« CAIR | Home | Life Without Music, I Can’t Go No, No… »
Top Chef Miami & Telemundo Babes
By oceanguy | July 19, 2007
The only way last night’s episode of Top Chef Miami could have been better would have been more screen time for the Telemundo babes. For the elimination challenge our cheftestants were sent to feed the cast and crew of a Telemundo soap opera with each chef preparing a Latin inspired dish. By the way, the show happens to be filmed in a mansion next door to Shaq’s house on Star Island… (Gail Simmons even admits to peeking over the fence to see the bobble headed statue of Shaq guarding his dock.) Anyway, there were plenty of beautiful women (and men) to dine on the beautiful food prepared by the competitors. The entire show wasn’t just the Telemundo challenge though, so let’s look at the Quickfire Challenge first.
Two surprises in the Quickfire challenge gave the show an interesting twist and also helped develop the characters a little. For the Quickfire, pastry chef Maria Frumkin, gave them each a frozen pie crust from which they had 90 minutes to create a fabulous dish. Surprise #1 was that Joey had a bit of pastry experience, which he keeps secret. Granted, cutting a piece of pie crust and making a couple of fillings is not THAT impressive, but he did it well enough to win the challenge, despite Ms. Frumkin’s discerning taste… she seemed not to like anything except for Joey’s tarts. Again, not particularly creative, but it was well executed, a stark contrast from Hung.
The only chef to use the unaltered pie crust… just as delivered… was Hung. Given 90 minutes to prepare his dish Hung displayed his imagination… that is his utter lack of imagination… by deciding to make a chocolate pie. I probably ought to interrupt here to explain what chocolate pie means to me.
My mother was a fabulous cook, and around the time I was 10 she discovered an easy chocolate pie recipe that became her go-to dessert. Making her own crust, she could whip a pie up in under an hour. For me, they were terrific… at least the first two or three dozen were. But over the years, I grew tired… extremely weary… over the chocolate pies. It became a bit of a family joke and the pie became the epitome of unimaginative and mindless dessert. So when Hung started making his mousse to fill the frozen pie crust, I just laughed… Not only was hung making a boring pie, he was doing it poorly… the pie didn’t set. I thought for a moment he was just going to freeze it, but instead he produced a strawberry retaining wall instead. Kind of a miniature strawberry levee to hold the running chocolate in the right shape. What was he thinking?
Surprising only to Hung, his was one of the bottom ranked dishes. It was completely unimaginative, downright boring, AND poorly executed… but the best part was a repeat from last week… his surprise at being ranked low. Last week, insisting that “creamy always goes with sweet,” he seemed not to consider that maybe his salmon did not pair well with the raspberry. This week he knew the pie hadn’t set, but “the flavors were there” and he shored the runny sides up with fruit to save the dish. Those two mistakes, taken together give me the impression that maybe he belongs in the bottom group instead of the top… and at least for the pastry Quickfire, he was in the bottom and deservedly so. I thought most of the other dishes looked pretty good, but as always, the problem is we can’t taste them. But Hung’s problems were not over with the Quickfire.
Hung regaled us with his Latin experience, having lived in Puerto Rico for 3 years. He can cook and speak Spanish, this challenge was in the bag… at least he told us. He selected a common Arroz con Pollo, basically Chicken and Rice Latin American style… again, not particularly imaginative, but Hung had the confidence that his version would be genuine and therefore a hit. Instead it flopped. His Latin comfort food was, in the end, uncomfortable. His safe, unimaginative play wound up biting him in the ass when he was unable to execute the dish. Landing among the bottom four at judges table, he was at real risk of being sent on his way. It’s beginning to look like he’s already shot his wad and that he doesn’t belong among the real contenders… all puff, no substance. We’ll see… it could be the magic of editing as his turn for the worse mirrors Joey’s rise.
Joey’s rise has been accompanied with his budding friendship with Howie. The two NY gruff personalities, quick to anger and loud about it, but also quick to forget… are now getting along famously, so it was almost nice to see the two of them having their dishes judged the best of the challenge. Joey took a bit of a risk by making a dish he had seen Latin cooks in his restaurant throw together… and it was a big hit… Howie loved it even more than the judges did. But… seeing Howie serve up the best dish of the day was a bit of a surprise.
Having initially been given three hours to cook for the Telemundo folks, Howie decided to serve a braised pork dish. Not long into the challenge chef Tom shows up in the Top Chef kitchen and announces that their time has been cut in half… they only had an hour and a half to finish. The producers were quick to show us that Howie was in trouble. He thought he needed the entire 3 hours, yet decided not to change his menu when faced with the reduced cooking time. Surely I thought they were setting Howie up to be leaving, since I just didn’t think he could pull if off under such time pressure. He did though, and in fact he won the challenge… and in a sweet gesture, in front of the other chefs he presented Joey with the bottle of wine he won saying that he thought Joey’s was the best dish of the week. Good job Howie, and compliments to the producers too for the subtle plot twist they manufactured.
Looking back, I should have predicted that either Casey or Lia would have been packing their knives, particularly after the little segment that showed their new life-long friendship. That clip should have thrown the “one of them will be leaving” flag but I missed it. In the end both of them wound up at the judges table with a chance of going home… it was Lia got the early exit. The thing that killed Lia, was that everyone at Gail’s table left her dish untouched… a soggy polenta topped with smoked rainbow trout. For Lia, the polenta base was a reach… not very Latin… that and it probably was not a wise choice to serve fish that was going to be sitting in warming racks… and continuously cooking. I was sorry to see her go as I thought she was interesting and showed promise, but I guess all but one will eventually go. Unfortunately we’ll not see any more of Lia’s potential.
Lia was not the only one to have her dish dry out. Casey’s chicken suffered the same fate andher trouble was compounded by a bitter coffee molasses, she poured over the chicken… inspired by mole… it didn’t work. She probably would have been sent home but for the fact that Lia’s dish was such a mistake. I can’t see Casey sticking around much longer. There is a lot of talent for her to outshine, and she doesn’t seem up to it. There are a few who do, though.
Howie, proved again last night that he has winning talent. Understanding the catering aspect of the challenge, he decided to braise his pork to keep it moist. The decision was almost immediately put into question when the time to cook was cut. Colicchio questioned him on his choice to stay with Braising which I’m certain played into the win for Howie. Howie made the right initial decision and then took a risk by sticking with it despite the time constraints and overcame his time management weakness and produced a terrific dish. He won again last night, but he’s been on the other end to. There are still a bunch of folks with the talent to win.
Possible winners still include Tre… he didn’t get much on camera time this week, but he’s been very consistent and high quality so far. Then there’s Brian and Howie who also have the proven potential to win… but both will have to diversify a little to do win the final prize. Brian is a magician with seafood and so far has stuck with it. Howie needs to do something other than pork, but he’s won 2 of the five challenges so far… I guess he’s doing it pretty well. Howie’s roller coaster ride is certainly entertaining to watch. He’s been singled out in every episode so far… three times on the bottom and two times as the winner. Still, he has the talent to win, the question is can he avoid the pitfall that might send him home?
Joey, although not moving into my Favorites category has moved into the group that I think has the talent to win. Last night he showed a little diversity, and the added confidence of a win… and near win… can do wonders in any competition.
One thing I took from the show this week is that it really is too early to be making predictions on likely winners. That won’t stop me from guessing though. Instead I’ll just list the remaining cheftestents in two categories… those with a chance to win and those with no chance… so here we go:
With a chance to win are:
Tre, Brian, Howie, Joey, CJ, Dale and Hung (who is barely hanging in there). Any of the 7 could make a big mistake and be gone but they all have the talent to win in the end… if they avoid major mis-steps. CJ and Dale may be on the outside looking in but I still think they have an outside chance.That leaves the 3 who I think have NO chance:
Casey, SahRah, & Sara…
one of whom will be packing their knives next week. Casey is being painted as the class prissy bitch. And, don’t you know, she can’t like the unflattering way she’s been cast. It might be different if she was shown as a more villainous character, but she’s just portrayed as being someone who is not very likable. SahRah rose up a little bit last night primarily because she was able to put her cheese-making skills to work, but I don’t think she has either the breadth or depth of talent to win. Sara simply seems out of her league. She may be talented and capable but just doesn’t have the star quality that the winner needs, I’m surprised she’s hung around this long.
I find myself pulling for Brian, Tre, and Howie… they seem the most serious of the group about impressing us with their ability as chefs. Dale has turned things around a bit… and as his beard fills in he doesn’t look unclean as he did the first couple of shows (but he smokes too!)… and although the stupid Mohawk screams, “I’m not a chef, I’m a clown!” he is taking the competition seriously and is taking risks to show his abilities. He also had the line of the night with a bleeped, “…Fuck You!” complete with a blurred out bird he flipped while talking about the pastry challenge. After putting his neck on the line last week with a huge gamble to show his diversity by doing pastry that wasn’t required, Having them all assigned a pastry challenge this week to show their diversity gave him that “Oh Fuck” moment… had to laugh at that one.
Overall, I was satisfied with the show last night. There was no central melodrama to distract from the food, there was no memorable Nascar moment of product pitching, and you have to love the Telemundo babes. I know I’m being a homer, but I’m really enjoying the Miami location. I’m also starting to enjoy the cast members, I just wish they would do something more in the first couple of shows to give us more of an opportunity to get to know the personalities competing. Top Chef is definitely the best reality based cooking show and I’m looking forward to more… Come on Wednesday!
Other Top Chef Bloggers:
Foodie Obsessed
Reality Cooking
Anthony Bourdain, standing in for Tom Colicchio.
Blogging Top Chef
The Extrovert
Random Reality Thoughts
Serious Eats
Pop Cultured
TV Zone
Alice’s Appetite
Reality on Bravo
Topics: Top Chef |
July 20th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Hi - Good observations again.
However, I am not entirely sold on Joey as Contender and Hung as Sharkbait though. Also, if CJ emerges from the pack to win this, I’ll be shocked - not because of his cooking but because he gets so little screen time.
The women are not faring well as a group. That surprises me a bit. But yes, the vow of friendship this week was definitely a flag
Overall I share the perspective you hint at - this season is better partly because the focus is on real cooking, not college dorm behavior and artificially goofy challenges.
ds
July 20th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Derek: About Hung… After the first two episodes he just hasn’t been too impressive. It hits me now that his “arrogance” is just bluster, that there may not be enough talent to back it up. Still I haven’t written him off yet, but unlike the way they were with Marcel, the judges don’t seem to dig Hung’s act.
I’m with you on CJ, but as you say, he’s had so little face time it’s tough to make any prediction. To be honest I’m not sold on anyone as a real contender. I like Brian and Tre, but… It’s just too early to tell, it’s why I did not list a group of contenders… just those that could win and won’t win… it was either one or the other for me this week.
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Have you noticed on every episode of Top Chef, there is a shot of Howie of the Food Gang (Miami) sweating so profusely that it drips off the end of his nose and into his food?
I can’t believe they haven’t asked him to wear a headband or something. I can’t believe he doesn’t do it on his own.
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
David: Yes I noticed. A week or two ago I wrote:
My guess is he’s appalled at seeing that when he watches the version that gets aired. I think these were filmed back in February and March… I could be off a month, but it was much earlier this spring. But Howie definitely needs a hat or a headband.
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I also noted how many of these chefs really had no idea what Latin food is like. One should think, “we are filming in Miami,” ding ding ding, Latin culture. “Maybe I should study up a little.”
I would like to say that since I’m originally from North Carolina I wasn’t up on the culture either until I moved here but my Colombian Girlfriend sure did help with my education!
July 24th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
thanks for the shout out…i feel obliged to offer my opinions…
My list of possible winners is shorter. Sara M., Sara N., and Casey will not be winning as you indicated. But Tre and CJ will not be able to outcook Brian, Howie, Joey, and Dale on a daily basis either. Hung is a loose cannon and should be discounted as well.
So we have Brian (Seafood, San Diego), Howie (Pork, Surfside), Joey (Seafood, NYC), and Dale (Ham & Cheese?, Chicago)
Tom and Gail will think alike. Padma will end up agreeing. The Guest Judge always has a strong influence and Tom and Gail have high respects for them.
So, Brian may not be able to cook anything other than seafood. Howie takes a long time to cook but i believe has skills beyond just pork. Joey is the dark horse. He is from NYC and Tom and Gail love him. But he seems to have trouble under the pressure evidenced by his complaining at times when it gets hot. Dale is another dark horse that we haven’t got a grasp on yet. I believe he is as good as they come this year and Bravo is playing this dessert debacle up because he is going to start to succeed, hence some drama. The whole misdirection thing that we’ve seen with Howie and Joey’s relationship, Casey and Lia’s relationship, Dale’s Chicken and Biscuits to dessert debacle, Hung from one show to the next, is Bravo’s forte.
Tom and Gail will always look for the flavors in each dish and whether the concept was strong and if it was met. Tom wants the chefs to display the flavors that they can create. He wants innovative, yet simple. The person that can present that to the judges panel will be our next top chef. So far, it’s Howie because his issues are timing and not chef skills. Gail was gushing over his pork dish last week and Gail gushing is hot.
Obvious Advantage: Howie
Not So Obvious Advantage: Dale
Enjoy the show tomorrow!
July 25th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Thanks for the link!
I totally agree with you on a lot of your predictions. My ultimate guess is that Joey will win, although I’ve been very wrong in the past. If he can keep his temper under control, he cooks really great foods, and it seems like he has a lot of experience. My personal favorites are Dale and Brian, so I hope they make it to the top as well!