Top Chef Talk

Ok so I love Top Chef. I've loved it since season 2 when Sam Talbot stole my reality TV heart and showed me more reasons to love food. In fact, I would credit Top Chef to igniting the flame in my foodie heart.

This season is no different. With each season the Chefs are getting better and the bar set higher. Some people that appeared to be super weak in the first two episodes have gone on to redeem themselves (eh hem Ariana).

Each season Jef and I do a pseudo-fantasy Top Chef team. This year I chose:

• Fabio - the little Italian that has proved himself as tough competition
• Hosea - the Colorado Chef that has studied under Wolfgang Puck and has stumbled some, but looks promising
• Jeff - the pretty boy from Florida who is Chef de Cuisine of The DiLido Beach Club
• Radhika - the Fench and Indian trained chef with a nack for spice and bold flavors

Even though I had to pick second I am really pleased with my team this season...

Anyways we are into the 4th episode of the fifth season and already had some interesting challenges. This week for the quick fire challenge the chef were asked to create a breakfast dish using Rocco DiSpirto's favorite ingredients (bacon, bread, eggs, overall nothing that unusual) but to make it an amuse-bouche (a single bite appetizer). The standouts were:

• Leah
• Jamie
• Stephan

Leah ended up wining and scored immunity. For the eliminated challenge the chefs were tasked with creating a 2 minute demo of their dish with the prize of winning a spot on the Today Show demonstrating their dish to millions of Americans. The winner would be chosen by the Today Show crew (Meredith, Kathy Lee etc.)

The stand outs were:

• Jeff - his middle eastern flavored roll
• Fabio – seared tuna with roasted carrots and balsamic glaze
• Ariana – New Jersey beef steak tomato, watermelon, and feta

The bottom three:

• Jamie – frisee salad with duck egg, bacon
• Melissa – habenaro shrimp
• Alex – crème brule

Jamie suffered from an undercooked egg and a bad attitude when she realize it, Melissa shrimp burnt everyone's palette and Alex decided to do an impossible task - create a creme brule in an hour. In the end it was time for Alex to pack his knives and go. Ariana ended up winning (which I think was only because she created the most generic dish that everyone could like).

This season is starting to get interesting and the weakest players continue to be knocked out. Should be interesting as the season progresses!!