'Top Chef' recap: The final food frontier

  
When this season started, Angelo was the cheftestant most likely to succeed:  he came to the competition with a Michelin star under his apron and a toque full of arrogance.  It almost seemed unfair, to throw this star in with the other less celebrated chefs.

But somewhere along the way, Angelo seemed to lose his confidence.  He nearly went home for his beef wellington a few weeks ago, and last week he bummed out the judges by turning out pork on a soggy bun in the baseball concession battle.  Where he once seemed to be some kind of master manipulator playing mind games with his fellow competitors -- many of those that he "advised" (including Amanda last week) ended up being sent home-- he now appeared to be psyching himself out. Could Angelo pull it together in this last D.C. challenge, the one that would decide the final four?

Padma quickly made it clear that the stakes had been raised:  not only would the winner of the quickfire challenge go to London, but the final four would cook their final meals in Singapore.  The quickfire was a familiar one to "top Chef" viewers -- creating a dish to go with a chosen wine--and with minimal drama, Angelo snagged the London trip with his foie gras.

"Maybe he's gotten his mojo back," Kevin said nervously. But Angelo wouldn't just need mojo, he'd need celestial mojo, since this week's bake-off was taking place at NASA and involved cooking food that could be freeze-dried for "dining at zero-gravity." The NASA scientist gave a few specifications -- keep the dish low in sugar, high in spice -- and they were off.  There was no interpersonal friction, and no real disasters (other than Tiffany's mussels freezing).

When they were served their space suppers, the table of foodies and NASA folks seemed pleased with all of the dishes, though there was some question of what astronauts would do with the bones from Ed's lamb, and whether Angelo's ginger-laquered ribs might be a tad sweet for space food.

But when it came time for judging, all that talk of freeze-drying went out the window. The judges (which included Anthony Bourdain rather than the NASA scientist) mainly discussed flavor -- which is fair enough, but why bother with the whole extraterrestrial premise in that case? 

Ripert seemed besotted with Kelly's very classic pan-roasted halibut and pleased with Kevin's steak and onion rings. Bourdain complained that Kevin played it too safe: "It's 'Top Chef.' Sirloin, for gods sake!" And Angelo's candied ginger totally baffled Colicchio  --though Angelo told the panel he paid the ribs so much attention "I felt like I made love to them."

Obviously either Kevin and his simpleton steak or Angelo and his sweet, well-romanced ribs would be going home in their own personal space shuttle. Right?   Well, er,  no. Instead, Tiffany -- who I was sure would be in the top 3 -- was sent to pack her knives, tears flowing at the knowledge that she was one challenge away from Singapore.

And the winner? Angelo. He and his mojo will drive home a new car, get to watch the launch of one of the two remaining space shuttles. And compete in the final four, with Ed, Kevin and Kelly.

[John Horn will be back next week for the Singapore showdown.]

-- Joy Press

twitter.com/joypress

Photo: Judges Anthony Bourdain and Padma Lakshmi. Credit: Bravo

Comments

[Mira]

Any chef who has won the car, tends to be the one NOT to take home the top prize. Just sayin'. ;-)

[erica stephens]

I am pleased that Angelo got his "mojo" back,and thank God for Bourdain,his lack of pretension compared to the others is refreshing.I think it should be between Ed and Angelo.The other two are a crap shoot.

[djean]

And thus endeth my interest in this year's Top Chef.
Not angry because of the Bourdain anointing Angelo thing - it is just entertainment - but that bit of judging outside of the given parameters rendered the rest of the season kind of pointless.
No biggie - I still have Master Chef to watch!

[lisa]

I enjoyed watching Tiffany. She was always a top producer. I agree that she was well in line to win. My interest in the show is now over.

I think not taking into account past performance at this stage in the competition is truly short sighted. I'm so very tired of it.

[Lord Pendragon]

I agree with not taking past performance into account. Otherwise you shouldn't have a showdown finale at all, just a tallying of wins vs. losses over the season. Top Chef is a game of endurance as well as talent. It's not enough to be a great cook, you have to be a great cook that can perform week after week.

I honestly did not want to see Tiffany go. She is an amazing chef with an amazing attitude. There's no doubt she will continue to succeed in her career goals. Unfortunately, the mussels wound up being the mistake to send her home. :(

I'll continue to enjoy Top Chef, rooting for Ed now that Tiffany is gone, and hoping that when the after season show comes on, Tiffany wins the 10 grand for Fan Favorite.

[bub]

I agree with djean -- having Bourdain as a judge and making comments as his typical self was completely refreshing to the show, not to mention utterly entertaining.

[Harvey Lee]

This was a lousy challenge to determine the finalists. This challenge would have been better earlier in the season, when the stakes weren't so high. The rules were make something that could be replicated in space, that wasn't too sweet, that had a lot of flavor. Kevin was the only one who modified his approach based on the rules. In the end, none of the judging was based on this criteria. Very disappointed that Tiffany had to go. If you are going to ignore the rules and had no obvious loser, then fall back to body of work. Tiffany was consistently outstanding, even doing well when she is outside her comfort zone. IMO, this has been a bad season. In the beginning, it was all about Angelo vs Kenny and the Alpha Male contest. Now, they aren't even honoring the guidelines of the challenges.

[RH]

@Mira: Michael Voltaggio won the car and the title last season.

[Shirley Hooker]

I thought that top chef was a fair show but now the fans in
mississippi know better, you all could not stand to see a black person win top chef, you all voted Tiffany off the show, the other chef had the look on their face as if I know that this can not be, they all know that Kelly or Kevin
should have been off the show, We were real disapointed in you all choice but I guess it just show you that the world have not change much and if you are black we will let you go so far but then you have to step back.

[Michele]

Angelo lucked out the prior weeks when he served bad food because Alex and Amanda were still available to cut. When I saw how frequently he tastes his food and puts the spoon back in the sauce, I was grossed out. I totally agree with this article - I thought Angelo and Ed or Kevin should have gone if it was about freeze drying the meal for the challenge - Angelo went sweet (and Tom seemed to disapprove in his little kitchen visit while they were cooking, too); Ed had hard to dispose of bones; and Kevin's onion rings would not hold up to freeze drying. I was surprised that Tiffany went home. This whole season has been a bit blah. None of the chefs have been particularly cutting edge. I liked Tiffany, Ed and Kelly's good sportsmanship at least. Angelo is just weird.

[Clint Flint from Bedrock]

I was rooting for Tiffany to go the distance, she rated consistently among favored dishes, and her good sportsmanship and lovely smile were a joy to watch. Initially I didn't like Angelo...now I've grown to like him despite what some view as his annoying idiosyncrasies; he frazzles his own nerves in the spirit of quality and service. From the start I was hoping Kelly might win, but her performance has dropped off for a while now. Plus, they showed her huffing on a cigarette while relaxing and as a diner it really turns off my taste buds and clenches my stomach to see a food handler with a cigarette stinking up their hands and clothes -- blech. I don't want Kevin to win, he has consistently fallen short with his food so he doesn't deserve to take the prize based on performance, and he sulks and throws mini-tantrums -- just grow up. Ed has surprised the heck out of me, he really puts out in terms of care and intricacy. (Incidentally, my ten year old daughter recognized him as a sous chef on Iron Chef last night.) My first choice was Tiffany, now I'm rooting for Ed or Angelo but wouldn't be too disappointed if Kelly gets lucky.

Anthony Bourdain was GREAT to watch, it almost looked as though the other judges were concerned he might be too much of a loose cannon. But it was great television. Some of you have commented the judges didn't take the rules of the challenge into consideration when picking a winner. I disagree. There were many criteria. Tiffany's rice was problematic from a gravity standpoint. Kevin's steak was meat, but prepared so boringly it failed the requirement of flavorfulness. Angelo may have gone too sweet again but as Bourdain mentioned it tasted great, and even on the plate I could see it was a morsel that loaned itself well to vacuum packing.

[icfi]

If you watch the extended judges table and read the judges' blogs, you'll see that the competition wasn't all that close, and there was general agreement that Angelo's dish was the best and Tiffany's was the worst. The show is edited to make the competition suspenseful, but once they start giving the prize to the most popular, the show should pack it up. The objective judging differentiates this show from Master Chef and all the other awful Gordon Ramsay shows.