Top Chef Seattle Episode 6 Previews

It’s a star studded event in the Top Chef Kitchen as the chefs must create a meal for movie stars Anna Farris and Chris Pratt! The party is all about family and friends for the Hollywood couple, but unfortunately for one chef it’s the end of the road.

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All Top Chef Interview with CJ Jacobson

Top Chef Seattle contestant, C.J Jacobson, talks about his experience on the show.

A highlight:  

ATC:  How did this experience compare to season 3?

CJ:  This experience compared in many ways.  I figured that since I had already been on, that I would not be caught up in all of the drama, but honestly it was exactly the same.

In terms of production after seven seasons, it was much tighter.  No more eight hours in the stew room. I was happy that the challenges were more culinarily-driven rather than like skeet shooting like last season.

Click here for the full interview.

Thank you Chef CJ!

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Recap Roundup Top Chef Seattle Episode 5

Minxeats on Tom is pissed: "The lunch was an unmitigated disaster, and the judges felt bad for the artisans whose products were so horribly tortured in the name of lunch. Tom is in a snit and declares that nobody will win the challenge or the 10K bonus prize and stomps into the stew room to let the cheftestants have a piece of his mind. He tells them that they suck and that a whole team will be going home for its suckitude. And they'll be further tortured by having to wait until the next day to find out who is going home. The chefs cry."

A Just Recompense on incompatible: "They’ll stay in their teams, which makes just about everyone nervous. To summarize: Lizzie isn’t sure she knows Danyele well enough to cook intimately with her; Eliza is worried that she and Josie aren’t truly listening to each other; Josie is not enjoying this at all but she’s going to do her chefly duty, it’ll be over soon; Tyler finds CJ’s idea too simple but he’s a veteran so he’s in trust; John knows Josh is just barely tolerating him so is trying not to explode the wrath within; Josh is going along with anything John says just so they don’t start butting heads. I think these people need marriage counseling more than they need cooking."

Entertainment Weekly on truth in advertising: "Ingredients ranged from pickles to cheese curds (yum), but by far my favorite reaction was when Stefan pulled rose petal jelly. 'It’s like rose water. It’s a perfume kind of thing. Women in the 1500s put it on them because they were smelling.' Could you make your eventual meal sound any more appetizing?"

Mary Alice of Charm City Cakes for the Baltimore Sun on deflection: "After Padma dismisses them, CJ starts to say something and then shakes his head. 'One last thing, CJ?' Padma asks. CJ turns back and asks the judges what they thought of Danyele/Lizzie’s dessert. 'Because that thing was an abhorrence. It was a debacle. It was diabolical. It was a travesty,' he says. To which Hugh retorts, 'Well, uh-oh, ‘cause your burger was even worse.' Tom bursts out laughing. Josh reprimands CJ for asking: 'Stop underhanding pitches to a pro baseball player!' thus ending what I thought would be the worst but ended up one of the funniest Judge’s Table ever."

Eater disses the artisan: "Breakfast and sticks and satisfied vendors are all in good fun, but now things get dark. Pike Place is also a farmers market, and as you know, farmers markets are full of 'artisans.' Each team has two hours to cook a lunch highlighting a different Pike Place artisan ingredient. Now the word 'artisan' can mean a lot of things: it can be someone who has spent half a lifetime perfecting the crafting of bread or knife-making, for example, or it can be someone with a mommy blog who spends every other Saturday afternoon filling cute jars with unusual horse shit only appropriate as a thoughtless gift from and for jerks. Sadly, most of the ingredients our competitors must use in this Elimination Challenge, one worth ten grand, fall into that latter category. This whole thing would be more appropriate for a Quickfire, where they've got twenty minutes and who cares if they make a bad Reese's Pieces ravioli, but to serve an elegant lunch that highlights bagged truffled popcorn, a food Tom wouldn't let through the back door of his restaurant, is embarrassing for everyone, including me."

Reality Rewind explains the elimination challenge: "For the Elimination Challenge on Top Chef 2012, the teams will be staying together for this challenge. They draw knives: Sheldon and Bart have Salmon Candy, John and Josh have Truffle Popcorn, Brooke and Stefan have Rose Petal Jelly, CJ and Tyler have Spicy Dill Pickles, Josie and Eliza have Cardamom Bitters, Danyele and Lizzie have Coconut Curry Chocolate and Kristen and Micah have Cheese Curds. They have to make a dish to highlighting the ingredient they have picked and the artisans who created the ingredient will be judging them. They have two hours to create their dish and the winning team wins $10,000."

Allie is Wired on pairings: "CJ and Tyler throw ideas around, but Tyler looks at CJ to make the decision. I wish this guy would find his testicular fortitude. He is nice, but has no confidence. Those proverbial nice guys always seem to finish last. On the other side of the pairings, Josh is barely tolerating John. Again, I scratch my head at why these two teamed up in the first place? Maybe they have a secret man crush and John pets Josh’s mustache at night while singing ‘Soft Kitty’ to ease him to sleep in the stressful environment. I suddenly want to see ‘Top Chef: After Dark.’"

Reality Tea on burn: "C.J. defends the integrity of the pickle. Tom says, 'It never crossed your mind… not what goes with pickle but what can we make with a pickle?' Tom calls out John and Josh, saying their food was what you'd expect from someone who doesn't like cooking. Hugh says that Stefan and Brooke used so much rose petal jelly, it was like eating a grandmother. Overall, Tom is disappointed that no one fought to make his or her team's dish better. Gail wonders about the lack of artistry – no garnish, no presentation, etc."

Hit Fix on artisanal products: "Elimination Challenge! Teams remain the same, and each team has to draw a knife bearing the name of some weird ass ingredient. The challenge? Each team must create a dish highlighting said weird ass ingredient. Oh I'm sorry, these are artisanal weird ass ingredients, which means you can have them gift-wrapped and sent to people you dislike. They will be judged by the people who create these horrible sounding things (coconut curry chocolate? Salmon candy? Rose petal jelly? Blech!), and they have two hours to make them lunch. This may be one of the grossest challenges yet, "Top Chef," just saying."

Grub Street on artisans: "Padma introduces us to some of the Seattle artisans: Dale Nelson makes spicy pickles and the rose petal jelly. He looks a little old and square to be an artisan — I can’t imagine him hanging out in Capitol Hill, a hip Seattle neighborhood I just learned the name of by Googling 'hip Seattle neighborhood.' Likewise, Kurt Beecher Dammeier, who made the cheese curds, looks like a high-school gym teacher. I thought Seattle artisans would be young and skinny-jeaned. Am I guilty of artisan-profiling?"

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All Top Chef Interview with Tyler Wiard

Photo:  Elways.com

Chef Tyler Wiard talks about his experience on the show.

A highlight:

ATC:  If you could go back, is there anything that you would do differently?

TW:  I've had a long time to think about this one and no, I don't have any regrets.  I have friends who have said that we should have gone with the chowder instead of the pork burger, but it's like Vegas you know?  You can't go back, you have to play the hand that you are dealt.

ATC:  You were in the top four for the previous challenge and it seemed like you had some creative ideas for this challenge.  Did CJ listen to your ideas at all?

TW:  His energy and his confidence about the pork burger were so positive that I just said, "Okay, let's do it."

Click here for the full interview.

Click here for more about Elway's.

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ATC Love to Chefs CJ Jacobsen and Tyler Wiard

For Chef Jacobsen, his second chance at the Top Chef crown was short-lived. In this case, his strategy to underthink his pickle dish backfired. While pickles go great with burgers, the obvious choice did not impress the judges, and the mistakes made in its creation only made matters worse. It's unfortunate, because we've all seen him do better work.





Chef Wiard may have been right to take the pickle in a more creative direction, but he didn't want to argue with his partner. How many times have we seen chefs go down for going with the flow and not standing their ground? It's hard to say if his ideas would have worked better, but the lack of creativity was definitely a big negative with the judges.

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Reactions to Top Chef Seattle Episode 5

The cheftestants gathered at Seattle's famous Pike Place Market to begin their next challenge. Padma was joined by Daisley Gordon, who has two restaurants at the market. For the Quickfire Challenge, the chefs divided into teams of two. Each team had one hour to create a breakfast item on a stick for 50 hungry vendors. A pantry of food items was provided, but they had to purchase all their cooking supplies from Sur La Table with $500. After the vendors were fed, Daisley Gordon announced that Sheldon and Burt's Green Forest Breakfast Sandwich was the winner.

The chefs stayed in their teams for the Elimination Challenge which was to create a dish with one of the unusual artisan ingredients sold at the market. The teams drew knives to find out which ingredient they would receive, and they had two hours to shop for ingredients and cook their dish. The dishes would be judged by the artisans who created the products. Apparently, the chefs were not inspired by their ingredients because all the dishes were deemed pretty poor. The winner was to receive $10,000, but in light of the dismal showing, no team was chosen as winner. Instead, Padma, Tom, Hugh, and Gail had the unenviable job of choosing the worst of the bad. After much debate, it came down to Gail breaking the deadlock and the team of CJ and Tyler was sent home for their overcooked burger on a soggy crumpet bun with poorly cooked deep-fried pickles.

What did you think of last night's episode? Leave a comment below.

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All Top Chef Interview with Carla Pellegrino

Top Chef Seattle contestant, Carla Pellegrino, talks about her experience on the show.

A highlight:  

ATC:  If you could go back, what would you do differently?

CP:  I would have done my homework.  I don't like the competition side of anything.  This was more of a business decision.  If I had watched, I would have realized that this is a game.  You need to strategize There is a lot of game playing.  I am a horrible player.  I don't gamble.  I thought, "I can cook, that will be enough."

Click here for the full interview.

Click here to save your favorite chef.

Click here to learn more about Carla's restaurant, Meatball Spot.

Thank you Chef Carla!

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Top Chef Seattle Episode 5 Previews

The chef’testants team up and head to the “Soul of Seattle,” world-famous Pike Place Market, for an early morning Quickfire. The chefs face an unusual challenge when they must use their skill and imagination to highlight some of the rarest ingredients found at the market for their Elimination Challenge.

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Recap Roundup - Top Chef Seattle Episode 4

A Just Recompense on the good old days: "Welcome back to the 50s – a time when no one knew what cholesterol was, when 'dinner' meant shrimp cocktail and roast beef, when desserts were sweet and no one apologized for them, a time before people used words like 'arugula' or 'balsamic vinegar' in polite company."

Minxeats on bitching and moaning: "This week's show opens in last week's stew room. John is once again proving why he's the Most Hated Chef in Dallas (and by the time the show is over, possibly the Most Hated Chef on TV, except maybe Gordon Ramsay) by insulting all and sundry in the room. He even goes so far as to call Mr Mustache a 'blogger.' Honestly, I think he should be proud to be called that - we bloggers are more influential than chefs these days. Heh heh. Stefan above it all, saying it's too much like the Real Housewives of Seattle. Andy Cohen, make sure you give Stefan credit when you put that show on your network."

Atlanta Journal Constitution on menu distribution: "As the team divvies up the old school menu, a few chefs feel a little slighted. Stefan sort of takes over the dish distribution, and Carla isn’t pumped when she gets saddled with the squab dish. Considering how she reacted to being called “sweetie” last week, I’m surprised she took that one lying down. Likewise, Kristen gets two sides, a fried onion dish and mushrooms. Not exactly the sort of thing that lets a chef showoff."

Hitfix on villains: "Remember the fighting we saw at the end of last week? How everyone hated Dallas John for bagging on Kuniko? Yeah, that wasn't all of it. Of course the show saved a little bit of crazy to kick things off this week, and just to confirm, everyone really, really hate Dallas John. And he's pissed about it! As far as he's concerned, 'Josh was a redneck and CJ was playing me.' Um, what does that have to do for calling Kuniko just short of an idiot? But wait! Dallas John has one sole defender -- Stefan. I think Stefan's just relieved someone else is the villain this season."

Grub Street on it's what's for dinner: "It’s kind of amazing how many ways you can prepare beef. For instance, Stefan makes little slimy globules of meat that look like they’d be right at home in my shower drain, while John, the most hated chef in Dallas, makes oxtail with gnocchi. (For those of you who don’t know, each beef has multiple parts to it, and you can make different things with the different parts: If you cut off an ankle, you can make beef-ankle stew. If you get the flank, you can make flank-beef parts with drizzled mushrooms.)"

Reality Tea on eliminations: "Observation: Two of the quickfire top were in the elimination challenge bottom four and two of the quickfire bottom were in the elimination challenge top four. Also, Jeffrey got raves reviews in week 1 and was eliminated in week 2. Kuniko won the elmination challenge in week 2 and was eliminated in week 3. Carla won the elimination challenge in week 3 and was eliminated this week. Will Kristen be eliminated next week?"

Allie is Wired on thquab: "Enter the squab issue. I am going to call this woman Evil Carla. The loveable HOOTIE HOO of season 5’s Carla Hall is greatly missed as Evil Carla thinks undercooked squab sitting in a pool of blood “looks fine.” Her dish repeatedly gets sent back with an reject stamp. She does take the time to let the boys in charge of the grill know the bird is too rare, but she has the same philosophy of John. She has opened restaurants and this somehow gives her a superpower for never failing. People are getting violently ill from undercooked meat? It’s ok! I’ve opened a restaurant. Problem solved!"

Eater on kitchen nightmares: "Everybody cooks in Canlis' luxuriously large kitchen. It seems comfy, but also there is a copper-walled grill room. Maybe that is a common thing, as I am not a chef, but it seems like a literal nightmare: a crazy hot metal room with a small locked doorway. I have only seen about 10 of the 15 Saw movies, but I imagine there must have been at least one or two traps in a grill room. It is some real Final Destination shit."

Mary Alice from Charm City Cakes for the Baltimore Sun on poor Tyler: "Naomi lists off her least favorite dishes, including Tyler’s crudo, which she thought was underseasoned. Cut to Tyler’s interview where he quite seriously becomes Charlie Brown, declaring, 'I can’t do anything right!' heaves a sigh, and stares at the ground. Holy cow, please don’t let them pull the football away from him during the elimination tonight."

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Holiday Gifts for Top Chef Fans

December is already upon us and while there's still a few more shopping days until Christmas, Hanukkah starts in a week! If you're stumped for gift ideas, here are some that might please the Top Chef lovers on your list.

Susan Feniger's Street Food	Kevin Gillespie's Fire in the Belly	Stephanie Izard's Girl in the Kitchen
The Voltaggio Brothers Volt ink	Spike Mendelsohn's Good Stuff Cookbook	Marcus Samuelsson's Yes, Chef
Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef	Sam Talbot's The Sweet Life	Angelo Sosa's Flavor Exposed
Fabio Viviani's Cafe Firenze Cookbook	Gail Simmons' Talking With My Mouth Full	Candice Kumai's Cook Yourself Sexy
Rick Moonen's Fish Without a Doubt	Chris Cosentino's Beginnings	Antonio LoFaso's The Busy Mom's Cookbook
Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican	Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian	Takashi Yagihashi's Takashi's Noodles
Michael Chiarello's Bottega	Elizabeth Falkner's Cooking Off the Clock	Art Smith's Back to the Family
Jonathan Waxman's A Great American Cook	Ludo Lefebvre's Ludo Bites	Hubert Keller's Souvenirs
Anita Lo's Cooking Without Borders	Top Chef University 16 DVD Set	How to Cook Like a Top Chef

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