Ana Sortun and Jerry Traunfeld: crispy rice cake with "Clamesco" sauce

Even if Bradley and Armstrong had selected the right colored Cheetos for their dish, it still would have seemed not that original. Not helping them here was the fact that everything appeared in the same color range of browns and reds, creating a single palette that wasn't all that flattering, particularly the radioactive macaroni and cheese which did not look appetizing at all. I was really impressed with the presentation done by Sortun and Traunfeld here, delivering a plate that looked restaurant-ready rather than something that had been prepared from ingredients chosen at a gas station. While the dish prepared by Mantuano and Feniger (for whom the word "kooky" must have been invented) wasn't the prettiest, it showed--I thought, anyway--the most thought and creativity, crafting a wholesome and rich dessert out of the ingredients they found. And it certainly made Mantuano see Feniger in a different light, to boot. I wasn't surprised that this duo walked away with the Quickfire win.

For their Elimination Challenge, the chefs would have to work in concert once again to produce a duo that would be served to 30 couples on their first date. This was a particularly tricky endeavor because date food needs to be inherently romantic and appetizing but also can't be too messy or difficult to eat because the couples are virtual strangers. There needs to be the sense of creating intimacy between the diners without forcing it.

Here's what our master chefs prepared:

• Jimmy Bradley and Govind Armstrong: lamb carpaccio with mache salad; roast lamb chop with cauliflower couscous and pomegranate reduction
• Tony Mantuano and Susan Feniger: black pepper shrimp and scallops; homemade pasta with taleggio and black truffles, arugula salad
• Ana Sortun and Jerry Traunfeld: lavender-crusted duck breast with red cabbage and pomegranate; duck leg buried in vermicelli with orange blossom and smoked cinnamon almonds

I'm glad that the chefs singled out Bradley for praise for his remarkable lamb carpaccio; I'll admit that I blanched a little when he mentioned that he was serving essentially raw lamb to couples on their first date, envisioning a steely metallic tang to the meat but by searing the outside and chilling it, Bradley created an ethereal dish that elevated by the beautiful mache salad. Less fantastic, actually, was Armstrong's own lamb chops, which were tougher and more forwardly lamb-esque than their carapaccio counterparts. The critics did love the cauliflower couscous but when your protein is outshone by the veg, that's a problem.

I'm glad to see how well Mantuano and Feniger worked together here. Rather than offer a variation on a protein as the other two teams did, they thought a bit more outside of the box, instead creating a narrative on the plate and placing the emphasis on the exotic and romantic qualities of world travel. Mantuano offered a gorgeous multi-layered ravioli stuffed with young taleggio (which James Oseland maintained was too strong and pungent) while Feniger offered a play on black pepper crab, infusing shrimp and scallops with a vivid and spicy broth. Well played.

I liked the conceit that Sortun and Traunfeld came up: to not only link their dishes with protein--duck, in this case--but also with some key ingredients like ginger and cinnamon and edible flowers. Traunfeld crusted his duck breast in lavender while Sortun used orange blossom with her duck soup. While Traunfeld nailed his side of the dish, effortlessly searing the duck to perfection, Sortun hadn't really thought her dish through enough. I loved the concept and its homey warmth but the critics were right to ask how she expected the diners to eat the duck buried under the vermicelli noodles. It's hard to get a knife and fork into a small bowl and Sortun would have been better off pre-cutting the duck meat into bite-size pieces, as they suggested.

Ultimately, it was the odd couple pairing of Mantuano and Feniger who took home the win this week, winning their individual charities a hefty donation and advancing to the next round of competition. I'm excited to see what they're able to do next time and I'm glad to see Feniger rising to the top of the pack with her kookiness intact.

What did you think of this week's episode? Agree with the critics' verdict? Would you have awarded the top spot to Feniger and Mantuano? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("It's My Party"), six new master chefs must cater a celebrity birthday party.

The Masterclass Returns: Top Chef Masters Premieres Tonight on Bravo

Get your knives ready: Top Chef Masters returns tonight with a brand-new season of culinary competition, extreme criticism, and put-upon expressions as another batch of 22 master chefs (including some familiar faces, six in number, who get another shot) return to the Top Chef kitchen to compete for charity.

Be sure to stay up for tonight's fantastic season premiere of Top Chef Masters ("First Date Dinners"), airing at 11 pm ET/PT (don't worry: the series relocates to 10 pm next week), in which six master chefs--Ana Sortun, Govind Armstrong, Jerry Traunfeld, Jimmy Bradley, Susan Feniger, and Tony Mantuano--are put through their paces with a Quickfire and Elimination Challenge that will test their conceptual, execution, and time management skills while putting a charitable donation--and the ability to advance to the next round--on the line.

The competition has always been fierce on Top Chef--the forebear of this series which instead features up-and-coming chefs looking for restaurant seed money--but, given the high-profile that these master chefs have, there's even more pressure to prove themselves.

I don't want to say too much about tonight's episode, other than the fact that it's the perfect introduction to the series if you missed the first season of Top Chef Masters while also offering the requisite level of skill and drama that we've come to know and love, as well as astute--if sometimes biting--criticisms from the table of critics assembled here, including James Oseland, Gael Greene, Gail Simmons, and Jay Rayner. (Simmons isn't in tonight's episode, which I previewed, but I imagine that she'll appear in the rotation at some point down the line.)

While the six chefs entering this first round include some very well-known chefs--including Los Angeles' Susan Feniger (of Street) and Govind Armstrong (of 8 oz. Burger and formerly Table 8)--they find themselves thrown into the deep end just as much as the junior competitors on the regular Top Chef series, as they are forced to recreate one of the trickiest Quickfire Challenges (where all of the ingredients must come from a gas station convenience store) and prepare a dish for couples on their first date.

There is a catch and it's a big one: these masters are paired off at random in tonight's episode and will win or fail as a single unit, with two of them advancing to the next round. Given that these are giants of the culinary world, it's pretty big task to have them work together and have to succeed as a team rather than individuals. On the one hand, I admire the series' producers for forcing them into even more uncomfortable waters but I also can't help but wonder just how each of them would have performed solo with these tasks, given their skill sets and experience levels.

Still, that's the only complaint I have about a season premiere that's completely captivating and engaging. One chef makes a blunder of a comment about having to work with another chef and is forced to eat his words later when he sees what a great collaborator she is, making him perhaps question his earlier snap judgment. It's moments like that that allow Top Chef Masters to not place these culinary gods on pedestals but instead force them to get their hands dirty with the rest of the mortals. And if they learn something about themselves and their fellow chefs, so much the better.

Me, I just can't wait to see what they cook up next as I'll be making a reservation for this delicious culinary competition series each week.


Top Chef Masters premieres tonight at 11 pm ET/PT before moving into its regular timeslot of 10 pm next week.

The Daily Beast: "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring"

Looking for something to watch this spring?

Head over to The Daily Beast, where you can read my latest piece, "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring," where I round up fifteen new and returning series airing this spring--from Doctor Who, V, Nurse Jackie, and Fringe to Treme, Peep Show, and Top Chef Masters, among others--as well as some major events like the end of ABC's Lost in May.

What are you most looking forward to this spring and what's caught your fancy as your latest television obsession? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Channel Surfing: Justin Kirk Gets "Modern Family," "Top Chef Masters," Leslie Hope Returns to "The Mentalist," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday television briefing.

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Weeds' Justin Kirk has landed a guest starring role on ABC's Modern Family but says that there is potential that he could recur later this season or next. Kirk will play Lee Keizler, the "gung-ho and athletic boss" of Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Mitchell, who quits his stressful law job to become legal counsel for clothing line owned by Kirk's Lee. (TV Guide Magazine)

Bravo has unveiled the 22 master chefs who will be competing for the top prize on Season Two of Top Chef Masters, which is set to premiere on Wednesday, April 7th. Those chefs include: Jody Adams, Govind Armstrong, Graham Elliot Bowles, Jimmy Bradley, David Burkey, Wylie Dufresne, Susan Feniger, Debbie Gold, Carmen Gonzalez, Maria Hines, Susur Lee, Ludo Lefebvre, Tony Mantuano, Rick Moonen, Mark Peel, Monica Pope, Thierry Rautureau, Marcus Samuelsson, Ana Sortun, Rick Tramonto, Jerry Traunfeld, and Jonathan Waxman. [Editor: it's immediately noticeable that there are more female chefs competing this season and that there are some familiar faces--Mark Peel, Ludo, Wylie, and others--are set to return to compete once more.] (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Leslie Hope is set to return to CBS' The Mentalist for the final two episodes of the season. Hope will reprise her role as psychic Kristina, last seen during The Mentalist's first season. "Jane tries to prove once and for all that she is a charlatan," executive producer Bruno Heller told Ausiello. "At the same time, [he finds] himself strangely attracted to her." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Andrea Anders (Better Off Ted) has been cast opposite Matthew Perry in ABC comedy pilot Mr. Sunshine. (Also cast: Nate Torrence.) Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives) has landed a role in Jerry Bruckheimer's NBC drama pilot Chase; Matt Jones (Breaking Bad) will star opposite Gary Cole in TBS comedy pilot Uncle Nigel; and Eamonn Walker (Kings) has been added to the cast of ABC drama pilot The Whole Truth. (Hollywood Reporter)

Frank Grillo (Prison Break), Luke Mably (The Prince and Me), Janina Gavankar (The L Word), and Chandra West (90210) have been cast in ABC's supernatural crime drama series The Gates, about the residents of a gated community, all of whom have their secrets. Series, from Fox Television Studios and writer/executive producers Richard Hatem and Grant Scharbo, is being eyed for a summer launch. Pilot will be directed by Terry McDonough. Grillo will play a cop from the city who lands a gig as chief of police in this seemingly idyllic community; Mably will play a cardiologist who is also a "vampire-like creature"; West will play the owner of a local tea shop; Gavankar will play a local cop with a secret. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has ordered a second season of reality dating series Dating in the Dark and has slated six episodes of the Endemol USA-produced series to air this summer. (Variety)

TBS gave out two cast-contingent pilot orders yesterday. Comedies In Security, from writers/executive producers Pete Segal and Ric Swartzlander, about "two sisters who head up a private-security team protecting the super elite while dealing with personal and family issues," and Franklin & Bash, from Kevin Falls and Bill Chais and Sony Pictures Television, about "two street lawyers and lifelong friends who, after taking down a white-shoe law firm in a high-profile case, are recruited by the firm's patriarch." (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC is said to be close to giving a pilot order to an untitled single-camera comedy from Mad About You creator Paul Reiser and studio Warner Bros. Television about a group of male friends. Reiser has written the pilot script on spec as well as scripts for subsequent episodes. (Variety)

Leverage star Gina Bellman would jump at the chance to work with Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat, if she had the chance. "I think there was a petition online to get me involved in Doctor Who," Bellman told Digital Spy. "I'm not a Doctor Who fanatic but I am a Steven Moffat fanatic. I've worked with him on Jekyll and Coupling so if he was to write anything for me - not just Doctor Who - I'd drop everything to go and do that." (Digital Spy)

Comic book guru Stan Lee has teamed up with Archie Comics and A Squared Entertainment for series Super Seven, about "seven aliens who find themselves stranded on planet Earth after their spaceship crashes, only to be befriended by none other than Lee himself. Taking them under his care, Lee becomes their leader and enables them to resume their lives as superheroes on Earth." Series, produced by Lee's POW! Entertainment, is being looked at for a fall launch. (The Wrap)

TLC has renewed reality series One Big Happy Family for a second season, with twelve episodes set to air in June. (Hollywood Reporter)

Season Five of reality series Gene Simmons Family Jewels is set to launch on A&E on Sunday, March 21st at 9 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Stay tuned.

Autobiography in Four Courses: Past, Present, and Future on the Season Finale of "Top Chef Masters"

Our lives can best be described as the sum of all of our experiences leading up to this specific point in time.

The same was true for the three master chefs--Hubert Keller, Rick Bayless, and Michael Chiarello--facing down the gauntlet on last night's season finale of Top Chef Masters ("Top Chef Master"), in which the trio squared off against one another in a perfectly fitting final challenge.

This series is after all called Top Chef Masters, so I wanted to see what these incomparable master chefs could do when the gloves were off and there were no vending machines, microwaves, or mise-en-place relays to get through. In other words, I wanted to see what they could do with larger budgets, limitless imagination, and unfettered ambition to draw upon.

Their challenge: to prepare a four-course meal that best represented their entire careers thus far (and into the future), with each of the courses representing a specific crucial turning point in their lives. For these masters, this was the ultimate challenge, an opportunity to showcase their culinary styles, their unique history, and serve up a series of dishes that were completely personal and individual to them.

So how did this talented troika do and which one was named the winner? Let's discuss.

As I mentioned before, I thought that this challenge was entirely fitting with the message and motivation of the series. Whereas Top Chef showcases up-and-coming chefs, Top Chef Masters has given us chefs who are at the top of their game, with multiple restaurants and awards under their belts. In many cases, they are household names with clearly defined personal brands behind them.

So it made sense then that the final showdown between Keller, Chiarello, and Bayless would be one in which they would have to call upon their personal histories, the key moments in their lives that defined them as chefs, and create a series of dishes that reflected their identities at their most personal.

Each of the courses therefore would represent a very specific moment: the first course represented their first food memory; the second the moment they realized that they wanted to become a chef; the third course a reminder of when they opened their first restaurant; and the final course a glimpse into their present and future. In other words, where they are today and where they'd like to go next.

Given that this was the season finale, there was not only $100,000 on the line for charity but also some steep pressure. Joining our esteemed panel of critics for the judging were the Top Chef judges themselves--Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Padma Lakshmi--along with the five winners of the previous seasons of Top Chef: Harold Dieterle, Ilan Hall, Hung Huynh, Stephanie Izard, and Hosea Rosenberg.

Personally, I thought it was a great twist to have not only the Top Chef judges there (a nifty bit of network and brand cross-promotion, given the launch of Top Chef: Las Vegas), but also the winners of the previous cycles. Chiarello didn't quite see eye-to-eye with me on this and seemed almost insulted that these chefs would be critiquing his food as though they were beneath him, an attitude that landed him in trouble (and rubbed me the wrong way) in last week's episode.

So what did the master chefs offer up for their four-course autobiography? Here's a look, chef by chef, at the four dishes they served the judges:

Hubert Keller:

• First Course: "Baekeoffe," Alsatian lamb, beef, pork, and potato stew
• Second Course: salmon souffle with Royal osetra caviar and riesling sauce, served with a choucroute flan
• Third Course: lamb chop with vegetable mousseline and thrice-blanched garlic, vanilla-merlot sauce served in a hollow potato
• Fourth Course: Wagyu beef cheeks and celery puree with pinot noir, lemongrass and ginger sauce; pan-seared sweetbreads with Perigord truffles on scrambled eggs with spinach

It's no secret that I was rooting for Hubert Keller to win this competition. To me, he is the living embodiment of a true master chef, a visionary in every sense of the word who is not only technically adept but also inherently creative and whimsical and enjoys teaching his craft. His Baekeoffe made me drool with envy; it looked absolutely heavenly and, despite it being summer here in Los Angeles, I wanted to dive into that Le Creuset Dutch oven and eat every last morsel of that dish. It was such a personal dish to him, represented his roots, his memories, and his family so well and was such a specific regional specialty to boot.

Sadly, his salmon souffle wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as it should have been; I think the judges were more taken with the perfectly cooked salmon and the caviar and riesling sauce than with the souffle element itself. Keller's third dish with its nearly-raw stud of garlic in the lamb should have been heavenly but it was that sharpness of the garlic--surprisingly not dulled by thrice-blanching--that overwhelmed the palate. Which was sad as the lamb was cooked so beautifully, the spinach still green and verdant, and (despite Padma's distaste) the vanilla-merlot sauce sounded gorgeous. I think his Wagyu beef cheek and sweetbread duo was more on the mark and I applaud him for using cheaper cuts of meat and then cooking them efficiently and thoughtfully in order to render them smooth and supple. But would it be enough?

Michael Chiarello:

• First Course: duo of gnocchi: crispy potato gnocchi with fonduta, peas, and summer truffles and ricotta gnocchi with tomato sauce
• Second Course: polenta with rabbit, asparagus, wild mushrooms, grilled duck, and rabbit liver
• Third Course: ginger-stuffed rouget with mango salad, fresh wasabi, and bottarga
• Fourth Course: brined short ribs with five-onion cavalo nero, served with the essence of smoldering vines

I was a fan of Chiarello's until the last few episodes where his ego and arrogance completely turned me off. I believe he's a talented chef but he tends to get sidetracked by having to constantly assert his authority. Last week's "young man" comment to Dale completely undermined what he has attempted to accomplish as a master chef. I also didn't appreciate his Saveur-pointed jest in last night's finale. Yes, it was tongue-in-cheek. Or was it? Despite the laughter around the dining table, I felt that it was in poor taste. But perhaps I'm biased against Chiarello at this point.

I do think that his gnocchi looked incredible and he wisely offered up two variations on the classic Italian dish, a combination of textures and flavors that were balanced and complementary. I thought his choice of Mason jars for his serving vessel of his second course was odd until I saw that he composed these almost as one would rillettes, a decision which paid off when the judges tasted the creaminess of the polenta offset by the exquisitely prepared rabbit and duck. Third course, however, was a major misstep for Chiarello with his crispy fried rouget. Yes, the fish was cooked perfectly and scented with ginger but he didn't elevate the dish or take it in a new direction; it was so completely ripped out of the 1980s that it seemed out of place with the rest of his dishes. Finally, there was his melt-in-your-mouth short ribs with cavalo nero (a favorite of mine); I'm not sure you needed the smoldering vines there as well but they clearly added to Chiarello's overall "story" and seemed to lend itself to Chiarello's claim that in the future we will be eating with all of our senses... But don't we already do that now?

Rick Bayless:

• First Course: barbecued quail with hickory house sauce, "sour slaw," and spicy watermelon salad
• Second Course: ahi tuna with Oaxaca black mole, plantain tamal, and grilled nopales
• Third Course: achiote-marinated cochinta pibil with sunchoke puree and crispy pigs' trotters
• Fourth Course: arroz a la Tumbada with tomato-jalapeno broth, and chorizo "air"

I've grown to love Rick Bayless over the course of these ten episodes; he seems to be the polar opposite of his officious appearance as a guest judge on Top Chef a few seasons back: calm, cool under pressure, a true master in very sense of the word. These last few weeks have won me over into Bayless' camp and his passion for Mexican cuisine is evident in every dish he prepares, demonstrating his belief that the culinary tradition deserves to join that great pantheon of Italian and French cuisine.

Like Keller, Bayless pulled off a regional specialty for his first course that also defined his background as the son of a barbecue pit smoker, offering up a luscious quail with his family's hickory house sauce, a sour slaw, and a piquant watermelon salad with sprouts. It was a dish vastly different to his typical Mexican approach and spoke volumes about where he came from. His second dish, the Oaxacan black mole with ahi made me want to jump inside the television and wolf it down; the tenderness of the ahi was balanced by the sweet sharpness of the plantain and the crispy bite of the nopales (prickly pear cactus); a gorgeous and inventive dish that spoke volumes about the twenty years it took him to pull off the complicated Oaxaca black mole. Well done, Rick. The sunchoke puree of his third dish, a duo of suckling pig "cake" and crispy trotters, elevated it to spellbinding heights as it transformed a humble peasant's dish into haute cuisine. Bayless was a little let down by his final dish of arroz a la Tumbada, but that could be because the dish sat out a little too long before getting served, with the mussels drying out somewhat. I loved the use of the chorizo "air," which is a molecular gastronomy technique that Bayless doesn't usually turn to.

All in all, twelve amazing dishes from three extremely talented master chefs. But like Highlander, there can be only one. I would have been chuffed if Keller or Bayless won but I was surprised to see that the critics and judges ranked Keller in third place, bumping him right out of the competition, a mere half-star behind Chiarello. But I had a feeling that in the end the dazzling talents of Chef Rick Bayless would win out and he did manage to pull off an incredibly inventive, stirring, and beautiful selection of dishes that took us on a journey through the inner backstory of this remarkable chef.

No surprise then that Bayless walked away the ultimate winner, with $100,000 for his charity and bragging rights. I'm curious to see just what Bayless and the other chefs do next and I'm more than excited about hopefully getting to taste one of Bayless' signature dishes one day.

Do you agree with the judges? Who do you think should have won and why? Discuss.

Foodie Tune-In Reminder: "Top Chef: Las Vegas" Premiere, "Top Chef Masters" Finale, New Episode of "F Word"

Tonight is more or less a perfect storm of food-oriented television programming for foodies.

Just a quick reminder to tune in to tonight's season kick-off of Bravo's brand-defining culinary competition series Top Chef: Las Vegas, which joins the schedule at an earlier-than-usual time of 9 pm ET/PT before relocating to its normal timeslot at 10 pm ET/PT next week. (In the meantime, you can read my advance review of the first episode here.)

Plus, the super-sized season premiere of Top Chef leads right into the final showdown on Top Chef Masters at 10:15 pm as finalists Hubert Keller, Michael Chiarello, and Rock Bayless square off in the kitchen to see just which one of them will walk away with title of Top Chef Master. Just which of these master chefs will emerge the ultimate champion? Find out tonight.

And if that weren't enough culinary cravings for you, BBC America's own fascinating foodie magazine program F Word is brand new tonight as well, with an episode at 9 pm ET/PT (or 6 pm PT if you're on the West Coast) in which hotheaded chef Gordon Ramsay goes to work in a Chinese restaurant, soul singer Mica Paris brings her brigade into the F-Word kitchen, and comedian Jo Brand faces off with Ramsay in the recipe challenge.

So prepare yourself something delicious, settle down on the sofa, and be prepared to salivate for the three hours tonight. Your stomach will thank me in the morning.

Masters of Disaster: Buffets, Frayed Nerves, and Close Encounters of the Dale Kind on "Top Chef Masters"

Just when you thought the atmosphere couldn't get anymore heated on Top Chef Masters, the arrival of some extremely talented Top Chef former contestants stirred up even more trouble.

On last night's penultimate episode of Bravo's Top Chef Masters, the master chefs had to work with three sous chefs culled from the legions of past Top Chef participants in order to execute their vision for a sumptuous buffet at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills (a favorite haunt of mine, if I'm being honest).

This was an opportunity for the masters to position themselves into the role of mentor, chief, and motivator. To prove, in other words, that they were a true master chef in every sense of the words. Chef, after all, means chief and in the kitchen being the leader means being able to effectively communicate with your team, harness their abilities, and work together as a single organism moving in unison.

Which isn't quite what happened last night. At least not on chef Michael Chiarello's team.

So what happened and how did the four remaining master chefs do? Let's dicsuss.

I've been a huge supporter of Chiarello throughout this competition but his behavior last night left me speechless, particularly his "auditioning" of the former Top Chef competitors and his staggering queries of "What's my name."

These are, after all, established and committed chefs in their own right and aren't applying for a commis job in the kitchen. For Chiarello to grill them about the correct way to address him in the kitchen didn't earn him much love or admiration (or, well, respect) from the cheftestants, none of whom particularly wanted to be selected by him as sous chefs.

Here's a clip:



And that's to say nothing of the altercation between Chiarello and Dale, who turned a comment referring to him as "young man" into a full-blown battle royale in which the former Top Chef contestant seemed to want Chiarello to punch him. For a season that has been remarkably low-key about dramatics, this was the single moment in Top Chef Masters where I could not believe what was unfolding before my eyes.

I understand that Chiarello is a seasoned chef worth his whites, but his wanton disregard for any semblance of respect towards these chefs left such a sour taste in my mouth that I am now actively rooting against him at this point in the competition.

Whew.

That said, let's move onto the food. The master chefs this week had to pull off a huge buffet-style presentation for 200 "Hollywood insiders" at the SLS Hotel and had to roll with the punches as they were given the opportunity to select three sous chefs from among the Top Chef returnees and then had to rethink many of their dishes when they learned that the buffet was now being set up outside in the sun on the terrace at the SLS.

Anita Lo created an Asian buffet with "an array of sauces and condiments," with dishes that included a noodle salad, a raw bar, dumplings, and pork-stuffed pork spare ribs. Lo was let down by the fact that a sun-drenched terrace is not the ideal location for serving raw seafood, the noodle salad seemed a bit pedestrian, and there wasn't a lot of wow factor going on here. Sadly, Lo was in a little over her head and couldn't quite get the logistics and organization under control.

Michael Chiarello offered up a rustic Italian-style buffet, which included three kinds of risotto, prawns, swordfish, and an olive oil cake. Complaints from the critics included that the swordfish was "doughy" and "mealy" and seemed "old," the olive oil cake was far too soaked in oil, and the prawns were overbrined. His presentation seemed more messy/rustic than some of the others and didn't look all that appetizing outside in the heat.

Rick Bayless served up a flawless Mexican buffet that included traditional tortilla soup, a "luxury guacamole bar," pork, a quick sautee of shrimp with figs and nuts, and liquid nitrogen-frozen avocado ice cream.

And then there was Hubert Keller, who offered up an exquisite eighteen-dish buffet that the judges decreed was more like "a million dollars" than the $1000 total budget. And I have to agree. Keller and his team, working in concert, pulled off a daring and incredible array of complex dishes including a Vietnamese-spiced gazpacho with scallops, roasted beets with Cantal cheese, oysters with citrus and coriander seeds, rack of lamb, a selection of elegant desserts, and so much more. It seemed as though they had been working for weeks to pull off an execution that was so polished, so poised, and so confident. Rather like the magnanimous Keller himself, in fact.

Ultimately, I knew that Keller and Bayless (whom I've grown to admire more and more each passing week) would land in the top spots. While I was blown away by the artistry of Bayless' offerings (and the fact that he took a chance by letting the incomparable Richard Blais work his culinary magic with the liquid nitrogen), it was Keller would truly embodied the spirit of this competition and this challenge, wowing the critics (though oddly not the diners, who crazily only awarded him three and a half stars) and the audience with a luxurious and complex feast.

I had a sinking feeling that Lo would be the one to be cut from the competition this week, which is a real shame as I love Anita Lo. But she really did seem out of her element and didn't quite have the vision and organization necessary to adapt to each of the new speed bumps introduced. Which is a shame as I'd have loved to have seen her take on Keller and Bayless in the final round. But alas, the critics seemed to think that Chiarello performed better overall and sent Lo off to pack her knives and leave.

So who will win the final showdown? Will it be Keller, Bayless, or Chiarello taking home the ultimate title of Top Chef Master and a sizable donation for their sponsored charity? Who do you think will walk away the victor and who will walk away empty-handed? Discuss.

Next week on the season finale of Top Chef Masters ("Top Chef Master"), the final three remaining master chefs must delve into their pasts to create a four-course meal; the ultimate master chef is crowned.

Food Is Personal: Dietary Restrictions Galore on "Top Chef Masters"

It's said that necessity is the mother of invention and restrictions can often pave the way to creativity.

This week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Dietary Restrictions") forced the five remaining master chefs to do just that when they were faced with their toughest challenge yet: catering a lunch for actress/singer Zooey Deschanel and her friends.

The only problem: Deschanel is a vegan with gluten allergies and an aversion to soy to boot. If they had any chance of pulling off this complicated and restrictive meal, they would have to see beyond the limitations to offer up inventive and thoughtful meat- and dairy-free dishes that satisfied both the dietary restrictions of the party's hostess but also the diverse appetites of her guests.

So, did this challenge prove to be a Herculean task or a walk in the garden for these astute chefs? Let's discuss.

But before we get to the Elimination Challenge, a few quick words about this week's Quickfire Challenge, which had the chefs prepare a spin on the classic burger as well as a side in under thirty minutes. On hand to judge the chefs' dishes were filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), restaurateur Sang Yoon (of Father's Office here in LA, home of one of my personal favorite burgers), and former Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn.

Top marks went to Rick Bayless for his queso fundido burger with three guacamoles (though I will admit, despite Bayless' tizzy, I wouldn't have known what to do with three guacamoles without any chips) and Michael Chiarello, who prepared a gigantic burger with truffle hand-cut fries. Both landed four stars. But it was a very different story for poor Anita, who walked away with a staggering one and a half stars for her cheeseburger soup, an innovative and original spin on the burger brief that failed to hit its mark. If she had any hopes of remaining in the competition, Lo would have to pull out all of the stops in the Elimination Challenge.

First up was Hubert Keller, who created a trio of items, including: white gazpacho with cucumbers, rice milk, grapes, vanilla oil, and almond milk; timbale of avocado, tomatoes, and asparagus; and roasted beet salad with edible flowers. A masterful combination of flavors and textures on the part of the so-called French angel (Chiarello's words, not mine). I wanted to reach through the television and steal that shot glass of silky, ethereal cucumber gazpacho.

Lo was up next with a spicy grilled eggplant with green lentil salad and a cashew sauce with crispy fried shallots. Main complaint was that the eggplant was almost sodden with oil, far too wet and greasy. Jay Rayner complained that it wasn't properly salted during prep and was far too acidic. Not Lo's finest work this week and I was on eggshells waiting to see if she'd get cut from the competition...

Chiarello smartly went for pasta, despite its glutinous connotations, and instead located some gluten-free pasta at Whole Foods that was derived from protein-rich quinoa. He offered up a dish of quinoa pasta with salsa verde, Calabrian chili, and garlic topped with a pine nut, parsley, and preserved lemon gremolata, oven-dried tomatoes, and crispy fried basil. It was a hearty, meaty meal that contained no meat or actual gluten. Was he smart to buy the pasta? Hell yeah. It was made from quinoa and there was no way he could reproduce it in the time he had. Clever, efficient, and crafty.

Bayless offered Deschanel's guests fresh corn tamales with chili-braised black beans, braised greens, and glazed mushrooms that everyone raved about. The sweetness of the corn was perfectly balanced by the heat from those chilies and black beans. A well-balanced and well-executed dish that proved why Bayless is the master of Mexican cuisine in the States.

And then finally there was dessert. Smith concocted a strawberry and champagne soup, topped with strawberry rice milk ice cream, and homemade almond brittle with bittersweet chocolate. I was just as confused by Smith's choices as the judges. While it made sense for Chiarello to buy the quinoa pasta, it made absolutely no sense for Smith to buy that carton of rice milk ice cream... when he could have easily just made a dairy-free sorbet instead. The dish was messy and unfocused and just showed a lack of imagination and creativity, which was especially odd as Smith himself volunteered to do the dessert course and then dropped the ball completely.

While the top prize went to Chiarello, it came down to Lo and Smith in the bottom two spots. I was freaking out that Anita Lo would be the one to get the boot; despite her lackluster performance this week, she has dazzled overall and I'd hate to see her leave before the final round. But the judges wisely awarded her a half a star more than Smith, keeping her in the competition for another week and sending Smith packing.

Whew.

Did the judges make the right decision? Who would you have awarded the top spot too and who would you have sent home? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Master ("Masters of Disaster"), the four remaining chefs must perform their final Quickfire challenge blindfolded and later they must demonstrate their leadership skills when catering a large event... without touching the food themselves.

Top Chef Masters Preview: Fridge Fight



Top Chef Masters Preview: The Right Staff



Top Chef Masters Preview: The Final Quickfire

Transformation and Reinvention: Chefs Pay Homage to Each Other on "Top Chef Masters"

Imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery; homage is.

This week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Champions Round Begins") had the six champion chefs trading signature dishes and reinventing them in their own inimitable style while still paying homage to the original dish.

But before that, the chefs were put through their paces with a mise-en-place relay race. I have to say that I was impressed by their performances. After all, these are master chefs who leave the prep work to their sous chefs and commis and aren't chopping mounts of onions, shucking oysters, or whisking egg whites in their kitchens on a regular basis.

But for all of that, these masters will know their stuff; their mastery of basic kitchen techniques shouldn't be underestimated and I wonder if even the series' producers were astonished to see how neck-and-neck the two teams were in the Quickfire Challenge. Well done, all.

But there were three "rounds" this week on Top Chef Masters, with the six champions tasked with preparing a signature dish for their comperes, after which they sat down to eat one another's dishes. But this being Top Chef, there was a twist to follow, of course.

So what did the chefs prepare for the "Dinner" Round?

• Keller: lobster and truffle cappuccino with, leeks, fingerling potatoes, and a corn madeleine.
• Tracht: chopped sirloin steak with green peppercorn sauce and fried egg
• Smith: Seared grouper with hearts of palm, trumpet potatoes, and Meyer lemon zest
• Lo: seared sea scallop with potato puree, bacon, mustard greens, and sea urchin
• Chiarello: Balsamic and wild fennel pollen quail with mosto cotto mostarda, sauteed vineyard greens, and roasted apples
• Bayless: roast rack of lamb with black pasilla chile, mission figs, and red wine

And then there was the rub: they'd now have to prepare one of the other chefs' signature dishes and make it their own. They'd have $300 to shop for ingredients and try to show up their competitors by cooking someone else's style of cuisine and respect their original vision. No easy feat, that.

And their guest judges would be none other than competitors cut along the way from Top Chef Masters... which meant that likely their knives were sharpened.

Keller was tasked with reinventing Lo's scallop dish. He prepared a seared scallop with cream of sea urchin over fingerling mashed potatoes with bacon and haricot verts. Everyone praised Keller's masterful cooking of the scallops, which were adroitly cooked, and the sea urchin cream, which was an amazing payoff, though the critics then complained that the sea urchin cream was lacking in flavor. Confusing.

Lo consequently had to recreate Keller's lobster cappuccino with corn madeleine. She radically elevated the French master's dish even more, creating a trio of elements on the plate: a chilled corn chawanmushi, champagne gelee, and a lobster knuckle biscuit sandwich. Lo once again proved herself the chef to beat, with the judges raving about the elements on her plate. I'm wowed by Lo each week as are the critics.

Smith landed Tracht's chopped serloin, which he transformed into a bacon-topped ground-lamb Scotch egg with sweet potato fries and a tomato tart. I do agree with Elizabeth Faulkner that cooking the egg less than hard-boiled would have helped to bring the dish together (and take it away from Scotch egg territory), though Gael Greene loved the tomato tart and the biscuit. Still, overcooked egg, undercooked meat, which Greene said that she was "terrified" by. Hmmm...

Tracht reinterpreted Smith's grouper by transforming it into roast grouper with gnocchi, English peas, bacon, and roasted parsnips. But sadly the fish--very difficult to cook--was definitely overcooked and the gnocchi was stone cold. She did finish WAY too early and let the fish sit too long, rendering it over-cooked. Sad as I love Suzanne and was disappointed to see her struggle here with timings.

Chiarello took Bayless' dish and recreated it with more Italian than Mexican flavors, offering a rack of lamb stuffed with fig mostarda served with chick pea puree and fried rosemary. The judges felt that Michael's dish missed the mark slightly in terms of seasoning, with some complaining that the lamb was slightly too rare. "This to me is the beginning of a great dish," said Mark Peel. "Maybe it's 70 percent there." Did he care more what Rick thought about his dish that the judges? Sure, but even Chiarello admitted this at critics' table.

Bayless then reinvented Chiarello's dish of quail and transformed it into quail stuffed with parsnip, grilled red onion, and prosciutto served over wild greens. Bayless definitely moved away from his Mexican heat and offered up a dish that was very well balanced and deceptively simple. Hell, even Ludo praised it, which Bayless was extremely nervous about. (Love that both Bayless and Lo expressed their fears about cooking for their peers, which was honest and touching.)

Ultimately, Lo and Bayless ended up with the top marks and Lo walked off with the top spot after beating Bayless out by a single star (the closest it's come so far in this competition). Hubert Keller followed closely behind, trailed by Michael Chiarello. Landing in the bottom slots: Suzanne Tracht and Art Smith. But it was Tracht who sadly had to pack her knives and go, landing a half-star short of tying with Smith.

To say that this week's installment was stressful was an understatement and offered the closest challenge yet. I'm sad to see Tracht go but happy to see that things are heating up in the kitchen. I can't wait to see what next week brings...

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Dietary Restrictions"), the five remaining chefs get ready to rumble in a battle of burgers. Guest diners this week include actress Zooey Deschanel and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

Top Chef Masters Preview: It's All About Burgers:



Top Chef Masters Preview: A Few Dietary Restrictions:

Mystery Box: The Master Chefs Make Secret Ingredients Sing on "Top Chef Masters"

One thing that has separated Top Chef Masters from its predecessor is that these master chefs--for the most part, anyway--really do seem to love and support one another in a way that the hungry chefs on Top Chef really don't seem to do.

This week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Trick In A Box") could have been a prime opportunity for the chefs to stab each other in the back but the elimination challenge--in which Art Smith, Jonathan Waxman, Roy Yamaguchi, and Michael Cimarusti all had to shop for one another and prepare a mystery box of ingredients--resulted not in sabotage and subterfuge, but rather a celebration of both ingredients and one another.

Aw.

I thought that this week's gathering of master chefs was one of the toughest groups yet and each of them had some major strengths they were playing for, plus they each had such different, individual styles of cooking. Cimarusti of Los Angeles' Providence excels at seafood; Yamaguchi is the creator of Hawaiian fusion; Smith is the epitome of Southern cooking; Waxman was one of the forerunners of today's ingredient-obsessed culinary attitude. Each of them brought something different to the table.

So how did they do? Let's discuss.

For their Quickfire Challenge, the four master chefs had to prepare dishes constructed entirely of ingredients found in a specific supermarket aisle (a flashback to Season Three of Top Chef) and in the Top Chef kitchen. But they wouldn't know what they got stuck with until they arrived at Whole Foods.

Given the time constraints and the ingredient specifications, I was curious to see just what these four guys would come up with in the time they had. I was especially worried right off the bat by how Roy Yamaguchi would do as he was the first to admit that he doesn't think very well on his feet and usually takes more time to construct a menu.

Smith prepared a multi-grain risotto with a crispy rice salad. I wasn't sure how the combination of rices would present itself but the judges--a group of Whole Foods employees--seemed to be extremely pleased by his dish. I think the difference in textures played a large role in keeping the two elements unique but complimentary. Meanwhile, Waxman offered a mint, lentil, and roasted pepper salad that looked extremely messy on the plate (he admits that he cares more about the taste than presentation) but sounded incredibly tasty.

Yamaguchi cooked up pasta with vegetables, a fried egg, and Asian flavors. I was concerned by the construction of this dish; I can see doing a strand pasta--rather than penne--with egg but I probably would have made the dish a little lighter and more focused on spring, introducing some asparagus and parmesan to the mix, and poaching the egg rather than frying it. Not sure how the fried egg really related to the rigidness of the penne.

And finally, Cimarusti tempted the judges with a chocolate parfait with ginger syrup, Sauternes, and sesame crackers. This to me was the perfect dessert effort for a chef who doesn't focus on pastry. It was innovative, delicious, and beautifully presented and executed. Dessert doesn't need to be pastry or poached fruit; there's a number of alternatives that make sense and are easy to prepare. Cimarusti was extremely clever about this and walked away with a full five stars for his dessert course. Top Chef contestants: let Cimarusti's performance be a lesson for you when "stuck" with a dessert course. (Well done, Michael!)

If the Quickfire was tricky, the Elimination Challenge this week would really test the chefs and see just how truly supportive they are of one other. Each of them drew knives to determine who they would be shopping for and then would then prepare a dish using ingredients from their mystery boxes.

Art Smith prepared fried chicken two ways: a classically crisp fried drumstick and smothered fried chicken, which he served with a teeny-tiny mango pie with a flaky crust. I think he was smart to include that sweet offering on the plate and then entire dish just screamed down-home comfort food. Did he need to do two chicken dishes? Not really but I do think it elevated the offering from home dining to fine dining with the inclusion of three distinct yet interconnected elements on the plate. He would be the one to beat here.

Joanthan Waxman created a monster of a plate with pork sausage and pork chop with cauliflower and celery root puree studded with black truffles. While again the presentation was a little spotty--too huge of a plate, too much saucing all over the place--the taste was incredible, earning raves from the culinary students and judges alike. (Save the uber-picky James Oseland, who seemed not all that pleased about the truffles being microplaned rather than shaved.)

Michael Cimarusti created a gorgeous dish of lamb loin with sunchoke puree, broccoli rabe, purple cauliflower, roasted mushrooms, and mandarin orange sauce... the latter of which didn't end up on all of the plates. Some of the judges liked the inclusion of the sauce, which tied everything together, while Gael Greene thought she liked it better without the sauce. Never a good move not to get everything plated in time but Gail Simmons raved about the roasted mushrooms, which sparkled with the acidity and sweetness of the mandarin orange juice Cimarusti added at the very end.

Roy Yamaguchi paired a short rib kalbi and mahi mahi fillet with noodles, a plate that seemed almost schizophrenic. I'm not sure how the two elements on the plate were supposed to relate to one another and they seemed almost in competition, with one judge exclaiming that it seemed like two separate courses on the plate. We know Yamaguchi isn't one for improvisation but this seemed like a major misstep, especially as some of the mahi-mahi was overcooked. I think he was out of the mix right away.

Ultimately, it was Art Smith who moved on to the next round for his exquisitely prepared fried chicken. I was really pulling for Waxman or Cimarusti to make it to the champion round; both seemed like such passionate chefs in their own right and Smith's constant name-dropping rubbed me the wrong way throughout this episode.

Do you agree with the judges that Art Smith should have been the one to move on to the champions round? If not, who do you think should have won this round and why? How do you think the master chefs fared overall? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Champions Round Begins"), the six heat-winning chefs prepare to cook their signature dishes, with a surprising twist as they must then recreate one of their competitors' offerings for the critics to sample.

Top Chef Masters Preview: Rick vs. Michael



Top Chef Masters Preview: Mise En Place Relay Race



Top Chef Masters Preview: Elimination Spin

Life in Miniature: Three Courses, a Hundred Guests, Controlled Chaos on "Top Chef Masters"

All eyes might be on the Primetime Emmy Award nominations that were released in the wee hours of the morning today (including one for Top Chef) but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about last night's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Miniaturize Me").

On this week's installment, the four newest master chefs--Michael Chiarello, Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, Nils Noren, and Rick Moonen--faced off in one of the toughest challenges displayed on the culinary series to date: preparing a three course meal for one hundred foodie guests at a cocktail party.

But before that Herculean task, there was the Quickfire Challenge, which this week offered a flashback to Season One of Top Chef and featured guest judges Jeff Lewis, Jenni Pulos, and Ryan Brown of Bravo's Flipping Out. But no Zoila? What's up with that?

So how did this week's batch of master chefs perform under pressure in the kitchen? Let's discuss.

Quickfire Challenge: the masters this week had to recreate junk food into a fine dining experience. Personally, I love challenges like this because they really test the chefs and keep them on their toes; forcing them to reinvent junk food and elevate to a new form is a perfect way of testing their adaptability, imagination, and execution. Forcing master chefs to do this only increases the risk and the possible results.

Michael Chiarello chose fish sticks and offered up a winning dish of swordfish meatballs with fisherman's sauce and a Calabrian chili mayonnaise. I'm not a fan of swordfish but that looked incredible. Elegant but simple and an innovative reinterpretation of fish sticks. Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson was super-ambitious and created a tomato prosciutto stufado with pork kielbasa sausage but said sausage didn't look entirely cooked through, leaving guest judges Jeff Lewis, Jenni Pulos, and Ryan Brown more than a little miffed about the prospect of eating semi-cooked sausage.

Nils Noren picked fried shrimp and created a gorgeous and elegant dish of poached shrimp with pickled tomatoes, creamed corn, croutons, and lobster stock reduction. Not quite fried, which was a complaint of the guest judges but I give him credit for really elevating this to the next level and producing a dish that belonged in a fine dining establishment but had a link to that seaside treat.

Rick Moonen chose a corn dog and opted to make a deep-fried seafood hotdog... but didn't budget his time well at all and managed not to plate any of his dishes. Sad. I felt quite bad for Moonen, as it put him at a severe disadvantage going into the Elimination Challenge.

This week's Elimination Challenge was, I really think, the toughest one that they've given any of the chefs to handle on their own. Preparing a three-course meal of hors d'oeuvres on your own is a snap and should be for these chefs. Preparing a three-course meal for one hundred diners and plating 300 individual dishes? Not quite so easy, especially as these guys are used to have many, many hands helping them in the kitchen and assisting with prep, plating, and all the little details that go into producing fine dining.

The results of their efforts were somewhat mixed, with some dishes soaring and others crashing and burning. Mackinnon-Patterson offered a fritta esotica, fried pineapple wrapped in speck and deep fried. Interesting concept--rather like a Hawaiian pizza on a toothpick--but the judges did not take to this dish at all, citing the fact that the deep fat frying reduced the pineapple to little more than mush, eliminating both its inherent sweetness and its consistency. Next up was his main course of grilled beef short ribs with fresh horseradish and romaine hearts with anchovy-parmesan vinaigrette. Some issues with the seasoning on the short ribs but the dish was well executed and Gael Greene said he should have chucked out the fritta esotica and served up the romaine hearts as a starter instead. I was concerned about Mackinnon-Patterson's dessert: a strawberry frangipane with a yogurt semi-freddo and white chocolate dust. I get that pears aren't in season but I'm not sure I would have paired strawberries with frangipane and then there was the odd comment made by James Oseland that the strawberries themselves had a strange meat-like flavor. Ick.

For Chiarello, his first course was a shaved Brussels sprouts and asparagus salad with a whole citrus vinaigrette and Marcona almonds that I wanted to reach through the television to taste. I love Brussels sprouts and I thought shaving the sprouts and the asparagus was such an interesting technique and would have resulted in such a fantastic textural element. (Tom Colicchio's Craftbar here in LA does Brussels sprout "chips" that are crisp and salted leaves of goodness.) Next up: his "pissed off" prawns with arborio rice flower, chili, and garlic oil. Main complaint: too oily though the prawns were cooked perfectly. For dessert, Chiarello artfully constructed a dish layering balsamic-marinated strawberries with basil and goat milk gelato and chocolate creme fraiche. Creative, gorgeous, and risky as all hell. But it paid off magically.

Moonen's first dish was an opakapaka and barramundi ceviche with yuzu vinaigrette, avocado, and grapefruit that wowed diners and judges alike. His main course was a brandade of scallop and shrimp with a fennel and frisee salad with truffle vinaigrette; it eliminated the judges' memory that he scored zero stars in the Quickfire. (Well done, Rick.) For dessert, a preserved lemon panna cotta with candied ginger, gingersnaps, macadamia, toasted coconut, and pineapple... for which Moonen made one hundred individual servings by hand. When the judges said they were impressed, they meant it. It was madness but showed Moonen's grit and determination.

Noren served up a starter of diced scallop atop a smoked potato cream, with pressure-cooked apple, curry oil, mustard seeds, and chives. It looked absolutely gorgeous and was hands-down the most elegant and forward-thinking dish of the evening; perfect presentation for a cocktail party and just a symphony of textures and flavors. His next course was a slow-cooked salmon atop a marinated Napa cabbage, with chorizo, broccoli puree, fennel, and Madeira reduction sauce. Stunning and inventive (he seemed to create a new cooking technique on the fly for the salmon) and extremely memorable. For dessert, Noren offered a chocolate and goat cheese ganache with smoked lapsang souchong whipped cream and a Cara Cara orange gel.

Ultimately, there could be only one winner here and I can't say that I was surprised that the judges and the dinner awarded the most stars to Chiarello. He really managed to pull off the winning combination of presentation, vision, and flavor. I'm thrilled he's moving on to the champion round and very curious to see how he competes against the already impressive assembly of master chefs. Only one more round of prelims before the champions take the stage!

What did you think of this week's episode and the chefs' performances? Would you have awarded Chiarello the top spot? Which dishes looked the best and the worst to you? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Trick In A Box"), the four new master chefs--Art Smith, Jonathan Waxman, Roy Yamaguchi, and Michael Cimarusti--are tasked with showing off their skills in a grocery store; later, they're presented with a mystery box holding the ingredients for the Elimination Challenge.

Preview: Aisle Shopping



Preview: Mystery Box



Preview: Mystery Boxes Revealed

Spellbound: Illusion, Surprise, Mystery and Spectacle on "Top Chef Masters"

I can't tell you how excited I was that Top Chef Masters finally returned to the airwaves last night after a far-too long two week hiatus.

The series has become a highlight in my telly-viewing week and last night's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Magic Chefs") was no exception as the four latest master chefs--Anita Lo, John Besh, Mark Peel, and Douglas Rodriguez--has to prepare a dinner for actor Neil Patrick Harris and his friends at Los Angeles' famed Magic Castle using the four elements of stage magic: surprise, illusion, spectacle, and mystery.

I was a guest at the Magic Castle, a private club for professional magicians, about two weeks ago and fell in love with the quirky charms of the place, a former mansion turned clubhouse and multi-staged venue where magic reigns supreme. It was only fitting then that our master chefs should have this unique location to use as a backdrop for their most magical meal yet.

So how did the cheftestants do? Let's discuss.

Before the magic-themed dinner, the masters had to fight their way through the Quickfire Challenge, a repeat of a favorite Top Chef challenge in which the chefs have to prepare a perfectly cooked egg with one hand tied behind their back.

The challenge, which recalls both Georges Auguste Escoffier and the more humbling aspects of this culinary competition series, really did put these chefs through their paces. I was surprised to see just how many of them really did underestimate the challenge at hand and didn't really consider timing or plating in advance. An egg is a delicate thing at the best of times and the thin line between a perfectly cooked oeuf and an overcooked one is transparent at best.

I have to say that I was majorly impressed with Mark Peel for attempting to make fresh pasta in such a brief time span as this... much less with one hand tied behind his back, a real Herculean feat if there was one. His dish was a truly ambitious one then: fresh duck egg pasta with an egg and olive oil cream sauce. I feel it would have been a hell of a lot more successful if he managed to get the olive oil in there and had more of a contrast with the fresh herbs. But still impressive.

Less impressive with John Besh, who completely underwhelmed with a slow-cooked egg in a miniature crock pot... that wasn't actually cooked. Besh, whom many pegged as a major player in this competition, scored only half a star for his single egg serving that was still uncooked on one side and lacked any components. Sad, really.

Douglas Rodriguez, on the other hand, prepared perfectly cooked scrambled eggs with ham and an open-faced corn cake that showcased precision, thoughtfulness, and an understanding of the task at hand. But it was chef Anita Lo who wowed the judges with her artful preparation of soft scrambled eggs and shiitake mushrooms with truffle oil and oyster sauce served in the eggshell. Just a dazzling display of ingenuity, playfulness, and art, really, and no surprise at all that Lo walked away with the top spot. That she constructed this amazing dish with one hand is what truly inspires. Well done, Anita!

As for the Elimination Challenge, the chefs would have to create dishes that embodied one element of magic, whether it be illusion, mystery, spectacle, or surprise, and serve it at the Magic Castle to guest judge Neil Patrick Harris and a collection of actors and magicians. Given that Harris is reputed to be a major fan of magic, I expected to see more enthusiasm from the How I Met Your Mother actor but he seemed rather low-key and quiet throughout the proceedings, which struck me as odd.

First up: Mark Peel's Mystery, which was a thai snapper en papillote served with garlic mashed potatoes and leeks. Heightening the mystery of what was in the parcel, Peel also offered up a ceramic spoon of scallion oil and Oassi sake. This dish could have easily backfired if the fish were overcooked (no way to check it without tearing into the pouch, after all, and Peel had let them sit before they went out into the dining room) but the result was a lovely surprise: perfectly cooked fish with gorgeous leeks and creamy mash, heightened by the slightly bitter flavor of the scallion oil.

John Besh's Surprise went a little askew though he did have the forethought to remember his surroundings and play up the theatricality of the setting, crafting a little magic of his own with a fresh horseradish and creme fraiche sorbet that he attempted to solidify using liquid nitrogen. This was a real gambit as it's hard to pull off a liquid nitrogen tableside serving. The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel here in LA does liquid nitrogen-frozen cocktails and it is hard work and time-consuming. Besh should have kept whisking for another five minutes at least to give the sorbet some body and solidity. As for the rest of the dish, he offered up three miniature servings: salmon tartare with a frozen cauliflower blini, salmon roe with the aforementioned sorbet and dill fronds, tempura-fried lobster wrapped in smoked salmon with micro-greens. The judges loathed the frozen blini, with James Oseland complaining that it gave him brain freeze. Ouch. The lobster, however, was perfectly cooked and the most successful of the three offerings.

Douglas Rodriguez's Spectacle tried to bring the pomp and circumstance one might expect from the magic but didn't quite hit the mark with his sterno-flamed coconut shells which did offer some spectacle but also some danger to eating his course. It was also a little too ambitious, to boot, with four preparations of duck on a single plate: there was an oyster ceviche with duck broth, empanada with foie gras and figs, a seared duck breast with butternut squash puree, and a duck soup with young coconut. Way too much going on on the plate, an overabundance of ingredients, and some confusion.

Finally, Anita Lo's Illusion, a crackling sand-based seascape that held up a braise daikon with kombu caviar that resembled a perfect scallop... but actually contained a steak tartare in its pearly depths. The addition of a shellfish stock in a small bowl added some salt and flavor to the tartare when poured over the top. Once again, I thought Lo did an incredible job of going beyond the brief to really wow in terms of presentation and flavor and she absolutely nailed the "illusion" part of the challenge. It was such a dead ringer for a scallop yet conceals such a different story on the interior that I would have been amazed if she didn't walk away with a spot in the champions round.

Sure enough, the judges felt the same way about Lo's Illusion, a perfectly crafted dish that captured the requisite magic and transformed a lowly daikon into a centerpiece of illusory power. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next...

What did you think of this week's episodes? Were the judges fair to give John Besh such low scores? Did you think Anita Lo deserved the top prize? What did you think of the chefs' performances? And was Neil Patrick Harris uncharacteristically quiet? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Miniaturize Me"), four new master chefs--Michael Chiarello, Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, Nils Noren, and Rick Moonen--are tasked with reinventing junk-food classics and then later, they create three-course mini-meals for 100 guests. Plus, Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis and Jenni Pulos guest star.

Channel Surfing: Jane Lynch Sticks with "Glee" Over "Party Down," Brian K. Vaughan Leaves "Lost," HBO to Develop "Middlesex," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Confirmed: Jane Lynch will NOT be reprising her role as ditzy actress Constance Carmell in the second season of Starz's comedy series Party Down due to her involvement on FOX's Glee, where she plays cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. Cabler Starz was said to have hoped that Lynch's schedule could have accommodated both series but they were unable to make that happen. "It looks like I can't do the second season," said Lynch of "blessed event" Party Down. "So I'm not happy about that all ... but I'm in Glee, so I'm thrilled about that." No word yet on what Party Down producers will do now that Lynch is unavailable; Jennifer Coolidge appeared in two episodes of Season One as Constance's roommate Bobbie St. Brown, likely due to scheduling conflicts. (Variety)

"Y: The Last Man" creator Brian K. Vaughan won't be returning to the writing staff for the sixth and final season of ABC's Lost.
"Unfortunately he has left for greener pastures," executive producer/showrunner Damon Lindelof told fans during a Q&A session last week. What those greener pastures are remain unknown at this time, although three of his comic book properties--including "Y," "Runaways," and "Ex Machina" are in development for feature film adaptation. During his tenture on Lost, Vaughan wrote seven episodes, including last season's "Dead Is Dead," "Namaste," and "The Little Prince." (MTV's Splash Page)

HBO is developing a drama series adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides' Pulitzer Prize-winning 2002 novel "Middlesex." The pay cabler has optioned the rights to the novel, which "follows the life of Calliope Stephanides and the epic family history that may hold the answer to her complicated sexual identity." Playwright Donald Margulies will adapt the novel into a one-hour Middlesex pilot script and will executive produce along with Rita Wilson. (Broadcasting & Cable)

It's official: Christian Slater has joined the cast of ABC fall drama series The Forgotten. Slater replaces Spooks' Rupert Penry-Jones as lead character Alex Donovan, a former cop whose daughter went missing and who now works for amateur detective group The Forgotten Network, who focus on murder cases involving unidentified victims. (via press release)

Speaking of ABC, the network has begun to launch its programming on Hulu, now that the deal has been closed between Walt Disney Co. and the other equity partners in Hulu. Grey's Anatomy is now available for streaming on the site, to be followed by Desperate Housewives, Scrubs, Ugly Betty, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, and Superstars. (Variety)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin has several sneak peeks at How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris' turn as guest judge on tomorrow night's episode of Bravo's Top Chef Masters, shot at Hollywood's famed Magic Castle (where I was a guest about two weeks ago). (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett and Sony Pictures Television are developing half-hour animated comedy Dumb Bunny and Jackass, about the lives of "the most popular cartoon duo in history after their fall from stardom." Project, based on characters created by Bill Kopp, will feature Garrett's voice. (Hollywood Reporter)

Torchwood: Children of Earth kicked off last night in the United Kingdom, grabbing an average of 5.9 million viewers on BBC One (a 25.8 percent audience share), a number that increased in the final fifteen minutes to 6.1 million viewers. The numbers demonstrate the largest timeslot average for the year to date, especially impressive considering that Torchwood previously aired on BBC Three and BBC Two. The third season kicks off Stateside on July 20th on BBC America. (Broadcast)

Also, from the other side of the pond: David Suchet (Poirot), Charles Dance (Bleak House), and Richard Coyle (Coupling) will star in Going Postal, Sky1's latest Terry Pratchett adaptation which is expected to air next Easter. "The fantasy tale of revenge and romance follows the adventures of arch-swindler Moist Von Lipwig," writes Hollywood Reporter's Mimi Turner, "and his love affair with the beautiful and vengeful Adore Belle Dearheart, whose family he has unwittingly ruined." (Hollywood Reporter)

The CW has announced that it will burn off remaining episodes of its short-lived drama series Easy Money this summer beginning Sunday, July 26th, following the burn-off run of fellow MRC-produced drama Valentine. Both series had been canceled by the CW in November. (Futon Critic)

Kathy Griffin will host Comedy Central's upcoming Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers, slated to air on August 9th at 10 pm ET/PT. (Hollywood Reporter)

Finally, the Hollywood Reporter talks to Jason Schwartzman about his new HBO comedy series Bored to Death:



Stay tuned.