Top Chef Finale: Huh?

E: Three incredible chefs.  Four courses to prove themselves, ending with dessert.  Each of the three savory courses has one clear standout.  That means that whoever wins dessert will win the title, right?  You’d think so, wouldn’t you.  But you would be completely, utterly wrong.

Bryan, Kevin and Michael were brought out to an insanely picturesque vineyard hillside (the view was breathtaking) where they’re instructed to cook three courses,  including one Chopped style challenge where they were given a “Mystery Box” with the some strange ingredients in it.  Each box contained the same ingredients, so it was a test of what they each did differently when given the same things to work with.

M: They each also got two sous chefs, though not the customary way we have seen in previous Top Chef finales.  In past finales we have seen the sous chefs be anyone from Top Chef Masters level chefs, to the most recently eliminated contestants from the current season, to finalists from previous seasons.  Of course, since it is Top Chef, there are always twists and surprises.  The first twist of the finale was that the sous chefs will be randomly selected…  from ALL the eliminated contestants from this season.  To me this seemed unfair, and not just because Kevin drew the short straw.  When getting the most recently evicted, you know they are getting chefs that have withstood the tests of the competition and are going to really help.  When choosing from everyone, you don’t know that, and can get a really unbalanced result, which is exactly what happened, with Bryan and Michael each getting among their selections Jen and Eli, the two most recently eliminated contestants, and damn good chefs and competitors.  Kevin, on the other hand, getting Preeti, who was eliminated early, and did not turn out to be much of a help, and Ash, who was middle of the pack, but helpful.  It was Kevin’s fault for letting it get to him and distract him, but it was still, in my opinion, an unfair method from the start.

Again, it’s Top Chef, so there are more twists.  They woke up the next morning after prepping the night before, and found their moms at the door of their hotel suite.  Surprising and nice, but as Kevin put it (there’s a theme here), a bit distracting.

E: I liked that, though.  It was totally different for them – we’ve never seen cheftestants families before.  They probably did it because they had brothers on the show, but still, it was an interesting insight.  Weren’t you fascinated to learn that Kevin turned down MIT to go to cooking school, and to watch Sharon Voltaggio button up her sons chef’s coats? I thought Kathy Gillespie was adorable: Kevin will “show the world what a Southern boy can do – take simple food and turn it into something fabulous.”

M: After leaving them the went to the restaurant (Cyrus) to cook and before they even got through the kitchen doors they got the next twist, that they had to do another course, this one based on a childhood memory of their mom’s cooking.  Then the Moms are on hand to taste that course, along with Tom, Padma, Gail, Toby Young, and a bevy of high faulting restauranteurs (possible investors!) .  In case industry names have meaning for you, here they are: Douglas Keane, Bill Terlato (of Terlato wineries) , Donatella Arpaia, Stephen Starr, Drew Nieporent and Sam Nazarian.

E: Again, nice touch, tying the visit into the challenge.  I doubt anyone was surprised – don’t they always do a four course meal for the finale?

M: Think so.

E: And very exciting prospect, thinking one of these people might like them enough to help them open new restaurants!  Kevin has said he makes about 30 grand a year, and Michael doesn’t have his own place yet, so both of them could clearly use a big hand up. Anyway, here’s the nitty gritty.  First course, Bryan translates his mom’s tuna noodle casserole into something with  panko bread crumbs and sardines.  Underseasoned, the judges say (how much do you want to season a sardine, anyway?).  He gets that a lot, have you noticed? Michael says his mother had to force him to eat vegetables as a kid; now he likes to cook with stuff he used to hate, and so he turns his former nemesis into a cream of dehydrated broccoli stew with crunchy broccoli ‘popcorn’ and spot prawns.  The judges loathe the prawns.  Kevin’s mom Kathy would rather eat the skin of fried chicken than the chicken itself, so he makes her a liquid squash casserole with tomatoes and Southern fried chicken skin.  Tom compared Kevin’s ‘liquid casserole’ to wine, saying that every bite showed him new depths and new flavors.

For the mystery box course, Kevin lightly cooked his rock fish and served it in a rich broth with roasted squash, celery and mushroom.  He didn’t know how to cook the mushroom and the judges (and his chances) are destroyed by it. Bryan underseasons his curried rockfish, even though it’s technically the best cooked bit of fish.  Michael makes a sweet and sour crab with a salad and crispy mushrooms, and “flavor bomb” tomatoes that drive Toby wild.

Third course was chef’s choice.  Bryan wows everyone with his perfectly cooked venison saddle and sunchoke puree.  The judges are tossing around words like perfect,, rich, pungent, seasonal.  (Bryan, by the way, hunts.  Because he wants to be closer to his food.  So he feels like this dish is a perfect representation of his style and philosophy.)    Kevin the pig guy trots out a pork belly with ham jus that leaves the judges wanting more – perhaps cooking longer, perhaps more meat, they can’t decide, but the protein doesn’t live up to the sauce.  Michael makes a squab breat with confitted and molded mushrooms; yay squab, boo mushroom.

Finally, we have the dessert course.  Kevin’s roasted banana with chocolate and bacon mousse and bacon brittle proves that not everything is better with bacon.  And that a banana isn’t enough substance for the Top Chef judges.  Bryan prepared a sheep cheese cheesecake with fig corbet and basil, which is exactly Gail’s cup of tea; it’s restrained, subtle, pretty and sophisticated.  Michael made some sort of awesome looking chocolate caramel cakes with butternut squash brulee, ice cream and pumpkin seeds.  The judges love the seeds and the flavor combination, but apparently, Eli overfilled the cake cups, and Michael overcooked them, so they aren’t gooey like they should be.

In the end, Kevin and Bryan feel like they did themselves justice, but Michael is thrashing himself over the dessert and feel like he’s out of it.

M: To sum up: Kevin knocked the first dish out of the park, Michael won the second round, Bryan took the third, and he also took dessert.

E: I’m going to read Tom Colicchio’s blog to figure out what their motivation was for picking Michael.*  I actually didn’t want to read it before writing this, though; that’s an acknowledgment that the program can’t stand on it’s own.  And to a certain degree, I don’t think it does.  I’d have loved a little voice over or something at the end in which the judges explained their choice, because it was not apparent from the edited portion of their deliberations.  I can only speculate that it was his creativity and vision which won the day for Michael.  I’m perplexed – and not because I haven’t been a fan of his personality  – because the judges seemed to like Bryan’s food more.  I feel like Michael got credit for what his dessert would have been had it been cooked properly, and that doesn’t seem fair at all.

M: I completely agree.  After watching it and hearing the commentary as they were eating, I knew Kevin had pulled a Richard Blais, and saved his worst performance for the finale, and  I couldn’t tell between Michael and Bryan who had done better.  After listening to judges table, where they said flat out that two of Michael’s dishes bombed (the first and last courses), and the only issue with Bryan was that the first two dishes were not boldly flavored (which, additionally, Toby liked about the first course), it seemed to me that Bryan was going to win.

Now, I have to admit, Michael in the end found a way back into my good graces.  The humility in the end, and especially the statement that being in the top two with Bryan was the greater accomplishment than winning, won a lot of points with me.

E: He did end on a far better note, it’s true.  And I don’t doubt that he’s supremely talented, which is far more important in terms of the show than his personality.  I just wish they hadn’t edited the episode to make it so much of a shock. Of course, Kevin called it in the stew room.  I should have paid more attention to him!   In the end, I don’t care what they say; Kevin will always be the winner to me.  Let’s have a Quibbling Siblings vacation in Atlanta, and eat at Richard and Kevin’s restaurants!

*Now that I’ve read the blog, it appears that Michael’s squab actually won the third course, but the episode was edited to seem as if Bryan’s venison did.  Which does explain his win, but is still annoying – to Tom as well as to us. Funny to see that both Tom and Kevin made the same analogy as I did last week (the any given Sunday idea), because at least that impression from the show turns out to be totally accurate.