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Episode Recap: Zoo Food
In this second episode of the new season of Top Chef, first impressions may change. A fowl-mouthed zebra can change his stripes and some winners who were proud peacocks ate crow.
If we continue to see more sunny sites of the city, I may have to take a trip to Chicago. The outdoor Green City Market, making locally grown food available to chefs and the public, was a great location to begin the Quickfire Challenge. With all of the fresh meats and produce, the hardest part for the cheftestants was selecting only five ingredients to prepare an entrèe.
After everyone scrambled to locate his or her choices, Spike took a moment to chill and watch a guitar player perform. As Mark was zipping from stand to stand, I felt bad for him when he had forgotten to take his mizuna (a peppery lettuce that I think is similar to mustard greens). And I wasn't quite sure what Richard was going to come up with when choosing the eucalyptus leaves.
Richard had a potential soul mate with molecular gastronomist and guest judge Wylie Dufresne, who said they "tend to play in the same sand box." But Richard's braised chicken with apples, eucalyptus and butter disappointed and was deemed oily. Using the aromatic plant was certainly an original choice, but since oil was an allowable option, perhaps he should have omitted the butter.
Andrew was unfocused and eventually disqualified after listing six items. (I laughed when Padma noticed the mistake and slowly said: "Did you say balsamic?") Ryan bounced back nicely from the chicken piccata debacle to create a "moist and juicy" sirloin with lettuce, radishes, potatoes and Dijon. Even with one item down, Mark pulled through to win immunity by also preparing a sirloin but was cited for contrasting the bitterness of a turnip with the sweetness of peaches.
Heading over to the Lincoln Park Zoo for the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were to cater a party for 200 people and pulled knives with assorted animal names on them to become teams of three. Yes, I was initially puzzled too and let's just say I was glad to hear that the teams were to prepare foods based on what the animals eat….
I can't quite imagine a vulture snacking on Team Vulture's tasty menu. Zoi soared high with her Moroccan lamb meatballs with ricotta and pomegranate syrup as did Mark with his anchovy on quinoa croquettes. Over on Team Penguin, Andrew toned down his language and came up as the winner this week. His charred squid ceviche with soy-balsamic tapioca is the dish I wanted to taste the most. Also his yuzu and mint glacier sounded better when I realized I confused the sour citrus fruit with kuzu (a root starch used as a thickener).
Dale, appropriately on Team Bear, was at odds with Nikki and her mushrooms stuffed with blueberries. At the judge's table Dale repeated that he didn't produce the dish yet he topped them with more pecorino cheese without telling Nikki or Spike. Gail Simmons said they looked like something the bears would produce instead of eat! The biggest problem was serving them to the judges — cold — after it was decided to hold them back.
Incorporating meat into the vegetarian guideline for Team Gorilla wasn't a setback. The judges were pleased with Antonia's lamb and edamame lettuce cups. But former coworkers Valerie and last week's winner Stephanie each prepared items that should have been made on the spot and ultimately had moisture problems. Stephanie premixed her roasted pear and crab salad, tossing it with salt, which drew liquid from the pears and made it watery. She got points for serving her mother's banana bread with caramel sauce. Valerie should have waited to make her black olive blinis to order. The small pancakes would have tasted fresh, not soggy and soft, and would have prevented her from being asked to pack her knives and go.
Second Bites
• Someone on Team Lion made a Bison Tartare with a tarragon coulis. Bison is not a part of my regular diet. And though I'm familiar with a fruit or vegetable coulis (an uncooked, puréed sauce) how exactly was the tarragon coulis made?
• Regarding the text poll, wouldn't you say Judge Tom is more of a bear than a gorilla or a penguin? (Though I've seen some waiters look like penguins.)
• Do you think Antonia contributed to Valerie's exit when responding to Tom that given the option she would rather hire Stephanie?
• Did anyone expect Richard to disappoint guest judge Wylie?
• Has Andrew redeemed himself from his questionable first impression last week?
For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.
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Mar 20, 2008 3:04 AM
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Wow - This was a very interesting episode! I really enjoyed Stephanie after her victory last week but this week I was afraid that she would be going home.
Andrew is such a hyperactive type of guy, I thought that he was going to explode before being named the winner of the Quick Fire Challenge. That guy would drive me crazy, but he was much more tolerable this week than he was last week.
I know that Valerie went home because of Antonio's assesment of Stephanie as a potential employee but I was glad that she did. Stephanie is a very likeable person, while Valerie tended to rub me the wrong way!
Dale has come across as the most irratating individual on the show now after his attempt to throw his team members under the bus. What I want to know is, if you have a questionable entree, and then try to "spruce it up", how can three team members NOT taste them afterward?
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Mar 20, 2008 11:12 AM
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My question is why Nikki et al. decided not to serve the dish but when the judges asked for it, Nikki still insisted on serving the dish. It puzzled me!!
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Mar 20, 2008 1:26 PM
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this challenge made me cringe because I've catered thousands of events and there are plenty of dishes that don't translate well from restaurant to catering. unless you have a huge team working with you, anything that has to be done a la minute is out of the question.
case in point: blinis. yes, if Valerie had done them to order, onsite, she might have had a better dish. but you can't do blinis to order for 200 people in a timely manner. she blew it with her bad decision. personally I don't think the judges used Antonia's comment in their decision to let Valerie go. I think the producers make the judges ask embarassing questions like that that put the chefs on the spot in order to create more drama for the show. and it doesn't entertain me at all. they do the same thing on Project Runway.
those mushrooms looked and sounded horrific. I think that chick should have gone home. and Dale bugs too. I know they're trying to make him this season's Marcel/Hung but he hasn't shown the innovation that those two did. I loved Hung.
Richard's eucalyptus seemed silly to me in a quickfire challenge. and Erik confuses me; he's the chef at a really good place here in SF but you wouldn't know that by watching him so far. Andrew is my secret favorite right now. I don't think I'd want to work with him but I'd eat his food and he's fun to watch.
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Mar 20, 2008 1:38 PM
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If Andrew stays focused, he'll definitely make it far. Mark's looking good - as well as most of the rest of the women. And I'm totally baffled too as to why Nikki would serve food - to the judges - that they had pulled.
But the challenges were good and original.
And I still want to know how to make a tarragon coulis... 
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Mar 20, 2008 2:25 PM
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I was really hoping Nikki would go home but alas it was Valerie. Does anyone else think she looks a little like Rachel Dratsch (sp) from SNL?
I think Andrew is funny as hell... I'm also enjoying Mark but that might just be the accent. I'm disappointed by Erik. He really seems to talk the talk but never follows through. I thought the banana bread was fun and it was nice to see someone do a dessert and not live to regret it.
Fun stuff, as always! By the way, what was up with Gail Simmons? She seemed to have the mad munchies and be a bit giddy.
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Mar 20, 2008 3:20 PM
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Okay, I love this show, but someone please tell the editor to stop being so predictable. I knew one of two chefs was going home within 5 minutes of the show starting.
Why? Because Valerie said she and Stephanie were friends. That's the kiss of death on this show! A similar quote was used several times last season, and every time, one of those chefs got eliminated. Heck, during the reunion, they even showed a montage of Casey saying it a few times...and all her friends got sent home!
Dear Mr./Ms. Editor...you need a new trick!
(Project Runway has a similar issue with "personal stories." If a contestant shares a personal story, he or she usually gets sent home. Guess the editor wants to get the story into the broadcast before the contestant is eliminated, but the sudden increase in "face time" is usually a bad sign.)
Oh well, I still enjoy the show(s).
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Mar 20, 2008 5:05 PM
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hey Mario, according to the Bravo website the recipe is 1/2 lb tarragon, juiced, strained and thickened with a pinch of Xanthan gum. so not a coulis in the truest sense of the word. but then the term confit gets bandied about lately without a thought to its true meaning.
I'm not a molecular gastronomist so I can only imagine the taste/texture of this. I'm not a tarragon fan but maybe I'd like the idea with a different herb.
fyi, a coulis can be cooked. well, at least the ingredients are frequently cooked before pureeing, like roasted red pepper coulis; you almost always want to cook down raspberries w/a bit of sugar for raspberry coulis, sometimes peaches too. but I wouldn't cook mangos or strawberries.
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Mar 20, 2008 7:15 PM
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Love the recap.
I must confess, I am a bit of a typo fiend/editor-at-heart, and I think you mean "cited" in paragraph 5 (akin to quoted), not "sited" (synonym for located).
Just a minor quibble.
Keep up the good work, and regardless of how Chicago looks on the show, you should definitely take a trip there! For SURE!
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Mar 20, 2008 10:11 PM
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wheezy: I didn't get to check the Bravo "site" today so thanks for the tarragon coulis recipe. Perhaps a variation using fresh thyme might taste good.
illiniemags: Thanks for the update. When I need a second pair of eyes at 2am I now know just who to call!
CSB046: I've always thought that we were shown a little more of the person leaving during that episode, so they would make their mark. But hadn't considered the "personal stories" angle. I'll keep my eyes open for that.
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Mar 20, 2008 11:40 PM
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The blinis think baffled me. She knew before she made them that they needed to be done at the site and yet she still chose to do them anyway?
And the Mushrooms!!! It's not good enough to serve the guests but you still give it to the judges? Have none of these contestants watched the show before. How many times have Tom and Padma said it's better to not serve something than serve it poorly?
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Mar 21, 2008 8:43 PM
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I don't think Val was canned because of the comment from her "teammate."
While Steph's salad was bad, especially since it was supposed to have been served with chips that went soggy and didn't make the plate, she also made the banana bread thing which canceled out her bad dish.
The mushroom debacle presented a challenge for the judges. As bad as it was on it's own, the adding of the cheese made it worse. So, would it really have been fair to pick one of the 2 chefs who mucked that up to send home?
So, by process of elimination, Val was the sole person responsible for her one and only bad dish, so she got the boot. She really deserved it too, because she KNEW that you can't make those ahead of time, yet did it anyway. Plus, Tom said the ingredients on top of the blinis didn't work together and Gail said she couldn't even taste the ingredients inside the blinis. Not a good combination to have bad ingredients AND poorly execute the dish.
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Mar 21, 2008 11:39 PM
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I'm just curious to know if anyone has ever actually not sent anything out because they weren't happy with it on the show. And not on the Quickfire which is just a chance at immunity/bonus but on the actual elimination challenge? I recall Howie, maybe, not finishing/sending out a Quickfire challenge but nobody else comes to mind.
For all the "If you're not happy with it then why did you send it out?" sentiment that Tom and Padma spout I could just as easily see them saying "Yeah, but XXXX couldn't even put a dish together and that has to count for something."
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Mar 23, 2008 9:43 AM
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true, CubFan, the judges contradict themselves all the time.
I think there has been at least one time when someone didn't complete their elimination challenge, but not sure if anyone has ever just bagged it completely. you could probably look it up on the Bravo website.
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Mar 23, 2008 8:22 PM
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thanks, Mario, for the interesting blog.
I'm finding myself quibbling with things on Top Chef so far this season ... I guess it isn't grabbing my attention as much as it did before.
This week I got annoyed by the mispronunciation of the word 'BLINI" ... Valerie maybe could have cooked the blini better if she learned how to say it. Not "BEE-Lini" but "BLEE-NEE" and then the judges got involved, switching randomly between "BEE-lini" and "blee-nee."
I was happy to see Wylie Dufresne as the judge. I think his food is fascinating. He is, however, a New York chef, just like Rocco diSpirito is. They are taping this in Chicago, a city that has some amazing restaurants and cooks. I know that Rick Bayless is the guest judge next week, so at least he is Chicago. He has some amazing Mexican cookbooks that are easy and fun to cook from.
The penguin group at least seemed to have some fun with what they were cooking for the reception. I'm not so sure everybody else did. Every year the cooks get bogged down when they have to do cocktail party/finger foods. You would think that the new contestants would learn from previous seasons and do their homework about these kinds of foods before showing up to play.
CubFan ... last season I think Howie didn't send something out because he wasn't happy with it and he didn't get sent home that week.
So week two gone and the second woman is kicked off. I hope this isn't going to be a trend because it seemed that in previous seasons they kicked off the women quickest, too.
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Mar 24, 2008 7:38 PM
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