'Top Chef': The Female Conundrum
A significant theme is seeming to be promoted this early in the season, given how the show is edited -- a theme centered on the question: Can a woman win this thing? (And: Can we depict women to be strong chefs?)
There's no criticizing that concept from this quarter... EXCEPT, well, this might be the worst season ever to be highlighting that issue.
It's a runaway so far that Richard is Mr. Innovative and a judge favorite, and that Dale, while on the bad end of a few competitions, has a level of precision and technique that surpasses his competitors. Could the fantastic Daniel Boulud do more gushing over Dale's performance in the Quickfire? The "very impressed" and "amazing" references are overwhelming. And the best woman to date in the competition? Stephanie, who is very talented, but has the self-confidence of a mouse-dropping and absolutely no assertiveness, so it's hard to envision how the tight Judges' Table moments will play out in her favor.
As for the Quickfire, it is a veggie plate judged on technique. Dale wins going away -- this is his puppy.
The Elimination Challenge is to create a dish inspired by a movie for a dinner hosted by Chicago film critic Richard Roeper, with actress Aisha Tyler as celeb guest. Everybody gets paired up, and winner Dale gets to add himself to another pair and wisely chooses Richard and Andrew. They select the most creative and fabulous movie possible for this challenge (aka, not an obvious regional or food movie) and go with Willy Wonka. Ka-ching! And they win with their whimsical ability to put chocolate (white, and in drizzle form) with wasabi on a plate with salmon and "faux" (read: tapioca!) caviar for a first course. It is brilliance. In fact, it reinforces my belief that this season of "Top Chef" is going to have the highest level of cooking ever, once it gets reduced to its final handful of chefs. At home, we long to taste this meal.
My favorite movie choice? Ryan and Mark pick "A Christmas Story," that tale of the boy who wants the Red Rider BB gun (and the dad who puts the freaky lamp of the lady's leg in the living room, and the dog that eats the Christmas turkey, causing the family to get its holiday meal at a Chinese restaurant? Remember that one?) Anyway, Ryan and Mark wind up in the middle -- not picked in the top two and not in the bottom -- but the judges clearly like their work (reinventing Christmas dinner in the form of quail, etc.). And kudos to Ryan for making it happen even though New Zealand native and team partner Mark had no freakin' idea what movie he was talking about. And had moments of wanting to do "Mad Max." (Um, what kind of food does an insane Mel Gibson inspire? Hmmm. Actually, that might have been interesting.)
In the (previously mentioned and ongoing) chick-power theme, Zoi and Antonia decide to chose the Spanish film "Talk to Her" by Pedro Almodovar; but the food they created isn't so much connected to the movie or its Spanish influences, it is just supposed to be a metaphor for, well, chick power. And it (lamb chops), is good, apparently, but doesn't match up with the theme. So, bottom two.
Jen and Nikki (Ms. I Can Make Homemade Pasta But Nothing Else!) skate through in the Never-Never Land of no call to judges' table. It is prominently positioned in the early going that "in this house" (wait, did my TiVo switch me over to 'Big Brother''? When did this show become about the "house"?) the Jen-Zoi love relationship is too much of an advantage, but since only the judges get to vote folks out in this competition, the severing of that tie has to do with the food. No voting out one-half of the "power couple."
Zoi, however, is doing her best to become the dedicated house idiot for trash-talking Richard (who wins this week on the Willy Wonka team for being the leader) and the winning dish. She goes on and on about how if this is what they think is good -- these bad, bad flavors together -- this is not her game, blah, blah. Ummm, what exactly are you thinking you're going to accomplish, sweetheart, other than making it publicly evident that you don't actually "get" what high-end food is? Ack. Bye-bye to her soon and Jen will have to sleep in one of those awful bunkbeds alone.
The other top-two combo includes Stephanie -- yes, our X-chromosome hope! -- and Lisa, who bizarrely chooses to channel the movie "Top Secret," which I've never seen, but apparently involves a very funny joke about Val Kilmer as a cow. Anyway, it is a lame excuse to get to do beef, but they somehow make it fly. That, and a duo of sauces that made the judges very happy.
Anyway, if you're counting the names, you know the boys in the bottom were Spike and Manuel. Spike cooks Vietnamese, so they pick the flick "Good Morning, Vietnam," even though the whole challenge was to choose the movie that spoke to you and THEN figure out the food. Kinda backward here. And Manuel goes along for the ride and is a mush patty. Shocker! The conventional wisdom might be that Spike gets toasted because it was his idea and his disaster, but Manuel has been such a disappointment over and over (really, a taco challenge, and he admits it's his specialty, and he totally tanks?) and also was Quickfire plankton this week, so there is no reason to keep him. At least Spike has potential. Though I'd like him to get rid of the hats. There is only one reason for the hat thing, and that is to distinguish himself from Andrew. All that red face hair and stuff.
But, back to the initial point: Does anyone see any of these women storming in to take over this thing? Or are we already at a place where it's clear-cut the boys rule the house?
Also, P.S.: Someone please take away Richard's cellophane wrap. Yeah, yeah, he's brilliant, but the idea of serving me food still under some Saran makes me think of the dessert wheel at a diner. All those pies under plastic. Shudder. Though, come to think of it, the blueberry was usually quite good.
-- JENNIFER FREY
Jennifer Frey
|
April 3, 2008; 9:09 AM ET
Top Chef
Previous: 'Dancing With the Stars': Nice Guys Never Win |
Next: 'Dancing With The Stars': Let's Talk About Those 10s
Posted by: M Street | April 3, 2008 10:00 AM
I thought it was weird that Spike and Manuel were the only team that got dogged for choosing the Film around what food they wanted to cook.
Stephanie and whats-her-face did the exact same thing: "We should do beef" "What movie has a cow in it?"
Nikki and Jen did the same thing: "We want to do Italian Food," "Lets use Il Postino!"
etc...
Posted by: Duffman | April 3, 2008 2:00 PM
I don't have much hope for the ladies either, but I am not ready to turn over the kitchen to Dale OR Richard. I think Andrew is the one they are all going to have to beat to stay in the competition.
He has had some crazy, creative ideas that always bring attention (good or bad is irrelevant) from the judges.
He is always looking over his shoulder--all suspicious. Believe me, that's they way to stay one step ahead. He can play and make it work with anyone (twice now with Richard, his self-proclaimed nemesis) yet will trust no one. The true mark of a survivor!
Posted by: Sam | April 3, 2008 4:09 PM
How can they take away the cellophane wrap? GLAD WRAP is the big sponsor!!!
Posted by: PrinceLeo | April 3, 2008 4:36 PM
Hey Lay off the Kiwi! It looks like he actually did all the cooking that got the praise anyhow, QED, while he does not know an AMERICAN "classic" he does know how to cook.
Posted by: Noinden | April 4, 2008 12:43 PM
But the cling wrap is so "been there/done that" now. If Richard wishes to continue to amaze - he will have to come up with something different than the Saran wrap and the mini-smoker or risk being categorized as "one note".
As for Spike's hats - I don't think it's the hair on his face that's the problem. Generally men insist on wearing hats 24/7 either when they are very short or have a light thatch - or possibly both. It's also something contestants on American Idol do when they can't figure out any other way to look cool when they really aren't. Though why they think choosing the Chuck Barris style would be "cool" is beyond me.
Posted by: Jean | April 4, 2008 5:30 PM
Why so quick to rush to judgment on the women? In Season 3, Casey was on the bottom of a number of early challenges but she came through as a strong contender in the end (except for the finale, where it really counted).
Posted by: Allison-nyc | April 10, 2008 7:40 PM
there is the professional world of warcraft power leveling here. welcome.
Posted by: jimelyyes | May 2, 2008 9:22 PM
there is the professional world of warcraft power leveling here. welcome.
Posted by: jimelyyes | May 8, 2008 10:54 AM
Post a Comment
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.
Zoi goes next. She obviously can't handle the stress or the criticism that comes with competition. I'm tired of her excuses every week for why she was unfairly disadvantaged. Last week it was pasta, this week it was because the judges want #%@# (in her words).
Stephanie certainly appears to be the strongest female contestant at this stage. On the men's side, I agree that Richard and Dale are respectively leading in creativity and technical execution.
I hope we see a tightening up of the elimination challenges that allows individuals to showcase their own talent, instead of all the group stuff.