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Top Chef: We Eat Our Words (Forgive Us For Our Sins)
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey -- we've been poking fun at this guy, mostly because we like him. He's a goof. Reminds us of some of our college buddies. Forgets his eggs in a breakfast challenge. Is overly thrilled at his sloppy, greeeazy steak sandwhich in the firehouse challenge. Enjoys throwing out somewhat tired concepts like a twice-baked potato (during the "Thanksgiving innovation" challenge, no less) and surf & turf appetizers. And who can forget the snicker/cheeto lollipop?
While we'll maintain our stance that his sensibilities don't always align with ours, Chef Tom's, or the spirit of the challenges, we're going to eat whatever detrimental words we've said about the "cheftestant" from Lodi. Because, perhaps appropriately in the "Seven Deadly Sins" challenge episode, Mikey proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he deserved to be there. That Ilan's confidence in the prior 'dinnner party' challenge, where they partnered up, was justified. That, dare we say it, he has a chance of winning. Friends, that boy can cook.
Seven chefs are left, and many of them seem to hate Marcel. Betty and Ilan in particular heretofore; Sam joins in during this episode. Cliff seems more diplomatic, though the distaste is clear. Mikey is either above it all or too zonked on his painkillers (emergency dental surgery) to participate in the Marcel bashing. Elia, who's happy to still be around after last week, is friendly with Marcel (we're pretty sure they mentioned working together before?), but seems to understand why he might rub the others the wrong way.
As there aren't many contestants left, the Quickfire Challenge no longer provides protection from elimination, much to Mikey's chagrin -- he feels like crap, and wanted to win this, then skip the big challenge altogether as to convalesce. No such luck with this rule change. The challenge: every cheftestant is assigned a color with which to focus a dish around as a theme. Ted from Queer Eye is the guest judge, standing in for Gail. While we don't usually go into such detail for the Quickfire, this was super interesting . . .
image from Bravo's Top Chef site; Rate the Plate!
Rundown: Elia (White; she made White Dover Sole Filet with a Poached Egg); Betty (Green: Green Zucchini "Tamale," which was slammed for its unruly appearence ); Marcel (Brown; Steak and Eggs with Essence of Coffee--check out the uber-unappetizing coffee sludge in the bowl underneath); Sam (Yellow: Duo of Muffins and a Breakfast Crudo Salad); Mikey (Orange: Sushi Rice with Salmon and Carrot Chips); Ilan (Red: Steak Tartare with Red Taro Chips);
Cliff's "purple" challenge is the most interesting of all, as he's revealed to be colorblind. He concocts a "Red Snapper with Grilled Eggplant and Black Berry Compote." He recalls someone telling him that eggplants are purple and uses that vegetable's shade to check against his other ingredients.
Mikey wins! The judges especially loved his carrot chips. We were a little chagrined that Chef Tom, who always seems down on Mike, wasn't there to witness it. While he doesn't gain immunity from elimination, he is given a reward that directly affects the outcome of the Elimination Challenge, which is centered on serving actress Debi Mazar (Entourage! and more) and friends (including Mrs. Artie Bucco from The Sopranos) a seven-course dinner party based on the seven deadly sins.
The contestents draw knives to see which deadly sin they end up with--Mike's prize is that he can switch his out with anyone else. He draws "lust," and makes Marcel exchange it for "envy." Marcel sniffs that this is to Mike's disadvantage as lust is "so easy" to turn into a dish.
The courses work out to be the following (in order of service):
Sam -- wrath is interpreted as a spicy shrimp ceviche with chili pepper popcorn. It goes over very well.
Betty expresses sloth in her "trio of roasted soups: carrot fennel, onion, and red pepper with beet." She has some trouble plating in her wine flutes (she wanted folks to be able to drink them rather than have to use a spoon, a.k.a. let them be slothful, which was pretty clever in our opinion). They aren't well received, though--they weren't strained well and some of the flavor combos were odd.
Michael -- originally wants to do a real crab vs. imitation crab dish to symbolize envy, but the fancy-pants store they use is out of crab! He ends up doing a trout and salmon (the former being "envious" of the latter) with a basil aioli and asparagus. Chef Tom is agog and sputters incredulously that it came from "our Michael?" Very well received.
Cliff draws greed, and has a bit of a misstep; very rare. He makes a bouillabaisse with a Thai curry green broth, and cites the overabundance of seafood in it equating to being greedy. Its a bit of a reach, and Ted actually says he would have enjoyed more broth.
Elia has "pride" and cooks a proud roasted chicken, which she carves tableside, her actions indicating her "pride" in the dish, to drum the theme home. People enjoy it.
Marcel has lust. A bit ironic in a sense, because Ilan is constantly taunting him for being a virgin or never getting any or some similar schoolyard tripe that may or may not have any truth to it; we don't care. Nonetheless, the eaters agree that Marcel's cherry tart with cherry foam and cherry gelee is pretty tasty, but the foam is unappealing to some and they don't find it very sexy either.
Ilan also goes "dessert" with "gluttony"-- his idea for a super rich, dense chocolate cake with funnel cake and creme anglaise seems divine, but the funnel cake doesn't travel well from the Kenmore Kitchen to Debi Mazar's kitchen. He tries toasting them; they turn too crispy; he douses them in simple syrup, they turn to mush. He includes them anyway; nobody likes the funnel cake aspect, some find the other parts too rich.
Also, Sam gets props in our book for presenting Mikey's dish for him at first. Mike's very self conscious about the effect his dental procedure has had on his face. He goes out there anyway at Ms. Mazar's urging, but Sam proved to be a team player in select circumstances. See, most of the team ignored Marcel's requests for help and proved very difficult--very petty. They seem to think Marcel insulted or snapped at Betty, but at this point it just seems that the schoolyard mentality informs all interactions with the guy with the Astro-Boy Hair-Don't.
Top three? Sam, Elia, and Mikey! He indeed makes us eat our words as he goes two-for and wins both challenges in this episode. Way to go!
Bottom three: Both desserts (Marcel and Ilan), and Betty's soups. Both Ilan and Betty say to the judges that Marcel should go. Ilan has a funny line to Marcel where he tells him to go make his foams in the corner and cry, but it wasn't Marcel that went home. His food was actually the best, even if the theme part of it was so-so. The judges eliminate Betty, because taste and texture didn't measure up.
Tune in tonight for more Marcel bashing and we can see if semi-local (closest contestant to an SFist right now) Mikey can continue his winning ways.