Episode 11 Review and Rankings: Oh, Dale!

Top Chef All Stars, Episode 11


Southern Style!


In this episode, both the Quickfire and the Elimination Challenge followed the theme of Southern cooking, which cannot be construed as too narrow a topic for the program.  Sure, it favors some of the chefs more than others.  Most notably it favors Carla and Tiffany because they are from the South, but Richard lives in Atlanta, so he’s not completely disfavored either.  Antonia cooks a lot of comfort food, so one would assume that she could handle it without much difficulty.  The two disfavored chefs really are Mike and Dale.  Mike is from Jersey, while Dale cooks Asian.

The big hoopla of this particular episode is that for the QF Mike took one of Richard’s ideas and used it to cook the winning dish.  Although he stated during his interview that the dish was not original to Richard, footage strongly suggested that he had seen the idea in Richard’s notebook and that he followed the basic concepts to a tee.  This was confirmed not only by Richard, but by Antonia who had witnessed the conversation over the notebook.

Antonia stated that this was a major violation of “Chef Law” whatever that is.  I think what irked Richard the most was the obvious connection and the fact that Mike did not ask permission and refused to look him in the eyes.  Even if it wasn’t a violation of “Chef Law”, it must be considered sneaky and weaselly.  Mike said that he didn’t feel guilty about it, but his refusal to meet Richard’s eyes spoke more than his words.

Compounding the viewers’ angst over this grand theft was the fact that Antonia clearly made the best dish of the QF, but was disqualified because she failed to plate two dishes.  The violation was similar to Richard’s time violation in the first episode of the season.  In both cases, they might have won but for the error.

Dominick Armato asked the question as to who should have won the QF: Antonia, because she clearly had the best dish, Richard, because Mike won by making Richard’s dish – or Mike, for, well, making the winning dish.  Regardless of the theft of the idea, clearly Mike made the dish work and therefore deserved the win.  But in getting it, I fear that he may have lost the good will of the other contestants, most especially Richard, who is normally a very easy-going and helpful competitor.

The EC was another test of creativity in Southern Cooking and in chef stamina.  Eliminated competitors were brought back to be sous chefs for the remaining contestants, with the caveat that they each carried a protein, so the selectors were picking both a sous chef and a protein at the same time.  Mike, as winner, got to make the first pick.  He wanted the white shrimp, but did not want to work with Marcel, so he took Tiffani Faison and the brown shrimp, an excellent choice.  Padma left it to Mike to choose who went second and he picked Richard, all but acknowledging the theft of Richard’s recipe (he used the word “inspiration”).

Richard chose Fabio Vivandi with the red snapper.  He didn’t really care what protein he picked, as long as he had someone that he could work with.  (He even stated that he didn’t want to go with Angelo, because Angelo was probably still upset about his elimination.)  Carla picked Tre Wilcox with grouper on the assumption that since Tre was from the South, he would understand the cooking.  Tiffany Derry chose “the white shrimp”, then after a long pause added “and Marcel.”  She went for the ingredient, rather than the cook.  The next decision was easy, with Antonia taking crab and Spike, so Dale was left with Angelo and the amber jack fish.

It was a catering challenge, cooking for 300 people at a benefit for the Greater New Orleans Foundation, adding Louisiana chef John Besh as a second guest judge.  Once again, time constraints figured in to the competition, but sous chefs at least cut down on the burden.

For those who picked based upon the sous chef, Richard was the most successful with Fabio.  Tre, it turned out, is a city boy who doesn’t really understand Southern food, so Carla had to make do.

Those who chose based on protein had a mixed bag.  Mike choosing brown shimp worked not because of the protein, but because of Tiffani’s experience cooking in New Orleans.  She recommended coating the shrimp with grits, which was one of the positive comments Paula Deen had – and on top of that she virtually cooked his dish for him, ensuring a top placement.  On the other hand, Marcel virtually sank Tiffany Derry because of his failure to understand her sweet coating.

Antonia chose based on both the protein and her knowledge of Spike and both choices turned out well.  Dale had no choice with Angelo, but neither the protein nor Angelo hurt him – he just had a bad day.

Richard made a difficult decision right in the beginning by deciding to pair his red snapper with pulled pork.  It doesn’t sound like it would work, but his deft handling won him the challenge.  Antonia was a clear second place and Mike came in close behind.

Tiffany, Carla and Dale fell to the bottom.  Dale was eliminated partly because he had undercooked potatoes in his soup and partly because the taste of the fish was overwhelmed by the spices in the dish.  It’s really tough to see Dale go home because of that dish and it has created a lot of bad feelings among the serious viewers.  I’ve heard a lot of arguments in the past five days that the cumulative performance should be taken into account in the judging.  It is rather obvious that Tiffany Derry has been in the bottom for many weeks now, just holding on because someone managed to cook a dish worse than hers.  I’ve also heard various point systems brought forward as possible solutions to this problem.  I will be addressing one of those systems in an upcoming blog.

But Top Chef has been a sudden death game since the first season and we have all accepted that as we have obsessed about the show.  It’s not unlike playoff football (that would be the NFL, NOT the NCAA).  In those cases, a wild card team on a hot streak can easily knock off the favorite and no one thinks anything about it.  The champion is decided on the field.  The biggest difference between the two is that in the NFL, a team that does not win a single game (see Tiffany) would never make it to the playoffs.

Ah, well.  On with the rankings.

1.    Richard Blais.

I was a little surprised that Richard won this last episode, as the editing led me to believe that Antonia had it in the bag, but apparently, his balance of fish and pulled pork was exceptional and really pulled him through.

2.   Antonia Lafaso.

By finishing a solid second, Antonia did nothing to make me think that she should be moving down.  There are plenty of reasons to believe that she has elevated her game beyond her S4 level, which was strong enough to get her into the finals.

3.   Carla Hall.

Carla’s placement in the bottom because of her Southern cooking hasn’t made me think less of her at all.  In fact, given Mike Isabella’s theft of Richard’s recipe, I could not in good conscience put him ahead of her, despite the QF win and positive finish in the EC.

4.   Mike Isabella.

Mikey stays in the middle, except that the middle is now so close to the bottom, it looks like up to him.  Although I am not enthusiastic about his making the finals, I would rather see him than Tiffany.  It’s the only thing keeping him at fourth on my list.

5.   Tiffany Derry.

Well, this is just so sad.  She hasn’t done anything good for at least five episodes now – and even that wasn’t all that good.  She is the only one that clearly does not belong in this group.