Photo from Top Chef Canada's Facebook Page
Thank you for all your comments after last week’s (rage-inducing) episode! Just one more interesting follow-up point before we get to this week’s show: Kristine remembered that on a Season 2 episode of Top Chef, the winner of the Elimination Challenge had their dish featured nationwide on the menu of T.G.I.Friday’s, so this wasn’t the first time a chain restaurant has been involved on the show. Okay, let’s move on.
For the second week in a row, the episode starts off with Andrea, and makes me nervous. Darryl is saying she’s not doing well, she’s not a team player, everyone sees her stank attitude, she’s crashing and burning. Don’t hold back Darryl, geeeez. He’s the one that has been spouting off about how he’s not there to make friends, so guess what, neither is Andrea! She says she’s not worried about what everyone is saying about her.
Mark and Thea introduce this week’s Quickfire, and it’s a blind relay race. Cheftestants will be split into two teams, that will each cook one dish in 40 minutes, with each chef cooking for ten minutes. The other chefs will be blindfolded as they wait for their turns, and they can’t speak to each other. Cheftestants draw knives to pick teams; Francois selects #1, Rob #2, so they are the team captains, and they pick as follows:
Blue Team: Captain – Francois, 1st pick: Dale, 3rd pick: Connie, 5th pick: Darryl
Red Team: Captain – Rob, 2nd pick: Dustin, 4th pick: Todd, 6th pick: Andrea
The winning team will get an advantage in the Elimination Challenge, and from this point on, there won’t be any immunity. The Blue Team ends up with a red snapper dish with braised radish, fennel and asparagus, with a classic butter sauce. The Red Team collaborates on a pancetta wrapped scallop with potato rosti and white asparagus.
The winner is the Red Team (Rob, Dustin, Todd, Andrea)!
We already know the Elimination Challenge this week is Restaurant Wars based on the preview from last week. Mark has offered up his restaurant Bymark for the challenge. The kitchen will be divided in two; one service will be on the patio, the other in the dining room. As the winner of the Quickfire, the Red Team gets to choose which location they want, and they pick the patio. The teams will be judged on their restaurant concept and the total dining experience they create, including front of the house. Each cheftestant is responsible for the conception and execution of at least one dish. The guest judge this week is David Adjey, who you know from Restaurant Makeover and The Opener, who I normally find so over-the-top, but he’s actually okay here.
Teams start strategizing to select their restaurant names, themes and menus, as well as who will run the front of the house (Andrea for Red, Darryl for Blue). Hey, no trip to Loblaws this week! Chefs get prepping, and the next day set up shop at Bymark. There’s a little bit of contrived drama with Connie and how she left her potatoes back in the Top Chef Kitchen, but I find this hard to believe because when she goes back to get them, the fridges are completely empty besides her trays. You mean to tell me that no one, including her Red Team members, would think it was weird that two trays were left in the fridge? Conspiracy! Here’s how it went at both restaurants:
TO NEW – Red Team (Rob, Dustin, Todd, Andrea)
Front of the House
Andrea – I think she does a great job keeping things organized and flowing for the service, and she also explains each dish to the judges. There’s one little snafu with a customer who keeps wanting her lamb more and more rare (ew), and the mains are a bit delayed getting to the judges.
Appetizers
Todd – chicken terrine with oyster mushrooms. Judges don’t really like it, and there’s a spice factor that should have been disclosed.
Andrea – poached asparagus salad with roasted pear vinaigrette. Mark says this dish is basically a pretty plate with no substance or flavour.
Andrea – braised and grilled octopus salad with roasted pepper romesco sauce. Shereen loves it and David says it’s perfectly cooked.
Mains
Dustin – potato gnocchi with olive tapanade and tomato concasse. The judges agree this is a disaster and tastes like mashed potatoes, very confused dish.
Rob – rack of lamb with spatezle and pea tendrils. Mark says it’s boring.
Dustin – potato-crusted halibut with cauliflower puree and burnt butter sauce. Confident dish, the judges like it.
Desserts
Rob – chocolate mousse (after an attempt at passionfruit mousse with white chocolate…even I know white chocolate is super hard to work with, and will separate and seize on you). Thea makes a disgusted face when it’s placed in front of her. The judges agree the presentation is inexcusable.
Todd – peach gratin. Just sad.
BY BLEU – Blue Team (Francois, Dale, Connie, Darryl)
Front of the House
I feel like Darryl is a bit out of his element here and he’s sweating like a mofo (I would be too). He doesn’t explain the dishes to the judges, and there’s an awkward moment where he’s offering Mark a napkin. One issue with Dale and some souffles that are left sitting out, but I think they made that up, because it doesn’t really matter.
Appetizers
Darryl – smoked duck with roquette, pecans, and celeriac. Judges love it, perfectly executed with a subtle level of smoke. (Back in the kitchen, Dale and Francois are basically saying they saved this dish).
Connie – tuna conserva with pickled potatoes and shaved celery. Judges say it’s a little one note, and some of the customers say it tastes like canned tuna.
Mains
Francois – lamb confit, chickpea fritter and caramelized eggplant. Thea says it’s the best lamb they’ve had in the competition so far. Everyone loves it.
Dale – herb-crusted halibut with morels, white asparagus and lobster crushed potatoes. It’s boring, and fell flat.
Desserts
Dale – strawberry souffle with a champagne strawberry shooter. It’s a hit. Mark says he couldn’t have made it better himself.
Connie – chocolate semifreddo with hazelnut brittle and frangelico anglaise sauce. They love it.
Back in the supply closet, Thea calls the Blue Team, and they win! But someone had to have the best dish…
The winner: Dale, and for a dessert! Shocker.
The Red Team goes in to meet their doom, but first Mark highlights the fact that Andrea was picked last for Restaurant Wars, and she ended up having the best dish of their team! Her octopus was delicious. As for Todd, his chicken terrine was bland, the potato in it was crunchy, and their was an unmentioned spice factor to the fruit component. Rob’s lamb was gamey, the flavour was flat, and his spatzle was overcooked. Dustin’s gnocchi was confusing and heavy. Both desserts (Rob’s chocolate mousse and Todd’s peach gratin) were terrible.
Going home: Todd :(
Next time: A (rage-inducing?) sponsored challenge at Loblaws, and Connie breaks down!
How did this Restaurant War compare to other seasons of Top Chef? Do you think the case of the missing potatoes was a farce? Do you think they added Dale’s freak-out just to add drama? Are you as excited for strawberry season as I am, even more so after Dale’s dessert?
What's Cooking on Planet Byn 
loved the episode….Darryl Crumb should not smack talk anymore, his food is so so old school. Its almost what u see in 1st year culinary students. Dark Horse? did he not notice that his dish was so weak that it needed to be changed? thats embarrassing and he took the credit!
“Can I offer you a napkin” OMG i laughed my ass off. You can tell how inexperienced he really is. He is more of a line cook. the show is hanging on to him for shock value.
I was so proud of Andrea for showing them up, she’s a solid chef. Also I really dont think that Todd should have gone. Rob and Dusty clearly sucked. Rob’s dessert looked reallllyyyy horrible and his lamb was weak. Dusty is just annoying and so funny looking. He has also seen the bottom a few times, I think he is on the way soon.
Next episode looks good, connie is cracking I think she is to emotional for this comp!
great job on the recap
The missing potatoes were totally to create drama. And it made it seem like she was gone for hours when it was really only 25 minutes. I’m sad Todd is gone, I thought he was going to make final 3. Back to the Quidi Vidi gut!
I never even seen the Top Chef but Robyn, you make is sound fun! So last weekend I caught not this episode, but the one before, with cooking for Milestones (but I’m commenting HERE because it’s more recent).
My comment is really about Michael Smith though – I’ve read the comments, and people seem to really dislike him, while I think he is wonderful!
Ok, for his show, I question the whole son-n-wife eating his food afterwards thing, because his fatherly love is too much for me such a short cooking show and I don’t believe his wife eats anything as I understood she was a vegan. BUT I like Michael: he is like a friendly giant, and he doesn’t use too many fancy tools, and he speaks softly and is not hyper or dramatic. He also doesn’t waste things. For example, I caught an Anna Olson’s episode the other day and she had he husband heat up a BBQ for 2 (!) sausages for a salad. I mean, c’mon, what a waste of time and gas and heat, who would do such a thing?! Not Michael Smith, that’s for sure.
Also, I saw an Iron Chef episode that he did and he was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLY misjudged. It’s fine that I can’t speak to the taste of the dishes he prepared, but he was soooo original and interesting, and they gave him low marks in that category, too. Oh, it was despicable and turned me off Iron Chef for months and months!
What else? Stuffed mushrooms sound delicious… mmm… :)