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We had some big names tonight on "Top Chef Masters" as Art Smith, personal chef to Oprah (and President Obama, to hear him tell it) duked it out with Mr. Fresh and Seasonal, Jonathan Waxman.
The chefs:
Jonathan Waxman
Restaurants: Barbuto (NYC)
“The Godfather” trained Bobby Flay and opened Jams in NYC in the 80’s, a hip hangout spot for top food luminaries like Julia Child, Wolfgang Puck, and James Beard.
Roy Yamaguchi
Restaurants: Roy’s (worldwide)
He’s a triple threat: dozens of restaurants, a cookbook author, and a cooking show host in Hawaii, his home base.
Art Smith
Restaurants: TABLE fifty-two (Chicago), Art and Soul (DC)
Oprah’s personal chef. ‘Nuff said. Except to add that I’ve actually eaten at Art and Soul, and it’s pretty good. So there’s that.
Michael Cimarusti
Restaurant: Providence Restaurant (LA)
He’s a seafood dude, and ten years younger than his competitors.
Quickfire:
The chefs have to make the best dish possible for judges who work at Whole Foods, using only one assigned aisle to shop. Jonathan has the international foods aisle and knocks out a roasted pepper and lentil salad. Michael draws the baking aisle (ouch), and settles on a simple but apparently delicious chocolate parfait dressed up with ginger syrup and sesame crackers. Roy lucks into the Italian aisle and attempts an Asian-style pasta, but it winds up being pasta with a fried egg. …Yeah. Art gets the rice ‘n beans aisle and makes multigrain risotto with a crispy rice salad. Mmmm. Jonathan gets just 3.5 stars, Roy earns 4 stars, Art tops him with 4.5 stars, and Michael takes home the maximum 5 stars.
Elimination:
The chefs each draw another competitor’s name, for whom they’ll be creating a mystery box with eleven ingredients. Seven of the ingredients must be used to create a dish for the critics and a group of culinary students. The chefs generally try to be good guys, and pick decent ingredients for each other. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you can tell these are “masters” rather than the usual backstabbing chef’testants.
Roy chose Art’s ingredients, which include chicken, sweet corn, and white yam. His “sophisticated Southern” fare features fried chicken two ways, various unspecified veggies, and mango pie. Gail uses the word “ooze” too much for my tastes, but she’s talking about his cooking style, not the food. The plate’s cohesive theme gets raves at the table, as does his dessert, though the judges question using chicken twice.
Art put together Roy’s box, with mahi mahi and short ribs, naturally lending itself to surf ‘n turf. Roy, it quickly becomes apparent, isn’t used to cooking things himself. He can’t even cook his fish evenly! His short rib kalbi with garlic chili paste and mahi mahi with lemongrass and ginger crust garner mixed reviews at the table. The two proteins didn’t work together as well as they could have and Roy comes across as insecure in his dish, admitting that he doesn’t think well on his feet.
Michael got Jonathan pork chops and a bunch of produce. Seven ingredients is way too many for Jonathan, but he still tries to keep it simple with his “retro 80’s dish” – pork sausage and chop with cauliflower celery root puree and black truffle. Everyone loves it, of course, because Jonathan is basically a legend. Seriously. I just read a great book where he was a major element! The worst they can come up with as a group is that his plate was too big and the sauce spread out too much.
Jonathan gifted Michael with many lovely ingredients, including lamb, but no fish for the “fishmeister.” His dish has a lot of elements – loin of lamb with sunchoke puree, broccoli rabe, and roasted purple cauliflower. The orange sauce, unfortunately, didn’t make it to all the plates. The giant ticking clock waits for no man, Michael. He gets generally positive comments, but no one is totally bowled over by the plate as a whole.
Jonathan’s total is 20 stars, while Roy only manages 15. Michael tops out at 17.5 stars, but Art brings home the Southern-style bacon with 22 stars. Hmm…on the one hand, I was totally rooting for Jonathan, and kind of against Art since his cocky quotes about cooking for the President, et al were driving me crazy. But his tearful reaction after winning seemed real, so I suppose I can live with it.
Odds and Ends:
* I just want to go on the record as saying that NotPadma is forgettable, mildly awkward, and annoyingly skinny for someone on a show about food.
* At first I thought the challenge would be like “Chopped” (the Food Network show) with more ingredients, but no one wound up having to make anything with avocado, tahini and bran flakes, or the like. Phew.
* Loooved the camaraderie between chefs. Seriously adorable, professional, and a joy to watch. Yay for renewed faith in chef-manity!
