Tagged: top chef
top chef canada week 12
Missed last week, I was sitting here, fingers poised, all set to go, when two fighting raccoons, a luna moth, and my two newfs spoiled that plan. I’ll spare the details, but suffice to say it took me away for a bit. and I only like to recap live, so…
francois went home 
morning comes and a limo awaits the cheftestants! They get to 1 (mm’s resto) and are joined by mm at a table. We’re just going to have breakfast, he says. hmmm…..
casual conversation ensues. mm is telling them about his restaurant and describing the format–family style but sounds like elegant family style, as opposed to a typical family dinner involving sibling squabbling, toddler tantrums and frozen dinners.
the final 4 head back to the kitchen, dressed for battle. and the guest judge is gail simmons! I did not know she was canadian, I feel like I should have known that.
she introduces the challenge–they are making dinner out of a movie! they need to make it ou of a well known canadian movie!
Dale pulls ginger snaps, connie gets naked lunch, rob gets bon cop, bad cop, and dustin draws my big fat greek wedding. (naked lunch makes me want to throw up, I can’t believe that it is part of a food challenge. but I can because how many well known cdn movies are there?
all the dishes seem well received, gail dishes out the love, and the winner is a commercial! for top chef canada, which we are already watching (!?) oh it’s an ad for a tcc marathon.
winner is actually dale, who is happy to win his second qf challenge (he won the very first one).
elimination challenge: the cheftestants will be creating a menu for a dinner party mm will be having with friends. each cook will be doing three courses. the pantry is stocked with some of mm fave foods. winner will get a spot in the finale as well as 5K$–we haven’t seen too many of these high stakes type challenges, maybe in subsequent seasons.
Dale gets a 5 minute head start to the pantry! He seems unusually subdued this week, humble even.
Connie’s putting pressure on herself because this simple, family style cooking is right in her wheelhouse–this does not bode well, we’ll see how it plays out. Dustin and Dale are roomies, and have developed a little bromance (says Dustin); so that’s why Dale is so nice this week, Dustin’s having an influence on him.
Back in the kitchen where a lot of time is spent listening to Connie beat herself up over last week. And everyone talking about how much it would mean to win and the money and the kitchen and their families blah blah blah.
Gail, David Lee, Jacob Richler, Amy Verner, and the regulars. First courses come out too fast for me to type the details. Comments: Dale’s seafood platter is clumsy, heavy, overpowering. Rob’s foie gras is lacking acidity, two ingredients are not talking. Connie’s dish is fresh, simple and beautiful. Dustin’s pasta-not constructed well.
Mains oh NO, disaster! Connie’s chicken is raw and she has to dump it into the fryer.
Rob goes on about “Texan” chefs, apparently some term that must be big in his chef circle. It’s a bad thing, and Connie is “Texan”.
Main course judging:
Rob’s perch/beautiful/nice pairing/well received
Dustin’s lake trout/not great technique/fennel too soft/not so good
Dale’s diver scallops/underwhelming in look and flavour
Connie’s lemon roasted (deep fried) chicken/bit overcooked (ironic)/salty skin/papery
mm puts d & d in the bottom by saying they’re not cooking like chefs for this course
Dustin’s roasted fruit salad/MISS
Connie’s dark chocolate tart/spectacular colour, tasty/HIT!!
Rob’s braised lamb neck/HIT!
Dale’s rib eye/steak blah, vegetables okay/MISS
Looks like Dustin and Dale are not so good. My prediction was that Dustin would not make it to the top 3, and it still is. Rob for the win of this challenge.
Judges Table: Rob indeed won! He’s been kind of creeping up all season and is hitting his peak at the right time, he’s like an athlete before an important race/match/game/meet.
Next into the finale? Connie! Good for her! She’s crying because she really beat herself up over the chicken. The beet and homemade cheese salad, and the chocolate tart saved her.
Down to D & D–and the judges send them away so they can debate further. Annnnndddd man they are really draaaaggggggginnnnnnnggggggg this ouuuuuuuuuuuuut.
Decide already!
And it’s Dustin, who keeps smiling as he bids farewell. Bye Dustin! He’s just such a nice boy.
Next week is the finale! Apparently, Dale is cheating, so there’s that hint of scandal to look forward to. See you here!
top chef canada week 8
Andrea is feeling the brunt of being Cookie McBitchy on the line last challenge. Quickfire Challenge? Team! Not looking good for Andrea. Francois and Rob are captains. They pick their teams. Andrea is last picked but she’s a force to be reckoned with! I think she is, totally. The challenge is one of those silly things where they cook one dish per team, over 40 minutes with each cook doing 10 minutes at a time, and not tell their other teammates what they’re making. I didn’t explain that well. I’m tired and my fingers hurt from working on my upcoming book, SOUPS AND CHOWDERS, due next spring. Hey, if everyone else can pimp their stuff during TCC, so can I.
No more immunity, but there’s a “significant advantage” to the winning team.
MM loves both dishes! Commercial. Mosquitos. Not on tv, on my monitor. I hate that about this time of year. It’s a veritable cornucopia of cooking hijinks! Rob’s team did a roesti, so that’s the automatic winner for me. Ummmm, roesti. Rob’s team won! With Andrea as the lead off hitter! Maybe she’ll get her teamwork cred back.
Restaurant Wars! The teams for the quickfire are the same teams as for RW. Todd and Andrea are on the same team (Rob’s) which makes it easy for me to pick a team to root for.
MM has donated Bymark, one team will have the patio and one gets the dining room. Rob’s team gets to pick which they prefer. And the judge for RW is David Adjey, another obnoxious food network personality and “world famous chef” according to our girl Thea.
Red Team is positive, upbeat and cohesive. Blue Team is unhappy, torn, and on edge–Dale is on Blue Team, go figure.
Planning! Prepping! Chopping! Dicing! Commercial!
Red Team on the Patio, picked the name To New (Toronto and Newfoundland, for Dustin/Rob/Andrea and Todd)
Blue Team in the main dining room, picked the name By Bleu, because Dale thinks it’s clever. I thought Francois was team leader? Doesn’t seem like it. And Connie has to go back because she forgot her potatoes, which are a key component in her appetizer. Dale is mad he’s on in on the servers pre meal. Darryl watching the FOH for Blue.
Andrea is FOH for Red. Andrea and Dale are all dressed up! Handsome! Pretty!
MM has arrived. He wants to make sure Bymark hasn’t burned down or anything. Dale has screwed up Daryl’s dish. Triple D! in a bad way. Now Dale’s yelling–maybe he was made team leader and I missed it?
So they way this is edited, looks like they’re setting up an upset–so far Blue Team is struggling. On Top Chef, last RW same thing happened and the struggling team won. Hope TCC will not be that predictable.
Red Team dishes-canadian contemporary w/a twist
Evil lady customer plant–sends back lamb three times. Are they in the weeds? Maybe. Judges are served mains. Seem to be split on apps and mains, hard to get a read. Not on dessert though, dessert was complete failure. Two choices according to Adjey-really really bad and really bad.
Blue Team dishes-fine dining
Not set up, already in the weeds. Judges split on appetizers. Mains, split. Desserts, Dale pooping his pants over something. His souffle is falling. He’s screaming. Oh my, no need of that Dale. You won’t make any friends that way. Desserts–big league! Ending on high note!
Judges Table!
Prediction–Todd. Both his app and his dessert were unsuccessful. Boo-urns. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t remember any of the others striking out completely.
So unless Red Team wins, we’ll be saying Bye, b’y!
Blue Team is called out first–so yes, they win. Predictable. But they dare to criticize Dale’s dish. He looks sour. Now he’s happy because they are praising the souffle.
Winning Dish? Dale and his souffle. Damnit.
Red Team lost. As predicted, Todd is getting beat up. But he’s manly about it! No sour looks from him, just disappointment in himself.
Judges deliberate to a foregone conclusion. But it’s still hard to hear. Such a class act! Love you Todd! REPRESENT!
And everyone loves him and is sad to see him go. They won’t be like that for you Dale!
Next week: President’s Choice infomercial. See you then!
