Thoughts on Top Chef Season 7 Episode 3: Capitol Grill

If you have not seen this week’s episode of Top Chef, read no further. This post contains spoilers!

How’d you guys like this Top Chef episode? Here are my random thoughts. Would love to hear yours!

• Can Chef Kass make another appearance please? Hot.
• Ooh, token encouragement scene from family. Kenny receives a note from his girlfriend. Is this a sign of things to come?
• I love the Top Cheftestants’ apartment by the way. Love it.
• Is that Elvis? Oh wait, Padma says it’s Johnny Iuzzini, a pastry god according to Andrea.  James Beard award winner. Big time! Gail is also there, and they’re also introduced as hosts and head judges of Top Chef Just Desserts. SHIVERS ON MY SKIN. Yeah. I can’t wait for this show.
• Dessert quickfire challenge! YES! Dessert has always had a bad rep from the past seasons.  The challenge: PIES. The last two eliminated, says Stephen, were gone because of dessert. This worries him.
• Uh-oh our confident Angelo’s never made a pie in his life. So he’s making curried yam pie. INTERESTING.
• Timothy’s asking “What did I get myself into?”  He’s gonna do an apple pie. This classic better be darn good.
• Amanda makes Apple Rosemary Bourbon and Vanilla pie. She likes her alcohol huh?  She serves it to kids remember?
• Alex is making an almond crust, yum, and he’s not sure what he’ll fill it with. Tapioca pie with almond crust. Hmm. Let’s see if he ends up with that one.
• Banana cream pie from Ed! Oh this better be good. But celery in banana cream pie? Hmm. I don’t like vegetables in dessert. Just my thoughts.
• Tracey’s pie looks terrible. She put too much butter, she says. Almond blueberry pie sounds good in concept, now it looks terrible.
• Stephen’s Curry Apple Whiskey Date… non traditional he says. It looks interesting. Like a big orange mess, but it looks messy good — know what I mean?
• TIME’S UP! HANDS UP! UTENSILS DOWN!
• Kenny made a Bananas Foster Pie with Currants and Chinese five-spice. When Johnny calls out Chinese five-spice in a pie is unusual, Kenny says he loves the balance of flavors.
• Amanda cops out and says she hopes her dish is okay because she’s not a pastry chef. STAND BY YOUR DISH. Better yet, STAND BY YOUR SELF. That didn’t sound right. You get my idea! You can make a pie even if you’re not a pastry chef, Johnny says. SNAP!
• Stephen’s Curried Apple Date Pie with Saffron has something sour in there, per Gail.
• Spiced Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart from Kelly. It looks good!  RICH.
• Arnold… kalamansi represent!! He made a Kalamansi & Key Lime Pie Parfait with Korean Soju.
• Angelo has a Sweet Potato Pie, Curry Spices Crumble Crust.
• Tracey’s Blueberry Almond pie with light cream and almond brittle actually looks good in the food shot. Oh wait, maybe not.
• Tiffany’s peach cobbler with cornmeal crust, buttermilk-lemon crème anglaise. Wait, is cobbler a pie?
• Lynne made a pretty mango pie with basil and vanilla crusty. Sounds refreshing!
• Ed made banana cream pie with salted peanuts and celery spuma.
• Alex made white chocolate, tapioca and chevre pie with almond crust and raspberry puree. Is there egg in here? Yes. So it’s more like a quiche, Johnny says. Uh oh.
• Least fave pies: ALEX – bad texture. TRACEY – too thin crust, burnt top, uncooked bottom. Ed – didn’t tie together.
• Best pies: Kelly – beautifully made chocolate pie. No bells and whistles, perfect simple pie goes a long way. Stephen — surprising flavor combination that worked.
• And the winner… Kenny! Simple bananas foster with great flavors and texture. Wow! I thought it’d be Stephen or Kelly.
• ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Celebrate the summer picnic! Prepare a picnic for Capitol Hill interns that includes 1 main dish and 2 sides. Arnold’s worried cuz he’s not a grill guy.
• Tracey’s talking to herself, looking nuts to the other contestants. Uh oh.  She scares me.
• Timothy says he’s got some grill skills. Let’s see.
• Asian picnic for Angelo! He’s confident about his Vietnamese style beef. Woohoo! Love the confidence on this guys.
• Tom is here and observed the bickering between Alex and Amanda. No what’s yours is mine in this kitchen!
• This looks like an Amanda-centric episode. Just saying. It’s about her running in the grocery, running around the kitchen, how the chefs don’t think she’s good enough. It’s either she’s winning or going home at this point.
• Kenny thinks Asian food for a picnic is a bad idea. WHY??? Asians go on picnics too. Hmph. Parks and Wildlife anyone? But do we eat Asian food? Hmm. Do squid and fishballs count?
• PICNIC TIME!
  
• Chefs arrive! Tom, Padma, Gail and Jonathan Waxman, Chef/Owner of Barbuto.
• Here are the chef’s final dishes:
• Arnold: Sesame Lamb Meatball with Tabouli Salad and Gazpacho. Sounds really good. Refreshing. The judges and interns think it’s great. Gail thinks his dish stands well in the heat of the picnic. YEY ARNOLD!
• Tamesha: Marinated skirt steak with caramel soy glaze and fennel citrus salad. Overcooked per Jonathan.
• Angelo: Vietnamese lettuce wrap, egg salad. Judges say it’s a magazine cover dish. Smoky flavors.
• Alex: Grilled pork butt with lemongrass glaze, polenta and cucumber salad.
• Tim: Pork two ways: Dry loin and wet baby baby ribs, grilled veggies. Pork is good, sides aren’t, say the judges.
• Amanda: Dry rub baby back ribs, grilled asparagus, bacon hazelnut vinaigrette. What? No liquor? Gail likes Amanda’s ribs better than Tim’s. The grilled asparagus captures Jonathan’s heart,
• Kelly: Bison Burger, watermelon and tomato salad. Nice!  Tom thinks burger’s bland. Gail says it’s nothing a home cook won’t do easily.
• Kevin: Grilled marinated flank steak, rice and beans, tomato and avocado salad. Beans are undercooked, rice is bland.
• Lynne: Leg of lamb with ras el hanout, zucchini “spaghetti” with balsamic onions. Heavy  dish because of cheese.
• Kenny: Harissa marinated pork loin, quinoa grilled eggplant. Well-cooked, looks pretty.
• Tracey: Italian sausage slider, tomato, cucumber and red onion salad. Burgers have too much fennel, too big for a slider, a bit undercooked.
• Tiffany: Tamarind glazed wild sockeye salmon, Isreali couscous. Bland. Glaze with no flavor is sad, Jonathan shares.
• Andrea: Spicy root beer glazed skirt steak, potato salad. I WANNA TRY THIS. She had me at root beer. Too much rootbeer though, the judges thought.
• Stephen: Bacon wrapped sea bass, ratatouille and olive pine nut couscous. Bass is stringy inside, and Tom’s not a fan of the fish.
• Ed: Spiced tuna loin with lentil hummus. Picnic friendly, lots of flavor perfectly cooked tuna.
• Angelo’s saying Amanda’s dish is better than his. Wow, that says a lot.
• Tracey’s saying she’s psychic, oh wait, clairvoyant. And there’s one more thing we know about her. And is that the last thing we’ll know about her? I don’t know, I’m not clairvoyant. Or am I? *Twilight zone music*
• The Top Four are: Arnold, Ed, Amanda and Angelo. Top 4! Arnold doing that dance is so cute.
• Ed’s dish was very bright and a bold choice using tuna. Arnold’s lamb was full of flavor. Amanda’s grilled asparagus were great, ribs rub was good, the salad didn’t need to be there. Angelo’s flavors were nice and crisp.
• Who wins? ARNOLD ARNOLD ARNOLD PLEASE. And it’s…. ARNOLD! YEY!!!!!!!!!!!! He says, “It’s nice to be recognized for who you are.”
• Judges would like to see Tim, Stephen, Tracey and Kevin. Oh no, is it Tracey? She was on the bottom of the Quickfire too.
• Stephen had inedible, overcooked fish,  raw bacon, greasy no-flavor couscous.
• Timothy’s veggies were cooked unevenly, he shied away from the dish, Jonathan says.
• Kevin’s plate was the safest Puerto Rican food Padma’s ever had. He says that’s how his wife’s family does it. “Are they chefs?,” Gail asks. HE says no. “Exactly. You are.” SNAP. Meat was grilled nicely. Rice overcooked, beans undercooked. Watered-down version of Puetro Rican food.
• Tracey’s not surprised to be there. Gail’s patty was really raw. Tom says her Italian food is insulting to Italians, him being one. Ow. You kinda stopped trying, Jonathan says. My ten year old son could’ve made that patty, he adds during the judges’ deliberation.
• I guess Tracey’s going home with all this bad feedback, well, the worst feedback.
• And… it’s Tracey. But she says it’s fair.
• Next on Top Chef: Double elimination!!! Eric Ripert! Mike! Spike! BRYAN VOLTAGGIO! And uh oh, who served a dish with canned beans? Tom looks mighty mad.

The dish I would love to have tasted:

Arnold’s Picnic Dish

I enjoyed this episode! Wee! Next week looks great too. Can’t wait till the next ep! Meanwhile, here are some interesting links for my fellow Top Chef fanatics:

Top Chef Las Vegas: Where Are They Now?

Gail Simmons on Top Chef Just Desserts and this week’s episode

Tom Colicchio “On Filling and Grilling” — his thoughts on this week’s episode

Eric Ripert “ABCs of Being a Chef”

Hi! I'm Toni Tiu, and I've been blogging at at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.