Great for Blind Diners
Great for Blind Diners by Roxanne McDonald
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“Top Chef” dishes turn out to be a mess…for the sighted. |
Sophisticated dishes and matching drinks make for the first, the Quickfire, challenge, judged by guest mixologist Jamie Walker advertising, er, assessing the Bombay Sapphire Gin plates and coordinated drinks:
The chefs draw knives, choose a drink, then must make an appetizer that aligns in flavor and, apparently, textures?
Hung matches a raspberry and mint martini with a salmon in sour scream lemon balsamic sauce.
Casey matches a strawberry and balsamic rickey with French toast baguette with seared pecan crusted fois gras.
Joey matches a roasted pineapple and vanilla martini with carmelized diver sea scallop and jasmine risotto
CJ makes a lemon bomb and matching carmelized watermelon with avocado and squid. What? I am having a tough time wrapping brain around this one. I’m still on the French toast as an appetizer.
Tre makes a strawberry basil martini and partners it with sumac and black pepper seared halibut with smoked sea salt watermelon
Dale does a Sapphire sherry with a seared fois gras, candied parsnips, and orange and rice wine gastrique.
And Howie matches a chili martini with balsamic glazed diver scallop with an arugula (?), blueberry, and grape salad.
The others are not clearly described, or if they are, I am busy with my head in the toilet, now getting over chili and herbs in my sweet drinks
Walker’s least favorites are Joey’s, which is too robust and clumsy; and Hung’s, which Walker says is muddled and which has a sweetness that does not go with creamy. Hung of course lets us know what he thinks of this assessment by saying the guy is an idiot (or something close to this) who doesn’t know jack.
Walker’s favorites are Casey’s, for its use of subtle botanicals; Tre’s, for how the melon and strawberry worked well together; and CJ’s, for how it was different but was done delicately and with balance.
Casey wins, and thereby wins immunity for the next challenge.
A Trio of Trios…Plus One Trio
Okay, skip the mathematics: four teams of three chefs each will make three entries for four courses for fourteen tasters with sophisticated palates. Oh, and the three plates must be done using the same item.
The chefs switch teams so many times and for such inane reasons that I can’t run you through who started where. CJ jumped, Hung flipped, etc..
The teams ended up as follows [I think]:
1st Course, Trio of Shrimp
Lia, Hung, Brian
2nd Course, Trio of Tuna
Howie, Casey, Joey
3rd Course, Trio of Beef
CJ, Tre, Sara N.
4th Course, Trio of Pineapple Pastry (or pineapple pasty, as it turns out)
Camille, Sara M., Dale
The teammates argue, futz over menus and monies, over shop and have to put stuff back, and, in the case of team 2, get all mucky about Casey not participating enough and then doing so in a way that might just sabotage…as she doesn’t have to worry with immunity and all….
The teams serve the guests and judges at the restaurant of the well-known and highly respected chef Barton G. Weiss.
Their goals, we are told, involve working on the relationship of the dishes, on the movement from first to last….
1st Course, Trio of Shrimp
Brian serves a raw pink shrimp in a ceviche marinade, radish, and caviar. The judges say it is on the salty side.
Lia serves olive oil-poached shrimp with marinated tomato/avocado, cucumber, lime, and grilled pepper salad. The judges find it strong, clean, and perfectly cooked.
Hung serves sauteed shrimp with corn pudding with a bacon and corn salad, and “essence of shrimp” foam. (Yes, Marcel and Hung studied together.) As Ted Allen sums it up after Hung’s satisfying fare, the whole course is “really poetic”.
2nd Course, Trio of Tuna
Casey serves a tartare bird’s nest with cucumber and jalapeno.
Howie serves a coriander-crusted tuna with blood orange marmalade, cilantro salad, and shitake mushrooms.
Joey serves a confit of tuna with crispy shallots, fire-roasted cherry tomatoes, and bacon.
The judges are disappointed, and one of the chef’s dishes is described by Tom Colicchio as making sense on paper but not flying in reality.
3rd Course, Trio of Beef
CJ serves a beef carpaccio with sherry vinaigrette and a cigar tulle.
Sara N. serves butter-braised beef tenderloin with baby carrots in a truffle sauce.
Tre serves black pepper and rosemary seared beef tenderloin with a mushroom risotto cake and a sherry reduction.
The comments lean toward Tre’s, for his presentation is beautiful and, Padma says, they love his dish.
4th Course, Trio of Pineapple Pastry
Here is where we get the creative description and discussion of Dale, who says that the flavors are great and work well together, but the appearance is a mess (because none of the three have any pastry experience to speak of and have decided that it is better, as Dale also says, to take a risk instead of doing a tuh tartare or a little piece of seared beef…which they can all obviously do in their sleep), so it would be great fare for a bunch of blind people.
Sara serves a pineapple semifreddo with pistachio, ginger, and blueberry reduction.
Dale serves a macadamia nut tart with hibiscus, raspberry, and vanilla/coconut cream.
Camille serves pineapple upside down cake topped with ginger sabayon.
The comments range from “hideous” to “dreadful” and back again.
The Final Judgment
The 1st course is the winner. Judges tell Brian his dish was original, lovely, clean, and bright. They tell Lia they loved hers, and even admired her knife work. And Hung has impressed them with his balance, which made an excellent impression.
It was not unanimous, as each had a different first choice, but they finally agreed to award Lia the week’s title. Chef Barton G. invites Lia to the Hamptons as a guest chef at a charity event. Lia remarks to us that winning is great, but even better is that she was complimented by Tom Colicchio who said he loved her dish, a comment that for her is HUGE!
The six tuna and dessert people are called in, each one scolded–including Casey, who is told she is the worst on the tuna team. Each gets the opportunity to justify or clarify or rationalize, and each is lectured…for either choosing to do something they didn’t have to do and didn’t know how to do or for flat components and weak flavor.
Casey gets one retort in there when she tells them they have laid a huge guilt blanket on her.
Camille, whose cake was not old-fashioned, not carmelized wonder, but is instead rubbery, flavor-lacking, and texture-whack, is told to pack her knives and go.
Ans she does so with little fanfare or remorse…, just kinda glad to be going home to those she misses.
But you don’t have to be blind to see she is bummed.
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