Top Chef Masters Finale: Let's Liveblog it!

By L. Stolpman in Food on Aug 20, 2009 1:32AM

Heyyyy, Top Chef Fans! We're getting ready to liveblog the finale of Top Chef Masters. Our esteemed Editor is watching at Frontera with Chef Bayless along with Benjy Lipsman. We'll be getting updates from him on what's going on there, too. Here's his first:

CS: Benjy's also here. He won his entry via a haiku contest Bayless ran on his twitter feed. Like his posts, Benjy's haiku ended with a rhetorical question.

Go after the cut for our live updates shortly!

10:12 - SCORES

Diners: Rick - 4.5. Hubert - 4.0. Mike - 4.5 stars.

We "Ooooh" and "Ahhhh" as scores are read.

Critics:
Mike - 4.5, 3.5 from Oseland (ouch!), 4.5 - total 17
Hubert - 4.5, 4, 4 - 16.5
Rick - 4.5, 4.5, 4.5 - total of 18 stars! He wins!

RICK BAYLESS WINS IT!

10:10 - CS: Bayless on the chefs post meal: each thought they lost w/one dish. Bayless thought Keller was gonna win. Judges table took 2.5 hours.

10:03 - hee hee. Our friend says "Two judges, one mole." Bwah ha ha ha! Gael didn't like the jar but they loved the dish itself (MIke's). The shortrib wins HUGE praise. Hubert's stew is called the 'motherload'. Souffle - perfectly cooked but the souffle didn't have the light texture they wanted. The lamb was great but the garlic, too raw. Beef cheek and sweetbread wins nice words. Oseland feels safe in Hubert's beef cheeks. RIck's watermelon salad was loved. They love the complex mole. Seriously, could this be more like sex with the comments? They notice the shellfish is overcooked.

They've tallied scores.

10:00 - CS: Bayless's mole recipe was created on the spot. He had no idea where he was going w/ it.

Critics' Table - They love Mike's beef. Gael calls it perfection. Rouget dish is next - Oseland says it is a liberal interpretation of his classic. Hubert is next. They talk about the great smells of his dishes. Lamb dish ...garlic is close to raw. Choi says her sauce had a *lot* of vanilla. Rick's saucy dish - Gael talks about his dish as if someone is trying to trick her to the old folks' home with her knowing. The mole dish wins - and we have more sex analogies from the critics.

9:45 - LA with smog. Diners arrive. We take bets on if Oseland will spit some food while he talks with a full mouth. First dish is served. Gael is wearing a hat again - total Rock of Love style. Harold, Ilan, Hung, Stephanie and Hosea are there. Hubert recaps War and Peace along with his dish. Gnocchi wins nice reviews. Hubert's stew goes over well as a real childhood favorite. Quail of Rick is next. Sauce impresses.

@2nd Dish - Rick offers a very brown dish but hell, we'd eat it. Hubert's dish looks SO FRENCH. Mike chooses a really cool serving style. They LOVED it. This is like watching porn because the chefs speak about Hubert's dish as if it were the best sex ever. Gail says the mole is awesome. Oseland talks with his mouth full. SHOCK.

3rd Dish - Rick - pig foot. Hubert - lamb. Mike - rouget. "Looks like a big deep fried turd on a plate" our friend says. We do not disagree. Ilan says the fish (Mike's) is one-dimensional. Judges love the lamb and say it is cooked perfectly. Tom C doesn't like the raw garlic. Rick's pig is next - Gael is surprised as the sophistication of his sunchoke puree.

4th Dish - Rick - saucy soupe paella. Mike does ribs. Hubert does sweetbreads and scrambled eggs and spinach. Rick's dish doesn't go over as well as the first 3. The judges notice the over-cooked seafood. Oseland smacks his lips at Mike's ribs. Hubert's sweetbread gets called undercooked by someone.

Total gratuitous boob shot of Padma's snacktray.

9:42 - CS: Bayless @ Frontera says sous-chefs entering at last moment actually slowed them down. Says it was a crash course for the sous in "TC" style

Mike is making burning magazine doily things.

9:35 - We "ohhh!" when Hubert slips. Mike does short ribs for last dish. Bayless does seafood for his 4th dish. (Um, sorry, hard to write this all down in real time!) Hubert's last dish is doing sweetbreads and beef cheeks. Rick thinks his seafood is overcooked. Chefs are plating their first dish.

9:32 - Our friend says about Rick, "He's a dork but I like him."

CS: Bayless @Frontera: kitchen was 100 degrees for 5 hours for challenge.

Chefs watch tapes of their supporters from their own restaurants. Then the doors open and there are their sous chefs there to cook with them!

Mike's 3rd - whole fried ginger rouget. Rick's 3rd dish cochinita pibil (suckling pig) with sunchoke puree. Hubert holds up his big truffles. Heh. Rick poo-poos the truffles. Hubert's dish is a lamb chop with vegetables.

9:30 - CS: Top Chef Masters drinking game: take a shot every time someone @ Frontera whoos when Not Padma says "Top Chef Master."

9:25 - By the way - please feel free to add comments and let us know what you're thinking!

We see the Chefs in Whole Foods.

Clearly Lexus/Toyota is a sponser.

Michael basically says he's goin to swing with all his might - cause he's been such a puppy until now.

Rick tells us about going to Mexico - his second dish is a tuna dish he had when 14.

Mike is doing polenta, rabbit, mushroom dish.

Hubert is doing a salmon souffle.

9:20 - The chefs nosh and we hear stories of their past. Rick grew up in barbeque. Bayless is doing quail and watermelon salad. Hubert is doing lamb. Mike is going to make some gnocchi. These are there first courses. The chefs them start to brainstorm.

9:18 - Judges are going to be past winners.

CS: Carrie Nahabedian is @ Frontera

9:15 - Let's rock and roll, folks! Beach scene. The chefs are in a car going along the Coastal highway. They get to The Getty Villa. Padma welcomes them and asks them to create the meal of their lifetime. First dish inspired by first food memory - second dish is the experience that made you decide to be a chef - third dish is the opening of your first restaurant and the final dish is where you're heading in the future.

9:13 - CS: Art Smith at Frontera.

9:10 - CS: Bill Kurtis entered Frontera, finger guns a'blazin'!