Top Chef – There’s no Justice in the World

Top Chef - Lindsay, Sarah, Paul each hold a butcher knife

TV Review

Top Chef - Season 9, Episode 15: “Fire and Ice.”


There’s no justice in the world. Just saying...

Quickfire

Chefs in Vancouver but the challenge took place in Chinatown. Huh? Didn’t that seem a bit odd. What I did like was former Top Chef Masters (all Asian) paired in this challenge.
  • Lindsay – Anita Lo.
  • Sarah – Floyd Cardoz.
  • Paul – Takashi Yagihashi.
I remember Anita Lo. She was one tough cookie so I thought Lindsay would have the upper hand. Tag team challenge.

Masters would start an Asian inspired dish for 10 minutes, then without communicating, they stepped out of the kitchen. The chefs had to think quickly what the Masters had conceptualized.

Pretty much everyone was on the same page as the Masters. After 10 minutes, the Masters came back in. Then after 10 minutes, the chefs finished the dish and plated. Took 40 minutes to complete.

No one made any major mistakes but the best dish went to Sarah. (I don’t think she would have been on top without a Top Chef Master at her side.) Her winning dish with Floyd’s direction: Pan-seared cod with coconut curry, crab salad with clementine and amaranth.

She won $20,000. She had not won a dime before that moment. Now, the Queen of Mean Mini-Me won big. There’s no justice in the world.

Elimination Challenge

Five hours to cook. Around 150 people to serve. Must prepare one dish and one cocktail. This had disaster written all over it. That theme was "Fire & Ice." Lindsay couldn’t decide whether to take it literal or not. (Second-guessing never a good thing.)

Since I am ridiculously lost when it comes to alcoholic drinks I’m not even going there.
 The dishes were:
  • Lindsay – Halibut with fiery celery root salad
  • Sarah – Five greens filled pasta with garlic, chili, and spiced sformato
  • Paul – King crab with lobster broth and lemon snow
Paul’s technique was the best for both the cocktail and the dish. Sarah’s “ice” part was frozen. It missed the mark because sauce was to melt over the cannoli. Lindsay was in La-La-land. She played it extremely safe.

She got the boot. Lindsay had a bad day. Unfortunate for Lindsay. Fortunate for Sarah. Paul won the challenge and a trip to Costa Rica. Sarah got second place.

Paul and Sarah will fight it out for the title of Top Chef. Sarah made it to the finale?

Again, there’s no justice in the world...
Watch Top Chef Wednesdays 10/9c on Bravo.

Original Social Bookmark Stats:
Facebook 13 | Digg 14 | Tweet 22 | Stumble 2