First Impressions: Top Chef

Well season four of my favorite culinary TV delicacy is under way and my palate is so pleased. As always its tough to get to much of a feeling of the contestants so let’s concentrate on the show itself. First off it seems like the producers have brought together another diverse cast of chefs. There doesn’t seem to be anyone who doesn’t deserve to be here. Chicago is the perfect setting for the show as it does truly combine high cuisine and street food of the highest caliber. I also applaud the producers for allowing the contestants to bring their own special ingredients. To truly get a flavor for each chef I think this is a must. The Quickfire Challenge was wonderful. I always enjoy watching snooty chefs get screwed by food we all love. It was particularly funny watching people battle the dough. As someone who’s made deep dish from scratch before I felt a little sympathy but that soon subsided when I saw some of the horrible topping choice. Prosciutto in deep dish?!?!? Rocco DeSpirito rightly called out that chef. The Elimination Challenge also was great fun. Some of the best results in past seasons have been from been from chefs working with classic dishes. The head to head aspect is genius and I loved seeing the chefs try out different takes. Poor soufflé folks though. I loved that some pairs were strong while the piccatta and soufflé folks were both weak. Just a great first challenge. The judging was as strong as ever and while I missed Gail and Ted, Tony is always a welcome addition. I was pretty indifferent about both the winners and losers other then I’d love to eat all four of the top 4 dishes and the bottom four were not appealing whatsoever. Glad Nimma went home since her all business attitude in the house early in the show was waaaaaay over the top. With Runway over and the Gauntlet coming to an end I may end up doing a weekly recap and if tonight was any indication it will be a good season to cover.