Top Chef Chicago Recap, Week 3
By L. Stolpman in Food on Mar 27, 2008 4:00PM
The show opens this week with some ablutions. Some brush their teeth, others put on make up, while Spike and Andrew go through some sort of male bonding ritual speaking in a tongue with which we are not familiar but which we suspect is not inspired by an infusion of the Holy Spirit.
Chicago’s very own Rick Bayless is the guest judge this week. The QuickFire challenge involves turning a typical taco into fine dining bliss. Erik laments the "My Fair Lady" treatment to the taco. With that, the 30 minutes begin. We see the chefs incorporate cactus leaves, duck, jicama, ground pork, squash and other ingredients into their dishes. Manuel describes his intricate taco (chorizo, picante verde with cilantro and goat cheese) and Padma shoots from the hip, “I’m guessing this isn’t the first taco you’ve made.” She cackles in delight at her post-toke joke. Bayless continues down the line of tacos and begins his evaluation by pointing out that some of the Doolittles opened their mouths and straight-up Cockney came out. Erik, predictably, gets called out for this and Erik says in an aside-interview, “I don’t think Mexican and fine dining go together so he can go screw himself.” Erik, however, does not have the cojones to say this to Sir Rick. Lisa’s skirt steak was served rare and thus, Rick’s prominent choppers could not bite through it. Ryan gets dinged for wrapping his taco in paper exactly as if he’d run down to the local taco street vendor and then run back and put it on a plate.
Andrew gets called out for having a “top taco.” His duck breast tacos with plantain jam and cotija cheese impressed Bayless. Andrew literally does a dance as if he’s on the verge of wetting himself. Richard’s jicama wrapped taco filled with avocado, papaya and cilantro stems was also praised. Finally, Spike’s ground pork marinated with soy and chile powder taco served with tomatillo sauce satisfied Rick’s soul. Winner: Richard. Dude, and how about this…he gets his taco on the menu at Topolobampo. Nice!
Elimination Challenge. The chefs split into a red and blue team and are made to scour neighborhood homes for groceries so they can cater the neighborhood block party the next day. Team Blue decides to go a little more upscale while Team Red goes with more classic picnic food but plans to escalate it in some way.
Blue’s menu: Paella (Richard), Slaw (Lisa), BBQ pulled pork (Manuel), Bean Salad (Antonio), Inside-Out Cookie (Mark), “Sexy Drink” consisting of simple syrup, lavender with fresh citrus and then carbonated (Manuel and Stephanie) and Fruit Cobbler (Stephanie) and Mac & Cheese (Nikki). Blue team members serve the food to each guest.
Red’s menu: Sliders (Jennifer), Corn Dogs (Erik), Pork Skewers (Dale), Sangria (Andrew), Waldorf Salad (Ryan), Pasta Salad (Zoi), and Taco Salad (Spike). Red plays up the social aspect, schmoozing the judges as they go by. The Red Team confidently relaxes with the locals.
Judges include Rick, Tom, and Ted Allen. The neighborhood digs in, as do the judges. After tasting, we head to the judges’ table where the Blue Team gets called in first and the Red Team begins to panic. Rick calls Nikki’s M&C sauce a “brick” and Richard’s paella gets called a rice pilaf. The judges let the team off the hook by telling them that they are the winners. Antonio’s bean salad went over well but Stephanie’s dessert (Padma: “The wonton was genius!”) clinches the victory and she is declared the winner of the challenge. For those keeping score, that also makes 2 of 3 elimination challenge wins for Ms. Izard!
The red team slumps in and the camera pans the chefs as they each take a turn swallowing their pride. Erik’s soggy corndogs are a huge disappointment. Because, you know, corndogs set such high expectations. The Waldorf salad is panned for having too much chicken and not enough crunch. The team whines, “Proletariat!” and the judges cry, “Bourgeoisie!” Tom says that the pasta salad was bland and oily. Andrew throws a mini-fit because he still can’t believe they lost and declares that it would take security to get rid of him. Of course, he might admit the loss if someone else got dragged out by security.
The judges discuss. Weakest dishes: Waldorf Salad by Ryan, Pasta Salad by Zoi, and Erik's corn dogs. They chefs are called back in and Tom insults them once more by declaring the challenge simple. In the end…Erik gets asked to pack his knives and go. The big guy hugs the group and you can practically feel the weight being lifted off Zoi’s shoulders. And Jennifer’s for that matter.
Next Week: More Andrew Antics and F-Bombs!