Richard, Stephanie and Lisa, yes that is correct, it is not a typo, Lisa is actually in the Finale, and don’t ask me how. This is the finale, so there is no Quickfire, just the one final challenge that will take two days and crown the new Top Chef.
The chefs met Tom and Padma on a porch, and they are standing with three top name chefs, only one of which I recognize, and each chef has a table of meats. They are April Bloomfield, Dan Barber and Eric Ropert. The Challenge, each chef will create a traditional four course meal; fish, meat, poultry and desert and yes they will have to make a desert and I am thinking, if you are on Top Chef, did you not expect this? For today the meat table that you choose will grant you that chef as your sous chef. Then Padma announces that they thought that they would have the chef with the most Elimination Challenges pick first, but they have a tie, Richard and Stephanie both have four (hummmmm, I was thinking one of them had five?). The meal will be a black tie event for 9 dinners, they will have 3 hours today and 4 hours tomorrow.
Stephanie goes first and picks Eric as her sous chef, Richard picks Dan and Lisa ends up with April, and with that prep work begins for the day. Service for tomorrow will be all three chefs serving each course together, then the next course, all three together. Side-by-side taste testing!
And with that we head to commerical were we learn that Season 2 of Shear Genius will begin June 25th. All I can say is if it is on Bravo then it is probably worth watching! I watched about half of the first season and it was pretty good.
As the day of the final begins, we see the chefs walking into an empty kitchen, only to have tom appear and tell them they are on their owns today, they will not have the sous chefs they were expecting, it is up to each of them to live or die by their own hand in this competition, and they all seem to take it in stride.
First Course: Richard serves scallops, to which the comments are that it lacked a little seasoning and there was too much going on. Stephanie serves Red Snapper, which is beautiful, raves all around the table. Lisa serves grilled prawns, with a sauce, which was way too strong. Point, Stephanie.
Second Course: Richard serves quinea hen, which was complex, and depending on who you asked, some liked it and some thought the flavors became muddled. Stephanie serves Quail Breast which was delicate and everyone liked except for the leaks. Lisa served a cocnut soup with chicken and it was the rave, delicious. Point, Lisa.
Third Course: Richard serves a pork belly that needed work. Stephanie served lamb mediallions that were full of surprises, worked so well together ,but they didn’t think they would. Lisa serves wayu beef with no flavor, the sauce was the same as before only sweeter, they called it pedistrian. Point, Stephanie.
Fourth Course: Richard breaks out the Banana Scallops again, with bacon ice cream this time, and it is a winner! Stephanie does a ricotta pound cake that is ok, nothing special. Lisa does a rice pudding that was good, first bite was not good but the more you ate the more you liked. Point, Richard.
Commerical….the new Project Runway will begin July 16th!! I can’t wait!!!
Call in: Who deserves to be Top Chef? Lisa, only 4% – Richard, 36% and Stephanie, 60%
Judges Table is long!! By the end Ted Allen is commenting that the sun is about to rise and the birds are chripping. Each one is asked to say one this before they go to deliberate, Stephanie says that dale told her not to second guess herself, and the one dish that she really messed up on is the one she second guessed herself on. Lisa tells them that she cooked good and deserves to win. Richard shocks Gail by saying that he will admit it, he choked tonight. What was neat is that Tom came to Richard’s defense, he said that the meal was good but had some mistakes and in Richard’s mind he choked but not to alot of people, he just sets his standards for himself higher. They went through each course and named what they thought was the winner in each course, and I noted those as the point to whoever in the end of that course, so you could kinda see where it was going, then they said it came down to which meal would they want to eat again.
Top Chef for Season Four is………….. Stephanie!
