Is it a case of too little too late? Last night’s episode of Top Chef was really the first of this year that truly embodied all that is good and right about the show. The challenges, the food, the judging and yes, even the contestants were spot on. Now, as the season hurdles towards its finale, one wonders if they can string more efforts together like this and finish strong.
As I’ve complained about on almost a weekly basis, the challenges this year have wildly inconsistent. This week however, both the Quickfire and Elimination challenges were classic Top Chef. While I’m a little bored with Wylie Dufresne, I loved the egg challenge. I’ve seen the green eggs and ham bit before but Carla certainly did an unexpected take by infusing jalapeno in the dish. The design was perfection and certainly a worthy winner. Stefan also shined in both creativity and presentation while even the losers were at least creative in their attempts. I was especially impressed with Hosea’s egg white sushi wrap.
Facing the culinary icons in the Elimination challenge must have been intimidating for the chefs especially when given the task of making their last supper, but all again seemed to rise to the occasion. It was the first time this year where all the chefs really but on a show. I’ve been clamoring for Leah to leave so I was happy to see her go but both Stefan and Hosea could easily have left too. Stefan has made basic mistakes two of the last three weeks while Hosea once again slipped back into his brand of creativity which equals boring. Meanwhile Carla has gone from being a personality to being a front-runner. Not only can I cheer her on because she’s the lost Huxtable but also because she’s plating great dishes on a weekly basis. Fabio finally won one and while I think he is the most simplistic chef left that doesn’t mean he can’t pull out a surprise. For the fist time all season I think we have ourselves not only a competition but also an intriguing one at that.
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