'Top Chef All-Stars': The pressure is cooking the chefs

Cooks are using to cracking things—eggs, pepper corns, chicken bones, the occasional mixing bowl. But as the first installment in the “Top Chef All-Stars” finale proved, they are prone to cracking up themselves.

There’s no doubt the remaining five chefs must feel like a veal chop hammered into scaloppini.  Even though it takes Bravo months to show all of the episodes, the series is actually filmed in a matter of weeks, and by the time the season winds down so, too, have the chefs’ stamina—not to mention their mental health.
As past finales have dramatized, the winning chefs don’t always triumph just by cooking the best dishes.

They prevail because their rivals panic, outthink themselves, and start pulling out kitchen tools they’ve never used before, the case in Season 5 when Casey disastrously persuaded Carla to cook sous vide for the first time in her life.

The victors, like marathoners focused only on maintaining a steady pace all the way to the finish line, don’t alter their course, confident in their culinary skills.

All of which makes us very worried about Richard.
Mike, especially after topping superstar Michael Voltaggio in Wednesday’s Quickfire challenge, might believe otherwise, but Richard has been and still is the best cook in this season’s “Top Chef.” But he’s starting to become unhinged, a troubling development. 

“Honestly, I hate everything I do,” Richard said after serving a lamb dish the judges mostly loved. He looks like a guy convinced his airplane is going to crash, his wife is going to leave him for George Clooney, his child is going to join a permanent Santa Cruz drum circle. He’s not quite ready for a culinary intervention, but if he doesn’t relax—recall that he lost in the fourth season when he “choked,” as he put it, in the finals—Richard won’t be around much longer.

Meanwhile, the season’s totemic tower of positive thinking, Carla, was sent home for serving up pork so rare it looked like an invitation to an upcoming trichinosis convention—stay cool in the sun!—in the Bahamas.

Anyone who has been near those cooking schools that seem to be popping up on every corner has seen the student chefs milling about—with their checked pants, their clogs, and their stupid pocket thermometers.

Pork is done but still pink around 150 degrees, and can be served a few degrees cooler. Carla’s meat looked like the same temperature of melted ice cream, and even if Tiffany or Antonia could have been sent home for their uninspired food, some of Carla’s pork was inedible—not a great attribute when everything is on the line.

Carla’s inexorable grace and liveliness will be missed as much by viewers as it might be by Richard. Without a steadying, supportive influence in the kitchen—and that certainly won’t be Mike—Richard could very well fall apart as fast as an overcooked pot roast. We hope he pulls it together, fast.

--John Horn

Photo of Richard Blais in “Top Chef”: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo

 

Comments

[Rachel]

Carla going home was rediculous! It wasn't a fair challenge. It would be great to actually see the contestants compete when they're all at their best, but it seems Bravo is determined to add unnecessary drama so we can watch talented people make bad food.

[jt]

how Tiffany is still there is absolutely baffling. this woman hasn't cooked anything interesting the entire season and should've been sent home the week she gave her judge's table monologue saying how she's just a little old Southern girl who doesn't have the training of the rest of the contestants. Carla may have undercooked her meat, but even the judges admitted Tiffany's dish was utter unmemorable.

[tbplayer]

Rachel - How was it not a fair challenge? All were cooking in the same environment, under the same conditions. Carla undercooked AND SERVED undercooked pork. A no-no in any situation, under any conditions.

I will say that the judging appears arbitrary from week to week. Sometimes a technical mistake like this will send a chef home, and they'll keep a someone whose dish is bland or boring. Other times, a technical mistake will be overlooked because the concept and flavors were good.

[Sylvia]

I am so disappointed that Tiffiany D. was sent home last night. I am shocked because it should have been Richard. The judges clearly said his lobster was under cook. I feel Tiffany was cheated out of the challenge win during the Italian episode also. It was so racist because it was set up for an Italian to win whether they had the best dish or not. Tiffian'sy dish was superior to all the rest because I heard the Italians say 'bless Tiffiany's hand" for her delicious dish. Everyone scraped their plates clean! I love Top Chef but it is so clear that it is not judged fairly. I can see that the judges want Richard to go to the end and possibly win and I think it is a shame. He was not sent home for under cooking a main component. He has consistently wined his ass off about not winning during his season. He is so annoying. I really feel Tiffiany was not treated fairly. Richard pouts when he doesn't win everything! He doesn't show happiness for the other chefs and why wasn't he sent home for his raw lobster? Dale was sent home for under cook potatoes. I hate the inconsistency of this show.!!! This show has shown unfairness over and over. I am so disappointed. I am unable to enjoy this show now.

[Sylvia]

Richard is a train wreck!!! He is so annoying he is always whinning and complaining. "I hate my dish, I hate everything I make..boo boo hoo!!!"... He is going to have a stroke!! He complains complains and he pouts like a bitch when other chefs win something!! Plus he served under cooked lobster and was allowed to stay on the show... that was so unfair. Richard needs to GO!!

[PAULA]

I REALLY THINK THE COOKING CONTESTS ARE CRAZY, MOST OF THE TIME IF SOMEONE TOLD ME I HAD TO EAT THAT MESS I WOULD THINK THEY WERE NUTS. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO A MATTER OF TASTE AND MOST OF THE JUDGES DO NOT HAVE ANY! IT IS SO BIASED IT IS RIDICULOUS , IF YOU WERE FACED WITH THAT FOOD AFTER ORDERING IN AN EXPENSIVE PLACE WOULD YOU WANT TO PAY THE BILL?