Top Chef - Season 5 - "Melting Pot"

The season premier opens in New York. To get in the mood I will dining on a cinnamon raisin bagel with lite veggie cream cheese courtesy of Dunkin Donuts. Nothing but a classy meal to watch this show.

Of course I will contain spoilers in my blogs!

Padma is back hosting. A good move as she is likable.

As the opening credits roll I see a couple of good looking girls nothing spectacular except maybe Lauren. We'll have to see in the episode who really looks good.

All right, intro time. It is always dangerous to get too big a blurb here. It means you weren't involved in other episodes too much so they want people to get to know you here before you leave!

Jamie is covered in tattoos. She might be interesting.

Eugene is covered with tattoos including some neck tattoos, always a bad choice.

Jeff is a bland surfer boy. Thinks he's better looking than he is.

Radhika is a cute little indian girl but is she going to stick to her cultural food or can she go beyond?

Turns out Lauren Hope is not that good looking.

Ariane is older. She is 40. We'll see how that works for her.

Daniel has the homecourt advantage of being from Long Island (complete with accent). He intrigues me a bit. Weird beard.

Patrick and Lauren know each other from chef school. He is still in culinary school. This inexperience will probably limit his skills. That is the one thing about being chef. You need to go out and experience flavors and technique and that does take time and can't always be taught in schools.

Stefan is another European. Not much to say.

Richard is apparently gay. I was a bit surprised by that. He also seems interesting.

Quickfire challenge! Time to eliminate the first contestant!
It is a three part challenge

First part: Peel 15 apples with a knife
First 9 will be safe, other 8 move on.
Carla is a big tall, skinny scary black woman.

Second Part: Brunoise two cups of apples.
Brunoise seems to be little cubes of the apple. It is a hard knife skill as one says.

Third Part: Create a dish with the apples.
Only Lauren, Pat, Radhika and Leah remain. 20 minutes to create the dish.
Radhika goes with a pork chutney. Leah is going with scallops. Lauren and Pat are doing salads. That is very boring. They better be good salads. But then again it is all about the flavors.

Leah was made safe off the bat, then Radhika. That leaves the salads.

That leads to first commercial break. Man I hope it is Pat. I can see him getting very annoying as it goes on.

Patrick is the winner. Lauren is heading home. It is never easy to be the first one home. It seems like it would be embarrassing but how could it really be any worse than being the 2nd one gone? I bet she can't eat another apple for a long, long time.

Now for the remaining there is a knife block! What could this mean? Are they in two apartments? Nope, seems like there are several locations.

Turns out they are going to be paired up and go head to head in dishes that are inspired by their neighborhoods. That will be the elimination challenge.

Ahh, the gays group together: Pat Jamie and Richard. Just to note, Jamie is the lady.

Fabio and Stefan, the two thick accented Europeans. The thick accented Daniel is not a big fan of them.

There is a lot going on in this first challenge. A lot of people.

I think Ariane is actually good but lacks a little confidence. She may do well in this competition if she can believe in herself.

Melissa might be a little much of a "country mouse" (as she called her self) for this competition. She might be all right if she doesn't get overwhelmed.

I don't think Jeff has a great grip on his timing. That will be a problem as these competitions go on.

Pat experimented with black noodles that he had never used. Probably not a smart move.

Time for the first judges table!

Ariane immediately admits that she doesn't know much about. Big mistake. Don't show the judges doubt off the bat. Then she undercooked her risotto.
Stefan is cocky. Stefan wins.

Richard makes a burger.
Jamie goes with a decontructed salad.
Richard overcooked his lame, so Jamie wins.

Jill made plantain fritters and jerk spiced scallops. It looks very nice.
Radhika jerk rubbed halibut. Also presents nicely.
Both were not executed great and Jill wins.

Fabio makes a pork chop with mushroom and avocado. Jeff makes tenderloin with rice beans and rice. Jeff's was a sloppy presentation.
Jeff actually wins, much to my surprise.

Hosea makes a caviar adn apple chutney. Carla makes trout and salmon cakes. I like Hosea's presentation. Carla's side salad seems a bit separate to the dish for me.
Hosea wins easily.

Leah's dish is well received. Melissa's dish looks nice but she lacked a bit of salt and pepper.
Leah wins.

Daniel made ginger chicken poached salad. Pat made seared salmon with bok choy and noodles. He admits his lack of knowledge of the noodles. Tom says it was one noted. Tom also says Daniel's dish was unimaginative but he manages to win.

Alex mad grilled lamb chops. Eugene (still looking thuggish) made masala rubbed lamb. Tom likes Alex's spice use. Padma calls Eugene's a classic indian dish. He wins.

Judge's Table
The top three: Eugene, Stefan and Leah. Padma notes that in all but 1 season the winner of the first challenge went on to win the whole competition. With that said, Stefan wins.

The bottom two: Ariane and Pat. I hope it is Pat, I think Ariane has more upside than Patrick.

We have to say good bye to Patrick. I think that is a good decision. He is young and has more of the world to see.

I do love this show but I like once they get a little more narrowed down. Maybe 12 chefs or so.

Labels: Television, Top Chef

- posted by Doug @ 11:04:00 PM