Thursday, June 12, 2008

Girl Power


In a historic and upset-ladden Top Chef Chicago Finale, Stephanie Izard became the show's first female winner. And while word across the blogisphere is that it was an honest win, the buzz out of the Top Chef kitchen was more about Richard's blunder than Stephanie's victory. On Ted Allen's Bravo Top Chef blog, he admits that not only was Richard's meal the most anticipated, but that it dominated conversation for the first 20 minutes of the meal.

The chefs were asked to create a four course progressive meal (fish, poultry, red meat, and dessert) fit for a king. Richard was charged with under-seasoning both his scallop and pork belly, and overthinking his poultry. At the judges' table Richard went as far as to say "I choked." That gets my vote for the most straight forward and honest moment in the show's history. 

Allen said that the following day in the San Juan airport, Richard was visibly out of it, pacing through the terminal. And while this was dubbed by Padme as the most important meal this side of the Mississippi, they'll be more and Richard will be fine. He's arguably the most decorated chef ever to grace the show and while he didn't win, he did show Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin how to freeze Tobasco with liquid nitrogen. Not all is lost. And Allen said his daughter was born two weeks ago. Things are looking up for Blias.  

One can only hope they're looking down for Lisa who is probably the second worst contestant to ever enter the Top Chef kitchen.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Having followed the entire season closely, I for one was glad to see Stephanie win the competition. Not that Richard wasn't impressive, poised and a damn good chef most of the time, but Stephanie always had a new twist to her food -- and her twists always worked.

I had Steph pegged as the winner of this season from early on, and truly felt anticipation build as she had her ups and downs as the weeks went on. But her ability to combine creativity and comfort into strange-yet-not dishes had me sold from the start. That's how you continue to be innovative in a world of modern cuisine, and she nailed it.