Daily Loaf

Like me, most of you Top Chef fans probably get a little anxious by this time of the week – it’s been how many days since the last episode?! Well, I’m here to give you a Top Chef fix to help you get through the next few days. Since the Restaurant Wars episode aired last Wednesday, I have come across some very exciting news about  future seasons and a few stupidly entertaining videos from the current season.
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What a steamy episode this was! I think the title says it all, but you’ll have to listen to our podcast to hear it for yourself.

The Quickfire Challenge this week was the infamous blindfolded taste test. Kelly Choi blinfolded each cheftestant and they had a variety of ingredients to taste and guess – hoisin sauce, ketchup, peanut butter, dashi, poppadum, etc. Surprisingly enough, Mr. Italian himself, Chiarello, took the win for this challenge. I especially enjoyed the blindfolding part, and apparently so did Keller.

Surprise! A bunch of old Top Chef has-beens enter the scene to team up with the chefs and help them cook a buffet spread for 200 “Hollywood insiders” (who or what they were inside, I had no clue). To my happy delight, we got Fabio (”This is not Top Scallop!”) and Jamie from the last season, Elia and Ilan from season 2, Richard, Spike and Antonia from season 3, and some other guys I only kind of remembered. Each chef picked their teams and got to work. But an even bigger surprise was in store for them (go figure) – they had to not only move their buffet outside (read: not good for a raw bar) but also lose a team member before service. Of course the show is going to try to screw everyone over by the final episode!

Highlights: Dale getting all up in Chiarello’s face while Chiarello tries to keep it together and not curb stomp this dude, Anita Lo cursing for what I think was the first time on TCM, the power duo of Bayless and Blais combining their powers to whip up a creamy avocado ice cream, Chiarello being a douchebag throughout most of the episode, Keller smoking out the night before the challenge, and Jay Rayner is badly in need of an extreme makeover. Drama! Action! Excitement! (And the podcast is even better.)

Hear the steamy podcast after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

First of all, I want to say that the views expressed in this podcast are not the opinions of all of us on the panel and definitely not those of Creative Loafing. That being said, if you’re a vegan, we’re apologizing beforehand for this one.

For the quickfire challenge, the cheftestants had quite a juicy challenge: burgers! They each had to create a burger with an accompanying side dish. All of the dishes seemed to reflect their creator – well, maybe not Anita Lo who made “burger soup”, which was runny cheese with chunks of burger. Really, that’s all you’ve got this week, Anita? Girl looked like she was sorely in need of some Ambien, that’s all I’m sayin’. Oh, and I must diss on Bayless (my hot white Mexican chocolate) for serving up guacamole as a side dish. No wait, three different kinds of guac as a side and without chips to dip in them! C’mon, Ricky, guacamole is a condiment.

For the elimination challenge, the cheftestants had to each cater a different course for a luncheon for actress/wannabe singer Zooey Deschanel and her tragic hipster pals. The twist (or “the rat”, as Art put it): Zooey is a VEGAN (read: no meat, fish or dairy) who can’t have anything with gluten or soy either. No meat, no cheese, no wheat, no soy faux meat products, and sorry Art- no fried chicken.

Highlights: Art Smith’s cheat rice milk ice cream (cop out) mixed with strawberries that looked like menses, Chiarello’s chemo (’quinoa’) pasta, Zooey’s tragic hipster party guests, Bayless’ perfectionist tendencies, Anita’s “sad plate”, and general vegan bashing. Bonus: Next week, we get to welcome back past Top Chef contestants Spike, Dale, and Richard Blais (and his fab faux hawk)!

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In this first episode of the Championships Round, we welcomed back Hubert “The Other French Guy” Keller, Suzanne “Cold Fish” Tracht, Anita “Cowardly Lion” Lo, Michael “Brown Noser” Chiarello, Art “Honey Bear” Smith, and the delicious Rick “Hot Mexican Chili” Bayless (I’m not partial, I swear).

For the quickfire challenge, the chefs got into two teams and had a Mise en Place Relay Race (a.k.a: chopping and prepping food items) to see whose team was faster, the winner then getting an extra point toward the Elimination Challenge. Let me tell you, that Rick Bayless sure knows how to use a whisk for some hot whisking action – those egg whites sure were at stiff peaks…among other things. Anyhow, back on track, the Bayless/Lo/Keller team took the win.

The chefs were then asked to cook their signature dishes for each other to enjoy. I swear Michael Chiarello put roadkill on a plate and called it dinner, the balsamic glaze looking very much like blood on top of the quail which was sprawled out on the plate. Not cute. Hubert Keller made an interesting lobster and truffle “cappuccino” which was an interesting take on soup (I think it was soup) and Rick made an amazing-looking roasted rack of lamb with pasilla chiles and mission figs (Did I mention I’m not partial to Bayless?).

For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to cook another chef’s signature dish but put their own spin on it. What did we get? Cold grouper (Tracht), undercooked ground lamb in a “Scotch egg” (Smith), creamed sea urchin (Keller), lobster on a biscuit (Lo), rack of lamb with figs shoved in it (Chiarello), and some delightful looking quail and parsnips (Bayless).

Highlights: Kelly Choi seeming to be withering away, Art’s “egg issues” and name dropping, the Gael Greene and Elvis affair, the possibility of Anita Lo sabotaging her own food in future episodes just to get kicked off the show, and Rick Bayless’ magical powers of Mexican cuisine.

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This week, we chat about Top Chef Masters, episode 3: “Offal Tasty”. Again, we were graced with the presence and wit of Jeff Houck (The Tampa Tribune, The Stew), as well as the usual suspects: Taylor Eason, Stephen Hammill, and Katie Machol.

Highlights include: the power of Rick Bayless’ soul patch, Katie impersonating Ludo’s French accent, Jay Rayner’s mole, and Jeff sings for us yet again.

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The Associated Press asked a bunch of chefs what they would cook at Obama’s inaugural dinner. Some of the respondents are likely already on the Obamas’ short list — like Mexican-food guru Rick Bayless from Chicago’s Tobolobampo, one of the family-elect’s favorite eateries. Bayless has already cleared his schedule for that week, just in case, and has planned tortilla soup, Kona kampachi, ribeye and tamales, and apple pie with goat-milk caramel. Nice.

Most of the chefs were just tossing out ideas, but a few options are worthy of mention:

Rachael Ray — Sliders, mini-Chicago dogs and devilled eggs
Eric Ripert — Peanut butter souffle
Charlie Trotter — “Food that’s good eatin’.”
Andrew Zimmern — Goat, in taco-form

Never woulda thunk it, but I’m siding with miss 30-Minute Meals on this one.