Top Chef: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

Last week, Casey got knifed. Everyone, including Jamie, thought she would be going home. I would much rather have Casey back this week than Jamie, who seems to have given up. There is some smack talk between Marcel and Dale about how Dale didn’t cook enough food for the challenge and how Marcel thinks he should have one. In a bit of an argument on the rooftop, Marcel drinks Bombay gin straight from the bottle. Marcel is super worked up about it, and Dale (to his credit) just walks away.

Elimination Challenge: Catch and Cook Fish for a Beach Party

It is super early in the morning and the chefs find out they will be fishing in Montauk. They meet Padma and Tom and find out that they will have 5 hours to catch as many fish as possible and then they will cook them on the beach for 200 guests. Oh and it will be a double elimination!

The chefs will work in teams of 3.

There is some catching of fish and much girly screaming when they come in the boat. Having fished a fair bit of salmon in my day, I can relate to the simultaneous excitement and fear. Dale catches a gigantic fish and compares it to Marcel.

Back ashore, the teams hit up a local farmer’s market and we find out that Richard and Fabio are having a nice bromance. Stefan will be so sad!

Team 1 - Dale, Carla, Tre

This team goes the three different dishes route.

Dale: Fish Taco with Bass, Corn, Avocado Relish, Crème Fraiche, Radishes and Cabbage. Tom commented on the fact that Dale wasn’t making the tortillas from scratch, but the judges like the taco overall.

Carla: Smoked Blue Fish Lettuce Wrap, Pickled Watermelon Rind, Radishes, Bagel Croutons. Her wrap is well-liked by the judges and the beach goers.

Tre: Striped Sea Bass with Gazpacho Salad, Tomato and Avocado. The judges seem happy with this dish too.

Team 2 – Mike, Angelo, Tiffany

Team 2 is opting to do 2 dishes, and working on them together.

They do Pickled Blue Fish, Spicy Watermelon, Shallots, Red Chilies, Confit Potato and Dill. Their second dish is Striped Bass With Corn Puree, Tomato Aleppo Spice Rub and Watermelon.

The Pickled Blue Fish is well-liked, but the Striped Bass dish has some competing flavors, according to Gail.

 Team 3 – Antonia, Jamie, Tiffani

This team is doing 3 very separate dishes because Antonia and Tiffani don’t want to be dragged down by the suckfest that is Jamie.

Antonia: Open-faced Porgy Po-Boy with Old Bay Mayo and Cabbage Slaw. This is well-liked by the beach goers, but we don’t hear much from the judges.

Jaime: Striped Bass, Watermelon Salad with Fresh Dill, Shaved Radishes, and Cucumber Water. There are some critiques of this dish, but they do not sound major.

Tiffani: Smoked Blue Fish with Tomato, Roasted Corn, and Zucchini Ribbon Salad. The guest judge calls Tiffani’s dish crude and unfinished, which seems bad.

Team 4 – Marcel, Fabio, Richard

This team has decided to do one dish only, which may prove to be their undoing if the dish goes south. Richard spends the day bossing Fabio around and Fabio doesn’t take to kindly to it. Bromance over?

Their dish is Sea Bass, Succotash, Corn Puree, Tomato Confit, Concord Gastrique and Jamon Air. Three guesses who named that monstrosity. I have no idea what Succotash is. I thought it was just a funny word. Apparently it is a beansy mixture usually with corn and lima beans. This dish gets mixed reviews, the judge’s don’t think the foam is necessary (it never is, I say), and some people say the fish gets lost in the flavor of the succotash.

Judge’s Table

The Judge’s apparently picked their least favourite quickly, but claim it will be hard to pick another person to go home.

Top 6: Teams 1 and 2 make up the top 6 for this challenge. Praise all around, and the winner is Carla! Hootie is on a roll here. She wins a trip to Amsterdam, which is pretty awesome.

Bottom 6: That leaves Teams 3 and 4 in the bottom 6 and no one even feigns happiness for Carla’s win.

Team 4 takes heat for only doing one dish and Marcel’s foam and Richard’s gastrique are cited as things on the dish that were unnecessary.

On Team 3, Antonia learns that she might have won if she wasn’t on a team with these people who suck. That has to be tough. Jamie’s dish is called out for making watery cucumber, and a bland dish. Tiffani didn’t know how to deal with the “blood line” on the blue fish and it gave her dish a not so good fishy taste.

It seems clear that Jamie will finally be going home, but I am not sure who else.

And going home this week are:

Tiffani and Jamie!

Other Notes:

• Noise of the Week: Again this week there was no clear winner in this category, but I am going to give it to Marcel for Concord Gastrique and Jamon Air. Just don’t make such weird shit, Marcel!
• Shit I learned this week: All about Succotash! I don’t know that I have ever been more enlightened.
• Quote of the week: “Marcel is kind of an asshole”. Touche, Tre. Touche.
• It was fun to see the chefs having a good time fishing…maybe they needed a bit of a break from the pressure to have some fun.
• It also seemed like this challenge brought out the best in the chef’s food. The negative comments were really not that negative and no one screwed up the cooking of the fish or anything like we have seen in recent weeks.
• This week, as always, teams made things difficult when they did dishes together. I don’t know how they would have chosen a winner from Team 2 because the three chefs worked together to make the dish. The same goes for the losers.
• I am glad to see Jamie going home, she deserved it.
• I really thought they might throw Marcel out for his stupid foams, but not this week. I was surprised to see Tiffani go home, but I guess not super shocked.
• Next week is Restaurant Wars! Fun!

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