SFist Tonight
Week Around the Ists
SFist Tonight
So, last night on Bravo, four of the cheftestants from Top Chef season one went head-to-head against four cheftestants from season two. Eight chefs. Four courses. Head to head.
Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and often-guest (and apparent season 3 regular) Ted Allen were there to judge. At stake? $20k to charity of the winning team's choice.
All this one was missing was a cue card-reading contest between Katy Lee and Padma.
And all we really want to say is "we told you so."
Quote from your Top Chef correspondent in our last Top Chef-related piece: "Ilan, man, don't diss Harold. He did it first, and did it classier and better."
And he did it again.
The quick recap (and please excuse lack of detail; our old crutch of using the "rate the plate" feature on Bravo's site was not updated to include this special, those bastards):
Course one, scallops. Beloved, neurotic Dave ("layers of flavor") vs. consistently cool and competent Elia ("I used to have great hair"). Dave went with a cold smoked scallop and scallop carpaccio with a lemon sauce, while Elia did something with scallops and herbs that looked pretty. The judges picked Elia, by a nose.
Course two, lobster. Our favorite culinary anti-hero, Stephen, was back and more delightfully arrogant than ever. While they were sort of relegated to similar roles, Marcel couldn't hold a candle to Stephen, even considering that he again treated us to a delightful rap. Stephen's plating elegance and simple sophistication defeated Marcel's food chemistry and Manga-style hair. We do love how Marcel was unapologetically Marcel: he went with a foam AND a gelee.
Course three, duck. Ilan ("all Spain, all the time") vs. Harold ("I'm just here to cook"). The two champions. C'mon, no contest. Ilan screwed up and made something weird, while Harold turned his into some sort of meatball thing. We'd like to mention that had the rules of our Top Chef Drinking Game been in effect, Harold's comments would have forced us to drink.
Course four, steak. Tiffany ("you wouldn't like me when I'm angry") vs. Sam (dashing, diabetic, loves to pickle things, probably should have won season 2, whistleblower). In the interest of both honesty and brevity, we'll admit: we were a touch liquored up and can't remember much else except that the judges liked Sam'sTiff's a touch better. Thanks for setting me straight, senor JMC
Yay, Season One! The twenty gees went to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. All is right with the world.
(Let us say that, somewhat thankfully, this will be the last Top Chef-related item on SFist, as next season is in Miami and, rather than spending our budget to send your correspondent out there to cover it, we're going with the wire feeds.)
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No, Sam lost the 4th course to Tiffany. He made a basic steak with some kind of fried garnish, while she made a serious plate (I think the 2nd best looking after Stephen's) with cooked beef topped with steak tartare as a garnish. Some of the S3 contestants were not amused, but the real judges loved it.