The Unfiltered Ramblings of a DVR Addict

I consider myself to be a foodie, but I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t know much about the Bocuse d’Or.  Turns out that it is held every two years in Lyons, France.  A little background on the competition would have helped last night I think.

Now that Robin is gone we can all stop hating her and we can start hating the real villan on the show, Michael Voltaggio.  Last night he gave Kevin a back-handed compliment when he said that “Kevin is a good chef, but he cooks things that I cook on my day off.”  Now I could handle Kevin being mean to Robin, his brother, or almost anyone else, but you shouldn’t be mean to Kevin. Not only is Kevin running away with this competition, he’s maybe the nicest chef in the history of Top Chef.  In the quick-fire the five remaining chef are introduced to Gavin Kayson who competed in the 2007 Bocuse d’Or where he created a dish that was a protein inside a protein inside a protein.  One of the highlights of the episode was when Padma tasted Jennifer’s dish and Padma told her “welcome back.”  Jennifer ends up winning the quick-fire with Eli coming in second.  Jennifer is giver 30 extra minutes in the elimination challenge.

For the elimination challenge the chefs are asked to create a Bocuse d’Or style dish with one protein and two garnishes.  They can either choose lamb or salmon.  The chefs also find out they will be cooking for a table of twelve world-class chefs including Thomas Keller.  If you don’t know anything about the culinary world, Thomas Keller is A-Rod, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Brady all rolled up into one chef.  He’s the biggest American chef in the world, and maybe just the biggest chef in the world.  His restaurant The French Laundry is easily the best restaurant in the country.  Pressure is on.  After shopping all the chefs begin to plan except Michael.  It was nice to see them all talking and that Bryan helped Kevin with his sous vide questions.  He pointed out that his brother might not have done that I I’m pretty sure that’s right on the mark.  Michael is a jerk, as are lots of chefs, but I think the best chefs are the ones that work together.  If Michael wins Top Chef I wonder if the fact that he’s been such as ass will come back to haunt him in his career.

All the chefs end up having their challenges.  Brian begins to run out of time, and Jen steps up to help him since she has the extra 30 minutes from winning the quick-fire.  Once again, I’m doubting Brian’s own brother would have helped him.  Each of the chefs present their dishes to the judges, and they all have some issues.  Kevin’s dish might be too simple, but his flavors are spot on.  As Brian said in this episode, there is nothing wrong with simple if you do it well.  Kevin has made simple food all along, and let’s face it, he’s the front-runner with more quick-fire and elimination challenge wins than maybe any other chef in the history of Top Chef.  Brian, Eli and Jennifer all have problems with their temperatures, and Michael leaves a piece of bone in at least one portion of fish, along with other problems.

Kevin ends up winning, and you can see in Michael’s eyes he’s not happy about it.  Kevin wins $30,000 from the M Resort, his “favorite place in the world, ” and the opportunity to compete on the American team at the 2011 Bocuse d’Or.  I really thought Michael would be the one to go home after watching judges table and hearing all the problems they had with his dish, but in the end it was Eli who was sent to pack his knives and go.  That leaves Kevin, Jen, and the Brothers Voltaggio to move on.  From here the competition leaves Las Vegas, and three out of those four will compete in the finals of Top Chef.

Thoughts and Observations:

• I’m sad to see Eli go.  I do think the four best chefs moved on, but Eli was a great entertaining chef, and I look forward to following his career.  I think Kevin will win fan favorite, but Eli has a shot.
• This is easily the best final four in the history of Top Chef.  Any of these four could win it, but like I said Kevin is the man to beat right now.
• It’s good to see Jen back to her old self winning quick-fire and what not.
• Eli did his mentor, Richard Blais proud.  Read Richard’s blog post here.  It’s a great read, and it was written before last night’s episode so that makes it all that much better.  Yuu should also follow him on Twitter, he’s very entertaining @RichardBlais
• GO KEVIN!