Top Chef
Buitoni
Top Chef

Episode Report Card
Keckler: C | 775 USERS: C+
YOU GRADE IT
Who Deserves To Be Here?

The Katie Leebot reintroduces the tasters to Hubert Keller -- whose restaurant she pronounces "Fleur de Leese" instead of "Fleur de Lee" -- and Gail Simmons from Food & Wine. Andrea of the Red Group brings out her dish of shrimp and broccoli stir-fry served on brown rice with a spicy plum sauce. There's also steamed kale with tahini sauce, carrot flowers, and a sesame-maple coleslaw. Andrea leaves. Presumably to take a dump. Her presentation is a mess. It's fine for a dish at home, all piled up and full, but not for a restaurant. Dave presents braised lamb enchiladas with triple chile sauce, handmade tortillas, and "a masher" of black beans and sweet corn. This presentation isn't much better than Andrea's, and I don't think Dave explained what the deal is with the gravy-like sauce on top of the enchiladas. It can't be the triple chile sauce. "Oh, and a chipotle-crema as well," Dave adds. Never mind. Candice brings in her chicken-shiitake roulade with apple tonkatsu sauce, blanched asparagus, wasabi mashed potatoes, and soy-ginger cashews. God, wasabi mashed potatoes is so 2001. The newest wasabi thing is wasabi vodka, get with it. DonKen presents his pan-seared Alaskan halibut on a soybean-scallion-parsley purée, heirloom tomato compote, and fig gastrique (thick, reduced sauce of vinegar or wine, sugar, and fruit). I have to say, fig and halibut sounds odd. Not bad, but...odd. I'd definitely eat it, but I think salmon is a better match for the meaty, rich figs. Halibut has such a delicate flavor, it needs the more delicate touch of citrus, mangoes, or even peaches for a gastrique. Stephen curls his lip. Someday a fisherman is going to snag a nice, barbed hook in that fat curled lip and yank the shit out of it, and when he does? I will be there. Miguel presents his duo of beef: filet mignon and braised short rib with a walnut and candied orange peel garnish. Lisa very nervously presents her chanterelle risotto with pepper shrimp and thyme-infused oil. Oooh, want.

Top Chef

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